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Pacific Notes: Plumlee, Kawhi, Lakers, Warriors

December 26th, 2023 at 9:03am CST by Luke Adams

Clippers center Mason Plumlee is making progress in his recovery from the knee injury that has sidelined him since November 6, head coach Tyronn Lue said over the weekend. As Janis Carr of The Orange County Register relays, Plumlee has played “a little 1-on-1” and has taken part in limited 3-on-3 drills as he inches closer to a return, which is expected to come next month.

“He’s feeling pretty good,” Lue said. “Still has a couple of boxes to check before he gets back on the floor, but he’s trending in the right direction. The last couple of workouts he’s had (there hasn’t been any) pain in his knee so it’s feeling pretty good.”

While Plumlee acknowledged that he’s very eager to get back on the court, he suggested that the Clippers’ recent nine-game winning streak helped alleviate his anxiousness.

“It was hard to watch at first when they were losing, but it became a joy to watch them,” the big man said. “You always want to play, but it was good to see the team turn the corner. James (Harden) looks so good playing with everybody now.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

After missing the past two games – both Clippers losses – due to a hip contusion, star forward Kawhi Leonard is considered questionable to return on Tuesday vs. Charlotte, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. Leonard was also listed as questionable before the previous two games, so it remains possible that he’ll miss additional time.
The sample size is tiny, but the Lakers‘ new starting lineup – featuring Jarred Vanderbilt in place of D’Angelo Russell – hasn’t gotten off to a good start. The five-man group has a 105.0 offensive rating and a 125.0 defensive rating, which would both rank dead last in the NBA, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Buha notes that the competition (Oklahoma City and Boston) has been tough and the lineup has played only 18 minutes so far, but says the group doesn’t make sense together and doesn’t look competent on either end of the floor, arguing that the team needs to make another change.
While Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has said he doesn’t want to play Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga together, he may have to rethink that approach in order to maximize both players, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. Thompson also explores Golden State’s rotation, wondering if the team might actually have too much depth to get regular minutes for all the players who deserve them once Draymond Green and Gary Payton II return.

Injury Notes: J. Johnson, Robinson, Suggs, Tatum, Luka, Kawhi

December 23rd, 2023 at 3:00pm CST by Luke Adams

There’s optimism that injured Hawks forward Jalen Johnson could be back in action as soon as Tuesday vs. Chicago, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Johnson was in the midst of a breakout season before suffering a left distal radius fracture on November 25. In his 14 healthy games this year, the 22-year-old averaged 14.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 31.4 minutes per night, with a .590/.421/.774 shooting line.

As Wojnarowski details, the Hawks’ performance, especially on defense, has nosedived since Johnson injured his wrist. The team is just 4-9 and ranks 29th in defensive efficiency without him. At 12-16, Atlanta in the mix for a play-in spot and currently sits percentage points behind Chicago for the No. 10 spot in the East.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said on Friday that the eight-to-10 week timeline to reevaluate Mitchell Robinson‘s ankle injury remains unchanged and wouldn’t confirm that the team expects the center to miss the rest of the season. However, Thibodeau also didn’t deny that Robinson will be out for the year, simply stating that the club will know more once he’s reevaluated in February.
Still without starting point guard Markelle Fultz, the Magic are down another starting guard. Jalen Suggs, who is battling a sprained left wrist, missed Thursday’s game in Milwaukee and has been ruled out for Saturday’s contest in Indiana, tweets Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. Gary Harris will get a second consecutive start tonight in place of Suggs, who said on Thursday that he doesn’t anticipate missing much time with the injury, per Beede.
A pair of All-Stars are back in action today after a one-game absence. Jayson Tatum (left ankle sprain) is available for the Celtics, per Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link), while Luka Doncic (left quad strain) is no longer on the injury report for the Mavericks, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (left hip contusion), on the other hand, is missing a second consecutive game on Saturday vs. Boston (Twitter link via Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times).

L.A. Notes: Lakers, LaVine, Kawhi, Coffey, Westbrook

December 22nd, 2023 at 7:59am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers have slumped badly since winning the in-season tournament earlier this month, losing five of their past six games, including the last four in a row, to slip to 15-14 on the season. Following a 118-111 defeat at the hands of Minnesota on Thursday night, star big man Anthony Davis called for more urgency, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.

“It’s the NBA season. There’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs. Right now we’re in that down period,” Davis said. “We just got to continue to fight and continue to play hard. Play with some effort, some energy and we’re treating Saturday (in Oklahoma City) as a must win.”

As Jovan Buha of The Athletic notes, Davis also spoke about the team’s recent struggles after Wednesday’s loss to Chicago, pointing out that there’s “no break coming” and no “cavalry” the team is waiting on. While LeBron James (left ankle) and Gabe Vincent (left knee) did miss Thursday’s contest, the second end of a back-to-back set, they’re expected to be available going forward.

“We’ve got everyone back now,” Davis said. “We just got to find a way to get into the win column.”

The Lakers have dealt with injuries to rotation players for most of the season, but now that they’re as healthy as they’ve been all year, Darvin Ham and his coaching staff hope to set a depth chart and rotation and stick with it “for the foreseeable future,” sources tell McMenamin.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two Los Angeles teams:

Within his latest roundup of trade-related rumors from around the NBA, Kurt Helin of NBC Sports says the sources he has spoken to believe that a deal sending Bulls guard Zach LaVine to the Lakers is unlikely, at best. As Buha suggested at The Athletic earlier this week, Los Angeles would probably only consider a deal if the outgoing package consists of D’Angelo Russell, salary filler, and limited assets beyond that, such as Jalen Hood-Schifino and a protected first-round pick.
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard missed his first game of the season on Thursday night, as the team ruled out him due to a left hip contusion, which head coach Tyronn Lue referred to as a “day-to-day thing,” per Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). Amir Coffey drew the start at Oklahoma City in what turned out to be the team’s first loss this month — the Clippers have a 9-1 record in December.
Clippers guard Russell Westbrook has seen his role reduced since James Harden‘s arrival in Los Angeles, but Westbrook remains supremely confident in his abilities, as Greif details for The L.A. Times. After a strong defensive performance against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks on Wednesday, Westbrook said he can “do anything on the floor at all times” and suggested he wants his due as a defender. “Ain’t too many people defending better than me at this point if we keeping it honest,” he said. “But I’ll let the numbers speak for that and let y’all talk about it. But we just keeping it a buck, ain’t too many people defending better than me at this position all around the league, honestly.”

Injury Notes: Jazz, Lakers, Sixers, Leonard, Payton, Clarke

December 21st, 2023 at 3:56pm CST by Rory Maher

The Jazz will be shorthanded for Thursday’s back-to-back in Detroit, with Lauri Markkanen (left hamstring — injury maintenance), Keyonte George (left foot inflammation) and Talen Horton-Tucker (left foot soreness) among the eight players who will be unavailable, per Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).

Utah is just 2-13 on the road this season, but the team will be facing the Pistons, who have lost 24 straight games, two shy of the single-season record. If Detroit hopes to snap the skid in the near future, tonight certainly seems like a good opportunity.

Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

LeBron James (left ankle peroneal tendinopathy) and Gabe Vincent are out for Thursday’s back-to-back in Minnesota, tweets Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet. Lakers center Anthony Davis (left ankle sprain/bone bruise), meanwhile, is questionable for the matchup against the West’s current No. 1 seed.
Sixers guard De’Anthony Melton exited Wednesday’s victory with a thigh contusion, but it’s not expected to be a serious injury, tweets Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Melton, Nicolas Batum (hamstring) and Robert Covington (illness) did not practice on Thursday, according to Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports (Twitter link). On the league’s official injury report, Melton is questionable for Friday’s matchup with Toronto, while Covington is probable and Batum has been ruled out.
He has yet to miss a game this season, but Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard popped up on the injury report ahead of Thursday’s back-to-back in Oklahoma City. He’s officially questionable with a left hip contusion.
Warriors guard Gary Payton II has been “making good progress” from his right calf strain and has been cleared to start “various forms of team practice,” the team announced (via Twitter). Payton, who has missed the past nine games, will be reevaluated again early next week, per the Warriors.
Grizzlies forward/center Brandon Clarke tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape he expects to return to action sometime around the All-Star break. A key rotation player for Memphis, Clarke has been sidelined since March 3 of last season after tearing his Achilles tendon.

And-Ones: MVP Poll, All-Stars, Basketball Day, Bazley

December 21st, 2023 at 2:26pm CST by Rory Maher

After finishing runner-up to Nikola Jokic in 2020/21 and ’21/22, Sixers center Joel Embiid won his first MVP award last season. And he’s arguably been even better through the first third of the ’23/24 season, averaging career highs in multiple categories, including points (35.1), assists (5.9) and free throw percentage (89.3%).

In the first MVP straw poll conducted by Tim Bontemps of ESPN (subscriber link), Embiid is the clear frontrunner, receiving 63 first-place votes and 848 points. However, several top players are in the mix, with Nuggets center Jokic (630 points), Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (352), Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (340) and Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (306) rounding out the top five.

12 total players received at least one top-five vote in the informal poll, which features 100 media members and mimics the NBA’s scoring system. Embiid made it clear he’d welcome more hardware.

“I have a pretty good chance [at another MVP],” Embiid told Bontemps. “I mean, if I have a chance to be in the conversation, why not? I want it all. I’m not shy about it. I’m not going to sit here and be like, ‘Oh, I don’t care about this.’ Anything that I can get my hands on, I want it.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

All-Star fan voting is underway, prompting Zach Harper of The Athletic to choose his starters to this point in the season. Out West, Harper has Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic in the backcourt, with LeBron James (Lakers) and Kawhi Leonard (Clippers) joining Jokic in the froncourt. For the East, Harper selects Jalen Brunson (Knicks), Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers), Jayson Tatum (Celtics), Antetokounmpo, and Embiid.
In a press release, the NBA announced its celebrations for the first-ever World Basketball Day, which was established by the United Nations earlier this year during the World Cup. It will be observed annually on December 21 — the day Dr. James Naismith first introduced the game of basketball at the Springfield YMCA in 1891.
Former first-round pick Darius Bazley is attempting to make his way back into the NBA through the G League after being waived by the Nets prior to the season. Playing for the Delaware Blue Coats (the Sixers‘ affiliate), Bazley had a huge game at the Winter Showcase on Wednesday, recording 43 points, 18 rebounds, three steals and six blocks in the victory over the Texas Legends (Twitter link via the NBAGL).

L.A. Notes: Clippers, Leonard, Lakers, Vincent, Vanderbilt

December 20th, 2023 at 11:56pm CST by Rory Maher

The health of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George has played a significant role in the Clippers‘ surge up the standings, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. George was sidelined for just his second game of the season in Wednesday’s victory over Dallas, while Leonard has yet to miss a game in 2023/24.

“That was never the case,” George said of the idea that he and Leonard sat out games last season to rest. “We had injuries that we were trying to keep minimal. No one knows what we go through, what and where our bodies are at. But they paint that picture on us as if we were sitting games out like we wanted to.”

According to Youngmisuk, the star wings have already appeared in more back-to-backs this season (four) than they did in the previous four seasons combined (three). The addition of James Harden has also made it easier on Leonard and George, who are handling the ball less and have had more open looks.

“That’s the great thing about having James,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “For them, getting easier shots, open threes. Before in the past, they had to take every shot. They had to create every shot.”

Here’s more on the two Los Angeles-based teams:

Wednesday marked the ninth consecutive victory for the Clippers. It’s certainly not a coincidence that the league’s hottest team has received elite two-way play from Leonard, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. Leonard averaged 29.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals on a scorching hot .623/.548/.951 shooting line in the first eight games of the streak, only turning the ball over 1.8 times per game over that span.
After losing Wednesday’s game in Chicago, the Lakers have gone 1-4 since winning the in-season tournament, including dropping three straight. Head coach Darvin Ham said he wasn’t considering a change to the starting lineup in the wake of the skid, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). “You can’t just keep, on a whim, changing,” Ham said. “That’s a big deal when you change your starting lineup at this level.” As Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets, the upcoming schedule will be challenging for the Lakers, who face Minnesota, Oklahoma City and Boston over the next three games.
Lakers guard Gabe Vincent returned to the lineup on Wednesday, suiting up for the first time since October 30 and playing 14 minutes in the loss, as Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group relays. Vincent was on a minutes restriction and likely will be for a least a little while. Ham said he was excited about the lineup possibilities with nearly the entire roster active — only rookie Jalen Hood-Schifino (back) is injured at the moment. “(Vincent) can be our lead guard, he can play off the ball, he can be a secondary creator, so it’s gonna be good. The discovery process is gonna be good for that,” Ham said.
Despite returning on December 2, Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt admits he’s still battling the left heel injury that sidelined him for the first several weeks of the season, Price adds in the same story. Ham said Vanderbilt has an “active issue with his foot,” which is why he’s been limited to 13-to-17 minutes per game. Vanderbilt was asked why he returned at less than 100%. “Because we have a chance,” he said. “I consider us being a contender. And I know how far we can fully go if healthy, so, that’s the reason I tried to come back and fight through it and get right.“

Los Angeles Notes: Clippers’ Streak, Coffey, Davis, James

December 17th, 2023 at 8:36pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Clippers have won seven straight, demonstrating how far they’ve come since the James Harden trade, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times writes. Kawhi Leonard has scored 30-plus points in six of the last 10 games, and Leonard, Paul George and Harden are developing into a dominating trio.

“It’s exactly what I envisioned just how we should play and how we can play,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “The biggest thing is just PG, Kawhi and James making each other better on a night-to-night basis.”

We have more on the Los Angeles teams:

Amir Coffey played 29 minutes for the Clippers on Thursday, scoring 18 points against Golden State. He saw 17 more minutes of action against the Knicks on Saturday after playing sparingly in the first 23 games. Lue said Coffey, who is signed through next season, bulled his way into the rotation, Greif tweets. “He’s earned the right to have the opportunity to play,” Lue said.
The Clippers’ defense will be tested in all of their games before Christmas, Law Murray of The Athletic notes. They face top-10 offenses in the Pacers, Mavericks and Thunder during their upcoming three-game road trip, then host another top-10 offense in the Celtics. “We’re a defense-first team, and we’ll watch film, see what they like to do, prepare for them and do our best,” Ivica Zubac said. “We know Indy is a great offensive team, and then you got Dallas and OKC, some great offensive teams. But we got some good defenders on this team and guys with high IQ that read very well on defense that can make plays. It’s going to be a great test for us.”
The Lakers list Anthony Davis (left adductor, hip spasm) and LeBron James (left calf contusion) as questionable for Monday’s home game against the Knicks, Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Christian Wood (non-COVID illness) is also listed as questionable.

Pacific Notes: Clippers, George, Vincent, Nurkic, Green, Durant

December 14th, 2023 at 10:56pm CST by Tristan Tucker

After trading for James Harden, the Clippers went through a rough patch while adjusting to incorporating another ball-dominant player. Star wing Paul George said that it’s a growing pain plenty of teams with several All-Stars have historically experienced.

“They all went through some sort of adversity, regardless of the talent,” George said. “It’s going to take some time because you got to find how to be yourself when your usage rate isn’t going to be as high as it used to be [or] the possessions you were going to have.”

Now, Los Angeles has flipped its fortunes. The team holds the NBA’s longest active win streak (five games entering Thursday) and has won 10 of its last 13. Janis Carr of The Orange County Register says the Clippers are finding the “new you” in themselves by re-imagining their games and playing freely.

“I mean that’s it. Just all of us just combining into the defensive end and just wanting to get things going on that end first and then letting, whatever the offense, take care of itself since we got so many scorers,” said star forward Kawhi Leonard.

Harden made headlines earlier in the season, saying that he didn’t feel like the Sixers let him play like himself, a problem he isn’t having in coach Tyronn Lue‘s system.

“[Lue] allows me to just be free, be who I am and, like I said previously, that’s not just scoring, but just me reading defenses, seeing the different game and putting Kawhi and PG in better positions or in the pick-and-roll with [Ivica Zubac] getting easy layups or [Daniel Theis] getting easy layups,” Harden said. “It is everything that I thought it would be. It’s taken a little time, but as far as me playing and the chemistry on the court … it’s getting where it needs to be.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

George sat out the second half of the Clippers‘ Tuesday win over the Kings with a sore left groin. According to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk, Lue said George could have come back in and played if needed. However, he was ruled out before L.A’s Thursday game against the Warriors with hip soreness (Twitter link via Los Angeles Times’ Andrew Greif). He’s considered day-to-day, according to Youngmisuk.
Lakers guard Gabe Vincent is ramping up during the team’s three-game road trip, with coach Darvin Ham saying “everything is going according to plan,” The Orange County Register’s Khobi Price writes. Vincent hasn’t played since Oct. 30 due to a left knee effusion. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Monday that Vincent was targeting a Dec. 18 return to play. He’s averaging 6.0 points and 3.0 assists this season.
Even after taking a hit to the face from Warriors forward Draymond Green that led to Green being suspended indefinitely, Suns center Jusuf Nurkic still holds the four-time All-Star in a high regard, according to Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “I have a lot of respect for him, obviously, even before this,” Nurkic said Wednesday. “I still have it. I don’t know what people go through. It’s not our problem, but he’s an NBA champion for me, Hall of Famer still.“
Suns star forward Kevin Durant also reacted to the altercation on Wednesday, expressing well wishes to Green. “I hope he gets the help he needs,” Durant said (Twitter link via Rankin). Durant and Green played on the Warriors from 2016-19, winning two championships together. “[The altercation] was insane to see,” Durant said. “Glad Nurk is alright. Never seen that on the basketball court in an NBA game.“

Warriors Notes: Moody, Thompson, Green, Paul, Payton

November 29th, 2023 at 5:19pm CST by Arthur Hill

Moses Moody hit several big shots in the fourth quarter Tuesday night, but he wasn’t on the floor for the closing minutes as the Warriors fell to the Kings. That’s something coach Steve Kerr may have to change if the third-year guard remains productive, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic.

Moody scored 11 points in the first seven minutes of the quarter, making all four of his shot attempts. However, Kerr opted to replace him with Andrew Wiggins with 4:26 remaining.

“Moses was awesome tonight,” Kerr said. “We needed (Wiggins) on the floor for defense against (De’Aaron) Fox, and we decided to go with Klay (Thompson) and our vets. We thought about keeping him out there. But we made the move that we made.”

Kerr’s loyalty to his veterans cost the Warriors an important division game and a possibly a chance to reach the in-season tournament quarterfinals, according to Marcus Thompson. With Moody and rookie Brandin Podziemski both playing well, Thompson believes Kerr will eventually have to trust them with a game on the line.

There’s more on the Warriors:

Stephen Curry remains as productive as ever, but Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are no longer playing at a championship level, contends Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. He notes that Thompson has been forcing shots and can’t stay in front of quicker players on defense, while Green’s intensity has been out of control lately, resulting in a five-game suspension for an incident with Rudy Gobert and a near ejection for mocking the officials in Tuesday’s game. O’Connor’s recommendation is for the Warriors to shake up their roster with a trade, using Chris Paul‘s salary and some of their young talent. He suggests targets such as the Raptors‘ Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, the Bulls‘ Alex Caruso, the Wizards‘ Kyle Kuzma, or possibly Lauri Markkanen from the Jazz or Kawhi Leonard or Paul George from the Clippers if those teams continue to struggle.
Golden State could be heading toward a difficult place with Thompson if he can’t shake his early-season slump, observes Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle. Thompson has an expiring contract, and if he can’t prove that he’s worth the four-year, $220MM extension that he reportedly expects, his only choices next summer will be to either leave the Warriors or re-sign for significantly less.
A pair of injuries added to the team’s woes in Tuesday’s loss, notes Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Paul was ruled out with lower left leg soreness shortly after halftime, and Gary Payton II hobbled to the locker room with a right calf injury late in the third quarter.

Pacific Notes: Clippers, Lyles, Murray, Reddish

November 23rd, 2023 at 4:02pm CST by Rory Maher

After losing six consecutive games, the Clippers have reeled off three straight victories, and they feel encouraged by their recent play, as Janis Carr of The Orange County Register relays.

“I think we’re in a good place. We kind of know at this point what the rotation is, and I think we’re getting in a rhythm,” Paul George said. “There’s consistency there, and I think that we’re in good shape. We liked how we looked offensively and defensively, and now it’s time to test it.”

The Clippers have been incorporating multiple new pieces after the trade to acquire James Harden and P.J. Tucker, plus the signing of reserve center Daniel Theis. Still, while they’ve played better of late, their past two victories came against the Spurs, who have the worst record in the West at 3-12. The upcoming schedule is more challenging, and Kawhi Leonard says there’s always room for improvement, Carr notes.

“We want to win every game and it shows that we’re getting better,” Leonard said after Wednesday’s win in San Antonio. “But like you said, we still got a lot to learn and to get better at. You guys could see at the end of that game, we had some careless turnovers, and they got some easy looks at the basket and wide-open layups. So, we got to buy in and figure that out.”

Here’s more from the Pacific:

Kings big man Trey Lyles, who had been dealing with a calf strain, made his 2023/24 season debut in Wednesday’s loss to New Orleans. Head coach Mike Brown said Lyles would immediately resume playing a similar amount of minutes as last season despite the layoff, according to Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). The 28-year-old finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in 28 minutes — he averaged 16.9 MPG in ’22/23.
Part of the reason Lyles played 28 minutes is because Kings forward Keegan Murray was sidelined with lower back soreness. Murray’s status for Friday’s contest in Minnesota is “uncertain,” but the injury isn’t expected to keep him out long term, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link).
Cam Reddish‘s MRI was “clean,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham told reporters, including ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link). Reddish, who was sidelined for Wednesday’s game with a groin injury, is considered day-to-day. Max Christie got the start in his place.