As the 2019-20 NBA regular season is just a few short sleeps away from dawning upon us, teams are continuing to make roster cuts and add players to fill their final spots. We had a little twinsanity action in Charlotte, as the Martin twins have gone from being teammates at Nevada for the last few years to now being NBA teammates.
The Charlotte Hornets will likely not make it to the postseason this year, but they will be making some headlines as twin brothers Caleb and Cody Martin will both be under contract for the team this year.
The two of them, surprisingly, are not going to be the only twins playing together this year. The Lopez twins, Brook and Robin, united in Milwaukee, while Giannis’ brother, Thanasis, also joined the fray in Milwaukee.
Justin Holiday signed with the Pacers to team up with his little brother, Aaron. It’s a sibling love fest in the NBA this offseason going into the new year.
Williamson Out
There was some tough news out of New Orleans last week as it was announced that Zion Williamson will not be available for the first few weeks of the season. Fans of the NBA have grown accustomed to seeing No. 1 picks be unavailable to begin seasons, but this is a tough one for Pelicans fans.
This being a knee injury, many may have concerns about his large weight total compared to his height. The Pelicans become a little less exciting to watch on opening night, as the Zion era will take a little while to officially launch.
With the additions of Derrick Favors, Lonzo Ball, JJ Redick and Brandon Ingram, there will still be plenty of new faces to watch in New Orleans for the first handful of games that the Pelicans will play.
Siakam Extension
Big news out of Toronto as the Raptors announced a four-year max-contract extension for budding star Pascal Siakam. With Kawhi Leonard now in Los Angeles, Siakam is the Raptors’ big star and the guy they will build around for the foreseeable future.
After a season in which he upped his scoring average to 18 ppg and was among the game’s most improved players, Siakam will be looking to take another step now. He’ll make $32.5 million over each of the next four years, a deal that he earned with hard work and perseverance.
His effort last postseason was tremendous, and he proved himself to be a tremendous talent.
Oladipo Hoping To Return
Indiana Pacers fans will love to hear this latest tidbit. Victor Oladipo has been working hard to try and come back from the ACL injury that ended his 2018-19 season prematurely. There is a slight possibility that he could return by the end of November, giving the new-look Pacers a new look.
The team’s starting point guard, Darren Collison retired, Bojan Bogdanovic went to Utah, Thaddeus Young went to Chicago, and Cory Joseph is off to Sacramento. They brought in TJ Warren and Jeremy Lamb to improve an offense that could not score at all against Boston in the opening round of the postseason. But the sooner Oladipo can come back, the more dangerous they will look.
