Blake Hinson Signs Two-Way Deal With Jazz
February 9: Hinson’s two-way deal with the Jazz is official, the team announced in a press release.
February 7: The Jazz will sign Blake Hinson to a two-way contract, agent Paolo Zamorano of Gersh Sports tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
The 26-year-old small forward is in the midst of a standout year in the G League, where he’s averaging 21.8 points and 5.8 rebounds with Portland’s affiliate, the Rip City Remix.
Hinson has yet to appear in an NBA game, but he’s already spent time with three teams. He signed a two-way deal with the Lakers in the summer of 2024 after going undrafted, then inked an Exhibit 10 contract with the Warriors in September of 2024 before being released prior to the start of the season.
He joined the Trail Blazers on an Exhibit 10 deal this past September, but was waived on the same day and headed to the G League.
Hinson’s college career consisted of two years at Mississippi and two years at Pitt. He was a second-team All-ACC selection in 2023 and a first-team choice in 2024.
The Jazz have a two-way opening after trading John Tonje to Boston on Thursday. Elijah Harkless and Oscar Tshiebwe are their other two-way players.
Stephon Castle, Jalen Johnson Named Players Of The Week
Spurs guard Stephon Castle has been named the Western Conference Player of the Week and Hawks forward Jalen Johnson has won the award in the East, the NBA announced today (Twitter links). Week 16 of the 2025/26 season covered games played from February 2-8.
Castle, the reigning Rookie of the Year, helped San Antonio go 3-0 last week. The 21-year-old filled the stat sheet, averaging 24.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 3.0 steals and 1.0 block in just 26.7 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .630/.364/.769.
As Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com details, Castle’s week was highlighted by a phenomenal performance in Saturday’s victory vs. Dallas. The former UConn standout scored a career-high 40 points (on 15-of-19 shooting, or 78.9%), grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds, dished out 12 assists, and swiped three steals in 32 minutes.
Castle became the youngest player in NBA history with a 40-12-12 stat line (the record was previously held by Oscar Robertson), per Wright, and the second player in league history to register a 40-point triple-double while shooting at least 75.0% from the field, joining Wilt Chamberlain, who accomplished the feat three times. And it all came on the one-year anniversary of when he set his previous career high with 33 points.
“I don’t know, something about this day,” Castle said, smiling. “Having a game like this, it’s definitely a dream come true. It felt good just to be out there feeling comfortable with every shot that I took and [got to] see them go in.”
As for Johnson, the 2026 All-Star continued his standout season last week, averaging 27.3 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 11.3 APG and 1.0 SPG on .544/.294/.750 shooting in three games (Atlanta went 2-1 in those contests). Johnson recorded a pair of triple-doubles from Feb. 2-8, raising his season total to 10, the most in the East and second-most in the NBA, only trailing Nikola Jokic (18).
No other player has ever recorded 10 triple-doubles in their entire Hawks career, let alone in a single season, per the team. It was the second weekly honor for the fifth-year forward, who also won Player of the Week in November.
According to the NBA, the other nominees in the West were Trail Blazers teammates Donovan Clingan and Jerami Grant, Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III, and Castle’s teammate Victor Wembanyama. Scottie Barnes (Raptors), Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns of the Knicks, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid of the Sixers, Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers), and Ryan Rollins (Bucks) were nominated in the East.
Pacers’ Johnny Furphy Out For Season With Torn ACL
4:05 pm: Indiana has formally announced Furphy’s injury in a press release.
3:44 pm: Pacers swingman Johnny Furphy underwent an MRI on Monday which revealed a torn ACL in his right knee, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Tony East of Circle City Spin confirms the news (via Twitter).
The 35th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Furphy suffered the injury during Sunday’s loss in Toronto when he landed awkwardly after a dunk (YouTube link). The second-year guard/forward immediately grabbed at his right knee and was clearly in a tremendous amount of pain. The entire team gathered around him and it was evident he may have sustained a significant injury.
It’s a tough blow for Furphy, who had started 21 of Indiana’s past 22 games. The 21-year-old put up fairly modest stats in his second season, averaging 5.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 35 appearances (18.4 minutes per game), with a shooting line of .470/.324/.486. However, he’s a plus rebounder for a wing, plays solid defense, and doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective.
The Pacers, who have dealt with numerous injuries this season, are high on Furphy, a native of Australia who played his college ball at Kansas, Scotto adds.
In addition to missing the remainder of the 2025/26 campaign, Furphy will likely miss a good portion of next season as well. Moritz Wagner and Grant Williams returned to action in January after tearing their ACLs during the ’24/25 season, and both players missed 12-plus months (Williams tore his meniscus and other ligaments as well).
Furphy will earn a guaranteed $2.3MM next season. The Pacers hold a $2.5MM team option on his contract for ’27/28.
Grizzlies Sign Lawson Lovering To 10-Day Deal
3:17 pm: Lovering’s 10-day contract is official, the Grizzlies announced (via Twitter).
2:45 pm: The Grizzlies are signing 7’1” rookie center Lawson Lovering to a 10-day contract, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.
Lovering has spent this season with the Memphis Hustle in the G League. In 24 games with the Hustle, he’s averaged 7.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.3 blocks in 26.8 minutes per game.
Lovering was signed by Memphis on an Exhibit 10 deal in early September. He played four preseason games for the Grizzlies and averaged 2.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 9.5 minutes before getting waived in mid-October. The 22-year-old Wyoming native went unselected in the 2025 draft after his final collegiate season at Utah.
He temporarily fills a frontcourt need for Memphis, which traded Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah last week. The Grizzlies opened up a spot on the 15-man roster on Friday when they waived Eric Gordon. With Zach Edey and Brandon Clarke currently recovering from injuries, Memphis didn’t have any healthy centers.
Because a 10-day contract must cover at least three games, Lovering’s deal will actually run for 12 days before expiring — the Grizzlies play twice before the All-Star break, then resume action on February 20 vs. Utah.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 2/9/2026
Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today at 3:00 pm Central time (4:00 pm Eastern).
Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Youngblood, McCain, Jackson
The Nuggets currently have 13 players on standard contracts and will have to add at least one more by Feb. 19 to comply with NBA roster limits. Coach David Adelman indicated the front office and coaching staff are carefully weighing their options, Bennett Durando of the Denver Post writes.
“The conversations we’ve had have been interesting,” he said. “Because you could look at it like, ‘Well, we’ve had injuries at these spots. We should go get somebody that can take that spot if we got into a bad moment where someone couldn’t come back, if we’re in (the playoffs) at the end of the year.’ … And there’s the other part of you that says, ‘I don’t know who’d we play if we made the playoffs.’ And every team out West demands something different. Maybe you’re looking at, we could use more ball-handling. Maybe you’re looking at, we could use more size with the current injuries for the wing position.”
The Nuggets are reportedly interested in signing Lonzo Ball, who was waived after getting traded last week. Two-way player Spencer Jones, currently out with a concussion, is expected to be added to the standard roster once he’s cleared to play. The Nuggets are confident they’ll be able to add Jones and another player to the payroll without going back into the luxury tax, Durando adds.
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- The Thunder’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, has added guard Chris Youngblood to its roster, the team announced (Twitter link). Youngblood was waived on Friday after holding one of Oklahoma City’s three two-way spots. Youngblood was used so frequently by the NBA team that he reached his limit of 50 games on the Thunder’s active roster last Wednesday in San Antonio. If OKC had wanted to continue playing him, he would’ve needed to be promoted to a standard contract.
- Jared McCain, who was acquired by the Thunder from the Sixers last week, spoke to Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (subscription required) of how he was already blending with his new team. McCain had five points in 14 minutes during his Thunder debut against the Rockets on Saturday.
- Jaren Jackson Jr. made his Jazz debut on Saturday, contributing 22 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals in 25 minutes against Orlando. He sat during crunch time, along with several other key players, as a means of “soft tanking.” However, Jackson is excited about his new team and its coach, Will Hardy. “He’s just getting to know me, I’m getting to know him, and we’re seeing how we can build this thing into something beautiful,” Jackson told Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s been good conversations.”
Pistons Promote Daniss Jenkins, Waive Dario Saric
February 9: The moves are official, according to a team press release.
February 8: The Pistons are converting Daniss Jenkins from a two-way contract to a two-year standard deal using a portion of their bi-annual exception, reports Shams Charania of ESPN.
Jenkins will receive a two-year, $8MM contract, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). His salary will represent the largest single-season sum a two-way player has ever received on a conversion, Scotto notes.
The second-year guard’s new contract will feature a team option for 2026/27, Charania adds.
To make room on their standard roster, the Pistons are expected to waive veteran forward/center Dario Saric, sources tell Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints (Twitter link). Hunter Patterson of The Athletic confirms Saric will be the odd man out (Twitter link).
Jenkins will now be eligible to play for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs. Two-way players are not playoff-eligible.
Pistons head of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said prior to Friday’s game that the team planned to promote Jenkins this weekend. Jenkins reached his 50-game active limit on Friday evening in the blowout victory over New York.
Jenkins reportedly turned down a two-year, minimum-salary contract offer near the end of January, which turned out to be the right call. The 24-year-old point guard recently told Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press that he was motivated by going undrafted out of St. John’s in 2024.
“If I’m being honest, and everybody knows I’m a very humble guy, but in college, most of these dudes that got drafted, what was the difference between me and them?” he said. “What? You tell me, what was the difference? For me, going undrafted is insanity to me, literally insanity, and that burns inside of me every single day.”
In 42 games this season (16.8 minutes per contest), Jenkins has averaged 8.2 points, 3.3 assists, 1.8 rebounds and 0.9 steals on .430/.391/.800 shooting. He has been Detroit’s primary backup behind Cade Cunningham for much of 2025/26.
The bi-annual exception, as its name suggests, is only available to teams once every two years. Detroit will not have access to the exception in ’26/27.
Saric is earning a guaranteed $5,426,400 this season, but most of that total was already paid by Sacramento, which traded him to Chicago on February 1. The Bulls sent him to the Pistons a couple days later in the deal that saw Kevin Huerter land in Detroit and Jaden Ivey in Chicago.
Saric, 31, only appeared in five games in 2025/26 after playing in 16 contests with Denver last season.
NBA Increasingly Concerned About Tanking, Discussed Issue Last Month
The search for solutions to rampant tanking around the league was a prominent topic of discussion at the most recent NBA Competition Committee meeting in late January, Marc Stein of the Stein Line reports (Substack link).
Despite league efforts in recent years to discourage tanking, including flattening lottery odds, nearly one-third of the NBA’s 30 teams appear to be incentivized to lose as often as possible for the remainder of the season. That’s due to a top-heavy draft class, with potential franchise-altering talents Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, AJ Dybantsa and Caleb Wilson available for the lottery winners.
The Jazz and the Wizards — both of whom made major trades last week — are especially motivated to finish in the bottom four to ensure that they can’t fall lower than eighth in May’s draft lottery. Both of those teams hold top-eight protected picks and in the last three lotteries, the team with the worst record fell to the No. 5 spot.
It’s noted around the league that the Spurs’ upswing coincides with their franchise landing top four picks in three straight drafts. Other executives noted to Stein that the Sixers’ tanking methods during the second half of last season landed them the No. 3 pick, which turned into VJ Edgecombe.
Commissioner Adam Silver will likely field numerous questions on the topic during his annual All-Star weekend press conference.
Here’s more from Stein:
- The Clippers received major interest in Kawhi Leonard in the final hour before last Thursday’s trade deadline after their decision to trade Ivica Zubac to Indiana became public knowledge. While they ultimately held onto their best player, potential suitors are expected to line up after the season to make offers for Leonard, who will have one year remaining on his contract and is extension eligible.
- While Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported that the Warriors were interested in signing point guard Lonzo Ball, they might pass on him because of health issues, Stein writes. NBA insider Chris Haynes reported over the weekend (Twitter link) that multiple teams are reviewing Ball’s medicals to determine whether to sign the veteran guard.
Kings GM Discusses Trade Deadline Decisions
Kings general manager Scott Perry emphasized the need for patience in a press conference following the trade deadline last week, Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee writes in a subscriber-only story.
Anderson acknowledges that it’s a difficult message for Kings fans to hear, considering the team is back to rebuilding just three years after winning 48 games and making its only playoff appearance in the past two decades. Sacramento has the worst record in the league at 12-42 and a roster of high-priced veterans, but was mostly quiet at the deadline.
The only significant deal involved sending Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder to Cleveland in exchange for De’Andre Hunter. The 28-year-old forward was in the midst of a rough season with the Cavs, being removed from the starting lineup while shooting just 42.3% from the field and 30.8% from three-point range, but Perry believes he can be a long-term asset.
“(Hunter) allows us to defend at a high level, I believe,” Perry said. “He’s exhibited that throughout his career. He’s been a very good shooter from the perimeter. I know his numbers were a little down this season coming from Cleveland, but there’s enough historical evaluation that leads me to believe he’ll be helpful for.”
Perry also addressed the decision to part with Schröder, who was one of the team’s main offseason additions, signing a three-year, $44.4MM contract in free agency. Schröder wound up being replaced as the starting point guard by Russell Westbrook, and the Kings reportedly insisted that his contract be included in the trade as a condition for parting with Ellis.
“As the season unfolded, the fit didn’t work,” Perry said of Schröder. “That happens sometimes.”
Perry didn’t offer much explanation for the decision to retain Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk, who were all involved in trade rumors leading up to the deadline. LaVine holds a $49MM player option this summer, while DeRozan has one more year left on his contract at $25.7MM, so it may be easier to move them in the offseason when they have expiring deals.
There was interest in Monk, but teams were hesitant to take on his contract, which pays him $20.2MM next season with a $21.6MM player option for 2027/28. Sabonis’ deal also limited his market as he’s owed $45.5MM and $48.6MM over the next two seasons. Toronto was working to acquire Sabonis before negotiations “flat-lined,” and Perry didn’t provide any hints about his future with the team.
“Well, he’s here,” Perry said. “His future is with the Kings right now. … He’s a Sacramento King right now.”
Bulls Notes: Sexton, Buzelis, Dillingham, Simons
The Bulls overhauled their roster by making seven trades ahead of last week’s deadline, but the new-look team is focused more on competing than rebuilding, Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune writes in a subscriber-only story. Seven new players were on the court Saturday against Denver, and even though they had barely practiced together as a group, the Bulls held a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter before the game slipped away.
“We definitely can be very special,” said Collin Sexton, who was acquired from Charlotte on Thursday. “I feel like for us to have one walk-through and to go out there pretty much jelling and making the right reads and doing this together. … It was super fun. At the end of the day, I know something good is coming.”
The Bulls had lost five of their last six games heading into the deadline, and management had no interest in being a perennial play-in team any longer, according to Sullivan. The purge was framed as “a stage” rather than a full rebuild, with more significant moves expected this summer.
The long-range plan is to build around young talent like second-year forward Matas Buzelis, who is viewed as a franchise cornerstone. Coach Billy Donovan said Buzelis got a “taste of this (league) as a business” at the deadline and was “still processing” all the moves that took place.
“It’s tough, of course, but at the end of the day you’ve just got to accept what happens,” Buzelis said. “That’s just what it is. I’m happy to see these guys here. I think we’ve got something special and we can make it work, but it’s tough, losing all my brothers. It is what it is, and you’ve got to accept it. … Those guys are always going to be part of my circle. They impacted me as a player. I’m never going to forget the relationships I’ve built with them over the years. They were great vets to me.”
There’s more from Chicago:
- Donovan’s up-tempo offense is a better fit for Rob Dillingham than he had in Minnesota, observes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times (subscription required). The No. 8 pick in the 2024 draft, Dillingham wasn’t able to crack the Wolves’ rotation, but he played a season-high 22 minutes on Saturday, finishing with nine points and setting up teammates for two impressive alley-oop dunks. ‘‘At times, we’ve struggled to get downhill,’’ Donovan said. ‘‘He’s the one guy, when the ball is in his hand, that can really break people down, play off the dribble and put some pressure on the basket.’’
- With a $27.7MM expiring contract, Anfernee Simons understands that the next few weeks will help to determine his NBA future, Cowley adds in a separate story. Simons plans to take the same approach he did when he was traded to Boston last summer. “I think even before [the trade], it was always going to be a job interview with this being the last year of my contract,” he said. “I’ve just got to make the most out of these last couple of months here, start building chemistry with the guys and see where that goes.”
- Sexton talks about serving as a veteran leader for the young roster in an interview with K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network (YouTube video link).