Pelicans Waive Jalen Crutcher
The Pelicans have opened up a two-way roster spot by waiving Jalen Crutcher, according to NBA.com’s transaction log. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) first reported the news.
The 25-year-old point guard was promoted from the G League on Wednesday when New Orleans converted Brandon Boston Jr.‘s two-way deal into a two-year standard contract. The Pelicans have played twice since then, but Crutcher didn’t get into either game.
Crutcher was in training camp with New Orleans on an Exhibit 10 contract, but he was waived before the season began. He had been playing for the team’s G League affiliate in Birmingham, averaging 17.9 points, 6.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game.
Crutcher has been a fixture in the G League since he signed with Charlotte in 2021 after going undrafted out of Dayton. He has appeared in just one NBA game, seeing three minutes of action while on a 10-day contract with the Pelicans last season.
New Orleans will have three days to fill the newly created opening before the March 4 deadline to sign two-way players. Jamal Cain and Keion Brooks hold the team’s other two-way contracts.
NBA Fines Anthony Edwards $35K
The NBA announced that Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards has been fined $35K for his actions in Thursday’s game against the Lakers.
A release from the league states that after being ejected for picking up a second technical foul, Edwards failed to leave the court in a timely manner and threw the ball into the stands (Twitter video link).
Edwards and L.A. forward Jarred Vanderbilt were whistled for double technicals for shoving each other in the first quarter. The ejection came in the third quarter after Edwards complained to officials about a no-call.
The two technicals brought Edwards’ total to 16 for the season. That carries an automatic one-game suspension, which he served Friday night during Minnesota’s loss at Utah. The Wolves were already missing Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle due to injuries, so Edwards’ absence left them without three starters.
Edwards will receive another one-game suspension for every two technical fouls he is assessed for the remainder of the season. At 32-28, the Timberwolves are one game away from moving into the top six in the West and three and a half from sliding out of the play-in tournament, so it will be crucial for Edwards to stay on the court.
The latest fine brings Edwards’ total for the season to $320K for six separate incidents. That doesn’t include the $242K he lost as a result of Friday’s one-game suspension or the smaller fines automatically assessed for each technical foul.
Clippers Sign Jordan Miller To Four-Year Deal, Waive MarJon Beauchamp
4:29pm: The Clippers have officially announced Miller’s new contract and placed Beauchamp on waivers.
12:17pm: The Clippers have agreed to a four-year deal with second-year wing Jordan Miller and will promote him from his two-way contract to the standard 15-man roster, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter links). According to Charania, Los Angeles will waive forward MarJon Beauchamp to open up a roster spot to complete the move.
The 48th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Miller played just 28 total minutes in eight NBA appearances for the Clippers as a rookie, but has seen more action at the NBA level in 2024/25, averaging 4.7 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 12.4 minutes per game across 30 outings.
Miller had been active for 49 NBA games, just one shy of the 50-game limit for two-way players, which explains the timing of the move. Promoting him now will also allow the Clippers to fill their newly opened two-way slot before the March 4 deadline.
While Miller’s contributions at the NBA level have been modest, he has thrived at the G League level with the San Diego Clippers (known as the Ontario Clippers last season). He averaged 20.9 PPG on .491/.355/.829 shooting in 39 NBAGL games last season and has bumped those averages to 23.9 PPG on .509/.350/.844 shooting in seven games in ’24/25.
Charania pegs the value of Miller’s new four-year deal at $8.3MM, but that would require a rest-of-season salary that would push the Clippers’ team salary slightly beyond the tax line.
Charania suggests that Miller will actually earn $1MM for the rest of the season, which would result in a four-year total closer to $8.1MM. That $1MM salary for the final six weeks of this season is well beyond Miller’s prorated minimum, so I’d expect the final three years of the contract to include little to no guaranteed money, giving the club plenty of flexibility to either move on from the 25-year-old or hang onto him at a team-friendly rate in future seasons.
The Clippers will use a portion of their mid-level exception to complete the signing.
Beauchamp, the 24th overall pick in 2022, is actually younger than Miller, having turned 24 just before the start of this season. But he has struggled to establish himself as a reliable NBA rotation player, averaging 4.2 PPG and 1.9 RPG in 129 career contests (11.2 MPG).
Beauchamp, who spent his first two-and-a-half NBA seasons with the Bucks, was traded from Milwaukee to Los Angeles at the deadline in exchange for Kevin Porter Jr. That was a salary-motivated move for the Clippers, who didn’t want to be on the hook for Porter’s 2025/26 player option and won’t carry any dead money beyond this season for Beauchamp.
Clippers Sign Patrick Baldwin, Seth Lundy; Waive Kai Jones
4:11pm: Jones has been waived, the Clippers announced (via Twitter). The team has also officially completed its two-way deals with Baldwin and Lundy, per NBA.com’s transaction log.
1:40pm: The Clippers are signing free agent wings Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Seth Lundy to two-way contracts, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Los Angeles will open up one two-way slot by promoting Jordan Miller to the standard 15-man roster, as Charania reported earlier this afternoon. The team will create a second opening by waiving big man Kai Jones, Charania adds.
Baldwin, 22, was selected 28th overall in the 2022 draft by Golden State. The 6’9″ forward has appeared in 91 total NBA regular season games, averaging 3.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 9.0 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .401/.366/.658. He was traded from Washington to San Antonio in the four-team Kyle Kuzma/Khris Middleton deal last month, then was cut by the Spurs.
Lundy, who will turn 25 next month, was the 46th overall pick in the 2023 draft. He appeared in nine NBA games while on a two-way contract with the Hawks as a rookie and opened the 2024/25 campaign on a two-way deal too before being waived in December. Lundy was dealing with an ankle injury when he was cut by Atlanta and hasn’t played at all in the NBA or G League this season.
Jones, meanwhile, appeared in 28 games for the Clippers this season after spending most of 2023/24 out of the NBA. The former 19th overall pick, who fell out of favor in Charlotte after two years as a Hornet, averaged 2.2 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per night for Los Angeles. He had a semi-regular rotation role earlier in the season but has played primarily in garbage time since the calendar turned to 2025.
Taking into account the Clippers’ roster moves reported earlier today, the team will be completing a total of five transactions — signing Baldwin and Lundy, waiving Jones and MarJon Beauchamp, and promoting Miller. Once the dust has settled, L.A. will once again have a full 18-man roster, with 15 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals.
What Teams Got In Return For Their Traded 2025 Draft Picks
The origins of 2025's most valuable draft picks - the ones that could turn into top-10 selections - are pretty widely known. It's no secret that the Spurs control Atlanta's first-rounder because of their Dejounte Murray trade or that the top-six protected pick the Sixers owe the Thunder stems from an Al Horford salary dump.
But there are dozens of other 2025 draft picks likely to change hands, and the reasons that teams gave up some of those picks aren't quite so memorable. That's especially true of traded second-rounders, but it applies to a few first-round selections too.
For instance, if you're a Pistons fan, you likely haven't forgotten why Detroit owes its top-13 protected first-rounder to the Timberwolves, but if you root for another team, you may not remember that the Pistons originally gave up that pick in a 2020 deal with Houston that saw Detroit acquire Trevor Ariza and the draft rights to Isaiah Stewart.
Going down memory lane and revisiting past deals to see what sort of impact they'll have on this year's draft is a fun exercise, so we're going to run through all of this year's traded draft picks and identify the deal in which they were initially given up.
A couple caveats before we dive in: First, we're just looking at the initial trade in which the pick was moved, so if it has changed hands a few times since then, we're not covering all of those subsequent deals.
The one exception to that rule is if the pick was essentially traded twice by the same club -- for example, the Hawks sent their 2025 second-rounder with top-40 protection to one team and then dealt it with 41-59 protection to another team. We'll look at both deals, since that pick could still end up going to either one of those teams.
Second, we're not including the traded picks that are locks (or near-locks) to fall into their protected range this season, such as the top-14 protected first-rounder the Hornets owe Sacramento or the top-10 protected pick the Jazz owe Oklahoma City. We're just focusing on picks that will - or at least have a pretty good chance to - change hands this spring.
With all that in mind, let's revisit the deals in which teams gave up 2025 draft picks...
Nets Notes: Thomas, Sharpe, D-Lo, Clowney, Williams, Draft Picks
After missing nearly two months due to a left hamstring strain, the Nets‘ leading scorer, Cam Thomas, returned to action on Friday and had what he called a “decent first game back,” scoring 16 points in 21 minutes, Brian Lewis writes for The New York Post.
“Obviously, missed some shots I normally make when I’m in rhythm and playing, but it’s just the nature of being on for a while and coming back and playing first game,” said Thomas, who was 7-of-17 from the floor in the 19-point loss to Portland. “So shots, not really worried about that; that’s going to come. But it feels good to finally finish a game and have no pain. So that’s the main thing I’m pleased with. So just got to keep building and keep going.”
Thomas will be held out of the second game of Brooklyn’s back-to-back on Saturday in Detroit due to hamstring injury management, tweets Lewis. Trendon Watford, who missed time earlier this season with a hamstring injury of his own, will be inactive with the same designation.
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Day’Ron Sharpe, who will be eligible for restricted free agency at season’s end, returned to the second unit on Friday but was excellent in his first start of the season on Wednesday, racking up 25 points, 15 rebounds, five assists, and three blocks vs. Oklahoma City. He was a +20 in 31 minutes in a game Brooklyn lost by eight points. “I’m just a beast on them boards. I don’t really think nobody can mess with me in the paint when it comes to that,” Sharpe said, according to Lewis. “Like I tell y’all every time, no matter how big, no matter how tall, its just what I do. You know what I’m saying? You’re gonna have to send three people to box me out. But I just play hard.”
- D’Angelo Russell (right ankle sprain) and Noah Clowney (left ankle sprain) will remain on the shelf for Saturday’s game, which will be Russell’s fifth straight absence and a 13th consecutive missed game for Clowney. However, head coach Jordi Fernandez says both players are doing “great” and should resume practicing soon, Lewis writes for The Post. “We’ll probably talk about having them on the court at some point next week,” Fernandez said. “They’re progressing well, they’re around the group and they’ve been [helpful]. They’re great energy when we have them around. We need their presence. It’s good, because it seems like if everything goes well next week we’ll see where they’re at, and just try to keep working on that and have them get some contact and have them back on the court.”
- Ziaire Williams, who had averaged 29.2 minutes per night in Brooklyn’s last 11 games entering Friday, played just 10:28 against Portland and wasn’t sure why, according to Lewis. Asked after the game if Fernandez, who has been encouraging Williams to shoot more three-pointers, pulled him early due to his unwillingness to pull the trigger more often, Williams replied, “Y’all know better than me, man. I got no idea.”
- No team has more tradable first-round picks than the Nets, as RealGM details. Net Income of NetsDaily takes a closer look at what that means for the organization.
Hawks Sign Kevon Harris To 10-Day Contract
March 1: The Hawks have officially signed Harris to a 10-day deal, the team announced today in a press release. It will run through March 10.
February 28: The Hawks intend to sign swingman Kevon Harris to a 10-day contract, agent Daniel Hazan tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Harris, who spent two seasons on a two-way contract with the Magic from 2022-24, was in camp with the Hawks last fall and joined Atlanta’s G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, after being waived by the NBA team in October.
In 34 total outings for the Skyhawks during the 2024 Tip-Off Tournament and 2024/25 regular season, Harris has averaged 19.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 1.3 steals in 31.0 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .463/.447/.804. The 6’5″ guard/forward has had a career-best season as a three-point shooter, with 2.6 makes per contest.
Harris only appeared in two NBA games for Orlando last season, but saw more action in 2022/23, averaging 4.1 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 0.5 APG in 34 appearances (13.4 MPG) off the bench for the Magic.
The Hawks have an open spot on their 15-man roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary to create an opening for Harris, who will earn $119,972 on his 10-day deal. Atlanta will carry an identical cap hit.
Assuming Harris officially signs his contract before Friday’s game vs. Oklahoma City, the deal would run through March 9, covering Atlanta’s next five games. If he doesn’t sign until Saturday, the 27-year-old could still be active for up to five games, since the Hawks play on March 10.
Sixers Sign Jalen Hood-Schifino To Two-Way Deal, Cut David Roddy
March 1: The Sixers have officially signed Hood-Schifino to a two-way contract and waived Roddy, the team announced today in a press release.
February 28: Free agent guard Jalen Hood-Schifino has agreed to sign a two-way contract with the Sixers, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Hood-Schifino was included in the Luka Doncic/Anthony Davis blockbuster earlier this month, having been sent from the Lakers to the Jazz in that deal for salary purposes. He was subsequently waived by Utah after the trade deadline passed.
Still only 21 years old, Hood-Schifino was selected No. 17 overall in the 2023 draft. He spent his first season-and-a-half with the Lakers, who decided not to pick up their 2025/26 team option on his rookie scale contract last fall after the former Indiana standout appeared in just 21 NBA games during his rookie campaign.
Hood-Schifino only made two appearances this season with Los Angeles, playing a total of 14 minutes. He missed a significant chunk of the season due to a left hamstring strain.
While his NBA role in L.A. was extremely limited, Hood-Schifino did put up some solid numbers in the G League last season, averaging 22.0 points, 5.3 assists and 4.7 rebounds in 35.4 minutes per game across 15 outings for the South Bay Lakers. He had a shooting line of .473/.432/.800.
The 76ers recently had a pair of two-way openings alongside guard Jeff Dowtin, but filled them by signing forwards David Roddy and Alex Reese within the past week.
Philadelphia will have to waive one of those players in order to make room for Hood-Schifino — according to Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com (Twitter link), Roddy will be the odd man out and will be cut to open up a two-way slot.
Pacific Notes: Budenholzer, Booker, Bol, Jemison, Goodwin, Curry
Weeks ago, Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer reportedly called on star Devin Booker to “tone it down vocally” during games, reports NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link). According to Haynes, Booker was surprised at the request.
As Haynes points out, Booker seemed to allude to that conversation during his post-game remarks on Thursday when he discussed what the Suns need to do to improve amid a stretch that’s seen them drop out of the play-in picture in the West.
“It can be fixed with just a little more talking I’d say,” Booker said. “Things get tough, we get quiet as a team and from my experience and what I’ve seen, that’s not the way to get through it.”
Budenholzer addressed the report on Friday, per Duane Rankin of Arizona Republic. According to the championship-winning coach, he and Booker talk often and have a healthy relationship and dialogue.
“Devin always starts with himself,” Budenholzer said. “He’s always pushing us to be better. Devin is awesome and his communication is awesome. His style is great. I get it, I understand. I don’t have a lot more to say. There’s conversations I have with Devin all the time. I’m good with those conversations. We don’t always agree on everything. I think he actually appreciates it, I appreciate it. I’ll leave it there.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- The Suns have leaned heavily recently on Bol Bol, who has started five of their past eight games. He’s been impressive in those five starts, averaging 19.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while shooting 55.2% from the field and 41.2% from three (on 6.8 attempts per game). His strong play drew praise from teammate Kevin Durant, per PHNX Sports (Twitter link). “I think a lot of younger players can learn from how he approaches the game,” Durant said of Bol. “And it’s not as glamorized, people don’t think that about Bol, because he’s so quiet and unassuming, but he’s a pro’s pro, and he’s shown that ever since he came here to Phoenix. And ever since he’s been my teammate, I’ve been blown away by how hard he works, how much he cares, how much he wants to go out there and play well, how great of a teammate he is.“
- Two-way center Trey Jemison played a big role in the Lakers‘ win over the Clippers, recording five points and six rebounds in 22 minutes. As Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times points out (via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin’s Twitter), the Lakers are 10-0 this season when Jemison plays. The big man said he’s impressed with how L.A.’s bench is shaping up in the late stretch of the season. “If you want this win, you have to come fight us. Literally fight us,” Jemison said of the bench identity, per The Athletic Jovan Buha (Twitter link).
- Another two-way player for the Lakers has also stood out as of late — in his eight games with Los Angeles, Jordan Goodwin is averaging 6.1 points and 1.3 steals. According to Buha (Twitter link), head coach JJ Redick said he foresees Goodwin continuing to play a rotation role moving forward. The Lakers don’t have any roster spots open and two-way players aren’t eligible for the playoffs, so if they want Jemison or Goodwin to have a role in the postseason rotation, they’d have to clear spots for one or both by waiving players on guaranteed deals.
- Stephen Curry‘s 56 points on Thursday emphasized the fact that he and the Warriors are still worth monitoring as a potential contender, Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic writes. While Thompson suggests it may be premature to call the Warriors true contenders, he notes that Curry continues to prove there are few players in the league worth taking over him in a seven-game series.
Hornets Sign Malachi Flynn To 10-Day Deal
March 1: Flynn’s 10-day deal with the Hornets is now official, according to the team (Twitter link).
February 28: Malachi Flynn will join the Hornets on a 10-day contract, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The 26-year-old point guard was in training camp with San Antonio after signing an Exhibit 10 deal in August. He was waived before the start of the season and has been playing for the Spurs’ G League affiliate in Austin, where he’s averaging 21.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 18 regular season games.
Flynn will take the place of Elfrid Payton, whose second 10-day contract expired on Thursday, according to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link). Payton was signed with a hardship exception that remains in effect due to long-term injuries affecting Tre Mann, Brandon Miller, Grant Williams, and Josh Okogie.
Payton appeared in six games for the Hornets, making two starts and posting 1.0 point, 2.2 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 20.5 minutes per night.
Charlotte will be Flynn’s fourth team in the past two seasons once his contract becomes official. He was selected by Toronto with the 29th pick in the 2020 draft and spent three and a half years with the Raptors before being sent to New York as part of the OG Anunoby deal. The Knicks shipped him to Detroit at last February’s trade deadline.
Flynn has appeared in 213 games through his first four NBA seasons, averaging 5.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 14.2 minutes per night. His standout moment came last April when he scored 50 points off the bench for Detroit.
Assuming he’s signed before Saturday’s meeting with Washington, Flynn will be available for five games during the 10-day contract. He will be eligible to sign one more 10-day deal with Charlotte once this one expires.