PHOENIX — Kevin Durant is expected to make his Phoenix Suns debut on Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets.
The Suns made the announcement on social media Tuesday. The 13-time All-Star came to Phoenix on Feb. 9 in a blockbuster trade that sent Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and four first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets.
Durant hasn’t played for the Suns while recovering from a sprained knee ligament. The 34-year-old is still one of the game’s elite scorers, averaging nearly 30 points per game this season.
Durant joins a Suns starting lineup that includes Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. Phoenix is trying to make it back to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons.
The Suns lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games in 2021.
PELICANS: Guard Jose Alvarado will be out at least three weeks and forward Larry Nance Jr. will miss two weeks because of recent injuries, the club announced.
Those losses to the roster come as the Pelicans have been sliding down the Western Conference standings with 18 losses in 25 games since star power forward Zion Williamson strained his right hamstring.
Alvarado, a prominent reserve and the MVP of the Rising Stars game during NBA All-Star weekend, played 15 minutes during New Orleans’ 101-93 loss to Orlando on Monday night. He was diagnosed Tuesday with a stress reaction in his right tibia.
Nance sprained his left ankle during Saturday’s loss to the Knicks in New York. The Pelicans said he will be re-evaluated in two weeks. Williamson had a setback shortly before the All-Star break, but the Pelicans said he “continues to make progress with rehabilitation” and that a more precise timeline for his return could come after medical imaging scheduled for next week.
TECHNOLOGY: The NBA is inviting seven companies, including two international firms, to present new technology to league executives, partners and investors at Summer League in Las Vegas later this year.
The companies were revealed and selected through the league’s Launchpad program that is designed to identify and develop new technology to be used on and off the floor.
The companies are:
• SkillCorner, a Paris-based company that takes video feeds and converts them into player tracking data.
• Springbok Analytics of Charlottesville, Virginia, which studies MRI data and turns it into a 3D digital twin.
• Supersapiens, an Atlanta company studying glucose data and its effects on rest and performance.
• Action Audio of Victoria, Australia, which turns spatial data into 3D sound experiences to help blind and visually impaired fans follow games.
• EDGE Sound Research of Riverside, California, which takes standard audio and turns it into sensations to enhance experiences for fans.
• nVenue of Houston, a predictive analytics firm generating ways for fans to further engage during live games.
• Tagboard of Redmond, Washington, a cloud-based broadcast tool that can generate broadcast-ready graphics to be added directly into live game feeds.
The companies selected will participate in a research-and-development project, before presenting findings in July.
TUESDAY’S GAMES
RAPTORS 104, BULLS 98: Pascal Siakam scored 20 points, Gary Trent Jr. had 19 and Toronto beat visiting Chicago for its eighth victory in 10 games.
O.G. Anunoby added 17 points and Jakob Poeltl had 14 to help the Raptors win their fourth straight at home.
Nikola Vucevic led Chicago with 23 points points and Zach LaVine had 17.
GRIZZLIES 121, LAKERS 109: Ja Morant scored 28 of his 39 points in the third quarter and added 10 assists and 10 rebounds, and Memphis beat visiting Los Angeles in the Lakers’ first game since LeBron James injured his right foot.
Xavier Tillman finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for Memphis, and Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane scored 16 points apiece.
Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 28 points and 19 rebounds,.
James’ injury, suffered in Sunday’s win over Dallas, left the Lakers without their leading scorer at 29.7 points per game. They don’t know how long he will be out.
BUCKS 118, NETS 104: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points and 15 rebounds, and visiting Milwaukee extended its winning streak to 15 games.
Jrue Holiday had 14 points and eight assists for the Bucks, who went 10-0 in February and have passed the Boston Celtics for the best record in the NBA.
Brook Lopez added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Khris Middleton had 18 points off the bench. Milwaukee held Brooklyn to 42 second-half points, dealing the Nets their third straight loss and seventh in their past nine games.
WIZARDS 119, HAWKS 116: The Washington Wizards spoiled Quin Snyder’s Atlanta coaching debut, getting 37 points from Bradley Beal and 28 from Kyle Kuzma in a road win.
Beal hit a pull-up jumper with 35.3 seconds left that gave the short-handed Wizards a 117-113 lead after they trailed nearly the entire second half.
Trae Young, who paced Atlanta with 31 points, responded with a contested 3-pointer that pulled the Hawks within one with 30.6 remaining.
But Beal went to work again. With the shot clock running down, he drove on Dejounte Murray, deking left before cutting right to bank in his final points of the night.
Young had a couple of chances to send the game to overtime, but both 3-pointers rimmed out before the horn sounded.
NUGGETS 133, ROCKETS 112: Nikola Jokic had his 100th career triple-double and Jamal Murray scored 32 points in Denver’s victory at Houston.
Jokic had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his NBA-leading 24th triple-double this season and 15th in the last 20 games.
Michael Porter Jr. added 17 points and Bruce Brown had 15 off the bench to help the Nuggets to their second consecutive victory and sixth in the last seven games.
Jalen Green and Tari Eason each scored 17 points for Houston. The Rockets dropped their 10th in a row.
PACERS 124, MAVERICKS 122: Tyrese Haliburton scored 32 points and won a duel of birthday boys with Luka Doncic, leading Indiana past host Dallas.
Doncic had 39 points and nine rebounds on his 24th birthday but fell to 1-4 in games with Kyrie Irving since the superstars were paired in a deal with Brooklyn before the trade deadline.
Irving scored 16 points, but his 3-pointer just before the buzzer was the last of five misses in the final 1:20 with Dallas trailing by two.
The 23-year-old Haliburton, born on Feb. 29, 2000, was 9 of 18 from the field and 12 of 15 on free throws while adding seven rebounds and six assists.
KINGS 123, THUNDER 117: Harrison Barnes scored 29 points and visiting Sacramento beat Oklahoma City for its fourth consecutive victory.
Domantas Sabonis had 22 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists and Kevin Huerter added 20 points for the Kings. They also beat the Thunder on Sunday night.
Thunder rookie Jalen Williams matched a season high with 27 points. Dario Saric, a reserve forward/center the Thunder acquired in a trade with Phoenix before the All-Star break, had a season-high 21 points. But Oklahoma City shot just 43.9% in its fourth straight loss.
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