- Kristaps Porzingis may be the primary factor in determining how far the Wizards can go this season, according to David Aldridge of The Athletic, who says the big man being healthy and productive at both ends of the court is crucial to the team’s success. Porzingis’ effectiveness as a rim protector this season has helped improve a Washington defense that ranked 25th in defensive rating in 2021/22, Aldridge notes.
- The Wizards announced today in a press release that Rui Hachimura has been diagnosed with a bone bruise in his sore right ankle, which has already cost him the last four games. According to the team, Hachimura will remain sidelined on Wednesday and his status beyond that “will be determined by his clinical evolution.”
- The Wizards, 11-10 so far this season, have been a “quintessentially average NBA team,” according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic, who says Washington has shown intriguing promise but still has its share of flaws. According to Kristaps Porzingis, it’s important that the club doesn’t let its focus wane during games. “If we want to be a top-five, top-six team (in the East), then we have to be on at all times,” he said. “We cannot let some of these games slip. But we’ll get there. We’ll get there.”
- Monte Morris was back in action for the Wizards on Sunday after the point guard missed the last three games because of right ankle soreness, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. However, lottery pick Johnny Davis (right groin soreness), Rui Hachimura (right ankle soreness) and Kyle Kuzma (lower back pain) were inactive.
- Injuries have created havoc for the Wizards’ rotation and weakened their bench, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes. The Wizards’ second unit is 20th in net rating (-1.2) and 26th in plus/minus (-3.3). The reserves rank 25th offensively (108.6), compared to ninth defensively (109.8).
Team personnel around the NBA are keeping an eye on Pistons forward Saddiq Bey, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, who says Detroit has received some calls from clubs inquiring about the third-year pro.
Bey has been considered part of the Pistons’ core since being selected 19th overall in the 2020 draft. However, his production has dipped so far this season and he was recently moved to a reserve role for one game before an Isaiah Stewart injury reopened a spot for him in the starting five. That brief demotion represented the first time Bey had come off the bench since the first half of his rookie season.
Still, while the Pistons may be more amenable to listening to inquiries on Bey than they have been in the past, Fischer says the team still seems intent on further evaluating the former first-round pick before seriously considering the idea of making him available.
Here are a few more notes from Fischer’s latest rumor round-up, which also included items on the Jazz and Clippers:
- The Suns‘ interest in Rockets forward Kenyon Martin Jr., first reported by Shams Charania last week, has resulted in Houston getting involved in some three-team Jae Crowder trade discussions, Fischer reports. Sources also confirm to Yahoo Sports that the Bucks have tried to use Grayson Allen to acquire Crowder, but Phoenix and Milwaukee have yet to find common ground on a straight-up deal.
- There was “true momentum” toward a trade this past offseason that would have sent Hawks big man John Collins to the Kings, and the Wizards showed real interest in Collins prior to last season’s trade deadline, writes Fischer. However, Sacramento was happy to make a deal with Atlanta for Kevin Huerter instead, while Washington ended up landing Kristaps Porzingis to fortify its frontcourt. Fischer doesn’t say it outright, but the implication is that neither team is still pursuing Collins at this time.
- Fischer echoes a John Gambadoro report stating that the Suns aren’t interested in acquiring Collins, largely due to the long-term money still left on his contract (he’s in the second season of a five-year, $125MM deal). And Phoenix may not be the only team that feels that way — Collins’ contract could complicate the Hawks‘ efforts to find a trade partner, according to Fischer, who suggests that the deal is “perceived to be above market value.”
- Hawks wing Justin Holiday is worth monitoring as a possible trade candidate, per Fischer, especially if AJ Griffin continues to solidify a role in Atlanta’s regular rotation.
- Wizards star Bradley Beal, who took a knee to his quad on Sunday, didn’t practice on Tuesday and is questionable for Wednesday’s game in Miami, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said today (Twitter link via Josh Robbins of The Athletic).
Wizards guard Delon Wright, who has been on the shelf since October 25 due to a Grade 2 right hamstring strain, was reevaluated this week and has been cleared to begin individual on-court basketball activities, the team announced (via Twitter).
Although it sounds like Wright is making progress toward a return, he still has a little ways to go. According to the Wizards, it will be three weeks until Wright is reevaluated again, so he’ll be sidelined until at least mid-December.
When Wright was originally diagnosed with the injury, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the veteran guard was expected to miss about six-to-eight weeks. That was nearly four weeks ago, so Wright still has a chance to return within that estimated timeline.
After winning three of the four games Wright played, the Wizards went into a mini-tailspin without arguably their top perimeter defender, losing five of their next six. They’ve since righted the ship, winning six of their last seven contests and moving into a tie for fifth place in the East at 10-7.
With Wright unavailable, two-way player Jordan Goodwin has entered the rotation and has performed admirably, averaging 6.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG, and 2.7 APG on .553/.563/.500 shooting in 10 appearances (19.5 MPG).
3:45PM: The moves are now official, the Wizards have announced in a press release.
1:18PM: Point guard Devon Dotson, currently with the Wizards‘ NBA G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, will be promoted to Washington on a two-way contract, his agent Kevin Bradbury informs Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Woj adds that the Wizards will waive current two-way player Jordan Schakel, a 6’6″ wing out of San Diego State, to make room for Dotson. Two-way player Jordan Goodwin, a 6’3″ combo guard who has already appeared in nine games for the Wizards and put up solid numbers, will be unaffected by the minor roster shake-up.
The 6’2″ Dotson, an athletic guard, went undrafted out of Kansas in 2020. He then signed two-way deals with his hometown Bulls for the 2020/21 and ’21/22 seasons. Across 22 NBA games for Chicago, Dotson averaged 2.4 PPG on 50% shooting from the floor in 6.1 MPG. In seven contests with the Capital City Go-Go this year, Dotson is averaging 12.1 PPG, 6.9 APG, 4.1 RPG and 0.9 SPG.
Schakel has played sparingly for the Wizards over parts of two NBA seasons. After going undrafted in 2021, he joined the Go-Go as an affiliate player for the 2021/22 season and signed a 10-day deal with Washington later that year before returning to the Go-Go when that deal expired. Schakel joined Washington this season on a two-way deal. He appeared in just two games for the club this season, playing 3.0 minutes per night
As Ava Wallace of The Washington Post notes (Twitter link), Dotson will provide some depth in a banged-up Wizards backcourt and could see immediate playing time. Reserves Delon Wright and Monte Morris have both been ruled out for the Wizards today, tweets The Athletic’s Josh Robbins.
Amid a series of injuries to key players and off-court issues, the Hornets have started the 2022/23 season with a 4-12 record, which has led to speculation that they’ll be among the teams looking to trade veterans and retool the roster in order to land a top pick in next year’s draft. However, a rival GM is skeptical Charlotte will hold any sort of fire sale this season.
“The hurdle is getting the owner to go along with it,” the GM told Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports. “It is Michael Jordan. He has never OK’d something like that and it is not clear he would, even if it gets bad this year, even if it puts them in a good spot in the draft for Victor (Wembanyama). He has been pretty strong against tanking. Hard to see another way forward for them now, though.”
Here’s more from the Southeast:
- Miles Bridges‘ status for this season is in limbo after he pleaded no contest in his felony domestic violence case. The NBA is investigating the incident, and Bridges is still a restricted free agent with the Hornets, but Shams Charania of The Athletic hears the Lakers and Pistons are among the teams monitoring his situation, he said on The Rally (Twitter video link).
- The Wizards are still waiting for Will Barton to find his form this season, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The veteran wing was acquired in a trade with the Nuggets over the summer and his averages have dropped across the board in ’22/23. “I’m just really trying to figure out what my role is and figure out how I’m going to play in my minutes. But I can’t worry about that. I’ve just gotta go out there and try to be as effective as possible whenever I’m on the court. I think I’m figuring that out,” he said. Barton will be an unrestricted free agent in 2023.
- Wizards two-way guard Jordan Goodwin underwent testing after injuring his left knee on Wednesday, and while there was some initial concern that it might be severe, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said Goodwin is “day-to-day” going forward (Twitter links via Josh Robbins of The Athletic). He was ruled out for Friday’s victory over the injury-depleted Heat.
- Within his latest 10 things column for ESPN (subscriber link), Zach Lowe wonders if the Magic will eventually go all-in for a lead guard. Lowe says he liked the Magic as a “stealth” Donovan Mitchell suitor this summer, but hears from sources that Orlando didn’t appear to have “dived deeply” into pursuing the former Jazz star.
7:00pm: The Jazz have also shown recent interest in Collins, Charania said in an appearance on The Rally (Twitter video link).
3:06pm: John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 disputes Charania’s claim that the Suns are a potential suitor for Collins, tweeting that Phoenix doesn’t have interest in the veteran forward.
Gambadoro adds (via Twitter) that the Suns and Kings had a discussion about Barnes over the summer, but with Sacramento playing well and Mike Brown a fan of the veteran forward, the Kings don’t intend to move Barnes.
10:09am: Hawks big man John Collins, who has been the subject of trade rumors multiple times in recent years, is considered available once again this season, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
According to Charania, the Hawks have opened “preliminary” trade talks involving Collins, with the Suns among the teams showing interest in the 25-year-old. Sources tell The Athletic that a Collins trade doesn’t appear imminent, and Charania cites executives who believe it could take weeks or months for the Hawks to find a deal they like — if they move him at all.
Collins was considered a trade candidate during the year leading up to his restricted free agency in 2021, but signed a five-year, $125MM contract to remain in Atlanta. That deal did little to quiet the trade rumors surrounding him though — those rumors popped up again at the 2022 trade deadline and during this past offseason, prompting Hawks general manager Landry Fields to tell reporters on Media Day in September that Collins was “still here for a reason.”
In 15 games so far this season, Collins has struggled to produce consistently. His average of 12.6 points per game is his lowest since his rookie year, and his .493 FG% is a career-worst mark, as is his .227 3PT%. Still, given his track record, the power forward should bounce back and will be an intriguing trade target for any team looking to acquire an impact frontcourt player.
As Charania notes, the Hawks have been one of the primary suitors for Suns forward Jae Crowder and have been engaged with Phoenix in trade talks in recent weeks, so it’s plausible the two teams could come together for a bigger deal involving both Crowder and Collins.
In order to match Collins’ salary, Phoenix would have to include at least one more mid-level type contract besides Crowder’s expiring deal. Dario Saric ($9.24MM expiring contract) and Landry Shamet ($9.5MM in 2022/23, plus $21.25MM across two more guaranteed years) would be the top candidates.
However, the Suns may be averse to the idea of taking on Collins’ long-term contract, according to Charania. He’s owed $23.5MM in 2022/23 and nearly $52MM in the following two seasons, with a $26.6MM player option for ’25/26. With the Suns facing a possible ownership change, it’s unclear how comfortable they are adding more big long-term financial commitments to their books.
In addition to Collins, the Suns have expressed interests in forwards such as Harrison Barnes of the Kings, Kyle Kuzma of the Wizards, and Kenyon Martin Jr. of the Rockets, sources tell Charania. Phoenix has also reportedly engaged in Crowder-related trade talks with the Bucks, with one report suggesting Milwaukee is the frontrunner to land the veteran forward.