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COVID-19 Updates: Gay, Hughes, Harrell, Hachimura, Winslow, Waters, Brooks

January 9th, 2022 at 7:30pm CST by JD Shaw

Jazz forwards Rudy Gay and Elijah Hughes have entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the team announced on social media (Twitter link). They join Rudy Gobert and Joe Ingles as players in protocols for Utah.

All four players will miss the team’s game against the Pistons on Monday. Two-way player Malik Fitts will also be sidelined due to a right wrist injury, meaning Utah will be without five players for the contest. According to our tracker, nearly 50 players are currently in the NBA’s protocols.

Here are some other COVID-related notes from around the league:

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Gerald Green joins Rockets' G League Affiliate

January 8th, 2022 at 8:55pm CST by Arthur Hill
  • Gerald Green, who stepped away from his role as assistant coach with the Rockets to become a player again, has signed with Houston’s G League affiliate in Rio Grande Valley, tweets Mark Berman of Fox 26.“It’s a great opportunity,” Green said. “The Vipers being affiliated with the Rockets, me being affiliated with the Rockets, it’s like a perfect match.”
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Gerald Green To Play For Rio Grande In G League

January 7th, 2022 at 8:47pm CST by Rory Maher
  • 35-year-old veteran Gerald Green, who recently decided to unretire and take another shot at the NBA, will be playing for the Rockets‘ G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
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COVID-19 Updates: Pacers, Kidd, Fultz, Tre Jones, Daigneault, A. Brooks

January 7th, 2022 at 5:07pm CST by Rory Maher

Justin Anderson and Torrey Craig have become the latest Pacers players to enter the league’s health and safety protocols, per James Boyd of The Indianapolis Star (via Twitter). The Pacers now have six players in protocols. Craig signed a two-year, $10MM deal with Indiana last summer, while Anderson just signed a 10-day hardship contract with the team last week.

On the bright side, Pacers assistant coach Lloyd Pierce has cleared the protocols and has returned to the team, tweets Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files.

Here are some more COVID-related updates:

  • Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd has entered the protocols, with assistant coach Sean Sweeney set to take over his duties Friday night in Houston, sources tell Marc Stein of Substack (Twitter link). Kidd is the 13th head coach to enter the protocols.
  • Markelle Fultz isn’t ready to return from his torn ACL yet, but he has exited the protocols for the Magic, according to Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel (via Twitter).
  • The Spurs‘ outbreak continues, with Tre Jones being the sixth player currently in the protocols, tweets Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News.
  • Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has cleared the protocols and will resume his duties Friday vs. Minnesota, the team tweets.
  • Rockets guard Armoni Brooks has exited the protocols and is listed as available for Friday’s game against the Mavs, as Mark Berman of Fox 26 (KRIV) relays (Twitter link).
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Rockets Assistant Gerald Green To Resume Playing, Plans To Sign With G League

January 6th, 2022 at 8:41am CST by Arthur Hill

Gerald Green, who joined the Rockets as a player development coach in October, plans to revive his playing career and sign a G League contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Green’s goal is to eventually return to the NBA, Charania adds.

The 35-year-old swingman has played 12 NBA seasons, most recently with Houston in 2018/19 when he averaged 9.2 points and 2.5 rebounds in 72 games. He suffered a broken foot in October of 2019 and hasn’t played since, although he worked out for the Rockets in September.

Selected by the Celtics with the 18th pick in the 2005 draft, Green began his career as a spectacular dunker, winning the 2007 Slam Dunk Contest and finishing as runner-up a year later. He developed into a reliable three-point shooter and was a rotation player as Houston reached the Western Conference Finals in 2018.

Green played for eight NBA teams, with 658 total games and a career scoring average of 9.7 PPG.

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Kevin Porter Jr. Apologized To Rockets' Teammates, Coaches

January 5th, 2022 at 10:47am CST by Luke Adams
  • Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. said on Tuesday that he apologized both “to the group” and “individually” following the locker-room incident that resulted in him being suspended for Monday’s game, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “I think just as a man and as a human, that’s the right thing to do,” Porter said. “Even if you feel like you’re in the right, there’s ways to approach things in situations, and I felt as a man, I didn’t approach it the right way. So I apologize. I feel like that’s just something you need to do as a principled thing.” Porter added that he still feels supported by the organization.
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Rockets Notes: Silas, Mathews, Wood, Porter, Sengun

January 4th, 2022 at 12:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Rockets lost big on Monday night in Philadelphia with Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr. both serving a one-game suspension, but coach Stephen Silas said the game with the Sixers wasn’t a consideration in deciding how to discipline two of his starters, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Both players were suspended for their actions on Saturday, with Wood being late for a COVID-19 test and refusing to enter the game in the second half and Porter leaving the arena at halftime after a confrontation with assistant coach John Lucas.

Silas, the son of former NBA player and coach Paul Silas, said he turned to his father’s advice of “follow your gut” in deciding how to handle the situation. Especially with a young team, he believes it’s more important to set boundaries about proper behavior than to worry about the results of one game.

“There isn’t a balance (between winning and disciplining) to me,” Silas said. “There’s doing what’s right and doing what’s best for this organization. That’s how you build culture. You do it through a lot of different things. Accountability is huge, making sure everybody knows what is acceptable and is not acceptable and learning from that. That’s the big part, learning from those moments and learning from those experiences so we can improve and we can be better.”

There’s more on the Rockets:

  • Garrison Mathews tied his season high with 23 points Monday shortly after clearing the league’s health and safety protocols, Feigen adds in the same story. Mathews described his time off as “boring” and was happy to be back on the court. “From the jump, I felt good,” he said. “Having six, seven days off, it’s hard to take that many days off and come back and get right to it. My body felt fresh. It wasn’t sore like it was before. It was good to have a few days off, but when you take seven days off, your conditioning starts to wear down at the end.”
  • In the wake of Saturday’s incident, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated believes the Rockets should get rid of Porter and Wood as soon as possible, even if that means waiving Porter, whose contract is guaranteed for $3.2MM next season. Mannix also criticizes general manager Rafael Stone for assembling the current roster, which Mannix claims is becoming a distraction for talented young players such as Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Jae’Sean Tate, and for having Silas deal with the media whenever there’s a personnel issue.
  • Fans have been calling for Sengun to get more playing time, but the rookie center told a Turkish magazine that the Rockets are bringing him along slowly so he can adjust to the NBA, relays Matt Young of The Houston Chronicle. “(The Rockets) played nine games in 15 days, we used to play nine games in nine weeks in Turkey, we did it in two weeks here,” Sengun said. “It’s hard to get used to it right away.”
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COVID Updates: Towns, Russell, Tucker, Hyland, Robinson, Bryant, Neto

January 3rd, 2022 at 6:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Players around the NBA continue to enter and exit the league’s health and safety protocols. Here’s the latest update:

  • Timberwolves stars Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell have exited the protocols but won’t play against the Clippers due to reconditioning, the team’s PR department tweets.
  • Heat forward P.J. Tucker has been upgraded to questionable to play on Monday against Golden State after exiting the protocols, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets.
  • Nuggets rookie Bones Hyland has exited the protocols and is expected to be available for Monday’s road game against Dallas, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets.
  • Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has cleared the protocols, the team’s PR department tweets.
  • Wizards center Thomas Bryant and guard Raul Neto have cleared the protocols, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. However, Tremont Waters, who is on a 10-day hardship contract, has entered the protocols, Robbins adds in a separate tweet.
  • Bucks forward Jordan Nwora has entered the protocols and will miss Monday’s game against Detroit, Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets.
  • Rockets big man Usman Garuba has entered the protocols, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets.
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Rockets Suspending Porter, Wood For Monday’s Game

January 3rd, 2022 at 11:23am CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets are suspending guard Kevin Porter Jr. and big man Christian Wood for Monday’s game in Philadelphia vs. the Sixers, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon of ESPN.

Both players are being disciplined for their poor behavior on Saturday night vs. Denver. As we detailed over the weekend, Porter left the arena following a halftime altercation with assistant coach John Lucas, while Wood told coaches he wasn’t interested in playing in the second half after being held out of the lineup because he missed a mandatory COVID-19 test.

The ESPN report provides a few more details on Saturday’s incident. According to Wojnarowski and MacMahon, one young Houston player challenged Wood and told him that – as a veteran – he should be setting a standard for the team. ESPN’s duo also says the Rockets believe Porter has made progress on his anger-management issues, which resurfaced on Saturday.

It’s unclear if this will be the extent of the punishments for Porter and/or Wood. At this point, there’s no indication that either of their suspensions will extend beyond Monday’s contest. Houston’s next game is on Wednesday in Washington and both Porter and Wood are still traveling with the team.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, a one-game suspension will cost Porter a little over $12K and Wood approximately $94K. That works out to 1/145th of their respective salaries.

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Armoni Brooks Enters Protocols

January 2nd, 2022 at 4:55pm CST by JD Shaw
  • Rockets guard Armoni Brooks has entered the protocols, Ben DuBose of The Rockets Wire relays (via Twitter). DuBose also notes that Garrison Mathews and D.J. Augustin are no longer on the team’s injury report, meaning both players likely cleared health and safety protocols.
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