Injury Notes: AD, Rondo, Lillard, Westbrook, Lowry, More
Although he left Game 4 on Monday due to back spasms, Lakers star Anthony Davis is expected to be good to go on Wednesday and is being listed as probable on the injury report. However, point guard Rajon Rondo is still “banged up” and likely won’t play, per head coach Frank Vogel (Twitter links via Dave McMenamin of ESPN). Rondo is being listed as doubtful for Game 5.
Meanwhile, Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard, who has already been ruled out for Game 5 due to a right knee sprain, is unlikely to return this series even if Portland can extend it by a game or two, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. According to Haynes, Lillard is currently unable to extend his right leg.
Here are more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni said today that he still thinks Russell Westbrook could return in the first round, but it won’t happen on Wednesday, as the team has listed Westbrook as out for Game 5 vs. Oklahoma City (Twitter links via Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle).
- Raptors guard Kyle Lowry didn’t participate in practice on Tuesday and is considered day-to-day for the time being, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, who tweets that Lowry’s status for Game 1 vs. Boston on Thursday remains uncertain.
- Nuggets guard Gary Harris (hip), who was previously listed as questionable for Game 5 against Utah tonight, has been downgraded to out, the team announced (via Twitter). With Denver trailing 3-1 in the series, it’s possible Harris won’t return this season.
- Heat wing Jimmy Butler has been battling a left shoulder strain but doesn’t expect the issue to limit him going forward, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN.com. Head coach Erik Spoelstra, who referred to it as a “soft-tissue” injury, said no MRI is scheduled for now.
- Magic forward Aaron Gordon (hamstring) appears unlikely to be ready for Game 5 on Wednesday, according to head coach Steve Clifford, who says that Gordon is still unable to sprint up and down the court and the team doesn’t want to risk him suffering a more serious injury (Twitter links via Roy Parry of The Orlando Sentinel).
Western Notes: Porzingis, Lakers, Warriors, Eliyahu
Mavericks star forward Kristaps Porzingis was a late scratch for Game 4 of the first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. He’s listed as questionable for Tuesday’s pivotal Game 5 and will likely be a game-time decision, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. An MRI revealed no structural damage to Porzingis’ knee.
“Look, a lot of this is going to be hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute type stuff, probably into the later stages of tomorrow,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- The Lakers’ guard rotation is still in flux, Anthony Slater of The Athletic notes. J.R. Smith hasn’t shown much while getting playing time the last two playoff games. A longer look at Dion Waiters may be warranted, according to Slater, at least until Rajon Rondo returns. Rondo was supposed to play in Game 3 on Saturday but was a late scratch due to back spasms.
- The Warriors saved some money by getting the No. 2 pick in the draft lottery rather than the top spot. They’ll save approximately $4MM toward the luxury tax for next season, if the rookie scale remains the same, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets.
- The Warriors hold the rights to Israeli forward Lior Eliyahu but he’s retiring, Sportando’s Alessandro Maggi relays. He won several championships overseas during his career and played most recently of Maccabi Ashdod. Eliyahu, 34, was drafted in the second round by Magic in 2006 and his rights were traded numerous times.
Injury Notes: Lowry, Westbrook, Magic, Porzingis, Rondo
A foot injury suffered by Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry was the only blemish on Toronto’s blowout win of Brooklyn on Sunday, as the team completed its sweep and advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
According to Andrew Lopez of ESPN, Lowry was scheduled to undergo an MRI on the arch of his left foot after turning his ankle early in the Raptors’ win on Sunday. Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca tweets that Lowry had that MRI last night and the team is expected to provide an update on his status at some point on Monday.
The Raptors’ second-round series against Boston is scheduled to get underway this Thursday, so if Lowry’s injury is considered a day-to-day issue, he’ll have some time to get ready for Game 1. The Raptors had no issue beating the Nets without Lowry on Sunday, but will need him back in the lineup to increase their chances of getting past Boston and returning to the Eastern Finals.
[UPDATE: Kyle Lowry Has Ankle Sprain, No Timeline Provided For Return]
Here are more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Rockets guard Russell Westbrook, who is on the shelf with a quad strain, stepped up his workouts on Sunday, but has been ruled out for Game 4 on Monday, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Westbrook did on-court work, including quick stops and starts, yesterday, per Feigen.
- Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Michael Carter-Williams (foot) will remain sidelined for the Magic in Game 4 against Milwaukee this afternoon, the team announced (via Twitter). Neither player has been active for a playoff game so far.
- Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis was set to undergo an MRI on his right knee on Sunday, per head coach Rick Carlisle. As Tim MaMahon of ESPN tweets, Porzingis’ status for Game 5 on Tuesday remains up in the air.
- Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo is ready to return from his thumb injury, but has been nagged by back spasms in recent days. After being scratched for Game 3, Rondo is listed as doubtful for Game 4 on Monday, per the NBA’s official injury report.
Rajon Rondo Will Be Active For Game 3
Lakers coach Frank Vogel confirms that point guard Rajon Rondo will be on the active roster for tonight’s game, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
Rondo, who hasn’t played in a game since March 10, has been sidelined since suffering a broken right thumb that required surgery shortly after the team arrived in Orlando. He returned to the Disney World campus earlier this month and cleared quarantine shortly before the start of the series with the Trail Blazers.
Rondo will be a welcome addition for a Lakers backcourt that is missing defensive specialist Avery Bradley and that turned in a poor shooting performance in a Game 1 loss. Rondo averaged 7.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 48 games this season and has a history of impressive playoff performances.
California Notes: Beverley, Warriors, Kings, Rondo
Clippers head coach Doc Rivers has confirmed that starting point guard Patrick Beverley will remain unavailable for tonight’s third game in L.A.’s playoff quarterfinals series against the Mavericks, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link).
Beverley’s calf injury has now restricted him from playing in seven of the team’s last eight games. He appeared for just 20 minutes in the Clippers’ playoff opener, a 118-110 win over Dallas. Though Reggie Jackson started in Beverley’s stead for the team’s 127-114 game two loss to the Mavericks, Landry Shamet will replace Jackson as the team’s starting point guard, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Here are more news items and notes for California’s NBA teams:
- Warriors president of basketball operations Bob Myers has yet to tip his hand as to whether or not the team will draft a new young player with the No. 2 pick in the 2020 draft or package it in the trade for a skilled veteran, Nick Friedell of ESPN tweets. “I don’t think I’ll know that anytime soon,” Myers said. Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area posits that the Warriors, just one year removed from five consecutive NBA Finals runs, should move the pick for instant help, due to both the age of core Warriors Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, and the lack of a clear future superstar in this year’s draft.
- The Kings should prioritize talent over need with the No. 12 pick in this year’s NBA draft, writes Jason Jones of The Athletic. Jones examines five prospects who could help Sacramento, including Villanova forward Saddiq Bey, Florida State guard Devin Vassell, and Vassell’s teammate, forward Patrick Williams.
- Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo, still recovering from a July 16 thumb surgery, has been listed as merely “questionable” for the third game in the team’s playoff series against the Trail Blazers on Saturday, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). With starting guard Avery Bradley opting out of the NBA’s Orlando restart and Rondo injured, the Lakers have been fairly short-handed at the point.
Vogel On Rondo, Starters, Waiters, Smith
Though the Lakers suffered a surprising 100-93 loss to the Trail Blazers in the first game of their conference quarterfinals series on Tuesday, head coach Frank Vogel has indicated that he will not make any adjustments to his current starting lineup ahead of tonight’s second “home” game, according to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).
On Tuesday, the Lakers started All-Star forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis, along with center JaVale McGee, and guards Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
McGee played just 12 minutes on Tuesday. Backup power forward Kyle Kuzma, meanwhile, logged 30 minutes of game action, with Davis shifting to a center role when playing alongside Kuzma. Point guard Alex Caruso played 29 minutes off the bench, the same amount of time as Caldwell-Pope and six more minutes than sharpshooter Green.
Backup center Dwight Howard and power forward Markieff Morris also logged more time than McGee, a solid post defender without much offensive range. Starting Davis at center, with either Kuzma or Caruso replacing McGee in the starting lineup, could present a unique opportunity for the Lakers to spread the floor against Portland.
Backup point guard Rajon Rondo, who has been recovering from a fractured right thumb suffered five weeks ago, will remain inactive for tonight’s game. Rondo was medically cleared for action on August 17. Rondo had the thumb surgically repaired on July 16. He has yet to suit up for the Lakers during the team’s summer games.
Vogel also noted that he will find playing time for recent waiver additions Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith, per Mark Medina of USA Today (Twitter link). In the first game of the series, Waiters saw the court for just one minute, and took no field goal attempts, while Smith did not play at all.
Injury Updates: Dort, Harris, Beverley, Magic, Rondo, Hayward
After initially being ruled out for Game 2 vs. Houston, Thunder wing Luguentz Dort was updated to questionable and is now being considered available, head coach Billy Donovan confirmed today (Twitter link via Royce Young of ESPN). One of Oklahoma City’s top defenders, Dort will look to help slow James Harden.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Nuggets guard Gary Harris will remain sidelined for Game 3 against Utah, but head coach Michael Malone believes Harris is moving in the right direction, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. While he acknowledged that it’d be great to have Harris back during Denver’s first-round series if possible, Malone added that the team doesn’t want to put pressure on him by setting a specific timetable.
- Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said he doesn’t have a sense of the severity of Patrick Beverley‘s calf injury, which caused him to miss Game 2 vs. Dallas on Wednesday. “Obviously it is something that has lingered,” Rivers said, per Youngmisuk. “But I have no sense whether he plays next game or if this is one of those things that takes a week or so. I just don’t know.” Beverley will likely be a game-time decision on Friday, according to Rivers (Twitter link via Youngmisuk).
- Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Michael Carter-Williams (foot) will be on the shelf again for the Magic in Game 2 vs. Milwaukee today, according to the team (Twitter link). Neither player has been active since early August.
- Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo, who hasn’t played this summer due to a fractured thumb, is listed as questionable for Game 2 vs. Portland on Thursday night, tweets Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times.
- The Celtics are “aggressively treating” Gordon Hayward‘s ankle sprain, head coach Brad Stevens said on Wednesday (Twitter link). The club should have a better idea within the next few days of what the next steps for Hayward’s rehab will be. The veteran forward is expected to miss about four weeks.
Rajon Rondo Clears Quarantine, Nears Return
3:20pm: Rondo has been medically cleared to play but is unlikely to see any action in Game 1 against Portland, Vogel said today (Twitter link via McMenamin).
9:05am: Approximately five weeks after suffering a fractured right thumb, Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo is back on the NBA’s campus at Walt Disney World and is set to clear his four-day quarantine on Monday, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. However, as McMenamin notes, it’s not yet clear when Rondo will be able to play.
“I’m not sure exactly when he’s going to be available to be in uniform,” head coach Frank Vogel said during a Sunday conference call. “We’ll get him on the court and see where he’s at. But no specific timetable yet on him.”
When Rondo underwent surgery on his fractured thumb on July 16, the team estimated that he would return to basketball activities in about six-to-eight weeks. That means he still may be at least a week or two away from returning to the court.
Teammate Anthony Davis suggested as much on Sunday, telling reporters that Rondo is “not going to be on the floor with us” for L.A.’s first-round series against Portland, as McMenamin relays. However, AD added that the veteran point guard will “be there helping us out.” According to McMenamin, Vogel said on Sunday that Rondo has actively participated in the club’s coaches’ meetings since being injured.
Without Rondo and guard Avery Bradley – who opted out of the NBA’s restart – the Lakers will continue to lean more heavily on Alex Caruso, Dion Waiters, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (assuming he’s fully healthy), with J.R. Smith and Quinn Cook also moving up on the depth chart.
Lakers Notes: Rotation, McGee, LeBron, Rondo
The Lakers have wrapped up the top seed in the West, but they haven’t looked like the team they were before the break, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Saturday’s loss to the Pacers dropped L.A. to 2-4 in Orlando, and the problems go beyond a mediocre record.
Avery Bradley opted out of the restart, leaving a huge hole in the perimeter defense, and Rajon Rondo was lost to thumb surgery. Newcomers J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters were both left on the bench against Indiana, while Danny Green sat out the game with a sore hip. That meant Alex Caruso started, with Jared Dudley, Quinn Cook and rookie Talen Horton-Tucker seeing back-up minutes.
“This is a different situation than any situation I’ve been in, so it’s kind of hard to say, ‘OK, playoffs are right around the corner, this is where we’re gonna be.’ We’re literally in a bubble. It’s kind of hard to explain,” LeBron James said after the game. “Obviously you want to be playing great basketball going into the playoffs. It’s exactly what you should be doing and what you want to do.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- Center JaVale McGee was back on the court Saturday after being benched in Thursday’s loss, but he turned in another sub-par performance with five points and four rebounds in 13 minutes, observes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. McGee hasn’t been the same since the hiatus, and the starting lineup hasn’t been effective in the five games he has played in Orlando. “That lineup has struggled, but I don’t feel like JaVale has been off his game,” said coach Frank Vogel. “In fact, when we had our intrasquad scrimmages before scrimmages against other teams, we were keeping stats on all our scrimmages and he was shooting 85 percent in those games. So I’m not worried about his play at all.”
- James was one of the first players to speak out against the idea of playing in empty arenas when the idea was being considered in March, but he’s adapting to the atmosphere at Walt Disney World, notes Mark Medina of USA Today. James calls it a “very weird dynamic” and said he hasn’t played without fans since before high school. “I definitely love playing in front of the fans. The fans are what make the game,” he said. “Without the fans, I wouldn’t be who I am today. To all the fans out there that come watch me play, I miss you guys and hopefully someday I can get back to that interaction.”
- The Lakers are hopeful that Rondo can rejoin the team sometime in the first round of the playoffs, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Pacific Notes: Fox, Warren, Waiters, Williams
De’Aaron Fox becomes eligible for his rookie scale extension this offseason and he’s strengthening his case for a high-end offer. Even though the Kings lost their first three games during the restart, their potent point guard averaged 26.7 PPG and 6.0 APG, James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area notes. He followed that up with a 30-point, 10-assist outing in the Kings’ victory over the Pelicans on Thursday.
“I definitely feel confident that we’re seeing what kind of player we’re going to have here as the future plays out,” Kings coach Luke Walton said of Fox.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- T.J. Warren‘s explosive scoring has been one of the biggest stories of the restart. The Suns traded him to the Pacers last offseason in a salary dump but Warren claims to harbor no grudges against his former team, as IndianaSportsCoverage.com relays. “I don’t have no ill blood between anybody,” he said. “I’m just fortunate enough to be doing what I’m doing, playing basketball at the highest level. With me, it’s all love.” Warren has two years and $24.5MM remaining on his contract, which is increasingly looking like a bargain.
- Dion Waiters has been getting steady playing time with the Lakers as Rajon Rondo mends from a thumb injury, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register notes. Waiters is averaging 10 PPG during the restart despite shooting poorly from 3-point range. “Situation like that, you just try to take full advantage of it ’til Rondo get back and things like that,” Waiters said. The enigmatic guard was signed by the Lakers for the remainder of the season just prior to the suspension of play in March.
- Clippers guard Lou Williams took a lot of flack for visiting an Atlanta strip club after temporarily leaving the Orlando campus and he admits to making a bad decision, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes. “It’s been documented how much I talk about this place, how much I eat there,” Williams said of Magic City. “I just did something that was routine for me. … At the time, I thought I was making a responsible decision. After looking back on it, with everything going on in the world, the pandemic, maybe it wasn’t the best-quality decision.” Williams is back in action after clearing quarantine.