Kings, Pelicans injury news could impact race for eighth seed in Western Conference
Two teams with playoff aspirations released injury updates Sunday that could have a significant impact on the race for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
The Kings said center Richaun Holmes could return to practice this week after missing the past 23 games with a torn right labrum. The New Orleans Pelicans announced guard JJ Redick will be out at least two weeks with a strained right hamstring.
The Pelicans (26-33) were 2 ½ games behind the eighth-place Memphis Grizzlies (29-31) going into Sunday’s games. The Kings (25-34) and Portland Trail Blazers (26-35) were a half-game behind the San Antonio Spurs (25-33) and one game behind the Pelicans.
Sacramento will play New Orleans twice in the next three weeks. The Kings will play host to the Pelicans on March 11 at Golden 1 Center and will visit New Orleans on March 22.
The loss of Redick could be a big blow to the Pelicans. He is averaging 14.9 points per game while shooting a sizzling 45.2 percent from 3-point range. The Pelicans have the easiest remaining schedule in the NBA, but they were preparing to play the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night and will face the Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, Kings, Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers over the next two weeks.
Sacramento could be bolstered by the return of Holmes, who was the Kings’ most consistent player over the first half of the season. Holmes suffered a labral tear in a game against the Golden State Warriors on Jan. 6.
The Kings said Holmes was making progress and is on track with his reconditioning plan three weeks after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection in his shoulder. The Kings said Holmes has initiated “basketball-specific court progression” and is moving into full-contact activities with the hope of returning to practice later this week.
“He’s coming along,” Kings coach Luke Walton said before Sunday’s game against the Detroit Pistons. “He played some 1-on-1 today and looked good, felt good. We’ll see how it feels once his body cools off, but he said he felt good. We’re going to want to get him in a few practices and keep pushing him conditioning wise. It’s been a long time since he’s really played.”
Holmes was averaging career highs of 13.1 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.4 blocked shots and 1.1 steals during a breakout season for the Kings before he got hurt, shooting 66 percent from the field and 81.7 percent from the free throw line. Walton mentioned that Holmes “makes the other guys around him better just by being that guy who sets screens, rolls hard, puts pressure on the rim every time.”
“You don’t need to call plays for him,” Walton said. “It’s a lot of the dirty work that he’s really become solid with that has allowed him to have such a great season for us so far.”
Harry Giles III has started at center in recent weeks. He has been backed up by Alex Len, who came to Sacramento in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks. Both players have carved out roles to contribute to the team’s recent success.
Giles averaged 11.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in 22 minutes per game in February. Len has averaged 5.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in four games for the Kings.
Walton acknowledged that it will be difficult to play all three centers when Holmes returns.
“Most likely we won’t play all three within the same game, but that’s for down the road,” Walton said. “… Those are side conversations that I’m having with certain staff members, but that will be something we have to figure out. We’ll look forward to having to figure that out.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 4:45 PM.
