Lakers Rumors

Bradley Beal, Trevor Ariza, Jarrett Culver Enter Protocols

Wizards star Bradley Beal has entered the health and safety protocols and will miss Thursday’s game vs. New York, according to the team (Twitter link). Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is also currently in the protocols for Washington.

If Beal hasn’t registered a confirmed positive COVID-19 test, it’s possible he could exit the protocols in a matter of days. But if he did test positive, the 28-year-old figures to be sidelined for at least 10 days unless he can return two consecutive negative tests.

Beal, who remained unvaccinated as of September, missed the Olympics earlier this year because he tested positive for the coronavirus just before Team USA left for Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Lakers forward Trevor Ariza and Grizzlies wing Jarrett Culver have also been placed in the COVID-19 protocols, according to their respective teams (Twitter links). Ariza is the fifth Laker in the protocols, while Culver is the second Grizzlies player affected, joining Ziaire Williams.

While three players enter the protocols, another has exited — the Knicks announced that Quentin Grimes has been cleared to rejoin the team (Twitter link).

Lakers Had Interest In Danuel House

  • Before Danuel House signed a 10-day deal with the Knicks, he received interest from a number of other teams, including the Sixers, Lakers, and Kings, sources tell Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Pacific Notes: Westbrook, Thompson, R. Jackson, Hield

With three straight losses, an injured star, and COVID-19 affecting both the roster and the coaching staff, acting Lakers head coach David Fizdale feels like Russell Westbrook may be trying too hard to fix the situation by himself, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Westbrook has posted impressive numbers in the two games since Anthony Davis suffered an MCL sprain, averaging 21.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 2.0 steals, but he’s also committed a combined 13 turnovers, which Fizdale said disrupts the offense.

“I think the circumstances over the last few games, with so many people being in and out, triggered in him that he had to save us,” Fizdale said.

Already dealing with a disappointing season at 16-16, the Lakers are now facing the uncertainty that many teams have felt since the latest COVID-19 outbreak began sweeping through the league two weeks ago. They’re scheduled to host the Nets on Christmas Day, but Brooklyn’s last three games have been postponed.

“You’re just taking it and living day to day, you just don’t know what’s going to happen,” Carmelo Anthony said. “We could wake up tomorrow morning and they could say our game tomorrow is canceled. … Again, we don’t know what’s gonna happen, so we’re taking it day to day and we’re just trying to stay on top of what we need to stay on top of. But as we can see, it’s affecting everybody. It’s affecting a lot of  different people, people who are vaccinated, people who do have boosters, so you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Warriors players are raving about Klay Thompson after watching him in workouts, according to Shayna Rubin of The San Jose Mercury News. Thompson is expected to return sometime in January, and his teammates say he’s looking like the player he was before the injuries. “He’s always going to shoot the ball well, but he seems really confident in his body,” Kevon Looney said. “He’s going up for dunks. He’s playing physical and when you see that much confidence in him, it means he’s getting close to ready. It’s a joy to have in practice to have his energy back.”
  • Clippers guard Reggie Jackson entered the league’s health and safety protocols today, but he’s not experiencing any effects from the virus, tweets Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. “Reggie says he feels fine, no symptoms, so that’s a good sign,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “Happy for him about that.”
  • With trade rumors heating up again for Buddy Hield, Mark Schindler of Basketball News examines three potential destinations for the Kings guard. Schindler suggests deals that would send Hield to the Magic, Grizzlies or Pistons.

LeBron Still Has "No Idea What This Team Can Be"

  • After the Lakers fell back to .500 (16-16) with a loss on Tuesday night, star forward LeBron James said he still has “no idea what this team can be,” as Dave McMenamin of ESPN relays. “How can we really fully assess what we have when we haven’t been whole? I can’t remember the last time we played the same starting lineup and had the same rotation coming off the bench,” James said. “It’s been a long time. So, it’s hard to assess that.”

Lakers Sign Jemerrio Jones To 10-Day Deal

DECEMBER 21: The Lakers have signed Jones to a 10-day contract, the team formally announced today (via Twitter).


DECEMBER 20: The Lakers will add free agent forward Jemerrio Jones to their roster on a 10-day contract via the hardship provision, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Jones won’t count toward the standard 15-man roster, so no corresponding move is required.

Like many of the players who have joined the Lakers this year, Jones has a previous stint with the team. He signed with the Lakers late in the 2018/19 season and appeared in six games for the club down the stretch, averaging 4.5 PPG, 8.2 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 23.8 MPG.

Those six games represent Jones’ only NBA experience to date, as he has spent most of his first four professional seasons in the G League, appearing in a total of 112 games for the South Bay Lakers, Delaware Blue Coats, and Wisconsin Herd. The 26-year-old has averaged 6.5 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 3.5 APG, and 1.5 SPG in 11 games (25.6 MPG) for Wisconsin this season.

The Lakers have been one of the many NBA teams hit hard by COVID-19 this month. They currently have five players in the health and safety protocols. A sixth player – Malik Monk – reportedly tested out of the protocols, but has yet to return to action.

Lakers Sign Mason Jones To Two-Way Deal

DECEMBER 21: The Lakers have officially signed Jones to a two-way contract and waived Brown, the team announced today in a press release.


DECEMBER 20: The Lakers are calling up guard Mason Jones from their G League affiliate, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that Jones will be signing a two-way contract.

The Lakers don’t currently have an open two-way slot on their roster, so assuming Charania’s report is accurate, they would presumably waive either Chaundee Brown or Jay Huff to make room for Jones.

An undrafted free agent out of Arkansas, Jones began his rookie season in 2020/21 on a two-way deal with Houston, was waived in early March, signed a 10-day contract with the Rockets, then inked a two-way deal with the 76ers. He spent several weeks in Philadelphia before being waived in May.

In total, Jones averaged 5.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per game in 32 contests (10.4 MPG) in ’20/21, with a respectable shooting line of .423/.364/.625. He joined the South Bay Lakers for the ’21/22 season and has averaged 17.8 PPG, 7.1 APG, and 6.5 RPG in 12 G League games (30.3 MPG) while bumping his shooting rates to .496/.412/.813.

The Lakers aren’t in action on Monday, so they may not officially finalize any roster moves until Tuesday. The club has also reportedly reached a deal to sign Jemerrio Jones to a 10-day contract.

Lakers Release Chaundee Brown

5:45pm: The Lakers have officially announced the news via a team press release.


5:19pm: To accommodate new addition Mason Jones within one of their two-way player slots, the Lakers have opted to release shooting guard Chaundee Brown, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Jones, another shooting guard, will replace Brown, who did not get much run with Los Angeles this year. Brown played in just two games for Los Angeles, averaging 10.5 MPG in those appearances. 7’1″ center Jay Huff will thus continue to occupy the other two-way slot for the Lakers.

The 6’5″ Brown went undrafted out of Michigan this summer and got some preseason run with the Lakers on an Exhibit 10 deal. He was ultimately cut ahead of the 2021/22 regular season and joined L.A.’s South Bay NBAGL affiliate club. The Lakers added him as a two-way player last month, though he failed to make much of an impact at the next level after flashing promise in El Segundo.

Across six contests with the South Bay Lakers, Brown averaged 17.0 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.8 SPG and 0.8 BPG in 33.3 MPG. He boasted a shooting line of .446/.333/.800.

Anthony Davis Heard "Something Pop," Feared A Major Injury

  • The LakersAnthony Davis feared he suffered a major injury on Friday when he heard “something pop” in his left knee, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Davis will miss at least four weeks with a sprained MCL, but after collapsing in the tunnel on the way to the locker room, he thought it was something much worse. “I just reached a point where it was tough to walk,” he explained. “I had to take a break. … I did hear something pop — and the first thing I thought of was (a major injury). Which, I was emotional, I was just like everywhere. But like I said, thank God that it wasn’t that.”
  • ESPN’s Kevin Pelton (Insider link) examines how Davis’ injury might affect the Lakers‘ playoff odds, while Jovan Buha of The Athletic considers lineup options for the team with AD unavailable.

Caldwell-Pope, Gallinari, Capela, Others Enter Protocols

Wizards wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Washington had been one of 10 teams that didn’t currently have any players in the protocols, but that’s no longer the case.

According to Wizards head coach Wes Unseld Jr., Caldwell-Pope returned a positive COVID-19 test on Monday evening (Twitter link via Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington). He’ll be sidelined for 10 days or until he can return consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart.

Here are a few more protocol-related updates from around the league:

  • Hawks forward Danilo Gallinari and center Clint Capela been placed in the health and safety protocols, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links). An earlier report stated that two Atlanta players were entering the protocols today — now we know that Gallinari and Capela are those two players.
  • Lakers center Dwight Howard and guard Talen Horton-Tucker have exited the health and safety protocols, the team announced today (Twitter link via Dave McMenamin of ESPN). That doesn’t necessarily mean that both players have been cleared to return to action, but they’re able to rejoin the team for practices and should be available soon.
  • Bulls two-way guard Devon Dotson is now in the health and safety protocols, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic (Twitter link). Chicago has had some players return since the team’s initial COVID-19 outbreak, but still has five other players in the protocols in addition to Dotson.
  • Kings two-way center Neemias Queta is the latest Sacramento player to enter the COVID-19 protocols, tweets Wojnarowski. The club now has seven players in the protocols.
  • The NBA has told the 10 teams scheduled to play on December 25 that some of their games could be shifted to new times if any Christmas Day contests have to be postponed, tweets Wojnarowski. As Woj explains, the league is prioritizing the 2:30pm ET, 5:00pm, and 8:00pm windows, so if one of those games is postponed, either the early or late game would likely be moved.

Frank Vogel, Kent Bazemore Placed Into Protocols

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel has entered the league’s health and safety protocols, along with Kent Bazemore, tweets Bill Oram of The Athletic. Assistant David Fizdale will take over Vogel’s duties until he can return.

L.A. now has eight players either in the protocols or sidelined by injuries, but the team still has enough for tonight’s game in Chicago, Oram adds (Twitter link). Trevor Ariza will suit up, but the Lakers don’t believe he’s ready to make his season debut after ankle surgery, so they will only have nine players available.

Vogel is the third head coach in the protocols, joining the Pacers’ Rick Carlisle and the Kings’ Alvin Gentry.