Author: Inside Hoops

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Chicago Bulls sign Tristan Thompson, waive Alfonzo McKinnie

The Chicago Bulls have signed veteran big man Tristan Thompson.

Also today, the team released forward Alfonzo McKinnie.

In his eleventh season in the NBA, Thompson (6-9, 254 pounds) owns career averages of 9.1 ppg (.518 from the field), 8.5 rpg (3.3 orpg) and 1.0 apg in 27.1 mpg. For his career, he has played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers. This season, he has appeared in 34 games (three starts) with the Kings and Pacers, and has tallied 6.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg (2.3 orpg) in 15.3 mpg.

Thompson’s teams have also made five trips to the NBA Playoffs, including four consecutive appearances in the NBA Finals from 2015-18. In postseason play, he has played in 83 playoff games (70 starts) and posted 7.8 ppg (.566 from the field) and 8.6 rpg (3.8 orpg) in 29.6 mpg.

McKinnie saw action in 17 games (three starts) with Chicago, and averaged 3.5 ppg and 1.9 rpg in 12.1 mpg.

Suns guard Chris Paul injured, out at least 6-8 weeks

The Phoenix Suns are having the best season of any team in the league, but a big hit of bad news came out today. Via the Arizona Republic:

Chris Paul’s right thumb is going to keep him out most of the remaining season.

The Suns gave an official release that Paul has suffered a right thumb avulsion fracture in Wednesdays’ game against Houston and will be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks.

The NBA regular season ends April 10 against Sacramento.

The Suns are 48-10, placing them a full 6.5 games ahead of the 42-17 Warriors in both the Western conference and overall league standings.

Paul this season is averaging 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 10.7 assists (best in the league) and 1.9 steals (tied for 4th best in the league) per game.

Chris Paul named inaugural recipient of the Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award

Today, the WNBA announced that Phoenix Suns 12-time All-Star guard Chris Paul has been named the inaugural recipient of the Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award for his significant contributions to the advancement of girls’ and women’s basketball, and advocacy for the WNBA. The WNBA and Vanessa Bryant will present Paul the award at NBA All-Star 2022 in Cleveland during Sunday’s game.

The annual award honors the late Kobe Bryant, a devoted supporter of the WNBA and women’s basketball, and his daughter Gianna (also known as Gigi). Gigi, a happy, loving and competitive young lady, wanted to pursue her dreams of one day playing in the WNBA and continuing her father’s legacy while elevating women in sports. Gigi loved the game of basketball and aspired to reach the pinnacle of the sport like her father. Kobe Bryant contributed to the growth of the women’s game at every level through forging relationships, mentoring and training high school, college, NBA and WNBA players, coaching Gigi’s youth basketball team, and launching the Mamba Sports Academy. He also was involved with empowering girls through Her Time to Play, an initiative created by the WNBA and NBA dedicated to championing participation in athletics on behalf of girls and women.

The Kobe and Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy award aims to honor advocates and influencers who use their time, talent, and platform to raise awareness for the WNBA, and women’s and girls’ basketball in various ways, like Kobe was so committed to doing.

“I have seen first-hand Chris’ appreciation of the WNBA and the game at every level for women and girls, especially in Phoenix and North Carolina, and his ardent support of our game strongly reflects the legacy of Kobe and Gigi,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. “The league is proud to name Chris as the inaugural recipient of the Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award, as he serves as a leader and role model for other professional athletes around growing the future of the game for young girls and all fans.”

Lakers must rally just to make the 2022 NBA playoffs

LeBron James and the Lakers are in a tough spot these days. The squad faces an uphill battle in their quest just to make the playoffs. Via the Los Angeles Times:

The Lakers will be without Anthony Davis for at least the next four weeks, their place in the Western Conference standings on shaky ground. They have a 2 1/2-game lead on Portland, the current 10th-place team. They’re 4 1/2 games ahead of San Antonio and New Orleans, who are chasing the final play-in spot.

If there’s a reason to believe in the Lakers’ chances to make the playoffs, it’s been James, who is in one of the best offensive grooves of the season. He’s scored at least 25 points in 23 straight games, a stretch during which he’s averaging 31.7 points.

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announces Finalists for class of 2022

InsideHoops.com

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today, at NBA All-Star 2022, six extraordinary players, four exceptional coaches and one world-class referee as finalists from the North American and Women’s committees to be considered for election in 2022.

This year’s list includes two first-time finalists: two-time NBA All-Star and four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili and five-time WNBA All-Star, three-time WNBA Champion, and two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Lindsay Whalen.

Previous finalists included again this year for consideration are longtime NBA referee Hugh Evans, five-time NBA champion and five-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection Michael Cooper, five-time NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway, consensus National Collegiate Player of the Year Marques Johnson, two-time NCAA National Coach of the Year Bob Huggins, the NBA’s sixth-winningest coach of all-time George Karl, the all-time winningest high school coach, Leta Andrews, four-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Swin Cash, and NCAA national champion and WNBA Coach of the Year Marianne Stanley.

Lakers’ Anthony Davis out with foot sprain

Once again, Anthony Davis is injured. Via ESPN.com:

Anthony Davis will be out at least four weeks after an MRI showed that the Los Angeles Lakers star has a mid-foot sprain, the team announced Thursday.

Davis suffered the injury in the team’s 106-101 win against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.

He underwent X-rays that night at Crypto.com Arena that revealed no fracture, according to the team, but an MRI Thursday revealed the sprain.

The Lakers said team doctors will reevaluate the star big man in four weeks.

The Lakers are just 27-31 this season, which is the 9th best record in the Western conference. They haven’t looked like a championship contender at all this season, and with the way things are going will have to hustle and step things up just to make the playoffs. A task made even more difficult with this Davis injury.

Bones Hyland selected as injury replacement for Davion Mitchell in 2022 NBA Rising Stars Game

Denver Nuggets rookie guard Bones Hyland will replace injured Sacramento Kings rookie guard Davion Mitchell in the 2022 Clorox Rising Stars, which will be played on Friday, Feb. 18 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.

Hyland, 21, becomes the 15th Nuggets player in franchise history to represent Denver at the Rising Stars Challenge and is the second consecutive season that the Nuggets have had at least one player invited (Porter Jr. and Campazzo were both selected last season).

Bones has appeared in 46 games (three starts) for Denver this season, averaging 8.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 18.0 minutes per game. Over his last 17 games he is averaging 10.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting .402 from three-point range and .889 from the charity stripe. Among rookies he currently ranks first in free throw percentage (.881), tied for third in threes per game (1.7), third in total threes (79) and 13th in points per game (8.8).

The Wilmington, Delaware native has helped Denver to a 13-3 record in games when he scores in double-figures, including going 8-0 in games with 15+ points. He posted a career-high 27 points (6-10 3FG) to go with 10 rebounds and two assists on Jan. 15 vs. LA Lakers, becoming the only rookie this season with 27+ points, 10+ rebounds and 2+ assists in a game and just the third Nugget ever to post 27+ points and 6+ threes off the bench in a game (Will Barton and Wilson Chandler are others).

Hyland was selected by Denver with the 26th overall pick of the 2021 NBA Draft after spending two seasons at Virginia Commonwealth University. In his final season he was named the 2020-21 A-10 Player of the Year, leading the conference in scoring (19.5 ppg) and three-pointers made per game (2.9), becoming the first sophomore in VCU history to make himself eligible for the NBA draft. Hyland set a freshman record at VCU with 63 made threes and was a 2019-20 A-10 All-Freshman team selection.

Under a new format, the Clorox Rising Stars will feature four seven-player teams competing in a mini-tournament consisting of three games. The playing rosters are composed of 12 NBA rookies, 12 NBA sophomores and four elite young players from NBA G League Ignite. The team rosters are available here. The game will be played on Friday, Feb. 18 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland. The annual showcase of premier young talent at NBA All-Star will air live on TNT and ESPN Radio in the United States at 9 p.m. ET.

Milwaukee Bucks sign forward DeAndre’ Bembry

The Milwaukee Bucks have signed forward DeAndre’ Bembry.

A 6-5, 210-pound forward, Bembry appeared in 48 games (20 starts) with the Brooklyn Nets this season before being waived on Feb. 10.

Per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Bembry was waived by the Nets on Thursday in order to accommodate their acquisition of Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond from Philadelphia. ”

With the Nets, Bembry averaged 5.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steal in 19.8 minutes per game while shooting a career-high 56.8% from the field and a career-best 41.7% from three.

In his sixth season in the NBA, Bembry was originally selected out of Saint Joseph’s with the 21st overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He went on to play in 189 games with the Hawks over four seasons before spending last season with the Raptors. In his career, Bembry holds averages of 6.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steal across 288 games (55 starts) with the Hawks, Raptors and Nets.

Milwaukee’s roster now stands at 15 players.