New York Notes: Claxton, Clowney, Anunoby, Hartenstein
Nets center Nic Claxton only attempted three shots in Tuesday’s loss to Milwaukee, which was a season low, and the team would be wise to get him more involved before he hits unrestricted free agency this offseason, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required).
“I’m open a lot,” Claxton told the Post. “I’ve just got to keep putting myself in the right spots and hope that I get the ball.”
According to Lewis, Claxton has been Brooklyn’s most consistent player in 2023/24, and has shown improvement as a play-maker and in the pick-and-roll, with interim head coach Kevin Ollie calling the 24-year-old the team’s “hub.”
“He’s a great passer. He’s unselfish,” Ollie said of Claxton. “We run a lot of our backside action with him with the ball, some of our high frequencies of offensive possessions, of our (dribble hand-offs) with him handling it, and then him being able to hand it off to Dennis (Schröder) or Mikal (Bridges), then him rolling behind that and getting some lobs, which has been great.
“Him doing those different things has allowed us to play freer basketball. I’m gonna continue to allow him to do that. I allow him to push the ball up the court, take advantages there. I just want him to play unlocked basketball and continue to be our hub. But with freedom comes discipline, too. He has to take care of the ball and continue to do those certain things as well.”
However, as Lewis writes, if Claxton’s lack of touches continues, it’s possible he might begin to question his role and future with the Nets. According to Lewis’ sources, Claxton is expected to command $20MM+ annually on the open market this summer.
Here are a few more notes on the league’s two New York-based teams:
- Rookie big man Noah Clowney had one of the better outings of his young career on Thursday vs. Milwaukee, scoring five points and grabbing four rebounds while showcasing an ability to switch across multiple positions on defense, per Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily. The Nets were plus-10 in Clowney’s 14 minutes. He has only appeared in 11 games for an average of 9.1 MPG, having spent most of his rookie campaign in the G League with Long Island. While some fans have been clamoring for Clowney to play power forward instead of center, Kaplan says in the long run the 19-year-old’s overall development is much more important than the position he ends up playing in the future.
- Knicks forward OG Anunoby was ruled out for his third straight game on Saturday vs. the Nets, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Anunoby is dealing with soreness in his surgically repaired elbow, with the team officially listing him out for right elbow injury management. It’s unclear when the impending free agent will return to action — he played three games last week before the elbow flared up, and while it’s reportedly improving, he continues to be sidelined for now.
- He isn’t quite the defender Mitchell Robinson is, but Isaiah Hartenstein is a much better passer and he’s done an admirable job filling in as the Knicks‘ starting center, according to Steve Popper of Newsday (subscriber link). Another impending free agent, Hartenstein said he tries to make a positive impact no matter what his role is. “I tell everyone in the NBA you always have to sacrifice,” Hartenstein said. “Before, especially when we had Julius (Randle), we had all those guys, I had a kind of different role. Now I’m playing how I’m used to playing.”
Bulls Sign Javonte Green To 10-Day Deal
MARCH 23: Green has officially signed his 10-day contract with the Bulls, according to a press release from the team.
MARCH 22: The Bulls plan to sign free agent wing Javonte Green to a 10-day contract, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
It will be a reunion between the two sides, as Green spent parts of three seasons with Chicago, most recently in 2022/23. The 30-year-old was limited to 32 games last season due to a knee injury, which required surgery.
Green signed a training camp deal with Golden State in October, but was waived a few days later. He has appeared in 10 regular season games with the Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz in ’23/24, averaging 12.8 PPG, 6.8 RPG and 1.3 SPG on .489/.355/.824 shooting in 22.2 MPG.
Green, who went undrafted in 2015 out of Radford and spent four years playing professionally in Europe before catching on with Boston in 2019, averaged 6.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG and 0.9 SPG on .547/.360/.780 shooting in 97 games with the Bulls from 2021-23 (46 starts, 20.6 MPG). He’s known as a strong athlete and defender who plays bigger than his size, somewhat similar to Gary Payton II.
The Bulls currently have a full 18-man roster, but Lonzo Ball, Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams have been ruled out for the season, and rookie Julian Phillips is expected to miss at least two weeks with a foot issue. That means Green will almost certainly be signed via the hardship exception.
As a four-year veteran, Green will earn $124,425 over the course of his 10 days with the Bulls.
Celtics Notes: Holiday, Hauser, Pritchard, White
Boston has all but secured the No. 1 seed in the East, holding an 11-game lead on second-place Milwaukee with 12 games left on the team’s schedule.
As Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes (subscription required), the Celtics have been resting some of their top players over the past week to be cautious — for example, Jayson Tatum missed Friday’s game vs. Detroit with what was officially called a right ankle impingement, but there’s no indication it’s anything serious.
However, veteran guard Jrue Holiday, who missed his third straight game on Friday with a sprained right AC joint in his shoulder, does not fall into that category. Holiday tells Himmelsbach he’s been experiencing “dead arm” following a hard screen from Wizards center Richaun Holmes last Sunday (Twitter video link).
The two-time All-Star has been getting treatment for the injury, which requires rest to heal, per Himmelsbach. While Holiday says he’s starting to feel better, there’s no timeline for his return. Despite the team’s sizeable lead in the standings, he’s eager to get back on the court.
“I still want to play,” Holiday said. “That’s part of the reason I play basketball. But it’s also keeping rhythm. Sometimes when you’re out for a long time you break rhythm, but I feel like I’ve been in a good groove and I want to continue to play.”
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Backup forward Sam Hauser missed a couple games with an ankle sprain he sustained vs. Washington, but he returned to action in Friday’s victory, Himmelsbach adds in the same story. The third-year sharpshooter says he was relieved the injury wasn’t more serious. “It didn’t feel great, that’s for sure,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect or how it was going to feel in the days to come, but it’s felt pretty good throughout the week.”
- Giving Payton Pritchard a four-year, $30MM rookie scale extension last offseason is looking like a shrewd decision by the Celtics, according to Brian Robb of MassLive, who says the fourth-year guard has outperformed that deal this season, though the extension doesn’t begin until 2024/25. “Payton’s been great, and I’m not surprised, to be honest,” Jaylen Brown said. “Some guys just got a certain mentality they carry themselves with. Payton is somebody you don’t worry about. Even in the lowest of times he’s a hard worker and his mindset is phenomenal in terms of a relentless, never-give-up warrior-type mentality. So you put him out there, I’m not surprised at anything we’re seeing now. It’s just now the work is coming to fruition.” Pritchard has been logging major minutes of late with Holiday injured and is arguably playing his best basketball of the season.
- Guard Derrick White met the 65-game criteria for postseason awards on Friday, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. White earned a spot on the All-Defensive Second Team in 2022/23 and is having another excellent campaign. White has three pending bonuses, Marks notes — the 29-year-old will earn $250K if he makes another All-Defensive team, $500K if he makes at least 185 threes (he’s currently at 172), and $500K if he appears in 70 games.
- Robb of MassLive lists four takeaways from Friday’s blowout victory, including a big night for Brown, who finished with 33 points on 13-of-19 shooting.
Bucks Notes: Giannis, Lillard, Defense
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo played his 65th game of the season on Thursday vs. Brooklyn, which means he’s now eligible for all the major postseason awards, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).
A two-time MVP and seven-time All-NBA member, Antetokounmpo has an excellent case for additional hardware in 2023/24. He’s averaging 30.7 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 6.4 APG, 1.2 SPG and 1.0 BPG in 35.0 MPG. 6.4 assists per game represents a career-high, and he’s also shooting a career-best 61.4% from the field.
Here’s more on the Bucks:
- Antetokounmpo had missed the previous two games with a hamstring issue. He discussed the injury following Thursday’s victory, according to Eurohoops. “My goal was to play 82, but when the goal falls apart, you gotta fall back to the second one,” Antetokounmpo said. “There’s a bigger goal here to capture, and you have to think about the bigger picture. I could play through the pain, but it’s not smart in the long run.”
- Damian Lillard has never been known for his defense, but he made some key plays on that end in crunch time last night, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “I think, in my career, I haven’t been known as a defender, but down the stretch of games, I’ve always been able to have a moment or do what I needed to do at the end of a game defensively,” Lillard said. “And it’s not always going to result in a steal. … But tonight, it just happened to be steals. And when you’re on a team of this caliber, I think is important for everybody to just do whatever you got to do for us to win, because we don’t have anything else to play for other than to win. So, I think it’s going to happen in a lot of different ways. And tonight, that’s just how it happened.”
- Head coach Doc Rivers discussed the team’s recent “slippage” defensively prior to Thursday’s game, as Nehm relays (via Twitter). Rivers noted that while being without Antetokounmpo obviously played a factor, the team’s guards also need to do a better job navigating screens, as too many perimeter players have been getting into the paint with little resistance.
Russell Westbrook Expected To Return Next Week For Clippers
Clippers guard Russell Westbrook is expected to return to action next week, possibly as soon as Monday against Indiana, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
The 2017 MVP sustained a left hand fracture on March 1 and underwent surgery a few days later. Potentially returning in under four weeks certainly seems like a quick recovery, and Wojnarowski suggests Westbrook is progressing ahead of schedule (Twitter link).
Westbrook has primarily come off the bench in 2023/24, averaging 11.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 4.4 APG and 1.1 SPG on .452/.268/.677 shooting in 58 games (22.6 MPG).
Los Angeles has gone 5-5 in 10 games thus far without Westbrook, and he will provide a jolt of energy, play-making and rebounding to the Clips’ backcourt once he returns.
The nine-time All-NBA member had appeared in every game for L.A. prior to the injury. Third-year guard Bones Hyland will likely be removed from the rotation again when Westbrook comes back.
The Clippers are currently 43-25, the No. 4 seed in the West.
Pistons’ Stanley Umude Out For Season With Fractured Ankle
Pistons wing Stanley Umude will miss the remainder of the 2023/24 season after sustaining a hairline fracture of his right ankle on Wednesday vs. Indiana, the team announced in a press release.
Umude’s injury will not require surgery and he’s expected to make a full recovery, per the Pistons.
A second-year guard/forward, Umude spent most of this season on a two-way contract with Detroit before the team converted him to a standard deal last month. The Pistons hold a minimum-salary team option on the 24-year-old for ’24/25.
Umude appeared in 24 games in ’23/24, averaging 5.3 points and 2.1 rebounds with a strong .440/.453/.906 shooting line in a small sample size (12.8 MPG). Amid injuries to several rotation players, including Ausar Thompson (blood clot) and Isaiah Stewart (right hamstring strain), who are also done for the season, Umude had started the past two games, playing a career-high 34 minutes on Monday vs. Boston.
Simone Fontecchio (left great toe contusion), Taj Gibson (right hamstring soreness) and Quentin Grimes (right knee contusion) are the other Pistons who have been ruled out for Friday’s rematch with the Celtics.
Tosan Evbuomwan, Evan Fournier and Troy Brown are among the players who could receive more playing time on the wing for a shorthanded Detroit squad.
NBA To Eliminate G League Ignite After 2023/24 Season
3:39pm: The league confirmed in a press release that it’s eliminating the G League Ignite at the conclusion of the season, which is March 28.
3:16pm: The NBA plans to shut down the G League Ignite — a team for developmental prospects that was launched in 2020 — after the 2023/24 season concludes, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The news isn’t surprising. Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA was “in the process of reassessing” the viability of the Ignite at All-Star Weekend last month.
“I’m not sure what the future of Team Ignite will be because before I felt there was a hole in the marketplace we were filling,” Silver said. “Now my focus is turning to earlier development of those players.”
As Charania writes, the program was created as an alternative to college for top pre-draft-eligible prospects at a time when college players were not allowed to be compensated. However, changes to the way the NCAA operates — most notably the name, image and likeness (NIL) policy and the transfer portal — have made the Ignite more or less redundant.
According to John Hollinger of The Athletic (Twitter link), several NBA teams had questions about why the league was spending money on the Ignite, as well as the end goal for the program.
The Ignite produced four top-10 picks — Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Dyson Daniels and Scoot Henderson — and had 10 players drafted over the past three seasons. A pair of current Ignite players, Ron Holland and Matas Buzelis, are projected lottery picks in the upcoming draft, according to ESPN’s big board.
After going just 11-21 last regular season, the Ignite are the worst team in the NBAGL in ’23/24, with a 2-28 regular-season record.
Southwest Notes: Exum, Alvarado, Grizzlies, Rockets
In an interesting story for Yahoo Sports, Jake Fischer describes how Mavericks guard Dante Exum was able to make it back to the NBA after spending two seasons out of the league.
An Australian who sustained multiple major injuries early in his career, Exum only had G League offers in the U.S. and Canada after he was released by Houston in October 2021, and he decided that playing in Europe (for Barcelona and Partizan) was a better pathway for his future.
“It’s always a risk. Not many people go to Europe and are able to come back,” Exum said. “It’s hard to get back.”
Exum, 28, was considered a raw prospect when he was drafted fifth overall back in 2014. While he showed promise defensively and as a play-maker, he often struggled with scoring efficiency. However, he posted impressive shooting splits in Europe and that has continued in his first season in Dallas — he’s shooting 50% from deep (40-of-80) through 43 games (19.4 MPG), with an excellent 65.6 true shooting percentage.
“I think it’s just comfortability, consistency and confidence,” Exum said, per Fischer. “That was the one thing I’ve tried to improve. But I think a lot of times when you’re shooting and you miss one, you kinda get in your head a little bit. I try not to let that happen anymore. At what point do you become a shooter in the sense of how many am I willing to miss before I stop shooting? And I want that number to be high.”
The Mavericks have been much better when Exum is on the court in 2023/24, Fischer writes, particularly when he’s been paired with Luka Doncic. Exum’s $3.15MM salary for next season is non-guaranteed, but it would be surprising if Dallas doesn’t keep him around, considering how well he has fit in as a role player.
Here’s more from the Southwest:
- Pelicans backup point guard Jose Alvarado makes a big impact on the defensive end despite his diminutive stature, writes Christian Clark of NOLA.com (subscriber link). “It starts with his heart,” head coach Willie Green said. “He plays with his heart and soul every game. It’s hard to bottle that up into a stat. Then you add his instincts. He has tremendous on-court defensive instincts. It’s why he was ACC Defensive Player of the Year. With all the talent in that conference, it was him. He only knows how to play one way. That’s the beautiful part about Jose. He brings it 110% every time he steps on the floor.” New Orleans has a 104.9 defensive rating — 3.5 points per 100 possessions stingier than Minnesota’s league-best mark — when Alvarado is on the court, Clark notes.
- The injury-ravaged Grizzlies set an unfortunate franchise record on Wednesday when 10-day signee Maozinha Pereira made his NBA debut, per Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. The Brazilian forward, who had been playing for Mexico City in the G League, became the 29th player to appear in a game for the Grizzlies this season, breaking a 28-player mark set in two previous seasons.
- Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscriber link) lists 14 college prospects for Rockets fans to monitor with the NCAA Tournament underway. Some players mentioned include Purdue’s Zach Edey, UConn’s Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan, and Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham. The Rockets control Brooklyn’s 2024 first-round pick, which is currently projected to be No. 8 overall. The fate of their own first-rounder depends on multiple different factors, but as of right now it would likely be conveyed to Oklahoma City as part of a previous trade.
Atlantic Notes: Tatum, Maxey, McBride, Thomas
Celtics star Jayson Tatum played in his 65th game of the season on Wednesday against Milwaukee, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. That means the 26-year-old will be eligible for postseason awards, including All-NBA.
As Marks observes, Tatum already met the performance criteria for a super-max extension by a earning spot on the All-NBA First Team each of the past two seasons. However, he needed one more year of service time to meet the experience requirement. Tatum will be eligible to sign what is projected to be the most lucrative extension in league history at the beginning of July.
If that comes to fruition, which is highly likely, Tatum will be the second Celtic on a Designated Veteran contract, also known as the super-max. Jaylen Brown signed his own super-max extension last summer.
Tatum is having another excellent season in 2023/24, averaging 27.1 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 4.9 APG and 1.0 SPG on .474/.382/.830 shooting in his 65 appearances (35.7 MPG) for Boston, which holds (by far) the best record in the NBA at 55-14.
Here’s more from the Atlantic:
- Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey had scored exactly 30 points in three straight games entering Wednesday’s contest vs. Phoenix, but registered a season-low six points in 30 minutes during the loss to the Suns, notes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link). Maxey, a first-time All-Star who will be a restricted free agent in the offseason, shot just 3-of-13 from the floor. Philadelphia is currently 38-31, the No. 8 seed in the East, but the team only trails No. 6 Indiana by a half-game (one win).
- In a subscriber-only story for The New York Post, Stefan Bondy details how Miles McBride‘s diligent work ethic has helped him stay ready for big minutes when called upon. The Knicks guard had a career-high 29 points (on 9-of-13 shooting) in 47 minutes on Monday while being tasked with shadowing Stephen Curry. As Bondy writes, McBride comes from a family of athletes — his father Walt was a professional player and coach. “I was a defender,” said Walt. “His brother (Trey, a pro in Germany) is a defender. His mom was a tennis player, so that lateral movement is also important to defending.”
- The Nets have had a disappointing season, currently holding a 26-43 record. But the development of third-year guard Cam Thomas continues to be a bright spot for Brooklyn, writes Dan Martin of The New York Post. Over the past six games, Thomas is averaging 26.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG and 3.3 APG on .475/.405/.848 shooting (34.2 MPG), and he’s one of just a few players who have excelled under interim head coach Kevin Ollie, Martin notes. “It’s my first year really playing, actually figuring out how an NBA game actually works,” said Thomas, who called his playing time in his first two seasons “sporadic.” “They say Year 3 (for me), but it’s really like my rookie season. Being a key player on the scouting report instead of, my first two years, I was probably popping up sporadically, surprising teams off-guard with my scoring outbursts.”
Groups Announced For 2024 Paris Olympics
A group draw was held on Tuesday for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, per Maggie Hendricks of Olympics.com. Eight teams have already secured spots in the 12-team tournament, while four others will need to advance via Olympic qualifying tournaments in early July. The Olympics will open in late July.
Each team’s world ranking is in parentheses (courtesy of FIBA.basketball).
Group A
- Australia (5)
- Canada (7)
- Winner of OQT in Spain
- Note: Spain (2), Poland (15), Finland (20), Lebanon (28), Angola (34), or Bahamas (57).
- Note: Spain (2), Poland (15), Finland (20), Lebanon (28), Angola (34), or Bahamas (57).
- Winner of OQT in Greece
- Note: Slovenia (11), Greece (14), Dominican Republic (19), New Zealand (21), Croatia (30), or Egypt (40).
- Note: Slovenia (11), Greece (14), Dominican Republic (19), New Zealand (21), Croatia (30), or Egypt (40).
Group B
- Germany (3)
- France (9)
- Japan (26)
- Winner of OQT in Latvia
- Note: Latvia (6), Brazil (12), Montenegro (17), Georgia (23), Philippines (37), or Cameroon (68).
- Note: Latvia (6), Brazil (12), Montenegro (17), Georgia (23), Philippines (37), or Cameroon (68).
Group C
- United States (1)
- Serbia (4)
- South Sudan (33)
- Winner of OQT in Puerto Rico
- Note: Lithuania (10), Italy (13), Puerto Rico (16), Mexico (25), Ivory Coast (31), or Bahrain (67).
Each team plays three games during the group stage (once vs. every group opponent), and the top-two finishers from each group — plus the two best third-place finishers — will qualify to the quarterfinals, tweets Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com.
As Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press writes, Team USA will be seeking its fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal in men’s basketball, though the Americans failed to medal at the 2019 and 2023 World Cups. Several marquee names have already committed to playing, but the roster has yet to be finalized or officially announced.
Serbia (Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nikola Jovic, more) won the silver medal at last summer’s World Cup without Nikola Jokic and could have the MVP frontrunner on its roster at the Olympics. Germany (Dennis Schröder, Franz Wagner, more) went undefeated in winning the 2023 World Cup and will face host country France (Victor Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert, more), which won silver at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, in Group B.
Group A should be extremely competitive. Australia (Patty Mills, Josh Giddey, more) claimed the bronze medal in Tokyo and Canada (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett, more) won bronze at the last World Cup. The two qualifying tournaments in that group will be interesting to monitor as well, with a handful of star players potentially suiting up for several different countries, most notably Luka Doncic (Slovenia) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece).