Jazz Share Injury Updates On Williams, Collins, Markkanen
The Jazz issued a series of health updates on Wednesday, ruling out one player for the rest of the 2024/25 season and two others for at least the next week.
According to a press release from the team, rookie forward Cody Williams tested positive for mononucleosis on April 1 and will be sidelined for the remainder of the season. The plan is to reevaluate Williams three weeks before he begins his offseason conditioning work, the Jazz say.
Williams, 20, was the 10th overall pick in last year’s draft, but has struggled to make an impact at the NBA level in his first professional season. In 50 games (21 starts), he averaged just 4.6 points and 2.3 rebounds in 21.2 minutes per night, with a dismal shooting line of .323/.259/.725.
Meanwhile, big man John Collins, who has been on the shelf since March 12, was reevaluated for his left ankle sprain after getting through his initial stages of rehab. He’ll start ramping up his on-court basketball progression and will be reevaluated in another week, per the Jazz.
Another injured forward, Lauri Markkanen, returned to Salt Lake City on Monday to undergo an MRI on his left knee. According to the club, that MRI revealed patellofemoral chondrosis with associated subchondral edema, but no other structural damage. Markkanen, out since March 17, will complete an off-court rehab program and will be reevaluated in seven-to-10 days.
While Utah hasn’t formally ruled out Collins or Markkanen for the rest of 2024/25, it would be a surprise if either player returns to the court during the final days of the season. The 16-60 Jazz are in full-on tanking mode at this point — they’ve lost 16 of their last 17 games and are prioritizing securing the top spot in this year’s draft lottery order.
Kyle Filipowski, Brice Sensabaugh, and Oscar Tshiebwe are among the youngsters who figure to play increased roles for the Jazz down the stretch with Williams, Collins, and Markkanen unavailable.
Carmelo Anthony To Be Inducted Into Hall Of Fame
Former NBA star Carmelo Anthony has been notified that he has been elected into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and will be part of the 2025 class, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Anthony was among 17 Hall of Fame finalists who were announced in February. While the new Hall of Famers from that group won’t be formally revealed until this Saturday (April 5) at the NCAA Final Four, Charania’s report indicates Anthony will be among them.
The third overall pick in the 2003 draft, Anthony appeared in 1,260 regular season NBA games across 19 seasons in the league, averaging 22.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per contest, with a shooting line of .447/.355/.814. He spent his first six-and-a-half professional seasons with Denver before being traded to New York, where he played from 2010-17.
After playing his prime years with the Nuggets and Knicks, Anthony spent time with the Thunder, Rockets, Trail Blazers, and Lakers from 2017-22 before calling it a career. The 6’7″ forward was named an All-Star 10 times over the course of his career and earned six All-NBA nods (two Second Team and four Third Team).
Anthony also led the league in scoring in 2012/13, ranks 12th on the all-time points list, and was one of 75 players named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team.
In addition to his strong NBA résumé, Anthony made an impact in NCAA and international competition. He won a national championship during his first and only college season with Syracuse in 2002/03 and brought home three Olympic medals for Team USA. Anthony was widely lauded for how he adjusted to the FIBA game and was a valuable contributor to the U.S. teams that won gold in Beijing (2008), London (2012), and Rio (2016).
Anthony, who announced his retirement in 2023, is one of many former NBA players who have taken to podcasting and currently puts out weekly episodes of his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast.
Anthony said in the latest episode of 7PM in Brooklyn that he has interest in joining an NBA ownership group, specifically naming the Wizards as a team he’d like to get involved with (Twitter video link).
“Former player. I understand players. I understand personnel, I understand being fatigued,” Anthony said as part of a longer explanation for why he thinks he’d make a good team owner (hat tip to Paul Kasabian of Bleacher Report). “I understand how to build teams, but I also understand what I don’t understand. I know what I don’t know. You also have to put people in those positions. President, GM, you put all the basketball acumen in those positions, and then you cover that with business model.”
Celtics’ JD Davison Named G League MVP
Celtics two-way player JD Davison has been named the G League’s Most Valuable Player of the 2024/25 season, according to an official announcement from the NBA (Twitter link).
A 2022 second-round pick, Davison has played sparingly at the NBA level in his first three professional seasons and logged just 51 minutes in 12 total appearances for the Celtics in ’24/25. He spent most of his time with the Maine Celtics, appearing in a total of 45 Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games for Boston’s NBAGL affiliate.
Across those 45 outings, Davison averaged 25.6 points, 7.7 assists, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 34.6 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .482/.332/.762. Maine went just 8-8 in the Tip-Off Tournament, but the 6’1″ guard led the team to a 21-13 record and a No. 3 playoff seed in the G League’s regular season.
Salt Lake City Stars big man Oscar Tshiebwe – who is on a two-way contract with the Jazz – and Capital City Go-Go guard Jaylen Nowell finished second and third, respectively, behind Davison for the G League MVP award, which is voted on by the league’s head coaches and general managers.
Tshiebwe, known as an elite rebounder, averaged a record-setting 18.3 RPG in 42 games for Salt Lake City while also contributing 16.1 PPG, 2.8 APG, 1.8 SPG, and 1.1 BPG. The Stars, like the Celtics, finished the regular season with a 21-13 record.
Nowell isn’t currently on an NBA roster, but he earned call-ups with New Orleans and Washington over the course of the season. The veteran guard spent most of the year with the Wizards‘ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, for whom he averaged 24.7 PPG, 5.4 APG, 4.3 RPG, and 1.1 SPG with an impressive .526/.479/.901 shooting line. The Go-Go posted a 20-14 regular season mark.
Glen Taylor To Cede Control Of Timberwolves To Lore, Rodriguez
Longtime Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor has decided not to appeal an arbitration ruling in favor of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez and will sell his controlling interest in the franchise to the minority stakeholders, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
When Lore and Rodriguez reached an agreement in the spring of 2021 to buy the Timberwolves from Taylor, the succession plan called for the new owners to initially come aboard as minority stakeholders with a 20% share of the franchise.
The duo then had until the end of 2022 to exercise an option to purchase approximately another 20% and had until the end of 2023 to exercise their option for an additional 40% stake, bringing their total share to 80% in 2024 — that plan would have made them the controlling owners a year ago.
However, the process hit a snag in March 2024 when Taylor announced he would be retaining control of the Timberwolves, citing a breach of contract and a failure to meet a payment deadline. Lore and Rodriguez disputed that characterization, stating that they had the funds necessary to become majority owners but were awaiting NBA approval and should have been entitled to an extension.
After mediation failed to resolve the dispute between the two sides, it advanced to an arbitration hearing. A three-person arbitration panel voted in favor of Lore and Rodriguez in February, and Taylor has been weighing his options since then.
Rather than continuing his fight to retain the franchise, Taylor has agreed to sell 100% ownership to the Lore/Rodriguez group at the $1.5 billion valuation that was initially agreed upon in 2021, according to Charania, who says that decision was made after the two sides held discussions over the past six weeks.
The franchise’s value has increased substantially since that deal was made (as of December, Sportico pegged it at $3.29 billion), which was believed to be a major factor in Taylor’s efforts to try to halt the sale. Still, Taylor will ultimately come out way ahead in the transaction after having reportedly paid in the neighborhood of $88-94MM to buy the Timberwolves in 1994.
There are still some final hurdles to clear before the ownership transfer is officially finalized. Most notably, the NBA’s Board of Governors will need to approve the new ownership group, which includes other investors – such as Michael Bloomberg – in addition to Lore and Rodriguez. However, there’s no reason to believe that the league will stand in the way of the sale.
Once the transfer is complete, Lore is reportedly expected to serve as the Timberwolves’ primary governor. One February report suggested that former Minnesota star Kevin Garnett – who had a long-standing feud with Taylor – will likely be hired to a position in the team’s front office when Lore and Rodriguez officially take over.
Nuggets’ Malone, Teammates Stand By Westbrook After Costly Late-Game Sequence
Russell Westbrook didn’t speak to reporters on Tuesday after he had a major hand in a disastrous late-game sequence that cost the Nuggets a double-overtime win over the rival Timberwolves. However, his head coach and teammates weren’t willing to throw the veteran guard under the bus, as Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes.
With Denver holding a one-point lead and just 15 seconds left to play, Westbrook grabbed an errant Anthony Edwards pass and led a 2-on-1 fast break up the court (Twitter video link via NBA on TNT). However, his layup attempt was no good, resulting in the Wolves grabbing the rebound and getting off a last-second three-point attempt for the win.
Minnesota guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker missed the shot, but Westbrook was called for a foul, which led to Alexander-Walker making the game-winning free throws with a tenth of a second left on the game clock.
“(Westbrook is) a guy that hates to lose. … He’s a perfectionist and he’s a competitor,” head coach Michael Malone told reporters, including Durando, during his post-game press conference. “And knowing Russ the way I do, he’s probably gonna put a lot of this on him. But we lost tonight. The Denver Nuggets. We, as a collective group, lost that game tonight. Not one player.
“He’s a pro. He’s a warrior. He’s a tough kid,” Malone continued. “And I think he knows that everybody in that locker room has got his back.”
Malone’s assertion that Westbrook’s teammates have his back was reinforced by comments made by star center Nikola Jokic – who had an incredible 61-point triple-double – and Christian Braun.
“Why?” Jokic replied when asked if he would say something to Westbrook about the last two plays of the game (Twitter link via Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette). “What happened, it’s basketball. I’m pretty sure that he didn’t want to make a foul or whatever. It happens. He had the best (intentions). It happens.”
“We trust (Westbrook) to take that shot 100 out of 100 times,” Braun added. “So that’s not what lost us the game.”
Still, Troy Renck of The Denver Post contends that Tuesday’s costly 15-second sequence is the latest piece of evidence in favor of the Nuggets using Westbrook as nothing more than a spark-plug off the bench when their roster is fully healthy. According to Renck, Westbrook’s lack of “situational awareness” – exhibited by his decision to go for a layup after the steal instead of looking to kill more time on the clock – makes him a potential liability in late-game situations.
After primarily coming off the bench and averaging a career-low 22.5 minutes per night last season for the Clippers, Westbrook has started 35 of 69 games for Denver this season, with his playing time bumped back up to 28.1 MPG. The Nuggets have a -0.5 net rating when he’s on the court, compared to a +9.1 mark when he’s not, prompting Renck to argue that the team shouldn’t be leaning on the former MVP so heavily.
Westbrook is in the first season of a two-year, minimum-salary contract that includes a $3.47MM player option for next season. If he turns down that option, he’d become an unrestricted free agent and the Nuggets would hold his Non-Bird rights.
Latest On Kevin Durant
The Suns haven’t put out any sort of formal press release updating the status of Kevin Durant‘s left ankle injury, but head coach Mike Budenholzer confirmed on Tuesday that the timeline reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania on Monday is accurate. Charania indicated that Durant has been diagnosed with a sprained ankle and will miss at least a week, meaning he’ll be sidelined for the team’s ongoing three-game road trip.
“As of now, we don’t expect him to join us on the trip,” Budenholzer acknowledged on Tuesday, per ESPN.
The Suns’ road trip began on Tuesday with a loss in Milwaukee. They’ll travel to Boston to face the Celtics on Friday before visiting the Knicks in New York on Sunday. After that, Phoenix would have just four games left in the season, but Budenholzer said the team remains optimistic that Durant will be able to return at some point during that final week.
“We’re certainly hopeful,” Budenholzer said. “I think these first few days will be important, but we’re hopeful he’ll be back before end of the season.”
The Suns’ willingness to bring back Durant at the end of the season figures to depend in large part on whether the team’s play-in hopes are still alive. After a fourth consecutive loss on Tuesday, Phoenix is now 35-41 and trails the No. 10 Kings (36-39) by a game and a half in the Western Conference standings.
We have more on Durant:
- Within a larger feature on the Suns’ disappointing season, Logan Murdock of The Ringer reports that a Durant trade this offseason isn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion. League sources tell Murdock that the star forward would be “open to a return,” even though most people around the NBA are expecting him to be on the move.
- Devin Booker, for one, is hopeful that this won’t be Durant’s last season in Phoenix. “Hell yeah, I want to play alongside him,” Booker told Murdock. “The team’s been in a tough situation. So, that’s the NBA today. I think K understands the business too, that when things aren’t going the right way, people are going to explore options. I don’t know how serious it actually was, but we moved past it. You see his morale, you see how he feels about the city.”
- According to Murdock, a sideline argument between Durant and Budenholzer during a game against the Lakers last month stemmed from Durant “pleading” with his coach to simplify certain offensive concepts for the benefit of the club’s younger players. The former MVP downplayed that brief confrontation in his post-game remarks.
Thunder’s Daigneault, Celtics’ Mazzulla Named Coaches Of The Month
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault is the Western Conference’s Coach of the Month for March, with Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla claiming the award for the Eastern Conference, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).
Daigneault’s Thunder and Mazzulla’s Celtics have been the NBA’s two hottest teams in recent weeks.
Oklahoma City won 15 of 16 games in March en route to clinching the No. 1 seed in the West entering this year’s playoffs. The Celtics had 14 wins in 15 games, putting some pressure on the top-seeded Cavaliers and ensuring they’ll finish the regular season with one of the league’s top three best records.
While he’s not considered one of the frontrunners for Coach of the Year, Daigneault has now been named Coach of the Month in the West three times this season. He and Ime Udoka of the Rockets, who has won the award twice, are the only two Western Conference coaches to earn the monthly honor in 2024/25.
Udoka joins Chris Finch (Timberwolves), Steve Kerr (Warriors), and Tyronn Lue (Clippers) as the other Coach of the Month nominees for March in the West, per the NBA (Twitter link).
Kenny Atkinson of the Cavaliers, who was named the East’s Coach of the Month twice this season, and Rick Carlisle of the Pacers, who won the award in January, are among this month’s Eastern Conference nominees, along with Billy Donovan (Bulls), Quin Synder (Hawks), and Darko Rajakovic (Raptors).
Grizzlies Rumors: Coaching Change, Morant, Jackson, Aldama, More
When Grizzlies head of basketball operations Zach Kleiman held a brief media session over the weekend to discuss his decision to fire head coach Taylor Jenkins, he said he believes the coaching change will give the team “clarity of direction.” As Ramona Shelburne, Tim MacMahon and Michael C. Wright write for ESPN.com, that was almost certainly a reference to an offensive system that was overhauled ahead of the season and has continued to undergo changes since then.
Jenkins had been tasked this season with overseeing and blending the competing visions of newcomers Tuomas Iisalo and Noah LaRoche, according to ESPN’s trio, who note that both assistant coaches received seven-figure salaries when they were hired. Memphis also reportedly paid a seven-figure buyout to Paris Basketball in order to secure Iisalo, whose system leaned on pick-and-roll schemes, pacing, offensive rebounding, and transition offense; LaRoche’s system prioritized spacing and relocations while mostly eschewing pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs.
“They were going all-in on these new concepts,” one source told ESPN.
The fact that the Grizzlies were deferring so heavily to a pair of new assistants after overhauling Jenkins’ coaching staff signaled to others in the organization, including the players, that the head coach was on the hot seat entering the season.
“Players aren’t stupid,” another source told ESPN. “They know where this is heading when you fire five assistants after the season.”
The short-term returns on the offensive changes were positive, as the Grizzlies got off to a 35-16 start and led the NBA in scoring, pace, and offensive rebounding while ranking dead last in ball screens per game. However, as Shelburne, MacMahon, and Wright detail, opponents began adjusting to Memphis’ new system and star guard Ja Morant expressed frustration both publicly and privately about the way in which the ball had been taken out of his hands.
The Grizzlies began running significantly more ball screens and handoffs in March, but the decision to move on from both Jenkins and LaRoche suggests the Grizzlies felt there were too many cooks in the kitchen and wanted to give Iisalo – the new interim head coach – the opportunity to simplify the offense this spring.
Addressing the coaching change in an episode of ESPN’s Hoop Collective podcast this week (YouTube link), MacMahon stated that the move was about “optimizing” Morant.
“That was a primary motivator for this decision,” MacMahon said (hat tip to RealGM). “There has been noise about Ja being unhappy all season long. There has been noise about, ‘Hey, you know, could Memphis look to move Ja this summer?’ More so, ‘Could Ja look to get out of Memphis this summer? Could Ja look to to force a trade, or at least request a trade? And would Memphis shop him this summer?’ There’s been a lot of that.
“I was texting with a GM after (the coaching change) happened and he said, ‘I would have told you I thought they were definitely going to (shop Morant). Ja was out on them. They won games without him. They have to be sustainable.’ And he said, ‘This is a move that goes in the face of that.’ Basically this is a, ‘Hey Ja, you’re still our guy. Everything we do is going to be based on what’s best for you. What optimizes you.’ They got away from that for a lot of this season and they’re leaning back hard into it.”
Besides the concerns about the offense, there was also a belief in Memphis that Jenkins had lost the locker room and that players – including Morant – were tuning out the team’s longtime head coach, ESPN’s trio reports. One rival Western Conference player told ESPN that the Grizzlies had “lost all of (their) swagger,” while a team source added, “You could just tell no one was on the same page.”
Here’s more on the Grizzlies:
- Kleiman publicly shot down trade speculation involving Morant last month, and the steps the team is taking to “optimize” him show those comments weren’t just lip service. However, there are still doubts around the NBA about whether the star point guard can lead a team to a title, according to Shelburne, MacMahon, and Wright. “Does he sell tickets? Yes,” one rival GM told ESPN. “Is he a top-25 player when healthy? Yes. Can he win multiple series as the best player? No. Not sure most years you can win even one. Plus he is always hurt.”
- The Grizzlies are “committed” to extending Jaren Jackson Jr. and re-signing restricted free agent Santi Aldama this offseason, sources tell ESPN.
- Within ESPN’s report, Shelburne, MacMahon, and Wright cite sources who say Draymond Green came close to signing with Memphis when he reached free agency in 2023. That isn’t new information, but a source close to Green insists the longtime Warrior wasn’t just using the Grizzlies as leverage, telling ESPN that he came “very” close to ending up in Memphis via a lucrative sign-and-trade deal. As ESPN’s trio details, the Grizzlies believed Green’s “experience, basketball intelligence and toughness” was just what they needed as they lost Dillon Brooks and dealt with the aftermath of Morant’s suspensions for off-court behavior.
- After failing to land Green, Memphis added Marcus Smart instead, but that acquisition didn’t work out as planned due in large part to Smart’s recurring injury issues — he was traded away in a salary-dump deal last month. Since missing out on Green and losing Brooks, the club has also attempted to acquire Mikal Bridges and Dorian Finney-Smith, sources confirm to ESPN, but was unable to land either player.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Coby White Earn Player Of The Month Honors
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Bulls guard Coby White have been named the NBA’s Players of the Month for the Western Conference and Eastern Conference, respectively, the league announced today (via Twitter).
Gilgeous-Alexander continued to bolster his Most Valuable Player case in March by averaging an eye-popping 34.7 points per game on a scorching-hot .517/.413/.929 shooting line across 14 contests. The Thunder won 13 of those 14 games, with Gilgeous-Alexander also contributing 7.4 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 1.0 block per night.
The Oklahoma City star has now been named the West’s Player of the Month three times this season, having also won the award for October/November and December. He’s the only player in either conference to have been recognized as a Player of the Month more than once in 2024/25.
Gilgeous-Alexander beat out fellow nominees Deni Avdija, Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, Alperen Sengun, James Harden, and Ivica Zubac to claim the Western Conference award, per the NBA (Twitter link).
As for White, he has taken his game to another level since the Bulls traded leading scorer Zach LaVine to Sacramento ahead of the trade deadline. In 15 March games, the sixth-year guard put up 27.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 3.7 APG with a .495/.379/.878 shooting line, leading Chicago to a 9-6 record.
White was named Player of the Week for the Eastern Conference on both March 17 and March 24, becoming the first player this season to earn that honor in consecutive weeks.
The other nominees for Player of the Month in the East were Paolo Banchero, Quentin Grimes, Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Trae Young, Knicks teammates OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns, and Pacers teammates Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam.
Dyson Daniels, Draymond Green Named Defensive Players Of The Month
Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, who was named the Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month for games played in October/November, has won the award for the second time this season, the NBA announced today (via Twitter). Daniels is the East’s Defensive Player of the Month for March.
Daniels, who has become a legitimate contender for Defensive Player of the Year in his first season as a Hawk, continued to wreak havoc on opposing offenses in March, leading the NBA in steals (3.3), deflections (5.4), and forced turnovers (3.1) per contest over the course of 14 games as Atlanta went 9-5.
Daniels is the second Eastern Conference player to be recognized with two Defensive Player of the Month awards this season, joining Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley, who earned the honor in both December and February.
Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, Warriors forward Draymond Green was named the Defensive Player of the Month for March.
Green, who advocated for himself as a top DPOY candidate a couple weeks ago, backed up the claim with his performance on that end of the court in March. According to the NBA, Green ranked third in the West in steals (1.9) and contested shots (9.1) per game for the month, while Golden State had the fourth-best defensive rating in the league (109.7).
Five different players have been named Defensive Player of the Month in the West this season — Green joins Victor Wembanyama, Jaren Jackson Jr., Amen Thompson, and Toumani Camara as the honorees in the award’s inaugural season.
Mobley, Knicks forward OG Anunoby, and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes were also nominated for the Eastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Month award for March, according to the NBA (Twitter link). The West’s other nominees were Camara, Clippers center Ivica Zubac, and Thunder wing Luguentz Dort.