NBA Makes Minor Adjustment To Hardship Rules
The NBA has made a minor adjustment to its new hardship rules, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter links).
As Marks outlines, a player who is signed to a 10-day hardship deal can now be moved to the inactive list if the player he was replacing comes out of the health and safety protocols and is cleared to return before that 10-day deal expires.
Under the previous hardship rules, the player on the 10-day contract would have to be waived once the player he replaced has been cleared.
For instance, the Bulls had several players exit the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols this week and no longer have any players affected. But the team still has three players signed to 10-day hardship contracts — Alfonzo McKinnie‘s deal runs through December 29, while Ersan Ilyasova and Mac McClung are under contract through December 31.
Under the new rules, if all the Chicago players who were in the protocols are cleared to return, the team could move McKinnie, Ilyasova, and/or McClung to the inactive list rather than immediately terminating their contracts. That would allow the Bulls to avoid having to sign a new replacement player if they have another player test positive for COVID-19 in the next week — in that scenario, they could simply reactivate one of their current replacements, as long as that player’s 10-day deal has yet to expire.
The Heat are another team that could be impacted by this rule in the short term, since they no longer have any players in the protocols and Zylan Cheatham is on a 10-day contract that runs through next Friday. However, many teams besides Chicago and Miami could find themselves in similar situations in the coming days as more players exit the protocols.
CJ McCollum’s Lung Has Fully Healed
Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum has been cleared for non-contact drills after a CT scan on Wednesday showed that his right lung is fully healed, according to a team press release.
McCollum suffered a pneumothorax — a collapsed right lung — earlier this month.
McCollum has averaged 20.6 PPG and 4.5 APG on .424/.393/.700 shooting in 24 games (35.3 MPG) so far this season. The 30-year-old, who is in the first year of a three-year, $100MM contract, could be an in-season trade candidate.
McCollum also been cleared for increased conditioning and shooting and will be reevaluated next week, according to the release. That suggests he’s is probably still at least a couple of weeks away from returning to action for Portland, which is languishing with a 13-19 record.
Karl-Anthony Towns Enters League Protocols
Timberwolves star center Karl-Anthony Towns has entered the league’s health and safety protocols, the team’s PR department tweets. McKinley Wright IV has also been placed in the protocols.
They join a long list of Minnesota players currently in league protocols. Anthony Edwards, Patrick Beverley, Josh Okogie, Taurean Prince and Jarred Vanderbilt will also miss the team’s game against Utah on Thursday.
Towns and Wright will be sidelined at least 10 days, unless they can register two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests at least 24 hours apart during that span.
Towns was the Western Conference Player of the Week as the Timberwolves went 3-0 during the week of December 13-19, with victories over the Nuggets, Lakers, and Mavericks. The former No. 1 overall pick averaged 28.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 4.7 APG, 1.7 SPG, and 1.3 BPG on .547/.375/.870 shooting in those three games (33.9 MPG). Wright, a rookie, has appeared in just one game.
Towns and his family have been affected greatly by the virus. Multiple family members, including his mother, died from COVID-19. Towns had his own battle after contracting the virus last winter, as he lost 50 pounds.
Four Pistons, Including Stewart, Enter Protocols
Pistons center Isaiah Stewart and guards Killian Hayes and Saben Lee have entered the league’s health and safety protocols ahead of the team’s game against Miami Thursday evening, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. Reserve swingman Rodney McGruder has also entered the protocols, The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III tweets.
Top pick Cade Cunningham entered the protocols on Wednesday. The Pistons, who have lost 15 of their last 16 contests, will obviously be severely shorthanded for the game.
Those players will be sidelined for at least 10 days, unless they can register two consecutive negative COVID-19 tests at least 24 hours apart during that span.
Stewart is averaging 7.9 PPG and 8.4 RPG. Hayes has started regularly as well, though he’s averaging just 6.4 PPG and 3.7 APG. Lee has come off the bench in 15 games and scored 16 points against the Knicks on Tuesday. McGruder has appeared in 14 games.
With Jerami Grant and Kelly Olynyk unavailable due to long-term injuries, the Pistons’ frontcourt is severely depleted with Trey Lyles and rookie Luka Garza the main options.
Mavericks Sign Brandon Knight Via Hardship Provision
DECEMBER 23: The Mavericks have officially signed Knight to a 10-day deal, the team announced today (via Twitter). Dallas has now added six players via hardship exceptions, as our tracker shows.
DECEMBER 22: Another NBA veteran is making a comeback, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the Mavericks plan to sign guard Brandon Knight to a 10-day contract via a hardship exception.
Knight, who hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2019/20 season, has 446 regular season appearances on his career résumé, having spent time with the Pistons, Bucks, Suns, Rockets, and Cavaliers from 2011-20. The 30-year-old has averaged 14.1 PPG over the course of his career, though he has been well below that mark since the ’15/16 season.
Knight signed a G League contract earlier this year in the hopes of earning a shot with an NBA team. He has put up 21.3 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 4.6 RPG in 11 games (38.0 MPG) for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s NBAGL affiliate, making 3.2 three-pointers per game at a 35.7% rate.
As we noted earlier when word broke that the Mavs had reached a 10-day deal with Carlik Jones, the club’s number of reported hardship signings has now exceeded the number of players they have in the health and safety protocols, which suggests a couple more Dallas players could end up entering the protocols today.
Bradley Beal, Trevor Ariza, Jarrett Culver Enter Protocols
Wizards star Bradley Beal has entered the health and safety protocols and will miss Thursday’s game vs. New York, according to the team (Twitter link). Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is also currently in the protocols for Washington.
If Beal hasn’t registered a confirmed positive COVID-19 test, it’s possible he could exit the protocols in a matter of days. But if he did test positive, the 28-year-old figures to be sidelined for at least 10 days unless he can return two consecutive negative tests.
Beal, who remained unvaccinated as of September, missed the Olympics earlier this year because he tested positive for the coronavirus just before Team USA left for Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Lakers forward Trevor Ariza and Grizzlies wing Jarrett Culver have also been placed in the COVID-19 protocols, according to their respective teams (Twitter links). Ariza is the fifth Laker in the protocols, while Culver is the second Grizzlies player affected, joining Ziaire Williams.
While three players enter the protocols, another has exited — the Knicks announced that Quentin Grimes has been cleared to rejoin the team (Twitter link).
Zach LaVine, Four Other Bulls Exit COVID-19 Protocols
All the Bulls players who were in the health and safety protocols have now rejoined the team, head coach Billy Donovan said today (Twitter link via K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago). That group consists of Zach LaVine, Ayo Dosunmu, Alize Johnson, Matt Thomas, and Devon Dotson.
LaVine, Dosunmu, Johnson, and Thomas were all placed in the COVID-19 protocols at least 10 days ago. Dotson just entered the protocols on Tuesday, but has since tested out of them, according to Donovan (Twitter link via Johnson). That suggests that perhaps Dotson registered a false positive test earlier in the week.
It’s great news for the Bulls, who were one of the first teams to be affected by a coronavirus outbreak this month and who have had three games postponed. They’ll resume play on Sunday when they host Indiana.
The Bulls currently have three replacement players on 10-day hardship contracts. Alfonzo McKinnie signed his second 10-day deal on Monday and Ersan Ilyasova and Mac McClung inked their respective 10-day pacts on Wednesday.
While those contracts remain active for now, once all the Bulls players coming out of the protocols have been medically cleared to return to action, the team won’t be able to continue carrying those hardship signees, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). That means Ilyasova and McClung likely won’t get to play out their full 10-day contracts, and if Chicago wants to keep McKinnie around, the team would have to create room by trading or waiving someone from the 15-man roster.
Knicks Sign Danuel House To 10-Day Contract
After being waived last weekend by the Rockets, forward Danuel House has found a new NBA home, at least temporarily. The Knicks have signed House to a 10-day contract, the club announced in a press release.
It’s a hardship signing for the Knicks, who still have five players in the health and safety protocols even after Obi Toppin and RJ Barrett were cleared. New York has already signed three other replacement players to 10-day contracts — House joins Tyler Hall, Damyean Dotson, and Matt Mooney.
House had been a reliable contributor for the Rockets in past years, averaging 9.7 PPG and 3.9 RPG on .431/.373/.759 shooting in 138 games (27.7 MPG) in the three seasons preceding 2021/22. However, he fell out of Houston’s rotation this year as the team prioritized younger players. In 16 games (14.6 MPG), he averaged just 4.8 PPG and 2.7 RPG on .338/.294/.895 shooting.
House, whose $3,894,000 salary with the Rockets for this season was fully guaranteed, will earn another $111,457 on his 10-day deal with New York. That money won’t count against the Knicks’ team salary for cap or tax purposes.
House’s contract will run through January 1, covering the Knicks’ next five scheduled games.
Three Nets Rookies Enter Protocols; Harden, Two Others Exit
The Nets announced some good news and some bad news on Thursday morning. Three players – James Harden, Paul Millsap, and Jevon Carter – have exited the health and safety protocols, but three others – rookies Cameron Thomas, David Duke, and Kessler Edwards – have entered the protocols, tweets Adam Zagoria of Forbes.
You could make a strong case that no team has been hit harder in the last couple weeks by COVID-19 than Brooklyn, which still has 10 players in the league’s protocols after today’s updates. Of the 17 players the team had been carrying on its standard roster, 13 have been in the protocols this month, while Joe Harris (ankle) and Nicolas Claxton (wrist) have dealt with injuries.
Patty Mills and Blake Griffin have been the only players unaffected, and even Griffin is playing through knee pain. The Nets have also signed four replacement players – Langston Galloway, James Ennis, Shaquille Harrison, and Wenyen Gabriel – via hardship exceptions to help fill out the roster.
Brooklyn’s game in Portland on Thursday has been postponed, but the NBA will certainly want to avoid having the team’s Christmas Day game vs. the Lakers endure a similar fate. Head coach Steve Nash said today that Harris won’t play on the Nets’ current road trip, but the team hopes to have Claxton return on either Saturday vs. the Lakers or Monday vs. the Clippers (Twitter link via Brain Lewis of The New York Post).
If Harden, Millsap, and Carter are all cleared to return and Mills, Griffin, and the four replacement players are good to go, Brooklyn would have at least nine players available, even without Claxton. The Nets remain eligible to complete more hardship signings before Saturday too, if they so choose.
Bulls Sign Ersan Ilyasova Via Hardship Exception
DECEMBER 22: The contract is official, according to NBA.com’s transactions page.
DECEMBER 21: The Bulls have agreed to sign free agent forward Ersan Ilyasova to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne (Twitter link).
The shorthanded Bulls, who currently have six players in the health and safety protocols, have already added Alfonzo McKinnie as a replacement player and will reportedly sign Mac McClung as well. The hardship signings won’t count toward the team’s 15-man roster limit, so no corresponding moves are necessary.
Ilyasova, 34, has an extensive NBA résumé, having appeared in 825 regular season games and another 52 playoff contests since making his debut in 2006. However, he didn’t sign until March last season and played a limited role down the stretch for the Jazz, averaging just 3.8 PPG and 1.7 RPG in 17 games (8.7 MPG).
The former second-round pick out of Turkey is known as a stretch four, having made 36.7% of his career attempts from beyond the arc.
Ilyasova will earn $151,821 over the course of his 10-day contract, but it won’t count against the Bulls’ team salary for cap or tax purposes.