NBA News Today: Gary Payton II expected to be out for at least a month, Mikal Bridges’ streak lives on, and more
Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II will miss at least a month due to an abdominal injury.
In other news, Brooklyn Nets wing Mikal Bridges’ league-best consecutive games played streak will live on. This comes despite him missing his first career game last week.
On that note, here's the latest news from around the NBA as of Feb. 15, 2023.
Gary Payton II out at least a month
Gary Payton II underwent offseason abdominal surgery and never fully recovered. The lingering injury was uncovered during Payton’s physical following his trade to Golden State last week. Payton is now listed as out due to right adductor soreness, stemming from the abdominal area. According to Warriors general manager Bob Myers, Payton will be reevaluated in one month.
“Gary’s going to be out. We’re going to evaluate him in a month. It is our determination he’s not ready to play right now,” Myers said.
Payton played a key role for the Warriors’ 2022 title team last season. Payton then parlayed his strong play into a three-year, $28 million contract with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Payton averaged just 4.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game on 58.5% shooting over 15 games with Portland. However, Myers is confident that Payton will once again be able to help the Warriors once he gets healthy.
“As far as Gary, what he does for us, I think you all know, you’ve seen what he does for us,” Myers said. "We’re trying to help give this team a boost, near term, long term."
Mikal Bridges' consecutive games streak lives on despite missing a game
Mikal Bridges’ consecutive games played streak was in danger of ending following his trade from Phoenix to Brooklyn last Thursday. Bridges had not missed a single game since being drafted in 2018. However, he was forced to miss a game last week for the first time in his career as the trade was still being processed by the NBA.
Bridges was officially listed as “inactive — trade pending” when the Nets took on Chicago on Thursday. However, the league has since determined that since Bridges was ineligible to play, it won’t count as a missed game. As a result, Bridges’ league-best consecutive games streak reached 367 following Brooklyn’s loss to New York on Monday night.
“You want your dudes available on a nightly basis and Mikal Bridges is a guy that takes pride in that,” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn said.
“He’s done it his whole career, so when you’re thinking about game planning and what’s next for the team, when you can pen a guy in on a nightly basis, that eases the mind of a coach."
State Farm All-Star Saturday Night participants revealed
NBA All-Star Weekend 2023 in Salt Lake City is set to tip off on Friday. With the event fast approaching, the league has released the full slate of participants for the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night competitions.
This includes the Kia Skills Challenge, Starry 3-Point Contest and AT&T Slam Dunk Contest. The events will start at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday and will air on TNT. The full slate of players who will be competing is as follows:
Kia Skills Challenge
Team Antetokounmpo: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Alex Antetokounmpo.
Team Jazz: Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, Walker Kessler.
Team Rookies: Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith Jr., Jaden Ivey.
Starry 3-Point Contest
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics.
Kevin Huerter, Sacramento Kings.
Tyler Herro, Miami Heat.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers.
Buddy Hield, Indiana Pacers.
Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers.
Anfernee Simons, Portland Trail Blazers.
Lauri Markkanen, Utah Jazz.
AT&T Slam Dunk Contest
Jericho Sims, New York Knicks.
Mac McClung, Philadelphia 76ers (two-way contract).
Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans.
K.J. Martin, Houston Rockets.
Lakers front office frustrated with Darvin Ham’s management of LeBron James
LA Lakers star forward LeBron James has missed the last three games due to what has been described as “left ankle soreness.” However, Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes also reported that James has been dealing with a foot injury all season.
James’ injury has reportedly gotten worse throughout the season and peaked last Tuesday versus OKC. As a result, the Lakers’ front office is reportedly frustrated with coach Darvin Ham for how he has managed James’ minutes in his age-38 season.
During an appearance on "The Hoop Collective" podcast, ESPN's Dave McMenamin explained that Ham has chosen to play James 40-plus minutes regularly. This comes despite Ham knowing about James’ injury. McMenamin then went on to explain what he has heard from people surrounding the Lakers regarding Ham’s questionable decisions.
"38 years old, 20th season, 40-plus minutes on the regular. Some of the people I speak to, around the team let's put it that way, were like, 'what are we doing here? Playing him 40 minutes again? We're going to run him into the ground,’” McMenamin reported.
"It's not the minutes, it's the minutes while a player is dealing with something."
LeBron James is averaging 30.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game on 50.8% shooting through 44 games. He is listed as questionable for Wednesday’s game against New Orleans.
Ben Simmons expected to be made available in the offseason
Brooklyn Nets point forward Ben Simmons has struggled mightily in his first season with the Nets. Simmons is averaging just 7.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game on 56.7% shooting through 41 games.
He has done so despite being on a max contract that is paying him $35.4 million this season and a guaranteed $113.7 million until the end of 2025. With Brooklyn trending towards a rebuild after trading away Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving last week, it appears Simmons could be next to go.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, the Nets are widely expected to make Simmons available in the offseason.
"What becomes of Simmons and the final two years and nearly $80 million remaining on his contract after this season is of course another dynamic to monitor in Brooklyn. The Nets are widely expected to gauge what trade market could materialize for Simmons after his disappointing campaign comes to a close,” Fischer reported.
What did and did not happen at the NBA’s trade deadline always sets the stage for offseason activity. For @YahooSports, a look at several cliffhangers around the league to keep an eye during this stretch run and playoffs: sports.yahoo.com/kevin-durant-m…
It remains to be seen if any team will show interest in Simmons given his limited production and high salary. However, he is still just 26 years old and is a three-time All-Star and two-time NBA All-Defensive First Team member. So perhaps there will be a team that talks themselves into taking a chance on the former No. 1 pick’s upside.