Pacific Notes: DeRozan, Monk, Sabonis, Bamba, Riley, Looney

The Kings provided some positive medical updates on three key players, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee writes.

DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk and Domantas Sabonis didn’t play on Monday but are close to returning. All three have been cleared for individual on-court workouts. They could return for their game against the Clippers on Friday.

DeRozan has been sidelined three games due to lower back tightness. Sabonis missed his second straight game for the same reason. Monk missed his
fifth straight game on Monday after suffering a moderate right ankle sprain on Nov. 10.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

• Mohamed Bamba had nine points and eight rebounds in his season debut for the Clippers on Sunday in 15 minutes of action. He had been sidelined by a left knee injury. “My knees, the doctor would say, are in the 90th percentile of healthy looking knees,” he told Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). “But I kept getting this pocket of fluid in my knee. And it was frustrating bc we couldn’t figure out why it was coming. Now we have it settled and a plan in place to kind of mitigate that.” Bamba is currently on a minutes restriction but believes he can play in back to backs.
• The Lakers have commissioned a statue of Pat Riley to join Lakers legends on Star Plaza outside Crypto.com Arena, according to a Lakers press release. Riley will join Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West with statues in the plaza. Riley coached the Showtime Lakers in the 1980s to four championships and also played for the Lakers in the 1970s.
• Kevon Looney missed the Warriors’ game against the Clippers on Monday due to an illness, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets. Looney is headed to free agency next summer. He’s coming off the bench this season.