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Nuggets’ Gordon To Miss Multiple Weeks With Calf Strain

November 5th, 2024 at 2:47pm CST by Luke Adams

Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon will be sidelined for “multiple weeks” as he recovers from a right calf strain, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN.

Gordon was listed on Denver’s injury report with right calf inflammation ahead of Monday’s game vs. Toronto. He was cleared to play, but logged just four minutes before exiting with what the team called a calf strain.

“Honestly, I was a little surprised he played last game,” head coach Michael Malone said after the game, per Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post. “The schedule has not been overly kind to us early. I think he’s dealing with just bumps and bruises, nothing long-term. But I’ll have to talk to our training staff to get an update on that.”

Based on Charania’s reporting, it sounds like the prognosis for Gordon is worse than Malone had hoped. The veteran forward is the second Nuggets starter to go down with an injury in the early going of the season — point guard Jamal Murray has missed the past two games while in the concussion protocol.

A key connecting piece for the Nuggets on both end of the floor, Gordon was averaging 17.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 34.7 minutes per game, with an excellent shooting line of .529/.550/.846, entering Monday’s game. The team has posted a +10.3 net rating when he’s on the court, compared to a -14.0 mark when he’s not.

The 29-year-old signed a long-term extension with Denver prior to the start of the season and is now under contract through at least 2028 (he holds a player option for ’28/29).

Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther, and Zeke Nnaji all established new personal season highs in minutes played on Monday and are among the top candidates for increased playing time for as long as Gordon remains unavailable. Second-year forward Hunter Tyson will also be in that mix.

Knicks Officially Complete Three Roster Moves

November 5th, 2024 at 2:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have formally completed a trio of roster moves, per the NBA’s official transaction log. The three moves, which were previously reported, are as follows:

Signed Matt Ryan to a standard contract (story)
Promoted Ariel Hukporti from a two-way contract to a standard contract (story)
Signed Boo Buie to a two-way contract (story)

As we detailed in our individual stories on the signings, the Knicks had been carrying 12 players on standard contracts and had to get to 14 by Tuesday, since teams are only permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on their standard rosters for up to 14 days at a time. New York had done so since the regular season begin two weeks ago.

Elevating Hukporti from his two-way deal to the standard roster created a two-way opening, which the Knicks filled by signing Buie. The team now has 17 total players under contract.

Ryan’s new deal with the Knicks is a one-year, minimum-salary contract that is non-guaranteed, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv and Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter links). The first year on Hukporti’s new contract, previously said to be a two-year deal with a second-year team option, is also non-guaranteed, Begley adds (via Twitter).

Ryan’s prorated cap hit is $1,919,558, while Hukporti’s is $1,064,049. Those two cap charges bump the Knicks’ total team salary to $188,350,128, giving the team nearly $581K in breathing room below its $188,931,000 hard cap.

New York could swap in a new 14th man by waiving Ryan before his salary becomes fully guaranteed on January 7. If Ryan remains on the roster and the team doesn’t make any trades, the front office will have to wait until February 25 to be able to squeeze in a 15th man on a veteran’s minimum contract below the hard cap, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Landry Shamet is a player to watch over the course of the season, since he appeared to be on track to claiming a roster spot out of training camp before dislocating his shoulder. If he recovers from that injury in the coming months, he could eventually supplant Ryan as the 14th man or fill the open 15th slot (after Feb. 25).

Community Shootaround: NBA’s Last Two Undefeated Teams

November 5th, 2024 at 1:50pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA season tipped off two weeks ago today and 28 of the league’s 30 teams have lost at least once since then. In fact, 25 of 30 have already dropped at least three games.

One team in each conference still has an unblemished record though, with the Cavaliers leading the Eastern Conference at 8-0 while the Thunder sit atop the Western Conference at 7-0.

Oklahoma City’s performance so far is probably less of a surprise, given that the team’s projected over/under of 56.5 wins during the preseason was four games ahead of any other Western team — we knew the Thunder were going to be really good.

Still, OKC deserves kudos for living up to the hype in the early going despite missing top offseason free agent addition Isaiah Hartenstein, who has yet to make his regular season Thunder debut due to a fractured hand.

Even without Hartenstein, the club has the NBA’s best net rating (+17.1), buoyed by a defensive rating (93.8) that is over eight points per 100 possessions better than that of the second-place Warriors (102.1). The Thunder have won every single one of their games so far by at least 12 points, going 4-0 on the road and 3-0 at home.

Their schedule has certainly helped. Four of the Thunder’s seven wins have come against lottery teams from last season (the Bulls, Hawks, Spurs, and Trail Blazers), while two others have come against teams who have key players injured (the Clippers and Magic). OKC’s most impressive win was its season-opening victory in Denver against a Nuggets team that hasn’t quite looked like itself in the early going.

Still, the Thunder have easily handled the opponents across the floor from them, which is all you can ask for. As they look to extend their win streak, they’ll visit Denver again on Wednesday before beginning a six-game homestand that includes matchups against the Rockets (this Friday), Warriors (Nov. 10), Clippers (Nov. 11), Pelicans (Nov. 13), Suns (Nov. 15), and Mavericks (Nov. 17).

Over in the East, the Cavaliers were considered a potential top-four seed, but few were counting on them to come out of the gates quite like this.

The Cavs have had the NBA’s second-best offense (121.0 rating) and its fifth-best defense (108.3) so far, for an overall net rating of +12.7. They rank atop the league in true shooting percentage (63.0%) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.28-to-1).

Like the Thunder, Cleveland has been missing a key rotation player – starting small forward Max Strus – but has done a good job of getting by in his absence, with Dean Wade, Caris LeVert, Sam Merrill, and Isaac Okoro all providing solid minutes on the wing, while Ty Jerome has thrived as the team’s backup point guard after missing nearly all of last season due to an ankle injury.

The Cavs’ schedule to open the season was somewhat soft, with their first three victories coming against Toronto, Detroit, and Washington. They’ve also benefited from getting to play the Magic (without Banchero) and the struggling Bucks (twice) at the right time. But they had good wins over the Knicks (in New York) and the Lakers (by 24 points).

The Cavs will be in New Orleans on Wednesday before hosting the Warriors and Nets for a back-to-back set on Friday and Saturday. Next week, they play in Chicago (Nov. 11) and Philadelphia (Nov. 13), then return home to face the Bulls (Nov. 15) and Hornets (Nov. 17).

We want to hear your early impressions of the league’s two remaining undefeated teams.

When do you expect the Thunder and Cavaliers to take their first loss? Could they stay perfect for another week or two? Are their hot starts the beginning of big seasons in Oklahoma City and Cleveland, or do you expect the two clubs to start sliding in the standings a little after their win streaks come to an end? Has their play this fall made you any more bullish about their chances to get past the second round of the playoffs in the spring?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Lakers Notes: Davis, Centers, Reddish, Christie

November 5th, 2024 at 12:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Lakers big man Anthony Davis is averaging a league-leading 32.6 points per game on a career-high 57.1% field goal percentage through seven games, but he aggravated a left foot injury in the fourth quarter of Monday’s disappointing loss in Detroit, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Sources tell McMenamin that Davis has not yet been ruled out for Wednesday’s game in Memphis, which is the last stop on the team’s five-game road trip. However, the Lakers figure to be cautious with the nine-time All-Star, who dealt with the foot issue from the end of last season through the Paris Olympics.

“I’ll talk to my trainer and just kind of figure out what exactly is going on,” Davis told reporters. “I’ve been managing it since this summer, honestly, and my goal for every game is to be on the floor. And I just kind of landed directly on the spot that’s been killing me. So, we’ll figure it out.”

The Lakers’ other star, LeBron James, declined to speculate on how the club might handle a situation in which Davis misses time, but he acknowledged it would be difficult to replace the league’s leading scorer in the lineup.

“I don’t play the ‘if’ game,” James said, per McMenamin. “We’ll go off what AD says and see how he feels over the next couple of days and go from there. But it don’t take a rocket scientist to know (the impact) if AD’s in or out. C’mon.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

If Davis does have to miss Wednesday’s game or any time beyond that, the Lakers will find themselves pretty shorthanded in the middle, notes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Jaxson Hayes remains available despite the NBA reopening its investigation into a 2021 domestic incident, but Christian Wood (knee surgery) and Christian Koloko (return-to-play conditioning) are out, as is small-ball center Jarred Vanderbilt (foot surgeries). When Hayes isn’t on the floor, L.A. might have to turn to rookie two-way big man Armel Traore or use a small lineup with James or Rui Hachimura at the five, according to Buha, who says neither option would be ideal.
Veteran forward Cam Reddish played a season-high 14 minutes on Monday after appearing in just one of the Lakers’ first six games. He didn’t score, but he grabbed five rebounds and was a plus-10 in the 12-point loss to the Pistons, as Khobi Price of The Orange County Register writes. Head coach J.J. Redick said that Reddish “earned some trust” as a result of his showing on Monday. LeBron also lauded the former first-round pick for stepping in and acquitting himself well. “Cam was great,” James said. “He did exactly what was asked of him. He came in and he defended at a high level. He was great.”
Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times takes a closer look at how veteran point guard D’Angelo Russell attempted to pull struggling teammate Max Christie out of his slump and increase his confidence ahead of Monday’s game in Toronto. Christie – who signed a four-year, $32MM contract over the summer – had his most effective outing of the season, with seven points and five rebounds in 13 minutes, but was unable to carry that momentum into Wednesday’s contest. He played just four first-quarter minutes against Detroit, with Reddish taking his spot in the rotation for the rest of the night.

Hoops Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat: 11/5/2024

November 5th, 2024 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Hoops Rumors’ Arthur Hill held a live chat today exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Topics included the Knicks' salary cap maneuverings, early-season favorites in the Eastern Conference, a surprising start in Brooklyn, Zion Williamson's latest injury issues, concerns about Giannis Antetokounmpo leaving Milwaukee and more!

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Atlantic Notes: Kolek, Queta, Dick, Barnes

November 5th, 2024 at 10:58am CST by Luke Adams

After playing a rotation role in each of the Knicks‘ first five games, veteran point guard Cameron Payne was unavailable on Monday in Houston due to a hamstring strain. That resulted in rookie guard Tyler Kolek seeing his first meaningful minutes of the season for New York.

Kolek was only on the court for 5:32 and was a minus-four in his limited playing time. Still, he knocked down his only field goal attempt (a three-pointer) and has made a positive impression on a head coach who typically doesn’t make a habit of playing rookies.

“I really like (Kolek) a lot,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “I think he’s learning like most young guys coming into the league. He’s a gym rat. Works extremely hard. Puts a lot of time into film study. Extra work. Practice. He’s around really good veterans. That helps move it along in terms of how you learn. And then a big part of it is the trial and error of getting out there and doing it. So I think he’s putting everything he has into it. So we’ll see.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Having seen his rotation role increase over the past week, Celtics center Neemias Queta earned his first career start on Monday in Atlanta and delivered with 10 points, seven rebounds, and a plus-31 mark in just 23 minutes. As Brian Robb of MassLive.com writes, Queta’s transformation into a rotation player gives Boston more insurance up front behind veterans Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford. “He’s grown a lot as a player and quite honestly he doesn’t know how good he can be,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said of Queta after Monday’s win. “He’s got a great ceiling and so the standard is very high and I thought he did some great things for us tonight.”
Following an up-and-down rookie season, Raptors sharpshooter Gradey Dick is showing early signs of breaking out in his second year, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca, who takes a closer look at how 2023’s No. 13 overall pick is thriving so far this fall. With a 26-point outing on Monday in Denver, Dick is up to 21.6 PPG on .473/.383/.929 shooting in his first eight games as an NBA sophomore.
After a meeting with doctors on Monday, the Raptors determined that injured forward Scottie Barnes won’t require surgery to repair the right orbital fracture he suffered last week, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. A surgical procedure likely would’ve extended the recovery timeline for Barnes, who will be reevaluated in about two weeks.

Onuralp Bitim Returning To Europe

November 5th, 2024 at 9:47am CST by Luke Adams

After spending the 2023/24 season in the NBA, Turkish forward Onuralp Bitim will head back overseas for the ’24/25 campaign, reports Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com.

According to Urbonas, Bitim is on track to sign a long-term contract with the Istanbul-based club Fenerbahce. However, Fenerbahce has a crowded rotation on the wing, so the team is expected to loan the 25-year-old to Bayern Munich in Germany for the rest of this season.

Having played professionally in Turkey for several years, Bitim made the move stateside in 2023 and opened the NBA season on a two-way contract with the Bulls. He was promoted to Chicago’s standard roster in February and began to see some action at the NBA level around that time.

Bitim, who made his NBA debut on Feb. 22, ultimately appeared in 23 total games for Chicago, averaging 3.5 points and 1.4 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .381/.273/.800. His season ended due to a detached retina, which required multiple surgeries and an uncomfortable recovery process.

Bitim remained under contract with the Bulls until last month, when he was among the club’s preseason cuts.

While Bitim’s NBA numbers were underwhelming, he was a solid contributor at the G League level in 22 games for the Windy City Bulls, putting up 14.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists on .415/.363/.909 shooting in 30.1 minutes per contest. In 2022/23, he made the All-EuroCup Second Team for Bursaspor in Turkey after averaging 18.1 PPG and 3.2 APG in 18 EuroCup outings.

Knicks, Boo Buie Agree To Two-Way Deal

November 5th, 2024 at 8:46am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks have agreed to sign rookie guard Boo Buie to a two-way contract, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). He’ll fill the two-way slot that is opening up as a result of Ariel Hukporti‘s promotion to the standard roster.

Buie, a 6’2″ guard, went undrafted in June after spending his entire five-year college career at Northwestern. As a super-senior in 2023/24, he averaged 19.0 points, 5.0 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 36.9 minutes per game across 34 starts, posting a shooting line of .438/.434/.858. He was named to the All-Big Ten first team in both 2023 and 2024.

Reporting on draft night indicated that Buie would sign an Exhibit 10 contract with Phoenix, but he ended up signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Knicks instead. He was in camp with the team just briefly and reported to the Westchester Knicks – New York’s G League affiliate – this fall.

While Buie will likely still spend plenty of time in Westchester, his new two-way deal will also allow him to play for the Knicks’ NBA squad and will give him a significant salary bump. Assuming the signing is officially finalized on Tuesday and he spends the rest of the season on that two-way contract, the 24-year-old will earn $532,025.

Signing Buie to a two-way contract means the Knicks intend to sign Matt Ryan to a standard deal. Word broke on Monday that New York had agreed to sign Ryan, but it wasn’t clear if the veteran sharpshooter would be added to the main roster along with Hukporti or if he’d fill the open two-way slot. We know now it’s the former.

The Knicks’ other two-way players are Jacob Toppin and rookie Kevin McCullar.

Southwest Notes: Zion, Sengun, Lively, Popovich

November 5th, 2024 at 8:10am CST by Luke Adams

Pelicans forward Zion Williamson didn’t show any signs of suffering an injury in Friday’s win over Indiana, in which he scored a season-high 34 points. However, he was added to the team’s injury report on Sunday due to right hamstring tightness and has now missed two consecutive games, both Pelicans losses, as Christian Clark of NOLA.com details.

“I don’t know exactly how it occurred,” head coach Willie Green said of Williamson’s injury, which was listed on Monday as right thigh soreness. “He showed up. Said he felt a little something. We wanted to make sure we got a look at it.”

Already missing Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Herbert Jones, and Trey Murphy due to longer-term injuries, the Pelicans have had to elevate little-used reserves to the rotation, with Brandon Boston, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, rookie Yves Missi, and newly signed Jaylen Nowell among those playing big minutes this week. The shorthanded team has dropped back-to-back games at home, losing to Atlanta by 15 points on Sunday and to Portland by 18 points on Monday.

While New Orleans badly needs a healthy Williamson back on the court to help end its skid, Green admitted on Monday that he’s not sure what the timeline is for his star forward’s return.

“He was not at the game,” Green told reporters. “Doctor’s orders. Because of the hamstring and quad. We kept him at home tonight.”

Here’s more from around the Southwest:

After signing a five-year, $185MM rookie scale extension the day before the regular season began, Rockets center Alperen Sengun got off to a slow start this fall, making just 38.6% of his field goal attempts through six games. Prior to Monday’s contest, he made it clear he wasn’t stressing about his low shooting percentage, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). “I’m not worried about it. Those shots are easy shots for me,” Sengun said. “They’re shots I used to make all three years. So I think it’s just going to come back and I’m going to make those.” The big man delivered on that promise by scoring 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting in a win over New York on Monday. He also contributed 14 rebounds, five assists, and four blocks in what was his best game of the season so far.
Mavericks center Dereck Lively II, who missed Monday’s loss to Indiana due to a right shoulder sprain, will undergo an MRI on that shoulder, head coach Jason Kidd told reporters. However, sources have expressed optimism that Lively’s injury isn’t significant, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link).
Ahead of his second game as the Spurs‘ acting head coach, Mitch Johnson said on Monday that he’s “not at liberty” to discuss Gregg Popovich‘s possible return timeline, but downplayed the seriousness of Popovich’s health issue. “Right now his health is the No. 1 priority,” Johnson said, per Michael C. Wright of ESPN. “We support him in that 100 percent and I talked to him last night. He’s in good spirits. He’s OK, and we can’t wait to have him back.”

And-Ones: Knueppel, Bailey, Jordan Jersey, Cap Projections, G League Deal

November 4th, 2024 at 10:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

While Duke’s Cooper Flagg is expected to be the top pick in next year’s draft, another Duke freshman has scouts excited too, according to Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. Kon Knueppel is being compared to Rockets lottery pick Reed Sheppard — a highly skilled player with elite shooting ability who was relatively underrated entering the year.

If Flagg isn’t the top pick, Rutgers’ Ace Bailey is the main candidate to supplant him. Listed at 6’10”, Bailey has shown serious shot-creation ability. Another player who has impressed scouts is Egor Demin, a 6’8″ guard who made a late commitment to BYU.

We have more from around the basketball world:

A game-worn Michael Jordan jersey from the Bulls‘ 1996/97 season has sold for $4.68MM via Sotheby’s, according to ESPN’s Dan Hajducky. The jersey was worn in at least 17 games during the season. It’s the fourth-most expensive NBA jersey sold by Sotheby’s. Jordan holds the all-time record with his $10.1MM “Last Dance” jersey.
The salary cap is projected to go up by $14MM to $154.6MM next season, but that won’t make much of a difference in terms of opening up cap space around the league, according to Spotrac contributor Keith Smith. The Nets and Wizards are the only teams projected to have meaningful cap space next summer.
In an NBA G League swap, the Windy City Bulls received the returning player rights to Jordan Hall by sending Chase Audige‘s returning player rights and a 2025 G League second-round pick to the Long Island Nets (Twitter link). Hall, who played nine games with San Antonio during the 2022/23 season, signed with Italy’s GeVi Napoli of the Lega Basket Serie A this summer but was waived last month.