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Wizards

<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-wembanyama-big-men-716d46b407e0e0b6be18370cc7e643b2">Victor Wembanyama&rsquo;s</a>&nbsp;NBA draft experience will be quite unlike last year&rsquo;s No. 1 pick.
Paolo Banchero could never be certain he would be taken first. There was too much speculation that Orlando was also considering Jabari Smith Jr. and Chet Holmgren, with some mock drafts listing Banchero below both. The eventual Rookie of the Year said he didn&rsquo;t find out&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-nba-draft-live-updates-1a7d5a8f93ddab31614e29c337e8d862">he was the Magic&rsquo;s choice</a>&nbsp;until less than a minute before Commissioner Adam Silver went on stage in Brooklyn.
Wembanyama has no need to wait.
The 19-year-old from France has owned permanent residence atop mock draft boards, including all four versions of the AP&rsquo;s, and could begin walking to the stage Thursday night before Silver finishes announcing the San Antonio Spurs&rsquo; selection.
Shortly after, two twin brothers could make the same walk.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-amen-ausar-thompson-a34e7912942e90a202005ea35fcd0944">Amen and Ausar Thompson</a>&nbsp;of Overtime Elite are both expected to land inside the top 10.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">1. SAN ANTONIO SPURS: VICTOR WEMBANYAMA, FORWARD, FRANCE</h2>
His combination of a center&rsquo;s size and a guard&rsquo;s shooting and dribbling make the 19-year-old a prospect perhaps unlike any other the NBA has seen, and should end the 13-year streak of the No. 1 pick being a college freshman. The Spurs won five NBA titles after taking Tim Duncan in 1997, the last time they had the No. 1 pick and dream of a similar impact from Wembanyama, who is listed at 7-foot-4.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">2. CHARLOTTE HORNETS: BRANDON MILLER, FORWARD, ALABAMA</h2>
At 6-9, the SEC player of the year and tournament MVP as a freshman has the size, versatility and 3-point stroke to make him an ideal player for the modern NBA game. But the Hornets, who played without Miles Bridges last season after an arrest for a domestic violence incident against the mother of his children, may have to weigh a negative reaction if they add Miller, who&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-sports-tuscaloosa-alabama-crimson-tide-top-25-college-basketball-today-39eab4a038324d58910da79372722ad1">delivered the gun used in a fatal shooting.</a>
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">3. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: SCOOT HENDERSON, GUARD, G LEAGUE IGNITE</h2>
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1665146603525795840?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Worked out for the Trail Blazers</a>&nbsp;and showed the athleticism and ability to do it all from the guard spot that may have made Henderson the No. 1 pick in many years. This time, he could be part of a trade if the Blazers decide they&rsquo;d prefer to acquire more veteran help around Damian Lillard &mdash; or perhaps Lillard&rsquo;s replacement if they instead decide to build around youth.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">4. HOUSTON ROCKETS: AMEN THOMPSON, GUARD, OVERTIME ELITE</h2>
At 6-7, Thompson has great size for a guard and the 20-year old showed the ability to step up when it matters most, averaging 17.2 points, 9.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds in the playoffs to lead the City Reapers to the championship last season. The Rockets, after adding Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. in the last two drafts, are positioned to get another good one.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">5. DETROIT PISTONS: CAM WHITMORE, FORWARD, VILLANOVA</h2>
The Pistons fell to the lowest spot possible in the lottery after finishing with the NBA&rsquo;s worst record and sharing the best odds of landing the No. 1 pick. But getting Whitmore, a versatile wing with a strong build, to add to young pieces such as Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey under new coach Monty Williams would help ease the sting.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">6. ORLANDO MAGIC: AUSAR THOMPSON, FORWARD, OVERTIME ELITE</h2>
Amen Thompson&rsquo;s twin brother has been the Overtime Elite regular season and finals MVP the last two seasons and the 6-7 swingman plays big on defense, twice blocking seven shots in a game. The Magic were a team on the rise in the second half of last season and Thompson could help ensure that continues.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">7. INDIANA PACERS: JARACE WALKER, FORWARD, HOUSTON</h2>
Coming from Houston&rsquo;s rugged program means Walker already plays NBA-ready defense, and the offensive end could come along quickly under Rick Carlisle. At 6-8, 240 pounds, he already has the size and strength to deal with anyone he could face in the frontcourt.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">8. WASHINGTON WIZARDS: ANTHONY BLACK, GUARD, ARKANSAS</h2>
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wizards-suns-trade-bradley-beal-55adab5fa31d5dfbc35b83223743d9c6">With Bradley Beal going</a>&nbsp;and no certainty that Chris Paul will stay, there&rsquo;s an opportunity for an immediate impact in the Washington backcourt. The 6-7 guard seems to have endless energy, playing nearly 35 minutes a game to lead the Southeastern Conference and all 20 minutes in a half 19 times. That included 37 minutes on an injured left ankle in the Razorbacks&rsquo; NCAA Tournament upset of top-seeded Kansas, when he helped hold expected lottery pick Gradey Dick to seven points.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">9. UTAH JAZZ: TAYLOR HENDRICKS, CENTRAL FLORIDA</h2>
The 6-9 freshman makes an impact inside and outside on both ends of the floor. He led the American Athletic Conference in blocked shots and shot 39% from 3-point range, becoming the only Division I player last season with at least 60 3-pointers, 55 blocked shots and 35 dunks.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">10. DALLAS MAVERICKS: GRADEY DICK, GUARD, KANSAS</h2>
Dick made 83 3-pointers, most in Kansas history by a freshman, and the 6-8 forward could get plenty of open looks when Mavericks opponents focus their attention on Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving &mdash; if Irving remains in Dallas. The Mavs went to great lengths to protect their chances of keeping this pick, tanking their final couple games to boost their lottery odds while still in play-in contention.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">11. ORLANDO MAGIC (from Chicago Bulls): BILAL COULIBALY, FORWARD, FRANCE</h2>
Wembanyama&rsquo;s teammate with Metropolitans 92 is a 6-6 swingman whose stock rose as their team reached their French League finals. He hasn&rsquo;t reached his potential yet as a scorer, but his 7-3 wingspan allows him to impact the game on both ends even without doing so and could make him a good fit with 2022 No. 1 pick and Rookie of the Year Paolo Banchero.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">12. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: DERECK LIVELY II, CENTER, DUKE</h2>
Is still limited offensively, but the 7-1 Lively shows promise as a rebounder and shot blocker, highlighted by 14 boards and eight blocks in a game against rival North Carolina.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">13. TORONTO RAPTORS: JALEN HOOD-SCHIFINO, GUARD, INDIANA</h2>
The Big Ten freshman of the year has great size in the backcourt at 6-6 and could help the Raptors guard against a potential loss of Fred VanVleet in free agency, but needs to become a better shooter after hitting only 40% from the field in his lone season.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">14. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: CASON WALLACE, KENTUCKY</h2>
A point guard who takes care of the ball and takes it away from opponents, he was fourth in the SEC in both steals per game and assist-to-turnover ratio. At 6-4, has the size and strength to defend some of the marquee guards in the Western Conference.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">15. ATLANTA HAWKS: KOBE BUFKIN, GUARD, MICHIGAN</h2>
Massive leap from first to second year of college, averaging 14 points as a sophomore after not starting a game while averaging 3.0 points as a freshman. Next leap is to the NBA, where the 6-4 lefty could quickly be a change-of-pace guard off the bench.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">16. UTAH JAZZ (from Minnesota): KEYONTE GEORGE, GUARD, BAYLOR</h2>
The highest-ranked recruit in program history lived up to the billing in his lone college season, scoring 20 or more points 12 times and averaging 15.3 en route to Big 12 freshman of the year honors. The 6-4 guard could provide scoring punch on a team that stayed in the postseason hunt longer than expected.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">17. LOS ANGELES LAKERS: NICK SMITH JR., GUARD, ARKANSAS</h2>
After mixed results with Russell Westbrook and D&rsquo;Angelo Russell last season, the Lakers&rsquo; search for guard help could lead to Arkansas, where the 6-5 Smith played in just 17 games in his lone college season after recovering from a right knee injury but showed the ability to play either guard spot.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">18. MIAMI HEAT: JORDAN HAWKINS, GUARD, UCONN</h2>
Ballhandling still needs improvement, but Hawkins&rsquo; catch-and-shoot ability was one of the biggest reasons the Huskies stormed through the NCAA Tournament to their fifth national title, and something the Heat were missing in their NBA Finals loss.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">19. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: NOAH CLOWNEY, FORWARD, ALABAMA</h2>
Clowney put up nearly eight rebounds and a block per game in his lone college season. With just 210 pounds on his 6-10 frame, he will need to add strength for the battles inside against NBA big men.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">20. HOUSTON ROCKETS (from LA Clippers): KRIS MURRAY, FORWARD, IOWA</h2>
After averaging 20.2 points &mdash; with a 30-point, 20-rebound game in one outing &mdash; Murray will try to make a similar first-year NBA impact as twin brother Keegan, who after leaving the Hawkeyes became an immediate starter for Sacramento last season and was an All-Rookie first-team selection.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">21. BROOKLYN NETS (from Phoenix): JETT HOWARD, GUARD, MICHIGAN</h2>
His willingness to fire from behind the arc makes the freshman a perfect fit for the 3-point happy NBA. The 6-8 freshman made multiple 3-pointers in 24 of his 29 games for Juwan Howard, his father, and hit three or more in almost half of them. Howard made 36.8% of them while averaging 14.2 points
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">22. BROOKLYN NETS: LEONARD MILLER, FORWARD, G LEAGUE IGNITE</h2>
The Nets have needed more scoring punch since trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and Miller looks capable of providing it after averaging 18 points last season. The 6-10 Canadian also averaged nearly 11 rebounds, another area Nets leadership has identified as a priority.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">23. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (from New York): BRICE SENSABAUGH, FORWARD, OHIO STATE</h2>
Averaged 16.3 points and shot better than 40% from 3-point range in his strong one season for the Buckeyes, where he was the first freshman to lead the team in scoring since D&rsquo;Angelo Russell in 2015.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">24. SACRAMENTO KINGS: MAXWELL LEWIS, FORWARD, PEPPERDINE</h2>
The 6-7 Lewis made nearly 80% of his free throws and 36% of his 3-point attempts in his two seasons with the Waves, and improved his ability to score off the dribble while averaging 17.1 points last season.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">25. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: G.G. JACKSON, FORWARD, SOUTH CAROLINA</h2>
Would have been heading to college now &mdash; perhaps as the No. 1 prospect &mdash; before reclassifying last summer to enter a year earlier. Instead, the 6-9 Jackson is on his way to the NBA after scoring in double figures in 25 of his 32 games, averaging 15.4 points.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">26. INDIANA PACERS (from Cleveland): JAIME JAQUEZ JR., GUARD, UCLA</h2>
The do-everything swingman led the Bruins with 17.8 points and 8.2 rebounds, becoming their first Pac-12 player of the year since Kevin Love in 2008. At 6-7, Jaquez does everything well &mdash; he&rsquo;s No. 8 in UCLA history in both points and steals &mdash; but maybe not any of them at the top NBA level.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">27. CHARLOTTE HORNETS (from Denver via New York and Oklahoma City): AMARI BAILEY, GUARD, UCLA</h2>
Bailey had a strong finish to his lone college season, averaging 16.7 points on 56% shooting in the Bruins&rsquo; run to the Sweet 16. The Hornets struggle when LaMelo Ball is out, so the 6-5 guard could be appealing to a team that was fourth-worst in the NBA in scoring.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">28. UTAH JAZZ (from Philadelphia via Brooklyn): COLBY JONES, GUARD, XAVIER</h2>
With three picks in the first round, the Jazz are positioned to bolster a team that hung around the playoff race much longer than expected. The 6-6 Jones, who made 18 of 21 shots in one torrid stretch last season and shot 9 of 10 on 3-pointers in another, could be a nice late addition.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">29. INDIANA PACERS (from Boston): BRANDIN PODZIEMSKI, GUARD, SANTA CLARA</h2>
Made 43.8% of his 3-pointers in his lone season after transferring from Illinois, accuracy from behind the arc that NBA teams covet. The 6-5 guard shared WCC player of the year honors after averaging 19.9 points and 8.8 rebounds, finishing in the top three in the conference in both categories.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-224 h2 Component-p-0-2-209">30. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (from Milwaukee via Houston): DARIQ WHITEHEAD, FORWARD, DUKE</h2>
Arrived at Duke as the high school player of the year, but a foot injury led to a delayed start to his college career followed by shooting struggles after it finally began. But the 6-7 forward showed enough defensive and 3-point abilities in his limited time to make himself worthy of a first-round spot.

How will the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft shake out on Thursday night? Check out the AP's latest mock draft.

NBA mock draft: Wembanyama easy No. 1, Miller at 2, Henderson 3rd

There&rsquo;s no doubt who the San Antonio Spurs are going to select with the first pick in this year&rsquo;s NBA draft.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-draft-lottery-nba-b0692a8ee59c2235f2d4f4387266eab7">Victor Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;could have started packing for Texas once the Spurs learned they had won the NBA draft lottery.
But once the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-wemby-nba-draft-lottery-50308e65f44b8df7a2368c4de17bacff">7-foot-3 French phenom</a>&nbsp;is off the board minutes after the draft begins on June 22, that&rsquo;s when the intrigue will begin.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-combine-scoot-henderson-brandon-miller-a55811da32a6f58cafde246b0e602152">Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller</a>&nbsp;to the Charlotte Hornets at No. 2?
The first edition of the AP&rsquo;s 2023 mock draft says it&rsquo;ll be Miller.
1. SAN ANTONIO SPURS: VICTOR WEMBANYAMA, FORWARD, FRANCE
His combination of a center&rsquo;s size and a guard&rsquo;s shooting and dribbling make the 19-year-old a prospect perhaps unlike any other the NBA has seen. The Spurs won five NBA titles after taking Tim Duncan in 1997 the last time they had the No. 1 pick and dream of a similar impact from Wembanyama.
2. CHARLOTTE HORNETS: BRANDON MILLER, FORWARD, ALABAMA
At 6-9, Miller has the size, versatility and 3-point stroke to make him an ideal player for the modern NBA game. The SEC player of the year and tournament MVP as a freshman, Miller would appear to be a good fit playing with LaMelo Ball, though the Hornets, who played without Miles Bridges last season after an arrest for a domestic violence incident against the mother of his children, may have to weigh a negative reaction if they add Miller, who&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-sports-tuscaloosa-alabama-crimson-tide-top-25-college-basketball-today-39eab4a038324d58910da79372722ad1">delivered the gun used in a fatal shooting.</a>
3. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: SCOOT HENDERSON, GUARD, G LEAGUE IGNITE
His athleticism and ability to do it all from the guard spot may have made Henderson the No. 1 pick in many years. This time, he could be part of a trade if the Blazers decide they&rsquo;d prefer to acquire more veteran help around Damian Lillard &mdash; or perhaps Lillard&rsquo;s replacement if they instead decide to build around youth.
4. HOUSTON ROCKETS: AMEN THOMPSON, GUARD, OVERTIME ELITE
At 6-7, Thompson has great size for a guard and the 20-year old showed the ability to step up when it matters most, averaging 17.2 points, 9.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds in the playoffs to lead the City Reapers to the championship last season. The Rockets, after adding Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. in the last two drafts, are positioned to get another good one.
5. DETROIT PISTONS: CAM WHITMORE, FORWARD, VILLANOVA
The Pistons fell to the lowest spot possible in the lottery after finishing with the NBA&rsquo;s worst record and sharing the best odds of landing the No. 1 pick. But getting Whitmore, a versatile wing with a strong build, to add to young pieces such as Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey would help ease the sting.
6. ORLANDO MAGIC: AUSAR THOMPSON, FORWARD, OVERTIME ELITE
Amen Thompson&rsquo;s twin brother has been the Overtime Elite regular season and finals MVP the last two seasons and the 6-7 swingman plays big on defense, twice blocking seven shots in a game. The Magic were a team on the rise in the second half of last season and Thompson could help ensure that continues.
7. INDIANA PACERS: JARACE WALKER, FORWARD, HOUSTON
Coming from Houston&rsquo;s rugged program means Walker already plays NBA-ready defense, and the offensive end could come along quickly under Rick Carlisle. At 6-8, 240 pounds, he already has the size and strength to deal with anyone he could face in the frontcourt.
8. WASHINGTON WIZARDS: TAYLOR HENDRICKS, CENTRAL FLORIDA
The 6-9 freshman makes an impact inside and outside on both ends of the floor. He led the American Athletic Conference in blocked shots and shot 39% from 3-point range, becoming the only Division I player last season with at least 60 3-pointers, 55 blocked shots and 35 dunks.
9. UTAH JAZZ: ANTHONY BLACK, GUARD, ARKANSAS
The 6-7 guard seems to have endless energy, playing nearly 35 minutes a game to lead the Southeastern Conference and all 20 minutes in a half 19 times. That included 37 minutes on an injured left ankle in the Razorbacks&rsquo; NCAA Tournament upset of top-seeded Kansas, when he helped hold expected lottery pick Gradey Dick to seven points.
10. DALLAS MAVERICKS: GRADEY DICK, GUARD, KANSAS
Dick made 83 3-pointers, most in Kansas history by a freshman, and the 6-8 forward could get plenty of open looks when Mavericks opponents focus their attention on Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving &mdash; if Irving remains in Dallas. The Mavs went to great lengths to protect their chances of keeping this pick, tanking their final couple games to boost their lottery odds while still in play-in contention,.
11. ORLANDO MAGIC (from Chicago Bulls): KEYONTE GEORGE, GUARD, BAYLOR
The highest-ranked recruit in program history lived up to the billing in his lone college season, scoring 20 or more points 12 times and averaging 15.3 en route to Big 12 freshman of the year honors. The 6-4 guard could provide scoring punch on a team that was 26th in the NBA in points per game.
12. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER: CASON WALLACE, KENTUCKY
A point guard who takes care of the ball and takes it away from opponents, he was fourth in the SEC in both steals per game and assist-to-turnover ratio. The Thunder already have a Kentucky guard thriving in their backcourt in All-NBA player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
13. TORONTO RAPTORS: NICK SMITH JR., GUARD, ARKANSAS
Played in just 17 games in his lone college season after recovering from a right knee injury, but that was enough to play himself into lottery consideration. At 6-5, Smith can play either guard spot and would improve the backcourt on a Toronto team whose strength was its wings.
14. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: JORDAN HAWKINS, GUARD, UCONN
Ballhandling still needs improvement, but Hawkins&rsquo; catch-and-shoot ability was one of the biggest reasons the Huskies stormed through the NCAA Tournament to their fifth national title. Now it could help create more driving lanes for Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson.
15. ATLANTA HAWKS: KOBE BUFKIN, GUARD, MICHIGAN
Massive leap from first to second year of college, averaging 14 points as a sophomore after not starting a game while averaging 3.0 points as a freshman. Next leap is to the NBA, where the 6-4 lefty could quickly be a change-of-pace guard off the bench.
16. UTAH JAZZ (from Minnesota): G.G. JACKSON, FORWARD, SOUTH CAROLINA
Would have been heading to college now &mdash; perhaps as the No. 1 prospect &mdash; before reclassifying last summer to enter a year earlier. Instead, the 6-9 Jackson is on his way to the NBA after scoring in double figures in 25 of his 32 games, averaging 15.4 points.
17. LOS ANGELES LAKERS: JALEN HOOD-SCHIFINO, GUARD, INDIANA
After mixed results with Russell Westbrook and D&rsquo;Angelo Russell last season, the Lakers&rsquo; search for point guard help could lead to Indiana, where Hood-Schifino was the Big Ten freshman of the year. Great size in the backcourt at 6-6 but needs to become a better shooter after hitting only 40% from the field in his lone season.
18. MIAMI HEAT: MAXWELL LEWIS, FORWARD, PEPPERDINE
The Heat&rsquo;s success developing undrafted players &mdash; they have seven on the roster that has made a surprising run to the NBA Finals &mdash; allows them to recover if they miss in the draft. But they might not by looking at the 6-7 Lewis, who made nearly 80% of his free throws and 36% of his 3-point attempts in his two seasons with the Waves.
19. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS: KRIS MURRAY, FORWARD, IOWA
After averaging 20.2 points &mdash; with a 30-point, 20-rebound game in one outing &mdash; Murray will try to make a similar first-year NBA impact as twin brother Keegan, who after leaving the Hawkeyes became an immediate starter for Sacramento last season and was an All-Rookie first-team selection.
20. HOUSTON ROCKETS (from LA Clippers): BILAL COULIBALY, FORWARD, FRANCE
The Rockets hoped to land Wembanyama after sharing the best odds to win the lottery. They could look here at his teammate with Metropolitans 92, a 6-6 swingman who doesn&rsquo;t score much yet but whose 7-3 wingspan allows him to impact the game on both ends even without doing so.
21. BROOKLYN NETS (from Phoenix): JETT HOWARD, GUARD, MICHIGAN
His willingness to fire from behind the arc makes the freshman a perfect fit for the 3-point happy NBA. The 6-8 freshman made multiple 3-pointers in 24 of his 29 games for Juwan Howard, his father, and hit three or more in almost half of them. Howard made 36.8% of them while averaging 14.2 points
22. BROOKLYN NETS: LEONARD MILLER, FORWARD, G LEAGUE IGNITE
The Nets have needed more scoring punch since trading Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, and Miller looks capable of providing it after averaging 18 points last season. The 6-10 Canadian also averaged nearly 11 rebounds, another area Nets leadership has identified as a priority.
23. PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (from New York): RAYAN RUPERT, FORWARD, NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS
The native of France would bring coveted defensive abilities, though not much in the way of scoring. Still, it would be hard to pass up a 19-year-old whose 6-7 size allows him to defend any forward or guard position.
24. SACRAMENTO KINGS: DERECK LIVELY II, CENTER, DUKE
Is still limited offensively, but the NBA&rsquo;s highest-scoring team doesn&rsquo;t need points. The Kings need someone to help prevent them, and the 7-1 Lively shows promise as a rebounder and shot blocker, highlighted by 14 boards and eight blocks in a game against rival North Carolina.
25. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES: TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS, FORWARD, INDIANA
Had more than 2,200 points and 1,100 rebounds in one of the most decorated careers in Hoosiers history. But in the one-and-done era, the 23-year-old All-American&rsquo;s age may work against the son of former Indiana Pacers forward Dale Davis.
26. INDIANA PACERS (from Cleveland): JAIME JAQUEZ JR., GUARD, UCLA
The do-everything swingman led the Bruins with 17.8 points and 8.2 rebounds, becoming their first Pac-12 player of the year since Kevin Love in 2008. At 6-7, Jacquez does everything well &mdash; he&rsquo;s No. 8 in UCLA history in both points and steals &mdash; but maybe not any of them at the top NBA level.
27. CHARLOTTE HORNETS (from Denver via New York and Oklahoma City): AMARI BAILEY, GUARD, UCLA
Bailey had a strong finish to his lone college season, averaging 16.7 points on 56% shooting in the Bruins&rsquo; run to the Sweet 16. The Hornets struggle when LaMelo Ball is out, so the 6-5 guard could be appealing to a team that was fourth-worst in the NBA in scoring.
28. UTAH JAZZ (from Philadelphia via Brooklyn): COLBY JONES, GUARD, XAVIER
With three picks in the first round, the Jazz are positioned to bolster a team that hung around the playoff race much longer than expected. The 6-6 Jones, who made 18-of-21 shots in one torrid stretch last season and 9-of-10 3-pointers in another, could be a nice late addition.
29. INDIANA PACERS (from Boston): NOAH CLOWNEY, FORWARD, ALABAMA
Clowney put up nearly eight rebounds and a block per game in his lone college season. At just 210 pounds on his 6-10 frame, he will need to add strength for the battles inside against NBA big men.
30. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS (from Milwaukee via Houston): DARIQ WHITEHEAD, FORWARD, DUKE
Arrived at Duke as the high school player of the year but a foot injury led to a delayed start to his college career followed by shooting struggles after it finally began. But the 6-7 forward showed enough defensive and 3-point abilities in his limited time to make himself worthy of a first-round spot.

Check out the first 2023 NBA mock draft the Associated Press, which features a bit of a surprise at No. 2 overall.

NBA mock draft: Wembanyama to Spurs at 1, then Miller to Hornets at 2

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Although the Los Angeles Lakers&rsquo; late-season transformation is one of this NBA season&rsquo;s best stories, LeBron James and his teammates finally appear to be running out of steam in the Western Conference finals.
They&rsquo;ve also finally run into an opponent capable of making sure this story doesn&rsquo;t have a completely happy ending.
After looking weary and mistake-prone in Denver during their first back-to-back losses in over two months, the Lakers face a must-win Game 3 Saturday.
Los Angeles has been on a prolonged roll ever since the trade deadline, going 27-12 while surging into the playoff picture, winning a play-in game and knocking out two higher-seeded opponents in six games. But that roll has finally been slowed by Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the respect-hungry Nuggets, whose superior late-game play was the reason they&rsquo;re up 2-0.
&ldquo;This is not the NCAA Tournament,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the first team to four wins. We have an opportunity to go home and play great basketball and hold serve. Until a team beats you four times, you always have an opportunity to come out of it. So that&rsquo;s the confidence that we should have. I know it&rsquo;s going to be a tough hill to climb up, but we still have an opportunity to play the best basketball of the series in Game 3.&rdquo;
The Lakers insist they&rsquo;re not as tired as they looked for stretches of both games in Denver, when they settled for too many jumpers, ran the court less effectively and lost a fraction of their defensive intensity. James and Anthony Davis both say the fatigue of this relentless two-month sprint toward title contention isn&rsquo;t finally too much for a team that altered half of its roster just three months ago.
&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not tired in the postseason...,&rdquo; James said after LA&rsquo;s 108-103 loss in Game 2. &ldquo;I mean, everybody&rsquo;s tired.&rdquo;
But James&rsquo; weariness appears to be evident in his jump shot &mdash; and in his reliance on that shot instead of the more physically demanding task of driving to the hoop. The top scorer in NBA history went 0 for 6 on 3-pointers in Game 2, making him 0 for 10 in the series. He has also missed 19 consecutive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter over the Lakers&rsquo; last 11 playoff games.
On top of the fatigue from the heavy workload for his 38-year-old body, James also sprained his left ankle in the third quarter of Game 2, although said he would be fine for Game 3.
Davis is prone to offensive inconsistency, and the stress of leading the Lakers&rsquo; defensive effort against mighty Denver may have affected him &mdash; although he insists it didn&rsquo;t. What&rsquo;s clear is that Davis&rsquo; 18-point performance on 4-of-15 shooting in Game 2 isn&rsquo;t enough from the Lakers&rsquo; franchise big man, particularly after his 40-point effort in Game 1, when the Lakers&rsquo; defense was much worse.
The Lakers are hoping for a big boost from their success-hungry home fans when they get back to their downtown arena, where they&rsquo;re 7-0 at home since the regular season ended.
&ldquo;The higher the levels you get to, you&rsquo;re going to face much, much tougher teams,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;No disrespect to Memphis or Golden State, but (Denver) has been at the top of the food chain for a reason. Not just this year, but the last few years. So we&rsquo;ve definitely got our work cut out for us, but we&rsquo;re going to get better from this, as we always do, and we&rsquo;ll bounce back on our home floor.&rdquo;
The Lakers had lost back-to-back games just once &mdash; in mid-March &mdash; since the trade deadline. Their late-season turnaround is still stunning after the additions of D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley along with the departures of Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn, opening up playing time for vital supporting players Austin Reaves and Dennis Schr&ouml;der.
But all that quick work might not be enough to overcome the steady togetherness of the Nuggets, who have handled the Lakers much better than their own inferiority complex.
Coach Michael Malone curiously punctuated their gritty Game 2 victory with sarcastic jabs about the basketball world&rsquo;s supposed ignorance of two-time NBA MVP Jokic&rsquo;s talents, along with criticism of a &ldquo;national narrative&rdquo; he believed was too impressed by the Lakers&rsquo; Game 1 rally.
The winningest team in the West is making its fifth consecutive playoff appearance after its sixth straight winning season, yet Malone appears to be paying close attention to television&rsquo;s talking heads while pounding the nobody-believes-in-us narrative that permeates sports, even for professional powerhouses like the Nuggets and the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Perhaps that&rsquo;s because these Nuggets have never been here before: They&rsquo;re as close to the NBA Finals as this franchise has ever been, up 2-0 on a 17-time NBA champion franchise with a global brand and the sport&rsquo;s most accomplished active player.
Eliminating LeBron and the Lakers would be a signature achievement for this Denver group, and it has a chance to all but lock up the achievement with a win in Game 3.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely going to be hostile there,&rdquo; Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. said. &ldquo;They still feel like they&rsquo;re in this series, obviously. It&rsquo;s the first to four. It&rsquo;s not the first to two. They&rsquo;re not going to just roll over, and now they&rsquo;re back in LA.&rdquo;

After looking weary and mistake-prone in Denver during their first back-to-back losses in over two months, the Lakers face a must-win.

Lakers look for boost after falling behind Nuggets in Conference Finals

The NBA announced that 242 players have filed as early-entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft. Here is the complete list.

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; The Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated last season in a Game 7 on the road.
One more victory, and they won&rsquo;t have to worry about that.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, and Jrue Holiday nearly added a triple-double of his own as the Bucks took another step toward wrapping up the NBA&rsquo;s best record with a 140-128 victory over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.
Holiday finished with 26 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, and Bobby Portis added 19 points and 20 rebounds for Milwaukee.
The Bucks (57-22) moved to three games ahead of Boston with three to play, although the Celtics &mdash; who beat Milwaukee in that seven-game series last year &mdash; have the head-to-head tiebreaker. Boston lost a 103-101 thriller at Philadelphia on Tuesday, with ex-Buck P.J. Tucker hitting big 3-pointers down the stretch as Milwaukee players watched in their locker room.
After that game ended, Antetokounmpo downplayed the importance of home court just a little, noting that the Bucks were the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference when they won it all two years ago.
&ldquo;At the end of the day, Boston is a beast, Philly is a beast, Cleveland is a beast, New York is a beast,&rdquo; Antetokounmpo said.
Kendrick Nunn scored 24 points for the Wizards, who are out of playoff contention and played without Bradley Beal (left knee), Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Kyle Kuzma (right ankle). Washington kept it close until late in the second quarter, when Milwaukee closed the half on a 13-5 run to lead 75-62.
It wasn&rsquo;t close after that, with the Bucks leading by as many as 24 points. Milwaukee wasn&rsquo;t at full strength either. Khris Middleton (right knee) missed the game, which was the first half of a back-to-back for the Bucks. Grayson Allen was also out after leaving Sunday&rsquo;s game against Philadelphia with a sprained right ankle.
Pat Connaughton played only 5:40 because of what coach Mike Budenholzer said was a twisted right ankle. Budenholzer was hopeful it&rsquo;s not too serious.
HIGHLIGHT
On a night when defense was in short supply, Antetokounmpo made an incredible chase-down block on Nunn in the fourth quarter with his team up 15 &mdash; although Corey Kispert followed up with a layup for the Wizards.
&ldquo;His competitive fire, his competitive spirit, it&rsquo;s the best,&rdquo; Budenholzer said. &ldquo;A lot of guys I think don&rsquo;t go get that. Not his physical ability to go get it, but just the competitiveness and the willingness to try. He&rsquo;s very special that way.&rdquo;
Antetokounmpo nearly had his triple-double after three quarters but needed one more assist.
LOTTERY ODDS
Washington (34-45) is now in a three-way tie for 11th place in the Eastern Conference with Orlando and Indiana.
TIP-INS
Bucks: Jevon Carter (left foot) did not play. ... Portis has 23 double-doubles off the bench this season, the most in the league. ... Antetokounmpo had eight turnovers. ... Jae Crowder scored 19 points. ... Milwaukee shot 23 of 42 from 3-point range.
Wizards: In addition to the Beal-Porzingis-Kuzma trio, Washington was also missing Monte Morris (right ankle), Delon Wright (illness) and Deni Avdija (left elbow). Jordan Goodwin, Johnny Davis and Anthony Gill, who had combined for 10 starts all season, were all in the starting lineup. ... Davis, a first-round draft pick last year, scored a career-high 20 points. ... Gafford picked up four fouls in the first half.
UP NEXT
Bucks: Host Chicago on Wednesday night.
Wizards: At Atlanta on Wednesday night.

The Bucks (57-22) moved to three games ahead of Boston with three games to play.

Antetokounmpo’s triple-double lifts Bucks over Wizards

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Jalen Brunson and Quentin Grimes each scored 27 points, and the New York Knicks clinched a playoff berth with a 118-109 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday night.
Immanuel Quickley added 22 points and Obi Toppin had 21 for the Knicks, who won their fourth in a row and will be in the postseason for the second time in three years. They had missed the playoffs the previous seven seasons.
Mitchell Robinson contributed eight points and 11 rebounds as the Knicks, who have won both games since losing All-Star forward Julius Randle to a sprained left ankle.
Corey Kispert led Washington with a career-high 29 points. Johnny Davis had 16 and Taj Gibson added 14.
The Knicks trailed by as many as 10 points in the second quarter and 61-53 at halftime. The Wizards extended their lead to 64-55 before the Knicks went on a 14-4 run to reclaim a lead they never gave back. New York extended its advantage to 86-79 at the end of the third quarter.
Toppin opened the final quarter with a 3-pointer, giving the Knicks their first double-digit lead. The Wizards never got closer than eight the rest of the way. New York took its biggest lead at 114-94 on Brunson&rsquo;s floater with 2:38 left in the game.
The Knicks were ahead 36-31 early in the second when the Wizards went on a 17-2 run and took a 48-38 lead on Deni Avdija&rsquo;s 3-pointer with 7:41 left in the second quarter. Jordan Goodwin and Kendrick Nunn each had 11 points for the Wizards.
TIP-INS
Wizards: Washington was without its top three scorers: Bradley Beal (23.2), Kristaps Porzingis (23.2) and Kyle Kuzma (21.2). Porzingis missed his second straight game with a non-Covid illness, while Beal (sore left knee) and Kuzma (sprained right ankle) have been out for six and seven games, respectively. ... In eight games against his former team, Porzingis has averaged 21.1 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks. &hellip; No one on the Wizards&rsquo; roster has played in all of the team&rsquo;s games this season. Avdija has only missed one.
Knicks: RJ Barrett missed the game with a non-Covid illness. &hellip; Randle had started the first 77 games before his injury. Only Isaiah Hartenstein has played in every game for the Knicks. &hellip; Exactly 53 years ago, April 2, 1970, the late Willis Reed collected a Knicks playoff-record 36 rebounds in a win over the then-Washington Bullets in Game 5 of the Eastern Division semifinals.
UP NEXT
Wizards: Host Milwaukee on Tuesday.
Knicks: At Indiana on Wednesday.

Jalen Brunson and Quentin Grimes each scored 27 points, and the Knicks clinched a playoff berth with a 118-109 win over the Wizards.

Knicks clinch playoff berth with 118-109 win over Wizards

Isaac Mourier is the director of performance nutrition and sports science at Impact Basketball, one of the most prestigious independent training organizations for elite pro basketball players. He's spent time as a consultant for the Sacramento Kings and as a nutritionist for Georgia athletics, and he played pro basketball in Germany.
So while Mourier cannot speak for everyone in the NBA, his next statement carries weight:
"I've never met a player that doesn't want to play," Mourier told Basketball News. "Never, in my career as a player, as a practitioner, have I ever met a player that does not want to play. So that's a myth."
The NBA's perceived "load management crisis" has only sparked louder outrage this season from fans, some media and even former players. Charles Barkley has <a href="https://awfulannouncing.com/nba/charles-barkley-load-management-steel-mill-first-take.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called the trend</a> "disrespectful to the game."&nbsp;Kendrick Perkins has <a href="https://fadeawayworld.net/kendrick-perkins-rips-load-management-its-starting-to-get-beyond-disrespectful" target="_blank" rel="noopener">labeled the mental toughness of today's players</a> as "softer than funeral music." While these two are certainly controversial voices at the very least, they are significant influences in the sport's discourse.
Barkley and Perkins, among many others, are also warping the true hows and whys of load management.&nbsp;
Today's NBA game is more physically taxing than ever, and among those in the league, it's barely a debate.&nbsp;
"I was part of the physical era, where you could hand-check and grind, post up and all that," Mike Conley told <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/load-management-draymond-green-warriors-kevon-looney-technology-mike-conley-jerami-grant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox Sports in January.</a> "We were a physical team. It&rsquo;s who we were. That was taxing in a whole other way. You played through injuries, but it was more bumps and bruises because you were being physically assaulted.
"Now it&rsquo;s like, imagine running as fast as you can for 48 minutes and having to do that every night. There are more possessions, more opportunities to get these non-contact injuries. Guys are having more calf strains, more hamstrings and stuff like that. We weren&rsquo;t getting those as much (before)."
Kevon Looney backs Conley up in <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/load-management-draymond-green-warriors-kevon-looney-technology-mike-conley-jerami-grant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that article</a>, and Mourier supports them both. He says that the "physicality" of the old-school, post-centric game is much different from today's fast pace that wears out the body with more muscle contractions.
"What may look less physically taxing to the eye, in terms of less bumps and bruises and people getting knocked over &mdash; I think you're actually having the opposite effect on the body, where these distances covered, the speed at which they're covered and the changes of directions are far more taxing on the body," Mourier said.
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Today, teams can quantify those stresses. Mourier explains that players often jump on force plates and see how their power generated will change with fatigue throughout a season. Hormones and proteins found in blood testing can signal muscle damage or inflammation. Teams use GPS tracking and camera systems to monitor players' wear and tear even in practices. The data paints a collective picture of an athlete's overall load during the season.
Importantly, this data isn't hidden by doctors &mdash; it typically is part of an ongoing conversation throughout the year. Building trust between players and medical staffers is crucial to injury management. That way, players can trust the data and doctors can respect the athlete's motivations.
"There's a number of data points that you will track until it gets to the point where we have to stop," Mourier said. "It's not like, 'Hey, we've just noticed something and you're not gonna play tonight.' It will be something that's been in the works &mdash; overall wellness scores, looking at that force plate data &mdash; it will be a trend, which is happening over time, and it's got to a point where it's like, 'Okay, we really have to do this.'
"It's not taken lightly because, ultimately, everybody's job there is to make sure that people can play every night."
Fans often want to ask: Who's in control? And the difficult answer is that the power dynamics change in different organizations.
Mourier says that superstars' voices will naturally have more influence, but that college staffs have more control over player rest than NBA teams. Others in the NBA have observed that teams do hold serious decision-making power.
"I do know on occasion that it&rsquo;s not the player&rsquo;s choice [to rest]," New Orleans Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. told Basketball News.
"On the whole, I think people are on the same page, especially when it comes to our [Impact Basketball] guys on [NBA] teams," Mourier said. "I've never come across someone saying, 'They made me sit down; I wanted to play and I couldn't.'"
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_20114521.jpg" alt="" width="575" height="444" />
Seth Partnow works for StatsBomb and writes for The Athletic, and was formerly the Milwaukee Bucks' director of basketball research, working adjacent to the sports scientists within the organization. He said in his general experience, trust in both data and relationships is a huge part of reaching decisions to rest.&nbsp;
"I think that the impetus for resting overwhelmingly comes from the medical and front-office side," Partnow told Basketball News. "I think that part of the increased comfort players have with revealing that information is maybe an increased willingness to take that advice."
Partnow explained that teams often boil down decision-making for rest to a "risk versus reward" scale. Does Player X need to play this specific game for the sake of the team, and is it worth the risk of a potential injury that could threaten playoff availability?&nbsp;
"We're going to be judged on how well we do in the playoffs," Partnow said. "And more of a bigger factor than a regular-season win or two is, 'Are my good players able to play?'"
That balance does not include the weight of the fan experience &mdash; a valid criticism within the conversation. Mourier, originally from England, remembers attending his first NBA game in person between the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards and being disappointed when LeBron James and Dwyane Wade didn't suit up. NBA tickets can be a significant investment for fans and families; understandably, they would be bummed when a star rests.
But "risk vs. reward" applies to the league's approach too, as evidenced by its lack of action on anything surrounding load management. Others, including <a href="https://theathletic.com/4272209/2023/03/03/load-management-nba-injuries/?source=user_shared_article" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a recent conversation between The Athletic's staff members</a>, have clamored for more transparency around injuries as at least a starting point.
&ldquo;This isn&rsquo;t a new issue. There&rsquo;s nothing particularly happening this season that we haven&rsquo;t seen happening over the last several seasons," Adam Silver <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/25/sports/sunday-basketball-notes/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in February</a>. "I understand it from a fan standpoint that if you are particularly buying tickets to a particular game and that player isn&rsquo;t playing. I don&rsquo;t have a good answer for that other than this is a deep league with incredible competition."
One motivator gaining traction is the idea of minimum-games-played requirements for season awards. Shams Charania has reported that <a href="https://theathletic.com/4302514/2023/03/13/the-bounce-lakers-cba-games-played-minimum-shams/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">both the league and the National Basketball Players Association like the idea</a>. But many do not, including Mourier.
"I think that opens up a pretty dangerous can of worms, because if you have somebody that's really not in a position where they're ready to play &mdash; we have to start looking at them as humans as opposed to just athletes," Mourier said. "If they're in a position where they are really not ready to play, they're feeling sore or there's an injury, and they're creeping up on that cut-off for games and they're about to play, and it's gonna mean that they're not going to get home, they can't put food on the table for their family or can't support the the different needs that they have, then we have a human issue."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr explains his position of protecting his players on the second night of a back-to-back, empathizes with the fans who are affected by load management and shares how a 72-game NBA season would be equally as rewarding as it&rsquo;d be safe. <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/osTyhqxNyd">pic.twitter.com/osTyhqxNyd</a>
&mdash; Spencer Davies (@SpinDavies) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpinDavies/status/1616581456658108416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2023</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Another common suggestion is to simply shorten the schedule, be it to 70 games, 65 games or whatever makes sense. It would lighten the workload for players and possibly address some of the concerns about the value of the regular season along the way. But Silver didn't seem excited.
&ldquo;If we thought it made sense to reduce the number of games, we would. But there&rsquo;s no data right now that suggests, as I said, based on some prior experiments or even as we look at the data over the course of the season and when players get injured, it isn&rsquo;t... You would think that it would be the case that injuries would increase as the season goes on, and that&rsquo;s not necessarily it either," Silver said.
Partnow echoes Silver's stance as a reason for the league shrugging its shoulders. There just isn't hard proof that the change wouldn't lead to an obvious loss of revenue from dropping 200-plus contests.
"Measuring how that sort of loss of &mdash; I don't know, if you want to call it loss of trust &mdash; might longer-term affect the per-game revenue, that's tough math to do, but I think that's the concern," Partnow added.
And even if the league did shrink the schedule, games are not the only way athletes are physically taxed during the year.
&ldquo;I think the biggest thing [fans don't notice] would just be trying to manage injuries and inflammation while traveling via airplane," Nance Jr. said. "That always seems to exacerbate most problems.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Fans can&rsquo;t imagine playing 82 games in different cities all across the country and the physical toll it takes on your body, even without injuries," added NBA veteran Etan Thomas. "It&rsquo;s difficult for most fans to really understand.&rdquo;
Mourier says that pros need at least 48-to-72 hours between high-level competition for their bodies to replenish with proper nutrients. That's not consistently happening under the current schedule, and travel doesn't help.
"All of the factors which are not directly related to after the ball is thrown up at the tip-off &mdash; so sleep, travel, all of that other stuff &mdash; how can we influence those things to put the players in a more favorable spot to be able to go and perform every night? I think that's where we start," Mourier suggested.
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Load management is the best strategy NBA teams have to contain injuries, but it isn't stopping them from happening. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263354" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Studies are showing</a> that NBA players get hurt more than ever. Partnow warns not to assume rest every time a star is out briefly; many of the smaller cases are still legitimate injuries.&nbsp;
The findings hint at a scarier truth: What if the NBA can't do anything about it? As <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/27125793/these-kids-ticking-bombs-threat-youth-basketball" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN's Baxter Holmes uncovered</a>, AAU and youth sports are taking major tolls on players' bodies before they even reach the pro level. Current pros are torn on if the grind of year-round youth basketball was worth it.
"I agree that kids are being overworked at a young age,&rdquo; <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2019/11/08/does-aau-lead-to-load-management-in-nba-kids-are-being-overworked/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago Bulls big man Nikola Vucevic told HoopsHype in 2019</a>. &ldquo;Parents push kids too hard to succeed and hire all these fake basketball coaches who don&rsquo;t teach them how to play the game the right way. Kids have to have fun first while they play, and not [have someone] make it a business for them right away."
The NBA doesn't supervise the entirety of American youth hoops, which means it can't stop one of the root problems.
"Yes, absolutely [it's worrisome]," Partnow said. "I mean, on some level, it's not just that youth sports are out of our control. Youth sports are out of control."
So, NBA teams and players have more data than ever to manage a sport that is more physcially demanding than ever. But the league doesn't have the data to comfortably make a big change, and the frustration only grows.
At what point does the NBA stop waiting for numeric proof to force change, and take the risk for the sake of its players and fans?
"That's a political question. I don't know," Partnow said. "The longer [load management] becomes front and center of the conversation, the shorter that timespan is. But if something intervening happens that takes the focus off, and now we're talking about this other thing, then it loses salience and it kind of subsides...
"It seems like this [conversation] has been pretty continuous for the last couple months, which is probably the longest I can remember it being sort of a constant."

Ethan Fuller talks to figures around basketball to understand why load management happens and what can be done about it.

Here's the reality of the NBA's perceived 'load management crisis'

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Sorry, Giannis, the NBA wanted back that rebound. Your fourth triple-double of the season, too.
Some might say nice try, others have an issue with what is known as stat padding.
When Milwaukee MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo tried to orchestrate his 10th rebound Sunday night in the final seconds of the Bucks&rsquo; win against Washington, it sent the world of social media into overdrive.
Along with it, dredged up conversations about the touchy topic of stat padding, which insinuates that someone, whether it be on the basketball court or even in the world of online video games, compiles results oblivious to what&rsquo;s going on around them.
A rebound shy of the triple-double mark, Antetokounmpo was running out the clock when he stopped near the basket. He hesitated for a moment before lightly tossing the ball at the bottom of the rim and grabbing it for what appeared to be his 10th board.
Even the announcer was like, &ldquo;Does that count?&rdquo;
It did &mdash; until it didn&rsquo;t. On Monday, and following a review by the league, his official line read: 23 points, 13 assists and nine boards.
While wiping away Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s last rebound was probably an easy call for the league, it sometimes can be a fine line between padding one&rsquo;s stats and just playing the game hard. Russell Westbrook no doubt heard the innuendos when he was a triple-double machine. Two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic recently heard aspersions, too.
Antetokounmpo&rsquo;s rebound was on the blatant side (his name got added to a Wikipedia entry on &ldquo;stat padding &rdquo;).
&ldquo;I just try to play the game smart and kind of stole one,&rdquo; Antetokounmpo said in a postgame interview following a 117-111 win over Washington.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone doesn&rsquo;t believe Jokic would ever try to steal one. Still, Jokic heard the noise directed his way after recording his 100th career triple-double on Feb. 28. The Denver big man sarcastically addressed comments made by ESPN NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins, who intimated Jokic was guilty of stat padding.
&ldquo;I mean, when you&rsquo;re stat padding it&rsquo;s easy, you know,&rdquo; Jokic told the Nuggets&rsquo; TV network Altitude Sports of notching the milestone.
Asked if he heard the chatter, Jokic amusingly responded: &ldquo;Yes, of course. I mean, it&rsquo;s true.&rdquo;
Concerning the late-game actions of Antetokounmpo, Perkins commented on Twitter: &ldquo;Every player has padded their stats at some point during their career.&rdquo;
Players in triple-double territory do often know when they&rsquo;re closing in on the usually impressive stat line. Some even know exactly what&rsquo;s required. They know when they need one rebound or one assist, and so do their teammates. They almost always defer in those moments for the benefit of someone else&rsquo;s stats.
Teams get stat sheets delivered in every time-out. Scoreboards in the the arenas show every number imaginable. Everybody knows the deal in those moments.
There have been memorable, and strange, examples of the lengths players will go to get there. Cleveland&rsquo;s Ricky Davis shot at the wrong basket in 2003 to try and get the one rebound he needed; it wasn&rsquo;t awarded by the stat crew and Utah was highly annoyed at Davis&rsquo; antics with 6 seconds left in what was a 25-point game.
&ldquo;He was trying to embarrass somebody. ... I&rsquo;d have knocked him on his&rdquo; butt, the late Jerry Sloan, then the Utah coach, said that night.
When the obvious doesn&rsquo;t happen, stat padding tends to become hilarious.
Take the game in 2017, when Dwyane Wade was with the Chicago Bulls and needed one rebound for a triple-double. Kay Felder took the game&rsquo;s final shot for Cleveland, it missed and the ball was magically coming right to where Wade was standing with 1 second remaining &mdash; that is, until Bulls teammate Cristiano Felicio knocked the ball away.
Wade fell back in disbelief, then gave Felicio a look as if to ask, &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
&ldquo;My teammate didn&rsquo;t want me to be great,&rdquo; Wade said that night, smiling, though mildly bothered.
Wade did just fine without that triple-double; he&rsquo;s almost certainly going into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this year. Andray Blatche, however, is not going to be enshrined in Springfield. He never got a triple-double. He almost did, once.
April 4, 2010, was the night of Blatche infamy. He finished with 20 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds for Washington, and thought he had rebound No. 10 with 22.1 seconds left. Small complication: He fouled New Jersey&rsquo;s Brook Lopez on the play, and didn&rsquo;t have another chance to get the board he needed.
In the case of Jokic, Malone doesn&rsquo;t believe his center would ever chase individual glory &mdash; though the Nuggets&rsquo; coach has a theory why someone might.
&ldquo;Maybe they&rsquo;re just tired of this player, non-athletic player from Sombor, Serbia, continuing to kick everybody&rsquo;s&rdquo; butt, Malone told reporters after a recent practice. &ldquo;Maybe people have a hard time with that. I don&rsquo;t know. But for (Jokic) to say that, &lsquo;Yeah, you know what, I&rsquo;m padding my stats.&rsquo; Yeah, it probably signals that maybe something touched a nerve.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not doing anything to pump his own numbers up,&rdquo; Malone added. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just not in his nature. It&rsquo;s silly to think otherwise.&rdquo;

it sometimes can be a fine line between padding one’s stats and just playing the game hard.

NBA denies Giannis fourth triple-double, stirs talks about stat padding

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Bradley Beal scored 32 points, Kristaps Porzingis and Monte Morris added 17 apiece and the Washington Wizards shot 70% from the field through the first three quarters of their 127-113 rout of the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night.
Washington led 80-57 after its highest-scoring half of the season. The Wizards gave up the first 10 points of the third quarter, bringing back memories of a couple recent games in which they blew 20-point leads, but they steadied themselves quickly and led 104-88 heading into the fourth.
Washington was able to substitute liberally toward the end &mdash; 13 players appeared for the Wizards &mdash; and a late slide dropped their final shooting percentage down to 64%, costing them a franchise record but setting a season high by a comfortable margin.
&ldquo;We talked about it at halftime &mdash; we&rsquo;re not going to shoot 70% all game,&rdquo; Washington coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. &ldquo;But we still shot pretty well. That was kind of the messaging. Don&rsquo;t get complacent with just making shots.&rdquo;
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Tyrese Haliburton scored 21 points and Myles Turner had 20 for Indiana, which has lost 15 of its last 17.
Washington, which pulled even with Chicago for ninth place in the Eastern Conference, was without Kyle Kuzma because of a sprained left ankle.
The Wizards had 18 turnovers to Indiana&rsquo;s eight and allowed 27 second-chance points, but none of that made much difference with Washington shooting such an incredible percentage. The Wizards shot 73% from 2-point range, 46% from 3 and 86% on free throws.
The Wizards went 15 of 20 from the field in the first quarter &mdash; including 12 of 13 inside the arc &mdash; and led 37-29. It took a little while before Washington really broke the game open, but an 18-4 run late in the first half made it 80-55.
The Wizards have won two in a row following a three-game losing streak in which they led by at least 20 in losses to Portland and Brooklyn. They traded Rui Hachimura recently and acquired Kendrick Nunn, but it was otherwise a quiet trade deadline for Washington.
&ldquo;I think our biggest thing is being healthy,&rdquo; Beal said. &ldquo;This is our team. You can&rsquo;t make any adjustments now. You&rsquo;ve got to ride it out throughout the rest of the year.&rdquo;
CONSISTENCY
Often when a team shoots an unusually high percentage early, it regresses dramatically at some point, but the Wizards shot 75% in the first quarter, 71% in the second and 62% in the third. They finally dipped to 48% in the fourth, missing their final four attempts of the game.
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TIP-INS
Pacers: George Hill and Jordan Nwora, acquired Thursday from Milwaukee in a trade, are expected to suit up for the Pacers next week. ... Daniel Theis (right knee) did not play.
Wizards: Daniel Gafford scored 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting. ... Before Saturday, Washington&rsquo;s top shooting percentage this season was 58% at Philadelphia on Nov. 2. The franchise record is 65.3% on April 8, 2015, also at Philadelphia.
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Bradley Beal scored 32 points, and the Washington Wizards beat the Indiana Pacers 127-113.

Sharp-shooting Wizards score 80 in half, rout Pacers 127-113

SAN ANTONIO (AP) &mdash; Deni Avdija had a career-high 25 points, Bradley Beal had 21 points and the Washington Wizards ended a 22-game losing streak to the Spurs in San Antonio with a 127-106 victory Monday night.
Washington, which last won in San Antonio on Dec. 11, 1999, has won six straight for its longest winning streak since a six-game run in 2015.
&ldquo;You never want to be on the losing end of that streak, but it&rsquo;s good to get that one off our chest,&rdquo; said Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr., who was an advance scout with the team in 1999.
Kristaps Porzingis added 17 points and nine rebounds after a fast start for Washington.
Keldon Johnson had 26 points, Jeremy Sochan added 17 and Zach Collins had 16 for the Spurs, who have lost six straight to fall to 2-13 this month.
The Wizards led 63-55 at halftime and never trailed in the second half. The Spurs closed within four points midway through the third quarter, but Washington responded with an 8-0 run to regain a double-digit advantage.
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San Antonio is 0-35 this season when trailing by double digits.
&ldquo;We had more fast-break points,&rdquo; Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;We had more second-chance points. We had fewer turnovers. We had more points in the paint but shot 20-something from 3 and they shot 50 or something. Game over.&rdquo;
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San Antonio was 7 for 29 on 3-pointers while Washington shot 16 for 30 on 3s.
Porzingis scored 13 of the Wizards&rsquo; first 19 points. Jakob Poeltl picked up two fouls in the opening four minutes, forcing the Spurs to bring Zach Collins in sooner than usual.
After his early scoring burst, Porzingis was scoreless in the next two periods and had four points in the fourth.
Avdija responded by scoring 23 points in the final three quarters to help the Wizards win here for the first time since he was 2 years old.
&ldquo;The streak is done,&rdquo; Avdija said. &ldquo;Just to close that circle and be here and having a good game versus the Spurs and end that streak. I think everybody did a really great job competing. When we&rsquo;re focused and sharing the ball, we&rsquo;re a really dangerous team.&rdquo;
Avdija was 10 for 12 from the field and made both his 3-point attempts. Kendrick Nunn added 10 points, giving him double-digit scoring in all three games since being acquired from the Los Angeles Lakers for Rui Hachimura.
TIP-INS
Wizards: Washington&rsquo;s longest winning streak in franchise history is nine straight, which it accomplished in 2002, 1979, 1975, 1970 and 1969. ... Washington is 12-16 on the road, two victories shy of matching last season&rsquo;s win total away from home. ... Kuzma and Delon Wright were reunited with Poeltl, their teammate with the Utah Utes in 2015. ... Nunn received a technical foul 7 seconds into the second quarter after complaining about a non-call. After stripping possession from Blake Wesley, Nunn thought he was fouled on a layup attempt that was knocked out of bounds by the Spurs&rsquo; rookie. San Antonio F Doug McDermott missed the free throw.
Spurs: San Antonio has allowed 100-plus points in six straight games and in all but one of its past 27 games. .. Sochan has scored in double figures in seven straight games and in 10 of his past 12. ... G Josh Richardson did not play after being upgraded to probable several hours before tipoff. Richardson missed his third straight game with a sore left knee. ... Collins suffered a bloody nose that forced officials to stop play with 2.8 seconds left in the first quarter. Keldon Johnson re-entered the game in place of Collins.
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TURBO
Avdija&rsquo;s recent rise has coincided with the team bestowing the nickname &ldquo;Turbo&rdquo; on the 22-year-old forward.
Wizards veteran Monte Morris unknowingly gave Avdija the nickname while the two were playing 1-on-1. Morris playfully remarked that Avdija&rsquo;s hustle reminded him of the &ldquo;turbo and square&rdquo; move in NBA2K.
&ldquo;They really want me to succeed and be aggressive,&rdquo; Avdija said. &ldquo;Since they gave me that nickname, I really just am being more aggressive. I&rsquo;m just enjoying, that&rsquo;s the most important for me.&rdquo;
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The Washington Wizards ended a 22-game losing streak to the Spurs in San Antonio with a 127-106 victory.

Wizards end 22-game skid in San Antonio, beat Spurs 127-106

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Emanuel Sharp came off the bench to score 18 points and No. 3 Houston bounced back from a loss that knocked it from the top spot in the rankings, beating UCF 82-71 on Wednesday night.
Jarace Walker added 17 points, Jamal Shead had 14 points and 10 assists, and Marcus Sasser also scored 14 for the Cougars (19-2, 7-1 American Athletic Conference), who lost 56-55 at home to Temple on Sunday.
Ithiel Horton scored 18 points and Taylor Hendricks had 17 for UCF (13-7, 4-4). Hendricks&rsquo; three-point play capped a 6-0 run that pulled the Knights within 67-62 with 7:02 remaining.
NO. 2 ALABAMA 66, MISSISSIPPI STATE 63
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Jahvon Quinerly scored 14 points and Alabama rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half to beat Mississippi State.
The Crimson Tide (18-2, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) had to climb out of a hole and then hold on two days after reaching the program&rsquo;s highest ranking since rising to No. 1 in the 2002-03 season. The result was a ninth straight win and the first real scare during that stretch.
Quinerly had four assists for the Tide and scored nine in the second half. Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney both scored 13, and Clowney had eight rebounds.
Tolu Smith led Mississippi State (12-8, 1-7) with 15 points and seven rebounds. Dashawn Davis added 14.
NO. 4 TENNESSEE 70, GEORGIA 41
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Zakai Zeigler had 11 points and seven assists and Tennessee held its 10th opponent to 50 or fewer points.
Tobe Awaka came off the bench to score 10 points. Santiago Vescovi had six rebounds, four assists and six steals to go with his eight points as Tennessee (17-3, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) got its first win at home since having its 25-game home winning streak snapped by Kentucky more than a week ago.
The Bulldogs (13-7, 3-4), who managed just 29% shooting from the field, were led by Terry Roberts with 11 points.
NO. 13 XAVIER 82, NO. 19 UCONN 79
STORRS, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Souley Boum scored 21 points, Colby Jones added 20 and Xavier won its 13th in 14 games.
Jack Nunge had 12 points and Jerome Hunter added 11 for Xavier (17-4, 9-1 Big East), which led by 17 in the first half and 39-24 at halftime.
Jordan Hawkins scored 26 of his 28 points in the second half for UConn (16-6, 5-6), leading a comeback that fell just short. Tristen Newton added 23 points for the Huskies.
TEXAS A&amp;M 79, NO. 15 AUBURN 63
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Tyrece Radford had 30 points and nine rebounds and Texas A&amp;M ended the nation&rsquo;s longest active home winning streak at 28 games.
The Aggies (14-6, 6-1 Southeastern Conference) used a strong offensive start to hand Auburn its first loss at Neville Arena since Feb. 23, 2021.
Wade Taylor IV finished with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting for the Aggies.
Johni Broome and Wendell Green Jr. each scored 16 points for the Tigers (16-4, 6-2), who had won five straight games overall.
NO. 23 PROVIDENCE 79, BUTLER 58
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) &mdash; Bryce Hopkins had 16 points and seven rebounds as Providence dominated Butler inside.
Devin Carter added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Friars (16-5, 8-2 Big East), who have won two straight since back-to-back losses at Creighton and Marquette. Providence had a 42-24 rebounding edge and outscored the Bulldogs 48-20 in the paint.
Eric Hunter Jr. had 12 points and Jayden Taylor scored 10 with a team-high five rebounds for Butler (11-11, 3-8).&nbsp;

A recap of Tuesday night's action in men's college hoops includes a bounce-back victory for the Cougars and an upset at Auburn.

Sharp scores 18 off the bench, leads No. 3 Houston over UCF

HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Kyle Kuzma scored 20 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter to help the Washington Wizards rally for a 108-103 victory over the Houston Rockets Wednesday night.
The Wizards trailed by as many 19 points and were down by 10 to open the fourth quarter before Kuzma took over.
The Wizards scored the first eight points of the fourth to start a 15-2 run that gave them an 86-83 lead with about eight minutes left. The Wizards made five free throws in that span and Kuzma had 10 points with two 3-pointers.
Tari Eason made a layup for Houston after that before Kuzma made two more 3-pointers in less than a minute to power an 8-0 run that pushed Washington&rsquo;s lead to 94-85.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen it from him,&rdquo; Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. &ldquo;Once he gets going he&rsquo;s shooting into a big bucket. We needed it. We trust to put the ball in his hands in these moments and he&rsquo;s come up big for us.&rdquo;
Houston&rsquo;s Alperen Sengun had 21 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his second career triple-double. Jalen Green had 19 points on 6-of-19 shooting after scoring a career-high 42 points Tuesday night against Minnesota in a win that snapped a 13-game skid.
&ldquo;Late third quarter we got away from the things that are about winning, about building winning habits, about taking the right shot, about making the right path, and we&rsquo;ve got to be better,&rdquo; coach Stephen Silas said. &ldquo;Young and inexperienced and all that, we&rsquo;ve got to do better.&rdquo;
Four points by the Rockets got them within four with less than 30 seconds to go before Bradley Beal made two free throws to make it 107-101. A dunk by Kenyon Martin Jr. cut the lead to four again with seven seconds to go but Kuzma made 1 of 2 free throws to seal the victory.
After the poor start to the fourth quarter, Houston got going, using an 7-2 run, with two dunks from Martin, to cut the lead to 96-92 with 4 1/2 minutes left.
But the Wizards scored the next five points to make it 100-92 with three minutes to go.
Eric Gordon made a basket for Houston after that but another 3 by Kuzma extended Washington&rsquo;s lead to 105-97 with less than a minute to go.
Unseld was disappointed in how his team started the game but impressed with the way his guys bounced back.
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&ldquo;Not the prettiest game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t have the energy in that first half&hellip; but to their credit they responded after halftime. In that fourth quarter we really ramped it up.&rdquo;
The Rockets were up by 15 at halftime and had a 13-point lead with about eight minutes left in the third. The Wizards then used a 10-2 spurt to cut the lead to 66-61 with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. Corey Kispert had five points during that stretch and Kuzma capped it with a 3-point play.
Houston scored the next six points, with four from Jae&rsquo;Sean Tate, to extend the lead to 72-61 with less than four minutes to go in the quarter.
Newcomer Kendrick Nunn made a 3-pointer for Washington after that, and Green added four points for the Rockets before another 3 by Nunn cut Houston&rsquo;s lead to 76-67.
The Rockets added a basket before a 4-0 run by the Wizards, highlighted by a dunk from Kuzma cut the deficit to 78-71.
But Houston scored the last three points of the quarter to take an 81-71 lead into the fourth.
TIP-INS
Wizards: Kristaps Porzingis missed a second straight game with an ankle injury. &hellip; Monte Morris sat out with a sore right hamstring. &hellip;
Rockets: Kevin Porter Jr. missed a seventh consecutive game with a bruised left foot. &hellip; Garrison Mathews received a flagrant foul early in the third quarter for a hit on Daniel Gafford, that sent him tumbling to the court. ... Beal had 17 points.
NUNN&rsquo;S DEBUT
Nunn made his Washington debut after being part of the trade from the Lakers for Rui Hachimura Tuesday. He had 12 points.
Unseld liked what he saw from his new player.
&ldquo;I thought he was good,&rdquo; Unseld said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough because we haven&rsquo;t had a full practice. But he just played to his strengths. He&rsquo;s a good player. He&rsquo;s got the ability to fill it up.&rdquo;
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Kyle Kuzma scored 20 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter as the Washington Wizards got a 108-103 win over the Houston Rockets.

Kyle Kuzma has 33 points, Wizards beat Rockets 108-103

On Monday afternoon, news broke that the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-trade-reaction-exploring-rui-hachimura-fit-with-los-angeles-lakers-lebron-james-anthony-davis-washington-wizards-kendrick-nunn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Washington Wizards were trading fan favorite Rui Hachimura to the Los Angeles Lakers</a>. It's a move that shocked and disappointed many Wizards fans, who had high hopes for their team's ninth overall draft pick just four years ago.
Hachimura had been averaging 13.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game this season, just coming off of a season-high 30-point game off the bench in a blowout win over the Orlando Magic this past weekend.
The Wizards did avoid having to take on any long-term salaries in the trade &mdash; and didn't give away any of their draft picks &mdash; but it failed to tip the scale of disappointment for Wizards fans, who looked at Hachimura as being an integral part of the team&rsquo;s future.
I caught up with <a href="https://twitter.com/DrewGooden?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drew Gooden</a>, a 14-year NBA veteran who formerly played for the Washington Wizards and is now an analyst for NBC Sports Washington and Monumental Sports to analyze this trade.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot-2023-01-25-at-12-43-03-2b6rbaloibfgflkd6yo2k4knzy-jpg-webp-image-5000-2813-pixels-scaled-29__690w.png" alt="" />
Etan Thomas: What was your reaction to the trade? Rui was really a fan favorite, and a lot of people in the DMV really didn&rsquo;t see this coming and have been voicing their opinions on this, but what was your reaction?&nbsp;
Drew Gooden: "It was strictly business. Like you said, he&rsquo;s a fan favorite and Rui had a window to get better on both sides of the ball both offensively and defensively. He just scored 30 points against the Orlando Magic. So we know what Rui could provide right now and potentially for the future. But I believe this was strictly a business decision the Wizards had to make in order to have the possibility of re-signing Kyle Kuzma in the offseason."
Etan: So, I&rsquo;ve heard people say that and do you think that&rsquo;s all it boils down to? The Wizards had to make this move to free up cap space? I saw they made the point clear that they were not entertaining any calls or inquiries for Kuz as we approach this trade deadline.
Gooden: "Absolutely, this wasn&rsquo;t personal at all. But truth be told, I think this is a great opportunity for Rui. Not only from a business standpoint of getting an extension and becoming part of a great organization in the Los Angeles Lakers, but the relationship that his agent has with Rob Pelinka; there is a business relationship already established there. And he gets the chance to play with one of the best players ever to play the game in LeBron James. And he&rsquo;ll be able to learn under LeBron just like Kyle Kuzma was able to learn under LeBron, so I think this is a positive for Rui.
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"And there was some pressure for him to sign his extension. Because if you look at the 2019 draft class and you look at all the guys who have received their extensions &mdash; and these are different players that I&rsquo;m going to list off &mdash; but you have Zion [Williamson], Ja Morant, RJ Barrett, De'Andre Hunter &mdash; the fourth pick &mdash; signed his extension, Darius Garland signed his rookie max extension with Cleveland. So these guys are trying to get locked in, and there is peer pressure &mdash; and you know this &mdash; when you see guys that you got drafted with already getting their extensions, but you haven&rsquo;t gotten yours yet. It&rsquo;s added pressure for you as a player from a business standpoint. And you&rsquo;re looking at your team like, 'Why are these other guys getting paid, but I&rsquo;m not?' and, 'Why are you not investing in me and showing your faith in me?' And unfortunately, the Washington Wizards just weren&rsquo;t in a position to do that."
Etan: I&rsquo;ve heard this in conversation, so let me repeat what the word on the street is. Many people have pointed to the fact that the Wizards have developed almost a pattern of not re-signing their draft picks. In fact, the last Wizards pick to earn an extension was Otto Porter Jr., and he was drafted was a decade ago.
Gooden: "Yeah, I have noticed that. But in this case, Kyle Kuzma just threw a monkey wrench in all of the plans with his play. He has shown that he can actually carry the team when Bradley Beal is out; that&rsquo;s invaluable. And you have another situation in [Kristaps] Porzingis that you may have to be confronted with because he can opt out (in late June before free agency starts) &mdash; now, what happens if he opts out? I&rsquo;m sure the Wizards would love to re-sign both of them, but they have to be in a financial situation where they could possibly do that, and honestly, that&rsquo;s the only reason for this trade. It&rsquo;s a strategic move; not personal, just business."
Etan: Let me ask you this &mdash; and of course, it&rsquo;s hard to predict &mdash; but how likely would you say it is that Kuzma does re-sign with the Wizards in the offseason? Because that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s on everybody&rsquo;s mind right now. You&rsquo;ve traded this young talent who is a fan favorite, and what happens if Kuzma doesn&rsquo;t re-sign with the Wizards?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Kyle Kuzma's 30 points power the <a href="https://twitter.com/WashWizards?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WashWizards</a> to victory in Dallas! <a href="https://t.co/EAyAPAuZgY">pic.twitter.com/EAyAPAuZgY</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1618237375422799872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 25, 2023</a></blockquote>

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Gooden: "It&rsquo;s, 'What&rsquo;s that magical number that could get the job done? What will make Kuzma sign that deal and stay in DC?' Because he will be an unrestricted free agent. I believe he could maximize his earnings staying with the Wizards. They <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/washington-wizards/kyle-kuzma-23622/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">do have his Bird Rights</a>. That&rsquo;s the hope, that&rsquo;s the strategy and the Wizards have to do everything in their power to put themselves in the position to be able to make that happen, and that&rsquo;s all they can control."
Etan: What does Kendrick Nunn bring to the table?&nbsp;
Gooden: "This is an interesting situation. In my years past looking at these trades &mdash; and giving up someone like Rui and getting draft picks and a guy with an expiring contract &mdash; it&rsquo;s probably another business decision. I&rsquo;m not sure if there is going to be a future here for him or not. But, maybe he&rsquo;ll get a shot and bring something to the table where he changes people&rsquo;s minds, which is very possible. That&rsquo;s what Kyle Kuzma did. He changed the narrative and made the organization shift their plans. Nunn could do that, even with the packed point guards (room) we currently have.
"But I know for a fact that (Nunn) can put the ball in the hole. His time in Miami, he was a 15-plus-point scorer in this league; I saw him with my own eyes in real time. He can catch waves throughout the course of a game and really take over games. So if he has that opportunity to play and show what he can do, there&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind that he can play at a high level. It&rsquo;s just the clutter of all of the point guards on the roster right now. So we&rsquo;ll see what happens."
Etan: Right. It will definitely be interesting to see. Okay, last question. Where do you think the Wizards end up this year? Of course, they have to stay healthy. That&rsquo;s one of the main things. But what is the ceiling or possibility for them this season?
Gooden: "Well, the Play-In Tournament I believe doesn&rsquo;t allow teams to let go of the rope down the stretch of the season. In the past, some teams may get to that point where they&rsquo;re thinking more of improving their chances in the lottery. This is an interesting window, and someone just asked me this question the other day.
"They asked, 'What is the Wizards identity?' And you know what? They haven&rsquo;t been whole the entire season. You have had small sample sizes where you had Porzingis, Beal and Kuzma all on the floor together, but nothing consistent this entire season. But one thing I know &mdash; they have a chance to win every given night no matter who is on the floor. They&rsquo;re a team that won&rsquo;t allow themselves to let go of the rope."

Etan Thomas speaks with Wizards analyst and former 14-year NBA pro Drew Gooden to analyze the Rui Hachimura trade with LA.

Drew Gooden: Wizards trading Hachimura to LA 'strategic, not personal'

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; LeBron James hit a career-high nine 3-pointers while scoring 46 points, but the Los Angeles Clippers hit 19 3-pointers of their own on the way to a comfortable 133-115 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
James scored at least 40 points against the Clippers for the first time in his 20-year career, giving him a 40-point game against all 30 teams in the NBA. James hit his record ninth 3-pointer with 6:45 to play, setting a career high from distance in his 1,404th game.
&ldquo;I was able to make a few shots tonight and try to help us stay in the game,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;But the Clippers, they are really good. Exceptionally good when they&rsquo;re shooting the 3-ball, and tonight they did that.&rdquo;
Indeed, James&rsquo; brilliance wasn&rsquo;t nearly enough: The Lakers never caught up after falling behind by 23 points, and James spent the final minutes on the bench after the Clippers pulled away for their 10th consecutive victory over their arena co-tenants in downtown Los Angeles since former Lakers guard Tyronn Lue became the Clippers&rsquo; coach.
James also ramped up his chase of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar&rsquo;s career scoring record with his 101st 40-point game, including the postseason. He trails Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points) by just 177 points, putting him in position to potentially break the record at the end of the Lakers&rsquo; upcoming five-game road swing instead of back home in Los Angeles.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to this place by not even thinking about it,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;Just being in the moment, trying to play the game the right way. Even tonight, as well as I shot the ball, I was still trying to distribute to my guys, to make sure they felt some type of rhythm. That&rsquo;s just always how I&rsquo;ve played the game.&rdquo;
Paul George had 27 points and nine rebounds, and Kawhi Leonard added 25 points in the Clippers&rsquo; third straight win overall. The Clippers never trailed largely because they hit a season-high 15 3-pointers in the first half while scoring a season-high 77 points in the first half.
&ldquo;(James) had a great shooting game, but we weathered the storm,&rdquo; Lue said. &ldquo;When they cut (the lead) to 10 and LeBron is on fire like that ... we just tried to take everyone else out and make him go one-on-one.&rdquo;
Norman Powell had 22 points and Reggie Jackson added 19 for the Clippers.
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&ldquo;We were forcing them into really tough shots, and they were just making them,&rdquo; Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;Against a great team like that, you&rsquo;ve got to play damn near perfect to overcome that deficit.&rdquo;
Russell Westbrook scored 17 points and Thomas Bryant added 15 for the Lakers, who could get Anthony Davis back Wednesday from his 20-game absence with a right foot injury.
&ldquo;The possibilities are limitless,&rdquo; Ham said with a grin.
HACHIMURA ARRIVES
Rui Hachimura sat on the Lakers&rsquo; bench in street clothes one day after they acquired him from Washington in a trade for Kendrick Nunn. The Japanese big man will in uniform Wednesday, Ham said.
TIP-INS
Clippers: Marcus Morris left the game with bruised ribs. Lue had no postgame update. ... John Wall missed his sixth straight game with an abdominal injury. ... Luke Kennard missed his ninth straight game with a calf injury.
Lakers: Guards Lonnie Walker and Austin Reaves also are both close to returns from injury, Ham said. Reaves hasn&rsquo;t played since Jan. 4, and Walker has been out since Dec. 28. ... Westbrook scored his 24,000th point in the first quarter, becoming the 28th player in NBA history to hit the mark.
</div>

LeBron James hit a career-high nine 3-pointers but the Clippers hit 19 3-pointers on the way to a 133-115 victory over the Lakers.

LeBron scores 46 points with 9 3s, but Clippers rout Lakers

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; Kyle Kuzma scored 30 points and made one of two free throws to break a tie with 4.2 seconds remaining, lifting the Washington Wizards to a 127-126 victory over Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.
Luka Doncic had 41 points and 15 rebounds for the Mavericks. Doncic still had on the jersey he ripped when he missed a free throw that would have put Dallas in front with 12.5 seconds to go when he bumped Kumza on a drive along the sideline.
The Mavericks challenged, but the call was confirmed. Kuzma missed the first free throw but swished the second.
&ldquo;I think there was some debate about whether he stepped out, whether he (was) fouled,&rdquo; Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. &ldquo;Thankfully, fouled. Those types of situations happen fast. You&rsquo;ve got to make a split-second decision.&rdquo;
Doncic tried twice to pass to Spencer Dinwiddie out of a double team on the final possession. The Wizards knocked the first out of bounds, and former Maverick Delon Wright stole the second to seal the victory.
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&ldquo;Luka had the right intention, was making the right play,&rdquo; Dinwiddie said. &ldquo;Delon just made a good play with his hands, something he&rsquo;s known for.&rdquo;
Kristaps Porzingis was out with an ankle injury in his first trip to Dallas since the Mavericks traded him to the Wizards last February for Dinwiddie and Davis Bertans.
The 7-foot-3 Latvian, whose pairing with Doncic never worked the way Dallas envisioned, received light applause after a video tribute during the break between the first and second quarters.
It was Washington&rsquo;s first game since sending Rui Hachimura to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kendrick Nunn and draft picks. Nunn was available but didn&rsquo;t play.
The Wizards opened a five-game trip with a third consecutive victory while Dallas finished a 1-3 homestand with its eighth loss in 11 games.
Washington swept the two-game series for the second consecutive season after going 14 years without a sweep of Dallas.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to get excited about one performance. We&rsquo;ve got along road trip ahead,&rdquo; Unseld said. &ldquo;It could be a catalyst for something, to be a little short-handed, able to compete on the road, an area which we&rsquo;ve struggled at times.&rdquo;
Bradley Beal scored 22 points with a 3-pointer that was one of three lead changes in the final three minutes. Deni Avdija had 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Dwight Powell scored a season-high 22 points with nine rebounds for Dallas. Dinwiddie had 20 points and eight assists.
Josh Green made his first seven shots and finished with 16 points, the most for the Dallas guard in four games since returning from a 20-game absence with a right elbow sprain.
TIP-INS
Wizards: Daniel Gafford played 19 minutes before fouling out with 6:32 remaining, getting nine points with seven rebounds. ... Corey Kispert scored 14 points, Monte Morris had 13 and Wright had 10 points, six assists and three steals.
Mavericks: F Christian Wood missed his third game since breaking his left thumb in a loss to Atlanta. The team has said he would be re-evaluated this week. ... Dorian Finney-Smith scored 12 points.
MISSED &rsquo;EM BOTH
Porzingis also missed the first meeting against his former team in Washington, won by the Wizards 113-105. He was out with a left groin strain for that November game. He&rsquo;s listed as week-to-week after spraining his left ankle Saturday against Orlando.
UP NEXT
Wizards: All three Texas cities are part of the five-game trip, with Houston next to finish a back-to-back Wednesday. The Rockets swept the two-game set with Wizards last season. The San Antonio stop is after a trip to New Orleans.
Mavericks: A two-game trip starts Thursday in Phoenix, where Dallas blew a 22-point lead in the second half of a 107-105 loss in the season opener.
</div>

Kyle Kuzma scored 30 points, lifting the Washington Wizards to a 127-126 victory over Dallas Mavericks.

Kuzma FT lifts Wizards over Mavs 127-126 despite Doncic’s 41

If you had the Los Angeles Lakers bolstering their forward room before the trade deadline &mdash; and sending off multiple future picks to do it &mdash; you can pat yourself on the back.
Don't pat too hard, though, because I doubt you had this deal on the bingo card.&nbsp;
On Monday, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-trade-news-report-los-angeles-lakers-finalizing-trade-to-acquire-washington-wizards-rui-hachimura-kendrick-nunn-kyle-kuzma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lakers were acquiring former lottery pick Rui Hachimura</a> from the Washington Wizards in exchange for Kendrick Nunn and three second round picks &mdash; a 2023 second via Chicago (looking real top-40ish), the least favorable of LA or Washington's 2028 second rounder and LA's 2029 second-rounder.
More of a starter trade than a star trade, but you have to crawl before you walk.
The optics of this deal aren't great for Washington; it's not fun trading away a somewhat recent top-10 pick for three second-rounders and a bench guard you don't have long-term belief in. That doesn't mean the move was thoughtless.
Replacing Hachimura's salary with Nunn's makes the Wizards' tax figure a little easier to deal with this season &mdash; they're now $1.3 million below the tax line, <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/spots/lakers-make-low-risk-gamble-on-rui-hachimura-1753/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per Keith Smith</a> &mdash; which could make them a candidate for more deals before the deadline. And if there was no intention of retaining Hachimura in the offseason, it's best to get&nbsp;something&nbsp;for him.
(And speaking of the offseason: It's clear the Wizards are gearing up to retain Kyle Kuzma, the former Laker who's blossomed into a multifaceted player.)
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The Laker side is more fun to think about.
They've needed reinforcements for a while, especially in the frontcourt. Prior to the deal, LeBron James was really the only bulky, athletic forward on the roster. The slight-bodied nature of the Lakers' wing/forward room has been an issue all season long. Hachimura won't solve that by himself, but he serves as a step in the right direction.
I'm curious to see how Hachimura slots in defensively. He's a mixed bag on the non-glamour end, able to bang and slide with 4s, and manage well enough against 3s. At worst, he should be able to funnel twitchier wings inside to Anthony Davis once he makes his return.&nbsp;
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To be clear, the Lakers do not (or at least should not) view Hachimura as an on-ball stopper. If he can serve as an innings eater of sorts, that will allow LeBron and Davis (when healthy) to patrol the back line. The collective size and length of those three &mdash; combined with the screen navigation they get up top from Dennis Schroder &mdash; should be the foundation of a solid defensive unit.
Beyond his stature, Hachimura's skill set should be useful for the Lakers. He's a load to deal with when getting downhill. That really shines through in transition, where he's generated 1.19 points per possession (PPP) on transition opportunities over the past two seasons per InStat tracking.
The Lakers rank sixth in the league in transition frequency per Cleaning The Glass, and seventh in the league in pace. Their willingness to push off misses and turnovers should vibe well with Hachimura. That intention picks up when Russell Westbrook is on the floor, an important note considering their time together in Washington.
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In the half-court, expect Hachimura to make his money as a complementary piece. He's shown the ability to punish sloppy closeouts by mixing in strong drives with mid-range pull-ups.&nbsp;
His propensity for turnarounds lead to underwhelming results against mismatches, but he's still someone teams shouldn't feel&nbsp;comfortable&nbsp;stashing smaller players against.
The swing skill for Hachimura will be his three-ball. This is a Laker team starved of reliable shooters &mdash; not just in terms of efficiency, but players that defenses allocate extra attention to. Hachimura hasn't accomplished the latter yet, and his efficiency has continued to fluctuate.
He drilled 44.7% of his threes last season, and was even better when filtering for catch-and-shoot looks (47.0%). The volume just wasn't high enough for it to matter (2.7 catch-and-shoot attempts on 2.9 overall per game), especially when considering his previous reputation. It doesn't help that Hachimura is down to 33.3% on catch-and-shoot looks this season, in line with the first two seasons of his career (32.1%).&nbsp;
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In order for this trade to pop offensively, Hachimura will have to ramp up his aggression against smaller defenders &mdash; someone with Hachimura's physical gifts drawing 38 shooting fouls over his last 70 games is hard to reckon with &mdash; or become a much more willing (and efficient) shooter from deep. Ideally, the Lakers get both, and I don't think either is out of the question.
Hachimura has shooting touch worth believing in. It's also not like Hachimura has dealt with the cleanest path of half-court development once you factor in roster changes, coaching changes and the start-and-stop nature of his availability the past three seasons.&nbsp;
With the Lakers, he'll have space to explore. LeBron will always draw two to the ball. There will be catch-and-shoot chances and catch-and-drive pockets.&nbsp;
Zooming out, this is a reasonable gamble for the Lakers considering the price point. If you can get someone with Hachimura's skill set and traits while giving up one (1) asset of moderate consequence (Chicago's second rounder), it's worth exploring.
Though Wojnarowski reported that the Lakers plan to retain Hachimura for the long haul, they also didn't give up enough to "force" them into that decision if he proves to be a poor fit.

Nekias Duncan analyzes how Rui Hachimura's acquisition can help the Lakers and the role he'll need to fill.

Exploring Rui Hachimura's fit with the Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers have completed a trade that will bring in Washington Wizards forward Rui Hachimura in exchange for Kendrick Nunn and three second-round draft picks.
"Adding both size and depth to the wing position has been a goal, and the chance to accomplish that by acquiring a player with Rui&rsquo;s two-way skills and upside was an opportunity that doesn&rsquo;t present itself often," Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager <a href="https://twitter.com/LakersReporter/status/1617665267412393984?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rob Pelinka said</a>.
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OFFICIAL: Welcome to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LakeShow?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LakeShow</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/rui_8mura?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rui_8mura</a>! <a href="https://t.co/STh8mBsbpP">pic.twitter.com/STh8mBsbpP</a>
&mdash; Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1617664220690280448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2023</a></blockquote>

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The news was first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and the initial framework of the deal was reported by The Athletic's Shams Charania.
The specific picks involved are the Chicago Bulls' 2023 second-rounder, LA's 2029 second-rounder and the less favorable second-rounder between the Lakers and Wizards in 2028.
Hachimura recently <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/wizards-rui-hachimura-dances-around-whether-he-wants-trade" target="_blank" rel="noopener">danced around the subject of whether he wanted a trade</a> in his latest media session with the Wizards on Saturday, keeping a vague stance when asked about his name in talks. He was also excused from practice on Monday for personal reasons.
Hachimura and Washington were unable to reach a rookie contract extension before the season and this, coupled with Kyle Kuzma's emergence, increased the likelihood of a trade. Also, according to Wojnarowski, the Lakers intend on signing Hachimura, a restricted free agent, to a contract extension this summer.
On the season, Hachimura is averaging 13.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game, knocking down a career-best 54.5% of his two-point shots.

The Lakers and Wizards have completed a deal that will bring Rui Hachimura to Los Angeles.

Lakers acquire Rui Hachimura from Wizards for Kendrick Nunn, picks

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Lakers coach Darvin Ham had seen his squad on the wrong end of close losses for the past week.
On Friday night, Ham saw his team's mettle and resolve pay off.
Dennis Schr&ouml;der completed a three-point play with 7.6 seconds after a steal, and Los Angeles rallied past Memphis 122-121 to snap the Grizzlies' winning streak at 11 games.
&ldquo;To get a win like this is a momentum swing,&rdquo; Ham said. &ldquo;The guys were kind of down after the Sacramento game, but we addressed areas that we needed to get better. There&rsquo;s no way we win this game if we didn&rsquo;t have the type of fight that we had.&rdquo;
The Lakers had lost their last three games by a total of 10 points. They trailed 114-107 with 3:04 remaining before outscoring the Grizzlies 15-7 the rest of the way.
Schr&ouml;der stole the ball from Desmond Bane near halfcourt and made a layup while being fouled by Bane to tie it at 120. Schr&ouml;der then hit a free throw for the lead.
&ldquo;We wanted to trap first before we fouled,&rdquo; said Schr&ouml;der, who scored 19 points. &ldquo;I saw Bane catch the ball, he had his back to me and I made a play. I got the steal, pushed the ball, got fouled and finished the play.&rdquo;
After a timeout, Memphis' Brandon Clarke was fouled with 1.9 seconds remaining. He made the first free throw, but missed the second. Bane got the offensive rebound but lost control of it, giving the Lakers possession with 0.4 seconds left.
Russell Westbrook led the Lakers with 29 points and LeBron James added 23. It was only the second time this season Los Angeles won when trailing after three quarters.
The Lakers were outrebounded 63-47, but had a 20-4 edge in fast-break points.
&ldquo;We were resilient the whole game,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;We stuck with the game plan. We've given ourselves a chance to win games.&rdquo;
Ja Morant led Memphis with 22 points. Clarke and Tyus Jones added 20 apiece, and Steven Adams had 16 points and 17 rebounds.
One significant reason for the Grizzlies' loss was free throws. They were 26 of 40 from the line, the ninth time this season they shot 65% or worse.
&ldquo;They outcompeted us for 48 minutes. Plain and simple. Terrible effort,&rdquo; Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said.
Morant missed his first five shots and was 2 of 10 with six points in the first half before he had a heated courtside conversation with Shannon Sharpe &mdash; the Pro Football Hall of Famer and Fox Sports personality &mdash; before halftime.
Morant had 14 points in the third quarter and the Grizzlies held a 13-point lead late in the period.
&ldquo;We gave up too many second-chance points. Just have to win the 50-50 plays,&rdquo; Morant said. &ldquo;We've got a lot of good, but a lot of cleaning up to do.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Grizzlies: Memphis pulled down a season-high 24 offensive rebounds. ... Clarke also had 10 rebounds. ... Bane scored 16 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 12. ... Adams had seven rebounds in the first quarter, the fifth time this season he has had seven or more in the first.
Lakers: Troy Brown Jr. and Kendrick Nunn scored 11 points apiece and Troy Brown Jr. had 10. ... LA blocked five shots in the first quarter. ... Los Angeles scored 41 points in the fourth quarter and has scored at least 40 in four quarters this season.
&nbsp;

Dennis Schröder completed a three-point play with 7.6 seconds after a steal, and the Lakers rallied past the Grizzlies 122-121.

Lakers rally to snap Grizzlies' winning streak at 11 games

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Sacramento coach Mike Brown has been lauding his team's depth all season. On Wednesday night the Kings showed it with one of their top players sidelined.
Despite Domantas Sabonis being out with an illness, the Kings extended their winning streak to five with a 116-111 victory behind 32 points from De&rsquo;Aaron Fox.
&ldquo;It was a good win by our guys. We've been saying all year we feel like we are a deep team," Brown said. &ldquo;Having that next man up mentality has been huge for us.
"Domantas is a huge part of our offense. And to have Fox step up the way he did was fantastic. When we were down, he got us back in it and when it was close, he got us some separation."
All five starters scored in double figures for Sacramento, including Richaun Harris, who started in place of Sabonis and had a season-high 16 points and 11 rebounds.
&ldquo;Domantas isn't a guy you can replace as one person,&rdquo; Harris said. &ldquo;We wanted to step up as committee and I wanted to control the glass as much as I could.&rdquo;
Harrison Barnes added 20 points and Kevin Huerter had 18 to help the Kings (25-18) move into third place in the Western Conference.
It is also the first time since the 2004-05 season that the Kings have had at least two five-game winning streaks in a season. It had a seven-game run in November.
LeBron James led Los Angeles with 32 points and Russell Westbrook added 19. The Lakers have dropped four of five with their last three losses coming by a total of 10 points.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re definitely a ballclub that has zero room for error. We have to continue to play how we played the last couple of games and trying to play mistake-free basketball,&rdquo; James said.
The game was tied at 108 with 1:10 remaining before the Kings scored four straight points to get some breathing room. Barnes made a layup while being fouled by Westbrook and then hit the free throw with 50 seconds remaining.
Kendrick Nunn's 3-pointer got the Lakers to 112-111 with seven seconds left, but Holmes made a pair of free throws to push it back up to three.
&ldquo;Late in the game our fouling, not being disciplined, showing our hands all the way throughout the possession was pretty tough as well," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. "We got up against the clock, a too much indecisiveness in terms of shooting it, passing it or driving.&rdquo;
Keegan Murray's dunk gave the Kings a 88-74 lead with 2:33 remaining in the third quarter before the Lakers rallied. Los Angeles made a 25-10 run over the next six minutes to take the lead.
The Lakers made four 3-pointers during the run, including two straight by Westbrook.
TIP-INS
Kings: Murray tied a season high with 10 rebounds. ... Guard Matthew Dellavedova also missed the game due to a stomach issue. ... Fox has at least 20 points in a half eight times this season, including twice in the first half.
Lakers: James had seven of his nine assists in the fourth quarter. ... Nunn had 14 points off the bench, including four 3-pointers. ... Westbrook was called for a technical early in the second quarter after being called for traveling. ... Los Angeles had a 14-point lead late in the first quarter but trailed 61-60 at halftime. .. Wenyen Gabriel (10 points) has scored in double figures in four straight games.
&nbsp;

The Kings extended their winning streak to five with a 116-111 victory over the Lakers behind 32 points from De’Aaron Fox.

Kings beat Lakers 116-111 for 5th straight victory

LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; LeBron James had a season-high 48 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in his third 40-point performance since turning 38 less than three weeks ago, and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped a three-game skid with a 140-132 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
Russell Westbrook scored 24 for the Lakers, who never pulled away in another poor defensive game, but also set a franchise record by committing just two turnovers.
James' brilliance in the 100th 40-point outing of his career &mdash; including the postseason &mdash; was just enough to hold off Houston. He scored 20 points in the fourth quarter, going 9 for 9 at the free throw line.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/philadelphia-76ers-los-angeles-lakers-nba-sports-joel-embiid-7a41321f5860080ba2b34283c30de626">James scored his 38,000th career point</a> Sunday night in a one-point loss to Philadelphia, and he showed no ill effects while playing in back-to-back games despite the sore left ankle that has dogged him for weeks.
&ldquo;I was extremely exhausted today,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;I could have very easily took tonight off, but ... our ballclub couldn&rsquo;t use me taking a night off, I didn&rsquo;t feel like. I wanted to sit on that loss with Philly last night. I wanted to get that out of my taste buds and see if we could win a ballgame tonight. It was a complete team effort, and I just tried to make plays.&rdquo;
After carrying the depleted Lakers for long stretches punctuated by fierce dunks and five 3-pointers, James hit a 17-foot jumper and four free throws in the final minute.
&ldquo;That ranks right at the top,&rdquo; said Rockets coach Stephen Silas, an assistant on James&rsquo; first two teams in Cleveland. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seen him have some really good (performances), and that was in the top five for sure.&rdquo;
James scored 40 points for the 72nd time in the regular season during his 20-year career. Only Michael Jordan has more 40-point games in NBA history after turning 35 &mdash; Jordan had 12, and James has eight.
"I think it's historic, man, on a lot of different levels," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. &ldquo;For him to be at this point in his career and still able to produce at the level in which he's producing, I think all of us being able to witness it, be a part of it, it shows his competitive spirit, his no-quit mentality. ... Whenever he's out there, he's just been competing. It's amazing to see."
Kendrick Nunn had 15 points for the Lakers, who have won six of nine overall despite a thin roster.
Alperen Sengun scored a career-high 33 points and Jalen Green added 23 in the Rockets&rsquo; 11th consecutive loss. Sengun, the 20-year-old Turkish center, went 14 of 17 from the field and added 15 rebounds and six assists.
Houston has lost 16 of 17 over the past five weeks, dropping into last in the overall NBA standings at 10-34.
James sparked the home crowd with two ferocious dunks in the final minute of the first half, both punctuated by a profane scream to his fans. He kept up the onslaught right after halftime with back-to-back 3-pointers.
TIP-INS
Rockets: USC product Kevin Porter Jr. missed his third straight game with a bruised left foot, but Silas is optimistic Porter will play this week. ... Houston rookie Jabari Smith Jr. scored 14 points. His father was a member of the Kings when James played his first NBA game in Sacramento nearly 20 years ago. Smith Sr. attended the game and had a warm conversation with James.
Lakers: Wenyen Gabriel had 14 points and nine rebounds before fouling out with 2:41 to play. ... Anthony Davis missed his 16th consecutive game.
&nbsp;

LeBron James had a season-high 48 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers scored a 140-132 victory over the Houston Rockets.