Pelicans’ Williamson in starting lineup vs. Spurs

The Golden State Warriors held a pregame players-only meeting before their 115-113 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day. Following a 12-3 start, the Warriors have lost 11 of their past 14 games.

“It is an inflection point on obviously which direction our season can go,” Stephen Curry said after scoring his personal best of 38 points for a Christmas game. “Our last 14 games, it’s just been tough trying to find any type of momentum or consistency, and through that, you just can’t lose spirit and belief that we’re a good enough team to figure it out because this league is ruthless.

“This league changes from window to window of what you can fall back on, and when you dig yourself a hole like that, sometimes it can be hard to pull out of. So, we’re right in that window where we can still regain some momentum however many weeks before the [All-Star] break are pivotal or else [we are] in a situation where we’re chasing down the stretch. And nobody wants to be there.”

Curry could sit the Warriors’ next game as they play at the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday in the first game of a back-to-back.

“We’re down,” Steve Kerr said of the team’s morale during this slump. “Everybody’s disappointed. We’ve lost some confidence. You can feel it. We had a great vibe early in the season, and we’re going through it right now.

“But I love our guys, high-character guys. They care. They care about each other. I believe in them. I believe we’re going to get this thing turned around, so this is all part of the season, part of life.”

At the 20218 NBA draft, the Denver Nuggets attempted to trade up to the No. 2 overall pick with Luka Doncic their target selection. The Sacramento Kings held the No. 2 pick that year and picked Marvin Bagley while the Atlanta Hawks did trade down from No. 3, sending the draft rights for Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 5 pick that became Trae Young and a first round pick in 2019 that became Cam Reddish.

“The Nuggets knew that Vlade Divac was not particularly high on Luka Doncic,” said Mike Singer on The Hoop Collective Podcast. “And they had designs on pairing Nikola Jokic with Luka Doncic. On draft night in 2018, they tried. There was a call placed. There was a proposal and the Nuggets attempted to get the No. 2 pick for Gary Harris and two first round picks was what I was told.

“You can roll your eyes at that price tag, but look in retrospect. The Kings ended up taking Marvin Bagley with the No. 2 pick. I’m not saying this trade was imminent. All I’m saying is this trade was discussed and considered because the Nuggets knew Vlade Divas was not particularly high on Luka Doncic and they tried to exploit it.

“The wrinkle in this is if the Nuggets had ever been willing to part with Jamal Murray, we have a hell of a what-if in the annals of NBA history, but that did not happen.”

The story told by Signer, a former Denver Post reporter and current employee of the Nuggets, is also from his upcoming book on Jokic title ‘Why So Serious?‘

“I was not in the room,” added Singer. “I was not in the front office at the time. All I know is it was considered, explored, vetted, and I have somebody saying anonymously ‘For 30 seconds, we thought we had Luka.’ Which is a gargantuan statement.”