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Atlantic Notes: Walker, Johnson, Tatum, VanVleet

January 4th, 2022 at 9:57pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Though Knicks point guard Kemba Walker just missed his third consecutive game (a 104-94 win over the Pacers) due to left knee soreness, team doctors have determined that there is no structural damage to the ligament that would require surgery, per Steve Popper of Newsday.

“He warmed up in OKC, tweaked something,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He’s got some soreness so we’ll let it clear up and then we’ll go from there.”

Thibodeau removed Walker, who had begun the 2021/22 season as a starter, from New York’s lineup entirely in late November. COVID-19 and injury absences necessitated a pivot, and Walker played well in his return. During his six games back, Walker averaged 19.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG and 6.0 APG for the Knicks.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

  • Celtics All-Star wing Jayson Tatum discussed his experience with 40-year-old veteran swingman Joe Johnson, a former seven-time All-Star signed by Boston to a 10-day hardship exception. The team opted to not sign Johnson to a second 10-day deal after his first expired. “We all enjoyed the time that he was here,” Tatum said, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). “The ultimate professional and somebody a lot of us look up to and obviously, we would have loved to [have] kept him around.” Johnson played in just one game during his 10 days with the team, scoring on his only field goal attempt. Tatum said that Johnson continues to watch Celtics games and that he and Johnson still text each other.
  • Tatum also noted that his body is in better shape returning from COVID-19 protocols this season, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald tweets. The Celtics forward was hit hard by the novel coronavirus during the 2020/21 NBA season. “I feel a lot better with everything,” Tatum said, per Murphy. “My quarantine was shorter, my body feels a lot better, comparing my first couple of days back practicing than last year when I first came back.”
  • Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet is letting his play do the talking, emerging as a legitimate candidate to be named to his first All-Star team this season, writes Nekias Duncan of Basketball News. Duncan observes that VanVleet is one of just three Eastern Conference guards, along with James Harden and Trae Young, averaging at least 20 PPG and 6 APG, while boasting a True Shooting percentage of 58% or higher. VanVleet is averaging 21.3 PPG, 6.7 APG, and 4.9 RPG, with a 58.5% true shooting percentage, across 31 games. The 27-year-old, who won a title with Toronto in 2019, boasts an overall shooting line of .441/.405/.880.
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COVID-19 Updates: Noel, Hornets, Pacers, Ingles, Reed, Bucks, Metu

January 4th, 2022 at 6:46pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Knicks center Nerlens Noel has cleared the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, per New York’s PR team (Twitter link). Noel entered the protocols in late December.

The 6’11” big man has only appeared in 17 contests, starting 10, for New York so far this season. The 27-year-old out of Kentucky is averaging 3.5 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.5 BPG and 1.1 SPG across 23.1 MPG. Knee injuries kept Noel absent for much of the start of the 2021/22 season. He signed a lucrative three-year, $32MM contract with the Knicks during the offseason.

Here are a few more protocol-related updates:

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COVID-19 Updates: Randle, Williams, Nurkic, Burke, Bradley

January 4th, 2022 at 10:52am CST by Luke Adams

Knicks forward Julius Randle has exited the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the team announced today (via Twitter). Randle, who only entered the protocols last Thursday, will be listed as questionable for Tuesday night’s game vs. Indiana.

The Knicks were hit hard in December by COVID-19, but are in pretty decent shape for the time being. Nerlens Noel is the only player on the roster who is still in the protocols.

Here are more protocol-related updates from around the NBA:

  • Suns head coach Monty Williams has cleared the COVID-19 protocols and will return to the club for Tuesday’s game against New Orleans, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Kevin Young, who temporarily replaced Williams as Phoenix’s head coach, will revert to his assistant role.
  • Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic broke the news on Monday that he had cleared the health and safety protocols and would be back in Portland’s starting lineup. He logged 26 minutes on Monday in his first game since December 21.
  • Mavericks guard Trey Burke took part in the team’s shootaround on Monday, a pretty good indication that he has exited the protocols, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Burke didn’t play on Monday, but could be back later this week.
  • Bulls center Tony Bradley apparently cleared the protocols on Monday, having been listed as out due to return to competition conditioning on the team’s injury report.
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NBA Voids Knicks’ 10-Day Deal With Ryan Arcidiacono

January 4th, 2022 at 7:01am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has disapproved the Knicks‘ 10-day contract with Ryan Arcidiacono, which was announced on Monday, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).

With Mitchell Robinson and Jericho Sims out of the health and safety protocols and Wayne Selden no longer on the roster, New York has just two players left in the protocols: Nerlens Noel and Julius Randle.

Teams are permitted to sign a hardship replacement for each player they have in the protocols, and the Knicks already had Damyean Dotson and Matt Mooney on 10-day deals, making them ineligible to sign a third replacement player.

Fortunately for Arcidiacono, it doesn’t sound as if the Knicks intend to move on from him. As of Wednesday, teams can begin signing players to non-hardship 10-day contracts using an open spot on their 15-man rosters, and New York doesn’t have a 15th man after cutting Selden and Denzel Valentine.

According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link), the Knicks are still expected to sign Arcidiacono in the coming days. If New York has to put another player in the protocols, a 10-day deal via hardship remains a possibility for Arcidiacono, but if not, the team could simply sign him to a traditional 10-day contract.

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And-Ones: Tolliver, Millsap, Bezhanishvili, Hernandez

January 3rd, 2022 at 9:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Veteran forward Anthony Tolliver signed a 10-day contract with the Pelicans under the hardship exception the day after Christmas. However, Tolliver tested positive for COVID-19 and the contract was voided. He has now cleared protocols and is eligible to be signed immediately, Will Guillory of The Athletic tweets. Tolliver played for the Sixers last season.

We have more news from the basketball world:

  • Former NBA guard Elijah Millsap has signed a NBA G League contract and is expected to join the College Park Skyhawks, the Hawks’ affiliate, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. Millsap, the brother of Brooklyn Nets veteran Paul Millsap, played 69 games in the NBA, though his last appearance came during the 2016/17 season.
  • Grand Rapids Gold forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili could be on the radar for a 10-day contract, Shaw tweets. He has averaged 16.4 PPG and 8.6 RPG in his last eight contests for the Nuggets’ affiliate.
  • Former Raptors center Dewan Hernandez has signed a G League contract and has been acquired by the Westchester Knicks, Shaw adds in another tweet. Hernandez played six NBA games during the 2019/20 season.
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COVID Updates: Towns, Russell, Tucker, Hyland, Robinson, Bryant, Neto

January 3rd, 2022 at 6:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Players around the NBA continue to enter and exit the league’s health and safety protocols. Here’s the latest update:

  • Timberwolves stars Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell have exited the protocols but won’t play against the Clippers due to reconditioning, the team’s PR department tweets.
  • Heat forward P.J. Tucker has been upgraded to questionable to play on Monday against Golden State after exiting the protocols, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald tweets.
  • Nuggets rookie Bones Hyland has exited the protocols and is expected to be available for Monday’s road game against Dallas, Mike Singer of the Denver Post tweets.
  • Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has cleared the protocols, the team’s PR department tweets.
  • Wizards center Thomas Bryant and guard Raul Neto have cleared the protocols, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets. However, Tremont Waters, who is on a 10-day hardship contract, has entered the protocols, Robbins adds in a separate tweet.
  • Bucks forward Jordan Nwora has entered the protocols and will miss Monday’s game against Detroit, Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets.
  • Rockets big man Usman Garuba has entered the protocols, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle tweets.
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Knicks Waive Denzel Valentine

January 3rd, 2022 at 4:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

4:56pm: The Knicks have officially waived Valentine, the team tweets.

4:20pm: The Knicks are placing Denzel Valentine on waivers, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

Valentine was just acquired from Cleveland in a three-team deal but New York obviously had no plans to retain the five-year veteran guard.

The dead-money cap hit for waiving Valentine is $880,509. However, New York received $1.1MM from the Lakers in the trade, offsetting the move. Wayne Selden was also waived on Monday, so New York will now have an open spot on the 15-man roster.

Valentine appeared in 22 games off the bench for Cleveland, averaging 2.9 PPG in 9.3 MPG. Valentine, who played four seasons for Chicago, will now try to hook onto another team in free agency.

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Cavs, Lakers, Knicks Officially Complete Rajon Rondo Trade

January 3rd, 2022 at 12:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers, Lakers, and Knicks have officially completed the trade sending Rajon Rondo to Cleveland, the teams announced today in a series of press releases. The deal, which was first reported las Thursday and was expanded today to include New York, breaks down as follows:

  • Cavaliers acquire Rondo (from Lakers).
  • Knicks acquire Denzel Valentine (from Cavaliers), the draft rights to Wang Zhelin (from Lakers), the draft rights to Brad Newley (from Lakers), and $1.1MM in cash (from Lakers).
  • Lakers acquire the draft rights to Louis Labeyrie (from Knicks).

It’s a straightforward swap from Cleveland’s perspective — the Cavaliers simply acquired Rondo in exchange for Valentine. Both players are on minimum-salary contracts, but Rondo’s deal is guaranteed (Valentine’s isn’t) and he fills a greater need for a Cavs team that just lost veteran point guard Ricky Rubio for the season due to a torn ACL.

The Knicks waived Wayne Selden in order to make room on the 15-man room roster for Valentine. Both players are on non-guaranteed contracts, so if New York also cuts Valentine, the amount of money the team ended up paying to Selden and Valentine would work out to just over $800K, which is less than the $1.1MM in cash acquired from L.A.

The Knicks could also hang onto Valentine if they so choose, but that’s reportedly considered unlikely. Waiving him would open up the club’s 15th roster spot.

The Lakers, meanwhile, essentially decided to move on from Rondo and pay the Knicks a little money in order to reduce their end-of-season luxury tax bill and open up a roster spot. The exact amount of money Los Angeles saves will depend on how quickly that roster opening is filled, but the savings will exceed the $1.1MM the club sent to the Knicks. Stanley Johnson, who has played well on a 10-day contract, is a good candidate to become the team’s new 15th man.

The Lakers and Cavaliers will both create small traded player exceptions in the deal. L.A.’s will be worth about $1.67MM, while Cleveland’s will be worth approximately $858K.

This is the NBA’s first trade since October 6.

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Knicks Waive Wayne Selden

January 3rd, 2022 at 12:04pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have placed veteran shooting guard Wayne Selden on waivers, league sources tell Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).

The team needed to open up a roster spot in order to complete its acquisition of Denzel Valentine and Selden was the most expendable player on the roster, since his minimum-salary contract isn’t fully guaranteed.

Selden, 27, has appeared in a total of 127 NBA games since making his debut in 2017, but only three of those appearances came this season. He had five points on 1-of-4 shooting in 19 total minutes for the Knicks in 2021/22.

Selden would’ve earned a $1,729,217 salary if he had remained under contract for the entire season. Because he’s being released now, he’ll instead make a prorated minimum of $785,104, which is also the amount that will apply to New York’s team salary. If Selden is claimed on waivers, he’d be back on track to earn his full salary and he’d be removed entirely from the Knicks’ cap, but that’s probably a long shot.

With a newly-opened roster spot, the Knicks are free to officially finalize their three-team trade with the Cavaliers and Lakers to acquire Valentine. Like Selden, Valentine doesn’t have a fully guaranteed salary, so the club will need to decide this week whether or not to keep him around beyond Friday’s salary guarantee deadline. New York is unlikely to hang onto Valentine for the season, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv.

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Ryan Arcidiacono Signs 10-Day Deal With Knicks

January 3rd, 2022 at 11:24am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

JANUARY 3: The Knicks have officially signed Arcidiacono to his 10-day deal, the team announced today in a press release.

JANUARY 2: Former Bulls point guard Ryan Arcidiacono is set to join the Knicks on a 10-day hardship exception deal and could stick around for the rest of the season, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

After going undrafted out of Villanova in 2016, the 6’3″ guard played with San Antonio’s NBA G League club, the Austin Spurs, during the 2016/17 season. He inked a two-way deal with the Bulls in 2017, and saw that converted to a standard contract with Chicago ahead of the 2018/19 season.

Arcidiacono played four total seasons in Chicago before the Bulls ultimately let him walk in free agency during the summer of 2021. The 27-year-old holds career NBA averages of 4.8 PPG, 2.2 APG, 2.0 RPG, and 0.6 SPG. He had most recently been playing with the Boston Celtics’ NBAGL affiliate, the Maine Celtics.

The Knicks are missing five players due to the health and safety protocols, but their need for a point guard is a result of injury absences. Derrick Rose continues to recover from an ankle surgery he underwent in late December and Kemba Walker sits for at least one night of back-to-back contests.

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