- Timberwolves forward Jarred Vanderbilt has exited the COVID-19 protocols and should be available on Friday vs. Utah, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). Minnesota is down to just three players in the protocols, though Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell are two of those three.
Perry Jones and Sheldon Mac are the latest players attempting NBA comebacks, agent Harrison Gaines tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter). The two players will be entering the G League player pool.
Jones was the 28th overall pick of the 2012 draft for the Thunder and played three seasons with the team, last appearing in 2014/15. In 143 career games, Jones holds averages of 3.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 11.7 minutes.
The 29-year-old Mac appeared in 30 games for the Wizards in 2016/17, holding modest averages of 3.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per contest.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Veteran forward Earl Clark has joined Miami’s G League squad, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. It was reported last week that Clark had signed a G League deal.
- The opportunities for players caused by COVID-19 absences are no laughing matter, write Jon Krawczynski and Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Krawczynski and Weiss note that Timberwolves players who’d been out of the team’s rotation (Jake Layman, Nathan Knight, Jaylen Nowell) or out of the NBA (Greg Monroe) are trying to make the most of their newfound minutes. “I’m not quitting,” Monroe said. “I believe I belong in the NBA. So I’ll just come out and play wherever it is, as hard as I can.”
- Michael Scotto of HoopsHype takes a behind the scenes look at what it’s like for players on hardship deals. Scotto spoke to Brandon Knight, Lance Stephenson and Joe Johnson about their new NBA opportunities.
- There was a slight change to the NBA’s COVID-19 isolation rules for players outside of a team environment, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The change has no bearing on a return to team activities, so players who enter the health and safety protocols will still be required to remain away from the team for six days, unless they return two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart.
Kenneth Faried is joining the Grand Rapids Gold for the coming NBA G League season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Although Grand Rapids is the Nuggets‘ affiliate, Faried will remain an NBA free agent and will have the ability to join any team. If he doesn’t receive any NBA offers in the coming days, we should expect to see the 32-year-old in action for the Gold when the G League regular season begins on January 5.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- In the latest episode of the HoopsHype podcast, Michael Scotto and The Athletic’s Tony Jones spoke about potential trade options for the Jazz, Danny Ainge‘s role with the franchise, and more. Jones expects Utah to be “really aggressive” in exploring the trade market for potential upgrades, reiterating that the team is definitely looking for one more perimeter player who can defend at a high level.
- Veteran guard Patrick Beverley is a big fan of what Greg Monroe brings to the Timberwolves and said on Tuesday that he’d like to see the team retain Monroe for the entire season, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Monroe has averaged 9.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 5.0 APG, and 2.0 SPG in two games since joining Minnesota on a 10-day deal.
- Davon Reed‘s second 10-day contract expired overnight, so he’s technically no longer on the Nuggets‘ roster, but the team is considering how to keep him in the mix, as we relayed on Tuesday. With no players currently in the health and safety protocols, Denver’s options for keeping Reed would be to waive someone on the standard 17-man roster or to apply for a non-COVID hardship exception based on the team’s four injured players.
The NBA’s new guidelines regarding its health and safety protocols have resulted in several players being released from protocols this morning. The league and its players union agreed Monday to shorten the minimum required quarantine period for a vaccinated COVID-positive players and coaches from 10 days to six.
Here is the latest news on who has entered and cleared protocols today:
- Nets stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are out of protocols, as is LaMarcus Aldridge, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. While Durant and Aldridge may be ready for Thursday’s game, Irving is still working his way back into game condition and remains ineligible to play in home games because he hasn’t met New York City’s vaccine requirement.
- Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince has cleared protocols and will rejoin the team, but won’t play tonight against the Knicks, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Minnesota also gets back Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid (Twitter link).
- Cavaliers power forward Evan Mobley has cleared protocols and is set to reunite with the club today, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com tweets that the Cavaliers hope to have Mobley play in tonight’s game against the Pelicans, but will put him through his pregame paces first to gauge his conditioning level.
- Unfortunately, just as one of Cleveland’s best players recovers, another will be absent. Cavaliers guard Darius Garland, enjoying a nearly All-Star-level season with Cleveland, has entered the NBA’s coronavirus protocols, tweets Kelsey Russo of The Athletic.
- Knicks rookie point guard guard Miles McBride has cleared protocols, the team has announced (via Twitter). New York adds that he has rejoined the team ahead of its game tonight against the Timberwolves.
- Veteran Heat power forward Udonis Haslem has entered the league’s coronavirus protocols, writes Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald. Heat point guard Kyle Lowry is also in protocols. Miami assistant coach Chris Quinn will return to the sidelines, Chiang adds.
- Wizards forwards Rui Hachimura and Montrezl Harrell have entered the league’s COVID-19 protocols, joining six other Washington players, the team has announced (Twitter link). Hachimura has missed the Wizards’ entire season thus far due to personal reasons. Among the others, unvaccinated All-Star guard Bradley Beal is still in protocols and Wallace reports that his status is “questionable” prior to the Wizards’ upcoming contest against the Heat tonight. Center Thomas Bryant, wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and guards Anthony Gill, Aaron Holiday and Raul Neto are still in protocols.
- Thunder rookie guard Josh Giddey has entered the league’s health and safety protocols, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Head coach Mark Daigneault has also entered the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols, and will be replaced by assistant coach Mike Wilks starting with this evening’s contest against the Kings, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). Wilks, a former journeyman NBA guard, suited up for four games with the Thunder during the 2009/10 season, Joe Mussatto of the Oklahoman adds (Twitter link). Players Darius Bazley, Tre Mann, Aleksej Pokusevski, and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl remain in the protocols for Oklahoma City.
- Keep track of all the players currently in COVID-19 protocols through out our daily tracker.
Arthur Hill contributed to this report.
Reflecting the chaos that COVID-19 has brought to the NBA, the league has already set a record for the most players used in one season with 541, according to an ESPN story. The man who broke the record was veteran center Greg Monroe — he signed a 10-day hardship contract with the Timberwolves on Monday after being out of the league for more than two years.
Monroe, who had been with the Capital City Go-Go in the G League, looked ready to play in his first game, posting 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two steals and a block in 25 minutes. The Wolves even ran their offense through Monroe as they closed out a narrow win over the Celtics.
“He’s so experienced. He gives us a different look, some legit size and beef,” coach Chris Finch told Patrick Donnelly of The Associated Press. “His rebounding was great. Again, you can just throw it to him and things kind of calm down.”
The game capped off a hectic day for Monroe, who woke up at 4 a.m. in search of a flight, arrived in Minnesota seven hours later and had to pass a COVID test before he could go to the arena. He met his new teammates shortly before the game and admitted not being familiar with all of them.
“I’m not gonna lie: Jaylen Nowell played awesome tonight. I didn’t know who he was,” Monroe said. “I think he played awesome, but that was my first time seeing him. The game is the same, the people change. Tonight, it’s a young guy taking advantage of an opportunity.”
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- After avoiding the COVID-19 outbreak for the first two months of the season, the Trail Blazers have been hit hard this week, playing Monday without eight players and two coaches, including head coach Chauncey Billups, writes Casey Holdahl of NBA.com. “We know what we’re going through and we know it’s not going to be easy,” acting head coach Scott Brooks said after losing to Dallas. “We’ve just got to keep fighting. Chauncey has done a great job of instilling there’s no excuses around here. That’s part of developing, that’s part of growing up in this league. It’s easy to put your head down — we didn’t have this guy, we didn’t have this guys to match up with their size advantage — but we didn’t.”
- Davon Reed, who is on his second 10-day contract with the Nuggets under the hardship exemption, said playing for coach Michael Malone has been “transformative for my career,” tweets Mike Singer of The Denver Post.
- Jazz forward Joe Ingles is starting to create trade buzz, per Zach Lowe of ESPN. Rival teams believe Utah may be able to add a valuable piece for a playoff run by parting with Ingles and a first-round pick.
DECEMBER 27: The Timberwolves have completed Monroe’s deal, formally announcing it in a press release. It’ll run through January 5, covering Minnesota’s next six games.
DECEMBER 26: The Timberwolves are planning to sign veteran big man Greg Monroe to a 10-day contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The transaction would be completed using a hardship exemption.
Monroe, 31, owns nine years of NBA experience, making past stops with the Pistons, Bucks, Suns, Celtics, Raptors and Sixers. He’s averaged 13.2 points and 8.3 rebounds in 27.7 minutes per game for his career, appearing in 632 total contests. He last played in the league during the 2018/19 season.
Monroe has been playing in the G League with the Wizards’ affiliate. In 12 games this season, he’s averaged 10.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per outing. The Timberwolves currently have eight players in the league’s health and safety protocols, as shown by our tracker.
Minnesota has back-to-back home games scheduled against Boston on Monday and New York on Tuesday. Monroe will arrive Monday morning, complete a physical, and sign his contract if everything goes well, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets.
Here are the latest health and safety protocols updates from around the NBA:
Entering the protocols:
- Jae Crowder and Elfrid Payton have become the first two Suns players to enter the COVID-19 protocols, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
- The Trail Blazers‘ outbreak continues to grow, with Jusuf Nurkic and Cody Zeller among the players now in the protocols, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Seven Portland players have been placed in the protocols since Friday.
- Rockets guard Garrison Mathews became the second Houston guard to enter the protocols today, joining teammate D.J. Augustin, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link).
- Timberwolves big man Naz Reid is now in the health and safety protocols, bringing Minnesota’s list of affected players up to eight, tweets Chris Hine of The Star Tribune.
- The Thunder announced today that they’ve placed rookie guard Tre Mann in the protocols. Oklahoma City now has two players affected — Mann and Darius Bazley.
Exiting the protocols:
- Point guard De’Aaron Fox returned to action on Sunday when the Kings hosted Memphis. Fox had been in the health and safety protocols since December 16.
- A pair of Timberwolves – Patrick Beverley and Josh Okogie – are no longer in the health and safety protocols, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. They’re both listed as questionable for Monday’s game vs. Boston.
- Clippers forward Marcus Morris has cleared the health and safety protocols, though he remained inactive on Sunday as he goes through a reconditioning period, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
- Cavaliers wing RJ Nembhard was no longer listed on the team’s injury report on Sunday and played vs. Toronto, so he’s out of the protocols. Isaac Okoro has exited the protocols too, though he’s still working his way back, according to head coach J.B. Bickerstaff (Twitter link via Kelsey Russo of The Athletic).
“He’s shooting at a high level from three and getting a lot of good looks and staying really committed to it,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said of Beasley, whose 33 points led all scorers in the game. “There’s no second-guessing his shot. He’s locked in. He’s been really, really good. Mostly it’s just his shot selection is leading to good shots.”
Three Timberwolves players took advantage of their expanded roles in the team’s game against the Jazz on Thursday, Chris Hine of the Star Tribune writes. Malik Beasley, Jaden McDaniels and Jake Layman all gave a solid effort, but the team still lost 128-116 without Karl-Anthony Towns or Anthony Edwards available.
Timberwolves guard D’Angelo Russell has joined the growing list of Minnesota players in the health and safety protocols, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
The Timberwolves now have eight players affected, including stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards. They’ve already signed a pair of replacement players – Chris Silva and Rayjon Tucker – using hardship exceptions, but will likely make at least one more roster addition before their next game on Monday.
Here are more COVID-19 protocol updates from around the NBA:
- Three Trail Blazers players – Robert Covington, Ben McLemore, and Keljin Blevins – have entered the health and safety protocols, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). That brings Portland’s total count to five affected players, all of whom have been placed in the protocols in the last two days.
- Kevin Knox has exited the protocols, but Jericho Sims has entered, so the Knicks still have three players affected, according to the team (Twitter links). RJ Barrett is back in the starting lineup for New York today and Quentin Grimes is also expected to play, but Immanuel Quickley and Knox will need a little more time to ramp up their conditioning, says Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link).
- Mavericks wing Josh Green has tested out of the protocols, but didn’t travel with the team to Utah and won’t play tonight, tweets ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
The Pelicans’ Naji Marshall has entered the league’s health and safety protocols, Christian Clark of the New Orleans Times-Picayune tweets. Earlier in the day, Nickeil Alexander-Walker became the first New Orleans player to enter protocols this season. Marshall, a second-year forward, has appeared in 19 games off the bench this season.
We have more COVID-19 related updates:
- Hawks rookie point guard Sharife Cooper has entered the health and safety protocols, Sarah Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. Cooper joins six other Atlanta players currently on the list. The second-round pick has appeared in eight games off the bench this season.
- Magic guard R.J. Hampton exited the protocols on Thursday, Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. He didn’t play on Thursday in order to work on his conditioning. Hampton was placed in the protocols on December 17, which means he produced two negative tests at least 24 hours apart.
- Karl-Anthony Towns is asymptomatic, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). “He is in the best spirits possible,” Finch said, adding Towns was very disappointed he couldn’t play on Thursday. Towns was placed in the protocols on Thursday, joining six other Minnesota players.
- Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown has entered the protocols, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets.