- Raptors big man Precious Achiuwa has cleared the health and safety protocols, tweets Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Koreen also provides a few injury updates on Raptors players — Dalano Banton (illness) is good to go, while OG Anunoby (hip) and Khem Birch (knee) will be listed as questionable for the club’s game vs. Golden State on Saturday.
- As a result of rising cases in Ontario, the province will be re-instituting limits on fan capacity in large venues. Thus, the Raptors will be limited to 50% fan capacity at Scotiabank Arena, beginning on Saturday vs. Golden State, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment announced. The Raptors, who are owned by MLSE, will also launch “Operation Mask Up (or out),” which will require all attendees to strictly adhere to all mask-wearing protocols or risk ejection from the building, per the announcement.
The Nets suddenly have seen seven players enter the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols within the 24 hours. All-Star guard James Harden and versatile swingman Bruce Brown have joined five other afflicted comrades on the sidelines for Brooklyn, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
It was reported earlier that Nets role players LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Millsap, DeAndre’ Bembry, Jevon Carter, and James Johnson are all in the NBA’s coronavirus protocols.
Brooklyn currently has just reached the league minimum for available players to stave off a cancelation of its scheduled game against the Raptors tonight. In addition to the team’s seven coronavirus-related absences, the Nets are also still missing COVID-19 vaccine holdout Kyrie Irving and injured wing Joe Harris. All-Star forward Kevin Durant had been listed as questionable due to a sore ankle, but he’s set to suit up for the Nets now, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN (via Twitter).
Bontemps notes in a separate tweet that both Brown and Harden had been in the Nets’ home arena, the Barclays Center, ahead of the team’s game against Toronto this evening. Brown had apparently even been warming up on the hardwood before he received the bad news.
Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets that the Nets will be eligible to sign up to five players via the hardship provision due to this swath of absences. Marks adds that Brooklyn will be dinged approximately an extra $500K in tax penalties for each 10-day signing the team completes.
The league postponed two games this week for the Bulls, who are currently missing as many as 10 players due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Should further spread of the virus among the Brooklyn locker room continue, the league could take similar precautions with the Nets.
The NBA has postponed the Bulls‘ game in Chicago on Tuesday vs. the Pistons, reports Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). The league is also postponing the Bulls’ game in Toronto against the Raptors on Thursday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
The Bulls have 10 players in the league’s health and safety protocols related to COVID-19. With Patrick Williams also sidelined due to a long-term wrist injury, Chicago has just eight active players. The club also has staff members and commentators in the protocols.
Typically, the NBA won’t postpone a game unless a team has fewer than eight players available, but the league is playing it safe in this instance to allow the Bulls to get a little healthier and to avoid risking further spread of COVID-19, tweets Wojnarowski.
Woj adds (via Twitter) that Chicago’s Department of Public Health was concerned about the Bulls continuing to play this week, which was a factor in the league’s decision.
Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Ayo Dosunmu, Derrick Jones Jr., Troy Brown Jr., Matt Thomas, Stanley Johnson, Alize Johnson, Coby White, and Javonte Green are the Bulls players in the protocols. White and Green are reportedly the closest to returning to action, but haven’t yet been fully cleared.
Last season, dozens of games were postponed due to COVID-19 outbreaks and/or contact tracing. While a number of players have entered the league’s health and safety protocols after testing positive this season, the schedule hadn’t been affected at all until now — these are the first two postponements of the 2021/22 campaign.
Raptors president Masai Ujiri has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a team press release.
Ujiri believes he contracted the virus during a “Giants of Africa” meeting.
“On Sunday, Giants of Africa held our first in-person event since 2019,” Ujiri said in a statement. “It was organized in compliance with all current public health guidance – everyone who attended had to show proof of vaccination, and to wear masks when not eating or drinking. Unfortunately, after the gala, we learned of positive COVID-19 tests among our guests – and even though I am fully vaccinated and have received a booster shot, I also subsequently tested positive.
“I am now at home, observing the safety protocols by self-isolating for 10 days, monitoring for symptoms and undergoing testing, and I encourage everyone who attended to please do the same. We don’t want to live in fear of this virus, but COVID is a persistent enemy. Together, we’ll defeat it.”
Several others around the league have tested positive over the last 24 hours. Here’s a roundup:
- Grizzlies swingman Dillon Brooks missed the team’s game against the Lakers after entering the league’s health and safety protocols, the team’s PR department tweets. Brooks scored 15 points against Dallas on Wednesday before he was ejected. He’s averaging 17.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 2.8 APG.
- Suns assistant Kevin Young has yet to return to the club after being placed under protocols, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. Young has missed the last four games.
- As we detailed earlier on Thursday, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has tested positive, Derrick Jones Jr. became the fifth Bulls player to enter protocols, and the Hornets will still be missing a handful of players on Friday due to protocols.
Like the Pacers, the Raptors opted to cancel their practice on Thursday due to an “abundance of caution” related to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, tweets Blake Murphy of The Athletic.
As was the case with Indiana, Toronto didn’t provide any additional details to explain the decision. However, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link) hears that it’s “not a player issue,” which suggests that perhaps a staff member either tested positive for COVID-19 or is a close contact of someone who did.
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- The Raptors will have to decide in the coming weeks whether they intend to be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, Grange writes for Sportsnet.ca. As Grange observes, upgrading the center spot or adding a reliable backup point guard could help make Toronto a more legitimate playoff contender, but the team could also decided to take a longer-term view toward the future and shop a couple veterans.
- A league source tells Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca that the Raptors have had “their eyes on” Pacers big men Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner for years, so they’ll likely at least kick the tires on the two veteran centers. Doug Smith of The Toronto Star (subscribers only) argues that Toronto should seriously pursue either Sabonis or Turner in an effort to solidify the five spot.
- Raptors center Precious Achiuwa is once again sidelined due to shoulder tendinitis, and head coach Nick Nurse isn’t sure how long Achiuwa will be out, writes Lewenberg. “Obviously, it’s aggravated again,” Nurse said of the injury. “I don’t know what to say. Hopefully it’s short-term, but you never know.”
- Rookie guard Dalano Banton is pulling double duty this season, playing frequently for both the Raptors in the NBA and the Raptors 905 in the G League. As Smith writes for The Toronto Star, Banton welcomes that challenge, knowing that current Raptors stars like Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam spent plenty of time with the 905 when they first entered the league. “I’m not getting tired of it,” Banton said. “I’m just kind of trusting in the process that they have going on for me. … I trust in the development of the Raptors and I’ve seen it countless times of guys who came before me.”
- Eric Koreen of The Athletic addressed a handful of Raptors-related topics in his latest mailbag, including Yuta Watanabe‘s future and what the team could get back in a trade involving Chris Boucher.
Raptors forward OG Anunoby and center Khem Birch aren’t on the verge of returning to the court, according to head coach Nick Nurse, who said on Tuesday that the two veterans will remain sidelined for the “foreseeable future,” according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link).
Anunoby, who is dealing with a left hip pointer, has been out of action since November 15. Right knee swelling has kept Birch on the shelf since November 21. Both players were starters when they were last healthy.
Nurse said last week that Anunoby hadn’t suffered a setback in his recovery from his hip issue, but that he had “hit a wall” in the rehab process and that the injury wasn’t healing like the team had hoped. It appears the fifth-year forward hasn’t taken any significant steps forward since then.
As for Birch, Nurse told reporters today that the 29-year-old has undergone tests that haven’t revealed any serious damage to his knee. However, the Raptors have had trouble getting the swelling under control and are trying to stop it from flaring up.
After experimenting with a small-ball lineup for several games, Toronto made Birch its starting center when Anunoby went down in mid-November. Since Birch’s injury, Precious Achiuwa has reclaimed that role, with Yuta Watanabe and Chris Boucher playing regular minutes off the bench.
- The Raptors have held Milwaukee to 93 points and Washington to 90 while recording back-to-back victories. Coach Nick Nurse is pleased by the team’s defensive improvement, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes. “We were really connected,” Nurse said after the Wizards’ game. “Just not a whole lot of mistakes and most of the shots had somebody in front of them, one way or another and it’s good to see.”
Raptors forward Pascal Siakam continues to struggle through foul trouble, writes Dave Feschuk of The Toronto Star. As NBA referees across the league strive to limit calling fouls against “non-basketball” offensive flop plays, looks at the charity stripe in general are taking a significant dive. Siakam, however, continues to be whistled for fouls. The 2020 All-Star has averaged a career-worst 3.5 fouls per contest across 12 games this season and has already fouled out of two games.
“We can’t go through this (foul trouble) every night like this,” Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said of Siakam. “It seems to me he’s just getting himself just a half-count late on some stuff.”
Siakam himself appears to be trying to be more sensitive to fouls called against him as the year progresses for the 10-13 Raptors. “If I’m going to have a foul I would rather it be an actual foul preventing someone from scoring or a foul I actually want to give,” Siakam noted. “Just staying away from the cheap ones and hopefully the gods will be on my side one of these days and I won’t foul out.”
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
- Determining a reasonable expectation for this strange Sixers season is proving difficult, opines Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The team has been felled by various injuries, extended COVID-19 absences, and of course the continuing Ben Simmons drama. Philadelphia is currently 12-11, good for the ninth seed in the East.
- Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau sounded optimistic when addressing the recent shooting slump of RJ Barrett, per Ian Begley and Phillip Martinez of SNY.tv. “I have a lot of confidence in [Barrett] being able to work his way out of it,” Thibodeau said after Saturday’s game. “When you throw in he’s been sick, and to me you get rhythm when you work. Last year, he got going when he started coming in every night to shoot. So there’s no notion that you (work on your shot in the gym at night) sometimes, you got to do it all the time. So get back in the gym, get back to grooving your shot. Shoot a lot of threes and you’ll start making more.” The 21-year-old Barrett is connecting on just 39.6% of his field goal attempts in his third NBA season.
- Thibodeau has opted to give the slumping Knicks, losers of three straight, a day off to regroup, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. “[Who] we are as a team, how we built this team and this culture is just fighting defensively, the togetherness, just the effort, the hustle plays,” reflected New York forward Julius Randle of the club’s ethos. “And I think sometimes, we’re too lax. We might think the little details don’t matter sometimes or whatever it is, but we’ve just got to understand to get out of this we’ve got to do it together.” The Knicks are currently 11-12 on the young 2021/22 season.
The Heat and Bulls will each forfeit their next available second-round pick as a result of the NBA’s investigation into the free agent acquisitions of Kyle Lowry and Lonzo Ball, the league announced today in a press release.
According to the NBA’s announcement, both clubs violated league rules governing the timing of free agency discussions, having jumped the gun on negotiations with Lowry and Ball.
It’s no secret that most teams are in touch with players’ agents before free agency officially begins, but the league determined that the Heat’s deal for Lowry and the Bulls’ acquisition of Ball were particularly egregious, since they were sign-and-trade agreements (which require the approval of two teams and at least one player) that were reported within the opening minutes of free agency.
The league told teams in a memo that the Bulls and Heat “fully cooperated with the investigations,” which was taken into account when determining the penalties, says ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Both clubs issued statements acknowledging the penalties and saying they’re moving on with their seasons — the Heat said in their statement that they disagreed with the league’s ruling.
A lost second-round pick is the same penalty the Bucks faced a year ago for jumping the gun in free agency with Bogdan Bogdanovic. In that case, Bogdanovic ended up in Atlanta rather than Milwaukee — the Heat and Bulls landed their respective free agent targets, so it’s a little surprising the two teams this time around didn’t face harsher punishments. However, we don’t know exactly what the NBA’s investigations turned up.
Both the Heat and Bulls have traded away many of their upcoming second-rounders, so it’s possible they won’t actually have to forfeit a pick for a few years. According to RealGM, Miami has traded all its second-round selections through 2027, though the 2024 pick is top-50 protected and could remain with the Heat. Chicago has traded all its second-rounders through 2025.
However, the Heat are on track to receive the less favorable of Philadelphia’s and Denver’s second-rounders in 2022, assuming they make the playoffs. The Bulls, meanwhile, will receive Denver’s 2023 second-rounder if it’s not in the top 46. The NBA’s announcement today didn’t explicitly say that Miami and Chicago will be required to surrender their own next available second-rounders, so those ’22 and ’23 picks from other teams could be the ones forfeited.
It appears the Raptors and Pelicans – who worked with Miami and Chicago, respectively, in the Lowry and Ball sign-and-trades – will face no punishment. While that’s not a major surprise, it’s still a relief for those two teams — especially for the Pelicans, who acquired Garrett Temple via sign-and-trade in the Ball deal.