Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Cavaliers sign Sam Merrill to multi-year contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Sam Merrill to a multi-year contract, Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

Merrill (6-4, 197) signed a 10-day contract with the team on March 3rd and appeared in one game for the Cavaliers. Prior to joining Cleveland, Merrill appeared in 35 games (34 starts) this season for the Cleveland Charge, the Cavaliers’ exclusively owned and operated NBA G League affiliate, averaging 16.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals in 33.7 minutes. He scored a season-high 32 points, including a Charge franchise record 10-14 (.714) shooting from the three-point line on February 22 against the Greensboro Swarm.

In 37 career NBA games (two starts) with Milwaukee, Memphis and Cleveland, Merrill has connected on 28-71 (.394) from the three-point arc. During the 2020-21 season, he ended his rookie season as a NBA Champion with the Bucks, where he was teammates with current Cavaliers Two-Way player Mamadi Diakite. Merrill also appeared in five games with the Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies G-League affiliate) with averages of 11.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 28.9 minutes.

Merrill was selected by the New Orleans Pelicans as the 60th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft after a four-year collegiate career at Utah State University. He was a two-time All-Mountain West First Team selection (2019 & 2020) and named Mountain West Player of the Year in 2019.

Jazz sign Kris Dunn to multi-year deal

The Utah Jazz have signed guard Kris Dunn to a multi-year deal.

Per the Deseret News, “the decision to keep the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Dunn through the rest of the season doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as Dunn has averaged 11.6 points, 4.8 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 22.2 minutes per game over nine contests since joining the Jazz out of the NBA G League in February.”

Dunn (6-3, 205, Providence) has appeared in nine games with the Jazz this season, averaging 11.6 points on 53.1 percent shooting, 4.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.6 steals in 22.2 minutes per game. In his seventh NBA season, he owns career averages of 8.3 points, 4.2 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.5 steals in 254 games (129 starts) with Minnesota (2016-17), Chicago (2017-20), Atlanta (2020-21), Portland (2021-22), and Utah (2022-23).

Drafted in the first round (fifth overall) in the 2016 NBA Draft by the Timberwolves, the New London, Conn., native was a four-year collegiate player at Providence, where he was twice named the Big East Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year (2014-15 and 2015-16) and was a Consensus Second-Team All-America selection following the 2015-16 season.

Damon Stoudamire hired as Georgia Tech’s new basketball coach

Via the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Georgia Tech moved quickly to chart its new course in men’s basketball. Boston Celtics assistant coach Damon Stoudamire was hired Monday as the new coach of the Yellow Jackets. Following reports of the 13-year NBA veteran emerging as a candidate in the morning, the hire was finalized in the afternoon.

The move comes three days after athletic director J Batt dismissed coach Josh Pastner after seven seasons.

“I am humbled and honored to be the head coach at Georgia Tech,” Stoudamire said in a statement. “It is an incredible honor to be entrusted with leading such a tradition-rich program. I am excited to get to work with the goal of consistently having our team compete at the championship level that we all know we can and should compete at. I’m proud to represent Georgia Tech and can’t wait to walk out of the tunnel and onto the floor at the Thrillerdome in front of our fans. Go Jackets!”

It remains unclear when Nets guard Ben Simmons will resume play

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Ben Simmons to resume play for the Nets. If it happens, it happens. Via the NY Post:

Jacque Vaughn has repeatedly insisted the Nets haven’t discussed shutting injured Ben Simmons down.

But asked Sunday if Simmons is coming back this season, Vaughn was conspicuously noncommittal.

“Yeah, I think first of all I’ll just be pretty simple. He’s still managing his back and knee soreness,” Vaughn said cryptically. “He’s back home in Brooklyn. We’ll get a chance to kind of see where he’s at when we get back home after this trip.”

Simmons missed his 10th consecutive game Sunday in the Nets’ 122-120 win over the Nuggets, and his 26th of the season.

The Nets are 39-29 this season, which is the 5th best record in the Eastern conference.

Simmons is averaging 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists in 26.3 minutes per game.

Pistons sign Eugene Omoruyi to second 10-day contract

The Detroit Pistons have signed forward Eugene Omoruyi to a second 10-day contract.

Omoruyi, 6-7, 244, has averaged 8.2 points (47% FG), 2.6 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 0.4 steals in 18.2 minutes over five games with Detroit. He also appeared in 23 games (two starts) with Oklahoma City this season and averaged 4.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 0.6 steals in 11.8 minutes per game.

A native of Orangeville, Ontario, Omoruyi holds career NBA clips of 5.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 0.5 steals in 32 games (two starts) over two NBA seasons with Dallas, Detroit and Oklahoma City. Omoruyi began his collegiate career at Rutgers University where he played three seasons. He played his final season at the University of Oregon where he was named All-Pac-12 Frist Team and helped the Ducks to the 2021 NCAA Sweet 16. In 121 career games, he averaged 9.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 22.8 minutes per game.

Return date for Timberwolves forward/center Karl-Anthony Towns remains uncertain

Via the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

When or if Karl-Anthony Towns returns to the court this season, [Timberwolves coach Chris] Finch has said he and Towns are open to different avenues of what that return might look like. That could include Towns coming off the bench, especially if he is on a minutes restriction when he starts playing again.

“We feel KAT is able to help us regardless of what the situation is,” Finch said. “If it’s a minutes restriction, maybe you’re strategic and he comes off the bench to start with that, depending what the minutes are. I think he would be open to anything at that point in time.”

Finch said whenever Towns is ready to play, he would play. Even if there were only a few games left in the season, Towns would be back in the rotation if he was physically ready to play. There would be no point at which the Wolves would just shut Towns down for the season.

Warriors continue to lose road games, fall to Grizzlies

Via the Memphis Commercial Appeal:

Dillon Brooks was driving to the rim while Draymond Green, the Golden State Warrior who publicly told the world that Brooks is holding the Memphis Grizzlies back, was waiting.

Brooks went into the body of Green and finished a layup with his left hand as the FedExForum crowd screamed while the two elite defenders stood face to face.

Brooks got the better of the face-off, and his team got the advantage in the matchup. The Grizzlies defeated the Warriors 131-110 at FedExForum on Thursday night.

Memphis (39-26) spent most of the night leading by double digits. Each of the five Grizzlies starters scored in double figures, led by 22 points from Tyus Jones. Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 21 points apiece.

The Grizzlies remained without the services of Ja Morant and Steven Adams in this contest.

WME to buy remaining stake in BDA Sports Management

Via the Hollywood Reporter:

WME has unveiled a deal to acquire the remaining stake in BDA Sports Management that it does not already own in the sports representation firm, and plans to make agent Bill Duffy head of the basketball division at WME Sports.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Beverly Hills-based agency earlier bought a minority stake in the Black-owned sports agency that Duffy founded more than 30 years ago, and as chairman and CEO advised WME Sports’ basketball representation practice before cementing ties.

Pistons lose 10th game in a row

Via the Detroit News:

On a night of celebration for the 2003 Detroit Shock, who won the WNBA championship 20 years ago, the Pistons hosted the Charlotte Hornets inside Little Caesars Arena.

Desperately looking to snap a nine-game losing streak, the Pistons welcomed the return of Jalen Duren and Killian Hayes back to the lineup, but even fresh bodies couldn’t change the result that became all too familiar.

The Pistons lost their 10th consecutive game on Thursday as they dropped a 113-103 decision to the Hornets. Detroit dropped to 15-52 and increased the league’s longest active losing streak. Charlotte improved to 22-46.

Nets put up good effort in loss to Bucks

Despite sitting most of their starters, the Nets came close to swiping a win against the mighty Bucks.

Almost.

Via the NY Post:

They nearly overcame their worst shooting drought in a decade, rallying from a huge hole before losing 118-113 to the league-leading Bucks at Fiserv Forum.

After they had won their last three games by double digits, the Nets played without starters Nic Claxton, Spencer Dinwiddie and Cam Johnson, as well as minutes leader Royce O’Neale.

The threadbare lineup went nearly 5 ½ minutes without a basket in the first quarter, essentially giving the game away there and never catching the Bucks (48-18).

The Nets (37-29) missed 15 straight shots — with a shot-clock violation thrown in for good measure — to turn an early eight-point lead into an 11-point first-quarter deficit.