Around the NBA: Zion out 6-8 weeks with torn meniscus, extensions on extensions, NBA tips tomorrow

Zion Williamson out 6-8 weeks with torn meniscus

According to a Real GM wire report, Zion will be out for 6-8 weeks with a torn meniscus:

Zion Williamson has undergone surgery for a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee and will miss six to eight weeks. The routine debridement was performed by Dr. Jason Folk with assistance from Team Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Misty Suri.

The New Orleans Pelicans were encouraged that the injury was not worse for Williamson.

Here’s to hoping for a swift and full recovery for the no. 1 overall pick, I’m really excited to see what the kid can do and want to see him back on the court soon.

Buddy Hield, Kings agree to four-year, $86 million extension

The Sacramento Kings and Buddy Hield have a greed to a four-year, $86 million contract extension with $20 million in possible incentives, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic.

I like what the Kings have done in the last two seasons as far as team building given their limited resources. Unfortunately for Sacramento though, they’re already getting pretty expensive, and before they know it, extensions for De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley III will be on the horizon.

Process Sixer Christian Wood getting another NBA opportunity?

According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports, the Detroit Pistons are likely to give former Sixer Christian Wood a spot on their regular season roster.

In baseball, the guy who is too good and experienced for triple-A baseball but not quite good enough for everyday MLB baseball is called a 4-A player. Christian Wood is the NBA’s equivalent of a 4-A player. He typically dominates his G-League competition, but has jumped around the NBA franchises and has been sent up and down between the two leagues pretty much continuously. Now, he’ll get yet another NBA shot with the Pistons. They waived Joe Johnson to accommodate Wood.

Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics agree to 4-year, $115 million deal

Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics have agreed to a four-year, $115 million contract extension, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

I reached out to Max Carlin (@maxacarlin) of Celtics Blog for his reaction to the extension:

I’ve become somewhat infamous in Celtics circles for my opposition to paying Jaylen Brown. It’s not that I think the young wing is bad--he is, to the contrary, a good complementary wing--but I am deeply concerned with the severe limitations on his game. In Brown, I see a purely complementary player. He does not understand how defenses move to combat him, which precludes him from making proper decisions (the precondition every single star player satisfies). Where all eventual star wings, like Brown’s teammate Jayson Tatum, demonstrate decision-making aptitude even in smaller roles prior to growing into stardom, Brown has not. I even have concerns about Brown evolving into a self-creating secondary offensive player due to his very limited handle and lack of touch, skills that are underrated in how difficult they are to develop. Team-building does not work if you are paying complementary players this much without your superstars already in place (and is not sustainable even if they are). My hope is that Brown retains neutral trade value on account of the league-wide wing drought and tendency to associate “upside” with draft slot well into a young player’s career, but I worry this deal is a significant misstep. For more in-depth thoughts on the limitations of Jaylen Brown, click here.

Pacers, Sabonis agree on extension

Domantas Sabonis has agreed to a four-year $74.9 million contract extension with the Indiana Pacers, again, according to Adrian Wojnarowksi of ESPN.

In a vacuum, I’m not against the Pacers paying Sabonis, I like his game. I’ve just heard a lot of concerns about a Sabonis-Myles Turner front court as a long term pairing. Turner is in the first year of an extension which was agreed upon almost exactly a year ago, so both Turner and Sabonis are now under contract through at least the 2022-23 season. Their two-man lineup net rating wasn’t in the red last season like it was in 2017-18 (-8.7 in 269 minutes), but they didn’t exactly thrive either at just +2.8 in 2018-19 (429 minutes).

Spurs extend Dejounte Murray, per Shams Charania of The Athletic

They just keep coming:

When you listen to NBA insiders talk about the Spurs organization’s feelings toward Murray, it sounds like they are absolutely over the moon about him. If they’re right, this extension could become an absolute steal considering the money these other guys are getting.

NBA regular season tips off tomorrow

Did I forget to mention something? Oh yeah, the NBA regular season TIPS OFF TOMORROW. It is so, so good and right and just to have meaningful basketball back in our lives. Kicking off the regular season are the defending NBA champions, the Toronto Raptors, against the darling of the NBA offseason, the New Orleans Zion Williamsons Pelicans at 8:00 pm ET on TNT. Following that game, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers go to battle at 10:30 pm ET, also on TNT. It will be really interesting to see crowd dynamic at the Staples Center for the first installment of the battle for LA. We’ll have an open thread up for both contests tomorrow evening, so check back in to join the discussion.