Tag: Luke Kornet

Explaining the NBA’s hardship exception and the free agents who signed as replacement players

Explaining what hardship exceptions and replacement players mean as COVID-19 protocols hit the NBA.

As the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread, the NBA has required a large share of “replacement players” to fill in for the players who are in health and safety protocols. And so far, more than 100 players have reportedly entered the league’s health and safety protocols so far this month, per ESPN’s Baxter Holmes.

But how exactly do the “replacement players” work?

Essentially, the NBA’s hardship exception allows teams to exceed the 15-man roster limit if more than three players on the roster are each going to miss extended time due to illness or injury. Typically, teams weren’t allowed to apply for the hardship exception before Jan. 5.

But starting last season, the league changed the policy to allow earlier exceptions. And as of earlier this week, effective Dec. 19 until Jan. 19, the NBA is allowing teams to sign one replacement player for each player on their roster who tests positive for COVID-19.

While there are some big names (e.g. Isaiah Thomas, Lance Stephenson, CJ Miles) who have signed as replacement players, there are lots of promising young NBA hopefuls who are hoping to use this opportunity as a chance to stick around the league.

Not all of the players below were signed through hardship exceptions and some transactions (e.g. DeMarcus Cousins and Wesley Matthews to the Milwaukee Bucks) may have happened anyway during a normal season.

But below, based on the NBA’s transaction log and reporting from the league’s top insiders, you can find a live tracker of all the players who have signed new deals with NBA teams over the course of the past month.

Boston Celtics alumni Luke Kornet, Theo Pinson back in NBA on hardship exception deals

The rash of COVID-19 cases sending players to the NBA’s health and safety protocols has two Celtics alumni back in the league.

New rules agreed to by the NBA and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) have gone into effect requiring teams to sign a hardship exemption for every player on their team more than one who ends up in the league’s health and safety protocols, and with that rule, a few recent Celtics players are finding themselves back on NBA rosters.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that former Boston big man Luke Kornet will be playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers on such a deal and that recent Celtics camp invitee Theo Pinson will be suiting up for the Dallas Mavericks for the same reason.

Both were playing for Boston’s G League affiliate in Portland, Maine, the Maine Celtics (formerly Red Claws).

While Boston has yet to play their own prospect inked to such a deal, former No. 15 pick of the 2017 NBA draft Justin Jackson, with the way that positive COVID-19 tests have been wreaking havoc around the league it is not unlikely that these players may end up seeing some real game time.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Boston Celtics announce training camp roster

The Boston Celtics have released their 20-person training camp roster, including four official signings and one cut.

The Boston Celtics have released their 2021-22 training camp roster, officially signing Ryan Arcidiacono, Garrison Matthews, Theo Pinson and Juwan Morgan to fill out the final 20-person roster.

The rest of the roster is made up of nine returning players, with mainstays like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, as well as new additions Al Horford, Josh Richardson, Dennis Schroder, Juancho Hernangomez and Enes Kanter. Rookie Sam Hauser also made the cut. Notably, Luke Kornet is not named on the roster, despite previous reports saying he was set to participate in training camp. Forbes’ Chris Grenham reported that the Celtics may keep Kornet on an Exhibit 10 deal, however.

He is not eligible for a two-way contract. Kornet was acquired at last year’s deadline in a deal that sent Daniel Theis and Javonte Green to the Chicago Bulls.

Here is the Celtics full roster:

All of the Celtics additions have NBA experience. Arcidiacono has the most of the bunch, spending four years coming off the bench for Chicago.

The Celtics kick off preseason on Oct. 4 against the Orlando Magic home at TD Garden.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Celtics center Luke Kornet reportedly signed to camp deal with Boston

The Green Kornet rides again, albeit only to camp barring some further moves by Boston.

The Boston Celtics stay busy on the team-building front after having signed forward Juwan Morgan to a camp deal by bringing back big man Luke Kornet on an Exhibit-10 deal to compete for a spot with the Celtics on their 2021-22 roster. per Forbes Sports’ Chris Grenham.

Kornet came to Boston as part of the trade that sent veteran center Daniel Theis to the Chicago Bulls at the 2021 NBA trade deadline and helped provide valuable depth with some shooting to the team’s frontcourt rotation in the latter third of the 2020-21 season. The signing seems to indicate that the Celtics may yet make changes to their roster as it currently stands given the team is currently at the regular-season limit of 15 players.

That could take the shape of further consolidatory trades as was the case with the two-for-one deal that sent out Carsen Edwards and Kris Dunn for Juancho Hernangomez or cutting forward Jabari Parker, whose contract is only guaranteed for $100,000.

Unlike Morgan, Kornet is not eligible for a two way slot with four seasons of NBA experience already under his belt. The 7-foot-2 Vanderbilt product logged 4.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game with Boston last season.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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5 centers the Lakers could target in free agency

There’s a chance the Los Angeles Lakers will be short on centers. Here are five names that could make sense.

The Los Angeles Lakers are almost done completing their roster for the upcoming season.

With Rajon Rondo likely returning after being bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies, the Lakers are essentially one spot away.

If Rondo becomes a guaranteed contract, the Lakers will have two spots left to fill, but L.A. wants to keep the final spot open to maintain flexibility.

Wing James Ennis is a possibility, but the Lakers could benefit from adding another body in the frontcourt.

Besides Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard, only Marc Gasol is an option, though he’s reportedly not a lock to return.

Here are five options that would make sense as depth pieces if L.A. wants another center:

Which Boston Celtics free agents are likely to return – and who aren’t?

Should any of the Boston Celtics five pending free agents be brought back? If so, which ones?

The Boston Celtics have five players whose contracts have officially ended, and it is not out of the question all five will be playing for another team in 2021-22. But at least some of them may interest new President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens in bringing back.

Still others — probably the majority — are at best a coinflip to return, pending what moves the team makes on the trade market and on draft night. Which free agents ought the Celtics write the check for, and which ones should they cut loose? With the stakes — and potential tax bill — starting to gain some real heft, the decisions Boston makes aren’t just about the player they bring back. They also need to consider the opportunity costs of those they don’t explore bringing on in their steads.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the candidates.

WATCH: The best of Boston Celtics big man Luke Kornet in 2020-21

The Green Hornet brought some buzz to Boston’s bench.

It isn’t very often an NBA player drives several hours in their own vehicle to play with their team, but that is exactly how the Luke Kornet era began with the Boston Celtics soon after the passing of the league’s 2021 trade deadline.

Part of the return the Celtics received when dealing veteran big man Daniel Theis to the Chicago Bulls to presumably save money on their soon-to-balloon payroll, Kornet quickly made himself welcome with Celtics fans by staving off a loss to the tanking Oklahoma City Thunder. While that might have been his best overall game of the season, Kornet might be back as a third center given the unique look his shooting provides.

Averaging 4.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game with the Celtics, the former Vanderbilt standout found a way to help his teammates despite virtually no time to learn the system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf3GuNq8MnI

Watch his best plays from the 2020-21 season in the embedded video above produced by YouTuber Tomasz Kordylewski.

The Green Hornet may well return for 2021-22, but this will keep us busy while we wait for it to get here.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Boston Celtics 2020-21 individual players grades: Luke Kornet

While the Green Kornet hardly got a chance to get on the floor, he managed to leave us with a few solid outings.

Now that the 2020-21 Boston Celtics season is firmly in the rear-view mirror, it’s possible to spend some time taking stock of how each player did with the opportunity he had.

To that end, we are grading every player who put in time on the basketball court for the Celtics this season, including all 15 members of the regular roster, both two-way players and the players the team cut or traded away. That’s 21 players altogether, and today’s focus is big man Luke Kornet. Dealt to the Celtics at the 2021 trade deadline, we don’t have a large body of work to judge him off of.

But we’ll do our best to assess how he did with Boston given the context of a snakebit, pandemic-inflected season.

New Celtic center Luke Kornet talks his debut, path to joining Boston

New Celtics center Luke Kornet spoke to the press about his noteworthy debut with the team and journey to Boston.

The second of two new Boston Celtics big men took the court against the Oklahoma City Thunder Saturday night — center Luke Kornet — a game after big man Moritz Wagner made his debut for Boston in the team’s road win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.

The Vanderbilt product had a considerable impact on the contest, scoring a pair of back-to-back shots beyond the arc that would hand the Celtics their first lead of the game well into the contest’s final frame. Baptized with a water bottle by new teammate and fellow 7-footer Tacko Fall for his successful debut, Kornet quickly made an impression on his teammates and fans alike.

As was the case with Wagner, the new Celtic center fielded questions about his rapid transition to the team.

WATCH: What do big men Mo Wagner and Luke Kornet bring to the Celtics?

What can Boston expect from its two new big men?

The Boston Celtics traded veteran center Daniel Theis to the Chicago Bulls as a salary dump and quietly returned two unknown big men in Mo Wagner and Luke Kornet.

At least for now, it’s unknown if Kornet will stick with the team after a hot start for Boston, hitting two 3-pointers against the Oklahoma City Thunder that separated the Celtics late in Saturday’s 111 – 94 road win. The two new arrivals will be insurance if Boston falls short up front, but Yahoo Sports’ Keith Smith tells the CLNS podcast “Celtics Beat” there’s some potential left with Wagner despite bad runs with the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers early in his career.

Get the lowdown on how the two bigs figure into the Celtics’ plans moving forward, and what they may have to offer a younger, taller Boston roster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTWZf9DVtXY

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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