- Nets wing Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot is getting close to reaching the 45-day limit two-way players can spend with an NBA team, the New York Post’s Brian Lewis hears from YES Network and Fox Sports television analyst Sarah Kustok (Twitter link). The Nets will have to make a determination on whether or not they convert Luwawu-Cabarrot to a standard NBA contract. In 12 games with Brooklyn, Luwawu-Cabarrot has averaged 4.9 PPG and 2.2 RPG, while shooting 76.5% from the free-throw line and 37% from deep.
JANUARY 4: Chiozza has been signed to a two-way contract, the Nets announced in a press release.
JANUARY 3: After being waived by the Wizards in December, point guard Chris Chiozza is expected to sign with the Nets, reports Ben Standig of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Brooklyn is shaking up the back of its roster this week, having already released injured swingman David Nwaba, with two-way player Henry Ellenson expected to follow him to waivers. Those moves opened up one spot on the 15-man roster and one two-way contract slot. With Justin Anderson reportedly set to sign a 10-day contract, the Nets and Chiozza may be on track for a two-way deal, though that remains unclear.
Chiozza, 24, has appeared in a total of 17 NBA games for Houston and Washington since going undrafted in 2018, having spent most of the last season-and-a-half in the G League. The former Florida Gator has struggled with his efficiency this season in 10 games (31.1 MPG) for the Capital City Go-Go, averaging 10.8 PPG on .333/.328/1.000 shooting. However, he has contributed in other ways, recording 6.4 APG and 2.7 SPG.
The Nets’ backcourt depth has been hit hard by injuries this season. Kyrie Irving and Caris LeVert have been sidelined since mid-November and Garrett Temple currently day-to-day with a knee issue. The club is on track to get LeVert back on Saturday though, and Chiozza and Anderson should provide added depth.
Kyrie Irving is taking steps to avoid surgery on his injured right shoulder, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
Talking to reporters today for the first time since Nov. 14, Irving said he got a cortisone shot on Christmas Eve and the team plans to see how he responds after about two months (Twitter link). Irving admitted he has considered an arthroscopic procedure on the shoulder, but is hesitant because it would sideline him for three to four months.
Irving consulted with a shoulder specialist in Phoenix before opting for the shot (Twitter link), adding, “There was some bursitis in there that was impacting me.” (Twitter link). He has missed 22 games since suffering the injury, which the Nets are calling a shoulder impingement, in a November 4 game against the Pelicans.
Irving believes he’s “doing a lot better” since the shot, although he is still struggling to lift his shoulder when he shoots jumpers, relays Malika Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link).
The Nets looked like huge winners on the first day of free agency when they signed Irving, Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan. With Durant sidelined for the season, they were counting on Irving to emerge as the team leader. He has averaged 28.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists, but has been limited to 11 games.
The past two seasons, one of the few bright spots on the Knicks‘ roster has been athletic center, Mitchell Robinson. As an elite shot-blocker and rebounder who has developing scoring ability, Robinson has cemented himself as a key part of New York’s future.
Offseason acquisition and NBA veteran Taj Gibson has taken on the role of mentor for the 21-year-old big man. In Gibson’s opinion, Robinson possesses talent that could make him an NBA All-Star, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes.
“This guy, a lot of players don’t have a niche. A lot of them don’t know where to start,” he said. “A lot of guys just come in and think it’s all about scoring and not defense. A lot of players are lost in the sauce with that. With Mitch, he already knows what he has to do. He’s a starting center and all he has to do is grow. If he pushes himself like he’s doing, he’ll be an All-Star. He doesn’t know how good he is.”
Check out more news from New York’s basketball teams:
- Nets point guard Kyrie Irving will miss out on two additional bonuses, worth $125K each, for failing to play in at least 60 games this season, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (Twitter link). This brings the total money in incentives lost to $375K for the mercurial Brooklyn guard. We detailed Irving’s eight $125K incentives, totaling $1MM, right here.
- Injuries and other roster needs forced the Nets to part with injured guard David Nwaba and Henry Ellenson in recent days. As Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes, Brooklyn is currently exploring options to upgrade the roster. “Obviously with all our injuries, we need the roster spot. We’re in discussions to see who we bring in,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said.
- It was a life-changing and busy day for Knicks point guard Elfrid Payton, Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. After his girlfriend gave birth to their son on Friday morning, Payton flew to Phoenix for the Knicks’ evening tilt against the Suns. Payton finished with 15 points, six assists and five rebounds.
5:32pm: The Nets have officially waived Ellenson, according to a team press release.
1:01pm: The Nets‘ series of roster moves will include waiving two-way player Henry Ellenson, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wonjarowski, who tweets that Brooklyn may use its newly-opened two-way slot to add a backcourt piece.
As we relayed on Thursday, the Nets are also making changes to their 15-man roster, waiving injured swingman David Nwaba and signing G League wing Justin Anderson to a 10-day contract to replace him.
Ellenson, a former 18th overall pick, has been one of Brooklyn’s two-way players this season, alongside Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. While TLC has gotten the opportunity to play a rotation role, Ellenson appeared in just five games at the NBA level, logging 15 total minutes. The big man has spent most of the season with the Long Island Nets, averaging 18.3 PPG and 9.5 RPG in 11 NBAGL games (28.6 MPG).
January 15 is the deadline for teams to sign players to two-way contracts, so the Nets figure to fill their open spot by then. If Brooklyn wants to promote Luwawu-Cabarrot to the 15-man roster, the team could end up adding a pair of new two-way players.
JANUARY 3: The Nets have officially waived Nwaba, the team announced today in a press release.
JANUARY 2: Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reports (Twitter link) that the Nets will be waiving swingman David Nwaba, who has been ruled out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon.
Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter) that Nwaba has a cap hit of $1.7MM for the 2019/20 season, but his non-guaranteed salary in 2020/21 will not impact Brooklyn’s salary cap next year. The team still has an $839,000 disabled player exception even after waiving Nwaba.
[RELATED: 2019/20 NBA Disabled Player Exceptions]
Since going undrafted in 2016, Nwaba has managed to carve out a small niche for himself as an athletic wing defender. Returning to the league after one of the most devastating injuries an NBA player can suffer will be no small feat.
In Nwaba’s stead, Brooklyn will ink G League wing Justin Anderson, currently on the Raptors 905, to a 10-day contract, Charania tweets. Anderson, the No. 21 pick by Dallas in 2015, has a career slash line of 5.3 PPG/2.6 RPG/0.7 APG in 13.2 MPG. He has played for the Mavericks, Sixers and Hawks.
Teams can begin signing players to 10-day contracts as of this Sunday.
Injured Nets swingman Caris LeVert is expected to suit up for Brooklyn for a Saturday game against the Raptors, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
LeVert has missed the last seven weeks with a right thumb injury that required surgery. The 25-year-old Michigan alum signed a three-year, $52MM extension with the club this summer.
The 16-17 Nets, currently the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, are reeling after a four-game slump. LeVert (16.8 PPG) and Kyrie Irving (28.5 PPG), two of the team’s three top scorers, have both been out since mid-November.
In his nine healthy games for the Nets this season, LeVert has made contributions beyond his scoring. He is averaging 5.0 RPG and 4.0 APG, while shooting 36.1% of his 4.0 three-point attempts a night. LeVert fell to the No. 20 pick in the 2016 NBA draft in part due to injury concerns. The athletic, 6’6″ wing has played in just 177 of a possible 279 games in his pro career thus far.
- Brian Lewis of the New York Post reports that the backcourt health of the Nets has worsened, thanks to starting guard Garrett Temple missing tonight’s matchup against the Mavericks with a sore knee. Caris LeVert, Kyrie Irving, and the just-waived David Nwaba have all missed significant time for Brooklyn.
- Former Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov was named Russian businessman of the year by Forbes Russia after netting a profit that may have reached $2 billion when he sold the team and Barclays Center, relays Net Income of NetsDaily.
Reports surfaced this week that the Knicks and Warriors are among the teams monitoring Karl-Anthony Towns‘ situation in Minnesota, but the Timberwolves have no interest in trading their star center, Marc Stein of The New York Times writes in this week’s newsletter. Stein adds that team officials have told him repeatedly that they are building “everything” around Towns, and a trade is the last thing the organization is considering.
The Wolves have tumbled into 12th place in the West after a 10-8 start, and Towns’ injury is part of the reason for the slide. He is in the first season of a five-year, $190MM extension and there’s a new front office team in place run by Gersson Rosas, so there’s no hurry to make major changes.
Executives around the league expect Rosas to be active around the trade deadline, but that’s mostly because of his background with the traditionally aggressive Rockets. Stein notes that teams continue to express interest in acquiring swingman Robert Covington.
There’s more from Stein’s latest piece:
- Stein has been skeptical that the Russell Westbrook–James Harden pairing could work, but states that the Rockets were forced to make a move because their relationship with Chris Paul was “irretrievably broken” after last season’s playoff ouster. Westbrook was one of the few available options whose contract matched up well with Paul’s.
- Stein predicts the Pelicans will give serious consideration to keeping Zion Williamson sidelined for the entire season if he’s not healthy enough to return in January. There have been encouraging signs that he might be ready to suit up soon, and New Orleans would like to see how he fits alongside Jrue Holiday and Brandon Ingram before making long-term decisions on both players. However, Stein states that if Williamson goes another month without playing, the safest option may be to skip his entire first season and make sure he’s ready for training camp.
- Among other 2020 predictions, Stein expects the Pacers‘ Malcolm Brogdon and the Nets‘ Spencer Dinwiddie to be first-time All-Stars, the Bucks to fall short of 70 wins, the NBA Board of Governors to approve an in-season tournament as well as a play-in tourney for the final two playoff spots in each conference and Gregg Popovich to retire after coaching the U.S. Olympic team.