November 12th, 2023 at 12:43pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum
The NBA has fined Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins $25K for criticizing referees following Memphis’ 127-121 home defeat to the Jazz on Friday, the league has announced (Twitter link).
“One of the most poorly officiated games I’ve ever seen,” Jenkins told reporters after the loss, per The Associated Press. “Record it. I’m fine with it. F—ing atrocious.”
The loss dropped the Grizzlies to an NBA-worst 1-8 record on the year. The club will be without the services of suspended All-Star point guard Ja Morant for the next 16 contests, while two of its best three frontcourt players will remain out much longer.
Starting center Steven Adams has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2023/24 season, after undergoing surgery on his right posterior cruciate ligament. Reserve power forward Brandon Clarke, meanwhile, continues to recover from a torn left Achilles tendon he suffered in March. Another key big man, Xavier Tillman Sr., has already missed time this season with an ongoing knee injury.
Down its starting point guard and its third-string point guard in Derrick Rose, the club currently boasts the No. 29-rated offense in the league.
As the NBA’s 2024 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 $250K) 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 $6.25MM without having to worry about sending out any outgoing salary.
In recent years, sizable traded player exceptions have served as wild cards that helped accommodate both pre-deadline and offseason deals. For example, after creating a $17MM trade exception when they sent Davis Bertans to the Thunder and moved down a couple spots in the 2023 draft lottery, the Mavericks used that TPE to acquire Richaun Holmes along with an additional first-round pick later in the night.
Many trade exceptions expire without being used, but as our tracker shows, there are many sizable ones available this season that could be useful when trade season begins in earnest.
Here are the 20 most valuable trade exceptions around the NBA for now, along with their expiry dates in parentheses:
Atlanta Hawks: $23,019,560 (7/8/24)
Brooklyn Nets: $19,928,571 (7/8/24)
Brooklyn Nets: $18,131,946 (2/9/24)
Washington Wizards: $12,354,400 (6/24/24)
Washington Wizards: $9,800,926 (7/8/24)
Miami Heat: $9,450,000 (7/8/24)
Portland Trail Blazers: $8,778,377 (9/27/24)
Portland Trail Blazers: $8,300,000 (2/9/24)
Memphis Grizzlies: $7,492,540 (7/8/24)
Miami Heat: $7,243,842 (7/8/24)
Philadelphia 76ers: $6,831,413 (11/1/24)
New York Knicks: $6,803,012 (7/8/24)
Brooklyn Nets: $6,802,950 (7/8/24)
Phoenix Suns: $6,500,000 (7/17/24)
Boston Celtics: $6,202,500 (7/12/24)
Washington Wizards: $5,379,250 (6/24/24)
Phoenix Suns: $4,975,371 (2/9/24)
Dallas Mavericks: $4,953,980 (7/8/24)
Miami Heat: $4,700,000 (2/7/24)
Houston Rockets: $4,510,000 (10/17/24)
Those Hawks and Nets trade exceptions are big enough to be genuine assets, but I wouldn’t expect either club to make full use of them during the season. Both Atlanta and Brooklyn are about $8-10MM away from the luxury tax line and would move even closer to becoming taxpayers if certain players on their rosters earn bonuses currently considered unlikely.
Neither team is close enough to title contention to warrant becoming a taxpayer this season unless it’s for a major, major acquisition, so don’t count on either the Hawks or Nets using a TPE to bring in a $15MM role player with no outgoing salary.
The luxury tax looms as an issue for some of the other teams on this list as well, but there are some intriguing TPEs to keep an eye on. Would-be contenders like the Sixers, Celtics, and Suns may consider using their exceptions to try to fortify their benches ahead of the postseason, while a rebuilding team like the Wizards – with nearly $30MM in breathing room below the tax – could be a dumping ground for an unwanted contract — as long as that contract comes attached to a draft asset or two.
Teams like the Lakers and Pelicans, who are just narrowly over the tax threshold and could duck below by trading a single player, are potential trade partners to watch for Washington.
It’s worth noting that some of these exceptions may be used in a deal that could otherwise be completed 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.
Steven Adams underwent successful surgery on Thursday to repair his right posterior ligament and is expected to make a full recovery prior to next season, the Grizzlies announced (via Twitter). The team’s starting center will unfortunately miss the entire 2023/24 season.
G.G. Jackson, who is the youngest player in the NBA, likely won’t see many minutes for the Grizzlies. In fact, he’s only played one minute over their first seven games. However, the second-round pick is expected to have an expanded role with the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ G League club, writes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “I kind of got a little bit more lenience, so I got to become comfortable,” said Jackson, who is on a two-way contract.
November 7th, 2023 at 10:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder
The Pistons, who have been hit by a wave of injuries in the early going, got some more bad news on Tuesday. Joe Harris has an AC sprain in his shoulder and will be reevaluated in 10-to-14 days, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets.
Detroit had six other players out on Monday against Golden State due to injury or illness. Harris, acquired from Brooklyn during the offseason, has averaged a modest 3.4 points in 14 minutes this season. He’s in the final year of his four-year, $75MM contract.
We have more injury-related news:
Hornets starting guard Terry Rozier will miss at least the next two games. He underwent an MRI which confirmed a left adductor strain, the team’s PR department tweets.
Bucks forward Khris Middleton will have the night off against the Pistons on Wednesday due to right knee injury management, Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets.
Clippers backup center Mason Plumlee has been diagnosed with a left knee MCL sprain, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk and Adrian Wojnarowski. Plumlee is undergoing further evaluation, but he’ll miss at least the next two games.
Derrick Rose has missed the last three games due to left knee soreness and he’s “week-to-week,” according to coach Taylor Jenkins, as Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal relays. He’s among eight Grizzlies players who will be sidelined when Memphis faces Miami on Wednesday, the team’s PR department tweets. John Konchar (hip strain) is listed as doubtful.
Rui Hachimura is listed as probable by the Lakers for their contest against Houston on Wednesday after missing four games while in concussion protocol, Khobi Price of the Orange County Register tweets.
Rockets forward Tari Eason is nearing a return from the leg injury that has sidelined him for the first two weeks of the 2022/23 season, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). According to Feigen, head coach Ime Udoka said on Monday that Eason will practice on Tuesday and could be cleared to play in Wednesday’s game vs. the Lakers.
The second-year forward missed the Rockets’ final three preseason games and has been out for the club’s first six regular season contests due to a stress reaction in his left leg. Eason is one of Houston’s stronger defenders, so the team – which is riding a three-game winning streak – could use benefit from his presence on the wing.
“He’s a guy that kind of comes up with everything all the time,” Udoka said of Eason last week. “A great offensive rebounder. Just some grit and toughness that he brings. I think that physicality, obviously, is beneficial for our group. He does some things that are very instinctual and natural for him that we stressed.”
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
While he’s known for his defense, offseason addition Dillon Brooks is providing the Rockets with solid offensive play in the early going this season, Feigen writes in another subscriber-only story for The Houston Chronicle. Brooks has posted a scorching hot .593/.565/.938 shooting line through his first six games in Houston.
In his second game with the Grizzlies on Sunday, Bismack Biyombo was the team’s starting center, replacing Xavier Tillman (knee) and logging 26 minutes. The big man helped Memphis secure its first win of the season by putting up eight points, 11 rebounds four assists, and three blocked shots. Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal has the story on Biyombo’s instant impact in the middle.
The Grizzlies signed Biyombo to his one-year, $5MM contract using a portion of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. The Grizzlies also could have signed Biyombo using a disabled player exception if they were granted one for Steven Adams‘ season-ending knee injury, but there has been no confirmation yet that the team has been approved for a DPE for Adams.
The Spurs have a 110.9 defensive rating when Victor Wembanyama is on the court compared to a disastrous 129.4 mark when he sits, a remarkable split for a rookie, albeit in a small sample. Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscriber link) and Kelly Iko of The Athletic take a closer look at the impact that the No. 1 pick is having on defense for San Antonio.
Local broadcasting rights for 15 NBA teams have been ironed out, at least for this season, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reports. The league and Diamond Sports Group have reached an agreement that would guarantee Diamond’s regional sports networks will provide those local broadcasts.
That organization is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Some of the contracts it had in place were signed through 2030. Now, all the individual broadcast agreements will last only through this season. Diamond runs Bally Sports Regional Networks.
The bankruptcy court must approve this agreement.
We have more from around the NBA:
Major issues regarding the Hawk-Eye optical tracking system used by the league this year were recently detailed by Ben Dowsett of The Guardian. Dowsett now tweets that the problems have persisted and even worsened. Tensions between team analytics staffs and the NBA league office were on display during a “disastrous” league-wide conference call on Monday, according to Dowsett.
Which teams rate the highest on the “Panic Meter” two weeks into the season? In the view of Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, the Bulls and Grizzlies are at the top of the list.
Some players make big strides from their rookie season to their sophomore campaign. The Trail Blazers’Shaedon Sharpe and Pistons’ Jalen Duren have made significant jumps thus far, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who also takes a look at some sophomores who are slumping in the early going.
The Celtics are the NBA’s only unbeaten team and Kristaps Porzingis believes they’re just scratching the surface of how good they can become, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. Boston underwent major roster changes during the offseason, but the adjustment has gone smoothly with several dominant performances on the way to a 4-0 start.
Himmelsbach notes that the new Big Three of Porzingis, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have outscored opponents by 33.2 points per 100 possessions in the 86 minutes they’ve been on the court together. They’ve also shown a willingness to be unselfish and let whoever has the hot hand on a given night take the most shots.
“We’re still building chemistry,” Porzingis said. “Even though we have some glimpses of really good plays and passes, we’re still building chemistry. I’m still catching up on the little nuances and little things that JT likes to do, that JB likes to do, and just still, like, figuring each other out, you know? It might look like it’s already really good because we’re just beating these teams easily, but it’s going to get much, much better.”
There’s more from Boston:
Porzingis had plenty of experience with tournaments while growing up in Europe, and he believes the NBA’s new in-season tourney will eventually catch on with fans and players, Himmelsbach adds. “Although I know a lot of people are a little bit skeptical, I think it’s going to be a huge success and I look forward to hopefully winning it,” Porzingis said. Tournament play began throughout the league last night, but the Celtics won’t play their first round robin game until Friday at Brooklyn.
Grizzlies center Xavier Tillman could be a name to watch if the Celtics decide to use the $6.2MM traded player exception they generated in the Grant Williams deal, Brian Robb of MassLive suggests in a mailbag column. Tillman has a $1.93MM expiring contract and Memphis may decide to move him if the team can’t overcome its 0-6 start. Robb mentions Thunder forward Kenrich Williams, Pacers center Jalen Smith and Raptors center Precious Achiuwa as other possibilities who would fit into that TPE.
Neemias Queta will miss his third straight game tonight due to injury management for his right foot, per Souichi Terada of MassLive, but coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters it’s mostly a precautionary measure. Terada points out that Boston’s schedule has been light so far, and there will be a greater need for the two-way center once games start to stack up.
The 2023/24 NBA campaign tipped off on October 24, making this the 12th day of the 177-day regular season. It’s early, in other words, so teams falling short of their expectations during the season’s first couple weeks shouldn’t be reaching for the panic button quite yet.
Still, the Western Conference is expected to be extremely competitive this season — when we ran our over/under polls on teams’ win totals in the weeks leading up to opening night, the benchmark for 11 of the 15 teams in the West was 44.5 or more victories. Only six Western teams will qualify for the playoffs outright and only four more will make the play-in tournament, which means one of those 11 clubs with high expectations for 2023/24 will be left on the outside looking in, not even a play-in team.
The margin for error in the West is thin, which doesn’t bode well for the Grizzlies, the NBA’s lone remaining winless team.
We knew Memphis might be in some trouble entering the season, with a few key players expected to be unavailable for a significant portion of the year. All-Star guard Ja Morant is serving a 25-game suspension, starting center Steven Adams is out for the season with a knee injury, and key frontcourt reserve Brandon Clarke is still on his way back from a torn Achilles.
Still, we didn’t expect the Grizzlies to begin the season 0-6, with losses to potential lottery-bound teams like Washington, Utah, and Portland. Again, it’s early, but Memphis is digging an early-season hole that might be tricky to climb out of.
In addition to being without Morant, the Grizzlies can no longer rely on steady backup point guard Tyus Jones, who was traded in the offseason, and newcomers Marcus Smart and Derrick Rose have been shaky so far. Jones has been the NBA’s perennial leader in assist-to-turnover ratio, but without him and Morant, the Grizzlies rank 26th in that category in the early going and have had trouble generating much offense at all — the club’s 102.9 offensive rating ranks dead last in the NBA.
Adams obviously isn’t the scorer or play-maker that Morant is, but his absence in the frontcourt has been just as deeply felt as Morant’s in the backcourt. Before Adams went down with his knee injury last season, the Grizzlies ranked second in the league in rebounding percentage and offensive rebounding percentage, with Adams leading that effort. However, they were 25th and 22nd in those categories the rest of last season, and are in the bottom half of the league’s rebounders again this fall.
The good news for the Grizzlies is that their stars – Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson – have looked great, and there’s no reason not to expect the same from Morant when he returns in December. But Memphis isn’t getting much from its role players, and the team needs to at least tread water until Morant is back in order to stay in the playoff hunt.
We want to know what you think. After winning over 50 games in each of the past two regular season, are the Grizzlies just off to a slow start this season? Will they turn things around and end up having a strong year? Or is this slow start a harbinger of things to come? Will the Grizzlies end up being the odd man out of the postseason from that group of 11 Western teams with playoff expectations?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts on the Grizzlies.
November 4th, 2023 at 9:27am CST by Tristan Tucker
Rockets rookie guard Amen Thompson sprained his right ankle on Wednesday, with the team ruling him out of the contest shortly after he suffered the injury in the third quarter. According to Ben DuBose of Rockets Wire, head coach Ime Udoka said Thompson suffered a Grade 2 ankle sprain.
Thompson also sustained a Grade 2 left ankle sprain over the summer and that injury had a two-to-four week recovery timetable, according to DuBose, so it’s likely he’s looking at a similar return timeline for this injury.
The No. 4 overall pick is Houston’s primary backup point guard behind Fred VanVleet, so Aaron Holiday absorbed the brunt of Thompson’s minutes following his departure from the game. However, Udoka didn’t turn to Holiday right away, moving Jae’Sean Tate to the backcourt before bringing Holiday in, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle observes (subscriber link). Udoka wasn’t ready to fully commit to the idea of Holiday always being the backup in a three-guard rotation.
“I think we’ll go by committee a little bit,” Udoka said. “I think, the lineup that we had out there, even Amen was out there, we had Jae’Sean as another guy that can initiate, so we do have some guys I can kind of play up or down and fill different roles. We’ll look at it as game-to-game.”
Udoka praised Holiday’s playing ability and said he believed Holiday and VanVleet could play together. Feigen writes that improving the bench play of the Rockets is crucial and playing Holiday may be important to finding a consistent rotation.
“Depending on the team, for sure,” Udoka said. “Teams that have bigger wings, obviously that’ll pose some threats. But Aaron is a guy, similar to his brother, doesn’t have the height of Jrue, but he is a very physical, tough guy that can play on or off the ball. Fred does as well.”
According to Feigen, Udoka said there may be situations where he calls on Reggie Bullock, rookie Cam Whitmore or Tate to fill in some of the backcourt minutes.
Holiday signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Rockets this offseason that has just $1MM guaranteed. If Holiday is on the roster on Jan. 10, that contract will become fully guaranteed.
We have more from the Southwest Division:
Mavericks rookie center Dereck Lively II is a huge part of Dallas’s early season success, averaging 7.6 points and 7.0 rebounds while starting in four of the team’s five games so far. Lively said he’s learned from former Mavs champion Tyson Chandler, who joined the organization via the Mavs Legend Program, according to Marc J. Spears of Andscape. Chandler works with Mavericks centers in his role with the team, including the 19-year-old Lively. “He has a willingness to actually learn, listen and take in information,” Chandler said. “He has a great spirit. He reminds me a lot of myself. I feel the duty to actually be there for him and guide him as much as necessary.”
The Grizzlies are a league-worst 0-6 to begin the season, facing a lengthy suspension to Ja Morant and injuries to key players like Steven Adams. Still, the Grizzlies were expected to be more competitive even with their early season issues, considering they brought in former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart and have current reigning DPOY Jaren Jackson Jr., as well as Desmond Bane. Kelly Iko and John Hollinger of The Athletic dive into why Memphis’ struggles go deeper than suspensions and injuries, including Smart being a step slower on defense thus far and the younger players on the roster not taking a step forward. I recommend checking out the article in full if you have a subscription to The Athletic, as the pair explore the intriguing trade options Memphis has, along with a deeper look into the club’s problems.
Experimenting with starting Jeremy Sochan at point guard has produced a mix bag of results for the Spurs. Even still, head coach Gregg Popovich expressed his appreciation with what the second-year guard/forward brings to the table, as relayed by Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). Popovich said Sochan is “trending in the right direction” and has stood out defensively, adding that he likes how the former lottery pick is “taking care of the ball,” according to Orsborn. “It doesn’t matter who he guards, he does a wonderful job, creates a lot of chaos for us,” Popovich said.