Santi Aldama Undergoes Knee Procedure, Out For Remainder Of Season
The Grizzlies have ruled out big man Santi Aldama for the remainder of the season, the team announced (Twitter link).
Aldama underwent an arthroscopic procedure and received an orthobiologic injection on Tuesday to address discomfort in the trochlear compartment of his right knee. He is expected to make a full recovery prior to the start of next season. The team revealed on Sunday that Aldama would undergo the procedure.
Aldama hasn’t played since February 4 due to ongoing knee pain. He averaged a career-high 14.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in 27.9 minutes per game in 43 appearances for Memphis this season after signing a three-year, $52.5MM contract in restricted free agency last summer. He shot 47.9% from the floor and 35.0% from beyond the three-point line, both above his career rates.
Earlier on Tuesday, the team announced that Scotty Pippen Jr. underwent toe surgery and would sit out the rest of the season.
The Grizzlies’ training room has been busy all season. Ty Jerome, Zach Edey, Brandon Clarke and Ja Morant have all missing significant chunks of action. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was ruled out for the remainder of ’25/26 last month after undergoing finger surgery.
2026’s Most Valuable Traded Second-Round Picks
Fans of lottery-bound NBA teams will be keeping a close on the bottom of the league’s standings down the stretch because of the effect that “race” will have on the draft order and lottery odds for the 2026 first round.
However, it’s not just the first round of the draft that’s worth keeping an eye on. Those reverse standings will also dictate the order of the draft’s second round, and an early second-round pick can be nearly as valuable as a first-rounder.
[RELATED: Traded Second-Round Picks For 2026 NBA Draft]
Here are a few of the traded 2026 draft picks that will land near the top of the second round:
From: Indiana Pacers
To: Memphis Grizzlies
Current projection: No. 31
When the Pacers first sent this pick to the Bucks in a 2021 offseason deal, it was one of four second-rounders they gave up to move up to No. 31 in that draft in order to select Isaiah Todd, who was subsequently flipped to Washington with Aaron Holiday for No. 22 pick Isaiah Jackson.
Technically, Indiana was giving up the most favorable of its own 2026 second-round pick and the Heat’s 2026 second-rounder in that deal, so there was always a decent chance it would end up in the first half of the second round. But it’s probably safe to assume the Pacers didn’t expect it to end up at the very top of the round, which is where it’d be if the season ended today thanks to Indiana’s NBA-worst 15-53 record.
The Grizzlies ended up acquiring the pick from the Bucks just a few days later in 2021 as part of a package for Grayson Allen. Five years later, it looks like a pretty valuable asset for a Memphis team leaning more aggressively into a rebuild.
From: Washington Wizards
To: New York Knicks
Current projection: No. 32
Technically, the Wizards owe the Knicks their 2026 first-round pick, not their second-rounder. But that first-rounder is top-eight protected, and with Washington sitting near the bottom of the NBA standings at 16-51, it appears increasingly likely that it’ll land in its protected range.
In that scenario, the Wizards would keep their first-round pick and would instead send their 2026 and 2027 second-rounders for New York.
While that’s not the outcome the Knicks would’ve preferred, this year’s Wizards second-rounder will at least end up in the early 30s, giving New York a pair of picks in that section of the draft (the Knicks’ first-rounder currently projects to be No. 26). Those assets should come in handy for a front office that could use some younger, cheaper talent to fill out the back of its roster and showed last year that it’s capable of finding value in the second round (Mohamed Diawara at No. 51).
From: Utah Jazz
To: San Antonio Spurs
Current projection: No. 35
Originally traded to Minnesota at the 2023 deadline, this pick was one of several valuable chips that went from the Jazz to the Timberwolves in that three-team deal, along with Mike Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and two more second-rounders (one of which was the No. 31 pick a year ago).
The Jazz acquired the Lakers’ top-four protected 2027 first-round pick in that trade, which they later used as part of their package to land Jaren Jackson Jr., so it’s not as if the deal was a total disaster for Utah. But the Jazz probably don’t love the fact that the Spurs, one of the Western Conference’s ascending powers, will be drafting in their place early in the second round this June.
San Antonio acquired the pick from the Timberwolves at the 2023 draft as part of a package for that year’s No. 33 selection. The Wolves used that pick to select forward Leonard Miller, who never developed into a regular NBA rotation player in Minnesota.
From: Dallas Mavericks
To: Oklahoma City Thunder
Current projection: No. 36/37
Like the Jazz with their second-round pick, a retooling Mavericks team won’t be excited about the prospect of shipping this selection to one of the powerhouses in their own conference. But Oklahoma City will receive the most favorable of Dallas’, Philadelphia’s, and its own second-round picks, so even if the Mavs finish the season on a hot streak, Dallas’ selection will almost certainly head to OKC.
Currently, the Mavs and Pelicans have matching 23-46 records and are tied for sixth in the lottery standings — if they were to finish the season in that same position, a tiebreaker would determine the order of the two teams in the lottery, and whichever team drafted lower in the first round would receive the higher second-round pick.
Like many of the picks the Thunder accumulated during their most recent rebuilding process, they landed this second-rounder when they accommodated a salary-dump deal. It occurred during the 2020 offseason when they took on Trevor Ariza and Justin Jackson in a three-team trade with the Mavericks and Pistons.
From: New Orleans Pelicans
To: Chicago Bulls
Current projection: No. 36/37
The Pelicans have been playing their best basketball of the season as of late, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if this pick ends up moving down a couple more spots into the late 30s. Still, it will be a nice replacement selection for a Chicago team that has traded away its own 2026 second-rounder — depending on what the final standings look like, the Bulls could end up moving up a couple spots in the second round by essentially swapping their own pick for New Orleans’ selection.
The Bulls are technically owed the most favorable of four teams’ second-round selections, but the Pelicans are way behind the Knicks and Timberwolves in the standings and it’s all but impossible for them to catch the Trail Blazers too, so it’s safe to say New Orleans’ pick is the one Chicago will receive.
The selection was one of many the Bulls acquired at this year’s trade deadline. This one was part of their Anfernee Simons/Nikola Vucevic swap with the Celtics.
Grizzlies’ Pippen Undergoes Toe Surgery, Won’t Return This Season
March 17: The Grizzlies confirmed today that Pippen underwent his sesamoidectomy on Tuesday and that he’ll miss the rest of the season (Twitter link). He’s expected to make a full recovery for the start of 2026/27, per the team.
March 13: Pippen is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
March 12: Fourth-year guard Scotty Pippen Jr. is undergoing a sesamoidectomy to address pain in his right big toe, the Grizzlies announced in a press release (Twitter link).
A return timeline for Pippen will be established after the procedure, per the team, but the 25-year-old is expected to make a full recovery.
If you’re experiencing a bit of déjà vu, you’re not alone. Pippen underwent a sesamoidectomy back in October to deal with discomfort in his big toe, but that was on his left foot, not his right.
Pippen wound up missing 15-plus weeks of action following his initial toe surgery, having made his season debut on February 6. Given how long he was out after the first procedure, it’s probably safe to say he’ll miss the rest of the season following this one.
In 10 appearances (21.2 minutes per game) for Memphis in 2025/26, Pippen averaged 11.4 points, 4.7 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.9 steals on .448/.313/.783 shooting splits. He was a key reserve for the Grizzlies last season, appearing in a career-high 79 games while averaging 9.9 PPG, 4.4 APG, 3.3 RPG and 1.3 SPG in 21.3 MPG. He posted a shooting slash line of .480/.397/.713.
The Grizzlies have been ravaged by injuries again in ’25/26, with Pippen, Ty Jerome, Zach Edey, Brandon Clarke and Ja Morant all missing the majority of the season. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was also ruled out for the remainder of ’25/26 last month after undergoing finger surgery.
Memphis was granted a hardship exception on Thursday and used it to sign Tyler Burton to a 10-day deal. The 26-year-old wing has spent this season in the G League with the Grizzlies’ affiliate club, the Memphis Hustle.
Wolves Rule Out Anthony Edwards (Knee) For 1-2 Weeks
After being ruled out for Tuesday’s matchup with the Suns due to right knee soreness, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards underwent an MRI that revealed inflammation in that right knee, the team announced today in a press release.
According to the Wolves, the plan is for Edwards to be reevaluated in a week or two, with further updates to be provided when available.
While that timeline doesn’t necessarily give us a clear idea of when Edwards will be able to return, it suggests he’ll miss at least three games beyond Tuesday’s contest vs. Phoenix, even if he’s reevaluated and cleared one week from today. Minnesota hosts the Jazz on Wednesday and the Trail Blazers on Friday before visiting the Celtics in Boston on Sunday.
Edwards, 24, has been enjoying a career year for the Timberwolves, averaging 29.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.4 steals in 35.5 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .492/.402/.796.
After earning a spot on the All-NBA second team in each of the past two seasons, he’s making a case for first team honors in 2025/26 — but he’ll need to play in at least eight of Minnesota’s 14 remaining games to qualify for end-of-season awards. He has appeared in 58 contests so far, but one of those 58 won’t count toward the 65-game minimum since he exited after just three minutes.
The Wolves, meanwhile, are in the midst of a competitive race for postseason seeding in the Western Conference. Entering Tuesday’s games, they’re the No. 6 seed at 41-27, but they’re only a half-game behind the No. 4 Rockets and two games up on the No. 7 Suns, their opponent tonight.
While Minnesota certainly won’t want to rush back its franchise player, the team might need his help sooner rather than later to secure a guaranteed playoff spot.
Expansion Notes: NBPA, NBA Cup, SuperSonics, More
The NBA’s decision to take a vote later this month on whether to explore adding expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle doesn’t necessarily mean expanding to 32 teams is a lock. However, it has been seen as the eventual outcome in league circles for years, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks, who note that expansion to Vegas and Seattle, specifically, has been widely viewed as “inevitable” since commissioner Adam Silver said in December that a decision on the issue would be made in 2026.
Within an in-depth look at why expansion is likely and how it would work, Bontemps and Marks point out that the National Basketball Players Association has no vote on the subject of expansion. Still, sources tell ESPN that the players’ union would be “very much in favor” of adding two new teams to the league, since it would result in another 36 roster spots (30 standard and six two-way).
Adding two new teams would likely have an impact on how the NBA Cup functions, ESPN’s duo writes. Sorting 32 teams into eight groups made up of four clubs apiece would be a more logical format for the in-season tournament. The league could simply have the winners of each of those eight groups advance to the NBA Cup’s knockout round or could expand the knockout round to feature 16 teams like the single-elimination stage of the FIFA World Cup, Bontemps and Marks suggest.
Here’s more on possible NBA expansion:
- As part of the deal between Thunder ownership and the city of Seattle when the team relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008, the two sides agreed that the name SuperSonics and all associated branding would be transferred to a new franchise approved to play at a renovated KeyArena at no cost, Bontemps and Marks write. Sources tell ESPN that the Thunder would also allow a new Seattle team to reclaim the SuperSonics’ history and records, which currently apply to the OKC franchise.
- Both ESPN and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic explore some of the rules related to an expansion draft and the salary cap for expansion teams, noting that the current CBA calls for a new franchise to have a salary cap worth 66.6% of the standard cap in its first season. That figure increases to 80% in year two and to 100% in year three.
- If two expansion teams are approved, NBA revenues will be split among 32 teams instead of 30, which is one reason why current team owners haven’t necessarily been eager to expand in the past. However, with ESPN’s Shams Charania reporting that the expansion fees for new franchises – which are divided up among the league’s existing teams – could exceed $7 billion apiece, each current ownership group figures to be in line for significant one-time payments. Additionally, Joe Vardon of The Athletic observes that the NBA’s European league could create a new revenue stream that helps make up for the the dilution of each club’s current share of the NBA’s revenue. Owners of Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, and Newcastle United are among the groups expected to submit bids for NBA Europe teams, Vardon adds.
Atlantic Notes: Murray-Boyles, Nets, Knicks, Edgecombe
Raptors rookie forward Collin Murray-Boyles has missed the team’s past eight games due to a sprained left thumb, but his return shouldn’t be far off. According to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link), Murray-Boyles took part in practice on Tuesday, with the club set to assess how he responds to that session before determining whether he’ll be available for Wednesday’s game in Chicago.
Even if Murray-Boyles isn’t cleared to play tomorrow, head coach Darko Rajakovic expects to have him back at some point during the upcoming five-game road trip, which begins on Wednesday and runs through next Wednesday in L.A., tweets Lewenberg.
Murray-Boyles had emerged as a key contributor for Toronto prior to the injury. He has started 18 of his last 19 outings, averaging 9.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.3 steals in 27.7 minutes per game while shooting 60.3% from the floor during that stretch.
Here are a few more items of interest from across the Atlantic:
- Eric Koreen of The Athletic wonders if this year’s Raptors are the equivalent of last season’s Pistons, a limited offensive team without enough shooting that nonetheless played a scrappy brand of basketball, exceeded expectations, ended a postseason drought, and pushed a higher seed in the first round of the playoffs.
- There are five “touch points” that will determine how quickly the Nets accelerate their rebuild, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post: How their rookies develop, where their lottery pick ends up, the results of the upcoming postseason, whether a star becomes available, and how free agency plays out.
- In a mailbag, Ian Begley of SNY.tv outlines why Knicks head coach Mike Brown is reluctant to make changes to a struggling starting five and notes that Mikal Bridges has played a key role in the club’s defensive turnaround while slumping offensively.
- With Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and Paul George all unavailable, the Sixers have won three of their last four games with young role players like VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes, and Justin Edwards leading the way, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. As Jones observes, Edgecombe is gaining important reps as Philadelphia’s go-to scorer, which could serve him well down the road. “I was being double-teamed against Brooklyn,” Edgecombe said, referring to Saturday’s game in which he scored 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting. “I had never been doubled in my life. I guess I just have to go back and look at the film.”
Hoops Rumors Glossary: Bi-Annual Exception
The mid-level exception is the tool most frequently used by over-the-cap teams to sign free agents from other teams to contracts worth more than the veteran’s minimum. But that’s not the only exception those clubs have to squeeze an extra player onto the payroll. The bi-annual exception is a way for a team to sign a player who may command more than the minimum salary but less than the mid-level.
In addition to allowing a team to sign a player to a contract, the bi-annual exception can be utilized to acquire a player via trade or waiver claim, as long as his contract fits within his exception. That means he can’t be under contract for more than two years and his current-year salary can’t exceed the amount of the BAE.
As its name suggests, the bi-annual exception can only be used every other season. Even if a team uses only a portion of the exception, it’s off-limits during the following league year.
During the 2025/26 league year, two teams – the Rockets and Clippers – were ineligible to use the bi-annual exception at all, since they used it in 2024/25.
Five teams have used the bi-annual exception in ’25/26, with the Lakers signing Marcus Smart, the Pistons promoting Daniss Jenkins from a two-way contract, and the Hornets, Jazz, and Wizards using their BAEs to trade for Malaki Branham, Kevin Love, and Blake Wesley, respectively. Those five clubs won’t have the exception at their disposal during the 2026/27 league year.
The bi-annual exception is available only to a limited number of clubs, even among those that didn’t use the exception during the previous season. Teams that create and use cap space forfeit their bi-annual exception. Additionally, teams lose access to the bi-annual exception when they operate over the first “tax apron,” a figure approximately $7MM above the tax line this season. So, only teams over the cap and under the first apron can use the BAE.
If a team uses all or part of the bi-annual exception, the first tax apron becomes the club’s hard cap for that season. Teams that sign a player using the BAE are permitted to subsequently go under the salary cap, but they can’t go over the first apron at any time during the season once the contract is signed.
[RELATED: NBA Teams With Hard Caps In 2025/26]
Although a team with a salary exceeding the first tax apron isn’t permitted to use the bi-annual exception, that team could gain access to the BAE by shedding salary. As long as the team’s salary would be below the first tax apron upon the completion of the BAE transaction – and remains below that threshold for the rest of the season – that club is permitted to use the exception, no matter how high its salary might have been earlier in the league year.
Under the NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, the value of the bi-annual exception in future league years is tied to the value of the salary cap. The BAE comes in at 3.32% of that season’s cap and is rounded to the nearest thousand.
For instance, this season’s cap is $154,647,000; 3.32% of that amount is $5,134,280.40. Rounding to the nearest thousand gets us to $5,134,000, which is the maximum starting salary for a bi-annual signing in 2025/26. The starting salary for the BAE in 2026/27 currently projects to be worth $5,511,000, based on a $166MM cap projection.
A player who signs a contract using the bi-annual exception is eligible for a one- or two-year deal, with a 5% raise for the second season. For a player signed using the BAE in 2025/26, the maximum value of a two-year contract is $10,524,700.
Teams also have the option of splitting the bi-annual exception among multiple players, though that happens much less frequently than it does with the mid-level exception, since a split bi-annual deal may not even be worth more than a veteran’s minimum salary.
The bi-annual exception begins to prorate downward on January 10 each year, decreasing in value by 1/174th each day until the end of the regular season. However, as is the case with the mid-level exception, a team that uses its BAE between Jan. 10 and the trade deadline wouldn’t be subject to that proration and could use the full amount it has left on the exception — the proration for those days between Jan. 10 and the deadline is retroactively applied beginning on the day after the trade deadline.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Earlier versions of this post were published in previous years by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.
Western Notes: Watson, Grizzlies, Ishbia, K. Johnson
After missing starters and rotation players for nearly the entire season due to health issues, the Nuggets are inching closer to finally submitting a clean injury report. The team appears hopeful that wing Peyton Watson will be able to return this week from the right hamstring strain that has kept him on the shelf since February 4, tweets Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette.
With the exception of the players who are currently assigned to the club’s G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold, Watson is the only player left on Denver’s injury report.
Watson has been ruled out for Tuesday’s matchup with Philadelphia, and Benedetto suggests he wouldn’t count on the 23-year-old being activated for Wednesday’s game in Memphis. However, it sounds like Friday’s contest vs. Toronto could be a viable return date for Watson, who will be eligible for restricted free agency this offseason.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- FedEx executive Richard Smith tells Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal that he hired an advisory firm to assess whether Grizzlies owner Robert Pera is looking to sell or relocate the franchise and was told no on both counts. “I don’t think there’s any truth to rumors that he wants to move the team,” said Smith, who added that he and his family would’ve been interested in making a bid for the Grizzlies to keep them in Memphis if Pera were looking to sell. The Grizzlies and the city of Memphis are currently engaged in negotiations about the team’s lease at FedExForum — the current agreement runs through 2028/29.
- The binding mediation process to resolve the legal dispute between Mat Ishbia and a pair of Suns shareholders could result in Ishbia buying out those minority owners and increasing his stake in the team to 96%, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPN. Those owners, Scott Seldin and Andy Kohlberg, are the last remaining holdovers from the Robert Sarver era in Phoenix and currently control about 13% of the franchise, Holmes explains.
- Spurs forward Keldon Johnson was a full-time starter for three seasons from 2020-23, but he transitioned to a sixth man role in 2023/24 and has since embraced the idea of coming off the bench, as Tom Orsborn details for The San Antonio Express-News (subscriber link). While Johnson wasn’t initially thrilled by losing his starting job, he and the Spurs are thriving this season as he makes a case for Sixth Man of the Year honors by averaging 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game with a .529/.377/.789 shooting line. “I feel like when you want to win, you got to remove your ego, especially when we got the team we have,” Johnson said. “We all want to see each other be successful. I had to pull my ego away and say, ‘This is what’s best for the team.’ And if I can maximize my role coming off the bench, as talented as I am and with the things I can bring to the game, I feel like we’ll be in great shape throughout games.”
Isaiah Stewart Out At Least One Week With Grade 1 Calf Strain
March 17: Stewart has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 calf strain and is undergoing treatment, the Pistons announced today (Twitter link). According to the team, he’s expected to be reevaluated in one week.
March 15: Isaiah Stewart is out indefinitely for the Pistons due to a left calf strain, per Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).
“It’s something he’s been dealing with. It just had been getting worse,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “He gutted it out last game and I think you could see he was favoring it late… it’s something we’re going to take time with.”
Stewart has been an important part of Detroit’s rotation this season. He has averaged 10.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in just 23.1 minutes per game, putting together a case for All-Defensive recognition. However, this calf injury will scuttle his chances of reaching the 65-game minimum to qualify for end-of-season awards.
The 6’8″ center had played seven games since returning from a seven-game suspension due to a fight against the Hornets on February 9.
Stewart’s absence will likely result in an increased rotation role for reserve center Paul Reed. Reed has been productive in limited minutes this season and has stepped up when called upon, averaging 13.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in his eight games as a starter.
And-Ones: Fournier, Mamukelashvili, Queta, NCAA Tourney
Veteran wing NBA Evan Fournier, who currently plays for Olympiacos in Greece after spending 12 seasons in the NBA from 2012-24, said in an interview with L’Equipe that he expects to retire as a player at the end of his current contract, which expires in 2028 (hat tip to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops).
Fournier, 33, also indicated that he’d be interested in representing France again at the 2027 World Cup and/or 2028 Olympics if the national team wants him on its roster.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Raptors forward/center Sandro Mamukelashvili remains focused on competing in the NBA for the foreseeable future, but he told Ric Bucher of Full Court Passport (YouTube link) that he likes the idea of eventually finishing his career and spending his retirement years in Europe. Specifically, Mamukelashvili is intrigued by the possibility of competing in the NBA’s European league. “The talent will be there, and I think it’s going to compete with college and even the NBA,” the Georgian big man said of NBA Europe, per Eurohoops. “I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops, and hopefully, down the line, I will have my chance to play over there.”
- Celtics center Neemias Queta, Heat forward Pelle Larsson, and Cavaliers swingman Jaylon Tyson are among the role players highlighted by John Hollinger of The Athletic within a story on the unheralded contributors enjoying breakout seasons.
- Mamukelashvili and Queta are two of several minimum-salary players who should be in line for significant raises on their next contracts, according to Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link). Gozlan, who also examines players like Suns guards Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin, suggests Mamukelashvili could earn a starting salary of $8-10MM on his next deal and speculates that Queta’s floor will be the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($15MM+).
- Sam Vecenie of The Athletic identifies nine players he’s excited to watch in the NCAA Tournament, including top-five prospects like Duke’s Cameron Boozer and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, as well as a few projected to be drafted later in the first round, such as UConn’s Braylon Mullins, Houston’s Chris Cenac Jr. and Alabama’s Amari Allen.