Jazz Sign Mo Bamba To Second 10-Day Contract
The Jazz have re-signed Mo Bamba to another 10-day contract, the team announced in a press release.
Bamba’s first 10-day agreement with Utah expired on Saturday night.
The sixth overall pick in the 2018 draft, Bamba was technically active six times for Utah during his first 10-day pact, but only made two appearances with the Jazz. He averaged 5.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.0 block in 19.0 minutes per contest during road games in Philadelphia and Washington.
Bamba was unable to secure a guaranteed NBA contract ahead of the 2025/26 season and spent training camp with the Jazz before being waived and reporting to the team’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars.
The 27-year-old big man has had a big year with the Stars, averaging 17.0 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks in 27.7 minutes per game across 22 appearances, with an excellent shooting line of .553/.380/.807.
Bamba, an eight-year veteran who spent about a week with Toronto in late December/early January, will earn $177,064 over the course of his 10-day contract, with Utah taking on a cap hit of $131,970.
Bamba will be eligible to appear in four more games for the Jazz during the course of his second 10-day deal, which will expire on March 17. At that point, Utah will have to either sign him for the remainder of the season or let him become a free agent.
Rob Dillingham On Wolves Tenure, Opportunity With Bulls
The Timberwolves traded their unprotected 2031 first-round pick and a 2030 pick swap to San Antonio to acquire Rob Dillingham with the eighth overall pick in the 2024 draft. However, the former Kentucky guard didn’t play much in his season-and-a-half with Minnesota, and the Wolves traded him to the Bulls ahead of last month’s deadline.
Dillingham tells Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic he was constantly looking over his shoulder playing for a Minnesota team with championship aspirations.
“When you do (play), you gotta play perfect in your opportunity, or you won’t get more opportunities,” Dillingham told The Athletic when asked to describe the pressure he felt in Minnesota. “The pressure really comes from whenever you come out of college or come from wherever; you play freely because you know you get minutes.
“But in the NBA, it’s not like that. It’s you switching your whole mindset to ‘I gotta perform well in these minutes.’ Your whole life, you just played basketball. You messed up, but you learned from mistakes. With me, I’m a smaller guard, so it was way less room for mistakes. And, s–t, you gotta own up to that at that point. So, I feel like the pressure really comes from not knowing when you’re gonna get the opportunity.”
As Lorenzi writes, Dillingham only played 20 minutes in a game once for the Wolves this season. He admits his lack of playing time affected his confidence.
“I feel like if you’re human, you definitely gonna second-guess (yourself) if you working hard at something every day, and then you don’t really get an opportunity,” he said. “You start to question, like, dang, am I really good at basketball?”
The Bulls are in a much different position than the Wolves, having traded away several veterans ahead of the deadline as they pivoted to a rebuild. Dillingham’s game is still a work in progress, but he has already logged 20-plus minutes eight times in his first 11 appearances with Chicago, Lorenzi notes.
“They’re building me up,” Dillingham said of the Bulls’ coaching staff. “It’s more like I can mess up, and they teach me after I mess up, what not to do, why not to do this. … I get to actually perform and learn and watch film here and watch where I play.”
Dillingham suggested to Lorenzi that he received mixed messaging from Chris Finch and his staff in Minnesota. He said he’s looking for “communication” and “transparency,” which he has found so far with Billy Donovan, who wants the second-year guard to improve his decision-making.
“When I know what you want from me or what I need to do, then it’s easier for me to help the team,” Dillingham told The Athletic. “If I’m guessing, then it’s hard. And I feel like since I’ve been here, (Donovan) has done a great job just communicating to me, telling me what he feels like I can do to stay in the league and be a force in the league.”
Dillingham’s interview with Lorenzi is worth reading in full for those who subscribe to The Athletic.
Alex Sarr Set To Return Sunday For Wizards
Big man Alex Sarr isn’t on the Wizards‘ injury report for Sunday’s game at New Orleans, which means he’ll be back in action tonight.
Sarr, the second overall pick in the 2024 draft, has been out since February 8 due to a strained hamstring. The French center has missed the team’s last 10 games.
As Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets, Sunday will be Sarr’s first game playing with Trae Young, who made his Wizards debut on Thursday. The two players could be fixtures in Washington’s lineup going forward, so it will be interesting to see how they fit together on the court, Robbins notes.
Sarr has made impressive strides in his second NBA season. Through 41 appearances, the 20-year-old has averaged 17.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.0 blocks in 28.2 minutes per game, with a shooting slash line of .496/.336/.691.
While it’s obviously good news that Sarr has recovered from his injury, the Wizards will likely be cautious with one of their core players. There’s a good chance he’ll be on a minutes restriction for at least his first few games back.
Eastern Notes: Pistons, T. Young, Reese, Raptors
Entering Saturday’s game in Detroit, Brooklyn had lost 10 in a row. The Nets appeared to be on their way to an 11th straight defeat early in third quarter, when they trailed by 23 points.
Instead, the top-seeded Pistons stunningly dropped their third consecutive contest on the front end of a home-road back-to-back, writes Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. Detroit will play at Miami on Sunday.
“Our level of respect for the game,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said when asked what changed for his team down the stretch. “(During) the second half, we built a 20-point lead, and then we stopped respecting the game. You disrespect the game, and it’s going to bite you in the ass. That’s what happened to us.”
Bickerstaff was again frustrated with the team’s effort level, particularly on the defensive end, saying the team went away from its identity. Backup center Isaiah Stewart echoed that sentiment, Patterson notes.
“Everyone in this locker room felt this was a must-win game,” Stewart said. “All of us, as men, have to look ourselves in the mirror. … We know we didn’t play up to our standards for 48 (minutes) tonight.”
We have more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Trae Young was anxious ahead of Wizards debut on Thursday, but his presence brought a level of excitement to the home fans that has been “largely absent” in 2025/26, per Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Young didn’t let his pregame jitters impact his play on the court, as he scored on the team’s first possession. The four-time All-Star point guard finished with 12 points, six assists, two rebounds, two steals, and was plus-four in 19 minutes in his first game in over two months. “Going to a new city and a new place, I’m telling you I’m living in the moment,” Young said afterward. “I’m just so joyful, happy that I’m here in this situation, this city, and I just look forward to having some great moments here. It’s all about what we do on the court.”
- Wizards forward/center Julian Reese delivered an impressive performance on Thursday in his third career game. As Robbins writes for The Athletic, the 22-year-old scored 18 points and pulled down 20 rebounds, with the latter being the single-game high for any rookie this season. “Being thrown into the fire like he has (been) this last week, it’s been great to see,” Young said. “This being his third game and having this type of night, I know he’s excited and he’s happy. But his teammates are just as excited and happy for him as well. Hopefully, he has more of these nights in the future, for sure.”
- In a mailbag for The Athletic, Eric Koreen answers several big-picture questions about the Raptors. Koreen expects Toronto to be aggressive in search for roster upgrades this summer, and writes that while Scottie Barnes has developed into one of the best defensive players in the league, his offensive limitations make him a tricky player to build around.
Checking In On 10-Day Contracts
After Mo Bamba‘s 10-day contract with the Jazz expired on Saturday night, there are currently just two active 10-day deals around the NBA, as our tracker shows. Those deals are as follows:
- Brooklyn Nets: Grant Nelson (runs through March 8)
- Sacramento Kings: Killian Hayes (runs through March 14)
Bamba, the sixth overall pick in the 2018 draft, was technically active six times for Utah but only made two appearances with the Jazz. He averaged 5.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.0 block in 19.0 minutes per contest during road games in Philadelphia and Washington.
Bamba was on his first 10-day deal with the Jazz, who could re-sign him to a second 10-day pact if they so choose. At the expiration of that theoretical second 10-day contract, Utah would have to either let the veteran center go or sign him for the remainder of the season.
Hayes, another former lottery pick, is on his second 10-day agreement with Sacramento after re-signing with the Kings on Thursday. The 24-year-old point guard’s deal runs through this Saturday.
As for Nelson, the former Alabama forward will become a free agent on Sunday night. The seven-footer appeared in four games with the Nets, averaging 4.3 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 blocks in 8.8 minutes per contest.
Head coach Jordi Fernandez discussed Nelson’s 10-day contract ending prior to Saturday’s game at Detroit, per Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
“[He’s] a very good basketball player. Everything he does, he does it well,” Fernandez said. “He doesn’t over-dribble or try to do too much. Everything is efficient. His size is great. He’s a multi-positional defender, very good play-maker, fast. All of those things have been very good. It translates to this level. Obviously right now we have one more game and then after that we’ll have to discuss and see what the next move going forward is.”
Magic Notes: Bane, Da Silva, Banchero, Isaac
Desmond Bane helped lead the Magic to one of their best victories of the season on Saturday in Minnesota, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
The Timberwolves were determined not to let Bane beat them from behind the three-point line, Krawczynski writes, and the sixth-year wing went 0-for-5 from long distance. However, Bane took advantage of Minnesota’s aggressive defense by regularly driving past his opponents, Krawczynski notes. He was 10-of-12 on twos and 10-for-10 at the free throw line, finishing with a team-high 30 points in the lopsided road win.
Bane admits he was a little tentative at the beginning of the season, saying he didn’t want to “step on toes” with his new team. But he knows what Orlando needs from him now and is comfortable with his responsibilities.
“I don’t think there’s any more thinking or second-guessing what’s needed of me, what’s asked of me,” Bane said, per Krawczynski. “I know night-in and night-out what the team needs. It’s a freeing feeling just being able to go out there and do what I do.”
Here’s more on the Magic, who are now the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference:
- Tristan Da Silva has stepped up since the All-Star break, averaging 12.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steal in eight games (30.3 minutes per contest) leading into Saturday, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. The second-year forward had another solid outing vs. Minnesota, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. He was a game-high plus-24 in 31 minutes. “It’s not easy to do to go from starting to off the bench to back to starting to back off the bench,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “So, it says something about him as a professional. It says something about his work ethic and the coaches that work with him. It’s not easy to do. I know it looks like that because he comes in and shoots the heck out of the basketball, but the ability to do that and just play your part, whatever you’ve been given and tasked to do, he did that. And that’s what we need from our guys every night.”
- Paolo Banchero played an important role in Saturday’s win as well, finishing with 25 points, 15 rebounds and three assists, though he did have five turnovers. Mosley was particularly happy about the former All-Star’s defensive rebounding, Beede writes in another story. “It allows us to finish the possession off and now we’re playing against an unset defense,” Mosley said. “Once he’s got the rebound, we can play with pace, play a little faster, continue to do a great job of throwing it ahead and keep challenging him to get down that floor easily so we can get some early, easy baskets, especially against great defensive teams. But he’s done a great job just honing in and locking in on rebounding the basketball because he knows that continues to help our defense every night.”
- Backup big man Jonathan Isaac missed his second consecutive game Saturday due to left knee soreness, Beede adds. Mosley discussed the injury prior to the game. “That’s just something that’s been kind of lingering,” Mosley said. “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.”
Injury Notes: Murray, Nuggets, Pistons, Kuminga, Black
The Nuggets had three rotation forwards back in action on Friday, with Aaron Gordon (right hamstring strain), Cameron Johnson (right ankle inflammation) and Spencer Jones (right shoulder strain) all suiting up against New York. As Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes, the Nuggets were thrilled to have Gordon, who was on a minutes restriction, in the lineup after he missed 17 consecutive games.
“I think (we missed him) more on the defensive side,” Nikola Jokic said, alluding also to the injured Peyton Watson. “They’re really good on offense, and they give us different variation and different weapons on offense. But I think their length and their ability to guard, we kind of miss more. Definitely, it’s gonna help us.”
Friday marked the first time since November 12 that Denver had its opening night starting lineup (Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Johnson, Gordon and Jokic) available, Durando notes. However, that five-man group didn’t come away from game unscathed, as star guard Murray sprained his left ankle late in the second quarter and was unable to return (YouTube link).
Head coach David Adelman said Murray would be reevaluated on Saturday, adding that the 29-year-old was “really sore” but typically bounces back quickly from ankle sprains, per Arnie Melendrez Stapleton of The Associated Press.
“This has just been insane,” Adelman said. “Every time we get somebody back I feel like somebody else goes out. … So, whatever group we have that is healthy for OKC (Sunday), whatever minute restrictions there are and all the excuses, we just have to play a hell of a lot better.”
Here are some more injury-related updates from around the NBA:
- The Pistons expect Ausar Thompson to miss multiple games due to a right ankle sprain, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters on Saturday, including Coty M. Davis of The Detroit News (Twitter video link). “I think it’s going to be a minute,” Bickerstaff said of Thompson’s return timeline. Cade Cunningham, who was originally questionable for Saturday’s matchup vs. Brooklyn because of a left quadriceps contusion, has been downgraded to out. Bickerstaff said the star guard is considered day-to-day, per Davis.
- Hawks forward Jonathan Kuminga will miss his second straight game Saturday when Atlanta faces Philadelphia, tweets Brad Rowland of Locked On Hawks. Kuminga is battling left knee inflammation.
- Third-year guard Anthony Black suffered a low back strain in the first quarter of Saturday’s contest at Minnesota and has been ruled out for the rest of the game, the Magic announced (via Twitter). The former lottery pick recently missed a pair of games — his first absences of the season — due to a right quad contusion.
Pacers Notes: Carlisle, Mathurin, I. Jackson, Brown, Defense
Head coach Rick Carlisle made it clear on February 24 that he didn’t think the Pacers deserved to be fined $100K by the NBA last month for the way they managed their players. Commissioner Adam Silver‘s statement at the time suggested the league thought Indiana (and Utah, which was docked $500K) was prioritizing “draft position over winning.”
Speaking to the media prior to Friday’s game in Los Angeles, Carlisle changed his tune, saying he was confident in the league’s ability to address tanking, according to Sportsnaut contributor Mark Medina.
“I place every bit of trust I have in Adam Silver,” Carlisle said. “This man is privy to be the ultimate leader. He really has. He really has smart people around him. They very carefully consider everything. They never react. They always think through things.”
While Carlisle’s remarks about the league were more generous than the ones he made a couple weeks ago, he strongly pushed back on the notion that coaches of tanking teams are negatively impacted by the practice, Medina writes. Carlisle specifically pointed to Mark Daigneault of the Thunder as someone who has benefited from the current system.
“You have the two best teams in the league — one in the East (Detroit) and one in the West (Oklahoma City) — that have built their teams much the same way,” Carlisle said. “I think Daigneault is a great example. He was a G League coach. But he built a relationship in that organization and a partnership. If he built those relationships and you become a real partner, the wins and losses, this is just my opinion, the wins and losses element of it, isn’t going to be that kind of a factor.”
Here’s more on the Pacers:
- Wednesday’s game in L.A. marked the first time Pacers first-round picks Bennedict Mathurin and Isaiah Jackson faced their former team since they were traded to the Clippers ahead of last month’s deadline. As Tony East of Circle City Spin writes, Jackson said he was caught off guard by the trade, adding that it was “surreal” and “bittersweet” to face the Pacers after spending spending five-and-a-half years with Indiana. Mathurin expressed a similar sentiment. “It was tough. It was tough for sure. … Everything I know is kind of based off of Indy, whether it’s just the lifestyle, on the court, off the court,” Mathurin said. “But I mean, it was good. It was definitely worth it – the change of scenery and also the change of organization. I said earlier that I was super grateful to be part of both, two great parties. It’s been fun, man. It’s been fun out here so far. My teammates have embraced me a lot, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.“
- Kobe Brown was something of an afterthought in the aforementioned deal that saw Ivica Zubac land with Indiana, but the third-year forward has played pretty well as a Pacer, averaging 8.8 points and 5.3 rebounds on .471/.423/.786 shooting in 10 games (24.8 minutes per contest). While Brown is unlikely to be a priority for the Pacers in free agency this summer, they will be limited in what they can offer him after the Clippers declined his fourth-year option in the fall, East notes for Forbes. It probably won’t have a material impact on contract negotiations, East acknowledges, since Brown seems unlikely to command a deal in this range, but Indiana can’t offer him a starting salary exceeding $4.8MM in 2026/27, whereas other teams won’t face that same restriction.
- Defense remains a major issue for the Pacers, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscriber link). They’re at the bottom of several defensive stats — including defensive rating — since the All-Star break, a trend that continued in Friday’s loss to the Lakers, which was far more lopsided than the final score (128-117) suggests. “In the first half, we had three or four times where we went for shot fakes and gave up and-ones or free throws,” Carlisle said. “That’s game-plan discipline. We can do better there. That’s controllable. It takes not talent. It just takes recognition and attention to detail and focus.”
Looking Ahead To The Grizzlies’ Offseason
During the 2021/22 season, the Grizzlies tied a franchise record by winning 56 games en route to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. They also advanced to the second round of the playoffs for just the fourth time in the team's 31-year existence, losing to the eventual champion Warriors in six games.
Ja Morant was named Most Improved Player that season, his third in the league, after averaging 27.4 points, 6.7 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals on .493/.344/.761 shooting. He was also named to the All-NBA Second Team.
Jaren Jackson Jr. finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting and was named to the All-Defensive First Team for the first time. Desmond Bane was coming off a second season in which he averaged 18.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 2.7 APG and 1.2 SPG while shooting 43.6% from three-point range.
The Grizzlies also had several key role players on that roster, including Dillon Brooks, Steven Adams, De'Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Brandon Clarke. None of their top 10 rotation players were older than 28.
Unfortunately for fans of the team, the '21/22 campaign turned out to be the peak of the Morant/Jackson/Bane era. The team still won 51 games in '22/23, but things started to go off the rails in Memphis.
Darius Bazley Joins Chinese Team
Free agent forward/center Darius Bazley has signed a contract with the Ningbo Rockets of the Chinese Basketball Association, according to Dario Skerletic of Sportando.
Bazley is a five-year NBA veteran. His last stint in the league came with Utah at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
Bazley spent most of his career with Oklahoma City, which traded him to Phoenix in February 2023, ahead of the deadline. The 25-year-old signed a training camp deal with Brooklyn that offseason, was waived in the fall, and spent most of ’23/24 in the G League prior to signing a 10-day deal with Philadelphia and then a rest-of-season contract with the Jazz.
The 23rd overall pick in the 2019 draft, Bazley opened last season with the Guangdong Southern Tigers. He left the Chinese team in November 2024, finishing out the ’24/25 campaign with the Delaware Blue Coats (Philadelphia’s affiliate) and Leones de Ponce in Puerto Rico.
Bazley was trying to “revamp” his career last offseason by playing for the Lakers’ Summer League team, but he suffered a significant right leg injury in their third game in Las Vegas and had to be taken to the locker room in a wheelchair. As far as we can tell, this is the first contract Bazley has signed since he sustained that injury last July.