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Northwest Notes: Gordon, Clarkson, Dort, Wolves
In a conversation with Sam Amick of The Athletic, Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon spoke about how he impressed he has been with Nikola Jokic during his first few weeks in Denver, and said his team still has championship aspirations this season, even with Jamal Murray unavailable for the postseason.
Additionally, acknowledging rumors that the Celtics tried hard to acquire him at last month’s deadline, Gordon said he would’ve enjoyed playing in Boston, but stated that he views the Nuggets as an ideal fit for his skill set.
“Obviously Boston has those guys with (Jayson) Tatum and (Jaylen) Brown, and they would have been hell of fun to play with,” Gordon told Amick. “But I feel like Denver was just the best fit to showcase my well-roundedness as a ballplayer, the defensive aspect and the offensive (aspect) — basically just (the) glue that I can bring. The guy who can fill in, do a little bit of everything on the offensive end and then lock up the other team’s best player, or at least make their night hard, make it a frustrating night for them.”
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson is considered the frontrunner for this year’s Sixth Man of the Year award, but he tells Mark Medina of USA Today that his “main goal” is trying to win games and to win a title — but he’d be honored to win the award. “If the Sixth Man of the Year award comes and I don’t get it, I don’t need the validation because my teammates, coaching staff and a lot of my peers gave me that,” Clarkson said. “They’re telling me, ‘I respect what you do’ and all of that. So, I know that goes a long way as well. But it’s definitely something I want to get accomplished one of these years. Hopefully it’s this year.”
- Thunder wing Luguentz Dort expressed interest in representing Team Canada in the Olympic qualifiers this summer, tweets Steven Loung of Sportsnet. While Dort said he was willing to “try out” for the team, it’s a safe bet that Team Canada would welcome him onto the roster if he wants a spot.
- As we wait for Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor to work out a sale agreement with potential new owners Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, Lee Schafter of The Star Tribune explains why he thinks Taylor’s pledge to keep the team in Minnesota should be successful, while Chris Hine of The Star Tribune looks at the roadblocks that would be in the way of the new ownership group attempted a move.
- While the plan is for Rodriguez and Lore to begin as limited partners before they eventually assume majority control of the Timberwolves, sources told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic last week that the new owners will still have a “significant influence” on the team’s basketball and business operations right away. Krawczynski also heard that the Wolves’ financial situation isn’t in bad shape, signaling that the NBA remains viable in the market.
This Season’s Disabled Player Exceptions Set To Expire
The disabled player exceptions that teams have been granted throughout the 2020/21 season will expire if they go unused on Monday. April 19 is this year’s deadline to use or lose those exceptions.
As our breakdown shows, the Warriors, Nets, Heat, and Wizards each received a disabled player exception this season for injuries to Klay Thompson, Spencer Dinwiddie, Meyers Leonard, and Thomas Bryant, respectively. The Magic were given a pair of DPEs due to season-ending injuries suffered by Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz.
None of those five teams have used their disabled player exceptions — the Heat forfeited theirs when they decided to trade Leonard to the Thunder in a deal for Trevor Ariza, but the rest are still available.
We go into more detail on how exactly disabled player exceptions work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, a DPE gives a team the opportunity to add an injury replacement by either signing a player to a one-year contract, trading for a player in the final year of his contract, or placing a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract.
At this point in the season, any free agent on the open market typically commands no more than the minimum salary. And since the trade deadline has passed, it’s extremely unlikely that Golden State, Brooklyn, Washington, or Orlando will use their exceptions before the end of the day.
Theoretically, any one of those teams could use its DPE to place a waiver claim on Moritz Wagner‘s $2.16MM expiring contract, but he’ll likely end up just clearing waivers later today.
Injury Notes: Durant, Harden, Davis, Hornets
Nets forward Kevin Durant had his bad injury luck continue on Sunday, as he left the team’s loss to Miami after just four minutes due to a left thigh contusion, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn is expected to assess the injury further today to determine whether Durant will miss some time.
“He’s sore, but we don’t know how severe. We’ll see (Monday) how he wakes up and go from there. But right now nothing’s been determined,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said. “Honestly, I don’t know (if he’ll undergo an MRI or other testing) … I haven’t heard, but I imagine they’re going to assess him in the morning and see if a scan is necessary.”
Given the initial diagnosis, it seems unlikely that Durant’s injury is serious, but even so, it’s the latest setback in a season full of health issues for both the star forward and the Nets as a whole, and another hurdle in the team’s efforts to establish chemistry, writes Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. The former MVP has appeared in just 24 of Brooklyn’s 57 games.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA, including a note on another Brooklyn star:
- While James Harden is accompanying the Nets on their current three-game road trip, it sounds like that’s more about making sure he’s working out around the time, as Nash explained on Saturday (link via Petter Botte of The New York Post). Harden won’t necessarily be ready to return to action during the road trip, which concludes on Wednesday in Tampa.
- Lakers star Anthony Davis is expected to be back on the court soon, but it won’t happen on Monday, as the team has officially ruled him out for today’s game vs. Utah, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
- The Hornets have been hit hard by the injury bug this month, but got a key player back on Sunday, when PJ Washington (right ankle sprain) returned and played 34 minutes in a win over Portland. As Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer writes, Devonte’ Graham (left quad contusion) didn’t play, but had been listed as questionable for that game, suggesting his return is close.
Raptors Promote Yuta Watanabe To 15-Man Roster
7:20am: Watanabe’s second-year salary is non-guaranteed, but would become partially guaranteed for $375K if he remains under contract for three days beyond the free agency moratorium in August, reports Murphy (Twitter link). If he makes next season’s regular season roster, Watanabe would receive his full ’21/22 guarantee.
6:38am: The Raptors have elevated Yuta Watanabe to their 15-man roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed the third-year forward to a standard contract.
Watanabe had spent the season on a two-way deal with Toronto, having had his Exhibit 10 contract converted before the regular season began in December. Originally considered a depth piece, the 26-year-old has become a more regular rotation fixture, appearing in 39 games for the club.
While he is valued more for his defense and his energy off the bench than his offense, Watanabe has shot the ball well this season too, averaging 4.0 PPG and 3.3 RPG on .448/.400/.826 shooting in 13.4 minutes per contest. Those numbers all exceed the ones he put up in two seasons in Memphis from 2018-20.
The exact details of Watanabe weren’t announced in the Raptors’ press release, but the team used its full mid-level exception prior to the season signing Aron Baynes and Alex Len, and didn’t have its bi-annual exception available this season. As such, we can safely assume it’s a minimum-salary deal, and Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link) confirms it covers next season as well, though it’s unclear if the 2021/22 salary is partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed.
Watanabe’s rest-of-season salary, at least, will be fully guaranteed — he’ll make $321,893 the rest of the way, in addition to what he has already earned on his two-way contract.
The Raptors now have a full 15-man roster, with 14 players on standard contracts and Freddie Gillespie on a 10-day deal. Jalen Harris is Toronto’s lone two-way player, so the club could fill its other two-way slot at some point before the regular season ends on May 16.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Western Notes: Morris, Drummond, Jones, Toscano-Anderson
Markieff Morris has served as an unsung hero for the Lakers in the absences of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register writes.
Morris, 31, has given Los Angeles a steady level of production in his 10th NBA season. In 49 games with the team (25 starts), the veteran has averaged 7.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 20.5 minutes per contest, shooting 44% from the floor and 35% from deep.
“I mean, (expletive), look at my production throughout my career,” Morris said. “I would think they would know I could be this consistent. Everybody’s trying to judge you off of how the season starts, but the tide always turns.”
As Goon notes, Morris has reached double-digit scoring in 10 of his last 13 games. The Kansas alum is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
There’s more from the Western Conference tonight:
- Another player who’s produced for the Lakers is Andre Drummond, Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times writes. Drummond has averaged 16.5 points, 12.6 rebounds and 27.9 minutes in six games since joining the Lakers, performing at a high level as the team’s starting center.
- Grizzlies guard Tyus Jones earned a $817K bonus after the team beat Milwaukee 128-115 on Saturday, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Jones had an incentive in his contract for 33 wins, but the total was prorated down to 29 due to the shortened season. Memphis currently holds the eighth-best record in the Western Conference at 29-26.
- Warriors guard Juan Toscano-Anderson has been diagnosed with a concussion, Mark Medina of USA TODAY tweets. Toscano-Anderson suffered a brutal fall in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against Boston and left the contest early. As a result, he’s now in the league’s concussion protocol.
And-Ones: Thabeet, Wade, A. Antetokounmpo, Trial
Former No. 2 pick Hasheem Thabeet is attempting an NBA comeback after spending seven years away from the league, Ben Stinar writes for Sports Illustrated.
Thabeet, a 7-foot-3 center, averaged 18.3 points, 14.3 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game during his latest stint in Taiwan, receiving MVP honors with the Hsinchu Lioneers. He worked out for a handful of NBA teams in 2019 and hopes to eventually complete his comeback at 34 years old.
For his career, Thabeet has played 224 games with four different NBA teams. His last stint in the states came with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants — G League affiliate of the Pacers — during the 2019/20 season.
Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Dwyane Wade‘s role with TNT isn’t expected to change despite purchasing an ownership stake in the Jazz, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times (Twitter link). Some league observers expected Wade to relinquish his analyst duties on TNT due to the agreement. League rules require that he can’t partake in Utah’s front-office decisions (including recruiting free agents) so long as he remains on TV, Stein adds.
- Alex Antetokounmpo made his debut in the Spanish Liga ACB this past week, as relayed by Sportando. The 19-year-old is the youngest of the Antetokounmpo brothers — which includes Giannis (Bucks), Thanasis (Bucks), Kostas (Lakers) and Francis.
- The NBA has warned its teams to be ready for the results from Derek Chauvin’s trial, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Chauvin faces charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd from last May. The league office is preparing for games to be postponed if need be, Wojnarowski reports.
Pelicans Finalizing Multiyear Deal With Didi Louzada
The Pelicans are finalizing a multiyear agreement with draft-and-stash guard/forward Didi Louzada, according to a report from ESPN’s Olgun Uluc and Andrew Lopez.
Louzada, who most recently played in Australia with the Sydney Kings, was acquired by New Orleans with the No. 35 pick in the 2019 NBA draft. He averaged 8.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 24.1 minutes in 20 contests with Sydney this season, shooting 39% from the field and 26% from behind the arc.
The 21-year-old Louzada stands at 6’5″ and can play the shooting guard and small forward positions. The Pelicans have until April 27 to sign another player after allowing Isaiah Thomas‘ 10-day contract expire on Monday, Uluc and Lopez note — teams are permitted to dip below the NBA’s required minimum of 14 players (not counting two-ways), but only for up to two weeks at a time.
The Pelicans haven’t touched their mid-level exception this year, so they’ll be able to use it to sign Louzada to a contract longer than two years. His cap hit for 2020/21 can be as low as the prorated rookie minimum, which is good news for a club looking to stay below the tax line.
New Orleans holds a 25-32 record, having put forth inconsistent defensive efforts this season. The club trails the No. 10 place Spurs by three games with roughly one month left in the season, losing a disappointing 122-112 game to New York on Sunday.
Southeast Notes: Collins, Magic, Westbrook, Monk
Hawks star John Collins returned from an ankle injury on Sunday to help give his team a boost in a 129-117 victory over the Pacers, Sarah Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes.
Collins, who missed the team’s last nine games, finished with eight points and two rebounds in 20 minutes of action. Atlanta remains without Danilo Gallinari, De’Andre Hunter, Tony Snell, Cam Reddish and Kris Dunn due to injuries, but getting back the 23-year-old Collins will certainly help.
“I felt great,” Collins said postgame. “I feel like I’m back to 100%. Obviously, trying to get the wind back to where it was before I got hurt, but be that as it may, I felt great out there. Just great to be back out with my teammates and happy, happy, happy we got that W tonight, so trying to stay here and continue to progress.”
There’s more from the Southeast today:
- The Magic‘s veterans are looking to keep the team focused as the regular season starts to wind down, Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel writes. Orlando currently holds an 18-38 record, the second-worst mark in the East, placing five games behind the No. 10 Bulls. “I feel like myself, T-Ross (Terrence Ross), MCW (Michael Carter-Williams), Bac’ (Dwayne Bacon), Gary (Harris), we can help them — all the young guys — have the right approach every game,” James Ennis said. “I know it’s kind of tough playing these last games. I don’t know if we can make the playoffs or not, but it’s just our jobs to keep everybody engaged and just staying focused on the goals for our team and ourselves.”
- The Wizards have taken on Russell Westbrook‘s personality this season, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington explores. Westbrook is averaging a triple-double on the season — 21.9 points, 10.9 rebounds and 10.8 assists per game — but his primary focus remains helping Washington make the playoffs. “He’s just full of energy, ready to go, always a winning mentality,” teammate Bradley Beal said. “He’s going to play extremely hard every single time he touches the floor. It’s so surreal to be able to see a guy that plays as hard as he does still have that type of energy, still getting himself up and ready to go.”
- Hornets guard Malik Monk isn’t close to returning from injury, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer tweets. Monk has done “very little activity” since suffering a sprained ankle, coach James Borrego said. The 23-year-old is currently enjoying the best season of his young career.
Northwest Notes: Lillard, Deck, Wolves Sale, Jazz
The Trail Blazers are hoping to maximize the rest of 30-year-old All-Star point guard Damian Lillard‘s prime years, writes Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
Fischer notes that team president Neil Oshley consulted with Lillard during the offseason to discuss good wing fits. Aaron Gordon, recently traded to another West contender in the Nuggets, was considered, though the team ultimately opted to trade for the cheaper Robert Covington. New addition Norman Powell may become tough to retain in restricted free agency, notes Fischer, who wonders if keeping Powell means the club may be willing to move CJ McCollum.
There’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- Work visa issues may delay the arrival of new Thunder forward Gabriel Deck to Oklahoma City, head coach Mark Daigneault has indicated, as Joe Mussatto of the Oklahoman tweets.
- Michael Rand of the Star Tribune wonders if the impending sale of the Timberwolves to ex-MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez and entrepreneur Marc Lore could put the pressure on president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas to expedite a winning culture. Minnesota has made just one playoff appearance since its Western Conference Finals berth in 2004.
- The Jazz, current owners of the top seed in the Western Conference, are striving to balance resting their core players without losing their competitive edge, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. “When we have guys out, we are going to have to have some other guys be really aggressive, and we are going to have to run as much as we can,” head coach Quin Snyder noted. The team has been more liberal in resting players with All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell absent due to a low-ankle sprain.