Ja Morant To Be Reevaluated In Two Weeks; KCP Set For Finger Surgery
Ja Morant is making progress in his recovery from a UCL sprain in his left elbow and will be reevaluated in two weeks, the Grizzlies announced (via Twitter).
The team also revealed that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will undergo a surgical procedure on Thursday to address misalignment of his right pinky finger.
Morant suffered his injury in a January 21 game against Atlanta and hasn’t played since. He continues to experience discomfort in the elbow, according to the team. The point guard has appeared in just 20 games this season and has only been available three times since the start of the new year.
Morant was one of the top names on the trade market heading into the deadline and was reportedly surprised that he didn’t get moved. That was partially due to his lack of availability, as he’s been limited to 79 total games over the past three seasons. His contract also factored in, as teams were reluctant to take on an unreliable player who’s owed $42.4MM and $44.9MM during the next two years.
His productivity has also been declining, which could be related to the injuries. He’s averaging 19.5 points per game this season while shooting career lows of 41% from the field and 23.5% from three-point range.
Memphis is expected to resume its search for a Morant trade this summer, but the return may still be limited, especially if he continues to battle injuries for the rest of the season. The Grizzlies reportedly talked with Miami, Minnesota, Sacramento, and Milwaukee about Morant deals prior to the deadline.
Caldwell-Pope has been a mainstay for a team affected all season by injuries, appearing in 51 of Memphis’ first 53 games. The 33-year-old shooting guard, who was acquired from Orlando last summer, is averaging 8.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 21.3 minutes per night, mostly as a reserve.
Caldwell-Pope has the team’s second-highest salary at $21,621,500 and he holds a player option for the same amount next season.
The Grizzlies state that a timeline for Caldwell-Pope will be set after the operation is completed, and he’s expected to make a full recovery. Memphis is 20-33 and five-and-a-half games out of the 10th spot in the West, so there’s a chance that Caldwell-Pope won’t return this season.
Warriors Notes: Stephen Curry, Porzingis, Seth Curry, Schedule
Stephen Curry won’t be available when the Warriors resume their season Thursday against Boston, according to Nick Friedell of The Athletic (Twitter link). Head coach Steve Kerr told reporters that Curry wasn’t able to participate in Wednesday’s practice and would be reevaluated by the training staff later in the day.
Curry has been sidelined since January 30 with patellofemoral pain syndrome, which is also known as runner’s knee. He was forced to withdraw from the All-Star Game, but there was hope that the week off might provide enough healing to get him back on the court.
Kerr said Curry may have to undergo another MRI to determine what’s causing the lingering pain in his knee, Friedell adds (Twitter link). Curry told Kerr that something in the knee still doesn’t feel right and he wasn’t ready to try a full workout.
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Kristaps Porzingis was able to participate in a scrimmage on Wednesday, which means his Golden State debut could come against the Celtics, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link). Porzingis played an important role on Boston’s 2024 championship team, but he was traded to Atlanta last summer in a cost-cutting move. “It’s gonna be weird, especially first game back against Boston,” he said. “It’s gonna be cool, seeing all the guys again.”
- The final two months of the season will help shape the Warriors’ roster for the future, Friedell observes in a full story. Porzingis will be a free agent this summer, but the team might be interested in a long-term deal if he proves to be a good fit. De’Anthony Melton is expected to decline his $3.5MM player option for next season and test the open market, according to Friedell, and Al Horford faces a decision on a nearly $6MM player option. Brandin Podziemski will be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the offseason, while Gui Santos and Pat Spencer are headed for restricted free agency.
- Seth Curry will be reevaluated in two weeks for a sciatic nerve-related injury, the Warriors announced (via Twitter). The team stated that he “continues to make good progress” and was able to intensify his on-court workouts over the past week, including live play. Curry, 35, has only been available for two games since joining the team on December 1.
- The Warriors have the seventh-easiest remaining schedule in the West and may be able to take advantage of some tanking teams over the rest of the season, observes Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle (subscription required). He notes that 10 of their 27 games after the All-Star break are against teams that are “incentivized to lose.”
Lakers Notes: Doncic, Injuries, Ayton, Front Office
Luka Doncic believes the trade that sent him from Dallas to the Lakers last year put him in a better position to compete for championships, writes Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (subscription required). After making a brief appearance in Sunday’s All-Star game, Doncic conducted an interview with Slovenia’s SportKlub in which he was asked to compare the two teams.
“I think the organization here is better,” Doncic replied. “The Lakers are a truly legendary club, and the organization is legendary too.”
The Lakers have won 17 NBA titles and are regularly filled with star power, so there’s plenty of history to back up Doncic’s claim. The Mavericks reached the Finals with Doncic in 2024, but have gone sharply downhill since the trade and appear likely to miss the playoffs for a second straight season.
Sources close to Doncic told Afseth that it’s unlikely he’ll ever consider returning to Dallas. Doncic and other members of his camp were unhappy with negative comments from the Mavs regarding his conditioning and other internal rationale for the trade. Afseth states that Doncic remains close to some of his former teammates and staff members, including interim co-general manager Matt Riccardi, but points out that he hasn’t embraced Dallas coach Jason Kidd since being dealt.
There’s more from Los Angeles:
- It’s not easy to determine if the Lakers are legitimate contenders this season, states Law Murray of The Athletic. L.A. entered the break at 33-21 despite only having Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves together for 10 games. All three of their stars have been sidelined for extended stretches, with 12 missed games for Doncic, 18 for James and 26 for Reaves. Despite being 12 games over .500, the Lakers have a negative point differential and have relied on a league-best 15-3 record in clutch games to build their winning record.
- Deandre Ayton was briefly detained but not arrested Tuesday at an airport in the Bahamas on suspicion of being in possession of a small amount of marijuana, according to Jasper Ward of Reuters. “The investigators saw that the actual very small amount of marijuana wasn’t in Deandre’s bag, but they still went through their investigations and he was released expeditiously,” said Ayton’s attorney, Devard Francis, who added that the substance was actually in someone else’s luggage.
- President of business operations Tim Harris told staff members Monday that this is his last season with the team, per Dan Woike of The Athletic (Twitter link). Woike notes that Harris has been with the organization for more than 35 years and describes him as the “driving force” behind the Lakers’ “massive” local TV deal with Spectrum SportsNet.
Suns Sign Haywood Highsmith
FEBRUARY 18: The Highsmith signing is official, relays Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (Twitter link).
FEBRUARY 14: The Suns are signing free agent forward Haywood Highsmith to a multiyear contract, agent Jerry Dianis tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
According to Charania, “multiple playoff teams” were pursuing Highsmith before he decided to join Phoenix. The Lakers and Sixers were linked to Highsmith over the past week.
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Highsmith has yet to play a game this season after he underwent surgery to address a torn meniscus in his right knee in August and experienced a setback in his rehab in October. However, Dianis recently told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype his client is healthy and had been targeting February 11 for his 2025/26 debut prior to being waived by the Nets.
A 6’5″ combo forward, Highsmith averaged 6.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.9 steals in 22.7 minutes per game across 140 appearances from 2023/24 and 2024/25. He spent four seasons with Miami, which traded him to Brooklyn in the offseason.
Highsmith is known as a strong, versatile defender and he has improved his outside shot over the years as well. The 29-year-old converted 38.8% of his three-point looks over the past two seasons.
John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 confirms the news and says the second year of Highsmith’s contract isn’t fully guaranteed (Twitter link).
The Suns had an opening on their 15-man standard roster, which means no corresponding move will be necessary to sign Highsmith.
Southwest Notes: Durant, Plumlee, Sochan, Jackson
In his first media session since the All-Star game, Rockets star Kevin Durant immediately faced questions about rumors that went viral on social media over the weekend. Durant, who was accused of using a burner Twitter account to disparage current and former teammates in group chats, dismissed the speculation without explicitly denying that the account belonged to him, per Sam Amick and William Guillory of The Athletic and Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required).
“I know you gotta ask these questions, but I’m not here to get into Twitter nonsense,” Durant said. “I’m just here to focus on the season, keep it pushing. But I get you all have to (ask).”
The account speculated to be Durant’s, which used the handle @GetHigher77, took shots at Suns guard Devin Booker, former Suns head coach Frank Vogel, Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr of the Warriors, and Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. of the Rockets, among others.
Asked if he’d spoken to his teammates about the rumors, Durant replied, “My teammates know what it is. We’ve been locked in the whole season. Enjoyed our break. Had a great practice today, looking forward to the road trip.”
We have more from around the Southwest:
- Although he officially signed a 10-day contract with the Spurs on Tuesday, it’s unclear when Mason Plumlee will be able to suit up for his new team. According to Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link), head coach Mitch Johnson said that Plumlee – who underwent groin surgery at the end of December – won’t be active for the team’s games in Austin on Thursday or Saturday.
- Asked on Wednesday at his introductory press conference as a Knick what went wrong for him in San Antonio, former No. 9 overall pick Jeremy Sochan suggested he got “no real opportunity” with the Spurs under Johnson, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). “It is what it is. It’s a deep team,” he said. “Maybe I didn’t see eye-to-eye with Coach. I’m just blessed to be somewhere to grow.”
- Chiding from teammate Scotty Pippen Jr. prompted Grizzlies forward GG Jackson II to adopt a more aggressive attitude on the court, Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes in a subscriber-only story. In his third NBA season, Jackson has become a more efficient scorer and a reliable presence on defense, but it took a push from Pippen and other veterans to get him there. “I would see him in practice and he would be one of the most athletic guys in the gym, then he would get in the game and wouldn’t even dunk or he would only dunk on fast breaks,” Pippen said. “I’m excited every time I see him dunk and play physical because now guys are starting to get out of the way, or he’s dunking on them.”
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Timberwolves Waive Johnny Juzang
The Timberwolves are waiving guard Johnny Juzang, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link). The transaction is official, per NBA.com.
Juzang was among the players on two-way contracts who recently reached their respective 50-game limits, so Minnesota would have had to promote him to its 15-man roster in order to keep him active. Instead, the Wolves will let him go, giving him the opportunity to latch on with a new team before the March 4 deadline for two-way signings.
As Krawczynski observes, Juzang had a big preseason for the Wolves, averaging 13.8 points in 17.6 minutes per game across five outings while making 48.3% of his three-point tries. However, that October production didn’t carry over to the regular season.
Although Juzang was active for 50 regular season NBA games, he only actually saw action in 21 of them and was a DNP-CD in the other 29. The 24-year-old played more than 10 minutes just once and logged 88 minutes in total, rarely playing outside of garbage time.
The move opens up a two-way slot for the Wolves alongside big man Rocco Zikarsky and forward Enrique Freeman.
Heat Sign Trevor Keels To Two-Way Contract
The Heat have signed guard Trevor Keels to a two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release. Keels will slide into the two-way slot that opened up when Miami promoted Myron Gardner to its 15-man roster earlier in the day.
A former Duke guard who appeared in three games for New York during the 2022/23 season, Keels has been playing in the G League for the last few years, spending time with the Westchester Knicks, the Iowa Wolves, and – most recently – the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s affiliate.
In 35 games for Sioux Falls this season, Keels has scored 18.5 points per game on .453/.400/.731 shooting while also contributing 3.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.2 steals in 32.5 minutes per contest.
Although Keels has yet to establish himself as an NBA player, he’s still just 22 years old and has multiple years of two-way eligibility remaining, so he should have an opportunity to stick with the Heat as a developmental player if he has a strong finish to this season.
The Heat will be able to have Keels active for up to 16 regular season games going forward.
Domantas Sabonis Undergoes Season-Ending Knee Surgery
The Kings will be without their starting center for the rest of the 2025/26 season, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that Domantas Sabonis underwent surgery on Wednesday morning to repair the meniscus tear in his left knee.
Sabonis is one of two Kings stars to undergo season-ending surgery on Wednesday. As previously reported, guard Zach LaVine is going under the knife to repair a tendon tear in his right fifth finger. That procedure is happening right now, tweets James Ham of The Kings Beat.
Sabonis suffered that left meniscus tear back in November and originally opted for a non-surgical treatment plan, rehabbing the injury and returning to action a couple months later, in mid-January.
However, upon returning, Sabonis appeared in just eight of Sacramento’s 15 games heading into the All-Star break and played a relatively limited role (24.9 minutes per game). With the Kings well out of the playoff race and the big man seemingly not all the way back to 100%, he and the team apparently determined that it made sense to address the injury via surgery now in order to make sure he’s back to full health for 2026/27.
An All-NBA third-teamer in 2023 and 2024, Sabonis led the NBA in rebounds per game for three straight years from 2023-25. In 19 games (15 starts) this season, he averaged 15.8 points, 11.4 boards, and 4.1 assists in 29.7 minutes per night.
The Kings went just 3-16 in the games Sabonis played and haven’t been much better without him (9-28). Sacramento ranks dead last in the NBA with a 12-44 mark.
There are several more injury updates out of Sacramento ahead of the team’s matchup with Orlando on Thursday:
- Forward Keegan Murray, who has been out since January 4 due to a sprained ankle, said today that he’s ready to return, according to Ham (Twitter link). Murray, who signed a lucrative long-term extension with Sacramento last fall, has been limited to just 19 outings this season due to injuries.
- Shortly after being converted from his two-way deal to a standard contract, rookie big man Dylan Cardwell has been ruled out for at least four weeks due to a sprained left ankle, tweets Ham. Cardwell, who’s scheduled to be reevaluated in one month, sustained the injury at the team’s practice facility. With Sabonis and Cardwell unavailable, Maxime Raynaud, Precious Achiuwa, and Drew Eubanks figure to man the five for the Kings.
- After missing Sacramento’s last three games before the break due to left eye iritis, forward De’Andre Hunter was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice, tweets Ham. Hunter seems likely to be available on Thursday vs. Orlando.
Clippers Promote Jordan Miller To Standard Roster
3:03 pm: The Clippers have officially signed Miller to a new standard contract, the team confirmed.
10:38 am: After elevating Kobe Sanders from his two-way contract to their 15-man roster earlier this month, the Clippers will take the same route with another two-way standout, forward Jordan Miller. According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), Miller has agreed to sign a new two-year standard contract with the team.
The 48th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Miller didn’t play much during his first two NBA seasons, appearing in just 45 games and averaging 10.0 minutes per night. However, the 26-year-old began to receive regular rotation minutes for L.A. in mid-December and has since emerged as a reliable contributor.
Miller has appeared in each of the Clippers’ last 29 games and the club has gone 20-9 during that time. In his past 18 outings, the 6’5″ wing has averaged 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals in 25.9 minutes per game while making 52.6% of his shots from the floor.
Miller still had 15 games of eligibility left on his two-way contract, but the Clippers have nearly reached their “under-15” limit for two-way players. Teams are only permitted to use players on two-way contracts for a total of 90 combined games as long as they’re carrying fewer than 15 players on standard contracts — L.A. is at 88, per Spotrac.
In other words, the Clippers would’ve needed to keep their 15th roster spot filled in order to continue using Miller anyway, so the team has opted to simply promote him into that opening. L.A. will now have a pair of two-way slots open and will be able to activate whichever players fill those openings without worrying about the under-15 rule.
As for Miller, he’ll receive a minimum-salary contract that includes a team option for 2026/27, reports Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). His exact rest-of-season salary – and the Clippers’ accompanying cap hit – will depend on when the team officially completes the signing, but if it happens today, both figures would be $712,637.
Jeanie Buss Says Father Would’ve Supported Lakers Sale
Back in 2022, Jeanie Buss told The Los Angeles Times that she hadn’t given any thought to selling the Lakers, explaining that her late father Jerry Buss always wanted to keep the team in the family. However, Jeanie had a change of heart in the years since then, spearheading a 2025 effort to sell majority control of the franchise to minority stakeholder Mark Walter.
According to Alex Sherman and Jessica Golden of CNBC, Jeanie insists that Jerry would’ve supported the family’s decision to sell the team.
“What was important to him was that the Lakers stay at the top of the NBA, and to stay at the top of the NBA, you need to have the resources,” she said. “You need to have everybody pulling together. And he would want (that for) the Lakers, because the Lakers are his legacy.”
Although an NBA team’s ability to spend is restricted to some extent by the league’s salary cap, it’s a soft cap, so having a deep-pocketed owner who is willing to repeatedly pay luxury tax penalties can give a club a leg up on its competition. That sort of owner may also be more inclined to invest in a team’s infrastructure and personnel beyond its roster.
Walter’s net worth far exceeded that of the Buss family, which was one factor Jeanie and her siblings considered when they decided to sell to the Los Angeles Dodgers owner, who previously controlled a 27% share of the Lakers.
“It’s about the Lakers and the greatness and what the fans expect, and you need resources and you need a direction,” she explained. “I think it’s fair to say that my family — we all have our different opinions and (are) living our lives, choosing what we want to do with our time, and this was the best decision for all six of us.”
As Sherman and Golden write, as part of the sale process, the Buss family retained a 15% stake in the franchise, which will allow Jeanie to continue to operate as governor going forward. The team announced when the sale was finalized that she will remain in that role for another five years, though she didn’t explicitly confirm to CNBC that she plans to see out the full term.
“That’s what I agreed to,” Buss said. “Mark Walter and I are very comfortable with the way things are set up. And I expect things to go on and be successful. And you know, I’m not going anywhere.”
Buss also told CNBC that the Lakers intend to build around Luka Doncic this summer and beyond. That doesn’t necessarily mean LeBron James‘ time with the club will come to an end this offseason, but Buss said the four-time MVP, who was the centerpiece of the roster for several years prior to the Doncic trade, hasn’t conveyed to management that he plans to continue playing in Los Angeles beyond this 2025/26.
“Never say never, but you know, he certainly hasn’t given an indication,” she said. “He’s earned the right to decide how his career will go, and you know, he continues to impress.”