The NBA G League will launch its new franchise in Mexico City next season, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The team’s nickname is the Capitanes.
Nick Lagios, who has worked for the Lakers‘ South Bay affiliate since 2016, will serve as the team’s GM, Charania adds. Lagios expressed his excitement about running the franchise in an Instagram post.
“It’s an absolute dream to be named the first GM of the Mexico City Capitanes. We will play in the (G League) starting next season,” Lagios wrote. “This is the first Mexican team ever in a USA sports league, which is an honor to be a part of. I hope we can make all of Mexico and Latin America proud and elevate basketball within central and South America. Laker family, I will miss you all but I won’t be leaving LA quite yet!!”
The original announcement that the NBA would add a G League franchise in Mexico City was made in December 2019. The pandemic pushed back the inaugural season by one year.
The Capitanes will play their home games at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera, an arena that holds about 5,000 fans, and will spend at least the next five years in the G League. They won’t be affiliated with a specific NBA franchise.
By bringing aboard a franchise like Capitanes that has an existing infrastructure – including a home arena and an ownership group – the NBA was able to expedite the process.
An MRI has revealed that Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram suffered a left low-ankle sprain during the team’s 108-103 victory over the Warriors on Tuesday, the team has announced via Twitter. Ingram is set to miss Friday night’s contest against the Sixers and is considered day-to-day with the injury beyond that.
Losing Ingram, the club’s second-leading scorer behind All-Star forward Zion Williamson, could be a major blow for New Orleans as the team strives to qualify for the play-in tournament in a crowded Western Conference field. With a 30-36 record, the Pelicans currently sit just two games behind the Spurs for a shot at the play-in tournament in the West this season.
There’s more injury news from around the league:
Bulls All-Star center Nikola Vučević (adductor) was able to fully participate in a team practice today, tweets K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Head coach Billy Donovan commented that the sharp-shooting big man, who has missed the club’s last two games, “looked fine.”
Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James will miss at least the next two games and potentially more as he grapples with fresh, sharp pain in his sprained ankle, Dave McMenamin told Rachel Nichols and Richard Jefferson on ESPN’s The Jump (Twitter video link). A source informed McMenamin that James is “focusing on the big picture” right now. “Does ‘big picture’ mean two more games missed? I’m not so sure,” McMenamin said. “He is clearly prioritizing using every bit of time he can to… get back for the playoffs.”
Magic head coach Steve Clifford has indicated that five injured players could miss the rest of the 2020/21 NBA season, tweets Roy Parry of the Orlando Sentinel. Point guard Michael Carter-Williams and power forward Chuma Okeke are both sidelined with ankle sprains. Wing James Ennis is unavailable with a sore calf. Injury-prone forward Otto Porter Jr., who has played in just 28 games this season for the Magic and Bulls, is struggling with foot pain. Swingman Terrence Ross has been felled by back spasms. “I don’t even know what the time frame [is],” Clifford conceded. “If you look at the schedule now, it’s seven games, I think it’d be 12 days, and I’m not sure even if any of those guys are that close, to be honest with you.”
On Sunday, during his second game back after his latest injury, a left hand bone fracture that kept him sidelined for 22 contests, Bagley showed flashes of the potential that made him so highly coveted out of Duke, racking up 23 points and nine rebounds. The Kings selected Bagley with the No. 2 draft pick in 2018 ahead of future All-Stars Luka Doncic and Trae Young.
“Obviously nobody plans to get a hand caught in a jersey and break your hand, but you can’t control things like that,” Bagley said of his latest injury for the Kings. “What I could control was how I prepared to come back and things that I was doing to make sure I was ready when I did come back.”
Sacramento previously picked up Bagley’s $11.3MM player option for 2021/22. As Jones writes, while Bagley was rumored to be a potential trade candidate in March, the Kings couldn’t find a deal that would net them enough of a return to be worth pursuing.
There’s more out of California:
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has liked what he’s seen out of forward Juan Toscano-Anderson, writes Alex Espinoza of NBC Sports Bay Area. Currently inked to a two-way deal with Golden State, has fought his way into the Warriors’ rotation through his moxie and hustle, averaging 5.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.4 APG across 19.5 MPG. “We’ll see how it plays out,” Kerr said to reporters about a potential long-term deal with Toscano-Anderson after this season. “Juan is clearly a very effective NBA player. We’d like to have him here for a long time.”
Though the Warriors have been waylaid by injuries that have impacted their roster depth, they currently have two roster spots empty in a calculated cost-saving decision. Anthony Slater of The Athletic wonders if the club’s choice warrants further scrutiny, considering that it still fighting for a play-in tournament spot during a standout year from All-Star point guard Stephen Curry.
After leaving Sunday’s loss early due to right ankle soreness, Lakers star LeBron James likely won’t return to action until at least next Sunday, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
According to Wojnarowski, James is expected to miss Thursday’s game vs. the Clippers and Friday’s vs. Portland as he rests his troublesome ankle. LeBron, who also sat out Monday’s contest vs. Denver, missed 20 games due to a right high ankle sprain and had only been back for two games when he reaggravated the injury.
As Woj notes, the expectation is that the 36-year-old will proceed cautiously with his ankle, focusing on getting healthy for the postseason. James had suggested on Sunday night that he was prioritizing the playoffs over fighting for regular season seeding.
“It doesn’t matter at the end of the day (where the Lakers land in the standings) if I’m not 100% or close to 100%,” James said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
While LeBron’s stance makes sense, his ongoing absence will put the team at greater risk of losing its grip on a top-six seed in the West — a seventh-place finish would mean having to participate in at least one play-in game to secure a postseason spot. As we noted earlier today, Friday’s game in Portland is particularly important, since the Lakers and Blazers are neck-and-neck in the standings and Friday’s winner will gain a tiebreaker advantage.
The Lakers got important contributions from two little-used veterans as they ended a three-game losing streak Monday night, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Marc Gasol, who has seen his playing time cut sharply since the addition of Andre Drummond, posted 10 points, seven rebounds and a plus-17 rating in 17 minutes. Wesley Matthews scored eight points while hitting all three of his shots from the field.
“I think we have to start thinking more as a team, instead of mentioning guys,” Gasol said. “It’s more who we are as a team and who we’re going to be. Everyone tied to one another regardless of your situation. You play zero minutes, you play 20 minutes, the team success is everyone’s success.”
Both players joined the Lakers as free agents in November, with Gasol getting a two-year deal and Matthews signing for one year. They both expected larger roles, but are trying to make the most of their opportunities as the playoffs near.
“Like I said, basketball, it’s just like life, it’s unpredictable,” Matthews said. “You don’t know what may or may not happen, but you got to be prepared for it. You got to continue to go on. You can either go on with it or it goes on without you.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
LeBron Jamessat out Monday’s game and is considered day-to-day after aggravating his right ankle injury, Turner tweets. L.A. doesn’t play again until Thursday, and James’ status for that game is uncertain.
The Lakers may regret not making a greater effort to trade for Kyle Lowry at the deadline, contends Eric Koreen of The Athletic. L.A. was limited in what it could offer, but Koreen believes there was an opportunity to swoop in after the Sixers and Heat dropped out of the bidding. The Lakers reportedly weren’t willing to part with Talen Horton-Tucker, which left nothing else that the Raptors were interested in.
This year’s struggles have shown the dangers of building a team around James, who is 36, and Davis, who has been injury-prone throughout his career, writes Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times. He also notes that both players returned from their injuries to a different team, as the Lakers signed Drummond and Ben McLemore while they were out and made other changes to their rotation.
The Lakers, Mavericks, and Trail Blazers all consider themselves solid playoff teams and potential contenders, but at least one of them will end up in the Western Conference’s play-in tournament in two weeks. With the Jazz, Suns, Clippers, and Nuggets in total control of the West’s top four seeds, the Lakers, Mavs, and Blazers find themselves vying for the fifth and sixth spots — the No. 7 finisher will host the first play-in game against the No. 8 seed.
After a bad loss at home vs. Toronto on Sunday, the Lakers (37-28) bounced back on Monday, pulling out a tight win over Denver and reclaiming the No. 5 seed for the time being. The Blazers (36-29), on the other hand, dropped into seventh place in the West with a loss in Atlanta, while the Mavs (36-28) had the night off.
With the three teams still separated by a single game, every night the rest of the way will have major postseason implications. Here are their remaining schedules:
Lakers: at LAC, at POR, vs. PHX, vs. NYK, vs. HOU, at IND, at NOP (three back-to-backs)
Mavs: at MIA, vs. BKN, vs. CLE, at CLE, at MEM, vs. NOP, vs. TOR, at MIN (two back-to-backs)
Blazers: at CLE, vs. LAL, vs. SAS, vs. HOU, at UTA, at PHX, vs. DEN (two back-to-backs)
On paper, the Mavericks may have the cleanest path to a top-six seed. After their games against the Heat and Nets this week, they won’t face another team in the top eight of either conference. They also have the advantage of holding the tiebreaker if the three teams finished tied in the standings, since they’ll be the Southwest division winner. If they finish tied with just the Lakers, they’d hold that tiebreaker as well, having gone 2-1 vs. L.A. this season.
The Lakers, currently in control of the No. 5 seed, have a huge week coming up, with games on tap against the Clippers, Blazers, Suns, and Knicks. That contest in Portland, on the second night of a back-to-back, will be particularly important — if the Lakers lose that one, they won’t own the tiebreaker against either the Mavs or the Blazers. Still, if they can at least split their next four games, the Lakers should be in reasonably good shape, as they finish their season against three sub-.500 opponents.
The Blazers, meanwhile, have the opportunity to make a run over the next week, especially if they can beat the Lakers at home. They’ll likely need to win at least three of their next four games to have a decent chance to avoid the play-in, since their season ends with a brutal three-game stretch — in Utah, in Phoenix, and at home vs. Denver. Maybe Portland lucks out and faces a couple of those teams when they’re resting players in advance of the playoffs, but given how close the standings are in the upper half of the West, there’s definitely no guarantee that’ll happen.
What do you think? Which team do you expect to end up with the seventh seed, taking part in the play-in? And do you think that team will be in any danger of losing two consecutive games against the likes of the Warriors, Grizzlies, and Spurs, or should they take care of business relatively quickly?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your predictions!
After leaving Sunday’s game midway through the fourth quarter due to a sore right ankle, Lakers star LeBron James will miss the club’s game on Monday vs. Denver as a result of the same issue, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. James’ status for L.A.’s next game – against the Clippers on Thursday – is uncertain, Charania adds.
The fact that LeBron will miss tonight’s game isn’t a major surprise, despite the fact that the Lakers are fighting to secure the fifth or sixth seed in the West. After last night’s game, the four-time MVP suggested that getting healthy was more of a priority than chasing regular season wins down the stretch.
“It doesn’t matter at the end of the day (where the Lakers land in the standings) if I’m not 100% or close to 100%,” James said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
MAY 3: Schröder is expected to miss at least 10-to-14 days due to the protocols, sources tell Shams Charania and Bill Oram of The Athletic (Twitter link). That’s typically the timeline associated with a positive COVID-19 test, though that hasn’t been confirmed in Schröder’s case.
The regular season ends on May 16, so it’s very possible we won’t see Schröder again until the postseason.
MAY 2: Lakers guard Dennis Schröder has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols and will miss the team’s game against the Raptors on Sunday, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link). It’s unclear how long he’ll be sidelined.
Building chemistry is imperative for championship contenders, and the loss of Schröder will hurt the Lakers’ ability to do so just weeks before the playoffs. In 59 starts this season, Schröder has averaged 15.5 points, 5.8 assists and 32.2 minutes per game, shooting 44% from the field and 34% from deep.
The Lakers own the sixth-best record in the West at 36-27 and have lost seven of their last 10 contests. They lead the No. 7 seed Blazers by just one game.
After the Lakers lost for the sixth time in their last seven games on Sunday night, forward LeBron James became the latest star player to criticize the NBA’s new play-in tournament that will determine the final two playoff teams in each conference, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.
“Whoever came up with that s–t needs to be fired,” James said.
Last month, Mavericks All-Star guard Luka Doncic and owner Mark Cuban both offered similar assessments of the play-in format, with Doncic saying he didn’t see the point of it and Cuban calling it an “enormous mistake” to have implemented it this season.
As was the case with Doncic’s and Cuban’s comments, it’s impossible to accept LeBron’s critique at face value without considering his team’s place in the standings. After starting the season with a 21-6 record, the Lakers have gone just 15-22 and are now in a three-way tie for fifth place in the West — Dallas, Portland, and L.A. have matching 36-28 records, so if the Lakers’ slump continues in the season’s final two weeks, they’ll likely find themselves participating in a play-in game.
It’s probably safe to assume that LeBron wouldn’t be speaking out against the play-in format if the Lakers comfortably held a top-four seed — especially since he favored a play-in tournament to determine the last playoff team prior to last summer’s restart, as Sean Highkin of Bleacher Report notes (via Twitter).
Still, it sounds as if LeBron’s frustration with the format comes from a similar place as Cuban’s — the Mavericks owner wasn’t necessarily against the play-in tournament in general, but said that it was a mistake to introduce it during a compressed season, following a shortened offseason.
The play-in format makes the regular season results more important at a time when the league has squeezed 72 games into a 146-day calendar (instead of 82 in 177), meaning teams have to fight harder for their position in the standings when they may prefer to be resting key players and getting them healthy.
In James’ case, he recently returned from a right ankle sprain that sidelined him for 20 games, but it appears he’s still bothered by that injury. As McMenamin writes, the 36-year-old left Sunday’s loss midway through the fourth quarter due to right ankle soreness and didn’t return.
“I definitely want to get healthy. Not only for myself, but for our team,” James said. “I need to make sure my ankle is where it was before the injury. I’ve got to be smart with it.”
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard revealed that he has been dealing with a sore right foot for several weeks, but said it’s “nothing significant,” writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Saturday marked Leonard’s first game since April 18, but he said the injury occurred before then.
“I’m feeling good,” he said. “We took the proper steps to get me right, to make sure nothing significant is wrong with me … so hopefully we can just keep moving up from here.”
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Clippers are focused on rebuilding chemistry ahead of the playoffs, Youngmisuk adds. In addition to Leonard’s absence, starting center Serge Ibaka has missed the last 25 games with an injured back and Patrick Beverley has only played in two of the last 26 because of hand surgery and other injuries. That’s why Leonard traveled with the team on its most recent road trip, even though he didn’t expect to play.
“Just making sure the team sees my face,” he said. “Just wanted to still be in that motion, be in that rhythm and most importantly letting guys know I’m here and, you know, just let them hear my voice and see my face.”
There’s more from Los Angeles:
The Clippers face the challenge of building a new narrative in the playoffs, contends Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. Until it has a breakthrough, the organization will be haunted by its past failures, including letting a 3-1 lead slip away in the second round last season.
LeBron James‘return on Friday happened earlier than even his Lakers teammates expected, according to Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. James admitted feeling frustrated while being out of action for 41 days with a high-ankle sprain. “That’s the stressful side when you know that if you were on the floor, you could make those plays and you could help your teammates win, but you know you can’t physically be out there to do it,” he said. “It’s both sides of the coin, giving my teammates pointers and things I see on the floor, but also having that stressful point where you know you can’t affect the game because you know you can’t play.”
In a separate story, Goon looks at the Lakers‘ situation at center, where there probably won’t be enough postseason minutes to satisfy Andre Drummond, Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell. Gasol has seen his playing time reduced since Drummond was added, but Goon notes that he could be useful if the Lakers need to spread the floor in a playoff series.