Ja Morant was frustrated after a rough shooting night (3-of-14) and scoring just eight points in a loss to the Lakers on Halloween. After the game, he threw the coaches under the bus.
The next afternoon, the Grizzlies suspended Morant one game for "conduct detrimental to the team."
After Friday night's loss to the Lakers, Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo reportedly challenged Morant's leadership and effort in front of the team, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. Following that, Morant appeared to blame the coaches when speaking to reporters. Check out this exchange (via Lopo on X).
Reporter: "What went wrong for you today?"
"Go ask the coaching staff," Morant responded.
Reporter: "From the outside... it didn't feel like you had your usual energy tonight."
"Go ask the coaching staff why," Morant replied.
Reporter: "What could have been done differently, other than asking the coaching staff?"
"According to them, probably don't play me, honestly," Morant said. "That's basically what the message was. It's cool."
Iisalo had a point. Morant has to shoulder at least some of the blame, he had a low-effort game, which Blake Griffin called Morant out on during the NBA on Prime broadcast. What separates the game's great leaders — from the veterans like LeBron James and Stephen Curry to the rising stars like Anthony Edwards — is that they bring it every night. Morant did not do that on Friday.
Morant is averaging 20.8 points per game this season(his lowest number since 2021) and is playing 28.5 minutes a game (the fewest of his career). However, the offense is running through him, he is averaging 75.8 touches a game, up sharply from the 67.7 a game he got last season (and very close to the 77.8 and 77 a game he got his All-Star seasons).
It wasn’t pretty, but the Kings, after a fiery 48 minutes, put an end to a decade-long drought in Milwaukee.
Yes, you read that right.
Behind star Zach LaVine’s fifth 30-plus-point game of a young 2025-26 NBA season, the Kings, for the first time since 2015, pulled off a 135-133 win over the Bucks on Saturday at Fiserv Forum.
Sacramento’s chances looked bleak early on after giving up a 15-2 lead to open the game. But, in an intriguing turn of events with less than six minutes in the first quarter, Bucks forward Bobby Portis, visibly upset over the previous possession, shoved Kings star Domantas Sabonis in the back.
Bobby Portis received a technical foul for this altercation with Domantas Sabonis 😯 pic.twitter.com/w74paEc8wA
Not only would the altercation foreshadow the physical game that was to come, but it would also light a fire under the same Kings team that gave up 47 points in the first 12 minutes.
“Yeah, we like that. At the end of the day, you guys know how I play,” Kings guard Dennis Schröder told reporters. “That’s just motivation. I think that brought us more together.
“Russell [Westbrook] having Domas’ back right away, making sure he’s right there. I think that shows that we want to become a team, and we’re getting there. I was really happy. I was on the bench. At that time, I couldn’t get on the floor because I would’ve gotten a suspension. But Russell had his back, and I think it fueled us.”
“Yeah, we like that.”
Schröder reveals how the Sabonis-Portis scuffle motivated the Kings in tonight’s win pic.twitter.com/xpjoYG80I4
Even though Bucks coach Doc Rivers admitted that the disruption on the floor started well before Portis’ exchange with Sabonis, he did acknowledge the energy shift it caused.
“The emotional, I agree with you, it definitely changed when Sabonis and Bobby, right,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers told reporters. “But I thought it even started before then …”
“… Again, I’ve always said that I’m fine with all the talking as long as you can play still. If you can’t then we got to keep our focus.”
The tension carried over into the second half, with Bucks’ Gary Trent Jr. picking up a technical foul in the third quarter and Cole Anthony being ejected with less than 11 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
Ultimately, the Bucks failed to keep their focus, making way for the Kings’ core to find their groove despite Milwaukee shooting 59.8 percent from the floor.
Sabonis put up 24 points, 13 rebounds and six assists, while Schröder notched up 24 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Westbrook, who started on the bench, posted 12 points and a season-high 10 assists.
On Saturday, the Kings won the mental game, snapped a three-game losing streak and, most importantly, waved a decade-long drought goodbye.
The Pacers weren’t only without Tyrese Haliburton, but also a plethora of others. They didn’t have Andrew Nembhard, Obi Toppin, Bennedict Mathurin and TJ McConnell. And it didn’t matter.
Pascal Siakam and Aaron Nesmith combined to score 58 points, and they were joined by Quenton Jackson, who is on a two-way contract, scoring 25 points with 10 assists.
Steph Curry scored an ugly team-high 24 points. Curry was a minus-21, and the Warriors were better with him on the bench.
Jimmy Butler did a bit of everything, scoring 20 points with six rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks. Jonathan Kuminga provided 17 points and Brandin Podziemski scored 16. But the desperate Pacers were the hungrier team.
Though the Warriors cut their turnovers from 22 the previous game to 16 on Saturday, they still allowed the Pacers to score 17 free points. A number of live-ball turnovers hurt the Warriors. So did the Warriors fouling eight more times than the Pacers and shooting a lowly 27.3 percent from three, going 12 of 44.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ first losing streak of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Steph Struggles
As Curry struggled to find his shot and the Warriors were on the verge of losing to the winless Pacers, coach Steve Kerr called timeout and his biggest star took a seat halfway through the third quarter. The Warriors trailed 73-67 at time, and then were ahead by 10 when he came back in with six and a half minutes left in the fourth.
Kerr wasn’t going to let Curry keep watching from the bench, but maybe he should have.
Curry played the final six minutes and 26 seconds of the fourth quarter and was a minus-13. In his six-plus minutes of the fourth, Curry scored six points while making only two of his seven shot attempts, including 1 of 5 on threes and even a missed free throw. Curry failed to grab a single rebound and only had two assists as he turned the ball over five times for his second consecutive game.
The game’s greatest shooter was 8 of 23 from the field and 4 of 16 behind the 3-point line. Trying to get past the Pacers’ pressure-filled defense, Curry looked his age and will have to regroup for Tuesday’s game back at Chase Center against the Phoenix Suns.
The Siakam & Nesmith Show
Already down their biggest star, Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers also were without a handful of other key figures against the Warriors like Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard, Obi Toppin, TJ McConnell and more. The stage was set for Siakam to be a star, and the Warriors were searching for answers early on.
Siakam scored 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting in the first quarter while doing work to the Warriors’ makeshift zone defense. All of Siakam’s five shots were around the rim, with his furthest being an 11-foot floater. He then opened the second quarter making a 16-foot jump shot before finally missing a shot, which was his first 3-point attempt of the night. That’s when Nesmith joined the party for the Pacers.
Nesmith scored six points in the first quarter and then really got going in the second, making two two-pointers, two 3-pointers and two free throws for 12 points. By halftime, he was the Pacers’ leading scorer with 18 points and Siakam was right behind at 16. The rest of the Pacers scored 19 points in the first half.
Aaron Nesmith with back-to-back clutch threes in the final two minutes of the first half ‼️
Jackson joined the party in the second half, but Siakam and Nesmith never slowed down. Siakam found his sweet spots around the paint — and hit a dagger three with 37 seconds left. Siakam scored 27 points on 12-of-23 shooting. The game, however, belonged to Nesmith. He went from averaging 11 points this season to scoring a career-high 31. Nesmith made five threes the previous two games combined and then made five on the Warriors.
Cleared For Takeoff
What’s the fastest path from Point A to Point B? A Kuminga dunk, apparently.
Kuminga threw down a grand total of five dunks. He missed consistently from the mid-range and was 1 of 3 beyond the arc. What he did do was power his way to the rim.
On multiple occasions, Kuminga has said he won’t participate in the Slam Dunk Contest. In losing fashion, he showed how his in-game leaping ability can be such a weapon when the Warriors’ offense goes flat.
Toppin has "a partial stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot," and will undergo surgery to repair it, the Pacers announced. When asked about it, coach Rick Carlisle said not to ask about it again until Feb. 1, suggesting he will miss at least three months (that timeline matches up with the average recovery time from this surgery for NBA players).
Obi Toppin has been diagnosed with a partial stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot.
This is what is known as a Jones fracture, and it's relatively common in the NBA. Players who have had it include Kevin Durant and, currently, Max Struss of the Heat.
Obi Toppin Injury News: Toppin is undergoing surgery to address a stress injury in his 5th metatarsal. 5th metatarsal fractures are relatively common in the NBA & can occur in variety of ways in multiple locations. Average time lost for in-season 5th metatarsal fractures in the…
The list of injuries for Indiana is long: Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles tear, out for season), T.J. McConnell (hamstring), Andrew Nembhard (shoulder), Bennedict Mathurin (big toe), Kam Jones (lower back stress reaction), and Johnny Furphy (foot). Now, Toppin is on that list for an extended amount of time.
Because of all the injuries, the league has granted a hardship exception to the Pacers five games into the season, and they are expected to use it to sign forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl to a 10-day hardship exception contract, Shams Charania reports at ESPN.
He scored just eight points on 3-of-14 shooting in a loss to the Lakers on Halloween night, but his responses to questions postgame show just how bad the vibes have gotten in Memphis. After the game, Morant threw the coaching staff under the bus when speaking to reporters. Check out this exchange (via Lopo on X).
Reporter: "What went wrong for you today?"
"Go ask the coaching staff," Morant responded.
Reporter: "From the outside... it didn't feel like you had your usual energy tonight."
"Go ask the coaching staff why," Morant replied.
Reporter: "What could have been done differently, other than asking the coaching staff?"
"According to them, probably don't play me, honestly," Morant said. "That's basically what the message was. It's cool."
It's clearly not cool. Morant spoke in the locker room at the same time as coach Tuomas Iisalo, so he was not asked about Morant's comments. Iisalo was hired at the end of last season after coach Taylor Jenkins was fired, in part because he moved away from Morant's preferred pick-and-roll to an offense of cuts and player rotations (a less extreme version of what Miami is running this season). After trading away Desmond Bane this offseason, the expectation was that more of the offense would be run through Morant this season, but he is averaging 28.5 minutes a game (the fewest of his career), although the 75.8 touches he is getting a game is up from the 67.7 a game he got last season (and very close to the 77.8 and 77 a game he got his All-Star seasons).
"This is a guy who is insanely talented. Speed is his No. 1 weapon, and coming off a ball screen, passing the ball like this, kind of lazily cutting to the corner, that's just not what's gonna get it done for Memphis... For a guy that's making $40 million and needs to be the leader of this team, I just don't love it. I don't know if he was not feeling well, if he's hurt, but that to me is a very bad sign and something that has to change."
Something has to change. Things in Memphis are not good, although it's not a disaster. Yet. The Grizzlies are 3-3 with a bottom-10 offense in the league (and a -3 net rating overall). Memphis has gone a long way down the Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. path, and if things continue like this, the front office is going to need to conduct a serious assessment of what should come next.
There are legitimate questions about what the Portland Trail Blazers will look like on the court in a few years and which parts of their young core will be part of that future, but an athletic scoring wing and an All-Defense forward can fit in any plan.
Which is why Portland locked down two key young players on Sunday with rookie contract extensions. The Blazers and Shaedon Sharpe agreed to a four-year, $90 million extension, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN. The Trail Blazers have also agreed to a four-year, $82 million contract extension with defensive forward Toumani Camara, a deal also broken by ESPN’s Charania.
This is fantastic work by the Portland front office — they have locked up their two best wing players for the next five years at a price that will be less than 15% of the salary cap (hat tip to Keith Smith).
Sharpe is an athletic wing who averaged a career-high 18.5 points a game last season, adding 4.5 rebounds a night, but seems poised for a breakout season. He needs to improve his efficiency — 31.1% on 3-pointers last season and a 55.1 true shooting percentage that was a tick below the league average — and on the defensive end, but if he does, this will be a steal of a contract. His athleticism and ability to throw down dunks are not in question.
A lot of people around the league thought Sharpe's extension would end up north of $100 million, to get him at $90 million for the four years is a win for the Trail Blazers.
The Camara extension locks up a 25-year-old All-Defense Team player from a year ago who has been improving on offense each season. Camara's max extension would have been four years, $87 million, and that would have been a fair price. To get him on a contract worth less than $21 million on average is a great deal from Portland's front office.
Camara was almost a throw-in part of the three-team trade that sent Damian Lillard to Milwaukee and brought Deandre Ayton to Portland, but he ended up being one of the best parts of it for the Blazers. On top of being an elite defender, Camara is improving on offense and averaged 11.3 points and 5.8 rebounds while shooting 37.5% from beyond the arc last season.
Lakers center Jaxson Hayes reacts to a play during a preseason game against the Dallas Mavericks on Oct. 15 in Las Vegas. (Candice Ward / Getty Images)
Lakers center Jaxson Hayes avoided major injury on his right wrist after a hard fall in Friday’s preseason finale as X-rays taken after the game came back negative and an MRI scan revealed what Hayes on Sunday called "a light sprain."
The 7-footer missed the second half of Friday’s exhibition game with a right wrist contusion after he caught a lob from Luka Doncic and was bumped in the air while jamming a two-handed dunk in the first quarter. He stayed in the game for the second quarter and expects to be ready for Tuesday’s regular-season opener against the Golden State Warriors.
“Being a dummy,” Hayes said after practice Sunday of how he got hurt on the play. “I shouldn't have tried to catch myself, should've just fallen."
Hayes scored six points in the preseason loss to the Sacramento Kings, all on soaring dunks. He and Doncic connected on Hayes’ first basket of the game as they were playing together in the preseason for the first time.
Doncic’s wizardry in the pick-and-roll makes him an athletic rim-running center’s dream as the crafty point guard drops passes from every imaginable angle. But in Doncic’s first training camp with the Lakers since last year’s midseason trade, players, including new center Deandre Ayton are still adjusting to Doncic’s passes.
While coach JJ Redick said he was happy with the Lakers’ 28 assists to 10 turnovers in the preseason game against the Kings, he estimated the team missed seven assist opportunities because of misfired lobs or overly complicated passes.
“For all bigs and point guards, when you start playing with a new big or a new point guard, it's a learning period,” Hayes said. “You just learn how they like their screens. You learn how they like you to roll to the hoop. It's just little things. You learn where they like to pass you the ball. … It's just those guys [Doncic and Ayton] are figuring each other out, just like me and Luka did last year."
The chemistry between Hayes and Doncic has gotten so strong that Hayes is being recruited to join the Slovenian national team and said he is working on getting a Slovenian passport. He and Doncic are both clients of agent Bill Duffy, and Doncic and his family have been involved in the process for about a year and half, Hayes said.
Lakers guard Luka Doncic looks up the floor while dribbling during a preseason game against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 14. (Kelsey Grant / Getty Images)
Hayes watched Slovenia’s run to the quarterfinals in EuroBasket with a careful eye knowing that joining the team could be a possibility for him in the future. FIBA allows each national team to have one naturalized player, which the international basketball governing body defines as a player who obtains their passport for that country after turning 16.
Hayes said he had hopes of representing the United States, but USA Basketball does not have open tryouts for senior national teams.
“I wanted to just play on that stage,” Hayes said. “So I'm going do whatever it takes to play on that stage."
Etc.
The Lakers cut down their roster to 14 standard contract players on Saturday, waiving RJ Davis, Augustas Marciulionis, Anton Watson and Nate Williams after training camp officially ended. The team kept center Christian Koloko and guards Chris Manon and Nick Smith Jr. on two-way contracts. ... Manon was nursing an ankle injury during training camp but was a full participant in practice on Sunday. Bronny James (ankle) and rookie Adou Thiero (knee) went through a modified workout.
Stephen Curry hasn’t just changed the way basketball is played — he has changed how it’s valued.
Spotrac released its updated list of the NBA’s highest career earners, and Curry currently sits third, behind Kevin Durant and LeBron James. Durant passed James for the top spot on Sunday after signing a two-year, $90 million extension with the Phoenix Suns, which includes a player option for the 2027–28 season.
Other members of the top 10 include Devin Booker, Paul George, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Damian Lillard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jayson Tatum — a mix of established stars and younger faces quickly climbing the list.
BREAKING: KD has agreed to a two-year, $90 million extension with a player option for 2027–28.
With the deal, he becomes the highest-earning player in NBA history, surpassing LeBron James.
That younger wave could soon reshape the standings entirely. With Booker, Gilgeous-Alexander and Tatum all still in their late-20s and already on max extensions, they’re on pace to shatter the totals set by Curry, James and Durant as new TV deals and cap increases drive salaries even higher.
Curry, though, has been at the forefront of the league’s salary evolution. In 2017, he became the first player in NBA history to sign a $200 million contract, a five-year deal worth $201 million. Two years later, he became the first to make more than $40 million in a single season.
He topped that milestone again in 2021, signing a four-year, $215 million extension that made him the first player ever to sign multiple $200 million contracts. That deal helped him become the first to earn over $50 million in 2023–24, and by 2026–27, he is set to be the first player to surpass $60 million in a single season.
Over the past few years, Curry has climbed steadily up Spotrac’s career earnings rankings. He first appeared in the top 10 at No. 7 through 2022–23, rose to No. 4 through 2023–24, and reached No. 3 this year, where he is expected to remain for the foreseeable future as his current deal runs through 2026–27.
Curry’s journey into the NBA’s top three career earners reflects more than a decade of sustained excellence — and positions him to stay there as new deals reshape the league’s financial landscape.
Sacramento coach Doug Christie wanted to get some run together for his core starters last Wednesday night in one of the team's final preseason games, but that always comes with risk, and it has bitten the Kings.
Domantas Sabonis suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain against the Clippers and will be out for at least the first week of the season, the Kings announced. A Grade 1 strain usually keeps a player out about 10 days, but that time can vary.
Sabonis is not the only Kings' starter out. Keegan Murray underwent surgery on a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, which will keep him out for at least a month.
Sabonis, a three-time All-Star, averaged 19.1 points and 13.9 rebounds a game, shooting 41.7% on a couple of 3-pointers a game but 62.7% inside the arc. Dario Saric will get the start with Sabonis out, but that's a lot of scoring and rebounding to make up (plus, Sabonis serves as a hub for the Sacramento offense).
It's a rough way to start for the Kings, a team without much margin for error in the West if the goal is to make the postseason. The Kings open the season at the Suns on Oct. 22, then come home for two games over the weekend against the Jazz and Lakers.
Sacramento coach Doug Christie wanted to get some run together for his core starters last Wednesday night in one of the team's final preseason games, but that always comes with risk, and it has bitten the Kings.
Domantas Sabonis suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain against the Clippers and will be out for at least the first week of the season, the Kings announced. A Grade 1 strain usually keeps a player out about 10 days, but that time can vary.
Sabonis is not the only Kings' starter out. Keegan Murray underwent surgery on a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb, which will keep him out for at least a month.
Sabonis, a three-time All-Star, averaged 19.1 points and 13.9 rebounds a game, shooting 41.7% on a couple of 3-pointers a game but 62.7% inside the arc. Dario Saric will get the start with Sabonis out, but that's a lot of scoring and rebounding to make up (plus, Sabonis serves as a hub for the Sacramento offense).
It's a rough way to start for the Kings, a team without much margin for error in the West if the goal is to make the postseason. The Kings open the season at the Suns on Oct. 22, then come home for two games over the weekend against the Jazz and Lakers.
Russell Westbrook isn’t interested in revisiting his Los Angeles Lakers days — at least not with a Sharpie in hand.
At the Kings’ preseason matchup against the Lakers, Westbrook greeted a line of young fans holding jerseys from all the teams he played with across his NBA career. He signed two Oklahoma City Thunder jerseys, skipped over two Lakers ones, and then autographed a Houston Rockets jersey.
“I don’t know about signing that jersey,” Westbrook said. “I’ll sign something else for you, though.”
Westbrook’s journey to Sacramento has been a long and winding one. When he joined the Lakers in 2021, expectations were sky-high, but the fit quickly soured. Westbrook’s ball-dominant style clashed withLeBron Jamesand Anthony Davis, and his shooting inconsistencies became a lightning rod for criticism throughout the 2021-22 NBA season.
By February 2023, the Lakers dealt Westbrook to the Utah Jazz in a three-team trade — ending his turbulent stint in purple and gold. Utah bought out his contract within days, clearing the way for him to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers.
In the summer of 2024, the Clippers traded Westbrook to Utah once again in a sign-and-trade, and he promptly was waived. He then signed with the Denver Nuggets, where he continued to add to his historic résumé — becoming the first player in NBA history to record 200 career triple-doubles and later surpassing 26,000 career points.
Now 36, Westbrook joins Sacramento as one of the NBA’s most experienced and accomplished guards — and, judging by his reaction to those Lakers jerseys, a man ready to fully embrace his next chapter.
The 2025-26 NBA season will be new Kings guard Russell Westbrook’s first campaign in Sacramento and the star’s 18th overall in the league.
So, given that the Kings are Westbrook’s seventh different team and “The Brodie” is 36 years old, it’s fair to wonder if the coming season will be his last.
Westbrook was asked if that’d be the case on Sunday at Kings practice, and he bluntly shut it down.
“Yeah, right,” the former NBA MVP told reporters when asked if he’d retire upon the season’s end.
The idea of calling it quits isn’t in Westbrook’s DNA.
Instead, the 6-foot-4 guard, with career averages of 21.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists, intends to keep playing for the foreseeable future.
Westbrook followed his frank response by sharing what keeps him going.
“Family,” he said. “My family. My supporters. The ability to be grateful and blessed to be able to wake up and have limbs and things that work, and be able to use them. Using this platform to build other parts of my life and business.
“You know, just the overall fun I have while playing and enjoying the game; I think it’s something I never ever take for granted, and I’m thankful to be able to do that again.”
But the Kings are betting on the veteran to remain a productive player after he averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists over a promising 75 games a season ago.
And it appears Westbrook is betting on the Kings to help him have fun, as he avoids talk of retirement.
SAN FRANCISCO – Moses Moody officially is out for the Warriors’ regular season opener Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Lakers while still rehabbing a strained calf, coach Steve Kerr announced Sunday.
Moody did not practice Sunday. He went through individual work on the court and in the weight room, but has not scrimmaged since missing the Warriors’ final three preseason games.
Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga, both coming back from ankle issues, scrimmaged Sunday and everything went well for them physically. The two forwards will be listed as questionable for the season opener with the expectation being they’ll be able to play.
Losing Moody for at least the first game of the season already throws a wrench in Kerr’s plans for his starting lineup and how he’ll use different combinations. Moody started both preseason games he played in and averaged 14.5 points on 52.4 percent shooting and was 7 of 12 (58.3 percent) on 3-pointers. The Jimmy Butler trade last season cemented Moody into a role of being a go-to on-ball defender who can hit open threes.
Moody’s versatility as someone who can play up as a forward in smaller lineups or down as a shooting guard in bigger lineups proved key down the stretch last season. And it also has Kerr trying to fill a missing piece.
“I honestly have not decided yet who’s going to start on Tuesday,” Kerr said.
Which prompted the question: Do you know who will start on Tuesday?
Sprinkling in some sarcasm, Kerr rattled off the obvious choices of Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Butler, assuming he’s healthy enough. He then made it clear who at least the fourth person will be.
“With Moses out, that’s kind of the question,” Kerr said. “[Brandin Podziemski] will be out there. BP will be out there.”
Kerr mentioned veteran center Al Horford as an option, as well as Kuminga, but he could go a number of ways. The Warriors don’t want to play Horford, 39 years old, more than 20 to 25 minutes per game, making it tricky to decide if he’s better served as a starter or coming off the bench. If he starts and the Warriors want to close games, that means long lulls on the bench in between.
“What we have to think about is, what does that do to the rotation and what does that mean coming off the bench,” Kerr said. “Honestly, we have not decided yet and we’ve got to talk to guys as well.”
The player who will be most affected by the fifth spot is Green. Starting Horford would slot Green into his more natural position of power forward. But if Kerr opts to go smaller and start Kuminga, Green would continue rising above as a small-ball center.
None of this is new to Green, who joked that if he has to play the five “I’m going to ask for a trade.” The 6-foot-6 defensive genius has probably played more center than Kerr would have liked over the years, but he’s also a main piece of the modern NBA’s revolution. The deciding factor going into Green’s 14th season is the same that it’s always been for someone so decorated.
What’s best for the team? What is going to help the Warriors win? And what will put them on the path to contending for another championship?
“I’ve teetered with it my whole career. Sometimes at the five, sometimes at the four,” Green said. “I think you all know me. Whatever helps this team, whatever puts us in the best position to win, that’s what I’m going to do. I train to prepare myself for whatever’s to come. Playing the five isn’t always about the size, it’s about the size of the heart and I think my heart is as big – if not bigger – than anyone’s in the league. I always trust in that.
“I think my brain helps me get by quite a bit. I can outthink some guys. I just use the tools that I have. But I’m not putting no huge emphasis on whether I play the four or the five. In life we all have ideally what we would like. I have ideally what I think it would look like. But I also know that I play a team sport and in playing a team sport, what may be best for you personally or what you think is best, if that’s not best for the team then you’re being selfish. And I take pride in not being selfish.
“So whatever that looks like, wherever I can help … if that’s like, ‘Oh man, you sliding to the five is going to help this lineup, that’s going to help this rotation,’ then great. If it’s sliding to the four, great. Ultimately, Steve proved in Year 1 that he knows how to do these things, so I’m not going to be the idiot to sit here and question him. I’ll move on in my life and get ready for whatever’s ahead.”
Lakers head coach JJ Redick is expected to use Gabe Vincent, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton as his starting five against the Warriors. LeBron James remains out because of sciatica.
Who Kerr slots in next to Curry, Podziemski, Butler and Green is to be determined, and always, Draymond is ready for however the cards are shuffled.
An epic facial expression, a bit of trolling with a reporter in a back-and-forth exchange and laughter filled the Kings’ practice facility on Sunday morning.
“It feels great, truly,” Westbrook said when asked how it feels to be a member of the Kings. “I’m blessed to be able to have an opportunity to play and enjoy a place that wanted me to come here. So I’m grateful for that.”
“I don’t know how it all came together so quickly, but obviously I have a lot of friends and guys I’ve played with on this team before,” Westbrook said. “Not just that, but also an organization that [my agent] had been in contact with, trying to figure out ways to make it happen. With salary cap and all these different rules that I’ve come to learn, things you can and can’t do, and things just kind of meshed together that way. And I’m here now.”
Westbrook, the No. 4 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, widely is regarded as one of the most fiery players and personalities in the league.
You love him … or you don’t. Regardless, Westbrook won’t ever change who he is.
Now entering Year 18, symbolized by the No. 18 he’ll wear with the Kings, Westbrook is used to the criticism.
“To be honest, it’s really been like this my whole career,” he said. “It’s nothing new, unfortunately. I’m grateful and blessed for the doubt, the ‘if I can and will play.’ I know what I’m capable of when given the opportunity. So when the season starts, I’m going to do what I’ve always done and compete. There’s going to be people who love it. There’s going to be people who hate it. That’s life for me. I didn’t make it 18 years on accident.
“I’m grateful. The chip has always been on my shoulder, and it won’t go nowhere until I’m done playing.”
But Westbrook isn’t just motivated by the chip on his shoulder, as the external doubt and criticism of the Kings’ roster as a whole also lights a fire under him.
“The doubt that everybody has against us,” Westbrook said when asked what intrigues him about the team.
The triple-double king spent the last season with the Denver Nuggets, where in 75 games (36 starts), he averaged 13.3 points on 44.9 percent shooting from the field, with 4.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists 1.4 steals in 27.9 minutes.
He remains in great shape among point guards across the league, while doing the things coach Doug Christie is looking for, such as rebounding, play-making, providing high energy and getting after it defensively.
His high momentum and contagious energy are fitting for the arena he’ll now call home.
Westbrook can’t wait to finally be on the home side of the “loud” Golden 1 Center crowd after fans have “talked a lot of mess to me when I was here” as an opponent over the course of his career.
“Very excited. I think fans are one of the reasons why I love to play the game,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons why I continue to go out and give everything I have. Being on the road side, I know how great this fanbase can be. I’m grateful and excited to be able to get out there and have them on my side and feed off their energy.
“And yes, ultimately light the beam.”
Westbrook is a nine-time NBA All-Star, nine-time All-NBA member, former league MVP, two-time scoring champion and likely a future Hall of Famer.
Nearly two decades into this, accolades have become less and less important to him as much as being healthy and able to even step foot onto the hardwood. While he acknowledged winning a championship would be a great addition to his already illustrious NBA resume, he’s more focused on having a lasting impact on the things he does and the people he comes across.
That includes on and off the basketball court.
“I think since I’ve been in this league, leadership is not just something that you guys see on the floor,” he said. “My job, and I think one of my traits as a leader, is to be able to learn about guys’ journeys off the floor, how they got to this point, what inspires them, what pushes them. Being able to do that allows me to be a better teammate [and] a better brother to my teammates.
“To me, that’s what I look forward to most. Being able to impact and inspire someone daily is always my goal to run into somebody and maybe I can inspire them to do something they didn’t think they could do.”
It appears Christie and Westbrook already are on the same page when it comes to what the Kings are expecting out of the star point guard in his first season with the team.
“I want Russ to be Russ,” Christie said last week.
It sounds cliche. It sounds like propaganda. Even a great public relations answer. But Russell Westbrook might literally be incapable of being anyone other than himself.
And he hopes Kings fans can enjoy that player, and more importantly, the person in Sacramento.
How badly did Kevin Durant want to be back in Texas — the state where he played in college — and to be on a team with a legit title chance in the next couple of years? Here's the answer:
Durant took about $30 million less than his max in agreeing to a two-year, $90 million contract extension with the Houston Rockets, a deal first reported by Shams Charania of ESPN. Durant is in the final year of his current contract at $54.7 million and now is locked in with the Rockets for two years beyond that — and is taking a nearly $10 million a year drop from that salary to be part of a contender in Houston.
Durant chose Houston as one of the destinations he wanted to be traded to out of Phoenix last summer and he is a hand-in-glove fit for the team's needs — shooting and half-court offensive creation.
Last season, in a rough season for the Suns, Durant, 37, still averaged 26.6 points, six rebounds, and 4.2 assists a game while shooting 43% from 3-point range. He is still one of the best pure bucket getters in the game and exactly what the Rockets need to improve a stagnant half-court offense.
