Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash said he is hopeful of Ben Simmons debuting with his new team before the playoffs, but indicated it is far from a sure thing.
With only 14 games to play before the postseason begins, Simmons still has not been cleared to practice due to a back injury that has only worsened since arriving in Brooklyn.
The Nets have shown they can win without Simmons for the time being – including a dominant performance in Philadelphia against former team-mate James Harden – but to be a serious title contender, the former first overall pick will need to play a significant role.
Currently occupying the eight-seed in the Eastern Conference, Brooklyn have an uphill battle to try to make up the four games they sit behind the six-seed Cleveland Cavaliers to avoid the play-in tournament and secure a guaranteed playoff berth.
While he has not been able to participate in team practices, Nash said the team are trying to get Simmons as involved as possible and build the necessary chemistry, and that he has "extremely high hopes that we'll see him in the regular season".
"The biggest thing we've tried to do is to have him be involved in everything," Nash said.
"The travelling is the one caveat, where sometimes you're weighing the cost-benefit of him on aeroplanes and buses and different beds.
"When he's with us, we want him in every meeting, in every walkthrough, in every film session, whatever it may be, so he's around the group.
"We'd love for him to travel, be with the team all the time, but we have to weigh that scenario as well."
While Simmons is a "perfect fit" for Brooklyn's team construction and style, according to Nash, there is no way to simulate on-court repetitions alongside stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
"I think he has a pretty good understanding [of what the Nets are doing]," the coach said. "Now, has his focus been on learning what we're doing? No, it's been on getting better.
"We've had him around, we want him to learn, but there's a lot going on when you're desperately trying to fight to get on the court.
"I don't expect him to be totally dialled in on what we're doing, because part of that is also feel; getting out there with your team-mates, seeing how it fits.
"I think he'll be a perfect fit for our guys – but some of that stuff is also getting out there and doing it, learning on the fly, rather than reading it off the notes."
Frank Vogel says LeBron James' game time is "always a concern" after the four-time MVP played a team-high 40 minutes in the Los Angeles Lakers' 114-103 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
James starred for the Lakers in the previous day's defeat to the Phoenix Suns but was listed as questionable for Monday's clash with the Raptors due to soreness in his right knee.
The Lakers were 6-12 without James heading into the contest at Crypto.com Arena and Vogel took a gamble of sorts by not only using James but keeping him on the court for longer than any other player.
He delivered another impressive display with 30 points and nine rebounds, yet it was not enough to halt the Lakers' poor run as they fell to an eighth defeat in 10 games to go 29-39 for the season.
Despite James' fitness concerns, Lakers head coach Vogel is comfortable with his decision to keep the 37-year-old on the court against the Raptors, who won for a fourth straight game.
"It's always a concern," Vogel, who was in constant dialogue with James, said when asked about the forward's minutes. "But you feel the game out. There was enough stoppages. It's not always the total minutes on here.
"It's what kind of flow the game has and there was enough stoppages that we never left like he was being too taxed."
James has played 1,845 minutes this season, which is second behind only Russell Westbrook (2,299) among Lakers players.
He has 1,487 points for the campaign and has averaged 29.7 across his 50 games, a tally that is bettered only by Joel Embiid (29.9).
Despite James' efforts, the Lakers left themselves with too much to do against the Raptors after finding themselves 24 points down in the first.
The hosts hit back to make it 109-97 with just over two minutes to go, but the comeback fell short.
Reflecting on another disappointing night for his side, a frustrated Carmelo Anthony said: "If you take away the first quarter, we won the game. We can't be digging ourselves holes or whatever.
"We've been digging ourselves holes to start games off with. We did it against Phoenix, we did it again today. We find ourselves in those positions often this season."
Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson enjoyed an on-court reunion on Monday, which was described by the latter as "magical".
For the first time since Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals, the Warriors had their star trio of Curry, Green and Thompson on the court together.
Green had been out since early January due to a back injury, meaning he had been unable to feature since Thompson's return from two serious injury lay-offs.
But the trio were back and as good as ever against the Washington Wizards, who the Warriors defeated 126-112.
Green featured for 20 minutes and had six points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Thompson added 20 points to the Warriors' tally.
Curry, meanwhile, marked his 34th birthday in sensational style, scoring a season-high 47 points and finishing with six rebounds and as many assists.
It was the sixth time in 2021-22 that Curry has enjoyed a 40-plus point game.
"That was magical," Thompson told reporters, while Green enthused: "It was beautiful."
Curry explained: "I think what it did for him is what it did for all of us. You could tell the energy picked up.
"It's not anything more than what's built on 10 years of experience and chemistry and winning and an understanding of how we do things. No matter how much time we have off, we can get right back to it.
"It is crazy to think first time me, Klay and Draymond had been on the court in a very, very long time.
"We want to keep building on that. We know each other like the back of our hand, we complement each other very well."
Golden State have now won four straight games all by double digits, following a five-game losing streak.
The Warriors moved to 47-22 for the season and have now beat every other team in the NBA at least once this season.
Karl-Anthony Towns revealed he was just following coach Chris Finch's orders when he went out and hit 60 points in the Minnesota Timberwolves' win over the San Antonio Spurs.
While MVP rivals Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid collided in Philadelphia, Towns stole the spotlight with a stunning display, hitting a season-high points total in the Timberwolves' 149-139 triumph on Monday.
Towns' tally took him ahead of the efforts of Trae Young and LeBron James, who both scored 56 this season, while it was also a franchise record.
And the 26-year-old said he had asked Finch pre-game what was required of him, with the coach telling him to "go get 60".
He continued: "I told coach before the game, 'Hey listen, we need this win. I'll do whatever it takes. If I need to play 44, 48 minutes, I'll get it done.'
"That was kind of the mindset I came in [with]. I had to dominate. I had to be my best.
"So I just went out there, tried to be really aggressive."
Finch was understandably delighted with Towns' showing, with Gregg Popovich's Spurs unable to stop him.
"They were selling out to protect the rim with everything else we were trying to do," Finch said.
"He had the matchup, and they didn't have an answer for him. We definitely needed it, and he stepped up."
Popovich, who recently racked up a record 1,336th victory as a coach, also heaped praise on Towns.
"Karl was fantastic," Popovich said. "He drove it, he shot it. He always plays hard. He's a hell of a player. It's not like it was a surprise, but tonight he was special."
After reaching half-time with 24 points, Towns exploded into life after the break, scoring 32 of his side's 46 third-quarter points on his way to final shooting figures of 19-31 from the field, 7-11 from three and 15-16 from the line.
Towns, who is the first center to hit 60 points in a single NBA game since Shaquille O'Neal in March 2000, also grabbed a personal season-high of 17 rebounds.
He became the first player in the league's history to have 60 points, 60 per cent 3-point shooting and 15 rebounds in a single game, while only four centers had previously enjoyed a 60-point game.
On a day that saw MVP favourites Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic go head-to-head, it was fellow center Karl-Anthony Towns who stole the headlines.
Towns scored a career-high 60 points in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 149-139 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
It is the most points scored by any player in a single game this season, ahead of Trae Young and LeBron James, who both scored 56.
After reaching half-time with 24 points, Towns exploded into life after the break, scoring 32 of his side's 46 third-quarter points on his way to final shooting figures of 19-31 from the field, 7-11 from three and 15-16 from the line.
Towns, who is the first center to hit 60 points in a single NBA game since Shaquille O'Neal in March 2000, also grabbed a personal season-high of 17 rebounds, while on the other side Dejounte Murray was no slouch with 30 points and 12 assists, though it was not enough for the Spurs.
LeBron James was lost for words after becoming the first player in NBA history to surpass 10,000 points, rebounds and assists.
Four-time MVP James achieved the feat with his six assists in the Los Angeles Lakers' 140-111 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.
The second of those assists against the NBA-leading Suns, alongside his 31 points and seven rebounds, saw James reach five figures in that category.
After managing something nobody else has come close to, the 37-year-old was left to revel in another historic achievement.
"I get lost for words anytime things like this are happening to me because of where I come from," he said.
"I start thinking to my hometown of Akron [Ohio] and my upbringing and where I come from and the dreams that I had of being in this league and playing at the highest level.
"To now sit alone at a statistical category in this league that I've really modelled my game after: being able to score, rebound and assist...
"To sit alone at a stat is pretty, I'd say, 'cool,' but it doesn't quite make sense to me."
James' 10,000th assist arrived in another defeat for the Lakers, who are now 29-38 for the season and down in ninth in the Western Conference.
"It's an honour to be a part of this league. No matter what's going on, you try to take the victories that happen throughout the course of a long marathon," James added.
"Tonight is one that happened not only for myself but for my family and friends."
James now has 1,457 points this season, tied with Luka Doncic for the 11th most, while his average of 29.7 across his 49 games is bettered only by Joel Embiid (29.8).
Only in two previous seasons – 30 in 2007-08 and 31.4 in 2005-06 – has James averaged more points than he is this season for the Lakers.
Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen's long-standing rift has been mended on the day the Boston Celtics raised the All-Star center's number five jersey to the rafters in tribute.
The Celtics celebrated Garnett's career after Sunday's 95-92 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, with the 2004 NBA MVP's jersey officially retired by the franchise.
Allen was among those in attendance, which was significant given the rift that emerged between the pair when he opted to move to the Miami Heat as a free agent in 2012.
"It's good to see Ray Allen here," Garnett said during the ceremony. "Real s***. It's good to see you, man. You next, dog."
The Celtics had won the 2008 NBA title with the pair alongside Paul Pierce, while they were Eastern Conference champions in 2010 during a dominant five-year period before Allen's exit prompted the side to drop off.
"Just because I moved away doesn't mean that relationship, that friendship, ends," Allen said.
"It did center around Kevin and myself because I did get the sense that the people here felt how Kevin felt. Once he accepted me, then the people accepted me. That was the sense.
"I was glad we could do that and people could see, 'We won with this guy in 2008, and that's what matters most'."
Former Celtics head coach Doc Rivers, now with the Philadelphia 76ers, weighed in on the reunion.
"Yeah, that's a big one because that's been a problem, obviously, and the fact that it looks like the fence is finally coming down is really cool," Rivers said. "I'm very, very happy for Kevin, and really cool that Ray came today."
Garnett, who won the 2004 NBA MVP with the Minnesota Timberwolves, finished his 22-year NBA career averaging 17.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
The power forward/center was a 15-time NBA All-Star, one-time NBA champion and one-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year (both 2008).
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