Cam Thomas

Nets Notes: Russell, Thomas, Johnson, Scott

December 29th, 2024 at 1:52pm CST by Rory Maher

Following the reported trade that will see the Nets send Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton to the Lakers for D’Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis and three second-round picks, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated suggested (via Twitter) that Russell could be a buyout candidate to monitor.

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype hears that isn’t being considered (Twitter link), with the two sides planning for Russell to head to Brooklyn for a second stint as Net. The impending free agent made his lone All-Star appearance with the team back in 2018/19, Scotto notes.

As Keith Smith of Spotrac writes, part of the reason a Russell buyout seems unlikely is because he earns $18.7MM, well over the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, so he would be ineligible to sign with teams operating over either of the tax aprons if he were released.

Russell has never been known for his consistency and that has been particularly true in ’24/25, with the former No. 2 overall pick seeing his averages drop across the board, including career lows in points (12.4) and minutes per games (26.2). The 28-year-old has started 510 out of 600 regular season games in which he’s appeared during his 10-year career, but has come off the bench for the majority of this season, making just 10 starts in 29 appearances.

Here’s more from Brooklyn:

The Nets will get their leading scorer back on Sunday vs. Orlando, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Cam Thomas, who was previously listed as probable, will return to action after missing the past 13 games with a left hamstring strain. Brooklyn went just 4-9 without the 23-year-old — the team’s offense was ranked eighth in the league prior to the injury, but was 29th in the games he missed, according to Lewis (Twitter links). “He’s done a great job to get himself healthy and ready to play with his teammates…We’re excited to have him back,” said head coach Jordi Fernandez. “His teammates were excited. He was excited, had a smile on his face. So it’s a good day for us.”
Forward Cameron Johnson was sidelined on Friday with a hip contusion but he’ll return on Sunday as well, Lewis adds. According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link), rival teams that continue to be under the impression that the Nets value Johnson and have placed a high asking price for him in trade talks, though it’s unclear what specifically they’re looking for in return. The 28-year-old is posting career highs in several statistical categories.
The Nets’ G League affiliate in Long Island has completed a trade, acquiring Tre Scott and a 2026 NBAGL second-round pick from the Osceola Magic in exchange for big man Patrick Gardner. Scott holds two games of NBA experience, having suited up for Cleveland on a 10-day contract back in ’21/22.

Nets Notes: Claxton, Thomas, Williams, Clowney

December 25th, 2024 at 7:59pm CST by Rory Maher

Nic Claxton cashed in as a free agent last summer, re-signing with the Nets on a four-year, $97MM+ contract. However, he isn’t meeting his own expectations thus far in 2024/25, and Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscriber link) argues Brooklyn’s starting center isn’t living up to the team’s investment, either.

“I’m not pleased with nothing, honestly,” Claxton said. “I need to be better, more consistent.

“Everywhere: rebounding, free throws, protecting the rim, more blocks. I need to do everything better. Be more aggressive on offense. Everything.”

Claxton’s numbers are down across the board in 2024/25, with the 25-year-old averaging 9.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 59.4% from the floor in 23 appearances (24.8 MPG). Last season, he averaged 11.8 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 2.1 APG and 2.1 BPG while shooting 62.9% from the field in 71 games (29.8 MPG).

In fairness, Claxton has also dealt with injuries, having missed all of preseason action with a hamstring injury and then dealing with a lower back strain which required him to receive an epidural injection. But the Nets have been more effective when he isn’t playing, which certainly isn’t what they were hoping for after giving him a big contract.

Here’s more from Brooklyn:

Cam Thomas (left hamstring strain), who played 5-on-5 on Monday, will be sidelined again on Thursday, Lewis writes for The New York Post. The Nets are eager to get their leading scorer back in the lineup — their offense has sputtered in the month he’s been out, Lewis notes. “It’ll be nice when we get Cam Thomas back just to have some … a real half-court bucket, half-court scorer,” Claxton said. “That’ll be good. We’re missing him right now a lot.”
Ziaire Williams (left knee sprain) is also nearing a return, but he’ll miss at least one more game, having been ruled out of Thursday’s matchup in Milwaukee, Lewis adds. Both Thomas and Williams will be restricted free agents next offseason if they’re tendered qualifying offers.
Noah Clowney has been playing some of his best basketball of the season after a “desultory effort” vs. Cleveland on Dec. 16 saw the second-year big man foul out with two points, two rebounds and two turnovers in 17 minutes, according to Lewis. Clowney credited an attitude adjustment for his improved play. “My main goal since the Cleveland game has been to be better energy-wise for my team,” Clowney said. “A lot of body language issues I had, and I’m trying to be an energy-giver. I feel like — I was told — [there’s] no neutral energy. It’s either bad or good. So try to give good energy. So that’s been my main goal, as far as how I play. [You] make shots sometimes, you don’t make shots sometimes. Do what you can on the defensive end. Just try to control what you can.”

Eastern Notes: Shamet, Nets, Lillard, Middleton, White

December 24th, 2024 at 5:46pm CST by Luke Adams

Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau is happy to have Landry Shamet back on his roster after the veteran wing recovered from the dislocated shoulder he suffered during preseason with the team. Praising Shamet for his leadership and ability to play multiple positions, Thibodeau said the 27-year-old had a “great” training camp and was deserving of a roster spot once he was healthy.

“He’s been around, he’s played in big games,” Thibodeau said (Twitter video link). “He knows how to play off people extremely well. The three-point shooting, he can handle the ball (or) play off the ball.”

After officially re-signing with the Knicks on Monday, Shamet was active for the club’s game vs. Toronto and made a brief appearance in the fourth quarter with 84 seconds left and New York holding a 16-point lead. He made a 13-footer on his first possession for the Knicks’ final points of the night.

“I was so amped up today, man, I’ve been chomping at the bit for a while,” Shamet said after the win, according to Peter Botte of The New York Post. “It just felt good to be back in the building, suit it up, be with the guys, lock in on a game plan, and be a teammate. I’m just grateful that I felt good to get in the game there at the end and kind of just see the first one go in.”

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Injured Nets guards Cam Thomas and Ziaire Williams are nearing their respective returns, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post, who says both players participated in 5-on-5 action on Monday. “It seems like they’re getting close,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. Thomas (left hamstring strain) has been out since November 25, while Williams (left knee sprain) hasn’t played since Dec. 1.
Bucks guard Damian Lillard missed Monday’s game due to an illness, but the calf issue that sidelined him on Saturday has improved, tweets Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “He’s doing much better,” head coach Doc Rivers said. “I expect him to possibly be ready (for Thursday’s game vs. Brooklyn), but then he gets sick.” Rivers, who jokingly referred to the illness affecting Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and other Bucks as the “Vegas flu,” clarified on Monday that the bug began circulating before the NBA Cup semifinals. “About a week before Vegas, (this illness) has gone down the chain of guys getting sick, but it happens,” Rivers said.
With Lillard and Antetokounmpo unavailable vs. Chicago on Monday, Bucks forward Khris Middleton looked like his old All-Star self for a second straight game, scoring a team-high 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting in just 23 minutes to lead the club to a comfortable 21-point victory. Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the story.
Coby White‘s .414 FG% and .358 3PT% are his lowest marks since his rookie year, and he has been especially struggling as of late, shooting 27.8% on three-pointers since Nov. 27. But the Bulls guard isn’t using ankle and groin injuries as an excuse, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network, and his teammates aren’t worried about him, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “There’s ups and downs throughout an NBA season,” Zach LaVine said on Monday. “We’ll all be OK.”

Injury Notes: Strus, Embiid, Suggs, Booker, Nets

December 20th, 2024 at 1:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Cavaliers wing Max Strus, who initially hoped to make his season debut last Friday, is being listed as questionable for tonight’s Central Division showdown with the Bucks and has a chance to suit up for the first time this season, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

Strus sustained a hip contusion early in the preseason and was nearing a return from that injury when he sprained his right ankle during an individual workout just days before the season opener. He has been recovering from that sprain for the last two months.

“Nine weeks is a very long time,” Strus said on Thursday. “It’s been hard. There’s been definitely dark days. But this is the best team. Best vibes ever been around. These guys have made it easy and kept me involved and kept me around and made sure to reach out at times when I needed it. I’m itching to get back.”

As Fedor writes, Strus’ impending return is coming at a good time, given that the player who replaced him at small forward in the starting five – Isaac Okoro – is now sidelined with an injury of his own. Strus will be on a minutes restriction upon returning, so he may not reclaim his starting role right away, Fedor writes, but there’s excitement within the organization about how he’ll fit in head coach Kenny Atkinson‘s offense.

“It’s been fun to watch from the outside, but also frustrating that I haven’t been able to be a part of it. Hopefully sometime soon I could join the party,” Strus said. “The way we’ve played offense and scored the ball, it’s kind of everything I’ve wanted to do since I’ve been here. We struggled with that last year.”

Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:

Sixers star Joel Embiid (sinus fracture) practiced on Wednesday and Thursday and is considered questionable to play on Friday vs. Charlotte, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The 76ers announced on Monday that Embiid would be reevaluated in one week, but it sounds like he has a good chance to return to the court before that one-week evaluation date.
Magic guard Jalen Suggs sustained an ankle injury on Thursday vs. Oklahoma City, as Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel tweets. Suggs injured the ankle late in the first half and started the third quarter, but was pulled after less than four minutes and didn’t play the rest of the night. “As he comes out in the second (half) I just saw there wasn’t a high pace,” head coach Jamahl Mosley explained. “I mean, there were moments of it but I just want to make sure he’s going to be OK for the long haul.” Orlando is already playing without forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, so the team will be hoping Suggs doesn’t have to miss much – if any – time.
[UPDATE: Suggs has been listed as probable to play on Saturday vs. Miami, per Beede.]
Suns guard Devin Booker exited Thursday’s game vs. Indiana in the third quarter with left groin tightness and didn’t return, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Booker’s status for Saturday’s game vs. Detroit remains unclear.
Nets guards Cam Thomas (left hamstring strain) and Ziaire Williams (left knee sprain) are making progress in their respective recoveries but aren’t yet cleared for contact, according to head coach Jordi Fernandez (story via Bridget Reilly of The New York Post). “They’ve been able to shoot, and that’s all they’re doing right now,” Fernandez said. “It’s step by step.” Meanwhile, Nets forward Trendon Watford was out for Thursday’s game due to left hamstring soreness — Watford missed the first 13 games of the season due to a left hamstring strain.

New York Notes: Achiuwa, Brunson, McBride, Thomas, Claxton

December 6th, 2024 at 8:19am CST by Tristan Tucker

Knicks big man Precious Achiuwa made his season debut on Thursday after missing the first 22 games of the season with a hamstring injury. ESPN’s Tim Bontemps first reported (via Twitter) that Achiuwa’s debut was dependent on how warmups went. He ended up playing 12 minutes in a blowout win over Charlotte, finishing with two points and four rebounds.

Achiuwa’s return is a boon for a Knicks team that has had its frontcourt depth depleted by injuries in the early going. Center Mitchell Robinson has yet to play this season as he deals with an ankle issue, which left Jericho Sims and Ariel Hukporti as the team’s only true bigs behind Karl-Anthony Towns until Achiuwa’s return.

The Knicks sit at 14-8, good for fourth in the Eastern Conference. They opened the season 5-6 before beginning to really click and winning nine of their last 11 games. New York made big offseason swings for both Towns and Mikal Bridges, the former coming right before the beginning of the regular season.

Adding Achiuwa should only help the team continue its climb up the standings. A part of the OG Anunoby deal last December, the former Raptor made 18 starts for New York in 2023/24 across his 49 appearances. He averaged 7.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, 0.6 steals and 1.1 blocks per game for the Knicks.

According to the New York Post’s Peter Botte, Achiuwa received an ovation in his return.

“[The reception] means a lot to me. Obviously, New York to me is very dear to my heart,” Achiuwa said. “So just being able to go out there and hearing the crowd, it meant a lot to me. … Watching from the sideline has been very tough, but just being out there and knowing that the crowd is behind me throughout the whole process has been very reassuring.”

We have more from New York:

Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson took a hard hit in New York’s win over Charlotte on Thursday, exiting the game late in the third quarter and not reutrning, according to Newsday’s Steve Popper. It doesn’t sound like anything serious though, as the Knicks were up big late when Brunson returned to the bench and likely held him out for precautionary reasons. He was sporting a wrap on his back/ribs, but said after the game that he felt amazing.
The three-year, $13MM extension Miles McBride signed approximately one year ago is looking like a bargain for the Knicks. He became integral to the team in the second half of last season, averaging 11.0 PPG while making 36.8% of his three-point attempts in the 2024 playoffs. Through 17 games this season, McBride is averaging career highs of 11.2 PPG and 2.8 APG on a career-best shooting split of .462/.435/.909. In a subscriber-only story, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post explores what the young guard would earn if he were signing a new contract now, positing that the deal would likely be somewhere in the range of $10-12MM annually. The former West Virginia guard expressed no regrets about signing his contract when he did, though. “There are a lot of people that are out here struggling, and I’m having fun,” McBride said. “I’m playing well. I’m on a great team. I’m more than happy.”
High-scoring Nets guard Cam Thomas has missed the last five games for Brooklyn while he nurses a hamstring injury. According to the New York Post’s Brian Lewis, Thomas is still in the early stages of his recovery and there’s no timetable yet for his return. “I’m just doing whatever the performance team has me doing. It’s still early,” Thomas said. “I’m just doing whatever they have me doing, just a little bit here and there. But it’s all right.”
Nets center Nic Claxton — who signed to a four-year, $100MM extension last offseason — fluctuated between the bench and starting unit in the first 14 games of the season while dealing with a back injury. Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily questions whether there’s any reason to worry about Claxton, who averaged just 8.5 points per game in those first games of the season. “I think in professional sports, especially in this league, a lot of these guys play with bumps and bruises. What we need them is to believe that they’re good to go,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “And if we feel like a guy is not confident, we’re gonna let them make the decisions, I think that’s fair. If you play and you are afraid to get hurt, guess what? You’re going to get hurt. So we don’t want that for Nic or anybody in our group.” Claxton’s numbers are his lowest since becoming a starter and Kaplan suggests that he isn’t playing with the same level of explosiveness.
On the other hand, Lewis posits that Claxton is rounding into form after averaging 12.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks in his last three games (all starts). “Yeah, I’m getting there, for sure. It’s taking a while, but I’m getting there,” the Nets center said.

Nets’ Cam Thomas Out 3-4 Weeks With Hamstring Strain

November 27th, 2024 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Nets guard Cam Thomas is expected to miss the next three-to-four weeks with a left hamstring strain, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania.

As we detailed earlier today, Thomas, who has also recently dealt with an illness and a sore back, was removed in the third quarter of Monday’s game vs. Golden State and had been ruled out for Wednesday’s contest in Phoenix due to what the team initially referred to as left hamstring soreness.

Thomas, 23, has ranked among the NBA’s scoring leaders in the first few weeks of the 2024/25 season, averaging a career-high 24.7 points to go along with 3.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds in 33.4 minutes per game across 17 outings (all starts).

Perhaps most importantly, he’s scoring more efficiently than ever, knocking down 46.1% attempts from the floor and 38.9% of his three-pointers — both marks would be the best of his career.

The 27th overall pick in the 2021 draft, Thomas is in the fourth and final year of his rookie contract and will be a restricted free agent during the 2025 offseason after not coming to terms with the Nets on an extension prior to the season.

Brooklyn wants to maximize its cap flexibility next summer, so not extending Thomas early was about keeping the team’s options open and not necessarily a signal that the team doesn’t view the high-scoring guard as part of its future. Still, the belief is that the rebuilding Nets won’t make anyone on their roster untouchable at this season’s trade deadline, and one report this month suggested Thomas is “widely considered to be available.”

Even if Thomas is able to return in just three weeks, he’ll miss Brooklyn’s next eight games. A four-week absence would sideline him through Christmas and cost him 11 contests.

The Nets have a few banged-up players whose availability is in flux, so it’s hard to predict how exactly they’ll cover for Thomas’ absence, but Ziaire Williams, Shake Milton, and Keon Johnson are among the candidates for increased roles.

Confirming Charania’s report on Thomas’ diagnosis, the Nets announced that he’ll be reevaluated in three weeks and also shared updates on a few more injuries (Twitter link via Brian Lewis of The New York Post).

According to the team, Noah Clowney (left ankle sprain) will be reevaluated in two weeks, Jaylen Martin (right knee bone contusion) will be reevaluated in one-to-two weeks, Day’Ron Sharpe (left hamstring strain) is expected to make his season debut within the next week, and Nic Claxton (lower back injury management) has been ruled out for Wednesday’s game and is considered day-to-day.

Injury Notes: Nets, Giannis, Morant, Poole, Hayes

November 27th, 2024 at 8:14am CST by Luke Adams

There’s good news and bad news for the Nets on their latest injury report, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post relays. Leading scorer Cam Thomas has been ruled out for Wednesday’s game in Phoenix due to left hamstring soreness. Thomas, who has also dealt with an illness and a sore back as of late, was removed in the third quarter on Monday vs. Golden State to “protect him from himself,” in the words of head coach Jordi Fernandez.

Big man Noah Clowney will join Thomas on the sidelines, having been ruled out for a second straight game due to a left ankle sprain. Brooklyn has yet to provide an update on the results of an MRI Clowney underwent on his injured ankle, Lewis notes.

A banged-up Nets team could get some reinforcements soon, however. According to Lewis, Nic Claxton (lower back soreness), Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain), and Cameron Johnson (right ankle sprain) are all considered questionable to play on Wednesday. Claxton and Finney-Smith each missed Monday’s game, while Johnson exited in the first half.

Ben Simmons is also off the injury report after sitting out on Monday due to lower back injury management.

We have a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

Originally listed as probable due to a left calf strain, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was a late scratch vs. Miami on Tuesday due to swelling in his left knee, per Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. As Owczarski notes, Antetokounmpo had surgery on that knee during the summer of 2023.
Grizzlies guard Ja Morant played on Monday for the first time since November 6, but he has been ruled out for Wednesday’s game vs. Detroit due to a new injury, a left knee contusion, writes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Morant downplayed the ailment after the game on Monday: “A little knee to knee. Everybody know I get back up every time. … Quick little stinger, get out the way and just take care of it now.”
Wizards guard Jordan Poole missed a second straight game on Tuesday due to left hip flexor soreness, per the team (Twitter link). Poole had initially been listed as questionable, so it sounds as if the issue is a day-to-day one rather than one that will keep him sidelined for an extended period.
In his first game back following a two-week absence due to a right ankle sprain, Lakers center Jaxson Hayes re-aggravated that same ankle injury during the final minute of Tuesday’s loss to Phoenix. He had to be helped to the locker room, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter links), who says the team plans to provide an update on Hayes on Wednesday afternoon.

Eastern Notes: Porzingis, Nets, Djurisic, McCain

November 26th, 2024 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis reclaimed his spot in the starting lineup on Monday in his return from a leg injury that had sidelined him since June and looked like his old self. As Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes, Porzingis helped Boston secure a blowout 126-94 win over the Clippers by racking up 16 points, six rebounds, two assists, and a pair of blocked shots in just under 23 minutes of action.

“I felt great,” Porzingis said, smiling, after the game. “It was a long rehab, and I was itching to get back out there with this team after winning a championship. It was a good beginning, good first game back.”

As Bontemps points out, while Porzingis’ ability to score around the basket and from beyond the arc will further diversify a Celtics offense that ranks third in the NBA (120.9 offensive rating), his impact on defense figures to be even more significant. Entering Monday’s game, Boston ranked 19th in the NBA in rim defense after placing first in that category last season, Bontemps notes. In Monday’s game, the club set a season high with 11 blocks.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Already shorthanded entering Monday’s matchup in Golden State, the Nets saw Cameron Johnson leave the game in the first half due to a sprained right ankle and Cam Thomas exit in the third quarter after battling a back issue. They still managed to go on a 27-6 second half run and pull out an upset victory over the Warriors, led by Dennis Schröder (17 fourth quarter points) and de facto center Ziaire Williams (19 points, 10 rebounds), as Brian Lewis of The New York Post details. “Shout out to the guys, we lost two more, but our guys stepped up, made big-time shots,” Williams said. “(Trendon Watford) made big-time shots, and it was a team effort. It was super fun out there.”
Hawks rookie Nikola Djurisic, the No. 43 overall pick in the 2024 draft, is fully recovered after undergoing foot surgery in July, according to agent Misko Raznatovic, who says (via Twitter) that the 6’7″ swingman is on track to make his G League debut on Tuesday for the College Park Skyhawks vs. the Long Island Nets. Djurisic is essentially a draft-and-stash prospect — he signed a G League contract for the 2024/25 season and Atlanta still holds his NBA rights.
The 3-13 Sixers have the NBA’s second-worst record, but No. 16 overall pick Jared McCain should be considered the Rookie of the Year frontrunner, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, who makes McCain’s case for the award.

And-Ones: Playoff Format, Trade Market, All-Star Game, More

November 22nd, 2024 at 8:33pm CST by Luke Adams

If the NBA expands to 32 teams in the coming years, executives for Western Conference teams are hopeful it will provide the league an opportunity to revisit the idea of seeding the playoff teams one through 16, regardless of conference, according to Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Insider link).

Assuming Seattle and Las Vegas, the presumed frontrunners, get teams in the next round of expansion, a current Western Conference team – likely one of the Timberwolves, Grizzlies, or Pelicans – would have to move East to balance out the two conferences. Given the relative strength of the East vs. the West, those three clubs may push hard to be the one chosen, but that battle could potentially be avoided by revamping the postseason seeds, Windhorst suggests.

“It would be the right thing to do for the health of the league,” one West general manager told ESPN. “It’s not just about fairness, it’s about giving the fans the best playoff product.”

A change along those lines would require the approval of at least three-quarters of the NBA’s teams (23 of 30), as Bontemps observes, which means at least eight Eastern Conference teams would have to get on board with the idea, potentially voting against their own interests.

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

Bontemps and Windhorst suggest in the same ESPN story that many scouts and executives around the NBA believe the 2024/25 in-season trade market will take a while to get going. Trades this early in the season are somewhat rare anyway, and new CBA-related restrictions related to aprons and hard caps have only made deals more challenging. “We were looking at a trade concept the other day and there were three reasons the other team wouldn’t be allowed to do it,” one general manager told Windhorst. “One of the rules I didn’t even know about.”
In another Insider-only story for ESPN, Bontemps ranks all 30 NBA teams’ cores, listing each club’s top three building blocks based on both present and future value. The Celtics (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White) top the list, while the Nets (Nic Claxton, Noah Clowney, Cam Thomas) come in at No. 30.
Joe Vardon and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic provide some additional details on the proposed changes to the NBA’s All-Star format, noting that since the league is expected to split its All-Stars into four teams, the head coaches for the top two teams in each conference (four in total) will likely be invited to All-Star weekend to coach a squad. As Vardon and Vorkunov detail, the current Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for the players on the winning All-Star team to earn $100K, while the players on the losing team earns $25K. The NBA and NBPA need to renegotiate those figures before formally implementing the new format, which would result in three losing teams instead of just one.
In a memo sent to team officials, the NBA urged its players to take extra precautions to secure their homes in the wake of a string of burglaries affecting Bucks big man Bobby Portis and Timberwolves guard Mike Conley, among others. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press has the story.

Nets Notes: Thomas, Frontcourt, Simmons, Watford

November 19th, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Although the trade deadline is still about two-and-a-half months away, there’s already “plenty of chatter” about the Nets being one of the go-to stops for contenders seeking upgrades this season, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who says Brooklyn is expected to be “open for business” on the trade market.

As Amick writes, while veterans on expiring deals like Dennis Schröder and Bojan Bogdanovic are considered the Nets’ top trade candidates, the team is unlikely to make anyone totally untouchable. That includes leading scorer Cam Thomas, who is “widely considered to be available” after not signing a rookie scale extension with the club prior to last month’s deadline.

A source who spoke to NetsDaily downplayed the idea that the Nets would be actively looking to move Thomas, however. That source noted that the lack of extension can be attributed in large part to the team’s desire to maximize its 2025 cap flexibility and added that owner Joe Tsai is a big fan of the fourth-year guard.

Here’s more on the Nets:

With top two centers Nic Claxton and Day’Ron Sharpe on the shelf due to injuries, the Nets’ lack of size has been a glaring issue as of late, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. In one story, Lewis takes a look at how the team’s struggles in the paint and on the glass were difference-makers in Sunday’s loss to the Knicks; in another article, he explores the trickle-down effect the injuries have had on the rest of the roster, including forcing Ben Simmons to play “somewhere he’s clearly ineffective.”
After missing 13 games due to a hamstring strain, Nets forward Trendon Watford made his season debut on Sunday and was a team-high plus-four in the 10-point loss, registering four points, three assists, and three rebounds. Watford said after the game that he believes he can be a “Swiss army knife” for the Nets and is willing to play whatever role head coach Jordi Fernandez asks of him, according to Lewis. “Just being a little bit of a play-maker, doing everything,” Watford said. “I’ll get better with time and just try keeping that role I had last year, just being that guy to do a little bit everything, guard every position. So trying to be that for the team.”
The “big three” version of the Nets led by Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden certainly had more talent than this season’s roster, but Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post argues that the current iteration of the team is more fun to watch, crediting Fernandez for the Nets’ relentless playing style.

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