Clippers’ Derrick Jones Out At Least Two Weeks With Hamstring Strain
Clippers forward Derrick Jones will be sidelined for at least a couple weeks after suffering a right hamstring strain, the team announced (Twitter link via Dave McMenamin of ESPN).
Jones will be reevaluated in two weeks, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he misses additional time beyond that, given the nature of soft-tissue injuries.
According to Tomer Azarly of Clutch Points (Twitter link), Jones was ruled out for the remainder of Sunday’s game vs. Houston after experiencing soreness in the hamstring. He played 12 minutes in the loss.
Jones signed a three-year, $30MM contract with the Clippers over the offseason after playing a key role in helping Dallas make the NBA Finals last spring. He was off to a solid start in his first season in Los Angeles, averaging 10.0 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 1.3 SPG on .500/.417/.871 shooting through 25 games, all starts (25.0 MPG).
With Jones out, forwards Jordan Miller and Nicolas Batum saw an uptick in minutes vs. Houston. That figures to continue for at least the next two weeks.
In other injury news, James Harden (groin), Amir Coffey (shoulder contusion) and Mohamed Bamba (left knee) practiced today, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times. All three players were sidelined on Sunday.
Head coach Tyronn Lue also provided an injury update on star forward Kawhi Leonard, per Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter links). Lue said that Leonard went through non-contact drills during Tuesday’s practice and he’ll remain out for Friday’s contest in Denver.
“He did offensive script, defensive work, just no contact. But he did pretty much everything else,” Lue said of Leonard (Twitter video link via McMenamin). “He looked good. He’s not playing this week but he’s getting better. … Just keep building up until he’s able to do contact. We’re not sure when that’s going to come.”
Sixers’ Joel Embiid To Return Sunday
Former MVP Joel Embiid will return to Philadelphia’s starting lineup on Sunday afternoon vs. Chicago, the Sixers announced (via Twitter).
Embiid, who has missed the past seven games, was questionable heading into Sunday’s contest due to left knee injury management. Prior to the game, head coach Nick Nurse said the star center would be on a minutes restriction if he was able to suit up (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network).
The 30-year-old big man has been limited to just four games this season. Embiid underwent surgery on the knee last winter prior to returning at the end of the 2023/24 season. He managed to play in the 2024 Olympics in Paris with Team USA, but has experienced swelling and discomfort to open ’24/25. He was also suspended for three games after an altercation with a columnist and has missed time for personal reasons.
As Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, Embiid will almost certainly be ineligible for major postseason awards for the second straight season. He has already missed 17 games in ’24/25, and if he misses one more, he’ll be disqualified due to the 65-game rule.
The 76ers have won three of their past four games, but are still just 6-15, making them the No. 13 seed in the East.
Brandon Ingram Out Indefinitely With “Significant” Ankle Sprain
Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram has sustained a “significant” low left ankle sprain and will be out indefinitely, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN.
Ingram, 27, suffered the injury early in the third quarter of Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma City. While driving into the lane, Ingram rose up for a shot and was whistled for an offensive foul after his elbow appeared to hit Luguentz Dort, who fell to the ground (YouTube link). Ingram’s left foot landed on Dort’s right foot, causing his ankle to roll. He had to be helped off the court by his teammates.
According to Charania, Ingram left the Smoothie King Center — New Orleans’ home arena — in a walking boot and crutches.
Ingram helped the Pelicans snap a nine-game losing streak on Thursday vs. Phoenix by scoring a game-high 29 points, only to suffer the ankle sprain in his second game back after missing the previous five contests with a right leg injury.
It’s yet another setback for the Pelicans, who have dealt with numerous injuries to key players this season, and for Ingram, who has been sidelined by various injuries throughout his nine-year career. The former No. 2 overall pick will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
In 18 games this season (33.1 minutes), Ingram has averaged 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists, with a shooting line of .465/.374/.855. Due in large part to their crushing wave of injuries, the Pelicans are just 5-19, last place in the Western Conference.
With Ingram out and Zion Williamson (hamstring), Jose Alvarado (hamstring) and Jordan Hawkins (back) still sidelined, Trey Murphy will likely slide back into the starting lineup, with Javonte Green and Brandon Boston among the other candidates for more shots and minutes.
Raptors Notes: Olynyk, Brown, Quickley, Mogbo, Rhoden
After missing the first 21 games of the season with a back injury, Raptors big man Kelly Olynyk made his season debut in Saturday’s loss to Dallas, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Olynyk explained that his back unexpectedly tightened up after a training camp practice, and it took six weeks for him to recover.
“Playing basketball is what I love to do,” Olynyk said of finally returning to the lineup. “So you know, whenever you get to wake up and play basketball, it’s a great day. Obviously, it took a lot longer than I wanted, probably the team wanted, everybody wanted, but those kind of things happen. You’ve got to take your time. You can’t rush it, but it’s nice to get back out there and get into the flow of things.”
The 33-year-old forward/center had an excellent night, recording 13 points, four rebounds and two steals in 14 minutes without missing a shot (3-of-3 on three-pointers, 4-of-4 on free throws).
Here’s more on the Raptors, mostly from Grange:
- Bruce Brown appears to be close behind Olynyk in making his own season debut after undergoing offseason knee surgery, with Grange saying the veteran swingman “should be back any time.” Long viewed as a trade candidate, Brown is on an expiring $23MM contract.
- Immanuel Quickley‘s return to action does not appear to be imminent, however. According to Grange, there’s still no recovery timeline for the 25-year-old, who sustained a torn ligament in his left elbow on November 10.
- As Grange writes, despite losing to Dallas, Toronto had some impressive performances from its young players, with head coach Darko Rajakovic singling out rookie forward Jonathan Mogbo for the “awesome” job he did defending Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. “Jonathan’s super versatile. He can guard one through five,” said Olynk. “ … So that’s really exciting, and he can rebound, he can run, he can put the ball on the floor and handle it a little bit. He made some shots today. As he continues to develop that three-point shot, it’s going to be, obviously, big for him and for us, but he has that athletic ability around the rim. He caught a lob today that looked like he got boosted in the air. It was unbelievable. But you know, his skill set will definitely, I think, complement mine, and mine will complement his. So looking forward to that.” The 31st pick of June’s draft, Mogbo finished with eight points, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks in 21 minutes.
- Third-year guard Jared Rhoden spent training camp with Toronto on an Exhibit 10 contract, but was waived before the season began. Charlotte claimed him off waivers and converted him to a two-way deal, but he was recently cut by the Hornets to make room for Isaiah Wong. According to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link), Rhoden will join Toronto’s G League affiliate, the Raptors 905, which controls his returning player rights, but the team will have to release someone to make room for him.
New York Notes: Finney-Smith, Fernandez, Knicks, Hart
Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who has missed the past four games — and six of the past seven — with a left ankle sprain, will return to action on Sunday vs. Milwaukee, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The 31-year-old was able to practice for the second consecutive day on Saturday and is not on the injury report for today’s matinee against the Bucks.
“It’s a long season. Nobody’s really 100 percent, so I’m pretty sure everybody’s got some nags and bumps and bruises, but I feel better and I’m ready to play [Sunday],” Finney-Smith said. “Yeah, no question. You know I’m playing.”
As Lewis writes, Finney-Smith has by far the best plus-minus on Brooklyn’s roster (plus-56). On top of shooting a career-best 42.2% from three-point range and playing solid, switchable defense, he’s also the Nets’ locker-room leader.
“Doe brings toughness, his veteran leadership that he brings to any team,” Trendon Watford said. “That’s what he’s made his name off of, just him being a leader and him being that tough guy, him just being a knockdown shooter and lock-down defender. We know what Doe brings every night, and we definitely can use it.”
Second-year big man Noah Clowney is questionable for Sunday’s contest after missing the past six games with his own left ankle sprain, Lewis adds.
Here are some more notes on the NBA’s two New York-based teams:
- First-year Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez has been lauded for his job performance thus far, Lewis writes in subscriber-only story for The New York Post. In addition to being nominated for the Eastern Conference’s Coach of the Month award, Fernandez has drawn praise both inside and outside the organization for instilling belief in a club that was widely expected to finish with among the worst records in the league. Despite dealing with injuries to several key players, Brooklyn is currently 10-13, the No. 8 seed in the East.
- Playing without Karl-Anthony Towns, who was a late scratch due to a right knee patellar tendinopathy, the Knicks had a disappointing home loss to Detroit on Saturday, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post. Jericho Sims got the start at center in place of Towns, but he only played six minutes, with head coach Tom Thibodeau turning to Precious Achiuwa and rookie Ariel Hukporti to man the middle. Mikal Bridges expressed disappointment with the team’s defensive effort after giving up 120 points to a Pistons team that ranks 22nd in the league in offensive rating. “Not good. I think we pick and choose when [to play defense],” Bridges said. “And we ain’t that good that we can just pick and choose when to play defense.”
- Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson was questionable ahead of Saturday’s game due to a lower back contusion he sustained in Thursday’s victory over Charlotte, but he wound up playing a season-high 44 minutes and scoring a game-high 31 points to go along with 10 assists in the loss, notes Christian Arnold of The New York Post.
- Thibodeau was disappointed that Knicks forward Josh Hart was ejected for receiving his second technical foul late in the fourth quarter, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. “Josh plays on emotion which is great,” Thibodeau said. “But there’s a fine line and just, we can’t have that in the fourth quarter.” Hart claimed he didn’t know why he received either technical.
And-Ones: Woj, Awards, Samanic, Van Exel
In mid-September, perhaps the most surprising news of the NBA offseason occurred: Adrian Wojnarowski announced that he was retiring from ESPN and the news industry as a whole. It was later reported that he would become the general manager of the basketball program at St. Bonaventure, with the school confirming the news.
Speaking to his friend and former Yahoo Sports colleague Chris Mannix, who now works for Sports Illustrated, Wojnarowski explained his decision to leave his position at ESPN to work for his alma mater. He took a major pay cut, going from $7.3MM to $75K annually, but he was “burned out” by the always-on nature of his previous job. He was already advising the school on its search for the new position, as well as doing most of the work the job entailed.
“What I was doing, it just wasn’t fulfilling anymore,” Woj said. “I was just done. This is what gets me excited. To learn something new, to be part of something like this. It’s a whole new challenge.”
Wojnarowski, 55, also revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March, which he alluded to in his retirement statement (“time isn’t in endless supply”), but the prognosis is good — he told Mannix he isn’t experiencing any symptoms, having been diagnosed early, and the cancer is “pretty limited in scope.”
Wojnarowski sent out a tweet addressing the diagnosis. “Appreciate all the kind words and concern but I’m going to be fine. My goal in sharing a prostate cancer diagnosis is to encourage screening and testing among men. Early diagnosis will make all the difference for me —- and many others too.”
There are more interesting details on Woj’s decision in Mannix’s story, which is worth reading in full.
Here are some more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Josh Robbins, Eric Nehm and Kelly Iko of The Athletic weigh in on the awards races thus far for the 2024/25 season. Interestingly, there’s no consensus choice among the three for any of the major awards. For Most Improved Player, Robbins selected Magic forward Franz Wagner, Nehm picked Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, and Iko chose Nuggets wing Christian Braun.
- Former NBA forward Luka Samanic, a 2019 first-round pick, has signed with Croatian club KK Cibona, according to the team (Twitter link). The 24-year-old forward, who spent last season with Utah, was born in Zagreb, where the team is based. Fenerbahce reportedly holds Samanic’s EuroLeague rights for the rest of the season, but the Turkish club doesn’t compete in any of the same leagues as his new Croatian team.
- Longtime NBA point guard and veteran assistant Nick Van Exel has decided to exit coaching, having co-founded a new agency called 100x Sports, per Marc Stein (Twitter link). Van Exel worked in various player development, scouting and coaching roles for Milwaukee, Memphis, Dallas, and most recently Atlanta over the past decade-plus.
Hornets, Pacers Granted Disabled Player Exceptions
The Hornets have been granted a disabled player exception in the wake of Grant Williams‘ season-ending knee injury, reports Bobby Marks of ESPN (via Twitter). The DPE, which is worth half of Williams’ 2024/25 salary, comes in at $6,512,625.
The Pacers have also been granted two separate disabled player exceptions for big men Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman, sources tell Marks (Twitter link). Both players suffered torn Achilles tendons, which will keep them sidelined through at least June 15, as determined by an NBA-designated physician.
Indiana’s DPEs will be worth $2,217,691 (for Jackson) and $1,118,846 (for Wiseman), 50% of each center’s ’24/25 salary.
The Hornets and Pacers will have until March 10 to use their new disabled player exceptions.
As Luke Adams explains in our glossary entry, a disabled player exception can only be used on a single player, but a team can use it in a variety of ways — the DPE can be used to sign a free agent, to claim a player off waivers, or to acquire a player in a trade.
A free agent signed using the DPE can only be offered a rest-of-season deal, while a player acquired via trade or waiver claim using the DPE must be in the final year of his contract. Essentially, the purpose of the exception is to give the team some flexibility to replace an injured player for the rest of the season, but not beyond the current season.
However, the team must have room on its roster to sign the replacement player — the disabled player exception doesn’t allow the club to carry an extra man beyond the usual limits. Both Charlotte and Indiana have full rosters at the moment, but each club has a little bit of flexibility, with players on non-guaranteed (or partially guaranteed) contracts.
NBA Fines Rockets’ Udoka, Eason, Sengun
Three members of the Rockets were fined on Thursday, the NBA announced in a press release (Twitter link). Head coach Ime Udoka was docked $50K, forward Tari Eason was penalized $35K, and center Alperen Sengun received a $15K fine.
All three members of the organization were fined for incidents that occurred on Tuesday, when Houston lost by nine points in Sacramento. Udoka and Sengun each received a pair of technical fouls and were ejected with just under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
According to the league, Udoka was fined for “confronting and directing profane language toward a game official, failing to leave the court in a timely manner after being ejected, and public criticism of the officiating during his postgame press conference.”
Speaking to reporters after the loss, Udoka complained about “blatant missed calls” and implored the referees to “get some f—ing glasses or open your eyes.”
Sengun was hit with a less severe fine for “directing inappropriate language toward a game official.”
The NBA says Eason was fined for a post-game incident in which he threw a towel and directed inappropriate language toward a fan in the spectator stands. Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link) expressed surprise that the league failed to mention the fact that Eason tried to enter the stands to confront the heckling fan and had to be held back by security officials.
Pelicans Notes: Ingram, Jones, Missi, Losing Streak
The injury-plagued Pelicans will get some key reinforcements back on Thursday against Phoenix, as Brandon Ingram and Herbert Jones have been upgraded from questionable to available, the team announced (via Twitter).
Ingram has missed the past five games with right plantaris tendonitis, while Jones has been sidelined since Oct. 29 with a right shoulder strain and small low-grade partial thickness tear in his rotator cuff. An All-Defensive First Team selection in 2023/24, Jones has missed the past 18 games due to the injury.
Shams Charania of ESPN reported earlier this week that the two starting wings were on track to return on Thursday.
Here are a few more notes from New Orleans:
- Another player who has been upgraded from questionable to available for Thursday’s matchup is rookie first-round pick Yves Missi, who is dealing with a right ankle sprain. While the Pelicans’ season has been an unmitigated disaster to this point, having lost nine straight and 15 of their past 16 games, Missi’s play has been one of the few silver linings. As Christian Clark of NOLA.com writes, the 20-year-old big man had a career night in Monday’s loss to Atlanta, recording 23 points (on 11-of-14 shooting) and 12 rebounds. “He’s just getting better and better,” head coach Willie Green said. “A true bright spot for our team.”
- Will the Pelicans be able to salvage their season after a 4-18 start already has them 7.5 games behind San Antonio for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference? William Guillory of The Athletic explores that topic. According to Guillory, a major roster or coaching change seems unlikely in the near future, but the pressure is definitely mounting on Green after a string of non-competitive losses.
- In case you missed it, on Wednesday the Pelicans provided injury updates on Zion Williamson (left hamstring strain), Jose Alvarado (left hamstring strain) and Jordan Hawkins (lumbar spine annular fissure). Williamson and Alvarado are out at least two more weeks, while Hawkins will be checked out again in one week.
Atlantic Injury Notes: Achiuwa, Sharpe, Nets, Raptors
Knicks forward/center Precious Achiuwa has yet to make his 2024/25 debut as he continues to recover from a hamstring strain. He told Stefan Bondy of The New York Post that he’s been a full participant in practices and is day-to-day, but he’s not sure when he’ll be able to return.
“I need to get to that point where I’m able to build confidence with myself again,” Achiuwa said. “I’m an explosive player. For me to be able to explode, I’m going to have to build that confidence. … Once I get to that point where I feel like I’m optimal to play, I’ll be out there playing.”
Achiuwa, who will hit free agency again next summer after re-signing with New York on a one-year deal, thinks he’ll give the Knicks a defensive boost once he’s back.
“I think one of my biggest gifts is defensive versatility, being able to guard multiple positions, one through five,” Achiuwa said. “For me, coming back, we’re already probably the best offense in the league right now. So how can I add onto the team on the defensive end and being able to make us elite on that side? I think we do have the potential to be elite defensively.”
Here are a few more injury notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez said on Sunday that Day’Ron Sharpe is close to making his season debut, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “We could see him at some point this week,” Fernandez said. “Right now he’s going through the process of going through contact drills, then see how he feels after that and take the next step. So, that’s as much as I can tell you.” A fourth-year center who is recovering from a left hamstring strain, Sharpe will be a restricted free agent in 2025.
- Two Nets were injured in Sunday’s loss to Orlando, according to Lewis (Twitter links). Ben Simmons sustained a left knee contusion and was ruled out for the remainder of the game after playing about 12 minutes, and forward Cameron Johnson, who was already dealing with a right ankle sprain, tweaked his left ankle. However, Johnson plans to do everything he can to suit up for Monday’s back-to-back in Chicago. “It’s the opposite. I’m even now, so I’ll be alright,” Johnson said.
- Raptors guard Gradey Dick is making progress from his left calf injury, head coach Darko Rajakovic said ahead of Sunday’s win over Miami (Twitter link via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca). Dick is day-to-day and the team hopes he’ll be able to practice this week. Bruce Brown (knee) and Kelly Olynyk (back) remain in reconditioning programs, with no set timelines for their returns, per Lewenberg. Both veterans have yet to suit up this season.