NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
The Atlanta Hawks have signed rookie guard Jaylen Morris to a multi-year contract. He was previously signed to consecutive 10-day contracts on February 28 and March 11.
Morris is averaging 4.7 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 16.4 minutes in six games with Atlanta after posting 12.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals in 31.4 minutes in 39 appearances (all starts) earlier this season with Erie, the Hawks’ NBA G League affiliate.
The Jazz (40-30) have been one of the hottest teams in the league of late, and are on a 9-game winning streak. Starting power forward Derrick Favors is contributing 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game this season. The Jazz should be fine without his services against the lowly Hawks. Still, better that he be healthy, of course. Here’s the Deseret News reporting:
Atlanta’s own Derrick Favors won’t be facing his hometown Hawks on Tuesday night.
The Utah Jazz forward will miss the game with left knee soreness.
Favors isn’t the only one on Utah’s injury list: Backup point guard Raul Neto won’t be playing for the fourth consecutive game with a left wrist fracture and rookie center Tony Bradley is still in the concussion protocol.
Russell Westbrook has some big-name players alongside him in OKC this season, but he’s still been a one-man wrecking crew, and again flirting with a triple-double as a season average, after accomplishing that incredible task last season. For more on his 2017-18 campaign, here’s the Oklahoman reporting:
But even as Oklahoma City seeks to extend its six-game winning streak in Boston on Tuesday after an attention-grabbing triumph at Toronto on Sunday, Westbrook is a forgotten man in the MVP conversation. There’s talk about Anthony Davis and LeBron James and DeMar DeRozan and Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard belonging on the ballot with Harden. Those guys deserve a spot in the MVP discourse. All of them are having great seasons.
But so is Westbrook.
He could average a triple double again this season.
Yes, the seemingly unattainable height that he scaled last season is reachable once again. Only Oscar Robertson and Westbrook have ever averaged a triple double for a season, and no one has ever done it twice much less in back-to-back seasons.
But with less than a month left in the regular season, the possibility grows by the day.
The Lakers aren’t going to make the playoffs, but they’ve been a very solid team since the All-Star break, especially for a team built for the future. Here’s the Daily Breeze reporting on last night’s loss to the Pacers:
The injury bump has given way to the injury slump.
When first the Lakers had to respond to injuries to Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart, they did so admirably. They won games against the Miami Heat – the night Ingram went down – and San Antonio and Denver, all likely playoff teams. But gradually, the strain on the few healthy, remaining players has taken a toll too great to overcome, a fact forcefully punctuated by Monday’s 110-100 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Luke Walton has seen it before. Lived it.
“Looking back to when I played,” Walton said, “If Kobe (Bryant) or someone like that, Lamar (Odom), was out, we’d all pick it up. But after three or four games, all those things that really good players make look easy, start to get a lot more difficult.”
Against the Pacers, the mundane was maddening. Passes sailed out of bounds and uncontested jumpers missed. The three starters in the Lakers’ frontcourt combined for 71 points, but their guards struggled.
The Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday signed forward Okaro White to a 10-day contract.
White (6-8, 204) has played in six games (four starts) with the Miami Heat this season, averaging 3.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 13.3 minutes per game. The second-year forward from Florida State has appeared in 41 career games (four starts) with the Heat with averages of 2.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 13.4 minutes.
Prior to his stint with Miami, White was a NBA G League All-Star in 2016-17 after averaging 18.4 points and 8.7 rebounds in 33.0 minutes over his 23 appearances with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He also played professionally with Aris B.C. of the Greek Basketball League where he was the Greek Basketball Player of the Year in 2015-16 and was a member of Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna in Italy in 2014-15.
The Portland Trail Blazers have signed center Georgios Papagiannis to a contract through the 2018-19 season.
Originally signed to a 10-day contract on March 8, Papagiannis holds career averages of 4.2 points (51.0% FG, 85.7% FT), 3.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 12.4 minutes in 38 games over two seasons with the Sacramento Kings.
Selected by Phoenix with the 13th overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft out of Greece, Papagiannis, 20, was dealt to Sacramento in a draft day trade.
In 33 games over two seasons with the NBA G League’s Reno Bighorns, Papagiannis (7-2, 240) posted averages of 13.7 points (51.3% FG, 77.2% FT), 8.6 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 2.24 blocked shots and 30.6 minutes.
The Orlando Magic signed guard Rodney Purvis to a second 10-day contract today.
Purvis (6’4”, 205, 2/14/94) has played in five games with Orlando, averaging 3.8 ppg. in 11.5 minpg. He appeared and started in 37 games this season for the Lakeland Magic, Orlando’s NBA G League affiliate, averaging 20.5 ppg., 4.0 rpg., 3.5 apg. and 1.35 stlpg. in 38.5 minpg. Purvis led the team in scoring 17 times and in assists 10 times. He scored in double figures 34 times and had 30+ points four times, including a season-high 40 points on Dec. 21 @ Westchester.
Purvis was selected to participate in the USA World Cup Qualifying Team training camp Feb. 15-20 and the G League International Challenge on Feb 18. After camp, Purvis was then selected to the 12-man team for the USA’s World Cup Qualifying first round, second-window games, including Cuba on Feb. 23 and Puerto Rico on Feb. 26 in Santa Cruz, Calif., where he averaged 13 ppg. in 23.0 minpg., while shooting 50 percent from the field. The FIBA World Cup Qualifying games are being used to qualify 31 of the 32 nations that will compete in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Purvis played in 137 career games (100 starts) during four years at both North Carolina State (2012-13) and the University of Connecticut (2014-17), averaging 11.6 ppg., 3.0 rpg. and 1.8 apg. in 29.1 minpg. Last season, he appeared in 33 games (32 starts), averaging 13.8 ppg., 4.2 rpg., 2.5 apg. and 1.03 stlpg. in 36.9 minpg. As a sophomore (2014-15), Purvis led the Huskies in scoring during the postseason, averaging 17.8 ppg., and was named to the 2015 American Athletic Conference’s All-Tournament Team.
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Warriors forward Omri Casspi is expected to miss roughly a week with a sprained right ankle, according to a Yahoo Sports report.
After draining a seven-foot hook shot early in the second quarter of Friday night’s loss to Sacramento, Casspi came down awkwardly, rolling his right ankle. He was tended to by a team trainer before leaving the floor on his own power, ending his night with six points in six minutes.
Frank Jackson, the New Orleans Pelicans rookie guard whose draft rights were acquired from the Charlotte Hornets in the 2017 NBA Draft, will miss the entirety of his rookie season, coach Alvin Gentry said Saturday.
Jackson underwent surgery on his right foot Sept. 1 and was originally expected to return around January, a 3-4 month recovery. However, complications with his rehab delayed his return months beyond predicted.
The 19-year-old Duke product also underwent a procedure last May to correct a stress reaction in the same location. Jackson has missed all 68 games this season.
The Utah Jazz signed guard David Stockton to a 10-day contract today.
Stockton (5-11, 165, Gonzaga) joins the Jazz most recently from the NBA G League’s Reno Bighorns, where he has appeared in 39 games (15 starts), averaging 16.3 points, 5.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 28.2 minutes per game this season. He was also selected to the official 12-member 2017 USA Men’s World Qualifying Team, coached by Jeff Van Gundy, where he saw action in two wins against Cuba and Puerto Rico, owning averages of 8.5 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 18.4 minutes per game.
The Spokane, Wash., native has additional NBA experience, signing a 10-day with the Kings on Feb. 20, 2015 and then to a multi-year contract by Sacramento on April 12, 2015. During his stint with the team, he saw action in three contests with averages of 2.7 points and 3.0 assists in 11.0 minutes.
Stockton has played in the NBA G League the past four seasons with the Reno Bighorns (2014-18), having averaged 18.0 points, 7.1 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 steals in 142 career games (106 starts). He was named to the 2015 All NBA D-League Rookie Second Team following his first professional season.
He has also competed internationally, having played with the New Zealand Breakers of Australia’s National Basketball League (2016-17), appearing in 10 games (six starts), averaging 8.3 points, 5.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds and Cedevita Zagreb of the Croatian ABA League (2016), where he averaged 13.8 points, 6.0 assists, 2.8 boards and 2.3 steals in league play.
Stockton was a four-year collegiate player at Gonzaga, appearing in 138 career games (39 starts), posting averages of 4.8 points, 3.1 assists, 1.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 19.9 minutes per game. In his senior season, he averaged 7.4 points, 4.2 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 27.8 minutes per game. He helped Gonzaga to four-straight NCAA Tournaments and earned 2014 All-WCC Tournament Team honors, helping the squad to a 2014 WCC Tournament Championship.
Stockton will wear No. 5 for the Jazz.