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Sacramento Kings’ center Hassan Whiteside underwent successful surgery this morning at the UC Davis Medical Center to repair a partially torn patellar tendon in his left knee. Dr. Richard Marder performed the surgery.
Whiteside will miss four to six months of action and should be available by the start of the Kings’ 2011-12 Training Camp.
Los Angeles Lakers forward Devin Ebanks has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of the left tibia and will miss a minimum of three weeks, it was announced today.
Ebanks, a 6’9” rookie out of West Virginia, was selected by the Lakers with the 43rd pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. In 20 games this season with the Lakers, Ebanks is averaging 3.1 points and 1.4 rebounds in 5.9 minutes.
Assigned to the NBA Development League’s Baskersfield Jam on December 27, Ebanks averaged 16.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.5 steals in 27.7 minutes over six games before being recalled by the Lakers on January 9.
Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor announced today that the team has assigned rookie forward Jeremy Evans to the Utah Flash of the NBA Development League (D-League). He is expected to be in uniform tonight as the Flash hosts the New Mexico Thunderbirds at 7 p.m. MST at UCCU Center in Orem, Utah.
In 32 games for the Jazz this season, the 6-9, 196-pound Evans has averaged 3.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in 6.6 minutes. Evans has not played in the last four Jazz games, with his most recent appearance coming February 23 at Dallas. The rookie has scored in double figures twice this season, including a career-high 11 points in 11 minutes in his NBA debut at Denver on October 27. He becomes the fifth player in Jazz history to be assigned to the D-League, including current Jazz teammates C.J. Miles and Kyrylo Fesenko.
Selected by the Jazz in the second round (55th overall selection) of the 2010 NBA Draft, Evans played four seasons at Western Kentucky and finished as the Hilltoppers’ all-time leader in blocked shots and field goal percentage.
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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nate Robinson underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee the team announced today.
The 5-9 guard first experienced discomfort in the knee following the team’s practice on Monday. After deliberation, Robinson and the team made the decision to proactively address the situation.
“After consulting with our medical team, we have decided this is the best course of action to resolve the issue with certainty, and have Nate back on the court as we enter into the final stages of the season,” said Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.
Robinson is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
The University of Washington product has appeared in one game form the Thunder, since being acquired on February 24th, scoring six points in eight minutes of action.
The San Antonio Spurs today announced they have signed guard/forward Othyus Jeffers (pronounced oh-THEE-us) from the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League to a 10-day contract. Jeffers is the 11th call-up of the 2010-11 D-League season.
Jeffers, a 6-5 guard/forward, has appeared in 37 games with the Energy this season, averaging 21.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.95 steals in 38.4 minutes while shooting .480 (276-575) from the field, .295 (13-44) from three-point range and .741 (22-293) from the foul line. He’s led the Energy to a D-League best 30-10 record, reaching double figures in scoring in all 37 games he’s appeared in. Jeffers has registered 17 double-doubles on the season, including a 32 point, 18 rebound performance at Tulsa on Nov. 26.
Last season Jeffers started the year off with Iowa before getting called up by the Utah Jazz. He spent the remainder of the season with Utah appearing in 14 games, averaging 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds in 5.1 minutes per game. He also appeared in six playoff games for the Jazz seeing 14 minutes of action. Prior to his call-up, Jeffers averaged 14.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.77 steals in 29.2 minutes while shooting .510 (124-243) from the field.
A native of Chicago, Jeffers was originally selected by the Iowa Energy in the third round (47th overall) of the 2008 D-League Draft. In his first year with Iowa (2008-09), he led the Energy to the playoffs and was named the 2009 D-League Rookie of the Year, in addition to being a D-League All-Star selection. Jeffers was also chosen to play for the D-League Select Team in the 2009 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, where he averaged 20.5 points and 7.0 rebounds.
Jeffers concluded his collegiate career at Robert Morris University in Chicago (24.0 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game) earning The Sporting News NAIA Player of the Year and Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors. He preceded his one season at RMU with two seasons at Illinois-Chicago (13.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game) and one season at Los Angeles Southwest College (22.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game).
Jeffers will wear No. 12 for the Silver and Black and will be available for tonight’s game vs. Miami.
The San Antonio Spurs today announced they have signed forward Steve Novak for the remainder of the season. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Novak originally joined the Silver and Black on February 8 signing a 10-day contract becoming the eighth call-up of the 2010-11 NBA Development League season.
Novak, a 6-10 forward, has appeared in eight games for the Spurs, averaging 2.5 points in 6.1 minutes per game, while shooting .462 (6-13) from the field and .444 (4-9) from three-point territory.
Prior to joining the Spurs, Novak appeared in two games with the Reno Bighorns, averaging 18.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in 29.5 minutes, while shooting .684 (13-19) from the field and .643 (9-14) from three-point range. Earlier this season, Novak averaged 1.6 points in 2.6 minutes in seven games with the Dallas Mavericks. Overall, he has appeared in 210 career games with Houston, the L.A. Clippers, Dallas and San Antonio with averages of 3.9 points in 9.7 minutes per game. For his career, he is shooting .436 (295-677) from the field and .406 (195-480) from three-point land.
The AP reports:
The Golden State Warriors have signed free agent forward Al Thornton after he was released by the Washington Wizards earlier this week.
Golden State said Thursday that Thornton was expected to join the Warriors before Friday night’s game with the Celtics in Boston.
The Los Angeles Clippers today announced that they have re-assigned rookie guard Willie Warren to the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA Development League.
Warren, 21, has appeared in 19 games with the Clippers this season and is averaging 1.9 points and 1.4 assists in 7.1 minutes per game.
The former Oklahoma University standout was originally assigned to Bakersfield on Feb. 2 and appeared in six games with the Jam, averaging 21.0 points, 7.0 assists 5.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3-point land. The Jam went 5-1 with Warren in the lineup from Feb. 4 – 16.
Warren was selected by the Clippers in the second round (54th overall pick) of the 2010 NBA Draft.
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By Jeff Lenchiner
Free agent forward Leon Powe may soon become the newest member of the Memphis Grizzlies.
According to a tweet from David Aldridge of NBA.com and TNT/Turner, a source of Aldridge says Powe and the Grizzlies have come to an agreement.
The 6-8, 240-pound Powe has a career average of 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game.
Injuries have hampered Powe throughout his NBA career, especially in recent years. He played just 20 games in 2009-10 and only 14 so far this season.
Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reports:
The devastating floods that wreaked havoc throughout Australia have slowly disappeared from the daily news cycle, but Patty Mills’ efforts to raise money and awareness about the plight of his homeland is just hitting its stride.
Mills teamed with the Blazers to raise nearly $5,700 through a variety of fund-raising efforts in January. Now, through a grass roots campaign to sell T-shirts that Mills helped create, the Australian point guard has set a new goal of raising $50,000 to aid his battered country.
“When you’re on the other side of the world, when you’re far away from your family and friends, you really feel helpless,” Mills said. “So I’m trying to do all I can to help out.”
Mills came up with the idea to sell T-shirts with friend Josh Unruh, a former South Salem and St. Mary’s basketball player who owns a T-shirt company (WheresMyShirt.com) that raises money for charities. Mills designed the shirt and the two made an initial batch of about 300 to sell at a women’s basketball game at St. Mary’s during the NBA All-Star break.
The shirts sold out.
“So we made some more,” Mills said. “We’ve just been getting batch after batch because they just keep going out.”