Stephon Castle, Kel'el Ware earn Rookie of the Month honors

[Bam Adebayo] on his minutes with rookie Kel’el Ware: “We have somebody 7-feet at the rim, it allows me to be a versatile big. Obviously, we’ve seen in the Olympics that it’ll work. So for me, let’s keep this line-up going.” -via reddit / January 29, 2025

“As lengthy, and everyone is, intentional about engaged on issues and our spacing and the place is the ball going after which how will we proceed to take care of our spacing after which taking the problem on the opposite finish,” Spoelstra mentioned relating to the potential of the Adebayo, Ware and Jovic lineups. “Niko did job defensively within the fourth quarter and the overtimes. After which Kel’el and Bam have already been constructing this chemistry defensively. “You talk about chemistry offensively, but that also can be a real thing defensively. That’s what we want. We want to make it really hard for teams to score easy buckets in the paint, at the rim. And then our offense, we think, it will get better as we spend more time together.” -via Miami Herald / January 28, 2025

After not even enjoying a second collectively via the Warmth’s first 44 video games this season, Adebayo, Ware and Jovic have been all on the court docket for the ultimate 19:31 of Miami’s double-overtime win over Orlando. “I feel like we should do it more often,” Adebayo said after the victory when asked about playing with Ware and Jovic. “I feel like it should be in the routine. Obviously, good things happened.” -via Miami Herald / January 28, 2025

There was some surprise around the rest of the NBA after the San Antonio Spurs didn’t give up standout rookie Stephon Castle in a blockbuster three-team trade involving De’Aaron Fox and Zach LaVine on Sunday, based on ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “I haven’t polled all 29, 28 different groups however the response from the league is, ‘My god, these Spurs bought De’Aaron Fox, didn’t have to surrender Stephon Fortress,’” Windhorst mentioned on Monday’s episode of The Hoop Collective (6:40 mark). -via Bleacher Report / February 4, 2025

Antetokounmpo landed on his proper hip and again and instantly mentioned one thing to Paul whereas pointing at him. Teammate Gary Trent Jr. helped Antetokounmpo up after the play and Sochan walked over to step between Antetokounmpo and Paul. Khris Middleton and Victor Wembanyama pulled Sochan away simply as Stephon Fortress approached to diffuse the state of affairs. Paul was known as for a foul on the play, and after a evaluation, it was dominated a standard foul. Antetokounmpo’s frustration lingered after the sport. He waited a number of seconds close to half court docket for Paul after the ultimate buzzer. The two exchanged words briefly as Paul waited to conduct a postgame on-court interview. “People that know me, they don’t try me,” Antetokounmpo told reporters after the game. “If you try me, it’s a different side. If you try me, you’re gonna get that different side of me.” -via ESPN / February 1, 2025

As anticipated, league sources say these commerce talks embrace the crew that’s recognized to be De’Aaron Fox’s most popular vacation spot: the San Antonio Spurs. But whereas it stays to be seen if Fox will turn out to be Victor Wembanyama’s co-star within the subsequent week, or if the Spurs may be capable of push the negotiations into the offseason as a option to simplify their roster-building course of whereas not dropping out on Fox to a different crew, key elements right here must be discovered if Fox goes to land in San Antonio. Chief amongst them? The potential Stephon Fortress inclusion, or potential lack thereof. The Kings are known to covet the Spurs rookie guard who was taken fourth overall out of Connecticut in the NBA Draft last June, but there is serious skepticism in league circles that San Antonio will be willing to include him. If that’s ultimately the case, the Kings would have to determine whether there’s an acceptable pathway to doing the deal without him. That’s not the end of San Antonio’s considerations, either. -via New York Times / January 30, 2025