Vucevic, Nikola (1990- )

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    ‘New Year, New Me’ Actually Might Work for the Chicago Bulls

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    The Bulls reinvented themselves and have risen to the top of the N.B.A.’s Eastern Conference, despite a virus outbreak and injuries that have tested them.About a month before training camp last fall, the Chicago Bulls began meeting up in their city, which would become a new home for most of them.They got together for workouts they didn’t have to do. They played five-on-five. They hung out. With only three players who had been with the team during the previous off-season, there were a lot of introductions to make.“Everybody that came here was very excited for this project to work,” said Nikola Vucevic, one of the longer-tenured members of the Bulls, having joined the team at the trade deadline in March 2021. “There was a very positive energy going into it. I think that helped a lot. Also, we had guys that were still trying to prove themselves.”Those workouts built team chemistry, and the Bulls surprised people — Vucevic included — with how quickly they started winning. And when injuries and coronavirus infections depleted their roster, they had a foundation that allowed them to adapt.This season has demanded that teams be pliable, given how the pandemic has disrupted it. A virus outbreak during a wave of the Omicron variant in December meant that the Bulls were missing 10 players at one point — and once they emerged from that setback, they began losing key players to injury. Despite all that, the Bulls (37-21) are well positioned for the run up to the playoffs after All-Star Weekend.“We’re not able to see us at our full potential since the beginning of the year,” said Zach LaVine, Chicago’s two-time All-Star guard and the longest-tenured Bull. “Even then we were working out the kinks, getting to know each other.”He added: “We’re still at the top of our conference and we’ve been doing a patch job.”Zach LaVine has been with the Bulls since the 2017-18 season.Grant Halverson/Getty ImagesThe Miami Heat, who have dealt with their own virus and injury issues, are tied with the Bulls for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. It has been more than a decade since the Bulls were truly considered contenders in the East. They have missed the playoffs for the past four seasons, and two years ago they tried to shake up their front office in hopes of changing their fortunes.They traded for Vucevic last season, and he became the first part of their remodel. Only the third-year guard Coby White and LaVine remain from the team that began last season.DeMar DeRozan became their marquee free-agent signing, a player who had been written off because of his preference for midrange jumpers over 3-pointers.The Bulls traded for Lonzo Ball in the off-season, and paid a small price — the forfeiture of a second-round draft pick — for tampering to get him. They signed Alex Caruso, who comes off the bench for a defensive jolt, in free agency as well. And they drafted Ayo Dosunmu, a Chicago native who had spent three years at the University of Illinois.Critics wondered if this group would actually work, and how.Bulls Coach Billy Donovan said the players’ time together before training camp “really helped our team.” For Vucevic that meant reconnecting with DeRozan, with whom he’d played at the University of Southern California. It meant getting to know others he’d played against in the N.B.A.“It’s one of the great things about team sports,” Vucevic said. “You meet so many people and you never know who you’re going to build friendships with.”Lonzo Ball playing against Philadelphia in November. He is currently recovering from a knee injury.Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesThe Bulls started the season 6-1 and went on a nine-game winning streak in late December and early January after their Omicron wave had passed.Ball’s outlet passes, LaVine’s dunks and DeRozan’s buzzer-beaters were just part of the fun. Their up-tempo offense, fueled by DeRozan, LaVine and, eventually, Vucevic, was balanced by a clear defensive identity, led by guards Ball and Caruso.“They look like they’re having fun playing basketball together,” said Joakim Noah, who played for the Bulls from 2007 to 2016, including seven straight trips to the playoffs. “When you look around the league you realize you can probably count that on one hand.”Friendships might seem like a small thing on a professional sports team, but discord can derail even the most talented teams.“I think when you have a lot of guys built into the foundation as if we’re one household, one family, when you have guys going in and out it’s much easier to plug guys in,” Dosunmu said.DeRozan was out for almost two weeks after testing positive for the coronavirus in December. LaVine has missed 11 games, most of them because of a lingering knee injury, though he also played with back spasms earlier this month. Ball has been out since Jan. 15 with a knee injury.Caruso missed 13 games in December and January with a foot injury. In the second game after he returned, he fractured his wrist after a hard foul by Milwaukee’s Grayson Allen. Caruso has not played since, but he has been on the bench, helping younger players learn from what he sees.“We have a strong-minded group,” Vucevic said. “A group of fighters. When we’re going through it, we just talked about how we can’t feel sorry for ourselves because nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.”They have stayed afloat by beating lesser teams, but the league’s better ones have proved a tougher challenge. So far they are winless against Miami, Milwaukee, Golden State, Philadelphia, Memphis and Phoenix. They have only two wins against teams currently in the top four in their conferences — they beat the Jazz and Cavaliers once each.“We understand that we are a good team, we are not yet at the level of the best teams, and we still have a lot of work to do,” Vucevic said, adding, “We have to wait to get full to be able to do that, but all of this is a good test for us to get to there.”After shootaround Friday at Chicago’s practice facility, Ball hopped through a drill as he worked on rehabbing his knee. Nearby, Caruso watched a scrimmage. LaVine practiced shooting free throws and then spoke to reporters.“We get healthy and we do what we’re supposed to do, I don’t see anybody better than us in the East,” LaVine said. “That’s my opinion. Competition-wise, you step on the line you go throw the ball up, I don’t think anybody’s better than us.”That night LaVine played 37 minutes and winced as he landed on his feet after a dunk. The Bulls announced Monday that he would be out until the All-Star break because of that lingering knee injury.DeMar DeRozan defending against San Antonio’s Doug McDermott in February.Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated PressSince returning from his coronavirus-related absence, DeRozan has offered some consistency. He’s scored at least 35 points in the team’s last six games — losses to Phoenix and Philadelphia, followed by four wins over pesky but less-accomplished teams.After Saturday’s home win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, DeRozan spoke wistfully about what it might feel like when the Bulls are all healthy again.“It’s like a dream I dream about every night,” DeRozan said as he looked into the distance.Outside the United Center, the winter Chicago air was biting cold just a few hours before the city would be dusted with snow.“Being on a sunny beautiful island, that’s how I picture it when we get back healthy,” DeRozan said. “We’re going to get there. It sucks right now, but we got to weather it. It’s going to come.” 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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      The N.B.A. Trades That Did, and Did Not, Happen

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      Kyle Lowry and Lonzo Ball are staying put (for now), but Victor Oladipo, Nikola Vucevic, Aaron Gordon and others are on the move. Here’s what you need to know.Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry was heavily pursued by three of the N.B.A.’s presumed title contenders — Philadelphia, Miami and the Los Angeles Lakers — before Thursday’s trade deadline. Yet Lowry, on his 35th birthday, did not get traded.The Raptors’ decision to hold firm and keep Lowry, even though he will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, was perhaps the biggest surprise of a frantic trade deadline day in which 16 reported deals were struck.After Toronto ultimately decided that none of the three primary bidders had met its demands for a trade package for Lowry, the league’s two Florida teams — Miami and Orlando — and the Denver Nuggets emerged from the deadline having made the most significant moves.A breakdown of Thursday’s most notable business:Why Kyle Lowry Is Still a RaptorLowry, widely regarded as the only player who both was likely to be traded this week and had the ability to affect the championship chase, acknowledged after the Raptors’ win Wednesday over the Nuggets that he might have played his last game with the franchise he helped win a title in 2018-19.Amid all of Thursday’s activity, Lowry’s fate remained the greatest source of intrigue. The Raptors appeared to be clearing roster space to take the Lowry offer they found most palatable by agreeing to three trades to send Matt Thomas to Utah, Terence Davis to Sacramento and the much-coveted Norman Powell to Portland for Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood.Then the deadline passed with no trade. The Heat were unwilling to include the highly rated guard Tyler Herro in their offers for Lowry, while the Lakers refused to include the blossoming scorer Talen Horton-Tucker, according to a person with knowledge of the talks who was not authorized to discuss them publicly. Other factors contributed to the nontrade: Any team trading for Lowry naturally wanted to be sure it could re-sign him this summer, and Raptors officials went into the deadline pledging to send Lowry only to a destination he approved.“We owe him that respect as a person,” Masai Ujiri, Toronto’s president of basketball operations, said Thursday night.The Toronto Raptors did trade a guard on Thursday, but it was Norman Powell, right, not Kyle Lowry, left.Kim Klement/USA Today Sports, via ReutersToronto ultimately decided to take its chances with letting Lowry finish the season as a Raptor, with the hope that it can either sign him to a new deal in the summer or construct a sign-and-trade deal that prevents the Raptors from losing perhaps the most popular player in team history without compensation.Miami Pivots to Victor OladipoAfter its best Lowry offer was rebuffed by the Raptors, Miami turned instead to Houston to make a deal for Victor Oladipo, a two-time All-Star guard and another soon-to-be free agent, according to a person with knowledge of the trade who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The Heat also agreed to a trade with Sacramento for the versatile forward Nemanja Bjelica after acquiring the veteran swingman Trevor Ariza last week.As the deadline neared, Miami signaled it was out of the Lowry hunt by packaging the veterans Kelly Olynyk and Avery Bradley for Oladipo, as well as granting Houston the right to swap a 2022 first-round pick with Miami.After just two months as a Rocket, and still recovering from the serious leg injury that sidelined him for more than a year in Indiana, Oladipo did not generate nearly as much trade interest as Houston had hoped when it acquired him from the Pacers in January as part of the four-team blockbuster trade that sent James Harden to the Nets.Orlando Blows It All UpRavaged by injuries this season after a promising 4-0 start, Orlando broke from its reputation for operating in a measured fashion by aggressively embracing a rebuilding posture and trading away three players it has relied on heavily for years: center Nikola Vucevic, forward Aaron Gordon and guard Evan Fournier. Vucevic, the only 2021 All-Star dealt on Thursday, was traded to the Chicago Bulls. Gordon is bound for Denver, and Fournier is on his way to Boston.Nikola Vucevic to ChicagoAfter weeks of pessimism in rival front offices that Vucevic would be made available, Orlando gave deadline day an early jolt by packaging Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu to the Bulls for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr. and two future first-round picks. Chicago is eager to team Vucevic with Zach LaVine, another 2021 All-Star.Nikola Vucevic is headed to the Chicago Bulls.John Raoux/Associated PressAaron Gordon is headed to the Denver Nuggets.Julio Aguilar/Getty ImagesAaron Gordon to DenverDenver, coming off a trip to the Western Conference finals, fortified its roster for another playoff run by outbidding the Boston Celtics to strike a deal with the Magic for Gordon. The Nuggets, who also agreed to acquire the veteran center JaVale McGee from Cleveland in a separate deal, are sending the veteran swingman Gary Harris, the rookie guard R.J. Hampton and a future first-round pick to the Magic for Gordon and Gary Clark, according to a person with knowledge of the trades who was not authorized to discuss them publicly.Evan Fournier to BostonDespite missing out on Gordon, Boston made good on its vows to shake up its roster in the midst of a disappointing 21-23 season by sending two future second-round picks and the veteran guard Jeff Teague to Orlando for Fournier, according to a person with knowledge of the trade. The Celtics were better positioned than the Knicks and other interested teams to absorb Fournier’s $17 million salary because of a $28.5 million trade exception they created in a sign-and-trade deal to send Gordon Hayward to Charlotte in November. Such trade exceptions allow teams to take in extra salary in trades rather than adhere to the league’s usual salary-matching rules.The Hawks and Clippers Swap GuardsThe Los Angeles Clippers, who had interest in higher-profile point guards like Lowry and Lonzo Ball of the New Orleans Pelicans, addressed their need for more playmaking by striking a deal with the Atlanta Hawks to acquire the four-time All-Star Rajon Rondo.The Clippers had coveted Rondo in free agency last fall but lost out when Rondo signed a two-year, $15 million deal with the Hawks. The trade calls for the Clippers to send the high-scoring veteran guard Lou Williams and two future second-round picks to Atlanta for Rondo, who has missed games because of injury and made minimal impact as a Hawk.Lou Williams will bring some much-needed scoring to the Atlanta Hawks.Brandon Dill/Associated PressDeals, and No DealUnwilling to go overboard in its Lowry pursuit, Philadelphia found a different path to fortifying its backcourt by assembling a three-team trade with Oklahoma City and the Knicks to acquire George Hill of the Thunder. The trade cost the 76ers two future second-round picks to each team and will also route the Knicks’ Austin Rivers to the Thunder.Cleveland and San Antonio, as expected, were unable to find palatable trades for two former All-Stars with large contracts, Andre Drummond ($28.75 million) and LaMarcus Aldridge ($24 million). San Antonio immediately agreed to a contract buyout with Aldridge that will make him an unrestricted free agent if he clears waivers, with Drummond widely expected to follow the same path.The Nets did not find a trade for the injured Spencer Dinwiddie. Despite a likely season-ending knee injury, Dinwiddie is expected to decline his $12.3 million player option for next season and become a free agent, which had the Nets looking for a potential deal to add to their depth and to avoid losing Dinwiddie for nothing.It was the N.B.A.’s fourth consecutive deadline day to generate a double-digit number of trades. The frenzy hushed fears that the deadline would be quieter than usual in part because of the league’s new playoff format, which gives 10 teams a shot at the postseason instead of the longstanding norm of eight.Entering Thursday’s play, only four of the league’s 30 teams were more than four games out of contention for the No. 10 spot in each conference: Orlando, Detroit, Houston and Minnesota. Numerous league executives have said that, in past years, teams more naturally fell into place as buyers or sellers with fewer clubs in playoff contention. More

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      On the Road Again at All-Star Weekend

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMarc Stein On BasketballOn the Road Again at All-Star WeekendPlenty of stars expressed concern about playing in the All-Star Game, but it proved to be an important trip for Nikola Vucevic and for a columnist eager to resume traveling.For Nikola Vucevic of the Orlando Magic, the All-Star festivities were a chance to reconnect with a few friends. He played 19 minutes in the game and finished second in the skills competition. Credit…Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports, via ReutersMarch 10, 2021, 9:00 a.m. ETSunday’s 70th N.B.A. All-Star Game was repeatedly described as one almost all of us could have done without.The almost disclaimer got thrown in for people like Boran Rajcic, Stefan Vulevic and the Orlando Magic’s Nikola Vucevic. Like the league’s broadcast partners at Turner Sports, and the historically Black colleges and universities that gained so much from the weekend, Vucevcic and his close friends savored the experience.Vucevic and fellow All-Stars were allowed to bring up to four guests into the bubble environment that the N.B.A. conceived in Atlanta in hopes of staging Sunday’s competitions safely and hushing the naysayers who feared that the one-day format could devolve into some sort of superspreader event. After deciding with his wife, Nikoleta, that it would be wiser for her and their two young children to stay home this year, Vucevic figured he would be commemorating the second All-Star appearance of his career as a party of one.Rajcic and Vulevic wouldn’t let it happen.Rajcic drove to Georgia from California and made stops in Phoenix and Dallas along the way to register the requisite league-mandated negative tests for Covid-19 at official N.B.A. team testing facilities. Vulevic drove in six hours from Virginia to double the size of Vucevic’s fan club. So moved by those efforts, Vucevic arranged to stay over Sunday night before returning to Orlando — unlike the many All-Stars who left town immediately after the game by private jet — to maximize his time with the guys.Time together had to suffice as the primary source of entertainment, since they were posted up in a downtown hotel that, per N.B.A. rules, those cleared to enter were not allowed to leave.“I actually had a pretty nice balcony with my room,” Vucevic said. “We just hung out, played music, caught up.”Rajcic, who was the best man in Vucevic’s wedding, and Vulevic were adamant that they had to be in Atlanta, whatever it took, to make the most of what might prove to be the high point of Vucevic’s trying season. Vucevic, at 30, is producing career-best personal numbers so robust that he earned an All-Star spot despite injury-ravaged Orlando falling to 14th in the Eastern Conference at 13-23. A 6-foot-11 Montenegrin center, he is averaging 24.6 points and 11.6 rebounds while shooting 41.2 percent from 3-point range, which explains why the Boston Celtics — who openly covet a big man with shooting range — are mentioned often among the multiple playoff teams interested in acquiring Vucevic before the March 25 trade deadline.I was not aware of a room-with-balcony-option at my Atlanta hotel, but I could understand the pull Rajcic and Vulevic felt to make the trip. Before boarding a Georgia-bound flight last Friday night, I hadn’t left my Dallas base to attend an N.B.A. function of any kind since leaving the Walt Disney World bubble last September. This assignment struck me as the must-see occasion to end that drought. I was convinced of it despite the unappetizing prospect of pandemic air travel and knowing that the mere 50 members of the news media that would be credentialed at State Farm Arena, compared with the usual 1,000-plus that the league credentials, would get nowhere near the players or the floor like we ultimately did in the Disney bubble.When I strolled the streets surrounding the Atlanta Hawks’ home on Saturday afternoon, there was zero All-Star energy in the air and, unlike a typical N.B.A. production, very little signage to signal what would be happening Sunday night. Sunday’s walk to the game was even more disorienting, thanks to a police presence in the area that completely cleared out the arena’s perimeter. Maybe the N.B.A. and Keisha Lance Bottoms, the Atlanta mayor, were unable to dissuade locals and out-of-towners from congregating at unaffiliated parties thrown Friday and Saturday night as they had hoped, but by game day it was very much the closed-to-the-public, made-for-television event that the league intended.I knew going in that I would be granted access to a decent seat in a confined section of the arena behind one of the baskets and little else, but I’m glad I went. If the game was going to go ahead, after LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden and various other stars had all spoken out so forcefully against the league’s intentions to stuff three days’ worth of All-Star festivities into a one-night Turner bonanza, I felt a responsibility to get there as well and see as much as I could with my own eyes — just in case something went badly askew.Those superspreader fears were apparently averted when Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons were kept isolated from the other All-Stars after it was discovered that before leaving Philadelphia they had been exposed to a barber who had tested positive for Covid-19. The announcement that Embiid and Simmons were being pulled from Sunday’s game stoked a fresh round of apprehension and resistance among players, but my sense was that most participants came away appreciative of the experience.“There’s obviously a big balancing act, and I know Adam Silver tried to articulate that throughout this process, and obviously us as players, we have reactions to everything that happens because it’s our world and we’re living in it,” Golden State’s Stephen Curry said. “I still had a great time out there.”Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images“There’s obviously a big balancing act, and I know Adam Silver tried to articulate that throughout this process, and obviously us as players, we have reactions to everything that happens because it’s our world and we’re living in it,” Golden State’s Stephen Curry said. “I still had a great time out there.”Portland’s Damian Lillard added: “It had to be done, and we got it done. We showed up and did what we needed to do.”Whether All-Star 2021 really was or wasn’t a must is the point on which this whole debate hinged. Perhaps you will recall how succinctly Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers summed it up in early February.“We all know why we’re playing it,” Leonard said then. “There’s money on the line.”I, too, thought the risks taken to preserve Turner’s projected windfall of up to $30 million, on top of the untold millions that the N.B.A. and its players avoided losing through an outright cancellation, were ill-advised. Yet I must concede, with hindsight, that it’s a stretch to parrot the line that routinely dismisses the All-Star Game as “just” an exhibition. TNT treats it as the jewel of its annual N.B.A. coverage, bigger than any single playoff game on its air, while Silver said the league was expecting a global television audience of more than 100 million people, along with more than a billion social media views and engagements.No mere exhibition game generates that sort of hoopla. All-Star games don’t count — except that the N.B.A. can rightfully say they do.Like everything else in the league (and the world) these days, it’s complicated — and often inherently risky over the past year. Few understand that better than Silver, who is back in New York now for what could be another nervy week as the 400-plus players who were not in Atlanta gradually return to their teams. Coming out of a break is when the N.B.A. has typically had a surge in positive Covid-19 cases.It likewise figures to be a week filled with somber reflection given Thursday’s looming one-year anniversary of the N.B.A.’s shutdown in response to the coronavirus outbreak. I interviewed Silver recently for a one-year-later project that ran in Monday’s editions of The New York Times, which featured Silver sharing some of his thinking and takeaways from March 11, 2020.“When I made that decision that night to shut down, I thought of it more as a hiatus, because it was a realization that however long we’re shut down, we need to put in place a whole new set of protocols to deal with this emerging virus,” Silver said in last month’s interview. “It wasn’t so much that, all right, the world has stopped.“At that moment,” Silver said, “I did not have a sense that we would be having this conversation almost a year later and we still would not be back to business as usual.”The 70th All-Star Game, however you felt about it, was the latest illustration of exactly that. It became such a divisive issue because business as usual has been replaced by pandemic life for longer than most of us ever imagined.The Scoop @TheSteinLineMarch 8There is optimism within the Lakers that they will get strong consideration from Andre Drummond if Drummond ultimately leaves the Cavaliers via buyout, league sources say.Cleveland’s preference, of course, remains trading Drummond elsewhere before the March 25 trade deadline.March 6The NBA has sent out roughly 200 letters with cease-and-desist orders to various party promoters in the Atlanta area that have used the league’s All-Star logo and event name in connection with unaffiliated events scheduled this weekend, league spokesman tells ⁦‪@NYTSports⁩The most notable aspect of the letters, of course, is that they suggest there are at least 200 parties going on in the area this weekend after Atlanta Mayor @KeishaBottoms urged the local citizenry not to hold All-Star events when the NBA is not interacting with the public at allThis newsletter is OUR newsletter. So please weigh in with what you’d like to see here. To get your hoops-loving friends and family involved, please forward this email to them so they can jump in the conversation. If you’re not a subscriber, you can sign up here.Corner ThreeImmanuel Quickley is off to a promising start for the Knicks, but Obi Toppin is still adjusting to the speed of the pro game.Credit…Pool photo by John MinchilloYou 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.(Responses may be lightly edited or condensed for clarity.)Q: You recently wrote an article about the surprising New York Knicks. Knicks fans are excited about Immanuel Quickley, but this Knicks fan is puzzled about the play of Obi Toppin. What is your sense of the hype he got when drafted and the reality of his play to date? — Rich Helfont (Port Washington, N.Y.)Stein: The hype hasn’t helped Toppin’s cause, but the Knicks’ circumstances have changed since draft night in November, too. No one expected Julius Randle to play at an All-Star level. Toppin was drafted as a potential Randle replacement by a front office that suddenly finds itself trying to determine whether Randle’s glorious half-season makes him a cornerstone player they have to keep.I thought there was a decent chance that the Knicks would take Tyrese Haliburton at No. 8 rather than Toppin, but they felt a greater need in the frontcourt, with RJ Barrett projected to be a more significant contributor to the Knicks’ future than Randle.The most troubling aspect of Toppin’s slow start is that, at age 23, he was thought to be more N.B.A.-ready than most rookies. Even Derrick Rose, whose recent return to the Knicks has clearly helped Toppin when they play together, mentioned recently that Toppin is still adjusting to the speed of the N.B.A. game. The ultratight turnaround from draft night to the start of Toppin’s first N.B.A. training camp, with no summer league, appeared to snuff out the supposed experience edge.Q: Is there any concern about dilution of the N.B.A.’s brand due to the oversaturation of the alternate jerseys teams wear every year? The recent orange-versus-red clash between the Hawks and Thunder seemed like a humorous, and unfortunate, result of league guidelines that allow teams to wear clashing colors instead of the traditional light-versus dark contrast. Is anyone at league headquarters worried that the Lakers wearing blue on another team’s blue court, or Miami dressing like the Pittsburgh Steelers or cotton candy on any given night, or Milwaukee wearing two shades of blue that have never been part of the Bucks’ aesthetic cheapens the history of these teams and the league? — Michael McAfee (Austin, Texas)Stein: As a fellow traditionalist, I decided to let your whole rant run, even though I suspect you knew the answer before you sent in the question. The league and its teams clearly hold no such concerns about printing an array of new jerseys every season. It must be profitable or they wouldn’t do it.If it were up to sappy me, of course, teams would all be wearing what they wore in the 1970s and 1980s (when applicable) and Mitchell & Ness would remake and market everything the Buffalo Braves wore from 1973-74 through 1977-78. But I, like you, clearly am not the target audience for today’s jersey manufacturers.I will say, though, that I really do like the San Antonio Spurs’ new Fiesta scheme. That’s pretty much the lone modern design I am drawn to.Q: If a replacement All-Star gets replaced, does it go in the record books that they made the All-Star team? — @RivelBrian from TwitterStein: Excellent question about precisely the sort of record-book minutiae that this newsletter cherishes.I checked with the league office and, yes, Phoenix’s Devin Booker will be recorded as an All-Star for the second successive season, even though he was chosen as a replacement for the injured Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers and then had to be replaced by Utah’s Mike Conley because of a sprained left knee.Conley thus exits the Best Player To Never Earn All-Star Status debate, leaving behind the likes of 1980s (and 1990s) stalwarts Derek Harper, Ron Harper, Rod Strickland, Byron Scott and Cedric Maxwell, along with Jason Terry and Lamar Odom from the more recent past, and Portland’s CJ McCollum as the most deserving current veteran player.Booker will surely carry a chip into next season even with the league now recognizing him as a two-time All-Star, because he was an injury-replacement selection both times after being snubbed by Western Conference coaches two seasons in a row. McCollum, in his eighth season, was also playing at an All-Star level when he sustained a fractured left foot on Jan. 16.Numbers GameWith Deandre Ayton anchoring the team’s defense and Devin Booker and Chris Paul thriving on offense, the Phoenix Suns are one of just two teams ranked in the N.B.A.’s top-ten in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Credit…Ronald Martinez/Getty Images2As the second half of the season begins with two games on Wednesday, only two teams rank in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency: Utah and Phoenix. The Jazz, at No. 4 in both categories, are the only team in the league that ranks in the top five in both. The Suns are No. 8 in offensive efficiency and No. 3 in defensive efficiency.99.4After two consecutive seasons in which pace leaguewide crept past 100 possessions per 48 minutes for the first time since 1988-89, that figure is down ever so slightly. Entering Wednesday’s play, teams are averaging 99.4 possessions per 48 minutes, according to Stathead.3The Lakers, Clippers and Nets are the only teams in the 30-team N.B.A. that have not had a game postponed this season according to the league’s health and safety protocols. The league had to postpone 31 games during the season’s first half because at least one team could not field the requisite eight players in uniform as a result of positive tests for Covid-19 or, more frequently, because of issues with contact tracing.6Only five of the six actually played in the All-Star Game after Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons was sidelined by the N.B.A.’s contact tracing rules, but this season’s six All-Stars listed as left-handers tied a league record: James Harden (Nets), Julius Randle (Knicks), Domantas Sabonis (Indiana), Simmons (Philadelphia), Zion Williamson (New Orleans) and the late addition Mike Conley (Utah).14Leave it to my trusty friends at Stathead to be able to dial up the history that shows there were also six lefties in the 1973 All-Star Game in Chicago: Tiny Archibald (Kansas City-Omaha), Dave Cowens (Boston), Gail Goodrich (Los Angeles Lakers), Bob Lanier (Detroit), Jack Marin (Houston) and Lenny Wilkens (Cleveland). Yet it must be noted that All-Star rosters swelled from 12 to 14 from 1970-71 through 1972-73, when the N.B.A. briefly stipulated that each team in the 17-team league had to be represented in the All-Star Game. The 1973 game in Chicago was the league’s last of three in a row with 28 All-Stars rather than 24. Fan voting for the five starters began in 1974-75.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More