Lakers Rumors

Pacific Notes: Durant, Booker, Kings, Lakers, D. Green

March 11th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

If the Suns trade Kevin Durant this offseason, the “most ideal” return would be three first-round picks and a young player, as well as enough salary relief to move below the second tax apron, sources tell Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.

Rankin’s wording leaves some room for interpretation. It’s not clear if his sources believe that’s the sort of return the Suns would be seeking or what they could realistically expect to acquire — or if it’s simply their view of what a best-case scenario for the franchise would look like.

Although Durant continues to play at an extremely high level, his age (37 in the fall) and contract situation (he’ll be entering a contract year) will be factors working against the Suns as they try to extract the best possible package.

Within the same story, Rankin cites sources who suggest the Suns could probably acquire four first-round picks and a “rising star in his third or fourth year” in exchange for Devin Booker, who is eight years younger than Durant and is under team control through 2028. However, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) issues a reminder that Phoenix’s stance on Booker hasn’t changed — the team still has no intention of making him available.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Kings guard Malik Monk returned on Monday from a three-game absence due to a toe sprain and scored 21 points, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. It wasn’t nearly enough for the Kings, who suffered a 29-point home loss to the Knicks on the second end of a back-to-back and are now two games back of the No. 8 seed in the West. As Anderson details in a separate Sacramento Bee story, center Jonas Valanciunas referred to the loss as “embarrassing,” while interim head coach Doug Christie offered a similar assessment. “There are absolutely no excuses in this league,” Christie said. “The league does not care about back-to-backs, injuries, nothing. That was brutal from the physicality standpoint. They didn’t feel us at all, and our guys know that is totally unacceptable, whoever is out on the floor.”
Over on the other coast, Lakers head coach J.J. Redick wasn’t happy with the effort he saw from his team in a three-point loss to the Nets in Brooklyn. Redick referred to it as a “very low-level communication game” and told reporters that injuries to key players – including LeBron James – should be no excuse, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I think it was just an overall mentality just to take shortcuts tonight,” Redick said. “Want to be a good team? You want to win in the NBA? You got to do the hard stuff. We couldn’t even pass to each other. We couldn’t enter our offense, running ball screens literally at half court. Yeah, that’s going to end up in a turnover. I don’t know what we’re doing.”
Trayce Jackson-Davis, Quinten Post, and Kevon Looney have combined to make 53 starts this season, but Draymond Green continues to play at the five during most end-game situations and has been the Warriors‘ starting center for eight of 11 games since the All-Star break. He’s OK with that. “I knew it would come down to this,” Green said, according to Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. “But I just didn’t have much interest in doing it for 82 games. Because it’s a lot. To anchor a defense. To play the five, you’re in every action. People downhill at you. It’s a different responsibility on the body. … But if you can’t do it for 29 games, it’s over, champ.”

L.A. Notes: Leonard, Lue, Morris, Hayes

March 10th, 2025 at 11:01am CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers‘ prospects for an automatic playoff spot — or at least a better position in the play-in tournament — improved dramatically on one Kawhi Leonard shot Sunday night, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. Trailing by a point in overtime, Leonard held the ball for 15 seconds before making a move. He dribbled eight times, then launched his shot over a collapsing Kings defense. It bounced off the back of the rim and fell through the net to give the Clippers a 111-110 victory.

“Read the defense, got to a spot on the floor and was able to get a shot off,” said Leonard, who topped 40 minutes for the first time this season. “I wanted to play. I’m kind of capped on the minutes — 36 is a lot of minutes. But it was just about me just wanting to finish that game. They told me they were going to sit me for a minute and bring me back. So just itching to get back in and didn’t want to sit.”

It was the third straight victory for the Clippers, who are eighth in the West at 35-29, one game back of Golden State for the sixth spot. L.A. has rebounded from a 1-6 stretch immediately after the All-Star break and appears to be surging ahead of four upcoming games against sub-.500 opponents. The Clippers have now clinched the head-to-head tie-breaker against the Kings, who trail their division rivals by a game and a half at 33-30.

Although Norman Powell and Ben Simmons remained out for Sunday’s game, league sources tell Murray that they’re both making progress. Powell, who is sidelined with patellar tendinopathy in his left knee, will be reevaluated following a three-game road trip. Simmons, who is also dealing with a knee issue, may play during the trip.

There’s more on the two Los Angeles teams:

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue had to miss Sunday’s game due to back pain, according to an Associated Press report. Lue didn’t give any indication during his pregame media session that he wouldn’t be able to coach, and the team didn’t provide any other details. Assistant Brian Shaw replaced Lue for the night.
Markieff Morris has barely played since rejoining the Lakers last month, but he’s finding other ways to contribute, notes Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. The veteran forward has taken on a leadership role and was instrumental in helping Dalton Knecht regain his confidence after his trade to Charlotte was rescinded. “I missed (Morris),” LeBron James said. “… We’ve been in the foxhole together. We’ve been on the floor during big games together. And there’s someone whose opinion I value very much when I come off the floor. He’s watching it. He’s seeing it. I’m just happy to have him back. It’s great to see him.”
The Lakers will be without their entire starting front line for tonight’s game at Brooklyn. Center Jaxson Hayes has been ruled out on the team’s official injury report due to a contusion on his right knee. He joins James, who’s recovering from a groin injury he suffered Saturday night, and Rui Hachimura, who remains sidelined with patellar tendinopathy in his left knee.

Lakers Notes: James’ Injury, Road Trip, Doncic, Hayes

March 9th, 2025 at 7:12pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers know that LeBron James won’t be able to play for at least a week, and probably longer than that, due to a groin strain. How will they survive the upcoming stretch of games without him?

“I think we just have to continue to play hard and play defense,” coach JJ Redick said, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.

The Lakers have been the No. 1 ranked defense in the league since mid-January. They’re confident they can collects wins despite the future Hall of Famer’s absence.

“We’ve had many situations where a player deals with some type of injury or a trade or whatever it is, and we’ve done a really good job of bouncing back,” guard Austin Reaves said. “And I don’t expect anything else. It’s a next-man-up mentality. Not one person’s gonna do what LeBron does for us. But you can do it as a collective. And … hopefully, he gets back out on the court soon.”

As Buha notes, the Lakers have a rugged stretch of games upcoming. They’ll play in Brooklyn on Monday, then finish their road trip by playing in Milwaukee on Thursday and Denver on Friday. They also have a pair of home back-to-backs (four games in five days) against Phoenix/San Antonio and Denver and Milwaukee within the next two weeks.

We have more on the Lakers:

James believes that being at full strength for the postseason supersedes anything else at this point, Buha relays. “We can compete versus anyone in this league,” James said. “So, we’ll be fine. We got to continue to build our habits. … We made an acquisition late in the season, and we’re still trying to build. And we want to get full. That’s the No. 1 objective for us: How we can get full and get all our guys together and see exactly what we look like.”
James and Rui Hachimura (knee) are among the players listed as out for the matchup with the Nets, Khobi Price of the Orange County Register tweets. Luka Doncic (back soreness) and Jaxson Hayes (right knee contusion} are listed as questionable.
Hachimura, who has missed five consecutive games, is making progress from the patellar tendinopathy affecting his left knee. Get the details here.

LeBron James Expected To Miss At Least 1-2 Weeks With Groin Strain

March 9th, 2025 at 11:28am CST by Arthur Hill

March 9: James is expected to miss at least one-to-two weeks as a result of his groin strain, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The plan is to evaluate the injury again in the next day or two, Charania adds.

March 8: A left groin injury that forced LeBron James to leave tonight’s game in Boston midway through the fourth quarter could sideline the Lakers star for “a matter of weeks,” according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

McMenamin’s sources caution that it’s too early to pinpoint a timeline for how long James might be out of action. He will undergo extensive testing to determine the extent of the damage before a final prognosis is made.

Speaking to reporters following the game, James seemed to downplay the injury, saying there’s “not much concern” about it, tweets Khobi Price of The Orange County Register.

“Look at it each day to see if it gets better,” he said. “Take the proper measurements [and] see what we need to do going forward.”

James added that when he felt the pain, he immediately thought of the groin injury he suffered on Christmas Day in 2018 that forced him to miss significant time, according to McMenamin (Twitter link). He said he doesn’t consider this injury to be as severe, then knocked on the wooden locker behind him to avoid jinxing his comment.

He appeared to get hurt while making a post move against Jaylen Brown with 7:05 left to play, according to Brian Robb of MassLive. James ran down the court gingerly on defense and called for a sub after the Celtics scored. He worked with the training staff during the subsequent time out, then headed for the locker room.

He finished the night with 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists and was leading a Lakers comeback before being forced out of the game.

James has been remarkably productive and durable for a player who just turned 40 in December. He has appeared in 58 of L.A.’s 62 games and was averaging 25.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 8.5 assists coming into tonight. He seems like a lock for All-NBA honors, assuming he reaches the 65-game threshold.

A prolonged absence could be devastating for the Lakers, who have spent the last few weeks developing James’ on-court chemistry with Luka Doncic. L.A. slipped into third place in the West with tonight’s loss at Boston and could fall even further if the team has to survive multiple weeks without James.

Lakers Notes: Hachimura, Hayes, Doncic, Redick

March 9th, 2025 at 9:39am CST by Luke Adams

Lakers forward Rui Hachimura missed a fifth consecutive game on Saturday due to patellar tendinopathy affecting his left knee, but he’s doing “well,” according to head coach J.J. Redick, who told reporters that Hachimura is going through the return-to-play process and doing more on-court work (Twitter link via Khobi Price of the Southern California News Group).

The plan, Redick added on Saturday, is for Hachimura to be reevaluated in about a week.

Meanwhile, the Lakers were also without center Jaxson Hayes on Saturday, which is a more significant loss than it would have been earlier in the season. Hayes had been Los Angeles’ starting center for each of the team’s past 16 games following Anthony Davis‘ injury and the subsequent trade sending him to Dallas.

Hayes, who was listed as out due to a right knee contusion, was replaced by forward Jarred Vanderbilt in the starting five. Redick said the club has been monitoring swelling in Hayes’ knee, but added that he doesn’t believe the injury is “anything serious” and conveyed optimism that the big man’s absence won’t last too long, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link).

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Luka Doncic was shocked when he first learned of the trade sending him from Dallas to Los Angeles, but after over a month with the Lakers, he’s feeling more comfortable in his new NBA home, having recently moved into a leased house in L.A., according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link). “He’s felt more and more appreciative and comfortable with how the Lakers have surrounded him with support, with inclusion in the process of everything,” Charania said on NBA Countdown. “This has been a true partnership that they’re trying to develop, and that means a lot for his long-term future for the Lakers.” Doncic will be extension-eligible this offseason and the Lakers are expected to offer him a maximum-salary deal at that time.
The Lakers’ trade for Doncic earned the organization the Alpha Award for Transaction of the Year at this year’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, tweets McMenamin. As McMenamin points out, the Celtics won that award a year ago for their acquisition of Kristaps Porzingis.
In an interesting article for The Athletic, Jovan Buha takes a look at the connections between Redick and Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who offered Redick a spot as an assistant on his staff on Boston before his first year at the helm in September 2022, then again in March 2023. Redick wasn’t ready at that time to get into coaching, but he made it clear there’s significant mutual respect between him and Mazzulla. “When I was going through this process, he, along with a few other coaches in the NBA, were really helpful,” Redick said. “Not just in preparing for an interview, but just really helping me understand what this was and what it required.”
In case you missed it late on Saturday night, LeBron James is being evaluated after sustaining a groin injury in Saturday’s loss to Boston.

Celtics Notes: Tatum, Scheierman, Norris, Walker

March 8th, 2025 at 8:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

There’s a spotlight on every Celtics-Lakers game, but tonight’s nationally televised matchup takes on extra significance because the teams are meeting for the first time since L.A. acquired Luka Doncic. While Jayson Tatum acknowledges the years of classic games between the two franchises, he tells Brian Robb of MassLive that he doesn’t view it as a rivalry.

“I mean, I obviously understand the history between the Lakers and Celtics,” Tatum said. “I would say from my time in the league, I wouldn’t look at the Lakers as rivals. We only play them twice (per season). The teams that we play over and over again in the playoffs — Philly would be one of them, and the other teams as well.”

Tatum is excited about getting another chance to compete against LeBron James, who was his teammate on the gold-medal-winning U.S. squad at last year’s Olympics. Although James continues to play at a high level at age 40, he likely only has a few Celtics-Lakers games left in his career.

“As much as we probably talk about LeBron, we probably don’t talk about him enough,” Tatum said. “Being 40 in his 22nd season, playing at an All-NBA level, is incredible. It’s a testament to the work that he puts into this game, to his body to stay in the best shape to be able to compete and perform at the highest level for over two decades now. It’s something that we should all strive to do, even if it might be unlikely. But it’s a joy to be able to compete against him in these matchups for however long we get to do it.”

There’s more from Boston:

Rookie Baylor Scheierman turned in the best performance of his brief NBA career with 15 points in Thursday’s win over Philadelphia, Robb states in a separate story. He also got to enjoy the experience of taunting the Sixers’ bench, blowing them a kiss after sinking a corner three-pointer in the third quarter. “Yeah. I mean, every time you shoot by the bench they’re always saying, ‘Hell nah,'” Scheierman explained. “So I’m having to turn around and give ‘em a little kiss.”
Newly signed two-way player Miles Norris made his NBA debut in the closing minutes of Thursday’s contest, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Norris said he wasn’t nervous about the opportunity, as his teammates urged him to have fun with it. “Once you get up and down, you start to feel a little better,” he said. “Once I subbed in, got my first rebound, running up and down the court, I felt pretty good. … The guys encouraged me to go out there and play how I play. Play loose. The vets on the team, Payton (Pritchard) and everybody, telling me to go out there and play loose.”
Sixers guard Lonnie Walker returned to TD Garden Thursday night for the first time since Boston waived him in the preseason, Terada adds in another piece. The Celtics opted not to keep Walker for financial reasons, but he considers the time he spent with the team to be valuable. “When you’re a part of a championship organization and how they approach the game, it gives you a little bit more motivation and inspiration,” Walker said. “You want to be the best. You want to see how everyone has proceeded to be the best and why they’re such a great team. There’s definitely some motivation that was given playing with the Celtics.”

Windhorst/Bontemps’ Latest: Mavs, Lakers, Warriors, Blazers

March 7th, 2025 at 8:27pm CST by Luke Adams

Back in 2023, the Mavericks acquired Kyrie Irving in a trade-deadline blockbuster, missed the postseason, then used a lottery pick that June to draft Dereck Lively, who played a major role on the team that made the NBA Finals in 2024. An injury-plagued Mavs team appears headed for a repeat of their 2023 finish this spring and may need to replicate their ’23 draft lottery success this offseason in order to put themselves in position to bounce back in 2025/26, as Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps write for ESPN.com (Insider link).

“When you have a setback like they’ve suffered, you have to identify what you can control and focus on improvement there,” a league executive told Windhorst. “They don’t control their first-round pick from 2027 to 2030, and this is a good draft.”

While Bontemps advocated on a recent Hoop Collective podcast for the Mavericks to trade Anthony Davis this summer, there’s no indication the organization will consider taking a step back by exploring that possibility.

One league executive told Bontemps that the Mavs are “doubling down” on their current group, while another predicted that the team will sign Irving to a long-term contract this summer even as he recovers from an ACL tear. That exec suggested the deal could start below Irving’s $43MM player option for 2025/26 in order to give the club some extra cap flexibility next season.

As for the Mavs’ outlook for the rest of this season? There’s not much optimism on that front from outside observers, given how thoroughly the roster has been decimated by health issues.

“Dallas is just hopeless right now,” one scout told ESPN. “There’s just no scoring ability without Kyrie. There’s just not enough talent with all these injuries.”

Here’s more from Windhorst and Bontemps:

Within a discussion about whether or not the Lakers‘ recent defensive performance is sustainable, Windhorst notes that the Luka Doncic trade has had an added benefit in Los Angeles beyond the addition of the 25-year-old superstar. “They didn’t just trade for Luka,” one league executive said. “They also traded for a more engaged LeBron (James).” Head coach J.J. Redick told reporters last week that James has been playing at an All-Defensive level as of late.
Although Jimmy Butler‘s numbers with Golden State have been modest – his .451 FG% and .143 3PT% are well below his career rates – the Warriors have a +13.5 net rating during his 341 minutes so far and he has transformed the team into a far more dangerous postseason opponent. “No one will want to play them in the playoffs,” one scout told Bontemps. “Jimmy with fresh legs and motivation … honeymoon-phase Jimmy is a motherf—er. … He’s not a franchise player in that he doesn’t do it in the regular season, but when it comes to the playoffs, he’s a franchise player. He’s a superstar when you need to be winning.”
Rival executives and scouts have been impressed by the Trail Blazers, who have won 15 of their last 22 games and remain in the postseason hunt, just four games back of No. 10 Dallas. Head coach Chauncey Billups has earned praise for how he has handled the rotation. “They have their guys in the right roles now,” one Eastern Conference scout told Bontemps. “It’s not that they don’t believe in [Shaedon] Sharpe now that he’s their scorer off the bench, but that’s the best role for him right now with this current team. … You go up and down the roster, and specifically with the young guys, that’s helped them a lot.”

Lakers Notes: Vincent, Luka, LeBron, Reaves, Jemison

March 7th, 2025 at 11:33am CST by Rory Maher

The Lakers rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit before ultimately prevailing in overtime during Thursday’s victory over the Knicks. Los Angeles has now won eight straight and 20 of its past 24 games.

As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, while Luka Doncic and LeBron James each recorded 30-point double-doubles, both superstars credited the team’s supporting cast for the comeback victory. Gabe Vincent, who was limited to just 11 games last season due to a knee injury, made three three-pointers late in the fourth quarter. Doncic said those timely shots “won the game.”

“It’s part of why I’m here,” Vincent said. “Part of why I’m here is what I’ve done at those moments late in the season. So just try and take the experience I’ve had and built and just try to continue to keep up with winning games.”

The Lakers also received important contributions from rookie forward Dalton Knecht (11 points, four rebounds), starting center Jaxson Hayes (eight points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks) and backup center Trey Jemison (seven points, four rebounds), McMenamin notes.

“There’s no such thing as non-key players on this team,” James said. “Everybody is key. And everybody who steps on the floor has a role and they go in and match that. And I thought our bench gave us a great lift once again and Gabe was — I’ll single him out — he was spectacular. His play both on the defensive end and obviously his shooting, we needed it.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Jovan Buha and James L. Edwards III of The Athletic share their takeaways from Thursday’s matchup between the Lakers and Knicks. As we relayed in another story, the biggest news from the game was Knicks star Jalen Brunson suffering a right ankle injury in overtime.
He struggled in the game, going just 2-of-13 from the field in 32 minutes, but it was a positive development that Austin Reaves was able to return from a right calf strain, per Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group. Reaves had missed the past two contests with the injury. “The imaging we got kind of relieved any fears we had,” head coach JJ Redick said before Thursday’s game. “It’s just been more about him feeling comfortable and ready to play. He’s just had an overall great season. He’s been solid – more than solid. He’s been really good through each iteration of this team this season. And I think the more time that him, Bron and Luka could just all be on the court together and get comfortable is good for us going into this home stretch.”
Although it’s largely a coincidence, since they happened to sign him right when their hot streak began, the Lakers have yet to lose a game in which Jemison has appeared for them in 2024/25, tweets Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Jemison, who is on a two-way contract, is a candidate to be promoted to the standard roster, as two-way players aren’t eligible for the postseason. The Lakers are now 13-0 when Jemison plays.

Mark Cuban On Luka Doncic Trade: “Get A Better Deal”

March 7th, 2025 at 9:49am CST by Rory Maher

In an exclusive interview with WFFA’s Jonah Javad on Thursday evening (YouTube link), former Mavericks majority owner — and current minority stakeholder — Mark Cuban broke his silence about the shocking decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Lakers.

The full deal saw the Mavericks send Doncic, Markieff Morris and Maxi Kleber to the Lakers, with the Mavericks acquiring Anthony Davis, Max Christie and the Lakers’ 2029 first-round pick. Utah was also involved, receiving a couple of second-round picks (one from L.A., one from Dallas) for taking on the salary of Jalen Hood-Schifino, who was later waived (he is now on a two-way deal with Philadelphia).

Was Cuban upset about the trade?

“Yeah, of course. … If the Mavs are going to trade Luka, that’s one thing. Just get a better deal. … I still firmly believe if we had gotten four unprotected number ones and Anthony Davis and Max Christie, this would be a different conversation.”

Would he have made the trade?

“I’m not going to go there. It doesn’t even matter.”

Cuban confirmed he did not have advanced knowledge of the deal, which has been previously reported.

“I knew five minutes at the most before (it was reported). … From a basketball perspective, you know, I hear about it after the fact, I don’t hear about anything beforehand.”

Is it difficult for him to be out of the loop when he was used to being actively involved in front office decisions?

“Yeah, there are parts that aren’t fun, obviously. Especially this month, or last month. But, you know, they paid for that right.”

Does he regret selling his majority stake in the Mavs?

“Sometimes I get mad (and think) ‘I would have done this.’ But, not really. … I didn’t want my kids to end up in this exact position, at some level, if they made a mistake. Imagine if I didn’t [sell], and my kids had taken over and they made a mistake like this.”

On the team’s struggle to communicate with fans in the aftermath of the trade:

“I think the biggest challenge that the Mavs have right now is there’s nobody who’s really outgoing to communicate. It’s not so much what you do, it’s how you communicate why you do what you do — and that’s their challenge without me in front.”

Has he been consulted by GM Nico Harrison or governor Patrick Dumont since the trade was completed?

“I have not talked to Nico about it. I said hi to Nico twice after the trade.”

The full video interview can be found here, while more transcript highlights can be found on WFFA’s website.

Western Notes: Harden, Kuminga, Hawkins, Nuggets

March 6th, 2025 at 8:00am CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers had lost six of their last seven games and had fallen to ninth in the Western Conference standings entering Wednesday’s game vs. Detroit. They were also missing top scorer Norman Powell. So James Harden‘s 50-point outburst, which helped the team snap a three-game losing streak, was a welcome sight.

As Law Murray of The Athletic writes, it was Harden’s first 50-point game since December 2019 and the first time a Clipper had achieved the feat since Lou Williams in January 2018.

“To see him come out and score 50 on (the second night of) a back-to-back at the age of 35 just says a lot about him and competing every night,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said after the victory. “Playing 38 minutes again on a back-to-back, but we needed every bit of it.”

It was a vintage performance for Harden, who set new personal season highs by making 14 field goals and getting to the free throw line 20 times. After leading the NBA in points per game for three straight years during his time in Houston, Harden has become more of a facilitator and a secondary scoring option in his mid-30s, but he made it clear on Wednesday he’s still capable of big scoring nights.

“I can do it, you know,” Harden said. “It’s not my first time. So somebody who has done it for the first time, it probably takes a lot of energy. For me, it’s just understanding the game. That’s the game within the game.”

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga won’t return on the team’s current road trip after all, having been ruled out for Thursday’s game in Brooklyn, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Kuminga, who has been out since January 4 due to a right ankle sprain, has been scrimmaging and there was a sense he might return at some point during Golden State’s five-game trip. But with the team on a tear, having won of seven of eight games, there’s certainly no need to rush him back.
Pelicans second-year guard Jordan Hawkins is still bothered by the back pain that sidelined him earlier this season, but he has adjusted to playing through it and has been more effective as of late, writes Rod Walker of NOLA.com. Hawkins put up 14.8 points per game on 47.9% shooting (36.7% on three-pointers) during the team’s recent four-game road trip, well above his season-long averages. “He’s playing more consistent where he has more consistent minutes,” head coach Willie Green said. “He understands what his role is when he steps on the floor. This is a part of his growth.”
One month removed from the February 6 trade deadline, a panel of writers for The Athletic – Jovan Buha, Sam Amick, Christian Clark, and Anthony Slater – check in on where things stand in the Western Conference. The group largely agrees that the Warriors have improved most in the short term and the Lakers have improved most in the long term as a result of their deadline moves. However, three of the four panelists still view the Nuggets as the best bet to knock off the Thunder for a spot in the NBA Finals this spring.

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