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Atlantic Notes: Rose, Durant, Curry, Williams

February 8th, 2021 at 5:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Derrick Rose, officially acquired from Detroit by the Knicks on Monday, is eager for his second stint in the Big Apple, Marc Berman of the New York Post relays. Rose posted his sentiments on his Instagram account. “Other hoopers always used to tell me that if I ever had the chance to play in the MECCA go for it,” Rose wrote. “I’m getting a second chance. … Got to make this one count. But I’m built for it.” Rose played in New York during the 2016/17 season but the previous regime opted not to re-sign him. The former MVP, who is on an expiring contract, was averaging 14.2 PPG and 4.2 APG as Detroit’s sixth man this season.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Kevin Durant isn’t expected to be available until late this week due to contact tracing but Nets coach Steve Nash said lightheartedly that his superstar forward hasn’t registered any positive coronavirus tests, Malika Andrews of ESPN tweets. “He’s taken about 90 negative tests,” Nash said. Kyrie Irving, who missed the loss to Philadelphia with a sprained right finger, is expected to play against Detroit on Tuesday, Andrews adds.
Seth Curry was encouraged by his 11-point performance against Brooklyn on Saturday, Marc Narducci of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. Curry, who missed approximately two weeks last month due to a bout with COVID-19, went scoreless in the Sixers’ previous two games. “I felt a little bit better all night, even in the first half, when I wasn’t making shots, I felt better than I have in the past week or two,” Curry said. “I think the key for me (Saturday) was I was able to get a little of my burst back and have more energy out on the floor offensively and defensively.”
Grant Williams‘ improved 3-point shooting this season is largely due to better footwork, according to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. The Celtics forward has made 46.7% of his attempts this season after knocking down just 25% of his long-range shots in his rookie campaign.

Kevin Durant Won’t Rejoin Nets Until Friday

February 6th, 2021 at 5:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

Coach Steve Nash told the media that Kevin Durant will be able to rejoin the Nets on Friday, tweets Malika Andrews of ESPN. Durant is sidelined due to contact tracing after being with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.

That person is a team employee who Durant was with yesterday, sources tell Andrews (Twitter link). They were together for drives to and from testing and to the arena for last night’s game and didn’t appear to be wearing masks.

Although Durant has continued to test negative, the decision was made that he should quarantine for seven days due to his contact with the employee (Twitter link). All other Nets players and staff have tested negative, including tests conducted after the game (Twitter link).

Nash stated that the person Durant was in contact with isn’t the same one who caused his last quarantine, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link). Nash added that he trusts Durant’s judgment, along with all of his players, in matters involving the virus.

Durant will miss three games this week, starting with tonight’s contest in Philadelphia. Brooklyn also plays Tuesday at Detroit before returning home Wednesday against Indiana. If he continues to test negative, Durant’s next game will be his return to Golden State next Saturday.

The Nets are angry over how the NBA handled Durant’s situation, Lewis writes in a full story. The league ruled that Durant had to be scratched from the starting lineup, but then permitted him to play in the first quarter before deciding that he had to leave the game during the third quarter.

“We get tested every single day. He’s been negative, so I don’t understand what the problem is,” James Harden said. “If that was the case, the game should’ve been postponed. If we’re talking about contact tracing, he was around all of us, so I don’t understand why he was wasn’t allowed to play then was able to play and then taken back off.”

Kyrie Irving To Miss Game Due To Right Finger Sprain

February 6th, 2021 at 11:27am CST by marksuleymanov

Nets point guard Kyrie Irving will not play in Saturday’s contest against the Sixers in Philadelphia due to a right index finger sprain, the team announced in its injury report.

Irving played in the Nets’ 123-117 loss at home to the Raptors on Friday, notching 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists in 39 minutes. It was Irving’s first game scoring fewer than 20 points since January 25.

Ever since returning from an extended mercurial absence in early January, Irving has played well for the Nets. In total, Irving is averaging a career-high 27.5 PPG along with 5.7 APG and 4.8 RPG in 16 games.

Additionally, Brooklyn listed Kevin Durant as questionable for Saturday’s game despite a report he could miss multiple games and that he would not travel to the team to Philadelphia. Durant is undergoing health and safety protocols after a person he was around returned a positive COVID-19 test.

Nets’ Kevin Durant May Miss ‘Multiple Games’ Amid Contact Tracing

February 6th, 2021 at 10:57am CST by marksuleymanov

Nets superstar Kevin Durant could miss multiple games as he undergoes contact tracing under the league’s health and safety protocols, ESPN’s Malika Andrews and Adrian Wojnarowski report.

Durant will not travel with the team to Philadelphia for tonight’s matchup against the Sixers and it remains to be seen if he will suit up Tuesday in Detroit.

It was an odd series of events on Friday night as Durant was initially held out of the Nets’ home tilt against the Raptors to undergo contact tracing. Someone Durant had been in contact with returned an inconclusive COVID-19 test but after being given the all-clear, Durant returned to the bench and entered the game late in the first quarter.

The 32-year-old seemed out of rhythm, registering just eight points while also picking up four fouls early into the third quarter. As officials reviewed a foul called on Durant, he was deemed ineligible to remain in the game due to health and safety protocols. The Nets went on to lose 123-117 in one of the more chaotic games of the season.

Durant was visibly frustrated after he was pulled for the rest of the game and tweeted, “Free me” late in the fourth quarter. He also called out the NBA in a separate tweet: “Yo @nba, your fans aren’t dumb!!!! You can’t fool em with your Wack ass PR tactics.. #FREE7.”

In early March of last year, Durant contracted COVID-19 and just a month ago, missed four games in early January due to health and safety protocols after being exposed to someone with COVID-19. Per ESPN, Durant continued registering COVID-19 antibodies in January.

At 14-10, the Nets and their threesome of Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden have played well when all are on the court. However, safety protocols and an extended Irving absence have not given the team ample time to establish consistency.

And-Ones: Vaccines, Ball, Trade Candidates, Defenders, All-Star Voting

February 5th, 2021 at 6:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

In an effort to alleviate players’ – and some coaches’ – fears and skepticism about receiving COVID-19 vaccines, the NBA is arranging mandatory meetings over the next two weeks between its top medical expert and all 30 teams, Sam Amick, Joe Vardon and David Aldridge of The Athletic report. Teams felt there was a need to provide information and insight on this issue to its players.

The NBA wants everyone associated with the game — players, coaches, referees and chief front office personnel — to get the shots, not only for safety reasons but also as part of a national volunteering-public relations campaign.

We have more from around the basketball world:

LaMelo Ball ranks as the leading candidate for the Rookie of the Year award, according to Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report. The Hornets guard ranks first in assists and steals, second in rebounding and third in scoring among all rookies despite coming off the bench in all but two games. Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton sits in second place for Wasserman, who ranks the rookies from 10-1.
With Wizards guard Bradley Beal apparently off the market, there won’t be another blockbuster trade this season to rival the James Harden deal, Tim Bontemps of ESPN opines. Some of the players who could be moved by March’s trade deadline are Lonzo Ball, J.J. Redick, P.J. Tucker, George Hill, Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon, though Hill and Gordon are currently injured.
Rudy Gobert‘s contract with the Jazz is a rare case in which a defensive stalwart is compensated like a elite scorer, Aldridge notes in a separate Athletic story. Aldridge takes a closer look at why top defenders are generally not as valued as scorers.
Kevin Durant has received the most All-Star votes in the early returns, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. Beal is the top vote-getter among Eastern Conference guards. LeBron James has the most votes among Western Conference forwards and Stephen Curry leads all Western Conference guards by a wide margin.

Nets Notes: Durant, Harden, Pelle, G League

January 29th, 2021 at 9:04am CST by Arthur Hill

Eastern Notes: Pistons, Wood, Durant, Zeller

January 22nd, 2021 at 1:02pm CST by Luke Adams

At last season’s trade deadline, after agreeing to send Clint Capela to Atlanta, the Rockets pursued a deal for Christian Wood, offering the Pistons a pair of second-round picks and Isaiah Hartenstein in exchange for the big man, according to James L. Edwards III and Kelly Iko of The Athletic. Detroit rebuffed that offer and showed interest in re-signing Wood during the 2020 offseason.

The Pistons’ interest was reciprocated by Wood, and the team made him a contract offer, per Edwards and Iko. However, Detroit was pursuing free agents like Jerami Grant and Mason Plumlee and wasn’t in position to use cap room on Wood as well.

Without dipping into their cap space, the Pistons had the ability to use Wood’s Early Bird rights to offer him a contract that started at $10.05MM, and – according to The Athletic’s duo – they didn’t go over that amount. That meant they were outbid when the Rockets presented Wood with a three-year offer that started at $13MM+.

Here’s more on Wood, along with a couple more Eastern Conference notes:

With Wood’s Rockets set to face Detroit on Friday, Pistons head coach Dwane Casey said he’s proud to see the big man enjoying success in Houston, as Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press writes. “We tried to get him here, we just didn’t have enough in the bucket,” Casey said. “He’s a special kid and I think good things for him and wish him well, except for (Friday) night.” Wood has been ruled out for the game due to a sprained right ankle.
Nets star Kevin Durant, who played 50 minutes in Wednesday’s double-overtime loss to Cleveland, will be held out of Friday’s rematch due to injury management, per the team (Twitter link). Friday’s game is the first half of a back-to-back set, so Durant should be available on Saturday vs. Miami.
After having missed most of the season with a hand fracture he suffered on opening night, Hornets center Cody Zeller is listed as probable for Friday’s game vs. Chicago and is expected to be available. Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer examines what sort of impact Zeller can have on a Hornets team in need of frontcourt depth.

Atlantic Notes: Nets Big Three, Tatum, Curry, TD Garden

January 21st, 2021 at 7:58pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Nets general manager Sean Marks is hopeful that the team will be able to extend Brooklyn’s new Big Three of forward Kevin Durant and guards James Harden and Kyrie Irving, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. The three stars, all of whom can become free agents in 2022, will not be eligible to ink contract extensions until the new league year commences in August.

“We’re definitely committed to these guys,” Marks said in a local radio interview on WFAN. “We’ll continue to build with this group, and we’ll just see where it goes. But hopefully it’s a lot longer than a year-and-a-half.”

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

Though Celtics All-Star small forward Jayson Tatum remains closer to an on-court return for Boston, he will remain unavailable for at least Friday’s tilt with the Sixers, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets. Tatum has not played for Boston since the team’s 116-107 win over the Wizards on January 8.
Sixers starting shooting guard Seth Curry has seen his health status upgraded to probable ahead of Philadelphia’s Friday game against the Celtics, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Curry has not played since injuring his right ankle in a 122-109 January 6 defeat to the Nets. Since then, he tested positive for COVID-19, but has since cleared league protocols and now is working on his conditioning ahead of a return.
The Celtics have inked a 15-year extension on their current lease with their home arena, TD Garden, per Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. The contract will keep Boston home games located at TD Garden through the 2035/36 season.

Nets Notes: Harden, Durant, Kyrie, Allen, Prince

January 19th, 2021 at 11:41am CST by Luke Adams

The superstar duo of James Harden and Kevin Durant has looked terrific in Harden’s first two games with the Nets, wins over Orlando and Milwaukee.

Durant has averaged 36.0 PPG in those two victories, while Harden has contributed 33.0 PPG, 13.0 APG, and 9.0 RPG. Their 138 combined points are the highest total since 1961 for any two teammates in their first two games with a franchise, according to Malika Andrews of ESPN.

Harden and Durant, of course, played together with the Thunder earlier in their respective NBA careers, and Nets coaches and management have said they’d lean on the two stars’ previous chemistry in the early going this season. As Andrews details, Harden believes the increased maturity level of the two former MVPs has helped them quickly reestablish that chemistry.

“We were young in Oklahoma City,” Harden said. “We are grown men now. We know what we want. We really know the game of basketball now. We are not those young guys that want to run around and just shoot and dunk all day. And then for me, I sit back and I know what player Kevin Durant is. He’s one of the best players to ever touch a basketball.”

While Durant said the Nets still have “room to improve,” he told reporters after Monday’s game that incorporating Harden into the lineup has been “pretty seamless,” per Andrews.

Here’s more on the Nets:

Head coach Steve Nash said that Kyrie Irving will “hopefully” be available to return to the Nets’ lineup on Wednesday against Cleveland, tweets Andrews. Irving is back with the team and has been cleared from COVID-19 protocols, but is still ramping up his conditioning. “What you want to see is him to get some time in his legs so he’s more able to adapt back to playing,” Nash said.
Asked on Monday if they would have pulled the trigger on the trade that brought Harden to Brooklyn if they were running the Nets, both Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince admitted they would have, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Look at what happened with the Lakers, they did the same thing,” Allen said, referring to the Lakers’ 2019 acquisition of Anthony Davis. “The next year they went and got their ring. So take myself out of it, I’d love to stay in Brooklyn, but I understand in the opportunity like that you have to go do it.”
Both Allen and Prince also said on Monday that while they understand the business side of the NBA, that understanding didn’t necessarily make it easier to be traded. “It was definitely rough on me,” Allen said, according to Lewis. “Even though you say it’s the business of basketball, it never makes it easier. But it’s the business and I had to move on.”
In case you missed it on Monday, we relayed a report indicating that the Nets shopped Landry Shamet in an effort to avoid including Allen in the Harden blockbuster. We also passed along a series of NBA franchise valuations that estimate the Nets’ worth to be $3.4 billion, fourth-highest in the league.

Nets Notes: Harden, Irving, Open Roster Spots

January 15th, 2021 at 1:09pm CST by Luke Adams

James Harden has completed his physical with the Nets, but wasn’t able to participate in today’s practice, a team spokesperson tells ESPN’s Malika Andrews (Twitter link). As Andrews explains, every player involved in this week’s blockbuster trade must complete their physicals before Harden can participate in any on-court activity for his new team.

Speaking to reporters today, Nets head coach Steve Nash expressed optimism that Harden will be available to make his Brooklyn debut against Orlando on Saturday night, tweets Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated.

As for Kyrie Irving, the NBA announced today that the star guard is on track to clear a five-day quarantine tomorrow, and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported (via Twitter) that he’s expected to play on Saturday. However, Nash didn’t seem certain about that, telling reporters today that he hasn’t been updated on Irving’s timeline (Twitter link via ESPN’s Rachel Nichols).

Here’s more on the Nets:

General manager Sean Marks said on Thursday that the Nets were “disappointed” by Irving’s absence, as Joe Vardon of The Athletic notes. Meanwhile, Wojnarowski said during an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up (video link) that Irving will have to explain to the team “what’s transpired here in the last week” (hat tip to RealGM).
The Nets have three open spots on their 15-man roster following their acquisition of Harden and will have to fill at least two of them soon. Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype takes a look at a few veteran free agents who could be fits for Brooklyn.
As Sopan Deb writes for The New York Times, there are some questions about how the Nets’ new Big Three will fit together, given how ball-dominant Harden, Irving, and Kevin Durant are. Nash said today that he thinks Harden and Irving can both comfortably play off the ball, while acknowledging that the three superstars will have to make the necessary adjustments to make it work (Twitter link via Ian Begley of SNY.tv).