Cavs Sign Darius Brown To Two-Way Deal
1:54 pm: The Cavaliers have officially signed Brown to a two-way contract and waived Miller, per the team. Brown will be eligible to be active for up to 15 regular season NBA games.
1:41 pm: Cleveland Charge guard Darius Brown II is getting a call-up from the Cavaliers, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), who hears from agent Matt Slan that Brown and the Cavs have agreed to a two-way contract.
Brown, 26, has briefly been on Exhibit 10 contracts with the Cavaliers in each of the past two Octobers after going undrafted out of Utah State in 2024. He has appeared in a total of 78 games for the Charge, Cleveland’s G League affiliate, since going pro, and has become a fixture in the team’s starting lineup this season.
In 34 outings for the Charge in 2025/26, Brown is averaging 12.4 points, 9.7 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game, with a shooting line of .436/.398/.839.
Brown will take the two-way slot that has been occupied in recent weeks by former Bull Emanuel Miller, Scotto reports (via Twitter).
Miller, who spent most of the season with Chicago, was sent to Cleveland in a three-team trade that also involved the Kings to ensure that the Bulls and Cavs were “touching” in the deal (ie. an asset was changing hands between the two teams). Miller’s inclusion in that trade appeared to be simply procedural — he hasn’t been active at all for the Cavs since being acquired and will be waived so he can seek out his next opportunity.
A 6’5″ Canadian forward, Miller made a total of 11 NBA appearances for the Bulls after initially signing a two-way contract with the team in December 2024. The 25-year-old has put up 17.4 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 2.2 APG in 24 NBAGL games (34.0 MPG) this season for the Windy City Bulls and the Charge.
The Magic Will Face Some Difficult Decisions This Summer
The Magic have been one of the more disappointing teams in the NBA this season. Health issues -- including Wednesday's update that Franz Wagner will be out indefinitely due to his high left ankle sprain -- have certainly played a part in the team's mediocre 29-25 record. But it would be disingenuous to act as though injuries have been Orlando's only problem in 2025/26.
Even after Thursday's blowout victory over the Kings, who have now lost 15 straight games, the Magic's defensive rating has plummeted to No. 14 in the league after they ranked second and third in that category in the previous two seasons. And despite making a major offseason trade for an elite shooter in Desmond Bane, the team still ranks just 24th in three-pointers made, 23rd in three-point attempts, and 27th in three-point percentage.
Aside from injuries, the most concerning trend in Orlando may be the fact that this is the fourth consecutive season in which the Magic have been better when Paolo Banchero is off the court than when he's playing. That could be brushed aside for a young player -- he's only 23 -- but Orlando signed the former No. 1 overall pick to a rookie scale max extension last offseason. That deal is one reason why Orlando's payroll will become very expensive on July 1, when the new league year begins.
Pelicans To Sign Bryce McGowens To Three-Year Deal
The Pelicans and two-way wing Bryce McGowens have reached an agreement on a new three-year standard contract, agents Kyle McAlarney and Mark Bartelstein tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
McGowens, 23, has averaged 7.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 19.9 minutes per game this season at the NBA level. He has made 11 starts for the Pelicans and has scored efficiently in his limited role, shooting 48.0% from the floor and 45.3% from beyond the three-point line.
Prior to signing a two-way contract with New Orleans last summer, McGowens appeared in 118 games for the Hornets and Trail Blazers from 2022-25, recording 4.8 PPG and 1.7 RPG in 14.4 MPG. The 6’6″ shooting guard was the 40th overall pick in the 2022 draft out of Nebraska.
McGowens still had the ability to appear in up to nine more regular season games before reaching his limit as a two-way player, but the Pelicans, with an open spot on their 15-man roster, decided not to wait to promote him to a standard deal.
While the details of that contract aren’t yet known, the fact that it’ll cover three years suggests the team will use part of its mid-level exception to complete the signing.
The transaction will open up a two-way slot for New Orleans alongside Trey Alexander and Hunter Dickinson.
Bol Bol, Kylor Kelley To Play In Philippines
Former NBA big men Bol Bol and Kylor Kelley, who were both in the league last season, are headed overseas to compete in the upcoming Commissioner’s Cup in the Philippine Basketball Association, Marc Stein of The Stein Line confirms (via Twitter).
Bol will play for the TNT Tropang 5G, the defending Commissioner’s Cup champions, as the team announced on social media (Facebook link).
The 44th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Bol made 202 regular season appearances for Denver, Orlando, and Phoenix in six NBA seasons, averaging 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 13.6 minutes per night. He appeared in 36 games last season for the Suns, making 10 starts and logging 12.4 minutes per contest.
The 7’3″ forward/center has a unique skill set for a player of his size, including an ability to handle the ball and make outside shots. However, his slender frame and lack of defensive mobility limit his effectiveness on that end of the floor and have made it a challenge for him to establish himself as a trusted NBA rotation player.
As for Kelley, the former Oregon State center is joining the Converge FiberXers, another PBA team, writes Justine Bacnis of the Tiebreaker Times.
Kelley went undrafted in 2020 and bounced around for the next several years, playing in the G League, Denmark, England, and non-NBA leagues in Canada and the U.S. He spent part of 2024/25 on a two-way deal with the Mavericks and also signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Pelicans at the end of the season, appearing in 11 total games for the two teams.
Kelley had been playing for the South Bay Lakers in the G League this season, but freed himself up via buyout to head to the Philippines, according to the team (Twitter link).
The Commissioner’s Cup represents a segment of the PBA season that will tip off next month.
Trail Blazers, Sidy Cissoko Complete Two-Year Deal
11:56 am: The Blazers have officially promoted Cissoko and waived Rupert, the team announced.
The 43rd overall pick in the 2023 draft, Rupert has averaged just 3.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per game across 139 appearances for Portland. He’s still just 21 years old though, and will be eligible for a two-way contract if he clears waivers on Sunday.
11:26 am: The Trail Blazers are promoting forward Sidy Cissoko to their 15-man roster, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link), who hears from Cissoko’s agents at Gersh Sports that he and the team have agreed to a two-year deal.
Cissoko reached his limit of 50 active games on his two-way contract in Portland’s last game prior to the All-Star break, so the club needed to convert him to a standard deal in order to continue using him going forward.
With injured wings Matisse Thybulle and Kris Murray apparently on the verge of returning to action, it was unclear whether Portland would be motivated to promote Cissoko right away.
However, the 21-year-old Frenchman has proven to be an important part of the rotation this season, starting 24 of his 50 games and averaging 22.3 minutes per night. He has contributed 6.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game, with a .408/.327/.703 shooting line and solid wing defense.
The Blazers have a full 15-man roster, so someone will need to be waived in order to create an opening for Cissoko. Rayan Rupert and Thybulle, neither of whom is owed guaranteed money beyond this season, have been mentioned as two possible release candidates.
Signing Cissoko to a standard contract will open up a two-way slot for the Blazers — they’ll have until March 4 to fill it. The team could create another opening by promoting another two-way standout, Caleb Love, who has five games of eligibility remaining, but that move would require Portland to cut another player from its 15-man roster.
Clippers Notes: Aspiration Investigation, Mathurin, Jackson
Earlier in the season, there was a sense around the NBA that the investigation into allegations that the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard used a no-show endorsement deal with fintech company Aspiration to circumvent the salary cap wouldn’t lead to a serious punishment for the team, says Sam Amick of The Athletic.
However, according to Amick, that thinking has evolved in recent months. During the weeks leading up to the All-Star break, Amick writes, there was a “significant” uptick in speculation that “the NBA’s hammer is likely to fall” on the Clippers upon the conclusion of the probe.
Many people across the league theorized that the NBA would wait until sometime after the All-Star break to announce the results of the investigation, so as not to distract from the mid-season festivities at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome. Commissioner Adam Silver insisted over the weekend that wasn’t a consideration and reiterated that the probe isn’t being directly run by the NBA — the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was hired by the league to conduct the investigation.
“I think, as I’ve said before, it’s enormously complex,” Silver said over the weekend. “You have a company in bankruptcy (Aspiration). You have thousands of documents, multiple witnesses that have been needed to be interviewed. I will say, just in case anyone is wondering, the fact that All-Star is here (in L.A.) has had no impact on the timeline of the investigation. Our charge to the Wachtell law firm is (to) do the work and then come back and make recommendations to the league office, and that’s where things now stand.”
Here’s more on the Clippers:
- In his home debut as a Clipper, recently acquired guard Bennedict Mathurin set a new personal season high and matched a career best by pouring in 38 points in 34 minutes, writes Doug Padilla of The Associated Press. Coming off the bench, Mathurin made 12-of-22 shots from the floor and 12-of-13 from the free throw line to help lead the club to a one-point win over Denver. “It’s great to have another scorer that can get you 30 points,” Leonard said after the game (Twitter video link via Law Murray of The Athletic). “I watched him in the (2025 NBA) Finals. He was doing it in the Finals last year, all year last year for the Pacers. It’s great to have him.”
- Before the Clippers’ second-half schedule got underway on Thursday, Janis Carr of The Orange County Register (subscription required) explored how the team was working on integrating trade deadline additions Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, and injured point guard Darius Garland. “Everybody is pretty familiar with my game, so it kind of helps a lot,” said Mathurin, who will be a restricted free agent this offseason. “I think that there’s still a lot more to do, still a lot more to learn with the system, offensive, defensive and especially off the court as well. … I just feel like I kind of get the chance to do it even more over here (with the Clippers). I think it is going to go to a different level.”
- Jackson has played a very limited role since joining the Clippers, but he says he’s working on getting acclimated and wants to do all he can to “help the team win,” per Carr. Head coach Tyronn Lue suggested the former Pacer will keep getting opportunities to battle rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser for minutes behind starting center Brook Lopez. “Right now, I’m just thinking, just talking to our staff, about just playing three bigs,” Lue said. “We can’t continue to play Brook 34, 35 minutes a night, even though he says he’s OK. So, just given three centers, it’s a chance to play them all and then whoever’s playing the best will probably play in the second half. We’ll see how it goes.”
- In case you missed it, the Clippers are filling their open two-way contract slots by signing G League standouts Sean Pedulla and Norchad Omier.
Ivey Gets DNP-CD With Bulls’ Crowded Backcourt Healthy
With Josh Giddey and Tre Jones back in action on Thursday following injury absences, Jaden Ivey was the odd man out in a crowded Bulls backcourt. Ivey, who started three of four games and averaged 28.8 minutes per night for Chicago prior to the All-Star break, didn’t play at all in a home loss to Toronto and said after the game that he thought it was the first DNP-CD of his career, per Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic.
Bulls assistant Wes Unseld Jr., acting as head coach with Billy Donovan away from the team following the death of his father, explained that it was “strictly a basketball decision” necessitated by having a fully healthy backcourt, as well as a desire to have Giddey and Jones play regular roles in their first game back.
“I talked to several guys (Thursday) morning, and then I addressed the team about it, and it’s just a byproduct of where we are in our composition,” Unseld told reporters.
Giddey and Jones, who were on minutes restrictions, played 21 and 22 minutes respectively, while recent trade acquisition Anfernee Simons logged 31. Collin Sexton and Rob Dillingham, the team’s other newly added guards, played 15 and 10 minutes off the bench.
As Lorenzi writes, the usage of the guards seemed to be at odds with the Bulls’ actions earlier this month at a busy trade deadline. With its seven deadline deals, Chicago appeared prepared to pivot toward its younger players, but Simons and Sexton – veterans on expiring contracts – are ahead of Ivey, a restricted-free-agent-to-be, and second-year guard Dillingham on the depth chart for now.
Asked after the game about his DNP-CD, Ivey offered little clarity, according to Lorenzi, who says the former Piston repeatedly referenced his faith and declared that he doesn’t “really trust the NBA setting.”
“When moves are made behind the scenes, trades and stuff,” Ivey replied when asked what he meant. “I don’t trust that part of (it). I mean, you can’t trust it, because it’s not in your hands. So it’s not in my hands to make moves, or trade myself.”
Ivey later said he was told the decision to sit him on Thursday was the result of “a series of things,” including ongoing knee soreness that he referred to as something he’s been dealing with “for years.” The fourth-year guard underwent surgery on his right knee in October that delayed his season debut, but he hasn’t been listed on the injury report recently and said that soreness isn’t something that will “keep me from doing my job.”
Still, there have been some questions this season about whether Ivey is at 100% after returning from a broken left leg that ended his 2024/25 season, as well as that right knee surgery. He played a reduced role in Detroit (16.8 MPG) prior to the trade and didn’t look like his old explosive self. Asked if there are still health-related steps to take before he regains his former athleticism, Ivey offered an eyebrow-raising response, Lorenzi notes.
“I’m sure people can call it out — I’m not the same player I used to be,” he said. “(The knee soreness is) why. I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”
As Lorenzi observes, it’s possible the Bulls will adjust their rotation going forward and Ivey’s DNP-CD ends up being a one-off that’s quickly forgotten. But based on Thursday’s usage, it doesn’t appear at this point that developing Ivey and Dillingham is a top priority for the team.
Projected NBA Taxpayers For 2025/26
While seven NBA teams are still operating in luxury tax territory following the All-Star break, that total has been cut in half since the start of the month.
Prior to an eventful trade deadline week, a total of 14 teams projected to be taxpayers, per Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link) observes, with the 16 non-taxpayers on track to receive about $13.8MM apiece in tax distribution money at that point.
However, the Celtics, Nuggets, Suns, Mavericks, Sixers, Magic, and Raptors all ducked below the tax line with their pre-deadline transactions, while a few other teams remained in the tax but took steps to significantly reduce their end-of-season bills.
Cleveland, for instance, had been projected to pay nearly $164MM in tax penalties, according to Marks. The Cavaliers will likely still have the NBA’s highest tax bill, but their deadline deals reduced their projected payment by more than $95MM, according to Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom.
Here are the current projected tax penalties, per Pincus’ data:
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $68.67MM
- Golden State Warriors: $65.67MM *
- New York Knicks: $44.44MM
- Los Angeles Lakers: $22.65MM *
- Houston Rockets: $7.07MM
- Los Angeles Clippers: $6.67MM *
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $5.48MM
Total: $220.65MM
Note: Teams marked with an asterisk are paying repeater tax rates.
These numbers may fluctuate a little before the end of the season. For instance, the Clippers recently increased their projected bill when they promoted Jordan Miller to their standard roster, while the Knicks did the same when they signed Jeremy Sochan. The Warriors, Rockets, and Timberwolves all have open roster spots that they could fill before the end of the season, which would increase their respective tax bills. Various contract incentives that go earned or unearned could also impact the end-of-season tax totals.
Based on the current figures from Pincus, each non-taxpayer is projected to receive a payout of about $4.8MM. That figure is determined by cutting the total league-wide tax penalties in half, then dividing them evenly among the non-taxpaying teams (in this case, 23 clubs).
While it’s no real surprise that that figure is far below the $13.8MM projection from a few weeks ago, it’s worth noting that it’s significantly less than what non-taxpayers received last year. In 2024/25, 10 taxpayers paid a total of $461.21MM in penalties and the 20 non-taxpayers received $11.53MM apiece, according to Pincus.
Assuming these are the seven teams that finish the season in tax territory, the Warriors, Lakers, and Clippers would all be subject to repeater penalties in 2026/27 if they’re taxpayers again next season. Additionally, the Bucks, Celtics, Suns, and Nuggets would pay repeater rates if they’re in the tax in ’26/27, since all four clubs were in the tax for three straight years from 2023-25. They’ll each need to spend one more season as a non-taxpayer in order to reset the repeater clock.
Injury Notes: Lakers, Booker, Flagg, Strus, Claxton
The Lakers expect to have a fully healthy roster when their post-All-Star schedule tips off on Friday vs. the Clippers, according to Benjamin Royer of the Southern California News Group (subscription required). Luka Doncic is set to return after missing the team’s past four games due to a hamstring strain, while Austin Reaves will no longer face a minutes restriction after having come back from a calf strain in early February.
It will be just the 11th time this season that Doncic, Reaves, and LeBron James have been active for the same game. The Lakers are 7-3 in their first 10 contests with that trio healthy.
“It’s funny, we were talking before the season about building continuity with those three guys, and we’ve had them available together for 10 games,” head coach JJ Redick said on Thursday, per Royer. “My messaging this morning to the players was this is going to be a sprint, these last 28 games. It’s another segment of the season where, starting (Friday), we won’t have more than a day between games until the end of March. So we’ve got an opportunity to, I think, play our best basketball after the All-Star break.”
Here are a few more health-related updates from across the NBA:
- Suns guard Devin Booker exited Thursday’s game vs. San Antonio early due to right hip soreness, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic writes. Booker went to the locker room midway through the first quarter and attempted to return late in the second quarter before being ruled out for the second half. Injuries have been an issue as of late for Booker, who missed eight of 10 games prior to the All-Star break due to a right ankle sprain.
- Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg won’t play on Friday due to his left mid-foot sprain, but head coach Jason Kidd shared a positive update on the rookie star on Thursday, as Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com relays. “He got some shots up,” Kidd said. “He’s out of the boot right now, so we’ll see how that goes.” Asked if Flagg might be able to return during the team’s three-game road trip that will conclude on Tuesday in Brooklyn, Kidd replied, “We’re going to take it day by day.”
- It has been roughly six-and-a-half weeks since the Cavaliers announced that Max Strus was due for a follow-up evaluation on his surgically repaired left foot within the next four weeks and that next steps would be determined after that exam. While there have been no official updates since then and no indications that Strus is nearing his season debut, head coach Kenny Atkinson confirmed on Thursday that he still anticipates the veteran wing playing at some point this season, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link).
- Nets center Nic Claxton was inactive on Thursday after spraining his right ankle during Tuesday’s practice, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. Day’Ron Sharpe earned the start in Claxton’s place in the blowout loss to Cleveland.
Blazers’ Thybulle, Murray Nearing Returns; Sharpe Still Out
Trail Blazers wings Matisse Thybulle and Kris Murray were both full participants in practices on Wednesday and Thursday, writes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian.
“They’ve had two intense days here,” interim head coach Tiago Splitter said Thursday at the Blazers’ practice facility in Tualatin. “We’ll see how (they feel) tomorrow.”
Both players are officially questionable for Friday’s contest against Denver (Twitter link).
A two-time All-Defensive selection, Thybulle has been plagued by injuries the past two seasons. He was limited to just 15 appearances in 2024/25 due to knee and ankle issues, and has only played four games thus far in ’25/26, last suiting up on October 29.
The 28-year-old guard/forward underwent thumb surgery on Oct. 31, which was expected to sideline him for at least four-to-six weeks. After that injury healed, he has been plagued by right knee tendinopathy.
Largely due to his limited availability, there has been speculation that Thybulle could be a buyout candidate, but that seems fairly unlikely now that he’s healthy.
Third-year forward Murray, meanwhile, has missed Portland’s last 19 games due to a lumbar strain in his lower back. He last played on Jan. 5.
As Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report tweets, the Blazers have relied heavily on Sidy Cissoko, who is no longer eligible to play after reaching his 50-game active limit, and Caleb Love, who has five games left. While it’s possible one or both of those two-way standouts could be promoted before the season ends, the team likely doesn’t feel any urgency to do so now with Thybulle and Murray on the verge of returning, Highkin notes.
Although Portland’s roster is as healthy as it has been in months, starting shooting guard Shaedon Sharpe remains out with a left calf strain and his return doesn’t appear imminent, per Freeman. The team’s second-leading scorer suffered the injury on Feb. 6 and missed the final four games before the All-Star break.
“He didn’t practice,” Splitter said. “We’re still evaluating how long he’s going to be out, but for the near future, he’s going to be out for a little bit.”