Central Notes: Love, Mitchell, Bulls, Ingles
Don’t expect Kevin Love to be on the move before this season’s trade deadline, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes in a subscriber-only mailbag. While the Cavaliers will likely peruse the trade market in search of a small forward upgrade, Love’s cap hit of nearly $29MM makes him unlikely to be dealt, according to Fedor, who points to Cedi Osman and Caris LeVert as more logical trade candidates for the team.
The Cavaliers and Love actually have mutual interest in extending their relationship beyond 2022/23, sources tell Fedor. Love will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, and Fedor wouldn’t be surprised if the veteran power forward ends up re-signing with Cleveland at that point on a “more reasonable number that works for both sides.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- The Cavaliers will be without Donovan Mitchell for a second consecutive night on Saturday due to right lower leg soreness, per Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Love, who is battling low back soreness, will also miss his second straight game.
- The Bulls have no interest in acquiring Russell Westbrook from the Lakers, even if it means adding multiple draft picks, a source tells Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. While Cowley doesn’t explicitly say so, this report appears to be a response to the rumor about the Lakers internally discussing whether Chicago might become open to the idea of moving DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic for Westbrook and draft assets. Cowley acknowledges that the Bulls’ thinking could change before the February trade deadline, but says the focus for now is getting Lonzo Ball back and pushing for a playoff spot.
- Bucks forward Joe Ingles, who continues to work his way back from an ACL tear, has been assigned to the Wisconsin Herd for a second time for practice reps, tweets Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Jordan Nwora and rookie MarJon Beauchamp were also sent to the Herd, Nehm notes.
Injury Notes: Nets, Conley, Prince, Adams
The Nets will be extremely shorthanded when they visit Indiana on Saturday for the second half of a back-to-back set. As Ian Begley of SNY.tv tweets, Brooklyn has ruled out eight players, including their entire regular starting lineup.
Kevin Durant (right knee injury management), Kyrie Irving (left adductor tightness), Ben Simmons (left knee/calf injury management), Royce O’Neale (personal reasons), Joe Harris (left ankle injury management), Seth Curry (left ankle injury management), Nic Claxton (right hamstring tightness), and T.J. Warren (left foot injury management) will all be unavailable for the Nets.
Those are eight of Brooklyn’s top nine players in terms of minutes per game, so we could see some wonky lineups from the team tonight. The ninth player on that list, Yuta Watanabe, is set to make his return after missing 10 games due to a hamstring injury, so the Nets will likely be hesitant to push him too hard in his first game back.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- After returning from a nine-game injury absence on Friday, Jazz guard Mike Conley will sit out Saturday’s game vs. Denver, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic. Conley didn’t suffer a setback on Friday — this is a planned rest game to ease him back into things following his knee injury, Jones explains.
- Having already missed seven games due to a right shoulder subluxation, Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince is expected to be out for at least one more week, head coach Chris Finch said on Friday. As Dane Moore of Blue Wire Pods tweets, Prince is doing on-court work and making progress, but still has a ways to go.
- Grizzlies center Steven Adams had a Pistons player roll into his ankle while he was trying to corral a defensive rebound in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game, writes Evan Barnes of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Adams, who limped off the court and didn’t return, will be reevaluated this weekend, but said after the game that he felt OK, per Barnes. Memphis isn’t back in action until Monday, so Adams will have at least a couple days off to rest the ankle.
NBA Trade Floodgates Often Slow To Open After December 15
A total of 74 NBA players who signed new contracts this past offseason will become trade-eligible next Thursday, on December 15.
A handful of players will remain ineligible to be traded until January 15 or other specific dates, but December 15 is considered the unofficial start of NBA trade season, with all but a handful of players free to be included in deals.
While it’s true that teams may start to get more serious about making trades after December 15, the notion that the floodgates will immediately open on the trade market is misguided. Generally speaking, the market is slower to develop, with most deals not being completed until much closer to the February trade deadline — or at least until after the holidays.
Here’s a look back at how the trade market has developed in recent seasons, as we look to get a sense of what to expect in the coming weeks and months:
With the NBA back to its normal schedule following a pair of seasons affected by COVID-19, dozens of players became trade-eligible on December 15, but no in-season deals were completed until January 3.
On January 3, nearly three weeks after he became trade-eligible, Rajon Rondo was sent from the Lakers to the Cavaliers in a three-team deal that also involved the Knicks.
In an abridged NBA season, the trade eligibility date for most offseason signees was February 6 rather than December 15. A pair of trades were completed before February 6, though both of those deals involved unusual circumstances — the Rockets granted James Harden‘s long-standing trade request by sending him to Brooklyn and the Cavaliers sent Kevin Porter Jr. to Houston following a locker-room incident.
On February 8, the Pistons and Knicks agreed on a trade that sent Derrick Rose to New York, but no one involved in that trade was newly trade-eligible, so the timing looks like a coincidence. After that deal, no trades were finalized until March 13, more than a month later.
The first in-season trade completed in 2019/20 occurred on December 23, eight days after the December 15 trade eligibility date. However, neither player involved in that swap – Jordan Clarkson heading to Utah and Dante Exum going to Cleveland – was among the players who became trade-eligible on the 15th.
Following that Clarkson/Exum deal, the next trade wasn’t made until January 16.
In an unusually eventful fall, three trades were made prior to December 15 in 2018/19, including the blockbuster that sent Jimmy Butler from Minnesota to Philadelphia.
The ’18/19 season also featured a rare December 17 trade, involving a player who was newly eligible to be dealt: Trevor Ariza. However, it’s worth noting that the agreement sending Ariza from Phoenix to Washington was preceded by an aborted three-team deal that would have involved the Grizzlies along with the Suns and Wizards. Those trade talks, which were first reported on December 14, fell apart due to confusion over whether the Grizzlies were including MarShon Brooks or Dillon Brooks.
While we may never see that mistake repeated by another NBA team, it’s possible that the embarrassment of that situation has since served as a cautionary tale for teams eager to make trades right away on December 15.
Two trades were made before December 15 during the 2017/18 season, but all was quiet on the trade market for several weeks after Dec. 15 came and went.
The season’s third deal wasn’t finalized until January 29, when the Pistons acquired Blake Griffin from the Clippers. Griffin had become trade-eligible on January 15.
Outside of an early November trade that sent Jerami Grant from Philadelphia to Oklahoma City, the 2016/17 in-season trade market was quiet until the new year. The second trade of the season was made on January 6, and didn’t involve any players who became trade-eligible on December 15.
Previous years
If we were to keep going further back, we’d find that the pattern is typically similar, with little action occurring immediately after offseason signees become trade-eligible on December 15.
We have to go all the way back to 2010 to find the last time a trade was made on December 15. That three-team deal involving the Rockets, Nets, and Lakers included Joe Smith, who had become trade-eligible that day.
It’s possible that next Thursday will bring our first December 15 trade in 12 years, but recent NBA history suggests the odds are against it — we’ll likely have to wait a little longer for the trade market to really heat up.
Sixers Notes: Melton, Rivers, Harden, Embiid
De’Anthony Melton had his best game since joining the Sixers – and arguably the best game of his career – on Friday night. The fifth-year guard established new career bests by scoring 33 points, making eight 3-pointers, and racking up seven steals in Philadelphia’s overtime victory over the Lakers.
As Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com writes, Melton was a difference-maker in a game the 76ers almost gave away and continues to show why the team was willing to give up a first-round pick for him in the offseason. Melton is averaging 11.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 3.3 APG, and 2.3 SPG in his first 23 games in Philadelphia (29.5 MPG), making 38.5% of his 3-point attempts and playing strong perimeter defense.
Melton has enjoyed a career year despite battling a back issue — he has hardly practiced at all this season, Joel Embiid told reporters on Friday. Melton has instead used the team’s off days to take care of his body and go through what he calls a “maintenance” process, according to Neubeck.
“I’ll take (Melton not practicing) every time if he’s going to show up to the game and do what he does every single night,” Embiid said. “He knows it, I appreciate the effort, because I find myself in that same situation quite a bit, and every single chance that I can even when I’m hurt, I want to be on the floor. So to be able to do the same even though he’s dealing with a back injury, I appreciate the effort.”
Here’s more on the Sixers:
- In two more articles for PhillyVoice.com, Neubeck considers why the Sixers have been hard to watch this season and fields readers’ mailbag questions, discussing Doc Rivers‘ job security, among other topics. Although he doesn’t believe Rivers is a lock to make it through the season, Neubeck does think the veteran coach has “more security than people on social media want him to have.”
- James Harden has been a Sixer for only 10 months and has played with Joel Embiid in just eight games so far this season, so head coach Doc Rivers is preaching patience, telling reporters this week that the pairing is “going to take time” to fully jell, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. As Pompey observes, Harden favors an isolation-heavy style of play and is ball-dominant, while Embiid thrives when the offense flows through him. The duo had perhaps its best game this season as a tandem on Friday, totaling 66 points and 17 assists.
- There has been plenty of speculation about whether Embiid will choose to play for the U.S. or France in the 2024 Olympics, but the star center isn’t interested in discussing his FIBA future during the NBA season, as Marc Stein writes at Substack. “I don’t want to talk about international stuff,” Embiid told Stein. “I’m focused on us getting better as a team and me getting better as a player. I’m focused on making it to the playoffs and doing something there. I’m gonna worry about the rest later. For now, it’s all about trying to do whatever is possible to win a championship.”
Atlantic Notes: O. Porter, Achiuwa, R. Williams, Nets, Warren
Raptors forward Otto Porter Jr. is scheduled to meet next week with a specialist about his dislocated toe, head coach Nick Nurse said on Friday (Twitter link via Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca). The hope is that the appointment will bring some good news on Porter’s potential return to action — he has been sidelined since November 14 due to the injury and still isn’t doing any on-court work.
Meanwhile, Raptors big man Precious Achiuwa is targeting late December for his return to the court, Grange adds. Achiuwa has been on the shelf since November 9 after sustaining partial ligament tears in his right ankle.
Here are a few more notes from around the Atlantic:
- Despite some speculation that he could make his season debut on Saturday vs. Golden State, Celtics big man Robert Williams has been listed as out on the team’s official injury report, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Williams repeatedly referred to himself as “day-to-day” and didn’t rule out the possibility of returning from his knee injury during Boston’s current West Coast road trip, which continues in Los Angeles on Monday (vs. the Clippers) and Tuesday (vs. the Lakers).
- Within a look at the Nets‘ rebounding struggles, Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscriber link) cites two sources – NBA analyst Stan Van Gundy and a veteran Eastern Conference executive – who believe the club needs to add another big man to address the issue. “They need help,” the Eastern Conference exec told Lewis. “They absolutely need another big.”
- Kevin Durant has liked what he’s seen so far from teammate T.J. Warren, who scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting while chipping in three assists and a pair of steals on Friday in his best game since joining the Nets. “We’re over there on the bench saying like, man, he just finds his way to the basketball, to the rim a lot, cuts, he just feels like he’s in the right position on the offensive side of the ball. And defensively, he’s good at getting into the ball, creating turnovers,” Durant said, according to Lewis. “So yeah, I mean he looked good. It’s going to get even better as he gets more comfortable and gets his legs up under him.”
Western Notes: SGA, Gobert Trade, Daniels, J. Green
Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having an outstanding season in 2022/23, and looks destined for his first All-Star and All-NBA appearances. He’s third in the league in scoring at 31.1 PPG, and is also averaging 4.7 RPG, 6.0 APG, 1.7 SPG and 1.1 BPG on .500/.324/.926 shooting through 23 games (35.7 MPG).
In a lengthy profile on Gilgeous-Alexander’s emergence as a star, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (subscriber link) writes that, despite external speculation that the 24-year-old might grow impatient with the Thunder’s rebuild and eventually seek a trade, there’s no sense of that happening within the organization. Gilgeous-Alexander says he has a lot of faith in GM Sam Presti.
“It’s always easy to trust someone when they haven’t given you a reason not to trust them,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s always easier to trust someone when they tell you something and it happens. And that’s been my relationship with Sam so far.
“Everything he’s told me has happened, and he’s never lied to me … It’s easy to work — well, it’s crazy that basketball is work — but it’s easier to play basketball and put your all into every day and believe in the future when it’s a guy like that running the show.”
Here’s more from the West:
- Prior to the Timberwolves‘ matchup with the Jazz on Friday, which the Wolves won 118-108 to move to 13-12, Michael Rand of The Star Tribune wrote an article about whether Minnesota would still make the Rudy Gobert deal right now, with the knowledge that the start to the season would be uneven. He believes the answer is “probably,” because while there have definitely been bumps along the way, Gobert has played better of late and he’s starting to develop some chemistry with teammates.
- Dyson Daniels, the No. 8 overall pick in June’s draft, has emerged as an immediate contributor to the West’s No. 1 seed due to his strong defense, writes William Guillory of The Athletic. The 19-year-old Pelicans guard says he welcomes the challenge of guarding top players. “I like when people go at me. I love to accept that challenge,” Daniels said. “I want to show them that I’m here for a reason and I can defend. … Guys always want to go at the rookie, and I’m fine with that. It only makes me better.”
- Rockets guard Jalen Green, last year’s No. 2 overall pick, has had a bit of an up-and-down second season thus far, which is to be expected for a young player on a rebuilding club. According to Kelly Iko of The Athletic, Green focuses on big-picture growth and has proven to be a sponge when it comes to soaking up information and watching film.
Community Shootaround: Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks made a major trade in the offseason, dealing away unprotected first-round picks in 2025 and 2027, a first-round pick swap in 2026, and Charlotte’s 2023 protected first-rounder to acquire All-Star point guard Dejounte Murray from the Spurs. Atlanta started the season strong, winning seven of 10 games, but has gone just 6-10 since and now sits at .500 (13-13).
A second trade received fewer headlines, but it was still significant, because they moved off Kevin Huerter‘s contract in order to dip under the luxury tax, and he was an important floor-spacer and ball-mover for Atlanta. The main player they received in return, Justin Holiday, has not been very effective, while Huerter is having a career year for the Kings.
As ESPN’s Zach Lowe noted in his “10 Things” column today (Insider link), the fit between Murray and star point guard Trae Young has been a little shaky thus far. Young opened the season actively moving without the ball, which is key with two ball-dominant players sharing the floor, but has basically abandoned it since. Lowe believes “something is off with the Hawks,” and there’s a chance that their season “could teeter into instability.”
As John Hollinger of The Athletic writes, the Hawks’ record doesn’t look too far off external expectations, but he also thinks “there is an impending sense that not all is well.” He lists several reasons for that, including Young’s reported tiff with head coach Nate McMillan last week and a worrisome shot profile (29th in 3PTA and 29th in 3PT%), among others.
According to Hollinger, perhaps the biggest factor in that “sense” has been Young’s poor start to the 2022/23 season. His counting stats look great — he’s averaging 27.5 points and 9.5 assists through 23 games. However, he’s shooting career lows of 47.0% on twos and 28.9% on threes, and until that changes, league observers will be keeping a close eye on the Hawks and what they might do at the trade deadline.
Entering Friday’s back-and-forth loss at Brooklyn, the Hawks ranked 21st in the league in offense, which a major drop-off — they were second last season. The defense has improved substantially, going from 26th up to 12th, but they still have a negative net rating (-1.0) despite being a .500 team.
With Murray expected to be sidelined for the next two weeks with a sprained ankle, and starting forwards De’Andre Hunter (hip) and John Collins (ankle) still sidelined, the spotlight will be on McMillan and Young to keep the Hawks afloat, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic.
Amick notes that Murray did his part last week when Young and the two forwards were out against Denver, leading the team to a surprising victory with 34 points and eight assists. Amick makes the case that Murray has been more important to Atlanta’s success this season than Young, recording a +6.5 net rating versus Young’s +1.5.
Bogdan Bogdanovic‘s return to the lineup should help the shooting numbers stabilize and take some pressure off Young — he’s a career 38.2% marksman from deep on high volume, and has only played four games after offseason knee surgery. But there are still major depth question marks aside from the fit concerns, particularly at guard and forward.
This year’s first-round pick, wing AJ Griffin, has played well overall, but he’s only 19 years old and having a rookie as a key rotation piece is a little worrisome for a team hoping to contend. Last year’s first-rounder, forward Jalen Johnson, has looked pretty rough around the edges in his first real chances at extended playing time.
We want to know what you think. Are you concerned about the Hawks? Do you get the feeling that “something is off,” like Lowe and Hollinger? Or do you think they just need to get healthy and have more time to adjust? Is the roster good enough to contend as constructed? If changes are needed, what do you think they should do?
Head to the comments section and let us know what you think of the Hawks and their chances for the rest of the season.
New York Notes: Nets, Simmons, Claxton, Watanabe, Knicks
Nets swingman Ben Simmons is returning for Friday’s game against the Hawks, but he’ll be limited to around 20 minutes of playing time and won’t suit up on Saturday in Indiana for the second game of the back-to-back set, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
Simmons will start at center in place of Nic Claxton, who is dealing with right hamstring tightness (Twitter link via ESPN’s Nick Friedell). According to Lewis, Claxton’s injury isn’t considered a long-term issue, as he won’t be getting an MRI (Twitter link). Claxton said he just experienced the tightness on Thursday and “expects to be fine,” Lewis adds (via Twitter).
Here’s more on the two New York teams:
- Nets forward Yuta Watanabe, who has been sidelined since November 20 with a right hamstring strain, will miss his 10th consecutive game on Friday. However, he’ll return to action for Saturday’s contest against the Pacers, per Lewis. Watanabe was having a nice season as a reserve for Brooklyn prior to getting injured, averaging 8.1 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 57.1% from three-point range through 14 games (18.2 minutes per night).
- Knicks fans have gotten a long-awaited look at the team’s young players the past couple games, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Botte notes that “fans have been clamoring” for head coach Tom Thibodeau to give “the kids” more playing time the past couple seasons, and forward Julius Randle, 28, was New York’s oldest rotation player during Wednesday’s win over Atlanta. “I like how our young guys work. I knew when we got them from the very first day, you could see it,” Thibodeau said. “You could see it in practice. You could see how they approach things. You could see how competitive they are. So usually those are the characteristics that drive achievement, when you look at how competitive a guy is. What’s their work ethic like? What’s their toughness like? What’s their mental quickness like? You look at all those intangibles. What are the things that drive achievement? And they fit the bill.”
- Fred Katz of The Athletic wonders whether Thibodeau will use Cam Reddish as a small-ball power forward or go big with Jericho Sims while Obi Toppin is out for the next few weeks with a fibula injury. As Katz observes, Thibodeau has been strict about using a nine-man rotation lately, so it will likely be one or the other, not both. For what it’s worth, Sims was given the early nod in the Knicks‘ contest at Charlotte on Friday, tweets Steve Popper of Newsday.
Cavs’ Mitchell, Kings’ Fox Out For Friday’s Matchup
Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell will miss Friday’s contest against Sacramento with lower right leg soreness, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Kings will also be without their leading scorer, point guard De’Aaron Fox, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
As Fedor writes, Mitchell has been dealing with the soreness for a while. He initially sprained his ankle against the Warriors on November 11, which caused him to miss a game, and then aggravated the injury on November 28 against Toronto, when he scored a season-low eight points.
Mitchell, who is averaging a career-high 29.0 PPG with a career-best .496/.424/.890 shooting slash line, was limited during the Cavs’ shootaround on Friday and the team decided to be cautious with him on the first night of a back-to-back, Fedor notes. Caris LeVert will start in Mitchell’s place.
Fox, who is averaging 22.8 PPG with a .507/.366/.826 shooting line, recently disclosed that he’s been dealing with right foot soreness for over a month, and the pain obviously was bad enough to be ruled out tonight. Head coach Mike Brown said the Kings plan to take his injury “day-by-day” and will “see how he feels,” (Twitter link via Anderson).
Second-year guard Davion Mitchell will start in Fox’s place, Anderson adds in another tweet. Kings guard Terence Davis, who was previously listed as questionable, was also ruled out with lower back soreness.
Warriors Notes: Lamb, Wiseman, Curry, Poole
Warriors two-way wing Anthony Lamb was named in a civil lawsuit filed this week against the University of Vermont, according to reports from The Athletic and ESPN’s Kendra Andrews.
Lamb isn’t named as a defendant in the lawsuit, which accuses the school of mishandling reports of sexual harassment and violence on campus. However, the suit does revisit a sexual assault allegation against Lamb related to a 2019 incident. The Warriors addressed that allegation when they signed Lamb in the fall and did so again on Thursday.
“Anthony is not a defendant in this recent lawsuit and, to our knowledge, he has never been charged with any wrongdoing in any legal case,” the team said in a statement. “Prior to signing Anthony in September, we did our due diligence with the NBA and his prior teams, as we do with all players. If any new information comes to light, we will certainly evaluate it and act accordingly.”
Lamb, who never faced any criminal charges as a result of the accusation, referred to the allegations as “patently false” and said he would welcome any investigation into the matter. His accuser stated in the lawsuit that she was dissuaded from seeking a formal investigation by Vermont’s athletic department.
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Third-year center James Wiseman was reassigned to the Santa Cruz Warriors following a brief return to the NBA, tweets Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. Poole adds in a follow-up tweet that Wiseman figures to continue spending time in the G League until there’s a “broad belief” he’s ready to contribute at the NBA level.
- Asked at the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year awards how much longer he expects to play in the NBA, Stephen Curry suggested that retirement isn’t something he’s thinking about yet. “I don’t see myself slowing down anytime soon,” he said (Twitter video link via Charlie Walter of KPIX 5).
- In an in-depth feature, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports looks at how Jordan Poole, who signed a four-year extension in October, is preparing to help bridge the Warriors’ present to their future as the team’s stars exit their primes. “Steph’s doing a really good job of mentoring him,” Kerr said. “… There’s a lot of growth ahead for Jordan, which is exciting because he’s already very good.”