Jeremiah Robinson-Earl Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Jackson, Smart, Hughes, Pokusevski, Thunder

July 28th, 2023 at 9:59pm CST by Rory Maher

Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, says he’s excited to team up with Marcus Smart, who won the award in 2022, writes Jerry Jiang of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. Smart was acquired from the Celtics last month in a three-team trade, and Jackson reached out to him when the news broke.

“That doesn’t happen pretty often or ever,” Jackson said, referring to a team having two DPOY winners at the same time. “I just know what he brings to Boston. I’ve seen it before I was in the league and it’s crazy.”

Here’s more from the West:

The Mavericks intend to hire Eric Hughes as an assistant coach, sources tell Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link). Hughes got his NBA start as an assistant with Toronto and previously worked under head coach Jason Kidd with the Nets and Bucks, MacMahon notes. He has been with the Sixers for the past four seasons.
Thunder big man Aleksej Pokusevski won’t be able to represent his native Serbia in the FIBA World Cup next month, according to Eurohoops.net. The 17th pick of the 2020 draft, Pokusevski suffered a broken arm during an offseason workout at the end of May and won’t receive medical clearance to train with a basketball until late August, the report states. The World Cup starts August 25 and runs through September 10. The 21-year-old was hoping to secure a spot on the Serbian national team’s 12-man roster.
In a mailbag for The Oklahoman, Joe Mussatto predicts that Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Victor Oladipo, Jack White, Usman Garuba and TyTy Washington are the the most likely players to be on the chopping block due to the Thunder‘s roster crunch. However, Mussatto notes that OKC has a few months to figure things out and more trades could be in order rather than outright waiving all five players.

Raptors’ Thaddeus Young Among Players Earning Salary Guarantees

July 1st, 2023 at 10:20am CST by Luke Adams

Veteran forward Thaddeus Young got good news on Friday when the Raptors opted to keep him on their roster rather than waiving him. Because he’s still under contract, Young’s $8MM salary for the 2023/24 season has become fully guaranteed, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). It was previously only partially guaranteed for $1MM.

Young didn’t initially look like a great bet to earn that full $8MM, since Toronto was facing a cap crunch and he didn’t play a major role in 2022/23. The 35-year-old, who appeared in 54 games for the Raptors last season, averaged just 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per night — all three numbers were career lows.

However, the Raptors gained significant cap flexibility when Fred VanVleet opted to leave Toronto for Houston in free agency. With no risk of surpassing the luxury tax threshold, the team opted to hang onto Young, whose expiring salary could come in handy in a trade at some point during the 2023/24 league year.

Young was one of several players who had a salary guarantee deadline on Friday, as our tracker shows. Hoops Rumors can confirm that Jeremiah Robinson-Earl of the Thunder ($1.9MM) and Brandon Boston Jr. of the Clippers ($1.84MM) also remain under contract and have fully guaranteed salaries for 2023/24, as does Timberwolves guard Jordan McLaughlin ($2.32MM), which was anticipated.

Trail Blazers forward Trendon Watford was the only roster casualty among Friday’s group, having been cut before his $1.84MM salary became guaranteed. The Magic postponed their decision on big man Bol Bol, though his new salary guarantee date has yet to be reported.

Western Notes: Westbrook, Mavs, D. Rose, Barton, Robinson-Earl

December 15th, 2022 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

Sam Amick of The Athletic is the latest NBA reporter to state that Lakers guard Russell Westbrook appears increasingly unlikely to be traded before this season’s deadline, citing a source with knowledge of the team’s plans. A similar report surfaced earlier in the week.

Based on how Westbrook has performed in a sixth-man role, he has made himself more valuable to the team as an on-court contributor than as a trade piece — Los Angeles would have to attach draft asset to get a team to take on his $47MM+ expiring contract. Most of the recent trade rumors involving the Lakers have revolved around a Patrick Beverley/Kendrick Nunn/draft pick(s) package rather than one that includes Westbrook.

Here are a few more items from around the Western Conference:

The Mavericks have expressed a “level of interest” in Knicks point guard Derrick Rose, a league source tells Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. However, Bondy suggests Dallas wants to get a longer look at Kemba Walker before deciding whether to address its backcourt on the trade market. Rose, who is earning $14.5MM this season and is out of New York’s rotation, likely doesn’t have much value at this point.
Before facing his old team in Denver on Wednesday as a member of the Wizards, veteran guard Will Barton reflected on his eight-year tenure with the Nuggets, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post (subscription required). Barton said he enjoyed seeing the club evolve from a lottery team to a contender during his time in Denver. “Just to be a part of that whole foundation, laying the bricks, to see where they are today,” Barton said. “Knowing that I was a part of that is gratifying enough for me.”
Thunder forward/center Jeremiah Robinson-Earl isn’t expected to return from his right ankle sprain anytime soon. Head coach Mark Daigneault referred to Robinson-Earl as week-to-week rather than day-to-day, according to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman, who tweets that Daigneault called the injury an “impressive” sprain.

Northwest Notes: Jazz, Barrett, Edwards, Holmgren, Thunder

September 1st, 2022 at 7:58am CST by Luke Adams

Some teams with interest in Knicks forward RJ Barrett believe they’d have a chance to land him if the Jazz were to acquire him in a Donovan Mitchell trade, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. As Begley explains, while the Jazz are thought to like Barrett, there’s a belief that they’d be open to the idea of flipping him for additional first-round picks if he were included as part of a package for Mitchell.

The Jazz’s potential plans for Barrett may be a moot point. Now that the former No. 3 overall pick has agreed to a four-year extension with the Knicks, the poison pill provision will complicate efforts to include him in any Mitchell trade — the Jazz could still theoretically acquire him, but a third team with cap room may need to get involved to make the salary-matching math work, as ESPN’s Bobby Marks noted in a video segment earlier this week.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

The Timberwolves‘ trade for Rudy Gobert showed that the team is ready to take the next step toward title contention, and the work that Anthony Edwards has been putting in this offseason shows that he’s positioning himself to make a third-year leap to stardom, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. According to Krawczynski, people who have been watching Edwards’ workouts this offseason have all been saying some variation of, “Just wait ’til you see him.”
The foot injury that ended Chet Holmgren‘s rookie season before it began probably won’t have a major impact on the Thunder‘s place in the 2022/23 standings, but it will significantly diminish the buzz surrounding the team in Oklahoma City, writes Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman. As Carlson writes, many Thunder fans that had been excited to watch Holmgren play are less likely to follow the club closely this year.
In a subscriber-only story for Daily Thunder, Josh Haar identifies Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Jalen Williams, and Aaron Wiggins as three candidates to earn bigger-than-expected roles for the Thunder with Holmgren sidelined.

Josh Giddey Out For Rest Of Season

March 26th, 2022 at 7:16pm CST by Arthur Hill

Thunder rookie Josh Giddey won’t play any more this season because of soreness in his hip, tweets Oklahoma City reporter Rylan Stiles.

Coach Mark Daigneault made the announcement during a session with reporters before tonight’s game. Giddey hasn’t played since February 24, and Daigneault said the “return-to-play portion” of his rehab process would last longer than the two weeks that are left in the regular season. Giddey told the team that he has never experienced problems with the hip before, Daigneault added.

“It’s a tricky injury,” Daigneault said. “A little unpredictable, whereas Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is a bone, a break, it’s more predictable.”

Giddey, the sixth player selected in last year’s draft, will end his first season with averages of 12.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists in 54 games. He was selected to participate in both the Rising Stars tournament and the Skills Challenge at All-Star Weekend and was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month four times.

Daigneault offered two other medical updates, saying Robinson-Earl will definitely be back this season (Twitter link), and he plans to talk to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander about his status. Gilgeous-Alexander has been in and out of the lineup with an ankle injury, and Daigneault said, “The game to game thing is not sustainable.” (Twitter link)

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Set To Return For Thunder

February 23rd, 2022 at 5:14pm CST by Luke Adams

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will return to action on Thursday after missing the team’s last 10 games due to a right ankle sprain, head coach Mark Daigneault said today (Twitter link via Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman). Gilgeous-Alexander suffered the injury on January 28.

The 18-40 Thunder are 6.5 games back of the No. 10 seed and aren’t expected to prioritize making the playoffs this season, so it’s safe to assume they wouldn’t be bringing back Gilgeous-Alexander if he weren’t feeling 100% healthy.

The star point guard had been averaging 22.7 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 4.7 RPG shooting in 43 games (34.6 MPG) before going down with his ankle injury. He has struggled to score efficiently this season, however, posting career-low shooting percentages of 42.4% from the floor and 27.8% on threes.

Rookie guard Josh Giddey has been thriving with Gilgeous-Alexander out of the lineup, having recorded three consecutive triple-doubles in the games leading up to the All-Star break. He likely won’t have the ball in his hands as much with SGA on the court, so Daigneault may have to get creative with his lineups and his rotation to ensure Giddey doesn’t lose that momentum.

According to Daigneault, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (foot), Mike Muscala (ankle), Ty Jerome (hip), Luguentz Dort (shoulder), and Kenrich Williams (knee) are still sidelined. Daigneault didn’t offer any guarantees when asked if Muscala, who is considering offseason ankle surgery, will be back this season (Twitter links via Mussatto).

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl Breaks Right Foot

February 3rd, 2022 at 3:49pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Thunder center Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has fractured the third metatarsal in his right foot, the team announced today. The Thunder estimate they will reexamine Robinson-Earl in about six weeks.

The 6’9″ rookie big man, selected with the No. 32 pick in the 2021 draft out of Villanova, has appeared in 44 contests for Oklahoma City this season, starting 36. The 21-year-old has posted averages of 7.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.0 APG and 0.6 SPG in 23.0 MPG. He has emerged as a bright spot on a young, lottery-bound 16-34 club.

Prior to playing an NBA game for the Thunder, Robinson-Earl inked a four-year, $7.9MM contract with the team, a lucrative deal for a second-round draft pick.

Robinson-Earl was active as recently as January 28 with the Thunder, before being sent to the team’s NBAGL affiliate club, the Oklahoma City Blue, ostensibly to see extended minutes beyond his already-respectable averages as a starter at the NBA level. In his lone game with the Blue on Monday, Robinson-Earl scored 25 points on 60% shooting from the floor. He also chipped in 10 rebounds and a block.

Western Notes: Williams, James, Robinson-Earl, Murray

January 31st, 2022 at 8:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Suns coach Monty Williams and his staff will coach Team LeBron (James) at the All-Star Game in Cleveland, according to an ESPN report. Phoenix is guaranteed to have the best record in the conference before the cutoff date of February 6. Williams will coach in the All-Star Game for the first time, and he’ll be the first Phoenix head coach to do so since Mike D’Antoni in 2007.

We have more from the Western Conference:

An MRI on James’ left knee revealed only general swelling and he might return to action as soon as Wednesday, Lakers coach Frank Vogel told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and other media members. James has missed the last three games. “Just going to keep an eye on it day to day,” Vogel said.
The Thunder assigned Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to their G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, for a Monday afternoon game, according to a team press release. It was somewhat surprising, since Robinson-Earl has started 36 games for the Thunder and has averaged 24.7 MPG this month. Head coach Mark Daigneault said it was part of the development process, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman tweets. “Obviously on the surface it looks a little peculiar,” he said. “What I’d say is, one thing that we’ve learned and that we’re trying to apply is that changing environments, changing circumstances, changing roles is good for development.”
Klay Thompson, Victor Oladipo and Zach LaVine are among the opposing players who have reached out to Nuggets guard Jamal Murray during his recovery from a serious knee injury, Mike Singer of the Denver Post writes. Those players have also gone through the process of a long rehab.

COVID-19 Updates: Caruso, Hill, Collins, Morris, Rivers, More

January 5th, 2022 at 3:35pm CST by Luke Adams

One of the few players not affected by a stint in the NBA’s health and safety protocols last month, Bulls guard Alex Caruso has now entered the protocols, tweets K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Caruso, who has missed Chicago’s last six games due to a sprained foot, appeared to be nearing a return. If he contracted COVID-19, his return will obviously be delayed, but it will give his foot more time to get back to 100%.

Here are more protocol-related updates from across the league:

Hawks big man John Collins has exited the COVID-19 protocols and is expected to meet the team in Los Angeles, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Atlanta faces the Lakers in L.A. on Friday and the Clippers on Saturday. Meanwhile, hardship addition Cameron Oliver has entered the protocols for Atlanta, tweets Sarah K. Spencer of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Unless he returned a false positive or inconclusive test result, Oliver almost certainly won’t clear the protocols before his deal expires on Friday night.
Bucks guard George Hill is the latest Milwaukee player to enter the health and safety protocols, tweets Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The team now has a league-high six players in the protocols, though Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Jordan Nwora, and Semi Ojeleye are being listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game vs. Toronto, which suggests they’re on the verge of exiting.
Nuggets guard Monte Morris confirmed on his Twitter account that he’s out of the health and safety protocols and prepared to return to action. Morris is still listed as questionable for Wednesday’s contest vs. Utah, but it sound like he expects to play.
Sixers head coach Doc Rivers is out of the protocols and will resume his duties on Wednesday vs. Orlando, tweets Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Thunder rookie Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has cleared the protocols and is being listed as available for Wednesday’s game in Minnesota, tweets Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City no longer has any players in the protocols.
Our health and safety protocols tracker, which is updated multiple times daily, can be found right here.

COVID-19 Updates: Wizards, Billups, Thunder, Hornets, Raptors, More

December 27th, 2021 at 3:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards now have five players in the NBA’s health and safety protocols, according to head coach Wes Unseld Jr., who told reporters today that Anthony Gill and Thomas Bryant are the latest players to enter the protocols (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington).

Bryant is coming off an ACL tear and has yet to play this season, so being in the protocols won’t affect his availability. However, Gill will no longer be an option in the short term for the Wizards after appearing in eight of the team’s last 11 games.

Here are more COVID-19 updates from around the NBA:

Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has entered the COVID-19 protocols, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links), who reports that assistant Scott Brooks is expected to become Portland’s acting head coach as long as Billups is unavailable.
Aleksej Pokusevski and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl of the Thunder have entered the health and safety protocols, according to the team (Twitter link via Wojnarowski). Aaron Wiggins also briefly entered the protocols, but has since been listed as available, tweets Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City now has four players in the protocols.
The Hornets announced some good news and some bad news on Monday. While Cody Martin has exited the protocols and has been cleared to play on Monday vs. Houston, rookie Scottie Lewis is now in the protocols, according to the team (Twitter link).
Three Raptors players – Pascal Siakam, Khem Birch, and Gary Trent Jr. – have exited the protocols and are listed as questionable for Tuesday’s game vs. Philadelphia as they go through a reconditioning period, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. Toronto still has seven players in the protocols, but may finally be trending in the right direction.
Celtics forward Grant Williams boarded a flight to Minnesota earlier today and expects to play tonight vs. the Wolves, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link). Williams has been in the health and safety protocols since December 17.
Although Ziaire Williams remains on the shelf due to an ankle sprain, he’s no longer listed in the protocols in the Grizzlies‘ latest injury report, suggesting he has been cleared.