Nets Notes: Atkinson, Nelson, Mann, Minott
Former Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson is confident that the team’s current rebuilding process will wind up being successful, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Atkinson offered his assessment after his Cavaliers barely escaped Brooklyn with a 106-102 win on Sunday. It was the eighth straight loss for the Nets, but Atkinson sees signs of progress for coach Jordi Fernandez and his young roster.
“No doubt, you definitely go through those moments. You’re going home and you’re taking that L after the game. It’s hard, especially when they start stacking up,” Atkinson said. “Of course you worry if you’re a competitor. But that’s part of it, part of going through a rebuild and part of being a young coach.
“And you see the development … It’ll happen here, because they drafted really good talent. They got really good coaching, good coaching staff, good front office. It’ll break through. You’re just waiting for that, ‘When is that gonna happen?’ I’m sure Jordi’s going. ‘Man, everyone is saying it’ll happen.’ But they play so hard, it’s eventually going to happen with their talent.”
The latest loss leaves the Nets at 15-45, half a game behind Indiana and 1 1/2 games away from Sacramento in the race for the league’s worst record.
There’s more from Brooklyn:
- In his first home game since signing a 10-day contract, Grant Nelson posted 11 points, four rebounds and three blocks on Sunday, Lewis states in a separate story. Nelson was playing his fourth game in four cities over five days between the NBA and the G League and said “adrenaline” helped him get through it. “It’s really been my dream my whole life. So it’s just fun to get out there, play with some of the best players in the world,” he added. “It’s just really a dream. But I know the work’s not done. I still got a lot to work on.”
- Terance Mann, who was acquired from Atlanta in July, has been an ideal example for his younger teammates to follow, according to C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News (subscription required). Mann is the oldest player on the roster at 29 and he’s happy to accept his leadership responsibilities. “I had great vets in my day as a rookie, so they showed me how to be great vets,” he said. “They showed me how to be positive no matter what the role is. They showed me how to be able to take care of the young guys and that’s just really what I’m here to do.”
- After the Nets faced the Celtics on Friday, Jaylen Brown admitted that Josh Minott faced a “tough” situation in Boston before being traded to Brooklyn at the deadline, per Brian Robb of MassLive. Minott didn’t spend much time in the rotation before suffering an ankle injury in December that sidelined him for several weeks, but he said he can accept how things turned out. “I left on no bitter note,” Minott said. “You see it, I dapped everybody up. It’s always love with everybody here unless we play them, then it’s hate. After the game is over, those 48 minutes we’re enemies but I definitely had a great experience here for sure.”
Chris Youngblood To Sign Two-Way Contract With Trail Blazers
The Trail Blazers will sign Chris Youngblood to a two-way contract, agent Kashim Butler of KBA Sports tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
The 24-year-old shooting guard was in training camp with Oklahoma City on an Exhibit 10 deal and earned a two-way contract prior to the start of the season. He appeared in 32 games with the Thunder, averaging 2.0 PPG in limited playing time, before being waived in early February after reaching his season limit of 50 games on the active roster.
Youngblood has spent the past few weeks playing for Oklahoma City Blue in the G League, where he posted 23.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 10 regular season games with .463/.327/.794 shooting splits.
Youngblood spent time with Kennesaw State, South Florida and Alabama during his college career and was named AAC co-Player of the Year in 2024.
Portland has a two-way opening after promoting Sidy Cissoko last month, so another move won’t be required before adding Youngblood to the roster.
Payton Sandfort Joining Thunder On Two-Way Deal
The Thunder will sign Payton Sandfort to a two-way contract, agents Ross Aroyo and Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
The 23-year-old guard inked an Exhibit 10 deal with OKC in October after going undrafted out of Iowa. He was waived the next day and has been playing for Oklahoma City Blue in the G League, where he’s averaging 11.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 16 regular season games with .375/.331/.800 shooting numbers.
Sandfort spent four years with the Hawkeyes, being named Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year in 2023 and earning third-team All-Conference honors in 2024.
The Thunder currently have all three of their two-way slots filled, so a move will have to be made with Brooks Barnhizer, Branden Carlson or Buddy Boeheim before Sandfort’s signing can become official. Wednesday is the final day this season that two-way players can be added to the roster.
Suns Promoting Jamaree Bouyea To Two-Year Standard Deal
Two-way guard Jamaree Bouyea will sign a two-year contract with the Suns, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
Bouyea, 26, has emerged as a valuable rotation piece after coming to Phoenix on the two-way deal in November. He has appeared in 33 games and is averaging 6.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 15.5 minutes per night with .480/.317/.710 shooting numbers.
Bouyea will fit into the roster opening the Suns created on Friday by waiving Cole Anthony. Phoenix acquired Anthony from Milwaukee in a three-team deal at the deadline, but he never reported to the Suns.
As Charania notes, the new contract is a huge milestone for Bouyea, who has spent time with six teams over the past three-plus years on a variety of two-way and 10-day deals.
He was in training camp with Miami in 2022 after going undrafted out of San Francisco and was waived before the start of the season. He signed 10-day deals with the Heat and Wizards later in that season, but didn’t get a second contract from either team. He returned to Miami during the summer of 2023, but was waived again before landing two-way contracts with Portland and San Antonio during the 2023/24 season. He got into five games with Milwaukee last season and briefly returned to the Spurs before becoming a free agent again.
The Suns now have a roster opening that has to be filled by Wednesday, which is the cutoff date to sign players to two-way deals. Koby Brea and Isaiah Livers occupy the other two-way slots for Phoenix.
Celtics Notes: Scheierman, Queta, Brown, Centers
Baylor Scheierman was in the Celtics‘ starting lineup Sunday night even though he fractured his left thumb in Friday’s win over Brooklyn, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes in a subscriber-only story. The second-year guard made his eighth consecutive start and managed a normal workload, finishing with 12 points, four rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes. The thumb injury on his shooting hand may have affected his outside shot as he only connected on 2-of-9 attempts from beyond the arc.
Scheierman explained that the injury occurred in a collision with Nets rookie Egor Demin late in the first half.
“He was running the other way, and I thought he was just going to chase after the ball because it was up in the air, and I think my thumb just kind of went into his chest,” Scheierman said. “Just hurt and looked down and just kind of felt weird and kind of just locked.”
He was able to tape his thumb and finish the game and didn’t realize the extent of the injury until X-rays revealed the fracture. He took some jumpers during the day on Sunday and decided he would be able to play.
“We’re kind of just evaluating it as it goes, but I feel good enough to be out there, so that’s how it’s going to be,” Scheierman said. “I’m not going to sit out.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
Nuggets Notes: Johnson, Gordon, Watson, Adelman
Nuggets forward Cameron Johnson was forced out of Sunday’s loss to Minnesota with a lingering right ankle injury and doesn’t expect to be available for tonight’s game at Utah, writes Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette. Johnson struggled through a frustrating afternoon against the Wolves, going scoreless in 23 minutes and missing all six of his shots. Benedetto notes that he’s shooting just 31.4% from the field and 26.7% from three-point range in six games since the All-Star break.
“One (part) is understanding that you’ve been through it before,” Johnson said. “(It’s) understanding that every time that you’ve felt down that you don’t really feel like you’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel — you just feel like you keep letting yourself down, letting your teammates down — every time that’s happened, I’ve been able to turn it around and get back on track some way somehow.”
Johnson was expected to be a seamless replacement for Michael Porter Jr. when he was acquired in a trade with Brooklyn last summer. After a slow start to the season, he found his outside shot in November and December before suffering a bone bruise shortly before Christmas that sidelined him for six weeks.
The first priority is fixing the ankle issue that Johnson said has bothered him throughout the season. He plans to try different shoes or orthotics to help ease the pain.
“It hasn’t knocked me out of the game completely yet. It hasn’t forced me to hang it up. It hasn’t forced me to miss every shot for the rest of my career,” Johnson said. “I just got to continue on with that trust, continue to work and forget about it.”
There’s more on the Nuggets:
- Coach David Adelman adjusted his substitution pattern after watching a nine-point lead slip away while Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray were both resting early in the second quarter, Benedetto states in a separate story. Murray remained on the court the next time Jokic went to the bench early in the fourth quarter. “It’s not what I want to do,” Adelman admitted. “I like them to play together. I don’t like when I’m taking minutes away from them not being on the court together. If we have to do it, we’ll do it, because this can’t happen. It’s happened two games in a row. It’s cost us big time.”
- The Nuggets weren’t able to able to add any wing help in the buyout market, so that heightens the need for Johnson to get healthy, observes Sean Keeler of The Denver Post. They missed out on two potential targets when Khris Middleton opted to stay in Dallas and Kyle Anderson decided to return to Minnesota.
- Reinforcements could be coming soon as Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson are close to returning from hamstring injuries, per Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints (Twitter link). Sources tell Siegel that both players are ramping up their activities and will be reexamined this week.
- Meeting with reporters before Sunday’s game, Adelman had some harsh words about Friday’s incident that saw the Thunder’s Luguentz Dort get ejected for tripping Jokic, relays Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. “There’s a point where we play these games and what he deals with nightly, anybody would react that way,” Adelman said of Jokic. “And then for Dort to take that shot — and then I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal from their standpoint, how they looked at it — is ridiculous. That was malicious. It was a cheap shot. Lu Dort’s a great player, and that’s not what I’ve seen him do before. But at some point, you have to stand up for yourself.”
Central Notes: Harden, Thompson, Duren, Bulls
James Harden never considered getting surgery on the thumb he fractured in a Cavaliers game against the Knicks last week, Chris Fedor writes for Cleveland.com. Returning to play on Sunday in a matinee matchup with the Nets, Harden scored 22 points on nine shots while adding eight assists and nine rebounds. After the game, he broke down why, for him, it was a simple decision not to opt for surgery.
“That’s too much time out,” Harden explained. “Thought about playing last game (on Friday). Thought about playing in Milwaukee (on Wednesday). There’s going to be some discomfort, so just figuring out ways to fight through… Got no other choice.”
On Saturday, he went to the NBA Players Association in Manhattan to get an individual workout, with the intent of seeing if he could dribble.
“If I can dribble, I can play,” he said. “I still couldn’t dribble how I wanted to, but it was good enough.”
Harden finished the game with five turnovers, which is where head coach Kenny Atkinson saw the effects of the injury shining through.
“Just fumbling the ball,” Atkinson said. “Couple of those turnovers weren’t his. Then I noticed him kind of deferring a couple times when bringing the ball up. Which he never does. Just probably needed to give it a break. It’s a tough one, especially for a guy that handles it as much as he does. But we needed him. He played handicapped. But he still played well.”
We have more from around the Central Division:
- While his stats might not always jump off the page for the Pistons, Ausar Thompson is Detroit’s floor-raiser and defensive heart, Hunter Patterson writes for The Athletic. He had a team-high 144 combined steals and blocks coming into Sunday’s game, and the Pistons are 21-4 when he plays 27 minutes or more. “You know how people have offensive modes where they feel like they’re on fire?” Thompson asked. “I feel like I have defensive modes like that. So when I get in modes like that I’m like, ‘Yeah, this guy’s not scoring.‘” Coach J.B. Bickerstaff highlighted his pick-and-roll defense as being particularly valuable. “His ability to get through screens and get back in front of his man so you don’t ever have to bring two (defenders) to the ball lets our defense continue to play five-on-five instead of playing five-on-four or four-on-three,” Bickerstaff said.
- Jalen Duren, the first-time All-Star, got a feather in the cap of his already exemplary season on Friday, Patterson writes. With Cade Cunningham on the bench after fouling out in the fourth quarter, Duren helped the Pistons erase a nine-point Cavs lead in under three minutes. He scored 15 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Pistons got the three-point victory, and added 16 rebounds and three blocks. Despite watching the end of the game from the sideline, Cunningham was all smiles about his teammate’s performance. “It’s special, man,” Cunningham said. “It’s everything we talked about, everything we knew he was capable of. He’s put a lot of work in to be where he’s at.” Over his last four games preceding Sunday’s victory over the Magic, Duren was averaging 28.3 points and 14.5 rebounds on 65.2% shooting. He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer.
- The Bulls got their first win since January 31 on Sunday, beating the Bucks 120-97 and snapping an 11-game losing streak. The win gave the young, awkward-fitting roster a positive moment to savor, Brian Sandalow writes for the Chicago Sun-Times. “I know it’s been frustrating for [the players], I know I’m in the locker room after a game and after a loss they feel like they’re working hard, they’re trying hard,” coach Billy Donovan said. “… To see them stick with it for a whole month like this and to go through the struggles of that, I just appreciate the way they’ve stayed together and just continued to try to come back in each day to work to get better.” Donovan says that despite the winless month, he has seen growth from the team.
Southeast Notes: Knueppel, Hornets, Heat Bigs, Kispert
On Thursday night, Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel set the rookie record for made three pointers when he hit his 207th of the season against the Pacers, per ESPN. He managed to achieve the feat in just 59 games, shattering the mark previously set by Keegan Murray, who needed 80 games to establish that record in 2023. Knueppel, who leads the entire NBA in threes, claimed he wasn’t hunting for the record during the game.
“It’s really just about making the right basketball play,” Knueppel said. “My teammates are setting good screens and setting me up in good spots. The coaches as well. I’m just out there looking to make the right play for my team.”
The rookie’s shooting display caught the attention of the greatest shooter of all time, Stephen Curry, who holds the single-season record with 402 made threes.
“He can obviously shoot the ball at a high level,” Curry said after playing the Hornets. “You can’t really leave him open at all as he has such a quick release and shoots with confidence. And his play-making is very underrated. His game just suits the NBA style, whether it’s fast-paced or a slowed-down possession game.”
We have more from around the Southeast Division:
- While Knueppel’s individual play has caught fans’ attention, it’s just one of many reasons for optimism in Charlotte this season, Roderick Boone writes for the Charlotte Observer. The Hornets are currently one of the hottest teams in the league, having gone 17-6 in their last 23 games. After years of struggles to put a competitive team together, there is a palpable sense of excitement from the team and fanbase as Charlotte looks to keep climbing the Eastern Conference standings. “It’s a different vibe,” said Miles Bridges. “We’ll go to away games, their teams be loud, cheering along. And we didn’t have the same at home. Some people showed up, but now it’s like everybody’s showing up, showing us love… Shout out to the fans that’s been down with us before and shout out to the fans now.”
- Heat big men Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware want to play more minutes together, but they know the numbers need to justify it, Anthony Chiang writes for the Miami Herald. For much of the season, Adebayo/Ware duo has been one of the team’s worst two-man groups statistically, but that has started to turn around recently, Chiang notes. Against the Rockets, the pair was unleashed and the Heat won the 16 minutes they played together by 21 points. “I mean, it felt good,” Ware said. “It felt like the days when I’ve played alongside him recently. So, I mean, it felt good.” One wrinkle coach Erik Spoelstra introduced to make the pairing more effective was to use them in a zone defensive scheme, Ira Winderman writes for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Both of those guys were really good in our zone,” Spoelstra said. “Kel’el, that was one of his better jobs in the zone, just communicating, and protecting in that inner circle… Bam was super dynamic at the center position in the zone, and when you play him in the wing (in the zone), he’s our best wing defender, as well.”
- Corey Kispert recorded his career high in points in his first time playing against his former Wizards as a member of the Hawks, Lauren Williams writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Kispert had 33 points and six rebounds as Atlanta won the game without ever trailing. “This game meant more to him. He’d been there for a long time,” teammate CJ McCollum said. “For me, I had a cup of coffee, some tea there. I just figured out my directions on how to get the facility without a GPS when I got traded. He spent some real time there, so I’m glad he’s doing that.”
Warriors Notes: Santos, Curry, Horford, Playoffs
Gui Santos has been given more ball-handling responsibility for the Warriors of late and it has sparked a new excitement in him, Nick Avila writes for NBC Sports Bay Area.
“Yeah, I’m loving it — not that I don’t like the other part,” Santos said. “I love to just be on the NBA floor, but when you’re on the NBA floor and you’ve got a little bit more freedom to find teammates and either go to the basket and do all that, that gives you so much more joy to play. So, I really love it, the momentum.”
The newly extended forward has increased his assist numbers to 4.6 per game over his last five, and his playing style has been infectious among his teammates. However, he knows that his role will change again once Stephen Curry returns.
After receiving his three-year extension, Santos hopes to be an inspiration for other Brazilian players looking to make it in the NBA, Dalton Johnson writes for NBC Sports Bay Area.
“I’m the only one here, so I’m the biggest example when you look at basketball and the NBA being the biggest level you can get to. Everybody is looking at me as an example,” Santos said. “For me, it’s just trying to be a great guy and show that the work ethic is the most important thing. That’s what got me here in this position.”
Head coach Steve Kerr praised Santos following the announcement of the deal.
“He’s been such an important player for us, but also just an incredible development story. Second-round pick and spent his entire first year in Santa Cruz,” Kerr said. “He’s become one of our most important players. We’re all so thrilled for him. He’s excited, it’s a great day.”
Curry reiterated that sentiment, according to NBC Sports Bay Area’ Eden Collier.
“He was so happy to just be on an NBA team at one point,” Curry said. “And now to being a big part of our rotation, really developing and becoming an impactful player on both ends of the floor and being rewarded with that type of security — coming where he came from, it’s a big deal, it’s a big celebration today for him.”
We have more from the Warriors:
- Reacting to the news that Curry will miss at least the next five games with his lingering knee injury, Johnson suggests for NBC Sports Bay Area that it might make sense to shut the star point guard down until the play-in tournament. Given the 4.5-game gap between the Warriors and No. 6 Lakers and the 7.5-game gap that separates Golden State from the No. 11 Grizzlies, caution should be the name of the game when it comes to bringing Curry back, Johnson argues. “It’s just something that you don’t want to have lingering because it can get worse,” Curry said when asked about the injury.
- When Al Horford left the Celtics for the Warriors this offseason, the sense was that he was leaving a team in a gap year for a potential contender. So far, the opposite has been true in terms of the two teams’ relative success levels, and Horford’s integration with the team has required a bit of a learning curve, Gary Washburn writes for the Boston Globe. “I think that the difference is in different places you look for different things,” Horford said. “So in Boston, we ran a lot of pick-and-rolls, and then some isolations, and then we got to moving the ball. And here with the Warriors, we try to get the ball to Draymond (Green), or get the ball in the post, and then play more in the perimeter, play splits and cut to the basket and things like that. And then when Steph is on the court, obviously all that ties in together. So there’s some pick and roll, but then there’s a lot of off-the-ball movement.”
- Kerr is realistic about the Warriors’ chances of earning a top-six spot in the West to avoid the play-in tournament, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Joaquin Ruiz writes. “It’s a lot to make up with 22 games left,” Kerr said. “We don’t even talk about it. It’s not anything that is worth discussing because we just have to try to go out and win and see what happens.“
Stephen Curry To Be Reevaluated in 10 Days
Warriors guard Stephen Curry will be reevaluated in 10 days as he seeks to return from the right knee injury that has kept him sidelined since January 30, ESPN’s Anthony Slater reports (Twitter link). That means that Curry will miss at least five more games in addition to the 10 he has already missed.
It’s essentially the same update the Warriors provided on February 19 when they announced that an MRI on Curry’s troublesome knee revealed no structural damage but that he would miss at least five games and would be reevaluated in 10 days. Today marked 10 days since that announcement.
Curry is dealing with patellofemoral pain syndrome, colloquially known as runner’s knee. He has referred to it as an “unpredictable” issue.
Head coach Steve Kerr previously stated that the team has no interest in shutting Curry down for the season. Golden State is currently the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
Curry is averaging 27.2 points and 4.8 assists per game this season despite averaging just 31.3 minutes per night, one of the lowest marks of his career. He’ll fall shy of the 65-game minimum for end-of-season awards, meaning he’ll miss out on All-NBA honors for just the second time in the past 13 years.
Curry will remain sidelined for at least the team’s upcoming games against the Clippers (Monday), Rockets (Thursday), Thunder (Saturday), Jazz (March 9), and Bulls (March 10).