By John Hollinger | The Athletic, 2026-01-06 15:09:11
洛杉矶电——杰伦·布朗 (Jaylen Brown)命中一记急停跳投。接着又是一记。然后又是一记。紧接着又是好几记。
到当晚比赛结束时，他完成了一项看似几乎不可能的壮举：砍下50分，而其中仅有两次出手来自合理冲撞区。布朗命中了两次突破上篮，两次近距离抛投（其中一次还是左手！），以及14记10英尺及更远的跳投，并以26投18中的超高效率痛击洛杉矶快船队。
他在油漆区外出手15次，命中11球，几乎全部是运球后的出手，并且有好几球都面临着洛杉矶快船队严密的防守。他命中的球中有八记是清脆的空心入网，直到投进那记让他得分达到50分的压哨投篮前，他甚至都不需要任何幸运的篮筐弹滚。这是我所见过的手感最炸裂的投篮表演之一。
我之所以提及此事，是因为布朗的表现将他带入了一场奖项讨论，而这场讨论正日益面临着跑偏的威胁。
这并非是要讨论布朗本人，他的表现已经说明了一切——他的球员效率值（PER）排名联盟第五，仅缺席两场比赛，并且尽管杰森·塔图姆 (Jayson Tatum)遭遇跟腱伤病，他所在的凯尔特人队依然拥有东部最佳的净效率值。相反，这是一个讨论的切入点，关乎联盟65场竞赛规则所带来的意外后果，以及在一场本应是史诗级的NBA MVP争夺战中，这条规则是否会最终让我们只剩下两名候选人——布朗和俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander)。
通常情况下，布朗的表现可能会很自然地引导我们进行一场关于“质量与数量”的辩论：他以如此高水平打满整个赛季，是否比像尼古拉·约基奇 (Nikola Jokić)那样为丹佛队打出了一个打破纪录赛季的约四分之三赛程更有价值。即使吉尔杰斯-亚历山大最终超越了他们两人，我们本会对第二、三名以及选票上更靠后的排名展开激烈讨论，也会对约基奇和其他几位因伤缺阵的精英球员在年度最佳阵容中的位置进行深入探讨。
你可能会惊讶地发现，这些争论早在“负荷管理 (load management)”这个词出现之前就已存在。例如在1985年，奖项投票者们就认定，伯纳德·金 (Bernard King)作为尼克斯球员出战的55场比赛表现足够惊艳，值得入选年度最佳阵容一阵。
但我们在2025年将不会有这样的辩论，因为它已经被提前决定了。2023年劳资协议中增加的65场出场要求，本是为应对负荷管理而生，但如今，实实在在的伤病却可能让这条规则沦为笑柄，因为它将使联盟中几位最顶尖的球员仅因几场之差而无缘评选。与此同时，当球队认为符合自身利益时，仍然会愉快地在全美直播的比赛中进行负荷管理，就像金州勇士队在我现场观看的周五对阵俄克ла荷马城雷霆队那场131-94的惊心动魄的比赛中所做的一样，又或者像丹佛掘金队在周一晚于费城的比赛中所做的那样。
但至少现在我们多了一项“福利”：无论你用何种指标衡量，都打出了历史级数据赛季之一的约基奇，甚至连年度最佳阵容三阵都进不了。
赛季尚未过半，极有可能无法达到65场出场门槛的精英球员名单已经令人咋舌，其中可能包括了联盟中五位最佳球员中的四位，以及一位历史级巨星：
- 打出历史级赛季的约基奇，将缺阵至本月底左右，甚至可能更久。如果他在2月1日复出，他必须打满掘金队本赛季余下的所有比赛才有资格参评，包括全部六组背靠背比赛，并且其中只有一场比赛的出场时间可以少于20分钟。（在他受伤的那场比赛中，他只打了19分钟；联盟最多允许两场这样的比赛。）
- 圣安东尼奥马刺队的维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama)，正迎来他爆发的第三个赛季，如果能保持资格，他绝对是年度最佳防守球员的不二人选。但他已经缺席了14场比赛，还有一场比赛出场时间少于20分钟。虽然圣安东尼奥打了NBA杯决赛的“第83场比赛”对他有所帮助，但他本赛季剩余比赛（马刺队还剩47场）中最多只能再缺席5场，并且除了1场之外，其余所有比赛都必须出场至少20分钟。
- 密尔沃基雄鹿队的扬尼斯·阿德托昆博 (Giannis Antetokounmpo)，这位两届MVP得主在他出战的22场比赛中悄然打出了惊人的35.1的球员效率值(PER)，但他本赛季剩余比赛中最多只能再缺席三场才能获得评奖资格。他出战的22场比赛中甚至有一场不被计入有效场次，因为他本赛季有三次出场时间少于20分钟。
- 湖人队的勒布朗·詹姆斯 (LeBron James)，当然，这位41岁的球员在连续21个赛季入选年度最佳阵容后，可能已经不再是这个级别的球员了。但如果詹姆斯再多缺席两场比赛，联盟将剥夺投票者的决定权。
其他几位球员也已缺席了足够多的比赛，足以让人担忧他们距离失去评奖资格只差一次脚踝扭伤。这份名单包括卢卡·东契奇 (Luka Dončić)、安东尼·爱德华兹 (Anthony Edwards)、斯蒂芬·库里 (Steph Curry)和科怀·伦纳德 (Kawhi Leonard)等超级巨星，以及阿尔佩伦·申京 (Alperen Şengün)和奥斯汀·里夫斯 (Austin Reaves)等新兴之星。
至少他们仍有希望获得奖项。而俄克拉荷马城雷霆队的明星球员杰伦·威廉姆斯 (Jalen Williams)，一年前还是年度最佳阵容的成员，如今已经失去了资格，同样失去资格的还有阿隆·戈登 (Aaron Gordon)、乔尔·恩比德 (Joel Embiid)、安东尼·戴维斯 (Anthony Davis)和特雷·杨 (Trae Young)。
这是一项影响深远的规则，其冲击远不止MVP选票。如果你想宣布某人出场少于65场就不能成为MVP，那是一回事（尽管这个武断的终点线令人抓狂）。但联盟的做法远不止于此，他们规定，即便约基奇、文班和扬尼斯打出64场半神级的篮球，他们甚至连年度最佳阵容三阵都无法入选。当像朱利叶斯·兰德尔 (Julius Randle)或卡尔-安东尼·唐斯 (Karl-Anthony Towns)这样的球员打了67场比赛，并取代了只打了62场左右的约基奇的年度最佳阵容席位时，场面将会非常滑稽——尤其是如果约基奇的总出场时间反而更多的话。
这些规则的影响也向下延伸，尤其是在年度最佳防守阵容的评选中，出场时间有限的专家型球员在投票中可能成为一个更大的影响因素。例如，底特律活塞队的以赛亚·斯图尔特 (Isaiah Stewart)只缺席了三场比赛，但在另外六场比赛中出场时间少于20分钟。他必须在底特律剩余的47场比赛中至少有37场打满20分钟，才有资格参评最佳防守阵容；这正是上赛季快船队的克里斯·邓恩 (Kris Dunn)曾落入的无意中撒下的大网。
最后，我们应该注意到，这不仅仅关乎奖杯，也关乎财务。例如，如果约基奇、文班亚马等人的不合格清空了竞争者，导致底特律的杰伦·杜伦 (Jalen Duren)入选年度最佳阵容三阵，那么他明年夏天作为受限制自由球员，就有资格获得工资帽30%的顶薪合同。
杰伦·威廉姆斯已经失去资格，这使他因入选年度最佳阵容而提升新秀续约合同薪水的可能性化为泡影；他今年夏天签下的合同，如果能入选年度最佳阵容三阵，薪水将是工资帽的26%，如果入选一阵，则是30%。另一方面，他的队友切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren)可能因为文班亚马失去资格而意外获得年度最佳防守球员奖；如果这一条款写在他今年夏天的续约合同中，这可能会为他每个赛季多赚数百万美元（并对雷霆队其余的薪金空间产生连锁反应）。
切特·霍姆格伦高高跃起防守凯尔登·约翰逊 (Keldon Johnson)的投篮。(Scott Wachter / Imagn Images)
此类事件中下一个可能抬头的大问题将在一年后出现。如果文班亚马在2026-27赛季未能达到65场出场门槛，他将没有资格在他今夏几乎肯定会签下的顶薪续约合同中，获得工资帽30%的“罗斯条款”涨薪。
如果我能用一个词来总结我对这一切的反应，那就是“为什么？”联盟里的人们对负荷管理感到恼火，于是在沙滩上武断地画下了一条非黑即白的界线，而现在我们可能要面对一些令人震惊的意外后果。当然，也许约基奇和文班亚马最终都能打到65场，一切都会好起来，但不可避免的是，总有一天会没那么顺利。
设立投票评选奖项的全部意义，就在于让投票者来决定多少场比赛才算足够，以及一个像尼古拉·约基奇这样的球员，在出场次数较少的情况下，需要产生多大的影响力才能超越一个像杰伦·布朗这样的球员。我们失去了这一点，而我认为这得不偿失。
薪资专家解读：合同保障周来临
对于薪资迷们来说，本周我们迎来了一个有趣的截止日期。理论上，NBA合同将于1月10日转为赛季全额保障，但实际上，保障日期是周三下午。球员必须在1月10日之前度过澄清期，而这个过程需要48小时。
然而，当我说“保障”时，我指的只是一小部分合同。绝大多数NBA合同都是完全保障的，而那些非保障合同中，许多也有更早的触发日期来转为全额保障。（例如，波士顿凯尔特人队的内米亚斯·克塔 (Neemias Queta)的合同在他进入揭幕战大名单时就已转为全额保障。）
尽管如此，我们还是剩下一些球员，如果他们在周三东部时间下午5点前被裁掉，他们的薪水将几乎没有保障。根据Spotrac网站的基思·史密斯 (Keith Smith)最近的统计，这样的球员有30名，其中28份是底薪合同。两个例外是克利夫兰骑士队的迪恩·韦德 (Dean Wade)和迈阿密热火队的特里·罗齐尔 (Terry Rozier)的部分保障合同，但这两人本周都不太可能被裁掉。罗齐尔虽然离队，但他2660万美元薪水中的2490万已经得到保障，并且作为交易中的匹配薪资比作为死钱空间更有用。
即使对于这30名非保障球员，绝大多数对于他们的球队来说都非常重要，以至于裁掉他们是荒谬的。仅以亚特兰大老鹰队为例，维特·克雷伊奇 (Vit Krejčí)、莫·盖伊 (Mo Gueye)和基顿·华莱士 (Keaton Wallace)都已足够重要，保障他们的合同对老鹰队来说似乎是无需思考的决定。（更不用说如果他们胆敢裁掉克雷伊奇，将要面对我无法控制的怒火了。）
然而，其中一些情况似乎很可能出现“裁掉后签10天短合同”的操作，即球队裁掉球员，但立即与他们签下一份10天短合同（提醒一下，除非是伤病困难特例，否则10天短合同只能在1月5日或之后签署），这样既能留住球员，又能在交易截止日前保持薪金和阵容的灵活性。
具体来说，我认为有七名球员可能或很可能成为这种操作的对象：印第安纳步行者队的迈卡·波特 (Micah Potter)，多伦多猛龙队的莫·班巴 (Mo Bamba)，密尔沃基雄鹿队的阿米尔·科菲 (Amir Coffey)，底特律活塞队的艾萨克·琼斯 (Isaac Jones)，圣安东尼奥马刺队的俾斯麦·比永博 (Bismack Biyombo)和林迪·沃特斯三世 (Lindy Waters III)，以及纽约尼克斯队的阿里尔·胡克波尔蒂 (Ariel Hukporti)。特别是最近刚加盟的班巴，如果他晚几天签约，很可能现在拿的就是一份10天短合同。印第安纳步行者队也已经裁掉了托尼·布拉德利 (Tony Bradley)，他也是一个可能以10天短合同回归的人选。（我过去曾提到过，亚特兰大老鹰队裁掉受伤的恩法利·丹特 (N’Faly Dante)并无益处，尽管他的合同是非保障的，这要归咎于一个鲜为人知的麻烦——“薪资延续支付”。他几乎肯定会留在账面上直到交易截止日，以备交易中需要他230万美元的薪水。）
顺便说一句：我还预计本周双向合同方面会有一些动静。这些合同中的大部分也将在周三转为保障，而双向合同领域涵盖了96个大多不稳固的阵容名额。然而，由于这笔钱不计入工资帽，很多球队并不太在意支付一份保障合同。
本周新秀：科比·桑德斯，身高6英尺8英寸，司职得分后卫，效力于快船队
(本栏目不一定介绍每周表现最好的新秀，只是我一直在观察的那一位。)
有时候，当你没有时间去思考正在发生什么时，反而会不那么紧张。周一晚快船队对阵金州勇士队的比赛开始前不久，新秀后卫科比·桑德斯 (Kobe Sanders)得知计划有变：他将顶替全明星球员詹姆斯·哈登 (James Harden)进入首发阵容。正如他在赛后所说，桑德斯“差不多和你们同时”得知这一变化，但他以赛季新高的20分作为回应，帮助人手短缺的快船队——阵容精简到只有八人轮换——以103-102险胜勇士队。
作为来自内华达大学的次轮末段秀（第50顺位），桑德斯能够赢得比赛时间，部分原因是快船队的替补阵容挣扎，也因为他自身的位置尺寸和持球技术。进攻端的表现并非总能兑现，但在一个赛季开局6胜21负的悲惨阶段里，球队经常在速度、弹跳和拼劲上被对手超越，而他作为一名具备尺寸和年轻活力的多位置防守者的可行性，使他成为了一个重要的齿轮。
他也比大多数新秀更有经验。
“ 虽然我是个菜鸟，但我这辈子打了很多篮球，”桑德斯说。“我的意思是，我大学读了五年，而且五年都在打球。没多少人能这么说。”
两天前，他在轮换阵容中的时间似乎即将耗尽，因为快船队的其他老将正在恢复健康，而桑德斯在惨败给波士顿凯尔特人队的比赛中一分未得，还出现了四次失误。但对阵金州勇士队的意外首发翻开了新的一页；桑德斯投篮充满自信，在他9次出手中命中了6记运球后的急停跳投，并贡献了7个篮板。这些进球也并非轻松得手；其中有五记是在严密防守下投进的。
“我刚听到了一个小小的智慧之言，那就是NBA关乎稳定性和机会，”桑德斯说。“现在我很幸运地获得了机会，我正努力保持稳定。”
在压力下命中跳投的能力尤其突出；身高6英尺8英寸的他，总能在外线防守者面前从容出手。周一，他在摩西·穆迪 (Moses Moody)、小加里·佩顿 (Gary Payton II)和库里等人面前都做到了这一点。请看这里，他如何杀入自己的“办公室”（习惯的得分区域），并在顶级防守者佩顿面前完成出手：
最终，你会希望看到桑德斯的投篮组合中减少一些高难度的两分球，增加更多的三分球和上篮（他在周日确实命中了一记离三分线几英尺远的超远三分）。但如果你要对他挑剔，问题更多在于他在投篮与传球决策上的失误，而非他的投篮效率。他在周日的比赛中有三次失误，整个赛季的失误数和助攻数一样多；作为一名角色球员，这是不行的。例如，下面这次就是一个完全可以避免的失误，在他的突破被阻挡后，他下意识地将球传出，结果直接导致对手抢断快攻得分：
糟糕的失误率是为什么尽管他作为职业球员的前26场比赛投篮命中率不错，但高阶数据对他评价不高的原因。但从历史上看，这也是一些新秀能随着获得更多比赛经验而改正的问题。桑德斯已经展现出足够的投篮潜力和防守能力，如果他能在没有投篮机会时更频繁地做好串联工作，他就能稳固地扮演一个角色；如果能做到这一点，他将最终成为快船队阵容中的一个宝贵发现，因为这支球队迫切需要廉价的深度球员。
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Will unintended consequences ruin this year's MVP vote, All-NBA teams?
Will unintended consequences ruin this year’s MVP vote, All-NBA teams?
LOS ANGELES — Jaylen Brown made one pull-up jump shot. And then another. And then another. And then a few more.
By the end of the night, he’d done what seemed virtually impossible, scoring 50 points with the benefit of just two shots in the restricted area. Brown made two driving layups, two short-range floaters (one of them left-handed!) and 14 jump shots of 10 feet or longer, while torching the LA Clippers on 18-of-26 shooting.
He took 15 shots outside the paint and made 11 of them, almost all of them off the dribble and several well-contested by LA. Eight of his makes were clean swishes, and he didn’t even need to get a kind roll or bounce until the final field goal that gave him 50. It was one of the most unconscious shooting performances I’ve ever seen.
I bring this up because Brown’s performance elevated him to an awards discussion that is increasingly threatening to go sideways.
This isn’t about Brown, whose play speaks for itself — he’s fifth in PER and has only missed two games, and his Celtics have the best net rating in the Eastern Conference despite Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury. But rather, it’s an entry point to a discussion about the unintended consequences of the league’s 65-game rule and whether it will essentially leave us with only two players standing — Brown and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — in what otherwise would be an epic NBA MVP race.
Normally, Brown’s play might naturally lead us toward a quality vs. quantity argument about the merits of whether his playing a full season at this level was more valuable than somebody like Nikola Jokić playing roughly three-quarters of a record-smashing season for Denver. Even if Gilgeous-Alexander ultimately topped both of them, we would have spirited discussions about second and third, and further down the ballot, about the All-NBA spots regarding Jokić and several other elite players who have missed time.
You might be surprised to learn that these arguments existed long before “load management” was a term. In 1985, for instance, award voters determined that Bernard King’s 55 games as a Knick were sufficiently awesome to merit a first-team All-NBA selection.
But we won’t be having this debate in 2025, because it’s already decided for us. The 65-game requirement added to the 2023 collective bargaining agreement came as a response to load management, but actual, honest-to-goodness injuries threaten to make a mockery of it by leaving several of the league’s best players just a few games short of the threshold. Meanwhile, teams are still happily load-managing their ways through national TV games when they feel it’s in their interests, as Golden State did on Friday against Oklahoma City in the 131-94 thriller I attended, or as Denver did on Monday night in Philadelphia.
But at least now we have the added bonus that Jokić, who is having one of the greatest statistical seasons of all time by whatever metric you choose, won’t even make Third Team All-NBA.
We’re not even halfway through the season, and the list of elite players who are highly unlikely to meet the 65-game threshold is already staggering, including arguably four of the five best players in the league and one all-time great:
- Jokić, having an all-time great season, will be out until the end of the month, roughly, if not longer. If he comes back on Feb. 1, he will have to play every Nuggets game the rest of the season to be award-eligible, including all six back-to-back sets, and can only play fewer than 20 minutes in one of them. (He only played 19 in the game he was hurt; the league gives you a maximum of two.)
- San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, having a breakout third season and an absolute shoo-in for Defensive Player of the Year if he remains eligible, has missed 14 games already and played fewer than 20 minutes in another. He is helped by the “83rd game” San Antonio played in the NBA Cup final but still can only miss five games the rest of the season (the Spurs have 47 games left) and must play at least 20 minutes in all but one.
- Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP who has quietly posted a jaw-dropping 35.1 PER in his 22 games, can only miss three games the rest of the way to be award-eligible. One of the 22 games he played doesn’t even count because three of his appearances this year have lasted fewer than 20 minutes.
- The Lakers’ LeBron James, of course, might no longer be an All-NBA player at age 41 after making one of the teams for the last 21 consecutive seasons. But the league will take the bat out of voters’ hands to decide if James misses just two more games.
Several other players have missed enough games to at least warrant some concern that they are one turned ankle away from award ineligibility. That list includes superstars such as Luka Dončić, Anthony Edwards, Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard, and emerging stars such as Alperen Şengün and Austin Reaves.
At least they’re still potentially alive for awards. Oklahoma City star Jalen Williams, an All-NBA selection a year ago, is already ineligible, as are Aaron Gordon, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Trae Young.
This is a sweeping rule that impacts much more than the MVP ballot. If you want to declare that somebody can’t be MVP with fewer than 65 games played, that’s one thing (even if the arbitrary endpoint here is maddening). But the league has gone way beyond this by saying that Joker, Wemby and Giannis can’t even be All-NBA Third Team picks if they play 64 games of demi-god-level basketball. It’s going to be hilarious when somebody like Julius Randle or Karl-Anthony Towns plays 67 games and takes Jokić’s All-NBA spot because he only played 62 or whatever, especially if Jokić still has played more total minutes.
The rules have impacts further down the food chain, too, particularly in All-Defensive team selection, where limited-minutes specialists can be a much bigger factor in the voting. Detroit’s Isaiah Stewart, for instance, has only missed three games but has played fewer than 20 minutes in six others. He has to make it to 20 minutes in at least 37 of Detroit’s remaining 47 games just to be All-Defense eligible; this is the same accidental dragnet that caught the Clippers’ Kris Dunn a season ago.
Finally, we should note that this isn’t just about trophies; it’s also about finances. For instance, if the ineligibility of Jokić, Wemby and others cleans out the field and results in Detroit’s Jalen Duren making third-team All-NBA, he becomes eligible for 30 percent of the salary cap as a restricted free agent next summer.
Jalen Williams already being ineligible knocks out the possibility of him getting a raise on his rookie extension as a result of an All-NBA selection; the deal he signed this summer would have paid him 26 percent of the salary cap if he made All-NBA Third Team and 30 percent if he made All-NBA First Team. On the flip side, his teammate Chet Holmgren could back into a Defensive Player of the Year award if Wembanyama isn’t eligible; that could have earned him several million dollars more per season (with knock-on effects on the rest of the Thunder’s cap) if it had been written into his extension this summer.
Chet Holmgren rises to defend a shot by Keldon Johnson. (Scott Wachter / Imagn Images)
The next big item of this ilk that may rear its head comes one year from now. If Wembanyama falls short of the 65-game threshold in 2026-27, he will be ineligible for the 30 percent of the cap “Rose Rule” raise on what will surely be a max contract extension he signs this summer.
If I could sum up my reaction to all this in one word, it would be “Why?” People in the league were annoyed by load management and drew an arbitrary yes/no line in the sand, and now we’re potentially looking at some jarring unintended consequences. Sure, maybe Joker and Wemby still get to 65, and everything turns out fine, but inevitably, one of these years it won’t work out as neatly.
The whole point of having people vote on the awards is to let them decide how many games are enough and how much impact a Nikola Jokić needs to make to outrank a Jaylen Brown while playing fewer games. We’ve lost that, and I’d argue it was a bad trade.
Cap Geekery: It’s Guarantee Week
We have a fun deadline for cap nerds this week. NBA contracts become guaranteed for the season on Jan. 10, in theory, but in practice, that guarantee date is Wednesday afternoon. Players must clear waivers in time for Jan. 10, and that process takes 48 hours.
When I say “guarantee,” however, I’m only referring to a small handful of deals. The vast majority of NBA contracts are fully guaranteed, and many of those that aren’t have earlier trigger dates for the guarantee to hit. (For example, the contract for Boston’s Neemias Queta became fully guaranteed when he made the opening night roster.)
That said, we are left with a few players who have little or no salary protection if they are waived by Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m. Eastern. There are 30 of them, as Spotrac’s Keith Smith recently tallied, and of those, 28 are deals for the minimum. The two exceptions are partially guaranteed deals for Cleveland’s Dean Wade and Miami’s Terry Rozier, neither of whom is likely to be waived this week. Rozier is away from the team but already has $24.9 million of his $26.6 million salary guaranteed and is much more useful as matching salary in a trade than as a dead money cap hit.
Even for those 30 non-guaranteed players, the vast majority have been important enough to their teams that waiving them would be preposterous. Just in Atlanta, for instance, Vit Krejčí, Mo Gueye and Keaton Wallace have all been important enough that guaranteeing their deals seems like a no-brainer for the Hawks. (Let alone facing my uncontrolled wrath if they dared to waive Krejčí.)
However, a few of these situations seem rife for a “cut-plus-10” move, where the team waives the player but immediately signs them to a 10-day contact (as a reminder, 10-days can only be signed on or after Jan. 5 unless it’s an injury hardship contract), thus keeping the guy around but also preserving cap and roster flexibility until the trade deadline.
In particular, I think seven players would be possible or likely candidates for this maneuver: Indiana’s Micah Potter, Toronto’s Mo Bamba, Milwaukee’s Amir Coffey, Detroit’s Isaac Jones, San Antonio’s Bismack Biyombo and Lindy Waters III and New York’s Ariel Hukporti. The recently arrived Bamba, in particular, probably would already be on a 10-day if he had signed just a few days later. Indiana also already waived Tony Bradley, who would be another candidate to return on a 10-day. (I’ve noted this in the past, but Atlanta has no benefit from waving the injured N’Faly Dante, despite his non-guaranteed deal, due to the little-known scourge called “salary continuation payments.” He’ll almost certainly stay on the books through the trade deadline in case his $2.3 million salary is needed in a trade.)
While we’re here: I’d also expect to see some activity on two-way contracts this week. Most of those deals also guarantee Wednesday, and the two-way universe encompasses 96 mostly tenuous roster spots. However, because the money doesn’t count against the cap, a lot of teams don’t really sweat owing a guarantee.
Rookie of the Week: Kobe Sanders, 6-8 SG, Clippers
(This section won’t necessarily profile the best rookie of the week. Just the one I’ve been watching.)
Sometimes it’s a lot less nerve-wracking when you don’t have time to think about what’s happening. Shortly before the Clippers’ game against Golden State on Monday night, rookie guard Kobe Sanders found out there’d be a slight change in plans: He’d be replacing All-Star James Harden in the starting lineup. Sanders found out about the change “about when y’all did,” as he said after the game, but responded with a season-high 20 points as the short-handed Clippers — whittled down to an eight-man rotation — held off the Warriors 103-102.
A late-second-round pick out of Nevada (50th), Sanders has earned minutes partly because of the Clippers’ bench struggles but also because of his positional size and ball skills. The offensive side hasn’t always translated, but on a team that was routinely outrun, outjumped and outhustled during a miserable 6-21 start, his viability as a multi-positional defender with size and young legs has made him an important cog.
He’s also a bit more experienced than most recent draftees.
**“**Although I’m a rook, I played a lot of basketball in my life,” Sanders said. “I mean, I went to college for five years and played all five years. There’s not a lot of people that could say that.”
Two nights ago, it looked like the clock might be running out on his rotation gig, as the Clippers’ other vets were getting healthy and Sanders struggled with a bagel and four turnovers in a blowout loss to Boston. But the surprise start against Golden State turned the page; Sanders shot with confidence, hitting six pull-up jumpers off the dribble among his nine field goal attempts and chipping in with seven boards. These weren’t gimmes, either; five of them came over close contests.
“I just heard the small little knowledge that the NBA is consistency and opportunity,” Sanders said. “Now I’m blessed with opportunity, and I’m just trying to stay consistent.”
The ability to get to his jump shot under duress is what stood out in particular; at 6-8, he can always get his shot away against perimeter defenders. He did it to Moses Moody, Gary Payton II and Curry, among others, on Monday. Watch here as he drives into his office and gets his shot away on Payton, a top-notch defender:
Eventually, you’d like to see Sanders’ shot mix include fewer tough 2s and more 3s and layups (he did hit one deep bomb from several feet behind the line on Sunday). But if you’re going to pick nits with him, it’s less with his shooting efficiency than with his mistakes on shot-pass decisions. He had three turnovers on Sunday and has as many turnovers as assists on the season; that won’t cut it as a role player. This, for instance, was a very avoidable pick-six turnover on an autopilot kickout pass once his drive was stopped:
The poor turnover rate is why advanced stats are down on him despite solid shooting splits in his first 26 games as a pro, but it’s also something that, historically, some rookies can correct as they get more reps. Sanders has shown enough shooting promise and defensive capability to solidly fill a role if he can just make connecting plays more often when the shot isn’t there; if so, he’ll end up as a nice find on a Clippers roster that sorely needs inexpensive depth pieces.
By John Hollinger, via The Athletic