NBA Rumors - HoopsRumors.com

Pacific Notes: Warriors, Curry, Zubac, Beal

January 12th, 2024 at 9:49pm CST by Rory Maher

In search of answers after a poor stretch of games, the Warriors made another change to their starting lineup on Friday night, with Dario Saric replacing Jonathan Kuminga, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link). Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney were the other four starters.

Golden State gave up 75 points to the Bulls at half, which was a season-high for Chicago, and trailed by 13 after two periods. But the Warriors rebounded with a 48-20 third quarter and wound up winning by nine.

Here’s more from the Pacific:

Curry has been in a slump of late for the Warriors, and it’s clear the ups and downs of the season have been wearing on him, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. “I feel like we’ve been in this situation for the last two years,” Curry said. “Even in the championship year, we started 18-2 and then we had some rough patches like this where we struggled mightily. These last couple of years have been rough because of all the noise and distractions, because of the lack of consistency on the court. At least last year we had enough to scare somebody. But we’re far from that right now.”
Center Ivica Zubac has been playing an important role during the Clippers‘ surge up the standings, per Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. The eight-year veteran is averaging career highs in multiple categories this season and has formed a strong two-man game on offense with James Harden while anchoring the paint defensively. “I knew I could play in that pocket, that I could be a roll man on offense and defense,” said Zubac. “I’m confident in my game a lot, so I’ve always been confident. But right now, it’s at a high level.”
Suns guard Bradley Beal had his best game of the season during Thursday’s victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles, recording 37 point (on 14-of-21 shooting, including 8-of-10 from deep), six rebounds and four assists in 32 minutes. In a story for Sportskeeda, Mark Medina describes Beal’s transition to Phoenix, writing that the three-time All-Star has drawn rave reviews for fitting in so well with the team, despite dealing with injuries for much of 2023/24. “Brad is one of the best players in the world,” Kevin Durant said. “To see an opportunity to see that close up and see a guy every day and see who he truly is as a player and then you come out there and get moments like that, that’s always fun. I enjoy seeing my teammates cook like that. We’re going to need more from him because that ignites the bench and it ignites the crowd, even if we’re on the road.”

Warriors’ Moses Moody Out At Least 10 Days

January 12th, 2024 at 6:16pm CST by Rory Maher

Third-year wing Moses Moody will miss the remainder of the Warriors‘ road trip due to a left calf strain and will be reevaluated in 10 days, head coach Steve Kerr told reporters, including Kendra Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link).

“Huge loss,” Kerr said of Moody (Twitter link via Kerith Burke of NBC Sports Bay Area).

Moody will miss at least five games, with January 24 vs. Atlanta being the soonest he could possibly return. In a press release (via Twitter), the Warriors say Moody sustained a Grade 1 calf strain in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s blowout loss to New Orleans and classify the strain as mild.

Moody will join Gary Payton II (left hamstring strain) and Chris Paul (hand surgery) on Golden State’s list of injured players. What once looked like an area of strength — backcourt depth — will be further tested in the coming days. Rookie Brandin Podziemski and veteran Cory Joseph will likely receive an uptick in playing time with Moody out.

Still just 21 years old, Moody is averaging 8.7 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 18.0 MPG this season, with all of those figures representing career highs. The former 14th overall pick has appeared in 34 games in 2023/24, posting a .482/.358/.789 shooting line.

One report last week said Moody was looking for a more consistent role with Golden State, particularly after receiving three straight DNP-CDs. Moody tied his season high with 21 points in each of the past two games, playing 22 and 25 minutes, though Golden State lost both times.

The Warriors are currently 17-20, the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference. Amid their slide down the standings, they’ve been increasingly mentioned in recent trade rumors.

Woj: “Atlanta Is Ready To Trade Dejounte Murray”

January 12th, 2024 at 5:13pm CST by Rory Maher

Appearing on NBA Today on Friday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Hawks are ready to deal former All-Star guard Dejounte Murray (Twitter link).

“Atlanta is ready to trade Dejounte Murray,” Wojnarowski said. “They have given some time to the Trae Young/Dejounte Murray backcourt; I think they’re ready to move on from it.

“Dejounte Murray is the player that they’re engaged around the league with. And they’ve talked to the Lakers, they’ve exchanged some ideas on a potential trade. But they’re engaged with a lot of teams.

“They gave up a lot for Dejounte Murray: two of their own first-round picks, a pick swap, and a third first-round pick that they had control of. They want to get some value back for him.

“So you look at that Lakers roster, and you see what of value do they have that can compete in the marketplace? I think there’s lots of teams interested in him, the question is, how much are they willing to give up for Murray?”

Wojnarowski went on to explain that since the trade deadline is still about a month away, the Hawks may not be getting top offers yet. The Lakers will likely remain in the hunt for Murray, according to Wojnarowski, who concluded by saying, “I do think the chances of him being moved before the deadline are very, very high.”

Murray makes $18.2MM in 2023/24, which is the final season of his rookie scale extension. He signed a four-year, $111MM+ veteran contract extension in the summer (it starts next season), which is viewed as fairly team-friendly. His contract does also include a significant trade bonus that would come into effect if he’s dealt this season, as Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter).

Murray was first mentioned as a possible trade candidate this season a few weeks ago, when he was linked to the Knicks. Subsequent reports from multiple outlets have connected him to various teams, with Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reporting on Thursday that Murray is looking like the most likely All-Star-caliber player to be moved prior to the deadline.

Wojnarowski has been reporting for a while that the Hawks are “absolutely open for business,” particularly on Murray, so his latest update isn’t exactly surprising. Still, the fact that he was so confident about the odds of a trade makes it seem as though it’s only matter of when, not if at this point.

Lakers Notes: Ham, Backcourt, Murray, Reddish, Schröder

January 12th, 2024 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

After ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and Substack reporter Marc Stein suggested earlier this week that Lakers head coach Darvin Ham isn’t in any immediate danger of losing his job, two more reports have confirmed as much — in even stronger terms.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss sent a “long text message” to Ham reiterating her support for him. Meanwhile, Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report says that both Buss and president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka have informed Ham that his job isn’t in any jeopardy.

“I speak to Rob every day and we’re always discussing ways to improve our team and what we can do better as a coaching staff,” Ham told Haynes after the Lakers dipped back below .500 with a Thursday loss to Phoenix. “It’s an open dialogue that I embrace and that is helpful. We’re all trying to get this right and we will.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

As they scour the trade market, the Lakers are seeking “speed and quickness” in their backcourt, according to Haynes, who adds that the team would like to be able to play faster offensively and to acquire a guard who plays solid point-of-attack defense. Rival executives expect the Lakers – along with the Raptors, among others – to begin talking more seriously to Atlanta about Dejounte Murray in the near future, Haynes writes, though he cautions that the Hawks are making it known they’d be comfortable hanging onto Murray and revisiting his trade market in the offseason.
The Lakers appeared to have broken out of their recent slump with victories over the Clippers and Raptors earlier this week, but Thursday’s blowout loss at home to the Suns was a discouraging setback, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. “I think it’s just a lot of holes in our system right now,” D’Angelo Russell said. “You use the regular season to figure those things out, the ups and downs, the digression, the setbacks, all these things. Injuries just keep playing a part in our success. … I think we can still find the light at the end of the tunnel. We just got to get better, got to keep getting better.”
Lakers forward Cam Reddish, who missed games in December due to right knee and left groin ailments, continues to deal with leg issues. He left Thursday’s contest early after experiencing left knee soreness, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
As part of a larger conversation with Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, Raptors guard Dennis Schröder looked back on the 2021 extension offer from the Lakers that he turned down. The guard’s former representatives advised him to pass on it, Fischer writes. “I would have signed it,” Schröder said. “I would never just leave money on the table. My mom didn’t raise me that way.” While reports at the time indicated the offer was worth $80MM+ over four years, Fischer suggested in a follow-up tweet that that figure may have been overstated.

Checking In On NBA Roster Openings, Deadlines

January 12th, 2024 at 3:23pm CST by Luke Adams

With the NBA’s league-wide salary guarantee date for 2023/24 behind us, it’s worth checking in once again on which teams have open spots on their 18-man rosters.

As our roster count tracker shows, these are the teams that don’t currently have full rosters consisting of 15 players on standard rest-of-season contracts and three on two-way deals:

Teams with standard roster openings:

Boston Celtics
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers (2)
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Lakers
Miami Heat
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans
New York Knicks
Portland Trail Blazers (2)
Sacramento Kings *
Toronto Raptors
Washington Wizards *

The Cavaliers and Trail Blazers each face a deadline to add a 14th man, since NBA teams aren’t permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for more than two weeks at a time. Cleveland has to make a move by January 18, while Portland has until January 20.

The Kings and Wizards, meanwhile, technically have full 15-man standard rosters at the moment, but they’re each only carrying 14 players on full-season contracts, with one player on a 10-day deal. Those 10-day deals run through next Thursday, at which time each club could open up a roster spot.

Most teams in this group likely won’t sign a player to a rest-of-season or multiyear contract until sometime after the trade deadline, when they know they won’t need to use that 15th roster spot to accommodate a trade in which they acquire more players than they send out. In between now and the trade deadline, however, some of these clubs could join Sacramento and Washington in signing free agents to 10-day contracts.

Teams with two-way openings:

Brooklyn Nets
Memphis Grizzlies
Milwaukee Bucks (2)

The deadline to sign a player to a two-way contract won’t arrive until March 4, so there’s no urgency for these clubs to fill their openings right away. But the prorated portion of a two-way salary is such a minor financial commitment for an NBA franchise that we may see these teams bring in a new two-way player sooner rather than later, even if they’re not certain he’ll hold that spot for the rest of the season.

Cavs’ Garland Aiming To Return Before End Of January

January 12th, 2024 at 1:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland, who has been out since December 14 due to a broken jaw, is hoping to return before the end of the month, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Garland has missed 12 games so far.

When the Cavaliers first announced the injury, they said Garland would be reevaluated in approximately four weeks. That was exactly four weeks ago, on December 15.

Although the team has yet to issue a formal update on the former All-Star, sources tell Fedor that Garland is on track to have the wiring removed from his mouth on Monday. He’ll be examined at that time, and if everything looks good, he’ll be able to resume basketball activities.

As Fedor explains, Garland hasn’t been able to work out at all over the past few weeks, since Cavs doctors didn’t want him to get his heart rate up. He has also been on an all-liquid diet due to the nature of the injury, so he’ll need some time to get back into game shape once he resumes practicing.

Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has taken a conservative approach to bringing players back from injuries this season, so the Cavaliers certainly won’t rush Garland back to the court, Fedor notes. It helps that the club has responded so well in his absence — Cleveland is 9-3 since Garland and Evan Mobley went down in mid-December and has moved into a tie for No. 4 in the Eastern Conference.

With Garland and Ty Jerome on the shelf and Ricky Rubio bought out, the Cavaliers have been leaning on players like Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert for increased ball-handling duties in recent weeks, with two-way rookie Craig Porter Jr. also playing a regular role.

The club has two open spots on its 15-man roster and has enough financial flexibility below the luxury tax line following Rubio’s buyout agreement to fill both openings, but hasn’t yet felt any urgency to sign a free agent point guard.

There’s no update yet on Mobley’s recovery timeline — the Cavs announced that he was expected to miss approximately six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery on Dec. 18.

Hoops Rumors’ 2024 NBA 10-Day Contract Tracker

January 12th, 2024 at 1:31pm CST by Luke Adams

On January 5, NBA teams became eligible to sign players to 10-day contracts, and many of the signings that take place between now and the end of the regular season in April will be of the 10-day variety. Hoops Rumors has created a database that allows you to keep on top of those deals, tracking every 10-day signing all season long.

Besides featuring all of this year’s 10-day deals, our 10-Day Contract Tracker includes information on all 10-day contracts signed since the 2006/07 season. The search filters in the database make it easy to sort by team, player, and/or year. For instance, if you want to see all the 10-day contracts that the Kings have signed in the last 15-plus years, you can do so here. If you want to view Shaquille Harrison‘s history of 10-day deals, that list is here.

You can also see whether a player and team signed a second 10-day contract, or if those short-term deals led to an agreement that covered the rest of the season. Additionally, our tracker notes which 10-day deals remain active, saving you the hassle of having to figure out whether a particular contract ends on Wednesday or Thursday.

A link to our 10-Day Contract Tracker can be found at any time in the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site. On our mobile site, you can find it on our “Features” page. We’ll be keeping it up to date for the rest of the season, so be sure to check back to keep tabs on the latest signings as they become official.

Categories:
Hoops Rumors Originals

Hornets’ LaMelo Ball Expected To Return Friday

January 12th, 2024 at 11:57am CST by Tristan Tucker

JANUARY 12: Ball participated in this morning’s shootaround and is expected to return tonight, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

JANUARY 11: Hornets guard LaMelo Ball could return to action on Friday against the Spurs after missing over a month and a half due to a sprained ankle, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). Ball has been upgraded to questionable for the contest. He hasn’t appeared in a game since Nov. 26 against the Magic, when he left action after just 14 minutes.

Having Ball back is undoubtedly a major boost for a struggling Hornets team who sits at 8-27, 13th in the Eastern Conference. In the 14 games Ball was healthy for, the Hornets were 5-9 compared to 3-18 without him. Charlotte sits 9.5 games back on a play-in spot though, so they’d have to quickly catch up in the standings to have a shot at the postseason.

In his 14 healthy games this season, Ball averaged 25.9 points, 8.6 assists and 5.8 rebounds while shooting 38.9% from three on 9.4 attempts per game. His 15th game is the one in which he left due to his injury.

Additionally, guard Frank Ntilikina, who has missed the entire season with a leg injury, could make his season debut on Friday. Like Ball, Ntilikina was upgraded to questionable ahead of the contest against San Antonio, according to The Charlotte Observer’s Rod Boone (Twitter link).

The Hornets signed Ntilikina, the former eighth overall pick, to a minimum contract in the offseason. Ntilikina spent the first four seasons of his career with the Knicks before signing with the Mavericks in 2021. In six NBA seasons, the 25-year-old guard holds career averages of 4.8 points and 2.2 assists.

With both Ball and Ntilikina sidelined for a portion of the season, the Hornets primarily turned to Terry Rozier to take over primary point guard duties, often playing him alongside other guards like Bryce McGowens. Ball and Ntilikina both returning may spell fewer minutes for backup point guard veteran Ish Smith, along with McGowens or Nick Smith, with Rozier playing alongside Ball in the starting lineup.

Scotto’s Latest: Gafford, Knicks, Mavs, Dinwiddie, Markkanen

January 12th, 2024 at 11:55am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks inquired earlier this season on Wizards big man Daniel Gafford, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype told ESPN’s Bobby Marks in the latest episode of the HoopsHype podcast.

While Scotto doesn’t say exactly when that inquiry occurred, it was presumably sometime after New York lost Mitchell Robinson to the left ankle injury that is expected to sideline him for most or all of the season. It seems safe to assume, Scotto continues, that whatever level of interest the Knicks had in Gafford decreased after the club acquired Precious Achiuwa from Toronto in the OG Anunoby deal.

Here are a few more items of interest from the HoopsHype podcast:

The Mavericks are interested in upgrading at the forward position, according to Scotto, who suggests the team would be looking at either the three or the four. Scotto’s comment on the Mavs came during a more general conversation about Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant as a potential trade candidate — while Scotto views Dallas as a fit for Grant, he doesn’t explicitly say that the Mavs have expressed interest.
The Nets and Spencer Dinwiddie, who is on track for unrestricted free agency this summer, had brief extension discussions prior to the season when he became eligible to sign a new deal, per Scotto. The two sides reportedly explored a one- or two-year deal, but Dinwiddie wanted something longer. During their discussion, Scotto and Marks wondered if Dinwiddie’s days in Brooklyn may be numbered, which is a topic that Collin Helwig of NetsDaily also explored after the veteran guard didn’t play in crunch time on Sunday and barely saw any action in the second half on Thursday.
The trade speculation about Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen earlier this season seemed more like something other teams were trying to speak into existence rather than anything real, says Scotto, adding that Markkanen will be eligible for a contract renegotiation and extension with Utah next summer and seems interested in pursuing that.

And-Ones: IST, Load Management, Collier, 2024 Draft, All-Star Votes

January 12th, 2024 at 10:26am CST by Luke Adams

Unsurprisingly, NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed this week during a news conference in Paris that the in-season tournament will “no doubt be back” next season, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

According to Silver, the league will probably make “a couple tweaks” to the way the tournament works, but it’s not likely to undergo a significant overhaul. The commissioner mentioned the tiebreaker rules, the appearance of the courts, and the name of the tournament itself as some things worth looking at.

“Beyond that, as we’re talking to television partners and maybe figuring out exactly when the best time of year is to (hold the tournament), maybe it will make sense to make some other modifications to the format,” Silver said.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

After announcing in October that its data doesn’t support the idea that load management reduces a player’s injury risk, the NBA sent out a more in-depth report supporting that thesis to teams and select media members this week, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Bontemps, who outlines the findings in more detail, notes that the study doesn’t suggest load management increases a player’s injury risk — it simply concludes there’s no discernible correlation one way or the other.
USC point guard Isaiah Collier, a candidate to be a top-five or top-10 pick in the 2024 NBA draft, will miss the next four-to-six weeks due to a hand injury, the school announced on Thursday night (Twitter link). As Chris Mannix of SI.com observes (via Twitter), Collier’s absence could open up more minutes for another one of the Trojans’ NBA prospects: Bronny James.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com (Insider link) polled 20 NBA executives and scouts to get their thoughts on the 2024 draft class and the idea of a two-day draft. According to Woo, 12 of his 20 respondents expect Alexandre Sarr to be the No. 1 overall pick this June, while 13 respondents predicted that the 2013 draft class – considered one of the worst in the couple decades – will end up with more All-Stars (three) than the 2024 class.
The NBA issued an update on All-Star voting on Thursday, announcing that Lakers forward LeBron James and Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo are the leading vote-getters to date. The tightest race is in the Eastern Conference backcourt, where Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has a comfortable lead, with Trae Young (Hawks) narrowly edging Damian Lillard (Bucks) and Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) for the No. 2 spot.