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Bucks Sign Jaylin Galloway To Two-Way Contract

March 3rd, 2024 at 12:40pm CST by Luke Adams

MARCH 3: Galloway’s two-way contract is now official, according to an announcement from the Bucks.

MARCH 1: The Bucks intend to sign Australian wing Jaylin Galloway to a two-way contract, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The deal will cover the 2024/25 season in addition to the rest of ’23/24, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN (Twitter link).

Galloway, 21, has spent the last few seasons playing for the Sydney Kings in Australia’s National Basketball League. In 2023/24, he appeared in 22 games for the team, averaging 10.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 22.9 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .545/.338/.592. The athletic 6’7″ guard/forward also has real defensive upside, as Sam Vecenie of The Athletic tweets.

Marc Stein reported earlier this week that Galloway, who played for the Timberwolves’ team in the 2023 Las Vegas Summer League, was generating NBA interest and was a candidate to come stateside before the end of the regular season.

The Bucks have one open two-way slot alongside TyTy Washington and Ryan Rollins, so no corresponding roster move will be necessary to create room on the roster for Galloway.

The deadline to sign a player to a two-way contract is March 4, so the Bucks will have until Monday to officially finalize their deal with Galloway. Once it’s done, the team will have a full roster, with all 15 standard spots and three two-way slots filled.

New York Notes: Hart, DiVincenzo, Simmons, Claxton

March 3rd, 2024 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

With so many regulars missing due to injuries, the Knicks have been leaning heavily on forward Josh Hart, who has played at least 40 minutes in six of the team’s past seven games, including 47:10 in Thursday’s loss to Golden State. After admitting earlier in the season that his Team USA stint last summer might be catching up with him, Hart has welcomed the extra playing time and shown no signs of hitting a wall, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post.

“At the end of the day as a competitor I want to play,” Hart said following Thursday’s game. “If I went out, especially if we were making a run and I got (taken) out, I’m mad. You know what I mean? I want to play as much as I can.”

Head coach Tom Thibodeau told Botte and other reporters that he’s “always talking” to Hart about his workload and that he’s pleased with how the 28-year-old has responded to his increased role.

“He’s handled it well,” Thibodeau said. “Obviously, we’re shorthanded right now so that’s what’s required. But (he had) 18 rebounds, seven assists (on Thursday). And he’s a great defender, so we need him right now.”

Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:

While Donte DiVincenzo is a long shot to suit up for Italy in this year’s Olympics, the Knicks wing said in a conversation with Simone Sandri of Gazzetta Dello Sport that he hopes to represent the national team in the years to come, even if he can’t get his Italian passport in time for Paris this summer.
Fred Katz of The Athletic examines a few areas of concern for the Knicks, including the offensive production from the first unit and all the teams that are right on their heels in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Nets guard/forward Ben Simmons missed a third consecutive game on Saturday due to left leg soreness, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. Simmons has been limited to 15 appearances in 2023/24, including just 10 since playing the first five games of the season.
The Nets only have a couple more months to experiment with the way they use Nic Claxton before they’ll have to pay up to retain him in free agency, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required). As Lewis details, Claxton and Simmons have remained altogether incompatible in their minutes sharing the court, and while Simmons was a major part of Brooklyn’s game plan entering this season, Claxton now looks like the player who will be a bigger part of the franchise’s plans going forward.

Suns Notes: Booker, O’Neale, Nurkic, Beal

March 3rd, 2024 at 9:17am CST by Luke Adams

Suns guard Devin Booker exited Saturday’s loss to Houston in the fourth quarter after spraining his right ankle, according to reports from Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic and ESPN.

Booker suffered the injury when he and teammate Royce O’Neale got their feet tangled up on defense while Booker was guarding Rockets guard Fred VanVleet with just over a minute left in the game (Twitter video link). The Suns’ All-Star guard, who was in obvious pain, immediately left the court and headed to the locker room (Twitter video link).

Speaking to reporters after the game, head coach Frank Vogel said that X-rays were negative on Booker’s ankle and that the team doesn’t yet know the severity of the sprain (Twitter video link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports). The Suns are back in action on Sunday night vs. Oklahoma City, and while it would be a bit of a surprise if Booker is ready to go for that game, Vogel didn’t entirely rule out that possibility.

“We’ll see how he responds overnight,” he said.

Here are a few more injury-related notes out of Phoenix:

O’Neale also sustained an ankle injury on the play where he and Booker got tangled up, but his sprain appears to be a mild one. The forward said after the game that he was OK, per Rankin, and Vogel said O’Neale’s injury is “not as much of a concern,” adding that he didn’t get X-rays like Booker did.
Suns center Jusuf Nurkic left Saturday’s game in the second quarter and didn’t return after taking an inadvertent shot to the head from teammate Josh Okogie (Twitter link). According to Vogel, Nurkic was tested for a possible concussion, but has been diagnosed with “just a neck sprain.”
On the plus side for the Suns, Bradley Beal was back in action on Saturday for the first time since February 13 after missing five games due to a left hamstring issue. However, he was ejected from the game in the third quarter after he picked up a pair of technical fouls in quick succession following a brief altercation with Rockets guard Jalen Green (Twitter video link).

L.A. Notes: Hyland, Zubac, Westbrook, Dinwiddie, Giles

March 2nd, 2024 at 11:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

The fractured left hand that Russell Westbrook suffered Friday night has created an opportunity for Bones Hyland, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Hyland played 16 minutes after Westbrook left the game, and he may have a spot in the Clippers‘ rotation for the foreseeable future.

“It’s been a long time,” Hyland said, “but honestly I’m just ready to keep contributing to the team, build up these wins and carry this momentum into the thing that we all want to do.”

Carr points out that Hyland averaged 26.2 minutes and 13.6 points in the season’s first five games. But he became a forgotten man after the James Harden trade was completed, logging 34 DNPs since November 10 and being listed as inactive five times. He admits it has been “challenging” and credits Westbrook for providing encouragement while he waited for playing time.

“Russ has been a great leader to me, man, since I came here, even before I got here,” Hyland said. “He’s always been that guy I can go talk to. … In this whole process, he told me to stay down, stay hungry, stay in the gym, just keep being myself and it’ll come back around full circle.”

There’s more from Los Angeles:

Center Ivica Zubac was able to travel with the Clippers after missing the past two games with an undisclosed illness, per Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. He’s listed as questionable for Sunday afternoon’s contest in Minnesota. “I hope I can play,” Zubac said. “I didn’t come all this way not to play. But I guess it’s up to the medical staff, but I hope I can play.”
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue talked about the effect that losing Westbrook will have on the team, Turner adds. “Russ plays every night, so just to see him go through something like this is tough on everybody,” Lue said. “He wants to compete in practice, in games, in everything.”
Spencer Dinwiddie, who signed with the Lakers last month after being waived by Toronto, is becoming more comfortable with his new team, according to Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Coach Darvin Ham said his advice to Dinwiddie was “be aggressive and let us figure it out around you.”
Harry Giles will report to the Lakers Sunday on his new two-way contract, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Ham told reporters that he’s happy to find a promising talent to fortify the frontcourt (video link). “I think he’s a really good young player,” Ham said. “He was available and we saw an opportunity to gain a little insurance at that position. … He’s also someone we can take a long, hard look at as far as implementing him into the program.”

Heat Notes: Herro, Jovic, Love, Rozier, Martin

March 2nd, 2024 at 9:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

Heat guard Tyler Herro continues to be bothered by discomfort in his right foot that began during the All-Star break, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Herro missed his fourth straight game today — bringing him to 24 for the season — with a condition that team doctors are calling medial tendinitis.

Asked before the game if he’s being cautious with Herro, coach Erik Spoelstra said he doesn’t have that luxury with starters Kevin Love and Josh Richardson also sidelined by injuries. Love missed his second consecutive game with a bruised right heel and Richardson sat out his seventh straight with a dislocated right shoulder.

“It’s managing where he is right now,” Spoelstra said of Herro. “Once he feels right and he passes the protocols, he’ll play. We’re not saving anybody for the playoffs. We have a lot of work to do to make sure we get in.”

There’s more from Miami:

Nikola Jovic continues to be a fixture in Spoelstra’s starting lineup, Chiang adds. The second-year big man was out of the rotation early in the season, but Saturday marked his sixth start in the team’s last seven games. The only one he missed was because of a league suspension for being involved in a fracas with New Orleans last week.
Love sees himself as a natural mentor for Herro because he went through the same experience of playing with two stars in Cleveland and constantly hearing his name in trade speculation, per Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. “I’ve been in trade rumors every offseason,” Love said. “I’ve been him. I was the third guy. I played in the paint and in the interior my whole career and I was asked when I got to Cleveland to play on the perimeter. I was asked to do a lot of things that maybe I was uncomfortable with or wasn’t used to. … I’ve been in his position many times before and he has handled it very well. His maturity has really impressed me.”
Terry Rozier‘s three-point shooting since coming to Miami is a cause for concern, Chiang states in a mailbag column. Coming into today’s game, he was 23.7% from long-distance since the trade with Charlotte, including 25% on catch-and-shoot threes and 22.2% on pull-up threes. Chiang expects Rozier to eventually move closer to his career average of 36.4%.
Caleb Martin received six stitches in his lip after being hit in the face in the fourth quarter of today’s game, tweets Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel.

LeBron James Reaches 40,000 Career Points

March 2nd, 2024 at 8:18pm CST by Arthur Hill

LeBron James hit another career milestone tonight, becoming the first NBA player ever to score 40,000 points. The Lakers star needed just nine points coming into the game against Denver and reached the historic mark with a layup early in the second quarter (video link from Dave McMenamin of ESPN).

The game stopped briefly, and the Lakers honored James with a video tribute, tweets Johan Buha of The Athletic.

After scoring 31 points on Thursday, James talked to Buha about what it means to him to reach a scoring figure that was once thought to be impossible.

“To be able to accomplish things in this league, with the greatest players to ever play in this league, the NBA, this has been a dream of mine and to hit feats and have milestones throughout my career, they all mean something to me. Absolutely,” James said. “Obviously, there’s a pecking order of which ones are higher than others, but absolutely. I would be lying to you if I said it doesn’t mean anything. Because it absolutely does.”

James became the league’s leading scorer on February 7 of last year when he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387 points, with the Lakers’ legendary center on hand to witness the achievement. James remains an elite scorer even after turning 39 in December. He’s averaging 25.3 PPG in 53 games this season and hasn’t been below 25.0 PPG since his rookie year.

James told Buha that he hasn’t considered how high his point total might climb before he retires.

“I never thought about getting the scoring record,” he said. “It just happened organically. I played the game the right way and went out and played the game and let the game come to me and the scoring record happened organically for me. It was never a goal of mine when I came into the league, like I wanted to be the all-time leading scorer. But I’m still playing. And I can still score the ball so it’s going to go up until I’m done playing.”

Pacers Notes: Sheppard, McDermott, Nesmith, Walker, Haliburton, Siakam

March 2nd, 2024 at 7:19pm CST by Arthur Hill

An illness forced Ben Sheppard to remain in New Orleans after missing Friday’s game, and the Pacers aren’t sure if he’ll be ready for Sunday’s contest in San Antonio, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Sheppard will also stay in New Orleans tonight, and the team won’t decide his availability for the matchup with the Spurs until Sunday morning.

“If he feels better in the morning, he may join us here,” coach Rick Carlisle said. “If not, he’ll meet us in Dallas (for a game Tuesday).”

The Pacers have already announced that they’ll be without Doug McDermott, who will miss his third straight game with a strained right calf. The game marks a homecoming for McDermott, who was acquired from San Antonio at the trade deadline.

“It’s going to be a few more games,” Carlisle said of McDermott’s status. “He’s not doing any activity other than rehab.”

There’s more on the Pacers:

Aaron Nesmith was able to return to the court Friday night after sitting out the previous four games with a sprained right ankle, Dopirak adds. The team’s starting small forward said he’s “never felt that sensation before” when he injured the ankle on February 14, but tests showed the damage wasn’t as serious as he feared it might be. “I put a lot of work in the last couple of weeks so wind-wise, I felt pretty good,” Nesmith said after posting nine points and three rebounds in 20 minutes. “I didn’t feel out of shape or out of breath. It took a second to get warmed up and catch up to the game and let the game come to me.”
A depleted bench and a lopsided loss provided extended playing time for rookie forward Jarace Walker, Dopirak adds in a separate story. The lottery pick logged nearly 27 minutes, and Dopirak notes that it’s the first time since January 21 that he has played more than seven minutes in an NBA game. “He’s got much more solid defensively,” Carlisle said. “In his last stint with the G League team, we asked him to concentrate more on rebounding. He did that. He had double figure rebounds in at least a couple of those games. I like his feel and his vision in playmaking, and there were a couple of times he got to the rim tonight and that’s another thing we’ve been talking to him about. He did many good things and he was ready.”
Earlier this week, Tyrese Haliburton talked about building chemistry with Pascal Siakam, who was acquired from Toronto in a mid-January trade (YouTube link).

Lakers Sign Harry Giles To Two-Way Contract

March 2nd, 2024 at 5:51pm CST by Rory Maher

MARCH 2: The Lakers announced that they’ve signed Giles and waived Windler (Twitter link).

MARCH 1, 8:30pm: A team source tells ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that Windler will be released to make room for Giles, who will join the Lakers on Monday (Twitter link).

MARCH 1, 7:17pm: Free agent big man Harry Giles is signing a two-way contract with the Lakers, agent Daniel Hazan tells Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link).

As Charania observes, the Lakers are a little thin in the frontcourt due to injuries to Christian Wood (knee swelling) and two-way center Colin Castleton (right wrist fracture). Castleton hasn’t been in the rotation as a rookie this season, but it’s possible he may have gotten a chance with Wood out.

L.A. currently has Castleton, Skylar Mays and Dylan Windler on two-way deals. One of them will have to be waived in order to make room on the roster for Giles.

A former first-round pick, Giles returned to the NBA in 2023/24 after missing two full seasons due to knee injuries. He signed a non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract with the Nets, earning a spot on the team’s regular season roster and then having his full salary guaranteed when he remained on the roster through January 7.

Giles played sparingly in Brooklyn, appearing in 16 games and averaging just 5.1 minutes per night. He posted 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in his limited role.

The 25-year-old forward/center was a roster casualty last month, with the Nets waiving him to complete a trade before the deadline.

As our glossary entry on two-way contracts shows, in the 2023 CBA, the league and the players’ union agreed to implement what is informally known as the “Harry Giles rule.” Prior to signing with Brooklyn, Giles had been on an NBA roster for four seasons, but missed the entirety of his 2017/18 rookie year due to an injury, so he had only actually played in an NBA regular season game in three separate seasons.

The new rule allows Giles – and any other player who has four years of NBA service but missed one or more of those seasons due to an injury – to sign a two-way contract. That’s how Windler was able to sign two-way deals with the Knicks and Lakers as well.

Wizards Notes: Poole, Jones, Losing Streak, Omoruyi, Coulibaly

March 2nd, 2024 at 5:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jordan Poole‘s recent move to a sixth-man role may not be in the Wizards‘ best long-term interests, writes David Aldridge of The Athletic. Aldridge admits that the inefficiencies in Poole’s game have been glaring since Golden State traded him last summer to a Washington team where he’s expected to be the best player. Poole is the Wizards’ most explosive scorer and has an ability to create his own shot when the offense bogs down, but he’s shooting just 40.1% from the field and 31% from three-point range this season while turning the ball over 2.2 times per game.

Point guard Tyus Jones is extremely efficient with the ball, but Aldridge notes that pairing him with Poole wasn’t working because they’re too small to play together and neither is a good defender. With Poole in the first season of a four-year, $123MM extension, Aldridge doesn’t expect the Wizards to be able to trade him any time soon. Jones is headed toward free agency this summer, which is why Aldridge believes the organization should commit to Poole as its starting point guard despite the flaws in his game.

Explaining the move, interim coach Brian Keefe said he’s a “huge believer” in Poole and expects him to have more offensive freedom coming off the bench.

“I want Jordan to be himself. And that was my message when I first took over,” Keefe said. “I want him to play in attack mode. And I think this is more of an opportunity for him to do that, because of the amount of time he puts into it. And what he can mean for our team when he does that.”

There’s more on the Wizards:

Players are doing their best to stay positive amid a losing streak that reached 14 games Friday night, per Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. They’re two losses away from the franchise record, but the locker room emphasis is on continued growth. “Right now, we understand a lot of things we’re doing … halfway through the year. Changing coaches, we’re also changing a lot of philosophies, we’re also changing to do a lot of things that these young guys, they haven’t necessarily been taught,” Kyle Kuzma said. “We have a learning curve right now. We understand that. It’s always tough to lose, especially when you’re a competitor, and everybody in this locker room is a competitor. But we understand that we’re searching and we’re fighting for growth every single day.”
Interim coach Brian Keefe said Eugene Omoruyi‘s effort level helped him earn a standard contract after he was a two-way player for most of the season, Wallace adds. “This is someone who has worked his tail off behind the scenes, and then you guys get to see it occasionally when he plays,” Keefe said. “Every time we put him out there, we’ve done well. I think it’s also a credit to our development program and the use of the Go-Go in the G League and their staff. But mostly, Gene deserves it. He’s a guy that represents stuff that we’re about as a culture and want to build. Thrilled for him.”
In an interview with Mark Medina of Sportskeeda, rookie forward Bilal Coulibaly talks about the challenges of his first NBA season.

Eastern Notes: Hornets, Peterson, Clifford, Bridges, Pistons, Murray, Raptors

March 2nd, 2024 at 3:55pm CST by Luke Adams

By all accounts, the Hornets made a strong choice in reportedly deciding on Nets executive Jeff Peterson to run their front office, writes Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer.

One source who has spent plenty of time around Peterson called it a “great, great get” for the Hornets, while a high-ranking executive who previously worked with Peterson referred to him as “incredibly intelligent and super genuine,” Boone reports.

Peterson will have many items on his to-do list in the coming weeks and months once he’s officially hired, according to Boone, who points to head coach Steve Clifford‘s future as one major decision awaiting the new head of basketball operations. The Hornets don’t owe Clifford any additional guaranteed money, Boone writes, so if they decide not to retain him beyond the season, they could simply turn down his team option for 2024/25.

Peterson will also face an important free agency decision this summer on Miles Bridges, who has picked up where he left off on the court this season but has been the subject of multiple domestic violence accusations in the past two years. His most recent legal case was dismissed last month. Multiple league sources tell Boone that Charlotte could face competition from the Pistons for the former Michigan State forward.

In the shorter term, Peterson may look to start filling out his new front office. According to Boone, one candidate for a possible assistant general manager role is Matt Tellem, Brooklyn’s director of strategic planning and an assistant GM for the G League’s Long Island Nets. Tellem is considered a salary cap expert, says Boone.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Although the Pistons envision trade-deadline acquisitions Quentin Grimes and Simone Fontecchio as key pieces of next season’s team, they plan to bring both wings off the bench for now and take a look at five of their recent first-round picks as starters, writes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (subscription required). Healthy and back from his three-game suspension, Isaiah Stewart will continue to be part of Detroit’s starting five alongside Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson, and Jalen Duren for the foreseeable future, barring injuries. The hope is that Stewart’s defense will make up for the first unit having less spacing, Sankofa explains.
Hawks guard Dejounte Murray has locked in a $500K bonus on top of his base salary this season after making his 125th three-pointer of the season on Saturday, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The bonus had been deemed likely and already counted against Murray’s $18.2MM cap hit because he earning that incentive last season by making 133 threes.
Raptors star Scottie Barnes is out indefinitely after fracturing his hand on Friday and may have played his last game of the 2023/24 season. However, Warriors forward Draymond Green believes Barnes is capable of great things next year and beyond, as Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca relays. “Scottie is an incredible player,” Green said on Friday. “… Me playing the point forward position, I’m not going to sit up here and act like I was the first one to ever do it, but I think I’ve done it a little differently than most. And he’ll take that to another level. … I think Scottie will do way more than I ever did.”
Barnes’ injury was unfortunately timed, given that the new-look Raptors were beginning to show some promise, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, who explores what the All-Star’s absence means for the team going forward.