Nets guard Tyler Johnson missed Thursday’s game against Philadelphia due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. According to Malika Andrews of ESPN (Twitter links), head coach Steve Nash said Johnson hasn’t tested positive for COVID-19 but is out due to contact tracing. In the early going of the 2020/21 season, contact tracing protocols have typically sidelined players for seven days, though Johnson’s exact timeline has yet to be confirmed.
Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York-based teams:
- Nash told reporters on Thursday night that he thinks Nets star Kevin Durant (also out for contact tracing purposes) should be available to return on Sunday as long as he continues to test negative for the coronavirus (Twitter link via Andrews). “Can’t wait for Sunday to come,” Nash said.
- Entering the season, veteran Knicks big man Julius Randle looked like a prime candidate to be moved at the trade deadline. However, Randle’s All-Star caliber play so far (23.1 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 7.4 APG) may force the team to reevaluate its plans for him, says Steve Popper of Newsday.
- Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype makes the case for why the Knicks signing Taj Gibson is a smart move. While Gibson will reportedly sign with the team, he’s still going through COVID-19 protocols and may not be on the roster in time to be activated for Friday night’s game vs. Oklahoma City, tweets Marc Berman of The New York Post.
- In case you missed it last night, Kyrie Irving missed Thursday’s game for personal reasons and didn’t travel with the Nets to Memphis for Friday’s game.
Wouldn’t mind seeing a Randle/Wiseman swap with some contracts coming back to the Knicks to balance it out at some point near the deadline.
Absolutely zero shot the Warriors do that. While Randle is playing really well this season so far, he is also the first option on his team. Dude wouldn’t be nearly as productive on a team with Steph and Klay. Not to mention Wiseman has superstar potential, and the Dubs would be giving that up for less than 2 years of Julius.
Even as a Knicks fan who loves how Randle is playing this year, I must ask why on earth the Warriors would do this.
The Warriors aren’t trading Wiseman for Randle. No way.
They wouldn’t because he is playing great for GSW
We don’t need wiseman,when Mitchell Robinson is playing great basketball i would sign randle for 2 more years to give toppin time to develop.
Kyrie is the reason people are turned off by the NBA.
He is also the reason why the Nets aren’t going to the Finals this year.
Oh just like Houston isn’t either? Oh that’s right the difference is that Brooklyn has more than just a selfish star who doesn’t care about anything other than padding stats. Have fun blowing it up when they trade the Beard.
Randle certainly has positive trade value right now, but I’m still not convinced there’s a deal in the market worth doing (one where the Knicks acquire a real future asset, like a 1st, without surrendering future cap space). If there is, I would do it in a minute. But, if not, he’s played well enough with Mitch (something that wasn’t the case last year) and, at least on offense, he might with Toppin as well. All 3 can get starter mins. So, he might actually help, vs hurt, their development and even those of some of the other young players. I don’t want him back next year regardless, but even so, his value to the Knicks’ future isn’t zero. It exceeds a bunch of 2nd round picks.