Los Angeles Lakers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Lillard To Get Second MRI On Knee; Davis’ Back “Doing Fine”

August 25th, 2020 at 9:25am CST by Luke Adams

Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard left Monday’s blowout loss to the Lakers in the third quarter due to a right knee injury and didn’t return, undergoing an MRI after the game. However, according to the team, the results of that MRI were inconclusive, and Lillard will undergo a second MRI on Tuesday afternoon (Twitter link).

Lillard was already banged up, dealing with a dislocated left finger as he tries to lead the Blazers to a first-round upset over the top-seeded Lakers. However, with Portland now facing a 3-1 deficit and the All-Star guard battling a knee issue as well, it will be interesting to see whether he suits up for Game 5 on Wednesday. While Lillard will surely do all he can to play, the Blazers are now an extreme long shot and it may be in their best long-term interests to play it safe with their franchise player.

Meanwhile, an All-Star on the other side of the court also left Monday’s game and didn’t return, as Lakers big man Anthony Davis was said to be dealing with back spasms. Davis downplayed the injury after the game though, telling reporters that his back “is doing fine,” per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

For now, it doesn’t sound as if Davis’ availability for Game 5 is in jeopardy. If he plays as effectively on Wednesday as he did in Game 4, when he was a +37 in just 18 minutes, the Lakers can afford to reduce his minutes a little.

Reserve Guard Rotation Remains In Flux

August 24th, 2020 at 6:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Lakers’ guard rotation is still in flux, Anthony Slater of The Athletic notes. J.R. Smith hasn’t shown much while getting playing time the last two playoff games. A longer look at Dion Waiters may be warranted, according to Slater, at least until Rajon Rondo returns. Rondo was supposed to play in Game 3 on Saturday but was a late scratch due to back spasms.

Rondo Doubtful For Game 4 Due To Back Spasms

August 24th, 2020 at 10:50am CST by Luke Adams

Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo is ready to return from his thumb injury, but has been nagged by back spasms in recent days. After being scratched for Game 3, Rondo is listed as doubtful for Game 4 on Monday, per the NBA’s official injury report.

Pacific Notes: LeBron, Fox, Warriors, Williams

August 23rd, 2020 at 5:46pm CST by JD Shaw

Lakers superstar LeBron James is beginning to find his groove in the playoffs, with Game 3 serving as proof of such, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com writes.

James played noticeably aggressively in the team’s first-round series against Portland on Saturday, recording 38 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in 34 minutes of work. It’s the type of play the Lakers need to defeat a fearless Blazers team, especially with a star backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum tiring out the likes of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Danny Green each game.

“I just think my offensive pace tonight,” James said postgame. “At times I was fast, slow, medium-paced. It was like a stick shift. Sometimes I was in gear 1, sometimes I was in gear 6. Being able to read and react, depending on whether I had the cruise on or was in a residential area or the highway or I was on the straightaway. Being able to have a car that can go in different speeds and zones, depending on what the traffic is, is very key.”

James was joined in the win by fellow All-Star Anthony Davis, who finished with 29 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists. The two stars each shot 11-of-18 from the field and took a combined 31 attempts from the free throw line, demonstrating their aggressive mindset and play.

“I told Bron at half, I have to take some of the pressure off of him,” Davis said. “I missed a ton of free throws [five of nine first-half attempts]. I didn’t want him to have to carry the team the whole time, where he didn’t have to try to come down and score every time.

“He was in attack mode. We need him like that all the time. When he’s attacking, it’s our job to make shots.”

Here are some other notes out of the Pacific Division:

Kings guard De’Aaron Fox showed flashes of a potential superstar during his third season in the league, Kyle Ramos of NBA.com writes. Fox, 22, averaged a career-high 21.1 points, 6.8 assists and 1.5 steals per contest this year, also shooting a career-best 48% from the floor in 51 games. His averages increased to an impressive 25.3 points and 7.3 assists during the Orlando games.
Anthony Slater of The Athletic examines the Warriors’ options in the 2020 NBA draft, with the team being awarded the No. 2 overall pick last week. The current front-runner to be drafted by Golden State appears to be 7’1″ center James Wiseman, though no decisions have been finalized yet — and that’s if the team decides to even keep the pick. “I know there’s a lot of narrative around us trading our pick and what we’re going to do with it, but we don’t really know anything,” general manager Bob Myers said. “At this point, we found out half an hour ago we had the No. 2 pick, so that’s the first step as far as getting some clarity.”
Suns coach Monty Williams spoke with Greg Moore of The Arizona Republic on a number of topics, including how he guided his team to an 8-0 record in Orlando and how he handled the social justice movement. “We did have organic, spontaneous conversations even before we went to Orlando — maybe three Zoom chats, where we had really good conversations that weren’t just about basketball,” Williams said of his team. “Then when we got to Orlando, we just dialed in to what we say every day, ‘Family on three.’”

Rajon Rondo Will Be Active For Game 3

August 22nd, 2020 at 6:14pm CST by Arthur Hill

Lakers coach Frank Vogel confirms that point guard Rajon Rondo will be on the active roster for tonight’s game, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

Rondo, who hasn’t played in a game since March 10, has been sidelined since suffering a broken right thumb that required surgery shortly after the team arrived in Orlando. He returned to the Disney World campus earlier this month and cleared quarantine shortly before the start of the series with the Trail Blazers.

Rondo will be a welcome addition for a Lakers backcourt that is missing defensive specialist Avery Bradley and that turned in a poor shooting performance in a Game 1 loss. Rondo averaged 7.1 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 48 games this season and has a history of impressive playoff performances.

Rondo Now Questionable For Game 3

August 21st, 2020 at 8:05pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo, still recovering from a July 16 thumb surgery, has been listed as merely “questionable” for the third game in the team’s playoff series against the Trail Blazers on Saturday, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). With starting guard Avery Bradley opting out of the NBA’s Orlando restart and Rondo injured, the Lakers have been fairly short-handed at the point.

2020 NBA Draft Picks By Team

August 21st, 2020 at 8:42am CST by Luke Adams

In addition to claiming the top three spots in the 2020 NBA draft based on this year’s lottery results, the Timberwolves, Warriors, and Hornets are three of eight teams that will own more than two draft picks this fall.

As our full 2020 draft order shows, the Sixers lead the way with five picks, while the Kings, Pelicans, and Celtics have four apiece. Like Minnesota, Golden State, and Charlotte, the Knicks also hold three selections. On the other end of the spectrum, the Rockets are the only team without a 2020 draft pick.

To present a clearer picture of which teams are most – and least – stocked with picks for the 2020 NBA draft, we’ve rounded up all 60 picks by team in the space below. Let’s dive in…

Teams with more than two picks:

Philadelphia 76ers (5): 21, 34, 36, 49, 58
Sacramento Kings (4): 12, 35, 43, 52
New Orleans Pelicans (4): 13, 39, 42, 60
Boston Celtics (4): 14, 26, 30, 47
Minnesota Timberwolves (3): 1, 17, 33
Golden State Warriors (3): 2, 48, 51
Charlotte Hornets (3): 3, 32, 56
New York Knicks (3): 8, 27, 38

Teams with two picks:

Chicago Bulls: 4, 44
Atlanta Hawks: 6, 50
Washington Wizards: 9, 37
San Antonio Spurs: 11, 41
Orlando Magic: 15, 45
Portland Trail Blazers: 16, 46
Dallas Mavericks: 18, 31
Brooklyn Nets: 19, 55
Oklahoma City Thunder: 25, 53
Toronto Raptors: 29, 59

Teams with one pick:

Cleveland Cavaliers: 5
Detroit Pistons: 7
Phoenix Suns: 10
Miami Heat: 20
Denver Nuggets: 22
Utah Jazz: 23
Milwaukee Bucks: 24
Los Angeles Lakers: 28
Memphis Grizzlies: 40
Indiana Pacers: 54
Los Angeles Clippers: 57

Teams with no picks:

Houston Rockets

Vogel On Rondo, Starters, Waiters, Smith

August 20th, 2020 at 7:31pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Though the Lakers suffered a surprising 100-93 loss to the Trail Blazers in the first game of their conference quarterfinals series on Tuesday, head coach Frank Vogel has indicated that he will not make any adjustments to his current starting lineup ahead of tonight’s second “home” game, according to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).

On Tuesday, the Lakers started All-Star forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis, along with center JaVale McGee, and guards Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

McGee played just 12 minutes on Tuesday. Backup power forward Kyle Kuzma, meanwhile, logged 30 minutes of game action, with Davis shifting to a center role when playing alongside Kuzma. Point guard Alex Caruso played 29 minutes off the bench, the same amount of time as Caldwell-Pope and six more minutes than sharpshooter Green.

Backup center Dwight Howard and power forward Markieff Morris also logged more time than McGee, a solid post defender without much offensive range. Starting Davis at center, with either Kuzma or Caruso replacing McGee in the starting lineup, could present a unique opportunity for the Lakers to spread the floor against Portland.

Backup point guard Rajon Rondo, who has been recovering from a fractured right thumb suffered five weeks ago, will remain inactive for tonight’s game. Rondo was medically cleared for action on August 17. Rondo had the thumb surgically repaired on July 16. He has yet to suit up for the Lakers during the team’s summer games.

Vogel also noted that he will find playing time for recent waiver additions Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith, per Mark Medina of USA Today (Twitter link). In the first game of the series, Waiters saw the court for just one minute, and took no field goal attempts, while Smith did not play at all.

Rajon Rondo Questionable To Play In Game 2

August 20th, 2020 at 1:32pm CST by Luke Adams

Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo, who hasn’t played this summer due to a fractured thumb, is listed as questionable for Game 2 vs. Portland on Thursday night, tweets Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times.

Poll: Lakers’ Postseason Outlook

August 20th, 2020 at 12:29pm CST by Luke Adams

A dominant regular season leading up to the stoppage of the NBA’s season in March all but locked up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the Lakers entering the summer restart. However, the team hasn’t quite looked like itself since play resumed. LeBron James‘ squad went 3-5 during the seeding games and dropped Game 1 of its first-round series to the No. 8 Trail Blazers.

The Lakers’ shooting doomed them in Game 1. Despite out-rebounding the Blazers, winning the turnover battle, and moving the ball better, the Lakers just couldn’t put the ball in the basket, finishing with an abysmal shooting line of .351/.156/.645.

L.A. still only lost by seven points, and the team’s shooting won’t be that bad every game. But beyond James and Anthony Davis, many of the Lakers’ secondary scorers are streaky, including Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who went a combined 4-of-21 from the floor on Tuesday. Additionally, Avery Bradley‘s absence means the club is without its top perimeter defender — that’s not insignificant in a series against Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum.

In a discussion about the Lakers’ situation today, ESPN’s writers expressed mixed opinions on whether it’s too early to start worrying about the team. As Kevin Pelton points out, L.A. is still getting the same quality shots it got during the regular season, and it seems likely those shots will start dropping at some point. However, Nick Friedell and Andre Snellings view the Lakers’ roster as top-heavy and have questions about the supporting cast.

Neither Friedell nor Royce Young necessarily expects the Lakers to fall in the first round to the eighth-seeded Blazers. However, both ESPN writers expressed skepticism that L.A. should still be considered a prime championship frontrunner.

It’s worth noting that even before the Lakers’ Game 1 loss to Portland, sports books had generally started listing the Clippers as title favorites over the Lakers, with some moving the Bucks ahead as well, per David Purdum of ESPN.

What do you think? Has your opinion of the Lakers changed at all since the restart began? Do you expect them to start firing on all cylinders again any day now? How confident do you feel right now in forecasting a Finals appearance – or win – for the Lakers?

Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.