Local fans who bought tickets for Monday’s Nets-Lakers game expecting to see a star-studded matchup are going to be disappointed.
Local fans who bought tickets for Monday’s Nets-Lakers game expecting to see a star-studded matchup are going to be disappointed.
Kevin Durant is out for the Nets with a sprained right MCL suffered Jan. 8 and at least another week from being reevaluated. And Lakers’ stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis were both ruled out by Los Angeles.
James is 117 points shy of surpassing fellow Lakers icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for No. 1 on the NBA’s all-time career scoring list.
“I think as a fan why wouldn’t you love to be able to watch that game?” Nets coach Jacque Vaughn had said before the Lakers ruled out James.
“I think you get a chance to watch special individuals over the course of history, and right now we have one in the midst of this generation. People who look up to him and deservedly so. The numbers speak for themselves. Looking forward to our crowd and how we compete.”
On the front end of a back-to-back in the city, James is being held out with left ankle soreness. Meanwhile, Davis is being rested with a right foot stress injury after playing in the last two games against San Antonio and in Boston. He’d missed the prior 20 games over 5 ½ weeks with the injury.
The Lakers face the Knicks Tuesday at the Garden on the tail end of the back-to-back.
That leaves Kyrie Irving as the last current All-Star standing in this matchup.
Ben Simmons (left knee soreness) is questionable for Brooklyn. He was forced out of Thursday’s loss to Detroit and missed Saturday’s victory over the Knicks, but did not require an MRI.
In seven games since Durant went down, Simmons has struggled offensively, averaging six points on just 5.7 shot attempts per game.
T.J. Warren (left shin contusion) is doubtful versus the Lakers, but also did not require any imaging. David Duke Jr., Kessler Edwards and Dru Smith are all out on G-League assignment.
Nic Claxton enters Monday having shot 28 of 31 from the floor in his last three appearances to lift his field-goal percentage to .747. That’s by far the best in the league this season, and on pace to break Mitchell Robinson’s NBA-record .742. But the young center was just as proud of his career-high six assists against the Knicks.
“I’m just being a little bit more patient out there with the ball and not just giving it up to the first guy that’s open, and kind of waiting for an open look,” Claxton said. “I just was patient and guys knocked down shots.”
