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And-Ones: MVP Race, Expansion, NBA Cup, All-Star Voting

December 19th, 2025 at 9:20am CST by Luke Adams

If the results of the first Most Valuable Player straw poll conducted this season by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps are any indication, a pair of Northwest Division stars could be on their way to one of the tightest MVP races in recent NBA history.

Of the 100 media members polled by Bontemps, 57 chose Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as their early MVP of 2025/26, while 42 selected Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. Gilgeous-Alexander earned 865 total points, narrowly edging out Jokic (822). Both players were well clear of third-place finisher Luka Doncic of the Lakers, who had 432 points and earned the only other first-place vote.

The Thunder’s 25-2 start to the season has helped give Gilgeous-Alexander the early edge, but he has also been even better than he was when he won his first MVP award in 2024/25, with career-best shooting percentages of 55.9% from the floor and 43.2% on three-pointers. He’s averaging 32.4 points per game despite playing just 33.0 minutes per night, his lowest mark since he was a rookie in ’18/19.

Although Jokic’s scoring average lags behind SGA’s, his 29.6 points per game would be a career high, and he’s leading the NBA in rebounds (12.3) and assists (10.9) per game while shooting a remarkable 61.2% from the floor and 42.6% from beyond the arc. His Nuggets have the second-best record in the West (20-6).

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic identifies four factors that may determine whether or not the NBA announces plans for expansion at some point in 2026, while John Hollinger of The Athletic considers what exactly it would look like if the league established new franchises in Seattle and Las Vegas. As Hollinger points out, a 32-team league seems likely to result in a move to four-team divisions, which would make sense for numerous reasons. For one, each division could be a group for NBA Cup purposes, with the division winners advancing to the knockout round. Plus, if each team played its division rivals four times apiece, other clubs in its conference three times, and clubs from the opposing twice, it would work out to an 80-game schedule (the remaining two games would be added based on the NBA Cup results).
Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium is being considered as a possible home for the NBA Cup’s championship game in 2026, ESPN’s Shams Charania said during an appearance on NBA Today (Twitter video link). Reporting earlier this week indicated that the league is strongly weighing the idea of moving the Cup final to a new neutral site after Las Vegas hosted it in each of the past three Decembers.
The NBA’s All-Star voting, which began on Wednesday, will run through January 14, the league announced this week (Twitter link). Fan votes make up 50% of the total vote for All-Star starters, with players (25%) and media members (25%) also weighing in.

Pistons Notes: Bickerstaff, Officiating, Trade Targets, Cunningham

December 19th, 2025 at 8:09am CST by Luke Adams

The Pistons had their four-game winning streak snapped on Thursday in Dallas as the Mavericks pulled out a nail-biting 116-114 upset victory in overtime. During his post-game remarks to the media, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff stressed that his team didn’t lose the game solely because of the officiating, but aired out a number of complaints about the referees, with a focus on crew chief John Goble.

As Tim MacMahon of ESPN writes, Bickerstaff never explicitly called out Goble by name. However, he repeatedly cited calls made by the crew chief and told reporters that Goble said to him during the game, “Night by night, this is how our interactions are.”

“So, that says to me that the referee is coming into the game not being objective,” Bickerstaff said. “OK? That same referee, at halftime, I get my technical foul. I don’t say anything to him. I go to grab Cade (Cunningham) to get Cade off the floor. He gives me a technical foul. That’s my job to get my player away from the referee, get us back to halftime so we can have the conversations that we need to have.

“So, the same referee who comes into the game who’s not objective, and then he goes out and makes those calls. (That) same referee, if you take a look at the play where he ejects (Ausar Thompson), he steps towards A.T., right? That’s where the minimal contact happens, where he steps towards him and initiates it.”

Goble told pool reporter Christian Clark of The Athletic after the game that he assessed Bickerstaff with a technical foul for “continuous complaining” and that Thompson was ejected for “aggressively approaching and making contact with an official.”

Bickerstaff also wasn’t happy about the fact that he wasn’t awarded a timeout during the Pistons’ final offensive possession despite the fact that “that same referee” (Goble) was standing next to him.

“You had one guy who wanted to make the game about the referees when that’s not what this should have been,” Bickerstaff said. “This was two teams competing their tails off, playing high-level basketball. But anybody who comes into the game and says ‘night by night,’ he clearly has an unobjective point of view.”

Here’s more on the Pistons:

In a subscriber-only story for The Detroit Free Press, Omari Sankofa II identifies three-point shooting, power forward depth, and a second scorer to complement Cunningham as three areas the Pistons should be focusing on as the trade deadline approaches. Sankofa also singles out a few players who could be targeted in trades to address those needs, including Lauri Markkanen, Sam Hauser, and Dorian Finney-Smith.
Cunningham just turned 24 years old in September, but he has already emerged as the Pistons’ leader. Hunter Patterson of The Athletic traces Cunningham’s desire to lead back to his high school days, when he was the youngest player on his varsity team and felt like the “odd man out” among players who didn’t want him there. “Me and those guys have come to terms, and we’re all good now. But it was something that made me grow a lot,” Cunningham explained. “… I learned how to lead from that, learned how to make people feel how I wanted to be made to feel at that time. I think that was one of the first moments where I was like, ‘I don’t like how this type of leadership is, and I want to be better whenever I have that opportunity to be the best player on the team.’ So I always revert back to that team whenever I’m thinking about how a leader was (that) I didn’t like.”
After finishing seventh in MVP voting a year ago, Cunningham has career-high averages of 27.2 points, 9.2 assists, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game so far this season. Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said prior to Thursday’s game that the Pistons guard deserves to be an even bigger part of the MVP conversation this season. “When you look at the pace, his speed and his ability to control the game not just from scoring but passing,” Kidd said (Twitter link via Sankofa). “… He understands when it’s time to go. He should be mentioned with the MVPs, if not MVP right now, because of the high level he’s playing.”

Giannis Downplays Trade Talk, Claims He’s ‘Locked In’ With Bucks

December 18th, 2025 at 10:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Giannis Antetokounmpo distanced himself on Thursday from a report earlier this month that he and his agent Alex Saratsis have held discussions with the Bucks regarding his future.

“If my agent is talking to the Bucks about it, he is his own person,” Antetokounmpo said, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “He can have any conversation he wants about it. At the end of the day, I don’t work for my agent; my agent works for me. And there’s going to be conversations that are going to be made between him and the Bucks, and him and his other players, and him and other teams and other GMs, executives around the league. It’s something that you can’t control. But at the end of the day, I personally have not had the conversation with the Bucks.”

Antetokounmpo held court with the media for the first time since he suffered a calf strain on December 3 that knocked him out of action. The superstar forward said he remains focused on maximizing the potential of his current team.

“I’m still locked in, locked in on my teammates. Most importantly, locked in on me getting back healthy,” Antetokounmpo said. “And then, locked in on my teammates and how can I help them from the sideline or encourage them to be able to play and play free? Because at the end of the day, it takes a toll on them, too, right? They’re playing game after game after game. Thank God we’ve had a very good schedule in the last couple of weeks, but it takes a toll on them, too — rumors, injuries, lose, win. It’s hard, right? As a leader, but most importantly as a winner, you just gotta be there for them first.”

Antetokounmpo recognizes that the trade rumors aren’t going to die down unless the Bucks go on a hot streak.

“Do I hope it ends? For sure. Do I think it’s going to end? No,” he said. “I think when people see cracks, they see opportunity to get in through those cracks. And I understand it. It’s part of the game. It’s part of winning. You’ve gotta make the right moves to create the best chance for your organization to compete and win a championship. So, I get it.

“If I was on the other side and I was an executive, I would probably do the same thing. Eventually, you’re going to break. We’re going to keep on calling you, and if the team is not doing well or is not performing in the standings the way you guys think it should, we’re going to keep on calling until you say, ‘OK, let’s get it done.’ That’s how it works in business.”

Milwaukee is currently floundering near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with an 11-17 record. While he waits to get healthy enough to play again, he has tried to encourage his teammates and make sure they’re playing with a sense of urgency.

“You just gotta give urgency to the team. Like, ‘Guys, this is serious,’” Antetokounmpo said. “Who are we trying to be? We gotta turn this around. We have time to turn this around. And you gotta have a little bit more urgency. I think I’ve had the conversation with the coach about it; I think I’ve had the conversation with individual players about it. I’ve been approached by teammates and asked about the rumors because it also may affect their own life and their own career. I’m straight with them, whatever that answer might be.”

As for his soleus (calf) strain, Antetokounmpo believes it was related to a previous injury — he had a left adductor strain earlier in the season. He doesn’t want to make the same mistake regarding his latest ailment. Reporting at the time of the calf injury suggested a recovery timeline of two-to-four weeks, though it doesn’t appear he’s close to returning.

“As a leader of this team, when we are competing and you feel like maybe you’re not out there to help your team and not giving your team the best chance, you kind of feel like sometimes it’s your fault,” Antetokounmpo said. “And instead of taking the time — the appropriate time — for you to get back, you kind of rush things, which that’s what I’ve done my whole career, just to be out there. So, maybe it was a mistake of me coming back a little bit earlier. … The only way you can pop your soleus is by overcompensating and then having an extreme amount of (work) load or play a lot of games in a short period of time.”

Community Shootaround: Knicks’ Title Drought

December 18th, 2025 at 9:14pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Knicks finally stood atop the NBA world this week, even if it was just the in-season tournament. Winning the NBA Cup was a nice way to head into the holidays but the franchise and its fans are looking for something much bigger – a trip to the Finals and the Larry O’Brien trophy.

They reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season for the first time in a quarter century, only to get knocked out by the underdog Pacers. They haven’t sniffed the Finals since the 1998/99 season, when the Spurs’ Twin Towers of David Robinson and Tim Duncan bounced them in a five-game series.

As their long-time fans know, the Knicks haven’t hoisted the trophy since 1973, when the iconic starting five of Willis Reed, Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe carried them past the Lakers.

The Eastern Conference certainly seems ripe for the taking. The Pistons have been nothing short of marvelous during the first two months of the season but they haven’t won a playoff series since 2008.

The Cavaliers, who rolled to the top seed in the conference last season, are hovering around .500. Perhaps a young team like the Magic can get hot at the right time, but currently the Knicks are a solid favorite to come out of the East.

Via trades and free agency, the Knicks have assembled a formidable starting five (or six, if you count Mitchell Robinson) in Most Valuable Player candidate Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart.

Offensively, they rank in the top five in points and three-point shooting while keeping their turnovers down. Defensively, they rank in the top five in opponents’ field goal percentage.

Their bench may be somewhat underwhelming, though they have some veteran pieces. Their ability to make moves is severely hamstrung by the fact that they’re hard-capped and operating narrowly below the second tax apron.

That brings us to today’s topic: Is this the season the Knicks finally reach the Finals again and perhaps even win the championship for the first time in 53 years? If not, what do you think will hold them back?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Northwest Notes: Joe, Wiggins, Blazers, Timberwolves

December 18th, 2025 at 7:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Isaiah Joe is back in action tonight for the Thunder after missing four games due to a bruised left knee. Alex Caruso said that Joe’s presence provides optimal spacing of the floor, Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman tweets.

Joe is averaging 12.9 points per game, with most of them coming from beyond the arc. He’s attempting 6.9 three-point shots per game and making 41.9% of them.

“He’s the anomaly for our team with spacing rules and cutting and moving stuff,” Caruso said. “He’s the one guy we tell to stand a couple feet behind the line and space the floor as far away from the basket as you can because he carries that threat.”

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

Aaron Wiggins is also averaging better than 41% on his three-point tries for the Thunder this season. Wiggins has filled up the stat sheet, averaging a career-best 12.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 24.2 minutes per game. “He’s a guy who has mastered our system over time on both ends of the floor,” coach Mark Daigneault told Martinez. “He’s just a system monster. He’s finding different ways to impact the game. … He’s an impressive person from that standpoint. He can wear a lot of different masks.”
Interim Trail Blazers coach Tiago Splitter has come up with a novel way of motivating his players to excel on the defensive end, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. They have started a new post-game ritual that recognizes defensive prowess. After each win, the Blazers’ coaching staff will select a player they deem to be the “best defender of the night,” and that player will write his name on a piece of paper and slide it into a small wooden box. At the end of the season, the players with the most entries will win a to-be-determined prize. “I wanted to do something for the group, (offer) a little reward for a good defensive day,” Splitter said.
The Timberwolves haven’t played like an elite Western Conference team this season, Chris Hine of the Star Tribune opines. A case in point was their home loss to Memphis on Wednesday. “Our offensive decision-making was awful,” head coach Chris Finch said. “From shot selection to turnovers to execution it was just not very good.” The Wolves will get a chance to show they can still compete at that previous level on Friday when they face the Thunder, who defeated them 113-105 in late November.

Heat Notes: Powell, Rozier, Smith, Offense

December 18th, 2025 at 6:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Heat forward Norman Powell was on the injury report due to calf discomfort but played against the Nets on Thursday. Powell said he won’t let nagging injuries stop him from suiting up, according to Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.

“I think it’s not too much of a concern with me. I mean, every place that I’ve been, every organization knows what type of player I am, my mentality, playing through injuries, trying to be on the court as much as possible,” he said. “I always tell them, like, I’m a player that I broke my hand in a game back when I was in Toronto, and I went back in the game and played. I played through strains and things like that. I push my body to the limit.”

Powell is headed to unrestricted free agency in the summer if he doesn’t sign an extension. The 32-year-old, who is averaging 24.4 points per game, is still seeking his first All-Star nod.

“It’s always been a goal of mine since I was a kid,” he said. “But a lot of that stuff is out of my control. I know a lot of people have talked about it since last year. People have talked about it this year. My job is to go out there and play the best brand of basketball that I know I’m capable of playing and helping the team get wins and get back on track. Obviously, individual accolades are great, and you want that.”

Here’s more on the Heat:

The NBA and the Players Association held their grievance hearing Wednesday in New York regarding the league’s withholding of Terry Rozier’s salary in an escrow-type interest-bearing account, but a resolution was not reached. Rozier is on indefinite unpaid leave after being arrested on federal charges related to illegal gambling. A formal, written ruling on the grievance is not expected until next month, likely after the NBA’s Jan. 7 salary guarantee deadline, Winderman writes.
Dru Smith has endured two major injuries to his knee and Achilles during his career. He has pushed through adversity to earn a three-year contract and a spot in the rotation. “I’m just proud of myself for making it back to this point,” Smith said, per the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang. “Honestly, a year ago, I would have been like, ‘I have no idea what it’s going to look like.’ So just to be back, be playing, I think I’ve been available every night. That was a huge thing going into the year. Obviously, that’s been one of my biggest issues is just being able to be available for the team. So just trying to make sure that I’m continuing to keep up with everything, continue to take care of my body because we’re still not through December and I haven’t seen it through December in a couple of years.”
Miami’s offensive numbers have cratered during their current five-game losing streak but Powell told Chiang that’s a secondary issue. “We’ve got to be a defensive-first team,” Powell said. “I think we shifted a little bit because our offense was so great. We thought, well, we can just come in and score and everybody’s going to get their shots, and it’s going to be great. But teams are adjusting, so now we have to really adjust. It’s still early. We’ve still got time, but the identity of who we have to be is going to be a defensive Miami Heat team.”

Nets Notes: Wolf, Porter Jr., Hauser, Highsmith

December 18th, 2025 at 5:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nets big man Danny Wolf lasted until the No. 27 pick in the June draft and he’ll use that as motivation the rest of his career, he told Brian Lewis of the New York Post (subscription required).

“Obviously, I’d be faulted to say I don’t have a chip on my shoulder to not only prove others wrong and prove teams or guys picked ahead of me wrong and just prove myself right, that I know what I can become,” Wolf said. “I’m going to have that chip on my shoulder as long as I’m in this league. … So I use it [for] motivation, but all I’m going to do is work, as I have done.”

The biggest concern regarding Wolf coming out of Michigan was his ability to defend at the NBA level. He has shown thus far that he can more than hold his own at that end, according to Lewis, who notes that Wolf’s defensive field goal percentage (40%) ranks first among rookies who have defended at least 30 shots.

“There were a lot of questions from teams and front offices as to who I could guard. I took that as a chip on my shoulder to prove that I can more than guard in this league,” Wolf said. “But it’s a work in progress, and I need to continue to get quicker and stronger.”

Here’s more on the Nets:

Michael Porter Jr. is posting career-high numbers and the New York Daily News’ C.J. Holmes uses more advanced statistic measures to lay out Porter’s All-Star case. However, the fact that Porter is playing for a rebuilding club certainly hinders his chances. Holmes notes the Nets are 6-3 when Porter scores 30 points or more. “I mean, just look at what we look like when he’s on the court versus when he’s not on the court,” center Nic Claxton said. “He does so much. He creates so many opportunities for himself, for other teammates. His averages are off the charts, so he definitely should be an All-Star.” Porter is averaging 25.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.
Former Michigan State forward Joey Hauser, brother of the Celtics’ Sam Hauser, is working as a video assistant with the Nets this season, according to NetsDaily (Twitter link). Joey played for the College Park Skyhawks, Atlanta’s G League affiliate, last season. He also briefly had a two-way contract with Utah.
Haywood Highsmith, who has yet to make his Nets debut due to a knee injury, was on the court during pregame warmups on Thursday working out with the coaching staff, but he has yet to be cleared for contact, Lewis tweets. Highsmith was acquired from the Heat in mid-August.

Celtics Notes: Chisholm, Brown, White, Christian

December 18th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Bill Chisholm was something of an underdog when the Celtics unexpectedly put the franchise up for sale in the weeks following their 2024 NBA championship, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe writes in an in-depth profile of the team’s new owner (subscription required).

As Himmelsbach outlines, there was initially hope within the organization that Celtics minority owner Steve Pagliuca, who already owned about 20% of the franchise, would take over majority control of the team, and there were doubts about Chisholm’s ability to raise the necessary capital. But when it became clear that the group of potential buyers didn’t include anyone who could easily outbid Chisholm, he became more confident about his odds.

“It felt like if there’s a unicorn out there, if a Jeff Bezos is in the mix, forget it,” Chisholm said. “But I just didn’t hear that. It was like, ‘I like my chances here.’ The (Pagliuca) thing was a wild card, obviously.”

Chisholm grew up as a Celtics fan and impressed governor Wyc Grousbeck and other team executives with his genuine passion for the team. More importantly, Chisholm’s bid for the franchise came in about $100MM higher than the next-closest offer. It was also $500MM above Pagliuca’s bid, though that offer was fully funded.

The Celtics ultimately decided to go with Chisholm and reached a deal in March of 2025, which included an agreement that he would have until December 31 to fully fund the transaction. Chisholm spent the next few months working the phones to bring in minority investors and raise the capital necessary to finalize the deal, which was officially approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors in August.

The new Celtics owner told Himmelsbach that he would have had to pay a break-up free worth “several hundred million dollars” if he hadn’t fully funded his bid — he’s relieved that it ultimately wasn’t an issue.

“That was my biggest calculated risk of the whole deal,” Chisholm said. “I wouldn’t say it was irresponsible, but it was a risk.”

We have more on the Celtics:

Celtics wing Jaylen Brown racked up 34 points on Monday vs. Detroit but also missed seven free throws in a game the team lost by seven points. He shouldered the blame for the defeat, as Jay King of The Athletic writes. “I’ve got to do better to get my team over the hump,” Brown said. “In my mind, I didn’t have my best game tonight, so that’s on me. Especially in the fourth quarter, just some mindset plays. Foul. Staying down on the shot fake. Had a turnover in the fourth and then just too many missed free throws. Just mentality-wise, mindset-wise, I needed to be more for my team. I wasn’t tonight.”
Informed of Brown’s post-game comments, guard Derrick White said his teammate was being too hard on himself, according to King. “I think that’s kind of what makes him special,” White said on Monday. “He had 30-something (points) and still wants to do better for us, and so that’s what makes him special. He’s probably his toughest critic, and we know that he’s going to bounce back and continue to do special things for us. And so, obviously, this loss isn’t on him. It’s on all of us, and we got his back, but that’s just kind of the guy he is in this and why we love playing with him.”
Jarell Christian, the general manager of the Celtics’ G League affiliate in Maine, is leaving the team to become an assistant coach for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Christian has past coaching experience, having held assistant positions at multiples colleges, in the G League, and with the Wizards. He also spent one year as the head coach of the Capital City Go-Go (2018/19) and another coaching the Maine Celtics (2021/22).
As the Celtics prepare for trade season, Brian Robb of MassLive.com takes a look at the assets available to the team, where Boston stands in relation to the tax and apron lines, and what the club’s goals should be. Finding another true center figures to be a top priority for the Celtics, who will also likely assess whether it makes sense to try to duck out of the tax, Robb writes.

Trae Young To Return On Thursday

December 18th, 2025 at 2:58pm CST by Luke Adams

December 18: Young will make his return on Thursday vs. the Hornets, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

December 17: Hawks guard Trae Young has been listed as questionable for Thursday’s game in Charlotte, according to the team (Twitter link), and has a chance to play for the first time since October 29.

Young went down with a right knee injury in Atlanta’s fifth game of the regular season and was later diagnosed with a sprained MCL. He has been sidelined for 22 contests since then and will no longer be eligible for end-of-season awards, including All-NBA, since he won’t be able to meet the 65-game threshold.

In his four full games prior to the injury, Young averaged 20.8 points and 9.5 assists per contest, but was struggling with his shot, knocking down just 36.4% of his field goal attempts, including 5-of-26 three-pointers (19.2%).

The Hawks have been playing pretty well despite missing their top offensive play-maker. Following a 1-3 start, Atlanta has won 14 of 23 games and now holds a 15-12 record. Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Vit Krejci are among the players who have taken on additional ball-handling responsibilities with Young unavailable.

Young practiced with the College Park Skyhawks (Atlanta’s G League affiliate) on Tuesday and with the Hawks on Wednesday, an indication that his return was close. If he’s not cleared to play on Thursday vs. the Hornets, his next opportunity will be on Friday when the Hawks return home to host San Antonio.

There has been some recent trade speculation about Young, who could become a free agent next summer if he declines his 2026/27 option worth nearly $49MM, but ESPN’s Shams Charania recently reported that the Hawks are hopeful the guard’s return will “elevate” a team that has held its own without him.

Stein’s Latest: Kings, Harden, Kessler, Rozier, Jones, Payton

December 18th, 2025 at 2:51pm CST by Luke Adams

If executives around the NBA were asked which team is viewed as the most likely seller ahead of this season’s trade deadline, many would name the Kings first, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link).

“Active is the word I would use to describe them,” one exec said of Sacramento.

Few players on the Kings’ roster are off limits, with the team seemingly open to inquiries on anyone outside of fourth-year forward Keegan Murray and rookie Nique Clifford, Stein writes.

Sacramento has “certainly” made veterans Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan available, Stein continues, though the club is reportedly telling teams that it has no intention of attaching draft assets – or highly regarded guard Keon Ellis – to any of its higher-paid vets in order to accommodate a deal.

Stein has more to share from around the NBA:

A number of teams are keeping a close eye on Clippers guard James Harden, a source tells Stein. Given L.A.’s disappointing record, Harden’s age (36), and his contract situation (he holds a partially guaranteed player option for 2026/27), the former MVP would make an intriguing trade candidate if the Clippers are open to moving him. Stein points out that the Timberwolves are among the teams seeking a play-maker on the trade market.
Echoing recent reporting from Grant Afseth, Stein says the Pacers have registered interest in Walker Kessler, though he adds that the Jazz have shown no signs that they want to trade the big man ahead of his restricted free agency.
Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA haven’t confirmed one way or another whether the Heat would be permitted to trade Terry Rozier while he remains on leave following his arrest in connection to a federal gambling investigation. However, Stein hears that the Heat are “quietly confident” that the league wouldn’t block them from making a deal that includes Rozier’s $26MM+ expiring contract for salary-matching purposes.
Nuggets two-way forward Spencer Jones is being viewed as a near lock to have his contract converted into a standard deal later in the season, Stein reports. Denver has an open spot on its 15-man roster but is navigating the luxury tax line. Still, the club seems likely to promote Jones, who has been active for all 25 Nuggets games so far and has averaged 8.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game on .564/.448/.682 shooting in 10 games since entering the starting lineup.
Like big man Christian Koloko, veteran guard Elfrid Payton has also recently joined the Spurs‘ G League affiliate in the hopes of making an impression on NBA evaluators at this weekend’s NBAGL Showcase, Stein notes.

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