Richaun Holmes Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Kings Notes: GM Search, Barnes, Holmes, Draft

August 29th, 2020 at 6:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Kings may have trouble attracting quality general manager candidates if interim executive VP of basketball operations Joe Dumars guides the franchise through this year’s draft and free agency, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.

Although the dates may be moved, the draft is currently set for October 16, with free agency getting under way two days later. There have been indications out of Sacramento that the search will be lengthy, and a new GM may not be in place in time. A source tells Anderson that potential candidates “don’t want ownership of those decisions” if they aren’t able to make them.

Anderson points out that the Kings gambled in 2015 when they hired Vlade Divac to run the team with no previous front office experience in the NBA. He doesn’t expect that to happen again, noting that the rumored candidates for the job include Knicks GM Scott Perry, Raptors GM Bobby Webster and a few others, all of whom come from winning organizations.

There’s more from Sacramento:

Harrison Barnes tells James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area that the players should accept responsibility for their disappointing performance in Orlando. The Kings went 3-5 in seeding games and extended their streak of missing the playoffs to 14 years. “It starts with personal responsibility, everyone looking in the mirror,” Barnes said. “I can speak for myself and say I got better every game that went on, but I wasn’t at my best in the first game. So you have to own that and move forward from there.”
Richaun Holmes didn’t get much notice when he signed with the Kings last summer, but he may have been this season’s MVP, suggests Tracee Jay of NBA.com. Holmes took over the starting center spot early in the year and wound up averaging 12.3 points and 8.1 rebounds, both career highs. He also led the team in win shares among players who appeared in at least 40 games and was second to De’Aaron Fox in PER. “The love they’ve shown, the way they’ve embraced me, it’s very special,” Holmes said of Sacramento fans. “I love playing here. I’m happy to be a part of this culture.”
Arizona’s Zeke Nnaji, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, has already interviewed with most of the league and will talk to the Kings next week, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News.

Pacific Notes: Zubac, Okobo, Len, Barnes, Holmes

July 27th, 2020 at 8:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Center Ivica Zubac, who has recovered from COVID-19, played 13 minutes in the Clippers’ third Orlando scrimmage on Monday and appears ready for the league restart, Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times writes. Zubac, who signed a four-year, $28.5MM contract last summer, contributed two points and six rebounds during his short stint.

“I don’t care how much you work out, a basketball game, an NBA basketball game is different and so you get winded,” Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said. “But I thought he did what Zub does, he clogged up the paint, he rolled for us, he did a lot of good things.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Suns guard Elie Okobo participated in practice on Monday, Gina Mizell tweets. Okobo’s arrival in Orlando was delayed due to undisclosed reasons. He has extra incentive to perform well in the restart, as his $1.66MM salary for next season is not guaranteed.
Kings center Alex Len‘s status for the team’s opening game at the Orlando campus remains uncertain, James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. Len rejoined the club approximately 10 days ago after he recovered from his own bout with COVID-19. He has yet to go through a full contact session, Ham adds.
Big man Richaun Holmes and forward Harrison Barnes participated in the Kings’ final scrimmage on Monday, Ham notes. Holmes, who had to serve a 10-day quarantine after violating league protocols, had six points and five rebounds in 18 minutes. Barnes, who overcame a battle with the coronavirus, finished with 12 points and six rebounds in 21 minutes.

Pacific Notes: Rubio, Suns, Holmes, Bagley

July 23rd, 2020 at 5:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday for the first time since entering the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus, Suns guard Ricky Rubio acknowledged that his delayed arrival was a result of testing positive for the coronavirus, according to Andrew Lopez of ESPN. As Lopez writes, Rubio said he’ll have to be careful about ramping back up to game speed after not just enduring a four-month hiatus but dealing with the virus as well.

“I’m good. I don’t have symptoms,” Rubio said. “Now that I’m back playing, after being out for three or four months, your legs feel it, your lungs feel it. That’s something I have to work on and figure out how to give my best to the team and focus on my health too.”

As Lopez relays, Rubio didn’t say when he first tested positive for COVID-19, but admitted that it was hard on him to have his family back in Spain while he dealt with the virus in Phoenix.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Suns officials said this week that the team’s new $45MM practice facility is on track to be completed by late August or early September, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The team had to use its old arena, the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, for individual workouts in the weeks leading up to the trip to Orlando as construction progressed on the new facility.
Kings center Richaun Holmes, who was subjected to a 10-day quarantine period at Walt Disney World after inadvertently crossing the campus line, explained his mistake to reporters on Wednesday. “Ordered some wings and went to grab the wings, but I really wasn’t too aware of the borders,” Holmes said, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. “I kind of knew what was going on, but the specific area I was in, I wasn’t aware. So, yeah, I stepped out and grabbed the food and came back, and they just let me know they wanted to be as safe as possible. They had to enforce the rules and I completely understand that, so I won’t make that mistake again.”
Despite an injury-plagued sophomore season for Marvin Bagley III, the Kings‘ support for the former No. 2 overall pick hasn’t wavered, Anderson writes in a separate Sacramento Bee story. “We know what kind of player he’s going to be,” head coach Luke Walton said of Bagley, who is out for the season with a foot injury. “He’s going to have a great career. And we’ve got to keep him healthy and he’s got to continue to work, which he’s proven to do since I’ve been here as far as every time that he’s gotten injured. So it’s going to be a big offseason, but I’m confident that he’ll attack that with everything he has.”
In case you missed it, we rounded up a series of updates on all five Pacific teams on Wednesday, and earlier today passed along word that Lakers forward Markieff Morris has cleared quarantine at the NBA’s Orlando campus.

Western Notes: G. Harris, Craig, Kings, Mitchell

July 21st, 2020 at 8:30pm CST by Luke Adams

The official Nuggets summer roster, announced on Monday by the NBA, features 17 names, the maximum allowed by the league. However, a number of those players didn’t arrive at the Orlando campus with the rest of the team earlier this month and have been slowly trickling in.

Two key players traveled to the campus on Sunday, as Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN details, with Gary Harris and Torrey Craig reporting for their quarantine period. Mike Singer of The Denver Post provided an update on Harris and Craig today, tweeting that they’ve now cleared their quarantine period. The two Nuggets didn’t practice today because they also must complete cardiac testing before being fully cleared.

With Harris and Craig nearly ready to start practicing, the Nuggets are a little closer to being whole, but that won’t happen in time for the team’s first inter-squad scrimmage on Wednesday. Earlier this week, head coach Mike Malone said that he expects to have only nine players available for that exhibition game (Twitter link via Chris Dempsey of Altitude Sports). Fans who tune in can expect to see some unusual lineups for Denver, including the possibility of Bol Bol at small forward.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

De’Aaron Fox, who is recovering from an ankle sprain, returned to practice for the Kings today and took part in non-contact drills, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Richaun Holmes also participated in his first practice since clearing his extended quarantine.
In addition to improving as a player, Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell also wants to improve as a teammate, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. As Walden relays, head coach Quin Snyder has been impressed by Mitchell’s development in both areas. “That maturation process has been going on,” Snyder said. “And some of it you guys don’t see as much. Some of it we see on the floor, some of it we see in the locker room, some of it we see during video (review). … There’s an awareness and a care factor there that has manifested itself in even more leadership.”
John Hollinger of The Athletic questions whether the Warriors really need to prioritize acquiring a center this offseason and explores how the Timberwolves might address their shooting guard and forward spots.

Kings’ Holmes Quarantining On Campus For Eight More Days

July 13th, 2020 at 3:41pm CST by Luke Adams

Kings center Richaun Holmes announced today on Twitter that he “briefly and accidentally crossed the NBA campus line” in order to pick up a food delivery following the initial quarantine period. As a result, Holmes is subject to a new 10-day quarantine period — he indicated in his statement that he has eight days left.

Holmes is the second player known to have violated the NBA’s campus protocols, joining Rockets forward Bruno Caboclo. Today’s report on Caboclo suggested that he left his room during the initial quarantine period, whereas it sounds like Holmes inadvertently left the campus. In each case, the player must quarantine for 10 more days before resuming basketball activities.

The Kings are scheduled to participate in their first inter-squad scrimmage on July 22 vs. the Heat. Holmes’ quarantine period will have just ended at that point, so he may not be ready to play right away. Presumably he’ll be good to go by the time Sacramento’s first seeding game takes place on July 31 vs. San Antonio.

While the Kings will be missing Holmes for the next eight days, they did get some good news on Sunday. Head coach Luke Walton told reporters – including Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link) – that Buddy Hield and Jabari Parker had reported to Walt Disney World and begun their quarantines. Both players previously tested positive for COVID-19 but were medically cleared to travel to Orlando.

Pacific Notes: Green, Oubre, Bagley, Lakers

June 19th, 2020 at 6:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lakers teammates Dwight Howard and Avery Bradley have expressed concerns about playing in the Orlando bubble during troubled times, but Danny Green believes that NBA players can make a stronger social statement by playing. Green made his comments in an interview with Caron Butler on the NBA’s Twitter account (hat tip to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps). “I think we can use the platform to our advantage and enhance it,” Green said. “I mean, I see both sides. … There are going to be cameras all over Orlando, so they can see exactly what we want and what we’re trying to do. So I think it’s an advantage to us to get down there and use that platform to keep the movement alive.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

Although he’s not expected to be healthy enough to participate, Suns forward Kelly Oubre is grateful his team was given the opportunity to play again this season, as he told Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype. He believes it will be beneficial for the club’s development. “We have to continue to get better each and every day,” he said. “We haven’t done anything yet. So our main goal should be to just lock in and just continue to just focus on getting better and coming back next year, better than ever.”
The Kings will likely go smaller in their starting lineup with Richaun Holmes at center and Harrison Barnes playing power forward, according to Jason Jones of The Athletic. In that scenario, Marvin Bagley III — the second overall pick in the 2018 draft — would come off the bench. Coach Luke Walton could also employ some three-guard looks in Orlando with De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic on the court at the same time.
The Lakers have hired Dr. Karida Brown as Director of Racial Equity & Action, according to a team press release. Dr. Brown will create a curriculum to help the Lakers staff enrich their knowledge on urgent topics, as well as helping to identify ways the team can be more active and efficient in creating change.

Richaun Holmes Wants Long Future In Sacramento

April 15th, 2020 at 6:56pm CST by Arthur Hill

Richaun Holmes has been a bargain since signing a two-year, $10MM deal with the Kings last summer and he hopes to remain with the team long after that contract expires, relays James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area. Holmes talked about his future during a recent appearance on the Purple Talk podcast.

“I absolutely love Sacramento,” he said. “This community, this city, these fans — have shown me, in my short time here, that I really couldn’t see myself playing anywhere else. I would love to play here the rest of my career. I love to play in front of these fans, be a part of this community — this is a great place to be and I’d love just to be a part of it.”

Holmes seemed headed to a backup role in Sacramento after the team invested $39MM over three years in fellow center Dewayne Dedmon. However, Holmes seized the starting job after four games and played well enough to convince the Kings to trade Dedmon to Atlanta in February.

Holmes, 26, spent three years with the Sixers and one with the Suns before his break-out season. His minutes have increased to 28.8 per game since joining the Kings and he’s posting career highs with 12.8 PPG and 8.3 RPG.

He has also formed a bond with the Sacramento community that included joining a few teammates to pass out meals to more than 1,000 people in need earlier this week. In addition, Holmes’ parents have become social media stars in the area, with celebrations on Instagram after every Kings victory.

“As soon as I got here, it felt like a perfect fit,” Holmes said. “From the team, to the fans, to the community, everybody shows love.”

Pacific Notes: James, Holmes, Mulder, Davis

March 10th, 2020 at 9:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Kings rookie guard Justin James received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection on Tuesday to treat patellar tendinitis in his right knee, according to a team press release. An update regarding his status will be provided in 1-2 weeks. A second-round pick out of Wyoming, James has appeared in 34 NBA games, averaging 2.5 PPG in 6.4 MPG. His most recent appearance was a two-minute stint on Saturday.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

With the return of Richaun Holmes from a shoulder injury, the Kings now have three viable options to center, Akis Yerocostas of the Sacramento Bee points out. Harry Giles and Alex Len performed well in his absence and have also earned playing time. It’s likely Holmes will see the majority of the minutes barring injury or foul trouble, Yerocostas continues, with Len and Giles splitting the bench minutes depending upon whether the Kings need more size and defense (Len) or more offense (Giles).
The Warriors used a remaining portion of their mid-level exception to sign shooting guard Mychal Mulder to a three-year contract, John Hollinger of The Athletic tweets. The last two years of the contract are not fully guaranteed. Mulder will receive a partial guarantee of $200K if he’s on the opening-night roster next season, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. His contract for the 2021/22 campaign has no guarantees. Golden State is now $310K below the luxury-tax line, Marks adds.
Lakers star forward Anthony Davis has struck a balance between basketball and new business ventures, as Mark Medina of USA Today details. Thus far, his off-court ventures haven’t been a distraction. “For the most part,” Davis said, “I’m focusing on playing and doing great things.”

Injury Notes: Doncic, Isaac, Holmes, Bowman

March 1st, 2020 at 5:07pm CST by Luke Adams

While Mavericks guard Luka Doncic seems to be over the ankle issues that bothered him earlier in the season, he’s missing Sunday’s game vs. Minnesota with a new injury — a left thumb sprain. Doncic played through the injury on Friday, but struggled to work around it, per an ESPN report.

“I didn’t know how important the thumb was to hold the ball,” Doncic said on Friday. “It was tough. … I wasn’t myself today. Just have to learn from that and move on.”

Head coach Rick Carlisle said that he’s not sure about Doncic’s status for Monday’s game against Chicago.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

Although Jonathan Isaac has started doing some rehab work with the Magic, there’s only an outside chance of him playing this spring, according to John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com, who says that Isaac’s knee injury is still expected to keep him on the sidelines for the rest of the season.
Kings center Richaun Holmes, who hasn’t played since January 6 due to a shoulder injury, is getting closer to being able to take full contact, and hopes to resume practicing with the team this week, the team announced today in a press release.
Warriors guard Ky Bowman, who is currently on the shelf with a sprained right ankle, will be monitored for the next few days before the team provides another update, per a press release.
It’s not an injury, but Mavericks center Willie Cauley-Stein is missing his fourth consecutive game for personal reasons today. According to Dwain Price of Mavs.com (Twitter link), Rick Carlisle expects the big man to return to Dallas’ active roster on Monday. “We’ll try to get him prepared to play some minutes if needed tomorrow,” the Mavs’ head coach said of Cauley-Stein.

Injury Updates: Lillard, Powell, Holmes, Herro, More

February 26th, 2020 at 11:35am CST by Luke Adams

Having already missed the three games since the All-Star break, Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard is expected to be sidelined for “a couple more,” a source tells Jason Quick of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, Lillard will make the three-game road trip to Indiana, Atlanta, and Orlando, Quick notes. Although we haven’t heard an official update from the Blazers, it sounds like there’s a chance Lillard could be back in the lineup by Monday when Portland faces the Magic.

Here are several more injury-related updates from around the NBA:

Raptors swingman Norman Powell, sidelined for nearly a month with a broken finger, is scheduled for a check-up in about a week, head coach Nick Nurse said on Tuesday evening (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of The Athletic).
Kings center Richaun Holmes (shoulder) has yet to practice and there’s still no timetable for his return, per head coach Luke Walton (Twitter link via James Ham of NBC Sports California).
There’s still no set return timetable for injured Heat players Tyler Herro (foot) or Meyers Leonard (ankle), writes Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Miami has been without both players for the last eight games, going 2-6 during that stretch.
Pelicans forward Kenrich Williams recently received an injection to treat pain and inflammation in his back, according to the team. Williams, who hasn’t played since January 6, is making “good progress” and is expected to be re-evaluated before the end of the week.