Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Wizards guard Bradley Beal out with hamstring strain

Wizards guard Bradley Beal has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain following MRI testing conducted yesterday. He will miss the team’s next two games (Monday and Wednesday at Atlanta) before being re-evaluated on Friday.

Beal sustained the injury during Saturday night’s win at Indiana.

Per the Washington Post, “I couldn’t tell you when I tweaked [the hamstring]. I knew it was just a little tight in the second half,” Beal said Saturday. “In the first play of the second half I twisted my damn ankle, and I just wanted to make sure — I went to the back, wanted to make sure it wasn’t too crazy. I’m always a guy who will bounce back pretty quick, especially with ankle injuries… But I went back out there, [and] my left hammy felt a little tight. I didn’t think anything of it. I just kept playing, pushed through it, and then I think the layup on [Doug] McDermott on the end that put us up one, that kind of intensified it a little bit. Then the final little floater I missed at the end, that definitely kind of put it over the top for me. Coach [Scott Brooks] played it smart, got me out of there, and thank God we closed it out.”

Knicks beat Clippers, remain 4th in East

The Knicks have exceeded expectations all season long, and the trend continued today in Los Angeles. Via the New York Post:

The Knicks usually struggle when Julius Randle struggles. But not when Derrick Rose plays like an MVP — and not when they get 3-point marksmanship from Reggie Bullock.

In the final regular-season home game for the Clippers, the Knicks spoiled the Sunday-matinee party with a resounding and sensational 106-100 victory before 2,578 relatively passive fans at Staples Center.

And now it might be time for Tom Thibodeau to look into making a starting-point guard change, finally.

Coming off the bench for a struggling Elfrid Payton, Rose carried the Knicks (38-30) on his shoulders with an MVP-type first half. Rose finished with 25 points and eight assists in 31 minutes.

Reggie Bullock, once a Clippers’ draft pick, poured in 24 points, making 5 of 11 3-pointers. Julius Randle made three big baskets down the stretch, but finished with just 14 points on 7 of 19 shooting with four turnovers. He also had 13 rebounds.

Via the New York Daily News:

With an impressive 106-100 road victory against the stacked Clippers, New York, currently fourth in the East, moved three games ahead of the seventh-seeded Celtics with four to play.

The Knicks (38-30) only need to finish in the top six to avoid a play-in game, and their magic number is 2. In other words, the franchise’s first playoff berth in eight years could be clinched as soon as Tuesday with a victory over the Lakers and a Celtics defeat to the Heat.

“That would be big,” Derrick Rose said. “But at the same time, (Tom Thibodeau) always talks about going through the finish line. We have to do our jobs to make sure we’re sharp and have a keen type of focus.”

The Knicks are 38-30 this season, which is the best 4th record in the Eastern conference.

Their leading scorers so far in 2020-21 are Randle at 24.1 points per game, RJ Barrett at 17.7 ppg, and Rose at 14.4 ppg.

One game behind the Knicks in a tight East race are the Hawks and Heat.

Magic sign Donta Hall for remainder of season

The Orlando Magic have signed free agent forward Donta Hall for the remainder of the regular season, President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman announced today.

The Magic was granted a hardship exception by the NBA in order to add Hall.

Per the Orlando Sentinel, “a hardship exception can be granted when a team has at least four players who have missed three or more games with an injury or illness and are expected to remain out for two more weeks. The team is then allowed to go over its roster limit.”

Hall (6’10”, 232, 8/7/97) played in eight games this season with the Magic, averaging 3.1 ppg. and 4.4 rpg. in 11.5 minpg. He originally signed a 10-day contract with Orlando on Apr. 13, then a second 10-day contract on Apr. 23, before being released from that contract on May 2.

Hall also played in 12 games this season (11 starts) with both Ignite and Raptors 905 of the NBA G League, averaging 10.2 ppg., 8.3 rpg., 1.5 apg. and 2.08 blkpg. in 24.8 minpg., while shooting .625 (50-80) from the floor.

During the 2019-20 campaign, Hall appeared in nine combined games with both Detroit and Brooklyn, averaging 4.3 ppg. and 4.2 rpg. in 14.8 minpg. He played in four games with the Pistons, averaging 1.5 ppg. and 3.8 rpg. in 12.0 minpg. Later in the season, Hall played five games with the Nets, averaging 6.6 ppg., 4.6 rpg. and 1.00 blkpg. in 17.0 minpg. He also appeared in 38 games (37 starts) with Grand Rapids of the NBA G League, averaging 15.4 ppg., 10.6 rpg., 1.0 apg., 1.45 blkpg. and 1.03 stlpg. in 28.6 minpg., while shooting .669 (230-344) from the floor. Hall was named to the All-NBA G League Second Team, the NBA G League All-Rookie Team and the NBA G League All-Defensive Team in 2019-20.

Undrafted by an NBA franchise, Hall played in 135 career games (85 starts) during four seasons at the University of Alabama, averaging 7.5 ppg., 6.3 rpg. and 1.69 blkpg. in 20.8 minpg., while shooting .661 (400-605) from the floor. He was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team as both a junior (2017-18) and a senior (2018-19).

Hall will wear #45 with the Orlando Magic.

Magic will reportedly bring back Donta Hall

A familiar face will soon reportedly be back in a Magic uniform. Via the Orlando Sentinel:

The Orlando Magic are planning to bring back forward/center Donta Hall for the remainder of the season, league sources confirmed Saturday with the Orlando Sentinel.

The Magic will use an injury hardship exception granted by the NBA to sign Hall.

The Magic had sought to sign free-agent forward Admiral Schofield to a 10-day contract using the exception, but the deal fell through.

The Magic are 21-46 in a season that saw them trade top players away to focus on a serious roster rebuild.

Upcoming Heat vs. Celtics games are huge for both teams

The NBA playoff race is coming down to the wire. As for the Heat, here’s the Sun Sentinel:

Despite not wanting to look too far ahead, the Heat (36-31) are well aware of the stakes in their upcoming matchups against the Celtics (35-32) on Sunday and Tuesday at TD Garden.

If the Heat win both games in Boston, they would win the season series against the Celtics, jump three games ahead of Boston in the standings and would give themselves the best chance at avoiding the play-in tournament for seeds seven through 10, with the tournament deciding which teams will occupy the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds in the playoffs in both conferences.

If the Heat split the matchups in Boston, they would lose the tiebreaker in the standings against the Celtics and put themselves in a tough spot heading into their final three games of the season: versus Philadelphia on Thursday, at Milwaukee on May 15 and at Detroit on May 16.

And via Boston.com:

The Celtics are currently 35-32, as of Saturday, and sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference – one full game behind the sixth-place Miami Heat. They finish the regular season with two pivotal matchups with the Heat and games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New York Knicks before finding out their fate.

If they beat the Heat twice, they’re suddenly looking at the six-seed, and potentially even the five or four if they keep winning. If they lose twice, they’re almost certainly guaranteed to end up in the play-in, which will take place from May 18-21.

The Knicks are currently 4th in the East, Hawks 4th, Heat 6th, Celtics 7th.

Pelicans sign Naji Marshall to standard NBA contract

The New Orleans Pelicans have signed forward Naji Marshall to a multi-year contract.

Marshall, 6-7, 220, has appeared in 26 games for the Pelicans this season playing on a two-way contract, averaging 6.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 0.8 steals. The Atlantic City, NJ native appeared in 12 regular season games for the Erie BayHawks of the NBA G League earlier this year, posting averages of 15.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 steals.

Over his three-year career at Xavier (OH) University, Marshall appeared in 99 career games and averaged 12.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steals. He earned All-Big East First Team honors in 2020 after averaging a career-high 16.8 points and 4.0 assists, to go along with 6.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals.

Rockets sign guard Khyri Thomas to 10-day contract

The Houston Rockets have signed guard Khyri Thomas to a 10-day contract using a hardship exception.

Thomas (6-3, 210) was originally the 38th overall pick by Philadelphia in the 2018 NBA Draft before his rights were traded to Detroit. He appeared in a total of 34 games for the Pistons over the past two seasons.

This season, Thomas appeared in seven games for the Austin Spurs during the NBA G League bubble while averaging 13.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 3-pointers made on 45.7% shooting. He had the fourth-highest 3-point percentage of any player who averaged at least 2.0 3FGM with two or more games played.

Thomas earned Big East Defensive Player of the Year honors in two of his three seasons at Creighton. He shot 40.6% from 3-point range for his career with the Bluejays.

Joe Ingles and Rudy Gobert impressive shooting stats this season

A pair of Jazz players are doing big things in the “true shooting” department. Via the Deseret News:

Joe Ingles is having a historic season, according to a stat that he doesn’t understand.

“I honestly Googled it one time to try to figure out what they’re talking about, and I had (expletive) no idea still after reading it,” Ingles told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “I didn’t understand it when they said it; I didn’t understand it when I Googled it.”

Ingles leads the NBA in true shooting percentage, with a true shooting percentage of .690. Teammate Rudy Gobert is second on the list, with a true shooting percentage of .684.

The Jazz are 48-18 this season, which is the best record in the NBA.

Their leading scorers so far in 2020-21 are Donovan Mitchell at 26.4 points per game, Jordan Clarkson off the bench at 17.5 ppg, Mike Conley at 16.4 ppg, Bojan Bogdanovic at 16.3 ppg, Gobert at 14.4 ppg, and Ingles at 12.3 ppg. Everyone else on the squad scores under 7 ppg.

Thunder sign Charlie Brown Jr. to second 10-day contract

The Oklahoma City Thunder has signed guard Charlie Brown Jr. to a second 10-Day Contract, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.

Brown signed his first 10-Day Contract with the Thunder on April 25 and has appeared in three games (one start), registering averages of 5.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.00 steal in 15.9 minutes per contest.

Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram out with ankle sprain

New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram has been diagnosed with a left low ankle sprain.

An MRI taken today at Ochsner Health confirmed the diagnosis.

The injury occurred during the second quarter of last night’s game vs. Golden State.

Ingram will miss Friday night’s game at Philadelphia and his status will be day-to-day moving forward.