Lakers Notes: LeBron, Doncic, Reddish, Paul
LeBron James is listed as questionable for tonight’s contest as the Lakers resume their season against Charlotte, according to Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. James sat out Sunday’s All-Star Game, citing “ankle and foot discomfort.” He was able to practice on Tuesday, but the team is being careful not to aggravate his condition.
“It’s something that we managed all year and it was sore over the weekend,” coach J.J. Redick said after the practice session. “He was able to do most of practice today. But, like it’s been all year, like it’s a day-to-day thing. It’s just something that we’ve had to manage and we’ll continue to manage throughout the rest of the year.”
Lakers fans can expect to see more of Luka Doncic in his third game with L.A., Turner adds. Redick limited him to 24 and 23 minutes in his first two outings because he was returning from a calf injury, but the week off for the All-Star break has been beneficial.
“His minutes will be up (Wednesday),” Redick said. “I don’t think there is going to be any sort of restrictions going forward.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- Cam Reddish practiced on Tuesday for the first time since the trade that would have sent him to the Hornets was rescinded, tweets Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Reddish had been away from the team due to the birth of his daughter. “We talked a little bit. I know he’s in a funky situation,” Dorian Finney-Smith said. “I’ve been traded. I’ve never been part of having to come back after that. It was part of the business. I know he’s just happy it’s all over with and he can get back to playing basketball.”
- In a full story, Price identifies three trends to watch for the rest of the season: Doncic’s growing role in the offense, more reliance on small-ball lineups and the effects of lingering injuries to several players.
- Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, who represents James and Anthony Davis, is the latest NBA figure to admit that the Doncic trade caught him completely off guard, saying in an interview with Pickup Hoop (Twitter video link), “99.9% of the time, I’m going to know what’s going on. The one time I didn’t was the one time we all didn’t. … I’m glad I didn’t know because it probably wouldn’t happened if you did know.”
Mark Williams Discusses Rescinded Lakers Trade
Hornets center Mark Williams appears likely to be available on Wednesday for the first time since Charlotte agreed to trade him to the Lakers earlier this month.
Williams remained a Hornet after Los Angeles voided that trade due to concerns about the big man’s physical, but he wasn’t active for the team’s last three games before the All-Star break. He’s listed as probable to play tonight against the club that decided not to trade for him: the Lakers.
“Can’t write it any other way right?” Williams said, per Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. “NBA script. It’s just what it is.”
Ahead of his return to Charlotte’s lineup, Williams spoke about the experience of getting traded from Charlotte to L.A. and then finding out two days later that he wouldn’t be changing teams after all.
“I mean, it’s crazy,” Williams said. “Your mind has to shift from you got traded, you’ve got to go to L.A. and then you’ve got to shift back from you’re not going to L.A. So, it’s definitely different. It’s a lot on your mind and you’ve got to take what life gives and make the most of every opportunity you’ve got.”
Williams missed most of last season while recovering from a back injury and had his 2024/25 debut delayed by a foot issue, but he has appeared in 23 of the Hornets’ 28 games since he returned to action on Dec. 3, including the final three before the trade deadline. So he was surprised to learn that the trade sending him to the Lakers fell through due to concerns about his health, Boone writes.
“My agent told me,” Williams said. “I didn’t think I had failed my physical. That didn’t even cross my mind. The night I got traded I played hella minutes. I didn’t think in any world that was possible. Since I’ve been back since the start of the year, I’ve played games with a lot of minutes. I feel like every injury I’ve had has been well-documented and I’ve recovered and been 100% since.
“So, I don’t know what went into that decision. I think that’s up to them.”
While Williams is still recovering from the shock of the trade-deadline drama, he said he’s “excited” to be back with the only NBA franchise he has ever played for, and head coach Charles Lee referred to the big man’s reintegration as “seamless.”
During the time between when they agreed to trade Williams to Los Angeles and when the Lakers rescinded the deal, the Hornets traded for Jusuf Nurkic and promoted Moussa Diabate from his two-way contract to the standard roster. It has created a crowded frontcourt in Charlotte, even after last month’s trade of Nick Richards, but Williams isn’t worried about that.
“I think each one of us brings something different,” Williams said. “I don’t see that as a negative thing. I just see it as another piece of the puzzle that we are able to have. So, I think it will be just good for us.”
The Hornets aren’t in contention for a playoff spot, but Williams has a goal for the rest of the season in the wake of the aborted trade.
“I think the biggest thing for me is showing I’m healthy,” he said. “Like I said, I didn’t think there was a world (where) I’d fail a physical. So, I’m just excited to play.”
Warriors Sign Yuri Collins To 10-Day Deal
3:33 pm: Collins’ 10-day deal is now official, per NBA.com’s transaction log. Knox has officially signed as well, so Golden State is back to 14 players on standard contracts.
12:42 pm: The Warriors will fill one of their open roster spots by signing guard Yuri Collins to a 10-day contract, according to Ohm Youngmisuk and Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Collins has been a G League mainstay for the Warriors since going undrafted out of Saint Louis in 2023. The 23-year-old point guard signed Exhibit 10 contracts with Golden State during both the 2023 and 2024 offseasons and has spent his first two professional seasons in Santa Cruz with the team’s NBAGL affiliate.
In 33 outings for Santa Cruz this season, Collins has averaged 14.2 points, 9.8 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 32.0 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .429/.271/.770.
Collins will join Kevin Knox as 10-day recipients for the Warriors, who had been carrying 12 players on standard contracts and have until Thursday to officially get back up to the usual minimum of 14.
While Collins’ 10-day contract will pay him $66,503 and will carry an identical cap hit for Golden State, it will count for hard-cap purposes as if it’s a veteran-minimum deal like Knox’s, worth $119,972.
The two deals will leave the Warriors just $1,132,362 away from their hard cap, but will put the team in position to go another 14 days with just 12 players under contract in March. If Golden State goes that route, the team would have enough room under its hard cap by mid-March to fill all three of its open roster spots and carry a full 15-man squad for the rest of the season.
Warriors Sign Kevin Knox To 10-Day Contract
February 19: Knox has officially signed his 10-day contract, according to NBA.com’s transaction log. It’ll run through next Friday, covering the Warriors’ next four games.
February 14: The Warriors intend to fill one of the open spots on their roster by signing forward Kevin Knox, sources tell Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to Slater, Knox is expected to sign a 10-day contract, with the deal on track to be finalized next week coming out of the All-Star break.
The ninth overall pick in the 2018 draft, Knox has six years of NBA experience under his belt, but hasn’t been in the league since being waived by Golden State in October. He appeared in 31 games for the Pistons last season, scoring 7.2 points in 18.1 minutes per night on .462/.330/.909 shooting.
The veteran forward has spent the 2024/25 season in the G League with the Santa Cruz Warriors, averaging 21.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 32.6 minutes per game across 28 total NBAGL appearances for Golden State’s affiliate. He has posted a shooting line of .495/.389/.759.
The Warriors currently have three open spots on their 15-man roster and will have to fill two of them by February 20 in order to get back to the required minimum of 14 players on standard contracts — teams are only allowed to dip below that minimum for up to 14 consecutive days and 28 total days in a season.
However, Golden State only has about $1.37MM in wiggle room below its hard cap, so the team will be careful about how it uses that remaining room below the first apron for the rest of the season. Simply signing three players to rest-of-season contracts isn’t an option at this point due to that restriction.
A 10-day deal for Knox will carry a cap hit of $119,972. If the Warriors complete a pair of 10-day signings next Thursday, they would have the option of going another 14 days with just 12 players under contract after those two 10-day deals expire.
Injury Notes: Edwards, Knicks, Turner, Wade, Thomas, LaMelo
Sixers rookie Justin Edwards sprained his left ankle during a post-All-Star practice this week, according to Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports (Twitter link).
The injury will cost Edwards at least a couple games. According to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), the 21-year-old has been ruled out for Thursday vs. Boston and Saturday vs. Brooklyn. The plan is for him to be reevaluated early next week.
The Sixers could be shorthanded in the backcourt coming out of the All-Star break. Kyle Lowry (hip) and Eric Gordon (wrist), who each missed the last two games prior to the break, didn’t participate in practice on Tuesday, Bodner notes. Lonnie Walker‘s reported deal with the team also isn’t yet official.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Knicks center Mitchell Robinson and forward OG Anunoby both fully participated in Wednesday’s practice, which included a 5-on-5 scrimmage, per head coach Tom Thibodeau (Twitter link via Ian Begley of SNY.tv). It was the first time this season that Robinson has advanced to 5-on-5 with contact. While the big man has yet to make his season debut following offseason ankle surgery, Anunoby has been out for five games due to a right foot sprain.
- Myles Turner missed the Pacers‘ last three games before the All-Star break due to a cervical strain, but is expected to be available on Thursday vs. Memphis, writes Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.
- Cavaliers forward Dean Wade appears likely to sit out on Thursday during the first half of a back-to-back set before making his return on Friday, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Wade has been on the shelf since January 24 due to a right knee bone bruise.
- Nets guard Cam Thomas will take part in his first 5-on-5 scrimmage on Thursday since going down with a hamstring strain on January 2, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link).
- Hornets star LaMelo Ball is listed as probable to play on Wednesday vs. the Lakers (Twitter link), so it appears the right ankle sprain he sustained on February 10 wasn’t a significant one.
Grizzlies’ Kleiman: We’re Not Trading Ja Morant
As we relayed on Tuesday, Howard Beck of The Ringer said during a live episode of The Real Ones podcast over the weekend that a team executive told him it’s worth keeping an eye on Grizzlies guard Ja Morant as a possible trade candidate this offseason.
When he shared that tidbit, Beck provided plenty of caveats, making it clear he wasn’t expecting Morant to be on the move this summer. And when we passed it along, I described it as something that seemed like wishful thinking from a rival executive rather than a likely scenario.
Still, it’s gained enough traction on social media in recent days that Grizzlies head of basketball operations Zach Kleiman addressed it directly when asked for comment by Drew Hill of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link).
“I can’t blame other ‘executives’ for fantasizing about us trading Ja,” Kleiman said. “But it’s just that — fantasy. We are not trading Ja.
“Continue to underestimate Ja, this team and this city, and we will let our performance on the floor speak for itself. I’m not going to give this nonsense further oxygen and look forward to getting back to basketball.”
The Grizzlies’ roster will be getting more expensive this offseason with Jaren Jackson Jr. up for lucrative contract extension and a new deal required for restricted free agent Santi Aldama. But the team remains well positioned to retain its core of Morant, Jackson, and Desmond Bane for the long term due to a lack of significant financial commitments around them.
Memphis has especially benefited from locking up several rotation-caliber players to minimum-salary contracts that run through 2027 or 2028, with Vince Williams, Scotty Pippen Jr., GG Jackson, and Jaylen Wells among the players who fit that bill.
It’s worth noting that Morant made some poor off-court decisions earlier in his career, which resulted in a pair of suspensions (including a 25-gamer) in 2023. His production has also declined this season compared to where it was before those suspensions and a shoulder injury that cost him most of 2023/24. He’s averaging 20.7 points and 7.4 assists per game on .447/.321/.810 shooting in 32 outings in ’24/25.
Still, Morant has stayed out of trouble off the court for the last two seasons and his dip in production can be explained at least in part by the careful manner in which the Grizzlies are deploying him — his 28.8 minutes per night are a career low, and the team has a top-five offense without having to rely on its star point guard to post the kind of scoring numbers he did a few seasons ago (27.4 PPG in 2021/22; 26.2 PPG in ’22/23).
In the wake of this month’s shocking Luka Doncic trade, rival executives won’t be inclined to assume that any player is off limits. However, as Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian tweets, Morant is 25 years old, is under contract for three more years beyond this season, and is on a team that ranks second in the West at 36-18, making him the type of player a small-market team typically builds around. By all accounts, it sounds as if that’s still the plan in Memphis.
Nets Expected To Promote Tyrese Martin To Standard Contract
The Nets are expected to finalize a new standard contract with shooting guard Tyrese Martin ahead of Thursday’s game vs. Cleveland, promoting him from his two-way deal to the team’s 15-man roster, sources tell Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link).
Martin, who will turn 26 next month, has been a fixture in Brooklyn’s rotation for most of this season, averaging 7.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 21.0 minutes per game across 36 contests (six starts). He has a shooting line of .391/.338/.719.
Although he has only made 36 appearances, Martin has been active for 50 of the Nets’ 54 games so far this season, reaching the limit for a player on a two-way contract. That means in order to play in any more games for Brooklyn during the season’s final two months, the former second-round pick will need to be elevated to the standard roster.
The Nets have had an open spot on their 15-man roster since buying out Ben Simmons shortly after this month’s trade deadline, so no corresponding move will be necessary in order to accommodate Martin’s promotion.
While the exact terms of the agreement aren’t known, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) reports that Martin will sign a multiyear contract. Brooklyn could dip into its mid-level exception if it wants to offer a deal longer than two years.
Once the promotion is official, the Nets will have a full 15-man roster but will open up a two-way slot. The deadline for teams to sign players to two-way contracts is March 4.
Raptors Sign Jared Rhoden To 10-Day Contract
The Raptors have filled the open spot on their 15-man roster by signing guard Jared Rhoden to a 10-day contract, the team announced today in a press release.
Rhoden, 25, was in camp with Toronto back in the fall. When the Raptors waived him at the end of the preseason, he was claimed by the Hornets, who converted him to a two-way deal and kept him him on their roster for about six weeks before cutting him in early December.
After appearing in four games for the Hornets and two for their G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, Rhoden has been suiting up for the Raptors 905 since the start of the NBAGL regular season in late December.
The former Seton Hall standout has averaged 15.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.1 steals in 29.4 minutes per game across 18 appearances for Toronto’s G League affiliate. He has knocked down down 50.7% of his shots from the floor, including 41.9% of his three-pointers.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors’ 10-Day Contract Tracker]
Rhoden, who also has previous NBA experience for Detroit, will earn $119,972 on his 10-day deal, while the Raptors will carry an identical cap hit. The contract will run through next Friday (Feb. 28), covering the club’s first five games out of the All-Star break. Once it expires, the Raptors will have the ability to sign Rhoden to a second 10-day deal if they choose.
Toronto had been carrying an open spot on its 15-man roster since waiving James Wiseman on Feb. 7.
Raptors’ Ulrich Chomche Out For Season With MCL Injury
Raptors center Ulrich Chomche will miss the rest of the season, the team announced today in a press release.
According to the Raptors, Chomche has been diagnosed with a partial proximal MCL tear after injuring his right knee in the third quarter of a G League game last Thursday. He’ll rehab the injury in the hopes of being ready for Summer League in July, per the club.
The 57th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Chomche signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Raptors and entered the season as the youngest player on any NBA roster. The big man, who turned 19 in December, has logged just 32 total minutes across seven NBA games for Toronto, having spent the majority of his rookie year with the Raptors 905 in the G League.
In 33 total outings for the 905, Chomche has averaged 7.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks in 23.8 minutes per game.
Since they used a draft pick on him and signed him to a two-year deal, the Raptors may simply keep Chomche under contract during his recovery in the hopes that he’ll continue developing this summer and warrant a two-way slot again in 2025/26. Still, it’s worth noting that the deadline to sign two-way contracts is March 4, so if Toronto wants to replace him for the home stretch of this season, it would have to be done by that date.
Nets’ Bojan Bogdanovic To Undergo Season-Ending Foot Surgery
Nets forward Bojan Bogdanovic will undergo surgery on his foot, bringing his season to an end, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Bogdanovic has yet to play a game in 2024/25 after undergoing surgeries on his left foot and his left wrist last spring. He told reporters ahead of training camp in the fall that his wrist had healed but that his recovery from the procedure on his foot required more time.
While Charania doesn’t explicitly say which foot this latest procedure will address, his wording suggests that it will be that left one again, an indication that it didn’t heal as hoped following the initial surgery.
Bogdanovic, who will turn 36 in April, has enjoyed a long, productive NBA career, averaging 15.6 points per game on .460/.394/.859 shooting in 719 regular season games for the Nets, Wizards, Pacers, Jazz, Pistons, and Knicks since 2014.
If he had gotten healthy, the 6’7″ forward – who is on an expiring $19MM contract – would have been viewed as a potential buyout candidate for a lottery-bound Nets team. We can cross his name off that list now though, and it’s increasingly unclear whether he’ll even make it back to the NBA, given his age and his ongoing health issues.
The Nets already have one open spot on their 15-man roster, so there’s no need to make a move with Bogdanovic at this point, but if they do need to create a second opening on the roster before the end of the season, he’s an obvious choice to be waived.