Doug McDermott Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Leonard, Monk, McDermott, Durant

December 11th, 2024 at 11:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers‘ wish to see Kawhi Leonard back on the court might come true by Christmas, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Leonard, who has been dealing with inflammation in his right knee that dates back to spring, was able to practice for the first time on Tuesday. Coach Tyronn Lue said that barring any setbacks, Leonard could be playing again within two weeks.

“Really good sign, just seeing him out there moving, moving well,” Lue said. “I think the biggest thing for him is just the confidence in it. Just having the confidence to keep doing it, not to feel the pain, and just continue to keep getting through it. So, it was good to see him on the floor and it gave us a little juice today just for our guys seeing him on the floor, it really picked up our energy.”

The Clippers were counting on Leonard to serve as the foundation of the team when they gave him a three-year, $150MM extension midway through last season. They have been able to remain surprisingly competitive without him, sitting in sixth place in the West with a 14-11 record and the sixth-ranked defense in the league.

Lue cautioned that even though Leonard continues to make progress, there’s still not a firm target date for him to return.

“He’s got to do a lot more things to really get back on the floor,” Lue added. “We just want to make sure he’s 100%. We don’t want to get him out there, 70%, 75%. Like, let’s just take our time, make sure we get it right. … We’re not going to let him skip steps, and so we want to do right by Kawhi.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

The Kings‘ offense has been sparked by the recent decision to move Malik Monk into the starting lineup, notes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. In the five games since coach Mike Brown made the move, Sacramento ranks first in the league in scoring and offensive rating, fourth in field goal percentage and seventh in three-point shooting. “He adds another play-maker and another guy who can really get downhill,” De’Aaron Fox said. “Ultimately, that makes your offense a lot better, especially from the start of the game to the end.”
Doug McDermott enjoyed his best game since joining the Kings in Sunday’s win over Utah, Anderson adds in a separate story. The 32-year-old forward scored 18 points in eight minutes of the fourth quarter, sinking 6-of-7 three-point shots. “Once the first couple went in, I figured I might as well keep shooting,” said McDermott, who wasn’t used in the previous four games. “It was a good win for us. Our group came out really happy with the way we closed the game. Everyone on the bench was ready to play.”
Kevin Durant and Jusuf Nurkic are both due to be reevaluated this week, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The Suns have an 11-2 record when Durant plays, but they’re just 1-9 without him. “We’re not playing a complete 48 minutes,” Tyus Jones said. “I think we’re playing good enough to win, but we’re not playing a full 48. We have stretches throughout the game where we kind of get careless, too many turnovers. Not getting the stops that we need.” A previous report stated that Durant could return on Friday vs. Utah or Sunday vs. Portland.

Pacific Notes: Kings, DeRozan, James, Beal

November 14th, 2024 at 9:32am CST by Dana Gauruder

Kings sixth man Malik Monk is out at least two weeks due to a right ankle sprain. Who will fill his role? It’ll be a collective effort, according to Kings head coach Mike Brown.

Sacramento lost by 20 points to the Spurs on Monday and the reserves were outscored 37-21.

“We’re definitely going to have to collectively step up,” Brown told Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. “There’s not one guy that can do it.”

Keon Ellis, Jordan McLaughlin, Doug McDermott, Trey Lyles and Alex Len are the reserves that Sacramento will rely on with Monk on the shelf. The backups accounted for 46 points in a 23-point win over Phoenix on Wednesday.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Kings swingman DeMar DeRozan departed Wednesday’s game with lower back tightness, Anderson tweets. Acquired by Sacramento in a sign-and-trade, DeRozan is averaging 22.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 12 starts. DeRozan, 35, played 79 games for Chicago last season.
LeBron James continues to pile up records and milestones. The Lakers superstar reached another one on Wednesday, becoming the oldest player in NBA history to record three straight triple-doubles. James, who will turn 40 next month, had 35 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds in a win over Memphis. “Just being very patient and taking what the defense gives me,” James said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I’ve been doing it for a while. So, I understand time and score. I understand the waves and the swings of the game. So, it’s nothing new to me.”
Bradley Beal‘s first season with the Suns was marred by injuries and under-performance. He admitted to The Athletic’s Fred Katz that it took a mental toll on him. “I was in a funk (last season),” Beal said. “Not gonna lie. I was in a funk.” Part of the reason was the lack of a true point guard. “We didn’t love it as a team (last season),” Beal said. “The dynamic we had — we didn’t have a (point guard), which everybody crucified us on. It was tough. It was very tough. Everybody was kinda out of position last year, not necessarily what made them who they are.” Beal had 28 points in an overtime loss to Sacramento on Sunday and 24 points in a win over Utah on Tuesday but didn’t play against Sacramento on Wednesday due to a calf injury.

Western Notes: Kuminga, Warriors, Fox, McDermott, Thunder

October 18th, 2024 at 10:34pm CST by Luke Adams

Warriors forward Draymond Green has high expectations for teammate Jonathan Kuminga as the 22-year-old enters his fourth NBA season, per Joaquin Ruiz of NBC Sports Bay Area. Asked by NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke what would make the season an individual success for Kuminga, Green replied, “All-Star.”

What, specifically, does Kuminga have to do to earn his first All-Star berth?

“Score the basketball,” Green said. “(He) has to be a great scorer. He needs to be above 20 points per game, six (or) seven rebounds a night, and we need to win. Especially if you want to become a first-time All-Star. We know what he’s capable of and we believe in him. … Anything less than an All-Star is a failure for him.”

Kuminga remains eligible to sign a rookie scale extension up until Monday at 5:00 pm Central time, but a Friday report indicated that he and the Warriors are still “far apart” in negotiations and that the former No. 7 overall pick is comfortable with the idea of betting on himself in 2024/25. If Kuminga ends up not getting an extension in the coming days, an All-Star season would certainly go a long way toward securing him a significant payday as a restricted free agent next summer.

We have more from around the Western Conference:

The Warriors announced this week (via Twitter) that they’ll honor the late Jerry West with a “JW” decal on their home court at Chase Center throughout the 2024/25 season.
Speaking to Sam Amick and Anthony Slater of The Athletic, Kings guard De’Aaron Fox expressed a desire to remain in Sacramento for his entire career, but stressed that he wants to be sure the team will be “competing at a high level” and “not just fighting for a playoff spot.” While Fox may end up signing an extension during the 2025 offseason, the prospect of him reaching unrestricted free agency in 2026 remains a possibility if this season doesn’t go as planned for the Kings, sources tell Amick and Slater.
Doug McDermott‘s one-year contract with the Kings is worth the veteran’s minimum and features a $750K partial guarantee, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. The deal, which would pay McDermott approximately $3.3MM for the full season and will count for about $2.09MM against Sacramento’s cap, will become fully guaranteed if the veteran sharpshooter isn’t waived on or before January 7.
Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman (subscription required) considers what Isaiah Hartenstein‘s absence will mean for the Thunder in the first few weeks of the season, noting that the team was already dealing with frontcourt injuries to Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams and will have its depth tested in the early going. “We got a great group of guys with Hartenstein and without,” Aaron Wiggins told reporters on Thursday. “Obviously the anticipation of playing with him and Alex Caruso and guys like that was high, but good things come to those who wait. We’ll get better and kind of find things with his absence, but when he returns we’ll be just as fluid and probably ready to go at that point.”
The Thunder experienced another injury scare on Thursday night when Jalen Williams rolled his ankle against Atlanta and exited the game early. However, sources tell Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link) that Williams’ left ankle sprain is “not severe.”

Kings Sign Doug McDermott

October 16th, 2024 at 10:34pm CST by Luke Adams

10:34pm: The signing is official, tweets Sean Cunningham of KTXL.

1:50pm: The Kings have reached an agreement on a one-year contract with free agent sharpshooter Doug McDermott, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

While there has been no confirmation that McDermott’s contract is guaranteed, it likely won’t be the same sort of sign-and-waive Exhibit 10 agreement we’ve seen so often in recent weeks for G League purposes.

McDermott is a 10-year NBA veteran who appeared in 64 regular season games in 2023/24 and the Kings have a pair of openings on their projected 15-man regular season roster after trading Jalen McDaniels to San Antonio, so there’s a clear path for him to claim a spot on the opening night squad.

McDermott, 32, is a career 41.0% three-point shooter across 655 total contests with the Bulls, Thunder, Knicks, Mavericks, Pacers, and Spurs. He spent the first half of last season in San Antonio before being traded to Indiana in the three-team deadline deal that sent Buddy Hield to Philadelphia.

Although McDermott was part of his teams’ rotations for much of the season, he averaged just 14.1 minutes per game, his lowest mark since his rookie year in 2014/15. In his reduced role, he contributed 5.5 points per night on .433/.410/.579 shooting.

Sacramento sent out Harrison Barnes, Sasha Vezenkov, and Chris Duarte in a pair of offseason deals, so it certainly won’t hurt the team to add another reliable outside shooter at the back end of its bench.

Assuming McDermott signed for the veteran’s minimum (which is highly likely) and makes the regular season roster, he’ll count against the Kings’ cap for about $2.09MM, leaving the team’s salary roughly $3.74MM below the luxury tax line with 14 players under contract.

Central Notes: Pacers, Haliburton, Bickerstaff, Bulls

May 25th, 2024 at 6:18pm CST by Arthur Hill

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has a couple of options to rearrange his starting lineup with the absence of Tyrese Haliburton, who will miss tonight’s Game 3 due to an injured left hamstring, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.

One obvious choice is backup point guard T.J. McConnell, who would provide a second ball-handler to pair with Andrew Nembhard. Dopirak notes that they have logged a lot of minutes together this season. McConnell finished seventh in the Sixth Man of the Year voting, and he leads all bench players with 76 assists during the postseason.

Dopirak states that Carlisle could choose to go with power forward Obi Toppin or rookie guard Ben Sheppard instead to get more size in the starting lineup. That would keep McConnell in a reserve role and may provide more minutes for Doug McDermott, Jarace Walker and possibly Jalen Smith, who were all used in Game 2.

There’s more from the Central Division:

In his pregame press conference, Carlisle told reporters that Haliburton lobbied to play tonight, but the medical staff determined that it’s best for him to sit out, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “He very much wants to play. Desperately wants to play,” Carlisle said. “But the decision on tonight was taken out of his hands earlier in the day. It was determined that tonight was not an option. He’s feeling better and we’ll see where he is on Monday. And that’s it.”
Carlisle, who serves as president of the NBA Coaches Association, reached out to J.B. Bickerstaff after the Cavaliers fired him on Thursday, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Carlisle said Bickerstaff did “an amazing job” with a “culture makeover” in Cleveland, but all NBA coaches understand the realities of their jobs. “I have great respect for him. I’ve been in touch with him,” Carlisle said. “In our profession, no one likes it, but teams, ownership, they can hire and fire who they want to. Our business has got to be a very resilient one. And he’s been through a lot in his career and he’s grown so much as a coach. J.B. will be fine and he certainly will be a head coach again, sooner than later.”
Even if executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas makes the changes he has promised this summer, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times is skeptical that the Bulls can rise very far in the Eastern Conference standings. Cowley looks at the eight teams that finished ahead of Chicago this season and concludes that they all have staying power.

Pacers Notes: Haliburton, Carlisle, Bench, More

May 24th, 2024 at 5:02pm CST by Luke Adams

After Tyrese Haliburton left Game 2 early due to left hamstring soreness on Thursday, the Pacers have listed the star guard as questionable to play in Saturday’s Game 3 (Twitter link). While Haliburton was also said to be dealing with a chest issue in Game 2, the hamstring soreness is his only ailment mentioned on the official injury report.

Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required) explores how the Pacers might try to make up for Haliburton’s absence in the event that he’s unable to play in Game 3. As Dopirak notes, the team has solid alternatives at point guard in Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell but might have to dig deeper into its rotation at other positions to cover Haliburton’s minutes. Nembhard and McConnell also wouldn’t be able to replicate the play-making and outside shooting that the All-NBA guard provides.

“He does so many things for our team where everyone just has to move the ball more and get in the paint more,” McConnell said. “The ball movement, like I said, just has to be at another level. He gets 10 assists in his sleep. It’s hard for another person on our team to replicate that. It’s a group effort when he goes down to kinda get people the ball and get moving.”

Here’s more on the Pacers:

Whether or not Haliburton is healthy, the Pacers won’t have any hope of beating pulling off a comeback and beating Boston in the Eastern Conference finals if they play like they did on Thursday, Gregg Doyel writes in a column for The Indianapolis Star (subscription required).
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle raised some eyebrows in Game 2 by leaning on little-used bench players like Doug McDermott, Jarace Walker, Kendall Brown, and Jalen Smith in the fourth quarter while sitting Myles Turner, Aaron Nesmith, and Pascal Siakam for most or all of the final period. Carlisle explained why he went to his bench so early despite facing a deficit that didn’t seem insurmountable. “To look at some guys that I thought needed a look,” Carlisle said, per Dopirak. “McDermott went in there and played well. Isaiah Jackson brought a lot of fight to the game. Jalen Smith hasn’t had much of an opportunity to play in the playoffs, so I wanted to see where he was at. We weren’t giving up, but it was an opportunity to get some energetic fresh guys in there to fight. They did some good things. … The guys who had played to that point, Pascal was very tired. Aaron had four fouls and he was tired. That was it.”
Prior to Game 2, Haliburton told reporters that Indiana has the “best bench in the NBA,” Dopirak writes in another Indy Star story (subscription required). McConnell, Obi Toppin, and Ben Sheppard are the Pacers reserves who have seen the most action this postseason, leading a second unit that ranks No. 1 in the playoffs with 33.4 points per game.
While many NBA fans didn’t assign much meaning to the league’s first in-season tournament earlier this season, making the championship game in that tournament benefited a Pacers team that hadn’t made the playoffs since 2020, says Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “There were some real playoff simulations — our quarterfinal game at home, on a Monday night, against (the Celtics), had the feel of a conference finals-matchup atmosphere,” Carlisle said. “The part about going to Vegas and playing there, that was different, but there was certainly the exposure, the stage, all that. So, all those experiences help a young team.”

Central Notes: Cavaliers, McDermott, Sasser, Bitim

March 25th, 2024 at 9:20am CST by Arthur Hill

The rigors of a long season and the toll of injuries caught up with the Cavaliers Sunday night in Miami, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The Cavs looked “disinterested, distracted and exhausted,” according to Fedor, as they trailed by 21 points at halftime and fell behind by as many as 45 in the second half.

“We’ve asked these guys to do so much,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We have asked them to carry a burden of everybody having to do more because of all the injuries and the things we are going through. I think it just showed tonight. It caught up with us. I think mentally and physically, we are worn. It’s on us all to figure it out. No excuses. It doesn’t get any easier. I think tonight was one of those nights where collectively it just set in on us. It was uncharacteristic of this group. I think we had one of those nights.”

Cleveland welcomed back Evan Mobley, who played 21 minutes in his return from a left ankle sprain that had sidelined him since March 5. However, Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus and Dean Wade all remain sidelined, and Bickerstaff pulled his starters early in the third quarter to save them for tonight’s second game of a back-to-back.

“These games happen in the NBA where you just get knocked out in the first half and you can never really get back up and start swinging,” Georges Niang said. “Nobody is going to feel bad for us because everybody has had to go through the same thing this year. You just have to have amnesia and flush this one. There is nothing that we can gain from this. Nobody likes getting beat like we just got beat. I think we will remember the feeling of what it felt like to get whooped and fight to never have that feeling again.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

Doug McDermott has become a dangerous weapon for the Pacers since returning from a strained right calf that kept him out of action for nearly a month, observes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Over his last three games, McDermott is 9-of-15 from the floor and 5-of-11 from three-point range. “With shooting, there’s going to be some weird pockets every once in a while,” McDermott said. “I wasn’t shooting it great. I knew every time I shoot the ball it has a chance of going in. I just gotta have that belief and just keep firing away. These guys are so unselfish. They kept finding me. It will fall.”
Pistons rookie Marcus Sasser is a natural scorer who’s learning to play point guard in the NBA, per James L. Edwards of The Athletic. Sasser is shooting 44.1% from the field and 39.3% from three-point range, but at 6’1″ he needs to develop his play-making skills to fully unlock his game. “There’s a difference learning when to score, when to pass,” he said. “The main thing, right now, I’m just trying to get better in pick-and-rolls, to make the right reads. I feel like the scoring and stuff will come. It’s a learning experience for me.”
Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times examines whether Onuralp Bitim can develop into a Max Strus-type player for the Bulls.

Central Notes: Wade, Cavs, Thompson, McDermott, Stewart

March 16th, 2024 at 3:24pm CST by Luke Adams

After missing the Cavaliers‘ past three games for personal reasons, forward Dean Wade rejoined the club and participated in Friday’s practice, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required).

With forward Evan Mobley unavailable due to a left ankle sprain, Wade had been inserted into the starting lineup prior to his stint away from the team. Georges Niang was elevated to the starting five during Wade’s absence, and it’s unclear whether Wade will reclaim that spot once he’s ready to return, Fedor writes. The Cavaliers can put off that decision for at least one more game, since Wade will be out on Saturday in Houston due to knee soreness (Twitter link via Fedor).

As for Mobley, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said the big man is doing some “light work” and making progress in his recovery. A source tells Fedor that Mobley did some shooting work on Friday, but didn’t participate in practice and is unlikely to play on the Cavaliers’ current road trip, which runs through Monday.

There’s also still no specific timeline for the return of Max Strus from a left knee strain, Fedor adds. The Cavs’ starting small forward will miss his seventh straight game on Saturday.

Here’s more from around the Central:

In a separate subscriber-only story for Cleveland.com, Fedor notes that Tristan Thompson‘s 25-game suspension has come to an end, meaning he can once again be active for the Cavaliers as of Saturday. Thompson, who expressed excitement about returning, joked that he was so anxious to play that he “thought about sneaking into the arena a couple times” during his suspension. Bickerstaff, meanwhile, lauded Thompson’s impact in the locker room and referred to the veteran center as “this group’s big brother.”
Pacers forward Doug McDermott is “getting close” from returning from the right calf strain that has kept him on the shelf for the past eight games, head coach Rick Carlisle said on Friday, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. McDermott has been ruled out for Saturday’s contest against Brooklyn, but practiced on Friday. Indiana should benefit from re-adding him to a second unit that recently lost Bennedict Mathurin for the season.
In an interesting conversation with James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart discussed what it was like coming to terms with the knowledge that he won’t become a superstar at the NBA level after starring at every level prior to being drafted. “You definitely have to swallow some ego,” Stewart said. “… Once you get to a certain point … I guess, you see it for what it is. I’m just shooting you straight — there aren’t often plays called for me. For me, it’s, ‘How can I still impact the game?’ To me, I’d rather have the impact that I have, on defense. I feel like I can control the game that way.”

Central Notes: Mathurin, Gibson, Pistons Guards, Bulls

March 10th, 2024 at 4:02pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Losing Pacers reserve shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin for the year will have an intriguing ripple effect on the team’s bench as it prepares for the postseason, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.

As Dopirak notes, Indiana is now without two of its top-scoring reserves from the start of the season, between Mathurin and Buddy Hield, who was dealt to the Sixers at the trade deadline. Forward Doug McDermott, the Pacers’ own sharpshooting acquisition added at the deadline, continues to rehabilitate his right calf strain, though he’ll be a big part of the bench when he does play. Rookies Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker seem likely to get significantly more responsibility as the season winds down.

There’s more out of the Central Division:

Workaholic new Pistons veteran power forward Taj Gibson, 38, is over a decade older than most of his new teammates. Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press writes that the 10-53 club appreciates Gibson’s daily grind, even in his 15th NBA season, and hopes that he can inspire the Pistons’ young, talented lottery pick core. Gibson is on a 10-day deal, so there’s no guarantee he’ll remain with in Detroit for the rest of the season.
The Pistons’ decision to, at last, stagger young guards Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey so that one of them remained on the floor at all times seemed to work wonders on Thursday in a 118-112 win over the Nets, writes James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Head coach Monty Williams opted to employ a lineup of Cunningham alongside his second unit in the third quarter that really helped the club hold serve against Brooklyn.
Young Bulls guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu have each taken big leaps in their development this season, with White in particular enjoying a breakout year. A lot of their growth has happened with star shooting guard Zach LaVine, the team’s priciest player, sidelined due to injury. Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic thinks the improvement of the young guards could be negatively impacted by a LaVine comeback next year, and wonders if the Chicago front office will look to offload the two-time All-Star.

Pacers Notes: Mathurin, McDermott, Hield, Smith

March 7th, 2024 at 6:11pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Pacers second-year guard Bennedict Mathurin is set to miss at least the next three games, and probably a fourth, as he deals with a sprained right shoulder, according to IndyStar’s Dustin Dopirak.

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Mathurin will be reevaluated after Indiana’s upcoming two-game road trip that concludes March 12 in Oklahoma City. That reevaluation will come before the Pacers play the second half of a back-to-back against the Bulls on March 13, so it’s unlikely he plays in that game, according to Dopirak.

“We hope it’s not serious,” Carlisle said. “He’s a guy who bounces back very quickly and hates missing game. We hope that it’s relatively short term, but he will miss a week at least.”

Mathurin is averaging 14.5 points per game in his second year in the league.

We have more notes on the Pacers:

There’s still no return timetable for Doug McDermott, who is dealing with a right calf strain. According to Dopirak, as of Saturday, McDermott hadn’t engaged in any on-floor work since suffering his injury on Feb. 26. He’s averaging 5.7 points and shooting 41.5% from three this season.
Buddy Hield recently opened up about his trade from the Pacers, explaining how he didn’t see a future with the organization. “I love Buddy. I wish we could have kept him. The whole organization wishes they could have kept him,” Carlisle said in response to Hield’s comments (Twitter links via Dopirak). “And we could have, but it would have been self-serving for the organization. … He’s one of a kind. I loved him. I loved working with him for two years. He was a total pro with everything with he did.”
Jalen Smith is knocking down a career-high 61.2% of his field goals and 44.3% of his three-point attempts. According to Smith, the key to his better shooting is to stop thinking about knocking them down, Dopirak writes in another story. “I guess it’s just an ‘F-it’ mentality,” Smith said. “I’m pretty much saying if it goes in, it goes in. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.” Smith is playing just 17.7 minutes per night in a crowded frontcourt, but has been highly efficient in his limited time and is averaging 20.9 points and 11.3 rebounds per 36 minutes.