- Deandre Ayton has served five games of his 25-game suspension, giving the Suns an opportunity to add another player to the roster, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. Ayton is now on the suspended list, where he will remain until December 17 unless his appeal is successful. Phoenix already has 15 players with guaranteed contracts, and there has been no indication on whether the team plans to make a roster move.
Avery Bradley only played 14 games with the Grizzlies, but he tells David Cobb of The Commercial Appeal that short stretch in Memphis helped him revitalize his career. Bradley re-emerged as a scorer after the Clippers shipped him to the Grizzlies at February’s trade deadline. He increased his average from 8.2 PPG in L.A. to 16.1 in Memphis and credits the freedom offered by then-coach J.B. Bickerstaff.
“J.B. gave me an opportunity to go out there and play my game,” Bradley said. “I’m thankful for that, I’m thankful for the city of Memphis. It’s home for me. My family is from Memphis and Mississippi. I’m going to miss it. It’s going to be nice when I come back and we play them there.”
The Grizzlies parted with Bradley in a cost-cutting move, waiving him in July and paying a $2MM guarantee instead of his $12.96MM salary. He signed with the Lakers a few days later for $4.8MM.
“Things were just unfortunate,” Bradley said of the end of his stay in Memphis. “There were a lot of changes. My time there was special.”
There’s more from Memphis:
- Confusion shut down the Grizzlies’ attempts to trade for Kelly Oubre last season, and the roster would look much different now if that deal had gone through, Cobb notes in a mailbag column. Memphis believed it was parting with Wayne Selden and MarShon Brooks, while the Wizards were expecting to receive Dillon Brooks. Washington wound up moving Oubre to Phoenix, where he has played well. But Cobb notes that if the Grizzlies had taken on his $15MM salary, they probably couldn’t have made room for Andre Iguodala in a deal that landed them a future first-round pick from the Warriors.
- The Grizzlies are thrilled with the start by first-round pick Ja Morant, whose 70 points are the most in four games by any rookie in team history, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. In addition to his obvious athleticism, Morant has impressed coaches with how quickly he has adapted to the NBA game. “He’s got great chemistry with his teammates,” head coach Taylor Jenkins said. “His IQ is kind of helping him navigate day in and day out, game after game after game and the sky’s the limit for the guy.”
- De’Anthony Melton considers his rookie year with the Suns to be a “learning experience” about life in the NBA (video link from The Arizona Republic). After playing 50 games and starting 31 in his first season, Melton was sent to Memphis in July in a four-player deal. It marked the second time he had been traded, after being dealt from Houston to Phoenix before playing his first game. “I’m not worried about one year; I’m worried about 10 years, 15 years,” Melton said. “People have had crazier stories.”
The Suns currently have the NBA’s youngest roster, according to the NBA’s official roster survey. The league’s data shows that the average age of a Suns player this season is just 24.49 years. On the other end of the spectrum, the Rockets have the league’s oldest roster, with an average age of 30.24.
[RELATED: Oldest, Youngest Players On NBA Rosters For 2019/20]
Houston also has the NBA’s oldest roster in terms of years of experience — the average Rocket has played in the NBA for 8.93 seasons. The Celtics beat out Phoenix for the league’s least experienced roster, at an average of 2.73 seasons per player.
The NBA’s full roster survey, which includes every player on a standard contract (ie. not two-way players), is packed with interesting data, including the official heights and weights for every player, as well as each player sorted by jersey number and by home country. It’s worth checking out in full, but here are the rest of the league’s findings on the youngest and oldest NBA rosters:
Youngest rosters by average age:
- Phoenix Suns (24.49)
- Chicago Bulls (24.83)
- Golden State Warriors (24.87)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (24.91)
- New York Knicks (24.98)
Least experienced rosters by average seasons of NBA experience:
- Boston Celtics (2.73)
- Phoenix Suns (2.80)
- Chicago Bulls (3.07)
- Minnesota Timberwolves (3.40)
- Indiana Pacers (3.53)
Oldest rosters by average age:
- Houston Rockets (30.24)
- Los Angeles Lakers (29.07)
- Milwaukee Bucks (28.73)
- Dallas Mavericks (27.40)
- Utah Jazz (27.08)
Most experienced rosters by average seasons of NBA experience:
- Houston Rockets (8.93)
- Los Angeles Lakers (8.07)
- Milwaukee Bucks (7.07)
- San Antonio Spurs (5.67)
- Portland Trail Blazers (5.57)
According to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com, Suns big man Deandre Ayton is scheduled to meet with the NBA by the end of this week to discuss his 25-game suspension for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program by testing positive for a diuretic.
Per Deveney’s league source, Ayton’s camp and the NBPA will present their case for a reduction of the suspension, arguing that Ayton ingested the banned diuretic by mistake.
[RELATED: Deandre Ayton Hit With 25-Game Suspension]
As we noted in our original piece regarding this story, part of the parties’ argument that the diuretic was taken unwittingly is based on Ayton’s drug test showing no traces of any other banned substances.
When asked yesterday if he had an update on the situation involving Ayton, Suns’ GM James Jones said the following:
“I don’t… that’s in the Player’s Association’s hands. We’re supporting Deandre. We’re focused on the team continuing to focus on the next game. That’ll take care of itself. I know he misses being out there with his teammates and whenever he comes back, we’ll be ready to re-integrate him and continue with this forward movement and momentum.”
Every night during the NBA G League season, Hoops Rumors provides the assignments and recalls by each team. With training camps now open, here are Monday’s assignments and recalls from around the G League:
- Bulls swingman Chandler Hutchison was assigned to the Windy City Bulls, the Bulls’ PR department tweets. Hutchison, who recently had his contract option for the 2020/21 season picked up, is working his way back from a hamstring injury.
- As expected, the Grizzlies assigned former lottery pick Josh Jackson to the Memphis Hustle, the Grizzlies’ PR department tweets. That was the plan all along when Memphis acquired the former Suns forward this offseason and he attempts to jump-start his career.
- Undrafted rookie guard Jalen Lecque was assigned to Northern Arizona by the Suns, according to the team’s Twitter feed.
- The Jazz assigned Miye Oni to the Salt Lake City Stars, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. The rookie guard out of Yale was selected with the 58th overall pick in June.
- The Timberwolves assigned forward Keita Bates-Diop, guard Jaylen Nowell and center Naz Reid to their Iowa affiliate, according to a team press release. Bates-Diop was a second-round selection last year, while Nowell was chosen in the second round this June. Reid is an undrafted rookie out of LSU.
- The Mavericks assigned rookie forward Isaiah Roby to the Texas Legends, Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News tweets. Roby, who played at Nebraska, was chosen in the second round in June and acquired in a draft-night deal.
- The Sixers assigned swingman Zhaire Smith to the Delaware Blue Coats, the team’s PR department tweets. Smith, a 2018 first-round selection, recently had his 2020/21 contract option picked up by Philadelphia even though he missed most of his rookie campaign due to injuries.
- The Hornets assigned rookie forward Jalen McDaniels to the Greensboro Swarm, according to a team press release. McDaniels, a second-round pick, made his NBA debut on Friday.
- New Suns center Aron Baynes impressed in his first start with the team, filling in for the suspended Deandre Ayton against the Clippers on Saturday, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic writes. Baynes finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in 22 minutes of action, helping Phoenix win an important game at home.
- Suns forward Kelly Oubre Jr. was fined $10K by the NBA this weekend for directing inappropriate language toward a game official, the league announced in a press release. The incident occurred after the Suns lost 108-107 to Denver in overtime Friday.
Trevon Duval has signed a G League contract and is eligible for this Saturday’s draft, Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days tweets. Duval was a two-way player for the Rockets last season and became a free agent when the team didn’t give him a qualifying offer this summer. He was claimed by Houston in March after the Bucks waived him. The former Duke guard made three cameo appearances with Milwaukee.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Journeyman center Hasheem Thabeet, former Lakers guard Vander Blue, and forward Trey Mourning, son of Alonzo Mourning, are some of the more interesting names on the list of players eligible for the G League draft, according to a league press release. The Northern Arizona Suns have the first pick.
- There are 108 international players from 38 countries and territories on current NBA rosters, according to a league press release. The most-represented countries among the 108 international players on opening-night rosters are Canada (16 players), Australia (nine players), France (eight players), Croatia (seven players) and Serbia (six players). The Mavericks lead the league with seven international players.
- Zion Williamson‘s knee injury created disappointment for the NBA’s TV partners, as Joe Vardon of The Athletic explains. TNT and ESPN wanted nationally-televised games featuring the Pelicans during the opening week of the season to showcase Williamson. They were stuck showing the Pelicans without the top pick in the draft on the court because it was too late to make a change. Vardon goes in-depth on how the national TV schedule is designed and notes that the Lakers play 21 of their 30 nationally -televised games after New Year’s Day because the networks wanted to feature LeBron James and Anthony Davis during the team’s playoff push.
- Amida Brimah, the former UConn center who was in training camp with the Pacers, has suffered a torn right ACL, Scott Agness of The Athletic tweets. He was slated to join Indiana’s G League team, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Brimah will undergo surgery next week, Agness adds.
- Suns GM James Jones is “disappointed in the actions” of center Deandre Ayton, who was suspended for 25 games by the league on Thursday for using a banned substance, Gina Mizell of The Athletic tweets. Jones added that the franchise remains “committed to his growth and development on and off the court.” Aron Baynes is expected to move into the starting lineup while Frank Kaminsky could see more action at center, Mizell writes in a separate story. Cheick Diallo, who was not part of Wednesday’s opening-night rotation, could also be in the mix, Mizell adds.
- The Suns will likely add a center once they’re able to move Ayton to the suspended list, John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM Phoenix tweets. Phoenix will be permitted to add a 16th player to their roster after their game against Memphis on November 2.
8:28pm: The NBA has officially announced the suspension, per a release.
7:58pm: Suns center Deandre Ayton is facing a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s Anti-Drug policy with a positive test for a diuretic, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
In a series of follow-up tweets, Woj adds that the NBPA is already preparing an arbitration case in an effort to reduce or rescind the suspension based on a belief that the positive test falls under the CBA provision of “unintentional ingestion.” Support for that belief lies partly in a follow-up test showing no traces of any other banned substances (links here).
In a statement (per Woj), Ayton says:
“I want to apologize to my family, the entire Suns organization, my teammates, partners, our fans and the Phoenix community. This was an unintentional mistake and unfortunately I put something in my body that I was completely unaware of.”
“I do understand the unfortunate impact that this has on so many others, and for that I am deeply sorry. I’m extremely disappointed that I’ve let my team down. I will continue to work with the NBPA to go through arbitration and am hopeful of a positive resolution.”
Bobby Marks of ESPN adds that Ayton’s suspension will cost him about $2.17MM and that Phoenix will be permitted to add a 16th player to their roster after their game against Memphis on November 2.
- As Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays, Marcin Gortat became the latest NBA veteran to take a shot at the Suns, calling the team “the worst organization” he has ever played for in a recent Polish interview. Earlier this month, Draymond Green criticized Phoenix for mishandling Marquese Chriss after drafting him eighth overall in 2016.