And-Ones: Tax Aprons, Depth, Giannis, Beverley, Ibaka
There were some concerns leading up to the trade deadline that the new apron-related restrictions affecting many teams around the NBA would reduce the amount of in-season activity on the trade market. That certainly wasn’t the case, as 25 clubs made at least one deal during the first week of February and a record number of players were on the move.
As Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps write in an ESPN.com Insider story, the action on the trade market suggests that teams are comfortable managing the first-apron restrictions.
“I think what we’ve seen is the real penal place to be is the second apron, and mostly because of the [rule against aggregating contracts],” one executive told Windhorst. “If you’re in the first apron, it’s harder, and you may need a third team, but it is manageable.”
As Windhorst points out, while several teams operating near or above the first tax apron made major trades, the three teams that remained above the second apron were relatively quiet. The Celtics completed only a minor salary-dump deal, the Timberwolves didn’t make a trade, and Phoenix was unable to find a path to acquire Jimmy Butler after trying for weeks.
The Suns did make a pair of smaller in-season deals, but the Jusuf Nurkic trade was essentially a salary dump and the acquisition of Nick Richards required them to pursue a player on a very modest contract ($5MM per year) due to their inability to aggregate contracts.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Elsewhere in their Insider-only ESPN.com story, Windhorst and Bontemps explore how teams with youth and depth are having more success than ever this season, while many clubs that have had to rely more heavily on older veterans – such as Philadelphia and Phoenix – are struggling. “With the style of the games and the pace of play, the league has never been more physically demanding,” one general manager told Windhorst. “It wears guys down and out.” One coach who spoke to ESPN noted that there’s a history of teams winning with “men, not with boys,” but acknowledged, “It’s hard to win with a lot of old men because even if they’re great, they get hurt.”
- Speaking to Vassilis Skountis and Rigas Dardalis of Cosmote TV, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo confirmed that he plans to suit up for Greece in the 2025 EuroBasket tournament (story via Eurohoops.net). “If I am healthy, I will be there,”Antetokounmpo said. The Greek national team clinched its EuroBasket berth with an overtime win over the Czech Republic on Friday.
- Following the loss of guard Dennis Smith Jr., EuroLeague powerhouse Real Madrid is rumored to be eyeing veteran free agent Patrick Beverley, as Alessandro Maggi of Sportando relays. Real Madrid’s roster may undergo additional changes involving former NBA players, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops, who passes along rumblings that big man Serge Ibaka and the team are considering parting ways.
Atlantic Notes: Gordon, George, Holiday, Hart, McBride, Anunoby
Sixers wing Eric Gordon has been out since February 9 due to what the team is calling a sprained right wrist. When word broke that Lonnie Walker had agreed to sign with Philadelphia, Marc Stein reported that the team made the move in part because Gordon’s return from that wrist injury may not happen in the near future. Head coach Nick Nurse confirmed as much on Thursday.
“He’s seen two specialists, and they still don’t know what to do,” Nurse said, per Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link).
According to Nurse, Gordon is expected to receive more medical opinions on his wrist before he and the team decide on a treatment plan. While there’s a possibility the injury can be managed, there’s also a scenario in which it keeps the veteran shooting guard sidelined for a “long time,” Nurse acknowledged.
We have more from around the Atlantic:
- In other Sixers injury news, forward Paul George confirmed last week’s report from Shams Charania, which said that he had been receiving injections in order to play through various health issues, including tendon damage in his finger. “I’m hanging in there,” George said on Thursday, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I’m giving this team everything I have. The report is true. You know, I am taking some sorts of medicines to kind of, I guess, play through pain. But yeah, I’m going to try to give everything I got.” As Pompey writes, with George and Joel Embiid both at less than 100% and Philadelphia holding a 20-35 record, it would be “completely understandable” if the team decides to shut down its two stars for the season, though there has been no indication that will happen.
- After missing the Celtics‘ last four games prior to the All-Star break due to a right shoulder issue, Jrue Holiday returned on Thursday and played 20 minutes in a win over Philadelphia. As Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe relays, Holiday said the injury had been nagging him “for a little bit,” but that it “feels really good” now after the team’s training staff insisted he take some time off. “Sometimes they’ve got to save you from yourself,” he said. “Especially for me, if it’s a game I want to play. You play through injuries, you play through being hurt but sometimes it’s smarter to take a little bit of time especially since we’re at the second half of the season. Obviously I would have played through it, which I feel a lot of us do, is play through injuries. All testament to the training staff.”
- Knicks forward Josh Hart will miss a second consecutive game on Friday in Cleveland due to patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner’s knee), writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. With Hart out on Thursday vs. Chicago, Miles McBride got his first start of the year and scored a season-high 23 points in a tight overtime win, as Peter Botte of The New York Post details.
- While Hart will be out on Friday, another injured Knicks forward – OG Anunoby – is on track to return to action. Anunoby, who has been on the shelf since February 1 due to a sprained foot, is expected to be available vs. the Cavaliers, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Lonnie Walker Signs Two-Year Deal With Sixers
February 21: The signing is official, the Sixers announced in a press release.
February 18, 2:46 pm: Walker will exercise the opt-out clause in his contract with Zalgiris Kaunas after all, Langberg tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Charania, the veteran guard has agree to a two-year contract with the Sixers.
While Charania describes it as a $3MM deal, it should be worth a little more than that. Philadelphia only has the ability to offer a minimum-salary contract, but the second year of a minimum offer would come in around $2.94MM.
The amount of Walker’s prorated minimum salary for the rest of this season will depend on when he officially signs. As of today, it would be about $826K, but it will likely take him a little time to gain FIBA clearance.
The second year of Walker’s new contract will be a team option, a source tells Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link).
The 76ers currently have a full 15-man standard roster, but their 15th man is David Roddy, whose 10-day contract expires on Thursday night, so Walker figures to take Roddy’s spot on the roster.
Philadelphia will be looking to strike gold in the international market again after signing big man Guerschon Yabusele last summer following his five-year stint in Asia and Europe.
According to Stein (Twitter link), the Sixers’ offer to Walker came in today, just in time for him to take advantage of his Feb. 18 opt-out deadline. The team sought shooting guard insurance with Eric Gordon‘s return from a wrist injury up in the air, Stein adds.
February 18, 10:27 am: The contract that shooting guard Lonnie Walker signed with Zalgiris Kaunas in the fall included a clause that allowed him to opt out up until February 18 in order to return to the NBA.
However, Walker won’t take advantage of that opt-out, agent George S. Langberg tells Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link). The plan, Stein says, is for Walker to finish the current season in Lithuania and return to the NBA for the 2025/26 season.
Walker has 322 career regular season NBA games under his belt, having spent time with the Spurs, Lakers, and Nets from 2018-24. Last season, he averaged 9.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 17.4 minutes per game across 58 appearances for Brooklyn, with a shooting line of .423/.384/.763.
The 26-year-old was in camp with the Celtics in October before being cut ahead of the team’s regular season opener.
Multiple reports in recent months have suggested that Walker was drawing interest from NBA teams, including a handful of playoff-caliber clubs. However, it’s unclear whether or not any of those teams made a serious pitch to bring him back stateside.
Walker has averaged 13.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 19 EuroLeague games (22.3 MPG) for Zalgiris this season, though his shooting percentages are just 38.7% from the field and 33.1% on three-pointers.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 2/20/2025
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Jaden Springer Joins Jazz On 10-Day Deal
February 20: Springer’s 10-day contract with Utah is official, the team announced in a press release.
February 19: The Jazz and free agent guard Jaden Springer have reached an agreement on a 10-day contract, agent Chad Speck tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Springer was drafted 28th overall out of Tennessee by the Sixers in 2021 and spent his first two-and-a-half NBA seasons in Philadelphia before being sent to Boston at the 2024 trade deadline in exchange for a second-round pick.
The 6’4″ guard won a title with the Celtics and was still on their roster to open the 2024/25 season, but was dealt to Houston along with a second-round pick earlier this month in a salary-dump deal. The Rockets subsequently waived him.
Springer never emerged as a consistent, reliable rotation player in either Philadelphia or Boston, having averaged just 2.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in 8.0 minutes per game across 93 total appearances (four starts) for the two teams. Still, he’s just 22 years old and is a talented point-of-attack defender, making him a worthwhile flier for a lottery-bound team like Utah.
The Jazz have been carrying just 14 players on standard contracts since cutting Josh Richardson shortly after this month’s trade deadline, so they won’t need to waive anyone to make room on their roster for Springer.
Springer will earn $124,288 on his 10-day deal, while Utah carries a cap hit of $119,972. Assuming the contract is officially signed on Wednesday or Thursday, it will cover the Jazz’s next five games.
Mavs Sign Moses Brown To 10-Day Contract
February 20: Brown’s 10-day contract with the Mavericks is now official, the team confirmed in a press release (Twitter link).
February 19: The Mavericks are planning to sign center Moses Brown to a 10-day contract, his agent Ryan Davis tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
NBA insider Marc Stein, who first reported that Dallas intended to sign a center to a 10-day deal and identified Brown as a candidate, says the big man will audition for the team today and could officially sign as soon as this afternoon if all goes according to plan (Twitter links).
The Mavericks are in desperate need of frontcourt depth, with Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively, and Daniel Gafford all still facing extended injury absences and Dwight Powell having been sidelined for over a month with a hip strain.
However, the Mavs also facing an extremely restrictive hard-cap situation, so their decision to sign Brown to a 10-day contract now is notable.
As we detailed over the weekend, the Mavs only have $171,120 in breathing room below their hard cap; Brown will carry a cap hit of $119,972. Once Brown’s contract expires, Dallas will only have $51,148 in hard-cap room and will have to wait until April 10 to re-add a 15th man.
Brown, 25, has the ability to step in and provide the Mavs with rotation minutes right away. He has appeared in 159 regular season games for seven NBA teams since making his debut in 2019.
Outside of a brief stint with the Pacers in November and December, the former UCLA standout has spent the current season with the Westchester Knicks in the G League. He has appeared in 26 games for New York’s affiliate, averaging 15.9 points, 14.3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 29.2 minutes per contest.
No corresponding roster move will be required for the Mavs, who are currently carrying 14 players on standard contracts.
Cavaliers Sign Nae’Qwan Tomlin To 10-Day Deal
February 20: Tomlin’s 10-day deal is official, the Cavaliers confirmed in a press release.
February 19: The Cavaliers have agreed to sign G League forward Nae’Qwan Tomlin to a 10-day contract, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
As we outlined on Tuesday, Cleveland has been carrying 13 players on standard contracts since the trade deadline on February 6. Teams are permitted to carry fewer than 14 players on their standard rosters for no more than two weeks at a time, so the Cavs need to add a 14th man by Thursday. It appears Tomlin will be that 14th man.
A 6’10” rookie, Tomlin went undrafted last June after finishing his college career at Memphis. He signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Cavs last September, which allowed the club to gain his G League rights.
Tomlin has subsequently spent the 2024/25 season with the Cleveland Charge, appearing in 35 total Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games for the Cavaliers’ NBAGL affiliate. The 24-year-old has averaged 15.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 28.6 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .545/.362/.614.
As Scotto notes, Tomlin has been especially effective in recent weeks, scoring over 20 points in six of his past seven games, including a 37-point outburst vs. the Westchester Knicks on Feb. 7.
Tomlin will earn $66,503 on his 10-day contract with Cleveland, which will cover the club’s next five games. It’s unlikely that he’ll see much – if any – action for the Cavs, but he’ll be available if needed as a depth piece in the frontcourt.
After Tomlin’s 10-day deal expires, the Cavs would have the ability to carry fewer than 14 players for up to two more weeks before having to stay at 14 (or 15) for the remainder of the season, since teams aren’t permitted to drop below that roster minimum for more than 28 total days.
Nets Sign Hayes, Promote Martin, Waive Bogdanovic
FEBRUARY 20: The Nets have officially signed Hayes and promoted Martin while waiving Bogdanovic, the team announced today. Martin’s contract is a multi-year deal, per the Nets.
FEBRUARY 19: The Nets are finalizing an agreement with G League guard Killian Hayes, who will sign a 10-day contract with the team, agent Yann Balikouzou tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The Nets have an open spot on their 15-man roster but are also promoting Tyrese Martin from his two-way deal to a standard contract, so a second opening will be necessary. According to Charania (Twitter link), Brooklyn is creating that extra opening by waiving forward Bojan Bogdanovic.
The No. 7 overall pick of the 2020 draft, Hayes appeared in 210 games for the Pistons from 2020-24 but has been out of the NBA after being cut by Detroit last February. He averaged 8.1 points, 5.2 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.2 steals in 26.1 minutes per game as a Piston and struggled with his shot, making just 38.2% of his attempts from the floor, including 27.7% of his three-point tries.
The French point guard signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Nets in the offseason, but he sustained a hip injury which caused him to miss all of Brooklyn’s preseason games and was subsequently waived prior to the 2024/25 campaign.
Since getting healthy, Hayes has been playing for the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s G League affiliate. In 28 total games for the NBAGL squad, he has averaged 16.8 points, 7.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.3 steals in 33.9 minutes per contest, posting a shooting line of .467/.351/.692.
While some European-born prospects head back overseas when they can’t secure an NBA contract, Hayes viewed the G League as his best route back into the league and recently referred to an NBA return as his “only goal.” The 23-year-old will achieve that goal for at least 10 days — once that contract expires, the Nets would have the option of signing him to a second 10-day deal before having to make a decision on whether or not to retain him for the rest of the season.
Hayes will earn $128,603 on his 10-day deal with Brooklyn, while the team takes on a cap hit of $119,972.
Word broke earlier today that Bogdanovic would be undergoing season-ending surgery on his foot. Since he’s on an expiring contract and almost certainly wasn’t in the Nets’ plans beyond this season, he was a clear-cut candidate to be waived if and when the team needed a roster spot.
Blazers Notes: Henderson, Sharpe, Camara, Play-In
Scoot Henderson‘s NBA career got off to a shaky start in 2023/24. As fellow top-three picks Victor Wembanyama and Brandon Miller shone, the Trail Blazers guard shot only 38.5% from the field as a rookie, making 32.5% of his three-pointers and turning the ball over 3.4 times in just 28.5 minutes per game.
That inconsistent play carried over to the start of his second season, but Henderson has been playing the best basketball of his young professional career since Christmas. The 21-year-old has averaged 13.8 points and 5.7 assists per game with a .475/.405/.798 shooting line in his past 25 outings, and Portland had a winning record in those games.
Speaking to Jason Quick of The Athletic, head coach Chauncey Billups referred to last season as a “humbling year” for Henderson, but said the team remained confident in the young guard’s ability to find his footing.
“He didn’t realize how hard it is to be good in the NBA and to do it every night,” Billups said. “He’d have a good game, but then, dang, here comes De’Aaron Fox tomorrow. Here comes Steph Curry on Thursday, then on to Trae Young. That’s one of the big surprises for a young guy.
“… I mean, everybody … I think (bust) came across their mind at some point. Not me. Not our staff. Because we live with him. We see the inside. We see what’s inside of him.”
For his part, Henderson says he never doubted his ability to eventually succeed in the NBA, but he admits he was frustrated it wasn’t happening right away.
“I’m blessed with the talent, and I did all the work, but I didn’t have anything to show for it,” Henderson said, per Quick. “That’s where I was disappointed.”
Here’s more on the Blazers:
- In an in-depth feature story, Robert Ohman of Willamette Week explores the path taken to the NBA by Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe – the first player of note to emerge from the “hockey town” of London, Ontario – and explores the likelihood of the 21-year-old evolving into a star.
- Over at The Oregonian, Aaron Fentress has published a similar two-part feature on Toumani Camara‘s NBA journey, from his early life in Belgium to the trade that sent him from Phoenix to Portland before his NBA debut to his emergence as a defensive ace for the Blazers. Camara was a 52nd overall pick and was viewed as a relative afterthought in a three-team blockbuster that also included Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, and Deandre Ayton, but the young forward has turned heads with his play on defense. “His ascension has been amazing in a short amount of time,” Billups said.
- A three-game losing streak prior to the All-Star break has left the Trail Blazers five games back of the Warriors for the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference, but the club hasn’t given up on the idea of qualifying for the play-in tournament, as Fentress writes for The Oregonian. Starting forward Deni Avdija said that a stretch of 10 wins in 11 games in January and February gave the Blazers confidence that they’re capable of making a second-half run. “We have a chance to make the play-in, and we’re all in it,” Avdija said. “We’re preparing. We’re doing the best we can, and can’t wait to go back on the court.”
And-Ones: 2025 FAs, College Jobs, MCW, WNBA, More
A series of contract extensions have depleted the star-level talent in the NBA’s 2025 free agent class, but there will still be some notable names to watch this summer, as Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report and ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) detail.
Both Pincus and Marks have longtime NBA stars LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden atop their lists of 2025 free agents, with Marks positing that no player will have more leverage this offseason than Irving, given how badly the Mavericks need to retain the veteran point guard following the trade of Luka Doncic.
After James, Irving, and Harden, who have combined for 41 career All-Star appearances, the next tier of free agents consists of players like Myles Turner, Fred VanVleet, Jonathan Kuminga, Josh Giddey, and Timberwolves power forwards Julius Randle and Naz Reid. Interestingly, Pincus has Reid ranked ahead of the three-time All-Star he backs up, placing Reid at No. 5 and Randle at No. 7 in his early FA rankings.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- As is typical at this time of year, a number of NBA coaches and executives are receiving interest for jobs at the college basketball level, notes Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link). Fischer mentions Hornets executive Buzz Peterson and veteran player agent Jim Tanner as possible candidates for UNC’s general manager job and says Heat assistant Chris Quinn, Suns assistant David Fizdale, and Bucks assistant Dave Joerger are among the names to watch for the University of Miami’s head coaching position. Fischer adds that Kings assistant Luke Loucks has been linked to Florida State’s head coaching opening.
- Former NBA Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams is involved in a bid to bring an WNBA expansion franchise to Boston, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. With expansion teams lined up for San Francisco, Portland, Toronto, and Cleveland, the WNBA will have 16 clubs by 2028, so it’s unclear whether or not the league will be looking to expand beyond that number right away.
- Passing along the results of a player poll from All-Star weekend, Joe Vardon of The Athletic notes that the 14 respondents were unanimously against the idea of 10-minute quarters floated last month by commissioner Adam Silver. However, 12 of those 14 players liked the new All-Star tournament format.
- The Lakers‘ and Pistons‘ G League affiliates completed a trade on Wednesday, with the South Bay Lakers acquiring forward Cole Swider from the Motor City Cruise in exchange for Chris Silva‘s returning rights and a 2025 first-round pick, per a press release. Silva is currently playing overseas, but Swider has been active in the G League and will begin suiting up for South Bay.