Heading into their Monday night matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Detroit Pistons anticipated potentially playing against a LaBron James-less LA team
On the injury report, the Lakers downgraded LeBron to questionable. The veteran forward has been managing a left foot injury.
That won't stop him from playing on Monday. The Lakers have upgraded LeBron to available for the matchup against the Pistons.
LeBron James (injury management) available to play Monday.
— Underdog NBA (@Underdog__NBA) December 24, 2024
Prior to LA’s current three-game stretch leading up to Monday’s game, LeBron missed two games for the first time this season. In matchups against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Lakers went 1-1 without their star forward.
When James returned to action on December 15 to take on the Memphis Grizzlies, LeBron checked in for 34 minutes. He scored 18 points, eight assists, and eight rebounds to help lead the Lakers past the Grizzlies.
In the next two games, LeBron appeared on the court for 34 minutes each time. He averaged 25 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists while hitting on 47 percent of his shots from the field.
When the Pistons and the Lakers met for the first and only time this season back in early November, LeBron checked in for 40 minutes. He produced 20 points, eight rebounds, and 11 assists. Although LeBron was on the floor, his presence didn’t help propel the Lakers past the Pistons as Detroit defeated LA by 12 points.
As far as the rest of the Lakers’ injury report goes, LA ruled out Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jalen Hood-Schifino, and Jaxson Hayes. Anthony Davis was also questionable, but has been upgraded to available.
On Monday, the Pistons will search for their 13th victory of the year.
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Jonathan Kuminga and the Golden State Warriors have been in a contract standoff for quite some time now, and things aren’t getting any prettier. The former 7th overall pick is ghosting the team, according to sources. Leaving his future with the Dubs in question, while also making us wonder where he could land next. The situation between Kuminga and the Warriors seems almost irreparable at this point. He wants a more consistent starting role on the team, as well as the freedom to take more important shots and grow his game. But with Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry, it doesn’t seem like the team is in a hurry to give Kuminga more touches. That’s why it’s not really too surprising to hear that the forward has been ignoring the Warriors’ contract offers recently. “No response, no counteroffer—just silence. And it’s escalating tensions,” wrote League Alerts on the situation. It’s hard to ignore that Kuminga seems completely focused on a move away from Golden State. The team still hasn’t been able to find any sort of middle ground with him. He’s also reportedly demanding a long-term deal worth $30 million annually. But sources say that the Warriors’ best offer to him so far has been two years, $40 million. Now the question becomes, where will Kuminga play next season? The Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns are the only teams that have expressed significant interest so far. However, being in the same division, the Warriors will surely try to do everything possible to make sure that move doesn’t happen. So, let’s look into the Eastern Conference. Maybe the Milwaukee Bucks or the Chicago Bulls? Both have also expressed varying levels of interest in Kuminga recently, and he would be a nice addition to each roster. Additionally, the Washington Wizards could always use some young talent. In the end, though, it’s a matter of who is willing to give up enough assets to acquire Kuminga. They will also need to be willing to pay him. A sign and trade is certainly on the table, but given his ghosting of the Warriors during negotiations, some might just wait it out and try to offer him a bag after beating his restricted free agency. Of course, Golden State will have the opportunity to match the offer. But if the Kings come in and offer Kuminga $30 million, the Warriors would be hard-pressed to match it. After all, they’ve already shown an unwillingness to go above $20 million. All in all, it’s an interesting standoff that is continuously changing by the day. Stay tuned because the shoe could drop on Kuminga at any moment.
The 2024 offseason expanded the $30M-per-year wide receiver club to six members. D.K. Metcalf, Ja’Marr Chase and Garrett Wilson have taken it to nine this year. Terry McLaurin is undoubtedly pushing to bump that number to 10, after seeing 2019 Day 2 classmates Metcalf and A.J. Brown land among that contingent. McLaurin reported to training camp Sunday and landed on the active/PUP list. As our Rory Parks explained, skepticism exists about how injured the Commanders’ top wide receiver really is. An ankle injury has keyed the PUP stay, but it can be safely assumed McLaurin would be ready to practice if an extension comes to pass. Nevertheless, the Commanders have been surprised by the difficulty of these talks. Using an injury to avoid practicing while negotiating — developments the Jonathan Taylor and Micah Parsons sagas brought — represents a third tactic, joining the holdout and the increasingly utilized hold-in amid extension talks. McLaurin shifted from a holdout to the injury route; no matter how he is accomplishing not practicing, the seventh-year veteran is aiming to land a lucrative third contract. His age provides a complication for Washington. McLaurin is going into an age-30 season, separating him from Brown and Metcalf. Both Ole Miss products were drafted just before McLaurin, a 2019 third-round pick, but they are each two years younger. This strengthened their cases for big-ticket third contracts. McLaurin went first to ignite the second-tier boom on the receiver market in 2022, agreeing to a three-year, $69.6M extension. That shaped the Metcalf and Deebo Samuel extensions, both of which coming in higher than McLaurin’s despite the latter’s consistency with suboptimal quarterback situations. McLaurin’s AAV has dropped to 17th at wide receiver. The Commanders are prepared to extend their top wideout, but Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline indicates the "holdup" is regarding the $30M-AAV number. Some around the league point to the team not wanting to go into that neighborhood for McLaurin, despite his five 1,000-yard seasons. Courtland Sutton and McLaurin are nearly the same age, and the Broncos’ top target signed a four-year, $92M extension. That matches where the Titans went for Calvin Ridley (now 30) in 2024. McLaurin, though, has a better resume than both and should be aiming higher. The Commanders have a Jayden Daniels rookie contract to structure another McLaurin extension around as well. Adam Peters was around for the 49ers’ 2022 Samuel extension but not Brandon Aiyuk‘s $30M-per-year deal. (The Samuel extension also did not work out for the 49ers, who proceeded with a salary dump of sorts by trading him to the Commanders.) The second-year GM taking a hardline stance with McLaurin would be an interesting route given the WR’s importance to a sudden contender. Peters confirmed talks are ongoing, with that comment coming after McLaurin expressed frustration about the negotiations. A potential gap between the pack of 20-somethings (and Tyreek Hill) north of $30M AAV and the Tee Higgins–Jaylen Waddle–D.J. Moore tier could be relevant here, and it will be interesting to see if McLaurin settles for something just south of that $30MM benchmark. Guarantees and contract structure, of course, will be important to determining the value as well. A short-term extension should be reached soon, per Pauline, but if the Commanders hold the line at or around $30M, the McLaurin matter could drag on for a while longer.
After getting their seven-game win streak snapped against the San Diego Padres on Monday, the New York Mets are looking to get back on track with a victory on Tuesday. Despite their latest loss, things are looking good for New York. With a 62-45 record, they hold a one-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. A big reason for the Mets' success is Juan Soto, who is in the midst of his first season with the team. However, the 26-year-old left the game early after fouling a ball off his foot in the fourth inning. Following Soto's exit, the team made an announcement and gave an update regarding his injury. As the Mets look to continue their strong campaign, they will need Soto as healthy as possible. Fortunately for them, while he was forced to leave Tuesday's game injury, it seems that not all is bad as he has been diagnosed with a foot contusion, rather than a break or something more major (h/t Anthony DiComo of MLB.com) "Juan Soto exited tonight's game due to a foot 'contusion,' or bruise, according to the Mets, DiComo wrote on X. "That would imply nothing is broken at first glance, but the Mets will likely test him thoroughly. Until there is more clarity, Soto's status will be worth monitoring for the foreseeable future as he is a crucial part of the team's success. The Mets will take on the Padres for the series finale on Wednesday before heading back home to take on the San Francisco Giants in a three-game weekend series. Hopefully for New York, there will be another update about Soto's injury sooner rather than later.
The Detroit Tigers have been unstoppable at the plate lately, and Tuesday night was no different. The Tigers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 12-2, giving them 27 runs in the last three games. A big contributor to their offense on Tuesday was outfielder Wenceel Perez, who joined Sam Crawford (1912), Ossie Vitt (1915) and Ty Cobb (1924, 1916, 1915) as the only four players in franchise history to have a single, double, triple and two stolen bases in the same game. Perez began his historic night with a double off Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt in the second inning before adding a single in the fourth. A monster fifth inning put the Tigers ahead 8-2 after an early 2-0 deficit, which set the stage for a three-run sixth inning that included this triple from Perez off Arizona's Jake Woodford to give Detroit a 10-2 lead. Perez scored two more runs, one in the sixth and the other in eighth, to give the Tigers their final two runs in a 12-run outburst. Overall, Perez had three hits in five at-bats, scored four runs and added one RBI to go with his historic statline. Given his performance over the past month, it was surprising to see Perez show out against Arizona. After all, he did not have a single hit the last two games, and he only recorded more than one hit once in 20 games the entire month coming into Tuesday. The Tigers were once the hottest team in baseball when they held a 59-34 record on July 8. Since then, they suffered a slump that includes a six-game losing streak. Suddenly, Detroit has won its last three and scored 10 or more runs in two of those victories. As good as the offense has been, the pitching has been solid as well with the Tigers outscoring their opponents 27-7 during the three-game stretch. Yes, the last two wins have come against a struggling Diamondbacks team that sits fourth in the NL West with a 51-57 record. Still, they have taken care of business and won handily. The next step is getting healthy and having someone to pair with ace Tarik Skubal in the rotation. Right-hander Chris Paddack was added to the 26-man roster and is set to start Wednesday, while free agent signing Alex Cobb is beginning his rehab assignment. The Tigers will go for the sweep of the Diamondbacks on Wednesday before traveling to Philadelphia for a weekend series against the Phillies. It will be difficult to top Perez's historic outing from Tuesday, but if momentum is any indication, the Tigers may only be getting started, especially if the pitching depth is there.
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