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Devin Booker, Giannis Antetokounmpo Named Players Of The Week

January 29th, 2024 at 2:34pm CST by Rory Maher

Suns guard Devin Booker and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo have been named the NBA’s Players of the Week, the league announced (via Twitter). It’s the second time this season that each player has earned the honor.

In four games last week, Booker went on a scoring spree, averaging 42.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 block in 37.4 minutes per contest. The three-time All-Star posted a staggering .639/.500/.829 shooting line. Phoenix went 2-2 last week and is currently 26-20, the No. 7 seed in the West.

Two-time MVP Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, helped lead Milwaukee to a 3-1 record last week, averaging 29.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks in 33.7 minutes. He posted a .603/.429/.600 shooting line.

Interestingly, Joel Embiid (70 points, 18 rebounds, five assists) and Luka Doncic (73 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) had 70-plus points in a game last week, but neither player won the weekly award. Though they obviously had extremely strong individual cases, perhaps their team records (1-2 and 1-3, respectively) worked against them.

Embiid missed Saturday’s game at Denver and will be sidelined again on Monday in Portland, sources tell Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).

According to the NBA (Twitter links), the other nominees in the West were Harrison Barnes, Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jaren Jackson Jr., Kawhi Leonard, D’Angelo Russell and Anfernee Simons, while Jalen Brunson, Embiid, Donovan Mitchell, Andrew Nembhard and Pascal Siakam were nominated in the East.

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NBA G League Announces Up Next Participants

January 29th, 2024 at 1:40pm CST by Rory Maher

A pool of 28 players has been selected for the NBA G League’s Up Next Game at All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, the NBAGL announced in a press release.

According to the release, the event features “four teams of seven players competing in two semifinal games. The winner of each semifinal will face off in a Championship game.

“The teams will be made up of 28 NBA G League players, including 10 selected by a fan vote. The remaining 18 players will be selected by the NBA G League and will include eight members of NBA G League Ignite and at least one member of the Indiana Mad Ants, the G League affiliate of the All-Star hosting Indiana Pacers. Each team will be coached by a head coach from the NBA G League.”

Players marked with an asterisk (*) are on two-way contracts.

Fan vote:

Former Kentucky guard Hagans received the most votes.

NBAGL selections:

G League Ignite:

They aren’t currently on NBA teams, but it’s worth noting that Labissiere and Bazley are ineligible for two-way deals because they each hold four years of NBA experience. Weatherspoon (three years), Hagans (one) and Williams (one) also hold at least some NBA experience.

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Central Notes: Duren, Pistons, Haliburton, Mitchell, Mobley

January 29th, 2024 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jalen Duren had 22 points and 21 rebounds as the Pistons surprised Oklahoma City on Sunday, but he didn’t want anyone to think that’s all he did, writes Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit News. “And six assists,” Duren pointed out as he spoke with reporters after the game. Cade Cunningham was a late scratch as he continues his recovery from a knee strain, so Detroit ran some of its offense through the second-year center.

“Honestly, we were able to get the win and that’s what I’m most happy about, it’s a big-time win,” Duren said. “Especially after yesterday. Just happy about that. 20 and 20 is 20 and 20, but for me I knew it was bound to happen at some time so I wasn’t really that worried about it.”

Duren has been one of the few bright spots for the Pistons, but Sankofa reports that the organization still believes it can salvage something from this season despite a 6-40 record and a historic losing streak. Duren has become much more polished that he was as a rookie, Sankofa adds, displaying better touch and footwork around the basket while being given more leeway to handle the ball and create plays under new coach Monty Williams.

“I just think he’s putting the work in,” Williams said. “I’ve told him if he’s gonna be the guy that we feel like he can be, he’s gotta own that position. Earlier, I thought that he was renting it because he would show flashes of it and then you wouldn’t see it. We just talk about the work that goes into being a solid player, then a good player, then a really good player and then a great player, on and on and on, you have to put in tons of work and just repeat those moves.”

There’s more from the Central Division:

  • With the trade deadline nearing, James L. Edwards of The Athletic talks with other Athletic writes about potential Pistons deals involving Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. They review proposed trades with the Lakers, Knicks and Thunder.
  • The Pacers are optimistic that Tyrese Haliburton will be available Tuesday night against Boston after missing 10 of the last 11 games with a left hamstring injury, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
  • Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell participated in today’s shootaround and is listed as probable to play tonight after undergoing a scare involving a groin injury late in the Milwaukee game, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Evan Mobley also took part in the shootaround amid reports that he’ll be able to return soon following left knee surgery (Twitter link).
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James Johnson Signs Second 10-Day Contract With Pacers

January 29th, 2024 at 11:30am CST by Arthur Hill

11:30am: Johnson’s new 10-day contract is official, the Pacers announced (via Twitter).

9:26am: The Pacers will sign veteran forward James Johnson to another 10-day contract, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The signing was confirmed to Wojnarowski by Johnson’s agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports.

Johnson didn’t see any game action during his first 10-day deal, which expired on Sunday, but he has appeared in five games for Indiana this season with four points, four rebounds and five assists in limited playing time. He signed a standard contract with the Pacers in mid-December after they reached a buyout agreement with Daniel Theis, but was waived on January 17 when the team needed to open a roster spot to complete the Pascal Siakam trade. Johnson rejoined the team two days later upon clearing waivers.

A 15-year NBA veteran, Johnson first came to Indiana before the start of last season. He has appeared in 23 total games during that time, but has mostly served as a veteran leader in the locker room.

Once Johnson’s second 10-day contract becomes official, the Pacers will be back to a 14-man roster, giving them one opening heading into the trade deadline. Teams are limited to two 10-day deals with a player during a season, so Indiana would have to sign Johnson to another standard contract to keep him for the rest of the season.

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Will Barton Signing With CSKA Moscow

January 29th, 2024 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill

Former NBA guard Will Barton will sign with CSKA Moscow for the rest of the season, according to Eurohoops.

The 33-year-old has been a free agent since finishing last season in Toronto. He averaged 6.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 56 total games with the Wizards and Raptors. Barton auditioned for the Warriors and Pelicans in September, but didn’t land a job with either team.

Barton will become the most prominent player to sign in Russia since the beginning of the war with Ukraine in February of 2022, the Eurohoops report notes. He will be limited to VTB League competition because Russian teams are currently sanctioned from the EuroLeague.

“First of all, I’m grateful for the opportunity to play for this team,” Barton wrote on the CSKA Moscow website. “I’ve only heard good things about the club and the fans. I’m very glad to have the chance to meet my teammates, coaches, fans, organization and wonderful people from Moscow. I am willing to invest the time and effort to compete and win at a high level. I can’t wait to come and start working.”

The 40th pick in the 2012 draft, Barton played for four teams in 11 NBA seasons, spending most of his time in Denver. He averaged 11.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 679 games.

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Julius Randle Expected To Miss Several Weeks, But MRI Reveals No Significant Damage

January 29th, 2024 at 9:51am CST by Arthur Hill

Julius Randle continues to undergo testing for his dislocated right shoulder, but Knicks officials are optimistic that his absence will be “measured in weeks and not months,” sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Initial reviews of an MRI he had this weekend indicate no significant damage, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

A source confirms to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link) that there’s hope Randle will be back before the end of the season, but cautions that the diagnosis is “not conclusive” yet, noting that more tests were performed after the MRI. Steve Popper of Newsday tweets that there was an upbeat feeling about Randle at this morning’s shootaround and notes that next month’s All-Star break will give him an additional week to recover without affecting the season.

Surgery hasn’t been ruled out, but the testing so far provides a reason to believe that Randle can recover without it, adds Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link).

Randle suffered the injury on a drive to the basket late in Saturday’s game against Miami. As Jaime Jaquez attempted to draw a change, Randle landed awkwardly with his right arm extended. He headed toward the training staff and was taken to the locker room for X-rays.

Randle has been one of the on-court leaders for the Knicks, who have won 12 of their last 14 games to surge into fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Through 46 games, he’s averaging 24.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists per night.

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Magic Notes: Isaac, Banchero, Suggs, Black

January 29th, 2024 at 8:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Magic forward Jonathan Isaac plans to be available tonight in Dallas for the second game of a back-to-back, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. It’s a significant step for Isaac, who has seen his career derailed by injuries over the past three years.

Isaac played 23 minutes Sunday against Phoenix with nine points and three rebounds, marking the second straight time he has exceeded 22 minutes. He has already missed 18 games this season, including seven in a row recently with a strained right hamstring, and he’s working with coach Jamahl Mosley and the team’s training staff to make sure he’s healthy for a potential playoff run.

“I’m getting there,” Isaac said. “Just talking with coach and figuring out how I’m coming along and what’s going to be the direction. I’m just telling them I’m ready to go. I’m going to continue to just take it one game at a time.”

Isaac was Orlando’s starting power forward early in his career, but ACL injuries cost him two full seasons and limited him to 11 games in 2022/23. He has become a valuable defensive presence off the bench, and his coach hopes to be able to use him more often as the season wears on.

“We’re able to push a little bit more of the limits of what he’s able to do and that’s going to continue to happen,” Mosley said. “We’ll just look at it on a game-to-game basis more than where we’ll fully go. Because it’s also (about) how he responds to these games and what it looks like for him.”

There’s more from Orlando:

  • Sunday’s win over the Suns was significant for a Magic team that has been sliding down the Eastern Conference standings following a hot start. Paolo Banchero tells Beede that the players need to regain their focus for the second half of the season (Twitter link). “We’ve just got to come together as much as we can, pick up the communication, pick up the intensity, and get back to being together as a group,” Banchero said. “It’s just that point in the season where it starts feeling like a grind for a lot of guys, including myself. We’ve just got to fight through it, push through it, come together as a group and be there for each other.”
  • Jalen Suggs left Friday’s game at Memphis in the first quarter due to a bruised left knee, but he was able to return on Sunday, Beede tweets. Suggs was back in his usual role, starting and posting 10 points, four rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes.
  • Isaac is impressed by rookie guard Anthony Black‘s desire to match up with the NBA’s best scorers, Beede adds (Twitter link). “There was one moment where I saw he wanted to guard (Devin) Booker and coach had told him to guard somebody else,” Isaac said. “… And he was frustrated. To have a young guy that wants to guard and wants to be in the game to make plays like that speaks to who he is. He’s going to continue to get better.”
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Knicks Notes: Randle, Anunoby, Hartenstein

January 28th, 2024 at 10:28pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The rhythm of the Knicks‘ offense seems liable to be thrown out of whack with All-Star power forward Julius Randle now shelved due to a dislocated right shoulder, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.

New York has been rolling of late, with six straight victories to its credit. 6’4″ swingman Josh Hart has functioned as Randle’s primary backup this season.

Bondy posits that, though players like Hart, OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Jericho Sims can assume bigger roles in Randle’s stead, the team will still miss the way his presence has bent opposing defenses. The two-time All-NBA vet is the club’s second-leading scorer, averaging 24.0 PPG, while also chipping in 9.2 RPG and 5.0 APG.

“You don’t want to see that from anybody,” teammate Jalen Brunson said. “Especially the way he’s been playing… He means a lot to us.”

There’s more out of New York:

  • Among the Knicks who should look to increase their output with Randle unavailable, OG Anunoby especially needs to be more aggressive as a scorer, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. Across his 14 contests since being traded to New York from the Raptors, the 6’7″ wing is averaging 15.6 PPG on .516/.391/.842 shooting, 4.6 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 1.5 APG and 1.1 BPG. The Knicks have gone 12-2 in those games and are currently the East’s No. 4 seed with a 29-17 record.
  • After missing two games due to an Achilles tendinopathy, Knicks reserve center Isaiah Hartenstein looked like his old self upon rejoining New York’s lineup against the Heat, writes Mark W. Sanchez of The New York Post. Hartenstein had previously played in 164 straight contests for the club. “I’m past it,” Hartenstein said. “It’s like normal tendinitis. It’s nothing like, ‘Oh, it’s the end of the world.’ You just manage it so it’s nothing crazy.”
  • In case you missed it, the Knicks are said to be considering a move for Jazz shooting guard Jordan Clarkson ahead of this season’s February 8 trade deadline.
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Raptors Notes: Brown, Powell, Trent, Barrett

January 28th, 2024 at 9:20pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With trade buzz building, multifaceted new Raptors guard Bruce Brown seems like an enticing plug-and-play option for a variety of rival clubs, writes Mark W. Sanchez of The New York Post. Brown’s former Nuggets teammates recently spoke in reverential tones of his application as a utility player.

“I think he can fit any team,” wing Christian Braun remarked.

“Coach [Michael Malone] called him the Swiss Army knife — I think that’s spot-on,” Denver guard Jamal Murray said. “He can bring it up. He can get to the rim. He can shoot it enough. He can defend their best player. Run in transition.”

Brown has been linked to the Knicks as of late, as well as the Lakers. As a versatile wing who can fill multiple positional slots on the hardwood for a given team, the 6’4″ vet could be an excellent fit within Tom Thibodeau‘s gritty system.

There’s more out of Toronto:

  • The decision to trade former Raptors wing Norman Powell to the Trail Blazers in 2021 is beginning to look like another epic miscalculation for a floundering Toronto front office, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. As Grange notes, the Raptors opted to offload Powell rather than risk having to pay him a pricey new deal in free agency that summer. In the trade, Toronto took back the younger Gary Trent Jr., whom the club was able to retain for less money. However, Powell has only continued to improve, while Trent has plateaued a bit.
  • The Raptors would like to see newly acquired young swingman RJ Barrett develop beyond his current heavy focus on scoring the rock, per Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “With (Barrett), it’s very clear that he has a lot of room to improve,” first-year Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic said of the Canadian. “Obviously, the Olympic Games are there in the middle of the summer, as well. I think that’s going to be a great opportunity for him to play on the big (stage). … I think he’s going to have great opportunities this summer to take (his) game to the next level.”
  • In case you missed it, two-way player Jontay Porter has managed to carve out legitimate rotation time on head coach Rajakovic’s roster, and has impressed during his meaningful minutes.
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Nets Notes: Vaughn, Trade Rumors, Simmons, Johnson

January 28th, 2024 at 7:17pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Moving forward, the Nets should be concerned about head coach Jacque Vaughn‘s long-term fit, says Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily.

Kaplan notes that Brooklyn’s offense has been fairly limited, in part due to personnel, but also because it has appeared at a loss for how to attack defenses that rely on switching. Kaplan adds that Brooklyn has struggled to score late in games recently, which has cost the team dearly.

At 18-27, the Nets are currently the No. 10 seed in the East, but are also in danger of falling out of the play-in race entirely.

There’s more out of Brooklyn:

  • Although the Nets have been the subject of frequent trade speculation leading up to the February 8 deadline, Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscriber link) writes that Brooklyn’s players are striving to remain focused on the games in front of them. Lewis wonders whether the club will make only minor moves at the deadline or whether more significant changes could be in store. Dorian Finney-Smith, Royce O’Neale, and Spencer Dinwiddie are among the team’s potential trade candidates, and it’s fair to question Vaughn’s job security as well, Lewis writes.
  • Vaughn has verified that – as previously reported – oft-injured guard Ben Simmons, one of the Nets’ priciest players, remains on track to return to action this week, per Bridget Reilly of The New York Post. A nerve impingement in his back has kept Simmons on the shelf since November 6. “Yeah, all signs pointing towards the likelihood of him playing next week,” Vaughn said. Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets that the three-time All-Star has been listed as probable to be available Monday against the Jazz. Across his six healthy games this year, Simmons has averaged 6.5 PPG, 10.8 RPG, 6.7 APG, and 0.8 BPG
  • Nets forward Cameron Johnson missed Brooklyn’s 106-104 Saturday win over the Rockets, Reilly writes in another article for The Post. He missed the contest due to undivulged personal reasons. “That’s the thing about life is, it’s beyond basketball,” Vaughn said pregame. “So, nothing that is going to be a detriment to him returning or anything of that nature.” The Nets could use all the help they can get, having dropped 12 of their past 16 contests. The 6’8″ wing is averaging 13.8 PPG on .452/.398/.714 shooting this season, along with 4.6 RPG, 2.6 APG and 0.7 SPG.
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