Franz Wagner Cleared For On-Court Workouts
The Wizards have suffered plenty of losses this season, but none carried the sting of allowing Bam Adebayo to score 83 points Tuesday at Miami, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. With the embarrassment from that game still fresh, Washington needed to find some sense of atonement Thursday in Orlando. The Magic came away with an overtime win, but Wizards players were satisfied with their effort after erasing a 19-point deficit.
- For the first time since the All-Star break, Magic forward Franz Wagner was able to take part in an on-court workout during Wednesday’s shootaround, Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel states in a subscriber-only story. Wagner did some light shooting, and coach Jamahl Mosley said he hasn’t been cleared for contact yet.
Magic’s Jonathan Isaac Suffers Left Knee Sprain Thursday
Big man Jonathan Isaac sprained his left knee during Thursday’s overtime win vs. Washington and was ruled out for the remainder of the contest, the Magic announced (via Twitter).
“My heart dropped,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said of the moment Isaac went down, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). Mosley added that Isaac’s injury took “a lot of energy out of our players.”
According to the Magic (Twitter link), Isaac underwent an MRI on Thursday, which confirmed the sprain. His return will depend on how his knee responds to treatment.
For what it’s worth, Beede saw Isaac walking without assistance in the locker room. The 28-year-old declined to speak to the media prior to exiting the locker room, Beede adds (via Twitter).
Isaac recently missed three consecutive games due to left knee soreness, but he was available for Wednesday’s victory against Cleveland even though he didn’t play.
“That’s just something that’s been kind of lingering,” Mosley said over the weekend. “We just continue to monitor it to make sure that it doesn’t continue to get worse over time, just being more careful than anything.”
Isaac previously missed two-and-a-half seasons after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee in 2020.
Entering Thursday, Isaac had averaged 2.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 10.2 minutes per game across 51 appearances. He and the Magic recently worked out a deal to amend his salary protection for next season.
Dwight Howard Announces Retirement
Longtime NBA center Dwight Howard officially announced his retirement from basketball on Thursday (Twitter link).
Howard, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2025, last played in the NBA during the 2021/22 season. He has spent the past few years competing in Taiwan, Puerto Rico, and in the BIG3.
The first overall pick in the 2004 draft, Howard immediately became the starting center for the Magic and spent the next eight seasons in Orlando, winning three Defensive Player of the Year awards with the team and finishing in the top five in MVP voting in four consecutive seasons from 2008-11. The Magic made the playoffs in six straight years during Howard’s tenure, appearing in the NBA Finals in 2009.
From 2012-22, Howard bounced around the NBA, spending time with the Lakers, Rockets, Hawks, Hornets, Wizards, and Sixers. He had three separate stints with the Lakers during that decade and won his first and only championship with the team in 2020.
Howard earned eight straight All-Star nods and appeared on eight All-NBA teams, including five First Teams, from 2006-14. In addition to winning DPOY three times, he made an All-Defensive team five times, including claiming a spot on the First Team for four years in a row from 2009-12.
Howard, who played 18 seasons, led the league in rebounding five times and currently ranks 10th on the NBA’s all-time rebounding list. He was also the league leader in blocked shots twice and ranks 13th all-time in that category.
The 6’10” big man didn’t play college basketball but fortified his Hall of Fame résumé by winning an Olympic gold medal with Team USA in Beijing in 2008.
In 1,242 regular season games, including 1,078 starts (31.8 minutes per contest), Howard averaged 15.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 0.9 steals while shooting 58.7% from the field and 56.7% from the foul line.
Checking In On Open Roster Spots
As our tracker shows, the following teams currently have one spot available on their 15-man standard rosters:
- Brooklyn Nets
- Golden State Warriors
- Houston Rockets
- Orlando Magic
- Toronto Raptors
The Nets have an opening after they decided not to re-sign rookie forward Grant Nelson, whose 10-day contract expired on Sunday night. They’re still operating below the salary cap, so there isn’t anything preventing them from signing another player.
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 and Raptors are both 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.
Toronto is expected to hold off at least a few more days though, in order to avoid a scenario in which the team wins a couple playoff series and Immanuel Quickley’s $500K bonus for making the Eastern Conference Finals pushes the Raptors’ salary over the tax line.
The Kings and Jazz are worth mentioning too. Sacramento’s 15th spot is currently held by Killian Hayes, whose second 10-day contract will expire on Saturday night. Utah, meanwhile, has two players — Mo Bamba and Andersson Garcia — signed to 10-day deals through next week.
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.
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.
Eastern Notes: Banchero, Poole, Pistons, P. Williams
Magic forward Paolo Banchero admits the first half of the season didn’t go the way he or the team wanted it to, but he has been playing excellent basketball over the past few weeks. The former No. 1 overall pick tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape he was motivated by not making the All-Star team.
“I’m always honest with myself,” Banchero told Andscape. “I looked in the mirror first. Over the All-Star break, I watched a lot of film over the early part of the season. I just wasn’t happy with what I put out. Some of that had to do with me being injured and coming back. …
“I could’ve had a better mindset, and that was part of it. But I know I’m an All-Star in this league. My confidence is still the same. It’s about being honest with yourself and realizing that you didn’t really deserve to be an All-Star, honestly. It’s about taking that with a grain of salt and being better in the second half of the season.”
In his 10 games (36.1 MPG) since the break, Banchero is averaging 26.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists (3.8 turnovers) on .508/.341/.822 shooting. The Magic are 7-3 in that span and currently have their longest winning streak of the season at four games.
“Paolo has been ultra-aggressive attacking, getting early baskets,” head coach Jamahl Mosley told Spears. “He’s also been taking on the best player assignments defensively.”
Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:
- Jordan Poole was disappointed he was traded by the Wizards over the summer, as he says he was told he was in the team’s long-term plans. “That’s what I was looking forward to,” Poole told Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “But it’s the NBA, so things happen differently.” According to Robbins, Poole’s tenure with the Wizards was largely “misunderstood.” While the team was abysmal during his two seasons, Poole was beloved by his teammates, who rushed over to greet the veteran guard after Sunday’s game in New Orleans. Kyshawn George, Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly all have said Poole helped boost their confidence, Robbins writes. “He just kept my head straight,” George said. “I didn’t necessarily shoot it well at the beginning of (last) season, but he was always there to tell me, ‘Keep going. Keep going. We need you to make shots at the end of the season. We need you to make shots through the next couple of years on the road, the important shots.’ (He was) just making sure that I stick with my habits, and I don’t lose confidence. I think that’s a big thing for me that he taught me: (With) 82 games in the NBA season, the first 15 don’t define you, the first 30 don’t define you. It’s really how you finish. And when it’s time to really play and hoop, you’ve got to show up.”
- The Pistons snapped their four-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 38-point road victory at Brooklyn, per Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. “We’ve been playing high-level basketball all year. Had a little bit of a dip,” Cade Cunningham said in his post-game interview. “Every team has a moment in the season where they think the sky is falling. We had that and we just wanted to get back on the right track.”
- Bulls head coach Billy Donovan is optimistic better days are ahead for Patrick Williams, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “He’s turned out to be a really good catch-and-shoot three-point shooter, but one of the things he was getting himself into trouble [with] was putting it down on the floor — traffic, turnovers,” Donovan said. “For him, it’s just a consistency part. He’s shown more consistent signs this year than he has in the past, but I still feel like there’s more there for him. I believe that.” The sixth-year forward has battled injuries in recent weeks and Williams’ contract — he’s in the second season of a five-year, $90MM deal — is “effectively immovable,” Cowley writes.
Magic Notes: Black, F. Wagner, Morales, Isaac
Magic guard Anthony Black has a left lateral abdominal muscle strain, the team announced (via Twitter). Black underwent an MRI that showed the injury, and the timeline for his return will depend on his response to treatment.
Black left Saturday’s game at Minnesota after two minutes with what was originally diagnosed as a low back strain and was held out of Sunday’s contest at Milwaukee. He was fouled by Jaden McDaniels on a drive to the basket and grabbed at his back area. He briefly remained in the game before being taken to the locker room to get checked, Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel writes in a subscriber-only story.
Beede states that Black is a Most Improved Player candidate, averaging career-highs of 15.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals in his third NBA season.
The Magic also revealed that Franz Wagner continues to make progress in his recovery from a high ankle sprain, and his return will be determined by how the ankle responds to rehab. Wagner has only been available for 28 games this season and has made just two appearances since January 18.
There’s more from Orlando:
- The Magic are entering one of their most important stretches of the season with six of their next eight games against teams that are battling for postseason position, Beede states in a separate story. Orlando has jumped into sixth place in the East with four straight wins, and Jalen Suggs believes the team has rediscovered its identity on defense. “Especially these last couple (games), guys aren’t going on crazy runs against us,” he said. “We’re doing a really good job of keeping it to seven, six (points) and under, and then doing a great job of responding to not let them get too much momentum rolling. Top to bottom, everybody’s doing a great job right now.”
- After spending four years in the G League, Alex Morales was surprised to receive a two-way contract from the Magic last month, Beede adds in another piece. The 28-year-old point guard was active for an NBA regular season game for the first time last week. “I’m super grateful,” Morales said. “This is what you work for. I’m super appreciative for the opportunity and I’m trusting in it. So, I’m going to continue to work hard for this organization.”
- Jonathan Isaac worked out a deal with to Magic to amend his salary protection for next season, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link). Isaac’s contract originally called for his $8MM partial guarantee for 2026/27 to increase to a full $14.5MM guarantee if he appeared in at least 52 games or remained under contract through July 7. Isaac and the team agreed to remove the games-played criteria and move his full salary guarantee date up to June 28.
Victor Wembanyama, Tyler Herro Named Players Of Week
Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama and Heat guard Tyler Herro have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, according to the league (Twitter links). The weekly award covers games played from March 2-8.
Wembanyama averaged 26.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.8 blocks per game as San Antonio went 4-0 last week. It’s the second weekly award this season for the former No. 1 overall pick and the third of his career.
The Player of the Week honor continues an impressive run of award recognition for Wembanyama, who last week was named the Western Conference’s Player of the Month and Defensive Player of the Month for February.
Herro averaged 26.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 51.7 percent from three-point range as Miami also went 4-0 last week. This marks Herro’s second career Player of the Week award and his first of the season. He has been limited to just 20 appearances so far due to injuries but has been highly productive when available, averaging 22.1 PPG on .500/.402/.917 shooting.
Devin Booker (Suns), Luka Dončić (Lakers), Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), Jrue Holiday (Trail Blazers) and Kawhi Leonard (Clippers) were the other nominees from the Western Conference. Bam Adebayo (Heat), Paolo Banchero (Magic), Jalen Johnson (Hawks) and Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks) were also nominated in the East.
Magic Notes: Bane, Da Silva, Banchero, Isaac
Desmond Bane helped lead the Magic to one of their best victories of the season on Saturday in Minnesota, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
The Timberwolves were determined not to let Bane beat them from behind the three-point line, Krawczynski writes, and the sixth-year wing went 0-for-5 from long distance. However, Bane took advantage of Minnesota’s aggressive defense by regularly driving past his opponents, Krawczynski notes. He was 10-of-12 on twos and 10-for-10 at the free throw line, finishing with a team-high 30 points in the lopsided road win.
Bane admits he was a little tentative at the beginning of the season, saying he didn’t want to “step on toes” with his new team. But he knows what Orlando needs from him now and is comfortable with his responsibilities.
“I don’t think there’s any more thinking or second-guessing what’s needed of me, what’s asked of me,” Bane said, per Krawczynski. “I know night-in and night-out what the team needs. It’s a freeing feeling just being able to go out there and do what I do.”
Here’s more on the Magic, who are now the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference:
- Tristan Da Silva has stepped up since the All-Star break, averaging 12.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steal in eight games (30.3 minutes per contest) leading into Saturday, writes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. The second-year forward had another solid outing vs. Minnesota, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. He was a game-high plus-24 in 31 minutes. “It’s not easy to do to go from starting to off the bench to back to starting to back off the bench,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “So, it says something about him as a professional. It says something about his work ethic and the coaches that work with him. It’s not easy to do. I know it looks like that because he comes in and shoots the heck out of the basketball, but the ability to do that and just play your part, whatever you’ve been given and tasked to do, he did that. And that’s what we need from our guys every night.”
- Paolo Banchero played an important role in Saturday’s win as well, finishing with 25 points, 15 rebounds and three assists, though he did have five turnovers. Mosley was particularly happy about the former All-Star’s defensive rebounding, Beede writes in another story. “It allows us to finish the possession off and now we’re playing against an unset defense,” Mosley said. “Once he’s got the rebound, we can play with pace, play a little faster, continue to do a great job of throwing it ahead and keep challenging him to get down that floor easily so we can get some early, easy baskets, especially against great defensive teams. But he’s done a great job just honing in and locking in on rebounding the basketball because he knows that continues to help our defense every night.”
- Backup big man Jonathan Isaac missed his second consecutive game Saturday due to left knee soreness, Beede adds. Mosley discussed the injury prior to the game. “That’s just something that’s been kind of lingering,” Mosley said. “We just continue to monitor it to make sure that it doesn’t continue to get worse over time, just being more careful than anything.”
Injury Notes: Murray, Nuggets, Pistons, Kuminga, Black
The Nuggets had three rotation forwards back in action on Friday, with Aaron Gordon (right hamstring strain), Cameron Johnson (right ankle inflammation) and Spencer Jones (right shoulder strain) all suiting up against New York. As Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes, the Nuggets were thrilled to have Gordon, who was on a minutes restriction, in the lineup after he missed 17 consecutive games.
“I think (we missed him) more on the defensive side,” Nikola Jokic said, alluding also to the injured Peyton Watson. “They’re really good on offense, and they give us different variation and different weapons on offense. But I think their length and their ability to guard, we kind of miss more. Definitely, it’s gonna help us.”
Friday marked the first time since November 12 that Denver had its opening night starting lineup (Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Johnson, Gordon and Jokic) available, Durando notes. However, that five-man group didn’t come away from game unscathed, as star guard Murray sprained his left ankle late in the second quarter and was unable to return (YouTube link).
Head coach David Adelman said Murray would be reevaluated on Saturday, adding that the 29-year-old was “really sore” but typically bounces back quickly from ankle sprains, per Arnie Melendrez Stapleton of The Associated Press.
“This has just been insane,” Adelman said. “Every time we get somebody back I feel like somebody else goes out. … So, whatever group we have that is healthy for OKC (Sunday), whatever minute restrictions there are and all the excuses, we just have to play a hell of a lot better.”
Here are some more injury-related updates from around the NBA:
- The Pistons expect Ausar Thompson to miss multiple games due to a right ankle sprain, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters on Saturday, including Coty M. Davis of The Detroit News (Twitter video link). “I think it’s going to be a minute,” Bickerstaff said of Thompson’s return timeline. Cade Cunningham, who was originally questionable for Saturday’s matchup vs. Brooklyn because of a left quadriceps contusion, has been downgraded to out. Bickerstaff said the star guard is considered day-to-day, per Davis.
- Hawks forward Jonathan Kuminga will miss his second straight game Saturday when Atlanta faces Philadelphia, tweets Brad Rowland of Locked On Hawks. Kuminga is battling left knee inflammation.
- Third-year guard Anthony Black suffered a low back strain in the first quarter of Saturday’s contest at Minnesota and has been ruled out for the rest of the game, the Magic announced (via Twitter). The former lottery pick recently missed a pair of games — his first absences of the season — due to a right quad contusion.
NBA Explores Launching Streaming RSN Hub For 2026/27
The NBA has let its teams know that there’s a chance it will introduce a streaming hub for local broadcasts as soon as next season, sources tell Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal. Many clubs’ local broadcasts have been thrown into disarray due to the fact that Main Street Sports Group, which has regional TV agreements with 13 NBA teams, is likely headed for insolvency.
That group of 13 teams – which includes the defending champion Thunder, along with the Spurs, Pistons, Cavaliers, Clippers, Heat, Timberwolves, Magic, Hornets, Hawks, Pacers, Grizzlies, and Bucks – would be the most likely candidates to be involved in the NBA’s new streaming hub.
As Friend points out, there are a few more teams (the Suns, Jazz, Trail Blazers, Mavericks, and Pelicans) who have already abandoned their respective regional sports networks and could be candidates for the new venture as well. On top of that, Friend’s sources suspect the four teams who have deals with NBC Sports – the Celtics, Warriors, Sixers, and Kings – could be in play due to a sense that NBC may want out of the regional sports network business.
The other eight teams broadcast games on their own networks, which doesn’t necessarily rule them out, but would make it more complicated for the league to negotiate deals with each of them.
While it remains unclear exactly what the new setup will look like, Friend hears that the NBA has engaged in talks with potential partners like YouTube TV, DAZN, Amazon, and ESPN as it considers a package that might resemble NFL Sunday Ticket.
The total number of teams that opt in figures to be a major factor in determining the viability of this new streaming hub, Friend writes, citing sources who think the NBA would need to guarantee a broadcast partner a certain threshold of clubs in order to secure a significant deal. With enough teams involved, industry insiders believe an agreement would be worth billions, Friend adds.
Due to its financial woes, Main Street has missed payments to its teams on January 1, February 1, and March 1, per Sports Business Journal. The NBA originally didn’t plan on launching this sort of streaming hub until down the road, Friend writes, but it has become a higher priority in order to help teams make up for those lost rights-fee payments.
Although the league has informed its teams that it’s trying to get something together for the 2026/27 season, there’s no guarantee that will happen, so Main Street clubs have been advised to explore lining up a bridge deal for their local broadcasts. Those teams are exploring both linear and streaming options, Friend notes.
Friend also points out that, since a new league-wide streaming hub may overlap with League Pass, the NBA may need to either restructure League Pass or eliminate it all together down the road. Amazon currently distributes League Pass as part of its national broadcast agreement with the NBA, so those negotiations would be simpler if the league ultimately strikes a deal to make Amazon its partner on a new streaming RSN.