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Cavaliers forward Lauri Markkanen is entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols today and will miss tonight’s game against Portland at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
In eight games played, and eight starts, Markkanen is averaging 12.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.
The Cavs are a solid 4-4 so far this season.
The Houston Rockets have exercised their fourth-year contract option on guard Kevin Porter Jr. for the 2022-23 NBA season.
Porter was originally the 30th overall pick by Cleveland in the 2019 NBA Draft before being acquired via trade by Houston on Jan. 22, 2021. He has appeared in 31 games with 28 starts as a Rocket while averaging 15.9 points, 6.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.0 3-pointers made. Since the start of last season, he is one of 12 players averaging at least 15.0 ppg, 6.0 apg, 3.0 rpg, and 2.0 3FGM. Porter is also the youngest of those 11 players at 21 years old.
Last season, Porter joined Ja Morant as the only sophomores to have averaged at least 16.0 ppg, 6.0 apg, and 3.0 rpg. He had 50 points and 11 assists against the eventual NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks on Apr. 29, becoming the fifth-youngest player in NBA history to have scored 50-plus points in a game and the youngest to have done so while recording 10-plus assists.
As a rookie with the Cavaliers in 2019-20, Porter averaged 10.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, and 2.2 apg in 23.2 mpg. Dating back to 1994-95, Nikola Jokic (2015-16) was the only other rookie to have averaged at least 10.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 2.0 apg in fewer than 25.0 mpg.
Here’s the Miami Herald with some relatively good news on a Heat injury that could have been a lot worse:
The level of anxiety was high for Miami Heat wing Max Strus during the weekend, but the feeling Monday was one of relief.
After exiting the court late in Saturday’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies following an awkward landing on a dunk attempt, an MRI on Strus’ left knee returned negative and he was diagnosed with a sprained left knee.
Strus, 25, won’t play in the Heat’s road game against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday (7:30 p.m., TNT) and expects to miss at least “a couple weeks. But he avoided the worst possible outcome after tearing the ACL in his left knee less than two years ago in December 2019.
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love will enter the NBA’s health and safety protocols today and will miss tonight’s road game against the Charlotte Hornets.
The Cavs are a respectable 3-4 to start the season. Their leading scorers so far are Collin Sexton at 17.3 points per game, Ricky Rubio at 14.0 ppg, Evan Mobley and Darius Garland each at 13.4 ppg, and Jarrett Allen and Lauri Markkanen each at 11.7 ppg.
Love has come off the bench for all seven games so far and in 20.7 minutes per game is averaging 9.9 ppg and 7.3 rebounds per game.
The Sixers will be without their star center tonight, for rest purposes. Via the Philly Voice:
Sixers center Joel Embiid has been ruled out for Monday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, as part of a planned rest for Embiid with the Sixers’ schedule ramping up over the coming weeks.
Ahead of the first grueling stretch of the schedule for Philadelphia, the Sixers decided to give Embiid the night off under the “rest” designation. With six games over the next nine days — including a pair of back-to-backs this week and next — it was viewed as prudent to give Embiid the night off.
Embiid has been battling knee soreness to start the season, inspiring questions about the decision not to have his meniscus operated on following the conclusion of Philadelphia’s second-round defeat to the Atlanta Hawks.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have exercised the fourth-year (2022-23) contract options on Darius Garland and Dylan Windler and the third-year (2022-23) option on Isaac Okoro.
Garland (6-1, 186) was the No. 5 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by Cleveland and owns career averages of 14.7 points, 2.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 0.95 steals in 31.9 minutes over 117 career games (113 starts) with the team. Last season, the Vanderbilt product received three votes for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award after recording career highs in points (17.4), rebounds (2.4), assists (6.1, 18th in NBA), steals (1.22), minutes (33.1), field goal percentage (.451) and three-point percentage (.395). Additionally, Garland was one of only four players in the entire NBA to post at least 17.0 points, 6.0 assists, a .390 clip from three and a .840 mark from the foul line in 2020-21, joining Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving and Kyle Lowry. He became the quickest in franchise history to reach 200 career three-pointers (107 games), achieving that mark with his fourth trey in a win over Chicago on April 21. So far this season, Garland is handing out a career-best 9.0 assists per game, which ranks third in the NBA, while also averaging 14.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in 30.8 minutes per contest.
Windler (6-6, 199) was selected as the 26th overall pick by the Cavaliers during the 2019 NBA Draft after a four-year career at Belmont. He has appeared in 34 career games with the Cavaliers, holding averages of 4.7 points and 3.1 rebounds in 15.2 minutes. Last season, he averaged 5.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 16.5 minutes over 31 games after missing his entire rookie campaign in 2019-20 due to a left lower leg stress reaction. From Dec. 23 to Feb. 24, Windler led the Cavs in three-point percentage at .418 (23-55) and had a stretch of nine consecutive three-pointers made without a miss (Feb. 23-24), becoming the first Cavs rookie to accomplish that feat in 20 years and was the longest by any Cavs player since Kyrie Irving in 2015.
Okoro (6-5, 225), the No. 5 pick by the Cavaliers out of Auburn in the 2020 NBA Draft, is averaging 9.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.90 steals in 32.1 minutes over 71 career games with the team. An NBA All-Rookie Second Team selection last season, Okoro (646 points, 62 three-pointers, 62 steals, 24 blocks) became just the third rookie in franchise history to record at least 500 points, 50 threes, 50 steals and 20 blocks in a single season, joining LeBron James (2003-04) and Kyrie Irving (2011-12). The 20-year-old led all NBA rookies in minutes per game in 2020-21 while also ranking in the Top 10 among rookies in steals per game (sixth), points per game (eighth) and assists per game (10th). His 32.4 minutes averaged was the highest by a Cavs rookie since LeBron James in 2003-04 (39.5) and the most by any NBA rookie since 2017-18 (Ben Simmons 33.7 and Donovan Mitchell 33.4).
The Utah Jazz have exercised their third-year team option on center Udoka Azubuike for the 2022-23 season.
Azubuike (7-0, 260, Kansas) was originally drafted by the Jazz in the first round (27th overall) of the 2020 NBA Draft. The 22-year-old saw action in 15 games last season, owning averages of 1.1 points and 0.9 rebounds in 3.8 minutes per game.
During the 2021 Salt Lake City Summer League, Azubuike played in three games, averaging 13.7 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game, earning a 2021 Salt Lake City Summer League Standout selection. He also posted averages of 13.8 points, 8.8 boards and 2.5 blocks in four contests at the 2021 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
The Lagos, Nigeria native was a four-year collegiate player at Kansas where he garnered 2019-20 Consensus All-America Second Team honors, All-Big 12 First Team accolades and was named Big 12 Player of the Year. He left Kansas as the school’s all-time leader in field goal percentage (.746) and eighth in all-time blocks (172).
It’ll be great to see Pistons rookie Cade Cunningham make his NBA debut. But at this particular minute, there’s no firm date just yet. Via the Detroit Free Press:
Cade Cunningham is nearing his return after suffering a left ankle sprain early in training camp. But nearly a month after the injury, it isn’t clear when the No. 1 pick will return.
Cunningham, the Detroit Pistons’ No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft, could make his NBA debut Saturday night at home against the Orlando Magic, but the Pistons haven’t set a firm timeline on when Cunningham will return from his injury. Last week, general manager Troy Weaver said the hope was to see Cunningham play when the Pistons returned home from their three-game road trip.
The Oklahoma City Thunder has assigned guard Tre Mann to the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA G League, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.
Mann has appeared in five games with the Thunder this season and is averaging 4.8 points and 1.0 rebound in 10.5 minutes per game.
A talented young Bull will reportedly miss most or all of the 2021-22 NBA season, unfortunately. Via ESPN.com:
Chicago Bulls forward Patrick Williams will undergo surgery to repair a dislocated left wrist and is expected to miss the rest of the regular season, sources told ESPN.
Williams tumbled out of the air on a flagrant foul by New York’s Mitchell Robinson on Thursday night, landing on his left wrist and suffering a severe perilunate dislocation, the source said.
There’s hope that a timeline on a return could make it possible for Williams to return for the playoffs, a source told ESPN.