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Sixers Rule Out Joel Embiid For Another Week

By | at March 6, 2026 12:23 pm

Sixers center Joel Embiid, who has missed the past three games due to a strained right oblique, will likely miss at least four more contests as a result of the injury, as Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice relays.

According to Aaronson, the 76ers announced today that Embiid didn’t participate in Friday’s practice and has yet to do any on-court work following his latest injury. The plan is for him to be reevaluated in about one week, which would mean he’ll be out for games on Saturday in Atlanta, Monday in Cleveland, and Tuesday vs. Memphis — and probably Thursday in Detroit too.

Embiid has been limited to 33 games this season due to various ailments affecting his knee, ankle, shin, and oblique. While he hasn’t recaptured his old MVP form in the games he has played, he has looked better than he did last season, averaging 26.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.9 assists in 31.2 minutes per night, with a .495/.318/.858 shooting line.

Philadelphia offered a couple more injury updates on Friday, per Aaronson, announcing that forward Kelly Oubre Jr. is expected to return to action on Saturday after missing two games due to an illness and indicating that rookie guard VJ Edgecombe didn’t practice on Friday.

Edgecombe exited Tuesday’s game vs. San Antonio early due to a lumbar contusion and sat out on Wednesday vs. Utah. While the team hasn’t clarified his status for Saturday’s contest, the fact that he didn’t take part in Friday’s practice probably doesn’t bode well for his availability.

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NBA Explores Launching Streaming RSN Hub For 2026/27

By | at March 6, 2026 9:13 am

The NBA has let its teams know that there’s a chance it will introduce a streaming hub for local broadcasts as soon as next season, sources tell Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal. Many clubs’ local broadcasts have been thrown into disarray due to the fact that Main Street Sports Group, which has regional TV agreements with 13 NBA teams, is likely headed for insolvency.

That group of 13 teams – which includes the defending champion Thunder, along with the Spurs, Pistons, Cavaliers, Clippers, Heat, Timberwolves, Magic, Hornets, Hawks, Pacers, Grizzlies, and Bucks – would be the most likely candidates to be involved in the NBA’s new streaming hub.

As Friend points out, there are a few more teams (the Suns, Jazz, Trail Blazers, Mavericks, and Pelicans) who have already abandoned their respective regional sports networks and could be candidates for the new venture as well. On top of that, Friend’s sources suspect the four teams who have deals with NBC Sports – the Celtics, Warriors, Sixers, and Kings – could be in play due to a sense that NBC may want out of the regional sports network business.

The other eight teams broadcast games on their own networks, which doesn’t necessarily rule them out, but would make it more complicated for the league to negotiate deals with each of them.

While it remains unclear exactly what the new setup will look like, Friend hears that the NBA has engaged in talks with potential partners like YouTube TV, DAZN, Amazon, and ESPN as it considers a package that might resemble NFL Sunday Ticket.

The total number of teams that opt in figures to be a major factor in determining the viability of this new streaming hub, Friend writes, citing sources who think the NBA would need to guarantee a broadcast partner a certain threshold of clubs in order to secure a significant deal. With enough teams involved, industry insiders believe an agreement would be worth billions, Friend adds.

Due to its financial woes, Main Street has missed payments to its teams on January 1, February 1, and March 1, per Sports Business Journal. The NBA originally didn’t plan on launching this sort of streaming hub until down the road, Friend writes, but it has become a higher priority in order to help teams make up for those lost rights-fee payments.

Although the league has informed its teams that it’s trying to get something together for the 2026/27 season, there’s no guarantee that will happen, so Main Street clubs have been advised to explore lining up a bridge deal for their local broadcasts. Those teams are exploring both linear and streaming options, Friend notes.

Friend also points out that, since a new league-wide streaming hub may overlap with League Pass, the NBA may need to either restructure League Pass or eliminate it all together down the road. Amazon currently distributes League Pass as part of its national broadcast agreement with the NBA, so those negotiations would be simpler if the league ultimately strikes a deal to make Amazon its partner on a new streaming RSN.

36 comments Atlanta Hawks Boston Celtics Charlotte Hornets Cleveland Cavaliers Dallas Mavericks Detroit Pistons Golden State Warriors Indiana Pacers Los Angeles Clippers Media Rights Memphis Grizzlies Miami Heat Milwaukee Bucks Minnesota Timberwolves New Orleans Pelicans Newsstand Oklahoma City Thunder Orlando Magic Philadelphia 76ers Phoenix Suns Portland Trail Blazers Sacramento Kings San Antonio Spurs Utah Jazz

Ja Morant (Left Elbow) Will Be Reevaluated In Two Weeks

By | at March 5, 2026 6:44 pm

Point guard Ja Morant, who sprained the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his left elbow on January 21, continues to experience discomfort in his elbow, the Grizzlies announced in a press release (Twitter link).

According to the team, Morant underwent follow-up imaging on Wednesday, which revealed incomplete healing of his injury. He’s out at least two more weeks, which is the next time he’ll be reevaluated.

Morant has appeared in just 20 games this season and has only been available three times since the start of the new year. Memphis is currently 23-38, six games out of the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.

Morant was one of the top names on the trade market heading into February’s deadline and was reportedly surprised that he didn’t get moved. That was partially due to his lack of availability, as he’s been limited to 79 total games over the past three seasons. His contract also factored in, as teams were reluctant to take on an unreliable player who’s owed $42.4MM and $44.9MM during the next two years.

The 26-year-old’s production has been declining as well. In his 20 appearances this season, the former All-NBA selection has averaged 19.5 points, 8.1 assists (3.6 turnovers), 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 steal in 28.5 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .410/.235/.897.

Memphis is expected to resume its search for a Morant trade this summer, but the return may be limited given the aforementioned factors. The Grizzlies reportedly talked to Miami, Minnesota, Sacramento, and Milwaukee about Morant deals prior to the deadline.

4 comments Memphis Grizzlies Newsstand

Mark Williams Out At Least 2-3 Weeks Due To Foot Injury

By | at March 5, 2026 6:00 pm

Starting center Mark Williams has been diagnosed with a stress reaction in the third metatarsal bone in his left foot, the Suns announced in a press release (Twitter link via Law Murray of The Athletic).

Williams, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, will be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks, per the team.

It’s unclear when Williams’ injury occurred. He played 22 minutes in Tuesday’s 11-point victory at Sacramento at Sacramento.

After two college seasons at Duke, Williams was selected by the Hornets with the 15th overall pick in the 2022 draft. The 7’1″ big man struggled with injuries over the course of his three years in Charlotte, appearing in just 106 games, prior to being traded to Phoenix last offseason.

The Suns developed a plan to help Williams stay on the court and it had worked well to this point in the season. The 24-year-old has appeared in a career-high 56 games in 2025/26, only missing five contests with the Suns currently sitting at 35-26.

However, Williams’ stress reaction will keep him sidelined for the foreseeable future. While he’ll be checked out again in a few weeks, there’s certainly no guarantee that he’ll be ready to return at that point — it will be difficult for Williams to stay in game shape given that he has a foot injury.

Phoenix plays nine times between March 5 and March 19, and Williams is likely to miss all of those games. A three-week absence would result in Williams missing 12 games.

In his 56 appearances this season, Williams has averaged 11.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.9 blocks in 23.6 minutes per game. He’s shooting 63.3% from the floor and 76.7% from the foul line.

Backup center Oso Ighodaro will likely replace Williams in Phoenix’s starting lineup, with rookies Rasheer Fleming and Khaman Maluach among the candidates for more minutes off the bench.

6 comments Newsstand Phoenix Suns

Tyus Jones Signs With Nuggets

By | at March 5, 2026 10:59 am

March 5: The Nuggets have officially signed Jones, the team confirmed today (via Twitter). The point guard will earn $814,552 for the rest of the season, while Denver carries a cap charge of $514,682.

March 2: Free agent point guard Tyus Jones plans to sign with the Nuggets, his agent Kevin Bradbury tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). 

As Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette notes (via Twitter), the Nuggets had one opening on their standard roster, and they’ll use it to sign Jones, who was waived by Dallas on Saturday. The 29-year-old retained his playoff eligibility because he was released prior to Sunday’s deadline.

Jones’ deal will cover the rest of the 2025/26 season and he will earn a prorated portion of the veteran’s minimum, reports Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (Twitter link).

The 24th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Jones is in his 11th NBA season. He’s known for his ability to set up teammates and take care of the ball. The ex-Duke point guard holds career averages of 7.3 points, 4.3 assists, and just 0.8 turnovers in 20.7 minutes per game across 738 regular season appearances for Minnesota, Memphis, Washington, Phoenix, Orlando, and Dallas.

After four-year stints with both the Timberwolves and Grizzlies, Jones has bounced around the NBA in recent years, playing for four teams in the past three seasons. He opened this year with the Magic, having signed a one-year, $7MM deal with the team during the 2025 offseason, but had a disappointing year in Orlando, averaging just 3.1 PPG and 2.6 APG on .349/.281/.875 shooting in a bench role.

Jones was traded to the Hornets at the deadline in what was a salary-dump deal from the Magic’s perspective, allowing them to duck below the luxury tax line. Charlotte subsequently flipped him to the Mavericks in a separate trade.

At the time, reports indicated that Dallas had attempted to sign Jones last summer before ending up with D’Angelo Russell and that they’d be happy to have him on the roster for the rest of the season. Jones appeared in eight games with the Mavs, averaging 3.9 PPG and 3.8 APG on .382/.211/.500 shooting in 16.6 MPG.

However, Jones evidently preferred to catch on with a playoff team, and now he has agreed to join Denver, which won the championship in 2023 and was eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals each of the past two years in a pair of seven-game series.

9 comments Denver Nuggets Newsstand Transactions

NBA’s Two-Way Signing Deadline Has Now Passed

By | at March 5, 2026 7:28 am

The deadline for NBA teams to sign players to two-way contracts was Wednesday, March 4. Since that deadline has now passed, no two-way deals can be signed between now and the end of the 2025/26 season. Clubs will be permitted to begin signing two-way contracts for the ’26/27 season on July 1 (restricted free agents who receive two-way qualifying offers can technically accept them in June).

Under the NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, two-way signings weren’t permitted after January 15. Teams took full advantage of the extended window to complete two-way deals this season, finalizing 34 of them between the February 6 trade deadline and Wednesday’s deadline. During that same period, teams promoted 20 players from two-way contracts to standard deals.

There were six teams – the Nets, Bulls, Rockets, Lakers, Knicks, and Raptors – that didn’t make any moves involving their two-way players between last month’s trade deadline and the two-way signing deadline. The other 24 clubs were active.

As our tracker shows, all 90 two-way slots around the NBA are now filled. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the 90 players currently on two-way contracts will all finish the season on those deals.

There are still a handful of two-way players who could receive standard contracts before the regular season ends. The Celtics, for instance, are one team to watch, as both Max Shulga and Ron Harper Jr. are candidates to be promoted to the 15-man roster to fill one of the team’s three open spots.

A team can promote one or more of its two-way players to its standard roster at any time between now and the end of the season — that team simply wouldn’t be permitted to sign a new player to fill the empty two-way slot created by the promotion.

Here are all the transactions related to two-way players that have been finalized since the trade deadline, sorted by team and listed in the order they were completed (from earliest to most recent):

Atlanta Hawks

Boston Celtics

Charlotte Hornets

Cleveland Cavaliers

Dallas Mavericks

Denver Nuggets

Detroit Pistons

Golden State Warriors

Indiana Pacers

Los Angeles Clippers

Memphis Grizzlies

Miami Heat

Milwaukee Bucks

Minnesota Timberwolves

New Orleans Pelicans

Oklahoma City Thunder

Orlando Magic

Philadelphia 76ers

Phoenix Suns

Portland Trail Blazers

Sacramento Kings

San Antonio Spurs

Utah Jazz

Washington Wizards

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Kyshawn George Has Partial UCL Tear, Will Be Reevaluated In Three Weeks

By | at March 4, 2026 6:51 pm

Kyshawn George suffered a partial tear of the UCL in his left elbow and will be reevaluated in three weeks, the Wizards announced (via Twitter). The team states that it plans to treat the injury “conservatively,” so there’s no guarantee that George will return before the season ends on April 12.

George left Monday’s game against Houston midway through the third quarter. He returned to the bench after being checked out in the locker room, but wasn’t put back into the game. George was also dealing with a left knee contusion that caused him to be listed as questionable for Monday’s contest.

The second-year forward has started all 48 games he has played this season. He’s averaging 14.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists in 29 minutes per night with .438/.381/.802 shooting numbers.

George was selected to participate in this year’s Rising Stars event at All-Star Weekend and was a member of Team Vince, which captured the championship.

The 24th pick in the 2024 draft, George will make $3.1MM next season on the third year of his rookie contract. The Wizards will have to decide by this fall whether to exercise their option on his $5.4MM salary for 2027/28, and he’ll become eligible for a rookie scale extension next summer.

3 comments Newsstand Washington Wizards

Nuggets Sign David Roddy To Two-Way, Waive Tamar Bates

By | at March 4, 2026 6:00 pm

6:00 pm: Both moves are now official, according to RealGM’s log of NBA transactions.

1:51 pm: The Nuggets are making a change to one of their two-way contract slots ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who reports (via Twitter) that current two-way player Tamar Bates is being waived in order to create space for the team to sign forward David Roddy.

Roddy, who will turn 25 later this month, has played for five NBA teams since being selected 23rd overall in the 2022 draft, making 168 appearances in total for Memphis, Phoenix, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Houston. However, the former Colorado State star hasn’t been on a roster at all this season since spending training camp with the Raptors and being waived at the end of the preseason.

Outside of a brief recent stint with USA Basketball for a pair of World Cup qualifying games, Roddy has spent the 2025/26 season with the Raptors 905 in the G League. In 34 total outings for Toronto’s NBAGL affiliate, he has averaged 12.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in 27.8 minutes per game while making 47.5% of his shots from the floor, including 39.2% from beyond the arc.

Roddy played well for Team USA in those recent qualifiers vs. the Dominican Republic and Mexico, totaling 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting. He led the team with 20 points in Sunday’s blowout victory over Mexico.

Bates, meanwhile, quickly caught on with the Nuggets on a two-way deal last summer after going undrafted out of Missouri, but his rookie season was derailed in December when he underwent surgery to repair a fracture in his left foot. The 6’4″ guard hasn’t played at all since then and was limited to 12 appearances in the G League before that point. Although he has yet to make his regular season NBA debut, he averaged 19.6 PPG on .550/.442/.900 shooting for the Grand Rapids Gold before getting hurt.

Roddy can be active for up to 11 games for the Nuggets for the rest of the regular season and won’t be eligible to play in the postseason. As Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca points out (via Twitter), Roddy is the third Raptors 905 regular to be called up to a new NBA team this week, joining Julian Reese and Olivier Sarr, who were signed to two-way deals by the Wizards and Cavaliers, respectively.

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Grizzlies Sign Rayan Rupert To Two-Way Contract

By | at March 4, 2026 1:59 pm

1:59 pm: Rupert has officially re-signed with Memphis on a two-way deal, the team announced in a press release (Twitter link).

1:37 pm: Less than 24 hours after his 10-day contract with the team expired, the Grizzlies will re-sign guard Rayan Rupert to a two-way deal, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

The 43rd overall pick in the 2023 draft, Rupert averaged just 3.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per game across 139 appearances in two-and-a-half seasons with Portland. The 21-year-old Frenchman was cut by the Trail Blazers last month when they promoted Sidy Cissoko to their 15-man roster and almost immediately caught on with Memphis after clearing waivers.

Rupert played big minutes off the bench for the Grizzlies during his first 10 days with the club, averaging 10.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 1.6 SPG in 26.8 MPG, with a shooting line of .452/.353/.800.

Memphis entered the day with all three of its two-way slots filled, but created an opening by promoting Olivier-Maxence Prosper to a standard contract. The team will essentially flip Prosper’s and Rupert’s spots on the 18-man roster, with Prosper going from a two-way to a standard deal, while Rupert goes from a 10-day to a two-way.

Rupert will be able to appear in a maximum of 11 more games at the NBA level for the rest of the season, a prorated portion of the usual 50-game limit for two-way players.

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Grizzlies Sign Olivier-Maxence Prosper To Two-Year Contract

By | at March 4, 2026 11:11 am

11:11 am: Prosper’s new contract is official, according to the Grizzlies (Twitter link).

10:54 am: The Grizzlies are promoting forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper from his two-way contract to their 15-man roster, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link), who hears from agents Todd Ramasar and Mike Simonetta that the two sides have agreed to a new two-year deal.

No corresponding roster move will be necessary for Memphis, since a spot opened up on the standard roster when Rayan Rupert‘s 10-day contract expired on Tuesday night.

Prosper, the 24th overall pick in the 2023 draft, spent his first two NBA seasons in Dallas, but became a cap casualty last offseason and was waived in August when the Mavericks needed to create enough space below their hard cap to re-sign Dante Exum. Less than a week after he was cut by the Mavs, Prosper caught on with the Grizzlies on a two-way deal.

The 6’7″ Canadian forward didn’t have a major role at the NBA level during the first half of the season, but has become a fixture in the rotation in recent weeks. Since making his first start of the season on February 6, Prosper has averaged 13.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.1 steals in 24.7 minutes per game across 10 outings (seven starts), with a scorching-hot shooting line of .611/.432/.867.

In 36 total NBA appearances in 2025/26, the former Marquette standout holds averages of 7.6 PPG, 3.1 RPG, and 0.9 APG in 15.8 MPG on .541/.389/.873 shooting. Each of those per-game averages and shooting percentages would be a career high.

Prosper was active for a 45th game on Tuesday, moving him just five games away from reaching his limit as a two-way player. Promoting him to a standard contract will allow the Grizzlies to eliminate that games-played cap, freeing him up to be active for the rest of the season. It will also make him postseason-eligible, though that’s unlikely to matter, since Memphis has fallen five games out a play-in spot.

Prosper’s new contract figures to be a minimum-salary deal, since the Grizzlies used their full room exception last summer to sign Ty Jerome and don’t have the bi-annual available this season.

Converting Prosper to the 15-man roster before the end of the day will position the Grizzlies to back-fill his two-way slot with a newcomer ahead of Wednesday’s deadline for two-way signings.

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