Southwest Notes: Middleton, Mavericks, Zion, Sengun
Khris Middleton helped the Mavericks snap an eight-game losing streak during Thursday’s victory at Memphis, writes Dwain Price of Mavs.com. The veteran small forward had a season-high 35 points (on 10-of-17 shooting) in just 25 minutes, with 22 of those points coming in the fourth quarter.
According to Price, Middleton’s 35 points are the most by a Mavs reserve since Rodrigue Beaubois had 40 in March 2010.
“It was a good feeling,” Middleton said, referring to his fourth-quarter explosion. “I think it’s a better feeling to get a win after the last couple of losses, but definitely once you get a couple going like that in the fourth quarter like I did, it feels good.
“But you got to give credit to my teammates again for the screens and just trying to find me and trying to get me going. You just feel like anything that you shoot or throw up there it’s got a chance to go in, so I’m a shooter and you get a couple to go down you keep firing.”
Middleton will be an unrestricted free agent this summer if he doesn’t sign a veteran extension before the new league year begins on July 1.
We have more from around the Southwest:
- In a mailbag for The Athletic, Christian Clark answers a handful of questions about the Mavericks, including the team’s search for a permanent general manager and the future of Kyrie Irving. Clark expects Irving, who won’t play this season as he recovers from a torn ACL, to be in a Mavs uniform in 2026/27 no matter who Dallas selects in June’s draft.
- Zion Williamson‘s salary for 2026/27 is now 60% guaranteed after he made his 51st appearance of the season on Friday, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter links). The Pelicans forward will have another 20% of his $42.2MM salary for next season guaranteed if he reaches the 61-game mark, with the final 20% hinging on whether he meets certain weight criteria specified in his contract, Marks adds.
- Rockets center Alperen Sengun was sidelined for Friday’s contest vs. New Orleans due to lower back pain, tweets Will Guillory of The Athletic. It’s unclear if the two-time All-Star will miss additional time as a result of the ailment.
Kings Notes: DeRozan, Westbrook, Cardwell, Hayes
It has been a challenging season for Kings forward DeMar DeRozan, who made it clear at the end of January that he’d prefer to be playing more meaningful games this late in his career. The 36-year-old erupted for a season-high 39 points (on 17-of-22 shooting) in Wednesday’s loss to Charlotte, passing Spurs great Tim Duncan for 18th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
“I don’t take nothing in this game for granted,” said DeRozan, a six-time All-Star in his 17th NBA season. “I never would have imagined coming into the league I would be playing this long, I would have the opportunities I’ve had, I would accomplish things I have.
“Me just being a fan of the game my whole entire life, it’s an honor to be in a position to accomplish any type of goal in this league. It’s crazy to be in that position and I don’t take none of this for granted. I just love playing basketball at the end of the day, and at the end of the day, you look up and things like this happen. It’s definitely cool.”
Here’s more from Sacramento:
- In an interesting story for The Sporting News, Stephen Noh takes a look at “the hidden side” of Russell Westbrook, noting that the veteran Kings guard is often hostile towards the media but is beloved by teammates and widely considered one of the kindest players in the league off the court. Rockets center Clint Capela called the former league MVP the “most genuine superstar” he’s played with. “Very happy person. Very nice guy,” Capela told Noh. “Always smiling, always joking around. I was like, ‘Wow, I never thought that a superstar could also be that great of a guy.'”
- Rookie big man Dylan Cardwell, who has been out since February 11 due to a left ankle sprain, was a full participant in Friday’s practice, writes James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com. Cardwell isn’t on the injury report ahead of Saturday’s contest at the Clippers, which means he should be active after missing 11 straight games.
- Killian Hayes discussed his time with the Kings on Friday, as Sean Cunningham of KCRA News relays (Twitter video link). “It’s a fun group,” Hayes said. “I think we’ve got great chemistry off the court, and on the court, we’ve gotta keep playing hard, keep playing for one another.” The sixth-year guard said he’s trying not to think about his contract situation — his second 10-day deal with Sacramento expires on Saturday night, and the Kings will have to either let him go or sign him to a rest-of-season contract at that point.
Warriors Notes: Steph, Moody, Cryer, Draymond
In a radio appearance on 95.7 FM’s Willard and Dibs show on Wednesday, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr provided an injury update on Stephen Curry, who will miss at least five more games due to his ongoing right knee issue.
Kerr said Curry is “frustrated” and “dying to be out there,” but has not yet practiced, as Nick Avila of NBC Sports Bay Area relays.
“He’s getting shots up, but he’s not in a place yet where we’re saying he’s going to be practicing anytime in the next few days,” Kerr said. “It’s pretty methodical. As you guys know, (Warriors director of sports medicine and performance) Rick (Celebrini) is as good as they come and he’s going to be very cautious and make sure Steph gets the right build up and we go from there.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Kerr is optimistic Moses Moody will return from his right wrist sprain at some point during Golden State’s upcoming road trip, tweets Nick Friedell of The Athletic. The Warriors play six road games from March 15-23, including a couple of back-to-backs. Moody, a fifth-year wing who is averaging a career-high 11.9 points per game while shooting a career-best 40.2% from long distance, will miss a fifth straight contest on Friday due to the injury.
- Although the Warriors have been in a rut of late without Curry and Jimmy Butler, dropping three straight games, two-way player LJ Cryer has been a bright spot over the past four contests, averaging 11.8 points and shooting 48.0% from three-point range in 18.8 minutes per game. Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area profiles the former Baylor and Houston guard, whose family is full of athletes. “Went from being one of the last guys on the bench coming into college to being the star,” Cryer said. “Sometimes you just got to wait your time and put in work behind the scenes. It’s kind of what’s happening now.”
- On his podcast, Draymond Green expressed regret for his actions in Tuesday’s loss to Chicago, per Florito Maniego of NBC Sports Bay Area. The veteran forward/center fouled Jalen Smith with one second left in regulation and the Warriors up two points. Smith converted both free throws to send the game to overtime. “Unfortunately, I feel like against the Bulls, I let my team down,” Green said. “Something that was completely in my control or our control, but s–t happens, and we got to move on. And we got the Timberwolves coming in (Friday), and you just got to figure it out.”
Atlantic Notes: Nelson, Sharpe, Edgecombe, Embiid
Rookie forward Grant Nelson has returned to the Nets‘ G League affiliate in Long Island, reports Brian Lewis of The New York Post (via Twitter).
However, Nelson won’t play for the Long Island Nets again this season, according to Lewis, who says the 24-year-old has patellar tendinitis, colloquially known as jumper’s knee.
Nelson’s injury explains why Brooklyn decided not to re-sign him to a second 10-day contract earlier this week after he played pretty well during his first 10-day deal with the Nets, Lewis notes.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Nets center Day’Ron Sharpe was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his left thumb on Thursday and requires season-ending surgery. Head coach Jordi Fernandez was pleased with the strides Sharpe made during his fifth NBA season, as Lewis tweets. “I’m very happy with what I’ve seen from Day’Ron, the hard work he put in and how much better he’s gotten,” Fernandez said. “Obviously we wouldn’t want to see that (injury); but we know it’s fixable. And we’ll go and do surgery, then we’ll have a timetable.” Sharpe could be a free agent this summer if the Nets decline his $6.25MM team option.
- Philadelphia was missing six players (Joel Embiid, Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., Andre Drummond and Adem Bona) who account for approximately $160MM in payroll on Thursday. The team predictably lost to the top-seeded Pistons in Detroit. As Tony Jones of The Athletic writes, VJ Edgecombe has flashed star-level upside as a rookie, but the Sixers need last year’s No. 3 overall pick to become a primary offensive option in the next few weeks if they hope to make the playoffs. A week ago, the 76ers were the No. 6 seed in the East, but they’ve fallen to No. 9 with the Magic (six straight wins), Heat (seven straight) and Hawks (eight straight) surging past them in the standings. “I just want to win, and I just want to do the things that allow my team to win,” Edgecombe told The Athletic. “If that means my team needs me to take more shots, I’m ready for that. But, mainly, I just need to do the things that my team needs me to do.”
- Embiid (oblique strain), who has missed seven consecutive games, is set to be reevaluated on Friday. While the Sixers haven’t issued a formal update yet, the former league MVP has already been ruled out of Saturday’s game vs. Brooklyn, per Jones (Twitter link).
Wizards, Nets Eliminated From Postseason Contention
The Wizards and Nets were both eliminated from postseason contention on Thursday night when each team lost, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link).
Washington dropped to 16-49 after falling in overtime at Orlando on Thursday. The Wizards only have 17 games left and are 18 wins behind the No. 10 Hornets (34-33), so they have no way to make up the deficit.
The circumstances are very similar with Brooklyn, which dropped to 17-49 following Thursday’s loss at Atlanta. The Nets have 16 games left and are 17 wins (16.5 games) behind Charlotte.
The Wizards and Nets are the third and fourth teams who have been formally ruled out of postseason contention, joining the Pacers and Kings.
Washington’s 2026 first-round pick is top-eight protected and will convey to New York if it lands outside the top eight. If the season ended today, that selection would have zero chance of conveying, since the Wizards have the third-worst record in the NBA and could finish no worse than seventh in the draft lottery. In that scenario, the Wizards would convey two-second round picks (in 2026 and 2027) to the Knicks.
The Nets don’t have to worry about their 2026 first-rounder, which they control. They do not have control over their own 2027 first-round pick — the Rockets have the right to swap their selection with Brooklyn’s. The Nets would still control two 2027 first-rounders if they have a worse record than the Rockets next year — Houston’s and New York’s.
Note: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that Washington was eliminated from postseason contention prior to Thursday’s game vs. Orlando. The Wizards technically weren’t eliminated until after they lost to the Magic.
Celtics Notes: Tatum, White, Gonzalez, Brown, Harper
The Celtics were down two starters on Thursday at Oklahoma City, with Jayson Tatum (right Achilles injury management) and Derrick White (right knee contusion) both ruled out (Twitter links via the team).
Thursday will mark Tatum’s first absence since he made his season debut on March 6. He has averaged 19.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.0 steal in his first three contests (27.0 minutes per game). Head coach Joe Mazzulla said Tatum’s day off was part of his recovery plan, per Brian Robb of MassLive.
“Just trust in our sport science team and trainers,” Mazzulla said. “The goal was always for him to come back and also to maintain his health as he continues to stay healthy and continue to get better. Just the trust and communication from our team.”
Boston’s next game will be on Saturday vs. Washington.
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- In a story for The Athletic, John Hollinger examines Tatum’s first two games of the season. Hollinger didn’t notice anything awry with Tatum physically, and says with the team already playing at a very high level before he returned, the Celtics don’t need a peak version of the perennial All-NBA forward to make a deep playoff run.
- Hollinger has also been keeping tabs on Hugo Gonzalez, writing that the 20-year-old wing has played high-level defense as a rookie and is a strong rebounder for his size. According to Hollinger, Gonzalez plays with lots of energy and finishes well near the basket, especially in transition, but his jump shot and handle are shaky. The Celtics have had multiple developmental success stories the past two years, Hollinger adds, so Boston was an ideal landing spot for the Spanish small forward.
- On the Cousins podcast with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady (YouTube link), Jaylen Brown said he contemplated asking for a trade in 2019 after Boston was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, but McGrady convinced him not to. “Coming and sitting down with Mac, we spent a couple days just working out and talking, having some food, and he’s telling me like, I’m thinking like one thing and he’s thinking like, ‘nah, you need to stay, it’s going to be you.’ He’s telling me all the stuff that all just manifested itself. So, I can’t even like, it’s crazy looking back on it now,” Brown said.
- In a mailbag, Robb of MassLive states that Ron Harper Jr. is “highly likely” to have his two-way contract converted to a standard deal. Robb expects Harper’s promotion to happen on the final day of the regular season (April 12) since he still has two-way eligibility left. Harper scored a career-high 22 points (on 8-of-11 shooting) in 33 minutes during Tuesday’s loss at San Antonio and has been solid defensively for the Celtics, Robb notes.
Magic’s Jonathan Isaac Suffers Left Knee Sprain Thursday
Big man Jonathan Isaac sprained his left knee during Thursday’s overtime win vs. Washington and was ruled out for the remainder of the contest, the Magic announced (via Twitter).
“My heart dropped,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said of the moment Isaac went down, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). Mosley added that Isaac’s injury took “a lot of energy out of our players.”
According to the Magic (Twitter link), Isaac underwent an MRI on Thursday, which confirmed the sprain. His return will depend on how his knee responds to treatment.
For what it’s worth, Beede saw Isaac walking without assistance in the locker room. The 28-year-old declined to speak to the media prior to exiting the locker room, Beede adds (via Twitter).
Isaac recently missed three consecutive games due to left knee soreness, but he was available for Wednesday’s victory against Cleveland even though he didn’t play.
“That’s just something that’s been kind of lingering,” Mosley said over the weekend. “We just continue to monitor it to make sure that it doesn’t continue to get worse over time, just being more careful than anything.”
Isaac previously missed two-and-a-half seasons after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee in 2020.
Entering Thursday, Isaac had averaged 2.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 10.2 minutes per game across 51 appearances. He and the Magic recently worked out a deal to amend his salary protection for next season.
Jazz Ending Mo Bamba’s Second 10-Day Contract
The Jazz are terminating Mo Bamba‘s second 10-day contract, reports Kevin Reynolds of The Salt Lake Tribune.
According to Reynolds, Bamba won’t finish out his second 10-day deal with Utah because he was unable to travel with the team on its three-game road trip after he contracted an illness. The eighth-year center’s contract was set to expire next Tuesday, but he will be let go early to make room on the roster for Bez Mbeng, who will also sign a 10-day pact.
Bamba is now a free agent and doesn’t have to clear waivers since he was on a 10-day agreement. He will still be paid the full $177,064 he was owed, with Utah taking on a cap hit of $131,970 ($263,940 in total, since he signed two 10-day deals).
The former lottery pick has spent most of the season in the G League with the Salt Lake City Stars. Bamba also had a brief stint with Toronto earlier this season. He has appeared in four total games with the Raptors and Jazz in 2025/26, averaging 2.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in 11.0 minutes per contest.
The Jazz signed former Texas A&M forward Andersson Garcia to a 10-day contract on Wednesday. The 25-year-old rookie, who had been playing in the G League with the Mexico City Capitanes, had six points, nine rebounds, one steal and one block in 25 minutes during his NBA debut on Wednesday against New York.
“I was super grateful, but really surprised,” Garcia said about the process of signing with Utah, per Eric Spyropoulos of the team’s website. “Coming from the Dominican Republic, it’s a small island where not a lot of basketball players can be here (in the NBA). I’m grateful for the opportunity to be here and bring the energy and do the things I do.”
Head coach Will Hardy was pleased with Garcia’s effort.
“For Andersson’s first game, he really played hard,” Hardy said. “He guards, rebounds, and digs out loose balls. I was really proud of the way he played. The great part is that his strengths are very simple and repeatable.”
Keyonte George Out At Least Two Weeks With Hamstring Strain
Jazz guard Keyonte George has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 right hamstring strain and is expected to be reevaluated in two weeks, sources tell Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link). Tony Jones of The Athletic confirms the news (via Twitter).
George underwent imaging after suffering the injury during Wednesday’s loss to New York. He played 20 minutes in that game, recording 14 points, five assists and two rebounds in 20 minutes prior to being ruled out.
The 16th overall pick in the 2023 draft, George is having a breakout third season for Utah, averaging 23.6 points, 6.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 33.1 minutes per contest on .456/.371/.892 shooting through 54 games.
Since George is a former first-round pick who had his fourth-year option exercised, he will be eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer. If the 22-year-old doesn’t sign an offseason extension, he will be a restricted free agent in 2027.
Isaiah Collier and Elijah Harkless are among the candidates for more backcourt minutes with George sidelined for the foreseeable future.
The 20-46 Jazz are shorthanded at the moment, with Walker Kessler, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic all out for the season due to injuries.
International Notes: Satoransky, Fournier, Wainright, Quinn
Veteran guard Tomas Satoransky will be a free agent this summer and his future with Spanish EuroLeague team Barcelona is up in the air, he told Ernest Macia of Catalunya Radio (Twitter link).
“No one from Barça has communicated anything to me,” Satoransky said (hat tip to Sportando). “I will have to evaluate the options that come my way, but for now there is nothing.”
Satorasnky played six NBA seasons from 2016-22. This is his fourth consecutive season with Barcelona and sixth overall. He also played for Sevilla in Spain from 2009-14.
Here are a few more international items of interest:
- In an interview with Julie Yalap of INFOSPORT+ (Twitter video link), longtime NBA wing Evan Fournier revealed that he contemplated retiring from basketball after the 2024 Olympics in Paris, when he won a silver medal with the French national team. “I seriously considered retiring after the Paris Olympics,” Fournier said (hat tip to BasketNews for the transcription). “I had given myself a little bit of time to think about it. I went to the mountains and I thought, ‘Okay, let’s give it a go. I’ll enjoy it.’ I was coming off two difficult seasons with the Knicks and I deeply love basketball, so I thought, ‘Enjoy yourself and end your career on that note.’” He also explained why he was intrigued by the possibility of joining Olympiacos, with whom he has spent the past two seasons, and said he plans to retire within the next two or three years.
- Forward Ish Wainright, who played for Phoenix and Portland from 2021-24, is discussing a two-year contract extension with Hapoel Tel Aviv, according to Noa Poplinger of Israeli outlet Sport5. Wainright has spent the past two seasons with Hapoel, notes Kevin Matorando of Sportando.
- Veteran guard Quinn Cook, who played in China last season, backed out of a contract agreement with an Iranian team in January, he told Marc J. Spears of ESPN’s Andscape. Cook also recently agreed to play in the upcoming Basketball Africa League (BAL) season, but the Rwandan team he agreed to terms with decided not to compete due to a disagreement with the United States. Cook, a two-time champion who played five years in the NBA, is open to other opportunities in the BAL. “I have never been to Africa,” Cook told Spears. “I was excited about checking it out. I also planned on going with my mom and sister. Rwanda was a spot we were supposed to hit, but now I will have to wait and see. Everything happens for a reason, but I hope BAL teams see I’m available and I’m open to play for another team.”