Spurs’ Primo says he is stepping away to deal with mental health issue – NBC Sports

It was an out-of-the-blue announcement, the San Antonio Spurs waiving Josh Primo, the No.12 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft and a rising star with the team.
Primo released a statement to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN saying he needed the break for his mental health.
Josh Primo statement to ESPN in the aftermath of his release from the Spurs tonight: pic.twitter.com/H1n3k3IIcn
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 29, 2022

“I know that you all are surprised by today’s announcement. I’ve been seeking help to deal with previous trauma I have suffered and will now take this time to focus on my mental health treatment more fully. I hope to be able to discuss these issues in the future so I can help others who have suffered in a similar way. I appreciate privacy at this time.”
“It is our hope that, in the long run, this decision will serve the best interest of both the organization and Joshua,” Spurs CEO and player/personnel executive RC Buford said in a statement announcing the move.
Primo, 19, averaged 23 minutes a night for the Spurs and this season, pitching in 7 points a game. The young forward with point-forward potential has shown flashes of his skill as a ball-handling wing this season. Hopefully, he will get to a place where he is ready to return to the court.
Kyrie Irving stepped into another controversy when he tweeted a link to a controversial movie that is considered by many to be anti-Semitic. Both the Nets owner Joe Tsai and the organization condemned and distanced themselves from the Tweet, and Irving got plenty of backlash on social media.
Irving has now responded, saying that the suggestion he is anti-Semitic “is not justified.”
I am an OMNIST and I meant no disrespect to anyone’s religious beliefs. The “Anti-Semitic” label that is being pushed on me is not justified and does not reflect the reality or truth I live in everyday. I embrace and want to learn from all walks of life and religions.
Hélà🤞🏾♾
— Hélà (@KyrieIrving) October 29, 2022

“Hélà” is Irving’s Lakota name,  meaning “Little Mountain.” Irving’s mother and grandparents were members of the tribe — his mother lived on the reservation for a time — and he has spent time with the tribe learning about them and being honored by them.
This is not the first time Irving — who considers himself an iconoclast and “free thinker — has stepped into controversy with his beliefs and statements. Irving missed most of last season due to his refusal to be vaccinated and the New York City vaccine mandate. Then there was the time he said he believed the earth was flat (something he later apologized for). Then, just days before the start of training camp this season, Irving shared a video from Alex Jones, one of the most famed voices of conspiracy theories, a man who called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax (courts are now making him pay millions for those statements after being sued by the child victims of that shooting).
Irving averages 29.6 points per game for the Nets, who are 1-4 so far this season.
 
If there is an NBA lockout next summer, it will be because of infighting among the NBA owners, not an owner vs. player disagreement.
At the urging of some owners, the NBA will propose a hard “upper spending limit” which could replace a luxury tax as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), according to reports from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and longtime NBA writer Marc Stein on substack (the Associated Press confirmed the news). While the language is different, that is a hard salary cap, something the NBA has never had.
That will be a non-starter with the players union, something their representatives expressed. From Stein’s newsletter:
League sources say that there is an increasing push from the various factions on the league/ownership side to push for a system closer to a true hard cap … with a twist. The current proposals, sources say, don’t actually call it a hard cap, since those words carry such a negative stigma.
“Upper Spending Limit,” I’m told, is the nomenclature in play…
“There will be a lockout,” one source from the players’ side told me, “before there’s a hard cap.”
Not all owners support this plan, according to the reports.
This news comes just about six weeks before the Dec. 15 deadline when either the players union or the NBA (at the vote of owners) can opt out of the current CBA, ending it next June 30 and potentially setting up a summer lockout (the CBA naturally expires in 2024). Negotiations on a new CBA have been ongoing for months between the league and NBPA, with hopes of reaching a deal on a new framework before the December deadline.
This move by some of the owners is not driven by fast-rising player salaries (the split of NBA revenues that goes to players is locked in and not expected to change in the new CBA) but rather by the desire of some owners to rein in the spending of other newer, richer owners willing to reach into their pockets and pay the current luxury tax.
For example, the Clippers — owned by former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer, who is estimated to be worth more than $75 billion and is one of the 10 richest people on the planet — are poised to spend $144.7 million in luxury tax on top of $191.9 million in payroll this season, meaning a total of $336.6 million in salary and tax. The Warriors are expected to spend closer to $360 million in salary and tax this season, and the Nets are expected to be in the same ballpark. For comparison, the Atlanta Hawks are 15th in the NBA in salary this season at $148.5 million, a number that includes no luxury tax — Ballmer’s Clippers will more than double that spending once the tax is added.
After extending Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, the Golden State payroll + luxury tax bill for the 2023-24 season is already at $483 million, and that is without Draymond Green opting in or reaching a new deal with the team, or filling in other roster spots, which would push the number north of $500 million. Again, the Clippers and Nets will be north of $350 million in a year the salary cap is expected to be $134 million (the luxury tax kicks in at $162 million).
It’s a shift in ownership seen in other sports, including the NFL. Long-time owners or family ownerships — such as the Buss family with the Los Angeles Lakers — often do not want or do not have the resources to spend at the same level as wildly richer billionaire owners entering the league now. Those new NBA owners are more willing to pay a luxury tax bill and not blink. Add in the top teams upgrading their training/workout facilities and the spending asked of NBA owners is rising fast. Don’t cry for these poor owners, they more than make up any money they lose if the fast-rising franchise values, but they have to pay a little more out of their pockets now.
The conventional wisdom has been there would be no NBA lockout because everyone — owners and players — are making too much money and they don’t want to kill the golden goose (so to speak). The money coming into the league is expected to spike with the new television/streaming deal coming in 2025, which is even more reason not to mess too much with the CBA. It’s why there is ultimately optimism this will be resolved without lost games.
But never underestimate the willingness of rich people to fight over money.
Thursday, Nets’ guard Kyrie Irving tweeted out a link to the movie “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” a film based on a controversial book of the same name that is viewed as antisemitic (if you want the details, Rolling Stone magazine broke it down).
Both the Nets and team owner Joe Tsai quickly condemned Irving’s action.
The Nets released this statement: “The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech. We believe that in these situations, our first action must be open, honest dialogue. We thank those, including the ADL, who have been supportive during this time.”
I’m disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based on a book full of anti-semitic disinformation. I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion.
— Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) October 29, 2022

Tsai also said, “this is bigger than basketball.”
Irving, who pictures himself as an iconoclast and outside-the-box thinker, sometimes comes off more as someone sucked in by sad conspiracy theories. The best known of those was when he said he believed the earth was flat (something he later apologized for). However, just before training camp this year, Irving shared a video from Alex Jones, the poster child for conspiracy theories who called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax, something he is paying millions for now after being sued by the child victims of that shooting.
After missing most of last season due to his not being vaccinated and the New York City vaccine mandate, Irving is back on the court this season for the 1-4 Brooklyn Nets, averaging 29.6 points per game.
TORONTO — Tyrese Maxey scored a career-high 44 points, carrying the Philadelphia 76ers without Joel Embiid to a 112-90 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.
Embiid sat out because of a sore right knee. A five-time All Star and the reigning NBA scoring champion, Embiid is averaging 27.6 points and 10 rebounds in five games.
The 76ers didn’t miss Embiid and didn’t even need much from James Harden because of Maxey, who made his first 10 shots, seven of them from long range, and didn’t miss until a 3-pointer rimmed out with 8 minutes left in the third quarter.
“I just know how good we can be, I know how talented we are, but we’ve got to match our talent with the energy that we play with, and defensive tenacity,” Maxey said. “Tonight we knew it was going to be extremely hard without Joel. That made guys step up, that made guys do things they don’t normally do.”
Maxey shot 15 for 20 overall, going a career-best 9 for 12 from outside.
“Rese didn’t miss,” 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle said. “They just kept going in.”
Maxey had eight rebounds and four assists. He shot 5 for 6 at the free throw line.
“I thought he was awesome,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said. “He led us in rebounds.”
De’Anthony Melton and Tobias Harris each scored 13 points and Harden had 11 as the 76ers never trailed and won for the second time in six games, splitting a pair north of the border against their Atlantic Division rivals.
“We’re not close to where we want to be,” Rivers said, “and we’re going to have some bumps early and we know that. But once we get there, we’re going to be a really good basketball team.”
Pascal Siakam had 26 points and 10 rebounds, O.G. Anunoby scored 19 points and Scottie Barnes had 13 for the Raptors, who lost for the first time in three home games. Toronto’s 90 points were a season low.
“We were really locked in on the defensive end,” Maxey said.
Raptors All Star guard Fred VanVleet shot 0 for 11, going 0 for 8 from 3-point range. VanVleet scored one point.
“We just weren’t very sharp at either end,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.
Maxey was 5 for 5 in the first, starting the quarter with four straight 3-pointers and ending it with a buzzer-beating shot to give the 76ers a 28-26 lead. Philadelphia made 7 of 14 from long range in the first.
Maxey made five more shots in the second, two of them from distance, and Harden scored eight points to give the visitors a 65-48 lead at the half. The Sixers shot 15 for 24 in the second.
“Once you get stops the game becomes way easier, honestly, not just for myself, for all of us,” Maxey said.
Anunoby cut it to 70-64 with a steal and dunk with 4:09 left in the third but Maxey replied with four points as Philadelphia took an 81-70 lead to the fourth.

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