Eric Bledsoe‘s season has gone from bad to worse, as Christian Clark of the New Orleans Times-Picayune details. Bledsoe admitted he “wasn’t paying attention” to Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy when the team was instructed to intentionally foul while up by three points against the Knicks in the closing seconds last Sunday. That led to a game-tying 3-pointer. He was benched for a good portion of the second half against Brooklyn on Tuesday, then saw action in 22 minutes against Orlando on Thursday.
Attempts to unload Bledsoe’s contract could prove troublesome for New Orleans. He’ll make a guaranteed $18.1MM next season, though his $19.375MM salary for 2022/23 is only partially guaranteed.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- Didi Louzada‘s contract with the Pelicans is expected to be a two-year deal and he’ll sign it sometime next week, Will Guillory of The Athletic tweets. Louzada, a second-round pick in 2019, most recently played in Australia with the Sydney Kings. The news that the swingman was signing with New Orleans broke on Sunday. He averaged 8.8 PPG, 3.4 RPG and 24.1 MPG in 20 contests with Sydney this season, shooting 39% from the field and 26% from behind the arc.
- Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis left Thursday’s game against the Lakers with a sprained left ankle but it’s not believed to be serious, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. Porzingis, who was playing the second end of a back to back, rolled the ankle while pursuing a loose ball in the third quarter. He was walking in the locker room afterward.
- Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. made his long-awaited season debut on Wednesday and looked sharp. He had 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks in 18 minutes during a 12-point loss to the Clippers. He was relieved to finally play after rehabbing from knee surgery, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk writes. “This is a big win,” he said. “It’s been a long stretch for me.”
“Welcome back, Jaren.”
– Every single Grizz fan in Memphis
Jackson is an excellent player. Underrated.
He might be their best player, even better than Morant.
Tough call there and a nice “problem” to have.
Not sure what is worse…Bledsoe the player or the ludicrous decision by Stan Van Gundy to keep playing Bledsoe. #tanking
Try to get his value up for an offseason trade I’m sure
Jackson is a solid big. But after a good second yr. Hasn’t played much. I was under impression it wasn’t a serious injury. Considering Grizz have done well without him. They should be much better with him healthy.
Fingers crossed.
I hope the Mavs get a center next off-season. I’m not sure they think they need one. What I read suggests they are fully committed to 5 out small ball approach. However, I think they should look at the standings and see that every team ahead of them in the west has a big ball center. I know Luka is best with a wide open driving lane to the basket…like Lebron in Miami wanting Bosh to play outside. And, I know that Golden State and other teams have basically proven the superiority of the 5 out approach. But, personnel and matchups matter. Not every team can play 5 out for 48 minutes a game. Luka wants to play 5 out, but Porzingis is best playing next to a traditional center. And if the Mavs want to keep KP from getting injured and if they want KP to “carry” the team while Luka sits, then I believe that the Mavs are going to need to find a center to play minutes with KP. I think that center could be of the offensive variety (like Enes Kanter) or defensive variety like Steven Adams or Andre Drummond. Either way, that center needs to be strong enough (because KP isn’t) on defense to prevent bigs like Drummond from camping under the hoop; and some kind of threat on offense to score dunks/layups/offensive rebound put backs…being that kind of threat on offense would draw gravity towards the basket and away from the outside where it’s better for KP to operate…KP is a great shooter from outside if he gets open looks. Long story short, KP, Finney-Smith, Haradway, Brunson plus Andre Drummond or Enes Kanter is better than basically any bench team the Mavs could face. The Mavs will have money this off-season and I suspect they’ll try to upgrade their power forward position. I wouldn’t object to them offering John Collins a max deal. But, I do think getting a strong center big to play 20 minutes a game might be even more important to their team success than adding a star pick and pop pick and roll dunk partner (like Collins) for Luka.