LeBron James: “I Don’t Think I Will Ever Get Back To 100%”
The Lakers got a major jolt in the arm on Friday with the return of LeBron James, who missed 20 games over a six-week stretch due to an ankle injury. It was the longest injury-related absence in James’ Hall of Fame career.
Los Angeles lost to the Kings despite James’ return as he missed a potential game-winner in the fourth quarter. Nonetheless, LeBron looked good, recording 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals and five turnovers in 32 minutes. James admitted he felt his injured ankle at times but was able to come out strong.
“For my first game in six weeks, I felt OK,” James said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “As far as my wind, I felt pretty good. As far as my ankle, it was a little tight at times, obviously. … But I came out unscathed and pretty good. So it’s a good start.”
James, 36, went on to make a surprising admission in regards to his health for the rest of his career. In his 18th NBA season, James has a lot of mileage on his body and while his performance continues to be strong, he admitted he will likely never be at full strength again.
“I knew I wasn’t going to get back to 100%. It’s impossible,” he said. “I don’t think I will ever get back to 100% in my career.”
The Lakers will hope James can be as close to 100% as possible as the team tries to finish strong heading into the postseason. The defending champions now have James and fellow superstar Anthony Davis back from injury. Los Angeles struggled in their absence, falling to a 36-27 record, good for fifth in the Western Conference.
“It’s only nine games left,” James said. “It’s just been … it’s been a hell of a season, obviously. … But we look forward to the challenge. It is what it is. This is the season, and we’ve got to make the most out of it.”
Pacific Notes: Davis, Ibaka, Bagley, Poole
In his return after a two-month absence, Anthony Davis‘ numbers were not overly impressive, as he scored just four points in 17 minutes. However, the Lakers’ superstar said he wasn’t giving any thought to the calf strain and Achilles tendinosis in his right leg that sidelined him for 30 games.
“I didn’t think about it one time tonight,” Davis said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “Honestly, I just went out there and played. I think it can limit what you do if you’re out there thinking about your injury, so I just went out and played and not think about it. Just go out there and have fun and be excited to be back on the floor. That was my main thing. I was just excited to be back on the floor with the guys, so I never thought about it. I never did a limit to any moves. Wasn’t hesitant with anything, so that was a good sign for me.”
Injuries have limited Davis to 24 games this season, and he’s averaging just 21.8 PPG and 8.2 RPG when he has played, his lowest marks in several years. However, as he rounds back into form and LeBron James moves toward a return, the Lakers are poised to have some serious firepower back on the court as they seek to defend their NBA championship.
More Pacific Division notes here:
- The Clippers says that center Serge Ibaka is making progress in his return from lower back tightness that has sidelined him since mid-March, Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register writes. “He’s progressing,” head coach Ty Lue said. “We’re not sure the timetable when he’ll be back, but that was his first time getting on the floor and actually doing some playing so that’s a good start.”
- In the midst of an up-and-down season for the Warriors, Jordan Poole has emerged as a bright spot in the team’s future, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes. Poole has shown an innate ability to score, prompting head coach Steve Kerr to laud his 21-year-old. “We can’t have our decision to play him based on whether he’s making shots or not,” Kerr said. “That’s not a recipe for consistent performance. He has to take that next step and he’s showing signs. Which is great.”
- With Marvin Bagley III seemingly close to returning, NBC Sports’ James Ham analyzes what the big man’s role with the Kings might be once he’s back on the court.
Atlantic Notes: Rose, Thibodeau, Johnson, Injuries, Fournier
Tom Thibodeau joined the Knicks this past offseason with a strong reputation despite unceremonious exits during his last two stops with the Bulls and Timberwolves, and has helped New York exceed expectations, putting the club on the cusp of a postseason appearance.
One player who has been with Thibodeau for a while is Derrick Rose, who enjoyed his best years with Thibs in Chicago, joined him briefly in Minnesota, and is now a key depth piece for the Knicks. In Rose’s view, Thibodeau, a top contender for Coach of the Year, has only improved, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes.
“It shows that he’s improved as a coach. He’s already a great coach, but every year he’s improving and adjusting,” Rose said. “That’s the big difference that I see with him this year. He’s giving guys more freedom to go out there and play the way they want. He’s being positive on the court.”
The Knicks own a record of 33-27 record entering play Saturday, good for fourth in the Eastern Conference.
Check out more Atlantic Division notes:
- Year after year, the Knicks seemingly found new ways to become a laughingstock of the NBA through poor hires, questionable signings and head-scratching trades. This season, however, the club has played well behind some shrewd acquisitions and the hiring of a good coach, and is trending in the right direction, Yahoo Sports’ Vincent Goodwill writes.
- The Nets believe Kevin Durant is close to returning but it’s unclear when that will happen, according to head coach Steve Nash. “I think he’s close, but I don’t think he’s there,” Nash said, per NetsDaily. “We’ll see tomorrow and Sunday if that’s a possibility. But it may not. It may bleed back into this road trip.” Nash added that guard Tyler Johnson, who has missed 10 straight games, is close to a return too.
- The Nets are also currently without recent signee Alize Johnson as he is sidelined due to health and safety protocols, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews (Twitter link). Brooklyn recently inked Johnson to a multiyear deal after he signed a pair of 10-day deals.
- Celtics trade deadline acquisition Evan Fournier returned to the court on Friday in Brooklyn after missing nine games due to COVID-19. Fournier detailed his symptoms and noted he needs time to ramp up back into shape, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps writes. “My experience — where do I start? The first two days I was doing great, no symptoms at all, and then flu-like symptoms, high fever, really tired, fatigue, all that,” Fournier said. “I honestly stayed in bed and slept for four or five days. The roughest part was ramping up the activity. The last two days of practice was really hard. I had moments where I was doing good and moments where I was exhausted.”
Sixers Sign Anthony Tolliver To 10-Day Contract
APRIL 12: The Sixers have officially signed Tolliver to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release.
APRIL 10: The Sixers are planning to sign veteran forward Anthony Tolliver to a 10-day contract, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Tolliver worked out for the 76ers last week, Wojnarowski adds.
Philadelphia waived Ignas Brazdeikis earlier this week to open up a spot on its 15-man roster.
Tolliver, 35, will join the 11th team of his well-traveled career which began in 2007 after he went undrafted. The Missouri native last played for Memphis during the bubble in Orlando last season.
Tolliver split the 2019/20 campaign between the Grizzlies, Kings and Blazers, appearing in 55 total games while averaging 3.6 PPG and 2.8 RPG. He’s a career 37.3% shooter from beyond the arc.
While Tolliver will not be relied on to make a major impact, he will be expected to give Philadelphia some quality minutes off the bench.
Magic Sign Robert Franks To 10-Day Deal
APRIL 12: The Magic have officially signed Franks to a 10-day deal, the team announced today in a press release.
The move gives Orlando a full 15-man roster, meaning that if the club still intends to sign Hall, it will have to happen after one of the current 10-day contracts expires (or after the Magic waive someone).
APRIL 10: The Magic are planning to sign forward Robert Franks to a 10-day contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Franks, 24, went undrafted in 2019 out of Washington State but ended up signing a two-way deal with the Hornets. He never saw time in the NBA and was waived by Charlotte in January 2020.
Franks later inked an Exhibit 10 deal with the Magic last November but was waived less than a month later. He later suited up for the Lakeland Magic, Orlando’s G League affiliate, during the 2020/21 bubble season.
In 14 G League games with Lakeland, Franks averaged 12.1 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 1.5 APG.
The Magic currently have 13 players on standard contracts, with Devin Cannady on a 10-day deal and Donta Hall also expected to sign a 10-day pact at some point. If Orlando wants to sign both Franks and Hall before Cannady’s 10-day deal expires next Thursday, the team will need to waive someone else to make room on its 15-man roster.
Atlantic Notes: Thompson, Fournier, Johnson, Shamet, Hill
After missing nearly a month due to a positive COVID-19 test, Celtics big man Tristan Thompson returned earlier this week, a welcome sight for a Boston team struggling to play consistently. However, Thompson detailed a difficult battle with the virus while he was away from the team.
“That s–t’s no joke,” Thompson told reporters, including Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald (Twitter link). “That was a battle. I had all the symptoms except losing my taste and smell, so at least I could enjoy my food.”
Thompson, 30, has appeared in 38 games (31 starts) in his first season with the Celtics, averaging 7.9 PPG and 8.3 RPG. While his production is down, Boston is happy to have some size back in the frontcourt, especially given Thompson’s postseason experience. In the meantime, Thompson is looking forward to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
“…I’m definitely going to get the vaccine as soon as I can get it,” Thompson said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link).
Check out more news and notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Celtics head coach Brad Stevens announced that trade deadline acquisition Evan Fournier will not travel with the team during its upcoming road trip, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link). Fournier has appeared in four games for the Celtics since being shipped to Boston, averaging 11.5 PPG off the bench, but is currently sidelined due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
- Alize Johnson‘s second 10-day pact with the Nets is ending this Sunday and it remains to be seen what the team does with him. Johnson said he wants to keep showing the club “that I belong and I wanna be here,” per NetsDaily. Brian Lewis of the New York Post breaks down the Nets’ upcoming decision on whether or not to keep Johnson.
- After missing a series of games due to an ankle injury, Landry Shamet is expected to return for the Nets on Saturday, Lewis writes in a separate story. Brooklyn has dealt with a series of injuries but are slowly seeing players return, including Kevin Durant after a two-month absence.
- While it remains unclear when it will happen, Sixers guard George Hill, whom the team acquired at the trade deadline, expects to return this season, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports (Twitter link). “No one knows the timetable yet,” Hill said. “But I will be back this season for sure. I will be back before playoffs for sure.”
Rockets Waive Ben McLemore
APRIL 4: The move is official, according to a tweet from the team.
APRIL 3: The Rockets are planning to waive sharpshooting swingman Ben McLemore, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Several contending teams are expected to have interest in McLemore, Charania adds.
McLemore, 28, was one of many Rockets players available at the trade deadline but no deal materialized. In 32 games (four starts) with Houston this season, McLemore averaged 7.4 PPG and 2.1 PPG. Those numbers are down from his first year with the Rockets in 2019/20, when he posted 10.1 PPG across 72 contests.
In his eighth NBA season, McLemore will look to join his fourth team after previously having suited up for the Kings, Grizzlies and Rockets.
McLemore becomes the latest casualty of a difficult season in Houston, both on and off the court. The team played through a historic losing streak while dismantling its roster and McLemore is now the latest player set to depart.
Kings Waive DaQuan Jeffries
12:32pm: Jeffries has officially been waived, the team tweets.
10:43am: The Kings will waive DaQuan Jeffries, according to James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area. Sacramento will reportedly use the roster spot freed up by waiving Jeffries, though it remains to be seen whom the team might sign, Ham adds.
Jeffries was in his second NBA season with the Kings but struggled to stay on the floor. He missed time to begin the season due to an ankle injury and despite cracking the starting lineup, was not able to remain in the rotation.
All told, Jeffries averaged 3.1 PPG and 1.6 RPG across 17 games for the Kings this season. As Ham notes, the 23-year-old has shown potential as a three-and-D weapon but may need more time in the G League to develop his game.
Grant Hill To Become Managing Director Of USA Basketball
Basketball legend Grant Hill will succeed Jerry Colangelo as the new managing director of USA Basketball’s men’s team following the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, per a press release issued on Saturday (via The AP’s Tim Reynolds).
Hill, 48, will assume the role with a resume that includes 19 NBA seasons and seven All-Star team selections. He was a member of the 2018 Basketball Hall of Fame class and helped lead Team USA to a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics.
“It’s just an incredible opportunity, also an incredible challenge,” Hill said. “I had the good fortune of participating in international play — the Pan American Games, of course the Olympic team — and I have been a fan of Team USA going back to the 1984 Olympic team when I first started to fall in love with basketball. The more I thought about it, the more intrigued, excited and the more willing I was to roll up my sleeves and move forward with this awesome responsibility.”
It will be no easy task for Hill replacing Colangelo, who joined USA Basketball in 2005 as managing director after Team USA won the bronze medal in 2004. The former Suns owner helped shaped the program for years to come, selecting players and coaches to help USA Basketball compete for gold.
For three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012, 2016), Team USA took home gold medals led by Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, and will play under current Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich in Tokyo. Hill intends to work closely with Colangelo during the Tokyo Olympics in preparation for taking over the reins.
“I intend to spend an incredible amount of time with Jerry, shadow him some this summer, and I think that experience will certainly help as we move forward,” Hill said. “He’s just an invaluable resource and has done a remarkable job, so you can’t help but learn from someone like Jerry.”
Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), talks about Hill succeeding Colangelo had been ongoing for months. NBA commissioner Adam Silver was a “big proponent” of Hill’s candidacy for the position, Wojnarowski adds.
Hill, who has worked as an analyst for Turner Sports covering the NBA and NCAA, will remain in that role after taking over the Team USA job, Reynolds reports. In the meantime, he is focused on the challenge of building and sustaining a winning national team.
“The brain is working,” Hill said.
New York Notes: Harden, Johnson, Knicks
Since being traded to the Nets, James Harden has played at his usual MVP-caliber level, propelling Brooklyn to the top of the Eastern Conference. While there will be plenty of debate down the stretch over who should win the 2020/21 NBA MVP, for Harden, the answer is clear.
“I feel like I am the MVP,” Harden said after the Nets’ win over the Pistons Friday night, Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post writes. “It’s that simple. I don’t want to speak individually on myself.”
In 31 games with Brooklyn, Harden has averaged 26.0 PPG, 11.4 APG and 7.9 RPG to go along with 13 triple-doubles. With extended absences from his other star teammates in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Harden has at times shouldered much of the responsibility in carrying the team.
“Numbers are showing it for itself, and we’re winning,” Harden said. “That’s all I can say.”
Check out more news and notes from New York’s teams:
- Despite Harden’s value to the team on the court, head coach Steve Nash says he has considered reducing the star guard’s minutes a little to lower his burden, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. “I’m concerned about the minutes,” Nash said. “I’m not sure what the answer is, though. He controls the game. He hasn’t shot the ball well since the [All-Star] break, but he [makes 3s], he gets to the line. He makes assists, rebounds, steals. He’s great around the basket. … So it’s hard to take him off the floor because he makes his teammates better.”
- In a separate story, Lewis details a whirlwind that brought Alize Johnson from his mother’s house to Utah to debut for the Nets following the conclusion of the G League season. Johnson had a strong debut for Brooklyn and has a chance to stick around beyond his first 10-day pact.
- The Knicks had a relatively uneventful trade deadline and, despite various rumors, stayed away from acquiring any of the top available players. As Marc Berman of the New York Post writes, the quiet deadline gives New York flexibility both in free agency this summer and in the buyout market in the weeks ahead.