Injury Notes: Brown, Hayes, Siakam, Thompson, Jovic, Goodwin
Celtics star forward Jaylen Brown won’t play on Tuesday against the Suns due to a right knee contusion. He was originally listed as questionable but was downgraded about seven hours before tipoff, Brian Robb of MassLive.com reports.
This will be the sixth game Brown has missed this season. The veteran wing is averaging 29.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game and scored a team-high 32 points in 36 minutes on Sunday against the Lakers.
Here’s more injury news from around the league:
- Lakers big man Jaxson Hayes will miss tonight’s game against Orlando due to a right ankle sprain, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin tweets. Hayes played just five minutes against Boston on Sunday before exiting due to that injury.
- Rockets guard Amen Thompson will sit out Wednesday’s home game against Sacramento due to left quad tendinitis, Varun Shankar of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Thompson played 29 minutes against Utah on Monday, contributing 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists in Houston’s 20-point victory.
- Pacers forward Pascal Siakam won’t play against Philadelphia tonight due to a left wrist sprain, Tony East of Forbess tweets. It will be the seventh game he’s missed this season.
- Heat forward Nikola Jovic has returned to Miami during the team’s current road trip for back treatment, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. Miami plays Milwaukee tonight and wraps up its trip in Philadelphia on Thursday. The Heat’s next home game is Saturday against Houston. It’s been a rough season for Jovic, who has been in and out of the rotation after signing a four-year, $62.4MM extension in October.
- Suns guard Jordan Goodwin, who is dealing with a left calf strain, will be re-evaluated in one to two weeks, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. Goodwin had a 17-point outing against Orlando on Saturday, then missed the next contest against Portland. The Suns also confirmed Dillon Brooks‘ four-to-six week timeline before a reevaluation of his broken left hand.
How Starter Criteria Could Impact 2026 RFAs
A player who is eligible for restricted free agency doesn't become a restricted free agent by default. His team must issue him a qualifying offer to avoid having him become unrestricted.
The value of a qualifying offer - which is essentially a one-year contract offer that gives the player's original team the right of first refusal in the event he signs an offer sheet with a rival suitor - is determined by one or more factors, including the player's draft position, his previous salary, and/or his minimum salary. The player's role in the year or two leading up to his restricted free agency also plays an an important part in determining the amount of his qualifying offer.
If a player starts at least 41 games or logs at least 2,000 minutes in the season before he reaches restricted free agency - or averages 41 starts or 2,000 minutes during the two seasons prior to free agency - it increases the value of his qualifying offer, as we explain in more detail in a glossary entry.
While it's generally a good thing for a player if he meets this "starter criteria," doing so often doesn't have a major impact on his free agency, as we've noted in the past. For instance, if a restricted free agent is on track for a four-year, $120MM contract, it doesn't matter all that much if the value of his qualifying offer gets bumped from $6MM to $8MM, since it was always going to be just a placeholder anyway.
However, seeing the way that free agency played out for RFAs like Jonathan Kuminga, Quentin Grimes, and Cam Thomas a year ago provided a good reminder that changing the value of a player's qualifying offer can have a real impact on his contract negotiations.
Kuminga, for example, failed to meet the starter criteria, which reduced the amount of his qualifying offer from about $10.24MM to $7.98MM. If he'd been eligible for that higher QO, maybe Kuminga would've been more inclined to accept it rather than sign a two-year offer from the Warriors that required him to give up his trade veto power and add a second-year team option.
Grimes, meanwhile, did meet the starter criteria in 2024/25, which bumped the value of his qualifying offer from $6.31MM to $8.74MM. After unsuccessful contract negotiations with the Sixers, he ultimately signed that QO, giving him a de facto no-trade clause for '25/26 and lining him up to reach unrestricted free agency this summer. There's no guarantee Grimes would've made that same decision if his qualifying offer had been worth $2.43MM less -- in that scenario, maybe one of Philadelphia's multiyear offers would have looked more appealing.
As for Thomas, he fell short of the starter criteria due to repeated hamstring issues, resulting in a $5.99MM qualifying offer instead of one worth $8.74MM. He still ended up accepting it, but it's worth asking whether the Nets would have even put that higher QO on the table at all if Thomas had met the starter criteria, or if they would've let him become an unrestricted free agent last July. The contract offers Brooklyn made him before he signed the qualifying offer were reportedly very modest, and the team was willing to waive him outright earlier this month after not finding a trade for him at the deadline.
So which of this year's potential restricted free agents could be most impacted by the starter criteria in the same way that some of 2025's top RFAs were?
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.
And-Ones: Saric, Beverley, Cap Room, Peterson
After being waived by the Pistons following this month’s trade deadline, veteran forward/center Dario Saric has joined the Croatian national team for the winter qualifying window for the 2027 FIBA World Cup, according to a Eurohoops report.
Saric has played in the NBA since leaving Anadolu Efes in Turkey in 2016, but he saw his playing time decline sharply in recent years. The 31-year-old appeared in just five games for Sacramento this season after playing only 16 times for Denver in 2024/25. Based on his role reduction in the NBA, he’s expecting to find his next team in Europe.
“Right now, my focus is on the EuroLeague,” he said. “Finding a team and a system that suits me and allows me to adjust after the NBA.”
Saric reportedly drew interest from Hapoel Tel Aviv before the Israeli team signed veteran NBA forward Kessler Edwards.
We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Longtime NBA guard Patrick Beverley, who is currently under contract with PAOK BC in Greece, won’t face charges after being arrested in Texas in November following a domestic incident, per Scooby Axson and Jim Reineking of USA Today. Beverley was accused of assaulting his teenage sister, but a grand jury returned a no-bill, having decided there wasn’t enough evidence for the matter to go to trial. “(Beverley) is glad that the process was allowed to work as it did and his hope is that with these charges behind him now, his name and reputation will be restored,” his attorneys said in a statement.
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report breaks down each NBA team’s cap situation heading into 2026/27, considering which clubs will have the financial flexibility to go shopping in free agency and which ones will be the most limited in their ability to spend.
- Various health problems, including hamstring and ankle issues, have resulted in inconsistent availability and a decline in effectiveness for Kansas star Darryn Peterson, according to one NBA scout who believes the potential No. 1 overall pick would be better off shutting it down for the season and prioritizing his long-term future. “He doesn’t have the same burst he had playing in high school,” that scout told Grant Afseth of RG.org. “You can see he’s trying to battle through it, and I respect that. But at some point, you’ve got to ask what you’re gaining versus what you’re risking. He’s clearly not 100%. It would be wise to shut it down and not risk anything. The constant speculation is only a negative at this point.”
- A group of ESPN insiders considers what’s next for a team of 10 lottery-bound teams, exploring how their trade deadline moves might have impacted their draft plans and their offseason outlooks.
Nuggets Notes: Gordon, Watson, Johnson, Simpson
The Nuggets have had to deal with a barrage of injuries impacting starters and rotation players this season, but head coach David Adelman is optimistic it won’t be much longer until the roster is healthy again. Adelman told reporters today that he’s hoping the team will be fully healthy with about 20 games to go in the season, as Ryan Blackburn of Mile High Sports tweets.
The Nuggets will be playing their 62nd game of the season on Monday in Utah, so if we take Adelman literally, he’s suggesting that players like Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Peyton Watson (hamstring) might be able to return in a week or so. For what it’s worth, Blackburn says he’s heard it could be more like two or three weeks before Gordon and Watson are back.
Adelman provided a positive update on Gordon’s progress today, indicating that the veteran forward did “basically everything but the contact stuff” in Tuesday’s practice, per Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (Twitter link).
“He got up and down (the court). We did some situational defensive drills. He was a part of that,” Adelman said. “But it’s just gonna be a day-by-day thing. … Aaron’s been great. He’s understood the process.”
Gordon, who last played on January 23, was ruled out for at least four-to-six weeks due to a right hamstring strain, while Watson has been out since February 4 with a left hamstring strain and is expected to be reevaluated in early March.
We have more on the Nuggets:
- The odds are high that Denver will have to part ways with a key player this offseason, Durando writes in a mailbag for The Denver Post (subscription required). As Durando explains, the Nuggets have essentially treated the second tax apron like a hard cap in recent years, but re-signing restricted free agent Watson – who has had a breakout 2025/26 season – would require them to either surpass that threshold or move off another one of their highest-paid players. According to Durando, sources he has spoken to view Cameron Johnson as the most likely trade candidate if the team makes a move to create more financial flexibility to re-sign Watson.
- The Nuggets still have an open spot on their 15-man roster, and Durando thinks the team will most likely use that opening to add more size on the wing. However, he cautions that the front office is expected to wait to see who else shakes free on the buyout market in the coming days before making any decisions on that 15th roster spot.
- The two-way contract that guard KJ Simpson signed with the Nuggets last week covers two years, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Denver will have the ability to hang onto Simpson through the 2026/27 season on that deal.
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.
Jazz’s Vince Williams Jr. Diagnosed With Torn ACL
1:59 pm: After undergoing additional tests, Williams has been diagnosed with an ACL tear in his left knee, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
In addition to ending Williams’ 2025/26 season, it’s also likely to keep him sidelined for a significant chunk of ’26/27, given the typical recovery timeline for the injury.
12:22 am: Vince Williams Jr. had to be carried to the locker room during Monday’s loss at Houston and multiple sources who spoke to Sarah Todd of The Deseret News (Bluesky links) believe the Jazz guard sustained a “significant ACL injury” in his left knee.
According to Todd, Williams left the arena on crutches and will undergo an MRI in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
“It doesn’t look good, we’ll get an MRI,” head coach Will Hardy said.
Williams injured his knee while running back on defense when the Rockets had a fast break. He was bumped by Tari Eason and lost his balance, and his left knee hyperextended inward in a gruesome manner. The video is not for the squeamish (Bluesky link via Todd).
Hardy was upset about the play, which wasn’t called a foul, Todd adds.
“That’s not basketball,” Hardy said.
Eason checked on Williams after the game, Todd reports (via Bluesky), and let Williams know he wasn’t trying to injure him.
The 47th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Williams was acquired by Utah from Memphis earlier this month along with Jaren Jackson Jr. and two other players. Jackson is also out for the season, while Jock Landale was flipped to Atlanta ahead of the trade deadline, so John Konchar is the only player from that trade left standing for the Jazz.
Entering Monday’s game, Williams was averaging 5.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists in five appearances with Utah (15.2 MPG). The former Toledo guard played in 34 games with the Grizzlies prior to being traded, averaging 8.0 PPG, 4.4 APG and 4.0 RPG in 21.6 MPG.
Williams is in his fourth NBA season and is making $2.3MM this season. The Jazz hold a $2.5MM team option on his contract for 2026/27.
Coby White Available To Make Hornets Debut Tuesday
For the first time in his NBA career, Coby White will play for a team besides the Bulls on Tuesday. However, the setting will be a familiar one. The seventh-year guard, who was traded from Chicago to Charlotte at this month’s deadline, will be making his Hornets debut at the Bulls’ United Center, his former home arena (Twitter link).
White, who turned 26 last Monday, was selected seventh overall in the 2019 draft by the Bulls and spent six-and-a-half seasons with the team before being sent to the Hornets in a four-player deadline deal that also saw Chicago acquire two second-round picks.
The Hornets were originally going to include three second-rounders in their package for White, but after a physical revealed a left calf injury that would sideline him for a few more weeks, the two teams agreed to amend the deal to remove one of those draft picks. White has now recovered from that calf injury and is ready to take the floor against his old team.
While White has been limited to 29 outings this season due to calf issues, he has remained an effective offensive weapon when healthy, averaging 18.6 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in 29.1 minutes per game with a .438/.346/.805 shooting line.
Speaking on Tuesday to reporters, including Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link), White – who is on an expiring contract – said he and the Bulls talked earlier in the season about a possible future together beyond this year. However, he passed on an extension and said today that he expected to be traded at the deadline after word broke that the team had agreed to send out Kevin Huerter and Nikola Vucevic in separate deals.
“Things change,” he said. “The way the season was going, we weren’t stacking enough wins consistently.”
Tuesday’s matchup will feature two teams going in opposite directions. The Bulls are on a nine-game losing streak and are still seeking their first victory of the month, while the Hornets have bounced back from a 4-14 start to go 23-17 since then, with 11 wins in their past 14 games.
Stein’s Latest: Middleton, Irving, Sabonis, Porzingis
Will veteran forward Khris Middleton seek a buyout in the coming days? According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link), the Mavericks have essentially left that decision up to Middleton and his camp and would be open to either negotiating the 34-year-old’s release or hanging onto him for the rest of the season.
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 arriving in Dallas. His performance in Sunday’s win over Indiana – 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting, seven assists, and seven rebounds – was arguably his best of the season.
As Stein writes, the Mavericks have conveyed to Middleton that they’ll be in need of shooting heading into this offseason, so if he sticks around, it’s possible the relationship between the two sides could extend beyond 2025/26. If Middleton instead decides to pursue a buyout, he would want to do so sooner rather than later, since players waived after March 1 don’t retain their playoff eligibility with a new team.
In the event of a buyout, the three-time All-Star 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.
Here are a few more items of interest from Stein:
- Although Kyrie Irving won’t return from his torn ACL for the Mavericks until the fall, the club is hopeful that the star guard will be able to take part in at least one or two full-speed practices before the end of this season, Stein writes. Teams typically don’t practice in full during the season unless they have multiple consecutive days off — that will be the case for Dallas on March 19-20, March 28-29, and April 1-2.
- The Kings entertained trading Domantas Sabonis prior to February’s trade deadline, but it’s not considered a lock that they’ll do so again this summer, a source tells Stein. Sacramento’s interest in an offseason Sabonis deal could hinge in large part on where the team lands in the draft lottery and which prospect they select with that pick, Stein explains. Toronto and Washington were among the teams linked to Sabonis earlier this season, though the Wizards pivoted to acquiring Anthony Davis. It’s possible the Raptors would circle back on the Kings big man this offseason if he’s made available again.
- The Warriors‘ hope when they traded for Kristaps Porzingis at the deadline, according to Stein, was that he’d “click” with the team and its medical staff and would be willing to re-sign with Golden State at a more team-friendly price once his current $30.7MM contract expires. However, Porzingis’ availability remains an ongoing concern as he deals with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), creating uncertainty about his future in the Bay Area beyond this season.