Southeast Notes: Wizards, Wagner, Hornets, Daniels
The Wizards have suffered plenty of losses this season, but none carried the sting of allowing Bam Adebayo to score 83 points Tuesday at Miami, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. With the embarrassment from that game still fresh, Washington needed to find some sense of atonement Thursday in Orlando. The Magic came away with an overtime win, but Wizards players were satisfied with their effort after erasing a 19-point deficit.
“(Bam) scored a lot of points. You’ve got to give him credit,” Trae Young said. “But the way it happened and the way it went down, you see the reaction from people around the league. Around everybody, it’s kind of the same. So we had a similar mindset, but at the same time, we allowed it to happen in the first half and gave him a rhythm to even have the confidence to think he was going to get that. So the way we bounced back is the way we needed to bounce back tonight. I’m just happy with the way that we did that.”
Robbins notes that Orlando still led by 16 points midway through the fourth quarter when Washington found success with a small lineup featuring Bub Carrington, Leaky Black, Will Riley, Bilal Coulibaly and Anthony Gill. That group made of 12-of-17 shots to end regulation and tied the game when Coulibaly banked in a three-pointer with 5.8 seconds remaining.
Gill, whom Robbins calls the team’s most “mild-mannered” player, stood over Orlando’s Desmond Bane and celebrated at one point during the rally. Like Young, Gill believed his team needed to make a statement to show that it’s not a pushover.
“I’m not going to be the one that talks about how (Tuesday’s) game was played out,” Gill said. “Bam had an unbelievable game. We did not respond. We didn’t prepare the way that we should have for the game, and it showed with how well he played against us. We know for what we’re trying to build here that’s unacceptable, and we were kind of upset with that.”
There’s more from the Southeast Division:
- For the first time since the All-Star break, Magic forward Franz Wagner was able to take part in an on-court workout during Wednesday’s shootaround, Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel states in a subscriber-only story. Wagner did some light shooting, and coach Jamahl Mosley said he hasn’t been cleared for contact yet.
- Wednesday’s victory at Sacramento was the Hornets‘ 12th in their last 13 road games, which gives the team confidence that it can succeed in any postseason scenario, per Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer (subscription required). “All these games feel like they have a little bit more intensity to them, they have a little bit more meaning,” coach Charles Lee said. “They have a little bit more physicality to them and so every game we are almost looking at it as a postseason game. And you’ve got to develop your habits now because that time of the year, it’s for the prepared. That’s not the time to start preparing for things. And so our guys are trying to find that next level even right now during the regular season.”
- Hawks wing Dyson Daniels continues to expand his game, according to Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal Constitution (subscription required), who details the 22-year-old’s improvements as a facilitator and offensive rebounder. Daniels missed Thursday’s win over Brooklyn with a left great toe sprain, according to Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks (Twitter link).
Magic Notes: Black, F. Wagner, Morales, Isaac
Magic guard Anthony Black has a left lateral abdominal muscle strain, the team announced (via Twitter). Black underwent an MRI that showed the injury, and the timeline for his return will depend on his response to treatment.
Black left Saturday’s game at Minnesota after two minutes with what was originally diagnosed as a low back strain and was held out of Sunday’s contest at Milwaukee. He was fouled by Jaden McDaniels on a drive to the basket and grabbed at his back area. He briefly remained in the game before being taken to the locker room to get checked, Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel writes in a subscriber-only story.
Beede states that Black is a Most Improved Player candidate, averaging career-highs of 15.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals in his third NBA season.
The Magic also revealed that Franz Wagner continues to make progress in his recovery from a high ankle sprain, and his return will be determined by how the ankle responds to rehab. Wagner has only been available for 28 games this season and has made just two appearances since January 18.
There’s more from Orlando:
- The Magic are entering one of their most important stretches of the season with six of their next eight games against teams that are battling for postseason position, Beede states in a separate story. Orlando has jumped into sixth place in the East with four straight wins, and Jalen Suggs believes the team has rediscovered its identity on defense. “Especially these last couple (games), guys aren’t going on crazy runs against us,” he said. “We’re doing a really good job of keeping it to seven, six (points) and under, and then doing a great job of responding to not let them get too much momentum rolling. Top to bottom, everybody’s doing a great job right now.”
- After spending four years in the G League, Alex Morales was surprised to receive a two-way contract from the Magic last month, Beede adds in another piece. The 28-year-old point guard was active for an NBA regular season game for the first time last week. “I’m super grateful,” Morales said. “This is what you work for. I’m super appreciative for the opportunity and I’m trusting in it. So, I’m going to continue to work hard for this organization.”
- Jonathan Isaac worked out a deal with to Magic to amend his salary protection for next season, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). Isaac’s contract originally called for his $8MM partial guarantee for 2026/27 to increase to a full $14.5MM guarantee if he appeared in at least 52 games or remained under contract through July 7. Isaac and the team agreed to remove the games-played criteria and move his full salary guarantee date up to June 28.
Southeast Notes: Herro, Kuminga, Wagner, Ball
Heat guard Tyler Herro has been sidelined since January 15 due to what the team referred to as a rib injury. According to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald, Herro suffered a buckle rib fracture affecting three ribs during a January 10 game in Indiana. He was able to play for three more games after that, receiving Toradol shots to treat his pain, but an MRI revealed the extent of the injury, prompting the club to shut him down for several weeks.
Herro’s time on the inactive list appears to be nearing an end, however. He’s expected to practice on Thursday and return to game action at some point in the coming days, assuming he doesn’t experience any setbacks, Chiang writes.
Injuries have been an issue all season long for Herro, who has been limited to just 11 outings. He has looked like his usual self when he’s been available, averaging 21.9 points in 31.7 minutes per game, with a .497/.358/.902 shooting line.
As Chiang observes, the former All-Star should provide a boost for an offense that has struggled following a strong start to the season. Miami ranks just 22nd in the NBA in offensive rating since December 5, with Herro appearing in just six games during that stretch.
We have more from around the Southeast:
- Recently acquired Hawks forward Jonathan Kuminga isn’t yet ready to suit up for his new team — Atlanta announced on Wednesday (via Twitter) that Kuminga will be reevaluated in one week as he continues to rehabilitate a left knee bone bruise. Still, Ken Sugiura of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscription required) is intrigued by what the former seventh overall pick could bring to the team once he’s healthy, suggesting that the transition-oriented style favored by Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker could be a good match for Kuminga’s skill set.
- Magic forward Paolo Banchero said on Wednesday that it’s “unfortunate” teammate Franz Wagner is facing another extended absence due to a troublesome ankle issue, but he stressed that he doesn’t want Wagner coming back “before he’s ready.” As Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel writes (subscription required), head coach Jamahl Mosley echoed that message. “It’s so important — his ability to get it all the way right where he’s not trying to be in, then out, and then the soreness continues to get to him,” Mosley said. “Just making sure it’s right … It’s the long haul for him. It’s the long part of his career that we’re looking at more than anything.”
- Hornets star LaMelo Ball was involved in a car accident in uptown Charlotte on Wednesday afternoon, but he wasn’t injured, according to a report from Joe Marusak, Alex Zietlow, and Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer. Witnesses described Ball’s camouflage Hummer crashing into a silver sedan in the middle of an intersection and said he eventually exited his car and was escorted into another car.
Franz Wagner Out Indefinitely Due To Ankle Injury
The left ankle injury that has sidelined Magic forward Franz Wagner for 25 of the team’s past 29 games continues to be a problem, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that Wagner will be out indefinitely when the team resumes play following the All-Star break.
Wagner continues to experience soreness in that left ankle after being diagnosed with a high ankle sprain back in early December, Charania explains. The 24-year-old returned for two games in mid-January and played in Orlando’s last two contests before the break, but has never been back to 100% and will require addition time and rehabilitation.
The plan, as reported by Charania and confirmed by the Magic (Twitter link), is to reevaluate Wagner in three weeks. That timeline suggests he’ll miss at least the next 10 games, and it seems likely he’ll be sidelined for longer than that.
It has been a frustrating season for Wagner, who was playing at an All-Star level before injuring his ankle on December 7 in New York. In his first 23 healthy games this season, the German forward averaged 23.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 34.5 minutes per game.
The Magic went 14-9 with Wagner healthy to open the season, but have played sub-.500 basketball since then (14-16) and are currently in play-in territory. At 28-25, Orlando has a half-game lead over Miami for the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Wagner had come off the bench in his two most recent games, so the Magic won’t have to adjust their starting five on Thursday in Sacramento. Reserve forward Noah Penda, who has played more frequently since Wagner first went down, figures to continue seeing rotation minutes for the club.
Southeast Notes: Banchero, Magic, Sarr, AD, Whitmore, Dennis
Fourth-year forward Paolo Banchero doesn’t seem enthusiastic about the Magic‘s offensive system, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Asked after Wednesday’s loss to Milwaukee whether Orlando was playing to its potential in half-court offense, Banchero replied, “I think our record answers that question, honestly. I’m not going to sit here and harp on the problems with our offense or what I think is wrong with our offense. But I don’t think anyone would say that it’s where it should be or could be.”
As Robbins writes, the Magic currently rank 23rd in the league in points per possession in the half court. Injuries to key players (Banchero, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner) have once again been an issue, and floor spacing and outside shooting remain problems as well, despite the blockbuster trade to acquire Desmond Bane.
The Magic entered the season with aspirations of being a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference, but they’re currently 28-25, the No. 7 seed. They’re 16th in the NBA in offensive rating, with a -0.4 net rating that ranks 17th. They have also lost their defensive identity, currently ranking 14th after being second and third in that category the previous two years, Robbins notes.
Big man Wendell Carter Jr. says the team’s offensive woes have bled into the defense.
“(It’s) human nature,” Carter said. “It’s an offensive-driven league. Everybody wants to do good offensively, including myself, and sometimes we fall into that aspect of when it’s not going our way offensively, we allow it to affect our effort. We allow it to affect our defense. We allow it to affect us getting back (on defense after we miss shots). And that’s something, as a fairly young team, that we have to do a better job of, including myself.”
While president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has publicly backed head coach Jamahl Mosley, Robbins wonders if Weltman will reassess that stance if the Magic struggle after the All-Star break. Orlando has been one of the more disappointing and underachieving teams this season, Robbins writes, even when accounting for injuries.
Here’s more from the Southeast:
- As Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel writes, the Magic enter the All-Star break in a similar position as they have been the past couple years. They were 30-25 at the break two years ago and 27-29 last season. They wound up making the playoffs during both of those campaigns, but lost in the first round each time. “We’ve kind of been in the same position every year so … coming off the All-Star break is when we’ve got to start to turn it up,” Banchero said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to figure out how we can be better for the postseason because we don’t want to have the same result as the last two years. We’ve got to come out hungry off the break … and figure out what type of team we want to be.”
- Wizards center Alex Sarr is confident about how he’ll fit next to Anthony Davis once both players are healthy, per Bijan Todd of Monumental Sports Network. “He has a very complete game. I can also step out and play inside-out, so I think it’ll be pretty seamless [playing alongside him],” Sarr said. “Just getting the reps in, that’s definitely going to help us.”
- Wizards wing Cam Whitmore is out for the remainder of his third season after being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis — a form of blood clot — in his right shoulder. He recently discussed the serious health issue, which required three surgeries to address, with play-by-play announcer Chris Mills of Monumental Sports Network (Twitter video link).
- Second-year guard RayJ Dennis, who is on a two-way contract with the Hawks, has set a G League scoring record with the College Park Skyhawks (Twitter link). Dennis scored a franchise-record 47 points on Thursday, per the Skyhawks, and is the first player in team history to have multiple games with 45-plus points.
More Details On Warriors’ Split With Jonathan Kuminga
In a thoroughly reported, in-depth story for ESPN.com, Anthony Slater takes a last look at the four-and-a-half year relationship between Jonathan Kuminga and the Warriors, examining how the relationship between the two sides deteriorated and devolved into a series of “petty” gripes and grievances in its final months.
While it would be an oversimplification to say that Kuminga’s time in Golden State was doomed from the start, the decision to draft him with the seventh overall pick in 2021 instead of Franz Wagner became a “central tension point” throughout the organization, Slater writes.
With Steve Kerr preparing Team USA for the Olympics during the summer of 2021 and not overly involved in the pre-draft process, team sources tell ESPN that several members of Golden State’s coaching staff attended Wagner’s workout with the Warriors and came away feeling as if the eventual Magic forward would fit better into Kerr’s system than Kuminga would.
However, that wasn’t the consensus among the team’s decision-makers. Team owner Joe Lacob known to be among those who preferred Kuminga, according to Slater, who says the Kuminga pick became a “signature example” of Lacob’s involvement in personnel moves during the post-Kevin Durant years.
Some team sources who spoke to ESPN suggested that Lacob’s attachment to Kuminga in subsequent years – and his reluctance to include him in trade packages – was connected to his desire to be proven right about his initial belief in the forward. Others insist the Warriors’ decision not to trade Kuminga until last week was about much more than just Lacob’s preferences.
“Joe gets outsized blame,” one source told Slater. “Complex situation. There was a ton of indecision (from several people).”
Slater’s report putting a bow on the Kuminga era in Golden State is worth reading in full if you’re a Warriors fan. Here are a few more highlights:
- Kuminga and his agent Aaron Turner believed Kerr and the Warriors were constantly taking subtle “pokes” at the forward in media sessions, according to Slater. For example, after the 23-year-old received his first DNP-CD of the season in December, Kerr explained the move by saying, “Happens to everyone in the league, other than the stars.” Kuminga, who has long believed he can be a star if given the opportunity, viewed the remark as an unnecessary reminder that Kerr didn’t necessarily share that belief. “That’s the s–t I’m talking about,” Kuminga said. “Why’s he gotta say that?”
- Kerr frequently cited high-level role players like Shawn Marion and Aaron Gordon as comparables for Kuminga, while the forward believed he was better suited for more a featured offensive role and was frustrated that the team didn’t trust him and give him more on-ball opportunities. According to Slater, Kerr and general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. pointed to Kuminga’s lower efficiency numbers in isolation and mid-range situations and accused Kuminga’s camp of having him work on “the wrong things” away from the team facility.
- During Kuminga’s long stretch of DNP-CDs in December and January of this season, he began packing up his belongings at his Bay Area home in preparation for a trade and also declined four opportunities to take the court, sources tell ESPN. As Slater explains, the Warriors asked Kuminga to check in during three garbage-time situations and wanted him to play in a January 2 game vs. Oklahoma City when Golden State was missing several regulars.
- Members of the Warriors’ coaching staff and front office viewed Kuminga’s refusal to play in those situations as a sign that he’d quit on the team, per Slater. Kuminga, in turn, believed the team had already quit on him and regarded the request for him to play in a nationally televised game against the defending champs after a month of inactivity as “a recipe to shame him.”
- While some Warriors players “expressed their annoyances” about the Kuminga saga, the 23-year-old considered Jimmy Butler a true mentor. Sources tell ESPN that Butler expressed a belief that there was a double standard within the organization in the way Kuminga was treated relative to other players.
Southeast Notes: Heat, Giannis, Wagner, Connaughton, More
The Heat weren’t offered a first-round pick for Andrew Wiggins, Norman Powell, or Tyler Herro ahead of last Thursday’s trade deadline, a source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. According to Jackson, Miami could have potentially secured a pair of second-round picks in a Wiggins trade, but the front office didn’t think the upside of those picks outweighed the value of hanging onto the veteran forward.
While the Heat intend to renew their pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo this summer, the Bucks didn’t tell Miami what it would’ve taken for them to accept an offer, according to Jackson, who reports that Milwaukee simply turned down the Heat’s proposal rather than making a counteroffer or engaging in any real back-and-forth.
Interestingly, Jackson says the Heat – who only had two tradable first-round picks at the deadline – had a viable path to acquiring a third first-rounder and would’ve been willing to pull the trigger on that deal and include the pick in their offer for Antetokounmpo. However, it still wouldn’t have been enough to satisfy the Bucks.
It’s unclear how Miami would’ve acquired that third first-round pick without using either one of the three veterans mentioned above or another asset that would’ve otherwise been included in its Giannis offer.
Here are a few more items of interest from around the Southeast:
- Magic forward Franz Wagner, who missed nine consecutive games – and 25 of 27 – due to a left ankle injury, returned to the court on Monday vs. Milwaukee, as Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel details (subscription required). Wagner came off the bench for the first time in his NBA career and was on a “very strict” minutes restriction, per Beede. But he made an impact as a reserve, scoring 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and handing out five assists in 17 minutes of action as Orlando beat Milwaukee 118-99.
- The new contract that veteran wing Pat Connaughton signed with the Hornets is a two-year, minimum-salary deal that includes a team option for next season, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Connaughton will earn $1,315,814 for the rest of this season, while his 2026/27 option is worth $3,815,861.
- More contract details out of Charlotte: Tosan Evbuomwan‘s new two-way contract with the team is a two-year deal, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. Among the Hornets‘ two-way players, only Antonio Reeves has a one-year contract, with Evbuomwan’s and PJ Hall‘s deals running through 2026/27.
- Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) analyzes the Anthony Davis trade and considers possible next steps for the Wizards. In Gozlan’s view, unless Davis is willing to take a pay cut on his next deal, it doesn’t make sense for Washington to sign the big man to a contract extension unless he stays healthy and plays well for an extended period of time.
Southeast Notes: White, Powell, Wagner Bros., J. Carter
After initially agreeing to give up three second-round picks in their trade for Coby White, the Hornets amended the terms of the deal to remove one of those selections when the guard’s physical showed a left calf injury. However, that calf issue didn’t diminish the team’s enthusiasm for its acquisition of the North Carolina native, writes Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer.
“As soon as I touched down, I felt wanted,” White told Boone. “I called my family, and I’m like, ‘Everybody here is just super-welcoming and super-nice. And they keep talking about long term, long term, long term.’ And just hearing that somewhere where you’re valued for a long term, especially being back home, it means a lot.”
White is on an expiring contract and will be eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer, so there’s no guarantee the Hornets will be able to re-sign him. But president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson made it clear that’s the plan, as Boone relays.
“Just being able to acquire Coby and being able to acquire his Bird rights is very, very important for us in terms of how we’re operating and how we are building it out,” Peterson said. “So, as I said earlier, he fits everything that we want to be about and hope that he’s a Hornet for a very long time.”
Head coach Charles Lee is also excited about adding White to the roster, breaking into a smile when he was asked about the team’s newest guard on Saturday (Twitter video link via Boone).
“Spend a minute with him, you can already feel a sense of maturity, a sense of eagerness to want to play and build relationships, a competitiveness to him,” Lee said. “He’s super engaged in everything we do. A great human being. … I think he’s already trying to put his fingerprint – or put his stamp – on our environment and on our culture.”
We have more from around the Southeast:
- Heat swingman Norman Powell was initially listed as questionable for Sunday’s game in Washington due to a right hand sprain, then left the blowout victory in the third quarter due to lower back tightness. However, with a busy All-Star weekend on tap in a few days (in addition to being named a first-time All-Star, the 32-year-old will also take part in the three-point contest), Powell didn’t sound concerned about either health issue. “I think a lot to do with being stuck on the plane for a lot of hours,” Powell said of his back tightness, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “And then soft beds at the hotel. We tried to make an adjustment. But they didn’t have what we needed to have, a little firmer mattress there. I always get a little back flare-up when I’m sleeping on soft mattresses.”
- Magic forward Franz Wagner, who has missed nine consecutive games – and 25 of the past 27 – due to a left ankle injury, has been upgraded to questionable for Monday’s game vs. Milwaukee and hopes to play before the All-Star break, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required). If Wagner isn’t activated on Monday, his last pre-All-Star opportunity to return would be on Wednesday in a rematch against the Bucks.
- Franz’s brother Moritz Wagner has played in 11 of the Magic‘s 12 games since returning from an ACL tear last month, but he admitted this week that his recovery process hasn’t been “linear” and that he’s still trying to get back to feeling 100%. “My days are full, my recovery protocol is huge, (and) my confidence is still not at a point where it used to be,” Moritz said (Twitter video link via Beede). “This injury is heavy, man. It’s a really long process and it takes a long time, so I have a lot of respect for that.”
- After being waived by Chicago at the start of trade deadline week, Jevon Carter was informed that the Magic were “very interested” in signing him. That made it an easy decision for him to sign with Orlando, Beede writes for The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required). “It was kind of a like a no-brainer for me,” Carter said. “They wanted me. I like to go where I’m wanted. Talking to (Magic president of basketball operations) Jeff (Weltman), he still remembered my pre-draft work out that I did here back in 2018. So, he was excited to have me, and I’m excited to be here.”
Magic’s Weltman Discusses Deadline, Injuries, Mosley, More
The Magic were projected to be among the contending teams in the Eastern Conference this season, but they’ve had an up-and-down year and currently sit in play-in territory at 26-24. Speaking on Thursday to reporters, including Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required), president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman acknowledged that he’s not satisfied with the season to this point.
“I don’t like the state of the team right now,” Weltman said. “We’re not playing well and I think it’s been a little while that we haven’t been playing well. I would imagine our fans our frustrated by the way we’re playing and I’m frustrated with them. I remain optimistic about the rest of the season and it’s on us to turn this thing around. There’s still over a third of the season left and we’re right in the thick of the race. We’ve got to get it done.”
Weltman could’ve taken a swing at the trade deadline in an effort to upgrade the roster, but the Magic gave up most of their most valuable draft assets in last summer’s deal for Desmond Bane. Their only move at this year’s deadline was trading point guard Tyus Jones and his $7MM expiring contract to Charlotte in order to get below the luxury tax line.
Weltman said the relatively quietly deadline wasn’t a result of a lack of aggressiveness, but that he and the front office didn’t want to make a move just for the sake of making the move. The veteran executive also pointed out that making any sort of meaningful trade would likely require breaking up Orlando’s core of Jalen Suggs, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Wendell Carter Jr., and Bane, which the club isn’t looking to do.
“That core has been excellent when it’s been on the floor together,” Weltman said. “… So, for us to break up that core, it’s going to have to be a significant move. I will tell you, we had some substantive talks that I thought could have gone somewhere. Obviously they did not, they didn’t materialize but it wasn’t for a lack of pushing, for a lack of urgency. Our mission is to improve this team. We’re never taking a day off from that.”
Here are a few more notable quotes from Weltman, via Beede:
On the Magic’s recurring injury issues, which have carried over from last season to this one:
“It’s concerning. Every team has injuries, but it’s having these prolonged injuries. All I can say is, these are soft tissue injuries. What can you say? It’s the NBA and this is what happens sometimes. I do feel like we’re a little bit ‘Groundhog Day,’ with this season. The only thing is, I also think we’re better this year because we added Desmond Bane. So, I hate to keep saying it, but when this team has been healthy, it’s been really good.”
On whether Jamahl Mosley’s head coaching job is safe for the rest of the season:
(Orlando Sentinel story)
“Organizationally … Jamahl has our full support. And Jamahl’s our coach for the rest of the season. So, it’s not a matter of like — I know there’s a lot of chatter out there and stuff — it’s not one person. This is a basketball team, it’s a basketball organization and it’s a group effort. We’ve got to get better.
“I can tell you one thing, I know Mose is going home every night looking (at) himself in the mirror and not sleeping and trying to figure out how to do this thing and how to get us back on track. And I know the players are doing the same thing. There’s a lot of people that are frustrated and they care greatly about this. We feel the weight of the fans’ frustration. Let me say that. When I hear a lack of urgency or this and that, it’s like … I don’t sleep. I mean, we’ve got to get this thing right. And I’m confident that we will.”
On why 2024 addition Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and 2025 addition Jones saw their shooting percentages plummet in Orlando:
(Twitter link via Beede)
“We spent a lot of time on that. I don’t have an answer for that. … A lot of shooting, I say, comes from what kind of shots you can generate, for our team, through your defense and then roster stability, lineup stability. When you have the kind of crazy amount of lineups that we’ve had over the last couple of years through all these injuries, and then this year with the drop in our defensive effectiveness, I think those things feed in and they contribute.
“But I wish I had a better answer than that for you because at the end of the day, shooters got to make shots and… I don’t know why. I think some of those first two factors contribute to that. Tyus is a good shooter, he’s a good player. It just didn’t fit here.”
Injury Notes: Poeltl, Murray-Boyles, White, Wagner, McBride, Duren
The back issues that have limited Jakob Poeltl to just 21 games this season were a major reason why his trade value was so low at the deadline, preventing the Raptors from gaining traction in their talks for Domantas Sabonis. However, Poeltl – who last played on December 21 – may not be out much longer, per Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link).
As Murphy relays, Poeltl is said to be ramping up and reacting “really well” as he works his way back. Toronto has just two more games between now and the All-Star break – Sunday vs. Indiana and next Wednesday vs. Detroit – but the team thinks there’s a chance he could return during that time.
Meanwhile, Raptors rookie big man Collin Murray-Boyles remains active after missing four games in late January due to a left thumb ailment, but that injury is still bothering him, according to Murphy, who notes (via Twitter) that he’ll have to wear a protector on the thumb for five more weeks. Still, Murray-Boyles powered through in Thursday’s win over Chicago, scoring 17 points on 8-of-9 shots from the field in 37 minutes of action.
“I give him a lot of credit,” head coach Darko Rajakovic said (Twitter link via Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca). “… He’s having trouble dribbling the ball, catching the ball, (but) he’s playing through that.”
Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:
- Newly acquired Hornets guard Coby White had played in 11 of Chicago’s last 12 games before being traded to Charlotte, but president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson said White is dealing with some calf issues, which the Hornets will tread carefully with. According to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link), the 25-year-old may not play for his new team until after the All-Star break.
- Magic forward Franz Wagner is “very close” to returning from the left ankle injury that has sidelined him since January 18 and caused him to miss 24 of the team’s past 26 games, president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said on Thursday (Twitter link via Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel). Orlando plays three more times before the All-Star break.
- A pair of doctors who spoke to Jared Schwartz of The New York Post suggest that the full recovery period for a sports hernia procedure like the one Miles McBride is undergoing is usually close to 12 weeks. Reports on Thursday indicated there’s optimism the Knicks guard will be back for the postseason, which will begin in about 10 weeks.
- Pistons center Jalen Duren didn’t play in the second half of Thursday’s loss to Washington due to right knee soreness, per the team (Twitter link). According to head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, that knee soreness has been an issue for Duren for “a little bit,” but there’s no indication yet whether it will cost him any additional time (Twitter link via Hunter Patterson of The Athletic).