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Injury Notes: Vanderbilt, Warriors, Agbaji, Richardson

January 10th, 2025 at 3:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt hasn’t played an NBA game in more than 11 months, with his last appearance coming in Boston on February 1, 2024. However, he continues to inch closer to making his season debut, having been assigned to the South Bay Lakers for a practice this morning and subsequently being recalled to practice with the NBA club (Twitter links via Dave McMenamin of ESPN).

Vanderbilt, who made just 29 appearances in 2023/24 due to a heel injury, underwent surgeries on both of his feet during the offseason, then experienced a setback (fluid build-up in his left knee) in early December. He’s expected to suit up at some point in January, though he’ll be on a minutes restriction when he’s available.

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

The Warriors will be shorthanded again on Friday at Indiana. Stephen Curry (knee management) and Draymond Green (back) have both been ruled out for the second end of a back-to-back, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Andrew Wiggins (personal reasons), Jonathan Kuminga (ankle sprain), Brandin Podziemski (right abdominal) and Gary Payton II (left calf strain) will also be sidelined. On a brighter note, fourth-year wing Moses Moody is probable Friday after missing Thursday’s game due to patellar tendinopathy in his left knee, per the league’s official injury report. Center Trayce Jackson-Davis is questionable due to a left eye contusion.
Raptors wing Ochai Agbaji missed his first game of the season on Thursday in Cleveland due to a left hip pointer. He’s also doubtful to suit up for Saturday’s matchup in Detroit, per Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link). A former lottery pick, Agbaji will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.
Heat guard/forward Josh Richardson was technically active for Thursday’s win in Utah, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link), though the impending free agent didn’t receive any playing time. Richardson has been plagued by a heel injury for much of the 2024/25 season, only making eight appearances to this point and last playing on November 18.

Atlantic Notes: Nets, Johnson, Boucher, Yabusele, Embiid

January 9th, 2025 at 9:28pm CST by Tristan Tucker

In just two years, the Nets went from being a Kevin Durant-led contender to diving deep into a rebuild, having been projected by oddsmakers to win the fewest games of any team this season, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes.

When Durant was a Net, Oklahoma City, Houston and Orlando were among the teams with the worst records. Now both teams are in the top four of their respective conferences. That’s a testament to how fast the league moves, Lewis writes, noting that those young contenders can serve as a blueprint and inspire confidence for Brooklyn’s own rebuild.

“Yeah, we’ll get back to that point,” Nic Claxton said. “I don’t like to think back about the past. You grow from it, you learn from it, but you want to be in the present and just keep growing in the group that we have now.”

Only Claxton, Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe remain from the Durant era. The Nets have made a concerted effort to get younger, trading away Mikal Bridges over the summer and moving Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith for draft capital since the season began. Brooklyn looks to be evaluating all its young players currently on the roster with an eye toward the 2025 draft for improvement.

“To be frank, you’ve still got to get a little lucky. We all know that,” general manager Sean Marks said. “The hot-button topic has always been the draft. We all know we’ve still got to get lucky. At the end of the day, the Ping-Pong balls are going to drop a certain way. … [And] it’s health, right? It doesn’t matter what team you have, you could have the best players in the world, they’ve got to stay healthy. And you’ve got to be healthy at the right time. We’ve lived that. Some things you can control, others you can’t.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Cameron Johnson hasn’t played in a week after suffering an ankle sprain, but head coach Jordi Fernandez doesn’t think the forward will miss more time and expects him to return during the six-game road trip that begins on Friday, Bridget Reilly of the New York Post writes. The Nets are being patient in their approach with Johnson, who has been one of the bright spots on the team while averaging a career-high 19.5 points per game while shooting 43.6% from deep. Johnson’s name has repeatedly come up in trade rumors this year.
Several teams have Raptors forward Chris Boucher on their radar ahead of the trade deadline, SNY’s Ian Begley reports. Begley writes that some within the Nuggets organization, in particular, are fans of Boucher, who entered Thursday averaging 9.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game but has only played nine minutes combined in his last two outings entering Thursday. While the big man is averaging a modest 17.1 minutes per game on the season, he received first quarter minutes in Cleveland on Thursday and finished the game with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Guerschon Yabusele‘s energy and effort have made him a perfect fit for the Sixers, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. While it’s been far from a perfect season for Philadelphia, Yabusele continues to be a bright point while averaging 10.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game after not being in the league since the 2018/19 season.
As part of injury management measures, Sixers star Joel Embiid hasn’t played in back-to-backs this season, something the club is aiming to change in the near future, Pompey writes in another story. Embiid previously stated he might not play in back-to-backs for the rest of his career, but he later walked back that comment.

Eugene Omoruyi Joins Raptors On 10-Day Deal

January 8th, 2025 at 8:42pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors have signed Eugene Omoruyi to a 10-day contract, the team announced in a press release.

The 27-year-old small forward has been playing for Raptors 905 in the G League, where he was averaging 19.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 28.1 minutes in 14 Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games. Toronto’s affiliate acquired him off waivers in November.

The Raptors will be the fifth NBA team for Omoruyi, who appeared in 43 games with Washington last season.

He signed a two-way contract with Dallas after going undrafted in 2021, moved on to Oklahoma City on a two-way deal in 2022, then went to Detroit in 2023 on a pair of 10-day contracts before being signed for the rest of the season. He inked an Exhibit 10 deal with Minnesota in September, but was waived before the season began.

Omoruyi has appeared in 87 NBA games, averaging 5.7 points and 2.3 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per night.

He will fill the roster opening created Tuesday when the Raptors waived veteran center Bruno Fernando. The signing brings Toronto back to a full roster, with all 15 regular spots and all three two-way slots filled.

Omoruyi’s contract will run through January 17, giving him an opportunity to play in five games. He will be eligible for a second 10-day deal when this one ends, but after that the Raptors would have to sign him for the rest of the season if they want to keep him on the roster.

Atlantic Notes: Rajakovic, Raptors, Knicks, Sixers

January 8th, 2025 at 4:05pm CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors are as healthy as they’ve been all season, but their on-court results haven’t improved as of late. They fell to a banged-up Orlando team last Friday and were blown out by Milwaukee on Monday, with both losses coming at home. They’ve now dropped 13 of their last 14 games and have an 8-28 record on the season, the third-worst mark in the NBA.

Toronto has been below .500 since opening night, but the club was more competitive early in the season even while dealing with injuries to players like Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Kelly Olynyk, and Bruce Brown. With the Raptors healthier, head coach Darko Rajakovic may begin to face real pressure for the first time if the results don’t start to improve a little, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic.

For his part, Rajakovic said he’s confident his team will put forth a better effort than what it showed on Monday against the Bucks.

“(It’s the) middle of (a) long season. It’s guys coming back from injuries, guys being without rhythm, guys not playing together,” Rajakovic said. “Again, I don’t want any of those to sound like excuses. We’ve got to be much better in all of those areas. But at the same time, we work hard, and I believe that we’re gonna get out of this slump, and I think we’re gonna be able to play much higher level basketball than we showed (Monday).”

It won’t be easy for Toronto to turn things around in the short term. The club will play a back-to-back set on Wednesday and Thursday against the Knicks and Cavaliers before visiting the red-hot Pistons in Detroit on Saturday.

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

In a separate story for The Athletic, Koreen evaluates a series of Raptors-related trade suggestions from readers, including hypothetical deals involving Jakob Poeltl, Chris Boucher, and Brown, among others.
With minor health issues forcing a couple of the Knicks‘ top players to miss games within the last week, Stefan Bondy of The New York Post examines the team’s depth issue, noting that head coach Tom Thibodeau has shown little inclination to expand his rotation to nine players. Getting back a healthy Mitchell Robinson would help matters, according to Bondy, who adds that the club will also consider its options on the trade and buyout markets, though cap constraints will limit the front office’s options.
Joel Embiid (left foot sprain), Paul George (left groin tightness), and Kyle Lowry (right hip soreness) will be unavailable for the Sixers on Wednesday when they host the Wizards, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. It’ll be the second consecutive missed game for both Embiid and Lowry.
The absences of Embiid and George will delay the Sixers‘ ability to further work on the duo’s chemistry, Pompey writes in another story for The Inquirer. Head coach Nick Nurse said earlier this week that he doesn’t have enough data on Embiid’s and George’s two-man game yet and wants to prioritize getting them more reps together.

Raptors Waive Bruno Fernando

January 7th, 2025 at 10:11am CST by Luke Adams

10:11 am: The Raptors have officially waived Fernando, tweets Murphy.

7:25 am: The Raptors are waiving big man Bruno Fernando, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet (Twitter link). Fernando is on a non-guaranteed contract, so cutting him on Tuesday will ensure Toronto isn’t on the hook for his full-season salary.

Fernando, who signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Raptors in August after previously suiting up for the Hawks, Celtics, and Rockets, was sparingly used during the first half of this season even though centers Kelly Olynyk and Jakob Poeltl both missed some time due to injuries.

Fernando appeared in 17 games for Toronto, making two starts. He averaged 3.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 8.6 minutes per contest.

The language in Fernando’s non-guaranteed contract initially called for his full $2,425,403 salary to be locked in if he made the Raptors’ opening night roster. However, the two sides agreed to amend the deal, pushing back the salary guarantee date to the league-wide deadline of January 7.

If Fernando hadn’t agreed to adjust the terms of his deal, he likely would’ve been released before earning any of his $2.43MM salary. Instead, he’ll end up making $1,115,128, a prorated portion of his minimum deal.

That’s also the cap charge the Raptors will carry on their books for the 26-year-old, assuming he’s not claimed on waivers. A waiver claim would ensure Fernando’s full salary becomes guaranteed and would take Toronto off the hook for his cap hit, but it’s an unlikely outcome.

According to Grange, the expectation is that the Raptors will maintain some flexibility with their 15th roster spot for now, perhaps auditioning players on 10-day contracts. That opening could come in handy at the trade deadline to accommodate certain deals. As Blake Murphy of Sportsnet observes (via Twitter), it could also potentially be used later in the season to promote two-way player Jamison Battle to the standard roster.

As for Fernando’s next step, the veteran center is considered a potential target for the Turkish club Fenerbahce, which has been in the market for frontcourt help, notes Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. Exploring a deal with the EuroLeague powerhouse could be an appealing option for Fernando if he doesn’t get an offer from an NBA team right away.

Stein’s Latest: Johnson, Vucevic, Poeltl, Brown, Olynyk, Ball

January 5th, 2025 at 9:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets have already dealt Dennis Schröder, Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton. Could forward Cameron Johnson be next?

Citing league sources, Marc Stein reports in his latest Substack article that the Pacers are a team to watch in terms of Johnson’s next destination. Brooklyn is looking to clear as much salary as possible for the offseason and Johnson is in the second year of a four-year, $94.5MM contract.

Johnson, who is averaging career highs in points (19.5) and assists (3.0) per game, could fortify the Pacers at the wing position. The Grizzlies have also been mentioned as a likely Johnson suitor, though Stein notes that they might not be inclined to deal with the Nets. Memphis had extensive talks with the Nets regarding Finney-Smith before he was dealt to the Lakers and there were said to be “hard feelings” between the two teams about how those discussions played out.

The Kings have held trade talks with the Nets regarding Johnson, but aren’t willing to part with rookie guard Devin Carter, who made his NBA debut on Friday after recovering from a shoulder injury.

Here’s more from Stein:

The Raptors have turned aside inquiries regarding center Jakob Poeltl, Stein reports. The big man is averaging career-bests in both scoring (15.4 PPG) and rebounding (10.7 RPG) and is signed through at least 2026, with a player option for ’26/27. Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk are considered the veterans that Toronto is most open to trading prior to the February deadline.
While it’ll be difficult to move Zach LaVine‘s contract, the Bulls are expected to deal center Nikola Vucevic and possibly Lonzo Ball prior to the deadline, says Stein. Vucevic is averaging 2o.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, while Ball is on an expiring contract and has made a respectable comeback from his long-term knee issues. As Stein notes, the Bulls have incentive to tank. If they finish with the league’s sixth-worst record or below, it’ll guarantee that they’ll hold onto their pick in this year’s June draft. Chicago owes a top-10 protected pick to San Antonio.

Atlantic Notes: Barrett, Quickley, Towns, Butler

January 3rd, 2025 at 11:30pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Raptors‘ anticipated starting five heading into the 2024/25 season has yet to play a game together. According to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link), forward RJ Barrett was originally listed as questionable to suit up against the Magic on Friday due to an illness — had he played, it would have marked the first time Toronto’s starters were all available.

Barrett was eventually ruled out against Orlando, per Murphy (via Twitter). Ochai Agbaji started in his stead, scoring 15 points in the 106-97 loss. The team fell to 8-27 on the season and dropped its ninth game among its last 10.

The next opportunity for the Raptors to field all of their first five will be in a Monday matchup with the 17-15 Bucks.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

On New Year’s Day against the Nets, Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley made his first return to action after a 22-game absence. His comeback from a partially torn UCL in his left elbow could open up the offense of All-Star forward Scottie Barnes, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca, who opines that Quickley’s abilities as a play-maker and distributor should help Barnes as a scorer. “It was amazing,” Barnes said of Quickley’s return. “ Something that we really missed, and we needed. His play-making ability, his ability to get to the paint, his shooting, all that, we needed it.”
Knicks All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns is thriving during his second stint with head coach Tom Thibodeau. Towns believes the two-time Coach of the Year has greatly altered his approach in New York, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Towns notes that Thibodeau is now “a different man” and far more mellow. “I like this version going into 2025,” Towns said. Thibodeau previously coached Towns from 2016-19 on the Timberwolves. Towns and fellow All-Star Jalen Brunson have clicked incredibly well together on offense, a new point of emphasis for Thibodeau. All told, New York is 24-11 on the year, good for the East’s No. 3 seed. “I’ve grown since the time when we were together in Minnesota,” Towns said of Thibodeau. “He’s grown. I think that we’re just, in this game of life, we’re just finding ourselves and getting better all the time.”
The Sixers explored a potential trade to reacquire embattled Heat All-Star forward Jimmy Butler during this past offseason, notes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Seven-time All-Star Philadelphia center Joel Embiid had been pushing for a reunion with Butler, alongside whom he played for part of the 2018/19 season. The five-time All-NBA swingman departed for Miami in free agency. Prior to the team’s signing of Paul George, Butler had been known to be on the Sixers’ list of potential summer targets, but the Heat weren’t really considering moving him during the offseason. Now, Butler’s relationship with Miami has soured to the point that the Heat have suspended him for seven games and have indicated they are amenable to a trade.

Atlantic Notes: Kolek, Knicks’ Starting Five, Quickley, Lewis

January 2nd, 2025 at 9:43am CST by Dana Gauruder

Knicks rookie guard Tyler Kolek played a doubleheader on Wednesday. He saw 40 minutes of action with the G League Westchester Knicks during the afternoon, then received 12 minutes of action with the NBA club. The Knicks needed him because Jalen Brunson and Miles McBride sat out.

“It’s fun, man, I love playing basketball. Any chance I get, I’m going to take the opportunity and do it,” Kolek told Peter Botte of the New York Post. “It was good. I had a few hours in between. … Just tried to do what I could to recover and just be ready to go. It’s more mental than anything. Obviously two guys go out with injuries, so you kind of got to step in and be ready for anything no matter the circumstances.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Though Brunson sat out Monday, the Knicks’ usual starting five of OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges has totaled a league-high 561 minutes together, Botte points out. The team’s starting five has a strong net rating of +6.6, despite having to adjust to newcomers Towns and Bridges. New York has won nine straight.
The Raptors snapped an 11-game losing streak, coinciding with the return of Immanuel Quickley, who hadn’t played since Nov. 10 due to a partially torn ulnar cruciate ligament in his left elbow. Quickley supplied 21 points and 15 assists in 32 minutes against the Nets. “It allows Scottie (Barnes) to play with more force as a secondary guy — not to bring the ball every single time, not trying to get the team organized in a set,” coach Darko Rajaković said, per Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “It really helps. I’m … really excited to see Quickley being in that role, more pushing the ball and opening up the court for Scottie as well.”
In his first game with the Nets after getting traded by the Lakers, forward Maxwell Lewis suffered a left leg injury. He’ll have an MRI today, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “The toughest part of today is seeing one of your guys going down. We’re all, thinking about the kid, Max,” coach Jordi Fernandez said. “We don’t know the extent of the injury. Obviously, we’ll MRI, but all our group was thinking about him, and we’re sending all positive energy. So, that’s what’s more important. The rest of the game doesn’t matter right now.”

Raptors Notes: Record-Setting Loss, Shead, Rajakovic, Barnes, Brown

December 31st, 2024 at 9:41pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors closed out their worst calendar year ever with the largest loss in franchise history, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Toronto lost by 54 points on Tuesday afternoon in Boston, wrapping up a week filled with historic misery. Grange notes that the Raptors gave up a team-record 155 points Thursday in Memphis and set a franchise mark for turnovers in a home game by committing 31 in Sunday’s loss to Atlanta.

The latest defeat wraps up a forgettable 12 months for the Raptors, who were in contention for a play-in spot when 2024 began. Their 20-63 mark since January 1 goes into the record books as the most losses the franchise has suffered in a single year.

Although things look bleak for Toronto, which dropped into 14th place in the East at 7-26, Grange tries to find a few positives for the franchise going into 2025. One of them is the play of rookie guard Jamal Shead, who appears to be a steal with the 45th pick in this year’s draft. Shead combines physical defense with an ability to get into the paint and make quick decisions. His three-point shooting has been a pleasant surprise, as he came into today’s game connecting at 46.7% from beyond the arc.

There’s more from Toronto:

Head coach Darko Rajakovic has done an admirable job of keeping the team together despite its current 11-game losing streak, Grange adds in the same piece. He has focused on improving his young talent, and management appears to be patient even though the Raptors haven’t won much since he took over. “It’s a roller-coaster season, and that’s what we’re going to understand,” Rajakovic said before Tuesday’s game. “There’s going to be ups and downs, and also improvement. Progress is never linear … at some point you get tired, you get bumped, you gotta learn how to bounce back. There is a lot of adversity, and we’re feeling that adversity, and it’s good. We’re gonna use that adversity to our advantage, to get information that we need to improve, to focus on the most important things, and to see the growth. That’s what this whole season is about, and to also learn who can rise to challenge and who cannot.”
Rajakovic told reporters that Scottie Barnes has been dealing with numerous physical ailments over the past 10 days, including ankle and knee soreness and tightness in his core (Twitter link from Grange). He added that Barnes is starting to feel better, saying, “I’m expecting him to make strides.”
One bright spot this week was the return of Bruce Brown, who made his season debut on Sunday following offseason knee surgery, Grange states in a separate story. The versatile swingman, who’s considered to be one of Toronto’s most valuable trade pieces, scored 12 points in 19 minutes. “I felt like myself again,” he said.

Scotto’s Latest: C. Johnson, Nuggets, Bulls, Ingram, Pelicans, Poeltl

December 31st, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The “growing belief” around the NBA that it will take more than one first-round pick to pry forward Cameron Johnson away from the Nets due to his strong play this season and the team-friendly descending/flat structure of his contract, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Johnson has base salaries of $22.5MM this season, $20.5MM in 2025/26, and $22.5MM in ’26/27.

However, Johnson’s deal also includes significant unlikely incentives of $4.5MM this season, $4.1MM next season, and $4.5MM in ’26/27. Those incentives count against the apron, complicating matters for a potential suitor right up against a hard cap, such as the Warriors.

Golden State and Brooklyn discussed Johnson before agreeing to their Dennis Schröder trade, but those conversations were always considered exploratory and Jonathan Kuminga‘s name wasn’t part of them, says Scotto. Among Pacific playoff hopefuls, the Kings may be a more serious suitor for Johnson, having long expressed interest in him, Scotto notes.

Here are a few more interesting tidbits from Scotto:

There’s “growing pessimism” that the Nuggets and Bulls will make a deal centered around Zach LaVine and Michael Porter Jr., league sources tell HoopsHype. As Scotto explains, Chicago doesn’t want to take on Zeke Nnaji‘s four-year contract and doesn’t want to have to give up assets to get a third team to take it. However, Denver may have to include Nnaji for salary-matching purposes and might not have the draft capital necessary to incentivize a third team to acquire him.
Confirming a previous report that the Jazz and Pelicans briefly discussed Brandon Ingram before he made it clear he didn’t want to sign long-term in Utah, Scotto says the two teams “kicked around” the idea of a package that would’ve included John Collins and draft compensation before talks fizzled out.
Scotto also confirms that the Pelicans will look to duck out of luxury tax territory by moving a player or two prior to February 6. Assuming New Orleans is able to open up a roster spot and has enough room below the tax line, the team would like to promote two-way player Brandon Boston to its standard roster, Scotto adds.
Although Toronto hasn’t made starting center Jakob Poeltl via trade, teams around the NBA are monitoring the situation in case that stance changes before February 6, Scotto writes. The Raptors believe Poeltl, who is under contract through at least 2026, fits with their young core, according to Scotto, who suggests an inflection point could come this summer, when the big man becomes extension-eligible again.
In case you missed it, we rounded up a few more of Scotto’s latest rumors in a separate story focused on Pacific teams.