Southwestern Notes: Sheppard, Williamson, Adams, Murray, Grimes

Reed Sheppard was heralded as a strong Rookie of the Year candidate after Rockets selected him with the No. 3 overall pick in last June’s draft. However, Sheppard has struggled to get into an offensive groove, averaging just 3.3 points and 1.2 assists in 11.6 minutes off the bench through his first 30 games. Now, the team has assigned Sheppard to his NBA G League club, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, G League team tweets.

We have more from the Southwest Division:

• Zion Williamson is close to returning to action. Williamson attended Pelicans 5-on-5 practice Monday and coach Willie Green said “there’s a chance” he could suit up sometime this week, Will Guillory of The Athletic tweets. Williamson has not played since November 6 due to a left hamstring strain. Williamson is listed as questionable to play against Minnesota on Tuesday, according to the team’s injury report.
• The Pelicans have posted back-to-back wins for the first time since the first two games of the season. They snapped a 15-game losing streak on Sunday and beat the Wizards again. Dejounte Murray notched his first triple-double since New Orleans acquired him in the offseason. “He keeps the game simple and makes solid decisions and he will continue to build from there,” Green told Rod Walker of the New Orleans Times Picayune.
• After missing all of last season due to right knee surgery, Rockets center Steven Adams says his knee is “back to normal” Ben Dubose of Rockets Wire relays. Adams has played limited minutes but had eight points and nine rebounds in 17 minutes against the Lakers on Sunday. “It’s back to normal” he said. “It’s been progressing more and more. We’ve been keeping an eye on it and my comfort with the team has just progressed as we planned.”
• In the short term, Mavericks guard Quentin Grimes has been thrown into the role of primary playmaker with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving sideline of injuries. It’s an opportunity to prove they can trust him to provide offense as the team’s third playmaker. Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News writes. “Definitely big opportunity for me knowing we won’t get Luka for a while and then Kyrie was out,” said Grimes, who had a season-high 26 points and six assists against Cleveland on Friday.