In the wake of Markelle Fultz‘s season-ending knee injury, rookie Cole Anthony has becomes the Magic’s No. 1 point guard, Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel writes. Anthony, who was selected with the No. 15 pick in the draft, logged a season-high 32 minutes on Wednesday when Fultz was injured.
“Cole, in my opinion, he’s the starter right now and I think that he’s ready to take it and grow with it and we all have great confidence in him,” Magic coach Steve Clifford said.
Many G League hopefuls – including a number of NBA veterans – are eligible to be selected in the NBAGL’s 2021 draft, which will take place on Monday. But competition for those draft slots figures to be fierce.
Since the majority of NBAGL roster spots are occupied by affiliate players and returning-rights players, teams often don’t make full use of the draft anyway. In a typical year, the G League draft is four rounds and teams are only required to make two selections. As G League expert Adam Johnson points out (in a Twitter thread), this year’s draft will last just three rounds and teams won’t be required to make any picks.
Roster spots will also be at a premium for a couple more reasons — 11 NBA teams’ affiliates aren’t participating in the G League bubble, and rosters won’t be expanded for training camp, as a coronavirus precaution. Johnson suggests he wouldn’t be surprised if only about 20 or so players are selected in Monday’s draft.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
In the wake of the season-ending ACL tear suffered by Magic point guard Markelle Fultz this week, Josh Robbins of The Athletic weighs in on what the injury means for Orlando’s future. The Magic’s hot 6-2 start to the 2020/21 season suggested that perhaps Fultz and the rest of the club’s available young core might have taken the next step in their development.
“It was really tough just to see your teammate go down — but of all people, Markelle,” Bone said of his Magic teammate. “He’s set the intensity since Day 1 for us guards and the team collectively.”
Recently-extended Magic starting point guard Markelle Fultz is set to miss the rest of the 2020/21 season after tearing the ACL in his left knee, Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. Fultz suffered the injury during the first quarter of tonight’s 105-96 defeat of the Cavaliers. Fultz’s three-year, $50MM contract extension will kick in during the 2021/22 season.
This is quite a blow for the Magic. Fultz will join the club’s fellow injured 2017 lottery draftee Jonathan Isaac on the sidelines for the duration of the 2020/21 season. Isaac received an $80MM extension of his own ahead of the season, all of which he is set to miss as a result of his own torn left ACL, which he incurred during the 2020 NBA playoffs this past August.
Fultz was selected with the No. 1 pick by the Sixers in the 2017 NBA draft. After various shoulder injuries limited the 6’3″ guard to just 33 games across his first two seasons, Philadelphia traded a still-injured Fultz to the Magic ahead of the 2019 deadline.
Fultz was available for 72 of Orlando’s 73 games during the subsequent 2019/20 season, and developed into a reliable, athletic starter for the playoff-bound Orlando.
In 27.7 MPG, he averaged 12.1 PPG (on 46.5% shooting from the field), 5.1 APG, 3.3 RPG and 1.3 SPG. This season, Fultz was averaging 14.3 PPG, 6.1 APG, 3.6 RPG, and 1.0 SPG during the Magic’s first seven games.
With Fultz sidelined, Michael Carter-Williams and rookie Cole Anthony figure to see more minutes at the point this season. Both of Orlando’s two-way players – Jordan Bone and Karim Mane – are point guards as well.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Rookie Magic forward Chuma Okeke suffered a left knee bone bruise in the fourth quarter of the club’s 116-92 loss to the Sixers on Thursday, per Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN adds that Okeke will at least miss several weeks of activity with the injury.
Okeke tore his left ACL in March 2019 while a sophomore at Auburn. Nevertheless, Orlando drafted the 6’8″ forward with the No. 16 pick in that summer’s draft, though he missed the entire 2019/20 season as he continued to recover from the injury. A team source tells Parry that, this time, all ligaments in the knee appear intact following an MRI, and that the timeline of Okeke’s recovery is contingent on treatment.
Okeke averaged 9.9 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.5 APG, and 1.28 SPG in 72 games while at Auburn. Still just 22, he is averaging 3.0 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 1.6 APG across 18.0 MPG in his first five games with the Magic this season.
Malik Monk is waiting for the Hornets to give him a chance after his bout with COVID-19 earlier this month, writes Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. Monk hasn’t gotten into a game yet this season and is fighting for playing time on a roster that’s much deeper at the wing than it was last year.
Monk will be a free agent when the offseason arrives, and the Hornets can make him restricted with a $7.3MM qualifying offer. He views this season as an audition for his NBA future.
“This is the big one. A big step to show what I can do,” Monk said. “With other teams, not only the Charlotte Hornets. To show other teams what I can do and how productive I can be. I can’t do that if I’m not on the court, but I don’t control that.”
Monk was hoping for better after a breakthrough performance in February when he averaged 17.0 PPG on 46% shooting in 13 games. However, before the month ended, he was suspended indefinitely for a violation of the NBA’s drug policy. Monk said he hasn’t received much feedback from coaches about what he needs to do to earn minutes.
“Super, super, super freaking frustrating (with) the waiting,” he said. “The month of February, I finally became an NBA player, finally got the minutes I thought I deserved a couple of years ago. I was proving myself. And that’s all I really could ask for at that point.”
We’re one week into the NBA’s 2020/21 season, and just four of the league’s 30 teams have yet to lose a game. A handful of Eastern Conference teams – the Pacers, Magic, Hawks, and Cavaliers – make up that unlikely foursome.
While all four of those clubs are 3-0, they may not be undefeated much longer. This NBA season has been an unpredictable one so far, with unexpected blowouts and upsets taking place on a nightly basis. And as good as these teams have looked so far, I don’t expect any of them to be a powerhouse this season — it seems unlikely that we’ll see a 10-0 run to start the season.
Here are the upcoming schedules for each of the NBA’s four undefeated teams:
We want to know what you think: Which of these four undefeated teams will be the last to lose a game?
While it may be tempting to write off the Magic and Cavaliers, given their modest preseason expectations, the Pacers and Hawks have tough games on tap — Indiana will have to beat a Boston team that it squeaked past by a single point on Sunday, while Atlanta will be facing a rested Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn tomorrow.
Of the four undefeated teams, the Cavaliers have the most favorable fourth game (at home vs. the Knicks), but they’re missing power forward Kevin Love. And even if they get past New York, they improbably have games on tap against the other three undefeated clubs.
A year ago, the Sixers were the only team in the NBA to win more than three consecutive games to start the season. Will multiple squads do it this year? And which will remain undefeated the longest?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your predictions!
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