Is Kevin Durant staying put at the deadline? We know he’s not going to the Warriors, but that doesn’t mean other teams aren’t trying to pry the reportedly available star out of Phoenix. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Thursday afternoon that teams are still being “aggressive” in trying to land Durant before 3 p.m. ET.

 Milwaukee is trading Patrick Baldwin Jr. and sweet, sweet cash to the San Antonio Spurs, via ESPN’s Shams Charania.

In this deal, the Bucks are effectively spending money in order to save money. ESPN’s Bobby Marks reported Thursday that Kyle Kuzma would waive a portion of his trade bonus so that they could get below the second apron, but clearing Baldwin’s $2.5 million salary means that they will either have a little more wiggle room under the second apron or have the ability to give Kuzma his full trade bonus. (In case you missed it, they acquired Kuzma and Baldwin on Wednesday in the deal that sent Khris Middleton to Washington.)

To be clear, this isn’t just about money, per se — Milwaukee paid the Spurs to take Baldwin’s contract. It’s about flexibility. If the Bucks want to aggregate multiple salaries in a trade, they need to finish that trade underneath the second apron. It has been widely reported that Milwaukee has made veterans Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton available in advance of the trade deadline.

 Considering that most of us were braced for a boring trade season, it is stunning how much has happened leading up to today’s 3 p.m. ET deadline. And with just a few hours to go, what hasn’t happened is also notable:

• The Hawks haven’t done anything. De’Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Clint Capela are all reportedly available, and Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reported Thursday that Cleveland is “emerging as a frontrunner” for Hunter.
• The Blazers haven’t done anything. Anfernee Simons, Jerami Grant, Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams III are all trade candidates, despite the fact that Portland has won nine of its last 10 games.
• The Grizzlies haven’t done anything. Marcus Smart is reportedly available, and Memphis was reportedly close to trading Luke Kennard and John Konchar in a deal that would have brought back Dorian Finney-Smith in late December.
• The Bulls’ Nikola Vucevic hasn’t been traded, and neither have any of their guards not named Zach LaVine. Their backcourt is now extremely crowded: they acquired Tre Jones and Kevin Huerter in the LaVine deal, and they already had Josh Giddey (RFA in July), Lonzo Ball (who just agreed to an extension but is still tradable) Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Jevon Carter, Dalen Terry and Talen Horton-Tucker on the roster. 
• The Warriors finally made their big move, but they still have soon-to-be RFA Jonathan Kuminga and the expiring contracts of Kevon Looney and Gary Payton II, plus Buddy Hield on a team-friendly deal and their other young players.
• The Suns haven’t done anything since turning their 2031 first-round pick into three much less valuable picks two weeks ago. Jusuf Nurkic remains on the roster.
• The Bucks traded Khris Middleton and Patrick Baldwin Jr., but not Bobby Portis or Pat Connaughton.
• The Pelicans traded Brandon Ingram and Daniel Theis. CJ McCollum, however, is still hanging around.
• The Raptors traded Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk and Davion Mitchell, but Chris Boucher hasn’t gone anywhere. P.J. Tucker is also on the roster for now.
• The Hornets traded Mark Williams, who wasn’t even rumored to be going anywhere, but they still haven’t traded Cody Martin. 
• The Knicks traded Jericho Sims, but the other centers who have been in the rumor mill — Mitchell Robinson and Precious Achiuwa — are the ones who could potentially bring back a difference-maker. SNY’s Ian Begley reported on Wednesday that Robinson will likely make it past the deadline. 
• The Jazz have made some minor moves, but nothing big. John Collins is once again a trade candidate, and Utah is once again reportedly willing to listen to inquiries about Walker Kessler (and then make it clear that he won’t be cheap). The front office would presumably be willing to discuss Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson, too.
• The Nets aren’t expected to move Cam Johnson, per the New York Post’s Brian Lewis, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t. It’s worth noting, too, that Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe will be RFAs in the offseason, and D’Angelo Russell is on an $18.7 million expiring contract.
• The Pacers haven’t done anything, despite the fact that in the offseason Myles Turner will be seeking an enormous raise and Bennedict Mathurin will be eligible for an extension. 
• The Sixers have been busy — they swapped Caleb Martin for Quentin Grimes and Reggie Jackson for Jared Butler, and they dumped KJ Martin’s contract to get out of the tax — but they haven’t necessarily cut next season’s payroll. Teams are reportedly interested in trading for Guerschon Yabusele, but if Philly doesn’t trade him, don’t be surprised if it moves Andre Drummond and/or Eric Gordon in order to have a better shot at re-signing Yabu. The Sixers don’t have his Bird rights, so they probably need to ensure they have access to the non-taxpayer midlevel exception next summer. 
• Kyle Anderson and Dennis Schroder aren’t Warriors anymore, but it’s unclear where they will end up. Initial reports about the Jimmy Butler trade on Wednesday indicated that Anderson was going to the Raptors, but for now he’s a member of the Heat, who would presumably like to move him (or find another way to get under the luxury-tax threshold). Schroder is a Jazzman for now, but Andscape’s Marc Spears reported that Utah is not expected to keep him.
• The Pistons acquired KJ Martin from the Sixers, and they acquired Lindy Waters III and Josh Richardson in the Jimmy Butler trade. They have not, however, necessarily used any of their $14 million in cap space. Martin can be acquired with the room exception, and Waters and Richardson can be acquired with minimum salary exceptions. They’re going to need to waive or trade some players, though, regardless of whether or not they wind up absorbing more salary. Including Martin, Waters, and Richardson, they currently have 17 players on their 15-man roster. (The trades have not yet been made official.)
• Neither the Nuggets nor the Timberwolves have done anything. Hmm.

Thursday has been pretty quiet so far, but that could change quickly.

 If you’re keeping score at home that is now three separate PJ Tucker trades in the month of February. Tucker was traded from the Clippers to the Jazz on Saturday, and then went from the Jazz to the Heat in the Jimmy Butler deal on Wednesday night. And now, hours before the deadline, Tucker is being traded from the Heat to the Raptors.

It’s a money-saving move for Miami, who gets Davion Mitchell in the deal, per ESPN.

Tucker seems unlikely to stay with the Raptors, who could either trade him again or buy him out after the deadline.

 The Warriors might not be done after their major move for Jimmy Butler on Wednesday night. There is still some life to a potential Nikola Vucevic-to-Golden State deal, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Vucevic has averaged 19.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game this season and he is under contract through the 2025-26 season.

 Here’s one you don’t see every day: the Philadelphia 76ers are trading a future first-round pick to the Washington Wizards for four second-round picks, as first reported by Michael Scotto. Reggie Jackson will also go to Washington, while Jared Butler will go to Philly. According to Bobby Marks, these are the picks involved:

• The first-round pick Philadelphia sends to Washington is the least favorable 2026 pick between the Thunder, the Clippers and the Rockets (protected 1-4).
• The second-round picks the 76ers get: one in 2027 (most favorable of Golden State and Phoenix), one in 2028 (Golden State), and two in 2030 (most favorable of Portland or Phoenix, and then Washington).

So what’s going on here? Well, think of this as the kiddie version of the Suns-Jazz trade from a few weeks ago in which the Suns gave up one very valuable pick (their unprotected 2031 first-rounder) to get three lesser picks (protected first-rounders likely to come at the end of the round). Washington gets a first-round pick here, but the presence of the Thunder within that equation means it’s likely to come at the end of the round. The 76ers get a bundle of second-round picks it can separate into multiple deals moving forward.

 The Atlanta Hawks are taking calls from De’Andre Hunter suitors, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are “emerging as a frontrunner” to land him, according to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix. Hunter, 27, is in the Year 2 of a four-year, $90 million extension and is making $21.7 million this season.

Hunter has averaged a career-high 19 points in 28.7 minutes per game this season and made a career-high 39.3% of his 3-point attempts. If the Hawks had traded him this time last year, they might have had to incentivize another team to take his contract. Now that he’s in the middle of a bounceback season, it looks like they’re trying to sell high.

Cleveland doesn’t have many holes on its roster, but it doesn’t currently have a 3-and-D-and-more guy who stands 6-foot-8 and is as strong as Hunter. He can defend up and down the positional spectrum, and he shouldn’t disrupt the Cavs’ chemistry on either end. I’m not going to applaud them until they actually make the deal (and we know the price tag), but, for a team that’s trying to chase a championship right now, Hunter makes perfect sense as a trade target.

 Kevin Durant was almost a Warrior… again. The Dubs were interested in a reunion and they had a trade lined up to get Durant, while Jimmy Butler would have landed in Phoenix, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. This deal fell apart because Durant did not want to go back to Golden State, and the Warriors did not want to acquire a disgruntled superstar.

The Athletic adds that KD and Stephen Curry had a recent conversation that left Curry with the impression that a reunion would not be happening. 

From reporter Anthony Slater: Stephen Curry had a conversation with Kevin Durant that convinced him a reunion was extremely unlikely, no matter how much the Golden State Warriors ownership group and front office collectively “underestimated” Durant’s coldness toward a return, as one team source put it.

 It’s been a crazy few days for the Lakers and Rob Pelinka. The Lakers GM used the leftover assets he somehow still had after acquiring Luka Doncic to go out and get another key piece on Wednesday night. Here’s CBS Sports’ Brad Botkin on the deadline’s luckiest man:

Lakers’ run of dumb luck continues as another unbelievable trade falls into GM Rob Pelinka’s lap

 We are six hours away from the 2025 NBA trade deadline. And if the last four days are any indication, we’re probably in for some more fireworks. It’s been a hectic stretch that has shaken up the roster of multiple teams. Here’s a brief rundown of things that happened just on Wednesday:

So what will happen Thursday? We’ll find out soon enough.

 The Charlotte Hornets have agreed to trade 7-foot-2 center Mark Williams to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, an unprotected 2031 first-round pick and a 2030 pick swap. Williams is exactly the type of lob-catching, rim-protecting center that Doncic flourished alongside in Dallas.

Meanwhile the Hornets add Knecht, who has shown flashes of brilliance in his rookie season with the Lakers, along with draft capital that will help them down the road should another superstar ever hit the market.

Lakers land Mark Williams in trade with Hornets to give LeBron James, Luka Doncic their center, per report

 The New Orleans Pelicans are trading Brandon Ingram to the Toronto Raptors, according to Shams Charania. In exchange for the former All-Star forward, the Pelicans will receive Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, one first-round pick and one second-round pick. 

The deal marks not only the end of Ingram’s six-year tenure with the Pelicans, but the single biggest shakeup the Pelicans have undergone since dealing Anthony Davis to the Lakers in 2019.

Brandon Ingram trade: Pelicans send former All-Star to Raptors for Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk, picks

 Knicks trade Jericho Sims to Bucks as part of Khris Middleton deal, per report

 Jimmy Butler trade grades: Warriors get ‘B+’ for major swing, Heat sell low after saga with star

 Brandon Ingram has been on the trade block for a long while. And it looks like he very well could be leaving New Orleans before tomorrow afternoon. The Pelicans forward is reportedly being coveted by the Hawks and Raptors, per The Athletic. The two teams in pursuit are “neck-and-neck.”

 The Golden State Warriors have acquired six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler in a massive trade involving the Miami Heat, Utah Jazz and Detroit Pistons, according to Shams Charania. 

As part of the deal, the Heat will receive Andrew Wiggins, PJ Tucker, Kyle Anderson and a protected 2025 first-round pick from the Warriors. The Pistons will get Lindy Waters III and Josh Richardson and the Jazz will add Dennis Schroder.

This deal ends a months-long saga between Butler and the Heat, who suspended the star forward multiple times for conduct detrimental to the team. The latest suspension, an indefinite one, came on Jan. 27 after Butler walked out of shootaround after being told that he would be removed from the starting lineup. 

Because the suspension was handed out by the team, and not the league, Butler will be eligible to play with the Warriors immediately once the trade is finalized. He has not played since Jan. 21, so his new team may want to give him a ramp up period. 

The Warriors had been desperate to acquire another star to pair with Steph Curry and Draymond Green, and had reportedly called numerous teams to inquire about the likes of Kevin Durant, Paul George and even LeBron James. They finally got their man in Butler, who will give them a much-needed secondary scorer and proven playoff performer. 

Notably, Butler has already agreed to a two-year extension with the Warriors, per Charania. Per Bobby Marks, Butler is eligible to sign for $111 million. To do so, he is declining his player option for the 2025-26 season. Butler’s long-term plans had been a major hang-up in trade negotiations between the Heat and other teams. 

As for the Heat, this brings an era of basketball in Miami to a close. Butler led the team to two surprise NBA Finals trips in 2020 and 2023, and another Eastern Conference finals in 2022. Ultimately, though, the relationship between him and the organization became strained, due in large part to his cavalier approach — a common story throughout his career. 

 According to Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor, “‘Jimmy Butler to Golden State’ is about as loud in NBA circles as ‘Kevin Durant to Golden State’ was yesterday at this same time.” Obviously no deal is done. Phoenix is likely still desperately exploring any last-minute paths to Butler if they exist, and Miami won’t make this deal if there’s even the faintest chance it can turn Butler into Kevin Durant, but for now, the Warriors seem to have the momentum to make a deal happen.

So, what does a Butler-to-Golden State trade look like? Andrew Wiggins would probably be the primary matching salary, and he could slot easily into Miami’s lineup as Butler’s replacement at small forward. Dennis Schroder, who can now be aggregated, stands out as an obvious bit of matching salary as well. The real question here is if the Heat would prefer draft picks or young players like Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski. By all accounts, the Heat want to save cap space for the summer of 2026, but Wiggins is already owed money for the 2026-27 season, and Kuminga is going to be a restricted free agent this summer. If that is their return, they’d likely be taking themselves out of the 2026 cap space derby… at least for now.

 The Washington Wizards are trading Jonas Valanciunas to the Sacramento Kings for Sidy Cissoko and two second-round picks, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The Kings have a trade exception that can absorb Valanciunas, so they didn’t need to send out money to make the deal work. The calculus for them is straightforward: Valanciunas is an upgrade at backup center for them over Alex Len and occasional small-ball option Trey Lyles.

For Washington, the deal is a bit more interesting. Off the bat, they effectively turned a free-agent signing over the summer into some free second-round picks. Not a bad bit of business. But in the broader landscape, it’s worth pointing out that they didn’t have to absorb any salary to make this deal aside from Cissoko, who makes less than $2 million. That means they just opened up some more money under the luxury tax. 

Granted, they took on money this morning when they turned Kyle Kuzma into Khris Middleton, but with their backup center gone, could they now be a team that absorbs Jusuf Nurkic from the Suns? We’ll find out by tomorrow, but the Wizards loom as a financial facilitator in bigger deals that might be coming.

 With Kevin Durant now seemingly off of the table for Golden State, it looks like the Warriors have turned their attention to Jimmy Butler as their next preferred trade target, according to Marc Stein. A possible Butler-to-Golden State deal was scuttled over the weekend because Butler, at the time, was not interested in re-signing in Golden State. Has that changed?

It’s worth wondering here how engaged Miami is on this sort of trade. There have been rumblings that the Heat would like to use Butler to try to land Kevin Durant from Phoenix. Just because Durant is off of the table for the Warriors does not necessarily mean he won’t be traded at all. If the Heat have their way, they would surely prefer to get Durant than anything the Warriors have to offer. So now, the Heat are negotiating on two fronts.

 The New York Knicks are “expected to move” Jericho Sims before the deadline, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. It’s not yet clear which of the “several teams that have expressed interest” in Sims will get him.

It is not surprising that the Knicks are going to trade one of their centers. On Jan. 13, the New York Post’s Stefan Bondy reported that they were shopping the 26-year-old Sims. The big question, though, is what will happen to the other big men on the roster. Mitchell Robinson has been a popular trade candidate, but SNY’s Ian Begley reported Wednesday the team is unlikely to trade him before the deadline. Is New York confident enough in Robinson staying healthy once he returns from his ankle injury (or rookie Ariel Hukporti holding down the fort) to trade Precious Achiuwa? Achiuwa is on a $6 million expiring contract.

For the last two months, Sims has been mostly out of the rotation. He’s an incredible athlete, though, and he’s tough to keep off the offensive glass. He wasn’t able to establish himself as an every-night backup under coach Tom Thibodeau, but it could potentially happen elsewhere.

Sims is on a $2.1 million expiring contract. The Knicks’ payroll is right up against the second apron, so, if they get a player in return for Sims, said player must have a lower salary than that.

 Kevin Durant trade to Warriors ‘highly unlikely’ as KD does not want to return to Golden State, per reports

 Things are no longer looking good for the chances of Kevin Durant rejoining Stephen Curry with the Warriors. But the Suns still have KD on the trade block. And Jimmy Butler still wants to go to Phoenix. So why not kill two trade deadline birds with one stone and swap Durant for Butler? It’s possible. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Wednesday afternoon that if KD is, in fact, traded by tomorrow afternoon, the current most likely destination is Miami.

 We are exactly one day away from the 2025 NBA trade deadline. Eyes continue to be on Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler, but there should be dozens more deals before 3 p.m. ET Thursday. You can catch up on all the moves so far in our trade tracker:

NBA trade tracker: Follow every deadline deal as Jimmy Butler, Brandon Ingram find new homes

 There was serious momentum for a Kevin Durant-Warriors trade in the last day. It seemed like KD returning to the Bay to play with Stephen Curry was a serious possibility. With 24 hours until the deadline, however, recent reporting indicates that deal is “highly unlikely.”

Wednesday afternoon, reports started surfacing that Durant was not interested in rejoining the Warriors.

Jake Fischer and Marc Stein included two important nuggets:

• “There is a distinct sense percolating now that Durant does not want to be traded at all this week … to the extent that he can control it,” according to Fischer and Stein. Notably Durant, unlike Bradley Beal, lacks a no-trade clause in his contract. He is also under contract next season with no player option, so he cannot use the threat of free agency to steer the process like Jimmy Butler has.
• “It is believed that Durant has some serious reservations about a second Warriors stint if he were to be shipped there,” again according to Fischer and Stein. Notably, they mention that when he left the Bay the first time, there was a sense that he no longer wanted to play with Draymond Green. Well, Green could theoretically be included in a trade package that nets the Warriors Durant. One source told Fischer that he could even see the Warriors trading for Durant despite these reservations.

ESPN’s Shams Charania added Durant has “no desire” in a reunion. Arizona sports radio host John Gambadoro says a deal is “highly unlikely” and momentum has been lost.

This doesn’t necessarily mean Durant will stay in Phoenix through Thursday, but it’s poured cold water on the most discussed rumor of the deadline. The Warriors, meanwhile, might have to move on to other trade targets (Jimmy Butler? Paul George? Brandon Ingram?).

 In what is becoming an annual tradition at this point, the New Orleans Pelicans have ducked the luxury tax at the trade deadline. Last season, they needed to dump Kira Lewis Jr. to do so. This season, they’ve traded Daniel Theis to the Oklahoma City Thunder to escape the tax’s wrath and set themselves up for a hefty distribution payout after the season.

Meanwhile, the Thunder pick up a spare big as insurance. Both Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein have dealt with injuries this season, so the Thunder give themselves one more big body in case those injuries pop up in the postseason. This is as simple a win-win trade as you’ll see at the deadline.

 KD is out tonight with what the Suns are calling ankle soreness. The question now is: Has Kevin Durant played his last game in Phoenix? We’ll find out in the next 25 hours.

 Yes, Kevin Durant is still a Phoenix Sun. Though he’s doubtful for Wednesday’s night game (in Oklahoma City of all places), KD was at shootaround Wednesday morning.

 Remember how, a million years agofour days ago, it seemed like the trade deadline was going to be pretty boring? There were valid reasons for that! Many would-be buyers are constrained the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement and/or previous win-now trades in which they surrendered most of their draft capital. As a result, many would-be sellers may conclude that they’re better off waiting until the draft or later to make their moves. 

Even though the Dallas Mavericks made a move so shocking that Brooklyn Nets forward Ziaire Williams literally bet his teammates it wasn’t true, even though there are some ripple effects of that trade and even though the Golden State Warriors are reportedly star-hunting again, this underlying dynamic remains unchanged. For this reason, Cam Johnson could wind up staying in Brooklyn beyond Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline, despite Johnson being A) available, B) in the middle a career season and C) on a team-friendly contract ($22.5 million this season, $20.5 million next season, $22.5 million in 2026-27).

According to the New York Post, a Johnson trade is not likely, as the Nets aren’t shopping him and none of the offers they’ve received have been appealing. The Post reported in Wednesday’s wee hours that they have not talked to the Warriors about him, and that the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings are no longer in the mix, having already made their big moves. While The Stein Line has reported that Brooklyn has told teams it will take at least two first-round picks to get Johnson, the Post quoted a source saying that “there isn’t an asking price” because the team isn’t actively trying to move him.

On Tuesday, SNY also reported that no Johnson suitor is expected to make the kind of offer that the Nets would accept, adding that center Day’Ron Sharpe is still a player to monitor. Drafted No. 29 by Brooklyn in 2021, the big man did not sign an extension leading up to this season, so he’ll be a restricted free agent in July. Sharpe is 23 years old and a monster rebounder, and the Los Angeles Clippers have at least “done background work” on him, per SNY.

 Are the Golden State Warriors going to bring back their old buddy Kevin Durant? Are they, weeks after an apparent existential crisis about “mortgaging the future,” going to trade 22-year-old forward Jonathan Kuminga? It’s the day before the deadline, and questions are swirling.

All that we know for sure is that Golden State is not content with hovering around .500. Stephen Curry wants the team to “be in the conversation,” even though he doesn’t know what that would take, and the franchise would like to honor him, if that is possible. From the sounds of it, Golden State is open to just about anything that would vault it closer to championship contention. And I mean anything.

“They’re in the middle of this desperate time,” The Athletic’s Sam Amick said on Wednesday’s episode of “Run It Back” on FanDuel TV, “where they’re trying to get another star, and, as of yesterday, we’re looking at it, going, ‘Oh, boy, they might actually get off Draymond.'”

Yes, Draymond. Draymond Green. Seven months after Klay Thompson left the Bay Area, could the Warriors really move another another four-time champ, another future Hall of Famer, another player who has spent his entire career with them? They drafted him No. 35 overall in 2012, having no idea that he would become one of the best defenders who has ever lived and no idea that he would supplant an injured David Lee in the starting lineup, a franchise-changing — and game-changing — event that seems inevitable in retrospect. Green has said he would like to play in Golden State until he retires; even if that’s still likely, Golden State merely exploring the idea of trading him is noteworthy.

Amick did not come close to implying that the Warriors are on the verge of trading Green, who turns 35 in March but remains one of the league’s best defenders and smartest players. In fact, he said that he doesn’t think it’ll happen, “but it’s 100% been discussed internally.”

On Tuesday, in a story co-bylined by Amick, David Aldridge and Anthony Slater, The Athletic reported that Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia, who was a walk-on at Michigan State and “has an established relationship” with Green, who starred for the Spartans, is “known to covet” the eight-time All-Defensive team member. How exactly this piece of information fits in with the Suns’ ongoing pursuit of Jimmy Butler is a mystery to me, but it’s interesting.

Is there a world in which the Warriors reunite with Durant but Green isn’t a part of it? I genuinely don’t know, and the Dallas Mavericks just traded Luka Doncic, so, as far as I’m concerned, up is down, right is left and pigs are flying. As much as I’d like to completely dismiss this profoundly weird possibility, I don’t feel like I can.

 The defending champion Boston Celtics are trading Jaden Springer and a 2030 second-round pick to the Houston Rockets, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. 

Here’s how CBS Sports’ Jack Maloney explained the Celtics’ potential approach last week:

Each dollar over the luxury tax costs the team about four dollars in tax payments, which means someone like Jaden Springer, whose salary is just over $4 million, actually costs about $16 million. While Springer has gotten more of an opportunity lately, he’s rarely played outside of garbage time this season and won’t be in the playoff rotation.