This Week in the NBA

Marc Gasol Officially Out for the Season- The Grizzlies have officially announced that Gasol’s season is over. This is more of a formality considering the broken foot Gasol suffered two weeks ago. It is a tough blow to take for a Grizzlies team with high expectations and a bunch of expiring contracts. The Grizzlies are currently 5^th in the west and are 5 games up on the 9^th place Jazz. Memphis is inclined to remain in a playoff spot, because the Nuggets own the rights to the Grizzlies 1^st round pick if Memphis misses the postseason (Top 5 and 15-30 protected). Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace expects Gasol to make a full recovery.

Anderson Varejao Joins the Warriors- This sounds a lot bigger than it really is. The Warriors don’t really need Varejao. Sure he is still a capable player and the Warriors can plug him into Ezeli’s spot until Festus returns from injury, but I don’t see him making a significant difference in their playoff run. However the move was smart. The Spurs and Thunder were said to have interest in the Brazilian center and anything to hurt those teams benefits the Warriors. The Warriors will most likely try to get some intel from Varejao in terms of Cavs game plans, but those will only be useful if the teams meet in the finals. The move is great for Varejao, as he still has a chance to get a ring.

Jimmy Butler’s Status- Jimmy Butler has now been sidelined since February 6^th and has missed six consecutive games. The Bulls have gone 2-4 in the span, 2-5 if you include the game in which he got injured against the Nuggets. Butler, the Bulls leading scorer and team leader has averaged over 22 ppg this year and his absence on both sides of the ball has been noted. The Bulls have dropped all the way back to the 8^th seed in the east and are at risk of missing the playoffs if they don’t get it together. Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun Times reported that Bulls Coach Fred Hoiberg estimates Butler is still a couple weeks away from making his return. Couple that with Mirotic, who could be out for even longer the Butler and the 29-26 Bulls are in serious trouble.

Motiejunas and Thornton Trade Voided- The Pistons were one of the few teams that made multiple moves before the deadline. The Tobias Harris trade was definitely the bigger move, but the acquisition of Donatas Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton was intended to solidify their bench. Thornton was supposed to provide an offensive spark for the second unit, while D-Mo (a restricted free agent) was brought in to build for the future. But the trade crumbled after Detroit’s medical staff declared that D-Mo has a back injury that they see as a long term issue. This hurts both teams. Detroit doesn’t get the sharp shooting Thornton and the project in D-Mo and Houston won’t get the first round pick from Detroit. The trade was going to take the Rockets under the luxury tax line, but will now be forced to pay the penalty.

Grayson Gold-Garvey, On Twitter @TheGraygo