Nets Re-Sign Tre Scott On Hardship Deal
The Nets have re-signed Tre Scott via a hardship exception, reports Brian Lewis of The New York Post (via Twitter). Scott’s previous 10-day hardship contract with Brooklyn expired on Saturday night.
Scott’s new contract with the Nets will cover Sunday’s regular season finale at Toronto. He will be an unrestricted free agent after Sunday, since he’s technically not on the standard 15-man roster.
A team qualifies for a hardship exception when it has four players who have missed three consecutive games due to an injury and are expected to remain out for at least two more weeks. Day’Ron Sharpe (thumb), Egor Dëmin (foot), Michael Porter Jr. (hamstring), and Danny Wolf (ankle) all fit that bill for Brooklyn.
Scott, 29, has competed in Puerto Rico, France, and Canada since going undrafted out of Cincinnati in 2020, though he has spent most of his time in the G League, suiting up for the Salt Lake City Stars, Cleveland Charge, Ontario Clippers, Greensboro Swarm, Osceola Magic, and – most recently – the Long Island Nets.
In 47 total outings this season for Long Island, the 6’8″ combo forward averaged 12.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 27.9 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .453/.358/.609.
Scott, who had a 10-day stint with Cleveland back in 2021/22, has appeared in five games with the Nets this season, averaging 8.0 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 block in 31.2 minutes per contest. His shooting slash line is .381/.286/.667.
Scott will earn $11,773 on the final day of the regular season, increasing his year-end total to $174,503. That total includes both hardship deals and a $45K partial guarantee on a training camp contract he signed last fall.
Projected NBA Taxpayers For 2025/26
As we outlined in February, a total of 14 teams projected to be taxpayers prior to an eventful trade deadline week, with the 16 non-taxpayers on track to receive about $13.8MM apiece in tax distribution money at that point.
However, the Celtics, Nuggets, Suns, Mavericks, Sixers, Magic, and Raptors all ducked below the luxury tax line with their pre-deadline transactions, while a few other teams remained in the tax but took steps to significantly reduce their end-of-season bills.
As a result, seven NBA teams project to finish over the luxury tax line in 2025/26, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
Here are those seven clubs, along with their projected tax penalties:
- Cleveland Cavaliers ($68.7MM)
- Golden State Warriors ($67.9MM) *
- New York Knicks ($44.4MM)
- Los Angeles Lakers ($22.2MM) *
- Houston Rockets ($7.2MM)
- Los Angeles Clippers ($6.7MM) *
- Minnesota Timberwolves ($6MM)
Total: $223.1MM
Note: Teams marked with an asterisk are paying repeater tax rates.
While the projected tax payments are quite similar to the ones from a couple months ago, the total is up slightly overall. That’s because the Warriors, Rockets and Timberwolves signed players to fill out the back ends of their rosters. The Lakers will undoubtedly finalize their roster today — they have one standard opening ahead of Sunday’s deadline.
Based on the current figures from Marks, each non-taxpayer is projected to receive a payout of about $4.9MM. That figure is determined by cutting the total league-wide tax penalties in half, then dividing them evenly among the non-taxpaying teams (in this case, 23 clubs). The projected payout was at $4.8MM in February.
In 2024/25, 10 taxpayers paid a total of $461.2MM in penalties and the 20 non-taxpayers reportedly received $11.5MM apiece. This season’s projected distribution payment of $4.9MM is the lowest figure since 2020/21, according to Marks.
It’s worth noting that the tax penalties could still change again before the 2025/26 league year ends. According to Marks (Twitter links), 36 players had a total of 133 different incentives in their contracts entering the fall, and 15 of those bonuses are still up in the air entering the final day of the regular season. Some of those bonus situations may not be resolved until the playoffs end.
The Warriors, Lakers, and Clippers would all be subject to repeater penalties in 2026/27 if they’re taxpayers again next season. Additionally, the Bucks, Celtics, Suns, and Nuggets would pay repeater rates if they’re in the tax in ’26/27, since all four clubs were in the tax for three straight years from 2023-25. They’ll each need to spend one more season as a non-taxpayer in order to reset the repeater clock.
Free Agent Stock Watch: L.A. Clippers
For the rest of the regular season and postseason, Hoops Rumors is taking a closer look at players who will be free agents – or could become free agents – during the 2026 offseason. We’ll consider whether each player’s stock is rising or falling due to his performance and several other factors.
Today, we’re focusing on a handful of players on the Clippers, who have 10 potential free agents this summer, tied for the second-most in the NBA.
Pacific Notes: Green, Clippers, Allen, Williams
The Warriors lost Friday night at Sacramento, but they delivered a dominant performance in the third quarter that gives coach Steve Kerr some hope heading into the play-in tournament, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. Golden State won the quarter by a 38-19 margin and held a seven-point lead before Kerr rested most of his rotation players down the stretch in the meaningless game.
After Draymond Green said earlier this week that it’s hard to get excited about the play-in, Kerr challenged his veteran leader to do a better job of inspiring the team. Green’s trademark aggressiveness returned on Friday, leading to big plays on both ends of the court and a few skirmishes.
“We were not good defensively,” Kerr said. “We had one good stretch in the game, third quarter. I thought we set a tone defensively. Obviously, Draymond got things stirred up a little bit. We needed that, that fire, that edge.”
Trailing by 12 points at intermission, the Warriors got back into the game with a 12-2 run early in the second half. They held the Kings to 1-of-9 shooting during that stretch and Green goaded Devin Carter into a Flagrant 1 foul that turned up the intensity. Green got into a shoving match with Maxime Raynaud, then Gary Payton II picked up a Flagrant 1 of his own for an aggressive screen on Carter. He was later whistled for a technical for throwing the ball at Carter.
The exchanges brought some life to a team that has been through a difficult second half of the season.
“I mean, I was just laughing at a lot of it, pretty funny stuff going out there,” Brandin Podziemski said. “Everyone was just kind of having fun with the game.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- After falling to Portland on Friday, the Clippers need to beat Golden State in the season finale to have any hope of moving up to the No. 8 seed, notes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register (subscription required). L.A. fell into an early 20-point deficit against the Blazers, but rallied to take the lead before collapsing late in the game. Now the team will need help to avoid starting the postseason on the brink of elimination. “I mean, we just got to do it the Clippers’ way, the hard way every time. Never easy,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “We are still in it and we’re OK. And like I said, they beat us. They’re a good team and Tiago (Splitter, Portland’s interim coach) has done a hell of a job this season filling in. They played better than us.”
- Suns guard Grayson Allen was forced out of Friday’s game against the Lakers after hurting his hamstring in the second quarter, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The injury occurred when he landed after making a difficult shot over L.A. center Deandre Ayton. Allen has been ruled out of Sunday’s game, Rankin adds in a separate story, along with Devin Booker (right ankle injury management), Dillon Brooks (left second metacarpal injury management) and Royce O’Neale (left knee injury management).
- In an interview posted on the Arizona Republic website, Suns center Mark Williams talks about enjoying the healthiest season of his career. He was available for 60 games, topping his previous high of 44.
Sixers Notes: Maxey, Edgecombe, Barlow, Terry
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey aggravated an injury to the little finger on his right hand in the third quarter of Friday’s win at Indiana, but he didn’t let it slow him down, according to Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). Maxey went to the locker room and asked trainers to numb the finger and rewrap it before returning to the game and leading his team to a much-needed victory in the Eastern Conference battle for playoff seeding.
Maxey has been wearing a splint on the finger during the past few games and admitted it has affected the way he’s played.
“I don’t have time to be timid right now,” he said. “My teammates need me. … I did it all year and had a high spirit and kept their spirits high. There’s just no way I’m going to let them down now.”
Joel Embiid‘s emergency appendectomy this week has increased the Sixers’ reliance on Maxey as they prepare for what’s likely to be a trip to the play-in tournament. They could still finish as high as sixth, but a lot would have to go right on Sunday, starting with a win over Milwaukee.
No matter where they finish, Paul George believes the players need to accept their underdog status with Embiid out of the lineup.
“Teams that make it further than their expectation, it’s because they’re playing together,” George said. “So that’s just the mentality and the mindset that we’ve got to have.”
There’s more from Philadelphia:
- Rookie VJ Edgecombe is feeling the effects of his first full NBA season, telling Mizell, “I’ve never been so tired in my life.” However, he added, “I’m ready for the next game,” indicating that he won’t let the grind wear him down. Edgecombe stated that he feels like he’s been playing basketball since the pre-draft process began nearly a year ago. While his body might be aching, Edgecombe emphasized that there’s no mental fatigue. “I think I’m built for it,” he said. “I just want to continue to grow with my teammates. I just want us to continue growing our chemistry. … Obviously, I’m tired, but there’s always a ‘but.’ I’m ready to hoop. I’m ready to go out there and leave it on the floor any given night.”
- This week’s trip to San Antonio was meaningful for Dominick Barlow, who began his career with the Spurs in 2022, per Mizell. He said the organization put the “foundational blocks” in his game, and he’s happy to see them back among the top teams in the West. “They deserve to celebrate the success that they have now,” Barlow said.
- Dalen Terry thought he was about to receive bad news when he woke up after a late flight and saw five missed calls from his agent, Mizell adds. Instead, he learned that the Sixers were promoting him from a two-way contract to a standard deal. Coach Nick Nurse gave Terry an “A-plus” for his professionalism since joining the team in February. “I hold myself to a higher standard than I think I’m viewed as,” Terry said. “When I came to Philly, I was like, ‘This is finally a chance I get to show everything I can do.’”
Pelicans Notes: Fears, Jordan, Peavy, Davis
When he takes the court Sunday against Minnesota, Jeremiah Fears will become the first rookie in Pelicans history to appear in all 82 games, writes Rod Walker of NOLA (subscription required). The seventh pick in last year’s draft prides himself on durability and said he hasn’t missed a game since he broke his thumb as a high school freshman.
“Being able to play all 82 games is big time,” Fears said. “Not everybody gets the opportunity to play all 82 games. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity. I feel like I’ve made the most of the minutes I get when I go out there.”
Fears has been one of the bright spots in a lost season for New Orleans. He’s averaging 14.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 25.6 minutes per game and set a franchise rookie record by scoring 40 points in Tuesday’s win over Utah. With increased playing time, his scoring average has risen to 28.8 PPG over the past five games.
Fears credits his recovery process with helping him stay on the court.
“That helps in being able to play all 82 games,” he said. “Focus on your recovery and just continue to stay focused. I’m dedicated to the recovery and the work on and off the court. The hot and the cold tub have been huge for me. I just rely on those things to help me get my body for each and every day.”
There’s more from New Orleans:
- DeAndre Jordan‘s impact on the team has been far greater than his on-court statistics, Walker states in a separate story. The 38-year-old center only appeared in 12 games, but he had plenty of advice to share with his much younger teammates from his 18 NBA seasons. “To see the growth of our young team, DeAndre had a massive impact on that,” interim head coach James Borrego said. “He brought professionalism every day. A voice every day. A respect for every drill, every practice and every moment together.” Jordan said he’s not sure how much longer he’ll play and is taking his career one year at a time.
- Like most teams, the Pelicans are resting their stars as the season winds down, which creates opportunities for young players like Micah Peavy, Walker adds in another piece. The rookie shooting guard delivered 20 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals on Tuesday as he made his second start of the season. “It’s just the experience,” he said. “Take these games super serious, because during the summer, we’re only going to be able to play pick-up games. It’s not the same. Take it seriously and get everything out of it.”
- Appearing this week on Draymond Green‘s podcast, Anthony Davis reflects on the circumstances that led him to demand a trade out of New Orleans in 2019, relays Rashad Milligan of NOLA. He was motivated to move to another franchise where he could compete for championships and is still upset about the $50K fine he received for making a public trade request. “When a team is tired of a player, they can trade him with no consequence,” Davis said. “Right? But once a player is like, ‘I want to do what’s best for me, because I want to compete for championships and win.’ It’s not even about the money. New Orleans offered me a crazy deal at the time. It’s not even about the money; I genuinely want to win. So now, because I want to win, I’m considered a villain to this team and to this fanbase. To this day, I still go back, and they still boo me.”
Nuggets Control Playoff Seeding Heading Into Sunday
At this point in the season, tanking isn’t reserved just for the NBA’s worst teams, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. The Nuggets hosted the Thunder on Friday in a matchup of Western Conference powers, but most of the stars were in street clothes. Oklahoma City, which has already clinched the league’s best record, rested nine rotation players in an effort to boost Denver’s chances at holding onto the No. 3 spot and avoiding a playoff matchup until the conference finals.
Nuggets coach David Adelman responded by giving the night off to his entire starting lineup: Nikola Jokic (right wrist injury management). Jamal Murray (right shoulder impingement), Aaron Gordon (right hamstring injury management), Cameron Johnson (right ankle injury management) and Christian Braun (left ankle injury management and a right hip flexor strain). Adelman defended the move in a pregame session with the media.
“What’s on the injury report is what they’re out with,” he said. “They’re dealing with a lot more than that physically, not to mention some of the soft tissue stuff. Scary kinds of injuries. … ‘Hey, we’re the three seed, but we don’t have three starters — it doesn’t sound like a great solution.”
The shorthanded Nuggets wound up with a 20-point victory that clinched home court advantage in the first round and will face a similar situation on Sunday at San Antonio. Denver is a game ahead of the Lakers for the No. 3 seed, but Los Angeles holds the tiebreaker and is playing a Utah team that could use another loss to maximize its lottery odds.
The Nuggets can clinch third place and a first-round matchup with the No. 6 Timberwolves by beating the Spurs. If they’d rather face the No. 5 Rockets, they’ll need to lose tomorrow and hope for a Lakers win.
Murray, Gordon, Johnson and Braun have been declared out, along with Tim Hardaway Jr.. Spencer Jones and Peyton Watson. Jokic, who needs to play at least 15 minutes to qualify for postseason awards, is listed as questionable.
Durando adds that the Nuggets have engaged in internal discussions about the best playoff path, looking beyond the first round to a potential second-round meeting with the Thunder or Spurs. With no obvious answer, Adelman decided to prioritize making sure his players are as healthy as possible when the playoffs start next weekend.
“Us and Minnesota, it’s been a crazy back-and-forth over the years,” he said on Friday. “They swept us last year, but then we beat them three out of four this year. We always know it’s competitive with them. They’ve given us issues. We’ve given them issues. And then obviously Houston, I mean, they’re playing so well right now. … So there’s no good opponent in my opinion. I think you just have to play it out with decisions that are best for your team, and we feel like tonight, this is the best decision.”
Keaton Wagler Declares For NBA Draft
Illinois guard Keaton Wagler is entering the NBA draft, his agency ProMondo Sports tells Shams Charania and Jeremy Woo of ESPN (Twitter link).
Wagler, 19, is coming off a sensational freshman season that saw him lead the Fighting Illini to a 28-9 record and their first Final Four appearance since 2005. He averaged 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 37 games while shooting 44.5% from the field and 39.7% from three-point range.
The Shawnee, Kansas, native received the Jerry West Award as the best guard in college basketball and was selected as a second-team All-American. He was also named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earned first-team all-conference honors.
Wagler set an Illinois freshman record on January 24 with 46 points at Purdue, which marked the highest scoring total ever for a visiting player at Mackey Arena. He made nine three-pointers in that game, which is also an Illinois record.
At 6’6″, Wagler can handle either backcourt position and is part of a talented group of guards expected to be taken in this year’s lottery. ESPN has him fifth on its list of the top 100 prospects and projects him as the sixth pick in its latest mock draft.
Wagler has impressed scouts with his positional size, shooting touch and quick decision-making, Woo states in a full story. NBA executives see tremendous upside with a chance for stardom if he can improve as a ball-handler.
Celtics Notes: Tatum, Brown, Queta, Shulga
This week’s return to Madison Square Garden, the site where he suffered an Achilles tear last May, was a huge milestone for Celtics star Jayson Tatum, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. After posting 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists in 40 minutes in a loss to New York, Tatum talked about the feeling of relief that came with being back on the court where he experienced the worst injury of his career.
“It was a big moment, a big hurdle for me,” he said. “I was nervous and anxious to come back here. Obviously, I wanted to win and play great, but more importantly, I just kind of wanted to walk off the floor on my own two feet.”
Tatum is back to his regular workload a little more than a month after returning to action, but he’s still not being used on back-to-back nights. That meant he had to decide whether to play Thursday in New York or Friday against New Orleans. He opted for MSG to try to erase some of the bad memories from last year’s playoffs.
“Today was important to me, especially when I made the decision to come back and then made the decision to play today,” Tatum told reporters. “I’m glad I did. I feel a lot better.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- After undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus last summer, Jaylen Brown isolated himself to prepare for the challenges of this season, he tells Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. Brown understood that a lot more would be asked of him in the wake of Tatum’s injury and the loss of several key veterans from Boston’s 2024 championship team, and he wanted to be mentally ready to handle the increased responsibility. “From a financial standpoint, this was a rebuild, right?” he said. “But I didn’t look at it like that. … I looked at it as an opportunity to show the world who I am and what I could do.”
- Coach Joe Mazzulla is touting Neemias Queta for Most Improved Player honors, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscription required). Queta took over as the team’s starting center this season and is averaging career highs of 10.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. “He deserves it,” Mazzulla said. “To me, again, obviously as a player, but more what it means to do it for the Celtics, I think, goes a long way. And where he’s been on his journey in the NBA, but also his journey with us in our organization, he should seriously be considered for that because of where he was, and where he is now, and we wouldn’t be in that position without him.”
- One of the highlights of Max Shulga‘s rookie season happened on March 22 when he became the first player to appear in games with the Celtics and their G League affiliate in Maine on the same day, notes Souichi Terada of MassLive. The 57th pick in last year’s draft began the season on a two-way contract, then became playoff-eligible when he was promoted to a standard deal last month. “A lot of learning,” Shulga said of his first NBA season. “Obviously, got a lot of time, a lot of playing in the G League. Lot of ups and downs and stuff like that. Just getting adjusted to the NBA-style game. Just learning the system and stuff like that. It’s been a good first year.”
Heat Notes: Play-In Tournament, Ware, Larsson, Herro, Powell
The Heat‘s frustrating season, which will end with a fourth straight trip to the play-in tournament, is a result of being too patient with the current roster, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald contends in a subscriber-only piece. Big changes were expected after Miami was embarrassed by Cleveland in the first round of last year’s playoffs, but the core of the team remained intact and produced another mediocre campaign.
There are three traditional ways to improve in the NBA – tanking for a high draft pick, trading players at the peak of their value for future assets and aggressively pursuing unhappy stars – and Jackson argues that Heat management hasn’t pursued any of those options.
Team president Pat Riley is strongly opposed to tanking and ownership holds the same stance, so the first option is out. Jackson states that Bam Adebayo, who would be the organization’s top trade asset, remains “untouchable,” while Tyler Herro said last year that the front office told him he would only be moved for a top-75 all-time player. Jackson adds that Herro’s trade value has diminished as teams have become reluctant to part with assets for one-dimensional scorers. He also questions the commitment to Andrew Wiggins when the Lakers and other teams expressed interest last summer.
In addition, Jackson notes that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Brandon Ingram and Derrick White have all been moved over the past three years at a cost of no more than one first-round pick. The Trae Young deal didn’t involve any first-rounders, and Ja Morant could have been obtained at a bargain price at the deadline.
Jackson also points out that Riley sounded confident about the Heat’s “draft-pick, young-player, favorable-contract situation” when he spoke to reporters last May, but since then the team gave a four-year, $62MM extension to Nikola Jovic that now looks like a mistake.
There’s more from Miami:
- Friday’s win over Washington preserves the Heat’s chances to earn home-court advantage for the 9 vs. 10 game if things break their way on the final day of the season, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. They would move into ninth place if they can win a home game against Atlanta and the Hornets lose at New York. No matter the outcome, coach Erik Spoelstra isn’t happy that his team tumbled into play-in territory again by going 4-10 in its last 14 games. “It’s harrowing,” he said. “We say it every year that we’ve been in there, you don’t want to be in there. But that’s sometimes the path you have to take.”
- Kel’el Ware replaced Pelle Larsson in the starting lineup on Friday and Spoelstra indicated that the move might be permanent, Chiang adds. “Kel’el is really important to what we’re trying to do,” Spoelstra said. “We all know about his upside. This can get him next to Bam, stabilize him a little bit to start the game. And then it gives us a little bit of flexibility as the game moves on. Sometimes in the last couple of weeks, some of the lineups with Bam have been really good. And then we end up going longer with that, and it just ends up being longer for Kel’el sitting on the bench. And he’s a key player for us, so this allows him to get some minutes right out of the gate.”
- Herro and Norman Powell both missed the Washington game with minor injuries, but they could return on Sunday, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (Twitter link). “Hopefully it’s just for today,” Spoelstra said. “They’re both dealing with something that they just could not loosen up and get ready for tonight.”