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NBA Rumors
The daily league-wide NBA rumors page
By InsideHoops.comUpdated Friday, June 9, 2023 at 3:00 a.m. ET
THE LATEST NBA RUMORS
The NBA is considering giving head coaches a second challenge of an official's call if the first challenge of the game is successful. Byron Spruell, the league's president of basketball operations, said the idea would be discussed further during Thursday's meeting with the NBA's competition committee. "We're absolutely looking at it," Spruell said during ESPN's "NBA Today" on Wednesday. "The competition committee over the summer will review it. It's still a process. We have to get it through a board [of governors] vote over the summer, test it as well, but we feel like it's an incremental movement that we would potentially like to see." - ESPN.com
Michael Porter Jr.'s shooting, scoring and minutes have dwindled with each game in the NBA Finals. But coach Michael Malone gave the forward a vote of confidence before Friday's Game 4 and made it clear that Porter is Denver's starting small forward. "I think so many people are quick to dismiss people," Malone said. "Michael Porter isn't making shots right now, and we know he is a great shooter. We know what he is capable of. ... If he's taking the right shots and we're generating the right shots for him, I want him, I want KCP [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope], two guys that we know are better than they showed in three games, they've got to keep shooting the ball because that is the only way they're going to get out of that slump. "But we believe in Michael. He is our starting small forward. I have zero doubt he is going to have a very big game coming up here that is going to help us win this championship." - ESPN.com
As far as Porter is concerned, the forward says he is just missing shots but that he hasn't lost confidence. Since racking up 14 points and 13 rebounds in 43 minutes during Game 1, Porter has shot a combined 3-for-15 and scored a total of seven points in Games 2 and 3. Porter has shot just 3-for-19 from behind the arc. He also saw his playing time drop to 26 minutes in Game 2 and 21 minutes in Game 3. - ESPN.com
Heat guard Tyler Herro still hasn't been cleared to play and has been ruled out of Game 4 of the NBA Finals as he continues to recover from a broken right hand. Coach Erik Spoelstra said after Thursday's workout that Herro is going through all the necessary steps, but he hasn't been able to clear the final hurdle with Game 4 against the Denver Nuggets scheduled for Friday night. - ESPN.com
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler said he was "excited" for Lionel Messi's potential impact on the city following news that the Argentine World Cup winner would be signing for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF. Messi, 35, announced on Wednesday that he intended to join Inter Miami once his contract with French champions Paris Saint-Germain expires at the end of this month. - ESPN.com
THURSDAY'S NBA RUMORS
Phoenix Suns ownership and executives had a series of conversations with Chris Paul and his representatives on the All-Star point guard's future with the franchise Wednesday, including the possibility that he could be waived by the NBA's June 28 guarantee date on his contract, sources told ESPN. The Suns insist that they're still working through several possibilities for Paul's future and reiterated that to his representatives later Wednesday afternoon, sources said. Phoenix plans to explore trade opportunities including Paul and Deandre Ayton that could alter the franchise's roster landscape ahead of a final decision on Paul's partially guaranteed contract, sources said. - ESPN.com
WEDNESDAY'S NBA RUMORS
The Phoenix Suns are hiring David Fizdale as an assistant coach, luring him out of the Utah Jazz's front office with a substantial financial deal, sources told ESPN on Monday. Fizdale, who had joined the Jazz's front office as an associate general manager last year, has strong recent history with new Suns coach Frank Vogel and an even longer relationship with general manager James Jones. - ESPN.com
The LA Clippers promoted Trent Redden to general manager and Mark Hughes to Senior VP/Assistant GM, the team announced on Monday. The promotions come in the wake of former general manager Michael Winger's recent departure to run the Washington Wizards and solidifies a Clippers front office group that's been together for six years now. - ESPN.com
Two Western Conference All-Star forwards -- the New Orleans Pelicans' Brandon Ingram and the Memphis Grizzlies' Jaren Jackson Jr. -- are committed to playing for Team USA in the FIBA Basketball World Cup championships this summer in the Philippines, sources told ESPN on Monday. - ESPN.com
MONDAY'S NBA RUMORS
The Heat tied the NBA Finals and had to overcome a monster 41-point effort from Nikola Jokic to do it. Gabe Vincent scored 23 points, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo each had 21 and Heat beat the Denver Nuggets 111-108 in Game 2 on Sunday night. "Our guys are competitors," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "They love these kind of moments." Evidently. They were down by as many as 15 points, down eight going into the fourth, and those numbers signified they were going to lose. Denver was 11-0 in these playoffs when leading by double digits at any point in a game, and 37-1 this season overall when leading by at least eight going into the fourth. - AP via ESPN.com
The Heat went up 11 early and led 26-23 at the end of the opening period. The Nuggets then went up 15 in the second period before the Heat closed within 57-51 at halftime. The Heat tied it 66-66 midway through the third quarter, but the Nuggets closed out the period on a 6-0 run to take an 83-75 lead into the fourth. - Sun Sentinel
A 3-pointer by Vincent with 10:10 to play then gave the Heat their first lead of the second half, at 86-85, as part of a 15-2 Heat run to open the fourth. “They came out in that fourth quarter with a huge sense of desperation, and we didn’t match that,” the Nuggets’ Malone said. The Heat then moved to their 107-95 lead with 3:39 to play on a Caleb Martin 3-pointer, with Denver trimming the deficit to 109-106 with 1:29 left on a basket by former University of Miami wing Bruce Brown. - Sun Sentinel
Just when you think Jimmy Butler is running on fumes, he summons enough to lift his team late. And Bam Adebayo was superb for the second game in a row. That helped offset 41 points by Nikola Jokic. After scoring a personal playoff-low 14 points in Game 1, Butler was again more of a facilitator than scorer through three quarters, missing all four of his shots in the third to go to the fourth with 13 points on 4-for-13 shooting. But after resting for the first four plus minutes of the fourth quarter, Butler delivered three big baskets — a three-pointer, a three-point play on a driving jumper and foul and a jumper. Butler — who closed with 21 points and 9 assists — has shot 41 percent and averaged 23 points in the past 10 playoff games, compared with 32 points on 55 percent in the first nine games. He shot only 7 for 19 but 5 for 5 on free throws Sunday after not getting to the line in Game 1. And Butler leads the NBA — by far — in clutch points during these playoffs, and he keeps coming through when needed. - Miami Herald
Rick Adelman's influence is all over this year's NBA Finals, which makes his being honored during the title series even more fitting. Adelman was announced Sunday as the 18th recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the National Basketball Coaches Association . It preceded Game 2 of the NBA Finals between Denver and Miami; Nuggets assistant coach David Adelman is Rick's son, and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is a Portland native who vividly remembers Adelman's Trail Blazers teams. "To be included with the past winners is special," Adelman said in a statement. "Chuck was a great coach and respected by all those who coached against his teams. To receive an award like this I have to thank all those who helped me along the way, in particular my assistant coaches and front offices. I would also like to thank the players I had through the years. Their effort and cooperation made everything I did possible. Good players make coaching much easier." - AP via ESPN.com
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The InsideHoops.com NBA rumors page features the biggest NBA news and rumors stories from around the league. We've updated this page literally almost every day since the 2000-01 season. There is usually one main morning update, and sometimes a second afternoon or evening update. On special occassions, like around the trade deadline, the draft, or the approach and first week or so of free agency, updates are more frequent. Sometimes 5 or 10 times a day. And literally every hour or two on the biggest days of the basketball year. But in general what you should do is bookmark this page and make it a daily read. Because then you'll know everything all the hot stories that matter most.