Raptors’ Anunoby To Miss Time Due To Hip Pointer
Raptors forward OG Anunoby has been ruled out for Thursday’s game vs. Utah due to a hip pointer, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Head coach Nick Nurse said today that the injury could keep Anunoby out for “a while,” Grange adds.
Nurse’s wording is vague and the club hasn’t announced a more concrete recovery timeline, but a hip pointer can be a week-to-week injury, depending on the severity. Anunoby apparently injured his hip during a Raptors practice earlier this week, according to Doug Smith of The Toronto Star (Twitter link).
Anunoby, 24, has been the Raptors’ leading scorer through 15 games (37.3 MPG), averaging 20.1 PPG and 5.4 RPG on .430/.366/.825 shooting while providing his usual excellent defense.
Toronto figures to run out a more traditional starting five as long as Anunoby remains on the shelf. The team has been experimenting with Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, and Scottie Barnes in the starting lineup together alongside guards Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. Without Anunoby available, Siakam and Barnes will likely start at forward alongside a big man such as Khem Birch or Chris Boucher.
Blazers Notes: Lineups, Nance, Little, Powell
Since head coach Chauncey Billups criticized the team’s compete level on Sunday and suggested that lineup changes could be coming, the Trail Blazers have reeled off wins against Toronto and Chicago this week, pushing their record back up to .500 (8-8).
The Blazers didn’t make any changes to their starting lineup in those two games, but the team is leaning a little more on reserves Larry Nance Jr. and Nassir Little, who played more total minutes in the last two games than starters Jusuf Nurkic and Robert Covington.
When Nance and Little played the entire fourth quarter vs. Toronto on Monday while Nurkic and Covington sat on the bench, Billups was asked about the decision. As Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian tweets, the first-year coach said it was more about matchups vs. Toronto than an indication of imminent lineup changes. Still, it seems clear Nance and Little have earned bigger roles with their play so far.
Here’s more on the Blazers:
- After averaging just 17.2 MPG and never playing more than 22 minutes in any of his first 11 games in Portland, Nance has averaged 22.9 MPG in his last five games. That’s a byproduct of the Blazers getting a better sense of how best to use him, writes Jason Quick of The Athletic. “When he came here I wasn’t sure if he was a four that could play five, or a five that could play some four,” Billups said. “Right now, I’m pretty confident that he is a five who could play four, too. But we are better served with him at that small-ball five.”
- For his part, Nance said he’s glad his role has evolved organically rather than having it become an issue the team needed to focus on and figure out. “I think it’s a great thing that we didn’t have to sit down and have a pow-wow about, ‘What’s going on? How do we get Larry involved?'” Nance said, per Quick. “(Billups) knows I’m a guy who you just put me on the floor and I will figure it out. And I pride myself in not being a squeaky wheel.”
- The Blazers’ game vs. the Raptors on Monday was a reminder that last season’s Norman Powell/Gary Trent Jr. swap is working out pretty well for both teams, as Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes. Powell has remained a highly efficient scorer in Portland this season, averaging 16.8 PPG on .494/.438/.818 shooting, while Trent has been a ball hawk on defense in Toronto, leading the NBA in total deflections and steals.
- Powell signed a new five-year, $90MM deal with the Blazers during the offseason, but he’s determined not to get complacent after securing a life-changing payday. “I never really looked at the money as, like, (an) indicator of how good I’ve been,” Powell said on Monday, per Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. “It’s always been the expectations and goals that I’ve set out for myself … and can I get better? There’s no doubt the money will come if I keep doing those things, and it has, and I’m still hungry for more goals.”
Sixers Have List Of About 30 Targets For Potential Simmons Trade
The Sixers remain averse to the idea of trading Ben Simmons unless they can land a star player in return, and the team has a list of approximately 30 potential targets who would fit the bill, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic.
As Amick writes, there’s an internal belief in Philadelphia that at least a few of those players – perhaps even five or 10 – could hit the trade block within the next year or two. Although Amick isn’t able to identify all the stars on the list, he says Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, and James Harden are among them.
Whether the 76ers will ever be able to actually land one of the targets on their list remains an open question, but the fact that they remain focused on players of that caliber is an indication they’re still content to take their time to resolve the Simmons situation.
“This is like a multi-year thing,” one team source told The Athletic.
As Amick notes, it’s possible the Sixers’ viewpoint will change at some point prior to the February 10 trade deadline. Possible ownership pressure, fan frustration, and a handful of other factors will have to be taken into account. However, the team’s belief that its title chances will only be maximized by Simmons either returning to the court or being traded for a star player hasn’t wavered.
Here’s more from Amick on the Simmons saga:
- Agent Rich Paul told Shams Charania last week that the Simmons situation is “no longer about a trade” and that the focus should be getting the 25-year-old right mentally. However, Amick has heard that Simmons’ camp recently reiterated its “strong desire” for a deal to be made. Amick adds that he doesn’t expect Simmons to return to the court for the 76ers anytime soon, if ever.
- The Sixers believe that Simmons’ suitors have become even less motivated to make a deal in recent weeks, given the increasing uncertainty about his situation, according to Amick, who notes that potential trade partners have no assurances that Simmons’ mental health struggles are solely related to being in Philadelphia. That uncertainty further clouds his value.
- There’s no indication that the NBA intends to get involved in the Simmons situation anytime soon, says Amick. A league source tells The Athletic that any league involvement would likely be a “last step.”
Tristan Thompson Expresses Frustration After Kings’ Latest Loss
The Kings lost for the fifth time in six games on Wednesday night, dropping to 6-9 on the season and 1-3 on a road trip that included games in San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Detroit, and Minnesota. After the game, veteran center Tristan Thompson expressed frustration with the results of Wednesday’s contest and the road trip as a whole, as Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee relays.
“The reality is this road trip should have been a 4-0,” Thompson said. “I was going on this road trip planning on going 4-0. The teams that we played against — OKC, they don’t want to win games. They want to rebuild. Everyone f—ing knows that. The Spurs, they have all young guys. They’re trying to figure it out. They have damn near eight guys that all play the same position. They’re trying to figure it out.
“… The Timberwolves, they’ve got names, but are they trying to win? Roll the dice, see what happens, figure out their roster. Detroit, they do not want to win. They want another top-three or top-five pick, and that’s no disrespect to the players on their team. They’re going to play hard and give it everything they’ve got, but at the end of the day, I know how this league works and I know how the front office works. … These are the games you have to win if you’re trying to be in the playoffs, or be in the play-in game, these are the wins you have to capitalize on.”
A report earlier this week indicated that head coach Luke Walton is facing increasing pressure and that his job will likely be in jeopardy if the Kings’ slump continues. However, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Thompson dismissed the idea that it should be Walton’s responsibility to motivate Sacramento’s players.
“I think no man in this world should rely on another man to inspire them, point blank, period,” Thompson said, per Anderson.” You can put that in all capitals. Me personally, no one should ever need a coach to inspire you. If you don’t get inspired in a game, then you shouldn’t be on the court.
“Losing teams, losing players, you need to get inspiration from your coach, and I’m not with that s–t. My teammates aren’t with it because I know guys want to win and they want to win badly, so it’s not about Coach Walton inspiring you. This is not no freaking ‘Glory Road’ s—. … I don’t need no f—ing coach to inspire me. Never that. Never have. Never will. The day I need a coach to inspire me is the day I’m f—ing retiring. I’m going to go play with my kids in the park.”
Thompson ranks just 10th on the Kings in minutes per game and he has been a DNP-CD in a handful of games this season. However, the 30-year-old has a championship ring and is one of the veteran leaders on a team whose key players – including De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, and Davion Mitchell – are relatively young.
Thompson made it clear on Wednesday that he believes in his teammates and that his frustration stems from a belief that the Kings have enough talent to be better than they’ve been so far. The big man said that everyone’s “heart is in the right place” and that they badly want to win, but they need to cut down on mistakes to make it happen.
“We’ve just got to come together and we’ve just got to really learn from those mistakes and really make sure we make it a priority,” Thompson said. “And it’s all of us. Me, too. … We’re all at fault here. From the top to the bottom, we’re all at fault. We’re in this together.
“… I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that we keep pushing. No one’s going to feel sorry for you. This is the NBA. No one’s going to feel sorry for you. C-Webb (Chris Webber) and (Mike) Bibby ain’t coming through that door, so you’ve got to keep pushing each and every day, keep getting better in practice, keep watching the film, learn from the mistakes. If we all can just get 1% better each and every day, then we’ll get our fair share of wins.”
Southeast Notes: Wizards, Beal, Bridges, Heat, Hunter
Explaining the decision to sign general manager Tommy Sheppard to a contract extension, Wizards owner Ted Leonsis told Ava Wallace of The Washington Post that he believes in continuity and said the move is a reflection of Sheppard’s full body of work rather than the team’s hot start this season.
The Wizards also have an extension offer out to Bradley Beal, but it’s not a major surprise that the All-Star guard hasn’t accepted it — even if he wants to remain in D.C., Beal could sign a more lucrative contract in free agency next summer.
As Wallace relays, Leonsis believes the Wizards’ best path to locking up Beal long-term is to keep making good roster and business decisions to show the 28-year-old it’s possible to win in Washington. The Wizards owner is hopeful that Beal will follow in the footsteps of Washington Capitals stars Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, who recently signed multiyear extensions with Leonsis’ NHL team.
“(Beal is) not obsessing over a decision; I’m not obsessing over a decision,” Leonsis said. “I think that’s correct with my belief, just like I said, with Alex Ovechkin. I have high confidence in the integrity of the player in their believing in our city, our community. Everybody was all hyper on Alex, and he signed his long-term extension. Nick did the same.
“I’m expecting that it’s not negotiating with Brad, it’s Brad sees and enjoys and likes and believes and knows that there’s something special about spending your career and going through hard times and coming out the other end a champ.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- The newfound ability Miles Bridges is showing as a ball-handler and creator this season is a key reason why the Hornets forward is on track for a big payday in restricted free agency next summer, says John Hollinger of The Athletic.
- The Heat would have interest in point guard John Wall if he’s bought out, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, but there’s no indication the Rockets intend to pursue a buyout agreement with Wall anytime soon.
- Heat two-way player Marcus Garrett has a reputation as a defensive dynamo, but was never a major offensive threat during his four years at Kansas, averaging double-digit points just once in his college career. He’s focusing on expanding his offensive game during his time in the G League with the Sioux Falls Skyforce this season, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I’ve been playing point, especially with the G League team,” Garrett said. “Just learning the game, getting more comfortable with the pro level game and getting comfortable with the offense.”
- In his latest mailbag, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic explores a handful of Hawks-related topics, suggesting that De’Andre Hunter‘s ever-growing history of injuries makes him an increasingly likely candidate to be moved if Atlanta makes a consolidation trade for an impact wing or forward.
Sixers Notes: Embiid, Thybulle, Simmons, Joe
This Thursday (November 18) is the earliest that Joel Embiid could return after his stint in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, but Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer said on the HoopsHype Podcast with Michael Scotto that the Sixers center will likely be out a little longer than that.
As Pompey explains, Embiid was symptomatic after contracting COVID-19 and “hasn’t been doing anything basketball-wise” during his absence, so he’ll likely need some time to ramp back up and get game-ready. While Pompey acknowledges it’s possible the All-NBA big man is back in the lineup on Thursday, he thinks it’s more likely to happen on Saturday or sometime next week.
[UPDATE: Embiid has been ruled out for Thursday’s game, tweets Pompey.]
Here’s more on the Sixers:
- Pompey also told Scotto that Matisse Thybulle (health and safety protocols) should be back by next week, if not sooner. Head coach Doc Rivers didn’t offer any real specifics on Tuesday when asked by reporters about potential return dates for Embiid and Thybulle, as Pompey tweets.
- Ben Simmons was, of course, a popular topic of conversation during Pompey’s appearance on the HoopsHype Podcast. During that discussion, Pompey said he still believes Simmons has played his last game as a Sixer, but trade talks appear to be “on pause” for now. Scotto said he has heard from some executives that the 76ers’ hot start without Simmons may have hurt the 25-year-old’s value a little in the eyes of potential suitors. “When you lose a star player, you typically struggle, but Philadelphia coming out of the gate, was leading the Eastern Conference,” Scotto said, noting the team has slumped since Embiid was sidelined.
- Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com takes an in-depth look at where the Simmons situation stands. Within his column, Neubeck argues there’s an inherent contradiction between agent Rich Paul‘s claim that negative publicity is hurting Simmons’ mental health and Klutch Sports’ apparent willingness to wage a PR battle by leaking details of the standoff to media outlets.
- As Pompey writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Isaiah Joe said that he experienced some symptoms of COVID-19, including loss of smell, during his time in the health and safety protocols, but is feeling better now. Joe played on Tuesday for the first time since November 3, logging a season-high 24 minutes in Philadelphia’s blowout loss in Utah.
Hoops Rumors Glossary: Salary Floor
The NBA’s salary cap primarily serves as a way to restrict the amount a team can invest in player salaries in a given year. However, because the league has a soft cap rather than a hard cap, there’s technically no specific figure that clubs are prohibited from exceeding once they go over the cap to re-sign players. As long as a team doesn’t use certain exceptions or acquire a player via sign-and-trade, that team doesn’t face a hard cap.
There is, however, a specific threshold on the lower end that teams must meet in each NBA season. The league’s minimum salary floor requires a club to spend at least 90% of the salary cap on player salaries. For instance, with the 2021/22 cap set at $112,414,000, the salary floor for this season is $101,173,000.
If a team finishes the regular season below the NBA’s salary floor for that league year, the penalties levied against that team aren’t exactly harsh — the franchise is simply required to make up the shortfall by paying the difference to its players. For example, if a team finished this season with a team salary of $98,173,000, it would be required to distribute that $3MM shortfall among its players.
The players’ union determines how exactly the money is divvied up. Most recently, players who spent at least 41 games on a team’s roster have received a full share, while players with between 20-40 games on the roster receive a half share, according to CBA expert Larry Coon. A player can’t exceed his maximum salary as a result of a shortfall payment.
For the purposes of calculating whether a team has reached the minimum salary threshold, cap holds and international buyouts aren’t considered, but players who suffered career-ending injuries or illnesses are included in the count, even if they’ve since been removed from the club’s cap. For instance, the NBA permitted the Magic to remove Timofey Mozgov‘s $5.57MM annual cap charges in 2019/20, ’20/21, and ’21/22, but that $5.57MM still counted toward Orlando’s salary floor in each of those three seasons.
Additionally, the NBA made a change in its most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement to prevent teams from circumventing certain rules to reach the salary floor. Under the old CBA, a team that was $8MM below the salary floor could trade a player earning $4MM for a player earning $12MM halfway through the season and be in accordance with minimum team salary rules.
Under the current CBA, only the salary the team actually pays the player counts for minimum team salary purposes. For instance, in the example above, the team would be credited with having paid its original player $2MM for the first half of the season and its new player $6MM for the second half. In that scenario, the club would still fall $4MM shy of the salary floor.
Of the NBA’s 30 teams, 29 are comfortably above the salary floor for the 2021/22 season. The Thunder are the only club below the floor, and they’re well below it — at approximately $78MM, per Spotrac, Oklahoma City’s team salary is about $23MM away from the minimum required amount.
It’s a safe bet that by the end of the season the Thunder will have moved significantly closer to the salary floor or perhaps even surpassed that threshold. They’ll be worth monitoring closely when the trade market heats up and rival teams start looking to shed salary.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Earlier version of this post were published in 2018 and 2020.
And-Ones: Howard, Banchero, UAE, Underperforming Teams
The University of Michigan has agreed to a long-term contract extension with men’s basketball head coach Juwan Howard, the program announced on Tuesday in a press release. Howard’s new deal will run through the 2025/26 season, locking him up for the next five years.
Howard has been identified as a potential NBA head coaching candidate in recent years, but the former Heat assistant has repeatedly shot down rumors that he’d be interested in returning to the league. If he changes his mind during the next five years, Howard could probably negotiate an exit from his deal with the Wolverines. But the fact that he agreed to that extension in the first place suggests he doesn’t plan on going anywhere.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Duke’s Paolo Banchero, a projected top-two pick in the 2022 NBA draft, was arrested on Sunday for aiding and abetting DWI, according to Steve Wiseman of The Raleigh News & Observer. Blue Devils guard Michael Savarino, who was driving a vehicle registered to Banchero, was charged with DWI. Both players have December court dates.
- NBA games will be played in the United Arab Emirates for the first time next fall, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, who reports that the league will schedule two exhibition games in Abu Dhabi in October 2022. The NBA has previously played exhibitions in the Middle East in Israel, but this will be the league’s first trip to the UAE.
- A handful of ESPN writers took a closer look at some underperforming teams to assess how concerned those clubs should be about their slow starts. The Hawks, Bucks, and Celtics are among the teams that shouldn’t be too worried quite yet, but the panic meter is already high for the Pelicans.
Jazz Notes: Player Development, Conley, Niang, Wade
The Jazz‘s player development track record is getting hard to ignore, according to Ben Dowsett of FiveThirtyEight.com, who points not to stars like Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert, but to veterans like Joe Ingles, Jordan Clarkson, and – most recently – Royce O’Neale.
Dowsett contends that the mid-career leaps those players have made in Utah are in large part due to head coach Quin Snyder‘s developmental program. For his part, Snyder is reluctant to take credit, suggesting that the players themselves are the ones responsible for their positive strides.
“It’s a credit to the players,” Snyder said. “Sometimes you can be content, especially if you’re successful in this league and have established yourself, to do what you do, so to speak.”
Here’s more on the Jazz:
- After Mike Conley missed several key games in last season’s playoffs due to a hamstring injury, the Jazz are doing all they can in 2021/22 to make sure he’s fully healthy for the postseason, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. That includes limiting Conley’s minutes and sitting him in certain back-to-back sets, which the veteran guard is still getting used to. “I think the plan is going to pay dividends at the end,” Conley said. “I don’t like sitting games at all. I definitely prefer to play. But if it’s going to give me a better chance at health in the long run, I’m all for it. Especially if it’s going to help the team.”
- In a separate story for The Athletic, Jones explores how Georges Niang, who returned to Utah on Tuesday as a member of the Sixers, developed into a reliable NBA player with the Jazz, noting that Niang still holds the franchise in high regard. “Being in Utah, it took me from a young man to an adult,” he said. “I can’t be thankful enough to the Jazz organization, and I had four great years in Utah.”
- McKay Coppins of The Deseret News takes an in-depth look at the impact new team owner Ryan Smith has had on the Jazz and the greater aspirations he has for the state of Utah.
- In a Q&A with Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today, Dwyane Wade spoke about being a part-owner of the Jazz and said that his role with the franchise will be “forever evolving” as he learns more about the business side of basketball.
Wizards Extend, Promote Tommy Sheppard
The Wizards have signed general manager Tommy Sheppard to a contract extension and promoted him, as reported by Ava Wallace of The Washington Post and confirmed by the team in a press release. Sheppard will now hold the title of team president in addition to GM.
Sheppard took control of the Wizards’ front office in 2019, replacing longtime head of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld. He finalized a short-term extension with Bradley Beal during his first few months on the job and has since reshaped the roster around the star guard.
After winning just 25 games in Sheppard’s first season at the helm, the Wizards earned a playoff spot in 2020/21 and are off to a 10-3 start this season, putting them atop the Eastern Conference. Sheppard has received praise for his offseason deal that turned pricey star Russell Westbrook into several reliable rotation players and allowed the team to add Spencer Dinwiddie via sign-and-trade.
In addition to extending and promoting Sheppard, the Wizards have done the same for chief planning and operations officer Sashi Brown. The team says Brown will be the president of Monumental Basketball, as well as a special advisor to the Office of the CEO at Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the group that owns and operates the Wizards.
“Tommy has effectively improved our team each year of his tenure by following the plan he laid out to us as his vision when we hired him as general manager and Sashi has been instrumental in making us a leader in analytics, research and player engagement while efficiently streamlining operations across all of our basketball teams and venues,” Wizards owner and Monumental Sports & Entertainment CEO Ted Leonsis said in a statement. “Their combined efforts have put us in a position to compete now with an exciting and hard-working team while also having the flexibility to execute our long-term strategy of building a championship program that is a leader in the community.”