The latest news and notes on the Detroit Pistons on Sunday afternoon:
In light of the news that Rajon Rondo has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season, focus is already turning to the decisions the Celtics face at the trade deadline. Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports (via Twitter) that executives around the NBA expect the Celtics to seriously consider moving Paul Pierce before the February 21 trading deadline.
Pierce is due to be paid $15.3MM next season, but only $4MM of it is guaranteed. That number will become $5MM if he plays in 50 percent of his team's total games, including regular season and playoffs. Barring any injury, that is likely to happen.
Rajon Rondo has torn his right ACL and will miss the remainder of the 2012/13 season. He was a late scratch from the Celtics' Sunday game against the Heat, and his injury was previously reported as a hyperextended knee. However, ESPN's Doris Burke reported during the telecast that Rondo was informed by team doctors that he had in fact suffered a torn ACL.
Boston's point guard duties will be manned primarily by Avery Bradley and Leandro Barbosa. It is unclear whether the Celtics will look for more point guard help, or whether this affects their plans to possibly move Paul Pierce.
Celtics officials fear Rajon Rondo has torn the ACL in his right knee, according to David Baumann of Bright House Sports Network (Twitter link). Rondo is sitting out today's game against the Heat with what the team is calling a hyperextended right knee, as Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com notes. Rondo, who hurt himself in Friday's loss to the Hawks, will undergo a precautionary MRI.
An ACL for Rondo, which would surely knock him out for the rest of the season, could be a knockout blow to the Celtics, who sit at 20-23, just two games in front of the Sixers for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The deadline to apply for a disabled player exception came and went earlier this month, but such an exception, worth half of Rondo's $11MM salary, wouldn't have been much use to the Celtics, who are less than $3MM beneath their hard cap.
Rondo, who had recently been elected an All-Star starter, is in the third season of a team-friendly five-year, $55MM deal. He's shown durability throughout his career, never missing more than 14 games in any of his six seasons prior to this year.
It was a night of missed oppotunities Saturday in the Atlantic, where the Nets could have crept to within a half game of the division-leading Knicks with a win over the Rockets. The Raptors would have stood three and a half out of the last playoff spot if Kyrie Irving hadn't drained a clutch trey for the Cavs. The only team to make hay was the Sixers, who blew out the Knicks and pulled two games behind the Celtics for eighth place in the East. Here's more from the Atlantic Division:
We'll round up the day's D-League assignments and recalls in this post, with the latest moves on top.
Royce White and the Rockets reached an agreement last night that will bring the rookie back on the court after a nearly three-month absence. The 6'8" forward will report February 11th to the D-League's Rio Grande Valley Vipers and ostensibly make his NBA debut shortly thereafter. Presumably, the 16th pick in this past year's draft is finally back on track after grappling with the team over how to handle his psychological ailments.
Still, there's not much reason to believe this is the last bump in the road for White, who has threatened retirement and misled the team about his fear of flying in the leadup to the draft, according to GM Daryl Morey. The GM admitted to Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard that drafting White was a calculated risk, and that the club believed he had the talent of a top-five pick. He also knew White might not work out, though I'm not sure he anticipated quite the saga that's played out this season.
The Rockets had three first-round picks last year, and one of them, No. 12 selection Jeremy Lamb, was sent away as part of the trade that netted James Harden. The wealth of picks may have justified the team's willingness to go out on a limb with White, but as the Rockets collect assets in search of another star to accompany Harden, a draft bust wouldn't help matters.
Regardless of White's troubles thus far, Houston may have one of the most talented rookies in the league on its team soon. Does that justify the risks involved? Let us know.
With the future of the Kings in limbo, we'll round up today's rumors in this post, with any additional updates at the top.
Bob Finnan of The News-Herald hears that Cavaliers GM Chris Grant could be looking to deal Luke Walton, Daniel Gibson, Omri Casspi (all expiring contracts), or even Marreese Speights (citing ESPN's Marc Stein) by the February trade deadline. He also shared a few more noteworthy tidbits in his NBA Notes piece: