Injury Notes: G. Allen, Giannis, Hardaway, Kawhi
Suns wing Grayson Allen re-injured his right ankle early in the third quarter of Game 2 vs. Minnesota on Tuesday, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Allen, who suffered a right ankle sprain in Game 1, turned that same ankle when he landed on Mike Conley‘s foot as he tried to block a shot attempt (Twitter video link).
Allen was unable to play the final 21 minutes for the Suns, who find themselves in a 2-0 hole after Tuesday’s loss. However, X-rays on the ankle were negative, per head coach Frank Vogel. Allen is considered day-to-day and isn’t ruling out the possibility of returning for Game 3.
“Forty-eight hours in between, two days,” Allen told reporters. “We’ll see how it goes after two days.”
Allen scored just three points in more than 17 minutes of action on Tuesday, but he’s an important connecting piece in Suns lineups featuring their three stars — he can defend on the perimeter and led the NBA with a .461 3PT% this season. Phoenix was a +3 in Allen’s time on the floor on Tuesday, but ultimately lost the game by 12 points.
Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:
- Bucks head coach Doc Rivers told reporters that Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf strain) was taking shots and was “on the floor a bunch” on Tuesday, suggesting that he’s “getting closer” to a return (Twitter link via Eric Nehm of The Athletic). However, Shams Charania of The Athletic said on FanDuel’s Run it Back show (Twitter video link) that Antetokounmpo still has a number of benchmarks to clear. “Still not much cutting, no scrimmaging, no all-out running yet,” Charania said. “… I think the Bucks have to be prepared to keep playing on without Giannis (and) making sure he’s 100% when he does make it back.”
- Mavericks swingman Tim Hardaway Jr. sprained his right ankle in Tuesday’s win over the Clippers and didn’t play at all in the second half (Twitter link). Hardaway’s status for Game 3 on Friday is unclear at this point.
- Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, who played 35 minutes on Tuesday in his first game since March 31, admitted that he has some rust to shake off, but said after the loss to Dallas that his right knee felt good, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Improving his conditioning and his rhythm will be a goal for Game 3. “This is my first game in 20-something days,” Leonard said. “We got to be better as a unit overall and it starts with me. And even if my wind is low, I got to find a way.”
Izan Almansa, Jaxson Robinson Among Draft’s Latest Early Entrants
Izan Almansa, a 6’10” Spanish power forward, has announced on Instagram that he’s declaring for the 2024 NBA draft. Almansa came stateside in 2021 and spent two years with the Overtime Elite program before joining the G League Ignite for 2023/24.
Almansa appeared in 48 total Showcase Cup and regular season games for the Ignite, averaging 10.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 27.3 minutes per contest. He made 54.3% of his shots from the floor, but only attempted 35 three-pointers all season (he made seven) and hit just 54.0% of his free throws.
Viewed by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic last August as a potential lottery pick, Almansa has fallen all the way to No. 52 on Vecenie’s latest big board for 2024. ESPN’s draft experts are a little higher on the 18-year-old, placing him at No. 37 on their top-100 list.
Here are a few more early entrants who have recently declared for the NBA draft:
- BYU senior wing Jaxson Robinson is entering the 2024 draft, he announced on Twitter. Robinson, who played for Texas A&M and Arkansas earlier in his college career, enjoyed a breakout season in 2023/24, averaging 14.2 points per game on .426/.354/.908 shooting. The No. 55 prospect on ESPN’s board, he was named the Big 12’s Sixth Man of the Year after starting just six of 33 games.
- Illinois senior forward Coleman Hawkins, the No. 86 prospect on ESPN’s top-100 list, revealed on Twitter that he’s entering the NBA draft and suggested within his announcement he plans to forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility. Hawkins, who also declared for the draft a year ago before withdrawing, has been a full-time starter for the Fighting Illini for the past two seasons. He put up 12.1 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 2.7 APG, and 1.5 SPG with a .369 3PT% in 2023/24.
- Kansas State junior forward Arthur Kaluma has announced on Instagram that he’s entering the 2024 draft. Kaluma averaged 14.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 2.0 APG with a shooting line of .427/.345/.747 in his first season with the Wildcats after two years at Creighton. He first tested the draft waters in 2023.
- French forward Mohamed Diawara, who has spent the past few seasons under contract with Paris Basketball and will turn 19 next Monday, has declared for the draft, according to agent Olivier Mazet (Twitter link).
Changes Coming To Billy Donovan’s Bulls Staff
Veteran Bulls assistant coach Chris Fleming won’t return next season as part of Billy Donovan‘s staff, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that assistant Maurice Cheeks also won’t be back in a full-time role on the bench.
Confirming Charania’s reporting, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago says that Cheeks is expected to have a position elsewhere in the organization. That decision was solely Cheeks’, Johnson adds.
In other Bulls coaching news, second-row assistant John Bryant is expected to move to the front of the bench for the 2024/25 season, according to Johnson, who notes that Josh Longstaff will be in the mix to become Donovan’s new lead assistant. Longstaff isn’t the only candidate receiving consideration for that role, however, per Johnson.
Fleming, formerly an assistant in Denver and Brooklyn, was the lone assistant on the Bulls’ staff who held that role prior to Donovan’s arrival in 2020. Fleming joined the team in 2019 after stints in Denver (2015-16) and Brooklyn (2016-19).
Cheeks was hired by the Bulls along with Donovan in 2020. The former All-Star guard has had head coaching stints with the Trail Blazers, Sixers, and Pistons and worked for several years as an assistant in Oklahoma City.
Sixers To File Grievance Over Officating
4:26pm: The league acknowledged in its last two-minute report that Brunson and Josh Hart both fouled Maxey during the last-minute scramble. It also indicated Nurse should have been granted a timeout on the inbounds play, Bontemps tweets.
7:26am: Following their Game 2 loss to the Knicks in New York on Monday, the Sixers intend to file a grievance with the NBA over the officiating, a team spokesperson told Tim Bontemps of ESPN and Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports.
According to Neubeck, the 76ers’ list of concerns will include (but won’t necessarily be limited to) the following:
- Two calls in the last two-minute report from Game 1 went against the Sixers.
- The Sixers have been the most disadvantaged team in the NBA this season based on last two-minute reports, with a report compiled in early April indicating that 22 missed calls benefited their opponents and 11 benefited them, the worst such ratio in the league.
- The Knicks included detailed referee information in their game notes for the first two games of the series (Twitter link), which Bontemps describes as “unusual.”
- The Sixers believe they should have been awarded a timeout at multiple points during a key inbounds play and possession late in Monday’s loss (Twitter video link). They also believe Tyrese Maxey was fouled during the play, with Jalen Brunson grabbing his jersey.
That inbounds play occurred with 27 seconds left in the game and the Sixers holding a two-point lead. Head coach Nick Nurse appeared to briefly signal for a timeout just before Kyle Lowry inbounded the ball to Maxey, who was held by Brunson. Maxey fell to the floor with the ball as Nurse attempted to call timeout again, but the Sixers lost possession before a timeout could be granted, leading to a Donte DiVincenzo go-ahead three-pointer.
“Well, the first thing is obviously they score,” Nurse said in describing the sequence after the game. “We take a look at getting it in quick. We don’t get it in quick. I call timeout. Referee looked right at me. Ignored me. Went into Tyrese, I called timeout again. Then the melee started.
“I guess I got to run out onto the floor or do something to make sure and get his attention, but I needed a timeout there to advance it. Would’ve been good. But, couldn’t get it.”
Joel Embiid was even more blunt in expressing his displeasure with the officiating.
“Everybody was trying to call a timeout on the floor,” Embiid said, per Bontemps. “Me included. Coach on the sideline. But they didn’t give it to us. But, forget about the timeout. There’s a bunch of fouls. That’s f—ing unacceptable. …That’s on the frigging referees. I hate to put the game on them. But I am sure the two-minute report is going to come out and we are going to see what happened. … We fought for 47 minutes and whatever 20 seconds. For that to happen … that’s not OK.”
The Sixers weren’t the only team with complaints about the officiating after a tough Monday loss. As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, the Lakers also had gripes to share after losing to Denver 101-99 on a Jamal Murray buzzer beater.
Los Angeles was upset that a Michael Porter Jr. foul on D’Angelo Russell in the third quarter, which would have led to a pair of free throws, was overturned because the contact was deemed “marginal” (Twitter video link). Russell later tweeted, “That’s a foul we all saw it on national television.”
“D-Lo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive,” LeBron James said. “What the f–k do we have a replay center for if it’s going to go [like that]? It doesn’t make sense to me. … It bothers me. … And then I just saw what happened with the Sixers-Knicks game too. Like, what are we doing?”
As Fred Katz of The Athletic tweets, the Sixers’ grievance isn’t a formal protest of Game 2, so it won’t affect the outcome of Monday’s contest. It’s presumably just an attempt at gamesmanship on behalf of the 76ers, who will be looking to regain an edge in the series as the teams head to Philadelphia for Game 3.
For what it’s worth, Embiid remains very confident in his team’s ability to pull out the series despite facing a 2-0 deficit.
“We’re good,” Embiid told reporters on Monday, according to Bontemps. “We’re going to win this series. “We are going to win this. We know what we got to fix. We did a better job today, so we are going to fix it. We are the better team. We are going to keep fighting.”
Zion Williamson: Postseason Return Is “Absolutely Realistic”
Speaking to reporters today for the first time since suffering a left hamstring strain in last Tuesday’s play-in game vs. the Lakers, Pelicans forward Zion Williamson said that he believes he has a chance to return to action this spring, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. Williamson added that he has to “pass certain tests” in order to ramp up his basketball activity.
“That is definitely realistic,” Williamson said of playing in the postseason. “That is absolutely realistic. Like I said, I have to pass tests. Get back to baseline. Hopefully, I will be out there.”
When the Pelicans first announced Williamson’s injury last Wednesday, they said he would be reevaluated in approximately two weeks.
The Pelicans are already facing a 1-0 hole in their series against the Thunder and will play three more games before that two-week checkpoint arrives. That means Zion will likely have to count on his teammates to win at least a game or two to extend New Orleans’ season in order for him to have a chance to return.
Although Williamson admitted that the hamstring strain was “super demoralizing,” he stressed that it wasn’t nearly as bad as the right hamstring injury he sustained last season. He suffered a setback during the recovery from that injury, which ended up costing him the final 45 games of the 2022/23 campaign.
“I knew something happened,” Williamson said of last Tuesday’s injury. “It didn’t feel nothing (compared) to how it did on the right side last year. The right side was definitely sharper pain. This one didn’t really feel like that. It just felt like, ‘Something is off right now.'”
The former No. 1 overall pick had the healthiest season of his professional career in 2023/24, starting 70 regular season games and averaging 22.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in 31.5 minutes per night. It was just the second time in five NBA seasons that he had appeared in more than 29 contests.
Community Shootaround: First Round Playoff Series
After the NBA playoffs tipped off on Saturday with a handful of one-sided contests, things got a little more interesting on Sunday and Monday, with the Thunder, Knicks, and Nuggets among the teams to pull out victories in games that went down to the wire.
All three days of the playoffs so far, however, have had one thing in common: The home team has won. The road teams have an 0-11 record entering Tuesday’s action.
It’s not necessarily surprising that the home teams are controlling the eight series so far. Those clubs are the higher seeds, and home-court advantage is often a difference-maker in the postseason.
Still, it’s somewhat rare for the higher seeds to be quite this dominant to open the playoffs, especially when we saw so much parity during the regular season. The No. 2 and No. 8 seeds in the East finished the season just four games apart, while only two games separated the No. 4 to No. 7 teams in the West.
The lower seeds are going to start picking up some wins at some point, especially in Game 3s when they get to play on their respective home courts. But will any of them actually make it out of the first round?
Currently, BetOnline.ag lists all the lower seeds as series underdogs, giving the Mavericks (+140) the best chance to erase its 1-0 deficit and win the series. Those odds aren’t surprising — Dallas finished the season strong, was only a game behind the Clippers in the standings, and seems unlikely to face a fully healthy Kawhi Leonard in the first round.
The Suns (+150) and Pacers (+195) are also viewed as viable candidates to pull off upsets over Minnesota and Milwaukee, respectively. On the other hand, despite only being down 1-0 in their series, the Pelicans (+660) and Heat (+5000!) are massive underdogs vs. the Thunder and Celtics.
Of the teams who have to climb out of a 2-0 hole, BetOnline.ag views the Sixers (+380) as the strongest candidates for a comeback, followed by the Magic (+640) and Lakers (+870).
We want to know what you think. Will any of the eight lower seeds make it out of the first round? If so, which ones do you expect to see in round two?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Purdue’s Zach Edey Officially Enters 2024 Draft
Purdue center Zach Edey, the NCAA’s two-time national player of the year, has submitted paperwork to the NBA league office making himself eligible for the 2024 draft, he confirms to Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
Edey’s plans hadn’t been a surprise. Purdue head coach Matt Painter indicated back in February that his star center wouldn’t be returning to college for his super-senior season in 2024/25.
“I felt like it was time,” Edey said. “I showed that I’m a physical presence on offense this season. I also showed I can play defense. I can guard in space, even defend guards.”
As Givony writes, Edey is one of the most decorated players in college basketball history. He led the nation with 25.2 points per game this past season while also grabbing 12.2 rebounds and blocking 2.2 shots per contest. The 7’4″ center, whose wingspan is 7’10”, guided the Boilermakers to an appearance in the NCAA championship, where Purdue couldn’t top UConn despite Edey’s 37 points.
While there are still some questions about how Edey’s game will translate to the NBA level, he boosted his draft stock over the past 12 months after testing the draft waters in 2023, Givony notes. The big man is now the No. 14 prospect on ESPN’s top-100 list, making him a potential lottery pick.
Edey, who didn’t begin playing basketball seriously until high school, believes his game still has plenty of room to grow, as he tells Givony.
“I’m going to keep expanding my game and do things people haven’t seen from me,” the Canadian said. “Shooting is going to be a big thing in my workouts during the pre-draft process. Every day I’m getting the reps and my routine right to show off that part of my game.”
NBA Player Option Decisions For 2024/25
A number of NBA contracts include player options in the final year. Those option years give the player the opportunity to either opt into the last year of his deal and finish out his contract or to decline the option and hit the free agent market a year early.
Several factors play a part in a player’s option decision. The value of the option salary is obviously crucial, as is the player’s performance in the season leading up to his decision.
The state of the NBA’s salary cap also often becomes a necessary consideration for players weighing their decisions. If the salary cap is projected to increase only modestly, or if not many teams around the league project to have cap room, a player may be more inclined to take the guaranteed money rather than trying his luck on the open market.
This year’s player options are listed below. This list – which can be found anytime under the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right sidebar on our desktop site or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu – will be updated throughout the spring and early summer to note the latest decisions as they’re reported or announced.
While some players may face earlier deadlines (as noted below), all option decisions must be finalized by June 29.
Boston Celtics
- Oshae Brissett ($2,463,946): Opted out
Brooklyn Nets
- Keita Bates-Diop ($2,654,644): Opted in
Charlotte Hornets
- Davis Bertans ($16,000,000): Opted in
- Note: Bertans’ option is technically an early termination option.
- Note: If Bertans opts in, his salary will only be partially guaranteed for $5.25MM.
Chicago Bulls
- Lonzo Ball ($21,395,348): Opted in
- Torrey Craig ($2,845,342): Opted in
Denver Nuggets
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($15,440,185): Opted out
- Reggie Jackson ($5,250,000): Opted in
- Note: Jackson’s decision is due by June 25.
Golden State Warriors
- Gary Payton II ($9,130,000): Opted in
- Note: Payton’s decision is due by June 19.
Indiana Pacers
- Jalen Smith ($5,417,386): Opted out
Los Angeles Clippers
- Paul George ($48,787,676): Opted out
- P.J. Tucker ($11,539,000): Opted in
- Russell Westbrook ($4,027,525): Opted in
Los Angeles Lakers
- LeBron James ($51,415,938): Opted out
- D’Angelo Russell ($18,692,307): Opted in
- Christian Wood ($3,036,040): Opted in
- Jaxson Hayes ($2,463,946): Opted in
- Cam Reddish ($2,463,946): Opted in
Memphis Grizzlies
- Yuta Watanabe ($2,654,644): Opted out
Miami Heat
- Caleb Martin ($7,126,900): Opted out
- Kevin Love ($4,027,525): Opted out
- Josh Richardson ($3,051,153): Opted in
- Thomas Bryant ($2,845,342): Opted out
New York Knicks
- OG Anunoby ($19,928,571): Opted out
- Note: Anunoby’s decision is due by June 24.
Phoenix Suns
- Eric Gordon ($3,356,271): Opted out
- Josh Okogie ($2,956,734): Opted out
- Damion Lee ($2,845,342): Opted out
- Drew Eubanks ($2,654,644): Opted out
Washington Wizards
- Richaun Holmes ($12,876,780): Opted out
- Note: Holmes opted out as part of a new two-year extension.
Decision deadline information from ESPN’s Bobby Marks was used in the creation of this post.
Draft Notes: Ingram, Bridges, Jones, Kamardine, More
UNC forward Harrison Ingram, who spent his junior year with the Tar Heels after two seasons at Stanford, has declared for the 2024 NBA draft, he announced on Twitter.
According to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link), while Ingram plans on keeping his name in the draft pool and going pro, he’s maintaining his remaining college eligibility for now. Ingram also tested the draft waters in 2022, participating in the combine that year before withdrawing and returning to school.
[RELATED: 2024 NBA Draft Early Entrants List]
Back in 2022, Ingram barely crack the top 75 on ESPN’s big board of draft prospects, but he currently ranks 34th, making him a good bet to selected in June if he decides to forgo his remaining NCAA eligibility.
The North Carolina standout posted career highs of 12.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game in 2023/24. He also boosted his shooting percentages to 43.0% from the field and 38.5% on three-pointers.
Here are a few more draft-related updates:
- Baylor forward Jalen Bridges, the No. 56 prospect on ESPN’s board, announced on Instagram that he has decided to enter the 2024 draft. Bridges’ announcement didn’t mention anything about retaining his final year of college eligibility, so it sounds like he plans to go pro. Bridges spent three years at West Virginia and the last two at Baylor, but would still be eligible for a super-senior season because he was a redshirt freshman and then received an extra year of eligibility due to COVID.
- Memphis senior forward David Jones will enter the 2024 NBA draft pool while maintaining his final year of NCAA eligibility, he announced on Instagram. A member of the All-AAC first team in 2023/24, Jones averaged 21.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.2 steals in 32.3 minutes per game across 32 starts, with a shooting line of .459/.380/.797.
- French guard Ilias Kamardine is entering the draft, according to an announcement from agent Herman Manakyan of Fusion Sports (Twitter link). Kamardine, 20, has been playing for Vichy-Clermont in France’s Pro B league and was named the MVP of the FIBA U20 European Championship in 2023.
- New Mexico freshman forward JT Toppin will test the NBA draft waters this spring, a source tells Rothstein (Twitter link). In his first college season, Toppin averaged 12.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 26.6 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .623/.344/.565.
- Arizona guard KJ Lewis will test the draft waters following his freshman season, he announced on Twitter. Lewis came off the bench for the Wildcats in 36 games in 2023/24, averaging 6.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 1.9 APG.
Mediation In Wolves’ Ownership Dispute Scheduled For May 1
A mediation session regarding the Timberwolves‘ ownership dispute between Glen Taylor and a group led by Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez has been scheduled for May 1 in Minneapolis, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Lore and Rodriguez had agreed to a succession plan that would see them gradually buy into the Timberwolves before taking over majority control of the franchise this year. They previously purchased a 36% stake in the team and had been prepared to buy another 40% before Taylor announced last month that he was nixing the deal and retaining majority control of the Wolves.
Taylor claimed at the time that the deadline in the purchase agreement had passed without Lore and Rodriguez making their final payment, while Lore and Rodriguez insisted that they had the capital on hand and were awaiting NBA approval.
The incoming ownership group indicated that there was language in the purchase agreement that should give them a 90-day extension to secure that approval from the league, and expressed confidence that they’ll eventually gain majority control of the franchise.
Within an in-depth look at the ownership dispute, Joe Pompliano of Huddle Up says that if the mediation process doesn’t result in a resolution, the matter will be heard by a three-person arbitration committee — one member of that committee would be picked by Taylor, one would be chosen by Rodriguez and Lore, and the third would be mutually agreed upon by the two sides.
If the issue still isn’t solved at that point, it would go to court. Pompliano suggests Taylor, who would be on his “home turf” and previously served as a senator in Minnesota, would feel as if he had the advantage in that situation. However, sources close to the situation who spoke to Pompliano feel that the battle will eventually end with Lore and Rodriguez taking over majority control.
Here are a few more items of interest from Pompliano’s report:
- The 36% stake that Lore and Rodriguez purchased so far has come entirely out of Taylor’s initial 70% share, rather than the remaining 30% controlled by about a dozen minority stakeholders. Some of those minority owners have been “looking for liquidity for years” but haven’t been able to cash out yet due to the nature of the purchase agreement, per Pompliano.
- Because Lore’s and Rodriguez’s shares so far have come entirely out of Taylor’s portion of the team, his stake would have fallen to 34%. However, Taylor “quietly” purchased a 2.96% share from limited partner Bill Sexton to ensure that he retained control of more of the team (37%) than Lore and Rodriguez (36%). According to Pompliano, there are questions about why Taylor would do that unless he was preparing to retain majority control of the team and nix the sale agreement.
- Pompliano hears from sources that Minnesota’s hiring of Tim Connelly as president of basketball operations and the trade for Rudy Gobert were spearheaded by Lore/Rodriguez and received resistance from Taylor, which A-Rod has suggested in recent media interviews (Twitter video link).
- Pompliano confirms reporting from Wojnarowski that Lore and Rodriguez submitted a payroll projection for next season that came in below the projected luxury tax line. However, Pompliano hears that this is “relatively normal,” and that many team owners submit lower projections before revising them later — especially if the club has postseason success.