Los Angeles Lakers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Lakers Say Anthony Davis Has Stress Injury, Out Indefinitely

December 23rd, 2022 at 2:27pm CST by Luke Adams

Nearly a week after Anthony Davis left suffered a right foot injury, the Lakers have issued an official update on Davis’ status, announcing on Friday that he has a stress injury in his foot and has been ruled out indefinitely (Twitter link).

According to the club, the diagnosis was reached after “extensive consultation with Lakers team physicians and outside specialists.” Further updates will be provided when appropriate, the Lakers added in their statement.

Although we waited several days for official word from the Lakers, their announcement doesn’t provide much additional clarity on Davis’ injury or his potential recovery timeline. As Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes tweets, a “stress injury” could mean a stress reaction or a stress fracture, and it’s difficult to assess the severity of the ailment without knowing which bone is affected.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported five days ago that Davis was expected to be sidelined for at least a month, but it sounds like the big man and the Lakers aren’t prepared to go that far. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), the pain in Davis’ foot has subsided in recent days and the plan is to rest it for another seven-to-10 days before having it reevaluated to see if he can return to the court.

The hope is that Davis will be able to avoid undergoing a procedure on his injured foot, Wojnarowski adds.

With Davis on the shelf, Thomas Bryant has been promoted to the Lakers’ starting five and has played well, averaging 17.5 PPG and 7.8 RPG on .622/.636/.583 shooting in his last four games (28.5 MPG). However, Los Angeles’ defense has struggled without Davis manning the middle, giving up between 117 and 134 points in the three games since his injury. The Lakers’ defensive rating during that time ranks 29th in the NBA.

Pacers, Myles Turner Discussing Possible Extension

December 23rd, 2022 at 1:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The Pacers and center Myles Turner have opened up discussions about a possible contract extension, league sources with knowledge of the situation tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Those talks are believed to be in the initial stages, Charania adds.

Turner is earning $18MM in the final year of his current contract and will become an unrestricted free agent in the summer if he doesn’t sign a new deal before then.

With Domantas Sabonis no longer sharing minutes at the five in Indiana, Turner is enjoying the best season of his eight-year NBA career, averaging a career-high 16.7 points in his first 26 games (29.5 MPG). His 7.8 rebounds per game are also a career high, as are his .541 FG% and .417 3PT%. The 26-year-old has provided his usual rim protection too, blocking 2.1 shots per night.

As we explained last month, the Pacers would be limited to giving Turner a 20% starting raise (to $21.6MM) if they offered a standard contract extension. Such an offer would max out at about $97MM over four years.

However, because they’re still well below the salary cap – not to mention the salary floor – the Pacers could complete a renegotiation-and-extension, which would allow them to more than double Turner’s $18MM salary this season (to his maximum of about $37MM) and would give them the flexibility to discuss a much wider range of salary numbers in future years (including a decrease of up to 40% from his renegotiated salary).

According to Charania, Pacers officials have indeed discussed the renegotiation-and-extension framework with Turner’s agent, Austin Brown.

Although Charania says that there’s a March 1 deadline for the two sides to reach an extension, Turner will technically remain eligible to sign a new deal all the way up until June 30. However, teams aren’t permitted to renegotiate players’ current-year salaries after the last day in February. If Turner and his camp are viewing the start of March as the deadline to work something out, that presumably means they won’t entertain a new deal without a 2022/23 salary bump.

Even as they explore an extension for Turner, the Pacers are expected to keep all their options open, including a possible trade before the February 9 deadline. The Lakers and Raptors are among the teams that have shown interest in the big man in recent months, league sources tell Charania.

Turner and Buddy Hield – who has also drawn interest from rival teams this season, per Charania – are considered Indiana’s most obvious veteran trade candidates, though there’s no guarantee that either will go anywhere this season.

Lakers Notes: Westbrook, LeBron, Reaves, Defense

December 23rd, 2022 at 7:46am CST by Luke Adams

Lakers guard Russell Westbrook, who has missed the team’s last two games due to left foot soreness, is listed as probable to return on Friday vs. Charlotte, tweets Marc Stein. LeBron James, who sat out Monday’s game in Phoenix with left ankle soreness and returned on Wednesday in Sacramento, has also been designated as probable.
Like Westbook, Lakers guard Austin Reaves (right ankle sprain) has been sidelined for the last two games, but he also has a chance to return on Friday. He has been listed as questionable, per Stein.
Although Thomas Bryant has played well at center in Anthony Davis‘ stead, the Lakers have no adequate substitute on defense for their injured star, writes Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group. Since Davis went down last week with a foot injury, the club has the second-worst defensive rating in the NBA (124.5). “We’re already a team without a lot of length and not a lot of size,” James said. “And you lose a 6-11 guy with a 7-6 wingspan, 7-7 wingspan, I mean, it’s self-explanatory, so it’s not like it’s rocket science.”

Knicks Looking For Protected First-Rounder For Reddish

December 22nd, 2022 at 2:59pm CST by Rory Maher

Some people in the Lakers‘ organization are “very intrigued” by Knicks wing Cam Reddish, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. They view him as a youthful reclamation project, which the team has had some success with in the past couple seasons (Malik Monk and Lonnie Walker). Sources tell Woike that the Knicks are looking for a protected first-rounder for the 23-year-old, but that asking price is expected to dip as Reddish is no longer in New York’s rotation. Reddish will be a restricted free agent in the summer if he’s extended a qualifying offer.

Lakers Are Still Evaluating Anthony Davis' Foot Injury

December 21st, 2022 at 11:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

Five days after Anthony Davis hurt his right foot, the Lakers still haven’t provided an official statement on the injury, notes Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. Coach Darvin Ham explained the delay tonight, telling reporters, “He’s still going through the evaluation process. We’re still trying to see which course of action we should take, and you’ll know more in the coming days about that situation.”

Lakers Notes: Davis, Trade Market, LeBron, Bryant, Christie

December 21st, 2022 at 6:24pm CST by Arthur Hill

The foot injury that Anthony Davis suffered last week has decreased the chances that the Lakers will gamble on a major trade, multiple sources tell Jovan Buha of The Athletic. He adds that the only exception would be if the team can acquire a young star that it believes can succeed alongside Davis over the next few years.

Even before the Davis injury, the Lakers’ front office wasn’t confident that there was a trade available that would turn the team into contenders, Buha states. He suggests the most likely current scenario is a deal that would include some combination of Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn and a protected first-rounder in either 2027 or 2029 in exchange for a 3-and-D wing or a combo forward.

Along with the players who have already been linked to the Lakers in trade talks, Buha’s sources point to the Suns‘ Jae Crowder, the Rockets‘ Eric Gordon, the Pistons‘ Alec Burks, the Hornets‘ Terry Rozier, P.J. Washington and Kelly Oubre Jr. and the Spurs‘ Josh Richardson and Jakob Poeltl as players to watch.

There’s more on the Lakers, all from Buha:

LeBron James has posted four straight 30-point games, but his playing time is starting to become a concern. He’s averaged 39.2 minutes over the past five games, and the Lakers need to be careful that they don’t rely too heavily on him. Buha notes that James, who will turn 38 next week, ranks sixth in minutes per game among players with at least 50 total games over the past two seasons.
The loss of Davis has been eased somewhat by the emergence of Thomas Bryant. Buha states that Bryant was considered “almost unplayable” before Davis got hurt, but he’s averaging 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in the last three games while shooting 61.1% from the field and 55.6% from three-point range. The 25-year-old center joined the Lakers during the offseason on a veteran’s minimum contract and will be a free agent again next summer.
Rookie shooting guard Max Christie recently moved into the rotation and may be playing well enough to stay there. The second-round pick provides a much-needed 3-and-D option for coach Darvin Ham, and he’s one of the best rebounders among the team’s guards.
The starting backcourt of Beverley and Dennis Schroder hasn’t performed well, and Buha wonders why Ham keeps playing them together. The Lakers are minus-50 in 161 minutes when they’re on the court at the same time, and their skills seem to be redundant.

Southeast Notes: Young, McMillan, Collins, Wright, Beal, Oladipo

December 21st, 2022 at 3:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Hawks guard Trae Young and head coach Nate McMillan both downplayed an alleged confrontation that occurred earlier this month, but there has been chatter that their relationship has gotten worse since then, according to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com, who said one league executive referred to the situation in Atlanta as “toxic.”

“When they win, everybody’s happy for a minute,” one source told Bulpett. “But when they lose, it gets messy. Instead of trying to get it figured out, there’s a lot of blame being thrown around.”

According to Bulpett, one opposing coach said that Young and McMillan don’t like each other, and suggested that “other players have issues with Trae” as well.

“There were teams that questioned whether he’d ever be this good because of his size when he was coming out,” a front office source said of Young. “So it’s good to have that kind of fight in you. But at some point, you’d hope he’d realize the effect he can have on his team, both positive and negative. Sometimes you have to take a step back and maybe take a hit to make the whole thing work.”

Meanwhile, although John Collins‘ name has once again come up in trade rumors, sources who spoke to Bulpett pointed to the big man’s contract as a potential roadblock as the Hawks seek a trade partner. He’s still owed $78.5MM across three seasons after this one.

“He’s not a bad player. He’s actually a good player,” a source told Bulpett. “The problem is he’s not worth 23-and-a-half million. There are places he could go where he’d really be helping a team and really be happy, but right now that contract is in the way. We’ll see if anyone’s going to bite or if Atlanta’s going to make it worth another team’s while.”

Here’s more from around the Southeast:

Asked on Tuesday if there’s a chance Delon Wright will return to action for the Wizards on Thursday, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. responded, “I hope so,” tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Wright has been on the shelf for nearly two months, but finally seems on the verge of being reactivated.
In a story for The Athletic, Robbins and Jovan Buha explore whether it’s realistic to think the Wizards and Lakers could work out a trade that sends Bradley Beal to Los Angeles for Russell Westbrook and draft picks. Robbins is skeptical, but points out that Beal’s no-trade clause will make it challenging for the Wizards to maximize the guard’s value if he ever wants to be dealt, since he could veto deals to unwanted destinations.
With several Heat regulars unavailable, Victor Oladipo made his first start of the year and played a season-high 34 minutes in Tuesday’s loss to Chicago. As Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel relays, head coach Erik Spoelstra made it clear after the game that he doesn’t intend to lean that heavily on Oladipo often as he continues to work his way back to 100%. “I wouldn’t have done this with Vic if it wasn’t clearly communicated with him and with the training staff and if we didn’t have two days after the last game, two days before the next game,” Spoelstra said.

Community Shootaround: Best Team In The West

December 21st, 2022 at 1:51pm CST by Luke Adams

After defeating Memphis on Tuesday, the Nuggets are the Western Conference leaders, becoming the latest club to take its turn atop the West’s standings. The Nuggets, who also briefly held the No. 1 seed for a couple days in mid-November, are the fourth team to lead the West so far in December, as the conference’s would-be contenders play musical chairs with the top seeds.

Since the regular season began in October, eight different teams have held the No. 1 spot in the West, with five of those clubs spending at least six days atop the conference. Of those teams, only one has spent more than 10 days holding the top seed — the Suns have led the West for 23 days so far this season.

While the Suns look like a worthy contender to finish the season as the West’s best team, they’ve been in a tailspin in the last couple weeks, losing six of their last nine games. The absences of Cameron Johnson (due to injury) and Jae Crowder (away from the team) have hurt a club that has also dealt with injuries to starting guards Chris Paul and Devin Booker in recent weeks.

The Nuggets, the current West leader, have a strong starting group led by two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and own the conference’s second-best offense (behind Phoenix), but they still need to get more from their bench and improve their defense, which ranks 24th in the NBA.

The Trail Blazers have led the conference for 10 days so far this season, but have had some rough patches and currently hold the No. 7 seed, albeit just 2.5 games behind Denver. Like the Nuggets, they’ve had some defensive lapses and are focused on improving a unit that ranks 23rd in the league.

The Grizzlies and Jazz have each been atop the West for nine days, though they’ve appeared headed in opposite directions as of late. Even after losing their last two games, the Grizzlies have won nine of their last 12, while Utah has dropped 10 of 16 since opening the season with a 12-6 record. The Jazz have proven to be surprisingly resilient for a club viewed as a tanker entering the season, but it’s probably safe to assume the Grizzlies will be the better team the rest of the way.

The Pelicans held the West’s top seed for six days earlier this month and remain very much in the hunt for that spot, just one game behind the Nuggets. Former No. 1 pick Zion Williamson has been firing on all cylinders in the last few weeks and we still haven’t seen New Orleans at full strength — Brandon Ingram has been sidelined since November 25 and will add another dimension to the team’s offense once he’s ready to return from his toe injury.

The Warriors (three days) and Clippers (one day) technically held the No. 1 spot in the West briefly during the early part of the season and were considered two of the best bets to make the NBA Finals entering the fall. Injuries have disrupted their momentum so far, but as long as they secure playoff berths and get healthy by the spring, no one will want to face them in the postseason.

Of the remaining seven Western teams who haven’t led the conference at all this season, the Kings (16-13), Timberwolves (16-15), Mavericks (15-16), and Lakers (13-17) are probably the only legitimate threats to make the postseason. It may be be a long shot for a Sacramento squad lacking in playoff experience or a Lakers club lacking in depth to make much noise this season, but Minnesota and Dallas have the star power necessary to make a second-half push.

We want to know what you think. In what appears to be a wide open Western Conference field, which team do you think will finish the regular season as the No. 1 seed? Do you expect the same team to represent the conference in the NBA Finals, or do you like another club to win the West in the postseason?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents!

Magic Rumors: Bamba, Ross, Harris, Hampton, Anthony

December 21st, 2022 at 8:07am CST by Luke Adams

The Magic lost by a single point in Atlanta on Monday night, but prior to that game, Orlando had reeled off six straight wins, with many of them coming against tough opponents. The Magic won home games against the Clippers, Hawks, and Raptors (twice), then capped off the streak with a pair of victories in Boston.

Orlando is still just 11-21 on the season, but the team seems to be taking the sort of positive step forward that management wanted to see in 2022/23, writes Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.

“They have two of the premier positions in the league — play-making forwards — on rookie scale contracts, intriguing young talent around them on solid contracts, no bad money moving forward, and some veterans who could get them back even more draft capital should they choose to trade them,” an Eastern Conference team strategist told Fischer.

While the Magic haven’t been big spenders in free agency during their rebuilding process, league figures familiar with the club’s thinking tell Fischer that ownership will be prepared to open its check book when the time comes to invest in complementary pieces around those two young forwards, Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero.

Here’s more on the Magic:

Among potential Orlando trade chips this season, Mohamed Bamba may have the most value, according to Fischer, who says league sources believe the Magic will likely be seeking a first-round pick for Bamba and would settle for a protected or late first-rounder. Fischer notes that the Magic pursued Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency this past summer, which is perhaps an indication that Bamba was a fallback option and isn’t in the team’s long-term plans.
Although it’s unclear which teams might have interest in Bamba specifically, front office personnel expect teams like the Clippers, Lakers, Raptors, Kings, and Nets to explore the trade market for big men, Fischer writes.
Veteran wings Terrence Ross and R.J. Hampton, both in contract years, are also considered potential trade candidates, as is Gary Harris, who has a non-guaranteed salary for 2023/24. However, their appeal will probably be limited, given their modest production relative to their respective cap hits. Ross has previously drawn interest from the Lakers and Knicks, and the Magic have sought a first-round pick for him in the past, but it’s hard to envision them getting more than a second-rounder if they move him, says Fischer.
League personnel think there may be a “sizable gap” between Cole Anthony‘s asking price and what the Magic are willing to offer when the third-year guard becomes eligible for a rookie scale extension next offseason, per Fischer.

Pacific Notes: Sabonis, Kings, Suns, Booker, Beverley

December 20th, 2022 at 9:24am CST by Luke Adams

Before Kings center Domantas Sabonis racked up 28 points, 23 rebounds, and seven assists in Sunday’s loss to Charlotte, head coach Mike Brown said there’s “no question” that the big man should be an All-Star this season, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Sunday’s performance increased Sabonis’ season-long averages to 18.0 PPG, 12.0 RPG, and 6.4 APG. He’s also shooting a career-best 62.7% from the floor.

“If you don’t vote for him to be an All-Star, in my opinion, you don’t know basketball because what he’s doing, it’s almost on a historic level, and I’m not just talking about his ability to score or his ability to pass,” Brown said.

As impressive as Sabonis has been, the Kings are still seeking a reliable backup at the center position. The team began the season with Richaun Holmes playing that role, then turned to Chimezie Metu. On Sunday, two-way player Neemias Queta got a look, playing seven minutes in just his second appearance of the season. Brown said on Sunday that Holmes and Queta will get more opportunities, per Anderson, and that he expects to continue experimenting until he finds a reliable option in that spot.

“I can’t run Domas 40 minutes every night,” Brown said, according to Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. “So I need to find a guy in that spot who’s going to defend, run the floor, spell Domas for six, eight minutes a half, and play as hard as he as can while following the game plan. Not fouling, boxing out, doing all the little things that need to keep that group solid for those six to eight minutes. We’ve found it in spurts. But I want to get to a point where it can be a little bit more consistent, so I’m going to keep searching until I feel like that person is there.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Although Suns owner Robert Sarver was suspended and fined by the NBA and is now planning to sell the team, a number of current and former Suns employees are still wondering whether other executives who contributed to creating a toxic workplace will face any punishment, reports Baxter Holmes of ESPN. CEO Jason Rowley is among those accused of mistreating staffers. As Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports tweets, the club put out a statement claiming that there are “factual inaccuracies” in Holmes’ report and that the franchise’s leaders have taken accountability for the allegations found to have merit.
Suns head coach Monty Williams blamed himself for the groin injury that sidelined Devin Booker on Monday. “Let’s be straight, I played him way too many minutes,” Williams said (Twitter link via Bourguet). “I can’t look at anybody else when I put players in harm’s way.”
Suns point guard Chris Paul brushed off a taunt from Lakers guard Patrick Beverley on Monday, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Beverley made a “too small” gesture when he converted an and-one against CP3 that cut L.A.’s deficit from 26 points to 23. “You can’t pay attention to that stuff,” Paul said. “That ain’t new. He ain’t come up with it. But just play basketball, man.” Beverley was suspended three games for shoving Deandre Ayton the last time the two teams faced one another.