Welcome to our weekly Monday Morning NBA notebook, a quick hit of NBA news and injuries from around the league to catch you up on what happened in the past week. If you’ve been focused on football — or going to a Doja Cat concert, or just enjoying life — and not been paying much attention to the NBA, we’ve got you covered. Here’s what you need to know.

Kings’ Ben Simmons tears Achilles

This is just devastating news: Sacramento’s Ben Simmons suffered a torn right Achilles in a practice on Sunday, will undergo surgery and miss the entire 2026-27 season.

Simmons was out of the league last season, focusing on getting his body healthy — after years of lingering back issues and multiple surgeries — and his mind in a good place. It appeared to have worked. Reports out of Sacramento had been overwhelmingly positive, and Simmons, 30, averaged 10.5 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in 17.4 minutes per preseason game. He was expected to be a starter. Now a fluke injury has sidelined him.

It also leaves Kings’ coach Doug Christie scrambling to round out his rotations.

Stephen Curry sprains ankle

Golden State’s Mr. Everything Stephen Curry gave everyone a scare when he limped straight to the locker room during a public practice on Sunday.

After practice, coach Steve Kerr said Curry was “fine” and downplayed it as a tweaked ankle. Officially, the Warriors have said it’s a sprain, although it doesn’t appear to be severe.

The Warriors open the season on Wednesday against the Lakers. Curry’s status will be worth monitoring.

Kristaps Porzingis still away from Warriors

Warriors big man Kristaps Porzingis came in this week and met with general manager Mike Dunleavy and vice president of player health & performance Dr. Rick Celebrini about his still-undisclosed ailment. There is no timeline for his return, but Porzingis said he is improving, is frustrated, and shot down some of the most ridiculous (but somehow gaining traction) speculation among Warriors faithful.

Cason Wallace extends with Thunder

This is a good bit of work by both sides. The Oklahoma City Thunder lock up now-starting guard Cason Wallace with a five-year, $139 million contract extension. With that, the Thunder now have their starting five, plus bench star Alex Caruso, under contract for multiple years.

Wallace, 22 and Second Team All-Defense last season, will step into a larger role as a starter for the Thunder this season, stepping into Lu Dort’s role (Dort was traded to Atlanta in a cost-cutting move). Wallace could have bet on himself and a big restricted free agent market next summer, but surveyed the landscape and decided to stay with the only team he has known on a healthy contract.

NBA season tips off Tuesday

Welcome to the start of the NBA season — and it all begins with an epic triple-header on NBC and Peacock.

Those games are:

• Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons, 3 p.m. Eastern. For all the focus on other teams in the East, these were the top two seeds in the conference a year ago and with Jayson Tatum and Cade Cunningham, they are going to be back near the top again.
• Philadelphia 76ers at New York Knicks, ring ceremony at 6:30 p.m., game at 7 p.m. Eastern. Newcomers LeBron James and Jaylen Brown lead Philadelphia into Madison Square Garden as the 76ers look to spoil ring night for Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and the rest of the Knicks.
• Oklahoma City Thunder at San Antonio Spurs, 9:30 p.m. Eastern. Game 8 of last year’s epic Western Conference Finals, with a showdown between two MVP favorites: Victor Wembanyama and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

You can catch all the games on NBC or stream them on Peacock.

Other NBA news, notes

• Nuggets wing Julian Strawther suffered a sprained left knee and is out indefinitely, he will be re-evaluated in six weeks. Strawther suffered the injury in a preseason game against the Clippers, and it looked worse than it turned out to be. With Peyton Watson no longer in Denver, Strawther, the 24-year-old fourth-year player out of Gonzaga, is poised to take on a bigger role with the team, but that is now on hold.

• The New York Knicks waived veteran guard Bruce Brown. As reported a few days before, the Knicks coaching staff and front office wanted to keep Brown on the roster this season, but to do so and stay under the second apron of the luxury tax — as mandated by owner James Dolan — they would have needed to trade Pacome Dadiet or Tyler Kolek, and no deal was available, so Brown was waived. Reserve big man James Wiseman gets the final roster spot. Don’t expect Brown to be out of a job for long.

• The Philadelphia 76ers are keeping fan favorite, 7'6" Tacko Fall around on a two-way contract to start the season. For a team with depth questions at center, there are good basketball reasons for this, but it just makes a lot of fans happy to see him play.

• The good news for the Kings was that reserve center Maxime Raynaud suffered “only” a right patellar subluxation that will keep him out a couple of weeks. It looked a lot worse when it happened. While there is no timeline for a return, Raynaud — Second Team All-Rookie last season — should be back early in the season.

On top of that, another Kings center, Dylan Cardwell, suffered a left calf strain and will miss a couple of weeks at the start of the season. That leaves the Kings thin at center. Domantas Sabonis will start at the five, but after him it’s now Precious Achiuwa (more of a four) and two-way player Jonathan Mogbo.

• The Charlotte Hornets chose to waive veteran guard Pat Connaughton — who was on a non-guaranteed contract — which means they keep former No. 6 pick Tidjane Salaun (current GM Jeff Peterson’s first pick).

• The Clippers’ Brandon Ingram is back to doing on-court work and getting closer to a return, but he is still going to miss the start of the season and there is no timetable for his return. The Clippers need his shot creation.

• Also with the Clippers, they waived Cam Christie, but then brought him back on a two-way contract. For two seasons after the Clippers drafted him in the second round, Christie — brother of Dallas’ Max Christie — has teased fans and the organization with his potential, but he never seemed to develop. The Clippers had to make roster cuts, and after a rough preseason Christie was the guy not making the final 15, but keeping him around is smart.

• Thunder rookie Otega Oweh, the No. 41 pick in last June’s NBA Draft out of Kentucky and on a two-way contract, suffered a torn Achilles and is out for the season.

• The Suns and young center Oso Ighodaro agreed to a three-year, $29 million contract extension that will keep him with the team through 2031. Ighodaro played 82 games with Phoenix last season, was solid, and will have a real opportunity to grow that role this season.