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Scoot Henderson’s Return Not Imminent

November 19th, 2025 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

It has been nearly eight weeks since the Trail Blazers announced that point guard Scoot Henderson had torn his left hamstring in a workout and would miss the start of the 2025/26 season.

At the time, the team said Henderson was expected to resume basketball activities in about four-to-eight weeks. However, while the former No. 3 overall pick tells Jason Quick of The Athletic that he has “made a lot of progress” in his recovery, his return to the court isn’t imminent and he says his resumption of basketball activities remains “week to week.”

According to Henderson, he’s scheduled to meet this week with the team’s director of health and performance, Dr. Courtney Watson, who will determine next steps. So far, the third-year guard’s activities have been limited to some stationary shooting and dribbling and upper-body weight lifting.

“I can walk around to spots, but no jumping, no exploding,” Henderson explained to Quick. “I shoot free throws, some ball-handling, but without moving much.”

As Quick points out, Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin told reporters on media day in September that Henderson’s timeline for resuming basketball activities could extend to 10 weeks or even beyond that, since hamstring injuries can be “stubborn” and tricky to handle. For his part, Henderson is optimistic that once he’s cleared for full basketball activities, he won’t require an extended ramp-up period before he’s cleared to play in games.

“I feel like I will be good,” Henderson told The Athletic. “I feel like I’ve always been good like that (coming off injury). I’m sure I will be tired, because you can’t compare basketball activity with anything else, so for a few games I will feel it.”

The struggling Trail Blazers, who have lost five of their last six games to fall to 6-8 on the season, could use Henderson back in their lineup. In addition to missing Damian Lillard, who is out for the season with a torn Achilles, Portland is currently without Blake Wesley (out since Oct. 31 due to foot surgery) and Jrue Holiday (out the past two games due to right calf soreness), leaving the team thin at point guard.

Shaedon Sharpe and Deni Avdija have taken on increased ball-handling responsibilities during the past two games with Holiday out, while rookie two-way player Caleb Love has also entered the rotation. Love had a career-high 17 points in 32 minutes in Tuesday’s loss to Phoenix.

Eastern Notes: Mathurin, Embiid, George, Ivey, Risacher

November 18th, 2025 at 10:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Pacers’ losing streak stretched to eight games on Monday but there was a silver lining in their loss to the red-hot Pistons, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star points out. Bennedict Mathurin, who had missed 11 games due to a toe sprain, scored 23 of his 25 points in the second half.

Mathurin asserts that the team has the ability to turn things around.

“We’re 1-13 right now,” Mathurin said. “There’s teams in the NBA that have won 10 games in a row. Why can’t we be the team that wins 10 games in a row? It’s just about believing. It’s just about doing what’s right for our team. … People act like it’s the end of the world. If we were 1-57 I’d say maybe, but it’s 1-13. We’ve played 14 games. It’s not even 15% percent of the season, so I’m still positive, man.”

Center Isaiah Jackson feels the same way.

“I think energy is everything,” he said. “One guy gets going and it can give us a spark. I think that’s all you need. We’re just gonna continue to keep going.”

Here’s more from the Eastern Conference:

Joel Embiid is listed as doubtful due to right knee injury management for the Sixers’ game against Toronto on Wednesday, Adam Aaronson of The Philly Voice tweets. Paul George won’t play due to what the team describes as left knee injury recovery. Embiid hasn’t played since Nov. 8, while George made his season debut on Monday and played 21 minutes, in which he contributed nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks in a win over the Clippers. Wednesday’s game is the first of a back-to-back set, so George seems likely to suit up on Thursday.
The Pistons assigned guard Jaden Ivey to their G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, for conditioning purposes, their PR department tweets. A restricted free agent after this season, Ivey hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since New Year’s Day, when he suffered a fractured left fibula. He recovered from that injury over the offseason, but underwent right knee surgery during the preseason last month.
Hawks second-year forward Zaccharie Risacher missed his team’s game against the Pistons on Tuesday due to a left hip contusion but he should return soon, according to Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He suffered a nasty fall during a dunk attempt against the Suns on Sunday. Risacher’s legs swung up and he somersaulted and crashed to the floor, landing on his left side.

Knicks Notes: Brunson, Robinson, Clarkson, 3-Point Defense

November 18th, 2025 at 9:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson was diagnosed with a Grade 1 ankle sprain last week. On Monday, Brunson was already spotted firing up jump shots in Miami’s Kaseya Center, according to Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News.

Now, there’s a possibility he’ll be back as soon as Wednesday. He’s listed as questionable to play against Dallas, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post tweets. Brunson has missed the last two games, in which the Knicks split a home-and-home with the Heat.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

Mitchell Robinson logged fewer than 20 minutes against the Heat on Monday and hasn’t exceeded 20 minutes in any games he’s played. However, that could change as soon as the next game. “[His minutes limit] has increased. It’s gone up three times,” coach Mike Brown said, per Bondy. “It’s all part of the load-management thing. So it’s not necessarily a restriction. It’s just continuing the process with our load management. So it’s going up. He could’ve played 27 minutes.”
Jordan Clarkson admits that spending the last couple of years with the rebuilding Jazz affected his play. He has a different mindset playing for a contender this season. “It’s a level of focus. I’m glad to be back in this and part of this and back contending, be in the playoffs and know that we’re playing for something,” Clarkson told Bondy. “That changes a player’s mindset. It’s just a bunch of focus that goes into it and I’m locked in.” Clarkson scored 24 and 14 points, respectively, in the two matchups with Miami. He’s shooting 46.7% overall and 38.8% from deep this season — both marks would be well above his career averages.
In a film breakdown, The Athletic’s James Edwards III displays how the Knicks’ defensive schemes, which are focused on sealing off the paint, allows opponents to pursue three-point opportunities. The Knicks are second worst in the league in three-point defense, allowing opponents to shoot 39.4% from beyond the arc.

LeBron James Makes Season Debut On Tuesday

November 18th, 2025 at 7:47pm CST by Rory Maher

Nov. 18: James will make his season debut tonight against the Jazz, McMenamin tweets.

Nov. 16: Lakers superstar LeBron James has been recalled from his G League assignment with South Bay and will be a full participant in Monday’s practice, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who says the NBA’s all-time leading scorer is nearing his season debut (Twitter link).

James went through at least two practices with the Lakers’ NBAGL affiliate over the past handful of days, including doing contact five-on-five work, and reportedly showed no ill effects afterward.

This will be James’ first practice with the Lakers in 2025/26, tweets Dan Woike of The Athletic.

Charania reported about a month ago that James was targeting a mid-November return from the nerve issue — sciatica on his right side — that has caused him to miss training camp, the preseason, and the first 14 games of the season. Charania’s ESPN colleague Dave McMenamin recently wrote that James could make his season debut this week, possibly on Tuesday vs. Utah.

When he suits up, James will set a record by playing in his 23rd NBA season.

The Lakers have gotten off to a strong start to the season in James’ absence, currently holding a 10-4 record.

James, who extended his own NBA record by making his 21st consecutive All-NBA team in 2024/25, could see that streak come to an end in ’25/26 due to the 65-game rule. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan hold a three-way tie for the second-most All-NBA appearances with 15 apiece.

The 40-year-old forward, who also made his record-extending 21st straight All-Star appearance in ’24/25, remained highly productive last season, averaging 24.4 points, 8.2 assists, 7.8 rebounds and 1.0 steal in 70 games (34.9 minutes per contest). His shooting slash line was .513/.376/.782.

However, James’ ’24/25 season ended in disappointing fashion as the Lakers were ousted by Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs and he suffered an MCL sprain late in the final game.

James opted into his $52.6MM player option over the summer. He holds a no-trade clause and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2026.

Nets Notes: Claxton, Saraf, Draft, Schedule

November 18th, 2025 at 7:23pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nets defensive stopper Nic Claxton blocked a season-high four shots in a win over Washington on Sunday. Claxton failed to record a block in his first four appearances but has at least one in each of his last nine games.

“Just getting back to myself,” Claxton said, per Dan Martin of The New York Post. “I started the season off [and] I wasn’t getting any blocks. But the timing is slowly coming back, so I’ve been feeling good on the defensive side of the ball with where I’m where they want me.”

Claxton is in the second year of a four-year, $97MM contract.

Here’s more on the Nets:

Rookie guard Ben Saraf suffered a left ankle sprain while playing for the G League’s Long Island Nets on Saturday, C.J. Holmes of the New York Daily News reports. Brooklyn announced on Monday that Saraf will be reevaluated in 10 days. Saraf began the season as the NBA team’s starting point guard but the 26th pick in the draft struggled mightily on offense, shooting 21.7% from the field in his first five games. He fell out of the rotation from that point, leading to the G League assignment.
With three supposed franchise-altering talents — Cameron Boozer, Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa — in next season’s draft, there’s plenty of incentive for the Nets to remain in tank mode this season. However, several other teams are in same boat, Brian Lewis of the New York Post notes, and even though Brooklyn only has two wins so far, there are three other teams with worse records.
The Nets won’t step out of the Eastern Conference for the remainder of the month. Their next game against a Western Conference opponent comes on Dec. 4 against Utah.
Michael Porter Jr. has responded to the call of handling more offensive responsibilities. Get the details here.

USA Basketball Announces Roster For World Cup Qualifiers

November 18th, 2025 at 5:59pm CST by Luke Adams

USA Basketball has announced its 12-man roster for a pair of upcoming World Cup qualifying games against Nicaragua. Those games will take place in Managua, Nicaragua on November 28 and in College Park, Georgia on December 1, with Team USA deploying the following squad:

Kyle Guy, G
Brandon Knight, G
Jaden Shackelford, G
Javonte Smart, G
Ryan Woolridge, G
Pedro Bradshaw, G/F
Nate Hinton, G/F
MarJon Beauchamp, F
Torrey Craig, F
Kessler Edwards, F
Garrison Brooks, C
Jeremiah Tilmon, C

The roster, which is coached by former Rockets head coach Stephen Silas, is made up of current free agents or G League players, with no active NBA players taking part. However, seven of the 12 Team USA members have previous NBA experience — Craig (458 regular season games) and Knight (451 games) have spent the most time in the league.

Unlike Knight, who has been out of the NBA since the 2021/22 season, Craig played for the Bulls and Celtics in ’24/25 and is one of a handful of players who was in the league within the past year. That group also includes Edwards, who made 40 appearances last season for the Mavericks, and Beauchamp, a former first-round pick who played in 35 games for three NBA teams in ’24/25.

Smart and Hinton have previously suited up for the U.S. national team — Smart won bronze with Team USA at this year’s AmeriCup, while Hinton was a member of the U.S. team for a pair of qualifying windows in 2023 (for the World Cup) and 2024 (for the AmeriCup).

This is the first of six windows of qualifying games for the 2027 FIBA World Cup, which will tip off on August 27, 2027. Team USA will also compete in qualifiers next February/March, July, August/September, and November/December, with the final qualifying window opening in Feb. 2027.

The actual World Cup roster is unlikely to feature any of the players in this 12-man group, since the U.S. typically sends a more star-studded squad to the event itself, which takes place during the NBA offseason. However, the qualifying games give some less-heralded players the opportunity to represent their home country and to help Team USA clinch its spot in the World Cup.

Kings’ Keegan Murray Expected To Make Season Debut Thursday

November 18th, 2025 at 5:37pm CST by Rory Maher

November 18: Murray is expected to make his season debut on Thursday vs. the Grizzlies, according to Anderson.

November 17: The Kings are optimistic that fourth-year forward Keegan Murray could make his season debut on Thursday in Memphis or on Saturday in Denver, reports Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.

Murray was assigned to the G League on Monday to practice with the Stockton Kings. The 25-year-old has been cleared for 5-on-5 contact drills and is expected to join the NBA team on Wednesday in Oklahoma City, a source tells Anderson.

It has been five weeks since Murray underwent surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, an injury he sustained in a preseason game. At the time, the Kings said he would be reevaluated in four-to-six weeks; this is the first real update since then.

The fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft, Murray signed a five-year, $140MM rookie scale extension a few days after he underwent surgery. While some people around the league were reportedly surprised at how lucrative the deal was, cap expert Yossi Gozlan viewed it as “sensible” and Sam Amick of The Athletic recently reported that rival teams value Murray as well.

As Anderson observes, the Kings have struggled mightily without their best defender, while Murray’s absence exposed a glaring lack of forward depth on the roster. Sacramento is currently just 3-11, which is the second-worst record in the Western Conference.

And-Ones: LeBron, Curry, Team USA, 2026 Draft, Beverley, More

November 18th, 2025 at 4:56pm CST by Luke Adams

Asked by Steve Nash on the Mind the Game podcast about the possibility of suiting up for Team USA at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, LeBron James made it clear that’s not in his plans, while Stephen Curry indicated he’s a long shot too, per Anthony Slater of ESPN.

“You already know my answer,” James said. “I will be watching it.”

“God willing, I still have the choice and physical option where I could impact the team,” Curry said. “Never say never, but I highly doubt it. Highly doubt it.”

James and Curry teamed up for Team USA at the Olympics for the first time in 2024, defeating the hosts (France) in Paris in the gold medal game after pulling off a dramatic come-from-behind win in the semifinal against Serbia.

“We can’t top what we just did,” James said. “How we gonna top those last two games?”

We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Kansas guard Darryn Peterson is the first player off the board in the first 2026 mock draft published by Jeremy Woo of ESPN. Woo has BYU’s AJ Dybantsa at No. 2, Duke’s Cameron Boozer at No. 3, and Tennessee’s Nate Ament at No. 4, with UNC’s Caleb Wilson rounding out the top five.
More details have emerged related to Patrick Beverley‘s arrest for assault, with TMZ reporting that the former NBA guard is accused of punching his sister in the eye and choking her for between 20 and 30 seconds. Beverley, who has been out of the NBA since the 2023/24 season, was arrested on Friday and was charged with assault of a family/household member.
After parting ways with the Brisbane Bullets earlier this season for personal reasons, former NBA guard Javon Freeman-Liberty reengaged with the team last week and has now re-signed with the Bullets for the rest of the 2025/26 season, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN (Twitter links). Freeman-Liberty, a former DePaul standout, appeared in 22 NBA regular season games for Toronto in 2023/24.
While the Mavericks had hoped to acquire Dennis Smith Jr.‘s G League returning rights, the Wisconsin Herd – the Bucks‘ affiliate – still holds those rights and is hopeful of having Smith join them soon, league sources tell Marc Stein (Twitter link).

Giannis Antetokounmpo To Miss 1-2 Weeks With Groin Strain

November 18th, 2025 at 4:20pm CST by Rory Maher

November 18: Antetokounmpo’s MRI “went pretty well,” according to Rivers, who said during an appearance on Courtside with Gale Klappa podcast that the Bucks star will “probably” miss two weeks (Twitter audio link via Nehm).

ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets that it’s a “low-grade” strain for Antetokounmpo and is expected to sideline him for a week or two.

November 17: Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained a left groin strain in the second quarter of Monday’s game in Cleveland and will not return for the second half, the team announced (Twitter link via Eric Nehm of The Athletic).

Antetokounmpo appeared to suffer the injury on a drive to the basket, according to Nehm, who tweets that the Greek forward hobbled back down the court on defense, committed a foul, and then checked himself out of the game and walked to the locker room. Harris Stavrou of SPORT24 has a partial video of the incident (Twitter link).

Antetokounmpo will undergo an MRI on Tuesday, according to head coach Doc Rivers (Twitter links courtesy of Nehm).

“We won’t know anything until tomorrow. Didn’t look great, I can tell you that,” Rivers said. “ … He grabbed (his groin), I want to say in the first quarter and I asked him then. He said it was fine. Then I think he grabbed it again and he said it was fine. And then the third time, you know, is when it happened. But I think it happened earlier, in my opinion.”

Backup big man Jericho Sims started the second half with Antetokounmpo unavailable, Nehm adds (via Twitter).

A two-time MVP who has finished no worse than fourth in voting for the award in each of the past seven years, Antetokounmpo was off to arguably the best start of his decorated career in 2025/26 prior to the injury, averaging 32.6 points, 11.3 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1.3 blocks through 12 games (33.4 minutes per contest).

The 30-year-old entered Monday’s game on the injury report with a probable tag due to an unrelated issue with his left knee (patellar tendinopathy) before being upgraded to available. Rivers said last week that injury isn’t considered serious.

While it’s unclear how much time Antetokounmpo will miss as a result of the groin injury, it’s probably not a great sign that it was quickly diagnosed as a strain. Even relatively mild groin strains often cause multi-week absences and are notoriously difficult to recover from.

Sims and Bobby Portis are the most obvious candidates for more minutes with Antetokounmpo out for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time. Myles Turner figures to take on an expanded offensive role as well.

Spurs’ Castle Out At Least 1-2 Weeks With Hip Injury

November 18th, 2025 at 4:14pm CST by Luke Adams

After undergoing an MRI on Monday, Spurs guard Stephon Castle has been diagnosed with a left hip flexor strain, the team announced today in a press release. The injury occurred during Sunday’s game against Sacramento.

The Spurs’ announcement simply states that updates on Castle will be provided “as appropriate,” but ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (via Twitter) that the reigning Rookie of the Year will be reevaluated in one-to-two weeks. That means Castle will be sidelined for upcoming matchups with Memphis (Tuesday), Atlanta (Thursday), and Phoenix (Sunday) and could miss additional time beyond that.

Castle, 21, had gotten off to a strong start this fall in his second NBA season, averaging 18.4 points, 7.8 assists, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game on 50.3% shooting in his first 12 games before getting injured in his 13th outing.

The Spurs will now be without three of their top four scorers, as Castle joins Victor Wembanyama (calf strain) and Dylan Harper (calf strain) on the inactive list. According to the team, point guard Jordan McLaughlin is also expected to miss some time, having been diagnosed with a right hamstring strain after undergoing an MRI on Monday. He sustained the injury during a workout.

While there were questions in the offseason about the Spurs’ logjam at point guard, the team’s depth will come in handy in the near future. Even with Castle, Harper, and McLaughlin on the shelf, San Antonio should get star-level production at the position as long as De’Aaron Fox stays healthy.

Fox’s season debut was delayed due to a hamstring injury, but he has started each of the club’s past five contests and appears to be rounding into form — he has averaged 26.0 points and 10.5 assists in his past two games.