Newsstand Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Rockets’ Landale Injures Ankle, Likely To Miss World Cup

August 17th, 2023 at 8:04am CST by Luke Adams

New Rockets big man Jock Landale suffered a left ankle injury on Thursday while playing for the Australian national team in an exhibition game against South Sudan in Melbourne, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN.

The severity of the injury isn’t yet known, but Australian head coach Brian Goorjian said after the game that he doesn’t expect Landale to be available for the World Cup, which tips off next week. According to Goorjian, the center will undergo an MRI on his ankle on Friday and won’t travel with the team to Japan (Twitter link via Uluc).

It’s an unfortunate turn of events for Landale, who enjoyed a mini-breakout season in 2022/23 in Phoenix. He appeared in 69 regular season games for the Suns, averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 14.2 minutes per night, then posted 6.5 PPG and 4.3 RPG on 66.7% shooting in six contests (17.6 MPG) vs. Denver in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Landale’s strong showing as a reserve center behind Deandre Ayton earned him a four-year, $32MM offer from the Rockets in free agency. Only the first year of that contract is guaranteed, but it will still assure the 27-year-old of an $8MM salary in 2023/24 after he made the minimum in his first two NBA seasons.

Landale’s injury should open the door for Jack White of the Thunder to be part of Australia’s 12-man World Cup roster, as Uluc tweets. White had previously looked likely to be the odd man out of the 13-man group that the Boomers had been using in their pre-World Cup exhibitions.

With about a month-and-a-half until the Rockets’ training camp opens, there’s still plenty of time for Landale to recover in time to be available for the start of the regular season as long as the injury isn’t too significant. We should know more after he undergoes his MRI.

Knicks To Guarantee Jericho Sims’ Contract For 2023/24

August 16th, 2023 at 5:16pm CST by Rory Maher

The Knicks intend to fully guarantee Jericho Sims‘ $1.93MM salary for 2023/24, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

Entering the offseason, the young center’s contract for the upcoming season was partially guaranteed for $600K. That guarantee increased to $1.2MM when New York kept him on the roster last month. Sims’ salary will officially be fully guaranteed if he remains on the Knicks’ roster past August 20.

The move was expected. The 24-year-old was a fill-in starter at times during his second NBA season in 2022/23, averaging 3.4 PPG and 4.7 RPG across 52 games (16 starts, 15.6 MPG).

The 58th pick of the 2021 draft, Sims initially signed a two-way deal with the Knicks, but received a promotion last summer to a multiyear standard contract after impressing the team. New York holds a team option on Sims’ contract for ’24/25 worth $2.1MM.

Sims is currently recovering from right shoulder surgery, which prevented him from participating during the Knicks’ playoff run. He’s expected to be fully recovered by training camp.

As our roster count shows, the Knicks are currently at the offseason maximum of 21 players under contract. They now have 12 players on guaranteed standard contracts, with all three two-way slots filled.

Hawks Waive Vit Krejci

August 16th, 2023 at 4:34pm CST by Rory Maher

The Hawks have waived guard/forward Vit Krejci, the team confirmed in a press release. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) first reported the move.

As Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets, Krejci was on a non-guaranteed contract worth $1.84MM (the veteran’s minimum) in 2023/24. The Hawks, meanwhile, have 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts, making Krejci the odd man out, notes John Hollinger of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Hollinger believes Krejci could be a solid choice for a two-way contract if he clears the waiver wire. Several teams have open two-way slots, as shown by our tracker.

Krejci, 23, was the 37th overall pick of the 2020 draft. The Czech native spent his first post-draft season rehabbing a torn ACL. He signed a multiyear contract with the Thunder prior to the 2021/22 season, playing 30 games for the club as a rookie.

Oklahoma City traded Krejci to Atlanta last September in a move that was mostly about finances for the Hawks. He appeared in 29 games this past season for Atlanta, averaging a modest 5.3 MPG.

The Hawks now have 17 players on their roster — the aforementioned 15 on standard deals, and a pair — Seth Lundy and Miles Norris — on two-way deals. They also have a two-way qualifying offer on the table for Trent Forrest, who remains a restricted free agent.

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the Hawks are approximately $9.7MM below the luxury tax line and still have access to their non-taxpayer mid-level exception as well as their bi-annual exception.

Celtics Expect Porzingis To Be Cleared For Training Camp

August 16th, 2023 at 10:01am CST by Luke Adams

After Kristaps Porzingis announced on Tuesday that he won’t be available this summer for Latvia in the 2023 World Cup, the Celtics confirmed on Wednesday that the big man has been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis in his right foot and offered an update of their own on their most significant offseason addition.

According to the Celtics (Twitter link), Porzingis will begin a rehab program that will last about four to six weeks. The expectation is that he’ll be cleared in time for the start of training camp this fall, per the club.

While the foot issue isn’t an ideal start to Porzingis’ stint as a Celtic, it’s good news for the team that he won’t risk making the injury worse by competing in the World Cup and that he remains on track to be available for the start of the season.

Porzingis, 28, enjoyed perhaps the best year of his NBA career in 2022/23, averaging 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 32.6 minutes per game across 65 appearances. Those 65 games were the most that the 2015 lottery pick had played in a single season since 2016/17, and his 49.8% field goal percentage was a new career high.

The Celtics, who lost the NBA Finals in 2022 and fell one game short of winning the East again this spring, are hoping that Porzingis will provide the club with a new look on offense while sharing rim-protecting duties with Robert Williams and Al Horford on defense. Acquired in a June trade with Washington, Porzingis signed a two-year extension with Boston last month that will keep him under team control through the 2025/26 season.

Jamal Murray Won’t Play In 2023 World Cup

August 16th, 2023 at 7:30am CST by Luke Adams

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray won’t play for Team Canada in the 2023 World Cup, Canada Basketball announced today on its official website.

Murray reported to training camp for the Canadian national team, but his status for the FIBA World Cup was always considered to be up in the air due to his lengthy postseason run in Denver this spring. He was ruled out for Canada’s first few exhibition games in Germany and now won’t be part of the squad that travels to Indonesia to begin its group play schedule on August 25.

“When I came into training camp, I wanted to see how my body would respond after a long and demanding season and if I would be physically able to compete at the highest level required for the World Cup,” Murray said in a statement. “In consultation with medical staff and the team, it is clear that additional recovery is required, and I have made the difficult decision to not participate in the tournament.

“It’s still a dream of mine to represent Canada at the Olympics, and I will support the team every step of the way as they pursue this goal.”

Canada would qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris – and give Murray a chance to suit up for the club next summer – by placing as one of the top two teams from the Americas in the World Cup. Obviously, Team USA will be Canada’s top competition in that field, but several others – the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil – will be vying for one of those top two spots.

Although the Canadian team – led by NBA players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, and Luguentz Dort – is a deep and talented one, the group doesn’t have much experience playing together in international competitions, so clinching an Olympic berth next month is far from a lock. The first step will be reaching the knockout stage of the tournament with a top-two finish in a group that also features France, Latvia, and Lebanon.

Kristaps Porzingis To Miss World Cup Due To Foot Issue

August 15th, 2023 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

Kristaps Porzingis, who was traded this offseason from the Wizards to the Celtics, won’t suit up for Latvia in the 2023 World Cup, he confirmed today in a post on Twitter.

“It is difficult, I feel very responsible to myself and the supporters of the Latvian national team, but a decision has been made that I will not play in the World Cup,” Porzingis wrote in Latvian. “After several weeks of recovery and a repeat MRI examination, the plantar fasciitis of my foot still prevents me from being on the field in full readiness.

“This joint decision has been made by both the medical staff and coaching staff of the national team, as well as the Celtics team – with the advice and opinion that it is now necessary to continue the recovery process. Such a decision is not easy to make, but I promise that I will be there and support the team as much as I can.”

Reporting last week from Rupert Fabig of BIG Deutschland indicated that Porzingis was dealing with a foot issue and that there were concerns about his availability for the World Cup. The Latvian national team disputed that report at the time, but it appears Fabig’s information was accurate.

While it’s good news that Porzingis isn’t dealing with a significant break or tear in his foot, plantar fasciitis is still a painful ailment that can linger for quite some time. There’s no indication yet that the big man’s availability for the start of training camp or the NBA regular season is up in the air, but it will be an issue worth monitoring leading up to the fall.

The Celtics acquired Porzingis in a three-team trade that sent Marcus Smart to Memphis after the veteran forward/center picked up his $36MM player option for the 2023/24 season. Boston subsequently signed Porzingis to a two-year extension that will keep him under team control through ’25/26.

NBA Announces In-Season Tournament Schedule, Tiebreaker Procedures

August 15th, 2023 at 2:26pm CST by Luke Adams

After previously announcing the dates and groups for its inaugural in-season tournament, the NBA today announced the schedule for the group play portion of the tournament, which will begin on November 3 and run through Nov. 28.

The group play games will take place on four Fridays and three Tuesdays during November. The NBA put out its schedule by date in addition to a schedule by team.

Each Friday will feature a nationally televised doubleheader on ESPN, while TNT will nationally broadcast doubleheaders on Tuesday. NBA TV will also air a pair of tournament games on the afternoon of November 24, prior to ESPN’s doubleheader.

The quarterfinals will take place on December 4 and 5, with the semifinals to follow on Dec. 7 and the final to be played on Dec. 9. The higher-seeded teams will host the quarterfinal matchups, while the semifinals and final will take place in Las Vegas.

The NBA also revealed a few other crucial details about the in-season tournament, including the tiebreaker procedures for determining group winners and wild card teams. The following tiebreakers will be used, sequentially, to determine group winners, seeding among group winners, each conference’s wild card winner, and the overall conference rankings for the tournament:

Head-to-head record in group play (if applicable)
Point differential in group play
Total points scored in group play
2022/23 record
Random drawing

Because the in-season tournament games (except for the final) will count toward a team’s regular season record, the 22 teams that don’t advance to the quarterfinal stage of the in-season tournament will play regular season games on December 6 and 8, with each club getting one home and one road game. According to the league, a “formulaic approach” will determine the matchups in those games — it will be based on the overall standings of the in-season tournament.

Those extra regular season contests will primarily be intra-conference matchups, though a pair of inter-conference games will be necessary, since there will be 11 teams in each conference that don’t make the knockout stage of the in-season tournament.

The losing teams in the quarterfinals will face one another in a pair of intra-conference games on Dec. 8. Additional regular season contests won’t be needed for the clubs that advance to the semifinals and final.

The full regular season schedule for the 2023/24 season will be announced this Thursday, per the NBA (Twitter link).

Bulls Re-Sign Forward Terry Taylor

August 14th, 2023 at 7:21pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bulls have signed restricted two-way free agent Terry Taylor to a standard contract, the team tweets.

Taylor had been just one of four restricted two-way free agents who remained unsigned, as our free agent tracker shows.

The 23-year-old was waived by the Pacers after being thrown into the four-team Kevin Durant blockbuster at February’s trade deadline. The Bulls signed him to a two-way deal later that month.

Taylor appeared in 59 games with Indiana over the past two seasons, including nine starts, after going undrafted in 2021 out of Austin Peay. The 6’4” player, listed as a forward despite his height, came off the bench in five games for Chicago. Overall, he has averaged 6.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 15.3 minutes during his 64-game NBA career. He also appeared in eight G League contests last season.

The addition of Taylor gives the Bulls 15 players on standard contracts, though Carlik Jones has a non-guaranteed contract and Taylor’s deal also seems unlikely to be fully guaranteed.

Sixers Unfazed By Harden’s Criticism, Expect Him At Camp

August 14th, 2023 at 5:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Sixers weren’t surprised that James Harden publicly called out top executive Daryl Morey and the team still expects him to report to training camp, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

A league source told Pompey that Morey wasn’t caught off guard by Harden’s attempt to make things personal, given his agent’s reaction to the news that the Sixers weren’t able to find a suitable trade. Harden made his frustration public when he called Morey a “liar” during an event in China.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported over the weekend that the Sixers had suspended trade talks regarding Harden, who requested a deal this offseason — preferably to the Clippers.

Subsequently, The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported that Harden was firm in his stance about not wanting to play in Philadelphia. Harden reportedly doesn’t plan to report to training camp if he’s still on the roster, though that could jeopardize his free agent status for next offseason under the terms of the new CBA.

Harden opted out of his $47.4MM contract last summer and accepted a two-year deal worth $68.64MM, which helped Philadelphia make offseason moves to upgrade the roster. Harden picked up his $35.6MM option for the upcoming season with the desire to be traded, since the Sixers were unwilling to negotiate a contract with him prior to the free agency period, according to Pompey.

James Harden: “Daryl Morey Is A Liar”

August 14th, 2023 at 7:51am CST by Arthur Hill

James Harden has fired the first salvo in his battle with Sixers management, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (video link). Harden, who’s on a marketing tour for Adidas, blasted president of basketball operations Daryl Morey during an event in China and vowed never to play for him again.

“Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden told the crowd. “Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”

Harden and Morey have a long working relationship, dating back to when Morey brought him to Houston as general manager of the Rockets in a 2012 trade. Morey was thrilled to reacquire Harden in a 2022 deal, driving to the airport to pick him up when he arrived in Philadelphia.

Things began to sour as Harden approached the deadline for his decision on a $35.6MM option for 2023/24. After signing for well below market value last summer to help the Sixers build up their roster, Harden was expecting a generous, long-term offer from the team. However, once Houston elected not to pursue him, Harden didn’t have another bidder and he wasn’t happy with what Morey and the 76ers were offering.

Instead of testing free agency, Harden picked up the option in late June and demanded to be traded. The Clippers were reportedly his first choice, but Philadelphia and L.A. weren’t able to make much progress in trade talks.

The situation has been quiet for several weeks, but it heated up Saturday night when the Sixers leaked a report to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that they have ceased trade talks involving Harden. Harden’s camp responded by stating that his decision to leave the organization is firm and he’s prepared to hold out of training camp if he’s not traded.

Harden is set to become a free agent next summer, but he risks that status if he chooses not to report to the Sixers, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, a player withholding services from his team for more than 30 days “shall be deemed not to have “complet[ed] his Player Contract by rendering the playing services called for thereunder.” That means Harden couldn’t sign with another team in 2024 without the Sixers’ consent.

As several writers have noted, Harden has a history of making things uncomfortable after submitting trade requests in Houston and Brooklyn. He appears to be pursuing the same strategy with Philadelphia, and today’s comments could be the start of a long, bitter standoff.