The Thunder’s playoff hopes took a major blow with the announcement that Kevin Durant would undergo surgery on his ailing right foot and miss the rest of the season. Durant played in just 27 games this season, the first time in his NBA career that he’s missed more than eight contests. The 26-year-old is expected to return to basketball activity in four to six months, OKC GM Sam Presti said in the official statement, a timeframe that should hopefully have Durant ready for the start of training camp in the fall. Here’s the rest of the week’s happenings…
Signings
- The Suns signed A.J. Price to a 10-day contract and released Seth Curry.
- Toure’ Murry inked a second 10-day pact with the Wizards.
- The Kings signed David Wear to a 10-day deal.
- Metta World Peace signed a contract with Italy’s Pallacanestro Cantù for the remainder of the season.
- The Pelicans signed Toney Douglas for the remainder of the season.
- Jack Cooley signed a multiyear deal with the Jazz.
- The Jazz waived Ian Clark and signed Chris Johnson to a multiyear deal of his own.
- The Hawks inked Austin Daye to a second 10-day contract.
- Earl Clark signed a 10-day deal with the Nets.
- The Wizards released Toure’ Murry and signed Will Bynum to a 10-day deal.
2015 NBA Draft News
- LSU sophomore power forward Jarell Martin will enter the 2015 NBA draft.
- Fellow LSU sophomore Jordan Mickey is also leaning toward entering the 2015 NBA draft.
- University of Florida junior shooting guard Michael Frazier has decided to enter this year’s NBA draft.
- There were conflicting reports regarding UNLV freshman shooting guard Rashad Vaughn‘s plans to enter the draft.
News/Rumors
- Free agent JaVale McGee relaxed his stance on requiring a player option for the 2015/16 season.
- Jose Calderon is likely done for the season after undergoing a procedure on his strained left Achilles tendon
- The Rockets are reportedly willing to give draft-and-stash point guard Sergio Llull a three-year deal worth a total of at least $17MM.
- Andrei Kirilenko plans to retire at the end of this season.
- The Wizards and the Nets are both interested in one-to-one affiliations with D-League teams.
- Bojan Dubljevic, whose rights are owned by the Timberwolves, will be with Valencia of the Euroleague for at least the next two seasons without the possibility of arranging a buyout.
- The Jazz officially acquired the Idaho Stampede, becoming the eighth NBA team to fully own and operate their own D-League franchise
- All of the week’s NBA D-League assignments and recalls can be found here.
- The Sixers and rookie Glenn Robinson III reportedly have mutual interest in working out a deal that would keep the player in Philadelphia beyond this season.
- The Mavericks have indicated that they have interest in re-signing Amar’e Stoudemire after the season.
- Chris Mullin is a candidate to take over for Steve Lavin, who was fired as coach of St. John’s University.
- The Rockets announced that Donatas Motiejunas will be restricted from basketball activities for one to two weeks because of back issues.