- Kings big man Richaun Holmes is suing the Sacramento Bee for defamation, according to Chris Haynes of TNT (Twitter link). The lawsuit alleges that The Bee, in a series of five articles, “intentionally, and maliciously, published claims of child and domestic abuse by Holmes despite easily accessible evidence to the contrary via public court filings.” Oddly, The Bee’s initial story on the domestic abuse accusations – which surfaced during a custody battle that Holmes eventually won – was presented as an opinion column rather than a news report.
Kings head coach Mike Brown and Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer have been named the league’s coaches of the month for February, the NBA has announced (Twitter link).
Led by All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday, Budenholzer’s Bucks are currently at the top of the Eastern Conference with a 45-17 record. Milwaukee is in the midst of a 16-game winning streak and enjoyed a spotless February, going 10-0.
Brown led Sacramento to an 8-4 record across the month. The team is currently on a four-game win streak, while top players De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis both played in this month’s All-Star Game.
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and Suns head coach Monty Williams were runners-up to Brown in the Western Conference, while Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau were also nominated in the East, the league added (via Twitter).
Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 KTXL tweets that Brown is the first Sacramento coach since Rick Adelman during the 2003/04 season to earn a Coach of the Month honor. Given that his 36-25 Kings club appeared poised to make its first return to the postseason in nearly that long, he certainly seems worthy of the award.
Veteran forward Zylan Cheatham, who has appeared in NBA games for the Jazz and Pelicans since 2019, will resume his playing career in the EuroLeague. According to reporting from BasketNews.com, German club Bayern Munich added Chatham to its roster ahead of today’s deadline for EuroLeague teams to register new players.
After going undrafted out of Arizona State in 2019, Cheatham began his professional career on a two-way contract with the Pelicans, spending his entire rookie season with the team, though he only appeared in four NBA games.
Cheatham was sent to Oklahoma City in a sign-and-trade for salary-matching purposes during the 2020 offseason in the deal that landed Steven Adams in New Orleans, but was waived by the Thunder a week later. Since then, he has primarily played in the G League, though he did sign 10-day contracts with Miami, Utah, and New Orleans last season.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The NBA has officially confirmed the dates for this year’s Las Vegas Summer League, announcing (via Twitter) that it will take place from July 7-17.
- Teams are beginning the vetting process of former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka, according to Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. Bulpett explores what teams want to know about Udoka and what steps he might have to take to land a new job following his year-long suspension and his subsequent exit from Boston.
- Suns forward Kevin Durant and Kings forward Harrison Barnes are among the former Olympic medalists who are part of USA Basketball’s Board of Directors. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press explores what that role entails, noting that Durant has sought to have real input on the program, rather than just having an honorary seat at the table.
- Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic polled a handful of players at All-Star weekend about what they’d change about the NBA and received some interesting responses, including Anthony Edwards criticizing the concept of load management (“Just play, man. If you 80 percent, you got to play. I don’t like all this sitting, missing games and stuff”) and Tyrese Haliburton advocating for the league to expand (“The talent in the world right now is amazing, so to add two more teams would be good for our league”).
With LeBron James expected to be sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Lakers need the version of Anthony Davis they got in the bubble in 2020, who can “single-handedly change games on the defensive end,” writes Chris Mannix of SI.com.
Although the Lakers lost in Memphis on Tuesday, they got Davis at his best in that game, according to Mannix, who points to the big man’s stat line (28 points, 19 rebounds, and five blocks) as one he’ll have to replicate a few more times if Los Angeles is going to move up the standings and clinch a play-in or playoff spot.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, Davis won’t be available in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night. As Mannix relays (via Twitter), the team announced today that Davis (right foot stress injury) will join James and D’Angelo Russell (right ankle sprain) on the sidelines, leaving L.A. shorthanded in a crucial game. The Thunder will be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols this week.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- The Lakers certainly aren’t throwing in the towel following James’ injury diagnosis. Head coach Darvin Ham said on Tuesday that the team remains focused on winning enough games to claim at least a play-in spot and ideally a top-six seed in the West. “The mission hasn’t changed for us, so the goal of securing a playoff spot is still very much alive,” Ham said, per Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group. “It’s unfortunate that ‘Bron went down, but injuries are a real part of our sport and it’s next man up. You got to step up and hold down the fort until he returns.”
- The Kings got good news on Tuesday night, as the MRI on De’Aaron Fox‘s sore left wrist revealed no significant damage, according to Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). Fox, who was out for Tuesday’s game, is day-to-day and Sacramento is optimistic that he won’t miss much – if any – more time.
- The Clippers have lost three consecutive games since the All-Star break and are still trying to figure out how to best use their recently added veterans, including point guard Russell Westbrook, writes Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. As Greif outlines, Eric Gordon, Norman Powell, and Terance Mann are among the players whose roles still need to be sorted out, and head coach Tyronn Lue will have to determine whether to continue starting Marcus Morris, who has struggled as of late and played just 21 minutes in Tuesday’s loss. “We definitely do feel that we have the deepest team,” Gordon said, “but … the chemistry has to be there.”
The new minimum-salary contracts signed by R.J. Hampton with the Pistons and PJ Dozier with the Kings are both two-year deals that are fully guaranteed for the rest of this season but don’t include any guaranteed money in year two, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter links).
The agreements will allow the Pistons and Kings to assess their new players’ fits for the rest of this season before making a decision in the summer on whether or not to retain them for another season.
Hampton’s 2023/24 salary with the Pistons (approximately $2MM) would become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through July 6, Hoops Rumors has learned. As for Dozier, he’d have to be waived by July 10 if the Kings want to avoid his full $2.4MM salary for next season becoming guaranteed.
- The Kings still believe KZ Okpala can be a defensive factor in his NBA career, but chose to waive him after determining that he needed knee surgery, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee reports in a subscriber-only story. Okpala, who appeared in 35 games after signing as a free agent, has been sidelined with bilateral knee soreness and is now expected to undergo season-ending surgery. The team consulted with multiple medical professionals to evaluate Okpala’s injury, Anderson adds.
7:55pm: The Kings have officially signed Dozier and waived Okpala, the team confirmed in a press release.
8:30am: The Kings will waive forward KZ Okpala and sign veteran wing PJ Dozier for the rest of the season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter links).
Okpala, who has been dealing with bilateral knee soreness, plans to undergo surgery that will end his season. The 23-year-old power forward has appeared in 35 games, averaging 1.3 points and 1.0 rebounds in 7.1 minutes per night, and hasn’t played since January 28.
After spending his first three seasons in Miami, Okpala signed a two-year deal with Sacramento last summer that carried a partial guarantee. His $1.9MM salary for this season became fully guaranteed when he remained on the roster through early January, and his $2MM salary for 2023/24 was non-guaranteed.
Dozier returns to the Kings after signing two 10-day contracts in January. He saw limited playing time in four games and wasn’t immediately re-signed when the second deal expired at the end of the month. The 26-year-old guard has also played for the Thunder, Celtics and Nuggets.
- Losing took a toll on De’Aaron Fox, who endured five consecutive sub-.500 seasons upon entering the NBA and saw the Kings‘ record-setting playoff drought reach 16 seasons. However, the team’s success this season has rejuvenated Fox, who admits that he’s “a lot happier,” per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Now, Fox and his teammates are determined to make sure that the Kings’ strong play this season isn’t a “one-off,” as he explained during the All-Star break. “It’s great that this is the first year that it happens, but we kind of want to make this an annual thing,” Fox said.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Tuesday that Quin Snyder, Kenny Atkinson, and Charles Lee will be among the Hawks‘ head coaching candidates as the team searches for a permanent replacement for Nate McMillan, who was let go during the All-Star break.
Shams Charania of The Athletic confirms those names and adds a few more to the Hawks’ list of possible targets, reporting (via Twitter) that Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez, Spurs assistant Mitch Johnson, and South Bay Lakers coach Miles Simon are expected to receive consideration from Atlanta.
Fernandez has generated some head coaching buzz in the past, but as far as I can tell, this is the first time either Johnson or Simon has been connected to a head coaching opening at the NBA level.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- McMillan took the fall for the Hawks‘ “organizational-wide failure” this season, according to Jeff Schultz of The Athletic, who argues that – even if McMillan’s dismissal was justified – the team’s problems extend beyond the job the head coach did. Schultz cites front office dysfunction as one key issue for the Hawks in recent months.
- Admiral Schofield‘s new contract with the Magic is a two-year, minimum-salary deal, Hoops Rumors has learned. Schofield will earn $506,508 for the rest of this season and Orlando will hold a $1,997,238 team option on the forward for 2023/24.
- Wizards forward Anthony Gill hasn’t played a major role in D.C. this season, averaging a modest 10.0 minutes per game in 41 appearances. However, Gill’s enthusiasm and positivity have made him an important culture-setter for the club, as Ava Wallace outlines in an interesting story for The Washington Post. Gill signed a guaranteed two-year, minimum-salary deal with the Wizards last summer, so he remains under contract for $2MM next season.
- De’Aaron Fox believes Sasha Vezenkov would fit right in with the Kings, Sacramento radio reporter Sean Cunningham tweets. “Obviously, we would love for him to come over and just add to our team. I feel like you can never have a team that’s too deep,” Fox said. Kings assistant coach Jay Triano visited Europe this week to scout the EuroLeague star, whose NBA rights are held by Sacramento. Domantas Sabonis also endorses bringing in Vezenkov, who is having a stellar season in Greece for Olympiacos, according to Eurohoops.net. “He’s a great player, very talented. He’s playing great in Europe with Olympiacos. They’re doing amazing in EuroLeague. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but we obviously would love to have him here,” Sabonis said.