Jahlil Okafor will now be accompanied by a security guard whenever he goes out on the town.

The request for security was made by Okafor's handlers.

"A lot of teams do that for their players anyway,'' a source close to Okafor said. "So from now on the Sixers are going to have someone at his disposal full-time."

Okafor engaged in a brawl with a man outside a Boston nightclub last week.

The fight in Boston followed an incident in October in which a heckler pointed a gun at Okafor's head following a verbal exchange at a club in Philadelphia.

Al Jefferson is out two to three weeks with a strained left calf.

Jefferson is averaging 13.7 points in 26.2 minutes per game this season.

Jefferson's minutes per game has gone from 35.0 in his first year with the Hornets to 30.6 last season and now down to 26.2.

The Philadelphia 76ers are in the third season of Sam Hinkie's rebuilding project with no turnaround in sight.

The way they have treated players, agents and possibly other teams may be the most problematic part of the process long-term.

"Their inability to establish a rapport with agents and probably with other teams is definitely going to lead to their demise," an agent said of the Sixers' regime.

"When you're building a business culture, you're dealing with human beings," another prominent agent said. "Especially with athletes, you've got to have a rapport with these guys. It's a culture of communication and transparency, and none of that exists."

"There's nobody there, and nobody will go there," an agent said. "Nobody. Cap space won't matter. You know who'll go there? Guys that are trying to steal money."

Kevin Durant and Paul George have been named the NBA's Player of the Week.

Both Durant and George were limited by injury last season.

George led the Pacers to a 3-0 week behind an Eastern Conference-leading 37.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals. He shot 54.7 percent from the field, 57.1 percent from three-point range and 86.7 percent from the foul line. On Nov. 24, George tallied 40 points on 14-of-19 shooting, including 7-of-8 from beyond the arc, during a 123-106 win over the Washington Wizards.

Durant led the Thunder to a 3-0 week behind averages of 30.3 points (second in the Western Conference), 8.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.3 blocks (fourth in the Western Conference). He shot 58.5 percent from the field, 52.2 percent from three-point range and 94.4 percent from the foul line. On Nov. 27, Durant recorded 34 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and three blocks during a 103-87 win over the Detroit Pistons.

Kevin Durant continues to be hypersensitive on media matters, going on a rant when asked about his reaction to the announcement by Kobe Bryant that he will retire at the end of the season.

"I did idolize Kobe Bryant. I studied him, wanted to be like him. He was our Michael Jordan. I watched Michael toward the end of his career with the Wizards and I seen that's what Kobe emerged as the guy for us.

"I've been disappointed this year because you guys (media) treated him like (expletive). He's a legend and all I hear is about how bad he's playing, how bad he's shooting, time for him to hang it up. You guys treated one of our legends like (expletive) and I didn't like it.

"Hopefully now you can start being nice to him now that he decided to retire after the year. It was sad the way he was getting treated.

"He had just an amazing career, a guy who changed the game for me as a player mentally and physically. Means so much to the game of basketball. Someone I'm always gonna look to advice for anything. Just a brilliant, brilliant, intelligent man. Sad to see him go. He put his mark on the game."

Kawhi Leonard has joined Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin in the top-5, jumping from 14th to fifth since last week.

James Harden also had a big gain, going from 18th to 10th.

PER Rankings (Week 5)
1. Stephen Curry: 34.4
2. Russell Westbrook: 31.8
3. Kevin Durant: 31.2
4. Blake Griffin: 28.5
5. Kawhi Leonard: 27.2
6. LeBron James: 26.7
7. Hassan Whiteside: 26.1
8. DeMarcus Cousins: 26.1
9. Paul George: 26.0
10. James Harden: 25.1
11. Anthony Davis: 25.1
12. Derrick Favors: 25.1
13. Clint Capela: 24.8
14. Andre Drummond: 24.3
15. Chris Paul: 24.1
16. Kyle Lowry: 24.0
17. Enes Kanter: 23.8
18. Paul Millsap: 23.3
19. Eric Bledsoe: 22.9
20. Kevin Love: 22.4
21. Damian Lillard: 22.1
22. Dirk Nowitzki: 22.0
23. Greg Monroe: 22.0
24. Kemba Walker: 21.8
25. Chris Bosh: 21.8

Jahlil Okafor apologized for several off-court incidents in his personal life.

Okafor was pulled over about three weeks ago for driving 108 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. Okafor was also involved in a fight outside a Boston nightclub.

"I hold myself to a higher standard than anyone else ever could and I'm not proud of some of my decisions over the last few months," Okafor tweeted. "I own my choices both personally and now publicly. At this point I am cooperating and respecting the process I have to go through."

Okafor declined to address the issues with reporters.

"I'm not talking about anything but basketball," Okafor said before Sunday's game against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. "I already made my statement."

Brett Brown said he's unsure if Okafor will receive a suspension.

"As an organization, anything like this is concerning."

"It's like any 19-year-old kid," Brown said. "You are trying to find ways to help him.

"He's knows he's made mistakes, and we know he's made mistakes. As an organization we will deal with them as we need to and should."

The Oklahoma City Thunder has assigned forwards Josh Huestis and Mitch McGary to the Oklahoma City Blue of the NBA Development League.

Huestis has appeared in four games (all starts) for the Blue this season, averaging 10.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.00 blocks in 31.3 minutes per game. Huestis has not appeared in a game for the Thunder this year.

McGary has played in six games for the Thunder this season, averaging 1.5 points and 1.5 rebounds in 6.3 minutes per game. During four assignments with the Blue last season, McGary averaged 16.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.88 steals and 1.13 blocks in 24.3 minutes per game.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have climbed back into the top-5 in Efficiency Differential, joining the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers.

The Thunder had a +4.5 Efficiency Differential last week, which now sits at +6.6.

Other teams making notable gains: Magic (17th to 12th), Clippers (15th to 20th), Rockets (26th to 23rd)

Teams dropping: Celtics (4th to 7th), Suns (9th to 14th), Pistons (16th to 19th), Knicks (14th to 20th)

Full Week 5 Rankings

1. Golden State: 16.0
2. San Antonio: 10.3
3. Cleveland: 6.9
4. Oklahoma City: 6.6
5. Indiana: 6.4
6. Miami: 5.0
7. Boston: 4.2
8. Toronto: 4.0
9. Charlotte: 3.8
10. Utah: 2.5
11. Atlanta: 2.0
12. Orlando: 1.9
13. Dallas: 1.0
14. Phoenix: 1.0
15. L.A. Clippers: 0.9
16. Chicago: 0.4
17. Portland: -0.2
18. Minnesota: -0.2
19. Detroit: -0.7
20. New York: -2.0
21. Memphis: -3.4
22. Sacramento: -4.2
23. Houston: -5.9
24. Washington: -6.0
25. Denver: -6.1
26. Brooklyn: -7.0
27. New Orleans: -7.5
28. Milwaukee: -8.6
29. L.A. Lakers: -9.2
30. Philadelphia: -12.3

Mitch Kupchak was not surprised this will be the final NBA season of Kobe Bryant, but he was surprised by the timing of the announcement.

"I'm not surprised," said Kupchak. "The surprising part of this is that he made the announcement today. My understanding all along was that this was going to be his last year. Certainly there's been speculation and this puts an end to any speculation that he may come back for another year. But it was my understanding all along."

Kupchak admitted the Los Angeles Lakers haven't made his job easy at this stage of his career.

"We didn't make it any easier for him with the group we have on the court. And that's not to say that they're not a talented group of players, but they're certainly young and unaccomplished."

Kupchak was also asked if the mix of Bryant with young players was awkward.

"It is awkward. It's awkward, but there was really no other way to go about it. When you have a player of Kobe's caliber that wants to continue to play, and you think he can play at a high level, you're going to let him play until he no longer wants to play. Yet it's clear that we had to begin the process to rebuild the team. Now we were hopeful that we would get off to a better start this year. We think we added a couple veterans, along with a bunch of young players, and I thought we'd be better than two wins into the season. That's not to say that we'd be on pace to win 50 or 60 games. But I thought we'd be a little bit better. But clearly we're not playing at the kind of level that a player of Kobe's age and experience finds challenging.

"[It's] kind of like, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not surprised that he would make the announcement now. I think the game will be easier for him now. I think he'll be able to enjoy the rest of the season. We haven't had a chance to huddle up to see if we'll use him any differently in terms of minutes. I don't think that's something that's going to be decided today. But since he has made it clear [that] this is the last season for him, I think it will be more enjoyable. I think people will appreciate what he's accomplished, not only in our building, which has always been [filled] with loads of love, but I think more so on the road."