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Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Barrett, Quickley, J. Brown

November 9th, 2024 at 7:38pm CST by Arthur Hill

Sixers players are trying to avoid getting discouraged as they work to overcome an unexpected rough start to the season, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic.

Within the past week, Joel Embiid was suspended for shoving a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, delaying his season debut by three more games, and Tyrese Maxey was sidelined with a hamstring injury. Paul George‘s return from a bruised knee was expected to help, but the team has the worst record in the league at 1-7 and is in the midst of a five-game losing streak.

“The ship hasn’t sunk,” George said. “We know that we have to remain positive. We know that big fella is coming back and he’s one of the best. We’re going to get Tyrese healthy and we’ll get him back. Then we can finally be a complete team and start to build, and then we can finally begin to find out who we are. We’re still positive. We’re going to show up and we’re going to have the intention of winning games. We need more attention to detail, but we just have to continue to remain positive.”

The Sixers entered the season with championship aspirations, but Jones points out that no team has ever started 1-7 and recovered to win a title, while only one team in the past five years has overcome such a poor start to make the playoffs. Working to Philadelphia’s advantage is the weakness of the Eastern Conference, where only two teams currently have winning records. The Sixers are a mere three games out of third place, so there’s a chance to rise up the standings quickly once everyone is available.

“There isn’t a magic formula for us,” Kyle Lowry said. “We have a lot of work to do. We have to get better offensively. We have to get better defensively. We have to play hard. We have to stay positive and not get down on ourselves. It’s a dark time, but we have to figure out a way to handle the adversity.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Injuries have forced RJ Barrett to take on a larger role in the Raptors‘ offense, and he has responded by putting up the best numbers of his career, notes Michael Pina of The Ringer. Through six games, Barrett is averaging career highs with 25.7 points and 7.0 assists as the absences of Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley have required him to handle the ball more often. Pina points out that Barrett was the second-best player on Team Canada during the Summer Olympics and suggests that he may be headed for his first All-Star Game.
  • Quickley could return for tonight’s game against the Clippers, which should help the Raptors at both ends of the court, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Quickley has been sidelined since suffering a pelvic contusion midway through the season opener. “He brings a lot to our team from shooting, from opening up the floor for other guys as well, spacing,” coach Darko Rajakovic said. “He’s learning our system more and more, so he’s becoming more comfortable with cutting and just running our team well. Obviously, those [first] couple of games, he’ll need his reconditioning back. We’ll be intentional about his minutes on the court as well. So hopefully, 10 days from now, he’s really rocking and helping us big time.”
  • Celtics guard Jaylen Brown has been upgraded to questionable for Sunday after missing the past four games with a hip flexor strain, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
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Kevin Durant To Miss At Least Two Weeks With Strained Calf

November 9th, 2024 at 6:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Suns star Kevin Durant will be reevaluated in two weeks after straining his left calf in Friday’s game, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

As Charania points out, Durant has been playing at an MVP level as Phoenix is tied for the top spot in the West with an 8-1 record. Through nine games, he’s averaging 27.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting 55.3% from the field and 43% from three-point range.

After several years of persistent injuries, Durant managed to play 75 games last season, which was his highest total since 2018/19. At age 36, he has seemed as healthy and productive as he’s been at any point during his 18-year NBA career.

Durant also suffered a calf strain while training for the Summer Olympics. He missed Team USA’s entire exhibition schedule, but was available once the games in France began.

Devin Booker and Bradley Beal will be counted on to carry more of the Suns’ scoring load while Durant is sidelined.

Booker is off to a rough start, shooting just 42.9% from the field and 32.4% from three-point range in nine games while averaging 23.1 PPG, his lowest figure in eight years. In seven games, Beal is scoring 15.4 PPG, his lowest mark in a decade, while shooting 46.1% from the field and 37.2% from beyond the arc.

Phoenix has seven games over the next two weeks, including a four-game road trip that starts Tuesday. Based on the timeline reported by Charania, the earliest Durant could return is November 26 for an in-season tournament matchup with the Lakers.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo Blasts Bucks’ Effort In Friday’s Loss

November 9th, 2024 at 5:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

Giannis Antetokounmpo issued a strong message about the need to compete following Friday’s 116-94 loss at New York, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. The Bucks are off to a 2-7 start that has them tied for 13th place in the East, and Antetokounmpo wants to see greater urgency from his teammates.

“Did we compete the previous game? Yes,” he said. “Did we compete the two previous games, Cavs and Cavs? Yes. Did we compete today? No. That’s something you can control. If you’re going to go out there and you’re not going to compete, you’re not going to win the game. Sometimes you compete your ass off and you don’t win the game, but at least you give yourself a chance.

“We played great last night. We came to New York, we lost by 30. You gotta compete. Are we OK with not competing? I don’t know. I’m not OK with that s—. So, we gotta do a better job competing. We got Boston in two days. If you don’t compete, you’re going to lose by 30. Simple as that.”

Milwaukee’s only wins this season came Thursday against the 1-7 Jazz and on opening night against a shorthanded Sixers team that’s also off to a 1-7 start. Five of their seven losses have been by double figures, and Friday’s performance was probably the worst so far.

The Knicks set the tone for the game by grabbing five offensive rebounds in the first nine minutes that resulted in 10 points. They wound up out-rebounding the Bucks 48-41 and scored 21 fast break points to Milwaukee’s eight.

Coach Doc Rivers has been making changes in response to the slow start. He replaced Gary Trent Jr. in the starting lineup with Andre Jackson Jr. earlier this week, and Friday he experimented with a new substitution pattern that resulted in Antetokounmpo playing the entire first quarter. Still, the Bucks failed to match the Knicks’ level of effort.

Antetokounmpo’s comments are particularly significant amid growing speculation that the Bucks may eventually have to consider trading him. There’s no indication that the front office is considering a move at this time, but a report Friday indicated that several teams have already called to register their interest.

Defense was formerly the Bucks’ foundation, but this year’s team looks old and slow and struggles to slow down anyone, per Chris Herring of ESPN. He points out that they had no answer Friday for Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns, who scored 32 points while hitting 4-of-8 shots from beyond the arc and repeatedly drove past Brook Lopez for easy baskets.

The perimeter defensive issues that have plagued the team since trading Jrue Holiday last offseason are still persisting, as Herring notes that Milwaukee ranks 28th in the league in defending pick-and-roll ball handlers.

“We gotta compete,” Antetokounmpo said. “We gotta do a better job competing. At the end of the day coming to New York, playing the way we’re playing, teams will not just give us games. Teams will not feel bad about us and just don’t compete. We have to come out with the mentality that we have to compete for every possession. One possession at a time. Every ball, every loose ball. Whenever the ball is on the floor, we gotta get our body on the floor and try to get that ball. Put our body on the line. We gotta do a better job competing. We didn’t compete at all. That’s the bottom line.”

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Ja Morant Week-To-Week With Hip Injury

November 9th, 2024 at 4:25pm CST by Arthur Hill

Ja Morant has suffered a posterior hip subluxation (without dislocation) along with multiple associated Grade 1 pelvic muscle strains, the Grizzlies announced (via Twitter). His status is considered week-to-week.

The announcement states that Morant was injured in the third quarter of Wednesday’s game against the Lakers. He was “destabilized” in midair, causing him to fall into “extreme right hip flexion.”

Morant had to leave that game in the third quarter after a hard landing on an attempted alley-oop, per Damichael Cole of The Commercial Appeal. He sat out Friday’s win over Washington and was seen using crutches, Cole adds.

Cole notes that this is Morant’s third injury issue since the start of training camp. He had a mild ankle sprain during the preseason and missed an earlier regular season game with soreness in his right thigh.

Morant is off to a strong start after a 25-game suspension and a shoulder injury wiped out virtually his entire 2023/24 season. He’s averaging 20.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 9.1 assists in eight games, and Memphis is 5-3 with him in the lineup.

Scotty Pippen Jr. made his first start of the season Friday night and figures to remain in that role while Morant is sidelined. He posted a triple-double with 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in 28 minutes.

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NBA Assistants Drawing Interest From WNBA Teams Seeking Head Coaches

November 9th, 2024 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Several WNBA teams with head coaching openings are eyeing assistants on NBA clubs as potential candidates, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (video link).

While Fischer didn’t identity any specific assistant coaches who are drawing interest from WNBA teams, he suggested it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some make the leap ahead of next season.

“There is a wave right now of WNBA teams looking to keep bringing NBA coaching talent from the league into the W,” Fischer said. “That is what’s happening all across these searches right now. … In the last four or five years (since) I’ve been shifting more into this intel space, insider world, I’ve never heard more people talking more about the intriguing opportunity for NBA assistant coaches to join a WNBA franchise as a head coach right now.”

The Los Angeles Sparks, Atlanta Dream, Washington Mystics, Dallas Wings, and Connecticut Sun all currently have head coaching vacancies. Expansion teams in Toronto and Portland will also have to hire coaches before they begin play in 2026. According to Fischer, the Sparks, Dream, and Mystics have all hired search firms to help them identify top candidates.

The salaries for WNBA head coaches are believed to be in the $500K-$1MM range, sources tell Fischer, which is part of the appeal of the jobs. While those figures pale in comparison to top NBA head coaching salaries, they compare favorably to what a lot of NBA assistants are earning. According to Fischer, many front-of-bench NBA assistant coaches have salaries in the neighborhood of $200-300K.

Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon, who was hired ahead of the 2022 season, and Nate Tibbetts of the Phoenix Mercury, hired prior to 2024, are among the current WNBA head coaches who spent years as NBA assistants and were plucked directly off NBA staffs. Hammon became the highest-paid coach in WNBA history when she was hired and Tibbetts reportedly surpassed her two years later.

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Special Trade Eligibility Dates For 2024/25

November 9th, 2024 at 2:47pm CST by Luke Adams

In a pair of previous articles, we took a closer look at the trade restrictions placed on two groups of players who signed free agent contracts this past offseason. The smaller of the two groups featured players who can’t be traded by their current teams until January 15, having re-signed on contracts that met a set of specific criteria. The other offseason signees we examined aren’t eligible to be traded until December 15.

In addition to those two groups, there are a few other subsets of players who face certain trade restrictions this season. They either can’t be traded until a certain date, can’t be traded in certain packages, or can’t be traded at all prior to February’s deadline.

Listed below are the players affected by these trade restrictions. This list, which we’ll continue to update throughout the season as needed, can be found on our desktop sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or in our mobile menu under “Features.”

Players who recently signed as free agents or had their two-way contracts converted:

A player who signs a free agent contract typically becomes trade-eligible either three months after he signs or on December 15, whichever comes later. That means a player who signs on September 1 would become trade-eligible on Dec. 15, but one who signs on Sept. 22 wouldn’t be eligible to be dealt until Dec. 22.

Similarly, players who have two-way pacts converted to standard contracts can’t be dealt for three months after that happens.

Here are the affected players, who signed free agent contracts or were converted from two-way deals after Sept. 15, along with the dates their trade restrictions lift:

December 17:

January 2:

January 15:

January 16:

January 28:

February 5:

Players who sign free agent contracts or have their two-way deals converted to standard contracts after November 6 this season won’t become trade-eligible prior to the 2025 trade deadline, which falls on February 6. That restriction applies to the following players, listed in alphabetical order:

Players who recently signed veteran contract extensions:

A player who signs a veteran contract extension can’t be dealt for six months if his new deal exceeds the NBA’s extend-and-trade limits by meeting any of the following criteria:

  • Includes a first-year raise greater than 20% (or greater than 20% of the estimated average salary, for players earning below the average).
  • Includes a subsequent annual raise greater than 5%.
  • Includes a renegotiation of the player’s current salary.
  • Secures the player for more than four total seasons (including both his current deal and the extension).

A player can sign a veteran extension and remain trade-eligible as long as his new deal doesn’t meet any of those criteria. Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert, for instance, remained eligible to be traded after signing a three-year extension that featured a pay cut in the first year and raises below 5% in the second and third years.

Here are the players whose recent veteran extensions exceed the extend-and-trade limits, along with the dates their trade restrictions lift:

January 6:

January 7:

January 12:

January 23:

January 26:

February 2:

Ineligible to be traded before this season’s February 6 deadline:

Additionally, when a player signs a super-max contract extension, he becomes ineligible to be traded for one full year.

That means Celtics forward Jayson Tatum won’t become trade-eligible prior to the 2025 deadline despite signing his extension in July. Tatum is the only player who signed a super-max (designated veteran) contract this summer.

Players who were recently claimed off waivers:

A player who is claimed off waivers is ineligible to be traded for 30 days. When a waiver claim occurs during the offseason, the 30-day clock begins on the first day of the subsequent season.

As our tracker shows, four waiver claims occurred during the 2024 offseason, but only one of those players is on a standard contract: Pistons big man Paul Reed.

Reed will remain ineligible to be dealt for the first 30 days of the season, then become trade-eligible on November 21.

Players who were recently traded:

Players who were recently traded can be flipped again immediately. However, unless they were acquired via cap room, they can’t be traded again immediately in a deal that aggregates their salary with another player’s for matching purposes.

For instance, after acquiring Jalen McDaniels from the Kings on October 15, the Spurs could have turned around and traded McDaniels and his $4.74MM salary right away for another player earning about the same amount. But if San Antonio had wanted to package McDaniels and, say, Zach Collins ($16.7MM) for salary-matching purposes in a deal for a bigger-money player, the team would have had to wait two months to do so.

There are two trades that currently fall within the aggregation restriction window: San Antonio’s acquisition of McDaniels and the three-team Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster that was completed on October 2. However, the aggregation restriction doesn’t apply to most of the players involved in those deals for the following reasons:

  • McDaniels (Spurs), Keita Bates-Diop (Timberwolves), Duane Washington (Hornets), and Charlie Brown Jr. (Hornets) have all been waived since being traded.
  • The Timberwolves aren’t permitted to aggregate salaries since they’re operating over the second tax apron, meaning Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo are ineligible to be aggregated whether or not that two-month window has expired.
  • DaQuan Jeffries was signed-and-traded to the Hornets as part of the Towns deal. Since he signed a new contract, the trade restrictions for recently signed free agents apply to Jeffries and he’s ineligible to be moved at all for three months.

That leaves just one player to whom the aggregation restriction applies: Towns can be aggregated with another player’s salary by the Knicks as of December 2.

Any player who is traded after December 6 (without being acquired via cap room) won’t be eligible to be flipped before the trade deadline in a second deal that aggregates his salary with another player’s.

Note: Only players on standard, full-season contracts are listed on this page. Players who sign 10-day contracts can’t be traded. Players who sign two-way deals can’t be traded for up to 30 days after signing.

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Zion Williamson Out Indefinitely With Hamstring Strain

November 9th, 2024 at 1:19pm CST by Luke Adams

Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain, the team announced today (via Twitter). Williamson underwent imaging on Saturday that confirmed the diagnosis.

According to the Pelicans, Williamson will be out indefinitely, with further updates provided as appropriate. While the club didn’t provide any sort of recovery timeline for the former No. 1 overall pick, it sounds like it’ll be a week-to-week injury rather than a day-to-day issue. Shams Charania of ESPN says (via Twitter) that Williamson will be reevaluated “in the coming weeks.”

As we noted on Friday, Williamson has missed three of New Orleans’ past four games with three different injury designations. He was sidelined by right hamstring tightness on Sunday, right thigh soreness on Monday, and left hamstring tightness on Friday.

It sounds like the latest ailment is the most significant of the bunch. It’s the same hamstring that Williamson injured in last season’s play-in tournament game — that injury forced him to sit out the entire first round of the playoffs, which contributed to the Pelicans’ quick postseason exit.

Williamson’s absence is the latest blow in what has been a brutal stretch of injury luck for the Pelicans during the season’s opening weeks. Nearly every one of the team’s starters or top reserves has been affected by some sort of multi-week health problem.

Dejounte Murray (fractured left hand) has been out since opening night; CJ McCollum (right adductor strain) and Herbert Jones (right shoulder strain) have each missed six consecutive games and remain sidelined; Jordan Hawkins suffered a low back strain on Wednesday that’s expected to keep him on the shelf for a week or two; and Trey Murphy has missed all 10 games so far this fall due to a hamstring strain of his own, though he’s targeting Monday for his return.

With Williamson unavailable, frontcourt players like Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Yves Missi, Daniel Theis, and Trey Jemison are all candidates for additional playing time.

Assuming they expect Murray, McCollum, and Jones to remain out for a couple more weeks, the Pelicans should soon be eligible for a hardship exception, which would allow them to temporarily carry more than the maximum allowable 15 players on standard contracts.

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Eastern Notes: Simmons, Mogbo, Cavaliers, Jackson, Rollins

November 9th, 2024 at 11:48am CST by Tristan Tucker

With Nic Claxton back in the starting lineup, the Nets needed to move someone to their bench. That someone was Ben Simmons, who came off the bench in an overtime loss to the Celtics on Friday, as Michael Scotto of HoopsHype notes (Twitter link). Simmons, who had started 326 of his 338 career games entering the night, finished with eight points, seven rebounds and eight assists in the defeat.

Head coach Jordi Fernandez opted for a starting lineup that consisted of Dennis Schröder, Cam Thomas, Claxton, Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith. Simmons, Jalen Wilson, Ziaire Williams and Keon Johnson rounded out the rotation off the bench.

“Whatever the team needs me to do, whether it’s come off the bench or starting, I gotta do,” Simmons said, per Erik Slater of Clutch Points (Twitter link). “That’s what coach wants right now. It is what it is.”

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Jonathan Mogbo‘s been one of the most impressive rookies in the NBA this season –the No. 31 overall pick is averaging 6.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in a crucial role for the Raptors. Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes that Mogbo is getting a crash course in the NBA and is acing it, with his plus-21 mark for the season ranking first among Toronto’s rotation regulars. The rookie forward played some defensive possessions with Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis as his primary assignment.
  • The Cavaliers are off to a franchise- and league-best 10-0 record after drubbing the Warriors on Friday night. Jason Lloyd of The Athletic writes that the Cavs are playing a confident brand of basketball and this could mark the start of something special. “There’s a quiet confidence about this team,” Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson said. “There’s a humility but they know they’re good. … It’s almost like they know they have to take the next step. It’s there. It’s present.“
  • Bucks forward Andre Jackson Jr., who recently received a promotion to the starting lineup, is dealing with a hip pointer and only played 18 minutes in a loss to the Knicks on Friday, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link). In other news, two-way guard Ryan Rollins played 12 minutes off the bench, recording seven points. Bontemps writes that Rollins has overtaken Delon Wright in the rotation, as Wright didn’t play on Friday.
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Heat Notes: Ware, Butler, Larsson, Rotation, Herro

November 9th, 2024 at 10:15am CST by Tristan Tucker

Heat No. 15 overall pick Kel’el Ware got his first meaningful action on Wednesday against Phoenix. He was the second-string center for the first time in his rookie campaign, impressing his teammates in 13 minutes of play, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes.

“I think he did great,” Heat star Jimmy Butler said. “Jumping up there, contesting shots, rebounding, he made a three, made a little hook. The more plays, the more reps that he gets, the more comfortable he’s going to get and he’s going to be able to pick his spots a lot better on the floor. That only comes with time and reps.”

The Indiana product is averaging 2.3 points in just 6.0 minutes per game in four appearances this fall. His role is likely to gradually increase as the season goes on.

“He’s been really progressing quickly behind the scenes,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Wednesday. “He kept himself ready. I thought his minutes were very good. I thought they were encouraging.”

Ware again played ahead of Thomas Bryant in Friday’s loss, but he committed two early fouls, resulting in Bryant seeing more minutes. When Kevin Love returns to the rotation, Ware could be moved back to the end of the rotation, but he’s thankful for getting the chance to contribute early.

“It’s satisfying,” Ware said. “I guess you could say it’s more a dream come true because you put in the work to be able to perform at your best. That’s always good to me.”

We have more from the Heat:

  • Butler exited the team’s Friday matchup with the Nuggets due to a sprained ankle and was later ruled out for the remainder of the contest, Chiang reports. With the team at 3-5, the Heat are now facing the possibility of being without Butler for a handful of games. The star swingman missed two games with a sprained ankle last season and he did stay in the game immediately after sustaining this injury, so it seems unlikely to result in an extended absence.
  • Rookie second-round pick Pelle Larsson started the second half in place of Butler. It’s the fourth straight game Larsson has received double-digit minutes, Chiang relays. The Arizona product is averaging 6.6 points this season while making 64.7% of his shots and 45.5% of his three-pointers.
  • Amid speculation that Haywood Highsmith could replace Nikola Jovic in the starting lineup, the Wheeling Jesuit alum again started the third quarter over Jovic, Chiang details in the same piece. However, Jovic played more than the five minutes he did in Wednesday’s contest, finishing Friday’s game with 19 minutes played. “[Jovic] knows the deal,” Spoelstra said. “Look, I’m not going to change the standards. He knows what the deal is. It has to be a level of energy and effort, make an impact. It’s not just him. That’s an easy target. Look the game gets in a double-digit game, you’re grasping for whatever. And at that point, I have to make decisions. If something is not working, I’m paid to make decisions and go to something else.“
  • If the Heat make rotation changes, subbing in Highsmith for Jovic would make some level of sense, opines Ira Winderman of South Florida’s Sun Sentinel. Winderman also writes that he’d put Duncan Robinson in the starting lineup over Terry Rozier, allowing Rozier to serve as a spark off the bench and the second unit to consist of Love, Jaime Jaquez, Larsson and Alec Burks.
  • Herro has served as the cornerstone of consistency for the Heat this season, Winderman writes in a separate piece. With Butler and Adebayo’s offensive production fluctuating in the early part of the season, Herro’s helped the team keep games close by averaging 22.9 points and 5.3 assists while shooting 49.6% from the field and 45.1% from three. “He’s been really focused on that, committed to being efficient,” Spoelstra said. “His profile has been great. He’s got great confidence. But the last couple years, his game has really grown, and now it’s just taking that next step of efficiency, reading defenders, and making the right play over and over and over.“
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Pacific Notes: Powell, Russell, Lakers, Durant, Huerter

November 9th, 2024 at 8:47am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Clippers‘ replacement for Paul George appears to be Norman Powell through the early part of the 2024/25 season, The Athletic’s Law Murray writes. In a recent win over George’s Sixers, Powell hit six threes en route to 26 points.

Having never averaged more than 19.0 points per game in a season entering 2024/25, Powell is putting up 25.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists on a scorching .516/.494/.861 shooting line so far.

“I’ve always envisioned myself being in this position and wanting the opportunity,” Powell said Wednesday night. “Learning from when I was in Toronto with Kyle (Lowry) and DeMar (DeRozan), learning from Dame (Lillard) and CJ (McCollum), learning from PG and Kawhi (Leonard). Being around those top guys and just getting game and knowledge from them in the summer. Going up against them, battling, and just wanting that.”

Powell was acquired by the Clippers from the Trail Blazers at the 2022 trade deadline and he’s in the fourth year of a five-year, $90MM contract he signed with Portland. He’s on the books for $19.2MM this season and $20.5MM next year.

Powell, who finished fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting in each of his two full seasons in Los Angeles, averaged 15.3 points on 10.9 shot attempts per game during that stretch. Through the early portion of this season, he’s taking 17.4 field goal attempts per game in the wake of George’s departure.

“I saw it as addition by subtraction,” Powell said at Clippers media day about George’s exit. “I was excited. I think what I’ve said in this media day every single year since being here is, I want to be the starting two guard, and the opportunity is in front of me. I prepared myself. I’ve always seen myself as a starter in this league. I feel like I put the work in. I feel like the numbers show for itself when I am starting and what the output is. So I’m excited to take on that role and the pressures that come with it. The good, bad and ugly.”

In a similar piece, Janis Carr of The Orange County Register details Powell’s quest for perfection. Powell recorded his first career double-double on Friday with 31 points and 12 rebounds.

“I have my own mentality and approach to the game, like nothing really changes no matter what role I’m in. I’ve said it multiple times,” Powell said. “I’ve got high expectations for myself. I always see myself as a starter, as a top guy in the league that can come out and help any team win no matter where I’m at.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

  • As we relayed Friday, Cam Reddish took D’Angelo Russell‘s spot in the Lakers‘ starting five. Russell was moved to the bench last season when the team began to lose too, but his connection with then-coach Darvin Ham suffered, Dave McMenamin writes of ESPN. This time with JJ Redick coaching the team, Russell is approaching the situation with a different mentality. “I left all that, all my baggage at the door this summer once we changed coaches and new staff came in,” Russell said. “I was committed to whatever it takes. That’s what y’all see now.”
  • The Lakers are expected to be active on the trade market after a 5-4 start with a 24th-ranked defense, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report relays. Fischer names Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez and Washington’s Jonas Valanciunas as two targets on L.A.’s “internal board,” with Russell potentially being available as outgoing salary.
  • The Suns are unleashing Kevin Durant by allowing him to embrace coach Mike Budenholzer‘s three-point heavy approach, Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports writes. Durant has helped lead the Suns to an 8-1 record to begin the year by averaging 27.6 PPG on .553/.429/.836 shooting. He’s also averaging 5.0 points per game in clutch minutes, making 63.2% of his field goals in those situations.
  • While Durant’s star power is propelling the Suns, they’re getting another boost in Royce O’Neale‘s play, The Arizona Republic’s Duane Rankin writes. O’Neale is shooting 52.6% on three-pointers so far this season and is first off the bench, and Rankin writes he’s looking like an early Sixth Man of the Year candidate. O’Neale signed a four-year contract this past offseason.
  • Kings guard Kevin Huerter missed two games due to an illness last week and FOX40’s Sean Cunningham tweets that he’s still feeling the effects after returning. Huerter is averaging 10.4 PPG for the Kings and has played two games since returning to the team.
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