Los Angeles Lakers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Lakers Notes: LeBron, Davis, Bamba, Reaves, Hachimura

May 20th, 2023 at 7:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

General manager Rob Pelinka reshuffled the Lakers‘ roster to give LeBron James and Anthony Davis their best shot at another NBA title, but the two stars haven’t lived up to expectations so far in the Western Conference Finals, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic.

L.A. trails the series 2-0 after letting a pair of winnable games slip away in Denver. James missed a layup and botched a wide-open dunk in the second quarter Thursday, while Davis shot just 4-of-15 from the field after a 40-point night in Game 1. Amick notes that neither player is as dominant as they were when L.A. defeated Denver in the 2020 conference finals, which is understandable with James considering that he’s 38, but it’s more puzzling for Davis, who should still be in his prime at age 30.

“I got the same looks,” Davis told reporters after Game 2. “… I liked all the looks that I got today. Just a lot of them (were) short. I’m going to continue to shoot those shots and I’ve got to be better, more efficient, (to) help the team win. So, I’ll be better.”

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James isn’t concerned about his three-point shooting, even though he’s off to an 0-for-10 start in the series, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. James shot 32.1% from beyond the arc this season, his lowest figure in seven years, but his teammates are encouraging him to keep shooting whenever he’s open. “It’s LeBron James. I don’t think anybody bats an eye when he shoots a shot or questions his shot,” Austin Reaves said. “We want him taking whatever he feels comfortable with, just because he’s a winning basketball player for his whole career and that’s all he wants to do, he wants to win.”
Coach Darvin Ham altered his starting five for Game 2, but the change he made wasn’t the one he needed, contends Kevin Pelton of ESPN. There was speculation that Rui Hachimura might start after he did an effective job guarding Nikola Jokic late in Game 1, but Ham opted to replace Dennis Schröder with Jarred Vanderbilt instead. Although Vanderbilt controlled Jamal Murray early on, he bogged down the offense due to his lack of shooting range. Pelton argues that Ham should consider starting Hachimura and Schröder while bringing D’Angelo Russell off the bench.
Mohamed Bamba, who hasn’t played since April 28 because of left ankle soreness, may be able to return in Game 4 or 5, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Lakers are virtually certain to match any offer sheets signed by Reaves or Hachimura, who are both restricted free agents, Wojnarowski states on the latest edition of his podcast (hat tip to Silver Screen and Roll). “I don’t see any scenario where the Lakers would not match on both,” Wojnarowski said. “They have to. … They’ve proved themselves to be win-now players with LeBron and Anthony Davis on their timeline (and) these are both starting-level players.”

LeBron Unconcerned About Ankle Injury

May 19th, 2023 at 7:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

LeBron James twisted his left ankle in the late going of Game 2 against the Nuggets on Thursday but the Lakers’ superstar said he’ll play in Game 3, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. James, who has dealt with right foot problems this season, stepped on Anthony Davis‘ foot. “A little ankle [injury] isn’t going to stop me,” James said.

Nuggets Notes: Murray, Strategy, Jokic, Porter

May 18th, 2023 at 9:56am CST by Arthur Hill

It was an ear infection that had Jamal Murray listed as questionable for Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, writes Mike Singer of The Denver Post. Murray contracted the infection on Saturday, but he was able to score 31 points Tuesday night as the Nuggets held off a late Lakers comeback.

Coach Michael Malone had Murray sit out practice leading up to the game so he could rest and try to recover. He watched film and reviewed the scouting reports, but he didn’t do anything physical until Tuesday’s tipoff.

“I sometimes marvel at the kid,” Malone said. “He showed up and performed like he always does.”

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The Nuggets focused on attacking D’Angelo Russell in Game 1, Singer adds in another Post story. Speaking after Wednesday’s film session, Bruce Brown described Russell as “not the best defender, but he tries.” The Lakers guard was a minus-25 for the game and played just nine minutes in the second half. “A guy that’s played really well for them was not on the floor in the fourth quarter, D’Angelo Russell,” Malone said. “And that to me is an interesting storyline. Are they going to play him? Are they not going to play him?”
The Lakers had some success by using Rui Hachimura, a smaller defender, to guard Nikola Jokic in the second half Tuesday, but the Nuggets say other teams have tried the same tactic, including the Timberwolves in the first round, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “As a team, we’ve seen everything there is to see on how teams will try to guard Nikola,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “It might have surprised us for a little bit in that late second half, but looking at the film, I don’t think that that’ll be an issue for us. Next thing we know how to counter that when they put (Anthony Davis) off ball and AD is roaming a little bit, it opens up some stuff on the backside, so we just got to execute.”
The Nuggets have benefited from Porter’s unselfish attitude during the playoffs, per Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports. During the second-round series against Phoenix, Porter told Malone that he wouldn’t object if Brown was used in his place to close out games, adding, “I just want to win.”

L.A. Notes: Russell, LeBron, Lue, Leonard

May 17th, 2023 at 6:28pm CST by Arthur Hill

After getting badly outplayed in the first half of Tuesday’s series opener, the Lakers made enough adjustments to cut the lead to three points in the final minute, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. The Nuggets were able to hold on, but L.A. turned the game around by switching to a bigger lineup. Coach Darvin Ham assigned Rui Hachimura to guard Nikola Jokic, which allowed more freedom for Anthony Davis to roam around and challenge Denver’s shooters.

“You have to switch up matchups at times and you have to switch up coverages,” Ham said. “Gave us a chance to get back into the game.”

While it makes sense to go with that same approach from the start in Game 2, it may not be an easy decision for Ham. Multiple team sources told McMenamin that there’s concern the team could “lose” D’Angelo Russell if he’s moved to the bench after starting every game so far in the playoffs. Russell got off to a terrible start Tuesday, posting a minus-23 in the first half and playing only nine minutes after the intermission. He’s headed to free agency this summer, so Ham’s decision could affect his long-term future with the team.

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The Lakers‘ offense found success by having LeBron James target Jamal Murray after he got in foul trouble in the second half, McMenamin adds. That will likely be the approach again when the series resumes Thursday night. “We’ll be better,” James promised. “We know we didn’t play up to our capabilities in the first half. … But you know we’ll be better in Game 2, that’s for sure.”
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue has two years remaining on his contract, but only one of those is guaranteed, a source tells Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. That explains why Lue’s representatives reportedly met with the team this week to discuss an extension or an entirely new deal. Greif notes that the contract Lue received when he became head coach lined up with the deals given to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who will both be eligible for extensions this summer that could be worth up to $220MM over four years. As Greif points out, the Clippers’ offseason decisions will provide a window into their level of trust in the current foundation of the team.
Leonard hasn’t decided whether to have surgery for the meniscus tear he suffered in the playoffs, but Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank believes he’ll be ready for the start of next season with or without the operation, Greif adds.

Lakers Notes: James, Davis, Bamba, Schröder, Vanderbilt

May 15th, 2023 at 7:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Despite his age and two decades as an NBA player, Lakers superstar LeBron James continues to defy Father Time with his All-Star level performances. Teammate D’Angelo Russell has a simple explanation for why James continues to excel at an age when most NBA players have already retired, according to Greg Beacham of The Associated Press.

”Bron’s niche has always been preparedness,” Russell said. ”A lot of guys’ niches is shooting the ball, working hard, outworking guys. LeBron is a film junkie, a basketball junkie, a leadership junkie. To be able to watch it all from the front row, it’s almost like a cheat code.”

James has played in a league-record 278 postseason games, and his 7,912 career postseason points are nearly 2,000 more than Michael Jordan (5,987) atop the NBA’s career playoff scoring list, Beacham adds.

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The team’s Game 1 injury report didn’t have any surprises. James and Anthony Davis were both listed as probable for Tuesday’s game, as they were for much of the Warriors series, Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports tweets. Both have been playing through right foot ailments. Mohamed Bamba is listed as out due to left ankle soreness.
Bamba wasn’t at Monday’s practice in Denver because he’s back in Los Angeles after getting a PRP injection in his ankle earlier this postseason, Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets. He has a follow-up appointment there on Tuesday and will rejoin the team afterward, Buha adds. Bamba has only made three cameo appearances during this postseason.
Coach Darvin Ham tweaked his lineup in the series finale against the Warriors, inserting guard Dennis Schröder in favor of small forward Jarred Vanderbilt, Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register notes. Will Ham stick with the lineup switch for the Nuggets’ series? That’s TBD, though Ham liked how Schröder hounded Stephen Curry, which could lead to a similar defensive assignment against Jamal Murray. “Dennis came in and set an unbelievable tone defensively,” Ham said.

Reaves Doesn't See Lakers As Underdogs

May 14th, 2023 at 8:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

On paper, the Nuggets are the favorites to reach the NBA Finals. But Lakers guard Austin Reaves doesn’t view his team – the West’s No. 7 seed – as the underdog, Jovan Buha of The Athletic relays.

“I think the seeding thing is, it’s just a number,” the Lakers guard said. “When you have guys like Bron, AD, that’s won championships … (you) always feel like you have a chance, especially with the roster that we have and the talent that we have.”

Lakers forward Anthony Davis echoed those sentiments: “Our expectations inside are way higher than showing up to the Western Conference Finals.”

The Lakers need to do whatever than can to retain Reaves, who will be a restricted free agent after the season, Mirjam Swanson of the Orange County Register writes. Reaves is averaging 15.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists during the playoffs. The Lakers hold his Early Bird rights and are limited to an $11.4MM offer in the first year of a new contract, but they can match an offer sheet.
Stephen Curry is still hopeful of getting another championship with the Warriors, Vince Goodwill of Yahoo Sports writes. “You can’t win it every year, but you wanna be in the position to be serious contenders,” Curry said after the Warriors were eliminated by the Lakers. “Final eight, you can retool and be back.”

Poll: Which Team Will Win Western Conference Finals?

May 13th, 2023 at 11:34am CST by Luke Adams

The 2023 Western Conference Finals will feature two teams that took remarkably different paths to get there.

The Nuggets claimed the No. 1 seed in the West on December 20 and never relinquished it, winning a conference-best 53 games despite essentially going on cruise control down the stretch, losing 10 of their last 17 contests. Since the playoffs began, no team has posted a better offensive rating (118.7) or net rating (+8.6) than the Nuggets, who have yet to lose at home in the postseason.

The Lakers, of course, got off to a disastrous start in 2022/23, losing 10 of the first 12 games on their regular season schedule. While things got better from there, especially once Los Angeles revamped its roster at the trade deadline, the team still occupied the No. 13 spot in the Western standings as late as February 26, which was also the day that LeBron James went down with a foot injury that cost him the next 13 games.

The Lakers persevered, finishing the regular season on a hot streak and claiming the No. 7 seed in the West before knocking off the No. 2 Grizzlies and the defending champion Warriors. Like Denver, L.A. hasn’t lost at home so far in the postseason, but the Lakers are winning games a little differently — they only rank ninth among playoff teams in offense, but their 106.5 postseason defensive rating is the NBA’s best.

The Nuggets will enter the Western Finals as slight betting favorites (-143, per BetOnline.ag), and it’s not hard to see why.

Denver is led by perennial MVP candidate Nikola Jokic, who is coming off a series in which he averaged an outrageous 34.5 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 10.3 assists per game. Jamal Murray, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL, is back in peak form, putting up 25.9 PPG and 6.5 APG on .461/.395/.915 shooting so far in the playoffs. And perhaps most importantly, the Nuggets seem to have the right complementary pieces surrounding their stars, including versatile forward Aaron Gordon, three-and-D wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and jack-of-all-trades Bruce Brown.

Still, there are plenty of believers in a Lakers squad that supplemented James and Anthony Davis by swapping out Russell Westbrook in February for valuable role players like D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Malik Beasley. With James and Davis healthy entering the series and holding the edge on the Nuggets’ stars in terms of championship experience, L.A. is only a +123 underdog, per BetOnline.ag.

We want to know what you think. Which team do you expect to win the series and represent the West in the NBA Finals? Should we count on a six- or seven-game series or will it be over in a hurry?

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

Schröder Replacing Vanderbilt In Lakers’ Game 6 Starting Lineup

May 12th, 2023 at 9:05pm CST by Rory Maher

Guard Dennis Schröder is replacing forward Jarred Vanderbilt in the Lakers‘ starting lineup for Friday’s Game 6 versus Golden State, tweets Marc J. Spears of Andscape.

It will be the first change head coach Darvin Ham has made to L.A.’s starting lineup in the 2022/23 postseason. Vanderbilt had gotten the nod in the previous 11 playoff games.

After a solid first-round series against Memphis and a strong defensive performance in Game 1 against the Warriors, Vanderbilt has struggled mightily over the past four games against the defending champions, averaging just 2.5 PPG and 3.8 RPG and going a combined 2-of-15 from the field in 14.4 MPG.

He has been particularly ineffective over the past two contests, recording a minus-23 plus/minus in his 22 minutes of action after the Warriors went small by inserting Gary Payton II into the starting lineup. Now the Lakers will match the guard-heavy approach with one of their own.

Schröder, on the other hand, had a quiet first-round series against the Grizzlies, but has come to life against the Warriors, averaging 11.8 PPG, 2.6 APG and 1.0 SPG on .476/.333/.778 shooting over five games. The team is plus-28 in his 64 minutes over the past two contests.

The Lakers currently lead the series 3-2 and have a chance to eliminate Golden State tonight at home. In case you missed it, Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins will be active despite dealing with a left costal cartilage fracture.

Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins Available For Game 6

May 12th, 2023 at 8:11pm CST by Rory Maher

Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, who was previously listed as questionable after sustaining a left costal cartilage fracture (the area of the rib cage that connects the ribs to the sternum), has officially been upgraded to available for Friday’s Game 6 against the Lakers, tweets Kendra Andrews of ESPN.

Andrews reported earlier today that Golden State was hopeful Wiggins would be able to suit up despite dealing with the injury. He went through his pregame routine and felt good enough to play.

According to Andrews, the Warriors believe Wiggins suffered the fracture in the fourth quarter of Game 5, which the team won in no small part due to his efforts. Wiggins was clearly in pain after the game and tried to downplay the severity of the injury by saying he’d be OK, but an MRI later revealed the fracture, sources tell Andrews.

Wiggins is wearing a protective pad on his chest, telling Andrews (via Twitter) that he’s feeling better today than he was yesterday.

Head coach Steve Kerr said he hadn’t discussed a minutes restriction for Wiggins, but added he would be monitoring the former No. 1 overall pick based on “his movement, his feeling, how effective he can be,” per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Through 12 playoff games (34.5 minutes) in 2022/23, the 28-year-old is averaging 17.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on .468/.311/.698 shooting. The defending champions trail their second-round series with the Lakers 3-2, so it’s another must-win game for the Warriors.

Lakers Notes: Davis, Lineup, Flopping, Bamba

May 12th, 2023 at 9:16am CST by Luke Adams

The latest updates on Anthony Davis, who exited Game 5 of the Lakers‘ series against Golden State on Wednesday due to an apparent head injury, continue to bode well for the big man’s status going forward.

Head coach Darvin Ham told reporters on Thursday that Davis didn’t have to enter the NBA’s concussion protocol and should be available for Game 6 on Friday, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Davis has been formally listed as probable to play — his designation on the official injury report refers only to an existing right foot issue, not any sort of head injury.

Davis, who was inadvertently hit in the head by Kevon Looney on Wednesday, was taken out of the game because he was feeling “woozy,” a source told ESPN, but Ham said on Thursday that the 30-year-old is “not showing any signs of anything.” The Lakers’ coach added that he was relieved by Davis’ prognosis.

“It’s huge,” Ham said. “He’s the centerpiece of what we’re trying to do on both sides of the ball and for us just in general for our success rate. So that was great, great news.”

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Ham admitted that there’s a temptation to make minor changes to the Lakers’ starting lineup for a crucial Game 6 on Friday, but also pointed out that the team has won three games with its current starters, per McMenamin. “We’ll sleep on some things, some suggestions and some ideas that we have and then wake up in the morning ready to make a final decision,” Ham said on Thursday. L.A. has used the same starting five in all 11 playoff games so far.
Ham and star forward LeBron James were among those who pushed back against Steve Kerr‘s claim that the Lakers are flopping to get foul calls, with Ham taking exception to the accusation, writes Josh Peter of USA Today. “We play a physical brand of basketball,” Ham said after the team’s Game 5 loss. “We don’t teach flopping, we don’t teach head snaps. You see (James), he’s got a thousand scratches on his arms, same with (Davis), same with Austin Reaves, same with Lonnie Walker. It’s unfortunate that it comes to that, but we hadn’t done it all year, and we’re damn sure not going to start now, looking for a third party to dive in and help us.”
Lakers center Mohamed Bamba, who has missed the entire second round due to a left ankle injury, told Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link) that he thinks he could return to action if the team advances to the Western Finals. Even if he’s healthy and available, Bamba wouldn’t be a regular part of the Lakers’ postseason rotation, but he’d provide some additional emergency depth up front.