Nicolas Batum has entered the NBA's COVID-19 protocols and is expected to miss at least 10 days.

Batum missed the Los Angeles Clippers' win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

Batum has appeared in 14 games this season, averaging 9.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 27.6 minutes. 

Marcus Morris is not planning on undergoing surgery for his left knee.

Morris has played in just two games this season due to the knee soreness. 

Morris is continuing to rehab the knee and has begun to play five-on-five again with the possibility of returning during the Los Angeles Clippers' next six-game homestead which concludes on December 1st. 

Staples Center will be renamed Crypto.com Arena in a $700 million naming rights deal.

The deal will last for 20 years.

The 20,000-seat arena has been Staples Center since it opened in October 1999, with the naming rights owned by the American office-supplies retail company under a 20-year agreement.

In addition to hosting games by the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Kings, it has hosted 19 Grammy Awards, three NBA All-Star Games as well as memorials for Michael Jackson, Nipsey Hussle and Kobe Bryant.

The Lakers have won six championships since moving to the arena. 

A "take" foul by Markieff Morris on Nikola Jokic led to a retaliatory shove and now a social media beef involving siblings of both parties.

"Waited till bro turned his back smh. NOTED," Marcus Morris tweeted Monday night with an emoji of a pen in hand.

That prompted Jokic's brothers, Strahinja and Nemanja, to open a Twitter account named "@JokicBrothers" to respond to Marcus Morris, The Denver Post reported.

The newly created account tweeted: "You should leave this the way it is instead of publicly threatening our brother! Your brother made a dirty play first. If you want to make a step further be sure we will be waiting for you !! Jokic Brothers"

Jokic is now facing a probable suspension.

Spoelstra said Morris was OK after the hard foul and was moving around in the locker room.

"This whole thing could have been a whole lot uglier if Markieff was actually facing Jokic," Spoelstra said. "The fact that he had his back turned and he made a play like that, blindsiding him, just a very dangerous play."

Paul George and Jarrett Allen have been named the NBA's Players of the Week for Week 3.

George averaged 26.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists as the Los Angeles Clippers went 4-0.

Allen averaged 20.5 points and 16.3 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers went 4-0.

NBA players are notoriously finnicky when it comes to the basketball. Several years back, when the NBA tried to change to a synthetic ball, complaints were so loud that the league switched back to their original leather ball mid-season.

Now, it's happening again.

After years of Spalding providing the NBA with its game balls, the league switched to Wilson. Wilson said they have tried to replicate the ball as well as possible, but players aren't buying it.

NBPA President C.J. McCollum of the Portland Trail Blazers said, "We're all still adjusting to (the new ball)." McCollum later added that he planned to discuss with players around the league to "get feedback" on the ball.

Paul George of the LA Clippers was more direct in his criticism of the Wilson ball. George said he wouldn't use the ball as an excuse, but that "it's a different basketball. It doesn't have the same touch and softness that the Spalding ball had."

Many around the league have suggested that the new Wilson ball has been a factor in shooting percentages dropping around the league to open the 2021-22 season. Several star players have gotten off to rough starts, but none have directly blamed the ball for their early-season shooting challenges.