Los Angeles Lakers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

J.R. Smith Talks Changes In LeBron James

July 18th, 2020 at 12:15pm CST by marksuleymanov

As the Lakers prepare to contend for a title at the NBA campus in Orlando, J.R. Smith will try to help L.A. after joining the team in early July. Although Smith has not played in over a year, he brings championship experience and an ability to score.

Specifically, Smith’s title pedigree comes from his time as a teammate with LeBron James in Cleveland when the organization captured its first title in 2016. Smith played a crucial role in guiding the Cavaliers to a championship behind James and now, reunited with a different team, the former Sixth Man of the Year sees a change in his former and current teammate.

“Before, he’s always been so focused on his drive and winning and stuff like that, but I feel like that pressure is off his shoulders, and he can just be him,” Smith said, per Spectrum’s Mike Trudell (Twitter link). “He don’t have to try to orchestrate the offense or the defense or what somebody did wrong, he can let the coaches do their job, and I think that’s a true testament to him growing.”

Smith, 34, joins the Lakers in a much different role than the last time he was teammates with James, but with the same goal — winning a championship. The Lakers will need to rely on steady play from their bench and the usual strong performance from James. Smith views an older, more experienced LeBron as more than capable of delegating to others on the team.

“I’ve watched interviews when people try to say he’s not coachable because he knows so much about the game, but he’s probably the most coachable person out there just because he gives you his side or his opinion and he might be right,” Smith said. “More than anything I just think he’s so much more patient in his delivery and how he goes about the process of the game.”

Howard Masking Up After Violation

July 17th, 2020 at 8:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lakers center Dwight Howard has been disciplined for not wearing a mask at Orlando’s campus, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin writes. Howard said on social media that the violation was reported to the NBA Campus Hotline, designed to ensure everyone is following protocols. “(My) reaction is that we all should be wearing masks in and around the hotel lobby,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said of Howard’s violation. “And the areas that we’re being asked to wear a mask, we should wear a mask. And he’s doing so now.”

Smith, Waiters Bonding With Lakers In Disney Campus

July 17th, 2020 at 5:11pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Newly-minted Lakers wings J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters have been using their Orlando campus tenure to bond with their L.A. teammates, per Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register. Head coach Frank Vogel commended the team’s new backcourt additions with helping to stoke everyone’s competitive fire. “They both bring toughness and swag — those guys are killers,” Vogel said. “They go after it with great competitive spirit and they have the talent to back it up and be highly productive on the court.”

Rajon Rondo Undergoes Right Thumb Surgery

July 16th, 2020 at 2:46pm CST by Luke Adams

Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo underwent successful surgery on his fractured right thumb on Wednesday, the team said today (Twitter link). The club reiterated the same timeline that was announced earlier this week, indicating that Rondo will resume full basketball activities in approximately six-to-eight weeks.

As we noted when the injury was first reported, the Lakers will have to lean more heavily on some of their other backcourt options now that Rondo is on the shelf and Avery Bradley has voluntarily opted out of the restart. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, and Alex Caruso are all candidates to receive a bump in minutes, while recently-signed guards Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith will move up the depth chart and could see some action.

Rondo, 34, was playing a career-low 20.8 minutes per game this season after averaging 31.7 MPG during the first 13 years of his NBA career. Still, that made him a regular part of L.A.’s rotation off the bench. He has recorded 7.1 PPG, 5.0 APG, and 3.0 RPG in 48 games (three starts) in 2019/20.

Rondo left the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus to undergo Wednesday’s procedure and figures to remain away from Orlando as he goes through his rehab process. However, the club expects to get him back at some point in the postseason. A six-to-eight week absence would give the veteran a chance to return for some or all of the Lakers’ second-round series, which projects to start on or around August 31.

Restart Notes: Protocols, Testing, Virtual Fans, Hotline

July 16th, 2020 at 1:22pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA sent out a memo to teams today reminding them of the safety protocols and guidelines in place at the Walt Disney World campus and instructing them to refresh players’ memories on those rules, according to Malika Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link). As Andrews relays, wearing face coverings and masks was one of the points reiterated by the league in its memo.

Shams Charania of The Athletic suggests (via Twitter) that the NBA’s memo also included a reminder that interacting with or bringing an unauthorized person onto the campus is prohibited. Players won’t be able to bring guests to Disney until after the first round of the playoffs is complete.

Here’s more on the NBA’s restart and life at the Disney campus:

Malika Andrews and Tim Bontemps of ESPN provide details on the updates the NBA has made to its COVID-19 testing protocols to try to assuage concern among teams about the potential for false positives affecting returning players. According to ESPN’s duo, at least one player who contracted the virus, recovered, traveled to Disney, and registered multiple negative tests later tested positive. The league has added an antibody test to its protocol for individuals returning from the coronavirus.
Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters on Wednesday that games at the Disney campus will include virtual fans, digital boards, and “home team sounds,” tweets Paolo Uggetti of The Ringer. Carlisle added that he was impressed by the setup, as Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News tweets.
Some players in Orlando aren’t particularly fond of the anonymous hotline set up by the NBA to report protocol violations, suggesting that those in the campus community should be responsible enough to follow the rules. Rudy Gobert referred to the hotline as “sort of petty,” per Eric Woodyard of ESPN. Meanwhile, as Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times details, Ja Morant and Montrezl Harrell suggested they don’t intend to use it, while Lakers center Dwight Howard griped that he was reported for not wearing a face mask despite not being around anyone.

Slater, Hollinger Discuss Lakers' Future; Morris Expected To Report Soon

July 15th, 2020 at 8:06pm CST by Jovan Alford

Clippers guard Terance Mann, who is the team’s NBPA rep, told reporters on Tuesday that the players’ decision to play was “a pretty long process,” per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk (Twitter link). The Clippers, who will be back in action on July 30 against the Lakers, had several Zoom conversations about the restart before deciding to participate, Mann said.
Anthony Slater and John Hollinger of The Athletic discussed the current state of the Lakers and where they’ll go from here. The Athletic duo talked about how Los Angeles did in free agency last summer, what to do with Kyle Kuzma (who is eligible for an extension this offseason), and Anthony Davis‘ future.
According to Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register (Twitter link), veteran forward Markieff Morris, who has an excused absence, is expected to join the Lakers soon in Disney World.

KCP Likely To Replace Bradley In Starting Five

July 14th, 2020 at 10:46am CST by Luke Adams

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the leading candidate to replace Avery Bradley in the Lakers‘ starting lineup, head coach Frank Vogel said on Monday, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Bradley, who opted out of the rest of the season, started 44 games this year, typically alongside Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Danny Green, and JaVale McGee.
With Bradley not playing this summer and Rajon Rondo sidelined due to a broken thumb, Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register wonders if Dion Waiters could assume some ball-handling duties off the bench for the Lakers. “Losing Rondo put more of a need on Dion’s skillset, so I look forward to seeing what he can do more as we get into games,” Vogel said.

Lakers’ Rajon Rondo Fractures Thumb, Out 6-8 Weeks

July 13th, 2020 at 7:00pm CST by Luke Adams

7:00pm: Head coach Frank Vogel said he expects Rondo “to be part of our playoff run,” according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

7:19am: The Lakers‘ backcourt depth has taken another hit, as the team announced late last night that point guard Rajon Rondo suffered a fractured right thumb during Sunday’s practice. Rondo will undergo surgery on the thumb and is expected to resume full basketball activities in about six-to-eight weeks, as Mike Trudell of Lakers.com tweets.

Rondo, 34, was playing a career-low 20.8 minutes per game this season after averaging 31.7 MPG during the first 13 years of his NBA career. Still, that made him a regular part of L.A.’s rotation off the bench. He has recorded 7.1 PPG, 5.0 APG, and 3.0 RPG in 48 games (three starts) in 2019/20.

With Rondo sidelined and Avery Bradley having voluntarily opting out of the restart, the Lakers will have to lean more heavily on some of their other backcourt options. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, and Alex Caruso are all candidates to receive a bump in minutes, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

As Slater points out, recently-signed guards Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith also move up on the depth chart and move closer to assuming rotation roles with Bradley and Rondo out of the mix.

The Lakers won’t be eligible to sign anyone to replace Rondo, since the NBA’s transaction window closed on June 30. At this point, only substitute-player contracts can be signed — and substitute players are only eligible to replace those who are opting out or who contract COVID-19.

Although L.A. will be without Rondo for the eight seeding games and the start of the postseason, his timeline puts him on track to make it back later in the playoffs, assuming the Lakers – as expected – make a deep run. If he were to return to action eight weeks from today (September 7), the Lakers could be in the midst of the Western Conference semifinals at that time.

Malika Andrews and Dave McMenamin of ESPN first reported late on Sunday night that Rondo had suffered a significant hand injury.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Community Shootaround: Western Conference Seeding

July 13th, 2020 at 1:10pm CST by Luke Adams

As we detailed on Friday when we discussed the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference, there will be an opportunity for teams to move up – or down – in the standings when play resumes on July 30.

With eight “seeding games” on tap, teams are unlikely to make up five- or six-game deficits on the clubs ahead of them in the standings, but there’s a strong likelihood of a shake-up in instances where teams are only separated by a game or two.

That’s even more true in the Western Conference than it is in the East, albeit not necessarily at the very top of the standings, where the 49-14 Lakers hold a fairly comfortable lead on the 44-20 Clippers. The Lakers’ magic number to clinch the conference is just three, so they’re a safe bet to hang onto the No. 1 seed.

After that though, there’s some congestion in the standings. The Clippers’ lead on the Nuggets (43-22) is just 1.5 games. Denver holds an identical lead over the Jazz (41-23). Utah, meanwhile, is just a couple losses away from slipping down to the No. 6 seed, as the Thunder (40-24) and Rockets (40-24) are right on their heels. The 40-27 Mavericks round out this group of six teams, a game-and-a-half behind OKC and Houston and just 5.5 games behind the second-seeded Clippers.

A number of those six clubs bunched up in the middle of the Western Conference playoff picture will face one another when play resumes. For instance, the Thunder – who have the potential to move up or down a couple spots in the standings – will open the restart against the Jazz and Nuggets and eventually finish their season against the Clippers. The Clips will face the Mavericks and Nuggets in addition to OKC. Dallas opens its eight seeding games by playing the Rockets.

Given the strength of competition in the West, seeding could be paramount in the postseason. The Nuggets, for example, could conceivably face the Jazz, Thunder, Rockets, or Mavs in the first round and would likely prefer some opponents to others in that group. The Jazz, currently at No. 4, could be motivated to avoid the No. 6 Rockets in the first round, since they’ve been eliminated by Houston in each of the previous two postseasons.

At the bottom of the playoff picture, the No. 8 Grizzlies (32-33) have essentially no chance to move up, since they’re seven games back of Dallas. But they’ll be looking to increase their lead over the Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, and Suns — if they can finish with more than a four-game lead on all those clubs, they’ll avoid a play-in tournament. If the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds finish within four games of one another, a play-in tournament will be necessary to determine that final playoff spot.

A newly-healthy Blazers squad will be a major threat to the Grizzlies, as will a Pelicans team that faces one of the league’s weakest schedules over the course of the eight seeding games.

What do you think? Do you think we’ll see much movement in the Western Conference’s top eight? Will the Grizzlies be knocked out by one of the challengers behind them in the standings? What do you expect the West’s top eight seeds to look like by the time the playoffs begin?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your predictions!

Howard, Green Miss Practice For Testing Reasons

July 12th, 2020 at 12:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Dwight Howard and Danny Green both missed the Lakers’ practice Saturday for testing-related reasons, tweets Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times. Howard was required to take an extra COVID-19 test because he didn’t travel to Orlando with the team, while Green had an error in his last test.