Adam Silver Concerned About Star Players Missing Games
Commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the media on Wednesday following a two-day meeting of the NBA’s Board of Governors, and he said one of his primary concerns at the moment is “a trend of star players not participating in a full complement of games,” according ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
“I’m not standing here saying I have a great solution,” Silver said. “Part of the issue is injuries. One of the things we have focused on at the league office and we’re spending — we had begun to spend a lot of time on pre-pandemic — are there things we can do in terms of sharing information, resources around the league to improve best practices, rehabilitation?
“The other way we can get at it, in terms of player participation, is creating other incentives. The play-in tournament, I thought, was a beginning of creating renewed incentives for teams to remain competitive and be fighting for playoff position. It may be through in-season tournaments and changes in format where we can get at it.”
Silver also said the league could look at shortening the 82-game regular season, if necessary.
“I also have said in the past, if we have too many games, that’s something we should look at as well,” Silver said. “It’s something, as we sit down and we’re looking at new media deals and looking at a new collective bargaining agreement, we will be studying. There wasn’t any banging of the table or anything like that.
“From my discussions with players, they recognize it’s an issue, too. The style of the game has changed in terms of the impact on their bodies. I think we’ve got to constantly assess and look at a marketplace going forward and say, what’s the best way to present our product and over how long a season?”
Here are some more highlights of Silver’s press conference, courtesy of Bontemps:
- Silver said there was no concrete conversation regarding Ben Simmons‘ pending arbitration to recoup lost salary from the Sixers, and the league would not be involved in the litigation process.
- The league has not discussed moving the All-Star game from Utah next season despite an anti-LGBTQ law recently passing. When asked the difference between this situation and Charlotte in 2017, Silver said, in part, “Every situation is unique…I would just say I have tremendous respect for (Jazz owner) Ryan Smith. I think he stood up against this bill. We’ve joined him in opposing this bill. But we also want to be realistic, too, in terms of the impact we can have. In the case of HB2 in North Carolina, I think it was our collective view, we working with the Hornets, that we could have an impact on that legislation. I think in the case of what’s happening in Utah right now, that bill is established.”
- Silver said there was no update on the investigation into Suns owner Robert Sarver‘s alleged misconduct, other than to say it’s still ongoing and “closer to the end than the beginning, but it’s hard to put a precise timeline on it right now.” He also said the league was monitoring Donnie Nelson‘s lawsuit against the Mavericks.
- The commissioner reiterated that he’s pleased with the play-in tournament and expects it to stay, but it could see a few tweaks moving forward.
- The league is focused on trying to eliminate “take fouls” to prevent fast breaks, and changes could come as soon as next season, but there are obstacles to that happening. “That is something, as you know, we’re very focused on and considering making a change for next season,” Silver said. “We still have some work to do with our competition committee. We’ll be meeting with the board again in July, which would be a possible time to change that rule. But as we’re seeing sort of a pretty dramatic increase in take fouls, we don’t think it’s a great part of our game. International basketball has another way of getting at it, but that is something that potentially we’d like to tweak.”
Norman Powell To Return On Wednesday
7:21pm: Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said Powell will come off the bench and play Wednesday (Twitter link via Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times). Lue indicated Powell might start the second half in order to get accustomed to playing with Paul George, as the two have no experience together.
3:04pm: Clippers wing Norman Powell plans to return to action on Wednesday night against Phoenix, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
According to Wojnarowski, a final decision on Powell’s availability will be made following the team’s pre-game warmups. The Clippers have officially upgraded Powell from doubtful to questionable.
Powell, 28, began the season in Portland after signing a new five-year deal with the team last summer. When the Trail Blazers shifted into rebuilding mode midway through the season, he was shipped to Los Angeles along with Robert Covington in a pre-deadline deal.
In just his third game as a Clipper, on February 10, Powell fractured a bone in his left foot. The injury sidelined him for nearly two full months, but it looks like he’ll be back in time to help the club try to secure a playoff spot in next week’s play-in tournament.
In 43 total games (32.9 MPG) for the Blazers and Clippers this season, Powell averaged a career-high 18.8 points per game on .457/.407/.807 shooting. He’ll give the Clips another option on the wing who can impact the game on both ends of the court, making L.A. an increasingly dangerous play-in team.
Although Paul George is back for the Clippers and Powell is on the verge of returning too, it remains to be seen whether Kawhi Leonard, who is less than nine months removed from ACL surgery, will play at all this spring.
Matisse Thybulle Ineligible To Play In Canada
Sixers swingman Matisse Thybulle is listed as ineligible to play on the team’s latest injury report and will miss Thursday’s game against the Raptors, as Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer relays (via Twitter).
This is significant news because a report last week indicated that the Sixers might have unvaccinated players. On January 15, Canada implemented a rule barring unvaccinated players from entering the country.
If the Sixers face the Raptors in the playoffs, any Philly players who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 would be ineligible to cross the border to play in Toronto. Based on the injury report, the lone player impacted appears to be Thybulle.
Philadelphia is currently the No. 4 seed in the East and Toronto is the No. 5 seed, so as of right now they would meet in the first round of the playoffs, but that could change with three games remaining. The Sixers are in a three-way tie for the second-best record in the East at 49-30, while the Raptors hold a one-game lead on the Bulls.
As Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports observes (via Twitter), Thybulle would presumably miss games 3, 4, and 6 (if necessary) of a playoff series if the two teams are matched up. Thybulle will forfeit Thursday’s game check worth $31,006 due to being ineligible to play, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Thybulle is an elite defender and arguably the league’s premier perimeter stopper. He earned a second-team All-Defense nod last season in just his second season despite only playing 20 minutes a game, a testament to his outsized impact. He will surely be in the conversation for another All-Defensive team honor this season.
Through 64 games this season, including 49 starts, Thybulle is averaging 5.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.1 blocks in 25.4 minutes per contest. He isn’t an offensive threat, but the Sixers don’t need him to be with fellow starters Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris more than capable of scoring plenty of points.
The Sixers close their regular season schedule at Toronto on Thursday, followed by home back-to-backs against Indiana and Detroit over the weekend.
Jazz Held Players-Only Meeting On Monday
On Monday, two days after they blew yet another fourth-quarter lead en route to a loss in Golden State, the Jazz held a players-only meeting in their practice facility, center Rudy Gobert told Sam Amick and Tony Jones of The Athletic.
According to Gobert, the meeting was the first of its kind for the team this season and gave the players a chance to “sit together and just be honest with each other” after losing six of seven games. “Everyone talked” during the meeting, Gobert said.
“That’s what was great about it,” he said. “I think a lot of teams have those (meetings). It’s man to man. It’s great. We all need that, whether it’s your wife or your teammates or your friends, sometimes. It’s great to just express yourself.
“… For us, it’s about communication during the game when things go wrong. We felt like we were just getting disconnected. And other teams could see with our body language and everything. So for us, just embrace the moment and embrace the opportunity. And at the end of the day, we’re making the playoffs, and no matter who’s in front of us, we’ve got to give it our best shot.”
On Tuesday, prior to Utah’s game vs. Memphis, head coach Quin Snyder – who has been the subject of plenty of speculation himself – came to his media session armed with a stat sheet and attempted to push back against a pair of narratives that have recently plagued the Jazz — the perception that the team can’t hold a fourth-quarter lead and the idea that Donovan Mitchell rarely passes to Gobert.
As Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune details, some of the stats Synder cited weren’t entirely accurate and not all of his arguments were convincing. A couple of Snyder’s comments perhaps even raised more questions than they answered, including his statement that Gobert and Mitchell “sit at the same table when they eat sometimes.”
Still, Gobert believes Monday’s players-only meeting will help the Jazz move forward and pointed to Tuesday’s result – an overtime win against the Grizzlies – as one that might not have happened a week ago when the team was struggling to communicate and to play for one another.
“I think we both realize that it’s about helping each other out and embracing the moment,” Gobert said of his relationship with Mitchell, per The Athletic. “If we do that, we know that good things will happen. Once again, it’s never going to be perfect. But if I do things to try to lift him up, and he does those things to try to lift me up.
“Some nights, things can go wrong. It’s basketball. You don’t win every game every night. Sometimes you have some bad nights. But if the trust is there, you’re in great shape. And that’s what we pretty much told each other.”
Luca Vildoza Signs With Bucks
APRIL 6: The Bucks have officially signed Vildoza, the team announced today in a press release. As we relayed on Tuesday, the two-year deal isn’t guaranteed for next season.
APRIL 4: Free agent guard Luca Vildoza is signing a two-year contract with the Bucks, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports.
Vildoza has fully recovered from foot surgery and will be activated by the defending champions for the playoffs. His agent, Alex Saratsis of Octagon Sports, and Bucks GM Jon Horst are expected to finalize terms of the deal this week, Wojnarowski adds.
Vildoza underwent the surgical procedure in October.
The Knicks signed him to a four-year deal last May but the contract wasn’t guaranteed beyond last season. They waived the Argentinian guard prior to his surgery.
Vildoza had negotiated a contract buyout with Baskonia of the Spanish ACB League before agreeing to the deal with the Knicks. Vildoza, 26, played for Argentina in the Olympics before joining the Knicks in the Las Vegas Summer League. He made brief appearances in two of those games, but averaged just 6.4 minutes and didn’t score any points.
Milwaukee had an open spot on its 15-man roster. The Bucks lost wing DeAndre’ Bembry to a season-ending knee injury last month and Vildoza will give them more depth at both guard spots.
Bulls Officially Rule Out Lonzo Ball For Season
The Bulls have officially announced that point guard Lonzo Ball will miss the rest of the 2021/22 season, confirming the news in a press release. Multiple reports on Tuesday indicated this was the likely outcome.
According to the Bulls, Ball – who underwent left knee surgery on January 28 – is still experiencing pain when he engages in high-level physical activity. The plan is for him to continue receiving daily treatment and progressing through rehab as he prepares to return for the start of the 2022/23 season.
Ball has been out since January 14 after suffering a bone bruise and torn meniscus in his left knee. The team initially estimated a six-to-eight week recovery timeline, but Ball experienced a couple setbacks during that process and ultimately ran out of time to get healthy and ramped up.
Acquired in a sign-and-trade deal with New Orleans last offseason, Ball played a major role in Chicago’s impressive first half. He started 35 games at point guard, averaging 13.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 5.1 APG, and 1.8 SPG with a .423 3PT% and solid defense.
As K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes, the Bulls have noticeably missed Ball’s “swagger” and his ability to make an impact on both ends of the court. The club had a net rating of +3.1 and a defensive rating of 107.0 with Ball on the floor, compared to -1.6 and 114.5 without him.
If the Bulls, who have slipped to No. 6 in the East, are going to make any noise in the postseason, they’ll have to do so without Ball. Had they been fully healthy, the Bulls might’ve employed a closing lineup of Ball, Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic. According to Johnson, that group had a +12.5 net rating this season, but only played 95 minutes together.
Ball’s contract with the Bulls includes two more guaranteed years, with a player option for 2024/25, so he’ll remain a crucial part of their long-term core going forward.
Pacers To Sign Duane Washington, Terry Taylor To Multiyear Contracts
The Pacers will promote both of their two-way players, Duane Washington and Terry Taylor, to the standard 15-man roster and sign them to new multiyear contracts, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Indiana has a full 15-man roster and will need to make room for Washington and Terry. Justin Anderson‘s 10-day deal expires tonight, so he’ll likely be one casualty of the roster crunch. The other will be guard Keifer Sykes, who is being waived, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Washington, 22, signed a two-way contract with the Pacers last August after going undrafted out of Ohio State. He has averaged 9.6 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 46 NBA appearances (20.1 MPG), with a shooting line of .394/.366/.763.
Taylor initially signed an Exhibit 10 deal to join Indiana for training camp, then was waived in October before rejoining the team in December on a two-way contract. He has since made a strong impression on the franchise by putting up 9.6 PPG and 5.2 RPG with a .629 FG% in 31 games (21.3 MPG).
Obviously, the lottery-bound Pacers don’t need to worry about either Washington or Taylor being playoff-eligible, so their promotions are more about locking them up to team-friendly contracts rather than having them become free agents this offseason. The terms of the new deals are unclear, but they’re unlikely to be fully guaranteed or worth more than the minimum beyond this season.
Sykes, also a first-year player, was another Pacers camp invitee who was released in October before rejoining the team in December. The 28-year-old averaged 5.6 PPG and 1.9 APG on .363/.300/.882 shooting in 32 games (17.7 MPG). Sykes had been on a two-year contract, but his salary for 2022/23 wasn’t guaranteed, so Indiana won’t be on the hook for any money beyond this season.
After officially promoting Washington and Taylor, the Pacers will have a pair of open two-way slots that they could fill before the regular season ends on Sunday if they so choose.
Will Zion Play This Season? His Stepdad Thinks So
In an appearance on “The Jordy Culotta Show,” Zion Williamson‘s stepfather, Lee Anderson, said he thinks Williamson can play this season for the Pelicans, although he conceded it was a difficult question to answer.
“I expect him to play. If you were to ask Zion, I’m sure he would probably say the same thing,” Anderson said, per ESPN’s Andrew Lopez. “But with just a couple of games left, with the magnitude of what’s going on in New Orleans and the opportunity to qualify for the play-in game and possibly get into a seven-game series, that would be off the charts in the city of New Orleans. That would be a plus in New Orleans. That would be a plus for Zion with the way things are right now.
“Do I expect him to play? Certainly I do. That’s on me, though. That’s purely me. I don’t think there’s anything else that would hinder him from doing that right now.”
A report back in February stated that Anderson is very involved in Williamson’s career, so his comments are sure to be noted by the organization. Williamson has missed the entire season after having setbacks in his recovery from offseason foot surgery.
Anderson said the team has been taking a big picture approach with Williamson’s rehab, focusing on his long-term health, but Anderson seems to have a different philosophy.
“He’s feeling great,” Anderson said. “Speaking for the Pelicans staff, and not saying any names, they mentioned to me that they are just one player away from being where we need to be at. That was enough for me to know that they are putting some stock in Zion getting healthy and being ready for the long haul.
“But my thing with the long haul, you have to wait on it. The short haul, sometimes when you’re faced with an opportunity right now, you never know when you’re going to be presented with that opportunity again in the long haul or how long it’ll be from that time. I’m a guy that believes in taking advantage of the moment at hand. Let’s deal with it right now and let’s go forward and see what happens.”
Regarding the reported discord between Williamson’s camp and the Pelicans front office, Anderson denied the persistent rumors, saying he likes the direction that New Orleans is headed.
“I don’t know where the comments or the rumblings or the misunderstandings came from. It’s always someone referring to someone in Zion’s camp. And ‘sources say.’ There are only four sources in Zion’s camp. Zion’s mom [Sharonda Anderson]. That’s me. That’s Noah [Williamson’s little brother]. And that’s Zion. If it didn’t come from one of us, they are not sources,” Anderson said, per Lopez. “We have not sourced information to anybody on Zion’s behalf at any time. If anybody can come back and say we said that, we’ll discount that.
“We’re enjoying New Orleans. We’re enjoying the fabric. We love the pickups that the Pelicans have made the last month or so. We’re excited about that. We think — the acquisitions they have made and Zion being on the mend 110 percent — we think the future is very bright in New Orleans right now.”
Anderson also praised coach Willie Green and said he likes the team’s chances in the play-in tournament — the Pelicans are currently the No. 9 seed in the West with a 34-44 record. The full article from Lopez with all of Anderson’s quotes can be found here.
Auburn’s Jabari Smith Declares For 2022 NBA Draft
Auburn power forward Jabari Smith has confirmed that he’ll put his name into the 2022 NBA draft pool, making the announcement in a video published on the men’s basketball program’s official Twitter account.
While Smith didn’t specify whether he’s forgoing his remaining NCAA eligibility or testing the waters, it’s safe to assume – based on both the tone of his announcement and his projected draft range – that he has played his last college game.
A freshman in 2021/22, Smith started all 34 games he played for the Tigers and averaged 16.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 1.0 BPG in 28.8 minutes per contest. The 18-year-old also showed an impressive ability to knock down outside shots, hitting 42.0% of his three-point tries. He was a consensus second-team All-American and was named the NABC Freshman of the Year.
Smith is widely viewed as one of the top three prospects in the 2022 draft class, with some experts even placing him atop their boards. His time at Auburn came to a disappointing end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament when the team was upset by Miami — Smith shot just 3-of-16 from the field in what was his worst offensive game of the season, but that performance is unlikely to hurt his draft stock much, if at all.
In his scouting report, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony refers to Smith as one of the most dynamic shooters in college and a “highly versatile” defender who has the ability to switch all over the floor. Smith is the No. 2 player on ESPN’s big board, behind only Chet Holmgren.
Smith is the second standout underclassman at Auburn to declare for the draft this spring, joining teammate Walker Kessler, who is also projected to be a first-round pick.
Thunder Sign Georgios Kalaitzakis To Hardship Deal
The Thunder have signed Greek forward Georgios Kalaitzakis to a 10-day contract using the hardship exception, according to NBA.com’s official transactions log. The deal was completed on Monday.
There are only six days left in the regular season, so referring to Kalaitzakis’ agreement as a “10-day” is a bit of a misnomer — it’s essentially a rest-of-season hardship deal that won’t give Oklahoma City any form of Bird rights on the rookie this offseason.
Kalaitzakis, 23, was the 60th overall pick in the 2021 draft and joined the Bucks to begin his NBA career. However, his initial contract with Milwaukee was only partially guaranteed and he didn’t see much action with the team, logging just 48 total minutes across nine games. He was waived in December when the club signed Wesley Matthews.
Kalaitzakis subsequently joined the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G League affiliate, and appeared in 31 regular season games for the team, averaging 10.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 2.1 APG on .422/.241/.750 shooting in 19.7 minutes per contest.
The Thunder are missing about half their roster due to injuries — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Luguentz Dort, Darius Bazley, Derrick Favors, Ty Jerome, and Mike Muscala have all been ruled out for the season, and it’s possible Kenrich Williams and Tre Mann will join them. As such, Kalaitzakis will likely just be a depth piece to help the team finish out its regular season schedule.
Jaylen Hoard is also on a 10-day hardship deal with the Thunder, who now have 19 players under contract (including two-ways).