Northwest Notes: George, SGA, C. Johnson, Blazers
With Jazz guard Keyonte George not expected to have his hamstring strain reevaluated for another week-and-a-half, his chances of winning this year’s Most Improved Player award appear to be on life support. Most Improved Player is one of the awards that requires candidates to appear in at least 65 games — George is at 54, and one of those games won’t count toward his minimum, since he played fewer than 15 minutes.
In other words, in order to qualify for award consideration, George would have to return to action next Saturday and play in Utah’s final 12 games, which appears highly unlikely. As Kevin Reynolds of The Salt Lake Tribune writes, even before George’s most recent injury, head coach Will Hardy had made it clear that the 22-year-old’s long-term health would be the team’s priority over reaching that 65-game threshold.
“I would like to get Keyonte 65. I’m not ever trying to take away someone’s ability to have individual success,” head coach Will Hardy said in early March. “But I think Keyonte also understands that we’re going to approach it a game at a time, and we’re going to try to make sure that he’s healthy. That’s always going to be our approach. We’re going to choose the health of our organization, the health of our players, over chasing awards.”
While he likely won’t be on the ballot for Most Improved Player this spring, George has taken a promising step forward in 2025/26, registering new career highs in points (23.6), assists (6.1), and steals (1.1) per game, as well as field goal percentage (45.6%), three-point percentage (37.1%), and free throw percentage (89.2%). He’ll be eligible for a rookie scale extension beginning in July.
We have more from around the Northwest:
- In the wake of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander breaking Wilt Chamberlain‘s NBA record for most consecutive games with at least 20 points, Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman takes a look at how the Thunder guard became the league’s most consistent scorer. Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 20 or more points in 127 consecutive regular season games — the last time he failed to reach that mark was on October 30, 2024, when he had 18 vs. San Antonio.
- Nuggets forward Cameron Johnson has had an up-and-down first year in Denver and admits that there’s “still an element of figuring it out,” even with just a month left in the regular season, per Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required). According to Johnson, who has scored at least 15 points in three straight games for just the second time this season, the coaching staff has encouraged him to be more decisive. “I think sometimes, he’s trying to make perfect plays, instead of just making the play that is right there in front of you (that) is the right decision,” head coach David Adelman said. Johnson will be extension-eligible this summer as he enters the final year of his current contract, which will pay him $23.1MM in 2026/27.
- Visiting Portland this week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he has been encouraged by the steps that have been taken so far to secure public funding for renovations to the Trail Blazers‘ Moda Center, according to The Associated Press. “I’ve had great conversations with the governor and the mayor, and it’s been a bipartisan effort,” Silver said. “I think everyone in this community recognizes that, even in addition to the Trail Blazers and the (WNBA expansion) Fire — and we can’t forget about the Fire, which are about to open this season — that these arenas are multi-use facilities, whether it’s conventions or trade shows, concerts, graduations, you name it. They’re part of the life blood of communities. So it’s not just for the Trail Blazers and the Fire. You need a state-of-the-art arena here.”
Jazz Sign Bez Mbeng To 10-Day Deal
MARCH 13: Mbeng’s contract is official, the Jazz announced in a press release. Utah ended Mo Bamba‘s 10-day contract early to make roster room for Mbeng, as we relayed in a separate story.
MARCH 12: The Jazz are signing rookie guard Bez Mbeng to a 10-day contract, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reports (via Twitter).
The Yale product has spent the season with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Heat’s NBA G League club. He has appeared in 41 games with the Skyforce, averaging 6.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals in 27.5 minutes per game.
Mbeng was signed by the Heat to a camp contract in mid-October, then was quickly waived, lining him up to join Miami’s G League affiliate.
Mbeng has made a reputation of being a standout defender. He went undrafted in June after a standout four-year college career at Yale. He was named the Ivy League’s Defensive Player of the Year for three straight seasons and won the conference’s Player of the Year award in 2024/25 as well.
A 6’4″ guard, Mbeng averaged 13.0 points, 5.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals on .429/.368/.699 shooting in 29 appearances last season (32.7 minutes per game). He helped the Bulldogs reach the NCAA tournament in three of his four years at Yale and is the school’s all-time leader in steals.
Utah currently has two other players — Mo Bamba and Andersson Garcia — signed to 10-day deals and has a full 15-man roster. Unless they qualify for a hardship exception, which is a possibility, the Jazz will have to let someone go to make room to sign Mbeng.
Jazz Ending Mo Bamba’s Second 10-Day Contract
The Jazz are terminating Mo Bamba‘s second 10-day contract, reports Kevin Reynolds of The Salt Lake Tribune.
According to Reynolds, Bamba won’t finish out his second 10-day deal with Utah because he was unable to travel with the team on its three-game road trip after he contracted an illness. The eighth-year center’s contract was set to expire next Tuesday, but he will be let go early to make room on the roster for Bez Mbeng, who will also sign a 10-day pact.
Bamba is now a free agent and doesn’t have to clear waivers since he was on a 10-day agreement. He will still be paid the full $177,064 he was owed, with Utah taking on a cap hit of $131,970 ($263,940 in total, since he signed two 10-day deals).
The former lottery pick has spent most of the season in the G League with the Salt Lake City Stars. Bamba also had a brief stint with Toronto earlier this season. He has appeared in four total games with the Raptors and Jazz in 2025/26, averaging 2.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in 11.0 minutes per contest.
The Jazz signed former Texas A&M forward Andersson Garcia to a 10-day contract on Wednesday. The 25-year-old rookie, who had been playing in the G League with the Mexico City Capitanes, had six points, nine rebounds, one steal and one block in 25 minutes during his NBA debut on Wednesday against New York.
“I was super grateful, but really surprised,” Garcia said about the process of signing with Utah, per Eric Spyropoulos of the team’s website. “Coming from the Dominican Republic, it’s a small island where not a lot of basketball players can be here (in the NBA). I’m grateful for the opportunity to be here and bring the energy and do the things I do.”
Head coach Will Hardy was pleased with Garcia’s effort.
“For Andersson’s first game, he really played hard,” Hardy said. “He guards, rebounds, and digs out loose balls. I was really proud of the way he played. The great part is that his strengths are very simple and repeatable.”
Keyonte George Out At Least Two Weeks With Hamstring Strain
Jazz guard Keyonte George has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 right hamstring strain and is expected to be reevaluated in two weeks, sources tell Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link). Tony Jones of The Athletic confirms the news (via Twitter).
George underwent imaging after suffering the injury during Wednesday’s loss to New York. He played 20 minutes in that game, recording 14 points, five assists and two rebounds in 20 minutes prior to being ruled out.
The 16th overall pick in the 2023 draft, George is having a breakout third season for Utah, averaging 23.6 points, 6.1 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 33.1 minutes per contest on .456/.371/.892 shooting through 54 games.
Since George is a former first-round pick who had his fourth-year option exercised, he will be eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer. If the 22-year-old doesn’t sign an offseason extension, he will be a restricted free agent in 2027.
Isaiah Collier and Elijah Harkless are among the candidates for more backcourt minutes with George sidelined for the foreseeable future.
The 20-46 Jazz are shorthanded at the moment, with Walker Kessler, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic all out for the season due to injuries.
Jordan Clarkson Talks Jazz Reunion, Plans For Asia Cup This Summer
Jordan Clarkson is set to face off against his former team on Wednesday as the Knicks take on the Jazz, and despite his reduced role in New York, he’s looking forward to the “happiness and joy” of facing the team for whom he won a Sixth Man of the Year award, Stefan Bondy writes for the New York Post.
According to Clarkson, he’s not bothered by his inconsistent playing time because the Knicks were up front with him when he signed with them.
“I ain’t coming in expecting anything, honestly,” Clarkson said. “A lot of people made expectations on my arrival and what I can do and what I’ve done my whole career. But not knowing anything, I came here with an open canvas. I just knew one goal and what we wanted to do, and that’s to win.”
Clarkson added that he has nothing but positive feelings about the Jazz.
“That’s a home for me. I loved the organization. I love the coaching staff. Yeah, I love the city. All I had was love there,” he said. “… I’m going to try to keep my cool in terms of not feeling [emotional], just all the gratitude and everything that the city is giving me.”
The veteran guard also recently spoke to Mark Medina of Essentially Sports about his hopes to lead Team Philippines in this summer’s Asia Cup.
“For us and for me, not making the Olympics and not fully accomplishing what we want to accomplish in the World Cup,” he said, of what was driving him. “Reaching the goal of having a chance to make the Olympics, I think, is a big thing for me and to represent the country.”
He went on to say he thinks the Filipino team has a good shot at the next Olympics, reiterating his hopes for his own role and the team as a whole.
“We just got to figure out how to mesh the guys together and play the right combinations and figure it out from there,” he said. “We got a lot of talent on the team, from older dudes to younger dudes as well. Hopefully, they let me play as a naturalized player and give me some leeway on things so we can continue to get more talent and we stay loaded.”
With the influx of more players in the league with Filipino heritage, such as Jalen Green (Suns), Dylan Harper (Spurs), and Jared McCain (Thunder), Clarkson hopes that his time with the team can help inspire the next generation and build the program up moving forward.
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.
Jazz Sign Andersson Garcia To 10-Day Contract
The Jazz have signed free agent forward Andersson Garcia to a 10-day contract, the team announced in a press release.
A native of the Dominican Republic, Garcia went undrafted in 2025 out of Texas A&M. He played five years of college basketball — two with Mississippi State and his final three with the Aggies.
As a reserve for Texas A&M in 2023/24, Garcia led the SEC in rebounds per game (9.1) en route to a spot on the conference’s All-Defense team. He averaged 6.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals on .518/.403/.702 shooting over his final two seasons with the Aggies (26.5 MPG).
Garcia has spent this season with the Mexico City Capitanes, the lone independent team in the NBA G League. In 35 combined games (25.3 MPG) in 2025/26, the 25-year-old has averaged 10.9 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 2.0 APG and 1.4 SPG on .547/.267/.691 shooting.
Garcia will be eligible to play up to five games with the Jazz and will earn $73,153 during his 10 days with the team. His contract runs through March 20.
The Jazz had an opening on their standard roster and didn’t need to waive anyone to sign Garcia.
Assessing The Chances Of Keeping This Year's First-Rounder
- Kevin Reynolds of The Salt Lake Tribune assesses the chances of the Jazz holding onto this year’s first-round pick after they improved to 20-45 with Monday’s win over Golden State. The pick will convey to the Thunder if it falls outside the top eight, and Utah is relatively safe right now with the fifth-worst record in the league. However, the Jazz are only 1.5 games away from Dallas for seventh place, which would greatly increase the chances of dropping to ninth or worse in the lottery.
And-Ones: Extensions, Draft Sleepers, Edwards, Partizan
In a subscriber-only story for The Third Apron, Yossi Gozlan takes a look at 11 players around the NBA who are currently eligible for veteran contract extensions.
According to Gozlan, Spurs wing Julian Champagnie has been a complete bargain on his current deal and should be in line for a considerable raise. San Antonio holds a $3MM team option on Champagnie for 2026/27, which the team would have to decline to extend him.
As Gozlan writes, the maximum the 24-year-old could receive on an extension would be $87MM over four years. Gozlan suggests a four-year deal in the $75-76MM range could be a reasonable compromise for both sides.
Gozlan also projects extensions for Spurs forward Harrison Barnes (two years, $24MM) and Jazz center Jusuf Nurkic (exact same structure), among others.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- John Hollinger of The Athletic lists nine of his favorite sleepers ahead of the 2026 draft. Hollinger acknowledges that some of the players on his list, including Santa Clara forward Allen Graves and Stanford guard Ebuka Okorie, may decide to return for another college season in 2026/27. A couple other sleepers Hollinger mentions (Corey Camper and Emanuel Sharp) will be automatically draft-eligible, as they’re both fifth-year seniors.
- Former NBA big man Jesse Edwards, who spent last season on a two-way deal with the Timberwolves, is in advanced talks with Spanish club Baskonia about a rest-of-season contract, reports Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. The Dutch center played for Melbourne United in Australia in 2025/26, averaging 13.5 PPG, 8.5 RPG and 1.1 BPG in 35 games (22.4 MPG).
- In an extensive interview with Milun Nesovic of Serbian outlet Meridian Sport, Partizan Belgrade president Ostoja Mijailovic discussed a number of current and former NBA players, as Eurohoops and Sportando relay. The Sixers were limited to offering Partizan $875K as part of a buyout for Cameron Payne, yet the EuroLeague club received $1.75MM in that agreement. According to Mijailovic, the remaining $875K came from Payne himself. Mijailovic confirmed Partizan forward Isaac Bonga received NBA interest last month, but the team had the option to decline the $875K buyout it was offered for Bonga and did so because it values him. However, the former second-round pick could be on the move this summer, as Partizan will no longer have the option to turn down a buyout offer for Bonga once ’25/26 ends.
- Mijailovic also expressed regret for the lucrative deals given to Jabari Parker and Shake Milton, and said the team remains fond of Dante Exum, who was waived by Washington last month after being traded by Dallas. Exum hasn’t played at all this season due to a knee injury. “It is certainly our desire to bring back players who left a mark at Partizan and who can help the team on the court,” Mijailovic said, per Eurohoops. “Exum is one of the players we all adored, and we still adore him.”
Jazz Waive Vince Williams Jr.
4:14 pm: Williams has officially been waived, the Jazz confirmed in a press release.
1:11 pm: The Jazz are waiving injured guard Vince Williams Jr., Kevin Reynolds of the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
Williams suffered an ACL tear in his left knee in a game against the Rockets on Feb. 23, just his sixth game with his new team. In addition to ending Williams’ 2025/26 season, the injury is also likely to keep him sidelined for a significant chunk of ’26/27.
The 47th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Williams was acquired by Utah from Memphis last month along with Jaren Jackson Jr. and two other players. In six games with the Jazz, Williams averaged 4.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per night. The former Toledo guard played in 34 games with the Grizzlies prior to being traded, averaging 8.0 PPG, 4.4 APG and 4.0 RPG in 21.6 MPG.
Williams has a $2.3MM contract this season. The Jazz held a $2.5MM team option on his contract for 2026/27, which will automatically be declined if he clears waivers.
Utah chose to open up a roster spot due to a wave of injuries. Jackson, Jusuf Nurkic and Walker Kessler had already been declared out for the season and Lauri Markkanen is sidelined with a hip injury.
The Jazz will now have 13 players on their standard roster, plus Mo Bamba, who is on a 10-day deal.