Kings guard Buddy Hield, who signed a four-year extension worth up to $106MM last month, had been in somewhat of a shooting slump prior to his 41-point eruption on Monday, Jason Jones of The Athletic notes. Hield was averaging 19.0 PPG on 40.9 percent shooting overall and 37.7 percent from deep before he drained 11 3-pointers against the Celtics. Last season, Hield averaged 20.7 PPG on 45.8 percent shooting and 42.7 percent from 3. Hield wasn’t worried about the dip in numbers and with good reason.
Second-round pick Justin James made an impression Friday with 14 points, three rebounds and three assists in his first significant playing time of the season. Before that, the Kings guard was mostly known for his non-stop chatter, writes Jason Jones of The Athletic.
James is talkative and opinionated, something that has been evident since the start of training camp. It’s his way of showing that he belongs in the league, and his teammates have noticed.
“He has that ‘it’ factor — he’s not shy,” Buddy Hield said. “From Day 1 when he first came in, he was not too shy to talk back, shy to voice his opinion … but he means well, and that comes from being confident.”
Sacramento took James with the 40th pick in June, and some draft experts were surprised he was selected at all. However, a series of injuries has provided him with an opportunity, and he played 33 minutes against Brooklyn after getting just 15 total minutes before that game.
“Every practice, he never shuts up, really,” coach Luke Walton said. “I think because of that, he knows the offense, he knows the play calls. There was one play out there he was directing veterans out there where to go. I think he knows what an amazing opportunity this is for him, and he’s doing everything in his power to make it work. He made a nice case for himself.”
There’s more from Sacramento:
- The Kings haven’t given up on Harry Giles, even though they decided not to pick up the fourth year of his rookie scale contract last month, according to James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area. Giles, who has been plagued by injuries since high school, provides another dimension with his ability to run the offense through the high post. Knee soreness caused him to miss all of training camp and the first eight games of the season.
- Proposed changes to the NBA’s playoff format could have helped the Kings reach the postseason last year, Ham notes in a separate story. The play-in system that the league is considering would have matched the Kings and Lakers in a one-game format to take on the loser between the Spurs and Clippers for the eighth seed.
- The Kings passed on Luka Doncic in last year’s draft in part because general manager Vlade Divac doesn’t like Doncic’s father, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon claimed on a podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski (hat tip to Jesse Reed of Sportsnaut). “My understanding is that him (Divac) being so close to Luka and knowing his dad so well factored into their decision,” MacMahon said. “Basically he didn’t think a whole lot of Luka’s dad, and the whole like father like son … well … no, this is a different dude. You messed that one up, Vlade.”
Over at The Ringer, Kevin O’Connor tries to identify a few teams that might match up with the Cavaliers in a Love trade, writing that rival team executives believe GM Koby Altman is “just posturing” when he insists Cleveland has zero interest in moving the five-time All-Star. However, O’Connor has a tough time finding ideal fits, listing the Kings, Spurs, Heat, Trail Blazers, and Rockets as some teams that might work in theory.
- Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer believes the departure of Malcolm Brogdon is a shadow hanging over the Bucks‘ season and advises Milwaukee to consider Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanovic as a potential trade target to help fill that void.
Memphis center James Wiseman lost several games of his college career because of the aggressive stance that he and the university took with the NCAA, writes Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News. The potential top pick in next year’s draft has been suspended for an additional 11 games and won’t take the court until mid-January, although the university plans to file an appeal.
DeCourcy states that Wiseman likely could have been playing before Christmas if he hadn’t elected to challenge the NCAA’s authority in the case. When the original penalty was announced, Wiseman filed a lawsuit against the organization and obtained a restraining order that enabled him to play against UIC and Oregon. Memphis president David Rudd and athletic director Laird Veatch were both vocal in their support of Wiseman’s suit, with Veatch saying, “It is clear to me in my short time here that Memphians will stand up and fight, both for each other and for what is right, and I am proud to stand with them.”
Wiseman’s suspension will total 12 games — nine for the amount of money that Tigers coach Penny Hardaway gave his family for moving expenses, and three more to cover the games he has played. In addition, Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated is reporting that the NCAA has threatened a major infractions case against Memphis.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated identifies five freshmen who have put themselves into consideration for one-and-done status with their early-season play. The players are Isaac Okoro of Auburn, Samuell Williamson of Louisville, Onyeka Okongwu of USC, Jahmi’us Ramsey of Texas Tech and Zeke Nnaji of Arizona. Woo adds that NBA executives still see the 2020 draft class as underwhelming.
- The presence of potential lottery picks LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton has lifted Australia’s National Basketball League to a new level of popularity, relays Bill Shea of The Athletic. With its Next Stars program, the NBL is offering an alternative to the NCAA for young players.
- In an entertaining story, Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN examines how former Kings chief revenue officer Jeff David was able to embezzle $13MM before being caught.
While Marvin Bagley III will travel with the Kings on their upcoming four-game East Coast road trip, he won’t play in any of those four games, the club announced today (via Twitter).
According to the Kings, Bagley was re-evaluated today, and while he continues to make progress in his recovery from a broken right thumb, he’s still at least a week away from returning. He’ll be re-evaluated after the Kings return to Sacramento following a road trip that will take the team to Brooklyn, Washington, Boston, and Philadelphia.
Based on the Kings’ announcement, Bagley’s earliest possible return date would be Saturday, November 30, when Sacramento hosts the Nuggets.
In the meantime, Sacramento will continue to roll out a starting lineup that features Richaun Holmes and Nemanja Bjelica in the frontcourt. As we noted in our roundup of Kings notes earlier this afternoon, that duo has been effective for the club lately, helping key a stretch of six wins in eight games. The Kings, who have been without Bagley since opening night and are missing De’Aaron Fox as well, are just one game back of the No. 8 seed in the West.
Kings big man Marvin Bagley III is ramping up his individual workouts and is close to returning from the broken thumb that has sidelined him since opening night, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Bagley, who will be re-evaluated on Wednesday, will join the club on its four-game East Coast road trip that begins Friday, but head coach Luke Walton still has to figure out how he’ll use the former No. 2 overall pick once he’s back.
As Anderson details, the Kings have won six of their last eight games with Nemanja Bjelica and Richaun Holmes in the starting lineup. The duo has been effective over the last couple weeks, so Walton will have to decide whether to reinsert Bagley into the starting five or to roll with what his been working, perhaps bringing the second-year big man off the bench.
“We’re going to get him back into practice and see how things are going, try groupings and all the things you mentioned,” Walton said. “But there’s no answer to any of that right now.”
Here’s more on the Kings:
- After the Kings splurged in free agency over the summer on Harrison Barnes, Cory Joseph, Dewayne Dedmon, and Trevor Ariza, their modest two-year, $9.8MM deal with Richaun Holmes was almost an afterthought. But Holmes has been a key part of the club’s early-season success, as Sean Deveney of Forbes.com outlines. “Every time I coached against him, he’s killed us,” Walton said of the journeyman center. “But he’s never really played major minutes, at least from what I’ve seen. So we were excited to get him. … He has been as solid and steady as anyone we’ve had on our team.”
- Kings shooting guard Buddy Hield was fined $25K by the NBA this week for kicking the game ball into the stands at the end of the team’s win over Boston, as Sean Cunningham of ABC10 Sacramento tweets (video link). Hield later joked on Twitter that he should’ve kicked it harder to get his money’s worth.
- In case you missed it earlier today, Kings assistant Igor Kokoskov was named the new head coach of the Serbian National Team. He’ll likely coach Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica, and a handful of other NBA players as Serbia looks to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.
Former Suns head coach and current Kings assistant Igor Kokoskov has been named the new head coach of the Serbian National Team, according to a press release. The move will put Kokoskov in position to coach Team Serbia next summer as the program attempts to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.
Marc Stein of The New York Times, who reported the impending hiring of Kokoskov on Tuesday night, tweets that the Serbian program received permission from the Kings this week to hire the veteran assistant. Kokoskov will succeed Sasha Djordjevic, who resigned in September following the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
Entering the World Cup this fall, Serbia was viewed as the most dangerous challenger to the United States, led by star center Nikola Jokic. However, Team Serbia had a disappointing showing, failing to claim a medal or a spot for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. One of the four Olympic qualifying tournaments next June will be held in Belgrade, so Kokoskov will need to lead the program to victory in that tournament to secure an Olympic berth.
A native of Serbia, Kokoskov previously coached the Slovenian National Team, leading that club to a 2017 EuroBasket victory over Serbia. He was also the head coach of the Georgian National Team from 2008-15.
More recently, Kokoskov became the NBA’s first European-born head coach when he was hired by the Suns in 2018/19. However, he lasted just a single season in Phoenix before being replaced by Monty Williams. After interviewing for the Grizzlies’ head coaching vacancy this spring, Kokoskov ultimately landed in Sacramento on Luke Walton‘s staff.
- Like Milwaukee, the Kings recalled rookies Wenyen Gabriel and Justin James just one day after sending them both down to the team’s G League affiliate for a game (Twitter link). The Stockton Kings beat the Sioux Falls Skyforce yesterday, with Gabriel scoring 20 points and James adding 17.
- The Kings initially assigned third-year power forward Caleb Swanigan and rookies Wenyen Gabriel, Justin James and to the team’s NBA G League affiliate, the Stockton Kings, according to a team press release. ABC10 Sacramento reporter Sean Cunningham tweets that Swanigan was initially going to suit up for Stockton tonight, but due to an injured ankle was recalled back to Sacramento instead (Twitter link). Gabriel and James aren’t in Sacramento’s rotation but will get a chance to play in Stockton tonight.
Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox suffered a significant left ankle sprain in practice on Monday and will be re-evaluated in three-to-four weeks, Zach Lowe of ESPN tweets.
The injury occurred when a teammate stepped on the dynamic guard’s foot, Lowe adds in another tweet. He has a Grade 3 sprain, which is a full tear of the ankle ligament.
Fox was averaging 18.2 PPG and 7.0 APG this season following a breakout year in which he averaged 17.3 PPG and 7.3 APG while starting 81 games.
The injury is a major blow for a team that entered the season with playoff aspirations. The Kings stumbled out of the gate, losing six of their first eight games, before defeating Atlanta on Friday. They’ll play their first game without their floor leader against the Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
Fortunately for the Kings, they have some experienced depth behind Fox. Cory Joseph has been the primary backup and figures to slot into the starting lineup. Yogi Ferrell should see his role expand after appearing in just five of the first nine games.