It was another busy week in the NBA, both on the court and off. Several teams made trades and roster moves in an attempt to position themselves for the future and many former Duke stars were involved:
Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers: Irving’s back tightened up in Cleveland’s Jan. 4 game against the Dallas Mavericks, and he was unable to play in the fourth quarter. Irving missed the subsequent game against the lowly Sixers, who gained their first home win of the season against a Cavalier squad without Irving Lebron James.
Irving returned to the lineup against the Rockets on Wednesday, but his 38 points were not enough to lift Cleveland, which fell 105-93. Friday night, Irving produced again in a losing effort, racking up 23 points, six rebounds and five assists, but the Cavaliers went down 112-93 at Golden State. It remains to be seen whether head coach David Blatt can lead this now hobbled Cavalier squad into the upper echelon of the NBA. Cleveland acquired former New York guards Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith and shipped Dion Waiters to Oklahoma City in a three-team deal, but at 19-18 face an uphill battle to get a top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Mason Plumlee, Brooklyn Nets: The second-year big man has come into his own as of late after starting off slow this season. Plumlee produced at a high level again this week, producing back-to-back double-doubles Wednesday, but the Nets dropped all three of their games this week, including Friday night against the NBA cellar-dweller Sixers. After getting back to 0.500, Brooklyn has now lost four games in a row. After another strong game, Plumlee is averaging 9.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Luol Deng, Miami Heat: Deng only played two games this week, a loss to the Trail Blazers Thursday night and a win against Brooklyn Sunday. He played 34 minutes but only scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds against Portland and had just six points and three assists in 25 minutes against the Nets.
Trade rumors swirled around Deng this past week, with the Grizzles looking to acquire Deng or Celtics forward Jeff Green. However, the Heat sent out a statement rebuffing the claims that Deng wanted to be traded and Memphis ended up agreeing in principle to a trade for Green.
J.J. Redick, Los Angeles Clippers: The Clippers are one of the best teams in the NBA and Redick is a big reason why. The Clippers lost to the Hawks and beat the Lakers this week, with Redick scoring a combined 24 points in the two games and going a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. The sharpshooter was only 2-of-8 from 3-point range and had five turnovers against Atlanta, but is still averaging a solid 15.1 points per game on the season.
Gerald Henderson, Charlotte Hornets: After battling some early season injuries, Henderson has been playing some of the best basketball of his career in a recent three-game stretch during which the Hornets went undefeated. Thursday night, Henderson scored 31 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists in the Hornets' 103-95 win against the Raptors. It was only the fourth 30-point game of his career and helped the Charlotte record its fourth straight win.
At the time of this post, the Hornets were beating the Knicks by more than 20 points in the second quarter and at 14-24 look to be back in the playoff conversation. Charlotte was just two games back of the No. 8 seed when the day began.
Mike Dunleavy, Chicago Bulls: Dunleavy has been seen in a walking boot and will have an MRI on his nagging ankle injury Saturday. He has not played in a game since Jan. 1 but before his injury, Dunleavy was averaging 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game and was a key part of the Bulls’ rotation with his outside shooting and floor spacing.
Ryan Kelly, Los Angeles Lakers: Kelly has been a bright spot for the struggling Lakers this season. After returning from a hamstring injury, Kelly has been in the rotation lately and started against the Magic Friday night, scoring 13 points and grabbing eight rebounds in a 17-point win.
Andre Dawkins, Miami Heat: The Heat released Dawkins Tuesday to make room for a Disabled Player Exception. Dawkins appeared in four games for the Heat this season after making the team out of preseason camp. Dawkins had three points, two rebounds and an assist in 22 minutes of play. The sharpshooter could see time in the D-League or get a 10-day contract in the future, but there has been no word on his future yet.
Lance Thomas, New York Knicks: The Knicks acquired Thomas in the three-team trade involving Shumpert, Smith and Waiters, but released the forward to clear cap space near the end of the week. As is the case with Dawkins, the future remains uncertain for Thomas, who had a strong start to the season for the Thunder but plummeted out of the rotation when the team got healthy.
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