“Social media has gotten to a point now where if you want to find it, you can go look for it. Not even during just the trade deadline,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of opinions on how we play every game, what you wear to the game, what shots you took, what comment you said, and hopefully it’s just something where guys don’t need to look for that stuff. With that being said, it’s a human part and this is a business, and I think it’s understandable when people have feelings about their personal situation. I think we have a great organization that’s always been very supportive and (has emphasized) we’re going to control things we can control.”

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • Lakers star Anthony Davis suggested this week that there’s a “narrative” in place to have Victor Wembanyama win Defensive Player of the Year honors, but the second-year Spurs big man told Orsborn that he doesn’t consider individual achievements to be that important. Wembanyama, who was named to his first All-Star game on Thursday, is leading the league in blocks at 3.9 per game. “It’s not something I worry about,” he said. “If I end up being Defensive Player of the Year, it means I’ve helped my team on that side of the court. It means I’ve done my best and I’ve been rewarded for it, but at the end of the day, the best reward is the wins.”
  • After missing more than two months with a strained hamstring, Zion Williamson believes he has sufficiently recovered to play both ends of back-to-backs, per Will Guillory of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, the Pelicans are still being cautious, holding him out last Friday at Memphis before using him Saturday at Charlotte. “Let me make this clear to everybody out there,” Williamson said. “If I could play in the back-to-backs, I would. Physically? Yes, I can. But I work for the Pelicans. They have decided that, based off the numbers, it’s not smart to do that right now. If that’s what they feel, I’m rocking with them on that.”
  • Kelly Iko and John Hollinger of The Athletic discuss how the top three teams in the West should approach the trade deadline, looking at the options for the Rockets and Grizzlies as well as the Thunder.