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Patrick Beverley Says He Tore Ligament In Wrist

March 27th, 2024 at 10:43am CST by Luke Adams

After missing Tuesday’s game vs. his former Lakers team due to what the Bucks called a right wrist sprain, Patrick Beverley revealed on his latest podcast that the diagnosis is more serious than that. According to Beverley, who underwent X-rays and an MRI, he has a torn ligament in his right wrist (Twitter video clip).

Beverley said he was informed that he would require surgery to repair the tear and that the procedure would likely sideline him for three to four months.

However, the Bucks guard gave no indication that he’s prepared to go under the knife immediately, suggesting that he plans to do all he can to return to the court this season and play through the injury, perhaps postponing surgery until the summer.

According to Beverley, he sustained the injury when he missed a dunk attempt during warmups prior to Sunday’s game against the Thunder. He was active for that game and was a +12 in 15 minutes, though he missed both of his shots from the floor, as well as one of two free throws.

If they ultimately have to shut down Beverley for the season, it would be a tough blow for the Bucks, who sent Cameron Payne and a second-round pick to the Sixers in exchange for the veteran at February’s trade deadline in an effort to add toughness and upgrade their perimeter defense.

Beverley has struggled to score efficiently since arriving in Milwaukee, making just 34.4% on his field goal attempts, but the 35-year-old has been a regular rotation player, averaging 19.6 MPG in 19 appearances, including two starts.

It’s worth noting that the Bucks have a -5.5 overall net rating in Beverley’s 372 minutes on the court, compared to a +11.7 net mark in the 598 minutes he hasn’t played since joining the roster.

We’ll have to wait for an update from Beverley, the team, or a reporter to get a clearer sense of the treatment plan for the wrist, as well as his availability going forward.

Lakers Notes: Russell, Vanderbilt, LeBron, Davis, Reaves

March 27th, 2024 at 9:30am CST by Luke Adams

D’Angelo Russell‘s strong play over the past few months – including 22.0 PPG and 6.8 APG with a .449 3PT% in his last 31 games – has made turning down his $18.7MM player option for 2024/25 and testing free agency a more viable option for the Lakers‘ point guard. However, he tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype that his preference would be to remain in Los Angeles.

“I’d love to be here and continue to give it a run and be where my feet are now,” Russell said. “Obviously, I’ve been on the other side of it, and I’ve been through the roller coaster of free agency and having to sit back and wait. I’m looking forward to not having to worry about that. I’ve been blessed enough to put myself in this position with my play. I’m definitely planning on taking advantage of that. When that time comes, I feel that everything will play out how it’s supposed to play out.”

Even if he decides against picking up his player option, Russell could return to the Lakers, who would hold his Bird rights in that scenario and would be in a good position to sign him to a new contract.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt, who has been out since February 1 due to a left foot sprain, is ramping up his conditioning but has yet to be cleared for contact or to participate fully in practices, head coach Darvin Ham said on Tuesday (Twitter link via Jovan Buha of The Athletic).
LeBron James sent a text message to TNT’s Chris Haynes prior to Tuesday’s game, confirming that his absence vs. the Bucks was about managing his ongoing ankle soreness rather than any sort of setback (Twitter video link). “With my injury, I have to be very strategic and smart of how I manage the rest of the season with my ankle/foot in order to get to the finish line,” James wrote. “Whatever line that lies ahead.” According to Haynes, the expectation is that LeBron will be available against the Grizzlies in Memphis on Wednesday.
With James out on Tuesday, Anthony Davis stepped up in a big way in Milwaukee, logging nearly 53 minutes and putting up 34 points and 23 rebounds in a double-overtime road win, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Austin Reaves chipped in with a 29-point triple-double to help lead the team to the comeback victory. “I just think we’re an unpredictable team,” Russell said. “So depends on which team you get, depends on which team we are defensively, offensively as a unit. Some guys are better than others (some nights). Some guys have bad nights. It just depends on what team we’re going to be. When we’re in full effect like tonight — obviously, no Bron — but, I think we’ll be hard to beat.”

Southeast Notes: Bridges, T. Young, Heat, Bryant

March 27th, 2024 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

After missing all of last season due to felony domestic violence charges, Miles Bridges has been the Hornets‘ consistent player on the court this season, according to Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer, who expects the veteran forward to “have a major influence” on the team beyond this season.

“I know I’m not in charge of all that stuff, but having him back with this team would be very crucial with LaMelo (Ball) and guys getting healthy and Mark (Williams) and those guys getting back,” teammate Grant Williams said. “I think it puts us in a great position. He does a phenomenal job of being a leader. He’s trying to change all this perception around the league and I think he’s done a phenomenal job of that.”

Bridges will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason after accepting his qualifying offer as a restricted free agent during the summer of 2023. He told the Hornets prior to last month’s trade deadline that he wouldn’t approve a trade, since he wanted to remain in Charlotte and retain his full Bird rights, so the club will be in position to re-sign him this offseason without needing cap room to do so.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

The Hawks issued a brief update on injured guard Trae Young on Tuesday, as Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution relays (via Twitter). The team said that Young – who hasn’t played since February 23 – is making progress in his recovery from a torn ligament in his finger and will “introduce small finger motion exercises” this week.
The Heat‘s franchise record for the most starting lineups in a season continued to grow on Tuesday, as the team deployed its 35th different group of 2023/24, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. With Jimmy Butler sidelined, a pair of in-season additions – Terry Rozier and Patty Mills – joined Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jovic, and rookie Jaime Jaquez in the starting five.
When the Heat signed Thomas Bryant in free agency last offseason, the plan was for him to be the club’s backup center, but he saw inconsistent minutes during the first half of the season as Kevin Love claimed that role. As Winderman writes for The Sun Sentinel, Love’s recent absence has opened the door for Bryant to play more regularly and he has averaged 7.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 13.9 minutes per game across Miami’s past eight contests. “It’s been a journey,” Bryant said of his first season with the Heat. “For me, I just try to be as available for as many minutes as are out there.”

Knicks Draft-And-Stash Prospect Plans To Play Summer League

March 26th, 2024 at 9:56pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Knicks draft-and-stash player Rokas Jokubaitis is expected to leave FC Barcelona and play in the Summer League to pursue an NBA career, Alessandro Luigi Maggi of Sportando tweets.

Jokubaitis, 23, was selected with the No. 34 pick of the 2021 draft. The Thunder traded his draft rights to the Knicks that evening. He appeared in three Summer League games that year.

Jokubaitis reportedly signed a four-year contract with Barcelona in 2021 with options on the deal for each of those seasons. According to Maggi, Zalgiris Kaunas of Lithuania is the favorite to sign the 6’4″ guard if he remains in Europe.

In 28 EuroLeague games this season, Jokubaitis averaged 5.7 points and 3.1 assists in 16.6 minutes. He has made 41.3% of his 3-point attempts in his international career.

Central Notes: Morris, DeRozan, Terry, Cunningham, Duren

March 26th, 2024 at 8:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Cavaliers forward Marcus Morris, who is on a 10-day contract, was ejected from Monday’s win over the Hornets, according to ESPN News Services. Morris threw a high elbow that struck Charlotte center Nick Richards in the jaw.

Morris said he wanted to send a message to his new Cavaliers teammates: “There’s been a lot of grueling games and I was just wanted to toughen us up. Step in front of it like, listen this is what’s going to be expected moving forward, not just for today. Set the precedent going into the playoffs. We’re not about to have anybody coming in here and doing what they want to do. I wanted to play the game, I didn’t want to get thrown out, but I definitely wanted to put a little lick on him. I was happy the way we responded.”

We have more from the Central Division:

The Bulls lost by two points to Washington on Monday. DeMar DeRozan was angry that his team didn’t take advantage of a matchup against a depleted team playing out the string, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “All these games matter. You want to be playing good basketball towards this part of the season,” DeRozan said. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to be pissed off until we get back out on the court. We shouldn’t drop games like this right now. We’re resilient. But we can’t live on the edge every game. We gotta leave it out there these last 10 games. We can’t have no more excuses. We gotta play like your life depends on it.”
Bulls forward Dalen Terry has been working on his three-point shot since being drafted in the first round in 2022. However, it hasn’t shown on the court. He’s shooting 24.1% from deep this season. “I definitely believe it’s going to be a real big offseason for me, just taking care of my shot,” Terry told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times.
The Pistons are listing Cade Cunningham as questionable and Jalen Duren as probable for Wednesday’s game at Minnesota, James Edwards III of The Athletic tweets. Cunningham has missed the last two games due to knee soreness, while Duren has sat out three games due to back spasms.

Suns Notes: Allen, Beal, Nurkic, Spurs Loss, Schedule

March 26th, 2024 at 7:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns play the Nuggets on Wednesday. It’s also a significant day for wing Grayson Allen.

Allen becomes eligible tomorrow for a four-year extension that could be worth up to $75MM. If he doesn’t sign an extension, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent, with the Suns holding his Bird rights. If he were to sign an extension with a maximum starting salary of $16.4MM, Phoenix’s luxury tax bill projects to jump another $65-70MM, Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic notes.

“I try not to think about it too much,” Allen said about a potential offer. “One, because it’s not a done deal until it’s signed. You don’t want to count it, start counting stuff too early before it happens. Another part of is it’s March and we’ve got 11, 10 games left. We’re getting at a time where you don’t want to have stuff like that on your mind cause it’s an individual goal for me and right now, it’s the Suns and team stuff. I don’t want to think about that kind of stuff too much.”

We have more on the Suns:

Not only did the Suns lose to San Antonio on Monday, they came out of the game with a couple of new injuries, ESPN’s Andrew Lopez tweets. Bradley Beal left with a sprained right ring finger late and could not return. X-rays were negative. Jusuf Nurkic left the game earlier with a sprained right ankle. Neither one practiced on Tuesday, according to Rankin (Twitter links). They’re listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game, Gerald Bourguet of GoPhnx.com tweets.
The Suns had defeated the Spurs by 25 points two days earlier and San Antonio didn’t have Victor Wembanyama in the lineup during the rematch. Yet the Spurs were able to pull out a two-point win against a team fighting for playoff position. “It’s disappointment,” Beal told Lopez and other reporters. “We came in here and laid an egg. We thought it was going to be easy with no Wemby. Just got our (butt) kicked. They came out aggressive, just like Coach (Frank Vogel) told us they would, and we didn’t respond. Well, we did, but we didn’t withstand their punches.”
Phoenix’s final 10 opponents have a combined winning percentage of .648, Lopez notes. According to ESPN, it’s the toughest final 10-game stretch for any team since the 2015/16 Grizzlies. However, Vogel said that shouldn’t impact how the Suns finish. “We like our chances against anybody,” he said. “We don’t worry about the schedule.”

Warriors Notes: Curry, Jackson-Davis, Looney, Next Season

March 26th, 2024 at 5:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The offensive burden on Stephen Curry is greater than ever, Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic writes. The Warriors currently don’t have a steady No. 2 scoring option and they’re 18-20 this season when Curry scores fewer than 30 points.

“We can’t expect to just ride Steph game after game after game,” coach Steve Kerr said, adding, “… We’ve put the burden of this franchise on his shoulders for 15 years.”

We have more on the Warriors:

In a subscriber-only story, Kerr tells The Indianapolis Star’s Dustin Dopirak how former Indiana University star Trayce Jackson-Davis has impacted the team in his first season. “Trayce is just incredibly mature for a rookie,” Kerr said. “He’s a little bit like the bigs who came into the league way back when I came in. Lots of college experience. Already grounded in the fundamentals of the game. It’s easy to throw stuff at him, sort of NBA stuff that he hasn’t seen before and expect him to pick up on it because he’s got this great fundamental base.” The second-rounder is averaging 7.4 points and 4.5 rebounds in 14.9 minutes through 57 games. He missed Tuesday’s game in Miami due to knee soreness, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets.
Kevon Looney said he learned valuable lessons from Dejan Milojevic, the assistant who died suddenly in January. “Deki was a great coach. He was brutally honest, but he always had a smile on his face,” Looney told Hoops Hype’s Sam Yip. “He’s always joyful. He made coming into work that much better, and that much more fun. I had the best years of my career learning from him, learning different footwork, learning the different nuances of offensive rebounding, and learning how to finish. He wasn’t the biggest guy, but he scored a lot of points overseas, he was one of the best scorers in his league, and he was undersized. So he taught me different things about leverage, pump-fakes, angles, and different things like that.”
While the Warriors haven’t given up this season, they may be looking at next season to make one last push for another championship with this core group, Tim Kawakami of The Athletic opines.

Poll: Final Western Conference Play-In Spot

March 26th, 2024 at 4:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Two weeks ago, when word broke that the Rockets would likely be without star center Alperen Sengun for the rest of the season due to injuries to his knee and ankle, it looked like we could safely pencil in the Western Conference’s 10 playoff and/or play-in teams.

At that time, the No. 11 Rockets trailed the No. 10 Warriors by five games in the standings, and with Sengun going down, it appeared very likely that Houston would be headed for the lottery, where the club would hope to get lucky and hang onto its top-four protected first-round pick.

Instead, the Rockets have been the NBA’s best team since Sengun’s injury, going 7-0 with a +15.3 net rating during that time.

After ranking in the middle of the pack in three-point attempts and pace of play for most of the season, Houston has been in the top five in both categories over the past seven games as the club has opted to play faster and spread the floor more by starting Jabari Smith Jr. as a small-ball center. Jalen Green, in particular, has thrived this month, averaging 27.8 points per game on .496/.409/.800 shooting in March.

The Warriors, meanwhile, have played up-and-down ball for much of the season, and the last few weeks have been no exception. Golden State (36-34) has lost six of its past nine games, including its last two, and now holds just a half-game lead on Houston (36-35) for the No. 10 seed in the West.

There’s some good news for the Warriors. For one, they hold the tiebreaker edge over Houston. The Rockets have also benefited from playing several of the league’s worst teams since Sengun’s injury, including the Spurs, Jazz, Trail Blazers, and Wizards (twice). Their schedule will get more difficult down the stretch — Tankathon says Houston has the seventh-most difficult remaining slate, while Golden State’s is 25th.

Still, the Rockets are on fire, and eight of Golden State’s next 10 games are on the road, including an April 4 matchup in Houston. The Warriors also can’t bet on passing another team to stay in play-in territory if the Rockets pass them in the standings, since they’ve fallen 2.5 games back of the No. 9 Lakers and are five games behind anyone else in the West.

The veteran Warriors are still considered far more likely than the upstart Rockets to participate in the play-in tournament, per BetOnline.ag, but it’s certainly no longer a lock.

We want to know what you think. Will the Rockets surpass the Warriors to claim a play-in spot, or will Golden State hang onto that No. 10 spot?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

Western Notes: LeBron, Vincent, Daniels, Gobert, Kyrie

March 26th, 2024 at 3:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers, looking to make up ground in the Western Conference playoff race, won’t have LeBron James available on Tuesday in Milwaukee for the first game of their six-game road trip, the team announced today (Twitter link via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski). James has been ruled out due to his ongoing left ankle issues.

Elsewhere on the Lakers injury front, while there was a belief that Gabe Vincent may have been able to return by now following left knee surgery, he remains on the shelf and isn’t with the team in Milwaukee, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

According to McMenamin, if Vincent continues to make good progress in his rehab work, there’s a chance he’ll join the Lakers at some point during the current road trip, which runs through next Wednesday (April 3).

Pelicans guard Dyson Daniels, who underwent knee surgery in February after tearing his meniscus, appears to be nearing a return. The team announced today (via Twitter) that Daniels has been assigned to the G League and will be available to play for the Birmingham Squadron on Wednesday. The second-year wing hasn’t been active since February 9.
Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert played in his 65th game of the season on Sunday and is now eligible for end-of-season awards, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). That benchmark is significant for Gobert, who is the current frontrunner to earn the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year honor this season.
After requesting trades out of Cleveland and Brooklyn and leaving Boston in free agency, Kyrie Irving has had a relatively calm, drama-free stint in Dallas so far. Marc Stein explores why that’s the case, writing at Substack that Irving has been willing to sacrifice, the Mavericks have built him a strong support system, and he and Luka Doncic have a genuine affinity for one another.

Raptors Notes: Porter, Quickley, Barrett, Barnes, Poeltl

March 26th, 2024 at 2:07pm CST by Luke Adams

In the wake of news that Jontay Porter is being investigated by the NBA following multiple instances of betting irregularities, his Raptors teammates discussed the issue with reporters in general terms on Monday night, with Garrett Temple (an NBPA vice president) stressing that nothing has been proven yet, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

While Raptors players weren’t willing to speculate or go into much detail about Porter’s situation specifically, they spoke about the impact that the increasing popularity – and legality – of sports betting has had on them. Forward Jordan Nwora said that “people bet on silly things on a daily basis” and that players hear about it “non-stop” when they don’t reach certain benchmarks.

“(Hearing from fans) has been a part of it for probably the past two or three years,” Raptors wing Ochai Agbaji added. “And fans, you know, slamming you for not hitting their bet, that’s an every night thing for every single one of us in this locker room.”

The widespread legalization of sports betting is a fairly recent development, which the NBA and other major sports leagues are still learning how to navigate. Temple acknowledged the venue that gambling brings in is significant, while also pointing out that it’s a bit “awkward” to have major betting outlets serving as NBA sponsors.

“You watch a game, and you may see FanDuel or DraftKings as a big-time sponsor for a team, but obviously it’s illegal for us to (bet on) any type of professional basketball … we understand that,” Temple said. “Sports betting has always been around, it just obviously is even more available. But as players, you don’t really think about it. As a veteran, I don’t really think about it as much because (not betting on basketball) has always been a rule. It’s not as if a rule change happened. So it is awkward but at the same time, like I say, we understand what we’re getting ourselves into.”

Here’s more on Porter and the Raptors:

DraftKings wasn’t the only sportsbook to get significant action on Porter prop bets on the dates the NBA is looking into, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and David Purdum (Twitter link). A source tells ESPN that multiple bettors attempted to wager significant amounts (“upwards of $10-20K”) on Porter unders for that January 26 game that the forward left early due to what the team said was an aggravation of his eye injury.
Adam Laskaris of Daily Hive takes a deep dive into Porter’s social media history, detailing how the Raptors forward maintained an account under the moniker “TayTrades11” to share financial advice and noting that he promoted a college basketball parlay bet at least once. There’s no indication that any of that activity was illegal or prohibited by league rules, but I imagine the NBA will take a close look at the account as part of its probe.
Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, who have both been away from the Raptors for personal reasons, participated in Tuesday’s practice and are considered day-to-day, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. However, both players will remain sidelined for Wednesday’s game vs. their former Knicks team as they ramp up their conditioning, per Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link).
Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl, who are both recovering from hand surgeries, are doing a bit of light on-court work but haven’t been cleared for contact, Lewenberg adds, tweeting that it’s still up in the air whether either player will return this season.
With the Raptors dealing with a series of injuries on the court and various challenges off of it – including the investigation into Porter and the recent death of Barrett’s brother – Kelly Olynyk looked to find a silver lining in what has been a “really tough” stretch. “A lot of guys are getting opportunities here that they may not have gotten (elsewhere),” Olynyk said (Twitter link via Lewenberg). “I hope that they’re seizing those opportunities and taking advantage of them to the best of their abilities, and hopefully they can parlay it into something for them that maybe they wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to do (elsewhere).”