- The Hawks recalled Tyler Cavanaugh and Jeremy Evans from Erie, according to the team’s website. Cavanaugh had one point in Tuesday’s game, while Evans posted 24 points and seven rebounds.
- The Hawks have been the NBA’s least effective team in terms of post-up offense this season, prompting Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype to explore a few players worth targeting in free agency if Atlanta wants to improve that aspect of its roster.
Here are Monday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Knicks assigned Damyean Dotson to their Westchester affiliate for its playoff game Monday against Raptors 905, the Knicks’ PR staff tweets. The rookie shooting guard out of Houston is averaging 18.2 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 2.5 APG in 13 games with Westchester. The second-round pick has appeared in 39 games with New York.
- The Hawks have assigned forwards Tyler Cavanaugh and Jeremy Evans to the Erie BayHawks, according to a team press release. The BayHawks face Fort Wayne in the playoffs Tuesday. Cavanaugh is averaging 14.5 PPG and 7.3 RPG in 11 G League, while Evans has posted averages of 15.3 PPG and 9.9 RPG in 39 games with Erie.
3:39pm: The Hawks have officially signed Lee to a rest-of-season contract, the team announced in a press release.
8:30am: Damion Lee‘s second 10-day contract with the Hawks expired overnight, but he appears set to stick with the team. According to Chris Haynes of ESPN (Twitter link), Atlanta expects to re-sign Lee to a rest-of-season deal. It’s not clear yet if the agreement would cover the 2018/19 season or if it would allow the rookie guard to return to the free agent market this summer.
During his 20 days with the Hawks, Lee has appeared in the first 10 games of his NBA career, averaging 9.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG, and 1.9 APG. After a hot start, the 25-year-old cooled off a little during his second 10-day contract, shooting just .388/.190/.667 over his last five games.
The Hawks, who signed Jeremy Evans to a 10-day contract on Sunday, currently have a full 15-man roster. However, the league granted Atlanta a hardship exception, which allows the club to carry a 16th player, so no corresponding roster move will be necessary to re-sign Lee.
That hardship exception can be granted when a team has at least four players who have missed three consecutive games and are expected to miss at least two more weeks. In the Hawks’ case, Dennis Schroder, Kent Bazemore, Antonius Cleveland, Jaylen Morris, and Malcolm Delaney are all on the shelf, so at least four of those players appear unlikely to return this season.
Mark Suleymanov of Hoops Rumors recently took an in-depth look at Lee’s long road to the NBA, a journey that saw him make his way back from ACL tears in both knees.
A ton of 2018’s first- and second-round picks have been included in trades already, and many of those traded picks have protections on them. In those instances, the pick only changes hands if the protection conditions are met — for example, the Hawks traded their second-round pick to the Clippers, but included top-55 protection on it, meaning L.A. would only receive it if it falls between 56 and 60. Given Atlanta’s record, that obviously won’t happen.
For many of this year’s traded picks, there’s not much drama left related to those protections. Either they definitely won’t change hands, like that Hawks second-rounder, or they definitely will — like the Rockets‘ first-round pick, which is headed to Atlanta with top-three protections on it.
However, there are a handful of traded draft picks whose status remains up in the air. The season’s final few games will determine which teams end up with those picks, or whether they change hands at all.
Let’s dive in and take a closer look at five of those protected picks worth watching down the stretch…
- Pistons‘ first-round pick (to Clippers; top-4 protection)
- The Pistons are likely to finish the season 12th in the lottery standings, so this pick is extremely likely to end up with the Clippers. But that could change if Detroit lucks out in the lottery — at No. 12, the Pistons would have a 2.5% chance of jumping into the top three and keeping their pick.
- Bucks‘ first-round pick (to Suns; top-10 protection and 17-30 protection)
- As of today, the Bucks’ 41-36 record has them tied with the Heat for the 15th or 16th pick in the draft. That would mean the Suns receive Milwaukee’s selection. That could change though, if the Bucks get hot to finish the season, pushing the pick back to 17th or 18th overall. Milwaukee has games left against Boston, Philadelphia, and three lottery teams, so that scenario is in play. If it happens, Milwaukee would keep its 2018 first-rounder and owe the Suns a protected first-rounder (protected for 1-3 and 17-30) in 2019.
- Timberwolves‘ first-round pick (to Hawks; top-14 protection)
- At 44-34, the Timberwolves are up one game in the loss column on the ninth-seeded Nuggets, and two on the tenth-seeded Clippers. The Wolves’ remaining two games against Denver will be crucial for determining whether they make the playoffs and lose their pick or miss the playoffs and keep it (they’d owe their 2019 lottery-protected first-rounder to Atlanta in that case).
- Thunder‘s first-round pick (to Timberwolves; top-14 protection)
- The 45-33 Thunder are slightly better positioned than Minnesota to clinch a playoff spot, but that could change quickly — Oklahoma City has games against Golden State, Houston, and Miami on tap, and doesn’t hold a tiebreaker edge over most of the other Western Conference playoff contenders. I expect the Thunder to hang onto a playoff spot, but if they don’t, they’ll keep their 2018 first-rounder and owe their 2019 lottery-protected first-rounder to Minnesota. Interestingly, if the final playoff spot comes down to the Thunder and Wolves, Minnesota could end up with two first-round picks for 2018 or none.
- Bucks‘ second-round pick (to Nets if in 31-47 range; to Suns if in 48-60 range)
- As is the case with their first-round pick, the Bucks’ second-round selection is right on the edge here, currently projected to be 45th or 46th. A strong finish for the Bucks could mean that second-rounder lands with Phoenix, but for now it seems more likely to head to Brooklyn.
Here are Sunday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Lakers recalled Travis Wear from their G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, after their playoff matchup against the Oklahoma City Blue on Saturday, the team announced on Twitter. Wear enjoyed a strong regular season for South Bay, averaging 16.7 PPG and 8.3 RPG in 33 games.
- The Hawks recalled forward Tyler Cavanaugh to their affiliate in Erie, Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.
- The Thunder recalled rookie center Dakari Johnson from their Oklahoma City Blue affiliate after yesterday’s playoff game, the team announced in an email.
APRIL 1, 1:05pm: The signing is official, the Hawks announced via Twitter. No corresponding roster move was required because Atlanta was granted a hardship exception by the NBA, allowing the team to add a 16th player to its 15-man roster.
MARCH 31, 2:12pm: Former Slam Dunk Contest winner Jeremy Evans will sign a 10-day contract with the Hawks, tweets Ian Begley of ESPN.
Evans, 30, has spent this season with the Erie Bay Hawks, Atlanta’s G League affiliate, where he is averaging 15.3 points and 9.9 rebounds in 39 games. His last NBA appearance came in 2015/16, when he played 30 games for the Mavericks. He was a second-round pick by the Jazz in 2010 and spent five seasons with Utah.
The Hawks need a roster opening to add Evans, so Damion Lee may not be kept once his second 10-day deal with the team expires tomorrow. Lee has averaged 10.4 points in nine games with Atlanta, starting six of them.
- The Hawks assigned rookie forward Andrew White to their affiliate in Erie, also for a playoff game today, tweets Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal Constitution. White had 15 points and seven rebounds in a win over Lakeland.
- Hawks forward DeAndre’ Bembry is listed as probable for Sunday’s game with the Magic, according to Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal Constitution (Twitter link). Bembry has been limited to 21 games this season and hasn’t played since suffering a groin injury Feb. 23.
Hawks point guard Dennis Schroder has been diagnosed with a medial bone bruise and Grade 2 left ankle sprain, the team announced, as NBA.com’s David Aldridge tweets. The recovery from the injury will take approximately two to four weeks, thus ending Schroder’s 2017/18 season.
Schroder had missed three of the Hawks’ last four games due to the injury. While his field goal percentage and three-point shooting took a hit, the veteran guard averaged a career-best 19.4 PPG to go with 6.2 APG and 3.1 RPG in 67 games with Atlanta this season.
Schroder will not be the lone Atlanta player to finish the year injured as Kent Bazemore (knee), Jaylen Morris (ankle), DeAndre’ Bembry (ankle), and Antonius Cleveland (ankle) are all sidelined. Due to the high volume of injuries, the Hawks should be eligible for a roster hardship exception to sign another player for the final seven games of the season, if they so choose.