- In a Hoop Collective segment earlier this week (video link), ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said he doesn’t get the sense that Heat guard Victor Oladipo (left knee tendinosis) is “anywhere close” to returning to action. “They haven’t put a timetable on it, but I was kind of led to believe it ain’t happening in the near future,” Windhorst said. Jimmy Butler also missed a second consecutive game on Friday for the Heat due to left hip tightness.
The Heat stumbled a little out of the gate this season, losing five of their first seven games, including three of four at home. However, star swingman Jimmy Butler was unfazed by the team’s slow start, as he told Sam Amick of The Athletic.
“We’re still going to win the championship, and I don’t care what nobody says,” Butler said before the Heat beat Golden State on Tuesday. “Count us out. We’re going to win the f—ing championship. I’m telling you. I don’t give a damn that we started 2-5.”
While the Heat didn’t have much roster turnover this offseason, Butler said the team is still “different” this year, with P.J. Tucker gone and several players taking on new roles. According to Butler, some “growing pains” are to be expected.
“Y’all will look back at this, and be like, oh man, they started 2-5 and they ended the season f—ing 77-5,” he joked.
The Heat are 2-0 since Butler spoke to Amick, beating Sacramento on Wednesday without him in the lineup — he sat out due to left hip tightness.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Hawks star Trae Young was scratched in the left eye during Wednesday’s win over New York, but doesn’t think he’ll miss any time due to the injury, as Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays. “I think I’ll be able to play through it,” Young said, noting that Atlanta doesn’t play again until Saturday. “It’s more just letting the swelling go down. … I’ll probably have to wear goggles or glasses for some games, but it’ll be all right.”
- With Young banged up, Dejounte Murray enjoyed his best game since joining the Hawks, racking up 36 points, nine assists, and five steals in a 13-point win. As Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, Murray has been emerging as one of the team’s leaders despite having only played eight games with Atlanta so far.
- In an appearance on teammate R.J. Hampton‘s podcast, Magic rookie forward Paolo Banchero said that he intends to represent Italy in international competitions, according to Orazio Cauchi of BasketNews.com. Banchero wasn’t born or raised in Italy, but is of Italian descent on his father’s side. “I’m planning to play for the Italian national team, I’m not sure when,” Banchero said. “I haven’t been out there yet, but man, the amount of love I’m getting from there it’s crazy, man. It’s crazy. I can’t wait to go to Italy.”
- It came as a bit of a surprise when the Magic re-signed Bol Bol to a two-year contract with a guaranteed 2022/23 salary after acquiring him in what seemed to be a salary-dump deal at last season’s deadline, but the oft-injured big man has been playing and producing so far this season. Nekias Duncan of BasketballNews.com celebrates that fact and takes a closer look at the role Bol is playing in Orlando.
Jimmy Butler has been ruled out for Wednesday’s game vs. Sacramento due to hip tightness, the Heat announced (via Twitter). It will be Butler’s first missed game of the 2022/23 season after being sidelined for 25 contests last season.
The injury doesn’t sound very serious and the Heat are likely just being cautious with their star forward on the second night of a back-to-back, with Butler helping lead a comeback victory over the Warriors on Tuesday. The 33-year-old is averaging 21.5 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 5.5 APG and 1.5 SPG on .470/.391/.873 shooting through eight games (35.5 MPG) for the 3-5 Heat.
Here are some more injury-related notes from around the NBA:
- Anthony Davis is determined to play through his lingering lower back pain, writes Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group. Davis was clearly wincing at various moments during the Lakers‘ first win of the season against Denver on Sunday, and head coach Darvin Ham said he asked the star big man if he needed to leave the game. “I gestured, ‘Do you need a break?’ And he was like, ‘Nah.’ He waved me off,” Ham said. “He wants to dispel that myth that he’s never available. He’s had some unfortunate injuries over the last couple of years, but I can tell you right now, man, he’s been nothing short of monstrous since I’ve shown up.” Davis will play Wednesday against the Pelicans after previously being listed as questionable, sources tell Chris Haynes of TNT (Twitter link). Ham confirmed the news to reporters, Goon tweets.
- Like Davis, Raptors guard Fred VanVleet is also dealing with lower back soreness, and will miss his second consecutive game on Wednesday vs. the Spurs. On the positive side for the Raptors, free agent addition Otto Porter is available for the first time this season after dealing with a hamstring injury and then being away from the team for the birth of his daughter (Twitter links via Josh Lewenberg and Kayla Grey of TSN Sports).
- Second-year guard Quentin Grimes, who has been sidelined with a sore left foot to open 2022/23, is available to make his regular season debut for Wednesday’s against the Hawks, the Knicks announced (via Twitter). Head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters that Grimes wouldn’t have a minutes restriction, but said his use would be “situational” while he attempts to rebuild his conditioning after appearing in just one preseason game (Twitter links via Fred Katz of The Athletic and Ian Begley of SNY.tv). New York leads Atlanta 65-57 at halftime, but Grimes has yet to play.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra believes the team will soon solve its offensive issues after losing five of its first seven games, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. The fact that they play six of the next seven games at home should help the Heat fix their problems.
“We’re closer than we are further away from it,” Spoelstra said. “But when you add losses to it, sometimes it can feel like you’re far away. But we’re not that far away.”
We have more on the Heat:
- The issue regarding Tyler Herro is not whether he’s worthy of a starting role but rather if he’s better off as a sixth man, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel opines. What the Heat have gotten so far from Herro is a player still finding his way in that role. Herro is averaging 19.9 points and 2.9 assists in seven starts, compared to 20.7 points and 4.0 assists last season while playing the same number of minutes.
- Trading Kyle Lowry and Duncan Robinson to the Lakers for Russell Westbrook wouldn’t make any sense, given that the franchise is always focused on going deep in the playoffs, Winderman writes in a separate story. While Westbrook’s $47MM contract would come off the books next summer, that would only ease luxury tax concerns rather than opening up significant cap space.
- Max Strus is headed for free agency next offseason and he’ll get a huge bump in salary wherever he winds up. A mid-level taxpayer deal is a likely scenario, according to an executive interviewed by Heavy.com’s Sean Deveney. Strus says he’s not sweating the details. “If you get caught up in that stuff, it affects your play so I try not to think about it. I just do my best and put myself in a position for good things to happen,” he said.
The Heat are happy that KZ Okpala has found a new home in Sacramento, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes.
Okpala was traded by Miami to Oklahoma City last season. The Thunder then waived him. Okpala signed with the Kings in September and earned a spot on the regular season roster.
“We’re rooting for him,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “because he really put in a lot of time with us and we saw improvement, and that’s a tough thing to do in this league is to carve out a niche, where you can see a vision of where you can make an impact. You also have to have the right fit and a coaching staff that values what you bring, and that’s clearly what he has there with (Mike Brown).”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Could the Lakers’ win over Denver on Sunday be a turning point for the season? First-year coach Darvin Ham certainly hopes so, Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes. “We needed to prove something to ourselves,” Ham said. “Not to the world. Not to the media. We had to prove it to ourselves — and I felt great about how we responded.”
- The Clippers enter their game against Houston on Monday with a 2-4 record. They were very displeased with their effort in a 21-point loss to New Orleans in their previous game, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “Right now, I think we are just showing up,” forward Marcus Morris said. “And thinking we can win because of the talent we have, because of all the things we have on this team. That’s just not the case.”
- Jae Crowder remains away from the Suns as the veteran forward awaits a trade. Crowder posted a hopeful message on his Twitter page that the situation will be resolved soon. “YEA NO WORRIES STAY PATIENT COMING SOON I PROMISE!” he wrote.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is frustrated by what he has seen from his players during their 2-5 start, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. After finishing with the best record in the East last season, Miami has been plagued by lax defense and poor shot selection, both of which were on display as the team was outscored 71-49 in the first half Saturday by the previously winless Kings.
“Right now, this is about the collective group, how are we going to impact this thing together to impact winning,” Spoelstra said. “If we try to do it any other way, it’s going to lead to an incredible amount of frustration. Anybody that is trying to do it on their own or anybody that is trying to self will it or anybody trying to work any individual goals with this, it ain’t going to work, it ain’t going to work on either end.”
One of the few Heat players who had a good game in Sacramento was Tyler Herro, who scored 34 points, although Spoelstra dismissed it as “not in a winning effort.” Herro, who is adapting to a new role as a starter this season, said the team needs to upgrade its defense, which currently ranks 18th in the league.
“After taking five losses, especially after the first half tonight, it’s time we… lock in and decide what type of team we want to be,” Herro said. “If we’re going to just get in shootouts like in the first half, then that’s the kind of team we want to be. I know we hang our hat on defense, so we’ve got to cover for each other.”
There’s more on the Heat:
- Miami has limited options for roster moves because Dewayne Dedmon and injured guard Victor Oladipo are both under trade restrictions that prevent them from being moved until January 15, Jackson adds in a separate story. He states that outside of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, the rest of the team has little trade value.
- Udonis Haslem saw rare first-quarter minutes Saturday, which shows the Heat’s lack of depth in the frontcourt, notes Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The 42-year-old power forward was actually the first player off the bench, replacing Adebayo after he picked up his second foul. Miami was missing Dedmon, who is suffering from an upper-respiratory infection and a foot issue, and Omer Yurtseven, who is rehabbing an injured ankle, but it appears Haslem might have a larger role than originally expected.
- Jamal Cain, who earned a two-way contract with a strong preseason performance, will be sent to the team’s G League affiliate in Sioux Falls, Winderman adds. First-round pick Nikola Jovic, who has seen limited playing time in three games, may be headed there as well once Dedmon and Yurtseven are able to play.
- Having appeared briefly in the Heat‘s Wednesday victory in Portland, veteran big man Udonis Haslem has now officially played in 20 NBA seasons, fulfilling a vow he made to his late father. Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel has the story and the quotes from Haslem.
With 30 NBA teams each permitted to carry 15 players on standard contracts and a pair on two-way deals, there are a total of 510 roster spots available across the league. Nearly two weeks into the 2022/23 season, 500 of those spots are filled, with only 10 still up for grabs.
[RELATED: 2022/23 NBA Roster Counts]
The NBA’s transaction wire has been pretty quiet since the regular season tipped off on October 18, as the teams that began the year with open roster spots are in no rush to fill them.
In some cases, that’s about maintaining roster flexibility — teams want to be able to make trades where they acquire more players than they send out, or sign a free agent to a non-guaranteed contract to address a positional hole if multiple players start to go down with injuries.
In most cases though, it’s more about financial concerns. Many of the teams with open roster spots are either already over the luxury tax line or dangerously close to it.
Here are the teams that have open roster spots:
- Atlanta Hawks
- Charlotte Hornets
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Golden State Warriors
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Miami Heat
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Note: The Timberwolves’ opening is a two-way slot.
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Phoenix Suns
- Portland Trail Blazers
Of these teams, the Timberwolves are the most likely to fill their roster opening in the coming days or weeks — since two-way signings don’t count against a team’s cap, there’s no compelling financial reason for a team not to be carrying two players on two-way deals.
Minnesota has a relatively healthy roster though, and the G League season hasn’t started yet, so there’s no urgent need to add a two-way replacement for Eric Paschall, who was waived last week.
Among the other teams on this list, only the Hornets and Cavaliers could sign a 15th man without any immediate luxury tax concerns, so they’re probably the first two teams to watch for potential signings. If they were to sign a player to a non-guaranteed contract, they’d only have to pay his daily salary and would be able to waive him at any time before January 7 without being on the hook for his full-season cap hit.
For the first time since Forbes began issuing annual valuations of NBA teams over two decades ago, a team other than the Knicks or Lakers ranks atop the publication’s list of 2022’s most valuable franchises.
According to Mike Ozanian and Justin Teitelbaum of Forbes, the Warriors are now considered the NBA’s most valuable club, with a record-setting valuation of $7 billion following a championship season.
Forbes’ duo explains that the Warriors generated more revenue and operating income in 2021/22 than any other team in NBA history, buoyed by $150MM in arena sponsorships and advertising, along with $250MM from premium seating.
While the Warriors enjoyed the biggest bump in value since Forbes’ most recent round of valuations, every other NBA team saw its valuation rise during that time as well, according to Ozanian and Teitelbaum, who say the average franchise is now valued at $2.86 billion. That’s 15% more than a year ago, despite the fact that the stock market is down 15% over the same time period.
Of the NBA’s 30 teams, only one – the Nets – lost money last season, per Forbes’ report, which states that record-setting sponsorship and advertising revenue ($1.35 billion last season) has put the league back on its “pre-Covid growth trajectory.” Further growth is anticipated going forward, with a new television and media deal to be negotiated in the coming years — it will take effect in 2025.
Although Forbes’ figures are just estimates and often don’t quite match up with the sale prices for franchises that change hands, they’re still useful for getting a sense of the league’s most and least valuable teams.
Here’s Forbes’ full list of NBA franchise valuations for 2022:
- Golden State Warriors: $7 billion
- New York Knicks: $6.1 billion
- Los Angeles Lakers: $5.9 billion
- Chicago Bulls: $4.1 billion
- Boston Celtics: $4.0 billion
- Los Angeles Clippers: $3.9 billion
- Brooklyn Nets: $3.5 billion
- Dallas Mavericks: $3.3 billion
- Houston Rockets: $3.2 billion
- Philadelphia 76ers: $3.15 billion
- Toronto Raptors: $3.1 billion
- Miami Heat: $3 billion
- Phoenix Suns: $2.7 billion
- Washington Wizards: $2.5 billion
- Milwaukee Bucks: $2.3 billion
- Portland Trail Blazers: $2.1 billion
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $2.05 billion
- Sacramento Kings: $2.03 billion
- Utah Jazz: $2.025 billion
- San Antonio Spurs: $2 billion
- Atlanta Hawks: $1.975 billion
- Denver Nuggets: $1.93 billion
- Detroit Pistons: $1.9 billion
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $1.875 billion
- Orlando Magic: $1.85 billion
- Indiana Pacers: $1.8 billion
- Charlotte Hornets: $1.7 billion
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $1.67 billion
- Memphis Grizzlies: $1.65 billion
- New Orleans Pelicans: $1.6 billion
Coming off a frustrating year, followed by a summer of hearing his name in trade rumors, Heat swingman Duncan Robinson is approaching this season with a “big chip” on his shoulder, writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Robinson put together two straight outstanding shooting seasons that earned him a five-year, $90MM contract last summer. The expectations that came with the new deal seemed to affect him, and Robinson was pulled from the starting lineup in March.
“You go through something like I went through last year, you definitely grow from that between the ears for sure,” Robinson said, adding that he became “hardened” by the adversity.
He’s off to a much better start this season, though his playing time is about half of what it used to be. Coming into tonight’s game, Robinson has made 6-of-12 three-point shots and hasn’t committed a turnover in 47 minutes of action.
There’s more on the Heat:
- Caleb Martin may consider an appeal of his one-game suspension for fighting with Toronto’s Christian Koloko, Jackson adds in a separate story. Martin sat out Monday’s game, but he could still potentially recover the roughly $45K in salary that it cost him. “It’s tough watching knowing you can contribute to a win,” he said. “Overall I’m feeling like I definitely could have contributed for sure. Especially when you lose, you are going to think that loss is on you. That’s how you learn. I learned from that, make sure I don’t do it again.”
- Omer Yurtseven is traveling with the team, but he’s not expected to play during the three-game road trip, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel. The back-up center has been sidelined with a left ankle impingement, and the coaching staff wants to be with him while he does rehab work. “I think I’m going to be back in less than a week, hopefully,” Yurtseven said. “But I’ve got to sacrifice and I’ve just got to take the pain that comes with it, and that’s what I’m going to do. But hopefully sooner rather than later. But less than a week is my hope.”
- Kyle Lowry talks about the team’s early-season frustrations in another Winderman story. Lowry suggests there’s an adjustment period to having Tyler Herro in the starting lineup and trying to get more offense from Bam Adebayo, and says the players need time to get comfortable with the changes. In a mailbag, Winderman notes that last year’s Lowry trade didn’t look good for the Heat on Monday, with Precious Achiuwa grabbing 22 rebounds for the Raptors.