Doncic’s MRI Clean, Expected Back Once Pain Dissipates
The MRI on Luka Doncic‘s left thigh strain came back clean, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The Mavericks star is expected to return to action once the pain in his thigh dissipates, Wojnarowski adds.
Doncic left Wednesday’s loss to New Orleans with the injury. He was favoring his left leg as he walked into a post-game media session and replied “not good” when reporters asked how he felt.
The 24-year-old MVP candidate said he had been dealing with pain in his thigh for about a week.
“I think we all can see he’s not moving well, so shooting, defensive, it’s affecting everything,” coach Jason Kidd said after yesterday’s game. “He’s trying to fight through it and help his teammates, but he had to leave.”
Through 57 games (36.3 MPG), Doncic is putting up incredible stats. He’s averaging a career-high 33.0 PPG (second in the league), 8.6 RPG, 8.0 APG and 1.5 SPG on .500/.349/.736 shooting splits.
Hopefully the pain from the injury goes away sooner rather than later, as Dallas is vying for a playoff spot. The Mavs currently hold a 34-33 record, making them the No. 8 seed in the West.
Lakers’ Mo Bamba Out At Least Four Weeks With Ankle Sprain
Backup center Mohamed Bamba has sustained a high left ankle sprain and will be reevaluated in about four weeks, the Lakers announced (Twitter link via Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times).
Bamba only played two minutes in Sunday’s victory over Golden State and was out for Tuesday’s win against Memphis.
There’s a good chance that Bamba could miss the rest of the regular season. If he came back in exactly four weeks, which seems unlikely given he’d almost certainly need some time to ramp up his conditioning, the Lakers would have just two regular season games left on their schedule, home contests against Phoenix and Utah.
A trade deadline acquisition from Orlando, the 24-year-old has averaged 4.4 PPG and 5.3 RPG in seven games (11.6 MPG) with the Lakers, posting a .417/.333/.545 shooting line. In 40 games (17.0 MPG) with the Magic this season, he averaged 7.3 PPG, 4.6 RPG and 1.0 BPG on .495/.398/.686 shooting.
The No. 6 overall pick in the 2018 draft, Bamba signed a two-year, $20.6MM contract last offseason after posting career highs in multiple categories in ’21/22. However, he was third on Orlando’s center depth chart for most of ’22/23 and his salary for next season is non-guaranteed.
Bamba’s injury further depletes the Lakers’ frontcourt depth, as LeBron James is also sidelined with a foot injury. With both players out, Anthony Davis, Troy Brown, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura and Wenyen Gabriel should continue to see the bulk of the minutes at forward and center.
The Lakers do have an opening on their 15-man standard roster, so they could sign someone without making a corresponding roster move. Los Angeles is currently 32-34, the No. 9 seed in the West.
Kevin Love: Leaving Cavaliers Was “Incredibly Hard”
Kevin Love ended his time with the Cavaliers after nearly nine seasons when he accepted a buyout last month, but leaving Cleveland wasn’t an easy choice, he tells Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Love, who signed with the Heat, talked about the decision to move on after facing his former team for the first time Wednesday night.
“Professionally, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do without question,” Love said. “I think you guys know how much I love Cleveland and Ohio. All the fans there have always supported me and the team. Naturally, winning there makes it bigger than guys like myself, Kyrie (Irving), Bron (LeBron James). Even here I look up and see the championship banners and I’m like, ‘That’s special.’ I go back to Brecksville and I’m like, ‘We did that. We really did that.’ That was incredibly hard to do after eight and a half seasons.”
Although Love still feels a strong attachment to Cleveland, he wanted to find a situation where he could still play. Love had been out of the Cavs’ lineup since January 24, missing several games due to lower back pain and then being pulled from the rotation when Dean Wade returned from injury.
Love wasn’t effective this season and it became harder for coach J.B. Bickerstaff to find minutes for him. The 34-year-old forward shot just 38.9% from the floor in 41 games and was a glaring liability on defense as rival teams targeted him in the pick-and-roll. A lingering thumb injury also limited his effectiveness.
“I think it was a really tough decision for him to take me out of the lineup,” Love said of Bickerstaff. “I think they wanted to go young and stick with those guys, especially Ricky (Rubio) and Dean getting back from injury. They wanted to get the guys more minutes. But the natural frustration is you want to be out there, you want to have those conversations in the locker room, you want to be in those timeouts, those type of situations.
“I think it like all came so fast for me and there wasn’t any prospect of me going back out there and playing — and I wanted that. I was hungry for that. I was foaming at the mouth for that. Those were really tough conversations, but those are ones that I’m grateful they had with me so I was able to find something else and find a place where I could be happy and play.”
According to Fedor, Love reached out to Wade after finalizing his buyout to let him know there was no animosity and to encourage him to take advantage of his opportunity. He also talked to Rubio, his teammate in Minnesota before they reunited in Clevland, about taking over as the team’s veteran leader.
Love remains close to his former teammates and is still on their group text chat, Fedor adds. He greeted several of them before Wednesday’s game and said it’s an odd feeling to see them on the opposing sideline.
Winding up in Miami was an unexpected development for Love, who was hoping to retire in Cleveland. Now he’s adjusting to a new team that could potentially meet the Cavs in a playoff series.
“That’s in my mind and my vision, I thought it would be Cleveland without a doubt, especially after last year and the start of this year,” Love said. “Now you’ve got to put that in the rearview. It is tough after eight and a half years, moving in the middle of the season and still living out of a hotel, but in terms of welcoming me with open arms and a class organization, the Miami Heat have been just unbelievable. I can see why they have that rich history and have had so much success because they have been so good to me.”
Steven Adams Out At Least Four More Weeks
Grizzlies center Steven Adams had a stem cell injection on Wednesday as part of his treatment for a PCL sprain in his right knee, the team announced (via Twitter). His condition will be reevaluated in about four weeks.
Adams hasn’t played since January 22, but there had been hope that he was nearing a return. He was doing 5-on-5 work in practice in late February, and coach Taylor Jenkins floated the possibility that he might be able to play on the team’s recent road trip, which wrapped up Tuesday.
With a month left in the regular season, it’s almost certain that Adams won’t be back before the playoffs. His availability for the postseason will depend on how his knee responds to the latest treatment.
The news on Adams continues a brutal week for the Grizzlies, who saw Ja Morant step away from the team for an indefinite time following a gun-related incident over the weekend and learned that Brandon Clarke will be lost for the season with a torn Achilles. That means Memphis, which has fallen into third place in the West after three straight losses, will have to finish the season without two of its frontcourt rotation players.
The Grizzlies’ recent downturn began after Adams suffered his injury. He’s averaging 8.6 points and 11.5 rebounds in 42 games and brings a physical presence in the middle that has been missed.
The 29-year-old agreed to a two-year extension before the start of the season and is under contract through 2024/25.
Lonzo Ball May Need Third Surgery On Knee
Bulls guard Lonzo Ball may have to undergo a third surgical procedure on his injured knee, writes ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Another operation would likely mean six more months of recovery and rehab time, Wojnarowski adds.
Sources tell Woj that Ball’s Klutch Sports representatives are working with the team to consult with specialists before a decision is made. Another procedure would sideline the 25-year-old guard until the fall and would affect his ability to prepare for next season.
Ball has already been through two operations since suffering a torn meniscus in the knee on January 14, 2022. Although he was originally projected to miss just a few weeks, complications keep pushing back the timeline and Ball has already been ruled out for the rest of this season.
Ball’s original surgery was 14 months ago, and he underwent an arthroscopic debridement procedure in September to clear up lingering issues with his knee. Wojnarowski’s sources say that Ball has made incremental progress since then, but he still can’t run, cut or jump without feeling pain in the knee.
Ball came to Chicago in a sign-and-trade deal with the Pelicans in the summer of 2021. He helped lead the Bulls to a 27-13 record before the injury, averaging 13.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 35 games. In his absence, Chicago dropped to the sixth seed last season and is currently 11th in the East at 30-36.
Ball still has one season left on his contract at $20.5MM, along with a $21.4MM player option for 2024/25.
There’s little chance that Chicago will petition the NBA to have Ball’s injury declared career-ending, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The Bulls would still owe Ball the remainder of his contract, and Marks points out that even if his salary is removed from the cap, the team wouldn’t have room this summer.
Moses Brown Signs Two-Way Deal With Knicks
6:00pm: The signing is official, the team announced (via Twitter).
5:08pm: The Knicks will sign Moses Brown to a two-way contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The 23-year-old center began this season on a two-way contract with the Clippers. He appeared in 34 games, averaging 4.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 8.5 minutes per night, before being waived on February 17.
New York will be the sixth team for Brown, who began his NBA career with the Trail Blazers in 2019 after going undrafted out of UCLA. He also had short stays with the Thunder, Mavericks and Cavaliers.
The Knicks had a two-way slot open after promoting DaQuan Jeffries to a 10-day contract on Sunday.
Zion Williamson To Be Reevaluated In Two Weeks
Zion Williamson‘s strained right hamstring continues to heal and his condition will be reevaluated in about two weeks, the Pelicans announced in a press release.
The team recently conducted medical imaging on Williamson, who hasn’t played since January 2. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported earlier today that Williamson is expected to be out for a while longer, and this statement from the Pelicans confirms he won’t be back until late March, at the soonest.
New Orleans coach Willie Green said the team remains optimistic that Williamson will be available before the regular season ends, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Green told reporters that the former No. 1 overall pick has been able to do some shooting work, but the team is being especially careful after his last setback.
Williamson has appeared in just 29 games this season, but he was dominant enough during that time to earn a starting spot in the All-Star Game. He’s averaging 26.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, while shooting better than 60% from the field.
The Pelicans were among the top teams in the West before Williamson’s injury, but they’ve been in a prolonged slump since losing him and are now in danger of missing the play-in tournament. New Orleans is currently in a three-way tie for the 10th seed at 31-34.
Ja Morant To Miss At Least Four More Games
The Grizzlies have released a statement (via Twitter) announcing that Ja Morant will continue to be away from the team for at least four more games.
In the wake of an Instagram Live video over the weekend showing Morant with a gun at a strip club, the Grizzlies issued a statement on Saturday saying that he wouldn’t be with the team for its next two games. Those games took place Sunday and Tuesday in Los Angeles, with Memphis falling to both the Clippers and Lakers.
On Monday, head coach Taylor Jenkins said the situation should be viewed as “an ongoing healing process” and there’s no timetable in place for Morant to return. Grizzlies players also expressed their support for Morant to get whatever help he needs.
Police in Glendale, Colorado, announced earlier today that Morant won’t be charged with a crime for his actions at the club. A press release cited a lack of available evidence to show that anyone was threatened or menaced, adding that the firearm in the video hasn’t been located.
The Grizzlies’ statement means Morant will miss home games Thursday against the Warriors and Saturday against the Mavericks, along with Monday’s game at Dallas and next Wednesday’s contest at Miami.
Nets GM Sean Marks Expected To Continue Running Front Office
Nets general manager Sean Marks is expected to remain in charge of Brooklyn’s front office in 2023/24, multiple sources tell Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
As Lewis writes, the past couple seasons have been nothing if not turbulent for both Marks and the Nets, mainly due to off-court controversies.
To open 2021/22, Kyrie Irving refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19, which reportedly played a role in James Harden requesting a trade ahead of last year’s deadline. The primary piece the Nets received in return, Ben Simmons, didn’t end up playing last season and underwent back surgery — he hasn’t looked like his old self for the majority of this season.
Last offseason, Kevin Durant requested his own trade and reportedly tried to have former head coach Steve Nash and Marks fired. Brooklyn eventually worked things out with Durant and he remained with the team heading into this season.
The Nets had a rough start to ’22/23, going 2-5 before parting ways with Nash. Things started to turn in a positive direction after Jacque Vaughn was promoted to interim head coach, then Irving was suspended by Brooklyn promoting an antisemitic film on social media. He wound up missing eight games, with the team going 5-3 in his absence.
The team was firing on all cylinders once Irving returned, with Durant playing at an MVP level. At one point the Nets won 18 of 20 games, but then Durant went down with a knee injury. Irving was reportedly unhappy with the team’s contract extension offer in early February and requested — and was granted — a trade. Durant then quietly requested his own trade to Phoenix, and was sent to the Suns on February 9.
Marks did the best he could to recoup value for the now-departed star trio, but the championship window certainly appears to be closed in the short term. That led some to wonder whether his job might be in jeopardy, according to Lewis.
However, one source tells Lewis that “ownership has full confidence” in Marks and the rest of the front office’s ability, while another tells Lewis that Marks and owner Joe Tsai are “in lockstep.”
As Lewis notes, the Nets decided to give Vaughn a multiyear contract extension after the trade deadline, with Marks quoted in the press release. That signaled that he might remain the club’s lead decision-maker for the basketball operations department.
A former NBA player, Marks has been GM of the Nets since February 2016.
Lewis writes that “Marks’ current contractual status is unclear.” A report (subscriber link) last summer from Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News indicated that Marks had signed a contract extension, but both Lewis and Alex Schiffer of The Athletic (Twitter links) heard differently.
Ja Morant Will Not Be Charged With A Crime
The Glendale, Colorado Police Department announced in a press release (via Twitter) that it has concluded its investigation and will not charge Ja Morant with a crime due to a lack of “available evidence.”
“GPD was not able to determine that probable cause existed for the filing of any charges. … The investigation also concluded that no one was threatened or menaced with the firearm and in fact no firearm was ever located. Although the video was concerning enough to prompt an investigation, there was not enough available evidence to charge anyone with a crime,” per the statement.
Police were investigating the Grizzlies star for an incident that took place over the weekend in which Morant appeared to waive a gun during an Instagram Live stream at a strip club in Glendale early Saturday morning. It was the latest in a string of incidents that have caused many to question Morant’s off-the-court behavior.
While it’s certainly good news for Morant that he will not be criminally charged, the NBA is still investigating the incident and it has been reported that the league is “concerned” and has been monitoring his actions for months. The 23-year-old apologized after the Grizzlies announced that he would be away from the team for at least two games, which have now been played.
However, head coach Taylor Jenkins said there’s no timetable for Morant to return to the team and it doesn’t sound like he’s planning on having him back tomorrow versus Golden State.