Injury Updates: Burks, Lecque, MCW, Haliburton
Veteran guard Alec Burks, who has missed the Knicks‘ last four games due to a sprained left ankle, underwent further testing on that ankle and is now in a walking boot, according to the team (Twitter link). He’ll be re-evaluated in about 7-10 days.
It’s an unfortunate setback for Burks, who scored 22 points in each of the Knicks’ first two games and had already racked up 18 points in 21 minutes when he was injured on December 27. However, the club has managed to win four of five games since he suffered that ankle injury (including the one he left early).
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Pacers guard Jalen Lecque has suffered a Grade 2 left ankle sprain and has been ruled out indefinitely, the team announced in a press release. Lecque, acquired by Indiana in an offseason trade, will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
- Michael Carter-Williams has been diagnosed with a mild bone bruise and a sprained ligament in his left foot, according to the Magic (Twitter link). Carter-Williams has been ruled out for Wednesday’s game vs. Cleveland and may miss additional time — his return will depend on how he responds to treatment, per the team.
- Kings rookie guard Tyrese Haliburton, who has missed the team’s last two games due to a bone bruise in his left wrist, has been upgraded to questionable for Wednesday’s contest against Chicago, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Even if Haliburton isn’t able to play tonight, it sounds like he’s close to a return.
Pacific Notes: Bagley, Fox, Nader, Warriors Staff, Curry
Marvin Bagley III‘s father created a stir when he tweeted that he wanted to see his son traded, something the younger Bagley refused to talk about. The Kings’ star, De’Aaron Fox, insists the controversy hasn’t bothered the team, Jason Jones of The Athletic writes.
“I don’t think anybody’s out there playing basketball worried about two tweets,” Fox said of the Kings. “And if you are, this ain’t what you should be doing because (people are going) tweet you every day of your life while you’re playing in this league. If that’s what you’re worried about, then I don’t know what to tell you.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Suns coach Monty Williams said Abdel Nader is “a full go” after recovering from a concussion, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. Nader hasn’t played since the preseason after taking hard fall at Utah. Nader was tossed into the Chris Paul trade with the Thunder and had his $1.75MM salary for this season guaranteed in November.
- Josh Proctor has been named chief financial officer for the Warriors, the team announced in a press release. Proctor, who has over 20 years of financial management experience, will oversee all financial operations related to the Warriors and Chase Center. Liz Cardenas has been promoted to VP of financial planning & analysis, according to another press release.
- Stephen Curry and the Warriors might find it beneficial to explore a trade down the road, Michael Pina of Sports Illustrated opines. Curry turns 33 in March and Golden State might need to consider a rebuild by 2022, when his contract expires. Pina speculates that many teams would be interested in Curry and would surrender major assets for the two-time MVP.
Hawks Guard Rajon Rondo Sidelined By Knee Issue
Hawks guard Rajon Rondo will enter a period of rest and rehabilitation to strengthen his right knee, the team tweets. He will miss at least the next three games and be reviewed prior to the team’s three-game West Coast trip. That journey begins January 13 in Phoenix.
Rondo has been battling issues with both knees this season. He missed two games with left knee soreness and was medically cleared for Monday’s game against New York but did not play.
Rondo has appeared in only two regular-season games since signing a two-year, $15MM contract with the Hawks.
With Rondo out, Brandon Goodwin will likely be the primary backup to Trae Young. Goodwin has averaged 12.6 MPG in five appearances this season.
Rondo joins two other high-profile free agent signees, Danilo Gallinari and Kris Dunn, on the sidelines. Gallinari will miss at least two weeks with an ankle sprain, while Dunn underwent ankle surgery on New Year’s Eve and will be reevaluated in mid-January.
Rondo played an important role in helping the Lakers capture the NBA title last season despite suffering a fractured right thumb shortly after arriving at Orlando for the restart. He came back to average 8.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG and 6.6 APG off the bench in 16 postseason games.
Southeast Notes: Bryant, Zeller, Monk, Gallinari
Wizards center Thomas Bryant has learned to play more under control and that has him poised for a career year, according to Ava Wallace of the Washington Post.
“It’s fun to coach him, because he’s emotional. Last year it was not to our advantage. This year, he’s controlling it,” Wizards head coach Scott Brooks said. “… His growth in that area, it’s going to help us win a lot of games this year.”
Bryant is averaging 17.9 PPG and 6.7 RPG, enhancing his future value. He’s under contract with the Wizards through the 2021/22 season, then becomes an unrestricted free agent.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Hornets big man Cody Zeller said he can’t speed up the healing process after breaking the ring finger on his left hand, Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer writes. He has been relegated to working out — mostly on a stationary bike — to retain conditioning. He had a timetable of 4-6 weeks after undergoing surgery on Christmas Eve. “It’s not like a muscle or something else, where you can kind of work through it. You really have to give it time to heal,” Zeller said. “My rehab has been trying to get some of the swelling out.”
- Hornets coach James Borrego will make some rotation changes to spark the offense and attempt to end the team’s three-game skid, Bonnell writes in a separate story. “There are lineup tweaks that will be made for tomorrow. Not necessarily in the starting lineup. But along the way, trying to find some different combinations of guys as we move throughout a game to give us more offense,” Borrego said. Malik Monk could see his playing time expand at Cody Martin‘s expense, Bonnell speculates.
- Danilo Gallinari was acquired by the Hawks in a sign-and-trade with the Thunder and made a three-year commitment. However, he’s already thinking about his long-term future, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays. In an interview by La Repubblica, Gallinari said he’d like to eventually finish his career by returning to Italy’s Olimpia Milano. “Playing with Olimpia, in a team as strong and ambitious as this season, is a dream for me,” he said.
Atlantic Notes: Raptors’ Start, Johnson, Thibodeau, Nets
The Raptors are struggling to cope with a slow start, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Fred VanVleet, who opted to re-sign with the club, admits that the 1-5 start has been tough to take.
“This is probably uncharted territory for most of us,” VanVleet said. “Just speaking for myself, I’ve never been a part of something like this. … There’s a boatload of problems and we’ve got to find ways to solve them.”
Pascal Siakam and free agent signee Aron Baynes have performed poorly in the early going.
“I think [Siakam] is gonna work himself back into it a little bit more, and I think we don’t worry about it,” Kyle Lowry said. “We can’t worry about him too much. We’ve got to figure it out and all of us come together.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Stanley Johnson has displaced Matt Thomas in the Raptors’ rotation, Bontemps tweets. Coach Nick Nurse wants more size on the wing and has been disappointed in the play of both Thomas and Terence Davis. Johnson, noted for his defense, played 11 scoreless minutes but contributed two assists and three steals in 11 minutes against Boston on Monday. Davis held his rotation spot, scoring 13 points in 17 minutes. Johnson exercised a $3.8MM player option prior to the season and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
- Julius Randle has been the Knicks’ top player in their 4-3 start, and he gives plenty of credit to new coach Tom Thibodeau, according to Steve Popper of Newsday. Randle said Thibodeau’s attention to detail has created a greater focus. “Thibs every day is on us,” he said. “He’s a great leader for us and given us a game plan we believe in every day and we’re coming into every game focused and locked into the game plan of what we need to do.”
- The Nets are below .500 and won’t have Kevin Durant for as many as four games. But coach Steve Nash sees a silver lining, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. “Plenty to clean up,” Nash said. “It’s early. We can’t lose our minds over it, and we can’t get overly frustrated. … And you know what? It’s good for us. It’s good to get a little tension. We’ve got to get comfortable being uncomfortable, so here we are.”
Cavs’ Dante Exum To Miss 1-2 Months
Cavaliers guard Dante Exum is expected to miss 1-2 months with a strained right calf, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Exum suffered the non-contact injury during the first quarter of the team’s game against Orlando on Monday. He was writhing in pain and eventually hobbled to the bench, unable to put weight on his leg.
It’s a blow to the Cavs, as coach J.B. Bickerstaff had plugged Exum in a defensive stopper role.
“I think (Dante) is a heck of a defender,” Bickerstaff said over the weekend. “He’s extremely intelligent. He’s got great length. And he’s committed to trying to go out and get the job done.”
The injury could impact Exum’s future earnings. Exum, who is making $9.6MM this season, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. He’s dealt with a number of health problems over the years that sidetracked his career. He hasn’t played more than 42 games in the past three seasons.
Cleveland has been hit hard by injuries and other issues this season
Exum was inserted into the lineup when rookie Isaac Okoro sprained his foot and then was placed on the league’s COVID-19 list. Kevin Porter Jr. has been out for personal reasons and his return is unknown, while Kevin Love is expected to miss most of this month with a calf strain. Matthew Dellavedova has been sidelined after suffering a concussion during the preseason.
Rockets Notes: Wood, Harden, McLemore, Martin, House, More
New Rockets center Christian Wood has been a revelation on offense in Houston so far, but in order to maximize his overall impact, he needs to become a more consistently reliable rim protector, as Kelly Iko of The Athletic writes.
“For us to be a great defense, it’s all about protection in the paint, protecting that rim,” Eric Gordon said on Monday. “If guards come down and they have to think about scoring over Christian Wood, that’s gonna help us.”
According to Iko, rebounding is also an area the Rockets will need to improve. When the team was playing micro-ball last season, its poor rebounding numbers were understandable, but those struggles have carried over to the early part of 2020/21, even with Wood and other big men now part of the rotation. Houston currently ranks 29th in rebounding percentage.
Here’s more on the Rockets:
- While James Harden has made it clear that he wants to be traded out of Houston, he still has to prove what sort of sacrifices he’s willing to make if he wants to win a championship, writes Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated. Some executives who spoke to Beck were skeptical that the former MVP would readily change his playing style to help a new team. “James is like Allen Iverson: He wants to win his way and put up historical numbers while he’s winning,” one veteran Eastern Conference executive said. “I would never question their desire to win, but they all want to win on their terms.”
- Ben McLemore and KJ Martin, who were self-isolating after reportedly testing positive for COVID-19, have returned to the team but are focusing on improving their conditioning and aren’t traveling to Indiana for Wednesday’s game, says Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Danuel House, who continues to be nagged by a sore back, also won’t be with the club for that game.
- In a separate article for The Houston Chronicle, Feigen takes a look at the strong start Sterling Brown has enjoyed after signing with the Rockets as a free agent in November.
- Kelly Iko and Tim Cato of The Athletic revisit Stephen Silas‘ days as an assistant coach with the Mavericks and explore how that position helped prepare him for his first head coaching job in Houston.
League Officials Have Floated Possible $2.5 Billion Expansion Fee
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in his preseason press conference last month that the league has become more open to the idea of expanding beyond its current 30 teams. While Silver cautioned that expansion isn’t “on the front burner,” a report on Tuesday from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst suggests there have been some discussions about the concept in the league office.
According to Windhorst, officials have “floated” a price tag of $2.5 billion as a potential expansion fee for two new teams in the near future.
Expansion fees – which are paid by the incoming franchises – are split equally by the NBA’s current teams and aren’t shared with players. That means two new franchises paying $2.5 billion apiece could result in a $160MM+ windfall for each of the league’s 30 existing clubs, Windhorst notes.
It’s not clear whether that $2.5 billion projection is a realistic one, but the NBA “knows its business and its bidders,” according to Windhorst, who points out that multiple groups based in cities like Seattle and Las Vegas could have interest in establishing a new NBA franchise and could be motivated to meet the league’s asking price in an expansion scenario.
With a number of current teams accumulating debt during the coronavirus pandemic, interest in the idea of expansion has increased, Windhorst writes.
Still, team owners looking to make up for lost short-term revenue should be wary of pushing to do so via an expansion fee. As Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and others have pointed out, that expansion fee is essentially a loan that will be repaid over the years via revenue sharing if teams are receiving 1/32nd of the league-wide pie instead of 1/30th.
And-Ones: Montgomery, Thomas, NCAA Tourney, 2021 Draft
Former Kentucky forward E.J. Montgomery, who was in training camp with the Bucks last month, has signed with Lithuanian team BC Nevezis, according to an announcement from the club (Twitter link).
After going undrafted in 2020 following his sophomore season with the Wildcats, Montgomery caught on with Milwaukee on a non-guaranteed camp deal, but was cut on December 16. While the Bucks may have, at one point, envisioned Montgomery as a potential G League affiliate player, the Wisconsin Herd opted out of the NBAGL’s bubble plan for 2020/21, opening the door for the 21-year-old to pursue another professional opportunity.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Isaiah Thomas and Excel Sports Management have parted ways, as the free agent point guard continues to seek an NBA comeback, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Presumably, Thomas will hire new representation to spearhead the effort to land him an NBA job.
- The NCAA was forced to cancel March Madness in 2020, but the 2021 event is still scheduled to tip off in mid-March. According to a press release from the NCAA, the plan is for the entire tournament to take place in Indiana to reduce the coronavirus risk associated with travel.
- Michael Scotto of HoopsHype spoke to a handful of player agents and team executives about what it looks like when a player requests a trade and how the process typically plays out behind the scenes.
- Draft expert Jeff Goodman of Stadium has unveiled his big board for the 2021 NBA draft, which is headed by Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs. Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State), Jalen Green (G League Ignite), Evan Mobley (USC), and Jonathan Kuminga (G League Ignite) fill out Goodman’s initial top five. The same five prospects are atop ESPN’s big board, albeit in a different order.
Team Staffers Struggling To Balance New COVID-19 Responsibilities With Typical Duties
Team officials around the NBA who have been tasked with enforcing and managing COVID-19 protocols – in addition to their typical team duties – are feeling overwhelmed and are struggling to keep up, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN.
A number of those officials who have to manage the new health and safety protocols have had trouble balancing their roles and are concerned they’re not spending enough time on the usual treatment, recovery, and training for players, according to Holmes.
“What scares me — and I know it’s happening — is that their normal job of doing health care on players (is impaired),” one league source told ESPN. “I’ve had some trainers tell me, ‘I haven’t touched a player in two weeks because I’ve been so busy doing all this logistics and testing and all that.’ That’s concerning. That’s definitely what I don’t want to happen.”
While no one who spoke to Holmes blamed the NBA for its diligence in establishing extensive coronavirus protocols, most felt worn out by all the extra work those protocols have created. One head athletic trainer for a Western Conference team told ESPN that the usual workload has at least doubled, if not tripled, this season.
As Holmes writes, the league required each club to name a testing officer, a contact tracing officer, a face mask enforcement officer, a facility hygiene officer, a health education and awareness officer, and a travel safety officer, among other positions. In many cases, the same staffer holds more than one of those roles.
The league’s protocols are also constantly evolving and being updated, and teams must account for varying local rules and regulations in each market on road trips.
“There’s just not enough hours in the day to read the memos, the nuances, compliance, testing, the things that quickly change.” one Western Conference GM told Holmes. “You have constant scenarios happening where the memos don’t cover that particular situation…That’s no one’s fault. It’s just where we’re at.”
There’s hope among teams’ health officials that they’ll be able to get accustomed to their dual roles and “find a rhythm” as the season progresses, according to Holmes, but there’s also concern that the burnout will only get worse.
“Every waking hour seems to be committed to (the protocols),” one Eastern Conference head athletic training official said. “But you look down the pike here, and… you wonder, ‘God, I barely got through today, how am I going to do this another 100-something times?'”