- The Clippers have recalled center Mfiondu Kabengele from the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, per the team. The 2019 No. 27 pick, nephew to Hall of Fame big man Dikembe Mutombo, has appeared in nine games for Los Angeles thus far.
Clippers guard and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams, 33, tells Stadium’s Shams Charania in an exclusive video sitdown that he considered retirement in the summer of 2017. After being traded from the Lakers to the Rockets to the Clippers within the span of a few months, Williams felt like his NBA days were numbered.
“I was done,” Williams said. “[I was on] three teams in six months. You know, you kind of look around and you’ve got to be realistic with yourself… When guys [are] getting bounced around, you know, eventually it’s going to stop bouncing and you’re going to be sitting around waiting for a phone call.” Williams would go on to win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in each of his two seasons with the Clippers, and is a frontrunner thus far this year.
Thus far, Williams boasts averages 19.9 PPG, 6.3 APG and 3.2 RPG for the Clippers. He is shooting 36.8% from beyond the three-point line and 83.8% from the free-throw line.
Williams credits Clippers head coach Doc Rivers with reassuring him that he was valued in Los Angeles. “I had a conversation with Doc. He was like, ‘I don’t know what these other teams are thinking, but we need you, and you can get comfortable, [you’re going to] be here.'”
- The Clippers‘ forthcoming Inglewood arena has been given the fast-track green-light by California governor Gavin Newsom on December 13, according to Nathan Fenno of the Los Angeles Times. California’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee has 30 days from the date of the Newsom certification to approve the signing.
Here are Tuesday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Pacers have assigned Victor Oladipo to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants as the former All-Star continues his rehabs, the team announced on Twitter. Indiana also recalled Edmond Sumner, Alize Johnson, and JaKarr Sampson.
- The Knicks have assigned Ignas Brazdeikis to the Westchester Knicks, according to the team’s Twitter feed. Brazdeikis was available for the G League contest tonight.
- The Wizards assigned Justin Robinson to the Capital City Go-Go, per the team’s Twitter feed. The guard has appeared in six games for Washington this season.
- The Rockets have assigned Isaiah Hartenstein to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston tweets. The center has appeared in nine games for Houston this year.
- The Clippers have assigned Mfiondu Kabengele and guard Terance Mann to the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, per the team.
- Jalen McDaniels is making another trip to the Greensboro Swarm, the Hornets announced on their website. The second-round pick has appeared in 13 games in the G League this season.
Approximately 120 players around the NBA became trade-eligible on Sunday, signaling the unofficial start of the NBA’s 2019/20 trade season. To celebrate the occasion, Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe hosted an ESPN special to survey the trade market, discussing which teams are most likely to make moves and which players are most likely to be dealt.
Here are several of the highlights from that discussion between Woj and Lowe:
Western Conference:
- The Warriors may field trade inquiries on D’Angelo Russell leading up to February’s trade deadline, but they’re unlikely to actively shop him and probably won’t move him before the 2020 offseason, according to Wojnarowski (video link).
- Wojnarowski believes the Mavericks would like to acquire a standout center to complement Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis (video link). He cites Montrezl Harrell as one player who might fit that bill, though Dallas would have to wait for the Clippers‘ big man to reach free agency.
- The Nuggets essentially view Michael Porter Jr. as “untouchable,” says Wojnarowski (video link).
- Wojnarowski and Lowe expect contenders to keep a close eye on Pelicans guards Jrue Holiday and J.J. Redick as the deadline nears (video link). According to Woj, Holiday loves New Orleans, but it’s not clear how patient he’ll be with the team’s rebuilding process.
- Woj and Lowe note that the Clippers pursued Marcus Morris in free agency and could have interest in him again on the trade market. Lowe wouldn’t be surprised if the club tries to see what it can get using a package of Maurice Harkless, Patrick Patterson, and its first-round pick (video link).
- Wojnarowski views 2019/20 as a pivotal year for the Rockets, adding that GM Daryl Morey seems to have given up trying to find a way to trade for Grizzlies wing Andre Iguodala after exploring multi-team scenarios earlier in the year (video link).
Eastern Conference:
- Wojnarowski thinks the best the Cavaliers can realistically expect in a Kevin Love trade is a protected first-round pick, an expiring salary, and another throw-in player (video link). Woj adds that it seems as if Love is “ready to go,” having lost patience with the rebuild in Cleveland.
- Count the Raptors and Heat among teams that will be reluctant to make any moves that compromise their 2021 cap flexibility (video links). According to Wojnarowski, Toronto wants to re-sign Fred VanVleet this summer, but continues to eye Giannis Antetokounmpo for ’21. As for the Heat, they seem less likely to trade young players for veterans than they have been in the past.
- Pistons owner Tom Gores “loves” Andre Drummond, but the club will soon have to have a serious conversation about whether to go all-in on the veteran center or whether to try to shop him, per Woj (video link).
- Lowe thinks players like Timberwolves forward Robert Covington and J.J. Redick will be on the Bucks‘ radar if they’re available, adding that Milwaukee appears willing to go over the tax line for the right deal (video link).
After missing about a month with an injured left ankle, Landry Shamet will be back in the Clippers‘ lineup tonight, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The second-year guard, who was diagnosed with a grade 2 high ankle sprain, started the first 10 games of the season before getting hurt. He was averaging 9.1 points per night and shooting 36.2% from beyond the arc.
Tonight will mark Shamet’s first chance to play alongside Paul George, notes Jovan Buha of The Athletic (Twitter link). George was still recovering from shoulder surgery when the season began and didn’t make his Clippers debut until after Shamet was injured.
Shamet will add another dimension to an L.A. team that is already among the league’s best with a 20-7 record. Buha calls him the club’s best shooter and a better-than-average defender who will provide another ball-handler in the backcourt.
It might seem like Kawhi Leonard was intent on playing in Los Angeles long-term but he insists he gave serious thought to the idea of re-signing with the Raptors, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
“Gave it big consideration,” the Clippers superstar said. “I took my time like I did; I didn’t hurry up and make a quick decision. I talked to the (Raptors’) front office in deep detail. It was a hard choice to make.”
Leonard added that he had no issues with the Raptors organization. “I had a great time last year with the coaching staff, front office and the players. It was a great experience,” he said.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Raptors president Masai Ujiri gets plenty of credit for building a championship team but GM Bobby Webster’s influence should not be underestimated, as Dan Robson of The Athletic details in a profile of the young executive. One player agent told Robson that Webster is heavily involved in all aspects of personnel decisions. “Bobby is making a lot of the decisions in terms of everything they do,” the unnamed agent said. “Masai is the lead role and the face of the program, and obviously very involved … but Bobby is the driving force, at least for me, for a lot of the decisions they make.”
- Celtics big man Daniel Theis is aware of the perception that the frontcourt is the team’s weakness but he tries to drown out the noise, as he told Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. “We have so many bigs and it’s whoever plays good that night,” said Theis. “You don’t guard the best bigs with one person. It’s a team effort. We’re [the third best team] in the East and we’re playing really good basketball as a team. So, no, I don’t listen to that.”
- Despite what Theis believes, the Celtics will probably need another quality big man to get past Philadelphia and Milwaukee in the postseason, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated argues. Joel Embiid‘s monster game against Boston on Thursday put the Celtics’ frontcourt issues on full display, Mannix adds.
- O’Connor identifies the following teams as ones that appear most open to trading late first-round or early second-round draft picks: The Bucks, Raptors, Clippers, Celtics, Sixers, and Mavericks. Some of those clubs hold other teams’ picks and could dangle those in trade talks. For instance, Milwaukee owns Indiana’s lottery-protected first-rounder; Philadelphia has New York’s and Atlanta’s second-rounders; and Dallas controls Golden State’s second-rounder.
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Here are Saturday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the league:
- The Thunder assigned Deonte Burton to the Oklahoma City Blue after he served a one-game suspension for a locker room altercation with a teammate, tweets Royce Young of ESPN. “I think it’s pretty clear, one-game suspension and we’ll all move on,” said coach Billy Donovan, who attributed the incident to healthy frustration over the team’s slow start. The second-year shooting guard is averaging 2.8 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12 NBA games this season.
- The Wizards assigned Admiral Schofield and Justin Robinson to their Capital City affiliate so they could play in tonight’s game, the team announced on Twitter.
- The Timberwolves assigned Jaylen Nowell to Iowa, according to a tweet from the team. The rookie shooting guard has gotten into just two games for Minnesota.
- In a leftover move from yesterday, the Clippers recalled center Mfiondu Kabengele from their Agua Caliente affiliate.
- Following a year of negotiations, the Clippers‘ proposed new 18,500-seat Inglewood arena has just been given a fast-tracked green light by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), Jason Henry of The Orange County Register reports. Now that CARB has ruled that the new arena will not yield a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, the $1.2 billion project should be ready in time for the 2024/25 NBA season. Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to stand by CARB’s decision and approve the project. Owner Steve Ballmer has long been pushing to move his team to its own arena and away from the Staples Center, located in downtown LA.
- Clippers forward Maurice Harkless has been making his own impressive defensive impact, albeit on a smaller scale than Anthony Davis. The versatile, 6’7″ forward takes pride in guarding multiple positions, as Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register observes. The Clippers landed Harkless and his expiring $11MM contract as part of the four-team sign-and-trade that sent Jimmy Butler to the Heat. Head coach Doc Rivers tells Swanson that Harkless’ defensive range even surprised the seasoned coach. Before the season tipped off, “I thought he was gonna be a defender on the bigs, like the fours and the threes,” Rivers said. “But what’s surprised me is his ability to guard ones and twos.”
Here are Wednesday’s G League assignments and recalls from across the NBA:
- The Bucks assigned power forward Dragan Bender to the Wisconsin Herd, the team’s PR department tweets. The fourth overall pick of the 2016 draft has averaged 21 PPG and 10 RPG in five starts with the Herd.
- The Knicks assigned rookie forward Ignas Brazdeikis to the Westchester Knicks, the team’s PR department tweets. He’s appeared in six games with the NBA Knicks, averaging 7.0 MPG in those outings.
- The Cavaliers assigned rookie swingman Dylan Windler to the Canton Charge, the team’s PR department tweets. He has yet to make his NBA debut. The first-rounder is working his way back into basketball shape after recovering from a leg injury.
- The Pacers recalled Victor Oladipo and Edmond Sumner from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the team tweets. They practiced with the Mad Ants as part of their injury rehabs. There is no timetable for their return, the team adds.
- The Clippers assigned center Mfiondu Kabengele to the Agua Caliente Clippers, the team tweets. The rookie first-rounder out of Florida State has appeared in six NBA games, averaging 3.8 MPG in those outings.
- The Hawks recalled rookie forward Bruno Fernando and guard Tyrone Wallace from the College Park Skyhawks, the team tweets. Fernando, a second-round pick, is averaging 4.5 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 12.7 MPG while playing 21 games with the NBA team. Wallace has averaged 3.1 PPG in 12.0 MPG in 13 games with Atlanta.
- The Thunder recalled center Justin Patton from the Oklahoma City Blue, according to a team press release. In eight games with the Blue, Patton is averaging 10.3 PPG and 7.5 RPG in 26.2 MPG.
- The Hornets recalled Cody Martin from the Greensboro Swarm, according to a team press release. The rookie guard appeared in three games with the Swarm, where he averaged 14.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG and 5.3 APG in 34.3 MPG.