Kyle Lowry's mysterious wrist injury has reached its pinnacle. The Raptors' All-Star point guard will undergo surgery Tuesday to remove loose bodies fr om right wrist, the team announced Monday. Lowry is without an official timetable for a return to the court but the hope is he can be back for the playoffs. Lowry originally hurt his wrist on Feb. 15 but scored 19 points in the All-Star Game and was seen icing it on the bench during the exhibition. He also participated in the 3-point contest but apparently the constant soreness he was experiencing was due to loose cartilage. Lowry is averaging 22.8 points, 6.9 assists, 4.7 rebounds in 56 games this season and will be sorely missed by the Raptors, who are currently the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Cory Joseph will likely start in Lowry's absence but it will be up to fellow All-Star DeMar DeRozan to carry the Raptors offensively. Luckily for Toronto, they have the fourth-easiest remaining schedule according to ESPN. Only the Nets, Celtics, and Hornets have an easier schedule. Markieff Morris has every right to feel hard-done by Tuesday after receiving a $25,000 fine for lightly tossing the ball into the general area of the crowd Sunday against the Jazz.There wasn't a whole lot to Morris' "throw" into the stands. It appeared as if he basically rolled the ball toward the sideline — and general direction of the official.Morris will not be suspended, which is good for the Wizards, who are taking on the Warriors on Tuesday. The NBA worked quickly in jumping to Dwight Howard's defense after the Hawks center was ejected in Monday night's 114-98 win against the Celtics.Howard was ejected late in the third quarter after receiving his second technical foul, for taunting, after hanging on the rim following a massive dunk. The NBA said later Monday night that the play should have been ruled "non-unsportsmanlike" and thus not have counted toward an automatic ejection.Howard finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds in 28 minutes of action."Despite me getting kicked out, I think guys really stepped up and played great; it was a good team win," Howard said, via ESPN.com. "I apologized to the guys and told them I need to do a better job of keeping my composure and some other things, and they understood." Joel Embiid cannot catch a break.The promising 76ers big man and Rookie of the Year candidate, who has missed the last 13 games with a left knee injury, is now out indefinitely, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.Pompey also reports that Embiid will have an MRI today.The Embiid news comes just days after the 76ers announced that rookie forward Ben Simmons will miss the enitre season while recovering from a broken foot.Embiid missed his first two NBA seasons due to foot injuries.He is averaging 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in 31 games played this season. The Pistons just can't seem to get over the hump.That hump, of course, is the .500 mark. Detroit has been flirting with both that number and the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference since the calandar turned to 2017. Coach Stan Van Gundy has made a number of adjustments to the starting lineup during that time, but he may soon be ready to make his biggest change yet.Ish Smith, signed this offseason to back up Reggie Jackson, and fill in for Jackson while he recovered from offseason injuries, may find himself in the starting lineup soon.Van Gundy is toying with the idea of adding more passing to the starting unit and more scoring to the second unit. Smith is averaging five assists in just over 23 minutes per game this season.“We haven’t ruled out (anything). I don’t even know who will start (Saturday),” Van Gundy said, via the Detroit News. “We’ve got to get better energy off the start of the games. The last Philadelphia game was one of our better starts in each half. That’s got to get going — that’s not just him (Jackson).”Van Gundy is displeased with Jackson and Andre Drummond's energy on the court.“Those are the two guys. (The energy) has got to go up,” Van Gundy said. “Andre picked up his energy the other night but that’s got to be on a consistent basis, and we need more energy out of Reggie.”Moving Smith to the starting lineup would allow Drummond to play a more comfortable back-to-the-basket style. Smith is good at finding open spaces in the defense, thus allowing big men an opportunity to set up on the block.Jackson is more of a slashing point guard who likes to score or dump the ball off as a last resort. He would give the second unit a spark, while Smith would allow guys like Tobias Harris, Marcus Morris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope get more shots.The Pistons (29-32) are currently eighth in the conference, holding down the final playoff spot by just one game over the Heat. JaVale McGee has been an easy target for Shaquille O'Neal for quite some time, but the Warriors center is done with the constant ridicule — and so are his teammates and coaches.After McGee and Shaq engaged in an ugly Twitter beef following the Warriors' win over the Clippers on Thursday night, Golden State star forward Kevin Durant and coach Steve Kerr defended McGee. Both agreed Shaq's jokes had gone too far."Shaq was a s—y free-throw shooter. He missed dunks. He airballed free throws. He couldn't shoot outside of the paint," Durant said. "He was bigger than everybody. He didn't have no skill, but he was bigger and stronger than everybody. And he's still a great player, but you had your flaws, too, as a player. And he played on five or six teams, too. So it's not like he was just this perfect center."Kerr pointed out that TNT's popular "Shaqtin' A Fool" segment had actually hurt McGee's reputation around the league, and even changed how Kerr thought about the nine-year veteran."You're in this position wh ere somebody on national TV is making fun of you night after night, it's not the greatest thing for your reputation," Kerr said. "I can tell you, I had a preconceived notion of JaVale before he got here that turned out to be totally false. And a lot of that was because of what goes on with Shaq's 'Shaqtin' A Fool' thing." Donald Trump is one of the most polarizing users on Twitter and his controversial tweets have not stopped since he was elected president in November.Whether it's been about fake terrorist attacks in Sweden, criticizing the FBI or his continuing spat with the media, Trump's Twitter account makes headlines on an almost daily basis. Warriors coach Steve Kerr was asked about Twitter Friday. The questions were about how he would have used Twitter as a player, but he used the opportunity to poke fun at President Trump."Twitter is great. Our president has proven what an effective form of communication it can be," Kerr sarastically quipped. "You can even use it in international relations, policy decision-making. Policy is a different tool. It is bigly."He did eventually answer the original question."I would have complained to Phil Jackson about my playing time, for sure" Kerr said with continued sarcasm. "Phil would have used it for sure. I probably would have called out (former commissioner) David Stern on stuff. It's best used after a few beers, too. That seems to be the most powerful use of the tool." Some teams can't catch a break. After winning an NBA championship two seasons ago, then advancing to the Finals again last June, the Warriors came into the 2016-17 season with champagne wishes and championship dreams, having added four-time scoring champion and 2014 NBA MVP Kevin Durant to their roster in the biggest free-agent signing of this past summer. Now, after a freak incident of friendly fire Tuesday night, the franchise's path to a fifth title has become impossible to trek. Durant, in the midst of chasing a second 50-40-90 season, suffered a knee injury (Grade 2 MCL sprain and tibial bone bruise) that will keep him out for at least a month. Going without the five-time first-team All-NBA choice will certainly be the Warriors' death knell. Despite the impression you might have gotten from LeBron James' complaints over a month ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers are loaded with talent. And with some recent waiver wire signings, including Andrew Bogut on Thursday, their roster's pedigree now looks even more inflated. After the additions of Derrick Williams, Deron Williams and Andrew Bogut over the last three weeks, the Cavs now have seven players on their roster (James, Irving, Thompson and Love are the others) who are former top-5 picks in the NBA Draft. The next closest teams are the Clippers and Timberwolves, with only four such players. The Cavs now also have eight top-10 picks on their team, which is the most in the league. The Clippers and Magic have seven a piece. On a night in which Pelicans big man DeMarcus Cousins earned his 18th technical foul of the season (and an automatic suspension), Russell Westbrook added insult to injury.Late in the fourth quarter, the Thunder guard dunked so hard on "Boogie," future Boogies will feel it.The thunderous dunk propelled Oklahoma City to a 118-110 victory over the struggling Pelicans. New Orleans is 0-3 since acquiring Cousins from the Kings.The dunk was part of the 41 points Westbrook scored. He added 11 dimes and 11 rebounds to secure another triple-double. Needless to say, Cousins will be looking to put Sunday night behind him and . . . look forward to his pending suspension, or something.
