Latest On Anthony Davis
DECEMBER 4, 11:31am: The MRI results on Davis’ injured groin came back negative, and he’ll be considered day-to-day for now, league sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The Pelicans have confirmed that timetable, announcing that Davis will miss Monday’s game against Golden State and will be listed as day-to-day going forward. The team clarifies that the big man’s injury is a left adductor strain.
DECEMBER 3, 10:37pm: There has been an unnerving sense of uncertainty in New Orleans since Anthony Davis left the team’s Friday night loss against the Jazz with a pelvis injury. Now, Scott Kushner of The Advocate writes, the Pelicans’ season seems to hinge on the pending medical report.
Davis fell to the floor in agony after jostling with Jazz big man Derrick Favors for a rebound. Disconcertingly, despite relatively little contact between the two on the play, Davis couldn’t get off the floor on his own power and had to be taken to the locker room in a wheel chair.
An MRI conducted on Saturday failed to reveal the full scope of the injury, though there seems to be consensus that the big man has at least pulled his groin.
“He had an MRI that was a little inconclusive, but he will take one when we get back to New Orleans and we’ll find out the full depth of the injury,” head coach Alvin Gentry said.
Davis, who was spotted on crutches prior to the team’s Saturday night contest, per William Guillory of The Times-Picayune, has already been ruled out for the Pelicans’ Monday night contest
Pacific Notes: Carter, Randle, Jackson
While 40-year-old veteran Vince Carter was brought to a rebuilding Kings team to provide experience and leadership, he was signed as a player and not a coach for a reason, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes.
That reason, Carter and Kings head coach Dave Joerger agree, is to support the development of the team’s young players on and off the court. Although Carter did miss a handful of games with kidney stones last month, his goal when he’s healthy and active is to teach his teammates to play the right way – by leading by example.
Sure, Jones writes, Carter’s 11.7 minutes per game could go to Kings rookie Justin Jackson or raw sophomore Malachi Richardson, but his presence adds credibility to the organization in transition.
“I think the worst thing you can do is trot five freshmen and sophomores out there together,” Joerger said. “I’ve been told that by many, many people in management, and those who’ve gone through a rebuild. You try to have a nice mix.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers have emerged as a solid defensive force this season and much of that can be attributed to reserve forward Julius Randle. Joey Ramirez of the team’s official site writes that Randle’s versatility on that side of the ball – he’s adept checking everything from perimeter players to big men – can be chalked up to his showing up to training camp in the best shape of his career.
- Rookie Josh Jackson insists that his opting out of a predraft workout with the Celtics was because of a miscommunication between him and his agent and not because he didn’t want to play for a team stacked with veterans at his position, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald writes. “I’m not threatened by anybody, ever. I welcome competition,” the Suns forward said.
- Leave it to Kyrie Irving to understand Devin Booker‘s reality with the Suns. A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston writes that Irving toiled in Cleveland before LeBron James returned much the same way that Booker is in Phoenix. “He already has that mentality of being a killer,” Irving said. “Now it’s just getting pieces around him in order to be at a high level to showcase that.“
Jazz Notes: Mitchell, Gobert, Favors
While Jazz fans watched Gordon Hayward exit for Boston this summer, rookie Donovan Mitchell is doing everything in his power to help them move on, Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders writes. Mitchell has not only thrived in his first season but stepped up as an immediate core piece capable of making a serious impact on games.
Over the course of the last 11 games, Mitchell has averaged 20.2 points, 4.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds. That’s been good enough to help the Jazz win seven of those contests and their last five consecutive.
Scotto writes that Michell’s emergence as a building block for the future will help the franchise turn the page from the Gordon Hayward Era.
There’s more from Utah:
- There’s a chance that Jazz center Rudy Gobert will be back in action Monday night, Eric Woodyard of the Deseret News reports. Gobert has missed the last 11 games with a knee injury.
- There’s no denying that the Jazz are built around center Rudy Gobert but Derrick Favors has filled in admirably for his injured teammate over the course of the past month. “I just want to basically come out and show everybody that I’m back. I’m 100 percent now,” Favors told Eric Woodyard of the Deseret News. The 26-year-old former third-overall pick (and pending free agent) was once regarded as part of Utah’s future core but he has failed to stay consistently healthy throughout his seven-year career.
- Several members in the Jazz organization had a feeling that Gordon Hayward wouldn’t be returning to the squad via free agency last summer. As Zach Lowe of ESPN details, center Rudy Gobert took notice when Hayward uncharacteristically stopped responding to text messages prior to his final decision.
Atlantic Notes: Tatum, Embiid, Hardaway Jr.
The Celtics acquired one of the league’s top clutch performers in Kyrie Irving last summer but they also got their hands on another reliable late-game closer. Chris Forsberg of ESPN writes that, just one and a half months into his NBA career, Jayson Tatum is in good company among the NBA’s leaders in fourth-quarter production.
To be more specific, Tatum – the 19-year-old out of Duke – averages 4.4 fourth-quarter points this season, trailing only Irving’s 7.0. More impressively, however, Tatum sits ninth in the entire NBA for points in the last five minutes of a close game, posting the highest field-goal percentage of anybody else in the top 20.
“He’s very comfortable. He’s not making a bigger deal than it is,” veteran teammate Al Horford said.”He’s just going out there and playing basketball. He has a lot of confidence. He’ll continue to get better, and he’s been getting better since the first game of the season. I’m looking forward to what’s ahead with him.”
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Philadelphia basketball scene icon Sonny Hill thinks that Sixers big man Joel Embiid could be the next Wilt Chamberlain, Keith Pompey of The Inquirer writes. “I said to him, you got a chance to be a young Wilt Chamberlain,” the 81-year-old Hill said. “I’ve never ever told that to anybody before. So what he’s doing right now, I kind of saw that before he even got healthy.” Hill is the founder of Philly’s Sonny Hill League and serves as an executive advisor with the team.
- Veteran NBA journeyman (and current Suns forward) Jared Dudley, a Boston College alum, spoke highly of the Celtics‘ culture this weekend. “In this league, it’s tough to have an owner that gives the GM time,” he told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. “Once you have that — and you have that here — the next thing is the coach. And even when Brad Stevens came in the league — even when the Celtics weren’t good — his reputation was as a players’ coach, a friendly offense where everyone would be able to have the ball. That’s what you want, even if you’re a role player. I’m a role player, and I want to touch the ball to feel like I’m involved.“
- Count Tim Hardaway Jr. among the Knicks‘ growing list of inactive players. Howie Kussoy of the New York Post writes that the two-guard with a previously undisclosed leg injury joined Kristaps Porzingis on the sidelines on Sunday.
Community Shootaround: Anthony Davis
The Pelicans may be without superstar big man Anthony Davis for the foreseeable future, a painful realization that’s become all too familiar for the New Orleans franchise.
Although no details about Davis’ latest set back – an apparent groin injury – have been announced, he appeared to be in considerable pain in the fourth quarter of the team’s loss to the Jazz Friday night and allegedly left the locker room on crutches.
While Davis was jostling to box out Jazz center Derrick Favors at the time of the injury, it didn’t look as though the pain was related directly to the contact, although that’s merely a non-medical observation.
For the first five seasons of his career, Davis struggled to stay consistently healthy, suffering a series of unrelated injuries that suggest a general fragility more than any one particular troublesome area. Last year, however, he managed to stick it out through a career high 75 contests.
Our question for readers is a simple one, will Davis – unbelievably still just 24 years old – ever shed the injury prone level that has dogged him throughout his career? If you were at the helm of an NBA franchise, could you ever trust investing substantially in a player with Davis’ track record?
It won’t be long before the details as to the extent of the injury are made public and hopefully it’ll have simply looked worse than it actually was.
Unfortunately in Davis’ case, it’s only natural to expect bad news.
Pacific Notes: Chriss, Bodganovic, Griffin
After gaining an undisclosed but noticeable amount of weight over the summer, Suns sophomore Marquese Chriss is intent on getting back into the same impressive shape he was in last year as a rookie, Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic writes.
The 20-year-old, averaging just 6.3 points per game in what could have been a breakout campaign with the Suns, said that he felt invincible coming out of college, giving little to no thought about his diet. Chriss realizes now that things change.
“You’re on a limited budget in college but all of a sudden I had nothing but free time and money,” Chriss said, now eager to get to a point where he can play 35 minutes a night if the Suns need it. “I needed to learn how to manage. I needed to grow up in that aspect of my life so I’m grateful that it happened sooner rather than later.”
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- The knee injury that Clippers forward Blake Griffin sustained is more commonly seen in football players (think linemen falling into running backs), Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register writes. Fortunately, a doctor that the scribe consulted says things could have been a lot worse than they ended up being. MCL tears, Teaford writes, tend to require less rehabilitation than ACL tears, which control front and back movement.
- The Lakers may have lost to Golden State in their Wednesday night tilt this week but Sam Amick of USA Today writes that the young team did an excellent job showcasing their appeal to future free agents.
- Draft-and-stash rookie Bogdan Bogdanovic is getting accustomed to life with the Kings and settling into life in the U.S. The 25-year-old tells Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee that he thinks he can be a better player in the NBA than he was in Europe.
Bucks Make Concerted Push For DeAndre Jordan
The Bucks are making a concerted push to acquire DeAndre Jordan from the Clippers, Gery Woelfel of the Woelfel’s Press Box writes.
According to the scribe’s sources, the Clips seek a partial or even full complement of John Henson, Malcolm Brogdon and Khris Middleton in return.
While there hasn’t been any direct indication that the Clippers are shopping Jordan, he’s eligible for free agency this summer, making him the most logical trade chip if the team does decide to become a seller ahead of the trade deadline.
Considering that trading Jordan would at least appear to be the opening salvo in a rebuild, it makes sense that the squad would pursue the reigning Rookie of the Year and, if possible, shed salary while they were at it.
While the Bucks had long sought to organically develop their young talent, they’re eager to more aggressively compete for a title now, as evidenced by their acquisition of Eric Bledsoe from the Suns earlier in the season.
Slotting Jordan into the starting lineup ahead of (or in place of) Henson would give the team an imposing starting five as they continue on their quest to usurp the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.
In addition to the Bucks, Woelfel writes, the Raptors, Wizards and Timberwolves are said to have shown the most interest in Jordan.
Wizards Unveil ‘Capital City Go Go’ As G League Affiliate
We’ve known that the Wizards would be the 27th team to add a G League affiliate since June but the organization revealed the name of the minor league squad – the Capital City Go Go – in the middle of their Friday night contest.
At the time of the initial announcement we learned that the new club will play in southeast Washington, D.C. and that the team’s stadium will also serve as the home arena for the city’s WNBA squad. The building will also include a practice facility for the Wizards.
As the Wizards’ official site touches on in their press release for the occasion, having an affiliate so close to the big league squad makes assigning and recalling players on short notice more feasible. In the last few seasons we’ve seen clubs fully utilize their affiliates to get young, developing players extra reps while also keeping them involved with the NBA franchise.
On top of that, NBA squads have started to use their G League affiliates to rehabilitate injured players as the Bulls and Spurs have done with Nikola Mirotic, Zach LaVine and Tony Parker as recently as this week.
With the addition of the Go Go to the G League’s stable of affiliates, only the Trail Blazers and Nuggets are left without one. Technically the Pelicans lack one, too, but they’re looking to rectify that.
Central Notes: Bulls, Wade, Parker
The draft day trade that sent Jimmy Butler from Chicago to Minnesota is starting to pay dividends for the Bulls, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com writes. With Zach LaVine‘s return nearing, the overall haul the franchise got in return for its outgoing star is starting to round in to shape.
Both Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn have shown that they could be long-term Bulls building blocks in their own right, the former stepping up with 13.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game as a rookie and the latter showing the sheer, raw promise that made him such a highly touted lottery pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Markkanen’s emergence has come quicker than expected thanks largely in part to the double-whammy that hit the Bulls prior to the regular season. When Bobby Portis decked Nikola Mirotic in practice before the season opener, the 20-year-old Finn was thrust into the starting lineup. To this point, he hasn’t looked back.
There’s more out of the Central Division tonight:
- While it may have taken slightly longer than planned, the G League affiliate of the Bucks‘ will see their new arena open in Oshkosh, Gery Woelfel of The Journal Times writes. The Wisconsin Herd played their first three home games in the big league club’s stadium.
- The Bucks brought in special assistance to help develop Jabari Parker while the 22-year-old recovers from an ACL injury, Matt Velasquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. Former NBA head coach Frank Johnson impressed Jason Kidd during his tenure with the Suns back in the nineties and now works closely with the injured forward.
- There was apprehension in the Cavaliers‘ locker room that the addition of Dwyane Wade would disrupt team chemistry, Jason Lloyd of The Athletic writes. In his own question-and-answer feature, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com sheds some light on which players, specifically, may have initially resisted the addition.
Grizzlies’ Ownership Clause Activated
A critical clause in Memphis’ franchise ownership agreement has been activated this week, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes. As we’ve written in the past, the second-largest Grizzlies shareholders will now have an opportunity to possibly buy out majority owner Robert Pera.
In short, Steve Kaplan and Daniel Straus will be presented a chance to purchase Pera’s stake (25-26%) at a price point of their choosing, a caveat being that when they submit their offer, Pera will have the option to instead buy their shares (13.5% each) at the same rate.
All eyes will be on how Pera handles the forced decision. As Krawczynski writes, Pera has been a notoriously absent owner and the franchise appears to be trending in the wrong direction.
The clause, then, marks an opportunity for Pera to cash out on what could prove to be a very successful investment considering that Kaplan and Straus will naturally look to dissuade him from matching and, of course, the rise in franchise valuations across the entire NBA in general.
While the Grizzlies were purchased for $377MM back in 2012, the recent sales of the Clippers and Rockets for north of $2B has obliterated the former precedent.
Pera will have 60-90 days from the day that the clause was activated which means that, barring any complications, we could see a resolution here by the end of January or February at the latest. The exact date that the clause was triggered is not presently known.
If nothing else, the activation of the clause could bring an end to a chapter of uncertainty for the franchise. This year especially, with a lack of familiar faces on the roster, a plethora of injuries and now a coaching change, any semblance of stability could bode well.
Whether that means Pera assumes a larger ownership stake or Straus and Kaplan unseat him altogether, however, remains to be seen.