Nuggets Among Teams Interested In Mavs’ Khris Middleton
Veteran small forward Khris Middleton tells Marc Stein of The Stein Line he’s still evaluating his options ahead of Sunday’s deadline to be waived by one team and remain eligible to appear in the postseason for another club (Twitter links).
According to Stein, Middleton’s is considering whether he wants to stay with the Mavericks for the rest of the season or reach a buyout agreement with Dallas in order to sign with a playoff team. The Nuggets are among the teams with interest in the 34-year-old, league sources tell Stein.
Middleton stressed to Stein that he’s “grateful for the warm welcome he’s received in Dallas.” As Stein reported on Tuesday, the Mavs have essentially left the buyout decision up to Middleton and his camp and would happily retain him for the remainder of the season if he opts to go that route.
Bennett Durando of The Denver Post confirms (via Twitter) that the Nuggets are intrigued by Middleton, adding that Denver also showed interest in Kyle Anderson, who will sign with the Timberwolves after a buyout with Memphis. The Nuggets are searching for size on the wing and ball-handling, Durando reports.
Middleton, who has dealt with injuries in recent years, is no longer the same player who earned All-Star berths three times in four years from 2019-22, but he has performed pretty well since he arrived in Dallas in the Anthony Davis trade. In 39 total games this season, Middleton has averaged 10.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 24.2 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .441/.336/.851.
In the event of a buyout, Middleton would be ineligible to sign with Cleveland, Golden State, or New York, since clubs operating over either tax apron aren’t permitted to sign a player waived during the season who had been earning more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($14.1MM). Middleton’s $33.3MM expiring salary far exceeds that figure.
It’s also worth noting that Middleton would forfeit his Bird rights if he agrees to a buyout. While he’ll certainly have to take a pay cut this summer either way, retaining those Bird rights would likely put him in a better position to avoid settling for the veteran’s minimum or something close to it.
Raptors Notes: Barrett, Ingram, Shead, Barnes, Dick, Battle
The Raptors blew a double-digit lead en route to Wednesday’s loss to San Antonio and only managed to score 17 points in the fourth quarter. Toronto’s half-court offense has been a major reason why the club is now 4-15 against the teams with the 10 best records in the NBA, per Eric Koreen of The Athletic.
As Koreen writes, RJ Barrett certainly isn’t solely to blame for those half-court struggles, but he hasn’t been helping matters lately. The 25-year-old wing has averaged 14.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists on .401/.308/.734 shooting in 12 games since he returned from an ankle sprain. His scoring, FG% and 3PT% over that stretch are well below his full-season averages.
Unless Toronto reverses the trend of falling to the league’s top teams and Barrett starts playing better, using Barrett as a primary salary-matching piece could be the team’s best chance at improving in the offseason, says Koreen. Barrett will earn $29.6MM in 2026/27, which is the final year of his contract.
Rival teams didn’t seem interested in the long-term contracts of Immanuel Quickley or Jakob Poeltl ahead of the deadline, Koreen writes, and the only other high-priced player the team might consider using in search of upgrades would be Brandon Ingram. But Ingram makes more money than Barrett, has taken pressure off Scottie Barnes, and holds a $41.9MM player option for ’27/28, Koreen notes.
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- In another story for The Athletic, Koreen details how second-year guard Jamal Shead has become a beloved member of the Raptors not just for his play, but for his leadership as well. General manager Bobby Webster likened Shead to Fred VanVleet, while Shead’s head coach at Houston, Kelvin Sampson, said he was the “best point guard defender I’ve ever coached and he’s also the greatest leader I’ve ever had.” “He’s intense. You can tell he means every word he says,” said LJ Cryer, who lived with Shead during the latter’s senior year with the Cougars. “He’s not gonna let you slack. If he sees you not playing hard, he’s gonna call you out on that. He doesn’t hold his tongue. He practices what he preaches. He picks up the ball full court. He’s hounding guys, diving on the floor, all that. Whenever he’s playing with that intensity, you’ve got to match him. You can’t just have one guy out there playing balls to the wall and the rest of us chilling.”
- Head coach Darko Rajakovic said Barnes was “playing through pain” and “on one leg” in Wednesday’s loss to the Spurs, according to Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link). That was Rajakovic’s rational for why Barnes was resting to open the final period, Lewenberg adds.
- Third-year wing Gradey Dick, the 13th overall pick of the 2023 draft, was out of the rotation entirely on Wednesday, receiving his first DNP-CD in more than two years. Rajakovic discussed it after the game, per Lewenberg (Twitter link), stating that Dick was still adjusting to his role, which is much different than it was over his first two seasons. Jamison Battle may have leapfrogged Dick in the rotation, notes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca, though the second-year small forward is still playing limited minutes.
Grizzlies Sign Taj Gibson To Two-Year Deal
10:03 pm: Gibson’s two-year contract with the Grizzlies is now official, the team announced (via Twitter). Anderson was officially waived following his buyout.
Gibson’s minimum-salary contract for next season is non-guaranteed, confirms Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). It’s worth noting that since he signed a two-year deal, Gibson’s $3.8MM salary for 2026/27 will be his cap hit as well.
5:58 pm: The Grizzlies plan to sign free agent big man Taj Gibson, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). In a full story for ESPN.com, Charania states that Gibson is signing a two-year deal with Memphis, though the second season seems likely to be non-guaranteed.
Memphis is opening up a roster spot after reaching a buyout agreement with Kyle Anderson, who plans to sign with Minnesota.
Gibson, 40, appeared in 37 games with Charlotte last season, averaging 2.9 points and 3.2 rebounds in 11.1 minutes per contest. He had been out of the NBA this season, but the longtime veteran is widely respected around the league for his leadership and professionalism, Charania notes (via Twitter).
Gibson will join a Grizzlies club which has pivoted to a full-fledged rebuild after trading Desmond Bane last summer, struggling amid another wave of injuries in 2025/26, and then sending Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah earlier this month. The 6’9″ forward/center will serve as a mentor and add size to Memphis, which has several frontcourt players sidelined.
This will be Gibson’s 17th NBA season, and if he plays in a game for the Grizzlies, he will become just the 35th player in league history to appear in a game at age 40, per Charania.
Kyle Anderson To Sign With Wolves After Grizzlies Buyout
9:20 pm: Anderson has been placed on waivers following his buyout agreement, the Grizzlies confirmed (via Twitter).
5:47 pm: Veteran forward Kyle Anderson has agreed to a buyout with the Grizzlies and intends to sign with the Timberwolves after he clears waivers, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
As Charania notes, Anderson previously played two seasons in Minnesota, including helping the Wolves reach the Western Conference finals in 2023/24.
Anderson opened the season with Utah, appearing in 20 games prior to being traded to Memphis earlier this month in the Jaren Jackson Jr. blockbuster. The 32-year-old’s second stint with the rebuilding Grizzlies will be very brief (he appeared in four games), as he’ll return to a Minnesota team hoping to make another deep playoff run.
According to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter links), at least one other contending team was eyeing Anderson, who is a 12-year veteran. He was a locker-room leader in his first stint with the Timberwolves and amicably parted ways with the organization in 2024 (via sign-and-trade), Krawczynski adds.
Known for his versatility and solid defense, Anderson has averaged 7.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals in 20.4 minutes per game across his 24 appearances this season. He has shot 56.3% from the field and 67.4% from the free throw line.
As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, Anderson was under contract through next season, but his $9.7MM salary for 2026/27 was non-guaranteed. He was still owed $2.3MM of his $9.2MM salary for this season, per Marks.
Anderson will be the latest addition for the Wolves, who traded for Ayo Dosunmu and Julian Phillips at the deadline, re-signed Mike Conley after trading him (he was involved in a second deal before being waived), and added Jules Bernard on a two-way contract, Marks notes (via Twitter).
As we relayed in a separate story, Memphis will fill Anderson’s roster spot by signing veteran big man Taj Gibson, who had been out of the league this season until now.
Lauri Markkanen Out At Least Two Weeks Due To Hip Injury
Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen has been diagnosed with a right hip impingement following an MRI and will be reevaluated in two weeks, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Markkanen suffered the injury in Wednesday’s practice.
Markkanen also underwent imaging on his right ankle, which he tweaked in Wednesday’s practice, but those scans came back clean, Charania reports.
The Finnish star has performed at a high level this season when healthy, averaging 26.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in 34.4 minutes per game across 42 outings (all starts). However, after appearing in Utah’s first 22 games, he has played in just 20 of the past 36 contests, missing time here and there due to minor ailments, including a seven-game absence in January as a result of an illness.
The Jazz, who have already ruled out both Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic for the season for health reasons, have little incentive to win down the stretch, since they want to make sure they retain their top-eight protected 2026 first-round pick. They were fined $500K by the NBA a couple weeks ago for how they managed Markkanen and Jackson in a pair of games.
Tony Jones of The Athletic reported on Wednesday evening that the NBA was sending an independent doctor to Utah to confirm the results of Markkanen’s MRI, but he deleted that tweet by Thursday morning without providing clarification.
Multiple reporters, including Marc Stein of The Stein Line and Jones himself (Twitter links), later confirmed that initial report wasn’t accurate and that the league would simply have access to the MRI results, which is always the case based on the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Utah is currently 18-40, which is the sixth-worst record in the NBA.
NBA Fines Magic’s Desmond Bane $25K
The NBA has fined Magic guard Desmond Bane $25K for “throwing the game ball with force into the spectator stands,” the league announced in a press release (Twitter link).
Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel has a video (Twitter link) of the incident, which occurred at the conclusion of Orlando’s one-point victory at the Lakers on Tuesday. After the final buzzer, Bane threw a full-court heave and the ball went over the opposite hoop, ricocheted off the shot clock, and hit a few fans behind the basket.
As Beede notes in a full story, this is the second time Bane has been fined by the league this season — he was docked $35K in December for throwing the game ball at Knicks forward OG Anunoby with force and in an “unsportsmanlike manner.” He also received a technical foul for that incident and has been penalized for five other technicals as well, per Spotrac (a total of $12K for the six technical fouls).
Bane is in his first season with the Magic, who acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the Grizzlies over the summer. The 27-year-old is earning $36.7MM this season, so his latest fine won’t impact him much financially.
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.