Wizards Sign Justin Champagnie To Four-Year Deal
March 3: Champagnie has officially signed his new deal and been promoted to the Wizards’ standard roster, according to NBA.com’s transaction log. Washington confirmed in a press release that McDaniels’ 10-day contract has been terminated a day early to open a roster spot for Champagnie.
March 2: Two-way Wizards forward Justin Champagnie is getting promoted.
According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link), Champagnie’s agent Daniel Hazan revealed that the 6’6″ wing is set to ink a four-year, $10MM standard contract with Washington. He will earn $1.8MM for the remainder of 2024/25, well above this prorated minimum.
Sources confirm to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter) that the deal has been agreed upon and say that the final three seasons will be non-guaranteed.
Across 40 games for the Wizards this season, the 23-year-old is notching averages of 7.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 0.9 dimes per game. He also has a respectable shooting line of .504/.376/.674.
In eight Tip-Off Tournament games this season for Washington’s NBAGL affiliate the Capital City Go-Go, Champagnie posted impressive averages of 20.0 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.1 steals per game, on .483/.350/.750 shooting.
After initially going undrafted out of Pitt in 2021, Champagnie suited up for Toronto and Boston during his first two pro seasons. He first joined the Wizards on a 10-day deal late in the 2023/24 campaign, and was subsequently brought back on a two-way agreement when those initial 10 days were up.
Jalen McDaniels currently occupies the 15th slot on Washington’s standard roster, having signed a 10-day contract on February 22. If the team plans to hang onto McDaniels beyond his current deal, another standard roster player would need to be cut to accommodate Champagnie’s promotion.
Elevating Champagnie to the standard roster will create a two-way opening for the Wizards, leaving only Tristan Vukcevic and Jaylen Martin inked to two-way deals.
The Wizards possess the single-worst record in the league at 11-48, and can afford to take an extended look at developmental players like Champagnie. This seems like a savvy move for all parties.
Stein’s Latest: Mavericks, Luka, Edwards, Knicks, Kessler, Budenholzer
Sam Amick of The Athletic reported last week that the Mavericks reached out to the Timberwolves to inquire about a possible Luka Doncic/Anthony Edwards swap earlier this season before pivoting to the Lakers and Anthony Davis. Veteran Milwaukee-area reporter Gery Woelfel has reported that the Mavs made a similar inquiry with the Bucks about Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Addressing those rumors, NBA insider Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link) says he has consistently heard that the Mavericks only discussed Doncic by name with one team: the Lakers.
While Dallas did talk to Minnesota and Milwaukee, according to Stein, those discussions have been described to him as “very brief in nature and intentionally broad and vague,” with no conversations about Doncic specifically.
Here are a few more items of interest from Stein:
- Following the expiration of Moses Brown‘s 10-day contract, the Mavericks can’t fill the 15th spot on their standard roster until April 10 due to their hard cap. Promoting two-way player Kessler Edwards, who has played a rotation role in recent weeks and can only be active for 10 more NBA games, is one option Dallas is considering for that final week of the season, league sources tell Stein. However, the team’s decision will depend in part on its health and roster needs as of April 10, Stein notes. While the Mavs have a serious frontcourt shortage right now due to injuries, that may not be the case in five-and-a-half weeks.
- The Knicks were “right there” with the Lakers before the trade deadline in trying to pry third-year center Walker Kessler away from the Jazz, league sources tell Stein, who says Utah made it clear to both clubs that it didn’t want to seriously entertain pitches for Kessler during the season. The big man will be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2025 offseason.
- Although Stein can’t confirm if Mike Budenholzer‘s job in Phoenix is any actual jeopardy, he says the topic has generated “heightened whispering and curiosity” in coaching circles. The Suns parted ways with Monty Williams in 2023 when he still had three years and $20MM+ left on his contract and let go of Frank Vogel in 2024 just one year into his five-season, $31MM deal. Budenholzer reportedly received a five-year contract worth in excess of $50MM when he was hired by Phoenix last May. His Suns have a 28-33 record and are four games back of the final play-in spot in the West.
- In case you missed it, Stein also reported that the Wizards gave real consideration to the idea of reacquiring Bradley Beal from the Suns prior to last month’s trade deadline. However, the teams couldn’t agree to terms and it seems unlikely that Beal would have waived his no-trade clause to return to D.C. anyway.
Remix’s Isaac Nogues To Enter 2025 NBA Draft
Spanish guard Isaac Nogues, who has been playing in the G League this season with Portland’s affiliate, the Rip City Remix, is submitting the paperwork necessary to enter the 2025 NBA draft, he tells Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).
As Fischer observes, it’s rare for a player to declare for the draft in the middle of a season, but evidently the 21-year-old feels confident about his chances of being selected. He’s not currently listed on ESPN’s latest big board (Insider link), which ranks the top 100 prospects ahead of June’s draft.
According to Fischer, Nogues is known as a defensive specialist — he recently set an NBAGL record by recording 10 steals in a game.
“I can defend a lot of positions,” Nogues told Fischer. “Not only the point guard. Not only the best player. I can defend all 48 minutes of the game. I can give 100% of my energy on defense. This really helps any team.”
The 6’5″ guard has appeared in 33 combined games with the Remix in 2024/25, averaging 2.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 18.9 minutes per contest. He has attempted just 1.8 field goals per night, with a shooting line of .458/.294/.474, and he acknowledges his game is a work in progress on that end of the floor.
“My offensive skills, I will improve,” he insists. “I am improving.”
Spurs Sign Bismack Biyombo For Rest Of Season
March 3: As expected, Biyombo has officially been signed for the remainder of the 2024/25 season, the Spurs announced today in a press release.
February 28: The Spurs plan to sign Bismack Biyombo for the remainder of the season once his second 10-day contract expires, sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).
The 32-year-old center has appeared in six games since signing the first deal with San Antonio on February 9. He’s averaging 5.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 16 minutes per night and posted a pair of double-doubles this week with 10 points and 10 rebounds on Sunday against New Orleans and 10 points and 12 rebounds on Tuesday in a rematch with the Pelicans.
Biyombo has moved into the starting lineup for the past five games following the loss of Victor Wembanyama due to a blood clot in his right shoulder. His second 10-day deal took effect last Friday and will run through this Sunday.
Biyombo will give San Antonio a steady presence in the middle for the rest of the season and he offers plenty of playoff experience if the Spurs can reach the play-in tournament. That’s increasingly becoming a long shot, however — at 24-33, they’re currently five and a half games behind 10th-place Sacramento.
Biyombo’s performance could also help his chances of landing a spot on the roster for next season. He has become a journeyman recently, as San Antonio is his fifth team in the last five years.
Southwest Notes: Morant, VanVleet, Rockets, Brown, Martin
Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has been fined $25K by the NBA for throwing a game ball into the spectator stands at the end of the third quarter of Friday’s one-point loss to New York, the league announced in a press release.
Morant made some poor off-court decisions earlier in his career, which resulted in a pair of suspensions (including a 25-gamer) in 2023. However, he has largely stayed out of trouble since — this is the first time he has been publicly fined in 2024/25, though he has been docked $24K for accruing 11 technical fouls this season, per Spotrac.
A two-time All-Star, Morant missed Saturday’s loss to San Antonio due to right shoulder soreness and is questionable for Monday’s game vs. Atlanta with the same injury designation, according to the NBA’s official injury report.
Here’s more from the Southwest:
- Saturday’s loss to Sacramento marked Fred VanVleet‘s first game back with the Rockets following a month-long absence due to a right ankle strain. Unfortunately, he aggravated the ankle on the first play of the game when he stepped on a referee’s foot, according to Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle. The veteran guard stayed in the game and wound up playing 35 minutes, but his effectiveness was limited, as he finished with just three points on 1-of-8 shooting in 35 minutes (he also chipped in five rebounds, five assists and three steals). “I’ve been sitting long enough,” VanVleet said. “I had the training staff look at it, make sure it was nothing super serious, talked with coach a little bit. Obviously he noticed I wasn’t moving the best, so I was just trusting him at that point. If he decided to pull me I would’ve came out, but I wasn’t gonna take myself out the game. I’ll never do that.”
- As Lerner relays in another story, VanVleet has been ruled out of Monday’s contest at Oklahoma City. Five other Rockets — Steven Adams (sore left ankle), Dillon Brooks (right knee contusion), Tari Eason (left leg injury management), Alperen Sengun (sore lower back) and Amen Thompson (right shoulder soreness) — are questionable for Monday’s game, which is the front end of a back-to-back.
- After playing a limited role in his first three games with the Mavericks, center Moses Brown provided a major lift in the final two contests of his 10-day contract, including recording 20 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 31 minutes during a victory over Charlotte last week. Brown’s contract expired Saturday night and the Mavs can’t re-sign him or anyone else until April 10 due to their hard cap situation. “He was great,” head coach Jason Kidd said of Brown, per Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal. “Moses gave us a spark, gave us a big (presence) at the rim. We needed someone at the rim, and he did a really good job for us. He’ll probably get another 10-day from someone. And give him credit for coming out as a pro and helping us find a way to win.”
- Caleb Martin has yet to make his Mavericks debut after being acquired at the trade deadline, but he has been able to go through contract practices in recent days and sounds close to returning from the right hip strain that has kept him out on the shelf since January 10, writes Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News. “He’s doing extremely well,” Kidd said of Martin. “There are a lot of positive things around him right now. He’s trending in the right direction. Hopefully here in the next couple of days, we have some really good news. His rehab sessions have been going really good and he hasn’t had any setbacks. With the playing that he’s had here, hopefully he’s back sooner than later.”
Grizzlies Sign Lamar Stevens To Second 10-Day Contract
Lamar Stevens‘ first 10-day contract with Memphis expired overnight, but he won’t hit the open market — the Grizzlies have officially brought him back for another 10-day deal, announcing the news in a press release (via Twitter).
A Philadelphia native who went undrafted out of Penn State in 2020, Stevens spent his first three seasons with Cleveland prior to being traded to San Antonio in the 2023 offseason. He was later waived by the Spurs, but signed a training camp deal with the Celtics and wound up making their regular season roster.
Stevens was traded to Memphis ahead of last season’s deadline, finishing out the 2023/24 campaign with the Grizzlies. He caught on with the Pistons for training camp this past fall, but was released before ’24/25 began.
The 27-year-old forward had spent the entire season in the G League with the Motor City Cruise prior to receiving his call-up from the Grizzlies. He made his ’24/25 season debut on Saturday vs. San Antonio, recording six points and four rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.
In 29 combined games for Detroit’s NBAGL affiliate in ’24/25, Stevens averaged 17.8 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.4 blocks in 34.0 minutes per game, with a shooting slash line of .438/.328/.744. He’s known for his energy, athleticism, toughness and defense.
Stevens will be eligible to play in six games over the course of his second 10-day contract, which will expire overnight on March 12. At that point, the Grizzlies will have to decide if they want to retain him for the rest of the season, as players can only sign up to two 10-day contracts with the same team.
As our tracker shows, Stevens will fill the 15th and final spot on Memphis’ standard roster. The Grizzlies are also at the limit of three players on two-way contracts.
Kings Sign Skal Labissiere To 10-Day Contract
9:54am: Labissiere’s 10-day deal is official, the Kings confirmed in a press release (Twitter link via Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 Sacramento).
5:42am: The Kings have agreed to sign big man Skal Labissiere to a 10-day contract, agent Daniel Hazan tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The 28th overall pick in the 2016 draft, Labissiere hasn’t made an NBA regular season appearance since December 28, 2019, so if he gets into a game during his 10 days with Sacramento, it will be his first in over five years.
Labissiere appeared in 148 total games with Sacramento and Portland from 2016-20. He has spent most of his time in the G League since then, making stops with the Westchester Knicks and the Mexico City Capitanes before joining the Stockton Kings in 2023. He also had a brief stay with a team in Puerto Rico.
The 6’11” forward/center has had a solid 2024/25 season in Stockton, averaging 14.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.3 blocks in 25.8 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .614/.364/.750, across 36 total outings. He was one of the players voted by fans into the G League’s Up Next Game at All-Star weekend last month.
While Labissiere will provide some frontcourt depth for the Kings with starting center Domantas Sabonis sidelined due to a hamstring strain, the signing is more about making sure the team adheres to roster requirements.
Sacramento has been operating with just 13 players on standard contracts since Daishen Nix‘s 10-day deal expired nearly two weeks ago and needed to re-add a 14th man by Tuesday, since teams can’t carry fewer than 14 players on standard contracts for more than 14 days at a time.
Labissiere will earn $128,603 on his 10-day deal, while the Kings carry a cap hit of $119,972. Assuming he officially signs on Monday, the contract will run through March 12, covering the club’s next five games.
KD: Suns “Embarrassed Ourselves” In Latest Loss
The 2024/25 season is starting to slip away from the Suns. After leading by two at halftime against Minnesota on Sunday, Phoenix was routed in the second half, ultimately losing by 18 points.
“We didn’t play up to our standards at all,” All-Star forward Kevin Durant said (story via David Brandt of The Associated Press). “We embarrassed the fans and we embarrassed ourselves the way we played. I want us to be better.”
As Brandt writes, the Phoenix is just 3-11 in its past 14 games and is now 28-33 on the season, four games behind Dallas for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. The Suns are closer in the standings to the teams directly beneath them — Portland (27-34) and San Antonio (25-34) — than they are to the Mavs (32-29).
“We’ve got to go on a run, but it’s got to start,” head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “There’s no doubt that the standings, the circumstances that we’re in, there’s an awareness and we’ve got to do something to change it.”
The Suns made the playoffs outright last season, avoiding the play-in by finishing with a 49-33 record, good for the No. 6 seed in the West. However, they were swept by the Wolves in the first round, leading to the dismissal of former head coach Frank Vogel. Sunday marked Phoenix’s seventh straight loss to Minnesota, notes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.
Phoenix failed to match Minnesota’s “physicality” in the second half, according to Devin Booker, with giveaways also being a major issue — the Suns tied a season high with 22 turnovers, leading to 40 points for the Wolves. Durant, Booker and Bradley Beal combined for 14 of the team’s 22 turnovers.
“That’s why we lost,” Durant said, per Brandt. “Forty points off turnovers, tough to overcome that. They didn’t overpower us on the glass, we just gave them the ball.”
NBA insider Chris Haynes recently reported that Budenholzer told Booker to “tone it down vocally” during games, which surprised the star guard. Booker subsequently suggested that the team could use more vocal leadership.
However, prior to Sunday’s game, Booker downplayed any rift with his coach, Rankin relays in another story.
“We’ve had multiple conversations. I can’t seem to find one that sticks out more than the others,” Booker said. “It’s a player/coach relationship. When things start going bad, everybody tries to point fingers to find out what’s wrong. People are going to come up with stuff. The relationship is great. We’re on the same page, we’re trying to win and that’s that.”
Meyers Leonard Announces Retirement
Former NBA big man Meyers Leonard has officially retired as a basketball player, announcing the news on Instagram (hat tip to Chris Haynes).
After playing a modest role as a freshman at Illinois, Leonard had a breakout sophomore season back in 2011/12 with the Illini and was selected 11th overall in the 2012 draft.
Leonard, who turned 33 years old last week, spent his first seven seasons with the Trail Blazers prior to being traded to the Heat as part of the Jimmy Butler blockbuster in 2019.
Leonard’s time in Miami was not without controversy, as he was fined $50K by the NBA and suspended from all team activities for a week for making an anti-Semitic comment during a Twitch livestream. Shortly after the incident, he was traded to — and subsequently released by — Oklahoma City.
After missing the entire ’21/22 campaign due to an injury, Leonard was able to find a new team in February 2023, signing a pair of 10-day deals and then a rest-of-season contract with the Bucks. He has been a free agent since the 2023 offseason, when his tenure with Milwaukee ended.
Overall, Leonard played parts of 10 NBA seasons, averaging 5.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per game across 456 regular season appearances, including 95 starts. He mostly played center, but he also saw some time at power forward in his first few seasons. Leonard was known for his ability to space the floor, as he held a career mark of 39.0% from three-point range.
Kings’ Sabonis Out At Least One Week With Hamstring Strain
Star center Domantas Sabonis has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain after undergoing an MRI and will miss at least one week, the Kings announced late on Sunday night.
Sabonis suffered the injury on Saturday in a win over Houston. Just over one minute into the game, the big man grabbed his left hamstring while running up the court. Head coach Doug Christie immediately called timeout, and Sabonis headed to the locker room to get the injury examined, with the Kings subsequently announcing that he wouldn’t return.
It’s obviously not good news for the Kings, who are battling for a playoff spot, that they’ll be without their most valuable player for at least the next week, but the diagnosis could have been worse — a Grade 1 strain is considered the mildest form and may not result in an extended absence for Sabonis.
Sabonis has averaged 19.5 points, a league-leading 14.1 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game in 56 contests this season. He has a shooting line of .596/.432/.747 and the Kings have had a +4.0 net rating when he’s on the court, compared to a -3.7 mark when he sits.
With Sabonis unavailable for most of Saturday’s game, backup center Jonas Valanciunas logged nearly 30 minutes after averaging just 14.3 MPG in his first eight appearances as a King.
Valanciunas finished the game with 15 points, 14 rebounds, four steals, and three blocks, playing a key role in helping Sacramento to secure the win. He’ll presumably continue to see increased minutes while his fellow Lithuanian recovers. Sacramento is scheduled to play in Dallas on Monday, in Denver on Wednesday, at home vs. San Antonio on Friday, and in L.A. against the Clippers on Sunday.
The Kings are currently 31-28, which puts them ninth in the Western Conference standings, but it’s a very tight race. They’re percentage points ahead of the 32-29 Mavericks at No. 10 and are just a half-game behind the Clippers (32-28), Warriors (32-28), and Timberwolves (33-29), who holds the sixth, seventh, and eighth seeds, respectively.