Knicks Notes: Yabusele, Brown, Towns, Dadiet, Giannis
The Knicks are engaged in active talks with multiple teams about big man Guerschon Yabusele, league sources tell Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link). An offseason free agent addition, Yabusele hasn’t been a fit in New York, and multiple reports in recent weeks have indicated the Knicks have made him available.
While his $5.5MM cap hit for 2025/26 is relatively modest, Yabusele’s contract also features a $5.8MM player option for ’26/27, which will make him more difficult to move. Despite the Frenchman’s strong season for Philadelphia in ’24/25, he won’t have positive value on the trade market due to his struggles this season (2.9 PPG, 2.2 RPG, .394/.317/.667 shooting).
Bondy doesn’t specify which teams the Knicks have talked to, but San Antonio has been frequently speculated as a possible landing spot due in large part to the presence of Yabusele’s frontcourt partner on the French national team, Victor Wembanyama.
We have more on the Knicks:
- With the Knicks looking to snap a four-game losing streak, head coach Mike Brown acknowledged ahead of Wednesday’s matchup with Brooklyn that some adjustments to the team’s usual game plan were necessary, writes Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. “We’ve made significant changes on both sides of the ball to help them,” Brown told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “All I’m saying is, we didn’t overhaul anything, throwing it out the window, but we’ve made some changes. And like I said before, my staff’s been great, when you go through this you tell your players to look in the mirror. It starts with me, I’ve got to look in the mirror.”
- Although he reported earlier this week that the Knicks have spoken to multiple teams about the possibility of a Karl-Anthony Towns trade, Steve Popper of Newsday (subscription required) stresses that the team absolutely isn’t looking to sell off the star big man for 50 cents on the dollar. Popper suggests that a Knicks deadline deal is more likely to be a less significant one, perhaps involving Yabusele and/or Pacome Dadiet.
- With the Knicks and Bucks both struggling as of late, James L. Edwards III and Eric Nehm of The Athletic consider whether a deal sending Giannis Antetokounmpo to New York is any more viable now than it was last summer, when the two teams reportedly had brief discussions about the idea. Nehm views an in-season Antetokounmpo trade as very unlikely and both writers agree it would be extremely difficult for the Knicks to put together an offer that would hold real appeal for Milwaukee.
- Ahead of a Knicks/Nets matchup on Wednesday, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst takes an in-depth look at the relationship between longtime friends Brown and Brooklyn head coach Jordi Fernandez. After the two men met in 2009, Brown – who was coaching the Cavaliers at the time – arranged for Fernandez to take an internship with the team and to train his son Elijah. Fernandez “practically became an extended member of Brown’s family” during that time, Windhorst writes.
Heat Notes: Powell, Ware, Spoelstra, DSJ, Adebayo
While Norman Powell has long been a productive scorer and excellent shooter, he has taken his game to new heights in recent years. In 2025/26, he’s averaging a career-high 23.7 points per game on .485/.416/.846 shooting for the Heat, making a strong bid for his first All-Star appearance.
As Fred Katz of The Athletic writes, Powell has become a “one-on-one savant.” As a result of the Heat’s offensive system, he’s on pace to more than double his previous career high in isolation plays, and he’s thriving in those situations. According to Katz, the Heat score 127.2 points per 100 possessions out of Powell’s isolations, which leads the NBA and would be the best mark single-season mark (for a player with at least 200 isos) since 2013, when Second Spectrum began tracking the stat.
Powell is earning roughly $20.5MM in the final year of his current contract and will remain eligible for a veteran extension up until June 30. If he doesn’t sign a new deal by that time, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Here’s more on the Heat:
- Second-year big man Kel’el Ware sat out Tuesday’s game against Sacramento due to right hamstring tightness.It was Ware’s first missed game of the season, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required), who notes that the banged-up Heat have an open roster spot and can add a 15th man without surpassing the luxury tax threshold but have shown no urgency to do so.
- Within a mailbag for the Sun Sentinel (subscription required), Winderman writes that Heat personnel decisions are “now a village” and aren’t made solely by team president Pat Riley. Head coach Erik Spoelstra has “considerable input” in those decisions, Winderman adds.
- After being waived by the Wisconsin Herd, former NBA lottery pick Dennis Smith Jr. has been acquired by the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s G League affiliate, tweets NBA insider Marc Stein. Smith, who hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2023/24 season, averaged just 8.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 23.4 minutes per game across 11 appearances for the Herd. While the veteran guard is regarded as an above-average defender, he continues to struggle as a shooter, posting a .354/.250/.667 line for Milwaukee’s NBAGL team.
- Heat star Bam Adebayo is the winner of the NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist Award for December, having been recognized for his off-court work, per a press release.
Dink Pate Exploring NCAA Options, Has Passed On Two-Way Offers
Former G League Ignite guard/forward Dink Pate, who is currently playing for the Westchester Knicks, is exploring potential college options, agent Sam Permut of Roc Nation tells Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link).
As Givony writes (via Twitter), Pate graduated high school in 2023, which could put him in position to receive at least two seasons of NCAA eligibility, beginning next season. However, it’s unclear whether or not the 6’8″ swingman will be granted eligibility based on the NCAA’s current rules.
Like former second-round pick James Nnaji, who enrolled at Baylor this winter, Pate declared for – and kept his name in – an NBA draft (in 2025). However, unlike Nnaji, Pate has since signed an NBA contract, having completed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Knicks this past September.
NCAA president Charlie Baker said in December after Nnaji joined the Bears that any player who has signed an NBA deal, “including a two-way contract,” would not be permitted to play NCAA basketball. According to Givony, Pate has turned down multiple two-way contract offers from NBA teams with an eye toward retaining his college eligibility.
Baker’s comments in December didn’t clarify whether the NCAA views Exhibit 10 contracts as disqualifying. Exhibit 10 deals are non-guaranteed and only put a player in line for a modest bonus if he subsequently spends at least 60 days with his team’s G League affiliate.
As Givony observes, former Alabama standout Charles Bediako has sued the NCAA in an effort to rejoin the Crimson Tide for the rest of the 2025/26 season (story via Myron Medcalf of ESPN), and the organization’s response to that lawsuit provides a strong hint at its stance on Exhibit 10 deals. In a statement, the NCAA explained that Bediako’s initial bid for eligibility was denied because he has “signed three NBA contracts.” All three of those contracts were Exhibit 10s, though the 23-year-old big man had one of them converted into a two-way deal.
If a judge grants Bediako eligibility, it would make Pate’s situation more straightforward. But even if Bediako’s request for injunctive relief is denied, there may be a path for Pate to mount his own eligibility challenge since he has never been on a two-way contract.
[Update: Bediako has been granted a temporary restraining order, allowing him to participate in activities and games for Alabama, per Nick Kelly of AL.com. A hearing on the preliminary injunction has been scheduled for next Tuesday.]
While Pate is keeping his options open, he hasn’t sought NCAA eligibility to this point and could forgo the college route altogether if a guaranteed NBA deal materializes before the end of the season, per Givony.
Pate has appeared in 27 games for the Knicks’ NBAGL affiliate this season, averaging 18.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 4.3 assists in 34.3 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .385/.356/.745. He spent last season with the Mexico City Capitanes after playing for the Ignite in 2023/24.
Northwest Notes: Nurkic, Avdija, Henderson, Nuggets
Since raving about the Jazz organization last month, Jusuf Nurkic has been in and out of the team’s lineup, missing time due to a toe injury and then receiving his first three DNP-CDs of the season last week. That hasn’t diminished the big man’s enthusiasm for his current situation, according to Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Nurkic – who is on an expiring $19.4MM contract – has been the subject of some trade speculation leading up to the February 5 deadline. However, he expressed a desire to remain in Utah, referring to himself with a smile as a “Jazz for life,” as Larsen relays.
“I mean, I obviously love being here. It’s been a great experience so far, and hopefully we continue the journey for a long time. But you can’t really control a lot of things,” Nurkic said. “It’s not probably bad or wrong or good to be in the trade rumors, it’s something in between. But if it’s up to me, I’m not leaving, so, (I want to) finish the season with the Jazz.”
According to Larsen, Nurkic is highly regarded in Utah, with the club’s brain trust pointing out that he leads the NBA in screen assists and has been a good fit on a young Jazz roster. That doesn’t mean the 31-year-old won’t be moved, but if the Jazz do trade him, Larsen can envision a scenario in which he returns as an unrestricted free agent in the offseason and backs up center Walker Kessler in 2026/27.
We have more from around the Northwest:
- Sixth-year forward Deni Avdija has emerged as an impact player for the Trail Blazers, averaging career highs in points (26.2) and assists (6.9) per game so far this season. Avdija’s star turn has made his current four-year, $55MM contract (he’s in year two) one of the most team-friendly deals in the NBA, but he has no regrets about signing that extension, per Jason Quick of The Athletic. “It gave me a lot of calmness, because I know I’m secure,” Avdija said. “That was my goal. I told my agent, and he was like, ‘I think you should sign for less years,’ but I was like, ‘If I outplay my contract, I outplay my contract. We will deal with that later.’ I’m not going to worry about $10 million more or $20 million less. This is what I got, and I’m going to say thank you and not take it for granted. It’s still a lot of money.”
- Scoot Henderson has yet to play this season due to a torn left hamstring, and while his return isn’t imminent, the Trail Blazers guard was spotted on Tuesday running full-court sprints after practice, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. “He is progressing,” interim head coach Tiago Splitter said. “He’s getting better. I understand. Everybody’s a little bit frustrated about this, but it’s a tough injury. It’s (one) where people tend to have a second injury, so we’ve got to be careful with him. He’s a big part of our franchise. We’ve got to protect him. And I think we’re doing the right thing and he’s feeling better day by day.”
- Nuggets head coach David Adelman provided updates on his two injured centers on Tuesday, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required). Adelman referred to Jokic’s recovery from a hyperextended left knee as “kind of up and down,” indicating that Jonas Valanciunas (right calf strain) will likely return before Jokic does.
Knicks Sign Dillon Jones To Two-Way Deal
4:39 pm: Jones’ two-way contract is official, per the Knicks (Twitter link)
1:11 pm: The Knicks have reached an agreement on a two-way contract with former first-round pick Dillon Jones, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Jones was drafted by the Thunder with the 26th overall pick in in 2024 and won a championship in his first NBA season. However, he played sparingly in Oklahoma City as a rookie, averaging 10.2 minutes per game in 54 regular season outings, then making 10 garbage-time appearances during the team’s title run.
Jones was traded to Washington in a salary-dump deal during the 2025 offseason, then was waived by the Wizards at the end of the preseason. The 6’5″ forward was selected by the Rip City Remix with the first overall pick in October’s G League draft and has spent the first half of the 2025/26 season with Portland’s NBAGL affiliate.
In 24 total outings for the Remix, Jones has averaged 16.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.6 assists, and 1.8 steals in 37.5 minutes per game, posting a shooting line of .428/.336/.782.
The Knicks opened up a two-way slot earlier this month when they waived Tosan Evbuomwan prior to the league-wide salary guarantee date. That means they won’t have to make a corresponding roster move to open up a spot for Jones, who will join Kevin McCullar Jr. and Trey Jemison as New York’s two-way players.
Assuming his new deal is finalized on Tuesday or Wednesday, Jones will be eligible to be active for up to 24 regular season games for the Knicks.
Eastern Notes: Thomas, Bulls, Tatum, Bucks
All signs point to Cam Thomas‘ days in Brooklyn being numbered, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required), who says most league observers he spoke to about the subject expect Thomas and the Nets to go their separate ways either at the trade deadline or in the offseason.
While a midseason trade remains possible, Thomas owns a de facto no-trade clause after accepting his one-year, $6MM qualifying offer as a restricted free agent in 2025, so he would have to sign off on any deal involving him. The 24-year-old’s value is also at a low point, Lewis notes, given that he has spent much of the past season-and-a-half battling hamstring issues and is shooting a career-worst 40.5% from the field this season.
Whether or not Thomas is traded by February 5, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent after the season, and he’ll have new representation at that time. After hiring agent Alex Saratsis of Octagon in 2024, Thomas has moved on from Saratsis and signed with Thad Foucher of Wasserman, Lewis confirms.
Here are a few more items of interest from around the Eastern Conference:
- Checking in on the Bulls‘ trade options ahead of the deadline, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times confirms that the team has talked to the Pelicans about second-year center Yves Missi and says the Timberwolves have inquired on guards Ayo Dosunmu and Tre Jones in addition to Coby White. It could be tricky for the Bulls to make a deal for Missi since they’re not looking to part with draft assets, Cowley writes.
- The Celtics have defied expectations by remaining a legitimate contender this season even without All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (subscription required). The team has a posted a 26-16 record so far, and while there’s still no formal timeline for Tatum’s return from an Achilles tear, he continues to shown signs of progress — on Monday, he went through a one-hour workout with media in attendance, per Jay King of The Athletic. Head coach Joe Mazzulla deferred to the Celtics’ medical and sports science staff on Tatum, but said it was “interesting” that the 27-year-old did Monday’s on-court drills in front of reporters after having done most of his rehab work behind closed doors.
- The Bucks snapped a three-game losing streak on Monday in Atlanta after head coach Doc Rivers replaced guard Kevin Porter Jr. with forward Kyle Kuzma in his starting five. The results were mixed – the new lineup was outscored by one point during its 20 minutes on the court – and Rivers admitted he’s not sure if he’ll stick with it, but he explained why he wanted to try a different look. “Just size. We thought putting size in the lineup would be great,” Rivers said, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “And when you do that, you have to separate the guards. And I mean, our second unit was all plus tonight, so I thought it went really well for us. Pete Nance was phenomenal.”
NBA Announces 2026 Finals Schedule
We’re still a few weeks away from the 2026 All-Star break, but the NBA has already announced the schedule for the 2026 Finals, which will tip off on June 3.
Here’s the full schedule, per the league (Twitter link):
- Game 1: Wednesday, June 3
- Game 2: Friday, June 5
- Game 3: Monday, June 8
- Game 4: Wednesday, June 10
- Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, June 13
- Game 6 (if necessary): Tuesday, June 16
- Game 7 (if necessary): Friday, June 19
Typically, the NBA Finals schedule would be announced later in the year, but the league is making some slight tweaks to its usual format this season due to the fact that the FIFA World Cup will be taking place in North America around that same time, writes Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch.
As Lewis points out, the NBA Finals almost always begin on a Thursday, and the league typically would’ve scheduled Game 4 for Friday, June 12. However, the U.S. soccer team will face Paraguay on the evening of the June 12, so the NBA has opted not to go up against that contest.
The U.S. squad will also be in action on the following Friday (June 19), but that match vs. Australia will be a day game, so it wouldn’t overlap with a potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
According to Lewis, this will be the first time since 1970 that the NBA Finals schedule doesn’t include any Sunday games. Saturday matchups, like this year’s Game 5, are also rare — only one has occurred since 1981, and that was in 2021, when the schedule was affected by a COVID-19 delay, Lewis notes.
Latest On Jimmy Butler, Warriors
The Warriors have yet to officially confirm reports from late Monday night indicating that Jimmy Butler has suffered a torn ACL, but the star forward and his agent both tacitly acknowledged on Tuesday that those reports are accurate.
Butler’s initial response was brief and relatively lighthearted, given the circumstances. In an Instagram post featuring an edited photo of Butler wearing a military uniform with the caption “General Soreness,” he wrote, “Be back before you know it.”
The statement that Bernie Lee, Butler’s agent, provided to Anthony Slater of ESPN (Twitter link) was more sober and more in-depth, but Lee also attempted to look on the bright side of the lengthy recovery period facing the six-time All-Star.
“Obviously a gut punch on every level for Jimmy and the entire group, but I firmly believe that this is a part of the journey and we can’t only expect to take the good things out of it,” Lee said. “We’ve watched life happen to countless others and now it’s his turn to face this. It’s how life works.
“I’ve known for over 10 years now that Jimmy is going to win a championship before he is done. My belief in that is unwavering.
“I’ve watched Jimmy support and uplift and change the lives of countless people, including my own and now is a time for people to rally around him and offer him that same support, which we will. We will make some functional decisions here in the next few days and then we are onto the next. If you know anything about Jimmy you know exactly how he will attack this challenge. Put simply, he has this.”
Here’s more on Butler and the Warriors:
- With role players like De’Anthony Melton and Al Horford playing their best basketball of the season as of late, the Warriors had become increasingly confident about their chances of emerging as a contender if they could stay healthy, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic. Instead, Amick writes, Butler’s injury could put a dagger into what head coach Steve Kerr recently referred to as a “fading dynasty.”
- With league-wide interest in Jonathan Kuminga at an apparent all-time low, Amick suggests that the fifth-year forward could help himself and the Warriors if he’s called upon to return to the rotation with Butler out. A strong couple weeks could increase the number of suitors in play for Kuminga and boost the odds that he gets his much-desired change of scenery while also putting Golden State in position to make a more favorable deal.
- In a story examining what’s next for the Warriors after Butler’s injury, Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints says that all options will be on the table for the front office, including the possibility of trading Butler.
- In case you missed it, we published a Community Shootaround discussion post this morning about the next steps in Golden State.
Raptors Rumors: Webster, Morant, AD, Agbaji, Sharpe
There have been rumblings around the NBA that Raptors general manager Bobby Webster – who is in the last year of his contract – is facing some pressure to accelerate his team’s contention timeline by making a significant in-season deal, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. However, Grange hears that’s not actually the case.
Multiple sources tell Sportsnet that Webster and the Raptors are already having “meaningful” discussions about a contract extension and that the team’s head of basketball operations has a very strong relationship with Keith Pelley, the president of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (the Raptors’ parent company).
“There’s a really good vibe,” one of Grange’s sources said of the relationship between Webster and Raptors ownership. “Everyone is comfortable with each other. The communication is good. It seems like there is a big-picture view of the whole thing. It’s kind of (an) old-school approach to dealing with management. There’s a lot of runway, and no rush. Everything has cooled off (since former Raptors president Masai Ujiri was let go last June). They’ve really come a long way, considering there was an executive search this past summer.”
Following Ujiri’s exit from Toronto, the Raptors conducted a search for a new lead basketball executive but ultimately decided to promote Webster, who had worked in the front office under Ujiri for over a decade. Pelley has no regrets about that decision and told Grange that Webster’s contract status won’t affect the team’s in-season decisions on the trade market.
“There is no pressure regarding the trade deadline or his contract,” Pelley said. “And he is 100 per cent aware of that. The team is moving in the right direction and I’m convinced that Bobby will make the right moves, at the right time, to make us better. This team under Bobby’s direction, will contend for championships.”
We have more on the Raptors:
- While Toronto has been linked to Ja Morant since word broke that Memphis is considering trading him, one insider who spoke to Grange insisted that the Raptors won’t be a serious suitor for the Grizzlies point guard. Grange also expresses skepticism about the likelihood of an Anthony Davis trade between the Mavericks and Raptors, noting that the big man – who will turn 33 in March – is the sort of win-now target who probably doesn’t make sense for Toronto right now.
- To that point, while Grange doesn’t rule out the possibility of the team making a big move sooner rather than later, he hears from multiple sources that the Raptors are prepared to be patient and may be more likely to take a big swing a year from now. As Grange observes, Toronto has a fairly young roster and head coach Darko Rajakovic has repeatedly used the word “rebuild” this season when discussing his team’s progress. While I wouldn’t describe this Raptors team – which is operating in luxury tax territory – as rebuilding, Grange’s point is that the Raptors believe there’s more room for internal development and aren’t in a rush to go all-in right away.
- Ducking the tax and adding frontcourt help still appear to be the primary deadline goals for the Raptors, according to Grange, who reiterates that wing Ochai Agbaji and his $6.4MM expiring contract is the team’s top trade candidate.
- In addition to Magic big man Goga Bitadze, who was connected to the Raptors earlier in the season, Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe is another potential frontcourt target to watch for Toronto, Grange says. He has also heard from multiple sources that second-year Pelicans center Yves Missi is available, though the Raptors’ level of interest in Missi is unclear.
Suns Reluctant To Risk Chemistry By Making Trades
Team officials “love” the chemistry the Suns have established this season and aren’t looking to make a trade ahead of this season’s deadline unless it’s an “amazing” deal, sources tell Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.
As Rankin writes, the Suns’ front office – led by general manager Brian Gregory – is open to having trade conversations leading up to February 5, but is happy with its current roster and the team’s direction.
Phoenix is also eager to see how guard Jalen Green fits in with this group, per Rankin. Green was one of the club’s major offseason additions but has been limited to just two appearances as a Sun due to hamstring issues. He’s on track to play on Tuesday for the first time in nearly two-and-a-half months. Given the timing of his return, the former No. 2 overall pick could function as a de facto deadline acquisition for the Suns.
After trading Kevin Durant and waiving Bradley Beal over the summer, Phoenix was widely viewed as a retooling team that would take a step back and end up firmly in lottery territory. However, the club has exceeded expectations and is off to a 26-17 start. While they currently hold the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, the Suns are just a single game back of the No. 4 Timberwolves.
Although the Suns are wary of shaking up their roster in a major way, that doesn’t mean they won’t make at least one minor move at the deadline. As Rankin points out, veteran big man Nick Richards is viewed as a trade candidate on his $5MM expiring contract. Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro have been Phoenix’s primary fives this season, while 2025 lottery pick Khaman Maluach is considered the team’s center of the future, making Richards the odd man out.
The Suns are also operating just narrowly above the luxury tax line, and while owner Mat Ishbia has shown a willingness in recent years to pay a premium on player payroll, ducking out of tax territory would be a financially prudent move with future repeater penalties in mind. They could accomplish that as part of a Richards trade.
Additionally, power forward is one area that the Suns may want to upgrade going forward, Rankin writes, noting that they pursued Jonathan Kuminga last summer and have been using two wings – Dillon Brooks and Royce O’Neale – as their starting forwards this season. Still, addressing the four could be an offseason priority rather than something Phoenix looks to do during the season.