NBA Notes: Kings, Domantas Sabonis, Lakers, Rui Hachimura, Suns

Kings

Domantas Sabonis is still a couple weeks away from returning from a partially torn meniscus, but the Kings are encouraged by his progress.

He is traveling with the team on its three-game road swing, which ends next Tuesday in Indiana. Sean Cunningham of NBC Sacramento reports that Sabonis is not practicing yet, which lines up with the initial timeline.

Sacramento’s poor start has placed Sabonis in the rumor mill, but the team continues to treat his recovery with patience.

Lakers

Rui Hachimura has quietly been a steady double-figure scorer for most of the season. Monday was not one of those nights. He did not score, took only one shot and grabbed one rebound in 23 minutes during the loss.

“I don’t remember when I had the ball this whole game,” Hachimura said, via Lakers Nation. “Playing with these guys, I signed up for that. I understand it.

“But everyone knows that’s not how we’re gonna win. The games we’ve been winning, we’ve been passing to each other and trusting each other.”

Hachimura called it a tough one but said he has to shake it off and move on.

Suns

Dillon Brooks walked into his favorite road arena and walked out with 33 points, a win and another chapter in his ongoing theater with LeBron James.

Brooks relished every second of Phoenix’s blowout win in Los Angeles.

“I love playing in this arena,” Brooks said, via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “They show me a lot of love in here, and I reciprocate it back. I’m a competitor. I don’t really like the smiling and the giggling, so just letting them know that I’m here. And I’m still rising.”

Brooks torched the Lakers while Devin Booker missed most of the night with a groin issue. Collin Gillespie, who scored a career-high 28, laughed that sometimes he tries to calm Brooks down, but it never lasts.

“Sometimes I’m trying to tell him to chill out, but I think he just blacks out,” Gillespie said. “That’s Dillon Brooks. It fuels us. He’s the tone-setter. Consistent energy, brings it every night. He is fearless.”