Pelicans Notes: Fears, Jordan, Peavy, Davis
When he takes the court Sunday against Minnesota, Jeremiah Fears will become the first rookie in Pelicans history to appear in all 82 games, writes Rod Walker of NOLA (subscription required). The seventh pick in last year’s draft prides himself on durability and said he hasn’t missed a game since he broke his thumb as a high school freshman.
“Being able to play all 82 games is big time,” Fears said. “Not everybody gets the opportunity to play all 82 games. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity. I feel like I’ve made the most of the minutes I get when I go out there.”
Fears has been one of the bright spots in a lost season for New Orleans. He’s averaging 14.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 25.6 minutes per game and set a franchise rookie record by scoring 40 points in Tuesday’s win over Utah. With increased playing time, his scoring average has risen to 28.8 PPG over the past five games.
Fears credits his recovery process with helping him stay on the court.
“That helps in being able to play all 82 games,” he said. “Focus on your recovery and just continue to stay focused. I’m dedicated to the recovery and the work on and off the court. The hot and the cold tub have been huge for me. I just rely on those things to help me get my body for each and every day.”
There’s more from New Orleans:
- DeAndre Jordan‘s impact on the team has been far greater than his on-court statistics, Walker states in a separate story. The 38-year-old center only appeared in 12 games, but he had plenty of advice to share with his much younger teammates from his 18 NBA seasons. “To see the growth of our young team, DeAndre had a massive impact on that,” interim head coach James Borrego said. “He brought professionalism every day. A voice every day. A respect for every drill, every practice and every moment together.” Jordan said he’s not sure how much longer he’ll play and is taking his career one year at a time.
- Like most teams, the Pelicans are resting their stars as the season winds down, which creates opportunities for young players like Micah Peavy, Walker adds in another piece. The rookie shooting guard delivered 20 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals on Tuesday as he made his second start of the season. “It’s just the experience,” he said. “Take these games super serious, because during the summer, we’re only going to be able to play pick-up games. It’s not the same. Take it seriously and get everything out of it.”
- Appearing this week on Draymond Green‘s podcast, Anthony Davis reflects on the circumstances that led him to demand a trade out of New Orleans in 2019, relays Rashad Milligan of NOLA. He was motivated to move to another franchise where he could compete for championships and is still upset about the $50K fine he received for making a public trade request. “When a team is tired of a player, they can trade him with no consequence,” Davis said. “Right? But once a player is like, ‘I want to do what’s best for me, because I want to compete for championships and win.’ It’s not even about the money. New Orleans offered me a crazy deal at the time. It’s not even about the money; I genuinely want to win. So now, because I want to win, I’m considered a villain to this team and to this fanbase. To this day, I still go back, and they still boo me.”
Nuggets Control Playoff Seeding Heading Into Sunday
At this point in the season, tanking isn’t reserved just for the NBA’s worst teams, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. The Nuggets hosted the Thunder on Friday in a matchup of Western Conference powers, but most of the stars were in street clothes. Oklahoma City, which has already clinched the league’s best record, rested nine rotation players in an effort to boost Denver’s chances at holding onto the No. 3 spot and avoiding a playoff matchup until the conference finals.
Nuggets coach David Adelman responded by giving the night off to his entire starting lineup: Nikola Jokic (right wrist injury management). Jamal Murray (right shoulder impingement), Aaron Gordon (right hamstring injury management), Cameron Johnson (right ankle injury management) and Christian Braun (left ankle injury management and a right hip flexor strain). Adelman defended the move in a pregame session with the media.
“What’s on the injury report is what they’re out with,” he said. “They’re dealing with a lot more than that physically, not to mention some of the soft tissue stuff. Scary kinds of injuries. … ‘Hey, we’re the three seed, but we don’t have three starters — it doesn’t sound like a great solution.”
The shorthanded Nuggets wound up with a 20-point victory that clinched home court advantage in the first round and will face a similar situation on Sunday at San Antonio. Denver is a game ahead of the Lakers for the No. 3 seed, but Los Angeles holds the tiebreaker and is playing a Utah team that could use another loss to maximize its lottery odds.
The Nuggets can clinch third place and a first-round matchup with the No. 6 Timberwolves by beating the Spurs. If they’d rather face the No. 5 Rockets, they’ll need to lose tomorrow and hope for a Lakers win.
Murray, Gordon, Johnson and Braun have been declared out, along with Tim Hardaway Jr.. Spencer Jones and Peyton Watson. Jokic, who needs to play at least 15 minutes to qualify for postseason awards, is listed as questionable.
Durando adds that the Nuggets have engaged in internal discussions about the best playoff path, looking beyond the first round to a potential second-round meeting with the Thunder or Spurs. With no obvious answer, Adelman decided to prioritize making sure his players are as healthy as possible when the playoffs start next weekend.
“Us and Minnesota, it’s been a crazy back-and-forth over the years,” he said on Friday. “They swept us last year, but then we beat them three out of four this year. We always know it’s competitive with them. They’ve given us issues. We’ve given them issues. And then obviously Houston, I mean, they’re playing so well right now. … So there’s no good opponent in my opinion. I think you just have to play it out with decisions that are best for your team, and we feel like tonight, this is the best decision.”
Keaton Wagler Declares For NBA Draft
Illinois guard Keaton Wagler is entering the NBA draft, his agency ProMondo Sports tells Shams Charania and Jeremy Woo of ESPN (Twitter link).
Wagler, 19, is coming off a sensational freshman season that saw him lead the Fighting Illini to a 28-9 record and their first Final Four appearance since 2005. He averaged 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 37 games while shooting 44.5% from the field and 39.7% from three-point range.
The Shawnee, Kansas, native received the Jerry West Award as the best guard in college basketball and was selected as a second-team All-American. He was also named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earned first-team all-conference honors.
Wagler set an Illinois freshman record on January 24 with 46 points at Purdue, which marked the highest scoring total ever for a visiting player at Mackey Arena. He made nine three-pointers in that game, which is also an Illinois record.
At 6’6″, Wagler can handle either backcourt position and is part of a talented group of guards expected to be taken in this year’s lottery. ESPN has him fifth on its list of the top 100 prospects and projects him as the sixth pick in its latest mock draft.
Wagler has impressed scouts with his positional size, shooting touch and quick decision-making, Woo states in a full story. NBA executives see tremendous upside with a chance for stardom if he can improve as a ball-handler.
Celtics Notes: Tatum, Brown, Queta, Shulga
This week’s return to Madison Square Garden, the site where he suffered an Achilles tear last May, was a huge milestone for Celtics star Jayson Tatum, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. After posting 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in 40 minutes in a loss to New York, Tatum talked about the feeling of relief that came with being back on the court where he experienced the worst injury of his career.
“It was a big moment, a big hurdle for me,” he said. “I was nervous and anxious to come back here. Obviously, I wanted to win and play great, but more importantly, I just kind of wanted to walk off the floor on my own two feet.”
Tatum is back to his regular workload a little more than a month after returning to action, but he’s still not being used on back-to-back nights. That meant he had to decide whether to play Thursday in New York or Friday against New Orleans. He opted for MSG to try to erase some of the bad memories from last year’s playoffs.
“Today was important to me, especially when I made the decision to come back and then made the decision to play today,” Tatum told reporters. “I’m glad I did. I feel a lot better.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- After undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus last summer, Jaylen Brown isolated himself to prepare for the challenges of this season, he tells Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. Brown understood that a lot more would be asked of him in the wake of Tatum’s injury and the loss of several key veterans from Boston’s 2024 championship team, and he wanted to be mentally ready to handle the increased responsibility. “From a financial standpoint, this was a rebuild, right?” he said. “But I didn’t look at it like that. … I looked at it as an opportunity to show the world who I am and what I could do.”
- Coach Joe Mazzulla is touting Neemias Queta for Most Improved Player honors, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscription required). Queta took over as the team’s starting center this season and is averaging career highs of 10.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. “He deserves it,” Mazzulla said. “To me, again, obviously as a player, but more what it means to do it for the Celtics, I think, goes a long way. And where he’s been on his journey in the NBA, but also his journey with us in our organization, he should seriously be considered for that because of where he was, and where he is now, and we wouldn’t be in that position without him.”
- One of the highlights of Max Shulga‘s rookie season happened on March 22 when he became the first player to appear in games with the Celtics and their G League affiliate in Maine on the same day, notes Souichi Terada of MassLive. The 57th pick in last year’s draft began the season on a two-way contract, then became playoff-eligible when he was promoted to a standard deal last month. “A lot of learning,” Shulga said of his first NBA season. “Obviously, got a lot of time, a lot of playing in the G League. Lot of ups and downs and stuff like that. Just getting adjusted to the NBA-style game. Just learning the system and stuff like that. It’s been a good first year.”
Heat Notes: Play-In Tournament, Ware, Larsson, Herro, Powell
The Heat‘s frustrating season, which will end with a fourth straight trip to the play-in tournament, is a result of being too patient with the current roster, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald contends in a subscriber-only piece. Big changes were expected after Miami was embarrassed by Cleveland in the first round of last year’s playoffs, but the core of the team remained intact and produced another mediocre campaign.
There are three traditional ways to improve in the NBA – tanking for a high draft pick, trading players at the peak of their value for future assets and aggressively pursuing unhappy stars – and Jackson argues that Heat management hasn’t pursued any of those options.
Team president Pat Riley is strongly opposed to tanking and ownership holds the same stance, so the first option is out. Jackson states that Bam Adebayo, who would be the organization’s top trade asset, remains “untouchable,” while Tyler Herro said last year that the front office told him he would only be moved for a top-75 all-time player. Jackson adds that Herro’s trade value has diminished as teams have become reluctant to part with assets for one-dimensional scorers. He also questions the commitment to Andrew Wiggins when the Lakers and other teams expressed interest last summer.
In addition, Jackson notes that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Brandon Ingram and Derrick White have all been moved over the past three years at a cost of no more than one first-round pick. The Trae Young deal didn’t involve any first-rounders, and Ja Morant could have been obtained at a bargain price at the deadline.
Jackson also points out that Riley sounded confident about the Heat’s “draft-pick, young-player, favorable-contract situation” when he spoke to reporters last May, but since then the team gave a four-year, $62MM extension to Nikola Jovic that now looks like a mistake.
There’s more from Miami:
- Friday’s win over Washington preserves the Heat’s chances to earn home-court advantage for the 9 vs. 10 game if things break their way on the final day of the season, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. They would move into ninth place if they can win a home game against Atlanta and the Hornets lose at New York. No matter the outcome, coach Erik Spoelstra isn’t happy that his team tumbled into play-in territory again by going 4-10 in its last 14 games. “It’s harrowing,” he said. “We say it every year that we’ve been in there, you don’t want to be in there. But that’s sometimes the path you have to take.”
- Kel’el Ware replaced Pelle Larsson in the starting lineup on Friday and Spoelstra indicated that the move might be permanent, Chiang adds. “Kel’el is really important to what we’re trying to do,” Spoelstra said. “We all know about his upside. This can get him next to Bam, stabilize him a little bit to start the game. And then it gives us a little bit of flexibility as the game moves on. Sometimes in the last couple of weeks, some of the lineups with Bam have been really good. And then we end up going longer with that, and it just ends up being longer for Kel’el sitting on the bench. And he’s a key player for us, so this allows him to get some minutes right out of the gate.”
- Herro and Norman Powell both missed the Washington game with minor injuries, but they could return on Sunday, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). “Hopefully it’s just for today,” Spoelstra said. “They’re both dealing with something that they just could not loosen up and get ready for tonight.”
Raptors Convert A.J. Lawson To Standard Contract
4:00 pm: Lawson’s new deal is official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
3:16 pm: The Raptors are promoting two-way player A.J. Lawson to a standard contract that covers the rest of 2025/26, agents Todd Ramasar and Mike Simonetta tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Blake Murphy of Sportnet.ca confirms (via Twitter) that Lawson’s contract will expire this summer, making him a free agent. Converting Lawson’s contract will make him eligible for the postseason, as two-way players are unable to compete after the regular season ends.
A 6’5″ guard/forward, Lawson has appeared in 23 NBA games in his second season with the Raptors, averaging 4.0 points and 1.9 rebounds in 9.3 minutes per contest while shooting 41.5% from three-point range. He has also spent extended time in the G League with the Raptors 905, averaging 21.6 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.3 APG and 1.4 SPG on .465/.360/.792 shooting in 36 games (31.9 MPG).
Lawson, a Toronto native who went undrafted in 2021 out of South Carolina, is in his fourth NBA season, having previously spent time with Minnesota and Dallas. The 25-year-old was also promoted from a two-way deal to a standard contract by the Raptors last April. He was waived in mid-October, but re-signed with his hometown team two days later on a new two-way agreement.
Toronto created a roster opening on Friday when the team waived Tyreke Key, a G League standout who was essentially given a nice bonus for his play with the 905. The 27-year-old combo guard didn’t make any appearances during his brief stint with the Raptors, who were believed to be deciding between Lawson and two-way player Alijah Martin to fill the newly opened roster spot.
Assuming Lawson receives a minimum-salary deal and is officially converted on Saturday, he’ll make $27,343 on top of his $636,435 two-way salary. If he’s promoted on Sunday, he’ll earn $13,672.
The Raptors need to win Sunday’s regular season finale against the tanking Nets to clinch their first playoff berth since 2021/22.
Celtics’ Chisholm On Mazzulla, Stevens, TD Garden, More
Celtics owner Bill Chisholm recently gave an interview to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscriber link). The conversation covers a number of topics, including Chisholm’s first year as the team’s governor and majority stakeholder, his thoughts on Jaylen Brown‘s excellent season, Jayson Tatum‘s return from a torn Achilles tendon, and more.
Here are a few highlights from Himmelsbach’s interview with Chisholm.
On whether Chisholm has built a connection with the Celtics:
“I feel extremely welcome. I try to find the right balance of being supportive and visible to them without making them feel like I’m looking over their shoulder. I try to be super available, super positive, and I’ve tried to develop a relationship with all the players, and certainly with [head coach Joe Mazzulla]. We’re on the same page, and I’m a huge fan. And [president of basketball operations Brad Stevens] and his team are tremendous.”
On how having Mazzulla and Stevens, whom Chisholm called the “best basketball executive there is,” in place has brought stability to the team:
“I do not take that for granted. I look around at the owners’ meetings and talking to other folks and hear of the challenges they have and the wholesale changes they have to make, not just to their rosters but their management. It is extraordinary here. It’s all I know, but I know enough to know this is not normal to have this. I am going to fight and claw and do everything in my power to make sure we keep it going with those guys.”
On the perception that Chisholm was concerned about cutting costs after the Celtics made a series of offseason and in-season transactions to move below the salary tax line, easing several roster-building restrictions in the process:
“I think it’s out there, but ultimately I have to prove every day in the near term, medium term, and long term that I want to win, I want to win desperately, and I’m a huge fan. I can understand where some short-term decisions might feel like they’re not necessarily headed in that direction, but I put hand on heart and know I’m doing and we’re doing the right things to win, and that’s what we care about. So, you have to trust in that.
“I compare us to other teams coming into the season that looked a lot like us. We were completely aligned that we’re about winning. We’re going to compete, play hard, develop our talent, find additional talent, and this is not a gap year. We’re just not doing that. I can put my hand on heart saying that. I’ll prove it and I’ll continue to prove it every day, that I just want to win.”
On the status of TD Garden and the possibility of building a new arena in the future:
“It’s pretty much the same as it was at the beginning of the season. The philosophy there is the same. The Garden is a great place to play. It’s consistently ranked one of the best places in the league for player and fan experience. It’s loud, a lot of energy, and it’s got a storied history.
“My starting point is if we can make it work, we’d love to stay where we are. And making it work means improving the fan experience and the player experience. If we can do those things and remain where we are now, that’s great. And if that doesn’t work there, we’ll think about other places. But my goal here is to see if we ideally make it work where we are, and I think there’s a commitment with us, with the Bruins and Delaware North, with all of that. That’s where we want to end up and we’re working on it as we speak.“
Lakers Notes: LeBron, Playoff Seed, Kennard, Vanderbilt
If there’s a silver lining for the Lakers after losing Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to injuries, it’s the fact that LeBron James has shown he can still dominate when asked to spearhead an offense, says Melissa Rohlin of The California Post.
The 41-year-old superstar was the third offensive option for the first time in his 23-year career before his teammates got injured, but he has averaged 28.0 points, 12.7 assists, 7.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals while shooting 60.0% from the field, including 46.2% on three-pointers, in three games as the team’s primary offensive hub, Rohlin notes.
“I had to tap back into a role that I’ve been accustomed to in the past, but obviously it wasn’t what it was this year,” James said. “But circumstances have put me back in there, and I’m just trying to feed off my teammates, teammates are feeding off of me, and just trying to make things happen for us to continue to stay afloat.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- While the team’s final seed is still up in the air, Los Angeles secured home court advantage for the first round of the playoffs after Friday’s slate of games, writes Khobi Price of The California Post. The Nuggets and Lakers are assured of being the third and fourth seeds, in some order, while Houston is locked in at No. 5 and Minnesota is No. 6. The Lakers, who are currently No. 4, need to beat Utah Sunday and need Denver to lose at San Antonio to move up to No. 3.
- Luke Kennard has been given far more on-ball and play-making duties with Doncic and Reaves out and has responded with 31 assists in the last four games, per Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times. Head coach JJ Redick praised the veteran guard’s professionalism and willingness to embrace various responsibilities, while James lauded Kennard’s versatility. “He’s just a ball player,” James said. “… People just kind of gave him the narrative of just being a shooter. But he does so many more things. He can handle the ball, he can rebound the ball, he can make plays. … And what we’re missing right now, we need it [from him]. We need it more and more than ever.”
- Veteran forward Jarred Vanderbilt addressed his recent confrontation with Redick after Friday’s win over Phoenix, as Dave McMenamin of ESPN relays (Twitter video link). “We talked about it, we moved on from it,” Vanderbilt said. “At this point in the season, we both realize this is the group we got. So it’s definitely not a time for anybody to separate.”
Heat Promote Jahmir Young To Standard Contract
April 11: Young’s promotion is official, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link).
April 10: The Heat are converting Jahmir Young‘s two-way contract to a standard deal, tweets Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
Young will be promoted a two-year contract, agent Scott Nichols tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). Young’s salary for 2026/27 will be non-guaranteed, reports Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (via Twitter).
Young’s promotion will make him eligible for the postseason. The Heat will be in the play-in tournament for the fourth straight season and will have to win two games to advance as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.
A 6’0″ point guard who went undrafted in 2024, Young has played sparingly for the Heat in his second NBA season. In 13 appearances (including Friday’s win over Washington), he has played 55 total minutes for Miami.
While his NBA role has been very modest, Young thrived at the G League level with the Heat’s affiliate team, the Sioux Falls Skyforce. In 25 regular season contests (38.1 minutes per game) for the Skyforce in 2025/26, the 25-year-old averaged 26.0 points, 8.9 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals on .471/.376/.815 shooting splits.
Young, who spent his rookie season on a two-way deal with Chicago, was named the G League’s Player of the Month in January and earned a spot on the All-NBAGL Second Team for his play with Sioux Falls.
Miami created a roster opening on Friday when the team waived Terry Rozier, who has been on leave for essentially the entire season after being arrested in October on federal charges related to illegal gambling.
Bulls Notes: Giddey, Donovan, Buzelis, Miller, Dillingham
Bulls guard Josh Giddey had been away from the team over the past week and didn’t have an opportunity to weigh in on the recent firings of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley until Friday, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Giddey, who will end up missing the final five games of 2025/26 due to a nagging hamstring injury, gave a diplomatic response, saying he understood it was a business but appreciated what the two front office executives had done for him the past couple years.
Giddey also discussed the future of head coach Billy Donovan, and he made it clear he’s a big fan of the 60-year-old. Donovan will meet with the team’s ownership after the regular season ends.
“He’s been awesome,” Giddey said. “I’ve loved him ever since I got here. He’s been very straightforward, and I think all the guys would say the same thing. He’s very direct. He tells you what you need to hear and not what you want to hear, and he gives it to you straight. He coaches hard; he wants to win every game. You see how competitive he is on the sidelines. I couldn’t speak highly enough about him. I hope he’s here for a long time.”
As for his own performance this season, Giddey said it was, “OK, up and down” on an individual level but he hopes to have more team success going forward.
“I’ve got to find ways to impact winning, and that’s probably the next step for me as a player,” he said.
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Second-year forward Matas Buzelis, another perceived member of Chicago’s core, reiterated his support for Donovan on Friday, tweets Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic. Buzelis, who was away from the team at the time due to an illness, said he called Donovan on the phone when he learned Karnisovas and Eversley were being dismissed. “I told him, ‘I hope you don’t leave. I’m riding with you forever. You’re a cornerstone for my career,'” Buzelis said.
- Scoop Jackson of The Chicago Sun-Times argues Donovan should walk away from his contract and reject any overtures from ownership to remain with the organization in a different role, writing that the veteran coach will likely have better coaching offers in the future and won’t be under the constraints of the Reindsorfs, who have done a miserable job operating the franchise over the years.
- Leonard Miller seemed like a throw-in as part of the trade that sent Ayo Dosunmu to Minnesota, but he has continued to impress the Bulls over the past several weeks and is making a strong case to stick around beyond 2025/26, Cowley writes for The Sun-Times. While Donovan admitted he wasn’t familiar with the Canadian’s game before the trade because he had played so little at the NBA level, he’s quickly grown to appreciate Miller’s play. “He’s a live body, he competes [and] he’s really long,” Donovan said. “He kind of has this instinctive way about him on the glass and chasing balls. Even defensively, he’s multidimensional. I think the biggest thing with him is he plays so instinctively that he catches up to the league and really understands digging in on film and personnel, guarding, game plans. I think he’s only going to get better because he’s got a really good motor.” The Bulls hold a $2.4MM option for next season on Miller, who is averaging 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds on .538/.358/.743 shooting splits in his last 17 games (28.0 minutes per contest).
- The other player the Bulls received in that deal, Rob Dillingham, acknowledged he needs to add more strength to his lean frame this summer, according to Cowley. The former Kentucky guard also said he wants to make better in-game decisions and plans to watch a lot of film ahead of his third season.