LeBron James may be human after all. He suffered a broken nose last night against the Thunder: “James is being listed as a game-time decision for the Miami Heat‘s home game Sunday against the Chicago Bulls (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). James is expecting to play, a source told ESPN. The team will wait for swelling to go down before deciding on treatment or if James will need a mask. He suffered the injury in the fourth quarter when Ibaka hit him on a drive to the basket. James scored on the play, the last of his 33 points in the Heat’s 103-81 victory, but no foul was called. After bleeding on the floor and staying down for several minutes, James went to the locker room and did not return to the game. He did not speak to reporters in the locker room after the Heat’s win. The Heat took Friday off after wrapping up a six-game road trip. They went 5-1 on the trip, with all the victories coming over teams currently in playoff position in the Western Conference. The run pulled Miami to within 1½ games of the Indiana Pacers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.”
James Harden also suffered an injury Thursday night. hyperextending his elbow against the Warriors: “James Harden suffered a right elbow injury during Thursday night’s 102-99 overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors. The All-Star had an MRI after the game and said he will have an X-ray on the hyperextended elbow when the Rockets (37-18) arrive in Phoenix on Friday. Harden is averaging a team-best 24.3 points per game. “When it first happened, I thought it was over,” Harden, who wore an elbow sleeve after the game, said. “It’s painful. It’s still throbbing. Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious.” Harden said he suffered the injury when he bumped into teammate Jeremy Lin in OT. He had 39 points and three made 3-pointers against Golden State, but missed two of three shots in overtime and shied away from shooting down the stretch due to the injury. Harden has missed eight games this season to ankle, foot and thumb injuries.”
The Bobcats and Ben Gordon are close to terms on a buyout: “Guard Ben Gordon and the Charlotte Bobcats are working on a buyout for the little-used veteran, reports Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski. Gordon is in the final year of his contract and being paid $13.2 million to sit on the pine, so Charlotte could do him a favor by buying him out before March 1. If he clears waivers, and he likely will, Gordon will be able to sign with a team as a free agent and participate in the playoff hunt should his new team reach the postseason. The 30-year-old shooting guard has played in only two games since the calendar flipped to 2014 and has played just 259 minutes this season. He’s had his least-productive NBA season in 10 years and for the first time isn’t scoring in double-figures. Gordon is averaging 5.3 points on 35.6 percent shooting overall.”
The Clippers are one of the frontrunners for Glen Davis who was bought out by the Magic: “According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, that next team could be the Los Angeles Clippers. They are reportedly a “strong frontrunner to sign Davis once he clears the waiver process and possibly reunite with coach Doc Rivers. Davis played under Rivers in Boston from 2007-2011 before agreeing to a sign-and-trade in the 2011 offseason. He was essentially swapped for Brandon Bass and joined the Magic that year to appease Dwight Howard. Davis averaged 7.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 21.0 minutes during his four seasons in Boston. The Clippers aren’t the only team pursuing Davis either. Wojnarowski also reports that the Nets are trying to sign the veteran forward and team him up with Kevin Garnett once again.”
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The Nets are considering working out Jason Collins: “General manager Billy King did not attend the workout in Los Angeles during the All-Star break that was reported by ESPN.com, but said Thursday on a conference call he was told Collins is ”in shape.” Collins revealed at the end of last season he is gay. The 35-year-old Collins played in 38 games for Boston and Washington in 2012-13 and hasn’t been particularly productive in recent years, but has a number of former teammates on the Nets, including coach Jason Kidd.”
Charlie Villanueva would entertain a buyout from the Detroit Pistons: “”Nobody wants to accept that, you know? But what can I do, other than work hard and keep working? That’s all I can do is keep working. If my name isn’t called, I can’t do nothing about that,” Villanueva said. Thursday’s trade deadline passed without Villanueva and his $8.6 million expiring contract being moved. It’s still possible that he and the Pistons could agree on the buyout of the remainder of his salary, which could allow another team to pick him up by March 1 and still have him eligible for postseason. If that opportunity arises, “we could look at it, for sure,” Villanueva said after today’s shootaround before a 7:30 p.m. home game against the Atlanta Hawks. “I want to play. If it’s not here, then I’m still young, I’ve still got a lot of years of playing left. I just want to play,” he said.”
Kyle Lowry may consider resigning with the Raptors: “There was only a slim chance someone was going to knock president and general manager Masai Ujiri’s socks off with the kind of offer he couldn’t turn down for his 27-year-old starting point guard. What was newsworthy, or at least potentially newsworthy, were the subtle suggestions Ujiri was dropping that Lowry and the Raptors might just have a future together past this summer. The very fact that Lowry is still a Raptor suggests that Ujiri believes he has a decent chance of re-signing him here. Ujiri is a very nice man who treats everyone he encounters with respect. You will be hard pressed to find many (or even any) who have a negative word to say about him. But when it comes to doing his job, which is to build the Raptors into a winning organization for years to come, Ujiri does not let niceties get in the way. If Ujiri believed there was zero chance of re-signing Lowry, you can bet a fair amount of money he would have found a way to get some return on Lowry before he jumped ship.”
Ben Baroff is a basketball journalist who blogs for SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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