DeAndre Jordan Named 2025/26 Teammate Of The Year
Veteran center DeAndre Jordan appeared in just 12 games as a member of the Pelicans this season, but he has been named the 2025/26 Teammate of the Year, the NBA announced today (Twitter link).
The Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award recognizes “the player deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment to his team,” per the league.
Pelicans players and interim head coach James Borrego spoke repeatedly over the course of the year about the impact that Jordan had on a young roster despite his extremely limited role.
“To see the growth of our young team, DeAndre had a massive impact on that,” Borrego said near the end of the regular season. “He brought professionalism every day. A voice every day. A respect for every drill, every practice and every moment together.”
The Teammate of the Year award isn’t voted on by media members. A panel of league executives select the 12 finalists (six from each conference) for the award, while current players vote on the winner. Players receive 10 points for a first place vote, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth, and one point for fifth place.
Jordan just narrowly won this season’s vote ahead of Trail Blazers guard Jrue Holiday, who has won the award three times and was the last Pelicans player to claim it back in 2020. Jordan earned 66 first-place votes to Holiday’s 39, but the Blazers veteran nearly made up the difference by accumulating more second-, third-, fourth-, and fifth-place votes than the big man.
Here are this season’s full voting results, according to the NBA, with the player’s point total noted in parentheses:
- DeAndre Jordan, Pelicans (1,445)
- Jrue Holiday, Trail Blazers (1,437)
- Jeff Green, Rockets (1,420)
- Garrett Temple, Raptors (1,223)
- Pat Connaughton, Hornets (672)
- Jalen Brunson, Knicks (659)
- Jayson Tatum, Celtics (651)
- De’Aaron Fox, Spurs (640)
- Duncan Robinson, Pistons (523)
- Jaylin Williams, Thunder (471)
- Desmond Bane, Magic (445)
- Marcus Smart, Lakers (424)
Jordan’s win snaps a seven-year streak of a point guard being named Teammate of the Year. From 2018-25, Holiday won it three times, Mike Conley won twice, and Damian Lillard and Stephen Curry won once apiece.
Spurs Notes: Barnes, Fox, Vassell, Johnson
The Spurs hold a 3-1 advantage in their first-round series against the Trail Blazers and can close it out on Tuesday night. Veteran forward Harrison Barnes experienced a championship with Golden State, so he knows what it takes to make a deep playoff run.
Relying on the identity the Spurs have built during the season is a key to postseason success, Barnes told Marc J. Spears of Andscape.
“The biggest thing is continuing to do what we’ve been doing, which is relying on our habits,” Barnes said. “We’ve had 82-plus games to build an identity and the coaching staff led by Mitch [Johnson] has us well-prepared every night. It’s just a matter of sticking to our standard. We’ve had great contributions from all of the guys in different moments, which is something I am very proud of.”
Barnes says the Spurs have all the tools to win a title.
“We have depth and variability on both ends of the floor. We’re able to score in a multitude of ways. We’re able to defend in multiple ways,” Barnes said. “And because we’ve had so many different lineups throughout the season, we’ve been able to win in different ways.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- De’Aaron Fox delivered his best outing of the series with 28 points and seven assists in Game 4, when the Spurs pulled away to a 114-93 win. He scored 11 of those points in the fourth quarter. “It might have been his best game as a Spur,” Johnson said, per Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (subscription required).
- Devin Vassell, who has three seasons remaining on his five-year, $135MM contract, came up big in the third quarter of Game 4. Vassell scored nine of his 11 points during that span, sparking the Spurs’ 73-point second-half explosion. “Just being patient, not forcing anything,” Vassell told Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). “We have a lot of great players and sometimes the ball just doesn’t come your way. So just being ready whenever the ball is swung my way and just being ultra aggressive after I get it.”
- Keldon Johnson earned the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award this season. Johnson believes that commitment to the team supersedes any individual goals, he told ESPN’s Michael C. Wright. “I was averaging 22 points [as a starter], had some individual success,” Johnson said. “I’ve been [an Olympic] gold medalist. But I realized that if you want to be here, sometimes you’ve got to remove your ego. San Antonio is a place I wanted to be. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I get an opportunity to be a part of something special. They saw the bigger picture before I did. But I’m blessed and fortunate to be able to go through it, thrive in it and have fun with it.”
Southwest Notes: Durant, Rockets, Fox, Pelicans
Rockets star Kevin Durant is hoping to be ready for Game 4, but his status remains in doubt less than 24 hours before tip-off, Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle writes in a subscriber-only story. Durant sat out Friday’s Game 3 loss with a sprained left ankle, and coach Ime Udoka told reporters on Saturday that the swelling has eased but the ankle remains sore.
“Every day that goes by, the likelihood (of Durant playing) goes up,” Udoka said. “But I thought he might be OK (Friday) based on shootaround. And that’s different, going half-speed and ramping it up right before a game, so you really can’t tell, but doing everything he can to get back.”
Many questioned why Durant wasn’t on the Rockets’ bench for Friday’s game, but Udoka explained that he was getting treatments that involve “things you can’t do” on the bench. They included a session on the team’s underwater treadmill.
Udoka added that he didn’t realize Durant’s ankle was bothering him so much during Game 2 until swelling and soreness became evident the next day. Durant also sat out the series opener with an injured right knee, and Udoka said the decision on whether to use him in Sunday’s game won’t be affected by the team’s 3-0 deficit.
“I wouldn’t say for him or us,” Udoka said. “I think when he can get back, he’ll get back. And so it’s different, and you extend it a little bit, possibly, if it’s 2-1, to give him more time, but yeah, if he can play, he will.”
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Udoka went deep into his bench during the Rockets‘ loss on Friday, giving 11 minutes to little-used Dorian Finney-Smith and nearly eight minutes to 39-year-old center Jeff Green. Per Shankar, Udoka explained that Josh Okogie, who played four minutes, was dealing with back tightness, while Aaron Holiday, who saw five minutes, is experiencing an adductor issue.
- De’Aaron Fox is upset about a technical foul he received in the second quarter of the Spurs‘ win at Portland Friday night, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). It happened when Fox received an offensive foul for hitting Deni Avdija in the mouth with his elbow after releasing a floater. The ruling was overturned after San Antonio challenged it, but Fox still got the technical for arguing. “It was an awful call,” he said. “I mean, don’t play defense with your face. I have a vertical plane that I get to go up. I didn’t throw my elbows out or anything. It was a normal floater.”
- The Pelicans‘ sweeping changes throughout the organization over the past two weeks are part of executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars’ effort to change the culture of a losing franchise, explains Rod Walker of NOLA. Several longtime employees were let go, including some who had been with the team through its entire history in New Orleans. A source tells Walker that some of the positions could be filled in the next few days, but assistant coaches won’t be hired until the process of finding a head coach is complete.
Spurs Notes: Wembanyama, Harper, Barnes, Fox
Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama was diagnosed with a concussion after taking a scary fall to the court in the second quarter of Tuesday’s Game 2 loss to Portland, but there’s no indication he sustained any additional injuries on top of that. Head coach Mitch Johnson said as much during his post-game media session and a pair of team officials confirmed it, per Mike Finger of the San Antonio Express-News (Bluesky link).
Still, it’s little solace that Wembanyama suffered “just” a concussion, given how tricky they can be to manage. According to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News (subscription required), the average absence for a concussion is about seven-to-10 days, per the NBA’s injury tracking data, which would mean the Defensive Player of the Year would miss at least Games 3 and 4 — and potentially more than that.
For his part, Wembanyama is hopeful of beating that timeline. Appearing on NBA Today on Wednesday (Twitter video link), ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the third-year star reported to the Spurs’ facility today and is aiming to travel with the team to Portland on Thursday, though that has yet to be determined. According to Charania, the Spurs and Wembanyama are “taking this very much day by day” and his status for Friday’s Game 3 remains up in the air.
As McDonald writes, Wembanyama’s teammates know they have to be prepared to do a better job without him than they did down the stretch on Tuesday, when they blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead.
“We all got to step up,” swingman Devin Vassell said. “We know what Vic brings to the table and we’ve played without him a couple of games this year. That’s huge void to fill.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Wembanyama wasn’t the only Spur to suffer an injury on Tuesday, but the expectation is that guard Dylan Harper and forward Harrison Barnes will be ready for Game 3, per Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). Harper aggravated the left thumb injury he suffered during the Spurs’ regular season finale, while Barnes sustained a shoulder stinger as the result of a collision with Portland center Donovan Clingan. “Usually it’s ice,” Harper said of the treatment he’ll undergo before Friday’s game. “That’s about it. You can’t really do much with the thumb. Just kind of preserve it. Not really use it as much.”
- If Wembanyama misses time, the Spurs will need more from their highest-paid player, De’Aaron Fox, McDonald writes for the Express-News (subscription required). Fox scored 17 points on Tuesday, but he had nearly as many turnovers (three) as assists (four) and was 6-of-16 from the floor, including 1-of-6 in the fourth quarter. San Antonio was outscored by 14 points during his 34 minutes of action.
- The Spurs held their own defensively after Wembanyama exited Game 2, but their offense fell apart down the stretch, going 0-for-7 with a pair of turnovers in the final 3:37, as Orsborn details (subscription required). Johnson and the Spurs suggested after the game that wasn’t just about missing Wembanyama — Johnson lauded Portland’s defense and suggested his young team learned an important lesson about the level required to win a tight playoff game. “It looked like there was a level of fatigue there that kicked in just in terms of the intensity of the game and some of the output in minutes that guys had to play,” the Spurs’ coach said. “And that’s a playoff game. That’s what it’s going to feel like. And I think there’s a lot to learn.”
Spurs Notes: Vassell, Fox, Wembanyama, Johnson, Popovich
Devin Vassell‘s success with the Spurs has come in large part because of his willingness to accept a different role than the one he initially envisioned for himself, James Herbert writes for CBS Sports. Rather than being San Antonio’s secondary star, the 25-year-old wing has become one of its crucial role players.
Vassell has been asked to fill different needs for the team since being drafted in 2020 due to the transitional stage the Spurs were going through. In 2025/26, he posted his lowest scoring average since ’21/22, but he has figured out how to be exactly what the team needs from him.
“I know my game,” Vassell said. “And I know I can get to my spot whenever I want to, I know I can get a shot whenever I want to. But for the betterment of the team, sometimes that’s not what you need.”
His teammates have been impressed with Vassell’s adaptability and the way he’s rounded out his game. “[His impact] has more substantive value to it,” Julian Champagnie said.
We have more from the Spurs:
- De’Aaron Fox believes that this season offers him the next and last bucket-list accolade for his trophy shelf, Tom Orsborn writes for the Express-News. “I’ve been All-NBA. I’ve been an All-Star,” he said. “The last thing I think that there is, is to win a championship. And I think we have a good shot at it.” He breaks down for Orsborn some of the matchups he expects to see from the Blazers in the first round.
- With the Spurs ready to take on the Blazers in Game 1 on Sunday, Victor Wembanyama is as ready as could be for his first taste of NBA playoff basketball, knowing full well the championship expectations that rest on his shoulders, Weiss writes. “This moment, it’s really what you work on all year, but also your whole career,” the Defensive Player of the Year favorite said. “We’re dreaming of the playoffs as kids before coming here.” Wembanyama called this the first truly high-stakes basketball he has played since the 2024 Olympics.
- Mitch Johnson‘s path from star high school point guard in Washington to Stanford floor general to coaching in the NBA set the stage for his debut as the first San Antonio head coach not named Gregg Popovich since 1996, Jeff McDonald writes in a profile on Johnson for the San Antonio Express-News.
- While Popovich has remained mostly out of the public eye since retiring, he has been monitoring the season and his former players closely, according to Keldon Johnson. “He stays in touch. He texts me or calls me from time to time, probably every other day,” Johnson said, per Jared Weiss at The Athletic, adding that he still gets tips on what he could be doing better from his former coach. “But at the same time, he’s very encouraging, telling me that he’s proud of me and things like that. I mean, he’s definitely still himself. He’s still sharp. He’s still very much Pop. He has not skipped a beat at all.”
NBA Announces Finalists For Sportsmanship, Teammate Of The Year Awards
The NBA announced the 2025/26 finalists for a pair of awards on Tuesday, naming the six players who are eligible to win the Sportsmanship Award for this season, as well as the 12 players who are in the running to be named Teammate of the Year.
The Sportsmanship Award honors the player who “best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court,” per the NBA. Each of the league’s 30 teams nominates one of its players for the award, then a panel of league executives narrows that group to six finalists (one from each division) and current players voted for the winner.
The trophy for the Sportsmanship Award is named after Joe Dumars, the Hall-of-Fame guard who won the inaugural award back in ’95/96. This season’s finalists are as follows (via Twitter):
Bam Adebayo (Heat)- Harrison Barnes (Spurs)
- Al Horford (Warriors)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder)
- T.J. McConnell (Pacers)
- Derrick White (Celtics)
Gilgeous-Alexander is the only one of this year’s finalists for the Sportsmanship Award who was also nominated last season. Whoever earns the honor for 2025/26 will be a first-time winner. Jrue Holiday took home the Joe Dumars Trophy a year ago.
Meanwhile, the NBA also announced its finalists for the Teammate of the Year award for 2025/26. According to the league, the player selected for the honor is “deemed the best teammate based on selfless play, on- and off-court leadership as a mentor and role model to other NBA players, and commitment and dedication to team.”
The voting process is similar to the Sportsmanship Award — a panel of league executives selects 12 finalists (six from each conference) for the award, then current players vote on the winner.
Holiday is a three-time Teammate of the Year, having earned the honor in 2020, 2022, and 2023. He’s the only past recipient who is among this season’s group of finalists.
Those Teammate of the Year finalists are as follows (via Twitter):
- Desmond Bane (Magic)
- Jalen Brunson (Knicks)
- Pat Connaughton (Hornets)
- De’Aaron Fox (Spurs)
- Jeff Green (Rockets)
- Jrue Holiday (Trail Blazers)
- DeAndre Jordan (Pelicans)
- Duncan Robinson (Pistons)
- Marcus Smart (Lakers)
- Jayson Tatum (Celtics)
- Garrett Temple (Raptors)
- Jaylin Williams (Thunder)
Spurs Notes: Castle, K. Johnson, Fox, Kornet, Wembanyama
Coach Mitch Johnson made sure Stephon Castle got the chance to pick up his fourth triple-double of the season in Saturday’s win at Milwaukee, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required).
With the Spurs leading by 32 points midway through the fourth quarter, Johnson observed that Castle was one rebound short of reaching the mark. After being reinserted into the game, it only took Castle 24 seconds to grab the extra board, and he was quickly pulled out after also posting 22 points and 10 assists in 29 minutes.
“I knew I needed one more before I got subbed out, so coach put me back in there,” Castle said.
Orsborn notes that the coaching staff has been urging Castle to improve his rebounding to add another dimension to his skills. He’s averaging 5.1 per game, up from his 3.7 mark as a rookie.
“If I can help our bigs rebound and start our break and keep our pace up, then I feel like it’s a plus,” he said.
There’s more on the Spurs:
- Keldon Johnson scored 16 points, recording his 50th double-digit game off the bench this season, Orsborn states in the same piece. Johnson, who’s a candidate for Sixth Man of the Year honors, is the only player in franchise history to accomplish that feat, having done it last season as well. He also tied a season high with five assists on Saturday.
- De’Aaron Fox and Luke Kornet returned to action after missing Wednesday’s game at Memphis with minor injuries, Orsborn adds. Both players logged 21 minutes against Milwaukee, with Fox posting 12 points and six assists and Kornet finishing with two points, one rebound and a steal.
- Victor Wembanyama is making good on the warning he issued to the rest of the basketball world after his French team had to settle for the silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, writes Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express-News. “I’m learning,” Wembanyama said at the time, “and I’m worried for the opponents in a couple of years.” He added that he was referring to players “everywhere,” not just in future Olympics. Wembanyama is living up to that statement in 2025/26, putting together an MVP-caliber season and stating his case for the award earlier this week.
Southwest Notes: Fox, Murphy, Alexander, Kyrie
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra recently praised Spurs guard De’Aaron Fox for being willing to sacrifice his individual statistics in pursuit of the team’s goals, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio-Express News.
“I think you have to really commend Fox,” Spoelstra said before Monday’s game in Miami. “He’s been a 25-plus point scorer for four straight years, and then sacrificing to win, he’s averaging 19 a game. People say, ‘Oh, you do whatever it takes to win.’ But I don’t know a lot of players who want to sign up and have their scoring average drop by seven and be great with it.”
For his part, Fox said the scoring dip was by design.
“I knew what I was signing up for,” Fox told the San Antonio Express-News. “Ultimately, I wanted to come and win a championship, and this is definitely the best place for it.”
We have more from the Southwest:
- After initially being listed as questionable, Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III was ruled out of Thursday’s contest in Detroit due to a right ankle sprain, the team announced (via Twitter). New Orleans lost its third straight game, with all three defeats coming against top Eastern Conference teams, notes Rod Walker of NOLA.com. “Defensively, we just had no hold on them,” interim head coach James Borrego said. “We could not gain any traction defensively. Other than the run at the end of the third quarter and early fourth, we just couldn’t string enough defensive possessions together.”
- Trey Alexander, who is on a two-way contract with the Pelicans, is the G League’s latest Player of the Week, the NBA announced on Tuesday (Twitter link). The second-year guard has only made five NBA appearances this season, but he had a huge week for the Birmingham Squadron, putting up 36.7 PPG and 10.0 APG in leading the team to a 3-0 record.
- The Mavericks have been involved in a league-high 42 “clutch” games this season, defined as a game in which the score is within five points in the final five minutes. However, they have gone just 15-27 in those contests, and have particularly struggled on the offensive end. Head coach Jason Kidd is confident Kyrie Irving will help Dallas improve its record in clutch games when he returns to action in 2026/27, per Christian Clark of The Athletic. “The offensive end of the ball, it will help in all categories,” Kidd said. “Shooting. Scoring. And the biggest (thing) is, you have a closer. A born closer.”
Southwest Notes: Wembanyama, Fox, Plumlee, Ingram
The Spurs are the hottest team in basketball, thanks in large part to the play of Victor Wembanyama. As San Antonio’s stock has risen, so have the MVP chants for the young Frenchman, writes Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News.
“Of course it’s one of my goals,” Wembanyama said of being named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player. “I also understand I need to press down the gas a bit in the last part of the season to win that award.”
Wembanyama has averaged 24.1 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game this season on .506/.360/.810 shooting splits while playing just 29.3 minutes per game. The Spurs have won 16 of their last 17 games and hold the NBA’s second-best record (48-17).
McDonald notes that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic make for some formidable competition for MVP recognition, but Wembanyama’s teammates believe their leader’s case is a strong one.
“We went from not making the playoffs to the second seed,” rookie Dylan Harper said. “There’s not a whole lot to debate.”
We have more from the Southwest Division:
- De’Aaron Fox is thriving as a play-maker for the Spurs of late, and it’s helping to drive their success, Tom Orsborn writes for the Express-News. “I just want to be at my peak physically and mentally towards the end of the season,” he said. “We’re getting there.” Fox’s coaches and teammates have been more effusive in their praise. Head coach Mitch Johnson said that the star guard had hit another gear, while Wembanyama chalked it up to a higher operating level. “What I see from him is great decision-making and really being at peace with the basketball gods, not forcing things, doing the right play,” Wembanyama said. Fox has had at least 19 points and nine assists in each of San Antonio’s last three games, all wins.
- Johnson values the experience that veteran center Mason Plumlee brings to the Spurs, Orsborn notes (via Twitter). “He was a rookie for (Kevin Garnett) and Paul Pierce in Brooklyn, so there’s quite a bit of experience and stories,” the 39-year-old coach said. “(He’s) played with high-level players and played a few different types of roles and has seen different levels of success.” Plumlee saw his first playing time with San Antonio on Tuesday night, grabbing one rebound in one minute of action as the Spurs took down the Celtics, 125-116.
- Coming into Wednesday, it had been 459 days since Brandon Ingram took the court in New Orleans, Rod Walker of NOLA.com writes, and his time there shouldn’t be undervalued by Pelicans fans, even though he’s now wearing a Raptors jersey. Walker calls Ingram one of the best players to ever play in New Orleans, noting that he won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award and was named to his first All-Star team as a Pelican. “He shares a lot of relationships here, so it should be a fun game,” interim head coach James Borrego said before the game. “I hope more than anything the city welcomes him back and embraces him. He gave a lot to this city. Blood, sweat, and tears. He was a competitor.”
Anthony Edwards Named 2026 All-Star MVP
Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards was named All-Star MVP after his team – the USA Stars – defeated the rival U.S. squad – USA Stripes – 47-21 in the All-Star championship game. It’s Edwards’ first All-Star MVP award and his third All-Star appearance overall.
The first three games of the All-Star game rewarded the choice of format, with all three matchups decided by one possession.
In game one between USA Stars and Team World, Victor Wembanyama (Spurs) set the tone early, recording 14 points and three blocks while his teammate Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks) contributed 10 points. Edwards led the Stars attack with 13 points, but it was Scottie Barnes (Raptors) who knocked down the game-winning three-pointer, completing a comeback to defeat his head coach, Darko Rajakovic, who was coaching Team World.
After the game, Edwards credited Wembanyama for doing what he said he would and amping up the intensity on the floor for everyone.
Game two between the two American teams also came down to the final shot, as Jaylen Brown (Celtics) led USA Stripes in scoring while Edwards and Cade Cunningham (Pistons) paced USA Stars with 11 points apiece. De’Aaron Fox (Spurs) hit the game-winning three-pointer for the Stars.
In game three, Kawhi Leonard (Clippers) took over for his home crowd, scoring 31 points in 12 minutes on 11-of-13 shooting while Wembanyama kept Team World in it with 19 points of his own. Leonard iced the game with a three-pointer over Towns to take USA Stripes to the championship game in a rematch with USA Stars.
In the fourth and final game, USA Stripes’ older legs appeared worn down by the previous two contests and the younger stars ran out to a 12-1 lead, led by Edwards and Tyrese Maxey (Sixers), who finished with a game-high nine points. They pushed the lead up to 26-9 on an Edwards three-pointer and eventually went on a 15-0 run, as Jalen Brunson (Knicks) and LeBron James (Lakers) were the only players to hit a field goal over the first seven minutes for USA Stripes. Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) finished the game with a team-high six points for USA Stripes.