NBA G League

Jae’Sean Tate Assigned To Rockets’ G League Affiliate

Sixth-year forward Jae’Sean Tate has been assigned to the Rockets‘ G League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, reports Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).

According to Iko, the Rockets and Tate mutually agreed to the assignment in order to get the 30-year-old some playing time and a chance to find his rhythm. Despite injuries to fellow forwards Dorian Finney-Smith and Tari Eason, Tate has been a healthy scratch for two of the past three games and played only two minutes in his lone appearance during that stretch.

Tate, who missed the regular season opener and was on a minutes restriction to open 2025/26 following offseason ankle surgery, has spent all six of his NBA seasons with Houston. As a free agent over the summer, he re-signed with the Rockets on a one-year, minimum-salary contract.

While it’s common for young players and veterans working their way back from injuries to be assigned to the NBAGL, it’s unusual for a veteran to accept the assignment when healthy. Still, Tate has only played 41 total minutes over eight appearances this season, so it’s understandable why he’s eager to work on his game, regardless of the level of competition.

Wolves Notes: Randle, Reid, McDaniels, Beringer

The Timberwolves were missing starting forward Jaden McDaniels on Wednesday, and Anthony Edwards‘ shooting slump continued — he made just 6-of-20 shots from the floor, including 1-of-8 three-pointers, and has now shot just 10% (3-of-30) from beyond the arc over his past four games.

Still, as Chris Hine of The Star Tribune writes, the Wolves built a 27-point lead against the lowly Wizards behind big-time production from forwards Julius Randle and Naz Reid, who signed lucrative new multiyear contracts with the team in free agency over the offseason. The duo combined for 60 points and 15 rebounds, though Minnesota’s lead dropped all the way to five points in the fourth quarter before the club put the game away.

“We got lucky, to be honest,” Randle said after the victory. “Really our edge and our activity and our aggressiveness — all that stuff, we kind of just left it in here at halftime. We’ve got to be better and more mature than that.”

Reid agreed with that assessment, responding, “Yes and no” when he was asked if he was happy with the win.

“Not like that,” Reid said. “It’s still an NBA team. Obviously, I don’t want to just roll over them. But we still got to hold ourselves to a higher standard. We know better than to put ourselves in that situation.”

Here’s more on the Wolves:

  • Reid, whose five-year, $125MM deal was the most lucrative contract signed by any free agent this year, got off to a slow start, with averages of 10.8 PPG and 5.0 RPG on .421/.321/.647 shooting through his first 11 games. But he’s rounding into form (20.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, .552/.483/.750 shooting in his past four games) and is showing why the Timberwolves value him so highly, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “He’s a starter coming off the bench for us. He’s one of the best bigs in the league,” teammate Donte DiVincenzo said. “The way he can space the floor, the way he can handle the ball, it gives us such a unique wrinkle to what we can do. We can play him with so many different guys.”
  • McDaniels, who has a sprained left wrist, missed his first game in nearly two years on Wednesday, snapping a streak of 157 consecutive regular season appearances. There’s no “firm read” yet on the severity of that injury, tweets Krawczynski. Head coach Chris Finch told reporters that imaging on the injury came back relatively clean and that the team will be monitoring McDaniels to see how his wrist responds to treatment in the next few days.
  • Timberwolves rookie big man Joan Beringer, who just turned 19 last Tuesday, has only seen garbage-time action in the NBA so far, logging 37 total minutes across nine appearances. According to Finch, the plan is to assign Beringer to the G League at some point in the near future so that he can get some run with the Iowa Wolves (Twitter link via Hine).

And-Ones: LeBron, Curry, Team USA, 2026 Draft, Beverley, More

Asked by Steve Nash on the Mind the Game podcast about the possibility of suiting up for Team USA at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, LeBron James made it clear that’s not in his plans, while Stephen Curry indicated he’s a long shot too, per Anthony Slater of ESPN.

“You already know my answer,” James said. “I will be watching it.”

“God willing, I still have the choice and physical option where I could impact the team,” Curry said. “Never say never, but I highly doubt it. Highly doubt it.”

James and Curry teamed up for Team USA at the Olympics for the first time in 2024, defeating the hosts (France) in Paris in the gold medal game after pulling off a dramatic come-from-behind win in the semifinal against Serbia.

“We can’t top what we just did,” James said. “How we gonna top those last two games?”

We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Kansas guard Darryn Peterson is the first player off the board in the first 2026 mock draft published by Jeremy Woo of ESPN. Woo has BYU’s AJ Dybantsa at No. 2, Duke’s Cameron Boozer at No. 3, and Tennessee’s Nate Ament at No. 4, with UNC’s Caleb Wilson rounding out the top five.
  • More details have emerged related to Patrick Beverley‘s arrest for assault, with TMZ reporting that the former NBA guard is accused of punching his sister in the eye and choking her for between 20 and 30 seconds. Beverley, who has been out of the NBA since the 2023/24 season, was arrested on Friday and was charged with assault of a family/household member.
  • After parting ways with the Brisbane Bullets earlier this season for personal reasons, former NBA guard Javon Freeman-Liberty reengaged with the team last week and has now re-signed with the Bullets for the rest of the 2025/26 season, reports Olgun Uluc of ESPN (Twitter links). Freeman-Liberty, a former DePaul standout, appeared in 22 NBA regular season games for Toronto in 2023/24.
  • While the Mavericks had hoped to acquire Dennis Smith Jr.‘s G League returning rights, the Wisconsin Herd – the Bucks‘ affiliate – still holds those rights and is hopeful of having Smith join them soon, league sources tell Marc Stein (Twitter link).

Kobe Bufkin Joining Lakers’ G League Team

3:11pm: South Bay has acquired Bufkin in a trade with the Pistons‘ affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, the team announced (Twitter link via Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group). South Bay sent a 2027 NBAGL first-round pick to the Cruise for Bufkin. In a related move, the Lakers’ G League team waived guard Jace Carter.


12:20 pm: The South Bay Lakers intend to acquire guard Kobe Bufkin, who is entering the NBA G League player pool, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link).

It’s unclear whether South Bay will claim Bufkin off waivers or trade for his rights after another team claims him, but either way, the upshot is that he’ll end up with Los Angeles’ G League affiliate.

The 15th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Bufkin battled injuries during his first two NBA seasons in Atlanta. He missed a significant chunk of his rookie year due to a fractured left thumb and a sprained toe, then underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in December 2024, less than two months into his second year.

In total, the 6’4″ guard made just 27 appearances for the Hawks, averaging 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 11.9 minutes per night, with a .374/.220/.654 shooting line. The 22-year-old was traded from Atlanta to Brooklyn during the offseason and it seemed like he might get a chance at a fresh start with the Nets. Instead, he was the victim of a roster crunch last month and was waived to help Brooklyn get down to 15 players for the start of the regular season.

Bufkin showed promise during his final college season at Michigan as a scorer and play-maker, and he was productive in the G League during the 2023/24 campaign, averaging 23.6 points and 5.9 assists in 32.0 minutes per game across 14 outings for the College Park Skyhawks.

If he plays well for South Bay and shows he’s fully healthy, Bufkin could certainly earn another shot from an NBA team. Since he has just two years of NBA service, he remains eligible to sign a two-way contract.

Central Notes: Giannis, Pacers, Ball, Porter, Essengue

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo sat out Wednesday’s game vs. Charlotte due to what the team referred to as patellar tendinopathy affecting his left knee. However, speaking to reporters prior to the game, head coach Doc Rivers suggested that Antetokounmpo’s absence was more about managing his workload during a tough part of the schedule rather than an injury the team is seriously concerned about.

“What are we, five games in seven days?” Rivers said (Twitter links via Eric Nehm of The Athletic). “It’s just a lot. And we looked at this before it all started, this was the game, if we were going to sit him, just because it was right in the middle and it gives him four days off.

“This one was a little rough because we weren’t sure. I know I wanted him to (sit). I asked him before (shootaround), trying to talk him into not playing, which is rare for me to do. But it just felt like health-wise, this is the right decision.”

Antetokounmpo is off to an excellent start this fall, averaging 33.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists, and 1.3 blocks in 32.9 minutes per game through his first 10 outings. Wednesday’s contest was the second he has missed this season, and while Milwaukee picked up a victory without its star forward vs. Golden State on October 30, the team dropped last night’s game in Charlotte, falling to 7-5 on the season.

We have more from around the Central:

  • The Pacers had some players back from injuries on Tuesday, including point guard T.J. McConnell making his season debut. However, the club gave up a season-high 152 points in a blowout loss to Utah, prompting McConnell to refer to the defensive effort as “pitiful,” per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star (subscription required). “We just have to be better in terms of fight, in terms of pride,” McConnell said. “That’s really not gonna get it done.” The defending Eastern Conference champions are now 1-10 to open the season.
  • With Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell among the Cavaliers‘ regulars inactive on Wednesday in Miami, Lonzo Ball earned his second start of the season and reserve guard Craig Porter Jr. played a season-high 32 minutes. Fred Katz of The Athletic looks at how Ball is fitting in with the Cavs so far this season, while Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required) covers Porter’s “heroic” night — the third-year guard had 19 points and nine assists, with a game-high +21 on/off court mark, in the victory over the Heat.
  • Bulls rookie forward Noa Essengue had a big G League debut on Tuesday, scoring 28 points in 29 minutes for the Windy City Bulls, according to Julie Poe of The Chicago Tribune, who shares five takeaways from Essengue’s performance. However, Essengue remains an odd man out in Chicago’s frontcourt rotation, so this won’t change the team’s development plan for him, says Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “I think sometimes you can get preoccupied with the scoring aspect of it,” head coach Billy Donovan said. “I know he had a big night offensively, but if he’s getting out in transition, getting to the backboard, slashing, cuts, that’s great. I think we all know the shooting part of it needs to continue to develop, his body needs to continue to develop, but can he get things into the game we’re going to need him to?”

NBA G League Affiliate Players For 2025/26

Throughout the offseason and preseason, NBA teams are permitted to carry 21 players, but that number must be reduced to 15 (plus three two-way players) in advance of opening night. However, up to five players waived by teams prior to the season can be designated as “affiliate players” and assigned to their G League squads.

As we explain in more detail in our glossary entry on the subject, if a player’s NBA team has designated him as an affiliate player and he signs a G League contract, he is automatically assigned to that team’s NBAGL roster.

Of the G League’s 31 teams, 30 are directly affiliated with an NBA club. Only the Mexico City Capitanes are unaffiliated and are ineligible to have affiliate players.

Here are the affiliate players for the other 30 squads to open the 2025/26 season, which tipped off last week:


Austin Spurs (Spurs)

Birmingham Squadron (Pelicans)

Capital City Go-Go (Wizards)

Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers)

College Park Skyhawks (Hawks)

Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers)

Grand Rapids Gold (Nuggets)

Greensboro Swarm (Hornets)

Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves)

Long Island Nets (Nets)

Maine Celtics (Celtics)

Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies)

Motor City Cruise (Pistons)

Noblesville Boom (Pacers)

Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder)

Osceola Magic (Magic)

Raptors 905 (Raptors)

Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets)

Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers)

Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz)

San Diego Clippers (Clippers)

Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors)

Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat)

South Bay Lakers (Lakers)

Stockton Kings (Kings)

Texas Legends (Mavericks)

Valley Suns (Suns)

Westchester Knicks (Knicks)

  • None

Windy City Bulls (Bulls)

Wisconsin Herd (Bucks)

  • None

Note: While some G League teams officially listed their affiliate players when announcing their rosters, many of these lists are based on our own research.


In addition to these “affiliate players,” G League teams have the ability to fill out their rosters with the following types of players:

  • Returning rights: Players whose G League rights were already held by the team from a previous season (or were acquired in a trade from another NBAGL team).
  • G League draft rights: Players who were selected in this season’s G League draft.
  • NBA draft rights: Players who were drafted by an NBA team and signed a G League contract instead of an NBA contract.
  • Local tryout: Players who earned a shot via a local tryout.
  • G League player pool: Players who signed G League contracts and went undrafted (or signed their contracts after the draft). Newly signed players go through a waiver process and enter the league’s free agent pool if they go unclaimed.
  • Two-way contract: Players who are on a two-way contract with an NBA team and have been transferred to the G League.
  • NBA assignment: Players who are on a standard contract with an NBA team and have been assigned to the G League.

Injury Notes: LeBron, Garland, Sharpe, Morant, Edey

As expected, Lakers star LeBron James has been assigned to the G League today in order to practice with the South Bay Lakers, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

James, whose season debut has been delayed while he deals with sciatica on his right side, is being sent to the G League for the first time since he entered the NBA in 2003. The assignment will, of course, be a brief one, giving the 40-year-old an opportunity to take part in his first full practice of the season, including 5-on-5 play, Charania notes.

Charania reported nearly a month ago that James and the Lakers were targeting mid-November for his 2025/26 debut. His progress so far appears to line up with that timeline.

The Lakers, led by Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, have played well in James’ absence, winning eight of their first 11 games this season.

We have a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

  • The Cavaliers announced today that point guard Darius Garland has been diagnosed with a contusion on his left great toe after re-injuring that surgically repaired toe in Monday’s game vs. Miami (Twitter link). While Garland will miss Wednesday’s rematch with the Heat, the diagnosis is a best-case scenario for him and the Cavs, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who notes that the team hasn’t ruled out the point guard for any additional games yet. Garland will receive daily treatment and his status will be updated as appropriate, per the club.
  • Nets big man Day’Ron Sharpe sat out on Tuesday vs. Toronto due to what the team referred to as a left glute contusion, but the injury isn’t considered significant, writes C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News (subscription required). “He’s day-to-day, we’re not concerned,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “And we want to make sure he feels good and mentally in a good place to be ready to play. So, that’s all good news, and it’s an opportunity for the next man up.” One of those “next men up” could be rookie forward Danny Wolf, who was recalled from the G League before Tuesday’s game and made his second NBA appearance.
  • While Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant is questionable to play on Wednesday vs. the Celtics due to right ankle soreness, center Zach Edey (left ankle surgery recovery) has taken another step toward his season debut, having been upgraded from out to doubtful, per Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. While he may not play on Wednesday in Boston, Edey could be available for Saturday’s game in Cleveland. “I’ve seen him on the court working out,” teammate Kentavious Caldwell-Pope said. “I’m excited for him to be back.”

Eastern Notes: Hawks, Embiid, McConnell, Robinson, Ball

Trae Young is currently on the shelf with a strained MCL, while Kristaps Porzingis isn’t yet producing at his usual level, but the Hawks have picked up back-to-back wins due in large part to big games from unlikely sources.

As Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes, third-year forward Mouhamed Gueye came up big in Saturday’s victory over the Lakers, scoring a career-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting while also contributing seven rebounds and seven assists. It was a career night for Gueye, who was making his second start of the season with several regulars – including Porzingis and Jalen Johnson – sidelined.

“He’s been hungry,” head coach Quin Snyder said after the game. “He wants to get better. He’s putting the time in games, like tonight, he gets even more opportunity to do that, obviously, on the floor.”

Gueye had a quiet night off the bench on Monday vs. the Clippers, but fellow reserve Vit Krejci set his own career high in points (28), as well as three-pointers, knocking down 8-of-10 tries from beyond the arc. As Williams details, Krejci’s hot shooting helped fuel Atlanta’s comeback, and his banked-in three-pointer to beat the shot clock with 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter helped seal the win (video link).

Both Gueye and Krejci are on multiyear minimum-salary contracts, so the Hawks have the ability to retain them on team-friendly deals beyond this season.

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

  • Sixers center Joel Embiid has been ruled out of Tuesday’s contest vs. Boston due to right knee soreness, the team announced today (Twitter link via Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports). It’s Embiid’s first non-scheduled absence so far this season, tweets Tony Jones of The Athletic. It’s also worth noting that it’s not the knee that has been a recurring issue for the big man in recent years — Embiid underwent surgery on his left knee in the spring. He’s being evaluated further by team doctors, per the Sixers.
  • Pacers point guard T.J. McConnell, who was said over the weekend to be “getting closer” to making his season debut, has been upgraded to questionable for Tuesday’s game in Utah, according to the team (Twitter link). McConnell has yet to play this fall due to a left hamstring strain, but his return appears to be imminent — if he’s unable to suit up against the Jazz, the veteran’s next opportunity to play would be on Thursday in Phoenix.
  • Mitchell Robinson has played sparingly so far this season, suiting up for just four of the Knicks‘ first nine games as the team carefully manages his workload. However, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Post writes, Robinson has made the most of his limited role, grabbing nine offensive rebounds in 16 minutes vs. Minnesota last Wednesday, then finishing as a remarkable +40 in less than 17 minutes of action against Brooklyn on Sunday. “I don’t really fall into the plus-minus stuff a ton, but it’s another amazing stat,” head coach Mike Brown said. “He keeps throwing up these stats that are amazing. … To impact the game that way — again, not a huge believer in it — but to see a number like that in the short amount of time he was playing, was just amazing.”
  • Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball was assigned to the G League on Tuesday to practice with the Greensboro Swarm (Twitter link). Ball has missed Charlotte’s past four games due to a right ankle impingement, but head coach Charles Lee expressed enthusiasm on Monday about the progress the 24-year-old has made in his recovery (Twitter video link via Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer).

Victor Oladipo Joins Bucks’ G League Affiliate

Veteran guard Victor Oladipo will soon join the Bucks‘ G League affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd, according to Jamal Collier of ESPN (Twitter link).

NBA insider Jake Fischer reported on Friday (via Twitter) that Oladipo had entered the NBAGL player pool after playing three preseason games this fall with the Guangzhou Loong Lions, a Chinese team.

According to Fischer (Twitter link), Oladipo was claimed off waivers by the Santa Cruz Warriors, which subsequently traded his rights to the Herd.

The Herd confirmed in a press release that they have acquired Oladipo (Twitter link via Eric Nehm of The Athletic).

A two-time All-Star whose career was derailed by a series of leg injuries, Oladipo held his own against NBA players in the preseason, averaging 19.3 points, 3.0 assists, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.7 steals in 27.9 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .467/.250/.923.

Oladipo worked out for NBA clubs in Las Vegas over the summer, though nothing came of that session. Representatives from European teams also reportedly attended Oladipo’s workout, and while he didn’t rule out the possibility of playing overseas, the former No. 2 overall pick suggested last month that he wasn’t seriously entertaining that idea.

“You know, if push comes to shove and that’s the last option, we’ll see. I’m definitely one of the best. So that’s where I belong is the three letters: N-B-A,” he told Sam Yip of HoopsHype with a laugh.

Oladipo was one of the NBA’s best two-way performers in 2017/18, when he averaged 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.4 steals per game across 75 outings for the Pacers. He earned MVP and Defensive Player of the Year votes that season, winning the league’s Most Improved Player award and claiming a spot on the All-NBA third team and All-Defensive first team.

The 33-year-old made a second consecutive All-Star team for Indiana in 2018/19, but his season was cut short by a ruptured quad tendon, which sidelined him for roughly a full calendar year. That quad tendon injury continued to be an issue after the guard eventually returned to action and required a second surgery in 2021.

Oladipo has appeared in just 102 total NBA games since sustaining that initial quad injury in January 2018, most recently suiting up for the Heat during the 2022/23 season. He sustained a torn left patellar tendon in his last game with Miami in April 2023.

Bulls Notes: Giddey, Comeback Win, White, Essengue

After reeling off five consecutive wins to open the season, the Bulls lost in New York on Sunday and appeared to be on the verge of a second straight loss on Tuesday vs. Philadelphia. However, as Jamal Collier of ESPN details, Chicago overcame a 24-point deficit to defeat the Sixers by a score of 113-111, completing the largest NBA comeback so far this season.

Josh Giddey, whose restricted free agency dragged on for nearly three months this offseason before he signed a new four-year, $100MM contract with the Bulls, was the driving force in the victory. He led the team in points (29), rebounds (15), and assists (12), making him the first Bull since Michael Jordan to register triple-doubles in back-to-back games.

Giddey admitted it was “cool” to accomplish a feat last achieved by Jordan, per Kyle Williams of The Chicago Sun-Times, but made it clear that the “individual stuff” was secondary to winning the game.

“Tonight was one of the best wins that I’ve ever been a part of,” he said, according to Collier. “Just in terms of how bad we were down that early in the third. And to gut that one out and dig ourselves out of the hole that we did was unbelievable.”

Veteran center Nikola Vucevic, who hit the game-winning shot to secure the victory for the Bulls, was impressed with the team’s resilience but stressed that he and his teammates can’t get into the habit of giving up 45 points in the first quarter.

“It’s important that we understand this is not how you can become a good team by getting down 20 and then waking up and start to finally play,” Vucevic said. “We have to play better from the beginning. This game was a great example of what we can be when we play the way we need to. So hopefully we can use this as a good learning experience for us and understand that we have to do this for 48 minutes.”

Here’s more on the Bulls:

  • Chicago is off to a 6-1 start without guard Coby White, who was the team’s leading scorer in the second half last season. According to Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required), head coach Billy Donovan said that White (left calf strain) is still “a couple weeks away” from playing in a game. “I watched him today — he is sprinting, running, cutting, jumping, trying to do everything completely full speed,” Donovan said on Tuesday. “He’s felt really, really good. … This has just taken a while. I think you can see around the league, there’s a lot of guys dealing with these calves right now. It’s just the way it is.”
  • Seven of the 15 players on the Bulls’ standard roster are in contract years, but the team has bought in so far on Donovan’s call for a team-first approach, writes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “Right when training camp started, I addressed of all this, because we have seven or eight guys that are in the same situation, and I think it’s very easy if you’re not in the rotation or you’re not playing well to start to press, start to think about yourself,” Donovan said. “There’s a level of unselfishness [we needed] where you can start thinking about others — other than yourself, certainly — when your situation is uncertain going forward. … Like I told those guys, [free agency] will get here in July. Why worry or think about that when you have things in front of you now? We don’t have a team that can [isolate] or guys just go get theirs. We’ve got to rely on each other.”
  • After spending three days in the G League with the Windy City Bulls, rookie forward Noa Essengue was recalled to the NBA on Wednesday, per the team. Chicago doesn’t play again until Friday, so Essengue may have the opportunity to practice with the NBA club this week. As Donovan told reporters when Essengue was initially assigned to the G League on Sunday, the team had planned since the draft to take a patient approach with him. “This is a guy at 18 years old who has a huge runway in front of him to get better and to improve, but we’re going to have to invest in his development,” Donovan said, per Cowley. “It may not be with us. It may be going back and forth between us and the G League. Those were things discussed back in June.”