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Cavs’ Mitchell, Suns’ Booker Named Players Of The Month

February 1st, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Rory Maher

Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell and Suns guard Devin Booker have been named Players of the Month for games played in January, the league announced on Thursday (Twitter link).

Mitchell, the Eastern Conference winner, averaged 28.6 PPG, 7.6 APG, 5.2 RPG and 2.1 SPG on .473/.357/.812 shooting last month. He helped lead Cleveland to an 11-2 record in January, despite missing starters Darius Garland and Evan Mobley for most of those games.

Mitchell, 28, is only the second player in Cavs history to be named the East’s Player of the Month, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. LeBron James earned the award 26 times in his two stints with the team.

Booker, the West’s winner, averaged 30.0 PPG, 6.3 APG, 4.4 RPG and 1.1 SPG on .539/.400/.860 shooting in 16 games last month. Phoenix went 11-5 over that span. According to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports (Twitter link), Booker, the reigning Player of the Week, now holds the most Player of the Month awards in Suns franchise history with three, passing several noteworthy players who had two.

According to the NBA, the other nominees in the West were Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaren Jackson Jr., Nikola Jokic, Kawhi Leonard, Lauri Markkanen and Domantas Sabonis, while Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paolo Banchero, Jalen Brunson, Joel Embiid, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner and Coby White were nominated in the East (Twitter links).

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Knicks’ Julius Randle To Be Reevaluated In 2-3 Weeks

February 1st, 2024 at 2:13pm CST by Rory Maher

Two-time All-NBA forward Julius Randle will be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks after sustaining a dislocated right shoulder last Saturday against Miami, the Knicks announced (on Twitter).

The news was expected and doesn’t reveal much beyond the fact that Randle will be sidelined through at least the All-Star break, as that’s the time period (February 15-22) when he’ll be reevaluated, observes Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Randle, 29, had appeared in every game this season for the Knicks prior to the injury, which came as Jaime Jaquez attempted to draw a change late in the fourth quarter on Saturday. Randle landed awkwardly with his right arm extended, then headed toward the training staff and was taken to the locker room for X-rays.

The two-time All-Star has missed the past two contests, both victories, and will miss at least seven more games before the All-Star break. The Knicks are the hottest team in the league, having won 14 of their past 16 games.

With Randle sidelined, Josh Hart has started in his place and seen a major uptick in minutes, with Precious Achiuwa also sliding down to power forward at times in addition to playing center.

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NBA Fines Sixers, Pelicans For Injury Reporting Violations

February 1st, 2024 at 12:39pm CST by Rory Maher

The Sixers and Pelicans have each been fined for injury reporting violations, the NBA announced (via Twitter).

Philadelphia was fined $75K for failing to include MVP center Joel Embiid on the injury report “in an accurate and timely manner” prior to Saturday’s game in Denver, while the Pelicans were fined $25K for a similar infraction involving Trey Murphy on Saturday vs. Milwaukee.

According to the NBA, the 76ers’ harsher punishment “takes into account Philadelphia’s prior history of fines for violating injury reporting rules. The league review confirmed there was no violation of player participation policy because Embiid’s absence was due to a confirmed injury.”

Embiid has missed two of the past three games with left knee soreness and will be sidelined for Thursday’s contest in Utah. He’s set to undergo additional testing today.

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, half the money from the team fines will go to the NBA and half will go to the NBPA.

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Joel Embiid Out Thursday, Will Receive More Tests On Knee

January 31st, 2024 at 5:10pm CST by Luke Adams

5:10pm: Embiid will be out for Thursday’s game in Utah and will undergo more tests on his left knee in the next 24 hours, a Sixers team official tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

7:34am: Sixers big man Joel Embiid returned to action on Tuesday in Golden State following a two-game absence due to left knee soreness. However, as Kyle Neubeck of AllPHLY.com writes, the superstar center was laboring for much of the game and didn’t look like himself.

Things went from bad to worse with just over four minutes left in the fourth quarter, when Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga fell on Embiid’s left knee while scrambling for a loose ball (YouTube video link). As Kendra Andrews of ESPN details, Embiid immediately grabbed the knee and was in “visible pain.” He exited the game, didn’t return, and will undergo an MRI on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters after the game, head coach Nick Nurse said Tuesday’s injury was “kind of unrelated to what’s been bothering” Embiid, even though it appeared to affect the same knee. According to Andrews, Nurse added that the 76ers’ medical staff had cleared the reigning MVP to play and Embiid said he was “feeling good.”

“He said he’s more rusty — he hadn’t been on the court in five days — but he said he felt good,” Nurse said. “He felt like he wasn’t quite playing like his normal self, but he felt like that was more rust and rhythm than it was anything else.”

Embiid submitted his worst performance of the season prior to the injury, scoring 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting with eight turnovers in just under 30 minutes. Philadelphia, which lost the game by 12 points, was outscored by 21 when he was on the court.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne recently reported that Embiid’s left knee issues are something that he and the team will have to manage for the rest of the year, and a team source confirmed to Sam Amick of The Athletic that the big man has been dealing with soreness in that knee all season.

According to Amick, there was no immediate concern after the game that Emibid’s latest knee injury is a significant one, but there was a “strong sense” he’ll need to miss at least a few more games. That’s notable not only because the Sixers have slipped to fifth in the Eastern Conference standings, but because the seven-time All-Star has already been sidelined for 12 games this season. Six more absences would cost him a shot to repeat as MVP.

[RELATED: Minimum Game Requirement Looms Large For Award Candidates]

Amick suggests there are people within the Sixers locker room convinced that Embiid only played on Tuesday because of the scrutiny he has faced due to recent absences — particularly Saturday’s in Denver. Whether or not the 65-game required minimum for end-of-season award winners played a part in his return isn’t known, but the sentiments expressed in Philadelphia’s locker room toward that rule after the game weren’t exactly positive.

“I didn’t sign up for that (65-game rule),” Paul Reed said. “I don’t remember signing no paperwork, you feel me? I guess the union okayed it. They probably didn’t have a choice though, to be honest. Yeah, it’s tough. It adds a lot of pressure to the players. We were just talking about that. A lot of pressure, especially dudes like (Embiid who are) trying to get MVP again.”

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Anthony Edwards Fined $40K By NBA

January 31st, 2024 at 12:29pm CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards has received a $40K fine from the NBA for “repeatedly publicly criticizing the officiating,” the league announced today in a press release (via Twitter).

As we previously relayed, Edwards was highly critical of the referees’ performance in Minnesota’s victory over Oklahoma City. Although the Wolves came away with the win, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had more free throw attempts on his own (16) than Minnesota had as a team (15), and Edwards felt that he earned far more than his four trips to the line.

“The refs was bad tonight. Yeah, they was terrible. We was playing 8-on-5,” Edwards said after the game, among other comments. “The cat got their tongue tonight, so it’s all good. It’s not fair, but it’s all good.”

The NBA’s reference to Edwards “repeatedly” criticizing the officiating may just reflect the fact that he made several separate remarks after Monday’s game, including in the Timberwolves’ TV broadcast and to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. The NBA didn’t cite any other examples in today’s announcement.

It’s also possible that the league felt Edwards’ remarks on Monday represented the culmination of a series of related criticisms of the officiating.

As we previously outlined, Monday wasn’t even the first instance this month of Edwards complaining about the whistle that Gilgeous-Alexander gets — he told reporters after a January 20 loss to Oklahoma City that “you can’t touch (SGA) any time of the game,” adding that it was difficult to beat the Thunder “when they’re getting calls like that.”

For the sake of comparison, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic was fined $25K for a postgame rant ripping the officiating earlier this month, while Kings head coach Mike Brown received a $50K fine for his officiating criticisms a couple weeks ago.

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Marc Gasol Announces Retirement

January 31st, 2024 at 11:54am CST by Luke Adams

Longtime NBA center Marc Gasol officially announced his retirement as a player on Wednesday, as relayed by Spanish outlet Diario Sport. Gasol has posted a formal five-minute video announcement on his Twitter account.

The 48th overall pick in the 2007 draft, Gasol didn’t enter the NBA with significant fanfare as a draft-and-stash prospect in 2008 after his rights were traded from the Lakers to the Grizzlies in a package for his brother Pau Gasol. However, he quickly emerged as a reliable starter in the middle and became a key member of the “Grit and Grind” Grizzlies, spending more than 10 seasons with the franchise.

An All-Star in 2012, 2015, and 2017 and the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, Gasol was eventually traded from Memphis to Toronto at the 2019 deadline and was the starting center for the Raptors team that won a championship that season. After one more year in Toronto, he spent the 2020/21 season with the Lakers.

In an echo of the start of his NBA career, Gasol was once again traded in September of 2021 from the Lakers to the Grizzlies, who subsequently waived him. That was the last time he was on an NBA roster. The 39-year-old spent the next two seasons with Basquet Girona, the team he owns and runs in Spain.

While Gasol indicated about two years ago that he hadn’t ruled out the possibility of an NBA return, he’s closing that door today with his official retirement announcement.

Gasol averaged 14.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.4 blocks in 891 career regular season NBA games (32.2 MPG), posting a shooting line of .481/.360/.776. He also appeared in 99 playoff contests with the Grizzlies, Raptors, and Lakers and earned a pair of All-NBA nods, including a spot in the First Team in 2015.

In addition to returning to his home country of Spain to conclude his playing career, Gasol also represented the Spanish national team in many international competitions, winning World Cup championships in 2006 and 2019 and taking home Olympic silver medals from Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.

Grizzlies owner Robert Pera said at the time of Gasol’s trade to the Raptors that the franchise would one day retire his jersey (No. 33). The team could move forward on those plans now that the big man has formally retired.

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NBA, NBPA Finalize Plans For Two-Day Draft

January 31st, 2024 at 10:29am CST by Rory Maher

JANUARY 31: The NBA and the NBPA have now finalized plans for a two-day draft this June, reports Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

According to Woj (Twitter links), the first day of the draft will take place in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on June 26, while the second day will be held at ESPN’s Seaport studios in Manhattan on June 27. The time limit for first-round picks will remain at five minutes, but teams will be given four minutes (instead of two) to make second-round selections.

JANUARY 11: It still needs final approval from the National Basketball Players Association, but the NBA is planning to make this year’s draft a two-day event, held June 26 and 27 in Brooklyn, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The first day of the draft would conclude when the first round does, with the second day covering the second round. According to Wojnarowski, the NBA and the NBPA have had regular discussions about the plan.

In addition to more television air time, the NBA and its teams believe that having more time between the first and second rounds will allow for more trades and better planning, Wojnarowski writes, with teams “frustrated by the chaotic speed of the second round.” NBA teams currently have two minutes to make a second-round pick, versus five minutes for each first-round selection.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported in November that the NBA was considering making the draft a two-day event, with commissioner Adam Silver later confirming the league wanted to make the switch as soon as 2024.

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NBA Announces Player Pool For 2024 Rising Stars Event

January 30th, 2024 at 3:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially revealed the 11 rookies, 10 sophomores, and seven G League players who will take part in the Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend in Indianapolis next month.

The following players, as voted on by NBA coaching staffs, made the cut:

Rookies

Sophomores

G League Players

As was the case last season, the Rising Stars event will consist of four teams and three games. The seven G League players will comprise one team, coached by former NBA forward Detlef Schrempf. The other 21 players will be drafted to three squads coached by former NBA and WNBA stars Pau Gasol, Jalen Rose, and Tamika Catchings.

The four teams will be split into two first-round matchups and the winners of those two games will face one another for the Rising Stars championship. The two semifinals will be played to a target score of 40 points, while the final will be played to a target score of 25 points.

All three contests will take place on Friday, February 16 as part of All-Star weekend’s opening night.

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NBA Updates Salary Cap Projection For 2024/25

January 30th, 2024 at 12:49pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has informed its teams of a new salary cap estimate for the 2024/25 season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the league’s latest projection is for a $141MM cap.

That figure is still tentative, as the actual salary cap for ’24/25 won’t be finalized until the very end of the current league year this summer. Still, the NBA hadn’t issued a projection since last June, so teams now have a more up-to-date estimate to work with.

The salary cap can increase by a maximum of 10% each season and has risen by that amount in each of the past two years. Player agents have been optimistic about another sizable increase for 2024/25 — many of the reported figures for maximum-salary extensions that will go into effect next season have been based on a projected 10% jump.

However, the NBA hasn’t been nearly as bullish in its own formal projections. The league initially forecast a $142MM cap, which would have been about a 4.4% increase over this season’s $136,021,000 cap. A $141MM cap would represent an even more modest increase of 3.66%.

Here’s one example of how the projection will impact the extensions that begin in 2024/25: Jaylen Brown‘s five-year, super-max contract with the Celtics was reported at the time of its signing by many outlets to be worth $304MM, but that estimate was based on a projected 10% increase. If the cap comes in at $141MM, Brown’s deal would actually be worth just over $286MM — still a gigantic payday, obviously, but not the NBA’s first ever $300MM deal, as was suggested by some reporters last July.

If the cap comes in at $141MM, the minimum salary floor would be $126.9MM and the luxury tax line would be approximately $171.3MM. The first apron would come in around $178.7MM and the second apron would be just shy of $189.5MM.

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Knicks Re-Sign Taj Gibson To 10-Day Contract

January 30th, 2024 at 12:17pm CST by Luke Adams

12:17pm: The Knicks have officially confirmed Gibson’s new 10-day contract with the team (Twitter link).

10:17am: Just over three weeks after he was waived by the Knicks, veteran big man Taj Gibson has agreed to return to Tom Thibodeau‘s club. Gibson will sign a 10-day contract with New York, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

A Thibodeau favorite who played for the Knicks from 2019-22, Gibson signed a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract with the team on December 15 and appeared in 10 games, averaging 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 9.7 minutes per night.

Initially expected to merely provide some frontcourt depth and locker room leadership, the 38-year-old saw more playing time than anticipated due to injuries to centers Mitchell Robinson and Jericho Sims. However, when Sims got healthy and the Knicks traded for Precious Achiuwa, Gibson once again found himself pushed down the depth chart and was waived on January 7, just before his full-season salary could become guaranteed.

The Knicks have held that 15th roster spot open in recent weeks and once again have a need for frontcourt depth following Julius Randle‘s shoulder injury. Gibson likely won’t immediately step into New York’s rotation, but he’s a veteran whom the coaching staff trusts and can turn to if needed.

Assuming his deal is finalized today, Gibson will be under contract through next Thursday, February 8. He’ll earn a $183,704 salary over the course of his 10-day deal, while New York will carry a $116,075 cap hit.

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