Eastern Conference Postseason Field Set As Bucks Eliminated
Saturday’s loss to San Antonio mathematically eliminated the Bucks from playoff contention, capping an extremely disappointing season and setting up a resumption of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade sweepstakes, which could be the biggest story of the summer.
Milwaukee is the fifth Eastern team to be eliminated, joining Indiana, Brooklyn, Washington and Chicago, which means the 10 conference teams that will participate in the postseason are now set.
The Bucks’ decision to hold onto Antetokounmpo past the February 5 trade deadline signaled that the organization hoped to make a late-season push to at least reach the play-in tournament and then try to make a playoff run. That never materialized as the team has gone 9-14 since then and Antetokounmpo has played just six times due to the combination of a calf strain and a hyperextended left knee and bone bruise.
The Bucks’ strategy of keeping Antetokounmpo wasn’t accompanied by any other big moves to make the team more competitive. Milwaukee’s only deadline transaction was to get involved in a three-team trade to acquire Oklahoma City’s Ousmane Dieng, who has been a productive addition, and Phoenix’s Nigel Hayes-Davis, who was waived the next day.
Cam Thomas was a surprise addition in early February, signing for the rest of the season after being waived by Brooklyn. Although he got off to a strong start as a scoring threat off the bench, Thomas was released on Monday after 18 games with Milwaukee.
The seeds for this season’s failure were planted in last year’s playoffs when Damian Lillard suffered a torn Achilles. Instead of waiting a year for the veteran guard to heal, Bucks management made the controversial decision to waive him and use the stretch provision to spread his remaining $112.6MM salary over the next five years.
The newly created cap space was used to sign Myles Turner away from Indiana. Turner has provided a steady presence in the middle, even though his scoring average (11.9 PPG) and shooting numbers (44% from the field and 38.4% from three-point range) have declined from last year’s production with the Pacers.
This marks the Bucks’ first non-playoff season since 2016, and it’s just the second time since Antetokounmpo’s rookie year that they’ve failed to qualify. After today’s game, coach Doc Rivers talked about the frustrations that led up to this point, relays Eric Nehm of The Athletic (Twitter link).
“It’s been disappointing obviously,” Rivers said. “Since I’ve been here, I haven’t had a healthy stretch and it’s been your key guys. It’s been Giannis. It’s been Dame. And you hope you can play through that, but we just haven’t had the ability. This year, having only one quote-unquote star, every other team has two and three. We needed health. We were thin. We knew that before the season started and it just didn’t go our way. All the talk and all that stuff probably didn’t help either.
“But I always try to look at silver linings and Ryan (Rollins) is one of them. Pete Nance is another one. Ous (Dieng) is one of them. And we gotta rehabilitate or get A.J. Green going again. He’s a good player. He’s played too many minutes. We’ve had no choice and I think that’s put him in a tough spot and I feel bad for him at times. Bobby (Portis) is Bobby. He’s been a pro throughout this year. We had a great talk today about it before the game. I’m so proud of him as a leader. He tries to do the right stuff. He tries to say the right things in the locker room.”
Rivers, 64, is entering the final year of his contract, and his future in Milwaukee could be tied to Antetokounmpo’s. With only six current players currently under contract for next season, plenty of change could lie ahead, whether Antetokounmpo returns or not.
Central Notes: Nance, Cunningham, Cavs, McClung
When the Bucks promoted forward Pete Nance to their 15-man roster, they dipped into their room exception to sign him to a new three-year, $5.81MM contract that exceeds a minimum deal in terms of both first-year salary and total years, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.
The Bucks used roughly $5.13MM of their room exception last summer to re-sign Kevin Porter Jr., and it has been prorating downward since January 10, but the team still had a portion of it left to put toward Nance’s contract.
Nance received a $600K salary for the rest of this season, well above his prorated minimum of $277,137. As a trade-off, the deal includes a non-guaranteed minimum salary ($2,497,812) for 2026/27, with a non-guaranteed minimum-salary team option ($2,707,612) for ’27/28.
Nance’s 2026/27 salary would become guaranteed if he remains under contract through July 4, 2026.
We have more from around the Central:
- In the wake of the NBPA issuing a statement criticizing the 65-game rule in support of Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, agent Jeff Schwartz added his voice to those arguing that his client doesn’t deserve to miss out on All-NBA recognition this season. “Cade has delivered a first-team All-NBA season,” Schwartz told ESPN’s Shams Charania. “If he falls just short of an arbitrary games-played threshold due to legitimate injury, it should not disqualify him from recognition he has clearly earned over the course of the season. The league should be rewarding excellence, not enforcing rigid cutoffs that ignore context. An exception needs to be made.” Cunningham, who was diagnosed last week with a collapsed lung, appears unlikely to make the five additional appearances necessary to meet the 65-game threshold.
- The Cavaliers beat Orlando on Tuesday for their fourth consecutive win, but head coach Kenny Atkinson expressed displeasure after the game with his defense, which surrendered 131 points in the victory, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “I just told the team in the locker room, if we’re going to play defense like this, we’re going to have a short playoff stint,” Atkinson said. “… We’re the number one offensive team over the last (several) games. But there’s two sides of the ball. We’re tilted one way right now. … You have to be good on both ends. You got to be top 10 (on) offense and defense; it gives you the best chance. We’re not.” Atkinson added that the “guys who defend” will be the ones who are part of his rotation in the playoffs.
- One of just two players in NBA history to win three dunk contests, Bulls two-way guard Mac McClung now holds another record. He’s the G League’s new all-time leading scorer across the regular season, Tip-Off Tournament, and postseason, having surpassed Renaldo Major‘s 5,299 total points, according to the league (Twitter link). Major still holds the NBAGL record for regular season points (5,058).
Bucks Promote Pete Nance To Multiyear Standard Deal
The Bucks have converted Pete Nance‘s two-way contract to a multiyear standard deal, the team announced (via Twitter).
As we detailed in another story, Cam Thomas was waived in order to create an opening on the 15-man roster for Nance.
Monday’s game at the Clippers would have marked the 50th and final game in which Nance could have been active as part of his two-way contract. The 26-year-old forward/center has been receiving rotation minutes in recent weeks with Giannis Antetokounmpo once again sidelined, this time due to a knee injury.
Promoting Nance to a standard deal means he can now be active for the remainder of the regular season. Theoretically he would be eligible to appear in the postseason as well, but the Bucks will almost certainly be eliminated in the coming days based on how far behind they are in the standings.
Nance played four years of college basketball at Northwestern prior to transferring to UNC for his “super senior” year in 2022/23. He spent part of his rookie season with the Cavaliers and played a couple months of 2024/25 on a two-way contract with the Sixers.
Nance caught on with the Bucks in February 2025, when he signed a two-year, two-way contract after he was waived by Philadelphia.
Through 37 games in 2025/26, Nance has averaged 4.5 points and 2.2 rebounds while shooting 56.4% from the floor and 47.9% from three-point range in 12.1 minutes per contest.
The Bucks still have a full 15-man standard roster and now have an open two-way spot. They won’t be able to fill it until the offseason though, as the deadline to sign players to two-way deals was March 4.
Bucks’ Nance Among Two-Way Players Nearing Game Limit
Bucks forward Pete Nance had one of his best games of the season in Tuesday’s loss to Cleveland, scoring 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, grabbing seven rebounds, and blocking two shots. Although Milwaukee lost the game by a score of 123-116, Nance was a +7 during his 30 minutes of action.
As Keith Smith of Spotrac observes (via Twitter), it was the 29th consecutive game – and the 47th overall – in which Nance was active. That’s important because the 26-year-old is on a two-way contract, which comes with a limit of 50 active games.
The Bucks still have 14 games left on their regular season schedule, but if they want Nance to be active for more than three of those contests, they’d have to promote him to their standard 15-man roster, which is currently full.
Most promotions from a two-way contract to a standard deal in a given league year occur between the trade deadline and March 4. That way, teams don’t prematurely fill a roster spot they might need for a deadline deal and have the ability to back-fill a newly opened two-way slot on or before March 4, the deadline to sign players to two-way contracts. Promoting a two-way player to the 15-man roster after that deadline means that a club would have to leave one of its two-way slots open for the rest of the season.
Promotions can still happen between March 5 and the end of the regular season, but it’s a less pressing priority for teams who don’t have 15-man roster spots available and/or won’t need their two-way standouts for the postseason. The Bucks, whose playoff chances are on life support, probably fall into both of those categories, so it will be interesting to see whether they feel compelled to make a move with Nance as he nears his 50-game limit.
Here are the other players are on two-way contracts around the NBA who have fewer than 10 games of eligibility remaining (their remaining games are noted in parentheses):
- Moussa Cisse, Mavericks (4)
JD Davison, Rockets (4)
Tyrese Martin, Sixers (4) - Caleb Love, Trail Blazers (5)
David Roddy, Nuggets (5) - Tristan Enaruna, Cavaliers (6)
Blake Hinson, Jazz (6)
Rayan Rupert, Grizzlies (6)
Payton Sandfort, Thunder (6)
Dalen Terry, Sixers (6) - Norchad Omier, Clippers (7)
Nate Williams, Warriors (7) - Patrick Baldwin Jr., Kings (8)
Jamal Cain, Magic (8)
Julian Reese, Wizards (8) - Trevor Keels, Heat (9)
KJ Simpson, Nuggets (9)
Jalen Slawson, Pacers (9)
Ethan Thompson, Pacers (9)
Chris Youngblood, Trail Blazers (9)
Some of these players were just signed a couple weeks ago and didn’t have that many games of two-way eligibility to begin with, so the fact that they’re nearing their limit isn’t a big deal for their respective teams.
Sandfort, for instance, joined the Thunder on March 2, giving him 12 total games of regular season eligibility. He has been active for six, but has a DNP-CD in all of them. It’s safe to assume Oklahoma City won’t be looking to find a way to promote him to its standard roster.
Others on this list were regular contributors earlier in the season but have been deactivated since they got close to their respective limits. Cisse, for example, was at 42 active games at the trade deadline, but has been in the Mavericks’ lineup for just four of 18 contests since then. Davison and Love are among the others who have found themselves exiled to the inactive list on a permanent basis in recent weeks. Their teams have gotten by without them lately and don’t appear to be prioritizing promotions.
That doesn’t mean none of these players will be converted to standard contracts by April 12 though. The Jazz, Warriors, and Magic are among the teams that have open roster spots, so Hinson, Williams, and Cain, each of whom has been seeing a decent amount of playing time recently, should be considered candidates to fill those openings.
Eastern Notes: Thomas, Bulls, Tatum, Bucks
All signs point to Cam Thomas‘ days in Brooklyn being numbered, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post (subscription required), who says most league observers he spoke to about the subject expect Thomas and the Nets to go their separate ways either at the trade deadline or in the offseason.
While a midseason trade remains possible, Thomas owns a de facto no-trade clause after accepting his one-year, $6MM qualifying offer as a restricted free agent in 2025, so he would have to sign off on any deal involving him. The 24-year-old’s value is also at a low point, Lewis notes, given that he has spent much of the past season-and-a-half battling hamstring issues and is shooting a career-worst 40.5% from the field this season.
Whether or not Thomas is traded by February 5, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent after the season, and he’ll have new representation at that time. After hiring agent Alex Saratsis of Octagon in 2024, Thomas has moved on from Saratsis and signed with Thad Foucher of Wasserman, Lewis confirms.
Here are a few more items of interest from around the Eastern Conference:
- Checking in on the Bulls‘ trade options ahead of the deadline, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times confirms that the team has talked to the Pelicans about second-year center Yves Missi and says the Timberwolves have inquired on guards Ayo Dosunmu and Tre Jones in addition to Coby White. It could be tricky for the Bulls to make a deal for Missi since they’re not looking to part with draft assets, Cowley writes.
- The Celtics have defied expectations by remaining a legitimate contender this season even without All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum, writes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (subscription required). The team has a posted a 26-16 record so far, and while there’s still no formal timeline for Tatum’s return from an Achilles tear, he continues to shown signs of progress — on Monday, he went through a one-hour workout with media in attendance, per Jay King of The Athletic. Head coach Joe Mazzulla deferred to the Celtics’ medical and sports science staff on Tatum, but said it was “interesting” that the 27-year-old did Monday’s on-court drills in front of reporters after having done most of his rehab work behind closed doors.
- The Bucks snapped a three-game losing streak on Monday in Atlanta after head coach Doc Rivers replaced guard Kevin Porter Jr. with forward Kyle Kuzma in his starting five. The results were mixed – the new lineup was outscored by one point during its 20 minutes on the court – and Rivers admitted he’s not sure if he’ll stick with it, but he explained why he wanted to try a different look. “Just size. We thought putting size in the lineup would be great,” Rivers said, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “And when you do that, you have to separate the guards. And I mean, our second unit was all plus tonight, so I thought it went really well for us. Pete Nance was phenomenal.”
Bucks’ Jericho Sims Undergoes Thumb Surgery, Out Four Weeks
Bucks reserve center Jericho Sims underwent surgery on Monday morning to repair a torn ligament on his right thumb, according to a team press release (Twitter link). He is expected to be sidelined for approximately four weeks with a likely return for the playoffs, the statement adds.
Sims suffered the thumb injury on Saturday against the Pacers, but had initially planned to play through it. He finished the game against Indiana and suited up on Sunday against Oklahoma City, playing 12 scoreless minutes with four rebounds.
However, head coach Doc Rivers had indicated before Sunday’s game that the injury wasn’t a minor one and that surgery was one of the treatment options under consideration.
Sims, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, has played 14 games off the bench since the Bucks acquired him in a deadline deal. He’s averaging 2.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in 15.0 minutes per game with his new team, having earned a rotation role in large part due to Bobby Portis‘ 25-game suspension.
Milwaukee acquired Sims in the four-team deal that sent Khris Middleton to Washington. The former second-round pick out of Texas spent the first three and a half years of his career with the Knicks.
Tyler Smith and Pete Nance could see more playing time the rest of the regular season, as the Bucks are thin at the five spot until Portis’ suspension ends.
Contract Details: Two-Ways, Springer, Champagnie, Miller, Spencer, More
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.
Bucks Sign Pete Nance To Two-Way Contract
February 28: The signing is official, the team announced today (via Twitter).
February 27: The Bucks are planning to sign Pete Nance to a two-way contract, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link). They’ll add the former Northwestern and UNC player using the open roster spot they created by waiving Liam Robbins, as we relayed earlier on Thursday.
Nance has played two seasons after going undrafted in 2023, appearing in eight games with the Cavaliers as a rookie in 2023/24 and seven this season with the Sixers. The 6’11” forward spent time on a 10-day pact and two-way contract with Cleveland last season.
Nance was waived by the Cavaliers this past October and was signed twice by the Sixers on a two-way deal, first in December and then in January. He was waived earlier this month.
The younger brother of Larry Nance Jr., Pete Nance has played much more at the G League level, appearing in 18 total games (17 starts) this season with Cleveland and Philadelphia’s developmental teams. In those 18 outings, he’s averaging 15.5 points per game while shooting 37.8% from three.
After Milwaukee adds Nance to his two-way deal, they’ll have 14 players on standard contracts and three on two-way deals. The deadline to sign players to two-way contracts is March 4. Two-way guard Ryan Rollins has just one game left before reaching his two-way limit, so the Bucks may opt to convert him to a standard deal and fill his two-way slot with someone new.
According to The Athletic’s Eric Nehm (Twitter link), Nance’s two-way contract will cover two years.
Sixers Trade Reggie Jackson, First-Round Pick To Wizards For Jared Butler, Four Second-Rounders
1:20 pm: The trade is official, according to a press release from the Sixers. Philadelphia waived two-way player Pete Nance in order to complete the deal.
9:19 am: The Sixers and Wizards have agreed to a trade, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, who reports (via Twitter) that Washington will acquire a 2026 first-round pick from Philadelphia in exchange for four second-rounders.
A pair of players will also be involved in the deal, per Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), with veteran guard Reggie Jackson headed to the Wizards and two-way player Jared Butler going to the 76ers.
According to Stein (Twitter links), the 2026 first-rounder Washington is acquiring will be the least favorable of the Thunder’s, Rockets’, and Clippers’ picks for that year. Houston’s first-rounder is technically top-four protected, though that’s extremely unlikely to affect which pick the Wizards receive.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, will receive second-rounders in 2027 and 2028, along with two in 2030, Stein adds. Here are the exact details on those four second-rounders, per Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice (Twitter link):
- Either the Warriors’ or Suns’ 2027 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).
- The Warriors’ 2028 second-round pick.
- The Wizards’ 2030 second-round pick.
- Either the Suns’ or Trail Blazers’ 2030 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable).
It’s a consolidation trade for the Wizards, who are taking on a little extra salary (Jackson is on a one-year, minimum-salary contract) and dipping into their huge collection of excess second-round picks in order to add a guaranteed first-round selection. Washington will still have 14 second-rounders at its disposal going forward.
As for the Sixers, they’re sacrificing a first-round pick that will likely end up in the 20s — or even at No. 30, if the Thunder are as good next season as they’ve been this year. They’ll also still control their own first-rounder in 2026 (assuming their top-six protected 2025 pick conveys this year) and have now replenished their collection of second-rounders going forward.
On top of that, Philadelphia will create a little extra financial flexibility below the luxury tax line – they’re now $3.5MM below that threshold, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link) – and will get a chance to take a flier on Butler, who has been solid in a limited role in Washington.
Butler has averaged 6.9 points, 2.6 assists, and 1.3 rebounds in 11.3 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .483/.366/.778, across 32 appearances off the bench this season. The former No. 40 overall pick could be a candidate for a promotion to the Sixers’ standard roster, since he’s nearing his 50-game NBA limit for the season.
Conversely, I wouldn’t expect Jackson to factor into the Wizards’ rest-of-season plans. The veteran guard is averaging just 4.4 PPG and 1.5 APG in 12.4 MPG (31 games) this season, with a .391/.338/.778 shooting line. Josh Robbins of The Athletic confirms (via Twitter) that Jackson will likely be traded or waived by Washington.
Having waived Sidy Cissoko earlier today, Washington has an open spot on its standard roster to take in Jackson. The move will create an open two-way slot for the Wizards.
The Sixers will create another opening on their 15-man roster – they’ll have three once this deal and their KJ Martin trade are official – but will need to cut a two-way player to acquire Butler.
Sixers Notes: Injuries, Nance, Athleticism, Arena
In addition to being without Joel Embiid, Kyle Lowry, and Andre Drummond, as we relayed earlier, the Sixers have also ruled out Paul George (right ankle soreness), Tyrese Maxey (left hand sprain), and Caleb Martin (right groin soreness) for Tuesday’s game vs. Oklahoma City, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter links).
On the plus side, Drummond and KJ Martin, who has been out since December 23 due to a left foot stress reaction, have resumed on-court work, Pompey notes (via Twitter). Drummond and Embiid are considered day-to-day, while KJ Martin’s return timeline is TBD.
In total, eight players are unavailable against the Thunder, so the Sixers will roll with a skeleton crew that includes a starting lineup of Reggie Jackson, Eric Gordon, Ricky Council, Kelly Oubre, and Guerschon Yabusele, tweets Pompey. It’s the first end of a back-to-back set for Philadelphia, so the team will hope to be a bit more whole on Wednesday vs. New York.
Here’s more on the 76ers:
- After waiving Pete Nance last Tuesday, the Sixers spent the week surveying the free agent market and considering other options for their open two-way slot, Pompey reports (Twitter link). However, given Embiid’s and Drummond’s injuries, the club ultimately decided that a big man was its biggest need, which is why Nance was re-signed to a new two-way deal earlier today.
- Within his takeaways from Sunday’s loss to Orlando, Pompey writes that the veteran Sixers couldn’t keep up with the more youthful Magic, suggesting that Philadelphia’s roster could benefit from an influx of athleticism.
- In an in-depth story for The Inquirer, Sean Collins Walsh and Alex Coffey take a closer look at how the Sixers and Comcast Spectacor reached an agreement to keep the team in South Philadelphia, including the role that NBA commissioner Adam Silver played in thawing out an icy relationship between the two sides.