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Month: November 2024

No Timetable Yet For Zion Williamson’s Return

July 22nd, 2020 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pelicans have issued an update on forward Zion Williamson, who left the NBA’s Disney World campus last week to attend to an urgent family matter. While the Pelicans say that Williamson “fully intends” to rejoin the team, there’s still no timetable for his return to the campus, per today’s announcement.

Williamson has been getting tested for the coronavirus on a daily basis while he has been away from the club and continues to return negative results, according to the club. That’s good news for the Pelicans. Based on the NBA’s protocols, that means the star rookie should be quarantined for as few as four days once he eventually reports back to Disney.

Given Williamson’s ongoing absence, it seems increasingly unlikely that he’ll participate in any of the Pelicans’ exhibition scrimmages within the next week. New Orleans’ regular season schedule will resume on July 30 when the team faces Utah in the first official game on the NBA’s summer calendar. It remains to be seen whether 2019’s first overall pick will be available for that contest.

Williamson has averaged 23.6 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 19 games (29.7 MPG) in his first NBA season, and figures to play a key part in the Pelicans’ quest to secure a playoff spot in the West. New Orleans is currently 3.5 games back of the Grizzlies and can force a play-in tournament by remaining within four games of Memphis while finishing ahead of Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, and Phoenix.

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Restart Notes: Media Sessions, Mental Health, Super-Teams, More

July 22nd, 2020 at 1:35pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has been successful so far in its efforts to keep the coronavirus out of its Walt Disney World campus, but the league continues to take additional precautions as it looks to avoid any sort of outbreak.

Sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) that the NBA sent an email to teams on Tuesday asking players and coaches to wear face coverings during Zoom calls now that a small group of media members are attending those sessions in person.

“We want to make sure we are staying within rules of campus and since we’re indoors and they aren’t working out, wearing masks apply here,” the league said in its memo.

Here’s more on the NBA’s restart and what’s happening on the Disney campus:

  • ESPN’s Malika Andrews shares a handful of entertaining stories on life on the NBA’s campus and noting that things have been running as smoothly as could be expected so far. “What the league is working to pull off is just f—ing epic,” one executive told ESPN. “I do feel really good about how things are going thus far.”
  • The “most looming unknown” in Orlando is how players and coaches will respond from a mental health perspective, according to ESPN’s Baxter Holmes, who observes that every team will be on campus for at least five or six weeks, and at least a couple will be there for three months.
  • One coach who spoke to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports believes that the close-quarters campus setting will result in more recruiting than would typically take place in a postseason, essentially functioning like USA Basketball camps have in the past. “The next super-team will come out of this,” the coach said. “I believe it’s inevitable.”
  • Chris Mannix of SI.com and Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports are among the reporters who have written about their unique experiences covering the restart at the Disney campus.
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Pacific Notes: Clippers, Rubio, Caruso, Bjelica, Warriors

July 22nd, 2020 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers‘ proposed Inglewood arena took an important step forward on Tuesday, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN, who writes that the Inglewood City Council unanimously approved the environmental impact report for the building.

As Youngmisuk details, the Clippers intend to build a “sprawling campus” that will include an outdoor plaza, as well as the club’s corporate offices and practice facility. Barring any setbacks, the plan is for construction to begin in the summer of 2021 and for the team to begin playing in the new arena at the start of the 2024/25 season, after the Clippers’ Staples Center lease expires.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

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Westbrook Returns To Practice, Mbah A Moute Cleared To Travel

July 22nd, 2020 at 11:10am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets announced some good news on Wednesday, as Russell Westbrook participated in his first summer practice after clearing quarantine, while Luc Mbah a Moute has been cleared to travel and should arrive soon at the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus.

As Tim MacMahon of ESPN reports, Westbrook spoke to reporters before Houston’s Wednesday practice, indicating that he’s “thankful and blessed” to be able to get back on the court after recovering from the coronavirus. Westbrook, who said he only experienced very minor COVID-19 symptoms, added that he was able to do conditioning workouts at home while quarantined.

According to MacMahon, head coach Mike D’Antoni said today that Westbrook may play in the Rockets’ first scrimmage on Friday against Toronto, though that hasn’t been decided yet.

“Whatever he wants is cool,” D’Antoni said. “He knows his body. Again, we’re not talking about just a normal athlete. We’re talking about a super athlete, and I sometimes underestimate it. I know today I might have a hard time getting through practice, but he might not have any problem. We rely on him and the medical staff to make an informed decision, and whatever that decision is, we’ll go with it.”

Meanwhile, D’Antoni also provided an update on Mbah a Moute, indicating that the veteran forward could arrive in Orlando as soon as Wednesday (Twitter link via Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle).

The Rockets signed Mbah a Moute as a substitute player for Thabo Sefolosha, but his arrival has been delayed by a couple weeks, reducing the likelihood that he’ll earn regular minutes once the seeding games begin next week.

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Atlantic Notes: Anderson, Nets, Kemba, Waters, Horford, Raptors

July 22nd, 2020 at 9:07am CST by Luke Adams

Nets swingman Justin Anderson reached a deal with the team back in June, but didn’t officially sign his substitute-player contract until this past Saturday. As Brian Lewis of The New York Post details, that delay was a result of a case of COVID-19.

“It’s something we wanted to try and keep in-house because we weren’t quite sure when we’d be able to pass the protocols,” Anderson said on a Zoom call on Tuesday. “Battling between negative and positive tests, battling between trying to make sure I got here in a car service rather than a plane to make sure I continue to follow protocol. It was just a long journey.

“… (I) spent time here in Orlando outside of the bubble, about five days to get everything situated and past the protocol with two negative tests. It was a process, and I’m just glad that I’m finally here.”

Although Anderson has finally joined the Nets and cleared quarantine, he won’t be among the players who see action during the team’s first scrimmage on Wednesday. According to Lewis, Jamal Crawford and Tyler Johnson also won’t play in that game — neither will Donta Hall, who remains in quarantine.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

  • Over the weekend, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens downplayed concerns about the status of Kemba Walker‘s knee, per Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. Stevens offered an update on his star point guard on Tuesday, telling reporters – including ESPN’s Tim Bontemps – that Walker likely won’t play in the team’s first scrimmage on Friday. “But he’s pretty darn close right now,” Stevens said.
  • Rookie guard Tremont Waters, who is on a two-way contract with the Celtics, suffered a concussion last week, but is in the later stages of the league’s concussion protocol, Stevens told reporters on Monday (link via Justin Leger of NBC Sports Boston).
  • Sixers big man Al Horford will likely be looking at a reduced role this summer, and head coach Brett Brown said on Tuesday that Horford has been “great” in handling that change, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
  • With a full and healthy roster for the first time all season, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will have plenty of lineup options available to him when play resumes, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. As Blake Murphy of The Athletic relays, Nurse is interested in experimenting with some five-man groups that are heavy on bigs. “It seems to me we started really dominant on the defensive end with the jumbo lineup,” he said.
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Patrick Beverley Leaves Disney Campus For Emergency

July 21st, 2020 at 8:37pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Clippers starting point guard Patrick Beverley left the NBA’s Orlando campus tonight to deal with “an emergency personal matter,” according to Malika Andrews of ESPN. Andrews notes that Beverley, who practiced with the Clippers this morning, plans to rejoin the club at some point during the league’s season restart.

Last week, bench big man Montrezl Harrell also departed the Disney World campus to tend to an emergency. The Clippers play their first seeding game on July 30 against their fellow Staples Center residents, the Lakers.

Losing Beverley, a pesky defensive specialist, for any extended period of time would be a significant blow for the Clippers, the No. 2 seed in the West with a 44-20 record. The 32-year-old boasts a slash line of 7.9 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 3.7 APG for the season. He is connecting on 37.9% of his 4.1 three-point attempts a night. Beverley is in the first season of a three-year, $40MM contract he signed with Los Angeles last summer.

Sharpshooting Sixth Man of the Year candidate Lou Williams could fill in for Beverley as a temporary starter. New waiver wire addition Reggie Jackson could provide additional support. Andrews speculates that Jackson could start ahead of Williams, who is more of a defensive liability. Led by 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and six-time All-Star Paul George, the Clippers, along with the Lakers and Bucks, are widely viewed as a top contender for a title when the 2019/20 season resumes.

If a player is away from the Disney campus for seven or more days, he will have to test negative for COVID-19 for seven consecutive days before touching down again in Orlando. If the player is off-site for fewer than seven days, he must test negative for each of those days. The player would then quarantine for four days upon returning. If Beverley isn’t tested regularly for the novel coronavirus while away, he may need to quarantine for 10-to-14 days.

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Western Notes: G. Harris, Craig, Kings, Mitchell

July 21st, 2020 at 8:30pm CST by Luke Adams

The official Nuggets summer roster, announced on Monday by the NBA, features 17 names, the maximum allowed by the league. However, a number of those players didn’t arrive at the Orlando campus with the rest of the team earlier this month and have been slowly trickling in.

Two key players traveled to the campus on Sunday, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN details, with Gary Harris and Torrey Craig reporting for their quarantine period. Mike Singer of The Denver Post provided an update on Harris and Craig today, tweeting that they’ve now cleared their quarantine period. The two Nuggets didn’t practice today because they also must complete cardiac testing before being fully cleared.

With Harris and Craig nearly ready to start practicing, the Nuggets are a little closer to being whole, but that won’t happen in time for the team’s first inter-squad scrimmage on Wednesday. Earlier this week, head coach Mike Malone said that he expects to have only nine players available for that exhibition game (Twitter link via Chris Dempsey of Altitude Sports). Fans who tune in can expect to see some unusual lineups for Denver, including the possibility of Bol Bol at small forward.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

  • De’Aaron Fox, who is recovering from an ankle sprain, returned to practice for the Kings today and took part in non-contact drills, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Richaun Holmes also participated in his first practice since clearing his extended quarantine.
  • In addition to improving as a player, Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell also wants to improve as a teammate, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. As Walden relays, head coach Quin Snyder has been impressed by Mitchell’s development in both areas. “That maturation process has been going on,” Snyder said. “And some of it you guys don’t see as much. Some of it we see on the floor, some of it we see in the locker room, some of it we see during video (review). … There’s an awareness and a care factor there that has manifested itself in even more leadership.”
  • John Hollinger of The Athletic questions whether the Warriors really need to prioritize acquiring a center this offseason and explores how the Timberwolves might address their shooting guard and forward spots.
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Marvin Bagley III Ruled Out For Season Restart

July 21st, 2020 at 8:04pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Kings big man Marvin Bagley III has officially been ruled out for the NBA’s season restart due to a lateral sprain in his right foot following an MRI on Sunday evening, according to Sam Amick and Shams Charania of the Athletic (Twitter link). He is expected to be in a walking boot for the next two weeks, Charania tweets.

A press release from the team indicates that Bagley suffered the injury in a team scrimmage on Sunday (h/t to James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area who first tweeted the announcement).

Bagley, the No. 2 pick in a loaded 2018 draft that has already yielded two All-Stars, posted 2019/20 season averages of 14.2 PPG and 7.5 RPG across just 13 games in 25.7 MPG. He also missed 20 games during his 2018/19 rookie season.

Bagley had previously missed most of his second season as a result of a left foot sprain and a thumb injury. This right foot sprain is a new injury. In addition to this being a long-term situation to monitor for the 6’11” Duke alum, this also spells bad short-term news for the Kings. Teams can only replace players afflicted with COVID-19 when on the Disney World campus, not players who get injured on-site.

Bagley is not the only current absent player for the Kings. Forward Harrison Barnes has yet to report to the NBA’s campus after contracting the coronavirus earlier this month. Starting point guard De’Aaron Fox returned to non-contact drills with the team today as he continues to recover from a less severe ankle injury.

At  28-36, the team is the eleventh seed in the Western Conference and was thus already a long shot to make the playoffs even before these absences.

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Bam Adebayo, Kendrick Nunn Join Heat In Orlando

July 21st, 2020 at 6:54pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Heat All-Star center Bam Adebayo and 2020 Rookie of the Year candidate and starting point guard Kendrick Nunn have arrived at the Disney World campus in Orlando ahead of the NBA’s season start, according to Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Both players will need to quarantine in their hotel rooms for two days, pass a physical, and notch consecutive negative COVID-19 tests before rejoining Miami for practices and scrimmages.

A reason for the two Miami starters’ absence was not given, though last week in a conference call head coach Erik Spoelstra had noted that two Heat players were absent while continuing to recover from the coronavirus. Forward Derrick Jones Jr. also dealt with a bout of COVID-19 in June, though he has made a full recovery and is already with the team.

The Heat are scheduled to play the Nuggets in their first game of the NBA summer restart on Saturday, August 1. Led by Adebayo and veteran All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler, Miami is currently the No. 4 seed in the East with a 41-24 record.

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Kevin Garnett Part Of Group Preparing Bid For Wolves

July 21st, 2020 at 5:24pm CST by Luke Adams

5:24pm: Garnett wants to keep the Wolves in Minnesota if his group is successful in its bid, sources tell Charania (Twitter link).

4:58pm: Former Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett is part of a group of investors preparing a bid to submit to Wolves owner Glen Taylor in the hopes of purchasing the franchise, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

As we detailed in our earlier story about Taylor exploring a possible sale of the Wolves, Charania initially reported that Garnett’s group was seriously interested in the team and was exploring the possibility of a bid. Now it sounds as if KG’s group is close to officially putting an offer on the table.

A Hall-of-Famer, Garnett didn’t win a championship until after he was traded to the Celtics, but enjoyed the most productive years of his NBA career in Minnesota. He averaged 19.8 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 4.3 APG, and 1.6 BPG in 970 games (37.3 MPG) over 14 seasons with the Wolves, including the last couple years of his career. Garnett was a 10-time All-Star, a four-time rebounding champion, and the 2004 MVP during his time with the franchise.

However, Garnett hasn’t been on good terms with Taylor for the last several years, having previously suggested that he felt there was an understanding he would join the Wolves’ front office after his retirement — and that Taylor reneged on that agreement following the death of Flip Saunders. Still, even when Garnett has criticized Taylor, he has always stressed his fondness for Minnesota and the Timberwolves.

“My years in Minnesota and in that community, I cherish,” Garnett told Charania in April when discussing why his number hadn’t been retired by the Wolves. “At this point, I don’t want any dealings with Glen Taylor or Taylor Corp. or anything that has to do with him. I love my Timberwolves, I’ll always love my guys, I’ll always love the people who f–k with me there. I’ll always have a special place for the city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota in my heart.”

Although Garnett made a staggering $343MM+ over the course of his 21-year NBA career, per Basketball-Reference, he probably isn’t in position to become the majority owner of a franchise valued at $1.375 billion by Forbes earlier this year. It’s not yet clear what other investors are part of Garnett’s group.

As we noted in our earlier story, Taylor has retained The Raine Group to explore a sale of the Timberwolves and has made it clear he’s not interested in selling to a group that wants to relocate the team. Presumably, given his connection with Minnesota, KG’s goal would be to keep the Wolves in their current location, though he has also talked in the past about wanting to bring the NBA back to Seattle.

Taylor also told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link) today that if a sale is completed, he’d expect his WNBA team – the Minnesota Lynx – to be part of it.

“The way I run it, it’s all one thing,” Taylor said. “I would assume we would want to keep it that way and make it more efficient.”

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