Celtics Notes: G. Williams, Brown, Pritchard, Davison
Celtics forward Grant Williams has been playing through a ligament strain in his right (shooting) elbow that has been exacerbated by muscle inflammation in the surrounding area, league sources tell Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Williams has been wearing a sleeve on his elbow since February 12, Weiss writes, which is around the time he sustained the injury.
According to Weiss, Williams was unable to lift heavy weights for a few weeks, though he was able to resume that activity prior to aggravating the injury in practice over the weekend. The former first-round pick has been dealing with pain when he turns or grabs with his right hand, sources tell Weiss.
Williams’ injury may be one reason why he’s been in a shooting slump, as he posted a .333/.325/.737 shooting line in February, far below his season-long splits of .455/.404/.804. As Weiss notes, his playing time has been cut back as well, with trade deadline addition Mike Muscala and second-year forward Sam Hauser both competing with Williams for minutes.
However, Weiss says Williams didn’t blame the elbow injury for missing both free throws in a tie game at the end of regulation on Monday in Cleveland, when one make would have sealed the win. Boston eventually lost in overtime.
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Williams hasn’t always been known for his shooting ability. In an interesting article for The Athletic, Weiss writes that assistant coach Ben Sullivan, who previously worked with Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee, helped instill confidence in Williams, something he admits he’s struggled with since he’s been dealing with the injury because he doesn’t think of himself as a natural shooter. Williams provides more insight on the injury and says he’s been receiving cortisone treatments, which have helped with the elbow discomfort. “Shot’s feeling good, medicine helps, so it’s just a matter of continuing to be confident and continuing to shoot the way I am,” Williams said, per Weiss. “From now on, it’s a matter of letting it go, let the shot fly, and think about everything after.”
- Star wing Jaylen Brown says he’s grown weary of dealing with the mask he’s been wearing after suffering a facial fracture last month. “I’m kind of tired of the mask, to be honest,” he said (Twitter link via Weiss). “I know it looks cool. But sometimes it’s hard to breathe. It kind of limits your vision at times depending on the lighting and depth perception. But y’all don’t want to hear none of that, that’s something like excuses.”
- Head coach Joe Mazzulla says reserve guard Payton Pritchard could miss the team’s upcoming six-game road trip, which ends March 21 in Sacramento, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Pritchard sustained a left heel injury at the end of regulation in Monday’s game when he missed a contested driving layup. Rookie guard JD Davison, who is on a two-way contract, may stay with the Celtics to provide depth, Washburn adds.
- In case you missed it, the Celtics still have an opening on their standard roster, and they’re also involved in an intriguing second-round subplot that depends on where Houston finishes in the standings.
Trade Breakdown: Dario Saric To The Thunder
This is the sixth entry in our series breaking down the significant trades of the 2022/23 season. As opposed to giving out grades, this series explores why the teams were motivated to make the moves. Let’s dive into a deal between the Suns and Thunder…
On February 9, the Thunder traded forward/center Darius Bazley to the Suns in exchange for forward/center Dario Saric, Phoenix’s 2029 second-round pick and $1MM in cash.
The Thunder’s perspective:
On the surface, this seems like a pretty minor trade that got lost in the shuffle a bit due to all the blockbusters leading up to the deadline. That said, I thought it was interesting for a number of different reasons.
As our Luke Adams explains in our glossary entry on traded player exceptions, even though this seems like a straightforward one-for-one swap, this was actually a non-simultaneous deal for both the Thunder and the Suns, making it mutually beneficial.
A non-simultaneous deal means a team can trade away a single player without immediately taking salary back in return, allowing it to create an outstanding trade exception.
This deal showed the value of having a large ($10,183,800) outstanding traded player exception, which permitted the Thunder to take on Saric’s $9,240,000 contract for “nothing.” That also allowed them to generate a new TPE, worth $4,264,629, which is what Bazley is making this season.
The Suns created their own TPE because they only traded one player and took back less salary than they sent out. It’s worth $4,975,371, which is the difference between Saric’s salary and Bazley’s. Both teams will have until next February to use their new TPEs.
There are plenty of examples of large TPEs not being used at all. Often that has to do with the team’s proximity to the luxury tax and its willingness (or lack thereof) to pay a huge chunk of cash for what could amount to a rental player (many players involved in deadline deals are on expiring or pseudo-expiring contracts — both Saric and Bazley could hit free agency this summer, for example).
The Thunder were in the sweet spot of being over the cap but far enough below the luxury tax line that they could use their large TPE to create an additional asset of sorts to possibly create future value. It also netted them a second-round pick and a little cash, since the Suns were motivated to move off Saric’s contract.
Cap aspects aside, when it was first announced, my first thought was to wonder if Saric might reach a buyout agreement or get waived, even though the Thunder were (and still are) in the play-in race. A handful of days after the deadline, it definitely sounded like he wasn’t going to pursue a buyout, praising the organization and saying he was “open-minded” about his potential role.
However, a report late last month indicated that he nearly was waived as Oklahoma City sought flexibility with its last roster spot, instead choosing to release Eugene Omoruyi.
My second thought was, wait, did the Thunder just make an on-court upgrade and get draft capital back? That very rarely happens.
That’s not to say the Thunder made a win-now move, far from it. The primary objective was landing the second-round pick and creating a new TPE. Saric is on an expiring contract and I’m sure the Thunder’s front office wouldn’t mind if they missed the postseason, though they haven’t shown any signs of blatantly tanking to this point.
He may not be a household name, but Saric is an accomplished player, providing solid value with all three of his previous clubs (he started with Philadelphia and was traded to Minnesota in the Jimmy Butler deal back in ‘18/19). He holds career averages of 11.2 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 1.9 APG on .443/.360/.838 shooting in 402 games (217 starts, 24.0 MPG).
Saric missed all of last season while recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals. He had a second surgery last May to repair a torn meniscus, making it an open question what his form would look like upon his return from two major knee surgeries.
He (understandably) had a very slow start to 2022/23, only appearing in 22 of Phoenix’s first 41 games with averages of 3.8 PPG and 2.8 RPG on .358/.351/.857 shooting in 11.6 MPG. That’s why I said his free agent stock was trending down when I wrote about him in January.
However, he was a rotation fixture in the 15 games (seven starts, 18.5 MPG) leading up to the deadline, averaging 8.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 2.3 APG on .485/.438/.800 shooting. Saric’s solid play has continued post-trade, as he’s averaging 10.1 PPG and 3.7 RPG on a scorching hot .627/.458/.889 shooting line through nine games with the Thunder (14.9 MPG).
The 28-year-old has an excellent feel for the game, using his high basketball IQ to overcome his relative lack of athleticism. He is a below-the-rim finisher, but has good touch and lots of tricks around the basket – he’s shooting 67.1% at the rim this season, which ranks in the 71st percentile, per DunksAndThrees.com.
The Thunder run a five-out offense where every player on the court is capable of dribbling, passing, screening and shooting. All of those are strengths of Saric’s.
He isn’t a great defensive player at either frontcourt position, and he’s undersized against some centers (he’s listed at 6’10” and 225 pounds). That said, he’s generally in the right spots, he just lacks the foot speed to stick on the perimeter and the length to protect the paint.
Oklahoma City has had a ton of draft picks over the past few years, and still has loads more in the future. Bazley was one that didn’t work out.
The No. 23 overall pick of the 2019 draft, Bazley entered the NBA as an excellent athlete with raw skills. He turned into a solid defensive player, but struggled mightily offensively.
I gained a newfound respect for Bazley as a person after I saw a video of him talking about his diminished playing time this season (he only appeared in 36 of 54 games for an average of 15.4 MPG). His team-first attitude and self-awareness were admirable.
While Bazley is certainly young and talented enough that he could develop elsewhere, he was viewed as unlikely to be in the Thunder’s long-term plans even if they had kept him through the deadline. The harsh reality is trades are part of the business.
The Suns’ perspective:
Phoenix’s primary, secondary and tertiary reasons for making this deal were financial. As Luke Adams details in our glossary entry, the NBA’s luxury tax is set up so that the penalties become increasingly punitive the further teams go beyond the tax line.
Trading Saric for Bazley saved the Suns approximately $20MM toward their estimated luxury tax payment. According to Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom, the Suns are currently $22,249,841 over the tax with an estimated luxury tax bill of $53,436,904. And that’s after this trade was made.
Saric started to pick up steam prior to the deadline, was a key contributor to the team’s culture, and played a role in its run to the Finals a couple years ago. Would he have provided $20MM worth of value for the remainder of this season? In the most optimistic scenarios, maybe? But probably not.
Trading for Kevin Durant means there won’t be many minutes at power forward in the playoffs. Ditto at center behind Deandre Ayton. The Suns still have several options to explore backing up those frontcourt spots, including Torrey Craig, T.J. Warren, Ish Wainright, Jock Landale, Bismack Biyombo and Bazley.
Maybe the Suns like Bazley as a defender and believe he has untapped upside on offense. He’s still just 22 years old. But he had also only appeared in one of a possible seven games (for seven minutes) entering Wednesday’s matchup with his former team.
In all likelihood, Bazley’s role will be minor going forward. As a championship hopeful, the Suns can’t really afford to play him when it counts, because opposing teams dare him to shoot and he’s only converting 50% at the rim, which is in the sixth percentile of all players, per DunksAndThrees.
Given Phoenix’s cap situation going forward, plus its window of contention and where Bazley is at in his development, the odds of him receiving a qualifying offer to become a restricted free agent seem slim. If that scenario plays out, he would instead become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.
The $4,975,371 TPE the Suns created as part of the deal could be used to acquire a player who makes more than the minimum at some point in the future. Losing one second-round pick several years down the line isn’t a big deal, as a few are typically up for sale in every draft.
How far the Suns go in the postseason will ultimately be determined by their star players’ health. Obviously, Durant suffering an ankle sprain just three games after returning from a knee injury isn’t ideal, but they’ve still been on a roll lately, winning 16 of their past 21 games.
The Suns are betting they have enough depth behind Durant and Ayton that losing Saric won’t come back to bite them – a reasonable position, particularly considering how much money they saved by moving him.
Knicks Notes: Hart, Quickley, Toppin, Fournier, Barrett
Josh Hart appears open to a long-term contract with the Knicks, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype said in a discussion about the team with Ian Begley of SNY. Hart has been a perfect fit since being acquired from the Trail Blazers at the trade deadline, and he has quickly become a favorite of head coach Tom Thibodeau.
Hart has a $13MM player option for next season, but he’s expected to turn it down and test the market. Scotto said Hart enjoys being in New York and will likely get a three- or four-year offer from the team.
Begley adds that the Knicks wouldn’t have parted with a future first-round pick along with Cam Reddish unless they were confident that they could keep Hart. He notes that Hart has talked about his connections to team president Leon Rose as well as Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle and is looking for stability after being traded four times in his first six NBA seasons.
There’s more on the Knicks from Scotto and Begley:
- Teams may have missed an opportunity by not trading for Immanuel Quickley earlier this season, per Scotto, who says there were rumors that New York would have taken a first-round pick in return. Quickley is now among the favorites for Sixth Man of the Year honors and may be in line for a rookie scale extension this summer. Begley suggests the Knicks’ offer will have to be “something significant” to get Quickley to accept, adding that he’s not likely to give them a “home team discount.”
- Randle’s reemergence should make Obi Toppin a strong trade candidate, according to Scotto. The third-year power forward is playing just 14.6 minutes per game and will make $6.8MM next season. Begley states that the Knicks talked to several teams about Toppin before the deadline, including the Pacers, but no one was willing to offer the draft assets they wanted in return for the former lottery pick.
- New York will also look for a taker for Evan Fournier, who will have a virtual $18.8MM expiring contract next season because there’s a team option for 2024/25. Fournier was brought up in trade talks with the Raptors involving OG Anunoby, but Toronto was asking for three first-round picks and the Knicks weren’t confident about re-signing Anunoby when he reaches free agency in 2024, Scotto says. The Lakers also had some interest in Fournier earlier in the season, Begley adds.
- RJ Barrett hasn’t been in Thibodeau’s closing lineups recently, and Scotto believes the Knicks would be willing to use him as a trade chip if they chase a star player this summer.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 3/9/2023
Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today.
Click here to read the transcript, and join us next Tuesday afternoon for our next live chat, hosted by Dana Gauruder.
Kevin Love: Leaving Cavaliers Was “Incredibly Hard”
Kevin Love ended his time with the Cavaliers after nearly nine seasons when he accepted a buyout last month, but leaving Cleveland wasn’t an easy choice, he tells Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Love, who signed with the Heat, talked about the decision to move on after facing his former team for the first time Wednesday night.
“Professionally, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do without question,” Love said. “I think you guys know how much I love Cleveland and Ohio. All the fans there have always supported me and the team. Naturally, winning there makes it bigger than guys like myself, Kyrie (Irving), Bron (LeBron James). Even here I look up and see the championship banners and I’m like, ‘That’s special.’ I go back to Brecksville and I’m like, ‘We did that. We really did that.’ That was incredibly hard to do after eight and a half seasons.”
Although Love still feels a strong attachment to Cleveland, he wanted to find a situation where he could still play. Love had been out of the Cavs’ lineup since January 24, missing several games due to lower back pain and then being pulled from the rotation when Dean Wade returned from injury.
Love wasn’t effective this season and it became harder for coach J.B. Bickerstaff to find minutes for him. The 34-year-old forward shot just 38.9% from the floor in 41 games and was a glaring liability on defense as rival teams targeted him in the pick-and-roll. A lingering thumb injury also limited his effectiveness.
“I think it was a really tough decision for him to take me out of the lineup,” Love said of Bickerstaff. “I think they wanted to go young and stick with those guys, especially Ricky (Rubio) and Dean getting back from injury. They wanted to get the guys more minutes. But the natural frustration is you want to be out there, you want to have those conversations in the locker room, you want to be in those timeouts, those type of situations.
“I think it like all came so fast for me and there wasn’t any prospect of me going back out there and playing — and I wanted that. I was hungry for that. I was foaming at the mouth for that. Those were really tough conversations, but those are ones that I’m grateful they had with me so I was able to find something else and find a place where I could be happy and play.”
According to Fedor, Love reached out to Wade after finalizing his buyout to let him know there was no animosity and to encourage him to take advantage of his opportunity. He also talked to Rubio, his teammate in Minnesota before they reunited in Clevland, about taking over as the team’s veteran leader.
Love remains close to his former teammates and is still on their group text chat, Fedor adds. He greeted several of them before Wednesday’s game and said it’s an odd feeling to see them on the opposing sideline.
Winding up in Miami was an unexpected development for Love, who was hoping to retire in Cleveland. Now he’s adjusting to a new team that could potentially meet the Cavs in a playoff series.
“That’s in my mind and my vision, I thought it would be Cleveland without a doubt, especially after last year and the start of this year,” Love said. “Now you’ve got to put that in the rearview. It is tough after eight and a half years, moving in the middle of the season and still living out of a hotel, but in terms of welcoming me with open arms and a class organization, the Miami Heat have been just unbelievable. I can see why they have that rich history and have had so much success because they have been so good to me.”
Steven Adams Out At Least Four More Weeks
Grizzlies center Steven Adams had a stem cell injection on Wednesday as part of his treatment for a PCL sprain in his right knee, the team announced (via Twitter). His condition will be reevaluated in about four weeks.
Adams hasn’t played since January 22, but there had been hope that he was nearing a return. He was doing 5-on-5 work in practice in late February, and coach Taylor Jenkins floated the possibility that he might be able to play on the team’s recent road trip, which wrapped up Tuesday.
With a month left in the regular season, it’s almost certain that Adams won’t be back before the playoffs. His availability for the postseason will depend on how his knee responds to the latest treatment.
The news on Adams continues a brutal week for the Grizzlies, who saw Ja Morant step away from the team for an indefinite time following a gun-related incident over the weekend and learned that Brandon Clarke will be lost for the season with a torn Achilles. That means Memphis, which has fallen into third place in the West after three straight losses, will have to finish the season without two of its frontcourt rotation players.
The Grizzlies’ recent downturn began after Adams suffered his injury. He’s averaging 8.6 points and 11.5 rebounds in 42 games and brings a physical presence in the middle that has been missed.
The 29-year-old agreed to a two-year extension before the start of the season and is under contract through 2024/25.
Lonzo Ball May Need Third Surgery On Knee
Bulls guard Lonzo Ball may have to undergo a third surgical procedure on his injured knee, writes ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Another operation would likely mean six more months of recovery and rehab time, Wojnarowski adds.
Sources tell Woj that Ball’s Klutch Sports representatives are working with the team to consult with specialists before a decision is made. Another procedure would sideline the 25-year-old guard until the fall and would affect his ability to prepare for next season.
Ball has already been through two operations since suffering a torn meniscus in the knee on January 14, 2022. Although he was originally projected to miss just a few weeks, complications keep pushing back the timeline and Ball has already been ruled out for the rest of this season.
Ball’s original surgery was 14 months ago, and he underwent an arthroscopic debridement procedure in September to clear up lingering issues with his knee. Wojnarowski’s sources say that Ball has made incremental progress since then, but he still can’t run, cut or jump without feeling pain in the knee.
Ball came to Chicago in a sign-and-trade deal with the Pelicans in the summer of 2021. He helped lead the Bulls to a 27-13 record before the injury, averaging 13.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 35 games. In his absence, Chicago dropped to the sixth seed last season and is currently 11th in the East at 30-36.
Ball still has one season left on his contract at $20.5MM, along with a $21.4MM player option for 2024/25.
There’s little chance that Chicago will petition the NBA to have Ball’s injury declared career-ending, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The Bulls would still owe Ball the remainder of his contract, and Marks points out that even if his salary is removed from the cap, the team wouldn’t have room this summer.
Fred VanVleet Rips Officiating Following Loss To Clippers
Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet will likely be facing a significant fine from the NBA after he laid into the officiating – and referee Ben Taylor in particular – following his team’s defeat at the hands of the Clippers on Wednesday night, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
The Raptors, who lost by eight points, were called for 23 fouls compared to 18 for the Clippers, Youngmisuk notes. That’s not a huge disparity, but Los Angeles shot 17 more free throws than Toronto (31-14) and VanVleet was called for a technical foul by Taylor in the third quarter.
“I don’t mind, I’ll take a fine, I don’t really care,” VanVleet began (Twitter video link via Faizal Khamisa of Sportsnet.ca). “I thought Ben Taylor was f—ing terrible tonight. I think that on most nights, you know, out of the three (referees), there’s one or two that just f— the game up. It’s been like that a couple of games in a row. Denver was tough, obviously.”
The Raptors suffered a five-point loss on Monday in a game in which they were called for 20 fouls, compared to just 12 for the Nuggets. With Denver up by one point in the final minute of the game, referee Scott Foster whistled Raptors forward Scottie Barnes for a technical foul and ejected him.
“Most of the refs are trying hard,” VanVleet continued. “I like a lot of the refs, they’re trying hard, they’re pretty fair, they communicate well. And then you got the other ones who just want to be d—s and it just kind of f—s the game up. Nobody’s coming to see that s–t. They come to see the players. I think we’re losing a little bit of the fabric of what the NBA is and was.”
VanVleet also referred to his technical foul on Wednesday as “bulls–t” and pointed out that Taylor has been responsible for several of his techs this season. Of VanVleet’s eight technical fouls this season, five have occurred in games Taylor was working, and three of those were called by Taylor himself, per Youngmisuk.
“At a certain point as a player, you feel it’s personal,” VanVleet said. “It’s never a good place to be.”
The maximum amount the NBA can fine a player without being subject to independent arbitration is $50K. Most fines for criticism of officiating are smaller than that, but most critics don’t go as far as VanVleet did, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Raptors guard docked $50K for this comments.
Injury Notes: Durant, Doncic, Ingram, Fox, Morris
Kevin Durant missed what was supposed to be his first home game with the Suns after turning his left ankle during warmups Wednesday night, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
Durant was taking part in an individual drill with coaches when he slipped on the floor as he started to shoot (video link from Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). He landed on the court, but was able to get up and finish his workout, Windhorst adds.
Shortly afterward, the Suns announced that he would miss the game due to ankle soreness. Durant, who returned seven days ago after missing six weeks with an MCL sprain, reported some swelling in the ankle after the incident. He was in a walking boot after the game, Rankin tweets.
“We’ll get more testing done tomorrow,” coach Monty Williams said, “but right now it’s just an ankle sprain and we don’t have anything official to report.” (Twitter link from Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports)
Durant has played just three games for Phoenix since being acquired from the Nets in a blockbuster trade last month. He’s averaging 26.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.9 assists while shooting 69% from the field and 53.8% from three-point range.
There’s more injury news to pass along:
- Mavericks star Luka Doncic plans to get an MRI on Thursday after leaving tonight’s game with a left thigh strain, tweets Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Doncic was favoring his left leg as he walked into a post-game media session and replied “not good” when reporters asked how he felt, Lopez adds. Doncic said he has been dealing with pain in the thigh for about a week, according to Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). “I think we all can see he’s not moving well, so shooting, defensive, it’s affecting everything,” coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s trying to fight through it and help his teammates, but he had to leave.”
- In the same game, the Pelicans lost Brandon Ingram to a right ankle sprain late in the first half, tweets Christian Clark of NOLA. Ingram later returned to the team’s bench in street clothes. He missed two months of the season with a toe injury before returning in late January.
- Kings guard De’Aaron Fox sat out Monday’s game with a sore left hamstring, but he expects to be ready for Thursday, tweets Sean Cunningham of KTXL. Fox is also experiencing wrist pain, but he plans to play through it.
- Monte Morris played tonight after missing the Wizards‘ last six games with lower back soreness, per Ava Wallace of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
Bucks Notes: Middleton, Holiday, Roster Moves, Wigginton
The Bucks have been almost unbeatable when Khris Middleton has played this season, but coach Mike Budenholzer was in no rush to put him back in the starting lineup, writes Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Before posting 24 points and 11 assists in a starting role Tuesday night, Middleton had been used off the bench since returning to action on January 23.
Budenholzer was being deliberately cautious with Middleton, who missed the first 20 games of the season due to injuries. Milwaukee is now 18-4 in games that Middleton has played, and Budenholzer plans to keep him in the starting unit for the rest of the season.
“I think it’s just more important to get the minutes,” Middleton said. “I mean, starting is kind of up in the air or whatever. Finishing games and playing minutes I think is what most guys want to do. They want to finish games, they want to play as many minutes as they can.”
There’s more on the Bucks:
- Jrue Holiday missed Tuesday’s game with soreness in his neck, and Budenholzer called it more of an ongoing issue than a sudden injury, Owczarski adds. “Visiting with him a little bit, I think it’s just kind of been coming … it’s just kind of gotten kind of progressively worse,” Budenholzer said. “Hopefully it’s short term. We’ll just see how he feels day to day.” Holiday has been listed as probable for Thursday’s game against the Nets, Owczarski tweets.
- Players are supportive of moves to bolster the roster with veterans such as Jae Crowder and Goran Dragic, even though it cuts into minutes for some players already on the team, Owczarski notes in another Journal-Sentinel article. “They do a great job of bringing high quality guys in, guys that are unselfish that want to sacrifice anything they can for the team to win,” Middleton said of the front office. “But then also I think we have an easy locker room, easy guys to get along with, many guys from different backgrounds but we have one common thing in mind and that’s to win. When you put all that together it’s easy for guys to come in and fit.”
- Lindell Wigginton‘s two-way deal with the Bucks is for two years, Hoops Rumors has learned.