- The COVID-19 outbreak that has strained the Nets‘ roster gave Blake Griffin a chance to revive his season, per Mark W. Sanchez of The New York Post. Griffin was out of the rotation when the virus hit, but with only eight active players he logged a season-high 32 minutes Saturday night. He has played better since returning to the lineup five games ago and could see regular minutes once the roster is back to normal. “Blake’s played great,” coach Steve Nash said. “Like I’ve said to him, we know there’s always something around the corner, so although he was out of the rotation for a little while, we knew something would happen and he’d get his opportunity again, and he’s a pro. Worked his butt off, stayed in shape, found a rhythm. He’s playing good basketball.”
NBA teams have been so busy dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks and scrambling to find available replacement players that the trade talks which typically occur at this time of year have been put on the back burner, writes Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. Given how many teams are shorthanded, it has also been hard to get a clear sense of whether certain clubs will end up as buyers or sellers, a high-ranking Western Conference executive told Fischer.
“There have been so many injuries, so many players in health and safety protocols, and there are so many teams that are holding out hope they can make a run to that next goal, whether it be making the play-in, making the playoffs, or competing for a championship,” the executive said. “I don’t expect there to be any trade action anytime soon.”
Here are a few more COVID-related notes:
- Within his look at the recent impact of the health and safety protocols, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report notes that the exodus of G League talent to the NBA has opened the door for more former NBA players to sign NBAGL contracts in the hopes of getting back into the league. Thon Maker, Marcus Thornton, and Jordan Crawford are among the players who have recently been offered G League deals, says Fischer.
- Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link) offers some additional details on why the Raptors‘ Wednesday game and the Nets‘ Thursday contest were postponed. As Grange explains, while the minimum number of players required for a team to play a game is eight, the NBA’s new rules say that at least five of those players must be from the club’s initial 17-man roster. It sounds as if Toronto and Brooklyn both may have dipped below five available players, not counting hardship signees.
- Vaccinated players signed via hardship exceptions can play for their new teams immediately after testing negative for COVID-19, but must continue to return negative tests during each of their first five days with the club in order to enter facilities and remain active, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks (Twitter links).
This week’s game between the Nets and Trail Blazers, scheduled to be played on Thursday in Portland, has been postponed, the NBA announced today in a press release. According to the league, Brooklyn doesn’t have the required minimum of eight players available.
It’s the third straight postponement for the Nets, who were also unable to play on Sunday vs. Denver and Tuesday vs. Washington. Brooklyn has a league-high 10 players in the health and safety protocols, and Joe Harris (ankle) and Nicolas Claxton (wrist) were also out of action when the team last played on Saturday.
Patty Mills, Blake Griffin, Cameron Thomas, David Duke, and Kessler Edwards were active for the Nets on Saturday and the team has added four replacement players (James Ennis, Shaquille Harrison, Langston Galloway, and Wenyen Gabriel).
That’s a total of nine players, but it’s certainly possible that at least a couple of them are dealing with injuries or have been placed in the protocols in recent days — the Nets haven’t had to publicly update their injury report since their last game.
The next game on Brooklyn’s schedule is a December 25 showdown with the Lakers in Los Angeles. While both teams have been decimated by injuries and COVID-19, the NBA will presumably do all it can to avoid postponing what was supposed to be one of its marquee Christmas Day matchups.
New Nets guard Langston Galloway is viewing his 10-day contract with the top team in the East as an audition for a longer-term return to the NBA, writes Shlomo Sprung of Boardroom.tv. Galloway – who was most recently playing with the Hawks’ NBAGL affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks – is averaging 16 MPG across his first two contests with Brooklyn.
Galloway, 30, went undrafted out of Saint Joseph’s in 2014, but eventually latched on with the Knicks in the middle of the 2014/15 season. The 6’1″ combo guard suited up for five NBA teams across seven NBA seasons before landing with Brooklyn this year. In 447 total games played with the Knicks, Pelicans, Kings, Pistons, Suns, and now Nets, he holds averages of 8.2 PPG, 2.5 RPG, and 1.5 SPG.
Galloway played in just one game with the Skyhawks this year before being scooped up by Brooklyn. He notched 12 points, seven assists, three boards, and one steal.
“It gives guys an opportunity for another look,” Galloway said of his G League experience prior to joining the Nets. “Playing in G League games is great, but it’s nothing like having eyeballs on you at the NBA level and being able to show that I could really still do this. It’s a huge opportunity.“
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau offered measured praise for point guard Kemba Walker, who poured in a season-best 29 points in a 114-107 loss to the Celtics this weekend, Walker’s first game back in the rotation since his unceremonious benching nine games prior, writes Greg Joyce of the New York Post. “Well, that’s who he is,” Thibodeau acknowledged about Walker’s solid offensive game. “He’s an accomplished player. I have to do what I think is best for the team. And that’s how I’m gonna make my decisions.” The Knicks went 2-7 in their nine games without Walker. Though Thibodeau was noncommittal after a Monday practice about whether or not Walker would play in further games, it appears fate is forcing his hand. Fred Katz of The Athletic reported (via Twitter) that point guard Derrick Rose would be unavailable for New York’s next game, Tuesday night against the league-worst Pistons, with an ankle injury. With six other Knicks still in the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, Walker will officially start for New York again this evening, tweets Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
- Sixers head coach Doc Rivers reflected this week on just how deeply Philadelphia is feeling the absence of embattled point guard Ben Simmons, writes Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The team was the top seed in the East last year, but at 16-15 is currently the sixth seed in the conference as Simmons continues to sit out. “You see the glaring holes that he leaves us,” Rivers said of the club’s missing All-Defensive First Teamer. “And you know, he may or may not play. If he does, great. If he doesn’t, then whoever we get can help us.”
- New Raptors shooting guard Nik Stauskas, a former lottery pick most recently with the Grand Rapids Gold, is delighted to be joining his hometown Toronto team, per Mike Singer of the Denver Post (Twitter link). The 28-year-old Michigan alum has logged time with the Kings, Sixers, Nets, Trail Blazers, and Cavaliers, but has not appeared in an NBA game since the 2018/19 NBA season.
DECEMBER 21: Gabriel has officially signed his 10-day contract, the Nets announced today in a press release.
DECEMBER 18: The Nets are planning to sign big man Wenyen Gabriel to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Brooklyn will be using a hardship exception to sign him.
The Nets have already signed Langston Galloway, James Ennis and Shaquille Harrison to 10-day contracts using hardship exceptions this week. The team currently has nine players in the league’s health and safety protocols, including Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
Gabriel, 24, went undrafted in 2018 after spending three seasons at Kentucky. He holds past NBA experience with the Kings, Blazers and Pelicans. In 12 games with the Wisconsin Herd this season, he’s averaged 13.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 25.6 minutes per game.
Despite being shorthanded, Brooklyn most recently won a 114-105 contest over the Sixers, led by Durant’s 34 points and 11 rebounds. The team will host the Magic (5-25) on Saturday night.
In addition to the three games postponed on Sunday, the league also announced two more postponements: Magic vs. Raptors on Monday, and Nets vs. Wizards on Tuesday (via Twitter).
The Magic are decimated by injuries and COVID-19 at the moment, hence the postponement. The Nets currently have 10 players in the health and safety protocols, although they did play Saturday night against Orlando, a 100-93 loss. The Nets started three rookies against the Magic, and their bench was comprised entirely of players on 10-day contracts.
As our JD Shaw tweets, part of their reason for the postponements is that many of the players who would receive 10-day contracts via hardship exceptions are participating in the G League showcase event, which makes it difficult to find immediate replacements.
ESPN’s Baxter Holmes tweets that 64 players and two head coaches have entered the league’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols over the past six days, which is approximately 13% of players signed to standard and two-way contracts, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (via Twitter).
12:30pm: The NBA has officially postponed three games on Sunday: Cavs-Hawks, Nets-Nuggets, and Pelicans-Sixers, the league announced (via Twitter).
11:30am: The NBA has decided to postpone tonight’s game between the Cavaliers and Hawks, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The contest between the Nets and Nuggets has been called off as well, Woj adds (Twitter link), and others may be in jeopardy, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The league is still considering whether to postpone tonight’s matchup between the Pelicans and Sixers, Wojnarowski tweets.
The news comes amid another day of numerous players being put into health and safety protocols, including Cleveland center Jarrett Allen and four of his teammates, along with Atlanta All-Star guard Trae Young. Philadelphia lost Andre Drummond and Shake Milton and already has a depleted roster.
COVID-19 forced multiple postponements last season, especially early on, but the league was able to avoid any schedule interruptions until earlier this week when the short-handed Bulls had games postponed against the Pistons and Raptors.
Multiple teams have seen their rosters decimated by the virus over the past few days, so more postponements could be coming. It’s particularly distressing for the league that this outbreak is happening so close to Christmas Day, which is an annual showcase. Among the teams scheduled to play on December 25, the Knicks, Celtics, Bucks, Nets and Lakers are especially short-handed.
The Nets plan to bring Kyrie Irving back for road games once he clears health and safety protocols, but general manager Sean Marks may not be committed to that as a long-term decision, tweets Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Asked today if the team will continue with Irving as a part-time player when the roster returns to normal, Marks declined to answer, calling the question “hypothetical.”
Brooklyn has been hit hard by COVID-19 in the past week and currently has 10 players in health and safety protocols with tonight’s addition of rookie Day’Ron Sharpe, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The Nets, who also have Joe Harris sidelined after ankle surgery and Nicolas Claxton sitting out with soreness in his wrist, are missing 12 players for tonight’s game with Orlando. They signed four players this week with hardship exceptions to fill out their roster.
Marks admits the extreme shortage of personnel was behind the decision to let Irving start playing again, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, although he’s still ineligible for home games because he hasn’t met New York City’s vaccine requirement.
“Several months ago we made a decision that was based around what was best for the team,” Marks said. “What was best for the team at that point was continuity and I think we all see that continuity right now over the course of the last week and whatever the future looks like may be out the window for a while, and we’ve got to navigate that as best we can.”
Irving was placed in the league’s health and safety protocols earlier today, which means he either tested positive for the virus or returned an inconclusive result. Marks said he hasn’t appealed to Irving to get vaccinated or tried to change his mind about the issue, Reynolds adds.
“There’s also a risk for Kyrie when a guy comes in and if they’re not vaccinated,” Marks said. “I don’t want to get into those type of discussions, but that’s a risk for him coming into this environment, not just the team and so forth. But we’re all well aware of the status and his status and moving forward and how we’ll navigate this as best we can.”
Coach Steve Nash echoed Marks’ comments in a pre-game meeting with reporters, saying the original decision on Irving was based on continuity, but “continuity’s out the window now,” tweets David Aldridge of The Athletic.
“I’m excited to have Kyrie back,” Nash continued (Twitter link from Michael Scotto of HoopsHype). “He’s an incredible player, no matter what capacity. We’ll incorporate him in. It’s a positive for our group.”
Owner Joe Tsai also spoke about the thinking behind the reversal on Irving, telling Brian Lewis of The New York Post that the decision was made solely for basketball reasons and isn’t an attempt to make a statement about the vaccine mandate.
“We’re trying to be practical. And I’ve always said I don’t want to make this a political issue,” Tsai said. “My only religion is to win games and win the championship. That’s where we are.”
11:51am: Irving has now been placed in the league’s health and safety protocols, making him the ninth Nets player on the list.
According to Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News (Twitter link), the typical testing process for Irving to rejoin the team wouldn’t have required him to be entered into the protocols, so he registered either a positive or inconclusive test.
Irving needs five consecutive days of negative tests to join the team for practices, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.
10:38 am: Nets superstar Kevin Durant has entered the league’s health and safety protocols, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Durant has tested positive on multiple occasions over the past two years. He had his own bout with the virus shortly after the pandemic struck. He missed three games last January after testing positive and missed three more in February after being deemed a close contact.
Durant has been playing at an MVP level, carrying the team through its current COVID crisis. He’s averaging 33.1 PPG, 9.0 RPG and 6.7 APG this month for a team currently on a four-game winning streak.
Brooklyn, which has the Eastern Conference’s top record, also has seven other players on the protocols list. That group includes LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre’ Bembry, Bruce Brown, Jevon Carter, James Harden, James Johnson and Paul Millsap.
The Nets have been scrambling to have enough players in uniform. They announced on Saturday that James Ennis and Shaquille Harrison have been signed to 10-day contracts using the hardship exemption. Langston Galloway was previous signed under the same conditions.
They also announced on Friday that Kyrie Irving would return to the team and play in road games.
DECEMBER 18: Brooklyn has signed both players, the team tweets.
DECEMBER 16: The Nets are planning to use the hardship exemption to sign forward James Ennis, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. They will also give Shaquille Harrison a 10-day deal using the same exemption, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets.
The team was missing seven players on Thursday due to health and safety protocols — James Harden, Bruce Brown, Paul Millsap, Jevon Carter, James Johnson, LaMarcus Aldridge and DeAndre’ Bembry. Joe Harris is recovering from ankle surgery.
Despite being shorthanded, Brooklyn won its fourth straight by downing Philadelphia 114-105. The club had only nine players available, including Langston Galloway, who received a 10-day contract on Thursday using the exemption.
The well-travelled Ennis appeared in 41 games for the Magic last season, including 37 starts. He averaged 8.4 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 24.0 MPG. He failed to find a free agent offer after playing out his one-year, $3.3MM contract with Orlando.
Harrison played a combined 34 regular-season games off the bench for the Jazz and Nuggets last season. He also appeared in nine playoff games for Denver. He was waived by the Sixers during training camp.
Prior to Thursday’s game, Nets coach Steve Nash expressed concern about overusing Kevin Durant.
“I don’t know we can continue to lean on him the way we have,” he said, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “It doesn’t feel right.”