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Injury Notes: R. Williams, Curry, J. Brown, LaVine, Gobert

November 4th, 2024 at 9:44am CST by Luke Adams

Trail Blazers big man Robert Williams has been listed as questionable to play in Monday’s game vs. New Orleans, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. It’s a signal that Williams, who has been on the shelf for nearly a full year, is on the verge of returning to action.

Acquired by Portland in the team’s Jrue Holiday trade with Boston last fall, Williams appeared in just six games during his first season as a Blazer before going down with season-ending knee surgery. He has been sidelined this fall by a hamstring strain and has yet to make his season debut.

Williams’ return will give Portland another option in a crowded frontcourt. Deandre Ayton (31.6 minutes per game) has seen most of the action at center so far this season, with rookie lottery pick Donovan Clingan (12.9 MPG) playing a modest role as his backup and Duop Reath (3.5 MPG) not part of the regular rotation.

Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

Warriors guard Stephen Curry has been out for the past three games due to a left peroneal strain but is nearing a return. He has been upgraded to questionable for Monday’s game vs. Washington, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. If Curry doesn’t play tonight, his next opportunity would come on Wednesday in a showdown with the defending champions in Boston.
Celtics swingman Jaylen Brown, who was born in raised in Marietta, GA, won’t be able to suit up for Monday’s contest in Atlanta, according to Souichi Terada of MassLive.com, who writes that Brown will miss a second straight game due to his left hip flexor. Brown indicated over the weekend that he would undergo another MRI on the injury after getting one a couple weeks ago.
Zach LaVine has yet to miss a game this season and has played at least 33 minutes in each of his six outings, but the Bulls guard isn’t fully healthy. After suffering a sprained AC joint last week, LaVine is listed as questionable for Monday’s game vs. Utah due to a right adductor strain, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network.
Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert is considered questionable to play in Monday’s matchup with Charlotte due to a left ankle sprain, according to the team (Twitter link).

Knicks To Promote Ariel Hukporti To Standard Roster

November 4th, 2024 at 8:40am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks and Ariel Hukporti have reached an agreement on a new standard contract that will promote the rookie center from his two-way deal to the 15-man roster, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

According to Charania, Hukporti will sign a two-year contract that includes a team option for the 2025/26 season. While Charania doesn’t specify the financial terms, it figures to be a minimum-salary deal.

The 58th overall pick in this year’s draft, Hukporti logged 12 minutes in last Monday’s loss to Cleveland but has otherwise only seen garbage-time action in the early going this season. The 22-year-old has grabbed seven rebounds and blocked four shots in 29 total minutes across four appearances.

Under normal circumstances, the Knicks likely would’ve kept Hukporti on his two-way contract for most or all of his rookie season, but his promotion had been expected for a few weeks due to the team’s hard cap situation.

New York is carrying 12 players on standard contracts to open the season and needs to get to at least 14, the league-mandated minimum, by November 5. However, the team doesn’t have enough flexibility below its hard cap to simply sign two veteran free agents to minimum-salary contracts, meaning at least one of those two roster additions has to be a rookie who was on a two-way deal with the Knicks or whose draft rights the Knicks held. Hukporti had been viewed as the leading candidate since training camp.

If his promotion becomes official on Monday, Hukporti’s first-year cap hit will be $1,070,699, leaving the team approximately $2.5MM below the hard cap, with one more roster addition to come. If the two sides don’t finalize the rookie’s new deal until Tuesday, his 2024/25 cap hit would be $1,064,049.

While the Knicks will have to add one more player to their standard roster by Tuesday, Hukporti’s promotion opens the door for the club to make two additional signings, since it creates a two-way opening. Matt Ryan is considered a strong candidate to join the NBA squad in some capacity, perhaps filling that open two-way slot.

Landry Shamet was expected during the preseason to be part of the Knicks’ regular season roster, but his dislocated shoulder has complicated that plan — it’s possible the team will sign a healthy player to a non-guaranteed contract as its 14th man for now and pivot to Shamet later in the season if and when he has recovered. The veteran wing is currently rehabbing with the Westchester Knicks, New York’s G League affiliate.

Whether the Knicks exercise or decline Hukporti’s 2025/26 option at the end of this season, they’ll be able to make him a restricted free agent when his current contract expires, putting them in position to lock him up to a longer-term contract at that time if his development is trending in the right direction.

Bucks Rumors: Antetokounmpo, Early Struggles, Beauchamp

November 4th, 2024 at 8:01am CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks are off to a 1-5 start this season after falling to the Cavaliers at home on Saturday for their fifth straight loss, but the “league-wide lusting” for Giannis Antetokounmpo had begun even before Milwaukee stumbled out of the gate, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack story.

As Stein explains, outside interest in Antetokounmpo – and optimism that he could eventually become available – stems from two key factors. The first is the Bucks’ salary cap and roster situation, since the club is operating over the second tax apron with an aging core and limited trade assets.

The second factor, Stein says, is an interview that Antetokounmpo gave to Tania Gaguli of The New York Times in August 2023. In that conversation, which took place before the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard, the star forward expressed a desire to remain in Milwaukee for the rest of his career only if he continues to believe the team is capable of winning another title.

While there has been no indication that Giannis has lost faith in the current iteration of the Bucks, the team isn’t in a great spot, coming off two straight first-round exits and having posted a sub-.500 regular season record (18-24) so far under head coach Doc Rivers. Things won’t get any easier on Monday night with another game against the Cavaliers on tap, this time in Cleveland, though Antetokounmpo was encouraged by what he saw as forward progress in Saturday’s one-point loss.

“I think we are headed towards the right direction,” he said, per Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to go to a five-game winning streak or 10-game winning streak, but I know that we are playing better and we trust another.”

Here’s more on the struggling Bucks:

In the event that Antetokounmpo becomes available via trade, a “credible” list of potential suitors would likely start with the Warriors, Heat, Nets, and Knicks, Stein states in his Substack story. While New York looks like a somewhat improbable suitor based on its current roster and draft assets, Stein says he’s heard “more than one rival team” wonder if having a star like Karl-Anthony Towns available to put in a future offer for Giannis was one of the reasons why the Knicks were willing to pull the trigger on that preseason deal with Minnesota. I’m a little skeptical that Towns is the sort of the player the Bucks would target if they ever seriously consider trading Antetokounmpo.
The Bucks and MarJon Beauchamp‘s representatives at Klutch Sports are working together to try to find a new home for the third-year forward, league sources tell Stein. Beauchamp, the No. 24 pick in the 2022 draft, has yet to emerge as a rotation player and recently had his fourth-year option for 2025/26 option declined, putting him on track to become an unrestricted free agent in July 2025. As long as they continue to operate above the second apron, the Bucks wouldn’t be able to aggregate the 24-year-old’s salary ($2,733,720) with another player’s salary for matching purposes in a bigger deal.
Beauchamp spoke to Owczarski of The Journal Sentinel on Saturday about his reaction to the Bucks declining his option. “I needed that to kind of put a fire under me,” he said. “So, I know who I am though and I know what (kind of) basketball player I am so I’m not really phased on that. I know that my work will always show and as long as I believe in myself, I’m not really worried about that. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, you know? I’m still worried about right now and controlling what I can control.”

Paul George Expected To Make Sixers Debut On Monday

November 3rd, 2024 at 9:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Paul George, the most prominent free agent to switch teams this offseason, is expected to make his Sixers debut on Monday, The Athletic’s duo of Sam Amick and Jenna West report.

George has missed the first five regular-season games due to a hyperextended left knee he suffered during a preseason game on Oct. 14. George is officially listed as questionable, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey tweets, while Joel Embiid remains out.

George, 34, averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game for the Clippers last season before joining Philadelphia on a four-year, maximum-salary contract. George was the Sixers’ No. 1 target in free agency after they opened up ample cap space to reshape their roster.

The Sixers sorely need a boost after losing four of their first five games, including home losses to Detroit and Memphis this past week. Philadelphia is embarking on a three-game road trip that begins in Phoenix on Monday.

George’s presence in the lineup will take some pressure off Tyrese Maxey, who is averaging 29.8 points per night.

Embiid has been held out of action due to left knee injury management, which has been a source of controversy. He had an altercation with a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist in the locker room after the Memphis loss.

Heat Notes: Adebayo, Richardson, Lillard, Love, Robinson

November 3rd, 2024 at 8:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bam Adebayo erupted offensively during the Heat‘s game against Washington in Mexico City on Saturday. Adebayo poured in 32 points after averaging only 11 points in the first four games. Adebayo said his teammates were determined to get him the ball, according to Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald.

“My teammates got me going from the jump,” Adebayo said. “We’re pros, man. Once we see the ball go in a couple times, it becomes like an ocean. Then you just get in a flow and you just get locked in, and it just feels like the ball is going to go in every time for you.”

We have more on the Heat:

Josh Richardson played 16 minutes in his season debut on Saturday and didn’t score. Richardson, who has been battling shoulder, heel and calf injuries, had one assist and a rebound. “Great to be back out there. Lot of rust to knock off, but I’m grateful!” Richardson tweeted.
Could the Heat make another run at Damian Lillard, as they did in the summer of 2023? Ira Winderman of the Miami Herald believes that could happen if Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo requests a trade. Winderman also anticipates the price tag for Lillard would be reduced, compared to the package Portland was seeking last year, given the guard’s age and contract.
Kevin Love could make his season debut on Monday. The veteran forward is listed as available after missing the first five games due to personal reasons, Winderman tweets. Duncan Robinson, who missed the game in Mexico City for personal reasons, will also be available for Miami’s contest against Sacramento.

Texas Notes: Eason, Smith, Rockets, Thompson, Dinwiddie

November 3rd, 2024 at 6:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

There was little doubt the Rockets would pick up the 2025/26 contract options of Tari Eason and Jabari Smith Jr. However, both players expressed their appreciation, as The Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen writes.

Eason had leg surgery in March.

“I’m very happy about that,” Eason said of the option decision. “I love this group, I love this city, I love this team. The fact that I have the opportunity to continue to be involved with these guys is truly a blessing. I’m very happy. Missing all that time, there’s a lot of questions, a lot of what-ifs. First major surgery for me, first injury for me, there’s a lot of question marks. But I think that they saw how serious I was in my work coming back and just how ready I was and eager I was to get back with the team. Seeing my work ethic, (the option decision showed) just the trust and faith was there.”

Smith also voiced his gratitude.

“It’s a blessing, everything is a blessing,” Smith said. “It’s just how you look at it. I’m really excited to know it’s another year I have in the league. Just trying to build on it.”

We have more on the Texas teams:

The Rockets are near the bottom of the league in shooting percentage but are still scoring at a respectable rate by getting offensive rebounds and forcing turnovers, according to Feigen. Smith isn’t concerned about the team’s 40.9 field goal percentage. “Just keep shooting,” he said. “It can be like that sometimes. I feel like we’re getting good shots. When I rewatch the games, it looks like all my shots are wide open. Looks like everybody’s shooting the right type of shots. It’s just a matter of making them, and I know that’s going to come. Five games into the season, you can’t overreact to it too much. We know we can make shots. We know we can shoot the ball. It’s just a matter of keep trusting and keep getting good shots.”
Klay Thompson is taking 12.8 shots per game, his lowest total since his rookie season. Mavericks coach Jason Kidd wants Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving to get the ball in Thompon’s hands more often. “We’ve got to make sure that Klay’s involved,” Kidd said, per Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal. “I think here of late, you look at Kyrie and Luka, their attempts have definitely gone up. It’s just about being conscious of who’s on the floor. And when Klay’s on the floor, we need to make sure that we use him the right way.”
Spencer Dinwiddie‘s role with the Mavs has been shifting game-t0-game, Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com notes. Dinwiddie, who is playing on a one-year contract, is trying to adjust. “To be honest, we’re figuring it out at the moment,” he said of his role. “I’ve been first off the bench some games and I’ve been told I wasn’t going to play some games. It’s early and we’re figuring all that out. I look forward to helping anyway I can.”

Southwest Notes: Williamson, Ingram, Hawkins, Collins, Sochan

November 3rd, 2024 at 5:33pm CST by Dana Gauruder

With Dejounte Murray, Trey Murphy, CJ McCollum and Herbert Jones all sidelined due to injuries, there’s even more pressure on Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram to carry the Pelicans, The Athletic’s William Guillory writes.

New Orleans dropped three straight before defeating Indiana on Friday. Williamson and Ingram combined for 60 points and 17 assists in that victory.

“People always try to tell us that we can’t hoop together,” Williamson said. “Me and him just want to have fun and make it happen. That’s what basketball is all about.”

However, Williamson was a late scratch himself on Sunday due to right hamstring tightness, the team tweets.

We have more from the Southwest Division:

Jordan Hawkins entered Sunday’s action with a 17.3 PPG scoring average in his second NBA season. His Pelicans teammates compare his offensive skills to Hall of Famer Ray Allen, according to Christian Clark of the New Orleans Times Picayune. “He’s got a pretty release,” McCollum said. “It’s fast. It’s a lot like Ray Allen. He always seems to be on balance.” Williamson agrees: “Me and him talk about it a lot. I tell him it reminds me of Ray Allen. Being able to catch and shoot on the move, whether you’re facing the basket or not. Or just a spot-up shot.”
Spurs big man Zach Collins has been fined $2,000 by the NBA for flopping, according to the league (Twitter link). Collins was assessed the flopping fine after a post-game review of a play in which Minnesota’s Julius Randle drove to the basket and made contact with Collins.
Jeremy Sochan has been getting under opponents’ skin. The Spurs believe Sochan has been unburdened this season because he’s no longer tasked with playing the point, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. “It’s part of his game,” center Victor Wembanyama said. “It can also be beneficial sometimes.”

Pacific Notes: Draymond, Fox, Okogie, Durant

November 3rd, 2024 at 4:14pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Warriors star forward Draymond Green, an eight-time All-Defensive Teamer, is hoping to get back into All-Defensive and Defensive Player of the Year consideration this season, he said in a conversation with former Warriors point guard Baron Davis on Green’s podcast, “The Draymond Green Show” (YouTube video link). Green, considered one of the best defenders of his generation, has only won the Defensive Player of the Year once, in 2017.

“That’s my goal, you know, just going through this offseason and then seeing my name not on an All-Defensive team last year,” Green said. “I know I wasn’t eligible because of the games I missed, but it still pissed me off. I want to keep building on what I hope ultimately becomes a Hall of Fame career. The more accolades, the better.”

The 34-year-old has been available for all six of the 5-1 Warriors’ games this season. He’s averaging 7.3 points on .438/.467/.643 shooting splits, along with 5.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per night.

“I’m not seven feet, so I have to use positioning and my brain to be great,” Green added. “This year, that’s one of my goals: to get back in the Defensive Player of the Year race, get back on All-Defense First Team, and just keep running that up.”

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

Kings All-Star point guard De’Aaron Fox has played all of his regular season games this year with a dislocated pinkie finger on his left (shooting) hand, reports Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. For now, his pinkie has been taped to his ring finger. Fox revealed that he suffered the injury in training camp. Imaging indicated that there’s no break, but it has yet to fully heal. “(It’s) probably a ligament,” Fox told Biderman. He plans to play through it rather than undergo a surgery, which he said would sideline him for about a month.
Suns reserve wing Josh Okogie has been on the shelf for the first five games of Phoenix’s season with a strained hamstring. He revealed to reporters on Saturday that he has been cleared to return, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link). “I run very hard and I run very fast,” Okogie said of his playing style being a potential impediment to a quicker return. “So just being able to make sure my hamstring could take that. Not only to take it but sustain it.”
After being criticized for his leadership by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on the network’s “First Take” program, Suns All-Star forward Kevin Durant took umbrage with the assessment, per Doug Haller of The Athletic. “Yeah, Stephen A., I don’t understand how people even listen to Stephen A.,” Durant told Haller. “I’ve been in the league for 18 years. I’ve never seen Stephen A. at a practice, or a film session, or a shootaround. I’ve never seen him anywhere but on TV talking s–t about players and holding them to standards that he don’t even hold himself to or other people to. He’s a clown to me. He’s always been a clown. You can write that, too.” Phoenix seems to be responding well to Durant’s leadership this year. The club is off to an encouraging 5-1 start.

New York Notes: Brunson, Towns, Anunoby, Claxton, Nets

November 3rd, 2024 at 1:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Knicks All-Stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have benefited greatly from being coaches’ sons, writes Steven Popper of Newsday.

Brunson’s father, former nine-year NBA point guard Rick Brunson, is currently an assistant coach guiding his son in New York.

“I think when you’re the son of a coach, regardless of what level, I think you’re consistently talking about what you can do to be better,” Brunson said. “For the most part, at least from my experience, I don’t think there’s any trick to it. It’s just that you’re in this constant mode of learning. Since you have that since you’re a kid, you learn more, you understand more. I don’t know. It’s just more of a natural feel.”

Towns’ father, Karl Towns Sr., was a standout player at Monmouth University before becoming a coach at Piscataway Technical High School.

“I think it’s just a credit to my father,” Towns said. “He was a high school coach, a damn good one, too, in Jersey, Piscataway. Just being with him every single day, just watching him coach and just garnering IQ every single day, learning the right way to play the game of basketball, ways you could help your team win, and the way he taught me. So that’s a shoutout to my father for being the man who taught me the game of basketball at this level.”

There’s more out of the Big Apple:

Knicks forward OG Anunoby has been an absolutely critical defensive contributor for New York this season, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. According to Bondy, Anunoby seems to be channeling the defensive versatility of an All-Star former Tom Thibodeau charge, Luol Deng. “Each player is unique, and there are things about him that are so unique and different: His size, his strength, his speed, his anticipation, his ability to read and to see things ahead,” Thibodeau said. “And he knows how to read plays. If someone is loose with the ball, he’s very active with his hands. Disruptive off the ball but also very good on the ball, and he’s super long. So he can fly by you and he can come back into the play and still impact the shot.”
Nets center Nic Claxton has been grappling with a minutes restriction all year as he deals with a lingering hamstring issue. That appears likely to change sooner rather than later, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Right now, we just want to see him play consistently every game but also play more minutes,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “It’s going to happen. Obviously, I’m not going to tell when at the end of the day, but [everyone] will see it.”
Surprisingly, the Nets have gotten off to a solid 3-3 start this season. Lewis writes in another piece that a lot of this early success is a credit to Brooklyn’s clutch fourth-quarter defense. “We’re not there yet,” Fernandez said modestly of the club’s defensive growth. “It’s in process. We know that all these high-level defensive teams, playoff teams — Orlando, Celtics, Minnesota — they’re very good in pressuring the ball and very physical. It’s a process. It’s not like in one day, you’ll become those type of teams. You have to go through it. But yeah, we have to do better at the rim.”

Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Murray, Jazz, Sexton, SGA

November 3rd, 2024 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Concerns about the Nuggets‘ depth appear to be justified so far, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Although Christian Braun has played well in his promotion into the starting five, the team has been left with a lot of questions off its bench.

Part of the problem is unfamiliarity, Durando adds. Julian Strawther has been added to the rotation, while Michael Porter Jr. is adapting to a new staggered role that has him seeing more time with the second unit. Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric were offseason additions in free agency, and Peyton Watson missed the entire preseason with a hamstring injury.

“Too early to be trying to figure out if and what doesn’t work,” Westbrook said. “You don’t know what’s gonna work. You’ve gotta give a healthy dose of kind of seeing what’s what, and then you go from there.”

Rebuilding the bench was an offseason priority after the Nuggets seemed to run out of gas in the playoffs as coach Michael Malone had to lean heavily on his starters. That pattern is already repeating itself, as Durando points out that the starting unit logged 104 minutes together in the first four games.

“We’ve gotta figure something out with that bench unit,” Malone said after an overtime win in Brooklyn this week. “And it’s a fine line of, ‘Hey, we’ve gotta give it time, but how much time can you give it before you start looking at different options?’ And that’s kind of what we’re still evaluating. … Plenty of basketball to be played. I always make sure I challenge myself and ask myself, ‘Am I helping Russell Westbrook and Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson and Dario Saric?’ So it’s not just on those players. It’s on myself to try to figure that out.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

Nuggets guard Jamal Murray is likely to be sidelined a few more days after entering concussion protocol following Friday’s game, tweets Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Post. “I think he did some cardio tonight,” Malone said Saturday. “We’ll see how he reacts to that, but I think the usual timeline is maybe five to seven days, but, once again, he took a really nasty hit, so we’ll be smart about that. … As much as we want Jamal back, his well-being is a lot more important.”
Poor shooting is behind a historically bad start for the Jazz, per Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. Utah is the NBA’s only winless team at 0-6 and has dropped its last five games by a combined 110 points, making it the worst stretch in franchise history. They rank last in the league in three-point shooting and are 29th in two-point percentage.
Jazz guard Collin Sexton suffered a fracture to his left ring finger on Thursday, but he plans to keep playing by taping it to another finger, Larsen adds. “From all accounts, Collin doesn’t feel pain,” coach Will Hardy said.
During Saturday’s visit to Los Angeles, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has developed into an MVP candidate in Oklahoma City, reflected on the 2019 trade that sent him from the Clippers to the Thunder, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. “I had a great year here when I was here,” he said. “Their front office made a trade that they thought was best for their team. Same with the Thunder. Then the last five years I’ve tried to focus on my development and the team’s development. I’ve tried to be the best basketball player I can be for the Oklahoma City Thunder. And I’d say it worked out in my favor.”