Domantas Sabonis Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Sabonis, Russell, Allen, Vanderbilt

January 29th, 2024 at 8:04pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings appear to be heading in the right direction, winning their last three games. Domantas Sabonis admits the first half of Sacramento’s season was plagued with inconsistency but believes the club’s issues are correctable.

“It’s tough, because we know we are better. We’ve shown it,” he told Sam Amick of The Athletic. “We just sometimes go through these mental lapses in games, which are very, very controllable. We know that. There’s other games where we’ve controlled it and ended up winning the game.

“So we’ve just got to stay mentally strong. We need to win games to get the best seed as we can for the playoffs, but I feel like, as the year goes on, we’re learning more and more, you know? We’re seeing film, seeing what we do wrong. We’re realizing these things. And the good thing is that we still have another (38) games.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

D’Angelo Russell has been fined $15K for kicking the game ball into the spectator stands, the NBA announced (via Twitter). The Lakers guard booted the ball following the conclusion of their 145-144 victory over the Warriors on Saturday.
A report from Yahoo Sports last week indicated the Suns are no longer considering the possibility of trading Grayson Allen. The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson and Shams Charania note that there’s good reason to keep Allen. He’s enjoying a career year, shooting 49.8% from beyond the arc this season. He’s also leveled up his defense, rebounding and play-making, The Athletic duo adds. Allen’s night against Miami on Monday was cut short by an ankle injury, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets.
During the past six games, Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt is averaging 11.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.2 steals in 26.5 minutes per night. Coach Darvin Ham was evasive when asked if he’s considering putting Vanderbilt in the starting five but indicated that the finishing unit is even more important, Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes. “It’s not about always starting that way, but you know you’re going to get to it,” Ham said. “Every coach has a finishing six or seven, group of six or seven guys that he knows he can potentially finish with.”

Gilgeous-Alexander, Antetokounmpo Named Players Of Month

January 4th, 2024 at 3:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Month, respectively, for December, according to the NBA (Twitter link).

Gilgeous-Alexander led his team to a 10-3 record during the month while averaging 31.9 points, 6.6 assists and 3.1 steals per game. Antetokounmpo carried the Bucks to an 11-2 mark in December, posting averages of 32.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists per night.

Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant, Anthony Edwards, De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Kawhi Leonard were the other nominees in the West.

Bam Adebayo, Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner, Donovan Mitchell, Julius Randle, Coby White and Derrick White were the other nominees in the East.

Mike Brown Talks Kings, Fox, Sabonis, Monk, Murray

October 24th, 2023 at 8:11pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Second-year Kings head coach Mike Brown is aware that the club is heading into the 2023/24 season with serious expectations for the first time in a good long while. As the reigning Coach of the Year tells Mike Scotto of HoopsHype in an extensive new interview, his team is hoping to improve on last season’s 48-34 record. Sacramento did secure the West’s No. 3 seed, but was ousted in a seven-game, first-round playoff slugfest by the Warriors.

“We’re a good team,” Brown said. “We established that narrative with our play last year and our connectivity and work throughout the summer. Now, we’ve got to continue building on that. We’ve got to go from good to great. Our expectations aren’t just to make the playoffs again. We know that’s who we are. Our expectations are to go from good to great and be an NBA champion, just like every other team out there, that’s competing as hard as we feel like we’re going to compete this year.”

The whole conversation is well worth reading in full. Below are just a few key highlights.

On winning his second Coach of the Year award in 2023:

“The reality to me is I have a fantastic staff, and you appreciate their work. At the end of the day, I recognize greatness, and I truly mean that our players stepped up, and everybody in the organization did too. I’m not just talking about my coaching staff. I have at least four or five guys on my staff right now who are ready to be head coaches. I’ve been saying that. I’ve tried to tell people about Jordi Fernandez. Others on my staff are ready to be head coaches right now.”

“I recognize how blessed, fortunate, and lucky I am to have not just a great coaching staff but a great medical staff, and a great performance and conditioning staff. I love the guys in the front office, ticket sales, community relations, and (COO) Matina Kolokotronis. To see the vertical and horizontal levels of trust we have with all the levels in the organization, in my opinion, showed itself in the best possible way with me being named the unanimous Coach of the Year because I know I didn’t do it by myself.”

On the chemistry between All-Stars De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis:

“Those two guys have to continue taking leaps forward, but part of the reason why we brought so many guys back is because I firmly believe in order to have a winning culture at the highest level, you have to have a core of guys that you believe in and are able to play together year after year so that connectivity can grow to an insurmountable level. This is our first year of trying to bring our guys back to establish that core, so that means everybody we bring back has to elevate their game. Keegan Murray, Kevin Huerter and Harrison Barnes all have to elevate their game, especially knowing the way we like to play on both ends of the floor.”

On Malik Monk‘s shot at Sixth Man of the Year honors:

“He has a chance. Malik Monk is one of the most talented guys I’ve been around. He’s not 6-foot-7, but if he was, he’d be All-NBA. He’s that talented. It’s going to be up to him what he wants to be. I thought last year, coming in, his work ethic and his focus were pretty good. Just like how everyone else can help us improve internally to help us become a better team, Malik can, too. His talent level is there. Now, he’s got to be locked in 24/7, 365 days a year, when it comes to hoops. If he is, and he doesn’t take anything for granted, he’s in great shape and locked in by playing every possession, the sky’s the limit for him. He can shoot the three. He’s got a medium (mid-range) game. He’s one of the best I’ve seen in pick-and-rolls.”

On the growth of second-year forward Keegan Murray:

“If you think about it, last year, the way we played with our pace and our body and ball movement, he got a lot of his shots off the catch-and-shoot. Now, we expect Keegan to bring the ball up if he gets a rebound and initiate the offense, be a little selfish, and go get his shot, which you saw a couple of times throughout the preseason and when he played in Kings Summer League action in Sacramento. Not only that, but offensive rebounding. He’s worked hard on his body. Defensively, don’t get bullied… Be able to guard the ball in pick-and-roll situations. These are some areas, like going to get shots off the bounce that Keegan worked on that we’ve been fortunate to see throughout the offseason. Now, we expect him to do that come game time.”

Pacific Notes: McGruder, Vincent, Nurkic, Sabonis

October 6th, 2023 at 8:45pm CST by Rory Maher

Veteran wing Rodney McGruder has entered the NBA’s concussion protocol and will be sidelined for the Warriors‘ first preseason game against the Lakers on Saturday, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

McGruder, 32, is on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 deal for training camp and has a “real shot” to make the regular season roster, according to Slater. McGruder averaged 5.7 points while shooting 42.3% from three-point range last season for the Pistons.

Here’s more from the Pacific:

Gabe Vincent was the main external free agent addition for the Lakers, who signed the 27-year-old guard to a three-year, $33MM contract. Vincent tells Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times (subscriber link) that he’s ready for his new role in one of the league’s biggest markets. “The game changes, the game evolves, you have to adapt,” he said. “You change teams, you change situations, you have to adapt. I think that’s very much part of surviving in this league, being able to adapt.”
Suns center Jusuf Nurkic was recently traded to Phoenix from Portland, and he’s enjoying his time playing with the “Big 3” of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (subscriber link). “It’s kind of crazy when you think about it,” Nurkic said. “The spacing and everything is so big. It’s really fun to be out there.” The Bosnian big man will make $54.4MM over the next three seasons.
The Kings renegotiated and extended Domantas Sabonis‘ contract this offseason, adding four more years onto his deal, which is now worth nearly $204MM in total guaranteed money. According to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee, the All-NBA center cited the Kings’ fans and his partnership with De’Aaron Fox as key reasons for why he was “more than happy” to sign a long-term deal. “Having a dynamic guard like that, a superstar who can do everything, offense and defense, it means everything,” Sabonis said of Fox. “You guys saw it last year, and for me as a big to play with someone like that makes life so much easier.”

Pacific Notes: LeBron, Green, Jackson-Davis, Sabonis

October 3rd, 2023 at 6:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

As last season ended, Lakers superstar LeBron James hinted he would consider retiring. With training camp opening this week, James struck a much different tone, Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes.

James says he’s ready for another run at a championship. “I feel like I got a lot more in the tank to give,” he said.

However, he’s not ready to commit to playing beyond this season. He holds a $51.4MM option for the 2024/25 season.

“I don’t know what the end of this road looks like, or at the end of the season. I have no idea,” he said.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

While some people look at the Warriors’ roster and conclude they need more beef up front, Draymond Green has a different take, according to Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “They said we didn’t have enough size in 2022, and we won,” Green said. “I’ve been told I wasn’t the right size forever, and I’ve won. … I can show you where we didn’t have enough size and we won. In saying that, I’m not totally against having another big.” Golden State doesn’t have a traditional center to back up Kevon Looney.
Late second-round pick Trayce Jackson-Davis knows what he must do to get playing time in his rookie year with the Warriors, Anthony Slater of The Athletic relays. “I’m going to screen for some of the best shooters in the world, and I’m going to get rebounds,” the forward out of Indiana University said. “I’m going to try to be a lob threat, and I’m going to try to bring energy.”
Kings star big man Domantas Sabonis says his thumb is fully healed and didn’t require surgery, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee tweets. Sabonis suffered an avulsion fracture in his right thumb last season and played through the injury.

Kings Notes: Sabonis, Ford, Stockton, Akinjo

September 14th, 2023 at 10:10pm CST by Tristan Tucker

One of the biggest storylines during the 2022/23 NBA season was the Kings ending their 16-year playoff drought. Domantas Sabonis was a major part of that, earning a spot on the All-NBA Third Team and in the All-Star Game.

However, when Sacramento took on the Warriors in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, Sabonis struggled relative to his regular season numbers. The 6’11” forward/center averaged 16.4 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists on 49.5% shooting in seven games in the playoffs compared to 19.1 points, 12.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists on 61.5% shooting in 79 regular season games.

On a recent episode of their show, James Ham and Kyle Madson of ESPN 1320 Sacramento discussed the specific ways Sabonis can improve heading into next season (Twitter link).

The pair reason that while Sabonis’s box-score numbers will likely look similar to last season’s, he can improve on the little things, like his aggression. Ham and Madson don’t want to see Sabonis be complacent, and would like to see him take more attempts from the mid-range.

Sabonis signed a four-year extension that includes at least $184MM in new money earlier this offseason.

We have more Kings-related notes:

During Jordan Ford‘s stint with the Kings’ Summer League team, a high-ranking member of the organization said he felt as though the Saint Mary’s product was close to becoming an NBA-caliber player, according to The Sacramento Bee’s James Anderson. It appears Ford will get the chance to prove as much, with his Exhibit 10 deal reportedly being converted to a two-way contract. According to Anderson, Ford will compete for the third point guard spot behind De’Aaron Fox and Davion Mitchell.
The Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G League affiliate, are acquiring the rights to James Akinjo from the Westchester Knicks in exchange for Jeriah Horne and Alex O’Connell, per Anderson (Twitter link). Akinjo, a Baylor product, averaged 14.5 points and 8.0 assists in 38 G League games in the regular season and Showcase Cup. Horne and O’Connell spent a brief time with the Kings in training camp last year but spent most of the season with Stockton.
In case you missed it, the Kings waived Neemias Queta and Nerlens Noel on Tuesday. Sacramento made the move to give Queta and Noel an opportunity to catch on with another team before training camp. They’ll clear waivers on Friday, assuming they go unclaimed.

Pacific Notes: McGee, Durant, Reaves

September 3rd, 2023 at 8:53pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings have signed JaVale McGee to a one-year contract. McGee got a guaranteed veteran’s minimum deal but that doesn’t mean he’s assured of making the roster out of training camp, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee writes.

The Kings have McGee, Alex Len, Nerlens Noel, Neemias Queta and Skal Labissiere on the camp roster as potential backups to star center Domantas Sabonis. Labissiere is ticketed to the G League but Len has a fully guaranteed one-year deal, while Noel and Queta have partial guarantees. That means four players are essentially vying for two roster spots.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

The Warriors won championships in 2017 and 2018 with Kevin Durant on their roster. Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic compares those Warriors teams to the current Suns group with Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal as the main trio, evaluating how Phoenix might emulate those championship clubs.
The Lakers have tried to acquire a third star in recent years to join forces with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Do they now have that player on the roster in the form of Austin Reaves? Jovan Buha of The Athletic explores that topic, considering how well Reaves has performed for Team USA. With several weeks to adjust to his new role as a primary ball-handler during training camp, Reaves can cement his status as an All-Star-level third option, Buha concludes.
Reaves said the World Cup hasn’t taken a physical toll on him, he told Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times in a Q&A session. “I feel great. It’s been better than I expected,” the Lakers guard said. “You look at it, you go down the list of minutes guys have played and nobody plays more than 25 minutes. On max, someone might play 30 minutes a game. So, it’s not really like the NBA season where you’re playing 32, 35, maybe 40 minutes. The minutes are way shorter.”

Kings Interested In JaVale McGee

August 29th, 2023 at 5:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings are interested in signing veteran center JaVale McGee once he clears waivers, Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and NBA on TNT tweets.

The Mavericks officially waived McGee on Monday and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on Thursday.

Sacramento has 13 players on guaranteed contracts and two more frontcourt players — Neemias Queta and Nerlens Noel — on partially guaranteed deals. The Kings also have Alex Len behind Domantas Sabonis in the center spot with Trey Lyles another possibility in small-ball lineups.

McGee could join the battle for backup minutes behind Sabonis. He’d be on his ninth NBA team since entering the league in 2008.

McGee signed a three-year, $17MM+ contract with Dallas last offseason, but only spent seven games in the starting lineup and subsequently fell out of the rotation altogether. The 35-year-old averaged 4.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in a career-low 8.5 minutes per game across 42 appearances during his second stint as a Maverick.

And-Ones: Washington, Available FAs, Player Tiers, CBA

August 15th, 2023 at 10:38am CST by Luke Adams

Exploring possible destinations for some of the top remaining free agents, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report suggests that many people around the league think that P.J. Washington – the only standard restricted free agent still on the board – will eventually accept his qualifying offer from the Hornets. Pincus also confirms that the Lakers have conveyed interest in big man Christian Wood.

In considering a potential landing spot for Kelly Oubre, who averaged more than 20 points per game last season, Pincus notes that Memphis makes some sense. While it’s not clear if the Grizzlies have actually expressed interest in Oubre, Pincus points out that they haven’t really replaced Dillon Brooks at forward and have some young players – such as Ziaire Williams or Josh Christopher – who might appeal to the Hornets in a sign-and-trade scenario.

Here are a few more odds and ends from the league:

Seth Partnow of The Athletic has published the first two installments of his player tier rankings for the 2023/24 season. Breaking down the top 125 players of the league into five tiers, Partnow lists 45 players in tier five – including Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes – and 41 more in tier four, such as Kings center Domantas Sabonis, Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, and Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns. Partnow’s top three tiers will consist of 39 players and will presumably be posted later this week.
Now that hoarding cap room into the regular season is no longer a viable strategy, Rob Mahoney of The Ringer wonders how the new Collective Bargaining Agreement will change the way that rebuilding teams approach future offseasons.
With no sign that the Damian Lillard or James Harden situations will be resolved anytime soon, John Hollinger of The Athletic questions whether the NBA’s player empowerment era has reached its ceiling. During the last several years, stars who ask for trades have sought increasingly specific destinations despite having less and less leverage, Hollinger observes, adding that the outcomes for Lillard and Harden could create new benchmarks for future star trade requests.

Mavs Notes: Draft Picks, Bogdanovic, McGee, Centers

July 14th, 2023 at 7:54am CST by Luke Adams

The Mavericks‘ acquisition of Grant Williams in a three-team sign-and-trade agreement with Boston and San Antonio was initially reported on July 5, but wasn’t officially completed until a week later. According to Tim Cato of The Athletic, that delay was by design, as the three clubs agreed to keep the deal unofficial through Tuesday evening to give everyone a chance to explore expanding it further. No opportunities materialized, so the teams completed the trade as planned on Wednesday.

The Mavs were – and remain – willing to immediately flip the 2025 and 2028 second-rounders they acquired from San Antonio in order to further upgrade their roster, but they’ve been “incredibly cautious” about trading their own 2027 first-round pick, a team source tells Cato.

Because Dallas has already moved its 2029 first-rounder, it would be difficult to put any protections on its 2027 first-rounder due to the Stepien rule, which prohibits a team from leaving itself without a first-round selection in any two consecutive future drafts.

If the Mavs were to trade their 2027 pick, it would have to either be unprotected or turn into a second-rounder (or multiple second-rouders) if it were to fall into its protected range in ’27, since it couldn’t be rolled over to 2028. An unprotected pick would be an extremely valuable trade chip, whereas one that would become a second-rounder if not conveyed in 2027 would have more limited appeal to potential trade partners.

Here’s more on the Mavs:

Confirming an ESPN report, Cato says that the Mavericks and Pistons recently revisited conversations about a possible Bojan Bogdanovic trade. League sources tell The Athletic that the two teams discussed a framework that would’ve sent Bogdanovic and Killian Hayes to Dallas, with Tim Hardaway Jr. and JaVale McGee going to Detroit. It’s unclear what level of draft compensation the Pistons would’ve been seeking in such a deal or how far discussions advanced, says Cato.
As previously suggested during Tim MacMahon’s Howdy Partners podcast (YouTube link), the Mavericks are considered likely to trade or waive McGee before the 2023/24 regular season begins, according to Cato.
Assuming McGee is moved or let go, the Mavericks’ centers would be Richaun Holmes, Dwight Powell, and Dereck Lively. The team could still trade for another big man, but would be content to open the season with that trio, according to Cato. While Powell would be the favorite to start, Mavs staffers are optimistic about Holmes’ bounce-back potential, believing that he’ll be a better fit in the team’s “guard-based schemes” than he was in a Sacramento system centered around Domantas Sabonis, Cato adds.