Hornets’ Affiliate Wins G League Title, Evbuomwan Named Finals MVP
The Hornets‘ G League team, the Greensboro Swarm, denied Sacramento’s affiliate a second consecutive title on Friday, winning the second game of the best-of-three series over the Stockton Kings to win the 2026 NBAGL Finals in a sweep.
After winning Game 1 of the series on Wednesday by a score of 111-107, the Swarm registered a 119-104 victory on Friday in the final game of the G League’s 2025/26 season to earn the organization’s first NBAGL championship.
Hornets two-way player Tosan Evbuomwan was named the G League Finals Most Valuable Player after scoring a team-high 22 points on Friday to go along with seven rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals. In the first game, he contributed 15 points and was a plus-13.
A third-year forward who has previously appeared in NBA games for Memphis, Detroit, Brooklyn, and New York, Evbuomwan didn’t play at all for Charlotte after signing with the team on February 6, but his two-way deal covers two seasons, so the Hornets will have the option of keeping him on the roster to open the 2026/27 season.
Other key contributors for Charlotte’s affiliate in the G League Finals included 2024 lottery pick Tidjane Salaun, who had a double-double in both Game 1 (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Game 2 (19 points, 10 rebounds); 2025 first-rounder Liam McNeeley, who averaged 17.5 PPG in the series; and two-way player Antonio Reeves, who had five three-pointers in Friday’s deciding game.
Salaun has a guaranteed $8.2MM salary for 2026/27 and the Hornets will have to decide by the end of October whether or not to exercise his $10.4MM option for ’27/28. McNeeley’s rookie contract runs through ’28/29, with a decision on his $3MM option for ’26/27 also due on October 31. Reeves, meanwhile, will be a restricted free agent this summer if Charlotte decides to issue him a two-way qualifying offer.
Veteran wing DaQuan Jeffries (26.0 PPG) and shooting guard Dexter Dennis (24.0 PPG) were Stockton’s leading scorers in the two-game series. Neither player is currently under contract with Sacramento.
NBA G League Announces 2025/26 All-NBAGL Teams
Four days after being named the 2025/26 NBA G League Most Valuable Player, Bulls two-way guard Mac McClung has also earned a spot on the All-NBAGL first team, the league announced (all Twitter links).
McClung, who averaged 31.8 points, 7.9 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game on .515/.381/.775 shooting in 29 regular season outings for Windy City, headlines that five-man group of G League standouts along with Rockets two-way player Tristen Newton and NBA veteran DaQuan Jeffries, who finished second and third, respectively, in MVP voting.
Newton, who made five appearances for the Iowa Wolves before joining the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for 30 more games, registered averages of 25.6 PPG, 5.2 RPG, and 4.5 APG with a .480/.376/.859 shooting line. Jeffries, who had a brief NBA stint this season on a 10-day contract with Sacramento, made 28 regular season appearances for the Stockton Kings and contributed 23.5 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 2.4 APG with an excellent shooting line of .515/.436/.831.
Pistons two-way player Isaac Jones and veteran NBA guard Lester Quinones round out the All-G League first team.
The complete breakdown of the 2025/26 All-NBA G League teams is below. Players who are currently on standard NBA contracts are noted with an asterisk (*), while those on two-way contracts are noted with a caret (^).
All-NBAGL First Team
- DaQuan Jeffries (Stockton Kings)
- Isaac Jones (Motor City Cruise) ^
- Mac McClung (Windy City Bulls) ^
- Tristen Newton (Rio Grande Valley Vipers) ^
- Lester Quinones (Osceola Magic)
All-NBAGL Second Team
- Kobe Bufkin (South Bay Lakers) *
- Killian Hayes (Cleveland Charge) *
- Note: Hayes played for the Cavaliers’ G League affiliate but is on a standard contract with the Kings.
- A.J. Lawson (Raptors 905) ^
- Drew Timme (South Bay Lakers) ^
- Jahmir Young (Sioux Falls Skyforce) ^
All-NBAGL Third Team
- RayJ Dennis (College Park Skyhawks) ^
- PJ Hall (Greensboro Swarm) ^
- Ron Harper Jr. (Maine Celtics) *
- Alijah Martin (Raptors 905) ^
- Daishen Nix (Rio Grande Valley Vipers)
Bulls Notes: Donovan, McClung, Giddey, Jones, Ivey
Billy Donovan is seriously giving thought to leaving the Bulls at the conclusion of the season, Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reports.
Siegel hears that Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd was North Carolina’s top choice to become its head coach. However, Lloyd agreed to a five-year deal to stay at Arizona, which makes Donovan the Tar Heels’ clear choice for the job.
Donovan is committed to the Bulls through the remainder of the season and won’t make any decisions on his future until April 12, Siegel adds. However, there is a growing belief around the league that Donovan will leave the franchise.
Here’s more on the Bulls:
- Mac McClung has done it again. The three-time NBA dunk contest champion has been named NBA G League MVP for the second time, the NBA announced (via Twitter). McClung, who is on a two-way contract, has been playing for the Windy City Bulls. The 27-year-old guard put up huge numbers in the regular season, averaging a G League-best 31.8 points, 7.9 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 steals on .515/.381/.781 shooting in 29 games (37.3 minutes per contest). Rockets two-way guard Tristen Newton and Kings swingman DaQuan Jeffries finished second and third in voting, respectively.
- Josh Giddey (hamstring) and Tre Jones (ankle) have been upgraded to probable for tonight’s game against the Knicks, K.C. Johnson of Chicago Sports Network tweets. McClung is also probable with abdominal tightness.
- Brian Sandalow of the Chicago Sun Times details how the team has tried to move on from the Jaden Ivey saga. Ivey was waived earlier in the week following several controversial live streams on social media, among other factors.
Kings Sign DaQuan Jeffries To 10-Day Contract
The Kings have signed veteran swingman DaQuan Jeffries to a 10-day contract, according to NBA.com’s transaction log.
It’s a hardship deal, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link), which means Sacramento didn’t have to waive anyone from its 15-man roster to make room for Jeffries. A team qualifies for a hardship exception if it has four players who have missed three or more games due to an injury and illness, assuming those four players are each expected to remain sidelined for at least two more weeks.
Zach LaVine (hand), Domantas Sabonis (knee), De’Andre Hunter (eye), and Drew Eubanks (thumb) all out for the season, so the Kings meet the hardship criteria. Russell Westbrook (foot), Nique Clifford (foot), and Keegan Murray (ankle) are currently on the shelf too, but Westbrook and Clifford haven’t yet missed three consecutive games and the latest update on Murray suggests he should be back within the next two weeks.
Jeffries, 28, began his NBA career with Sacramento back in 2019 after going undrafted out of Tulsa. He has since bounced around the NBA, appearing in 111 total regular season games with the Kings, Rockets, Grizzlies, Knicks, and Hornets from 2019-25. The 6’5″ guard/forward holds career averages of 4.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per contest, with a .415/.315/.783 shooting line.
Known as a solid, versatile defender, Jeffries hadn’t been in the NBA at all in 2025/26 until today, having spent the season with the Kings’ G League affiliate in Stockton. In 35 total NBAGL appearances this season, he has averaged 21.2 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 2.3 APG on .506/.420/.843 shooting, making a strong case for an NBA call-up.
Jeffries will earn $165,197 over the course of his 10-day contract, which will run through April 4, covering Sacramento’s next five games. The Kings will take on a cap hit of $131,970.
Kings Sign, Waive DaQuan Jeffries
October 16: Jeffries has officially been signed and waived, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
October 15: The Kings intend to sign and waive free agent swingman DaQuan Jeffries, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link), who says the plan is to have him join the Stockton Kings in the G League.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link) first reported that Jeffries had agreed to a deal with Sacramento.
Jeffries has spent the past six seasons in the NBA and has appeared in 111 total regular season games, including 47 last season for Charlotte. Signed and traded from the Knicks to the Hornets in the Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster last October, the 28-year-old averaged 6.7 points and 2.9 rebounds in 22.8 minutes per game for the Hornets, with a .405/.335/.800 shooting line.
While Jeffries’ contract covered three seasons, only one year was guaranteed, so it came as no real surprise that the Hornets – dealing with a roster crunch – waived him last month, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Jeffries will be rejoining the organization he began his NBA career with — he spent his rookie season in 2019/20 on a two-way deal with the Kings, then was on a standard deal with the club for most of the ’20/21 campaign. Assuming he signs an Exhibit 10 contract, which is a safe bet, he’ll be eligible for a bonus worth up to $85,300 on top of his base G League salary as long as he spends at least 60 days with Stockton.
Hornets Waive DaQuan Jeffries
The Hornets have waived wing DaQuan Jeffries, Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer tweets. The team has confirmed the move (Twitter link).
Jeffries was signed through the 2026/27 season but his three-year contract was non-guaranteed for this season and next. His $2,743,776 salary for 2025/26 would have been fully guaranteed if he had remained on the roster through January 7.
The move wasn’t surprising. As we pointed out recently, waiving Jeffries was the most likely scenario to help deal with the team’s roster crunch. He was sent to Charlotte via the Knicks last October as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns multi-team blockbuster.
Jeffries, 28, appeared in a career-high 47 games, including 20 starts, last season. He averaged 6.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists while shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 33.5 percent beyond the arc. He has also had stints with Sacramento, Houston and Memphis. Overall, he has seen action in 111 NBA games.
Charlotte now has 20 players on its training camp roster, leaving one open spot ahead of the preseason. The Hornets still have 16 players on guaranteed deals and another on a non-guaranteed contract, so they still have some work to do to trim the roster to 15 by opening night.
Early Look At Hornets’ Potential Roster Crunch
Barring a trade (or two), Charlotte will be facing a roster crunch this fall.
As our tracker shows, the Hornets currently have a full offseason roster, with 18 players on standard contracts (16 guaranteed) and all three two-way spots filled. They need to trim their standard roster down to 15 players before the regular season begins.
None of the players on standard deals are signed to training camp contracts, and until the Hornets free up roster spots, they will be unable to finalize Exhibit 10 deals with players who will be headed to their G League affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm, to open the 2025/26 season. That likely won’t play a factor in the roster battle, but it’s worth mentioning nonetheless.
Here’s the list of players currently on standard contracts, sorted by how much money they make:
- LaMelo Ball
- Miles Bridges
- Collin Sexton
- Josh Green
- Grant Williams
- Brandon Miller
- Kon Knueppel
- Pat Connaughton
- Tre Mann
- Tidjane Salaun
- Liam McNeeley
- DaQuan Jeffries *
- Nick Smith Jr.
- Sion James
- Ryan Kalkbrenner
- Spencer Dinwiddie
- Mason Plumlee
- Moussa Diabate *
* Denotes non-guaranteed contract.
Outside of maybe Miller and Knueppel, it wouldn’t totally surprise me if Charlotte decided to eventually trade virtually anyone on the roster. But for the sake of this exercise, we’ll assume that Ball, Bridges, Sexton, Green, Williams, Salaun, McNeeley, James and Kalkbrenner won’t be on the move in the next five-plus weeks.
The Hornets re-signed Mann to a guaranteed three-year, $24MM contract in free agency and he can’t be traded until January 15. It’s safe to say he won’t be waived before the season begins.
Dinwiddie and Plumlee were also free agent additions and neither can be dealt until Dec. 15. Although they both received guaranteed contracts, they’re only earning the veteran’s minimum in 2025/26.
Either Dinwiddie or Plumlee could theoretically be cut this fall, but it would be a little strange to sign a player to a guaranteed deal only to release him before he suits up for a regular season contest. It’s certainly an option, especially if one gets hurt, but it seems fairly unlikely right now.
By process of elimination, that likely leaves four players — Connaughton, Smith, Jeffries and Diabate — essentially vying for the 15th and final roster spot.
Of the four, Jeffries seems like the most obvious candidate to be waived. He was sent to Charlotte last October as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, and while he appeared in 47 games last season, he wasn’t a major contributor. The five-year veteran is on a fully non-guaranteed contract, so the Hornets won’t incur a cap hit if they release him.
Despite earning $9.42MM in 2025/26, Connaughton also seems pretty likely to be cut. Perhaps I’m wrong and Charlotte will keep his expiring contract to use for salary-matching purposes in a future trade, but he has negative value on that deal after his career was derailed by injuries the past few years. When they sent Vasilije Micic to the Bucks for Connaughton in July, the Hornets acquired two second-round picks in the deal — it seems safe to assume they made the trade for the draft assets, not for Connaughton himself.
That leaves Smith and Diabate. Smith is just two years removed from being selected in the first round of the 2023 draft, but he hasn’t taken a major step forward since entering the NBA, having made exactly 39.1% of his field goal attempts in both of his professional seasons. He played a more significant role last season, but the Hornets were outscored by 14.3 points per 100 possessions when he was on the court, compared to 6.3 points per 100 possessions when he wasn’t playing.
Smith also has a backcourt logjam working against him, while Diabate should benefit from the fact that the Hornets don’t have many viable options in the middle — Plumlee and Kalkbrenner are the only other centers on the roster, so Diabate could actually play rotation minutes this fall, as he did last season, whereas the path to regular playing time for Smith would be more crowded with Miller and Mann back from injuries and Dinwiddie and Sexton now in the mix as well.
It’s worth reiterating that Smith’s salary for 2025/26 is guaranteed, but neither he nor Diabate is owed any guaranteed money beyond the coming season and Charlotte is operating way below the luxury tax line this season. In other words, eating some guaranteed money shouldn’t really affect the team’s flexibility.
Still, even if Jeffries, Connaughton, and Smith look like the most logical odd men out, it’s possible this situation won’t end up being quite that straightforward, so it’ll be worth keeping an eye on this fall.
Luke Adams contributed to this story.
Scotto’s Latest: Rollins, Hornets, Bucks, Ayton, Valanciunas
After having his qualifying offer withdrawn by the Bucks earlier this week, free agent guard Ryan Rollins is drawing interest from a handful of teams around the NBA, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who says the Suns, Trail Blazers, Spurs, and Lakers are among the clubs with Rollins on their radar.
A reunion with Milwaukee also hasn’t been ruled out either, Scotto reports. Even after rescinding his qualifying offer and making him an unrestricted free agent, the Bucks are in position to hang onto Rollins’ Early Bird rights, which would allow them to go over the cap to re-sign him after they use up all their room.
Portland still has its $14.1MM non-taxpayer mid-level exception available, while San Antonio and Los Angeles have the $5.1MM bi-annual exception on hand, Scotto writes. However, the Suns could only offer more than a minimum-salary deal if they shed salary — perhaps via a Bradley Beal buyout agreement.
Rollins had a modest breakout year this past season, registering averages of 6.2 points, 1.9 assists, and 1.9 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game, along with a shooting line of .487/.408/.800. He had only made 25 appearances across two NBA seasons prior to 2024/25.
Here’s more from Scotto:
- Examining the Hornets‘ roster crunch, Scotto identifies Josh Okogie and DaQuan Jeffries – who are on non-guaranteed contracts – as candidates to be waived if no trade opportunities involving them arise. Executives who spoke to HoopsHype also view former first-round pick Nick Smith Jr. as a player who could be traded. That applies to veterans on expiring contracts like Pat Connaughton and Collin Sexton as well.
- Before he agreed to re-sign with the Hornets, point guard Tre Mann received interest from the Bucks, Scotto reports. Milwaukee is in the market for additional point guard depth after losing Damian Lillard to an Achilles tear and subsequently planning to waive him.
- Echoing reporting from ESPN’s Shams Charania, Scotto says that teams who reached out to Trail Blazers officials for feedback on Deandre Ayton got positive reviews on the big man, who was a “community staple in Portland and hosted many team bonding events.” Reporting from The Athletic had suggested that Ayton’s attitude and bad habits played a part in the decision to part ways with him.
- Addressing the Jonas Valanciunas situation, Scotto notes that the Nuggets have tried to acquire the veteran center for the past couple years and have envisioned him playing a significant role if he reports to Denver, giving superstar Nikola Jokic more opportunities to rest. Amid rumors that Valanciunas is traveling to Greece and hopes to sign with the EuroLeague club Panathinaikos, Scotto hears that the 33-year-old is expected to address the situation soon.
Hornets’ Charlie Brown Jr. Among Latest NBA Cuts
The Hornets have waived Charlie Brown Jr., Harry Giles and Keyontae Johnson, the team confirmed in a press release. Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer was first to report the moves (Twitter link).
Brown has appeared in 49 regular season games with Atlanta, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Philadelphia and New York over the course of his four NBA seasons. The 27-year-old was signed-and-traded to the Hornets from the Knicks as part of the Karl-Anthony Towns blockbuster.
While it’s not surprising that Brown was released given Charlotte’s roster situation, it’s still a noteworthy event because he will be owed a guaranteed $2,237,692 for the 2024/25 season. Assuming he goes unclaimed, the Hornets will carry that salary as a dead-money cap hit on their books.
Notably, veteran swingman DaQuan Jeffries — another player acquired via sign-and-trade from the Knicks — was not cut today. That could mean the Hornets plan to keep him into the start of the regular season even though he fractured a bone in his hand last week. The team didn’t give a timetable for his return.
Both Giles and Johnson were on non-guaranteed training camp deals. A North Carolina native who played college ball at Duke, Giles is a former first-round pick (No. 20 overall in 2017) whose career was derailed by a series of major knee injuries. The 26-year-old big man split last season with the Nets and Lakers.
As for Johnson, he spent 2023/24 — his rookie season — on a two-way contract with the Thunder, but they chose not to give him a two-way qualifying offer over the summer, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Johnson, who had Exhibit 10 language in his contract, can earn a bonus worth $77.5K if he spends at least 60 days with the Greensboro Swarm, Charlotte’s NBA G League affiliate. Giles’ deal didn’t include an Exhibit 10 clause, so he wouldn’t be eligible for the same bonus and therefore seems unlikely to end up with the Swarm.
The Hornets now have 17 players under contract, with 14 players on guaranteed standard deals, Taj Gibson with a significant partial guarantee on his minimum-salary deal, and a pair of players on two-way contracts. NBA teams are permitted to carry three two-way players, so the team still has one roster vacancy ahead of the regular season.
Here are a few more players who were waived on Friday — all three were on non-guaranteed training camp deals:
- The Kings have waived undrafted rookie Boogie Ellis, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (via Twitter). The former USC guard, who had a solid preseason showing with Sacramento, will likely be headed to the Stockton Kings to begin his first professional season. Sacramento will still have to waive at least a couple more players beyond Ellis to set its regular season roster.
- The Thunder announced that they have released Buddy Boeheim and Cormac Ryan. Both players will likely be headed to the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s NBAGL affiliate. The Thunder now have 18 players under contract, which is the regular season limit.
Southeast Notes: Jeffries, Ball, Risacher, Carter
Veteran swingman DaQuan Jeffries, one of the three players the Hornets acquired via sign-and-trade in last week’s Karl-Anthony Towns deal, has been diagnosed with a fractured right fifth metacarpal, according to the team (Twitter link). The injury, which he sustained in Tuesday’s preseason game vs. Miami, affects the bone at the base of the pinkie finger.
The Hornets didn’t offer any concrete recovery timeline for Jeffries, simply stating that he’ll be “out moving forward” and that updates will be “provided as appropriate.”
The injury to Jeffries, a fifth-year wing who has averaged just 10.8 minutes per game in 64 appearances over the course of his NBA career, won’t have any impact on the Hornets’ regular season rotation. However, it could be a factor in the team’s upcoming roster decisions.
Jeffries is one of 15 Charlotte players with a fully guaranteed salary for 2024/25, but the club will likely want to find room for Taj Gibson (whose salary is partially guaranteed) on the regular season roster, meaning Jeffries and Charlie Brown Jr. – who was also signed-and-traded from New York – are among the players who could be on the chopping block. If Jeffries is out for an extended period, that won’t help his case to open the season on the Hornets’ roster.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- After playing just 58 total games over the past two seasons due to ankle issues, LaMelo Ball will need to stay healthy in 2024/25 if the Hornets hope to be competitive. As Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer writes, the star guard has shown in two preseason games what he’s capable of if he can stay on the court, piling up 42 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds in 42 minutes of action. Charlotte has outscored its opponents by 21 points during those 42 minutes. “He’s generational. I tell him that all the time,” former teammate Terry Rozier said. “That’s little bro. They are really good, but this team only goes as far as they have him, him being healthy and everything else. So, he knows what he has to do.”
- No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher offered Hawks fans a tantalizing glimpse of his potential in his NBA debut on Tuesday vs. Indiana, per Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Risacher scored 18 points and was a team-best plus-15 in his 23 minutes off the bench. “I hate that this wasn’t the first game of the season where it counts for real,” Hawks guard Trae Young said. “That was a hell of a performance. That was a game, hell of a start. So for me, I want him to feel like how he felt tonight, and feel like there’s no pressure on him. He can go out there and be himself.”
- Discussing his new three-year contract extension with the Magic, center Wendell Carter Jr. said on Tuesday that he’s “super excited” about the deal, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required). Carter credited the front office for its willingness to invest in the Magic’s core players and agent Mike Miller for working to get something done before the October 21 deadline. “I told him I wanted to be here, wanted to be here long-term, however long I can be,” Carter said. “I told him just to make it happen and that’s what he did for me.”