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Western Notes: Fox, Schröder, Suns, Cauley-Stein

July 22nd, 2020 at 8:01pm CST by Jovan Alford

On Wednesday, the Kings gave us an update on De’Aaron Fox, who suffered a left ankle sprain last week. The Kings said that the former first-round pick has returned to the court and is doing non-contact basketball activities.

That being said, Fox is not available for the team’s first scrimmage against the Heat. However, head coach Luke Walton told reporters that they are optimistic will be available for the team’s opener on Jul. 31 against the Spurs (Twitter link via James Ham of NBC Sports California).

This season, the former Kentucky Wildcat standout is averaging 20.4 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 6.8 APG, and 1.4 SPG in 31.7 MPG.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

  • Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Thunder general manager Sam Presti explained why he believes Dennis Schröder is worthy of winning Sixth Man of the Year. “I think he’s playing the best basketball of his career,” Presti said (via Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman). “He’s all about trying to do what’s right for the team right now, and he’s just an elite competitor. I’m happy that he’s playing so well, and I hope he does get recognized for it.” This season, the veteran guard is averaging 19 PPG while shooting 38.1% from three-point range.
  • The Suns announced on Wednesday that point guards Elie Okobo and Jalen Lecque are not in Orlando due to personal reasons, per Gina Mizell (Twitter link). However, both players are expected to arrive at a later date. With Ricky Rubio clearing quarantine, both Okobo and Lecque will not see major minutes for Phoenix.
  • According to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, Willie Cauley-Stein signed with Young Money APAA Sports, an agency based in Dallas, Texas. The 26-year-old is not with the Mavericks in Orlando due to the birth of his daughter this month. Dallas acquired the young center in February from the Warriors.
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Bjelica Ready To Step Up With Bagley Out

July 22nd, 2020 at 12:21pm CST by Luke Adams
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Kings Notes: Fox, Holmes, Bagley

July 21st, 2020 at 8:30pm CST by Luke Adams
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Marvin Bagley III Ruled Out For Season Restart

July 21st, 2020 at 8:04pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Kings big man Marvin Bagley III has officially been ruled out for the NBA’s season restart due to a lateral sprain in his right foot following an MRI on Sunday evening, according to Sam Amick and Shams Charania of the Athletic (Twitter link). He is expected to be in a walking boot for the next two weeks, Charania tweets.

A press release from the team indicates that Bagley suffered the injury in a team scrimmage on Sunday (h/t to James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area who first tweeted the announcement).

Bagley, the No. 2 pick in a loaded 2018 draft that has already yielded two All-Stars, posted 2019/20 season averages of 14.2 PPG and 7.5 RPG across just 13 games in 25.7 MPG. He also missed 20 games during his 2018/19 rookie season.

Bagley had previously missed most of his second season as a result of a left foot sprain and a thumb injury. This right foot sprain is a new injury. In addition to this being a long-term situation to monitor for the 6’11” Duke alum, this also spells bad short-term news for the Kings. Teams can only replace players afflicted with COVID-19 when on the Disney World campus, not players who get injured on-site.

Bagley is not the only current absent player for the Kings. Forward Harrison Barnes has yet to report to the NBA’s campus after contracting the coronavirus earlier this month. Starting point guard De’Aaron Fox returned to non-contact drills with the team today as he continues to recover from a less severe ankle injury.

At  28-36, the team is the eleventh seed in the Western Conference and was thus already a long shot to make the playoffs even before these absences.

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Barnes Close To Being Cleared; Parker, Len Talk COVID-19 Experience

July 21st, 2020 at 9:32am CST by Luke Adams

Meanwhile, Kings forward Harrison Barnes, who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month, could depart for Orlando as soon as today if he returns one more negative coronavirus test, Spears reports (via Twitter).

  • Kings forward Jabari Parker and center Alex Len spoke to reporters on Monday about their experiences with COVID-19, as Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee details. Len, who said he temporarily lost his sense of smell and taste while dealing with the virus, tested positive for 24 consecutive days before eventually returning multiple negative tests and being cleared.
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Kings Await MRI Results On Bagley Foot Injury

July 20th, 2020 at 1:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Kings forward/center Marvin Bagley III underwent an MRI on Sunday night after suffering a right foot injury during practice, the team announced today in a press release. Sacramento is awaiting the results of that MRI.

It’s possible the injury won’t be a significant one, but if it forces Bagley to miss some time, it’ll be a tough break for both the team and the former No. 2 overall pick.

The Kings have already been affected by some bad luck in recent weeks, as four of their players – Buddy Hield, Jabari Parker, Alex Len, and Harrison Barnes – have tested positive for the coronavirus. De’Aaron Fox also suffered a sprained ankle, while Richaun Holmes was subjected to a 10-day quarantine period at Walt Disney World after accidentally crossing the NBA’s campus line.

Hield and Parker have since returned to practice, Len has cleared his quarantine period (per Jason Jones of The Athletic), and Holmes is close to doing so. Additionally, Fox’s ankle injury doesn’t appear serious. Still, the Kings haven’t had a full roster since reporting to Disney earlier in the month.

As for Bagley, he missed most of his sophomore NBA season with a foot injury, appearing in just 13 games this season. The hope was that he’d be back to full health and ready to contribute this summer, but that’s now up in the air. For what it’s worth, Bagley was sidelined for much of the season by a left foot ailment, so this is a new injury.

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Kings Hope They Don't Have To Replace Barnes

July 17th, 2020 at 8:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder
  • Kings center Alex Len has posted negative tests for the coronavirus and will rejoin the team on Friday evening, head coach Luke Walton told James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area and other media members. Len, among a couple of other prominent team members, tested positive for the virus in late June. Len will go into quarantine upon arrival in Orlando and Walton is unsure about the big man’s conditioning.
  • Walton is in no rush to replace Harrison Barnes on the roster, The Athletic’s Jason Jones tweets. Barnes revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 just before the team headed to Orlando. The Kings don’t want to replace Barnes on the roster just yet, even if he has to miss a game, Jones adds.
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Kings Rookies Looking To Prove Mettle In Restart

July 17th, 2020 at 5:11pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum
  • With several Kings players currently unavailable, rookies Justin James, Kyle Guy and DaQuan Jeffries will be able to use team practices and scrimmages in Disney World as an opportunity to prove their mettle, according to The Athletic’s Jason Jones. Sacramento head coach Luke Walton noted that the young players are “getting crucial reps in practice and most likely, at least in the preseason (scrimmage) games, they’ll be getting some meaningful minutes as well.”
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Kings Notes: Fox, Len, Barnes

July 16th, 2020 at 6:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Kings head coach Luke Walton referred to De’Aaron Fox‘s ankle sprain as “mild to moderate,” as James Ham of NBC Sports California writes. While Walton insisted that the team will be “cautious” with its star point guard, he also expressed optimism that Fox won’t necessarily require a lengthy absence.

“We’re hopeful that because he’s healed fast in the past, he’ll do it again, but it’s something that we’re definitely not going to rush him back,” Walton said.

Fox suffered a more serious (Grade 3) ankle sprain earlier in the 2019/20 season and was able to return ahead of schedule, missing just five weeks, Ham notes. A similar injury this time around would have put his summer availability in jeopardy, but it sounds as if the club thinks Fox should be available for some – if not all – of Sacramento’s eight seeding games, as Mark Medina of USA Today tweets.

Here’s more on the Kings:

  • In the wake of Fox’s ankle sprain, Sean Deveney of Forbes took a look at the point guard’s longer-term future in Sacramento, suggesting that the former No. 5 overall pick has a very good chance to become the highest-paid player in team history. “No doubt you are going to pay Fox,” one general manager told Deveney. “Who else are you going to get to come to Sacramento? You have to pay him, overpay him, because it’ll be tough to bring in free agents. If you can sign him, no matter the cost, if you’re the Kings, you do it. I think he gets a max offer from them and he takes it. Simple.”
  • Kings center Alex Len, having been medically cleared after contracting COVID-19 last month, is flying to Orlando on Thursday night and will enter quarantine upon arriving at the Walt Disney World campus, Walton told reporters today (Twitter link via Sean Cunningham of ABC10).
  • Once Len arrives, three of the four Kings known to have tested positive for the coronavirus will be at Disney, with Buddy Hield and Jabari Parker already there. However, there’s no update yet on Harrison Barnes, who announced his positive test earlier this week and remains quarantined in Sacramento, per James Ham of NBC Sports California.
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Pacific Notes: Bagley, Clippers, Lakers, Morris

July 15th, 2020 at 8:06pm CST by Jovan Alford

The Kings were one of 22 teams chosen to play in the NBA’s restart, which begins in a couple of weeks in Orlando, Florida. The Kings are currently 3.5 games behind Memphis for the eighth seed and could make the playoffs if they can play how they did before the season was suspended.

That will hinge not only on how De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield play, but also how Kings head coach Luke Walton utilizes second-year big man Marvin Bagley. This past weekend, Walton was asked about where does the former Duke standout fit on the court and responded by saying that Bagley is a position-less player.

“We see Marvin as a player that, down the road, is going to be pretty much a position-less type of basketball player,” Walton said. “For now, and getting him back, we got him getting most of his reps at the five and the four.”

Richard Ivanowski of The Sacramento Bee disagrees with Walton’s assessment and opines that Bagley should be considered a center or big man. Ivanowski points out that the former second overall pick struggles to shoot from three-point range (28.8%) and is not someone who can initiate the offense. Instead, Bagley is better around the rim and is an adequate defensive rebounder.

Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:

  • Clippers guard Terance Mann, who is the team’s NBPA rep, told reporters on Tuesday that the players’ decision to play was “a pretty long process,” per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk (Twitter link). The Clippers, who will be back in action on July 30 against the Lakers, had several Zoom conversations about the restart before deciding to participate, Mann said.
  • Mann also told reporters that he is back to full contact after undergoing hand surgery in March, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic (Twitter link).
  • Anthony Slater and John Hollinger of The Athletic discussed the current state of the Lakers and where they’ll go from here. The Athletic duo talked about how Los Angeles did in free agency last summer, what to do with Kyle Kuzma (who is eligible for an extension this offseason), and Anthony Davis‘ future.
  • According to Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register (Twitter link), veteran forward Markieff Morris, who has an excused absence, is expected to join the Lakers soon in Disney World.
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