Knicks Notes: Brunson, Rose, Barrett, Robinson
A right quad contusion may force Jalen Brunson to miss his first game since signing with the Knicks, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post. Brunson suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Friday’s loss to Portland. He sat out today’s practice and is listed as questionable for Sunday when New York hosts the Grizzlies.
Brunson has been worth the $104MM investment that the Knicks made in free agency, leading the team with 21.8 points and 6.5 assists per game through the first quarter of the season. He has also become an on-court leader for a franchise that spent years searching for an answer at point guard.
“The leadership, I think point guard is a leadership position, and it helps you to manage and control the team,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I think Jalen is so team-oriented, I think it makes your team play unselfishly. I think we’re scoring a lot of points, and he gives us an attack, a pace to the game, downhill, guys are playing off each other. And if you move and you’re open on a cut, he’s gonna hit you. He wants to get the ball up the floor fast and when we do that, I think it presents a lot of easy scoring opportunities for everybody.”
There’s more from New York City:
- Derrick Rose participated in most of today’s practice after missing the past two games with an injured toe, Botte adds. Thibodeau said Rose looked “better,” but he’s still questionable for Sunday. Immanuel Quickley and Miles McBride figure to see additional playing time if Brunson and Rose are out.
- RJ Barrett‘s extended shooting slump continued Friday, but he told reporters, “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine,” writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Barrett made 6-of-22 shots against the Trail Blazers and is now 36-of-114 in his last seven games. Thibodeau thought Barrett was too focused on trying to draw fouls rather than attacking the basket, and Barrett seemed to agree. “They were getting everything, I thought I would get some. Sheesh,” he said, referencing Portland’s 51 free throw attempts. “Second half I started going in more aggressively, trying to finish. I played a little better.”
- Mitchell Robinson, who had to leave Monday’s game due to pain in his right knee, admitted that the knee still isn’t 100% but he’s trying to be available for the team, Braziller adds. Robinson played 23 minutes Friday with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Markelle Fultz Could Make 2022/23 Debut On Sunday
Magic guard Markelle Fultz, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2017 draft, could make his 2022/23 season debut on Sunday against the Sixers, per Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required).
The 24-year-old has missed the first 19 games of the season after fracturing his left big toe in late September, right before training camp opened. However, he was able to practice on Wednesday and he’s been upgraded from out to questionable for Sunday’s game, as Price relays.
A couple weeks ago, Price reported that Fultz hoped to return in the next three-to-four weeks, so a Sunday return would be a little ahead of schedule for that timeline. Still, he’s only listed as questionable, not probable or available, so there’s no guarantee that he’ll actually play, though it’s certainly encouraging that his return appears imminent.
Injuries have been a major factor in Fultz’s career, limiting him to just 131 games over five-plus seasons, including 18 in ’21/22 after recovering from a torn ACL. He averaged 10.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.1 steals in 20.0 minutes last season.
Fultz will earn a guaranteed $16.5MM this season, but his $17MM salary for ’23/24 is only partially guaranteed at $2MM, so how he performs upon his return will likely have a significant impact on whether he’s in Orlando’s future plans. The Magic have dealt with a number of injuries to key rotation players this season and are currently 5-14, the third-worst record in the NBA.
Suns’ Landry Shamet Expected To Return After Seven-Game Absence
Suns guard Landry Shamet has missed seven consecutive games while in the NBA’s concussion protocols, but he has officially been upgraded from questionable to probable for Saturday’s game against Utah (Twitter link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports).
Shamet told Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic that he expects to play on Saturday. He also detailed his recovery process and symptoms, among other topics.
“I feel a lot better,” he said. “You know, trusting our medical staff, they’ve been great. Concussions are weird. I don’t know, they just are. Sometimes you don’t really know what your feeling or what you’re supposed to feel, so really just communicating with them, trusting them. They’ve been great taking the lead and I feel really, really good, progressing back and I’m excited to get back going here (Saturday) hopefully.”
The 25-year-old said that he had another concussion in college, but this one was very different because the symptoms were delayed after initially just experiencing neck tightness. He said the worst came when the team traveled to Orlando earlier this month.
“We landed in Orlando − my siblings, Jacksonville’s home to them, so they came to visit me, one of my sisters, and that was when I felt like really bad,” Shamet said. “It was also the hurricane, so we flew into a hurricane, and with a concussion that’s just awesome (smiles). When we got to dinner, I couldn’t focus, the light, sounds, whatever, every time I stood up, I felt like Bambi, felt like I was gonna fall out. So that’s when it got like, ‘OK, this is kinda scary.’ I don’t throw up. I got really nauseous and threw up a couple times. A lot of that stuff I don’t take lightly. That’s what got me to be like, ‘This isn’t just a little headache I had.’”
The former 26th overall pick is in the first year of a four-year, $42.5MM rookie scale extension that he signed prior to last season. Only the first two years are guaranteed (at $19.75MM), so he could realistically become a free agent as early as 2024.
Unfortunately, although Shamet is on the verge of a return, 12-time All-Star Chris Paul continues to be hampered by right heel soreness and has been ruled out for tonight’s game, according to Bourguet. Saturday marks his ninth straight absence for the 12-6 Suns, the No. 1 seed in the West.
New York Notes: Simmons, Claxton, Randle, Knicks Centers
Health and confidence are the primary reasons Ben Simmons has performed well lately for the Nets, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
After missing all of last season due to mental health issues and later a herniated disc in his back, which required surgery in May, Simmons had a slow start to the 2022/23 campaign, averaging just 5.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.1 steals while shooting 44.4% from the floor and 46.7% from the line through nine games (27.3 MPG). He also missed five games while dealing with knee soreness and swelling.
However, over the past six games (31.1 minutes), Simmons has started to look more like his old self, averaging 15.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks while shooting 82.0% from the field and 61.1% from the charity stripe. The 26-year-old swingman still isn’t 100 percent yet, according to Lewis, but he’s clearly making progress.
“Healthy. Finally got his legs under him. He was off for two years. Y’all won’t even give him a chance. Y’all want to criticize him after every f–king game,” Markieff Morris said. “But the guy didn’t play two years. Obviously, y’all wouldn’t know, because none of y’all played in the NBA. He’s got to get his body right. There’s contact every night. Playing 30-plus minutes, it takes time.”
Simmons says he’s still working on finding consistency with his health and play.
“Yeah, I feel [the confidence]. I know who I am, I know what I’m capable of. I know what this team needs me to do, so I’m going to keep working and being consistent with my body and on the court,” he said.
Here’s more on the two New York-based teams:
- Can Simmons and center Nic Claxton overcome spacing concerns and coexist in the Nets‘ starting lineup? Lewis tackles that subject in a member-only article for The New York Post. Head coach Jacque Vaughn acknowledged it will be a challenge at times. “Something we’ve got to figure out,” Vaughn said. “Because both guys do present some positives for us. Hopefully we can lean into the defensive piece with their length with Kevin (Durant) out there on the floor at the same time. But we do have to work through some spacing. We’ll try to play fast. Nic has that ability to run the floor and play fast, so hopefully we won’t have a bunch of sets in the halfcourt that we’ve got to make our way through.”
- Power forward Julius Randle says he’s still adjusting to “playing off the ball more” after the Knicks signed point guard Jalen Brunson in the offseason, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post. As Botte notes, New York ran a lot of its offense through Randle from 2020-22, when he averaged 5.6 assists per game. That figure is down to 3.0 per night in ’22/23, but he’s scoring more efficiently. “Just making the game easy, try and make efficient shots and keep the flow of the offense going,” Randle said. “I think it’s the flow of our offense. Break it down, see more, especially in my position where shots are coming from [and being] responsible for getting good shots … figuring out what spots for most efficient shots.”
- The Knicks have played all three of their centers — Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartenstein and Jericho Sims — three games in a row. Head coach Tom Thibodeau says that won’t always be the case, but he’s a fan of having so many options at the five spot. “It’s game-to-game. It’ll sort itself out,” Thibodeau said, per Zach Braziller of The New York Post. “I don’t think it’ll be like that every game. But I love the depth at that position. So all three guys are more than capable, all three can start, all three can come off the bench. It’s a good luxury to have.”
Bulls Notes: DeRozan, Vucevic, Williams, Drummond
It has been hard to know what to expect from the Bulls on a night-to-night basis so far this season.
After capping a four-game losing streak with a home loss to Orlando last Friday, the team had its two best wins of the season on Monday in Boston and Wednesday in Milwaukee. The win over the Bucks was Chicago’s best defensive outing of the year, as Darnell Mayberry wrote for The Athletic.
However, the Bulls followed up those two statement games with a letdown performance on Friday, falling in overtime to Oklahoma City.
According to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, head coach Billy Donovan had braced for some up and downs in the early part of this season as the club tried to move away from leaning so heavily on DeMar DeRozan‘s isolation-heavy offense and late-game heroics.
“DeMar took us as far as he can take us (last season), and we really have to look at, OK, how can we make another step or jump?” Donovan said. “If we get back to that, where it’s all (isolations) all the time, it just gets too easy to defend. This is going to take some time offensively for us to play the way we need to play, which is a little bit different.”
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- The 2021 deadline trade that sent Nikola Vucevic to Chicago has netted the Magic a pair of potential building blocks (Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr.), with another lightly protected first-round pick still to come. Still, Vucevic isn’t worried about the critics who wish the Bulls hadn’t made the deal. “I know some people want to bring back the trade, the picks that were given, but it happened,” Vucevic told Cowley of The Sun-Times. “If it didn’t, it’s not for sure the Bulls would have picked Wagner or hit on the pick. Who knows what would have happened?” As Cowley observes, without the Vucevic trade, it’s also not clear whether free agents DeRozan and Lonzo Ball would’ve chosen Chicago later in 2021.
- It has taken some time for former No. 4 overall pick Patrick Williams to get comfortable at the NBA level, but the third-year forward finally seems to be finding a rhythm, according to Cowley, who writes for The Sun-Times that Williams hasn’t looked as passive recently as he did during the first few weeks of the season.
- Although two-time All-Star Andre Drummond is averaging a career-low 15.4 minutes per game this season, he has no intention of pushing for more playing time as long as the Bulls believe his limited role gives them the best chance to win games. “I’m at a point now where I’m just focusing on winning,” Drummond said this week, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “I told Billy and the guys when I came here from the beginning: ‘Whatever you guys need me to do to help win, that’s what I’m willing to do.’ If that’s to play eight minutes, 12 minutes, 30 minutes, I’m able to do that. I’m cool with the role that I have. I just have to maintain it.”
And-Ones: Cousins, Howard, Vezenkov, 2023 Draft
Appearing on the All The Smoke podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers said that free agent big man DeMarcus Cousins got in touch with him in October to ask why he’s not in the NBA, as Tristi Rodriguez of NBC Sports Bay Area writes.
According to Myers, he explained to Cousins that because of his reputation as a potentially disruptive locker-room presence, the veteran center has to go above and beyond what people expect from him.
“I said, ‘You want that answer? … Because people are afraid of how you’re going to act,'” Myers said. “And he’s like, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Well whatever the reason is, it’s here now.’ And I like DeMarcus. … I can’t blame him for him because of all he’s been through.
“… I said, ‘Here’s the issue, you have to act better. To get back, you can’t just be average. You’ve got to convince people.’ And that’s not really fair, but that’s just what it is.”
As Dario Skerletic of Sportando relayed earlier this week, reports out of Taiwain have indicated that Cousins could follow in Dwight Howard‘s footsteps and join a Taiwainese team, but that has yet to be confirmed.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Speaking of Howard, the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year will miss the next couple weeks for the Taoyuan Leopards due to a knee injury, his Taiwanese club announced (story via BasketNews.com). Howard, who logged 91 total minutes during a back-to-back set last weekend and averaged 30.5 PPG, 17.0 RPG, and 9.5 APG in the two games, said his body is still adjusting to playing so much.
- In other international basketball news, Olympiacos forward Sasha Vezenkov won the EuroLeague’s “MVP of the Round” award on Saturday for the fourth time in 10 weeks so far this season, per a press release. Vezenkov, whose NBA rights were acquired by the Kings this past summer, is one of five draft-and-stash players we highlighted on Friday as candidates to eventually make an impact in the NBA. He ranks second in the EuroLeague with 20.1 points per game.
- Sam Vecenie of The Athletic prefaces his list of top 100 prospects by observing that the 2023 NBA draft looks “wide open” outside of the top 10, with a ton of first-round slots potentially up for grabs depending on which players have strong seasons. Vecenie adds that several of this year’s highest-rated freshman have been slowed by injuries or have underperformed in the early going, making the class more difficult to evaluate.
Western Notes: LeBron, Walker, Kawhi, George, Bane
Lakers star LeBron James made his return on Friday night in San Antonio after missing five games due to an adductor strain, and helped lead the team to a 105-94 victory. Speaking to reporters following the win, James indicated that he isn’t planning to sit out the second half of the Lakers’ back-to-back set vs. the Spurs on Saturday, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN relays.
“There’s a strong possibility that I play tomorrow,” James said. “I just sat out for two weeks. I’m good.”
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- Facing his former team for the first time since signing with the Lakers in the offseason, Lonnie Walker said on Friday that San Antonio is still “home” and the Spurs are still “family,” per Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group. Walker, who received the full taxpayer mid-level exception from the Lakers in free agency, is enjoying a career year so far in Los Angeles and making a bid for Most Improved Player consideration. At ESPN, McMenamin takes a look at what’s fueling Walker’s fifth-year surge.
- Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard (ankle) and Paul George (hamstring), along with sharpshooter Luke Kennard (calf), will remain sidelined for Sunday’s game vs. Indiana, head coach Tyronn Lue said on Friday (story via Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN). However, Lue added that he doesn’t expect Leonard’s injury or George’s to be a “long-term” issue.
- Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (subscription required) spoke to orthopedic foot and ankle surgeon Dr. Kenneth Jung about Desmond Bane‘s toe injury to try to get a sense of how long the recovery process might take. According to Jung, a toe sprain is the sort of injury that can flare up again if the player returns before he’s 100%, so the Grizzlies will likely play it safe with Bane’s timeline.
Pacers’ Myles Turner Changing Agents
Pacers big man Myles Turner is leaving BDA Sports after two years with the agency, according to Marc Stein, who reports (via Twitter) that Turner is expected to sign with CAA Sports for representation going forward.
While it’s not always all that newsworthy when a player changes agents, there are a few factors that make Turner’s switch worth noting. For one, the 26-year-old is in on an expiring contract and has long been considered a trade candidate, so it’s a big year for him. He could sign the biggest contract of his career during next summer’s free agent period — or even earlier, if he agrees to an extension.
As Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files observes (via Twitter), BDA Sports represents Suns center Deandre Ayton, who signed a four-year, maximum-salary offer sheet with Indiana this past offseason. Turner leaving the agency doesn’t necessarily mean he was upset by his representatives putting another client in position to become the Pacers’ center of the future, but it’s possible the Ayton situation factored into his decision.
Agness also points out that a handful of Pacers players – including franchise cornerstone Tyrese Haliburton – are already represented by CAA. Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Turner will be looking to sign a long-term contract to remain in Indiana, but if the two sides open extension negotiations, it certainly won’t hurt.
The Pacers can offer Turner a first-year salary of up to $21.6MM on a straight-up veteran extension. However, they could bump that number upward if they were to renegotiate his current-year salary, as we outlined earlier this month.
Gordon Hayward Out Indefinitely With Left Shoulder Fracture
NOVEMBER 26, 7:14am: Hayward will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis going forward, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
NOVEMBER 25, 8:54pm: Hornets forward Gordon Hayward has sustained a left shoulder fracture and is out indefinitely, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to Charania, Hayward is in the process of getting more testing done to reveal the full extent of the injury.
Hayward missed eight consecutive games earlier this month after suffering a left shoulder contusion on November 2. He returned on November 18 and had played three straight games prior to Friday’s victory over Minnesota, in which he was sidelined with the shoulder injury.
The 32-year-old had been a mainstay in the Jazz’s lineups prior to joining Boston as a free agent in 2017. Unfortunately, he suffered a severe ankle injury in his first game with the Celtics, and injuries have continued to plague him ever since — from 2017-22, he averaged just 43.6 games per season.
Through 11 games (32.3 MPG) in 2022/23, Hayward has averaged 16.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG and 4.4 APG on .445/.381/.767 shooting. In addition to Hayward, Charlotte has dealt with injuries to other key players, including star point guard LaMelo Ball (ankle sprains), who has appeared in just three games for the 6-14 Hornets.
Jalen McDaniels started in place of Hayward Friday night, and players like P.J. Washington and Kelly Oubre should continue to receive a heavy workload. Second-year big man Kai Jones also received a major uptick in playing time — he played double-digit minutes (28) for the first time in his career on Friday, recording career highs of nine points and 12 rebounds.
Pelicans’ Brandon Ingram Exits Friday’s Loss With Toe Injury
Forward Brandon Ingram suffered a left big toe sprain in the second quarter of Friday’s blowout loss to Memphis and did not return, the Pelicans announced (via Twitter).
According to ESPN’s Andrew Lopez, Ingram initially tried to play through the injury after stepping on another player’s foot. He left a couple possessions later and was able to walk to the locker room under his own power, but the fact that he wasn’t able to return for the second half might be a sign that he could miss more time.
The 25-year-old is having another strong season for the Pelicans, averaging 21.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists on .476/.475/.861 shooting through 14 games (33.1 minutes per night). He missed four games earlier this season after sustaining a concussion.
After dropping Friday’s contest, the Pelicans are now 11-8. Second-year wing Trey Murphy started the second half in place of Ingram, and Naji Marshall is another candidate to receive more playing time if Ingram’s future availability is impacted. The Pelicans are off this weekend and face Oklahoma City at home on Monday.