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Damian Lillard didn’t get his wish to be traded to Miami this summer and he doesn’t want that to be a distraction as his Bucks prepare to face the Heat tonight, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Miami was Lillard’s first choice when he asked the Trail Blazers for a trade in July, but despite weeks of rumors, the teams were never able to get close to a deal. Now that he’s in Milwaukee, Lillard wants to move past any connection with the Heat.
“I’m not going into (Monday) like, ‘This is the team I was supposed to be playing for,’” Lillard said. “None of that. I know Jimmy (Butler), I know Bam (Adebayo). We’re cool. But I play for the Bucks and I’m not going into it like that’s my former team or we were tied in or nothing like that. It’s just another game.”
Lillard also addressed reports that Adebayo was encouraging him to push for a deal to Miami. Although they became friends during their time with Team USA during the Olympics in 2021, Lillard said Adebayo wasn’t very involved in the process.
“I think on the outside, people made more of it than what was actually taking place,” Lillard said. “It’s not like I was calling him every day or nothing like that. I said what I needed to say to the team that I was on at that time and I went on about my time. I did my training, I spent time with kids and that was it. I’m telling you the real when I say it’s not that deep. Bam was my boy before I asked for a trade, he still is and that was the extent of it.”
There’s more from Milwaukee:
- Heat guard Tyler Herro has “a couple different reasons” to look forward to tonight’s game, Chiang adds in a separate story. Playing in Milwaukee means a homecoming for Herro, but he’s also eager to face Lillard after having his name mentioned in trade rumors all summer. “I’ve never spoken to him,” Herro said. “I probably won’t (talk to him on Monday). We’ll see what happens. I respect his game, for sure. There’s no hate toward him at all. He’s a great player. I’ve been watching him my whole life. So I’m excited to continue to compete against the best.”
- The Bucks were sharp on Thursday in Lillard’s first regular season game with Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the results looked much different in Sunday’s loss to the Hawks, observes Eric Nehm of The Athletic. Lillard shot just 2-of-12 from the field and committed six turnovers by halftime as the offense appeared out of sorts.
- Wenyen Gabriel, Alex Antetokounmpo and Glenn Robinson III are among the players waived before the start of the season who received invitations to join the Wisconsin Herd, tweets Jim Owczarski of The Journal-Sentinel. Drew Timme and Jazian Gortman are also on the G League team’s 18-man roster, but Omari Moore isn’t, Owczarski adds (Twitter link). Moore signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Toronto after being waived from his two-way contract by Milwaukee, so the Raptors 905 hold his NBAGL rights.
11:58am: Fox suffered a moderate right ankle sprain and is expected to miss some time, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Sources tell Marc J. Spears of Andscape that the guard could return within a week (Twitter link).
7:59am: The Kings are determining the severity of an ankle injury that De’Aaron Fox suffered late in Sunday’s win over the Lakers, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. A league source told Anderson that the team’s medical staff was examining Fox after the game and an update will be provided once the extent of the damage is clear.
The All-Star guard hurt his right ankle late in the fourth quarter, but returned to the court for the start of overtime despite being told to remain on the bench, according to Anderson. Head coach Mike Brown pulled him from the game after about 90 seconds, saying he was “limping really bad,” but he admires Fox’s toughness for attempting to play.
“(Fox) is tough as nails, man,” Brown said. “To try to show the grit that he showed and get out there to help us win a ballgame, that just speaks volumes to who he is and how much he wants to lay his body on the line to help his team.”
Fox was injured on a drive to the basket when he stepped on Gabe Vincent’s foot and rolled his right ankle. He remained on the ground for two to three minutes, Anderson states, then limped to the locker room with trainers before quickly returning to the team’s bench.
Fox checked back into the game and led a comeback that put Sacramento in front, but the Lakers forced overtime on a layup by LeBron James. Fox wasn’t supposed to stay in the game for the extra session, and Brown wasn’t aware that he was on the court until it was too late.
“So I started calling him, and he’s ignoring me,” Brown said. “He felt he could go, so he stayed on the floor, and then when I felt he really couldn’t go, we took him out.”
Anderson points out that Fox missed 17 games during the 2019/20 season with a Grade 3 sprain to his left ankle. The Kings have to hope the news isn’t as bad this time, as a prolonged absence would be a significant obstacle in what’s expected to be a tight Western Conference playoff race. Fox scored 37 points Sunday night, including 13 in the fourth quarter, and is averaging 31.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists through three games.
Nets forward Cameron Johnson will be reevaluated in 10 days after an MRI revealed he has a strain in his left leg, sources tell Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link).
Johnson was originally diagnosed with a left calf contusion after being injured on opening night. He missed the team’s second game and had been considered day-to-day. Brooklyn has a packed schedule with six games over the next 10 days, starting with tonight at Charlotte.
Johnson felt well enough on Sunday to take some shots during practice in Dallas, Lewis adds in a full story. Johnson dealt with a hamstring strain in training camp and sat out the entire preseason, so his only game action was 26 minutes in the season opener.
The news is more encouraging about center Nic Claxton, who didn’t wear his walking boot at this morning’s shootaround, Lewis tweets. Having sprained his left ankle in the opener, Claxton is considered day-to-day.
Chris Paul came off the bench for the first time in his career Sunday night, and it looks like an arrangement that’s going to be successful for the Warriors, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Paul became an immediate starter when he entered the league with New Orleans in 2005, but the possibility of being shifted to a reserve emerged when he was traded to a Golden State team that already had Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in its backcourt. Paul started the season’s first two games with Draymond Green injured, but moved into his new role when Green returned on Sunday.
“It works,” Paul told reporters after the game. “It gives us a bigger lineup. I’ve never been on a team probably with this type of depth. I’ve been on really good teams, don’t get it twisted. But not necessarily where you could say: ‘All these guys can start.’ And I think last year that was the best starting five in the league.”
The Warriors are coming off a season that was disrupted by players who were unhappy about their minutes and changes to their roles, so Steve Kerr sought to get control of the situation right away, Slater adds. Prior to training camp, he called in Paul, Green, Curry, Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney for a meeting where they discussed what to do about essentially having six starters.
Although it was decided that starting roles would be influenced by matchups, Kerr seems happy with Paul as the leader of the second unit and it appears that will continue as long as everyone stays healthy. Green is excited about the edge that brings to the team.
“When you’re talking about replacing Steph Curry with Chris Paul, it doesn’t get much better than that,” he said. “You’re taking your starting point guard out and the next point guard is Chris Paul? That’s incredible. We will have that advantage all year.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Lakers coach Darvin Ham said he needs to “tighten up” his rotation after Sunday’s loss in Sacramento, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Ham has been trying to acclimate Gabe Vincent, who missed much of the preseason with tightness in his lower back, while also dealing with the loss of Jarred Vanderbilt, who is sidelined with bursitis in his left heel. “My rotation, we got to really dig into that,” Ham said. “Really take a close look and so guys are in rhythm. We have a great collection of players. And I played in this league. When you know when you’re going in and who you’re playing with, that matters. So buckling down on our rotation, I’ll start there.”
- The minutes reduction that Ham planned for LeBron James hasn’t lasted past the season opener, McMenamin adds. James logged 39 minutes in Sunday’s contest, which was the first game of a back-to-back. “Obviously, I don’t want to run Bron into the ground,” Ham said. “I don’t want to run (Anthony Davis) into the ground too early. Obviously, it was an overtime game tonight and they’re playing at a high level, so you want to leave them out there. But just having that balance.”
- Clippers forward Marcus Morris missed his third straight game Sunday, with “coach’s decision” being the explanation, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. However, coach Tyronn Lue said Morris is “very involved, and he’s been great, especially with our young guys.”
The NBA enacted a new player participation policy during the summer, but it hasn’t been effective in keeping stars on the court during the first week of the season, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Many of the league’s top players have already sat out games, either for rest purposes or minor injuries.
Vardon points to Sixers center Joel Embiid, who was nearly rested for the team’s home opener on Sunday. It was only the third game of the season, but Embiid played 35 minutes Saturday at Toronto, so coach Nick Nurse considered giving him the night off. Because it was a back-to-back situation, that wouldn’t have violated the new policy.
“There’s nothing injury-wise. We just played last night, traveled and all that stuff,” Nurse explained.
NBA executive vice president Joe Dumars has talked about wanting to re-establish the culture of an 82-game season, but Vardon notes that James Harden, Jimmy Butler, Devin Booker and Donovan Mitchell are among the players who have already missed games.
However, the policy is at least making teams think twice about keeping their best players out of action. Nurse admits it factored into his decision making when he opted to play Embiid on Sunday, and a source tells Vardon that the Heat checked with the league office before resting Butler in Saturday’s game.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Cooper Flagg, who is expected to be the top pick in the 2025 NBA draft, has announced that he will play college basketball at Duke, per Jeff Borzello of ESPN. The 16-year-old high school star revealed his choice in a commitment video, choosing the Blue Devils over Connecticut. Flagg opted to reclassify in August and will head to college next fall. “After I got on campus, I really started to envision myself in Durham,” Flagg said in his video. “All the love I felt made me really excited, seeing all the Crazies and the atmosphere in Cameron. I’m honored that I have the opportunity to join the Brotherhood.”
- NBA executives chose Mavericks guard Luka Doncic as the league’s best player under 25 years old, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Doncic narrowly edged Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama for the honor, with one executive calling him “an elite offense all by himself.” Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Grizzlies guard Ja Morant and Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley rounded out the top five.
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report grades this year’s rookie scale extensions, which had to be finalized by last Monday, based on their benefit to both the players and their teams.
The Wizards have plenty of extra second-round picks at their disposal and finding diamonds of the rough could be the blueprint for the franchise, Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network writes. Jordan Poole, Kyle Kuzma and Tyus Jones were late first-rounders and Daniel Gafford was a second-round selection, Hughes notes, and they had to earn their second contracts.
Those players could show future late selections how to make their mark.
“There are so many players that come into this league and they’re given the keys from day one… I had to go take it. I had to have irrational confidence in myself,” Kuzma said. “That kind of just took me on my entire journey. I think it’s all about taking things. You can be patient and have poise, but at some point there’s another dude on the team who wants to be where I want to be.”
We have more on the Wizards:
- After signing a four-year rookie scale extension worth $55MM, Deni Avdija seems a lot more relaxed and confident. Against Memphis on Saturday, he made two of his three 3-point tries and finished with 10 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks, Josh Robbins of The Athletic notes. “I feel really confident in it,” Avdija said of his 3-point shot.
- While they’ve gone into a full rebuild, the Wizards do believe they’ll be fun to watch this season. Poole said as much after defeating the Grizzlies in the home opener. “You can feel that [D.C. fans] like basketball,” Poole told Hughes. “They love basketball, they love the entertainment and we’ve got some entertaining players. It will be really exciting.” Poole, acquired from Golden State, energized the fans in his home debut with 27 points.
- Gafford is listed as questionable for Monday’s game against Boston due to a left ankle sprain, Robbins tweets.
It’s only three games into the season but Pistons owner Tom Gores is already impressed with the impact head coach Monty Williams has made, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. Gores coaxed Williams into coaching the team with a six-year, $78.5MM contract.
“He’s made a real difference,” Gores said. “We’re organized. What makes the most sense with Monty is he threads the needle everywhere. He knows how to have discipline, but he knows how to have compassion. He really threads the needle to me. He’s an experienced coach, but at the same time he’s modern and listens.”
Gores said he didn’t hire Williams to go through another rebuilding season.
“We wouldn’t bring somebody like Monty in if we had a bunch of players who weren’t ready,” he said. “It took us a bit to create this foundation – Cade (Cunningham), (Jaden) Ivey, (Isaiah) Stewart. This is a very strong foundation. They want to win as bad as anyone. Patience with progress, right? We need to make progress this year, absolutely.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- T.J. McConnell got a chance to play with the Pacers’ second unit on Saturday and immediately provided a spark. He delivered eight points and eight assists in 19 minutes, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star notes. “This morning I talked to the staff about, ‘Hey, let’s keep our eyes open and if there’s a point in the game where T.J. is the right guy, we have to pull the trigger decisively,'” coach Rick Carlisle said. “It was pretty clear in the first quarter that we needed him and what he brings.” McConnell is signed through next season but his $9.3MM salary for 2024/25 is only partially guaranteed for $5MM.
- Patrick Williams didn’t receive a rookie scale extension from the Bulls and he hasn’t done anything to improve his value in the early going, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times notes. He was limited to no points, three rebounds and one assist in 21 minutes in the Bulls’ 118-102 loss to Detroit on Saturday. Coach Billy Donovan isn’t ready to bench him. “I wouldn’t do it from the standpoint of, ‘Oh, I’m just taking him out of the starting lineup because he’s got to do this, this and this, and he’s not doing it,’ ’ Donovan said. However, a lineup change may be in order if Williams doesn’t deliver more production, with Torrey Craig or Alex Caruso among the candidates to replace him.
- Pacers forward Obi Toppin, another player who didn’t receive a rookie scale extension, feels more comfortable with his new team. He believes limited minutes with the Knicks held back his development, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “I can learn from mistakes. I can get better,” he said. “I feel like it can take my game to another level.”
It’s still uncertain when he’ll play, but James Harden went through a walkthrough and video session with the Sixers prior to their game against Portland on Sunday, Tim Bontemps of ESPN reports. Harden is also expected to take part in their practice on Tuesday. He’s ramping up toward game action.
“All signs are positive conditioning-wise and all those things,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “We just need to get him in some live action then hopefully we can do that Tuesday.”
After an off-day on Monday, Philadelphia is scheduled to practice Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s possible, if all goes well, that Harden could make his season debut against Toronto on Thursday.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Joel Embiid insists the Sixers aren’t focused on Harden’s situation, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I think everybody in this locker room has been focused on — we’re playing,” Embiid said. “We’ve got games every single day. That’s up to the guys upstairs and management to figure out what’s going to happen. We’ve got a pretty good team.”
- Julius Randle is averaging just 13.7 points on 27.7% shooting during the first three Knicks games. He also committed eight of the Knicks’ 19 turnovers against the Pelicans on Saturday. Jalen Brunson says the team has to give him more help, Peter Botte of the New York Post writes. “He’s being aggressive. He’s attacking,” Brunson said. “As a group we need to be better. But we’ve got to help each other be better. It can’t just be like ‘I have to be better’ or ‘He has to be better.’ How can we collectively help each other? Julius is gonna command attention, so we need to help him out a little bit.”
- Mikal Bridges hasn’t played poorly but he’s still trying to settle into the role of No. 1 option, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Bridges averaged 19 points on 41.4% shooting, 5.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in the first two Nets games of the season. “Just missing shots, I’m missing layups, missing some of my teammates open. I’ve just got to be better,” he said.
Warriors forward Draymond Green, who’s set to make his season debut on Sunday, believes that he and Chris Paul will form a dynamic distributing duo, he told Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“How I see the challenge is for the other team,” Green said. “They’ll have players on the floor that have to think the game of basketball with us. Good luck. That’s how I see the challenge. You put Bill Gates and Paul Allen in a room and you get Microsoft. That’s how I see it.”
Paul will come off the bench for the first time in his career with Green back in the lineup, Slater tweets. The veteran point guard has started in his previous 1,216 regular-season games.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Kings coach Mike Brown did not rule out the possibility of a lineup change this evening against the Lakers. Shooting guard Kevin Huerter has struggled during the first week of the season. “There are plenty of guys who made mistakes, and when I evaluate the team, I’m not just looking at Kevin and thinking about taking Kevin out of the starting lineup,” Brown told Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. “There are other changes that can be made, so I always — with the flexibility we feel we have with this team — that’s something that I always have to take a look at.” Huerter went scoreless in Sacramento’s home opener against Golden State on Friday.
- Trey Lyles, who remained with the Kings on a two-year contract, will miss Sacramento’s game on Sunday with a left calf strain, James Ham of The Kings Beat tweets. Lyles has yet to make his season debut.
- Forward Josh Okogie, who has started the first three games for the Suns, has already drawn a league fine under the new flopping rules. Okogie believes he’ll likely rack up several more, given the way he plays, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic writes. “When I saw that, the first thing I thought was it’s going to be a long season,” Okogie said. “You call that a flop or if that’s considered a flop worthy of a fine, then it’s going to be a lot of money going into that fine box this year.” He signed a two-year, veteran’s minimum contract this summer with a player option for next season.