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Ziaire Williams Out 4-To-6 Weeks With Patellar Tendinitis

October 26th, 2022 at 6:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

Grizzlies forward Ziaire Williams will miss another four-to-six weeks due to soreness in his right knee caused by patellar tendinitis, the team announced (via Twitter).

Williams began experiencing pain in his knee in early October, forcing him to miss the final two games of the preseason and the first four games of the regular season. Memphis had been treating him as a day-to-day situation.

Williams is coming off a strong rookie season that saw him start 31 of the 62 games he played while averaging 8.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in 21.7 minutes per night. The 21-year-old was the 10th pick in the 2021 draft.

The Grizzlies had Williams focus on improving his play-making skills during Summer League, notes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Until Williams returns, rookies Jake LaRavia and David Roddy will continue to receive plenty of wing minutes, Cole adds.

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Bucks, Heat Have NBA’s Oldest Rosters; Thunder Youngest

October 26th, 2022 at 11:25am CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks have the NBA’s oldest opening night roster this season, per a 2022/23 roster survey published by the league on Tuesday.

According to the NBA’s data, the average age of a Milwaukee player is 29.47 years old, with 36-year-olds George Hill and Wesley Matthews and 35-year-old Joe Ingles among the veterans contributing to that league-high average. The Heat (average age of 28.13 years old), Suns (28.05), Clippers (27.98), and Mavericks (27.89) have the next-oldest rosters, according to the NBA.

On the other end of the spectrum, no team has a younger roster than the Thunder, whose current group includes just one player older than 27 (Mike Muscala, who is 31). The average age of a Thunder player is just 23.14 years old, putting them ahead of fellow rebuilding teams like the Rockets (23.58), Spurs (23.84), and Magic (23.94). Interestingly, the Grizzlies (24.27) are the league’s fifth-youngest team, despite coming off a 56-win season.

Here are a few other tidbits of note from the NBA’s roster survey for the 2022/23 season:

  • The Bucks and Thunder are also the most and least experienced NBA teams, respectively. The average Milwaukee player has 7.24 years of NBA service, while the average Oklahoma City player has just 1.94. That puts the Bucks comfortably ahead of the Clippers (6.56) and Celtics (5.82), while the Thunder are well behind the Rockets (2.29) and Magic (3.00).
  • Kentucky (27) and Duke (25) have the most players currently in the NBA of any college program. No other school has more than 12 (UCLA).
  • The average NBA player stands at 6-foot-6.74, weighs 217.62 pounds, and is 26.01 years old. The league identifies Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks (6-foot-6.5, 220 pounds, and 26 years old) as the player who most closely resembles the league’s “composite” player in terms of height, weight, and age.
  • There are 13 sets of brothers currently in the NBA, including three Antetokounmpos (Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, and Kostas Antetokounmpo) and three Holidays (Jrue Holiday, Justin Holiday, and Aaron Holiday).
  • The league’s survey also includes some data on the youngest and oldest players, which we previously outlined here.
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Durant Dazzled By Morant's Talent

October 24th, 2022 at 8:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • Grizzlies star Ja Morant poured in 49 points against Houston during the opening week of the season and Nets perennial All-Star Kevin Durant is dazzled by Morant’s talent, ESPN’s Nick Friedell writes. “He’s a unique player. A lot of athleticism and creativity out there,” Durant said. “Body type reminds you of somebody like — well he’s taller than A.I. [Allen Iverson], but a wiry, strong player … but he’s an incredible player, man.”
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Injury Notes: Garland, Embiid, Curry, J. Murray, More

October 21st, 2022 at 8:26pm CST by Rory Maher

Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland, a first-time All-Star last season, has been ruled out of Saturday’s game at Chicago due to his eye injury, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter links). Garland didn’t travel with the team and the “current feeling” is that Garland is “improbable” to play in Cleveland’s home opener on Sunday against Washington, Fedor adds.

Garland suffered a lacerated eyelid when he was inadvertently poked in the eye by Gary Trent Jr. in the second quarter of the Cavs’ 108-105 loss to the Raptors on Wednesday. Fedor reported on Thursday that Garland does not have structural damage and won’t require surgery.

Here are some more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

  • Sixers head coach Doc Rivers says that Joel Embiid‘s conditioning was impacted by plantar fascitiis during the offseason, as Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia relays. “He had a little plantar fasciitis before the season started — before training camp — and that took him off his conditioning program,” Rivers said. “And so he’s back on that. But listen, he’s playing with the right intentions. He just didn’t play well, and that’s OK, too. That’s going to happen. We’ve still got to win those games.” The Sixers dropped their first two games of the season, with Embiid looking pretty sluggish. Rivers reiterated that Embiid is no longer dealing with the injury, but needs to regain his rhythm and conditioning.
  • Guard Seth Curry (offseason ankle surgery) is likely to travel with the Nets for their two-game road trip next week, but “probably” needs more practice time before he returns to action, head coach Steve Nash said on Friday (Twitter link via Brian Lewis of The New York Post).
  • Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, who played his first regular season game on Wednesday since suffering a torn ACL in April 2021, is out for Friday’s game against the Warriors, head coach Michael Malone told reporters (Twitter links via Kendra Andrews of ESPN). According to Andrews, Malone said the Nuggets are resting Murray because Friday is the first of a back-to-back. However, that might not be the case for the entire season, Malone added.
  • No. 4 overall pick Keegan Murray will make his debut on Saturday against the Clippers after being a full participant in Friday’s practice, a source tells ESPN’s Marc J. Spears. Murray was fully cleared by the Kings after exiting the health and safety protocols, Spears writes.
  • Dillon Brooks (left thigh soreness) and Ziaire Williams (right knee soreness) missed their second consecutive games for the Grizzlies on Friday, the team announced (via Twitter). Memphis won its opener against New York and defeated Houston in game two.
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Aldama Impresses In Debut; Morant Aims For MVP Award

October 20th, 2022 at 8:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Santi Aldama delivered a big performance in his first NBA start for the Grizzlies, Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal notes. Filling in for injured Jaren Jackson Jr., the 2021 first round pick supplied 18 points and 11 rebounds in 39 minutes while guarding the Knicks’ Julius Randle. “It was more about knowing his game, knowing his tendencies and being ready to absorb contact,” Aldama said. “It’s not easy, but I think I did a pretty good job overall.”

  • Ja Morant signed a five-year max extension this summer after being named the league’s Most Improved Player. The Grizzlies’ star guard now has the Most Valuable Player in his sights, as he told ESPN’s Malika Andrews on the NBA Today show (Twitter link). “MVP for sure,” he said. “I’m not an individual goal guy but that’s … pretty much everyone’s goal in this league.”
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Examining Grizzlies' Place In West; Danny Green To Appear On ESPN As Analyst

October 19th, 2022 at 10:39am CST by Luke Adams
  • Can the Grizzlies continue to ascend the ranks of the Western Conference’s contenders without making any major roster additions? Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal explores where Memphis stands in the West, noting that the team is coming off another quiet offseason and hasn’t signed an outside veteran free agent since 2019.
  • As he continues to recover from an ACL tear, Grizzlies wing Danny Green will appear on ESPN as an analyst this season, Cole writes in a separate story for The Commercial Appeal. Green, with an eye toward his post-retirement plans, agreed to a deal for 15 TV appearances, according to Cole. “When I’m done playing, it’s something that I always wanted to venture out into,” Green said. “This an opportunity to build a résumé and can get some reps.”
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Update On JJJ; Williams' Status For Opener Uncertain

October 17th, 2022 at 3:16pm CST by Rory Maher
  • Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said the team is hoping to get some 5-on-5 work in for Jaren Jackson Jr. “in the next couple of weeks,” tweets Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Jackson underwent foot surgery at the end of June and will miss the start of the regular season. Jenkins also said second-year wing Ziaire Williams missed practice on Monday with a non-COVID illness in addition to knee soreness, and his status for the season opener is up in the air (Twitter link via Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com).
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Extension Notes: Russell, G. Williams, Clarke, Poole

October 17th, 2022 at 12:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves guard D’Angelo Russell is about to begin the final season of the four-year contract he signed in 2019, and will be eligible to sign an extension anytime up until June 30, 2023, the day before he reaches free agency. However, Brian Windhorst of ESPN and Darren Wolfson of SKOR North and 5 Eyewitness News suggested during the latest episode of Wolfson’s The Scoop podcast that an extension for Russell probably isn’t around the corner.

“I have not heard any discussion of him getting an extension,” Windhorst said, per RealGM.

Wolfson agreed, adding, “I think (Russell’s) representation has reached out to the Wolves, but it doesn’t seem like it’s being reciprocated.”

The Timberwolves already have significant financial commitments to Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert on their books for the next several years, and will likely be signing Anthony Edwards to a lucrative long-term contract next summer, so it makes sense that the team would be unwilling to work out a big new deal with Russell before assessing how all the pieces fit together this season.

Here are a few more extension-related notes from around the NBA:

  • Celtics forward Grant Williams, extension-eligible for a few more hours, recently spoke to Brian Robb of MassLive.com about the possibility of getting a new deal. Williams shared some interesting insights, including explaining why he doesn’t view recently extended power forwards like Larry Nance Jr. and Maxi Kleber as direct comparables. “It’s one of those things like — you look at guys across the league, they maybe play different roles and a different situation,” Williams said. “You bring up Nance Jr. with the Pelicans and he’s probably their ninth or 10th man. They are one of the teams that are on the edge of making a run. Similar to Kleber’s, who is 30. He doesn’t necessarily have the versatility, the guarding — I try my best not to look at those guys. I just feel like you make your own market and understand your value.”
  • Brandon Clarke‘s four-year contract extension with the Grizzlies, reported to be worth $52MM, actually has a base value of $50MM, with $2MM in total incentives ($500K per year), tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic. The deal features four flat annual cap hits of $12.5MM, adds ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).
  • Warriors guard Jordan Poole, who officially signed a four-year, $123MM+ extension on Sunday, told reporters that he “couldn’t stop smiling” when he put pen to paper on his new deal, as Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic writes. Poole didn’t have much to say about his practice altercation with Draymond Green, downplaying the impact he expects the incident to have going forward: “He apologized and we’re professionals. We plan on handling ourselves that way.”
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Grizzlies Sign Brandon Clarke To Four-Year Extension

October 16th, 2022 at 7:52pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

7:52pm: Memphis has issued a press release confirming Clarke’s extension (Twitter link).

5:34pm: The Grizzlies are signing fourth-year forward/center Brandon Clarke to a four-year, $52MM rookie contract extension, Clarke’s agents Mark Bartelstein and Andy Schiffman inform Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian tweets that he anticipates $52MM is the highest possible salary Clarke could earn, implying that various likely and unlikely incentives could be baked into that figure.

Clarke was selected with the No. 21 pick in the 2019 NBA draft out of Gonzaga. Last season, his third in the league, the 26-year-old remained a reliable athletic reserve for the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed.

Across 64 games in 2021/22, Clarke averaged 10.4 PPG while nailing 64.4% of his field goals, along with 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.1 blocks and 0.6 steals in just 19.5 MPG.

Woj notes that Clarke finished within the NBA’s top five players in a variety of pertinent departments: paint points, second-chance points, and offensive boards.

Bobby Marks of ESPN adds (Twitter link) that this new deal, once it kicks in, will be pay Clarke 8.6% of the club’s projected 2023/24 available salary money under the league cap.

Memphis has already signed another of its extension-eligible players, veteran starting center Steven Adams, to a two-year, $25.2MM contract extension earlier this offseason.

A third Grizzlies player, 6’7″ swingman Dillon Brooks, has yet to sign a new deal with the Grizzlies. Should Memphis not reach an agreement with Brooks, his contract will expire in the summer of 2023, when he will reach unrestricted free agency. Brooks is currently set to earn $11.4MM this season.

Clarke is the eighth 2019 first-round pick to agree to a rookie scale extension, as our tracker shows. When our Rory Maher previewed Clarke’s case for an extension last month, he estimated a deal in the range of the four-year, $50MM contract Wendell Carter signed with Orlando a year ago.

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Checking In On Roster Situations Around The NBA

October 16th, 2022 at 8:05am CST by Luke Adams

As expected, the majority of the NBA teams made their roster cuts on Saturday and didn’t wait until Monday’s deadline to set their regular season rosters.

Making those moves on Saturday will ensure the players on non-guaranteed contracts clear waivers on Monday, before the regular season begins. If a team had waited until Monday to waive a player on a non-guaranteed deal, he wouldn’t clear waivers until Wednesday, and the team would be on the hook for two days’ worth of his salary.

After yesterday’s flurry of roster moves, here’s where things stand around the NBA…

Teams whose rosters are within the regular season limits

Of the NBA’s 30 teams, 26 have rosters that comply with the league’s regular season roster limits, which state that clubs can’t carry more than 15 players on standard contracts or two on two-way contracts.

The following 16 teams are right at the limit, carrying 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-ways:

  • Boston Celtics
  • Brooklyn Nets
  • Chicago Bulls
  • Denver Nuggets
  • Indiana Pacers
  • Los Angeles Lakers
  • Memphis Grizzlies
  • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Minnesota Timberwolves
  • New York Knicks
  • Orlando Magic
  • Philadelphia 76ers
  • Sacramento Kings
  • Toronto Raptors
  • Utah Jazz
  • Washington Wizards

Just because these rosters look ready for the regular season doesn’t mean they’re fully locked in. In fact, it would be a surprise if at least one or two of these teams don’t make minor tweaks before Monday’s regular season roster deadline. That could be as simple as swapping out one two-way player for another.

The Sixers are one team to watch, since Michael Foster Jr. – who is on an Exhibit 10 contract – remains on the roster. It’s possible Philadelphia intends to convert him to a two-way deal on Sunday or Monday, which would mean the club would have to waive one of its current two-way players (Charlie Brown Jr. or Julian Champagnie).

The following seven teams are carrying 14 players on standard contracts and two on two-ways:

  • Atlanta Hawks
  • Charlotte Hornets
  • Dallas Mavericks
  • Golden State Warriors
  • Los Angeles Clippers
  • Miami Heat
  • Phoenix Suns

The majority of these teams have luxury tax concerns and will open the season with an open roster spot to keep their projected tax bill in check, though that’s not the case for all of them.

The Hornets are well clear of the tax, for instance, and could comfortably make a roster addition if they want to. They may also be leaving a spot open for Miles Bridges, though his NBA future is up in the air due to his legal situation.The Mavericks, meanwhile, are in the tax but are still expected to sign veteran guard Facundo Campazzo before the regular season begins.

We’ve covered 23 teams so far. That leaves three more who are in within the regular season limits. Those teams are as follows:

  • Cleveland Cavaliers: 14 players on standard contracts and one on a two-way deal.
  • New Orleans Pelicans: 15 players on standard contracts and one on a two-way deal.
  • Portland Trail Blazers: 14 players on standard contracts and one on a two-way deal.

The Trail Blazers are right up against the tax line and will likely keep their 15th spot open to start the season, but the Cavaliers could add a 15th man if they so choose. All three teams could be keeping an eye on players who were waived in recent days as they mull how to fill their open two-way slots.

It’s worth mentioning that the Pelicans still haven’t signed second-round pick E.J. Liddell, who suffered a torn ACL during Summer League play. I suspect New Orleans wants Liddell to sign a G League contract and rehab with the Birmingham Squadron this season so that the team can use its second two-way slot on someone who can actually contribute on the court, but it remains possible that Liddell could fill that two-way opening.

Teams that still have moves to make before Monday’s deadline

The following teams haven’t yet made their necessary cuts to get within the regular season roster limits:

Detroit Pistons: 16 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.

The final cut will be pretty simple for the Pistons. They still haven’t officially waived Kemba Walker, but they’re expected to do so before the start of the season. Because Walker’s salary is fully guaranteed, Detroit can afford to wait until Monday instead of waiving him on Saturday, since there will be no additional financial penalty.

Houston Rockets: 17 players on standard contracts and one on a two-way deal.

The Rockets‘ final moves also looks pretty straightforward. Derrick Favors, who has a guaranteed salary, and Darius Days, who is on an Exhibit 10 contract, remain on the team’s roster for now. Favors will reportedly be waived on or before Monday. The deadline to convert players from Exhibit 10 deals to two-way contracts is Monday, so if Houston converts Days to a two-way today or tomorrow, the club will be set for the season.

Oklahoma City Thunder: 17 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.

The Thunder will actually have to waive three players, not just two, because they’re also reportedly signing Isaiah Joe to their 15-man roster. David Nwaba is reportedly one of the players being cut, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the other two are also players the Thunder acquired from Houston last month: Trey Burke and Marquese Chriss.

San Antonio Spurs: 16 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.

The Spurs will have to waive one player to get to the 15-man limit. Keita Bates-Diop and Tre Jones don’t have fully guaranteed salaries, but the fact that San Antonio didn’t finalize its cuts on Saturday suggests that a player with a guaranteed contract will be the odd man out. Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News reported on Saturday that Joe Wieskamp and Romeo Langford are “on the bubble.”

Reported Exhibit 10 signings that never materialized

There are a handful of free agent contract agreements that were reported at some point during the offseason and, as far as we can tell, never actually materialized. Those agreements are as follows:

These players and teams could still technically finalize these deals on Sunday or Monday, but it’s also very possible they simply fell through for one reason or another. For instance, reporting in September indicated that Montero’s buyout from his Spanish team might be an issue.

We’re no longer assuming that these signings going to happen.

Hoops Rumors’ roster resources

We consistently maintain and update a number of lists and trackers that are designed to help you keep tabs on NBA rosters. They’re all up to date following Saturday’s cuts. Those resources, which can be found on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site or on the “Features” page within our mobile menu, include the following:

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