2022-23 regular season. The Tank begins...

Tony Jones: [URL="https://*********.com/social/"]The Jazz and Jordan Clarkson have been engaged in contract extension talks, according to league sources. No agreement has been reached, but there is mutual interest in moving forward.[/URL] The two sides have until April to come to an agreement. If no agreement is reached, Clarkson has the option to pick up his player option or head into unrestricted free agency. In unrestricted free agency, the Jazz have his bird rights.
– via [URL="https://twitter.com/Tjonesonthenba"]Twitter Tjonesonthenba[/URL]





Tony Jones: The key, according to sources, is the two sides have interest in continuing to talk and will continue to talk. [URL="https://*********.com/social/"]The Jazz see Clarkson as someone who is playing at a high level and is still young enough to grow with the current rebuild.[/URL] The Jazz are limited in what they can currently offer because of league rules, but talks at this stage are still considered in the routine stage, according to sources.
– via [URL="https://twitter.com/Tjonesonthenba"]Twitter Tjonesonthenba[/URL]

Memphis: Ja Morant (right thigh soreness) and Steven Adams (non-COVID illness) have been downgraded to questionable for Sunday’s game against Utah. Desmond Bane (right big toe injury management) is available.
– via Alberto De Roa @ *********

Meltdown.

Ryan Miller: [URL="https://*********.com/social/"]Talen Horton-Tucker will miss today’s game in Memphis with a right ankle sprain[/URL].
– via [URL="https://twitter.com/millerjryan"]Twitter millerjryan[/URL]

Bolmaro big game in win last night for the Stars

As for Collins, [URL="https://theathletic.com/4067336/2023/01/09/john-collins-trade-rumors/?source=nbatw"]the Hawks have long since known that he’d welcome a change of scenery.[/URL] But the factors that matter the most in deal-making may not currently be in his favor.
– via [URL="https://theathletic.com/4067336/2023/01/09/john-collins-trade-rumors/?source=nbatw"]Sam Amick @ The Athletic[/URL]




[URL="https://theathletic.com/4067336/2023/01/09/john-collins-trade-rumors/?source=nbatw"]“I can say, ‘Hey, I want to do this and I wanna do that,’ and they can just do whatever they feel is fair. You saw it with Kevin Durant (last summer), right? He’s begging for trade, and Brooklyn is like, ‘Nah.’[/URL] Not saying that I’m Kevin Durant, but it’s just the mentality of ‘Yeah, you can say whatever, you can make a public scene, you can do whatever, (but it won’t matter).’”

– via [URL="https://theathletic.com/4067336/2023/01/09/john-collins-trade-rumors/?source=nbatw"]Sam Amick @ The Athletic[/URL]







[URL="https://theathletic.com/4067336/2023/01/09/john-collins-trade-rumors/?source=nbatw"]I’ve had three coaches up to this point. So as I said, it’s sort of being calm in the business world of basketball, which is a lot.[/URL] There are ideas and thoughts, a lot of players’ hopes and dreams and careers, and just a lot of decision making going on that I can’t control happening in front of me. So I just know to keep my mind clear. That’s the best thing for me. It’s just a lot to think about and process.

– via [URL="https://theathletic.com/4067336/2023/01/09/john-collins-trade-rumors/?source=nbatw"]Sam Amick @ The Athletic[/URL]






[URL="https://theathletic.com/4067336/2023/01/09/john-collins-trade-rumors/?source=nbatw"]But are you hoping that one thing or another happens? I don’t give a damn honestly,[/URL] you know what I mean? How’s that possible? What do you mean? I play basketball every day, you know what I mean? I come in and I play basketball, and whatever happens, happens because I don’t control that side. I don’t have any control over any decisions that get made, where I am and where I play. I don’t have any control over that.
– via [URL="https://theathletic.com/4067336/2023/01/09/john-collins-trade-rumors/?source=nbatw"]Sam Amick @ The Athletic[/URL]

Eric Walden: [URL="https://*********.com/social/"]Kelly Olynyk has been ruled OUT tomorrow vs. Cleveland (left ankle sprain)[/URL]. Collin Sexton (right hamstring) and Talen Horton-Tucker (right ankle sprain) remain OUT.
– via [URL="https://twitter.com/tribjazz"]Twitter tribjazz[/URL]

Former Suns player [URL="https://*********.com/lists/international-transactions-log-where-are-former-nba-players-going/"]Paris Bass signed with G League team Wisconsin Herd for the remainder of the 2022-23 season[/URL].
– via [URL="https://*********.com/lists/international-transactions-log-where-are-former-nba-players-going/"]Alberto De Roa @ *********[/URL]

Andy Larsen: [URL="https://*********.com/social/"]Udoka Azubuike is out tonight due to COVID protocols.[/URL] Leandro Bolmaro is questionable (illness) Johnny Juzang is questionable. Micah Potter available.
– via [URL="https://twitter.com/andyblarsen"]Twitter andyblarsen[/URL]

Your former teammate Donovan Mitchell returns as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers to play in Salt Lake City against the Jazz for the first time on Tuesday. What do you think about the return of your friend and old teammate? [URL="https://andscape.com/features/jordan-clarkson-is-ready-for-the-return-of-donovan-mitchell-hes-a-real-real-superstar/"]Jordan Clarkson: Donny is coming. That’s my guy man, always. Always show love to him. We talked a lot. He is a cool and down to Earth kid and he’s really starting to embrace that. He’s a real, real superstar, honestly.[/URL] Seeing him go through all that so young is really crazy to me. I never had that experience. I saw Kobe, and LeBron, and them when they were older and understood a lot of things. And Donny’s kind of understanding it and really coming into his own as a man.
– via [URL="https://andscape.com/features/jordan-clarkson-is-ready-for-the-return-of-donovan-mitchell-hes-a-real-real-superstar/"]Marc J. Spears @ Andscape[/URL]





The 2023 NBA All-Star Game is in Salt Lake City. [URL="https://andscape.com/features/jordan-clarkson-is-ready-for-the-return-of-donovan-mitchell-hes-a-real-real-superstar/"]Do you aspire to make your first NBA All-Star appearance in your home arena? Jordan Clarkson: I’m playing to that caliber, making plays, trying to help my team win. I ain’t never been one to chase awards and accolades or nothing.[/URL] I just kind of let the game speak for itself. If it happens, it happens, but definitely going to have to keep winning more games. It’s not really on my mind. Not at all really. But I come out here, try to perform every night, give our team a chance to win. That’s all I’m really worried about.
– via [URL="https://andscape.com/features/jordan-clarkson-is-ready-for-the-return-of-donovan-mitchell-hes-a-real-real-superstar/"]Marc J. Spears @ Andscape[/URL]






What did you learn from Kobe work ethic-wise and off the court? [URL="https://andscape.com/features/jordan-clarkson-is-ready-for-the-return-of-donovan-mitchell-hes-a-real-real-superstar/"]Jordan Clarkson: In those last two years when it was almost over and he made his farewell tour or whatever it was, he was still the first dude in the gym, weight room, and getting up shots.[/URL] Sometimes he’d be like, ‘Man, were you at?’ He did a whole practice and a whole film session before we practiced. And then coming in there changing stuff on the film game plan. Just being around all that early [former Laker Julius Randle] could attest to that, [former Laker] D’Angelo [Russell] as well, that’s helped us in our career tremendously. He pushed us too.
– via [URL="https://andscape.com/features/jordan-clarkson-is-ready-for-the-return-of-donovan-mitchell-hes-a-real-real-superstar/"]Marc J. Spears @ Andscape[/URL]







Jordan Clarkson: [URL="https://andscape.com/features/jordan-clarkson-is-ready-for-the-return-of-donovan-mitchell-hes-a-real-real-superstar/"]I think D-Lo got on a podcast and talked about a [Lakers game we had] in Portland. I think it was Dame [Lillard] and C.J. [McCollum] went crazy on us, and Kobe went off on a 30-, 40-minute rant on us.[/URL] About us being young guys, and how those dudes were really taking control of what they got, and what they were doing. So, till this day all that stuff still stands for me.
– via [URL="https://andscape.com/features/jordan-clarkson-is-ready-for-the-return-of-donovan-mitchell-hes-a-real-real-superstar/"]Marc J. Spears @ Andscape[/URL]

Marc J. Spears: Ex-Jazz coach [URL="https://*********.com/social/"]Quin Snyder will serve as camp director at the Basketball Africa League combine for 30 prospects in Paris on Jan. 15-16.[/URL] Prospects will take part in athletic testing, skill development and 5-on-5 games in front of execs from 12 teams playing in @theBAL 2023 season.
– via [URL="https://twitter.com/MarcJSpears"]Twitter MarcJSpears[/URL]

[URL="https://theathletic.com/4071072/2023/01/09/donovan-mitchell-returns-utah/"]There is, or there should be, mutual appreciation between Mitchell and Jazz fans. I’m not sure there is mutual love. “I don’t know. We did a lot of great things there.[/URL] We did not accomplish our main goal. I don’t know what the response is going to be, and I am hopeful there will be cheers,” Mitchell told reporters after the Cavaliers’ game in Phoenix on Jan. 8. “Like I said, I had a lot of positives despite not winning a championship. That is not easy and only one team does it. “At the end of the day, we played well, and we had great groups of coaches. For me, it is just to get another win on the road. I understand there is going to be a lot of stuff going on but we just have to win as a group.”
– via [URL="https://theathletic.com/4071072/2023/01/09/donovan-mitchell-returns-utah/"]Tony Jones @ The Athletic[/URL]

“I know I’ve gotten better as a player, gotten more mature as a person, so I think it just takes time to evolve,” Markkanen said. “Just sometimes I feel like I’m in the right place at the right time clicking with the coaching staff, system and the guys I’m surrounded with. It’s a different path for everybody.” Bulls [URL="https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/35415238/the-hoop-collective-first-round-picks-no-use-lebron-james-here-why"]guard Zach LaVine, Markkanen’s former teammate in Chicago, said: “I’m just happy for him. He’s 100% an All-Star in my book.”[/URL]
– via [URL="https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/35415238/the-hoop-collective-first-round-picks-no-use-lebron-james-here-why"]Brian Windhorst @ ESPN[/URL]

Michael Scotto: Pistons [URL="https://*********.com/lists/nba-rumors-knicks-lakers-raptors-mavericks-pistons-kevin-durant/"]guard Alec Burks has drawn interest on the trade market from several playoff-caliber teams, league sources told *********.[/URL] The 31-year-old veteran has averaged 14 points on a career-high 46.4 percent from the field and 44.7 percent from beyond the arc. Next season, Burks has a $10.49 million team option, which the Pistons are expected to exercise if he remains with the team past the trade deadline, given his strong play and veteran presence.
– via [URL="https://*********.com/lists/nba-rumors-knicks-lakers-raptors-mavericks-pistons-kevin-durant/"]Michael Scotto @ *********[/URL]

One Eastern Conference executive shared with Heavy Sports where things stand with Atlanta and Collins and the likelihood that the Nets would be able to get a deal done for the sixth-year forward. “What you are seeing with Collins now is that the Hawks want him to be treated like an All-Star, they want a big-time return for Collins—not quite like the Rudy Gobert or Donovan Mitchell trades, but something in that neighborhood. And everyone else looks at him like he’s a guy who is owed $100 million over the next four years and is having the worst year of his career. [URL="https://heavy.com/sports/brooklyn-nets/john-collins-nets-asking-price/"]The Nets can build a package around Joe Harris to make the money match, and add in Royce O’Neale and Cam Thomas[/URL].
– via [URL="https://heavy.com/sports/brooklyn-nets/john-collins-nets-asking-price/"]Thomas Darro @ Heavy.com[/URL]