The NBA has suspended Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum for one game without pay for leaving the bench during an altercation during a preseason contest, the league announced today in a press release. The incident took place during Wednesday’s game in Phoenix.
The Trail Blazers are scheduled to return to Phoenix to play the Suns on Wednesday in their first game of the season, so McCollum will be ineligible to appear in that contest. McCollum’s season will begin next Friday in Indiana against the Pacers.
The suspension will cost McCollum $165K in salary, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.
A prediction that the Timberwolves could send Cole Aldrich and a second-round pick to the Suns for Jared Dudley has legs, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets. Minnesota has been particularly interested in Dudley’s recovery from offseason toe surgery.
The Suns have made an addition to their preseason roster, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed undrafted rookie Tidjan Keita. The club’s roster is now back up to 19 players.
Keita, a 6’10” forward/center, played for the Raptors in this year’s Las Vegas Summer League after going undrafted in June. The 20-year-old Frenchman spent last season at the Thetford Academy in Quebec, Canada. His lone mention in the Hoops Rumors archives prior to today was related to a pre-draft workout with Phoenix back in May, so the Suns must have liked what they saw from him during that session.
Details of Keita’s agreement aren’t known, but it’s likely a non-guaranteed deal, perhaps with an Exhibit 10 clause. I’d expect the Suns intend to have the youngster join their G League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns.
Bennett and Jok joined the Suns for training camp and the preseason, but neither player appeared in any of the club’s preseason contests. They’ll become unrestricted free agents if and when they clear waivers on Friday.
Jok appears to be a good candidate to join Phoenix’s G League team, the Northern Arizona Suns, as an affiliate player, though it’s not clear what the next move will be for Bennett. The former first overall pick has spent time with the Cavaliers, Timberwolves, Raptors, and Nets since entering the league in 2013, but seems unlikely to begin the 2017/18 season on an NBA roster.
Phoenix now has 18 players under contract, including 14 on guaranteed deals and two on two-way contracts.
The Suns have explored trading Jared Dudley and/or Tyson Chandler, but they likely feel no urgency to move either player at this point, says Lowe. The ESPN scribe adds that Phoenix “will surely listen” if the team receives inquiries on Eric Bledsoe.
After winning 23 games two years ago and 24 last season, the Suns contemplated the idea of accelerating their rebuild this summer, but ultimately held off on going all-in for a free agent like Paul Millsap or a trade target like Kyrie Irving.
As a result, Phoenix is prepared to continue taking small steps forward and developing in-house talent this season. Players like Devin Booker, T.J. Warren, Marquese Chriss, Tyler Ulis, Dragan Bender are another year older and should continue to improve. Rookies Josh Jackson and Davon Reed also figure to get a chance to show what they can do.
Still, another year in the lottery is all but assured for Phoenix. Oddsmakers, including offshore betting site Bovada have placed the Suns’ over/under for this season at 29 wins, but we’ll bump that figure down to 28.5, since early betting action has been heavy on the under.
What do you think? Can this young Suns squad improve by five or more wins in a tough Western Conference in 2017/18, or is the club headed for its third straight season of 28 or fewer wins? Vote below in our poll and jump into the comment section to share your thoughts!
The rebuilding Suns will expect more out of their 2016 lottery picks Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss, Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic writes. The pair were unpolished but promising in their debuts last season and will look to use experience they’ve since gained to their advantage.