Three things to know: Jokic has MVP moment with 47 points against Grizzlies

By Kurt HelinApr 20, 2021, 9:00 AM EDT

The NBA season is deep into its second half, and we will be here each weekday with the NBC Sports daily roundup Three Things to Know — everything you might have missed in the Association, every key moment from the night before in one place.

1) Nikola Jokic has his MVP moment with 47 points against Grizzlies

Winning the NBA MVP award takes more than just having the stats — it requires MVP moments. While some voters will say it shouldn’t, the reality is winning the award requires those lasting images and games that help form a narrative to go around those stats.

Denver’s Nikola Jokic had one of those moments Monday night.

Already the MVP frontrunner, Jokic scored 47, added 15 rebounds and eight assists, and hit the dagger three in double-overtime to lift the Nuggets past the Grizzlies on Monday (despite 36 points and 12 assists from Ja Morant).

Nikola Jokic tonight:

47 PTS
15 REB
8 AST
20-31 FG

The first center with a 45/15/8 game since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1996. pic.twitter.com/0vwF4pEYSv

— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 20, 2021

Jokic has MVP numbers: 26.4 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 8.8 assists a game, shooting 41.9% from three this season. The advanced stats love Jokic as well, and he has lifted Denver to a top-four seed in the West despite injuries around him — most recently Jamal Murray, gone for the season with a torn ACL — that have held the Nuggets back.

Some fans and pundits are still trying to force the drama of a race on the MVP chase. Joel Embiid is healthy again in Philadelphia and put together some dominant performances, which has pushed some to say he is back in the mix to win MVP (although Embiid was bottled up down the stretch against the Warriors Monday, skip ahead to No. 2 for more on that).

The problem for Embiid — and for that matter, LeBron James — is simply availability. Jokic has played in every Nuggets game so far this season; Embiid has missed 18 Sixers games. Jokic has played 760 more minutes this season than Embiid — the equivalent of 15.8 full 48-minute games. Or, look at it this way: Jokic has played 73% of Nuggets minutes this season while Embiid has been on the court for 46% of 76ers minutes. (LeBron is at 49% of his team’s minutes.) For comparison, last season Giannis Antetokounmpo missed 10 games and played 55% of Bucks’ minutes (a relatively low percentage because he could take off a lot of fourth quarters thanks to Milwaukee blowouts).

Jokic now has an MVP moment to go with his statistics. Nobody has wrapped up the award with a month to go in the season, but Jokic will be tough to catch.

2) Stephen Curry looks like his MVP self scoring 49 against Philly

Stephen Curry is the hottest player in the NBA — he is playing his way onto some MVP ballots of late.

Monday night he put up a 49-spot on his brother Seth Curry and the 76ers — his 11th straight game with at least 30 points, breaking the record for consecutive 30-point games by a player 33 and older (he had been tied with Kobe).

With the 49-point night, Curry passed Bradley Beal to take over as the NBA’s per-game scoring leader this season. Curry is on fire of late.

Steph Curry in April (10 games):

40.8 PPG
7.2 3PG
55/50/91%

He’s on pace to join James Harden, Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant (3x) and Wilt Chamberlain (11x) as the only players in NBA history to average 40 points in a month (min 10 games). pic.twitter.com/je9AUrm9OE

— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 20, 2021

The Warriors picked up a key win against a shorthanded 76ers team (no Ben Simmons or Tobias Harris). Joel Embiid had 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists, but late in the game Kevon Looney and Draymond Green were able to collapse on him and — without the Sixers’ usual weapons around him — Embiid couldn’t make the Warriors pay for it. That helped secure the Warriors’ win.

3) Suns top Bucks in brilliant game with disappointing ending

Phoenix at Milwaukee was one of the best games of the season, two of the top teams in each conference trading haymakers of big shots — Khris Middleton answering Mikal Bridges as they both hit threes. Giannis Antetokounmpo cramped up and watched the end of the game from the bench, he saw the Suns and his Bucks playing at a high level and just finding a way to make plays.

Then it ended like this.

P.J. Tucker, was that a foul?

“It is what is. They made a call. I think in that situation, it’s a tough call to make. Tied game, overtime, from all the plays that happened before, how the way the game was being officiated, I think that’s a really tough call.”

That’s the polite “don’t fine me, but that call was crap” phrasing by Tucker.

The bottom line is there was contact, the call was made, Devin Booker calmly hit the free throw, and the Suns get the win.

Phoenix is holding on to the two seed in the West. Milwaukee seems destined for the three-seed in the East, which likely means facing Brooklyn or Philadelphia in the second round, then the other of those teams in the conference finals. That’s a tough road for the Bucks to prove they have fixed their playoff woes.

Coach, front office updates from around NBA: Fizdale headed to Suns bench

By Kurt HelinJun 6, 2023, 10:48 AM EDT

Things continue to move and settle around the NBA as teams find coaches (well, except Toronto) and some front office personnel move around. Here is the latest around the league.

• Former Grizzlies and Knicks head coach David Fizdale, an associate general manager with the Jazz last season, is returning to the bench as an assistant on Frank Vogel’s staff in Phoenix, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Fizdale and Vogel are tight, remember Fizdale was in the bubble on Vogel’s staff when the Lakers won a ring. Give new owner Mat Ishbia credit for spending, he made Kevin Young the highest-paid assistant coach in the league to stay with the team and has now hired a former head coach to be a top assistant. That’s a lot of coaching firepower, now the Suns just need to fill out the roster with some firepower around Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

• If you want to become a general manager in the NBA, the best way is to be an assistant GM for Sam Presti in Oklahoma City. Apparently. Presti has had five different assistant GMs under him and now all five have gone on to be general managers elsewhere.

The latest is Will Dawkins, who will be the GM and No. 2 in the power structure in Washington under new team president (and former Clippers GM) Michael Winger, reports Josh Robbins and David Aldridge of The Athletic.

The Washington Wizards will hire OKC executive Will Dawkins as their No. 2 executive, a league source tells @davidlaldridgedc and me.

— Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) June 5, 2023

Also in the front office in Washington is former Hawks GM Travis Schlenk. That’s a lot of brain power and good hires. The question remains how much freedom owner Ted Leonsis — a guy who demanded his team do whatever it took just to make the playoffs every year — will give Winger, Dawkins and company. The team has big decisions this summer with Kyle Kuzma as a free agent and Kristaps Porzingis expected to opt out.

• The Milwaukee Bucks finally made the hiring of Adrian Griffin as their head coach official.

“Adrian is a widely-respected coach and former player, who brings great leadership and experience to our team,” Bucks General Manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “His championship-level coaching pedigree, character, basketball acumen and ability to connect with and develop players make him the ideal choice to lead our team. He has earned this opportunity.”

Will Herro make his Finals debut for Heat in Game 3? Don’t be so sure.

By Kurt HelinJun 6, 2023, 9:37 AM EDT

MIAMI — Game 3 has always been the target for a Tyler Herro return to the Heat.

Herro has been wearing bucket hats on the sidelines since his devastating hand injury against the Bucks, but he’s been working out with the team and going through practices for more than a week preparing for his return. Is it time for Herro to bring even more shooting and shot creation to the Heat’s rotation?

Don’t be so sure.

Eric Spoelstra said Tuesday Herro is day-to-day and “has not been cleared yet” to play, although he would go through a contact workout later in the day, after which decisions would be made. He added he is not Nostrodomous and doesn’t know if Herro will play in Game 3. (As a side note, Herro was not made available to the media to speak. League rules required injured players returning to the lineup to be available to the media, while players unavailable to play are not.)

On Monday, both Ros Gold-Onwude — the former WNBA player turned quality analyst for ESPN — and veteran Heat beat reporter Ira Winderman cautioned against expecting a Herro return.

Reporting from #NBAFinals: I spoke with Tyler Herro ahead his Game 2 pregame routine and he told me he experiences both soreness and swelling in the right hand after shooting and he can feel the soreness when he’s making a “follow through” shooting motion. He also shared his…

— Ros Gold-Onwude (@ROSGO21) June 5, 2023

A party familiar with process had told me over weekend that Tyler was not playing in this series. But that was just one of many familiar with situation, not enough to make it anything definitive. Just pointing out such sentiment is out there from those familiar with the process. https://t.co/qvJzm1D08I

— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) June 5, 2023

If there is pain and swelling, can the Heat put him out there? This is the Finals, but this is also a 23-year-old under a long contract, and if there is a heightened risk of further injury Miami may need to protect the player from himself.

If Herro returns, expect him to come off the bench in a very limited role. It’s a huge ask to take someone who has not played in an NBA game since basically tax day (April 16 was his last game) and throw him into the highest level of basketball anywhere in the world. Spoelstra may give him a four- or five-minute run just as a test (maybe at the start of the second quarter, when Nikola Jokić sits) and see how things go.

On the surface, you can say Herro would be what the Heat need — a 20.1 point-a-game scorer this season with the best handles on the team, able to create his own shot or shoot over the top of the defense (37.8% from 3 this season). Dig a little deeper, however, and that fit is not as smooth in this series. On offense, he can be a ball-stopper at points against a Nuggets team the Heat want to keep in motion. The bigger concern is on defense, where he is a clear target (and because of that Spoelstra can’t play him with Duncan Robinson, even in the minutes Jokić sits). This might have been a tough series for a healthy Herro.

If he can play and come off the bench for short runs, he could boost the Heat offense this series.

Just don’t be so sure he’s ready to go.

Silver says NBA won’t mind if Wembanyama’s debut comes in Sacramento, not Las Vegas

Associated PressJun 6, 2023, 8:16 AM EDT

OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE/AFP via Getty Images

DENVER (AP) — Victor Wembanyama’s next couple of weeks are now set: He’ll be playing in the French league finals starting this weekend, and then the San Antonio Spurs will almost certainly make him the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft on June 22.

And if that means the French star’s summer league debut comes in Sacramento instead of Las Vegas in early July, the league is fine with that.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league doesn’t have a preference regarding the site of Wembanyama’s first game with the Spurs. While the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is the biggest – all 30 teams attend – and commands the most attention, there are smaller summer leagues that precede the Vegas event by a few days. Sacramento plays host to one of those events, and the Spurs are one of six teams headed there this year.

“All summer leagues are NBA Summer Leagues,” Silver told The Associated Press. “I’m very supportive of the Sacramento summer league. I remember when (Kings owner Vivek Ranadive) first came to the league and said this was something he wanted to do. I said, ‘As long as you have enough other teams who support it and players who want to play in it, it’s a good thing.’”

The Kings might be getting a lot more buzz than usual this summer. Not only are the Spurs headed there, but so is Charlotte – which holds the No. 2 pick. And it just so happens that the Spurs and Hornets will open Sacramento summer play against one another, potentially setting the stage for a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup a few days before Vegas even starts.

If Wembanyama plays in Sacramento, he’d be the first No. 1 pick that didn’t debut in Las Vegas since Markelle Fultz for Philadelphia in 2017. The 76ers played in Utah’s summer league that year before going to Vegas.

Other recent No. 1 picks have opened in Las Vegas with big-crowd, big-spectacle atmospheres. Paolo Banchero’s debut in Vegas for Orlando last summer had John Wall and DeMar DeRozan sitting courtside, as was Jerry West – three guys who didn’t need to see the scalpers who were working outside the arena for hours before the game. Zion Williamson played only nine minutes in his debut in 2019, in a game that was stopped by an earthquake, and his debut got LeBron James and Anthony Davis to grab courtside seats.

The Spurs have not said whether Wembanyama will play in the Sacramento event, which starts on July 3, and almost certainly won’t address the topic until they actually draft him in a little over two weeks. Wembanyama is expected to be with the Spurs in Las Vegas as well; the league has already announced him as one of the participants for its inaugural NBA Con – which runs there from July 7-9 and will celebrate many aspects of basketball culture.

“What’s made the summer leagues so valuable are really the media rights more than the individuals who buy tickets there, because it’s a very affordable experience,” Silver said. “So, the answer is, I want Victor to get playing court experience and I think the team – assuming it’s San Antonio – should make decisions completely independent of any commercial implications from where he debuts.”

Wembanyama’s Boulogne-Levallois team beat his former team, ASVEL, 3-1 in a French league semifinal series that ended Sunday. Monaco, the top seed in the league, awaits Wembanyama’s team in the best-of-five final that starts Saturday and could go until June 20 – two days before the draft.

“So proud of my guys,” Wembanyama tweeted Sunday after the semifinal win. “Job ain’t done tho.”

Wembanyama said in October that he’s 7-foot-3; some still say he’s 7-foot-4 or 7-foot-5, and given that he’s only 19, it’s certainly possible that he had a bit of growing left in recent months. Either way, he’s a generational talent who’ll come into the NBA with enormous hype, the likes of which probably hasn’t been seen since James went No. 1 overall to Cleveland in 2003.

“What I try to advise players – and I’m not making a prediction that he will or won’t live up to the hype – is to control what you can control, and I think what you can control is doing the work,” Silver said. “If he is in San Antonio, it’s an organization that led the way in terms of international scouting and signing of international players. Certainly, everyone would acknowledge they know how to develop players and particularly big men. And so, if I were in his shoes, or if I’m advising him, I’m saying, ‘Quickly become part of that organization and be a sponge and listen to the advice.’”

Add Jaren Jackson Jr., Brandon Ingram to USA World Cup roster

By Kurt HelinJun 5, 2023, 11:45 PM EDT

Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

The Team USA roster heading Manilla for the World Cup this summer just gets deeper and more athletic.

Two more players have committed to playing: Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. and the Pelicans scoring machine Brandon Ingram, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

We now have eight of the 12 players expected to represent the USA this summer:

Mikal Bridges
Jalen Brunson
Anthony Edwards
Tyrese Haliburton
Brandon Ingram
Jaren Jackson Jr.
Bobby Portis
Austin Reaves

Jackson Jr. brings rim-protecting defense plus the ability to space the floor needed by bigs in the international game. Ingram fits the style of scorer — from Kevin Durant back to Carmelo Anthony — that has always done well for Team USA in international competitions. Ingram averaged 24.7 points per game this season, but missed almost half the season due to a toe injury.

The World Cup takes place this summer in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, featuring 32 teams from around the world. The USA is in Group C with Greece (with, likely, Giannis Antetokounmpo), New Zealand and Jordan. The World Cup is the primary qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics, so advancing as deep as possible matters (if the USA wins its group it likely stays on the other side of the bracket from Spain and France, removing obstacles to a deep run).

Warriors coach Steve Kerr is in charge of Team USA, with his assistant coaches being Erik Spoelstra (Heat), Tyronn Lue (Clippers) and Mark Few (Gonzaga).

The USA will have a training camp in Las Vegas, where they play Puerto Rico in an exhibition before heading to Abu Dhabi and then on to the World Cup, where the USA will play all its games in Manilla.

The World Cup starts Aug. 25 and continues through Sept. 10.

1) Nikola Jokic has his MVP moment with 47 points against Grizzlies

2) Stephen Curry looks like his MVP self scoring 49 against Philly

3) Suns top Bucks in brilliant game with disappointing ending

Check out more on the Suns

Check out more on the Heat

Here is more on the NBA Draft

Check out more on the World Cup