Ty Jerome’s Season Debut Still 6-9 Weeks Away
Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome is making good progress in his rehab from the high-grade right calf strain he suffered during the preseason, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
However, Jerome’s regular season Grizzlies debut remains a ways off. According to the team, the 28-year-old is expected to return to play in approximately six-to-nine weeks. Further updates on his recovery will be shared as appropriate, the club adds in its statement.
A Sixth Man of the Year finalist in 2024/25, Jerome averaged 12.5 points, 3.4 assists, and 2.5 rebounds per game for the Cavaliers, posting an impressive .516/.439/.872 shooting line. His breakout contract year earned him a three-year, $27.7MM deal with the Grizzlies, who were able to poach him from a Cleveland team already operating above the second tax apron.
Memphis envisioned Jerome as a player who could back up and complement star point guard Ja Morant, but the former University of Virginia standout now appears unlikely to see any action for his new team until sometime in the new year.
Jerome is one of several players unavailable for the injury-plagued Grizzlies, who are especially shorthanded in the backcourt. Morant is currently on the shelf with a right calf strain; another point guard, Scotty Pippen Jr., hasn’t played at all this season after undergoing toe surgery in October; and two-way player Javon Small will be out until at least sometime in December due to a toe injury of his own.
Kawhi Leonard Expected To Return On Sunday
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard is expected to return to action on Sunday vs. Cleveland, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).
Leonard has been sidelined since November 3 while dealing with right ankle and foot sprains. He has missed nine games during that time and has been ruled out of a 10th on Saturday vs. Charlotte. Based on Haynes’ reporting, it sounds like the 34-year-old will suit up for the second game of the Clippers’ weekend back-to-back set, barring a setback.
Leonard got off to a strong start this season, averaging 24.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.5 steals per night on .505/.400/.963 shooting through six games. The Clippers, who were 3-3 in those games, have struggled mightily without Leonard, losing eight of nine contests since he went down.
As disappointing as L.A.’s start has been, the team certainly isn’t out of the playoff race in the Western Conference. The 5-10 Jazz currently hold the 10th spot in the standings, so it wouldn’t take much for the 4-11 Clippers to get back among the play-in teams.
Defensive ace Kris Dunn initially started in Leonard’s place. Following injuries to Bradley Beal and Derrick Jones Jr., the Clippers have also inserted John Collins and Kobe Sanders into their starting five, so one of them – likely Sanders – figures to move back to the bench when Leonard returns.
Chris Paul To Retire After Season
Veteran NBA point guard Chris Paul will retire at the end of the 2025/26 season, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Heading into free agency this past summer, Paul said that he would likely only play for no more than one more year, and Charania stated when he reported CP3’s one-year contract agreement with the Clippers a few weeks later that it would likely be the 40-year-old’s final NBA season. However, that decision wasn’t confirmed until now.
As Charania notes (via Twitter), Paul revealed his plans in a roundabout way on Saturday morning, publishing an Instagram reel of several career highlights with the caption, “Back in NC!!! What a ride…Still so much left…GRATEFUL for this last one!!”
The Clippers are visiting the Hornets on Saturday for what will be their only game in Charlotte this season. Paul, who played his college ball at Wake Forest, was born and raised in North Carolina.
A 12-time All-Star, Paul entered the NBA as the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft and is playing in the league for a 21st season. He has made 11 All-NBA teams and nine All-Defensive teams in addition to leading the league in steals six times and assists five times. He also won a Rookie of the Year award and claimed a spot on the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.
In recent years, the point guard’s production has declined and he has bounced around the league more than he did earlier in his career. Paul is playing for his fourth team in four years, having gone from Phoenix to Golden State to San Antonio to L.A., where he rejoined a Clippers club with whom he spent six seasons with from 2011-17.
Paul has played a very minor role for the Clippers so far this season and hasn’t been effective in his limited minutes. In 10 games off the bench, he has averaged 2.5 points and 3.3 assists on 27.3% shooting in 13.7 minutes per contest.
For his career, Paul holds averages of 16.9 points, 9.2 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.0 steals in 33.5 minutes per game across 1,364 regular season outings. He has also put up 20.0 PPG, 8.3 APG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.9 SPG in 149 playoff games.
DeRozan, LaVine Discuss ‘Frustrations’ After Latest Loss
The Kings entered Thursday’s contest at Memphis on a seven-game losing streak, but there were reasons to believe the outcome might be different against the slumping Grizzlies, per Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. The Kings had Keegan Murray making his season debut; Memphis was just the second team Sacramento has faced this season that had a losing record; and the Grizzlies were without Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.
Instead, the Kings were humiliated on Thursday, extending their skid to eight games after being blown out by 41 points. All eight losses have come by double digits.
Veteran wing DeMar DeRozan attempted just three field goals and scored seven points yesterday, Biderman notes. The six-time All-Star is averaging 17.9 points per game, his lowest total in 13 seasons.
“In a s—ty place,” DeRozan said when asked about where his team is emotionally. “Don’t nobody want to lose the way we’ve been losing. I think it’s just everything right now for us is just s—ty, honestly. Sometimes when you’re in the deep end, it’s hard to hear anything. You’re just trying to swim your way out, one way or another.”
According to Biderman, DeRozan expressed uncertainty about his future with the Kings after their latest defeat. The 36-year-old is earning $24.6MM this season, but his $25.7MM salary for 2026/27 is only partially guaranteed (for $10MM).
“I’m pretty sure everything comes into question when you’re in the situation like we’re in now,” DeRozan said. “That’s another thing that’s frustrating. That’s another thing. Only time will tell. We’ll see.”
As Biderman writes, DeRozan isn’t the only highly-paid scorer on the roster who is unhappy with the team’s performance this season. Zach LaVine had a hot start to the season, averaging 29.5 points over his first five games, but had cooled off lately prior to putting up 26 points on Thursday. The two-time All-Star said the Kings are still trying to discover how to play together, but he knows he has to be aggressive to be successful.
“I’m not my best self when I take eight to 10 shots,” said LaVine, who attempted seven and 10 shots in the two games leading up to Thursday. “I can be as efficient as you want me to be. But if I’m taking eight shots, it’s like, what are we doing? So today I just tried to be a little more aggressive, try to find spots, my teammates (were trying) to find me, which was great.
“But obviously it didn’t result in anything like a win. I’d love to go 4-for-8 and we win. I scored a lot of points in my career. We’re just trying to get a win right now. Gotta go sit on this flight. Got a day tomorrow. Got a game Saturday. Come Saturday, gotta figure it out.
“Only time will tell. It’s hard to say right now. A lot of frustrations from a lot of angles. Still a lot of season left, still a lot that’s in front of us. We gotta fight for something.”
LaVine only played two combined minutes over the previous two fourth quarters heading into Thursday’s game, and both of those losses were within striking distance entering the final period. According to Biderman, the 30-year-old acknowledged he didn’t like being benched, but he recognizes head coach Doug Christie might need to shake things up to get different results.
“I’ll always be a team guy,” LaVine said. “(But) personally, I don’t like it. I’ve never not played in the fourth. But when you’re trying to find a win you do whatever you can, I guess.”
Blazers Announce Injury Updates On Henderson, Holiday
While third-year guard Scoot Henderson has made progress in his recovery from a torn left hamstring, he will be sidelined for at least two-to-four more weeks, which is when he’ll be reevaluated, the Trail Blazers announced in a press release.
The update on the former No. 3 overall pick was expected, as Henderson recently told Jason Quick of The Athletic that his return wasn’t imminent and his return to basketball activities was considered “week to week.” The 21-year-old point guard initially sustained the injury in late September during a workout before training camp.
Veteran guard Jrue Holiday, who was initially questionable for Friday’s contest at Golden State prior to being ruled out for his fourth straight game (Twitter link), will miss at least one more week with a right calf strain. According to the Blazers, the two-time All-Star will be checked out again in one-to-two weeks.
Holiday, a six-time All-Defensive member, was off to a solid start in his first season with Portland prior to the injury, averaging 16.7 points, 8.3 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals on .446/.365/.840 shooting in 12 games (33.4 minutes per contest).
While the press release doesn’t say anything about shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe, he will missed Friday’s game as well. It will be the high-flying Canadian’s second consecutive absence. Sharpe is, at least for now, considered day-to-day, writes Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report (Substack link).
The Trail Blazers have been hit hard by backcourt injuries this fall. Henderson has yet to play in 2025/26; Blake Wesley is expected to miss extended time after undergoing foot surgery earlier this month; Matisse Thybulle is three weeks removed from thumb surgery which was expected to sideline him for four-to-six weeks; and Damian Lillard is out for the season with a torn Achilles, though the front office knew that when it re-signed Portland’s all-time leading scorer.
After a 5-3 start, the Blazers have dropped six of their past seven games and are currently 6-9.
“It’s just part of the game,” acting head coach Tiago Splitter said earlier this week, per Highkin. “We’ve got to adapt a little bit, and we will. Find ways to win basketball games just like everybody else. You’ve seen all the guys that are out lately [around the NBA], and the teams that adapt better to those situations are the teams that do well. So that’s what we’ve got to do.”
Highkin takes a look at some options the team might consider in the wake of all the guard injuries, including applying for a hardship exception. It’s unclear if the Blazers would be granted the exception, Highkin notes, as it will depend on how much more time Thybulle is expected to miss.
Pistons’ Jaden Ivey Could Make Season Debut Saturday
Pistons guard Jaden Ivey has been listed as questionable for Saturday’s game in Milwaukee, tweets Hunter Patterson of The Athletic.
Ivey’s injury designation is “return to competition reconditioning,” which suggests he’s fully recovered from the right knee discomfort he experienced during the preseason. The former No. 5 overall pick underwent arthroscopic surgery on October 16 to address that knee pain.
As Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press notes (via Twitter), this is the first time Ivey has not been ruled out before a game this season.
Ivey, who will be a restricted free agent next summer, resumed on-court work last week and was assigned to the team’s G League affiliate (the Motor City Cruise) a few days ago with the goal of ramping up his conditioning.
The former Purdue star hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since New Year’s Day, when he suffered a fractured left fibula. He recovered from that injury over the offseason, then experienced the right knee issue — which the team said was unrelated to his broken left leg — this fall.
In 30 appearances last season, Ivey averaged 17.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 29.9 minutes per contest, posting a shooting slash line of .460/.409/.733. The 40.9% mark from long distance was a career-best percentage by a significant margin.
Despite multiple key rotation players missing time early on this season, the Pistons have had a terrific start to the 2025/26 campaign. They’ve won 11 straight games and hold the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a 13-2 record.
Veteran forward Tobias Harris, who has missed the past nine games with a high right ankle sprain, is also questionable for tomorrow’s matchup at the Bucks.
Hornets’ Brandon Miller To Return Saturday
Former No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller, who has missed the past 13 games (and most of a 14th) with a partially dislocated left shoulder, is not on the Hornets‘ injury report (Twitter link) ahead of Saturday’s contest against the Clippers, which means he has been cleared to return to action.
Miller sustained a left shoulder subluxation in the second quarter of Charlotte’s second game of the season after a solid opener in which he recorded 25 points and seven assists. he made 74 appearances as a rookie, but was limited to just 27 games last season due a right wrist injury, which required surgery.
Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer reported that the injury occurred when Miller slipped while trying to fight through a screen. The guard/forward resumed basketball activities on Monday and practiced with the Hornets’ G League club, the Greensboro Swarm.
Miller, who turns 23 years old on Saturday, holds career averages of 18.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists on .428/.364/.832 shooting splits over 103 NBA appearances (32.5 minutes per game). He’s considered an important part of Charlotte’s core and will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the 2026 offseason.
Fifth-year guard Tre Mann, who has gotten off to a slow start this fall, exited Monday’s game with left ankle soreness and then missed Wednesday’s loss in Indiana. Mann is questionable to suit up tomorrow, per the Hornets.
After a 2-1 start, the Hornets have dropped 10 of their past 12 games. They’re currently 4-11, the No. 12 seed in the East.
Hornets’ Ball, Lee Address LaMelo Trade Rumors
After a report on Thursday indicated that LaMelo Ball would be open to a trade out of Charlotte, the Hornets point guard responded on social media by posting a clown emoji. During a media session on Friday, Ball expanded on his reaction, telling reporters that he “loves being here” and explaining why he felt the need to respond to the trade rumor, as Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer relays.
“It didn’t come from me,” Ball said. “The source wasn’t me, so it’s false info. Got to let them know. I really don’t like commenting on stuff, but it got too big. … It was (spreading) so much, they were making headlines. Bleacher Report and this and that. So I didn’t want it to keep going on.”
[RELATED: Fischer: Hornets ‘Not Actively Looking To Move’ LaMelo Ball]
Head coach Charles Lee was pleased to hear his star point guard publicly affirm his commitment to Charlotte.
“I’m glad to hear what he had to say because I would echo a lot of same things,” Lee said, per Boone. “Our relationship, our ability to have communication between myself, Melo and (president of basketball operations) Jeff (Peterson), it’s really hot. And I think that he’s always communicated to us. He wants to build this thing with us. He understands what it’s going to take to try to win and who we need in the building and stuff. So I think that he is just committed to Charlotte. He’s talked about how much he loves the city and the fans and that’s all I ever hear and that’s all.”
Since Ball arrived in Charlotte in 2020, the team hasn’t made the playoffs and has posted just one winning season (43-39 in 2021/22). The Hornets are coming off a 19-63 performance, their worst in two decades, and are off to a slow start this fall, with four wins in their first 15 games.
Ball’s injury history has played a part in Charlotte’s struggles. Plagued by ankle injuries, among other health issues, he has appeared in 36, 22, and 47 regular season games during the past three years and has missed six contests this month. However, he has played at an All-Star level when healthy, and the Hornets have actually been pretty solid when he’s on the court in 2025/26, with a +4.2 net rating in 282 minutes.
It’s enough for Ball to insist he still believes in the Hornets’ ability to turn things around.
“We are in some downs right now, but we are definitely going to go up,” he said on Friday. “I’m still confident in this whole group and everybody here.”
Pacers Retain Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Waive Monte Morris
November 21: The Pacers have officially signed Robinson-Earl and waived Morris, the team confirmed today in a press release. As we outlined in a separate story, Indiana also added Garrison Mathews on a 10-day hardship contract.
November 20: The Pacers intend to re-sign forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to a non-guaranteed contract as his second 10-day deal concludes, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the team will waive point guard Monte Morris in order to create room on its 15-man roster.
The Pacers were able to sign Robinson-Earl to a pair of 10-day deals because they qualified for a hardship exception, which allows a team to temporarily exceed the usual 15-man limit. The NBA awards a hardship exception to a club if it has at least four injured players who have missed three consecutive games and are projected to miss at least two more weeks.
Indiana may still have four players who meet that criteria, with Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles), Obi Toppin (foot), Aaron Nesmith (knee), and Kam Jones (back) all sidelined. However, a team can’t sign the same player to a third hardship contract, so the Pacers have to move Robinson-Earl to the standard roster in order to retain him beyond his current 10-day deal, which will expire on Thursday night.
Robinson-Earl, 25, has appeared in 10 games and made three starts since joining the Pacers, averaging 5.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in 20.3 minutes per contest. The fifth-year veteran is shooting just 36.4% from the floor and Indiana is being outscored by 15.7 points per 100 possessions during his time on the court, but the club likes what it has seen from the former Pelican enough to keep him around for at least a little while longer.
According to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter link), Robinson-Earl will sign a two-year, minimum-salary deal. His salary for this season would become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract beyond January 7, and he’ll have a non-guaranteed team option for 2026/27.
If Indiana still qualifies for a hardship exception, the team could sign a new player to a 10-day contract once Robinson-Earl has officially been moved to the standard roster. While Morris theoretically could be that player, he would have to clear waivers first and didn’t make much of an impact in his first six games with the Pacers, averaging 3.0 points and 1.5 assists in 10.8 minutes per night, with a .350/.250/.500 shooting line.
Fischer: Hornets ‘Not Actively Looking To Move’ LaMelo Ball
Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports reported on Thursday that LaMelo Ball has become “increasingly frustrated” with the Hornets and is open being traded to a new team. Iko, citing league sources, also wrote that Charlotte’s front office had grown “disillusioned” with the star point guard and was open to a deal as well.
NBA insider Jake Fischer has heard differently. In his latest Bleacher Report live stream (YouTube link), Fischer said he made several calls on Thursday regarding Ball’s situation with the Hornets, and while rival teams are “hoping” and “preparing” as though the 23-year-old may become available prior to the February 5 deadline, that is not currently the case.
“I can tell you with absolute certainty that the Hornets are not actively looking to move LaMelo Ball any time soon,” Fischer reported.
Fischer went on to say that several key members of the organization — including Ball, coaches and front office executives — want to get a better idea of what the team looks like when Brandon Miller returns to action before making any type of drastic changes.
“LaMelo Ball is not asking out, to my understanding,” Fischer said. “And the Hornets are not actively looking to trade him by any stretch right now.”
According to Fischer, Ball isn’t the only former All-Star point guard that rival teams are monitoring: Ja Morant of the Grizzlies and Trae Young of the Hawks — both of whom are injured at the moment — fall into that category as well.
Fischer’s Stein Line colleague Marc Stein reports in his latest Substack story that the Hornets, Grizzlies and Hawks have each denied that they’re willing to listen to offers for their maximum-salary guards. Yet Stein also hears rival clubs are skeptical of that posturing and think that Ball, Morant and/or Young could indeed be on the market in the coming months.