James Harden celebrated his Cleveland Cavaliers debut with a win at Sacramento on Saturday night, but he and his new team will have a tougher challenge when Cleveland visits the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.

Harden had 23 points and eight assists in the Cavaliers’ 132-126 win over the Kings despite not getting a chance to practice first. The veteran guard is learning on the fly, but he has no concerns about it.

“I just got to figure out where I fit in,” Harden said after beating Sacramento. “That won’t be hard at all. I told the guys just do what you all do and I’ll figure it out. I’m good enough to figure it out and insert myself in.”

Cleveland acquired Harden from the Los Angeles Clippers before the trade deadline last week to improve its chances in the Eastern Conference, where it sits fourth, two games behind New York and Boston for second place.

Harden bolsters the Cavaliers’ backcourt and his combined 25.4 points a game this season adds to the guard scoring punch. Darius Garland, who went to Los Angeles in the deal, was averaging 18 points a game but has been out since Jan. 14 with a toe injury.

Donovan Mitchell leads Cleveland with a 28.9 average and combined with Harden they average 14 assists per game. Evan Mobley is third in scoring at 17.9 points a game and leads the Cavaliers with 8.8 rebounds, but he has not played since Jan. 26 due to a calf strain.

He has been ruled out against Denver, which has suffered its share of injuries as well. The Nuggets, already without power forward Aaron Gordon to a right hamstring injury, saw his replacement, Peyton Watson, go down with the same injury.

Watson was hurt in a double-overtime loss at New York on Wednesday night and will miss a month. Denver did get a boost in Saturday night’s win at Chicago with the return of Cameron Johnson from a right knee bruise. Johnson scored 14 points in his first game since Dec. 23 and is averaging 11.8 points for the season.

The Nuggets got another scare in the 136-120 win when Jamal Murray left late in the game in apparent discomfort. Head coach David Adelman said after the game that it was a hip issue.

“He seemed confident that he was OK,” Adelman said.

Murray helped carry the team when Nikola Jokic missed 16 games with a left knee injury. Murray is averaging career-highs in points (26) and assists (7.5) and has 14 double-doubles this season after finishing with 28 points and 11 assists against the Bulls.

Jokic reached another milestone on Saturday night with the 182nd triple-double of his career. That broke a tie for second with Oscar Robertson, behind only former teammate Russell Westbrook, who has 207.

Jokic has not shown any rust after missing a month. In the five games since his return, he is averaging 24.6 points, 12.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists; he is averaging a triple-double for the season — 28.9 points, 12.2 rebounds and 10.7 assists.

–Field Level Media

The Oklahoma City Thunder again will be without star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as they try to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season in a visit to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.

Gilgeous-Alexander has missed two games with an abdominal injury as the Thunder lost to the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets. In Saturday’s 112-106 home loss against Houston, Cason Wallace had 23 points for Oklahoma City, while Isaiah Joe had 21 off the bench.

Not only is Gilgeous-Alexander out through next weekend’s All-Star break, the Thunder have been without guards Jalen Williams (hamstring) and Ajay Mitchell (abdomen). Gilgeous-Alexander was selected as an All-Star, while Mitchell was chosen for the Rising Stars competition.

Oklahoma City did see Jared McCain make his team debut Saturday and he scored five points in 14 minutes after his trade from the Philadelphia 76ers.

Without Gilgeous-Alexander running the offense, the Thunder committed 17 turnovers, their most in a game since Nov. 17 — 18 in a 126-109 win at New Orleans. The Rockets turned the miscues into 27 points.

“Obviously, this is a different group than we’re used to playing with, but we had enough resources on both ends of the floor to win,” Oklahoma City head coach Mark Diagneault said. “… I didn’t think the loss was because of who we were missing.”

The Thunder already have a victory over the Lakers, 121-92 in Oklahoma City on Nov. 12 when Gilgeous-Alexander recorded 30 points and nine assists.

LeBron James, who had not yet made his season debut when the Lakers last played the Thunder, scored 20 points with 10 assists as Los Angeles earned a 105-99 home victory over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

The Lakers were without star guard Luka Doncic (hamstring), while Rui Hachimura moved back into the starting lineup and had 18 points. Austin Reaves, in his third game since returning from a calf injury, had 16 points with eight assists.

“It wasn’t pretty, but at the end of the day, the win’s all, all that matters,” Reaves said. “I wouldn’t say we played good but played good enough.”

Both teams struggled on offense in the first half, with the Lakers breaking free with a 38-point third quarter. Los Angeles ended up shooting 50.7% from the floor and overcame 23 turnovers, including seven from James.

Luke Kennard, who was acquired from the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday, scored 10 points with two made 3-pointers in his Lakers debut.

“A lot of people kind of harp on his shooting, obviously, because he shoots the ball so elite,” James said of Kennard. “But his playmaking ability (is solid) as well. He is able to crack the defense when they run him off the (3-point) line.”

Doncic’s hamstring injury, that occurred in a victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday, has been deemed mild, though he was ruled out for Monday. The injury happened in Reaves’ second game back from missing 19 games because of his calf issue.

James is averaging 21.8 points with 6.8 assists and 5.7 rebounds in 34 games of his record 23rd NBA season. His 15 total turnovers in back-to-back victories are his most in consecutive games this season.

–Field Level Media

Two teams adapting to life without their star point guard try out their new look on one another Monday night when the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors duel in San Francisco.

Memphis’ Ja Morant is expected to miss a 10th straight game because of an elbow injury, and Golden State’s Stephen Curry has been ruled out of a fourth in a row due to a sore knee when the Western Conference clubs meet for a second time this season.

Both Morant and Curry were in action when the Warriors beat the Grizzlies 131-118 in San Francisco in October. Morant outscored Curry 23-16 in defeat.

Several front-line performers from the earlier meeting also will be missing for the mismatch.

Jonathan Kuminga was the game’s leading scorer with 25 points and Jimmy Butler III chipped in with 20 for the Warriors to help overcome Curry’s relatively low production in the October win.

Kuminga was traded last week to Atlanta along with Buddy Hield for Kristaps Porzingis, who also will be sidelined Monday with Achilles tendinitis. Butler, meanwhile, was lost for the season to an ACL injury last month.

As Warriors fans await a first look at their intriguing new big man, Golden State coach Steve Kerr disclosed over the weekend that Porzingis will miss both remaining games before the All-Star break. The Warriors will also host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday, then not play again until the Boston Celtics — one of Porzingis’ former teams — visit on Feb. 19.

“I saw (Porzingis) at the hotel and had a good chat,” Kerr said leading into the Warriors’ 105-99 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night. “He’s excited; we’re excited. The plan is he’ll (work out in San Francisco) all of All-Star break, and he’ll play after the break.”

The Warriors have gone 3-6 since losing Butler. They’ve dropped two of three without Curry, held below 100 points twice as Brandin Podziemski (one) and Pat Spencer (two) have gotten starts.

Scoring hasn’t been an issue of late for the Grizzlies despite going without not only Morant but also Jaren Jackson Jr., Jock Landale, John Konchar and Vince Williams Jr. the last three games after they were dealt to Utah for four players and three first-round picks.

In running up an average of 119.7 points in the three games since the trade, including 115 in each of two losses at Portland on Friday and Saturday, the Grizzlies have given 10 different players starts, including Cam Spencer, the younger brother of the Warriors’ Pat.

Pat Spencer, who is in his third NBA season, and brother Cam, currently in his second, have gone head-to-head just twice after taking different routes to pro ball.

Cam Spencer, who won a national championship at UConn in 2024, has outscored his brother 18-2 in their matchups, each of which was won by the Warriors.

Pat Spencer played only one year of college basketball — at Northwestern — after exhausting his first four years of collegiate eligibility as an All-American lacrosse player at Loyola (Md.)

He had his two-way contract restructured into a full-season deal this week in the wake of the Kuminga trade.

It might not be Morant vs. Curry, but Cam Spencer assures his lifelong duels with his brother have tended to be entertaining.

“We’re the biggest competitors when we’re going against each other,” he said recently. “But when we’re watching, we have each other’s back and we’re each other’s biggest fans.”

–Field Level Media