Stein’s Latest: Towns, Holiday, Knicks, Davis, Eason
Steve Popper of Newsday reported last week that the Knicks have talked to multiple teams about the possibility of trading Karl-Anthony Towns. Ian Begley of SNY.tv and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported differently, stating that they haven’t heard any buzz about the Knicks discussing Towns trades.
Sources told Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (subscriber link) on Monday that the Knicks haven’t been “shopping” the 30-year-old or talking Towns trades with opposing teams. Bondy acknowledges that could change in the coming days, but he doesn’t expect the former No. 1 overall pick to be on the move by February 5.
According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link), while New York’s front office has attempted to downplay Towns-related chatter, some rival teams believe that’s just posturing and that the five-time All-Star may be available under certain circumstances. At minimum, those clubs think the Knicks want to know what the market for Towns would look like, Stein writes.
Towns, 30, has averaged 20.5 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists on .469/.364/.856 shooting through 42 games this season (31.6 minutes per contest). He’s under contract through 2027/28, including a $61MM player option in that final season.
Here are a few more trade rumors from Stein’s latest round-up:
- Stein has heard “rumbles” that the Knicks have explored the viability of trying to trade for Trail Blazers guard Jrue Holiday. Acquiring Holiday might make New York an even more appealing landing spot for his former Bucks teammates Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to Stein, who adds that the Knicks are said to be longtime fans of the six-time All-Defensive member and view him as a strong fit in the backcourt next to Jalen Brunson.
- Despite the external chatter about New York potentially weighing major moves, sources close to the Knicks have insisted to Stein that they’re more focused on small-scale deals involving Guerschon Yabusele, who makes $5.5MM this season and holds a $5.8MM player option for 2026/27.
- Anthony Davis appears unlikely to be traded prior to the deadline, Stein confirms. The Mavericks are expected to continue fielding offers for the injured big man over the next several days, but there doesn’t seem to be any momentum towards a deal and Stein hears the 10-time All-Star prefers to stay with Dallas for the remainder of the season.
- The Rockets have made Tari Eason off limits in trade talks ahead of the deadline, Stein reports. The 24-year-old forward, who has dealt with a variety of injuries over the past few seasons, is converting a career-high 46.6% from three-point range in ’25/26 and will be a restricted free agent in the summer.
- In case you missed it, we passed along several more rumors from Stein on Sunday.
Flagg, Knueppel, Edgecombe Among Rising Stars Participants
The 2026 Rising Stars event will feature 11 sophomores, 10 rookies and seven G League representatives, the NBA announced in a press release. The mini-tournament will take place at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on February 13.
Here’s the full list of participants:
Rookies
- Cedric Coward, Grizzlies
- Dylan Harper, Spurs
- Egor Dёmin, Nets
- Tre Johnson, Wizards
- VJ Edgecombe, Sixers
- Kon Knueppel, Hornets
- Jeremiah Fears, Pelicans
- Collin Murray-Boyles, Raptors
- Cooper Flagg, Mavericks
- Derik Queen, Pelicans
Sophomores
- Matas Buzelis, Bulls
- Alex Sarr, Wizards
- Stephon Castle, Spurs
Reed Sheppard, Rockets- Donovan Clingan, Trail Blazers
- Cam Spencer, Grizzlies
- Kyshawn George, Wizards
- Jaylon Tyson, Cavaliers
- Ajay Mitchell, Thunder
- Kel’el Ware, Heat
- Jaylen Wells, Grizzlies
G League
- Sean East II, Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz‘s affiliate)
- Alijah Martin, Raptors 905
- Ron Harper Jr., Maine Celtics
- Tristen Newton, Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets‘ affiliate)
- David Jones Garcia, Austin Spurs
- Yang Hansen, Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers‘ affiliate)
- Yanic Konan Niederhauser, San Diego Clippers
All 10 of the rookies — headlined by No. 1 overall pick Flagg, No. 3 Edgecombe, and No. 4 Knuppel — were lottery selections in last year’s draft, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter links). By contrast, only five of the sophomores were lottery picks, with three being first-rounders outside of the lottery and three picked in the second round.
NBA assistant coaches selected the 21 rookies and sophomores, according to the release, and those players will be drafted onto three different seven-player teams on Tuesday at 6:00 pm CT on Peacock. Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady will draft and be the “honorary coaches” of the three squads, while Austin Rivers will be the honorary coach for the G League representatives.
The four actual head coaches will be assistants from the All-Star game coaching staffs.
Six of the seven players representing the G League are actually on NBA contracts: Yang (No. 16) and Niederhauser (No. 30) were 2025 first-round picks, while Martin, Harper, Newton and Garcia are on two-way deals with their respective clubs. East, who played in Canada and Romania last season, is the lone player on an actual G League contract after Utah waived him in the fall.
Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft, is the younger brother of Ron Harper Jr. Both players are the sons of longtime NBA guard Ron Harper, who won five championships with the Bulls and Lakers.
As for the tournament itself, the four teams will face off in a single-elimination semifinal, with the two winners competing in the final. The semifinal is first to 40 points, whereas the final will be first to 25.
Luka Doncic, Immanuel Quickley Named Players Of Week
Lakers guard Luka Doncic and Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, according to the NBA (Twitter links). The award covers Week 14 of the season, from Jan. 19-25.
Doncic led his team to a 2-1 record last week by averaging 34.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.7 assists per contest. His best game came in Denver on Tuesday when he posted a 38-point triple-double in a road victory over the Nuggets. He also beat his former team in Dallas on Sunday en route to his second Player of the Week award of the season.
Quickley, who was named Player of the Week for the first time in his career, lifted the Raptors to four straight road victories by averaging 25.3 points on 61.1% shooting while contributing 6.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game. He matched a career high by racking up 40 points (on 11-of-13 shooting) in Tuesday’s win over Golden State.
Quickley’s name has popped up in rumors recently, with Toronto reportedly gauging his trade value.
Saddiq Bey (Pelicans), Kevin Durant (Rockets), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), James Harden (Clippers) and Naji Marshall (Mavericks) were the other Player of the Week nominees from the Western Conference.
Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell (Heat), Jalen Duren (Pistons), Jalen Johnson (Hawks), Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) and Coby White (Bulls) were also nominated for Eastern Conference recognition.
Knicks Reportedly Targeting Sochan, Alvarado, Missi
The Knicks are targeting Jeremy Sochan, Jose Alvarado, and Yves Missi as they look to upgrade their bench prior to the trade deadline, Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reports.
Each of those players could offer a different element to New York’s second unit.
Sochan, who has fallen out of the Spurs’ rotation, would give the Knicks another defensive-minded wing with size. He’s a subpar outside shooter but a solid rebounder. He’s making $7.1MM and will be eligible for restricted free agency at season’s end.
Alvarado is a scrappy point guard who could solve New York’s dilemma with finding a steady backup for Jalen Brunson. Alvarado is averaging 7.9 points and 3.2 assists in 21.9 minutes per game off the bench. He holds a $4.5MM option on his contract for next season.
Missi would give the Knicks a young big with the potential to be a starter in the future. He started 67 games last season for New Orleans as a rookie but his minutes have declined in his second season. He’s averaging 5.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 19.1 minutes per game. He’s still on his rookie deal and New Orleans already exercised the $3.5MM option on his contract for next season.
The Knicks have been discussing a few different avenues to move Guerschon Yabusele, who has been a free agent bust. He holds a $5.775MM option on his contract for next season. Both the Spurs and Pelicans have held talks with the Knicks regarding Yabusele, according to Siegel.
Siegel also lists Mavericks forward Naji Marshall as another New York trade target, but that may be more of a pipe dream. League interest is high on Marshall and the Mavericks have pinned a heavy price tag on any deal involving the much-improved forward.
The Knicks’ ability to make any deal is complicated by the salary cap issues. They are hard-capped and approximately $150K below the second tax apron, as Luke Adams notes in our latest Front Office post for subscribers.
New York can’t take in more salary than it sends out. The Knicks are also carrying 14 players on their standard roster, one below the limit, making it more difficult to send out more players than they’re bringing in due to roster requirements.
Anthony Davis Trade Appears Unlikely Before Deadline
With 10 days left until the trade deadline, it’s appearing more likely that Anthony Davis will finish the season with the Mavericks, multiple league sources tell Christian Clark of The Athletic.
Davis had been considered one of the top names on this year’s trade market, with Dallas having interest in moving on from his expensive contract and starting a full rebuild around Cooper Flagg. But he has been sidelined since January 8 with ligament damage in his left hand, renewing concerns about whether he’ll ever be able to remain healthy enough for a rival team to invest in a major deal.
Davis recently began doing some on-court work while wearing a protective glove on the hand, but there’s no indication when he might return. He opted against surgery to improve his chances of playing again this season and is set to be reevaluated in late February.
Beyond the injuries, which have forced Davis to miss 26 of the Mavs’ 46 games, there are concerns that his contract might make him too much of a gamble at this point in his career. He’ll earn $58.5MM next season with a $62.8MM player option for 2027/28, and he’ll be seeking an extension when he becomes eligible on August 6, either from Dallas or his next team.
While trade talks regarding Davis have cooled, the Mavericks are getting plenty of interest in Naji Marshall, with a Western Conference scout telling Clark, “I think half the league is interested in him.” Clark states that Dallas prefers to keep Marshall, adding that it would take “something extraordinary” to pry him away.
The 28-year-old small forward is enjoying a career year in his second season with Dallas, averaging 14.7 points per game while posting a 63.5 true-shooting percentage. He has been a major bargain on his $9MM contract and will make $9.4MM next season before becoming a free agent in the summer of 2027.
Clark also examines the market for Daniel Gafford, who has received interest from teams looking to add another center, including Toronto, Atlanta and Boston.
Gafford has been limited to 30 games due to injuries, and he just returned over the weekend after missing four games with a sprained right ankle. His scoring has fallen to 7.6 PPG, his lowest number since early in his career, but he remains an accomplished lob threat and shot blocker and he’s among the league leaders in shooting percentage every season.
Last summer, Gafford signed a three-year, $54MM extension, which will begin in 2026/27. He’ll make $17.3MM, $18.1MM and $19MM over the course of that deal.
Stein’s Latest: Morant, Ellis, Marshall, Antetokounmpo, Bulls
The Grizzlies are still very open to trade offers on Ja Morant, who is expected to miss at least three weeks with an elbow sprain, Marc Stein writes in his latest column for The Stein Line (Substack link).
However, those hoping to buy low on the often-injured star point guard may have to recalibrate, as Stein reports that there is internal pressure facing the team to bring back more than the favorable contracts that the Hawks got in return for Trae Young.
Stein also speculates that, should Morant stay on the team past the trade deadline, there could be some level of friction between Morant and the Grizzlies’ head of basketball operations, Zach Kleiman. As Stein explains, in addition to making it clear that Morant was available, Kleiman backed coach Tuomas Iisalo when the point guard and coach butted heads earlier in the season. The team also didn’t offer the two-time All-Star an extension last offseason when he became eligible.
Morant has played just 20 games this season and is averaging a career-low 28.5 minutes per night, though he has matched his career high as a facilitator, dishing out 8.1 assists per game.
We have more from Stein’s latest newsletter:
- Keon Ellis has emerged as perhaps the most likely player to be traded at the deadline, Stein writes. Ellis has struggled to keep a consistent spot in the Kings‘ rotation, but reports have nevertheless indicated that there are a handful of teams targeting the defensive-minded guard, which has led Sacramento to set an asking price of a first-round pick for him. According to Stein, some sources believe that the Kings trading Ellis is almost certain to happen.
- Stein confirms previous reports that the Mavericks highly value Naji Marshall as a part of their post-Luka Doncic core, but that doesn’t mean Marshall is untouchable. Stein writes that the starting point on any trade offer for the versatile wing must start with a first-round pick, as far as Dallas is concerned. He adds that Max Christie is another valued member of the core moving forward, and the team is focused on securing him a spot in the three-point contest, not finding a deal to move him.
- The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade landscape continues to be murky, especially following the announcement that he is likely to miss extended time due to a calf injury. According to Stein, multiple teams are still engaging with the Bucks in trade talks in the hopes of landing him at the trade deadline, injury notwithstanding.
- The Bulls are strongly expected to make a move involving one of their guards, Stein writes, with Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu the two most likely players to be on the move. He confirms Jake Fischer’s previous report that Nikola Vucevic could very well play out the season with the Bulls and depart in free agency this summer.
NBA Postpones Sunday’s Mavericks-Bucks Game Due To Weather
The Mavericks and Bucks won’t play on Sunday in Milwaukee, the NBA announced (Twitter link). The game will be rescheduled at a future date.
According to Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News, who first reported the news (via Twitter), the Mavericks were stuck on their team plane for multiple hours due to inclement weather in Dallas. The plane was still being de-iced as of 1:30 pm CT, Townsend adds (Twitter link).
Although it was floated as an outside possibility, the game will not be rescheduled for Monday, per Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com (Twitter link). Townsend hears the most likely date for the rescheduled game is February 19.
The Mavericks are now deplaning in Dallas after the game was postponed, tweets Marc Stein of The Stein Line, who confirms the game is likely to be rescheduled after the All-Star break.
The Mavs-Bucks contest is the second game the league has rescheduled on Sunday due to the major storm in North America. The first was the Nuggets-Grizzlies matchup in Memphis.
Sunday’s Nuggets-Grizzlies Game Postponed Due To Weather
Sunday’s game between the Nuggets and Grizzlies has been postponed due to inclement weather in the Memphis area, the NBA announced (via Twitter).
The game will be rescheduled, though the date has yet to be determined, per the league.
A major winter storm has been impacting a large portion of North America since Saturday night and is expected to continue through Monday. The Mavericks originally planned to fly to Milwaukee after Saturday’s game against the Lakers but were unable to due to the weather in Dallas.
According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), the Mavericks are still on the team plane awaiting clearance to travel ahead of a 6:00 pm CT tipoff time against the Bucks. Depending on what happens in the next couple hours, that game may be postponed as well.
Mavericks Notes: Doncic, Flagg, Davis, Irving, Weather
Luka Doncic has been looking forward to returning to Dallas tonight, but he understood that the atmosphere won’t be the same as it was last season, writes Nitish Singh of Dallas Hoops Journal. Emotions were still raw last April when Doncic was introduced at American Airlines Center two months after his unexpected trade to the Lakers. A retrospective video moved Doncic to tears, and he responded with 45 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals in a statement win over the Mavericks.
“Obviously, always going to feel like home there,” Doncic said. “Like I said, I needed that game (last year) to move on a little bit. But obviously, I’ll always appreciate those fans. They were really tight. I think we had a special bond. I really appreciate it all the time.”
The trade sparked fan anger in Dallas and led to a sharp downturn for the Mavs, who were eliminated in the play-in tournament and are off to a 19-26 start. It also resulted in the firing of general manager Nico Harrison in November. Asked in tonight’s pregame session with reporters whether he wishes he could have stopped the trade, coach Jason Kidd dismissed the idea.
“No, I think it’s one year, and next year will be two years,” Kidd said. (Twitter video link from Noah Weber of The Smoking Cuban). “…Luka’s moved on, and we’ve moved on. … That’s just the business of basketball, gotta move forward.”
There’s more from Dallas:
- Kidd was also asked about the prospect of seeing star rookie Cooper Flagg team up with Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving (Twitter video link via Weber). Those three players were expected to be the Mavericks’ foundation entering the season, but injuries have limited Davis’ time on the court with Flagg, and Irving still hasn’t returned from the ACL tear that sidelined him last March. “We would love to see that in ’26,” Kidd said. “There’s no guarantee. … Until we get closer for Kai, or closer for AD, then we can start paying a little bit more attention to that. But right now those guys are out for some time. …We would love to see that trio at some point.”
- Flagg will be limited to 30 minutes for tonight’s game, per Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (Twitter link). Flagg was on a 20- to 25-minute limit in his first two games since returning from an ankle injury, but he topped that number both times.
- Rough weather in Dallas could complicate the team’s effort to get to Milwaukee for Sunday night’s game, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. The current plan is to take a bus to an area hotel after tonight’s contest ends and fly out in the morning.
Injury Notes: Gordon, Davis, Gafford, Claxton, Towns
Bad news for Nuggets fans: Aaron Gordon reinjured his right hamstring strain on Friday in Milwaukee and was eventually ruled out for the second half, the team announced (Twitter link).
Gordon was playing on both ends of a back-to-back for the second time since he initially strained his hamstring in November, an injury which caused him to miss six weeks.
“I feel good. Better than I’ve felt in a long time,” Gordon said after Thursday’s win at Washington, per Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (Twitter link).
The veteran power forward appeared to tweak his hamstring in the final minute of the second quarter (Twitter video link via DNVR Sports). He finished with 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals in 16 minutes.
While Gordon was available, multiple other key players were held out Friday, including Jamal Murray (right hamstring inflammation, left hip inflammation), Peyton Watson (right and left ankle sprains), and Jonas Valanciunas, who returned to action on Thursday after missing just over three weeks with a right calf strain.
Here are some more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Mavericks big man Anthony Davis, who is on the mend from ligament damage in his left hand, has begun light on-court work while wearing a protective glove, reports Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com. Davis is expected to miss several weeks, though no firm timetable has been given for his return.
- As Afseth writes in another story for Dallas Hoops Journal, Mavericks center Daniel Gafford will return to action on Saturday against the Lakers after missing four games with a right ankle sprain that has given the 27-year-old big man issues throughout the 2025/26 campaign. Dwight Powell will continue to start in the middle even with Gafford back, however, as Dallas looks for its fifth straight win.
- Nets center Nic Claxton injured his pinkie finger in Friday’s double-overtime loss to Boston and will undergo imaging on Saturday, he told reporters, including Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link). Claxton was asked about being involved in trade rumors prior to Friday’s game and if he’s had any conversations with general manager Sean Marks, tweets Lewis. “I’ve almost been traded before,” Claxton said. “Sean, he has an open-door policy. You can always go talk to him whenever you want; but that’s for my agents to take care of. I’m just here as long as I’m here.”
- Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns is dealing with thoracic back spasms and is questionable for Saturday’s game in Philadelphia, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). The five-time All-Star has appeared in 41 of New York’s 44 games to this point in the season.