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Southeast Notes: Anthony, Bridges, Oladipo, Butler, Avdija

November 5th, 2022 at 8:12am CST by Luke Adams

Magic guard Cole Anthony, who suffered a right internal oblique injury on October 26, will likely return to the court for individual work within the next few days, a person with knowledge of the situation tells Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel. However, Anthony is expected to remain sidelined for a few more weeks. Price’s source indicated that the former first-round pick will probably be out until after Thanksgiving, with a late November or early December return possible depending on how he responds to rehabilitation and treatment.

Here are a few more notes from around the Southeast:

  • In the wake of news that restricted free agent Miles Bridges has agreed to a plea deal and will be sentenced to three years of probation, the Hornets released the following statement on Thursday (via Twitter): “We are aware of today’s developments regarding Miles Bridges’ legal situation. We will continue to gather information before determining any potential next steps. Until then, we will have no additional comments.”
  • With Bridges’ case settled, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report considers whether or not the Hornets will move forward with a deal for the RFA forward. As Pincus observes, the NBA’s history suggests that it’s probably only a matter of time before Bridges returns to the court, despite the horrific allegations against him. If and when he officially signs a contract, the league would have the option of suspending him based on its findings in his domestic violence case.
  • In a Hoop Collective segment earlier this week (video link), ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said he doesn’t get the sense that Heat guard Victor Oladipo (left knee tendinosis) is “anywhere close” to returning to action. “They haven’t put a timetable on it, but I was kind of led to believe it ain’t happening in the near future,” Windhorst said. Jimmy Butler also missed a second consecutive game on Friday for the Heat due to left hip tightness.
  • Wizards forward Deni Avdija has been out of the starting lineup for the team’s last three games and admits the demotion is “not easy,” writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. However, he’s determined to maintain a positive attitude. “I learned that I need to be patient,” Avdija said of the experience. “I learned that I need to stay ready. I learned that I’m strong mentally, and I’ll figure it out in any situation.”
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Magic Decline R.J. Hampton’s 2023/24 Option; Exercise Four Others

October 28th, 2022 at 9:54pm CST by Rory Maher

The Magic will decline to exercise their 2023/24 rookie scale option on guard R.J. Hampton, multiple sources tell Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required). The third-year combo guard will now be an unrestricted free agent in 2023.

Hampton, 21, was the No. 24 pick of the 2020 draft. He was technically drafted by the Bucks, but was traded to the Nuggets shortly thereafter. During his rookie season, he was sent to Orlando along with Gary Harris as part of the Aaron Gordon trade.

In 94 games (22.4 MPG) with the Magic, Hampton has averaged 8.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG and 2.5 APG on .402/.343/.649 shooting. His declined option was worth $4,220,057, which means the Magic will be prohibited from offering him a first-year salary worth more than that in free agency next summer if he finishes the season on the roster.

Price also reports that the Magic have exercised their 2023/24 options on guards Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony, as well as forwards Chuma Okeke and Franz Wagner. The team confirmed the news (via Twitter).

Suggs, the No. 4 pick of last year’s draft, will earn a guaranteed $7,252,080 in his third season, while Wagner, the No. 8 pick last year, will earn $5,508,720. Anthony (No. 15 in 2020) and Okeke (No. 16 in 2020) will make guaranteed salaries of $5,539,771 and $5,266,713 for their fourth seasons, respectively.

Wagner, Suggs, Anthony and Okeke have all been rotation players for the Magic when healthy, so it was expected that their options would be picked up. Hampton, however, is only averaging 11.0 minutes per night in four games this season despite several injuries to the backcourt (including Suggs and Anthony) after averaging 21.9 minutes last season.

The deadline for ’23/24 rookie scale team options is October 31. The full list of those decisions can be found right here.

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Injury Notes: Ingram, Zion, Jones, Garland, Anthony, MPJ

October 27th, 2022 at 4:09pm CST by Rory Maher

Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram (concussion protocol) will be sidelined for at least three more games, as he won’t travel with the team during its upcoming road trip, tweets Will Guillory of The Athletic. Head coach Willie Green told reporters, including Guillory, that Zion Williamson (right posterior hip / low back contusion) and Herb Jones (right knee hyperextension) were partial participants in Thursday’s practice and will be listed as questionable for Friday’s game at Phoenix.

The Pelicans have gotten off to an impressive 3-1 start, including Tuesday’s 113-111 victory over Dallas sans all three of the aforementioned starters.

Here are a few more health-related notes from around the NBA:

  • Cavaliers guard Darius Garland was hoping to make his return for Friday’s game at Boston but he has been ruled out for the contest, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link). Garland is still dealing with the effects of his lacerated left eyelid, which he suffered in the season opener vs. the Raptors.
  • Imaging revealed that Cole Anthony sustained a right internal oblique injury during the Magic‘s loss to Cleveland on Wednesday, Orlando announced (via Twitter). The Magic were vague in giving a timeline for the injury, saying that the third-year guard’s “return to play will depend on how he responds to rehabilitation and treatment.”
  • Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. missed Wednesday’s game against the Lakers with “lumbar management,” according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Head coach Michael Malone told reporters, including Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (Twitter link), that Porter suffered a back spasm during Monday’s game at Portland and could have played against the Lakers if necessary, but Malone expects him to play against the Jazz on Friday. The Nuggets have officially listed Porter (lumbar spine management), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (left ankle sprain) and Davon Reed (personal reasons) as questionable for Friday’s contest, tweets Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Porter, who only played nine games last season and underwent lumbar spine surgery last November, is off to a strong start in 2022/23, averaging 18.0 points and 5.8 rebounds on .510/.500/.800 shooting through four games (29.0 minutes).
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Southeast Notes: Hawks, Lowry, Strus, Wizards, Magic

May 26th, 2022 at 9:56am CST by Luke Adams

By earning a spot on the All-NBA Third Team this week, Hawks guard Trae Young ensured that his five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension will start at 30% of the 2022/23 cap rather than 25%, as we outlined on Tuesday. Based on the current maximum-salary projections, that means Atlanta’s projected team salary for next season will increase by $6.1MM.

As Chris Kirschner of The Athletic writes, Young’s salary bump means Atlanta is more likely to be over the luxury-tax line in 2022/23 and perhaps less likely to bring back Danilo Gallinari, whose $21.45MM salary is only partially guaranteed for $5MM. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the Hawks currently project to be about $7.8MM over the tax line, so they could, at least temporarily, get out of tax territory by waiving Gallinari and saving that $16MM+.

Young’s more lucrative contract may place a few more constraints on the Hawks over the next five years as they attempt to build a championship-caliber roster around him. However, as Kirschner observes, the team will at least no longer have to worry about Young being disgruntled as a result of missing out on an All-NBA spot and an extra $35MM.

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

  • With Kyle Lowry still clearly being affected by the left hamstring injury that has forced him to miss eight playoff games, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel and Joe Vardon of The Athletic believe the Heat have to seriously consider whether or not Lowry should start – or even play – in a do-or-die Game 6. Vardon says the team should probably bench both Lowry and Max Strus, who are a combined 1-of-28 from the floor in the last two games.
  • Josh Robbins and John Hollinger of The Athletic take a look at the Wizards‘ future, discussing whether a full-fledged rebuild or building around Bradley Beal would be a better course of action for the franchise. Hollinger wonders if the team missed an opportunity to get a Jrue Holiday-esque haul (or better) for Beal by not moving him a year or two ago, but believes that the best course of action at this point would be to re-sign the All-Star guard, since he could always be traded later.
  • Khobi Price of The Orlando Sentinel explores what the Magic‘s starting five may look like next season, depending on whether the team drafts Jabari Smith or Chet Holmgren. In Price’s view, floor-spacing issues mean that Cole Anthony may be a better fit alongside Holmgren, while Jalen Suggs could make more sense alongside Smith.
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Poll: Who Will Win The 2022 Slam Dunk Contest?

February 19th, 2022 at 11:59am CST by Rory Maher

The 2022 Slam Dunk Contest takes place Saturday night and features four participants (betting odds courtesy of SportsLine.com):

Rockets rookie Green, the second pick of the 2021 draft, is the favorite, followed by last year’s runner-up, second-year Knicks forward Toppin. Second-year guard Anthony of the Magic is third, and Toscano-Anderson, a third-year reserve forward for the Warriors, brings up the rear. Green, Anthony and Toscano-Anderson are all first-time participants.

Anthony and Green played in the Rising Stars event Friday night, losing a 50-49 nail-biter for Team Worthy against Team Isiah. Anthony flushed an impressive lob dunk off the backboard from teammate Jalen Suggs during the game.

ESPN recently released a video with a short sampling of some of the contestants’ in-game dunks this season. My personal favorite was Toscano-Anderson’s epic poster over JaVale McGee, but all four have certainly had some impressive jams.

If you think shorter players have a stylistic edge given they have to jump that much higher, Anthony is the shortest participant at 6’2″, followed by Green (6’4″), JTA (6’6″) and Toppin (6’9″).

What do you think? Who will win this year’s Slam Dunk Contest? Will the electric rookie favorite come out on top? Will the underdog Toscano-Anderson pull off the upset?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!

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NBA Announces Slam Dunk, Three-Point, Skills Challenge Contestants

February 8th, 2022 at 6:56pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA has announced a full list of the participants for its three-point, slam dunk and skills challenge competitions ahead of the upcoming 2022 All-Star Weekend in Cleveland.

Per the NBA (Twitter link), the following players will partake in the Mountain Dew Three-Point Contest, which appears to have outpaced the dunk contest as the premiere event for established stars at All-Star Weekend. Four 2022 All-Stars will compete:

According to the league (via Twitter), these are the contestants in the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest:

Below are the NBA’s announced players for the newly revamped Taco Bell Skills Challenge (Twitter link). This year, the Skills Challenge will be divvied up into three teams: Antetokounmpo brothers (“Antetokounmpos”), Cavaliers players (“Cavs”), and rookies (“Rooks”).

These three events will take place on All-Star Saturday on February 19.

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2021/22 Rising Stars Team Rosters

February 4th, 2022 at 6:27pm CST by Rory Maher

As we previously relayed, the NBA announced a new format for its Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend, which will take place on Friday, February 18. The event will feature four seven-player teams competing in a three-game tournament (two semifinals and a final).

The player pool is comprised of 12 NBA rookies, 12 sophomores, and four players from the G League Ignite, while the games will be played to a target score: 50 points in the semifinals and 25 points in the final, in honor of the league’s 75th anniversary season.

The rosters were announced on February 1, but now the four honorary coaches (75th anniversary team members Rick Barry, Isiah Thomas, Gary Payton and James Worthy) have selected their seven-man teams, per our JD Shaw (Twitter link). Here are the rosters:

Team Barry:

Team Isiah:

Team Payton:

Team Worthy:

James Ham of ESPN 1320 and The Kings Beat provides (via Twitter) the full draft results.

The top 10, in order, were: Edwards, Mobley, Ball, Anthony, Giddey, Barnes, Cunningham, Bey, Bane, and Wagner. It’s worth noting that Worthy and Anthony both went to the University of North Carolina, so Anthony’s selection at No. 4 is less surprising given that context.

What do you think of the teams? Who do you think will come out on top? Head to the comments section and let us know your thoughts!

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NBA Announces 2021/22 Rising Stars Rosters

February 1st, 2022 at 6:34pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The NBA has revealed the 28 players (12 rookies, 12 sophomores, and four G League Ignite players) who will suit up for the 2022 Clorox Rising Stars Game in Cleveland this year, per its official PR account (Twitter links). There are a few intriguing surprises among the first-year NBA players.

Here are the players who made the cut:

Rookies:

Sophomores:

Additionally, four players from the G League Ignite will participate in the Rising Stars Game based on voting from NBA G League head coaches. The NBAGL has announced (Twitter link) that MarJon Beauchamp, Dyson Daniels, Jaden Hardy and Scoot Henderson will partake in the action. Players will be separated into four teams, and each G League player will be drafted to join one of the teams later this week.

Among the rookie NBA players, the additions who would be most surprising ahead of the 2021/22 season would be Dosunmu and Jones, both of whom were second-round draft selections. 2021 lottery picks Jonathan Kuminga, Ziaire Williams, James Bouknight, Joshua Primo and Moses Moody were all omitted from inclusion this year.

Among the second-year players, Ball could be appearing on multiple nights during All-Star Weekend this season, as he appears to be a very possible first-time All-Star this year thanks to his outstanding work with the upstart Hornets.

The lottery-bound Magic, Pistons, and Rockets can boast having the most inclusions here, with three players apiece.

As we detailed last week, this year’s Rising Stars event will look a little different, with the four teams taking part in a mini-tournament and playing to a target score in each game: 50 points in the semifinals and 25 points in the final, in honor of the league’s 75th anniversary season.

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Southeast Notes: Okongwu, Anthony, Heat

January 30th, 2022 at 10:51pm CST by JD Shaw

Hawks big man Onyeka Okongwu believes he deserves to be part of this year’s Rising Stars Game over All-Star Weekend, he told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. On the season, he’s averaged 9.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 23.3 minutes per game, though he’s only played in 16 contests to date.

“I think I should, honestly,” Okongwu said. “Everybody can see what I do out there on the court. I think my play really speaks for itself, especially defensively with what I’ve been able to do, guarding on the ball and helping. Offensively, I’ve got my confidence back. I’ve doubled my points scoring to almost 10.

“At the end of the day, we’re on a six-game winning streak playing good basketball, and I’m part of the mix, which is always a blessing. I’m thankful to be able to be on the Hawks, and we’re playing good basketball. I think, all things considered, I should get a Rising Stars nod.”

Okongwu also discussed other topics in the interview, including who he compares himself to as a player and what the team’s expectations are. Atlanta selected the 21-year-old with the No. 6 pick in 2020.

Here are some other notes from the Southeast Division:

  • Magic guard Cole Anthony was fined $25K for directing profane and derogatory remarks toward a game official, the NBA announced this week (Twitter link). Anthony made his comments after the team’s 111-102 loss to the Clippers on Wednesday. He finished with 19 points, 11 assists and three steals in the contest, shooting 5-of-11 (45%).
  • Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel examines whether the Heat need more versatile players in the closing moments of a game. Miami has finished with either Tyler Herro or Duncan Robinson in most of its close games, adding offense but hurting its defense. Once Victor Oladipo returns, head coach Erik Spoelstra will have another defensive option to insert when necessary.
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Southeast Notes: Yurtseven, Todd, Anthony, Butler, Vincent

January 29th, 2022 at 2:24pm CST by JD Shaw

With the return of Bam Adebayo (thumb) and Dewayne Dedmon (knee), Heat center Omer Yurtseven has effectively fallen out of the team’s rotation for now, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.

Yurtseven started 10 games as Adebayo and Dedmon dealt with injuries, logging double-digit rebounds in every contest. Miami went 7-3 during that stretch. On the season, the 23-year-old has averaged 6.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game, shooting 52% from the floor.

“It’s hard, obviously, because you catch that rhythm and you have that raging fire to just keep going,” Yurtseven said. “But I trust in the coaches and the Heat culture, and I believe if they want me and need me in the game that they know that I’m ready.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division today:

  • The Wizards suspended Isaiah Todd one game for conduct detrimental to the team, the club announced in a press release. Todd, who has been on a G League assignment for most of the month, served his suspension during the Capital City Go-Go’s game against the Ignite on Friday. The 20-year-old was selected No. 31 overall in last year’s draft.
  • Magic guard Cole Anthony is committing to the 2022 NBA Slam Dunk Contest on All-Star Weekend, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Anthony has seen his role increase with Orlando this season, averaging 17.9 points on 39% shooting from the floor.
  • In a separate article for the Miami Herald, Anthony Chiang examines some takeaways from the Heat‘s Friday night victory over the Clippers. The Heat were led by Jimmy Butler, who finished with a game-high 26 points, as well as Gabe Vincent, who finished with 23 points in the absence of Kyle Lowry (personal). Lowry will also miss Saturday’s contest against Toronto, marking the seventh straight game he’s missed due to personal reasons.
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