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Orlando Magic waive Christian Eyenga and Armon Johnson

The Orlando Magic have waived guard-forward Christian Eyenga and guard Armon Johnson, General Manager Rob Hennigan announced today.

Eyenga (6’5”, 210, 6/22/89) did not play in any of Orlando’s six preseason outings. He was acquired by the Magic from the L.A. Lakers as part of a four-team, 12-player deal on Aug. 10. Johnson (6’3”, 195, 2/23/89) played in five preseason games with Orlando, averaging 3.2 ppg., 1.6 rpg. and 1.2 apg. in 13.0 minpg. He was signed as a free agent on Sep. 28.

Orlando’s roster now stands at 18 players.

Bill Walton is healthy and happy

Q: How bad was your injury?

Bill Walton: “I spent three years on the ground. I was in unrelenting, excruciating pain that can only be described as being submerged in a vat of acid with an electric current running through it that I couldn’t get out of. I was just a pitiful ball of flesh writhing on the floor, begging for the pain to stop. My life was over.”

Q: How did it compare to some of your other injuries?

Walton: “I spent a lifetime with bone and joint pain. There’s nothing like nerve pain. It never goes away and nothing can fix it. It destroys your life, it destroys the lives of everyone around you. It takes away the hope and the dream that tomorrow is going to be better. If you don’t have that, you don’t have much. You don’t have anything.”

Q: How do you feel today?

Walton: “I am busier than ever, happier than ever. I haven’t been this healthy since high school. No pain, no medication. I had no idea what life was like without back pain. It’s a miracle what’s happened to me. So with the privilege and good fortune of health comes responsibility, duty and obligation to help other people have their dreams comes true.”

— Reported by Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News (Blog)

Dwight Howard thought he deserved Defensive Player of Year award last season

Dwight Howard had a big smile on his face a day after making his debut for the Los Angeles Lakers, but he still feels the sting of how things ended in Orlando when he thinks about his trophy shelf.

Howard was recognized as the best defender in the league as well as the best interior defender when NBA.com announced the results of its annual survey of the league’s 30 general managers Monday, but Howard still wants to know why he isn’t the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

“I thought I should have won it last year, to be honest with you,” Howard told reporters after practice Monday. “I was a little bit upset about that.”

Tyson Chandler of the New York Knicks was named the league’s DPOY last season, ending Howard’s three-year run as the award winner. Chandler earned 45 first place votes and 311 total points to take home the trophy.

— Reported by Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles

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Dwight Howard makes good first impression for Lakers

Deconstructing Dwight, Part 1 of dozens of chapters to come, undoubtedly.

The Lakers center took the court Sunday for the first time with his new team and showed exactly why he was different from Andrew Bynum. Markedly.

Dwight Howard has instincts that his predecessor has rarely shown, scoring five times off alley-oop passes and teammates’ missed shots in an exhibition game against Sacramento. Unlike Bynum, Howard’s not a guy who needs the ball in the post, though he showed a left-handed hook shot against the Kings.

Howard is ambidextrous, the result of a childhood accident in which he broke the wrist of his dominant (left) hand and learned to shoot with his right. He passes with his right hand, shoots free throws right-handed and shoots from the post slightly more with his left hand. But only slightly.

“Dwight’s body is far more genetically gifted than Andrew. Andrew has had some issues obviously in his lower extremities in both knees,” said Lakers assistant coach Chuck Person, who worked with Bynum last season and now Howard.

— Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times

Bid to buy Memphis Grizzlies on NBA agenda this week

Robert Pera’s bid to own the Grizzlies is on the agenda for consideration by the NBA’s Board of Governors at its meetings Wednesday and Thursday in New York City, sources familiar with the process told The Commercial Appeal.

If the board approves the deal, only one hurdle would remain before the completion of the first ownership transfer in the Grizzlies’ 11 years in Memphis: Pera’s group would then have to close the deal with current owner Michael Heisley. Pera agreed in June to buy the team from Heisley for what is believed to be $350 million.

Three-fourths of the board, which is made up of the majority owners for each of the 30 NBA teams, must vote in favor of Pera’s bid for the ownership transfer to be approved.

Pera will be the largest shareholder in the prospective ownership group but will own less than 50 percent of the franchise, two sources familiar with the deal said.

— Reported by Geoff Calkins of the Memphis Commercial Appeal

Austin Rivers leaves Hornets game with sprained ankle

New Orleans guard Austin Rivers said he expects to be ready for the start of the regular season after the Hornets rookie sprained his right ankle in a preseason game Monday night.

Rivers did not return after he landed awkwardly on a layup attempt in the second quarter of the Hornets’ 87-74 loss to Dallas. The Duke product, the 10th overall pick in this past summer’s draft, had X-rays on his ankle and those came back negative.

New Orleans coach Monty Williams said Rivers will undergo an MRI on Tuesday. Rivers had surgery on the same ankle in June to remove bone spurs.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Toronto Raptors waive Jerel McNeal and Chris Wright

The Toronto Raptors announced Monday they have waived guard Jerel McNeal and forward Chris Wright.

McNeal saw action in one preseason outing, while Wright was a DNP-CD for all six games.

The roster now stands at 16. The Raptors continue their preseason schedule Friday at Memphis (8 p.m. ET). Toronto opens the 2012-13 season at home Oct. 31 versus Indiana (7 p.m. ET).

Wizards rookie Bradley Beal tweaks ankle

The last thing the Wizards want or need these days is another injury. That much is certain given that they’re already without John Wall (left knee), Nene (plantar fasciitis) and Kevin Seraphin (right calf).

So when highly touted rookie Bradley Beal fell Monday afternoon at Verizon Center, having twisted his left ankle during five-on-five drills and yelped out in pain, a hush fell over the practice.

After being tended to by Wizards head athletic trainer Eric Waters, Beal stood and tried to shake off the pain but was walking with a noticeable limp. He headed to the locker room under his own power as practice wrapped up.

— Reported by the Washington Post (Blog)

Kobe skips Lakers practice to rest ailing foot

Kobe Bryant has skipped the Los Angeles Lakers’ practice to rest his aching right foot.

The Lakers announced Monday that Bryant’s foot is sore and bruised.

Bryant was injured during the third quarter of the Lakers’ 99-92 preseason loss to Sacramento on Sunday night. He stayed in the game and scored 21 points.

Bryant has fought a handful of nagging injuries in training camp this month.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Lakers waive Chris Douglas-Roberts and Greg Somogyi

The Los Angeles Lakers have waived Chris Douglas-Roberts and Greg Somogyi, it was announced today.

Douglas-Roberts, a three-year NBA veteran out of the University of Memphis, was originally selected by the then-New Jersey Nets in the second round (40th overall) of the 2008 NBA Draft. Douglas-Roberts has appeared in 155 NBA games (53 starts) for the Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks, recording career averages of 7.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in 20.6 minutes. The 6-7 forward spent the 2011-12 season playing for Virtus Bologna of the Italian League, where he averaged 12.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in 27.0 minutes. Douglas-Roberts played in four preseason games for Los Angeles where he averaged 4.0 points and 0.8 rebounds in 8.3 minutes.

Somogyi, a 7-3 center out of UC Santa Barbara, played all four years for the Gauchos where he posted career averages of 3.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 12.2 minutes. In three preseason games with the Lakers, Somogyi averaged 1.7 points and 2.7 rebounds in 7.7 minutes.

The Lakers training camp roster now stands at 16 players.