And-Ones: Hayes, Micic, Baker, Bates-Diop, Europe
Killian Hayes, the No. 7 overall pick of the 2020 draft, has been out of the NBA after being cut by the Pistons last February. The French point guard signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Nets in the offseason, but he sustained a hip injury which caused him to miss all of Brooklyn’s preseason games and was subsequently waived prior to the 2024/25 campaign.
Hayes has been playing for the G League’s Long Island Nets in the hopes of landing another NBA contract. The 23-year-old tells Scott Mitchell of NetsDaily he’s determined to make it back to the league.
“That’s my only goal is to get back to the NBA,” Hayes said. “There’s been talks for sure, but I guess we’ll see in the future what happens.”
As Mitchell writes, shooting has long been Hayes’ primary weakness as a player, as he was a solid play-maker and defender during his time in the NBA. He got off to a slow start during the Tip-Off Tournament this fall, averaging 13.1 points on .432/.290/.588 shooting splits in 15 games, but has caught fire of late during the NBAGL regular season, averaging 23.3 PPG on .570/.500/.890 shooting over his past seven contests.
“Putting in the work,” Hayes told Mitchell about how his shot has been developing. “Just being confident at the end of the day. I like how my shot is feeling. I like my chances when I shoot the ball. That’s one of the reasons I started going in, just to have that intent whenever I shoot.”
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Former EuroLeague MVP Vasilije Micic is now on his third team in two NBA seasons, having failed to make a significant impact with Oklahoma City and Charlotte prior to being dealt to Phoenix ahead of the trade deadline. While he recently downplayed rumors of a potential return to Europe in the offseason, speculation continues to swirl that the 31-year-old Serbian will receive lucrative contract offers if he becomes a free agent this summer. According to Sotiris Vetakis of SDNA (Twitter link), Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv is prepared to offer the veteran guard a contract in the range of 4.5-5 million euros per season if he hits the open market (hat tip to Sportando). The Suns hold a $8.11MM team option on Micic’s contract for ’25/26.
- G League forward Robert Baker (Osceola Magic) has replaced former NBA veteran Keita Bates-Diop on USA Basketball’s roster for the AmeriCup qualifying games this month, USAB announced in a press release. Bates-Diop also withdrew from the November qualifying window for unspecified reasons.
- Speaking to Michael Long of SportsPro (subscription required), EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejunas said it “doesn’t make sense” for the NBA to potentially create another league in the continent. “To read comments about another league in Europe, for me personally, doesn’t make any sense,” Motiejunas said, per Johnny Askounis of EuroHoops.“We already have four different leagues. We, as EuroLeague, have the best product possible. I don’t think it’s something that should not be valued and understood and appreciated, because what the clubs and the league have achieved in 25 years, it’s amazing. I understand the NBA’s approach and I appreciate how big they are, it’s the number one basketball league in the world. But I don’t like the mentality that, ‘oh, we’ll come and we’ll teach everybody how it’s done’. Obviously, everybody wants to listen to the NBA or wants to see what they can offer. But to have five leagues, we’re forgetting the fans. You turn on the TV and you don’t know what team is playing what competition.”
Injury Notes: George, Hayes, Lewis, Capela, Brogdon
Paul George‘s first season in Philadelphia certainly has not gone the way either party envisioned when the nine-time All-Star signed a four-year, maximum-salary contract with the Sixers last summer.
The 34-year-old forward has missed 19 of the team’s 54 games to this point due to knee, groin, ankle and finger injuries, and he hasn’t been effective lately when active, recording just two points on 1-of-7 shooting in 37 minutes during Wednesday’s loss to Brooklyn. After dropping five straight, the 76ers are now tied with the Nets for the sixth-worst record in the NBA.
Appearing on NBA Today on Thursday (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that George, who has been playing through tendon damage in his left pinky finger, has been receiving injections just to suit up over the past week.
“He’s been doing what he can to be on the court and to try to be available,” Charania said. “I’m told that it’s to the point where he gotten injections to play and compete over the last four or five games. That’s something that players do come playoff time, not necessarily in the regular season.
“ … We can tell that he’s not 100 percent. … Clearly, there’s something that’s been amiss with him, with his body, and we’re seeing that play out. The Sixers, there’s going to be a point in time here where … they’re going to have to have some hard conversations about availability and potentially maybe even shutting a guy or two down in the second half of the season.”
Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:
- Already thin on frontcourt depth, the Lakers lost starting center Jaxson Hayes to a facial contusion in Wednesday’s loss to Utah, as Jovan Buha of The Athletic relays (via Twitter). It’s unclear whether he’ll have to miss time as a result of the injury or if he’ll be able to recover during the All-Star break.
- Six weeks after fracturing his left tibia in his Nets debut, second-year wing Maxwell Lewis was able to return to action on Wednesday vs. Philadelphia, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The 2023 second-round pick only played 27 seconds to wrap up the victory, but he was grateful to be back on an NBA court so soon after a scary-looking injury. “I’m just blessed and glad it’s over,” Lewis said. “Now, I get to at least start what I was starting when it first happened on Jan. 1, just getting back to playing and my routine. It’s great. I’m blessed to be back.”
- The Hawks lost a couple of rotation players to multi-week injuries on Wednesday, but they’re expected to have Clint Capela back after the All-Star break, according to Brad Rowland of Locked On Hawks (Twitter link). The veteran center has missed Atlanta’s last nine games due to a back injury.
- Wizards guard Malcolm Brogdon had to be helped off the court in the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s overtime loss to Indiana due to a left leg injury, per ESPN.com. The former Sixth Man of the Year winner was unable to put weight on his injured leg, which is never a great sign.
Patrick Beverley Parts Ways With Hapoel Tel Aviv
Veteran guard Patrick Beverley has officially parted ways with Hapoel Tel Aviv, with the Israeli team describing the move as a mutual decision, according to BasketNews.com.
A former second-round pick, Beverley started his career in Europe, playing three seasons overseas before a 12-year run in the NBA. He was unable to find a new team in 2024 free agency after playing for the 76ers and Bucks last season, eventually joining Hapoel Tel Aviv, which competes domestically in the Israeli premier league and internationally in the EuroCup.
As BasketNews notes, Beverley recently had a public spat with Dimitris Itoudis, drawing a suspension for mocking the club’s head coach on social media. He didn’t play another game for Hapoel Tel Aviv after the incident.
In 14 EuroCup games in 2024/25, the 36-year-old averaged 10.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals on .410/.353/.968 shooting. Beverley averaged 9.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists on .492/.405/.750 shooting in nine games in the Israeli Premier League.
It’s possible that Beverley could receive some NBA interest now that he’s a free agent again.
And-Ones: Anthony, Curry, Ionescu, Thornwell, Cook
NBC Sports is hiring former NBA star Carmelo Anthony to be one of the network’s top studio analysts when it starts broadcasting games again next season, reports Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.
According to Marchand, NBC recently had discussions with Charles Barkley, but those talks have ended. Barkley, a Hall-of-Famer and longtime analyst for TNT, will continue his role on “Inside the NBA” as part of an agreement with ABC/ESPN, even though TNT lost its broadcast rights for 2025/26.
Marchand also hears that current ESPN analyst Richard Jefferson has drawn interest from Amazon for next season. ’25/26 will be the first season in which Amazon has the broadcast rights for NBA games.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Warriors guard Stephen Curry and New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu were expected to have a rematch after last year’s well-received three-point shootout at All-Star weekend. However, that won’t take place this weekend in San Francisco after all, according to Joe Vardon and Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “We weren’t able to land on a plan we thought would raise the bar off of last year’s special moment,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement. “We all agreed not to proceed and will instead keep the focus on All-Star Sunday’s new format.” Vardon and Slater hear that Curry and Ionescu were only interested in holding the event if it was expanded to feature more NBA and WNBA players; those plans essentially fell through when Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark announced that she wanted to focus on the WNBA’s three-point contest in Indianapolis later this year.
- Former NBA guard/forward Sindarius Thornwell has left Zastal Zielona Góra to join the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, the Polish team announced (via Twitter). According to Zastal, Thornwell was technically bought out of his contract after a lucrative offer from the Flying Tigers (hat tip to Sportando). A former second-round pick, the 30-year-old wing spent four seasons in the NBA, last suiting up for Orlando during the ’20/21 campaign.
- Thornwell isn’t the only former NBA player heading to China, as veteran guard Quinn Cook has agreed to a rest-of-season deal with the Fujian Sturgeons, agent Zac Benalloul tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Cook, 31, won a pair of championships with the Warriors and Lakers over the course of his five years in the league (from 2016-21). The former Duke Blue Devil played in Puerto Rico and Taiwan last season. This will be his second stint in the CBA.
Nuggets Notes: Murray, Jokic, Westbrook, Pickett, Strawther
Nuggets guard Jamal Murray made up for being ejected from Monday’s game against Portland by scoring a career-high 55 points in Wednesday’s rematch with the Blazers. Murray exchanged trash talk with Portland on Monday, earning technical fouls in the third and fourth quarters of the game.
“They shouldn’t have done that,” big man Zeke Nnaji said of the Blazers’ trash talk, per ESPN.com. “When he’s mad, there’s no one in the world that can stop him.”
In part due to Murray’s strong play, the Nuggets have now won eight straight games and trail Memphis by just a half-game for the No. 2 seed in the West. Murray shot 20-of-36 from the field, including 7-of-15 from three-point range, in 42 minutes on Wednesday. Denver outscored Portland by 26 points when he was on the court in the 11-point victory.
“It’s just all competitive spirit,” Murray said. “I came ready to play. Especially just being used to the playoffs and playing the same team over and over, and they know your plays and things get chippy and you have to see them again. So, I think just that kind of factor made me ready to go. I was truly prepared today.”
As ESPN’s story notes, Murray’s scoring outburst — the third-highest mark in franchise history — overshadowed Nikola Jokic‘s 25th triple-double of the season. Only Oscar Robertson (28 in 1961/62) and Russell Westbrook (27 in ’16/17) have recorded more triple-doubles before the All-Star break than Jokic has in ’24/25, per ESPN Research.
“Please, let’s never take Nikola’s greatness for granted,” head coach Michael Malone said. “We are witnessing history every single night. I don’t take it for granted. He’s incredible, and I really feel fortunate and blessed to have coached him for 10 years now.”
Here’s more on the Nuggets:
- Malone told reporters on Wednesday, including Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscriber link), that Westbrook should return to action after the All-Star break. The former league MVP, who is on a two-year, veteran’s minimum deal with Denver, has missed the past seven games with a left hamstring strain. “Everything’s pointing forward to him being able to use this break, use this stretch of games when he’s been out rehabbing, to come out of the break and be active and be available,” Malone said.
- After a storied five-year college career, second-year guard Jalen Pickett found himself outside of the Nuggets’ rotation as a rookie in ’23/24 and to open ’24/25. However, he has been been a steady hand of late for the second unit with Westbrook out, according to Durando (subscription required). “I’ve had a rough last year. And you’ve gotta just love that, being able to go through some challenges, find things that you’re good at,” Pickett said. “After such a successful college career, coming here and just basically starting over, it was tough at first. And then I just kind of fell in love with the grind, and just getting back in the gym and seeing where I could take my game.”
- Will second-year wing Julian Strawther be part of Denver’s playoff rotation? Durando explores that topic in another subscriber-only story for The Denver Post. “He’s still a young player, and so you see the inconsistencies,” Malone said. “Two games ago, his first start, he’s down on himself, doesn’t play as well as we know he’s capable of playing. Doesn’t make shots. Then he rebounds in his second start. … I think for all young players, you go back to all guys, early stages are up and down. You have to live with those. Obviously, if and when we get to the playoffs, we’ll figure all that out. But he’s an important piece. He’s a guy that we, whether he’s starting or coming off the bench, we need him to be aggressive.”
Luka, LeBron Available To Play Monday For Lakers
9:08pm: The Lakers have listed Doncic and James as available, Marc Stein tweets.
3:52pm: Lakers superstars Luka Doncic and LeBron James have been upgraded to probable ahead of Monday’s game vs. Utah, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Both players were previously listed as questionable for Monday’s contest, which would mark Doncic’s Lakers debut.
Doncic, who was acquired on February 2 in a shocking trade with Dallas, has been out since December 25 due to a left calf strain. The Slovenian guard has appeared in 22 games this season (35.7 minutes), averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.8 assists and 2.0 steals per contest, with a shooting line of .464/.354/.767.
According to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter video link), every seat in Crypto.com arena has Doncic’s No. 77 jersey draped over it. Obviously, that indicates that the five-time All-NBA member is on track to play.
James, who has been on a tear of late, averaging 31.2 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 9.8 APG and 1.0 SPG on .556/.448/.805 shooting over his past five games, missed Saturday’s win vs. Indiana due to left ankle soreness, but it appears as though he’ll be return to action tonight. The Lakers have won 11 of their past 13 games in no small part due to James’ strong play.
Rookie forward Dalton Knecht, who is back with the Lakers after they rescinded their trade for Mark Williams over his medicals, has also been upgraded to probable on Monday for personal reasons, per Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group (Twitter link). Cam Reddish, another player involved in the failed deal, is out for personal reasons, per the league’s official injury report.
Doncic, 25, announced through his foundation on Monday that he would be donating $500K to assist in the L.A. wildfire relief efforts (Twitter link).
“To everyone affected by these fires: we’re here to help, now and for the long haul,” the statement reads in part.
Nikola Jokic, Trae Young Named Players Of The Week
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has been named the Player of the Week for the Western Conference, while Hawks guard Trae Young has won the award in the East, the NBA announced on Monday (via Twitter).
Jokic helped guide Denver to a perfect 4-0 record last week, averaging a triple-double (29.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 10.3 assists) on remarkable efficiency (.657/.409/.818 shooting line, only 1.8 turnovers) in his four appearances. The Nuggets outscored their opponents by an average of 19.0 points per 100 possessions with Jokic on the court last week.
The three-time MVP has now been named the West’s Player of the Week three times in 2024/25; no other player in the conference has won more than once. Three players in the East (Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Giannis Antetokounmpo) have won the weekly award two times this season.
It has been a good day for Young, who was also named an All-Star on Monday. He’ll replace Antetokounmpo, who is dealing with a mild calf strain, in the exhibition game.
Young helped Atlanta go 3-1 last week, averaging 31.3 points, 10.5 assists and 1.8 rebounds on .482/.341/.853 shooting in those four games. The former Oklahoma standout is averaging a league-high 11.4 assists per game in ’24/25 (Jokic is second with 10.3).
Jokic beat out Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, LeBron James, Anfernee Simons, and his teammate Michael Porter Jr. in the West. Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, Garland, Jayson Tatum and Franz Wagner were the other nominees in the East (Twitter link).
Sixers Notes: Embiid, Harris, Playoffs, Edwards, George
ABC/ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported on Sunday that Sixers center Joel Embiid said he would likely require another surgery and an extended recovery period to deal with his troublesome left knee, which has been bothering him for more than a year.
A team source tells Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer that Embiid and the 76ers have consulted with a half-dozen knee specialists about the injury. The same source tells Pompey that Embiid does not currently require surgery and he’s able to play as long as he can manage the pain and swelling.
When asked about his knee after the game, Embiid didn’t outright say that he would eventually need surgery, but he certainly didn’t dispute the report’s veracity.
“I think everybody knows I want to play and I’m trying to do my best,” Embiid said. “At some point, if that keeps being inconsistent as it’s been, you’ve got to try something. … I’m extremely confident and fully confident. I just haven’t had enough time.”
As Pompey notes, Embiid rushed back from meniscus surgery last season to help Philadelphia make a playoff push. He then had a truncated offseason in which helped Team USA win a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, though he wore a brace the entire tournament and wasn’t moving as well as he has in the past.
“No one knew it was going to be like this,” Embiid said. “After the surgery, I didn’t have enough time. I came back for the playoffs. And then after the Olympics, then right back to the regular season.
“So I think at some point, I probably just need to just, especially when the summer comes around, we are going to get those few months and just recover for me. As I say, I don’t know what it is. But if that keeps being the same pattern, obviously you’ve got to try something else.”
For now, Embiid says he’s just taking things one day at a time while dealing with the knee issue, according to Pompey. The 30-year-old big man has only appeared in 16 of Philadelphia’s 52 games this season.
Here’s more on the Sixers:
- Sixers owner Josh Harris is optimistic the team will make a playoff run in 2024/25 despite a disastrous start to the season, as Pompey relays. “Listen, we got Joel [healthy],” Harris said Sunday. “When Joel, Tyrese [Maxey], and Paul [George] are all on the court, we are a great team. So we got to keep everyone healthy. In particular, Joel is a warrior. I know he’s fighting through some stuff, and I’m really optimistic that we are going to make a playoff run now.” Harris made the comments after the trade deadline and before Sunday’s loss to Milwaukee, which dropped Philadelphia to 20-32 on the season, one-and-a-half games behind Chicago for the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Sixers are now 7-5 when Embiid, Maxey and George are all active.
- Rookie wing Justin Edwards, a Philadelphia native and former top high school recruit, went undrafted last June out of Kentucky before signing a two-way deal with the Sixers. The 21-year-old has been one of the bright spots amid a disappointing season and recently had his contract converted to a standard deal. He said he was unfazed by the promotion, per Pompey. “I just show that I belong here, honestly,” Edwards said. “Like nothing really changed. You know, it was just my work ethic and the way I approach the game. So it’s really about it, honestly.”
- The Sixers have been inconsistent all season for a variety of reasons, including injuries. That’s particularly true of free agent addition George, who dealing with a left pinky injury and has struggled in games he’s played thus far with Embiid, Pompey writes in another story for The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I feel like we haven’t found the synergy slash energy with that group,” head coach Nick Nurse said regarding George playing alongside Embiid and Maxey. “Yet when it’s just him and Tyrese, there is more of a pop. That’s just on us needing some time. But it’s also just on our guys being in the right mindset. It’s going to be different. I don’t think you can let your energy drop. I think that’s what we struggled with.”
Raptors Sign Jamison Battle To Three-Year Deal
6:05 pm: Battle has been officially promoted to the standard roster, the team announced in a press release. In a corresponding move, Robinson has been re-signed to a two-way deal.
2:04 pm: The Raptors are converting Jamison Battle‘s two-way contract into a standard deal covering three years, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (via Twitter).
As Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca observes (Twitter links), Toronto will use a portion of its mid-level exception to give Battle a three-year deal. Once the move is official, the Raptors will have on open standard roster spot and one two-way opening, with one of those likely earmarked for center Orlando Robinson, whose second 10-day contract with Toronto recently expired.
Battle will be paid the veteran’s minimum in 2025/26 and ’26/27 and his deal will be partially guaranteed for those seasons, according to Murphy (Twitter link), who expects the sharpshooting forward to receive more than the minimum in ’24/25.
Battle, 23, went undrafted in 2024 after playing five college seasons at George Washington, Minnesota and Ohio State. He was initially signed to an Exhibit 10 deal for training camp, but impressed the Raptors in the fall and was promoted to a two-way deal in October, just before the ’24/25 season began.
In 35 games during his rookie campaign, Battle has averaged 5.4 points and 1.8 rebounds while posting a strong shooting slash line of .458/.417/.857 in 12.6 minutes per contest. The majority of his field goal attempts have come from three-point range.
Warriors Promote Quinten Post To Standard Contract
4:22 pm: Post’s promotion to the 15-man roster is official, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
1:47 pm: The Warriors are promoting Quinten Post from a two-way contract to a two-year standard deal, agents George Roussakis and Mark Bartelstein tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The news was expected, as Michael Scotto of HoopsHype recently reported that Golden State planned to convert Post, a rookie big man from the Netherlands who played his college ball at Mississippi State and Boston College.
Converting Post will help the Warriors navigate the first-apron hard cap. Because he was a second-round pick in the 2024 draft, Post can be signed for the prorated rookie minimum, which only counts for about half as much for cap and apron purposes as a prorated veteran’s minimum deal would.
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Post didn’t make his first NBA appearance until 30 games into the 2024/25 campaign, but he has been a rotation regular of late, averaging 8.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists on .443/.372/1.000 shooting over the past 10 games, including starting each of the past five contests (17.1 MPG).
The Warriors had four openings on their standard roster after sending out multiple players in their blockbuster trade to acquire Jimmy Butler. Post will take one of those spots, and by promoting him, Golden State now has a two-way opening as well.
The team likely won’t be in a hurry to fill the rest of its open standard roster spots, since it doesn’t have a ton of breathing room below its hard cap.