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Injury Notes: Luka, Giannis, Young, Holmgren, Beal, Sixers

October 30th, 2025 at 10:03pm CST by Rory Maher

After missing the past three games with finger and leg injuries, Lakers superstar Luka Doncic has been listed as questionable for Friday’s matchup at Memphis, as Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group relays.

It has been five days since the Lakers stated that the Slovenian guard would be reevaluated in about a week, though Price notes the actual left finger sprain occurred a week ago vs. Minnesota. Head coach JJ Redick said ahead of Wednesday’s win that the swelling in Doncic’s finger had subsided somewhat.

Free agent addition Marcus Smart, who has missed the past two games with a quadriceps contusion, is also questionable for Friday’s contest, Price adds.

Here are some more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

  • Superstar Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was a surprise scratch on Thursday against Golden State after being listed as probable in the lead-up to the game, notes Jamal Collier of ESPN. Despite being down their best player, the Bucks defeated the Warriors behind a career night from guard Ryan Rollins, who finished with 32 points (on 13-of-21 shooting), eight assists and five rebounds, tweets Eric Nehm of The Athletic. As ESPN’s Anthony Slater notes (via Twitter), it was a revenge game of sorts for Rollins, who was drafted by and later traded by Golden State. The former second-round pick had a big game on Tuesday as well, recording 25 points (on 8-of-11 shooting), four assists and four steals in 26 minutes.
  • Star point guard Trae Young will be sidelined for Friday’s game in Indiana due to a right knee sprain, the Hawks announced (via Twitter). Young was reportedly scheduled to undergo an MRI today after he exited Wednesday’s game with the injury, which occurred late in the first quarter when a teammate was pushed and fell into his knee (Twitter video link).
  • Thunder big man Chet Holmgren was off to an excellent start this season before lower back soreness sidelined him for both Tuesday’s win vs. Sacramento and Thursday’s victory over Washington. Head coach Mark Daigneault said there are no long-term concerns with Holmgren’s back issue, per Jeff Patterson and Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (subscriber link). “He’s where he should be,” Daigneault said before Thursday’s game. “We’re being conservative with him. If he was, obviously, perfect he would play tonight. But we’ll go through the process that we always go through.”
  • After missing the past two games with a sore back, Clippers guard Bradley Beal will be active for Friday’s contest vs. New Orleans, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. Beal opened the season on a minutes restriction due to offseason knee surgery.
  • Although Jared McCain (thumb surgery) and Paul George (knee surgery) participated in the Sixers‘ practice on Thursday, both players will remain sidelined for Friday’s matchup against Boston, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link). In case you missed it, the 76ers picked up McCain’s third-year option on Thursday.
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Clippers Notes: Beal, Collins, Sanders, Paul

October 29th, 2025 at 5:36pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers signed Bradley Beal to replace the scoring punch they lost when they traded Norman Powell to Miami, but physical issues have prevented Beal from filling that role early in the season. He missed his second straight game with back soreness Tuesday night, and L.A. managed only 79 points in a loss to Golden State. The offense looked stagnant as the Clippers recorded just 10 assists for only the second time since Tyronn Lue became head coach, writes Law Murray of The Athletic.

“We are missing a key component, which is Bradley Beal, who gives us a shooter, a guy who can play-make, a guy who can handle the basketball as well,” Lue said. “You add to the mix, it does make us better.”

Beal began the season on a minutes restriction while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and was limited to 11 total points in the team’s first two games. Bogdan Bogdanovic is taking Beal’s place in the starting lineup, but he’s off to a terrible shooting start, connecting at 11.1% from the field and averaging just 1.0 PPG.

The malaise on offense is affecting several players, including offseason addition John Collins, who was limited to five points Tuesday night on 2-0f-6 shooting.

“Sometimes, it’s like that ball’s not moving as much. It’s a little bit sticky sometimes,” Collins said. “Another side of that is getting stops. Maybe we get stops and get in transition, get easy buckets. That just helps slow the game down a little bit. … A little bit of stagnation on our end. Gotta make it work.”

There’s more on the Clippers:

  • While he’s off to a slow start, Collins has added a new dimension to the team as a mobile 6’9″ forward who can score, notes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Having the extra size on the front line creates mismatches for opponents. “We get a big player like John on the floor, alongside Kawhi (Leonard) and teams have a nightmare as far as matching up,” Lue said. “You want to put a smaller guy on John, or a smaller guy on Kawhi? … (Collins’) versatility on both sides of the basketball is a huge thing for us.”
  • Second-round pick Kobe Sanders is week-to-week with a sprained right knee, a source tells Murray (Twitter link). There’s hope he can return in December, but Murray notes that he’s already the team’s second injured two-way player, joining Jordan Miller, who’s sidelined with a hamstring issue.
  • In an interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Chris Paul says he feels fortunate to be back with the Clippers this late in his career and he hasn’t decided whether he’ll keep playing beyond this season.
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Clippers Notes: Beal, Miller, Paul, Depth, Aspiration

October 24th, 2025 at 7:50pm CST by Rory Maher

Veteran guard Bradley Beal signed a two-year contract with the Clippers this summer after a disappointing two-year run with the Suns ended in a buyout. The former All-Star said earlier this week that he already feels at home in Los Angeles, as Janis Carr of The Orange County Register writes.

“It’s weird. It feels like I’ve been here for a few years; I feel that comfortable with the group,” Beal said Monday. “They welcomed me in that way too and just made me feel at home and it’s been great, man.”

Beal and the Clippers will face Phoenix in Friday’s home opener after L.A. was shockingly — and thoroughly — dominated in Wednesday’s season-opening loss in Utah. The 32-year-old is on a minutes restriction after undergoing arthroscopic right knee surgery during the offseason, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic.

Here’s more on the Clippers:

  • Third-year forward Jordan Miller is dealing with left hamstring soreness and will be reevaluated in about a week, Murray adds. Miller, the 48th overall pick of the 2023 draft, is on a two-way contract with the Clippers.
  • Chris Paul will make his Clippers homecoming on Friday after several years away from the organization, but don’t expect him to get swept up in the emotions of the moment, according to Carr. “I’ll definitely be happy and grateful to be here, but I’d be too locked in to really process what’s all happening,” the 40-year-old point guard said this week. Paul, a future Hall of Famer, signed a one-year deal with the Clips in free agency after spending last season in San Antonio.
  • As Murray writes for The Athletic, the Clippers are relatively long in the tooth, but they have a talented and deep roster, which may be challenging for head coach Tyronn Lue to navigate, given his preference for using nine-man rotations. “It feels good to have so many options and a lot of different combinations,” Lue said. “And every night could be different; every night is gonna be different. But it’s gonna take us 15, 20 games into the season to really understand our rotations, our chemistry, how we wanna play, who fits well together. So, I’m excited about that.” When the team is at full strength, Murray views Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nicolas Batum as the most likely veterans to be out of the rotation.
  • Robert O’Connor and Harriet Ryan of The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) take an in-depth look at Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg and the allegations that the Clippers used the now-bankrupt “green bank” company to circumvent the salary cap via a lucrative no-show endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard. According to the WSJ, Sanberg told a high-ranking Aspiration executive the Clippers initiated the idea of the endorsement contract with Leonard, who was injured at the time. “This is important to the Clippers,” the executive recalled Sanberg saying. While some top Aspiration officials understandably had significant reservations about the deal, they purportedly did not question whether it was a means for owner Steve Ballmer and the Clippers to bypass the cap, per O’Connor and Ryan.
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Sixers’ Embiid, Clippers’ Beal Set For Preseason Debuts

October 17th, 2025 at 10:56am CST by Luke Adams

Sixers center Joel Embiid has been cleared to suit up on Friday for the team’s preseason finale against Minnesota, league sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).

Embiid has been ramping up this fall after undergoing surgery on his knee in the spring. Haynes had reported on Thursday that – while his status for Friday’s preseason game was up in the air – the star center was on track to be available for the start of the regular season next week. Now it appears he’ll see some action before opening night.

Clippers guard Bradley Beal is also expected to play his first game of the preseason on Friday when L.A. faces Golden State, reports Haynes (Twitter link).

Beal played through right knee inflammation in Phoenix in 2024/25 and underwent arthroscopic surgery on that knee after his season ended to address the issue. He was a limited participant in training camp this month and has yet to suit up for a preseason contest, but it sounds like he’s ready to play in his first game as a Clipper.

It’s unclear how many minutes Embiid or Beal will see tonight — the goal will presumably be to get them some reps and to make sure they get through their fall debuts without any setbacks. Assuming that happens, both players should be active when the regular season tips off next week.

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Players Seeking Paydays This Season

October 5th, 2025 at 5:03pm CST by Eli Cohen

While some players are still hoping to finalize rookie scale extensions before the season begins, the majority of contract situations around the league have been settled at this point. But business never sleeps in the world of the NBA, and many players will enter this season hoping to impress executives and land their next big payday.

Zach Harper of The Athletic details the top names playing for new deals this season, excluding the aforementioned rookie scale extension seekers.

One player not on a rookie-scale deal but still extension-eligible is Michael Porter Jr., whom the Nets recently acquired to add some scoring pop to the starting lineup. Porter’s deal runs for two more seasons and will pay him $38.3MM this year and $40.8MM in 2026/27.

The Nets’ roster remains a major work in progress, making future projections tricky, but at just 27 years old, Porter is in position to have a big year in Brooklyn and boost his stock entering a contract year next summer. The biggest question, according to Harper, is whether Porter’s next deal would remain in the range of the $40MM+ he’ll earn in 2026/27 or if he would take a modest pay cut to secure a longer-term contract.

Harper takes a look at three big men who could hit the open market next summer: Kristaps Porzingis, the Hawks‘ new starting center, longtime Bulls veteran Nikola Vucevic, and the Knicks‘ on-and-off starter Mitchell Robinson. All three have question marks surrounding them — for Porzingis and Robinson, those questions center around health, though Robinson could also be a cap casualty on New York’s increasingly pricey roster.

Vucevic has been in trade rumors for years, and with the Bulls taking more steps to embrace a youth movement than they have in the past, his time in Chicago could be coming to an end. Harper predicts an annual value of around $21MM for Vucevic on his next deal, which is about what he’ll earn in 2025/26.

Another group of players Harper looks at is a trio of high-scoring guards who will be free agents in 2026: Anfernee Simons and Norman Powell, who were acquired this summer by the Celtics and Heat, respectively, and Coby White, who has grown into a talented combo guard over his six seasons with the Bulls. Harper predicts a deal around $20MM annually for Simons, $75MM over three years for White, and a two-year, $50MM contract for Powell.

The 2026 free agency class will also be impacted by the decisions made by veterans with player options, such as Zach LaVine (Kings), Bradley Beal (Clippers), and Austin Reaves (Lakers). Cam Thomas (Nets) and Quentin Grimes (Sixers) will also reach unrestricted free agency after accepting their respective qualifying offers and will be looking to recoup the money they passed on this offseason.

Finally, Harper singles out four role players who could be coveted next season, depending on their performance this season: Rui Hachimura (Lakers), Tyus Jones (Magic), Keon Ellis (Kings), and Georges Niang (Jazz). The 25-year-old Ellis has broken out over the last two seasons and could command his first real payday of his career if he has a strong season off the bench in Sacramento. Harper speculates he could be in line for a deal similar to the three-year, $27.6MM contract Ty Jerome signed with the Grizzlies this summer.

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L.A. Notes: Doncic, Lakers, Lopez, Clippers

October 3rd, 2025 at 8:03pm CST by Eli Cohen

Getting the Lakers into peak physical condition appears to be head coach JJ Redick‘s primary goal entering the season, writes ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Redick refers to it as being in “championship shape,” and notes that the directive is not only aimed at star Luka Doncic, though Doncic is one of the more visible examples of the fitness push.

As McMenamin writes, remaking his body through dieting and rigorous exercise routines has been the focus for Doncic this summer, both for himself and for the team as a whole.

“It’s not just physical shape, it’s mental shape, too,” the Slovenian star said. “Both are very important. We’re doing it in practice. It was great. Everybody’s in great shape. Everybody’s running a lot, so it’s been great so far.”

Despite Doncic’s efforts to reshape his body this offseason, he will not play in the Lakers’ preseason games this weekend, according to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times (via Twitter), who calls it a collaborative decision with the Lakers’ performance team. Redick had previously said he’d be careful about overextending Doncic too early after the 26-year-old’s run with the Slovenian national team in EuroBasket.

While Doncic isn’t playing this weekend, Redick is expecting him to play at some point during the preseason, tweets Sportskeeda’s Mark Medina.

LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Adou Thiero, and Maxi Kleber are all expected to miss tonight’s game against the Suns as well.

We have more from the world of L.A. hoops:

  • The Lakers remade their roster this offseason, but there are still significant questions to answer, writes Eric Pincus for Bleacher Report. Health will play a key role in the team’s outlook, along with the natural wear and tear that can be expected for the 40-year-old James. However, the most pressing unknown revolves around the fifth starting spot. Pincus names Smart, Rui Hachimura, and Jake LaRavia as three players most likely competing for the role. Hachimura has experience with the team and has shown himself to be a consistent shooter, having made 41.8% of his three-point tries over the last two seasons in L.A. Pincus calls LaRavia a high-effort defender who can also shoot the ball at 6’7″, while Smart brings a perimeter defensive toughness that a team built around Doncic, James, and Austin Reaves could use. Pincus also throws Jarred Vanderbilt‘s name into the mix as a potential dark-horse option.
  • The Clippers brought Brook Lopez into the fold in an effort to reduce the burden on breakout defensive stalwart Ivica Zubac this season, writes Janis Carr for the Orange County Register. “We didn’t really have a backup center (last season), so when things got tough, we always had to get Zu back in the game,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “I thought he played for too many minutes. If you asked him, he didn’t play enough, but for me it’s just too many minutes.” While Zubac was always up for the challenge and turned in the best season of his career, the Clippers now have the luxury of bringing a longtime starter and multi-time Defensive Player of the Year candidate off the bench in Lopez. As an added bonus, Lopez and Zubac have a Los Angeles-based history together. “I played with Zu with the Lakers almost 10 years ago now. I think it was his second year in the league, and he was a very talented, raw young player then,” Lopez said. “But to see his growth, it’s astonishing.“
  • Lopez wasn’t the only big-name acquisition for the Clippers this summer. They also added Bradley Beal, John Collins, and brought back Chris Paul. They now have one of the deepest benches in the league, but that brings with it questions about how the rotation will shake out, writes Law Murray for The Athletic. Murray predicts that Beal will be the starting shooting guard and suggests that Collins could have a chance to start at the four, sliding Kawhi Leonard to the three. However, with so many talented players, some will likely be squeezed from the rotation. When asked about his role with the team, Nicolas Batum said, “Ask (Lue) that question, I don’t know… I mean, I’m here to play basketball.” Murray writes that he considers Batum the most likely odd man out when everyone is healthy.
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Clippers Notes: Ballmer, Aspiration, Frank, Kawhi, Beal, Collins

September 29th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Rory Maher

Through his philanthropic arm, the Ballmer Group, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer donated $1.875MM to the Golden State Opportunity Foundation, a charity whose founder is disgraced former Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg, Pablo Torre reported Monday on his Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast (YouTube link).

Ballmer’s donation came in December 2024, more than a year-and-a-half after the Clippers ended their contract with Aspiration, and nearly a year after it was publicly reported that the now-bankrupt “green bank” company was under federal investigation, Torre observes. It also came a couple months after Sanberg’s co-conspirator was arrested.

It’s the latest update in an ongoing investigation from Torre, other members of the media, and the NBA, which hired a law firm to determine whether the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard circumvented the salary cap through their deals with Aspiration.

In a public statement on Monday, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank reiterated the Clippers “welcome” the league’s investigation and denied the accusations (Twitter video link via Joey Linn of SI.com).

“We feel confident we are on the right side of this,” Frank said in part.

For his part, Kawhi Leonard denied any wrongdoing and said the investigation wouldn’t be a distraction during the season (Twitter links via Law Murray of The Athletic). Leonard mentioned “conspiracies” multiple times, according to Murray.

“This is old… we already knew this was going to happen,” Leonard said.

Here’s more from the Clippers’ media day:

  • Bradley Beal had arthroscopic surgery sometime after the season ended, tweets Murray. Beal said he was playing through right knee inflammation last season with Phoenix and had the knee scoped, which helped, as he’s feeling “good” and “ready to go” now. However, the team said he would be a limited training camp participant, according to Murray, who adds (via Twitter) that Bogdan Bogdanovic (torn hamstring) will also be a limited participant. Leonard is considered healthy and a full participant.
  • Beal, who signed a two-year deal (second year player option) with the Clippers after being bought out by the Suns, says he loves living in Los Angeles and has talked with Frank about potentially ending his career with the team (Twitter links via Murray). The three-time All-Star knows he won’t be a primary scoring option for the Clippers and is welcoming the challenge of taking on tough defensive assignments.
  • Head coach Tyronn Lue views offseason acquisition John Collins as a power forward who can play some backup center at times, per Murray (Twitter link). The Clippers landed Collins in the three-team trade that sent Norman Powell to Miami. The 28-year-old big man will earn $26.58MM this season before hitting free agency next summer.
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Pacific Notes: Lakers, Kuminga, DJJ, Suns, Micic

September 11th, 2025 at 6:42pm CST by Luke Adams

After stating in mid-July that he was “pretty confident” the Lakers weren’t interested in Heat forward Andrew Wiggins, Dan Woike of The Athletic confirms reporting from Marc Stein, writing that the Lakers appear more inclined to pursue an upgrade on the wing – including a player like Wiggins – in the wake of Luka Doncic‘s long-term commitment to the team. Doncic signed a three-year, maximum-salary extension with Los Angeles last month.

Although the Lakers seem more open to taking on contracts that run beyond the 2025/26 season in the right deal, they also may want to see how new additions like Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart, and Jake LaRavia look this fall before they cash in any of their limited trade assets, Woike cautions.

The Lakers can currently only trade one future first-round pick, either their 2031 or 2032 selection.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

  • Checking in on where things stand between Jonathan Kuminga and the Warriors, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area says the restricted free agent forward continues to show little interest in Golden State’s two-year, $45MM offer that includes a second-year team option and requires him to waive his right to veto a trade. In Poole’s view, Kuminga signing his $7.98MM qualifying offer remains the most likely outcome.
  • An arbitrator has ruled that Derrick Jones Jr.‘s former agent, Aaron Turner, is entitled to his full 4% commission ($1.2MM) on the three-year, $30MM contract the veteran forward signed with the Clippers in 2024, per NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link). Jones made an agent change right around the time he entered free agency last summer.
  • Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays several of the most notable comments that former Suns point guard Vasilije Micic made during a recent appearance on the X&O’s Chat (YouTube link), including Micic’s impressions of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, and his thoughts on why Phoenix fell well short of its expectations. “Why didn’t they succeed?” the Serbian guard said in his native language. “It was a bit of everything. Issues with the coach, issues with working together, which I don’t even know what it was.”
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Western Notes: Connelly, Washington, Jerome, Beal

August 28th, 2025 at 10:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly had the ability to opt out of his contract with the team this offseason but chose not to do so, as Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic tweets.

When Connelly was hired by the Wolves in 2022, he received a five-year deal that included an opt-out clause after the second season. He and the team agreed in 2024 to push that opt-out back by a year with the ownership situation still up in the air, but now that Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez have assumed majority control, Connelly decided not to take advantage of the clause this summer.

Since he’s still on his initial five-year deal, Connelly is under contract with the Wolves for two more seasons, Krawczynski notes. Assuming Lore and Rodriguez are satisfied with the job he has done, the veteran executive figures to be an extension candidate in 2026.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

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And-Ones: ESPN Panel, Top SGs, Lundberg, Hayes-Davis

August 25th, 2025 at 6:18pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Spurs and Hawks are considered the co-favorites to make the biggest leap in the NBA during the upcoming season, according to a panel of ESPN Insiders.

The panel made its predictions on a wide variety of topics, including the team most likely to make a big move before the trade deadline (the Warriors received the most votes) and the next superstar to request a trade (Zion Williamson was the top vote-getter).

Here’s more from around the international basketball world:

  • Anthony Edwards tops the list of shooting guards ranked by The Athletic’s Zach Harper. Devin Booker and Donovan Mitchell fill out tier one — players who are potential MVP candidates — in “The Bounce’s Top 40 Shooting Guards.” Desmond Bane, Klay Thompson, Bradley Beal and Zach LaVine comprised the second tier as players “who can take over” a game.
  • Gabriel ‘Iffe’ Lundberg won’t return to Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade, according to Sportando. The Danish guard, according to a TeleSport report, has drawn interest from both Zenit St. Petersburg and Olympiacos. Lundberg had a brief stay in the NBA, playing four games with Phoenix during the 2021/22 season.
  • Tel Aviv’s owner Ofer Yannay had a verbal agreement this offseason with Nigel Hayes-Davis in the event that the free agent forward couldn’t find an NBA contract. Hayes-Davis, who played in Turkey last season, wound up signing a one-year deal with the Suns. “We were sure we were bringing Nigel Hayes-Davis. We were sure it was happening. He had an option to go to the NBA, and he basically said, ‘I’ll try to get a contract in the NBA, and if I don’t, I’ll come to you,’” Yannay said, per Eurohoops.net.
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