- 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.”
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.
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.
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.
- The Lakers‘ Anthony 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.
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.
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.
Isaiah Thomas‘ 19-point debut Friday night in Minnesota was one of the bright spots of the Lakers‘ season, writes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Thomas signed a 10-day contract under the hardship provision because L.A. is shorthanded due to a mix of injuries and players in health and safety protocols. Thomas understands that he may not be with the Lakers very long, but he’s enjoying the opportunity to play without the pain in his hip that bothered him for so long.
“That was very frustrating, when your mind is telling you to do something but your body won’t allow you to do it,” said Thomas, whose career was derailed by a hip injury in the 2017 playoffs. “And that was my first major injury so that was like, ‘Basketball is everything to me.’ so it really stopped me from being who I am. It really stopped me from being happy.”
The Lakers brought in Thomas for a workout during the summer, but decided against giving him one of the open roster spots that eventually went to Austin Reaves and Avery Bradley. LeBron James said he’s happy to have Thomas as a teammate again, even though their previous partnership with the Cavaliers didn’t work out.
“He wasn’t healthy in Cleveland and he was playing out of just pure grit and his hip was just not allowing him to be who he was before the injury,” James said. “Obviously he has his pop back, has his shot back, and it’s good to have him.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Devin Booker was a full participant in today’s practice and is optimistic about returning Sunday after missing the Suns‘ last seven games with a strained left hamstring, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “We’ve still got to be careful and see how he responds to the day before and the next day, how do you feel,” coach Monty Williams said. “When you’re dealing with a hamstring, it’s a weird deal because some people have the low, some people have the mid, some people have the high. I’ve only done like the high one so I only know how that felt like. It’s just a tricky, tricky injury.”
- Marcus Morris entered health and safety protocols this morning, but none of his Clippers teammates have been affected by the virus, per Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. Morris, who was with the team in Oklahoma City, returned to Los Angeles on a private flight and wasn’t experiencing any symptoms, coach Tyronn Lue said.
- The Warriors issued a statement Friday that Klay Thompson completed his latest G League assignment and his recovery timeline is still on schedule. Thompson is expected to debut at a home game some time in January.
Lakers star Anthony Davis suffered an MCL sprain during Friday’s game and will be reevaluated in approximately four weeks, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Davis was injured midway through the third quarter when LeBron James was called for an offensive foul for pushing Jaden McDaniels, who lost his balance and fell into Davis’ left knee, McMenamin writes in a recap of the game. Davis tried to walk to the locker room without help, but he collapsed to the ground in pain while going through the tunnel. The Lakers originally classified the injury as a contusion, but an MRI today showed the full extent of the damage.
Davis has been experiencing pain in the knee and had an ultrasound performed Monday, McMenamin adds. He also turned his right ankle in the first quarter Friday and had to be treated by team doctors.
Davis missed 36 of the team’s 72 games last season, but had been much healthier this season. He has played in 27 of the Lakers’ first 30 games and is putting up typically dominant numbers with 23.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.0 blocks per night.
Lakers forward Anthony Davis suffered a left knee injury in the team’s 110-92 loss to the Timberwolves on Friday and he’ll undergo an MRI today after the team flies to Chicago, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“So far all is in good structure, but (we) want to take another image,” a source familiar with the injury told McMenamin.
Davis had already been dealing with soreness in the same knee. He underwent an ultrasound on Monday and was examined by the Timberwolves’ team doctor after Friday’s game. Officially, the Lakers are calling Davis’ injury a knee contusion. He struggled to make it to the locker room, collapsing to the ground in pain going through the tunnel.
We have more on the Lakers:
- Isaiah Thomas made a heartwarming return to the NBA after signing a 10-day contract via the hardship exemption. He scored 19 points and received an ovation from the Minnesota crowd when he entered. Thomas expressed gratitude and said he feels healthy, McMenamin tweets. “I just never thought I would feel this way again,” he said. “Like, I have no limitations with my body, with my hip and that’s why I just smile so much because I’m in a great place mentally and I’m in a great place physically.”
- It’s unlikely that Thomas will wind up remaining on the 15-man roster, Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes. The team would likely have waive Avery Bradley or shed the guaranteed contract of Rajon Rondo or DeAndre Jordan to make that happen.
- Russell Westbrook had 14 points in 29 minutes on Friday. He entered health and safety protocols briefly but didn’t miss any games after producing multiple negative tests. Westbrook had three negative tests after testing positive, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register tweets. He arrived in Minneapolis in mid-afternoon from Dallas, where Los Angeles played its previous game.
- Trevor Ariza was in uniform on Friday but was the only player on the active list to record a DNP. The team will ease the veteran forward back into action, Bill Oram of The Athletic tweets. Ariza has yet to make his season debut after undergoing ankle surgery.