Darius Garland Expects To Play Monday
Darius Garland is targeting Monday night’s game at Golden State to make his Clippers debut, according to NBA on Prime insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).
Garland hasn’t played since January 14 due to left toe injury management and a right great toe sprain. He appeared in 26 total games with the Cavaliers before being traded to L.A. on February 4 in exchange for James Harden.
Garland’s toe issues date back to last year’s playoffs and are among the reasons Cleveland decided to part with him. He missed four games in the 2025 postseason, including two home losses to Indiana that contributed to the Cavs’ second-round exit.
The Clippers view the 26-year-old Garland as a better option for their future than Harden. He’s more comfortable in a faster-paced game and provides some financial stability with a contract running through 2027/28 and salaries of $42.2MM and $44.9MM over the next two seasons.
A two-time All-Star, Garland has still put up solid numbers in his limited playing time this season, averaging 18.0 points and 6.9 assists in 30.5 minutes per night with .451/.360/.861 shooting splits.
L.A. has rebounded from a disastrous start to post a 27-31 record and holds a five-game lead over 11th-place Memphis in the race for the West’s final play-in spot. After parting with Harden and Ivica Zubac in separate deals, the Clippers will head into the postseason with a younger and faster roster than they had at the beginning of the season.
Pacific Notes: Murray, Melton, Leons, Garland
It has been a season to forget for Kings forward Keegan Murray. In addition to the fact that Sacramento holds the NBA’s worst record (13-47), Murray has spent the year battling various injuries. His season debut was delayed until November 20 after he underwent surgery on his left thumb. He later missed a pair of games in December due to a mild calf strain, then sat out for a month-and-a-half in January and February while recovering from a left ankle sprain.
Murray suffered another setback on Wednesday in Houston. In just his 23rd game of the season, Murray re-injured that same left ankle, rolling it in the first quarter and sitting out for the rest of the night, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
It remains to be seen whether Murray will face another multi-game absence as a result of his latest ailment, but the Kings have no reason to push him. The lottery-bound team views the fourth-year forward as one of its long-term cornerstones, having signed him last fall to a five-year, $140MM rookie scale extension that will go into effect this July.
We have more from out of the Pacific:
- Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton holds a $3.45MM player option for next season, but he seems less likely to exercise it with each passing day, according to Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. Melton, who had a season-high 28 points on Tuesday vs. New Orleans to increase his career-best scoring average to 12.7 PPG, has an incredible +15.7 net rating in his 688 minutes on the floor this season. Poole speculates that the versatile guard’s next contract could be in the range of $15-20MM annually. “It’s really fun to see him performing at this level after being out for a couple years,” head coach Steve Kerr said earlier this week. “He’s such a great guy, such a fantastic teammate. Hell of a player, and I’m really happy for him that he’s healthy and playing at a high level.”
- Forward Malevy Leons hasn’t played much for the Warriors since signing a two-way contract in December, but he proved in Wednesday’s win over Memphis that he’s capable of contributing when called upon. Leons registered nine points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes — all three marks were season highs. “I thought Malevy was awesome,” Kerr said, per Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. “Just the energy, defending without fouling, creating some problems for them at the defensive end of the floor and then making some nice plays on offense too. Was fun to watch him play.”
- Darius Garland‘s Clippers debut doesn’t appear to be far off, and his teammates and coaches are looking forward to it. Head coach Tyronn Lue said Garland has “looked great” in practices, while guard Kris Dunn added that the newcomer has already been a great fit off the court, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. “We can’t wait. We’re doing good, we’ve shown some good stuff over the last two (games), but it’s also been tough for us,” forward Nicolas Batum said, referring to losses to the Lakers and Magic. “But that kinda showed us we need him. We can’t wait to have him back on the court with us.”
Injury Notes: Tatum, Antetokounmpo, Garland, Thompson
Jayson Tatum, who is making his way back from an Achilles tear he suffered last spring, has been a full participant in five-on-five scrimmages for the Celtics, Shams Charania said on ESPN’s NBA Today (YouTube video link).
According to Charania, the keys for Tatum physically are building his conditioning and strengthening his calves through a high volume of scrimmages and practices. However, the biggest factor will be making sure he feels ready to go mentally and isn’t thinking about the injury while he’s playing.
The Celtics will not push Tatum, but they’ll get him on the floor once he feels fully like himself again, which is why there is still no set timeline for his return, Charania adds.
“A dozen people here — doctors, Celtics officials, Jayson Tatum himself — they’re going to gather in a room when he’s ready and get him to a point where he wants to be, which is, in March, and as we get closer and closer to the playoffs, make a decision about whether he’s able to make it back on the floor,” Charania said.
We have more injury news from around the NBA:
- Bucks coach Doc Rivers believes that star Giannis Antetokounmpo is nearing a return from the calf strain that has sidelined him since late January, The Athletic’s Eric Nehm reports (via Twitter). “I know he’s close,” Rivers said. “I don’t think he’s close like tomorrow, but he’s getting closer and he looked great… I can tell you what my eyes see and he looks good.” Rivers previously told Nehm that Antetokounmpo had participated in 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 work without experiencing setbacks, and that he didn’t necessarily need to progress to 5-on-5 to be cleared for return (Twitter link).
- Darius Garland has yet to suit up for the Clippers since arriving in Los Angeles as the cornerstone of the James Harden trade, and that won’t change in Thursday’s game against the Timberwolves. However, there are encouraging signs, as Law Murray of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that Garland is participating in 5-on-5 workouts. With the two-time All-Star injured, the Clippers have been relying on Kris Dunn and, occasionally, rookie Kobe Sanders to man the starting guard spots.
- Amen Thompson is sitting out the Rockets‘ game against the Kings with a quad injury, but Matt Young of the Houston Chronicle writes that coach Ime Udoka doesn’t believe it will be a long-term issue (Twitter link). Udoka said that Thompson has been playing through the injury and that he hopes that this absence will only last one game.
Clippers Notes: Lopez, Leonard, Collins, Garland
Brook Lopez joined the Clippers to serve as a veteran backup to Ivica Zubac, but now it looks like he’ll be the starting center for the rest of the season, Janis Carr of The Orange County Register writes in a subscriber-only story. Lopez started a few games after Zubac hurt his ankle in December, but he also spent time out of the rotation, with rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser as the first center off the bench. Everything changed when Zubac was dealt to Indiana at the deadline, and L.A. will be counting heavily on Lopez in its bid to reach the playoffs.
“It’s just been about staying ready for me,” Lopez said. “Obviously, my goal is to help my team win by whatever means possible, so on a nightly basis, whatever’s required of me, I’m going to go out there and do it.”
Lopez, 37, was a starter throughout his career before signing with the Clippers last summer, so he’s ready for a heavy workload. He had 16 points and 10 rebounds in Friday’s loss to the Lakers, and the offense ran through him after Kawhi Leonard left the game with stiffness in his left ankle and Bennedict Mathurin fouled out.
“I’m comfortable in a lot of different roles,” Lopez said. “It’s something I got to do for a good decade in my career, so I’m confident doing that. Again, whatever’s required of me.”
There’s more on the Clippers:
- Leonard, who’s listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against Orlando, drew high praise from long-time rival LeBron James after the game, Carr adds. James said that even with Leonard’s lengthy injury history, he’s one of the league’s best players. “There’s things you can’t control. You only can control the controllables and the things that he’s been controlling is how he comes back and how (much) perseverance he (has) every single time,” James said. “That guy’s awesome. I swear, I have nothing but great things to say about Kawhi and the type of basketball he’s been playing over the last couple months. I mean, he is who he is for a reason, so I’m not surprised by it.”
- John Collins will be held out of Sunday’s contest after suffering a head laceration and neck soreness against the Lakers, per Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). Murray notes that there’s no indication of a concussion in the injury report.
- Darius Garland tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape that he knew a trade out of Cleveland was imminent, and he blames a recurring toe issue that limited him to 26 games this season. “It was going to happen regardless, either at the (trade) deadline or this summer. (My agent) Rich (Paul) had that conversation with me last summer,” Garland said. “But yeah, the toe definitely had a factor in it. They didn’t know if I was going to be healthy for this season, which I will be. But they thought that James (Harden) had something that I didn’t, I believe. He has experience in playoffs and All-Star numbers still to this day, even though he wasn’t an All-Star this year. But yeah, they want to win right now. They have a group, too. And I guess I really wasn’t part of the plan.”
L.A. Notes: Doncic, James, Reaves, Garland, Collins, Rosen
The Lakers had their big three — Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves — in the starting lineup on Friday in a 125-122 victory over the Clippers. Doncic erupted for 38 points with 11 assists, while Reaves poured in 29 points. James supplied 13 points and 11 assists despite some knee soreness. The Lakers’ success the rest of the way is predicated on that trio developing chemistry.
“I mean, every game, every second, every minute that we’re on the floor together, it helps,” James said, per Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. “Like I said, when was that, All-Star weekend? We don’t know what we’re going to be until we get fully healthy and tonight was one of the first games where JJ (Redick) and the coaching staff can look down and know everybody was available. So, we just got to keep pushing. We got to keep pushing. We got a tough team coming in on Sunday (against the Celtics). Obviously, a lifetime NBA rivalry, so we got to be ready for them. They’re playing great basketball, too.”
Here’s more on the Los Angeles teams:
- Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue says his team isn’t anywhere near tank mode despite the roster upheaval prior to the trade deadline. The Clippers are sitting ninth in the Western Conference standings and are likely to make the play-in tournament. “I just feel confident. I just feel confident in our players. I feel confident in our coaching staff and I just feel confident in the environment, like the culture we’ve set,” he said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “And why wouldn’t you want to play to win. That’s our mindset. That’s my mindset every single night. And as tough as it may be or you start 6-21 or whatever it may be, you’re playing to win. And so, we make the playoffs and then anything can happen. So, our goal is to make the playoffs and so I don’t know why somebody would scoff at that.”
- Initially, Darius Garland wasn’t thrilled about getting traded from Cleveland to the Clippers. Now he says he’s “super excited” about joining forces with Kawhi Leonard and playing in Los Angeles. “I’m good with the change,” Garland told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “When it first happened, I was kind of skeptical. But I couldn’t turn down this opportunity to play with another Hall of Famer (Leonard) and having a ball in my hands damn near 99 percent of the time.” Garland has yet to make his Clippers debut. He has not played since Jan. 14 due to a toe injury and is reportedly unlikely to return until March but told Spears he plans to play “really, really soon.”
- Clippers forward John Collins took a shot to the face on Friday and required some stitches along his left eye, Mark Medina tweets. He finished the game with 12 points in 16 minutes.
- Longtime Dodgers executive Lon Rosen is moving into the Lakers‘ front office as president of business operations, according to The Associated Press. He replaces Tim Harris, who is stepping down after 35 years with the organization. Rosen has been the Dodgers’ executive vice president and chief marketing officer since 2012, the same year new Lakers majority owner Mark Walter purchased the MLB team. Rosen began his sports career with the 1980s Showtime Lakers as an intern and a front office executive. He went on to become an agent and a business partner of Magic Johnson.
Clippers Sign Norchad Omier, Sean Pedulla To Two-Way Deals
February 20: Omier’s two-way contract has also been finalized, the Clippers confirmed today.
February 19, 8:30 pm: Pedulla’s two-way deal is official, according to the NBA’s transaction log. Pedulla’s contract covers two seasons, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link).
February 19, 4:56 pm: The Clippers plan to sign free agents Norchad Omier and Sean Pedulla to two-way contracts, reports Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
Los Angeles has a pair of two-way openings after recently promoting Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller to the team’s 15-man standard roster. Omier and Pedulla will fill those vacancies, according to Fischer.
Omier, 24, played for three different college programs — Arkansas State, Miami (FL) and Baylor — over the course of five NCAA seasons. He averaged a double-double in each of those campaigns.
The 6’5″ forward went undrafted last year, signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Cavs, was waived, and has spent the 2025/26 season in the G League with the Cleveland Charge. In 31 total games (28.9 minutes per contest) with the Charge, Omier has averaged 18.5 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.0 steal on .603/.293/.774 shooting.
According to Basketball-Reference, Omier will be the first player born in Nicaragua in NBA history.
Pedulla, a 6’1″ guard, went undrafted last year out of Mississippi after previously playing three years at Virginia Tech. The Oklahoma native signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Portland last fall and has been suiting up for the team’s G League affiliate, the Rip City Remix.
In 36 games with the Remix this season, Pedulla has averaged 19.7 PPG, 5.3 APG, 4.0 RPG and 1.4 SPG in 27.7 MPG. The 23-year-old’s shooting line was .438/.359/.847.
The Clippers will have a full roster once the signings are official.
Clippers Notes: Aspiration Investigation, Mathurin, Jackson
Earlier in the season, there was a sense around the NBA that the investigation into allegations that the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard used a no-show endorsement deal with fintech company Aspiration to circumvent the salary cap wouldn’t lead to a serious punishment for the team, says Sam Amick of The Athletic.
However, according to Amick, that thinking has evolved in recent months. During the weeks leading up to the All-Star break, Amick writes, there was a “significant” uptick in speculation that “the NBA’s hammer is likely to fall” on the Clippers upon the conclusion of the probe.
Many people across the league theorized that the NBA would wait until sometime after the All-Star break to announce the results of the investigation, so as not to distract from the mid-season festivities at the Clippers’ Intuit Dome. Commissioner Adam Silver insisted over the weekend that wasn’t a consideration and reiterated that the probe isn’t being directly run by the NBA — the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was hired by the league to conduct the investigation.
“I think, as I’ve said before, it’s enormously complex,” Silver said over the weekend. “You have a company in bankruptcy (Aspiration). You have thousands of documents, multiple witnesses that have been needed to be interviewed. I will say, just in case anyone is wondering, the fact that All-Star is here (in L.A.) has had no impact on the timeline of the investigation. Our charge to the Wachtell law firm is (to) do the work and then come back and make recommendations to the league office, and that’s where things now stand.”
Here’s more on the Clippers:
- In his home debut as a Clipper, recently acquired guard Bennedict Mathurin set a new personal season high and matched a career best by pouring in 38 points in 34 minutes, writes Doug Padilla of The Associated Press. Coming off the bench, Mathurin made 12-of-22 shots from the floor and 12-of-13 from the free throw line to help lead the club to a one-point win over Denver. “It’s great to have another scorer that can get you 30 points,” Leonard said after the game (Twitter video link via Law Murray of The Athletic). “I watched him in the (2025 NBA) Finals. He was doing it in the Finals last year, all year last year for the Pacers. It’s great to have him.”
- Before the Clippers’ second-half schedule got underway on Thursday, Janis Carr of The Orange County Register (subscription required) explored how the team was working on integrating trade deadline additions Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, and injured point guard Darius Garland. “Everybody is pretty familiar with my game, so it kind of helps a lot,” said Mathurin, who will be a restricted free agent this offseason. “I think that there’s still a lot more to do, still a lot more to learn with the system, offensive, defensive and especially off the court as well. … I just feel like I kind of get the chance to do it even more over here (with the Clippers). I think it is going to go to a different level.”
- Jackson has played a very limited role since joining the Clippers, but he says he’s working on getting acclimated and wants to do all he can to “help the team win,” per Carr. Head coach Tyronn Lue suggested the former Pacer will keep getting opportunities to battle rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser for minutes behind starting center Brook Lopez. “Right now, I’m just thinking, just talking to our staff, about just playing three bigs,” Lue said. “We can’t continue to play Brook 34, 35 minutes a night, even though he says he’s OK. So, just given three centers, it’s a chance to play them all and then whoever’s playing the best will probably play in the second half. We’ll see how it goes.”
- In case you missed it, the Clippers are filling their open two-way contract slots by signing G League standouts Sean Pedulla and Norchad Omier.
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.
Clippers Promote Jordan Miller To Standard Roster
3:03 pm: The Clippers have officially signed Miller to a new standard contract, the team confirmed.
10:38 am: After elevating Kobe Sanders from his two-way contract to their 15-man roster earlier this month, the Clippers will take the same route with another two-way standout, forward Jordan Miller. According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), Miller has agreed to sign a new two-year standard contract with the team.
The 48th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Miller didn’t play much during his first two NBA seasons, appearing in just 45 games and averaging 10.0 minutes per night. However, the 26-year-old began to receive regular rotation minutes for L.A. in mid-December and has since emerged as a reliable contributor.
Miller has appeared in each of the Clippers’ last 29 games and the club has gone 20-9 during that time. In his past 18 outings, the 6’5″ wing has averaged 12.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.1 steals in 25.9 minutes per game while making 52.6% of his shots from the floor.
Miller still had 15 games of eligibility left on his two-way contract, but the Clippers have nearly reached their “under-15” limit for two-way players. Teams are only permitted to use players on two-way contracts for a total of 90 combined games as long as they’re carrying fewer than 15 players on standard contracts — L.A. is at 88, per Spotrac.
In other words, the Clippers would’ve needed to keep their 15th roster spot filled in order to continue using Miller anyway, so the team has opted to simply promote him into that opening. L.A. will now have a pair of two-way slots open and will be able to activate whichever players fill those openings without worrying about the under-15 rule.
As for Miller, he’ll receive a minimum-salary contract that includes a team option for 2026/27, reports Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). His exact rest-of-season salary – and the Clippers’ accompanying cap hit – will depend on when the team officially completes the signing, but if it happens today, both figures would be $712,637.
Clippers’ Garland Week-To-Week, Likely To Return In March
Point guard Darius Garland, who was traded from the Cavaliers to the Clippers earlier this month, won’t be ready to suit up for his new team when play resumes on Thursday, according to Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter links).
As Murray outlines, Garland is practicing on a limited basis as he deals with a toe injury. The former Cav has been out since January 14 due to a right toe sprain and also continues to manage his surgically repaired left great toe.
Garland is considered week-to-week, Murray continues, and while he’s expected to play at some point this season, his Clippers debut likely won’t happen until sometime in March. The team doesn’t want him suiting up until he’s back to 100% and fully over his toe problems, Murray adds.
Garland, who was sent to L.A. along with a second-round pick in exchange for James Harden, got off to a slow start in the fall but had a productive stretch in December and January that got his season-long numbers back to around his career rates. In 26 starts for Cleveland, he averaged 18.0 points, 6.9 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 30.5 minutes per game, with a .451/.360/.861 shooting line.
Since moving Harden and center Ivica Zubac at the trade deadline, the Clippers have been rolling out a starting five that features Kris Dunn as the de facto point guard alongside Derrick Jones Jr., Kawhi Leonard, John Collins, and Brook Lopez.