Wizards Rumors

Alex Len Waived By Wizards, Will Sign With Pacers

9:31pm: Len has been placed on waivers, the Wizards announced (via Twitter).


1:12pm: After acquiring him earlier this week, the Wizards will cut center Alex Len, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Charania, Len intends to sign with the Pacers after he clears waivers.

The fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft, Len never became the sort of impact player his lofty draft position might suggest, but he has been a reliable frontcourt option for 12 NBA seasons, spending time with the Suns, Hawks, Raptors, Wizards, and Kings.

The 31-year-old Ukrainian has spent the last few seasons as a depth piece in Sacramento, where he made 149 appearances (15 starts) over the course of three-and-a-half seasons, averaging 3.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game.

Len was sent from the Kings to the Wizards along with Colby Jones in a three-team deadline-day deal that saw the Kings receive Jake LaRavia from Memphis. Despite trading away big men Jonas Valanciunas and Marvin Bagley III this week, Washington didn’t feel the need to retain Len, who will get an opportunity to join a playoff-bound team in the East.

The Pacers opened the season with Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman backing up starting center Myles Turner, but both reserves suffered Achilles tears during the season’s opening days, decimating the team’s depth in the middle.

Although Indiana traded for Thomas Bryant in December, the club could still use some another trustworthy veteran option as injury insurance, especially with Turner currently dealing with a neck strain.

The Pacers sent Wiseman to Toronto in a salary dump trade on Thursday, which both opened up a spot on their 15-man roster and created enough room below the luxury tax line to sign Len to a rest-of-season contract. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), Indiana was only $147K below the tax threshold before making that deal.

Wizards Sign Jaylen Martin To Two-Way Deal

4:03 pm: Martin has officially signed his two-way contract with the Wizards, the team announced in a press release.


10:42 am: The Wizards are signing guard Jaylen Martin to a two-way contract, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link).

Martin, 21, has split this season between the Long Island Nets and Delaware Blue Coats. In 22 total G League games, he’s averaging 16.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 47.1% from the floor. The Florida native went undrafted in 2023 after opting to play for Overtime Elite.

In his first professional season in 2023/24, Martin spent some time with the Knicks on a two-way deal. However, he didn’t appear in a game with the team. He then signed a two-year, two-way contract with Brooklyn after last season’s deadline, but still didn’t make his NBA debut until this season. Martin played just five minutes for the Nets across three outings before being waived in January.

Having traded away Jared Butler to Philadelphia the deadline, Washington had an open two-way roster spot, so no corresponding move will be necessary to sign Martin. Justin Champagnie and Tristan Vukcevic occupy the two other two-way slots for the team.

Signing Martin is a solid upside swing for a Wizards team that added young talent in both the draft and the deadline. Once he’s officially signed, 12 of Washington’s 18 players on the roster will be aged 25 or younger.

More On Kevin Durant: Curry Convo, Warriors/Heat Trade Talks

The Warriors and Suns began “secretly” talking about the possibility of a Kevin Durant trade early last week, according to Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN, who say that the star forward and his longtime manager and agent Rich Kleiman didn’t learn about those discussions until the two teams played one another last Friday.

By Saturday, the two teams were far enough along in negotiations that Durant and Stephen Curry touched base to talk about the idea. Shelburne and Windhorst hear from sources that Durant told Curry a reunion with the Warriors “didn’t feel right” and that this “wasn’t the time” for them to team up again.

While the Warriors were discouraged by Durant’s stance, they didn’t give up on making a deal at that point, hoping that Durant might change his tune once he learned how far down the road Phoenix had gotten in those discussions without informing him, per ESPN.

The Suns have internally conceded that it was a mistake not to loop Durant into the process earlier, Shelburne and Windhorst say. The former MVP has been described as “blindsided” by being so heavily involved in trade rumors this week after having expressed a desire to stay in Phoenix.

“We should’ve gone through (Kleiman),” a team source told ESPN.

As Shams Charania reported earlier today, the Warriors, Suns, and Heat discussed a potential multi-team trade that would’ve sent both Jimmy Butler and Jonathan Kuminga to Phoenix, with Durant going to Golden State. Shelburne and Windhorst provide more details on those conversations, reporting that the Wizards were involved as well, as we speculated on Wednesday.

The four teams were negotiating a trade that would have looked like this, according to ESPN:

  • Durant to Golden State.
  • Butler, Kuminga, Jonas Valanciunas, two first-round picks (from the Warriors), two second-round picks (one each from Miami and Golden State), and pick swaps to Phoenix.
  • Andrew Wiggins, Dennis Schröder, Kyle Anderson, and the Cavaliers’ 2025 first-round pick (via Phoenix) to Miami.

There are some missing details there — among them, Jusuf Nurkic would’ve been involved and would’ve gone to the Wizards, who presumably would’ve sought at least a first-rounder from the Suns as a sweetener to take on that contract.

While it sounds like there was some momentum in those negotiations, the Heat ultimately weren’t sold on the deal. They sought the Warriors’ 2025 first-round pick rather than Cleveland’s, according to Shelburne and Windhorst, who say that Golden State also had some reservations about the Suns’ steep asking price for Durant.

With Durant standing firm on his stance that he had no desire to go to Golden State, the talks fell apart.

After those discussions ended, there was a window for the Heat to potentially acquire Durant in a trade that would send Butler to Phoenix. Durant would have been more open to playing in Miami than Golden State, sources tell ESPN, and the Suns and Heat traded “visions” of what a deal might look like, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald.

However, the Suns were seeking a massive haul for Durant that included “a combination of talented young players and draft picks,” Jackson writes. According to both ESPN and the Herald, the Heat considered the price too steep and backed out, pivoting to a Butler deal with the Warriors that cut out Phoenix altogether.

The Suns were “deflated” by the outcome, according to Shelburne and Windhorst, who say that there were several times during the weeks leading up to Thursday’s deadline that Phoenix thought there might be a path to a Butler deal involving Bradley Beal.

However, sources tell ESPN that the Hawks and Wizards were believed to be the only teams considering taking on Beal, and it’s unclear whether he would’ve waived his no-trade clause for either team. The Suns reportedly never got close enough to a deal to approach Beal about it, eventually pivoting to exploring a Durant scenario without first informing the star forward.

As Windhorst noted on the latest Hoop Collective podcast, we’ll find out this coming summer whether those Suns trade talks involving Durant will sour him on the idea of remaining in Phoenix beyond this season.

Trade Deadline Leftovers: Ingram, Draft Pick Details, Tax Projections, More

Brandon Ingram waived his trade bonus as part of the trade that sent him from New Orleans to the Raptors, reports Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. Ingram’s 15% trade kicker would have added nearly $2.1MM to his $36MM salary for this season, and while the Pelicans would have been responsible for paying it, Toronto would have taken the cap hit, pushing the team close to the luxury tax line.

Without that extra money on the books, the Raptors were able to accommodate a James Wiseman salary dump deal with Indiana and promote Jamison Battle to their standard roster while still maintaining some breathing room below the tax threshold.

As Murphy notes, the Raptors/Pelicans trade still would’ve worked just fine from a rules perspective if Ingram had received his trade bonus, so he certainly wasn’t obligated to waive it. The fact that he did so might suggest that the veteran forward feels good about what a contract offer from Toronto will look like, Murphy speculates.

Here are a few more leftovers from Thursday’s trade-deadline deals:

  • According to John Hollinger of The Athletic and Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter links), the 2025 second-round pick the Wizards sent the Grizzlies in their Marcus Smart trade is believed to be the least favorable of Detroit’s, Golden State’s, and Phoenix’s second-rounders. Washington sent the second-most favorable of those picks to Milwaukee in the Kyle Kuzma/Khris Middleton deal.
  • As part of their Dennis Schröder side agreement within the framework of the five-team Jimmy Butler trade, the Pistons sent the Jazz the least favorable of their five potential second-round picks for 2028, reports Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). That group of picks includes New York’s, Charlotte’s, and the Clippers’ second-rounders. It will also include Detroit’s if it’s between 31-55 and Miami’s, as long as Dallas’ 2027 first-rounder isn’t in the top two.
  • To ensure they sent out at least one outgoing piece in the Kuzma/Middleton trade, the Spurs traded a protected 2026 second-round pick to the Bucks, per a press release from San Antonio. The Spurs didn’t provide any additional details on that pick, but it’s a virtual lock to be top-55 protected. The only question is whether it’s the Spurs’ own pick or one of the others they control.
  • Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link) shares the updated end-of-season luxury tax projections after multiple teams ducked the tax or reduced their projected payments at the deadline. As a result of those moves, the projected payment for non-taxpayers dropped to $11.4MM apiece for 20 teams.
  • Several of ESPN’s NBA insiders share their thoughts on the biggest stories of the trade deadline, while John Hollinger of The Athletic explains why the 2026 offseason – which projects to have a loaded free agent class and many teams with cap room – loomed over many of this week’s moves.
  • According to Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link), there’s a “growing sentiment” among NBA teams after a wild deadline week that the deadline should happen during a break in the schedule. “It’s chaos, and your players and coaches have to play,” one GM told Smith. “Sometimes it’s hard to field a competitive roster. We need to look at adjusting the timing to be less impactful to the product we put on the floor.” The trade deadline used to be during the All-Star break, but the NBA was concerned about major deals overshadowing its midseason showcase — that would have been especially true this year, with All-Stars Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis traded for one another.

NBA Announces Three-Point Contest, Skills Challenge Participants

The NBA has officially announced the participants for the All-Star Saturday festivities in San Francisco on February 15, revealing today (via Twitter) which players will compete in the three-point contest and the skills challenge. Here are the details:

Three-Point Contest:

Among this year’s participants, Powell (43.1%), Garland (42.9%), and Johnson (41.7%) have been the most accurate three-point shooters so far this season, while Herro (39.3% on 9.7 attempts per game) has been the most prolific.

Lillard won the event in both 2023 and 2024 and will be looking to become the first player since Craig Hodges in 1992 to claim the three-point title for a third consecutive year. Larry Bird was also a three-time winner, having achieved the feat in the first three years the NBA held the event (1986-88).

Hield is the only other player in this year’s field to have won the contest before, having done so in 2020. The Warriors wing will be the home team’s representative next Saturday.

Skills Challenge:

It appears the NBA will be tweaking the format of the skills challenge again in 2025, with the event set to feature four teams of two players apiece instead of three players per team.

Mobley was part of the Cavs team that won the event in 2022, along with Jarrett Allen and Garland. He’ll be teaming up with Mitchell this time around.

The NBA also officially confirmed the participants of the dunk contest earlier this week (Twitter link). Those four players, who had been previously reported, are Bulls rookie Matas Buzelis, Spurs rookie Stephon Castle, Bucks guard Andre Jackson, and Magic two-way guard Mac McClung.

Like Lillard in the three-point contest, McClung will be looking to three-peat in his event next Saturday night.

Four-Team Kyle Kuzma/Khris Middleton Trade Officially Completed

The four-team trade that sends Kyle Kuzma to the Bucks and Khris Middleton to the Wizards has been formally completed, the Knicks announced in a press release (via Twitter). Washington confirmed the finalized agreement in a press release as well.

The terms of the deal, which also includes the Spurs, are as follows:

  • Bucks acquire Kuzma, Jericho Sims, either the Pistons’, Suns’, or Warriors’ 2025 second-round pick (whichever is second-most favorable; from Wizards), and a protected second-round pick (from Spurs).
  • Wizards acquire Middleton, AJ Johnson, the draft rights to Mathias Lessort (from Knicks), the right to swap their own 2028 first-round pick for the Bucks’ 2028 first-round pick or the Trail Blazers’ 2028 first-round pick (whichever is least favorable), and cash ($1MM; from Bucks).
  • Knicks acquire Delon Wright, the draft rights to Hugo Besson (from Bucks), and cash ($2MM; from Bucks).
  • Spurs acquire Patrick Baldwin Jr. and cash ($4.13MM; from Bucks).
  • Note: If the Trail Blazers haven’t conveyed their lottery-protected 2025 first-round pick by 2027 and it lands outside the lottery in 2028, it would be ineligible to be swapped; in that scenario, the Wizards would simply have the right to swap their own 2028 first-round pick for the Bucks’ 2028 first-round pick.

The Kuzma/Middleton agreement between the Bucks and Spurs was initially reported on Wednesday morning. Our full story on that original deal can be found right here.

Milwaukee later expanded the trade by working out a side deal with New York involving Sims and a second side deal with San Antonio for Baldwin.

The transaction allows the Bucks to shed enough salary move below the second tax apron, which is why they’re permitted to send out cash in the deal — Fred Katz of The Athletic reported the details on the cash going to each team earlier today.

The only other changes from the terms previously reported are that the draft rights to Lessort are headed from New York to Washington instead of Milwaukee and the Spurs are sending the Bucks a protected second-round pick. Details on that second-rounder are TBD.

Community Shootaround: Trade Deadline Winners, Losers

This year’s NBA trade deadline will go down in the history books as one of the wildest in North American sports history, if not the most chaotic.

This is, of course, mostly due to the shocking late Saturday transaction that saw Luka Doncic join the Lakers. Still, we saw an NBA record 63 players moved ahead of the deadline, with players like De’Aaron Fox, Jimmy Butler, Khris Middleton, Brandon Ingram, De’Andre Hunter, Kyle Kuzma and Andrew Wiggins among those changing hands.

Only the Magic, Trail Blazers, Timberwolves and Nuggets didn’t make an in-season trade. The Nets wound up staying out of the days leading up to the deadline after completing their major moves earlier in the season. Cameron Johnson is one notable player who was the subject of trade rumors for most of the season but ended up staying in place.

[RELATED: 2024/25 In-Season Trades]

Outside of that, the Celtics, Pacers and Rockets were among teams who made minor moves on the fringes of their roster.

The five-team deal that saw Butler join the Warriors and Wiggins go to the Heat was one of the biggest moves at the deadline. According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, Butler’s teammates were sad to see him go, but were happy that he ultimately got what he wanted with a new destination and contract.

While Miami briefly explored trying to acquire Kevin Durant, they pivoted to Wiggins and are happy to have him. Bontemps writes that rival executives like the addition of Wiggins in Miami. Additionally, several of Bontemps’ sources were impressed not only by the return the Heat were able to extract, but also that they were able to stick together through a tumultuous season.

Butler was also a big winner in the eyes of execs after getting his two-year, maximum-salary extension, but Bontemps writes the Warriors have more work to do in terms of spacing the floor. However, at a relatively modest trade price, the Warriors get to bet on their stars meshing and making a deep playoff run as a lower seed, like the Heat have done in the past.

The Warriors winning the Butler sweepstakes ultimately meant that Phoenix missed out on him. For about a month, it was widely reported that there was strong mutual interest between the 35-year-old and the Suns, but Bradley Beal‘s no-trade clause meant a deal was impossible.

That led to the Suns actually taking calls on Durant, though they ultimately kept their three highest-paid players together. The Suns were able to offload Jusuf Nurkic and add two potential rotation guys in Cody Martin and Vasilije Micic, but executives were confused about where Phoenix will go next, according to Bontemps.

After acquiring Doncic ahead of the deadline, the Lakers went all in on adding a big man, sending a first-round pick, a pick swap, and Dalton Knecht to the Hornets for Mark Williams. Los Angeles is taking a massive bet on Williams staying healthy, as they now only have swaps in 2026 and 2028 to send out in trades.

On the other hand, in the wake of the Doncic deal, the Mavericks had a relatively quiet rest of the deadline, acquiring Caleb Martin and sending out Quentin Grimes. “I thought they had more up their sleeve,” a West executive said, per Bontemps.

Both Toronto and Cleveland took big swings in acquiring Ingram and Hunter, respectively. Although the two teams are in much different positions in the conference, those moves showed they both have faith in what they’re building.

The Raptors are likely to try to re-sign Ingram to a multi-year extension, which would add significantly to a payroll that already includes sizable deals for Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes, and Jakob Poeltl. The Cavaliers have the second-best record in the league, so giving anything of value in their rotation is a risk to chemistry. But adding Hunter, who’s in the middle of a breakout season, is a bold move to push the team over the top.

For my money, I like how the Jazz and Pistons operated in the Butler trade. The Jazz were able to acquire two second-rounders and take back less expiring money than P.J. Tucker‘s $11.4MM contract, rerouting Dennis Schröder to Detroit, who bought him as an asset in the same Miami-Golden State five-team deal.

As for the Pistons, while they maybe could have gotten Schröder for a lower price if they’d negotiated with the Heat, they netted two second-round picks, added a viable contributor in Schröder and added a bench shooter in Lindy Waters III for simply having cap space as an asset.

Additionally, I think the Hornets did well to acquire Knecht and valuable picks by sending out Williams, Martin and Micic. The Wizards also intrigued me by adding several veterans in Middleton, Marcus Smart and Alex Len, and picking up two fliers in AJ Johnson and Colby Jones, if they stick. Washington essentially consolidated picks, added a 2024 first-rounder in Johnson and other assets in exchange for players who weren’t in their future.

We want to hear from you. Which teams do you think ended up as the biggest winners after deadline day? Were there any teams that should have done more, or did too much? Who lost the deadline? Which teams had the most underrated moves?

Head to the comments section below to let us know!

Grizzlies Trade Marcus Smart, First-Round Pick To Wizards; Jake LaRavia To Kings

8:35 pm: The three-team trade involving the Grizzlies, Wizards, and Kings is official, according to press releases from all three clubs.

In addition to the details reported below, the Wizards sent the Grizzlies a 2025 second-round pick as part of the agreement, as reported by Varun Shankar of The Washington Post (Twitter link).


2:07 pm: The Grizzlies are trading Marcus Smart and a 2025 first-round pick to the Wizards in a multi-team deal that will see Memphis acquire a pair of second-round picks, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). The trade will also include the Kings, per multiple reports.

According to Charania (Twitter link), NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link), and Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), here are the details of the deal that are known so far:

  • Grizzlies to acquire Marvin Bagley III (from Wizards), Johnny Davis (from Wizards), a 2028 second-round pick (from Kings), and one additional second-round pick (possibly from the Wizards, though it’s unclear).
  • Kings to acquire Jake LaRavia (from Grizzlies).
  • Wizards to acquire Smart (from Grizzlies), Colby Jones (from Kings), Alex Len (from Kings), and the Grizzlies’ 2025 first-round pick (top-14 protected; from Grizzlies).

Obviously, Memphis’ initial trade for Smart completely backfired, as the former Defensive Player of the Year has only made 39 combined appearances for the Grizzlies over the past two seasons due to a series of injuries. The Grizzlies gave up Tyus Jones, the draft rights to Marcus Sasser (No. 25 overall pick in 2023) and Golden State’s 2024 first-rounder (which was later traded multiple times — Carlton Carrington was selected No. 14 overall by Washington) in that initial deal.

Smart also hasn’t been particularly effective when active for the Grizzlies, especially in 2024/25, averaging just 8.7 points, 3.7 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals on .358/.322/.833 shooting in 19 games (21.1 minutes). That’s not much production for a player earning $20.2MM this season and $21.6MM in ’25/26.

Former first-round pick LaRavia, on the other hand, has been effective in a crowded Memphis rotation this season, averaging 7.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists on .490/.444/.698 shooting in 47 games (20.9 minutes). However, the Grizzlies declined to pick up his $5.16MM rookie scale team option for ’25/26 last fall, which means they couldn’t offer him a starting salary above that amount when he hits unrestricted free agency this summer — that same restriction will now apply to Sacramento.

Moving off Smart’s contract will free up Memphis’ books for next season, as Bagley and Davis will hit free agency this summer. That should help them re-sign forward Santi Aldama, an impending restricted free agent, and possibly extend All-Star big man Jaren Jackson Jr. The Grizzlies will also add a couple of second-round picks in the deal.

It’s a pretty low-risk move for the Kings, who are looking to make a playoff push. Even if it turns out that they won’t be able to re-sign LaRavia in the offseason, they didn’t give up any rotation players and the outgoing assets are modest.

Both Memphis and Sacramento will save some money in ’24/25 as a result of the deal as well, giving the clubs more flexibility to potentially be players on the buyout market.

As for the Wizards, they’ll take a flyer on Smart in the hopes that he gets healthy and becomes a trade chip next season. Jones and Len aren’t owed money beyond this season. Of course, the primary motivation for making the deal for the rebuilding team was to acquire the 2025 first-round pick, which would land at No. 27 overall if the season ended today.


Rory Maher contributed to this story.

Bruce Brown, Malcolm Brogdon Not Considered Buyout Candidates

Don’t count on Pelicans guard Bruce Brown or Wizards guard Malcolm Brogdon to reach the free agent market. According to reports from NBA insider Jake Fischer and The Athletic’s David Aldridge, neither player is expected to emerge as a buyout candidate (Twitter links).

The Pelicans are acquiring Brown in their Brandon Ingram trade with Toronto. While Brown spent much of the first half recovering from a knee procedure and has been limited him to 18 games this season, the Pelicans plan to hang onto him and the two sides have a level of interest in continuing their relationship if all goes well, says Fischer. Brown will have the rest of this season to get healthy as he plays out the last year of his contract (worth $23MM).

Brown was a valuable contributor on Denver’s championship team, earning a big payday from the Pacers before he was sent out in the move that brought back Pascal Siakam. He’ll undoubtedly have a bevy of suitors this offseason if he continues to show flashes of that version of himself. He’s averaging 8.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game this season.

Likewise, Brogdon certainly would’ve drawn interest on the buyout market, but the Wizards value him as a veteran mentor, according to Aldridge. He and newly acquired vets Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart are expected to serve in that role for the remainder of the season. Brogdon is on an expiring $22.5MM contract.

Like Brown, Brogdon has dealt with injuries. Over the past two years, he has been limited to 60 total appearances with Washington and Portland. In 21 games this season (13 starts), he’s averaging 13.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

Holding onto Brogdon means the Wizards will have to find another way to open up a roster spot if they have interest in converting either of their two-way players to a standard contract this year. Justin Champagnie has been a regular contributor for the squad, averaging 7.8 points on 38.0% shooting and making 13 starts this season.

Due to their sizable cap hits, neither Brown nor Brogdon would be eligible to sign with a first- or second-apron team if they were bought out.

Trade Deadline Notes: Martin, Draft Pick Details, Cash

The 2025 NBA trade deadline is now behind us.

It was a wild week leading up to the trade deadline, with Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, De’Aaron Fox, Jimmy Butler, Zach LaVine, and Brandon Ingram among the accomplished stars reported to be on the move even before deadline day arrived on Thursday.

Several more deals were agreed upon in the hours before the deadline, with the East-leading Cavaliers striking a deal for Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter and established vets like Marcus Smart, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Jusuf Nurkic also changing teams.

The full list of in-season trades – both official and still pending – can be found right here. We’ll continue to update that tracker as more details are reported and more details are officially processed.

It’s also worth noting that several notable trade candidates remained with their current teams through Thursday’s deadline. The Nets made multiple trades earlier in the season, but didn’t move Cameron Johnson, Nic Claxton, Day’Ron Sharpe, or anyone else this week. The Trail Blazers, another potential seller, stood pat, with Robert Williams, Jerami Grant, Anfernee Simons, and Deandre Ayton all remaining in Portland.

The Jazz and Bulls each made deal, but rumored trade chips like John Collins, Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, Walker Kessler, Nikola Vucevic, Patrick Williams, and Lonzo Ball weren’t involved in them.

The Knicks only made a minor move, preferring to stick with Mitchell Robinson and bet on his return to health rather than acquiring another center. The Magic, Timberwolves, and Nuggets were among the few teams who stood pat, opting not to make a single in-season deal.

The Pacers, Celtics, Rockets, and Thunder all had pretty quiet deadlines too, only taking part in salary-dump deals (either sending or receiving).

Here are a few more deadline-related notes that we didn’t want to slip through the cracks as we look to stay on top of all the roster moves being made and trade details still being reported:

  • The Mavericks had the option to void their Caleb Martin trade with the Sixers after his return from a right hip sprain was determined to be a little further off than anticipated, tweets NBA insider Marc Stein. However, the Mavs were comfortable moving ahead with the deal after Philadelphia added a second-round pick, since they don’t expect Martin to be out too long. They’re optimistic he’ll be back in action within about two or three weeks, sources tell ESPN’s Tim MacMahon (Twitter link).
  • The second-round pick the Pistons are acquiring in the multi-team Butler deal is a 2031 second-round pick from the Warriors, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Golden State previously gave Minnesota swap rights on that pick, so Detroit will receive the least favorable of the Warriors’ and Timberwolves’ 2031 second-rounders.
  • The Grizzlies‘ 2025 first-rounder headed to the Wizards in their Smart trade includes top-14 protection, reports David Aldridge of The Athletic (Twitter link). Given Memphis’ current 35-16 record, it’s a pretty safe bet that pick won’t land in its protected range.
  • The Bucks are sending cash to all three of the other teams involved in their Khris Middleton/Kyle Kuzma deal, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Wizards are getting $1MM from Milwaukee, the Knicks are getting $2MM, and the Spurs are receiving $4.13MM. The Bucks were only able to trade cash because they’re moving below the second tax apron as part of that deal.
  • The Pelicans received $1MM in cash from the Thunder in the trade that sent Daniel Theis and a future second-round pick to Oklahoma City, reports Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Oklahoma City has since waived Theis.