Kings center Domantas Sabonis, who missed Wednesday’s regular season opener in Phoenix, appears to be ahead of schedule in his recovery from a Grade 1 right hamstring strain. The Lithuanian big man has been upgraded to questionable for Friday’s home opener vs. Utah, tweets Sean Cunningham of NBC Sacramento.
The questionable tag certainly doesn’t guarantee Sabonis will suit up tomorrow, but it’s at least an encouraging development after the three-time All-Star was spotted getting shots up during Thursday’s practice. The Kings are banged up in the frontcourt, with forward Keegan Murray (thumb surgery) and his replacement in the starting lineup (Nique Clifford; hamstring strain) both out as well.
Second-year big man Isaac Jones, who missed Wednesday’s loss with an illness, is no longer on the injury report and will be active for Friday’s game, Cunningham adds.
We have more injury updates from around the NBA:
- While Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns managed to record a double-double (19 points and 11 rebounds in 31 minutes) during Wednesday’s opener vs. Cleveland, his injury designation changed multiple times in the hours leading up to the game, writes Vincent Goodwill of ESPN.com. After the victory, Towns said he is battling a Grade 2 right quad strain. “I’ve been banged up, and I really haven’t gotten a chance to practice or play in the last two preseason games,” Towns said. “I didn’t want to disappoint the fans. It’s not something that’s easy to deal with, [but] we made it happen tonight.” Towns admitted he was bothered by the injury during the game, notes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. “It was hurting,” Towns said. “For sure.“
- Fifth-year guard Jalen Green continues to be sidelined by a right hamstring strain. Suns head coach Jordan Ott confirmed the offseason addition will miss the first two games (Friday at the Clippers and Saturday at the Nuggets) of a three-game road trip, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link). However, Green will be traveling with the team, which is a positive sign, and he hasn’t been ruled out of Monday’s game in Utah.
- Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. notched 10 points and two assists in nine minutes during Wednesday’s opening win vs. Washington before exiting late in the first quarter. An MRI on Thursday confirmed Porter has a left ankle sprain, according to the Bucks, who announced (via Twitter) that the 25-year-old will miss at least two games (Friday in Toronto and Sunday in Cleveland) as a result of the injury. Ryan Rollins and Cole Anthony are likely to continue to receive more playing time with Porter out.
Bucks you need a better PG platoon
Listed as questionable is questionable. What’s the over under?
Porter Jr. looked amazing in those 10 minutes against Washington. Yes, it’s only 10 minutes, and it’s only Washington, but he was balling. Like wow. Defended McCollum excellently and made him brick a couple of jumpers; was attentive when defending without the ball; lightning-quick feet and first step; handled the ball with great poise, had clear ideas of what to do with it; shot looked smooth; every pass was crisp and accurate; had an explosive dunk that we often see from Jalen Green.
He has that dribbling style where he keeps the ball a little far, which makes a defender hesitate a bit, but he is still able to control it and open angles for shots and drives that way.
And he looks organic in that team, something that Lillard never did. Played every bit as good as he did last season after joining them. They are probably already wishing they had given him a longer contract.
If he can play like that, PG play will not be a problem for Milwaukee at all. If anything, it will be their strength. They played like a real team and smoked the Wiz off the court in those 10 minutes he played. Without him, the score got close, Giannis had to take matters into his own hands. And Giannis won that game for them in the 4th, ofc he did. But they looked much better with Porter Jr. in the team.
Him as a starter and Cole Anthony off the bench is a very competent rotation.
Towns showed and looked good. Brown has to watch him cause we need him long term.
I like Jalen Green a lot. I just don’t think he and Booker are a good mix. They play the same position. And are very good there. So why would you want to take one away from what he does best.