Giannis Antetokounmpo Injures Knee, Will Not Seek Imaging
Giannis Antetokounmpo appeared to hyperextend his knee during the Bucks‘ win over the Pacers on Sunday, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Late in the third quarter of the 134-123 victory, Antetokounmpo came down awkwardly on a dunk following a spin move. He stayed in the game for a little over a minute before exiting for the rest of the night.
Antetokounmpo attempted to warm up for a possible return, riding the stationary bike and doing knee exercises, according to Alex Molina of Eurohoops, but ultimately remained out for the remainder of the contest.
Following the game, Bucks coach Doc Rivers told reporters that while he believed the injury occurred on the aforementioned play, the team had yet to issue an official diagnosis, and he wasn’t sure if his star forward would undergo an MRI on the injury.
“My guess is he hyperextended his knee, but I’m guessing,” Rivers said, per ESPN.
Antetokounmpo later said that he isn’t planning on undergoing imaging, according to Nehm (Twitter link).
“I’m just going to go back home, sleep, see how I feel tomorrow, try to lift some weights,” the two-time MVP said. “And if I have a little bit of discomfort, then I’ll go from there. But as of right now, I’m not really bothered by it.”
Antetokounmpo has only played in 36 of the Bucks’ 67 games so far this season, having battled knee, groin, and repeated calf ailments. Entering Sunday’s matchup with Indiana, he had registered averages of 27.5 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per night.
Santi Aldama Undergoing Arthroscopic Procedure On Knee, Out Indefinitely
Santi Aldama is undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee, the Grizzlies announced today (Twitter link). As part of the procedure, he’ll receive an orthobiologic injection meant to reduce discomfort in the trochlear compartment of his knee, according to the team.
Aldama hasn’t played since February 4 due to ongoing knee pain. The veteran power forward has averaged a career-high 14.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in 27.9 minutes per game in 43 appearances for Memphis this season after signing a three-year, $52.5MM contract in restricted free agency last summer. He has shot 47.9% from the floor and 35.0% from beyond the three-point line, both above his career rates.
According to the Grizzlies’ press release, Aldama is expected to make a full recovery. A more specific timeline will be provided after he undergoes the procedure.
Aldama joins a long list of injured Grizzlies, as Ja Morant, Scotty Pippen Jr., Walter Clayton, Zach Edey, Brandon Clarke, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are all listed as out for Monday’s game.
Kings Sign Killian Hayes To Two-Year Deal
5:00 pm: The deal is official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
11:55 am: The Kings and free agent guard Killian Hayes have reached an agreement on a two-year contract, agent Yann Balikouzou tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The seventh overall pick in the 2020 draft, Hayes just completed a pair of 10-day contracts with Sacramento – the second expired on Saturday night – and the team wasted no time in working out a deal to hang onto him.
In 10 appearances during his first 20 days as a King, Hayes posted averages of 3.8 points, 3.3 assists, and 2.0 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game, with a .269/.208/.833 shooting line. Despite those modest numbers, the Kings seem to have like what they’ve seen from the 24-year-old, who has registered a positive plus-minus rating with Sacramento and has helped the team win five of its past 10 games.
While the exact details of Hayes’ new deal haven’t been specified, it will likely be a minimum-salary contract. It will also be non-guaranteed for 2026/27, per James Ham of the Kings Beat (Twitter link), giving the Kings some roster flexibility this offseason.
Hayes will fill Sacramento’s 15th standard roster spot, giving the team a full squad heading into the home stretch of the season.
Cavs’ Max Strus Available To Make Season Debut
March 15: Strus is available to make his season debut on Sunday vs. Dallas, tweets Ethan Sands of Cleveland.com.
March 11: Veteran wing Max Strus was assigned to the Cavaliers‘ G League affiliate to practice on Wednesday and is expected to remain with the Charge for another practice on Thursday and “possibly” a light workout on Friday morning, reports Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
Strus underwent surgery in August to repair a Jones fracture in his left foot. He has yet to play in 2025/26.
Assuming Strus’ foot responds well after the practices — he hasn’t had any setbacks in his most recent ramp-up process, a source tells Cleveland.com — it’s possible he could make his season debut on Sunday when the Cavs return home to face Dallas, according to Fedor.
The Cavs announced last week that imaging on Strus’ foot had shown “progressive healing” and he had resumed individual on-court workouts. Practicing with the Charge was one of the scheduled activities he needed to participate in before playing again.
Strus has been a key contributor for Cleveland the last two seasons, averaging 11.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 29.3 minutes per contest on .426/.364/.802 shooting in 120 games, including 107 starts. The 29-year-old will likely be on a minutes restriction for the rest of the ’25/26 regular season, Fedor writes.
Celtics Sign Charles Bassey To 10-Day Contract
March 15: Bassey has officially signed his 10-day contract with the Celtics, according to the team (Twitter link).
March 14: The Celtics intend to sign free agent center Charles Bassey to a 10-day contract, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
This will be the fourth 10-day contract Bassey has signed in 2025/26. The five-year veteran spent 10 days with Memphis on a hardship deal early in the season and completed a pair of 10-day agreements with Philadelphia in late January and early February.
Aside from his three appearances with Memphis and Philadelphia this season, Bassey has spent most of 2025/26 in the G League. In 20 total regular season games (17 with the Santa Cruz Warriors and three with the Delaware Blue Coats), he has averaged 20.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks on .606/.426/.654 shooting in 29.9 MPG.
Bassey was selected by Philadelphia with the 53rd pick in the 2021 draft. He was waived after one year with the Sixers and signed with San Antonio, where he played for the past three seasons.
Injuries were an issue for Bassey during his time with the Spurs — his 2022/23 season was cut short due to a non-displaced patella fracture, then he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in December 2023. The 25-year-old appeared in 36 games in 2024/25, averaging 4.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per night.
The 6’10” big man was a standout with the Celtics during Summer League play this July, averaging 15.3 points and 11.0 rebounds per contest in Las Vegas while shooting 70.4% from the field across three outings.
The Celtics had only been carrying 12 players on their standard roster the past two weeks in order to execute an intricate plan to move below the luxury tax line. They’ll need to sign another player in addition to Bassey, notes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link).
Bassey will earn $153,330 over the course of his 10 days with Boston, which will carry a cap hit of $131,970.
Celtics Sign Max Shulga To Standard Contract
March 15: Shulga’s standard contract is now official, the Celtics confirmed (via Twitter).
March 14: Celtics two-way player Max Shulga will be promoted to a standard contract that runs through the end of next season, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
Sources tell Brian Robb of MassLive that the deal will be non-guaranteed for 2026/27. Shulga will earn a prorated portion of the rookie minimum for the rest of the season.
The Celtics have been using a 12-man roster over the past two weeks in their effort to remain below the luxury tax line. They’re about to reach the season maximum of 28 days to be below the 14-man roster limit, so two additions have to be made by Sunday. A report earlier today stated that free agent big man Charles Bassey will be signed to a 10-day contract.
Promoting Shulga is advantageous for financial reasons because his rookie minimum salary won’t be subject to “tax variance.” His tax/apron charge will be much smaller than the prorated two-year veteran minimum that would have been imposed if the Celtics had signed a free agent. Boston is projected to be able to add a 15th player on the final day of the regular season without going into tax territory.
The 23-year-old Ukrainian guard signed a two-way deal in July after being selected with the 57th pick in last year’s draft. He has made brief appearances in three NBA games and has spent most of the season with the G League’s Maine Celtics, where’s he’s averaging 16.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game in 23 regular season contests.
Warriors Sign Omer Yurtseven To 10-Day Deal
March 15: The Warriors’ 10-day deal with Yurtseven is now official, according to the team (Twitter link). It will run through March 24, covering Golden State’s next six games.
March 14: The Warriors plan to sign free agent center Omer Yurtseven to a 10-day contract, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
Agents Keith Glass and Luke Glass confirmed the news to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Yurtseven, who averaged 5.0 points and 4.6 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per game in 113 NBA regular season appearances with the Heat and Jazz from 2021-24, signed a G League deal 10 days ago and had been playing for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets’ affiliate.
In three games with the Vipers this month, Yurtseven averaged 23.0 points, 13.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 29.7 minutes per contest. The 27-year-old converted 56.9% of his field goals and 87.5% of his free throws in a small sample size.
The Turkish big man has spent most of the past two years overseas playing for Panathinaikos, but recently parted ways with the Greek EuroLeague team.
Yurtseven will provide a strong rebounding presence for Golden State, which has been hit hard by a spate of recent injuries.
In addition to Jimmy Butler (torn right ACL) and Stephen Curry (runner’s knee), who have been out since January, Moses Moody has missed the past six games due to a right wrist sprain and four other players (Draymond Green, Al Horford, Seth Curry and Quinten Post) were hurt either before or during Friday’s loss to Minnesota.
Veteran big man Horford is expected to miss multiple games due to a right calf injury. The 39-year-old has formally been diagnosed with a soleus (calf) strain, per Anthony Slater of ESPN (Twitter link), while Seth Curry has a left adductor strain. All of the aforementioned players (aside from Post, who’s questionable) are out for Sunday’s game in New York. De’Anthony Melton (left knee injury management) and Kristaps Porzingis (general illness management) are out as well on the first of a back-to-back.
As a three-year veteran, Yurtseven will make $141,463 over the course of his 10 days with Golden State, while the Warriors will carry a $131,970 cap hit. The team had one roster opening and won’t need to waive anyone to add Yurtseven.
Giannis Praises ‘Heat Culture’ After Thursday’s Game
The Heat were among the teams that contacted the Bucks about a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade before February’s deadline, and his comments after they played on Thursday night indicate that Miami has at least piqued Antetokounmpo’s interest, writes Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints.
The teams are headed in sharply different directions, underscored by the Heat’s 112-105 victory, which was their seventh in a row. Miami has been among the league’s best teams since the All-Star break and has moved into a tie for fifth in the East. The Bucks dropped their third straight contest and are six games away from play-in territory with 17 left to go.
“They’re going to play tough, and they’re not going to stop playing. That’s the Miami Heat culture,” Antetokounmpo said. “It’s tough. For me personally, I don’t know how the team feels, but for me personally, it’s (been) a tough season. … I’m just trying to take it game by game. I’m grateful — happy that I’m out here competing. But at the same time, it’s in my nature to win games.”
Those comments are familiar from Antetokounmpo, who has frequently expressed his loyalty to the city of Milwaukee and the franchise, but always with the qualifier that he wants to be on a team that can contend for a title. The Bucks have been eliminated from the playoffs in the first round the past three seasons and have just a single series win since their 2021 championship.
Antetokounmpo didn’t ask for a trade as Milwaukee listened to offers this winter, but Siegel believes his post-game comments on Thursday are a strong indication that he has given some thought to what life might be like with the Heat.
“Miami’s head coach (Erik Spoelstra) is going to keep playing, man,” Antetokounmpo said. “Even when they don’t knock down shots, you’re going to get second chances. They’re going to crash the board, get rebounds, find the open man, try to get to the free throw line, keep on moving the ball, get the ball to Bam (Adebayo), and try to execute from there. They’re going to play hard. They have guards that can penetrate and drive and kick, and that’s what they do, man.”
Siegel notes that Antetokounmpo and Adebayo are represented by the same agency and have formed a bond through their years of battles on the court. Antetokounmpo also came to Adebayo’s defense this week after critics claimed his 83-point game was tainted because it took so many late free throws to reach that mark. Antetokounmpo called it an “incredible” performance and said it will survive historically regardless of any criticism.
“Obviously, whenever I play against Bam, it’s always extra motivation. I think he’s one of the best players in the NBA,” he added. “One of the best two-way players in the NBA. One of the best 4-5 man in the league. Whenever I go at him, I don’t have to see 83 points on the board or follow the hype to find extra motivation to guard Bam. I think it goes both ways.”
Bam Adebayo: ‘I Don’t Care’ About Critics Of 83-Point Game
After posting the second-highest single-game scoring total in NBA history on Tuesday, Bam Adebayo felt like he received more criticism than praise about the circumstances surrounding his 83-point night. Following the Heat‘s victory over Milwaukee on Thursday, Adebayo fired back at his detractors, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic.
“First of all, y’all are blaming me. You should be blaming that head coach (Washington’s Brian Keefe). Get that first,” Adebayo said. “I was not the one that let me go one-on-one the whole game until I had 70 (points) and then started to send a double (team). At that point, I had 70 with, what, nine minutes left to go in the game? You think I’m not going for it?”
As Katz outlines, both teams altered their strategies during the closing minutes of Adebayo’s historic performance. Miami committed several intentional fouls to get the ball back and give him more scoring chances, while the Wizards surrounded Adebayo with their entire defense in an effort to stop him from surpassing Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game from 2006.
Adebayo set the tone for the night with 31 points in the first quarter, reached 43 by halftime, and was at 62 going into the fourth quarter. He set NBA records by making 36 free throws and attempting 43, with 16 of his foul shots coming in the closing 12 minutes.
“That’s the thing that’s crazy when they talk about the unethical part of basketball. I’m like, ‘I had 70 with nine minutes to go,’” Adebayo said. “Who would just be like, ‘You know, coach? Just take me out.’ Yeah, right. … A minute? All right. Nine? Yeah, I’m going for it. You can’t be mad at that. If you are mad, I don’t care. Because a lot of people, they’re upset because if they did play, they never had a chance to get that close to chasing greatness. And if you get that close to chasing greatness, that’s the point of chasing it, so you can surpass it. … If you’ve been in the backyard, and you and a couple of your homies are playing 21, and you got 19, you’re not gonna get an easy look off.”
Regarding the free throws, he added, “It’s not like I shoot 15 free throws a game. It’s not like I average 10 free throws a game. You can watch the film. I was legitimately getting fouled every time, so I went to the free-throw line.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra sent a similar message during Thursday’s pregame session with the media, saying, “I apologize to absolutely no one,” per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (subscription required). The Heat played Tuesday without Tyler Herro, Norman Powell, Kel’el Ware and Andrew Wiggins, who were all sidelined by injuries, so Spoelstra wanted Adebayo to take control of the offense.
“I’ve seen people say, you’ve got to be a purist,” Spoelstra said. “I’m a Darwinist in this league. Really, you can do anything you want in this game. You can approach it however you want. If we get criticized for what we do, there was probably irony in these two organizations. There’s nothing wrong with what [the Wizards are] doing. If you can tank and get a great draft pick, I don’t care. Like, you can do anything you want in this league. You can approach it however you want.
“We don’t do that and we have a 14th pick do something that you’re trying to get out of the No. 1 pick. I’ve seen teams hack a Shaq. Debate it or not debate it, who cares? You can do whatever you want. You foul three-point shooters, not foul three-point shooters. You can take the last shot in the game that’s already over or don’t take it. Who gives a damn? Like, you’re allowed to do what? I don’t even believe in that.”
Keyonte George Out At Least Two Weeks With Hamstring Strain
Jazz guard Keyonte George has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 right hamstring strain and is expected to be reevaluated in two weeks, sources tell Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link). Tony Jones of The Athletic confirms the news (via Twitter).
George underwent imaging after suffering the injury during Wednesday’s loss to New York. He played 20 minutes in that game, recording 14 points, five assists and two rebounds in 20 minutes prior to being ruled out.
The 16th overall pick in the 2023 draft, George is having a breakout third season for Utah, averaging 23.6 points, 6.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 33.1 minutes per contest on .456/.371/.892 shooting through 54 games.
Since George is a former first-round pick who had his fourth-year option exercised, he will be eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer. If the 22-year-old doesn’t sign an offseason extension, he will be a restricted free agent in 2027.
Isaiah Collier and Elijah Harkless are among the candidates for more backcourt minutes with George sidelined for the foreseeable future.
The 20-46 Jazz are shorthanded at the moment, with Walker Kessler, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic all out for the season due to injuries.