Lakers’ Jaxson Hayes Out 2-3 Weeks With Ankle Injury
Lakers center Jaxson Hayes has re-sprained his right ankle and is expected to be out for the next two-to-three weeks, according to Shams Charania and Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link).
Hayes initially missed six games earlier this month due to a right ankle sprain. He re-aggravated the issue on Tuesday in his second game back and has been inactive for two more contests since then, undergoing an MRI on Friday to assess the severity of the injury, per head coach J.J. Redick (Twitter link via Jovan Buha of The Athletic).
With Christian Wood still recovering from left knee surgery, Christian Koloko being integrated slowly following his year-long absence due to a blood clot issue, and Anthony Davis preferring not to play all of his minutes at center, Hayes has been a regular part of Los Angeles’ rotation when healthy. The big man has averaged 6.4 points and 4.5 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game across 11 outings.
Without Hayes available for at least the next couple weeks, the Lakers will lean more on Davis and Koloko for those minutes in the middle and figure to occasionally deploy small-ball lineups that feature a forward like LeBron James or Rui Hachimura as the de facto five.
Hayes also remains under investigation by the NBA, as the league reopened its probe into a 2021 domestic incident after new video surfaced. It’s unclear how long that investigation will take, but if it results in a suspension, Hayes would have to serve it once he’s healthy, not while he’s still injured.
Bulls Notes: Potential Trades, Giddey, Ball, Backcourt
After Jake Fischer reported on Friday that the Bulls are open to discussing the “majority of their roster” in trade talks this season, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (Insider link) confirms that rival teams are viewing Chicago as a probable in-season seller. Those rivals believe the Bulls will likely want to take steps to ensure they finish among the NBA’s bottom 10 teams and hang onto their top-10 protected first-round pick.
Still, there’s some skepticism about just how much value Chicago will be able to extract in return for the players believed to be trade candidates, such as Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic.
“It makes sense for them to trade a veteran, especially if it opens more playing time for rookie (Matas Buzelis)” an executive told ESPN. “But who are they trading that would make a difference? They’ve been trying to move LaVine for more than a year but there’s been no good market. They want to keep (Coby) White, and Vucevic is on the books for $21 million next year.”
Here’s more out of Chicago:
- Rival teams are also monitoring the Bulls’ usage of Josh Giddey, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Insider link), who says opposing scouts and executives have “noted” Giddey’s recent dip in playing time. Giddey, who will be a restricted free agent in 2025, has started all 21 games for the Bulls so far this season, but has played more than 26 minutes just twice in his past nine games, and his on/off-court numbers haven’t been great, as Bontemps notes. Even after Giddey was a +14 in 24 minutes on Friday, the Bulls have a -7.3 net rating in his 565 minutes this season, compared to a -2.9 mark in the 443 minutes he hasn’t played.
- As Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune observes, Giddey was replaced by Lonzo Ball in the Bulls’ closing lineup on Friday vs. Boston for defensive reasons. Giddey didn’t play the final 8:43 of the loss, while Ball surpassed his anticipated 16-minute limit midway through the fourth quarter and logged a season-high 21:40. Head coach Billy Donovan consulted with both Ball and the Bulls’ medical team before making that decision, Poe writes.
- Donovan raved after the game about Ball’s ability to impact a game even when his shot isn’t falling, as Kyle Williams of The Chicago Sun-Times relays. “The steals, the disruption, the hands, knocking down his first couple threes,” Donovan said. “Even if he missed those two shots, he still had a huge impact on the game.” The Bulls’ head coach added that reintegrating Ball into a crowded backcourt rotation hasn’t been an issue, since his players – including Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu – have been positive about the adjustments to their roles. “The unselfishness part of all the guards has been really key,” Donovan said. “I think Lonzo having that stint of 15 or 16 minutes, getting him out there, the team is excited for him. What makes it easier for me is the way those guys have handled it. It’s never been like, ‘Hey, I’m the point guard.’ They’ve all been willing to give up something for the betterment of each other.”
- A win over the Celtics on Friday would’ve secured the Bulls’ spot in the NBA Cup knockout round. Instead, they’ve been eliminated from contention, having finished the group stage with a 2-2 record. The Hawks (3-1) won Chicago’s group (East Group C) and earned a place in the quarterfinals.
Knicks’ Bridges After Fourth-Quarter Benching: I’ve ‘Got To Play Better’
Knicks forward Mikal Bridges‘ early-season struggles continued on Friday as he recorded eight points on 3-of-10 shooting and was a team-worst -14 vs. Charlotte. Although he played 37 minutes, Bridges was benched for most of the fourth quarter — he was pulled with the Knicks down by four points and 8:25 remaining and checked back in for defensive purposes with 13 seconds left and New York up by four.
As Stefan Bondy of The New York Post writes, head coach Tom Thibodeau explained after the comeback victory that he went with Miles McBride over Bridges in crunch time because McBride was “fresh” and “making shots,” adding that the Knicks were “sort of in the mud.” Bridges called it the right decision.
“I got to play better. I’ve been inconsistent,” Bridges said. “I’ve had some games where I’ve played good, some I haven’t. Just got to find a rhythm within the team. That’s pretty much it. Not even 20 games in, still just trying to figure it out. … I had a lot of sloppy turnovers. Couple of times (where the opponent) scored on me getting into the middle. I’ll be better.”
Bridges leads the NBA in minutes played (38.1 MPG) through his first 19 outings, but has seen his production decline across the board. He’s averaging 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game and has career-worst shooting percentages of 30.6% on three-pointers and 61.5% on free throws. After getting to the foul line 4.1 times per game over the previous two seasons, he’s averaging just 0.7 attempts per night so far in 2024/25.
The Knicks acquired Bridges from Brooklyn over the summer by giving up a significant package of draft assets that included five first-round picks (four unprotected) and a pick swap. The return on that investment has been modest so far, but Bridges and his teammates remain confident that it’s just a matter of time until he finds his footing in New York.
“I’m not worried about (Bridges),” Knicks forward Josh Hart said after Friday’s game, per Bondy. “I think the media and people are killing him. He’s in a new situation. He’s in a situation where he’s played 19 games in a different role that he’s played the last four years. So it’s our job to get him going.
“And all the other BS about what we gave up, it means nothing. If we win, if we get a championship, ain’t nobody give a damn about how many picks we gave up. We could’ve given up 15 picks, it don’t matter. At the end of the day, we’re trying to win a championship. He’s going to be a key piece of that.”
Hawks Advance To NBA Cup Knockout Round
The Hawks are the first Eastern Conference team to advance to the single-elimination knockout round of the 2024 NBA Cup, according to the league (Twitter link).
Despite posting a 9-11 overall record so far this season and finding themselves in a stacked group alongside the conference’s top two teams (Cleveland and Boston), the Hawks clinched their place atop the East Group C standings with a win over the Cavaliers on Friday night.
Atlanta also beat Boston in its NBA Cup opener on November 12, giving the Hawks the tiebreaker edge over the Celtics after both teams finished with a 3-1 record in group play.
The Celtics still have a chance to join the Hawks in the quarterfinals as the East’s wild card team, but that will depend on the outcome of the Bucks/Pistons and Magic/Knicks games on Tuesday. All four of those teams are 3-0 so far, so the two that win on Tuesday will finish atop their respective groups, while the losers (with the exception of the Knicks) could still earn the wild card berth based on point differential.
The Hawks join the Warriors and Rockets as teams that have secured spots in the NBA Cup knockout round. None of those three clubs made the quarterfinals last year in the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament.
The knockout round will begin on December 10.
Sixers, Pelicans Remain Focused On Making Playoffs
The Sixers will carry a 3-14 record into Saturday’s game in Detroit. The Pelicans are 4-16 after losing in Memphis on Friday. The two teams have combined for just four wins in the past month and – based on historical NBA outcomes – the odds are heavily against either one making the playoffs.
Still, neither the Sixers nor the Pelicans are prepared to throw in the towel in on this season, despite some compelling reasons to consider a pivot.
As Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes in an Insider-only story, the 76ers’ owe their 2025 first-round pick to Oklahoma City but would hang onto it if it lands in the top six. With uncertainty surrounding Joel Embiid‘s health, rival executives are keeping an eye on the situation in Philadelphia to see if bottoming out and trying to hang onto that pick is a route the club contemplates.
However, sources tell ESPN’s Tim Bontemps they don’t expect the Sixers to opt for that path, and certainly not this early in the season. Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report (video link) conveys a similar sentiment, noting that he’s been given no indication a major change of direction has been considered in Philadelphia. The team still hasn’t seen its three stars – Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey – play a full game together.
“You would want at least 25 games before you really judge your team and they haven’t had their top guys together at all,” one rival executive said to Windhorst. “Normally you wouldn’t even have this conversation right now; you’d be focused on saving your season.”
“They have the information on Joel’s health and that will probably inform their moves,” another league exec told ESPN. “There’s a lot of things to consider, including what your owner wants to do.”
As ESPN’s duo and Fischer point out, the underwhelming level of competition in the Eastern Conference is one key reason why the Sixers remain optimistic about their playoff chances. Sub-.500 teams like the Hawks, Nets, Bulls, and Pistons are currently vying for three of the play-in spots in the East and are only a few games ahead of Philadelphia in the standings.
Over in the Western Conference, the Pelicans – another team with major aspirations that has been hit hard by injuries – face a more daunting challenge, given the relative strength of their opponents in the West. As Windhorst writes, the idea of taking a “gap” year – like the 2023/24 Grizzlies and 2019/20 Warriors did when they were decimated by injuries – looks like an increasingly tempting option for the Pelicans, who control their own 2025 first-round pick.
But that’s not a consideration in New Orleans right now, sources tell ESPN. Fischer (video link) has heard the same thing and suggests that, like the Sixers, the Pelicans still plan to be an in-season buyer, not a seller, on the trade market.
It’s possible that stance will change before the February 6 deadline. According to Bontemps, rival teams believe the Pelicans have dug themselves too deep a hole in the season’s first few weeks and won’t be able to make up enough ground to be a playoff team even if and when they get healthy. If New Orleans comes to the same conclusion in a couple months, it would certainly impact how the front office approaches the trade deadline.
Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, who is in the process of changing agents, remains a player to watch, says Windhorst, citing sources who say the two sides still can’t find common ground on a contract extension. However, finding a suitor willing to give up a desirable package to acquire and extend Ingram – and with whom the forward would be comfortable signing long-term – has been an challenge, Windhorst adds.
And-Ones: Silas, Covington, Efficient Shooters, WBD, 2025 FAs
Stephen Silas was an NBA assistant for two decades from 2000-20, spending time in Charlotte, New Orleans, Cleveland, Golden State, and Dallas, establishing himself as a legitimate head coaching candidate and eventually being hired by Houston to fill that role.
However, Silas’ three-year stint with the Rockets didn’t go well. His .250 winning percentage (on a 59-177 record) is the worst in NBA history among 168 coaches with at least 200 games under their belts. His next stop wasn’t any better, as he spent the 2023/24 season as an assistant to Monty Williams on the 14-68 Pistons. Having been let go along with Williams this past offseason, Silas is coaching Team USA’s AmeriCup qualifying roster as he resets following a challenging few years.
“I’ve been enjoying the family time, and it’s important because, like, obviously my dad (former NBA player and coach Paul Silas) passed a couple years ago, and now I have a daughter who is a senior in high school, and I can actually go to the parent-teacher conferences and be there when she comes home and be there for homecoming and stuff like that,” Silas said, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “It is really cool at a time that I probably needed to have after three years in Houston, one year in Detroit which wasn’t very successful. Kind of like take a step back, enjoy the fam’, do the USA thing. It’s really cathartic for me.”
As Vardon writes, a successful stint with USA Basketball could revitalize Silas’ stock and help him earn a new NBA role in 2025. Some of his players, such as Robert Covington and Frank Kaminsky, are also viewing their time with Team USA not just as an opportunity to represent their country but as a chance to show NBA teams they’re still capable of contributing.
“This is a great opportunity just to show people that I’m healthy,” Covington said. “I’ve got four or five years left of basketball in me.”
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Mike Shearer of HoopsHype takes a look at 12 players who have significantly increased their shooting efficiency so far this season. As Shearer cautions, there’s no guarantee those players will maintain their efficiency spikes all season, but there are some interesting names on this list, including a handful who will be eligible for rookie scale extensions next summer (Christian Braun, Ochai Agbaji, and Bennedict Mathurin) and trade candidates like Nets teammates Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith.
- Warner Bros. Discovery – the parent company of TNT Sports – has been sued by investors who claim the company mischaracterized the impact that losing its NBA rights beginning in 2025 would have on its business. Winston Cho of The Hollywood Reporter has the story.
- Danny Leroux of The Athletic looks ahead to next summer and previews the top players in the NBA’s 2025 free agent class, starting with stars like LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Jimmy Butler, Brandon Ingram, and James Harden. Leroux also singles out Pacers center Myles Turner as a fascinating free agent to watch, since he has a coveted skill set for a big man and will be very much in his prime when he reaches the open market at age 29.
Southeast Notes: J. Johnson, Valanciunas, Kuzma, Heat
Fresh off signing a five-year, $150MM contract extension with the Hawks last month, Jalen Johnson has taken on an increased role so far this season, earning more touches and more play-making responsibilities, as Spencer Davies writes for RG.org.
Entering Friday’s game vs. Cleveland, Johnson was averaging 20.1 points, 10.3 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.4 steals in 36.4 minutes per game — all of those numbers are career highs. He didn’t miss a beat on Friday, contributing 20 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists in a second consecutive win over the NBA’s top-seeded Cavaliers. He was a game-high +17 in his 35 minutes of action.
“Just a guy like him to be able to play with so much confidence, drive to the basket, dunk on people, make threes, make plays for other guys,” Hawks center Clint Capela told Davies. “It’s been very high level for our team. It’s been getting our team to a different scale.”
Asked about how Johnson can continue improving, Capela suggested consistency is a crucial next step, while head coach Quin Snyder said he wants to see the fourth-year forward continue making strides on defense. The general consensus is that Johnson’s ceiling is even higher than what he has shown so far.
“He’s young, so he can get better in everything honestly,” teammate De’Andre Hunter told Davies. “He still has a lot of room to grow. I think overall he can just keep expanding his game like he has, and he’s gonna continue to reach new heights.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Jonas Valanciunas is the Wizards player who is most likely to be traded this season, league sources tell Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. Valanciunas has frequently been linked to the Lakers, who had interest in him in free agency, but L.A. won’t be the only team in the market for a big man at the trade deadline. Helin speculates that clubs like Phoenix, Indiana, and Miami could also be seeking frontcourt depth.
- Kyle Kuzma sprained a rib on Wednesday and will miss at least a couple games, according to Wizards head coach Brian Keefe, who said the veteran forward isn’t expected to suit up for Saturday’s game in Milwaukee or Tuesday’s contest in Cleveland (Twitter link via Josh Robbins of The Athletic).
- Despite both battling back issues this week, Heat swingman Jimmy Butler and forward/center Kevin Love were cleared to play on Friday vs. Toronto, as Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald tweets. Love was the first player off the bench for Miami.
2024/25 NBA Disabled Player Exceptions
A disabled player exception can be granted when an NBA team has a player go down with an injury deemed to be season-ending. The exception gives the club some additional spending flexibility to add a single-season replacement in the trade market or in free agency
We go into more detail on who qualifies for disabled player exceptions, what they’re worth, and how exactly they work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, a DPE allows a team to sign a player to a one-year contract, trade for a player in the final year of his contract, or place a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract. The exceptions are worth either half the injured player’s salary or the amount of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception (whichever amount is less).
Because the rules related to disable player exceptions are somewhat restrictive and the exceptions themselves generally aren’t worth a lot, they often expire without being used. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on which disabled player exceptions have been granted, just in case.
We’ll use this space to break down the teams with disabled player exceptions available for the 2024/25 league year, updating it as the season progresses if more teams are granted DPEs and/or to indicate which ones have been used.
Teams have until January 15 to apply for a disabled player exception and until March 10 to actually use them.
Here’s the list so far:
Available disabled player exceptions:
- Charlotte Hornets:
- $6,512,625 (Grant Williams) (story)
Williams suffered a major right knee injury on November 23, tearing his ACL, meniscus, and other connected ligaments, bringing his season to an early end.
Charlotte still has plenty of room to operate below the luxury tax line and has already used up most of its room exception, so the disabled player exception actually could come in handy for the team.
- Orlando Magic:
- $5,500,000 (Moritz Wagner)
A torn ACL abruptly ended Wagner’s season just a few days before Christmas in December. According to Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom, Orlando applied for a disabled player exception prior to the January 15 deadline and was granted one.
The Magic have the second-lowest team salary in the NBA, so they’d be in position to use this exception if an opportunity arises.
- Utah Jazz:
- $2,924,340 (Taylor Hendricks) (story)
Hendricks sustained a non-contact fractured right fibula and dislocated ankle in just the third game of his second NBA season on October 28 and underwent season-ending surgery in early November. The Jazz applied for and were granted a disabled player exception worth half of his $5.8MM+ salary.
The Jazz are operating far below the luxury tax line, giving them plenty of flexibility to potentially use this exception.
- Indiana Pacers:
- $2,217,691 (Isaiah Jackson) (story)
$1,118,846 (James Wiseman) (story)
Improbably, both Pacers backup centers sustained season-ending Achilles injuries within the first two weeks of the season, with Wiseman tearing his left Achilles tendon in Indiana’s October 23 season opener, while Jackson tore his right Achilles tendon nine days later.
Neither exception is substantial and the Pacers have other obstacles to consider as they weigh their roster options, including a relatively small gap between their team salary and the luxury tax line. That reduces the likelihood that even one of these DPEs will be used, let alone both.
- Philadelphia 76ers:
- $2,010,180 (Jared McCain)
One of the few bright spots of the Sixers’ season, McCain was the early frontrunner for Rookie of the Year before undergoing surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee. Philadelphia formally ruled McCain out for the season on January 9, allowing the team to apply for and receive a DPE, per Pincus.
- Denver Nuggets:
- $1,532,820 (DaRon Holmes) (story)
Holmes’ rookie season came to an end before it began, as he suffered a torn Achilles tendon in his very first Summer League game in July. As a rookie selected relatively late in the first round (No. 22 overall), Holmes is earning a modest first-year salary of about $3.07MM, so Denver’s disabled player exception is even more modest.
While the Nuggets’ disabled player exception probably won’t do much for them on the trade market, it could have some value in the buyout market. By late February or early March, the prorated minimum salary for a veteran free agent will be well below $1,532,820, so Denver could use their DPE to offer a top target more than the vet’s minimum in an effort to beat out rival suitors.
For now though, the Nuggets have a full 15-man roster, so it remains to be seen whether they’ll be in position to be a player on the buyout market at all.
Southwest Notes: Edey, Smart, Sochan, Rockets
Grizzlies center Zach Edey, who is out for a sixth consecutive game on Friday due to a left ankle sprain, is moving closer to a return, as Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes. Head coach Taylor Jenkins addressed the rookie’s status ahead of Friday’s matchup with New Orleans.
“With Zach, I think probably end of the week or middle of next week,” Jenkins said. “We’re starting to get him ramped up a little bit more on the court, so hopefully it’s on the shorter term.”
Jenkins clarified after the game that his reference to the “end of the week or middle of next week” was about Edey’s ramp-up process rather than his projected return date (Twitter link via Cole).
The Grizzlies are back in action on Sunday vs. Indiana before heading on the road to face Dallas on Tuesday and then returning home to host Sacramento next Thursday. Based on Jenkins’ comments, it sounds like could make it back by the end of that stretch if all goes well with his ramp-up.
This year’s No. 9 overall pick had been playing some of his best basketball prior to the injury. In his last four full games before getting hurt, he averaged 13.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks in 23.8 minutes per game off the bench, with a .581/.800/.923 shooting line and a +26.6 net rating.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Marcus Smart had his best game of the season – and one of his best outings since joining the Grizzlies – on Wednesday vs. Detroit, racking up 25 points, five assists, four rebounds, and three steals in just 20 minutes of action. As Cole details in a separate story for The Memphis Commercial Appeal, injuries have limited Smart to just 30 total appearances since he arrived in Memphis, but Wednesday’s performance was a reminder of why the Grizzlies traded for him and what he can bring to the team.
- Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan participated in 5-on-5 work on Friday, another sign that he’s close to returning from the thumb surgery that has sidelined him since November 4, tweets Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. “I think we’re going to have our full team finally in (Sacramento on Sunday) or at least in Phoenix (on Tuesday), hopefully,” point guard Tre Jones told reporters.
- Through 20 games, the Rockets hold a 14-6 record and control the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. With three days off before Sunday’s showdown with the No. 1 Thunder, head coach Ime Udoka spoke about what he’s liked from his team so far this season and areas where he still sees room for improvement. “Offensively, I think we’re doing a great job on the glass. We wanted to be No. 1 at that,” Udoka said, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). “I think our pace can improve and it has. It was a little slow early. The shooting, we wanted to become a better shooting team, and we’d have some more wins now due to that. But nobody tries to miss shots on purpose. Guys take the right ones, and we can live with the result.”
Fischer: Bulls Open To Discussing ‘Majority Of Their Roster’
The Bulls are viewed as a prime candidate to sell off veterans ahead of the February 6 trade deadline, Jake Fischer writes on Marc Stein’s Substack page.
As Fischer explains, Chicago has been fairly competitive thus far, currently holding an 8-12 record. But winning too many games could jeopardize the Bulls’ first-round pick, which will convey to San Antonio if it falls outside of the top 10 in next year’s draft (Chicago will keep the pick if it lands in the top 10).
That’s why the Bulls have been signaling to rival teams that they’re open to discussing the “majority of their roster” ahead of the February 6 trade deadline, league sources tell Fischer. Unsurprisingly, Fischer hears Zach LaVine, Nikola Vucevic and Lonzo Ball top the list of players Chicago would like to move.
The Bulls have reportedly been trying to trade LaVine for well over a year, but have yet to find a suitable deal due to his injury history and maximum-salary contract — he’ll earn a combined $89MM this season and next, with a $49MM player option for ’26/27.
The 29-year-old has been productive this season, averaging 21.6 PPG, 4.7 RPG and 4.3 APG on a sparkling .510/.434/.814 shooting line through 17 games (33.7 MPG). He has also reportedly mended fences with head coach Billy Donovan.
However, three teams who previously held some level of interest in the two-time All-Star — the Kings, Warriors and Pistons — are now considered unlikely suitors for LaVine, according to Fischer.
Here’s more on the Bulls from Fischer’s latest story:
- He doesn’t explicitly mention him by name, but Fischer strongly suggests multiple rival teams would want young players Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips included in any package for taking on LaVine’s contract.
- Vucevic, who is having the most accurate shooting season of his career from all over the court (62.5% on twos, 44.9% on threes, 86.0% on free throws), should have positive trade value. One GM told Fischer he thinks the former All-Star center could net the Bulls a couple of second-round picks. The 34-year-old is earning $20MM in ’24/25, followed by $21.5MM in ’25/26.
- Rival teams haven’t shown much interest in forward Patrick Williams, according to Fischer. Williams, who is currently sidelined with a foot injury, re-signed with Chicago as a restricted free agent over the summer, inking a five-year, $90MM deal.
- Is Josh Giddey a lock to stay in Chicago? Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported that Chicago and Giddey didn’t have any meaningful discussions about a rookie scale extension prior to October’s deadline, and Fischer hears the Bulls never even made the 22-year-old an offer. Giddey will be a restricted free agent in 2025, and his play and minutes have been inconsistent early in his Bulls tenure.
- Fischer suggests contending teams might have some interest in Jevon Carter, but I’d be shocked if he has anything but negative trade value. The veteran guard didn’t play well last season in his first campaign with Chicago, he’s only played 48 total minutes in ’24/25, and he makes $6.5MM this season, with a $6.8MM player option for ’25/26 that he’s virtually certain to exercise.