Austin Reaves Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Westbrook, Reaves, Murray, Suns FA Targets

June 29th, 2024 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Although Russell Westbrook is exercising his player option to guarantee his $4MM salary for the 2024/25 season, his return to the Clippers isn’t a certainty, a league source tells Law Murray and Jenna West of The Athletic, who write that there’s a chance “the player and team move on” this offseason. The Clippers have been linked to other veteran point guards in recent weeks, including Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Although the Lakers still had some interest in Dejounte Murray before Atlanta agreed to trade him to New Orleans, L.A. remained unwilling to give up Austin Reaves as part of its package and was out of the running as a result, sources tell Shams Charania, Sam Amick, and West of The Athletic.
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) names Monte Morris and Aaron Holiday as a pair of potential free agent point guard targets to watch for the Suns. Phoenix will be limited to minimum-salary offers, which means Holiday may be a more viable option than Morris. Gambadoro adds that previously reported target Kris Dunn would be a logical fit for the Suns, but says he’s not sure if Dunn will be “gettable.”
Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports shares his Suns free agency primer, breaking down potential options for the team on the free agent and trade markets and detailing the restrictions the front office will face as it navigates the second tax apron.

Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell Exercising 2024/25 Player Option

June 29th, 2024 at 1:03am CST by Luke Adams

Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell intends to exercise the player option on his contract for the 2024/25 season, he tells Jordan Richard of Swish Cultures (Twitter link). Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) confirms the news, as does ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link).

“I love what (new Lakers head coach) J.J. (Redick) is about and I really see myself thriving under his guidance to help win at a high level,” Russell told McMenamin.

The move will guarantee Russell’s $18,692,307 salary for next season. Rather than becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer, the 28-year-old will postpone his free agency until 2025, remaining on the two-year, $36MM deal he signed with the Lakers last July.

Russell is coming off one of the best seasons of his NBA career. He averaged 18.0 points, 6.3 assists, and 3.1 rebounds in 32.7 minutes per game across 76 regular season outings (69 starts), posting a shooting line .456/.415/.828.

However, for a second straight spring, he struggled vs. Denver in the postseason. His 2024 playoff averages dipped to 14.2 PPG, 4.2 APG, and 2.8 RPG on .384/.318/.500 shooting. A year earlier, he shot just 32.3% (13.3% on threes) in the Western Conference finals vs. the Nuggets and was removed from the starting five.

Russell’s player option decision was considered one that could go either way, since opting out would’ve given him more control over his future. Opting in will lock in his ’24/25 salary, but it doesn’t necessarily ensure he’ll remain in Los Angeles, since he looks like a prime trade candidate for a Lakers team seeking roster upgrades.

Russell ($18.7MM), Rui Hachimura ($17MM), and Gabe Vincent ($11MM) have been viewed as a few possible outgoing salary-matching pieces in the event L.A. takes a swing on the trade market for another impact player to complement star forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Of those three players, only Russell is on an expiring contract — Hachimura and Vincent each have guaranteed salaries for 2025/26.

The Lakers are expected to be “aggressive in pursuing Russell-centric trades,” team and league sources tell Jovan Buha of The Athletic. If Russell does remain with the Lakers, he’d be in position to reclaim his starting point guard role next season, but Buha says the team considers the Russell/Austin Reaves backcourt duo to have a “clear ceiling” and prefers to keep Reaves, who is younger, a better defender, and on a more team-friendly contract.

Lakers Notes: Redick, LeBron, Davis, Murray, Reaves

June 25th, 2024 at 2:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking on Monday to reporters, including Dave McMenamin of ESPN, J.J. Redick made it clear that he wasn’t offended by the fact that the Lakers publicly pursued UConn’s Dan Hurley before circling back to him, joking that, as a “two-time 55 Swish League champion in the third- and fourth-grade division,” he can’t match coaching résumés with a two-time national champion.

Lakers head of basketball operations Rob Pelinka, who said Redick was always alongside Hurley in the team’s “Plan A pool” of candidates, defended the decision to hire a first-time coach by pointing out that head coaching experience and NBA experience “aren’t mutually exclusive things,” as McMenamin relays. Redick, of course, played in the league for 15 years before transitioning into a media role.

“I think in industry in general and in sports in specific, sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in patterns of being in a sea of sameness and doing the same thing that everybody else is doing,” Pelinka said. “But when we embarked on this search, it was really important for us to see if we could do something a little bit different. And quickly in our conversations with J.J., it was very evident that he had a unique perspective and philosophy on basketball and how it’s to be taught.”

Pelinka told reporters that Lakers star LeBron James – Redick’s co-host on the ‘Mind The Game’ podcast, which will no longer record new episodes – was “supportive” of the club’s head coaching search but wasn’t involved in the process at all. Redick said he didn’t talk to James about the position until last Thursday, after he’d been offered the job.

Anthony Davis, on the other hand, “chose to be very involved,” according to Pelinka, who referred to the star big man as “very excited” about the hiring of Redick. The new head coach has some ideas for new ways to use Davis, as he said during his introductory press conference.

“One of the things I brought up with him is just the idea of him as a hub (on offense),” Redick said. “There’s a bunch of guys at the five position in the NBA that sort of operate in that way. I don’t know that he’s been used in that way and sort of maximized all of his abilities.”

In addition to factoring into the Lakers’ head coaching search, Davis’ opinion appeared to carry weight in the decision to part ways with Darvin Ham in the spring. According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, league sources believe that concerns about how Davis viewed Ham were something the Lakers weighed when they opted to make a change.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Redick identified offensive rebounding, three-point attempts, turnovers, and defensive schematics as areas he wants to improve during his first season on the Lakers’ bench, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. According to Buha, Redick and Pelinka both talked up “player development,” pointing to the need to identify and grow young talent due to the restrictions in the new CBA. They’re already coming up with ideas for how to connect with the younger players on the roster. “J.J. and I have had some really robust conversations around innovation and sort of even gamifying player development,” Pelinka said. “We’ve talked about how do we translate coach Redick’s offensive system to app-based or a phone-based deliverable where players can be buying into a philosophy and learning it in a way that meets today’s young player. And I think innovation has got to be at the core of that.”
While Pelinka alluded to the restrictive CBA and stressed the importance of player development, Amick hears from league sources that if James and Davis have their way, the Lakers would do all they can to acquire another impact player this offseason. Amick adds that James isn’t content simply “coasting” through his final NBA seasons and still “desperately” wants to compete for championships.
Although there’s a widespread belief that James will stick with the Lakers this offseason, he has yet to give the front office any indication of his plans, Amick reports, adding that the four-time MVP appears open to playing two or even three more seasons.
According to Amick, the Lakers could have had Dejounte Murray from the Hawks in February if they’d been willing to add Austin Reaves to their package — that could be an option again this summer, Amick says, but L.A. continues to resist the idea of parting with Reaves in a deal for Murray.

Pacific Notes: Redick, Van Gundy, Reaves, Suns, Fois

June 22nd, 2024 at 9:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

Building an experienced team of assistants will be vital for new Lakers head coach J.J. Redick, writes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register, who suggests Stan Van Gundy as a potential addition. Van Gundy hasn’t been mentioned in early rumors regarding Redick’s staff, but Price points out that he had extensive head coaching experience with Miami, Orlando, Detroit and New Orleans before becoming a TNT broadcaster, and Redick spent several seasons playing for him.

Price notes that since news of Redick’s hiring broke on Thursday, Scott Brooks, Sam Cassell and Jared Dudley have been the most prominent names mentioned as possible assistants. However, the Celtics want to retain Cassell and the Mavericks would prefer to keep Dudley, so they may be out of the Lakers’ reach.

Van Gundy spoke to Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel about Redick’s ascension to the head coaching ranks, saying it’s consistent with the way he always prepared.

“He took a cerebral, analytical approach to the game even as a player,” Van Gundy said. “He knew the game inside and out because he had to. He wasn’t an overly big athletic guy, so he really had to know the game and apply himself. It was clear how much he knew about the game just by listening to him talk. I didn’t know it, but even back in his playing days maybe he was preparing himself to be a head coach someday.”

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Austin Reaves is excited about the changes Redick will bring to the Lakers (video link from Cierra Clark of THV11 in Little Rock, Arkansas). “I’ve gotten to know J.J. a little bit, going on his podcast during the middle of the year,” Reaves said. “He’s a basketball genius, I think as everybody knows. I think he’s going to make a good coach, and I can’t wait to get to work with him. … I can’t wait to put our brains together and go have a good year.”
Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports cites Providence guard Devin Carter, Colorado forward Cody Williams and G League Ignite wing Ron Holland as potential targets for the Suns if they try to trade up from the 22nd pick in Wednesday’s draft. Bourguet sees Carter as potentially the best defensive point guard in the draft, possessing an NBA-ready game with lots of upside. If Phoenix decides to move down, Bourguet views Swedish forward Bobi Klintman, Baylor wing Jalen Bridges, UC Santa Barbara guard Ajay Mitchell and Virginia guard Ryan Dunn as possibilities.
Riccardo Fois will become an assistant to Kings head coach Mike Brown next season, tweets Alessandro Luigi Maggi of Sportando. Fois has been an assistant coach with the University of Arizona since 2021.

Lakers Notes: Coaching Search, Offseason, Mailbag

May 30th, 2024 at 3:46pm CST by Rory Maher

Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show (YouTube link), Shams Charania of The Athletic said James Borrego‘s second interview for the job — which took place on Wednesday — included meeting the team’s ownership. A former head coach of the Hornets, Borrego is currently the Pelicans’ top assistant.

“At the end of the day, if there are any finalists, it’s likely going to be J.J. Redick and James Borrego,” Charania said. “James Borrego is someone Anthony Davis is fond of. And James Borrego is someone that understands that the Lakers have to continue to win with Anthony Davis at the helm.

“He’s 31 years old, he’s in the prime of his career. He’s gonna be a Laker — as long as all the stars align — longer than LeBron James is gonna be a Laker. LeBron has one, two more years left at the most in his career. Anthony Davis has a longer runway. So building an offense around AD, having a team of player development, those are things — from what I’m told — that James Borrego has stressed to the Lakers.”

Despite characterizing Borrego as a serious candidate and a potential finalist, Charania reiterated that Redick is widely viewed as the frontrunner for the job, saying the Lakers “have an infatuation level” with the former sharpshooter as a head coach.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

While Los Angeles plans to be “aggressive” in seeking upgrades this summer, it remains unclear if the team will pursue a third star to pair with James and Davis or upgrade the role players surrounding them, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Whichever route the Lakers take, they would prefer to retain Austin Reaves, whose strong showings in the playoffs the past two years “have affirmed his fit” with the team’s stars, sources tell Buha.
According to Buha, the Lakers are willing to offer James whatever he wants on his next contract, with picking up his $51.4MM player option still considered a possibility. Buha also confirms that James is expected to play one or two more seasons.
In a mailbag on his YouTube channel (video link), Buha said that the Lakers likely “aren’t actively shopping” Rui Hachimura but noted that his mid-sized contract is a logical salary-matching piece if they want to make roster upgrades. Buha added that Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent could be viewed in a similar way — Hachimura just makes more money.
Responding to another mailbag question, Buha said he isn’t sure, but he doesn’t think the Lakers would have interest in revisiting trade talks for Zach LaVine this summer. Buha views LaVine as a step down from some other maximum-salary players, particularly due to his injury history.

Lakers Notes: Coaching Search, Redick, LeBron, Bronny, Russell

May 24th, 2024 at 11:22pm CST by Luke Adams

After conducting an initial round of meetings with several head coaching candidates, the Lakers are expected to move onto the next stage of their search process before the end of the month, Shams Charania of The Athletic said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday (Twitter video link). According to Charania, the team is expected to dig deeper into basketball discussions during those second meetings after getting to know the candidates in the initial interviews.

“They’re finishing up their first round of interviews this week,” Charania said. “Next week, I believe, they’re going to start their second phase in this process, getting more conversations with candidates — more, maybe, basketball-centric conversations. I think a lot of it (up until) now was surface level.”

Having previously described J.J. Redick as the presumptive favorite for the job, Charania reiterates that “everyone around the league” believes the ESPN analyst and former NBA sharpshooter is the frontrunner. According to Charania, Redick was the first candidate to get a face-to-face meeting with the Lakers, who talked to him for “an extended period of time” at last week’s draft combine in Chicago.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Agent Rich Paul previously told Charania that LeBron James isn’t pushing for his podcasting partner Redick to become the Lakers’ head coach. Speaking to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report, LeBron’s agent went into more detail on that subject. “This is a Lakers decision. I always advise LeBron or anybody for that matter not to really position yourself in a manner of which you have a hand so strong in a decision that could come back to bite you down the road,” Paul said. “… I think for him being so good for so long, people just think he controls the team. There’s no controlling of the team. And J.J. is a friend. We respect J.J. I know LeBron and J.J. have the podcast. I did J.J.’s podcast. Me and J.J. talk hoops all the time. He does know hoops. But just because they have a podcast—the Lakers have to make a decision for now and later. And whatever that decision is, that’ll be an organizational decision. It’s as simple as that.”
Paul also reiterated a point he made earlier in the spring, telling Haynes that steering Bronny James to the Lakers so that he can play with his father isn’t a goal. “LeBron said he wanted to play with his son. Bronny can’t do anything about that,” said Paul, who represents both players. “And that’s nothing we should push back on. If he wants to play with his son, that’s that. But again, I have a job to do representing Bronny and LeBron. … If it aligns where he can play with his dad, great. Am I necessarily focused on that? No, not at all. I’m focused on a team-plan investment and a seriousness as it pertains to fit and opportunity.”
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report breaks down the potential paths for D’Angelo Russell and the Lakers this offseason, examining five different ways the offseason could play out for the veteran guard. Russell could pick up his player option to either stay in Los Angeles or to accommodate a trade, or he could decline that option, which would set him up to re-sign with L.A., leave in a sign-and-trade deal, or leave outright. According to Pincus, many people in the industry believe the Lakers want to upgrade their roster around LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves, which could mean Russell ends up elsewhere, whether that happens via free agency or trade.

Lakers Rumors: Mitchell, Redick, LeBron, Reaves, Bronny

May 18th, 2024 at 2:53pm CST by Luke Adams

As the Lakers weigh their offseason options, one path they will seriously consider is packaging players and draft picks to attempt to acquire a third star to play alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Within the last year, star guards like Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, and Zach LaVine have been mentioned as possible targets for Los Angeles, but Jovan Buha of The Athletic (YouTube link) says another name will likely be at the top of the team’s wish list entering the summer.

“If the Lakers go down the three-star path, and it’s still unclear — I think they’re going to kick the can down the road and see the possibility and see what the asking price is. There are teams that can outbid them if they get into a bidding war,” Buha said in an episode of Buha’s Block. “But if they do go down that road and at least explore it, (Cavaliers guard) Donovan Mitchell would be the preferred guy.”

There’s no guarantee that Mitchell will be available this summer, since the Cavs hope to sign him to a long-term extension. If Mitchell turns down that offer and ends up on the trade block, the Lakers would have plenty of competition for the five-time All-Star and wouldn’t necessarily be able to offer the best package, as Buha notes. L.A. would be able to offer up to three first-round picks alongside perhaps guard Austin Reaves, forward Rui Hachimura, and other salary-matching pieces.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Echoing previous reports, Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times says people around the NBA view J.J. Redick as the favorite in the Lakers’ head coaching search. Opinions on Redick’s potential as a coach are split, with some high on his upside due to his understanding of the game and his ability to clearly communicate ideas, while others “see nothing but inexperience” or believe his business relationship with LeBron James would have a negative impact on the locker room, Woike writes. Sources tell The Times that one reason Redick is viewed as a frontrunner is a widespread belief that he’ll have “incredibly strong” interviews.
Within that same L.A. Times story, Woike explores the likelihood of LeBron remaining with the Lakers (his sources believe it’ll happen), discusses the team’s top trade targets (he says none of Young, Murray, LaVine, and Brandon Ingram were seriously linked to the Lakers at the combine), and mentions the team’s ongoing fondness for Reaves. According to Woike, the Lakers regard Reaves highly as a “prospect for the future” on a team-friendly contract.
Shams Charania of The Athletic is among the reporters to stress that drafting Bronny James won’t offer a team any assurances of having a shot at his superstar father. “It would not surprise me in the coming weeks if a team does reach out to (agent) Rich Paul – or anyone else around Bronny James, (including) LeBron James himself – and says, ‘Hey, if we draft Bronny James, would you come as well, LeBron?'” Charania said on the Up & Adams Show (Twitter video link). “And the answer to that is going to be no, as of right now. That’s not a given, that’s not something that’s going to be preordained.” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said earlier in the week that Paul has made a concerted effort to dispel the idea that his father-and-son clients need to play together.
The Lakers announced on Friday (via Twitter) that they’ll host three preseason games outside of Los Angeles in the fall. The Lakers will play the visiting Timberwolves on October 4 and the Suns on Oct. 6 at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs before facing the Warriors on Oct. 15 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Darvin Ham’s Position With Lakers In ‘Serious Peril’

April 30th, 2024 at 8:50am CST by Luke Adams

Darvin Ham‘s position with the Lakers is in “serious peril” following the team’s elimination from the playoffs on Monday, according to Shams Charania, Jovan Buha, and Sam Amick of The Athletic. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin agrees, citing league sources who say that Ham’s head coaching job is “very much in jeopardy.”

The Athletic’s reporters and McMenamin both say that the Lakers will take a few days to review the situation and assess what went wrong this season before making a decision on Ham’s future.

Although the Lakers finished with more regular season wins (47) than they did a year ago when they made the conference finals (43), there was a sense that this year’s team lacked an “effective direction” from the coaching staff at times, per The Athletic, and there were people within the organization confused by the way that Ham used his starting lineup and rotation over the course of the season.

As both The Athletic and McMenamin detail, Ham used a series of starting groups earlier in 2023/24 that frequently featured players like Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish, often at the expense of players that the franchise viewed more as part of its core, such as Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and D’Angelo Russell.

There was a sense that Prince and Reddish were given opportunities to play through their mistakes that Reaves, Hachimura, Russell, and others weren’t, per The Athletic, and some team sources suggested to ESPN that the Lakers would have finished with a better record – and a higher playoff seed – if they had stuck to a starting lineup of Reaves, Hachimura, and Russell alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis earlier in the season.

“The job of a coach is to make the best out of what you have,” a team source told McMenamin. “And he wasn’t doing that.”

Reporting from both The Athletic and ESPN also pointed to Ham’s response to a post-Game 2 comment from Davis (“We have stretches where we just don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor”) as troubling. Rather than downplay – or even agree with – Davis’ comment, Ham took exception, praising his coaching staff and telling reporters that he would “agree to disagree” with his star big man.

Team sources told The Athletic that Ham’s rebuttal unnecessarily amplified Davis’ initial comment and questioned whether engaging in a back-and-forth with one of the franchise’s cornerstones was a good idea. A club source who spoke to McMenamin, meanwhile, was “confounded” by Ham’s lack of accountability and questioned the wisdom of praising the preparedness of his staff after the Nuggets had run their winning streak vs. the Lakers to 10 games.

According to The Athletic, the contract Ham signed in 2022 was a four-year deal worth approximately $5MM per season, so there are still two seasons left on it. If they make a coaching change, the Lakers would eat the remainder of that contract.

Lakers Notes: Game 3 Loss, LeBron, Davis, Russell, Ham

April 26th, 2024 at 7:55am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers lost their 11th consecutive game to Denver on Thursday night and are now one game away from being swept out of the postseason by the Nuggets for a second straight season. As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, it’s hard to blame Los Angeles’ two stars for the Game 3 loss — LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 59 points on 26-of-43 (60.5%) shooting to go along with 21 rebounds and 12 assists.

“We’ve been — me and this guy [Davis] have been playing together for six years,” James said. “We’ve been to the mountaintop. We’ve been close to the mountaintop. We’ve played a lot of games. We know what it takes to win. We know what it takes to win a championship and how damn near perfect you got to be. That’s not like something that’s so crazy to obtain.”

While James expressed that he and Davis are confident in their ability to deliver big games when it matters most, he didn’t say the same about the rest of the Lakers, McMenamin observes. Austin Reaves had a solid night (22 points on 8-of-17 shooting), but the rest of the Lakers besides LeBron and AD combined for just 24 points and shot 10-of-30 (33.3%) from the floor, including 2-of-16 (12.5%) on three-pointers.

Asked if the Lakers’ were overwhelmed by the Nuggets’ execution, James replied, “You’d have to ask the individuals that question and see how they feel. It’s hard for me just to be like, ‘This is what I think that guy feels.’ … I can’t do that. I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

A disastrous performance against the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals last spring hurt D’Angelo Russell‘s stock a little as he prepared to enter free agency. The same thing may be happening this year. Russell went scoreless on 0-of-7 shooting on Thursday and declined to speak to reporters after the game, according to McMenamin. Russell, who is now averaging 12.0 PPG on 32.6% in the first round, holds a player option worth $18.7MM for the 2024/25 season.
Davis told reporters after Game 2’s loss earlier this week that the Lakers “have stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor.” Those comments were interpreted as a shot at the coaching staff and didn’t sit well with some people in the organization, according to Jared Greenberg of TNT Sports. “I can tell you from speaking to people within the Lakers’ organization, they were upset – and disappointed, quite frankly – by AD’s comments,” Greenberg said during an NBA TV appearance on Thursday (Twitter video link). As Sam Amick of The Athletic notes, when asked about Davis’ comments on Wednesday, head coach Darvin Ham told reporters he chalked them up to frustration and that he would “agree to disagree.”
With the Lakers on the brink of elimination, Ham is on the hot seat in Los Angeles, according to Bill Plaschke of The L.A. Times, who notes that some home fans began a “fire Darvin” chant during the fourth quarter on Thursday. Plaschke adds that Ham has been out-coached by Michael Malone during the first round so far, which has been evident by the way the teams have adjusted at halftimes. The Nuggets have outscored the Lakers by a total of 31 points in the third quarters of games, per McMenamin; L.A. has outscored Denver by 11 in the other nine quarters.

Lakers Notes: Davis, Reaves, Russell, Vanderbilt, Jokic

April 22nd, 2024 at 7:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Anthony Davis could have some extra motivation for the remainder of the Lakers‘ first-round series against the Nuggets. Davis feels slighted that he wasn’t one of the three finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year award, he told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

“I’ll never get it,” Davis said. “They’re not giving it to me. The league doesn’t like me. I’m the best defensive player in the league. I can switch 1 through 5. I can guard the pick-and-roll the best in the league, from a big standpoint. I block shots. I rebound. I don’t know what else to do. I’m over it. I’m just going to do what I got to do to help the team win and try to play for a championship. Accolades and individual awards, I’m done with those.”

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Austin Reaves is hopeful that D’Angelo Russell remains with the team beyond this season, and his reasons go beyond the court, he told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. “I want him to be around. That’s probably my best friend on the team,” Reaves said. “We hang out off the court and golf a lot together. We’re constantly in communication and play Call of Duty together. He’s been one of my closest friends since I’ve been in the NBA. Obviously, his basketball play speaks for itself with how talented he is and what he can do for our group. We need him to be at our best. When he’s playing at his best is when we’re playing at our best. Anything we can do or I can do to help him stay around, I’m definitely going to try to do that.” Russell holds an $18.7MM option on his contract for next season.
Jarred Vanderbilt is no longer wearing a walking boot, Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets. Vanderbilt hasn’t played since Feb. 1 due to a right midfoot sprain. He went through some drills during the team’s shootaround on Tuesday but won’t play in Game 2.
Coach Darvin Ham admits it’s virtually impossible to keep Nikola Jokic in check, Buha adds in another tweet. “It’s like (bleep), I don’t know what to do. You just gotta go out there and try to be as disciplined as possible, aggressive and consistent. And have a next-play mentality, man. … Kid is a generational-type player,” Ham said.