Southeast Notes: Murray, Oladipo, O. Robinson, Isaac
Hawks guard Dejounte Murray received a $500K bonus earlier this week after he converted his 123rd three-pointer, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter links).
As Marks notes, the bonus was considered unlikely because Murray had never previously reached that milestone. Atlanta’s 2022/23 team salary will increase by $500K as a result, moving that number just $1.1MM below the luxury tax threshold.
The bonus will also impact Murray’s cap hit for next season, bumping it from $17.7MM up to $18.2MM, Marks adds. The Hawks were tracking the likelihood of the bonus being reached, plus they added Saddiq Bey, which is why they were motivated to make a salary-dump trade at the deadline, according to Marks.
Through 61 games (36.4 MPG) in his first season with Atlanta, Murray is averaging 21.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 6.0 APG and 1.5 SPG on .467/.362/.847 shooting. He will be an unrestricted free agent in 2024.
Here’s more from the Southeast:
- Victor Oladipo has had plenty of highs and lows in 2022/23. He missed the first 24 games of the season with a knee injury, but he played in his 35th game on Friday night versus Cleveland and appears on track to play his most games since 2018/19, when he suffered a major quad injury. As Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes, Oladipo has struggled with inconsistency on offense, but has played solid defense thus far. “Everybody goes through stuff, everybody goes things,” the Heat guard said. “It’s about how you have resolve and how resilient you are, it really defines who you are as a person and defines who you are as a man. So I’m just going to continue to keep getting better and staying aggressive.”
- The Heat signed a couple of frontcourt veterans last month in Kevin Love and Cody Zeller, which removed Orlando Robinson from the rotation. The rookie center, who is on a two-way deal with Miami, only has four active games remaining as part of his contract, so the temporary plan is to send Robinson back to the G League for playing time, Chiang writes in a subscriber-only story for The Miami Herald. The Heat have enough wiggle room beneath the tax line to convert Robinson to a standard deal if they want to, but the problem is their 15-man roster is full, so they don’t appear to be in any rush on that decision, Chiang notes.
- Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel (subscriber link) believes it’s time for the Magic to move on from Jonathan Isaac, who underwent season-ending adductor surgery after appearing in just 11 games. Bianchi heaps praise on Isaac off the court and believes he has plenty of potential on it, but says his lengthy injury history makes it too risky to keep him around. Isaac missed all of ’20/21 and ’21/22 while recovering from a torn ACL, and missed a significant amount of time in his first three seasons as well. The 25-year-old’s contract for next season is partially guaranteed for $7.6MM, but it would be “silly” to bring him back and pay him his full $17.4MM salary, according to Bianchi.
Injury Notes: Garland, Powell, Simons, Shamet, Mavs
Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland will be sidelined for Friday’s rematch with the Heat in Miami, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Garland was originally listed as questionable with a right quad contusion, but was unable to go through shootaround. The injury is considered relatively minor, sources tell Fedor.
Garland appeared to suffer the contusion early in the fourth quarter of Cleveland’s initial matchup with Miami on Wednesday, notes Danny Cunningham of ESPN Cleveland (Twitter video link). He was hit in the leg by Bam Adebayo‘s moving screen, which was called a foul.
The Cavs confirmed (via Twitter) that Garland would be sidelined on Friday, with Caris LeVert taking his place in the starting lineup. Garland is having an outstanding fourth season, averaging 22.0 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 7.9 APG and 1.3 SPG on an excellent .471/.430/.860 shooting line through 58 games (35.2 MPG).
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Clippers guard Norman Powell will miss at least one more week, which is when he’ll be reeavaluated, tweets ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. The eight-year veteran continues to receive treatment for his left shoulder subluxation. He is the team’s third-leading scorer at 16.6 PPG, posting a strong shooting line of .475/.410/.803 through 54 games (25.8 MPG), primarily as a reserve.
- Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons returned to the starting lineup for Friday’s matchup in Philadelphia, the team announced (via Twitter). He had missed the previous four games after aggravating an ankle sprain.
- Backup guard Landry Shamet continues to be hampered by right foot soreness, having last played on January 16. He will be reevaluated in one week, the Suns announced (Twitter link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports).
- The Mavericks might be without their two star players on Saturday in Memphis, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Luka Doncic (left thigh strain) has already been ruled out, while Kyrie Irving is questionable with right foot soreness. Irving missed Friday’s practice for personal reasons, per MacMahon, but head coach Jason Kidd was hopeful he might be able to rejoin the team on Saturday. Doncic is considered day-to-day after his MRI results showed no damage, MacMahon adds.
2023 Draft Notes: Big Boards, Mocks, Thompson Twins
Villanova wing Cam Whitmore has been a polarizing prospect this season, with some scouts viewing him as having the highest upside among all college prospects, while some view him as more of a late lottery pick. Sam Vecenie of The Athletic believes the pace-and-space NBA game will better suit Whitmore’s explosiveness and shot creation ability, which has been somewhat hampered by the more congested college game.
Whitmore is ranked No. 5 on Vecenie’s latest top 100 big board ahead of the 2023 draft. Vecenie’s full top 10 is as follows (in order): Victor Wembanyama (Metropolitans 92, France), Scoot Henderson (G League Ignite), Brandon Miller (Alabama), Amen Thompson (Overtime Elite), Whitmore, Ausar Thompson (OTE), Jarace Walker (Houston), Anthony Black (Arkansas), Gradey Dick (Kansas) and Cason Wallace (Kentucky).
Here are a few more draft-related notes:
- Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer recently updated his own 2023 big board, and there is a notable difference with Vecenie’s. While nearly all talent evaluators have Wembanyama and Henderson as the top two prospects, O’Connor ranks Miller No. 2 and Henderson No. 3. O’Connor is also high on Baylor’s Keyonte George, ranking him No. 8; he was No. 16 on Vecenie’s board. O’Connor also updated his mock draft for the first round, which can be found right here.
- In an Insider-only story for ESPN, Jonathan Givony provides his latest two-round mock draft and takes a look at 12 prospects who are likely competing in their final college games due to a lack of team success. According to Givony, a couple of former top high school prospects may have hurt their stock more than they helped it this season. One is South Carolina’s Gregory Jackson II (No. 27 in the mock), who reclassified to 2023 and was the top recruit for ’24. The other is Emoni Bates (No. 52), who transferred to Eastern Michigan after a poor freshman season at Memphis. As Givony writes, both Jackson and Bates struggled with offensive efficiency, poor decision-making, and lackadaisical defense.
- Twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson recently sat down for an interview with Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter video link). Both players are projected to go in the top 10 — in Givony’s mock, they’re selected back-to-back at Nos. 4 and 5.
Blazers Notes: Lillard, Offseason, Thybulle, Front Office
At 31-35, the Trail Blazers currently hold the 13th seed in the Western Conference, but star guard Damian Lillard remains bullish about the team’s chances of securing a playoff or play-in berth. Speaking to Chris Mannix of SI.com, Lillard pointed out that nine Western teams – including eight ahead of Portland the standings – have between 33 and 35 losses.
“So it looks like, ‘Oh, you know, trying to get a play-in spot,'” Lillard said. “But everybody’s playing each other and everybody’s in the same thing. We could end up fifth. In a perfect world, it’s possible. Right now, we just have to keep fighting and try to be one of those teams that comes out on the other side.”
While Lillard hasn’t given up hope on making some noise this spring, he recognizes that the coming offseason will be an important one for a Portland club that badly wants to take another step toward legitimate title contention.
If they miss the playoffs and the Knicks make it, the Blazers will control two first-round picks, including one in the lottery. Based on his comments to Mannix, it sounds like Lillard would like the front office to explore dangling those draft assets in a package for an impact player.
“That means we go into the offseason and we don’t come out the way we have in the past,” Lillard said of what he’d like to see this summer. “Where it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re going to try to do something,’ and then we watch other people capitalize on things that are out there, and we pass, pass, pass, pass and can’t get anything done and then it’s done. It’s like, ‘All right, well this is what we got going into the season with.’ And I think as far as execution, that means we go out there, we be aggressive and we try to actually get something done. Stepping out there and giving ourselves a chance to be one of those teams in the end.”
Here’s more on the Blazers:
- While Matisse Thybulle remains fond of Philadelphia, he admitted ahead of his return on Friday that he fell victim to some “more fear-based play” when he was a member of the Sixers and has felt rejuvenated since joining the Trail Blazers a month ago. “It’s been such a warm, welcoming reception from top to bottom, front office to coaching staff to players, a genuine one at that,” Thybulle said, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). “Like they are really happy to have me; teammates are excited to have my skill set on the floor with them. Coaches are excited to coach me. It’s been really nice to feel wanted in that capacity.”
- In a separate story for The Inquirer, Pompey says that the Trail Blazers are considered likely to re-sign Thybulle when he becomes eligible for free agency this summer. “That’s the thought behind it,” Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups said of trading for Thybulle at February’s deadline. “He’s the type of guy that we like, that’s going to compete on the defensive end and is going to play a selfless game on the offensive end. And he’s just a winning spirit.”
- Kevin Pelton of ESPN takes a look at the current and former WNBA stars who have roles in the Trail Blazers’ front office, including Tina Thompson, Asjha Jones, Sheri Sam, and Evina Westbrook. As Pelton writes, general manager Joe Cronin liked the idea of hiring WNBA players because many of them have diverse résumés as players, including time spent in overseas leagues during the WNBA offseasons.
2022/23 Disabled Player Exceptions Set To Expire
The disabled player exceptions that teams have been granted throughout the 2022/23 season will expire if they’re not used on Friday, since March 10 is the deadline to use or lose those exceptions.
As our breakdown shows, the Celtics, Pistons, Raptors, and Thunder each received a disabled player exception due to season-ending injuries suffered by Danilo Gallinari, Cade Cunningham, Otto Porter, and Chet Holmgren, respectively.
Of those four teams, only one has used its disabled player exception — the Thunder absorbed Maurice Harkless‘ expiring contract into their Holmgren DPE back in September. Boston, Detroit, and Toronto have yet to use their exceptions and appear unlikely to do so.
We go into more detail on how exactly disabled player exceptions work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, a DPE gives a team the opportunity to add an injury replacement by either signing a player to a one-year contract, trading for a player in the final year of his contract, or placing a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract.
Teams are no longer permitted to make trades this season, and there are currently no players on waivers. Theoretically, a disabled player exception could be used today to sign a free agent, but a player on the open market at this time of year typically commands no more than the minimum salary, and there has been no indication that the Celtics, Pistons, or Raptors have their eye on anyone.
Poll: Most Impactful Buyout Market Addition
It was a busy February on the buyout market, with 10 different players giving up money as part of agreements to be released by their respective teams.
All 10 of those players have since found new homes, though one (Leandro Bolmaro) returned to Europe and one (Nerlens Noel) may have a new home only temporarily, since he’s still on a 10-day contract for now.
That leaves eight players who have signed rest-of-season contracts with potential contenders or playoff teams, and several of them have already claimed rotation roles with their new clubs.
Veteran point guard Reggie Jackson, for instance, has stepped into the role of second unit play-maker that Bones Hyland previously occupied with the Nuggets. In his first seven games with Denver, Jackson has struggled with his shot (.300/.324/.667) but is averaging 21.0 minutes per night and setting up his teammates (3.4 assists per game) while taking care of the ball reasonably well (1.1 turnovers per game).
Kevin Love, like Jackson, is once again playing regular minutes after being demoted from his role with his old team. And like Jackson, he has struggled to score efficiently so far, shooting just .396/.242/.875 in seven appearances (all starts; 22.1 MPG) for the Heat. Both Love and Jackson appear to have found good fits with their new teams, though they’ll need to boost their respective shooting percentages if they hope to keep playing 20-plus minutes per night.
Love isn’t the only buyout-market signee to immediately step into a starting role. Russell Westbrook has done the same with the Clippers and has become a major part of their rotation, averaging 30.4 minutes per game in his first seven contests. He’s still struggling with turnovers (4.1 per game) and hasn’t exactly been a defensive stopper, but has put up 14.1 PPG and 8.1 APG on 51.9% shooting.
While Terrence Ross and Justin Holiday weren’t brought into be difference-makers, they’ve played pretty well so far for the Suns and Mavericks, respectively. Ross is averaging 11.2 points in just 20.2 minutes per contest (five games) while making 39.3% of his 5.6 three-pointers per night; Holiday has made threes at the exact same clip (39.3% on 4.0 attempts per game) and has started two of his seven games with Dallas.
Patrick Beverley (Bulls), Will Barton (Raptors), and Goran Dragic (Bucks) are some of the other notable buyout market additions, but Beverley and Barton are on teams battling for play-in spots, and Dragic has yet to make his debut for his new team, so it remains to be seen how much impact they’ll be able to have.
Beverley, at least, is playing pretty big minutes in Chicago, starting all seven of his games so far and logging 28.0 MPG. And Dragic’s team appears well positioned to make a deep postseason run, so he should have plenty of time to get healthy and chip in. Barton hasn’t earned much of a role yet in Toronto, however.
Expectations are relatively low for players signed as free agents in February or March, so we shouldn’t count on any of these players to swing a playoff series — if they can be productive rotation players into the spring, that’ll constitute a win.
We want to know what you think. Which of this year’s buyout market additions will end up being the most impactful down the stretch and in the postseason?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Which buyout market addition will be most impactful?
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Russell Westbrook (Clippers) 32% (272)
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Terrence Ross (Suns) 18% (151)
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Reggie Jackson (Nuggets) 14% (124)
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Patrick Beverley (Bulls) 11% (96)
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Kevin Love (Heat) 10% (82)
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Goran Dragic (Bucks) 6% (52)
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Justin Holiday (Mavericks) 5% (45)
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Another player 4% (36)
Total votes: 858
Nets Notes: Noel, Simmons, Duke, Smith, Ayton
With Spencer Dinwiddie (rest), Nic Claxton (right thumb sprain, left Achilles tendinopathy), Cameron Johnson (right knee soreness), and Royce O’Neale (left knee soreness) all unavailable in Milwaukee on Thursday, the Nets ran out a new-look starting lineup that scored just 15 total points, the lowest mark for any starting five since 2008, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link).
One of Brooklyn’s new starter was Nerlens Noel, who was playing in just his second game as a Net. Despite not scoring a single point, Noel was the only starter who had a plus/minus rating better than minus-14 (he was a plus-2) and made a positive impression on head coach Jacque Vaughn, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post relays.
“He continues to get himself in shape,” Vaughn said. “The charge that he took was great, putting his body on the line, so that was great. A (blocked shot) was great. So those things we want to continue to see from him.”
Noel’s contract with the Nets only covers 10 days, but so far he hasn’t been used like a player the team plans to soon part ways with, logging 18 minutes in consecutive games. Vaughn’s postgame comments also hinted that he expects the big man to be in Brooklyn for more than just 10 days.
“He’ll continue to learn conceptually what we want to do on the defensive end, and we’re switching back and forth between defenses, you know, so you got to turn your brain on and off and back on again,” Vaughn said of Noel. “So that challenge is what’s ahead of him.”
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Ben Simmons, still dealing with knee and back issues, missed his eighth game in a row on Thursday, and Vaughn said Simmons’ back inflammation remains “in the process of settling down,” per Lewis. “A big piece of it is still the strengthening, to make sure that there’s no reoccurrence,” Vaughn said. “And then for a while we had to kind of press pause a little bit in order for the inflammation in the back to kind of settle down a little bit. So last few days, that’s what that’s look like.”
- Although Brooklyn’s starting five was ineffective on Thursday, the team showed off its depth, scoring 98 bench points. That total was the highest in a regular season game since at least 1982, according to Reynolds, who notes (via Twitter) that Toronto scored 100 bench points vs. Brooklyn in a playoff game in 2020.
- Nets two-way players David Duke and Dru Smith got a rare chance to play rotation minutes at the NBA level on Thursday and combined for 30 points. Duke and Smith have spent much of the season playing key roles for a Long Island Nets team that won its 16th straight game on Thursday, led by veteran point guard Chris Chiozza, according to NetsDaily. Brooklyn’s NBAGL affiliate now holds a league-best 22-3 record.
- Sign-and-trade rules would have made it tricky for the Nets to acquire center Deandre Ayton from Phoenix in a package for Kevin Durant last summer, but Ayton would’ve been much easier to move at last month’s deadline. However, Ayton wasn’t part of the Suns‘ package for Durant and league sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN (Insider link) that Brooklyn was “never much interested” in trading for the former No. 1 pick.
And-Ones: Team USA, Referees, Most Improved Player, Oden
Ahead of this year’s World Cup, Team USA will play a pair of exhibition games in Abu Dhabi in August, writes ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. The U.S. national team will face Germany on August 18 and Greece on August 20 in the World Cup tune-ups.
As Windhorst outlines, the exhibition games seem to be part of a concerted effort by the NBA to further establish itself in the Middle East. The Bucks and Hawks played a pair of preseason games in Abu Dhabi this past fall, and the league opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Abu Dhabi in 2022.
Additionally, foreign sovereign wealth funds are now permitted to become minority shareholders in NBA franchises by purchasing stakes of up to 20%. According to Windhorst, Mubadala (Abu Dhabi’s fund) has reportedly displayed interest in making that sort of investment in an NBA team.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- After blasting the league’s officiating – and singling out referee Ben Taylor – Raptors guard Fred VanVleet received a relatively light fine, which will give players the “green light” to continue criticizing the game’s officials, Windhorst stated during a Get Up segment on Friday (YouTube video link). VanVleet could have been fined up to $50K, but was only docked $30K, which Windhorst notes is less than Ja Morant and Marcus Smart were penalized earlier in the season for “heat-of-the-moment” curses at referees during games.
- Josh Robbins, Kelly Iko, and Eric Nehm of The Athletic debated the frontrunners for Most Improved Player and weren’t in total agreement on which player deserves the award at this point. Robbins and Iko like Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, while Nehm favors Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen. All three writers have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder as their current runner-up.
- Mirin Fader of The Ringer takes an in-depth look at former No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden‘s efforts to continue finding joy working in basketball following his brief, injury-marred NBA career.
- Bill Duffy‘s BDA Sports is being acquired by WME Sports, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who explores what the purchase means for the two agencies, Duffy, and BDA’s clients (a group that includes Luka Doncic).
NBA To Implement Hawk-Eye Tracking System Beginning In 2023/24
The NBA will begin using Sony’s Hawk-Eye tracking system during the 2023/24 season, the league announced on Thursday in a press release. The technology, which can capture movement in three dimensions, will be used to track both the players and the ball.
While the league’s announcement doesn’t specify exactly how that tracking data will be used during the ’23/24 season, one stated goal is to improve the on-court basketball analytics available to teams.
Perhaps more notably, another one of the NBA’s goals is to use the technology to “enhance officiating by increasing the accuracy of calls and the speed of gameplay.” According to the release, Hawk-Eye may eventually be used to automate the calls for goaltending and out-of-bounds plays, among others.
The Hawk-Eye system is already employed by a number of other sports, including soccer and tennis. Soccer’s most recent World Cup in Qatar used Hawk-Eye to review offside calls, while many tennis tournaments have replaced line judges with automated line calls by Hawk-Eye.
According to Thursday’s announcement, the league has been testing Hawk-Eye at Summer League and at a handful of NBA arenas since 2019. Based on that data collection, the league is satisfied that the system “meets the accuracy and latency needed to provide best-in-class ball and pose tracking to the NBA.”
Injury Notes: Mathurin, Brunson, Kuminga, Giannis
Pacers rookie Bennedict Mathurin appeared in each of his team’s first 67 games this season, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to suit up for all 82. As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star writes, Mathurin had to be carried to the locker room after spraining his right ankle in the first quarter of Thursday’s win over Houston, and head coach Rick Carlisle said later in the night that he expects the guard to miss some time.
“It’s gonna look different out there without Benn,” Carlisle said. “… I certainly don’t believe he’ll play either of the Detroit games (on Saturday and Monday.) Other guys will have to be ready.”
Mathurin will likely to be evaluated further on Friday to determine whether he’ll have to be ruled out for a set amount of time or whether the injury will be considered day-to-day. Assuming he does miss multiple games, the Pacers figure to lean more heavily on wings like Aaron Nesmith, Chris Duarte, Jordan Nwora, as Dopirak notes.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, who missed two games due to left foot soreness, returned on Thursday in Sacramento but wasn’t able to finish the game and didn’t come out for the second half, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. “He just re-aggravated it, but I haven’t talked to the medical people yet,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Just soreness.”
- Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga rolled his ankle during pregame warmups on Thursday and was unavailable vs. Memphis, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN. X-rays on the injury were negative, but Kuminga was wearing a boot after the game, according to Madeline Kenney of The Bay Area News Group (Twitter link).
- After initially being listed as probable with a non-COVID illness, Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out for the Bucks‘ game on Thursday due to right hand soreness. Antetokounmpo, who is also dealing with right knee soreness, sprained his right wrist just before the All-Star break, but head coach Mike Budenholzer doesn’t believe the new injury is related to that, per Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I think just generally playing and getting hit and stuff like that,” Budenholzer said. “… I don’t think it’s a specific moment or incident or anything like that. We’ll be monitoring and watching it closely.”