Luke Kennard had one of his best outings of the 2025/26 campaign in Wednesday’s victory over Minnesota, recording 15 points, six rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes off the bench. However, the veteran shooting guard admits his performance so far with the Hawks hasn’t been up to his typical standard, according to Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter links).
“… I’ve had some good moments, good games, but nowhere near what I can be and what I expect of myself,” Kennard said. “They’ve been on me, my teammates and coaches, just to be aggressive and shoot the ball when I can. … I’m here for a reason, and for myself, I’m very hard on myself. I think I can do more, and I’m excited to just build off of it. And today was a great day for everybody, a great team win, and hopefully we can just build off of that.”
Kennard, who signed a one-year, $11MM deal with Atlanta last summer, will be an unrestricted free agent again in 2026.
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- After Wednesday’s loss to Orlando, head coach Rick Carlisle said the Pacers have had some in-game disagreements amid the disastrous 6-28 start to the season, per Tony East of Forbes and Circle City Spin (Twitter link). “In the second half, we played like a together team that was supporting each other and not like strangers. That’s how this has got to be. We’re having too much petty nonsense going on during games that needs to go away,” said Carlisle, who didn’t elaborate on what he meant by “petty nonsense.” When asked about his coach’s comment, forward Aaron Nesmith didn’t disagree, but said it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. “There may have been some petty nonsense, but I think it comes from a good place,” Nesmith said (Twitter link via East). “I think our competitive spirit in this game was pretty high. Sometimes that bleeds over into disagreeing on calls or guys help… guys are tired of losing.”
- The Pacers‘ G League affiliate, the Noblesville Boom, has acquired the returning player rights to Cody Martin in a trade with the Capital City Go-Go, tweets East. The veteran wing had a brief stint with the Pacers earlier this season on a 10-day hardship contract.
- South Carolina native PJ Hall, who recently signed a two-way contract with the Hornets covering two seasons, tells Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer it’s “surreal” to join a team he grew up cheering on. “I grew up a Panthers fan, I grew up a Bobcats fan, grew up watching Al Jefferson and then Kemba (Walker) and he’s with the Hornets now,” Hall said. “So, I mean, it’s been awesome and a great experience to be able to come back, have that full circle moment.” The 23-year-old big man has gotten an opportunity to play amid injuries to Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kalkbrenner, and he may even get his first careeer start Friday at Milwaukee — Moussa Diabate is questionable to suit up due to a right wrist sprain, the Hornets announced (via Twitter).