It’s no coincidence that Kings players lead the league with the fewest games missed due to injury, writes Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. Good fortune plays a role, but there’s also a team philosophy that rejects the idea of load management.
Domantas Sabonis is among the players who typify that attitude, Biderman notes. Sabonis only missed one game when he suffered an avulsion fracture to his non-shooting thumb in December and another due to illness in January. Sabonis may need surgery on his thumb, but he refuses to consider it until the season ends and has been playing with a wrap and splint on his right hand.
“We need to win games,” Sabonis said. “We need to put ourselves in the best position for playoffs. If I miss a game and we lose, I’ll never forgive myself.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Wenyen Gabriel played virtually the entire fourth quarter Friday night in the Lakers‘ loss to the Mavericks, per Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Gabriel was frequently used to double team Kyrie Irving and cut down on his scoring opportunities. “He has a great, great nose for the ball,” coach Darvin Ham said. “(He had) 11 rebounds. He tries to defend, tries to protect the rim. … He’s just a spark plug, another one of our spark plugs. His size, his ability to run up and down the floor, clean up loose balls, and get offensive rebounds and putbacks. Really defends well. And he showed all of that tonight. That’s why we stayed with him.”
- Jordan Poole, whose four-year extension begins next season, has been alternating between brilliant and exasperating, observes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. Monte Poole points out that coming into tonight, the Warriors guard has been a minus-50 over his last six games and he failed to deliver Friday night when four rotation players were sitting out the first game of a back-to-back.
- The Suns won’t have center Deandre Ayton for Sunday’s game at Oklahoma City due to a right hip contusion, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Ayton didn’t travel with his teammates after suffering the injury in the fourth quarter Thursday night.
Austin Reaves is far better than Jordon Poole.
DLo is far better than Jordon Poole.
Glad to see the Lakers ownership to open the huge wallet
Market value
DLo = $27 million
Rui = $12 million
Austin Reaves = $18 million (taxable)
Schroder = $10 million (taxable)
Wenyen Gabriel
Lakers are still struggling to make it to .500.
Austin Reeves is a bench player. He will never be a top all star. D’lo is Poole with a 3 point shot. Both are terrible on defense.
Two years ago if you said Gabriel would play the entire fourth quarter for the Lakers I would laugh. If you told me Gabriel played the whole fourth quarter for the Lakers I would laugh
Sabonis has been out of this world good this season & counting the injury he has been playing through, is just unbelievable!
BTW I wish more teams/players had that attitude, respect & love for the game that shows when they do anything possible not to miss a game, that is what defines a professional!
Let’s see if a team like the Chicago Bulls can be enticed into wanting to go with a young roster, and willing to trade for Jordan Poole. Bulls have DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine to dangle.
Poole’s problem is he tries too much and over dribbles to the basket and gets in trouble. A change of scenery would be good for him. DeRozan for Poole would be a good trade for both teams. Poole would be a good fit for the Bulls when ball gets back because he will not be the ball handler.
Sorry bro. Teams know who Poole is. He’s a system guy. Who will never live up to that contract.
Sabonis is one of best bigs in the game. Still rather have him as my 4 though. If you didn’t know that. You know it now.
Kings having a great yr. Not convinced they are a 2 seed. Grizz with Ja would have made sure of that. Still have to prove they can win in playoffs.
Grizzlies started slipping before the Ja drama. When they lost Adams they started losing.
Ja can’t lead a playoff team. He’s made that abundantly clear this year. There is no reason that their roster shouldn’t be the 1 seed in the west. They can’t win on the road.
i find it concerning that the lakers are using broderick turner to double team irving. can get boards though.
Warriors definitely has a major Poole problem now. It wasnt a major problem until now. Yes, he struggled to start off the year but he settled down and has contributed. Now, it is completely different. Donte is starting ahead of him and finishing the game while Poole is sitting in the bench. But the worst is Poole looks like he is somewhat checked out. It’s almost like he’s indifferent at times, or trying to look cool sitting in the bench instead of being involved in the game rooting for the team. His condidence and his attitude have soured. It’s a major problem because without Poole buy-in and Wiggins, Warriors are a toast. :(
Everybody knew about Poole going into the season. He is inconsistent and terrible defensively. People got overly excited about last season. One season doesn’t make you a superstar. He just came back down to earth this season.
Warriors can not get too down either. They need to address the problem and get Poole back on track. Regardless of his play, he needs to stay in the game mentally.
If it’s me I’m trading Poole off season
You know other teams have the same info about him as you. Willing to move him for a loss?
Yes!