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Lauri Markkanen Wins Most Improved Player Award

April 24th, 2023 at 6:25pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen has won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, the league announced.

In his sixth season, Markkanen thrived in an expanded role after being included in the Donovan Mitchell blockbuster deal between Utah and Cleveland. Markkanen averaged 25.6 points per game on 49.9% shooting and 1.9 assists per game, all career highs. He also shot 87.5% from the free throw line and snared 8.6 rebounds per contest in 66 starts and received a start in the All-Star Game.

Last season, Markkanen averaged 14.8 PPG on 44.5% shooting, 5.7 RPG and 1.3 APG in 61 starts with the Cavaliers. Prior to this season, Markkanen’s career high in scoring average was 18.7 PPG during his second of four seasons with Chicago.

Markkanen topped the other finalists, the Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson, for the award. Markkanen received 69 of the 100 first-place votes and 430 points. Gilgeous-Alexander wound up second with 24 first-place votes and 289 points. Brunson was a distant third with four first-place votes and 91 points.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished fourth in the league in scoring (31.4 PPG) as the Thunder made the play-in tournament. During his All-Star season, Gilgeous-Alexander shot 51% from the field and 90.5% from the foul line. He also averaged 4.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists in his fifth NBA season. He averaged 24.5 points last season.

Brunson lifted the Knicks into the playoffs with a stellar season after leaving the Mavericks as a free agent. In his fifth season, he averaged 24.0 points and 6.2 assists per night while making 41.6% of his 3-point attempts, posting career bests in each category. Last season, he averaged 16.3 PPG and 4.8 APG.

Mikal Bridges, Tyrese Haliburton and Trey Murphy III each picked up one first-place vote, finishing fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.

Fifth-place finisher Nic Claxton, Kevon Looney, De’Aaron Fox, Austin Reaves, Jaren Jackson Jr., Aaron Gordon, and Malik Monk all received at least one vote.

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And-Ones: Biggest Issue, Awards, Baldwin, Faried, Campazzo

April 23rd, 2023 at 9:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

What’s the biggest issue facing the NBA? Not surprisingly, a poll of players conducted by Josh Robbins and Sam Amick of The Athletic placed the officiating at the top of the list. Out of 70 participants, 25.8 percent called out the officials for a variety of reasons.

“Ref accountability. It’s the (big) thing right now. Because there is none,” one poll respondent said. “There’s just not a system set up for it. And it’s been real shaky, I think, this year. Just something to keep them accountable. I don’t know if I want to take their money. But something to get them to have some type of, ‘I can’t f–k this up’ mentality.”

Load management was a close second in the poll. Rules skewed in favor of offensive players also ranked high on the list.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • The NBA will reveal the winner of the Most Improved Player award on Monday, the league’s communications department tweets. Lauri Markkanen, Jalen Brunson and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are the three finalists. The Rookie of the Year will be revealed on Tuesday, with Paolo Banchero considered the heavy favorite.
  • Former NBA player Wade Baldwin IV has signed a two-year contract extension with Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, according to Eurohoops.net. He averaged 16.7 points, 5.0 assists and 3.6 rebounds this season. Baldwin played 56 career NBA games, most recently with Portland during the 2018/19 season.
  • Reyer Venezia is interested in signing big man Kenneth Faried for the Italian playoffs, according to Sportando. Faried spent this season playing in Mexico with Soles de Mexicali. Faried has been out of the NBA since he played a combined 37 games for Brooklyn and Houston during the 2018/19 season.
  • Another former NBA player, Facundo Campazzo, is joining Real Madrid next season, Sportando relays. Campazzo joined Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda after being waived by the Mavericks in late November. He appeared in eight games with Dallas this season.
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Knicks Notes: Randle, Brunson, Quickley, Grimes

April 22nd, 2023 at 3:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After sitting out the Knicks‘ final five regular season contests with a left ankle sprain, All-Star power forward Julius Randle has seemed downright giddy in discussing New York’s ongoing playoff series with the Cavaliers, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post.

“I’m just having fun, man, this is a lot of fun,” Randle said earlier this week. “This is what you work so hard for. For me it goes back to our team, all the work that we’ve put in, in the summer, individuals. That’s what this is about. So I’m excited.”

Randle enjoyed a fairly modest Game 3 against Cleveland, scoring 11 points on 3-of-15 shooting from the floor, pulling down eight rebounds, and dishing out three assists. He has not quite been up to his regular All-Star production while playing through the injury. For the series thus far, he’s averaging 16.5 PPG on 31.4% shooting, plus 8.0 RPG, 2.0 APG and 1.0 SPG.

New York leads Cleveland 2-1 thus far in the best-of-seven series and will hope to improve that advantage when the action resumes tomorrow at Madison Square Garden.

There’s more out of New York:

  • The relationship between star Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson‘s father Rick Brunson, now an assistant coach on the team, and head coach Tom Thibodeau played a big role in selling Brunson on New York in free agency, as Nick Friedell of ESPN details. Thibodeau was an assistant coach under Jeff Van Gundy when Rick joined the team as a player in 1998. They developed a friendship, and Thibodeau brought the elder Brunson aboard his bench when he booked his first head coaching gig with the Bulls in 2010. “I think being around him for a long time, knowing the trust that my dad has in him, I’ve been around it,” Jalen told Friedell. “I’ve been around his philosophies for a long time, so I guess I’m used to it. I’ve seen it from afar — he’s going to push me no matter if I have 48 [points] or four. “
  • Though backup New York guard Immanuel Quickley was the runner-up behind Celtics reserve Malcolm Brogdon for this year’s Sixth Man of the Year award, Quickley isn’t dwelling on missing out on that award, writes Petter Botte of The New York Post. “There’s been a lot of, there’s been more players that have started a lot more games than me,” Quickley said. “So it’s something that I wanted to win, but at the end of the day, it’s not the end of the world. Still got a long career hopefully, God willing, ahead of me.”
  • Second-year Knicks shooting guard Quentin Grimes left the first half of last night’s 99-79 New York win with what the team described as a shoulder contusion and did not return in the second, Botte writes in a separate piece. Across the Knicks’ first three games of the series, Grimes has been erratic on offense, scoring just 11 points on 2-of-11 shooting from the floor.
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NBA Announces 2022/23 Award Finalists

April 14th, 2023 at 5:55pm CST by Rory Maher

The NBA announced its finalists for all the major 2022/23 regular season awards on Friday evening (all Twitter links can be found here).

Here is the full list of finalists for each of the awards, listed in alphabetical order:

Most Valuable Player

Defensive Player of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Most Improved Player

Sixth Man of the Year

Coach of the Year

Clutch Player of the Year

TNT will begin announcing the winners next week during its coverage of the 2023 playoffs, according to the NBA. The three finalists for each award are based on voting results from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters.

Antetokounmpo, the league’s back-to-back MVP winner in 2018/19 and ’19/20, has finished fourth and third in MVP voting over the past two seasons, respectively. He averaged a career-high 31.1 PPG along with 11.8 RPG and 5.7 APG on .553/.275/.645 shooting in 63 games (32.1 MPG) this season in leading the Bucks to the NBA’s best record at 58-24.

Embiid, the MVP runner-up in each of the past two years, led the league in scoring for the second consecutive season, posting a career-high 33.1 PPG along with 10.2 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.0 SPG and 1.7 BPG on .548/.330/.857 shooting in 66 games (34.6 MPG). The Sixers finished third in the East with a 54-28 record, though it’s worth noting that record is also the third-best mark in the league.

Jokic, the reigning back-to-back MVP, averaged 24.8 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 9.8 APG and 1.3 SPG on .632/.383/.822 shooting in 69 games (33.7. MPG). In addition to breaking Wilt Chamberlain‘s record for most assists per game by a center (8.6), Jokic led the Nuggets to the top seed in the West with a 53-29 record.

It’s long been assumed that Banchero, Brown and Fox were the runaway favorites for their respective awards. Given Embiid’s excellent play to end the season and Denver’s stumble to the finish line, it seems likely that Embiid will edge out Jokic and Antetokounmpo to win his first MVP — all three finalists are more than deserving, just as they were last year.

However, the other three awards are more up in the air. Jackson and Lopez have been considered the betting favorites for DPOY for much of the second half of the season. Mobley’s inclusion is somewhat surprising, but maybe it shouldn’t be — the Cavs finished with the league’s top defense and he is arguably the best defender on the team.

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Mavs’ Cuban Talks Irving, Wood, Brunson, Kidd, Doncic, More

April 5th, 2023 at 7:26pm CST by Rory Maher

Speaking to the media ahead of Wednesday’s game against Sacramento, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban touched on a number of topics.

Cuban said the team acquired guard Kyrie Irving at the February trade deadline with the goal of keeping him around “long term,” as veteran reporter Marc Stein relays (Twitter links). Cuban added he thought the Mavs had “a good shot” at retaining Irving, who will be an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.

When asked if he thought Irving was worth a maximum-salary contract, Cuban replied, “I’m not going to negotiate with you,” tweets ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. The longtime owner said re-signing Irving is the team’s top offseason priority, but was noncommittal on big man Christian Wood, another potential free agent.

“I’m not going to go through individual players,” Cuban said, per MacMahon (Twitter link).

Both of the Mavericks’ star guards — Luka Doncic and Irving — will be available for Wednesday’s game, the team announced (via Twitter).

Here’s more from Cuban’s media session:

  • Cuban claims the Mavs “never had the opportunity” to give former guard Jalen Brunson a four-year, $56MM extension in January 2022, tweets Stein. Dallas’ owner went on to explain that Brunson’s camp was looking for a deal in the range of $18-23MM annually in early February 2022, but the Mavs could only offer him $14MM per year due to the limitations on veteran extensions, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter links). As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), the Mavs technically could have given him a deal in the $18-23MM range after the 2022 trade deadline, when Brunson was eligible to renegotiate his contract, but they would have had to clear $25MM+ in salaries in order to do so.
  • As for last summer, when Brunson signed a four-year, $104MM contract with the Knicks, Cuban claims Brunson’s side never gave the Mavs a number he would accept, per Townsend (Twitter links). The Mavs had Brunson’s Bird rights, so they theoretically could have offered him more years and more money than a rival team. Cuban added that he had a strong relationship with Brunson and his agents, but “things went south” when Brunson’s father, Rick, took over the contract negotiations (Twitter link via MacMahon).
  • It seems odd that Rick Brunson was ever in charge of negotiations, considering he was finalizing a deal to be an assistant coach with the Knicks on June 2, and free agents couldn’t sign until June 30. The elder Brunson previously worked under Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota, but resigned from the Wolves after allegations of improper conduct toward women, which he and his lawyer denied.
  • Cuban’s tone regarding the Brunson situation was markedly different last summer, notes Fred Katz of The Athletic (via Twitter). Last July, a week after Jalen Brunson signed with the Knicks, Cuban said he had “no hard feelings” about Brunson leaving and that the guard had “earned the right to make a decision as a free agent” (link via Zach Braziller of The New York Post).
  • According to Townsend (Twitter links), Cuban took responsibility for the Mavs’ poor season and for not recognizing they needed more help defensively, as the team has dropped from seventh to 23rd in defensive rating. “It’s absolutely my fault for not recognizing that,” he said. Cuban also said that the team plans to bring back head coach Jason Kidd next season.
  • Cuban, who has owned the team since 2000, said he believes Doncic wants to spend his entire NBA career with the Mavs, “but we have to earn that” (Twitter link via MacMahon). Doncic has expressed frustration and disappointment with how the season has gone and recently said he missed Jalen Brunson “a lot.”
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Western Notes: Doncic, Brunson, Bamba, Vassell, Sochan, Popovich

April 4th, 2023 at 6:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

With the Mavericks seemingly headed for postseason elimination, Luka Doncic acknowledged that he misses former backcourt partner Jalen Brunson “a lot,” Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News reports.

“I mean, amazing guy, amazing player. For sure,” the Mavericks’ franchise player added.

Doncic describes the Mavericks’ season as “very disappointing” due to chemistry issues, according to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “I think you don’t see that chemistry we had before — I mean, especially last year,” Doncic said. “I think that chemistry was at the top, everybody. But chemistry builds not just not right away. It’s a long process.”

We have more from the Western Conference:

  • The Lakers could have another frontcourt option as soon as Tuesday. They have upgraded Mohamed Bamba to doubtful for their game with Utah, Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets. Bamba has been sidelined since March 5 with a left ankle sprain. In a Late Night Lake Show podcast, Buha said he “would not be surprised if (Bamba is) back by the end of the week.” (video link).
  • Spurs swingman Devin Vassell has been out since March 26 with a knee ailment. Jeremy Sochan has been sidelined since March 22, also due to a knee issue. It’s likely both are done for the season. Sochan has far exceeded the number of games he played last season at Baylor, while Vassell is coming off surgery performed in January, so the Spurs are playing it cautious, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News tweets.
  • Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said that hearing he’d been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame was an “out of body experience,” Orsborn writes. Popovich got the news Saturday in a phone call from Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo. “Sort of a phone call you never think about or expect,” Popovich said “It’s like somebody telling you the earth is flat, some weird feeling that you have, an out-of-body experience, because it’s not what you grow up thinking.”
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Knicks Notes: Randle, Barrett, Resting Players, Postseason, Brunson

April 3rd, 2023 at 10:44pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Knicks have found tactical methods to survive without the services of shelved starting forwards Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, writes Petter Botte of The New York Post. Randle is done for the rest of the regular season with a left ankle sprain, while Barrett is dealing with a non-COVID illness.

In their most recent game Sunday night, the Knicks were able to beat the Wizards at home sans Randle or Barrett, 118-109, with a balanced offensive attack that featured four 20-point scorers.

“The ball was moving. We were just out there, just having fun, moving the ball and just playing freely,” Randle substitute Obi Toppin said. “It feels good, but I just got to come back here and do what I gotta do every single day to help the team win.”

There’s more out of Madison Square Garden:

  • The win against Washington officially allowed New York to clinch its second playoff berth in three seasons under head coach Tom Thibodeau, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “It’s a great accomplishment, because it’s one of the goals,” Thibodeau said. He also mentioned that he would not consider resting his top players until New York was officially locked into a seed in the East, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter link). “There’s still some things at stake,” Thibodeau noted. At 46-33, the Knicks are currently three games behind the fourth-seeded Cavaliers and 2.5 games ahead of the sixth-seeded Nets, so they’ll likely finish at No. 5.
  • Bontemps adds that players are looking beyond just making the playoffs this year. “It’s a good accomplishment,” reserve wing Immanuel Quickley said. “But I think we want a bit more for ourselves.” As Bontemps writes, New York has only made it out of the first round once since 2000.
  • Knicks starting point guard Jalen Brunson is making a convincing push to secure Most Improve Player honors this season, thanks to his major contribution to the club’s on-court performance and his role as a team leader during his first year in New York, Bondy writes in another piece. “It’s a unique award,” Brunson told Bondy. “It’s not something I’m really focused on 100 percent. I don’t really think about it but if it’s something I win or achieve, I’ll be very thankful. But it’s not on the forefront of my mind.” The team has already improved its win-loss record by nine games, and still has three left to play. Brunson is having by far his best season as a pro statistically, averaging 24.0 PPG, 6.2 APG, 3.5 RPG, and 0.9 SPG in his 68 healthy games.
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Injury Updates: Randle, Clippers, Sixers, Wolves, Blazers

March 29th, 2023 at 9:11pm CST by Rory Maher

The Knicks received both good and bad news on Wednesday night versus Miami. The good news is point guard Jalen Brunson was able to play after missing the past two games with a sprained right hand, and the Knicks came away with an important victory (Twitter link via the team).

The bad news is power forward Julius Randle sprained his left ankle after landing on Bam Adebayo‘s foot following an offensive rebound (YouTube link), with Randle remaining on the floor for a while in pain. He stayed in the game to shoot free throws, but headed back to the locker room with a trainer.

Randle was able to limp off the floor on his own, but as soon as he was back in the team’s tunnel he was bent over in discomfort. The Knicks later ruled him out for the remainder of the contest (via Twitter).

Hopefully the injury isn’t severe, particularly so late in the season. Randle has appeared in all 77 games for the Knicks and was named to his second All-Star team last month.

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

  • Clippers star Kawhi Leonard was ruled out of Wednesday’s game in Memphis due to personal reasons, per Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter links). Head coach Tyronn Lue said the team is hopeful Leonard will only be out one game. On a positive note, Norman Powell was able to return to action after missing the past 11 games with a shoulder injury — he was previously listed as questionable.
  • Sixers stars Joel Embiid (calf soreness) and James Harden (Achilles soreness) were active for Wednesday’s game vs. Dallas, tweets Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN was the first to report the news (via Twitter). Embiid missed Monday’s loss in Denver with the injury, while Harden had missed four straight games.
  • The Timberwolves had several late additions to their injury report (Twitter link) ahead of tonight’s game in Phoenix. Kyle Anderson, Anthony Edwards, Taurean Prince, Austin Rivers and Matt Ryan are all dealing with an illness that head coach Chris Finch described as an “intestinal flu,” according to Chis Hine of The Star Tribune (Twitter link). Edwards and Anderson were able to suit up, but the Wolves later ruled out (via Twitter) the other three players as well as Jaylen Nowell, who continues to battle left knee tendinopathy.
  • In addition to four starters being held out with various injuries and surgeries sidelining a couple other players, the Trail Blazers added three young players to Wednesday’s injury report ahead of their matchup with Sacramento (Twitter link). Second-year guard Keon Johnson is out with a fractured right finger, while second-year big man Trendon Watford will miss his second straight game with a sprained right ankle. Fourth-year wing Cam Reddish is doubtful due to lumbar soreness.
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Injury Notes: Brunson, Bulls, Cavaliers, KAT, Grizzlies

March 27th, 2023 at 6:43pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Knicks starting point guard Jalen Brunson will miss his second straight game on Monday with a sprained right hand, the team has announced (Twitter link).

The 6’1″ Brunson is enjoying a career season with his new club. Across 65 healthy games, he’s averaging 23.8 PPG on .489/.411/.833 shooting. The 26-year-old is also averaging 6.2 APG, 3.6 RPG and 0.9 SPG for New York.

Reserve guard Derrick Rose, who has been out of the rotation since the calendar rolled over to 2023, will also be inactive for this evening’s bout against the Rockets due to an illness, the Knicks add.

Here are some more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

  • Bulls forward Javonte Green, who continues to recover from a January knee surgery after making a brief return to the lineup last week, will be out tonight against the Clippers, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago (Twitter link). Johnson adds that veteran Chicago guard Alex Caruso is considered questionable to play.
  • Several Cavaliers players comprise the club’s injury report ahead of the team’s game Tuesday against the Hawks, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter links). Starting center Jarrett Allen is questionable with a groin strain, while starting small forward Isaac Okoro is also questionable due to a sore knee. Swingman Danny Green and point guard Raul Neto will not play. Wing Dean Wade is doubtful to play through an illness. Isaiah Mobley, Sam Merrill and Dylan Windler are all going to be working with Cleveland’s NBAGL affiliate, the Cleveland Charge.
  • Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns will sit out tonight’s game against the Kings as he manages his right calf strain injury on the second night of a back-to-back, the team has announced (Twitter link). Two-way player Matt Ryan is out with an illness. All-Star shooting guard Anthony Edwards is questionable due to a sprained right ankle. Guard Jaylen Nowell is also questionable with a left knee tendinopathy.
  • At least five Grizzlies players will be shelved for Tuesday’s contest against the Magic, Memphis has announced (via Twitter). Beyond Brandon Clarke, who’s out for the year with a left Achilles tear, Ziaire Williams, Vince Williams, Jake LaRavia and Steven Adams are all also sidelined. All-Star point guard Ja Morant is considered doubtful to play due to a sore right thigh.
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Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Anunoby, Knicks Draft, Brunson

March 27th, 2023 at 8:28am CST by Dana Gauruder

Joel Embiid is listed as questionable as the Sixers square off against the Nuggets on Monday in a battle of MVP candidates. Embiid said that if he plays, he won’t be focused on his individual matchup with Nikola Jokic, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes.

“These types of matchups, whether it’s against (Giannis Antetokounmpo) whether it’s against him, it’s cool and all,” Embiid said, “but at the end of the day, it’s always about Milwaukee against Philly or Denver against Philly. (Individual matchups) is not where the focus should be. The focus is on making sure everything is running right for later on (during the playoffs).”

If he does play, Embiid says he’ll need a night off soon to rest his sore calf, Pompey tweets.

“I’ve been playing a lot of minutes, I’ve been playing every single game.” Embiid said. “So to add to that, dealing with the calf and whatever the foot, I think at some point you gotta look at the bigger picture, which is the playoffs, obviously.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

  • OG Anunoby was a prominent trade candidate before February’s deadline but the Raptors were glad to have him on Sunday. He poured in 29 points in a pivotal victory over the Wizards, Doug Smith of the Toronto Star writes. “I think that almost all the time he catches and shoots, it’s a good shot — even if he’s pretty covered, especially in the corner,” coach Nick Nurse said. “He’s a really high-percentage, high-contest corner three shooter. He had a couple of mid-rangers off the catch, too — which, again, I like. He was feeling it, obviously. I think when guys are feeling it, you want them to get to wherever they can get to and let it go, so I think that’s what was going on (Sunday).”
  • The Knicks could benefit from the Mavericks’ misery, Jared Schwartz of the New York Post notes. Dallas owes New York a first-round pick, though it’s top-10 protected. Dallas is currently 11th in the Western Conference after losing its last four games. The first-rounder also has protections for 2024 and 2025, and if it does not convey within those three years, the Knicks would receive a second-round pick.
  • Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson practiced on Sunday and is listed as questionable to play Monday against Houston after missing Thursday’s game against Orlando due to a sprained right wrist, according to Dan Martin of the New York Post. Coach Tom Thibodeau said Brunson “did everything in practice” on Sunday and the team will reevaluate him before the game.
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