Two of the four people who did not travel with the Kings to Orlando due to positive coronavirus tests will be joining the team soon, according to head coach Luke Walton on Saturday’s Zoom media session.
Two of the people that did not travel with us have had back-to-back negative tests now so they will be joining us here in Orlando soon, said Walton, who did not reveal any names.
Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee reports that Buddy Hield said he is planning to travel out to join the rest of the squad soon. Hield, along with Alex Len and Jabari Parker are the three known players who tested positive. The fourth person who did not travel with the team is still unknown.
Buddy Hield shared a clip of a plane Sunday morning.
It appears that Buddy Hield is on the move. Next stop Orlando? pic.twitter.com/8ePrrUbKvN
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) July 12, 2020
Additionally, on Saturday’s call Marvin Bagley and De’Aaron Fox shared which social justice messages they would be wearing on the back of their jerseys.
Fox will have “Anti-Racist” on the back of his jersey.
“I think a lot of things stimulate from racism. Baze [Kent Bazemore] is talking about education reform and things like that. I think it all either is racism, blatant racism, or systematic racism. So, that is why I picked anti-racist for my jersey. I think it touches a lot of bases,” Fox said.
Bagley will have “Freedom” appear on the back of his jersey.
“That one word means a lot to me whenever I see it or hear it,” he said. With all this going on, until African Americans have an equal playing field we’re not free.
Sean Cunningham reports that every player on the Kings will have a social justice message on their jersey.
While 17 NBA players, including LeBron James, decided not to put any social justice messages on the back of their jerseys, per sources. Source also tells me that all of the members of the Kings did select a message.
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) July 12, 2020
Also of note from the call, Walton stated that he sees Bagley as a position-less player, eventually.
“We see Marvin as a player that down the road is going to be pretty much a position-less type of basketball player. For now, and getting him back, we’ve got him getting most of his reps at the five and the four,” Walton said. We’re confident with him and his ability at either position.
Oh dear, that sounds ominous.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>According to NBA officials, the Clippers, Suns and Wizards have all canceled team practice today. There will be no media availability for those teams and there is no further explanation at this time.</p>— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) <a href=”https://twitter.com/JandersonSacBee/status/1282349297363611648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Crap, can someone explain how to embed tweets?
https://twitter.com/JandersonSacBee/status/1282349297363611648
I just saw that as well, it cannot be good.
I wonder when and what the trigger is for Silver to pull the plug. Ten players get it in Orlando? Twenty? A coach/staff member being hospitalized? A whole team withdrawing?
Yeah, that doesn’t look good. If just one case gets into the bubble, it’s over, right?
It turned out to just be a scheduled day off for those teams, nothing ominous.
You should be able to embed by just copy and pasting the url of the tweet itself into the comment. Not using the provided embed code.
https://twitter.com/JandersonSacBee/status/1282349297363611648
Also of note from the call, Walton stated that he sees Bagley as a position-less player, eventually.
Can’t argue with this, as long as he is position-less and matching up against the other teams 5!
I’m not one to rush to the defense of Walton, but it sounds a bit more constructive than:
See a cynical old guy like me thinks of someone yelling about their rights in the supermarket when I hear the word “Freedom” now. Good on Bagley for pointing out the real meaning and historical weight behind that word.
I guess, position-less in this context means he won’t have a position on this team over the medium term?
Is sitting on the bench considered a position? Thinking it is position-less?
Ancient Kings proverb as it pertains to sitting on the bench:
One must first Kleine before they can re-Kleine.
I am in-Kleined to de-Kleine.
He can sit anywhere on the bench he likes. That’s position-less.
What is the position where he learns to set a screen and throw a pass? I vote for that one.
He positively should not play positions 1-3. That’s how position-less he should be
Here we go again:
Just let the kid play basketball to his own strengths for gods sake
I agree only to a small extent.
This team is not here to fit Marvin’s needs. Marvin is here to fit the team’s needs.
If Marvin’s strengths do not fit with what this team needs (hint, they largely do not), he should work hard to improve his weaknesses.
I agree, but I don’t think there’ll be enough time in Orlando for him to significantly improve his weaknesses.
Badge Legend