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    The Nets Don’t Need More Stars. A Little Help Will Do.

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    The team’s top-level talents have their roles. But it’s around the edges, in rim protection and bench scoring, where some growth is needed.It seems nice to be the Nets.Yes, their season ended prematurely after a disappointing second-round loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs. But the defeat could easily be chalked up to injuries to their star guards, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. And even then, the Nets almost won the series, thanks to the heroics of Kevin Durant. More

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      ‘It Hurts’: Season Is Over Before Nets See How Good Big Three Can Be

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      Injuries kept the Nets from knowing what they could really look like once their stars — Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden — were playing well together.Whether Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving could collaborate, share the basketball and play good enough defense to bring a championship to New York’s less heralded N.B.A. franchise were unknowns that nagged at the entire league.Now, after being eliminated by the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Nets cannot hush their skeptics until next year. After a 48-24 season and playoff ride that lasted only two rounds, the biggest questions about their three stars remain unanswered.Injuries overrode potential basketball issues and neutralized the Nets’ status among Las Vegas oddsmakers as title favorites. Durant, Harden and Irving shared the floor for only 43 seconds in the Bucks series. In Game 7, with only Durant as a dependable offensive option and Irving in street clothes, Milwaukee outlasted the Nets, 115-111, in overtime at Barclays Center, which inflicted a searing pain of its own.“It hurts,” Coach Steve Nash said, lauding the efforts of Durant, who scored 48 points in 53 minutes in Game 7, and Harden, who also played all 53 minutes, despite a hamstring strain. “I hurt for them more than anything.”The N.B.A.’s 75th season will be remembered for its Covid-19 protocols, game postponements and empty arenas for months. But the Nets became the league’s biggest on-court story after their acquisition in January of Harden from the Houston Rockets. Five years after General Manager Sean Marks was hired to rescue a franchise devoid of elite talent and draft picks, Marks built a legitimate contender by assembling one of the most impressive offensive threesomes in league history.The trouble for the Nets was not their defensive shortcomings, the depth they sacrificed to make the trade with the Rockets, the lack of available practice time during the coronavirus pandemic or Nash’s inexperience as a first-year coach. It was this: In the regular season, Durant, Harden and Irving were healthy enough to play together for only 202 minutes across eight games. Their 130 minutes together in a five-game dismissal of the Boston Celtics in the first round proved to be their only burst of continuity as a unit. Milwaukee won three of the final four games of the series after Irving’s nasty right ankle sprain in the first half of Game 4.These playoffs were supposed to be the Nets’ chance to shift a slice or two of cultural relevance to Brooklyn from Manhattan in a city teeming with Knicks fans. In the end, neither Marks nor Nash really came away knowing what the Nets could really look like when whole.Some key moments that brought the Nets to this point:Durant and Irving Sign OnEntering the 2019-20 season, there was much speculation about where Durant and Irving would end up. Earlier in the previous season, Irving had committed to staying with Boston long-term, while Durant seemed to be on his way to another title with Golden State. As the world found out after their seasons unraveled — Durant’s through an Achilles’ tear in the 2019 N.B.A. finals — they wanted to play together.The Nets had enough salary cap flexibility to sign them, as well as their friend DeAndre Jordan. The Knicks had the same wherewithal, but Durant and Irving chose the Nets and took Jordan, who finished the 2018-19 season with the Knicks, with them.Nets officials made the moves knowing Durant would probably miss his entire first season as a Net while recovering from the Achilles’ injury. Irving wound up playing only 20 games in his first season in Brooklyn because of shoulder problems. Both are now halfway through four-year deals.Nash’s HiringSteve Nash had a 48-24 record and was the Eastern Conference’s coach of the month in February in his first season as a Nets and N.B.A. coach.Elsa/Getty ImagesThe Nets shook the N.B.A. again by hiring Nash as coach in September 2020. He had no coaching experience, even at the assistant level, but he won two Most Valuable Player Awards and was one of the best point guards in league history.He was essentially chosen by Marks, his former Phoenix Suns teammate, who felt he had the gravitas and communication skills to manage the Nets’ two mercurial stars. Harden would not arrive until a few weeks into Nash’s first season on the bench. The Nets also brought in Mike D’Antoni, Nash’s former coach in Phoenix, to lend veteran guidance.“I wasn’t hired to come in and be a tactical wizard,” Nash said on a podcast hosted by the N.B.A. sharpshooter JJ Redick.Hiring Nash, who is white, nonetheless elicited criticism, given the dearth of Black coaches in the N.B.A., whose player pool is estimated to be nearly 80 percent Black. Nash’s hiring came after Jacque Vaughn, who completed the 2019-20 season as the team’s interim coach and had the Nets playing unexpectedly well without Durant and Irving in the N.B.A.’s so-called bubble in Florida. Vaughn, who is Black, stayed on as an assistant alongside D’Antoni and Ime Udoka. On ESPN, Stephen A. Smith called Nash’s hiring “white privilege.”“Well, I did skip the line, frankly,” Nash said at his introductory news conference. “But at the same time, I think leading an N.B.A. team for almost two decades is pretty unique.”The Harden BlockbusterHarden entered this season as a disgruntled member of the Rockets. He wanted out after D’Antoni and Daryl Morey left the team without an established coach and its top front-office executive, and Harden pushed for a trade to the Nets to reunite with Durant, his former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate. It was an audacious move for someone with three years left on his contract — and it cemented the Nets as league villains when it worked.Harden reported late to training camp to apply pressure on the Rockets to trade him. Appearing to be in less than optimal shape made his disinterest palpable during the eight regular-season games he played. The Nets, off to a 6-6 start, ignored Harden’s checkered playoff résumé and the rampant skepticism that one ball would not be enough to satisfy three high-volume scorers, and proceeded with trade talks.In January, the Nets acquired James Harden, pictured shooting over Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he strained a hamstring and missed more time than he had in any previous season.Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports, via ReutersIn a four-team trade, Marks agreed to surrender control of the Nets’ top draft pick through 2027 to the Rockets and deal two young fan favorites, Caris LeVert (to Indiana) and Jarrett Allen (to Cleveland), to land Harden. As a bonus, the trade kept Harden from landing alongside center Joel Embiid in Philadelphia, after the 76ers offered the Rockets a deal involving Ben Simmons.The deal remains a gamble for the Nets. Every year without a championship will increase the scrutiny and pressure. Management must decide whether to pursue contract extensions with Durant, Harden and Irving that would cost hundreds of millions in salary and luxury tax or risk seeing any of the three opt for free agency after next season under their current contracts.“This is just the start of our journey,” Joe Tsai, the Nets’ owner, said on Twitter after the Game 7 loss. Known as one of the league’s wealthiest owners alongside the Los Angeles Clippers’ Steve Ballmer, Tsai certainly has the financial might to keep the core together.Irving’s AbsencesDuring the pursuit of Harden and after his arrival, Irving missed seven games in January for personal reasons. Marks said Irving’s sudden unavailability and the acquisition were “completely separate.” Yet the Nets felt it was urgent to maximize Durant’s championship window and made the trade with that in mind, according to two people familiar with the club’s thinking who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.Kyrie Irving, left, who was out since Game 4 with a right ankle sprain, supported his Nets teammates from the bench in Game 7 against the Bucks on Saturday night.Elsa/Getty ImagesThe Nets knew they wouldn’t have a training camp to try to assimilate Harden into the team, but figured that by bringing in a durable player, they would almost always have two elite players on the floor. It also became clear, soon after Harden’s arrival, that he was best suited to be the team’s playmaker, according to one of the people. Clear, even, to Irving.“We established that maybe four days ago now,” Irving said in February. “I just looked at him and I said, ‘You’re the point guard and I’m going to play shooting guard.’ That was as simple as that.”Cries that Harden was a luxury item for the Nets faded fast. The team went 29-8 in the regular season in games that Harden played and 12-11 without him.InjuriesHealth woes began almost immediately; Spencer Dinwiddie was lost to a season-ending knee tear just three games in. Dinwiddie averaged a career-high 20.6 points per game the season before, and he was expected to be yet another scoring threat on a team full of them.Durant overcame his Achilles’ tear in a big way, ending his season with 49 points against Milwaukee in Game 5 and 48 points in Game 7. But he wound up playing in only 35 of the Nets’ 72 regular-season games because of a hamstring injury. Harden, who was dealing with his own hamstring injury, missed more time in the regular season (21 of the final 23 games) and playoffs than he had in any previous season.The Nets were rocked in April when LaMarcus Aldridge, a former All-Star they had signed after he negotiated a buyout with the San Antonio Spurs, retired at age 35 because of a longstanding heart condition. Nash used a franchise-record 38 starting lineups in those 72 games and four separate ones in the Bucks series, leaning upon the well-traveled Jeff Green; Blake Griffin, a former All-Star who joined the team in April; and Griffin’s former Detroit Pistons teammate Bruce Brown.For the playoffs, the Nets finally seemed healthy — for one round. Harden missed all but the opening minute of the first four games of the Milwaukee series and lacked explosion or lift in his legs when he volunteered to return for Game 5 after Irving’s ankle sprain. Green’s plantar fascia strain kept him out of the first three games with the Bucks.“It’s been a really difficult year,” Nash said. “We’ve had a lot thrown at us.”Even with the injuries and Milwaukee’s stars healthy, the Nets came within an inch of advancing to the next round. With one second left in regulation in Game 7 and the Nets down by 2 points, Durant made a contested shot from the right wing that appeared to be a 3-pointer for the win. But his toe was on the 3-point line, and it counted as a long 2, sending the Nets to overtime instead of to the Eastern Conference finals.“My big ass foot stepped on the line,” Durant said. “I was just seeing a little screenshot how close I was to ending their season on that shot. But it wasn’t in God’s plan, and we move on.” More

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      Injuries Are Raining on the N.B.A.’s Championship Parade

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      Pick a big-name N.B.A. star, and he’s probably been injured this season: LeBron, Giannis, LaMelo, A.D., K.D. and, now, Jamal Murray. What’s going on?Three-fourths of the N.B.A.’s regular season will be complete after Wednesday’s play, making this a natural time for you to press your favorite newsletter curator to pick a title favorite.It would be much easier to answer, sadly, if you could first tell me which of the league’s presumed championship contenders will be healthy in June or July.Prognostications didn’t seem all that daunting in December, when the Los Angeles Lakers looked like such a safe choice to back to repeat as champions, but it is a much more complex calculation at the quarter pole. The culprit: This grind of a season, marked by its numerous game postponements, endless health and safety protocols and arenas that were mostly empty for months, has been overtaken by injuries to marquee players.Late Monday, in the same game in which Stephen Curry supplanted Wilt Chamberlain as the leading scorer in Warriors history, Denver’s Jamal Murray crumpled to the floor in the final minute after a hard plant in the paint on his left leg. Tuesday morning’s grim diagnosis of a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear confirmed what many had feared in the moment.“Too many players getting hurt with this shortened season,” Josh Hart of the New Orleans Pelicans posted on Twitter after Murray went down.Sidelined himself by a recent thumb surgery, Hart inserted a face palm emoji into the tweet and added his hope that the league “not do this one again.”The Lakers have dealt with injuries to multiple players, most notably LeBron James, right, and Anthony Davis, second from right, but also Marc Gasol, left, and Kyle Kuzma, second from left.Elsa/Getty Images“This one” refers to a 72-game regular season stuffed between Dec. 22 and May 16 after the 2019-20 season did not end until October, because of the coronavirus pandemic’s interruption, and was followed by the shortest off-season in league history. The league and the players’ union agreed to that timeline, with a strong nudge from the N.B.A.’s television partners, which desperately wanted to start the 2020-21 season during the week of Christmas. The tight turnaround was expected to help maximize revenue after last season’s shortfall of $1.5 billion, and position the 2021-22 season to return to its usual October-through-June template. It was also designed so the league could finish the playoffs before the Tokyo Olympics in late July.But the rigors of last season’s finish in a bubble environment combined with a swift return to play this season and a compressed schedule because of the Olympics, prompted fears, like those voiced by Hart, of increased injury risk.It’s not clear that those factors are driving injuries this season, but many teams believe they are, even without supporting data. Multiple teams I’ve consulted asserted that this season’s combination of schedule density, travel demands and daily coronavirus testing that cuts into players’ rest time have increased injury risk.Teams are playing 3.6 games per week this season, compared to 3.42 per week last season, and taking 15 percent fewer flights, according to data provided by the league. An N.B.A. spokesman said, “The injury rate for this season is in line with data from the previous five seasons, including a 6 percent reduction from last season.”It is an eternal challenge for teams and those in the injury tracking business to conclusively attribute an injury to overuse. Some of this season’s most notable injuries, like LeBron James’s high ankle sprain after Atlanta’s Solomon Hill crashed into him, appeared to be freakish. The same holds for injuries sustained in hard falls by two of the league’s most prized rookies, Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball (wrist) and Golden State’s James Wiseman (knee). Hart injured his thumb when he banged his right hand on the rim on a dunk attempt.Yet there are too many high-profile names on injury reports to shake the sense of crisis. A look at the teams that held the league’s top eight records entering Tuesday’s play showed that only two — Utah and Phoenix — were not dealing with major injuries.Los Angeles LakersThe Lakers, after starting the season as prohibitive title favorites, enjoyed that status for maybe two months before losing Anthony Davis (Achilles’ tendon and calf) in February and James (ankle) in March. The Lakers were 5-7 in their last 12 games without either of their twin pillars entering Tuesday’s play.The Nets’ James Harden has been out with a hamstring injury, as Kevin Durant, second from left, was earlier this season.Corey Sipkin/Associated PressBrooklyn NetsThe Nets have been widely billed as the most potent offense in N.B.A. history since acquiring James Harden from the Houston Rockets on Jan. 14. The problem: They’ve scarcely had an opportunity to illustrate their true capabilities, because Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have logged only 186 minutes together across seven games. Durant, who missed 23 consecutive games because of a strained left hamstring, and Irving have been in the same starting lineup only 14 times — and Harden injured his hamstring as soon as Durant came back. The Nets have been winning and scoring freely all season despite the injuries and Irving’s absences for personal reasons, but it’s difficult to gauge this team’s ceiling when we still haven’t seen the full squad.Milwaukee BucksGiannis Antetokounmpo has missed five consecutive games and seven of the past 12 with left knee soreness. Coach Mike Budenholzer said on Sunday that there was no timetable for Antetokounmpo’s return, which was unsettling enough, but it is also the first time in that Antetokounmpo, who won the last two Most Valuable Player Awards, has been forced to sit out more than two consecutive games.Philadelphia 76ersNow that the star center Joel Embiid is back after missing 10 games with a bone bruise on his left knee, Philadelphia appears to be the most fortunate contender on a list all would prefer to avoid. Not that the 76ers plan to gloat — not with Embiid’s injury history or when the Sixers are still waiting for the newly acquired George Hill to make his debut after thumb surgery.Los Angeles ClippersThe Clippers’ Paul George was named the Western Conference player of the week on Monday, but he began this month with an admission that it would be a “day-to-day process” to cope with a toe injury on his right foot that sidelined him for seven consecutive games in February. The Clippers have also been without their starting center Serge Ibaka for the past 15 games because of a back injury, and the point guard Patrick Beverley is expected to miss at least a month after surgery on his fractured left hand last week.Paul George of the Los Angeles Clippers has come back from a toe injury with strong play, leading to player of the week honors recently.Jae C. Hong/Associated PressDenver NuggetsPerhaps sensing the Lakers’ vulnerability, Denver shed its reputation for caution when it comes to making trades by acquiring Aaron Gordon from Orlando at the trade deadline last month. The Nuggets won their first eight games with Gordon, collapsed in a home loss to Boston on Sunday in mystifying fashion, then watched in horror on Monday night in San Francisco as Murray — fresh off missing the previous four games with right knee soreness — sustained a catastrophic left knee injury that almost certainly changed the trajectory of Denver’s season.Murray was the fourth player to tear his A.C.L. this season, after the Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie, Orlando’s Markelle Fultz and Washington’s Thomas Bryant. The N.B.A. has averaged roughly three A.C.L. tears per season since 2005-6, according to data maintained by Jeff Stotts on his In Street Clothes website.“We are still in the collecting phase regarding the effects of the compressed schedule at this point of the year,” Stotts said. “I am concerned we will see more soft-tissue injuries here in April. They appear to be on the rise from the rest of the season.”As a huge fan of playoff suspense, as opposed to postseasons in which one juggernaut is seen as untouchable, I would normally celebrate how wide open this championship chase looks heading into the regular-season stretch run. When so much of the uncertainty is tied to injury, it doesn’t feel right at all.The Scoop @TheSteinLineCorner ThreeMarc Stein has a collection of Buffalo Braves trading cards.Marc Stein for The New York TimesYou ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.(Questions may be lightly edited or condensed for clarity.)Q: Do you think Jeremy Lin’s high profile in speaking out against the rise in hate crimes affecting Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders is hurting him with the N.B.A.? — Tom GardnerStein: I know Lin has many fans who are dismayed that he has not been signed by an N.B.A. team, not even on a 10-day contract, but I don’t think teams are holding his activism against him. It would be shameful if they are; Lin should be applauded and supported in his efforts to bring more attention to anti-Asian racism.Lin hasn’t played in the league since the 2018-19 season, and a more likely obstacle to his getting back to the N.B.A. are questions about his mobility at age 32. But even that is probably not the biggest issue. Many teams, especially when trying to fill a roster spot with player on a 10-day contract, are hesitant to bring in an established player for a limited role. Doing so invites daily questions about the player’s status — as the New Orleans Pelicans found out after Coach Stan Van Gundy benched Isaiah Thomas for two consecutive games in the midst of Thomas’s 10-day deal that expired Monday.The Los Angeles Clippers’ DeMarcus Cousins, another former All-Star who recently signed a 10-day deal, has faced the same challenge. Teams are wary about how players accustomed to major roles will adapt to playing limited minutes, and they know they are going to face heightened scrutiny from the news media about how a player like Thomas, Cousins or Lin is being used. It’s much easier for teams, like it or not, to target players whose presence — and their subsequent release if things don’t work out — won’t cause a fuss.Lin tried to mitigate such thinking and prove his willingness to accept any N.B.A. role by spending nearly 45 days in the recent N.B.A. G League bubble at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. He also posted strong shooting percentages in his stint with the Santa Cruz Warriors (50.5 percent from the field; 42.6 percent on 3-pointers) and still has a month to attract interest.Q: There is no doubt that the Lakers are at risk to slip further in the standings, but the answer to what’s wrong with them is simple: injuries. Your contention that the Lakers’ roster moves have not “panned out” is reactionary.As difficult as the Lakers’ last two months have been, they are much better equipped to withstand the absence of their two best players with Dennis Schröder, Montrezl Harrell and Marc Gasol on the roster. They have also maintained the league’s top-ranked defense without LeBron James and Anthony Davis, even though we hear so much about the lack of rim protection compared to last season’s Lakers.I’m obviously willing to concede that this season is in jeopardy, because the Clippers, Utah, Denver and Phoenix have all improved, but the culprit isn’t the roster construction. It’s the injuries. — Jordan Baldridge (New York)Stein: You assembled some strong counters to last week’s piece on the Lakers and the mounting factors that have complicated their title defense, but I think we actually agree more than we disagree.I would argue that Schröder, Harrell and Gasol have been more up and down than you suggest — and that the Lakers’ aggressive posture at the trade deadline and their subsequent rush to sign Andre Drummond and Ben McLemore back that up. But that was just one item on a long list meant to convey how much more challenging this season has become for the Lakers than they anticipated.You highlighted one of the bigger worries: The Lakers’ competition looks much tougher this season. Finishing fifth or sixth in the Western Conference is so daunting because it would likely mean a first-round matchup against the Clippers or Nuggets.An even bigger problem that I contend has been glossed over: We can’t just assume that the Lakers will bounce right back to being championship favorites as soon as James and Davis return to the lineup. Their injuries were significant setbacks that have to be managed cautiously, especially in the case of Davis, who has missed more than two dozen games already. He’s going to need some time to re-acclimate and restore belief in his body.Q: How about a newsletter story sometime on those Buffalo Braves cards you mentioned? Or a picture? — Paul QuintilianStein: I’m not sure that I should subject our loyal and patient readers to the full depths of my Buffalo Braves nerddom, but hopefully there is no harm, since you asked, in enclosing a picture (shown above) of the various Braves team sets and loose singles that I keep within arm’s reach on my desk whenever I need a dose of youthful inspiration.I’ve saved as much as I could from my youth but have also made a habit in adulthood of collecting Buffalo sports artifacts from the 1970s that I coveted but that eluded me at the time. Growing up is hard.Numbers GameChicago’s Zach LaVine scored 39 points in the first half against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday, and finished the game with 50.Brett Davis/USA Today Sports, via Reuters12.3I praised Ben Simmons for his sensational play in February (21 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game for the month) because it was a tremendous response to nearly being traded to Houston in January for James Harden. But Simmons hasn’t been the same player since the All-Star break as Philadelphia grapples with the Nets and Milwaukee for the East’s No. 1 seed. In his last 15 games, Simmons averaged just 12.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6 assists per game — and his shooting in that span declined to 47 percent compared to 57.8 percent in 31 games before the All-Star break.5With 50 points in a loss to Atlanta on Friday night, Chicago’s Zach LaVine became the fifth player in franchise history to record at least one 50-point game, joining Jimmy Butler, Jamal Crawford, Chet Walker and a certain Michael Jordan. In his 13 seasons as a Bull, of course, Jordan scored at least 50 points in 38 regular-season games.30With 30 rebounds on Saturday night against Detroit, Portland’s Enes Kanter became just the fourth player to post a 30-rebound game since Dikembe Mutombo and Charles Barkley each had one in the 1996 calendar year. The only others to reach the 30 threshold in the 25 years since Mutombo and Barkley, according to Stathead: Dwight Howard (2017-18 season), Andrew Bynum (2011-12) and Kevin Love (2010-11).7Moves at the trade deadline nudged Dallas above Washington for the most international players in the league with seven: The Mavericks acquired Nicolo Melli (Italy) to join Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Josh Green (Australia), Maxi Kleber (Germany), Boban Marjanovic (Serbia), Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia) and Dwight Powell (Canada). The Wizards have six — Deni Avdija (Israel), Davis Bertans (Latvia), Isaac Bonga (Germany), Rui Hachimura (Japan), Alex Len (Ukraine) and Raul Neto (Brazil) — after sending Moe Wagner (Germany) to Boston last month as part of a three-team trade.10Jeremy Lin is the only player who finished in the top 10 in scoring in the N.B.A. G League’s recent six-week bubble who has not spent any time in the N.B.A. this season. Playing for the Santa Cruz Warriors, Lin was seventh in scoring at 19.8 points per game but is still waiting for a 10-day contract offer. The other two players on that list besides Lin who were not already contracted to N.B.A. teams when the bubble began — Henry Ellenson and Oshae Brissett — parlayed their G League stints into 10-day deals. At 32, Lin was also the only player among those 10 older than 24.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. More

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      N.B.A. Trade Deadline Fallout for the Lakers

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      After more than a dozen trades at the deadline, there are still many moves to be made, with lingering free agents, buyouts and executive contracts in the balance.All the trades have been made. This season’s roster shuffling, barring a free-agent signing or three coming soon, is complete.It’s time, then, to take a tour around the league for some post-trade deadline fallout, rumbles, analysis and storytelling:Don’t be surprised that the Los Angeles Lakers were prepared to trade Dennis Schröder.One of the Lakers’ prime off-season acquisitions, Schröder featured in trade talks with the Toronto Raptors for Kyle Lowry. The discussions broke down over the Lakers’ unwillingness to include the blossoming Talen Horton-Tucker in a deal for Lowry, 35, who will become a free agent at season’s end.Schröder, 27, was available because of the gulf between player and team in contract extension talks. He has rebuffed extension offers from the Lakers in the range of $80 million over four years, according to two people familiar with the discussions who were not authorized to discuss them publicly. Schröder’s efficiency has slumped since his productive 2019-20 season in Oklahoma City, but he is said to be seeking more robust compensation in free agency this off-season. His previous biggest deal was a four-year, $70 million contract extension signed with Atlanta in October 2016.More surprising than Schröder’s availability was the Lakers’ willingness to package him with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope after Caldwell-Pope was such a key contributor to last season’s championship — and when Caldwell-Pope, like Anthony Davis and LeBron James, is represented by the influential agent Rich Paul.Lowry’s future isn’t the only free-agent drama looming for the Raptors.Masai Ujiri, Toronto’s president of basketball operations, is also in the final year of his contract. There were strong rumbles last summer that Ujiri, General Manager Bobby Webster and Coach Nick Nurse were all poised to receive new five-year deals from the Raptors. Nurse and Webster have since signed long-term contracts, but Ujiri has repeatedly deflected questions about his future.Like Lowry, Ujiri has been regarded by fans and the organization as Raptors royalty since the team’s championship run in 2018-19. It is widely presumed in league circles that only an overwhelming offer in a highly desirable market could lure him away from the influence and affection he has amassed in Toronto. Yet these many months without a deal and Webster’s rising profile as a natural successor have raised the question: How much longer will Ujiri be running the Raptors?Raptors General Manager Bobby Webster appears poised to take over should Masai Ujiri move on from his role as Toronto’s team president.Chris Young/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressFor a Canadian public edgy about the prospect of Lowry and Ujiri potentially hitting free agency at the same time, this counter question should provide some measure of comfort: Where would Ujiri go?He was known to have interest in the Knicks’ job before James L. Dolan, the Knicks’ owner, abruptly decided last spring to abandon the pursuit of Ujiri to instead hire Leon Rose, a prominent former player agent. A worthy post-Toronto landing spot is difficult to pinpoint unless the Washington Wizards, who vehemently denied being interested after the Raptors’ championship, amend that stance.Some around the league, though, have wondered about a potential down-the-road option that does not yet exist. The group heading expansion efforts in Seattle features the longtime sports executive Tim Leiweke, who brought Ujiri to Toronto for the 2013-14 season.It only seems like the Nets make every roster upgrade they want.The recent bargain signings of Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge, after the January acquisition of James Harden, have further entrenched the Nets as villains. Coach Steve Nash leaned in to the criticism with some humor when he spoke to reporters on Monday, letting out an Uncle Scar-like roar.“It’s kind of funny to me, because for the last couple years, all I’ve heard is how bad I am,” Griffin said. “You sign with this team and everybody’s like, ‘That’s not fair.’”The volume on complaints surely would have been higher had the Nets been successful in their attempts to trade the injured Spencer Dinwiddie for a wing player. Among the options they explored, I’m told, was sending Dinwiddie to Golden State for Kelly Oubre. Golden State rejected those overtures because it is still desperate to make the playoffs. While numerous Oubre trade scenarios came up, Golden State was not going to trade him for someone who couldn’t help the team in the short term.“I think a lot of people thought he might be available, but we value him, too, as evidenced by not trading him,” Bob Myers, Golden State’s president of basketball operations, said of Oubre on Friday.I liked seeing these three franchises take the biggest swings: Chicago, Denver and Orlando.The Bulls, Nuggets and Magic are known (and sometimes criticized) for not pursuing trades as aggressively as fans would like. So you applaud Denver for making the most ambitious move in the West by trading for the Magic’s Aaron Gordon, which not only enhances the Nuggets’ ability to win the conference but also shouldn’t hinder them in the Bradley Beal sweepstakes if (when?) Washington reaches the point of making Beal available.Nikola Vucevic, right, became the second All-Star on the Bulls after Orlando traded him to Chicago last week.Jed Jacobsohn/Associated PressThe Nikola Vucevic trade, furthermore, was bold for both Orlando and Chicago. The Bulls, who had no All-Stars when Chicago hosted last season’s All-Star Game, packaged two future first-round picks and Wendell Carter Jr. to get Vucevic, who played in his second All-Star Game this season — as did a first-timer: Chicago’s Zach LaVine.The Magic turned heads, too, by initiating a total tear down and trading Vucevic, Gordon and Evan Fournier after they had been pretty convincing in the weeks leading up to the deadline that Vucevic was staying put. With Vucevic, at age 30, in the midst of his most productive season and seemingly getting better offensively, I thought he was the one Magic pillar they were bound to keep to lead younger players like Jonathan Isaac and Markelle Fultz when they return from injury. Several teams were convinced Orlando wouldn’t part with Vucevic unless it received a substantial offer; Chicago duly put more on the table than anticipated.You never know who you’ll meet in Miami.Trevor Ariza and Andre Drummond, two of the league’s most prized veterans as title contenders fortify their rosters for the playoffs, worked out in the same Miami gym in recent months.Ariza and Drummond are among the prominent players who have been practicing at The Miami Perimeter with Stanley Remy, who trains Miami’s Jimmy Butler. Ariza made it his base while on leave awaiting a trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder, who dealt him to the Heat on March 17. Drummond trained in the same gym after he and the Cleveland Cavaliers agreed in February to seek a trade. When the Cavaliers couldn’t find a desirable deal, they negotiated a buyout with Drummond, who signed on Sunday with the Lakers.Other veterans who have been spotted in Remy’s gym include the veteran center Greg Monroe and, in a surprise, Amar’e Stoudemire. As a player development assistant for the Nets this season, Stoudemire, 38, works with the team at home. Yet he does not travel with the Nets and has made occasional trips to Miami to see family when the team is on the road. Stoudemire has also been pursuing an M.B.A. through online classes at the University of Miami.The Scoop @TheSteinLineCorner ThreeDion Waiters is just one of several recognizable free agents vying for another chance in the N.B.A.Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesYou ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.(Questions may be condensed or lightly edited for clarity.)Q: Remember when people were complaining that the Nets traded away all their depth for James Harden? They’ve filled that depth out with LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin, rising young studs in Bruce Brown and Nicolas Claxton and an emerging Landry Shamet — plus Jeff Green has been excellent. — @MoneyDre123 from TwitterEvery time someone says that they expect the trade deadline to be super active, it never is. The one deadline that all of you said there wouldn’t be much movement, we get trades for guys like Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic. — @MoneyDre123 from TwitterStein: You sent me multiple tweets in the past few days that hit on two newsy topics, so let’s address both.The Nets were always expected to be active in the buyout market to address their depth issues.Surprising as it was to see Aldridge choose to join the Nets over Miami, it is no surprise that the Nets have made multiple signings. A free-spending title contender will always hold appeal to former All-Stars like Aldridge and Griffin, who not only covet the chance to compete for a championship but are also trying to rebuild their value as they head to free agency in the off-season.The surprise here is the development of Brown and Claxton. I don’t remember many touting them to both become dependable rotation players so quickly — whether that’s because of faster-than-anticipated development or the natural benefit of the extra space created by offensive threats like Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. Or both.I am pretty sure you were promised a frantic deadline day in last Tuesday’s newsletter. I never bought suggestions to the contrary.This was the fourth consecutive season in which deadline day delivered a double-digit number of trades, and I expect the trend to continue. I can still vividly remember deadline day in 2000, when Atlanta’s dealing Anthony Johnson to Orlando was the only sad little trade to go down, but this is a different N.B.A.You have to go back to 2009 for the last deadline day that featured fewer than eight trades. Although that certainly doesn’t mean we’re going to see landscape-changers every year, I will concede that last week’s activity exceeded even optimistic expectations like mine — even with Toronto’s Kyle Lowry staying put.Q: As a lifelong Dion Waiters stan, I spend every waking moment wondering when our lord and savior of Philly Cheese will eventually make his return to the N.B.A. — Johnny Tse (Hong Kong)Stein: Last seen in the league playing a minor role off the Lakers’ bench during their championship run last summer, Waiters is another one of the free agents who has been working out at the Miami Perimeter gym discussed in this week’s lead item.Though that doesn’t mean that Waiters, 29, will get another N.B.A. shot, Brandon Knight has also been working out there and, according to a report from my longtime colleague Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, recently earned an audition with the Milwaukee Bucks.Among the factors working against Waiters: There are a lot of proven N.B.A. players competing for roster spots. I asked a noted salary-cap guru and transaction tracker, @KeithSmithNBA, to help me compile a list of well-known free agents without regard to position. A partial list from what he came up with: DeMarcus Cousins, Jamal Crawford, Yogi Ferrell, John Henson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Damian Jones, Mfiondu Kabengele, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Jeremy Lin, Kyle O’Quinn, James Nunnally, Jabari Parker, Andre Roberson, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Isaiah Thomas.Q: I love your newsletter and always read every word. But isn’t it possible to say that the baseball-style series you wrote about have contributed to the diminished state of home-court advantage in the league this season? — Bruce Klutchko (New York)Stein: I love hearing how much you enjoy it, and we are very much on the same page on this, but perhaps that didn’t come through as clearly as I hoped in last week’s Numbers Game.Various coaches and players have said that the advent of baseball-style series this season, in which teams play host to the same opponent in consecutive games to reduce travel, has been a factor in lessening home-court advantage in today’s N.B.A. Pinpointing exactly how much is not possible, but there are presumed sleep and rest benefits for players on visiting teams when they get to stay in one city longer. Put it on the list as a factor in the road teams’ favor along with the more inviting arena atmospheres for visiting teams given the reduced crowds (or empty buildings).We will keep tracking the numbers all season, but I don’t see how anyone can dispute that playing the same opponent twice in a row, especially with a night off in between, results in more favorable conditions for the visiting team.Numbers GameKnicks forward Julius RandleNell Redmond/Associated PressHornets guard Terry RozierNell Redmond/Associated Press31The worst might be behind the N.B.A. in terms of dealing with the coronavirus — at least during the regular season. If the league can get through two more days, it will have made it through the entire month of March without postponing a single game in accordance with the league’s health and safety protocols. The league postponed 31 games in December, January and February because at least one team could not field the minimum required eight players in uniform because of either positive coronavirus tests or contact tracing.3The Nets and the two Los Angeles teams (Lakers and Clippers) are the only teams to avoid a game postponement according to the league’s health and safety protocols.27Twenty-seven of the league’s 30 teams made at least one trade during the season, including 23 last Thursday on deadline day. The only teams that did not make an in-season deal: Memphis, Minnesota and the Los Angeles Lakers.21.5The Knicks were the first team to surpass their projected over/under win total, according to the preseason odds compiled by Basketball Reference. The Knicks’ over/under was a league-low 21.5 victories; they entered Tuesday’s play tied with the Charlotte Hornets for fourth in the Eastern Conference at 24-23.19.1Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge, both represented by Excel Sports, surrendered an estimated $19.1 million in combined salary to become unrestricted free agents and sign veteran minimum contracts to join the Nets. Griffin (who gave back $13.3 million to Detroit) and Aldridge ($5.8 million to San Antonio) have joined DeAndre Jordan, Jeff Green and Nicolas Claxton in a suddenly crowded Nets frontcourt. With Joe Harris no less a fixture in the Nets’ closing lineup than their big-name stars, five big men are vying for limited minutes.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. More

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      Nets’ Spencer Dinwiddie Out Indefinitely With Torn A.C.L.

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonThe Warriors Are StrugglingVirus Upends Houston RocketsMarc Stein’s Fearless PredictionsThe Reloaded LakersAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyNets’ Spencer Dinwiddie Out Indefinitely With Torn A.C.L.Dinwiddie, who started at guard alongside Kyrie Irving, hobbled off the court Sunday in the third quarter with what was initially called knee strain.Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie, who partially tore his right anterior cruciate ligament on Sunday, also tore his left A.C.L. in college.Credit…Michael Dwyer/Associated PressDec. 28, 2020Updated 3:20 p.m. ETThe Nets’ first loss of the season Sunday night at Charlotte has proved especially costly, with the team announcing on Monday that Spencer Dinwiddie, who has been starting at guard alongside Kyrie Irving, partially tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and is out indefinitely.Early in the second half of the Nets’ 106-104 loss to the Hornets, Dinwiddie fell to the floor clutching his right knee after an awkward step in the paint as he passed the ball to Kevin Durant. The team said more details about Dinwiddie’s recovery are expected after surgery next week.Dinwiddie averaged 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 21.4 minutes per game in the Nets’ 2-1 start. The Nets routed Golden State at home and Boston on the road in its first two games before slumping to defeat against the Hornets, who had started 0-2 and are not expected to contend for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. The Nets will be without Dinwiddie, Durant and Irving on Monday night against Memphis at Barclays Center, with Durant and Irving being held out for rest on the second night of a back-to-back.Dinwiddie, 27, averaged 20.6 points and 6.8 assists per game last year while Durant was sidelined for the entire season while recovering from an Achilles’ tendon tear and with Irving limited to just 20 games by various injuries. But Dinwiddie did not join the Nets in the bubble at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., in July, missing the N.B.A. restart while recovering from Covid-19.He earned a spot in the starting lineup this season when the new Nets coach, Steve Nash, decided to deploy Caris LeVert as a sixth man, only to be felled by the second knee injury of his career. Dinwiddie tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during his junior season at Colorado.The injury Sunday occurred on a drive to the basket against Charlotte’s Bismack Biyombo. Dinwiddie hobbled to the Nets’ bench and, after some treatment, was soon ruled out of the game for what was initially termed a right knee sprain.“When Spencer is going, he can’t be stopped — his offensive game when he’s going downhill creating shots for others,” Jarrett Allen, Dinwiddie’s teammate, told reporters after the game. “And even off the court, everyone loves having Spencer around. His energy, just his personality, is great in the locker room.”Playing on what is regarded as one of the N.B.A.’s most attractive contracts, Dinwiddie can become a free agent at season’s end or invoke a $12.3 million player option for the 2021-22 season.Despite Nash’s lack of coaching experience and uncertainty about how Durant and Irving would mesh after injuries prevented them from playing together in their first season in Brooklyn, the Nets are widely billed as a championship contender — in part because they have one of the league’s deepest rosters.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More