Central Notes: Ball, Grant, Carlisle, Guy, Wade
Lonzo Ball will be reevaluated this week and “wants to come back and play,” Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago tweets.
A week ago, the Bulls announced Ball would not run for 10 days. His rehab from surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee was halted after he felt discomfort in the knee. Ball’s reevaluation is expected to happen when the team returns from its road trip, which ends on Tuesday. There’s hope Ball can ramp up to full-speed running and cutting after he’s reevaluated.
“Lonzo really wants to come back and play. He wants to do everything possible…,” coach Billy Donovan said. “If we do start ramping up and [he doesn’t respond well again], I don’t know what they’ll do because we have not discussed that.”
Ball has been out since January 14.
We have from the Central Division:
- Jerami Grant, the Pistons’ leading scorer, will sit out the rest of the season due to a left calf strain, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com tweets. Grant suffered the injury against Washington on Friday. A prime trade candidate this offseason, he has one year remaining on his three-year contract.
- Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has returned to the sidelines after leaving the team for two games due to personal reasons, James Boyd of the Indianapolis Star tweets. “Felt very bad about not going on that trip because it’s just a hard set of couple games, given our personnel situation. But we’ve got seven (games) left, and we’ve got to focus,” he said.
- Guard Kyle Guy has rejoined the Cleveland Charge, the Cavaliers’ G League team, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. Guy was waived by the Heat on Thursday. Guy signed a two-way contract with Miami in mid-January after playing with the Charge. He appeared in 19 games with Miami, averaging 3.9 PPG in 9.8 MPG.
- Cavaliers forward Dean Wade has a six-to-eight week recovery period from his knee surgery, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic tweets. The meniscus surgery on his right knee will be a cleanup procedure and he should be a full participant in Summer League activities, Russo adds.
Celtics’ Robert Williams Has Torn Meniscus, Will Have Surgery
5:10pm: Williams will undergo surgery on his injured knee, coach Ime Ukoda told Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link) and other media members. Williams will explore surgical options this week.
12:19pm: The Celtics have officially confirmed that Williams has a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee, announcing in a press release that they’ll provide an update later this week on his treatment and recovery.
10:51am: Celtics big man Robert Williams, who underwent further testing on his injured left knee today, has suffered a meniscus tear and will miss, at minimum, several weeks, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) was the first to report the team’s fear that Williams had torn the meniscus in his left knee. The 24-year-old sustained the injury on Sunday.
The treatment plan and recovery timeline for a meniscus tear varies from player to player, since the injury can be treated both surgically and non-surgically, depending on the severity — some players who suffer the injury are only sidelined for weeks, while others miss months. According to Wojnarowski, further evaluation on Williams today will help determine how long he’ll be sidelined.
With just two weeks left in the regular season, it’s possible we won’t see Williams again in 2021/22, especially if Boston doesn’t win a playoff series or two.
It’s a brutal turn of events for Williams and for the Celtics, who have looked like the Eastern Conference’s best team over the last couple months, winning 24 of their last 28 games.
The Celtics currently hold the No. 1 seed in the East and Williams has played a major role in their recent success, anchoring the NBA’s top-ranked defense and nearly averaging a double-double, with 10.0 PPG and 9.6 RPG on the season. He has shot an eye-popping 73.6% from the floor and emerged as a strong candidate for an All-Defensive nod.
With Williams sidelined, Boston will lean more heavily on Al Horford, Daniel Theis, and Grant Williams in the frontcourt. The team is signing forward Juwan Morgan to a 10-day contract using its open roster spot, but that deal will expire before the season ends, so that 15th spot could be used next week on a big man, if necessary.
Williams, who signed a rookie scale extension with the Celtics last fall, will be under contract for four years and $48MM (with another $6MM in incentives), beginning in 2022/23.
Thunder’s Bazley Out For Rest Of Season
Thunder forward Darius Bazley has sustained a non-displaced tibial plateau fracture in his right knee and will miss the team’s remaining eight games, the team’s PR department tweets.
Bazley has appeared in 69 games this season, averaging 10.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.4 APG and 1.0 BPG in 27.9 MPG. He was injured during the first half of the Thunder’s game against Denver on Saturday.
Bazley had been on a scoring tear prior to the injury, scoring 22 or more points in four of the previous seven games.
Back in October, the Thunder exercised their fourth-year option on Bazley, who is on his rookie contract. He’ll make $4.26MM next season.
Bazley is eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason and it will be interesting to see if the knee injury impacts Oklahoma City’s desire to extend him or the offer they’ll present. His scoring, rebounding and minutes totals dropped this season — he averaged 13.7 PPG and 7.2 RPG in 31.2 MPG last season. However, Bazley displayed greater defensive versatility this season by effectively guarding multiple positions, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman tweets.
MSU’s Gabe Brown Among Early Entrants For 2022 Draft
Michigan State senior wing Gabe Brown will forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility and enter the 2022 NBA draft, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, who tweets that Brown is signing with Parlay Sports for representation.
The No. 94 prospect on ESPN’s big board, Brown was a full-time starter for the Spartans in 2021/22, averaging 11.6 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 36 games (28.9 MPG). His calling card is his three-point shooting — he knocked down 39.3% of his attempts from beyond the arc over the last two seasons.
Brown’s MSU teammate Marcus Bingham also won’t be back with the Spartans next season, telling Mike Lacett of 13 On Your Side (video link) that he’s going through the NBA draft process. The senior center averaged 9.3 PPG and 6.3 RPG on .534/.415/.747 shooting in 35 games (18.7 MPG) for Michigan State in 2021/22.
Here are a few more players who are entering the 2022 NBA draft:
Expected to forgo remaining NCAA eligibility:
- Teddy Allen, F, New Mexico State (senior) (Twitter link via Jeff Goodman of Stadium)
- David Azore, G, UT Arlington (senior) (Instagram link)
- Izaiah Brockington, G, Iowa State (senior) (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jonathan Givony)
- George Conditt IV, F, Iowa State (senior) (Twitter link)
- Michael Devoe, G, Georgia Tech (senior) (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports)
- Drake Jeffries, G, Wyoming (senior) (Twitter link via Rothstein)
- DeVante’ Jones, G, Michigan (senior) (Twitter link)
- Chuba Ohams, F, Fordham (senior) (Twitter link via Rothstein)
Testing the draft waters:
- Adrian Delph, G, Appalachian State (senior) (Twitter link)
- Kevin McCullar, G, Texas Tech (junior) (Twitter link)
- Makhel Mitchell, F/C, Rhode Island (sophomore) (Instagram link)
- Makhi Mitchell, F/C, Rhode Island (sophomore) (Instagram link)
- Gus Okafor, F, Southeastern Louisiana (junior) (Twitter link)
- Santiago Vescovi, G, Tennessee (junior) (Instagram link)
Our full list of early entrants for the 2022 NBA draft, which will be constantly updated in the next several weeks, can be found right here.
Pacers Sign Justin Anderson To 10-Day Contract
Veteran swingman Justin Anderson, whose previous 10-day deal with the Pacers expired over the weekend, is back under contract with the team on a new 10-day pact, according to a press release.
While the Pacers’ announcement refers to it as Anderson’s second 10-day contract, it’s actually his third this season with the team. Anderson signed the first one back in January under the hardship provision, so this is his second standard 10-day deal with Indiana — that means the club will have to either sign him for the rest of the season or let him go after this new contract expires next Wednesday night.
Anderson, who has spent much of the 2021/22 season in the G League with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Indiana’s affiliate, has played in a total of 11 NBA games for the Cavs and Pacers. In eight appearances with the Pacers, the 28-year-old has averaged 7.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 2.4 APG on .377/.294/.786 shooting in 21.8 MPG.
Indiana had an open spot on its 15-man roster, so no one needed to be cut to make room for Anderson, who will earn $111,457 over the course of his 10-day deal. The agreement will run through April 6, covering five of the Pacers’ seven remaining regular season games.
Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker Named Players Of The Week
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has been named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, while Suns guard Devin Booker has earned Player of the Week honors in the Western Conference, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).
Tatum won the award for a second consecutive week and a third time in March. It’s his fourth total Player of the Week award in 2021/22, which leads all NBA players. Booker is right behind him — this is the third time in ’21/22 that he has been named a Player of the Week.
In three games during the week of March 21-27, Tatum averaged 32.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 5.0 APG with a scorching-hot .582/.500/1.000 shooting line in 33.7 minutes per contest. The Celtics won all three games to extend their winning streak to six.
Booker and the Suns also had a perfect week, with victories over Minnesota, Denver, and Philadelphia. Buoyed by a 49-point outburst against the Nuggets, Booker averaged 37.3 PPG and 6.3 APG in those three games (36.4 MPG), with a shooting line of .581/.429/.829.
The other Eastern Conference nominees this week were LaMelo Ball, RJ Barrett, Joel Embiid, Darius Garland, and Trae Young. Deandre Ayton, Desmond Bane, Luka Doncic, and Nikola Jokic were nominated in the West (Twitter link).
Pelicans Sign Jose Alvarado To Four-Year Deal
MARCH 28: The Pelicans have officially announced Alvarado’s new deal, issuing a press release to confirm the move. The team terminated Wallace’s 10-day contract early, as expected, in order to make room on the 15-man roster for Alvarado.
Alvarado’s new contract will include a fourth-year team option, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN. That will give the Pelicans the opportunity to turn down that option and make Alvarado a restricted free agent in 2024, if they so choose.
MARCH 27: The Pelicans are converting guard Jose Alvarado from his two-way contract, signing him to a four-year, $6.5MM deal, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The agreement will guarantee Alvarado $3.4MM over the next two years, including $1.5MM on top of the $800K he has already earned this season, according to Charania.
Those numbers appear slightly high if the deal is only worth $6.5MM in total, but it sounds like the rookie guard will at least get two fully guaranteed years followed by two minimum-salary seasons that aren’t fully guaranteed.
Alvarado, 23, signed a two-way deal with New Orleans after going unselected in last year’s draft following four collegiate seasons at Georgia Tech. He has played a key role in the team’s backcourt this season, averaging 6.2 points, 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals in 15.3 minutes per contest entering Sunday. He has also shot 43.5% from the floor and 31.6% from behind-the-arc.
By converting Alvarado, the Pelicans will open up a two-way contract spot. The team owns the 10th-best record in the Western Conference at 31-43, leading the Spurs by one game. Promoting Alvarado to the 15-man roster also makes him eligible to play in the postseason, including the play-in game(s).
New Orleans will dip into its mid-level exception in order to ensure Alvarado makes more than the minimum salary this season and to give him four years. The team had only used $1.7MM of its $9.5MM mid-level in 2021/22 in order to sign Herbert Jones.
The Pelicans currently have a full 15-man roster, but 15th man Tyrone Wallace is on a 10-day contract that only runs through Wednesday, so he’ll likely have that deal terminated a couple days early in order to accommodate Alvarado’s promotion.
Community Shootaround: NBA’s Worst Record
Fans of the Magic, Rockets, and Pistons won’t be especially invested in the playoff and seeding races taking place near the top of the NBA’s standings during the last two weeks of the regular season. However, they’ll be closely monitoring their respective teams’ place in the standings for lottery purposes.
Entering action on Monday, Orlando, Houston, and Detroit have identical 20-55 records, meaning they’re all tied for the top spot in the NBA’s draft lottery, as our Reverse Standings show.
Because the lottery format dictates that the league’s bottom three teams all have identical odds for the No. 1 overall pick (14%) and a top-four pick (52.1%), this year’s race to the bottom isn’t quite as consequential as it would have been a few years ago under the NBA’s old lottery system.
Still, since each bottom-three team has a 47.9% chance of falling outside of the top four, its position entering the lottery is crucial — the league’s worst team can’t fall any further than No. 5 on lottery night, whereas the third-worst team could slip all the way to No. 7.
The Magic have played some of their best games of the season in recent weeks, winning home games vs. Minnesota and Golden State and picking up victories in New Orleans and Toronto earlier this month. They’re 4-5 in their last nine games, but have the NBA’s ninth-hardest remaining schedule, according to Tankathon.
The Rockets looked a week ago like the odds-on favorite to finish the season atop the lottery standings, but with three wins in their last four games, that’s now far from a certainty. Their remaining schedule is the league’s sixth-easiest, per Tankathon, and includes five home games, with just two on the road.
The Pistons, meanwhile, are 8-10 in their last 18 games, but just 2-8 in their last 10. Their remaining schedule is the league’s 11th-hardest, per Tankathon, and they have more games on the road than at home.
Of course, we shouldn’t exclude Oklahoma City from this conversation. At 21-53, the Thunder are just 1.5 games ahead of the three aforementioned clubs after losing 11 of their last 12 games. They’ll host the Pistons on Friday in what should be an important game — the winner of that contest could put itself out of the running for the No. 1 spot in the lottery standings.
The Thunder have the NBA’s ninth-easiest remaining schedule, with an equal split of home and road games. Of course, it’s worth noting that two of OKC’s upcoming games are against a tanking Portland team that is probably the NBA’s actual worst right now (even if the Blazers’ full-season record doesn’t reflect that). It would be a little surprising if the Thunder manage to lose both those meetings.
What do you think? Which team will finish the season with the NBA’s worst record and claim the top spot in the draft lottery standings? Will any of these clubs lose the rest of their games? Will there be a tie for the No. 1 spot, necessitating a coin flip?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with yours thoughts on this season’s race to the bottom.
Celtics Sign Juwan Morgan To 10-Day Contract
1:37pm: Morgan’s 10-day deal with the Celtics is now official, the team announced in a press release. It’ll run through April 6, covering Boston’s next five games.
Morgan may have a chance to play right away, as Brown and Tatum have been ruled out for the Celtics’ game in Toronto on Monday.
10:30am: The Celtics have agreed to sign forward Juwan Morgan to a 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Morgan was in camp with the Celtics in the fall, but was waived before the regular season began and subsequently joined the team’s G League affiliate in Maine. He earned a 10-day call-up from the Raptors in December when Toronto was hit hard by COVID-related absences, but has otherwise spent the 2021/22 season in the G League.
Morgan has appeared in 20 regular season NBAGL games for the Maine Celtics this season, averaging 12.1 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 2.8 APG on .509/.340/.730 shooting in 25.9 minutes per contest.
A former Big Ten standout at Indiana, Morgan went undrafted in 2019 and caught on with the Jazz, first signing an Exhibit 10 deal with Utah and then agreeing to a multiyear deal with the team. In 51 total regular season games with Utah and Toronto across three seasons, the 24-year-old has averaged 1.5 PPG and 1.2 RPG on 52.5% shooting in just 6.0 MPG.
The Celtics have an open spot on their 15-man roster, so no corresponding move will be required to sign Morgan, who will earn $95,930 on his 10-day deal. He’ll provide some forward depth in case the club wants to rest Jaylen Brown (right knee soreness) and/or Jayson Tatum (right patella tendinopathy) for a game or two.
Jazz Sign Greg Monroe To 10-Day Deal
MARCH 28: The Jazz have officially signed Monroe to his 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release. The deal will run through April 6.
MARCH 27: Veteran center Greg Monroe will sign a 10-day contract with the Jazz, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Utah will be the fourth team of the season for Monroe, who previously played on 10-day contracts with the Timberwolves, Wizards and Bucks. He has appeared in a total of 10 games this season, averaging 5.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in 14 minutes per night.
As backup center Hassan Whiteside battles a right foot sprain, Monroe will provide insurance on the depth chart behind Rudy Gobert as the Jazz try to hang onto fourth place in the Western Conference. With 14 days left in the regular season, the 31-year-old will have an opportunity to audition for a spot on Utah’s playoff roster.
The Timberwolves had interest in re-signing Monroe, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). Naz Reid‘s foot injury may put the Wolves in the market for a big man.
Utah has an opening on its 15-man roster, so a corresponding move won’t be necessary. If Monroe officially signs today or Monday, he will be eligible for five games during the 10-day deal.