During Wednesday’s game vs. Phoenix, the Pistons released a statement regarding the pregame incident between forward/center Isaiah Stewart and Suns center Drew Eubanks.
“We are aware of the incident between Isaiah Stewart and Drew Eubanks prior to this evening’s game. We are in the process of gathering information about what happened and what provoked it, and responding to the NBA and local authorities.”
Eubanks was punched in the face by Stewart after arriving at the Footprint Center. He said he was OK and called it a “soft punch,” per Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. Eubanks played in the game, while Stewart remains sidelined with a sprained ankle.
Here’s more from the Central:
- Craig Porter Jr.‘s new four-year contract with the Cavaliers will pay him a guaranteed $1.5MM in 2023/24, nearly tripling the salary of his old two-way deal, reports ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter). Porter’s base salary for ’24/25 is $1.9MM, with $1MM in guaranteed money. However, years three ($2.2MM) and four ($2.4MM) are fully non-guaranteed, with no special trigger dates beyond the league-wide guarantee date of January 7. The final season — ’26/27 — is a team option, Marks adds.
- Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu had a stellar performance in Tuesday’s win over Atlanta, scoring a career-high 29 points (on 12-of-18 shooting, including 5-of-7 from three) and dishing out seven assists while playing terrific defense on Trae Young, who finished just 3-of-14 from the field, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. Dosumnu has become a much more consistent offensive threat of late, averaging 15.9 PPG on .592/.525/.773 shooting over in the 14 games (32.3 MPG) leading up to Wednesday’s loss to Cleveland. “He’s got incredible stamina and endurance,” head coach Billy Donovan said, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “It’s a skill. [Udonis] Haslem had it. Joakim [Noah] had it. The more fatigued and tired they get, the more stubborn they get and the more competitive and the more they push. He’s got that in him. He can keep his motor running high. For him to do what he did offensively and then to play the defense he did was a pretty remarkable performance with the number of minutes he got.”
- Second-year wing Dalen Terry has received rotation minutes for the Bulls in 2023/24 due to injuries to Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams and Torrey Craig (Craig has since returned), and while his performances have been uneven, he says the speed of the NBA game is starting to slow down for him, Johnson writes for NBC Sports Chicago. “This season I feel I improved a lot on my discipline, just realizing that sometimes my fouling gets me out of the game,” Terry said. “My confidence level is just so much different than it was last year. … My rookie year, sometimes I was out there and I was like, ‘Man, everything is going so fast.’ It just happened. Now I can see stuff happen before it happens. That’s been the easiest part to me.” Terry, 21, was the 18th pick of the 2022 draft.
Porter ought to have sought a second opinion. His agent should have been able to get him a better deal than that.
Not really. Porter can attack the rim and finish through contact, and he’s got some playmaking chops, but his flaws are equally large. He can’t really space the floor at all, is a very mid free throw shooter (thus can’t make good use of his finishing through contact), and has some pretty serious rookie lapses. That’s not to say he’s untalented, but you’d expect more consistency out of a guy who is almost 24. Not a guy you could trust in a close game unless you were desperate (which we were when he was playing big minutes).