- After missing Friday’s game with a left adductor strain, Lakers star LeBron James has been upgraded slightly for Sunday but still remains doubtful, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN. With James sidelined, coach Darvin Ham said “self-inflicted mistakes” cost L.A. in a loss to the Kings, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic. The Lakers committed numerous turnovers and defensive mistakes in the closing minutes of both halves. “We’ve just got to get some wins, especially in the West,” Anthony Davis said. “Every team is good. Got a lot of basketball left but we dug ourselves a hole. So we’ve got to put some wins together, got to start winning — ASAP. Try to stay positive, obviously. The energy around our locker room feels like 2-10, as it should. But we’ve got to start putting wins together immediately.”
- Malik Monk, who left the Lakers for the Kings in free agency, has been a good fit in Sacramento, according to Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group. L.A. wasn’t able to offer Monk more than the taxpayer mid-level exception, so he signed with the Kings for $9.5MM. “People probably may not look at him like this because he’s so young, and he’s bounced around as a young guy, but he knows how to lead,” coach Mike Brown said. “He uplifts the group. He’s fun-loving. He’s always messing with somebody, and guys really, really enjoy that, and you need that when you’re together as much as we are.”
The Powerball lottery jackpot grew to a world record $1.9 billion on Monday. Coincidentally, four of the five NBA teams with the top picks in the June draft faced each other.
The Magic and top pick Paolo Banchero were matched up against the Rockets and No. 3 pick Jabari Smith. The Thunder, who won’t have No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren available until next season, played against the Pistons and No. 5 pick Jaden Ivey.
The Kings, who drafted Keegan Murray at No. 4, had a much different test facing the defending champion but struggling Warriors.
A few of those teams have habitually participated in the lottery. Orlando has finished 11th or worse in the Eastern Conference in eight of the past 10 seasons. Detroit hasn’t won a playoff game since 2008. Sacramento, of course, has gone 16 seasons without a postseason visit.
Oklahoma City got eliminated in the first round four straight years before going into a full rebuild. The Thunder have seemingly have stockpiled more draft picks than wins since the 2020/21 season. Houston has taken a similar approach.
How have these teams looked so far this season? Let’s break it down:
- Magic — Banchero has lived up to his status, averaging 22.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists. It hasn’t translated into victories, as Orlando headed into Monday’s game with a 2-8 record.
- Rockets — Last year’s No. 2 pick, Jalen Green, is averaging 19.5 points while Smith has posted averages of 10.8 points and 6.1 rebounds. They had only one win in their first 10 outings.
- Thunder — With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander playing at an All-Star level (30.5 points, 5.9 assists), they headed into Detroit with a 4-5 record. Last year’s lottery selection, Josh Giddey, ranks second on the club in scoring (13.5).
- Kings — Murray is averaging 13.9 points but, not surprisingly, De’Aaron Fox leads the team in scoring (26.3) and assists (4.6). Sacramento lost its first four games but has rebounded to win three of its last four outings.
- Pistons — Ivey has scored in double digits in all but one game while averaging 15 points. Last year’s top pick, Cade Cunningham, is averaging 21.4 points and 6.3 assists. Yet wins have been scarce, as they entered the week with a 2-8 record.
That brings us to today’s question: Among the five teams with the highest lottery picks in the June draft — the Magic, Thunder, Rockets, Kings and Pistons — which franchise has the brightest future and is closest to becoming a perennial playoff team?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
New starting Suns power forward Cameron Johnson is undergoing a positive on-court evolution in accordance with his new gig, reports Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports.
“Getting more used to that on a night-in, night-out basis, and also finishing the game, man, that’s something that I love doing,” Johnson said of his adjustment to the new responsibilities of the role. “Being in there and being part of that critical thinking on top of high-level basketball portion of the game, it’s a lot of fun.”
Through seven contests for the West’s top-seeded 6-1 Suns, the 6’8″ Phoenix forward is averaging a career-best 14.9 PPG on .457/.440/.727 shooting splits, along with 3.9 RPG, 1.9 APG, and 1.3 SPG.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- Clippers star forward Kawhi Leonard only lasted two regular season games before knee issues flared up. L.A. head coach Tyronn Lue has provided a minor update on the state of the five-time All-Star’s health, noting that Leonard is “doing better and moving in a positive direction,” per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link). Youngmisuk adds that Leonard will sit out the team’s upcoming two Texas road games. In his two healthy games for the Clippers, Leonard has played limited minutes as a reserve, averaging just 21 MPG.
- New Kings shooting guard Kevin Huerter has thus far managed to thrive with Sacramento following an offseason trade from Atlanta, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “My role has the potential to expand a little bit more here,” Huerter said. “Just the way we’re built, the personnel, a lot of that has to do with (Sacramento center Domantas Sabonis), playing through a five man.” The 6’7″ swingman is averaging 18.9 PPG, with a slash line of .506/.518/.789. He is also chipping in 3.9 APG, 2.9 RPG, and 0.6 SPG.
- While wondering whether Warriors star power forward Draymond Green would be as special in another team’s system as he has been in an 11-season partnership with Golden State that has yielded four NBA titles, Zach Lowe of ESPN reports that the team has yet to discuss any potential deals for the 32-year-old big man, and at present does not intend to explore trades that would send him out of town. Green, who has a $27.6MM player option for the 2023/24 season, punched teammate Jordan Poole in the face during a practice altercation, and had to spend a portion of the club’s preseason away from the other Warriors. The team opted to extend the contracts of Poole and starting small forward Andrew Wiggins ahead of the 2022/23 season, but did not do so with Green.
Kings guard De’Aaron Fox will miss Wednesday’s game against Miami but an MRI on his ailing right knee provided relief for the team. It showed a bone bruise but no structural damage and the club is hopeful he’ll return to action soon, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. Fox departed after just nine minutes against Charlotte on Monday. He’s averaging 24.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.8 assists this season.
The Heat are happy that KZ Okpala has found a new home in Sacramento, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel writes.
Okpala was traded by Miami to Oklahoma City last season. The Thunder then waived him. Okpala signed with the Kings in September and earned a spot on the regular season roster.
“We’re rooting for him,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “because he really put in a lot of time with us and we saw improvement, and that’s a tough thing to do in this league is to carve out a niche, where you can see a vision of where you can make an impact. You also have to have the right fit and a coaching staff that values what you bring, and that’s clearly what he has there with (Mike Brown).”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Could the Lakers’ win over Denver on Sunday be a turning point for the season? First-year coach Darvin Ham certainly hopes so, Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes. “We needed to prove something to ourselves,” Ham said. “Not to the world. Not to the media. We had to prove it to ourselves — and I felt great about how we responded.”
- The Clippers enter their game against Houston on Monday with a 2-4 record. They were very displeased with their effort in a 21-point loss to New Orleans in their previous game, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “Right now, I think we are just showing up,” forward Marcus Morris said. “And thinking we can win because of the talent we have, because of all the things we have on this team. That’s just not the case.”
- Jae Crowder remains away from the Suns as the veteran forward awaits a trade. Crowder posted a hopeful message on his Twitter page that the situation will be resolved soon. “YEA NO WORRIES STAY PATIENT COMING SOON I PROMISE!” he wrote.
For the first time since Forbes began issuing annual valuations of NBA teams over two decades ago, a team other than the Knicks or Lakers ranks atop the publication’s list of 2022’s most valuable franchises.
According to Mike Ozanian and Justin Teitelbaum of Forbes, the Warriors are now considered the NBA’s most valuable club, with a record-setting valuation of $7 billion following a championship season.
Forbes’ duo explains that the Warriors generated more revenue and operating income in 2021/22 than any other team in NBA history, buoyed by $150MM in arena sponsorships and advertising, along with $250MM from premium seating.
While the Warriors enjoyed the biggest bump in value since Forbes’ most recent round of valuations, every other NBA team saw its valuation rise during that time as well, according to Ozanian and Teitelbaum, who say the average franchise is now valued at $2.86 billion. That’s 15% more than a year ago, despite the fact that the stock market is down 15% over the same time period.
Of the NBA’s 30 teams, only one – the Nets – lost money last season, per Forbes’ report, which states that record-setting sponsorship and advertising revenue ($1.35 billion last season) has put the league back on its “pre-Covid growth trajectory.” Further growth is anticipated going forward, with a new television and media deal to be negotiated in the coming years — it will take effect in 2025.
Although Forbes’ figures are just estimates and often don’t quite match up with the sale prices for franchises that change hands, they’re still useful for getting a sense of the league’s most and least valuable teams.
Here’s Forbes’ full list of NBA franchise valuations for 2022:
- Golden State Warriors: $7 billion
- New York Knicks: $6.1 billion
- Los Angeles Lakers: $5.9 billion
- Chicago Bulls: $4.1 billion
- Boston Celtics: $4.0 billion
- Los Angeles Clippers: $3.9 billion
- Brooklyn Nets: $3.5 billion
- Dallas Mavericks: $3.3 billion
- Houston Rockets: $3.2 billion
- Philadelphia 76ers: $3.15 billion
- Toronto Raptors: $3.1 billion
- Miami Heat: $3 billion
- Phoenix Suns: $2.7 billion
- Washington Wizards: $2.5 billion
- Milwaukee Bucks: $2.3 billion
- Portland Trail Blazers: $2.1 billion
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $2.05 billion
- Sacramento Kings: $2.03 billion
- Utah Jazz: $2.025 billion
- San Antonio Spurs: $2 billion
- Atlanta Hawks: $1.975 billion
- Denver Nuggets: $1.93 billion
- Detroit Pistons: $1.9 billion
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $1.875 billion
- Orlando Magic: $1.85 billion
- Indiana Pacers: $1.8 billion
- Charlotte Hornets: $1.7 billion
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $1.67 billion
- Memphis Grizzlies: $1.65 billion
- New Orleans Pelicans: $1.6 billion
Rookie forward Keegan Murray has already won a spot in the Kings‘ starting lineup, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. Coach Mike Brown made the announcement after today’s practice that Murray will replace KZ Okpala for Thursday’s game against the Grizzlies.
Murray, the No. 4 pick in this year’s draft, has made a strong impression early in his NBA career. He’s averaging 17.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in his first two games while shooting 54.2% from the field and 43.8% from three-point range. The new starting unit of Murray, De’Aaron Fox, Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes and Domantas Sabonis has only played 11 minutes together, but it has a plus/minus rating of plus-55.3.
“I think it helps us tremendously,” Fox said. “When he gets on the floor, you feel the spacing increase. When you have somebody like Draymond (Green) not trying to help off of you, that’s the ultimate respect, so I think everybody in the league pretty much knows what he can do, and he can help us, not only with shooting, but just with his entire package.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Clippers swingman Norman Powell isn’t panicking about seeing so many of his shots misfire, according to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times. Powell has gotten off to an unusually slow start, ranking second-worst in the league in effective field goal percentage and drawing shooting fouls about half as often as he did last season. “I think I’ve just got to relax a little bit and kind of let the game come to me and make the plays that are in front of me, not just for myself but for the team,” Powell said. “I’ll go back, continue to watch film, continue to find ways where I can be better not just scoring the ball but offensively, defensively, moving the ball, playing for others and continue just to grind.”
- Paul George insists that Kawhi Leonard is the team’s primary scoring option, but Law Murray of The Athletic believes George may have to accept that role for the Clippers to be successful. With Leonard working his way back from surgery for a partially torn ACL, there are going to be many nights when George has to carry the scoring load.
- The Lakers are already at a critical point in their season and need to make a move with Russell Westbrook, argues Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Mannix recommends calling the Pacers and completing the rumored deal that would send Westbrook and unprotected first-rounders in 2027 and 2029 to Indiana in exchange for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield.
Appearing on The Draymond Green Show, Kings guard De’Aaron Fox recounted his reaction to the news that Sacramento had traded Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana at last season’s deadline, explaining that he viewed the deal as a strong message from his team.
“For me, it’s like yo, they believe in me,” Fox said, per Ajayi Browne of Slam Online. “But two, it’s like motherf—-r, we just traded somebody who could be a franchise point guard either here or somewhere else. So, you better get on your s–t; you better start winning.”
The Kings received plenty of outside criticism for their decision to trade a rising star like Haliburton in his second NBA season, but Fox is determined to prove that the Kings made the right move by handing him the undisputed reins at point guard.
“Does it add pressure? Yeah, a little bit,” Fox said. “But, at the end of the day, I’ve been trying to get us in the playoffs for years, so it’s a little added pressure. It ain’t hurt anybody.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter video link), Suns forward Jae Crowder pushed back against the idea that he demanded a trade because he was told he wouldn’t be a starter. “I do not want to get into the details just yet,” Crowder said, as Haynes relayed during a TNT appearance. “But it’s definitely not true, the narrative being pushed about me not starting or not, I can honestly say that.”
- Asked about his impressions of Devin Booker so far this season, head coach Monty Williams described the Suns‘ star guard as “probably the most complete player in the league right now” (Twitter link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports). Booker has averaged 32.5 PPG on .530/.480/.882 shooting through four games (38.8 MPG).
- Williams’ comments on Booker came after a Suns victory over the Warriors in which sharpshooter Klay Thompson was ejected for the first time in his NBA career. Kendra Andrews of ESPN has the story on the chippy game between two Pacific rivals, Thompson’s first ejection, and Booker’s account of what Klay was saying to him before he left the floor: “They have four rings, repeated over and over.”
- In a conversation with Mark Medina of NBA.com, Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins explained that he took a pay cut on his new four-year, $109MM extension with Golden State because he didn’t want to leave a “winning organization” that treats him well. Wiggins’ goal is to eventually join teammates like Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, and Stephen Curry as “Bay Area legends,” he told Medina: “Hopefully by the time I’m done, people will look at me like that. I just have to keep putting in the work and accomplish what they have accomplished.”
Kings head coach Mike Brown has indicated that 6’8″ rookie forward Keegan Murray, the No. 4 pick out of Iowa, could be moved into the team’s starting lineup soon, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
“Yeah, he started the second half [of the team’s Sunday loss against the Warriors], so there’s a chance he could start going forward,” Brown said.
The 0-3 Kings will next have the opportunity to start Murray against the 2-1 Grizzlies on Thursday. As Anderson writes, current starting power forward KZ Okpala seems most likely to be moved to the bench in such a scenario.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- Clippers reserve guard John Wall is hoping for a larger role with Los Angeles, per Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. The 6’4″ vet has been limited by his team to 25 or fewer minutes a night as a backup. Across 23 MPG in two contests thus far, Wall is averaging 16 PPG on .519/.250/.250 shooting splits, plus 3.5 APG, 2.0 RPG and 1.0 SPG. “There’s no recovery process for me,” Wall said. “It’s just a program, a plan [the Clippers have] for me… I was fully healthy last year; I just didn’t play because of the situation [with the Rockets]. So, I’m not on like on a recovery process.”
- The 0-3 Lakers are struggling to start the season, and still seem to be considering offloading the expiring $47.1MM contract of current starting point guard Russell Westbrook. Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report identifies six potential outcomes for the team’s future with Westbrook, including standing pat and not executing a trade.
- Estranged Suns power forward Jae Crowder remains in limbo as both he and Phoenix hope to work out a deal to send Crowder away from the Suns for a hopefully larger role elsewhere, per Chris Haynes of Turner Sports (Twitter video link). “Both sides, his agent and the Suns, they though they were going to come to an agreement on a trade before the season started, and things have been prolonged,” Haynes said. “He’s in the best shape possible of his career and he’s just ready to get back out there on the court.”
Andrew Wiggins, who signed a four-year, $109MM extension before the season, is playing like a star in the early going. He’s averaging 22.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.3 blocks through the first three games. Warriors coach Steve Kerr believes Wiggins is playing at the top of his game, according to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“This is the best I’ve ever seen Wiggs,” Kerr said. “He was an All-Star last year, he helped us win a championship and I think he’s used that momentum that he gained a year ago to kind of springboard into this season.”
We have more on the Warriors:
- Suns coach Monty Williams was “quietly upset” that JaMychal Green joined the Warriors on a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. “Why did he go there?” Williams said.
- The Warriors topped the Kings 130-125 on Sunday in a coaching matchup featuring Kerr and his former top assistant, Mike Brown. Kerr is thrilled that Brown got another head coaching job, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes. “He’d always talk about how much he loved this job,” Kerr said. “That’s always what we’d lean on if he didn’t get an interview somewhere. Like, ‘You’ve got a pretty good gig. I’ve got it good. You’ve got it good. We’ll just keep it going.’ But we both felt like he was too talented and too young not to get another chance.”
- In a subscriber-only story, Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated speaks to James Wiseman about his comeback from a knee injury that kept him out of action last season. Wiseman is averaging 11 points and six rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game.