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In-Season Tournament Updates: Pacers Clinch Top-Two Seed, Six Teams Eliminated

November 25th, 2023 at 11:23am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Nuggets, Bulls, Raptors, Thunder, Clippers and Mavericks were all eliminated from the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament in the group stage following Friday’s game results, marking 12 total teams out of contention.

The Pacers and Lakers remain the only two teams to clinch spots in the quarterfinals so far, with six more spots up for grabs. The final day of group stage play is Tuesday, Nov. 28 and the quarterfinals will take place on Dec. 4 and 5.

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps took a look at all the action from Friday, which featured numerous upsets that set the stage for some interesting scenarios to play out. By beating Detroit on Friday, Indiana won East Group A and guaranteed a top-two seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks–Heat game on Tuesday dictates who earns the top overall seed in the East. If the Bucks win, Milwaukee is the conference’s top seed, but if Miami wins, it will be the Pacers. A Miami loss eliminates the Heat.

If the Heat and Knicks win, there will be a three-way tiebreaker between Miami, Milwaukee and New York that is determined by point differential. In that scenario, the Heat would have to beat the Bucks by eight more points than the Knicks beat the Hornets on Tuesday in order to have a chance.

Orlando defeated Boston on Friday, meaning the Magic‘s chances of winning East Group C are bolstered. With the Raptors and Bulls eliminated, the Celtics, Magic and Nets are competing for that group.

The Suns‘ win over Memphis in their final group stage game helped them take steps toward securing a wild-card spot, finishing their games at 3-1 with a plus-34 point differential. The Lakers play in West Group A alongside the Suns and, given the wild card team plays the top seed, it’s likely they’ll face off against each other in the quarterfinals. The only way the Lakers don’t earn the West’s top seed is if the Kings beat the Warriors on Tuesday by 46 or more points.

West Group B got shaken up with the Rockets upsetting and eliminating the Nuggets on Friday, and the Pelicans are now the runaway favorite to win the group, according to Bontemps. The Pelicans beat the Clippers, eliminating them, and improving to 3-1. The Pelicans are not in front of the Suns for the wild card spot and will need the Rockets to lose in order to clinch the group.

The Kings are looking like a top contender for the tournament title, sitting at 3-0 and plus-29. If the Kings beat the Warriors on Tuesday, they advance. If both Sacramento and Minnesota lose, the Warriors win the group. If both Golden State and Minnesota win, it sets up a three-way tie to be decided by point differential. The Warriors are plus-5 and the Timberwolves are minus-3.

Any team that makes the quarterfinals clinches per-player bonuses worth at least $50K. The value of those bonuses would increase to $100K if they advance to the semifinals, $200K if they make the final, and $500K if they win the entire tournament.

The full in-season tournament standings can be found here.

Kobi Simmons Signs G League Contract, Joins Raptors 905

November 24th, 2023 at 12:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran NBA guard Kobi Simmons has signed a G League contract and is joining the Raptors 905, who acquired his returning rights earlier this week, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link).

Simmons, 26, appeared in 32 games for the Grizzlies as a rookie back in 2017/18 after going undrafted out of Arizona. He hasn’t played much in the NBA since then, having spent most of his career either in the G League or overseas (he played in Poland in 2021/22).

However, in addition to a single appearance with the Cavaliers in 2018/19, Simmons suited up for the Hornets in five games near the end of last season. He signed a two-way contract with Charlotte in March, then was elevated to the standard roster in April during the final week of the regular season. Simmons’ contract with the Hornets covered ’23/24 too, but his salary was non-guaranteed and he was waived prior to training camp.

Simmons averaged 19.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 33.7 minutes per game (46 games) and had a shooting line of .489/.381/.810 with the Greensboro Swarm, Charlotte’s G League affiliate, last season. The Swarm traded his rights to Toronto’s affiliate on Wednesday in exchange for the rights to Sterling Brown and Gabe Brown.

While the Raptors now control Simmons’ G League rights, he remains an NBA free agent and could sign with any team if he gets an offer.

Raptors Notes: Barnes, Roster, Siakam, Young, Achiuwa

November 23rd, 2023 at 7:18pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Raptors forward Scottie Barnes has playing his best pro basketball yet for Toronto this season, but the club still needs to determine how to maximize his unique skill set, opines Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

Grange notes that Barnes has shown marked growth following an at-times disengaged sophomore season in 2022/23. Barnes’ multifaceted game and positional flexibility make him an intriguing young star in the making, albeit one who needs well-curated help to flourish.

“[His versatility] is good but at the same time it’s a problem because he has so many traits, so many things that he can do on a higher level,” head coach Darko Rajakovic said.

Through 15 games this season, Barnes is averaging 19.7 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 5.7 APG, 1.7 SPG and 1.3 BPG.

There’s more out of Toronto:

Former Raptors GM Jeff Weltman was let out of his contract with Toronto in order to assume the mantle of Magic team president in 2017. In the intervening seasons, it’s become clear that Weltman is taking a lot of the lessons he learned under the tutelage of Raptors president Masai Ujiri to heart, writes Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. Murphy sees several parallels between the constructions of both rosters. When drafting, both teams prioritize size and length, forgoing normal conceptions of position in favor of athletes with epic wingspans. That said, Eric Koreen of The Athletic opines that the Raptors’ forwards aren’t getting enough personnel help elsewhere from the front office.
When the Raptors appeared to be slipping early in the 2023/24 season, All-Star power forward Pascal Siakam did his best to steer the club away from a possible return to the bad vibes of last year’s lottery team, writes Koreen in a separate piece. Siakam’s aggressive and prolific play has helped paper over some careless in-game errors from his teammates, Koreen notes.
Raptors forwards Thaddeus Young and Precious Achiuwa are both questionable to play in Friday’s matchup against the Bulls, reports Murphy (Twitter link). Young has an illness, while Achiuwa is dealing with a knee injury.

Knicks Respond To Raptors’ Motion, Don’t Want Silver To Rule On Dispute

November 20th, 2023 at 5:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks have responded to a motion filed by the Raptors that sought to dismiss New York’s lawsuit against them, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post reports. The Knicks are seeking more than $10MM in their lawsuit and have also dragged commissioner Adam Silver’s name into the dispute between the Atlantic Division clubs.

The Knicks argued that the court system should handle the matter, rather than the NBA, because of Silver’s allegedly tight relationship with Toronto minority owner Larry Tanenbaum.

Tanenbaum is currently the NBA’s Chairman of the Board of Governors.

The Knicks wrote in their 24-page response on Monday, “Silver himself described Tanenbaum as ‘not just my boss as the chairman of the Board of Governors, but he’s very much a role model in my life. If Silver were to preside over the instant dispute, he would be arbitrating a case for his boss and ally,” ESPN’s Baxter Holmes tweets.

The Knicks also inferred that Tanenbaum was handpicked by Silver as Chairman, Bondy adds.

The lawsuit stems from their allegations that Ikechukwu Azotam, a former Knicks video coordinator, stole scouting and analytics secrets – including files containing “over 3,000 videos” – and gave them to the Raptors after he was hired by their organization. Azotam and Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic were also named in the suit.

In the motion to dismiss, Toronto called the lawsuit “baseless” and “a public relations stunt” by the Knicks. The Raptors also wrote that the dispute should be handled by Silver instead of a federal judge, pursuant to a bylaw in the NBA’s constitution that reads, “The Commissioner shall have exclusive, full, complete, and final jurisdiction of any dispute involving two (2) or more Members of the Association.”

The Knicks also claim that since their damages exceed $10MM, which is more than NBA can penalize a team, the courts should handle the case rather than the league office, Mike Vornukov of The Athetic tweets.

Injury Notes: Brown, Mitchell, Payton, Anunoby, Alvarado

November 19th, 2023 at 9:55am CST by Luke Adams

Celtics wing Jaylen Brown is considered questionable to suit up on Sunday in Memphis due to a right adductor strain, according to the NBA’s official injury report. The injury occurred during Friday’s in-season tournament game in Toronto, and Brown indicated after Boston’s win that a slippery floor was to blame.

“The court was just slippery all game,” Brown said (Twitter link via Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe). “I think as players we’re all here for the in-season tournament because it’s going to generate revenue, excitement, competition, but we’ve got to make sure the floor is safe to play on. We can’t put our players out there and risk their health. Tonight I thought the floor was unacceptable. I think guys were slipping all over the place, not just me.”

As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca relays (via Twitter), Raptors forward Precious Achiuwa seconded Brown’s complaint about the court, which was being used for the first time: “It was slippery, I fell a couple of times myself. The extra stuff is extra. I’m just trying to play basketball, at the same time, not trying to get hurt.”

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

Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell will miss a second consecutive game on Sunday, having been ruled out vs. Denver due to a right hamstring strain, tweets Tom Withers of The Associated Press.
The Warriors provided a formal update on Gary Payton II on Saturday, announcing (via Twitter) that an MRI on his injured left foot didn’t show any structural damage and confirmed that he has a muscle strain in the foot. Payton, who missed Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma City, will be reevaluated again this weekend.
OG Anunoby has missed the Raptors‘ past three games due to a laceration on his finger, but he’s listed as probable to return for Sunday’s game vs. Detroit, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link).
Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado, who was upgraded to questionable for Saturday’s game, ended up sitting it out, further delaying his season debut. However, it sounds like that debut will occur soon. Head coach Willie Green said on Saturday that Alvarado has been playing 5-on-5 and is getting very close, tweets Will Guillory of The Athletic.

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Trent, Anunoby, Poeltl, Batum, Knicks

November 17th, 2023 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

Down a pair of key players on Wednesday vs. Philadelphia, the Celtics got a boost from Derrick White – who scored 27 points – and Al Horford, who contributed 14 points, nine rebounds, and five blocks while playing strong defense against Joel Embiid, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

As Bontemps notes, White and Horford have taken a step back in the Celtics’ pecking order this season due to the offseason acquisitions of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. But with Porzingis and Jaylen Brown unavailable vs. the Sixers, White and Horford provided a reminder of their importance to the club.

“That’s the luxury that we have on our team,” Jayson Tatum said. “We have so many talented guys.”

It was a big night for Horford, in particular. While White has remained a permanent starter for the Celtics even after the offseason roster changes, Horford has been asked to come off the bench on a regular basis for the first time in his career. Coming into this season, he had been a reserve in just 10 of 1,013 regular season games. He has started only three of 10 this fall.

“We were we down a couple of guys so having to step up and create a spark plug was important for me to do,” Horford said, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. “I feel like that’s kind of been what I do for the most part, if I have to guard in the perimeter, if I have to guard in the post, create energy in different ways, shoot threes. I’m trying to do whatever I can to help our group.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

While Gary Trent Jr. (foot) is expected to suit up for the Raptors on Friday after missing the club’s last three games, forward OG Anunoby is listed as doubtful. As Josh Lewenberg of TSN tweets, Anunoby – who has been out for the past two games – received stitches on his lacerated right index finger and can still only shoot and dribble with his left hand.
Eric Koreen of The Athletic doesn’t believe that the Raptors‘ decisions to give up a top-six protected first-round pick for Jakob Poeltl and then to sign him to a four-year, $78MM contract were bad ones in isolation, given that Poeltl is a quality NBA starting center. However, Koreen suggests that Poeltl’s fit with Toronto’s other frontcourt pieces hasn’t exactly been seamless so far. The team has a -9.9 net rating when Poeltl, Pascal Siakam, and Scottie Barnes have shared the court this season.
Sixers forward Nicolas Batum, who has been away from the team for personal reasons, is out for Friday’s game in Atlanta but will likely be back for Sunday’s contest in Brooklyn, tweets Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Mark Jackson had been expected to call some Knicks games for MSG Network this season, but it seems that won’t happen after all, according to Andrew Marchand of The New York Post. Knicks management objected to having Jackson travel on the team plane, Marchand explains, in part due to an old “quarrel” between the former Warriors head coach and current Knicks assistant Darren Erman, who worked under Jackson in Golden State and recorded meetings without Jackson’s knowledge.

Bulls Rumors: LaVine, Donovan, DeRozan, Caruso, Lakers, More

November 16th, 2023 at 12:56pm CST by Rory Maher

The Bulls and Zach LaVine are reportedly increasingly open to exploring a trade involving the two-time All-Star. When asked about that report this week, LaVine was evasive and didn’t deny that he might be open to a change of scenery.

One report stated that LaVine was still upset about being benched by head coach Billy Donovan late in a game last year in which he shot 1-of-14 from the field. When Donovan was asked about the recent LaVine rumors, he said the team’s shooting guard has “always been coachable” and that he visited LaVine twice in Los Angeles in the offseason.

“He’s always been been very welcoming when I’ve come out there,” Donovan said, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. “We’ve always had really good conversations. He’s always responsive to text messages and phone calls. So I haven’t seen anything where it’s like, ‘OK, this guy has really pushed himself all the way over here and he’s just totally disconnected from everybody. I have not seen that at all.

“I would think that if there’s anything he’d want to talk to a teammate about or a coach about or me about that he as a man would come up and do that. I do think our conversations have been very open and honest. And I think he has worked hard at the relationship just as I have.”

According to Johnson, Donovan also said he’s in constant contact with Bulls lead basketball executive Arturas Karnisovas, and suggested that nothing is imminent on the trade front. That makes sense, given that most free agents who signed new deals over the summer aren’t trade-eligible until December 15 or January 15.

Here’s more on the Bulls:

The Lakers have been linked to LaVine multiple times over the years, including recently. Jovan Buha of The Athletic confirms that L.A. would be interested in the 28-year-old, but only if the price is right. Buha says LaVine’s pricey long-term contract — he’s in the second season of a five-year, maximum-salary deal — is the Lakers’ primary concern. The Lakers also don’t have interest in trading Austin Reaves in a potential LaVine deal, Buha reports.
Of course, as Buha writes, there are several impediments to a trade possibly coming together. The Lakers can only offer one first-round pick and one pick swap, and the players they could use as salary-matching pieces aren’t eligible to be traded until the aforementioned Dec. and Jan. dates. LaVine also might not be an ideal fit for the Lakers’ roster.
Chicago is now 4-8 after losing Wednesday’s game to Orlando. If the Bulls pivot to a rebuild in the next few months, multiple sources tell Buha that the Lakers would also be interested in DeMar DeRozan and/or Alex Caruso, and suggests those players would be a higher priority for Los Angeles. Kurt Helin of NBC Sports hears several teams monitoring the Bulls’ situation would be more interested in DeRozan ($28.6MM expiring contract) and Caruso ($19.4MM over the next two seasons) than LaVine.
Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports that, despite the increasing trade chatter and the team’s poor overall play, the Bulls have had no interest in dealing Caruso in the past and there’s no sign that has changed (Twitter link).
Danny Chau of The Ringer examines LaVine’s trade value and comes up with five trades that might make sense. In addition to the Lakers and Heat, who have been previously linked to LaVine, Chau comes up with hypothetical trades sending LaVine to the Warriors, Raptors and Pacers.

Atlantic Notes: Simmons, Sixers, Porzingis, Poeltl

November 14th, 2023 at 3:58pm CST by Luke Adams

Nets guard Ben Simmons will remain sidelined for at least a little while longer due to a nerve impingement in the lower left side of his back, according to statements from the team and agent Bernie Lee (Twitter links via Brian Lewis of The New York Post).

As Lewis observes (via Twitter), Simmons required surgery in 2022 on multiple herniated disks on the right side of his back, then dealt with a nerve impingement. However, this issue is affecting the other side of his back and isn’t nearly as severe, Lee says. The club indicated an update on Simmons’ status will be provided in a week.

“He’s not experiencing anything similar to what he’s gone through in the past,” Lee said of his client, per Lewis (Twitter links). “And this is something that the expectation is that with the proper kind of rehab he’ll be able to resume his season in a short period of time without any issue.

“It definitely should be on the shorter side of things. It’s really a day-to-day kind of evaluation situation. What has to happen is the area has to calm down. Once it calms down there’s a period of reactivity that’s built into things.”

Here’s more from around the Atlantic:

Having acquired a handful of draft assets in their James Harden trade, how are the Sixers looking to use those assets on the trade market? President of basketball operations Daryl Morey spoke in a recent appearance on The Rights to Ricky Sanchez podcast about what type of player the team would like to add. “I would say first off, they need to be pretty solid on both ends,” Morey said, per Marc Stein at Substack. “As you get into the playoffs, it gets very hard for your top guys to be elite one way. … The other thing would be we probably need them to have a bit of play-making — sort of connector, ball-movement aspects. We are a little short on that and it becomes more important in the playoffs as well.” As Stein notes, it’s perhaps no surprise, based on that description, that Raptors forward OG Anunoby “keeps coming up” as a potential 76ers target.
Rumors surfaced during his time with the Knicks that Kristaps Porzingis would be unhappy if he wasn’t treated as the “face of the franchise,” but the Celtics big man is satisfied with being a secondary option in Boston and says he was never focused on being the go-to guy. “Maybe it was falsely pushed,” Porzingis said of the old narrative, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “I never felt that way because today’s league is, other than [Nikola] Jokic and [Joel] Embiid, it’s a guard league. It’s mostly guards and small forwards. So I knew that if I want to win, you’re going to have to play with somebody… It was never an issue for me.”
Raptors center Jakob Poeltl spoke to Oren Weisfeld of Yahoo Sports Canada about his first stint in Toronto, the experience of watching the team win a title without him in 2019, and what it’s been like to rejoin the franchise several years later.

Atlantic Notes: Robinson, Pritchard, Flynn, Oubre

November 11th, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Knicks center Mitchell Robinson is generating early buzz for Defensive Player of the Year, according to Steve Popper of Newsday (subscriber link).

As Popper writes, the 25-year-old effectively stymied No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama on national TV earlier this week, with the French phenom going 0-of-6 with Robinson as his closest defender. Robinson also made a strong national impression in last season’s playoffs, dominating the paint in New York’s first-round series against the Cavs, who feature a “heavily hyped” two-big lineup.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau is always eager to discuss how well Robinson has been playing, specifically pointing to his net rating, Popper adds. The Knicks are plus-7.6 when Robinson is on the court vs. minus-1.3 when he’s off, for a net rating differential of plus-8.9 — the second-best mark on the team among rotation regulars.

“His defense is incredible,” Thibodeau said. “Excellent pick-and-roll defender. Rim protection. Defensive rebounding. Multiple effort guy. Really come a long way.

“It’s been steady growth. I think when you look at it, to me, probably the most important statistic there is net rating. Scoring margin, net rating tells you impact on winning. So when you look at where he was four years ago to where he is today, it’s been great strides that have been made, and the impact on winning is the most important thing.”

Here’s more from the Atlantic:

Payton Pritchard signed a four-year, $30MM rookie scale extension just before the season started. The Celtics guard has been struggling to make shots early on in 2023/24, but head coach Joe Mazzulla assured him that he’ll continue to receive minutes as long as he’s impacting the game in other ways, and Pritchard finally had a breakthrough performance in Friday’s win against Brooklyn, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “He’s found a way to make a big impact the whole year, and to me, he changed the game for us tonight,” Mazzulla said. “And what we see is, like, it’s easy to look at the scoring of the bench and be like, ‘We’re not producing.’ But there’s so much other stuff that those guys do for us on a daily basis.”
Backup point guard Malachi Flynn struggled to find minutes under former head coach Nick Nurse, but that has changed under Darko Rajakovic, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Flynn, who could be a restricted free agent in 2024 if the Raptors give him qualifying offer, admits he was pressing his first handful of games as a rotation regular, but Rajakovic’s patience in him appears to be paying off, Grange notes. “I think the first couple of games I was still kind of like hesitant, not being assertive,” Flynn said. “But I feel like the last maybe three or four games — and not even going off makes or misses, just going off how I’m feeling and how I’m playing — I think I’m a lot more comfortable and playing confident.”
Sixers wing Kelly Oubre made a strong defensive impression in last night’s win over Detroit, limiting Cade Cunningham to a subpar second half after he started the game strong, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “That’s what I bring to the game,” Oubre said of his defense. “That’s my bread and butter, so just trying to impact the game, and Cade definitely got off to a good start. I started on Ausar [Thompson], but Coach made that change to start the second half. Me guarding Cade and just wanted to pick him up full court, kind of make him uncomfortable a little bit because he’s such a talented player.” Oubre will be a free agent again next summer after signing a one-year, minimum-salary deal with the 76ers.

Raptors Notes: Siakam, Barnes, Dick, Winslow

November 10th, 2023 at 1:15pm CST by Luke Adams

While fellow Raptors forwards Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby seem to have adjusted quickly to new head coach Darko Rajakovic‘s offensive system, Pascal Siakam has taken longer to get going this fall. That’s why Siakam’s 31-point, 12-rebound showing in a road victory over Dallas on Wednesday was such an encouraging sign, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

Prior to Wednesday’s win, Siakam had averaged just 15.4 PPG and 6.1 RPG on 41.2% shooting in Toronto’s first seven games, well below his averages in recent years. Rajakovic, who spoke before Wednesday’s game about his belief in Siakam, predicted that a breakout was coming.

“It’s the start of the year, it’s a different style of play, he’s going through adjustments, but at the same time he is really trying to do the right thing. He’s trying to move the ball, he’s trying to find his teammates and that kind of took away a little bit from his aggressiveness,” the first-year coach said, per Grange. “The last two days I’ve talked to him like, ‘You better be aggressive first.’ Aggressive to score, aggressive to attack the rim, to shoot the ball. … I think very soon, hopefully tonight, he’s going to take off.”

It’s a big year for both the Raptors and Siakam, who will be an unrestricted free agent next July if he doesn’t sign an extension before then. With Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. among the team’s other key players eligible for 2024 free agency, Toronto will have to use this season to determine which pieces are long-term keepers.

Here’s more on the Raptors:

Barnes’ strong start to the season seemed “inseparable” from Siakam’s struggles, according to Danny Chau of The Ringer, who says that figuring out whether those two forwards can coexist and thrive alongside one another is atop Toronto’s 2023/24 to-do list.
In a pair of articles for The Athletic, Eric Koreen takes a closer look at the Raptors’ developmental plan for lottery pick Gradey Dick and considers which of the club’s early-season trends should be taken most seriously. Koreen notes that Toronto ranks in the bottom third of the league in both defensive rebounding and free throw attempts, and suggests those trends may be difficult to reverse.
When he decided to play in the G League this season, Justise Winslow viewed the Raptors’ organization as a good fit for his skill set, given the team’s fondness for lengthy, versatile forwards, writes Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. One of the Raptors 905’s affiliate players, Winslow is still rehabbing an ankle injury from last season and won’t be available when the team’s season gets underway on Friday, though he’s doing contact drills and is enthusiastic about nearing the end of the rehab process. “I’m doing really well, man,” Winslow said. “Attacking this rehab process every day, you know, doing things that help me mentally stay in a good place and, you know, find peace and stay patient within the journey. So, it’s been a really good process.”