Former Thunder shooting guard Jeremy Lamb will face his old team for the first time Saturday and comes into the game playing the most consistent basketball of his four-year career in his first season with the Hornets, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman details. The Hornets acquired Lamb in a June trade. The 23-year-old then signed a three-year, $21MM extension in November, a deal that was met with some criticism because Lamb had not shown any consistency. Entering action Friday night, Lamb was averaging per game career highs in points (11.3), rebounds (4.4), minutes (21.7) and field goal percentage (47.5), as Horne notes.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- LeBron James‘ season to this point has a positive vibe to it, something that was absent in the first two months of last season, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes. The difference has to do with James, who recently turned 31, feeling healthier now than he did last year, Vardon adds. “I think he’s pretty healthy,” Cavs coach David Blatt said. “I think he’s obviously been able to play in every game. He could’ve played in the Miami game. I pulled him out. It wasn’t his wish or any need on his part except for what I saw not wanting him to play in that horrific back to back that we had. I think he’s good, I think he’s strong. I think he feels good and hopefully that’s going to continue in the same vein. When and if necessary we’ll look to reduce the load on him if we can.”
- The Raptors recalled Anthony Bennett, Norman Powell and Delon Wright from their D-League affiliate, the team announced (on Twitter).
- The Magic assigned Devyn Marble to their D-League affiliate, per Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).