LaMelo Ball Cleared For Basketball Activity, Could Return Soon
Standout Hornets rookie point guard LaMelo Ball has been permitted to resume individual basketball activity after doctors discovered that his surgically-repaired right wrist has healed, according to a team press release.
Ball was the clear frontrunner for Rookie of the Year honors before he fractured his right wrist on March 20 against the Clippers. He won Rookie of the Month honors in January, February and March. After his cast was removed, a CT scan by Dr. Michelle Carlson of The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City indicated that Ball’s wrist has fully healed.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets that a source tells him Ball could be back on the floor for Charlotte as early as seven-to-10 days from now. Across 41 games (21 starts) for the eighth-seeded Hornets, the 19-year-old is averaging 15.9 PPG (second among rookies), plus 6.1 APG and 5.9 RPG (both first among rookies). He boasts a solid shooting line of .451/.375/.789.
If Ball can return, it would be a major salve for the Hornets, who are currently missing several key players due to various injuries. The club is 8-7 since Ball was sidelined.
Hill To Suit Up For First Sixers Game Monday
Veteran point guard George Hill will be available for his first Sixers game tonight against the Warriors, reports Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Traded to Philadelphia from the Thunder in a three-team deal last month, Hill has been rehabilitating from a right thumb sprain that has kept him sidelined since January 24. He underwent surgery to address the sprain in February.
It appears that Hill, who started in Oklahoma City, will have a reserve role behind Seth Curry tonight, as All-Star starting point guard Ben Simmons will sit with an illness, per Pompey (Twitter link).
Hill, the No. 26 pick out of IUPUI by San Antonio in 2008, has enjoyed a lengthy career on a variety of contenders, and should be a welcome addition to the Sixers’ second unit thanks to his shooting and play-making. He enjoyed his most productive seasons with the Spurs, Pacers, and Jazz, but also had stops with the Kings, Cavaliers, and Bucks prior to this season.
The 34-year-old has played in just 14 games during the 2020/21 season, averaging 11.8 PPG and 3.1 APG on a hyper-efficient .508/.386/.840 shooting line.
Myles Turner Out Indefinitely With Partial Toe Tear
Pacers starting center Myles Turner will be out indefinitely after partially tearing the plantar plate in the great toe of his right foot, per a team announcement.
An MRI today shed light on the injury. Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files tweets that, before returning to the court yesterday, Turner had sat for the prior six games as he struggled with a left ankle sprain. Agness notes that this toe setback appears unrelated.
The 6’11” Turner, still just 24, had been enjoying a solid run with the Pacers for the 2020/21 season. Across 47 games, he’s averaging 12.6 PPG, 6.5 RPG, an unreal 3.4 BPG, and 0.9 SPG. He boasts a shooting line of .477/.335/.782.
Losing their defensive anchor for any extended period of time is a major blow for the Pacers as they continue to fight for a play-in appearance. The team is currently the No. 9 seed in the East. At 26-30, the Pacers are currently two games behind the eighth-seeded Hornets, a team saddled with a litany of its own major injuries, and three games ahead of the tenth-seeded Raptors.
With Turner absent, the team will lean on the kinds of small-ball lineups it employed during Turner’s prior injury, with All-Star Domantas Sabonis moving to center and 6’4″ forward Edmond Sumner once again being promoted from the bench to fill out the starting front court alongside 6’6″ forward Justin Holiday. Goga Bitadze and Oshae Brissett could see bigger roles for themselves in the front court rotation this season.
“Pain is temporary,” Turner said of his recovery in a Twitter message. “[I’m going to] attack this rehab and we right back to it!”
Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes.com tweets that current Nets power forward Blake Griffin‘s 2016/17 playoff run with the Clippers came to an abrupt end when he incurred a similar ailment, eventually requiring corrective surgery.
Warriors Give Gary Payton II Another 10-Day Contract
APRIL 19: The Warriors have officially re-signed Payton, per a team tweet.
APRIL 18: Gary Payton II will sign a second 10-day contract with the Warriors, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
The versatile guard appeared in five games during his first 10-day deal, averaging 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds in 3.6 minutes per night. He was effective in Saturday’s loss to the Celtics, Slater notes, displaying his defensive skills in seven minutes of action.
Payton, 28, has logged brief stays with four teams in a five-year NBA career. He has also spent extensive time in the G League and was named Defensive Player of the Year during the league’s abbreviated season in Orlando.
Payton will earn $118,983 during his second 10-day contract. If it’s finalized today, it will expire April 27, and the Warriors would have to sign him for the rest of the season if they want to keep him on the roster beyond that.
Clippers Sign Yogi Ferrell To 10-Day Deal
APRIL 19: The Clippers have officially signed Ferrell to a 10-day contract, the team announced today. The club opened up a spot on its roster when Malik Fitts‘ 10-day deal expired overnight.
APRIL 11: The Clippers intend to ink free agent combo guard Yogi Ferrell to a 10-day deal next week, provided he clears the league’s COVID-19 health and protocols, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times cautions (Twitter link) that Ferrell is one of a few options the Clippers are eyeing to shore up their guard depth, and a signing of Ferrell is not a lock due to the NBA’s coronavirus protocols.
If he does sign, Ferrell may be able to help spell veteran point guards Reggie Jackson and Rajon Rondo, both of whom have seen a minutes increase (with Jackson starting) necessitated by another long-term injury absence for starting guard Patrick Beverley, out indefinitely with a fractured bone in his left hand. Beverley will be reassessed by the club in three-to-four weeks.
This marks Ferrell’s second 10-day deal of the season, as he previously signed such a contract with the Cavaliers in January. The 27-year-old appeared in two games with Cleveland this season. He averaged 9.5 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.5 APG across 20.0 MPG.
After his stint with the Cavaliers, Ferrell joined the Jazz’s NBAGL affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars, for the G League’s truncated Orlando “bubble” campus season. He started in all 14 of his games with Salt Lake City, averaging 15.4 PPG, 4.0 APG, 2.7 RPG, and 1.3 SPG, and boasted stellar shooting splits of .451/.388/1.000.
Ferrell went undrafted in 2016 out of Indiana. Prior to this season, he logged stints with the Nets, Mavericks, and Kings. A career 36.7% three-point shooter, Ferrell could potentially see time off the ball in limited minutes for L.A. At 36-18, the Clippers are currently the No. 3 seed in the West. The Nuggets, riding high on an eight-game win streak, are within a single game of tying LA.
Jalen Suggs To Enter 2021 NBA Draft
Standout Gonzaga guard and probable top-five pick Jalen Suggs has opted to enter the 2021 NBA draft and will forgo his remaining college eligibility, he announced today on ESPN’s The Jump (link via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com).
As a freshman on a star-studded Zags squad, Suggs put up relatively modest scoring numbers compared to other top prospects, ranking third on his team with 14.4 points per game.
However, Suggs filled up the box score with 5.3 RPG, 4.5 APG, and 1.9 SPG to go along with a .503/.337/.761 shooting line in 30 games (28.9 MPG), and had some memorable moments during Gonzaga’s run to the NCAA championship game, including a game-winning overtime buzzer beater in the team’s Final Four matchup against UCLA. He was voted a consensus Second Team All-American.
Suggs is part of the top tier of 2021 prospects, currently ranking third on ESPN’s big board. In his scouting report, Mike Schmitz notes that Suggs is a bit of a streaky shooter and has average length relative to his height, but says that he’s already a mature decision-maker and a tough defender.
While they’re awaiting draft decisions from some of their other key players, Gonzaga may not miss a beat as Suggs departs, having secured a commitment from No. 1 high school recruit Chet Holmgren.
2021 NBA Free Agency To Begin On August 2
The NBA’s 2021 free agency period will begin on Monday, August 2 at 5:00pm central time, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Teams and players will be able to reach contract agreements at that point. However, with a few exceptions, they won’t be able to formally complete those deals until after the moratorium lifts.
As Charania details, the free agency moratorium will officially begin at 11:01pm CT on the night of August 2 and will end on Friday, August 6. The NBA has confirmed Charania’s reporting, announcing that the moratorium will lift at 11:01am ET on August 6, at which point agreed-upon trades and free agent signings can be officially finalized.
Typically, the NBA Finals would end in mid-June, followed about a week later by the draft, with free agency beginning on the evening of June 30 and the moratorium covering the first few days of July. However, the NBA’s calendar has been pushed back by about a month this offseason due to the revamped schedule. The draft will take place on July 29.
Kawhi Leonard (player option), John Collins (RFA), Lonzo Ball (RFA), Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Mike Conley, Dennis Schroder, Victor Oladipo, Spencer Dinwiddie (player option), and Jarrett Allen (RFA) are expected to be some of the top free agents available this summer.
It’s also worth noting that, with Olympic qualifying tournaments scheduled to take place from June 29 to July 4 and the Olympics themselves set to begin on July 24, several players who don’t have contracts yet for 2021/22 may have to decide whether or not they feel comfortable participating in the Tokyo games – or the qualifiers – before having secured their next deals.
Raptors Promote Yuta Watanabe To 15-Man Roster
7:20am: Watanabe’s second-year salary is non-guaranteed, but would become partially guaranteed for $375K if he remains under contract for three days beyond the free agency moratorium in August, reports Murphy (Twitter link). If he makes next season’s regular season roster, Watanabe would receive his full ’21/22 guarantee.
6:38am: The Raptors have elevated Yuta Watanabe to their 15-man roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed the third-year forward to a standard contract.
Watanabe had spent the season on a two-way deal with Toronto, having had his Exhibit 10 contract converted before the regular season began in December. Originally considered a depth piece, the 26-year-old has become a more regular rotation fixture, appearing in 39 games for the club.
While he is valued more for his defense and his energy off the bench than his offense, Watanabe has shot the ball well this season too, averaging 4.0 PPG and 3.3 RPG on .448/.400/.826 shooting in 13.4 minutes per contest. Those numbers all exceed the ones he put up in two seasons in Memphis from 2018-20.
The exact details of Watanabe weren’t announced in the Raptors’ press release, but the team used its full mid-level exception prior to the season signing Aron Baynes and Alex Len, and didn’t have its bi-annual exception available this season. As such, we can safely assume it’s a minimum-salary deal, and Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link) confirms it covers next season as well, though it’s unclear if the 2021/22 salary is partially guaranteed or non-guaranteed.
Watanabe’s rest-of-season salary, at least, will be fully guaranteed — he’ll make $321,893 the rest of the way, in addition to what he has already earned on his two-way contract.
The Raptors now have a full 15-man roster, with 14 players on standard contracts and Freddie Gillespie on a 10-day deal. Jalen Harris is Toronto’s lone two-way player, so the club could fill its other two-way slot at some point before the regular season ends on May 16.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Spurs Fined $25K For Player Rest Violations
Despite a 26-point victory over the Suns yesterday, the No. 2 seed in the West, the Spurs were fined $25K by the NBA for resting three nominally available players in the contest, including DeMar DeRozan, as Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News details.
In a press release, the league said that it was penalizing San Antonio for sitting DeRozan, starting center Jakob Poeltl, and key reserve guard Patty Mills during “the same road game.” Orsborn tweets that San Antonio sat Mills and point guard Dejounte Murray against the Cavaliers last month without a similar financial ding from the league.
Orbsorn notes that the Spurs were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, and have been struggling through a brutal second-half schedule for the 2020/21 season, where they will have played 40 games in 68 days.
Given the impressive nature of the victory and recent outcry over an unusually compressed season schedule this year, the league’s punitive decision here is interesting. The Spurs beat a healthy Phoenix team. The Suns’ All-Star back court of Chris Paul and Devin Booker scored a combined 21 points on 9-of-28 shooting from the field.
At 27-28, the Spurs are clinging to the No. 10 seed in the West by 2.5 games over the Pelicans as of this writing. The Suns are 40-16, 1.5 games behind the top-seeded Jazz.
The Raptors were also fined $25K this weekend for violating the NBA’s policies on rest and injury reporting.
Raptors Sign Freddie Gillespie To Second 10-Day Deal
APRIL 18: The signing is official, the Raptors announced in a press release.
APRIL 17: Rookie power forward Freddie Gillespie will sign a second 10-day contract with the Raptors on Sunday, a source tells Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Gillespie is averaging 5.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in five games since inking his first 10-day deal on April 8. He has been a regular member of the rotation for the short-handed team, playing 16 minutes per night.
Murphy expects Toronto to make a longer investment in Gillespie once the second deal expires, likely signing him for the rest of the season with a partial guarantee for 2021/22.
Gillespie, 23, went undrafted out of Baylor in November, but established himself with a strong performance in the G League. In 15 games for the Memphis Hustle, he posted 10.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per night.
He will earn $61,528 during the second contract, which will also be the cap hit for the Raptors.