Pacific Notes: LeBron, Curry, Post, Horford, Ott
After Lakers star LeBron James made disparaging comments about Memphis on a YouTube show this week, he may have alienated a couple of other fan bases on Saturday, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. Given a chance to clarify his statements about the city and his feeling that the Grizzlies should move to Nashville, James pointed out to reporters that he criticized the Bucks‘ hometown as well.
“Milwaukee was, too. Did they miss that one, too? They didn’t see that?” James said. “Forty-one years old, it’s two cities I do not like playing in right now. That’s Milwaukee, and that’s Memphis. What is the problem?”
James was reacting to a question about NBA travel, telling the host that “it just wears on you more” at his age. The Akron, Ohio, native also listed Cleveland as one of the cities he doesn’t enjoy visiting, which probably comes as a surprise to Cavaliers fans.
“I don’t like going home either … and I’m from there,” he said. “People are ridiculous. They also get mad at my son (Bronny) being on the (Lakers), too. So what are we talking about? People need to figure out other ways to put their energy to other things that’s important. Like seriously? I’m not talking about the city, like the people in Memphis. I don’t like staying at the Hyatt Centric. What’s wrong with that? Nothing! What are we talking about? … People need to chill the hell out.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors are likely stuck in 10th place, but there’s optimism that the season can be saved with Stephen Curry expected to return Sunday after missing more than two months with a knee issue, per Noah Furtado of The San Francisco Chronicle (subscription required). “Now, Superman’s back,” Gary Payton II said, “so we’ll figure it out with that.” After being out of action since January 30, Curry is looking forward to teaming up with Kristaps Porzingis, who wasn’t acquired until the trade deadline in February. “I was telling him, I don’t know how people are going to guard our pick-and-roll,” Curry said. “Anytime you have talent like that and two guys that can demand attention, it’s always a good thing, to create good offense and help elevate whoever we’re out there with.”
- The Warriors say Quinten Post, who’s sidelined with soreness in his right foot, is making progress and will be reevaluated next week, relays Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link). Al Horford is also set for a reevaluation next week and seems to be getting close to returning before the regular season ends, adds Nick Friedell of The Athletic (Twitter link).
- Jordan Ott picked up his first technical foul as Suns head coach in Thursday’s loss at Charlotte, notes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. His players weren’t sure if he might make it through all 82 games without one. “I’ve been waiting all season for him to get one,” Royce O’Neale said. “I think it was right timing. Moments like those help us get a boost of energy. Just shows that he got our back in every situation.”
Celtics Sign Ron Harper Jr. To Two-Year Deal
9:54 pm: The signing is official, the Celtics announced (via Twitter).
3:01 pm: The Celtics will promote Ron Harper Jr. to their standard roster and sign him to a new two-year contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (Twitter link).
Boston had to make a roster move today to add a 14th man after Charles Bassey‘s second 10-day contract expired overnight on Friday. Teams are permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for up to 28 total days during a season, but the Celtics had already reached that limit.
Harper, who is currently on a two-way deal, has played 26 games for the Celtics this season after spending the previous three years with the Raptors and Pistons.
The 6’5″ forward is averaging 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per contest, with a majority of his games played coming in the second half of the season.
As Keith Smith of Spotrac notes (via Twitter), because Harper will be signing a multiyear contract instead of a rest-of-season deal, his cap hit will be equivalent to the prorated minimum for a three-year veteran instead of a two-year veteran. That means he’ll count against the cap and tax for $123,045 this season.
The Celtics, who have made a series of roster moves since the trade deadline with an eye toward remaining out of the tax, will remain about $38K below that threshold after signing Harper, meaning they’ll have enough flexibility to add a 15th man during the final days of the season without becoming a taxpayer.
Central Notes: Giannis, Bucks, Trade Market, Bulls Shakeup, Pistons
The NBA weighed in with a statement on Saturday as it continues the investigation of a disagreement between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bucks, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Antetokounmpo, who has been sidelined since March 15 with a left knee hyperextension and a bone bruise, contends that he’s healthy enough to return to action, but the team won’t give him medical clearance. The Bucks say he hasn’t fully healed and isn’t sincere about wanting to play.
“The investigation has found that the Bucks scheduled Giannis to work out last week in three-on-three scrimmages as part of his return-to-play process, but he declined to participate,” the NBA said on Saturday. “There is a disagreement as to whether the team requested that Giannis participate in a group workout earlier this week, and the league is continuing to monitor the situation.”
The NBA has held conversations with Bucks officials as part of the probe, a source told Nehm. Antetokounmpo emphatically expressed his desire to return to action during an interview after Milwaukee’s loss to Boston on Friday, but with only five games remaining, it may be too late even if the dispute is resolved in his favor.
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Trading Antetokounmpo this summer could be the first step in a massive roster overhaul for the Bucks, suggests Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter video link). He points to Bobby Portis, Myles Turner and Kyle Kuzma as other veteran players who might be moved and says coach Doc Rivers’ future with the team is also uncertain. Scotto expects the Heat, Warriors, Knicks, Cavaliers and others to approach Milwaukee with offers.
- Major changes could be coming to the Bulls over the next 10 days, a source tells Joe Crowley of The Chicago Sun-Times (subscription required). Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley could both be held accountable for the disappointing season, and a coaching move is possible as well. Crowley notes that Billy Donovan is one of the main targets for the vacant North Carolina job, and there are also suggestions that he could stay and help revamp the front office or move into the top management role himself.
- If there’s a bright side to Cade Cunningham‘s injury, it’s that his teammates are learning how to succeed without him as the playoffs approach, notes Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. Isaiah Stewart is also out indefinitely with a left calf strain, but the Pistons keep winning and look ready to be a force in the playoffs if the roster gets healthy again. “Obviously, we’re better with (Cade), Stew and today Tobias (Harris) on the floor,” Jalen Duren said. “But I think having guys come in and get reps in, get shots up, see the ball go through (the rim) — the type of offense we’re playing with everybody being involved — it gets everybody’s confidence up. It gets everybody’s juices flowing going into that postseason.”
Celtics Notes: Queta, Mazzulla, Pritchard, Vucevic
Center was viewed as a potential Celtics‘ weakness heading into the season, but Neemias Queta has turned aside any doubts about whether he can handle the position, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes in a subscriber-only story. Queta continued his career-best season on Friday with 19 points, 10 rebounds and a plus-33 rating in a win over Milwaukee.
“It’s unbelievable,” Jayson Tatum said. “I couldn’t be more proud and happy for Neemy. The way he’s seeing the game, the leap he’s made as a screener, as a passer, someone we can trust when we throw him the ball in the seams, finishing, protecting the rim. He is an NBA starting big man, that’s who he is now. He’s only going to continue to get better.”
Queta had only made six total starts in four seasons before being asked to take over when Al Horford and Luke Kornet left in free agency and Kristaps Porzingis was traded in a cost-cutting move. Through 72 games, he’s averaging 10.1 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 25.4 minutes per night, and his emergence is one of the reasons Boston has been able to post the second-best record in the East.
“I think maybe at the beginning of the year we didn’t trust him as much as we do now, and now every time we throw it to him, we expect him to make the right read and right play,” Derrick White said. “He’s developed a lot of confidence, and we all have confidence in him.”
There’s more from Boston:
- Joe Mazzulla dismissed Coach of the Year honors recently as a “stupid award,” but Payton Pritchard thinks he deserves to win it, Himmelsbach adds. Mazzulla is considered one of the leading candidates, along with Detroit’s JB Bickerstaff. “He’s a competitor, and he focuses on how this team is going to get better and better,” Pritchard said. “He changed some things up this year as far as film sessions. He went to more, instead of a dictatorship, like a classroom setting where we’re just going to learn through all the ups and downs in that setting.”
- Nikola Vucevic, who has been sidelined with a fractured finger since March 6, could make his return Sunday afternoon against Toronto, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Vucevic was acquired from Chicago at the trade deadline, but was only available for 12 games before the injury forced him to undergo surgery. He was originally projected to be reevaluated in three to four weeks, and a Sunday return would have him back on the court in a little less than a month. Terada expects him to replace Luka Garza as the primary backup center.
- Vucevic will be playing for his next contract when he returns, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. The 35-year-old big man has a $21.4MM expiring deal, and Robb suggests that his salary for next season might be less than half of that. The Celtics could be interested if he plays well in the postseason, but only at a low-cost, one-year deal because they still might be focused on avoiding the luxury tax. Robb adds that the Celtics may also be considering a younger option on the offseason trade market.
Stephen Curry Talks About “New Normal” As He Nears Return
Ahead of his expected return from a knee condition that has sidelined him since January 30, Warriors star Stephen Curry held a press conference on Saturday to address questions about his lengthy recovery process, writes Anthony Slater of ESPN. Curry is listed as questionable for Sunday’s home game against Houston, but Slater states that he’s expected to play, barring any setbacks.
Curry, who has been suffering from patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner’s knee) in his right knee, said “yes and no” when asked if it’s something he’ll have to manage for the rest of his career.
“There’s nothing structurally wrong with my knee,” Curry explained. “So it’s not like I’m compromised out there. It is a new normal, though, if that makes sense.”
Curry first began experiencing pain and swelling in the knee during a January 24 workout and tried to play through it before opting for rest. He was expecting to return to the lineup quickly, but said it turned out to be “unpredictable.”
“I thought I was going to be out a week,” Curry said. “Ten days max. [But] every time I got on the court or tried to push it in that first month, there was always a reaction. You just knew it wasn’t healing as fast as you thought.”
He believed resting the knee would enable him to return after the All-Star break, but there wasn’t enough improvement by mid-February. He also targeted an Eastern road trip in March, according to Slater, but suffered a setback two weeks ago in Atlanta when he felt he was on the verge of returning.
“You’d start running and doing your normal [rehab] workout,” Curry said. “[Then] toward the end of however long the session was, you’d start to feel the pain creep back in and the next day it’d be awful. Played that song and dance so many times over the last two months.”
Although progress was slow, he made a breakthrough over the past week when he was cleared to participate in five-on-five scrimmages. If all goes well over the next 24 hours, he’ll be back on the court Sunday night, giving him about a week to prepare for the play-in tournament, with Golden State virtually locked into the 10th seed.
Curry said he never gave serious consideration to sitting out for the rest of the season, and coach Steve Kerr told reporters that the team never approached him with that suggestion.
“He’s the greatest face of a franchise that I’ve ever seen,” Kerr said. “We owe it to our fans to give them the opportunity to watch Steph Curry play basketball this year. And Steph doesn’t even think twice about that. That’s what he wants. That’s what we want. That’s what our fans want. So we’re going to do that.”
Hawks Waive Caleb Houstan, Will Sign Tony Bradley
The Hawks have placed Caleb Houstan on waivers, the team announced, and sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania they will sign center Tony Bradley for the rest of the season to take his place (Twitter link).
Bradley has been out of the league since January 28 when his second 10-day contract with the Pacers expired, so he’ll be eligible for the playoffs. Atlanta needs another reliable backup big man after Jock Landale suffered a high right ankle sprain that will sideline him for at least the next two weeks.
Bradley, 28, began the season on a standard contract with Indiana prior to being waived January 5 before his $2,940,876 salary became fully guaranteed. He was re-signed to a 10-day deal three days later, then received another 10-day contract on January 19.
The Hawks will be the sixth team for Bradley, who’s in his eighth NBA season. He started his career in Utah under Hawks coach Quin Snyder and spent part of last season with Atlanta’s G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, notes Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks (Twitter link).
Houstan, a 23-year-old small forward. spent three years in Orlando before signing a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract with Atlanta in August. He earned a two-way deal during the preseason, was promoted to a standard contract on February 19 and was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. That deal was fully guaranteed, so he’ll receive his salary for the final nine days of the season.
Houstan saw just 4.2 minutes per game in 18 appearances with the Hawks. He spent most of the season in the G League with College Park, where he averaged 16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 25 regular season games with .391/.422./.902 shooting numbers.
Houstan was selected by Orlando with the 32nd pick in the 2022 draft and appeared in 168 games over three seasons with the Magic.
Injury Notes: Doncic, Embiid, Sabonis, Smart
With Luka Doncic dealing with a Grade 2 hamstring strain ahead of the postseason, the Lakers find themselves in a difficult position after the star guard led them to a strong second half showing.
Mark Medina of Essentially Sports spoke to three medical experts to get a better sense of the star guard’s injury and recovery outlook. They are Shaheen Jadidi, a primary care sports medicine physician at Endeavor Health, Jesse Morse, a sports medicine physician and non-surgical orthopedic specialist, and Nirav Pandya, a professor at UCSF in orthopedic surgery.
“I’m definitely concerned with a short turnaround,” Pandya said. “In general, these Grade 2 strains usually have a three-to-six-week time frame for players to return from that. When you have a short time period to come back into playoff-level intensity basketball, you really worry about two things. One, can a player come back? Two, even if they come back, how impactful can they be?”
Morse explained what the injury actually means for the layperson and how it impacts Doncic’s recovery.
“Grade 2s are partial tears. Think of a rope just to have a mental visual. A one-inch wide rope is now half-an-inch wide. You’re asking that half-an-inch tendon to do 100% of the work,” he said. “This is a minimum three-week injury, but you have to move mountains to get him back in three weeks. Even if he’s sleeping in hyperbaric chambers, doing stem cells and doing around-the-clock physical therapy in red light, he’s going to be at a very high-risk for reinjury. He’s had other hamstring injuries, so he’ll have a lot of scar tissue. The problem is that scar tissue is weaker and less flexible. Traditionally, that’s what leads to reinjury.”
The three experts went deep into what the rehab process will look like, Doncic’s timeline for return, and expectations for how he’ll play once he resumes on-court activity.
We have more injury news from around the league:
- Joel Embiid will miss the Sixers‘ game against the Pistons on Saturday due to oblique injury management and illness. Embiid played on Friday, but had previously expressed frustration with president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and the rest of the team after he was ruled out for Wednesday’s game due to illness. “I guess these guys decide to let me play or not,” Embiid said when asked about playing on Saturday, per Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link). “So whatever they tell me, I guess I got to follow.” Embiid did note that his right oblique, which he strained in February, took a hit in Friday’s game against the Wolves.
- Domantas Sabonis hasn’t suited up for the Kings since February 4 after suffering a left meniscus tear that required season-ending surgery. However, he was in attendance for Friday’s win against the Pelicans, according to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee, and says that his goal is to return to on-court activity sometime in July (Twitter link). Sabonis told Anderson that he has been on crutches for the past six weeks.
- Lakers guard Marcus Smart will miss his seventh straight game Sunday at Dallas due to a right leg contusion, per Khobi Price of The California Post (Twitter link).
Austin Reaves Out 4-6 Weeks With Oblique Muscle Injury
The Lakers announced that Austin Reaves will miss the remainder of the regular season after being diagnosed with a Grade 2 left oblique muscle injury, relays Khobi Price of The California Post (Twitter link). Reaves is expected to miss four to six weeks, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link), which puts his projected return somewhere in the second or third round of the playoffs
Reaves, who left Thursday’s game early, underwent an MRI Saturday in Dallas on his left oblique/rib area, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Reaves tweaked something in his left side during the first half of the lopsided loss to Oklahoma City. He went to the locker room to have it checked, but was able to return to the game, finishing with 15 points in 27 minutes before being removed.
“I went back to get a rebound, overextended a little bit, and I felt something,” Reaves told reporters after the game. “But I feel decent right now, so we’ll see.”
McMenamin adds that Reaves had to get two MRIs done because the first one didn’t focus on the correct portion of his body.
“I don’t know where the chain of command lies with Dallas imaging, but they scanned the wrong area,” coach JJ Redick said. “Not on our end.”
It’s another devastating blow for the Lakers after Luka Doncic was diagnosed Friday with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain that will keep him out for the rest of the season and probably at least the first round of the playoffs.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday before Reaves’ MRI results were announced, Redick said the team is remaining strong in the face of the injuries, and its mission to clinch the No. 3 seed and advance through the first round hasn’t changed. “And we’ll see what happens with Luka,” he added.
Redick plans to expand the scoring responsibilities while Doncic and Reaves are unavailable, mentioning LeBron James, Luke Kennard, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton as players who can expect to see larger roles in the offense.
Since Reaves returned to the lineup in early February, James has mostly settled in as a third option, contributing in other ways while Doncic and Reaves have been the primary play-makers. Over the past seven games, James is averaging 15.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists. He’s taking just 11.7 shots per game in that span, well below his career average of 18.6.
“You got to flip the mindset a little bit when your role changes, whatever the case may be, or what’s needed out of [you for] the team,” James said. “So the mindset changes a little bit, for sure.”
Veteran guard Marcus Smart, who has missed the past six games with groin and ankle injuries, is now considered day-to-day, McMenamin adds, but he’s not certain to play against Dallas. Smart wasn’t able to fully participate in Saturday’s practice.
Redick plans to finish the season with an “all hands on deck approach,” stretching his normal rotation from nine to possibly 11 players. He stated that Kobe Bufkin, Nick Smith Jr. and Dalton Knecht will all join the team after participating in the G League playoffs Sunday night with the South Bay Lakers.
The injuries make L.A.’s hold on the third spot in the West somewhat tenuous after it looked solid earlier in the week. The Lakers currently have a one-game lead over Denver and a two-game cushion over Houston. After Sunday’s contest, they’ll host Oklahoma City on Tuesday, travel to Golden State on Thursday and then finish the season with home games against Phoenix on Friday and Utah on Sunday.
Nets Sign Malachi Smith To Two-Year Contract
3:00 pm: Smith’s contract is now official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
9:49 am: Malachi Smith‘s second 10-day contract with the Nets expired overnight on Friday, but he’ll be sticking with the team for the rest of the season — and potentially beyond that.
According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), the Nets and Smith have agreed to a two-year contract that will cover 2026/27 in addition to the rest of this season. While the exact terms of the deal aren’t yet known, it’s unlikely to include guaranteed money for next year.
A G League veteran who has also spent time with the Rip City Remix, Wisconsin Herd and Memphis Hustle since going undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2023, Smith spent most of this season with the Long Island Nets before being called up by Brooklyn on a 10-day deal in March.
The 6’4″ guard ended up signing a pair of 10-day deals with the Nets and has been a regular contributor off the bench in the first 10 NBA games of his career, averaging 7.3 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 18.2 minutes per night, with an excellent shooting line of .527/.545/1.000. The 26-year-old has made 29-of-55 shots from the floor, including 12-of-22 three-pointers.
“The mentality is leave it all on the floor,” Smith said after scoring 15 points against Atlanta on Friday (Facebook video link via YES Network) “I’m someone that has been praying for this opportunity and working for this opportunity for years, so I’m not going to take any minute for granted. I always tell myself, I don’t care if I get one minute or 10 minutes. I’m going to be able to go to sleep at night knowing I played as hard as I can, and whatever happens after that, I can live with the results.”
Although the Nets technically already have 15 players on standard contracts, one of those 15 – Tre Scott – is on a hardship 10-day deal, so Brooklyn will be able to bring back Smith without having to place anyone on waivers.
Smith, who signed a training camp contract that included a $42,650 partial guarantee and then made $73,153 on each of his two 10-day contracts, would earn a rest-of-season salary of $65,838 if he officially signs a new minimum-salary contract on Saturday, bringing his total NBA earnings this season to $254,794.
That total would dip to $247,479 (including a $58,523 rest-of-season salary) if he doesn’t re-sign until Sunday, though it could also come in higher if the Nets – who have the NBA’s lowest payroll – decide to give him more than the minimum using their remaining cap room.
Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Anunoby, George, Tatum
Although Karl-Anthony Towns sat out their blowout win over the Bulls on Friday due a right elbow impingement, the Knicks are nearing full health as the playoffs approach and their postseason rotation is beginning to take shape, Ian Begley of SNY writes.
On Friday, with Mitchell Robinson starting, head coach Mike Brown experimented by using Jeremy Sochan as the backup center and was pleased with the results, naming him the team’s defensive player of the game.
“It allowed us to do a lot of things like switch pick and rolls,” Brown said of using Sochan as a small-ball five. “It brought a different element to our game. Not just offensively with the speed, but defensively with switching a lot of things and just keeping the ball in front of us.”
While Robinson will take the majority of reserve center minutes in the playoffs, having Sochan as an option could allow Brown to go to the Towns-Robinson frontcourt more than he might otherwise.
Another notable change was that neither Jose Alvarado nor breakout rookie Mohamed Diawara played in the first three quarters. With Miles McBride and Landry Shamet healthy, Brown indicated that getting them back up to speed is crucial.
“Deuce is getting healthier and Landry’s getting healthy and trying to find minutes for those guys — both of those guys are capable of playing that (backup guard) spot — is going to be a priority because they’ve proven themselves this year for us,” he said.
We have more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Brown was surprised to hear that wing OG Anunoby has only made an All-Defensive team once in his career, Begley writes in the same article. The Knicks‘ head coach believes the 6’8″ forward is clearly deserving of being recognized a second time this season. “His versatility is just off the charts and you can do a lot of things with your defense because of him,” Brown said. “In my opinion, he deserves First Team All-Defense this year — and hopefully the powers that be will see it that way, too.” Anunoby agreed with his coach’s assessment: “I think I should’ve gotten it last year. I think I should get it this year. That’s definitely a goal of mine, coming into the season, especially defensively, being on the first team or second team — hopefully first.”
- Paul George is listed as probable for the Sixers‘ game against the Pistons today due to left knee injury management. Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports notes (via Twitter) that if George is able to play, this will mark his first back-to-back of the season. Since coming off his 25-game suspension, the nine-time All-Star has been rounding into form, averaging 27.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 3.2 steals in his past five games.
- There were concerns within the Celtics organization, including players, about trying to rebuild in-game chemistry with Jayson Tatum so soon before the playoffs, but the star wing has quickly alleviated any such concerns, Jay King writes for The Athletic. Boston is 10-2 with Tatum active and he has already been been named Player of the Week. Most importantly, King writes, Tatum hasn’t looked hesitant or uncertain about his body. He is driving at around the same rate as last season, and the defense has been elite when he’s on the floor. King notes that if the Celtics were to win the championship this season, his return could go down in history as one of the league’s all-time comebacks.