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Northwest Notes: Spagnolo, Lillard, Nuggets Arena, SGA

August 29th, 2023 at 8:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Timberwolves draft-and-stash prospect Matteo Spagnolo is playing for Italy in the World Cup. The combo guard, selected in the second round of the 2022 draft, could develop a rotation player if/when he plays in the NBA. The Timberwolves are confident that Spagnolo – who is still only 20 years old – will eventually join them.

“He’s certainly a guy that every time he gets out there, you see, I think, a kid that’s getting better,” Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said to The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski. “At his age, the physicality of this competition really stands out. To be comfortable with that level of physicality and the expectations of your national team, and you still produce relative to being so young, I think it’s really encouraging.”

We have more from the Northwest Division:

  • It’s generally assumed that if the Trail Blazers trade Damian Lillard, he’ll wind up with the Heat. Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype takes a look at some potential alternatives, including the Pelicans, Jazz, Raptors and Magic, noting that each club has a variety of assets that could satisfy the Blazers.
  • Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Nuggets, announced Monday it is exploring potential renovations to Ball Arena, Bennett Durando of the Denver Post reports. KSE is conducting “market due diligence to evaluate opportunities to enhance the fan experience,” according to a statement. The company is sending out a survey, seeking fan feedback to help determine the future of the arena.
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 27 points as Canada routed Latvia in World Cup action on Tuesday. The Thunder star scored 16 of his points in the third quarter. “I didn’t start the game the way I needed to, the way the team needed me to,” he told The Canadian Press. “Just with my energy level, my activeness on both ends of the floor. I looked in the mirror and tried to be better from that point on. Tried to make that my focus, to be better every possession for my team. If I do that, it would set the tone and the tide would turn.”
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World Cup Notes: Canada, Fournier, USA, Mills, Towns

August 25th, 2023 at 1:07pm CST by Luke Adams

The Canadian national team hasn’t had a ton of success in international competition in recent years and is missing top players like Jamal Murray and Andrew Wiggins at this year’s World Cup. However, Team Canada looked formidable its first group-play game on Friday, outscoring a talented French club by 27 points in the second half en route to a 95-65 win.

“We got our ass kicked,” French wing Evan Fournier told reporters after the game, per Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops. “… They were really physical with us. Taking us out of our set plays. And as a team I think they kind of forced us to do things that we don’t want to do.”

The Canadians leaned heavily on their NBA talent in the victory, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Luguentz Dort, Dwight Powell, Kelly Olynyk, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker all playing at least 20 minutes. Melvin Ejim was the only other player to log more than five minutes in the game.

Gilgeous-Alexander was the standout, racking up 27 points, 13 rebounds, and six assists in just 27 minutes of action. Powell (+35 in 23 minutes) and Brooks (+33 in 26 minutes) anchored Canada’s aggressive defense.

Canada will face Lebanon on Sunday, while France will look to bounce back against Latvia.

Here’s more on the World Cup:

  • In an Insider-only story, Jonathan Givony and Kevin Pelton of ESPN pick their 15 most interesting players at the World Cup, including reigning NCAA national player of the year Zach Edey (Canada), projected 2024 first-rounder Juan Nunez (Spain) and Fournier (France), who scored a team-high 21 points on Friday after spending most of last season glued to the Knicks‘ bench. A strong World Cup could help earn Fournier a new NBA opportunity via trade or buyout, Pelton notes.
  • Team USA entered Friday as the strong frontrunners to win the 2023 World Cup, but head coach Steve Kerr knows the team can’t afford to get overconfident, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes. “Last time through this tournament, we finished seventh, we lost (two) games,” Kerr said. “We recognize how hard this is. These are not the days of 1992. … We may be one of the favorites, but I don’t think anybody’s clear cut. I think there’s a lot of teams that have a shot at this thing.”
  • Following an eventful offseason that saw him traded from Brooklyn to Houston to Oklahoma City to Atlanta, veteran guard Patty Mills provided a reminder on Friday of what he can bring to a team. The Hawks guard scored a team-high 25 points in Australia’s resounding win over Finland. “No surprises there,” Jack White said of Mills’ performance, per Olgun Uluc of ESPN. “We know he can turn it on; that’s what he does… he’s a hell of a leader and it’s what we expect from him.”
  • Prior to the start of the World Cup, Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns spoke to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic about why he’s playing for the Dominican Republic and what it means to him to represent his mother’s native country. Towns and the Dominican Republic team got off to a strong start on Friday, defeating the host Philippines in a game that set a new World Cup attendance record (38,115), as Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press details. Towns scored 26 points in the 87-81 win.
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And-Ones: Team Canada, Ownership Stakes, Cap Room, Giles

July 15th, 2023 at 9:20am CST by Luke Adams

While a Team USA roster led by Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Brandon Ingram, and Mikal Bridges will enter the 2023 World Cup as the frontrunner next month, Team Canada’s initial 18-man group features some real star power.

The extended roster, announced this week by Canada Basketball, is headlined by Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder forward Luguentz Dort, Knicks forward RJ Barrett, and Rockets forward Dillon Brooks.

It also features five other players currently on NBA rosters: veteran big men Dwight Powell (Mavericks) and Kelly Olynyk (Jazz), guards Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Timberwolves) and Cory Joseph (Warriors), and forward Oshae Brissett (Celtics). Purdue’s star center Zach Edey is on the roster too.

Team Canada will have to make a few cuts to get down to 12 players for the World Cup, and it’s possible some of the more notable names will drop out in order to focus on the NBA season. However, league sources tell Joe Vardon of The Athletic that Murray has reaffirmed his commitment to the team despite a lengthy postseason run with the Nuggets this spring.

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

  • The minimum stake that someone can own in an NBA franchise has been lowered, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, who says a minority shareholder can now control as little as 0.5% of a team, down from 1%.
  • A total of eight teams operated below the cap this offseason, having entered the league year with $277MM in combined cap room, per Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. As Gozlan outlines, over half of that league-wide cap space was used to accommodate trades or contract negotiations rather than free agent signings.
  • Sean Cunningham of FOX40 in Sacramento (video link) caught up with free agent big man Harry Giles to talk about the 25-year-old’s efforts to make it back into the NBA, as well as the new rule related to two-way contracts that will unofficially be named after him.
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NBA Announces 2022/23 All-NBA Teams

May 10th, 2023 at 6:10pm CST by Rory Maher

The NBA has officially announced its All-NBA teams for the 2022/23 season.

A total of 100 media members vote on the All-NBA awards. Players received five points for a First Team vote, three points for Second Team, and one point for Third Team, for a maximum total of 500 points. This year’s three All-NBA teams are as follows:

First Team

Second Team

Third Team

A total of 37 players received at least one vote, per the NBA. The top vote-getters who wound up missing out on All-NBA spots were Lakers center Anthony Davis (65), Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen (49) and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (44).

Morant had Rose Rule language in his rookie scale extension, meaning his five-year deal would have started at 30% of next season’s cap had he been voted in; instead, he’ll receive 25% of the cap, which is projected to be a difference of about $39MM across five seasons.

Other players receiving 20-plus points include Bucks guard Jrue Holiday (39), Suns forward Kevin Durant (35) and Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (23). The next three highest were Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (15), Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (15) and Anthony Edwards of the Timberwolves (14), who is listed under forward but spent most of the season at shooting guard.

As we noted earlier today, both of the Celtics’ top two players will now be eligible for Designated Veteran Extensions, also known as the super-max: Brown will be eligible to sign a five-year extension this offseason that starts at up to 35% of the 2024/25 salary cap, while Tatum will be eligible to sign a super-max extension in 2024 after earning All-NBA nods each of the past two seasons.

Like Brown, Siakam would have been eligible for a super-max extension this summer had he made an All-NBA team. He finished a distant ninth, so his maximum extension will now be worth a projected $192.2MM over four years, tweets Eric Koreen of The Athletic. As Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca observes (via Twitter), Siakam could still qualify for a super-max deal if he makes an All-NBA spot next season as an impending free agent.

This will be the last season under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. In the new CBA, All-NBA voting will be positionless and players will be required to play a minimum of 65 games to earn major regular season awards. Five of the players honored today — Antetokounmpo, Curry, Butler, Lillard and James — played fewer than 65 this season and would have been ineligible if the new requirements had been in effect, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

LeBron extended his own NBA record with his selection, earning a spot on an All-NBA team for the 19th straight season, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link). No other player has more than 15 total All-NBA awards (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan are tied for second at 15 apiece).

Giannis was a unanimous First Team selection for the fifth straight season, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link), and the only unanimous choice in 2022/23. Antetokounmpo now has more First Team berths than any European-born player, tweets HoopsHype, and only trails Hakeem Olajuwon among international players (six). The Bucks superstar finished third in MVP voting behind Embiid and Jokic, but Jokic received some First Team votes over the Sixers’ MVP winner, which is why Embiid wasn’t a unanimous pick.

According to HoopsHype (Twitter link), this is the first season in league history that only one American player (Tatum) was voted to the First Team. Doncic (Slovenia) and Antetokounmpo (Greece) are European, Embiid was born in Cameroon, and Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian.

Despite earning an All-NBA nod for the first time, Mitchell wasn’t happy that he didn’t make the First Team, sending out a tweet on the matter.

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Sixers Center Joel Embiid Wins First MVP Award

May 2nd, 2023 at 6:07pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Joel Embiid has been named the league’s Most Valuable Player, according to the NBA (Twitter link).

The Sixers center surged during the second half of the season and topped Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who won the award the past two seasons, and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who captured the league’s most prestigious individual award in 2019 and 2020.

Embiid, the third overall pick of the 2014 draft, led Philadelphia to the Eastern Conference’s third-best record while topping the league in scoring at 33.1 points per game. He also averaged 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 66 regular-season games.

Jokic, who was considered the frontrunner a majority of the season, averaged 24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and a career-best 9.8 assists in 69 games while leading Denver to the Western Conference’s top seed. Jokic’s assist average ranked fourth in the league, an unusual feat for a center.

Antetokounmpo led the Bucks to the league’s best record by averaging 31.1 points (fifth in the league), 11.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 63 games. Milwaukee’s superstar tied for third in the league in rebounding with Jokic.

The votes were based only on the regular season, so Milwaukee’s first-round playoff exit had no bearing on the voting.

Considering the MVP debate raged throughout the season, it was a little surprising that Embiid won by such a wide margin. He picked up 73 of the 100 first-place votes, while Jokic received 15 and Antetokounmpo got the other 12.

Overall, Embiid had 915 points with Jokic in second place (674 points) and the Bucks star in third (606). The Celtics‘ Jayson Tatum received most of the fourth-place votes and the Thunder‘s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished fifth.

Donovan Mitchell, Domantas Sabonis, Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, De’Aaron Fox, Jalen Brunson, and Ja Morant also received at least one vote apiece.

Embiid is the first Sixers player to win the award since Allen Iverson (2000-01).

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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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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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Injury Notes: George, SGA, Markkanen, Rozier, Oubre

March 31st, 2023 at 11:14am CST by Luke Adams

Clippers star Paul George isn’t expected to play again during the regular season as he recovers from a right knee sprain, but he hasn’t been ruled for the postseason. Still, the Clippers recognize that they’ll likely need to win a few playoff games without George in order to have a chance to get him back in their lineup, Shams Charania of The Athletic said during an appearance this week on FanDuel TV (Twitter video link).

“The Clippers believe, I’m told, that they’re going to have to get out of at least the first round for a real window for Paul George to return,” Charania said. “So maybe second round, conference finals. You get out of the first round and you give yourself a chance to get Paul George back.”

At 41-36, the Clippers are currently the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference, so they may enter the first round without home court advantage. Winning a series on the road without their top scorer would be a tall order, but it may be L.A.’s only path to getting George back on the court this spring.

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

  • Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (left ankle sprain) was originally listed as out for Friday’s game against Indiana (Twitter link via Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman), but has since been upgraded to questionable (Twitter link via Andrew Schlecht of The Athletic). Gilgeous-Alexander, whose team still has a hold on the 10th spot in the West at 38-39, has missed the last two games due to that sprained ankle.
  • Another Western Conference All-Star, Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, will also remain sidelined on Friday, tweets Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. It’s the fourth time in the last five games that Markkanen has been ruled out due to a left hand contusion. A loss vs. Boston tonight might put the Jazz’s play-in hopes on life support — they’re currently at No. 12 in the West, 1.5 games back of Oklahoma City.
  • Hornets guard Terry Rozier will miss a fourth straight game on Friday vs. Chicago due to left foot discomfort, per Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link). Charlotte has just four games left after tonight, so it’s unclear whether we’ll see Rozier again this season. Kelly Oubre (right shoulder sprain), who has also been out for the last three games, has been upgraded to questionable for Friday.
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Injury Notes: Morant, Grizzlies, SGA, Markkanen, Cavs, Pacers

March 29th, 2023 at 2:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant missed Tuesday’s game vs. Orlando due to right thigh soreness, but there are no long-term concerns about the injury, writes Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. It sounds like the team was simply playing it safe with Morant, who recently returned from an eight-game absence and will be available on Wednesday for the second game of a back-to-back set.

While Morant will suit up on Wednesday, the Grizzlies may give a few other regulars the night off when they host the Clippers. According to the team (Twitter link), Desmond Bane (right foot soreness), Jaren Jackson Jr. (left calf soreness), and Tyus Jones (left foot soreness) are all considered doubtful to play.

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

  • Two teams still in the thick of the Western Conference play-in race won’t have their All-Stars available on Wednesday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (left ankle sprain) will miss a second consecutive game when the Thunder host the Pistons, per Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (Twitter link), while forward Lauri Markkanen (left hand contusion) won’t play for the Jazz in San Antonio, according to Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).
  • Jarrett Allen (right groin strain) and Isaac Okoro (left knee soreness) missed Tuesday’s game for the Cavaliers, but Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com hears their absences were precautionary, with the team having already clinched its playoff spot. “Isaac is extremely disappointed because Isaac wanted to play all 82 games,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “But this is something where just big picture we need to make sure we take care of him. We know how important he is and how impactful he can be for us. So, you just have to keep an eye on him. Isaac will keep running through a wall if you don’t pull him back some. We’re trying to do our best to protect him.”
  • Tyrese Haliburton (right ankle sprain; left elbow soreness), Buddy Hield (non-COVID illness), and Chris Duarte (left ankle soreness) will all be unavailable for the Pacers on Wednesday vs. Milwaukee for a second consecutive game, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. Myles Turner, who has missed the last two games due to left ankle soreness, is listed as questionable.
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