NBA Player News

After failing to crack the Celtics rotation after being acquired at the February trade deadline, Springer aims to change that in 2024-25. The 2021 first-round pick played well on Saturday, leading the Celtics in scoring while dishing out six assists without committing a turnover. The Celtics have starters Derrick White and Jrue Holiday, and backup Payton Pritchard has also earned his opportunities. The path to a rotation spot won’t be easy for Springer to travel, but days like Saturday will help.

According to Cowley, the Timberwolves are “looking to fix the primary ball-handling situation that’s been an issue all season long,” and they are “not looking to wait until February and the trade deadline to get a deal done.” Anthony Edwards has been playing a fair amount of point guard, or initiating more of the offense for the Timberwolves, but that apparently doesn’t feel sustainable for them. White turned down an extension with the Bulls last offseason and wanted “to bet on himself and explore unrestricted free agency come next July,” so the Bulls may prefer getting something in return for him, rather than risk letting him walk for free.

Smith has missed the last five games with a hamstring injury but will return on Friday. The wrinkle is that Zach Collins (wrist) returned to the court for the first time this season while Smith was sidelined. The two have not played together this season, so it remains to be seen how the minutes will be distributed, but neither player will likely have much fantasy appeal.

Okoro has missed the last eight games with a back injury, but could be back and starting on Friday, with Kevin Huerter (hamstring) still out. Okoro has averaged 8.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 15 games this season.

Collins had offseason wrist surgery and returned to the court for the first time last Friday. In two games, he’s averaged 5.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.0 assists while playing 20 minutes a game. The Bulls are understandably being cautious with his recovery, but we should expect about 20 minutes from him again on Friday.

Morant has missed 10 games with a calf injury after playing only six minutes on November 15th against the Cavaliers. It now seems like we have a good chance of seeing him back on the court on Friday. In his stead, Vince Williams Jr. has taken over the starting point guard role and had performed well before slowing of late. Cam Spencer has also begun to earn more minutes at Williams’ expense over the last week, but both players should see their minutes and usage take a hit when Morant returns.

Clifford is averaging just under 15 minutes per game over his last five games, but he had 16 points, seven rebounds, and one steal in 32 minutes in the G-League on Tuesday and will now be back up with the Kings and in the starting lineup. We wouldn’t go ahead and run to add him yet, but it does make sense for the Kings to give their rookie more playing time in what’s looking to be a lost season.

Prince spoke to reporters on Thursday for the first time since surgery. He admitted that “the only way to hoop again was to get the surgery.” He said he is “100 percent” certain that he’s going to play again, but there is no timeline for his return. At this point, Prince is just thankful that he’s “still here to speak and be able to have an opportunity to hoop again.”

Jones practiced fully on Thursday for the second straight day and is now expected to suit up on Friday. He has missed three games, and the Bulls can certainly use him with both Ayo Dosunmu (thumb) and Kevin Huerter (hamstring) still out.

Huerter was injured on December 1st and was to be re-evaluated after one week. Still, after that evaluation, he will not travel with the team to Charlotte and will miss yet another game. There is no more information on when he might return.

Bulls head coach Billy Donovan confirmed that neither Ayo Dosunmu nor Kevin Huerter will travel to Charlotte for Friday’s game. Dosunmu returned to action on Sunday after missing one game with his thumb injury, but then he was unable to practice on Monday and will now miss Friday’s game. It remains to be seen how much longer he will miss. With Tre Jones also out, Jevon Carter has seen an uptick in playing time.