Part of the appeal of the Rui Hachimura trade the Los Angeles Lakers made on Monday was the relatively meager price. Opposing teams have spent the entire season asking the Lakers for one of their two tradable first-round picks in almost any negotiated trade, but the Washington Wizards were willing to send him to the purple and gold for three second-rounders. It seems, however, that the Lakers actually are prepared to make a sizable investment in Hachimura. It just isn't going to come through the trade itself.

If the Clippers are looking for a blueprint for turning a drain-circling season into a Finals run, they don't have to look far. Last season, the Boston Celtics were 25-24 on Jan. 25. This season, the Clippers sport the exact same 25-24 record entering play on Tuesday night vs. the Lakers. 

The Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards completed a trade that sends fourth-year forward Rui Hachimura to Los Angeles in exchange for Kendrick Nunn and three second-round picks (in 2023, 2028 and 2029), the teams announced Monday. Hachimura is averaging 13.0 points and 4.3 rebounds this season and matched a season-high with 30 points against the Magic over the weekend.

Following the Boston Celtics' shootaround on Monday, star forward Jayson Tatum told reporters that he may need surgery on his troublesome left wrist, which has been causing issues for him ever since he suffered a non-displaced fracture last season. 

One of the low-key hilarious lines of the classic 1971 version of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is delivered by Charlie's schoolteacher, played by a perfectly deadpan David Battley:

We're now less than a month away from the 2023 NBA trade deadline on Feb. 9, and as expected, the rumor mill is starting to heat up. This is about the time when teams have to decide if they want to be buyers or sellers, and with Victor Wembanyama waiting in the 2023 NBA Draft, there may be more of the latter than usual. 

The Toronto Raptors have lost 27 games already this season, but Saturday's defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics was unique even in a season full of disappointment. In the final 14.1 seconds, Boston needed two jump balls, and perhaps more importantly, two odd timeout calls, to escape Toronto with a victory.

The sky over Sacramento was a little darker Saturday night than it has been on recent evenings after the Philadelphia 76ers handed the Kings one of the more surprising defeats of the season. Philadelphia, playing without James Harden and Joel Embiid on the last night of a lengthy road trip, fell behind by 21 points in the second quarter of a game many teams would have treated as a schedule loss. Instead, the 76ers, fighting for an undefeated road trip, clawed their way back into the game.

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Brooklyn @ Phoenix

Current Records: Brooklyn 27-16; Phoenix 21-24

Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon is eager to make the All-Star Game for the first time in his career and is trying to use his prowess as a dunker as leverage to get there. "If I'm in the All-Star Game," Gordon said in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, "I'll do the dunk contest."