Category: Basketball

In the first major move of the Mike Walters era of the Lakers, the team has fired most of its scouting staff in a reorganization, including front office executives Joey and Jesse Buss — who are and remain part-owners of the team (along with the rest of their family).

This news was first reported by Shams Charania of ESPN and was confirmed by NBC Sports. The Lakers organization has not announced the changes.

Joey and Jesse Buss both spent their lives in the Lakers organization and worked their way up, their positions were not handed to them on a silver platter because of their last name. They were respected around the league — Jesse was the Lakers' draft guru and Director of Scouting (as well as assistant general manager), and the brothers together helped the Lakers land Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Max Christie and others. Joey Buss was listed by the team as alternate governor and vice president of research and development. The Buss brothers released this statement to Charania.

"We are extremely honored to have been part of this organization for the last 20 seasons. Thank you to Laker Nation for embracing our family every step of the way. We wish things could be different with the way our time ended with the team. At times like this we wish we could ask our Dad what he would think about it all."

If that sounds a little bitter toward longtime owner turned team operating governor Jeanie Buss, it was just the start. Check out Jesse's statements to Charania — echoing what he told Dan Woike of The Athletic — which were more direct:

"Dr. Buss' idea was for Joey and I to run basketball operations one day. But Jeanie has effectively kept herself in place with her siblings fired."

After Dr. Jerry Buss's passing, Jeanie became team governor, and Jim Buss ran basketball operations. After a few rough seasons on the court, Jeanie removed Jim from basketball operations and hired the current president of basketball operations, Rob Pelinka.

The writing was on the wall that changes to the Lakers' scouting operation were coming after the $10 billion sale of the franchise to Walter. It's why Joey and Jesse founded their own sports investment and strategic partnership company three months ago.

Even before the house cleaning on Thursday, the Lakers had one of the smallest scouting staffs in the NBA — both in terms of scouting other teams and players, as well as potential future draft picks — and it was one area Walters was expected to invest early. It is a clear place of need for the franchise. Precisely what that new structure looks like — and who will be brought in to head it — remains to be seen.

To open the season, Jonathan Kuminga seemed to have found a groove with the Warriors. Through the season's first nine games, he averaged 17.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game and shot 41.4% from 3-point range. Coach Steve Kerr said Kuminga was the team's fourth full-time starter.

In the last five games, he has fallen off to 9.6 points and five rebounds a game, shooting 15.4% from beyond the arc, with almost as many turnovers (2.7) as assists (2.8). With that, Kerr moved Kuminga to the bench, but that has brought up old feelings from a long and rocky relationship with his coach, reports Anthony Slater at ESPN.

"He feels like the scapegoat again," one team source said ...

Kuminga, team sources said, had voiced to Kerr a desire to be coached harder. There was even a meeting about it in their Sacramento hotel prior to the ninth game of the season and Kerr appeared to make it a point during the Kings game to call Kuminga over and get on him constructively several times.

But 4-1 became 6-6. Kuminga's knees began bothering him. His defensive juice and burst to the rim lessened. He went 1 of 9 shooting at home against the Pacers, missing all five of his 3s. Coaches dinged him for his perimeter shot selection as a reason for his minute reduction (season-low 20).

The cloud over all of this is that, as of Jan. 15, Kuminga becomes trade eligible, and the Warriors are expected to test the trade waters. Part of the point of the two-year, $46.8 million contract (with a team option the second year) was that it was very tradable. This is a case where it feels like a fresh start somewhere else would be good for Kuminga, but the Warriors are not going to get much value back in a trade if he is struggling in a bench role. Kuminga has been out of the last four games with knee tendonitis, and the Warriors went 2-2 during that part of the road trip.

At some point in the next month, Kerr is going to lean on Kuminga again — the Warriors could use his athleticism — but if he is going to prove to other teams he deserves the opportunity he feels he is not getting in Golden State, he has to be more consistent. And stay healthy.

He has to look like the guy from the first nine games of the season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is out for at least a couple of weeks with a groin strain. Anthony Davis remains sidelined in Dallas with a calf strain. Victor Wembanyama is out with a strained calf. Wemby's star teammates Stephon Castle (hip) and No. 2 pick Dylan Harper (calf) are out. Ja Morant is out with a calf strain.

If it feels like injuries to the NBA's biggest names — especially soft tissue injuries — are on the rise, it's because they are. The numbers are shocking, as Tom Haberstroh laid out at Yahoo Sports. (Note: He defines a star by using the NBA's definition in its Player Participation Policy, an All-Star or All-NBA player within the past three years. There are 45 such players in the league.)

"All told, NBA stars have already missed over 200 games this season due to injury or illness, doubling the total we saw at this point two years ago ... For a league fighting the image that star players aren't playing enough, this season's power outage is especially alarming. In 2023-24, with the first year of the midseason tournament seeming to motivate its biggest names to suit up, star players played 87.2% of its games by this juncture of the season (12 games in). Last season, it dipped to 82.6%. This season, the bottom has fallen out, with star participation falling to 67.6%."

It's worth noting that while star players are missing more games, overall injuries are not up, including soft tissue injuries.

What is different this year is that teams are being more cautious with their injured stars. Fresh in the minds of fans, team medical staffs, owners, and everyone else is the image of Tyrese Haliburton pounding the court during Game 7 of the NBA Finals, after trying to play through a sore calf and tearing his Achilles. Same with Jayson Tatum tearing his Achilles after playing through a sore calf. Same with Damian Lillard, who is out this season after tearing his Achilles while playing through a sore calf.

The volume of injuries to stars is real and concerning.

Steve Kerr concerned

The rise in injuries has drawn the attention of a lot of people, including Golden State coach Steve Kerr. He blamed a combination of the increased pace of play around the league, the increased spacing in today's game, and the relentlessness of the NBA's 82-game schedule for the rise.

"I'm very concerned. It's dramatic — the pace difference is dramatic…" Kerr said Tuesday, via NBC Sports Bay Area. "I think across the league, everybody understands now that it's just easier to score if you can beat the opponent down the floor, get out in transition. But when everybody's doing that, the games are much higher-paced, faster-paced, and then everyone has to cover out to 25 feet, because everybody can shoot 3s.

"So we have all the data players are running faster and further than ever before, and so we're trying to do the best we can to protect them, but basically, have a game every other night and not an easy thing to do."

Kerr isn't the only coach thinking that way.

"I would agree with Steve," Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "The tempo of the game is quick, and I think you're seeing, even this year, I think there's 25 teams in the NBA that are averaging 100 possessions a game [Note: it is 24], and last year there were 12 [13]. So you're seeing an uptick in the pace of the game, it seems like over the last couple of years."

The median pace of an NBA game is 101.5 possessions per team, per game this season. That is up from 99.6 last season, and 96.6 10 years ago (when only two teams had a pace over 100 for the season). That increased pace doesn't just impact offense.

"I think if you ask any coach in the NBA what's the first key to any game, it's literally getting back on defense, and the numbers back that up," Lakers coach J.J. Redick said.

Increased spacing an issue

Shooting and spacing are everything in today's NBA, but that means more ground for defenders — and tired leg and calf muscles — to cover. Defenders are now asked to collapse down in a help situation to protect the paint, then race back out and contest a shot at the arc (or, they are zoning off the weak side as the rest of the defense collapses, and they have to be able to move to challenge multiple players). That kind of explosive movement can be hard on muscles and put pressure on tendons and ligaments. Not to mention a game where Euro-steps, deceleration moves and more put more strain on a player's body.

All that has changed over the years.

"When I was in Orlando (2006-13), I could play through injuries all the time because it was just, it was easy to do based on the way the game was played," said Redick, who played 15 years in the league before retiring. "And then by year 14-15, you're going to have to guard crazy stuff on every possession, and it's just too much movement, and if you're second-guessing your body, you're not an effective player."

What was different about the game?

"[When I] first got in the league, there were two bigs, and you go against Memphis, and you're playing against Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol," Redick said. "And then the stretch four — God bless, RIP, doesn't exist anymore — that was a short-lived thing. And then I think over the last eight to 10 years it's really evolved as teams have spread you out more and gotten to more movement, more multiple actions, and more pace."

That's not changing. If anything, the pace of the game is going to increase and shooters will have to be covered further out. Another trend this season — popularized by the Pacers a season ago on their run to the Finals — is pressuring the ball handler for 94 feet up the court, adding more wear and tear to bodies.

There are no easy answers here. Kerr is among those who would like to see 10 fewer (or more) games on the NBA schedule each year, but he also understands the reality.

"The tricky part is everyone, all the constituents, would have to agree to take less revenue," Kerr said. "And 2025 in America, good luck getting any industry to agree [to that]."

The best teams can do right now is focus on recovery between games, monitor the situation, get players rest when needed, and take care of injured players, not push them to get back on the court.

But all of that is going to mean years like this one, where a month into the season, a lot of stars are sidelined.

Welcome to the Fantasy Basketball Minutes Report. Every week, I will be going through each team's updated minutes per game to see which players are seeing the court more or less than in previous weeks. With this information in hand, I'll try to discuss any relevant fantasy risers or fallers; players who we should be adding off waivers or removing from our teams.

The charts below are also great for exploring on your own. You can track the minutes over the last three games, five games, ten games, and for the entire season to see what trends stand out to you.

All of this data was made accessible by Kyle Bland, who is incredibly talented and also incredibly generous, so make sure to give him a follow to check out all of his baseball data as well.

2025-26 Fantasy Basketball Top 200 Rankings: Wemby injured, Jalen Johnson providing value in Atlanta

The Hawks forward has exceeded the expectations of many fantasy managers this season, especially after Trae Young went down.

• Raphielle Johnson,

Atlanta Hawks

We know that Trae Young will be sidelined for at least the month of November, but now Kristaps Porzingis also missed the last three games with a knee injury, and Zaccharie Risacher missed Tuesday's game with a hip injury. All of that has led to higher usage for all of Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, with Johnson averaging an absurd 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists over his last three games. He's been elite. We've also seen a minutes boost for Vit Krejci, who is averaging 13.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists over his last seven games and has some fringe fantasy value because of his three-point shooting.

Boston Celtics

Things have settled a bit for the Celtics in their main rotation, but Joe Mazzulla keeps experimenting around the fringes with guys like Jordan Walsh and Josh Minott. Those guys will spike some fantasy value on a given night, but it's hard to rely on them regularly, given their inconsistent minutes and lower usage rates on offense. You don't really need to consider anybody in fantasy here other than Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard.

Brooklyn Nets

We know that Cam Thomas is likely out until the middle of December, which has led to a bump in usage and minutes for Michael Porter Jr., who has been really good of late, averaging 26.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.0 steals per game over his last six. Ziaire Williams has also seen his minutes increase, but there has been less fantasy goodness there, averaging 10.2 points and 2.7 rebounds over his last six games/ On the other side, Ben Saraf has been battling an ankle injury and was also sent to the G-League, and Jalen Wilson seems to have all but fallen out of the rotation.

Charlotte Hornets

It seems like Brandon Miller could return to the lineup as early as next week, and LaMelo Ball and Collin Sexton have already made it back, so things are getting back to normal little by little for the Hornets. We have seen Moussa Diabaté infringe on Ryan Kalkbrenner's minutes a little bit more of late, thanks to his rebounding value. Diabaté is averaging 9.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists over his last six games, while Kalkbrenner is putting up 11 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks in the same stretch. It doesn't seem like either one of them will truly pull away, but I might prefer Diabaté if the minutes remain consistently similar.

Chicago Bulls

Coby White returned to the Bulls lineup and played 30 minutes in a double-overtime game, which means he sat out the next game. We should see his minutes tick up consistently over the next couple of weeks, but he may hover around 25-28 minutes per game initially. That could cut into minutes and offensive production for Kevin Huerter and Ayo Dosunmu, but we're going to need to see a few more games before we can tell that for sure. Tre Jones was also playing about 30 minutes per game before White came back, but Jones has also missed the last three games with an ankle injury. He doesn't need to be rostered in fantasy leagues though.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Darius Garland has been dealing with a toe injury, which has kept him out longer than we initially anticipated, and Jaylon Tyson has missed the last few games with a concussion, which has led to some minor shakeups in the rotation, but nothing much to react to. Nobody's fantasy value has changed because of it; although, De'Andre Hunter has spiked a few solid games with higher usage and is averaging 15.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists over his last four games.

Dallas Mavericks

Welcome to everybody's favorite disaster. It feels like Anthony Davis may never play another game for the Mavericks, but Derek Lively (knee) did make his return this week, even though he seems to be on a bit of a minutes restriction right now. We've also seen Brandon Williams get a slight uptick in minutes at the expense of D'Angelo Russell, only to have Russell come back and take some of those minutes, so that point guard rotation remains confusing. Daniel Gafford may see his minutes change with Lively back, but we need to see how the front-court rotation shakes out with players like Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington as well. Washington has had some value with Davis sidelined, averaging 12.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.3 steals over his last seven games. Cooper Flagg was sick on Wednesday and missed the game, which is why his minutes dipped.

Denver Nuggets

Christian Braun got hurt last week, so we've seen some minor tweaks to the rotation this week, the biggest of which has been a boost in minutes and usage for Peyton Watson. The 23-year-old is averaging 16.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.3 steals over his last three games and could have some fantasy value.

Detroit Pistons

Injuries to Tobias Harris and Cade Cunningham shook up the Pistons' rotation a bit, but Cunningham came back to play 34 minutes earlier this week. What's interesting is that Daniss Jenkins still played 30 minutes in that game. Over his last six games, Jenkins is averaging 17.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 1.8 steals, and could maintain fantasy value, at least until Harris is back. However, Jenkins' emergence has led to fewer minutes and production for Ausar Thompson, who then injured his ankle and missed all of last week. He returned on Tuesday, so we'll see how this situation plays out.

Golden State Warriors

An injury to Jonathan Kuminga has shaken up the minutes allotment a bit, but it hasn't really done anything for fantasy value. Moses Moody is playing more minutes, but he's averaging just 12.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 steals, which doesn't help you too much in fantasy.

Houston Rockets

The Rockets have seen some minutes shifting of late thanks to an injury to Tari Eason, which will keep him out until the middle of December. We've also yet to see Dorian Finney-Smith play this season after ankle surgery, which means players in the rotation have all just gotten a slight bump in minutes with nobody of note really entering a meaningful role. Jabari Smith Jr. is playing a bit better since Eason has been out but it's nothing to get overly excited about right now.

Indiana Pacers

The Pacers were starting to get a little healthier with Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin back, but then Aaron Nesmith got hurt and is expected to be out until the middle of December with a knee injury. We did finally see T.J. McConnell debut on November 11th, but his minutes have remained pretty restricted right now, so that's something we need to watch in the coming weeks.

Fantasy Basketball Week 2 Injury Report: Luka Dončić, Anthony Edwards headline the list of sidelined stars

The Pacers, Lakers and Thunder are among the teams with lengthy injury reports at the halfway point of Week 2.

• Raphielle Johnson,

Los Angeles Clippers

A season-ending injury to Bradley Beal and the continued absence of Kawhi Leonard have changed some things around for the Clippers, but not as much as we anticipated. Tyronn Lue said that he was going to play the younger guys more minutes, but Jordan Miller got hurt, so it's just been Kobe Sanders entering the rotation. He could continue to see more minutes with Derrick Jones Jr. now out until, potentially, the new year. Sanders played 30 minutes in his last game, but Kawhi's return would push those minutes back down.

Los Angeles Lakers

LeBron James made his season debut on Tuesday night, and I talked all about that in a video I made for the NBC Sports website.

Memphis Grizzlies

Ja Morant is now out for the next two weeks, which continues a tough season for the All-Star guard and the Grizzlies as a whole. Vince WilliamsJr. has stepped into a starting role in his place and produced well, but I covered that whole situation in detail here.

Miami Heat

Bam Adebayo returned to the lineup for Miami on Wednesday, and it sounds like we may get Tyler Herro back on Monday against the Mavericks, which means this Heat rotation could look really different in next week's column. For now, we should probably see a major dip in production for Kel'el Ware, and Jamie Jaquez Jr. would likely see his minutes and usage decrease with Herro back.

Milwaukee Bucks

An injury to Giannis Antetokounmpo on Monday night has led to some changes in Milwaukee for the next week or two, which I covered in my video for NBC Sports.

Minnesota Timberwolves

Things have been pretty status quo for the Timberwolves of late, except that Jaden McDaniels is dealing with a bit of a wrist injury that will keep him out until this weekend. There doesn't appear to be much to be concerned about though.

New Orleans Pelicans

Zion Williamson returned for the Pelicans on Wednesday and played 29 minutes in his first game back. Notably, Derik Queen also started that game and played 30 minutes, scoring 30 points, with nine rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks. Yes, a lot of that came in the fourth quarter when the Pelicans were down 15+ points, but that's likely going to be the norm for them this season. Saddiq Bey saw his minutes dip a lot with Zion back, but Jeremiah Fears should continue to maintain fantasy value until Jordan Poole returns.

New York Knicks

Jalen Brunson returned on Wednesday against the Mavericks, but the Knicks could be without OG Anunoby for another two weeks. Miles McBride shifted to the bench with Brunson back, and Landry Shamet stayed in the starting lineup, which should continue. Shamet has averaged 18.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists over his last three games, but a lot of that is skewed by a career day against the Heat. There probably isn't anybody worth playing in fantasy apart from Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, and Josh Hart.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The Thunder remain a bit of a marvel, doing all of this without Jalen Williams and now Aaron Wiggins as well. They just keep playing consistent and beautiful. basketball

Orlando Magic

Paolo Banchero has been out for a week after leaving last Wednesday night's game against the Knicks with a groin injury. The Magic expect him to return at some point this weekend, but Franz Wagner has taken on a much bigger role in the meantime, averaging 24 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.0 steals over his last three. Desmond Bane has also moved into a higher usage role, while Tristan Da Silva has averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.3 steals in his increased minutes. That production should stop when Banchero is back.

Philadelphia 76ers

Paul George made his season debut on Monday night, but then sat out Wednesday's game against the Raptors. That should be how things go for George for the next few weeks, so the fantasy value for guards like Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Quentin Grimes isn't changed much. Andre Drummond has been playing plenty of minutes with Joel Embiid out and can be counted on in fantasy as long as that lasts because Drummond has tremendous rebounding and defensive value.

Phoenix Suns

Jalen Green remains out with a hamstring injury, and Grayson Allen missed some time this week with a quad injury. Dillon Brooks has stepped into a much bigger offensive role, but Collin Gillespie is also averaging 14.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.0 steals in his last three games and is putting up solid fantasy value for deeper formats.

Portland Trail Blazers

Bumps and bruises are starting to pile up for the Blazers. Jrue Holiday has been out a week with a calf injury, and Shaedon Sharpe also missed Wednesday's game with a calf injury. That led to more minutes for Kris Murray, Caleb Love, and Sidy Cissoko, but nobody is really doing much with those minutes. Sharpe had seen the biggest bump in value with Holliday out, but they both may return this weekend.

Sacramento Kings

The Kings could be getting Keegan Murray back on Thursday, and that could shake up this rotation a bit, as I discussed in my video for NBC Sports.

San Antonio Spurs

A week after the Spurs lost Dylan Harper for a few weeks, they're now going to be without both Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama for the next two weeks, with Castle set to return around November 30th and Wemby not coming back until December. That should lead to a big playing time and usage boost for Devin Vassell and also Keldon Johnson, who played 30 minutes in the team's first game without Castle/Wemby and had 18 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Luke Kornet was also brutal in that game, so don't be surprised to see more Kelly Olynyk minutes over the next few games.

Toronto Raptors

Everything is status quo for the Raptors so far.

Utah Jazz

Ace Bailey in the starting lineup hasn't really been great, and his minutes have started to plateau. Isaiah Collier has played his way into a decent bench role after making his season debut on November 7th and is averaging 10.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 7.2 assists in six games. Jusuf Nurkić remains interesting for fantasy because of his large role, which has led him to average 7.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 2.0 steals over his last six games.

Washington Wizards

Alex Sarr missed Wednesday's game, which is why his minutes totals are down a little bit. He should be back this weekend. Bilal Coulibaly also returned to the lineup, so Tre Johnson and Bub Carrington have seen their minutes decrease. Coulibaly should be added in more leagues now that he's back.