Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

Thunder players test negative for coronavirus

The Oklahoma City Thunder consulted with infectious disease experts for a recommendation on the players and staff who needed COVID-19 testing based on their exposure at the game on March 11. All results have come back negative — which, as you hopefully know, is a good thing. If you get tested for something bad, coming up “negative” for the test means you don’t have that bad thing.

The Thunder say they will continue to work in coordination with team physicians, public health officials and infectious disease experts, while focusing on the health and safety of everyone in their community.

The team also understandably made sure to point out that they recognize “the stress on the state of Oklahoma’s medical system,” and that they “did not use state resources and chose an alternative path for testing of its personnel.”

In Clippers news, Terance Mann undergoes hand surgery

L.A. Clippers guard-forward Terance Mann underwent surgery yesterday to repair a ligament in his right hand.

Mann suffered the injury during a game on March 8, 2020 while on assignment with the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario.

Mann, 23, has appeared in 35 games for the Clippers this season, averaging 1.6 points and 1.1 assists per game.

The first-year guard out of Florida State spent 20 games with the Clippers’ G League affiliate, averaging 15.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 35.0 minutes played for Agua Caliente.

No surprise, Kings suspend basketball operations activities

The coronavirus crisis is putting a stop to many things around the world, including most sports competition. Since last Wednesday night, NBA games are on hold. Individual teams can choose to maintain certain levels of activity. But almost all of them that we know of have trimmed activity down to a minimum, with most or all employees working from home.

As for the Sacramento Kings, here’s the Sacramento Bee:

The Kings suspended basketball activities Tuesday night in response to a directive from county health officials, the latest development in the abrupt and increasingly complete shutdown of the NBA due to the coronavirus.

The Kings issued a statement saying all basketball operations activities at the team’s Golden 1 Center practice facility have been suspended until further notice. The team noted that no Kings players have exhibited coronavirus symptoms. The organization acted in accordance with a directive from Sacramento County health officials to “stay at home.”

Basketball operations staff will continue to work remotely, but the team’s practice facility is closed.

Unfortunately, this topic will continues to dominate the news world these days. We’ll keep you updated.

Lakers players will reportedly be tested for coronavirus, then self-quarantine

Sports-related coronavirus news continues, now with the Lakers reportedly set to be tested, and entering 14-day quarantine. Here’s the Los Angeles Times reporting:

The Lakers plan to get their players tested for the coronavirus Wednesday and have asked their players to self-quarantine for 14 days, according to people familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.

The information was relayed to players during a conference call Tuesday and follows an announcement by the Brooklyn Nets that four players tested positive for the coronavirus, three without symptoms. The Athletic reported that one of those players was injured Nets star Kevin Durant, who was on the trip to Los Angeles last week.

Unfortunately, stories about coronavirus will be dominating the news for the near future.

But we’ll be sure to get fun, regular basketball content to you on a daily basis again — at least on weekdays — starting any day now.

Mavs guard Jalen Brunson undergoes surgery

Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson underwent surgery today to address an injury to the labrum of his right shoulder.

Brunson suffered the injury in the first quarter of the Mavericks game at Atlanta on Feb. 22. The second-year guard has seen action in 57 games (16 starts) for the Mavericks this season with averages of 8.2 points, 3.3 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 17.9 minutes per contest.

No timetable for his return has been set at this time.

In G League, Capital City Go-Go add forward Jordan Bell

The Capital City Go-Go, the Washington Wizards’ NBA G League affiliate, added forward Jordan Bell off of waivers today. In a corresponding move, the team waived forward Stefan Jankovic due to a season ending injury.

Bell, a 6-8, 216 pound forward-center from the University of Oregon, has appeared in 29 games with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies this season. Originally taken with the 38th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls, Bell was traded on draft night to the Golden State Warriors and played in 125 games (16 starts) for the Warriors between 2017 and 2019, averaging 3.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game. In his time with Golden State, Bell also appeared in 32 playoff games and was a member of the 2018 NBA Champion Warriors team.

Bell was signed as a free agent by the Timberwolves in 2019 and played in 27 games prior to being included in a four-team trade that sent him to Houston in February. Bell was traded from Houston to Memphis the following day and appeared in two games with the Grizzlies before being waived on March 2.

Bell played three seasons at Oregon, leaving as the school’s all-time leader in blocks (235) and field goal percentage (.610). Bell helped lead the Ducks to a Final Four appearance his redshirt junior season, where he also was voted the 2017 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year.

Rockets break losing streak, beat Timberwolves

The Rockets have racked up losses lately. But the Timberwolves are in a state of rebuild, and do have D’Angelo Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns, but with KAT out of action, Houston suddenly remembered how to win again. Here’s the Houston Chronicle:

Facing a team with the third-worst record in the NBA and playing without star Karl-Anthony Towns, the Rockets had seemed heading to another inexplicable defeat, trailing by 10 late in the third quarter. When they finally got on the sort of roll they could not find for a week, the Rockets built a 13-point lead and finished off the Timberwolves, 117-111, Tuesday at Toyota Center.

It might have been much more difficult than they would have liked. But by the fourth quarter, much of the formula was back in place. Harden finished with 37 points, making 5 of 10 3s (including a heave from the backcourt he missed.) Russell Westbrook had 27, driving to fourth-quarter slams.

When the Timberwolves were within six, Eric Gordon, who had missed his first six 3-pointers in his first game back from a sore knee, nailed consecutive 3s to take the lead back to a safe double-digits.

The Rockets continue to play extreme “small-ball,” starting 6-foot-7, 209-pound Robert Covington and 6-foot-5, 245-pound forward P.J. Tucker at their big-man spots.

Knicks, like all teams, adjusting to new health safety standards in wake of coronavirus

Like pro sports teams across the country and world, players on the Knicks are adapting to new safety standards to protect themselves from the coronavirus outbreak. Here’s the New York Post:

With the NBA closing locker rooms to the media before and after games and the threat of fan-less contests, the Knicks are making their adjustments.

No high-fives during practices and games, just elbow and forearm bumps. And the club is “rationing” hand sanitizer, according to forward Taj Gibson.

A Knicks spokesman said there’s plenty of sanitizer for the players, but some are trying to stock up sanitizer for their families.

“No fist-bumps,’’ Knicks veteran Gibson said. “Always do it with your elbow. Any little movement, you’re touching the ball, you got to cleanse, you got to wash your hands. (We) ran out of hand sanitizer. It’s insane. But you do what you got to do.”

In some other countries, some sporting events are being played without fans in the stands. It’ll be interesting to see what leagues here in the United States choose to do there. Discussions are ongoing.

No Marvin Bagley return yet for Kings

Sacramento Kings power forward Marvin Bagley III continues his recovery from a left midfoot sprain and is progressing through his reconditioning plan which includes on-court running activities and skill work in addition to his ongoing strength regimen.

The Sacramento Bee:

The Kings (28-36) are preparing to play the New Orleans Pelicans (28-36) on Wednesday at Golden 1 Center. The teams are tied for ninth in the Western Conference, four games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed in the playoffs.

The Kings are in an interesting place. Making a wild push for the playoffs isn’t actually so wild a concept. It’s an unusual position, but for the Kings, that’s a good thing. Things are happening. The franchise has reason to believe. Not necessarily in the current postseason push, but with a good offseason, making the playoffs in 2020-21 would be an actual realistic goal.

But for now the wait for Bagley’s return continues.

Norman Powell wins NBA East Player of Week

A surprise member of the Toronto Raptors stepped up and got himself named Eastern conference NBA Player of the Week today.

Over in the West, Lakers forward LeBron James, who averaged 29.0 points (.519 FG%), 10.3 assists, 7.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks as the Lakers finished the week 3-0 with victories over Philadelphia, Milwaukee and the LA Clippers, won the honor yet again.

James continues to lead the league in total assists (627) and assists per game (10.6), while ranking 13th in scoring (25.7). The 16-time NBA All-Star owns an NBA-record 64 career weekly awards, and he is the first Lakers player to earn three weekly honors in a season since Kobe Bryant in 2012-13.

But in the East, Powell earned the honor for the first time in his career. He became the 10th player in franchise history, joining Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Jalen Rose, Mike James, Lou Wiliams, Pascal Siakam and Kawhi Leonard.

Powell helped lead Toronto to a 3-0 record this past week, scoring an Eastern Conference-best 31.3 points. He also posted 2.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists while shooting .561 from the field. Powell began the week with 26 points during Toronto’s 123-114 win Mar. 3 at Phoenix. He then scored a career-high 37 points Mar. 5 at Golden State and tied a career-high with six three-pointers Mar. 8 at Sacramento.

Powell was selected 46th overall by Toronto in the 2015 NBA Draft and is the second-longest serving player on the team behind only Kyle Lowry. He was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for April 2016.