Thunder Trade Ousmane Dieng, Second-Round Pick To Hornets
The Thunder and Hornets have officially finalized a trade sending forward Ousmane Dieng and a 2029 second-round pick to Charlotte in exchange for center Mason Plumlee, the two teams announced in press releases.
The terms of the deal were reported in bits and pieces as news broke that the Thunder were acquiring Jared McCain from Philadelphia and the Hornets were using Dieng as part of their package for Bulls guard Coby White.
Dieng, 22, was the 11th overall pick in the 2022 draft, selected by the Thunder one spot before they nabbed Jalen Williams. However, the Frenchman never evolved into a reliable rotation player in Oklahoma City, appearing in 136 regular season games across three-and-a-half seasons and averaging 4.2 points and 2.1 rebounds in 12.0 minutes per night.
The move is financially motivated for the Thunder. Dieng is on an expiring $6.7MM contract this season, while Plumlee is on a one-year, minimum-salary contract with a cap hit of $2.3MM. By saving $4.4MM in this move, Oklahoma City will be able to remain below the tax when it finalizes its acquisition of McCain, who is earning $4.2MM this season. The expectation is that Plumlee will be waived to make room for McCain on OKC’s 15-man roster.
As for the Hornets, they’ll take advantage of their financial flexibility below the luxury tax line to accommodate a salary dump and acquire an extra second-round selection in the process. The Thunder, who have no shortage of future second-round picks, will send them the most favorable of Atlanta’s and Miami’s 2029 second-rounders.
Charlotte will subsequently flip Dieng to Chicago along with Collin Sexton in a trade that will send White and Mike Conley to the Hornets. It’s unclear whether or not the Bulls will hang onto Dieng once that deal is completed.
Pistons Waive Isaac Jones
The Pistons waived forward Isaac Jones in order to clear the roster space necessary to officially completed their three-team trade with Chicago and Minnesota, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac.
An undrafted free agent out of Washington State, Jones played well in a modest role for the Kings as a rookie in 2024/25, beginning the year on a two-way contract and earning a promotion to a standard deal last March. However, Sacramento cut him this past November to make room on its roster for Precious Achiuwa, at which time Detroit claimed the 25-year-old off waivers.
While Jones was on Detroit’s roster for nearly three months, he appeared in just one game for the Pistons, logging two garbage-time minutes. He has spent most of this season with the Motor City Cruise, the Pistons’ G League affiliate. In 26 NBAGL outings, he has averaged 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.3 blocks in 28.1 minutes per game, making 55.7% of his field goal attempts.
Jones’ salary was non-guaranteed when the Pistons claimed him in November but was locked in after January 7, when the team opted not to release him at the league-wide salary guarantee deadline. Unless he’s claimed off waivers again this time around, Detroit will be on the hook for Jones’ full $1,955,377 cap hit.
The trade the Pistons officially finalized on Tuesday night sent Jaden Ivey to Chicago, with Kevin Huerter and Dario Saric landing in Detroit. Since the Pistons had a full 15-man roster, they weren’t able to accommodate the one-for-two deal without waiving a player.
Saric looks like the next potential release candidate for the Pistons — cutting him would allow the club to open up a 15-man roster spot for two-way standout Daniss Jenkins, who is just one game away from reaching his limit of 50 active regular season games.
Jaden Ivey Traded To Bulls In Three-Team Trade
10:20pm: The Bulls have issued a press release confirming the three-team deal. The Pistons have also confirmed the trade (Twitter link).
3:36 pm: The Timberwolves will receive cash in the three-team deal, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
1:31 pm: The Pistons are trading fourth-year guard Jaden Ivey to the Bulls in a three-team trade that also involves the Timberwolves, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
According to Charania, Minnesota is sending veteran point guard Mike Conley to Chicago, while swingman Kevin Huerter and forward/center Dario Saric are headed from Chicago to Detroit. The Pistons will also acquire a protected 2026 first-round pick swap from the Timberwolves as part of the deal.
Ivey, who will turn 24 later this month, was the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft and started 164 of 181 games in his first three seasons in Detroit, averaging 16.1 points and 4.4 assists per contest. However, he missed the second half of the 2024/25 season due to a broken left leg and had his debut this past fall delayed due to a right knee issue.
Ivey was playing a modest role for the East-leading Pistons this season, averaging just 8.2 PPG in 16.8 MPG in 33 outings (two starts).
With potential restricted free agency around the corner for Ivey, the Pistons apparently decided he wasn’t in their long-term plans and had begun fielding calls on him in recent weeks, per Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The Bulls will add the former Purdue standout to an increasingly crowded backcourt that also features Josh Giddey, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Tre Jones.
While Giddey is considered a building block in Chicago, the acquisition of Ivey could set up the Bulls to trade one or more of their other guards ahead of this Thursday’s deadline. Chicago will take control of Ivey’s Bird rights, positioning the team to sign him to a new contract as a free agent this July.
With Ivey playing a diminished role in Detroit, the Pistons decided to swap him for a sharpshooter in Huerter who will immediately fill a hole on the roster. As good as the 36-12 Pistons have been this season, three-point shooting remains an area of weakness for the club, which ranks just 27th in the NBA in three-point makes per game (11.1) and 21st in three-point percentage (34.8%).
Huerter has struggled from beyond the arc this season, making just 31.4% of his outside shots, but he entered the season as a career 37.5% shooter and finished strong after a similarly slow start in 2024/25.
It’s unclear whether the Pistons intend to hang onto Saric, who has made just 21 appearances since the start of the ’24/25 season. Even if they plan to eventually waive him, they’ll first need to open up a roster spot in order to accommodate the one-for-two trade.
The pick swap Detroit is acquiring from Minnesota should put the team in position to move up at least a handful of spots in the draft this June. If the season ended today, the Pistons’ pick would be able to swap the No. 29 pick for No. 23.
The Timberwolves are essentially making a salary-dump move by sending out Conley’s $10.8MM expiring contract. The team began the day operating more than $8MM over the first tax apron and with a projected tax bill of about $24MM, but they’ll move below the first apron by roughly $2.5MM and will reduce their projected tax bill to just $3.8MM, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
What Minnesota ends up doing with those savings remains to be seen. The extra flexibility could come in handy in a bigger move for a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo. The newly created $10.8MM trade exception (equivalent to Conley’s outgoing salary) could also be useful to acquire more backcourt help at the deadline if the Wolves aren’t able to land Giannis. Alternately, the club might just be a single move away from ducking the tax entirely.
It’s unclear based on the terms reported so far what the Wolves will be receiving in the three-team deal, but it will likely be a very minor asset like cash, a heavily protected second-round pick, or a draft-rights player.
The Pistons will use Ivey’s outgoing $10.1MM salary to match Huerter’s incoming $18MM expiring contract while employing a portion of their $14MM trade exception to absorb Saric’s expiring $5.4MM deal. The Bulls, meanwhile, could create a trade exception equivalent to Huerter’s $18MM outgoing salary by using Saric to match Conley and taking Ivey’s salary into their unused mid-level exception, observes cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link).
Grizzlies Trade Jaren Jackson Jr. To Jazz
The Grizzlies and Jazz have finalized a blockbuster trade that sends former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. from Memphis to Utah along with wings John Konchar and Vince Williams Jr. and center Jock Landale.
In exchange, the Grizzlies have acquired guard Walter Clayton, swingman Kyle Anderson, forwards Taylor Hendricks and Georges Niang, and three future first-round picks.
Those three first-rounders headed to the Grizzlies in the deal are the Lakers’ 2027 pick (top-four protected), either the Cavaliers’, Timberwolves’, or Jazz’s own 2027 pick (whichever is most favorable), and the Suns’ 2031 pick (unprotected).
It’s a shocking move for a couple reasons. For one, multiple reports ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline suggested that Memphis had no interest in moving Jackson and hoped to hang onto – and build around – the big man going forward.
Additionally, while there were multiple teams said to be inquiring on Jackson’s availability in the hopes that the Grizzlies changed their mind, there was no indication that the Jazz were among those teams or that they’d be looking to use their stash of future draft picks to make this sort of move this week. Entering Tuesday’s games, Utah holds a 15-35 record, which is the sixth-worst mark in the NBA.
However, the move for Jackson suggests first-year president of basketball operations Austin Ainge and the Jazz are preparing to take a step forward next season. League sources tell Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the team doesn’t plan to trade forward Lauri Markkanen and still wants to re-sign center Walker Kessler in restricted free agency this summer. Utah envisions a frontcourt made up of Markkanen, Jackson, and Kessler, Jones explains.
Third-year guard Keyonte George and 2025 lottery pick Ace Bailey are among the other long-term building blocks in Utah, where the Jazz still control at least one first-round pick in every future draft, starting in 2026. Notably, that 2026 first-rounder will be sent to Oklahoma City if it lands outside the top eight — the Jazz are still in a fairly strong position to hang onto it, since there’s a 4.5-game gap between them and the NBA’s seventh- and eighth-worst teams (the 18-29 Bucks and 19-30 Mavericks).
As for the Grizzlies, we’d heard for weeks that they were open to trading two-time All-Star Ja Morant, but it wasn’t clear whether they intended to retool around Jackson or fully rebuild around a younger core headlined by Cedric Coward, Zach Edey, and Jaylen Wells. Now we have our answer.
While Clayton and Hendricks are just 22 years old and could carve out places in the Grizzlies’ long-term plans, the return for Jackson is primarily about adding three more first-round picks to an ever-growing collection of draft assets and creating additional cap flexibility in the present and future. The Grizzlies now control 12 first-rounders in the next seven drafts, notes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link).
Jackson renegotiated and extended his contract with Memphis last offseason and will earn $205MM over the next four years after this one. He’s the only player of the eight involved in this trade who is owed guaranteed money beyond next season, and taking on his long-term deal will likely eliminate Utah’s cap room this summer.
In terms of 2025/26 money, Utah will be taking advantage of its significant breathing room below the luxury tax line by increasing its payroll by more than $18MM — the Jazz are sending out a combined $27.5MM in salary and taking back roughly $45.8MM.
As Gozlan tweets, the Jazz will use their four outgoing players to legally match Jackson’s $35MM cap hit, then take the other three incoming players into existing traded player exceptions (or a portion of their mid-level, if they prefer to preserve their bigger TPE).
Memphis, meanwhile, will create a record-setting trade exception worth nearly $28.9MM, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link) first broke the news of the deal, with Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link) providing the details on the draft picks involved. The Jazz officially confirmed the news in a press release.
Hawks Trade Krejci To Blazers For Reath, Second-Rounders
3:40 pm: The trade is official, the Hawks and Trail Blazers announced.
11:20 am: The Hawks and Trail Blazers have agreed to a trade, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that Vit Krejci will be heading to Portland for Duop Reath and two second-round picks.
The Hawks will receive their own 2027 second-round pick back from Portland, as well as New York’s 2030 second-rounder, per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Twitter link). The Blazers controlled both of those picks from previous trades.
Reath, a 6’9″ big man, recently underwent season-ending foot surgery. Although he doesn’t state it outright, Charania suggests Reath could be waived to open a roster spot for the Hawks (Twitter link). N’Faly Dante, who is also out for the season after tearing his ACL, is another candidate to be released, tweets cap expert Yossi Gozlan.
According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), the Trail Blazers have been very active in trade conversations. They plan to promote two-way players Caleb Love and Sidy Cissoko to standard contracts after the February 5 deadline, Stein adds.
As several NBA insiders have noted, Atlanta evidently viewed Krejci as expendable after the team acquired Corey Kispert from Washington.
A 6’8″ guard, Krejci has averaged 9.0 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 42.3% from three-point range in 46 appearances this season (22.3 minutes per game). The 25-year-old is on a very affordable contract, earning $2.3MM this season, a non-guaranteed $2.7MM in 2026/27, with a $3MM team option for ’27/28.
Krejci’s outside shooting fills an immediate need for the Blazers, who rank last in the league in three-point percentage (33.6%). The former second-round pick will be extension-eligible in July, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
Reath, meanwhile, is earning $2.2MM this season and could be a restricted free agent in the summer if he finishes his current contract and is given a qualifying offer, though that seems unlikely.
Cavs, Kings, Bulls Finalize Trade Involving Ellis, Hunter, More
The Cavaliers, Kings and Bulls have officially completed their three-team trade, according to press releases from Cleveland, Sacramento and Chicago.
The full deal is as follows:
- Cavaliers acquire Keon Ellis, Dennis Schröder, and Emanuel Miller; waived Luke Travers.
- Kings acquire De’Andre Hunter.
- Bulls acquire Dario Saric, 2027 second-round pick, and 2029 second-round pick; waived Jevon Carter.
“After careful evaluation and a clearer view of the Eastern Conference landscape, we believe adding Dennis and Keon strengthens our depth, expands our flexibility, and positions us to keep building a Championship caliber team now and into the future,” Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman said in a statement.
“In a season defined by its parity, this move better aligns us for a deeper postseason run. I’m thankful as well to De’Andre, who made an immediate impact upon his arrival to Cleveland and represented the Cavaliers with class. We appreciate everything he did for us both on and off the court, and we wish him the best in Sacramento. We drafted Luke in 2022 and have seen his development improve each year and thank him for his contributions to the franchise.”
Our primary breakdown of the trade can be found here. The involvement of Miller and Travers was outlined here.
The Kings have now have two standard roster openings after sending out three players (Ellis, Schröder, Saric) for one (Hunter). They will have 14 days to get back to at least 14 players on standard contracts. The Cavs and Bulls, meanwhile, have full 18-man rosters.
Cavs Receiving Miller From Bulls, Waiving Travers To Complete Ellis Deal
In order for all three teams to “touch” in the agreed-upon trade involving Keon Ellis, Dennis Schröder and De’Andre Hunter, the Bulls are trading two-way player Emanuel Miller to Cleveland, sources tell Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune.
The Cavaliers are waiving Luke Travers, who is also on a two-way contract, to make roster room for Miller, as first reported by Olgun Uluc of ESPN and confirmed by Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter links).
Miller, a second-year forward, has only made five NBA appearances this season, averaging 3.0 points in 6.6 minutes per game. He’s had a much larger role in the G League with the Windy City Bulls, averaging 17.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.2 APG and 0.9 SPG on .529/.354/.691 shooting in 21 games (33.8 MPG).
Travers, a former second-round pick, made 12 appearances for the Cavs in his second season, averaging 2.3 PPG and 2.0 RPG in 8.6 MPG. The Australian wing filled the stat sheet in the NBAGL with the Cleveland Charge, putting up 17.1 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 4.9 APG, 1.8 SPG and 1.6 BPG in 15 games (31.5 MPG). He struggled with efficiency, however, posting a .424/.283/.618 shooting line.
The full trade appears to be as follows:
- Cavaliers receive: Ellis, Schröder (from Kings), Miller (from Bulls). Will waive Travers.
- Bulls receive: Dario Saric (from Kings), two second-round picks (a 2027 second-rounder from Cleveland via Denver, and a 2029 least favorable pick from Sacramento). Will waive veteran guard Jevon Carter to acquire Saric.
- Kings receive: Hunter (from Cavaliers). Open two roster spots to eventually promote Dylan Cardwell from his two-way deal.
As Keith Smith of Spotrac observes (via Twitter), the Cavs’ standard roster will be full once the trade is finalized, which means they won’t have room to convert Nae’Qwan Tomlin from his two-way deal. The second-year forward, who has become a rotation regular in Cleveland, can only be active for four more games.
The Cavaliers are still likely to promote Tomlin, Smith notes, whether by making additional trades or waiving a player after the deadline.
Cavaliers To Acquire Ellis, Schröder In Three-Team Trade
The Cavaliers will send De’Andre Hunter to the Kings in exchange for Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The three-team trade also includes the Bulls, who will pick up Dario Saric from Sacramento and will receive two second-round picks as well.
The trade will save Cleveland nearly $50MM in salary and luxury tax this season, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).
The Cavs unload Hunter’s $23.3MM contract while taking back Schröder at $14.1MM and Ellis at $2.3MM. The move takes the Cavs from $22MM to just $13.9MM above the second apron and brings their total payroll down to $221.7MM, per cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link).
The Cavaliers were among many reported suitors for Ellis, an accomplished defensive guard who is set for free agency this summer. He will become eligible for an extension worth up to $52MM over three years on February 9, and Cleveland will acquire his Bird rights in the deal.
Ellis fell out of the Kings’ rotation early in the season, which prompted trade speculation, but he still appeared in 43 games, averaging 5.6 points and 1.1 steals in 17.6 minutes per night with .397/.368/.625 shooting numbers.
Schröder, 32, will be joining his 11th NBA team. He was one of Sacramento’s major offseason additions, agreeing to a three-year, $44.4MM contract as part of a sign-and-trade deal with Detroit. However, he shot poorly from the field and eventually lost his starting job to Russell Westbrook. Schröder has two more years left on his contract at $14.8MM and $15.5MM with a $4.3MM guarantee on the final season. He’s also a strong defensive guard and had a positive impact on the Pistons after they traded for him at last year’s deadline.
Gozlan points out (via Twitter) that the Cavs have an opportunity to get below the second apron by unloading Lonzo Ball‘s $10MM contract and a couple of minimum salaries. He notes that they have three more tradable second-round picks to use for further moves before the deadline.
The Cavaliers added Hunter in a deal last February in hopes that he would become a dependable small forward to team with their four established starters. However, he has been more effective off the bench since coming to Cleveland and wound up being an expensive backup with the emergence of Jaylon Tyson. He has one more year left on his contract at $24.9MM and will get a chance to revive his career in Sacramento.
In a full story, Charania notes that trading two players for one will give the Kings roster flexibility to convert two-way big man Dylan Cardwell to a standard contract.
Saric, who has an expiring $5.4MM deal, will be absorbed into a $6.2MM trade exception Chicago has from last year’s Zach LaVine deal, according to Marks (Twitter link). The Bulls don’t have a roster opening, so they’re waiving Jevon Carter in order for the trade to be completed, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link). The 30-year-old guard has a $6.8MM expiring contract and will become a free agent once he passes through waivers.
Chicago’s draft compensation for helping to facilitate the deal will be a 2027 second-rounder from the Cavs that originally belonged to Denver and a 2029 second-rounder from the Kings that includes stipulations, reports Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints. It will be the least favorable of picks among Detroit, Milwaukee and New York, according to Charania.
League sources tell Siegel that the Cavaliers were reluctant to take on Schröder’s contract during trade negotiations, but the Kings threatened to move onto other offers if they couldn’t unload the veteran guard. Ellis was at the top of the Cavs’ wish list heading into the deadline, Siegel adds, so they decided to accept Sacramento’s terms.
Sacramento was hoping to land a first-round pick for exchange for Ellis, but several teams that had expressed interest recently turned away, including the Pacers, Celtics and Timberwolves, sources close to the Kings tell Sam Amick of The Athletic.
According to Amick, Indiana was concerned about finding enough playing time for Ellis while Bennedict Mathurin is still on the roster. Even though Mathurin may be traded by Thursday’s deadline, the Pacers believed it was too much of a risk to part with a first-rounder.
The Wolves had been willing to include two second-round picks as part of their offer, Amick adds, but their priorities changed over the past week when it began to appear that Giannis Antetokounmpo would be available.
Cavs Sign Tristan Enaruna To Two-Way Contract
One day after waiving Chris Livingston, the Cavaliers have filled their newly created two-way opening, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed forward Tristan Enaruna to a two-way contract.
Enaruna, 24, went undrafted out of Cleveland State out of 2024 and has signed non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 contracts in each of his first two professional seasons, joining the Celtics for training camp in 2024 and the Cavs for camp in 2025. In each case, he was waived in October and reported to his team’s G League affiliate.
Enaruna appeared in 46 games for the Maine Celtics last season and has seen action in 23 contests for the Cleveland Charge so far in 2025/26. The 6’7″ forward has taken a significant step forward in his second year in the G League, averaging 19.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 30.8 minutes per game on .533/.355/.750 shooting. His shooting line in ’24/25 was just .466/.294/.588.
While Livingston didn’t suit up much for Cleveland, the team has still used 69 of 90 “under-15” games for its two-way players — a team carrying fewer than 15 players on its standard roster can only have its two-way players active for up to 90 combined games.
Enaruna will be eligible to be active for up to 22 games if he spends the rest of the season with the Cavs, but the club will need to fill its 15th roster spot at some point to take full advantage of that limit. Nae’Qwan Tomlin (who has been active for 44 games) and Luke Travers (19 active games) are Cleveland’s other two-way players.
Cavaliers Waive Two-Way Player Chris Livingston
5:26 pm: Livingston recently suffered a hand injury that will likely keep him out for about a month. That prompted Tuesday’s move, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com reports.
4:48 pm: The Cavaliers have waived two-way player Chris Livingston, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets.
Livingston signed his two-way deal in late October and appeared in just three games with the Cavaliers this season. He has seen action in 16 NBA G League contests with the Cleveland Charge, averaging 16.1 points and 5.1 rebounds in 25.0 minutes per game.
The 58th overall pick in the 2023 draft, Livingston spent his first two NBA seasons on a standard deal with Milwaukee, the team that drafted him. He rarely played for the Bucks, averaging just 4.7 minutes per game across 42 total appearances over that span.
The 6’6″ small forward played well for the Bucks’ Summer League team last July, earning a new one-year, minimum-salary contract in Milwaukee after having been waived two weeks earlier. That contract was fully guaranteed, but the Bucks decided to release him again ahead of the regular season due to a roster crunch.
Cleveland, which has been dealing with a number of injuries, can now add another player on a two-way deal. Forward Nae’Qwan Tomlin and wing Luke Travers are the Cavs’ other two-way players.