March 2025

There were 1,679 posts published in March 2025 (this is page 50 of 168).

Anthony Davis could return to Mavericks’ lineup during upcoming Eastern road trip: Report

Anthony Davis could return to the Mavericks‘ lineup during Dallas’ upcoming Eastern road trip, which begins Monday, NBA insider Marc Stein reports. 

Last week, Davis was assigned to practice with the Mavs’ G League team. He was recalled to the NBA club after one workout. 

Dallas begins its four-game trip with back-to-back games with the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks starting Monday. The trip concludes with matchups versus the Orlando Magic on Thursday and Chicago Bulls on Saturday. 

Davis, 32, has been sidelined with a left adductor strain since Feb. 8, his first game with the Mavericks after being included in a blockbuster trade package for Luka Dončić. Dallas had discussed shutting Davis down for the rest of the season, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. But the veteran forward has pushed for a return with the team still in the playoff race. 

The Mavericks have 11 games remaining on their regular-season schedule and are battling the Phoenix Suns for the 10th seed in the Western Conference, which would get them in the play-in tournament. Dallas is tied with Phoenix at 34-37, but the Suns would win a tiebreaker with a 3-1 record versus the Mavs in their regular-season matchups. 

Davis is one of three big men currently out with injuries, but appears to be ready to return ahead of Dereck Lively II (fractured foot) and Daniel Gafford (sprained knee).  

The Mavs have not targeted a specific game for Davis to return, but reportedly feel optimistic enough about his progress to believe he’ll rejoin the active roster during the next week after he was able to practice in five-on-five play with the G League Texas Legends, according to Stein. Lively and Gafford have participated in three-on-three activities. 

Davis has averaged 25.7 points, 12 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocks this season, but has been limited to 43 games. (Meanwhile, Dončić is scoring 26.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.9 steals for the Lakers, fueling Mavericks fans’ anger over the controversial trade.) 

Young gets away with blatantly obvious travel in Warriors-Hawks

Young gets away with blatantly obvious travel in Warriors-Hawks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Hawks star Trae Young, looking like Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. evading the pass rush, got away with a blatant travel at the end of the first quarter against the Warriors on Saturday night at State Farm Arena.

With the Hawks holding a commanding 38-23 lead, Young was double-teamed by forward Jimmy Butler and center Kevon Looney.

Young picked up his dribble at the edge of the Hawks’ center-court logo and shuffled both feet until he was at the mid-court line.

By the time Young passed the ball to teammate Georges Niang, he was holding the ball at least a foot over the mid-court line.

The missed call came back to bite the Warriors as Niang found guard Caris LeVert, who hit a jumper at the first-quarter buzzer to give the Hawks a 40-23 lead.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr has been demanding the NBA train referees to call traveling more, and he might need to make another plea to the league after Young’s shuffle across the court.

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Kings convert Isaac Jones to reported standard two-year contract

Kings convert Isaac Jones to reported standard two-year contract originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Isaac Jones has continued to grind and stay patient, and on Saturday, he was rewarded.

The Kings converted the young center’s two-way contract to a standard NBA deal, the team announced two hours before tip-off against the Milwaukee Bucks.

ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported, citing sources, that Jones’ new contract is a two-year pact.

On Wednesday, Jones reached the NBA’s maximum 50-game active limit during Sacramento’s 123-119 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Jones has appeared in 31 games this season for Sacramento, averaging 8.3 minutes and 3.7 points in such contests.

In 11 games with the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G League affiliate, Jones averaged 20.9 points on 55.5 percent shooting, with 9.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 blocks in 32.2 minutes.

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NBA fines Pacers’ Myles Turner, Andrew Nembhard and Nets Trendon Watford for altercation

The Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers play again on Saturday night, but before that happens, the league handed down fines from when these teams played on Thursday night.

The Pacers’ Andrew Nembhard was fined $20,000 for “initiating the altercation,” while his teammate Myles Turner, as well as the Nets’ Trendon Watford, were fined $35,000 for escalating the situation, the league announced.

The fourth-quarter altercation started away from the play as Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin drove for a layup.

Watford began to run back up court and bumped into Nembhard, and those two engaged in some relatively mild pushing and shoving. That’s when Turner jumped in and escalated everything by shoving Watford, who pushed back, and things quickly escalated.

Nembhard and Watford were handed double technical fouls for their exchange, and the same is true for Turner and Watford for their escalation. That was two technicals for Watford, so he was ejected from the game.

Tonight’s officials for the Pacers and Nets know what happened and may end up calling a tighter game to keep a lid on things.

Celtics sale price of $6.1 billion could turn NBA attention back toward expansion

The NBA got the number it was hoping for in the sale of the Boston Celtics—a $6.1 billion valuation for the franchise, an NBA record by more than $2 billion (the Phoenix Suns sold at a valuation of $4 billion when Mat Ishbia purchased the team).

That sale was one of the things the NBA league office was waiting for before turning its attention to expansion. The league wanted a new, higher baseline for franchise values, allowing it to set a higher price for an expansion franchise. The league got the number it wanted.

Now, momentum toward expansion may pick up again.

While there has been plenty of talk about the NBA expanding — by two franchises, one in Seattle and the other very likely in Las Vegas — there has been no meaningful action on that front. In fact, expansion talk around the league has been very quiet. At the All-Star Game in February it was not a topic around the weekend, nor did it come up when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the media. The last time Silver said anything publicly about expansion was in November before the NBA’s games in Mexico City.

“There’s no specific date set for expansion…” Silver said at the time. “The process has begun internally at the league office right now. It’s something that we’re continuing to model, to understand the economics of what it would mean to have additional teams.”

Previously, the NBA had been waiting for both a new CBA and the new media deals to be in place before bringing up expansion to the Board of Governors (the body of NBA owners). With those locked in, there were some discussions in broad strokes, but the league wanted to see where the sale price of the Celtics fell.

Now the league might slowly turn its attention back to expansion, but this will not be a fast process. It’s at least three years, and likely a couple more than that, by the time the league approves expansion, gets new owners in place, gets franchises and arenas built, and gets teams playing on the court.

Is the new asking price for an expansion team $6 billion? It’s one thing to pay that figure for one of the largest sports brands in the NBA and the world, the Celtics, it’s quite another to pay that just as an entry fee into the league, before adding in the expenses of building an arena and an organization. The NBA’s ultimate fee for expansion may be lower than $6 billion, but the reality is the NBA will ask for as much money as someone is willing to pay to buy equity in the league (which is essentially what the new owners would be doing). That expansion fee money is split among the existing 30 owners (for example, two teams coming in at $5 billion each would lead to a $333 million payout to each franchise, money that does not get split with the players but goes straight into owners pockets).

That’s a lot of money, which is why momentum toward expansion may pick up again.

Mets make flurry of roster moves, including sending Jakson Reetz and Donovan Walton to Triple-A

With Opening Day quickly approaching on March 27, the Mets made a handful of roster moves on Saturday morning.

Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters from the dugout at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie that Jakson Reetz, Donovan Walton, José Ureña, Chris Devenski and Génesis Cabrera did not make the roster and are being sent to Triple-A Syracuse.

That bodes well for Luisangel Acuña and Hayden Senger‘s chances to make the team out of camp, but that has not officially been decided yet. It’s possible New York could add other players over the next couple of days with many veterans opting out of deals before the start of the season.

Mendoza then clarified that relief pitchers Reed Garrett, José Buttó, and Danny Young were told they’ve made the Opening Day roster.

Dedniel Núñez, who missed the end of last season due to injury, didn’t make his spring debut until March 17 and could need some more time to get ready. Therefore, the Mets bullpen would likely beEdwin Diaz, A.J. Minter,Garrett, Ryne Stanek,Buttó,Young, Max Kranick and Paul Blackburn.