Warriors get to exchange Christmas gifts with Giannis
The Warriors are set to play on Christmas morning.
T he NBA’s tentative schedule has Golden State traveling to Milwaukee to face the Bucks on Dec. 25, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, with the game tipping off at 11:30 a.m.
This will be the eighth straight Christmas Day game for the Warriors. Looming over the proceedings will be rumors of the Warriors’ long-held longshot desire to pair Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo with Stephen Curry. Though all 29 NBA teams outside Milwaukee would surely love to add the two-time defending MVP to their roster, few have been as visible on the rumor mill as the Warriors, even if the odds have always been long, given their salary cap constraints.
Antetokounmpo, a pending free agent, has until Dec. 21 to sign a supermax extension with Milwaukee before the season.
CELTICS’ WALKER OUT UNTIL JANUARY >> Boston Celtics point guard Kemba Walker will be sidelined until at least the first week of January after receiving a stem cell injection in his left knee. Boston president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said the decision was made after Walker consulted with multiple specialists in early October. Walker was then put on a 12-week strengthening program for the upcoming season. He is expected to resume on-court activities soon.
Walker nearly had his first playoff run with Boston derailed in July when he tweaked the knee during workouts leading up to the resumption of the season in the Florida bubble. It left him limited during the seeding games portion of the schedule.
But he was a big part of Boston’s run to the Eastern Conference finals, averaging 19.6 points and 5.1 assists during the postseason. The Celtics lost the series in six games to Miami.
Ainge said his concerns about the health of Walker’s knee going forward are low.
“I think this year will tell us a lot more,” Ainge said. “He saw some specialists over the last six or eight weeks. And they all came to the same conclusion. And I think that gave Kemba great peace of mind as he went to different doctors around country, (and) got the same opinions. He’s on a program and seems to be in a very good happy spot.”
Teams began holding individual workouts Tuesday.
RIVERS CONCERNED ABOUT SEASON >> The first preseason camps of the coronavirus era opened with teams limited for the first few days to individual sessions with one coach and one player at one basket, all of this starting to happen as the pandemic continues raging and more and more Americans are testing positive.
“I’m very concerned if we can pull this off,” Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers said.
“In football they play once a week and they have 1,000 players, so when you miss three or four players, you can still get away with it,” Rivers said. “If we miss three or four players, we’re in trouble, especially with the amount of games. We’re playing three and four games a week. So, if one of our guys or two of our key guys get the virus and they miss 10 days, 14 days, that can be eight games in a 72-game season. That can knock you out in the playoffs.”
HORNETS RE-SIGN BIYOMBO; SIGN ALL DRAFT PICKS >> The Hornets have re-signed center Bismack Biyombo and signed all four of this year’s draft picks, including firstround selection LaMelo Ball, on the eve of training camp.