Raptors Notes: Ingram, Barnes, Next Season
Raptors forward Brandon Ingram had some “aggravation” in his injured left ankle, which led to last week’s PRP injection, Josh Lewenberg of TSN tweets. Ingram added that “things are trending in the right way.”
Ingram, acquired from New Orleans at the trade deadline, will have to wait until next season to make his Raptors debut. He played his last game on Dec. 7, when he was injured against Oklahoma City.
We have more on the Raptors:
- When Ingram returns, coach Darko Rajakovic doesn’t want the high-scoring forward to shy away from taking mid-range shots, according to Lewenberg (Twitter links). “I told Brandon I don’t want to change him… He needs to be himself,” Rajakovic said. “People are always going to talk about, oh, mid-range… Brother, if you can make a shot from that position, go for it.”
- The head coach also considers Scottie Barnes the team’s leader at both ends of the floor. “Scottie Barnes is a unicorn. I love Scottie Barnes. I love everything he does,” Rajakovic said. “Scottie Barnes is the reason our defense was so good and improving this season because Scottie Barnes puts so much into it.”
- Members of the organization are happy with the way Barnes has embraced that leadership role, Lewenberg writes for TSN.ca. “[Leadership] is never easy but I’m really willing to learn,” Barnes said. “And then you take things that you see from other people, as well, and you find ways to [implement] it. It’s all about being comfortable and I feel comfortable talking to these guys. We’re a great team and we get along with each other really well, so it makes it easy.”
- Although Toronto only won 30 games, the core players are very optimistic about next season, Michael Grange of Sportsnet writes. Barnes expects to be preparing for the postseason at this time next year. “My expectations for the team? I expect us to be really good,” he said. “For sure getting into the playoffs and make a great run. With the team that we have, there are no excuses. We should be in the playoffs and make a good run.”
Sixers Notes: George, Bona, Grimes
Paul George acknowledged that his first season with the Sixers was a complete mess. George signed a four-year, $211.6MM contract last offseason.
“To be honest, it was one of the toughest seasons for me, just with a lot of adversity on the court, off the court,” George told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “The injury stuff … was some stuff I didn’t necessarily know I had going on until deep diving and finding out. There was other stuff I didn’t know that was causing my limitations, which was frustrating — not being able to do things I normally could do, and finding out the reason why. Those things are being addressed, so that’s the positive.”
George missed half of Philadelphia’s games due to a variety of injuries. He’s preparing to get back to full health by training camp.
“All in all, I’m expecting to ramp up to a great summer and hitting the ground running,” he said. “So there shouldn’t be any limitation for me in the future to train and get prepared for this next season.”
George believes he can return to an All-Star level if he can get his body right. “I know what level I can play at when I am healthy,” he said, “and obviously, it’s a struggle when I’m not healthy.”
We have more on the Sixers:
- Second-round pick Adem Bona, who appeared in 58 games during his rookie campaign, has a decision to make this offseason. Should he represent Nigeria or Turkey in international competitions? “I’ve played for the national team for almost every age group since U16 to U20. So, the Turkish national team is very important to me. Also, I’m from Nigeria. The Nigerian national team is important to me.” he told Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. “I don’t think there’s any preference. I represent both countries equally, but there’s going to be a decision that has to be made during the summer.” Turkey will participate in EuroBasket this August and September.
- How will the Sixers handle Quentin Grimes‘ restricted free agency? Yossi Gozlan of ThirdApron.com (Substack link) tackles that subject and many others in his offseason preview, speculating that something in the range of the full mid-level (a little over $60MM across four years) might make sense for Grimes.
- In case you missed it, Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse will return next season. Get the details here.
Hornets Notes: Ball, Nurkic, Williams, Peterson, Miller, Bridges, Lee
Once again, point guard LaMelo Ball struggled to stay on the floor this season due to injuries. Hornets head coach Charles Lee believes there’s one way Ball can improve upon his availability, according to Steve Reed of The Associated Press.
“He’s got to get stronger,” Lee said.
Ball, who only suited up in 47 games this season, doesn’t run away from that notion.
“I definitely agree,” Ball said. “Just being in the weight room, and everything they’re saying.”
Ball, who has four years remaining on his maximum-salary rookie extension, underwent surgeries on his right wrist and right ankle but should be ready to go in training camp.
“LaMelo is an incredible competitor, and he knows that in order for us to have the best chance to win and get to where we want to go, he has to be on the floor,” president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson said. “We’re providing every resource, and again, he’s putting the time in and taking ownership in it. We’re happy the season is over in that regard and he’s able to ramp up and have a healthy start to the season next year.”
We have more on the Hornets:
- Jusuf Nurkic, who has one year remaining on his contract, wants to stay with the Hornets. “Hopefully, it’s a two-way street and the organization feels the same way, but so far so good,” Nurkic told Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. “Hopefully, we can build something special for years to come.” Nurkic was acquired from Phoenix in a midseason deal.
- As for Mark Williams, who was headed to the Lakers until he failed their physical, he isn’t sure what plans the franchise has for him. “Obviously, be prepared for whatever,” the big man said, according to Boone. “Obviously, this is where I’ve been since the start of my career. At the same time I’ve learned it’s a business, being traded and then coming back for reasons above me. So, yeah, I think it’s definitely understanding the balance of it being a business and enjoying your teammates and people you’ve made great connections with.”
- Peterson isn’t looking for any quick-fix solutions this offseason to make the team a contender, Boone relays. “I will double down on how we’re not going to expedite anything,” Peterson said. “We’re not going to skip steps. I think there’s plenty of examples that we’ve seen around the league and in other sports that when you try to skip steps and go too fast, that’s when big mistakes end up happening and ones that make it really, really hard to crawl out of that hole. We’re going to be patient, diligent, opportunistic, very strategic in terms of how we build it.”
- A torn ligament in his right wrist short-circuited Brandon Miller‘s sophomore season, Alex Zietlow of the Charlotte Observer writes. The big question surrounding Miller, who only appeared in 27 games, is when will he return? He’s multiple months away from returning to the court but the second pick of the 2023 draft should be a full go for training camp.
- Miles Bridges said that one of Lee’s strengths is his willingness to take input from the players, according to Boone. “Yeah, before he makes big decisions he asks me or Melo or Brandon, asks one of us how we feel about it,” Bridges said. “He loves having our input on stuff. So, yeah, he’s for sure a player’s coach.”
Pacific Notes: Booker, Lakers, Doncic, Butler, Curry
The Suns’ disastrous season didn’t change Devin Booker‘s feelings about the organization. He wants to remain in Phoenix for years to come, he told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic.
“I’ve spoke on it plenty of times,” Booker said. “I’m sure the people are sick of hearing my Phoenix love story, but I’m deeply rooting into this community. I take a lot of pride in it. We’ve built it from the ground up before. I didn’t think I’d be back in this situation, but it shows you how hard the league is. Once we get back to that championship level, I’ll be able to shed light on people that it can change very quickly.”
It seems unlikely Booker will be playing with both Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal again next season. There’s heavy speculation that Durant will be traded and the front office will try to do something regarding Beal’s onerous contract. Booker has no issues with either player.
“I love playing with both of them,” Booker said. “Even the moments that we played together, they haven’t been to what we expected or wanted out of it, but good things do take some time to build and they take experience. We haven’t had a lot of that, but that’s not a good excuse to fall back on.”
Booker is eligible to sign a two-year, maximum-salary extension this offseason, even though he just completed the first year of his four-year super-max extension. He seems tempted to take it if it’s offered.
“I’ve been in long enough where I’ve watched some of my heroes and idols just slowly get out of the league, and you see how it hurts them,” he said. “I don’t want to think about the day that I have to do that. It’s nice to be up for an extension.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers‘ best source of information as they prepare for the Timberwolves in the opening round could be their superstar newcomer. Coach JJ Redick will consult with Luka Doncic, who led the Mavericks to a series win over Minnesota in the Western Conference Finals last season. “There are nuances to what teams are trying to do against certain opponents,” Redick said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. The third-seeded Lakers will use their time off this week to heal up and gradually work on their game plan for the best-of-seven series. “It’s not necessarily going to be everything at once this week. We’ll have to slow drip, and I think that’s the approach that I think is going to work best for our group,” Redick said. “Tuesday will be more about us. Wednesday, we’ll introduce Minnesota.”
- Speaking of Doncic, he became the first international player to have the best-selling jersey in the league, according to Mike Vornukov of The Athletic. Since the 2013/14 season, either LeBron James or Stephen Curry led the NBA in that category. The Lakers also had the league’s top-selling merchandise.
- Jimmy Butler gave the Warriors fans a glimpse of “Playoff Jimmy” when he played 48 minutes, scored 30 points and matched up with Kawhi Leonard in Sunday’s overtime loss to the Clippers, Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic writes. Golden State was relegated to the play-in tournament but Butler gives the Warriors another player who can take over and assert his will, Thompson notes. “You have a guy who can kind of slow the pace of the game down for us, get us into good things,” forward Draymond Green said. “Just having that extra added weapon. Having another No. 1 next to Steph is different.”
- The Warriors have a clean injury report for their matchup with Memphis on Tuesday night, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets. Curry has a sprained right thumb and Butler took a knee to the thigh on Sunday, but both will play.
Southeast Notes: Heat, Wizards, Magic, Play-In, Nance
There are a lot of moves the Heat, who face the Bulls in the play-in tournament on Wednesday, need to make to become true contenders again, says Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.
Not only do the Heat need to add an elite scorer, Jackson writes, they also need an elite shot creator and a better floor leader to prevent the late-game slides that plagued the team this season. However, the pairing of Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware worked well and should be the team’s power duo going forward, according to Jackson, who adds that they also have a solid second unit to bring back next season.
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Wizards general manager Will Dawkins was pleased with the growth of his young players this season but knows they have many more steps to take to become a playoff contender, he told Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “I would say that we discovered through a lot of different assessments and lineups that there’s a style of play that, if we’re rowing in the right direction, can be successful. And we have the type of players here who were bought into that,” he said. “We’re far from where we need to be — still at the ground level. But we feel good about the camaraderie of the group, the work ethic of the group, and the direction we’re headed. But (there’s) a lot of work ahead of us.”
- After an injury-marred season, the Magic still wound up as the highest seed in the Eastern Conference play-in tournament. A victory over Atlanta on Tuesday would clinch the No. 7 seed and a matchup with Boston in the first round. “With everything we’ve gone through, with the bodies being down, with guys being in and out of lineups and the adversity that we’ve hit this year, for this group to get to .500, [it] says a lot about their character, their care factor, and the coaching staff,” coach Jamahl Mosley said, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. “We’re going to have to put that behind us in this moment and move onto Tuesday and make sure we’re ready to take care of business.”
- Forward Larry Nance Jr. won’t be available for the Hawks against the Magic, Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal Constitution tweets. He’s still recovering from a right medial femoral condyle fracture.
Central Notes: Cunningham, Pacers, Bulls, Connaughton
Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham expects a heated battle in the first playoff series of his career, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post relays via an ESPN interview. Detroit will match up against the Knicks in the opening round.
“It’s going to be a war,” he said. “It’s going to be highly physical games — defense, battling it out on the glass, all of those different things. I think it’s going to be a super exciting series for people at home to watch, and it’s going to be a great test for us as far as first round, first series in a long time for the organization. So it’s exciting, and I think it’s going to be a great one for us.”
The Knicks’ game plan will undoubtedly center around making Cunningham uncomfortable.
“He’s had a terrific season. It’s not just [against] us, he’s done it against everybody. We understand that. … With great players you don’t guard them individually, you guard them collectively,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “So we have to understand what goes into that.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- The Pacers reached the 50-win mark with the biggest comeback in franchise history, The Associated Press reports. They erased a 27-point deficit for a 126-118 victory over Cleveland in double overtime on Sunday. Both teams sat out most of their rotation players. Over the game’s final 18:05, Indiana’s Quenton Jackson, Enrique Freeman, RayJ Dennis, Tony Bradley and Johnny Furphy outscored Cleveland 53-24.
- The Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe reveals her seven takeaways from the Bulls’ regular season, including the emergence of Josh Giddey, the building of a young core, and the realization that Lonzo Ball cannot be a building block. Chicago hosts Miami in the play-in tournament on Wednesday.
- Pat Connaughton had a career day in the Bucks’ regular-season finale, pouring in 43 points in an overtime victory against Detroit. “I just wanted to win the game,” Connaughton said, per Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal. “Unfortunately we didn’t do it in regulation, which I’m sure brought some entertainment value for ESPN and everything. Which was fun.” Connaughton holds a $9.42MM player option on his contract for next season.
Pelicans Notes: Benson, Griffin, Green, Williamson, Offseason Approach
What are the implications for the Pelicans’ hugely disappointing season? Only owner Gayle Benson knows that answer, Rod Walker of NOLA.com writes.
The futures of top exec David Griffin and head coach Willie Green hang in the balance after the Pelicans’ second-worst season in franchise history. Griffin has held his job for six seasons, while Green is wrapping up his fourth. The way the offseason plays out could also determine whether New Orleans retains franchise player Zion Williamson and other key pieces.
The Pelicans lost four games by at least 40 points and had three losing streaks of at least nine games.
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- The team is more likely to make moves with an eye toward playoff contention, rather than a reset, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith opines in his offseason preview. The Pelicans have 12 players under contract next season, including Antonio Reeves‘ non-guaranteed deal. They’ll also have a high lottery pick to add to their talent pool.
- The Athletic’s Will Guillory believes abrupt changes are necessary for the Pelicans to grow. They can’t afford to run it back with Griffin, Green and Williamson all remaining in the organization, in his estimation. Moving on with a new front office leader and head coach might be the best course of action in order to catch up with the contenders in the West.
- The Pelicans finished with a 21-61 record after their loss to Oklahoma City on Sunday. New Orleans completed its season on a seven-game losing streak and will be in the No. 4 spot entering the draft lottery.
Sixers President Daryl Morey, Head Coach Nick Nurse To Return Next Season
The Sixers’ disastrous year won’t lead to changes at the top. Following the team’s season-ending loss to the Bulls on Sunday, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said he and coach Nick Nurse will return next season, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps reports.
Morey divulged that news during a postgame press conference.
“We expect more. We really feel for the fans who put their heart and soul into this team, and we know we’ve let you down,” Morey said. “Ownership gave us the resources to make aggressive moves this offseason to put a championship roster around Joel [Embiid] and Tyrese [Maxey] and sometimes those aggressive moves don’t initially work out, but we feel good about [them].”
Morey hoarded salary-cap space to make a big splash last offseason and landed the biggest free agent on the market, Paul George. The front office also added Caleb Martin, Eric Gordon, Guerschon Yabusele, and Andre Drummond while re-signing Maxey, KJ Martin, Kyle Lowry, and Kelly Oubre Jr. with sights on a championship.
Instead, the season disintegrated due to injuries. Promising rookie Jared McCain went down early and the team’s “big three” barely had any time to develop chemistry. Embiid was limited to 19 games and eventually underwent another knee procedure. George only appeared in half of Philadelphia’s 82 games and Maxey was limited to 52 appearances. They suited up together in just 15 games.
“In my opinion when you have an MVP-level talent, you need to make aggressive moves to upgrade around that talent in that window,” Morey said. “That’s what we did last offseason, and we feel good about it going forward. I think it’s such a unique thing to have a player of that caliber. Are we somewhat indexed to talented players who are a little bit more injured? Yes, but that’s why we need to have a younger, deeper roster on them and then have them healthy going into the playoffs next year.”
Despite Embiid’s knee issues and George’s multitude of injuries in recent seasons, Morey expressed optimism that they’ll be “100%” next season.
Given their contractual obligations, the Sixers can only hope that’s the case. Embiid signed a monstrous three-year extension in September worth nearly $193MM that runs through the 2028/29 season with a player option. George has three years and more than $162MM remaining on his contract, which also includes a player option.
Morey says he’ll retool one of the oldest rosters in the league. The Sixers will hold onto their first-round pick if it’s in the top six. Otherwise, it will be conveyed to Oklahoma City.
“If everything sets up well, we’ll have a younger, more dynamic roster around a healthy Joel, Tyrese and Paul,” Morey said. “I never felt like Coach had a healthy literally one game with all three of ’em. I know they played some games together, but they didn’t finish all of ’em and even the ones where it was like their first game back. It was tough … for me personally it was obviously the toughest season of my career, and I’ll just say personally I will spend every waking hour figuring out how turn this team around going into next season.”
Postseason Seeding Set For Western Conference
The seedings for the Western Conference playoffs came down to the very last game — the Clippers‘ 124-119 overtime victory over the Warriors on Sunday afternoon. That outcome assured L.A. of a playoff spot and pushed Golden State into the play-in tournament.
The red-hot Clippers, winners of eight straight, nailed down the No. 5 seed. The Timberwolves, who won their last three games, grabbed the last automatic berth into the first round, joining the Nuggets, who secured the No. 4 seed with their win over Houston on Sunday.
Here’s how the top 10 teams in the West finished the regular season, as the NBA confirms (via Twitter):
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Houston Rockets
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Denver Nuggets
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Golden State Warriors
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Sacramento Kings
- Dallas Mavericks
The play-in tournament in the Western Conference will feature the Warriors hosting the Grizzlies on Tuesday and the Kings hosting the Mavericks on Wednesday. The Golden State/Memphis winner will claim the No. 7 spot in the playoffs and face the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. The loser of that game will host the Sacramento/Dallas survivor on Friday for the No. 8 spot and the right to face the top-seeded Thunder in round one.
The Lakers will have home court advantage in the first round and face the Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs. The Nuggets will also have home court advantage in their first-round series against the Clippers.
The seedings for the Eastern Conference playoffs were decided prior to Sunday’s action and can be found here.
Pacific Notes: Zubac, Monk, Warriors Loss, Podziemski
Ivica Zubac recorded the first triple-double of his NBA career in the Clippers’ win over the Rockets on Wednesday, compiling 20 points, 11 rebounds and a career-high 10 assists. The veteran center achieved the feat when he assisted on Bogdan Bogdanovic‘s late three-pointer.
Zubac, who signed a three-year extension in September, almost didn’t get a chance to make some personal history.
“I wanted it,” Zubac told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. “T. Lue (coach Tyronn Lue) wanted to sub me out, then everyone was like, ‘No, no, no.’ He asked me and I was like, ‘I’ll stay.’ I wanted it. I told Bogie ‘I’ll get it to you and you got to shoot it no matter what,’ and he did. Bogie is a big-time shot maker. So, I told him he’s never paying for dinner again. I’m glad he made that shot.”
The Clippers’ sixth straight win kept them tied with the Nuggets for the fourth-best record in the West.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Kings sixth man Malik Monk won’t be available for at least two weeks due to a calf strain. It’s a case of very bad timing for the club as the postseason approaches, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee notes. “It’s super unfortunate because we depend on him a lot,” interim Kings coach Doug Christie said. “In many ways, he is the leader of the team, definitely on the emotional side. A lot of the energy, the things that go on in the locker room, practice. He’s the head of the snake in many ways. He’ll still be around, obviously, but two weeks is two weeks and we need him. We need Malik’s energy, his shooting, his athleticism.”
- A bad loss to the Spurs on Wednesday left the Warriors in a precarious position. They’re now in seventh place in the West with two games remaining. If the Grizzlies win their final three games against the Minnesota, Denver and Dallas — plus the Clippers beat the Kings on Friday and the Nuggets beat the Rockets on Sunday — then the Warriors would be stuck in the play-in tournament, regardless of whether they win their final two games, according to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater. Golden State has games remaining against the Trail Blazers and Clippers. “A good team takes care of business the next two and goes from there,” Stephen Curry said. “We have to prove we’re a good team.”
- Warriors wing Brandin Podziemski had a rough outing on Wednesday, scoring just seven points in 33 minutes. In his previous four games, Podziemski averaged 23.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists. His surge in the second half of the season has fueled the Warriors’ chase for a top-six spot, Slater writes. “He was pressing early,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He was trying too hard to be an All-Star instead of just taking the next step. And we had a lot of guys who could all play. He didn’t stand out in camp. He didn’t play well enough to earn what he’s earning now.”