Suns head coach Jordan Ott is in no rush to make a decision on his starting center, telling reporters on Thursday that he wants to “let the preseason play out” before determining “a couple of days” before the team’s October 21 regular season opener whether Khaman Maluach or Oso Ighodaro will get the nod in place of injured big man Mark Williams, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays.

In a separate story, Rankin explores how a text message from Maluach to star teammate Devin Booker led to the duo working out together during the offseason.

“He has done this for a long time, and he has a lot of tools or a lot of stuff that I can learn from him as a center,” Maluach said of Booker. “As a young center, just being able to go to him, and just ask him what I should do in this situation because he’s that type of player in the NBA that will see different coverages every day or will get blitzed every game. So just being able to be there and make his job easy for him. Ask him ‘Where I should throw you the ball, what you want me to do in this situation?’

“… He’s kind of like a coach himself. I get to learn a lot from him, a lot of stuff that the coaches don’t see that he sees as a player when he gets blitzed.”

We have more from out of the Pacific:

• Kings center Domantas Sabonis is coming off a tough year in which he was limited to 19 games due to a knee injury and was the subject of frequent trade rumors. However, he said this week that he feels “100%” and insisted he had no problem tuning out the trade chatter, according to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. “Easy. It’s all made up,” Sabonis replied when asked how he deals with the distraction of trade speculation. “It’s all out there. I don’t know where you guys get most of it from. I’m there with (general manager) Scott (Perry), with my agent, so I’m not on social media as much.”
• Kings head coach Doug Christie is essentially entering a contract year — although his contract technically runs through the 2027/28 season, the final year is a team option. So what will Christie have to do in ’26/27 to earn an extension? Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee suggests the third-year coach will be evaluated more on the team’s competitiveness and the culture he builds rather than his win-loss record.
• After not discussing Dalton Knecht at all during the first couple days of camp, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said on Thursday that the third-year wing “worked his butt off” this offseason and is “hungry” to earn a rotation spot, per Khobi Price of The California Post. Still, Price confirms that multiple rival executives believe Knecht will be the odd man out as the Lakers trim their roster from 16 players on guaranteed contracts to 15 before opening night.
• Law Murray of The Athletic checks in on the battle for the Lakers’ two open starting spots alongside Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler, suggesting Quentin Grimes is in good position to grab one of them while Ziaire Williams is a legitimate contender for the other.