- Spurs second-round selection Harrison Ingram, who also signed a two-way deal, is expected to see plenty of time with the G League’s Austin Spurs, according to Orsborn. “Whatever it takes, whether it’s the G League to stay with the main team, I’m ready to do it to achieve my dreams,” Ingram said. The rookie forward averaged 10.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 28.6 minutes during the Las Vegas Summer League. In three games at the Sacramento California Classic, he averaged 10.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists.
- The Mavericks signed former Pelicans wing Naji Marshall to a three-year deal in free agency. Marshall told Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com that defense will remain his calling card. “They (the Pelicans) gave me that kind of role and I just ran with it,” he said. “I know my game. And the people we have on this team, they’re going to make me better. And I know I can make them better. So I’m just excited to get this going.”
- Could the NBA’s new broadcasting deals, which will lead to significant salary cap growth, facilitate the Grizzlies’ efforts to retain Jaren Jackson Jr. in the long-term? Jackson is extension-eligible next offseason when the new TV deal kicks in, Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal notes. The 2023 Defensive Player of the Year could become eligible for a five-year, $318MM super-max extension if he’s named Defensive Player of the Year once again or earns an All-NBA spot in 2025. Of course, Memphis wouldn’t be obligated to put a full super-max offer on the table for Jackson if he meets the performance criteria.
After a late-game defensive breakdown resulted in a frustrating two-point loss in Utah last Thursday, the Mavericks immediately watched film and held a post-game meeting, with “accountability, effort and unselfishness” among the themes, writes Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News.
“We talked about a lot of things, and got a lot of things out in the open,” Mavericks forward P.J. Washington said, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic. “But the main thing is that we knew we were better than that, and that we had to be better going forward.”
“We needed to stop playing ‘I’ basketball and we needed to play ‘we’ basketball,” center Dereck Lively added, per Curtis. “That’s what we’ve been doing these past couple of games and it’s been working.”
As Lively points out, the Mavericks have turned things around since falling to 5-7 with that loss in Utah. The team will take a four-game winning streak into Miami on Sunday, having registered a pair of comfortable home victories over San Antonio and New Orleans along with two impressive road wins in Oklahoma City and Denver in the past week. While that loss to the Jazz has cost the Mavs a few spots in the tightly congested Western Conference standings, Washington is happy that something good came out of it.
“In a way I’m kind of glad that it happened,” he said. “Because you never want to lose like that. We all knew that we were capable of doing a lot of things better. We needed to be accountable to each other. So, that’s why we kind of talked about it right after the game.”
We have more from around the Southwest:
- Mavericks forward Naji Marshall helped seal Friday’s win over Denver, playing clutch minutes in the fourth quarter with Klay Thompson on the bench, notes Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link). Grant Afseth of Sportskeeda spoke to Marshall about adjusting to a new team this fall after spending four years in New Orleans and talked to some of Marshall’s new teammates about the impact the newcomer has had so far. “This is the most talented team I’ve been on,” Marshall told Afseth. “The coaches are great, the front office is amazing, and the training staff is incredible. I really have no complaints.”
- Devin Vassell (sore left knee) will be unavailable for a fourth straight game on Saturday, but it appears Victor Wembanyama (bruised right knee) will make his return after missing the past three contests. After initially listing both players as questionable, the Spurs have ruled out Vassell and upgraded Wembanyama to probable, tweets Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News.
- The Pelicans have lost 13 of 15 games since opening the season with back-to-back wins and now hold a 4-13 record. However, Zion Williamson remains optimistic that the team has time to turn things around, especially once more key players – including Zion himself – return from injuries. “We know the position we are in right now,” Williamson said, per Christian Clark of NOLA.com. “It’s not a good one at the moment. We come in the gym every day in good spirits. We are going to figure it out.”
- One injured Pelicans player who appears to be nearing a return? CJ McCollum. The veteran guard has been on the shelf since October 29 due to a thigh injury, but told reporters that he went through a contact practice on Saturday and hopes to suit up on Monday vs. Indiana (Twitter link via Will Guillory of The Athletic).