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Atlantic Notes: Brown, Towns, Knicks, Martin

January 5th, 2025 at 1:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Celtics All-Star wing Jaylen Brown has seen his injury status upgraded ahead of Boston’s Sunday tilt against Oklahoma City. According to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link), the 6’6″ forward will play his first game of 2025 after having been sidelined with a right shoulder strain since New Year’s Eve.

The 28-year-old has been in fine form when he has played for the 26-9 Celtics. Brown is averaging 24.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.4 steals per night through 28 healthy games, with shooting splits of .461/.332/.734. The reigning Finals MVP seems well on his way to earning the fourth All-Star berth of his career and should be in the mix for his second All-NBA spot.

As Noa Dalzell of CLNS Sports tweets, Brown’s availability marks the first time in 17 games that Boston will be fielding a fully healthy rotation.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

  • Knicks All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns seems to have dodged a major injury after exiting an eventual 139-126 Saturday loss to the Bulls late, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Towns departed the game with just over 90 seconds remaining after being on the receiving end of a hard Nikola Vucevic foul while attempting a layup. He was able to walk under his own power, albeit with a noticeable limp. New York ultimately decided that additional testing was unnecessary. “I got hit,” Towns said. “I was going to go for a dunk. Saw [Coby White] was probably not going to give it to me, and then I switched hands, tried to do my best Michael Jordan impression… It hurt. Really all I saw was an and-one that was too late to help us win. Honest to God, I didn’t even know I made it.”
  • Despite leading Chicago 72-63 at the break, the Knicks seemed to lose their verve in the second half, Bondy writes in another story for the New York Post. New York was outscored 41-17 in the third quarter and essentially never recovered. In fairness, the Knicks were playing the second game of a back-to-back set, having also lost to the West-leading Thunder on Friday. “Back-to-backs are part of the league,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said, conceding that his team losing steam could be the result of a Chicago energy advantage. “Couple that with [the Bulls] were off for three days. I knew they were going to be high energy. And I thought offensively we scored plenty. Defensively, we have to do better.
  • First-year Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez heaped high praise on young two-way player Tyrese Martin on Saturday, writes Bridget Reilly of The New York Post. With forward Cameron Johnson and guards Cam Thomas, D’Angelo Russell and Ben Simmons injured, Brooklyn had to lean on its depth for help against the Sixers in a blowout loss Saturday. Martin chipped in 16 points, five boards and three dimes. “Tyrese has been great the whole year,” Fernandez said. “He’s been consistent. Consistent in the rotation, for the most part, and he’s taking advantage of his opportunities. It starts, not just right now, it starts in the summer. He was fighting for a two-way spot. He did all the right things every single day… And now he’s getting NBA minutes and doing a great job.”
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Celtics Notes: Porzingis, Kornet, Tatum, Udoka, Brown

January 4th, 2025 at 6:19pm CST by Arthur Hill

Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis overcame early foul trouble in his return to the court Friday night at Houston, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. Porzingis, who missed the previous four games with a sprained left ankle, was able to play 28 minutes, posting 11 points, five rebounds and two assists.

“I felt all right,” he said afterward. “Still haven’t been in my best shape this season yet, so it’s a little bit tough. But I’m happy to be healthy and working my way toward feeling better and better each game.”

The Celtics have been careful with Porzingis, who sat out the first month of the season while recovering from foot surgery. He has appeared in just 12 of the team’s 35 games so far and has talked about the frustration of trying to establish a rhythm with such an erratic playing pattern. Coach Joe Mazzulla and the training staff are focused on keeping him healthy for the start of the playoffs in April.

“It’s tough for him because he’s going through a transition of coming in,” Mazzulla said. “But I thought his defense in the second half was tremendous. I thought we went to a couple things that kind of got him going a little bit on some pin-downs and got him comfortable. I thought for his first game back, I thought he was great. He really helped us, especially defensively, in the second half.”

There’s more on the Celtics:

  • After Rockets center Alperen Sengun scored 14 points in the first half, Mazzulla switched to a double-big lineup to shut him down, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Luke Kornet started the third quarter alongside Porzingis, with Neemias Queta rotating in 0ff the bench. All that size clearly bothered Sengun, who went scoreless in the second half while missing all four of his shots from the field. “Kind of make it hard to play in a crowd,” Kornet said. “And then I think that length, having that be the help person, can make kickouts a little more difficult. But I feel like especially in the second half our physicality was great and just trying to match that and make things difficult.”
  • The Celtics improved to 3-0 against their former head coach, Ime Udoka, who led them to the NBA Finals in 2022, notes Brian Robb of MassLive. Jayson Tatum talked about the experience of playing for Udoka and how it benefited the team. “I think Ime, he’s big on toughness and physicality and taking on the challenge and going at people,” Tatum said. “And that’s what we did that year, right? We had a tough start. But him as our head coach, he never wavered and we turned out season around. We was hungry. And got to the Finals and came up short. We loved to have him around. He’s an amazing person, amazing coach.”
  • Jaylen Brown, who missed the past two games with a shoulder strain, is the only Celtic listed on the injury report for Sunday’s game at Oklahoma City, Robb adds in a separate story. Brown is expected to be a game-time decision, with Sam Hauser continuing to replace him in the starting lineup if he’s unavailable.
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And-Ones: 2025, Balance, Expansion, Neto, MVP

January 2nd, 2025 at 7:13pm CST by Rory Maher

In an Insider-only story for ESPN.com, Tim Bontemps lists seven storylines people around the NBA will be monitoring in 2025. Due to their combination of young players, draft assets and a coach (Ime Udoka) that players want to play for, the Rockets are widely viewed as the team to watch the next time a star becomes available on the trade market.

“The whole landscape of the league,” an Eastern Conference scout said, “could change based off what they do.”

Although no one actually expects anything to change, since it would require certain teams to vote against their best interests, league sources tell Bontemps that the imbalance of power between the two conferences may see more calls for playoff seedings to be ranked 1-to-16 instead of the traditional format of 1-to-8 in each conference.

League insiders are also keeping a close eye on the Celtics‘ impending sale — specifically how much the team sells for — as a potential bellwether for expansion, according to Bontemps. The cities of Seattle and Las Vegas continue to be mentioned in league circles as possible expansion spots.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

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Injury Notes: Pelicans, Lakers, Celtics, Ivey, M. Robinson

January 2nd, 2025 at 5:03pm CST by Rory Maher

After missing the past 23 games with a left hamstring strain, Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado says he plans to return to action on Friday vs. Washington, as Will Guillory of The Athletic relays (via Twitter).

“I’ll be playing tomorrow for sure,” Alvarado said. “No doubt. … I finally get to be Jose again. It’s going to be a lot of crazy man out there.”

Both of the Pelicans’ injured star forwards — Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson — were spotted getting some on-court work in after Thursday’s practice, according to Guillory (Twitter video links).

Williamson has been out since Nov. 6 with a left hamstring strain and was considered week-to-week nine days ago. Ingram, who has been out since Dec. 7 due to a “significant” left ankle sprain, is set to be reevaluated next week.

Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:

  • Anthony Davis (left ankle sprain) and Gabe Vincent (left oblique strain) are unlikely to suit up on Thursday when the Lakers host Portland, according to Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group (Twitter link). Both players have been downgraded to doubtful after initially being listed as questionable.
  • The Celtics have downgraded Jaylen Brown (right shoulder strain) and Kristaps Porzingis (left ankle sprain) from questionable to out for Thursday’s game in Minnesota, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Porzingis, who will miss his fourth consecutive game with the injury, said he was “definitely getting close” to returning following shootaround in the afternoon, per Jay King of The Athletic (Twitter link). Thursday will mark Brown’s first absence with the shoulder issue and sixth missed game overall.
  • Jaden Ivey underwent surgery on Thursday morning to repair the broken fibula in his left leg after sustaining the injury on Wednesday. Although Ivey will reportedly miss most — if not all — of the rest of the season, Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press hears there’s optimism the Pistons guard did not sustain ligament or tendon damage, which is encouraging news (Twitter link).
  • Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has yet to make his season debut as he recovers from offseason ankle surgery. Although he hasn’t been able to run at full speed to this point, head coach Tom Thibodeau said the team is expecting Robinson to be cleared for practices “sometime this month,” according to SNY.tv.
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Atlantic Notes: George, Raptors, Hart, Brown

December 29th, 2024 at 8:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After signing him to a four-year, maximum-salary free agent contract this summer, the Sixers anticipated that former nine-time All-Star forward Paul George would help goose their scoring, but his contributions have been erratic so far, observes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Through 19 healthy games, the 34-year-old is averaging just 15.8 points per game on .404/.314/.787 shooting splits. His shooting percentages from the field overall and from long range in particular represent the second-worst rates of his 15-season career. In his last four contests, George’s long-range woes have gotten even worse. The six-time All-NBA honoree shot just 4-of-25 from deep.

Sixers All-Star center Joel Embiid, however, is confident that George will bounce back as a shooter.

“He’s going to be great,” Embiid said. “I’m not worried about it. I think as we keep going and we start figuring out the best way to move forward, I think he’ll be way better than he’s been, more efficient, which he’s always been. Especially catch and shoot [and] shot creation.”

Pompey cites George’s difficulty integrating into the team’s offense next to Embiid as part of the problem.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

  • A lackluster defensive effort from the Raptors against Memphis on Thursday, in a 155-126 defeat, serves as just the latest example of a possible long-term issue for Toronto’s young core, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Toronto already ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency heading into the loss to Memphis and has since dropped a few more spots. As Koreen notes, while the Raptors have been effective at limiting opponent three-point attempts, the team has a tendency to foul too frequently and is too lenient with permitting enemy scoring within five feet of the basket.
  • Knicks wing Josh Hart has been a critical component of New York’s defense this season, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. The Knicks are 22-10 on the year, and winners of 16 of their last 20 contests. “My game is very simple,” Hart said. “I don’t go out there and try to do ball screens and 18 dribbles, dribble combos and all that. I keep it simple. If I don’t got a layup or a shot, I swing the ball, get these guys the ball. And fit in around them.” The team’s defensive rating this season ranks 14th out of 30 clubs, a slight step down from its No. 10 mark in 2023/24.
  • Celtics All-Star wing Jaylen Brown is making a real case for a spot on an All-Defensive team, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. “I feel like I’m one of the best two-way players in the world,” Brown said. “So I try to hang my hat on that side by doing different assignments like picking up guys full court, chasing guys off screens, switching onto bigs. That takes a lot of energy. Then to have to go back down and try to score 24, 25 a night, get other guys going. But defense is where our team kind of needs to set the tone and hang our hats with physicality, toughness, and I feel like I’m the leader of that, so I’ve got to hold myself accountable.” Himmelsbach notes that the athletic small forward has often been using his work on the defensive end of the court to kick off his explosive offense.
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Multiple Playoff Hopefuls Eyeing Lonnie Walker

December 29th, 2024 at 6:24pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Veteran guard Lonnie Walker IV is drawing NBA interest, with the Sixers, Timberwolves, Heat, Nuggets and Celtics all viewed as potential suitors, reports Marc Stein (Twitter link).

Walker played on Boston’s training camp roster in the fall on an Exhibit 10 deal, but was cut ahead of the 2024/25 regular season.

The 6’4″ wing isn’t quite a free agent. He is currently playing for Lithuanian EuroLeague club Zalgiris Kaunas, having passed on an opportunity to suit up for Boston’s NBAGL squad, the Maine Celtics. Other EuroLeague squads, including Real Madrid and Maccabi Tel Aviv, were also reportedly interested in adding Walker, but he ultimately sided with Zalgiris.

However, Walker has a $450K buyout option in his current deal with Zalgiris, should any NBA squad be interested in bringing him back to the league prior to February 18.

Beyond the loaded Celtics, all the aforementioned squads could use a scoring spark off the bench, which Walker would provide in abundance.

The Miami product has spent six seasons in the league, playing for the Spurs, Lakers and – most recently – the Nets. Across 58 healthy games for Brooklyn off the bench last year, Walker posted averages of 9.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.6 steals per night, with a shooting line of .423/.384/.763.

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Injury Notes: Kuzma, Raptors, Morant, Celtics, Suggs

December 29th, 2024 at 4:14pm CST by Rory Maher

The Wizards and Kyle Kuzma are targeting Monday’s rematch with New York for the veteran forward’s return to action, team sources tell Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link).

As Robbins notes, Kuzma has missed the past 12 games with a sprained rib cartilage, having last played on Nov. 27. The two sides will determine if he’s able to suit up in the hours leading up to the game.

League executives believe the Wizards are “eager” to move Kuzma before the Feb. 6 trade deadline, as Marc Stein reported last week. However, the bonuses in his contract could complicate matters for suitors operating in close proximity to the tax aprons.

Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:

  • The Raptors will have a handful of players back in action on Sunday vs. Atlanta, including swingman Bruce Brown, who will be making his season debut following offseason knee surgery, and starting center Jakob Poeltl, who has missed the past four games with a groin issue (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca).
  • Ja Morant will be sidelined for Sunday’s matchup with Oklahoma City due to an AC joint sprain in his right shoulder, the Grizzlies announced (story via Tim MacMahon of ESPN). It’s unclear how much time Morant might miss beyond Sunday’s contest between the top-two seeds in the West.
  • The Celtics will be without Kristaps Porzingis (left ankle sprain) and Jrue Holiday (right shoulder impingement) for Sunday’s contest vs. Indiana, the team announced (Twitter links). Both starters had previously been listed as questionable. Asked about Holiday’s status, head coach Joe Mazzulla suggested the injury was relatively minor, as Jared Weiss of The Athletic tweets. “He’s getting better every day,” Mazzulla said. “He’ll continue to get better and we’ll see how it is.”
  • All-Defensive guard Jalen Suggs sustained a right wrist sprain on Sunday against Brooklyn and was ruled out for the remainder of the game, the Magic announced (via Twitter). Any type of extended absence for Suggs would certainly be rough — Orlando has already been playing without three of its top four scorers (Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Moritz Wagner). Suggs, who signed a lucrative long-term extension with the Magic before the season began, has averaged a career-best 16.8 points per game in 2024/25.
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Eastern Notes: Finney-Smith, Celtics, Toppin, J. Johnson, Bagley

December 27th, 2024 at 10:30pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran forward Dorian Finney-Smith returned to the Nets‘ starting lineup on Friday vs. San Antonio after missing three games due to a left calf contusion, an injury he admitted was related to a left ankle sprain that cost him several games in November and early December, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post.

“Same ankle, which kind of ran up my calf, changed the way I ran,” Finney-Smith said. “You know your body adjusts to pain, so I started running a little different. So it started causing me to irritate my calf. I’ll be all right. I’ve just got to be smarter, listen to my body sometime.”

Besides being an important part of Brooklyn’s starting lineup, Finney-Smith is considered a prime candidate to be traded before this season’s deadline, so the Nets will want to keep him healthy for both reasons.

[RELATED: Grizzlies Interested In Finney-Smith]

Finney-Smith’s three-and-D skill set would be a fit for just about any contending team and he can become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end if he turns down his 2025/26 player option. With that in mind, the rebuilding Nets are expected to try to get what they can for him rather than risk losing him for nothing in the summer.

Here’s more from around the East:

  • The Celtics were missing a pair of starters on Friday vs. Indiana, with Kristaps Porzingis out due to a left ankle sprain and Jrue Holiday unavailable for a second straight game due to a right shoulder impingement (Twitter link). The defending champions weren’t hampered by the absences though, blowing out Indiana by a score of 142-105, led by Jaylen Brown‘s 44 points.
  • The Pacers were without forward Obi Toppin for Friday’s blowout loss. Head coach Rick Carlisle – who acknowledged on Thursday that Toppin would “probably miss some time,” per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star – said before Friday’s game that he doesn’t yet have a sense of a timetable for Toppin, but noted that he has always been a quick healer (Twitter link via Dopirak).
  • Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal Constitution explores the All-Star case that Hawks forward Jalen Johnson is making this season. Besides averaging new career highs in points (19.8), rebounds (10.3), and assists (5.5) per game, Johnson has posted impressive on/off-court numbers — Atlanta has a +0.9 net rating when he’s on the floor and a dismal -10.4 mark when he isn’t.
  • After injuring his right knee on Monday, Wizards big man Marvin Bagley III has been diagnosed with a sprain, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Bagley was out Thursday and figures to remain on the shelf for the foreseeable future, but he avoided a worst-case scenario, according to head coach Brian Keefe, who said he doesn’t expect the injury to be a season-ender, per Varun Shankar of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
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Celtics Notes: Mazzulla, Tatum, Porzingis, Springer

December 26th, 2024 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics still may have the best roster in the league, but they haven’t looked like the defending champions for the past two weeks, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Boston is 3-4 in its last seven games, including losses against the sub-.500 Bulls and the short-handed Magic. Coach Joe Mazzulla was candid about his team’s recent play after falling to Philadelphia on Wednesday.

“We’re playing inconsistent basketball, so we’ve got to be better at both ends of the floor,” he said. “Got to be more consistent at both ends of the floor.”

The Celtics are second in the East and third in the NBA with a 22-8 record, but Robb notes that their schedule is about to get much more challenging. There are limited off days and a few back-to-backs coming up over the next three weeks, which could be taxing for a veteran roster and provides little opportunity for practice time.

“We’ve got to be better,” Jayson Tatum said. “It’s still a long season. Nobody’s panicking. We’ve got to navigate the emotional roller coaster of the NBA season. It feels a lot worse than it actually is. We’re not panicking or anything. We’ve just got to man up and look in the mirror and figure out some things that we’ve got to do better at. Everybody’s fully capable, and we’ve always done a really good job of responding, and I have no doubt that we will. So I’m not panicking, but we’ve got to be better, and we will.”

There’s more from Boston:

  • Tatum provided an explanation of the illness that made him a late scratch for Monday’s game against Orlando, Robb adds in a separate story. He described it as a “a 24-hour, 48-hour bug” that began to affect him after warmups. He was still feeling some effects from the virus on Wednesday, even though he managed to post 32 points and 15 rebounds in 41 minutes. “Maybe a little fatigued, I guess, from being sick the last few days, but I’m just trying to push through it, catch my second wind, things like that,” Tatum said.
  • The Celtics weren’t able to provide much information on a left ankle injury that sidelined Kristaps Porzingis for the second half of Wednesday’s game, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Porzingis seemed to tweak the ankle early in the contest, but he was able to keep playing before having his status downgraded at halftime. “I noticed that he played through it,” Mazzulla told reporters after the game. “I asked him how he was. He said he was okay and then he got re-evaluated at halftime. But I haven’t heard anything.” Porzingis didn’t talk to reporters, but Terada observed that he didn’t seem to have much protection on the ankle in the locker room.
  • Jaden Springer hasn’t played much since the Celtics acquired him in a February trade, but the fourth-year shooting guard tells Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe that being in Boston has been a good learning experience. “I’ve grown a lot,” Springer said. “Coming to a different organization you get to see a different way of basketball. Everyone plays a different style, so coming here you learn new things, pick up on new styles of play, and playing behind another great group of guys. (Jaylen Brown), (Tatum), Jrue (Holiday), Derrick White, (Porzingis), Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, a bunch of guys. So being able to learn from them and watch them every night, it’s been pretty big for me.” 
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Community Shootaround: Christmas Day Games

December 25th, 2024 at 11:04am CST by Luke Adams

Merry Christmas from the Hoops Rumors staff!

As usual, the NBA has a five-game slate on tap for Christmas Day, with many of the league’s top teams and biggest stars in action on December 25. Here’s today’s schedule:

  • 11:00 am CT: San Antonio Spurs (15-14) at New York Knicks (19-10)
  • 1:30 pm CT: Minnesota Timberwolves (14-14) at Dallas Mavericks (19-10)
  • 4:00 pm CT: Philadelphia 76ers (10-17) at Boston Celtics (22-7)
  • 7:00 pm CT: Los Angeles Lakers (16-13) at Golden State Warriors (15-13)
  • 9:30 pm CT: Denver Nuggets (16-11) at Phoenix Suns (14-14)

While the goal on Christmas Day is generally to showcase some of the day’s biggest stars and best teams, this year’s schedule is a little lacking in the latter.

Despite featuring seven teams from the Western Conference, today’s slate of games doesn’t include any of the West’s top three seeds, the Thunder, Rockets, and Grizzlies. While Houston and Memphis weren’t necessarily expected to be this good, Oklahoma City’s absence is conspicuous, given that the Thunder were the No. 1 seed in the West last season.

Over in the East, we’ve got the No. 2 and 3 seeds in action today, but the NBA’s best team, the 26-4 Cavaliers, won’t be part of the Christmas Day slate. Instead, the third Eastern club is the 12th-seeded Sixers, who have been plagued by injuries but at least will have their big three available on Wednesday — Tyrese Maxey and Paul George aren’t on the injury report, and Joel Embiid is listed as available.

Despite the absence of so many top teams, each matchup still has something going for it, with plenty of star power on display.

The afternoon will feature rising phenom Victor Wembanyama visiting Madison Square Garden and the streaking Knicks, who have won four games in a row; a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals between the Timberwolves and Mavericks, who should have star guards Kyrie Irving (available) and Luka Doncic (probable) active today; and those aforementioned three Sixers stars going up against the defending champions in Boston.

The first evening contest between the Lakers and Warriors pits the No. 7 seed in the West against No. 8, but it also could be one of the last few times that NBA legends LeBron James and Stephen Curry face one another. James is considered questionable due to left foot injury management, but I’d be shocked if he didn’t play. A couple more would-be Western contenders who have had up-and-down starts will wrap up the day when the Nuggets visit Phoenix in a game that will feature a pair of former MVPs in Nikola Jokic and Kevin Durant.

We want to know what you think. Are there any teams you wish were or weren’t part of today’s schedule? Which of these five games are you most looking forward to? Which five teams are you picking to win this year’s Christmas Day matchups?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in, and feel free to use it as an open thread to discuss today’s games.

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