Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Thunder exercise contract options on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Darius Bazley and Ty Jerome

The Oklahoma City Thunder have exercised their fourth-year contract option on guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and its third-year contract options on forward Darius Bazley and guard Ty Jerome.

Gilgeous-Alexander has appeared in 153 career NBA games (144 starts), averaging 14.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.14 steals in 30.3 minutes per game, shooting 47.2 percent from the floor, 35.1 percent from three-point range and 80.2 percent from the charity stripe. During the 2019-20 campaign, he appeared in 70 games (all starts) and averaged a team-leading 19.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.13 steals in 34.7 minutes, shooting 47.1 percent from the field. The Toronto native has represented his team during All-Star weekend in each of his two NBA seasons, playing for Team World in both the 2019 and 2020 Rising Stars Challenges.

Bazley appeared in 61 games (nine starts) as a rookie last season and averaged 5.6 points and 4.0 rebounds (11th among rookies) in 18.5 minutes per contest, shooting 39.4 percent from the floor and 34.8 percent from long range. During the 2020 playoffs, he averaged 6.6 points on 50.0 percent three-point shooting (11-22) to go along with 6.7 rebounds per game.

Jerome appeared in 31 games during the 2019-20 season with Phoenix, averaging 3.3 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 10.6 minutes per contest. The 2019 NCAA Champion was acquired by the Thunder on Nov. 16.

Kawhi Leonard receives stitches after catching elbow to mouth

The Clippers enjoyed a Christmas Day win over the Nuggets yesterday, but the victory wasn’t quite as fun for forward Kawhi Leonard. Via the Los Angeles Times:

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard received eight stitches Friday after suffering a lacerated mouth while attempting to grab a rebound during the team’s 121-108 victory in Denver.

A timetable for his return is not yet known. The Clippers next play Sunday at Staples Center against Dallas, with games on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well.

Leonard fell to the court inside Denver’s Ball Arena after the left side of his face was hit by the right elbow of teammate Serge Ibaka halfway through the fourth quarter. Television replays showed blood coming from Leonard’s mouth as the Clippers’ medical staff huddled around him.

Leonard walked off the court under his own power with 6:07 remaining in the game and did not return.

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Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schroder playing well as new Lakers

The Lakers started the 2020-21 NBA season with a loss to the Clippers on Tuesday, but enjoyed a convincing win over the Mavericks on Christmas Day today.

But beyond the team’s 1-1 record after two games, the bigger picture is that two of their new additions are playing as well as expected:

Dennis Schroder’s first two games as a Laker: 14 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists Tuesday, 18 points and six assists today. His shooting was off in that first game, but that’s a minor footnote.

Montrezl Harrell’s first two games as a Laker: 17 points (6/7 FG), 10 rebounds and three assists Tuesday, 22 points (10/13 FG) and seven rebounds today.

Schroder has been starting, while Harrell has come off the bench. But that doesn’t matter. Both can produce points in a hurry, and make LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers as a whole even better than they were before.

Which is scary for the league, since this team also happen to be the defending NBA champs.

An area of concern for the Lakers is the center spot. New addition Marc Gasol, who turns 36 next month, isn’t off to a great start. It’s something to watch in the next few weeks.

Hornets center Cody Zeller out after hand surgery

Charlotte Hornets center Cody Zeller has undergone surgery on the fourth metacarpal of his left hand.

The 7-footer suffered the fractured left hand in the fourth quarter of yesterday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He will be listed as out and will be reevaluated in four weeks.

Last season, Zeller averaged career-highs in points (11.1) and rebounds (7.1) per game over the course of 58 games played.

Now in his eighth year out of Indiana, Zeller holds career averages with the Hornets of 8.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 22.9 minutes per game over the course of 420 career appearances (253 starts).

Cavs shooting guard Dylan Windler out with wrist, finger injury

Cavaliers guard/forward Dylan Windler left Wednesday night’s home opener against the Charlotte Hornets in the third quarter with a left wrist injury and did not return to action.

X-rays taken at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse after the game were negative.

Further examination and an MRI administered today at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health revealed a fourth metacarpal fracture.

Windler will now undergo a period of treatment and rehabilitation and will be re-evaluated in one week. His status will be updated as appropriate.

Raptors begin season with three-point misses in loss to Pelicans

The NBA season began Tuesday, and on a busy league-wide Wednesday schedule the Raptors began their season with a 113-99 loss to the Pelicans. In the win, Brandon Ingram shined, putting up 24 points, nine rebounds, 11 assists and three steals, JJ Redick scored 23 off the bench while new addition Eric Bledsoe had 18 points and six assists. In the loss for the Raptors, Pascal Siakam had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Kyle Lowry had 18 points and 10 assists. Via the Toronto Star:

Even in the three pretend games that preceded Wednesday night’s season-opening loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, the Raptors were settling for too many three-pointers and not getting to the basket — and the foul line — on a nearly equitable basis.

They hoisted 46 threes on Wednesday, making just 14; they took only 43 traditional two-point field-goal attempts, converting 24.

“We are just trying to go out there and play within the offence,” Raptors centre Aron Baynes said after the 113-99 defeat. “We are not looking just for threes, but we have set shots we are trying to get, and if the guys are open we have full confidence they are going to knock it down.”

That makes entire sense because the Raptors have shooters capable of much higher than a 30.4 per cent clip. Fred VanVleet going 2-for-8 from three, Norm Powell 1-for-6, OG Anunoby missing all five shots he took from behind the arc — that’s atypical shooting from that trio.

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Kings sign center Chimezie Metu to two-way contract

The Sacramento Kings have signed free agent center Chimezie Metu to a two-way contract.

Metu appeared in four preseason games with the Kings, averaging 6.0 points (.563 FG%, .333 3pt%, .625 FT%), 2.3 rebounds and 7.4 minutes per game. An early entrant out of the University of Southern California, the 49th overall selection in the 2018 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs has career averages of 2.3 points (.430 FG%, .767 FT%), 1.5 rebounds and 5.3 minutes per game in 47 games in two seasons with San Antonio (2018-20). During the 2019-20 season, Metu averaged 3.2 points (.571 FG%, .769 FT%), 1.8 rebounds and 5.8 minutes per game in 18 games.

Sacramento’s roster now stands at 17 players.

Four Memphis restaurants approved for NBA team dining

Here’s the Memphis Commercial Appeal with some insight on safety precautions that the league and individual teams are taking:

Wonder where NBA players eat out? Well, the secret is out.

The NBA just released a list of restaurants approved for NBA team dinners. On the nationwide list are Memphis restaurants Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, Catherine & Mary’s, Bishop and Chef Tam’s Underground Cafe.

Team dinners are a post-game tradition. The NBA worked with restaurants across the country to find a way teams could safely host these gatherings.

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Chris Paul Suns debut is a win

The NBA season tipped off Tuesday, and was packed with 12 games of action on Wednesday, not including a 13th game (Thunder vs. Rockets) that was postponed. And in his first regular season game as a member of the Phoenix Suns, veteran star point guard Chris Paul enjoyed victory. Via the Arizona Republic:

Chris Paul showed in the season opener why Phoenix traded four players and a future first-round pick for him.

Devin Booker showed the clutch gene he had on full display in the bubble.

The Suns showed they can close out a playoff team in a tight game as they used a 5-0 spurt to break a tie in a 106-102 victory Wednesday night over Dallas at the renovated Phoenix Suns Arena.

After Booker hit a free throw to put the Suns up a point, Paul connected on his patented fading jumper. Then Booker followed with a basket to put Phoenix up 105-100 with 40.6 seconds left.

Booker scored a team-high 22 points while Paul added eight points, five assists and four rebounds. Mikal Bridges chipped in 18 as Phoenix had six players score in double figures in shooting 48.1% from the field.

CP3 shot just 3-of-9 for eight points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals. He played under 28 minutes.

For the Mavs, Luka Doncic put up 32 points, eight rebounds and five assists, but on 26 FG attempts. And with Kristaps Porzingis starting the season on the injured list, no other Mav scored above 12 points.

Cavaliers exercise contract options on Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr. and Dylan Windler

The Cleveland Cavaliers have exercised the fourth-year (2021-22) contract option on Collin Sexton and the third-year (2021-22) options on Darius Garland, Kevin Porter Jr. and Dylan Windler, Cavaliers General Manager Koby Altman announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts.

Sexton (6-1, 192) started in all 65 games for Cleveland last season, averaging a team-best 20.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steal in 33.0 minutes. He joined LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as the only Cavaliers to ever average 20.0 points in a season before the age of 22. Sexton also had the third-highest scoring average among second-year players in 2019-20, behind only Trae Young (29.6) and Luka Doncic (28.8), and was one of just two Eastern Conference players last season (six in NBA) who averaged at least 20.0 points with a .470 mark from the field and a .840 clip from the foul line (Khris Middleton). Sexton closed out the season with a career-high five straight games with 25 points or more, becoming just the third Cavalier ever to have such a streak in his first or second season (LeBron James, Ron Harper). Drafted as the No. 8 pick by Cleveland in the 2018 NBA Draft, Sexton has appeared in every game of his NBA career so far (147 games), the longest streak by a player who started their career with the team since Andre Miller, who played his first 185 contests (11/2/99 to 12/11/01). Sexton has more career double-digit scoring performances than any player from the 2018 NBA Draft class (135) and owns career averages of 18.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 32.3 minutes.

Garland (6-1, 186), the No. 5 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, was the only NBA rookie in 2019-20 with at least 700 points, 225 assists and 100 three-pointers. Over his 59 appearances (all starts) last season, Garland averaged 12.3 points and 3.9 assists in 30.9 minutes. He ranked second among all rookies in assists per game, behind only Memphis guard Ja Morant. His 105 three-pointers were the second-most by a rookie in franchise history behind Collin Sexton (2018-19, 119), and he reached double figures in scoring 43 times. Garland also finished in the Top 10 among all NBA rookies in minutes per game (third), three-pointers made (sixth), three-point percentage (sixth) and points per game (eighth). In addition, he had 10 straight outings with at least four assists from Jan. 27-Feb. 24, the longest by a Cavs rookie since Kyrie Irving’s franchise-rookie record tying 18 straight in 2012 (2/29/12-4/18/12).

Porter Jr. (6-4, 203) played in 50 games (three starts) with the Cavaliers last season, averaging 10.0 points (12th among rookies), 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists (7th among rookies) and 0.92 steals (4th among rookies) in 23.2 minutes. He was the only rookie in the NBA averaging at least 10.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in under 24.0 minutes in 2019-20. In a win over Miami on Feb. 24, Porter Jr. became just the third rookie in franchise history to record at least 30 points, eight rebounds and three steals in a single game, joining LeBron James (twice in 2003-04) and Ron Harper (once in 1986-87). Porter Jr., the 30th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by Milwaukee, was acquired by the Cavaliers in a trade with Detroit on June 26, 2019.

Windler (6-6, 199), who missed the entire 2019-20 regular season due to a left lower leg stress reaction, was the No. 26 overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft by the Cavaliers after a four-year career at Belmont. In 128 games (97 starts) over his collegiate career, he averaged 13.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.0 steal in 29.4 minutes, while also shooting .541 from the field, .406 from three-point range and .763 from the foul line. Windler was one of four players to record 1,600 career points and 1,000 rebounds in Ohio Valley Conference history dating back to 1971.