The New Orleans Pelicans are taking a cautious approach to Zion Williamson's hamstring injury and announced Tuesday that he will be re-evaluated in two more weeks.
It was framed as a positive update for the Pelicans' franchise star, who was initially ruled out for at least three weeks after suffering the injury on January 4.
Three weeks have passed, and New Orleans released the results of their recent re-evaluation on Twitter.
It read: "Update on Zion: he was recently re-evaluated for his right hamstring injury. The re-evaluation showed that his hamstring is healing as expected, and progressing well with his recovery.
"He will continue his rehabilitation process, which includes strengthening his hamstring and gradually progressing to more movement. He will be re-evaluated again in two weeks."
That means it will be over a month between games for the top overall pick from the 2019 NBA Draft, who has had his career marred by injuries up to this point.
He managed only 24 games in his rookie season, and after appearing back on track with a spectacular 2020-21 campaign where he played 61 games and earned an All-Star appearance, he then went on to miss the entire 2021-22 season.
So far, he has suited up for 29 of the Pelicans' 47 games. They have gone 17-12 in those 29 contests, while posting a 9-9 record in fixtures he has been unavailable for.
One of the most dominant offensive forces in the sport, Williamson is averaging 26.0 points per game while shooting 60.8 per cent from the field. Of all players this season averaging at least 20 points per game, reigning back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic is the only other shooting at least 60 per cent (62.6).
The Brooklyn Nets have received some good news on Kevin Durant's MCL sprain.
Brooklyn announced on Tuesday that Durant's right knee was evaluated on Monday by Dr. Riley Williams III and that he is pleased with the forward's progress.
Durant will begin running this week and participate in on-court training activities and will then be re-evaluated in another two weeks.
He sprained a ligament in his right knee in a January 8 win over Miami, when the Heat's Jimmy Butler fell backward onto him.
Durant was originally projected to miss about a month, so his recovery appears to be right on track with the initial timeline.
With the All-Star break beginning in just over three weeks, however, it is possible the Nets decide not to rush him back and give him some extra time to recover to have him return after the break.
An MVP candidate in his third season with Brooklyn, Durant ranks among the NBA leaders with 29.7 points per game while also averaging 6.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.49 blocks.
The Nets had won 14 of 15 prior to Durant's injury before losing their first four games without him in the lineup. They have since reeled off back-to-back wins over the Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors to improve to 29-17.
Brooklyn enter play on Tuesday in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, and five games behind the Boston Celtics for the Atlantic Division lead.
Jonathan Isaac expressed his gratitude to the Orlando Magic for "sticking with me" after he made a "surreal" long-awaited return in a 113-98 win over Boston Celtics.
Isaac had been out since tearing his ACL when the NBA restarted at Walt Disney World in August 2020 and wondered if he would ever be back on court in an NBA game.
The Magic forward's comeback finally came at Amway Center on Monday as Orlando ended the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics' nine-game winning run.
Isaac missed 211 games, but came off the bench to score 10 points, claim three rebounds and produce two steals in an appearance of around nine and a half minutes.
He said: "Much love to the Magic for sticking with me. And the Magic fans were excited, so I was just trying to bottle all that up in one moment. It was surreal."
Isaac added: "There were days where I was like I don't know if I want to keep going.
"But then again, I have to thank Christ. Being able to go back to my faith and say God has me on this journey for a purpose. I know that I was made to play basketball. I was made to give glory to God on this stage."
Isaac understandably felt the pace on his return from such a long absence.
"That kind of first wind got to me. That last minute I could barely talk I was breathing so hard," Isaac said. "But the second rotation in the second half, that four minutes, I started to just relax and just feel good."
Paolo Banchero top scored with 23 points for the Magic, while 26 points apiece for Celtics duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were in vain.
Orlando are 18-29 down in 13th place in the Eastern Conference, with Boston leading the way at 35-13.
Giannis Antetokounmpo declared "the band is back together" after he made an impressive return in the Milwaukee Bucks' 150-130 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Antetokounmpo had missed five games due to a sore left knee but scored 20 of his 29 points in the first quarter of his comeback at Little Caesars Arena on Monday.
Khris Middleton was also back in the line-up for the first time since last month following a knee injury of his own as the third-placed Bucks moved to 30-17 in the Eastern Conference.
Greek superstar Antetokounmpo said: "The band is back together" and added: "'I was trying to be aggressive and some shots fell."
Milwaukee scored an incredible 49 points in the first quarter, only two short of the NBA record, with Antetokounmpo taking centre stage.
Bucks head coach Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer was impressed with the way Antetokounmpo was able to hit the ground running.
"It was impressive to come out and play the way he did," Budenholzer said. "He did a little bit of everything, just like the whole group that in that [first] quarter."
Pistons head coach Dwane Casey feared the Bucks could come out firing.
"The first quarter is what I was afraid would happen," Casey said. "A championship-calibre team came in and put their stamp on the game at the beginning.
"We didn't respond, and that's how you give up a 49-point first quarter. I liked our fight after that, but this is a 48-minute game."
The ascension of Houston Rockets centrepiece Jalen Green continued on Monday as he scored a career-high 42 points in a 119-114 home win against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Green, 20, was the second overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, and he is living up to the hype as one of the game's most electrifying young scorers.
Against the Timberwolves, Green shot 15-of-25 from the field and six-of-12 from long range for his 42 points, four rebounds, four assists with a steal and a block.
The performance came only two games after he tied his career-high 41 points against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday, and he is now averaging a team-high 21.7 points per contest with 4.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
He was not the only young Rockets prospect to show why he is viewed as the future of the franchise, as center Alperen Sengun put together another complete performance in what has been the best month of his career.
Also in his second season after being drafted by the Rockets in 2021, Sengun had 21 points on eight-of-12 shooting while adding seven rebounds and seven assists. It is his playmaking that is the most notable aspect of his growth.
After averaging 2.6 assists per game as a rookie, and no more than 2.8 during the months of October, November and December, he has put together figures of 18.2 points, 9.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists during his 11 games since the new year began, including a streak of seven consecutive performances with at least six assists.
Despite the win, the Rockets still own the worst record in the NBA at 11-36, and Houston fans will be desperate to add future number one draft pick Victor Wembenyama to their promising young core.
Bucks become fourth team to reach 150 this season
The Milwaukee Bucks had their biggest offensive explosion of the season as they erupted in a 150-130 demolition of the Detroit Pistons.
Despite the Pistons putting up 130 points of their own and the final score appearing competitive, the reality is they were never a chance as the Bucks opened up a 40-12 lead just eight minutes into the game.
Led by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo's 29 points (eight-of-15 shooting), 12 rebounds and four assists, the Bucks tied for the league's second-highest score this season, trailing only the Sacramento Kings' 153-121 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in November.
Bulls make it three wins in a row
The Chicago Bulls tied their longest winning streak of the season as they defeated the Atlanta Hawks 111-100 for their third in a row.
In a clash between two teams on the Eastern Conference playoff bubble it was DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic rising to the occasion on an inefficient night for the recently red-hot Zach LaVine.
DeRozan scored a game-high 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting, adding six assists and three steals, while Vucevic grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds while also chipping in 14 points and seven assists.
The Bulls are now 22-24, one game behind the Hawks (24-24) in the East's eighth seed.
Royce O'Neale says his Brooklyn Nets team-mates are all stepping up to the challenge after his late three-pointer proved decisive against the Golden State Warriors.
The Nets claimed a second straight win on Sunday, with O'Neale's three-pointer with less than 30 seconds left on the clock nosing them into a two-point lead.
Kyrie Irving, the team's talisman in the absence of the injured Kevin Durant, scored two free throws with 14 seconds remaining to seal a 120-116 comeback victory at the Chase Center.
Golden State had been leading 106-93 midway through the final quarter on Sunday, and O'Neale hailed the Nets' attitude and self-belief.
"There's a lot of confidence going around," O'Neale told reporters.
"Everybody's taking the challenge, stepping up, finding out ways to win games."
Irving was key, teeing up O'Neale's crucial three-pointer to cap a ninth assist of the game. He finished with 38 points and seven rebounds.
"Kyrie had been getting to the basket, hitting tough shots and at that moment, he drove, two people double-teamed and he found me open," O'Neale said.
"I just needed to have the confidence to knock it down."
Irving added: "They did a great job of staying on my body, keeping the game physical, making it tough.
"I felt like my team-mates had a lot of great looks, drawing the defense to lose their man.
"Royce being wide open, I felt like that was the best shot for our team, so I gave up the ball, trusted him to make it and luckily it went in."
The Nets are fourth in the Eastern Conference, while the Warriors – reigning NBA champions – are down in 10th in the West after suffering a sixth loss from their last nine games.
It was a game of two halves at Moda Center as the Los Angeles Lakers overturned a 25-point deficit to beat the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
When the Lakers went in trailing by 25 at the half, they had just experienced the wrong side of the joint second-biggest scoring margin in one quarter since the NBA added the three-point arc in 1979.
Portland outscored the visitors 45-13 in the second quarter, but LeBron James and his team-mates would not lie down.
The Lakers came back to register 75 points in the second half, while only allowing 41, turning around the 25-point deficit to win by nine.
"I guess it's only one or two ways, you can either go out and you can lay down and get ready for the next game or you can see what happens in the third quarter, make a game of it," James said after the victory.
"And for us as competitors, and our team and our makeup this year, we're not a lay-down team. That's just not the makeup of our club."
James scored 37 with 11 rebounds as he closed in further on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time scoring record, while Thomas Bryant added 31 with 14 rebounds as the Lakers produced their second-biggest half-time deficit comeback win in franchise history.
"They jumped on us and knocked us down,” James added. "Thank God for the standing eight count."
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