Nets Rule Out Porter, Wolf For Rest Of Season
The Nets have formally ruled out forwards Michael Porter Jr. and Danny Wolf for the rest of the 2025/26 season, head coach Jordi Fernandez told reporters, including C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News.
The update doesn’t come as a surprise. Porter was diagnosed with a left hamstring strain on March 19 and was slated to be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks. A couple weeks later, the team has shut him down for the final six games of the season, including Friday’s contest vs. Atlanta.
Porter 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.
“Michael in a new situation, being on the same team for seven years on a championship team and now having a different role, a different situation, everything has been also very positive,” Fernandez said. “He’s played at an All-Star level. In my opinion, he should’ve been an All-Star. And now I want him to come back here and have a chip on his shoulder, lead the team the way he’s been doing the same way.”
The 27-year-old last played on March 10, scoring 19 points in 22 minutes in a lopsided loss to Detroit. He was recovering from a right ankle sprain when he suffered the hamstring strain.
Wolf, meanwhile sprained his left ankle on March 22. He’s been wearing a walking boot of late and Michael Scotto of HoopsHype recently said the rookie power forward was unlikely to play again this season.
According to Holmes, Fernandez said he was pleased with Wolf’s versatility and that he “showed that he belongs” in the league, but wants him to focus on being more efficient in 2026/27. The 27th pick in last year’s draft averaged 8.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 2.2 APG on .405/.322/.771 shooting in 57 appearances this season (20.8 MPG).
Mike D’Antoni To Be Inducted Into Hall Of Fame
Longtime NBA head coach Mike D’Antoni will be among the inductees in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s class of 2026, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link).
D’Antoni was selected as a finalist for the 2026 class in February. He’ll technically be inducted as a contributor.
A 6’3″ guard who played parts of four NBA seasons in the 1970s, D’Antoni is most well known for his time coaching the “seven seconds or less” Suns from 2003-08. He helped Phoenix go 253-136 (.650 win-loss percentage) in the regular season over that span, and make back-to-back trips to the Western Conference finals in 2005 and 2006.
The 74-year-old also had a successful four-year run with the Rockets at the end of his career, guiding Houston to a 217-101 regular season record (.682 win-loss percentage). Houston’s best playoff finish under D’Antoni was a seven-game Western Conference finals loss to Golden State, which went on to win the title.
D’Antoni’s head coaching stops with the Nuggets (14-36 in a lockout season in 1998/99), Knicks (121-167 record over parts of four seasons) and Lakers (67-87 over parts of two seasons) were less successful. Overall, his teams compiled a 672-527 regular season record across 16 seasons. His playoff record is 54-56.
A West Virginia native who played his college ball at Marshall, D’Antoni was a head coach in Italy for several years and had NBA assistant jobs with Denver, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Brooklyn. He was also a coaching advisor for New Orleans from 2021-25 and won a pair of medals with Team USA as an assistant (bronze at the 2006 FIBA World Cup and gold at the 2012 London Olympics).
D’Antoni will be inducted the same year as Amar’e Stoudemire, the former NBA big man who had his best years playing under D’Antoni. Doc Rivers, Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne will reportedly be inducted in 2026 as well.
Luka Doncic Diagnosed With Grade 2 Left Hamstring Strain
Lakers guard Luka Doncic has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain after undergoing an MRI, the team announced on Friday (Twitter link via Khobi Price of The California Post).
While the Lakers formally ruled Doncic out for the rest of the regular season, they didn’t give any indication how much time he might miss beyond that. The average return timetable for a Grade 2 hamstring strain is 35 days, tweets Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes.com.
If Doncic, who leads the NBA in points per game, is out over a month, he could miss the entire first round of the playoffs. The full postseason schedule has yet to be released, but the first round begins on April 18.
Los Angeles clinched a playoff spot earlier this week and is currently the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers will have to lean heavily on Austin Reaves and LeBron James for scoring and play-making as they look to advance in the postseason.
Doncic appeared to tweak his hamstring with about a minute left in the second quarter of Thursday’s game in Oklahoma City, then pulled up lame on a drive in the third quarter. The Lakers were down 38 points at the time and wound up losing by 43.
Although it’s obviously of lesser importance compared to the Lakers being without their best player, there’s an “extraordinary circumstances challenge” in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that could still allow Doncic to qualify for major postseason awards, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The superstar guard would have to file an application and have it approved by an “independent expert,” but he appears to have a strong case based on the CBA language, Marks notes (via Twitter).
Doncic is currently at 64 appearances and needed to play one more contest to meet the 65-game requirement. However, he missed two games to travel to Slovenia for the birth of his child, and certainly seems to meet the all criteria listed in the CBA:
- It was impracticable for the player to play in one or more of the game(s) he missed due to extraordinary circumstances.
- The player would have played in at least 65 regular season games if he had played every game that he missed due to the extraordinary circumstances.
- As a result of the extraordinary circumstances, and taking into account the totality of the circumstances (including whether the player did not play in other regular season games in which he could have played), it would be unjust to exclude the player from award eligibility.
Doncic would have a 24-hour window in which to apply for the challenge, starting at 12:00 pm ET on the final day of the regular season (April 12). His agent Billy Duffy confirmed to Shams Charania of ESPN that his client plans to fill out the application (Twitter link).
If he is granted eligibility by the arbitrator, Doncic is a top contender to make his fifth first-team All-NBA appearance in six years. He averaged 33.5 points, 8.3 assists, 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 35.8 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .476/.366/.780.
How Non-Bird Limitations Will Affect Free Agents In 2026
As we detailed this week in an updated Hoops Rumors Glossary entry, a player who doesn't qualify for Bird rights and Early Bird rights at the end of an NBA season almost always qualifies for Non-Bird rights, which give teams a small amount of flexibility to re-sign that player in free agency without requiring salary cap room or another cap exception.
Teams can sign their own free agents using the Non-Bird exception for a salary starting at 120% of the player’s previous salary, 120% of the minimum salary, or the amount of a qualifying offer (if the player is a restricted free agent), whichever is greatest. Contracts can be for up to four years, with 5% annual raises.
In some cases, that's more than enough for a team to work with. For instance, if the Spurs decide they want to re-sign center Mason Plumlee, the fact that they'll only have his Non-Bird rights won't be an impediment. Plumlee almost certainly won't be making more than 120% of his minimum in 2026/27 after signing a pair of minimum-salary deals this season.
In other cases though, like when a player on a minimum-salary contract has a breakout year, the Non-Bird exception won't be enough to make him a market-rate offer.
In the space below, we're taking a closer look at the notable 2026 free agents who will have Non-Bird rights and assessing whether or not those rights will be enough for their current teams to re-sign them.
Hornets’ PJ Hall Out Indefinitely With Right Ankle Fracture
Hornets big man PJ Hall has been diagnosed with a right ankle fracture, according to the NBA’s official injury report. The news was first noted by Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (via Twitter).
Hall, a second-year center out of Clemson, is on a two-way contract with the Hornets. Charlotte has yet to make an announcement regarding how much time Hall might miss. He was in a walking boot on Thursday, per Boone.
Based on the nature of his injury, there’s essentially no chance Hall will play again by April 12, when the regular season ends. Two-way players are ineligible to compete in the postseason, and since he’ll likely be out several weeks, there’s no real reason for the Hornets to promote him to a standard contract, which would make Hall postseason-eligible.
Hall opened the season on a two-way deal with Memphis. The Grizzlies waived him mid-November, and he caught on with the Hornets about five weeks later.
The 24-year-old has averaged 6.1 points and 5.5 rebounds in 15.6 minutes per game across 12 NBA appearances with Charlotte. He hasn’t played with the Hornets since February 22, having spent extended time in the G League with the Greensboro Swarm.
Hall has put up big numbers with the Swarm, averaging 18.9 PPG, 11.3 RPG and 1.7 BPG on .602/.329/.792 shooting splits in 23 games (29.6 MPG). He’ll be a restricted free agent this summer if the Hornets give him a qualifying offer, which is equivalent to another two-way contract covering one year.
In other Hornets injury news, starting center Moussa Diabate is questionable to suit up for Friday’s game vs. Indiana due to left ankle soreness. Forward Grant Williams, who returned from a torn ACL in January, is out on the second night of a back-to-back.
Jazz Sign Bez Mbeng To Two-Year Deal
April 3: The sigining is official, according to a team press release.
April 2, 11:31 am: Mbeng will be signing a two-year contract, agent Jason Tranos tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). While Charania doesn’t provide any additional details, that second year is unlikely to be guaranteed.
April 2, 7:43 am: Bez Mbeng‘s second 10-day contract with the Jazz expired on Wednesday night, but he won’t be going anywhere, reports Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. According to Todd, Utah will be signing Mbeng for the rest of the season.
Mbeng, 22, made 11 appearances during his first 20 days with the Jazz after first joining the team on March 13. The 6’4″ shooting guard played regular rotation minutes during that time for a banged-up Utah squad, averaging 5.0 points, 3.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.7 steals in 29.9 minutes per night.
While Mbeng’s shooting numbers (.429/.167/.667) have been modest, the Jazz have apparently liked what they’ve seen from the former Yale star, especially on defense. The 22-year-old, who earned three Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year awards from 2023-25 before going undrafted last June, spent most of his rookie year with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League affiliate, until he signed with Utah.
The Jazz would have the ability to sign Mbeng to a multiyear deal, though Todd doesn’t confirm that’s the plan. We’ll have to wait for the full details of the agreement to confirm the terms, but if it’s just a rest-of-season contract, the guard would be eligible for restricted free agency this summer.
Mbeng earned $73,153 on each of his two 10-day deals. If he officially re-signs on Thursday, a rest-of-season minimum-salary contract would pay him slightly more than that ($80,469), for a total of $226,775 on top of the salary he earned in the G League.
Once Mbeng is signed, the Jazz will have have 14 players on full-season or multiyear standard contracts, with Kennedy Chandler filling the 15th roster spot on a 10-day deal.
Bulls Notes: Donovan, McClung, Giddey, Jones, Ivey
Billy Donovan is seriously giving thought to leaving the Bulls at the conclusion of the season, Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reports.
Siegel hears that Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd was North Carolina’s top choice to become its head coach. However, Lloyd agreed to a five-year deal to stay at Arizona, which makes Donovan the Tar Heels’ clear choice for the job.
Donovan is committed to the Bulls through the remainder of the season and won’t make any decisions on his future until April 12, Siegel adds. However, there is a growing belief around the league that Donovan will leave the franchise.
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Mac McClung has done it again. The three-time NBA dunk contest champion has been named NBA G League MVP for the second time, the NBA announced (via Twitter). McClung, who is on a two-way contract, has been playing for the Windy City Bulls. The 27-year-old guard put up huge numbers in the regular season, averaging a G League-best 31.8 points, 7.9 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals on .515/.381/.781 shooting in 29 games (37.3 minutes per contest). Rockets two-way guard Tristen Newton and Kings swingman DaQuan Jeffries finished second and third in voting, respectively.
- Josh Giddey (hamstring) and Tre Jones (ankle) have been upgraded to probable for tonight’s game against the Knicks, K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network tweets. McClung is also probable with abdominal tightness.
- Brian Sandalow of the Chicago Sun Times details how the team has tried to move on from the Jaden Ivey saga. Ivey was waived earlier in the week after several controversial videos posted on social media.
Peyton Watson Week-To-Week With Hamstring Injury
Nuggets guard Peyton Watson is considered week-to-week due to a hamstring injury, coach David Adelman told the media on Friday afternoon, according to DNVR Nuggets (Twitter link).
He’ll be out for Saturday’s game against San Antonio and, presumably, several more games. Watson exited the Nuggets’ win over the Jazz on Wednesday with right hamstring tightness.
It’s the recurrence of an injury he suffered earlier this season. Watson missed more than six weeks of action in February and March due to a right hamstring strain.
The injuries have marred an otherwise breakout season for Watson, who is averaging a career-best 14.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 blocks in 29.6 minutes per game. He’s made 49.1 percent of his field goal attempts, including 41.1 percent from deep, while starting 40 of 54 games.
It’s been an injury-filled campaign for Denver but it has still managed to win 49 games. The Nuggets currently hold the No. 4 spot in the West, which would give them home court advantage in the first round.
Cameron Johnson and Julian Strawther figure to absorb Watson’s minutes while he mends. Watson will be a restricted free agent this summer.
Pacific Notes: Doncic, Jackson, Harris, Gillespie
If Lakers star Luka Doncic can’t play the remainder of the regular season — which seems likely due to his hamstring injury — he would be the first scoring leader to not make an All-NBA team since 1976, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
Doncic needs to play in one more game to reach the 65-game threshold for All-NBA consideration. The star guard is averaging 33.5 points per game, nearly two more than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.6), who’s second in the league. In 1976, Bob McAdoo won his third consecutive scoring title and was second in the MVP race but didn’t make All-NBA.
On a related topic, Doncic’s absence will test the team’s depth, Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the Los Angeles Times points out. Marcus Smart has missed the last six games with an ankle sprain, though he could return this weekend. Bronny James could see his backcourt role expand in Doncic’s absence.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Clippers, who are already dealing with a number of frontcourt injuries, may not have Isaiah Jackson for the rest of the season. Jackson has a high ankle sprain and will not join the team on its road trip. He will be out at least one week, Janis Carr of the Orange County Register tweets.
- The Kings’ NBA G League GM, Gabriel Harris, is heading to the college ranks, as he’ll be named the University of Memphis Tigers’ general manager, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Harris and the Stockton Kings won the 2025 G League championship.
- Collin Gillespie, who is headed to free agency this summer, set the Suns’ franchise record for three-pointers in a season on Thursday night, according to The Associated Press. Gillespie set the mark in the second quarter of the Suns’ 127-107 loss to the Hornets. He made his 227th three-pointer from the wing, surpassing the record of 226 threes, set by Quentin Richardson in the 2004/05 season. “It’s a great accomplishment,” Gillespie said. “And I’m extremely grateful and thankful to everybody here for helping me, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really mean much right now with the loss.”
Grizzlies’ Caldwell-Pope Expected To Exercise $21.6MM Option
Grizzlies guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is expected to exercise his $21.6MM option for the 2026/27 season, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports (Twitter link). It’s the last year of a 3-year, $66MM deal negotiated by Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.
It comes as no surprise that KCP chose to take the guaranteed money rather than test the free-agent market. It’s been an abbreviated season for the veteran wing, who underwent season-ending surgery in February to address a misalignment of his right pinky finger.
Caldwell-Pope, who was acquired from Orlando last summer in the Desmond Bane trade, made 51 appearances in ’25/26 for the Grizzlies, averaging 8.4 points, 2.7 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 21.3 minutes per game. His shooting line was .410/.316/.913.
His salary for next season is second-highest on the club behind Ja Morant‘s $42,166,510.
The 33-year-old was a quality three-and-D contributor for several years, winning a pair of championships (with the Lakers in 2020 and the Nuggets in 2023) as a key role player. However, his production has fallen off for the past two seasons, particularly from behind the arc — he shot 38.9% from three-point range in the seven seasons leading up to 2024/25, but has converted just 33.3% of his three-point shots since that point.
Caldwell-Pope’s lone season with the Magic, who signed him to his current deal, was also a disappointment, as he averaged 8.7 PPG in 77 starts.