De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton named Players of the Week

The Kings’ starting five (Fox, Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray and Domantas Sabonis) is blitzing opponents by an amazing 21.8 points per 100 possessions. Units in which Malik Monk replaces rookie Murray with that group are scoring a ridiculous 142.8 points per 100. Four of the five starters have true-shooting marks above 60 percent, and sixth man Monk is at 59.7. In the middle, Sabonis has been the same highly effective pick-and-roll partner and high-post fulcrum he was in Indiana; while he won’t protect the rim, he’s at least contributed to the one thing Sacramento does well defensively by rebounding 31.8 percent of opponent misses. (The Kings are second in defensive rebound rate; their problem is inducing a miss.) We won’t belabor what Tyrese Haliburton is doing in Indiana, but fit-wise, the Fox-Sabonis tandem is working. With so much shooting around them, Sacramento is shooting a league-best 59.8 percent on 2s. -via The Athletic / November 21, 2022

During an appearance on the latest episode of the “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective” podcast, ESPN reporter Marc Spears said that De’Aaron Fox hiring Rich Paul to represent him doesn’t mean he’s asking for a trade, and that Fox himself told him he’s quite content in Sacramento. -via Sactown Royalty / November 17, 2022

Marc Spears:”He’s not asking out. I think people were nervous about that, but De’Aaron doesn’t want to leave. He’s kind of in the Dame mold. Like he wants to do something special there. Because I asked him, ‘why haven’t you asked out?’ And he was like ‘I don’t want to be handed something. I want to build something here.’” -via Sactown Royalty / November 17, 2022

Indiana: Tyrese Haliburton (right ankle soreness) has been downgraded to questionable for Saturday’s game against Orlando. -via HoopsHype / November 19, 2022

With under one minute remaining in the game and the Pacers trying to seal the win, Tyrese Haliburton is injured. He was driving to the basket and converted a tough layup — then his foot was stepped on. Haliburton was in pain and had to be helped off the floor despite being able to put some weight on his injured foot/ankle. However, there is no panic from the Pacers face of the franchise, who had ice on his ankle after the game. Lloyd Pierce who was the acting head coach tonight shared his thoughts on the injury in a post-game media session. “He said he’s okay but they all do. I didn’t see what he hurt, I think he had some ice on his ankle, but I don’t know what the status is.” -via pacerpress.com / November 19, 2022