Knicks Notes: Defense, Schedule, Warren, All-Star Game
The Knicks‘ 2025/26 season has progressed through several different phases, and the fact that they’ve seemingly been able to maintain their status as a contender throughout those changes is something to value, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
Bondy weighs several different answers when it comes to the highlight of the season so far: there’s the NBA Cup victory, though that was quickly followed by the team’s worst stretch of play this year. There’s the increase in three-point attempts — Bondy notes that the Knicks are first in corner threes attempted and made after being 11th in both categories last season.
Ultimately, he lands on the defensive improvements. After ranking 18th on defense through their first 43 games, the Knicks have ratcheted up the intensity and have been the best defense in the league from January 20 to the All-Star break, improving to 11th overall on the season.
Bondy credits assistant coach Darren Erman for switching the scheme to force the ball to the sidelines and baselines, rather than funneling into the middle as they had been doing.
He notes that the return of Landry Shamet and the addition of Jose Alvarado at the trade deadline helped improve the team’s point-of-attack defense. The recent signing of Jeremy Sochan will give them another versatile defender — and one with enough size to guard wings and forwards.
Bondy wraps up by positing that the second half of the season will be a success if the Knicks can clinch the No. 2 seed. They are currently a half-game behind the Celtics, and while it’s unlikely they catch the No. 1 Pistons, securing home court advantage for the first two rounds could help the team make a deep playoff run.
We have more from the Knicks:
- One thing that will make the pursuit of the second seed a little more challenging is New York’s schedule coming out of the All-Star break. Peter Sblendorio, writing for the New York Daily News, describes the team’s first 11 games as a gauntlet, starting with the return to action against the Pistons, albeit a Pistons team missing its usual big man rotation as Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart serve suspensions. The Knicks will go on to face the top five teams in the Western Conference and three of the top five Eastern teams in a stretch that includes seven road games and two back-to-backs.
- Veteran NBA wing T.J. Warren has rejoined the Westchester Knicks, the G League team announced today. Warren played for Westchester last season as well, averaging 22.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 21 regular season games, but hewas never called up to the parent team. His last NBA action came in the 2023/24 season, when he played 11 games for the Timberwolves.
- The Knicks won the Shooting Stars event during All-Star weekend, but Jared Schwartz of the New York Post writes that the All-Star Game itself was one to forget for the New York stars. While Jalen Brunson‘s team made it to the final game, he played deferentially throughout the event, doing little to leave his mark on the competition. Meanwhile, Karl-Anthony Towns was on the wrong side of two game-winning sequences. There were some minor fireworks, though, when Brunson got Towns in isolation and flew by him for the layup — Towns tried to block the shot and was called for goaltending.
Southeast Notes: Banchero, Magic, Sarr, AD, Whitmore, Dennis
Fourth-year forward Paolo Banchero doesn’t seem enthusiastic about the Magic‘s offensive system, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Asked after Wednesday’s loss to Milwaukee whether Orlando was playing to its potential in half-court offense, Banchero replied, “I think our record answers that question, honestly. I’m not going to sit here and harp on the problems with our offense or what I think is wrong with our offense. But I don’t think anyone would say that it’s where it should be or could be.”
As Robbins writes, the Magic currently rank 23rd in the league in points per possession in the half court. Injuries to key players (Banchero, Jalen Suggs, Franz Wagner) have once again been an issue, and floor spacing and outside shooting remain problems as well, despite the blockbuster trade to acquire Desmond Bane.
The Magic entered the season with aspirations of being a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference, but they’re currently 28-25, the No. 7 seed. They’re 16th in the NBA in offensive rating, with a -0.4 net rating that ranks 17th. They have also lost their defensive identity, currently ranking 14th after being second and third in that category the previous two years, Robbins notes.
Big man Wendell Carter Jr. says the team’s offensive woes have bled into the defense.
“(It’s) human nature,” Carter said. “It’s an offensive-driven league. Everybody wants to do good offensively, including myself, and sometimes we fall into that aspect of when it’s not going our way offensively, we allow it to affect our effort. We allow it to affect our defense. We allow it to affect us getting back (on defense after we miss shots). And that’s something, as a fairly young team, that we have to do a better job of, including myself.”
While president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has publicly backed head coach Jamahl Mosley, Robbins wonders if Weltman will reassess that stance if the Magic struggle after the All-Star break. Orlando has been one of the more disappointing and underachieving teams this season, Robbins writes, even when accounting for injuries.
Here’s more from the Southeast:
- As Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel writes, the Magic enter the All-Star break in a similar position as they have been the past couple years. They were 30-25 at the break two years ago and 27-29 last season. They wound up making the playoffs during both of those campaigns, but lost in the first round each time. “We’ve kind of been in the same position every year so … coming off the All-Star break is when we’ve got to start to turn it up,” Banchero said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to figure out how we can be better for the postseason because we don’t want to have the same result as the last two years. We’ve got to come out hungry off the break … and figure out what type of team we want to be.”
- Wizards center Alex Sarr is confident about how he’ll fit next to Anthony Davis once both players are healthy, per Bijan Todd of Monumental Sports Network. “He has a very complete game. I can also step out and play inside-out, so I think it’ll be pretty seamless [playing alongside him],” Sarr said. “Just getting the reps in, that’s definitely going to help us.”
- Wizards wing Cam Whitmore is out for the remainder of his third season after being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis — a form of blood clot — in his right shoulder. He recently discussed the serious health issue, which required three surgeries to address, with play-by-play announcer Chris Mills of Monumental Sports Network (Twitter video link).
- Second-year guard RayJ Dennis, who is on a two-way contract with the Hawks, has set a G League scoring record with the College Park Skyhawks (Twitter link). Dennis scored a franchise-record 47 points on Thursday, per the Skyhawks, and is the first player in team history to have multiple games with 45-plus points.
Thunder Notes: PPP, Topic, Williams, Boeheim
The NBA is looking at the Thunder for player absences in last Wednesday’s game against San Antonio, tweets Dan Woike of The Athletic.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, Luguentz Dort, and Alex Caruso all missed that nationally televised game after having played the previous night vs. Orlando. With the exception of Gilgeous-Alexander, who has remained sidelined due to an abdominal strain, the others were all back in action for the Thunder’s next game on Saturday.
If a team plans to sit a player for one game in a back-to-back set, the NBA typically wants it to happen during the game that isn’t nationally televised, so the league will consider whether Oklahoma City violated its player participation policy (PPP). However, besides SGA, none of those Thunder players meet the “star” criteria, and Rylan Stiles of SI.com suggests (via Twitter) that all their health issues were legitimate, so we’ll see if anything comes of the investigation.
Here’s more on the Thunder:
- After missing his entire rookie season in 2024/25 due to a torn ACL and then undergoing treatment for testicular cancer this past fall, Thunder guard Nikola Topic made his G League debut on Monday. In his first game for the Oklahoma City Blue, the 20-year-old Serbian had seven points and seven assists in 16 minutes off the bench. “Great accomplishment,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said, per The Associated Press. “Just can’t say enough about him as a guy, his mental toughness, maturity, resilience. … He hasn’t played a lot of basketball over the last two years, and he comes off a one-year rehab and immediately has a surprising diagnosis and goes through chemotherapy, three rounds of it. So for him to work himself back onto the court is just an unbelievable accomplishment, and we’re incredibly happy for him.”
- Jalen Williams‘ return following a 10-game absence due to a hamstring strain was a success, writes Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman. Williams scored 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter to help Oklahoma City secure a 119-110 road win over the Lakers. “He slammed the door on that game,” Daigneault said. “It was impressive. He’s got such a body of work that we’re not overly concerned with how he plays coming back. We’re just happy he’s back. … Obviously, he was huge tonight. We know he’s a big-time player.”
- Buddy Boeheim‘s new two-way contract with the Thunder will cover two seasons, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Boeheim joined the team last Friday, filling the roster opening created when the team waived Chris Youngblood, who had reached his 50-game limit.
Jayson Tatum Practicing With Maine Celtics On Monday
Star forward Jayson Tatum has been assigned to the G League to go through portions of Monday’s practice with the Maine Celtics, the NBA club announced (Twitter link).
Tatum, who has been doing controlled 5-on-5 work with coaches, will be immediately recalled after practice, per the Celtics. Rookies Hugo Gonzalez and Amari Williams will also practice with Maine today.
It’s the latest sign that Tatum is progressing well in his recovery from a torn Achilles tendon. He sustained the injury in May during Boston’s second-round playoff loss to New York.
Tatum, 27, made his fourth consecutive first-team All-NBA appearance in 2024/25 and finished fourth in MVP voting. The 27-year-old combo forward averaged 26.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.1 steals on .452/.343/.814 shooting in 72 games (36.4 minutes per contest).
President of basketball operations Brad Stevens discussed Tatum’s recovery on Friday, per Brian Robb of MassLive.com.
“He’s hit a lot of the thresholds,” Stevens said. “He’s doing more and more and will continue to do more and more. He’s still got a ways to go.”
Stevens also said Tatum wouldn’t return to action until he has been fully cleared by the relevant parties. For his part, Tatum said at the end of last month that he was uncertain about whether or not he would play this season.
Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Youngblood, McCain, Jackson
The Nuggets currently have 13 players on standard contracts and will have to add at least one more by Feb. 19 to comply with NBA roster limits. Coach David Adelman indicated the front office and coaching staff are carefully weighing their options, Bennett Durando of the Denver Post writes.
“The conversations we’ve had have been interesting,” he said. “Because you could look at it like, ‘Well, we’ve had injuries at these spots. We should go get somebody that can take that spot if we got into a bad moment where someone couldn’t come back, if we’re in (the playoffs) at the end of the year.’ … And there’s the other part of you that says, ‘I don’t know who’d we play if we made the playoffs.’ And every team out West demands something different. Maybe you’re looking at, we could use more ball-handling. Maybe you’re looking at, we could use more size with the current injuries for the wing position.”
The Nuggets are reportedly interested in signing Lonzo Ball, who was waived after getting traded last week. Two-way player Spencer Jones, currently out with a concussion, is expected to be added to the standard roster once he’s cleared to play. The Nuggets are confident they’ll be able to add Jones and another player to the payroll without going back into the luxury tax, Durando adds.
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- The Thunder’s G League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue, has added guard Chris Youngblood to its roster, the team announced (Twitter link). Youngblood was waived on Friday after holding one of Oklahoma City’s three two-way spots. Youngblood was used so frequently by the NBA team that he reached his limit of 50 games on the Thunder’s active roster last Wednesday in San Antonio. If OKC had wanted to continue playing him, he would’ve needed to be promoted to a standard contract.
- Jared McCain, who was acquired by the Thunder from the Sixers last week, spoke to Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (subscription required) of how he was already blending with his new team. McCain had five points in 14 minutes during his Thunder debut against the Rockets on Saturday.
- Jaren Jackson Jr. made his Jazz debut on Saturday, contributing 22 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals in 25 minutes against Orlando. He sat during crunch time, along with several other key players, as a means of “soft tanking.” However, Jackson is excited about his new team and its coach, Will Hardy. “He’s just getting to know me, I’m getting to know him, and we’re seeing how we can build this thing into something beautiful,” Jackson told Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s been good conversations.”
Southwest Notes: Sochan, Spurs, Mavs, Pelicans
The Spurs were widely expected to make a move this week involving fourth-year forward Jeremy Sochan, who had “hoped to find a new home” at Thursday’s trade deadline, writes Jared Weiss of The Athletic. Instead, Sochan remains in San Antonio, as the Spurs were one of just three teams around the NBA not to make a single deal during the days leading up to the deadline.
According to Weiss, the Spurs talked to the Knicks about Guerschon Yabusele and Pacome Dadiet, the Bulls about Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips, and the Suns about Nick Richards, but they didn’t find a deal they liked and didn’t feel compelled to move Sochan without getting value in return.
Although Sochan may not be part of the Spurs’ plans beyond this season, he has no plans to negotiate a buyout and should finish the season in San Antonio, a source tells Weiss. The Spurs may have another chance this summer to recoup some value for the former No. 9 overall pick in a sign-and-trade scenario.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Count star big man Victor Wembanyama among those who are pleased that the Spurs didn’t make any roster changes at the trade deadline. “What I love is that the front office trusts these guys just like I do,” Wembanyama said, per Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). “We’re on the same page.” Stephon Castle, De’Aaron Fox, and Harrison Barnes were among the other Spurs who voiced support for the front office’s approach. “When you’re in a situation where you’re winning games, you don’t feel like you have to make a lot of moves,” Barnes said. “We’re happy to live with that and continue to build with that.”
- The Mavericks and Wizards originally had exploratory Anthony Davis trade talks in early November before eventually reaching an agreement this week, reports Christian Clark of The Athletic. As Clark details, the Mavs were happy that word of those talks didn’t leak and that they were able to inform Davis of the deal face-to-face before word broke publicly. Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required), meanwhile, writes that the team accomplished its goals of creating cap flexibility, adding draft assets, and addressing the point guard spot (by looping Tyus Jones into the deal).
- Reacting to the Pelicans‘ relatively quiet trade deadline, Rod Walker of NOLA.com (subscription required) says it wasn’t a surprise that the team moved on from Jose Alvarado, who can become a free agent this summer, but acknowledged that fans may be frustrated to lose a key spark plug while the front office was inactive on other fronts. Besides Zion Williamson, Herbert Jones, and Trey Murphy III, who had seemed off-limits for weeks, rumored trade candidates Jordan Poole, Jordan Hawkins, Yves Missi, Saddiq Bey, and Dejounte Murray also didn’t go anywhere.
- The Pelicans are taking steps toward relocating their G League team – which currently plays in Birmingham, Alabama – to Louisiana, writes Patrick Magee of NOLA.com (subscription required). According to Magee, the Kenner City Council gave its unanimous approval on Thursday to a proposal that would bring the Squadron to the city’s Pontchartrain Center. The tentative plan is for the Pelicans’ G League team to begin playing in Kenner, a suburb of New Orleans, in 2026/27.
Southeast Notes: Larsson, Young, Bane, Johnson
Pelle Larsson has thrived in a starting role for the Heat this season, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald notes. The second-year player has made 26 starts this season and the Heat are 16-10 in those contests.
“We trust Pelle,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “Pelle is the guy that we can incorporate him in our starting lineup, and you instantly see the difference. For organizations and players around the league, you want a guy like Pelle. If he gets 15 [points], that just adds to your offense. But you know what he’s bringing day in, day out.”
Head coach Erik Spoelstra says Larsson keeps the offense humming by playing within his role.
“Pelle helps our offense so much,” Spoelstra said. “This kind of style that I’m talking about, like Pelle helps everybody because he cuts when you need to cut, he spaces with energy, he drives it hard, he runs hard. He does all the things that keep the engine of our offense going.”
The Heat hold a $2.3MM club option on Larsson’s contract for next season, which becomes guaranteed on opening night.
We have more on the Southeast Division:
- Heat two-way player Jahmir Young has been named the NBA G League Player of the Week for games played between Jan. 19-25, according to the league (Twitter link). Young averaged 32.3 points, 10.3 assists and 2.3 steals in three games last week for the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
- Magic guard Desmond Bane has changed representation, Orlando Sentinel beat reporter Jason Beede tweets. He will now be represented by Glushon Sports Management — the same agency that represents Franz Wagner and Moritz Wagner. Bane, who is in the second year of a five-year, $197.2MM contract, was previously repped by Gersh Basketball.
- The Athletic’s Mirin Fader takes an in-depth look at how Hawks wing Jalen Johnson worked his way into an All-Star level player. He’s averaging 23.0 points, 10.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists this season as the team’s new franchise cornerstone.
Flagg, Knueppel, Edgecombe Among Rising Stars Participants
The 2026 Rising Stars event will feature 11 sophomores, 10 rookies and seven G League representatives, the NBA announced in a press release. The mini-tournament will take place at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on February 13.
Here’s the full list of participants:
Rookies
- Cedric Coward, Grizzlies
- Dylan Harper, Spurs
- Egor Dёmin, Nets
- Tre Johnson, Wizards
- VJ Edgecombe, Sixers
- Kon Knueppel, Hornets
- Jeremiah Fears, Pelicans
- Collin Murray-Boyles, Raptors
- Cooper Flagg, Mavericks
- Derik Queen, Pelicans
Sophomores
- Matas Buzelis, Bulls
- Alex Sarr, Wizards
- Stephon Castle, Spurs
Reed Sheppard, Rockets- Donovan Clingan, Trail Blazers
- Cam Spencer, Grizzlies
- Kyshawn George, Wizards
- Jaylon Tyson, Cavaliers
- Ajay Mitchell, Thunder
- Kel’el Ware, Heat
- Jaylen Wells, Grizzlies
G League
- Sean East II, Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz‘s affiliate)
- Alijah Martin, Raptors 905
- Ron Harper Jr., Maine Celtics
- Tristen Newton, Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets‘ affiliate)
- David Jones Garcia, Austin Spurs
- Yang Hansen, Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers‘ affiliate)
- Yanic Konan Niederhauser, San Diego Clippers
All 10 of the rookies — headlined by No. 1 overall pick Flagg, No. 3 Edgecombe, and No. 4 Knuppel — were lottery selections in last year’s draft, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter links). By contrast, only five of the sophomores were lottery picks, with three being first-rounders outside of the lottery and three picked in the second round.
NBA assistant coaches selected the 21 rookies and sophomores, according to the release, and those players will be drafted onto three different seven-player teams on Tuesday at 6:00 pm CT on Peacock. Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady will draft and be the “honorary coaches” of the three squads, while Austin Rivers will be the honorary coach for the G League representatives.
The four actual head coaches will be assistants from the All-Star game coaching staffs.
Six of the seven players representing the G League are actually on NBA contracts: Yang (No. 16) and Niederhauser (No. 30) were 2025 first-round picks, while Martin, Harper, Newton and Garcia are on two-way deals with their respective clubs. East, who played in Canada and Romania last season, is the lone player on an actual G League contract after Utah waived him in the fall.
Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft, is the younger brother of Ron Harper Jr. Both players are the sons of longtime NBA guard Ron Harper, who won five championships with the Bulls and Lakers.
As for the tournament itself, the four teams will face off in a single-elimination semifinal, with the two winners competing in the final. The semifinal is first to 40 points, whereas the final will be first to 25.
Southeast Notes: F. Wagner, Bam, Spoelstra, Jovic, Risacher
Magic forward Franz Wagner will miss his third straight game on Monday at Cleveland, but his injury designation has changed from left ankle soreness to left high ankle sprain injury management, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link).
As Beede notes (via Twitter), Wagner missed five-plus weeks — a span of 16 games — due to the high ankle sprain before returning for a pair of overseas contests in Berlin (his hometown) and London. Head coach Jamahl Mosley said the German star did some light shooting ahead of Saturday’s game vs. Cleveland, but didn’t take contact (Twitter video link).
Asked by Beede whether Wagner may have rushed back from the injury, Mosley said he’s focused on the present and future and not the past.
“I can’t … Those are things that I’m not looking at,” Mosley said. “When he said he could go, he went. And when we thought he could go, he went. You can’t look back and say what we could or should have done at the end of the day. In that moment, it’s how he felt and then that’s what we’ve got to be smart [about] moving forward with him.”
Here’s more from the Southeast:
- Head coach Erik Spoelstra and star big man Bam Adebayo had some heated words during a team meeting on Saturday morning ahead of the Heat‘s blowout victory over Utah, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Spo kind of went off on us, especially on Bam, which I think kind of set the tone,” Nikola Jovic said. “When you start talking to the captain first, we just knew we had to take more responsibility and be more locked in. So I think it’s simple as that. Just maybe we had a little more pressure on us and it helped.” Spoelstra was upset by the team’s defensive performance in Thursday’s loss at Portland. For his part, Adebayo downplayed the exchange, Winderman adds. “I mean, it definitely is clearing the air in the room,” Adebayo said. “All that being said, we like when coach confronts us. It’s just he’s gotta be prepared when we bark back. We’re all grown men at the end of the day, so we don’t like what he said, we can always have a man-to-man conversation.”
- Fourth-year forward Jovic is having a down season after inking a four-year, $62.4MM rookie scale extension in October. He says he’s still adjusting to Heat‘s new motion-based offense, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I’m adapting,” Jovic said. “Like I always say, whatever coaches need us to do, I’ll do it. I mean, I’m not a guy who you build a system around right now. We’re not going to build our offense around me. So for right now, it’s just whatever coaches need me to do and whatever playstyle they want to play, I just have to adapt. So I don’t think post-ups are going to be a big part of the game. Maybe at one point.”
- Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher has been assigned to the team’s G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, for a Sunday practice, tweets Brad Rowland of Locked On Hawks. Risacher, the top pick in the 2024 draft, has missed eight straight games with a left knee bone contusion. The 20-year-old wing is expected to be reevaluated in the next day or two.
Cam Reddish To Join Clippers’ G League Team
12:37 pm: Reddish has been claimed by the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s NBAGL affiliate, Stein reports (Twitter link).
According to Jake Fischer (Twitter link), Austin will send Reddish to the San Diego Clippers in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2027 G League draft.
11:02 am: Former NBA lottery pick Cam Reddish is headed to the G League, sources tell Marc Stein of the Stein Line (Twitter link).
According to Stein, Reddish has signed a G League contract. If he were to go unclaimed on waivers, the 6’7″ wing would enter the available player pool, which would give any NBAGL team the ability to add him to its roster.
The 10th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Reddish spent six years in the NBA, playing for the Hawks, Knicks, Trail Blazers, and Lakers. However, the former Duke Blue Devil struggled to develop into a reliable offensive threat during that time, averaging 8.5 points per game on .398/.322/.821 shooting in 254 total outings (116 starts).
After being waived by the Lakers in March, Reddish failed to catch on with an NBA team over the summer and signed with BC Šiauliai in September. Roughly three months later, he officially left the Lithuanian club and returned to the U.S. for personal reasons.
In nine appearances in the Lithuanian Basketball League this season, Reddish averaged 14.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per contest.
Reddish is still just 26 years old and has shown upside as a wing defender, so he could earn another shot in the NBA in the second half of this season if he performs well in the G League.