Injury Notes: Wemby, Castle, Nuggets, Bulls, Tyson, Barrett
Spurs star Victor Wembanyama has been upgraded from questionable to available for Friday’s game vs. Dallas, per Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News.
Orsborn’s colleague Jeff McDonald wrote on Thursday that San Antonio was privately optimistic that Wembanyama would be active Friday. The third-year center needs to play at least 20 minutes against the Mavs to qualify for major postseason awards. He left Monday’s game early due to a left rib contusion, an injury which sidelined him for Wednesday’s win over Portland.
Reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, who also missed Wednesday’s game, will be out again Friday, Orsborn adds. Head coach Mitch Johnson said Castle is dealing with multiple nagging injuries; he was listed as having right knee soreness two days ago, while Friday’s designation is left foot soreness.
“Eighty games and the way he plays. It’s real. We’re not just sitting him just to sit him,” Johnson said.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- The Nuggets will be playing without all five of their normal starters on Friday against Oklahoma City, as Bennett Durando of The Denver Post tweets. All five players (Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson) had previously been listed as questionable. Jokic sitting out means he’ll need to play at least 15 minutes in Sunday’s finale at San Antonio to be eligible for year-end awards.
- After missing three games with an illness, Bulls forward Matas Buzelis will return to action for Friday’s penultimate game vs. Orlando, according to Will Gottlieb of CHGO Bulls (Twitter link). Isaac Okoro (left quad contusion) will be out Friday but there’s a chance he could return for Sunday’s finale vs. Dallas, while Josh Giddey (left hamstring strain injury management), Guerschon Yabusele (left shoulder and left elbow sprains), Nick Richards (right elbow sprain) and Anfernee Simons (left wrist fracture) will miss the final two games of Chicago’s season.
- Jaylon Tyson is in the Cavaliers‘ starting lineup on Friday, tweets Danny Cunningham of Locked on Cavs. The second-year wing has missed Cleveland’s past 10 games due to a left great toe bone bruise. Tyson is starting in place of Donovan Mitchell, who is out with what the team calls right ankle injury management.
- Raptors wing RJ Barrett was a late scratch ahead of Friday’s contest vs. New York, as Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca relays (via Twitter). Barrett is dealing with right knee soreness. It’s the second night of a back-to-back for Toronto, which will also be without Immanuel Quickley and Collin Murray-Boyles. The Raptors can clinch a playoff spot if they beat the Knicks.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Horford, Santos, Durant, Suns
After missing nine straight games due to a right ankle contusion, former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart will return to action on Friday for the Lakers, tweets Jovan Buha. Los Angeles, which is jockeying for playoff seeding in the Western Conference, faces Phoenix tonight.
Head coach JJ Redick said Thursday that he spoke to Luka Doncic, who is rehabilitating from a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in Europe, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link). Redick said Doncic was in “relatively good spirits,” adding that it’s been good to have Austin Reaves around the team as he recovers from his own injury (oblique strain).
Redick also had a conversation with Jarred Vanderbilt about Tuesday’s spat in which the 27-year-old forward accosted Redick for calling a timeout to remove him from the game (Twitter link via McMenamin). Redick didn’t divulge any details about that conversation but said it went “great.” Vanderbilt played 26 minutes in Thursday’s win at Golden State after receiving five Tuesday.
Here’s more from around the Pacific Division:
- As expected, Al Horford will return from a 14-game absence on Friday in Sacramento, relays Anthony Slater of ESPN (via Twitter). The Warriors big man has been out since March 13 due to a right calf (soleus) strain. Horford, who holds a $5.97MM player option for next season, has averaged 8.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 blocks in 43 appearances in 2025/26 (21.7 minutes per game).
- Several filmmakers from Brazil have been recording documentary footage of Gui Santos throughout the course of the Warriors forward’s third NBA season, as Danny Emerman of The San Francisco Standard details. The former second-round pick has unexpectedly been thrust into a major rotation role the past couple months after Jimmy Butler suffered a torn ACL in his right knee. Santos said he watches every episode and his family back home in Brazil loves the series, which is released on YouTube with English subtitles. “It’s on the internet, so that’s one thing that’s never going to get lost,” Santos told Emerman. “So, when I’m 50 years old or 40 years old, sit with my grandsons on the sofa just watching that: ‘Look, your grandpa was strong, your grandpa was playing in the NBA.’ That will be nice.“
- Rockets forward Kevin Durant said prior to Tuesday’s matchup in Phoenix that he’s “pretty much over” the way his Suns tenure ended, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. It was Durant’s first game in Phoenix since he was traded to Houston last summer. “At the time, it was tough to take. A place I wanted to be. I wanted to keep building, but it’s the business of the league and it’s the business of basketball,” Durant said. “You’re not going to be in the same place all the time. It is what it is. Yeah, I was sour early on, but I think I’ve gotten over it. Time heals all. Just move on.” The 37-year-old star had 24 points, four rebounds and three assists during Tuesday’s game, which Houston won.
Lakers Waive Kobe Bufkin
4:50 pm: Bufkin has been waived, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
12:31 pm: The Lakers are placing guard Kobe Bufkin on waivers ahead of Friday’s 5:00 pm ET deadline, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The transaction will open up a spot on Los Angeles’ standard 15-man roster and the team is expected to evaluate options for that opening this weekend, Charania adds. Sunday is the deadline to re-add a 15th man — a signing would have to be completed ahead of Los Angeles’ regular season finale.
The 15th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Bufkin was traded from Atlanta to Brooklyn last summer after two underwhelming, injury-plagued seasons with the Hawks, then was cut by the Nets at the end of the preseason. He spent most of the season with the South Bay Lakers in the G League, earning a spot on the All-NBAGL second team after averaging 24.8 points, 4.1 assists, and 4.0 rebounds in 32.5 minutes per game (24 contests), with a shooting line of .507/.423/.895.
Bufkin’s strong play in the G League earned him 10-day deals from the Grizzlies and Lakers before he signed a standard two-year contract with Los Angeles in February. However, he has played limited minutes at the NBA level since being called up, averaging 2.9 PPG on .300/.192/.917 shooting in 16 games (7.4 MPG).
Bufkin’s two-year deal, worth the minimum salary, wasn’t guaranteed beyond this season. He’ll receive his full $844,607 salary for 2025/26, but the Lakers won’t be on the hook for any money for ’26/27, regardless of whether or not he clears waivers on Sunday.
While there have been no reports yet on which players the Lakers are considering to replace Bufkin on their roster, backcourt depth is a potential area of need, with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves both sidelined due to injuries.
Sixers Promote Dalen Terry, Cut Cameron Payne
4:48 pm: Terry has been promoted and Payne has been waived, the Sixers confirmed in a press release.
1:55 pm: The Sixers are making a change at the back of their roster ahead of the postseason, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link), who reports that wing Dalen Terry is being promoted from his two-way contract to a standard deal, while point guard Cameron Payne will be placed on waivers.
A first-round pick in 2022, Terry spent his first three-and-a-half NBA seasons in Chicago before being traded twice and then waived by New Orleans in February. He caught on with Philadelphia on a two-way deal after clearing waivers and has since appeared in 13 NBA games for the team, averaging 4.3 points, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 rebounds in 13.0 minutes per night.
Terry, who was one game away from reaching his active-game limit as a two-way player, can be active on both Friday and Sunday if his promotion is finalized today. As a member of the standard 15-man roster, he will also be eligible to take part in any of the Sixers’ play-in and/or playoff games this spring.
According to Jones, Terry’s new contract will feature a team option for the 2026/27 season, giving the 76ers the opportunity to bring him back next season at a minimum-salary rate if they so choose.
As for Payne, he was another post-trade-deadline addition for Philadelphia, having signed a rest-of-season, minimum-salary deal on February 18. He saw action in each of his first 20 games as a Sixer but had fallen out of the rotation as of late, receiving a pair of DNP-CDs last week before suffering a hamstring strain over the weekend. The 31-year-old averaged 7.4 PPG and 2.6 APG on .376/.330/.864 shooting in 17.0 MPG.
Payne will clear waivers and become a free agent on Sunday.
Pistons Notes: Cunningham, Duren, T. Smith, M. Williams
The 65-game rule has been a hot topic of conversation in recent weeks amid injuries to Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards and Luka Doncic, all of whom would have been shoo-ins for All-NBA spots prior to getting hurt. Pistons star Cunningham reflected on the rule after Wednesday’s win over Milwaukee, his first game back from a collapsed lung, writes Hunter Patterson of The Athletic.
“I feel a lot of different ways about it,” Cunningham said. “What they were trying to do with it is have superstars play and not sit out just to rest, because fans pay a lot of money to come watch us play games. I have a lot of respect for that; I know fans come to watch me play. I want to make sure I’m available and I give them a show whenever they come out. So in that way, I respect the rule. I think it’s a good rule.
“It’s tough for me right now, this year, because I think I did a lot of work to be in consideration for awards and All-NBA. I’m in a tough spot, but I think it’ll all play out how it’s supposed to play out. I’m just trying to do my best to help my team win. I’m hearing all this stuff about exceptions … I don’t know how all that works. I just keep doing my job day by day. Whatever comes will come, whatever is meant to be will be.”
Here’s more from Detroit:
- While Cunningham may not qualify for major postseason awards, All-Star center Jalen Duren met the minimum requirement on Wednesday, Patterson notes. Duren, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, offered some insight into Cunningham’s mentality while he was recovering from the injury. “Time away for him, probably personally, was needed,” Duren said. “It sucks that he was injured, but I think it gave him a mental break, obviously a physical break. He was able to kind of shake back and get his body right going into the playoffs. In terms of the team, I don’t think we really missed a beat because he wasn’t away. We were still around him, he would still be talking, he was still in the facility, still in the group chat, still giving his opinion on games. So it wasn’t really like he was away and today was the first time we’d seen him. His presence was always around.”
- Second-year big man Tolu Smith was converted from a two-way deal to a two-year standard contract earlier this week. The former Mississippi State star said his family was emotional when he FaceTimed them to inform them of the news, according to Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter video link). Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said the 25-year-old earned the promotion, Sankofa adds (via Twitter). “He’s been great. Over the past couple of years he’s done everything we’ve asked him to and more,” Bickerstaff said. “He plays a similar brand we play … we’ve seen stretches this year where he’s just dominated the painted area and dominated the offensive and defensive boards.”
- In an interesting interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, former Pistons head coach Monty Williams said he still follows the team and remains in contact with members of the organization. “Yeah, I do. I was talking to [Pistons assistant coach] Fred Vinson today, actually,” Williams told Spears. “Those guys have done an unreal job there. … I’ve been on teams that won. I’ve been on teams that didn’t win, and that was a failure for me — Detroit was. And I don’t shy away from that. What J.B. [Bickerstaff] and that staff have been able to do there should be applauded. Those guys are knocking it out of the park, and Cade is exactly what I thought he was. I couldn’t bring it out of him like J.B. has. And Jalen is knocking it out of the park, and Ausar [Thompson] and all those kids, man, they’re awesome. Would I have loved to have been a part of that? Absolutely. … But man, I’m cool with where I am and happy for those guys. I still talk to a number of people up there. … But yeah, I don’t shy away from that. I failed and that’s only going to make me better as a coach. And I’ve been able to share my failures with other people so that they can be better. I think that’s what life is about — or part of living — is to be able to talk about your shortcomings and failures so that you can help another person not go down that road. And that’s how I view it.” Williams has spent the past two seasons coaching his sons in Texas — his older son Elijah Williams, who has committed to Baylor, could be a one-and-done prospect in the 2027 draft, Spears writes. Williams added that he hasn’t ruled out a potential NBA return down the line, but he’s not actively seeking out head coaching jobs.
Atlantic Notes: Knicks, Embiid, Grimes, Ingram, CMB
The nine players the Knicks used in Thursday’s win over Boston will likely make up the team’s playoff rotation, head coach Mike Brown said after the game, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. That group includes starters Karl-Anthony Towns, Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Miles Bridges and Josh Hart, plus reserves Mitchell Robinson, Miles McBride, Landry Shamet, and Jordan Clarkson.
“Those guys are probably our top nine when you’re talking about the playoffs,” Brown said. “And it’s hard to play more than nine guys (in the playoffs).”
While it’s probably no shock that rookie forward Mohamed Diawara and second-year guard Tyler Kolek didn’t make the cut, it’s notable that veteran guard Jose Alvarado – whom New York gave up a couple second-round picks to acquire in February – isn’t among that top nine. The former Pelican has been a DNP-CD in each of the Knicks’ past two games, but he suggested on Thursday that he’s unfazed by his declining role.
“I’m good. I’m chilling. I’m ready for my moment. I’m ready for my name to get called, whenever it is,” Alvarado said, according to Bondy. “Like you said, I started off here high. That was the best way to start. So there’s only one way to go — down. We just stay there mentally. This is my home team. I love the organization, I love the Knicks. So just whenever it’s Jose’s time, whenever that time is, I’m ready.”
Here’s more from out of the Atlantic:
- Joel Embiid‘s emergency appendectomy changes everything for the Sixers, making the team’s path to a playoff spot more difficult and significantly reducing its odds of winning a series, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. The 76ers issued an update on Embiid on Friday, announcing that he’s returning to Philadelphia following a successful procedure in Houston, but no timeline has been set for his return to basketball activities (Twitter link via Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports).
- Quentin Grimes will be an unrestricted free agent this summer after accepting his one-year qualifying offer as a RFA last offseason. The Sixers guard’s role has fluctuated throughout the season with teammates in and out of the lineup, per Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer, but Grimes recently described his performance in 2025/26 as “solid” and he believes he “maximized” his opportunities. “Be in attack mode. Be a good on-ball defender. Make plays for myself and teammates,” Grimes said last week. “The whole year has asked for me to do different things. But I feel like, when the whole team’s healthy, my natural self is still playing my same game I’ve been playing the whole year.”
- There was some uncertainty entering the fall about what the Raptors could expect from forward Brandon Ingram – who missed most of last season due to ankle injury – and lottery pick Collin Murray-Boyles, who wasn’t viewed as an immediate difference-maker at the NBA level. But Toronto has gotten near best-case outcomes from both players, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, who says Ingram’s All-Star play and Murray-Boyles’ rapid development have helped get Toronto on the verge of its first playoff appearance since 2022. The Raptors can clinch a playoff berth with a win over New York on Friday, but they’ll be missing Murray-Boyles (neck sprain) and point guard Immanuel Quickley (plantar fasciitis injury management), tweets Grange.
Rory Maher contributed to this post.
And-Ones: Lottery Reform, MVP, Playoff Storylines, Jones
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday that the lottery reform concept which has gained the most momentum is one that would expand the lottery to 18 teams and give the bottom 10 clubs equal odds at the top pick (8% each). The remaining 20% would be split among the eight play-in teams, with each of the top 18 spots in the draft drawn via lottery.
However, according to Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports, a number of general managers who took part in a call on Tuesday to discuss the issue expressed reservations about that proposal, noting that it would give teams some incentives to tank out of the top six into play-in range — or to tank out of the play-in altogether.
“This solves nothing,” one GM said. “It could make the problem even worse just like the 14% odds did.”
As O’Connor details, some GMs expressed support for expanding the lottery to 22 teams instead of 14, since the idea of a team tanking a playoff series in order for an outside shot at the No. 1 pick is considered unlikely. Additionally, the odds would be flattened even further with 22 teams in the mix, reducing the appeal of tanking into a specific spot, O’Connor writes, since the upside would be smaller.
With the NBA looking to discourage a race to the bottom, one general manager suggested that the league’s worst three teams shouldn’t even be eligible for the No. 1 overall pick, O’Connor reports. While the league office found that suggestion to be too extreme, commissioner Adam Silver responded more enthusiastically to a proposal to slightly reduce the odds for the bottom three finishers.
If the NBA were to expand the lottery to 22 teams and slightly reduce the odds for the bottom three teams, O’Connor suggests that the result could look something like this: A 5% shot at the No. 1 pick for the bottom three teams; 6% for the other seven non-play-in teams; 5% for the play-in losers; 4% for the two worst teams among the first-round losers; 3% for the next three worst first-round losers; and 2% for the remaining three first-round losers.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NBA:
- Who is the players’ choice for 2026 Most Valuable Player? According to Sam Amick, Josh Robbins, and Joe Vardon, the overwhelming choice among players polled by The Athletic is Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who received 62 of 159 total votes (39.0%). Nuggets center Nikola Jokic came in second with 34 votes (21.6%), while no other player earned more than 13 (8.2%). Notably, Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama finished outside the top five, though two of the players ahead of him – Pistons guard Cade Cunningham and Lakers guard Luka Doncic – may not end up being award-eligible due to the 65-game rule.
- Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN spoke to executives, coaches, and scouts around the NBA to get a sense of which storylines they’ll be watching closest during the postseason. Those storylines include the Cavaliers‘ defensive regression, the Spurs‘ shooting surge, and Jalen Duren‘s ability to be a second option on a Finals team. “I like Duren,” one Western Conference executive said of the Pistons center, who will be a restricted free agent this summer. “I’m terrified to give him his max (salary), but the dude is a beast. He grabs every rebound, can guard and his scoring has exceeded everything I would have expected coming into the season.”
- After 36 years at the network, veteran NBA and college football play-by-play announcer Mark Jones is leaving ESPN, reports Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. According to Marchand, this Sunday’s game between Boston and Orlando will be the final one Jones works on ESPN.
Grizzlies Re-Sign Lucas Williamson To Hardship Deal
The Grizzlies have re-signed guard Lucas Williamson to a second hardship contract, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link). Williamson’s initial 10-day deal expired overnight on Thursday.
Because he’s being signed using a hardship exception, Williamson’s deal is considered to be a 10-day contract, though it’ll only actually cover the last three days (two games) of the regular season before expiring. He’ll earn $21,946, a prorated portion of the usual 10-day salary for a rookie.
A G League veteran who spent this season playing for the Memphis Hustle and Windy City Bulls prior to his call-up, Williamson appeared in five games during his first 10 days with the Grizzlies, averaging 9.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 28.2 minutes per contest. The 27-year-old has logged at least 36 minutes in each of his past three outings for a banged-up Memphis squad.
Williamson is one of four Grizzlies players signed to a hardship contract to close the regular season. The team is permitted to comfortably exceed the usual 15-man limit because it has seven total players who have missed at least three consecutive games and have been ruled out for the season. Dariq Whitehead, Toby Okani, and Adama Bal are also on 10-day deals that will expire on Sunday night, following Memphis’ regular season finale.
The Grizzlies are in full-on tank mode as the regular season winds down, having lost 19 of their past 21 games. Leaning heavily on their four late-season hardship additions has helped that cause — Williamson’s individual net rating is the best of the bunch at minus-15.4, while Whitehead’s is the worst at minus-29.4.
Heat Place Terry Rozier On Waivers
12:32 pm: The Heat have officially waived Rozier, tweets Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
9:01 am: As expected, the Heat will waive guard Terry Rozier on Friday, before the end of the regular season, confirms ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
The move has long been anticipated, with reports in March indicating that Miami still planned to move on from Rozier at some point before the postseason began. The 32-year-old has been on leave for nearly the entire 2025/26 season after being arrested in October in connection with a federal investigation into illegal gambling. He pleaded not guilty in December to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The Heat kept Rozier on their 15-man roster through the trade deadline due to the possibility that they might be able to use his expiring $26.6MM contract in a deal for matching purposes. However, no appealing trade opportunities arose.
Presumably, the Heat would also still like to recoup some of Rozier’s $26.6MM salary — they may be able to do so, depending on how his case plays out in the courts. But with the guard’s contract set to expire and no chance that he’ll contribute to the Heat in the play-in tournament, it didn’t make sense to keep him on the roster any longer.
Typically, the deadline to waive a player on an expiring contract would have been Thursday, but because none of Sunday’s games are starting before 6:00 pm Eastern time, a player waived before 5:00 pm ET on Friday will clear waivers in time to give all 30 teams a shot at him before their final game of the season (though, of course, no team will be signing Rozier).
The Heat will have an open roster spot after waiving Rozier and local beat writers have suggested as of late that elevating a two-way player to a standard contract is a real possibility. None of Miami’s three players on two-way deals have played significant roles this season, with Jahmir Young appearing in 12 games, Vladislav Goldin playing in seven, and Trevor Keels seeing action in six, but the club may like the idea of locking up one of them to a favorable multiyear contract.
The Heat will have until Sunday to sign a 15th man.
Nets Notes: Claxton, Fernandez, Giannis, Draft
After winning 26 games a year ago, the Nets will enter the final weekend of the 2025/26 season with a 20-60 record, their worst mark in a decade. All of that losing has taken a mental toll, starting center Nic Claxton admits, but the 26-year-old is trying to find the silver linings in a challenging year and is hoping better things are in store for the team beginning in ’26/27, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
“You can’t let it affect your preparation and your mindset. Even this year I struggled with that some. Going into games you have to go in with the mindset, ‘OK, we’re going to win this game,'” Claxton said. “But as far as wins and losses, I get what (head coach) Jordi (Fernandez) is saying. It doesn’t always come with the scoreboard. It can be seeing our rookies go out and spread their wings and gain confidence. … It can be me maturing and finding that peace within myself no matter what’s going on out there on the court. … Then next year hopefully we get some more actual wins.”
Claxton, who has averaged 11.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and a career-high 3.7 assists in 27.8 minutes per game across 69 outings this season, has missed the past three games due to a right fifth finger sprain and may not play again this spring. Although he underwent an MRI on that finger this week, the big man is optimistic that the injury won’t require surgery, Lewis tweets.
“No, I don’t think so,” Claxton said. “Give it some time to rest. I think it’ll heal up. Not trying to have any procedures.”
Here are a few more notes on the Nets:
- Fernandez’s career winning percentage as a head coach has dropped to .284 (46-116) as a result of Brooklyn’s poor season, but he said this week that he appreciates the trust the organization has placed in him and that holding one of the NBA’s 30 head coaching job is “very special” for him. “This job means a lot to me and my family,” Fernandez said, per C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News, adding that Brooklyn is “home for us and will be home forever.” The second-year coach is hopeful he’ll get the opportunity to lead the team out of its rebuild and back towards contention. “My goal is not just to keep it but help the organization with the plan that we have and build success and sustain it,” he said. “Good things are going to happen in the long run.”
- The Nets weren’t among the teams pursuing Giannis Antetokounmpo ahead of February’s trade deadline, but they may be in better position to explore a trade for the Bucks star this summer, Lewis writes for the New York Post. Brooklyn’s front office has long viewed Antetokounmpo as its “white whale,” says Lewis, and the team wants to become more competitive beginning in 2026/27. “They’ll make calls (on the biggest stars),” one source told The Post. “They’ve made calls in the past.”
- The draft lottery reform measures the NBA is considering implementing may benefit the Nets, who have stockpiled a surplus of future first-round picks to supplement their own selections, but the concepts reported so far look like shortsighted solutions that will have problematic unintended consequences, Lewis argues in another story for the Post.