And-Ones: Team USA, Bane, Jackson, All-Star Game, CBA
USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill confirmed on Monday that Team USA won’t require its invitees to try out for World Cup or Olympic rosters or to make any sort of multiyear commitment to the program, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
Under former managing director Jerry Colangelo, Team USA invited more than 12 players to its World Cup camp and then made cuts from there to finalize its roster. Colangelo also asked stars to commit to taking part in Team USA activities for more than a single offseason in an effort to develop some roster continuity. However, Hill is hoping that continuity can be established quickly by selecting a 12-man roster early without going through the tryout process and then letting those dozen players develop chemistry with one another.
“There’s been a little bit of a generational shift that’s occurred in the league and basketball in general, and so I think we have to be willing to adapt and adjust to the times and adapt and adjust to players today,” Hill said, per Vardon. “We feel that it’s best served going forward to use that time to come together as a team and to really work on building that chemistry and that camaraderie and preparing for a very different game and a different style of play that exists in international play.”
Hill also announced on Monday that Team USA will play pre-World Cup exhibition contests against Spain and Slovenia this August ahead of previously confirmed tune-up games in Abu Dhabi. Spain, on the strength of its 2019 World Cup victory, is currently the No. 1 team in FIBA’s international rankings, while Slovenia will be led by Mavericks star Luka Doncic.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Grizzlies wing Desmond Bane and big man Jaren Jackson Jr. are among the players that have been asked by Team USA head coach Steve Kerr about the possibility of suiting up for the U.S. in the World Cup later this year, according to Vardon.
- NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum acknowledged that the All-Star Game could benefit from some “tweaks,” but doesn’t believe the event needs to be fundamentally altered, he tells Leonard Solms of ESPN. “We have to be cautious. It is an exhibition game, so we don’t want players getting hurt during that game,” Tatum said. “Understand: there’s a balance there. It’s something that we’re looking at – and having conversations, by the way, with the players, on things that we might be able to do differently next year.”
- Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports takes a deep dive into the challenges of collective bargaining for the NBA and its’ players union, exploring why the next CBA is more likely to include a series of modest tweaks rather than any sweeping changes.
Scoot Henderson To Be Shut Down For Rest Of Season
The G League Ignite are shutting down star prospect Scoot Henderson for the remainder of the NBAGL season, a league official tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link). The Ignite have five games left in the regular season, which concludes on March 25.
As Givony explains, the Ignite – who have an 11-16 record and rank 10th in the G League’s Western Conference – aren’t expected to reach the top six and make the playoffs. Additionally, the league feels Henderson has shown enough this season to prove his bona fides as one of the top picks in this year’s draft.
Henderson averaged 21.2 PPG, 5.8 APG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.7 SPG on .485/.471/.706 shooting in six games (28.5 MPG) during the G League’s Showcase Cup in the fall. Since the NBAGL’s regular season began, he has put up 16.5 PPG, 6.8 APG, and 5.3 RPG in 19 appearances (30.7 MPG), though his shooting numbers (.429/.275/.764) dipped quite a bit.
For much of the 2022/23 season, Henderson has been viewed as a long shot to go No. 1 in the 2023 draft – due to Victor Wembanyama‘s presence at the top of this year’s class – but a virtual lock to be the second player off the board. However, his grip on that No. 2 may have loosened in recent weeks due to his up-and-down performance during the G League’s regular season.
John Hollinger of The Athletic noted on Monday that Henderson’s inconsistent play has “started to raise some eyebrows” at the same time that possible No. 3 pick Brandon Miller has been thriving on the court in Alabama. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter video link) conveyed a similar sentiment in a recent TV appearance, suggesting that teams believe Miller is “firmly in the mix” at No. 2.
Injury Notes: Nance, Mitchell, Kuzma, LeBron, Suns
After missing six games due to a left ankle sprain, Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. returned to action on Sunday vs. Portland. However, Nance logged just eight minutes and acknowledged after the game that he isn’t at full strength yet.
“I think it was pretty clear that I’m not 100%,” Nance said, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “For me, it’s more about if I can play, you’re going to get what I got at all times. We got a win. I did my job.”
Even though Nance – who has averaged 22.0 minutes per game off the bench this season – couldn’t reclaim his usual rotation role in his first game back, head coach Willie Green appreciates the 30-year-old’s willingness to play through pain with New Orleans in the thick of a playoff race.
“Larry is a leader,” Green said. “He wants to be out there on the floor. He has been talking about it the last three, four days. These guys understand that coming down the stretch, it’s going to be a tight race for the playoffs. He’s trying to get himself ready for the last 14 games. It was huge to have him on the floor. His presence was felt.”
Nance isn’t on the Pelicans’ injury report for Tuesday’s game against the Lakers, so he’ll be available for that one, even if his minutes are once again limited.
Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:
- The Cavaliers have ruled out Donovan Mitchell (finger sprain injury management) for Tuesday’s contest vs. Charlotte, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Starting center Jarrett Allen (right eye contusion) is also unavailable for a second straight game.
- Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma has been ruled out for Tuesday’s game against Detroit due to a sore right knee, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Washington is currently a half-game back of Chicago for the No. 10 spot in the East.
- Lakers star LeBron James, who is making his way back from a right foot injury, did his first on-court activity at a Tuesday shootaround, taking a few free throws after he completed his weight lifting and rehab work, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter links).
- Suns head coach Monty Williams called it a “good sign” that GM James Jones said Kevin Durant would probably be available now if the playoffs had begun. “With those kind of injuries, you tend to get better every day, and he’s getting around-the-clock treatment,” Williams said of KD (link via Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). The Suns’ coach added that Landry Shamet‘s return from a right foot injury isn’t imminent: “He’s just been getting up shots. He’s about the same. He’s just getting more treatment. Just trying to figure it out. How can we get back to a place he can get back to a full practice and then progress from there.”
Cavaliers Sign Sam Merrill To Multiyear Contract
11:55am: Merrill’s multiyear contract is now official, the Cavs confirmed in a press release.
10:14am: The Cavaliers will bring back swingman Sam Merrill following the expiration of his 10-day contract, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). According to Fedor, the Cavs and Merrill have agreed to a new multiyear deal.
Merrill, 26, signed a 10-day pact with Cleveland earlier in the month and only appeared in one game with the team before that contract expired on Sunday night. He scored two points in four minutes in garbage time vs. Detroit on March 4.
While Merrill didn’t appear in any of his last four games with the Cavaliers, the club must have liked what it saw from the former No. 60 overall pick, who has also spent time in Milwaukee, Memphis, and Sacramento since entering the NBA in 2020.
The Cavs’ organization has gotten a chance to take a look at Merrill in the G League for much of the 2022/23 campaign, as he was playing with the Cleveland Charge before he received a promotion to the NBA level. He averaged 17.5 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.6 APG and 1.3 SPG on an excellent .469/.437/.852 shooting line in 18 NBAGL regular season games (33.8 MPG) for the Charge.
While the full details of Merrill’s contract aren’t yet known, it will almost certainly only be fully guaranteed for the rest of the 2022/23 season, with next year’s salary mostly or entirely non-guaranteed. A two-year deal is the likeliest outcome, but the Cavs could technically offer three or four years using a remaining portion of their mid-level exception.
Officially signing Merrill will give Cleveland a full 17-man roster, with 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals.
Central Notes: Pacers, R. Lopez, Merrill, Livers, Omoruyi
The Pacers‘ decision to hold Tyrese Haliburton (left knee bruise), Myles Turner (sore lower back), and T.J. McConnell (sore back) out of games on Saturday and Monday signaled that the team isn’t exactly going all-out for a spot in the play-in tournament, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.
While Bennedict Mathurin‘s ankle sprain would have sidelined him in any situation, the other Pacers regulars who sat out those two contests in Detroit likely would’ve been active if Indiana was in win-now mode instead of focusing on player development. As Dopirak notes, the absences of the team’s regulars resulted in big minutes for young players like Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Oshae Brissett, Jalen Smith, Isaiah Jackson, and Jordan Nwora.
“It’s just valuable for our young guys to get this kind of experience,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “Drew Nembhard needs this kind of work at the point position. He needs to play 35 minutes a game a few games playing the point position. He played 36 (on Monday). He did a lot of good things in both games. There’s a different rhythm to that position, a different flow.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- Robin Lopez hasn’t had much of a role this season after signing with the Cavaliers as a free agent last summer, but his nine minutes in Sunday’s win over Charlotte with Jarrett Allen out were the most he has played in a game since January. “Just trying to put some size out there,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff explained (Twitter link via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com). “With Jarrett being out, we are limited with size. I thought RoLo was good, played hard. Everybody is going to be called upon.”
- Within his Cleveland.com story on the Cavaliers‘ new multiyear deal for Sam Merrill, Fedor notes that the club views the swingman as more than just a “one-dimensional” sharpshooter. “I think he was leading or near the top of the G League in taking charges, so he’s got a willingness to scrap, a willingness to help on the defensive end of the floor,” Bickerstaff said. “Can create shots and make shots.”
- After being limited to 19 games as a rookie for health reasons, Pistons forward Isaiah Livers is trying to establish himself as part of the team’s future plans with his play this season. James L. Edwards III of The Athletic takes a look at how those efforts are going and explores the strides Livers is making in his second NBA season.
- Eugene Omoruyi, who signed a second 10-day contract with the Pistons on Monday, is making a strong case to earn a rest-of-season deal once those 10 days are up, Edwards writes in another story for The Athletic. “I always say, a guy who has his Ph.D. — poor, hungry, driven — they’re going to make it in this league,” head coach Dwane Casey said. “He’s hungry.”
Bucks Notes: Giannis, Lopez, Portis, Kings Skirmish
While Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid may end up as the top two finishers in MVP voting this season for the third consecutive year, Bucks general manager Jon Horst wants to make sure voters don’t overlook two-time winner Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Speaking to Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Horst expressed a belief that Antetokounmpo is suffering from “greatness fatigue,” with voters getting accustomed to the eye-popping numbers that the star forward is putting up. Antetokounmpo is averaging a career-best 31.5 points per game in 53 games this season to go along with 11.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists per night while playing at an All-Defensive level. At 49-19, the Bucks have the NBA’s best record.
“He’s also doing this playing less minutes than anybody, which is remarkable. That’s a sacrifice,” Horst said of Giannis, who is averaging just 32.5 minutes per contest. “That’s an intentional sacrifice by him to give our team the best chance to have the deepest playoff success possible.
“That’s not an easy thing. That’s something that he does so he’s ready to perform at the biggest moments. Give the guy 36, 37, 38 minutes a game, there’s not even a conversation. Obviously you can see I’m very strong (on this) and I believe it.”
Here’s more on the Bucks:
- In his conversation with Owczarski, Horst also made cases for Bobby Portis as the Sixth Man of the Year and Brook Lopez as the Defensive Player of the Year. “He contests more shots than anybody,” the Bucks’ GM said of Lopez. “His blocks are league-leading. He does it without fouling. … The guy is absolutely deserving of an award this year. I think it all matters. The reason that I think this team has been really good even though we’ve had a lot of other moving parts has been his consistency. He’s an anchor for us and he plays every night. And he’s gotten better. This guy is having a career year. It’s incredible.”
- A panel of writers at The Athletic – David Aldridge, James L. Edwards III, and Josh Robbins – debated the current Defensive Player of the Year frontrunners and all submitted hypothetical three-man ballots that included two Bucks players. Edwards has Lopez first and Antetokounmpo second in his DPOY rankings, while Aldridge placed Lopez and Giannis second and third and Robbins had Lopez and Holiday as his two runners-up (both Aldridge and Robbins made Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. their current DPOY pick).
- Antetokounmpo and Lopez were among the players involved in a scuffle during the final seconds of the Bucks’ win over the Kings on Monday night. As Marc J. Spears of ESPN writes, Kings forward Trey Lyles took exception to Giannis dribbling the ball toward him while running out the clock and tried to steal it before shoving Antetokounmpo, resulting in a brief on-court skirmish between the two teams (Twitter video link via Bleacher Report). Lopez and Lyles were both ejected and will likely face additional discipline in the form of fines, if not suspensions. “Giannis could just dribble the ball out,” Kings guard De’Aaron Fox said after the game. “That’s all he had to do, and nothing would have happened.”
Warriors’ Gary Payton II Out At Least 10 More Days
Veteran guard Gary Payton II is making “good progress” in his recovery from a right adductor injury, but still isn’t close to playing for the Warriors, the team announced on Monday evening (Twitter link).
According to the Warriors’ announcement, Payton has been doing daily physical rehab work with the training staff to strengthen his adductor/core and has also begun taking part in various on-court activities, including shooting. The plan is for him to intensify his on-court workouts in the coming days to see how he responds.
He’ll be reevaluated in 10 days, per the club.
Payton was at the center of the most controversial trade of the 2022/23 season, failing his physical with Golden State last month after the team agreed to reacquire him from Portland at the deadline. The Warriors weighed their options during the weekend after the trade deadline and ultimately decided to move forward with the deal rather than nixing the entire four-team agreement.
Payton, who underwent adductor surgery during the offseason, had returned to action for the Trail Blazers and appeared in 15 games this season, but was said to be playing through pain. The Warriors didn’t realize the full extent of his adductor issues and were unable to amend the terms of the trade after the deadline had passed.
Even though Payton will be reevaluated next Thursday, there’s no guarantee he’ll be cleared to play at that point. Still, the Warriors reportedly remain hopeful that he’ll be ready to go before the postseason tips off next month.
Golden State has won seven of its last 10 games, strengthening its position in the Western Conference playoff race. The Dubs are now 36-33, good for fifth in the West. They hold a one-game lead on the seventh-place Timberwolves and a 2.5-game cushion on the 11th-seeded Thunder.
Checking In On Active, Expired 10-Day Contracts
Lester Quinones‘ 10-day contract with the Warriors expired after Saturday’s game, opening up a spot on Golden State’s 15-man roster.
Quinones remained with the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League for most of the 10 days he spent under contract with Golden State. He was recalled to the NBA on Saturday and was technically active for last night’s game vs. Milwaukee, but didn’t play at all and has yet to make his NBA debut.
As we outlined when Quinones first signed his 10-day deal, his addition to the 15-man roster allowed the Warriors to continue using both of their two-way players, Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome. Lamb has since reached his limit of 50 games on the active roster, while Jerome is now at 47 games and will be ineligible to play his final three unless Golden State fills its 15th roster spot again.
It will be interesting to see how the Warriors manage their two-way contracts and their 15-man roster going forward. Promoting Lamb to the standard roster would make him eligible to play in the rest of the team’s regular season games and in any postseason contests, in addition to freeing up Jerome for three more games. However, it would limit Golden State’s roster flexibility going forward and would force the club to waive a player on a guaranteed contract in order to sign anyone else before the end of the season.
Quinones is one of two players whose 10-day contract expired this week, joining Willie Cauley-Stein of the Rockets. Houston is now carrying just 13 players on standard deals and must add a 14th man (Cauley-Stein again or someone else) by March 23 to meet the NBA’s minimum roster requirements.
Three more players on 10-day contracts will see their deals expire tonight, while two others will expire on Monday night. Here’s the breakdown of the 10-day contracts currently active around the NBA:
- Jamaree Bouyea, Wizards (runs through 3/12)
- Sam Merrill, Cavaliers (3/12)
- Eugene Omoruyi, Pistons (3/12)
- Kris Dunn, Jazz (3/13) *^
- Meyers Leonard, Bucks (3/13) *
- DaQuan Jeffries, Knicks (3/14) ^
- Nerlens Noel, Nets (3/15)
Players marked with an asterisk (*) are on their second 10-day deals with their respective teams. That means Dunn and Leonard would have to be signed for the rest of the season if their clubs want to retain them beyond Monday night, since they aren’t permitted to sign three standard 10-day contracts with the same team.
Players marked with a caret (^) are on clubs that don’t currently have full 15-man rosters. The Jazz are actually currently carrying just 13 players and will need to get back up to at least 14 by March 18. So even if they lock up Dunn to a full-season contract, they’ll need to sign one more player before next Saturday.
The Knicks, meanwhile, would be at 13 players on their standard roster if they don’t re-sign Jeffries to a second 10-day deal and would have up to two weeks to add a new 14th man.
Southwest Notes: Morant, Roddy, Wood, H. Jones
In addition to the off-court incidents allegedly involving Ja Morant that have been previously reported, the Grizzlies guard was also investigated by police in September for an incident at Houston High School in Tennessee, according to a TMZ report.
As TMZ details, police said that Morant’s sister – a student at Houston H.S. – got into a verbal argument with another student following a volleyball game and called Ja, who allegedly showed up at the gym a short time later with his parents, his baby daughter, and a “group” of adult males.
While the incident didn’t escalate much further, the mother of the student who was initially involved in the altercation with Morant’s sister wanted to press charges for threats and intimidation, according to TMZ, whose report says police investigated and decline to file any charges. Police later told the Grizzlies’ head of security to give a “verbal trespass warning to all parties” at the request of the school’s principal, per TMZ.
Morant has missed the Grizzlies’ last four games while he takes a leave of absence following an incident in which he flashed a gun on an Instagram Live video while at a Denver-area strip club. He’ll remain away from the team for at least two more contests.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Grizzlies rookie David Roddy had the best game of his young NBA career in a victory over Dallas on Saturday, scoring 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting in 23 minutes. As Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes, Roddy has been hard on himself during the ups and downs of his first professional season, so his teammates were thrilled to see him break through. “He holds himself to a high standard, and that’s why he’ll be in the league for a long time,” Tyus Jones said.
- Mavericks big man Christian Wood was averaging more than 38 minutes per night in his last five games as a starter before fracturing his thumb in January, but has come off the bench in each of his 13 contests since returning and has averaged fewer than 20 minutes in those games. On Saturday, head coach Jason Kidd cited the team’s frontcourt depth as the reason for Wood’s modest role (Twitter video link via Bally Sports), an explanation that Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer (Twitter link) has trouble buying.
- In just his second NBA season, Herbert Jones has emerged as a team leader and a key part of the Pelicans‘ identity, but he’ll need to become more reliable as a shooter to establish himself as more than just a defensive specialist, writes William Guillory of The Athletic. Jones’ shooting numbers have slipped to .444/.291/.748 in 2022/23.
Community Shootaround: Eastern Conference Play-In Race
The playoff and play-in races in the Western Conference have gotten more attention than those in the East so far this season, in large part because so many of the West’s would-be contenders – like the Warriors, Clippers, Mavericks, and Lakers – are packed so tightly together among a huge group of teams competing for postseason spots.
Still, with just four weeks remaining in the regular season, the Eastern Conference play-in race has gotten awfully close too. Heading into Sunday’s action, the teams from No. 9 to No. 12 in the East are separate by just a single game, as follows:
- Toronto Raptors (32-36)
- Chicago Bulls (31-36)
- Washington Wizards (31-36)
- Indiana Pacers (31-37)
These four teams aren’t exactly on their own island in the Eastern standings — the 34-34 Hawks only have a two-game cushion on Toronto, and the 36-33 Heat aren’t much further ahead. Conversely, the 28-40 Magic probably can’t be counted out of the play-in race yet.
Still, with only about 14 or 15 games left on most teams’ schedules, the most likely outcome at this point is that two of the four teams listed above will earn play-in berths and two will be left on the outside looking in.
The Raptors and Bulls, the two teams currently holding the final two play-in spots, have had somewhat similar seasons. They won 48 and 46 games respectively in 2021/22, clinching top-six seeds in the East, and came into this season expecting to match or exceed last year’s success. Instead, both clubs have been horribly inconsistent, losing more games than they’ve won and experiencing repeated letdowns every time it seemed like they were about to make a breakthrough.
Nonetheless, neither team is throwing in the towel on this season. Despite outside calls for players like OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, Zach LaVine, and DeMar DeRozan to be traded at last month’s deadline, both Toronto and Chicago held firm, with the Raptors actually buying rather than selling by acquiring Jakob Poeltl from San Antonio. Both teams have enough high-end talent to be a spoiler in the play-in tournament if they make it, but they’ll need to perform more consistently down the stretch if they hope to secure playoff spots.
The Wizards also aren’t lacking star talent, with Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma enjoying career years alongside longtime standout Bradley Beal. However, that trio hasn’t been quite good enough to make up for a mediocre supporting cast — the team has a plus-4.9 net rating when Beal, Porzingis, and Kuzma play together, but a minus-0.3 rating overall.
Still, with all three of their top players healthy and a more favorable schedule down the stretch than Toronto or Chicago (per Tankathon), the Wizards should still be considered a strong candidate to claim a play-in berth.
The Pacers, meanwhile, looked like they might be ready to tank after they plummeted down the standings during Tyrese Haliburton‘s 10-game injury absence in January (they lost nine of those games). But they’ve bounced back nicely as of late, winning five of their last seven contests and sticking around in the play-in picture.
Of the four teams discussed here, Indiana is the one with the least urgency to make the playoffs this season, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Pacers fall off a little and perhaps rest some banged-up players in the season’s final weeks, turning it into a three-team race for the East’s ninth and 10th spots. As inconsistent as the teams directly ahead of them in the standings have been though, it’s too early to rule out the Pacers.
We want to know what you think. Which two teams out of the Raptors, Bulls, Wizards, and Pacers do you expect to make the play-in? Will any of them move into the East’s top eight, either before the regular season ends or by winning two play-in games? Do you see the Magic making a run to turn this into a five-team race, or can they be safely crossed off the list of play-in contenders?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!