Pacific Notes: Sabonis, Valanciunas, Suns, Powell, Lakers
The Kings picked up an important win in Houston Saturday night even though they lost starting center Domantas Sabonis early in the game, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. After a little more than a minute of play, Sabonis grabbed his left hamstring while running down the court. Head coach Doug Christie immediately called time out, and Sabonis headed to the locker room to get it checked. The Kings announced that he wouldn’t return, and Christie is unsure how long he might be sidelined.
“We’ll see in the coming days,” Christie told reporters. “Probably tomorrow or the next day we’ll have an idea, but everyone’s just pulling for him. Stepping in and, wow, we’re talking about Domantas Sabonis, who covers the stat sheet in a way that is difficult to do. A lot of guys stepped in and weren’t trying to do too much. They were just trying to do what they do and that adds up to everyone pulling the rope in the same direction.”
Sacramento was able to overcome Sabonis’ injury because of a strong night from backup center Jonas Valanciunas, who was acquired from Washington at the trade deadline. Playing nearly 30 minutes off the bench, Valanciunas contributed 15 points, 14 rebounds, four steals and three blocks as the Kings leap-frogged two teams to move into eighth in the Western Conference standings.
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Bradley Beal remains questionable for Sunday’s contest against Minnesota after missing the Suns‘ last two games with tightness in his left calf, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Grayson Allen, who sat out Friday’s game due to left foot soreness, is probable to return. After snapping a three-game losing streak Friday night, Kevin Durant said the Suns need to block out distractions and concentrate on playing basketball. “It’s so much noise that’s going to be around us,” Durant said. “It’s so much tension around whether we’re going to win or lose the next game. So many people wishing that we don’t win games. It’s just a lot of BS around us, but I think if we understand that’s just the nature of the beast and we go out there and play with more pride and more energy, more enthusiasm, I think that things can turn around, but you really actually got to feel that.”
- Clippers coach Tyronn Lue expressed hope that leading scorer Norman Powell can return soon after missing the last five games with soreness in his left knee, per Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Lue added that Powell tried to play through the pain before the All-Star break, but he eventually had to make a change in the medical treatment he was receiving on the knee. “But like I said, he’s getting close, and he’s been doing the things needed to try to get back on the floor and so hopefully sooner than later,” Lue said.
- The Lakers are getting valuable contributions from their two-way players, observes Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Jordan Goodwin and Trey Jemison both played a role in Friday’s win over the Clippers. “Those guys are just professional,” coach J.J. Redick said. “And a lot of times with two-ways, you can err on the side of youth and development, and I think there’s a lot of merit and a lot of value in that. Trey and Goodie are older players by two-way standards. And so, to be able to have them both with experience and both having been in the league now for a couple of years – Goodie longer than that – but they know how to play and they can contribute to winning.”
Celtics Notes: Brown, Tatum, Hauser, Porzingis, Holiday
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 83 points on 61 shots in Friday’s loss to Cleveland, but Brown thought they should have shot even more considering the circumstances, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. The Celtics were missing Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday due to injuries, limiting their options on offense. Still, the Cavaliers rarely threw double teams at Brown or Tatum.
“They don’t want to help,” Brown said. “They were trying to take away our spacing and our shooting, so they were just staying home on us instead of trying to make us make the reads and pass. So that means we’ve got to dominate every time down the floor. I feel like I let them off the hook maybe a few times where I could have used some shot fakes, some possessions I definitely would have back. But for the most part, we were aggressive, and that was key for us.
“But different games, we’ll see different game plans each and every night. Sometimes they blitz, sometimes they (double team), sometimes they do different things. When I had the ball or when Jayson had the ball tonight, they for the most part stayed home. We’ve got to make them pay.”
Tatum’s 37 shots were five more than his previous high for a regulation game. Himmelsbach speculates that so much shooting may have tired out Tatum, who missed all four of his three-point attempts in the second half.
There’s more from Boston:
- The Cavs targeted Sam Hauser on defense, frequently forcing him to try to stay in front of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, Himmelsbach adds. Cleveland was 12-of-26 during the game with Hauser as the primary defender, and coach Joe Mazzulla was happy with how he responded to the challenge. “(Hauser) has been a great defender in the league for the last two or three years and earned a reputation for that,” Mazzulla said, “and so the confidence comes from having him in the game, being able to defend.”
- Porzingis and Holiday are both listed as doubtful for Sunday afternoon’s game against Denver, according to Brian Robb of MassLive. Porzingis is sidelined with a non-COVID illness, while Holiday is dealing with a mallet finger injury on his right hand that he suffered in Wednesday’s game. Both players are considered day-to-day. Brown, who sat out Wednesday due to thigh soreness, is questionable due to pain in his right knee. Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman and Jordan Walsh all practiced today with the Maine Celtics in anticipation of playing on Sunday, Robb adds.
- One of the few disappointments for the Celtics in the past two years is the failure of their developmental prospects to earn rotation minutes, Robb states in a mailbag column. He notes that as the roster gets more expensive, Walsh, Drew Peterson, Baylor Scheierman and JD Davison will eventually have to be replaced if they can’t make greater contributions.
Austin Reaves’ MRI Shows No Serious Damage
The Lakers got good news from an MRI performed today on Austin Reaves, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). Reaves left Friday’s game early due to soreness in his right calf, but the medical screening didn’t reveal any serious injury.
Reaves is considered day-to-day, Charania adds, and his status for Sunday’s game with the Clippers has yet to be determined.
Reaves was in the starting lineup Friday night, but he had to be removed after just three minutes. Coach J.J. Redick told reporters that Reaves was “experiencing some tightness in the calf” and was kept out of the rest of the game as a precaution.
Gabe Vincent and Jordan Goodwin filled in for Reaves after he exited the game, and they will likely see an increase in playing time until he can return.
Reaves is an important component for the suddenly torrid Lakers, who are on a five-game winning streak and have moved to within a game of second place in the West.
The 26-year-old shooting guard has become a full-time starter for the first time in his four NBA seasons. He’s averaging a career-high 19.9 points, along with 4.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists through 53 games with .447/.362/.867 shooting splits. His ability to move the ball and hit outside shots makes him a great fit alongside LeBron James and Luka Doncic in a potent Lakers lineup.
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.