Kristaps Porzingis suffered a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg at 3:27 of the third quarter of Game 2.
The injury is unrelated to Porzingis’s prior right calf injury, which was suffered in the first round of the playoffs. Porzngis missed five weeks with the injury before returning for Game 1.
After consultation with numerous specialists regarding this injury, his availability for upcoming games will be determined day-to-day.
Dan Hurley ultimately decided to remain at UConn, turning down an opportunity to coach the Los Angeles Lakers. Hurley’s
“Start with the opportunity Dan Hurley has at UConn,” said Wojnarowski on Get Up on Tuesday morning. “As you said, to do something that hasn’t been done since John Wooden’s UCLA teams, that’s win a third straight NCA Championship. Probably never have that chance again as a coach. This is a unique time in his life and his career. That’s number one.
“Number two, Dan Hurley really studied everything that was re required to be an NBA coach and the adjustments he was going to have to make. As much as the Lakers wanted what Dan Hurley brought, his program building his player development, the way he can forge relationships with players. You know the great X’s and O’ acumen. He’s running a lot of stuff in college that’s been intriguing to NBA coaches who they want to steal from a little bit. or all of that, Dan Hurley was going to have to adjust and knew that he had to be ready to make the adjustments in temperament, in practice time, all the things that come with being an NBA coach from college basketball. And, ultimately, Dan Hurley wasn’t there yet on doing that.
“So they negotiated out a number almost $12 million a year it would have put him just behind [Gregg] Popovich, Steve Kerr, Ty Lou, coaches who have a combined 12 NBA championships and more than double what he was making at Connecticut. He had negotiated a new deal for himself with his agent weeks ago that’s going to be, I’m told, kind of in the $8 million plus range. It’ll put him among the highest paid coaches in college basketball, but they never negotiated off that, or leveraged off that with the Lakers. The Lakers was a singular moment for Dan Hurley and it wasn’t about getting his UConn number up. It already was up and that was before UConn even knew about the Laker conversations.
“I think in the end for Dan Hurley, he wasn’t ready to do the job. I think he loved what he heard in L.A. from Rob Pelinka, Jeanie Buss. He loved the idea of having Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and the group they have in the short-term. And then working with Pelinka over time with a six-year deal to draft players to find what Rob Pelinka told him would be Hurley-type players for the Lakers. He was going to have a hand in all of that
“But ultimately, for Dan Hurley, at 51 years old, wasn’t ready to make that move. And I think there was never really an instance in the last days of this where Dan Hurley told the Lakers, ‘Hey, if you hit this number I am coming.’ He wasn’t ready to come and it wasn’t about what the number was.
“Listen, the Lakers were taking some risk too that Hurley could make this adjustment that as great as he is that he was going to be a fully formed NBA coach and that offer you know certainly put him in the upper echelon of NBA coaches, so maybe this isn’t as much about the money as a lot of people were making when they saw it the initial numbers they came out yesterday.”
Former University of Washington head coach Mike Hopkins is joining Mike Budenholzer’s staff as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. Hopkins and Washington parted ways following last season.
Hopkins was the Huskies head coach for the past seven years. Overall, he’s coached in college basketball for over 30 years.
Budenholzer is putting together his staff, as he takes over the Suns. Former NBA head coach David Fizdale and longtime NBA assistant coach Chad Forcier will both be part of Budenholzer’s staff in Phoenix.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are in the market for a center in free agency. That search has them focused on unrestricted free agent Isaiah Hartenstein of the New York Knicks.
The Knicks have Early Bird rights for Hartenstein, which limits them to offering him a starting salary around $17 million for next season. The Thunder project to have $35 million in cap space to offer a free agent.
One source said Oklahoma City’s interest in Hartenstein is “real.” A suggested path could be to offer Hartenstein a larger initial salary than New York can, but on a short-term deal of two years. That would leave the Thunder with flexibility moving forward, in case the signing didn’t work out.
