Nets Set Conditions For Kyrie Irving To Return
Tonight marks the second game of Kyrie Irving‘s suspension, and Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports has learned of the requirements established by the Nets that Irving must meet before he can play again.
Sources tell Goodwill that Irving must go before reporters and provide a verbal apology for sharing a link to an antisemitic film. On Thursday, Irving posted a statement on his Instagram account expressing regret for his actions, but management wants him to apologize in person for promoting the film and to indicate that he understands its message is “harmful and untrue.” Irving must share the apology on social media.
Goodwill’s sources say Irving will also be required to complete whatever sensitivity training the team decides is necessary and to meet with Jewish leaders in the Brooklyn area.
Once those requirements are achieved, Irving will have to sit down with owner Joe Tsai and provide a guarantee that he won’t exhibit any more disruptive behavior for the rest of the season, Goodwill adds. This is the final season of Irving’s four-year contract, and he will be a free agent next summer.
An NBA spokesperson told Goodwill that the league wasn’t aware of all the Nets are asking Irving to do before he can be reinstated. The players union declined to comment, Goodwill adds.
Irving will also be required to participate in antisemitic sensitivity classes and to donate $500K to causes that stand up against hate, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Jazz Notes: Horton-Tucker, Clarkson, Alexander-Walker, Vanderbilt
This year’s Lakers Night at Dodger Stadium included an unexpected surprise for Talen Horton-Tucker, writes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Horton-Tucker was at the ballpark for the August promotion when news broke that he was being sent to the Jazz as part of a trade for Patrick Beverley. The deal ended his time in L.A. just one season after re-signing as a restricted free agent.
A second-round pick in 2019, Horton-Tucker spent three seasons with the Lakers and earned rotation minutes during the last two. He won a championship ring in 2020 and said he learned a lot by breaking into the NBA on a team with so many established veterans.
“Just being able to be around great players, just coming into the league with an understanding of how to work hard, how to become a star in the NBA,” Horton-Tucker said. “Being able to be around them guys, I appreciate it. I appreciate (the Lakers), too. Just welcoming me with open arms, even (LeBron James) texts me to this day, wishing me luck and stuff like that.”
Unlike the Lakers, Utah isn’t built around stars, especially after parting with Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell in offseason trades. Horton-Tucker believes part of the explanation for the team’s 7-3 start is that so many players are eager to show what they can do.
“I feel like guys are hungry to prove they’re good,” he said. “And I feel like we know that we’re good. We got NBA players. So we feel like we can compete with pretty much anybody. So being able to have a team like that, to have an attitude coming into games adds to everything else.”
There’s more on the Jazz:
- After seeing Gobert and Mitchell moved, Jordan Clarkson thought he might be next to go, per Mark Medina of NBA.com. Clarkson prefers to stay in Utah, but adds that he doesn’t get fazed by trade rumors. “I don’t really care about that stuff,” he said. “I just come out and hoop. If I have another jersey on tomorrow, I’ll still try to impact the game and try to win.”
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker played fewer than eight minutes in Friday’s win over the Lakers, but he scored five important points and helped stave off an L.A. run, notes Tony Jones of The Athletic. In a season where he already has four DNPs, Alexander-Walker is learning the importance of taking advantage of whatever opportunities arise. The Jazz traded for him in February, but didn’t give him an extension on his rookie contract, so he’ll be a free agent in July. “I can’t worry about next summer until it gets here,” he said. “Nobody is promised tomorrow, so I think we all have to try and stay in the moment. I’m confident in myself and what I can do. I try to have a Kobe mentality on always being focused mentally. I have great agents that I put my trust in. So, I just want to come out and play hard whenever I have the chance.”
- Teammates say Jarred Vanderbilt is a “maniac” in his approach to rebounding and compare him to Dennis Rodman, according to Sarah Todd of The Deseret News.
Mitchell Robinson To Miss At Least One Week With Knee Sprain
Center Mitchell Robinson suffered a sprained right knee in Friday’s game, the Knicks announced (via Twitter). His condition will be reevaluated in seven-to-10 days.
Robinson was injured late in the first half against the Sixers. He limped to the locker room and was declared out for the rest of the game.
Robinson has played in all eight games so far and is averaging 6.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per night. He is coming off a relatively healthy season, appearing in 72 games last year after being limited to 31 in 2020/21.
Isaiah Hartenstein, who started the second half Friday night, should see a larger role while Robinson is sidelined. The Knicks also used power forwards Julius Randle and Obi Toppin together against Philadelphia and may employ more of that small-ball lineup until Robinson returns.
Warriors Notes: Poole, Kuminga, Rotation, Thompson, Santos
The Warriors need Jordan Poole to play better after a “wildly inconsistent” start to the 2022/23 campaign, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. As Monte Poole notes, Jordan has recorded more turnovers (14) than assists (13) over the past three games during Golden State’s current five-game losing streak.
“He’s trying too hard,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “Jordan is trying too hard to create every play. He’s at his best when there’s a flow to the game, he’s playing on and off the ball, getting some catch-and-shoot opportunities.”
According to Monte Poole, Jordan Poole is the key to fixing the second unit’s struggles, because he’s the group’s primary ball-handler and scorer.
Here’s more on the defending champions:
- After losing to the Pelicans Friday night, the Warriors now sit with a 3-7 record. They’re the first defending champion to start 0-6 on the road in NBA history, per ESPN’s Kendra Andrews. Second-year forward Jonathan Kuminga played a career-high 38 minutes in the loss, and Kerr acknowledged his performance after the game. “It was apparent who really played tonight. [Kuminga] played really well,” Kerr said. “He’s earned some minutes … He showed tonight that he’s ready to step into the rotation and contribute. But that has to be every night … be able to play through the tough nights when maybe the minutes aren’t there.”
- As Andrews relays in the same article, Kerr also marked Anthony Lamb, Ty Jerome and Moses Moody as noteworthy performers who could be in line for more rotation minutes. Lamb and Jerome are both on two-way contracts, while Moody was the 14th pick of last year’s draft.
- On October 30, Kerr stated that Klay Thompson would be held out of one end of back-to-backs as he works on his conditioning, but it wouldn’t be for the full season like in ’21/22. However, apparently he’s changed his mind about that. “Klay may not play in a back-to-back all year. He didn’t last year because of two straight season-ending injuries,” Kerr said, per Andrews (Twitter link).
- Gui Santos, a second-round pick in June’s draft (55th overall), is on the Santa Cruz Warriors’ roster to start the G League season, which means he signed an NBAGL contract. It’s essentially as though he’s a draft-and-stash prospect because the Warriors still hold his NBA rights, but having him play in the G league allows the Warriors to get a closer look at — and have a more hands-on approach to — the Brazilian forward’s development.
Central Notes: Bogdanovic, Okoro, Middleton, Connaughton
Forward Bojan Bogdanovic has been on playoff teams in seven of his eight NBA seasons, so he wasn’t sure what to think at first when he was traded to the rebuilding Pistons. However, a discussion with Detroit’s management made it clear that the two sides have the same goal going forward, which is why he signed a two-year, $39.1MM extension last week (the final year is partially guaranteed for $2MM).
“Just talking to (general manager) Troy (Weaver) and (Pistons owner Tom Gores), they assured me that the team is going to go in the right direction,” Bogdanovic told Mike Curtis of The Detroit News (subscriber link). “We got a good salary cap (situation) for the summer that we’re going to try to bring someone in … We’ve been rebuilding, so they’re trying to win, so that’s the first thing that I asked them, and that was the main reason (to extend), honestly.”
As Curtis notes, the Pistons project to have roughly $48MM in cap space next summer, which is theoretically enough to sign a maximum-salary free agent. However, the list of 2023 free agents isn’t the greatest, so it seems unlikely they’ll use all of it on one player.
Though the Pistons are just 2-8 to start the 2022/23 season, Bogdanovic has excelled, averaging 20.2 points on a career-best shooting line of .500/.486/.946 (.679 true shooting percentage). Head coach Dwane Casey recently raved about Bogdanovic, per Curtis.
“He’s one of the pieces that we are building with and want to go forward with,” Casey said. “We’re still in rebuilding mode, but one thing that he’s shown is his leadership, and that’s what you gotta have on a young team. You gotta have some veteran pieces mixed in there when they’re going against grizzled veterans.
“He’s that piece. He fits in. He’s patient. He’s sharing his knowledge with the players, things that he’s seen over his career and his ability speaks for himself.”
Here are a few more notes from the around the Central:
- Prior to Friday’s victory over Detroit, Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff told Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link) that he has spoken to third-year wing Isaac Okoro multiple times about his rough start to the season. According to Fedor, Bickerstaff said he blames himself for Okoro’s struggles, noting that the former No. 5 overall pick has been in-and-out of the starting lineup — and rotation — multiple times during the team’s 7-1 start. Okoro is averaging just 2.4 PPG and 1.5 RPG through eight games (16.0 MPG), and is 0-for-11 from three-point range.
- On Wednesday, head coach Mike Budenholzer provided an update on injured wing Khris Middleton, who has yet to make his regular season debut for the 8-0 Bucks after offseason wrist surgery. According to Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter link), Budenholzer said Middleton’s practice with the team’s G League affiliate went well, calling it an important step in his rehabilitation process. Budenholzer anticipates Middleton will need another practice with the Wisconsin Herd to build up his conditioning. A previous report indicated that Middleton could return at some point this month.
- Budenholzer also gave an update on Pat Connaughton, who was expected to miss about three weeks with a right calf strain, but it sounds like he’ll be out longer than that, since Sunday is three weeks since the Bucks announced his injury. As Owczarski tweets, Budenholzer said Connaughton has yet to get 5-on-5 work in and he’ll need to pass that milestone before returning to action. The head coach wasn’t sure about the veteran wing’s timetable for return at this point.
- In case you missed it, Pacers wing Chris Duarte is expected to miss four-to-six weeks after suffering a Grade 2 left ankle sprain. You can find our story on his injury right here.
Pacers’ Chris Duarte Out 4-6 Weeks With Grade 2 Ankle Sprain
Pacers wing Chris Duarte sustained a Grade 2 ankle sprain in Friday’s victory over Miami and is expected to miss four-to-six weeks of action, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
According to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files (Twitter links), it’s Duarte’s left ankle, and he suffered the injury early on, playing less than five minutes. Duarte was spotted using crutches after the game, which is always an ominous sign.
As Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes.com tweets, Grade 2 sprains are considered partial tears, which is why Duarte will be sidelined for a pretty significant amount of time. It’s the same injury that LaMelo Ball has been dealing with since preseason. Ball has yet to make his regular season debut in 2022/23, though he’s said to be “extremely close” to returning.
The 13th pick of last year’s draft, Duarte was productive as a rookie for the Pacers in ’21/22, earning a spot on the All-Rookie Second Team after averaging 13.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 2.1 APG and 1.0 SPG on .432/.369/.804 shooting in 55 games (39 starts, 28.0 MPG). He’d gotten off to a slower start this season, averaging 10.0 PPG and 2.4 RPG on .406/.351/.917 shooting in eight games (four starts, 21.5 MPG) prior to the injury.
With Duarte sidelined, rookies Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard will likely receive more playing time. Third-year wing Aaron Nesmith could receive a bump in minutes as well once he returns from his own foot injury.
Wolves’ Rudy Gobert Enters Health And Safety Protocols
Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert has been ruled out of Saturday’s game against Houston after entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols, Minnesota announced (via Twitter).
According to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link), Gobert was listed as questionable (illness) for Friday’s loss to Milwaukee, but wound up playing 30 minutes in the game and is now in the protocols, which isn’t a great situation for anyone involved. Gobert was famously the first known NBA player to test positive for COVID-19 in March 2020.
The league revised its COVID-related protocols over the summer and now requires testing for vaccinated players only when they show symptoms of the virus. Unvaccinated players still must be tested once per week. Players are subject to isolation measures after a positive test.
As Chris Hine of The Star Tribune tweets, there is no longer a mandatory quarantine timeline if Gobert tested positive, but he would need to pass the NBA’s testing requirements to be cleared from the protocols. If he doesn’t pass the tests, he can still return to action after 10 days.
The Wolves have had a rocky start to the 2022/23 season after their blockbuster trade to acquire Gobert from Utah in July, currently sitting with a 4-5 record. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year has been his normal productive self individually — he’s averaging 12.6 points, a league-best 13.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in nine games (32.2 minutes) — but the starting lineup has struggled offensively.
It was expected that there would be an acclimation period after the Wolves traded two starters in the Gobert deal, and that’s proven to be accurate. Losing Gobert temporarily certainly won’t help, but it’s worth noting that Minnesota started last season slowly and wound up making the playoffs after a second-half surge.
Mavs Notes: Powell, McGee, Dinwiddie, Campazzo, Doncic
As speculated, the Mavericks made a change to their starting lineup for Friday’s game vs. Toronto, replacing center JaVale McGee with Dwight Powell. Head coach Jason Kidd told reporters before the game that it wouldn’t necessarily be a permanent move.
“This is something for us to look at,” Kidd said, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link). “(Powell) has been playing extremely well. … We’ll take it one game at a time for now.”
McGee signed with the Mavericks as a free agent this past offseason after being promised the starting center job, but the team has performed better with Powell manning that spot in the early going this season. That didn’t change on Friday.
Against the Raptors, both Powell (plus-8) and McGee (plus-6) had positive on-court ratings in the same game for just the second time this season. The first time it happened, on October 22, Dallas blew out Memphis by 41 points. On Friday, the Mavs won by just a single point.
Here’s more out of Dallas:
- Mavericks guard Spencer Dinwiddie alleged that veteran referee Tony Brothers referred to him as a “b–ch ass motherf—er” during Friday’s game. As MacMahon writes in a full ESPN.com story, Dinwiddie, who protested when Brothers called him for a technical foul, said that a teammate informed him of Brothers’ comment. “I’m not even mad at the language,” Dinwiddie said. “Everybody has said things before when they are upset or feeling sensitive or hurt. That’s fine. Just say it to my face. … I would like to not be called a b–ch ass motherf—er to my teammates.”
- Speaking to Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News, veteran point guard Facundo Campazzo said he was close to resuming his career in Europe when he received an offer from the Mavericks. “When the Mavs’ offer came, I mean, I didn’t hesitate. I just said yes at the first question they did, and that’s it,” Campazzo said. “I was in Argentina with my family and said, ‘OK, we are moving to Dallas.’ That was a Thursday, and they asked me if I can fly Friday, the next day. I said, ‘I need a little bit more time. I have to move a lot of things,’ so we flew in that Saturday and stayed in the hotel and started this journey.”
- Luka Doncic made NBA history on Friday by becoming the second player to ever start a season by scoring at least 30 points in each of his first eight games. Wilt Chamberlain was the only other player in league history to accomplish the feat, according to Caplan.
Atlantic Notes: Siakam, VanVleet, Fournier, Reddish, Sixers
The injury bug that first afflicted the Raptors‘ All-Star point guard is now affecting their All-NBA forward as well. As Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star details, Pascal Siakam left Friday’s loss to Dallas in the third quarter due to a strained groin and didn’t return to the game. Toronto was already missing Fred VanVleet, who was sidelined for a third straight game due to lower back soreness.
While the Raptors have yet to issue an update on the severity of Siakam’s injury, they’re optimistic that VanVleet’s absence won’t last much longer.
“We had practice (Thursday), he went through full practice. I thought he’d probably be going tonight,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said before Friday’s game. “I’m expecting him back pretty soon.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Knicks veteran wing Evan Fournier was displaced from the starting lineup on Friday and played a season-low 14 minutes, but he’s taking it in a stride, says Peter Botte of The New York Post. “We see it every year,” Fournier said of the lineup shake-up. “Last year with Kemba (Walker). So I’m going to do the best with what I have, try to impact winning and be a good teammate. That’s all you can ask for. Just do my best. Be a pro and take it from there…By doing your job.”
- Quentin Grimes‘ ascension to the starting lineup didn’t affect Cam Reddish‘s role. As Zach Braziller of The New York Post writes, Reddish – who is in a contract year – scored 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting in 15 minutes and was a plus-19 in a two-point win over Philadelphia. “He was very good,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Overall hustle, length, running the floor, moving without the ball, a lot of good plays.”
- Rich Hofmann of The Athletic and Tim Bontemps of ESPN both consider what the new few weeks in Philadelphia will look like with Sixers star James Harden sidelined due to a foot injury. The club was also missing Joel Embiid on Friday, as the star center missed a third consecutive game due to a non-COVID illness.
- In case you missed it, we rounded up several Nets-related items earlier this morning.
Nets Notes: Irving, Udoka, Simmons, Durant, Curry
In an in-depth report for ESPN, Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski go into more detail on Wojnarowski’s earlier assertion that Nets owner Joe Tsai faced pressure from the NBA and from Nets management to take a more punitive approach following Kyrie Irving‘s promotion of an antisemitic film and initial refusal to apologize.
As ESPN’s duo outlines, Tsai hoped the incident could become a teachable moment for Irving, but ultimately gave up and decided to suspend Irving following his media session on Thursday. Irving’s refusal during that session to apologize or outright deny that he held antisemitic views convinced the Nets owner that Kyrie’s joint statement with the team and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) had been insincere.
Another source of frustration for Tsai, according to ESPN’s report, was that he wasn’t able to communicate directly with Irving, with communication being channeled “completely” through Kyrie’s stepmother and agent Shetellia Riley Irving.
When Tsai and the Nets ultimately decided to suspend the star guard for at least five games, the team sent an email to Irving’s agent describing the steps he needed to take to be reinstated, including taking training sessions on the dangers of hate speech, per Shelburne and Wojnarowski.
Although it has been Irving’s off-court behavior that dominated headlines in the last week, the situation seemed to affect him on the court as well. According to Shelburne and Woj, teammates and opponents privately described Irving as “disengaged and seemingly ‘in another world'” on Tuesday when he went scoreless for three quarters vs. Chicago.
Among the other recent developments in the Irving saga? Nike has suspended its relationship with the seven-time All-Star, according to Nick Friedell of ESPN; the Nets and the ADL sent a letter to Jeff Bezos and Amazon leaders asking the website to either remove the book and movie that Irving promoted from its platform or add more details about the misinformation it contains (Twitter link via Shams Charania of The Athletic); and Irving’s former teammate LeBron James said he doesn’t condone Kyrie’s comments, telling reporters that they “caused some harm to a lot of people” (link via Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times).
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Brooklyn continues to work through the final stages of vetting the potential hiring of Ime Udoka as head coach, sources tell Shelburne and Wojnarowski.
- An MRI on Ben Simmons‘ troublesome left knee came back clean, the Nets said on Friday, per Friedell at ESPN.com. While that MRI didn’t show any serious damage, Simmons has experienced some swelling and had the knee drained this week. He has been ruled out at least through Saturday’s game.
- Wojnarowski said on Friday during an appearance on NBA Today that he believes Simmons has been a “source of frustration” for Kevin Durant and others on the Nets (video link via Clutch Points). “He has been unable – now he’s unable – to stay on the floor with a knee injury, but prior to that, he has shown that he is a long way away from being back to being an impactful player,” Wojnarowski said. “I think it’s a big part of the reason why the Nets are at the very bottom of the league defensively.”
- If the instability in Brooklyn continues, the Nets will have to be concerned about the possibility that Durant revives the trade request that he dropped in August, Wojnarowski said in another TV appearance on Friday (video link). In the latest episode of his Lowe Post podcast (video link), ESPN’s Zach Lowe suggests that other teams will be hoping for that outcome: “The vultures are going to circle on Durant. Those vultures expect the Nets to put on a strong face for a while. To not rush it, to posture – probably honestly – that, ‘No, he has four years left on his contract. … We control the situation, we’re trying to win, we don’t want to do this.'”
- While neither Wojnarowski nor Lowe expects Durant to request a trade again in the near future, Howard Beck of SI.com argues that the Nets should blow things up anyway and move on entirely from the Durant-Irving era in Brooklyn.
- Seth Curry, who has played just once this season as he returns from left ankle surgery, is expected to be available on Saturday vs. Charlotte, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post.