Heat Rumors

Heat Notes: Butler, Trade Rumors, Herro, Richardson

December 11th, 2024 at 12:50pm CST by Luke Adams

ESPN’s Tuesday report stating that the Heat are open to offers on Jimmy Butler and might make a deal if the price is right has resulted in plenty of chatter among NBA fans and observers, but head coach Erik Spoelstra and Butler have since downplayed the report in comments to the media.

As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel relays, Spoelstra told reporters on Tuesday that he “didn’t mention anything” about ESPN’s story to his team. The Heat coach also pointed out that trade rumors surrounding another Heat player – Tyler Herro – in recent years haven’t amounted to anything and added that the team has been playing some of its best basketball as of late.

“I think the biggest message is that fact that we’re 3-0 right now, this past week, and the player that was rumored in so many trades and speculations the last three years — it seemed like every week — that player is still here and is Player of the Week,” Spoelstra said. “So that’s really the only thing I’m thinking about. … Anything else, any other narrative, I don’t care. Nobody should, because most of this stuff has just been all like a bunch of gibberish.”

Butler wasn’t available to reporters on Tuesday, but addressed the rumors on Wednesday following the Heat’s practice at Kaseya Center, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Butler said the trade speculation “doesn’t bother me one bit” — in fact, he appreciates it.

“I actually like it,” Butler said. “It’s good to be talked about. I don’t think there’s such a thing as bad publicity to a point. But if somebody is talking about me getting traded, that’s a lot.”

Here’s more on Butler and the Heat:

Chiang and Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald provide some additional context on the report about Butler’s availability, writing that the star forward hasn’t asked for a trade and the Heat aren’t shopping him — they’re just willing to listen. According to Chiang and Jackson, due to the lack of contenders with projected 2025 cap room, the Heat aren’t all that concerned about the possibility of losing Butler in free agency next summer if he remains in Miami for the rest of the season.
While there have been reports in recent months indicating that Butler has stayed committed to the Heat, he didn’t offer a concrete answer on Wednesday when asked if he still hopes to stick with the club for the rest of this career, Chiang notes. “I don’t know,” Butler said. “I’m pretty sure y’all are going to get a report that’s going to say otherwise anyways. So there’s no sense in me answering that question.”
Columnist Greg Cote of The Miami Herald lays out the case for why the Heat should move on from Butler this season if they get a solid offer for him.
It has been Herro, not Butler, who has been the Heat’s leading scorer so far this season, putting up a career-high 24.2 points per game with an impressive .477/.422/.872 shooting line. As Chiang writes in another story for The Miami Herald, Herro is starting to generate some All-Star buzz and said he’d “love” to be selected for the game. “That’s been my goal since I came into the league,” Herro said. “We’ll see. I got to get votes. I’m definitely worthy though.”
Heat guard Josh Richardson received an injection in his heel and will be sidelined for the next week, tweets Winderman. Richardson hasn’t seen any action since November 18 — he has been listed as available for the majority of Miami’s past nine games, but has continually showed up on the injury report due to right heel soreness and irritation.

GM Rafael Stone: Rockets Not Looking To Make Big In-Season Trade

December 11th, 2024 at 7:48am CST by Luke Adams

With the Heat said to be open to listening to inquiries on star forward Jimmy Butler, the Rockets have been identified multiple times as a possible landing spot for the Houston native. However, while Rafael Stone couldn’t address Butler specifically, the Rockets general manager made it clear during a SiriusXM NBA Radio appearance on Tuesday that he doesn’t plan to pursue a star on the trade market this season (Twitter audio link).

“Of course, my job is to be open to everything, so I’m not going to not do my job,” Stone said. “(But) we like this team. We definitely do not intend to change anything and I would be shocked if something changes this season.

“We like where we’re at. We want to continue to develop our guys, full stop. Will I listen to other teams? Of course I will, that’s my job. But again, there’s no part of me, there’s no part of our decision-making process that suggests that we’re looking to do anything big now or in the near term.

“We definitely want this group to be as good as it can be this year and then we’ll evaluate things at the end of the year. But the hope is very much that this core group can lead us to where we want to go and that – from a transactional perspective – we’re largely done.”

That messaging isn’t new. Reporting from both The Athletic and ESPN in recent weeks indicated the Rockets are spreading the word that they’re not interested in breaking up their core this season. Stone is now expressing that sentiment publicly and even taking it a step further, suggesting that Houston’s belief in its current roster is so strong that the team won’t be looking to shake up the roster even after this season.

Whether Stone and the Rockets stick that stance remains to be seen. It will depend in part on how the rest of the 2024/25 campaign plays out and how the club’s young players continue to develop.

Of course, Stone’s comments and the Rockets’ position could also be a negotiating tactic. That was one point that ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst made during their discussion about Houston’s plans on an episode of the Hoop Collective podcast last week.

“This is exactly what you do when you have 19 interesting trade assets, all these draft picks and all these young guys,” Bontemps said at the time. “You say, ‘Hey, every good thing we’ve got, we’re not sure we’re going to do anything with any of those.’ And then you start to negotiate.”

The 16-8 Rockets, the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, are loaded with valuable trade chips – including players and future draft picks – and are well equipped to make a major deal if the right player is available. Seven players on the roster were first-round picks in the past four drafts and are 23 or younger. Houston also controls an extra first-round pick and draft swap rights in both 2027 and 2029.

Heat Open To Listening To Offers For Jimmy Butler

December 10th, 2024 at 8:25am CST by Luke Adams

The Heat are open to listening to trade inquiries on star forward Jimmy Butler and making a deal if they get an offer they like, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Insider link).

Reporting in the wake of Miami’s elimination from the 2024 playoffs indicated that Butler would be seeking a maximum-salary extension during the offseason. Asked about that possibility during his end-of-season press conference, president of basketball operations Pat Riley expressed reluctance to make that sort of financial investment in a player “unless you have someone who is going to be available every night,” a reference to Butler’s injury issues in recent seasons.

Butler subsequently decided to put off extension discussions and remain with the Heat rather than pushing for a trade.

As Charania writes, the 35-year-old still has a strong affinity for Miami and has been professional throughout this season, but with the Heat having hovered around play-in territory for the last couple years and Butler potentially reaching free agency at season’s end, the front office has been “open-minded” about trade inquires.

According to Charania, Butler’s agent Bernie Lee has made it clear in league circles that Butler would be open to destinations like the Rockets, Mavericks, and Warriors. While Butler is a Texas native, his top priority in the event of a trade is believed to be joining a team capable of contending for a championship.

Teams, including the Heat, have been informed that Butler intends to turn down his $52.4MM player option for the 2025/26 season in order to become a free agent next summer, sources tell ESPN. Still, given that few teams project to have significant cap room in 2025, the club that has Butler on its roster at the end of the season would likely be the favorite to re-sign him, since that club would hold his Bird rights.

Butler has missed five games for health reasons so far this season, but has been effective in his 17 outings, averaging 19.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in 32.1 minutes per game, with a .557/.360/.787 shooting line. The Heat have gone 10-7 in the games he has played and have a record of 2-3 when he’s been out.

Eastern Notes: Ball, Mobley, Heat, K. Johnson

December 9th, 2024 at 4:54pm CST by Luke Adams

There was some skepticism coming into the season about whether Lonzo Ball would be healthy enough to play – and what sort of impact he’d have – for the Bulls after being sidelined due to knee issues for two-and-a-half years. Ball has only appeared in eight of 25 games, but his multi-week absence was the result of a new wrist injury rather than his surgically repaired knee, which the Bulls guard says has held up just fine so far, as Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times relays.

“To be honest, I’m a lot better than I thought I was going to be, early on for sure,” Ball said, referring to both his knee and his defense. “There’s still some mishaps, definitely on the ball sometimes. But for the most part I feel comfortable out there. I feel like I haven’t really missed a beat, so I just try and give good minutes when I’m out there.”

As Cowley writes, the positive effect that Ball has on Chicago’s lineup has been apparent even in his limited playing time. The club has a +6.5 net rating in his 134 minutes on the court; the team’s net rating is just -5.4 in the 1,066 minutes he hasn’t played. That’s easily the biggest on/off-court disparity among Bulls players who have logged at least 100 minutes.

According to head coach Billy Donovan, Ball’s minutes restriction was recently increased to 20 minutes per game (Twitter link via Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune). As long as he remains healthy, that limit should continue to increase.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

The ankle injury Evan Mobley suffered in Sunday’s loss to the Heat isn’t considered serious, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required), who notes that the Cavaliers big man told reporters after the game he was “good.” The Cavs play just one game in the next week, giving Mobley some time to heal, which is good news, since it was evident in the second half on Sunday how much they need him on defense. “He is one of the top five defensive players in the league,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “You lose a guy like that and we had to play some small ball with Dean (Wade) at the five. He was fine, but they just took it to us. We had some spurts because of our talent. But not good enough.”
Sunday’s game was another good one for the Heat‘s current starting lineup of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, and Haywood Highsmith. As Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald observes, substituting Robinson and Highsmith in place of Terry Rozier and Nikola Jovic has made a huge different for the team — the new-look starting five has a net rating of +20.8 in 118 minutes together, whereas the old group was -20.8 in 91 minutes. “We got a lot of firepower,” Herro said of the current starting five. “Duncan brings a different element to the lineup. He’s able to create so many different advantages, which has opened up the court for me, Bam and Jimmy. Having Haywood out there as a defensive presence, you don’t have to put me or Duncan on one of the best players. It makes sense.”
It was an eventful week for Heat two-way rookie Keshad Johnson, who made his NBA debut last Monday and was named the G League Player of the Week last Tuesday, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. While Johnson has only made two brief appearances for Miami at the NBA level, the team loves the way the forward has impacted winning with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, according to Erik Spoelstra. “He’s done some dynamic things in terms of his scoring, getting to the rim, his three-point spacing has improved,” the Heat coach said. “Defensively, he’s played a lot of dynamic small ball five. He’s been able to switch and guard different kinds of guys. All of that has been good for his development.”

Luka Doncic, Tyler Herro Named Players Of The Week

December 9th, 2024 at 2:42pm CST by Luke Adams

Mavericks guard Luka Doncic has been named the Western Conference Player of the Week, while Heat guard Tyler Herro has earned the honor in the Eastern Conference, the NBA announced today (Twitter link).

Doncic, who recently returned from a wrist injury, led the Mavericks to a 3-0 record during the week of December 2-8, putting up 29.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game in wins over Memphis, Washington, and Toronto. He made 14-of-32 three-pointers during those three victories, good for a 43.8% rate.

As for Herro, his week began with a resounding 19-point loss to the defending champions in Boston last Monday, but he and the Heat bounced back in impressive fashion, outscoring the Lakers, Suns, and Cavaliers by a combined 60 points (including a 41-point blowout of L.A.) to finish the week with a 3-1 record.

Herro averaged 25.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in 33.0 minutes per game across those four contests, posting an excellent shooting line of .507/.436/.875. It’s the first time in his six-year NBA career that he has won a Player of the Week award, whereas it’s Doncic’s 14th such honor.

Anthony Edwards, Nikola Jokic, Domantas Sabonis, and Thunder teammates Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams were also nominated for the Western Conference Player of the Week award, per the league (Twitter link). In the East, Herro beat out fellow nominees Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jaylen Brown, Brandon Miller, Evan Mobley, Nikola Vucevic, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey.

Heat Notes: Smith, Bryant, Love, Rozier

December 9th, 2024 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Dru Smith was still recovering from an ACL injury when the Heat signed him to a two-way contract in July, and the third-year shooting guard is rewarding their faith in him, writes Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel. Smith was nine games into last season when he hurt his knee on a fall off the courtside ledge in Cleveland. He was dropped from the roster so the Heat could add veteran help, but he remained in the team’s future plans.

Smith scored 11 points in the fourth quarter Sunday as Miami topped the East-leading Cavaliers. He admitted there was some satisfaction in having a big night against the team he was facing when his season ended so abruptly.

“I think it was definitely full circle,” he said. “I think despite whatever it was, it was just nice to have those moments. I don’t have any hard feelings toward the team or the organization.”

Winderman notes that Smith still wears a brace on his right knee and a sleeve to protect the leg, but otherwise there are no indications of the severe injury he suffered a little more than a year ago. He has become a recent fixture in the Heat’s rotation, playing 25:38 on Sunday after logging a career-high 29:19 on Saturday and being on the court for the entire fourth quarter in both games.

“The ball finds energy,” he said, “so just continuing to try to play hard and just make the right play, and eventually things work out.”

There’s more from Miami:

Thomas Bryant discussed several topics in an interview with Cyro Asseo de Choch of HoopsHype, including the possibility of being traded after re-signing with the Heat on a one-year, minimum-salary contract. “You deal with that throughout the NBA, man,” Bryant said. “So it’s a business. You can’t take anything personal. And for me, I’ve never looked at a team to be like, I wanna be traded from here, this or that. No, I look at it as this is who I’m with. This is the guys that I’m trying to build with and build the chemistry and win games with. So I never go into the season thinking that mindset.”
Bryant played ahead of Kevin Love as the Heat’s primary backup center in the second half of Sunday’s game, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Coach Erik Spoelstra explained that it was a situational decision after Cleveland outscored Miami by 11 points in Love’s 4:50 on the court. “The way they were shifting us and moving us around, it’s not an indictment on K-Love at all,” Spoelstra said. “It’s just what they do for this particular night was kind of getting us scrambled. So we went a different way, and TB gave us a spark. We were able to stabilize.”
Terry Rozier was more aggressive about looking for his shot in his new role off the bench, Chiang adds. Rozier put up nine shots in the first half on Sunday, and then five more after halftime. “All my coaches and all my teammates always just remind me to be who I am and telling me to attack and be myself,” he said. “I just got to do that every night.”

And-Ones: Team USA, Practice Facility, Trade Deadline, Panic Meter

December 7th, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

With Steve Kerr not expected to return as Team USA’s head coach for the upcoming international basketball cycle that includes the 2027 FIBA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, USA Basketball and managing director Grant Hill will be tasked with selecting Kerr’s successor.

According to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Hill has yet to begin the process of selecting the next U.S. head coach and is unlikely to name Kerr’s replacement anytime soon, since it would create several years of “unnecessary pressure” on that individual leading up to the 2027 and 2028 events, a source tells Vardon.

Still, it looks like there are two obvious frontrunners for the job, Vardon says, identifying Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue as the most logical candidates. Outside of their NBA résumés, which include championships, Spoelstra and Lue were the top assistants on Kerr’s staff in Paris during the 2024 Olympics. Both men indicated they’d be honored to be selected for the role, Vardon writes.

“I’d be willing to do anything for USA Basketball,” Spoelstra said. “That’s how it should be for anybody, for players and for staff members, if you’re asked. It’s such an honor and such a life experience, so you just do it. You don’t want to miss out on those experiences. And I would do any role.”

“Yeah, it sounds amazing,” Lue added. “To be the Olympic head coach in this building (the Clippers’ Intuit Dome), of course, everybody would look at that as a cool opportunity, but there’s a lot that goes into it. To be chosen to do that is an honor and a blessing, but it’s not something I’m hanging my hat on because it’s two years away and Spo was involved in USA Basketball before I even got here.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

There has been a clear trend over the last decade of NBA teams seeking a competitive edge by building new, state-of-the-art practice facilities, with 20 of the league’s 30 clubs opening new facilities since 2014, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Robbins explores the “unrelenting contest of innovation and one-upmanship” involved in the “arms race,” with teams across the league looking to create advantages in the way they look after players and recruit free agents. “I would say if the standard of the facility is high-end, the players better be too,” Magic big man Moritz Wagner said when asked if a new practice facility can help a team win games. “I do think that the players feel that. I mean, there’s no excuse, right? There’s no excuse not to work every day when you have a place like that.”
How should the NBA’s 30 teams approach this season’s trade deadline? Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report digs into that topic, making a case for whether each club should buy, sell, or hold — or, in some cases, a combination of more than one. For instance, Pincus advocates for the Hawks, Spurs, Raptors, and Hornets to pursue “opportunistic improvement” rather than purely selling.
Law Murray of The Athletic rates a handful of teams on the “panic meter,” explaining that he thinks the Pacers and Pelicans have more reason to panic than the Lakers because L.A. has finished in play-in territory in each of the past two seasons and shouldn’t realistically expect to be much better than they’ve been so far this fall.

Southeast Notes: Harris, Isaac, M. Wagner, Miller, Jovic

December 6th, 2024 at 11:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Magic wing Gary Harris, a regular part of the team’s rotation when healthy, missed a sixth consecutive game on Friday vs. Philadelphia due to a left hamstring strain. According to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link), head coach Jamahl Mosley said that Harris is making progress and is “responding to treatment pretty well,” but it’s unclear when he’ll be ready to return.

The Magic were down another key reserve on Friday, with Jonathan Isaac ruled out due to a sore right hamstring after being added to the injury report just a few hours before tip-off. Mosley said following the Magic’s loss that Isaac will be evaluated further on Saturday, but suggested the issue isn’t a serious one, adding, “I think he’s fine” (Twitter link via Beede).

Let’s round up a few more notes from around the Southeast…

Philip Rossman-Reich of Orlando Magic Daily makes the case that reserve Magic center Moritz Wagner should be considered a serious candidate in the Sixth Man of the Year race. Wagner is averaging 12.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in 25 outings and Rossman-Reich contends that the big man’s Orlando teammates feed off his energy and physical play.
Decimated by injuries this fall, the Hornets have lost seven games in a row to fall to 6-16, but the play of second-year forward Brandon Miller has been a bright spot, writes Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. After finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting last season, Miller has increased his points (21.7), rebounds (5.2), assists (3.5), and steals (1.3) per game so far in 2024/25. “He’s a guy that I’m just really happy for,” head coach Charles Lee said. “He’s had to shoulder a bigger responsibility with a lot of the injuries going on right now. You can see that teams are throwing multiple high-level defenders at him. They are bringing an extra level of physicality, they are showing different coverages. They’re switching him sometimes, they’re blitzing him sometimes. And I also think outside of his play is his overall leadership and demeanor is just improving game by game, and he’s just maturing in such a great way.”
After opening this season as the Heat‘s starting power forward, Nikola Jovic hasn’t played in any of the team’s past six games despite being available for four of them. Jovic admitted that it’s “frustrating” to see his playing time dry up, but said he’s determined to regain the trust of the Heat’s coaching staff, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I know I’m good enough. I know I’m a good player,” Jovic said. “I don’t think it’s that. It’s the style of basketball play, the things that coach (Erik Spoelstra) wants from certain lineups, it’s just something that, I guess, I’m not fitting right now. That’s why I got to work on those things and get back. I’m really not questioning how good I am now.”

Southeast Notes: Ware, Butler, Heat, Bagley, Brogdon, Da Silva

December 5th, 2024 at 10:59pm CST by Tristan Tucker

The Heat are giving No. 15 overall pick Kel’el Ware an opportunity for playing time by having sent him to the G League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce. The big man made his G League debut on Thursday, securing 17 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks and two steals in a win. Instead of having him bounce back and forth between the developmental team and Miami, the Heat are hoping to have Ware play in three-game stints for Sioux Falls, according to The Athletic’s James Jackson.

According to Jackson, the Heat are impressed by Ware’s progress and his mental fortitude as he develops and learns the system. The Heat are seeing success with two-big lineups featuring Bam Adebayo and Kevin Love, so there’s no rush to force the rookie into unfamiliar situations. He has gotten some minutes against the likes of Nikola Jokic, but his spot in the rotation has been inconsistent.

“It’s all valuable, even when he’s with us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But the next logical thing is trying to get him some time — get him some game minutes and see how he can impact winning. But I’m encouraged by the work he’s been putting in.”

The Heat remain confident Ware will become a rotation regular at some point, even if doesn’t happen this season, Jackson writes.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

After missing Monday’s game to the Celtics due to knee soreness, Jimmy Butler returned for the Heat on Wednesday to help lead them to victory. According to the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang, Butler looked sharp in the victory, filling up the stat sheet in a blowout win over the Lakers. “He passed all the protocols, he wants to be out there, we want to get him out there and the trainers felt that he made enough progress the last two days,” Spoelstra said of getting Butler back on Wednesday. “While we were still in Boston, he was around the clock in the training room doing as much treatment as he possibly could.“
At 10-10, the Heat have had a middling season so far. They were blown out on Monday by Boston but dominated Los Angeles on Wednesday. They set franchise records in assists (42) and tied for most threes in a game (24) in the win over the Lakers. Even through consistency questions, the Heat’s identity is coming to light, Chiang writes in a separate piece. Leaning on their defensive strengths and playing through Butler are two major tenets for Miami, as in most recent seasons.
The Wizards are 2-18 this season, leaving head coach Brian Keefe searching for answers to help make the team more competitive. The team moved Marvin Bagley into the starting lineup on Thursday (Twitter link). Bagley finished with a team-high 16 points in a blowout loss, while Jonas Valanciunas played a season-low 13 minutes off the bench.
Wizards guard Malcolm Brogdon, who has started all but one of his nine appearances this season, exited Thursday’s game with hamstring tightness and didn’t return (Twitter link). Brogdon is averaging 13.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 51.3% from the field this season. The Wizards next play a back-to-back at home against the Nuggets on Saturday and Grizzlies on Sunday. Their 16th straight loss on Thursday matched a franchise record.
Tristan Da Silva continues to play a pivotal role on the 16-8 Magic, filling in as a part-time starter while Paolo Banchero is out. Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel writes in a subscriber-only story that Da Silva’s play is drawing praise from up and down the organization. This year’s 18th overall pick is averaging 7.5 points and 3.7 assists per game while starting in 14 of his 20 appearances.

Southeast Notes: Daniels, Ware, Wizards, Williams

December 4th, 2024 at 10:17pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, acquired as part of Atlanta’s blockbuster trade that shipped Dejounte Murray to the Pelicans, put the defensive clamps on Murray during the former Hawk’s first game against his old team, writes Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Murray was limited to shooting just 2-of-15 from the field against the Hawks on Monday, while Daniels notched 19 points on 50% field goal shooting.

Murray was the subject of frequent boos from the Atlanta home crowd, and couldn’t get much offense cooking against Daniels. Daniels has emerged as the defense-first backcourt partner for Trae Young that the Hawks had hoped Murray would be when they first acquired him from the Spurs in 2022.

The 21-year-old Daniels is in the third season of his rookie-scale deal, and seems to be fitting in nicely with his new squad. So far this year, the 6’8″ guard is averaging a career-best 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 3.0 assists per night.

There’s more out of the Southeast Division:

The Heat sent rookie center Kel’el Ware to their G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, this week for the first time this season, reports Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Ware has played a grand total of 69 minutes across Miami’s first 20 contests this year, so his stint with the Skyforce will give him a chance for increased reps. The seven-footer was selected with the No. 15 pick out of Indiana.
The Wizards‘ epic losing streak has reached 15 games, approaching the team’s franchise record, writes Varun Shankar of The Washington Post. Washington tied that record, 16 straight defeats, just last season. The Wizards could potentially match or even break that tally in the coming days. Washington next plays Dallas (Thursday), Denver (Saturday), and Memphis (Sunday), all Western Conference squads with winning records.
Hornets center Mark Williams suited up for his first game in almost a year, a 110-104 loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday. Williams had been sidelined with a lingering strained tendon in his left foot this fall after missing most of last season due to a back issue. Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer writes that the big moment signified a positive step forward for the young center. Notching just nine minutes of action, the seven-foot big man scored four points on 1-of-4 shooting from the floor and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line. He also pulled down three rebounds and blocked one shot.

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