Injury Notes: Brown, Hayes, Siakam, Thompson, Jovic, Goodwin
Celtics star forward Jaylen Brown won’t play on Tuesday against the Suns due to a right knee contusion. He was originally listed as questionable but was downgraded about seven hours before tipoff, Brian Robb of MassLive.com reports.
This will be the sixth game Brown has missed this season. The veteran wing is averaging 29.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game and scored a team-high 32 points in 36 minutes on Sunday against the Lakers.
Here’s more injury news from around the league:
- Lakers big man Jaxson Hayes will miss tonight’s game against Orlando due to a right ankle sprain, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin tweets. Hayes played just five minutes against Boston on Sunday before exiting due to that injury.
- Rockets guard Amen Thompson will sit out Wednesday’s home game against Sacramento due to left quad tendinitis, Varun Shankar of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Thompson played 29 minutes against Utah on Monday, contributing 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists in Houston’s 20-point victory.
- Pacers forward Pascal Siakam won’t play against Philadelphia tonight due to a left wrist sprain, Tony East of Forbess tweets. It will be the seventh game he’s missed this season.
- Heat forward Nikola Jovic has returned to Miami during the team’s current road trip for back treatment, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. Miami plays Milwaukee tonight and wraps up its trip in Philadelphia on Thursday. The Heat’s next home game is Saturday against Houston. It’s been a rough season for Jovic, who has been in and out of the rotation after signing a four-year, $62.4MM extension in October.
- Suns guard Jordan Goodwin, who is dealing with a left calf strain, will be re-evaluated in one to two weeks, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. Goodwin had a 17-point outing against Orlando on Saturday, then missed the next contest against Portland. The Suns also confirmed Dillon Brooks‘ four-to-six week timeline before a reevaluation of his broken left hand.
Southwest Notes: Murray, McGowens, J. Smith, Christie
With Dejounte Murray‘s season debut imminent, Mirin Fader of The Athletic and Rod Walker of NOLA.com both look at what has been a long road back for the Pelicans guard, whose Achilles tear in January 2025 represented the worst of his professional setbacks following a series of personal tragedies.
During the months leading up to his Achilles tear, Murray’s mother sustained a stroke, his cousin was killed, and his uncle suffered an overdose, Fader writes. Given all he was dealing with off the court, the 29-year-old was able to put the challenge of making it back from an Achilles tear into perspective, according to Walker.
“I’ve been through so much,” he said. “This is part of the journey. Injuries are a part of sports. It’s not how you fall. It’s how you get back up. For me, it was attacking the process day-by-day and staying level-headed and trying to find some positive and fun out of it.”
At 16-42, the Pelicans are well out of the postseason picture, but they also don’t control their 2026 first-round pick, so they have no incentive to lose down the stretch of the 2025/26 season. With that in mind, head coach James Borrego is looking forward to welcoming Murray back to the rotation and seeing what kind of impact the former All-Star guard will have on his teammates and the club as a whole.
“Dejounte will raise our level,” Borrego said, per Walker. “… He’s worked his tail off, so there’s probably a little bit of relief of ‘I’m finally back.’ But more than anything, I just want him to go out there and compete and embrace the moment and be there with his teammates.”
We have more from around the Southwest:
- The new three-year contract signed by Pelicans wing Bryce McGowens is fully guaranteed through the 2026/27 season, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, with a team option for ’27/28. New Orleans used $724,598 of its mid-level exception to promote McGowens from his two-way deal and to lock him up for two more seasons beyond this one.
- Former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Smith Jr., whose new five-year, $122MM rookie scale extension will go into effect this July, has been showing in recent weeks why the Rockets signed him to that deal, as Matt Young of The Houston Chronicle writes (subscription required). Smith’s 31-point outing vs. Utah on Monday increased his scoring average over the past 10 games to 18.6 PPG on .550/.483/.833 shooting. “The last month or so, I think Jabari has been catching his rhythm, understanding more his role,” teammate Kevin Durant said. “I know guys have been here for a while but it’s still a different team from last year, so guys got to understand their roles a little bit more and I think ‘Bari has just stepped into his position and been great for us the last month.”
- Mavericks swingman Max Christie spoke to Mark Medina of EssentiallySports about a variety of topics, including not being included in the three-point contest, why he thinks Cooper Flagg should be Rookie of the Year, and the impact Kyrie Irving has had on the team despite not playing this season. Christie also told Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required) that he wants to put an exclamation point on what has already been a career year. “I just want to play better for the last 26 games than I did for the first 51,” said Christie, who has averaged a career-high 13.3 points per game on .469/.427/.871 shooting. “If you look at it from a statistical standpoint, if I could bump those (per-game) averages up a little bit, that would be successful for me. … I’ve been shooting it well from the two and the three, but I think if I’m willing to sacrifice a little bit of percentage for volume, I think that can be a good building block for me. Obviously, not going crazy but just looking to try and improve.”
And-Ones: Durant, Olympics, U.S. Roster, Parker, Brooks
Four-time gold medalist Kevin Durant tells Vincent Goodwill of ESPN he wants to represent Team USA again at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The 37-year-old Rockets forward, who is the U.S men’s team’s all-time leading scorer in Olympic competition, did add a caveat, however.
“Hell yeah, I want to play,” Durant said. “I would love to, but I’ve got to stay on top of my game. I’m not expecting, I want to produce on the floor and make (managing director) Grant (Hill) and whoever is making the decisions, want to put me on the team. I don’t want — not just for seniority. I want to still prove I can help the team win.
“Today, yeah I feel like I’ll put my name in that hat.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Speaking of the 2028 Olympics and USA Basketball, Zach Kram of ESPN takes an early look at potential candidates for the Americans’ roster. Kram predicts that Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Jalen Duren, Amen Thompson, Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Tyrese Haliburton, Bam Adebayo and Jayson Tatum will be the 12 players selected (they’re listed by age). Durant could take the final wing spot on the roster, according to Kram, but only if he’s still “engaged and deserving” two-plus years from now.
- Partizan Belgrade is expected to loan former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker to Spanish club Joventut Badalona for the rest of the season, according to a report from Mozzart Sport (hat tip to Sportando). Parker been away from the Serbian club for several weeks, last playing on January 9. The veteran power forward is still under contract with Partizan through 2026/27, though his future with the team is uncertain.
- Shooting guard Armoni Brooks, who played parts of three NBA seasons from 2020-24, has been named MVP of the Italian Cup after helping lead Olimpia Milano to a title in the domestic tournament, per Fabio Cavagnera of RealOlimpiaMilano.com (hat tip to Sportando). The 27-year-old said he “100%” wants to re-sign with the Italian squad.
Jae’Sean Tate To Miss 4-6 Weeks With Grade 2 MCL Sprain
Rockets forward Jae’Sean Tate has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain in his right knee and is expected to miss four-to-six weeks, head coach Ime Udoka told reporters, including Michael Shapiro of Chron.com (Twitter link).
According to Matt Young of The Houston Chronicle, Tate suffered the injury in the second quarter of Saturday’s loss at New York. Udoka said the 30-year-old would be reevaluated in two weeks, but noted that Grade 2 MCL sprains typically result in a four-to-six week absence.
Tate hasn’t played much in 2025/26, averaging just 8.4 minutes per game across 34 appearances. However, he was reinserted into the rotation just before the All-Star break, playing 13 minutes against the Clippers on February 11. He logged 15 minutes at Charlotte on February 19 and sustained the injury two days later.
Tate, who is playing on a minimum-salary contract and is headed for unrestricted free agency this summer, underwent offseason surgery to address an impingement in his right ankle. He was unable to participate in Houston’s training camp or the preseason while he was recovering from that injury.
A former undrafted free agent who played four years of college ball at Ohio State, Tate has seen his minutes decline in each of his six seasons with the Rockets. The veteran forward had a brief G League stint in late November because he wanted to get some playing time and a chance to find his rhythm.
It’s unclear if Tate will make it back before the regular season ends on April 12, but based on Udoka’s timeline, the veteran combo forward should return prior to the postseason. The Rockets are currently 34-21, the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference.
Fischer’s Latest: Antetokounmpo, Morant, Bulls, Yabusele
The rumors circulating about the Bucks trading Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t amount to anything at the February 5 deadline, but that will only postpone speculation about Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee rather than ending it.
Jake Fischer, writing for The Stein Line (Substack link), says his sources around the situation still believe that a move to what he calls “a true title contender” is the most likely outcome for Giannis this summer, especially since many of those contenders will be able to offer more than they did at the deadline.
According to Fischer, many people around the league are also expecting the Nets to emerge as a legitimate suitor for the two-time MVP, either using a package built around Michael Porter Jr. and draft picks or one that keeps Porter in Brooklyn.
Fischer adds that how teams like the Rockets and Spurs fare in the playoffs could impact Antetokounmpo’s trade market too.
We have more from around the league:
- Ja Morant wasn’t traded at the deadline, with reports indicating that the Grizzlies weren’t ready to accept a package similar to the one the Hawks received for Trae Young. While there wasn’t a strong market for the Memphis point guard at the deadline, multiple teams believe that the Bucks have real interest in bringing Morant in, Fischer reports, whether as a successor to Antetokounmpo in their next phase of team-building or as a complement to him.
- Trade deadline moves by the Wizards and Jazz reduced the future financial flexibility of two of the projected cap space teams in 2026, leaving Chicago, Brooklyn, and the two Los Angeles teams as the summer’s probable cap room clubs. According to Fischer, the Bulls have signaled that their primary directive in free agency will be going after wings. The list of free agent wings ranges from unrestricted veterans like Khris Middleton and Tobias Harris to younger restricted FAs such as Bennedict Mathurin and Tari Eason. In addition to wings, the guard-heavy Bulls will also need to find a starting center.
- After removing his second-year player option in order to facilitate a trade from the Knicks to the Bulls, Guerschon Yabusele is expected to have a competitive EuroLeague market this summer, Fischer writes, noting that the French forward had considered signing with the Nuggets prior to joining the Knicks.
Ime Udoka Would Prefer To Reduce Kevin Durant's Minutes
- Rockets coach Ime Udoka would like to cut back on Kevin Durant‘s minutes, relays Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Durant is logging 36.7 minutes per game in his first season with the team, and Udoka would prefer to trim that number to 33 or 34.
Projected NBA Taxpayers For 2025/26
While seven NBA teams are still operating in luxury tax territory following the All-Star break, that total has been cut in half since the start of the month.
Prior to an eventful trade deadline week, a total of 14 teams projected to be taxpayers, per Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link) observes, with the 16 non-taxpayers on track to receive about $13.8MM apiece in tax distribution money at that point.
However, the Celtics, Nuggets, Suns, Mavericks, Sixers, Magic, and Raptors all ducked below the tax line with their pre-deadline transactions, while a few other teams remained in the tax but took steps to significantly reduce their end-of-season bills.
Cleveland, for instance, had been projected to pay nearly $164MM in tax penalties, according to Marks. The Cavaliers will likely still have the NBA’s highest tax bill, but their deadline deals reduced their projected payment by more than $95MM, according to Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom.
Here are the current projected tax penalties, per Pincus’ data:
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $68.67MM
- Golden State Warriors: $65.67MM *
- New York Knicks: $44.44MM
- Los Angeles Lakers: $22.65MM *
- Houston Rockets: $7.07MM
- Los Angeles Clippers: $6.67MM *
- Minnesota Timberwolves: $5.48MM
Total: $220.65MM
Note: Teams marked with an asterisk are paying repeater tax rates.
These numbers may fluctuate a little before the end of the season. For instance, the Clippers recently increased their projected bill when they promoted Jordan Miller to their standard roster, while the Knicks did the same when they signed Jeremy Sochan. The Warriors, Rockets, and Timberwolves all have open roster spots that they could fill before the end of the season, which would increase their respective tax bills. Various contract incentives that go earned or unearned could also impact the end-of-season tax totals.
Based on the current figures from Pincus, each non-taxpayer is projected to receive a payout of about $4.8MM. That figure is determined by cutting the total league-wide tax penalties in half, then dividing them evenly among the non-taxpaying teams (in this case, 23 clubs).
While it’s no real surprise that that figure is far below the $13.8MM projection from a few weeks ago, it’s worth noting that it’s significantly less than what non-taxpayers received last year. In 2024/25, 10 taxpayers paid a total of $461.21MM in penalties and the 20 non-taxpayers received $11.53MM apiece, according to Pincus.
Assuming these are the seven teams that finish the season in tax territory, the Warriors, Lakers, and Clippers would all be subject to repeater penalties in 2026/27 if they’re taxpayers again next season. Additionally, the Bucks, Celtics, Suns, and Nuggets would pay repeater rates if they’re in the tax in ’26/27, since all four clubs were in the tax for three straight years from 2023-25. They’ll each need to spend one more season as a non-taxpayer in order to reset the repeater clock.
Southwest Notes: Durant, Plumlee, Sochan, Jackson
In his first media session since the All-Star game, Rockets star Kevin Durant immediately faced questions about rumors that went viral on social media over the weekend. Durant, who was accused of using a burner Twitter account to disparage current and former teammates in group chats, dismissed the speculation without explicitly denying that the account belonged to him, per Sam Amick and William Guillory of The Athletic and Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required).
“I know you gotta ask these questions, but I’m not here to get into Twitter nonsense,” Durant said. “I’m just here to focus on the season, keep it pushing. But I get you all have to (ask).”
The account speculated to be Durant’s, which used the handle @GetHigher77, took shots at Suns guard Devin Booker, former Suns head coach Frank Vogel, Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr of the Warriors, and Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. of the Rockets, among others.
Asked if he’d spoken to his teammates about the rumors, Durant replied, “My teammates know what it is. We’ve been locked in the whole season. Enjoyed our break. Had a great practice today, looking forward to the road trip.”
We have more from around the Southwest:
- Although he officially signed a 10-day contract with the Spurs on Tuesday, it’s unclear when Mason Plumlee will be able to suit up for his new team. According to Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link), head coach Mitch Johnson said that Plumlee – who underwent groin surgery at the end of December – won’t be active for the team’s games in Austin on Thursday or Saturday.
- Asked on Wednesday at his introductory press conference as a Knick what went wrong for him in San Antonio, former No. 9 overall pick Jeremy Sochan suggested he got “no real opportunity” with the Spurs under Johnson, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic (Twitter link). “It is what it is. It’s a deep team,” he said. “Maybe I didn’t see eye-to-eye with Coach. I’m just blessed to be somewhere to grow.”
- Chiding from teammate Scotty Pippen Jr. prompted Grizzlies forward GG Jackson II to adopt a more aggressive attitude on the court, Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal writes in a subscriber-only story. In his third NBA season, Jackson has become a more efficient scorer and a reliable presence on defense, but it took a push from Pippen and other veterans to get him there. “I would see him in practice and he would be one of the most athletic guys in the gym, then he would get in the game and wouldn’t even dunk or he would only dunk on fast breaks,” Pippen said. “I’m excited every time I see him dunk and play physical because now guys are starting to get out of the way, or he’s dunking on them.”
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
Lakers Rumors: Doncic, LeBron, Offseason Targets, Giannis
It was a relatively quiet trade deadline for the Lakers, who were linked to a myriad of potential targets but ended up making just one relatively minor deal, sending Gabe Vincent and a second-round pick to Atlanta for Luke Kennard. As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, general manager Rob Pelinka described the Lakers as being “aggressive” at the deadline while using a nontraditional definition of the term.
“One form of being aggressive is saying no to moves that come your way that might not be best for the short- and long-term future,” Pelinka said. “That’s like being aggressive, even though you end up doing nothing, because it’s hard to say no sometimes to getting a good player that could be a quick short-term fix, but could have implications for the long term where it doesn’t fit into the overall vision you have for the team.”
A source close to Luka Doncic tells ESPN that the All-Star guard supported the team’s focus on the “long-term picture” at the trade deadline. That “adherence to discipline” at the deadline could lead to an eventful summer, according to McMenamin, who notes that the club preserved its most valuable trade assets and its future cap flexibility and is in position to create more than $50MM in cap room even if Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart pick up their respective player options.
Here’s more from McMenamin on the Lakers’ plans going forward:
- That $50MM+ cap projection doesn’t account for LeBron James, but if he wants to continue his career in 2026/27, the Lakers would welcome him back, sources tell McMenamin. Pelinka has said before that he’d love for James to retire as a Laker, and that would apply in 2027, not just 2026, McMenamin writes. Still, one Eastern Conference executive who spoke to ESPN believes it would be in the team’s best long-term interests to move on from LeBron and focus on building around Doncic this offseason. “Let him walk and use the space to retool around Luka,” that exec said. “Keeping (Austin) Reaves is critical. (Doncic) plays best with another ball handler/creator like with Kyrie (Irving) and (Jalen) Brunson.”
- Heat forward Andrew Wiggins and Rockets wing Tari Eason are among the potential 2026 free agent targets the Lakers have discussed internally, per McMenamin, though it remains to be seen if either will actually be available — Wiggins holds a 2026/27 player option, while Eason will be a restricted free agent. Peyton Watson is another player the Lakers have on their radar, since the cap-strapped Nuggets would have to shed salary or go into second-apron territory to match an aggressive offer sheet for the RFA-to-be. “We felt like creating optionality or having optionality now is really a positive thing for us this coming offseason,” Pelinka said earlier this month. “Because there’s some teams that maybe have gotten too deep into the aprons. And I think players, we see around the league, become available when teams get in that position.”
- One rival front office member who spoke to ESPN suggested the Lakers need to “get as many defenders with length that can knock down a shot as possible.” Tobias Harris, Quentin Grimes, and Dean Wade are among the other players who fit that bill and who will be unrestricted free agents in 2026, McMenamin notes.
- Of course, while the Lakers would like to add quality role players to complement Doncic, they also believe they could be among the top suitors for Giannis Antetokounmpo if the Bucks explore moving the star forward again this summer, team sources tell McMenamin. Los Angeles will have the ability to trade up to three first-round picks (2026, 2031, and 2033) in the offseason and one Western Conference executive told ESPN that he thinks Giannis is the “big prize” the club has its eye on.
Southwest Notes: Flagg, Irving, Durant, Coward
Cooper Flagg appeared at Saturday’s game between Duke and Clemson with a boot on his left foot, but league sources tell Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link) that the Mavericks believe they’re lucky that his midfoot sprain is not a more severe injury .
There’s still no specific timeline for how long Flagg will be out as a result of the injury, according to Stein, who says the more pressing concern for the team is how to keep the star rookie’s energy and enthusiasm up through what is likely the longest losing streak of his basketball life.
The Mavericks lost their last nine games prior to the All-Star break, which Stein notes is the team’s longest losing streak since the 1997/98 season. At No. 12 in the Western Conference, Dallas is currently two games up on the Jazz and 1.5 games behind the Grizzlies, who have embarked on their own rebuild after trading Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah.
With Jackson out for the rest of the season following knee surgery and Utah owing its pick to the Thunder if it falls outside of the top eight, it will be worth keeping an eye on just how quickly Dallas brings the productive Flagg.
We have more from around the Southwest Division:
- Kyrie Irving announced on Saturday that he will soon be giving an update on whether or not he plans to return for the Mavericks this season. While it would be beneficial for Dallas’ draft outlook for Irving to sit the rest of the season, Stein’s sources tell him that the decision will ultimately be a collaborative one between Irving and the team, as he writes in his latest Substack article. The decision will depend in part on whether the star point guard feels like his body needs more time to recover or whether he wants to try to work some rust off in-season.
- In the midst of his 18th season in the league, Kevin Durant is more concerned with making sure he remembers all the moves in his arsenal than adding new ones to it, Varun Shankar writes for the Houston Chronicle. “There’s so much I’m thinking about. I don’t want to forget some stuff in my package and it goes away,” Durant said. “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Shankar details the Rockets‘ star’s meticulous pregame workouts, including the balance drills designed to engage his legs. When it comes to a bad workout, assistant coach Royal Ivey puts it bluntly. “I haven’t seen one,” he said.
- Cedric Coward has gone from mystery box draft prospect to breakout player for the Grizzlies, starting 35 of the 48 games he’s played this season with averages of 13.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest. He recently sat down with Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports to talk about his rookie year and what improvements come next. When asked about lessons taken away from being guarded by some of the league’s premier defenders, Coward spoke to a late-game situation against the Thunder and Alex Caruso. “Just keep it simple. The biggest moment I learned that was when we played Oklahoma City at home,” Coward said. “Last possession, Caruso put me in a box. And I was too complicated in what I was trying to do, so for me, I wish I could get that moment back, I know I’ll have that moment again — it might not be against Caruso, but I know the moment will come again.”