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Paul George Weighing Treatment Options For Injuries

March 13th, 2025 at 3:29pm CST by Rory Maher

Sixers forward Paul George is meeting with doctors this week to determine the best course of action to treat his groin and knee injuries, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that surgery is among the options being considered.

A decision on which path to take is expected to be made early next week, sources tell Charania.

While he hasn’t yet been formally ruled out for the remainder of 2024/25 like Joel Embiid was, Charania reports that “George is likely headed down the same route,” so he is unlikely to suit up again this season.

George, 34, has missed Philadelphia’s past four games with a left groin injury. During preseason, he hyperextended his left knee, causing him to miss the first five games of the season, then had a similar injury in November, which cost him three more games. He has also been battling tendon damage in his left pinky finger since January.

About a month ago, Charania reported that George had been receiving painkilling injections to deal with his various injuries, which the nine-time All-Star later confirmed.

George has been limited to 41 games this season due to the aforementioned injuries and hasn’t replicated his typical production when he has played, averaging just 16.2 points per contest, his lowest mark in a full season since ’11/12. His three-point percentage (.358) is also well below his career rate (.383).

George, who has made six All-NBA and four All-Defensive appearances in 15 seasons, signed a four-year, maximum-salary contract with the 76ers as a free agent last summer. Philadelphia entered the season with championship aspirations, but has consistently been at the bottom of the standings in ’24/25, starting out 2-12. After dropping 15 of their past 18 games, the Sixers are currently just 22-43.

The Sixers’ 2025 first-round pick will head to Oklahoma City if it drops outside the top six, but they’ll keep the selection if it lands within the protected range (Nos. 1-6). Philadelphia is currently tied with Brooklyn for the fifth-worst record in the NBA.

Wizards’ Coulibaly Out 4-6 Weeks With Hamstring Strain

March 13th, 2025 at 12:05pm CST by Rory Maher

Second-year forward Bilal Coulibaly sustained a right hamstring injury in the first quarter of Monday’s game vs. Toronto and will miss about four-to-six weeks, the Wizards announced in a press release (Twitter link).

According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter links), Wizards officials say Coulibaly was diagnosed with a hamstring strain after undergoing an MRI.

While he hasn’t been formally ruled out for the rest of the season, Washington’s schedule concludes on April 13 — four-and-a-half weeks from now — and the team says the injury will be treated conservatively. Reading between the lines, Coulibaly has likely played his last game of ’24/25.

The injury, which was original labeled a hip contusion, will not require surgery, per Robbins. Coulibaly is expected to remain with the Wizards as he recuperates, Robbins adds.

Coulibaly was the seventh overall pick of the 2023 draft after playing with friend Victor Wembanyama on Metropolitans 92 in France during the ’22/23 campaign. He was one of the youngest players in the class, as he didn’t turn 19 until a month after he was selected.

Coulibaly averaged 12.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks in 59 games during his second season. He started each appearance, averaging 33.0 MPG, with a shooting slash line of .421/.281/.746.

It’s a disappointing likely end to Coulibaly’s season, particularly after his rookie campaign also ended prematurely due to injury — he sustained a right wrist fracture last March, ultimately appearing in 63 games in ’23/24.

Coulibaly, who won a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics as a role player for France, was named to the Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend this season. While his efficiency took a hit in ’24/25 due to a more difficult shot profile, the Wizards reportedly remain bullish on his upside.

Grizzlies Sign Lamar Stevens For Rest Of Season

March 13th, 2025 at 11:16am CST by Rory Maher

The Grizzlies have signed forward Lamar Stevens for the remainder of the 2024/25 season, the team announced today in a press release (via Twitter).

Stevens just spent the past 20 days with Memphis on a pair of back-to-back 10-day contracts. The 27-year-old has appeared in six games this season with the Grizzlies, averaging 4.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in 9.9 minutes per contest.

Prior to his promotion, Stevens had been playing in the G League with the Motor City Cruise. In 29 combined games for Detroit’s NBAGL affiliate in ’24/25, Stevens averaged 17.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.4 blocks in 34.0 minutes, with a shooting slash line of .438/.328/.744.

A five-year veteran, Stevens got his NBA start with Cleveland after going undrafted out of Penn State in 2020. He spent his first three seasons with the Cavs, then played for the Celtics and Grizzlies last season.

While the Grizzlies elected not to re-sign Stevens in the 2024 offseason, clearly they still like his game, since he’s back to conclude ’24/25. He’ll provide energy, toughness and solid defense off the bench for a team hoping to make a deep playoff run.

Stevens will continue to occupy the 15th spot on the Grizzlies’ standard roster, which is now full.

Jaden Ivey Ruled Out For Remainder Of Regular Season

March 13th, 2025 at 10:53am CST by Dana Gauruder

Any hope that Pistons starting guard Jaden Ivey would return prior to the end of the regular season was almost certainly dashed by the latest medical update provided by the club.

Ivey’s rehabilitation from a broken fibula has progressed to “weight-bearing strengthening exercises, running progression activity and stationary shooting,” the team’s PR department tweets. The next update regarding his rehab will be updated in four weeks. The regular season ends in four-and-a-half weeks, on April 13.

As of the previous update, issued on Feb. 6, Ivey had transitioned to a walking boot and had begun light weight-bearing activity.

While there may a window for Ivey’s return if the Pistons advance deep into the playoffs, it seems safe to assume his regular season, at least, is over. Ivey underwent surgery on Jan. 2 after Magic guard Cole Anthony fell on his left leg the previous night while the two guards were battling for a loose ball.

The No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 draft, Ivey had been enjoying his best season as a pro so far in ’24/25, establishing new career highs in points (17.6) and rebounds (4.1) per game, as well as field goal percentage (46.0%) and three-point percentage (40.9%). He started all 30 games he played, averaging 29.9 minutes per night.

Detroit has already picked up its $10.1MM option on Ivey’s contract for next season. He’s eligible for a rookie scale extension during the offseason — it remains to be seen how the injury might impact those future negotiations.

Thibodeau Denies Having Conversation With Bridges About Starters’ Minutes

March 13th, 2025 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

Knicks forward Mikal Bridges, the NBA’s leader in total minutes played this season, said on Wednesday that he has spoken to head coach Tom Thibodeau about the idea of dialing back the starters’ minutes to some extent and leaning more on the bench. Asked later in the day about that discussion, Thibodeau denied that it happened.

“We never had a conversation about it,” Thibodeau told reporters, including Stefan Bondy of The New York Post and James L. Edwards III of The Athletic.

Bridges, Josh Hart, and OG Anunoby are all among the top six in the NBA in terms of minutes per game, with Hart and Bridges occupying the top two spots on that leaderboard. Jalen Brunson ranks 19th, while Karl-Anthony Towns is 24th. Thibodeau, who has faced criticism over the years for the heavy workloads he assigns his top players, defended his approach ahead of Wednesday’s game in Portland.

“The facts are the facts. When you look at our team, and the way it works, Jalen plays 35 minutes, and I think he’s 20th or 21st in average minutes played,” Thibodeau said. “(Towns), who is a primary scorer, plays less than Jalen. He’s like 25th in the league in average minutes.

“Your wings play more, right? They’re matched up with primary scorers. The way it works, if Jayson Tatum is in the game or Jaylen Brown is in the game, OG will be in the game and Mikal will be in the game. When those guys go out, (our) guys go out. When they come back, (our guys) come back. We try to keep them matched up. If you look at the league, all those guys are playing 36, 37 minutes — whether it’s Durant, Tatum, Brown. The wings are going to play more. They are primary wings defenders. That’s the way it works.”

Thibodeau also pointed out that Bridges’ minutes have come down as of late. The veteran forward played 39.3 minutes per night through his first 35 games of the season; entering Wednesday, he had averaged 35.5 MPG in his previous 21 outings. While Wednesday’s contest vs. the Trail Blazers represented the seventh time Bridges has played 40-plus minutes since February 1, five of those games went to overtime.

According to Thibodeau, his starters’ playing time will likely remain a little below where it was during the first couple months of the season because the reserves are healthier at this point, with Mitchell Robinson and Landry Shamet among those now playing rotation roles.

“We’ve started the season with Landry hurt and (Miles McBride) not 100 percent. So our wings did play more,” Thibodeau said. “So are they playing a little bit more than I would like? Yeah. Probably 35 or 36 (minutes), and that’s where Mikal is if you look at the last 10 games — he’s playing 35 minutes per game and four of those games are overtime games. So that’s the reality. Now that Deuce is healthy, those minutes are going to come down. So that’s the way it is.”

Although Thibodeau didn’t sound thrilled to have to revisit the discourse about his player usage, the day ended on a positive note for both him and Bridges, who scored a team-high 33 points on 13-of-21 shooting and nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime to give the Knicks a 114-113 win (Twitter video link).

“He was huge, huge,” Thibodeau said, per Edwards.

Former NBA Center Oliver Miller Dies At 54

March 12th, 2025 at 8:33pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Longtime NBA center Oliver Miller has sadly passed away at just 54, according to the National Basketball Retired Players Association (Twitter link).

No official cause of death has been revealed, but Miller tweeted late last month that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

Miller was selected with the No. 22 overall pick out of Arkansas by the Suns in 1992. As a rookie, he became a critical bench player during MVP Charles Barkley‘s inaugural season in Phoenix, when the club advanced to the 1993 NBA Finals. The team lost in six games to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen‘s Bulls, who were capping off their first three-peat.

Across a nine-season NBA career, Miller suited up for the Pistons, Raptors, Mavericks, and Kings before returning to Phoenix for the 1999/2000 season. In his 493 career NBA regular season appearances (193 starts), the 6’9″ pro recorded averages of 7.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists.

Between 2000-03, Miller enjoyed non-NBA pro stints in Greece, Poland, Puerto Rico, and China, along with the USBL and then-D League stateside.

Miller returned to the NBA, briefly, for the 2003/04 season, where he suited up for the Western Conference Finals-bound Timberwolves. He intermittently hopped around the D League and USBL from 2004-10 before calling it a career.

Hoops Rumors sends its deepest condolences to Miller’s family and friends.

Jazz Fined $100K By NBA

March 12th, 2025 at 4:54pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA announced today in a press release (Twitter link) that it has fined the Jazz $100K for violating the league’s player participation policy.

According to the statement from the league, Utah did not properly make forward Lauri Markkanen available in its March 5 clash with Washington, in addition to other recent contests.

The NBA implemented its player participation policy in response to concerns about the rise of load management in recent years. As we outline in our glossary entry on the subject, the league can penalize a club for sitting out a star player in a nationally televised game, resting that player in road games, or shutting him down when he’s healthy, among other infractions.

Markkanen qualifies as a star and is affected by the player participation policy because he was an All-Star in 2023.

If the NBA fines Utah for another player participation policy violation this season, that second infraction would cost the team $250K, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).

It’s safe to assume the Jazz have been resting their leading scorer in an effort to improve their lottery odds. Ironically, Markkanen is having his least productive season yet among his three years in Utah.

Still, the seven-footer is averaging a solid 19.3 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.6 APG and 0.8 SPG in the 43 games he has played. He inked a new four-year contract extension last summer to stay with Utah through 2027/28.

At 15-50, the Jazz are the only team that has been eliminated from postseason consideration as of this writing and are on track to finish as one of the NBA’s three worst teams, which would give them the maximum possible odds at earning this year’s No. 1 overall pick (14%).

Knicks’ Bridges Says He’s Talked To Thibodeau About Reducing Starters’ Minutes

March 12th, 2025 at 3:13pm CST by Luke Adams

Knicks forward Mikal Bridges said on Wednesday that he has spoken to head coach Tom Thibodeau about dialing back his starters’ minutes to some extent, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.

While Bridges acknowledged that the starters’ significant workload is one reason he broached the subject, he suggested it was more about his belief that the Knicks’ reserves are worthy of more playing time.

“Sometimes it’s not fun on the body,” Bridges said. “You’ll want that as a coach but also talked to him a little bit knowing that we’ve got a good enough team where our bench guys can come in and we don’t need to play 48, 47 (minutes). We’ve got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away minutes. Which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps just keeping fresh bodies out there.”

Bridges has been an iron man since entering the NBA in 2018, playing in 538 out of 538 possible games, so it’s not as if he’s an advocate for load management.

But all five Knicks starters are among the top 25 NBA players in minutes per game, with Josh Hart and Bridges tied for first at 37.8 MPG. OG Anunoby (36.6 MPG) ranks sixth, while Jalen Brunson (35.4) is 20th and Karl-Anthony Towns (35.0) is 25th.

Miles McBride (24.1) and Precious Achiuwa (21.9) are the only reserves averaging more than 15 minutes per night, and Achiuwa has been in and out of the rotation since Mitchell Robinson made his season debut.

Thibodeau’s minutes distribution has long been a subject of debate, with his critics arguing that heavy workloads for his starters has caused those players to break down earlier in the season and made them more susceptible to injuries. Thibodeau’s own players have frequently defended his usage of them.

As for Bridges’ suggestion, the Knicks forward said his head coach was willing to take it into consideration.

“I think he’s not arguing about it. Sometimes I think he just gets in his ways and he gets locked in. He just wants to keep the guy out there,” Bridges said. “Sometimes you’ve got to tell him, like Landry (Shamet), for example or somebody, keep him out there, they’re playing well.”

Four Groups Identified As Bidders For Celtics

March 12th, 2025 at 2:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Four prospective ownership groups remain involved in bidding for the Celtics and have taken part in management presentations with the team, according to a report from Eben Novy-Williams and Scott Soshnick of Sportico.

Here are those four groups, per Sportico’s reporting:

Steve Pagliuca‘s group: Pagliuca is a current minority stakeholder in the Celtics who has expressed interest throughout the process in assuming majority control of the franchise. Sportico reported on Tuesday that he was a “near certainty” to be involved in the second round of bidding and was considered by some industry sources to be the frontrunner.
The Friedkin Group: Described by Sportico as “a privately held consortium based in Texas,” The Friedkin Group has holdings that include a pair of soccer clubs, AS Roma in Italy and Everton in the English Premier League. Dan Friedkin, the owner and CEO, is reportedly worth $7.5 billion.
Stan Middleman‘s group: Middleman, the president and CEO of Freedom Mortgage, bought a minority stake in MLB’s Philadelphia Phillies in 2023 and has explored pursuing majority control of other sports franchises, including the Cleveland Guardians and Washington Nationals, according to Sportico.
Bill Chisholm‘s group: Chisholm, whose involvement was first reported by Bloomberg, is the co-founder, managing partner, and chief investment officer of Symphony Technology Group, which manages about $10 billion in assets, per Sportico.

The Celtics’ majority ownership group first announced last July that it would be putting control of the franchise up for sale. The plan laid out at that time was to sell a majority share (ie. 51%) of the team in late 2024 or early 2025, with Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck remaining in his current role until the balance of the sale is completed in 2028.

It’s unclear whether or not that’s still the plan, according to Novy-Williams and Soshnick, who note that the messiness of the Timberwolves’ ownership transfer prompted commissioner Adam Silver to suggest that the league may try to avoid sales that play out in multiple stages going forward.

The deadline for potential buyers to submit their initial offers was January 23. A second round of revised bids is reportedly due this Friday.

It’s not yet known whether the four groups involved in the process are fully funded or exactly how much they’re willing to offer for a controlling stake in the defending NBA champions, Novy-Williams and Soshnick write. During the site’s latest round of NBA franchise valuations, Sportico estimated that the Celtics are worth $5.66 billion.

Matisse Thybulle Set To Make Season Debut

March 12th, 2025 at 8:33am CST by Luke Adams

Trail Blazers wing Matisse Thybulle, who has missed the entire 2024/25 season so far, will be available to play on Wednesday vs. New York, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).

Thybulle underwent a procedure in October, just before the start of the regular season, to address inflammation in his right knee. It wasn’t supposed to sideline him for a significant period, but he sustained a bad right ankle sprain in late November during his ramp-up process, which set back his recovery.

Known for his defensive prowess, Thybulle earned a spot on the All-Defensive Second Team in 2021 and again in 2022 as a member of the Sixers, but failed to develop his offensive game during his time in Philadelphia. He was sent to Portland at the 2023 trade deadline and then re-signed with the Blazers during the 2023 offseason on a three-year, $33MM contract.

Thybulle still isn’t much of a scorer, having averaged 5.9 points per game in 87 total outings as a Blazer. However, the 28-year-old has been a more reliable outside threat since the trade, making 35.8% of 3.6 three-point tries per game in Portland after knocking down just 32.5% of 2.1 attempts per game as a Sixer.

While the Blazers aren’t entirely out of the play-in hunt yet, they’re currently mired in a four-game losing streak that has reduced their postseason chances. They sit 12th in the West and are now five full games back of the No. 10 Mavericks with just 16 left to play.

Whether or not Portland is eliminated from the postseason race in the coming weeks, Thybulle should get an opportunity to compete for rotation minutes and make a case for a spot on next season’s roster. The sixth-year veteran holds an $11.55MM player option that he’ll almost certainly exercise, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Blazers will bring him back for 2025/26, since he could become an offseason trade candidate on that expiring deal.