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Southeast Notes: Spoelstra, Adebayo, Suggs, Miller

November 6th, 2025 at 9:30am CST by Dana Gauruder

A two-alarm fire broke out early Thursday morning at the multi-million dollar home of Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, Milena Malaver, Carl Juste and David Neal of the Miami Herald report.

The Heat and Spoelstra returned on a chartered flight from Denver at 5 a.m. ET after the team completed a four-game road trip. That was approximately 25 minutes after firefighters were dispatched to his Miami-Dade home.

The home, which sits on a 43,000-square-foot lot, sold for $6.6MM in 2023. There were no reported injuries but firefighters battled the blaze for more than four hours at the five-bedroom home with a pool and tennis courts.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

The Heat are dealing with an injury to one of their key players. Bam Adebayo left Wednesday’s loss to the Nuggets late in the first quarter with a left foot injury. He’ll undergo an MRI today to determine the severity of the injury, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. “We’ll figure it out,” Adebayo said. “Get more tests and then see how it goes.”
The Magic will play seven of their next nine games at home. They’re hoping to iron out their issues during that stretch after starting off the season with a 3-5 mark. “We’ve just got to play some better basketball, to be honest,” Jalen Suggs told Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. “We’ve got to withstand runs, withstand some adversity, get it flowing, find our groove, find our swag. All of it’s just a little off right now.”
Hornets forward Brandon Miller will miss at least two weeks with a shoulder injury suffered during the second game of the season at Philadelphia. It apparently occurred while he was fighting through a screen. “Yeah, I really couldn’t tell you what happened,” Miller told Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. “But it’s just a subluxation on the left shoulder. No timeline right now. Just kind of working to get back, get the muscles around it stronger and just go from there.”

Knicks Notes: Towns, Robinson, Hart, McBride, Backup PG, Anunoby, Oakley

November 6th, 2025 at 8:23am CST by Dana Gauruder

More than a year after being traded from Minnesota to New York, Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns still has trouble processing the deal.

“I’m still stunned, I mean, I’m still stunned. It’s weird,” Towns said, per Vince Goodwill of ESPN, after the Knicks defeated his former club 137-114 on Wednesday. “I feel more like a Knick now after everything we went through last year, but it’s weird to see that Wolves jersey — especially the fire black one — and not see ‘Towns’ on the back of it.”

Towns believes the Timberwolves will remain one of the Western Conference’s elite teams.

“Built something special there,” Towns said. “It’s different when you’re in process and now you’re going against the process. They’re a great team. To see what they’re doing right now, special, and I expect nothing less than greatness from them.”

Here’s more on the Knicks:

Mitchell Robinson is on a load management plan that has included sitting out games and a minutes restriction when he suits up. He proved why he’s so essential to the club against Minnesota, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post writes. Robinson’s size, rebounding, defense, and rim protection were all impactful in a 16-minute stint. He finished with eight points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and a steal. “I was just out there being me,” he said.
Despite battling some nagging injuries, Josh Hart delivered his best performance of the season, Jared Schwartz of the New York Post notes. He posted a season-high 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. Miles McBride was also key off the bench with 14 points. “I gotta give a lot of credit to Deuce,” coach Mike Brown said. “Deuce was aggressive the right way. He played under control. If they tried to pick up full-court, he drove it by them. He touched the paint. He played off two [feet] and he sprayed it. And guys got great looks when he got us into our offensive. Josh was also a big catalyst in terms of trying to get us to push the pace and play the right way.”
With Brown already losing faith in Tyler Kolek, the Knicks once again find themselves in a familiar spot — seeking a reliable backup to Jalen Brunson. They are now using several players who aren’t true point guards in that role. Bondy identifies Jose Alvarado and Dante Exum as two options the club could consider on the trade market.
OG Anunoby is averaging a career-high 7.3 three-point attempts and making 41.4% of them. The Knicks want their versatile wing to keep firing away. “He’s a good shooter, and we want him to shoot the ball,” Hart told James Edwards III of The Athletic. “The offense is a little bit more ball movement, body movement. We want guys to put shots up and we’ll crash and do that. We want to, obviously, generate 3s.”
Former Knicks star Charles Oakley must pay more than $642K in lawyer fees to Madison Square Garden for deleting text messages during a court battle over his ejection from a game eight years ago, Priscilla DeGregory and Natalie O’Neill of the New York Post report. Oakley filed a defamation lawsuit against the arena firm and Knicks owner James Dolan in September 2017.

Tony Allen Arrested On Drug Charges

November 5th, 2025 at 11:04pm CST by Eli Cohen

Former Grizzlies guard Tony Allen was arrested on drug charges in Poinsett County, Arkansas on Wednesday, according to Clay Bailey of The Associated Press.

The Poinsett County Sheriff’s Office alleges that following a traffic stop about 50 miles outside of Memphis, Allen was found to have a package of a leafy substance later identified as marijuana on his person.

A subsequent search of the car, which was driven by a man named William Hatton, revealed marijuana-related paraphernalia, which Hatton claimed belonged to him, according to Action News 5, as well as a cigarette box with a substance later identified as cocaine.

Allen pleaded guilty to his involvement in a federal case of health insurance fraud in 2023 and received three years of supervised probation, in addition to community service.

Allen was a key leader of the Grit and Grind Grizzlies from 2010-17 and had his No. 9 jersey retired last March. During his seven seasons in Memphis, he made six All-Defense teams and missed the playoffs just once.

Blake Wesley Undergoes Foot Surgery, Out 8-12 Weeks

November 5th, 2025 at 10:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

Blake Wesley underwent successful surgery on Wednesday to address a fractured fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot, the Trail Blazers announced in a press release. He will begin rehabbing right away and is expected to miss eight-to-12 weeks.

Wesley had initially been ruled out “indefinitely” following the announcement of his broken bone. This timeline would put his earliest return date somewhere around the end of 2025, with his absence more likely to extend into 2026.

Wesley had been playing some of the best basketball of his career in his first six games with the Blazers, serving as one of the team’s primary backcourt options off the bench with Scoot Henderson sidelined due to a hamstring injury.

Wesley signed a one-year, fully guaranteed deal with Portland this summer after averaging 4.3 points and 2.4 assists in 14.3 minutes per game across three seasons with the Spurs. He was traded from San Antonio to Washington and then bought out with the Wizards before joining the Blazers.

With Wesley and Henderson sidelined and Damian Lillard out for the season, the Blazers turned to a pair of two-way players in Sidy Cissoko and rookie Caleb Love to provide backcourt depth in their last game against the Lakers.

LeBron James Preparing For Five-On-Five Play

November 5th, 2025 at 9:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

LeBron James has missed the first eight games of the Lakers‘ season and will remain on the shelf for at least a few more, but he’s making progress toward his return to the court, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter video link).

“LeBron James has been working out individually, and I’ve been told that the next step for him is five-on-five live play,” Charania explained.

Charania adds that James will not be traveling with the team on its five-game road trip that starts in Atlanta this weekend, following Wednesday’s game against the Spurs. It’s not certain if that live action would occur with the team’s G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, who will be practicing in El Segundo, California, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, or if James will rejoin the team once it returns from the road trip on November 15.

As ESPN’s Malika Andrews notes in her conversation with Charania, this would indicate that the earliest James would return is November 18 against the Jazz.

The Lakers have started the season 6-2 entering Wednesday’s game against the Spurs, despite playing without not only James but also Luka Doncic, who has missed four of the team’s eight games.

McMenamin notes that once James appears in his first game, he will officially become the first player to play 23 seasons in the NBA.

Jalen Green Probable To Make Suns Debut Thursday

November 5th, 2025 at 8:01pm CST by Eli Cohen

Suns guard Jalen Green has been upgraded to probable for Thursday’s matchup against the Clippers, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link). If he is able to suit up, it would mark both Green’s season and Suns debut.

Green came over to Phoenix in the trade that sent Kevin Durant to the Rockets and was expected to be a major part of the Suns’ new-look offense, but a right hamstring strain has kept him on the sidelines since early in training camp.

He missed all of camp as well as the first eight games of the season — the Suns are off to a 3-5 start without him. First-year head coach Jordan Ott has experimented with different starting lineups while Green and fellow former Rocket Dillon Brooks have been out with injuries, but Green’s return should help provide stability to the team’s backcourt rotation.

The fifth-year shooting guard holds career averages of 20.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 307 career regular-season games, but he struggled with consistency in terms of shot selection and defensive focus. He expressed excitement this summer about playing off of Devin Booker, with whom he believes he can form a two-headed scoring and play-making attack.

The Suns will still have to wait to see their team at full strength, as Brooks continues to be listed as out due to the core muscle strain that has caused him to miss the last five games.

Congressional Committee, NBA Meet To Discuss League Gambling

November 5th, 2025 at 7:14pm CST by Eli Cohen

NBA staffers were in Washington, D.C. today to meet with lawyers and aides for the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee in a discussion about the recent gambling scandals connected to the league, writes Joe Vardon for The Athletic.

The NBA representatives, including league lawyers and a gambling consultant, spent less than an hour answering questions about the charges facing Heat guard Terry Rozier, Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, and former player and coach Damon Jones, among others, Vardon reports, though he adds that requests for additional documents are likely to follow.

The topics in question were the actions the league intends to take to curb bad actors from being able to act on non-public information for their own gain, what the NBA’s Code of Conduct does and doesn’t restrict in terms of such disclosures and acting upon information not yet public, and whether the recent troubles have caused the NBA to reconsider any of its profitable partnerships with gambling companies.

Vardon writes that a separate bipartisan Senate committee has asked for a briefing in writing that covers many of the same topics, while also questioning why Rozier was cleared by the league when the federal investigation was still ongoing and, in fact, resulted in Rozier facing criminal charges.

For what it’s worth, a source in the league office recently told Pablo Torre that while the NBA didn’t find any wrongdoing when it looked into Rozier, it also never formally closed that investigation.

“This is a matter of Congressional concern. The integrity of NBA games must be trustworthy and free from the influence of organized crime or gambling-related activity,” wrote Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell in a statement. “Sports betting scandals like this one may lead the American public to assume that all sports are corrupt. As Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over professional sports, and as dedicated basketball fans, we want to ensure the NBA is protecting the integrity of the sport.”

Vardon notes that the House committee also previously sent a letter to the NCAA about the recent announcement that collegiate athletes and coaches could bet on pro sports.

Neither NBA commissioner Adam Silver nor deputy commissioner Mark Tatum were in attendance at today’s meeting, according to Marc Stein of the Stein Line (Twitter link).

Anthony Edwards To Return To Action On Wednesday

November 5th, 2025 at 6:02pm CST by Eli Cohen

Anthony Edwards is available to play for the Timberwolves‘ game against the Knicks on Wednesday after missing his previous four games, reports ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). Stefan Bondy of the New York Post adds (via Twitter) that Edwards will not be on a minutes restriction.

Edwards was diagnosed with a right hamstring strain on October 27 after exiting the previous night’s game against the Pacers after just three minutes of play.

In his first two games of the season, Edwards was averaging 36.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per night while carrying over his prolific three-point shooting from the previous season by going 8-for-16 from beyond the arc.

The Wolves managed to beat the Pacers by a score of 114-110 and split their next four games, with wins against the Hornets and Nets and losses to the Nuggets and Lakers. They face a Knicks team coming off back-to-back wins against the Bulls and Wizards.

“He’s itching to play,” head coach Chris Finch said of Edwards, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). Missing these four games marked the second-longest absence of the guard’s career, Krawczynski writes, behind only a six-game stretch he missed due to COVID-19 in his sophomore season.

Northwest Notes: Dudley, Jazz, Ainge, Thunder

November 5th, 2025 at 4:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jared Dudley had a lengthy NBA career. As an assistant coach with the Nuggets, Dudley now finds himself in charge of Denver’s defensive schemes. His main mission is a simple one.

“Coming up with a defense that protects (Nikola Jokic),” he told Bennett Durando of the Denver Post.

Dudley is doing so by having Denver’s guards and wings take on more responsibilities at that end of the floor, so that Jokic can conserve his energy for the offensive side.

“I can’t teach (him) anything offensively. You’re already this. You’ve got that,” Dudley said. “But defensively, I can teach you. I’ve played with different centers. I’ve played with Boban (Marjanovic), who’s bigger than you and slower than you. … I only want him to think about going back to the rim, Point A to Point B. I don’t want him having him to go guard these guards on the wings, in rotations.”

We have more on the Northwest Division:

How are the Jazz‘s young players faring thus far? Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune takes a closer look, breaking down the team’s last three draft classes and evaluating each of those players’ performances.
Austin Ainge is the Jazz‘s new president of basketball operations and Larsen spoke with the Celtics’ top executive, Brad Stevens, about the son of longtime Celtics and Utah executive Danny Ainge. Stevens is confident that Austin will step out of his father’s shadow and build a winner in Utah. “He’s always been a guy that I think has a good sense for putting a team together and what wins, both in the regular season and then certainly in the playoffs,” Stevens said.
The undefeated Thunder will be playing without several rotation players in Portland tonight. Alex Caruso (rest), Luguentz Dort (right upper trapezius strain) and Chet Holmgren (lower back sprain) are all listed as out, Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman tweets.

Pacers Sign Cody Martin To 10-Day Hardship Deal

November 5th, 2025 at 3:33pm CST by Luke Adams

3:33 pm: The Pacers have officially signed Martin, according to a team press release.

9:17 am: The Pacers intend to add free agent forward Cody Martin to their roster, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). According to Scotto, Martin will be signed using a hardship exception, which means he’ll receive a 10-day contract.

Martin, 30 spent five-and-a-half seasons in Charlotte from 2019-25 before being sent to the Suns at February’s trade deadline along with Vasilije Micic in exchange for Jusuf Nurkic. The 6’6″ forward established himself early in his career as a versatile defender who could contribute in a variety of ways — he averaged 7.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.2 steals in 26.3 minutes per game for the Hornets in 2021/22, posting a .482/.384/.701 shooting line in 71 total outings.

However, Martin battled injuries that limited him to just 35 total games over the course of the next two seasons. He bounced back to some extent in 2024/25, making 53 appearances for Charlotte and Phoenix, but his shooting percentages dipped to 41.8% on field goal tries and 28.5% on three-pointers, below his career averages.

Waived by the Suns on June 30, Martin spent over four months on the open market and will now join an Indiana team that has been decimated by injuries in the early going this season. According to Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files (Twitter link), the former Hornet and Sun was among the free agents who worked out for the Pacers before they signed Mac McClung last month.

The Pacers already have Jeremiah Robinson-Earl under contract via a hardship exception but would be permitted to retain Robinson-Earl while adding Martin as long as they’ve been granted a second exception.

A hardship exception, which allows a team to temporarily carry an extra player beyond the usual 15-man limit, is granted when a team has four players who have missed three consecutive games due to injuries and are expected to be sidelined for at least two more weeks. If a team has five players who fit that bill, a second hardship exception can be awarded.

Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles), Obi Toppin (foot), T.J. McConnell (hamstring), Bennedict Mathurin (foot), Kam Jones (back), and Andrew Nembhard (shoulder) have all been out for at least the Pacers’ past three games. Haliburton will miss the entire season and Toppin is expected to be out until February; the timelines for the others aren’t entirely clear, but if at least three of them are projected to miss two more weeks, the Pacers qualify for a second hardship exception.

Martin will earn $165,197 on a 10-day contract, while Indiana carries a cap hit of $131,970.