Kyle Kuzma will travel with the Lakers for their upcoming road trip and it’s possible that he makes his season debut over the next three games, Bill Oram of The Athletic relays (Twitter link). The team travels to Dallas, San Antonio, and Chicago over the next week.
Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- James Ham of NBC Sports California wonders if the Kings should replace Dewayne Dedmon in the starting lineup with Richaun Holmes. Dedmon, who came to Sacramento on a three-year deal, is struggling to make an impact and Holmes is performing admirably off the bench.
- Sacramento’s problems this season are not new, Jason Jones of The Athletic contends. The 0-4 Kings have issues on both sides of the court and Jones cites the team’s lack of energy as a major reason why the squad is underperforming.
- Don’t expect the Warriors to turn Stephen Curry into James Harden, as head coach Steve Kerr told the media in Northern California. “We could turn him into James Harden and give him the ball every play,” Kerr said (via Nick Friedell of ESPN.com). “That’s really hard to do and you have to build a team for that. Houston has put five shooters on the floor for years now with Harden to give him that space. We don’t have that kind of personnel, so there’s not the same spacing. And that kind of basketball wears you out, too.”
Curry would get hurt if he was asked to handle the type of workload that Harden had last season. He simply lacks the necessary durability.
He’d probably win another unanimous MVP too with the type of numbers he’d be putting up
Curry says I rather have 3 championship rings than a team built only so I can score. Harden is even a worse defensive player than Curry.
The problem with the Kings is the same as with the Pelicans – they entered preseason with their hopes set on having Bagley/Williamson as the focal point of their offense only to lose them to injuries. Young teams like the Kings & Pelicans don’t have the depth (or financial resources) to have deep rosters unlike some of the more established teams.