Ivica Zubac Rumors

League sources say that the Warriors were the team that most aggressively pursued a trade for the Clippers' Leonard in the final stages before the league's Feb. 5 trade deadline after the Clippers had already traded away James Harden and Ivica Zubac that same week.

marcstein.substack.com

Frank signaled that the Clippers would like to extend Leonard, who on Wednesday night requested he be given time to “cry about this loss a little bit more” before talking about his future. Frank acknowledged that questions about trading Leonard came once the Clippers traded James Harden and Ivica Zubac the week of the NBA trade deadline. But the franchise is focused on getting back to contender status with Leonard in the fold. “At the appropriate time, we’ll sit down with Kawhi, and very similar to 2024, lay out our plan,” Frank said. “And if our goals are aligned, then we’d like to win with Kawhi.”

New York Times

Justin Russo: Ivica Zubac is here tonight sitting courtside.

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Dustin Dopirak: Ivica Zubac asked when he hurt his rib: "It was in the first quarter against Portland. I felt it right away but didn't feel like it was going to be fractured." Said he felt it overnight. Had a hard time sleeping.

Twitter

For slower teams, meanwhile, a more deliberate pace often arises because of their superior personnel. "A lot of the better teams, they do have a slower pace," LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said in late January, just before his team traded James Harden and Ivica Zubac. "I think because you're playing with stars or guys that are max players, they're going to slow the offense down because you want to play through them and get the ball in their hands."

ESPN

The Warriors made what has been described as a determined trade run at the Clippers' Kawhi Leonard in the final hour before the Feb. 5 trade buzzer sounded under the belief that Leonard might be unexpectedly unavailable after LA agreed to ship Ivica Zubac to Indiana. The Clippers ultimately balked then, but it is reasonable to presume that Golden State will investigate that possibility once again.

marcstein.substack.com

“It's funny when people ask me something about my time on the Lakers and about some coach or some player or something. I'm like, ‘I don't even know.' I didn't know. I had no clue about basketball. I kind of started learning basketball and everything around it when I first got to the Clippers. “I was a kid when I came over, and like, from day one, [Patrick Beverley], he got on my ass. I learned a lot from him, and that was kind of the start of everything. It tested me a lot, and playing with all these great teammates, great players, I learned so much. There's a lot of stuff I'm going to be able to take with me and try to use somewhere else.”

Clutch Points

“Last year was the most fun I had playing basketball,” Zubac told ClutchPoints. “Just kind of being an underdog, people not expecting anything from us, winning 50 games, and being a big part of that, the way the fans and everyone else, kind of stood behind us and supported us all year long. That was really special. “Getting that triple-double last year, [Bogdan Bogdanovic] making that shot. That was one of the best memories, but there were so many, like, even off the court memories I'll remember that I created with people in the organization that will stick with me for the rest of my life. There's so much, it's hard to single all of them. Yeah, it was great.”

Clutch Points

Dustin Dopirak: Per league source, Pacers center Ivica Zubac suffered a fractured rib in Wednesday's game against Portland and due to the anticipated healing time will miss the rest of the season.

x.com

Pacers newly acquired center Ivica Zubac had to leave Wednesday's game in the fourth quarter with a head contusion after taking a blow from the Blazers' Donovan Clingan. Zubac did not return.

Indianapolis Star

Tony East: Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, and Ben Sheppard are out tonight, Carlisle says. Aaron Nesmith, TJ McConnell, Obi Toppin, and Ivica Zubac all playing. Jalen Slawson and Taelon Peter will be active.

bsky.app

Harden was traded to Cleveland. Zubac was traded to Indiana. Two key starters. How did you feel about those trades? Brook Lopez: It was tough, obviously, because they brought so much to the team and so much of our success hinged on them. That being said, I don’t think internally we see our expectations as that different. We’re very confident. We definitely, a while ago, turned a corner and we know we can play with anyone.

Andscape

Tony East: Suns beat the Pacers 123-108. This one was close often, even in the fourth quarter, but Devin Booker scored 43 and the Suns put it away late. Pacers have lost 11 in a row and fall to 15-51. Ivica Zubac debut: 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists in 16 minutes.

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Tony East: I asked Rick Carlisle about Andrew Nembhard only playing the first half tonight. He noted “They were just going to play one half” re: him and Zubac. Obviously prudent to have that be the same half.

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