Karl-Anthony Towns missed the Knicks’ loss to Golden State on Tuesday due to personal reasons, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets. It’s uncertain whether Towns will join the team in Los Angeles when the Knicks face the Lakers on Thursday and Clippers on Friday.
“When he’s ready to come back, obviously we want him back,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “But he needs some time right now.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Andre Drummond posted big numbers in the Sixers’ loss to Portland on Monday, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes. The veteran center finished with season highs of 25 points and 18 rebounds. Philadelphia will continue to rely on Drummond with Joel Embiid out for the season. “I mean, that’s what I set out to do on a nightly basis — [show] that I still am effective,” he said. “Regardless of whatever minutes you give me and whatever chance that I get, I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do.” Drummond holds a $5MM player option on his contract for next season.
- With the Raptors pointing toward the offseason, Eric Koreen of The Athletic suggests ways they can subtly tank the remainder of the way. That includes limiting the minutes of their top players, going with younger players off the bench and not signing another center.
- Miles Norris‘ two-way contract with the Celtics is a two-year deal, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith tweets. The forward, who had been playing for the Memphis Hustle in the NBA G League, signed his contract on Tuesday.
Drummond needs to find a team that wants him for the rest of his career. I don’t know why his confidence to shoot is so low. He can shoot. His defense has slipped, but that could be a motivational issue or being surrounded by other questionable defensive players. He can be effective if he had a good coach. Lakers should give him another run.
He was 1-5 from the floor tonight in 19 minutes. Drummond is capable but he’s not especially consistent from one game to the next. He’s also missed a lot of games this year.
He’s going to have 1-5 nights when he goes from playing 25 minutes to 6 minutes to 3 minutes to 19 minutes. There are a lot of teams that could use him for 24+ minutes a game.
Why? He likes Philly and he probably likes that guarantee for next year. His buyout wouldn’t be so cheap. It’s more than 5 mill.
Joel is unlikely to suit up next season IMHO.
Nurse needs to play Bona. Sink or swim. I think it would be worth taking a flyer on some guys with length like MB3, Bol Bol, Bassey reunion at this point and dealing Drummond in the off-season.
Drummond to the Lakers for a pair of SRPs.
Yeah, every player should be traded to the Lakers. *yawn*
Dana, at what level is a player’s personal reasons leave parameters established?
I checked Larry Coon’s CBA FAQ and there is nothing in there about personal leaves. It must be a team-by-team decision how personal leave is given, how many days per season, acceptable reasons for it, and so on.
A lot of NBA stars take personal leave. Sometimes the reasons are made public, but many times they are not.
I’m not saying that KAT’s personal leave is not justified, but am wondering in general how personal leave is granted. Anything you have on this you can share would be good info for HR readers.
It’s…personal
Years ago, it was rare. Now in pro sports, not just the NBA, it’s fairly common for players miss games for personal reasons. It’s most often granted for the birth of a child, a family illness or death or mental health issues. In general, professional sports teams are very generous regarding how often it’s granted. They don’t want to come across as heartless or uncaring.
Drummond given starter mins. Can put up 14 and 12 in 30 mins easy. He needs a solid 4 next to him. To be a solid defender. Like Smith from Houston. A big athletic 4 who can help him on D. Drummond could be top three in reb. And occasionally give you that 20 point game.
Towns is not great on D. But he rebounds. And is tops on offense. So we give him a pass. Its really about team building. And putting the right guys together. Right now at 31 Drummond looks lean. Looks much better than he did in Detroit. Its really about right team, right mix for him. He has a chance now tp show out. I don’t see how Sixers can tank into top six pick. So might as well make the best of it.
So tired of seeing teams get into shooting contests today. Seems only in playoffs do teams manage this better. Since you have to play better D. Or you go home early. Playing to win means. Managing the clock for a good shot. Now we put up open looks no matter the clock.
Shooting being a bigger part of the offense. Shouldn’t supersede making sure you win. Even Jimmy has brought that to Warriors. He went to FT line 9 times. Where Knicks as a team went there 15 times. Jimmy plays to win. He looks for best shot, easiest pts (FTs). Make sure you score.
Knicks took kore shots than Warriors. Didn’t defend to win. So a close game. Became a loss. Warriors are a vet team. They know when the game is on the line. Disappointing …..
Watched some on nba package. So you get only the sounds of game. No commentators. And one play spoke volumes. OG drove the lane on Jimmy. And Fox came to help. And he fouled OG. 2 FTs right.
You could hear Jimmy talk to Fox. “Dont reach, why reach. He gotta shoot over both of us. Why reach”
He’s right. OG wasn’t going to shoot over both of them. He would of missed. Fox bailed him out by reaching. Baller.