Shai Gilgeous-Alexander To Return Friday For Thunder
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will return to action on Friday against Denver. The Thunder superstar is not listed on tomorrow’s injury report, tweets Rylan Stiles of SI.com.
A 27-year-old guard, Gilgeous-Alexander won his first Most Valuable Player award last season after finishing as the runner-up in 2024/25. He also helped Oklahoma City win the championship, earning Finals MVP honors in the process.
SGA has arguably been even better in ’25/26, averaging 31.8 points, 6.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals on an elite .554/.390/.892 shooting line in 49 games (33.3 minutes per contest). His 67.0% True Shooting percentage is a career high, as is his 34.2% assist percentage, while his turnover percentage (8.1%) is a career low.
Gilgeous-Alexander has missed Oklahoma City’s last nine games after suffering an abdominal strain against Orlando on February 3. He has been sidelined for 11 contests in total and can’t exceed 17 absences in order to remain eligible for major postseason awards.
The Thunder have held their own over the past nine games without their best player, going 5-4 amid a tough portion of the schedule. Ajay Mitchell (abdominal strain, left ankle sprain) and Jalen Williams (right hamstring strain) have been out for all (Mitchell) or most (Williams) of that stretch as well, and both players will remain sidelined against the Nuggets.
OKC is currently 45-15, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. The Thunder hold a two-game lead on No. 2 San Antonio (42-16).
Donovan Mitchell (Groin) To Miss Second Straight Game Friday
Star guard Donovan Mitchell, who was out for Wednesday’s loss in Milwaukee, will miss his second straight game on Friday when the Cavaliers play at Detroit, tweets Jamal Collier of ESPN. Mitchell has a right groin strain.
The Cavs have gone 2-3 so far this season without Mitchell, a seven-time All-Star who last suited up on Tuesday vs. New York. He had 23 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 31 minutes in the win over the Knicks.
The 29-year-old is having another stellar season for Cleveland, averaging 28.5 points, 5.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals on .483/.369/.852 shooting splits. He has made 55 appearances so far in 2025/26 (33.5 minutes per game).
Mitchell’s new backcourt running mate James Harden is also dealing with an injury, having been diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture in his right thumb. According to Collier, Harden had his injured digit heavily wrapped when he exited the locker room on Wednesday, when he was inactive. The former MVP is questionable for Friday’s game.
Harden isn’t the only Cavs guard who has a broken finger — Keon Ellis has a fractured left index finger, per the league’s official injury report, and is questionable to play against the Pistons. Point guard Dennis Schröder and forward Dean Wade are both battling right ankle sprains and are questionable as well.
It’s worth noting that Harden’s and Ellis’ fractures are both to their non-shooting hands. It remains to be seen how their injuries will impact their performance. Ellis’ ailment likely occurred on Wednesday, as he played 29 minutes against the Bucks.
Pacers’ Obi Toppin Upgraded To Available Thursday
February 26: Toppin will return on Thursday, head coach Rick Carlisle confirmed (Twitter link via Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star).
“Toppin will play tonight,” Carlisle said. “He will be on a minutes restriction and it’s safe to assume he’ll be on a minutes restriction the rest of the season.”
February 25: Pacers forward Obi Toppin is on the verge of returning to action after missing nearly the entire 2025/26 season. As Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files notes (via Twitter), Toppin has been upgraded to questionable to play on Thursday vs. Charlotte.
Toppin, who will turn 28 next Wednesday, was active for just three games this fall before suffering a right foot injury on October 26 in Minnesota. He underwent surgery to place a screw in the fifth metatarsal bone in his foot after being diagnosed with a partial stress fracture and was ruled out for at least three months.
The Pacers’ roster has been decimated by injuries over the course of the season, resulting in the team tumbling down the standings after making it to within one win of a championship last spring. This year’s squad is 15-44 and could have simply given Toppin the rest of the season to recover from his foot surgery, focusing on getting him back to 100% for 2026/27.
However, it appears the sixth-year forward is in the final stages of his recovery process and will get back on the floor for Indiana in the near future. Being listed as questionable doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be active on Thursday, but it suggests his return is pretty close. If he ends up being ruled out for that game vs. Charlotte, his next opportunity to play would be on Sunday vs. Memphis.
Toppin was a valuable rotation player for last season’s Eastern Conference champions, appearing in 79 games and averaging a career-high 10.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game with a strong .529/.365/.781 shooting line. He played in all 23 playoff games for the Pacers and averaged 9.4 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 19.1 MPG off the bench during the club’s run to Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
Wizards’ Jamir Watkins Receives Promotion, Two-Year Deal
3:45 pm: Watkins’ new standard contract will pay him $1,131,970 for the rest of the season, reports Josh Robbins of The Athletic (via Twitter). The second season of Watkins’ deal — 2026/27 — features a non-guaranteed minimum-salary team option, two league sources tell Robbins.
12:35 pm: The Wizards have officially signed Watkins to a standard contract, the team confirmed today in a press release.
10:46 am: The Wizards are promoting two-way player Jamir Watkins to their 15-man roster and will sign him to a new two-year contract, his agents at CAA Sports tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Watkins, 24, was the 43rd overall pick in the 2025 draft. The Wizards selected him using one of the three second-rounders they received from Utah when they traded down from No. 18 to No. 21 in the first round.
Watkins, who signed a two-way contract last July, played a limited role at the NBA level during the first half of the 2025/26 season but has emerged in recent weeks as a regular contributor for the Wizards. In 16 appearances since January 16, the 6’6″ wing has averaged 8.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 24.8 minutes per game.
As Charania points out, Watkins has been playing his best basketball of the season as of late, having scored double-digit points in six consecutive outings after doing so just twice through the trade deadline. The rookie guard/forward is also considered a strong perimeter defender.
Watkins is the second Wizards two-way player to earn a promotion to the standard roster in the past week, joining big man Tristan Vukcevic. As we noted earlier today, Washington used a portion of its mid-level exception to give Vukcevic more than a minimum salary for the rest of the season. It’s unclear if the team will do the same with Watkins or whether he’ll receive any guaranteed money beyond 2025/26 on his new contract.
The Wizards have an open spot on their 15-man roster after Alondes Williams‘ 10-day contract expired on Wednesday night, so no corresponding move will be necessary to make room for Watkins. The signing will open up a two-way slot in D.C. alongside Sharife Cooper and Leaky Black.
Jazz Sign Mo Bamba To 10-Day Contract
11:50 am: Bamba’s 10-day deal is official, the Jazz confirmed in a press release. It will run through next Saturday (March 7), covering Utah’s next six games.
10:59 am: The Jazz and center Mo Bamba have reached an agreement on a 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), citing agents Mark Bartelstein and Greer Love.
The sixth overall pick of the 2018 NBA draft, Bamba appeared in a total of 364 regular season games over seven seasons with the Magic, Lakers, Sixers, Clippers, and Pelicans from 2018-25. However, he was unable to secure a guaranteed NBA contract ahead of the 2025/26 season and spent training camp with the Jazz before being waived and reporting to the team’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars.
The 27-year-old big man has had a big year with the Stars, averaging 17.0 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks in 27.7 minutes per game across 22 appearances, with an excellent shooting line of .553/.380/.807.
However, Bamba’s strong G League performance had only earned him a brief stint in the NBA up until this point — he signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Raptors on December 29 to provide frontcourt depth with Jakob Poeltl battling a back issue, but was waived about a week later before his full salary became guaranteed.
Bamba could have a chance to play a more significant role in Utah, where the Jazz’s front line has been hit hard by injuries. Starting center Walker Kessler underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in November and his replacement, Jusuf Nurkic, had a season-ending procedure on his nose earlier this week. Additionally, Jaren Jackson Jr. is done for the season after having a growth in his knee surgically removed, while Lauri Markkanen reportedly suffered an injury in Wednesday’s practice and is still being evaluated.
Bamba will earn $177,064 over the course of his 10-day contract, with Utah taking on a cap hit of $131,970.
Former UVA Coach Tony Bennett Joins Lakers As Draft Advisor
The Lakers have hired former University of Virginia head coach Tony Bennett, announcing today in a press release that he’ll take on the role of NBA draft advisor for the team.
“We’re thrilled and honored to welcome Tony as an advisor to the Lakers basketball operations department,” president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said in a statement. “As we refine and build out our NBA draft and scouting processes, we could think of no better basketball mind than Tony Bennett to have as a resource.
“Tony’s track record of forming culture, with high-character, high-skill, and high-IQ players is revered and respected across all basketball circles. Tony will be an incredible asset to our basketball leadership, to our scouts, and to our draft department as a whole. We are truly excited.”
Bennett, who had a brief NBA playing career as a member of the Hornets from 1992-95, has had a longer and more successful career in coaching.
After a brief stint as the coach of the North Harbour Kings in New Zealand, he was an assistant at Wisconsin (1999-2003) and Washington State (2003-06), then spent three seasons at the head coach at Washington State (2006-09) and a decade and a half in the lead coaching role at Virginia (2009-24).
Bennett compiled a 364-136 (.728) record for the Cavaliers and led the team to a national championship in 2019 with a roster that featured future NBA players like De’Andre Hunter, Ty Jerome, Jay Huff, Mamadi Diakite, and Kyle Guy. Bennett was named the Naismith College Coach of the Year in both 2007 (with the Cougars) and 2018.
As we detailed earlier today, Pelinka is expected to remain in his role atop the Lakers’ basketball operations department amid changes at the ownership level and in business operations. However, new controlling owner Mark Walter wants to build a deeper front office that emulates the group compiled by the Los Angeles Dodgers, his MLB team. With that in mind, Bennett figures to be one of many additions to the basketball operations staff in the coming months.
The Lakers own a single pick in the 2026 draft — their own first-rounder. It currently projects to land 21st overall, per Tankathon.
Lakers’ Rosen: Pelinka ‘Empowered’ To Continue Running Basketball Ops
The Lakers introduced their new president of business operations to the media on Tuesday, with longtime Los Angeles Dodgers executive Lon Rosen speaking to reporters for the first time since being hired by the NBA team.
As Dan Woike of The Athletic writes, there has been speculation around the league since Mark Walter took over majority control of the franchise about whether the new leadership group might make front office changes that impact Rob Pelinka‘s future with the Lakers. However, Rosen made it clear on Tuesday that he envisions Pelinka remaining in his position as Los Angeles’ president of basketball operations and general manager.
“I just run the business side, Rob’s empowered to do what he does,” Rosen said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “(Dodgers executives) Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi, they have involvement helping Rob a bit. It gives you a deeper bench, and I think Rob appreciates that. And it is unique. But they have a skill set that they can transfer some of it here. And that’s really how we look at it.
“Look, I have a really good relationship with Rob. I’ve known Rob Pelinka from when he was representing Kobe (Bryant). I met him many, many years ago.”
Rosen’s comments line up with the remarks Pelinka made to the media in the wake of this month’s trade deadline. He said at that time that the Lakers would be expanding their basketball operations department in the coming months and want to build a deep front office like that of the Dodgers, the MLB team Walter owns. But Pelinka also stressed that he, governor Jeanie Buss, and Walter would continue to be the ones making basketball decisions, and Rosen confirmed as much.
Pelinka was originally hired as the Lakers’ general manager under president of basketball operations Magic Johnson in 2017. He took over control of the front office in 2019, was promoted to VP of basketball operations in 2020 and was eventually promoted again to president of basketball operations in the spring of 2025, receiving a contract extension at that time as well.
Notably, before joining the Dodgers in 2012 as the team’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Rosen was the longtime agent for Johnson, the former Lakers star and lead basketball executive who unexpectedly resigned from his role in 2019 and accused Pelinka of disparaging him behind his back.
Johnson and Pelinka have mended fences since then and Rosen referred to Johnson on Tuesday as one of his “closest friends,” but the Lakers’ new president of business opreations said the Hall-of-Famer won’t be returning to any sort of day-to-day role in the organization.
“Earvin’s involved with all types of things,” Rosen said, per McMenamin. “He owns football teams, baseball teams, soccer teams, insurance companies, a lot of things. He’s always going to have some type of involvement with all the teams, but he is not going to have a day-to-day involvement. It’s going to be no different since he left the Lakers.
“Obviously, he’s a huge fan of the Lakers, but he’s not going to be, ‘Hey, Rob, go sign this player. Do that.’ He’ll always be involved with all the teams that he’s involved in, but no, he’s not going to have day-to-day involvement, at all. He is a super Laker fan and he’ll continue to be a super Laker fan. It’s not bad to have that.”
The Lakers have an eventful offseason on tap in 2026. They’re in position to create significant cap room and will be able to trade up to three first-round picks after having just one tradable first-rounder at this year’s deadline. Austin Reaves will also be up for a new contract, while LeBron James‘ deal is set to expire too. The four-time MVP has yet to confirm whether he plans to continue his career — and if he does so, whether he still wants to be a Laker.
Jonathan Kuminga Ready To Make Hawks Debut Tuesday
February 24: The Hawks list Kuminga as available for Tuesday’s game (Twitter link).
February 23: New Hawks forward Jonathan Kuminga has been upgraded to questionable ahead of Tuesday’s game vs. Washington, tweets Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks. According to Anthony Slater of ESPN, Kuminga is expected to make his Hawks debut tomorrow against the Wizards (Twitter link).
Kuminga last played on January 22, when he suffered a bone bruise in his left knee after hyperextending it. Atlanta acquired the 23-year-old along with Buddy Hield ahead of the trade deadline in the move which saw Kristaps Porzingis head to Golden State.
The seventh overall pick in the 2021 draft, Kuminga had a prolonged contract standoff with the Warriors as a restricted free agent last offseason. He ultimately signed a two-year, $46.8MM deal that includes a $24.3MM team option for next season.
The final 23 games of the season will be important for Kuminga, as that team option means he could be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Through 20 games this season, he has averaged 12.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 23.8 minutes per contest, with a shooting slash line of .454/.321/.742.
Atlanta, which made a noteworthy change to its starting lineup for Sunday’s win over Brooklyn, is currently 28-31, the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference. This is the fifth straight season in which the Hawks project to make the play-in tournament.
Shaedon Sharpe Has Stress Fracture, Could Miss Rest Of Season
Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe has a stress fracture in his left fibula, Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report tweets. He’ll be reevaluated in approximately 4-to-6 weeks, according to the team, to allow for adequate healing before beginning a progressive return to full basketball activity.
Sharpe hasn’t played since February 6 due to what was originally diagnosed as a left calf strain. The fibula fracture was discovered after follow-up imaging.
Given the timeline provided by the team, it seems likely that Sharpe will miss the remainder of the season. The 2022 lottery pick is averaging a career-high 21.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals in 30 minutes per game while appearing in 48 contests (42 starts). He’s the team’s second-leading scorer.
Sharpe signed a four-year, $90MM rookie scale extension in October, which kicks in next season.
The loss of Sharpe is a blow to a Portland team that’s currently in ninth place in the West with a 29-30 record. It’s unlikely the Blazers will fall out of the play-in tournament, considering the teams sitting in the bottom five of the conference trail them by at least six games, but the organization may not have Sharpe available this spring as it looks to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021.
Carlisle Questions NBA’s Decision To Fine Pacers; League Responds
2:34 pm: An NBA spokesperson issued a statement to Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link) to push back against Carlisle’s framing of the investigation into the Pacers.
“Coach Carlisle’s description of the process that went into the decision to fine the Indiana Pacers is inaccurate,” the spokesperson said. “An independent physician led the medical review. In addition, the Pacers’ general manager and the team’s senior vice president (of) sports medicine and performance were interviewed as part of the process. The Pacers confirmed that it had provided all of the information requested by the league and the team reported that an interview with Coach Carlisle or a team physician wasn’t necessary.”
1:36 pm: The Pacers were one of two teams fined by the NBA ahead of the All-Star break for the manner in which they were managing their players. While Indiana’s $100K fine paled in comparison to the $500K penalty the Jazz received, commissioner Adam Silver‘s statement at the time suggested that the league believed both clubs were prioritizing “draft position over winning.”
The Pacers were disciplined for holding out Pascal Siakam and two other players for a February 3 game against Utah. According to the league’s statement, the NBA determined, with the help of an independent physician, that all three could have played in the game, perhaps in reduced roles.
The league fined Indiana for violating the league’s player participation policy, noting in its statement that the Pacers also could have held out those players in other games in order to better promote compliance with the policy.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle didn’t address the fine at length at the time it happened, but he was more open about it during a radio appearance on 107.5 The Fan on Tuesday, making it clear to Kevin Bowen and James Boyd that he didn’t think the NBA made the right call (Twitter video link).
“I didn’t agree with it,” Carlisle said (story via Boyd for The Athletic). “There was a league lawyer that was doing the interview that kind of unilaterally decided that Aaron Nesmith, who had been injured the night before and couldn’t hold the ball, should have played in the game, which just seems ridiculous.
“During the interview process – I was not on it, but I heard details – we asked them if they wanted to talk to the doctors, our doctors, about it because it was something that was documented by our doctors and trainers. They said no, they didn’t need to. They talked to their doctors, who did not examine Aaron Nesmith. And we asked them if they wanted to talk to (Nesmith), and they said, no, they didn’t need to.
“This was shocking to me. And during the interview, they also asked if we considered medicating him to play in a game when we were 30 games under .500. So I was very surprised. Obviously didn’t agree with it.”
It’s worth noting that Siakam (who sat out on Feb. 3 due to “rest”) was the only player specifically named in the NBA’s statement, and he meets the criteria of a “star” under the player participation policy. So if the league felt that the Pacers’ management of Siakam violated the policy, it could make the case for a $100K fine (the penalty for a first-time offender) without requiring any additional reasons.
Still, the NBA’s statement suggested the league determined that two additional starters held out of that Feb. 3 game – believed to be Nesmith (left hand strain) and Andrew Nembhard (low back injury management) – were healthy enough to play. Carlisle’s comments call into question how the NBA made that determination and whether or not it was accurate.