Corey Kispert To Make Regular Season Debut For Wizards Friday
Second-year wing Corey Kispert is set to make his 2022/23 regular season debut for the Wizards on Friday against Brooklyn, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. told reporters (Twitter link via Josh Robbins of The Athletic).
Kispert suffered a left ankle sprain when he stepped on an opponent’s foot during a preseason contest vs. Golden State in Japan early last month. He was expected to miss four-to-six weeks, so he’s on right on track with the early portion of that timeline.
Unseld said last week that the 23-year-old was “really close” to making his return to action after being a full participant in practice.
Viewed as one of the best shooters in the 2021 draft class, Kispert was selected 15th overall a year ago and appeared in 77 games as a rookie, averaging 8.2 PPG and 2.7 RPG in 23.4 MPG. He got off to a slow start, making just 28.6% of his three-point attempts through 35 games, but heated up in the second half, knocking down 37.6% of his tries in his final 42 games.
It seems likely that Kispert will be able to find a rotation spot right away, as reserve guard Delon Wright is currently sidelined with a hamstring strain and the team can certainly use Kispert’s shooting. The Wizards are now 4-4 after defeating the Sixers on Wednesday evening.
Clippers, Thunder Each Fined $25K For Injury Report Violations
The NBA announced on Thursday (Twitter links) that it has fined the Clippers and Thunder $25K apiece for “violating league injury reporting rules.”
According to the NBA, the Clippers were fined for failing to disclose an accurate availability status for a couple of players recently. They listed Moussa Diabate and Brandon Boston Jr. as unavailable due to a G League assignment prior to their game against the Pelicans on October 30, but both players wound up suiting up for Los Angeles.
As for the Thunder, the league says they “failed to disclose the game availability status of guard Josh Giddey in an accurate and timely manner” prior to Monday’s contest against the Magic. The second-year guard had missed the three previous games, but returned to action on Monday, playing 25 minutes in Oklahoma City’s win.
After dropping four straight games, the Clippers have evened their record at 4-4 following consecutive victories over the Rockets. The Thunder started their season with three straight losses, but now sit with a 4-3 record after winning four in a row.
James Harden Suffers Foot Strain, Out One Month
Star guard James Harden has sustained a strained tendon in his right foot and is expected to miss one month for the Sixers, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
It’s a tough blow for both the player and the team, as the Sixers have gotten off to a slow start, currently sitting with a 4-5 record after dropping Wednesday’s game to the Wizards. According to Wojnarowski, Harden suffered the foot strain during last night’s loss, with testing revealing the injury today.
A 10-time All-Star and former league MVP, Harden is averaging 22.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 10.0 assists and 1.1 steals on .441/.333/.929 shooting through nine games (36.8 minutes per contest). He’s also turning the ball over at his lowest rate since the 2011/12 campaign.
If Harden returns by Philadelphia’s game on December 5, he’ll have missed 14 games with the injury. As ESPN’s Tim Bontemps notes (via Twitter), it’s a difficult stretch of games for the 76ers, who face the Knicks, Suns, Hawks (twice), Jazz, Bucks and Timberwolves over their next seven contests.
With Harden sidelined, look for Joel Embiid (who has already missed three games, one with a sore knee and the past two with the flu), Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris to increase their shot attempts. Reserve guard De’Anthony Melton, who missed Wednesday’s contest with a sore back, will likely start in Harden’s place.
It will also be an opportunity for players like Shake Milton, Matisse Thybulle and Furkan Korkmaz to carve out potential rotation roles, since Harden is second in the team in minutes played, only trailing Maxey.
Ben Simmons Out At Least Two More Games With Knee Issue
Nets guard Ben Simmons continues to deal with left knee soreness and swelling, and he won’t travel with the team for its next two road games, acting head coach Jacque Vaughn told reporters (Twitter link via ESPN’s Nick Friedell). The Nets face the Wizards on Friday followed by the Hornets on Saturday.
Simmons will have missed four consecutive games with the knee issue after Saturday’s contest. He has struggled to regain his prior form early on this season after missing the entire 2021/22 campaign for various reasons, including a lengthy holdout with Philadelphia, mental health issues, and a herniated disc in his back, which later required surgery.
Vaughn said that guard Seth Curry, who has been limited to one regular season game in ’22/23 after offseason ankle surgery, will play one of the two road games. Vaughn also provided an update on forward T.J. Warren, who is making progress but has yet to scrimmage with the team, as Alex Schiffer of The Athletic tweets.
Warren has appeared in just four games since 2020 after sustaining consecutive stress fractures in his left foot. It was anticipated that he wouldn’t return until November at earliest, so it’s hard to read too much into Vaughn’s statement beyond the fact that Warren almost certainly won’t play before practicing at least a couple times first.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 11/3/2022
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Southeast Notes: Heat, Butler, Young, Murray, Banchero, Bol
The Heat stumbled a little out of the gate this season, losing five of their first seven games, including three of four at home. However, star swingman Jimmy Butler was unfazed by the team’s slow start, as he told Sam Amick of The Athletic.
“We’re still going to win the championship, and I don’t care what nobody says,” Butler said before the Heat beat Golden State on Tuesday. “Count us out. We’re going to win the f—ing championship. I’m telling you. I don’t give a damn that we started 2-5.”
While the Heat didn’t have much roster turnover this offseason, Butler said the team is still “different” this year, with P.J. Tucker gone and several players taking on new roles. According to Butler, some “growing pains” are to be expected.
“Y’all will look back at this, and be like, oh man, they started 2-5 and they ended the season f—ing 77-5,” he joked.
The Heat are 2-0 since Butler spoke to Amick, beating Sacramento on Wednesday without him in the lineup — he sat out due to left hip tightness.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Hawks star Trae Young was scratched in the left eye during Wednesday’s win over New York, but doesn’t think he’ll miss any time due to the injury, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays. “I think I’ll be able to play through it,” Young said, noting that Atlanta doesn’t play again until Saturday. “It’s more just letting the swelling go down. … I’ll probably have to wear goggles or glasses for some games, but it’ll be all right.”
- With Young banged up, Dejounte Murray enjoyed his best game since joining the Hawks, racking up 36 points, nine assists, and five steals in a 13-point win. As Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, Murray has been emerging as one of the team’s leaders despite having only played eight games with Atlanta so far.
- In an appearance on teammate R.J. Hampton‘s podcast, Magic rookie forward Paolo Banchero said that he intends to represent Italy in international competitions, according to Orazio Cauchi of BasketNews.com. Banchero wasn’t born or raised in Italy, but is of Italian descent on his father’s side. “I’m planning to play for the Italian national team, I’m not sure when,” Banchero said. “I haven’t been out there yet, but man, the amount of love I’m getting from there it’s crazy, man. It’s crazy. I can’t wait to go to Italy.”
- It came as a bit of a surprise when the Magic re-signed Bol Bol to a two-year contract with a guaranteed 2022/23 salary after acquiring him in what seemed to be a salary-dump deal at last season’s deadline, but the oft-injured big man has been playing and producing so far this season. Nekias Duncan of BasketballNews.com celebrates that fact and takes a closer look at the role Bol is playing in Orlando.
Adam Silver Intends To Meet With Kyrie Irving In Person
NBA commissioner Adam Silver doesn’t appear satisfied with the steps Kyrie Irving has taken since publishing a social media post last week promoting an antisemitic film, issuing a statement today to announce that he intends to meet with the Nets star in person to discuss the situation.
“Kyrie Irving made a reckless decision to post a link to a film containing deeply offensive antisemitic material,” Silver said. “While we appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with the Brooklyn Nets and the Anti-Defamation League to combat antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, I am disappointed that he has not offered an unqualified apology and more specifically denounced the vile and harmful content contained in the film he chose to publicize.
“I will be meeting with Kyrie in person in the next week to discuss this situation.”
After Irving posted a link to the film in question on Thursday, he faced increasing scrutiny in the days that followed and had a combative exchange with reporters on Saturday about the issue. He removed the post on Sunday and the Nets held him out of media sessions on Monday and Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Irving, the Nets, and the ADL issued a joint statement announcing that Kyrie and the Nets would each donate $500K “toward causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance in our communities.”
Irving said in that statement that he opposes “all forms of hatred and oppression” and stands with marginalized communities, adding that he took responsibility for the impact his post had toward the Jewish community and didn’t believe everything in the film he publicized. However, as Silver’s announcement today notes, the Nets guard didn’t apologize for promoting the film or for the harm he caused the Jewish community.
There has been no indication in the last week that the Nets or the NBA intend to fine or suspend Irving for his actions, and today’s statement from Silver doesn’t suggest that will change. Still, it seems that the league isn’t prepared to sweep the issue under the rug so quickly.
Bulls Notes: LaVine, Dosunmu, Williams, Drummond, White
Bulls star Zach LaVine played in both games of a back-to-back set for the first time this season on Tuesday and Wednesday, suiting up in Brooklyn vs. the Nets and then at home vs. the Hornets. LaVine scored just 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting on Wednesday, but said after the win that his surgically repaired knee wasn’t an issue, as Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago writes.
“I felt good. My legs were tired. A couple of my shots were short,” LaVine said. “But, you know, it was one of them games.”
Given how carefully the Bulls have managed LaVine so far this season coming off left knee surgery, it’s a cause for optimism that he logged a total of 69 minutes across those two games and came out feeling OK. Still, head coach Billy Donovan said the team will continue to take a day-to-day approach to how it handles LaVine’s workload and availability, according to Schaefer.
“I think the thing for him is it’s the cumulative,” Donovan said on Tuesday, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “That’s really where I think (the medical staff is) concerned, like the cumulative buildup of things. He could be totally fine today, come out of this game totally fine. Then let’s say he plays tomorrow. He can wake up the next day and be in some discomfort.”
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Ayo Dosunmu, who has emerged as the Bulls’ starting point guard in his second NBA season, has impressed his teammates with his leadership, as Schaefer details in another NBC Sports Chicago story. “He steps up to the challenge all the time. Ayo even in his second year is a vocal leader,” LaVine said on Tuesday. “He helps pick up our energy, offensively, defensively, just the way he carries himself.”
- There have been questions about whether Patrick Williams should keep his spot in the Bulls’ starting lineup, but the former No. 4 overall pick had his best game of the season on Tuesday in Brooklyn. According to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, Donovan essentially challenged Williams to do it again, and he responded with an even better performance on Wednesday vs. Charlotte, scoring a season-high 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and posting a positive net rating (+19) for the first time this season.
- Following Wednesday’s game, Donovan praised Williams for starting to produce more consistently and urged fans to be patient with the forward’s ongoing development. “I get everyone wants to see this progression. But in fairness to him, he hasn’t had a normal two-year NBA schedule like a lot of guys have had. It’s taken him some time,” Donovan said, according to Johnson. “And every player develops and evolves at a different rate.”
- Andre Drummond (shoulder) and Coby White (quad) have both missed multiple games due to their respective injuries, but the Bulls don’t view either as a long-term concern, Cowley writes for The Sun-Times. According to Donovan, MRIs on both players came back clean.
NBA G League Salaries Increase For 2022/23
The salaries for players in the NBA G League will increase again for the 2022/23 season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that players who spend the season in the NBAGL will earn $40,500.
As we reported last fall, the G League’s annual salary rose from $35K to $37K for the 2021/22 season, so it has now increased by more than 15% in the last two seasons and is over $40K for the first time. NBAGL players formed a union in 2020, which has given them more leverage to negotiate those pay bumps.
Unlike in the NBA, the G League pays a flat base salary to all players, so there’s no gap between minimum and maximum salaries or anything in between. However, there are ways for players in the G League to earn more than $40,500.
Players who signed Exhibit 10 contracts with NBA teams during the offseason or preseason with an eye toward joining that team’s G League affiliate will receive bonuses worth up to $50K, depending on the specific terms of their contract. That could push a G League player’s earnings up over $90K for the ’22/23 season.
Additionally, players who are on two-way contracts will earn flat salaries of $508,891 (half of the NBA’s rookie minimum), even if they spend most of the season in the G League. Players on NBA rosters who are assigned to the G League will earn their full NBA salaries, rather than the NBAGL rate.
Details on the G League’s format and schedule for 2022/23 can be found here, while this year’s NBAGL draft results are right here.
Wolves Notes: Russell, Edwards, Starting Lineup
Timberwolves point guard D’Angelo Russell had an uneven performance during last season’s playoffs and that has continued with an inconsistent run through eight games in 2022/23, writes Michael Rand of The Star Tribune. While Russell’s counting stats look solid — he’s averaging 14.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.6 steals — his shooting splits of .394/.279/.783 leave a lot to be desired.
If the Wolves aren’t playing better after 20 games (they’re currently 4-4), Rand believes Russell could be the odd man out of the starting lineup, since he’s the only player among the group the franchise isn’t committed to long term. The 26-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent in 2023, so it’s a big year for him.
Here’s more on the Wolves:
- Third-year wing Anthony Edwards has lacked his usual explosiveness this season, according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune, who notes that Edwards has yet to dunk thus far in 2022/23. The 21-year-old recorded 128 dunks in 144 games over his first two seasons, per Basketball-Reference. Edwards gained weight in an effort to add muscle over the summer, but he recognized the added weight was impacting his leaping ability so he’s been working on conditioning, Hine notes. “I’m just waiting for my legs to get under me 100 percent and I’ll be all right,” said Edwards, who added that he’d dropped nine pounds and is now at 230.
- The starting lineup of Russell, Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert has struggled mightily to open the season, posting a minus-5.3 net rating and scoring an abysmal 97.4 points per 100 possessions, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. The unit didn’t get much playing time together during the preseason, as Towns was sidelined for much of it with an infection and Gobert rested some after competing in EuroBasket for France, so head coach Chris Finch has been giving them extra run in an effort to get the five-man group more comfortable with each other, Krawczynski writes. Finch admits they haven’t made much progress to this point. “Well there hasn’t really been a whole lot of growth with that unit just yet,” Finch said. “So yeah, just working on it, keep focusing on it.”
- In a similar story for The Star Tribune, Hine says that the starters could look to the bench as an example of how to play together and not force so many shots. “They’re sharing the ball,” Edwards said of the second unit. “They don’t care who scores. That’s the biggest thing. They don’t care who score. They all want to see each other shine in that second group.”