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NBA Confirms Dillon Brooks’ One-Game Suspension

March 4th, 2023 at 2:23pm CST by Luke Adams

Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks has been suspended without pay for one game and will miss Sunday’s contest in Los Angeles against the Clippers, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).

Brooks’ suspension was automatically triggered when he picked up his 16th technical foul of the season on Friday vs. Denver.

A player receives a one-game suspension when he compiles 16 technical fouls in a season, and then is suspended for one additional game for every two technicals he gets beyond that. For instance, Brooks would be handed another one-game ban if he gets to 18 techs before the end of the regular season. That total resets at the start of the postseason (playoff suspensions begin once a player gets to seven postseason techs).

If the NBA had decided to rescind Brooks’ 16th technical, he could have avoided a suspension, but that didn’t happen.

It’s Brooks’ second suspension of the season. He was also forced to sit out one game following an altercation with Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.

The Grizzlies suddenly find themselves missing several key rotation players for Sunday’s contest in L.A. In addition to Brooks, Memphis will be without Ja Morant, who is away from the team amid off-court controversy, and Brandon Clarke, whose season ended when he suffered an Achilles tear on Friday.

Grizzlies’ Brandon Clarke Suffers Torn Achilles, Out For Season

March 4th, 2023 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke will miss the rest of the 2022/23 season after sustaining a torn left Achilles tendon, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The Grizzlies have put out a statement (via Twitter) confirming the diagnosis and announcing that Clarke will be out indefinitely. He’s expected to make a full recovery, per the team.

It’s a brutal blow for Clarke, who exited Friday’s game vs. Denver in the first quarter due to a non-contact lower leg injury that was feared to be serious. It generally takes upwards of a year for an NBA player to return from an Achilles tear, so Clarke is unlikely to be ready to go by the time the ’23/24 season gets underway in the fall.

Clarke, who signed a four-year, $50MM contract extension with the Grizzlies last fall, was having another strong season, averaging 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in 56 appearances (19.5 MPG) while shooting a career-high 65.6% from the field.

The 26-year-old has been an important part of Memphis’ frontcourt rotation along with Steven Adams, Jaren Jackson, and Santi Aldama. With Clarke sidelined, the Grizzlies may have to lean more heavily on reserves like David Roddy and Xavier Tillman. The team could look to free agency to fortify its front line, but doesn’t currently have an open spot on its 15-man roster.

It has been a day of bad news in Memphis, as the Clarke update comes shortly on the heels of an announcement that Ja Morant will miss at least the next two games while the NBA investigates a video that appeared to show him brandishing a gun at a strip club.

NBA Investigating Ja Morant Social Media Post

March 4th, 2023 at 11:32am CST by Luke Adams

After an Instagram Live stream late on Friday night appeared to show Grizzlies guard Ja Morant flashing a gun while at a strip club (Twitter video link), the NBA has announced that it’s looking into the incident, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

“We are aware of a social media post involving Ja Morant and are investigating,” league spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement.

While he continues to perform at an All-Star level for the 38-24 Grizzlies on the court this season, Morant has been at the center of a number of off-court allegations.

Morant got into an altercation with a 17-year-old during a pickup game at his house last July and punched the teen several times, claiming later that it was in self-defense. Morant was also accused of threatening a security guard at a Memphis mall and was reportedly involved in a confrontation with members of the Pacers’ traveling party after a January game, resulting in some of his associates being banned from the Grizzlies’ home arena.

Morant hasn’t faced any criminal charges as a result of those allegations, but the growing list of stories about his actions off the court is worrisome, given that the 23-year-old is one of the NBA’s most promising and exciting young stars.

The timing of Friday’s social media stream also reflects a lack of judgment from Morant, given that The Washington Post published a new report about those off-court incidents just a few days ago, prompting the 23-year-old’s lawyer and agent to strongly defend him in statements on Twitter.

Jazz Sign Kris Dunn To Second 10-Day Contract

March 4th, 2023 at 11:07am CST by Luke Adams

11:07am: Dunn’s second 10-day deal with the Jazz is now official, per NBA.com’s transaction log. It will cover Utah’s next five games.

7:09am: Kris Dunn‘s 10-day contract with the Jazz expired after Friday’s game, but the veteran guard isn’t going anywhere. Utah intends to sign Dunn to a second 10-day deal, sources with knowledge of the situation tell Sarah Todd of The Deseret News (Twitter link).

Dunn, who joined the Jazz following a stint in the G League, immediately claimed a spot in the rotation during his first 10 days with his new team, helping to fill in for injured guards Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson.

The former fifth overall pick averaged 12.0 points, 4.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 22.3 minutes per night across four appearances. A career 42.0% shooter from the floor entering this season, Dunn has scored more efficiently in his first few games in Utah, making 52.5% of his field goal attempts.

A player is permitted to sign up to two 10-day contracts with the same team in a given season, so at the end of his second 10-day deal, Utah will have to decide whether to sign Dunn for the rest of the season or let him walk.

Frank Jackson‘s 10-day contract with the Jazz also expired following Friday’s game, but the team’s plans for him aren’t yet clear. Unlike Dunn, Jackson didn’t play a regular role on his first 10-day deal, logging just five minutes in a single appearance.

Even after re-signing Dunn, Utah will have two openings on its 15-man roster, giving the club plenty of flexibility to audition other players 10 days at a time.

Meyers Leonard Signs Second 10-Day Deal With Bucks

March 4th, 2023 at 11:05am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

MARCH 4: Leonard has officially signed a new 10-day deal with the Bucks, according to NBA.com’s transaction log. It will run through March 13, making Leonard eligible for six more games.

MARCH 2: Veteran big man Meyers Leonard is signing a second consecutive 10-day contract with the Bucks, sources inform Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). The seven-foot center’s first 10-day deal will expire on Friday night.

Newly-anointed Eastern Conference coach of the month Mike Budenholzer had high praise for his new bench big, as Eric Nehm of The Athletic tweets.

“Just to bring his size and physicality, I think it’s an area that maybe the roster, is one of the things it doesn’t have and he fills that need and still has the ability to make threes and spread the court,” Budenholzer said, per Nehm. “He just has a lot of basketball characteristics that fit us. The human’s been great. He’s fit in quickly with the locker room.”

Leonard, a career 39.1% three-point shooter, signed his first 10-day deal with the Bucks late last month. Through four games, the 30-year-old is averaging 2.8 PPG and 2.0 RPG for Milwaukee. Those four contests represent the big man’s first NBA action since March 2021.

A combination of personal controversy and ankle and shoulder surgery recoveries have kept him sidelined in the intervening seasons. Leonard was flipped from the Heat to the Thunder after using an antisemitic slur during a video game live stream. Oklahoma City subsequently released him, and he had not been rostered since.

Southwest Notes: Mamukelashvili, Spurs, Clarke, Ingram, Mavs

March 4th, 2023 at 10:10am CST by Luke Adams

When a team with a full 15-man roster trades for a new player, it must waive someone to make room for the newcomer — that’s true even if the plan is to immediately cut the newly acquired player, as we saw when the Spurs traded for Noah Vonleh in January.

However, the Spurs were able to claim Sandro Mamukelashvili‘s two-way contract off waivers on Friday despite not making any related moves with Dominick Barlow or Julian Champagnie, their current two-way players.

Teams aren’t permitted to carry more than two players on two-way contracts, but as Bobby Marks of ESPN explains (via Twitter), the Mamukelashvili claim was made possible because the Spurs opened a spot on their standard roster (by waiving Isaiah Roby) and immediately promoted Mamukelashvili to fill that spot by unilaterally converting his deal to a standard rest-of-season contract.

If the Spurs had wanted to keep Mamukelashvili on his two-way deal or to negotiate a standard contract with him that covered two or more seasons, they wouldn’t have had the same roster flexibility and would have been required to waive Barlow or Champagnie when they claimed him, per Marks.

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke sustained a lower left leg injury in the first quarter of Friday’s loss to Denver and didn’t return, as Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal details. We’ll have to wait for more clarity on Clarke’s prognosis, but the non-contact nature of the injury is concerning (Twitter video link). “I pray that everything is okay,” head coach Taylor Jenkins said after the game (Twitter link via Cole). “… I have no idea what’s going on, so we’ll get more results there.”
The two months that Brandon Ingram spent rehabbing a toe injury earlier this season felt like the longest two months of his life, the Pelicans forward told William Guillory of The Athletic. “It was hard. There were certain days when it felt like I had to fight just to be there mentally for my teammates and for myself. I had to fight just to keep a smile on my face so they wouldn’t see me down,” Ingram said. “I’m a person that believes everything happens for a reason. So, I just tried to dig deep, real deep down and get myself out of that dark place. I learned a lot about myself during that time.”
In a mailbag for The Athletic, Tim Cato addresses a handful of Mavericks-related topics, including Luka Doncic‘s questionable on-court body language and the odds of Josh Green signing a rookie scale extension with the team this offseason (Cato believes the chances are “very high”).

Southeast Notes: Hawks, Ressler, Wagner, Martin, Heat

March 4th, 2023 at 8:47am CST by Luke Adams

As we outlined on Friday, Hawks owner Tony Ressler conducted a series of media interviews this week to discuss the team’s recent front office and head coaching changes. We passed along a few highlights from his discussions with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but Ressler also spoke on Friday to Jeff Schultz of The Athletic, who pushed him a little harder on the role that his son Nick Ressler has within the Hawks’ front office.

Reporting from The Athletic earlier this year suggested that Nick Ressler – Atlanta’s director of business and basketball operations – had gained “increasing influence” in the Hawks’ front office and that not everyone was comfortable with that. Pressed on the issue by Schultz, Tony Ressler pushed back on the notion that his son has an outsized voice in decision-making and that other executives aren’t happy with Nick’s role.

“Who? Do they still work here?” the Hawks’ owner responded when Schultz said The Athletic had spoken to people who were uncomfortable with his son’s level of influence. “Look, the idea that you’re using former employees for a narrative that is untrue. The simple answer is we have a front office today that works beautifully, where Nick is one of many voices and frankly an unbelievably positive and supportive voice. And if you ask anyone who works here they would tell you yes.

“… We have a fairly large basketball ops that values a whole bunch of voices and Nick’s one of them. … What he is is a great kid who works his ass off and is one of the many voices that feed into (assistant GM) Kyle (Korver) and (GM) Landry (Fields).

“Am I partial? Maybe. But if I didn’t think he was a positive influence to this franchise, he wouldn’t be here. … It’s very important to me that perception is similar to reality. When you say I give a disproportionate amount of influence to my son, that’s just a f—ing lie, because I would be running a lesser business than I’m capable of.”

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

The Magic lost their second-leading scorer on Friday, as Franz Wagner left the game in Charlotte early due to a left ankle sprain. According to Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel, X-rays on the ankle were negative, which is good news, but Wagner still may have to miss some time as a result of the injury.
Kevin Love has started all five games since he arrived in Miami, but the Heat have lost four of those games and the new starting five of Love, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, and Gabe Vincent has a net rating of minus-9.4 so far. As Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes, that same group with former starter Caleb Martin in Love’s place has a plus-18.6 net rating this season. For his part, Martin is still getting used to his new bench role. “It’s a little different, man,” he said on Friday. “… It’s just adjusting to whatever is going on. It’s also more of a role of gassing yourself out, being that spark coming off the bench as opposed to maintaining.”
The much-vaunted Heat culture is being tested by the team’s inconsistent performances as of late, with Butler suggesting after Friday’s loss to New York that Miami needs to play with more urgency. “We really get bored with the process and I can’t tell you why. We play hard and sometimes we get back in the game like we did tonight and sometimes we don’t,” Butler said, according to Chiang. “But either way it goes, if we just play basketball the right way the entire game, I don’t think we’re in this situation more often than not. But for some odd reason, we think it’s going to be easy so we just go out there and go through the motions.”

Western Notes: Brooks, Holmes, Clippers, Waters

March 3rd, 2023 at 11:00pm CST by Luke Adams

An in-depth feature on Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks by Tim Keown of ESPN includes several interesting tidbits, including a detailed look at how Brooks thrives on defense and comments from head coach Taylor Jenkins about how important the 27-year-old is to the team’s culture. However, the spiciest part of the story comes when Brooks discusses one of Memphis’ chief rivals in the Western Conference.

“I don’t like Draymond at all,” Brooks said of Warriors forward Draymond Green. “I just don’t like Golden State. I don’t like anything to do with them. Draymond talks a lot. Gets away with a lot, too. His game is cool — with Golden State — but if you put him anywhere else, you’re not going to know who Draymond is. He plays with heart, plays hard, knows the ins and outs of their defense. I guess that’s why they like him over there.”

According to Keown, Green laughed and declined to comment when asked for the opportunity to respond, but Brooks’ expression of his views on Golden State and the former Defensive Player of the Year figure to add a fun new wrinkle to the next Grizzlies/Warriors matchup.

On a related note, Brooks will have to make an effort to keep his emotions in check on the court during the final weeks of the season. As Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal tweets, the Grizzlies forward received his 15th technical foul of 2022/23 on Wednesday — a 16th would trigger an automatic one-game suspension.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Kings big man Richaun Holmes is suing the Sacramento Bee for defamation, according to Chris Haynes of TNT (Twitter link). The lawsuit alleges that The Bee, in a series of five articles, “intentionally, and maliciously, published claims of child and domestic abuse by Holmes despite easily accessible evidence to the contrary via public court filings.” Oddly, The Bee’s initial story on the domestic abuse accusations – which surfaced during a custody battle that Holmes eventually won – was presented as an opinion column rather than a news report.
After the team’s fourth consecutive loss on Thursday, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said his club needs to be mentally “tougher,” per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. The Clips have blown double-digit leads in three of their four losses since the All-Star break. “I don’t care about missed shots, it’s going to happen,” Lue said. “You’re going to turn the ball over some, but you can’t give in, and my thing is just having that toughness and that mindset that, ‘OK, things are not going well, then let’s do something about it.'”
Thunder wing Lindy Waters, who grew up in Norman and played his college ball at Oklahoma State, is thrilled to have signed a standard NBA contract with his hometown team, as Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman writes. “Thankful for a lot of people along the way that helped me to get to where I am,” Waters said. “Very thankful for the organization for giving me a shot, letting me come in and work out and showing they care. But yeah, it’s just been a wild ride.”

Bulls Notes: Vucevic, Beverley, White, Ball, Williams

March 3rd, 2023 at 10:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Bulls center Nikola Vucevic and guard Patrick Beverley exchanged words over a blown defensive assignment during Wednesday’s win over Detroit, prompting DeMar DeRozan to step in and smooth things out.

Following the argument, a source told Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times that Vucevic “hasn’t been thrilled with some of the recent finger-pointing” among Bulls players (not just Beverley). However, when he spoke about the exchange on Friday, Vucevic said it was “way blown out of proportion,” telling reporters that it was “honestly no big deal at all,” as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago relays.

“It was just arguing in the moment,” Vucevic said. “It wasn’t that big a deal. We talked about it. It happens every game. People always make a big deal out of when players argue on the court. That’s part of the game. We’re competitors. We’re trying to make the right play. Sometimes you don’t agree on the same thing in the moment. Talk it out and it’s over with. We never talked about it after.”

Asked whether he feels singled out for defensive lapses, Vucevic expressed some self awareness about his shortcomings on that end of the court, acknowledging that defense is “not the strongest” part of his game. However, he added that he believes he does some things well defensively.

“I always try to do my best at that end,” the big man said. “It’s something I’ve very aware of. I know what my limitations are on the floor and I try to stick to my strengths.”

Here’s more on the Bulls, who lost additional ground in the play-in race on Friday when they fell at home to Kevin Durant and the Suns:

In a column for NBC Sports Chicago, Johnson makes the case for why the Bulls should sign Coby White to a new contract when he reaches restricted free agency this summer. White has shown growth this season as a defender and ball-handler, according to Johnson, who adds that the fourth-year guard has never questioned or complained about his inconsistent role. Johnson wonders if a three- or four-year deal in the range of $12-14MM per year would make sense for both sides.
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said this week that he has been given no indication that Lonzo Ball‘s knee issues are career-threatening, but understands why that question has come up. “The point is well taken. It has been over a year, and he’s still not running,” Donovan said, per Cowley. “… I just feel really bad for him, and the problem is we’ve had a hard time getting it resolved. And there have been a lot of medical people involved. Doctors trying to figure out what is going on, what is causing the pain? Basically getting him to a place where he can run and do certain things athletically.”
Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic takes a closer look at the off-court development occurring this season for former lottery pick Patrick Williams, who is becoming more confident and “finding his voice” in the Bulls’ locker room. “I just think it comes with me growing as a person and as a player,” Williams said. “Being more comfortable in who I am and being more comfortable in what I can be, that’s a huge part of it. Just feeling like I know what I can be and realizing my potential.”
In case you missed it, the Bulls filled the open spot on their 15-man roster on Friday by promoting Carlik Jones from his two-way contract.

Norman Powell Sidelined With Left Shoulder Subluxation

March 3rd, 2023 at 9:10pm CST by Rory Maher

The Clippers are missing several rotation regulars for their game on Friday in Sacramento, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times.

Forward Kawhi Leonard is out on the second of a back-to-back due to right knee injury management, forward Marcus Morris is out with an injured elbow, and center Ivica Zubac, who has missed three of the past four games with a strained right calf, remains sidelined.

The most noteworthy injury on the injury report is swingman Norman Powell, who was ruled out with a left shoulder subluxation — that’s the same injury that Stephen Curry sustained earlier this season, which caused him to miss 11 games (just under four weeks).

As Greif notes, Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes.com wrote about shoulder subluxation at the time of Curry’s injury and stated that the average absence since the 2005/06 season for a player dealing with that issue is approximately 21 days.

The Clippers have stated that Powell will undergo treatment and therapy for at least the next week (Twitter link via Greif). At that point, the team should have a clearer sense of when he’ll be able to return to action.

Powell is L.A.’s third-leading scorer this season at 16.6 points per game, so he’ll certainly be missed. However, it’s possible his absence (and others) will help simplify some rotation decisions for Tyronn Lue, who is still determining how best to use the Clippers’ new-look roster after the team added Eric Gordon, Mason Plumlee, Bones Hyland, and Russell Westbrook in recent weeks.