Lakers Rumors

Mavericks Notes: Doncic, Jokic, Welts, Armstrong

February 16th, 2025 at 3:24pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

By all accounts, now-Lakers star Luka Doncic was blindsided by his trade away from the Mavericks earlier this month. As Bennett Durando of The Denver Post relays, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, a longtime friend of Doncic’s, spoke about the five-time All-NBA First Teamer’s reaction to the surprising deal during his Saturday presser at All-Star media day.

“He was building something there,” Jokic said. “I think he was hurt… I think as a trade, it’s not such a big thing, but if you trade someone like that, I think it kind of becomes a little bit of a big thing, and maybe players become a little bit serious about it.”

There’s more out of Dallas:

New Mavericks CEO Rick Welts, seen across the league as a financial wizard, is stewarding this new post-Doncic era on the business side, according to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, who wonders if Welts’ decision-making can help Dallas fans eventually move beyond the front office’s bold recent transactions. “I thought I’d seen everything in my 47 years in the NBA, but clearly this was different,” Welts said. “I probably underestimated the reaction. I think we’ve done the best we can, basically, with the staff and trying to do the right thing with everybody who touches the Mavericks.” Welts had previously led business operations for the Steve Nash-era Suns from 2002-11 and the peak Stephen Curry-era Warriors from 2011-21. As we outlined on Saturday, he played a big part in building out the modern format of the All-Star weekend during his 17-year tenure as an NBA executive.
Mavericks assistant coach Darrell Armstrong was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning for alleged aggravated assault with a weapon, reports Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal. Afseth adds that Dallas has placed Armstrong on administrative leave following the booking. “The preliminary investigation determined the suspect and victim were in an argument when the suspect hit the victim with a gun and threatened to shoot them,” the Dallas police department told Afseth. “The suspect and victim are known to one another. This remains an ongoing investigation.”
In case you missed it, All-Star Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving appears to have found peace in Dallas following rocky stints in Boston and Brooklyn.

Adam Silver Discusses Doncic Trade, Other Topics In All-Star Press Conference

February 15th, 2025 at 9:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

NBA commissioner Adam Silver was as surprised as anyone when news broke that Luka Doncic had been traded to the Lakers two weeks ago, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. At his annual All-Star Weekend press conference, Silver said he wasn’t given advance notice from anyone about the deal.

He also refused to second guess the Mavericks, who have received an enormous amount of criticism for parting with Doncic, especially from their own fans.

“I can say one thing for sure: Whether or not history will ultimately judge this as a smart trade, they did what they thought was in the best interest of their organization,” Silver said. “I have absolutely no knowledge or belief there were any ulterior motives, no doubt in my mind that the Dumont-Adelson families bought that team to keep it in Dallas. I have no doubt whatsoever that they’re committed to the long-term success of that franchise.”

Silver added that he’s “empathetic” toward Dallas fans who are upset about the deal, which looks even worse since Anthony Davis was injured in his first game with the team.

“Time will tell whether it was a smart trade,” Silver said. “But they should believe in their organization.”

Silver addressed several other topics during his meeting with reporters, according to Reynolds:

The Hornets contacted the league office after the Lakers rescinded their trade for Mark Williams, but Charlotte hasn’t filed a formal appeal. “Let’s see what Charlotte decides to do here,” Silver said. “But I think either way, it’s gotten our attention. We understand that in the back and forth of teams and trades that the extent we can reduce uncertainty, that’s a positive thing.”
The league is waiting for a response from Timberwolves majority owner Glen Taylor after an arbitration panel ruled in favor of Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez this week. Silver said he doesn’t see any reason why the sale of the team wouldn’t be approved, but he doesn’t want to speak for the Board of Governors. “I mean, that’s Glen’s decision to make,” Silver said. “I haven’t talked to him directly about that. I think, though, that A-Rod, certainly Marc Lore, are well-known to the league at this point. They’ve already been vetted and approved as minority owners. I think they understood that the league had no role in this arbitration. That was something they had agreed to as part of their purchase agreement.”
The league decided against a repeat of last year’s All-Star Weekend shooting contest between Stephen Curry and WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu, with Silver explaining, “Last year was so magical, that competition, that it started to feel forced. And I think there was concern from all of us that we just weren’t feeling it.”
Silver cited progress in the NBA’s television ratings, although he admitted that he’d like to see them higher. He added that the league measures its audience in several ways and is enjoying “record popularity” on social media.

Southeast Notes: Williams, Nurkic, Baugh, Black, Da Silva, Sarr

February 15th, 2025 at 5:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

It’s been a week since the trade sending Mark Williams to the Lakers was rescinded, and he still hasn’t rejoined the Hornets, according to Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte played three road games since L.A. decided to void the deal due to the results of Williams’ physical, and Boone believes Hornets officials are giving him time to adjust to the shock of returning to his old team.

Boone points out that if Williams is required to resume playing immediately after the All-Star Break, his first game would be against the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena. That contest, originally scheduled for last month, was postponed due to the wildfires and rescheduled for Wednesday.

Boone notes that president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson hasn’t spoken to the media about the Lakers’ decision to call off the deal, and the organization has been silent except for a brief statement it released after the news broke last Saturday. The Hornets have contacted the league office to explore their options, but a source tells Boone that they’re preparing for Williams’ return.

With Williams absent, center Jusuf Nurkic, who was acquired from Phoenix last week, made his Hornets debut in Wednesday’s loss at Orlando. He had nine points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes and made a positive impression on coach Charles Lee.

“I just saw a guy that obviously understands the game at a really high level,” Lee said. “His size, his physicality adds a different element to our group. Defensively, I thought he was good in helping the paint with his communication. And offensively, even showed me a little bit more. “Able to rebound and push the break and I knew he was kind of a good passer but to see him handle it in the open court and make some good decisions. … Another guy you can throw it down to in the paint when you need a bucket or he gets fouled. It was really nice to have him out there.”

There’s more from the Southeast Division:

The two-way contract that Damion Baugh signed with the Hornets this week will also cover next season, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). The 24-year-old shooting guard had a strong NBA debut Wednesday with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists off the bench
Magic coach Jamahl Mosley believes Anthony Black and Tristan Da Silva will benefit from their first trip to All-Star Weekend, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. Both players took part in the Rising Stars event Friday night. “It does something when you go to the All-Star game,” Mosley said. “You get to see the league in a different light. You get to be around your peers that you know are at a certain level, and then it instills a little bit of confidence knowing that you belong in that class.
Wizards rookie center Alex Sarr, another Rising Stars participant, talked to Varun Shankar of The Washington Post about not getting dragged down by difficult moments as he adjusts to the NBA. “I just try to go to the next play because there’s so many plays,” Sarr said. “Who cares you lost the ball? Who cares you missed the shot? Move on and just do something else.”

Pacific Notes: Simmons, Bamba, Lakers, Tucker, Suns, Fultz

February 15th, 2025 at 2:45pm CST by Luke Adams

As we detailed on Friday, Ben Simmons‘ debut with the Clippers on Thursday went about as well as it reasonably could have, earning him praise from head coach Tyronn Lue.

Lue wasn’t the only one impressed by the former No. 1 overall pick, who registered 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals in his first game for his new team. Simmons’ Clippers teammates spoke after the game about the immediate impact he made on the court, per Law Murray of The Athletic.

“It’s easy to play basketball with smart players,” forward Nicolas Batum said. “That’s why he was the No. 1 pick, that’s why he was an All-Star in the NBA, because he’s a unique player, a very good basketball player. He just needs the right system, the right person to get his confidence back. And I’ve been there. I’ve been in his shoes five years ago. I think he came to the right spot to get it.”

While Batum was never an All-Star like Simmons, his stock was at an all-time low when he joined the Clippers in 2020 due to the perception that he was overpaid on his previous contract, a five-year, $120MM deal with Charlotte. Batum has rebuilt his value in recent years, primarily due to his strong play with the Clippers, and there’s optimism that Simmons can do the same.

“He did everything we asked him to do: Rebound, defend, push the ball in transition, create for others, attack the rim,” center Ivica Zubac said after Thursday’s win over Utah. “When they doubled James (Harden), he was really good flashing in the middle and play-making from there. It was great, man. It was all that we expected and more. I think he played great, and I think he’s going to be huge for us.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

If Alex Len had gone through with his initial plan to join the Pacers rather than pivoting to the Lakers, free agent big man Mohamed Bamba likely would’ve been a top target for Los Angeles, Jake Fischer said on a Bleacher Report live stream on Thursday (YouTube link). “I heard this from multiple sources,” Fischer said. “That if Alex Len did go forward and sign with the Pacers, Mo Bamba would have been very prominently considered by the Lakers to fill a spot in that depleted center rotation.” Bamba remains available in free agency for now.
During that same Bleacher Report live stream, Fischer suggested that the Suns are one team to watch for P.J. Tucker if the veteran forward is bought out by the Raptors, which is expected to happen. Tucker has played in Phoenix before, was coached by Mike Budenholzer in Milwaukee, and is a Texas alum like Suns star Kevin Durant. Still, Fischer is skeptical that the 39-year-old Tucker will draw significant interest on the buyout market or play a major role for a playoff team this spring.
Injuries have limited Markelle Fultz‘s availability and slowed his development since he entered the NBA as the No. 1 overall pick in 2017, but the Kings‘ newest addition said this week that his health isn’t a concern right now, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. “This is the best I’ve ever felt since being in the league,” Fultz told Anderson. “I never had the opportunity to take my time and get healthy, so being able to do that last summer has been great for me. I’m super excited for this opportunity and I’m thankful for it.”

Hard Cap Details For Mavs, Warriors, Knicks, Lakers

February 15th, 2025 at 1:36pm CST by Luke Adams

While 24 of 30 NBA teams are hard-capped at either the first or second tax apron as a result of one or more roster moves they made this season, the hard cap shouldn’t be an issue for the majority of those 24 teams.

Now that the trade deadline has passed, clubs will generally only be increasing their payrolls with 10-day deals or minor free agent signings, and most teams have more than enough breathing room below their hard caps to comfortably accommodate those moves.

There are a few exceptions though, so we’ll take a closer look in the space below at four teams whose hard caps will – or could – come into play down the stretch.

Before we dive into those specific situations, let’s provide some context: The cap hit for a full-season veteran’s minimum contract for 2024/25 is $2,087,519, which means those deals cost a team $11,997 per day over the course of the 174 days in the regular season. That amount is prorated based on how many days are left in the season — a minimum contract signed with 20 days remaining in the season, for example, would count for $239,945 against the cap.

In the space below, we’ll be referring to how many “days” of minimum deals each team can accommodate. For instance, a team that’s $100K away from its hard cap would be able to squeeze in eight days of a veteran minimum contract (which works out to $95,978), but not nine days (which would be $107,975). That club couldn’t sign a player to a minimum-salary contract until there are just eight days left in the season.

The cap hit for a rookie or a player with one year of NBA service comes in a little lower than the veteran’s minimum, but if the player is a free agent, it still counts as if it’s a veteran’s minimum deal for tax and apron purposes due to the tax variance rule. So a team up against a hard cap won’t be able to sign a rookie free agent any earlier than it could sign a veteran free agent.

The one exception is if the team holds the draft rights to the player — for instance, when the Knicks converted Ariel Hukporti from his two-way contract to a standard NBA deal back in November after drafting him 58th overall last June, Hukporti’s rookie minimum cap hit was equivalent to his tax and apron charge, since he wasn’t signed as a free agent. If one of the teams we’re examining below has the option to take this route, we’ll make note of it.

Let’s dive in…

Dallas Mavericks

Open roster spots: 1
Room below hard cap: $171,120
Veteran minimum days available: 14 ($167,961)

The Mavericks currently have four injured big men (Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively, Daniel Gafford, and Dwight Powell) and would likely welcome the opportunity to sign a free agent center using their open 15-man roster spot. However, their hard cap restrictions seriously complicate matters.

Since they can only accommodate 14 more days of a veteran minimum salary for the rest of the season, the Mavericks essentially have two options:

Wait until March 31 to sign a free agent.
Sign a free agent to a 10-day contract at any time, then wait until April 10 to either re-sign that player or add a new free agent.

If they had a good candidate among their draft-rights-held players to fill that 15th roster spot, the Mavericks could accommodate a rookie minimum deal for up to 25 days.

But none of their two-way players fit the bill, and their only draft-and-stash possibility is 20-year-old forward Melvin Ajinca, who is currently playing for ASVEL in France. Bringing Ajinca stateside isn’t a practical solution, so they’ll have to stay patient.

Golden State Warriors

Open roster spots: 3
Room below hard cap: $1,372,306
Veteran minimum days available: 114 ($1,367,685)

On the surface, the Warriors’ restrictions don’t look too bad — 114 days is a lot!

But Golden State is currently carrying just 12 players on standard contracts and must get back to 14 by February 20, since teams can dip below that roster minimum for no more than two weeks at a time (or 28 total days in a season).

A rest-of-season contract signed on Feb. 20 would cover 53 days, which means two rest-of-season deals would total 106 days. If the Warriors go that route, they wouldn’t be able to squeeze in a 15th man until there are just eight days left in the season.

It sounds like the Warriors are more likely to sign a pair of players to 10-day contracts on Feb. 20 — they’ve already reportedly reached a 10-day deal with G League standout Kevin Knox, and I expect a similar agreement with a second player will be reported in the coming days.

Those 10-day contracts would eat up 20 of the club’s remaining 114 days (leaving 94) and would allow Golden State to go another two weeks from March 2-15 with fewer than 14 players under contract. At that point, there would be just 29 days left in the season, so the Warriors could fill all three of their remaining roster spots and stay below the hard cap.

There are other variations in play for the Warriors here. For instance, if they sign a pair of players to back-to-back 10-day contracts on Feb. 20 and Mar. 2, they could dip back down to 12 players for the second half of March before filling their remaining three roster openings with just a couple weeks left in the season. Of course, there’s also no obligation for them to fill that 15th roster spot as soon as they’re eligible to.

It looks like the Warriors will have to go the free agent route. Their two-way players were signed as undrafted free agents and they have no good candidates among their draft-and-stash players to sign to rookie minimum deals unless they want to try to get 2020 second-rounder Justinian Jessup out of his contract in Germany. I don’t see that happening.

New York Knicks

Open roster spots: 1
Room below hard cap: $540,127
Veteran minimum days available: 45 ($539,876)

The Knicks have been unable to sign a 15th man for much of the season and a relatively quiet trade deadline didn’t materially change their situation. The one minor change? Having reduced their team salary by $4,825 in their Jericho Sims/Delon Wright swap, the Knicks can now sign a free agent to a rest-of-season contract on February 28 rather than March 1.

Ten-day signings are also a possibility for New York if the team wants to bring in someone before Feb. 28 or doesn’t want to make a full-season commitment as soon as it legally can.

The Knicks also hold the draft rights to more than a dozen international players and could promote two-way player Kevin McCullar to the 15-man roster on a rookie minimum deal as soon as today, if they want to. But I expect they’ll be looking to add a 15th man who can actually help the team down the stretch or in the playoffs, which means targeting an NBA veteran rather than a rookie.

T.J. Warren, who was with the Knicks in camp in the fall and is putting up big scoring numbers for the Westchester Knicks in the G League, looks like the top candidate to eventually become New York’s 15th man.

Los Angeles Lakers

Open roster spots: 0
Room below hard cap: $893,647
Veteran minimum days available: 74 ($887,795)

Unlike the three teams listed above, the Lakers don’t have an open roster spot to fill and don’t need to wait at all to make another veteran free agent signing. Still, I’m including them here because they’re the only other team within $1MM of a hard cap and there’s a chance they’ll consider another roster move.

For instance, if the Lakers want to bring in another free agent center and waive one of their current players (likely Cam Reddish) next Wednesday, before their post-All-Star schedule begins, a veteran minimum deal would cover 54 days and would carry a cap hit of $647,851. That would leave the team just $245,796 (or 20 days) shy of its hard cap.

Note: Data from Sports Business Classroom was used to confirm team salaries.

Projected NBA Taxpayers For 2024/25

February 14th, 2025 at 4:13pm CST by Luke Adams

Ten NBA teams are still operating in luxury tax territory in the wake of last Thursday’s trade deadline, but this season’s total projected luxury tax payments – and the clubs projected to be taxpayers – have declined significantly in recent weeks.

As of January 23, a total of 14 teams projected to be taxpayers, Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter links) observes, with the 16 non-taxpayers on track to receive about $17.8MM apiece, which would have been the largest payout in NBA history.

But the Cavaliers, Pelicans, Clippers, and Sixers all ducked the tax line with their pre-deadline moves, while a few other teams remained in the tax but took steps to significantly reduce their end-of-season bills. Milwaukee, for instance, had been projected to pay about $74.8MM in tax penalties, but has since reduced that figure by more than half, according to Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom.

Here are the current projected tax penalties, per Pincus’ data:

Phoenix Suns: $152.26MM
Minnesota Timberwolves: $84.85MM
Boston Celtics: $53.45MM
Los Angeles Lakers: $52.53MM
New York Knicks: $36.45MM
Milwaukee Bucks: $32.66MM
Denver Nuggets: $20.36MM
Golden State Warriors: $12.36MM
Dallas Mavericks: $6.39MM
Miami Heat: $4.18MM
Total: $455.49MM

These numbers will fluctuate a little before the end of the season. For instance, the Lakers recently increased their projected bill when they signed Alex Len to a rest-of-season contract, and the Warriors will need to make multiple roster additions in the near future, which will cause their bill to rise. Various contract incentives that go earned or unearned could also impact the end-of-season tax figures.

Based on the current figures from Pincus, each non-taxpayer is projected to receive a payout of about $11.4MM. 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, 20 clubs).

As significant as the Suns’ tax penalty projects to be, especially for a team currently flirting with .500, it won’t be a single-season record — Golden State has actually exceeded $152.26MM in tax payments in each of the past three years (2022-24).

Assuming these are the 10 teams that finish the season in tax territory, the Celtics, Nuggets, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers, Bucks, and Suns would all be subject to repeater penalties in 2025/26 if they’re taxpayers again next season.

Lakers’ Knecht On Rescinded Trade: ‘It Felt Like A Movie’

February 13th, 2025 at 9:38pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to reporters after Wednesday’s loss to Utah for the first time since he was traded from the Lakers to the Hornets and then sent back to the Lakers when they decided to void the deal, Dalton Knecht said it was a “crazy” few days, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

“It felt like a movie,” the rookie forward said.

According to Knecht, he was called into Rob Pelinka‘s office last Wednesday, a day before the trade deadline, and was informed by the Lakers’ general manager that he was being sent to Charlotte along with Cam Reddish and draft assets in exchange for Mark Williams.

“It was hard,” Knecht said. “I got drafted here, so L.A. means a lot.”

Knecht initially flew from Los Angeles to Charlotte last Thursday and reported to his new team before flying to Detroit on Saturday ahead of the Hornets’ game vs. the Pistons on Sunday. While he was in Detroit, he heard from Pelinka again and learned that the deal had fallen through due to concerns about Williams’ physical. Knecht flew back to L.A. on Sunday and met up with Pelinka and head coach J.J. Redick on Monday.

“Rob called me and said, ‘You’re coming back,'” the 23-year-old said. “I was just excited to go out there and hoop, no matter where I was going. … I just want to go hoop. I told that to J.J. and Rob. I get it’s a business, so at the end of the day, I told them, ‘Let’s just go play basketball.'”

Knecht made the transition back to his former team smoothly enough, returning to the rotation on Wednesday and scoring 10 points while going 3-of-7 on three-pointers.

Williams, meanwhile, wasn’t active for Charlotte’s games on Sunday, Monday, or Wednesday, having been listed on the injury report as “not with team.” Reddish was inactive on Monday and Wednesday for the Lakers for “personal reasons” following the birth of his child (Twitter link via Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times).

The Hornets have reportedly been in touch with the NBA to inquire about disputing the Lakers’ assessment of Williams’ health. The league’s rules give teams autonomy to make their own decisions on physicals, so the idea of reversing the trade again figures to be a non-starter, but Knecht told reporters on Wednesday he has “no clue” how Charlotte’s challenge could play out.

“I’m just doing what I love to do, going out there and playing,” he said, per McMenamin. “Whatever happens, happens. I’m just going to compete hard wherever I go, and hopefully it’s L.A. Whatever happens, I’m just going to go out there and compete.”

Injury Notes: George, Hayes, Lewis, Capela, Brogdon

February 13th, 2025 at 4:05pm CST by Rory Maher

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.

Trade Deadline Leftovers: Bulls, Ball, Jazz, Luka, More

February 13th, 2025 at 7:40am CST by Luke Adams

The Bulls had a “firm offer” to acquire a first-round pick and take on future salary in a deal for Lonzo Ball at the trade deadline, a league source tells John Hollinger of The Athletic. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link) backs up that report, suggesting he heard the same thing prior to the deadline.

Instead of accepting that offer, the Bulls opted to hang onto Ball and agreed to sign him to an extension instead. That two-year deal will reportedly be worth $20MM, with a second-year team option for 2026/27.

While it’s fair to question Chicago’s decision to pass on that reported trade offer, there are several missing details that would provide more context on just how strong the offer was. For instance, we don’t know how many years of salary the Bulls would’ve been required to take on, whether the first-rounder was heavily protected or likely to land in the late-20s, and whether other players or assets would have been included.

Johnson does provide one additional detail, tweeting that at least one of the scenarios he heard about would’ve required the Bulls to sent out a second-round pick along with Ball as part of the deal.

Here are a few more leftovers from last Thursday’s trade deadline:

Appearing on the local broadcast of Wednesday’s game vs. the Lakers (Twitter video link via Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal), Jazz general manager Justin Zanik suggested that Los Angeles was fortunate to land superstar guard Luka Doncic in a trade Utah helped facilitate. “(Lakers GM) Rob Pelinka even said it in his press conference introducing Luka, that it was a gift,” Zanik said. “I think that’s how a lot of my colleagues – I don’t want to speak for them – but how we all kind of felt.”
Zanik went on to say that he respects the Mavericks‘ front office and noted that Dallas received a “top-15 player” in his own right in Anthony Davis. He also expressed a belief that if the Jazz hadn’t been willing to serve as a facilitator, another team would have stepped in and snatched up the two second-round picks that went to Utah for taking on Jalen Hood-Schifino‘s contract. “If we were in the playoffs right now, I’d be asking both (teams), ‘What is going on?’ and ‘I’m not doing it,'” the Jazz GM said. “But where we are, the ability to pick up stuff basically for free, to do something another team would have done anyway (made sense).”
A panel of ESPN’s NBA reporters (Insider link), including Jeremy Woo, Bobby Marks, and Michael C. Wright, break down how seven lottery-bound teams’ moves at the trade deadline affect their outlook going forward. Addressing the Hornets‘ post-deadline plans, Marks notes that general manager Jeff Peterson will have to decide whether LaMelo Ball is still a foundational piece in Charlotte. As good as Ball has been when healthy, he has been limited to 91 total games since the start of the 2022/23 season and his impressive scoring numbers haven’t necessarily translated to wins.
Only five teams – the Trail Blazers, Magic, Nets, Nuggets, and Timberwolves – sat out the trade deadline entirely, not making any moves in the week leading up to the afternoon of February 6. Michael Pina of The Ringer takes a closer look at why those teams opted to stand pat and delivers a one-word verdict on each club’s inactivity, including “bizarre” for Portland and “commendable” for Orlando.

Contract Details: Diabate, Ingram, Battle, Len, Cissoko, Martin

February 12th, 2025 at 12:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Hornets used a portion of their room exception to give Moussa Diabate more than the prorated minimum on his new three-year deal, Hoops Rumors has learned. Diabate will earn $957,763 for the rest of this season, then has non-guaranteed minimum salaries for the following two years.

Diabate’s $2,270,735 salary for 2025/26 will become partially guaranteed for $250K if he remains on his current contract through the first day of the Hornets’ regular season opener in the fall. The full amount would be guaranteed if he survives next season’s league-wide guarantee deadline date on January 7, 2026.

Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts from around the NBA:

While it’s not official yet, Brandon Ingram‘s three-year, $120MM extension with the Raptors will have an ascending structure, with 5% annual raises, so it’ll start at $38.1MM next season before increasing to $40MM in 2026/27, with a $41.9MM player option for ’27/28, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Scotto adds that the deal won’t include a trade kicker.
Jamison Battle‘s new three-year contract with the Raptors will pay him $1MM this season, with that money coming out of Toronto’s mid-level exception, confirms Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link). Battle’s minimum salary for 2025/26 is currently 50% guaranteed ($977,689 of $1,955,377) and would become fully guaranteed if he’s not waived by July 9, Murphy adds. Battle’s third-year minimum salary ($2,296,271) is non-guaranteed and would become fully guaranteed if he’s still under contract through June 30, 2026.
While the Lakers could technically have dipped into their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Alex Len, that wasn’t necessary. The veteran center received a rest-of-season minimum-salary contract, which will pay him $1,177,206 and count for $743,829 on the team’s cap.
Sidy Cissoko‘s new two-way contract with the Trail Blazers covers two seasons, so Portland will be able to retain him on that contract through 2025/26, tweets Scotto. The same goes for Washington and Jaylen Martin, who got a two-year, two-way deal from the Wizards, Hoops Rumors has learned.

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