Trade Rumors: Grizzlies, Nets, C. Johnson, Wizards, Lakers
After Michael Scotto reported on Sunday that the Grizzlies wanted to include top-15 protection on their 2025 first-round pick in their offer to the Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith, Marc Stein writes at The Stein Line (Substack link) that one source said the protection on that pick was actually top-17.
Brian Lewis of The New York Post, confirming that the protection on the pick the Grizzlies offered was so heavy that “it might never have conveyed,” adds (via Twitter) that Memphis was asking for the Nets’ own 2025 second-round pick in return. Based on the current standings, those two selections are just 11 picks apart at No. 26 and No. 37, per Tankathon, and they could end up even closer than that if Brooklyn moves further down the standings.
As Stein explains, the Nets were more inclined to take the Lakers’ offer for Finney-Smith since it added three future second-round picks to their stash without requiring them to give up any draft assets of their own. It also didn’t include any guaranteed salary beyond this season, whereas the Grizzlies’ offer would’ve meant taking back John Konchar, whose deal is guaranteed through 2026/27.
Now that they’ve missed out on Finney-Smith, it wouldn’t surprise anyone around the NBA if the Grizzlies continue talking to the Nets and pivot to pursuing forward Cameron Johnson, according to Stein, who adds that Memphis is expected to continue shopping Konchar.
Brooklyn is said to be seeking multiple first-round picks for Johnson, but they were also asking for a first-round pick for both Finney-Smith and Dennis Schröder and ultimately settled for second-rounders, Stein observes. That doesn’t mean they’ll take second-rounders for Johnson too, but it suggests the asking price of “multiple first-round picks” may come down a little before February 6.
Here are a few more trade-related notes and rumors from across the league:
- Many league observers had been expecting the Lakers to pursue the Wizards duo of Malcolm Brogdon and Jonas Valanciunas and were surprised to see them make a deal with Brooklyn, according to Stein. Los Angeles could still technically make a deal for both of those two Wizards, but it would be difficult to land more than one of them without D’Angelo Russell‘s expiring contract. “I like the combo of Finney-Smith and (Shake) Milton better for the Lakers than the two Washington guys,” one longtime talent evaluator told Stein.
- Citing team and league sources, Jovan Buha of The Athletic confirms that the Lakers will continue exploring the trade market for additional upgrades ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline. For now, the Lakers’ plan is to assess Finney-Smith’s fit with the current group and make a decision close to the trade deadline on whether it makes sense to give up one or both of their tradable first-rounders (2029 and 2031) in another deal.
- Given that Schröder and Finney-Smith were traded for second-round compensation, teams pursuing a first-round pick in exchange for their role-player trade candidates might have trouble getting the return they’re seeking, Stein notes, pointing to Bulls center Nikola Vucevic and Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma as a couple examples. Valanciunas, Brogdon, Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson, and Raptors teammates Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown are a few of the players believed to be available for second-round picks, Stein adds.
Heat/Rockets Altercation Likely To Result In Suspensions, Fines
An on-court altercation broke out during the final minute of Sunday’s Heat/Rockets game, resulting in several ejections that will likely to lead to suspensions and/or fines for the players involved.
With Miami up by five points and about to inbound the ball with 35.7 seconds left in the game, Heat guard Tyler Herro and Rockets guard Amen Thompson began exchanging words and bumping one another (Twitter video link).
Thompson grabbed Herro by the jersey and threw him to the floor, which led to Heat guard Terry Rozier tackling Thompson as Rockets guard Jalen Green went after Rozier and several other players and coaches converged on the melee.
Once the dust settled, those four players, along with Rockets head coach Ime Udoka and assistant Ben Sullivan, were ejected. Crew chief Marc Davis explained the decision after the game to pool reporter Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
“During the dead ball, Thompsons grabs the jersey and body slams Herro,” Davis said. “Herro responds and they are both ejected for fighting fouls. Green is ejected as his actions escalated the altercation. Rozier as well is ejected as his actions were escalators to the altercation. Coach Sullivan is assessed a technical foul and ejected for his unsportsmanlike comments directed at me as I was attempting to redirect (Alperen) Sengun.”
Tensions were already running high leading up to the play, as Rockets point guard Fred VanVleet was tossed from the game moments earlier after arguing that a timeout should have been awarded to Houston before Davis called the team for a five-second violation on its inbound play (Twitter video link).
VanVleet made contact with Davis during the argument, which the veteran official deemed to be intentional, resulting in the guard’s ejection. Udoka was also sniping back and forth with Davis at that time and was eventually ejected for “unsportsmanlike comments,” per the crew chief.
Naji Marshall (four games), Jusuf Nurkic (three games), and P.J. Washington (one game) received suspensions on Saturday for their roles in an incident involving the Mavericks and Suns in Friday’s game, so it would be a surprise if similar penalties aren’t handed out in response to this latest skirmish.
Thompson seems likely to face the most significant punishment from the league, with Rozier and Green at risk of possible suspensions as well. It’s unclear how the NBA will view Herro’s role, given that he didn’t reenter the fray after initially being thrown to the floor.
Although it took the NBA less than 24 hours to make its ruling after the Mavs/Suns altercation, that was at least partly because both teams were in the middle of back-to-back sets and the league wanted to announce suspensions prior to Saturday’s games. Neither the Heat nor the Rockets play until Wednesday, so the NBA may take a little more time to review this case.
Thompson didn’t speak to reporters after Sunday’s game, but Herro suggested with a smile during his post-game media session that his own big night (27 points, nine assists, six rebounds) led to Thompson’s frustration.
“Guess that’s what happens when someone’s scoring, throwing dimes, doing the whole thing,” Herro said (Twitter video link). “I’d get mad, too.”
Examining Upcoming Decisions On Non-Guaranteed Salaries
The NBA's league-wide salary guarantee date is January 10, but if a team wants to avoid paying a player on a non-guaranteed contract his full-season salary, that player must be cut on or before January 7 in order to clear waivers prior to the guarantee deadline. That means teams around the league have nine more days to consider whether or not to retain the 23 players without fully guaranteed salaries.
There were 24 players on that list before the Timberwolves waived PJ Dozier on Saturday. Because Dozier's contract included a $1MM partial guarantee for 2024/25, there was little incentive for Minnesota to release him earlier in the season -- since that $1MM guarantee represented nearly 67/174ths of his full $2,613,120 salary, the Wolves would've taken on on $1MM in dead money whether Dozier was cut on the first day of the season or the 60th day.
But once the 67-day mark passed, Dozier's cap hit continued to increase beyond the initial $1MM guarantee and the Wolves decided they didn't want to continue paying him. It's likely no coincidence that he was cut on the 68th day of the season.
Minnesota is far from the only team that will have a decision to make on a non-guaranteed salary in the coming days. Let's take a closer look at which players on non-guaranteed deals should be safe and which ones are in more danger of being waived by Jan. 7.
Brooklyn Nets
As their trades sending out Dennis Schröder and Dorian Finney-Smith have clearly signaled, the Nets are fully in rebuilding mode, so my first instinct is to assume they'll be inclined to hang onto players like Johnson and Wilson, both of whom have been regular parts of the rotation as of late (in Friday's loss to San Antonio, they both started and played at least 37 minutes).
NBA Players Who Can’t Be Traded This Season
As we explained when we identified the players who will become trade-eligible on unique dates this season, there’s a small group of players whose trade restrictions won’t lift until sometime after the February 6 trade deadline. These players meet one of the following criteria:
- They signed a free agent contract or were promoted from a two-way contract after November 6.
- A player who signs a free agent contract or is promoted from a two-way contract is ineligible to be traded for at least three months.
- They signed a veteran contract extension (meeting certain criteria) after August 6.
- A player who signs a veteran extension that keeps him under contract for more than four total years (including his current contract), includes a first-year raise greater than 20%, includes a subsequent raise exceeding 5%, or includes a renegotiation is ineligible to be traded for six months.
- They signed a super-max contract.
- A player who signs a super-max contract (also known as a designated veteran contract) is ineligible to be traded for one year.
We identified all the players who fell into these three categories in our previous story on unique trade dates, but they may have slipped through the cracks amid the larger list of players we discussed in that article.
With that in mind, we want to specifically single them out today to make sure it’s clear which players won’t become trade-eligible at all until sometime after the 2024/25 regular season.
Here are the players who fall into the three aforementioned groups and who can’t be traded this season:
Players who have signed standard contracts since November 6:
Branden Carlson (Thunder)- Jae Crowder (Kings)
- Keshad Johnson (Heat)
- Paul Reed (Pistons)
- Landry Shamet (Knicks)
There hasn’t been a ton of action on the free agent market since the regular season began, with most players who have signed with NBA teams receiving two-way contracts rather than standard deals.
Still, the Thunder and Kings added 15th men on non-guaranteed contracts; the Heat promoted Johnson from his two-way deal; and the Knicks and Pistons re-signed veterans whom they waived earlier in 2024/25.
All of those players are ineligible to be moved this season, and this list will continue to grow if more free agents sign standard contracts between now and February 6.
Players who have signed veteran contract extensions meeting certain criteria since August 6:
- Wendell Carter Jr. (Magic)
- Alex Caruso (Thunder)
- Joel Embiid (Sixers)
- Aaron Gordon (Nuggets)
- Lauri Markkanen (Jazz)
- T.J. McConnell (Pacers)
- Jamal Murray (Nuggets)
- Ivica Zubac (Clippers)
A few players on this list wouldn’t have been trade candidates regardless of whether or not they signed extensions in recent months. Others, including Carter and Markkanen, had been the subject of offseason trade speculation. Now all of them are ineligible to be dealt until the 2025 offseason.
It’s not uncommon for some players who are eligible for in-season veteran extensions to sign new deals well into the season, as Caruso did last week, so it’s certainly possible more names will be added to this group before February’s trade deadline.
Players who have signed super-max contracts:
- Jayson Tatum (Celtics)
Tatum signed his designated veteran extension on July 6, 2024, which means he won’t become trade-eligible until July 6, 2025.
No other players will join the Celtics forward on this list prior to next month’s trade deadline, since super-max deals can’t be signed during the season.
Note: This article refers to players on standard contracts. Players on two-way contracts can’t be traded for 30 days after signing, meaning any player who signs a two-way deal after January 7 this season will be ineligible to be dealt by the deadline.
NBA Suspends Naji Marshall, Jusuf Nurkic, P.J. Washington
The NBA has suspended Mavericks forwards Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington and Suns center Jusuf Nurkic for their roles in an on-court altercation during Friday’s game between the two teams, the league announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
Marshall has been hit with a four-game suspension, Nurkic will be suspended for three games, and Washington will serve a one-game suspension, according to the NBA.
Nurkic was called for an offensive foul with 9:02 remaining in the third quarter of Friday’s game and began heading toward his basket before turning back and exchanging words with Marshall and Washington. The incident escalated when Nurkic struck Marshall in the side of the head. Marshall responded by throwing a punch that connected with Nurkic’s face as the Suns big man was shoved to the floor by Washington (Twitter video links).
According to the league, Marshall “attempted to further engage Nurkic in a hostile manner in the corridor outside the locker rooms” after the players were ejected from the game. That’s presumably why the Mavs forward got the longest suspension of the bunch.
Washington will serve his suspension on Saturday night when the Mavs visit Portland. In addition to missing that game, Marshall will sit out Monday’s contest in Sacramento and Wednesday’s in Houston, as well as Dallas’ home game vs. Cleveland next Friday.
Nurkic will begin serving his three-game ban on Saturday when the Suns play in Golden State. He’ll also miss games vs. Memphis on Tuesday and in Indiana next Saturday.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Marshall’s four-game suspension will cost him $236,453 of his $8,571,429 salary, while Nurkic will forfeit $375K,000 of his $18,125,000 salary. Those figures are based on each player losing 1/145th of his total salary for each game of the suspension.
Because his suspension is just for one game, Washington will only give up 1/174th of his $15.5MM salary, which works out to $89,080, Marks notes.
The Mavericks and Suns will receive tax variance credits worth 50% of the total forfeited salary, slightly reducing their projected end-of-season luxury tax payments, Marks adds (via Twitter).
Injury Notes: Lillard, B. Brown, Poeltl, Stewart, M. Robinson
Damian Lillard, who has missed the Bucks‘ past four games due to a calf issue and an illness, will return to action on Saturday against Chicago, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes (via Twitter).
Speaking to reporters after today’s shootaround, Lillard explained that the calf injury, which caused him to miss games last Friday and Saturday, was a “mild” strain and that the illness which sidelined him on Monday and Thursday hit him much harder, as Eric Nehm of The Athletic relays (via Twitter).
“I’ve never been that sick before in my entire life,” Lillard said. “I wasn’t throwing up, nothing. I just didn’t eat for two days. I didn’t eat at all. I didn’t get up, nothing. I was down. It was bad. Couple days ago, I tried to work out – the night before (Thursday’s) Brooklyn game, because I wanted to play against Brooklyn – but I mean, the whole time I was working out, it just kept making me cough, coughing up s–t. I got through the workout, but I couldn’t breathe good.
“… I lost a couple pounds. I mean, if you don’t eat for two days. And I was just trying to at least stay hydrated. … (But) I didn’t have no food in me, it was just all liquid, so obviously I dropped some weight.”
Here are a few more health updates from around the NBA:
- Raptors swingman Bruce Brown, who has been sidelined for the entire season while recovering from a knee procedure, is listed as questionable to make his season debut on Sunday vs. Atlanta, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. Starting center Jakob Poeltl, out since December 16 due to a bilateral groin strain, is among several other Toronto players who are questionable to play on Sunday, Lewenberg notes.
- Pistons center Isaiah Stewart is probable to suit up on Saturday vs. Denver after missing the team’s past four games due to a hyperextended left knee, tweets Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. Before getting injured in his 27th game of the season on Dec. 16, Stewart had appeared in each of Detroit’s first 26 contests, averaging 22.0 minutes per night.
- Although Mitchell Robinson still hasn’t been cleared for practice or even started sprinting at full speed, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau is encouraged by the center’s rehab progress as he makes his way back from offseason ankle surgery, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. “There’s still some benchmarks that he has to get through, but he’s done a terrific job,” Thibodeau said on Friday in Orlando. “He’s light, he’s lean, he’s worked extremely hard. So we just want to make sure we’re patient and let him work his way through it.” According to Thibodeau, the next phase for Robinson is full-speed running — after that, he’ll be cleared for practice and contact. However, the exact timeline for those steps is still unclear.
Western Notes: Malone, Brown, Suns, Mavs, Pels, Morant, Kawamura
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, who was the head coach in Sacramento for a season-and-a-half from 2013-14, didn’t hold back in his criticism of his former employer for the way the Kings handled Mike Brown‘s dismissal, as Bennett Durando of The Denver Post relays.
“What really pissed me off about it was that they lost (Thursday) night, fifth game in a row, I believe — tough loss, fouling a jump-shooter — they have practice this morning, he does his post-(practice) media, and he’s in his car going to the airport to fly to L.A.,” Malone said. “And they call him on the phone (to fire him). No class. No balls. That’s what I’ll say about that.”
Malone said he was initially “really shocked and surprised” when he heard that Brown had been fired, but quickly realized the news wasn’t all that unexpected for two reasons.
“One, because as an NBA head coach, ultimately you’re going to get the blame,” Malone said. “When they win, it’s going to go to (Domantas) Sabonis and (De’Aaron) Fox. When you lose, it’s gonna go to Mike Brown. That’s the way it works. And two, who he works for. So I’m not surprised that Mike Brown got fired, because I got fired by the same person.”
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- Fines and/or suspensions could be coming after Suns center Jusuf Nurkic and Mavericks forwards Naji Marshall and P.J. Washington were ejected from Friday’s game for their roles in a fourth-quarter altercation (Twitter video link). As Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic details, Nurkic was called for an offensive foul and began heading toward his basket before turning back and exchanging words with Marshall and Washington. The incident escalated when Nurkic slapped Marshall in the side of the head. Marshall responded by throwing a punch at Nurkic as the Suns big man was shoved to the floor by Washington.
- In the wake of Thursday’s 17-point home loss to Houston, Pelicans head coach Willie Green bemoaned his club’s “lack of competitiveness,” telling reporters, “We were just soft tonight. Period” (Twitter link via Will Guillory of The Athletic). New Orleans followed up that performance with another loss – its ninth in a row – on Friday at home vs. the Grizzlies and now has a 5-27 record.
- Grizzlies star Ja Morant exited Friday’s win over New Orleans early due to a right shoulder ailment. While it didn’t look in the moment like a significant injury, it’s the same shoulder that Morant had surgically repaired last January, so the team figures to play it safe with its franchise player. According to head coach Taylor Jenkins, Morant will be reevaluated within the “next couple days” to determine the severity of the injury, tweets Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com.
- Two-way guard Yuki Kawamura has only logged 41 total minutes across 14 outings for the Grizzlies, but the Japanese rookie has made Memphis the NBA’s most popular team in his home country this season. Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal has the story.
Eastern Notes: Finney-Smith, Celtics, Toppin, J. Johnson, Bagley
Veteran forward Dorian Finney-Smith returned to the Nets‘ starting lineup on Friday vs. San Antonio after missing three games due to a left calf contusion, an injury he admitted was related to a left ankle sprain that cost him several games in November and early December, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
“Same ankle, which kind of ran up my calf, changed the way I ran,” Finney-Smith said. “You know your body adjusts to pain, so I started running a little different. So it started causing me to irritate my calf. I’ll be all right. I’ve just got to be smarter, listen to my body sometime.”
Besides being an important part of Brooklyn’s starting lineup, Finney-Smith is considered a prime candidate to be traded before this season’s deadline, so the Nets will want to keep him healthy for both reasons.
[RELATED: Grizzlies Interested In Finney-Smith]
Finney-Smith’s three-and-D skill set would be a fit for just about any contending team and he can become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end if he turns down his 2025/26 player option. With that in mind, the rebuilding Nets are expected to try to get what they can for him rather than risk losing him for nothing in the summer.
Here’s more from around the East:
- The Celtics were missing a pair of starters on Friday vs. Indiana, with Kristaps Porzingis out due to a left ankle sprain and Jrue Holiday unavailable for a second straight game due to a right shoulder impingement (Twitter link). The defending champions weren’t hampered by the absences though, blowing out Indiana by a score of 142-105, led by Jaylen Brown‘s 44 points.
- The Pacers were without forward Obi Toppin for Friday’s blowout loss. Head coach Rick Carlisle – who acknowledged on Thursday that Toppin would “probably miss some time,” per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star – said before Friday’s game that he doesn’t yet have a sense of a timetable for Toppin, but noted that he has always been a quick healer (Twitter link via Dopirak).
- Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal Constitution explores the All-Star case that Hawks forward Jalen Johnson is making this season. Besides averaging new career highs in points (19.8), rebounds (10.3), and assists (5.5) per game, Johnson has posted impressive on/off-court numbers — Atlanta has a +0.9 net rating when he’s on the floor and a dismal -10.4 mark when he isn’t.
- After injuring his right knee on Monday, Wizards big man Marvin Bagley III has been diagnosed with a sprain, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Bagley was out Thursday and figures to remain on the shelf for the foreseeable future, but he avoided a worst-case scenario, according to head coach Brian Keefe, who said he doesn’t expect the injury to be a season-ender, per Varun Shankar of The Washington Post (Twitter link).
Joel Embiid Fined $75K By NBA
Sixers center Joel Embiid has been fined $75K, the NBA announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
Embiid was ejected from Monday’s game vs. San Antonio for arguing with and confronting an official about a foul call, but this fine wasn’t related to that incident. According to the league, the $75K penalty is for “making obscene gestures on the playing court” during the first half of Philadelphia’s win in Boston on Wednesday.
The NBA didn’t specify exactly which gestures Embiid was being fined for, but there were a couple candidates captured on ESPN’s broadcast. After being fouled on a first-quarter basket, the star center made a subtle crotch-chopping gesture while lying on his back on the court (Twitter video link). He also appeared to flip off the home crowd after making a three-pointer in the final seconds of the first half (Twitter video link).
Embiid was fined during both the 2022/23 and ’23/24 seasons for “obscene gestures” on the court (crotch chops, in both cases), so his history – along with the bigger Christmas Day stage – may have been a factor in the more significant penalty this time around.
Embiid’s cap hit this season is approximately $51.4MM, so the fine represents a drop in the bucket for the former MVP.
Embiid is questionable to play on Saturday in Utah, with the Sixers’ injury report citing both his sinus fracture and a left foot sprain, notes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).
Nuggets Notes: Gordon, Murray, Jokic, Jordan, Ganta
Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon, who aggravated a calf strain on Wednesday after missing 10 games due to the injury earlier in the season, is expected to be out for the “next couple of games,” head coach Michael Malone told reporters today (Twitter link via Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports).
Malone doesn’t expect Gordon to be sidelined for as long as he was the last time he injured the calf, tweets Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette. While the Nuggets’ coach was reluctant to project a recovery timeline, he said on Friday that the club thinks Gordon caught the issue before it got bad.
While the Nuggets will be down one regular starter on Saturday vs. Cleveland, guard Jamal Murray has been deemed available after being listed on the injury report due to his right ankle sprain, per the team (Twitter link).
Here’s more out of Denver:
- Nuggets star Nikola Jokic appears increasingly frustrated with the team’s supporting cast, according to Troy Renck of The Denver Post, who points to multiple examples of Jokic’s on-court exasperation during the Christmas Day game vs. Phoenix and suggests that the team’s decision-makers, including general manager Calvin Booth and governor Josh Kroenke, “better take notice.” So far this season, Denver has outscored opponents by 208 points during Jokic’s 929 minutes on the court and been outscored by 125 in the 430 minutes he hasn’t played.
- The Nuggets frequently shuffled through backup centers earlier in the season, but have stuck with DeAndre Jordan in that role as of late, as Bennett Durando of The Denver Post details. The veteran big man has played between nine and 15 minutes in each of Denver’s past eight games and the team has a perfectly even (+0.0) net rating during those minutes, which is a win with Jokic off the floor. “We’ve kind of settled into our backup five right now with DJ, so I think that helps. You know, ‘Is it Dario (Saric)? Is it Zeke (Nnaji)? Is it DJ?’ Right now, it’s DeAndre Jordan,” Malone said earlier this week. “And he’s playing well for us, and trying to get those guys more and more comfortable, creating that on-court chemistry. But I think if that (second unit) can go out there and hold their own defensively and execute offensively — even if we don’t score, just generate good shots (and) not turn the ball over — now we’re giving ourselves a chance.”
- Neel Ganta, who had worked in the Nuggets’ front office since 2022, most recently as the team’s basketball strategy/analytics coordinator, is returning to Illinois to become the new men’s basketball general manager for the school, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link). Ganta was previously a graduate assistant for the Fighting Illini.