Hawks Sign Jacob Toppin To Two-Way Contract
6:46pm: The signing is official, the Hawks confirmed in a press release.
4:21pm: The Hawks are filling their open two-way slot by signing second-year forward Jacob Toppin, The Stein Line contributor Jake Fischer tweets.
Toppin became a free agent when the Knicks waived him on Sunday. The 6’9″ Toppin made 16 appearances for New York this season but his minutes were limited — he averaged 0.4 points and 0.7 boards across 3.1 minutes per game.
Toppin posted big numbers for the Westchester Knicks in the NBA G League. In 11 regular season games, the younger brother of Pacers forward Obi Toppin averaged 25.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.7 steals per contest.
Toppin went undrafted out of Kentucky in 2023 and had a two-way deal with the Knicks for much of last season. New York re-signed him on a two-way deal in August.
He can be active for as many as 12 games for the remainder of the Hawks’ regular season.
Atlanta created an opening to sign another two-way player by elevating Dominick Barlow to the 15-man roster on a standard, two-year contract. The Hawks opened a spot on the 15-man roster for Barlow by terminating Kevon Harris’10-day deal.
Tuesday night is the deadline for teams to sign two-way players.
Jaren Jackson Jr. ‘Week To Week’ With Ankle Sprain
Grizzlies star big man Jaren Jackson Jr. has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 left ankle sprain, the team’s PR department tweets.
Jackson suffered the injury during the first quarter against the Hawks on Monday. He is considered week-to-week, the team adds.
This could impact the Grizzlies’ playoff position. They’re currently in fourth place in the Western Conference, one game ahead of Houston. They have a 5 1/2-game cushion on the teams currently sitting in the top three play-in spots.
However, the team’s other star, guard Ja Morant, is also currently sidelined with shoulder soreness. On Monday, coach Taylor Jenkins expressed optimism that Morant would return soon.
“I don’t think there’s any long-term concern. It’s just some day-to-day soreness that he’s been navigating,” he said. “Not feeling comfortable with how the arms been raising after taking a hit or two over the course of the last couple of weeks. He’s been playing through it, and obviously, I think it’s just more of a short-term situation.”
Jackson is averaging 22.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.6 blocks and 1.3 steals in 29.4 minutes per game. The forward/center has appeared in 59 games and needs to see action in six more to qualify for NBA postseason awards. He’d have to return by early April to make that happen — Memphis has seven games in April before the postseason begins.
With Victor Wembanyama out for the season, Jackson is considered a top candidate for the Defensive Player of the Year award. That has major implications in terms of Jackson’s future earnings.
As we recently detailed, if Jackson wins the DPOY award this season, he’d become eligible for a super-max contract extension, starting at up to 35% of the 2026/27 salary cap.
Warriors Promote Pat Spencer, Sign Braxton Key To Two-Way
6:07pm: Spencer has officially had his contract converted and Key has signed his two-way deal, the team’s PR department tweets.
4:57pm: The Warriors are converting Pat Spencer‘s two-way deal into a standard contract and will fill that two-way spot by signing forward Braxton Key, The Stein Line contributor Jake Fischer reports (Twitter links).
Golden State had two open spots on the 15-man roster and needed to fill at least one of them. The signing of Kevin Knox to a second 10-day contract at the beginning of the month bumped its roster count to 13.
Spencer has appeared in 28 games off the bench for the Warriors this season, averaging 2.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 7.0 minutes per night. He scored a career-high 17 points against Indiana on Jan. 10.
Spencer, 28, went undrafted out of Northwestern in 2020. He had a brief stay in Germany but has spent the bulk of his pro career in the G League. He’s played five games for the Santa Cruz Warriors this season.
Key, 28, has appeared in 34 career NBA games, including 20 contest with Denver last season. He was part of the Clippers’ training camp roster last fall but was waived prior to the season opener.
Key has been playing in the G League with the San Diego Clippers. In a total of 38 NBAGL appearances, he’s averaging 14.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.4 steals in 31.8 minutes per game.
Nets Sign Tyson Etienne, Waive Kendall Brown
The Nets have agreed to a two-way contract with guard Tyson Etienne, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. They opened up a two-way spot by waiving Kendall Brown, Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets. Both moves are now official, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
Etienne has averaged 20.0 points, 3.8 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.3 steals for the NBA G League’s Long Island Nets in 24 regular season games. The 6’2″ guard has been extremely proficient as a three-point shooter, knocking down 47.6% of his attempts while taking an average of 7.0 per game. He has yet to make his NBA debut.
Etienne was signed and waived by Brooklyn on an Exhibit 10 deal in September. He had been in the Hawks organization after going undrafted out of Wichita State in 2022, playing for their G League team.
Brown was signed to a two-way deal late last month and didn’t appear in a game with the Nets. The 48th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Brown spent his first two professional seasons with the Pacers, first on a two-way contract and then on a standard deal. However, the 6’7″ swingman was waived by Indiana in October and then had his G League rights acquired by the Long Island Nets later that month.
Brown has appeared in 37 games with the Long Island Nets this season, averaging 16.1 points and 5.3 rebounds.
Knicks Add Anton Watson On Two-Way Deal
The Knicks have claimed former Celtics forward Anton Watson off waivers, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets. Watson is on a two-way contract and will fill New York’s lone two-way opening.
Boston waived Watson on Sunday. A rookie forward selected with the No. 54 pick in last year’s draft, he signed his two-way contract in August but has yet to make his NBA regular season debut.
Watson has appeared in a total of 37 games (34 starts) for the NBA G League’s Maine Celtics in the Tip-Off Tournament and regular season. He’s averaging 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 29.9 minutes per game.
Watson, 24, played five seasons at Gonzaga and averaged career highs of 14.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season.
The Knicks opened up a pair of two-way slots by waiving Matt Ryan and Jacob Toppin on Sunday. They filled one of those spots by signing MarJon Beauchamp earlier on Tuesday.
Tuesday night is the deadline for teams to sign two-way players.
Raptors’ Gradey Dick To Miss At Least Two Weeks With Knee Injury
Raptors guard Gradey Dick has been diagnosed with a hyperextended right knee and bone bruises and will be out for at least the next two weeks, the team announced today in a press release.
According to the Raptors, Dick – who was injured during the second quarter of Sunday’s win in Orlando – will begin rehabilitating his knee injury upon returning to Toronto and will be reevaluated at the two-week mark.
The injury occurred as RJ Barrett drove into the lane while being defended by Magic guard Cole Anthony. Dick was cutting toward the basket from the corner and when Barrett and Anthony got tangled up near the rim, they fell into Dick — he collided with Anthony, then took a hard fall to the floor as Barrett landed on his leg (video link).
The 13th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Dick is considered a key part of the rebuild in Toronto. In 54 games (all starts) this season, the 21-year-old has averaged 14.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 29.4 minutes per game, with a .410/.350/.858 shooting line.
Dick is one of a handful of Raptors wings currently on the injured list, along with Ochai Agbaji (left ankle sprain) and Jamison Battle (nasal fracture). Those ailments could open the door for rookies Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamal Shead to play increased roles.
Northwest Notes: Jazz, Thunder, Reath, Blazers
Although the Jazz were missing several regulars and only lost by seven points, head coach Will Hardy wasn’t happy with what he saw from his team on Sunday at home vs. New Orleans. As Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune (subscription required) relays, Hardy had plenty to say after a 128-121 loss in which Utah gave up 76 points in the paint.
“Everybody wants to play more, and then you get a chance to do it, and you go out there and you don’t execute, that’s frustrating,” Hardy said. “… The frustrating part is that there’s so much opportunity on our team right now, and all of these young players are getting an opportunity to show us who they are, what they are, and that opportunity needs to be met with the desperation that it deserves.”
None of the 10 Jazz players who saw minutes on Sunday are older than 26 years old, while their oldest starter in the game was 24-year-old KJ Martin, so an already young team was even younger in that game vs. the Pelicans.
“No one cares what your résumé was before you got here,” Hardy continued. “I don’t care how many points you scored in high school. I don’t care what you were ranked coming out of high school. It doesn’t matter where you played in college. Doesn’t matter how many wins you got in college. It doesn’t matter how many points you scored in college. Your Instagram followers mean nothing to me. This is a job … this is a profession, and it needs to be treated as such.”
Utah had Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton back in its starting five on Monday against Detroit after they missed Sunday’s game, but the club didn’t fare any better on the second end of a back-to-back set, falling by 28 points at home to the Pistons.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- The Thunder‘s top two scorers were firing on all cylinders in the team’s past two games, as Jalen Williams poured in a career-high 41 points in Sunday’s win over San Antonio (story via Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander racked up 51 in Monday’s win over Houston for his fourth 50-point game since January 22 (story via ESPN.com). “Whether it’s 50, whether it’s 27, whether it’s 17 — as long as we win, I have fun with it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on Monday. “… Like, you don’t play the game to score a bunch of points. You don’t play the game to get a bunch of rebounds or assists or steals. … You don’t play for anything besides to win, and that’s what it’s all about.”
- As the fourth center on the Trail Blazers‘ depth chart behind Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams, and lottery pick Donovan Clingan, Duop Reath hasn’t gotten a chance to play much this season. But he has taken advantage of a chance to play rotation minutes in Portland’s past two games, scoring 20 points in a total of 41 minutes on Sunday and Monday with Ayton and Williams out, writes Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian. “(Reath) was playing great,” Anfernee Simons said after Monday’s win. “Obviously, having not been playing, staying ready at all times, being professional and coming in doing his job when his numbers is called. We all know what Duop is capable of. Each and every time we know we’re going to get the best out of him.”
- In a mailbag, Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report (Substack link) considers why the Trail Blazers haven’t “embraced the tank” this season, explores whether it makes sense for Portland to pursue win-now moves this summer, and acknowledges that it may difficult for the team to find a good deal for Jerami Grant on the trade market this offseason.
Isaiah Collier, Zaccharie Risacher Earn Rookie Of The Month Honors
Jazz guard Isaiah Collier and Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher have won February’s Rookie of the Month awards for the Western Conference and Eastern Conference, respectively, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).
It continues a season-long streak of first-time winners — the league has announced eight Rookies of the Month so far this season, four in each conference, and no player has won the award twice. Jaylen Wells, Yves Missi, and Stephon Castle have also been honored in the West, while Jared McCain, Alex Sarr, and Kel’el Ware have won in the East.
The No. 29 overall pick in last year’s draft, Collier was elevated to Utah’s starting lineup in January. In February, he averaged 11.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and an impressive 9.5 assists in 30.4 minutes per game across 13 outings.
According to Tony Jones of The Athletic, even though it was a short month made even shorter by the All-Star break, Collier’s 123 total assists in February were the most by a rookie in a single month since Pooh Richardson in March 1990.
“I think he’s playing the game with a chip on his shoulder,” Cody Williams said of his fellow Jazz rookie, per Jones. “I think he knows that there weren’t 28 players better than him in the draft, and he came into this season wanting to prove that.”
No player was drafted ahead of Risacher, 2024’s No. 1 overall selection. While the 19-year-old forward had an up-and-down first half, he has been very effective in recent weeks, averaging 12.8 PPG and 4.2 RPG with a .474/.440/.778 shooting line in 12 games (25.7 MPG) in February.
Those numbers don’t include his 27-point outburst in Memphis on Monday — he made 11-of-13 shots in that game and registered a career-high four steals as Atlanta eked out a two-point win.
February’s other Rookie of the Month nominees were Castle, Wells, and Zach Edey in the Western Conference, and Ware, Matas Buzelis, and Kyshawn George in the East (Twitter link).
Nuggets’ Strawther Out At Least Four Weeks With Sprained Knee
The Nuggets have ruled out a key reserve for the rest of March, announcing today (via Twitter) that second-year wing Julian Strawther has been diagnosed with a left knee sprain and will be reevaluated in four weeks.
The injury occurred in the third quarter of Sunday’s game in Boston. Strawther caught a pass from Christian Braun at the top of the three-point arc and drove toward the basket, but after he attempted a floater in the lane, he came up limping and fell to the floor in pain (video link).
After averaging just 10.9 minutes per game in 50 appearances off the bench for Denver as a rookie last season, Strawther had emerged as a crucial part of the team’s rotation in 2024/25. He appeared in each of the Nuggets’ first 61 games this season, averaging 9.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 22.1 minutes per night, with a .434/.357/.829 shooting line.
As Bennett Durando of The Denver Post notes (via Twitter), another 2023 draftee – shooting guard Jalen Pickett – may be in line for an increased role while Strawther is unavailable. Pickett has been in and out of the rotation this season and didn’t play at all in the first half on Sunday, but checked in when Strawther went down and played eight minutes in the second half.
Cavs’ Mobley, Blazers’ Camara Named Defensive Players Of The Month
Cavaliers big man Evan Mobley has been named February’s Defensive Player of the Month for the Eastern Conference, while Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara has earned the honor in the Western Conference, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).
Mobley joins teammate Donovan Mitchell, who was named Player of the Month in the East, as award winners for February after the Cavs won 10 of 11 games over the course of the month. Cleveland had the best defensive rating (108.0) of any Eastern team in February, with Mobley anchoring that unit.
According to the league, Mobley was second among East players in blocks per game (2.3) in February and ranked third in the conference in contested shots per game (11.5).
The ascendant fourth-year forward/center, who was also named the East’s Defensive Player of the Month for December, is considered one of the frontrunners for this season’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
As for Camara, the second-year forward has been establishing himself as one of the NBA’s best wing defenders this season. According to the NBA, he ranked fourth in the conference in steals per game (2.0) in February and was the only player in the conference to compile at least 50 defensive rebounds, 20 steals, and 10 blocks for the month.
Portland entered February with a 19-29 record, but won eight of 12 games over the course of the month and had the fourth-best defensive rating in the NBA (109.2) during that time.
Nets center Nic Claxton, Hawks guard Dyson Daniels, Pacers center Myles Turner, and Pistons teammates Isaiah Stewart and Ausar Thompson were also nominated for the award in the Eastern Conference, while Thunder wing Luguentz Dort, Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr., Rockets swingman Amen Thompson, and Clippers teammates Kris Dunn and Ivica Zubac were nominated in the West, per the league (Twitter link).