Nets Notes: Dëmin, Thunder Loss, Clowney
Nets guard Egor Dëmin underwent a successful non-surgical procedure help with the plantar fasciitis in his left foot, though neither he nor head coach Jordi Fernandez specified what type of procedure the Russian rookie received, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
“Everything went well, and now it’s just the process of rehab and getting back on the court as soon as the season ends, as we planned,” Dëmin said in his first comments since being shut down for the season. “Hopefully everything’s going to go in the right direction and I’ll be able to get back to work as soon as I can.”
Dëmin said the foot injury, which he originally sustained last offseason, had been bothering him more and more as 2025/26 went on, Lewis writes. The 2025 lottery pick is looking forward to being fully healthy ahead of summer league.
“Yeah, I’m taking this … I don’t want to say time off, but this time being off the court with a positive approach where I’ve really tried to take advantage of it, where I can have more time in the lifting room without worrying about being sore and not being able to play the same as I could,” Dëmin said. “So I’m just trying to kill as much as I can right now [since] it’s not going to affect my game because I’m not playing.
“So there’s a lot of advantage from not playing, even though I really like basketball and I’d prefer to be [playing]. But everything is happening for a reason and I believe in it, and I’m trying to be intentional with whatever I have in front of me.”
Here’s more on the Nets:
- The Nets had a historically awful first half on Wednesday against the defending champion Thunder, per Lewis. They only managed 24 points, the lowest-scoring half in franchise history, and trailed by 36 at the break. “Obviously you feel embarrassed when you score 24 points in a half of basketball,” said Fernandez. “And I do believe, no doubt in my mind, our guys are better than this. But it’s not about what I believe; it’s about going out there and doing it.” Brooklyn had 68 points in the second half but still lost by 31.
- Third-year forward Noah Clowney was forced out of Wednesday’s game in the fourth quarter due to a right wrist issue, but he told Lewis the injury isn’t serious and he should be OK. “Yeah, we have to take a look and see what’s there, and obviously prioritize his body and his health,” Fernandez said. “That’s the most important thing, especially now with 13 games to go. And hopefully he’s fine.”
- In case you missed, leading scorer Michael Porter Jr. may have played his last game of 2025/26 after being diagnosed with a left hamstring strain. He’ll be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks.
Spurs Clinch Playoff Spot
The Spurs became the second NBA team to clinch a playoff spot after pulling off a comeback victory over Phoenix on Thursday.
Victor Wembanyama, who had game highs of 34 points and 12 rebounds in 35 minutes, converted a game-winning fadeaway jump shot with 1.1 seconds remaining to put San Antonio up one (Twitter video link via the NBA). The Suns didn’t have a timeout to advance the ball, and Devin Booker missed a heave from beyond half court as time expired.
The Spurs, who have the second-best record in the league and are currently the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, improved to 52-18 with the win, while the No. 7 Suns dropped to 39-31. Phoenix is now 13 games behind San Antonio with only 12 games remaining, so there’s no way for the Suns to make up the deficit.
This will be the first playoff appearance for the Spurs since 2019, when they were eliminated in a seven-game first-round series against Denver. No one from that roster is on the current iteration of the team.
The Spurs had a strong start to the season, going 23-7 over their first 30 games. They had a brief lull in the middle of the season, compiling a 9-9 record from December 27 through January 31, but have been on fire ever since, reeling off 20 wins in their past 22 games.
San Antonio trails Oklahoma City, the only other team to secure a playoff berth, by three games for the top seed in the West.
Pistons Notes: Cunningham, Duren, Bickerstaff, Thompson
The Pistons were dealt a major blow on Thursday when Cade Cunningham was diagnosed with a collapsed lung. However, there was some relief in Detroit that the star guard didn’t sustain a broken rib, Vincent Goodwill of ESPN said on NBA Today (Twitter video link).
According to Goodwill, Cunningham appears likely to miss the remainder of the regular season, but the team is hopeful its best player will recover from the ailment in time for Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, which will begin on April 18.
When the Pistons announced Cunningham’s injury, they said he’d be reevaluated in two weeks. Goodwill hears they’re optimistic Cunningham’s lung will have healed by that point, and then he’ll ideally begin doing non-contact work for a week, followed by a week (or more) of contact work ahead of the playoffs.
“It’s tough. Tough for Cade to go through what he’s going through now,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said prior to Thursday’s game at Washington (Twitter link via Hunter Patterson of The Athletic). “ … He’s a huge part of what we do from a leadership standpoint. The talent’s there, but being around him every single day makes people’s days better. We’ll miss that.”
We have more on the Pistons:
- Bickerstaff said before the game that Detroit will be playing through All-Star center Jalen Duren more often with Cunningham sidelined, per Patterson (Twitter link). “That’s what it’s going to be,” Bickerstaff said. “The ball is going to be in his hands a ton, and he has the ability. It’s been great to see his growth overall as a connector. … He’s a guy we’ll play through.” Duren had a strong performance against the tanking Wizards, recording 24 points, 11 rebounds and two steals in 25 minutes in the 22-point victory.
- The Pistons collected their 50th win of the season on Thursday. It’s the first time they’ve won 50-plus games since 2007/08, when they went 59-23, the team noted (via Twitter). Detroit now has a four-game lead over Boston for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
- In his third game back from a right ankle sprain, third-year wing Ausar Thompson finished with 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal in 22 minutes. The team’s top perimeter defender discussed Cunningham’s absence after the win, as Patterson tweets. “We play with him in our mind,” Thompson said. “How hard he goes every day, his energy, we’ve got to step up as a collective and bring that. … When he comes back we’re going to be very excited and ready for him to step in and do what he does.“
Injury Notes: Mitchell, Hart, Edwards, Isaac, Carter
Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell was downgraded from questionable to out ahead of Thursday’s matchup at Chicago, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. The 6’2″ combo guard is dealing with a left eye contusion and said his vision was obstructed after Tuesday’s win in Milwaukee, per Fedor (Twitter link).
“Can’t really see out of my left eye,” Mitchell said. “It was tough — tonight. It is what it is. I was still able to get to the free throw line. Was still able to make plays. My biggest thing was like, I may not have it scoring wise, but what else am I doing to help?”
Second-year wing Jaylon Tyson got the starting nod for Cleveland on Thursday with Mitchell sidelined.
Here are few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Knicks guard/forward Josh Hart has been ruled out of Friday’s game at Brooklyn due to patellofemoral pain syndrome in his right knee, according to Steve Popper of Newsday (Twitter link). As Jared Schwartz of The New York Post notes (via Twitter), Hart missed a couple of games last week because of knee soreness, but that was to his left knee, not his right. Patellofemoral pain syndrome, also known as runner’s knee, is the same issue which has prevented Stephen Curry from playing for several weeks, though there’s no indication Hart’s injury is that severe.
- Hart and Curry aren’t the only NBA players battling runner’s knee. The Timberwolves announced today (via Twitter) that Anthony Edwards, who is out one-to-two weeks due to right knee inflammation, also has patellafemoral pain syndrome in that same knee. The updated diagnosis won’t impact the star guard’s projected return timeline, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune (Twitter link).
- The Magic were shorthanded in the frontcourt for Thursday’s game at Charlotte, as Wendell Carter Jr. (bruised left rib) and Jonathan Isaac (left knee sprain) were both ruled out, tweets Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. As Beede writes in a full story, Isaac was relieved his knee injury, which he suffered last Thursday, wasn’t more serious. The 28-year-old previously missed two-and-a-half seasons with a torn ACL in the same knee. “It sucked,” Isaac said Tuesday. “It was tough. Based on what I felt, it was like an ‘Oh man, not again’ type of moment. So, I kind of just tried to manage my expectations when I (was) hearing from the doctor, but gratefully, they said it’s just a sprain, and that’ll be something I can come back from this season.” Isaac’s return isn’t imminent, Beede adds — the veteran big man won’t start ramping up his activity until next week. “I’m really glad it wasn’t something worse,” Isaac said. “So, I just have to manage this sprain and get better. Just wait until it calms down a little bit with the inflammation and the pain, and then slowly work back.”
Pacers Notes: Slawson, Zubac, Haliburton, Bell
The Pacers have been impressed by Jalen Slawson since he signed a two-way contract at the end of last month, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscriber link). The former second-round pick had a big game on Wednesday, recording 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks in 37 minutes, and helped spark a fourth-quarter comeback that came up short.
“His energy and effort is really, really amazing,” center Ivica Zubac said. “That’s one of the starting things you have to have when you’re getting your chance just to get on the floor. You have to show energy, make effort plays.
“He’s blocking shots. He’s rebounding. He’s making the right reads, cutting to the right spots, taking open shots, taking good shots. He doesn’t really force it. He’s been great, defending his tail off. He’s been doing everything we want him to do and playing with a lot of energy and force. We all gotta play like that.”
Head coach Rick Carlisle also praised Slawson’s defensive activity, and noted that the 26-year-old forward has grown increasingly comfortable on the other end as well.
“He’s making better reads the more he plays,” Carlisle said. “You can see he has good feel. He can drive it. He’s got ball skills. He can throw late lobs and see things. Guys that can do a lot of different things like that sometimes are challenged with decisiveness, but he’s becoming more decisive the more he plays. … We all like what we see.”
Here’s more on the Pacers:
- Zubac was forced out of Wednesday’s loss in the fourth quarter after being elbowed in the head by Donovan Clingan when the Blazers big man was trying to dunk a lob (Twitter video link). As Dopirak writes in another subscriber-only story, Zubac had a sizeable lump on the right side of his head in the locker room, but he said he wasn’t experiencing headaches and didn’t have to enter the concussion protocol. “It’s not like that,” Zubac said. “I just got popped in the head and it swelled up, but no headaches or anything. I feel good.“
- In an interview with DJ Siddiqi of Casino.org, star point guard Tyrese Haliburton discussed his rehab from a torn Achilles tendon, his confidence in the team’s ability to bounce back next season, and more. Haliburton said he doesn’t have any specific goals for 2026/27. “None that I’ve thought through yet,” he said. “For me, it’s just about coming back and being the best version of myself. As far as giving myself an objective or anything, I haven’t really thought about it. Obviously I want to get exactly back to where I was and beyond. And win a championship of course. I just really want to get back to full health and get back to attacking every day as hard as I can being away from the court.”
- Indiana’s G League affiliate, the Noblesville Boom, has officially reacquired ex-NBA big man Jordan Bell, tweets Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. As Agness notes, the Boom already held Bell’s returning player rights — he was on the roster in ’24/25 prior to suffering a season-ending left knee injury that required surgery.
Warriors Notes: Porzingis, Kerr, Curry, Melton, Moody, More
Veteran big man Kristaps Porzingis has begun to show in recent games why the Warriors traded for him ahead of last month’s deadline, writes Nick Friedell of The Athletic. After missing six consecutive games due to an illness, Porzingis has played five of the past seven contests, averaging 17.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.2 blocks and 1.2 steals in just 22.8 minutes per game.
“Now I’m healthy, and now I’m actually feeling good,” Porzingis said. “I’m getting a real good feeling about basketball again, which is the most important. Because everything else kind of goes into second place when you’re not feeling perfect. It’s just natural I think to feel that way, and now when I’m actually getting my legs back, getting into good shape, it’s a good reminder why I love this. Just enjoying playing again.”
According to Friedell, Porzingis reiterated after Wednesday’s loss to Boston that he’s still working his way back into shape and is only at about 60 percent of his peak level of performance, but he has been consistently encouraged by the progress he’s made after each passing game.
“I think I’m already now where I can contribute decently,” Porzingis said. “But I think like four or five more games — I know I said that three games ago, but four or five more games, and then I feel like I’ll really be close and pretty good shape. Obviously, in the season it’s not ideal, but my overall feel, I see the trajectory now. So, for me, I’m kinda convinced that I’m headed in the right direction.”
For his part, head coach Steve Kerr could envision a scenario in which Porzingis stays with Golden State long term, per Dan Dempster of NBC Sports Bay Area. Kerr made the comments on 95.7 FM’s Willard and Dibs show on Tuesday.
“I think the whole point in trading for him a couple weeks back was that we get the end of this season to make a run to see what he can do, see what we can do with him and pair him with Steph (Curry),” Kerr explained. “And he’s an unrestricted free agent after this season, but he’s our guy, and we get to show him what we have to offer him. We get to know each other.
“I think ideally, for everybody, he would re-sign and come back healthy and be an important player for us for many years.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Porzingis also reiterated his desire to play with Curry, as Florito Maniego of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. “Oh man, this is the GOAT, you know what I mean,” Porzingis said after Monday’s win over Washington. “To play with somebody like that, it’s going to be unbelievable. Obviously, from playing against him, I know what type of a player he is. And (with) the gravity he brings, it just opens everything up for everybody else. So, hopefully he will be back with us soon.” Curry continues to be sidelined by a right knee injury, though there’s reportedly “cautious optimism” that the two-time MVP will be able to return this month.
- De’Anthony Melton is another potential free agent — he holds a minimum-salary player option for next season. The 27-year-old guard said he tries to stay present in the moment, given the back and knee injuries he’s dealt with in recent years, but he recently expressed on Willard and Dibs that he could see himself re-signing with Golden State. “I mean, of course. Of course,” Melton said (story via Tristi Rodriguez of NBC Sports Bay Area). “I feel like I’ve expressed countless times how much I love Golden State, from the medical staff to the actual staff to the front office to the players that have been here. So I think that love is definitely out there. But at the end of the day, I just take it day by day and see how it goes.”
- After the Warriors lost for the sixth time in seven games on Wednesday, Kerr acknowledged the team is essentially locked into the play-in tournament, writes Anthony Slater of ESPN. The Warriors have fallen to the No. 10 seed in the West, but they’re trying to get back up to No. 8 for an easier path to the playoffs. “We’ve had our eyes on six for a while,” Kerr said. “That’s out of the question now. We’re not getting there. If we can string together some wins, try to get to eighth, that’d be ideal. Get two cracks at (getting in the playoffs). But we’re not getting to seven. We know that.”
- Kerr previously expressed optimism that Moses Moody would return to action during the team’s ongoing road trip, but he sounded skeptical about that possibility on Wednesday, Friedell tweets. There’s no official timeline for Moody’s return — he has missed the last eight games due to a right wrist sprain.
Kings’ Drew Eubanks Undergoes Season-Ending Thumb Surgery
March 19: Eubanks underwent successful surgery on Wednesday and will miss the rest of the season, per the Kings (Twitter link via Ham). The 29-year-old big man, who will be a free agent this summer, is expected to make a full recovery.
March 15: Kings center Drew Eubanks has been diagnosed with a torn UCL in his left thumb and will undergo surgery to repair it, the team announced today, per Locked On Kings’ James Ham (Twitter link).
Eubanks has appeared in 42 games for Sacramento this season, including 11 starts. He is averaging 5.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks in 13.1 minutes per contest.
Eubanks sustained the injury in Wednesday’s loss to the Hornets, according to the team press release. He played just under 15 minutes in that game, contributing four points, six rebounds, and two assists.
The surgery is scheduled for Wednesday, March 18. While the Kings have yet to provide a formal timeline for his recovery, it seems unlikely that Eubanks will play again in 2025/26, with just four weeks left in the regular season. For what it’s worth, Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe received a similar diagnosis this week and was ruled out for the season.
Michael Porter Jr. (Hamstring) Out At Least 2-3 Weeks
Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. underwent an MRI on Wednesday which revealed a left hamstring strain. He will be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks, the team announced (Twitter link).
Given that Brooklyn has already been eliminated from postseason contention, there’s no reason for the team to rush back its leading scorer. Based on the reevaluation period, there’s probably a good chance that Porter has played his last game of 2025/26 — there are are only three-plus weeks until the regular season concludes on April 12.
Porter has appeared in 52 games (32.5 minutes per contest) in his first season with the Nets, averaging 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals on .463/.363/.859 shooting splits. A handful of those statistics — including points and assists per game — are career-best marks.
The 27-year-old last played on March 10, scoring 19 points in 22 minutes in a lopsided loss to Detroit. He has missed Brooklyn’s last four games because of right ankle sprain, and evidently suffered the hamstring strain as he was working his way back from the ankle issue.
The Nets have gone 14-38 when Porter suits up this season, compared to a 3-14 record when he has been unavailable.
Porter joins a growing injury list for the Nets, who have already ruled out Egor Demin (plantar fasciitis) and Day’Ron Sharpe (torn UCL in his left thumb) for the rest of the season. Danny Wolf, Josh Minott and Ziaire Williams are among the forwards who could get more playing time with Porter out.
2026/27 will be the final year of Porter’s current contract. He’s on track to earn $40.8MM next season and will be extension-eligible in the offseason.
Southwest Notes: Wemby, Missi, Marshall, Christie
While he acknowledges that he would vote for Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander if the season ended today, Sam Amick of The Athletic says Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama continues to strengthen his case in the race for Most Valuable Player and could steal some top-two votes that have long appeared earmarked for Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.
As Amick points out, the on/off numbers are a point in Wembanyama’s favor, as the Spurs have a +16.0 net rating when he’s on the court and a 0.0 mark when he’s not, for a 16-point difference. That exceeds the 10-point gap between the Thunder’s net rating when Gilgeous-Alexander is and isn’t on the court. And while SGA is one of the NBA’s top scorers, Wembanyama, the overwhelming favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year, is the more impactful player on the other end of the court.
It’s also not out of the realm of possibility that the Spurs could catch Oklahoma City in the Western Conference standings, Amick notes. San Antonio is just 3.5 games out of the No. 1 spot, and Wembanyama has talked about wanting to get to the 60-win mark, whereas the defending champion Thunder may feel less compelled to push hard for seeding at the end of the regular season.
We have more from around the Southwest:
- Pelicans center Yves Missi was considered a prime trade candidate leading up to this season’s deadline, but he remained in New Orleans and has impressed head coach James Borrego, who spoke glowingly of the second-year big man after he racked up 10 rebounds, five blocks, and five assists in a win over Dallas on Monday. “We’re using him a number of ways defensively,” Borrego said, per Rod Walker of NOLA.com (subscription required). “Then he gets out and runs. He’s all over the offensive glass. He’s made tremendous strides.”
- Another pre-deadline trade candidate, forward Naji Marshall, is showing why the Mavericks weren’t eager to consider moving him last month, writes Nate Sanchez of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required). Marshall, who spoke earlier this season about his desire to play alongside Cooper Flagg long-term, had his best game of the season on Monday in New Orleans, with 32 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, and no turnovers. “I appreciate everything about Naji,” Flagg said after the game. “He’s just such a good basketball player, all-around, consistent. He shows up every single night and is just a true professional.”
- Flagg, Marshall, and fourth-year wing Max Christie have been a few of the bright spots in an otherwise forgettable season for the Mavericks. Even with Dallas falling well out of the play-in picture, Christie told Spencer Davies of R.org that he wants to “finish strong” and resist letting fatigue get the best of him in what has been a career year so far. The 23-year-old will become extension-eligible this July as he enters the third season of a four-year, $32MM contract.
Pistons Notes: Depth, Cunningham, Jenkins, Sasser, More
Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff has used an extended rotation for much of the season, with 11 players currently on the roster averaging at least 16.8 minutes per game. As Hunter Patterson of The Athletic details, that depth will be tested in the short term, with two of the team’s most important players – Cade Cunningham (collapsed lung) and Isaiah Stewart (calf strain) – currently unavailable.
“We’re so comfortable with the depth and the guys that we have, and they’ve proven they can help us,” Bickerstaff said earlier in March. “Typically, in the past, nine is a great number (for a playoff rotation). But, s–t, we’re struggling to get away from 12. Because there are so many guys that have played for us this year that have helped us win. So, there’s going to be some situational decisions.”
In those comments to the media a couple weeks ago, Bickerstaff went on to single out Paul Reed, Marcus Sasser, and Daniss Jenkins as reserves who have made the most of opportunities to play rotation roles. As Patterson points out, all three of those three players – along with Kevin Huerter – have received DNP-CDs at times when Detroit is closer to full health, but they’ll likely be relied upon for regular minutes with Cunningham and Stewart out.
In addition to looking to help the Pistons maintain their spot atop the Eastern Conference, players like Reed, Sasser, Jenkins, and Huerter could also be making their cases for places in the team’s playoff rotation based on how they perform in the next couple weeks, Patterson adds.
Here’s more on the Pistons:
- When they confirmed today that Cunningham is dealing with a collapsed lung, the Pistons ruled out the star guard for two weeks. How much more time might he miss beyond that initial timeline? That remains to be seen, but Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press spoke on Thursday to Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos – a pulmonologist at Johns Hopkins – about what causes a collapsed lung, what the recovery process looks like, and what needs to happen before Cunningham returns. “The big thing I would make the case of is recognizing a collapsed lung is serious and what’s frustrating for an athlete is they’re going to feel good the second it re-inflates and they’re going to want to go back out there,”Galiatsatos said. “What we need to be mindful of is the lung is going to still take a few weeks to fully heal, because it is an injury because the tissue got torn. You want it to not just heal over, you want it to be fully secure.”
- Patterson, Jay King, and James L. Edwards III of The Athletic take a look at how Cunningham’s health condition will impact the Eastern Conference playoff race, with all three reporters predicting that Detroit will hang onto the No. 1 seed for the rest of the regular season — the Pistons currently have a 3.5-game lead over second-place Boston. Cunningham’s ability to return before or during the first round of the postseason could be crucial, The Athletic’s trio notes, since there are some dangerous teams near the bottom of the East’s playoff picture.
- In a separate story for The Detroit Free Press (subscription required), Sankofa looks at three areas of concern for the Pistons to shore up in the final 14 games of the regular season. In addition to outside shooting and finding the right balance between shooting and defense, one of those areas Sankofa highlights is “non-Cunningham ball-handling.” In the wake of the star guard’s diagnosis, there should be plenty of opportunities to go around for players like Jenkins, Sasser, Huerter, Ausar Thompson, and Caris LeVert.