Fifth-year wing Cody Martin was unfortunately limited to seven games last season following left knee surgery, and he has yet to play in 2023/24. However, he could make his season debut on Saturday against Denver, as the Hornets have officially listed him as questionable (Twitter link).
As Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer tweets, Martin’s last appearance was on January 14, so it’s been 11-plus months since he suited up. Second-year center Mark Williams (low back contusion) seems likely to miss his seventh straight game though, as he’s doubtful for Saturday’s contest.
Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:
- After sustaining a left ankle sprain on Wednesday against Sacramento, Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis has been ruled out for Saturday’s contest vs. the Clippers, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Jayson Tatum, who missed his first game on Wednesday, is questionable with the same injury as Porzingis. Adam Himmselsbach of The Boston Globe speculates (via Twitter) that Porzingis won’t be sidelined for very long, as he spotted the Latvian big man carrying his own massage table at the team’s hotel on Friday.
- Timberwolves forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns (left knee soreness) is out for Saturday’s contest in Sacramento, the team announced (via Twitter). However, Towns’ absence is only “precautionary,” according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, who reports that the big man isn’t expected to miss extended time (Twitter link).
- Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell will miss his third consecutive game on Saturday due to an illness, while Sam Merrill is questionable for the matchup with Chicago with a right wrist sprain, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
I’m pretty sure KAT going down last year started as he shouldn’t miss much time. lol.
Knock on wood. Happy with the wolves season so far. The fact the NBA hates it too makes it so much better. Beat a lot of good teams, and stayed number one. Now the league is reluctantly giving slightly more coverage.
Anthony Edwards has emerged as one of the top stars in the game.
The young man has personality for days, he’s extremely charismatic. You’d think the NBA would absolutely LOVE to showcase him and his talents any chance they’d get.
Maybe they still have a hard on for Rudy Gobert? You know, due to the while COVID thing..lol Idk, but it is crazy the T-Wolves don’t get more coverage with Edwards, Towns, Gobert, McDaniels, and Conley.
Too bad . Every time time the Cavaliers start playing well someone gets hurt or sick or whatever. Every team faces injuries but expecting the Cavaliers to do well without their 3 best players is a lot. Too bad because their last game was winnable with a healthy Donovan Mitchell and Sam Merrill. As would be tonight’s game in Chicago.
Bulls been rollin, would prolly win even if Mitchell wad playing
Correct, ever since LaVine got hurt, the Bulls have been on a solid winning streak, and they’ve been playing all-around very good basketball.
It certainly makes it a heck of a lot easier when you don’t have Zach LaVine and Demar DeRozan both consistently interrupting the flow of their offense. They just aren’t having to be as iso heavy without playing those two together, it isn’t so much a knock against LaVine.
I also have to give a ton of credit to Colby White. I was very critical of him and said the Bulls couldn’t win consistently with him as their PG. I was wrong, and I couldn’t be happier to have to admit it.
Since LaVine has been out White has stepped his game up to levels most never thought he’d reach in his career, and from a statistical standpoint, he’s basically become a threat to put up 24.5 points, 6.7rebounds, and 6.4 assists each and every night. He’s also doing that while shooting 52% from the field, 49% from 3, and 83% from the foul line. He also has a 3:1 asst to turnover ratio, and has just been a much more consistent version of the offensive sparkplug everyone has seen signs of during his early career.
That’s not even mentioning the gains White has made as an individual and team defender. He has made just an significant impact over his last 10+ games, and I hope he’s able to keep it up.
Now, if the Bulls do trade LaVine, they can afford to fill in some of their other holes and become a much more complete team altogether.
Also, due to White’s emergence in LaVine’s absence this is where a trade for a package like Springer, T.Harris, and Korkmaz plus picks could FINALLY take the Bulls to a higher level in the East, where they could even threaten to win a series or two in the playoffs.
Outside of the big three teams in the East, no team ahead of them (#4-#9) is currently hotter than the Bulls. You could argue the Knicks are certainly a more complete team, but the Bulls would instantly challenge for one of the #5 or #6 spots in the East with Harris and some more talented/versatile depth.
White/Ayo/Carter
Caruso/Korkmaz/Carter
DeRozan/Craig
Harris/P.Williams
Vucevic/Drummond
With how they’re playing now, a starting five of Colby White, Caruso, DeRozan, T.Harris, and Vucevic would be a very solid group moving forward that’s very versatile offensively.
Defensively, their second unit would be extremely solid as well with the likes of Ayo Dosunmu, Korkmaz, Patrick Williams, T.Craig, and Andre Drummond.
Then, they’d also have Carter and Springer on their bench to help mix and match whenever was necessary.
Also, as a side note, for his bench role I’d play Patrick Williams at the 3 on offense, and then, depending on certain match-ups he and T.Craig would swap between the 3 and the 4 defensively.
What do you guys think?