- The Celtics will be without two key members of their backcourt on Wednesday vs. Atlanta, having ruled out both Malcolm Brogdon (right hamstring tightness) and Marcus Smart (right ankle inflammation), the team announced (via Twitter).
The Knicks used just nine players on Tuesday for the first time this season, removing Evan Fournier and Quentin Grimes from their rotation entirely, says Zach Braziller of The New York Post. The trimmed-down rotation was effective, as the team picked up a nice road win in Utah, beating the Jazz 118-111.
“We wanted to see what it would look like and it gave us, I thought, better rhythm,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “That’s why we did it.”
Fournier’s role has gradually diminished over the course of the season, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he doesn’t get another shot at regular minutes right away. However, Grimes is considered a key part of the Knicks’ future and seems unlikely to be out of the rotation on a permanent basis.
Here are a few more items from around the Atlantic Division:
- Thibodeau said on Tuesday that Knicks center Mitchell Robinson is “making good progress” in his recovery from a sprained right knee, but it remains unclear when he’ll be cleared to return, Braziller writes for The New York Post. According to Braziller, although Robinson is doing some work in practices, he’s not yet taking contact.
- In the latest episode of his Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said that people around the NBA think Spurs center Jakob Poeltl may be a trade target that appeals to the Celtics, given the uncertainty surrounding Robert Williams‘ health. “The question is, ‘Does this team need to go out and get another big man who can defend?'” Windhorst said, per RealGM. “The name that has come up that people have speculated has been Jakob Poeltl from the Spurs. They did a deal with the Spurs last year, obviously, for Derrick White.” Poeltl is eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2023 and it’s unclear if San Antonio views him as part of the team’s long-term plan.
- While his arrival in the offseason was somewhat overshadowed by James Harden‘s pay cut and the signing of P.J. Tucker, De’Anthony Melton has proved invaluable to the Sixers due to his versatility and defensive ability, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
- Al Horford becomes a free agent next summer and wants to finish out his career with the Celtics, Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com reports. Horford gave an emphatic ‘Yes’ when asked if he wanted to stay in Boston. The 36-year-old forward also feels he has at least a couple more years left. “I’ve thought about it,” he said. “I want to keep playing for two, three more years, for sure.”
- Celtics guard Malcolm Brogdon, who has missed the last three games due to right hamstring soreness, is listed as questionable to play against Atlanta on Wednesday, Jared Weiss of The Athletic tweets.
Jayson Tatum has certainly placed himself firmly in the Most Valuable Player discussion while averaging 32.3 points per game so far this season. The Celtics forward told Yahoo Sports’ Vince Goodwill he wants people to think of him as an MVP-level performer.
“As a kid, was one of my dreams winning MVP? Sure,” Tatum said. “If it happened, it would be a dream come true. But it wasn’t, like, ‘Come back, win MVP.’ It’s like, ‘Come back, get to the championship.’”
We have more on the Celtics:
- Malcolm Brogdon hasn’t played since Wednesday and the point guard will remain out on Monday due to right hamstring tightness, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman tweets. Brogdon is averaging 13.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per night in his first season with Boston.
- Joe Mazzulla was thrust into a difficult situation when the team suspended head coach Ime Udoka for a season. The Boston’s Globe Gary Washburn believes that Muzzulla has handled it so well that he deserves to have the interim tag removed. Not only has the team thrived with him at the helm, he has approached the job with the kind of humility and respect it deserves, Washburn notes.
- The Celtics entered Monday’s action ranked first in points per game and second in field goal percentage. Ethan Fuller of the Basketball News takes a closer look at why the team’s offense has been so efficient.
The Suns discussed a rookie scale extension with Cameron Johnson that would have been worth about $66-72MM over four years, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype said on his latest podcast. Scotto points out that those figures are in line with recent contracts for shooters such as Davis Bertans, Joe Harris and Duncan Robinson, but there’s a belief that Johnson can earn more considering the expected rise in the salary cap and his role on a contending team.
Johnson was off to a great start, averaging 13.0 points per game and shooting 43.1% from three-point range, before undergoing meniscus surgery that could sideline him for up to two months. Scotto notes that Phoenix gave Mikal Bridges a four-year, $90MM extension and cites league sources who have told him the team doesn’t want to approach that number to keep Johnson.
On the same podcast, Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype said Johnson will be in demand as a restricted free agent, even if he doesn’t make a full recovery during the season. He notes that Collin Sexton received $72MM over four years after missing nearly an entire season with a meniscus tear and suggests that Johnson will get at least that much. Gozlan adds that Johnson is much easier to trade without an extension and wonders if that was the Suns’ plan all along.
The duo discussed several other players who are headed to restricted free agency:
- The Hornets were offering P.J. Washington a four-year extension in the $50-52MM range, but he’s hoping for an annual salary closer to $20MM, sources tell Scotto. Washington has become a full-time starter with the loss of Miles Bridges and is averaging a career-high 14.6 points and 1.1 blocks per game. Gozlan believes Washington made the right decision, noting that the mid-level exception will soon be in the range of Charlotte’s offer.
- The Celtics never offered Grant Williams more than $50MM in guaranteed money over four seasons, according to Scotto, who adds that Williams would have accepted a deal that paid him at least $14MM a year. Williams’ hot start puts him in line for a much bigger contract, and some sources tell Scotto he’ll get an offer starting in the $18MM range, which might be too high for Boston to match.
- The Knicks didn’t have serious extension talks with Cam Reddish, but he has a chance to change his outlook after moving into the starting lineup, Scotto notes. Gozlan expects Reddish to get full MLE offers next summer if he keeps producing.
- Coby White has become a trade candidate for the Bulls, NBA executives tell Scotto. White’s production continues to fall and he doesn’t appear to have a future in Chicago’s backcourt.
- The Celtics were willing to let Ime Udoka take the Nets job without demanding any compensation in return, according to Jay King of The Athletic. Now, the organization still has to decide what to do with Udoka after the season unless another suitor comes along. It seems likely Udoka will never coach the team again, King adds.
Sixers All-NBA center Joel Embiid is playing through multiple injuries as he strives to keep his 6-7 club afloat without injured co-star James Harden, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Embiid is dealing with a tweaked ankle and an injured right shoulder, the latter of which is so restrictive that the big man says he occasionally struggles to lift his arm.
“And when I go block shots, I really feel it,” Embiid said. “I don’t know what’s going on. But it’s whatever.”
Despite the various ailments, Embiid is still having a big on-court impact. Through his nine healthy games this year, the seven-footer is averaging 29.3 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 3.7 APG and 1.2 BPG.
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Spurs two-way player Charles Bassey has impressed with San Antonio thus far, so much so that Pompey wonders in another piece if the Sixers erred in letting him go. He is averaging 6.8 PPG, 8.0 RPG and 2.0 BPG as a reserve in just 15.5 MPG. “He knows his role,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said. “He rebounds, blocks shots, runs the floor, and he does it with a lot of energy. He and [starting center Jakob Poeltl] have been a good pair in that regard.” Pompey notes that the 6’11” Bassey has the size to be more of a “true center” than the team’s current backups behind Embiid — 6’9″ Paul Reed and 6’7″ Montrezl Harrell are more combo power forward/centers.
- Celtics reserve forward Sam Hauser has been given a larger role in his second year with Boston, and has responded well, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “He’s a guy that can create separation, and so usually guys who can shoot the ball are also really good screeners,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “So I think putting him in the action is another guy that they have to worry about, along with Jayson [Tatum] and Jaylen [Brown] and whether it’s [Marcus] Smart or Al [Horford], so when you have him involved, it just adds another layer to how they’re going to guard.”
- Knicks starting center Mitchell Robinson continues to make progress from his right knee sprain. New York head coach Tom Thibodeau said on Saturday that Robinson’s availability has been upgraded to day-to-day, per Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). Robinson has played a somewhat reduced role with New York this season, averaging a career-low 19.3 MPG during his eight healthy games with the club. In those minutes, the seven-footer out of Western Kentucky is posting averages of 5.8 PPG, 5.7 RPG, and 2.0 BPG. Reserves Jericho Sims and Isaiah Hartenstein have stepped up in his absence.
As the NBA’s 2022/23 trade deadline approaches, it’s worth keeping in mind which teams hold traded player exceptions that could come in handy to grease the wheels on an in-season deal.
As we explain in our glossary, a traded player exception allows a team to take on salary in a trade without sending out any salary in return. The amount of the exception plus $100K is the amount of salary the team is permitted to take back without salary-matching – either in a single deal or in multiple trades – for one year.
For instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception could acquire a player earning $4MM and a player earning $6.1MM without having to worry about sending out any outgoing salary.
In recent years, sizable traded player exceptions have been major wild cards that helped accommodate both pre-deadline and offseason deals. For example, after creating a $28.6MM trade exception in a sign-and-trade sending Gordon Hayward to Charlotte in 2020, the Celtics used that TPE to acquire Evan Fournier at the following deadline and then to acquire Josh Richardson during the 2021 offseason.
However, as our tracker shows, there are currently no trade exceptions worth anywhere near $28MM. In fact, the largest current TPE barely eclipses the $10MM mark.
Here are the all of the current trade exceptions worth more than $4MM, along with their expiry dates in parentheses:
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $10,183,800 (10/2/23)
- Utah Jazz: $9,774,884 (2/9/23)
- Los Angeles Clippers: $9,720,900 (2/10/23)
- Utah Jazz: $9,614,379 (7/6/23)
- Denver Nuggets: $9,125,000 (7/6/23)
- Boston Celtics: $6,907,815 (1/19/23)
- Utah Jazz: $6,745,122 (9/22/23)
- Portland Trail Blazers: $6,519,792 (2/6/23)
- Boston Celtics: $5,890,000 (2/10/23)
- Toronto Raptors: $5,250,000 (2/10/23)
- Washington Wizards: $5,220,900 (2/10/23)
- Atlanta Hawks: $4,564,980 (9/27/23)
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $4,374,000 (7/6/23)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $4,220,057 (10/2/23)
- Sacramento Kings: $4,023,600 (2/8/23)
These trade exceptions aren’t useless. For instance, if Detroit made point guard Cory Joseph available, any of the top 11 TPEs on this list could be used to absorb Joseph’s $5,155,500 salary. The non-Utah TPEs in the top eight could be used to acquire Rudy Gay and his $6,184,500 cap hit from the Jazz. All 15 of them are big enough to take on the $3.5MM salary of Thunder big man Mike Muscala.
But these exceptions will ultimately be of no consequence when considering trade candidates who earn salaries well into the eight figures, since TPEs can’t be combined with other players or exceptions. There’s no scenario in which any of these trade exceptions could be used to take on the $18MM salary of Pacers center Myles Turner, for example.
That’s not the only factor working against the odds of most of these exceptions being used. All of the top 10 largest TPEs are controlled by teams that are rebuilding (the Thunder and Jazz), teams in the tax (the Clippers, Nuggets, and Celtics), or teams that are just below the tax line and likely want to stay that way (the Trail Blazers and Raptors). In other words, they don’t fit the profile of clubs that are looking to take on additional salary without sending any out.
That doesn’t mean that none of these trade exceptions will be used — after all, it sometimes makes sense to take advantage of them even in a deal that a team could complete using salary matching (for instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception that swaps one $8MM player for another could use the exception to take on the incoming player and create a new $8MM exception using the outgoing player). However, it does mean that it’s unlikely any TPEs will be game-changers on this season’s trade market.
The Nets decided not to hire Ime Udoka, but he’s expected to eventually land another head coaching job, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (video link). Wojnarowski said Brooklyn conducted a thorough investigation of the suspended Celtics coach, but determined it was “too difficult” to bring him on board because of the turmoil surrounding the team.
Nets officials view Jacque Vaughn as better able to stabilize the organization, but Woj believes Udoka could have been the choice under different circumstances. He adds that plenty of other teams have also done their due diligence on Udoka’s situation and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him back in the league by next season.
The Celtics might have preferred to see Udoka go to Brooklyn, writes Brian Robb of MassLive, adding that it’s telling that they weren’t seeking any compensation from the Nets. Udoka’s departure would have prevented a potential legal battle regarding the years he has left on his contract. It may have also eased the pressure on interim coach Joe Mazzulla, who continues to operate in Udoka’s shadow.
There’s more from Boston:
- Jayson Tatum appears to be OK following an injury scare in Monday’s win over the Grizzlies, according to Souichi Terada of MassLive. After colliding with Ja Morant while chasing a loose ball, Tatum was down on the court grabbing his left knee, but he was able to walk off the pain and finish the game. “It was kind of like a weird fall,” Tatum said. “He dove for it, I tried to pick it up, get out the way. Nothing intentional. It was kind of like, I guess his knee collided with mine. Felt a little discomfort there. Obviously kept playing, got it looked at. So I’m fine.”
- Robert Williams is making progress in his recovery from knee surgery, but the team has avoided setting a definite timetable for him to return, per Steve Bulpett of Heavy. The Celtics are willing to give Williams as much time as he needs in order to ensure that he’s healthy for the playoffs. Bulpett adds that Williams is steadily increasing his workload and it’s an encouraging sign that he joined the team for its most recent road trip.
- Malcolm Brogdon has been a welcome addition to the second unit, notes Matt John of Heavy.com. Brogdon is averaging 14.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists through 10 games, and Boston is plus-6.7 with him on the court. “He does a good job of penetrating into the paint and spreading out the shooters around him and creating shots for himself,” Grant Williams said. “He provides different values and opportunities to a team that needed it.”
The players union has objections to the six conditions that the Nets are requiring Kyrie Irving to meet before he can resume playing, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. NBPA vice president Jaylen Brown said the union will likely file an appeal on Irving’s behalf. Brown calls the conditions unreasonable and points out that social media posts aren’t addressed in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Irving, who is slated to meet today with commissioner Adam Silver, was suspended last week for a minimum of five games. Before he can return, he is required to condemn an antisemitic film that he promoted on his Twitter account, meet with team owner Joe Tsai, meet with Jewish leaders in Brooklyn as well as the Anti-Defamation League, complete a sensitivity training course, go through antisemitic training and donate $500K to anti-hate organizations.
Irving could theoretically begin playing again by this weekend, but a report on Monday cited “growing pessimism” that he’ll ever suit up for the Nets again.
“He made a mistake. He posted something,” Brown said. “There was no distinction. Maybe we can move forward, but the terms in which he has to fulfill to return, I think not just speaking for me, speaking as a vice president from a lot of our players, we didn’t agree with the terms that was required for him to come back and we’re waiting for this Tuesday meeting to happen to see what comes of it. But we’ll go from there. That’s all I’ll say.”
There’s more on the Nets:
- Irving also serves as a vice president for the NBPA, but that role could be in jeopardy after this latest controversy, according to Jared Weiss and William Guillory of The Athletic. Union president CJ McCollum said the NBPA is waiting for events to unfold before making any decisions about Irving’s future on its executive committee. “In this particular instance of (a) situation,” McCollum said, “Kyrie was elected in 2020 and it was a three-year term and that’s the extent of where we’re at with that.”
- Irving has been outstanding in the eight games he has played this season — averaging 26.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists — but his off-court actions have virtually destroyed his trade value, per Sam Amick of The Athletic, who talked to 11 unidentified executives from rival teams. One GM speculated that Irving might never play in the NBA again, and a front office member said no one will sign him to anything more than a one-year contract. The view is much different toward Kevin Durant, with many executives believing he’ll be back on the trade market if the Nets can’t turn things around.
- Some of the “strong voices” urging Tsai to pass on Ime Udoka as head coach are coming from within the organization, reports Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Lewis hears that the Nets held a recent meeting in which female staff members expressed reservations about Udoka, who was suspended by the Celtics following an affair with a staffer.