Southwest Notes: Middleton, Mavs, Spurs, J. Smith
Prior to Friday’s loss vs. Memphis, Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd confirmed that Khris Middleton is a buyout candidate ahead of Sunday’s deadline to be waived by one team and remain eligible to appear in the postseason for another club, per Ron Harrod Jr. of DLLS Mavs (Twitter video link).
“That’s up to Khris,” Kidd said. “We support whatever decision he makes if he’s going to stay or if he’s gonna get bought out. But I think he’s gotta make that decision here pretty quick.”
As reported by Marc Stein of The Stein Line, Middleton is evaluating whether to finish out his expiring contract with Dallas or to reach a buyout agreement to sign with a playoff team. The Nuggets and Spurs are said to be among the teams with interest in the 34-year-old small forward.
According to Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com, NBA personnel have been keeping close tabs on Middleton since he was traded to the Mavericks ahead of this month’s deadline. One scout likes what he’s seen of the 14-year veteran, while an anonymous executive said Middleton might be better off staying with Dallas — the three-time All-Star would forfeit his Bird rights if he agrees to a buyout.
“His numbers have been down quite a bit — and his efficiency never recovered with the Wizards,” the executive told DallasHoopsJournal.com. “He might be best off playing this season out in Dallas where they’re letting him play his game and build some momentum for himself going into free agency. He’s going to get minutes and touches in Dallas. That may not be consistent on a contender. He could join a contender in the summer. I understand the appeal of joining a contender now, though.”
That same front office employee told Afseth that Middleton could help the Mavericks, but it’s not a straightforward situation.
“When he’s in a rhythm, he’s going to help a team win games. That may hurt the Mavericks’ chances of maximizing draft position now,” the executive said. “But he’s a great locker room guy. He’s genuine about helping younger teammates. That’s a good veteran to have on your team. He’d be a piece that could help them when Kyrie Irving is healthy and ready to go next season. You want vets like [Middleton] around Cooper Flagg.”
Here’s more from the Southwest:
- During Thursday’s game vs. Sacramento, Mavericks CEO Rick Welts joined the team’s broadcast and said governor Patrick Dumont decided not to raise ticket prices for 2026/27 because the Mavs didn’t meet expectations, according to Christian Clark of The Athletic. “It was one of the strangest meetings I’ve been in in my 48 years in the league, where you sit down with the owner,” Welts said. “The staff has done two months of work to figure out where tickets might be underpriced. Patrick preempted the conversation before it got started and said, ‘Look, we didn’t deliver this year. We didn’t deliver on the team as expected. We’re not going to raise one ticket price this year.’ A popular decision. The right one as well.”
- Thursday’s win at Brooklyn marked the Spurs‘ 11th consecutive victory, writes Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. The Spurs went undefeated in February, the third time the team has had an unblemished month. “It feels like the players are finding different ways to win,” head coach Mitch Johnson said. “That’s a sign of growth.” Jared Weiss of The Athletic takes a closer look at San Antonio’s undefeated month, writing that a variety of players contributed on a game-to-game basis. The Spurs have also found ways to win even when they aren’t playing their best. “Does (the undefeated month) mean it was perfect? Not at all,” Victor Wembanyama said. “But looking back, it’s never really perfect. So it’s pretty satisfying.”
- Fourth-year Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. was sidelined for Saturday’s game in Miami and will miss Monday’s game at Washington as well, per Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Smith, who sprained his right ankle in Thursday’s comeback win in Orlando, is targeting next Thursday against Golden State for his return to the court, Shankar adds.
Wizards Sign Julian Reese To Two-Way Contract
The Wizards have signed free agent forward Julian Reese to a two-way contract, the team announced on Saturday (via Twitter).
A Baltimore native who played four years of college ball at Maryland, Reese went undrafted in 2025 after a solid senior season with the Terrapins. He signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Toronto in the fall, was waived to secure a bonus for playing for the team’s G League affiliate, and has spent the entire 2025/26 season to this point with the Raptors 905.
Reese, a 6’9″ power forward, has appeared in 38 total games for the Raptors 905 across the Tip-Off Tournament and the regular season. The 22-year-old has averaged 7.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 17.2 minutes per game while shooting 62.9% from the field and 66.2% from the free throw line.
According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link), the expectation is that Reese could be active as early as Tuesday’s contest at Orlando.
The Wizards had a two-way opening after recently promoting Jamir Watkins to a two-year standard contract. As our chart shows, Reese will be eligible to be active for up to 13 games for Washington.
Reese is the younger brother of Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese.
Pacers Promote Quenton Jackson To Three-Year Standard Deal
February 28: Jackson has officially been converted to a standard contract, the Pacers announced in a press release. As we noted in another story, Slawson’s two-way contract has been finalized as well.
February 27: The Pacers are giving Quenton Jackson a promotion, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the two-way guard will be converted to a three-year standard contract. Jackson’s agents at Klutch Sports informed Charania of the deal.
Jackson, a four-year veteran, admitted to Tony Easy of Forbes and Circle City Spin that he had been thinking about the possibility of being promoted by Indiana (Twitter link).
“I’ve thought about it. It’s hard not to think about it,” Jackson said. “But at the same time, I wouldn’t say I wrap my head around it too much. In this game, it’s best to think about the things that you can control.”
A league source tells East (Twitter link) that Jackson’s new deal will be partially guaranteed in 2026/27 and non-guaranteed for the ’27/28 campaign.
A 27-year-old point guard, Jackson went undrafted in 2022 out of Texas A&M. He has made 30 appearances this season for the Pacers, averaging 9.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 17.3 minutes per game. His shooting line is a very solid .489/.409/.810.
Jackson’s two-way deal expires at season’s end. And because this is his fourth NBA season, he wouldn’t be eligible for another two-way contract in 2026/27, so Indiana needed to move him to the standard roster in order to retain him beyond this year.
General manager Chad Buchanan, Dustin Dopriak of The Indianapolis Star, and most recently East previously identified Jackson as a candidate to be promoted. The Pacers were carrying an open standard roster spot, so no corresponding move was needed to convert Jackson.
Buchanan told East a couple weeks ago that Jackson was “a big part of our culture in our locker room” and lauded the fourth-year guard’s energy, toughness, and positive attitude. For his part, Jackson said he loved Indiana and his fit within the team’s offense.
Promoting Jackson will create a two-way opening for the Pacers, which they reportedly plan to fill by promoting Noblesville Boom standout Jalen Slawson. Taelon Peter and Ethan Thompson currently hold Indiana’s other two-way spots.
Pacers, Jalen Slawson Finalize Two-Way Contract
February 28: Slawson’s two-way deal is official, the Pacers confirmed in a press release. He will be eligible to be active for 13 of Indiana’s final 22 games, notes East (via Twitter).
February 27: The Pacers plan to sign free agent forward Jalen Slawson to fill the two-way contract slot previously held by Quenton Jackson, a league source tells Tony Forbes of Forbes and Circle City Spin (Twitter link). Jackson is being converted to a three-year standard deal.
The 54th overall pick in the 2023 draft after starring in college at Furman University, Slawson spent his rookie NBA season on a two-way deal with the Kings. He only appeared in 12 games for Sacramento in 2023/24, and has been plying his trade in the G League the last two years, suiting up for the Osceola Magic in ’24/25 and the Noblesville Boom — Indiana’s affiliate team — in ’25/26.
Slawson, who signed Exhibit 10 deals with the Magic and Pacers the past two falls before being waived, is having a strong season for the Boom. In 35 games in ’25/26, the 6’7″ wing is averaging 18.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.3 blocks in 34.2 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .486/.348/.775.
Since he has been out of the league since ’23/24, this will technically be Slawson’s second year in the NBA. It wouldn’t be surprising if his contract covers two years, as has often been the case with recent two-way agreements.
In late December, Keith Smith of Spotrac referred to Slawson as “the best all-around player” to that point in the NBAGL season. That was at the conclusion of the Tip-Off Tournament (Slawson had played 10 games at that point) and prior to the regular season.
Warriors Sign Gui Santos To Three-Year Extension
Third-year forward Gui Santos has signed a multiyear contract extension with the Warriors, the team announced in a press release (Twitter link).
Santos signed a three-year, $15MM extension which features a player option in 2028/29, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports (via Twitter).
After playing a modest role for most of the season, Santos has been playing major minutes of late with Jimmy Butler sidelined due to a torn ACL. The Brazilian has thrived over his past 12 appearances, averaging 15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.9 blocks in 28.8 minutes per game.
Santos has started 10 of those 12 games, including the team’s last nine, and has posted a shooting line of .588/.431/.692 over that stretch.
Overall, Santos has appeared in 48 games (16.0 MPG) this season for Golden State, averaging 6.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 1.7 APG on .531/.390/.680 shooting.
Santos would have been a restricted free agent in the offseason. Instead of waiting until the summer to negotiate a new deal, the 23-year-old opted to sign a long-term extension to stay with the franchise that selected him 55th overall in the 2022 draft.
Although Santos doesn’t have a ton of NBA experience, $5MM annually is still a team-friendly rate considering his recent contributions and his projected role for the rest of the season. When I took an in-depth look at Santos a few days ago in a Front Office article, I speculated that he might be able to get $6-9MM per year in restricted free agency.
Still, having that player option for ’28/29 was a nice compromise for Santos. He will be extension-eligible again two years from now (2/28/2028) and would be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2028 if he declines his third-year option.
Santos was one of several players around the league eligible for veteran contract extensions. The full list can be found right here.
And-Ones: Peterson, 2024 Draft, East Race, Yurtseven, Richardson
Controversy surrounding Darryn Peterson, who has been in and out of the Kansas lineup, won’t significantly impact his draft stock, Brian Lewis of the New York Post reports in a subscriber-only story.
The projected high lottery pick, perhaps the top pick, Peterson has missed 11 games and departed early in some others.
“I don’t think Peterson — or (Cameron) Boozer or (AJ) Dybantsa — will play their way out of the top three,” former Sixers scout Michael VandeGarde told Lewis. “Those three guys are special. It’s probably ‘eye of the beholder.’ Peterson is spectacular.”
We have more from around the international basketball world:
- The 2024 draft class was projected to be a weak one and it has lived up to its billing, John Hollinger of The Athletic opines. He notes the Spurs’ Stephon Castle and Wizards’ Alex Sarr are the only draft picks that could be considered one of their team’s three best players. Donovan Clingan, Kel’El Ware, Jaylon Tyson and Ajay Mitchell are the only other draft picks who have established themselves as starting-caliber players.
- NBA executives generally believe the Eastern Conference is up for grabs once the playoffs begin despite the Pistons’ gaudy record, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst report. One Eastern Conference GM said “six or seven” teams could emerge from the pack, as each contender has some flaws. Another unnamed executive believes there will be consequences for some contenders that come up short of the NBA Finals. “There’s two to three teams that are going to have some real fallout if they don’t make the conference finals,” that team president said. “That’s the case every year, I know, but there’s not a lot of honeymoons going on in the East.”
- Former Heat and Jazz center Omer Yurtseven has departed Greece’s Panathinaikos BC, Eurohoops.net relays. Yurtseven had trouble establishing a meaningful role with the Greek club. In this EuroLeague season, Yurtseven averaged 6.3 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
- Veteran NBA wing Josh Richardson has parted ways with Spain’s Casademont Zaragoza, according to Eurohoops.net. A veteran of 10 NBA seasons with 584 appearances on six teams, including 30 playoff games, Richardson reached a mutual agreement with the Spanish club to terminate his contract. Signing on January 23, he averaged 9.6 points per contest across five appearances in the FIBA Europe Cup and Spain’s Liga Endesa.
Cavaliers Notes: Overtime Loss, Mitchell, Harden, Ellis, Mobley
The Cavaliers lost in overtime at Detroit on Friday and came away unimpressed with the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reports (subscription required).
Playing without their starting backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, the Cavaliers had the Pistons on the ropes. But Cleveland missed two key free throws late in regulation and Jaylon Tyson fouled Daniss Jenkins on a halfcourt 3-point attempt with less than five seconds remaining. Jenkins made all three free throws to tie the game and Detroit escaped with a 122-119 overtime victory.
“They aren’t in our class,” one player told Fedor.
Forward Evan Mobley believes the Pistons will have a tough time getting past the Cavaliers in the postseason.
“I feel like we’re one of the top teams,” he said. “They’ve got to face us, honestly. We’re playing pretty good basketball and we’re going to continue to play good basketball. Just got to play our best in April and May and June. That’s our goal. We’re going to learn from this game and just keep stacking wins and get ready for the playoffs.”
Here’s more on the Cavaliers:
- Mitchell is dealing with a right groin strain while Harden has a fractured right thumb. “We don’t love soft tissue injuries, obviously,” coach Kenny Atkinson said of Mitchell’s injury, per ESPN’s Jamal Collier. “The feedback I’m getting is that it’s not a long-term thing.” Harden wore a protective brace on his thumb at shootaround Friday morning and attempted to dribble and shoot but was still feeling discomfort. “I know this morning he was struggling a little, just dribbling,” Atkinson said. “I mean, the thing’s broken. … If you have a hard time dribbling and catching, that’s [tough].”
- Keon Ellis, who also missed Friday’s game, has a non-displaced volar plate avulsion of his left index finger, the team tweets. He suffered the injury against the Bucks on Wednesday but still played 29 minutes, scoring 14 points. “I had no clue it was fractured or broken, but I couldn’t really do nothing,” Ellis told Fedor. “They told me after watching film they think it happened when I dove on the floor and came up with a loose ball because that’s when I kind of started shaking my hand. I thought it was just jammed. But then I couldn’t squeeze the ball at all and thought I might need to come out of the game.”
- Mobley had his best game since returning from a calf strain, contributing 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks against Detroit. “Much better, much better. He’s starting to catch a groove,” Atkinson said. “I can see it, [I] told him this morning in shoot around, I feel like just more energetic. He’s got more confidence. Just seems like when he comes back from injury, it always takes him a little bit to get going. So, that might be the most positive thing about this game tonight, we get him kind of playing like that. Making a few threes obviously helps. But just overall, I thought it was really good.”
Mavericks Waive Tyus Jones
10:32am: Jones has officially been waived, the team tweets.
5:22am: The Mavericks intend to waive point guard Tyus Jones, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link). Because the move will happen before the end of the day on Sunday, Jones will retain his playoff eligibility for his next team.
Jones, 29, is an 11th-year NBA veteran known for his ability to set up teammates and take care of the ball. He has career averages of 7.3 points, 4.3 assists, and just 0.8 turnovers in 20.7 minutes per game across 738 regular season appearances for Minnesota, Memphis, Washington, Phoenix, Orlando, and Dallas.
After four-year stints with both the Timberwolves and Grizzlies, Jones has bounced around the NBA in recent years, playing for four teams in the past three seasons. He opened this year with the Magic, having signed a one-year, $7MM deal with the team during the 2025 offseason, but had a disappointing year in Orlando, averaging just 3.1 PPG and 2.6 APG on .349/.281/.875 shooting in a bench role.
Jones was traded to the Hornets at the deadline in what was a salary-dump deal from the Magic’s perspective, allowing them to duck below the luxury tax line. Charlotte subsequently flipped him to the Mavericks in a separate trade.
At the time, reports indicated that Dallas had attempted to sign Jones last summer before ending up with D’Angelo Russell and that they’d be happy to have him on the roster for the rest of the season. However, it appears as if the guard prefers to try to catch on with a playoff team.
Waiving Jones will open up a spot on the Mavs’ 15-man roster, and Stein suggests there’s a strong chance that two-way guard Ryan Nembhard will be promoted to fill that opening. Nembhard, who can’t be active for more than 50 regular season games on his two-way contract, appeared in 33 consecutive contests from late November through early February and has been active for 44 in total, but has been on Dallas’ inactive list since Feb. 5.
If the Mavs were to convert Nembhard to a standard contract in the coming days, it would remove his games-played cap for the season and would allow the club to back-fill his two-way slot by the March 4 deadline for two-way signings.
Besides Jones, veteran forward Khris Middleton is another buyout candidate in Dallas. The team has reportedly left the decision up to him, with Denver said to be among his potential suitors.
Mavs To Promote Ryan Nembhard To Two-Year Standard Deal
The Mavericks are promoting two-way guard Ryan Nembhard to a two-year standard contract that features a team option for 2026/27, league sources tell Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
Nembhard’s agents, Todd Ramasar and Jaafar Choufani of Life Sports, confirmed the news to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Nembhard is averaging 6.7 points and 4.9 assists in 38 appearances with the NBA club, including 17 starts. In those starts, he’s averaging 9.9 points and 6.1 assists while making 44.4% of his 3-point attempts.
However, Nembhard hasn’t appeared in a game with the Mavericks since February 5 as he approached the 50-game limit for two-way players. Nembhard got an extensive look from the coaching staff earlier in the season due to backcourt injuries and made the most of it.
Dallas opened a roster spot by deciding to waive Tyus Jones. The Mavericks now have an open two-way slot and can fill it any time before the March 4 deadline for two-way signings.
Nembhard, 22, went undrafted out of Gonzaga. He signed his two-way contract shortly after the draft. Earlier in the season, he discussed his hopes of getting a standard deal.
“I’ll let my agents and everybody figure that out,” Nembhard said. “Obviously that’s there, and obviously I’m on a two-way. But at the end of the day, if I go on the court and handle business and do my job at a high level, then that will take care of itself when the time comes. So I’m not too concerned about that. I’m just trying to win games and enjoy hooping.”
Pistons Notes: Cunningham, Duren, Sasser, Huerter, Stewart, Jenkins
Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff detailed during his pre-game press conference on Friday his reasons why Cade Cunningham should receive the Most Valuable Player award.
“I wish I could do it [state Cade’s case MVP] with a better, stronger voice…I mean, he deserves it,” Bickerstaff said. “Right now, again, if the season were to end today, the best player on the team with the best win percentage, to me, is the guy that deserves to be the MVP. What he does for us on both ends of the floor; he doesn’t take nights, or times, or possessions off defensively. We’ll put him on the other team’s best perimeter player, and he’ll go down on the offensive end and score his 25 points but create for his teammates. He’s second in the league in assists and makes his teammates better also. And, then the game’s on the line, you can give him the ball, and he’s one of the best clutch players we have in this league. So, I’m hard pressed to find a better example or statement of who the MVP should be.”
Cunningham is averaging 25.4 points, a career-high 9.8 assists, 5.4 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks.
Here’s more on the Pistons:
- All-Star center Jalen Duren said he never wanted to leave the organization, even during its franchise-worst 2023/24 season. “That’s not my character. That’s not me. I’m super loyal,” Duren told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “I hang my hat on loyalty. I was raised on loyalty. These are my brothers, man. Honestly, I don’t just say that just because we’re all on the same team. I honestly love these guys. So, in my head, looking at it, I didn’t see a bad team. I was young. I knew we had pieces. We were just missing something. Experience would be the easy thing to say. We were just missing something. We were missing a lot, actually. But for me, I just never saw it as this is not going to work. I always knew that once we figured some things out, grabbed a couple pieces, established a culture, maybe we can be something.”
- Marcus Sasser and trade deadline acquisition Kevin Huerter haven’t cracked the rotation but Bickerstaff said there will be opportunities for both next month. “We got a heavy March, right? We got a ton of games in March where everybody will get an opportunity to play,” he said. “And because of our depth, we feel confident that we can still compete at a high level with the depth that we have and get those guys some chances to play.” Sasser played 11 minutes during Friday’s overtime win against Cleveland but didn’t score.
- Isaiah Stewart, who is still serving a seven-game suspension for his involvement in a pre-All-Star break brawl with Charlotte, says he patterns his game after Hall of Famer Ben Wallace, who earned four Defensive Player of the Year awards with Detroit. “He paved the way for us undersized guys,” Stewart told Vince Goodwill of ESPN. “I’m trying to live up to that and put my name somewhere positive in this organization.”
- Daniss Jenkins, who was promoted from his two-way contract with a two-year, $8MM deal earlier this month, hit three clutch free throws after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt in the closing seconds of regulation on Friday. That allowed the Pistons to steal a game against the Cavs in overtime. “He’s been mature. I hate to say that, but it’s not surprising anymore what he’s done,” Bickerstaff said. “When his number has been called, whatever the moment has been, he’s been a productive for us and effective for us.”