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Northwest Notes: Avdija, Markkanen, Porter, DiVincenzo

By | at February 2, 2026 1:57 pm

For Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, the excitement of being selected for his first All-Star appearance was mixed with a return of the back pain that has limited his playing time lately, writes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. Avdija was forced to sit out Sunday’s loss to Cleveland, marking the third time he’s been unavailable in the past five games and his sixth absence since January 13. While Avdija is looking forward to the All-Star game, that wasn’t his priority when reporters asked him about the honor.

“I have a lot of other things I think about,” Avdija said. “We’re struggling a little bit right now as a team, so I’m thinking more about the team right now than actually the All-Star (game).”

Freeman notes that Sunday was an eventful day for the Blazers, marked by a trade with Atlanta for Vit Krejci and the return of Blake Wesley, who had been sidelined with a broken bone in his right foot since October 31. Wesley was able to play 19 minutes, finishing with five points, three rebounds and four assists, and said it felt good to be back on the court.

“I feel like I did what the team wanted me to do,” he said. “Bring the energy. Bring the spark off the bench. That’s what I’m known to do. So I’m going to continue to do that.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen was among this year’s most notable All-Star snubs, observes Kevin Reynolds of The Salt Lake Tribune. Markkanen, who’s averaging 27.4 points and 7.1 rebounds in 36 games, said before the reserves were announced that he thought he deserved consideration. “I think I’ve played at that level,” he said. “The NBA is really talented and there are a lot of high-level players. Obviously, that is an individual goal of mine. I hope I make it and, like I said, I’ve played at that level.”
  • Michael Porter Jr. harbors no resentment toward the Nuggets for trading him. In fact, the Nets forward, who could get moved again this week, fully understands why Denver’s front office made the transaction. “I don’t look back at it with any saltiness toward the organization or anything. I think they got a lot out of trading me,” Porter told Bennett Durando of the Denver Post. “They got not only Cam (Johnson), but (Jonas) Valanciunas, Bruce (Brown), Tim Hardaway, who’s playing amazing. … I think it’s cool. And I still keep up with them. They’ve been able to stay afloat when Joker is out, AG (Aaron Gordon) is out, CB (Christian Braun) is out. And I don’t know with our roster last year, if some of those guys went down, if it would have been the same. So it probably is one of those unique trades where it kind of worked out for everybody.”
  • Donte DiVincenzo of the Timberwolves credits Khris Middleton as being his favorite and most impactful veteran during his early years in the league, he stated on the RedHead Sports Pod. “He’s not the most athletic guy. He’s not the most flashy guy. Like, he just knew how to get a bucket and he knew how to be a pro,” DiVincenzo said of his former Bucks teammate. DiVincenzo has been on a tear lately, averaging 12.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game last month.

Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

6 comments All-Star Game Brooklyn Nets Denver Nuggets Minnesota Timberwolves Portland Trail Blazers Utah Jazz

NBA Announces 2026 All-Star Reserves

By | at February 1, 2026 5:27 pm

The NBA has announced its 2026 All-Star reserves, revealing this year’s honorees on NBC ahead of the Knicks/Lakers matchup (Twitter links).

The following players will join the 10 All-Star starters the league announced on Monday, January 19.

Eastern Conference Reserves:

The East will see three first-time All-Stars in Johnson, Powell, and Duren. Powell is averaging a career-high 23.0 points per game in his first season in Miami, while Johnson has emerged as one of the league’s most versatile point forwards on offense, averaging 23.0 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 8.0 assists per night while hitting 36.0% of his threes. Duren is averaging 18.0 PPG and 10.7 RPG, and is the second-leading scorer on the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons.

Towns is having a down year from an efficiency standpoint but has managed to contribute in other ways, leading the NBA in rebounds per game (11.8) while scoring 20.0 points per game on 36.4% shooting from deep. He will join teammate Jalen Brunson, who was named a starter for the second straight year, while Duren will join running mate Cade Cunningham.

Western Conference Reserves:

For the Western Conference, Murray, Holmgren, and Avdija are all first-time All-Stars. Murray had long been considered one of the league’s best players – if not the best – to never take part in the event, but will no longer hold that title. He’s having his best scoring (25.8 PPG) and play-making (7.4 APG) season as a pro, and has helped the Nuggets hold onto the No. 2 seed despite missing co-star and All-Star starter Nikola Jokic for 16 games.

Avdija has exploded for the Blazers this season, averaging 25.5 points per game (after scoring 16.9 PPG last season) while also contributing 7.2 RPG and 6.7 APG and leading Portland to what is currently a play-in spot.

Despite cooling off a bit since his scorching start, Holmgren is averaging 17.8 PPG, 8.7 RPG, and 2.0 BPG and has anchored Oklahoma City’s dominant defense all season, especially while starting center Isaiah Hartenstein faced an extended absence due to a calf injury.

Booker was named to the team after leading the overachieving Suns to a 30-19 record — they’re currently percentage points behind the Lakers for the No. 6 spot in the West.

James was named to his 22nd consecutive All-Star team despite having a down year by his own standards. He is currently averaging 21.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 6.6 APG for the Lakers, who are 29-18 coming into tonight’s game against the Knicks.

The Lakers, Knicks, Thunder, Pistons, and Nuggets are the teams with multiple players represented.

Some notable players not to make this year’s All-Star team include Michael Porter Jr., Kawhi Leonard, Bam Adebayo, Joel Embiid, Julius Randle, Lauri Markkanen, Brandon Ingram, and Alperen Sengun — they’re among the top candidates to become injury replacements.

As Ian Begley of SNY notes (via Twitter), the NBA’s decision to include a USA versus World component requires at least eight international players. Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama, Jokic, Avdija, Murray, and Siakam will make up a majority of the World roster, but with starter Giannis Antetokounmpo injured, the league will need to decide whether Towns, who suits up for the Dominican Republic in international play, as well as Powell, who played with Jamaica last summer, will be considered international or American players, Marc Stein observes (via Twitter). Either way, an injury replacement will need to be named for the Eastern Conference.

Stein adds that the NBA will announce the official roster breakdowns on Tuesday (Twitter link).

66 comments All-Star Game Atlanta Hawks Cleveland Cavaliers Denver Nuggets Detroit Pistons Indiana Pacers Los Angeles Lakers Miami Heat Minnesota Timberwolves New York Knicks Newsstand Oklahoma City Thunder Phoenix Suns Portland Trail Blazers Toronto Raptors

And-Ones: NBA Europe, Rising Stars, Blakeney, Draft

By | at January 29, 2026 2:18 pm

Speaking to Sportico (Twitter video link), NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said one key component of the NBA Europe project is the league’s desire to address the fact that some of the biggest markets across the Atlantic don’t currently have basketball teams that are permanent members of the EuroLeague.

“There’s no top-tier team in the U.K. at all. The U.K’s the biggest market in Europe. There’s no top-tier basketball team there, in London, in Manchester,” Tatum said. “There’s no permanent top-tier in the top league there in Paris, in Berlin, in Rome. So they’re missing the biggest commercial markets.

“… Our idea is to create this league, call it 12 to 16 teams, with the biggest countries having permanent franchises. Call it the U.K., Spain, Germany, Italy, France. Two teams in each one of those markets that we know with certainty will have franchises there. And then we’ll open it up to the rest of the (European) ecosystem.”

Teams based in cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Athens, and Istanbul have become EuroLeague powerhouses, but London doesn’t have a team in the league and has never exactly been a basketball hotbed. As Joe Vardon of The Athletic writes, the NBA believes there’s untapped potential in the market.

“Just walking the streets here and being in the hotels, I hear from people all the time saying, ‘I’m sleep-deprived following your league,'” NBA commissioner Adam Silver told Vardon before this month’s Grizzlies/Magic game in London. “There are more people approaching us and saying, ‘I’d love to have the London franchise,’ and I think it’s not just because it’s such an attractive market, but because there’s no top-tier basketball team right now. So, there’s lots of groups seeing an opportunity to create a new brand here.”

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

  • After announcing this year’s Rising Stars participants earlier in the week, the NBA announced the rosters and the semifinal matchups on Tuesday evening (Twitter links). Among the notable team-ups? Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg, 2025’s No. 1 overall pick, will play alongside No. 2 pick Dylan Harper and his Spurs teammate Stephon Castle on Carmelo Anthony‘s team.
  • Former NBA guard Antonio Blakeney, who played for the Bulls from 2017-19, was accused earlier this month of being one of the ringleaders in an illegal gambling scheme involving U.S. college players and game-fixing in China. ESPN’s Michael Rothstein has the full story on Blakeney, who faces wire fraud charges and could face a lengthy prison sentence if he’s convicted.
  • Federal prosecutors investigating illegal gambling are looking at additional NBA games beyond the seven contests cited in an indictment this past fall, says Mike Vorkunnov of The Athletic. That fall indictment was the one that led to the arrest of Terry Rozier and is connected to the case that resulted in Jontay Porter being banned from the NBA.
  • Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report has updated his 2026 NBA mock draft, while Sam Vecenie of The Athletic shares some of his draft-related intel. Within his story, Vecenie considers how NIL will impact the 2026 draft class and identifies Arizona’s Brayden Burries and Illinois’ Keaton Wagler as two prospects whose stocks are very much on the rise.
1 comment 2026 NBA Draft All-Star Game Dallas Mavericks NBA Europe San Antonio Spurs

Flagg, Knueppel, Edgecombe Among Rising Stars Participants

By | at January 26, 2026 6:20 pm

The 2026 Rising Stars event will feature 11 sophomores, 10 rookies and seven G League representatives, the NBA announced in a press release. The mini-tournament will take place at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on February 13.

Here’s the full list of participants:

Rookies

Sophomores

G League

All 10 of the rookies — headlined by No. 1 overall pick Flagg, No. 3 Edgecombe, and No. 4 Knuppel — were lottery selections in last year’s draft, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter links). By contrast, only five of the sophomores were lottery picks, with three being first-rounders outside of the lottery and three picked in the second round.

NBA assistant coaches selected the 21 rookies and sophomores, according to the release, and those players will be drafted onto three different seven-player teams on Tuesday at 6:00 pm CT on Peacock. Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady will draft and be the “honorary coaches” of the three squads, while Austin Rivers will be the honorary coach for the G League representatives.

The four actual head coaches will be assistants from the All-Star game coaching staffs.

Six of the seven players representing the G League are actually on NBA contracts: Yang (No. 16) and Niederhauser (No. 30) were 2025 first-round picks, while Martin, Harper, Newton and Garcia are on two-way deals with their respective clubs. East, who played in Canada and Romania last season, is the lone player on an actual G League contract after Utah waived him in the fall.

Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft, is the younger brother of Ron Harper Jr. Both players are the sons of longtime NBA guard Ron Harper, who won five championships with the Bulls and Lakers.

As for the tournament itself, the four teams will face off in a single-elimination semifinal, with the two winners competing in the final. The semifinal is first to 40 points, whereas the final will be first to 25.

13 comments All-Star Game Boston Celtics Brooklyn Nets Charlotte Hornets Chicago Bulls Cleveland Cavaliers Dallas Mavericks Houston Rockets Los Angeles Clippers Memphis Grizzlies Miami Heat NBA G League New Orleans Pelicans Newsstand Oklahoma City Thunder Philadelphia 76ers Portland Trail Blazers San Antonio Spurs Toronto Raptors Utah Jazz Washington Wizards

J.B. Bickerstaff To Coach In All-Star Game

By | at January 24, 2026 10:50 pm

The Pistons’ J.B. Bickerstaff has wrapped up one of three head coaching slots in next month’s All-Star Game, the NBA announced (via Twitter).

The Celtics’ loss on Saturday night in Chicago ensured that Detroit will hold the best record in the East by the February 1 cutoff. At 32-11, the Pistons have a five-game lead over second place Boston, which is 28-17.

The coaching honor continues a remarkable turnaround under Bickerstaff, who was hired in 2024 to take over a franchise that had finished last in the East in back-to-back years. He led Detroit to a 44-38 record last season, a 30-game improvement from the previous year, and a competitive first-round series against New York. The resurgence has continued as the Pistons currently have the second-best record in the NBA.

This will be Bickerstaff’s first time serving as a head coach in the All-Star Game, and he’s the first Detroit coach to enjoy that honor since Flip Saunders did it 20 years ago.

Oklahoma City holds a comfortable lead in the West, but Mark Daigneault was an All-Star head coach last season and league rules prohibit coaches from serving in that capacity in consecutive years. The honor will go to the coach with the second-best record on February 1, with San Antonio currently a half-game ahead of Denver and three games in front of Houston.

The All-Star Game, which takes place February 15 in Los Angeles, will feature a U.S. vs. the World format this year, with two teams of American players and one made up of players who were born elsewhere.

4 comments All-Star Game Detroit Pistons

Giannis Antetokounmpo Expected To Be Sidelined Several Weeks Due To Calf Injury

By | at January 24, 2026 7:37 am

Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t a doctor, but he sounded like one after suffering a right calf injury in the Bucks’ 102-100 loss to the Nuggets on Friday. The Bucks superstar expects to sit out four-to-six weeks, according to The Athletic’s Eric Nehm and  Jamal Collier of ESPN. He’ll undergo an MRI on Saturday to confirm the diagnosis.

“Probably the next steps will be, go to (an) MRI tomorrow. After the MRI, they’ll tell me, probably, I popped something in my calf, in my soleus, something. They’ll probably give me a protocol of four to six weeks that I’ll be out,” Antetokounmpo said. “This is from my experience being around the NBA.”

Antetokounmpo felt some pain during the first quarter and retreated to the locker room. He returned with a wrap around the calf and continued to play, logging 32 minutes and posting 22 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists. Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers took him out during the final minute after he pulled up lame, limped past half court and then grabbed at his right calf.

“I’ll say, I don’t (know) if this is smart or not smart, but I’ll just say my competitive spirit,” Antetokounmpo said of continuing to play after tweaking the calf in the first quarter. “Obviously, I was feeling it a majority of the game, but I did not want to stop playing. But at the end, I could not move no more, so I had to stop.”

Rivers asserted that his medical staff assured him throughout the game that Antetokounmpo was healthy enough to play.

“I asked our [medical] team five different times,” Rivers said. “I didn’t like what my eyes were seeing, personally. Giannis was defiant about staying in.”

This development is not only a severe blow to the Bucks’ chances of making the playoffs — they’re 18-26 and 11th in the Eastern Conference  — but could also impact the front office’s trade deadline strategy.

The future of the Bucks’ star has been an endless source of speculation. As recently as Friday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the former Most Valuable Player’s frustration was at an all-time high due to the team’s poor record.

Several teams have reportedly been hanging onto their top trade assets in the hopes that Antetokounmpo will end up on the trade block, but the Bucks star has said on the record that he never intends to request a trade out of Milwaukee and there has been no indication the front office would proactively look to move him.

It’s also been reported that the Bucks were looking for ways to upgrade the roster in an attempt to appease Antetokoumnpo. That approach could change if their star won’t be able to take the court for an extended period.

Milwaukee went 3-11 in the 14 games Antetokounmpo missed with a left adductor strain and a right soleus strain earlier this season.

“This calf keeps coming up and it’s concerning,” Rivers said. “I’m not a doctor, but I’m smart enough to know that his calf keeps bothering him and there’s something that is there. It keeps happening, and that’s troublesome for all of us.”

The injury will likely force Giannis to miss next month’s All-Star Game. He was named an All-Star starter on Monday.

Antetokounmpo vowed to make a strong comeback, rather than sitting out the rest of the season.

“I’m going to work my butt off to come back,” he said. “That will probably be the end of February, beginning of March. Hopefully the team will be in a place that we can at least make the play-in or make the playoffs and just take it day by day, try to get better.”

20 comments All-Star Game Milwaukee Bucks Newsstand

Antetokounmpo, Curry Head List Of All-Star Starters

By | at January 19, 2026 1:22 pm

The NBA’s 2026 All-Star starters have been set, the league announced today (Twitter links). Here are the 10 players who earned those spots:

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

This season’s All-Star Game will have a U.S. vs. World format. The round-robin event is scheduled to be played Sunday, Feb. 15 at 5 p.m. ET at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. Two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players (the World team) will compete in a tournament featuring four 12-minute games. The three teams will each have a minimum of eight players.

How the teams will be divvied up is yet to be determined.

Two-time MVP Antetokounmpo has been selected as a starter for the 10th consecutive season. 2024 Finals MVP Brown will be making his fifth All-Star appearance, while Brunson will be making his third consecutive appearance.

This marks Cunningham’s second NBA All-Star selection and first as a starter. Cunningham is the first Pistons player to be named an Eastern Conference starter in the All-Star Game since Allen Iverson in 2009. It will also be Maxey’s second All-Star appearance and first as a starter.

This will be Curry’s 12th All-Star Game and 11th as a starter. Doncic will be making his sixth All-Star appearance.

This marks the fourth career All-Star appearance for reigning NBA MVP and Finals MVP Gilgeous-Alexander and his third consecutive season as an All-Star starter. Three-time MVP Jokic has been named an All-Star for the eighth consecutive year. Wembanyama is the first Spurs player to be named an All-Star starter since Kawhi Leonard in 2017.

Fans accounted for 50% of the vote to determine the starters, while players and media accounted for 25% each.  Wembanyama won a tiebreaker with the Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards for a starting spot. The full voting results can be found through this NBA.com link.

32 comments All-Star Game Boston Celtics Denver Nuggets Detroit Pistons Golden State Warriors Los Angeles Lakers Milwaukee Bucks Minnesota Timberwolves New York Knicks Newsstand Oklahoma City Thunder Philadelphia 76ers San Antonio Spurs

And-Ones: Caboclo, All-Star Teams, Rising Stars, More

By | at January 15, 2026 3:20 pm

Former NBA forward Bruno Caboclo has signed a rest-of-season contract with Dubai Basketball, the EuroLeague team announced in a press release.

The 20th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Caboclo spent seven years in the NBA, last suiting up for Houston in 2020/21. The 30-year-old spent last season in Israel with Hapoel Tel Aviv, won the FIBA AmeriCup tournament with his native Brazil over the summer, and was sidelined to open ’25/26 due to a back injury.

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

  • ESPN’s Tim Bontemps has made his picks for the 2026 All-Star teams, identifying nine locks from the Eastern Conference and 10 locks in the West, with five “bubble” candidates in each conference. Bontemps makes Pacers forward Pascal Siakam his final pick in the East over Desmond Bane and Michael Porter Jr., with Suns guard Devin Booker claiming his last spot in the West over Los Angeles stars Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves.
  • Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, and Austin Rivers have been named honorary head coaches for the NBA’s 2026 Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend, the league announced (Twitter link). NBA rookies and sophomores will comprise three of the teams, with the fourth squad made up of G League standouts.
  • Bobby Marks and Kevin Pelton of ESPN identify one trade candidate to watch on each NBA roster, ranging from big names like Ja Morant and Domantas Sabonis to under-the-radar trade candidates like Celtics big man Chris Boucher and Clippers forward Kobe Brown.
  • In another story for ESPN, Marks takes a look at several of the most valuable traded draft picks for 2026, as well as outlining how certain teams could benefit from various convoluted swaps. Our breakdown of 2026’s traded first-round picks can be found right here.

Rory Maher contributed to this story.

6 comments All-Star Game Boston Celtics Indiana Pacers International Los Angeles Clippers Phoenix Suns

Central Notes: Bulls, Cunningham, Duren, Pistons, Mitchell

By | at January 15, 2026 1:29 pm

The Bulls‘ front office went nearly three years (from August 2021 to June 2024) without making a trade involving a player, but the team has been a little more active on the trade market in the past year-and-a-half. According to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times, there’s a sense that trend could continue this season.

As Cowley explains, league sources have described executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas as more transparent in trade talks and more realistic in terms of his asking prices since last season’s trade deadline. Rival executives have gotten the sense that Karnisovas is open for business this winter, with the Bulls once again hovering just below .500 and more than half of their roster on expiring contracts.

Karnisovas is starting to feel more pressure from Bulls higher-ups to get the team pointed in the right direction, according to Cowley, who says the team has been hurt by too many “passive” decisions in recent years.

We have more from around the Central:

  • After four days off, the banged-up Pistons will be getting some reinforcements and should be closer to full strength for their game against Phoenix on Thursday, tweets Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press. Point guard Cade Cunningham is off the injury report and will be available after missing two games due to a right wrist contusion, while center Jalen Duren is considered probable to play after being sidelined for four games with a sprained right ankle. Forward Tobias Harris (left hip sprain) and big man Isaiah Stewart (illness) are also listed as probable to return following brief absences.
  • Hunter Patterson and John Hollinger of The Athletic team up to consider potential Pistons moves ahead of the trade deadline, as well as how the team might create room on the 15-man roster for two-way standout Daniss Jenkins. Hollinger suggests that Detroit still needs to find a long-term answer at power forward, while Patterson hears from league sources that the front office is expected to be “opportunistic but not aggressive.”
  • Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell was born in New York, but he said in a video diary for Andscape that he’d like to play for the World team if he makes this year’s All-Star Game, pointing to his Panamanian roots on his mother’s side. “I do think I should be on the World team,” Mitchell said (YouTube link). “But I don’t think people look at me as like a Panamanian basketball player. But I do. I would love to be on the World team if I got a chance. If not, I’m not tripping. Don’t get me wrong. But I definitely want to show love to my Panamanian roots and my people in Panama.”
11 comments All-Star Game Chicago Bulls Cleveland Cavaliers Detroit Pistons

And-Ones: Kennedy, Morris, Draft, All-Star Voting, 65-Game Rule

By | at January 10, 2026 11:02 am

Veteran official Bill Kennedy, noted for his entertaining explanations during coaches challenges, left the court in a wheelchair on Friday after suffering an apparent right leg injury during the first quarter of the Sixers–Magic game, according to The Associated Press.

Kennedy started limping as he was running down the court during a Sixers fast break. He was seen hopping on the baseline as Paul George made a layup. Kennedy then called for assistance as the Magic called a timeout. The two other officials, James Williams and Michael Smith, handled the remainder of the game.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

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