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Lakers forward/center Pau Gasol, who had been dealing with a sore right groin, had an MRI today which revealed a strained right groin. Gasol will be out a minimum of a week and will be re-evaluated next weekend when the team returns from its three-game road trip.
Additionally, Lakers backup center Chris Kaman, who has a sore right knee, also had an MRI. Results of the MRI were negative and he is cleared to play.
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The Los Angeles D-Fenders have acquired former Los Angeles Lakers forward Shawne Williams, by way of a successful waiver claim, it was announced today by General Manager Nick Mazzella.
Williams (6’9” / 230) was selected in the first round (17th selection) of the 2006 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers. Most recently, he spent 32 games (11 starts) with the Lakers this season, posting averages of 5.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 20.2 minutes. The Memphis native has appeared in 247 career NBA games (34 starts) with the Pacers, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets and Lakers. Williams has also played for Guangzhou Liu Sui, of the Chinese National Basketball League.
An alumnus of the University of Memphis, Williams averaged 13.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists in his lone season with the Tigers (2005-06). Williams led Memphis to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament, along with Conference-USA regular season and tournament championships in 2006. The Laurinburg Institute graduate also earned Conference-USA Freshman of the year, All-Conference-USA third team and Conference-USA Tournament MVP honors.
Sunday in New York the Knicks hosted the Los Angeles Lakers. With Kobe Bryant and several other Lakers out injured, the Knicks, led by Carmelo Anthony’s 35 points, came away with a 110-103 win.
Will Melo someday bolt New York and join up with Bryant and the Lakers? For now, that’s just baseless speculation, and there’s no concrete reason to believe it’ll happen. While you ponder this, enjoy this photo of Melo and Kobe saying hello after the game:
The Los Angeles Lakers have signed guard Manny Harris to a second 10-day contract, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.
In five games with the Lakers this season, Harris is averaging 6.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 20.9 minutes.
Before signing his first 10-Day contract with the Lakers on January 16th, Harris was most recently a member of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the Lakers’ NBA Development League affiliate, and was the D-League’s leading scorer at 30.6 points per game. Overall, in 13 games with the D-Fenders (13 starts) this season, Harris averaged 30.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.1 steals while shooting 48.5% from the field. On January 13, Harris was named the NBA D-League Performer of the Week for the second consecutive time, and fourth time in his career.
In his previous 80 career NBA games (20 starts) with the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, the Detroit, Michigan native averaged 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 17.4 minutes per game.
With Nick Young being suspended for a game due to tossing a punch where a Phoenix Suns player was standing, the Lakers have added a guard who has been dropping serious buckets in the D-League lately.
Here’s more info on who Harris is:
Full item: Lakers sign Manny Harris to 10-day contract
Nick Young is nicknamed “Swaggy P.” Swag flies through the air anytime Young does anything. You can never have enough swag, as Young is well aware.
Unfortunately, yesterday during a Lakers vs Suns game, Young’s swag emerged in the form of a punch, and that’s no bueno. The NBA suspended him one game as a result, and fined a pair of Suns players as well.
Full details here: Nick Young suspended for punch
Here’s ESPN Los Angeles with an update on the banged-up Lakers:
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With 10 of the team’s 15 games coming on the road, January figures to be difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers. But there might be a silver lining at the end of the month in the form of a future Hall of Fame backcourt returning to the fold.
Coach Mike D’Antoni said after shootaround in preparation for Friday night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers that Kobe Bryant (fracture of the lateral tibial plateau in his left knee) and Steve Nash (nerve root irritation in his back and hamstrings) will be re-evaluated Jan. 27, when the Lakers return to L.A. after an upcoming 12-day, seven-game trip.
If they are cleared, the veteran guards could play shortly thereafter. Nash has been out since Nov. 10, and Bryant has been sidelined since Dec. 17.
D’Antoni recently joked that a bus will show up at the team’s practice facility in February and drop off the five currently injured Lakers players, all healthy and ready to contribute. But it turns out the players’ returns will be staggered.
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The Los Angeles Lakers have waived forward Shawne Williams, it was announced today.
Williams, originally selected by the Indiana Pacers in the first round (17th overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft, signed with the Lakers on September 3, 2013. In 32 games (11 starts) this season, the 6’9” forward out of Memphis University averaged 5.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 20.2 minutes.
He is considered a shooter, but was hitting just 37.7% of his shots, and just 32.7% from three-point range.
The Lakers roster now stands at 14 players. The team has a 14-20 record this season and are in a state of limbo, waiting for Kobe Bryant to return, yet are clearly not a championship contender even with a healthy roster. Major changes are needed, but is unclear if those changes will occur anytime soon.
Manny Harris of the Los Angeles D-Fenders was today named NBA Development League Performer of the Week for games played Monday, Dec. 30 – Sunday, Jan. 5.
Harris, a 6-5, 185 pound guard from Michigan, led Los Angeles to a 3-0 record last week and averaged 29.3 points, leading his team in scoring all three games. On Jan. 4, he recorded a double-double with 27 points and 12 rebounds in a 107-94 victory over Bakersfield. He followed that up scoring 31 points to go along with 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals in a 99-95 win at Reno.
This is the first Performer of the Week honors for Harris this season and the third of his career. He is second in the NBA D-League in scoring with 27.9 ppg. Harris has tallied at least 21 points in all nine of his games for Los Angeles this season.
Other top performers considered include Idaho’s Pierre Jackson, Maine’s MarShon Brooks, Santa Cruz’s Dewayne Dedmon, Sioux Falls’ DeAndre Liggins and Springfield’s Darius Johnson-Odom.
Here’s ESPN Los Angeles on the Lakers, who need the services of Pau Gasol if their aim is to win basketball games:
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Granted, there’s no way of knowing if Pau Gasol would have made any difference in the Los Angeles Lakers’ past two losses, to the Utah Jazz and Philadelphia 76ers, two decidedly sub-.500 teams that L.A. fell to by a combined nine points.
Even if Gasol fought through his upper respiratory infection and came close to his 14.7-point and 9.4-rebound averages, L.A. might have still lost with the way it missed 16 of the 23 3-pointers it took against the Jazz and turned the ball over 22 times against the 76ers.
But here is the unwavering truth that makes the outcomes of the games almost irrelevant when considering Gasol’s lost contributions, no matter how strong or how meager they would have been: He could have played.
It was Gasol’s decision to sit out as his team extended its season-high losing streak to five with a 111-104 defeat to Philly. It’s not like he has been bedridden or completely unable to exert himself physically. According to a team source, Gasol still showed up to Lakers shootaround to lift weights Sunday, and when he told longtime trainer Gary Vitti he wanted more time to get over the infection and was not going to play against the Sixers, Vitti said to not even bother showing up to the game.