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The Sacramento Kings already have four former Kentucky Wildcats in Wenyen Gabriel, Skal Labissiere, Willie Cauley-Stein, and of course, rising star De’Aaron Fox.
Might they add a fifth Wildcat?
According to Woj, the Kings and New York Knicks are discussing a deal that involves Enes Kanter landing in Sacramento:
New York and Sacramento discussing an Enes Kanter-Zach Randolph trade of expiring contracts, but nothing close yet, league sources tell ESPN. Kings would want to send out more expirings in a deal. A third team could be helpful.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 9, 2019
Kanter has averaged a little over 14 points per game to go with 11 rebounds over the last two seasons in New York. He’s been frustrated with his diminishing role, however, as he had a recent three-game stretch in which he played in 20 minutes or less in each contest. He’s also been playing with point guards who haven’t come close to doing what Fox is in Sacramento, as he’s averaging 7.3 assists per game to go with 18 ppg.
Elsewhere, another former Kentucky big man is recovering from a scary injury. On Tuesday, Oklahoma City Thunder center Nerlens Noel suffered a concussion on a very hard hit that also saw saw his head bounce off of the court.
Nerlens Noel takes a hard elbow from Wiggins, lands head-first on the floor. Looked like he was knocked out cold. #ThunderUp pic.twitter.com/p38D8MnTVM
— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) January 9, 2019
Thankfully, it looked worse than it was, as Noel only suffered a concussion but no damage to the head and neck area. Still, concussions are a tricky injury to overcome, and he won’t play in another game until he clears the NBA’s concussion protocol.
Positive news for Noel and the Thunder. Noel exited the game in a stretcher and knocked unconscious, but was alert in the aftermath of his fall last night. He'll continue to have evaluations. Noel has been a valued rotation player for OKC this season. https://t.co/FYrzJcXi96
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 9, 2019
Noel is averaging 5.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game this season, good for a 21.56 PER, which would be the highest of his five-year career after he missed all of 2013-14 while recovering from a torn ACL.