Injury Report: Warriors’ Otto Porter Jr. out vs. Pacers on Thursday

For the start of a home back-to-back, the Warriors will be without veteran Otto Porter Jr. against the Pacers on Thursday.

To start the first leg of a home back-to-back, the Golden State Warriors will be without one of their veterans off the bench on Thursday against the Indiana Pacers.

Otto Porter Jr. has been ruled out of Thursday’s contest against the Pacers due to left foot injury management. Thursday will be Porter Jr.’s seventh missed game of the season. Most of Porter Jr.’s rest days have typically surrounded back-to-back contests.

Via @anthonyVslater on Twitter:

Without Porter Jr., the Warriors will continue to lean on rookie Jonathan Kuminga. In the last four games, the No. 7 overall pick is averaging 17.8 points on 50% shooting from the field with 6.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 25.7 minutes per game.

While the Warriors will be without Porter Jr. and Draymond Green, the Pacers will be missing both Myles Turner (left foot stress reaction) and Domantas Sabonis (left ankle sprain) on Thursday.

The Pacers and Warriors will meet at 7 p.m. PT at San Francisco’s Chase Center on Thursday night.

The post originally appeared on Warriors Wire. Follow Warriors Wire on Facebook and Twitter.

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Injury Report: Warriors’ Otto Porter Jr. (foot) ruled out vs. Spurs

The Golden State Warriors will be without Otto Porter Jr. due to left foot injury management against the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.

On the second leg of a back-to-back at San Francisco’s Chase Center, the Golden State Warriors will be missing some key pieces off the bench against the San Antonio Spurs. 

Otto Porter Jr. will join Andre Iguodala on the bench against the Spurs with left foot injury management. Iguodala will miss his ninth consecutive game with a knee injury. 

Along with two veterans, the Warriors will also be without rookies Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. Both 2021 first-round picks are on assignment with Golden State’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz.

Via @anthonyVslater on Twitter:

Behind the Warriors’ core of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, Steve Kerr will have Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damion Lee, Nemanja Bjelica and Gary Payton II off the bench. 

In Golden State’s streak-ending victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday, both Payton II and Toscano-Anderson tallied season-high scoring totals with 19 and 17 points each.

The Warriors will meet the Spurs at 5:30 p.m. PT on Saturday evening in the Bay Area.

The post originally appeared on Warriors Wire. Follow Warriors Wire on Facebook and Twitter.

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Predicting every Warrior player’s rating in NBA 2K22

With “NBA 2K22” set to release in early September, Warriors Wire drops a rating prediction for every member of the Golden State Warriors.

The latest installment of the “NBA 2K” franchise is set to arrive Sept. 10, and Warriors fans can look forward to playing with a squad that looks remarkably similar to the glory years.

We already know that Stephen Curry, coming off a top-3 finish in MVP voting, is tied for the highest player rating in the game at 96. Draymond Green is still around, Klay Thompson will soon be back in action after two years of injury, and Andre Iguodala is a Warrior again.

But 2K’s all-important player ratings are bound to change for “NBA 2K22.” How will they judge Thompson after two years away? How can they quantify the value of a player like Green? Where do younger Dubs like James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and Jordan Poole stand?

Here are rating predictions for every player on the roster (besides Curry) heading into the season.

3 potential buyout options for the Sixers ahead of the deadline

Here are three potential buyout options for the Philadelphia 76ers before the deadline on Friday.

Like most of the NBA, the Philadelphia 76ers are getting set to make some moves to bolster their roster before the deadline. They made one big move by acquiring George Hill from the Oklahoma City Thunder, but they cleared a roster spot on Thursday by waiving Iggy Brazdeikis.

The move offers the Sixers some flexibility, which is something coach Doc Rivers likes, for the future. But the move also opens the possibility of adding somebody right now. The team needs an upgrade to its bench, so this may be the avenue the team plans to take.

With that said, the buyout market looks a little thin right now. The deadline for playoff eligibility is Friday, and most moves have been completed. However, there are some options for Philadelphia depending on what teams do with these players:

NBA trade deadline: Projected rotation for Bulls with Nikola Vucevic

The Chicago Bulls made three moves on the day of the 2021 NBA trade deadline, ultimately landing Nikola Vucevic as well as Daniel Theis.

The Chicago Bulls made three moves on the day of the 2021 NBA trade deadline, ultimately landing Nikola Vucevic as well as Daniel Theis.

With their deadline acquisitions, Chicago’s front office has seemingly pushed its chips into the center of the table. The Bulls are prepared to make a run towards the postseason in the Eastern Conference and their new-and-improved roster is now more intimidating today than it was yesterday.

Earlier today, we wrote about why Chicago’s offense is going to be a lot better with Zach LaVine playing alongside Vucevic. But they have also improved their frontcourt depth by adding Theis, a versatile big man who they landed from the Boston Celtics.

The Bulls in totality have moved on from Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr., Daniel Gafford, Chandler Hutchinson and Luke Kornet after all of their moves.

In return, in addition to Vucevic and Theis, they have brought back veteran Al-Farouq Aminu from the Orlando Magic and 21-year-old Troy Brown from the Washington Wizards.

So to help you visualize what this team looks like, below, we have broken down the new group for the Bulls as they prepare to make a playoff push.

The league is moving more and more towards positionless basketball. Note that we define “guards” as the playmakers and primary initiators, “wings” as the versatile athletes who can typically play somewhere between two through four and “bigs” as the main frontcourt threat.

B/R trade suggestion: Sixers send Tobias Harris to Bulls for Otto Porter Jr.

A new trade suggestion has the Philadelphia 76ers sending Tobias Harris to the Chicago Bulls for Otto Porter Jr.

It is officially fake trade season as all of the trade proposals continue to come in for most teams and one team, in particular, the Philadelphia 76ers, gets a lot of attention when it comes to these scenarios.

The Sixers are a team that has an awkward roster and everybody wants to take a crack at trying to get the roster to work better around star duo Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. The two guys that continue to get tossed around in these trade proposals the most are Al Horford and Tobias Harris as they are the ones with the highest contracts.

In a new trade scenario come up with by Bleacher Report, they have the Sixers moving Harris, an unproteccted 2022 first-round pick, and a 2020 second-round pick to the Chicago Bulls for Otto Porter Jr. The deal is more to help out Chicago than Philadelphia, but let’s entertain it, shall we?

B/R on the deal:

Yes, Tobias Harris’ contract is beyond cumbersome. He’s due $147 million over the next four seasons. But if the Bulls aren’t serious playoff threats in, say, the first two of those, maybe the exorbitant cost doesn’t matter quite as much. The 2022 pick coming from the Sixers has massive upside, as the looming possibility of a Joel Embiid-Ben Simmons breakup could result in a far less competitive Philly outfit in two years.

Chicago could insist on Mattise Thybulle’s involvement, but the 76ers are already surrendering a ton to get off Harris’ deal.

The Sixers would have to move those draft picks in order to make Harris’ contract just a bit more enticing. A Simmons-Embiid breakup is not coming any time soon as a lot of people seem to believe as the Sixers are committed to building around the two talented stars.

In terms of what Porter Jr. can bring to the table, he brings shooting which is what the Sixers need right now. He is a career 40.4% shooter from deep and he is a solid perimeter defender as well as he can be a true 3-and-D option. The bad part is he only played 14 games this past season due to injury and he only played 56 the season before.

Overall, this is a trade that probably would not happen because it does not make much sense for Philadelphia to really pull the trigger on it. Harris made strides as a defender this season and despite a rough playoff series, he is a consistent contributor for them and he averaged close to 20 points a game. He also is available on most nights and that is a big aspect for teams. [lawrence-related id=37797,37794,37787]