Knicks Reportedly Missed Out On Chances To Trade Alec Burks
The Knicks had several opportunities to trade Alec Burks ahead of last month’s deadline, but the deals fell apart because New York kept pressing for additional draft assets, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
Among the proposals was a three-way trade involving the Lakers and Raptors that would have sent Burks and Cam Reddish to L.A., Talen Horton-Tucker and Nerlens Noel to Toronto, and Goran Dragic and the Raptors’ 2022 first-round pick to New York, sources tell Fischer.
Those talks reportedly collapsed because the Knicks insisted on getting more draft picks, which doesn’t surprise one unidentified Eastern Conference executive who spoke to Fischer.
“They are always trying to squeeze out an extra second-round pick here and an extra second-round pick there,” the executive said.
Since the failed trade, Reddish has been lost for the season with a separated shoulder, while Dragic – traded instead to San Antonio – reached a buyout with the Spurs and signed with the cross-town Nets. The Knicks are still without a reliable point guard and are expected to pursue one in free agency this summer, with the Mavericks’ Jalen Brunson likely to be a prime target.
Burks has been filling in at point guard after injuries to Kemba Walker and Derrick Rose, but New York approached the deadline searching for an alternative. Burks, who will turn 31 this summer, is under contract for a little more than $10MM next season and the Knicks hold a team option on his $10.49MM salary for 2023/24.
Central Notes: Lopez, Connaughton, Williams, Bickerstaff
Bucks center Brook Lopez was out of action so long that he even missed arguing with the referees, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. After playing on opening night, Lopez sat out nearly five months because of back issues. He had surgery on December 2 to repair a bulging disc and went through a long rehab process that kept him off the court until this Monday.
Lopez was restricted to 15 minutes during his first game back, but he mostly played the way he did when he helped bring a title to Milwaukee last season. He mishandled the ball occasionally because of a lack of timing, but he made all the defensive plays that he usually does, according to Nehm.
“I’ve been through injuries a few times and so it’s always just made me appreciate basketball, love it even more,” Lopez said. “I try never to take my time on the court for granted, whether it’s practice, shootaround or a game. And so that’s why I just try to be out there, whenever I’m out there, playing with energy, being enthusiastic, and above all, having fun, having a good time. And with the group we have, that’s easy. But yeah, I’m just so happy and blessed to be back out there. There’s not much else I want in the world than that.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Bucks guard Pat Connaughton is close to a return after having hand surgery last month, tweets Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Coach Mike Budenholzer indicated that Connaughton needs to go through one more practice before playing again.
- The Bulls have cleared Patrick Williams for full contact as he works to return from wrist surgery, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Williams didn’t travel with the Bulls on their current three-game road trip, and he may practice or play for the team’s G League affiliate during that time. “A lot’s gonna now depend on how it goes once he does that (practices), and what does medical feel and he feel like (is) an ample amount of time for him to get comfortable actually going into a game,” coach Billy Donovan said.
- J.B. Bickerstaff deserves Coach of the Year consideration for holding together a Cavaliers team that has been wrecked by injuries, argues Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Cleveland is still in contention for a top six spot in the East despite losing Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio early in the season and Jarrett Allen more recently. Vardon also says former Cavs coach Tyronn Lue should be recognized for the job he has done with the Clippers.
New York Notes: Dragic, Irving, Thibodeau, Payne
With James Harden traded away and Kyrie Irving unavailable for most of their remaining games, the Nets were able to stabilize their backcourt by signing Goran Dragic, who had been inactive for most of the season, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Dragic, who hadn’t played since November 13, signed with Brooklyn following a buyout with the Raptors. He quickly got into game shape and moved into the rotation.
“Physically I’m good. So I got in shape in one week; it’s crazy,” Dragic said. “The last game (Sunday against the Knicks) I played 38 minutes. I even talked to (coach Steve Nash) and tell him ‘Steve, that’s too much.’ But he’s like ‘Yeah, we don’t have nobody else, a couple of guys are hurt.’ So, do whatever it takes for the team. I still have to have to catch my rhythm, but I’m just happy to be out there and to help and try to organize everybody and put the right situation and try to make it easier.”
Nash was hoping to ease Dragic into the lineup, but circumstances have dictated otherwise. Seth Curry and Cam Thomas are both dealing with injuries that forced them to miss tonight’s game and Irving will only be eligible for three more games during the regular season, so there’s not much choice but to rely on Dragic.
“We’d like to keep him in a range though that is a little more reasonable, especially in some of these stretches where he’s playing four in six nights,” Nash said. “It’s not easy to throw him out there after having three or four months without playing and play over 35 minutes consistently, so we’ve got to try to protect him if we can. But we’re in a little bit of desperation here with guards out of the lineup.”
There’s more from New York:
- Nets fans hoping that New York City’s vaccine mandate might be lifted soon, allowing Irving to participate in home games, were let down today by Mayor Eric Adams, per Kevin Sheehen, Bernadette Hogan and Sam Raskin of The New York Post. “I’m focused on 9 million people,” Adams said. “And so, I am not looking at one person, I’m looking at my city not closing down again, not having to deal with this crisis again.”
- Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau brushed aside speculation about his future with the team during tonight’s pre-game session with the media, tweets Marc Berman of The New York Post. “I don’t worry about any of that stuff,” Thibodeau said in response to a report this morning that he’s likely to return next season. In a column that ran today, Berman supports keeping Thibodeau, arguing that a coaching change wouldn’t solve the team’s biggest problems.
- Knicks assistant Kenny Payne will be hired Friday as the new head coach at the University of Louisville, sources tell Jeff Borzello of ESPN.
Northwest Notes: Gay, Hart, Towns, McDaniels
Rudy Gay‘s first season with the Jazz has been disappointing, but he believes there’s still time to turn it around, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. Gay signed as a free agent over the summer, but offseason heel surgery kept him out of action through the first 14 games of the season. He missed four more games because of soreness in the heel and another six in February due to illness and knee pain. Although the season is winding down, Gay feels like there’s still progress to be made before the playoffs.
“I feel pretty good going into the later part of the season,” he said. “This is good. We went through a lot early. That was good for us. The thing about it is, I’m motivated. Just trying to make a long run in these playoffs. That’s what it’s really about. The real season’s coming. This is all trying to get in a rhythm so we can be our best by then.”
Coach Quin Snyder recognizes that because he’s missed so much time, Gay is still adjusting to his role on the team. Snyder has been extending Gay’s minutes lately, even in games that are out of reach.
“I feel about Rudy the way I do about our team: as he plays more, he’ll continue to be able to give us more,” Snyder said. “… Getting him out there is important to us. Rudy’s obviously someone we feel like can really impact the game for us.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- Josh Hart is adapting to his new situation with a Trail Blazers team that is currently more focused on developing young players than winning games, notes Jason Quick of The Athletic. Coach Chauncey Billups said Hart is used to being a complementary player on teams with stars, rather than a primary scorer surrounded by youngsters. “I had to have some conversations with him, because Josh is a very, very competitive dude, and sometimes we’ve been in situations where we haven’t been very competitive,” Billups said. “And that’s tough, especially for a vet. So I’m challenging him right now to just control that, and help our guys. But it’s a tough deal.”
- Karl-Anthony Towns‘ 60-point outburst Monday was accompanied by a joy that was missing when he set the previous team record of 56 in 2018, observes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. After some difficult years with the Timberwolves, Towns is now the leader of a winning team that enjoys playing together. He could be headed for a spot an All-NBA team, which would make him eligible for a four-year super-max extension this offseason.
- Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels suffered a high ankle sprain, tweets Chris Hine of The Star-Tribune. Josh Okogie is expected to get extra playing time while McDaniels is sidelined (Twitter link).
Raptors Sign Armoni Brooks To Second 10-Day Deal
6:32pm: Brooks has signed his contract, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports.
12:46pm: The Raptors will bring back guard Armoni Brooks on a second 10-day contract, reports Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link). Brooks’ first 10-day deal with the team ran through Tuesday before expiring overnight.
Brooks, 23, appeared in four games during his first 10 days with Toronto, averaging 8.3 minutes per contest. His impact was limited — he scored just three points on 1-of-6 shooting with five rebounds, two assists, and two steals in 33 total minutes.
Still, the Raptors apparently liked what they saw enough to commit to Brooks for at least 10 more days. Once Brooks’ second 10-day deal expires, the team will have to either sign him for the rest of the season or let him walk, since players can’t sign more than two standard 10-day contracts with the same club in a single season.
A former Rocket who was waived by Houston in February, Brooks will once again occupy the 15th spot on Toronto’s standard roster, so no corresponding roster move or hardship exception is necessary to complete the signing. He’ll earn $85,578 on the deal.
Assuming the Raptors re-sign Brooks prior to Wednesday’s game vs. the Clippers, his new contract will run through March 25, covering the club’s next five games.
Spurs’ Doug McDermott Out For Rest Of Season
Spurs forward Doug McDermott will miss the remainder of the season because of a Grade 3 ankle sprain, tweets Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News.
McDermott left Saturday’s game against the Pacers after rolling the ankle in the first quarter. He was ruled out for Monday’s game before the team decided to have him sit out the rest of the season.
McDermott moved into the starting lineup after coming to San Antonio in a sign-and-trade deal with Indiana last summer. He played in 51 games, missing significant time while in the health and safety protocols, and averaged 11.3 points per night while shooting 42.2% from three-point range.
The 30-year-old will earn $13.75MM in each of the next two seasons and will become a free agent in 2024.
Ben Simmons Has An Irritated Disc In His Spine, Receives Epidural
Ben Simmons is suffering from an irritation of the L-4 disc in his lower spine, according to Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. It doesn’t appear he’ll be back any time soon, but Nets officials are hoping he can play a “couple” of games before the regular season ends.
Simmons received an epidural treatment for back pain while the team was in Orlando this week, according to Nick Friedell of ESPN (Twitter link). Doctors hope the injection will help ease the discomfort and speed up his return to the court.
Coach Steve Nash added that there’s still no timeline for Simmons to begin practicing, as the team has to see how he responds to the epidural. Nash said he remains hopeful that Simmons will be available before the playoffs start (Twitter link).
After acquiring him from the Sixers last month, the Nets originally set Friday’s game against the Trail Blazers as a target date for Simmons’ debut, sources tell Shelburne and Wojnarowski. However, that became unrealistic because he couldn’t get through more than a day or two of rehab without pain affecting his lower back.
Simmons continues to get treatment and is working to strengthen the affected area, the authors add. He has done some basketball activities in a 1-on-0 setting, but nothing more.
Nash admitted over the weekend that Simmons still isn’t ready for 1-on-1 games and has a long way to go before progressing to a 5-on-5 setting. The Nets have 13 games left in the season and at 36-33 are trying to climb into sixth place to avoid the play-in tournament.
Draft Notes: March Madness, New Mocks, Ignite Prospects
In honor of March Madness, Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) conducted a mock draft made up exclusively of players participating in the NCAA Tournament and shared insights on what to watch from those players during the event.
The very top of ESPN’s March Madness mock remains unchanged, since Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, Auburn’s Jabari Smith, Duke’s Paolo Banchero, and Purdue’s Jaden Ivey will all be participating in the tournament.
Here are a few more draft-related notes, with the start of March Madness right around the corner:
- Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer has published his annual draft guide, including his top-30 big board. While there are no major surprises near the very top of O’Connor’s board, he diverges from the consensus in a few instances further down, including ranking G League Ignite wing Jaden Hardy at No. 12.
- Jeremy Woo of SI.com takes an in-depth, region-by-region look at the games and players to keep a close eye on during the NCAA Tournament, identifying sleepers, prospects with the most at stake, and the potential matchups that scouts would most like to see.
- In his newly-updated 2022 mock draft, Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report has Jabari Smith coming off the board with the No. 1 pick. G League Ignite guard Dyson Daniels, the No. 10 prospect on ESPN’s big board, slides all the way down to No. 23 in Wasserman’s mock.
Southeast Notes: Isaac, Magic, Hachimura, Morris
Discussing the decision to rule out Jonathan Isaac for the remainder of the season, Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman and Isaac himself said on Tuesday there hasn’t been a setback in the forward’s recovery process from a torn ACL, writes Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. That recovery process has simply taken a little longer than Isaac and the Magic expected.
“In terms of building the muscle around my knee, it’s taken a bit longer than we’ve wanted it to,” Isaac said.
According to Weltman, Isaac has been participating in half-court contact drills, but hasn’t progressed to full-court contact. There isn’t enough time left in the regular season for Isaac to go through the last few steps he needs to return to action, so the Magic will count on having him available to start the 2022/23 season.
“This is another example of why you just do the work everyday and kind of let the work and timeline unroll at its own pace,” Weltman said, per Price. “That’s the right way to do it.”
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), the injury protection language in Isaac’s rookie scale extension means the Magic would only be on the hook for $23.6MM of the $52.2MM owed to him over the next three seasons if they were to waive him. However, there’s no indication that Orlando is considering that possibility.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- With Isaac and Bol Bol officially ruled out for the rest of the season, Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley should have a clearer sense of which rotation options will be available to him for the final few weeks of 2021/22, Price writes in a separate story for The Orlando Sentinel.
- After starting all 105 games he played during his first two NBA seasons, Rui Hachimura has come off the Wizards‘ bench in all 27 of his appearances in 2021/22. However, as Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said it’s possible Hachimura will re-enter the starting lineup before the end of the season. “Everything is on the table,” Unseld said. “I like where he is right now, but as he progresses, we’ll see… Where he is right now from where he was two months ago, it’s night and day.”
- After returning on Saturday following a four-month absence due to a neck injury, Heat forward Markieff Morris said he only briefly entertained the possibility that he wouldn’t make it back this season, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “At times, doubt crept in,” Morris said. “It probably wasn’t until January when the doubt crept in because it was just so long and there were a bunch of things happening that didn’t go as planned. … Other than that, if you ask me personally, I already knew that I would come back to play. It was more so not a matter of if, it was a matter of when.” Morris has played 17 minutes in each of his two appearances since returning, reclaiming his role as the team’s backup power forward.
Poll: How Will Nets’ Season End?
While the Nets have been one of the NBA’s biggest underachievers this season, their performance hasn’t yet inspired much panic. The oddsmakers at BetOnline.ag, for instance, still consider Brooklyn the favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference this spring.
Unlike the disappointing Lakers, who haven’t looked great even when they’re playing at full strength, the Nets have played well during the rare instances when they’ve had something resembling a healthy lineup. But they’ve been missing key pieces for much of the season — Kevin Durant has only played in 42 of 69 games, primarily due to a knee injury, while Kyrie Irving‘s vaccination status has resulted in him making just 19 appearances to date.
On top of those issues, Ben Simmons has yet to make his Nets debut and Joe Harris is out for the season due to an ankle injury.
Harris won’t play again for Brooklyn this spring, but you could talk yourself into Durant, Irving, and Simmons all being available for the postseason. Durant is currently healthy; New York City’s private sector vaccine mandate could theoretically be adjusted in the next few weeks, freeing up Irving to play at home as well as on the road; and head coach Steve Nash expressed optimism this week that Simmons will make his Nets debut before the end of the regular season.
But things could just as easily go the other way. A pair of orthopedic specialists who spoke to The New York Post speculated that Simmons won’t return this season due to his ongoing back issues. And there’s still no timeline for New York City’s private sector vaccine mandate to change. Mayor Eric Adams said on Wednesday that he’s not going to base any decisions on whether or not the Nets have Irving available for the postseason.
“I’m focused on nine million people,” Adams said, per Kevin Sheehan, Bernadette Hogan and Sam Raskin of The New York Post. “And so, I am not looking at one person, I’m looking at my city not closing down again, not having to deal with this crisis again. … I’m not going to be rushed in based on a season schedule. I am going to do this right for the people of the city, and I’m not focusing on one individual.”
A healthy Durant and a solid collection of role players are capable of making some noise in the playoffs, but with Irving only available on the road and Simmons not available at all, Brooklyn’s ceiling would be limited.
It’s also worth noting that the 36-33 Nets will likely have to win at least one game in a play-in tournament before even clinching a playoff spot, and there’s no guarantee they’ll have Irving available in that scenario.
If the season ended today, the Nets would visit the 38-30 Raptors for the first play-in game, with the winner earning the No. 7 seed. A loss in that contest would mean hosting the Hawks (34-34) or Hornets (34-35), with the No. 8 spot up for grabs. Local vaccine mandates currently prohibit Irving from playing in either Toronto or Brooklyn.
The Nets could avoid that play-in dilemma by moving into the top six, but they’re still 3.5 games back of the No. 6 Cavaliers, so there’s some work to do on that front. With Irving only available for three more games this season, it seems just as plausible that the Hawks or Hornets could catch the Nets for the No. 8 spot, which would put even more play-in pressure on Brooklyn.
We want to know what you think. Obviously, the Nets’ upside hinges largely on Irving’s and Simmons’ availability, but based on what we know today, how do you see the team’s season playing out? Is Brooklyn headed for an early postseason exit, or is an NBA Finals appearance still within reach?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
How will the Nets' season play out?
-
They'll win one or two playoff series 40% (295)
-
They'll lose in the first round 25% (184)
-
They'll be eliminated in the play-in tournament 17% (125)
-
They'll win the NBA Finals 11% (82)
-
They'll win the East and lose in the NBA Finals 8% (56)
Total votes: 742