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Warriors center Damian Jones, who exited last night’s game with 5.7 seconds remaining in the third quarter with a left shoulder injury, underwent an MRI late last night in Detroit.
It has been determined that Jones has suffered a torn left pectoral muscle. He is scheduled to see a specialist in the coming days.
Jones’ long-term status and an estimate return date will be updated once he has met with the specialist.
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The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Jalen Jones and forward Jaron Blossomgame to Two-Way contracts. And in a related move, Cleveland waived Two-Way players Andrew Harrison and Billy Preston.
Jones (6-7, 220) split last season between Dallas and New Orleans, appearing in 16 games and averaging 4.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11.3 minutes per game. The Texas A&M product also played in 32 games (21 starts) with Texas and Greensboro in the NBA G League, averaging 19.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 31.4 minutes per game in 2017-18.
Blossomgame (6-7, 220) has played in 10 games (seven starts) in the NBA G League this season with the Austin Spurs and the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers’ exclusively owned and operated NBA G League team, averaging 20.9 points on .537 shooting, 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 32.6 minutes per game. With Canton, he has appeared in four games (one start) and averaged 16.8 points on .511 shooting, 7.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 26.9 minutes per game. The 6-7 forward out of Clemson was originally selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 29th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Per NBA rules, teams are permitted to have two Two-Way contract players on their roster at any given time, in addition to their 15-man regular season roster. A Two-Way player can spend up to 45 days with the Cavs.
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You remember guard Brandon Knight. He has talent. He played a few seasons each with the Pistons, Bucks and Suns. As recently as 2015-16, he put up 19.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game for Phoenix. Then got hurt in 2016-17 and hasn’t played since. Now he’s on the Rockets and hasn’t been heard from until pretty much right now, thanks to a big step in his eventual return. Here’s the Houston Chronicle reporting:
Rockets guard Brandon Knight, who has been out since the 2016-17 season when he had knee surgery to repair a torn left ACL, took a major step in his comeback, playing for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets’ G League affiliate.
Knight, 26, had a follow-up surgery this summer, pushing back his return to the court after he was acquired along with center Marquese Chriss in the trade that sent Ryan Anderson and De’Anthony Melton to the Suns.
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When something is broke, you fix it. Even if that means taking a break from wearing extremely cool jerseys. Even if losing games probably had nothing to do with which jerseys were being worn. Now that you have surely gained a wealth of clarity from those sentences, here’s the Miami Herald with a Heat update:
The Miami Heat has apparently given up on trying to win in the Vice Nights jerseys for now. The Heat’s Friday game against the New Orleans Pelicans was scheduled to be the seventh straight home game for Miami to wear its black alternate jerseys, but when the Heat arrived on the court — still the Vice-themed variant Miami has used — the Heat donned its typical red and black warmups. A team spokesman said the team made a last-minute decision to wear red, instead.
The Vice Nights jerseys drew plenty of attention for Miami, but also coincided with a recent home losing streak. The Heat (7-13) debuted the black, pink and blue jerseys Nov. 9 against the Indiana Pacers and haven’t won at AmericanAirlines Arena since. Miami is 0-6 while wearing the alternate jerseys
And here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel on the situation:
The Heat had the Vice Nights black jerseys in their locker stalls during the media viewing period just an hour prior to Friday night’s game.
The team continued to play on the special Vice Nights court trimmed in pink and blue pastels, again opening with the team’s special Vice Nights introduction video.
The Rockets aren’t off to a good start this season. Their defense has dropped off considerably from last year. Having Nene in action to add depth to the frontcourt should help a bit. Not sure how much. But some. Here’s the Houston Chronicle reporting:
Rockets center Nene is expected to make his season debut on Saturday against the Bulls, with the Rockets holding him out one more day on Friday in part because they are playing a back-to-back but also because he went through his most demanding practice on Thursday.
“The important thing is I feel better,” Nene said. “I feel good. I’ve been working. In the last two, three practices I did what I need to do to see the movement I’m going to use in a game, especially in my style, my game style. I feel OK.”
Washington Wizards center Dwight Howard underwent an L4-L5 lumbar microdiscectomy earlier today. The team says the procedure went as planned with no complications.
The procedure was performed by Dr. Robert Watkins in Marina Del Rey, CA, and was recommended after consultation with Dr. Watkins and Wizards Director of Medical Services and Orthopedist Dr. Wiemi Douoguih determined that the disc herniation was causing severe nerve irritation and gluteal pain.
Howard’s progress will be re-evaluated in around two to three months.
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The Denver Nuggets have been granted an injury hardship relief exception from the NBA and will use that exception to sign guard Brandon Goodwin of the G League.
Goodwin, 6-2, 180, has played in nine games with the Memphis Hustle this season, averaging 23.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.67 steals in 33.7 minutes per game.
Goodwin transferred to Florida Gulf Coast University after spending two seasons at the University of Central Florida. In two seasons with Florida Gulf Coast, Goodwin averaged 18.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.28 steals in 32.5 minutes per game. In 2018, Goodwin was selected as the Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, an AP All-American Honorable Mention and to the NABC All-District (3) First Team.
He will wear #6 for the Nuggets.
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The 10-11 Spurs have won just 3 of their last 10 games, and could some good news. Unfortunately, it won’t come in the form of a Pau Gasol health report. Playing just nine games so far, Gasol won’t be returning anytime soon, according to this report from the San Antonio Express-News:
Pau Gasol did not make the Spurs’ four-game road trip that ended Wednesday in Minnesota.
It could be a while before he is back on the court at all.
Further testing has revealed a stress fracture in the troublesome left foot that has already caused Gasol to miss the past 12 games.
The 38-year-old center had recently progressed to some on-court work before getting the disappointing news.
Well past his prime, Gasol plays a supporting role on the Spurs these days, but he’s still important and does a lot in very limited playing time. This season, his minutes per game have been a career-low 17.4, yet in that time he’s still putting up an impressive 6.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists on 51.2% FG. But it sounds like he won’t be back in action any time soon.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have acquired guard Alec Burks and two future second round draft picks from the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard Kyle Korver.
The two draft picks that Cleveland is receiving in the deal are Utah’s own 2020 second round pick and a 2021 second round pick from the Washington Wizards via the Jazz.
“Kyle’s on-court accomplishments are well known,” said Cavaliers General Manager Koby Altman. “More importantly, though, Kyle is a great person and teammate. He sets an example in everything he does. His work ethic, character and dependability are all at a very special level and something we will always respect and be thankful for. We wish Kyle and his family the best as he continues his career back in Salt Lake City.”
“Alec is a young vet that’s versatile and talented,” said Altman. “We welcome him to Cleveland and we’re looking forward to him getting started with us soon.”
Burks (6-6, 214) has appeared in 17 games for Utah this season, averaging 8.4 points in 15.8 minutes per game. He has scored in double figures on six occasions in 2018-19, including a season-high 22 points in 27 minutes on Nov. 5 versus Toronto. Playing in his ninth NBA season, Burks holds career averages of 9.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per game over 382 career contests (43 starts) with Utah. He also competed in the 2012 and 2018 NBA Playoffs for the Jazz, averaging 8.3 points and 2.7 rebounds in 14.1 minutes per game through 13 contests. The 6-6 guard out of Colorado was originally selected by Utah with the 12th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Currently in his 16th NBA season, Korver (6-7, 212, Creighton) has appeared in 1,120 career games (422 starts) with Philadelphia, Utah, Chicago, Atlanta and Cleveland, owning averages of 9.9 points on 44.4 percent from the field and 43.2 percent from three-point range, 3.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 26.0 minutes per contest. Named an All-Star during the 2014-15 season, the Pella, Iowa native currently ranks fourth all-time in NBA history for three-point field goals made (2,238). Along with Stephen Curry and Ray Allen, Korver is one of only three players in NBA history to hit over 2000 three-point field goals on better than 40 percent from beyond the arc in their career.
Korver appeared in 180 games during his first stint in Utah (2007-10), totaling 1,570 points, 468 rebounds and 294 assists, 95 steals and 65 blocks, also helping the Jazz to the postseason in each of his seasons as a Jazzman. He ranks second in Jazz history in three-point field goal percentage (.416) and third in free-throw percentage (.879). During the 2009-10 season, he shot 53.6 percent from three, which set an NBA single-season three-point field goal accuracy record.
Originally selected in the second round (51st overall pick) by the Nets, Korver won the 2014-15 NBA Sportsmanship Award, as voted on by fellow NBA players.
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The Phoenix Suns waived guard Isaiah Canaan today.
Canaan re-signed with the Suns on August 3 and appeared in 19 games this season, averaging 7.5 points and 3.3 assists in 26.5 minutes.
The Suns’ roster now stands at 14 players