Suns Notes: Brooks, Booker, Green, Bouyea
In a feature story for ESPN.com, Tim MacMahon details how veteran small forward Dillon Brooks helped reshape the cultures — and drive winning — in Houston and Phoenix after his unceremonious departure from Memphis in the 2023 offseason.
“I felt like a lot of people counted me out, thinking I was just going to wash away with the rest of NBA players that had their shine and then were not able to figure out how to evolve and be able to stay in this league,” Brooks said. “I didn’t want to fall off. I didn’t want to call it where I got to go either overseas or chill at home or change my whole career point. I love this game, and I play it because I really love it. I knew that I had to put in the work to be better every single day.”
Known for his relentless work ethic and fiery competitiveness, Brooks has had a positive two-way impact on the surprising Suns, who are currently 24-17 after finishing last season with a disappointing 36-46 record.
“He’s in the gym more than anybody that I know,” guard Collin Gillespie said. “You see how hard he works, how competitive he is, and you want to not let your teammate down when you see that. He makes you want to work harder. He challenges you to be in the gym with him, challenges you to play harder.
“You might not like it sometimes if he’s getting on you, but it makes you a better player for sure.”
Suns owner Mat Ishbia has been thrilled with Brooks’ toughness and intangibles on top of his play, according to MacMahon.
“He’s exactly the type of player [who fits] what we talk about here in Phoenix, what we want to be, the identity of the Suns,” Ishbia told ESPN. “He gets up more shots than everybody else before practice. He cares about winning. He plays defense, he plays offense, he’s a leader. He’s tough. He’s doing everything.
“We wanted Dillon. I envisioned him from a cultural perspective, a leadership perspective and an impact perspective at a really high level. He’s been even better than expected.”
Here’s more from Phoenix:
- Star guard Devin Booker is questionable for Saturday’s contest in New York due to the left ankle sprain that caused him to miss Thursday’s loss at Detroit, tweets Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Fellow guards Jalen Green (right hamstring strain) and Jamaree Bouyea (concussion) remain out.
- Although Green will be out again tomorrow, he’s inching closer to a return from the hamstring injury that has sidelined him for all but two games this season, Rankin writes in a full story. “He’s looking more and more confident,” center Mark Williams said. “He’s looking more and more comfortable. Whenever that time is for him, we’ll be excited.” Green’s return might force Gillespie, who has been starting, back to the bench, Rankin notes.
- Brooks says Green will provide a “big spark” for the Suns, according to Rankin, though he’s expected to be on a minutes restriction after a long layoff — he last played on November 8. Head coach Jordan Ott says the team will be cautious with Green, but the club is looking forward to having him back. “Full of talent, full of youthful energy we need,” Ott said. “His speed. His ability to attack off the dribble. We need him, but we need him healthy.”
Pacific Notes: Booker, Brooks, Hayes, Miller
Suns guard Devin Booker isn’t getting any love from the fans in terms of All-Star voting. The latest returns have Booker ranked 17th among vote-getters in the Western Conference.
Booker isn’t particularly surprised, even though he’s having a strong season. He’s averaging 25.3 points and 6.4 assists per game.
“There are some super big market teams,” he told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “There are guys from different countries that have a whole country behind them. I kind of understand the process, but am I playing better than a lot of guys? For sure, but that’s not the setup.”
Teammate Grayson Allen feels Booker is being slighted by the voting public.
“He is the engine for our team,” Allen said. “Everyone knows he can score the ball, but this year, his play-making has been great. Assists, hockey assists, everything, he is the head of the snake for our team. We’ve surprised a lot of people this year and being the best player on this team, we’re not successful without him. Maybe the team success will help him out. I don’t know. I feel like he’s done enough individually to make it every year.”
Booker has made the All-Star team four times in his career.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Suns wing Dillon Brooks is two technical fouls away from a league-imposed one game suspension. Brooks picked up his 14th technical foul against Miami on Tuesday. Brooks’ latest infraction came when he shoved Heat forward Norman Powell (YouTube video link). An automatic suspension is issued when a player reaches 16 technicals and he receives an additional suspension for every two technicals he receives after reaching that threshold. No other NBA player has more than nine techs at this point.
- Jaxson Hayes underwent an MRI on his left hamstring on Tuesday, according to Lakers coach JJ Redick. Hayes told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link) on his way into the arena that he has experienced tightness in the hamstring for more than a week. Hayes, who played 19 minutes against Sacramento on Monday, hopes to be back in the lineup as soon as next game if the MRI comes back clean.
- Clippers two-way player Jordan Miller is doing his best to earn a standard contract. His minutes have spiked in the last five games and he’s averaged 11.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game during that stretch, including a 21-point outing against Brooklyn and a 14-point performance against Charlotte. “I know what I’m capable of,” Miller told Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. “I played Summer League twice, got first-team honors, so it’s just like going out there and showing everybody like, ‘I belong here now.’ That’s really the theme of the year this year. It’s just like, show everybody you belong.”
Grizzlies Notes: Jackson, Morant, Brooks, Edey, Konchar
In an interview with Mark Medina of EssentiallySports, Grizzlies forward/center Jaren Jackson Jr. discussed adjusting to Tuomas Iisalo‘s offensive system, signing a lucrative long-term extension last offseason, playing with Ja Morant, and more. Rookie forward Cedric Coward has credited Jackson with being a veteran mentor, according to Medina.
“I just tell him what I see and what I’ve seen over the years,” Jackson said of Coward. “I tell him not to be hard on himself. If you just put in the work, it’s going to show. If you just stay with it, stay consistent and don’t get too high or low, that’s things that I’ve learned from other people. I tell him a lot of stuff.”
Jackson also reacted to the news that Morant is on the trading block following Friday’s one-point loss to Oklahoma City, tweets Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal.
“I feel for him. That’s my brother. … No matter what, he changed my life coming here,” Jackson said of Morant.
Here’s more from Memphis:
- Iisalo says Morant’s recent absences aren’t related to trade rumors, according to Cole (Twitter link). The 26-year-old point guard will miss his fifth straight game on Sunday due to a right calf contusion. “Strictly based on the injury,” Iisalo said of Morant.
- Suns forward Dillon Brooks returned to Memphis on Wednesday for his latest rematch against his former team. After Phoenix cruised to a lopsided victory, the 30-year-old wing said the Grizzlies made a mistake by moving on from some of their former starters, Cole writes for The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “I just think they moved too fast,” he said. “Especially when I was there and Des(mond Bane) was there and (Steven Adams) was there. I think (the Grizzlies) moved too fast, trying to be (inventive) too fast and it kind of bit them in the butt a little bit.”
- Second-year center Zach Edey, who is recovering from a stress reaction in his left ankle, has been away from the team in recent days consulting with medical specialists, but he’ll be traveling with the team for its upcoming trip to Europe, per Iisalo (Twitter link via Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian). Iisalo added that the team would provide an update on Edey soon, though he didn’t know exactly when. The Grizzlies face the Magic in Berlin, Germany on Thursday and play them again next Sunday in London, England.
- Veteran wing John Konchar, who has been out since December 7 due to a thumb injury which required surgery, was upgraded to available for Sunday’s contest vs. Brooklyn, the Grizzlies announced (via Twitter).
Pacific Notes: Melton, Horford, Kuminga, Brooks, Sallis
It has been an up-and-down season so far for the Warriors, who haven’t been more than three games over .500 at any point in the first half and currently hold a 20-18 record. However, in the view of Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area, the team should still be in good shape if it can consistently get the sort of contributions from “X-factors” that it did in Wednesday’s victory over Milwaukee.
While Stephen Curry was the only member of the starting lineup with a positive net rating on the night, all five reserves used by head coach Steve Kerr achieved that feat. Brandin Podziemski was a +19, Gui Santos was a +12, De’Anthony Melton scored 22 points, and Al Horford contributed eight points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and two blocks.
The contributions by Melton and Horford were especially welcome, since the two offseason veteran additions were limited by injuries during the fall and have only recently started producing more consistently as part of the Warriors’ second unit. Draymond Green referred to the duo as “guys that connect our lineups,” while Curry also highlighted their importance.
“Those two guys weren’t available much or at all early in the year, and they’re both trying to find their legs, their rhythm,” Curry said. “But you can see how much of a difference they can make off the bench.”
Here are a few more notes from around the Pacific:
- Green became the latest Warriors veteran to praise Jonathan Kuminga for how he has handled his removal from the rotation and his uncertain future, as Dan Dempster of NBC Sports Bay Area details. “Such a standup young man and great person and (he) will be a great player,” Green said, before going on to provide examples of Kuminga’s professionalism. Still, outside of Sacramento, league-wide trade interest in Kuminga has been “tepid,” Poole reports for NBC Sports Bay Area. Poole goes on to say that the relationship between the Warriors and the fifth-year forward remains “cordial” but that their differences don’t appear reconcilable.
- Suns forward Dillon Brooks broke into a smile when asked this week about Mat Ishbia‘s assertion that Brooks is “not going anywhere,” as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays (Twitter video link). Responding to a tweet suggesting a Brooks/Austin Reaves swap, the Suns’ owner said “don’t bother calling” because his team isn’t interested. “He’s been saying I’m going to be a longtime Phoenix Sun. I appreciate it,” said Brooks, who is under contract through 2026/27 and will be extension-eligible during the offseason.
- Hunter Sallis, an undrafted rookie out of Wake Forest who appeared in seven games while on a two-way contract with Philadelphia earlier this season, has joined the San Diego Clippers, the G League team announced (via Twitter). As Law Murray of The Athletic points out (via Twitter), Sallis is James Harden‘s cousin.
Trade Rumors: Young, LaVine, Brooks, Deadline, AD, More
Sam Amick and Josh Robbins of The Athletic have confirmed Shams Charania’s report that the Hawks are working with Trae Young and his representatives to find the 27-year-old point guard a new team.
As Amick reported last week, Atlanta has been increasingly willing to discuss Young trades for weeks or even months after the Hawks showed no interest in pursuing an extension, but the market for the four-time All-Star seems to be limited. According to Amick and Robbins, Young is searching for a new deal “commensurate with a star player.”
To illustrate the point about teams being wary of acquiring the diminutive point guard, Amick and Robbins cite a team source who says the Kings — long viewed as a potential landing spot for last season’s assists leader — have “no interest” in trading for Young. Zach LaVine, whose contract is very similar to Young’s, is “known” to have interest in joining the Hawks, the authors add.
Regarding Marc Stein’s report about the Hawks discussing a trade that would potentially send Young to Washington and CJ McCollum to Atlanta, Amick and Robbins note that Young doesn’t fit the archetype favored by the Wizards‘ top front office executives, and speculate that Washington might want either draft compensation or a young player to take on his contract, which includes a $49MM player option for next season.
Young missed his fifth straight game Monday due to a right quad contusion.
Here are a few more trade-related rumors and notes from around the NBA:
- Don’t expect Suns small forward Dillon Brooks to be on the move in the next month. Gerald Bourguet of Suns After Dark reported (via Twitter) on Monday that Phoenix isn’t interested in moving the veteran wing due to both his on- and off-court contributions. Suns owner Mat Ishbia essentially confirmed as much just a few minutes later. On FanDuel TV’s Run It Back show (Twitter video link), former NBA big man DeMarcus Cousins said he if were running the Lakers, he would trade Austin Reaves for Brooks “in a heartbeat.” Ishbia’s response? “Don’t bother calling… Suns aren’t interested. Dillon’s not going anywhere,” he wrote (Twitter link).
- Amick, Josh Robbins and John Hollinger of The Athletic discuss the biggest storylines and questions ahead of the February 5 trade deadline, noting that Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s situation with the Bucks is the one that holds the most intrigue around the league. All three think Antetokounmpo is more likely than not to stay put during the season, though that would depend on whether the two-time MVP requests a trade. Other topics include whether Anthony Davis will be traded by the Mavericks and role players who could appeal to contending teams. Hollinger lists Wizards forward Justin Champagnie as an example of a player on a team-friendly contract who could be a valuable in-season addition.
- Speaking of Davis, he and Kyrie Irving wanted to play together for years before it finally came to fruition last February, writes Christian Clark of The Athletic. However, the Mavericks duo only played two-and-a-half quarters together prior to Davis suffering a left adductor strain. Less than a month later, Irving tore his ACL, and there’s no timeline for his return. Whether they’ll be able to team up again before the season ends is an open question with Dallas expected to listen to offers for Davis, Clark adds.
Warriors Notes: Green, Kerr, Curry, Richard, Hield
Draymond Green’s ejection early in the second quarter of Saturday’s game wound up being a turning point for the Warriors, who rallied for a win over Phoenix, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. Golden State trailed by 11 points when its volatile leader was tossed for picking up a pair of quick technical fouls, but the sequence sparked a rally that led to the end of a three-game losing streak.
“Sometimes we take advantage of Draymond, what he does for us, and we count on him to clean up everything,” Gary Payton II said. “But once he’s out of there, we know we all got to come together and do it collectively. I think everybody felt that. And when we’re doing that as a unit, we can be pretty damn good.”
Green got his first technical for pushing Suns guard Collin Gillespie in transition (YouTube link). The next one came seconds later when Green taunted lead official Pat Fraher, resulting in an automatic ejection.
Phoenix scored 44 points and registered five dunks in the first quarter, according to Poole. The Warriors’ defensive effort picked up after the incident as they held the Suns to a combined 31.8% from the field in the second and third quarters.
“I think it woke us up,” Stephen Curry said. “Because we knew without him, we’re going to have to play even tougher, dig deeper down the rotation. I think everybody was kind of on alert and trying to have his back.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Coach Steve Kerr called Green’s ejection “weak” on the part of the officials and compared it to an incident from the teams’ prior matchup on Thursday, per Nick Friedell of The Athletic. Kerr is still fuming about a play late in that game where he claims Dillon Brooks hit Curry with a “premeditated” punch to the stomach. Brooks was assessed a flagrant 1 foul after a video review, but wasn’t ejected. “How can you not be upset? This is a guy who broke Gary’s elbow in the playoffs, clotheslining him with one of the dirtiest plays I’ve ever seen,” Kerr said. “So it’s not like there’s not a track record there, and it’s right there, they look at it. I don’t know what the point of replay is if you’re not gonna kick a guy out for literally punching somebody. It’s bizarre to me that he was not, first of all, ejected from that game, and then suspended or fined. Nothing. Nothing.”
- In an interview with Zena Keita of “The Athletic Show,” Kerr expresses gratitude for being able to coach Curry and Green for so long, relays Jordy Fee-Platt of The Athletic. Kerr reveals that he nearly worked out a draft-day deal to bring Curry to Phoenix in 2009 when he was serving as general manager of the Suns. Kerr also states that even though he’s in the final year of his contract, he has no plans to retire while Curry is still active. “I will never leave Steph Curry,” he said.
- Rookie guard Will Richard contributed 20 points in the victory, but he only played because Kerr chose to end Buddy Hield‘s long streak of consecutive games, Poole notes in a separate story. Hield was a healthy scratch for the first time since joining the Warriors last season. “I told him beforehand, I feel terrible, he had a streak of 199 games in a row, it was one of the longest streaks in the league and one of the things I love about Buddy is he’s there for you every single night,” Kerr said. “He’s the greatest teammate ever and just an amazing spirit and a key part of our team, and it felt terrible not to play him, but I sat Will the last five or six games and we needed to get him back out there and you can see why. Buddy’s time will come back around, it always does. He has got the right attitude, he’s going to keep working and getting shots up and I know things will work out for him.”
Western Notes: Monk, Ellis, Brooks, Nuggets, Jokic, Mitchell
Kings guard Malik Monk was a DNP-CD for the first time since the 2022/23 season on Thursday, not getting off the bench at all during the team’s 134-133 overtime loss in Portland. Explaining the decision after the game, head coach Doug Christie described Monk as the “odd man out” in the backcourt rotation as he sought to give Keon Ellis a larger role for defensive purposes.
“We were going with defense, but it’s a logjam,” Christie said, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. “We’ve got a lot of guards, so whenever it was Keon being the odd man out, then it was Keon being out. Tonight, we were playing Keon, so Malik was out.”
With the Kings off to a 6-21 start this season, Christie acknowledged that he’s still searching for answers and is willing to experiment with the rotation in the hopes of turning things around. He also made it clear that “nothing is permanent,” though he added that he liked what he saw from Ellis, who played a season-high 32 minutes vs. Portland.
“We’ll give Keon a run and allow him to continue to develop with those guys,” Christie said. “He came in off the bench, I thought, and played fantastic with that bench unit. They did a really good job in the third quarter. It just kind of got away from us. We got stalled out a little bit, but they came back with the starters and Keon was a part of that group. … I thought those guys did a great job.”
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- The NBA has rescinded the technical foul assessed to Suns forward Dillon Brooks in the second quarter of Thursday’s game vs. Golden State, the league announced (Twitter link). Brooks appeared to get the technical for something he said after making a layup and stumbling to the floor (video link via NBA.com). He’s still the league leader with eight technicals this season.
- The Nuggets aren’t especially well positioned to be aggressive at this season’s trade deadline, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required). Denver is hovering right around the luxury tax line, has few tradable draft picks, and lacks an obvious salary-matching candidate making mid-level money or more. Zeke Nnaji ($8.2MM) is the most expendable of the Nuggets’ players earning more than $5MM, but his contract – which has two more years left on it after this season – would have negative value.
- Nuggets star Nikola Jokic passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Thursday for the most career assists by an NBA center, Durando writes in another Denver Post story. Abdul-Jabbar compiled 5,660 assists across 20 NBA seasons; Jokic surpassed him in his 11th season, at age 30. “This is a time that I can be able to look back and appreciate all the years I’ve had to play this game with him,” teammate Jamal Murray said of Jokic. “It’s special. Passing Kareem in anything is pretty cool. So I think it just speaks to his greatness and how unselfish he is.”
- Thunder wing Ajay Mitchell spoke to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints about the experience of winning a championship as an NBA rookie, whether he has thought about vying for the Most Improved Player award, and why he views the toe injury that cost him three months last season as a positive. “I know it sounds crazy, but this was my first major injury ever, and looking back on everything we went through, it made me realize how special being a part of this organization truly is,” Mitchell said, explaining that general manager Sam Presti was with him “every step of the way before and after surgery.”
Pacific Notes: Brooks, LeBron, Maluach, Harden
The Suns were a +12 when Dillon Brooks was on the floor in Sunday’s game vs. the Lakers, but were without him in the decisive final seconds of the fourth quarter after he received his second technical foul and was ejected from the game. It was his first ejection since joining the Suns and was a reminder of an important lesson, writes Doug Haller of The Athletic.
“How to stay in the game and be able to affect the game when I’m in the game,” Brooks said of that lesson. “That’s my problem through my whole career, is I let those things happen and then I’m off the floor. Then at the end of the day, how much people hate on me and say I’m not a good player and all that, but when I’m on the floor it changes the whole game.”
Brooks went back and forth with LeBron James during Sunday’s game. The Lakers star received a technical foul in the third quarter for aggressively trying to confront the Suns forward after he felt Brooks intentionally batted the ball at him, then Brooks was hit with his second technical foul with 12 seconds left in the fourth quarter after chest-bumping James.
Speaking on Wednesday, Brooks said that James received “a lot of special treatment” and added that he wasn’t sure what LeBron was upset about during that third quarter incident.
“I guess he’s a social-media junkie,” Brooks said. “He be all over the socials, so he be seeing I guess what I’m saying. … Like I’ve (said) he thinks that people should think a way about him or not say nothing about him or play a certain way, and I’m not going to play that way. He gets in his moods or in his modes or whatever it is. I’m all for that.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- With James’ statistics down across the board through his first nine games this season, Zach Kram of ESPN considers whether Father Time has caught up with the 40-year-old, evaluates whether the Lakers forward has permanently adjusted his playing style, and explores the lineups the team is using with its big three of James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves. The Lakers have a -5.1 net rating in 132 minutes with that trio on the floor together, despite the fact that Doncic and Reaves have a +8.6 mark in their 442 minutes sharing the court.
- Suns lottery pick Khaman Maluach has barely played at the NBA level so far this season, logging just 59 total minutes in 12 appearances off the bench. However, the rookie big man is making an impact in the G League, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Maluach has four straight double-doubles for the Valley Suns and is averaging 19.8 points and 15.3 rebounds per game during that stretch. “It’s been great,” Maluach said of his G League experience. “It’s been going good for me, especially at this stage of my development. I need that. I need the reps, the G League reps. It’s great to go down there and just be able to get on the floor, run, get up and down, and get better now. I get to get film and watch film and watch what to work on because sometimes, some stuff doesn’t really show in practice. It can only show during the games.”
- Clippers guard James Harden has been ruled out for the team’s matchup with Oklahoma City on Thursday due to a left calf contusion, tweets Joey Linn of SI. Harden appeared to be affected by the calf issue in Monday’s loss to Memphis, as he scored just 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting. His status for Saturday’s game against the Lakers is up in the air, Linn adds.
Pacific Notes: Brooks, M. Williams, Hachimura, Sabonis
Suns forward Dillon Brooks relished beating the Lakers in Los Angeles on Monday as well as the opportunity to trash talk LeBron James, Tim MacMahon writes for ESPN.com.
As MacMahon notes, Brooks infamously got under James’ skin during the first round of the 2023 playoffs with Memphis, only to see the strategy backfire — he struggled for the rest of the series while James dominated, and the Grizzlies were eliminated in six games. Ever the antagonist, Brooks poured in 33 points on Monday — one off his season-high — and “relentlessly” mocked James and the crowd.
“I love playing in this arena,” Brooks said. “They show me a lot of love in here, and I reciprocate it back. I’m a competitor, man. I don’t really like the smiling and the giggling and all that, so just letting them know that I’m here. And I’m still rising.”
Phoenix cruised to an easy victory on Monday despite missing Devin Booker (right groin injury) for the majority of the contest. Brooks was the driving force behind the result.
“Sometimes, I’m trying to tell him to chill out, but I think he just blacks out,” said point guard Collin Gillespie, who scored a career-high 28 points on Monday and whom Brooks has nicknamed “Villain Jr.” due to his tenacity. “That’s Dillon Brooks. It fuels us. Obviously, we love when he gets going. He’s the tone-setter for us. Consistent energy, brings it every night. He’s fearless. Doesn’t back down from anybody, and he will go toe-to-toe with anybody.”
We have more from the Pacific:
- Now a member of the Suns, center Mark Williams admitted he’d have a “little extra” motivation facing the Lakers on Monday after L.A. traded for him in February — only to rescind the deal over to what the team said was a failed physical (story via Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). Williams said he was never told exactly why the Lakers nixed the trade with Charlotte. “Not in real detail,” said Williams, who is averaging 12.9 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals through 18 games (25.4 minutes per contest). “I’m kind of past it now. Just moved on from it.” The ex-Duke center will be a restricted free agent in 2026.
- Entering Monday, Lakers forward Rui Hachimura had scored in double figures in 14 of his 18 appearances. The 27-year-old had his worst outing of the season in Monday’s loss, going scoreless — he missed his lone shot attempt — and pulling down one rebound in 23 minutes. “I don’t remember when I had the ball this whole game,” Hachimura said, per Daniel Starkand of Lakers Nation (Twitter link). “I mean, that’s happened. Playing with these guys, I signed up for that. I understand it… But with this, I think the whole team, everyone knows and understands, that’s not how we’re gonna win. Those games that we’ve been winning, we’ve been passing to each other, we’ve been trusting each other and playing for each other to win those games. So it’s a tough one for me, but it is what it is. It’s one of those games where I gotta just [forget it] and move on to the next game.”
- Kings center Domantas Sabonis is likely at least a couple weeks away — if not more — from returning from a partially torn meniscus, but his injured left knee is progressing well and he’s traveling with the team on its three-game road trip, which will conclude next Tuesday at Indiana, as Sean Cunningham of NBC Sacramento relays (via Twitter). The Kings clarified that Sabonis is not yet practicing, which was expected given his initial return timeline. The Lithuanian big man has popped up in trade rumors this fall amid Sacramento’s poor start to the season.
Pacific Notes: Melton, Kuminga, Murray, Christie, Brooks
The Warriors assigned a trio of players to the G League on Wednesday, with guard De’Anthony Melton and forwards Jonathan Kuminga and Gui Santos all joining the Santa Cruz Warriors in order to scrimmage, tweets Anthony Slater of ESPN. Santos was getting some conditioning work in, while Melton and Kuminga are in the final stages of injury recoveries.
According to Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints, the Warriors are optimistic that Melton will be able to make his season debut following an ACL tear during the first week of December. The veteran guard is due to be reevaluated this weekend.
As for Kuminga, who has been sidelined due to bilateral knee tendonitis, the hope is that he won’t have any setbacks during his scrimmages with Santa Cruz. If that’s the case, there’s an expectation that the fifth-year forward could be back on the court at some point during Golden State’s current home stand, which wraps up on December 2, Siegel reports.
We have more from around the Pacific:
- The Kings have won two of three games since Keegan Murray made his season debut, and the fourth-year forward was especially effective in Monday’s overtime victory over Minnesota, with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Teammate DeMar DeRozan spoke after that win about what Murray’s return means to the team, as Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee relays (via Twitter). “It’s everything,” DeRozan said. “Keegan is the key to this team. It’s his team. He’s one of those guys who’s going to be very, very special in this league and he’s showing it.”
- While there have been some questions about Doug Christie‘s job security in Sacramento, Kings general manager Scott Perry told Sam Amick of The Athletic this week that he has “complete confidence” in Christie to “lead this team into better times.” Sacramento’s head coach appreciated the public show of support, according to Anderson. “His backing, the alignment from him, is huge,” Christie said. “He hasn’t said anything to me differently, so I’m glad that he said that (publicly). More than anything, it’s about us playing a style and a brand of basketball that Sacramento Kings fans can be proud of. On the path to that, there are a lot of steps to that, but first things first. I appreciate that from Scott. Obviously, when the boss speaks highly of you, it’s a good thing.”
- Playing against the Rockets on Monday for the first time since Houston traded him to Phoenix over the summer, Suns forward Dillon Brooks talked trash to his former teammates and accused them of flopping, writes Doug Haller of The Athletic. However, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka took it in stride, telling reporters that Brooks’ impact during his two years in Houston was “invaluable” and he doesn’t mind the forward’s tendency to push boundaries. “To bring in a veteran, like him and Fred (Van Vleet), to change the culture and environment, the competitiveness on a nightly basis,” Udoka said. “You’ve seen that happen here. I don’t mind at all. We both toe the line I guess at times, but he’s a guy that I love and have a ton of respect for.”