Virginia Hires Malcolm Brogdon As Strategic Advisor
Former NBA guard Malcolm Brogdon has accepted a position at his alma mater, the University of Virginia. The school announced today in a press release that Brogdon will serve as a strategic advisor for Virginia’s men’s basketball program.
Head coach Ryan Odom made the announcement, stating that the team is “thrilled” to welcome back the former All-American and ACC Player of the Year in the newly created role.
“I am honored to be a part of this new era of UVA basketball,” Brogdon said. “I know this is a new role, but I see myself jumping right in and being a resource for the players, coaches, and the entire basketball program. I’m excited to return to a place I consider home in what I’m sure will be a meaningful experience for myself and the program.”
It has become increasingly common in the past year or two for NBA players to accept jobs with their former colleges. For instance, Stephen Curry was named the assistant GM at Davidson, Trae Young became the assistant GM at Oklahoma, Terance Mann joined Florida State as the Seminoles’ assistant GM, and Patty Mills was hired by the University of Hawai’i as their GM.
In most of those cases, the players’ new roles represented part-time positions, since they continue competing in the NBA or in Europe. However, that’s not the case for Brogdon, who announced his retirement as a player last October after spending training camp and the preseason with the Knicks. While it remains to be seen just how hands-on and full-time his new job will be, he should have plenty of time to dedicate to it.
A four-year standout at Virginia, Brogdon was a consensus second-team All-American in 2015 and a consensus first-teamer in 2016. He was named the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year in both seasons and earned the conference’s Player of the Year award in 2016. His jersey (No. 15) was later retired by the Cavaliers.
Brogdon fell to the second round of the 2016 draft (No. 36 overall) due to medical red flags, but was the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 2017 with the Bucks and won a Sixth Man of the Year award with the Celtics in 2023. The veteran guard, who turned 33 in December, spent three seasons in Milwaukee and three in Indiana before playing one year apiece in Boston, Portland, and Washington.
A reliable contributor on both ends of the court who battled injuries over the course of a nine-year NBA career, Brogdon had averages of 15.3 points, 4.7 assists, and 4.1 rebounds in 29.1 minutes per game across 463 total regular season outings, with a shooting line of .463/.388/.874. He also served as a vice president on the NBPA’s executive committee from 2019-25.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Northwest Division
For the rest of the regular season and postseason, Hoops Rumors is taking a closer look at players who will be free agents - or could become free agents - during the 2026 offseason. We'll consider whether each player's stock is rising or falling due to his performance and several other factors.
Today, we’re focusing on a handful of players in the Northwest Division, starting with the defending champions.
Southwest Notes: Marshall, Mavs, Middleton, Coward, Eason
Although the Mavericks have been eliminated from postseason contention, the final stretch of the season remains important for several players looking to secure their next contracts. As Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal details, forward Naji Marshall falls into that group — he has earned praise recently from head coach Jason Kidd as he looks to put the finishing touches on a career year before he becomes extension-eligible this offseason.
Marshall’s scoring average of 15.5 points per game would be a new career high, as would his field goal percentage of 51.6%. The 28-year-old wing has also contributed 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per night through 71 appearances and has played 2,108 total minutes, second on the roster only to Cooper Flagg (2,132).
As of July 6, Marshall will become eligible for a contract extension that could cover up to four years and could be worth up to 140% of the league’s estimated average salary. That figure won’t be officially set until the start of the new league year, but based on early projections, Marshall would be eligible for a maximum of roughly $92MM on a four-year extension.
We have more from around the Southwest:
- The Mavericks haven’t hired a search firm to assist or guide them in their search for a new permanent head of basketball operations, league sources tell Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link). The expectation is that Dallas will name Nico Harrison‘s full-time replacement sometime between the end of the regular season and June’s draft, with current co-interim GMs Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi among the candidates. According to Stein, regardless of who ultimately gets the job, there appears to be growing interest throughout the organization in retaining veteran forward Khris Middleton beyond this season.
- It has been a pretty forgettable year in Memphis, where the 25-50 Grizzlies have been decimated by injuries and traded away former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. at February’s deadline. But the development of 2025 lottery pick Cedric Coward has been a silver lining, according to Jonah Dylan of The Memphis Commercial Appeal, who notes that the rookie forward has taken on more of a primary offensive role due to the club’s health issues. “Right now, when you look at our roster, he’s a featured guy and teams may put a lot more emphasis on stopping him,” head coach Tuomas Iisalo said after Coward scored 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting in a Saturday win over Chicago. “And I think he’s done a great job letting the game come to him.”
- After struggling mightily for several weeks, Rockets forward Tari Eason scored 16 points on Friday and 15 on Sunday, marking his two highest-scoring performances since the All-Star break. As William Guillory of The Athletic writes, Eason credited his breakthrough to a Thursday meeting in which his teammates made a point to emphasize his importance to the team’s identity. “It felt like it was pretty centered around me,” Eason said of that meeting. “It wasn’t directly pointing at me negatively. It was more so positive. It was more so affirmations. It was more so everybody kind of trying to lift me up. … Everybody just being there for me and embracing me was important.” Eason will be eligible for restricted free agency this summer.
Masai Ujiri Joins Toronto Tempo Ownership Group, Eyes Potential NBA Return
Longtime NBA front office executive Masai Ujiri has joined the ownership group of the Toronto Tempo, the WNBA expansion team announced today (via Twitter), referring to the former Raptors president as a “principal owner.”
“I think women’s sports is growing in an incredible way,” Ujiri told Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. “You see it in the WNBA, in soccer, in hockey, and to bring a brand like this for the first time to a city that I know, a beautiful city that’s passionate, that I believe in — I think this will really resonate. Ownership is a unique opportunity for me and my family.”
Ujiri, who was hired to run the Raptors’ front office in the spring of 2013, remained in that role until last summer, when the team abruptly parted ways with him in late June, just ahead of the free agent period. Changes within the Raptors’ ownership group were cited as one key reason for the split; the club had also missed the playoffs in four of the past five seasons at the time of Ujiri’s exit.
According to Shelburne, Ujiri has spent the past year spending more time with his family and focusing on non-NBA pursuits, including his work with Giants of Africa, the United Nations, and the Zaria Group, a development company aiming to build sports and entertainment infrastructure in Africa.
However, that doesn’t mean the NBA has been completely off Ujiri’s radar. As Shelburne details, the veteran executive has remained in touch with several coaches, execs, and owners from around the league, as well as former Raptors players, and remains open to the idea of returning to the NBA if the right opportunity arises.
“I’ve been learning more about our game, the NBA, looking at trends and what we might be missing by studying other leagues,” Ujiri told ESPN. “I spend a lot of my time trying to do that because one of my main goals is to win another championship. I want to win with the Tempo and I want to win another NBA championship because I wasn’t able to celebrate and be happy because of that police incident that happened to me. … There’s a hunger in me because of what happened. I want to win again so I can actually enjoy it.”
Ujiri’s comment is a reference to an incident that took place during the closing seconds of the Raptors’ Game 6 win of the 2019 NBA Finals in Golden State. A security guard at Oracle Arena prevented him from coming onto the court to celebrate the team’s championship because he didn’t show the proper credentials, which resulted in a brief shoving match.
The security guard, a San Francisco-area sheriff’s deputy, sued Ujiri for assault, while the Raptors exec filed a countersuit, alleging racial bias and contending that footage of the altercation showed that the deputy was “undeniably the initial aggressor.” Both suits were eventually dropped, but the saga understandably put a damper on what should have been the high point of Ujiri’s professional career.
With the Tempo, Ujiri will be part of an ownership group led by Larry Tanenbaum, his former partner with the Raptors. Tanenbaum has been the governor of the NBA team since 1998, but is obligated to begin selling his 20% stake in the Raptors this year.
As for a possible NBA return for Ujiri, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca notes (via Twitter) that it may not be long before expansion franchises in Seattle and Las Vegas enter the league and begin building their respective front offices. Lewenberg suggests he wouldn’t be shocked if Ujiri ends up running the basketball operations department for one of those teams.
Dillon Brooks To Return Tuesday For Suns
Suns forward Dillon Brooks will return to action on Tuesday in Orlando, tweets Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.
The news doesn’t come as a surprise, as a report last week indicated that Brooks was expected to return early in Phoenix’s road trip, which began with a win in Memphis on Monday. Still, it’s certainly a welcome development for the Suns.
Brooks has been sidelined since February 21, when he broke his left hand in a game against the Magic. He’ll make his return for Phoenix’s second and final matchup with Orlando this season.
The 30-year-old wing has appeared in 50 games in his first season as a Sun, averaging a career-high 20.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steal per night on .440/.343/.856 shooting splits. He was projected to miss between four and six weeks following surgery, and will be back in just over five.
Brooks and Mark Williams (left foot stress reaction) went through a 5-on-5 practice on Saturday for the first time since they sustained their respective injuries. They went through another 5-on-5 session on Monday, Rankin reports in a full story.
“We got out of it alright,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said before Monday’s game. “Now you just got to see how it responds the day after. … They’ve both taken steps. They’re just ready to play. We’re ready to have them.”
Last week’s report from John Gambadoro indicated that Williams, who has been out since March 3, was likely to return later in the road trip. The Suns play at Charlotte on Thursday and in Chicago on Sunday.
Grayson Allen (left knee injury management) was also unavailable on Monday, though Ott suggested the team was just being cautious with the veteran shooting guard on the front end of a back-to-back. Haywood Highsmith (right knee injury management) and Amir Coffey (left ankle sprain) remained sidelined as well; it was Highsmith’s sixth consecutive absence and Coffey’s fifth.
Latest On NBA Europe
Final bids for the NBA’s proposed European league, known as NBA Europe, are due at the end of March. But it certainly sounds like the NBA doesn’t want to be in direct competition with the EuroLeague, whose new CEO, Chus Bueno, previously worked for the NBA.
Bueno spent 12 years with the NBA as vice president of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The veteran executive also held the title of managing director of NBA Spain.
The NBA, FIBA and the EuroLeague are expected to have a meeting in the next few days about a possible joint venture involving NBA Europe that could feature 24 teams, sources tell Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.net.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last Wednesday that the ideal outcome would be for the NBA and the EuroLeague to work together, specifically mentioning his relationship with Bueno. Marc Stein of The Stein Line reported on Sunday that Bueno becoming EuroLeague CEO has led to optimism that the leagues might be able to collaborate, and Barkas has heard the same.
“Chus used to be a colleague of mine at the NBA for many years. I think for the better of European basketball, the best outcome would be if we come together with the EuroLeague,” Silver said, per Stefan Acevski of Eurohoops. “And that we came up with a systematic approach to growing the game throughout Europe. And that means complementing the country leagues, working together with the EuroLeague, and with FIBA.”
For his part, Bueno recently suggested the EuroLeague would be open to exploring that scenario, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops relays.
According to Barkas’ sources, EuroLeague powerhouses Real Madrid and Fenerbahce are “very close” to signing new 10-year licenses, with the timing seeming to mirror the upcoming talks between the NBA, FIBA and the EuroLeague.
There’s a good deal of interest in NBA Europe, Barkas reports, with many of the bidders coming from the United States. However, “nobody is willing to pay a $500M fee to enter the new league,” Barkas writes.
Knicks Clinch Eastern Conference Playoff Spot
The Knicks became the third Eastern Conference team to secure a playoff spot when Philadelphia lost at Miami on Monday, per the NBA (Twitter link).
Detroit, the No. 1 seed, was the first Eastern team to clinch a top-six spot following a March 20 win over Golden State. The Celtics, the No. 2 seed, followed suit by securing their own playoff berth with Sunday’s victory at Charlotte.
Regardless of what happens the rest of the regular season, New York can finish no worse than sixth in the conference. The team is currently 48-27, the third seed in the East.
Boston lost to Atlanta on Monday, so the Knicks are now two games back of the Celtics. New York is 1.5 games ahead of No. 4 Cleveland and will almost certainly finish as a top-four seed.
The Knicks largely ran back the same roster that made the Eastern Conference finals in 2025 for the first time in 25 years. They did fire their head coach though, replacing Tom Thibodeau with Mike Brown.
Owner James Dolan said in early January that the team’s goal for this season was to, at minimum, make the NBA Finals. We’ll see how the Knicks perform the rest of 2025/26, but they’ve secured the first step toward that goal.
Cuban Says He Regrets Selling Mavs to Adelson, Dumont
In an appearance on the Intersections podcast (Instagram video link), former Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban said he doesn’t regret selling the team in December 2023 — but he does regret the buyers he chose, as Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News relays.
“I don’t regret selling. I regret who I sold to,” Cuban said in a teaser clip released Monday. “I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Cuban sold the majority of his shares in the team to Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law, Las Vegas Sands CEO Patrick Dumont. Dumont has been the Mavericks’ governor since the sale was completed.
Cuban, who still controls a 27% stake in the Mavs, said when the sale was announced that he would still be the team’s top basketball decision-maker, but it turned out he had no contractual grounds for that role.
As Christian Clark of The Athletic notes, it was evident in February 2025 that Cuban’s influence in the organization had waned considerably when Dumont signed off on the decision to trade Luka Doncic. Former general manager Nico Harrison, who was hired by Cuban and was dismissed by Dumont in November, reportedly led those negotiations.
Cuban still attends the majority of Dallas’ home games, according to Clark. The Mavericks are currently 24-50, the sixth-worst record in the NBA.
Cuban told hosts Tom Leppert and Kyle Waldrep he sold the Mavs because “it’s a big emotional commitment” and he didn’t want his children to be involved with the team.
“You hear the passion and everything,” Cuban said. “Now imagine going up and down like that every single game. That’s hard.
“… My kids, they were coming of age where they would be of the mindset (that) maybe they want to work at the Mavs, and I didn’t want that for them. … If fans don’t like what you’re doing or the team’s not doing well, you’re the worst human being on the planet, and they treat you that way.”
Doc Rivers To Be Inducted Into Hall Of Fame
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers will be among the Hall of Fame inductees for the class of 2026, a person familiar with the matter told Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. The full class will be revealed this Saturday, April 4.
Rivers, who was named a North American committee finalist last month, has compiled the sixth-most wins in NBA history across his 27 seasons as a head coach. The 64-year-old holds a career regular season record of 1191-861, for a .580 win-loss percentage.
Rivers’ teams have made the playoffs in 21 of his 27 seasons, including the longtime coach’s lone championship with Boston in 2008. He also led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in 2010, when they lost to the Lakers in seven games.
Aside from those two deep postseason runs, Rivers’ playoff results have been pretty mixed. Despite having a ton of regular season success with the Clippers and Sixers from 2013-23, none of those clubs advanced past the second round.
The only other team Rivers coached that reached a conference final was Boston in 2012. He holds a career playoff record of 104-102 (.504 win percentage).
Milwaukee was eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday for the first time since 2016.
A native of Illinois, Rivers also played 13 years in the league (from 1983-96). He was named an All-Star with Atlanta, with whom he spent his first eight seasons, in 1988.
Townsend’s story is largely centered on former Mavericks head coach Dick Motta, whose family was told on Monday that he won’t be inducted this year. It was the third time the 94-year-old has been a finalist but the first time since 2012, Townsend notes.
Motta, who had two different stints with Dallas, also coached the Bulls, Bullets (now Wizards), Kings and Nuggets. He holds a career regular season mark of 935-1017 (.479) and a playoff record of 57-70 (.444).
As Townsend writes, Motta is 14th on NBA’s all-time win list, and of the coaches in the top 15, only Rivers, Motta and Pacers coach Rick Carlisle aren’t in the Hall of Fame. Obviously that will change for Rivers later this year.
Motto also coached junior high, high school, junior college and major college basketball, according to Townsend, who points out that the Utah native led the Washington Bullets to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 1978 and ’79. The Bullets won the championship in ’78.
Bulls Waive Jaden Ivey
5:03 pm: The Bulls just put out a press release confirming they have waived Ivey for conduct detrimental to the team.
4:30 pm: The Bulls have waived Jaden Ivey, according to the official transaction log at NBA.com (hat tip to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line).
According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), Chicago decided to release Ivey due to his recent “anti-LGBTQ comments amid several rants on religion and other topics.”
Ivey has made a string of recent “inflammatory comments” on Instagram Live over the last week, writes Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic. Monday’s comments about the NBA’s advocacy for the LGBTQ community was reportedly the final straw for the Bulls.
“The world can proclaim LGBTQ, right?” Ivey told viewers on Monday morning. “They proclaim Pride Month. And the NBA, they proclaim it. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month, to celebrate unrighteousness.’ They proclaim it on the billboards. They proclaim it in the streets. Unrighteousness.”
Ivey has also been condemning those he thinks haven’t been “saved,” per Joel Cowley of The Chicago-Sun Times, who first reported that the team was working with the league “on an exit strategy” from the 24-year-old.
Ivey only made four appearances with the Bulls due to a left knee injury the team later called patellofemoral pain syndrome, also known as runner’s knee. He was shut down for the rest of the season last Thursday.
As Cowley notes, the former Purdue star made some unprompted comments that raised eyebrows around the league about two weeks after he was acquired from Detroit ahead of the February trade deadline. Ivey repeatedly referenced his faith at the time and declared that he doesn’t “really trust the NBA setting.”
Asked on February 19 if there were still health-related steps to take before he regains his former athleticism, Ivey replied, “I’m sure people can call it out — I’m not the same player I used to be,” he said. “(The knee soreness is) why. I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”
According to ESPN, Ivey has talked in the past about battling depression.
The fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft, Ivey was having a career year for the Pistons in 2024/25, averaging 17.6 points and 4.0 assists per game with a .460/.409/.733 shooting line, before he suffered a broken fibula in his left leg that ended his season. His return in the fall was delayed after he underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee.
Ivey lacked his previous explosiveness in 37 games for Detroit and Chicago this season, registering averages of 8.5 PPG and 1.8 APG on .445/.373/.809 shooting in a reduced role (18.1 MPG).
Ivey would have been on track for restricted free agency this summer if he had received a qualifying offer, but that will no longer be the case. He will be unrestricted in a couple days if he clears the waiver wire.