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Eastern Notes: Bucks, Okogie, Raptors, Cavs, Wizards

March 19th, 2025 at 3:21pm CST by Luke Adams

Bucks head coach Doc Rivers met after Tuesday’s loss to Golden State with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes, who reports (via Twitter) that the session served as an “open forum” for the Bucks stars to share ideas for how to get the team out of its recent slump.

As Haynes notes, the Bucks have lost five of their last seven games and have struggled on offense during that time, including scoring a season-low 93 points vs. Golden State in Tuesday’s defeat. Haynes describes Tuesday’s post-game meeting as “productive.”

Here’s more from around the Eastern Conference:

Veteran wing Josh Okogie got off to a good start in Charlotte after being traded to the Hornets in January, registering a +16.3 net rating in his first 149 minutes with the team. He has missed the past 23 games due to a left hamstring strain, but appears to be nearing a return. He was assigned to the G League on Tuesday to practice with the Greensboro Swarm before being recalled to the NBA team, per Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter links).
The Raptors have won six of their past nine games and have been buoyed during that stretch by strong performances from players on two-way or 10-day contracts, including Jared Rhoden, A.J. Lawson, and Colin Castleton. What useful information might Toronto glean from this late-season hot streak? Michael Grange of Sportsnet considers that question, exploring how the team can separate the signal from the noise.
After losing a second consecutive game in a row on Tuesday, the Cavaliers are now tied with Oklahoma City for the NBA’s best record at 56-12 and won’t have a shot at 70 wins unless they don’t lose again this season. Neither earning the league’s top seed or winning 70 regular season games is a top priority for the Cavs heading into the playoffs though, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. The team’s two primary objectives? “To be healthy and playing great basketball,” according to head coach Kenny Atkinson.
The Wizards are the latest team to cut back on minutes for their veterans, presumably in an effort to tank, writes Varun Shankar of The Washington Post. Jordan Poole and Khris Middleton each played just 10:31 in Monday’s loss to Portland and didn’t appear at all in the second half, even though it wasn’t part of a back-to-back set.

Wizards’ Kispert Undergoes Thumb Surgery, Out For Season

March 18th, 2025 at 2:21pm CST by Luke Adams

Wizards wing Corey Kispert will miss the rest of the 2024/25 season after undergoing surgery on Tuesday in New York City to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb, the team announced (via Twitter).

According to the Wizards, Kispert is expected to make a full recovery from the injury – which he sustained in the third quarter on Saturday vs. Denver – prior to the start of next season.

Kispert made 61 appearances off the bench for the Wizards this season, averaging 11.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 26.3 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .451/.364/.852. A talented outside shooter, the former Gonzaga standout has knocked down 38.2% of 5.2 three-point attempts per game over the course of his four-year NBA career.

Kispert was one of 11 players to sign a rookie scale extension during the 2024 offseason, having finalized a four-year, $54MM deal that will go into effect in 2025/26. He’s the second of those 11 rookie extension recipients to be ruled out with a season-ending injury in the past 24 hours — Pelicans swingman Trey Murphy sustained a shoulder injury on Monday that will prevent him from suiting up again in ’24/25.

With Kispert sidelined for the rest of the season and Bilal Coulibaly likely in the same boat due to a hamstring injury, there will be more playing time open on the wing in D.C. for players further down on the depth chart.

AJ Johnson, Jaylen Martin, and Colby Jones are among the players who should be in line for increased roles. All three established new career highs in minutes on Monday in Portland with Kispert on the shelf — Johnson played 35 minutes, Martin played 28, and Jones logged 25.

Southeast Notes: Bogdanovic, Wizards, Poole, Joseph, Houstan

March 15th, 2025 at 3:54pm CST by Luke Adams

Before being traded from the Hawks to the Clippers at last month’s deadline, Bogdan Bogdanovic had changed teams once before in his NBA career, having initially signed with Atlanta in 2020 after three years in Sacramento. However, last month’s trade represented the first in-season move for the veteran guard, who said it has been a more challenging adjustment period and that he was “nervous” returning to Atlanta to face his old team on Friday, per Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“This, in-season (move) is really tough,” Bogdanovic said. “And as much as I told you I was ready, I wasn’t ready. As you can see it at the beginning, the way I played and just the way I felt. So how the time goes, everything, it’s getting better.”

Bogdanovic, who said he didn’t know where the visitors’ locker room was when he entered the arena ahead of Friday’s game, scored 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting in a win over the Hawks on Friday. He also got to match up on a few possessions with Trae Young and admitted that going up against his friend and former teammate took some getting used to.

“I won’t lie to you, there’s one situation, I gave him a high-five on the floor,” Bogdanovic said. “But you see the face, and it’s like ‘Let’s go.’ But it’s just a normal reaction, as I said. Yeah, it was weird. It was weird to play against them, but it’s business at the end of the day. And I wish them all the best, honestly. They’re great group of guys. I know how hard they are working, and they had a good run. They’re gonna have a good run.”

We have more from around the Southeast:

The Pistons‘ impressive turnaround this season should serve as an inspiration for the Wizards as they make their way through a slow rebuilding process, writes Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Washington may not have its future franchise cornerstone on the roster yet like Detroit did with Cade Cunningham, Robbins acknowledges, but the Pistons’ success this season shows the importance of having the right head coach in place and how a few smart veteran additions can help unlock the potential of a club’s young players.
Speaking to Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Wizards guard Jordan Poole said he believes the team’s “ceiling is high” and that there’s already “a lot of talented guys” on the roster. “The ball is rolling. Snowball effect right now,” he said. “It’ll take a little bit, but we got the right group, the right setup. We’re in a really good situation right now. We’re playing some fun basketball. It’s something going to be more competitive, better as we go.” Poole also discussed a number of other topics, including what he’s learning from Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart and why he has felt more comfortable this season than he did during his first year in D.C.
Veteran Magic point guard Cory Joseph has made his first three starts of the season in the past two weeks and played a season-high 30 minutes in Thursday’s win over New Orleans, earning praise from head coach Jamahl Mosley, as Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel relays (via Twitter). “His poise and his ability to get guys in the right spot,” Mosley said when asked what has stood out about Joseph’s performance. “And then defensively picking up full-court. The energy that he brings as a veteran, you can’t say enough about his positive spirit, his positive energy.” Orlando holds a minimum-salary team option on Joseph for 2025/26.
Like Joseph, Magic forward Caleb Houstan has a minimum-salary team option on his contract for next season and was lauded this week by Mosley for stepping up after being out of the rotation for much of the year. Houstan scored 18 points in 26 minutes in Friday’s loss to Minnesota. “I say this with no hesitation. He might be one of the hardest workers I’ve seen,” Mosley, according to Beede. “This kid is in early, stays late, comes back, works on his shot. … He is determined. He is focused. He’s a pro. He stays ready no matter if his number is called for two minutes or 22 minutes.”

Bontemps/Windhorst’s Latest: Nets, Sixers, Zion, Wizards, Raptors

March 14th, 2025 at 11:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets project to have significantly more cap room than any other NBA team this offseason — they’re in position to open up more than $60MM in space. However, they’re unlikely to take the same approach as last year’s top cap-room team, Philadelphia, which spent big on win-now free agents.

As Brian Windhorst of ESPN writes in an Insider-only article, the Nets signaled when they reacquired control of both their 2025 and 2026 first-round picks that they might require at least a two-year rebuild. Some rival teams believe Brooklyn will end up rolling much of its 2025 cap room over to the 2026 offseason, according to Windhorst.

“They’re going to use it in trade because they’re not going to have anyone to pay in this free agent market,” one executive said of the Nets’ cap space. “They could end up right back in this spot next year.”

Here are a few more items of interest from Windhorst and his ESPN colleague Tim Bontemps:

While the hope in Philadelphia is that better health luck next season will result in a bounce-back year for the Sixers, there’s still no update on what the treatment plan for Joel Embiid is and no assurances that he’ll be back to 100% in 2025/26, as Windhorst and Bontemps note. “Until they know what is happening with Embiid, there is no way to project what they will be next year,” a league executive told ESPN. “They will have a hard time changing that roster.”
The Pelicans are just 9-19 in games that Zion Williamson has played this season and project to have an expensive roster next season, so even though Williamson has been healthy and performed well as of late, rivals continue to wonder if he’ll end up on the trade block, Windhorst writes. “The question about the Pelicans is whether they would consider trading Zion,” a rival general manager told ESPN. “It hasn’t really been an option over the last couple of years because he’s been injured, and his value hasn’t been high enough. Even now, I don’t think they could get great value. So they will probably see if he can carry this play over into next year.”
Multiple executives who spoke to Bontemps lauded the Wizards for their work at the trade deadline, including bringing in veterans like Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart while taking a flier on 2024 first-rounder AJ Johnson. “I like what they are doing,” an executive said. “They’re doing things the right way.” Conversely, there’s some skepticism around the league about the way in which the Raptors – who traded a first-round pick as part of a package for Brandon Ingram – are attempting to accelerate their rebuild, says Bontemps. “I don’t like what Toronto is doing,” one exec told ESPN. “Trying to flip it quick is dangerous.”

Southeast Notes: Black, Magic, Krejci, Wizards

March 13th, 2025 at 7:33pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Second-year Magic guard Anthony Black is looking to close the season on a high note, according to Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. Black, who is averaging 9.0 points and 3.1 assists in 62 games, has seen his minutes increase while he’s started fewer games. His overall efficiency has declined in his second season, though his counting numbers have improved.

“Good, bad … I would say mediocre,” Black said when asked to describe his second season. “I don’t think I was able to find enough consistency in just everything I was doing but I definitely think I got a lot better with the opportunities that I’ve had. It’s been good to get some reps.”

When the Magic have been at full strength, Black’s role has been limited, but that has rarely happened this season, as Orlando has dealt with injuries affecting several key players, including guard Jalen Suggs. Black is planning to take advantage of the opportunity for playing time down the stretch and is leaning on veteran teammates like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Cory Joseph and Gary Harris for advice.

“They know what it takes to do everything that I’m trying to do,” Black said. “It’s just good having a group of older dudes that have been in the league. Definitely thankful for them.”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

The Magic are searching for good vibes as they prepare for the third game of a five-game road trip, Beede writes in a separate story. Orlando currently averages the fewest points in the league (104.3), so increasing that number has been a focal point for the team, which currently holds the eighth seed in the East. “Practice was great. There was a focus on creating offense, stepping into shots with confidence, execution,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Those small pieces are what we really, really honed in on.”
Hawks guard Vit Krejci recently returned from an extended absence due to a lumbar fracture. He’s become a key piece of Atlanta’s rotation over the past year and is averaging 7.0 points in 41 games (15 starts) this season. As Caleb Johnson of 92.9 The Game (Twitter link) relays, Krejci said this week that he also was dealing with a sprained right wrist at the same time as his lumbar fracture, and that both injuries occurred on the same play. He made his return on March 10.
The Wizards have played better as of late, with five wins in their past nine games, but all their recent moves have been made with an eye toward the future. With that in mind, Varun Shankar of The Washington Post takes a closer look at the strides that potential building blocks like AJ Johnson, Bilal Coulibaly (who is out now due to injury), and Kyshawn George have taken. As Shankar notes, Johnson played his most minutes in a Wizards jersey on Monday, registering six assists in a loss to Toronto.

Wizards’ Coulibaly Out 4-6 Weeks With Hamstring Strain

March 13th, 2025 at 12:05pm CST by Rory Maher

Second-year forward Bilal Coulibaly sustained a right hamstring injury in the first quarter of Monday’s game vs. Toronto and will miss about four-to-six weeks, the Wizards announced in a press release (Twitter link).

According to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter links), Wizards officials say Coulibaly was diagnosed with a hamstring strain after undergoing an MRI.

While he hasn’t been formally ruled out for the rest of the season, Washington’s schedule concludes on April 13 — four-and-a-half weeks from now — and the team says the injury will be treated conservatively. Reading between the lines, Coulibaly has likely played his last game of ’24/25.

The injury, which was original labeled a hip contusion, will not require surgery, per Robbins. Coulibaly is expected to remain with the Wizards as he recuperates, Robbins adds.

Coulibaly was the seventh overall pick of the 2023 draft after playing with friend Victor Wembanyama on Metropolitans 92 in France during the ’22/23 campaign. He was one of the youngest players in the class, as he didn’t turn 19 until a month after he was selected.

Coulibaly averaged 12.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.7 blocks in 59 games during his second season. He started each appearance, averaging 33.0 MPG, with a shooting slash line of .421/.281/.746.

It’s a disappointing likely end to Coulibaly’s season, particularly after his rookie campaign also ended prematurely due to injury — he sustained a right wrist fracture last March, ultimately appearing in 63 games in ’23/24.

Coulibaly, who won a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics as a role player for France, was named to the Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend this season. While his efficiency took a hit in ’24/25 due to a more difficult shot profile, the Wizards reportedly remain bullish on his upside.

Wizards’ Adam Caporn To Coach Australian National Team

March 12th, 2025 at 8:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Wizards assistant Adam Caporn is set to serve as the head coach for the Australian national team, Washington announced today in a press release.

As the Wizards’ statement notes, Caporn becomes the 12th head coach of the program. Since 2017, he had served as an assistant under previous head coach Brian Goorjian, who stepped away following the 2024 Paris Olympics. With Caporn on the staff, Australia claimed a bronze medal in the 2021 Tokyo games.

“I am deeply grateful to Basketball Australia for their trust in me and to the entire Australian basketball community for the invaluable experiences and opportunities I’ve had from grassroots development to the Olympic stage,” Caporn said in the press release. “ I’m excited to get to work, building a team that will represent Australia with pride and continue to strengthen the Boomers’ great legacy and culture.”

Caporn had been the head coach for the Nets’ NBAGL affiliate squad, the Long Island Nets, during the 2021/22 season, before moving on to work as an assistant coach for Brooklyn for two years from 2022-24.

He is in his first season under Wizards head coach Brian Keefe. Caporn had also worked as an assistant at Saint Mary’s College of California, his alma mater, from 2010-14.

Besides Caporn, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder, former Germany head coach Gordon Herbert, and veteran NBA assistant Will Weaver were said earlier this week to be among the candidates to take over for Goorjian as the new Boomers’ head coach.

Magic assistant Bret Brielmaier was a candidate too, according to Olgun Uluc of ESPN, who also reports that Snyder remains in talks for an advisory role with Basketball Australia moving forward.

Wizards Notes: Smart, Middleton, Sarr, Vukcevic, Brogdon, Coulibaly

March 11th, 2025 at 1:34pm CST by Luke Adams

Trade-deadline acquisitions Marcus Smart and Khris Middleton have had a positive impact on the Wizards so far. As Varun Shankar of The Washington Post writes, the two veterans have been active for the same seven games since debuting on February 21 and the team has gone 4-3 in those contests. Washington was 9-45 before the duo suited up and has lost the two games Smart and Middleton have missed since then.

Monday’s game vs. Toronto represented the second time in recent weeks that Smart and Middleton have been held out of one end of a back-to-back set for “injury management.” The Wizards have dropped those two matchups, to the Magic and Raptors, by 20 and 15 points, respectively.

While head coach Brian Keefe didn’t say on Monday whether he’d continue to sit Smart and Middleton in back-to-backs for the rest of the season, the Wizards likely won’t go out of their way to make those veterans more available, given the impact they’ve had on winning and the importance of lottery positioning. Washington has had the NBA’s worst record for nearly the entire season, but is now just a game behind Utah and 2.5 games behind Charlotte in the standings.

Here’s more on the Wizards:

Keefe experimented on Monday with playing centers Alex Sarr and Tristan Vukcevic at the same time and liked what he saw during those seven minutes, as Shankar relays. “They complement each other offensively, and I thought they could complement each other defensively,” Keefe said of the young bigs. “So I wanted to see what that looked like. I thought they did a good job during that little stint.” Vukcevic said he was “a bit surprised” to be playing power forward, but appreciated the opportunity to try something new. “That’s something that (the Cavaliers are) doing, and it’s working out for them. So it would be great if it could work out for us,” he said.
Veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon, who has been on the shelf since February 12 with a left ankle sprain, has been doing on-court work in recent days, including after the team’s shootaround on Monday, per Shankar. However, Keefe declined to give a timetable for Brogdon’s potential return.
In an in-depth story for RG.org, Spencer Davies takes a closer look at Bilal Coulibaly‘s second year in the NBA, noting that the forward’s efficiency numbers (.421 FG%, .281 3PT%) have dropped in large part due to a more challenging shot profile and suggesting that the Wizards remain bullish on the 20-year-old’s potential. “I know they believe in me,” Coulibaly told Davies. “They are telling me that every single day, so it feels really good. For me and just my confidence, having guys that believe in me makes me believe in myself too.”
Coulibaly took a hard fall in the first quarter of Monday’s loss vs. Toronto after being fouled on a dunk attempt by Raptors forward Jamison Battle (video link). The Wizards have listed him as out for Tuesday’s matchup with Detroit due to a right hip contusion, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says it’s fortunate the second-year forward didn’t injure his head, neck, or back, given how scary it looked in real time.

Stein’s Latest: Davis, Lively, Mavs, Durant, Billups, More

March 10th, 2025 at 3:57pm CST by Rory Maher

Perhaps the most interesting development in Sunday’s matchup between Phoenix and Dallas was something that took place off the court, as Mavericks big man Anthony Davis was on the bench and was “clearly itching to play,” according to NBA insider Marc Stein (Substack link).

Stein hears that Davis played some 2-on-2 over the weekend for the first time since he strained his left adductor on February 8 in his Dallas debut.

League sources tell Stein that both Davis and Dereck Lively, who is on the mend from a stress fracture in his right ankle, are on track to get healthy before the end of the season. However, that doesn’t mean they’ll actually suit up again for the Mavericks in 2024/25.

Amid a brutal wave of injuries, including losing Kyrie Irving to a torn ACL, the Mavs have dropped five straight games and are only 1.5 games ahead of Phoenix for the final play-in spot in the Western Conference. And even if they hold onto the No. 10 seed, they’d have to win two straight road games in the play-in tournament to advance as the No. 8 seed, only to face the top-seeded Thunder in the first round.

As Stein observes, any hope the Mavericks had of another deep playoff run have been extinguished. Prioritizing the team’s odds of securing a lottery pick — and avoiding the possibility of Davis and Lively re-injuring themselves — is the most logical path for Dallas to take for the remainder of ’24/25.

Here’s more from Stein:

Although the Mavericks have been “repeatedly described” as a possible suitor for Suns forward Kevin Durant, both before and after last month’s trade deadline, Stein hears Dallas’ interest in Durant has been “overstated.” The Mavs’ depth would take a major blow if they try to trade for Durant, Stein notes, and they also lack future draft capital, which is why focusing on landing a lottery pick in June’s draft makes sense. Retaining Irving, who holds a $44MM player option for ’25/26, is a “priority” for Dallas, per Stein.
When asked by Stein how strange it was to play in Dallas knowing that the Mavericks traded away Luka Doncic, Suns guard Devin Booker replied, “You can feel it. You can feel it when you land.”
Scouts and executives from around the NBA are very curious what the future holds for Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, according to Stein. Before — and even during — the season, many around the league believed the two sides were destined to part ways, but Portland’s improved play has observers wondering if the team will exercise its option on Billups or perhaps give him a new contract. If the Blazers decide not to retain Billups, he would become an “in-demand coaching free agent,” Stein writes.
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder, Wizards assistant Adam Caporn, former Germany head coach Gordon Herbert, and veteran NBA assistant Will Weaver are among the the candidates to be named the next head coach of Australia’s national team, according to Stein. The Boomers finished in sixth place at the 2024 Olympics in Paris after claiming their first medal in men’s basketball — a bronze — in Tokyo.

And-Ones: Ellis, Butler Jr., Stretch-Run Goals, Harper, Bailey

March 9th, 2025 at 5:34pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Indiana Mad Ants, the Pacers’ NBA G League affiliate, acquired the rights to Boogie Ellis from the Stockton Kings in a three-team trade, Sacramento radio reporter Sean Cunningham tweets.

The rookie guard out of USC has made 19 G League appearances this season, including three starts. Ellis averaged 10.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 21.7 minutes per game for Stockton. He participated in Sacramento’s training camp after going undrafted but was waived before the start of the season.

The Mad Ants traded Kyle Mangas to the Austin Spurs, who dealt the returning player rights of Matt Lewis and their 2026 first-round pick to the Stockton Kings.

We have more from around the basketball world:

In more G League news, the Wisconsin Herd (Bucks) acquired the rights to John Butler Jr. from the Capital City Go-Go (Wizards), Milwaukee’s affiliate tweets. The Go-Go received a 2026 first round and 2026 second round pick and the rights to Darryl Morsell. Butler, who started his NBA career with Portland, had a two-way contract with Washington for part of last season. He also participated in Washington’s camp this season but was waived prior to the opener. Butler made 34 appearances, including 10 starts, with the Go-Go this season. He scored 12 points in his first outing with Washington’s affiliate.
What are the stretch-run goals for each NBA team the remainder of this season? The Athletic received input from its various beat writers on that topic. For Cleveland, it’s going for 70 wins. For the Knicks, it’s integrating Mitchell Robinson into the lineup. For Milwaukee, it’s getting home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
While Rutgers had a mediocre season, the Scarlet Knights have two of the premier lottery picks in Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. ESPN’s Jeremy Woo polled NBA executives on the duo. Harper drew comparisons to All-Star Cade Cunningham, while Bailey was likened to Brandon Miller. Bailey might be the top offensive prospect in the draft and have the highest ceiling of any prospect, according to one executive.