- Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton is trying to find the most efficient way to use his restricted minutes since returning from a hamstring injury, per James Boyd of The Athletic. Haliburton sat out the first quarter Friday against Sacramento so he could be available later on, but he had one of his worst games of the season as Indiana dropped its third straight. “I think anybody who’s dealt with a hamstring before understands that it’s not just nothing,” he said. “Even when you’re fully good a little bit after, you still feel it a little bit. Nothing structurally (is wrong). I think there is some pain, but I can play through that.”
The Cavaliers have continued to fire on all cylinders with Evan Mobley and Darius Garland making their respective returns from injuries this week — they’ve won four games in a row and 12 of their last 13.
In a look at Cleveland’s hot streak, Joe Vardon of The Athletic highlights the role that sharpshooter Sam Merrill has played in the team’s recent success. The 27-year-old, who wasn’t part of the Cavaliers’ rotation earlier in the season, has made 3.4 three-pointers per game at a 43.5% clip over the club’s past 14 contests.
Merrill has a non-guaranteed minimum salary for 2024/25, so if he continues to produce for the Cavs in a part-time role, the team will certainly guarantee that money and consider it a bargain. The fourth-year wing will become eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2025.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- Although Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has confirmed that Tyrese Haliburton is on a minutes restriction following his return from a hamstring injury, Carlisle has declined to offer any details on the distribution of those minutes or explain why the star point guard hasn’t played in the fourth quarter of either of his first two games back, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. On both Tuesday in Boston and Thursday in New York, Haliburton was subbed out for good with about six minutes left in the third quarter — in each case, Indiana held a lead at some point after that, but faded down the stretch and lost the game.
- The Bucks have made another addition to Doc Rivers‘ coaching staff, hiring Pete Dominguez as an assistant, tweets Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Dominguez previously worked under Rivers with the Clippers and Sixers.
- Former eighth overall pick Marquese Chriss has joined the Wisconsin Herd, per an announcement from the Bucks‘ G League affiliate (Twitter link). The 26-year-old power forward last played in the NBA with Dallas in 2022.
- The Pistons‘ two 2022 lottery picks, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, were named to the Rising Stars event for the second straight year, but both players have higher expectations for themselves going forward, according to Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (subscription required). “The goal is still to be an All-Star one day,” Duren said. “That’s what I want to come back for.”
When Tyrese Haliburton returned on January 19 from a five-game absence due to a left hamstring strain, he played 35 minutes, then immediately returned to the inactive list. Following another five-game layoff due to that troublesome hamstring, the Pacers are taking a more cautious approach with their star point guard this time around, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.
Haliburton played only 22 minutes in his return in Boston on Tuesday, including just six in the second half. Head coach Rick Carlisle confirmed after the game that the All-Star is on a minutes restriction, which will likely continue at least through the rest of this week.
“It frustrates me,” Haliburton said. “I want to be on the floor. But it’s this organization’s job to protect me from myself. I’m a competitor. I want to compete, but I understand it at the end of the day. … I think that everybody wants to be safe and keep me on the floor as much as they can.”
The Pacers’ goal for Haliburton is to keep him on the court for as many games as possible the rest of the way, not just to improve their odds of a playoff berth in the East, but to ensure that he has a chance to earn All-NBA honors, which would increase the value of his five-year, maximum-salary extension by more than $40MM. Players must appear in at least 65 regular season games to qualify for end-of-season awards such as All-NBA.
Haliburton has already missed 13 games this season and fell short of the required 15-minute minimum in a 14th, but he essentially earned a bonus game toward his required 65 when the Pacers qualified for the in-season tournament final. That game doesn’t count toward the regular season results, but it will count toward Haliburton’s game total, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files confirms. That means the 23-year-old could miss up to four more contests this season and still be eligible for an All-NBA spot.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times passes along some injury updates on the Bulls, writing that Zach LaVine continues to deal with foot discomfort, while Dalen Terry is receiving treatment on a sprained ankle that kept him out of Wednesday’s game in Charlotte. However, head coach Billy Donovan said the Bulls are optimistic Terry will be back “relatively soon” and believe Torrey Craig is also “very close” to returning from the right foot injury that has sidelined him since mid-December.
- Even once Craig is available, the Bulls may continue relying on rookie forward Julian Phillips for rotation minutes, at least until Patrick Williams is ready to return from his own foot injury. Donovan is confident that Phillips, who has averaged 18.3 minutes in the past three games, can handle the increased responsibilities, per Annie Constabile of The Chicago Sun-Times. “I give him credit for keeping himself ready and giving us a really good boost off the bench,” Donovan said. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in him in terms of the way he has worked to prepare himself to get in there. Anytime somebody scores and makes some shots, it always looks good, but I also thought his activity was really good, as well.”
- While Damian Lillard didn’t pick up a win in his return to Portland on Wednesday night, the Bucks guard is getting more comfortable in Milwaukee after a relocation process he described as “unsettling.” Jamal Collier of ESPN has the story and the quotes from Lillard.
As our 10-day contract tracker shows, there are currently six 10-day deals active around the NBA. Here are those contracts, along with their expiry dates:
- Malcolm Hill, Pelicans (runs through 2/5)
- James Johnson, Pacers (runs through 2/7)
- Matthew Hurt, Grizzlies (runs through 2/7)
- Tosan Evbuomwan, Grizzlies (runs through 2/8)
- Trey Jemison, Grizzlies (runs through 2/8)
- Taj Gibson, Knicks (runs through 2/8)
Of those six 10-day deals, three are “hardship” signings — the Grizzlies have a full 15-man roster, but have allowed to sign three additional players to 10-day contracts, increasing their standard roster count to 18, since they’ve been hit so hard by injuries.
Hardship exceptions can only be granted 10 days at a time, so Memphis’ situation will need to be reassessed once the contracts for Hurt, Evbuomwan, and Jemison expire. If any of the six Grizzlies players affected by longer-term injuries are nearing a return at that point, the team won’t qualify for three hardship exceptions again, but could still be granted one or two.
If Memphis isn’t granted three hardship exceptions and wants to retain all three players, the club would need to make room for them on the 15-day roster.
The Pelicans and Pacers currently have 13 players on standard full-season contracts, so once Hill’s and Johnson’s 10-day contracts expire, they’ll have up to two weeks to re-add a 14th man. Teams can’t carry fewer than 14 players on their standard roster for more than 14 days at a time.
This is Johnson’s second 10-day deal with Indiana, meaning he’d be ineligible to sign another one — the Pacers would need to give him a rest-of-season contract to bring him back after February 7.
The Cavaliers and Trail Blazers have already dipped to 13 players on standard contracts after 10-day deals for Pete Nance and Taze Moore recently expired. Cleveland is permitted to keep those two 15-man open roster spots until February 10, while Portland can do so until February 12.
It’s worth noting that, in addition to only being able to carry fewer than 14 players for up to two weeks at a time, NBA teams aren’t permitted to do so for more than 28 days in a season. The Cavaliers and Blazers each used up 14 of those 28 days prior to signing Nance and Moore, respectively, so if they take the full two weeks again, they’ll be prohibited from dropping below 14 players on standard contracts for the rest of 2023/24.
For more information on which NBA teams have open roster spots, be sure to check out our tracker.
Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton is locked into a five-year extension that begins next season, but his hamstring strain, which kept him out nearly two weeks until Tuesday’s game against Boston, could prove very costly.
Haliburton’s total salary on that five-year deal could be either $204.5MM or $245.3MM, depending upon whether he’s paid 30% of a team’s salary cap as opposed to 25%. That extra 5% can be earned if he wins the MVP award or Defensive Player of the Year — or is voted onto one of the three All-NBA teams. However, under the new CBA he must appear in 65 regular-season games to qualify for postseason honors. He has already missed 13 games this season.
Haliburton realizes he can’t miss too many more games to get the full amount, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star writes.
“I’m human like you guys,” he said. “I use the Internet as well. I completely understand it and I understand what’s at stake for me financially as well. But at the end of the day, it’s also that I have to take care of my body to the best of my ability and put myself in the right situation. Yeah, I know I don’t have a ton of games left.”
Haliburton voiced his displeasure regarding the new qualifications.
“I think it’s a stupid rule like many guys in the league,” Haliburton said. “But this is what the owners want, so as players, we have to do our job and play in 65 games if we’re able to. That’s what I gotta do, take care of my body to be able to play in those games.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- Bucks coach Doc Rivers said he’s intent on maximizing the potential of the Giannis Antetokounmpo–Damian Lillard pairing, Eric Nehm of The Athletic relays. “It’s been effective, but it should be dominant, in my opinion,” Rivers said. “We did a lot of two-man work today. You won’t probably see a lot of it (immediately), but it was clear, I think the whole team pretty much got what we did after 20 minutes of doing the same thing. It’s important for us. And then the three-man game with Khris (Middleton). Throw Khris in there, too. That’s important, as well.”
- Rivers replaced Adrian Griffin, who lost his job mainly due to the team’s defensive slippage. Even though the Bucks were defeated by Denver in Rivers’ debut, the new coach said the team is quite capable of regaining its defensive prowess, according to Jamal Collier of ESPN. “I told our guys, anyone who told you you couldn’t play defense lied,” Rivers said. “You proved that (Monday). You competed. … Our half-court defense was excellent. I think (Monday) was an offensive loss. I didn’t think we were crisp offensively.”
- Bulls coach Billy Donovan talks to Zach LaVine on a regular basis, but trade rumors are not a topic for discussion, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times. ‘‘I haven’t talked to him about anything with the rumor piece of it,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘I would just guess that with him being in the league for 10 years that these things would kind of happen. My talks with him have been more centered around his frustration with being out.’’ LaVine is currently sidelined by a right foot injury.
- Pistons guard Cade Cunningham is listed as probable to play against Cleveland on Wednesday, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press tweets. Cunningham missed eight games with a left knee strain, returned to action against Washington on Saturday, then sat out the second game of a back-to-back on Sunday.
The NBA has officially revealed the 11 rookies, 10 sophomores, and seven G League players who will take part in the Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend in Indianapolis next month.
The following players, as voted on by NBA coaching staffs, made the cut:
Rookies
- Bilal Coulibaly (Wizards)
- Keyonte George (Jazz)
- Jordan Hawkins (Pelicans)
- Scoot Henderson (Trail Blazers)
- Chet Holmgren (Thunder)
- Jaime Jaquez (Heat)
- Dereck Lively II (Mavericks)
- Brandon Miller (Hornets)
- Brandin Podziemski (Warriors)
- Cason Wallace (Thunder)
- Victor Wembanyama (Spurs)
Sophomores
- Paolo Banchero (Magic)
- Dyson Daniels (Pelicans)
- Jalen Duren (Pistons)
- Jaden Ivey (Pistons)
- Walker Kessler (Jazz)
- Bennedict Mathurin (Pacers)
- Keegan Murray (Kings)
- Shaedon Sharpe (Trail Blazers)
- Jabari Smith Jr. (Rockets)
- Jalen Williams (Thunder)
G League Players
- Izan Almansa (G League Ignite)
- Matas Buzelis (G League Ignite)
- Ron Holland (G League Ignite)
- Mac McClung (Osceola Magic)
- Tyler Smith (G League Ignite)
- Oscar Tshiebwe (Indiana Mad Ants)
- Note: Tshiebwe has a two-way contract with the Pacers.
- Alondes Williams (Sioux Falls Skyforce)
As was the case last season, the Rising Stars event will consist of four teams and three games. The seven G League players will comprise one team, coached by former NBA forward Detlef Schrempf. The other 21 players will be drafted to three squads coached by former NBA and WNBA stars Pau Gasol, Jalen Rose, and Tamika Catchings.
The four teams will be split into two first-round matchups and the winners of those two games will face one another for the Rising Stars championship. The two semifinals will be played to a target score of 40 points, while the final will be played to a target score of 25 points.
All three contests will take place on Friday, February 16 as part of All-Star weekend’s opening night.
- The Pacers are optimistic that Tyrese Haliburton will be available Tuesday night against Boston after missing 10 of the last 11 games with a left hamstring injury, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
11:30am: Johnson’s new 10-day contract is official, the Pacers announced (via Twitter).
9:26am: The Pacers will sign veteran forward James Johnson to another 10-day contract, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The signing was confirmed to Wojnarowski by Johnson’s agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports.
Johnson didn’t see any game action during his first 10-day deal, which expired on Sunday, but he has appeared in five games for Indiana this season with four points, four rebounds and five assists in limited playing time. He signed a standard contract with the Pacers in mid-December after they reached a buyout agreement with Daniel Theis, but was waived on January 17 when the team needed to open a roster spot to complete the Pascal Siakam trade. Johnson rejoined the team two days later upon clearing waivers.
A 15-year NBA veteran, Johnson first came to Indiana before the start of last season. He has appeared in 23 total games during that time, but has mostly served as a veteran leader in the locker room.
Once Johnson’s second 10-day contract becomes official, the Pacers will be back to a 14-man roster, giving them one opening heading into the trade deadline. Teams are limited to two 10-day deals with a player during a season, so Indiana would have to sign Johnson to another standard contract to keep him for the rest of the season.
Asked on Saturday what compelled him to return to the NBA’s head coaching ranks less that one year after being let go by Philadelphia and just a few months after joining ESPN as an analyst, Doc Rivers pointed to the Bucks‘ two superstars as a primary motivating factor.
“You know the answer. Giannis (Antetokounmpo), Dame (Lillard). Really, that’s the answer,” Rivers said at an introductory news conference, per Jamal Collier of ESPN. “Like, you look at their team. What is it, eight teams that have a legitimate shot (at a championship)? And I don’t know if it’s that high, but the Bucks are one of them, right?
“The other thing is the way they’re built with the veterans and their grown-ups. I thought that if you’re going to jump into this at this time of the year, this would be a type of group that you have the best opportunity to connect and change the quickest.”
For their part, Antetokounmpo and Lillard expressed excitement on Saturday about Rivers’ arrival, with Giannis citing the veteran coach’s “great energy” and Dame noting that Rivers won’t be afraid to challenge the team.
“He’s a strong voice. He’s going to demand more from our team,” Lillard said. “He’s not going to be afraid to challenge myself, he’s not going to be afraid to challenge Giannis…all the way down the line. I think when you’re dealing with a team that’s full of vets and as talented as we are, I think that’s something that you need if you want to reach the level that we want to reach.”
Rivers is on track to make his Bucks coaching debut on Monday in Denver.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton will miss a fifth straight game on Sunday due to his left hamstring injury, tweets Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. According to head coach Rick Carlisle, Haliburton will practice on Monday and will be considered day-to-day going forward.
- After playing almost exclusively garbage-time minutes in the first half, Pacers rookie Ben Sheppard has averaged 18.4 minutes in the past seven games. While Sheppard’s numbers in his rotation role have been modest, his impressive hustle has served as a reminder of why Indiana liked him at No. 26 in last year’s draft, Dopirak writes for The Indianapolis Star.
- Pete Nance‘s 10-day deal with the Cavaliers expired overnight on Saturday, so he’s no longer under contract with the team. Cleveland now has 13 players on standard contracts and will have up to two weeks to add a 14th man, whether that’s Nance on a second 10-day deal or someone else. If the Cavs take the full two weeks, they won’t be able to drop to 13 players for the rest of 2023/24, since teams can only carry fewer than 14 for up to 28 days in a season. The Cavs already used up 14 of those days after finalizing Ricky Rubio‘s buyout and before signing Nance.
After Charlotte was able to secure a first-round pick from Miami in this week’s deal for Terry Rozier, teams with quality guards available are expected to use that return as a benchmark, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, who suggests that the Wizards, Trail Blazers, and Raptors want “at least a first-round pick” for Tyus Jones, Malcolm Brogdon, and Bruce Brown, respectively.
It will presumably be more difficult to extract a first-round pick for a player headed for free agency in 2024 and 2025 than it was for Rozier, who has two more years left on his contract beyond this one. Still, as Fischer notes, there will be no shortage of teams in the market for backcourt help at this season’s deadline.
Sources tell Yahoo Sports that the Lakers are “chief among backcourt buyers” as they seek a point guard upgrade on D’Angelo Russell. The Knicks, Bucks, and Sixers are among the other potential buyers at that position, while the Nets have “poked around” the market too, per Fischer.
Fischer names the Cavaliers and Timberwolves as two other clubs expected to peruse the market in search of backcourt depth and notes that the Spurs will always be a team to watch for point guards until they find a long-term answer at the position to pair with Victor Wembanyama.
Here’s more from Fischer:
- Veteran point guard T.J. McConnell was viewed as a possible target for teams looking for backcourt help, but the Pacers have indicated to potential trade partners that they don’t want to move him, Fischer reports. Some of the backup point guards who are available around the NBA, per Fischer, are Davion Mitchell (Kings), Cameron Payne (Bucks), Cory Joseph (Warriors), and Devonte’ Graham (Spurs).
- Kyle Lowry isn’t expected to join the Hornets prior to the trade deadline as Charlotte looks to flip him to a new team. If he’s still a Hornet once the deadline passes, Lowry will be a strong candidate for a buyout, and the Sixers appear to be a “real possibility” for the Philadelphia native, says Fischer.
- The Sixers are prioritizing fit alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey as they consider their trade options. They don’t appear to have significant interest in Bruce Brown and will have to seriously consider whether Dejounte Murray is the right piece next to Maxey, given the Hawks‘ high asking price for Murray, Fischer writes. Atlanta is reportedly seeking two first-round picks and a starting-caliber player for the guard.
- The Rockets have their eye on a pair of Trail Blazers, according to Fischer, who says Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams have both drawn interest from Houston. The Lakers and Knicks are among the other teams that have been connected to Brogdon.
- The Pelicans and Magic are two teams that rival executives expect to be in the market for a point guard in the summer, though New Orleans is focused more on the center spot for now, per Fischer.