Pacific Notes: Hill, Giles, Chriss, Ball

If the trade rumors surrounding George Hill are true, the Kings would be parting with a valuable mentor for first-round pick De’Aaron Fox, writes Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. Hill’s playing time has been sporadic lately as coach Dave Joerger tries to commit more minutes to his younger guys. Hill is averaging 27.2 minutes and 10.5 points per game, both down significantly from last season in Utah.

“If it’s me with my leadership skills, if it’s me on the court, if it’s me in the weight room or the locker room,” Hill said. “Whatever, just try to do the best I can, stay professional in every situation and have fun doing it. There’s a reason why I’m here. God put me in this situation for a reason that I don’t know. So I’ve got to stay the course, trust the process and keep being a pro about it and figure it out on the fly.”

There’s more tonight from the Pacific Division:

• The Kings used an analytic approach to the Harry Giles situation before opting to shut down the rookie for the season, relays Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee. A franchise that has disdained analytics in the past researched Giles’ condition thoroughly before arriving at the decision. “We trusted modern sports medicine,” said assistant GM Brandon Williams. “That was the start of it. We knew we had to be careful because his ceiling is so high. Until you get to know Harry, you treat him as a fragile being. ‘Banged up. Went to Duke.’ We decided to wait for January, which is two years since his last [ACL] injury, and figure it out from there. What we learned these last few weeks was that the ACL is healed. Then the question became, ‘Do we push it?’”
• An injury to Suns forward Marquese Chriss appears worse than the team originally thought, according to Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. Chriss has missed four games with a right hip flexor strain and may need a second MRI. “I don’t really know what’s going on with it,” he said. “Some days it feels good, some days it doesn’t. I’ve been able to get on the floor to shoot. Running is the hardest thing to do right now. It’s frustrating that I’m not able to play.”
• Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball is making progress from a knee injury that has sidelined him for the past three games, but he still isn’t close to returning, tweets Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times. Coach Luke Walton said Ball is several steps away from playing again.