February 2026

There were 1,487 posts published in February 2026 (this is page 118 of 149).

NBA trade deadline: 5 underrated moves that could have an impact down the stretch

An adventurous and historic Week of Trades™️ saw plenty of big names change places. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Anthony Davis are in win-later homes; James Harden and Darius Garland were swapped for each other. Ivica Zubac, a season removed from playing at a fringe-All-NBA level, will eventually get to catch passes from Tyrese Haliburton.

There will be, and already has been, plenty of audio and virtual ink spilled on those moves, and rightfully so. With that in mind, and in the spirit of the week, I decided to do what many other teams did: pivot to something else.

We’re here to take a look at some of the non-stars (or close) that saw their situations improve, and could prove to be important factors as we trek ahead to the playoffs.

Let’s dig in, shall we?

The Minnesota Timberwolves were largely discussed through the lens of the Giannis Antetokounmpo pursuit. They should now be discussed for their acquisition of former Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu. 

The fifth-year guard is enjoying the best scoring season of his career, logging a career high in points off the strength of insane 3-point shooting (45.1% on 4.3 attempts). It serves as a necessary complement to his driving chops, a skill that has improved in half-court settings and really pops in transition. 

He should vibe nicely playing off the attention Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle command. His ability to get downhill, particularly in early-offense situations, should make life easier for those stars, allowing them to attack tilted defenses instead of always being tasked with the tilting.

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Dosunmu’s quickness and plus-wingspan (listed at 6-foot-10) allows him to hold his own defensively — and he’s shown flashes of being a real disruptive piece during his Chicago stint. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Wolves dabble in three-guard lineups with him, Donte DiVincenzo and Edwards. A closing group with those three, Jaden McDaniels (having one heck of a year) and Rudy Gobert could be incredibly tough to deal with.

If there’s one thing I’m eyeing, it’s how teams will treat Dosunmu on the perimeter in games that matter. He’s enjoying a strong shooting season, but historically, his catch-and-shoot efficiency has been a roller coaster. Tied to that is the fact he’s largely been dared to knock down the triples he’s taken.

Here’s Dosunmu’s catch-and-shoot history from beyond the arc, as well as average closest defender distance when taking those shots:

  • 2021-22: 37.6% on 2.3 attempts, 8.5 feet away

  • 2022-23: 30.8% on 2.3 attempts, 8.6 feet away

  • 2023-24: 40.4% on 3.3 attempts, 8.8 feet away

  • 2024-25: 34% on 3.5 attempts, 8.3 feet away

  • 2025-26: 42.3% on 3.7 attempts, 8.0 feet away

If the efficiency goes backward, I’ll be curious to see how often the Wolves feel like they can close with him. That’s also a first-world problem; him helping to solidify the second unit — along with the likely return of Mike Conley — makes this enough of a win.

The Detroit Pistons have been the best team in the East; quiet as kept, they’re only two games behind the Thunder for the league’s best record. A conversational point around the Pistons, aside from their goodness, has been their willingness to make a major swing ahead of the deadline. They had the salaries, pick control, and, despite their record, a pretty obvious flaw in their design (shooting) to justify a swing.

They ultimately decided against pushing all of their chips to the center of the table, instead bringing Huerter into the mix.

I like it quite a bit.

While it’s fair to raise a brow at Huerter’s shooting — he’s converting a career-worst 31% of his 3s this year — he is a career 37% shooter from deep. I think he’ll enjoy playing off the gravity of Cade Cunningham whenever they share minutes together; that miiiight be a friendly context for him compared to playing alongside Josh Giddey. 

Beyond the pure shooting ability, Huerter’s ability to move away from the ball should immediately make this group better. He’s a smart relocator off the ball, often finding pockets of space to make life easier for drivers or post kickouts. On top of that, pay attention to his work as a cutter. He’s converting a career-best 63% of his shots inside the arc for a reason; I think Jalen Duren in particular will enjoy the Huerter back cuts when teams try to deny him on handoffs.

Huerter should also add value as a second-side option for handoffs or ball screens; he’s an underrated playmaker, especially when defenses are already tilted. And on a basic level, Huerter gives the Pistons more optionality, taking some pressure off Duncan Robinson to be the movement/off-ball threat.

Welcome home, Coby White!

The Goldsboro, North Carolina, native and former Tar Heel joins a Hornets group currently riding an eight-game winning streak. Not only is that tied with the Knicks (more on them shortly) for the longest active streak in the league, it’s the first time this century that the Hornets have won eight (or more) games in a row.

While it’s been a “down” year for White as he’s worked back from — and through — injuries, it’s worth noting that he was looking more like last year’s version of himself before this trade. 

  • 2024-25 season: 20.4 points (54/37/90), 4.5 assists in 33.1 minutes

  • Last nine games: 20.3 points (44/40/86), 4.9 assists in 30.9 minutes

[NBA trade deadline winners and losers]

White brings a fun mix of pull-up shooting, drives (quietly logging the highest rim rate of his career), and off-ball prowess and secondary playmaking that the Hornets could use. He should slot in nicely in lineups next to LaMelo Ball. With the way the Hornets like to flow in the half-court, it’s easy to envision possessions where White initiates things, only for the ball to find its way into LaMelo’s hands against a shifting defense.

More pressing could be what happens when Ball isn’t on the floor. Of note, the Hornets’ offense falls off a cliff — from a would-be-league-best 124.3 offensive rating to a paltry 112.2 offensive rating — when Ball goes to the bench. White should help quite a bit with that issue.

Speaking of homecomings, Alvarado making his way back to New York couldn’t have come at a better time. Deuce McBride, enjoying the best season of his career (12.9 points on 59.2 true shooting, 2.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists in 28 minutes), is expected to miss significant time with a core injury. I was already a fan of adding Alvarado to this mix; in light of McBride’s strategy, it’s clear the Knicks needed this acquisition.

To call Alvarado a spark plug or energy shifter would be an understatement. His ability to flip games on their head — more importantly, the way he flips those games — should be greatly appreciated in New York. He’s so annoying (complimentary) at the point of attack defensively. Famously, you may need eyes at the back of your head to locate him after receiving an inbound pass, lest you get your pocket picked for a quick bucket. 

Quietly, Alvarado has turned himself into a serviceable shooter (36.5% on 4.6 attempts from 3 over the past three seasons) who’s willing to take them off the bounce if defenders disrespect him. His speed allows him to bob-and-weave into tight spaces, forcing defenses into tough decisions and opening up passing windows. The injection of pace, energy and aggression should vibe nicely with the Knicks’ second unit.

I’ll leave you with this: Among the many variations of Pelicans teams we’ve seen across Alvarado’s tenure, it’s noteworthy that they won his minutes and were outscored without him.

Jones wasn’t traded, but a money (and roster) move involving Hunter Tyson helped create a pathway for the Nuggets to convert Jones’ two-way deal into a standard contract.

Jones has been tasked with defending multiple positions, knocking down shots, filling space as a cutter, connecting possessions as a passer or hand-off hub, and generating extra possessions on the offensive glass. Those responsibilities have felt more important in light of Aaron Gordon’s absence; they likely feel even more necessary considering Peyton Watson is expected to miss at least a month.

Luckily for the Nuggets, Jones has been up for the challenge to this point. Across 34 starts, Jones is averaging 7.5 points (64/41/61 splits), 3.9 rebounds (1.3 OREB), and 1 steal. He deserves a salute for his impact, and I’m sure he’ll enjoy the added layer of security.

World Baseball Classic roster takeaways: Team USA’s elite pitching, Puerto Rico’s missing stars, Team Brazil’s return and more

We are less than a month away from the start of the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and the excitement has been ramped up with Thursday’s announcement of the rosters for the 20 teams participating in this year’s tournament. While we’ve known about many of the most prominent players competing for a few weeks now, there were still plenty of unknowns that made this week’s reveal highly anticipated. 

As the tournament nears, we’ll break down each pool and each team’s chances of claiming the WBC crown. For now, here are six major takeaways from the WBC rosters:

The World Baseball Classic has never seen so much elite starting pitching. There’s a decent argument that we’ll see five of the top six healthy pitchers on the planet — Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Cristopher Sánchez and Logan Webb, with Garrett Crochet the lone abstainer — toe the slab in the upcoming tournament. That’s the top four finalists for last year’s NL Cy Young and the back-to-back AL Cy Young winner. 

Simply put, it’s a monumental upgrade. As recently as 2017, not a single top-five Cy Young finisher from the season prior, in either league, featured in the WBC. A few more frontline arms showed up in 2023, including reigning NL Cy Young Sandy Alcantara, but that group pales in comparison to this crop of aces.

Throughout the event’s history, top-tier non-American pitchers have generally shown more interest in participating (Alcantara, Shohei Ohtani, Félix Hernández). But before this edition, the United States struggled to convince its aces to commit. Remember, USA skipper Mark DeRosa entered the 2023 tourney with a rotation composed of Merrill Kelly, Kyle Freeland, Lance Lynn, Miles Mikolas, Brady Singer, Adam Wainwright and Nick Martinez. Combined, that unit had zero Cy Youngs and just five top-three finishes, four of which were Wainwrights. The 2026 team has six Cy Youngs — to be fair, three of them belong to the retired Clayton Kershaw — and 11 top-three finishes.

It’s an incredibly encouraging development for this tournament that the most dominant hurlers in the world are willing to alter their preseason routines to compete on the global stage. — Mintz

In 2023, the Italian squad showed well, battling its way out of the Taiwan pool before getting bounced by Japan in the quarterfinals. Impressive as that was, Italy’s roster was far from full-strength. Because their pool-play round was halfway across the world, the club struggled to convince Italian-American big-league regulars to opt in.

This year, Italy’s pool is in Houston, which appears to have been an absolute game-changer. Vinnie Pasquantino, one of two position players back from the 2023 team, said he spent a ton of time recruiting for Team Italy. Those efforts have paid off.

Italy’s starting lineup will be one of just a handful in the tournament entirely made up of active big leaguers. Pasquantino is the biggest bat, but he’ll be flanked by powerful sluggers such as Dominic Canzone (142 OPS+ last year) and Jac Caglianone (former top prospect with huge juice). Jakob Marsee is coming off a stellar debut with the Marlins. Kyle Teel should be the White Sox’s Opening Day catcher. Jon Berti is a versatile vet. This lineup has a lot to like.

Even more importantly, the Italians have a greatly improved pitching staff. Aaron Nola is easily the most accomplished hurler to ever appear for Italy in international competition. Michael Lorenzen is a solid No. 2. Alek Jacob, Matt Festa, Kyle Nicolas and Greg Weissert are all legit big-league relievers. They’ll need to topple Mexico or the United States to emerge from a tough group, but this squad has the sauce to make that happen. — Mintz

News broke last week that Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa, Puerto Rico’s two best and most impactful players, had failed to secure the necessary insurance to participate in the WBC. Eleventh-hour appeals were made, with the island’s baseball federation even threatening to withdraw from the tournament. But in the end, those desperate attempts proved futile, as both stars were left off the official roster. Then Javy Báez, about whom there was suspiciously little insurance scuttlebutt, was also not included due to a previously unreported suspension stemming from a positive marijuana test during the previous tournament.

It’s all a massive bummer for Puerto Rico, set to host WBC games for the first time since 2013. Between Nolan Arenado, Edwin Díaz, Seth Lugo and Heliot Ramos, this club still has enough talent to win an evenly balanced group, but they’ll dearly miss Lindor, Correa and Báez. — Mintz

While the vast majority of Team USA had been revealed over the past few months, there were two spots unsettled on the 30-man roster before Thursday’s announcement. It was a pretty safe bet that it would be one more position player and one more pitcher, but there were questions about what genre of hitter and hurler manager Mark DeRosa would prefer. Would Team USA go with a third catcher in support of Cal Raleigh and Will Smith? Would they target a player with defensive versatility, another Ernie Clement type — or one with more offensive upside? Did they need another starting pitcher or another high-leverage reliever?

The answers: first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and right-hander Michael Wacha. Goldschmidt — still a free agent entering his age-38 season — returns to the roster as one of five holdovers from the 2023 team, joining Smith, Bobby Witt Jr., Kyle Schwarber and right-hander David Bednar. Goldschmidt gives DeRosa a veteran presence off the bench, one who can still crush left-handers. He’ll either pinch-hit against lefty relievers or garner a start against a left-handed starter before making way for superior options later in the game.

Wacha is a sensible addition as an experienced and dependable right-hander who gives DeRosa another pitcher capable of covering multiple innings. Navigating the various restrictions imposed by major-league clubs and pitch-count regulations is an enormous variable in this tournament, so affording the manager a bevy of arms who can provide length is smart roster-building. And while this is Wacha’s WBC debut, he does have Team USA experience, having played on the 2011 Collegiate National Team. 

The Goldschmidt/Wacha duo might lack the flash of some of the younger, more ascendant participants in the tournament, but these two fill clear roles for Team USA, so their inclusions should come as no real surprise. — Shusterman

Of the 20 teams competing in this year’s Classic, 19 are holdovers from the 2023 edition. The lone exception is Team Brazil, which claimed one of the final spots in the tournament during the qualification round last March and is effectively replacing Team China, which failed to qualify this time. This is Brazil’s second appearance in the Classic, having last participated in 2013, when it went winless in pool play (but had a lead through seven innings against Samurai Japan). That means Brazil is seeking its first WBC victory in this year’s tournament, and the team will have at least four opportunities to make that happen as the massive underdogs in Pool B in Houston, which also features USA, Mexico, Italy and Great Britain. 

Brazil’s squad includes just five players currently in major-league organizations, one of the lowest totals of any team in the tournament. But this roster is not without intrigue. The most interesting throughline is the trio of players with high-profile big-league fathers. Lucas Ramirez, 20, is one of the five affiliated players as an outfielder in the Angels organization, and he’s the son of 12-time All-Star Manny Ramirez. Infielder Dante Bichette Jr. is the son of four-time All-Star Dante and older brother of new Met Bo.

And perhaps most fascinating of all, 17-year-old Joseph Contreras is the son of 11-year major-league pitcher and 2005 World Series champion Jose Contreras. Joseph is the youngest player in the tournament and also a top prospect in this summer’s draft, a talented right-handed pitcher at a Georgia high school who is committed to Vanderbilt. A strong outing against one of the star-studded lineups in Pool B would be a unique and exciting way to boost his draft stock — and perhaps help Team Brazil make history on the international stage. — Shusterman

Of the 600 players named to WBC rosters, a little more than half — 305, to be exact — are currently members of major-league organizations. But only about half of those are projected to play in the majors in 2026; there’s also a gigantic population of ballplayers from all levels of the minor leagues. That means that beyond the overwhelming amount of established star power on these rosters, there’s a plethora of prospects scattered throughout the WBC player pool who will have the opportunity to raise their profiles on the international stage. 

There are some obvious headliners, such as Mets right-hander Nolan McLean, the lone rookie-eligible player on Team USA, and former No. 1 pick and Guardians top prospect Travis Bazzana, the biggest star on Team Australia. There are also a few other top-100 types who could make an impact in the majors sooner rather than later, such as Marlins outfielder Owen Caissie (Canada) and Nationals catcher Harry Ford (Great Britain). 

Here are a few other notable names who are a bit further from the majors but worth monitoring once the tournament begins:

Mariners INF Michael Arroyo (Colombia): Arroyo has been one of the most productive hitters in the minors over the past two years, but he sometimes gets lost in the shuffle in a Seattle farm system loaded with high-profile position-player prospects. An undersized, right-handed hitter without a clear defensive home — he has mostly played second base but might fit best in left-field long term — he doesn’t have the explosive physical tools typically associated with premium prospects. But he raked his way to Double-A last year as a 20-year-old, and he’s on track to factor into Seattle’s lineup in some form in 2027.

Brewers INF Andrew Fischer (Italy): Fischer ranked 20th on my 2025 draft rankings after a prolific college career at three different schools. Milwaukee evidently agreed with that assessment, selecting him 20th overall and quickly sending him to High-A, where he had a strong pro debut. It’s unclear how much playing time Fischer will get on a surprisingly crowded Team Italy roster, but if he gets some at-bats, they promise to be highly entertaining. 

Athletics LHP Wei-En Lin (Chinese Taipei): Lin, who turned 20 in November, was a strikeout machine in the lower levels last season, and he exhibited solid command as well. This fun fact says it all: Only three pitchers with at least 80 minor-league innings had a higher K-minus-BB rate than Lin’s 27.1% in 2025: Trey Yesavage, Payton Tolle and Jonah Tong. Pretty good!

Yankees RHP Elmer Rodriguez (Puerto Rico): Acquired from Boston a year ago in exchange for catcher Carlos Narvaez, Rodriguez had a terrific first season in the Yankees organization, striking out 176 batters in 150 innings with a 2.58 ERA and climbing all the way to Triple-A. He’s still pretty far down New York’s starting pitching depth chart, but don’t be surprised if he pitches his way into the major-league mix at some point in 2026. — Shusterman

Daryl Morey admits Sixers traded Jared McCain in hopes of making additional deal, but ‘nothing materialized’

The Philadelphia 76ers traded second-year guard Jared McCain, who was an early NBA Rookie of the Year candidate last season and had made 15-of-26 attempts from 3 in his past six games, on Wednesday.

On Friday, less than 24 hours removed from the NBA trade deadline and a road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, in which the Sixers shot 5-of-24 from deep, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey admitted Philadelphia sent McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder in hopes of making an additional deadline deal.

But, as Morey repeated throughout his news conference, “nothing materialized.”

“Because we’re playing well, we were trying to upgrade the team and add to the team now,” Morey told reporters. “That was goal No. 1.”

Before their setback in L.A., the Sixers were riding a five-game win streak. They’re still sixth in the Eastern Conference standings. Philadelphia is without veteran forward Paul George until late March because of his 25-game suspension, however, Morey maintains the Sixers are in the mix among the top teams in the East. They haven’t made it past the conference semifinals since the 2000-01 season, when they lost to the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

Morey, who has been the team’s president of basketball operations since November 2020, explained Friday that the Sixers made the McCain move a day before the deadline so that they’d have assets to use as bargaining chips for a trade that could help them move the needle.

While the defending NBA champion Thunder got the former Duke standout, the Sixers collected four picks: a 2026 Houston Rockets first-round pick and three future second-round picks. 

“We were trying to reuse those draft picks to add now,” Morey said. “We do feel like this deal sets up better in the future, but we understand that we were looking to add now, and nothing materialized.”

McCain, 21, averaged 15.3 points, 2.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds in his first 23 games with the Sixers, except he missed the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign with a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee.

Then, this past September, McCain sustained a UCL tear in his right thumb during a workout a day before the team’s media day.

In 37 games with the Sixers this time around, he was playing just 16.8 minutes per contest. He was overshadowed by the emergence of rookie guard VJ Edgecombe, whom Philadelphia selected No. 3 overall in last year’s draft, and the play of two-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey and Quentin Grimes.

Still, McCain was providing valuable perimeter shooting off the bench on a squad hungry for a postseason run after missing out on the playoffs last season for the first time in eight seasons.

[Get more Sixers news: Philly team feed]

Morey said he’s “quite confident” that the Sixers were selling high in trading McCain this week.

“We see Jared as someone who is more likely to help a team in the future,” he said. “I think that’s fairly obvious. I think that he has a bright future. We thought that the draft picks we got will help us more in the future and could have helped us this deadline.”

Morey said that Philadelphia offered the picks it received in the McCain trade to “many teams,” and, yet, it couldn’t land a player it deemed worthy of that kind of transaction.

“But we feel like, going forward, those picks will help us build the team in the future in a good way,” he emphasized. 

While Morey likes the potential of the 2026 NBA Draft, he’s not married to using the Rockets’ first-round pick the Sixers gained in the McCain trade.

That pick, as well as the three second-rounders, could be used for moves around the draft, Morey noted.

On one hand, sending McCain to Oklahoma City put Philadelphia under the luxury tax, allowing the Sixers to convert two-way player Dom Barlow, a fourth-year forward who is averaging 8.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

On the other hand, the Sixers ducking the tax again has raised questions about the franchise’s willingness to spend for a championship-caliber roster.

“I understand the perception, and I hope to defeat it by finding a deal that, you know, I can go to ownership and say we think this move is the right move to do for that and create the apron issues that it would create,” Morey said. “But I haven’t been able to recommend that move yet.”