Giannis Antetokounmpo Named 2024 NBA Cup MVP
Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2024 NBA Cup on Tuesday night after leading Milwaukee to a 97-81 victory over the Thunder in the championship game in Las Vegas (Twitter links).
Antetokounmpo was selected as the MVP by all 20 media members who voted on the award and also received three of the five fan votes (Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got the remaining two).
The two-time regular season MVP guided the Bucks to victory on Tuesday with a 26-point, 19-rebound, 10-assist triple-double. He also added three blocked shots and a pair of steals.
“I mean it’s… I could try but you know, I’ll just keep it simple: He’s the best player in the world,” Bucks center Brook Lopez told Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the game in trying to describe Giannis’ play. “He just keeps finding ways to get better in the offseason, in-season, every day, every game, it’s just so impressive.”
The MVP award is based on Antetokounmpo’s performance over the entire NBA Cup, including group play and the previous knockout round games. He averaged 30.5 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 7.7 APG, and 2.8 BPG across six NBA Cup contests as the Bucks went undefeated (7-0) in the in-season tournament.
As Owczarski notes, Antetokunmpo and last year’s in-season tournament Most Valuable Player LeBron James are now the two players in league history who have won MVP awards for the regular season, NBA Finals, All-Star Game, and NBA Cup.
While the NBA Cup championship game doesn’t count toward the Bucks’ regular season record or toward Antetokounmpo’s regular season stats, Tuesday’s win served as an exclamation point on the team’s early season turnaround — Milwaukee has won 13 of 16 games (including the NBA Cup final) since opening the season with a 2-8 record.
Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, is making a strong case for his third regular season MVP award. His 32.7 points per game lead the NBA and he’s also in the top five in rebounds per game (11.5) and field goal percentage (61.4%).
Nuggets Show Significant Interest In Zach LaVine
The Nuggets have interest in making a deal for Bulls wing Zach LaVine, The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Tony Jones report.
Denver is active in the market for an offensive upgrade at the wing position to ease some of the burden off Nikola Jokic. Despite a history of injury issues, LaVine would certainly fit that bill. He’s averaging 21.7 points and 4.2 assists per game this season and holds career shooting percentages of 46.6% from the field and 38.4% on three-pointers.
LaVine is also on a sizable contract — $43MM this season, $45.9MM next season and a $48.9MM player option for 2026/27.
LaVine isn’t the only player the Nuggets are looking at. They have also expressed interest or have had preliminary trade discussions regarding Jordan Poole, Jordan Clarkson, De’Andre Hunter, Cameron Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas, per The Athletic. Brandon Ingram, currently sidelined by an ankle injury, is on the Nuggets’ radar too, SNY TV’s Ian Begley tweets.
However, league sources tell Amick and Jones that Denver’s focus on LaVine in recent talks has been “significant.”
Any big trade Denver might make would likely involve Michael Porter Jr., according to The Athletic duo. Porter is making $35.8MM this season, $38.3MM next season and $40.8MM in 2026/27.
Porter is off to a strong start statistically, averaging 18.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per contest. He’s shooting 51.2% overall and 38.5% on three-point attempts.
So why is Denver willing to part with him? The Nuggets are seeking help in the form of someone who is able to create offense. Jokić and Jamal Murray are the only players on the roster who are consistently capable of creating their own shots, The Athletic notes.
Little-used forward Zeke Nnaji, a 2020 first-round pick, is also available. He’s signed through the 2027/28 season on a four-year, $32MM deal that includes a player option.
Jared McCain Undergoes Knee Surgery
Sixers rookie guard Jared McCain underwent successful surgery on Tuesday to repair the lateral meniscus tear in his left knee, according to a team press release. He remains out indefinitely, the statement adds.
McCain experienced left knee soreness after a game against Indiana last week and underwent an MRI on Saturday, which revealed the extent of the injury.
The 16th overall pick of June’s draft after one college season at Duke, McCain has been one of the most productive rookies in the NBA this fall, averaging 15.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 25.7 minutes per game, with a .460/.383/.875 shooting line in 23 appearances. He was named the East’s Rookie of the Month for games played in October and November.
It’s a blow to the Sixers, though they are getting healthier at the guard spots. Tyrese Maxey, Eric Gordon and Kyle Lowry are all back in action after dealing with assorted ailments.
As we noted earlier today, McCain’s recovery timeline will depend on whether he underwent a full repair of his meniscus or a meniscectomy, which involves removing the meniscus. While the Sixers’ announcement doesn’t provide confirmation one way or the other, the wording suggests it was the former, which typically results in an absence of several months.
NBA, NBPA Confirm New All-Star Game Format
As expected, the NBA will experiment with a new format for this season’s All-Star Game. The league and the National Basketball Players Association have announced that instead of a single, full-length game, All-Star Sunday will feature a mini-tournament that includes four teams and three games.
Reporting last month indicated that this was the direction the NBA was headed. Now it’s official.
The voting process to determine the 24 All-Stars will remain the same, with 12 players selected from each conference. However, instead of being split up into two teams, those 24 All-Stars will be drafted onto three eight-player teams by TNT analysts and honorary “general managers” Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal.
The new format will emulate the one already being used in the Rising Stars event on Friday night, and the team that wins the Rising Stars tournament will be the fourth team that competes on All-Star Sunday. TNT analyst Candace Parker will be that team’s honorary GM.
The four teams will meet in a pair of semifinal matchups, with the winner of each game advancing to the final. For each of the three contests, the winner will be the first team to reach or surpass 40 points.
Although there will now be four teams competing on All-Star Sunday, the coaches for those teams will still only come from the top club in each conference, not the top two. The No. 1 seed in the East and in the West will each send its head coach and an assistant to All-Star weekend. The head coaches will coach a team made up of All-Stars, while one assistant will coach the remaining All-Star team and the other will coach the Rising Stars team.
The NBA and NBPA have also renegotiated the prize money for the winners and losers of All-Star Sunday. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement called for players on the winning team to receive a $100K bonus and players on the losing team to earn $25K. Under the new system, players on the winning team will receive $125K, while players on the second-place team get $50K and players on the two teams that lose in the semifinals will earn $25K apiece.
This season’s All-Star weekend in San Francisco will begin on February 14, with the new tournament taking place on Feb. 16. The draft of the 24 All-Stars will occur on Feb. 6 on TNT.
Pistons Re-Sign Paul Reed, Waive McCoy
The Pistons have re-signed center Paul Reed and waived wing Javante McCoy, according to the team’s PR department (Twitter links).
Detroit signed McCoy to a standard, non-guaranteed contract on Sunday. That turned out to be just a stopgap in order for the Pistons to reach the minimum salary floor while Reed was on waivers.
Detroit needed to fill a roster spot after cutting Reed on Saturday because that move dropped the Pistons to $1,417,937 below the minimum salary floor, which they were required to reach by the end of Sunday. Detroit is now back at the minimum salary floor as a result of bringing back Reed and is still the only NBA team with cap room, holding about $14MM in space, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.
Reed had a $7.7MM salary this season that would have become fully guaranteed next month. Instead, he will return as Detroit’s third-string center on a more team-friendly deal. He’ll get the veteran’s minimum, Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press tweets.
Reed, 25, was the 58th overall pick of the 2020 draft out of DePaul. He spent his first four seasons with the 76ers, who waived him in July to create enough cap room to sign all of their external free agents. The Pistons claimed him a couple days later.
Reed was a rotation regular with Philadelphia last season, averaging 7.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 1.0 blocks in 82 games (19.4 MPG). He has appeared in 12 contests this season, averaging 4.8 PPG, 1.9 RPG and 0.8 SPG in 10.4 MPG.
Despite being on the roster for just 24 hours, McCoy will be paid for four days — the two he spent on the roster and the two he’ll spend on waivers. That will result in a prorated salary of $32,596, as cap expert Yossi Gozlan tweets.
It’s likely that McCoy will just rejoin Detroit’s G League team. The 6’5” McCoy has appeared in 12 games this season for the Motor City Cruise, averaging 14.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 26.1 minutes per game. McCoy is also shooting 51.4% from 3-point range.
Dunleavy: Warriors Will Continue To Look For Upgrades
Discussing the trade acquisition of veteran point guard Dennis Schröder, general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said the Warriors will continue to be aggressive in their search for roster upgrades, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
After starting the season 12-3, the Warriors have gone just 2-8 over their past 10 games. They are currently 14-11, the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference.
“We’re always aggressive,” Dunleavy said. “You got to be mindful of what you’re giving up, what you’re getting back, all those things. But anything to do to make the team better, we’re going to do.
“We’re in a time zone here of maximizing our window with Steph [Curry], Draymond [Green] and Steve [Kerr] as our coach. So as proven here on the first day we could basically make trades with certain players, we did that. … For the most part I feel good about this team, particularly on the defensive end, and now we have a player that we think could create and generate more offense for us. I want to evaluate and see, but we’ll always be looking at stuff.”
Schröder is playing on an expiring $13MM contract, making him an unrestricted free agent next summer. One report indicated the Warriors could look to flip him in a future deal for a star-level player, since he’s eligible to be aggregated with other salaries starting February 5, just before the Feb. 6 trade deadline.
However, Kerr suggested Schröder could start in the backcourt alongside Curry. And Dunleavy claims Golden State views the 31-year-old German as more than just a “short-term rental,” as Youngmisuk puts it.
“We still think he’s got a lot of good years left in him,” Dunleavy said of Schröder. “And we’ll have his [Early] Bird rights, the ability to re-sign him after the season. We think he’s a good fit for us on both sides of the court and hopefully there’s a relationship here longer than just a few months.”
Joel Embiid Out At Least One Week With Sinus Fracture
Former NBA MVP Joel Embiid will miss at least one week due to the right sinus fracture he sustained in Friday’s loss to Indiana, the Sixers announced in a press release (Twitter link via Chris Haynes).
Embiid, who had already been ruled out for Monday’s game in Charlotte, will be reevaluated in a week.
Embiid exited Friday’s game just before halftime after being struck in the face by Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin and didn’t return in the second half. Mathurin and Embiid were battling for a rebound under the Sixers’ basket when Mathurin’s left forearm and elbow made hard contact with the the right side of Embiid’s face and the bridge of his nose (Twitter video link via Bleacher Report).
Friday’s contest was just the sixth of 23 Sixers games that Embiid has played this season. He has missed time due to left knee swelling and was also suspended three games for a locker room run-in with a reporter.
If there’s a silver lining to Embiid’s latest injury absence, it’s that Philadelphia only has three games this week. After Monday’s contest, the 76ers will host the Hornets on Friday, then travel to Cleveland on Saturday for a back-to-back. Their next game after that is Monday vs. San Antonio.
Unfortunately, the 30-year-old center wasn’t the only Sixer injured on Friday, as rookie guard Jared McCain suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee and requires surgery. Philadelphia’s 2024 first-round pick is out indefinitely.
Pistons Sign Guard Javante McCoy
The Pistons have signed guard Javante McCoy, according to a team press release.
The 6’5” McCoy has appeared in 12 games this season for the Motor City Cruise, the Pistons’ G League affiliate, averaging 14.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 26.1 minutes per game. McCoy is also shooting 51.4% from 3-point range.
He has appeared in 96 career NBA G League games for the South Bay Lakers, Austin Spurs and Motor City Cruise while averaging 11.4 PPG, 3.7 RPG and 2.8 APG in 22.8 minutes per contest.
Detroit needed to fill a roster spot after waiving veteran big man Paul Reed on Saturday. That move dropped the Pistons to $1,417,937 below the minimum salary floor, which they were required to reach by the end of Sunday.
McCoy signed a one-year, non-guaranteed contract, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. His salary is likely just enough above the rookie minimum to allow Detroit to reach the floor — his cap hit will likely be exactly $1,417,937. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the Pistons now have about $14MM in cap room.
McCoy was on the Pistons’ training camp roster on an Exhibit 10 contract but was waived in October. McCoy, 26, had his G League rights acquired by the Cruise in August.
McCoy played at Boston University for five seasons (2017-22) but went undrafted after his final college season.
Warriors Acquire Dennis Schröder From Nets
DECEMBER 15: The trade is official, according to press releases from the Warriors and Nets. As detailed below, Brooklyn received Melton, Beekman, and three second-round picks from Golden State in exchange for Schröder and a second-round pick.
As first reported by Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), the Nets received Atlanta’s second-round picks in 2026 and 2028, along with Golden State’s second-rounder in 2029, while the Warriors acquired Miami’s 2025 second-rounder (top-37 protected).
In order to open up a two-way slot for Beekman, Brooklyn waived rookie Yongxi Cui, who suffered a season-ending ACL tear earlier this week.
DECEMBER 14: The Warriors are finalizing an agreement with the Nets to acquire veteran point guard Dennis Schröder, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
Sources tell Charania that Brooklyn will send Schröder and one second-round pick to Golden State in exchange for injured guard De’Anthony Melton and three second-rounders.
Marc Stein and Jake Fischer (Twitter links), who first reported that Brooklyn’s return would include Melton’s expiring contract and second-round compensation, suggest the deal is on track to be completed on Sunday, when Melton officially becomes trade-eligible.
Fischer hears that the two teams also discussed Nets forward Cameron Johnson, but he won’t be included in this trade (Twitter link). However, Warriors two-way player Reece Beekman is expected to be added to Golden State’s outgoing package, Fischer notes (via Twitter).
Both Melton and Schröder are on expiring contracts and will hit free agency in 2025. Melton has a cap hit of $12,822,000 this season, while Schröder is earning $13,025,250. The Warriors, who are currently operating just $533K-ish below their hard cap, will move closer to that threshold as they take on an extra $203K in salary in the swap with the Nets.
Melton, 26, signed a one-year deal deal worth the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception with the Warriors over the offseason to try to rebuild his value following an extended absence last season due to a back ailment. Unfortunately, the defensive stalwart suffered a partially torn ACL just six games into his tenure with Golden State, requiring him to undergo season-ending surgery.
Schröder is off to an excellent start to the ’24/25 campaign and is a major reason why the Nets have been surprisingly competitive to this point. In 23 games, all starts (33.6 MPG), he’s averaging 18.4 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 6.6 APG and 1.1 SPG on .452/.387/.889 shooting.
Charania reported earlier this week that the Nets had been discussing trades involving Schröder, Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith, with the Warriors expressing interest in all three players. Now a deal for Schröder is being finalized.
Multiple reports indicated Brooklyn was hoping to land a first-round pick for Schröder, but that was considered an overly optimistic ask for a role player on an expiring contract. The team will ultimately accept a net gain (pun not intended) of two second-rounders. Moving on from the point guard sooner rather than later will also limit the Nets’ upside on the court, potentially increasing the value of their own 2025 first-round pick.
According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), the Nets continue to be active in trade discussions, particularly involving Johnson and Finney-Smith.
While Melton won’t return this season, his contract could come in handy in a subsequent trade for Brooklyn — he’ll become eligible to aggregated again on February 5 as long as the Nets and Warriors complete their deal on or before Monday. The Nets could hang onto him until then, then perhaps waive him after the Feb. 6 deadline if they don’t find a use for his expiring contract on the trade market.
Heat Trade Thomas Bryant To Pacers
DECEMBER 15: The trade is official, the Pacers announced in a press release. Bryant is expected to be available for today’s game against New Orleans.
DECEMBER 13: The Heat have agreed to trade veteran center Thomas Bryant to the Pacers, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN.
In exchange for Bryant, Miami will acquire the right to swap 2031 second-round picks with the Pacers, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. The deal will have to wait until Sunday, as that’s when Bryant becomes trade-eligible.
As Chiang notes (Twitter links), by dumping Bryant’s salary, the Heat will soon have just 13 players on standard contracts and more financial flexibility to potentially convert a player on a two-way deal to a standard contract — this morning we identified Dru Smith as a possible candidate to be promoted.
Ian Begley of SNY.tv hears the Pacers discussed sending James Wiseman to the Heat in the deal, but he won’t be included in the final version (Twitter link). Wiseman is out for the season after sustaining a torn Achilles tendon on opening night.
The Pacers won’t have to send out matching salary to acquire Bryant, since his contract can be taken on using the minimum-salary exception. Since Indiana has an open standard roster spot, the team also won’t need to waive anyone to add Bryant.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the Heat will save $4.7MM toward their projected luxury tax payment by moving off Bryant’s $2,087,519 salary. They’ll also create a traded player exception worth the exact amount of Bryant’s outgoing contract. Miami will be approximately $3.7MM below the second tax apron once the deal is finalized, Marks adds.
Charania reported a few days ago that Indiana was “actively pursuing” a backup center in the wake of season-ending injuries to Wiseman and fellow big man Isaiah Jackson, who also suffered a torn Achilles tendon this fall. Jake Fischer confirmed that report today, with league sources indicating a deal would likely be completed shortly after Dec. 15, when many players around the NBA become eligible to be traded.
Assuming the trade is completed on Sunday, the Heat will have until Dec. 29 to add a 14th player to their standard roster. The club will also now have the ability to add a 15th man while staying below the second apron, if it so chooses.
Bryant, 27, is an eight-year veteran, having previously played for the Lakers, Wizards and Nuggets prior to joining Miami. He won a title with Denver in 2023, though his role was very limited. The big man played his college ball in Indiana with the Hoosiers from 2015-17.
After being in and out of Miami’s rotation in 2023/24, Bryant’s role fluctuated once again fluctuated this season. He averaged 4.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per game across 10 outings with the Heat this fall after re-signing on a one-year, minimum-salary deal over the offseason.
Bryant’s one-year deal with Miami would typically have given him the right to veto a trade, but he agreed to waive that right as part of his contract agreement.