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Injury Notes: DiVincenzo, Zion, Ingram, Boucher, Barnes

October 24th, 2022 at 3:25pm CST by Luke Adams

Warriors guard Donte DiVincenzo injured his left hamstring during Sunday’s victory over Sacramento and won’t travel with the team to Phoenix for Tuesday’s contest, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

Speaking today to reporters, including Kendra Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link), Warriors head coach Steve Kerr revealed that DiVincenzo will miss more than just Tuesday’s game, indicating that the swingman will be reevaluated in one week.

As Andrews relays, the Warriors will be in the midst of a five-game road trip at that point and haven’t yet determined whether DiVincenzo will join them on that trip, which ends on November 4.

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

  • The Pelicans are listing forwards Zion Williamson (hip), Brandon Ingram (head), and Herb Jones (knee) as questionable for Tuesday’s game vs. Dallas, writes Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Williamson and Ingram left Sunday’s loss after sustaining their respective injuries, while Jones tweaked his knee during that game, but it sounds like none of the three injuries are significant. Imaging on Jones’ knee came back clean, per head coach Willie Green.
  • Although Green told reporters today that Ingram wasn’t in the NBA’s concussion protocol, the Pelicans put out a press release announcing that Ingram is, in fact, in the protocol. Within the announcement, the team noted that the return-to-participation process can begin no earlier than 24 hours from the time of the injury, which is why Ingram can’t yet be cleared.
  • Raptors big man Chris Boucher has been cleared to make his regular season debut on Monday after missing the team’s first three games due to a hamstring issue, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. Scottie Barnes remains questionable for Monday with an ankle sprain, but the fact that he’ll likely be a game-time decision is a sign that the injury isn’t as serious as the team initially feared it could be, Lewenberg observes.
  • In case you missed it, the Lakers ruled out two-way forward Cole Swider for at least the next four weeks due to a foot issue.
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Raptors Notes: Barnes, Nurse, Reserves, Boucher

October 23rd, 2022 at 7:13pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Raptors are hoping that 2022 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes can take the next step en route to superstardom, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Barnes excelled as a scorer and defender during the 2021/22 season — the goal now is to improve his ceiling as a play-maker and shooter.

“We’ve tried to give him a little bit at a time so it’s not overwhelming and he’s not completely confused out there,” Barnes’ skills trainer and mentor Brian Macon said. “The hardest thing about training Scottie’s game is that he’s going to catch the ball in so many different positions … He might have the ball in the ball screen, he might catch it in the post, he might catch it in the short roll, he might catch it off someone else’s action. So it’s hard, because he does so much on the floor. But I think he’ll have a better plan in every single spot, and he’ll know what he likes and he’ll have more things he can go to.”

There’s more out of Toronto:

  • With Barnes possibly limited in the short-term future due to a right ankle sprain, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will have to search for depth on the club’s roster, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “You guys know, I’m trying to win each game each night,” Nurse said recently. “That’s the one thing that we’re trying to do. It’s felt like the right thing to do so far by subbing the way we subbed.” Koreen notes that the Raptors seem to be lacking some half-court scoring punch.
  • Though injuries to Raptors reserves Otto Porter Jr. and Chris Boucher can be partly to blame for the team’s underwhelming bench performance thus far this season, Doug Smith of The Star opines that the team’s remaining backups still need to improve their performances. “The league is all about opportunity and rhythm… especially for guys that are on limited minutes, limited rotation, limited opportunity,” starting point guard Fred VanVleet said. “You just got to know when you are checking in and know the rotation and know the rhythm, know where the shots are coming from, know what you are supposed to do when you are out there.”
  • Boucher and Barnes are both officially questionable ahead of tomorrow’s contest against the Heat, but Josh Lewenberg of TSN (Twitter link) reports that Nurse anticipates Boucher will be able to make his 2022/23 season debut.
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X-Rays Negative After Scottie Barnes Suffers Sprained Ankle

October 22nd, 2022 at 9:47pm CST by Arthur Hill

Raptors forward Scottie Barnes left Saturday’s game in Miami after spraining his right ankle in the second quarter, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. X-rays on the ankle were negative, the team announced.

Barnes suffered the injury on a layup attempt, with Bontemps stating that the forward nearly jumped over Heat guard Tyler Herro before landing awkwardly on his right foot. Barnes grabbed his foot in pain, but was able to walk to the team’s bench with minimal help.

After shooting a free throw, Barnes headed to the locker room under his own power. He was ruled out of the game at halftime after posting 11 points, two rebounds and two assists in 13 minutes.

Barnes sprained the same ankle during the offseason, which prevented him from training for three weeks prior to the start of camp. That led to conditioning issues that showed up during the preseason.

Barnes is coming off a Rookie of the Year season that saw him average 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 74 games. He played an important role as Toronto won 48 games and claimed the fifth seed in the East.

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Raptors Pick Up 2023/24 Options On Barnes, Flynn, Achiuwa

October 19th, 2022 at 11:52am CST by Luke Adams

11:52am: The Raptors have officially announced that they’ve exercised their 2023/24 options on Barnes, Flynn, and Achiuwa, locking in approximately $16.26MM in total salary for the trio in ’23/24.

11:42am: The Raptors have exercised their team option on guard Malachi Flynn for the 2023/24 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), and are doing the same for their ’23/24 option on big man Precious Achiuwa, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca.

The 29th overall pick in the 2020 draft, Flynn has appeared in 91 games during his first two seasons as a Raptor, averaging 6.0 PPG and 2.3 APG in 16.1 MPG during that time, with a shooting line of .380/.326/.750. He’s currently recovering from a left cheekbone fracture and will wear a face mask to open the season.

As Murphy notes, Flynn’s fourth-year option wasn’t a lock to be exercised, since he has yet to establish himself as a regular rotation player in Toronto. However, the Raptors’ decision to guarantee his $3,873,025 salary for 2023/24 suggests they still believe he can become one.

Achiuwa, meanwhile, enjoyed a mini-breakout season after being acquired from Miami in last summer’s Kyle Lowry sign-and-trade. He averaged 9.1 PPG and 6.5 RPG in 73 games (23.6 MPG) for the Raptors in 2021/22, making 35.9% of his three-pointers.

Achiuwa was also Toronto’s most-used reserve in the team’s playoff series vs. Philadelphia, averaging 27.8 minutes per contest despite coming off the bench in five of six games. His fourth-year option for 2023/24 is worth $4,379,527.

The Raptors also hold a third-year option on Scottie Barnes, which will pay the reigning Rookie of the Year $8,008,680 in 2023/24. That option is a lock to be exercised before the October 31 deadline, but it’s not technically official yet, tweets Murphy.

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Raptors Notes: Starting Lineup, VanVleet, Last Roster Spot, Barnes

October 11th, 2022 at 9:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

When the Raptors face opponents with bigger frontcourts, they may switch up their lineup, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby will start most nights but it “doesn’t mean you always have to start your five best,” according to head coach Nick Nurse said.

“Do we really want Scottie, Pascal or OG guarding a really good, big five to start the game?” Nurse said. “I don’t think we do, so we’re going to have to make some adjustments to that, or it’s just going to be three minutes and we’re sending in a guy.”

We have more on the Raptors:

  • Fred VanVleet believes there’s good chemistry in the locker room, Michael Grange of SportsNet.ca writes. “I think you have to give credit to management and coaching staff. They have their hands full in terms of putting together a locker room that works before we even step on the court,” said VanVleet. “I think we have done a good job of building that back up. It feels more like a Raptors team now.”
  • Nurse may weigh potential offensive contributions a little more heavily when it comes to deciding which player gets the 15th spot on the roster, Grange tweets. Justin Champagnie, D.J. Wilson, Josh Jackson and Gabe Brown are the candidates.
  • Barnes has been a little slow getting up to speed and there’s a good reason for that — the reigning Rookie of the Year was held out of training for the last three weeks prior to camp with a mild ankle sprain, Grange tweets. Nurse commented on that subject. “He’s playing a little bit of catch-up and it’s noticeable,” Nurse said, as relayed via a Lewenberg tweet. “I don’t think he’s shown a whole lot in the preseason… I think he’s just behind a little bit, conditioning-wise, feel-wise. We need to keep plugging away and get him feeling (like himself).”
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Raptors Notes: Roster Battles, Porter Jr., Young, Barnes, Birch

October 1st, 2022 at 3:45pm CST by JD Shaw

The battle for the final roster spots on the Raptors‘ regular season roster is ongoing at training camp, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. The team currently has 12 spots believed to be locked in.

According to Lewenberg, Justin Champagnie, D.J. Wilson and Josh Jackson are expected to compete for the final roster spot, while Juancho Hernangomez and Dalano Banton will likely claim the other two.

“We do a staff vote every single day, and that vote changes every single day,” head coach Nick Nurse admitted.

The Raptors must trim their training camp roster down to 17 players (which can include two two-way players) by October 17 at 5:00 pm ET. Toronto has established itself as a team that prioritizes length and defensive versatility. The team went 48-34 last season, finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference.

Here are some other notes out of Toronto:

  • Otto Porter Jr. recently tweaked his hamstring in camp, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet (Twitter link). Nurse said Porter may be out for a “little bit.” Porter signed a two-year deal to join the team this past summer. In addition, Grange relays that Thaddeus Young (knee) is day-to-day. Young is once again expected to provide frontcourt depth off the bench for Toronto this season.
  • Second-year player Scottie Barnes is impressing Nurse and the team in training camp, Lori Ewing of The Canadian Press writes (link via The Toronto Star). Barnes won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award last season. “It feels like it’s better and he’s making more in the rhythm of what we’re doing,” Nurse said. “He’s not hesitating to take them at all, the threes. He’s still doing the rest of the stuff. He’s got that long, slow, strong drive where he puts it in the basket. He’s got that pull-up thing when he has a size advantage. But the frequency with which he’s letting them go is certainly on the rise.”
  • Big man Khem Birch discovered he suffered a torn meniscus when he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee this offseason, Eric Koreen of The Athletic tweets. Birch isn’t 100% yet, but he’s working his way back. The 30-year-old appeared in 55 games with Toronto last season, averaging 4.5 points and 4.3 rebounds in 18.0 minutes per contest.
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Atlantic Notes: Layman, J. Jackson, Celtics, Raptors, Sixers

September 20th, 2022 at 12:46pm CST by Luke Adams

When they signed with the Celtics, Jake Layman and Justin Jackson both received one-year, minimum-salary contracts that are non-guaranteed. However, the terms of those agreements are slightly different — Layman got an Exhibit 10 clause in his contract, while Jackson’s deal is an Exhibit 9, Hoops Rumors has learned.

Both Layman and Jackson are ineligible to have their contracts converted into two-way deals because they have too many years of NBA service under their belts. But Layman’s Exhibit 10 contract makes him eligible to receive a $50K bonus if he’s waived before the season and then spends at least 60 days with the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League team.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

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And-Ones: Top Under-25 Players, Wade, EuroLeague, More

September 14th, 2022 at 10:37am CST by Luke Adams

Fifteen NBA executives polled by Michael Scotto of HoopsHype unanimously picked Mavericks star Luka Doncic as the NBA player under 25 years old whom they’d most want to build a team around. While Doncic’s selection comes as no surprise, there are some interesting picks further down Scotto’s list, which was derived from asking those 15 NBA execs to name the five players under 25 they’d most want to build around.

Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant ranked second and third, with Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley following them at No. 4. Former first overall picks Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves) and Zion Williamson (Pelicans) came in at Nos. 5 and 6, with last season’s Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes (Raptors) rounding out the top seven. You can check out Scotto’s full story to see the other seven rising stars who received votes.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • After spending three years in an analyst role with the network, Dwyane Wade won’t return to TNT for the 2022/23 NBA season, reports Andrew Marchand of The New York Post. According to Marchand, TNT made an offer to retain Wade, but he decided to leave his position to focus on other business ventures.
  • Euroleague Basketball has appointed Dejan Bodiroga as its new president and Marshall Glickman as acting CEO, per a press release. They’ll replace Jordi Bertomeu, who served as president and CEO for 22 years and was a co-founder of Euroleague Basketball, which operates and oversees the EuroLeague and EuroCup, two of the world’s biggest non-NBA basketball leagues.
  • Former NBA star Baron Davis and ex-NBPA executive director Michele Roberts are among the backers of the new Fan Controlled Hoops league, which is scheduled to launch in February of 2023, as Daniel Kaplan of The Athletic outlines. The league, which will follow in the footsteps of Fan Controlled Football, will feature 4-on-4 games played on an LED floor, with fans getting the opportunity to illuminate parts of the court to create zones where players get extra points when they score.
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Grizzlies Among Teams Inquiring On Kevin Durant

August 22nd, 2022 at 8:37am CST by Luke Adams

The Grizzlies are showing interest in Kevin Durant and have made “new inquiries” on the Nets‘ star forward, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

As Charania writes within his round-up of the latest Durant-related rumors from around the NBA, the Grizzlies could include up to five first-round picks in a package for the two-time Finals MVP (their own 2023, 2025, 2027, and 2029 selections, plus Golden State’s top-four protected 2024 pick). The team also has a bevy of young talent on its roster beyond star guard Ja Morant, including Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane, Ziaire Williams, Brandon Clarke, Kennedy Chandler, and David Roddy.

However, according to Charania, Memphis hasn’t appeared inclined to offer Jackson or Bane (or, of course, Morant) in a deal for Durant, preferring to build an offer around their draft picks. Given that the Nets are reportedly seeking a win-now return for Durant, that sort of offer is unlikely to pique their interest, even if the picks are unprotected — those first-rounders may have to be rerouted to a third team that could send Brooklyn the kind of impact players the team is seeking.

While the Grizzlies are an intriguing new suitor for Durant, there are still a number of other teams in the mix. The Celtics, Raptors, and Heat remain among the most significant threats to land the 33-year-old, Charania says, though Toronto has continued to resist including Scottie Barnes and Miami has “yet to seriously engage” in any discussions involving Bam Adebayo. Boston, meanwhile, has been unwilling to include Marcus Smart or Robert Williams in addition to Jaylen Brown, Charania says.

The Suns also remain involved, offering up Mikal Bridges and a series of draft picks, according to Charania, but they appear to be behind those Eastern teams among Durant’s most serious suitors.

Charania identifies the Sixers, Bucks, Nuggets, and Pelicans as some of the other teams that have expressed interest in Durant, though he confirms that New Orleans deemed Brandon Ingram untouchable.

According to Charania, the Hawks also made an offer for Durant, putting John Collins, De’Andre Hunter, and a draft pick on the table. The details of that pick are unclear, but Atlanta could trade its own 2023 and 2029 first-rounders or Sacramento’s lottery-protected 2024 pick.

Although Charania doesn’t specify exactly how the Nets felt about the Hawks’ offer, he says none of Brooklyn’s discussions have gained any serious traction. There are still five weeks before training camps get underway, which could be a fraught week for the Nets, assuming Durant remains on the roster — it’s unclear whether or not he’ll show up to camp if his trade request hasn’t been granted.

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Eastern Notes: Barnes, Flynn, Heat, Schedule, Haslem

August 21st, 2022 at 3:09pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Young Raptors players Scottie Barnes, the reigning Rookie of the Year, and Malachi Flynn, were able to really strut their stuff at a Toronto pro-am game on Saturday, writes Gilbert Ngabo of The Toronto Star. Flynn scored 54 points and Barnes poured in 34 of his own at Mattamy Athletic Centre, during the first pro-am contest in almost three years due to COVID-19-related delays. The Raptors players’ team would ultimately win the contest, 143-131.

Nbago adds that the pair showcased plenty of chemistry and highlight-reel-worthy output. Barnes, a 6’9″ forward out of Florida State, made several athletic dunks and connected on flashy no-look dishes. Though Flynn started off the game slowly, he eventually showed off an excellent shooting stroke as the contest got cooking.

There’s more out of the East:

  • While the Heat’s starting lineup remains a bit in flux, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is fairly confident about who will close games for Miami. In addition to starters Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry, Winderman considers guards Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo likely to round out the team’s closing five.
  • Winderman also goes on to unpack how he anticipates the Heat will allocate minutes. He expects Butler, Adebayo, Lowry, and Herro to be guaranteed to receive major run this season, with Oladipo, Max Strus, and Caleb Martin also likely to receive significant rotation roles. He thinks either Dewayne Dedmon or Omer Yurtseven will crack the rotation as a reserve big man option, and believes the shooting of Gabe Vincent, Duncan Robinson, or Haywood Highsmith on any given night could dictate which of those three wings sees the floor.
  • The NBA is aiming to curb road travel in the hopes of limiting load management for star players. Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel writes that, as a consequence, 12 of the Heat‘s 41 home games at FTX Arena will feature pairs of back-to-back contests against the same team, including playoff-level clubs like the Bucks, Raptors, Hawks, Cavaliers and Hornets. Winderman writes that this approach could impede just how much Miami fans will get to see rival teams’ star players, noting that an injury or illness could ultimately mean local fans will miss out on seeing Giannis Antetokounmpo or Trae Young during the regular season. Winderman adds that, in general, the NBA has lowered its travel mileage tally to 41,000 miles per club, 2,000 miles less than the 2021/22 season’s former record low of 43,000.
  • Longtime Heat power forward Udonis Haslem announced earlier today that he will re-sign with Miami for his 20th, and last, NBA season. Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes that the three-time champ hopes to join the team’s ownership group, led by Mickey Arison, after he retires. Chiang notes that the Heat are just $200K beneath the league’s luxury tax, and expects the team to field a 14-man standard roster, leaving one roster spot available. By avoiding the luxury tax for the third straight season, the Heat would be working towards avoiding the repeater tax, which penalizes clubs that exceed the luxury tax thrice during a four-season window.
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