Kris Dunn has been competing in the G League this season in the hopes of receiving a promotion to the NBA. According to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report (Twitter link), Dunn is receiving call-up interest and has signed with a new agent, Bernie Lee of Thread Sports Management.
Through 20 regular season games (29.7 MPG) with the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s affiliate, the former No. 5 overall pick is averaging 16.2 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 5.3 APG and 2.6 SPG on .522/.412/.755 shooting. A defensive stalwart, Dunn played 14 games for Portland last season.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Ausar Thompson of the Overtime Elite league has won the regular-season MVP award, an OTE representative tells ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (via Twitter). Thompson, who is projected to go No. 5 overall by ESPN in the upcoming draft, is averaging 15.3 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 5.4 APG, 2.3 SPG and 1.1 BPG, per Givony.
- Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame chairman and former NBA owner and executive Jerry Colangelo thinks the time is right for the league to add a couple more teams, writes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. “Personally, I do. OK, I do,” Colangelo told Yahoo Sports. “And I think you just hit on a couple of markets that make the most sense, (Seattle and Las Vegas).” Colangelo says there’s enough talent in the NBA for 30 more standard roster spots. “The stars continue to come,” Colangelo said, per Goodwill. “(Mikal) Bridges in Brooklyn, he gets 45 in his (third) game. That’s a new (star). I don’t worry about, ‘Well, how are you going to populate these new teams?’ There’s plenty of talent and more stars on the rise.” Colangelo went on to explain that he believes the game is in “great shape” due to the global interest in basketball. Commissioner Adam Silver has stated multiple times that expansion won’t be considered until the new media rights deal is negotiated following the ’24/25 season.
- The Associated Press’ Tim Reynolds queried 48 players, coaches, owners and executives to see if the NBA should change current the 82-game, 170-day schedule to address the problem of star players resting throughout the season. The results were completely mixed, with 40% saying they’d go along with what the league deems best, 35% saying they want no changes, and 25% wanting change. “I think if you want to get the best player availability, shortening the season may be in the best interest of everybody involved,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “But that’s also a lot of money being lost — TV games, money. Let’s not forget: This is a business.” Some believe expanding the 174-day schedule by a week or two and eliminating back-to-back games would help, but there’s there’s clearly no easy solution to the issue, as Reynolds notes.
Well none of those retesting stars have a problem playing big minutes in a f***ing AS game Brown hasn’t played in weeks Tatum missed a big game against the Bucks and boy fell off in the finals last yr we can see what’s more important to them right now and that the single player awards not a championship
Yikes…basketball is a game it’s meant to be fun
No it’s about making money now dude. No passion. Just passion to get paid
The ONLY thing that will stop load management is reducing the amount of playoff teams. Only six teams make it in each conference and you won’t be resting your guys too much. But of course the league will never do it so it must not be that big a problem?
Firstly, it’s not the only fix. They mention a few options above.
It goes back to Malone’s quote, “this is a business.” Your solution also removes games i.e. revenue, so it has the same problem as a shortened season. Not to mention the league is expanding, so getting rid of playoff teams makes even less sense.
Then there’s the notion of a solution creating more problems than it fixes. You remove teams from playoff contention and yes it means more to those still playing, but that’s 4 fewer fanbases tuning in when the season is over. Joe the Plumber in Cleveland doesn’t give a crap that the stakes are higher for Milwaukee this year.
This is a real problem, no doubt. But I think the only viable solution is to replace all the players with robots. No worries about salary cap, they play as many games as you want, and they can jump super high. The future is Now.
Haha good one. Appreciate your creativity.
Firstly there are no Solutions above, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Let alone several.
But as you say, the MONEY is why they won’t seek a real solution so as I said, it must not be a problem.
Of course my solution is in jest and of course it doesn’t make sense and will never happen. But it’s the ONLY solution to load management.
“Some believe expanding the 174-day schedule by a week or two and eliminating back-to-back games would help”
Just because some Joe Blow makes a suggestion doesn’t mean it will fix the problem. There are no fixes suggested above. “May help” is not even a solution. “May help” means Joe Blow says if we try this there won’t be as much load management as before lol.
But I understand what you’re saying. Good post. Thumbs up.
Dunn worth vet min.
Wonder what the catch has been ?
Silver is the problem
“Rest” should only be done in home games.
Missing away games should require a mandatory penalty 3-5 game “rest” to avoid superstars not being seen in different markets
I think the best option for load management issue is adding 10 days or so to the schedule to limit back to backs to only a handful.