Hoops Rumors

Star guard Bradley Beal fully participated in the Suns‘ practice on Thursday, but he’s not quite ready to return from his back injury, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The team wants to get Beal some more practice reps before reinserting him into its lineup, according to head coach Frank Vogel. “We want to see him stack together a few practices where he responds … [Read more...] about Injury Notes: Beal, Suns, Porzingis, Harris, Adebayo, Jazz

Winning the first in-season tournament will be a historic accomplishment, but is it worth hanging a banner in the rafters? Joe Vardon of The Athletic suggests the answer may depend on which team leaves Las Vegas with the trophy. The Lakers, who already have 17 banners, and the Bucks, who were crowned champions three years ago, may be less likely to hang up a banner than the … [Read more...] about In-Season Tournament Notes: Banner, Lakers’ Timeout, Tatum, Ratings

Kristaps Porzingis blames immaturity and a personality conflict with Luka Doncic for the failure of their time together with the Mavericks, writes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. The Celtics big man made the comments during an appearance on The Old Man and the Three podcast (video link), hosted by J.J. Redick, who was also with the Mavs for part of that time. Dallas … [Read more...] about Southwest Notes: Porzingis, Spurs, Williams, Alvarado

Appearing on FanDuel’s Run It Back show (Twitter video link), Shams Charania of The Athletic said that he anticipates the Celtics being active on the trade market as February’s deadline nears. The goal for the C’s, Charania says, will be to “beef up” their bench rotation. The expectation coming into the season was that Boston would have a top-heavy roster, and that has … [Read more...] about Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Koloko, Siakam, Sixers

The Magic’s Jamahl Mosley has been named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month, NBA Communications tweets. The Timberwolves’ Chris Finch earned Western Conference Coach of the Month honors. This is the first time that Mosley has won the league’s top monthly honor. It’s also the first time a Magic coach has received the honor since Steve Clifford in March/April 2019. During … [Read more...] about Magic’s Mosley, Timberwolves’ Finch Earn Coach Of Month Honors

The Celtics won’t have Kristaps Porzingis for their in-season tournament quarterfinal matchup against the Pacers on Monday. The big man has been ruled out due to a left calf strain, ESPN relays. Porzingis, who has 18.9 points and 6.7 rebounds in his first year with Boston, has already missed the last three games. … [Read more...] about Porzingis Ruled Out For Quarterfinals

Celtics star Jayson Tatum didn’t believe he should have been ejected from Friday’s game, and the league office appears to be in agreement, tweeting that the flagrant foul called against Tatum late in the third quarter has been downgraded to a common foul. As Souichi Terada of MassLive recounts, Tatum was whistled for the flagrant foul while battling for a loose ball with … [Read more...] about Celtics Notes: Tatum, Porzingis, Brown, Mazzulla

The last set of round robin games for the NBA’s first-ever in-season tournament took place on Tuesday night, and the eight quarterfinalists are now known. In the Eastern Conference, the Bucks and Celtics joined the Pacers as group winners, while the Knicks claimed the wild card spot. With a road victory over Miami on Tuesday, Milwaukee secured a 4-0 record in group play, and … [Read more...] about Quarterfinals Set For NBA’s Inaugural In-Season Tournament

As teams battled for a spot in the quarterfinals of the NBA’s first in-season tournament, point differential served as an important tiebreaker. It was used in several instances to determine the winner of a group, a conference’s wild card team, and the seeding of certain quarterfinalists. That sort of tiebreaker is necessary in the round robin stage of an event that sees 30 … [Read more...] about Players, Coaches Gripe About Tournament’s Point Differential Tiebreaker