Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Next three Spurs games, two Hornets games postponed

The San Antonio Spurs’ next three games (Wednesday, Feb. 17 at Cleveland; Saturday, Feb. 20 at New York and Monday, Feb. 22 at Indiana) and the Charlotte Hornets’ next two games (Wednesday, Feb. 17 vs. Chicago and Friday, Feb. 19 vs. Denver) have been postponed in accordance with the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols.

The games are being postponed due to four Spurs players testing positive and additional contact tracing for players on both San Antonio’s and Charlotte’s rosters, and in order to ensure the health and safety of players on both teams.

Saddiq Bey, Devin Booker named NBA Players of Week

The NBA announced today that Detroit Pistons forward Saddiq Bey has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week and Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booked named Western Conference Player of the Week for games played between February 8-14, 2021.

Bey is the second Pistons rookie to ever win the award, joining Kelly Tripucka (March 14, 1982) as the only first-year Pistons to earn NBA Player of the Week honors.

Bey helped lead the Pistons to a 3-1 week by averaging 17.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.8 steals in 26.1 minutes per contest. Bey shot .714 (25-of-35) from the field and .696 (16-of-23) from 3-point range during the four-game stretch while scoring in double figures in each contest. He became the only rookie in team history with at least four 3-pointers made in back-to-back games (Feb. 12-14).

Bey set a Pistons rookie record with seven 3-pointers made and recorded career highs of 30 points (10-12 FG, 7-7 3FG) and 12 rebounds in a win at Boston on Feb. 12. Bey became the only rookie in NBA history to make seven triples in a game without a miss from 3-point range and became the fourth rookie in NBA history with at least 30 points and seven 3-pointers made in a double-double (Jason Kidd, Stephen Curry, Lauri Markkanen). He also became the fourth Pistons rookie to score at least 30 points in game over the last 35 seasons (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Grant Hill, Allan Houston).

The Villanova standout holds the Pistons rookie record for most 3-pointers made (49) through 25 career games and is shooting .422 from distance on the year, currently setting the highest 3-point percentage for any Pistons rookie among qualified players in team history.

Phoenix’s Devin Booker was named the Western Conference Player of the Week. Per NBA.com/suns, “Booker averaged 32.3 points on 56.3% shooting from the field and 47.6% from three-point range, plus 5.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds in four games, helping the Suns extend their winning streak to six straight overall including wins over the Eastern Conference’s top two teams in Philadelphia and Milwaukee. Booker scored at least 27 points on over 50% from the field in all four games during the week, twice scoring his season high of 36 points.”

More from NBA.com/suns: “This marks Booker’s first career NBA Player of the Week honor and he is the first Suns player to be named Player of the Week since Goran Dragić on Feb. 3, 2014.”

Magic sign Chasson Randle, waive Frank Mason III

The Orlando Magic have signed free agent guard Chasson Randle (CHASE-in) to a two-way contract.

In addition, the Magic have waived guard Frank Mason III.

Randle (6’2”, 185, 2/5/93) appeared in two games this season with Oklahoma City of the NBA G League, averaging 20.0 ppg., 3.5 rpg. and 2.0 apg. in 26.3 minpg. Last season, he played in three games with Golden State, averaging 1.7 ppg. and 1.7 apg. in 13.3 minpg. Randle also appeared in 23 games last season with Tianjin of the Chinese Basketball Association, averaging 24.9 ppg., 4.1 apg. and 3.4 rpg. in 32.6 minpg.

Undrafted by an NBA franchise in 2015, Randle has played in 78 career NBA regular season games (two starts) with Philadelphia, New York, Washington and Golden State, averaging 5.3 ppg., 1.7 apg. and 1.2 rpg. in 13.9 minpg. He has also appeared and started in 31 career NBA G League regular season games with Delaware, Westchester, Capital City and Oklahoma City, averaging 21.3 ppg., 3.8 apg., 3.7 rpg. and 1.21 stlpg. in 32.7 minpg. Randle has also played professionally in the Czech Republic, Spain and China.

Randle played in 144 career games (142 starts) during four seasons at Stanford University (2011-15), averaging 16.5 ppg., 3.3 rpg., 2.5 apg. and 1.16 stlpg. in 33.3 minpg. He was named to the All-Pac 12 First Team after both his junior (2013-14) and senior (2014-15) seasons. Randle finished his collegiate career as Stanford’s all-time leading scorer with 2,375 career points, as well as the Cardinal’s all-time leader in games played, minutes played (4,791) and three-point field goals (304).

Randle will wear #25 with the Orlando Magic.

Spurs vs. Pistons game scheduled for Feb. 16, 2021 is postponed

The National Basketball Association game scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 16, between the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena has been postponed in accordance with the league’s Health and Safety Protocols.

Due to a positive test within the Spurs and subsequent contact tracing, the team does not have the league-required eight available players to proceed with tomorrow’s game against the Pistons.

James Harden is the Nets point guard, says Kyrie Irving

As soon as the Nets traded for James Harden, the obvious question was if he’d be more of a shooting guard or if Kyrie Irving would play that role. And even though Harden was a shooting guard early in his career, he’s clearly proven to be an assist-producing machine. The obvious guess was that he should be the Nets’ PG, with Irving playing off the ball a bit more as a pure scorer. Well, Irving agrees. Via the NY Post:

James Harden dissected Golden State with 16 assists Saturday night, the most by a player in Brooklyn Nets history. And as he continues to look like the most effective point guard in the league, the Nets’ former point guard has officially bestowed the position on him.

“I feel like he’s doing a great job of managing the point guard role,” Kyrie Irving said after the Nets’ 134-117 victory over the Warriors on Saturday night. “We established that maybe four days ago now. I just looked at him, and I said, ‘You’re the point guard, and I’m going to play shooting guard.’

“That was as simple as that. So he’s been taking control of the responsibilities and doing an incredible job. It just makes my job easier to just go out and play free and just make plays. It’s a luxury. I just want to continue it.”

The Nets offense is already excellent and should get even better as the season progresses, especially as roles get more clearly defined and chemistry further develops.

Mavericks recall Nate Hinton from Long Island Nets in G League, transfer him to Santa Cruz Warriors

The Dallas Mavericks have recalled two-way rookie Nate Hinton from the Long Island Nets of the NBA G League and have transferred him to the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League.

Hinton (6-3, 210) has appeared in six games for Dallas this season, averaging 1.3 points and 3.2 minutes. He recorded a season-best five points (2-7 FG, 1-2 FT) in seven minutes vs. Houston (1/23/21).

Hinton has appeared in two games with Long Island, averaging 5.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in 8.4 minutes.

The 2020-21 NBA G League season tipped off on Wednesday, Feb. 10, and features 18 teams competing at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

The Mavericks’ G League affiliate, the Texas Legends, opted not to travel to the NBA G League’s campus. NBA teams without an NBA G League affiliate participating in Orlando have the opportunity to assign roster players and transfer two-way players using the league’s flexible assignment and two-way rules.

Rockets sign Ray Spalding, waive Brodric Thomas

The Houston Rockets today announced they have called up center Ray Spalding from their NBA G League affiliate, Rio Grande Valley, and signed him to a two-way contract.

In a related move, the Rockets have waived guard Brodric Thomas.

In two games for the Vipers this season, Spalding (6-10, 225) averaged 18.5 points, 13.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.50 blocks while shooting 60.0% from the floor. He was with the Rockets during the 2019 preseason prior to joining Rio Grande Valley.

Spalding was an early entry candidate for the 2018 NBA Draft following his junior season at Louisville and was the 56th overall pick by Philadelphia before his right were acquired by Dallas. He appeared in one game for the Mavericks in addition to 13 games for Phoenix in 2018-19.