The Phoenix Suns have signed guard Josh Gray to a 10-day contract, calling him up from the Northern Arizona Suns of the NBA G League.
Gray, a 6-1, 180-pound guard, has yet to make his NBA debut. In 31 games with the NAZ Suns this season he averaged 17.9 points, shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from three-point range, 6.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals (4th in G League). The NBA G League Player of the Week for games played Jan. 1-7, Gray has four games scoring 30-plus points this season including a career-high 32 points in a win over the Agua Caliente Clippers on Jan. 26.
The 29th GATORADE Call-Up in the NBA this season and sixth in NAZ Suns history, Gray is Northern Arizona’s all-time leader in points (1,228), assists (410), field goals made (474), field goals attempted (1,065), steals (148), games (81) and minutes (2,250). Overall in 81 career NBA G League games, all with Northern Arizona over the past two seasons, Gray has averaged 15.2 points, 5.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 steals. On Nov. 27, 2016, he recorded the only triple-double in NAZ Suns history with 24 points, 13 rebounds, 11 steals and five steals against Sioux Falls.
The 24-year-old went unselected in the 2016 NBA Draft out of Louisiana State University. Gray tried out for the NAZ Suns prior to their inaugural season in 2016-17, earning an invite to training camp where he made the team and went on to have one of the better seasons by a local tryout in G League history.
A native of Lake Charles, La., Gray began his collegiate career at Texas Tech University in 2012-13 before transferring to Odessa College for the 2013-14 season then completing his career with two seasons at LSU from 2014-2016.
Milwaukee Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon suffered a left quadricep tendon injury during the second quarter of last night’s game at Minnesota. This morning, he underwent an MRI and subsequent examination by team physician Dr. William Raasch at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. The exam revealed a partially torn left quadricep tendon that is expected to sideline Brogdon for 6-to-8 weeks.
This season, Brogdon, 25, has played in 46 games (20 starts) and averaged 13.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 30.5 minutes. The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year, Brogdon joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969-70) as the only players in team history to win the award. He is the first player not drafted in the first round to win Rookie of the Year since 1966.
Golden State Warriors two-way guard Quinn Cook has re-joined the team prior to its game in Sacramento, the team announced today.
Cook has appeared in 24 games with the Santa Cruz Warriors this season, averaging 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 4.9 rebounds in 35.9 minutes. In 10 games with Golden State this season Cook is averaging 3.2 points, 1.6 assists and 1.1 rebounds in 10.3 minutes.
The Phoenix Suns have waived center/forward Greg Monroe.
Monroe, an NBA veteran in his eighth season, averaged 11.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 20 games with the Suns after being acquired from Milwaukee on November 7.
The New Orleans Pelicans have acquired forward Nikola Mirotić (KNEE-coal-uh MIR-oh-tich) and a 2018 second-round pick from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for center Omer Asik, guards Tony Allen and Jameer Nelson, and a 2018 first-round draft pick. In addition, Chicago will have the right to swap its 2021 second-round pick with New Orleans’ own 2021 second-round pick.
Mirotić, 6-10, 220, has appeared in 25 games this season for the Bulls, posting averages of 16.8 points, while shooting .429 from three-point range, 6.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 24.9 minutes. Originally drafted by the Houston Rockets with the 23rd overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, the Montenegro native has appeared in 243 career regular season games for Chicago, averaging 11.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 23.0 minutes per game.
Asik, 7-0, 255, has appeared in 14 games this season for New Orleans, averaging 1.3 points and 2.6 rebounds. Originally acquired by the Pelicans in the summer of 2014, Asik has appeared in 189 regular season games for New Orleans, averaging 4.9 points and 5.0 rebounds in 19.9 minutes per contest.
Allen, 6-4, 231, who was signed this past summer by New Orleans, has appeared in 22 games this season for the Pelicans, averaging 4.7 points and 2.1 rebounds.
Nelson, 6-0, 190, who was originally signed by the Pelicans in October, appeared in 43 games for New Orleans, posting averages of 5.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
Mirotić will wear #3 for the Pelicans. New Orleans’ roster now stands at 15, including two two-way players (Charles Cooke and Mike James).
The Nets enjoyed an impressive home victory Wednesday night in Brooklyn, beating the Philadelphia 76ers 116-108.
In the win, the enjoyed continued fine play from Spencer Dinwiddie in his breaking season. The point guard, still currently starting as D’Angelo Russell, recently back from injury, is utilized off the bench, shot 6-13 and hit 13-15 free throws for 27 points and four assists.
Russell played just 17 minutes off the bench, but was huge: 8-15 FG for 22 points, five rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block.
And in another nice surprise for the Nets, talented rookie big-man Jarrett Allen, who got the start at center, was excellent, shooting 5-6 FG for 16 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 26 minutes.
In the loss for the Sixers, Joel Embiid shot 8-19 FG but did hit 12-14 free throws for 29 points and 14 rebounds, Ben Simmons shot 11-16 FG for 24 points and seven assists, and JJ Redick shot 4-10 plus 9-10 free throws for 20 points.
Nets Team Notes
The Nets improved to 19-33 this season and 10-14 at Barclays Center with tonight’s victory, while the 76ers fell to 24-24 overall and 12-14 on the road with the loss.
It also gave the Nets consecutive home victories (Brooklyn defeated Miami 101-95 on 1/19 at Barclays Center).
Next up for Brooklyn: The Nets will host the Lakers on Friday, February 2, at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Next up for Philadelphia: The 76ers will return home to host Miami on Friday, February 2, at 8 p.m. EST.
Nets Player Notes
Spencer Dinwiddie scored 27 points (6-of-13 FG, 2-of-4 3FG, 13-of-15 FT) with two rebounds and four assists in 34 minutes tonight. Dinwiddie’s 27 points marked the second-highest scoring game of his career (behind a career-high 31 points on 1/8 vs. Toronto). He set career highs for free throws made (13) and attempted (15) tonight, both of which represented season highs for any Net. Dinwiddie registered his team-leading 13th 20-point game of the season tonight (and his 10th at Barclays Center).
D’Angelo Russell posted 22 points (8-of-15 FG, 2-of-5 3FG, 4-of-5 FT) with five rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 17 minutes off the bench vs. Washington. Russell eclipsed the 20-point mark for the seventh time this season and the first time since 11/11 at Utah (26 points). He became the 10th different Net to score 20+ points in a game off the bench this season, which marks both a single-season franchise record and a league high this season.
Jarrett Allen scored a career-high-tying 16 points with a career-high 12 rebounds, a career-high three assists and two blocks in 26 minutes in his second-career start for Brooklyn. He shot 5-of-6 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, with his 6 FTM also marking a career high. Allen recorded his second career double-double tonight (previously done on 1/23 at OKC this season). Allen has now extended his career-best streak of games reaching double figures to five. Prior to this stretch, he hadn’t scored in double figures in more than two straight games.
In the month of January, Allen shot .722 (57-of-79) from the field, which marked the highest FG % for a Net in any month since 1983-84 (min. 70 field goal attempts).
Joel Embiid Quotes
Joel Embiid, on 76ers’ defense: “The past couple of games we’ve been getting down a lot in pick and rolls, in OKC. That’s how they win – basically a two-man game, and everybody’s got to help each other and all the things we’ve been doing so far. I guess we’ve gotta go back to the drawing board.”
Embiid on if the team can blame their performance on coming off of a road trip: “No, that’s a game we’ve got to win. They’re a pretty good team, but I feel like we’re better than them. They got a win tonight, but that’s the kind of win we’ve got to get if we want to be a playoff team. Defense every day. If we’re gonna lose these types of games, we don’t deserve to go to the playoffs.”
Embiid on the team’s struggles against supposed-subpar opponents: “I don’t know. Maybe we’re too cocky, going into the game thinking that it’s going to be easy. Got to give them a lot of credit, they play hard, they make a lot of threes, they shoot a lot of threes and we didn’t guard them well today. But we gotta do a better job next time.”
Heat guard Goran Dragic has been selected by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to replace injured Cavs forward/center Kevin Love on Team LeBron in the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, which will be played in Los Angeles on February 18.
This will be Dragic’s first-time as an NBA All-Star.
Dragic is the first player from Slovenia to earn the honor.
The Southeast Division-leading Heat (29-22) have the fourth-best record in the Eastern Conference through games of January 31, 2018, and Dragic, a 10-year veteran, has been a big part of their success. He’s averaging team-highs of 17.0 points and 4.8 assists per game.
Dragic joins Kyle Korver (2015), Tyson Chandler (2013) and Sam Cassell (2004) as the most recent players to be named an All-Star for the first time in their 10th season or later.
Love will miss the 2018 NBA All-Star Game due to a fracture in his left hand.
Stephon Marbury made waves as a star in the NBA, then even bigger waves as a superstar in China. Here’s the latest from The Undefeated on his basketball career, which may soon be wrapping up:
Two-time NBA All-Star Stephon Marbury told ESPN’s The Undefeated that he is at peace with his 22-year professional basketball career ending in China on Feb. 11 — just days before he turns 41 years old.
Marbury plays for the China Basketball Association’s Beijing Fly Dragons, who play their regular-season finale on Feb. 11 against Jiangsu Tongxi and will not play in the postseason.
The three-time CBA champion says he is “tired” and plans to return to his offseason home in Los Angeles after his finale in China. While Marbury also plans to stay in shape — “just in case” an NBA team calls this season — he says he’s “at peace” with his pro career ending in China.