Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Good morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for December 9th, 2025. I'm Dave DeFore here with Zena Keita coming up. Franz Wagner, injury news is not so bad.
Chapter 2: What injury news about Franz Wagner was discussed?
We're going to talk about that a little bit. Derek Queen had a big night, but Stephen Castle was back and the Spurs got the win. And John Krasinski is here to talk about the Wolves' latest loss and what's going on with their season. Good morning, everybody. Hey, Zena, how about those Spurs last night? How about that game? That was a fun game.
It was a fun game. A lot of back and forth. Didn't love the Pels being able to put up that many points on the Spurs, but it was a good entertaining game.
They are missing Victor Wimonyama. We'll get to that in a second.
Fair.
Yesterday, I need to actually apologize, Zena, because on yesterday's show, I talked about the Orlando Magic being cursed, and it was a very negative kind of mood around Franz Wagner's injury. It looked really bad, and we didn't really have any news on it, so I just, you know, I was thinking the worst.
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Chapter 3: How did Derik Queen perform against the Spurs?
Well, we got some good news, Zena. On Monday, we found out Franz Wagner... Only has a high ankle sprain, which I know that's a funny thing to say, like, hey, this is good news, but it does mean he's not going to miss a significant amount of time. He's going to be out two to four weeks.
Chapter 4: What insights did Jon Krawczynski share about the Timberwolves' loss?
So, whew, we dodged one there. And Jalen Suggs, not on the injury report for the NBA Cup game tonight. So, so far, so good for the Magic.
Absolutely. I mean, avoiding a major injury to France is everything that you could imagine. Good for them.
Right.
They were doing some some magic of their own, hoping that they didn't have a repeat of literally all of the I don't want to say casualty because that feels so Tough, but all of the absences they have from their star. So it's great that he'll be back on the floor. Great to see nothing serious with Jalen Suggs.
And Paolo Bencaro has a little bit of time to get acclimated before his teammate, his compadre, joins him out on the floor again. So good news down in Orlando. Thank goodness for Franz Wagner.
Yeah, we talked a little bit on the show when we were discussing the Lakers and Spurs NBA Cup game that's coming up, that the Spurs have been banged up, right? Dylan Harper was out for a while, just came back. Stephen Castle returned last night to the starting lineup for the Spurs. He was pretty good.
I mean, you know, like down the stretch, he didn't shoot the ball well, but I thought he was effective. Down the stretch, had a big three, had a nice putback dunk. But, Zena, look, I thought we were going to be talking about the return of Castle, but instead we're talking about the Queen. Derek Queen was ridiculous.
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Chapter 5: What factors contributed to the Timberwolves' inconsistent performance?
And we don't often start with the best player in a loss, but, man, he was something else last night. 33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. Four blocks. Shout out to a friend of the program, Keith Parrish. He dropped this stat. Derek Queen joins a list of eight players now that have ever recorded 33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and four blocks. The list is ridiculous, okay?
LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, David Robinson, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Ralph Sampson, and Alvin Adams. That's not a bad list to be a part of. And this guy is a rookie.
Right. First rookie NBA history to have the stat line that he did last night. It was his first triple double.
Chapter 6: How does Anthony Edwards influence the Timberwolves' game?
And he's the first rookie center in NBA history to have a 30 point or 30 or more, which he had with 33 point triple double. He is doing surreal things. Another thing I found out that was crazy was that in his first 25 games, Derrick Queen has the most amount of assists of any center since the NBA and ABA merged in his first 25 games. Wow.
Apparently, Nikola Jokic in his first 25 games as a center, his rookie year, did not do that.
Well, they didn't get the same opportunities. I mean, Derek Queen has kind of forced their hand here, Zena. That's true. I was watching this game, and every single time the Spurs sent a double. He just had so much poise, right? Including like down the stretch. I mean, down the stretch. Finding shooters.
That skip pass to Trey Murphy in the corner.
That's right.
I mean, there's so many opportunities and we're seeing this change now, right? Of more centers becoming the hubs of offenses. And that's exactly what Derek Queen has showcased that he has the proficiency to do. One, because he has a handle. If the case that something shuts down or breaks down, he could take guys off the dribble from the top of the key, which is great.
And I think people underestimate him because of his size, his stature. People aren't aware of how quick his feet actually move with the ball at hand. But then again, it's the ability to see so well. I would imagine now... He's already at the top of people's scouting reports.
But now that his passing ability is going to be a highlighted portion of that, I'm sure more folks are going to be a little bit more in his face. He had a lot of space from Luke Cornett tonight, more space than he should have probably gotten to be able to get some of those passes off. But overall, go ahead, Derrick Queen. Like, he is really good.
I mean, listen, the trade that the Pelicans pulled off to get Derek Queen is going to taint everyone's opinion of Derek Queen. And really, maybe we should start saying they should have just taken Derek Queen with that first pick instead of Fierce. And then we can hammer him for the trade and blame it on Fierce.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of Rudy Gobert's ejection for the Timberwolves?
Because Derek Queen looks like a real player. And obviously, I think they've handed the keys to him. Let's swing back to the Spurs. They get the win. They're starting to get more healthy. I mean, maybe Wimby's coming back soon. You know, we're hoping by Christmas could even be sooner. We don't know. But they're starting to get more healthy. They win this game.
Darren Fox, you know, they've got a guy who's clutch down the stretch that they could go to. But they have Dylan Harper coming off the bench, giving him 22 points. And I mean, it just feels like they have a bevy of riches here. They just almost have too many guys.
Yeah. With Stephon Castle back in the mix, the expectation was Julian Champagny might get like limited minutes, Keldon Johnson and looking at, you know, Dylan Harper as well. But Julian Champagny had 17 points in this game, was able to play almost 29 minutes in this game. Keldon Johnson had about 17 minutes. So he had his average around just a little bit under his average.
But it was Devin Vassell. that concerns me in terms of what happens when Stefan Castle is back on the floor. We did not expect Stephon Castle to come back on the floor and look like he did not just miss nine games because of that left hip flexor strain. OK, he was going straight to the basket. He was forcing the issue.
Chapter 8: How does team chemistry affect the Timberwolves' success?
He was in all actions. I mean, every single opportunity he had to be able to start offense for himself and get to the rim or get it going and then dump it off. I mean, he was involved in everything. And Devin Vassell. Unfortunately, was a byproduct. Excuse me. His lack of productivity was a byproduct of that. He wasn't as involved in actions. I mean, in 27 minutes, Devin Vassell got five points.
He usually averages over 15. OK, so now I'm wondering and we think about this all the time. Right. We think about it in Atlanta when Trey Young comes back. What will that do to Jalen Johnson? Right. Right. When certain point guards come back or certain players come back that are more ball dominant, that are more downhill players.
How does that impact the folks that had to step up in their absence or produce in their absence? And this Devin Harper, I think, is an is inevitable. You you can't ignore him in the fact that he's going to get his minutes. He's going to get his time. But now I'm wondering, how does that work really with Devin Vassell?
Yeah. And when he comes back. Right. There's only one way he comes back. Right. There's a lot of mouth.
Exactly.
I think that also one thing is that when, when Wemby's back, Harrison Barnes probably doesn't get 15 shots, right? He's back in the corner. He's back in the corner waiting for those spot ups.
Think about, I mean, Harrison Barnes played 35 minutes leading all players for the Spurs tonight. And even towards the end of the game, he checked out for like 22 seconds, had come right back in. Like he was the connective tissue.
And these are the kind of games that the Spurs are going to start finding themselves in, particularly after that all-star break when folks were trying to make their claim in the Western Conference. Is it Devin Vassell that's going to be the one that's going to ask to step up? Harrison Barnes? Again, I like the way you put it. There's too many mouths to feed.
And I'm just very curious as to what the competition is going to look like for that backcourt and the competition for shots.
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