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Ben Simmons Undergoes Second Back Surgery

March 14th, 2024 at 1:26pm CST by Rory Maher

Nets guard/forward Ben Simmons underwent a successful microscopic partial discectomy on Thursday to alleviate the nerve impingement in his lower left back, the team announced in a press release (Twitter link via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype).

The former No. 1 overall pick is expected to make a full recovery ahead of training camp in the fall, the club added.

This is the second time Simmons has undergone back surgery in the past two years. His first surgery, a microdiscectomy back in May 2022, was to alleviate the pain and symptoms from a herniated disc on the right side of his spine.

A former three-time All-Star and two-time All-Defensive team member who also made the All-NBA Third Team in 2019/20, Simmons’ career has been derailed by injuries the past few seasons. After a lengthy holdout with Philadelphia, he was traded to Brooklyn in February 2022, but never played for the Nets in 2021/22.

Last season, Simmons averaged 6.9 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 6.1 APG and 1.3 SPG in 42 games (26.3 MPG), later admitting he hadn’t fully recovered from his first back surgery. Entering the ’23/24 campaign, the 27-year-old was far more optimistic, but was limited to just 15 games (23.9 MPG) after sustaining the nerve impingement in early November. He averaged 6.1 PPG, 7.9 RPG and 5.7 APG in those appearances.

Simmons was officially shut down for the season a week ago, as he was consulting with specialists and considering treatment options for the nerve impingement in his lower back. Obviously, it was decided that undergoing another surgery was the best course of action.

Simmons will be entering the final year of his current maximum-salary contract in ’24/25. He’s on track to earn $40,338,144 before becoming eligible for unrestricted free agency.

Southeast Notes: Micic, Wizards, Vukcevic, Jovic, Herro

March 14th, 2024 at 12:36pm CST by Rory Maher

Hornets guard Vasilije Micic is one of the more unusual NBA rookies in recent memory. A two-time EuroLeague champion and two-time EuroLeague Final Four MVP who also won the regular season MVP for 2020/21, the 30-year-old signed a three-year deal with Oklahoma City last summer.

Despite his excellent international résumé, Micic struggled to crack the Thunder’s deep rotation, and he was sent to Charlotte at the trade deadline. According to Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer, the Serbian veteran said he’s still trying to find his footing in the NBA.

“I’m still trying to find myself,” said Micic. “It’s a mix of what’s really happening. We have a lot of injured players and it’s something that opened a lot of room for me in terms of minutes. But at the same time I’m at the age of, now, 30 and I’ve kind of shaped my game already. And I’m coming from five years of playing … the same way.

“So, it’s not an easy to adjust to fit in the team that needs more of a creator or passer — whatever it is. And I’m just trying to find the mix to still be aggressive, to still be capable of also scoring. But at the same time playing the right way.”

Micic had the best game of his NBA career in Wednesday’s victory over Memphis, recording 25 points (on 9-of-10 shooting), eight assists and two steals in 30 minutes. He has now scored in double figures in seven straight games, averaging 15.4 PPG, 6.4 APG, 2.9 RPG and 1.3 SPG over that span (31.3 MPG).

Here’s more from the Southeast:

After winning two straight games, the Wizards had a “soft, all-too-often listless performance” on Tuesday against an injury-plagued Memphis team, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Forward Kyle Kuzma, who started at center with Marvin Bagley III (lower back spasm) and Richaun Holmes (left big toe sprain) injured, didn’t mince words after the loss. “We disrespected the game,” Kuzma said. “We disrespected ourselves. … It also just boils down to professionalism and giving a f— a little bit. And tonight, we just didn’t. Anybody (on the Grizzlies) could go score. Anybody could lay the ball in. We were playing selfish on both ends. Just wasn’t good tonight from all of us.”
2023 second-round pick Tristan Vukcevic spent most of this season playing in Europe, but he just signed a two-year contract with the Wizards. A league source tells Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link) that the 21-year-old big man received $2,424,892 for the remainder of 2023/24 via the mid-level exception, and Washington holds a team option at the same rate for ’24/25. Vukcevic reportedly had a buyout worth seven figures, which explains why his salary is far above the norm for a second-rounder. Dionysis Aravantinos of HoopsHype takes a closer look at the young Serbian’s game and what he could bring to the Wizards.
With Tyler Herro and Kevin Love injured, Heat forward Nikola Jovic has received extended playing time the past few weeks. Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel examines whether Jovic will stick in the rotation once Miami gets back to full strength. Head coach Erik Spoelstra said on Wednesday there’s still no return timeline for Herro, who has missed nine consecutive games with a foot injury (Twitter link via Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press). “He’s doing everything he needs to do,” Spoelstra said.

Knicks Sign Diakite To 10-Day Deal, Officially Re-Sign Jeffries

March 14th, 2024 at 10:40am CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks have signed forward Mamadi Diakite to a 10-day contract, the team’s PR department tweets. New York also officially signed DaQuan Jeffries to a second 10-day deal, the club announced in a separate tweet.

Diakite became a free agent after the Spurs waived him on March 2. San Antonio had signed Diakite to a two-way deal on New Year’s Day.

Diakite is back in the Knicks’ organization after participating in their training camp last fall and playing for their G League team in Westchester earlier this season. He averaged 13.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 30.3 minutes while playing six games for the G League club.

Diakite, 27, went undrafted in 2020 out of Virginia after winning the national championship with the Cavaliers in 2018/19. This is his fourth NBA season — he has played a total of 52 games with Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Cleveland and San Antonio. He holds career averages of 3.3 points and 2.4 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per contest.

The Knicks have a roster opening to accommodate Diakite.

New York’s intention to re-sign Jeffries was reported on Wednesday. This is the third separate time Jeffries has been on the Knicks’ roster in 2023/24. He was initially on a standard non-guaranteed contract, but was waived as part of a trade back in late December. Jeffries signed his first 10-day deal with New York this season on February 22.

New York Notes: Claxton, Nets, Johnson, Anunoby

March 14th, 2024 at 9:35am CST by Dana Gauruder

Nic Claxton is headed to free agency after the season and Nets interim coach Kevin Ollie wants his center to continue showing growth as an offensive threat. He’s averaging 15.0 points and 3.1 assists in seven games this month, Jared Schwartz of the New York Post notes.

“I want [Claxton] to be unlocked, I don’t want him to be in a box offensively,” Ollie said. “I want him to do all kinds of things on the court because he’s doing everything on the defensive end for us — blocking shots, rebounding. We need to throw him the ball, but he needs to demand the ball as well. I’m telling our guards, ‘We gotta reward the big fella, because he’s doing a lot of cleaning up for us on the defensive end.’ When he does have two feet in the paint and he’s established, he should be getting the ball.”

We have more on the New York teams:

The Nets have dropped three of their four games during their current road trip and Wednesday’s 114-106 loss at Orlando was troubling, Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes. They trailed by double digits three minutes into the contest and never recovered. They’re now 3.5 games behind Atlanta for the final play-in spot. “The same thing that’s been going on just this last stretch: We didn’t make shots and our energy just wasn’t where it needed to be,” Claxton said. “It’s frustrating, man. It’s not easy. It’s frustrating. Nobody likes losing, like I always say. But we’ve just got to get ready for Indiana (on Saturday).”
Cameron Johnson was one of the few bright spots for the Nets on Wednesday, Lewis notes. He returned after missing three games due to an ankle sprain and contributed 13 points, three rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes. “We’re going to always look at what’s best for the team,” Ollie said. “I just thought he took care of his minutes, finished the game for us and, you know, that’s what I want him to understand.”
Knicks forward OG Anunoby is glad he opted for right elbow surgery, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post. In his return on Tuesday, he played 29 minutes and posted 14 points and four rebounds against Philadelphia. “It’s a lot better than it was the month of January,” Anunoby said. “I’m happy. Should get better and better.” Anunoby is expected to decline his $19.9MM contract option for next season in order to become an unrestricted free agent, though a new deal with New York is considered the most likely outcome.

Pacific Notes: Kawhi, Little, O’Neale, Warriors, Kings

March 14th, 2024 at 7:56am CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers got a health scare on Tuesday, when Kawhi Leonard had to leave the team’s game against Minnesota in the first half due to back spasms, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. If Leonard has to miss any time, it would complicate L.A.’s push for one of the top playoff seeds in the West, writes Law Murray of The Athletic.

However, Leonard traveled with the Clippers to Chicago and is listed as questionable for Thursday’s game, tweets Youngmisuk, so it doesn’t appear the issue is significant.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Suns forward Nassir Little, who has missed the past seven games due to left knee inflammation, was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice and is expected to be available for Thursday’s game in Boston, tweets Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Little is listed as probable for the showdown with the Celtics.
Suns forward Royce O’Neale said on Wednesday that it “means a lot” to hear team owner Mat Ishbia say that re-signing O’Neale will be a priority for the club this offseason, adding that it shows how much Ishbia “wants to win and keep the guys together” (Twitter video link via Rankin).
The Warriors‘ loss to Dallas on Wednesday makes it increasingly likely that Golden State will end up in the bottom half of the play-in bracket in the Western Conference, meaning they’d have to win two play-in games to even qualify for the playoffs, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. The 34-31 club is now 3.5 games back of the No. 8 Mavs, who would hold the tiebreaker edge on Golden State if they win one of the team’s two remaining meetings in early April. “Yeah, it feels daunting,” Brandin Podziemski said.“Just for the fact that you don’t want to be the 10th seed. The 11th seed is, I think, four or five games behind us. So for us to get that low I don’t think is going to happen. But you don’t want to be the 10th seed and have to play two road games before you get into an actual series.”
A pair of Kings players set franchise records in a blowout win over Milwaukee on Tuesday, as Domantas Sabonis registered his 47th consecutive double-double, while Malik Monk took the lead for most career assists by a Sacramento reserve, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Sabonis increased his double-double streak to 48 games on Wednesday in an impressive victory over the Lakers that moved the Kings up to sixth in the Western Conference standings.

Injury Notes: Mitchell, White, Luka, Green, Curry

March 13th, 2024 at 10:18pm CST by Rory Maher

After previously being listed as questionable, Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell returned to the starting lineup on Wednesday following a seven-game absence, as first reported by Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscriber link).

Mitchell has been dealing with a left knee bone bruise that required a PRP injection to promote healing. He would have been in strong contention for an All-NBA team, but he missed his 18th game of the 2023/24 season on Monday, and is no longer eligible for postseason awards.

Led by a strong performance from Darius Garland and excellent team three point shooting (20-45, 44.4%), the Cavs were victorious in Mitchell’s return, defeating New Orleans by 21 points.

Here are some more injury notes from around the NBA:

Bulls guard Coby White, one of the frontrunners for the Most Improved Player award, was injured after having his shot blocked by Pascal Siakam with about 10 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of Chicago’s overtime victory over Indiana (Twitter video link). After the game, head coach Billy Donovan called it a hip injury and said White would undergo additional testing, but the fifth-year guard appeared to be in good spirits in the locker room, as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago relays (Twitter links).
Mavericks star Luka Doncic exited Wednesday’s victory over Golden State late in the fourth quarter and was later ruled out with left hamstring soreness, the team announced (via Twitter). It’s unclear if the MVP candidate will miss additional time with the injury.
Warriors forward/center Draymond Green was ruled out for Wednesday’s loss due to lower back soreness, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. On a brighter note, two-time MVP Stephen Curry practiced with the G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors on Wednesday and will join Golden State in Los Angeles for Friday’s practice before determining whether he’ll face the Lakers on Saturday, head coach Steve Kerr told Slater and other media members (Twitter link).

Knicks To Sign DaQuan Jeffries To Second 10-Day Deal

March 13th, 2024 at 8:04pm CST by Rory Maher

The Knicks are signing guard/forward DaQuan Jeffries to a second 10-day contract, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (via Twitter).

Jeffries signed his first 10-day deal with New York this season on February 22 and was eligible for a second 10-day contract at the beginning of March. Instead, he’ll be returning a couple weeks later, according to Scotto.

This is actually the third separate time Jeffries has been on the Knicks’ roster in 2023/24. He was initially on a standard non-guaranteed contract, but was waived as part of a trade back in late December.

According to Fred Katz of The Athletic, Jeffries will officially sign his new deal on Thursday, when New York faces Portland (Twitter link).

Once his second 10-day deal expires, Jeffries will be ineligible to sign a third. To retain him at that point, the Knicks would have to sign him for the rest of the season.

Jeffries, 26, went undrafted out of Tulsa in 2019. He has played in 60 NBA games for the Kings, Rockets, Grizzlies and Knicks over the past five seasons, including 13 brief cameos (34 total minutes) with New York in ’23/24.

Jeffries didn’t play in any games in 2022/23 with New York, but he was under contract the whole campaign — initially on a two-way deal, and then a pair of 10-day contracts, before finally signing a multiyear deal.

While he hasn’t played much for the NBA club, Jeffries has been a standout for the Knicks’ G League affiliate in Westchester the past two seasons, averaging 22.8 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.8 APG and 1.1 BPG on .484/.385/.758 shooting in 13 regular season games in ’23/24.

As our tracker shows, New York only has 13 players on standard contracts at the moment, and was required to fill the 14th spot within two weeks of Jeffries’ last 10-day deal. The Knicks are currently 38-27, the No. 4 seed in the East, though only 2.5 games separate them from the No. 8 Heat.

Draft-And-Stash Prospect Tristan Vukcevic Signs With Wizards

March 13th, 2024 at 7:50pm CST by Luke Adams

7:50pm: Vukcevic’s contract with the Wizards is now official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

9:00am: Vukcevic is on track to sign a multiyear contract with the Wizards, confirms Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’ll be a two-year deal, adds Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).

7:55am: Seven-foot center Tristan Vukcevic has agreed to a buyout with KK Partizan, his team in Serbia, according to an announcement from team president Ostoja Mijailovic (Twitter link).

The buyout, which will be split between Partizan and Vukcevic’s former team Real Madrid as a result of a prior arrangement, is reportedly worth in the seven figures and will free up the big man to make the move to the NBA.

Vukcevic, who turned 21 on Monday, was the 42nd overall pick in the 2023 draft. He was selected by the Wizards, with general manager Will Dawkins expressing excitement about the youngster’s upside and lauding his shooting and passing abilities.

Although Vukcevic conveyed a desire last summer to join the team right away, Washington opted to have him spend another season overseas, where he played a very limited role for Partizan in 12 EuroLeague games. However, he impressed in 14 ABA League appearances, averaging 10.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in 18.9 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .544/.440/.805.

It’s unclear whether Vukcevic has an NBA deal lined up with the Wizards or whether he’ll take a route similar to the one fellow draft-and-stash prospect Karlo Matkovic took last month with the Pelicans and finish the season with the Capital City Go-Go in the G League. Given the price of Vukcevic’s buyout, signing with the Wizards seems more likely.

Washington has only used a small portion of its mid-level exception so far in 2023/24, so the club could utilize it to sign Vukcevic to a deal that covers up to four years (including the rest of this season). The Wizards opened up a spot on their 15-man roster when R.J. Hampton‘s 10-day contract expired on Tuesday night.

Pistons’ Fontecchio Meets Starter Criteria, Increasing QO

March 13th, 2024 at 7:39pm CST by Rory Maher

Pistons forward Simone Fontecchio met the “starter criteria” for potential restricted free agents by making his 41st start of the season on Wednesday, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac.

An RFA-to-be meets the criteria – which dictates the value of his qualifying offer – when he starts 41 games or plays 2,000 minutes in the final season of his contract, or when he averages 41 starts (or 2,000 minutes) in his last two seasons before free agency.

As a result of meeting the starter criteria, Fontecchio will see the value of his qualifying offer increase by approximately $1.4MM. The 28-year-old had been on track for a QO worth $3,806,090 — 125% of his current salary — but that figure will now be worth $5,216,324, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter), which is the equivalent of what the No. 21 pick in 2020 would receive.

It seems unlikely that the fairly modest bump in QO will have a tangible impact on Fontecchio’s free agency. If the Pistons issue the qualifying offer and the Italian wing signs a multiyear contract, the QO will essentially just function as a placeholder until his new deal is completed.

However, since Fontecchio only has two years of service time, he’ll also be subject to the Arenas provision. That means Detroit will be somewhat limited in what it can offer him in restricted free agency, and a rival team theoretically could give him a back-loaded offer sheet to put pressure on the Pistons. That seems pretty unlikely though, considering the same was also true of Austin Reaves and Herbert Jones last summer and they wound up re-signing with their respective clubs on standard deals.

Acquired in a trade-deadline deal with Utah, Fontecchio has played very well through 13 games (29.0 MPG) as Piston, averaging 15.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.0 APG and 1.0 SPG on an elite .490/.431/.842 shooting line. His role and stats were more modest with the Jazz in 2023/24, averaging 8.9 PPG and 3.5 RPG on .450/.391/.800 shooting in 50 games (23.2 MPG).

Will Barton Signs With Spain’s CB Granada

March 13th, 2024 at 5:27pm CST by Rory Maher

Free agent wing Will Barton has signed a contract with Spain’s CB Granada that covers the final 10 games of the Liga ACB season, the team announced in a press release. The news was first reported by Jose Manuel Puertas of Ideal.es.

An 11-year NBA veteran, Barton spent most of his career with Denver, where he had his most productive seasons. The 33-year-old was traded to Washington in the 2022 offseason and split last season with the Wizards and Raptors, but was unable to find another NBA opportunity in 2023/24.

Barton signed a contract with CSKA Moscow in January, but he never actually played for the Russian team, as the deal was voided via an early exit clause. A subsequent report indicated that Barton’s departure was due to failed medical tests.

According to the announcement from Granada, Barton will undergo a medical exam over the weekend and then join the team for practice on Monday. Granada is currently 7-17 this season in Spain’s top basketball league. The team’s roster also features former Bulls big man Cristiano Felicio.

In 679 regular season games, including 286 starts, Barton holds career averages of 11.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 2.7 APG on .430/.355/.787 shooting in 25.2 MPG. The veteran guard/forward averaged 6.8 PPG, 2.4 RPG and 2.0 APG on .379/.367/.787 shooting in 56 games (17.7 MPG) with Washington and Toronto last season.