The Houston Rockets fell to 2-3 Tuesday night after a 108-99 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, and it is looking like the team won’t have swingman Courtney Lee in the short term to help right the ship.

Lee, who was drafted in the first round of 2008’s draft by the Orlando Magic, “had to be helped off the court” with less than 11 minutes to go “after he collapsed in obvious pain from his right leg on a noncontact play in front of the Lakers’ bench” Tuesday night, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The 26-year-old had also had cramps in the same leg during training camp, the Chronicle notes, and couldn’t put weight on it after the game. At that point, he identified it only as a strain, according to the paper.

“I have no idea what happened,” Lee said, the Chronicle reports. “I went to the hole, got ready to run back and then my leg just buckled and I went down. I didn’t feel anything at the time, so I didn’t know what it was. So I tried to get back up and run again, and I couldn’t.”

Lee is averaging 8.4 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game this season.

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Team captain Paul Pierce may have finally appeared in a game for the Boston Celtics Monday and delivered 21 points and eight rebounds in the team’s defeat of the Washington Wizards, but that doesn’t mean his heel is fully healthy just yet.

CSN New England reports that Pierce says his heel is only at 80 percent at this point. “I still have to get my treatment,” he said, according to the site. “There’s still some bruising in the foot. I have to wear a lot of padding in my shoes. It’s coming along, but I’m feeling more confident I think. I’m not even thinking about it, and that’s the good part.”

The 34-year-old nine-time All-Star averaged 18.9 points and six rebounds per game last season.

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Kim Kardashian might not want Kris Humphries by her side anymore, but New Jersey Nets center Brook Lopez would still like to have the free-agent power forward next to his.

Lopez was asked Monday if he’d like to have Humphries back in New Jersey. “I’m not going to say, ‘No’ to Kris,” Lopez said, according to the Newark Star-Ledger. “There’s no question he helped us last year. Obviously, that’s not really in my hands. He’s doing his thing, working out in Minnesota, and that’s between the Nets or whatever team would have him. But I’d like to have him back here, yes.”

Nets coach Avery Johnson is predicting that 7-0 Lopez, who was the 10^th overall pick in the 2008 draft, can score 22 points and pull down 10 rebounds a game this season, the paper reports. Point guard Deron Williams said Lopez “should be a perennial All-Star,” the Star-Ledger notes.

Lopez averaged 20.4 points and six rebounds per game last year. In the Nets’ first preseason game against the New York Knicks Sunday, Lopez had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

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Darrell Arthur played in 80 games for the Memphis Grizzlies last year, his third season in the NBA. The 6-9 backup to power forward Zach Randolph averaged 9.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, and slightly more than 20 minutes per game.

It looks like the Griz are going to need to find those points from another source this season. The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that Arthur “left practice Sunday morning with what was believed to be a torn right Achilles” that may have him out for the entire 66-game season. “A preliminary evaluation indicated that Arthur’s condition is serious,” sources told the paper.

In his second season in the league, back in 2009-10, Arthur sat our four moths after having surgery on a partially torn right pectoral muscle.

If the season kicked off today, Memphis would only have one power forward on the roster and no backup center to Marc Gasol since Hamed Haddadi is still trying to get a visa to leave Iran.

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Veteran point guard Baron Davis was waived by the Cleveland Cavaliers this week and has suddenly found himself on the free-agent market. Newsday reports that there is mutual interest between the front office of the New York Knicks and the 32-year-old, Davis.

However, Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire isn’t interested in bringing Davis onto the roster right now, particularly because he has a serious back injury.

“This guy’s out for eight to 10 weeks, he’s not our concern at all,” Stoudemire said, Newsday reports. “We can’t do anything about his injury. Right now we can’t afford to have any setbacks. We have a positive thing going. We feel great about our guys. Everybody’s healthy, so we’ve just got to keep it going.”

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At least five teams would like to sign power forward free agent David West, whose season ended in March with a torn ACL in his left knee.

According to CBSSports.com, four of those teams the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, and Atlanta Hawks — don’t have enough room under the salary cap to bring West onboard. The good news for them, though, is that the Hornets are willing to do a sign-and-trade deal with the 31-year-old two-time All-Star, who averaged 18.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game last season.

The other team that actually has room for West under the cap is the Indiana Pacers, CBS reports.

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The Boston Celtics are “willing to trade Rajon Rondo and perhaps Glen Davis“ to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Chris Paul, the Boston Herald reports. However, the 26-year-old Paul doesn’t want to join the Celts, the paper reports, and won’t sign an extension with the team if he is signed.

Two other teams that would like to snag Paul are also dealing with the news that he doesn’t plan on signing extensions with them, either. NBA.com reports that Paul doesn’t want to “commit to signing a contract extension after this season with either the Golden State Warriors or Los Angeles Clippers.”

The Los Angeles Lakers are also going after Paul and “it was not known Wednesday if Paul had similar reluctance to sign an extension” with them, NBA.com reports. His resistance to sign an extension will make trading him more difficult.

Don’t take it personally, fans of the Celts, Warriors, and Clippers. Paul’s refusal to sign extensions with those teams may purely be a financial decision. NBA.com points out that if Paul were to sign an extension, with the way his current contract and the CBA are structured, he would only guarantee himself $74 million through 2014-15. If he becomes a free agent next summer, he can sign on for a five-year deal for $102 million for whatever team he is playing with at the time.

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Chuck Hayes has been toiling for the Houston Rockets for six seasons and now appears ready to move on. The word from ESPN is that the 6-6, 238-pounder has been offered a four-year, $20 million contract by the Sacramento Kings that the team feels he’ll accept.

Fox Sports Houston has it that Hayes would like to return to the Rockets but doesn’t want to wait while the team sorts out all of its other free-agent possibilities.

“I talked to (Rockets general manager) Daryl Morey tonight and they need more time,” said Hayes’ agent, Calvin Andrews, on Wednesday, according to Fox. “So they are asking us for more time. I don’t know if Chuck can give them more time beyond tomorrow morning probably. I think tomorrow is D-Day.”

Hayes averaged 7.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 28:06 minutes per game last season.

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The Indianapolis Star reports that Pacers president Larry Bird is “scheduled to fly to Denver to meet with Nene on Tuesday.”

The Pacers will likely be around $21 milion under the salary cap, the Star reports, but it remains unclear “are willing to pay top dollar to sign him.”

The 6-11, 250-pounder averaged 14.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.0 assists last season for the Nuggets.

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Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Los Angeles Lakers could “entice Paul and Howard to sign extensions” and may trade young center Andrew Bynum to get one of them.

Sources told Wojnarowski that “the Lakers and Hornets talked several days ago … but it was one of those circuitous conversations that left the sides unclear what it would take to get a deal done, and the talk ended with no formal offers.” The conversation will pick up again this week, the sources tell Wojnarowski.

Meanwhile, Bynum sounds ready to leave Southern California. He “has privately been heard to say this offseason that he wants his own team,” Wojnarowski reports. And he may end up getting that with the Magic or Hornets.

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