Category: Sports News

Kings' Doug Christie states ‘you never know' as Malik Monk trade rumors swirl originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – Despite rumors swirling that the Kings are open to trading Malik Monk, coach Doug Christie said Tuesday that he expects the veteran guard to still be wearing a Sacramento jersey at the end of the 2025-26 NBA season.

“Until otherwise, I expect him to be here for his contract,” Christie said shortly after the Kings’ 136-127 loss to the Detroit Pistons at Golden 1 Center. “He’s signed to be a Sacramento King. He’s going to be a Sacramento King. If something else happens … that goes when trades and all that stuff come into play.”

Since joining the Kings as a free agent before the 2022-23 season, Monk’s popularity has soared in the state capital to the point where he is now one of the most beloved players on Sacramento’s roster.

That was on full display Tuesday when Monk strolled to the scorer’s table to check in for the first time.

In unison the Golden 1 Center crowd roared in appreciation at a level surpassed only when Monk canned a 3-pointer early in his first rotation.

He finished with nine points in just under 14 minutes, shooting 3 of 8 with a pair of 3-pointers to go with two of steals.

A nice night, for sure, but not enough to erase the looming cloud of a potential trade that lingered overhead at G1C. NBA insider Chris Haynes reported early Tuesday morning that the Kings have made Monk available to teams ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline.

When asked about the rumors, Christie deflected.

“That’s a [general manager Scott Perry] question,” Christie said. “I don’t have any anything there, but I love Malik. Always have. What we’re trying to do here is bigger than any one player, two players, anything. We’re trying to set something that is sustainable. We just changed things up in this particular moment.”

Monk was not available for comment. He changed quickly after the game and was long gone by the time media was allowed into the Sacramento locker room.

When Christie talked to reporters, he insisted things between himself and Monk are OK.

“Nothing personal, nothing like that.,” Christie said. “I’ve told him that I love him to death. But we are trying to shake things up, and we’re going to figure out how to find a way to be, first of all, competing at a really high level and playing to our standard, a particular standard.”

A former Sixth Man of the Year runner-up who re-upped with the Kings last summer when he inked a four-year, $78 million contract, Monk was projected to be a big part of Sacramento’s once-promising future.

A lot of that promise has changed over the last two seasons. Mike Brown was fired as head coach after helping the Kings end the longest playoff drought in NBA history. Popular point guard De’Aaron Fox was traded to the San Antonio Spurs last season.

It appears that Monk might be the next one out the door.

“You never know,” Christie said. “When I was here in this jersey, I didn’t expect to get traded. It did happen.”

That was in 2005 when the Kings sent Christie to the Orlando Magic for Cuttino Mobley and Michael Bradley. If Monk is traded, the price of acquiring him could and should be a lot more.

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What we learned as DeMar DeRozan's 37 points can't push Kings past Pistons originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• BOX SCORE

SACRAMENTO – Two days ago, the Kings had Golden 1 Center rocking with a thrilling overtime win.

Two days before Christmas, the venue was the same — but the noise was mostly muted and the outcome was basically a lump of coal.

Not only did the Kings get smacked around handily by the Detroit Pistons 136-127 on Tuesday, they also saw another front-line player go down when Keegan Murray left the game in the second half after injuring his calf.

Murmurs also swirled throughout the night about Malik Monk being available in trade talks, a cloud that will most definitely linger overhead until a deal is done or the deadline passes Feb. 5.

Where the Kings are at that point likely will determine what, if any, other moves the franchise makes.

The way Sacramento looked against Detroit, no one’s job should be safe. That includes coach Doug Christie, whose style hasn’t produced any lasting or impactful moments.

DeMar DeRozan had 37 points and eight assists for the good guys. Russell Westbrook added 27 points and six rebounds while Precious Achiuwa had 15 points and 11 boards.

The Kings fell to 7-23 on the 2025-26 NBA season. They have lost six of seven, 10 of 14 and 17 of 21.

The Pistons took control early, dropping 37 points in the first quarter to take a double-digit lead. DeRozan scored 23 points in the first half but it wasn’t enough to overcome Detroit, which led 75-58 at the break,

Sacramento got within 15 early in the third quarter then pulled within 129-120 with 3:10 remaining in the fourth following DeRozan’s three-point play, but couldn’t muster another comeback.

Here are the takeaways from Tuesday:

Monk On The Move?

The loudest cheers from the Golden 1 Center crowd happened midway through the second quarter when Monk walked to the scorer’s table to check in.

The ninth-year veteran made his first bucket less than two minutes into his first stint then drained a 3-pointer after that as chanting monks played over the loudspeakers. That had been a tradition at G1C but was noticeably absent in the previous few games.

Monk, who had nine points in 14 minutes, has been a fan favorite in Sacramento ever since his arrival during the 2022-23 season, but there might have been more meaning to the ovations this time.

Minutes before tip-off a report from NBA Insider Chris Haynes surfaced that Monk has been made available for trade by the Kings, which if true certainly is no surprise.

Drowning From Deep

For a team that has mixed success shooting from deep over the season, the Kings seemed fascinated with trying to make things happen behind the arc against the Pistons.

That, like a lot of everything Sacramento tried, didn’t work out so well.

The Kings, who shot 29 percent (24-for-82) on threes in their previous three games, sputtered with their 3-point shooting for much of the night. They missed nine of their first 10 tries behind the arc and 13 of their first 18.

The struggles from deep took away what actually had been a decent shooting night for the Kings. They shot 31 of 59 on two-pointers.

Achiuwa was one of the few Sacramento players to have any sort of like shooting deep, connecting on 3 of 4 attempted threes.

No D At G1C

The Kings had a fairly decent night offensively, but this game turned on Sacramento’s inability to make consistent stops on the other end.

Time and time again the Pistons drove to the rack with very little resistance all game and nearly doubled the Kings’ scoring in the paint.

With Domantas Sabonis and Andrew Eubanks both injured, the bulk of the Kings’ interior defense was absent. Rookie Maxime Raynaud, who has been playing very well as of late, had eight points.

The defensive breakdowns weren’t limited to the big men. Pistons guard Cade Cunningham made seven of his first 10 shots and put up 16 points in the first half, many of them uncontested. He finished with 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting.

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Obsevations after Maxey-McCain backcourt struggles in Sixers' loss to Nets  originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Tyrese Maxey struggled all night long and the Sixers fell to a 114-106 defeat to the Nets on Tuesday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Maxey had 13 points on 3-for-14 shooting, three rebounds, four steals, two assists and four turnovers as the Sixers dropped to 16-12 on the season. Brooklyn improved to 9-19.

Joel Embiid posted 27 points, six rebounds and four assists. Paul George recorded 19 points, four rebounds and four steals.

Michael Porter Jr. led the Nets with 28 points. 

The Sixers had three players sidelined by an illness in VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes and Dominick Barlow. The team canceled its morning shootaround as a result.

Kelly Oubre Jr. (left knee LCL sprain) and Trendon Watford (left adductor strain) remained out. 

The Sixers will begin a five-game road trip Friday night in Chicago against the Bulls. Here are observations on their loss to the Nets:

Embiid good to go after injury scare

Embiid suited up for his first game since the Sixers’ loss last Sunday to the Hawks. He’d missed the past two games with a “right knee injury management” designation in addition to an illness. 

Jared McCain started for the first time in his second season. Maxey, George and Jabari Walker rounded out the Sixers’ first five. 

Embiid had a smooth start offensively. He knocked down contested jumpers, sought out contact and seemed to believe he could score against whatever Brooklyn threw his way. 

The seven-time All-Star also looked to be fine on the conditioning front. Embiid played until the 2:45 mark of the first quarter and posted 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting and three rebounds in the period. 

Embiid had an injury scare just 25 seconds into the third quarter when Terance Mann bumped him as he jogged into the paint.

He grabbed his knee in apparent pain and eventually pointed toward the bench to request a sub. Andre Drummond entered and Embiid walked gingerly to the locker room.

About five minutes later, Embiid returned to the Sixers’ sideline. He checked back in with 6:49 left in the third quarter.

Nothing falling for Maxey

The Sixers took an 8-1 lead on a McCain fast-break layup, but the Nets responded with a run almost entirely about Porter’s shotmaking. His third three-pointer in quick succession gave Brooklyn a 12-10 edge.

On the other end, the Sixers’ outside shooters struggled. George and Walker air balled first-quarter three-point tries. The Sixers wound up shooting 40.7 percent from the floor and 25.9 percent beyond the arc.

Maxey went scoreless in the first quarter and missed his first six field goals. He was frustrated at times by Mann’s tight, physical defense and couldn’t hit the few open shots he managed to find. 

Maxey was obviously not thrilled about the officiating. Both he and Sixers head coach Nick Nurse appeared to have heated words with crew chief Courtney Kirkland during a stoppage near the end of the second quarter. 

The shorthanded Sixers’ guard rotation included little-used veterans Eric Gordon and Kyle Lowry. After Maxey was whistled for his second foul with 2:11 to go in the first quarter, Lowry checked in for the first home action of his 20th NBA season. Gordon (12 points on 4-for-8 shooting) made the Sixers’ first two long-distance jumpers. 

The vet-heavy Sixers played zone defense early in the second quarter against the youthful Nets and didn’t fare badly. However, Brooklyn hit the Sixers with another run in the second and Porter kept causing serious problems.

Porter began 7 for 9 from the floor and piled up 25 points in the first half. The Nets held a six-point edge at intermission. 

Last-gasp surge not enough

Maxey continued to come up empty.

He missed an open three early in the third quarter to fall to 1 for 10 from the field. Maxey then committed his fourth foul on a Egor Demin four-point play and the Nets’ advantage reached double digits. The Sixers had too many of those sort of sloppy mistakes on both sides of the ball.

Drummond (12 points, 13 rebounds) made three tip-ins early in the second half and stayed on the court once Embiid returned. Walker’s foul trouble presumably played a role in Nurse turning to a double-big frontcourt. Adem Bona shared the floor with Embiid, too.

The Sixers’ deficit swelled as high as 19 points. McCain shared Maxey’s offensive woes. He dipped to 1 for 9 from the floor early in the fourth quarter with a pair of missed lefty layup attempts. The starting backcourt of Maxey and McCain finished a ghastly 6 for 25, including several makes in quasi-garbage time. It’s very challenging to beat any team with that kind of backcourt shooting.

All of a sudden, the Sixers summoned a burst of late-game energy.

Maxey swiped a steal and coasted in for a layup. Bona slammed in an alley-oop assisted by Embiid. Two Embiid free throws cut the Sixers’ deficit to 99-90.

The Sixers couldn’t create any serious drama in the final minutes. They committed a slew of fouls, Maxey air balled a three and Brooklyn sealed the deal on a bad Sixers loss.

Nick Young shares why latest Draymond-Kerr clash feels ‘different' than others originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Former NBA guard Nick Young only spent one season playing for the Warriors, but that 2017-18 campaign was long enough for him to witness a Draymond Green-Steve Kerr tussle or two.

Speaking on Gilbert Arenas’ “The Arena” podcast, Young lent his insight into Green and Kerr’s relationship, and why their clash Monday night isn’t the same as past quarrels.

“[Green and Kerr] always fight,” Young said. “They got into a big fight in [Oklahoma City] where we had to pull Draymond back, pull Steve Kerr back. But this time it’s different because they’re not the same championship team.”

On an otherwise feel-good night for the Warriors—they trounced the Orlando Magic to climb back to the .500 mark at 15-15—Green and Kerr became embroiled in a heated discussion during a timeout, prompting Green to leave the floor completely and take refuge in the Golden State locker room.

“Tempers spilled over,” Green said in his postgame press conference. “And I thought it was best that get out of there. I didn’t think it was a situation where it was going to get better. So, it was best to remove myself.”

Kerr essentially echoed Green’s telling of events in his own postgame presser.

“We got into it, obviously,” Kerr said. “And I took the timeout because I thought we lost our focus there a little bit. And we had it out a little bit. And he made his decision to go back to the locker room to cool off.”

A day later, Young expressed uncertainty over whether this current version of the Warriors is built to withstand a squabble between its head coach and most volatile player.

“Everything going on with Steve Kerr, [his situation with Jonathan] Kuminga…it’s a lot over there,” Young said. “I just don’t know where they’re at this year. They feel like they just need to blow everything up at this point. This ain’t the first [instance] of them fighting. OKC was probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen between a player [and] coach. They both [were] holding each other back and cussing…it was a lot. It was a lot.”

Despite the dramatics on Monday, Golden State pulled away in the second half for a 23-point win over Orlando, a positive sign that Kerr can still focus his squad even with distractions lingering on his own bench.

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Late last Thursday, Jalen Brunson added another clutch shot to his resume. 

Brunson hit a step-back 27-footer over Andrew Nembhard to give the short-handed Knicks a win at Indiana. 

Highlights of the shot quickly ricocheted all over social media. It elicited a rare ‘double Bang’ from Mike Breen. Another game-winning shot from the 2025 Clutch Player of the Year. 

“Our MVP – the league’s MVP – Jalen Brunson,” Mike Brownsaid after the game. 

Later in his press conference, Brown referenced another award. The coach named Trey Jemison III as his Defensive Player of the Game. 

Jemison III had five rebounds, a block, five points and played strong team defense in a key second-half stretch against Indy.

“Trey’s physicality and communication in the second half was off the charts,” Brown said.  

What you saw that night from Jemison III is the same intensity and effort he plays with in practices and workouts. 

“He brings energy (to every practice), makes you compete in practice,” is how one Knick staffer described Jemison. 

Jemison has split time this season between the Knicks and their G League club, the Westchester Knicks. He’s one of several young players immersed in New York’s player development program. 

All of the hours spent working with Knicks coaches have sharpened Jemison’s game (more on that below). But the foundation for his Jemison’s game – and the rest of his life – is his faith. 

Jemison hosts regular Bible study sessions on his Instagram page. 

He’s deeply spiritual and conducts study sessions to help his audience "understand the word of God." 

“A lot of times, people read the Bible, and it's like all these old words and they're like, ‘I'm not reading that.’ So I try to make it simple so people can stay (engaged),” Jemison says. 

He started doing study sessions on Instagram two years ago. At the time, Jemison says he had roughly 7,000 followers. Today, he has 70,000.

“When you go to God about something and you put him first, like, it's crazy the things you can really do,” Jemison says. 

From time to time, Jemison will hear from audience members impacted by his words.  

“It’s just priceless,” he says. “It's not an NBA game, not a dollar amount you can give (to match the value of) hearing somebody, say, ‘Hey you helped me get through a situation.’ That's just, yeah, that's a blessing for me.”

Jemison is one of the young Knicks heavily involved in the franchise’s player development program. New York has put resources into its program – hiring former St. Joseph’s coach Billy Lange to oversee things. 

Jemison says Lange and the whole player development group have helped him. 

Case in point: before the season, players had to make 10 free throws before they could leave the gym. Jemison was having a tough time until members of the coaching staff delivered a message: 

“You can make these free throws. You're a good shooter.”  

Jemison said the coach’s confidence helped him right away. From there, the Knicks worked a bit on Jemison’s form and his timing. After some fine-tuning, Jemison stopped getting stuck in the gym. 

“Their belief in me, and they're breaking down small small details... has switched it up completely,” Jemison says of his free throws. 

The former UAB star is grateful to be in New York, working with Lange and coaches like Mark Bryant and Carson Shanks and playing for Brown. Jemison and his agent, Derrick Powell of Dedicated Performance Sports, decided that the Knicks were a great option in part because of Brown. 

The Knick head coach likes what he’s seen from the 26-year-old. 

“He’s a physical presence. He’s a guy who communicates extremely well for a young guy,” Brown said earlier this season. “Guys like playing with him because they know he’s going to set screens and get them open. And he’s got good feet and a good motor.”

Jemison met with Lange and some Knicks coaches earlier this year to go through a development plan tailored for him.  The plan remains in place when Jemison is with the big club or the G League team. 

“They have a growth path for me,” Jemison says. “They don’t just ignore you because you’re on a two-way (contract). They want me to get better and grow my game so when my name is called, I can help the Knicks be the best team they can possibly be.” 

Jemison has worked with Shanks, Bryant and the group on passing this season. The coaches have Jemison III make live reads at a fast pace. 

“Now in games, it’s super slow for me. I see the cut before it happens,” Jemison says. “Now I understand, if I gotta screen this man, make this next pass, I know where to put it before he even cuts.”

That skill was on display in Indiana when Jemison made a well-timed pass to Brunson in the first half. 

With the Knicks’ plans to rest rotation players at times over the course of the season, Jemison should have more opportunities to show what he’s learned under Lange and his group. 

“My game is growing,” he says. “From my position coaches, to all my G League coaches, they are buying in and helping me set a higher standard for myself and it’s been great…. I love coming to work every day.”