Lakers Rumors

Western Notes: Chandler, Afflalo, Thompson

The Trail Blazers have been pursuing Nuggets forward Wilson Chandler for weeks and remain the team most interested in trading for him, according to Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. Portland wants to add a scorer off its bench, Dempsey adds, and Chandler would fit that description. Chandler, who is making $6.76MM this season, is averaging 13.9 points in 31.7 minutes per game for the Nuggets.

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

  • The Blazers are also interested in Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo, and have the most assets among his pursuers to make a trade happen, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Clippers and Heat, among other teams, are also interested in Afflalo, but don’t have the assets to pull off a deal, Wojnarowski continues. Afflalo is making $7.5MM this season and has a player option for the same amount next season.
  • Enes Kanter could command a contract in excess of $10MM per season as a restricted free agent this summer and the Jazz center wants to protect his Bird rights if he’s dealt, Wojnarowski reports in the same piece. Kanter reportedly turned down a four-year, $32MM offer from Utah last fall. The Jazz are only willing to trade Kanter if they receive a quality young player and a first-round pick before Thursday’s deadline, Wojnarowski continues. In lieu of a trade, Jazz management and Kanter’s representative Max Ergul have been trying to resolve Kanter’s disappointment over his playing time peacefully, Wojnarowski adds.
  • The decision to sign Klay Thompson to an extension this past fall was relatively easy, but committing money to players is always a nerve-wracking proposition, Warriors GM Bob Myers tells Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group. Kawakami, in that piece and in another, delves into a Warriors front office that thrives on collaboration, with Myers and co-owner Joe Lacob the primary decision-makers who receive tons of spirited input. Assistant GMs Travis Schlenk and Kirk Lacob, consultant Jerry West and coach Steve Kerr have a say on every move from D-League transactions on up, as Kawakami reveals.
  • Marc Gasol will not rule out returning to the Grizzlies regardless of how they do in the postseason, Sam Amick of USA Today writes. Gasol will be an unrestricted free agent after the season and the Grizzlies have an edge through the CBA because they can offer him a five-year deal while other suitors can only offer four. The Knicks, Lakers and Spurs are among the teams who will pursue Gasol, Amick adds.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Knicks, Lakers Interested In Miles Plumlee

The Knicks and Lakers are eyeing Miles Plumlee as the trade deadline approaches, reports Sam Amick of USA Today (Twitter links). Amick suggests that Plumlee would welcome a trade from the Suns, which seems in line with the notion that agent Mark Bartelstein has been working with the team to try to find a trade partner, as Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported last month. The Suns have also sought a first-round pick for the center, Stein also heard, a return they’ve seemed highly unlikely to obtain. It’s unclear whether the Knicks and Lakers are willing to pay that price.

Neither New York nor Los Angeles wants to compromise cap flexibility for the future, but Plumlee is due to make only about $2.109MM next season in the final year of his rookie scale contract, as Amick points out. He’ll nonetheless be extension-eligible this fall, meaning he could command a significant raise for 2015/16 depending upon his performance.

Phoenix recently took the starting center job away from Plumlee to give it instead to former No. 5 overall pick Alex Len after Plumlee started 78 times last season. He’s seeing just 18.6 minutes per game this season.

Kyler’s Latest: Dragic, Deng, Garnett, Lawson

The Knicks have engaged the Suns in talks as they keep an eye on Goran Dragic, just as the Lakers have done, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes in his NBA AM piece. The Knicks and Lakers would be on board with trading for a player whom they could otherwise just wait to sign outright in free agency this summer, like Dragic, but it doesn’t seem that either would give up major assets in any such swap. Kyler has plenty more new information with the trade deadline just two days off, and we’ll hit the highlights here:

  • Miami is open to trading Luol Deng, according to Kyler, who suggests that the veteran small forward isn’t garnering the sort of interest it would take for him to be traded. Kyler also lists Norris Cole, Chris Andersen and Danny Granger as players the Heat are making available, which jibes with earlier reports on all three.
  • Golden State is “more than” interested in Kevin Garnett, Kyler hears, which advances a suggestion from Grantland’s Zach Lowe on Monday that the Warriors would like to try to convince Garnett to waive his no-trade clause. The 20th-year veteran reportedly has no plans to seek a buyout.
  • The Bucks are “being linked” to Ty Lawson, Kyler writes, though it’s unclear just what sort of interest is there.
  • The Bulls would think about trading Tony Snell for a veteran shooting guard who fits what they’re looking for, Kyler writes. Still, while Chicago is speaking generally about doing some deals before the deadline, the team doesn’t appear to be willing to give up what it would take, according to Kyler.
  • The Suns are making Gerald Green available, according to Kyler.
  • Charlotte has interest in Wilson Chandler, but the Hornets would prefer to trade for Arron Afflalo, as Kyler hears. That’s the reverse of the Blazers‘ apparent preference. The Bulls are “sniffing at” both players, too, Kyler adds, nonetheless casting doubt once more on whether Chicago is willing to give up the assets necessary to swing a deal.
  • Terrence Ross and Jonas Valanciunas have come up in trade rumors, but it’s more likely that the Raptors deal someone on an expiring contract, according to Kyler, naming Landry Fields, Tyler Hansbrough and Amir Johnson as examples.
  • Sources close to the Pacers tell Kyler that David West is likely to opt in with the Pacers for next season, when his contract calls for him to make $12.6MM.
  • There is “a sense” that the Magic are making Ben Gordon and Luke Ridnour available, Kyler says.

Trade Candidate: Nik Stauskas

When Adam Silver read aloud the name on the card denoting the Kings’ first-round draft selection last June, it was a bit of a surprise when Nik Stauskas‘ name was the one the commissioner intoned. This wasn’t due to Stauskas lacking lottery-level talent, but rather because Sacramento had previously selected Ben McLemore, another shooting guard, in 2013’s draft lottery. McLemore certainly didn’t set the league on fire during his rookie season, averaging only 8.8 points on 37.6% shooting, but a single season seemed like a rather brief trial period for such a significant investment. Now it would appear that the Kings’ patience may have withered to only half of a season’s time for their younger players with the report from Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that the team has been willing to deal Stauskas.

NBA: Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles LakersFrom all outward appearances, the Kings organization as a whole currently seems rife with dysfunction, and their apparent willingness to deal Stauskas only reinforces this viewpoint. One would think that seeing how McLemore has improved in year two of his NBA career would make Sacramento think twice about parting with a player it selected with the No. 8 overall pick after just 48 games, but that isn’t necessarily the case.

The Kings appear to have soured just a bit on the rookie since the beginning of the season. This summer, Sacramento GM Pete D’Alessandro spoke about Stauskas, saying, “We have high hopes for Nik. He’s very young so we’re not going to put a lot of pressure on him this year, but I don’t think we don’t need to. He puts a lot of pressure on himself. We have very high hopes for him as a player, as a shooter, and as a guy who can help us to stretch the floor, so there’s a lot of opportunities for him. What stands out about him right now is confidence. If he gets three shots, he feels like he’s going to make all three. If he gets 20 shots, he feels like he’s going to make 20. He’s not a guy that will ever have the ball in his hands and feel like he’s not going to succeed with it and you saw that in Summer League. We didn’t go to him as often as we might have, but nothing really fazed him. He continued to shoot the ball well and do what he does. So we’re looking forward to his development.” 

Berger’s report relayed that the Kings had fielded numerous calls regarding the 21-year-old Stauskas since the beginning of the season, but that Sacramento had initially declined to deal him. The Nets were reportedly requesting the rookie out of Michigan during trade talks that potentially had Deron Williams heading west to join Sacramento, but D’Alessandro was hesitant to give him up at the time. This was likely a very wise move by the GM, considering how far Williams’ game has slipped, and the veteran still having two years, and approximately $43MM, remaining on his contract after this season.

At some point, Sacramento changed its stance on holding onto its young guard. Either the Kings have seen enough of Stauskas to believe that he isn’t going to be a player in the league, and decided to try and deal him while his value is still relatively high, or Sacramento feels that dealing the rookie is its best chance to nab the parts that the franchise feels that it is missing. Berger’s report also noted that Sacramento was seeking to upgrade its frontcourt, and that in any deal involving Stauskas the Kings sought either a stretch four or an above-the-rim defender to pair alongside star center DeMarcus Cousins.

It was to be expected that Stauskas would struggle on the defensive end; most rookies do. But what the Kings didn’t expect is for the rookie to average a meager 3.5 points per game while shooting a dreary 33.1% from the field and an anemic 26.4% from beyond the arc. Personally, I’m not sold on Stauskas as a long-term NBA star, nor was I ever. He’s not quick enough or strong enough to guard the upper-level two guards in the league, and he hasn’t demonstrated the ability to be able to create his own shots consistently. Stauskas’ ceiling is likely as a situational shooter off of the bench. While that is a valuable asset to have in the league, it’s hardly what the goal is when selecting a player in the top 10. The best case scenario I see for Stauskas is him becoming a shorter version of Steve Novak.

If my read on Stauskas’ potential is correct, then it may in fact be wise for the Kings to kick the tires on dealing the player. While his value isn’t at a premium right now, his youth and upside can be used to net Sacramento a player who could help the team immediately. In today’s NBA, where players eschew multiple years of college development in favor of an early NBA payday, a steep learning curve encompassing multiple seasons is no longer an outlier and is now the norm. D’Alessandro could use that in his sales pitch and try to entice another GM to overpay for a recent lottery pick like Stauskas. But I can’t help thinking that if the team wanted a stretch four, it should have tried to trade down in last year’s draft and simply selected a player like Adreian Payne, who was taken by Atlanta with the No. 15 overall pick, and who was recently dealt to Minnesota. Payne has been  showing steady improvement in the D-League as the season wears on, and he’s exactly the kind of player the Kings could use.

The current market for Stauskas is difficult to gauge. He’s a young player with upside, which could make him attractive to a rebuilding franchise, but playoff contenders wouldn’t likely see him as a missing piece in their pursuit of a postseason berth. In addition, Sacramento’s desire to obtain a stretch four or a rim protector isn’t a unique need, and this is definitely a case of the demand far exceeding the supply around the league. There are a few potential trading partners for Stauskas that could be fits. But these teams are merely my speculation, and not based on current reports.

  1. Heat: The offseason signing of Josh McRoberts hasn’t quite worked out the way Miami had hoped. “McBob” hasn’t found his niche with the Heat, and injuries have limited him to just 17 appearances this season. But the 27-year-old has shown the ability to nail three’s and would certainly fit the bill as the stretch four the Kings desire. McRoberts is out for the remainder of the season, but Sacramento could acquire him with an eye on 2015/16. Additional players would need to be included to make the trade work under the cap, but with both teams in need of a makeover, that isn’t necessarily an issue.
  2. Lakers: The Lakers are in a state of flux as a franchise, and with the future of Kobe Bryant unclear, acquiring a young shooting guard like Stauskas could be a wise move. While Los Angeles doesn’t have the stretch four the Kings desire, it does have Jordan Hill, who would fit the bill as a rim protector. Hill possesses a $9MM team option for next season, which could make him a valuable trade chip this summer for the Kings if they didn’t feel he was the proper fit.
  3. Bulls: While Chicago may not have an immediate need at shooting guard, it wouldn’t hurt for them to nab a young shooter whom the team could groom for the future. For Sacramento, Bulls forward Taj Gibson would be the ideal trade target. The 29-year-old would bring a solid work ethic, stout defense and rebounding, as well as add some scoring punch from the four spot for Sacramento. With the rise of rookie Nikola Mirotic and the presence of Pau Gasol, Gibson has become somewhat expendable in Chicago. Though, with Arron Afflalo reportedly on the market, Chicago would almost certainly be better served to add the veteran for the stretch run than Stauskas.
  4. Nuggets: As I just mentioned, with Afflalo a trade candidate, Stauskas could be included in a deal to nab the veteran shooting guard. The sticking point in any deal between Denver and Sacramento would be the Nuggets’ desire to obtain a first-rounder in return for Afflalo. The Kings owe this year’s first round pick to the Bulls, though it is top-10 protected through 2017. The Nuggets also have a young swingman in Gary Harris already, and they may not want to add more youth to that spot on the floor.

When the dust settles and the NBA trade deadline has passed, there’s a better-than-average chance that Stauskas remains a member of the Kings. I also believe that if the Kings indeed trade him, they would include him as the sweetener necessary either to nab a player who can help the Kings long-term or, in a more likely scenario, to entice another team to take on a less desirable contract. I don’t think that the Kings simply wish to rid themselves of his presence. Stauskas hasn’t shown that he was worthy of being a top-10 pick yet, but there is still plenty of time for him to develop into a serviceable pro. Unless the Kings can significantly improve their roster, they would be better served to see how Stauskas progresses over the summer and through a second NBA training camp.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Central Notes: Monroe, LeBron, Haywood, Allen

Stan Van Gundy insists that the Pistons won’t trade Greg Monroe, citing his hope that the big man will re-sign this summer as well as the team’s playoff chase, as Bob Wojnowski of The Detroit News observes. Monroe has a de facto no-trade clause and agent David Falk has said he doesn’t want to be dealt.

“It’s not gonna happen,” Van Gundy said. “I don’t know where Greg’s head will be in the offseason, but we’re still hopeful of Greg Monroe for the long term. And with him going into free agency, you won’t get a lot, maybe a pick. I’m not gonna walk in that locker room and give up a piece like that and then tell the guys we’re trying to make the playoffs. They deserve the chance to ride this out. You never say never to anything, but I can tell you about 99.9%, Greg Monroe’s not going anywhere.”

The Lakers reportedly asked the Pistons about Monroe earlier this month, but it seems like their chance to nab him won’t come until the summer, when he’ll be an unrestricted free agent. There’s more on the Pistons amid the latest from around the Central Division:

  • Van Gundy also said that he won’t trade a first-round pick but is willing to take on a short-term salary dump from another team, Wojnowski notes in the same piece.
  • LeBron James expressed fondness for Madison Square Garden today while speaking to reporters for All-Star weekend, as Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com relays (Twitter link). Still, it’d be a stretch to suggest that the Cavs star, who has a player option for next season, has any interest in playing for the Knicks. “If I could have 82 regular season games anywhere they’d be at Madison Square Garden, because it’s the mecca of basketball,” James said.
  • The Cavs believe Brendan Haywood is “done” as an on-court contributor, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal writes in his Final Thoughts column. Of course, Haywood continues to have value thanks to his unique contract, and the Cavs are reportedly shopping him in advance of the deadline.
  • The Bulls seem like a less likely contender for Ray Allen than they had been, as Sam Smith of Bulls.com opines in his latest mailbag column.

Pacific Notes: Cousins, Karl, Thompson, West

The Kings are poised for trade deadline action after resolving their coaching situation, while in Phoenix, suitors are lining up for Goran Dragic. We’ll run through the latest news and notes from a busy Pacific Division here:

  • DeMarcus Cousins praised new Kings coach George Karl to reporters at All-Star weekend in New York, saying he looked forward to working with him, tweets Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. The center has expressed exasperation with the team’s coaching turmoil.
  • Karl was the right choice for the Kings, argues Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee, who also lists Scott Brooks among the names of coaches who would have been candidates for the Sacramento job if the team hadn’t hired Karl.
  • Warriors coach Steve Kerr was largely responsible for halting a proposed blockbuster last summer that would have sent Klay Thompson to the Timberwolves in exchange for Kevin Love, according to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. Kerr and Warriors team consultant Jerry West talked ownership out of making the swap, which would have also sent David Lee to Minnesota and Kevin Martin to Golden State, Deveney adds. A source close the talks told Deveney that the trade was a done deal until Kerr, who took the job with the expectation of coaching Thompson, and West convinced management not to do it.
  • The jealousy that the Warriors worried might develop when they gave Thompson a more lucrative extension than Stephen Curry got a few years ago hasn’t developed, and Thompson doesn’t regret agreeing to contract terms that might give him less than the max, as Deveney writes in the same piece.
  • West, who made his mark as an executive with the Lakers, is confident the Lakers wouldn’t ask him back, as he said on 95.7 The Game, as station host Matt Steinmetz relays (Twitter links). West’s son, Ryan, is the Lakers’ assistant scouting director, notes Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).
  • Trading Dragic would be a wise move because the Suns are not true title contenders, Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic argues. Bickley believes the Suns should be acquiring trade assets in order to make a future move to acquire a superstar talent rather than adding short-term pieces such as Ray Allen or Amar’e Stoudemire. If the Suns can add a first-round pick by swapping Dragic while concurrently breaking their point guard logjam, they should not hesitate, Bickley concludes.

Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

Rockets Likely To Pursue Jeremy Lin

With Jeremy Lin set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, the 26-year-old could potentially return to Houston, the franchise with which he inked his last free agent contract, Howard Beck of Bleacher Report writes. Despite having essentially given Lin away to the Lakers this past summer in a trade, the Rockets remain high on Lin and are expected to be among his chief suitors this offseason, Beck notes. The Rockets would be unable to reacquire Lin via a trade this season since he was dealt away less than a year ago by the team.

Houston traded Lin along with its 2015 first and second round draft picks for the rights to Sergei Lishchuk last July. Lin was dealt due to Rockets GM Daryl Morey desperately trying to clear enough cap space to ink Chris Bosh, who was reportedly close to signing a free agent deal with the team. The franchise had also dealt away Omer Asik to the Pelicans for the same reason, but it did manage to net Trevor Ariza in that particular transaction. But Bosh ended up spurning the Rockets to return to Miami, signing a five-year, $118,705,300 contract with the Heat.

The point guard has had a difficult time living up to the hype of “Linsanity,” a brief but notable stretch of games with the Knicks during the 2011/12 campaign that had made him a national sensation. Lin’s time in New York came to an end when the Knicks declined to match the three-year, $25MM offer sheet that Houston signed him to back in 2012, a contract that Knicks star Carmelo Anthony referred to at the time as “ridiculous,” Beck notes.

Lin’s production during his two seasons in Houston was solid, but unspectacular. He averaged 13.4 points during the 2012/13 season, and then notched 12.5 points per game last season. The dip in his numbers was also due to the Rockets’ acquisition of James Harden from the Thunder, and Lin soon found himself coming off of the bench for the bulk of the season, a role that Lin wasn’t necessarily suited to.

It’s just been a growing experience, more than anything,” Lin told Beck. “Never would I have thought that my career has gone in the trajectory that it’s gone in. When I was younger, it seemed like every year I would get better. It seemed like I would put the work in and then I would see those improvements. And for whatever reason, I felt like, well, I know I put the work in, and I felt like I was getting better. But it didn’t always amount to the results I wanted to see. So that’s definitely frustrating, to see that happen three straight years.

Things may have turned out differently for Lin had the Lakers retained coach Mike D’Antoni, who resigned before Lin was acquired. Lin had thrived under D’Antoni in New York, but hasn’t had an easy time adapting to coach Byron Scott‘s system in Los Angeles, Beck notes. The Bleacher Report scribe also believes that Lin could still flourish in the league if he were able to play for a more supportive coach and perhaps a system more attuned to his skills.

Lin is averaging 10.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in 25.5 minutes per game in 51 appearances this season. His career averages are 11.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. Lin’s career slash line is .440/.348/.796.

Cavs Notes: Allen, Love, Williams

The Cavs had their 12-game winning streak snapped Friday and they were apparently anxious to get back to their winning ways.  On Sunday, Kevin Love scored a season high 32 points while LeBron James got into triple double territory, leading the way for Cleveland to beat the Lakers, 120-105.  James finished with 22 points, 10 boards, and 8 dimes across three quarters of play while Kyrie Irving helped out with 28 points and 10 assists.  More out of Cleveland..

  • Teams have been led to believe that Ray Allen will be deciding on where he’ll play in the next 10 days, according to Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (via Twitter).  The veteran guard had his concerns about the Cavs when LeBron visited with him a little while back, but that’s no longer the case.  Of course, Allen has other suitors and the red-hot Hawks are among the teams that have checked in with him.
  • Following Sunday’s contest against the Lakers, Cavs forward Love was asked if the purple and gold could be an attractive option for him this summer.  Love told reporters, including Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (on Twitter), “I’m a Cavalier.”  When asked if joining the Lakers could be a reality, he replied, “No.”
  • While he won’t completely rule out the possibility, Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal thinks that the Cavs have other alternatives higher on their list than Mo Williams.  It had been speculated that the Cavs could make a play for the Wolves guard since he appears to be available and Cleveland could use another point guard off the bench.

Pacific Notes: Lakers, Scott, Suns

An easy schedule is good news unless you’re better off losing, which is where the Lakers find themselves, according to Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles has dropped 11 of its last 12 games to move into fourth place in the Hoops Rumors Reverse Standings, which carries an 11.9% shot at the top pick. However, Bresnahan has analyzed the remaining schedule and notes that 17 of L.A.’s last 32 games are against teams with losing records. The Lakers’ pick will go to the Suns if it slips out of the top five.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Lakers coach Byron Scott understands what it’s like to be fired, but he isn’t worried about being ousted by team executives, writes Bill Oram of the Orange County Register. “Sometimes the ownership gets a little antsy. They tell you it’s a four-year plan; all of the sudden it’s a two-year plan and you’re on the outs,” Scott said. “But to me it wasn’t a question. Because my feelings for this organization, I was more than willing to say, OK, give me two years, three years, whatever the case may be, because I’m in it for the long haul.”
  • The Suns have assigned Reggie Bullock and Archie Goodwin to their D-League affiliate, the Bakersfield Jam, according to the team’s twitter feed. This will be Bullock’s second assignment and Goodwin’s fourth assignment on the season. Bullock scored 51 points during his earlier two-game stint, while Goodwin has averaged 21.1 points while shooting 45.2% from the field during his first three D-League assignments.
  • The Suns have also recalled Tyler Ennis and T.J. Warren from the Bakersfield Jam, according to the team’s website. During his two games for the Jam, Ennis averaged 14.5 points per game while shooting 38.7% from the field. Warren averaged 27.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game during his two games in Bakersfield.

Arthur Hill contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Shaw, Lakers, Early, Marble

There is still a strong belief within the Nuggets front office that Brian Shaw can become an elite NBA coach, Chris Mannix of SI.com writes. Denver’s GM Tim Connolly also reiterated that the franchise has no intention of firing Shaw this season. In his two seasons in Denver, Shaw’s overall record is 55-77, including a fourth place finish in the Northwest Division in 2013/14.

Here’s more from the West:

  • Shaw admitted that the all of the trade speculation regarding the Nuggets‘ players has become a distraction to the team, Mannix adds. “When you hear your name swirling around in trade rumors, it can’t help but have an effect on most people,” Shaw said. “But I say now and I say to them, it’s something we can’t control. As a player I was traded a few times. I can say to them until I’m blue in the face that they should continue to play and control what you can on the floor, but you are still going to think about it. It’s still going to have an effect on you. But whatever happens is going to happen. It’s part of the business and we have to deal with it.
  • The Knicks have recalled Cleanthony Early from their D-League affiliate in Westchester, the team has announced.
  • The staff over at ESPNLosAngeles.com discussed the Lakers‘ point guard situation, and the consensus was that Jordan Clarkson, whom Los Angles selected with the No. 46 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, has been a pleasant surprise this season and should factor into the Lakers’ future plans. The 22-year-old rookie out of Missouri is averaging 6.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 27 appearances, including six starts.
  • The latest player rankings for the 2015 NBA draft were released by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, and the updated list sees Ohio State star D’Angelo Russell shooting all the way up to the No. 2 spot. In addition, Kristaps Porzingis has dropped out of the top five for the first time this season.
  • Flip Saunders, the Wolves‘ president of basketball operations, said that since Minnesota’s roster is finally healthy, the team intends to send Glenn Robinson III to the D-League for seasoning, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune tweets. Minnesota has yet to assign a player to the D-League this season, as our tracker shows.
  • Jabari Davis of Basketball Insiders examined the Lakers roster and ran down where each player stands in regard to the franchise’s future.
  • The Magic have recalled Devyn Marble from the Erie BayHawks, Josh Robbins of The Orlando Sentinel tweets. This concludes Marble’s second sojourn of the season to the D-League.