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Atlantic Notes: Grimes, Celtics, Thomas, Martin

March 8th, 2025 at 10:48am CST by Tristan Tucker

Quentin Grimes has been traded three times since February 2024, but he’s not letting that impact his play, as Jared Weiss of The Athletic details. As we wrote on Thursday, Grimes is looking like a keeper for the Sixers, having averaged 16.8 points per game in his first 12 appearances with the team.

“It’s tough. As soon as you get comfortable, you get traded,” Grimes said. “But you gotta keep a level head. You got to go out there and produce.”

While Grimes had productive moments in New York and Dallas, he’s getting a chance to have the ball in his hands far more than before, initiating offense as opposed to simply spotting up.

“He’s been able to still kind of find his way, even with the extra pressure, extra bodies,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “He’s doing a good job of just getting into his shots and getting to places that he wants to go and getting the shots off. Obviously, he’s on a bit of a hot streak.”

According to Weiss, Grimes was shocked to be traded from Dallas this season. He had been productive there, averaging 10.2 points while shooting 39.8% from three in 47 games (12 starts).

“It’s crazy what’s going on, so it’s a blessing in disguise that I got moved,” Grimes said. “But I feel for them for sure. We had a tight-knit group over there this season. We had a good chance of winning it all. But that’s the NBA and dudes get moved all the time.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

The Celtics blew out the Sixers on Thursday, winning by nearly 20 points despite being down five rotation players. None of Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis or Sam Hauser were able to suit up, allowing for Boston’s bench players to step up. According to MassLive’s Brian Robb, Baylor Scheierman, Torrey Craig and Jordan Walsh were among the standouts. Scheierman scored a career-high 15 points, Craig accounted for 12 and Walsh had several good moments. Neemias Queta and two-way player Drew Peterson also both started for Boston. Queta recorded eight points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Nets guard Cam Thomas is looking to finish the season strong after injuries disrupted a promising year, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. Thomas will hit restricted free agency after the season. “I mean, that’s just the name of it. I just want to finish strong just to finish strong,” Thomas said. “I’m not really worried about [my] contract year or anything. I mean, I think all of that will take care of itself.”
In his last six games, Nets forward Tyrese Martin is averaging 12.0 points per contest, including a 23-point outburst against Detroit on March 1 and a 17-point outing in a close loss to Golden State on Thursday. As the New York Post’s Bridget Reilly writes, Martin is becoming an indispensable bench piece for Brooklyn. “Yeah, consistency. He’s a true pro. I play him off the ball, he plays well. I play him at point guard, he does his best and he’s getting better, like [Thursday],” coach Jordi Fernández said. “Defensively, he’s on point. He knows coverages, he knows everything. He shows up and works every day with a good attitude and he’s a great teammate. That’s what we want from everybody, but it’s not that easy to do it. He’s doing it consistently and that’s why he deserves all these good things that are coming to him, that he’s doing, that are coming his way.” Martin was recently converted from a two-way contract to a standard deal and has a team option for next season.

Contract Details: Two-Ways, Springer, Champagnie, Miller, Spencer, More

March 7th, 2025 at 4:27pm CST by Luke Adams

A flurry of two-way signings occurred prior to Tuesday’s deadline and many of those players who received two-way contracts in the week leading up to March 4 agreed to two-year deals.

Hoops Rumors has confirmed that Patrick Baldwin and Seth Lundy of the Clippers, Pete Nance and Jamaree Bouyea of the Bucks, Lester Quinones of the Pelicans, David Roddy of the Rockets, Miles Norris of the Celtics, and Jared Rhoden of the Raptors all signed two-year, two-way contracts.

As our tracker shows, that means that 25 of the 90 players signed to two-way contracts have deals that will carry over to the 2025/26 league year. It’s common for many of the players on two-year, two-way pacts to be waived during the offseason if teams decide there’s an undrafted rookie or Summer League standout they’d rather add, but those two-year terms give clubs the option of retaining their two-way players for another year.

Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts around the league:

The Jazz used $634,437 of their room exception to sign guard Jaden Springer, who got a three-year contract that includes a non-guaranteed salary for 2025/26 and a team option for ’26/27. Springer will receive a $400K partial guarantee on next season’s salary if he remains under contract through July 25. That partial guarantee will increase to $600K if he makes the opening night roster in the fall.
Teams that used a portion of their mid-level exceptions to promote two-way players to multiyear standard deals include the Wizards with Justin Champagnie ($1,800,000), the Clippers with Jordan Miller ($1,005,000), and the Rockets with Jeenathan Williams ($515,881). All three players got four-year contracts that don’t include guaranteed money beyond this season, though Miller’s deal includes some trigger dates — he’ll get a partial guarantee of $350K for 2025/26 if he’s still under contract beyond July 15 and half of his $2,191,897 salary will become guaranteed if he isn’t waived before the start of the ’25/26 regular season.
Pat Spencer of the Warriors, Orlando Robinson of the Raptors, and Ryan Rollins of the Bucks all received straight conversions of their two-way contracts to standard deals, so they’ll each still be eligible for restricted free agency this offseason.
Dominick Barlow‘s new two-year contract with the Hawks is a minimum-salary deal that includes a team option for 2025/26.

Celtics Notes: Sixers Game, Pritchard, White, Walsh

March 6th, 2025 at 2:42pm CST by Rory Maher

Tonight’s nationally televised game between Boston and Philadelphia will be lacking in star power. The Celtics (Twitter links) have ruled out Jaylen Brown (right knee posterior impingement), Al Horford (left big toe sprain) and Kristaps Porzingis (illness), while Jrue Holiday remains sidelined with a broken finger on his right hand (mallet finger).

Both Jayson Tatum (right shoulder impingement) and Sam Hauser (right ankle sprain) are questionable to suit up, per the team.

The banged-up Sixers, who have already lost Joel Embiid, Jared McCain and Eric Gordon for the season, will be without Paul George this evening due to left groin soreness, Shams Charania of ESPN reports (via Twitter). George, who has battled a variety of injuries in 2024/25, was previously listed as questionable.

Tyrese Maxey (lower back sprain) and Kyle Lowry (right hip injury management) are also out for the 76ers, while Justin Edwards is questionable with a left ankle sprain, according to the league’s latest injury report.

Thursday is the second end of a back-to-back for Boston; Philadelphia last played on Tuesday.

Here’s more on the Celtics:

Guards Payton Pritchard and Derrick White made history in Wednesday’s 10-point victory over Portland, writes Kyle Hightower of The Associated Press. In addition to becoming the first Celtics duo to score 40-plus points in the same game, they also became the first tandem in NBA history to each make at least nine three-pointers in the same contest. Both players set career highs in points and threes made, with Pritchard (43 and 10) slightly edging White (41 and nine). They were both extremely efficient — Pritchard shot 14-of-20 and chipped in 10 rebounds and five assists in 43 minutes, while White was 14-of-26 and also had three rebounds, two assists, three steals and a block. Remarkably, they only combined for one turnover.
Second-year forward Jordan Walsh was a surprise contributor in yesterday’s win, notes Brian Robb of MassLive. The 21-year-old has only averaged 8.0 minutes per game in 41 appearances this season, but he matched a season high by playing 21 minutes against the Blazers. As Robb writes, Walsh hadn’t played at all in three of the five games leading up to Wednesday’s contest, in part due to the signing of veteran Torrey Craig. However, Walsh was ahead of Craig on the depth chart yesterday and got an opportunity for playing time with Tatum, Porzingis and Holiday out.
After the game, head coach Joe Mazzulla explained Walsh’s increased workload. He finished with three points and six rebounds. “Just with guys out, opportunity is there,” Mazzulla said, per Robb. “His ability to defend in individual defense, these guys do a great job of breaking guys down, and he’s really gotten better at that, and we needed someone who offensive rebounds. I think he got two big ones in the first half, I think he ended up with one more there, so just continuing to get better. It’s an opportunity to get him out there and make sure he continues to grow defensively and rebounding.”

Atlantic Notes: Towns, Drummond, Raptors, Norris

March 4th, 2025 at 9:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Karl-Anthony Towns missed the Knicks’ loss to Golden State on Tuesday due to personal reasons, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets. It’s uncertain whether Towns will join the team in Los Angeles when the Knicks face the Lakers on Thursday and Clippers on Friday.

“When he’s ready to come back, obviously we want him back,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “But he needs some time right now.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Andre Drummond posted big numbers in the Sixers’ loss to Portland on Monday, Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes. The veteran center finished with season highs of 25 points and 18 rebounds. Philadelphia will continue to rely on Drummond with Joel Embiid out for the season. “I mean, that’s what I set out to do on a nightly basis — [show] that I still am effective,” he said. “Regardless of whatever minutes you give me and whatever chance that I get, I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do.” Drummond holds a $5MM player option on his contract for next season.
With the Raptors pointing toward the offseason, Eric Koreen of The Athletic suggests ways they can subtly tank the remainder of the way. That includes limiting the minutes of their top players, going with younger players off the bench and not signing another center.
Miles Norris‘ two-way contract with the Celtics is a two-year deal, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith tweets. The forward, who had been playing for the Memphis Hustle in the NBA G League, signed his contract on Tuesday.

Celtics Add Miles Norris On Two-Way Deal

March 4th, 2025 at 10:40am CST by Dana Gauruder

March 4: Norris’ two-way contract with the Celtics is now official, according to a press release from the team.

March 2: The Celtics are signing forward Miles Norris to a two-way contract, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.

Norris, who has yet to make his NBA debut, has been playing for the NBA G League’s Memphis Hustle. In 36 games combining his Showcase Cup and regular-season appearances, Norris is averaging 17.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.0 steals in 30.6 minutes per contest.

Norris went undrafted in 2023 after playing at UC Santa Barbara. He signed a two-way contract with the Hawks prior to last season but was waived in December. He then joined the Hawks’ G League team in College Park, where he averaged 11.6 PPG and 6.0 RPG in 45 games.

Norris participated in the Grizzlies’ training camp this past fall after signing a camp deal, but was waived prior to the season.

Boston opened up a two-way spot on Sunday by waiving rookie forward Anton Watson.

Eastern Notes: Quickley, Holiday, D-Lo, Harris, Dosunmu

March 3rd, 2025 at 2:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The five-year, $162.5MM contract that Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley signed in free agency last July was viewed by several fans and analysts at the time as an overpay. It hasn’t become any more team-friendly over the course of this season as Quickley has battled one injury after another and has seen his production decline a little even when he’s been healthy.

However, the 25-year-old provided a reminder in Sunday’s win over Orlando of what he’s capable of, scoring 17 of his team-high 24 points (and handing out a pair of assists) during a five-minute barrage at the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth to help seal the victory, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. While Quickley was happy about his performance, he disagreed with the notion that it will help build confidence for him going forward, Grange adds.

“Confidence is also a choice, a decision,” Quickley said. “Mindset is choice, confidence is choice. I try not to think like that. That’s how I used to think early in my career. And I’ve kind found out elite players don’t think like that. They don’t think that good plays give them confidence, or bad plays don’t give them confidence. Confidence is a choice. You choose confidence.”

It has been a fairly forgettable season overall for Quickley, but the Raptors remain confident that he can be an elite point guard, according to Grange, who notes that Sunday’s outburst was one of the few times this year that he has looked the part.

“That stretch in the third (and fourth) quarter, he was our engine,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said. “He was getting us organized, he was touching the paint, he was scoring. He did a lot for us there and he was really efficient, everything came on the move, everything came with a minimum number of dribbles and when he plays that way, efficiently, it’s good for the whole team.”

Here’s more from around the East:

Veteran guard Jrue Holiday has missed the Celtics‘ past two games due to an injury known as mallet finger. Although his right pinky finger is technically broken, Holiday won’t require surgery and will aim to eventually play through the injury, which is keeping him on the shelf for now, writes Brian Robb of MassLive.com. “Trying to figure out — I’m going to be in a splint for a minute but figuring that out since it’s on my shooting hand,” Holiday said. “… I mean, I’m shooting, dribbling, catching, it’s probably all pretty weird or, I mean, honestly, inconvenient. I haven’t tried so far to catch a ball because of the pain, but I will soon.”
Nets point guard D’Angelo Russell, who has missed the past five games due to a sprained right ankle, is no longer on the team’s injury report, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. That’s an indication Russell will be active on Tuesday in San Antonio.
Pistons forward Tobias Harris is unavailable for personal reasons as Detroit opens a four-game road trip in Utah on Monday, per Keith Langlois of Pistons.com (Twitter link).
Ayo Dosunmu‘s shoulder issue, which will require season-ending surgery, is an old injury that was discovered via imaging, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network. Although the Bulls guard aggravated it when he sustained a shoulder stinger vs. New York on Feb. 20, he’s not sure when the initial injury occurred, Johnson adds (Twitter link).

Celtics Waive Anton Watson

March 2nd, 2025 at 4:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Celtics have waived two-way player Anton Watson, the team’s PR department tweets.

Watson, a rookie forward selected with the No. 54 pick in last year’s draft, signed his two-way contract in August. He has yet to make his NBA regular season debut.

Watson has appeared in a total of 37 games (34 starts) for the NBA G League’s Maine Celtics, including his Tip-Off Tournament and regular season appearances. He’s averaging 12.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 29.9 minutes per game.

Watson, 24, played five seasons at Gonzaga and averaged career highs of 14.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists last season.

This opens the door for the Celtics to add another two-way player prior to the March 4 signing deadline. Drew Peterson and JD Davison hold the other two-way slots. Boston also has an open spot on its standard 15-man roster.

Celtics Notes: Brown, Tatum, Hauser, Porzingis, Holiday

March 1st, 2025 at 9:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined for 83 points on 61 shots in Friday’s loss to Cleveland, but Brown thought they should have shot even more considering the circumstances, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. The Celtics were missing Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday due to injuries, limiting their options on offense. Still, the Cavaliers rarely threw double teams at Brown or Tatum.

“They don’t want to help,” Brown said. “They were trying to take away our spacing and our shooting, so they were just staying home on us instead of trying to make us make the reads and pass. So that means we’ve got to dominate every time down the floor. I feel like I let them off the hook maybe a few times where I could have used some shot fakes, some possessions I definitely would have back. But for the most part, we were aggressive, and that was key for us.

“But different games, we’ll see different game plans each and every night. Sometimes they blitz, sometimes they (double team), sometimes they do different things. When I had the ball or when Jayson had the ball tonight, they for the most part stayed home. We’ve got to make them pay.”

Tatum’s 37 shots were five more than his previous high for a regulation game. Himmelsbach speculates that so much shooting may have tired out Tatum, who missed all four of his three-point attempts in the second half.

There’s more from Boston:

The Cavs targeted Sam Hauser on defense, frequently forcing him to try to stay in front of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, Himmelsbach adds. Cleveland was 12-of-26 during the game with Hauser as the primary defender, and coach Joe Mazzulla was happy with how he responded to the challenge. “(Hauser) has been a great defender in the league for the last two or three years and earned a reputation for that,” Mazzulla said, “and so the confidence comes from having him in the game, being able to defend.”
Porzingis and Holiday are both listed as doubtful for Sunday afternoon’s game against Denver, according to Brian Robb of MassLive. Porzingis is sidelined with a non-COVID illness, while Holiday is dealing with a mallet finger injury on his right hand that he suffered in Wednesday’s game. Both players are considered day-to-day. Brown, who sat out Wednesday due to thigh soreness, is questionable due to pain in his right knee. Neemias Queta, Xavier Tillman and Jordan Walsh all practiced today with the Maine Celtics in anticipation of playing on Sunday, Robb adds.
One of the few disappointments for the Celtics in the past two years is the failure of their developmental prospects to earn rotation minutes, Robb states in a mailbag column. He notes that as the roster gets more expensive, Walsh, Drew Peterson, Baylor Scheierman and JD Davison will eventually have to be replaced if they can’t make greater contributions.

Atlantic Notes: Brown, Robinson, Towns, Raptors

February 26th, 2025 at 6:18pm CST by Rory Maher

Celtics star Jaylen Brown suffered a bone bruise in his left quad during Tuesday’s victory over Toronto. After the game, he told Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (subscriber link) that he wasn’t sure whether or not he’d play in Wednesday’s back-to-back in Detroit.

After initially being listed as questionable, Brown was later ruled out against the red-hot Pistons, who have won seven straight games, one more than Boston’s current streak. Center Luke Kornet will also miss his second straight game due to personal reasons, per the Celtics (Twitter link).

Here’s more from the Atlantic:

The Knicks are optimistic that Mitchell Robinson will be able to make his season debut this weekend, reports Ian Begley of SNY.tv. New York plays two games this weekend, on Friday vs. Memphis and on Sunday against Miami. Assuming he keeps progressing without issue, either date is a possibility for Robinson to make his first appearance of 2024/25 following offseason ankle surgery, according to Begley.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau stated after Tuesday’s practice that Robinson was “projected to be the starting center on the team.” On Wednesday, Thibodeau clarified that Robinson will not immediately enter the starting lineup — he was referring to before the season began, and presumably before New York’s blockbuster trade for Karl-Anthony Towns, as James L. Edwards III of The Athletic relays (via Twitter).
Speaking of Towns, the Knicks big man was ruled out of Wednesday’s game after having his left knee flare up near the end of Sunday’s loss to Boston. He was initially listed as questionable. Rookie center Ariel Hukporti will get his first career start in Towns’ stead, per Edwards of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Eric Koreen of The Athletic lists several Raptors trends to monitor for the remainder of the season, as well as some to ignore. Koreen is keeping close tabs on Immanuel Quickley‘s three-point volume and accuracy, Gradey Dick‘s defense, and the overall play of Ochai Agbaji. On the other hand, he says the team’s defensive rating and RJ Barrett‘s dip in offensive efficiency aren’t particularly important as the season winds down.

Cavs Notes: 48th Win, Celtics Matchup, Garland, Wings

February 26th, 2025 at 10:15am CST by Luke Adams

With their win over Orlando on Tuesday, the Cavaliers are now 48-10 on the season, matching their 2023/24 season win total with 24 games still left to play, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). However, that wasn’t a milestone that the team and head coach Kenny Atkinson felt was worth celebrating.

“In our locker room, amongst us, no one is talking about our record,” Atkinson said after the victory, per Fedor. “Focused on trying to prepare for these playoffs. Championship mentality.”

As Fedor writes, it took the Cavaliers seven hard-fought games to sneak by the Magic in the first round of last spring’s playoffs. Their 122-82 beat-down of the Magic in Orlando on Tuesday night served as a reminder of how far the Cavs have come in less than a year and how much higher their expectations are now.

“We’re not going to talk around it. We want to win a championship,” guard Ty Jerome said. “That’s our goal. If that’s not your goal, why come to training camp? I don’t think there’s any added pressure. A lot of good teams in this league. One day at a time. Continue to do what we do.

“… We have a special group,” Jerome continued. “This is my fourth team, and you don’t find this often in the NBA. We all have individual goals, but winning is at the forefront of our mind and we all want to see each other succeed. We are genuinely happy for each other. You don’t find that a lot in the NBA. Just not taking that for granted. It’s special. Don’t want it to pass you by.”

Here’s more on the Cavaliers, whose current eight-game winning streak is just their third-longest of the season:

Among Eastern Conference rivals, the Celtics are the biggest obstacle in the way of a Cavaliers title. Cleveland is 1-2 against the defending champs so far this season and is looking forward to the fourth and final regular season matchup between the two teams on Friday in Boston, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “We still have to prove we can beat them, beat them at their place,” Atkinson said. “I think we go in there, kind of guns blazing, go for the win, whatever it takes, throw everything at them. And then after that game, we can kind of step back and say, ‘Hey, what can we do in the playoffs?'”
Darius Garland, who has missed Cleveland’s past two games due to a left hip contusion, is aiming to be back in the lineup on Friday vs. the Celtics, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link).
While Javonte Green likely won’t play a major role in the playoffs for the Cavaliers, adding him on the buyout market is part of the team’s broader effort to “stockpile wings,” Vardon writes for The Athletic. As Vardon writes, it’s rare for a championship team to start two smaller guards like Garland and Donovan Mitchell, but the Cavs’ plethora of wings helps the team protect its smaller backcourt, especially during the minutes when just one of Garland or Mitchell is on the floor.