Pacific Notes: Fox, Reddish, Hachimura, Clippers Offense, Robinson
De’Aaron Fox has gone on a scoring binge for the shorthanded Kings, erupting for 109 points and 16 assists over the last two games. Fox became just the third player in NBA history to score at least 109 total points across back-to-back games.
“There’s not a single person in this league that can stop him from getting to the spots where he wants to (get to),” Kings coach Mike Brown said, per Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee. “I think he’s feeling that. And not only is he feeling that, but he’s showing that.”
As we noted last month, Fox is aiming for a potential extension next offseason after passing on a new deal this past summer.
We have more on the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers played without forwards Cam Reddish and Rui Hachimura on Saturday. Reddish was a late scratch because of a right peroneal strain – irritation or inflammation in the tendons that run along the outside of a person’s ankle and foot, according to Khobi Price of the Orange County Register. Hachimura missed his second consecutive game due to an ankle injury.
- The Clippers entered Sunday’s game saddled with a three-game losing streak, including back-to-back defeats to Houston. They shot 39.6 percent from the field in the first of those losses to Houston and 37.8% from the field in the rematch. “They were physical, they took us out of what we wanted to do,” swingman Norman Powell told Janis Carr of the Orange County Register.
- Orlando Robinson made his Kings debut on Saturday, contributing six points and three rebounds in 12 minutes. Robinson suffered a left MCL sprain in early October. “I’ve been feeling good,” Robinson said in a video posted by Kings radio reporter Sean Cunningham. “I’m almost back to how I was before training camp started and I’m looking forward to getting back to that point so I can contribute to winning.” Robinson signed a one-year contract with Sacramento during the summer.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Christie, Draymond, Waters, Fox, Kings
After losing four of their first five road games of the season, the Lakers were encouraged by their performance on Friday in San Antonio, writes Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. Anthony Davis scored 40 points and LeBron James set a personal record with his fourth consecutive triple-double as L.A. pulled out a five-point victory over the Spurs.
“That’s what we want to do,” Davis said. “We want to be just as good of a road team as we are a home team. And we can’t do that if we don’t come out and compete. We’ve been just a different team when we’ve been out on the road. The way we compete, share the ball, play together at home, is totally different than when we get on the other side on the road. So we did that tonight.”
As Woike writes, the play of reserve wing Max Christie was another positive sign for the Lakers. After falling out of the rotation as of late, Christie logged a season-high 30 minutes on Friday with Rui Hachimura out due to a sprained right ankle and was a plus-23 in those minutes, contributing 11 points, three rebounds, and a pair of steals. the 21-year-old said it helped to know that head coach J.J. Redick still had faith in him.
“He has a lot of belief in a lot of us and I think he definitely has a lot of belief in me and I can appreciate that coming from a head coach,” Christie said. “I know you know how I can play and I think tonight was a very good example of that, when I’m just out there playing free, playing the way I know I can play instead of just trying to over-complicate things.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Draymond Green‘s foul on Zach Edey in the third quarter of the Warriors‘ win over the Grizzlies on Friday has been upgraded to a flagrant 1, the league announced today (via Twitter). As Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes, the Grizzlies were upset that the foul wasn’t reviewed at the time after Green appeared to pin Edey’s lower leg to his body using his elbow and forearm, causing the big man to trip (video link). “It definitely wasn’t a basketball play,” Edey said.
- Lindy Waters earned his second start of the season for the Warriors on Friday night, but left the game late in the first half and didn’t return after hyperextending his left knee while blocking a shot (video link). Brandin Podziemski started the second half in Waters’ place, notes Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).
- Kings guard De’Aaron Fox blew past his previous career high of 44 points by pouring in a franchise-high 60 in a loss to Minnesota on Friday. Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee has the story, including quotes from Fox, his teammates, and head coach Mike Brown. “He’s an All-Star and the sky is the limit for him,” Brown said. “He knew we needed help. He put us on his back, and he almost carried us to the finish line, but he did everything in his power to get us there.”
- The Kings will be missing a pair of stars on Saturday vs. Utah, as both Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan have been ruled out due to lower back tightness (Twitter link via Anderson). It’s DeRozan’s second consecutive missed game.
Injury Notes: Knicks, Hawks, Pelicans, DeRozan, Carter
Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns was ruled out of Friday’s win vs. Brooklyn after initially being listed as questionable, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. Towns sustained a left knee contusion after bumping into Zach LaVine on Wednesday.
Backup guard Miles McBride was also downgraded from questionable to out on Friday due to an illness. McBride has been battling knee soreness as well, Bondy adds.
Head coach Tom Thibodeau provided another injury update on Precious Achiuwa prior to Friday’s contest. As Bondy notes, Achiuwa is nearing the four-week mark on his hamstring strain, which has prevented him from suiting up in 2024/25. Thibodeau said on Wednesday that Achiuwa still hasn’t been cleared for practice.
“He’s reevaluated every day,” Thibodeau said. “So yes, he has been reevaluated. The depth of it, I’m not sure. I know they’ve increased his activity. I think that part is good. With the hamstring, we just want to make sure it’s not a problem that will linger.”
Here are some more injury notes from around the NBA:
- A trio of injured guards — Bogdan Bogdanovic (hamstring), Kobe Bufkin (shoulder) and Vit Krejci (adductor) — were assigned to the Hawks‘ G League affiliate on Friday to get some practice reps in, tweets Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. All three players are expected to travel with Atlanta for the team’s upcoming four-game road trip, which begins on Sunday in Portland and ends on Friday in Chicago, so there’s a chance they could return next week.
- The Pelicans finally received some good injury news on Friday, according to Christian Clark of NOLA.com, who tweets that CJ McCollum has progressed to playing 5-on-5 and is getting close to returning from a right adductor strain. However, the news wasn’t all positive, as second-year guard Jordan Hawkins (low back strain) and defensive stalwart Herbert Jones (right shoulder) have not yet been cleared for contact work.
- Kings forward DeMar DeRozan missed his first game of the season on Friday vs. Minnesota due to lower back tightness, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. DeRozan exited Wednesday’s game with the injury, was unable to practice on Thursday (Twitter link via James Ham of The Kings Beat), and also did not participate in Friday’s shootaround, per Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 KTXL (Twitter link).
- Magic big man Wendell Carter Jr. missed his seventh straight game on Friday due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot. Head coach Jamahl Mosley said Orlando’s starting center has been receiving treatment and is “progressing,” albeit “slowly,” according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). “(Carter’s) been on the bike. He’s doing some spot shooting,” Mosley said.
Injury Notes: Butler, Kyrie, Nets, S. Barnes, O. Robinson
Heat forward Jimmy Butler will miss his third straight game in Indiana on Friday as he continues to recover from a right ankle sprain, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Butler, who sustained the injury in the first quarter of last Friday’s loss in Denver, did not practice on Thursday.
While the Heat will be playing without their six-time All-Star, they expect to have another injured player available. Third-year forward Nikola Jovic was limited to just three minutes in Tuesday’s overtime loss to Detroit due to a broken nose, but he should be ready to go on Friday with the assistance of a protective mask, Winderman writes.
Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:
- Guard Kyrie Irving was added to the Mavericks‘ injury report ahead of Thursday’s matchup in Utah, tweets Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal. Irving, who is off to an excellent individual start to the season, is listed as questionable due to a right shoulder strain. He has yet to miss a game in 2024/25.
- Nets swingman Ben Simmons (left calf tightness) underwent an MRI on Thursday and the prognosis is positive. According to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter links), Simmons’ MRI revealed no structural damage and he will be active for Friday’s contest vs. New York. Forward Dorian Finney-Smith (left ankle sprain) is probable for Friday’s contest, while center Nic Claxton is questionable due to a lower back strain.
- Raptors forward Scottie Barnes was spotted in a mask during Thursday’s practice as he recovers from a fractured orbital bone. However, he was limited to non-contact work and is still about a week away from being reevaluated, as Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca relays (via Twitter).
- Kings center Orlando Robinson, who was recently cleared for contact, has been assigned to Sacramento’s G League affiliate in Stockton to get some conditioning work in, tweets James Ham of The Kings Beat. Robinson is on the mend from a left MCL sprain he sustained during training camp. The third-year big man has yet to make his ’24/25 season debut.
Pacific Notes: Kings, DeRozan, James, Beal
Kings sixth man Malik Monk is out at least two weeks due to a right ankle sprain. Who will fill his role? It’ll be a collective effort, according to Kings head coach Mike Brown.
Sacramento lost by 20 points to the Spurs on Monday and the reserves were outscored 37-21.
“We’re definitely going to have to collectively step up,” Brown told Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. “There’s not one guy that can do it.”
Keon Ellis, Jordan McLaughlin, Doug McDermott, Trey Lyles and Alex Len are the reserves that Sacramento will rely on with Monk on the shelf. The backups accounted for 46 points in a 23-point win over Phoenix on Wednesday.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Kings swingman DeMar DeRozan departed Wednesday’s game with lower back tightness, Anderson tweets. Acquired by Sacramento in a sign-and-trade, DeRozan is averaging 22.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 12 starts. DeRozan, 35, played 79 games for Chicago last season.
- LeBron James continues to pile up records and milestones. The Lakers superstar reached another one on Wednesday, becoming the oldest player in NBA history to record three straight triple-doubles. James, who will turn 40 next month, had 35 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds in a win over Memphis. “Just being very patient and taking what the defense gives me,” James said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I’ve been doing it for a while. So, I understand time and score. I understand the waves and the swings of the game. So, it’s nothing new to me.”
- Bradley Beal‘s first season with the Suns was marred by injuries and under-performance. He admitted to The Athletic’s Fred Katz that it took a mental toll on him. “I was in a funk (last season),” Beal said. “Not gonna lie. I was in a funk.” Part of the reason was the lack of a true point guard. “We didn’t love it as a team (last season),” Beal said. “The dynamic we had — we didn’t have a (point guard), which everybody crucified us on. It was tough. It was very tough. Everybody was kinda out of position last year, not necessarily what made them who they are.” Beal had 28 points in an overtime loss to Sacramento on Sunday and 24 points in a win over Utah on Tuesday but didn’t play against Sacramento on Wednesday due to a calf injury.
Kings’ Top Reserve Malik Monk Out At Least Two Weeks
Malik Monk didn’t play against San Antonio on Monday and the Kings guard will miss several more games. He has been diagnosed with a moderate right ankle sprain and will be reevaluated in two weeks, according to James Ham of The Kings Beat via a team press release (Twitter link).
X-rays revealed no structural damage to the ankle, which he injured during the second quarter against Phoenix on Sunday.
Monk, one of the NBA’s top reserves, is averaging 12.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 10 games this season. He had a career year last season, averaging 15.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 72 games off the bench. Monk parlayed that into a four-year, $78MM contract during free agency over the summer.
The Kings also offered two other injury updates. Big man Orlando Robinson is progressing from the left MCL sprain he suffered during training camp on Oct. 3. He has been cleared for contact and the team will update his status in the coming days.
First-round pick Devin Carter is progressing from left shoulder surgery he underwent in July. After a four-month follow-up appointment with a medical specialist, he was cleared for unrestricted shooting. Additional updates will be provided in January. The club offered a timetable of six months following the surgery.
Malik Monk To Miss At Least One Game After Hurting Ankle
- Kings guard Malik Monk will miss tonight’s game with an ankle injury that’s still being evaluated, sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link). He had to leave Sunday’s contest in the first half after hurting the ankle.
Pacific Notes: Powell, Russell, Lakers, Durant, Huerter
The Clippers‘ replacement for Paul George appears to be Norman Powell through the early part of the 2024/25 season, The Athletic’s Law Murray writes. In a recent win over George’s Sixers, Powell hit six threes en route to 26 points.
Having never averaged more than 19.0 points per game in a season entering 2024/25, Powell is putting up 25.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists on a scorching .516/.494/.861 shooting line so far.
“I’ve always envisioned myself being in this position and wanting the opportunity,” Powell said Wednesday night. “Learning from when I was in Toronto with Kyle (Lowry) and DeMar (DeRozan), learning from Dame (Lillard) and CJ (McCollum), learning from PG and Kawhi (Leonard). Being around those top guys and just getting game and knowledge from them in the summer. Going up against them, battling, and just wanting that.”
Powell was acquired by the Clippers from the Trail Blazers at the 2022 trade deadline and he’s in the fourth year of a five-year, $90MM contract he signed with Portland. He’s on the books for $19.2MM this season and $20.5MM next year.
Powell, who finished fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting in each of his two full seasons in Los Angeles, averaged 15.3 points on 10.9 shot attempts per game during that stretch. Through the early portion of this season, he’s taking 17.4 field goal attempts per game in the wake of George’s departure.
“I saw it as addition by subtraction,” Powell said at Clippers media day about George’s exit. “I was excited. I think what I’ve said in this media day every single year since being here is, I want to be the starting two guard, and the opportunity is in front of me. I prepared myself. I’ve always seen myself as a starter in this league. I feel like I put the work in. I feel like the numbers show for itself when I am starting and what the output is. So I’m excited to take on that role and the pressures that come with it. The good, bad and ugly.”
In a similar piece, Janis Carr of The Orange County Register details Powell’s quest for perfection. Powell recorded his first career double-double on Friday with 31 points and 12 rebounds.
“I have my own mentality and approach to the game, like nothing really changes no matter what role I’m in. I’ve said it multiple times,” Powell said. “I’ve got high expectations for myself. I always see myself as a starter, as a top guy in the league that can come out and help any team win no matter where I’m at.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- As we relayed Friday, Cam Reddish took D’Angelo Russell‘s spot in the Lakers‘ starting five. Russell was moved to the bench last season when the team began to lose too, but his connection with then-coach Darvin Ham suffered, Dave McMenamin writes of ESPN. This time with JJ Redick coaching the team, Russell is approaching the situation with a different mentality. “I left all that, all my baggage at the door this summer once we changed coaches and new staff came in,” Russell said. “I was committed to whatever it takes. That’s what y’all see now.”
- The Lakers are expected to be active on the trade market after a 5-4 start with a 24th-ranked defense, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report relays. Fischer names Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez and Washington’s Jonas Valanciunas as two targets on L.A.’s “internal board,” with Russell potentially being available as outgoing salary.
- The Suns are unleashing Kevin Durant by allowing him to embrace coach Mike Budenholzer‘s three-point heavy approach, Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports writes. Durant has helped lead the Suns to an 8-1 record to begin the year by averaging 27.6 PPG on .553/.429/.836 shooting. He’s also averaging 5.0 points per game in clutch minutes, making 63.2% of his field goals in those situations.
- While Durant’s star power is propelling the Suns, they’re getting another boost in Royce O’Neale‘s play, The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin writes. O’Neale is shooting 52.6% on three-pointers so far this season and is first off the bench, and Rankin writes he’s looking like an early Sixth Man of the Year candidate. O’Neale signed a four-year contract this past offseason.
- Kings guard Kevin Huerter missed two games due to an illness last week and FOX40’s Sean Cunningham tweets that he’s still feeling the effects after returning. Huerter is averaging 10.4 PPG for the Kings and has played two games since returning to the team.
Raptors Notes: Agbaji, Mitchell, Walter, Mogbo, DeRozan
The Raptors acquired Ochai Agbaji alongside Kelly Olynyk at last season’s trade deadline, and he’s looking like a steal while he blossoms in his third season in the league, Sportsnet.ca’s Michael Grange writes. In nine games (seven starts), Agbaji is averaging 13.0 points and 4.4 rebounds while shooting 56.8% from the field and 42.4% on three-pointers. He’s impressing as a two-way option on the wing.
“He’s been really good for us on defense. I’d say that’s his biggest strength, his activity there, his versatility there,” teammate Jakob Poeltl said. “He’s filling a kind of little-bit-of-everything role on offence for us, where he’s doing a lot of good cutting, spacing the corners for threes and stuff like that. Being aggressive in the fast break. So, yeah, we need more of that.”
According to Grange, the Raptors liked Agbaji in the 2022 draft, but he was selected 14th overall and Toronto didn’t control its own first-round pick. Equipped at last season’s trade deadline with the projected No. 31 overall pick in 2025 from the OG Anunoby trade, Toronto was prepared to give up the draft capital necessary (No. 29 overall) to acquire Olynyk and take a shot on Agbaji.
Agbaji’s current scoring average is more than double what he posted last season and Grange writes that he put in a ton of work this offseason in mini-camps and alongside Gradey Dick.
“Everyone had their own path,” Agbaji said. “Some guys figure it out in two minutes, some people it’s two years, three years or even longer. But I feel like the work I put in this off-season has prepared me for this moment and the work I continuously put in is for the rest of my career, really. This is just the starting point, and I’m going to try and keep it going and stay focused on what I need to do every single night to get myself to that level I’m capable of playing.”
We have more from the Raptors:
- Davion Mitchell‘s ultimate fit with the Raptors is still yet to be determined, but he’s making the most of his opportunities so far, Grange writes in a separate story. Acquired in a trade that sent Jalen McDaniels to Sacramento, Mitchell has been one of the team’s more productive players through the early part of the season. He has started the past eight games with Immanuel Quickley out, averaging 10.0 PPG and 6.3 APG. Once is Quickley back – and with rookie Jamal Shead impressing early on – it’s unclear what Mitchell’s role will look like, Grange writes, but the fourth-year guard has graded out as the best perimeter defender in the league so far this fall.
- Both Ja’Kobe Walter and Jonathan Mogbo, the Nos. 19 and 31 overall picks in this year’s draft, respectively, exited the Raptors’ Wednesday game against the Kings with injuries. Walter re-aggravated the shoulder injury that caused him to miss training camp and the first five games of the season, with leaves him with a day-to-day designation, Grange details in the same piece. Mogbo suffered a hip pointer, and the duration of his injury is unclear.
- Despite an awkward ending to his Raptors tenure that saw him traded to the Spurs in 2018, Kings forward DeMar DeRozan still feels a strong bond with the franchise, The Athletic’s Eric Koreen writes. “I just feel like it, I’m embedded there — it’s a second-nature thing,” DeRozan said. “Anything the Raptors need [from] me, I feel like I’m an extension of that family for the rest of my life.“
Largest Trade Exceptions Available This Season
Ahead of the NBA’s 2025 trade deadline, it’s worth keeping in mind which teams hold traded player exceptions that could come in handy to grease the wheels on an in-season deal.
As we explain in our glossary, a traded player exception allows a team to take on salary in a trade without sending out any salary in return. The amount of the exception (plus $250K for non-apron teams) is the amount of salary the team is permitted to take back without salary-matching – either in a single deal or in multiple trades – for one year.
For instance, a team with a $10MM trade exception could acquire a player earning $4MM and a second player earning $6MM without having to worry about sending out any outgoing salary.
In recent years, sizable traded player exceptions have served as wild cards that helped accommodate both pre-deadline and offseason deals. For example, after creating a $9.5MM trade exception when they sent Royce O’Neale to the Suns ahead of the 2024 trade deadline, the Nets used that TPE to acquire Ziaire Williams and a future draft pick in an offseason trade that allowed Memphis to shed some salary.
Many trade exceptions expire without being used, but as our tracker shows, there are several sizable ones available this season that could be useful when trade season begins in earnest.
Here are the 15 biggest trade exceptions around the NBA for now, along with their expiry dates in parentheses:
- Atlanta Hawks: $25,266,266 (7/7/25)
- Brooklyn Nets: $23,300,000 (7/7/25)
- Chicago Bulls: $17,506,232 (7/8/25)
- Dallas Mavericks: $16,193,183 (7/7/25)
- Memphis Grizzlies: $12,600,000 (2/3/25)
- Washington Wizards: $12,402,000 (2/10/25)
- New Orleans Pelicans: $9,900,000 (7/7/25)
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $8,780,488 (7/7/25)
- Portland Trail Blazers: $6,875,000 (7/7/25)
- Miami Heat: $6,477,319 (1/23/25)
- Sacramento Kings: $6,341,464 (6/30/25)
- Memphis Grizzlies: $6,133,005 (7/21/25)
- Sacramento Kings: $5,893,768 (7/8/25)
- New Orleans Pelicans: $5,722,116 (1/17/25)
- Denver Nuggets: $5,250,000 (7/7/25)
A number of these trade exceptions are more likely to be used next offseason, when teams could have more cap flexibility, than during the current season, when so many clubs are within spitting distance of the luxury tax line or a hard cap.
For example, using even a small portion of that $25MM+ exception during the season would push the Hawks‘ team salary into tax territory, but with several contracts coming off their books next summer, they’d be in a better position to take on a big salary at that time.
The exceptions that expire before next offseason are the ones to watch more closely during the season. That $12MM+ Wizards TPE is especially intriguing, since Washington is one of the few teams with plenty of breathing room below the tax threshold. They could use nearly all of that exception at the deadline and still avoid becoming a taxpayer.
The two TPEs listed in italics can’t be used at all, since the Heat are currently operating over the first tax apron, while the Timberwolves are over the second apron. Apron teams are prohibited from using trade exceptions that were generated during the prior season (like Miami’s) or that were created by sending out a player via sign-and-trade (like Minnesota’s).
It’s worth noting that some of these exceptions may be used in a deal that could otherwise be completed using salary matching. For example, a team with a $12MM trade exception that swaps one $10MM player for another could use the exception to take on the incoming player and create a new $10MM exception using the outgoing player.
Given tax and apron considerations, we may see some deals along those lines during the season, since using a TPE in that manner would allow a team to essentially roll it over for another year.