Kevin Huerter

Kings Notes: Monk, Brown, Duarte, Mitchell, Ellis, Comanche

January 3rd, 2024 at 12:57pm CST by Luke Adams

Following some sloppy play in the first quarter of the Kings‘ loss to the Hornets on Tuesday, Malik Monk was benched for the rest of the first half. When he returned to the game in the third quarter, Monk hit a pair of three-pointers, then turned and appeared to say something to head coach Mike Brown as he passed Sacramento’s bench (Twitter video link via Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 Sacramento).

At the next timeout, Brown and Monk engaged in a heated conversation on the sidelines, but they seemed to resolve their differences quickly, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee, who notes that Brown shrugged off the incident when he spoke to reporters after the game.

“Heat of the moment,” Brown said. “Malik and I — I think everybody has seen it — but Malik and I have gotten into exchanges before. This was not the first time, and I would bet money it won’t be the last time, so that’s not a big deal.”

While Brown downplayed his exchange with Monk, he was disappointed in his team’s execution and sense of urgency down the stretch in an ugly loss that ended Charlotte’s 11-game losing streak, describing it as “alarming.”

“Our half-court defense, we’re literally just standing on the weak side of the floor, and we give up a stone-cold layup at a crucial part of the game,” Brown said. “So, to not have an awareness, a sense of urgency, it was not a good feeling being out there and being a part of it, and obviously I had a lot to do with it because I did not have our guys ready apparently.”

Here’s more on the Kings:

Kings wing Chris Duarte got a second consecutive start on Tuesday in place of Kevin Huerter and played well, recording 12 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in nearly 30 minutes of action. As Anderson relays, Brown explained on Tuesday that he wants to get a longer look at the new starting lineup before deciding whether or not to stick with it. “It’s one of those things that we just kind of play out, wait and see and see how it goes, but it was not a one-time thing,” Brown said. “It’s a change that we made that, right now, we’re going to continue to take a look at going forward.”
In addition to the starting lineup tweak, Brown has made another notable change to his rotation, playing Davion Mitchell over Keon Ellis in each of the past three games. Mitchell has averaged about 14 minutes per night during that time after being out of the rotation for nearly all of December, while Ellis had a pair of DNP-CDs for the first time since November. Mitchell earned the Kings’ defensive player of the game chain in Friday’s win over Atlanta, writes Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. “Even if I’m not in the rotation, I’m still trying to help, still trying to help my team win,” Mitchell said after that game. “Keon’s a really good player in our league and I’m just trying to teach him the little things, things I experienced my rookie year, my sophomore year.”
Former Stockton Kings center Chance Comanche, who is accused of killing a woman last month in Nevada, made an initial court appearance in Las Vegas on Tuesday. According to an Associated Press report, separate murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy cases will be combined so that Comanche and his ex-girlfriend (and alleged co-conspirator) Sakari Harnden can be tried together. Comanche, who intends to plead not guilty, will remain in jail without bail — his next court date is set for February 8.

Pacific Notes: Leonard, Plumlee, Huerter, Kerr

January 1st, 2024 at 11:59am CST by Arthur Hill

Clippers star Kawhi Leonard was back at practice Sunday after missing four games with a bruised left hip, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Coach Tyronn Lue said Leonard was able to participate “fully” in the practice session, but didn’t commit to his availability for tonight’s game against Miami.

“We’ll see tomorrow,” Lue said. “Yeah, we’ll see how he comes out of this, but he is practicing today.”

Leonard’s health is always an issue for the Clippers, and it was encouraging that he was able to appear in the team’s first 27 games before hurting his hip. With Leonard returning to practice, Lue installed some new wrinkles to the offense, according to Turner.

“With Kawhi back, today is a good time to add a couple of things here and there,” Lue said. “But we do have to extend our package offensively, especially when we get down to the end of the season going into the playoffs. You have to be able to lean on some different things. You just can’t do the same thing every single night. And, so, if our pick-and-roll game is not going, we got to be able to do something different. If our post-up game is not going, we got to be able to do something different. If our iso game is not going, we got to be able to do something different. And they understand that. So, now we got to start adding and start getting better offensively.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Mason Plumlee has been upgraded to questionable on the Clippers‘ injury list for tonight’s game, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. L.A.’s backup big man has been sidelined since November 6 with an MCL sprain, causing the team to add free agent Daniel Theis to provide depth in the middle.
Coach Mike Brown made a change to the Kings‘ starting lineup Sunday in Memphis, replacing Kevin Huerter with Chris Duarte, per Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. Huerter, who exited Friday’s game with an injury to his left hand, came off the bench for the first time since being traded to Sacramento in the summer of 2022. He was part of Brown’s first round of substitutions and scored nine points in 17 minutes.
The Warriors are searching for answers after completing the 2023 portion of their schedule with a 10-point loss to Dallas, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. It marked the team’s eighth defeat at home, which matches its total from all of last season. Coach Steve Kerr refused to blame the absence of Draymond Green, who remains on indefinite suspension, but said the team lacks the “grit” that it needs to be successful. “We’re not competing through the tough parts of the game,” Kerr said. “There’s an intangible, there’s a feeling, there’s a vibe when you fight, where everyone’s energy is right. We don’t have that right now.”

Injury Notes: Mavs, Rockets, Wemby, Kawhi, Huerter

December 29th, 2023 at 10:31pm CST by Rory Maher

It’s been three weeks since Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving sustained a heel contusion that has sidelined him ever since, writes Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. Irving has missed the past 12 games, and he’s doubtful for Saturday’s contest against Golden State.

Doubtful typically means the player won’t suit up, but in Irving’s case, it’s actually an upgrade — he’s been listed as out every previous game since November 8, when the injury occurred. Fellow star guard Luka Doncic, who missed Thursday’s game against the Wolves with left quad soreness, is questionable, Townsend adds.

The Mavs got off to a strong start to the season and are still 18-14, but they’re just 2-5 over their past seven games, Townsend notes, and getting whole again would be a welcome sight for the team, especially with Doncic carrying such a heavy workload this month.

“We still have some injuries, so we’ve got to keep it together,” Doncic said. “Everybody’s got to stay together and keep the next-man-up mentality.”

Here are some more injury notes from around the NBA:

The Rockets were down two starters — Dillon Brooks (oblique) and Jabari Smith (left ankle sprain) — on Friday against Philadelphia, and head coach Ime Udoka was vague in describing a possible return timeline for the two forwards, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. “Not exact dates, but hopefully it is a shorter-term thing, two or three games possibly,” Udoka said. “Don’t want to give exact. About a week or so.” However, Udoka added that oblique injuries “can be tricky” to recover from, so Brooks’ timeline is particularly hazy.
Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama, the No. 1 overall pick of this year’s draft, will be on a minutes restriction for a couple weeks until he undergoes another MRI, head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters, including Andrew Lopez of ESPN. Wembanyama suffered a right ankle sprain when he stepped on a ball boy’s foot during warmups last Saturday against Dallas.
Head coach Tyronn Lue previously stated that Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard practiced for “a little bit” on Thursday, but he clarified on Friday that Leonard had a post-practice workout and hasn’t been cleared to resume practicing, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). Lue added that Leonard aggravated an old hip contusion that he sustained earlier this month and had played through. He missed his fourth straight game on Friday.
Kings sharpshooter Kevin Huerter suffered a left hand injury in the first half of Friday’s game vs. Atlanta and was later ruled out, tweets James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com. It’s unclear if the injury is related to the left finger sprain that caused Huerter to miss his lone game of the 2023/24 season back in November.

Pacific Notes: Myers, Curry, Davis, Huerter

November 19th, 2023 at 7:48pm CST by Tristan Tucker

First-year general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. had an eventful offseason, adding veterans and young players who aided the Warriors in jumping out to a 6-2 start. But Dunleavy is now experiencing his first batch of bumps in the road as GM, with Golden State losing six straight amid a Draymond Green suspension and minor Stephen Curry injury.

Former Warriors head of basketball operations Bob Myers is all too familiar with the ups and downs of holding that prestigious position, having accumulated four titles with a couple retooling years in between. Myers spoke to The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami for an in-depth conversation about the Warriors and what Myers has been up to.

“If that’s me, I’m saying (to Green), ‘That’s it, you’ve made your mistake in Game 10, so now you can’t make any more,‘” Myers said on Kawakami’s podcast (Apple Podcasts link). “I would assume he’d look me in the eye and say, ‘Yeah, OK.’ Kind of used up your mulligan early. So now we’ve gotta get through the rest of the 18 holes. And I think he would agree, he would say, ‘You’re right, it’s not good for the team, it’s not good for [me].’ I don’t think he’d push back on that.

“The best thing about Draymond and the thing people may not know, at least my relationship with Draymond, he will listen. He does listen. If I ever felt like he wasn’t listening, I wouldn’t waste my time. But he will listen. I think that’s the misconception with Draymond — [that] he doesn’t listen to what anybody says, just does what he wants. I think he listens, but he still makes mistakes.”

Myers went on to talk about more of the Warriors’ struggles this season, relating to the need to push through a difficult stretch.

“This is a tough moment — Curry’s hurt, Draymond’s suspended,” Myers said. “You’re going to go through that stuff. We went through that every year. I’m trying to think of a year, ’14/15 we probably didn’t have any, which is crazy to say, that first championship. And then ’16/17, [Kevin] Durant’s first year. Those years out of 12 for me were the only ones where it felt like a smooth ride without any bumps. It’s normal to have adversity, so it’s here. Now this adversity could’ve come 20 games into the season, it could’ve come 40, it could’ve come 60, but it’s coming for every team. So to fans, I would say, this is the moment.”

I highly recommend checking out the conversation in full if you have a subscription to The Athletic or the time to listen to the podcast episode. Myers goes on to talk about a plethora of topics, including his television appearances, the people he misses the most, his relationship with Curry and the future of head coach Steve Kerr, whom he expects will agree to an extension with the club.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Curry also spoke about the Warriors‘ recent losing streak, stressing it’s important to reverse the recent trend, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes. “There’s urgency, for sure,” Curry said. “Any time you’re at this many in a row, it’s a problem you gotta fix. You don’t want to develop a losing mentality at any stretch of the season. That’s a stink in the locker room you don’t want to have.“
Lakers star center Anthony Davis is hampered by a lingering hip injury, but that isn’t stopping him from anchoring L.A.’s defense, Khobi Price of The Orange County Register writes. “I’m all right,” Davis said. “Unfortunately this thing, it’s still bothering me but I’m going to try to go out there and compete. Obviously not being who I am offensively. My shot’s not falling and the leaping abilities and all that stuff just [aren’t] back to where it was, but I try to just make up for it on the defensive end and try to impact the game other than scoring.“
Kings guard Kevin Huerter missed his first game of the season on Sunday, The Kings Beat’s James Ham tweets. He suffered the injury on Friday but told The Sacramento Bee’s Jason Anderson the injury shouldn’t be “bothersome long term.” Chris Duarte, who averaged 4.5 points in 11 games entering Sunday, earned the start in Huerter’s place.

Pacific Notes: Green, Paul, Huerter, Lyles, Okogie

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

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.

Pacific Notes: George, Kawhi, Durant, LeBron, Huerter

October 25th, 2023 at 3:59pm CST by Luke Adams

As he enters his age-33 season, Clippers forward Paul George is thinking about the legacy he’ll leave behind when his NBA career is over, writes Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. And George isn’t happy that he has no championship hardware to show for his four years in Los Angeles (or his nine NBA seasons before that), as injuries have repeatedly sidelined him and fellow star Kawhi Leonard.

“My legacy here is just haven’t been able to finish,” George said. “I think in a lot of ways, injury-prone, inability to finish. So can’t even say that — like, I never go into a summer like, ‘Hey, what do I need to work on to get better, what do I need to’ … I got to just try to find a way to stay healthy.”

The Clippers appear to approaching the 2023/24 season with a heightened sense of urgency. Head coach Tyronn Lue talked prior to training camp about a need to take the regular season more seriously and not just be looking ahead to the playoffs. And with both George and Leonard healthy entering the season for the first time in three years, the rest of the team has noticed a shift in the group’s collective mindset, Greif observes.

“Night-and-day different, just in terms of intensity at training camp,” Clippers guard Norman Powell said.

Here’s more from out of the Pacific:

Leonard, who underwent surgery on his torn ACL in July of 2021, spoke repeatedly last year about the idea that the injury requires a two-year recovery period to get back to full strength. The Clippers forward reiterated that point on Tuesday, confirming he feels as good now as he has since injuring his knee in 2021. “I feel good and I’m ready to go,” Leonard said, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “… Talking to guys [who suffered ACL injuries] and seeing when they do start feeling good or just trusting your knee, it’s just something that you feel and I mean one day just turns around for you.”
Suns forward Kevin Durant tells Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports that it was “good to have stability” this summer after a tumultuous final year in Brooklyn. Durant also admitted that he’s starting to think about what his life will look like after he retires from the NBA, though he added that he wants to play for “as long as I can.”
While much has been made over the years of LeBron James‘ desire to play with son Bronny James before he retires from the NBA, a new Beats by Dre commercial voiced by LeBron’s wife Savannah references the Lakers star’s desire to play with son Bryce James as well, notes ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link). Bryce, 16, is three years younger than Bronny.
Kings head coach Mike Brown flirted during the preseason with the idea of having Chris Duarte replace Kevin Huerter in the team’s starting five, but Huerter will be the starter at shooting guard to open the season, Brown confirmed on Tuesday (Twitter link via James Ham of The Kings Beat).

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: Green, Durant, Allen, Booker, Beal, Lakers, Westbrook, Huerter

October 23rd, 2023 at 10:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Draymond Green won’t play in the Warriors’ opener on Tuesday, according to Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Green was sidelined prior to training camp by a left lateral ankle sprain. He was cleared for 5-on-5 action on Sunday and participated in Monday’s practice.

“He’s doing really well but we don’t feel like it would be wise to throw him out with so little scrimmage time on the floor,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “We’ll reassess as the days go.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Suns star forward Kevin Durant will play in Golden State on Tuesday for the first time since he left the franchise and signed with Brooklyn. Durant says he’s looking forward to it. “I’m excited to play in front of those fans,” Durant told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “I had some incredible moments there and we built a bond that doesn’t really have to be spoken about, me and the fans in the Bay Area. Feel like they’ve been supporting me way before I came there, actually. Then once I became a part of the Warriors, they just went even harder in support of myself and my teammates.”
Durant believes a recent addition to the Suns, wing Grayson Allen, will thrive with so many offensive threats around him, according to Gerald Bourguet of GoPhnx.com. “When he gets the opportunity to play with myself, (Devin Booker) and (Bradley Beal), I think the floor opens up even more for him, and we could play off him a little bit more as well,” Durant said. “He’s just a guy that can fit in. You see how many teams he’s played on and how well he’s played at each stop, so we’re expecting him to have a solid year this year.”
Speaking of Booker and Beal, they’re listed as questionable to play on Tuesday. Booker is dealing with left big toe soreness, while Beal has experienced lower back tightness. “We’re hopeful that they both play,” coach Frank Vogel told Rankin.
Jarred Vanderbilt and Jalen Hood-Schifino won’t play in the Lakers’ opener, Khobi Price of the Orange County Register tweets. Vanderbilt is dealing with left heel soreness while Hood-Schifino has a right patella contusion. Hood-Schifino will be reevaluated by team doctors on Nov. 3.
Russell Westbrook says he’s striving to be a positive force with the Clippers and won’t mind taking criticism if it eases the pressure off of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN writes. “When I’m playing, let me make sure I can make the game as easy as possible,” Westbrook said. “I take all the bullets for anybody. I take all the heat. I don’t really give a (darn) because I know what’s important to my teammates and to me that’s the most important part.”
Kings coach Mike Brown has challenged Kevin Huerter to be tougher defensively and he’s accepted the message, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee writes. “I just think it’s early,” Huerter said. “For me, I’m not worried about the offensive side of the court right now. I think, like you guys have heard throughout this preseason, for us as a team and individually, it’s (about) being better on the other side of the court. We know what we’re capable of — really with anybody on the court — offensively. We’ve just got to continue to buy in and play the right way and do the things we’re supposed to on the other side.”

Pacific Notes: D-Lo, Vanderbilt, Duarte, Huerter, J. Green

October 18th, 2023 at 9:08am CST by Luke Adams

Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell is a talented scorer, shooter, and passer, but has been targeted on the defensive end of the court over the years, a fact that he’s aware of and is making an effort to remedy, as Jovan Buha and Jay King of The Athletic write.

“Last year they found a way to get me off the floor by not playing defense, I guess,” Russell said. “So, try to be a reason to eliminate that. Not give them a reason to not have me on the floor. Try to be as dangerous as I can on offense and try not to be a liability on defense. So, that’s what I’m working on. I’m trying to do it now before the season so I continue to practice those good habits.”

Interestingly, Russell named Derrick White as a role model, praising the Celtics guard for making “all the winning plays,” even if he doesn’t necessarily get credit for them. According to Russell, that’s the type of player he aspires to be.

“I woke up to it and I was shocked, really,” White said when asked by The Athletic about Russell’s endorsement. “Obviously D-Lo’s an All-Star, has done a lot of great things in this league, a highly talented player. So it’s cool to get recognized like that, especially by a guy who’s done so much in the league like he has.”

Here are a few more notes from around the Pacific:

Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt, who is battling left heel soreness, will be reevaluated on Friday, head coach Darvin Ham told reporters earlier this week (Twitter link via Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group). Vanderbilt hasn’t played since the team’s preseason opener on October 7.
The Kings still haven’t made a decision on whether to start Kevin Huerter or Chris Duarte on the wing in their regular season opener, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. However, a left knee injury for Duarte may give Huerter a leg up — Duarte has been diagnosed with a bone bruise and will miss the remainder of the preseason, as Anderson writes.
The non-guaranteed contract that swingman Javonte Green signed with the Warriors includes Exhibit 9 language, but not an Exhibit 10 clause, Hoops Rumors has learned. Green is one of three veterans on the roster – along with Rudy Gay and Rodney McGruder – whose camp contract isn’t an Exhibit 10 deal. That means those vets may not be candidates to join the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League if they don’t make Golden State’s regular season roster.

Pacific Notes: Warriors, Draymond, Kings, Clippers

April 29th, 2023 at 4:03pm CST by Rory Maher

It seemed as though the Warriors had all the momentum after winning three straight games to go ahead 3-2 in their first-round series against Sacramento, which made their Game 6 home loss Friday night all the more stunning, writes Tim Kawakami of The Athletic.

Kawakami calls the 19-point defeat Golden State’s “most disappointing” performance since the trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green started making the postseason in 2013. The locker room was understandably quiet and reflective afterward.

Still, the team remains confident it will be able to rebound and emerge victorious Sunday afternoon in Sacramento for Game 7.

“It’s up to us to go to Sacramento and do everything we did tonight — but opposite,” Thompson said. “And I know we will respond. I just know this team. I know these guys. I’ve played at the highest level with them and I know what we are capable of, and we will respond like the champions we are come Sunday.”

Here’s more from the Pacific:

It’s time for head coach Steve Kerr and the Warriors to re-insert Draymond Green into the starting lineup in place of the struggling Jordan Poole, argues Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area, who points to Green’s experience of winning in high-pressure situations and his defensive acumen as reasons why the change should take place.
The Kings made a “series-altering” adjustment in Game 6, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. They decided to go smaller and faster, with more shooting around De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk, who both had terrific games. They went away from Alex Len as backup center and used Trey Lyles at the five, with Terence Davis, Kevin Huerter and Keegan Murray receiving more playing time, while Harrison Barnes and Davion Mitchell played less. “We knew we could run them a little bit and we took advantage of that tonight,” Monk said. “I felt it a little bit more on them. They were a little tired. We’re younger than they are. So we knew we could take advantage of that. We’re going to try to do the same thing Sunday.”
Confirming a recent report from Mark Medina, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank says the Clippers will “continue to build around” Kawhi Leonard and Paul George despite their injury troubles, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN relays. “Kawhi’s a ceiling raiser,” Frank said. “When you study past NBA champions, they have a top-five guy on their team, and Kawhi has shown that when healthy he can be the best player in the world. Paul is an eight-time All-Star now. So we’re going to continue to build around those guys and look for every which way [to improve around them].”
Both Leonard and George are eligible for pricey contract extensions in the offseason, and the Clippers will discuss the matter with their star players when the time comes, per Youngmisuk. “Those guys are great players and they’re great partners and we want to keep them as Clippers for a long time,” Frank said. “And so we’ll look forward to those conversations. And the No. 1 goal is how can we build a sustainable championship team? And those guys have been great partners, so at the appropriate time, we look forward to sitting down with them.”

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