Kelly Oubre (Elbow) To Be Reevaluated In Two Weeks
Kelly Oubre Jr. has been diagnosed with a sprain of the lateral collateral ligament in his left elbow, the Sixers announced today. He will be reevaluated in two weeks.
Oubre suffered the injury during Tuesday’s game against the Grizzlies, Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports notes (via Twitter). It was an otherwise memorable night for the 6’8″ wing, who recorded his season highs in points (30) and rebounds (12) vs. Memphis.
The Sixers are already without Joel Embiid (oblique strain), Paul George (suspension), and Tyrese Maxey (finger tendon injury) as they look to fight to stay in the playoff race. They are currently 1.5 games out of fifth place but only one game ahead of the No. 9 Hawks.
Oubre is averaging 14.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game this season while starting 36 of the 41 contests he has played in.
Dalen Terry, Trendon Watford, Jabari Walker, and Justin Edwards are among the candidates for increased minutes with Oubre sidelined.
Max Strus Nearing Season Debut For Cavaliers
Veteran wing Max Strus was assigned to the Cavaliers‘ G League affiliate to practice on Wednesday and is expected to remain with the Charge for another practice on Thursday and “possibly” a light workout on Friday morning, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
Strus underwent surgery in August to repair a Jones fracture in his left foot. He has yet to play in 2025/26.
Assuming Strus’ foot responds well after the practices — he hasn’t had any setbacks in his most recent ramp-up process, a source tells Cleveland.com — it’s possible he could make his season debut on Sunday when the Cavs return home to face Dallas, according to Fedor.
The Cavs announced last week that imaging on Strus’ foot had shown “progressive healing” and he had resumed individual on-court workouts. Practicing with the Charge was one of the scheduled activities he needed to participate in before playing again.
Strus has been a key contributor for Cleveland the last two seasons, averaging 11.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 29.3 minutes per contest on .426/.364/.802 shooting in 120 games, including 107 starts. The 29-year-old will likely be on a minutes restriction for the rest of the ’25/26 regular season, Fedor writes.
Pacers First NBA Team Eliminated From Postseason Contention
The Pacers became the first NBA team formally eliminated from postseason contention after they lost at Sacramento on Tuesday night and Charlotte picked up a victory in Portland, tweets Tony East of Circle City Spin.
Indiana has lost 10 straight games and currently has the worst record in the league at 15-50 (Sacramento improved to 16-50 with the win). Charlotte holds the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference at 33-33, and since the Pacers only have 17 games remaining, they have no way to make up the 17.5-game deficit.
As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star writes (subscription required), the Pacers were up 20 points with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter, but struggled the rest of the way. This is just the 10th time in the past 37 seasons that Indiana won’t make the playoffs.
“Crazy game,” Carlisle said. “End of the third quarter obviously was a big problem for us and their bench just played an unbelievable last 15 minutes of the game. Just tremendous. So you gotta give them a lot of credit. Their shot-making and aggression — all that — was big-time. We had some pretty good looks. They didn’t go in. That was disappointing. We did an awful lot of good things in the first two-and-a-half quarters, but unfortunately the last 18 minutes count.”
The Pacers have been decimated by injuries all season, Dopirak notes. As long as they hold a bottom-three record when 2025/26 ends, they’ll have a 52.1% chance at landing a top-four pick and 14.0% odds for the No. 1 selection. That’s noteworthy, because the 2026 first-round pick they traded to the Clippers for Ivica Zubac is top-four (and 10-30) protected.
The star of the game for the Kings was Devin Carter, who didn’t play at all in the first half, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. The 2024 lottery pick erupted for 22 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with a career-high 24 points, five rebounds and three assists in only 16 minutes of action.
“It felt great, especially my teammates trusting me, putting the ball in my hands,” Carter said. “They set me up for success, so it felt great.”
Carter admitted it’s been a tough season, as he hasn’t played much in year two. He has only made 27 appearances in 2025/26 and is averaging just 14.3 minutes per game.
“I haven’t been in the rotation much, so I wasn’t expecting too much,” Carter said. “Just trying to put my work in and stay ready.”
Carter has been ruled out of Tuesday’s game vs. Charlotte due to right calf soreness, Anderson tweets. Fellow guards Russell Westbrook (right quad contusion) and Malik Monk (right ankle soreness) will be sidelined as well.
Kings head coach Doug Christie voiced his opposition to tanking prior to Monday’s game, Dopirak adds.
“This is just me personally, I don’t mess with the game,” Christie said. “You do not mess with the game. You let the game do what it’s gonna do. There has to be a respect for the game and how you go about the game and how you play the game. In my opinion, stuff like that scars the players.
“How can I hold you accountable when there was a point where I was like, ‘Eh…’ You know, that’s just me. In many ways, we have to continuously protect our game and make sure that when we lace them up and we go out there, we’re giving our all always.”
Warriors’ Stephen Curry (Knee) Out At Least 10 More Days
Warriors superstar Stephen Curry will miss at least 10 more days due to his right knee injury, according to Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of ESPN.
Curry has missed 15 consecutive games due to patellofemoral pain syndrome, colloquially known as runner’s knee. Today’s update suggests he’ll miss at least five more contests.
Curry, who turns 38 years old on Saturday, has begun on-court work and is hoping to “intensify his workouts” in the coming days, sources tell Charania and Slater.
The Warriors put out a press release (Twitter link) confirming ESPN’s report.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, the Warriors are 23-16 when Curry plays this season but have gone just 9-17 without their leading scorer. Golden State is currently 32-33, the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference.
The Warriors dropped back-to-back games (at Utah and vs. Chicago) over the past two days. While the players were “relatively upbeat” after Monday’s loss, they were “quiet” and “frustrated” in the locker room after blowing a late lead on Tuesday, according to Nick Friedell of The Athletic.
“Both very winnable games,” head coach Steve Kerr said Tuesday after a 130-124 overtime loss to the Bulls at Chase Center. “Had the lead late tonight — obviously, one we should have had — but this is how the NBA is, especially when you’re beaten up. You’re not going to blow anybody out; games are gonna be tight; you got to finish, and we didn’t finish either of the last two nights.”
Several players were sidelined on Tuesday, Friedell writes, including De’Anthony Melton. Golden State limited Melton’s minutes on Monday because the team planned to play him on both ends of the back-to-back for the first time in 2025/26, but that didn’t come to fruition after he tweaked his adductor.
Center Kristaps Porzingis made his third appearance as a Warrior on Tuesday, finishing with 17 points (on 5-of-13 shooting), four rebounds and four blocks in 20 minutes. He acknowledged he’s not in peak shape right now but is optimistic his conditioning will improve if he can stay on the court consistently, Fridell writes.
Porzingis also discussed Curry’s ongoing absence after Tuesday’s game, Friedell adds.
“I want to play with Steph,” Porzingis said. “Who doesn’t? I know he’s doing everything he can to be back with us as soon as possible. And obviously, it’s a completely different team with him here. Hopefully, I get that chance soon.”
Checking In On Open Roster Spots
As our tracker shows, the following teams currently have one spot available on their 15-man standard rosters:
- Brooklyn Nets
- Golden State Warriors
- Houston Rockets
- Orlando Magic
- Toronto Raptors
The Nets have an opening after they decided not to re-sign rookie forward Grant Nelson, whose 10-day contract expired on Sunday night. They’re still operating below the salary cap, so there isn’t anything preventing them from signing another player.
The Warriors and Rockets are operating in luxury tax territory, and while they have plenty of room below their hard caps to add a 15th man, they’re probably not all that eager to increase their projected tax bills by bringing in someone who won’t play at all.
The Magic and Raptors are both operating less than $1MM away from the tax line, but each team has enough room to bring in a minimum-salary veteran on a rest-of-season contract without becoming a taxpayer, so if there’s someone out there they like, they don’t necessarily have to wait.
Toronto is expected to hold off at least a few more days though, in order to avoid a scenario in which the team wins a couple playoff series and Immanuel Quickley’s $500K bonus for making the Eastern Conference Finals pushes the Raptors’ salary over the tax line.
The Kings and Jazz are worth mentioning too. Sacramento’s 15th spot is currently held by Killian Hayes, whose second 10-day contract will expire on Saturday night. Utah, meanwhile, has two players — Mo Bamba and Andersson Garcia — signed to 10-day deals through next week.
Finally, there’s one notable team not mentioned in the list above because they technically have three open 15-man roster spots, not just one. That’s the Celtics. Boston is in the midst of executing an intricately timed plan to meet the NBA’s rules related to roster minimums for the rest of the season while narrowly staying out of the tax.
It’s a safe bet that Boston will stick with just 12 players for the maximum allowable 14 days before making a couple roster additions in mid-March. Current two-way player Max Shulga will likely get a promotion at that time for financial reasons (his rookie minimum salary wouldn’t be subject to “tax variance“). If all goes according to plan, the Celtics will be able to sign a 15th man on the last day of the regular season without surpassing the tax threshold.
Bulls’ Simons Out At Least Two More Games Due To Wrist Fracture
Combo guard Anfernee Simons will visit a hand specialist after the Bulls finish their ongoing road trip, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. The Bulls face the Clippers on Thursday and the Lakers on Friday before returning to Chicago ahead of Monday’s home game vs. Memphis.
Head coach Billy Donovan said Simons was able to take some shots during the Bulls’ shootaround on Tuesday. However, the 26-year-old is still experiencing pain, particularly when catching and dribbling the ball, Cowley writes.
Simons, who was acquired ahead of the deadline in a trade with Boston, appeared in six games with Chicago prior to aggravating an ulnar styroid fracture in his left wrist on February 21. He originally sustained the injury during training camp with the Celtics.
Donovan said a couple weeks ago that surgery wasn’t being considered for Simons. At the time, he suggested it might be an option once the season ends if the fracture was still causing Simons problems. The former first-round pick has missed Chicago’s last eight games because of the injury and will be out for at least two more.
Simons, who is earning $27.7MM in the final season of his contract, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer if he doesn’t sign a veteran extension before then. In 55 total games this season (24.9 minutes per contest), he has averaged 14.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists on .440/.385/.896 shooting splits.
Jazz Sign Andersson Garcia To 10-Day Contract
The Jazz have signed free agent forward Andersson Garcia to a 10-day contract, the team announced in a press release.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Garcia went undrafted in 2025 out of Texas A&M. He played five years of college basketball — two with Mississippi State and his final three with the Aggies.
As a reserve for Texas A&M in 2023/24, Garcia led the SEC in rebounds per game (9.1) en route to a spot on the conference’s All-Defense team. He averaged 6.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals on .518/.403/.702 shooting over his final two seasons with the Aggies (26.5 MPG).
Garcia has spent this season with the Mexico City Capitanes, the lone independent team in the NBA G League. In 35 combined games (25.3 MPG) in 2025/26, the 25-year-old has averaged 10.9 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 2.0 APG and 1.4 SPG on .547/.267/.691 shooting.
Garcia will be eligible to play up to five games with the Jazz and will earn $73,153 during his 10 days with the team. His contract runs through March 20.
The Jazz had an opening on their standard roster and didn’t need to waive anyone to sign Garcia.
Eastern Notes: Banchero, Poole, Pistons, P. Williams
Magic forward Paolo Banchero admits the first half of the season didn’t go the way he or the team wanted it to, but he has been playing excellent basketball over the past few weeks. The former No. 1 overall pick tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape he was motivated by not making the All-Star team.
“I’m always honest with myself,” Banchero told Andscape. “I looked in the mirror first. Over the All-Star break, I watched a lot of film over the early part of the season. I just wasn’t happy with what I put out. Some of that had to do with me being injured and coming back. …
“I could’ve had a better mindset, and that was part of it. But I know I’m an All-Star in this league. My confidence is still the same. It’s about being honest with yourself and realizing that you didn’t really deserve to be an All-Star, honestly. It’s about taking that with a grain of salt and being better in the second half of the season.”
In his 10 games (36.1 MPG) since the break, Banchero is averaging 26.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists (3.8 turnovers) on .508/.341/.822 shooting. The Magic are 7-3 in that span and currently have their longest winning streak of the season at four games.
“Paolo has been ultra-aggressive attacking, getting early baskets,” head coach Jamahl Mosley told Spears. “He’s also been taking on the best player assignments defensively.”
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Jordan Poole was disappointed he was traded by the Wizards over the summer, as he says he was told he was in the team’s long-term plans. “That’s what I was looking forward to,” Poole told Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “But it’s the NBA, so things happen differently.” According to Robbins, Poole’s tenure with the Wizards was largely “misunderstood.” While the team was abysmal during his two seasons, Poole was beloved by his teammates, who rushed over to greet the veteran guard after Sunday’s game in New Orleans. Kyshawn George, Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly all have said Poole helped boost their confidence, Robbins writes. “He just kept my head straight,” George said. “I didn’t necessarily shoot it well at the beginning of (last) season, but he was always there to tell me, ‘Keep going. Keep going. We need you to make shots at the end of the season. We need you to make shots through the next couple of years on the road, the important shots.’ (He was) just making sure that I stick with my habits, and I don’t lose confidence. I think that’s a big thing for me that he taught me: (With) 82 games in the NBA season, the first 15 don’t define you, the first 30 don’t define you. It’s really how you finish. And when it’s time to really play and hoop, you’ve got to show up.”
- The Pistons snapped their four-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 38-point road victory at Brooklyn, per Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. “We’ve been playing high-level basketball all year. Had a little bit of a dip,” Cade Cunningham said in his post-game interview. “Every team has a moment in the season where they think the sky is falling. We had that and we just wanted to get back on the right track.”
- Bulls head coach Billy Donovan is optimistic better days are ahead for Patrick Williams, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “He’s turned out to be a really good catch-and-shoot three-point shooter, but one of the things he was getting himself into trouble [with] was putting it down on the floor — traffic, turnovers,” Donovan said. “For him, it’s just a consistency part. He’s shown more consistent signs this year than he has in the past, but I still feel like there’s more there for him. I believe that.” The sixth-year forward has battled injuries in recent weeks and Williams’ contract — he’s in the second season of a five-year, $90MM deal — is “effectively immovable,” Cowley writes.
And-Ones: 2026 Mock, Schedule, Contracts, Weaver
Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, BYU forward AJ Dybantsa, Duke big man Cameron Boozer, and UNC forward Caleb Wilson are the top four picks — in that order — in the latest 2026 mock draft from Jeremy Woo of ESPN.
As Woo writes, while Peterson is the most talented offensive player in the 2026 class, injuries and inconsistency have led to a perception that selecting him first overall might carry more risk than adding Dybantsa or Boozer, who are both still in the mix for the top spot. Woo suggests which team wins the draft lottery might ultimately determine which player goes No. 1, with Peterson and Dybantsa viewed as the two frontrunners.
Illinois guard Keaton Wagler (No. 6) and Texas wing Dailyn Swain (No. 29) are among the prospects who have boosted their stocks this season, while Arizona forward Koa Peat (No. 19) and Baylor wing Tounde Yessoufou (No. 30) are trending in the opposite direction, according to Woo.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Dean Oliver of ESPN takes a look at how teams’ remaining strength of schedule could impact which NBA teams secure the third and fourth seeds in the Western Conference, the No. 2 spot in the East, and the fifth and sixth seeds in the East.
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report predicts which NBA contracts will be the riskiest ahead of the 2027/2028 season. Although he’s the “most likely” player to live up to his lucrative long-term contract, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s super-max extension will be the riskiest deal in the league in a couple seasons, per Pincus. The reigning MVP will be owed a projected $273.3MM over four years in ’27/28.
- Former NBA assistant Will Weaver has been named head coach and president of basketball operation of the Brisbane Bullets, he told Olgun Uluc of ESPN. The Bullets compete in the National Basketball League, which features nine Australian teams and one based in New Zealand. Weaver, who previously coached the Sydney Kings in 2019/20, is currently a coaching advisor for the Hornets and will continue in that role through the end of ’25/26, Uluc reports.
Injury Notes: Antetokounmpo, Prince, Young, Hart
Playing on Tuesday in just his fourth game since January following a lengthy absence due to a calf strain, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 22 points against Phoenix, but gave fans a scare or two when he appeared to tweak that troublesome calf. After the game, head coach Doc Rivers spoke about the injury, saying the calf wasn’t affected and that the incidents weren’t as bad as they initially appeared, as Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes (Bluesky link).
“I was scared,” he said, per The Athletic’s Eric Nehm (Twitter link). “The one time he went down in the first half, he said he was fine, he just tripped over a guy’s foot, so there was no injury. And then he got hit in the groin. And I’m thinking that’s a calf, the way he went down… and then he was just winded.”
Antetokounmpo ended up playing 32 minutes in the loss, his highest minutes total since January 23.
We have more injury news from around the league:
- Bucks forward Taurean Prince, who has been out since November after undergoing surgery to address a herniated disk in his neck, returned to action on Tuesday. “It’s cool because, honestly, I didn’t think he’d play this year,” Rivers said, per Nehm (via Twitter). “The fact that he’s worked the way he’s worked to get back on the floor, it’s just all about him and who he is. It really is. It’s really a cool thing.” The Bucks’ head coach went on to elucidate how important Prince’s presence was throughout the season, even when he was hurt. “When he got injured, we grabbed him and told him, ‘Welcome to the coaching staff’ because that’s basically what he was gonna be this year,” the coach said. “And early on, it did look like that. He was in a brace, couldn’t really do anything. And then as his neck started healing, hope came.”
- Wizards guard Trae Young missed Tuesday’s against the Heat, which turned out to be a historic contest, due to knee injury management, the team tweeted. Young recently returned to play for Washington after speculation that he would miss the rest of the season following his trade from the Hawks. He has yet to play more than 20 minutes in a game for Washington.
- Josh Hart is being listed as questionable for the Knicks‘ game against the Jazz on Wednesday due to left knee soreness, Steve Popper notes (Twitter link). Hart has suited up for the last 15 Knicks games, and while he’s averaging just 28.7 minutes per game, he is coming off one of his heaviest workloads of the season, playing nearly 37 minutes in Monday’s loss to the Clippers.