Suns Waive Theo Maledon
The Suns have waived two-way guard Theo Maledon, according to the league’s official transaction log. HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto first reported the move (Twitter link).
Phoenix was reported to be signing Ish Wainright to a two-way contract earlier Monday, but all three of the team’s two-way contracts were filled. There was some speculation that Saben Lee might be earning a promotion to the 15-man roster, and while that could still happen down the line, the Suns are creating a roster space for Wainright in the short term by waiving Maledon.
The Suns originally claimed Maledon on waivers after he was cut by the Hornets in December. The 34th overall pick of the 2020 draft, he began his career with the Thunder, where he made 56 starts across two seasons. After departing Oklahoma City, he spent part of the next two years with Charlotte on a two-way deal before landing in Phoenix.
Maledon only made four appearances during his time in Phoenix, totaling five points in 13 minutes. In 177 career games (64 starts), the 22-year-old guard holds career averages of 7.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists. He had his most productive season when he averaged 10.1 points and 3.5 assists in his age-19 rookie year in Oklahoma City in ’20/21.
Kelly Olynyk, Raptors Finalize Two-Year Extension
Raptors center Kelly Olynyk has agreed to a two-year, $26.25MM contract extension with Toronto, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). The team has officially announced the deal.
The Raptors acquired Olynyk at the trade deadline alongside Ochai Agbaji in exchange for Otto Porter, Kira Lewis and a late 2024 first-round pick.
As we relayed on Thursday, there was optimism the two sides would be able to reach an agreement on a new contract. As we noted at the time, the lottery-bound Raptors likely wouldn’t have traded first-round capital if they didn’t envision Olynyk being part of their future.
Olynyk, who was on an expiring contract, was eligible to agree to an extension with the Raptors up until June 30 to avoid free agency. The league’s extend-and-trade rules allowed the big man to sign for up to two years, with 5% annual raises, and he’ll receive that maximum amount. After earning $12,195,122 this season, Olynyk will make $12,804,878 in ’24/25 and $13,445,122 in ’25/26.
According to TSN’s Josh Lewenberg (Twitter link), the two sides have been working on the deal since Olynyk was acquired at the deadline.
The 32-year-old Canadian has appeared in nine games with the Raptors since the trade. He’s averaging 9.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per night, while shooting 46.0% from the floor and 26.3% from beyond the arc for Toronto. On the season as a whole, spanning 59 appearances with Utah and Toronto, he holds averages of 8.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists.
Because Olynyk’s new deal doesn’t exceed the extend-and-trade limitations, he’ll remain trade-eligible once the offseason begins, though it seems unlikely that the Raptors will flip him to a new team before the 2024/25 season.
As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca observes (via Twitter), addressing his contract situation now means that Olynyk won’t have to worry about it if and when he reports to Team Canada’s training camp in late June ahead of the 2024 Olympics.
Donovan Mitchell Treating Bone Bruise, Out At Least Next Three Games
Cavaliers star guard Donovan Mitchell received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection on Monday to treat a left knee bone bruise that caused him to miss Cleveland’s past two games against Detroit and New York, the team announced (Twitter link).
Mitchell will be listed as out for the Cavs’ next three games, on March 5 against Boston, on March 6 at Atlanta, and March 8 versus Minnesota, according to the release.
His status will be reevaluated over the weekend and will be updated as appropriate.
Mitchell is an integral part of a strong Cavaliers team that ranks third in the Eastern Conference at 39-21. He’s averaging 28.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists while shooting 47.2% from the floor and 37.1% from three.
The All-Star guard being out for games against the top-ranked teams in the East (Boston) and West (Minnesota) obviously isn’t ideal for a club that’s just a half-game behind Milwaukee for second in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs are 3.5 games ahead of the fourth-seeded Knicks.
It’s also worth noting that Mitchell’s injury absence means he’s in danger of falling short of the 65-game minimum to qualify for postseason awards. He has missed 13 games so far this season — that number will increase to at least 16 in the coming days. Eighteen missed contests would render him ineligible for All-NBA consideration.
Sixers Sign Jeff Dowtin To Two-Way Contract
1:00pm: The Sixers have put out a press release officially announcing Dowtin’s two-way deal.
10:45am: The Sixers are signing guard Jeff Dowtin to a two-way contract, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). Philadelphia opened up a two-way roster spot by waiving Kenneth Lofton on Friday.
Dowtin, 26, has played 34 games in the NBA since the 2021/22 season, making appearances with the Warriors, Bucks, Magic and Raptors. Most of his big league experience came last season with Toronto, where he averaged 2.4 points and 1.2 assists per night and made a positive impression as the team’s primary backup at the point down the stretch.
Dowtin has been more productive in the G League throughout the course of his career. This season, he has been playing with Philadelphia’s G League affiliate in Delaware, averaging 17.1 points, 5.4 assists and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 47.5% from the floor and 37.5% from three in 17 regular season and Showcase Cup appearances.
Dowtin joins Ricky Council IV and Terquavion Smith as Philadelphia’s two-way contract players. The Sixers also have two open standard contract spots after Darius Bazley‘s 10-day contract expired on Thursday.
Knicks Notes: Slump, Standings, Deadline Additions, Hartenstein
The Knicks went 12-2 in their first 14 games with OG Anunoby and won four of their next five after he went down with an elbow injury. However, New York’s sheer amount of injuries has led to a 2-7 record since that point and the Knicks are in danger of sliding down the standings. At the moment, Anunoby, Julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson are dealing with long-term injuries while Jalen Brunson and Isaiah Hartenstein are among those who have also missed time as of late.
The New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro argues that while it isn’t time to panic yet, it’s getting close. After looking like a serious contender for the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed at the beginning of February, the Knicks are in danger of falling all the way to play-in territory. While they could be at their healthiest when the playoffs begin, Vaccaro writes it’s possible they peaked in January.
However, Knicks players and coaches aren’t panicking. According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, Josh Hart said he and his teammates are making the most of what they have available to them and will be fine once key players start getting healthier.
“We’re playing our asses off,” Hart said. “It’s not like we’re just sitting there and crying about injuries and laying down. Nah, we’re grinding. We’re pushing ourselves. And once we get guys back, we’re good.”
Coach Tom Thibodeau and players are continuing to take everything one game at a time and contextualize the situation they’re in.
“I didn’t see anybody talking about the way we were playing before [this losing streak],” Hart said. “Nine in a row, 10 in a row, 15 out of 16. Take four starters, six rotation guys out of any lineup in the league and they’re going to struggle.”
We have more from the Knicks:
- The Knicks entered Saturday 35-25, good for fourth in the East’s standings. They’re 4.5 games behind the Bucks and just a half-game ahead of the fifth-seeded Sixers. Peter Botte of the New York Post further examines where the Knicks are at in the standings, observing that they’re just 1.5 games ahead of the Pacers, who are currently the No. 8 seed. Unfortunately for the Knicks, it may get more difficult before it gets easier. The Magic (sixth), Heat (seventh) and Pacers are all surging as of late, and the Florida teams have the two easiest remaining strength of schedules. All three clubs are also relatively healthy. The only East competitor in a similar situation to New York as of now is the Sixers, who are sliding without superstar Joel Embiid.
- While injuries are obviously the biggest culprit for New York’s recent skid, it hasn’t helped that trade deadline acquisitions Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks aren’t yet acclimated, according to Botte. Bogdanovic is averaging 13.3 points in his first seven games in New York after averaging 21.1 points in his two seasons in Detroit. Burks is down to 8.5 PPG in New York from 12.7 in Detroit. Their struggles were on full display in Thursday’s loss to Golden State, when the pair combined for nine points while making just two of their combined 13 shot attempts.
- Hartenstein is one of the New York players dealing with injury issues, missing a handful of games due to an Achilles injury. Per SNY’s Ian Begley (Twitter link), Hartenstein said he came back early from his injury to try and help New York win. “I probably could have sat out a couple more weeks,” Hartenstein said, though he added that he’s happy with the balance he and the team struck to get him back into full form by the time playoffs arrive.
Southeast Notes: Pokusevski, Curry, Martin, Forrest, Wizards
The Hornets signed young forward Aleksej Pokusevski to a two-year contract which is non-guaranteed for the 2024/25 season, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link). Charlotte will get a chance to monitor the 7’0″ forward and see if he can live up to his former 17th overall draft selection status.
Pokusevski became the fourth former Thunder player to join the Hornets after the deadline, joining Vasilije Micic, Tre Mann, and Davis Bertans. According to Sam Perley of Hornets.com (Twitter link), those connections are helping him feel comfortable in his new home.
“It feels good,” Pokusevski said. “The guys are great. [Having former OKC teammates here] makes it easier. Vasa, Tre, Bertāns. It feels better that I can talk to the guys that I know and they can explain how things are going here.”
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Hornets guards Seth Curry (right ankle) and Cody Martin (left ankle) exited the second half of Charlotte’s Friday matchup against the Sixers due to injuries, according to team PR (Twitter link). They will both be evaluated on Saturday.
- Hawks guard Trent Forrest is seeing his hard work pay off after getting his two-way contract converted into a standard deal, writes The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Lauren Williams (subscriber link). According to Williams (Twitter links), coach Quin Snyder lauded Forrest’s progression and work ethic. “He’s just he’s been a guy that’s, it’s hard to, have durability and in this league and Trent’s, a guy that’s continuing to work to put himself in a position where he is where he is right now,” Snyder said. “And I say that with full confidence that he’s going to continue to work. And that’s one of the things that we really appreciate about him. Happy for him. I think he he’s earned everything everybody’s given him in this profession.“
- As the Wizards continue to deal with injuries, their bench players are starting to see more opportunities, according to The Washington Post’s Ava Wallace (subscriber link). Eugene Omoruyi, Jules Bernard, Jared Butler, Johnny Davis, Patrick Baldwin Jr., and Justin Champagnie have all received first-quarter minutes as of late. Omoruyi was promoted to a standard deal from his two-way contract on Friday. “Right now, it’s a lot of discovery,” Kyle Kuzma said. “Trying to figure out what a lot of guys do, what they can do, what they can’t do, what they bring to winning basketball.“
Hornets Sign Bolden To Two-Way Contract, Waive Mensah
The Hornets have signed center Marques Bolden to a two-way contract, according to a release from the team. To create a roster spot for Bolden, Charlotte waived two-way center Nathan Mensah.
Bolden recently spent time with the Hornets on a 10-day contract, which was ended early to make room for Aleksej Pokusevski on the 15-man roster. He appeared in one game with Charlotte. The 25-year-old has also had NBA stops in Cleveland and Milwaukee. He spent part of this season on a two-way deal with the Bucks, but only appeared in two games.
Bolden played three seasons at Duke, averaging 3.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 88 career collegiate games (24 starts). He has been the most productive in the G League, where he’s averaged 13.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while shooting 55.6% from the floor and 39.7% from deep in 31 regular season and Showcase Cup games with the Wisconsin Herd.
Mensah signed with the Hornets on a two-way contract in December after joining the team in training camp. He immediately carved out a small role, playing about 40 combined minutes in his first two career games and averaging 16.1 minutes from early to late January. However, his role diminished as time went on and he was nearing his active-game limit, prompting Charlotte to make the move to Bolden. In 25 games with the Hornets, Mensah averaged 1.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.6 blocks.
The Hornets have 15 players on standard contracts and all three of their two-way spots are filled. Bolden joins Amari Bailey and Leaky Black as the Hornets’ two-way players.
Atlantic Notes: Achiuwa, Hartenstein, Lowry, Barnes, Quickley
Knicks forward Precious Achiuwa took over the starting power forward position over the past 10 games in Julius Randle‘s absence and has played some of the best basketball of his career during that stretch, The Athletic’s Fred Katz writes. Achiuwa is averaging 14.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.5 blocks in his last 10 outings, including three games with more than 15 rebounds.
Achiuwa flew under the radar when he was moved to New York in the trade for OG Anunoby, but he’s been one of the team’s steadiest contributors after uneven stops in Miami and Toronto to begin his career, Katz writes. Playing under coach Tom Thibodeau has unlocked aspects of Achiuwa’s game, including effective fake dribble handoffs.
“You knew there was versatility to his game,” Thibodeau said. “But we didn’t understand the dribble handoff part of it, all those things. And the offensive rebounding is something that we liked from the start. We knew he was very effective with that.”
The Knicks will have some decisions to make once Randle returns to the lineup, but Achiuwa is making a strong case to be included in a fully healthy rotation, according to Katz.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein returned to the court on Thursday after missing three games with injury. However, according to New York Post’s Stefan Bondy, Hartenstein left the arena with “a little frustration” about his minutes because they differed from his ramp-up plan. Hartenstein said he was supposed to hit the 21-minute mark but he only played 11 in a win over the Sixers.
- Kyle Lowry made his debut with the Sixers on Thursday, scoring 11 points, four rebounds and five assists while receiving a standing ovation in front of his hometown crowd. “It was an amazing atmosphere and the ovation that I got was awesome. I was happy,” Lowry said, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “I was pissed that we lost and we were in that situation, but it was a great moment. Now for me it’s about winning basketball games.” Lowry was born in Philadelphia and played college ball at Villanova.
- When the Raptors acquired Immanuel Quickley, they added an athletic guard who can shoot the ball — an ideal complement on paper to star Scottie Barnes. While there have been some bright spots with the pairing, The Athletic’s Eric Koreen observes that it’s still a work in progress. Each player is playing individually well, but Toronto is looking for more synchronicity with the duo, per Koreen.
Southwest Notes: Wembanyama, Jackson, Mavs, McCollum
Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama became the youngest player to record an elusive 5×5 on Friday, recording at least five points, five rebounds, five assists, five steals and five blocks in the same game. Wembanyama joined Jamaal Tinsley as the only rookies in league history to accomplish the feat and he became just the second player, behind Michael Jordan, to record back-to-back games of five steals and five blocks.
What Wembanyama is doing as a rookie is unheard of, as emphasized by his stat line against the Lakers: 27 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, five blocks and five steals. In his last four games, the rookie is averaging 24.8 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.8 blocks, 5.5 assists and 3.3 steals.
Still, Wembanyama’s postgame comments suggest he’s more concerned about trying to win games than individual stats. When asked about joining Jordan in the history books, Wembanyama said “I wonder if he did it in wins,” according to ESPN’s Andrew Lopez.
Lakers superstar LeBron James had high praise for the 20-year-old rookie phenom after the game, calling Wembanyama one of the best rookies he’s ever seen.
“He doesn’t have a ceiling,” James said. “He can do whatever he wants to do with his career. It seems like he enjoys the game. It seems like he puts in the work. Just from the outside looking in, I’m not with him on a day-to-day basis, but I said a long time ago how special he was, and it’s literally that simple.”
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- Grizzlies rookie GG Jackson II has been one of the bright spots of an unusually tough season in Memphis and it looks like his offensive role with the team is going to continue to grow. According to Damichael Cole of The Commercial Appeal, coach Taylor Jenkins said the team will look to transition Jackson from a secondary creator to a primary one and will put the ball in his hands more, though he’ll likely continue to come off the bench. “I feel like they put a lot of trust in me and they see the confidence in my game,” Jackson said.
- The Mavericks are on a seven-game win streak despite having dealt with a plethora of injuries all season, writes Tim Cato of The Athletic. To illustrate just how unhealthy the Mavs have been, Cato points out that Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic have played fewer total games together (45) since Irving joined the team midway through last season than Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard have. Now, after trading for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford at the deadline and getting players healthier, head coach Jason Kidd will have rotation questions to sort through. “We’re deep,” Kidd said. “This is the first time the Mavs have been deep in a long time.” Outside of Doncic, Irving and their new trade acquisitions, Dereck Lively, Josh Green and Derrick Jones Jr. are among those who have impressed this year.
- Pelicans guard CJ McCollum suffered a left ankle injury on Friday night against Miami and did not return after initially being deemed questionable, according to team PR (Twitter link). McCollum is averaging 18.8 points and 4.6 assists per game this season for New Orleans.
Pistons Notes: Williams, Rotation, Wiseman, Grimes
The Pistons went 11 deep into their rotation through the first 13 minutes of their Thursday loss to the Pacers. According to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, it felt like Detroit was auditioning for players who might be on next season’s roster, even though coach Monty Williams denied that was the case a day earlier.
“I’m not going to be throwing combinations on the floor to just be looking at certain combinations,” Williams said Wednesday. “We’re done with that, in my opinion. We’re trying to develop guys, for sure, but we’re going to try and win every game we can so that we can create what we feel [will give us momentum] going into the summer.”
In Edwards’ view, it doesn’t feel like there’s much synergy with the rotations Williams is putting on the floor. If the team is prioritizing winning, Edwards writes, it doesn’t make sense that James Wiseman is earning minutes over Mike Muscala and there’s been no staggering the minutes of franchise guards Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey. But it doesn’t feel like development is the priority in the rotation either, according to Edwards, because rookie Marcus Sasser played fewer minutes than Evan Fournier and Malachi Flynn.
The deep rotations and new faces are making it difficult for any consistency to develop in Detroit and too many minutes are being given to players who might not be on the roster next season, Edwards writes.
In response to questions surrounding his 11-man rotation on Thursday, Williams explained that he told the coaches he’d prefer to run with about nine rotation players but Sasser bumped his knee and that’s why he ended up using Flynn more (Twitter link via Omari Sankofa II of Detroit Free Press).
We have more Pistons notes:
- Williams also explained his decision to play Wiseman over Muscala (Twitter link via Sankofa). “I like what he’s giving us, especially on the defensive side,” Williams said of the former No. 2 overall pick. According to Sankofa, Williams said that the rim protection Wiseman provides is more important when smaller guards like Sasser and Flynn are on the floor.
- Wiseman is hoping to shed the bust label he picked up after being traded away for a modest return at the 2023 deadline after he was drafted second overall in 2020, according to FOX Sports’ Melissa Rohlin. “I believe I can be a great player,” Wiseman said. His career has been derailed by a combination of injuries, illness and a lack of NBA preparedness, Rohlin writes.
- Quentin Grimes, acquired by the Pistons at the deadline, is listed as probable ahead of their Saturday matchup against Orlando, according to Sankofa (Twitter link). Grimes hasn’t played since being traded due to a right knee sprain, but averaged 8.6 points per game while connecting on 37.9% of his three-pointers in his first three seasons in the league.