Southwest Notes: Durant, Rockets, Harper, Grizzlies, Pelicans

The Rockets were playing without Kevin Durant, who’s dealing with a right knee contusion, in yesterday’s loss at the Lakers. “Several people” who watched the 37-year-old forward work out a couple hours before Saturday’s game said Durant wasn’t moving well and appeared to be in a good deal of pain, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic.

Whether or not Durant is active for the second game of the series on Tuesday, the Rockets need a much better performance from Alperen Sengun, writes William Guillory of The Athletic. The All-Star center finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but shot just 6-of-19 from the field and made several “uncharacteristic mistakes” which negatively impacted the team’s offense, per Guillory.

“I missed a lot of shots, the shots I was making (in the past),” Sengun said. “It happens. It’s the first game — the first away game. It’s going to come back. I’m not upset about it. Of course, I’m upset about the loss, but I’m going to bounce back next game and come stronger. I’m going to have a different mentality.”

Second-year guard Reed Sheppard (17 points on 6-of-20 shooting) is another player who needs to step up for Houston in Game 2, Guillory adds.

Here’s more from the Southwest:

• Spurs guard Dylan Harper jammed his left thumb in last Sunday’s regular season finale, but he’s confident the injury to his shooting hand won’t be an issue as the playoffs get underway, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. Last year’s No. 2 overall pick isn’t on the injury report and was a full participant in all three of San Antonio’s practices over the last week. “Rested it for a little bit, got back, felt fine,” Harper said at shootaround. “Felt like myself, so it’s all good. … The wrap shouldn’t affect me. I think that it’s more of a mental game, a mind game and just not trying to feed into that.”
• Deciding whether to trade or keep Ja Morant, drafting the best players available, and adding future assets are among the priorities for the Grizzlies ahead of the offseason, per Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (subscriber link).
• While head of basketball operations Joe Dumars expressed optimism about the Pelicans‘ future at his exit interview, the team’s fans are frustrated with being a “bottom feeder” and Dumars needs to improve the roster and hire the right head coach ahead of 2026/27, says Rod Walker of NOLA.com. “For the most part, we have some pretty good contracts set up with those guys,” Dumars said. “Between the age (of our roster) and the contracts, it gives us flexibility to do what you need to do going forward. If there is something you need to do going forward, you’re in a pretty position to improve your team.”