- Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma had a career night on Monday, putting up 36 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists in a win over Charlotte. As Ava Wallace of The Washington Post writes, Kuzma is getting more and more comfortable with his new team and believes he’s in a “great situation” in Washington. “Fit and opportunity is everything in this league,” Kuzma said on Monday.
The NBA has announced the rescheduling of the 11 games postponed in December due to COVID-19 issues, listing the changes in a press release.
Additionally, eight other scheduled games have been shifted to accommodate the postponements. A pair of others have been shifted to new starting times.
Most notably, Kyle Lowry‘s return to Toronto will take place two days earlier than anticipated, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN points out.
The Raptors will now host the Bulls on February 3 instead of the Heat. Lowry’s return will occur on Feb. 1 in Miami’s rescheduled visit. The game that Toronto was originally scheduled to play that day against the Hawks will now be played on January 31.
The first two makeups will occur next week — the Nets at the Trail Blazers on Monday, January 10 and the Pistons at the Bulls on Tues, Jan. 11.
“There’s no easy way to do this,” Nets coach Steve Nash said to Bontemps and other media members. “If we were expecting it to be a sweet little add to the schedule, and no blood drawn, that would be foolish.”
The other rescheduled dates are as follows:
- New Orleans Pelicans at Philadelphia 76ers
- Previous: Dec. 19
- New: Jan. 25
- Denver Nuggets at Brooklyn Nets
- Previous: Dec. 19
- New: Jan. 26
- Toronto Raptors at Chicago Bulls
- Previous: Dec. 22
- New: Jan. 26
- Chicago Bulls at Toronto Raptors
- Previous: Dec. 16
- New: Feb. 3
- Miami Heat at San Antonio Spurs
- Previous: Dec. 29
- New: Feb. 3
- Washington Wizards at Brooklyn Nets
- Previous: Dec. 21
- New: Feb. 17
- Orlando Magic at Toronto Raptors
- Previous: Dec. 20
- New: March 4
- Golden State Warriors at Denver Nuggets
- Previous: Dec. 30
- New: March 7
- Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks
- Previous: Dec. 19
- New: March 31
Players around the NBA continue to enter and exit the league’s health and safety protocols. Here’s the latest update:
- Timberwolves stars Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell have exited the protocols but won’t play against the Clippers due to reconditioning, the team’s PR department tweets.
- Heat forward P.J. Tucker has been upgraded to questionable to play on Monday against Golden State after exiting the protocols, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets.
- Nuggets rookie Bones Hyland has exited the protocols and is expected to be available for Monday’s road game against Dallas, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets.
- Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has cleared the protocols, the team’s PR department tweets.
- Wizards center Thomas Bryant and guard Raul Neto have cleared the protocols, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. However, Tremont Waters, who is on a 10-day hardship contract, has entered the protocols, Robbins adds in a separate tweet.
- Bucks forward Jordan Nwora has entered the protocols and will miss Monday’s game against Detroit, Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets.
- Rockets big man Usman Garuba has entered the protocols, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets.
- ESPN’s Zach Lowe says not to be surprised if the Wizards kick the tires on Pacers center Domantas Sabonis prior to this season’s trade deadline. Lowe views Washington as a good candidate to make a consolidation trade, since the team has plenty of depth and could use a running mate for Bradley Beal.
- The Wizards are listing Anthony Gill in the protocols, as relayed by the team on social media (Twitter link). Gill logged nearly 25 minutes in the team’s loss to Chicago on Saturday, recording nine points, three rebounds and three steals.
JANUARY 1: Washington has announced the signing of Waters, who inked a 10-day hardship contract with the team.
DECEMBER 31: The Wizards plan to sign Tremont Waters to a 10-day deal via a hardship exception, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). Waters spent the past 10 days on a deal with the Raptors.
As Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca relays (Twitter link), Waters is technically under contract for Toronto’s game Friday against the Clippers, but he won’t dress after lining up a new opportunity with the Wizards. He appeared in two games with the Raptors, averaging 4.0 PPG, 2.o RPG, 3.5 APG, and 2.0 SPG in 21 MPG.
Waters, who will turn 24 next month, was selected by the Celtics with the 51st overall pick in the 2019 draft and spent his first two professional seasons as a two-way player in Boston. In 37 career games with the Celtics, Waters averaged 3.8 PPG, 0.9 RPG, and 2.1 APG in 9.6 MPG.
After the C’s opted not to bring him back for the 2021/22 season, he joined the Wisconsin Herd – Milwaukee’s G League affiliate – and has averaged 17.2 PPG, 6.0 APG, and 2.7 SPG on .421/.364/.714 shooting in 13 NBAGL games (31.5 MPG) this season.
The Wizards currently have seven players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, including guards Spencer Dinwiddie, Aaron Holiday, Raul Neto, and 10-day replacement player Brad Wanamaker. Waters will serve as a stopgap solution until some of those players return.
JaVale McGee is the latest Suns player to enter the NBA’s health and safety protocols, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic writes. McGee joined Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder, and Abdel Nader in the protocols on Thursday evening.
On the plus side, the Suns did get Elfrid Payton out of the protocols for the second time this week — Payton was placed in the protocols on Sunday and Wednesday, but quickly cleared both times, so it’s possible he has registered multiple false positive tests in recent days.
Here are a few more protocol-related updates from around the league:
- Shaq Buchanan, signed by the Grizzlies as a hardship replacement player, has now entered the health and safety protocols himself, according to the team (Twitter link). Buchanan’s 10-day deal runs through Tuesday night, so it may expire before he clears the protocols.
- The Hawks‘ COVID-19 outbreak continues to spread, as Malcolm Hill – a 10-day hardship addition – has entered the protocols, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Hill, who had appeared in three games since signing with the team last Wednesday, is one of a dozen Atlanta players in the protocols.
- Brad Wanamaker signed a 10-day deal with the Wizards on Wednesday, recorded seven points and seven assists in his first game with the club on Thursday, and has now entered the health and safety protocols on Friday, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. He’s one of seven Wizards players affected.
- Kenyon Martin Jr. exited the COVID-19 protocols and practiced with the Rockets on Thursday, says Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
- We continue to update our health and safety protocols tracker several times per day. It can be found right here.
The league continues to be battered by players entering and exiting the health and safety protocols. If any of the players entering the protocols registered a confirmed positive COVID-19 test, they’ll remain sidelined for at least six days or until they can return two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart.
Here are the latest updates from around the NBA:
- Bradley Beal, Anthony Gill, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have exited the protocols and are active Thursday night for the Wizards, but Spencer Dinwiddie has entered the protocols, as reported by Shams Charania and Josh Robbins of The Athletic, Ava Wallace of The Washington Post, and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (all four Twitter links).
- Anfernee Simons and Brandon Williams have entered the protocols for the Trail Blazers, while Dennis Smith Jr. and Ben McLemore have exited and rejoined the team, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).
- The Heat‘s outbreak continues, as Duncan Robinson and Marcus Garrett have entered the protocols, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets.
- DeJon Jarreau has entered the protocols for the Rockets, as reported by Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link).
- Shake Milton has exited the protocols and is active Thursday night for the Sixers, according to Gina Mizell of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link). Head coach Doc Rivers isn’t the only coach affected, as “several coaches,” including Sam Cassell and Brian Adams, are also in the protocols, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets.
- Others entering protocols: Isaiah Thomas, who just signed a 10-day contract with the Mavericks Wednesday, Ivica Zubac of the Clippers, and Xavier Tillman of the Grizzlies, per the three teams’ PR departments (all Twitter links).
- Others exiting protocols: Trevor Ariza for the Lakers, Lou Williams for the Hawks, and Ed Davis for the Cavaliers, according to Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter), and Chris Kirschner and Kelsey Russo of The Athletic (Twitter links). Neemias Queta has cleared the protocols for the Kings, a source tells Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (via Twitter). Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe has also exited the protocols, Brian Lewis of The New York Post tweets.
The Wizards have signed center Jaime Echenique to a 10-day contract via the hardship exception, the team announced.
The 6’11” big man has been playing for the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G League affiliate. In 14 games with the club, Echenique has averaged 12.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. He also spent Summer League, preseason and training camp with the Wizards prior to being released.
Echenique spent the 2020/21 season in Spain with Acunsa GBC. In 18 games (20.3 minutes), he averaged 12.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocks. He played his last two seasons of college ball with Wichita State.
As Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington details, Echenique is now the first Colombian-born player in NBA history after receiving his first contract. He’s grateful for the opportunity the Wizards have given him. “It’s just been a dream come true to be in this position,” Echenique said. “I’ve been enjoying it. I’m grateful to God for the opportunity.”
6:40pm: Wanamaker’s deal is now official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. As anticipated, it’s a 10-day hardship deal. It’ll cover Washington’s next five games.
10:59am: Veteran guard Brad Wanamaker, who was waived by Indiana on Monday, is expected to sign with the Wizards, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando and Yakov Meir of Israel Hayom (Twitter link).
The Wizards don’t currently have any openings on their standard roster and have eight players in the health and safety protocols, so we can safely assume Wanamaker will get a 10-day deal via the hardship exception. He’ll be Washington’s fifth hardship addition.
Wanamaker, 32, appeared in 22 games for Indiana this season and struggled to make an impact, averaging 3.5 PPG and 2.2 APG with a .361/.235/.909 shooting line in 13.3 minutes per contest. His numbers in three previous seasons with Boston, Golden State, and Charlotte – 5.7 PPG and 2.4 APG on .427/.305/.906 shooting – were a little better.
Since he was just cut on Monday, Wanamaker will technically be on waivers until later today. Assuming he goes unclaimed, he and the Wizards will be free to complete their deal.