Orlando Magic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Aaron Gordon Leaves NBA’s Campus

August 27th, 2020 at 4:27pm CST by Luke Adams

Magic forward Aaron Gordon has left the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Charania explains that Gordon left the bubble due to his left hamstring injury and the “events of (the) past few days.”

Gordon, who suffered a hamstring strain on August 5 vs. Toronto, missed Orlando’s last four seeding games and had yet to play in the postseason. Despite some optimism that he was getting close to returning, the veteran forward was still unable to sprint up and down the court, head coach Steve Clifford said this week. Clifford also told reporters that the team didn’t want to risk Gordon suffering a more serious injury.

With playoff games expected to resume on Friday or Saturday, the Magic’s season could be over by the end of the weekend — Orlando currently trails the Bucks by a 3-1 margin in their first-round series.

Gordon will enter next season with two years left on his contract, having averaged 14.4 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 3.7 APG in 62 games (32.5 MPG) in 2019/20. He was considered a potential trade candidate before Jonathan Isaac suffered a torn ACL this summer. With Isaac’s availability for the 2020/21 season up in the air, it’s possible Orlando will be more inclined to hang onto Gordon.

Players Decide To Resume Playoffs; Thursday’s Games To Be Postponed

August 27th, 2020 at 11:01am CST by Luke Adams

The three NBA playoff games scheduled to take place on Thursday will be postponed, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links). However, players have decided to resume the postseason and discussions are underway about when that will happen, Wojnarowski reports.

Games appear likely to resume as soon as Friday, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter links).

[UPDATE: NBA Hopes To Resume Postseason By Saturday]

According to Charania (Twitter link), NBA players who met today want to find “new and improved ways” to make social justice statements as they prepare to restart play.

Another meeting will take place today on the Orlando campus at 4:00 pm eastern time, with two players from each team participating, per Goodman and Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter links). The goal of that meeting will be to formulate a specific action plan to address racial injustice issues and to work out the logistics of restarting play, a source tells MacMahon (Twitter link).

A meeting of NBA owners and players is also set up for later today, Wojnarowski and Marc Spears of ESPN report (via Twitter). It sounds like that will be a separate meeting, though it figures to focus on similar issues.

“The bubble is about more than just crowning a champion,” one veteran player told Spears (Twitter link). “More so now than ever. It felt like the message was fading. Hopeful this can create a new level of activism and commitment from our owners, (the) league, (and) teams towards real change.”

After the Bucks decided not to play Game 5 of their first-round series against the Magic on Wednesday to protest social and racial injustices, the Rockets, Thunder, Lakers, and Trail Blazers followed suit, and the NBA postponed those games.

Today’s contests between the Nuggets and Jazz, Celtics and Raptors, and Mavericks and Clippers will also need to be rescheduled. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link) hears that one “common-sense” scenario being considered is to simply push each game back by two days, from Wednesday to Friday and Thursday to Saturday.

Following Wednesday’s boycott, players gathered last night to discuss next steps and that meeting reportedly got “emotional.” Players from the Lakers and Clippers voted in favor of ending the season, while other teams voted to continue playing and some players – including CJ McCollum – cautioned against giving up the platform afforded by the NBA’s bubble.

After further discussions both last night and this morning, LeBron James and other prominent players changed their positions, agreeing that it’s in players’ best interest to finish the season, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Sources tell Charania that players today discussed the sacrifices they’ve made to reach this point of the 2019/20 season, as well as the sense of normalcy that will be gained when family members are allowed to enter the Orlando campus next week (Twitter link). Everyone was ultimately in agreement on restarting the season, one player told Goodman (Twitter link).

Bucks Co-Owners, Players Issue Statements

August 26th, 2020 at 6:35pm CST by Luke Adams

Bucks co-owners Marc Lasry, Wes Edens, and Jamie Dinan have put out a statement in response to their players’ decision not to play Game 5 of their first-round series against Orlando on Wednesday. Within the statement, the Bucks co-owners said they “fully support” the players’ decision.

“Although we did not know beforehand, we would have wholeheartedly agreed with them,” Lasry, Edens, and Dinan said. “The only way to bring about change is to shine a light on the racial injustices that are happening in front of us. Our players have done that and we will continue to stand alongside them and demand accountability and change.”

In addition to the Bucks, ownership groups of other teams that were scheduled to play have put out statements of their own. The Magic‘s team owners said they “stand united” with the Bucks and the rest of the league in “condemning bigotry, racial injustices, and the unwarranted use of violence by police against people of color.” Lakers owner Jeanie Buss said she stands behind the players “today and always” (Twitter link).

All of today’s games were ultimately postponed, but it was the Bucks’ decision to boycott that created a domino effect. The Bucks’ efforts to raise awareness and enact change resulted in the team getting on a conference call with Wisconsin attorney general Josh Kaul and lieutenant governor Mandela Barnes this evening, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

Milwaukee players also appeared outside their locker room tonight, where Sterling Brown and George Hill read a prepared statement to media members. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) provided video of that statement.

“We are calling for justice for Jacob Blake and demand the officers be held accountable,” Hill said. “For this to occur, it is imperative for the Wisconsin State Legislature to reconvene after months of inaction and take up meaningful measures to address issues of police accountability, brutality, and criminal justice reform.”

Players at the Orlando campus are expected to meet within the next hour to discuss potential next steps. According to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), coaches in the bubble have also been invited to attend that meeting. NBPA executive director Michele Roberts will also be in attendance, tweets John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7.

NBA Says Wednesday’s Games Will Be Rescheduled; Players To Discuss Next Steps

August 26th, 2020 at 4:23pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has announced in a press release that all three Game Fives scheduled to take place on Wednesday have been postponed and will be rescheduled.

Bucks players led a boycott of this afternoon’s game against the Magic, with the Thunder, Rockets, Trail Blazers, and Lakers quickly deciding to follow suit. The protests stem from a desire to raise awareness of social and racial injustices and enact change, and come in response to the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the NBA, team owners, and front offices didn’t see today’s wave of player boycotts coming — as a few hours ago, they expected all of today’s games to take place.

NBA players have called a meeting for Wednesday night in Orlando to discuss and determine potential next steps, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

As Chris Mannix of SI.com notes (via Twitter), some teams – including the Raptors – have discussed the possibility of leaving the bubble altogether. Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) hears that the Raptors and Celtics are leaning toward not playing Game 1 of their second-round series on Thursday.

Bucks Players Boycotting Game 5 Vs. Orlando

August 26th, 2020 at 3:46pm CST by Luke Adams

3:46pm: Bucks players are in their locker room attempting to contact Josh Kaul, the attorney general of Wisconsin, reports Charania (via Twitter). According to Charania, the Magic are refusing to accept the Bucks’ forfeit of today’s game.

“Some things are bigger than basketball,” Alex Lasry, the Bucks’ senior vice president and son of team owner Marc Lasry, said in a statement (via Twitter). “The stand taken today by the players and org shows that we’re fed up. Enough is enough. Change needs to happen. I’m incredibly proud of our guys and we stand 100% behind our players ready to assist and bring about real change.”

3:21pm: Bucks players have decided to boycott Game 5 of their first-round series against the Magic this afternoon in protest of the recent police shooting of Jacob Blake, according to reports from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).

As the Magic took the court for pregame warmups this afternoon, the Bucks remained in their locker room, prompting Orlando players and the game’s referees to eventually leave the floor. Charania and Wojnarowski reported that the Bucks were seriously considering a boycott as league and team officials gathered outside the team’s locker room.

The shooting of Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, took place in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is less than 50 miles south of Milwaukee.

The Bucks met before practice on Tuesday to discuss the incident and other social and racial justice issues, as Matt Velazquez of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel details. Multiple players expressed reservations about being in the NBA’s Disney World bubble with more important things going on, with George Hill suggesting that players should never have gone to Orlando to restart the season.

“I think it was said by multiple people there’s nothing more important than getting social justice and getting the wrongs that are happening in our country right and creating real and lasting change,” head coach Mike Budenholzer said of the meeting. “There’s literally nothing more important.”

It’s also worth noting that Bucks swingman Sterling Brown has first-hand experience with police brutality and racial profiling, having been tased and arrested by Milwaukee police officers over a parking violation in 2018. He has an ongoing lawsuit against the city, alleging that the officers used excessive force and targeted him because he is Black.

Earlier reports had indicated that NBA players – particularly members of the Celtics and Raptors – were mulling the possibility of boycotting games. Now that the Bucks have done so, it’s unclear what sort of domino effect the decision might have or how exactly the league will handle it.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter) the NBA’s Operations Manual includes “failure to appear” language that would subject a team to a forfeit and a fine of up to $5MM. However, that doesn’t mean those penalties will be applied in this situation — especially if this isn’t the last game to be boycotted.

Aaron Gordon Out For Game 5

August 26th, 2020 at 12:18pm CST by Luke Adams

Magic forward Aaron Gordon (hamstring) has been ruled out for Game 5 against Milwaukee, the team announced today (via Twitter). We heard on Tuesday that Gordon was still having trouble running up and down the court and that the club didn’t want to risk him suffering a more serious injury. If Orlando loses today, Gordon’s season will be over without him getting a chance to play in the postseason.

Aaron Gordon Unlikely To Return For Game 5

August 25th, 2020 at 4:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Magic forward Aaron Gordon (hamstring) appears unlikely to be ready for Game 5 on Wednesday, according to head coach Steve Clifford, who says that Gordon is still unable to sprint up and down the court and the team doesn’t want to risk him suffering a more serious injury (Twitter links via Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel).

Gordon, MCW Remain Out For Game 4

August 24th, 2020 at 10:50am CST by Luke Adams

Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Michael Carter-Williams (foot) will remain sidelined for the Magic in Game 4 against Milwaukee this afternoon, the team announced (via Twitter). Neither player has been active for a playoff game so far.

Ennis, Williams Fined For On-Court Altercation

August 23rd, 2020 at 2:50pm CST by JD Shaw

Magic forward James Ennis and Bucks forward Marvin Williams have each been fined $15K for their involvement in an on-court altercation during Game 3, the NBA announced in a press release.

The incident occurred with 5:39 remaining in the second quarter of Saturday’s contest, with Ennis and Williams battling for position and quickly getting tangled up. Both players began shoving each other and were subsequently ejected after the scuffle.

Williams has stated he has no interest in apologizing to Ennis and described the situation as one where he defended himself as a man, as relayed by Matt Velazquez of the Journal Sentinel (Twitter link).

Milwaukee defeated Orlando 121-107 behind Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s 35 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Ennis, a starter, recorded one point and two rebounds prior to being ejected, while Williams grabbed two rebounds in six minutes off the bench.

The Bucks currently lead the series 2-1 with Game 4 scheduled to be aired by NBA TV on Monday.

Gordon, Carter-Williams To Miss Game 3

August 22nd, 2020 at 12:02pm CST by marksuleymanov

Aaron Gordon and Michael Carter-Williams will miss the Magic’s Game 3 contest against the Bucks on Saturday, Iliana Limón Romero of the Orlando Sentinel writes.

Gordon (strained left hamstring) and Carter-Williams (strained tendon, left foot) have both been sidelined since early August with their respective ailments. As Orlando tries to upset the Bucks, the East’s No. 1 seed, the return of Gordon and Carter-Williams in the series would help matters.

Orlando is hopeful that Gordon, who has been out since Aug. 5, can return for Game 4.

“He’s doing a lot better. He just wouldn’t be able to get up and down the floor, frankly,” Magic head coach Steve Clifford. “He’s made good progress and he’ll do his work today and tomorrow and then we’re hoping maybe there’s a chance (he can play) by Monday.”

Meanwhile, Carter-Williams has not played since Aug. 4 and Clifford indicated he’s further behind Gordon in recovery.

“I would say (Carter-Williams) is definitely behind Aaron still,” Clifford. “Mike hasn’t even been able to do more on the floor than just shoot spot-ups. So he’s doing a little bit more, but for sure, Aaron’s closer than Mike is.”