Kings Sign Killian Hayes To Second 10-Day Deal
After his initial 10-day contract with the Kings expired on Wednesday night, guard Killian Hayes has signed a second 10-day deal with the club, agent Yann Balikouzou confirmed to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Hayes’ newest contract is listed in NBA.com’s official transaction log.
Hayes made five appearances during his first 10 days with Sacramento, averaging 2.2 points and 3.4 assists in 13.0 minutes per night off the bench. The 24-year-old, whose limited offensive game has been an issue since he entered the NBA as the seventh overall pick in the 2020 draft, struggled with his shot in those five outings, making just 4-of-27 shots from the floor (14.8%).
The 6’5″ guard spent the better part of four NBA seasons in Detroit from 2020-24 before being waived near the end of his rookie contract. He has played in the G League for most of the past two years, signing a 10-day contract with Brooklyn last February and now a pair of 10-day deals with Sacramento this winter.
In 28 NBAGL games with the Cleveland Charge in 2025/26, Hayes has averaged 23.1 points, 8.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per contest with a shooting line of .468/.325/.800.
Hayes will earn $153,330 during his second 10-day deal with the Kings, bringing his total earnings with the team to $306,660. His two 10-day contracts will carry a total cap charge of $263,940 ($131,970 apiece).
Hayes’ second 10-day deal will cover the Kings’ next five games before expiring after next Saturday’s matchup with the Clippers. Since players aren’t permitted to sign three 10-day contracts with the same team, Sacramento would have to either sign the guard to a rest-of-season contract or let him go at that point.
Anthony Davis Begins Individual On-Court Work, Out At Least Two More Weeks
Wizards big man Anthony Davis, out since January 8 due to ligament damage in his left hand, was reevaluated on Wednesday in Los Angeles and continues to make progress in his recovery, the team announced in a press release (Twitter link).
According to the Wizards, Davis has been cleared to begin limited individual on-court basketball activities. The plan is to reevaluate him again in two weeks, with another update provided at that time.
Washington made mid-season deals to acquire veteran stars Davis and Trae Young while both were dealing with injuries. The team is out of contention and wants to hang onto its top-eight protected 2026 first-round pick, so those acquisitions were made with an eye toward 2026/27.
Still, Young is prepared to return from quad and knee injuries to make his Wizards debut on Thursday and the team has yet to rule out Davis for the season. In fact, Wizards general manager Will Dawkins said after the trade deadline that he expected the 32-year-old to play at some point before the ’25/26 campaign is over.
Whether that actually happens remains to be seen.
Prior to Dawkins’ post-deadline media session on February 8, multiple reporters had suggested that Davis was unlikely to make his Wizards debut until the fall. There are less than six weeks left in the season, and the 16-45 squad has no reason to rush the 10-time All-Star back. Additionally, based on today’s update, it sounds like he’s still a little ways off from scrimmaging or being cleared for full contact.
The team’s next progress update on Davis in a couple weeks should give us a clearer sense of whether or not we’ll see him on the court this spring.
Jayson Tatum Could Make Season Debut On Friday
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum will return from his Achilles tear this season and could make his 2025/26 debut on Friday vs. the Mavericks in Boston, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Tatum has officially been listed by the team as questionable to suit up for Friday’s matchup with Dallas (Twitter link). According to Charania (Twitter link), the six-time All-Star is “ready to go” and the expectation is that he’ll be able to play tomorrow, but he and the team will finalize that decision within the next day or so.
Tatum ruptured his right Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the Celtics’ second-round playoff series against the Knicks last May and underwent surgery to repair the injury the following day. He was one of three Eastern Conference stars to tear his Achilles during the 2025 postseason, along with Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton.
Lillard, who is nearly eight years older than Tatum, and Haliburton, whose injury occurred about six weeks after Tatum’s, were both ruled out for the 2025/26 season relatively early. However, the Celtics never made a similar announcement about their star forward, and he made it clear early in his recovery process that he hoped to beat the typical timeline and make it back before the end of ’25/26.
Tatum repeatedly stressed that he wouldn’t return unless he felt like he was 100% healthy and was both physically and mentally ready, but his return began to look increasingly likely as he started taking part in 5-on-5 scrimmages with the Celtics and their G League affiliate this winter.
If Tatum is activated on Friday, he’ll be back on the court less than 10 months – 298 days, to be exact – since he sustained his Achilles injury. He’ll certainly be on a strict minutes restriction and likely won’t play in back-to-backs as he ramps up his workload and prepares for the postseason.
Making his return in a home game has long been a priority for Tatum, as Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe observes (subscription required).
“I know one thing,” Tatum said last September. “My first game back will be at home. It will be in TD Garden. It probably will be emotional, but it’s something I’m looking forward to, just running through that tunnel and being on the court again with all of our fans and sharing that moment with them.”
Following Tatum’s injury and a series of cost-cutting offseason moves that saw the Celtics part with key players like Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet, there was a sense that 2025/26 could be a “gap year” in Boston, with the team taking a step back from title contention before reloading for ’26/27.
But the Celtics have thrived even without their perennial leading scorer, posting a 41-21 record through three-quarters of the season. They hold the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and have the league’s second-best offensive rating, along with the seventh-best defensive rating.
Tatum made four consecutive All-NBA first teams from 2022-25 and averaged 27.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game during that stretch. This season, it’s been fellow wing Jaylen Brown who has been the team’s go-to option on offense, with career-high averages of 28.9 points and 5.0 assists per game.
Reintegrating Tatum into the lineup following Brown’s emergence will be one of the challenges the Celtics face during the final few weeks of the regular season. Tatum admitted in January that the risk of upsetting Boston’s chemistry was a factor he considered as he weighed whether to return this season, but he later expressed confidence that he and the team will make it work.
“I know what I bring to the table and bring to the team, but I’m also aware that these guys have been playing extremely well,” he said, per Himmelsbach. “And not to say that I would come and mess it up or anything like that. It was just kind of being vulnerable, I guess, for a moment, and talking from that perspective.”
Northwest Notes: Anderson, Jazz, Dundon, Caruso, Hartenstein
It’s rare for a player added on the buyout market to make a significant impact on his new team, but the Timberwolves believe Kyle Anderson is capable of doing just that, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Besides the fact that the 32-year-old is very familiar with the Wolves, whom he played for from 2022-24, the team also has a need for a versatile wing like Anderson, according to head coach Chris Finch.
“We’re very comfortable, I think, in what he can do and how he fits into us,” Finch said. “We need more connectors, more play-makers. We’ll put the ball in his hands. We’ll treat him like a point guard. Defensively, he gives us versatility, switching, intelligence. He’s a great quarterback of the defense.”
Anderson left Minnesota in free agency in 2024 with the Wolves facing a cap crunch. He received a three-year, $27MM deal from Golden State that his former team likely wasn’t in position to offer, but his time with the Warriors didn’t last long. Anderson was traded from Golden State to Miami to Utah to Memphis in the past two seasons, and after being let go by the Grizzlies, he jumped at the chance to rejoin the Wolves.
“With Kyle, it feels good that A) he had such a great experience here, B) he went on and was rewarded for that experience financially, which we always root for, and C) he wanted to come back because he enjoyed being here, and his family enjoyed being here,” Finch said. “The circle is complete in that regard, and hopefully we can all benefit from it in these last 20 games and in the playoffs.”
We have more from around the Northwest:
- Anderson, who appeared in 20 games with the Jazz this season before being dealt to Memphis, admitted he didn’t love playing for a team that was more focused on preserving its top-eight protected 2026 first-round pick than making the playoffs. “I had a lot of fun in the organization and everybody in the organization was awesome,” Anderson said (Twitter video link via Andrew Dukowitz of Zone Coverage). “Obviously, playing not to win (a championship) is tricky and tough, and I didn’t enjoy it personally, but the staff and the players, I loved the players… the people in the organization were awesome, nothing bad to say about them.”
- Tom Dundon, whose purchase of the Trail Blazers is expected to close at some point in the coming weeks, has reached a deal to sell a 12.5% stake in the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes at a valuation of $2.66 billion, according to Scott Soshnick, Eben Novy-Williams, and Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico. It’s unclear, per Sportico, whether the timing of the transaction means Dundon is seeking additional liquidity as he prepares to finalize the Blazers sale.
- The Thunder earned their fourth consecutive victory on Wednesday, beating the Knicks 103-100 on the second night of a road back-to-back. However, they didn’t leave New York unscathed. As Marc Stein tweets, both Alex Caruso (left hip contusion) and Isaiah Hartenstein (left calf tightness) exited early and were ruled out for the rest of the night. It remains to be seen whether they’ll miss more time as a result of those injuries.
Hoops Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript: 3/5/2026
Hoops Rumors’ Arthur Hill held a live chat today exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers. Topics included the Pistons' and Spurs' playoff chances, the Hornets' emergence as a contender in the East, Luguentz Dort's future with the Thunder, a potential Kawhi Leonard trade and more!
Tyus Jones Signs With Nuggets
March 5: The Nuggets have officially signed Jones, the team confirmed today (via Twitter). The point guard will earn $814,552 for the rest of the season, while Denver carries a cap charge of $514,682.
March 2: Free agent point guard Tyus Jones plans to sign with the Nuggets, his agent Kevin Bradbury tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
As Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette notes (via Twitter), the Nuggets had one opening on their standard roster, and they’ll use it to sign Jones, who was waived by Dallas on Saturday. The 29-year-old retained his playoff eligibility because he was released prior to Sunday’s deadline.
Jones’ deal will cover the rest of the 2025/26 season and he will earn a prorated portion of the veteran’s minimum, reports Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (Twitter link).
The 24th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Jones is in his 11th NBA season. He’s known for his ability to set up teammates and take care of the ball. The ex-Duke point guard holds career averages of 7.3 points, 4.3 assists, and just 0.8 turnovers in 20.7 minutes per game across 738 regular season appearances for Minnesota, Memphis, Washington, Phoenix, Orlando, and Dallas.
After four-year stints with both the Timberwolves and Grizzlies, Jones has bounced around the NBA in recent years, playing for four teams in the past three seasons. He opened this year with the Magic, having signed a one-year, $7MM deal with the team during the 2025 offseason, but had a disappointing year in Orlando, averaging just 3.1 PPG and 2.6 APG on .349/.281/.875 shooting in a bench role.
Jones was traded to the Hornets at the deadline in what was a salary-dump deal from the Magic’s perspective, allowing them to duck below the luxury tax line. Charlotte subsequently flipped him to the Mavericks in a separate trade.
At the time, reports indicated that Dallas had attempted to sign Jones last summer before ending up with D’Angelo Russell and that they’d be happy to have him on the roster for the rest of the season. Jones appeared in eight games with the Mavs, averaging 3.9 PPG and 3.8 APG on .382/.211/.500 shooting in 16.6 MPG.
However, Jones evidently preferred to catch on with a playoff team, and now he has agreed to join Denver, which won the championship in 2023 and was eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals each of the past two years in a pair of seven-game series.
Checking In On 10-Days, Pending Deals, Open Roster Spots
Two important roster-related dates for the 2025/26 NBA season are now behind us — teams can no longer sign players to two-way contracts and players who are waived by their current clubs from here on out won’t be playoff-eligible for a new team.
That certainly doesn’t mean there won’t be any players signed or waived in the coming weeks, but the NBA’s transaction wire should be a little less busy going forward. That makes it a good time to step back and take stock of where things stand with rosters and contract situations around the league as we enter the home stretch of the season.
10-day contracts
After Killian Hayes‘ 10-day contract with the Kings expired on Wednesday night, there are currently just two active 10-day deals around the NBA, as our tracker shows. Those deals are as follows:
- Utah Jazz: Mo Bamba (runs through March 7)
- Brooklyn Nets: Grant Nelson (runs through March 8)
Following a flurry of 10-day signings during and after the All-Star break, no team has finalized a 10-day deal in nearly a week, but I’d expect action to pick up on that front shortly.
A year ago, a total of 23 10-day contracts were signed between March 6 and the end of the season, with a handful of players receiving multiple deals – and, in some cases, rest-of-season commitments – from their respective teams. There are still a number of clubs across the league with open roster spots, and many of those openings figure to be temporarily filled with 10-day signees in the coming days and weeks.
Pending deals
Before we take a look at exactly which teams have roster spots to fill, it’s worth noting that there’s still one reported transaction that hasn’t been officially completed. The Nuggets reached an agreement with point guard Tyus Jones on Monday but have yet to formally announce his new deal.
No corresponding roster move will be needed for Denver, since the team already has an open spot on its 15-man roster, and it shouldn’t be long before Jones officially joins the roster. As Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports tweets, the 29-year-old was at the Nuggets’ practice facility on Wednesday and is expected to be available for the club’s game against the Lakers on Thursday.
[UPDATE: Jones has officially signed with the Nuggets.]
Open roster spots
As our tracker shows, the following teams currently have one spot available on their 15-man standard rosters:
- Golden State Warriors
- Houston Rockets
- Orlando Magic
- Sacramento Kings
- Toronto Raptors
The Nuggets technically belong on this list too, but they’ll have a full roster once they officially sign Jones. The Jazz and Nets could also join this group if they don’t re-sign Bamba and Nelson, respectively, after their 10-day contracts expire.
The Warriors and Rockets are operating in luxury tax territory, and while they have plenty of room below their hard caps to add a 15th man, they’re probably not all that eager to increase their projected tax bills by bringing in someone who won’t play at all.
The Magic, Kings, and Raptors are all operating less than $1MM away from the tax line, but each team has enough room to bring in a minimum-salary veteran on a rest-of-season contract without becoming a taxpayer, so if there’s someone out there they like, they don’t necessarily have to wait.
Finally, there’s one notable team not mentioned in the list above because they technically have three open 15-man roster spots, not just one. That’s the Celtics. Boston is in the midst of executing an intricately timed plan to meet the NBA’s rules related to roster minimums for the rest of the season while narrowly staying out of the tax.
After 10-day deals for Dalano Banton and John Tonje expired over the weekend, it’s a safe bet that Boston will stick with just 12 players for the maximum allowable 14 days before making a couple roster additions in mid-March. Current two-way player Max Shulga will likely get a promotion at that time for financial reasons (his rookie minimum salary wouldn’t be subject to “tax variance“). If all goes according to plan, the Celtics will be able to sign a 15th man on the last day of the regular season without surpassing the tax threshold.
Southwest Notes: Jordan, Murray, Sheppard, Prosper
After signing with the Pelicans at the start of the regular season, veteran center DeAndre Jordan made two appearances in his first week on the roster in October, then didn’t see any action until after last month’s All-Star break. He has played regular minutes since then, earning five starts and logging double-digit minutes in each of New Orleans’ past six games.
Even before his return to the rotation, Jordan “elevated our program tremendously,” according to interim head coach James Borrego, who spoke glowingly about the the 37-year-old’s leadership and “massive impact” on the Pelicans’ locker room, per Mark Medina of EssentiallySports.
“He has a high standard,” Borrego said. “He’s the first one to show up. Pregame, he does his work. Then you add the leadership piece. He’s wrapped his arms around the vets. He’s wrapped his arms around the young guys. … He’s brought us an edge and a physicality. He’s a massive and tremendous communicator. I think that’s what we’re trying to get our young guys to develop more. That’s the ability to communicate, especially for bigs. It’s massive. To look like a big defense or be a good defense, you have to talk, especially from that five spot. He does it as well as anybody.”
Despite not seeing the floor for over three-and-a-half months and playing for a team that opened the season by losing 31 of its first 39 games, Jordan hasn’t been discouraged by his situation or the modest role he has been asked to take on, he told Medina.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve embraced that locker room leader and mentor kind of role,” Jordan said. “Whenever my number is called, I’ll be ready to play and contribute in any way that I can in the days that I’m not playing. I encourage my teammates. I’ll criticize them when it’s necessary. I let them know about things that I see on the floor. I give them knowledge back.
“… We don’t want to be complacent and okay with losing nine or 10 games in a row. But we’ve had a lot of young guys who are playing big minutes early. So it’s about being able to get them some familiarity with the NBA and the speed and the sets and coverages. So that next year when we’re a healthy team, and these guys have a full rookie season under their belt, we’ll be better.”
Asked how much longer he hopes to play, Jordan – who is in his 18th NBA season – said it’s long been a goal to get to 20 seasons in the league if he can.
We have more from around the Southwest:
- Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray has been effective since returning from his year-long absence due to an Achilles tear, scoring at least 13 points in each of his first four games, but he’s still not ready to play in back-to-back contests. Murray has been ruled out for Thursday’s matchup with Sacramento, the first of a back-to-back, due to “return to competition conditioning,” according to the team. Forwards Trey Murphy III (neck spasm) and Zion Williamson (right ankle sprain) are both considered questionable to suit up.
- With Reed Sheppard playing some of the best basketball of his career recently in an increased role, Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports and William Guillory of The Athletic examine the strides the Rockets guard is making in his second NBA season and consider what his role will look like once starters Amen Thompson and Jabari Smith Jr. return from injuries. “My teammates are giving me the space to grow, and they’re pushing me to be aggressive. That’s made it a lot easier for me,” Sheppard told Guillory. “It hasn’t always been perfect, but I’m working to fix the mistakes. I know I can play an important role for us to get where we want to go.”
- The second year of Olivier-Maxence Prosper‘s new two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Grizzlies is a team option, as Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Prosper’s rest-of-season salary is $527,879, while his 2026/27 option is worth $2,497,812.
NBA’s Two-Way Signing Deadline Has Now Passed
The deadline for NBA teams to sign players to two-way contracts was Wednesday, March 4. Since that deadline has now passed, no two-way deals can be signed between now and the end of the 2025/26 season. Clubs will be permitted to begin signing two-way contracts for the ’26/27 season on July 1 (restricted free agents who receive two-way qualifying offers can technically accept them in June).
Under the NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, two-way signings weren’t permitted after January 15. Teams took full advantage of the extended window to complete two-way deals this season, finalizing 34 of them between the February 6 trade deadline and Wednesday’s deadline. During that same period, teams promoted 20 players from two-way contracts to standard deals.
There were six teams – the Nets, Bulls, Rockets, Lakers, Knicks, and Raptors – that didn’t make any moves involving their two-way players between last month’s trade deadline and the two-way signing deadline. The other 24 clubs were active.
As our tracker shows, all 90 two-way slots around the NBA are now filled. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the 90 players currently on two-way contracts will all finish the season on those deals.
There are still a handful of two-way players who could receive standard contracts before the regular season ends. The Celtics, for instance, are one team to watch, as both Max Shulga and Ron Harper Jr. are candidates to be promoted to the 15-man roster to fill one of the team’s three open spots.
A team can promote one or more of its two-way players to its standard roster at any time between now and the end of the season — that team simply wouldn’t be permitted to sign a new player to fill the empty two-way slot created by the promotion.
Here are all the transactions related to two-way players that have been finalized since the trade deadline, sorted by team and listed in the order they were completed (from earliest to most recent):
Atlanta Hawks
- Promoted Caleb Houstan to standard contract (story)
- Signed Keshon Gilbert to two-way contract (story)
Boston Celtics
- Promoted John Tonje to standard (10-day) contract (story)
- Re-signed John Tonje to two-way contract (story)
Charlotte Hornets
- Waived KJ Simpson (story)
- Signed Tosan Evbuomwan to two-way contract (story)
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Promoted Nae’Qwan Tomlin to standard contract (story)
- Signed Riley Minix to two-way contract (story)
- Waived Emanuel Miller (story)
- Signed Darius Brown II to two-way contract (story)
- Waived Darius Brown II (story)
- Signed Olivier Sarr to two-way contract (story)
Dallas Mavericks
- Promoted Ryan Nembhard to standard contract (story)
- Waived Miles Kelly (story)
- Signed Tyler Smith to two-way contract (story)
- Signed John Poulakidas to two-way contract (story)
Denver Nuggets
- Promoted Spencer Jones to standard contract (story)
- Signed KJ Simpson to two-way contract (story)
- Waived Tamar Bates (story)
- Signed David Roddy to two-way contract (story)
Detroit Pistons
- Promoted Daniss Jenkins to standard contract (story)
- Signed Isaac Jones to two-way contract (story)
Golden State Warriors
- Promoted Pat Spencer to standard contract (story)
- Signed Nate Williams to two-way contract (story)
Indiana Pacers
- Promoted Quenton Jackson to standard contract (story)
- Signed Jalen Slawson to two-way contract (story)
Los Angeles Clippers
- Promoted Kobe Sanders to standard contract (story)
- Promoted Jordan Miller to standard contract (story)
- Signed Sean Pedulla to two-way contract (story)
- Signed Norchad Omier to two-way contract (story)
Memphis Grizzlies
- Promoted Olivier-Maxence Prosper to standard contract (story)
- Signed Rayan Rupert to two-way contract (story)
Miami Heat
- Promoted Myron Gardner to standard contract (story)
- Signed Trevor Keels to two-way contract (story)
Milwaukee Bucks
- Signed Cormac Ryan to two-way contract (story)
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Waived Johnny Juzang (story)
- Signed Jules Bernard to two-way contract (story)
- Waived Jules Bernard (story)
- Signed Zyon Pullin to two-way contract (story)
New Orleans Pelicans
- Promoted Bryce McGowens to standard contract (story)
- Signed Josh Oduro to two-way contract (story)
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Waived Chris Youngblood (story)
- Signed Buddy Boeheim to two-way contract (story)
- Waived Buddy Boeheim (story)
- Signed Payton Sandfort to two-way contract (story)
Orlando Magic
- Waived Orlando Robinson (story)
- Signed Alex Morales to two-way contract (story)
Philadelphia 76ers
- Promoted Dominick Barlow to standard contract (story)
- Signed Dalen Terry to two-way contract (story)
- Promoted Jabari Walker to standard contract (story)
- Signed Tyrese Martin to two-way contract (story)
Phoenix Suns
- Promoted Jamaree Bouyea to standard contract (story)
- Signed CJ Huntley to two-way contract (story)
Portland Trail Blazers
- Promoted Sidy Cissoko to standard contract (story)
- Waived Javonte Cooke (story)
- Signed Chris Youngblood to two-way contract (story)
- Signed Jayson Kent to two-way contract (story)
Sacramento Kings
- Promoted Dylan Cardwell to standard contract (story)
- Signed Patrick Baldwin Jr. to two-way contract (story)
San Antonio Spurs
- Waived Stanley Umude (story)
- Signed Emanuel Miller to two-way contract (story)
Utah Jazz
- Signed Blake Hinson to two-way contract (story)
Washington Wizards
- Promoted Tristan Vukcevic to standard contract (story)
- Signed Leaky Black to two-way contract (story)
- Promoted Jamir Watkins to standard contract (story)
- Signed Julian Reese to two-way contract (story)
Warriors Notes: Curry, Green, Porzingis, Williams
Stephen Curry has been sidelined since January 30 with a lingering right knee injury, leading to some outside speculation whether the 37-year-old star should be shut down for the rest of the season. Warriors teammate Draymond Green addressed that topic on his latest podcast and determined that it’s unlikely to happen, relays Eden Collier of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“He was preparing to come back in the season where we had won 15 games (in 2019/20),” Green said. “So I say that from experience when I say, he’s not just going to shut it down just to shut it down. It’s not who he is.”
Golden State has been reeling without its top scorer, falling to 31-30 and just barely holding onto eighth place in the West. A return may still be far away, as the team announced on Sunday that Curry won’t be reevaluated for 10 more days and his absence may extend beyond that point. Green assured listeners that owner Joe Lacob would never endorse tanking, but he also acknowledged that it’s hard to run an effective offense without Curry and Jimmy Butler, who was lost for the season with a torn ACL.
“All you can do is continue to fight, make sure you’re maintaining and building good habits,” Green said. “Try to give yourself a chance to win these games.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Kristaps Porzingis, who has missed the past five games due to illness, is traveling with the team on its three-game road trip, according to Anthony Slater of ESPN (Twitter link). However, he’s already been ruled out of Thursday’s game at Houston. Golden State will also be without Moses Moody, who sprained his right wrist in Monday’s game, and Will Richard, who is sidelined with an ankle sprain.
- It would be a “fool’s errand” to re-sign Porzingis if he doesn’t show he can stay healthy, but his $30.7MM expiring contract will provide the Warriors with some cap flexibility for the offseason, notes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. The organization wanted to get something in return for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield, but it’s going to take a summer of maneuvering to make the deal pay off, Poole adds.
- The Warriors’ injuries enabled two-way player Nate Williams to log nearly 22 minutes and score a career-high 18 points on Monday, notes Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle (subscription required). Williams, who went 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and spent time guarding Kawhi Leonard, could play an important role until the rest of the roster gets healthier. “I’m just being myself and the team allows me to do that,” he said. “I give all thanks to (Steve Kerr) and the coaching staff for giving me an opportunity. They just let me be myself and they just put me on game as I go along.”