Bradley Beal Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Injury Updates: Finney-Smith, Green, Beal, Williamson, Payne

December 27th, 2022 at 10:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mavericks forward Dorian Finney-Smith will be out for several more games. He’ll be reevaluated in two weeks, per coach Jason Kidd, Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com tweets. Finney-Smith hasn’t played since Dec. 19 due to a groin injury. Guard Josh Green, who has been out since Dec. 9 due to a sprained right elbow, will get an examination on Friday.

We have more injury-related news:

On a night when the Wizards finally had a full, healthy roster, star Bradley Beal departed with just over four minutes remaining on Tuesday due to left hamstring soreness, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Beal has been limited to 23 games this season after missing time with thigh and right hamstring injuries.
Pelicans forward Zion Williamson, who has missed three games due to a stint in the league’s health and safety protocols, is listed as probable to play on Wednesday against Minnesota, according to a team press release. Herbert Jones, who was also placed in protocols over the weekend, is listed as questionable.
Suns guard Cameron Payne, who has not played since Dec. 13 due to a right foot strain, is hopeful of returning during the team’s in-progress six-game road swing, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic reports. “It’d be hard just sitting back and watching, but kind of got to fight through the discomfort,” Payne said. “Just try to get me back to 100%. Just get me back to normal. I think I’m getting close. It’s been a rough two weeks, week and a half, but it’s coming to a close. Just getting close.”

Southeast Notes: Young, McMillan, Collins, Wright, Beal, Oladipo

December 21st, 2022 at 3:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Hawks guard Trae Young and head coach Nate McMillan both downplayed an alleged confrontation that occurred earlier this month, but there has been chatter that their relationship has gotten worse since then, according to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com, who said one league executive referred to the situation in Atlanta as “toxic.”

“When they win, everybody’s happy for a minute,” one source told Bulpett. “But when they lose, it gets messy. Instead of trying to get it figured out, there’s a lot of blame being thrown around.”

According to Bulpett, one opposing coach said that Young and McMillan don’t like each other, and suggested that “other players have issues with Trae” as well.

“There were teams that questioned whether he’d ever be this good because of his size when he was coming out,” a front office source said of Young. “So it’s good to have that kind of fight in you. But at some point, you’d hope he’d realize the effect he can have on his team, both positive and negative. Sometimes you have to take a step back and maybe take a hit to make the whole thing work.”

Meanwhile, although John Collins‘ name has once again come up in trade rumors, sources who spoke to Bulpett pointed to the big man’s contract as a potential roadblock as the Hawks seek a trade partner. He’s still owed $78.5MM across three seasons after this one.

“He’s not a bad player. He’s actually a good player,” a source told Bulpett. “The problem is he’s not worth 23-and-a-half million. There are places he could go where he’d really be helping a team and really be happy, but right now that contract is in the way. We’ll see if anyone’s going to bite or if Atlanta’s going to make it worth another team’s while.”

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

Asked on Tuesday if there’s a chance Delon Wright will return to action for the Wizards on Thursday, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. responded, “I hope so,” tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Wright has been on the shelf for nearly two months, but finally seems on the verge of being reactivated.
In a story for The Athletic, Robbins and Jovan Buha explore whether it’s realistic to think the Wizards and Lakers could work out a trade that sends Bradley Beal to Los Angeles for Russell Westbrook and draft picks. Robbins is skeptical, but points out that Beal’s no-trade clause will make it challenging for the Wizards to maximize the guard’s value if he ever wants to be dealt, since he could veto deals to unwanted destinations.
With several Heat regulars unavailable, Victor Oladipo made his first start of the year and played a season-high 34 minutes in Tuesday’s loss to Chicago. As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel relays, head coach Erik Spoelstra made it clear after the game that he doesn’t intend to lean that heavily on Oladipo often as he continues to work his way back to 100%. “I wouldn’t have done this with Vic if it wasn’t clearly communicated with him and with the training staff and if we didn’t have two days after the last game, two days before the next game,” Spoelstra said.

And-Ones: Award Frontrunners, Possible Tankers, Trade Market

December 15th, 2022 at 11:07am CST by Luke Adams

Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is the choice for Most Valuable Player one-third of the way through the 2022/23 NBA season, Nekias Duncan of BasketballNews.com argues in an early-season award ballot. Tatum is averaging over 30 points, eight rebounds, and four assists per game with terrific shooting numbers and is a candidate for an All-Defensive spot on the other end of the floor, according to Duncan, who contends that doing all that for the NBA’s best team makes the MVP award Tatum’s to lose.

Duncan also checks in on the NBA’s other award races, selecting Bucks center Brook Lopez as the top candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, Magic forward Paolo Banchero as the early Rookie of the Year frontrunner, and Bucks forward/center Bobby Portis as his Sixth Man of the Year choice, among others.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Which teams should be throwing in the towel on 2022/23 and focusing on next year’s draft? John Hollinger of The Athletic breaks down the potential tankers, ranging from the “pull the plug already” group (the Pistons and Hornets) to the “one injury away” tier, which includes playoff hopefuls like the Heat, Mavericks, and Raptors.
A panel of SI.com basketball writers – including Howard Beck, Chris Mannix, and Chris Herring – prepared for NBA trade season by identifying a player they expect to be moved, picking an intriguing team to watch, and naming a trade they’d like to see happen this season. Three of the five panelists pointed to a Bradley Beal deal as one they’re hoping for, even if it’s probably unlikely in the first season of his five-year contract with the Wizards.
Michael Pina of The Ringer poses and explores nine questions related to the trade market, including whether the league-wide parity we’ve seen so far this season will catalyze or stifle negotiations. Like those SI.com writers, Pina would welcome some action on the Beal front, referring to the union between the All-Star guard and the Wizards as “the most frustrating dead-end relationship in the entire NBA.”

Southeast Notes: Hampton, Beal, Porzingis, Kuzma, Butler

December 14th, 2022 at 6:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Magic guard R.J. Hampton has signed with CAA and will be represented by agent Aaron Mintz, according to Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link), who notes that Mintz also represents Magic veterans Terrence Ross and Gary Harris.

Hampton was previously with LIFT Sports Management, but departed the agency after the Magic declined their fourth-year team option on his rookie scale contract for 2023/24, making him an unrestricted free agent in 2023.

Price reports (via Twitter) that Hampton requested — and was granted (Twitter link) — a temporary G League assignment with Orlando’s affiliate in Lakeland in order to get more playing time. The No. 24 overall pick of the 2020 draft has been a healthy scratch for three consecutive games.

The plan is for the 21-year-old to play in Lakeland’s home games on Thursday and Friday and then rejoin the Magic in Boston for Sunday’s contest, head coach Jamahl Mosley confirmed to Price (Twitter link). Through 21 games (15.6 MPG), Hampton is averaging 6.5 PPG, 1.6 RPG and 1.5 APG on .438/.347/.871 shooting.

Here’s more from the Southeast:

The Wizards will be playing without their two leading scorers on Wednesday in Denver, as Bradley Beal (hamstring) and Kristaps Porzingis (low back soreness) have been ruled out, tweets Ava Wallace of The Washington Post. Beal was medically cleared to return, but clearly needs a bit more time to ramp up his conditioning. He has now missed five straight games with the injury, while Porzingis will miss just his second game of the ’22/23 season.
Josh Robbins of The Athletic details why Kyle Kuzma‘s contract situation has the Wizards in a tough spot. As Robbins writes, Kuzma is limited by the CBA rule regarding veteran contract extensions, so the maximum the Wizards can offer him in an extension is $69.9MM over four years. He’s averaging 21.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG and 3.6 APG, and he figures to land $20MM+ annually when he opts out of his $13MM player option in the summer to become a free agent (a mere formality at this point), so Washington has to decide if they want to risk losing him for nothing or trade him away to recoup assets. The Wizards do hold his Bird Rights, so they can offer him an additional year — and more money — than a rival team could.
The Wizards have lost 10 of their past 11 games, including seven straight. When asked about the team’s morale, Kuzma said it’s “not as bad as you think,” according to Robbins. The veteran forward added that he’s disappointed in the results, but not the team’s effort. “I mean, it does suck to lose,” Kuzma continued. “Everybody in here does feel s–t about losing, but we’re competing. It’s not a lack of effort. If it was a lack of effort, it’d probably be way worse. But as long as we’re competing every single night, we’ve given ourselves a chance. You’ve just got to tip your cap and just live with it.”
Heat forward Jimmy Butler will miss Wednesday’s game in Oklahoma City due to right knee management, but he’s expected to return to action on Thursday against Houston, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link). As Chiang relays in a full story for The Miami Herald, Butler missed seven games in November with the injury, so the Heat are being cautious with their star player. He’ll miss one end of the back-to-back at the end of the month, but the team is hopeful that will be the last time he’ll miss a game on a back-to-back — Miami doesn’t have any on its January schedule.

Bradley Beal Cleared Following Hamstring Strain, But Out Monday

December 12th, 2022 at 1:58pm CST by Rory Maher

Guard Bradley Beal has been cleared to resume all on-court activities after dealing with a right hamstring strain, but he’s out Monday against Brooklyn, the Wizards announced (via Twitter).

Beal sustained the injury on December 4 while diving after a loose ball against the Lakers. He was reevaluated today and subsequently cleared by Washington’s medical staff.

Head coach Wes Unseld Jr. previously stated that Beal had a low-grade strain, so he was relatively fortunate that it wasn’t more severe. Monday will mark his fourth consecutive missed game, and “his status moving forward will be determined by his clinical evolution,” according to the Wizards.

The 29-year-old is in the first year of a five-year, $251MM contract after re-signing with the Wizards as a free agent this past summer. Through 18 games, he’s averaging 22.9 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 5.4 APG and 1.2 SPG on .522/.352/.873 shooting.

After winning six of seven during a November stretch, Washington has lost nine of its past 10 games, including six straight. Wizards are currently 11-16, the No. 12 seed in the East, trailing the No. 10 Heat by one game for the final play-in spot.

Wizards Notes: Injuries, Hachimura, Goodwin, Barton

December 10th, 2022 at 8:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards are getting hammered by injuries at a particularly bad time, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The team only had nine players available for Friday’s game at Indiana, which was its eighth loss in its last nine games. Washington is in the midst of a stretch where 17 of 23 games are on the road, so it needs as many healthy players as possible.

Bradley Beal sat out his third straight game Saturday with a low-grade strain of his right hamstring, but he’s expected to be reevaluated soon, Hughes adds. Kristaps Porzingis was listed as questionable going into Friday’s game with a left ankle issue, but he wound up playing nearly 35 minutes as coach Wes Unseld Jr. basically used a seven-man rotation.

There’s more on the Wizards:

Rui Hachimura‘s progress has been slow as he works to recover from a bone bruise in his right ankle, tweets Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Unseld said Friday that Hachimura has been able to do some non-contact drills, but he hasn’t started playing 3-on-3 or 5-on-5.
Jordan Goodwin has taken advantage of the opportunity provided by the injuries, notes Bijan Todd of NBC Sports Washington. The second-year guard posted career highs with 19 points and five steals Friday night. Goodwin, who’s on a two-way contract, has been producing whenever he’s been called on all season, and Todd believes he might have a role in the rotation even when the rest of the backcourt returns.
In a video, Hughes examines why Will Barton‘s numbers have declined since he was acquired from the Nuggets in an offseason trade. Barton averaged 14.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists last season in Denver, but he has fallen to 7.3/3.1/2.5 through his first 25 games with Washington and his shooting percentages are also way down. Hughes notes that Barton is adjusting to a bench role after being a starter with the Nuggets, but also points out that he’s not driving to the basket nearly as often as he used to.

Southeast Notes: Beal, Bamba, Bogdanovic, Porzingis

December 6th, 2022 at 10:01pm CST by Dana Gauruder

More promising news regarding Bradley Beal‘s injury was revealed by Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr., who told The Athletic’s Josh Robbins (Twitter link) and other media members on Tuesday that Beal’s right hamstring injury is a low-grade strain.

Unseld is hopeful Beal might return at some point during the Wizards’ West Coast trip that begins on Dec. 14. The team announced on Monday that Beal would miss at least three games due to the injury he suffered against the Lakers on Sunday.

We have more from the Southeast Division:

Magic big man Mohamed Bamba is not on the injury report released by the team for Wednesday’s game against the Clippers, Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. Bamba has not played the last five games due to back pain. With Wendell Carter Jr. still out due to a plantar fascia strain, Bamba could play significant minutes right off the bat. He’s averaging 8.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 18.7 minutes per game.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 17 points on Monday in his second game back after recovering from a knee injury. The Hawks’ wing still working on his conditioning, according to Aaron Wilson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I thought I would be more tired, more sore,” he said. “I feel really good; I feel like my old self. I did have heavy legs in the second half, all the shots, all these curls I usually make weren’t there. Just got to keep working.”
Kristaps Porzingis is on his third NBA team and he doesn’t want to join a fourth any time soon, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. He holds a $36MM option on his contract for next season but wants to stay with the Wizards. “One hundred percent. One hundred percent. I love the city. I love the organization. People around the organization. And I love playing with Brad and these guys, Kuz (Kyle Kuzma),” Porzingis said. “You never know what happens in the future, but I’m enjoying my time here so far and hopefully I can stay here long term.”

Bradley Beal To Miss At Least Three Games

December 5th, 2022 at 7:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Wizards star guard Bradley Beal will miss at least three games after being diagnosed with a right hamstring strain, the team tweets.

Beal, who was injured while diving for the ball during the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Lakers, underwent an MRI on Monday. He will be reevaluated in one week.

It’s relatively good news for Washington, as it suggests Beal should return sometimes this month. However, the 29-year-old appeared to be hitting his stride just before the injury — he racked up a season-high 33 points, seven assists and six rebounds against Charlotte on Friday.

Beal already missed six games after being in the league’s health and safety protocols.

The max-salary player, who has been the subject of countless trade rumors in recent years, is averaging 22.9 points and 5.4 assists. Backup Corey Kispert will likely have an expanded offensive role in his absence. He had 16 points in 30 minutes against the Lakers.

Wizards Notes: Beal, Wright, Hachimura, Gafford

December 5th, 2022 at 9:20am CST by Arthur Hill

The Wizards are at a critical point in their season and they may have to navigate it without Bradley Beal, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Sunday’s loss to the Lakers was Washington’s sixth in its last seven games, and a challenging schedule looms for the rest of the month. There is concern about the status of Beal, who suffered a strained hamstring while diving for a ball midway through the first quarter and didn’t return to the game. He will undergo testing today to determine the extent of the injury.

“First of all, hopefully, he doesn’t have to miss that many games,” Corey Kispert said. “I’m praying for Brad, absolutely. He’s the heart and soul of our team. We need him on the floor. But whether it’s a good thing or not, we’ve experienced playing without Brad last year. A lot of guys on this team did that. We know exactly what to do, just kind of a mindset change and a little bit of a style change. But we need (Beal) on the floor. We want him out there.”

Beal, a three-time All-Star, is scoring more efficiently this season, shooting a career-best 52.2% from the field and 35.2% from three-point range. Robbins notes that the Wizards were able to go 4-2 when Beal was in the health and safety protocols earlier this season, with Kyle Kuzma taking on more of a facilitating role.

There’s more from Washington:

Free agent addition Delon Wright, who has been sidelined since suffering a Grade 2 hamstring strain in the fourth game of the season, may be able to return this week, Robbins adds. Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. told reporters that Rui Hachimura is still “day to day” after missing eight games with a bone bruise in his right ankle.
Two-way guard Devon Dotson and lottery pick Johnny Davis both entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols while in the G League, Robbins tweets.
Daniel Gafford relied on support from his wife and his friends while seeing limited playing time in November, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. Gafford scored a season-high 20 points Sunday after posting season-best marks with 12 rebounds and six blocks in Friday’s game. “Take a deep breath, it’s going to be okay,” Gafford said. “You might have a bad night this night, but you can come back the next night and you can prove that that wasn’t you. Just be better than the day before. In our bathroom, me and my wife, we have sticky notes of motivational things that we’ve said to each other over the times. Every morning I look at that and it helps me out a lot. I actually take the time out to look at that. So, really just finding ways to clear out my mental.”

Wizards Notes: Beal, Porzingis, Gafford, Hachimura

December 4th, 2022 at 8:53am CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on the No Chill with Gilbert Arenas podcast, Wizards star Bradley Beal was asked by Arenas’ co-host Josiah Johnson about why he decided to sign a long-term contract to remain in D.C. this past summer. Beal responded by explaining that he appreciates the influence he has earned within the organization and believes in the talent on the roster.

“Not everybody gives you a voice in the organization. I have a voice here,” Beal said (hat tip to Paul Terrazzano Jr. of TalkBasket). “I never had a chance to fully play a year with (Kristaps Porzingis). That enticed me. He’s probably the best big I’ve played with. I like (Kyle Kuzma)’s ability to be able to spread his wings a little bit more, develop into the player that we think he can be. And then I think I like the young core that we were developing. Rui (Hachimura) is really good, had an awesome summer. Deni (Avdija)‘s just gonna continue to get better. And then Corey (Kispert)‘s a knockdown shooter, who is a pro’s pro.

“We still need to get better. I’m not sitting here saying, ‘We’re gonna hold up the Larry (O’Brien trophy). We’re going to beat Milwaukee (in the playoffs) tomorrow.’ No. But to have the pieces we have, we have enough to know that we can compete on a nightly basis with no BS. We know that we got a job, everybody’s able to be a star in their role, and we can go do that.”

It would have been hard for Beal to turn down the Wizards’ five-year, $251MM+ offer, which included a no-trade clause, in any scenario. But the star guard admitted that he didn’t actually have a ton of viable alternatives on the free agent market, alluding to the fact that many contending teams were in the tax, or at least well over the cap. The teams operating with cap space this summer were virtually all retooling or rebuilding clubs.

“On the flip side of it, the business side of it. There were no teams in the market, free agency-wise. I’m just being frank,” Beal said. “There was nowhere else for me to go where I can be like, ‘Oh, I can go win.’ It was teams that strategically wasn’t what I wanted. So realistically, I won’t say my hand was forced, but this was my best decision and best option on the table at the time.”

Here’s more on the Wizards:

While you could gripe about some of his poorly timed late-game turnovers, Beal is otherwise off to a strong start in the first season of his mega-deal, writes Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. As Hughes observes, Beal’s current streak of 11 consecutive 20-point games is already better than any run he had last season, and his shooting percentages (.520 FG%, .352 3PT%) have rebounded in a major way after a down year in 2021/22 (.451 FG%, .300 3PT%).
As Hughes notes in another story for NBC Sports Washington, Unseld used centers Kristaps Porzingis and Daniel Gafford together in the frontcourt on Friday for the first time all season. The move, an attempt to counter the impact that Charlotte’s duo of Mason Plumlee and Nick Richards was having on the boards and in the paint, was a success, with the Wizards outscoring the Hornets by 18 points during Porzingis’ and Gafford’s 12 minutes together. According to Hughes, the combination looks like an “in case of emergency” option for Unseld, but it could be worth trying more, given its effectiveness on Friday.
Head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said on Friday that there’s no real timeline for Rui Hachimura‘s return from a bone bruise in his right ankle, referring to the fourth-year forward as “week-to-week,” according to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post (Twitter link). Hachimura has missed the Wizards’ last seven games.