Raptors Sign Rhoden To Two-Way Deal, Promote Robinson
12:19 pm: Both roster moves are now official, according to the transaction log at NBA.com.
10:54 am: The Raptors have agreed to a two-way contract with guard Jared Rhoden, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Rhoden, 25, was in camp with Toronto back in the fall. When the Raptors waived him at the end of the preseason, he was claimed by the Hornets, who converted him to a two-way deal and kept him him on their roster for about six weeks before cutting him in early December.
After appearing in four games for the Hornets and two for their G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, Rhoden has been suiting up for the Raptors 905 for most of the NBAGL season. The former Seton Hall standout has averaged 16.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals in 30.3 minutes per game across 22 appearances for Toronto’s G League affiliate. He has knocked down down 49.5% of his shots from the floor, including 38.0% of his three-pointers.
Rhoden was briefly under contract with the Raptors last month after signing a 10-day deal with the team on February 19. He appeared in just one NBA game for Toronto during those 10 days, seeing 78 seconds of garbage-time action in a blowout win over Phoenix.
The Raptors will have to open up a two-way slot in order to sign Rhoden and the expectation is that they’ll do so by promoting center Orlando Robinson to their standard roster, reports Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link). It’s expected to be a straight conversion for Robinson, which means he’ll just be signed for the rest of the season, according to Murphy.
Robinson, who opened the season on a non-guaranteed contract in Sacramento, barely played for the Kings, but has been part of the Raptors’ regular rotation in recent weeks, first on a pair of 10-day contracts, then on a two-way deal. He has posted 5.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 1.3 APG in 17 games (15.7 MPG) for Toronto.
The Raptors currently have two openings on their 15-man roster, so they’ll still have room for another player after promoting Robinson.
Hawks Terminate Kevon Harris’ 10-Day Contract
The Hawks have terminated Kevon Harris‘ 10-day contract on just the fourth day of the deal, the team announced today in a press release.
Harris earned a promotion to Atlanta’s NBA roster after starring this season for the College Park Skyhawks in the G League. In 36 outings for the Hawks’ NBAGL affiliate, he has averaged 19.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 30.8 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .456/.436/.805.
Although he was technically active for the Hawks on Monday against Memphis, Harris didn’t see any action. His contract has been ended early so that the Hawks can elevate Dominick Barlow from his two-way contract to the standard roster. Promoting Barlow today will allow Atlanta to sign a replacement two-way player before Tuesday’s deadline.
Harris won’t have to pass through waivers and becomes an NBA free agent immediately now that his contract has been terminated. He remains eligible for a two-way deal if Atlanta still wants to keep him on the roster in some form.
Even though he was released early, Harris will still earn his full 10-day salary of $119,972.
David Roddy Signs Two-Way Deal With Rockets
March 4: The Rockets have officially signed Roddy to a two-way contract, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
March 3: David Roddy has agreed on a two-way contract with the Rockets, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.
Houston opened up a two-way spot by promoting Jeenathan Williams to a standard four-year, $8.2MM contract over the weekend.
Roddy didn’t last long as a free agent after he was waived by the Sixers on Saturday. Roddy signed a two-way deal with Philadelphia last month after a 10-day contract with the Sixers expired. He played three games with Philadelphia, averaging 6.0 points in 9.7 minutes per contest.
Roddy began the season with Atlanta, but was placed on waivers so the Hawks could complete a two-for-one deal with the Clippers at the trade deadline. Before being released, he appeared in 27 games, averaging 4.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 12.8 minutes per night.
The Sixers selected Roddy with the 23rd pick in 2022, but traded him to Memphis on draft night. He was sent to Phoenix in a three-team deal at the 2024 deadline and then shipped to Atlanta in an offseason trade.
Roddy, who turns 24 later this month, has averaged 6.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 17 minutes per game during his 165-game NBA career.
He’ll add depth to a frontcourt that’s been a little banged up recently. A handful of forwards and centers are listed as questionable for Monday’s game against Oklahoma City.
Hoops Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript: 3/4/2025
Hoops Rumors’ Arthur Hill held a live chat today exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Topics included Kyrie Irving's future in Dallas, the Sixers' incentives to tank, the ugly race for play-in spots in the East, potential summer trades involving Trae Young and LaMelo Ball and more! Use the link below to read the transcript.
Celtics Add Miles Norris On Two-Way Deal
March 4: Norris’ two-way contract with the Celtics is now official, according to a press release from the team.
March 2: The Celtics are signing forward Miles Norris to a two-way contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.
Norris, who has yet to make his NBA debut, has been playing for the NBA G League’s Memphis Hustle. In 36 games combining his Showcase Cup and regular-season appearances, Norris is averaging 17.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.6 minutes per contest.
Norris went undrafted in 2023 after playing at UC Santa Barbara. He signed a two-way contract with the Hawks prior to last season but was waived in December. He then joined the Hawks’ G League team in College Park, where he averaged 11.6 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 45 games.
Norris participated in the Grizzlies’ training camp this past fall after signing a camp deal, but was waived prior to the season.
Boston opened up a two-way spot on Sunday by waiving rookie forward Anton Watson.
Jalen Suggs Undergoes Left Knee Surgery, Out For Season
March 4: Suggs has undergone arthroscopic surgery to remove a cartilage fragment in his left knee, according to the Magic, who say the procedure also involved a “mosaicplasty to repair the trochlear joint surface” (Twitter link).
The team has formally ruled out Suggs for the rest of the season.
March 2: All-Defensive Team Magic guard Jalen Suggs will have a cartilage fragment removed from his left knee via arthroscopic surgery, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel reports that Suggs will undergo surgery this week, and the Magic anticipate that he will fully recover.
Earlier this week, Suggs had been sidelined indefinitely after being diagnosed with a trochlea injury in his left knee. The team had reportedly considered a litany of non-surgical interventions, including physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medication and rest, but ultimately determined that surgery was the best route.
The 23-year-old had already been shelved for Orlando’s last 14 games with what was originally called a left quad contusion. All told, the young guard has been out for 24 of Orlando’s last 25 contests, having also dealt with a low back strain in January.
Suggs had been building toward a return to action in recent weeks, but soon felt some lingering discomfort in his left knee. Further imaging revealed the trochlea injury.
The former No. 5 pick out of Gonzaga has averaged 16.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game this season for Orlando. Suggs is widely seen as one of the league’s elite perimeter defenders, and he has clearly been missed on both ends of the floor.
Orlando has gone 20-15 across Suggs’ 35 healthy bouts this year, and an underwhelming 9-17 when he has sat. The Magic had been a top-four seed for much of the season prior to his injuries but is now 29-32 and the East’s No. 8 seed.
As Charania notes (via Twitter), Suggs has played sparingly this season with Orlando’s other top rising talents, All-Star forward Paolo Banchero and fellow starting forward Franz Wagner. Collectively, that triumvirate has only shared the hardwood for 97 total minutes in 2024/25.
In October, Orlando inked Suggs to a five-season, $150.5MM rookie scale extension. That fully-guaranteed deal will kick in when the 2025/26 league year begins. He is clearly considered a major part of the club’s long-term future, but it’s unclear when he’ll be able to contribute again.
Kyrie Irving Diagnosed With Season-Ending ACL Tear
Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving‘s left knee injury has been diagnosed as a torn ACL, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The injury will end Irving’s season.
Irving was injured during the first quarter of Monday’s loss to Sacramento as he drove to the basket and attempted to split Kings defenders DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas (Twitter video link). He lost his balance and came down awkwardly on his left leg, which appeared to hyperextend, before he fell to the court in pain and grabbed at his left knee.
After remaining on the floor for several minutes, Irving was helped to his feet and was able to shoot two free throws as fans in Dallas regaled him with “MVP” chants (Twitter video link). The star guard made both free throws before being assisted to the locker room.
It’s an absolutely brutal blow to a Dallas team that had already been afflicted by the injury bug in a major way in recent weeks, with big men Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively, and Daniel Gafford among the regulars who have missed significant time.
Following the trade of Luka Doncic last month, Irving has been a steadying force in Dallas, assuming the brunt of the ball-handling and play-making duties in the backcourt and helping to guide the team through a tumultuous period.
For the season, he averaged 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.3 steals in 36.1 minutes per game across 50 appearances, with a shooting line of .473/.401/.916. Entering Monday, he had put up 28.1 PPG in 39.3 MPG in 10 outings since Doncic was traded.
With Irving out for the rest of the season, the Mavericks figure to turn to players like Spencer Dinwiddie, Dante Exum, Jaden Hardy, and Brandon Williams to handle point guard responsibilities. Hardy also exited Monday’s game due to an injury of his own, however, having sprained his right ankle in the third quarter.
Dallas has an open spot on its 15-man roster, but can’t add a free agent until April 10 due to its proximity to a first-apron hard cap. That means, barring a last-minute change to its two-way players, the team will have to make do with its current group as it attempts to hold onto a play-in spot.
The Mavericks currently have a 32-30 record, good for 10th in the Western Conference. They lead the 11th-place Suns by 3.5 games and the No. 12 Trail Blazers by four games.
While Dallas’ potential for a deep playoff run this spring has obviously taken a major hit as a result of Irving’s torn ACL, the injury figures to have an impact on the club beyond the current season. Many NBA players who have sustained ACL tears have required upwards of one year to come back from the injury and longer than that to get back to full strength.
A quicker recovery timeline is certainly a possibility, but the Mavericks probably shouldn’t count on having Irving back when the 2025/26 season gets underway next fall and shouldn’t necessarily assume he’ll be back to 100% before next spring or even until ’26/27.
It also remains to be seen how the injury will affect Irving’s contract situation. The nine-time All-Star holds a player option worth just shy of $43MM for next season, but was widely expected to turn it down in search of a lucrative new multiyear deal. It’s unclear if Irving will still decide to opt out — presumably, he would only do so if the Mavericks are still comfortable making a significant long-term investment in the 32-year-old while he recovers from a major injury.
As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter), besides now being ineligible for end-of-season awards (including All-NBA) this spring as a result of falling short of the required minimum of 65 games, Irving will also miss out on a pair of $1MM bonuses in his contract.
Cavs’ Ty Jerome Fined $25K For Criticizing Officiating
Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome was fined $25K by the NBA on Monday for public criticism of the officiating, the league announced in a press release (Twitter link).
The comments that got Jerome in trouble came after the Cavaliers eked out a 133-129 overtime win against Portland on Sunday.
The game featured a total of 53 fouls and 70 free throws between the two teams, far above their usual rates, and Jerome was asked after the win how difficult it was to get into a rhythm.
“Yeah, I thought the refs were really bad tonight,” he said. “Especially Natalie (Sago), she was really bad. So when stuff like that happens, they kind of lose control of the game and you’ve just got to keep your head. I thought that first half was ridiculous, third quarter was horrendous.”
A $25K fine isn’t significant as far as potential penalties from the NBA go, but it’s more meaningful for Jerome than it would be for many players — his $2,560,975 salary this season is well below the league average.
After missing nearly all of last season due to an ankle injury, Jerome has had an impressive bounce-back year in 2024/25 and is in contention for Sixth Man of the Year honors. In 56 games (two starts) for the East-leading Cavs, he has averaged 12.0 points, 3.4 assists, and 2.6 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .516/.449/.889.
And-Ones: Kerr, Traveling, Draft, Roberts
The Warriors rebounded on Monday from a Saturday loss to Philadelphia, getting back in the win column with a 119-101 victory in Charlotte. But head coach Steve Kerr had a bone to pick after the game, telling reporters that he believes NBA referees let far too many traveling violations go uncalled.
“I don’t understand why we are not teaching our officials to call travel in this league,” Kerr said, per Steve Reed of The Associated Press. “They do a great job and work their tails off and communicate well, but I see five or six travels a game that aren’t called.”
Kerr earned a technical foul in the third quarter on Monday for arguing with officials over what he believes what a travel by Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (video link). Officials let it go and the play resulted in a Warriors foul.
While Kerr was upset in that instance about a non-call that hurt the Warriors, he said his own team is just as guilty as any other, noting that when he watched film of the team’s loss to the Sixers, he noticed four Golden State travels that weren’t called.
“The entire game is based on footwork,” Kerr said. “We need enforce traveling violations and we are not doing it and I don’t understand why. … These (officials) are awesome. They do a great job, and they have a million things to watch, but footwork is the entire basis of the game and we need to call traveling. It will be a much better game if we clean it up.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com (Insider link) have updated their list of this year’s top 100 draft prospects. Texas guard Tre Johnson (No. 11 to No. 5) and French center Joan Beringer (No. 24 to No. 13) are among the big risers in the lottery, while French point guard Nolan Traore has dropped from No. 7 to No. 15 and Israeli guard Ben Saraf has fallen from No. 13 to No. 21.
- Just one year ago, Long Island Nets guard Terry Roberts was in the hospital on a ventilator after being shot in the upper chest by a stray bullet. Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required) takes an in-depth look at Roberts’ recovery and his road back to being a regular contributor this season for Brooklyn’s G League affiliate.
- With less than six weeks in the 2024/25 regular season, several of ESPN’s NBA reporters pose 19 questions facing teams down the stretch as the playoff races in both conferences heat up. Among those questions: Do the Cavaliers have enough to beat the Celtics? How do the Bucks avoid another early playoff exit? Are the Grizzlies ready to take a step forward in the postseason? And what is the Warriors‘ ceiling?
Lakers Notes: Doncic, Redick, Goodwin, Jemison, Reddish, Len
Facing the Clippers on Friday and Sunday for the first times since his Mavericks eliminated them from the playoffs last spring, Luka Doncic picked up right where he left off, leading the Lakers to a pair of hard-fought victories over their Los Angeles rivals.
Doncic scored 31 points in Friday’s win, then put up 29 points, nine assists, and six rebounds on Sunday. In that second victory, the Lakers were a +19 in his 37 minutes on the court and were outscored by 13 points in the 11 minutes he didn’t play. Head coach J.J. Redick loved what he saw from his newest star, as Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times writes.
“It just seemed like throughout the game, when we needed a bucket, when we needed him to draw a second, third defender at times, he was able to make the right play — minus the six turnovers. But he played fantastic,” Redick said after Sunday’s win. “And again, it was that verve and that spirit of competition. But also just something that is — maybe it’s an inner demon, I don’t know — but it comes out and it’s fantastic for us when it does.”
The Lakers’ defense has been a revelation during their recent hot streak — the team ranks first in the NBA with a 107.5 defensive rating since January 15 and has won 18 of 22 games during that time. But Doncic’s recent play has shown just how dangerous the team can be an offense as well.
“You’ve got a guy in your corner going Super Saiyan, for lack of a better word,” Lakers guard Gabe Vincent said. “And making great plays, hitting shots, it’s a lot of fun. It can give us a lot of life and we’ve been creating a lot of energy on the defensive side. And when he gets hot offensively, we feel like we can’t be stopped in that regard.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Doncic briefly left Sunday’s game after being kneed in the right knee, explaining after the game that he has taken multiple shots to that area within the past week. “Third straight game, the same spot,” he said (Twitter link via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin). “So, I was kind of struggling on that right leg. But I’m good.”
- Only two teams in the NBA – the Cavaliers and Thunder – have a better home record than the Lakers’ 23-7 mark, which is why it’s encouraging that they’ve climbed into the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, writes Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times. If they hold that spot, they’d have home-court advantage for at least the first two rounds of the postseason. After Sunday’s win, Doncic referred to the atmosphere inside of Crypto.com Arena as “unbelievable.”
- In a separate column for The L.A. Times, Hernandez writes that Redick has been everything the Lakers could have hoped for when they hired him as a first-time head coach. The Lakers players are buying what Redick is selling, according to Hernandez, who says the new coach has successfully instilled a positive culture and identity more effectively than any of his recent predecessors.
- Cap expert Eric Pincus breaks down the Lakers’ options for promoting Jordan Goodwin and Trey Jemison from their two-way contracts to the standard roster, noting that giving them standard deals will be necessary if the team wants to have the duo available for the playoffs. While Cam Reddish seems likely to be the odd man out if just one of the two is promoted, it’s unclear who else might be waived if the Lakers want to elevate both — Pincus suggests recently signed center Alex Len, who struggled in limited minutes and quickly dropped out of the rotation, could be a release candidate.
- Pincus also points out that the Lakers wouldn’t be able to sign a new two-way player to replace Goodwin or Jemison unless a promotion occurs today, since March 4 is the deadline for two-way signings.