Nuggets Notes: Gordon, Watson, Johnson, Simpson
The Nuggets have had to deal with a barrage of injuries impacting starters and rotation players this season, but head coach David Adelman is optimistic it won’t be much longer until the roster is healthy again. Adelman told reporters today that he’s hoping the team will be fully healthy with about 20 games to go in the season, as Ryan Blackburn of Mile High Sports tweets.
The Nuggets will be playing their 62nd game of the season on Monday in Utah, so if we take Adelman literally, he’s suggesting that players like Aaron Gordon (hamstring) and Peyton Watson (hamstring) might be able to return in a week or so. For what it’s worth, Blackburn says he’s heard it could be more like two or three weeks before Gordon and Watson are back.
Adelman provided a positive update on Gordon’s progress today, indicating that the veteran forward did “basically everything but the contact stuff” in Tuesday’s practice, per Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (Twitter link).
“He got up and down (the court). We did some situational defensive drills. He was a part of that,” Adelman said. “But it’s just gonna be a day-by-day thing. … Aaron’s been great. He’s understood the process.”
Gordon, who last played on January 23, was ruled out for at least four-to-six weeks due to a right hamstring strain, while Watson has been out since February 4 with a left hamstring strain and is expected to be reevaluated in early March.
We have more on the Nuggets:
- The odds are high that Denver will have to part ways with a key player this offseason, Durando writes in a mailbag for The Denver Post (subscription required). As Durando explains, the Nuggets have essentially treated the second tax apron like a hard cap in recent years, but re-signing restricted free agent Watson – who has had a breakout 2025/26 season – would require them to either surpass that threshold or move off another one of their highest-paid players. According to Durando, sources he has spoken to view Cameron Johnson as the most likely trade candidate if the team makes a move to create more financial flexibility to re-sign Watson.
- The Nuggets still have an open spot on their 15-man roster, and Durando thinks the team will most likely use that opening to add more size on the wing. However, he cautions that the front office is expected to wait to see who else shakes free on the buyout market in the coming days before making any decisions on that 15th roster spot.
- The two-way contract that guard KJ Simpson signed with the Nuggets last week covers two years, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Denver will have the ability to hang onto Simpson through the 2026/27 season on that deal.
Carlisle Questions NBA’s Decision To Fine Pacers; League Responds
2:34 pm: An NBA spokesperson issued a statement to Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link) to push back against Carlisle’s framing of the investigation into the Pacers.
“Coach Carlisle’s description of the process that went into the decision to fine the Indiana Pacers is inaccurate,” the spokesperson said. “An independent physician led the medical review. In addition, the Pacers’ general manager and the team’s senior vice president (of) sports medicine and performance were interviewed as part of the process. The Pacers confirmed that it had provided all of the information requested by the league and the team reported that an interview with Coach Carlisle or a team physician wasn’t necessary.”
1:36 pm: The Pacers were one of two teams fined by the NBA ahead of the All-Star break for the manner in which they were managing their players. While Indiana’s $100K fine paled in comparison to the $500K penalty the Jazz received, commissioner Adam Silver‘s statement at the time suggested that the league believed both clubs were prioritizing “draft position over winning.”
The Pacers were disciplined for holding out Pascal Siakam and two other players for a February 3 game against Utah. According to the league’s statement, the NBA determined, with the help of an independent physician, that all three could have played in the game, perhaps in reduced roles.
The league fined Indiana for violating the league’s player participation policy, noting in its statement that the Pacers also could have held out those players in other games in order to better promote compliance with the policy.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle didn’t address the fine at length at the time it happened, but he was more open about it during a radio appearance on 107.5 The Fan on Tuesday, making it clear to Kevin Bowen and James Boyd that he didn’t think the NBA made the right call (Twitter video link).
“I didn’t agree with it,” Carlisle said (story via Boyd for The Athletic). “There was a league lawyer that was doing the interview that kind of unilaterally decided that Aaron Nesmith, who had been injured the night before and couldn’t hold the ball, should have played in the game, which just seems ridiculous.
“During the interview process – I was not on it, but I heard details – we asked them if they wanted to talk to the doctors, our doctors, about it because it was something that was documented by our doctors and trainers. They said no, they didn’t need to. They talked to their doctors, who did not examine Aaron Nesmith. And we asked them if they wanted to talk to (Nesmith), and they said, no, they didn’t need to.
“This was shocking to me. And during the interview, they also asked if we considered medicating him to play in a game when we were 30 games under .500. So I was very surprised. Obviously didn’t agree with it.”
It’s worth noting that Siakam (who sat out on Feb. 3 due to “rest”) was the only player specifically named in the NBA’s statement, and he meets the criteria of a “star” under the player participation policy. So if the league felt that the Pacers’ management of Siakam violated the policy, it could make the case for a $100K fine (the penalty for a first-time offender) without requiring any additional reasons.
Still, the NBA’s statement suggested the league determined that two additional starters held out of that Feb. 3 game – believed to be Nesmith (left hand strain) and Andrew Nembhard (low back injury management) – were healthy enough to play. Carlisle’s comments call into question how the NBA made that determination and whether or not it was accurate.
Jazz’s Vince Williams Jr. Diagnosed With Torn ACL
1:59 pm: After undergoing additional tests, Williams has been diagnosed with an ACL tear in his left knee, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
In addition to ending Williams’ 2025/26 season, it’s also likely to keep him sidelined for a significant chunk of ’26/27, given the typical recovery timeline for the injury.
12:22 am: Vince Williams Jr. had to be carried to the locker room during Monday’s loss at Houston and multiple sources who spoke to Sarah Todd of The Deseret News (Bluesky links) believe the Jazz guard sustained a “significant ACL injury” in his left knee.
According to Todd, Williams left the arena on crutches and will undergo an MRI in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
“It doesn’t look good, we’ll get an MRI,” head coach Will Hardy said.
Williams injured his knee while running back on defense when the Rockets had a fast break. He was bumped by Tari Eason and lost his balance, and his left knee hyperextended inward in a gruesome manner. The video is not for the squeamish (Bluesky link via Todd).
Hardy was upset about the play, which wasn’t called a foul, Todd adds.
“That’s not basketball,” Hardy said.
Eason checked on Williams after the game, Todd reports (via Bluesky), and let Williams know he wasn’t trying to injure him.
The 47th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Williams was acquired by Utah earlier this month in the Jaren Jackson Jr. trade with Memphis. Entering Monday’s game, Williams was averaging 5.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists in five appearances with Utah (15.2 MPG).
The former Toledo guard played in 34 games with the Grizzlies prior to being traded, averaging 8.0 PPG, 4.4 APG and 4.0 RPG in 21.6 MPG.
Williams is in his fourth NBA season and is making $2.3MM this season. The Jazz hold a $2.5MM team option on his contract for 2026/27.
Coby White Available To Make Hornets Debut Tuesday
For the first time in his NBA career, Coby White will play for a team besides the Bulls on Tuesday. However, the setting will be a familiar one. The seventh-year guard, who was traded from Chicago to Charlotte at this month’s deadline, will be making his Hornets debut at the Bulls’ United Center, his former home arena (Twitter link).
White, who turned 26 last Monday, was selected seventh overall in the 2019 draft by the Bulls and spent six-and-a-half seasons with the team before being sent to the Hornets in a four-player deadline deal that also saw Chicago acquire two second-round picks.
The Hornets were originally going to include three second-rounders in their package for White, but after a physical revealed a left calf injury that would sideline him for a few more weeks, the two teams agreed to amend the deal to remove one of those draft picks. White has now recovered from that calf injury and is ready to take the floor against his old team.
While White has been limited to 29 outings this season due to calf issues, he has remained an effective offensive weapon when healthy, averaging 18.6 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in 29.1 minutes per game with a .438/.346/.805 shooting line.
Speaking on Tuesday to reporters, including Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link), White – who is on an expiring contract – said he and the Bulls talked earlier in the season about a possible future together beyond this year. However, he passed on an extension and said today that he expected to be traded at the deadline after word broke that the team had agreed to send out Kevin Huerter and Nikola Vucevic in separate deals.
“Things change,” he said. “The way the season was going, we weren’t stacking enough wins consistently.”
Tuesday’s matchup will feature two teams going in opposite directions. The Bulls are on a nine-game losing streak and are still seeking their first victory of the month, while the Hornets have bounced back from a 4-14 start to go 23-17 since then, with 11 wins in their past 14 games.
Stein’s Latest: Middleton, Irving, Sabonis, Porzingis
Will veteran forward Khris Middleton seek a buyout in the coming days? According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link), the Mavericks have essentially left that decision up to Middleton and his camp and would be open to either negotiating the 34-year-old’s release or hanging onto him for the rest of the season.
Middleton, who has dealt with injuries in recent years, is no longer the same player who earned All-Star berths three times in four years from 2019-22, but he has performed pretty well since arriving in Dallas. His performance in Sunday’s win over Indiana – 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting, seven assists, and seven rebounds – was arguably his best of the season.
As Stein writes, the Mavericks have conveyed to Middleton that they’ll be in need of shooting heading into this offseason, so if he sticks around, it’s possible the relationship between the two sides could extend beyond 2025/26. If Middleton instead decides to pursue a buyout, he would want to do so sooner rather than later, since players waived after March 1 don’t retain their playoff eligibility with a new team.
In the event of a buyout, the three-time All-Star would be ineligible to sign with Cleveland, Golden State, or New York, since clubs operating over either tax apron aren’t permitted to sign a player waived during the season who had been earning more than the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($14.1MM). Middleton’s $33.3MM expiring salary far exceeds that figure.
It’s also worth noting that Middleton would forfeit his Bird rights if he agrees to a buyout. While he’ll certainly have to take a pay cut this summer either way, retaining those Bird rights would likely put him in a better position to avoid settling for the veteran’s minimum or something close to it.
Here are a few more items of interest from Stein:
- Although Kyrie Irving won’t return from his torn ACL for the Mavericks until the fall, the club is hopeful that the star guard will be able to take part in at least one or two full-speed practices before the end of this season, Stein writes. Teams typically don’t practice in full during the season unless they have multiple consecutive days off — that will be the case for Dallas on March 19-20, March 28-29, and April 1-2.
- The Kings entertained trading Domantas Sabonis prior to February’s trade deadline, but it’s not considered a lock that they’ll do so again this summer, a source tells Stein. Sacramento’s interest in an offseason Sabonis deal could hinge in large part on where the team lands in the draft lottery and which prospect they select with that pick, Stein explains. Toronto and Washington were among the teams linked to Sabonis earlier this season, though the Wizards pivoted to acquiring Anthony Davis. It’s possible the Raptors would circle back on the Kings big man this offseason if he’s made available again.
- The Warriors‘ hope when they traded for Kristaps Porzingis at the deadline, according to Stein, was that he’d “click” with the team and its medical staff and would be willing to re-sign with Golden State at a more team-friendly price once his current $30.7MM contract expires. However, Porzingis’ availability remains an ongoing concern as he deals with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), creating uncertainty about his future in the Bay Area beyond this season.
Southeast Notes: Bane, Davis, Gardner, Heat, Giannis
It continues to be an up-and-down season for the Magic, who hold a 30-26 record and the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference standings. However, as Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (subscription required) writes, they’ve gotten all they could’ve hoped for out of veteran wing Desmond Bane after surrendering a package that included four first-round picks to acquire him last summer.
Bane is one of just two Magic players to appear in all 56 games so far. And after scoring 34 and 36 points in the team’s back-to-back set in Phoenix and L.A. over the weekend, his scoring average is up to 20.1 points per game on .483/.388/.913 shooting. The 27-year-old is also chipping in 4.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per night.
“He reminds me of a lot of older guys in this league,” teammate Wendell Carter Jr. said of Bane, per Beede. “Guys who have established themselves and have a mindset of, he’s going to play his game no matter what. His process is going to remain the same.
“Early on (in the season), he was struggling a little bit but one thing about it, he stuck to what he knows he’s good at. And now we’re seeing the benefits of what trading for a guy like that does. His continued elevation just shows he’s one of the best in this league in terms of his position, shooting the 3-ball, getting downhill, facilitating, play-making … He’s exactly what we need.”
The Magic have Bane under team control through the 2028/29 season. He’s owed $126.5MM on the final three years of his contract.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Wizards big man Anthony Davis has yet to debut for his new team as he recovers from a hand injury, but he expressed excitement about his fit on the roster in a conversation with Wes Hall of Monumental Sports Network (YouTube link). Davis said he believes he and Trae Young can be a “dynamic duo” on offense and that he’s looking forward to teaming up with former No. 2 overall pick Alex Sarr on the other side of the ball. “On the defensive end, it’s going to be insane,” Davis said, lauding the young Frenchman for his versatility and ability to protect the rim.
- Less than a week after signing his first standard NBA contract, Heat swingman Myron Gardner was forced to give up a chunk of his salary, having been fined $35K by the league for his role in an altercation with Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. As Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald writes, Gardner insists he didn’t mean to bump Pippen from behind, while head coach Erik Spoelstra said he thinks the NBA is “making a point” with the fine, since the altercation spilled into the crowd. “We disagree with (Gardner’s fine),” Spoelstra said. “Pippen is the one that pushed it into the stands, and Myron didn’t really retaliate. Once he was on the ground, he was laughing. So if it was somebody else, I don’t think it would have been (a) $35,000 fine. But we’ll move on.”
- With the Heat set to visit Milwaukee on Tuesday, Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald checks in on where things stand with Miami’s pursuit of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, which was put on hold after the trade deadline passed without a deal. The Heat will be able to offer up to four first-round picks for Antetokounmpo this summer, Jackson notes, though it remains to be seen whether or not they’ll get the opportunity to seriously reengage the Bucks in trade talks, since Giannis could decide to stay in Milwaukee or the Bucks could get another offer they like more.
Rest-Of-Season NBA Dates, Deadlines To Watch
With the All-Star break behind us, we’re entering the home stretch of the 2025/26 NBA season. Here are a few noteworthy dates and deadlines to keep an eye on before the playoffs begin in April.
February 28
- Last day for contract renegotiations.
A team with cap room can renegotiate a player’s current-year salary to give him a raise as part of a contract extension. There are no legitimate candidates for a renegotiation at this point in the season though, with 29 teams operating over the cap and no Nets players renegotiation-eligible.
March 1
- Last day a player can be waived by one team and remain eligible to appear in the postseason for another team.
As we outline in our glossary entry on buyouts, a player doesn’t need to be signed by March 1 in order to retain his playoff-eligible — he simply can’t be waived after that date. A player who is waived on March 1 and signs with another team on April 8 would be playoff-eligible for his new team, but a player who is waived on March 2 and signs on March 5 wouldn’t be.
This rule doesn’t apply to players on 10-day contracts, since they don’t pass through waivers when their deals expire. A player whose 10-day contract expires on March 3, for instance, could still sign a rest-of-season contract in March or April and be playoff-eligible.
March 4
- Last day for a team to sign a player to a two-way contract.
Under the previous Collective Bargaining Agreement, the deadline to sign a player to a two-way contract was January 15, but it has been pushed back in the current CBA and teams are taking full advantage. In each of the past two years, at least 14 two-way deals were officially finalized during the first four days of March.
Since the February 5 trade deadline, 17 players have signed new two-way contracts. That number figures to continue growing until the end of the day on March 4, with six two-way spots still open around the NBA right now and several teams who don’t currently have openings still likely to make two-way moves.
March 10
- Last day to use a disabled player exception.
The Mavericks have a pair of disabled player exceptions available, with six other teams – including the Pacers ($14.1MM) and Rockets ($12.5MM) – also still holding DPEs. Those exceptions could be used to sign a player to a rest-of-season contract or to claim a player with an expiring contract off waivers.
However, disabled player exceptions are used more frequently at the trade deadline than after it, and most of the teams with DPEs still available are unlikely to be aggressive in bidding for any current free agents. The likeliest scenario is that most or all of these exceptions expire without being used.
April 9
- Last day to waive a player on an expiring contract or a player with an option for 2026/27 (4:00 pm CT).
Players with at least one year still left on their contracts can be waived during the postseason or offseason, but if a team wants to part ways with a player who has the ability to reach free agency this summer, he must be cut in time to clear waivers before the last day of the regular season.
April 12
- Last day of the NBA regular season.
- Last day players can sign contracts for 2025/26.
- Last day two-way contracts can be converted to standard NBA contracts.
- Luxury tax penalties calculated based on payroll as of this day.
Several teams around the NBA have at least one open spot on their 15-man rosters. We can probably assume that most – if not all – of those clubs will fill their openings by April 12.
Playoff teams will want to make sure they have as much veteran depth as possible, just to be safe, while lottery teams will look at signing younger players to multiyear deals that include little to no guaranteed money beyond this season in order to get a longer look at them in the summer.
April 13
- Playoff rosters set (2:00pm CT).
April 14-17
- NBA play-in tournament.
April 18
- NBA playoffs begin.
While they wait for the play-in tournament to conclude, the top six teams in each conference will get a few days off between the regular season and the postseason, giving them some time to recharge before the playoffs begin.
Southwest Notes: Murray, McGowens, J. Smith, Christie
With Dejounte Murray‘s season debut imminent, Mirin Fader of The Athletic and Rod Walker of NOLA.com both look at what has been a long road back for the Pelicans guard, whose Achilles tear in January 2025 represented the worst of his professional setbacks following a series of personal tragedies.
During the months leading up to his Achilles tear, Murray’s mother sustained a stroke, his cousin was killed, and his uncle suffered an overdose, Fader writes. Given all he was dealing with off the court, the 29-year-old was able to put the challenge of making it back from an Achilles tear into perspective, according to Walker.
“I’ve been through so much,” he said. “This is part of the journey. Injuries are a part of sports. It’s not how you fall. It’s how you get back up. For me, it was attacking the process day-by-day and staying level-headed and trying to find some positive and fun out of it.”
At 16-42, the Pelicans are well out of the postseason picture, but they also don’t control their 2026 first-round pick, so they have no incentive to lose down the stretch of the 2025/26 season. With that in mind, head coach James Borrego is looking forward to welcoming Murray back to the rotation and seeing what kind of impact the former All-Star guard will have on his teammates and the club as a whole.
“Dejounte will raise our level,” Borrego said, per Walker. “… He’s worked his tail off, so there’s probably a little bit of relief of ‘I’m finally back.’ But more than anything, I just want him to go out there and compete and embrace the moment and be there with his teammates.”
We have more from around the Southwest:
- The new three-year contract signed by Pelicans wing Bryce McGowens is fully guaranteed through the 2026/27 season, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, with a team option for ’27/28. New Orleans used $724,598 of its mid-level exception to promote McGowens from his two-way deal and to lock him up for two more seasons beyond this one.
- Former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Smith Jr., whose new five-year, $122MM rookie scale extension will go into effect this July, has been showing in recent weeks why the Rockets signed him to that deal, as Matt Young of The Houston Chronicle writes (subscription required). Smith’s 31-point outing vs. Utah on Monday increased his scoring average over the past 10 games to 18.6 PPG on .550/.483/.833 shooting. “The last month or so, I think Jabari has been catching his rhythm, understanding more his role,” teammate Kevin Durant said. “I know guys have been here for a while but it’s still a different team from last year, so guys got to understand their roles a little bit more and I think ‘Bari has just stepped into his position and been great for us the last month.”
- Mavericks swingman Max Christie spoke to Mark Medina of EssentiallySports about a variety of topics, including not being included in the three-point contest, why he thinks Cooper Flagg should be Rookie of the Year, and the impact Kyrie Irving has had on the team despite not playing this season. Christie also told Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News (subscription required) that he wants to put an exclamation point on what has already been a career year. “I just want to play better for the last 26 games than I did for the first 51,” said Christie, who has averaged a career-high 13.3 points per game on .469/.427/.871 shooting. “If you look at it from a statistical standpoint, if I could bump those (per-game) averages up a little bit, that would be successful for me. … I’ve been shooting it well from the two and the three, but I think if I’m willing to sacrifice a little bit of percentage for volume, I think that can be a good building block for me. Obviously, not going crazy but just looking to try and improve.”
And-Ones: Durant, Olympics, U.S. Roster, Parker, Brooks
Four-time gold medalist Kevin Durant tells Vincent Goodwill of ESPN he wants to represent Team USA again at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The 37-year-old Rockets forward, who is the U.S men’s team’s all-time leading scorer in Olympic competition, did add a caveat, however.
“Hell yeah, I want to play,” Durant said. “I would love to, but I’ve got to stay on top of my game. I’m not expecting, I want to produce on the floor and make (managing director) Grant (Hill) and whoever is making the decisions, want to put me on the team. I don’t want — not just for seniority. I want to still prove I can help the team win.
“Today, yeah I feel like I’ll put my name in that hat.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Speaking of the 2028 Olympics and USA Basketball, Zach Kram of ESPN takes an early look at potential candidates for the Americans’ roster. Kram predicts that Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Jalen Duren, Amen Thompson, Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Tyrese Haliburton, Bam Adebayo and Jayson Tatum will be the 12 players selected (they’re listed by age). Durant could take the final wing spot on the roster, according to Kram, but only if he’s still “engaged and deserving” two-plus years from now.
- Partizan Belgrade is expected to loan former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker to Spanish club Joventut Badalona for the rest of the season, according to a report from Mozzart Sport (hat tip to Sportando). Parker been away from the Serbian club for several weeks, last playing on January 9. The veteran power forward is still under contract with Partizan through 2026/27, though his future with the team is uncertain.
- Shooting guard Armoni Brooks, who played parts of three NBA seasons from 2020-24, has been named MVP of the Italian Cup after helping lead Olimpia Milano to a title in the domestic tournament, per Fabio Cavagnera of RealOlimpiaMilano.com (hat tip to Sportando). The 27-year-old said he “100%” wants to re-sign with the Italian squad.
Raptors Notes: Walter, Mamukelashvili, CMB, Barnes, Poeltl
Ja’Kobe Walter is finding his niche with the Raptors, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. The 2024 first-round pick was Baylor’s leading scorer in his lone college season, but he recognizes he needs to impact the game on the other end of the court to have a significant NBA role.
“I was always a defender, but I didn’t know I was going to be aiming towards being the main guy,” Walter told Grange. “When I got here, they were telling me that they see the length and tools that I have, and just make sure I use them all the time. When I got to Toronto is when I really started focusing and realizing that I wanted to be the stopper type guy.”
At 6’4″ and 180 pounds, Walter is on the smaller side for a shooting guard, but he has a 6’10” wingspan and is an aggressive on-ball defender, Grange notes. His swing skill will likely be his outside shot — the 21-year-old has converted 35.3% of his three-point attempts this season.
Head coach Darko Rajakovic was complimentary of Walter’s performance following Thursday’s victory in Chicago and said the second-year wing is earning the trust of his coaching staff and teammates.
“I thought he played a very good game. I thought he did an outstanding job defensively. I thought he was in the right spots on offense, took the right shots,” Rajakovic said. “There is a growing confidence inside this group that he’s ready for this challenge.”
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- A bruised rib has Sandro Mamukelashvili in a good deal of pain, but he’s determined to play through the injury because he’s eager to get his first real playoff experience, per Eric Koreen of The Athletic. “I’m mentally blocking it out,” Mamukelashvili said of his injury. “There are no issues. I’m telling myself there is nothing hurting and however many minutes I get, I’ll go out there and play like I’m a hundred percent healthy.” The 26-year-old forward/center technically made the postseason as a rookie with Milwaukee, but he was ineligible to suit up because he was on a two-way contract. Mamukelashvili has been one of the most impactful reserves in the league this season, Koreen writes, averaging 11.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists on .525/.383/.764 shooting in 55 games (22.5 minutes per contest). The Georgian big man should be in line for a substantial pay raise this summer — he holds a $2.8MM player option for 2026/27 he seems likely to decline.
- Collin Murray-Boyles has similarly been playing through a thumb injury, Koreen adds. The lottery pick is having an impressive rookie season, appearing in 45 games (22.2 MPG) and averaging 8.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.9 SPG and 0.9 BPG while playing solid, switchable defense, according to Koreen. “That’s why I was drafted — to make an impact,” Murray-Boyles said when asked about the rarity of a rookie playing significant minutes for a winning team. “(I) don’t take it lightly.”
- All-Star forward Scottie Barnes was out Sunday for personal reasons, but he’s not on the injury report and is expected to return for Tuesday’s game vs. Oklahoma City, as Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca relays (Twitter links). Jakob Poeltl (lower back strain injury management) is out against the Thunder on the front end of a back-to-back — Toronto faces San Antonio on Wednesday.