Ja Morant (Left Elbow) Will Be Reevaluated In Two Weeks
Point guard Ja Morant, who sprained the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his left elbow on January 21, continues to experience discomfort in his elbow, the Grizzlies announced in a press release (Twitter link).
According to the team, Morant underwent follow-up imaging on Wednesday, which revealed incomplete healing of his injury. He’s out at least two more weeks, which is the next time he’ll be reevaluated.
Morant has appeared in just 20 games this season and has only been available three times since the start of the new year. Memphis is currently 23-38, six games out of the final play-in spot in the Western Conference.
Morant was one of the top names on the trade market heading into February’s deadline and was reportedly surprised that he didn’t get moved. That was partially due to his lack of availability, as he’s been limited to 79 total games over the past three seasons. His contract also factored in, as teams were reluctant to take on an unreliable player who’s owed $42.4MM and $44.9MM during the next two years.
The 26-year-old’s production has been declining as well. In his 20 appearances this season, the former All-NBA selection has averaged 19.5 points, 8.1 assists (3.6 turnovers), 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 steal in 28.5 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .410/.235/.897.
Memphis is expected to resume its search for a Morant trade this summer, but the return may be limited given the aforementioned factors. The Grizzlies reportedly talked to Miami, Minnesota, Sacramento, and Milwaukee about Morant deals prior to the deadline.
Mark Williams Out At Least 2-3 Weeks Due To Foot Injury
Starting center Mark Williams has been diagnosed with a stress reaction in the third metatarsal bone in his left foot, the Suns announced in a press release (Twitter link via Law Murray of The Athletic).
Williams, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, will be reevaluated in two-to-three weeks, per the team.
It’s unclear when Williams’ injury occurred. He played 22 minutes in Tuesday’s 11-point victory at Sacramento at Sacramento.
After two college seasons at Duke, Williams was selected by the Hornets with the 15th overall pick in the 2022 draft. The 7’1″ big man struggled with injuries over the course of his three years in Charlotte, appearing in just 106 games, prior to being traded to Phoenix last offseason.
The Suns developed a plan to help Williams stay on the court and it had worked well to this point in the season. The 24-year-old has appeared in a career-high 56 games in 2025/26, only missing five contests with the Suns currently sitting at 35-26.
However, Williams’ stress reaction will keep him sidelined for the foreseeable future. While he’ll be checked out again in a few weeks, there’s certainly no guarantee that he’ll be ready to return at that point — it will be difficult for Williams to stay in game shape given that he has a foot injury.
Phoenix plays nine times between March 5 and March 19, and Williams is likely to miss all of those games. A three-week absence would result in Williams missing 12 games.
In his 56 appearances this season, Williams has averaged 11.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.9 blocks in 23.6 minutes per game. He’s shooting 63.3% from the floor and 76.7% from the foul line.
Backup center Oso Ighodaro will likely replace Williams in Phoenix’s starting lineup, with rookies Rasheer Fleming and Khaman Maluach among the candidates for more minutes off the bench.
Knicks Notes: Brown, Starters Minutes, Bridges, McBride
Knicks head coach Mike Brown received his first technical foul of the season in Wednesday’s three-point home loss to Oklahoma City, writes Kristian Winfield of The New York Daily News. Brown was upset about a non-call with 2:02 remaining in the first quarter, when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander cut past OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson tried to take a charge (YouTube link).
“You guys saw the play. SGA had two fouls, and Jalen was there, and he ran him over,” Brown said after the loss. “I just don’t understand why that was a no-call, but that should have been his third [foul], the bucket shouldn’t have counted, and we should have gone the other way with the basketball.
“So to see that knowing Jalen is standing there and putting his body on the line, and our guys are fighting our asses off and to try to win the ball game, it didn’t sit well with me.”
For what it’s worth, the official Twitter count of NBA referees explained why the play was not called a charge (Twitter link), stating that Brunson didn’t give Gilgeous-Alexander enough space to avoid contact after receiving a pass outside of the lower defensive box.
According to Vincent Goodwill of ESPN, Brown didn’t use the non-call as an excuse for why the Knicks lost the game. For his part, Brunson said he appreciated his coach having his back.
“I’m going to have his back every single night. He has ours,” Brunson said. “Regardless what he does or techs he gets, I’m going to have his back.”
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- As Brown planned, all five starters are playing fewer minutes per game in 2025/26, per Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. None of those five have seen his minutes cut back as drastically as Josh Hart, who led the league with 37.6 minutes per game in ’24/25 and is averaging 30.2 MPG in ’25/26. “It takes a little bit of an adjustment,” Hart said. “I think it also depends on how I’m playing. Games last year, the year before, if there was an 82-game season, you’re bound to have bad games. I think some of those bad games, I shouldn’t [have] played as much. You could’ve went to Landry [Shamet], or more minutes for Cam [Payne], something like that. So this year, it takes a little bit getting used to but you’ve got guys like Landry playing extremely well this season, obviously Deuce [Miles McBride] was playing well before he got hurt, we’ve got Jose [Alvarado]. I’m cool with it. As long as we win, I’m cool with it.”
- It has been an up-and-down season for Mikal Bridges, who has had some big individual games (like Sunday’s victory over San Antonio) mixed in with some forgettable performances (like Wednesday’s loss to Oklahoma City). As James L. Edwards III of The Athletic writes, Bridges has very solid counting stats, but for better or worse, the veteran wing is often judged for the opportunity cost it took to acquire him.
- Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter video link) recently provided an update on McBride, who is recovering from surgery for a core muscle injury (sports hernia). “I still think there’s positivity there, things have been going well,” Begley said. “I don’t think there’s any reason to fret or worry about Miles McBride not being back and ready to go for the postseason. That’s the trajectory that I’ve heard about and talked to people about, and I haven’t heard anything different than that.”
Injury Notes: Flagg, Niederhauser, Nuggets, Demin
Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg, who has been out since February 10 due to a left midfoot sprain, is expected to return to action on Thursday in Orlando after missing the club’s past eight games. Co-interim general manager Michael Finley first suggested during a Wednesday radio appearance on 105.3 The Fan that Flagg’s return was imminent, per Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal.
“That’s the plan right now,” Finley said of Flagg returning on Thursday. “I think it’s still a game-time decision, but he looked good in his workouts yesterday, he looked good earlier today, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed that he could come back and give us some minutes tonight.”
Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link) has since confirmed that Flagg will return tonight, while Mike Curtis of The Dallas Morning News echoes that report. According to Curtis, the plan is for the first-year forward to be on a minutes restriction vs. Orlando, then see an uptick in usage on Friday in Boston, barring a setback.
We have more injury updates from around the NBA:
- After sustaining a right foot injury in the Clippers‘ win over Indiana on Wednesday, reserve center Yanic Konan Niederhauser will miss at least the next two games, staying home as the team visits San Antonio on Friday and Memphis on Saturday, tweets Joey Linn of SI.com. Isaiah Jackson, who took Niederhauser’s place in the rotation in Wednesday’s game, scored 10 points in 18 minutes against his former team and should see an increased role going forward.
- The Nuggets have formally ruled out forwards Aaron Gordon (right hamstring strain), Peyton Watson (right hamstring strain), and Spencer Jones (right shoulder strain) for Thursday’s game vs. the Lakers, the first of a back-to-back set, tweets Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette. Gordon is reportedly targeting Friday’s matchup with New York for his return, while Watson may not be far behind him. Jones, meanwhile, is missing a third straight game, while Cameron Johnson (right ankle inflammation) is listed as questionable after sitting out on Monday in Utah.
- Rookie guard Egor Dёmin will miss his third straight game on Thursday when the Nets play at Miami, per C.J. Holmes of The New York Daily News. The eighth pick in last year’s draft is currently sidelined with what the team calls left plantar fascia injury management. “Right now, he’s not good to go,” head coach Jordi Fernández said. “We’ll see what the next step is. It’s important that we manage them.” As Holmes notes, Dёmin missed most of Brooklyn’s training camp and the preseason while rehabilitating from a plantar fascia tear.
Rory Maher contributed to this post.
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.
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.