The NBA playoffs are mere weeks away, and fans of the 10 doomed lottery teams (sorry, Milwaukee, it’s over) are likely paying more attention to the Sweet Sixteen brackets than to these meaningless final games.
Let’s take stock of the latest news and notes around the league.
Steve Roberts-Imagn ImagesDarius Acuff Makes Men’s College Sports History
Top-10 draft prospect Darius Acuff Jr. just made college sports history.
Per ESPN’s Shams Charania, Acuff has become the first college men’s athlete of any stripe still in school to agree to a deal with a big U.S. sportswear company. Jide Osifeso, Reebok’s head of basketball, informs Charania that Acuff has inked an agreement for a signature shoe with the company.
The consensus All-American true freshman guard has been a rising star for Arkansas this season. Across 35 healthy games, he’s been averaging 23.3 points on .486/.446/.811 shooting splits, 6.5 dimes and 3.1 boards a night.
Acuff has been rapidly rising up the ranks of mock 2026 NBA Draft boards, including ours. Clearly, Reebok is bullish on his pro upside.
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn ImagesNBPA Defends Cade Cunningham’s MVP Bid
A collapsed lung could very well cap Detroit Pistons All-Star point guard Cade Cunningham’s 2025-26 season at just 61 healthy games, meaning he’ll fall a bit short of the 65 contests needed for him to secure All-NBA or MVP votes, thanks to a prohibitive recent CBA rule.
The National Basketball Players Association has now come to the defense of Cunningham, and suggested that the stringent policy be adjusted in the future, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
“Cade Cunningham’s potential eligibility for postseason awards after a career-defining season is a clear indictment of the 65-game rule and yet another example of why it must be abolished or reformed to create an exception for significant injuries,” the NBPA said in a statement, per Reynolds. “Since its implementation, far too many deserving players have been unfairly disqualified from end-of-season honors by this arbitrary and overly rigid quota.”
Before going down, Cunningham had been the best player on the best team in the Eastern Conference, and appeared to have a legitimate chance to finish among the top five in MVP vote recipients.
New Developments on Potential Seattle SuperSonics Return
Washington state governor Bob Ferguson revealed Monday that he and league commissioner Adam Silver had a “productive Zoom meeting” about the potential return of NBA basketball to Seattle.
In potentially (likely?) related news, the owner of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, Samantha Holloway, announced the founding of “One Roof Sports and Entertainment,” which will serve as the umbrella brand of the Kraken organization and to “oversee a growing portfolio of properties and fuel new opportunities.” As part of the new brand, Holloway also bought a majority share of Climate Pledge Arena, according to Chris Daniels of KOMO News. This move could help clear a path for Holloway to buy into an ownership group for a new Seattle NBA club.
The SuperSonics, of course, were rudely relocated to Oklahoma City by Clay Bennett in 2008, before Russell Westbrook could play a single game with the historic franchise. Seattle has been floated as a possible destination in a league expansion. But the city could also be a landing spot for another franchise considering a relocation. The New Orleans Pelicans come to mind.
Bucks Waive Cam Thomas in Shocker
Cam Thomas rejected a $30 million offer from the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason, hoping that his own play in 2025-26 would be enough to earn him a bigger, longer-term deal elsewhere.
Instead, Thomas requested that Brooklyn cut him completely. He wound up signing with the Milwaukee Bucks, and although he didn’t exactly affect winning, he still put up numbers when he saw the floor.
In 18 games with Milwaukee, the 24-year-old shooting guard averaged 10.7 points on .431/.275/.754 shooting splits, 1.9 assists, 1.6 rebounds.
According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Milwaukee has now waived Thomas, too — opening up a slot to ink two-way player Pete Nance to a multi-year, standard roster deal.
Charania suggests that recently-extended Bucks general manager Jon Horst had told Thomas during his midseason free agency that the team envisioned him as a major part of its future.
Thomas won’t be eligible to play during the postseason, as that deadline has passed. Will he link up with a lottery-bound squad in an effort to bolster his playing time ahead of free agency this summer?
Odds & Ends
Netflix has announced a new documentary on the Scottie Pippen-era Portland “Jail Blazers” squads of the early 2000s, set to premiere on April 14. The league predicts that its salary cap in 2026-27 will come in at $165 million, a million bucks below prior expectations, according to Charania. Charania notes that the cause for the decrease is thought to be a loss in local media earnings. Given how brutally expensive and convoluted it is to pay to watch your home team, this makes plenty of sense. Presumably, as the NBA looks to consolidate local broadcast options, things could turn around for local markets. Six-time All-Star Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic and All-Star Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball have each been named the Players of the Week for March 16-22 in their respective conferences, per a league announcement. Chicago Bulls alum Ayo Dosunmu, now with the Minnesota Timberwolves, was also nominated. The doomed Pelicans have gone 12-7 since the end of the trade deadline last month. NOLA.com’s Rod Walker submits that interim head coach James Borrego may have shown enough to warrant consideration as a long-term option. Jeff Duncan of NOLA.com writes that New Orleans intends to renovate the Smoothie King Center significantly, with the aim of lengthening the club’s current lease there through its current 2029 expiration date. Former No. 1 draft pick Markelle Fultz has signed a 10-day agreement with the Toronto Raptors. During his first game with the club (also his first game of the season, after going unsigned until this week), Toronto was outscored by 15 points in Fultz’s 16 minutes on the court. He scored just two points and turned the ball over three times. Golden State Warriors wing Moses Moody suffered a non-contact knee injury on a drive during the bonus period of a clash against the Dallas Mavericks, and had to be carted off the court. ESPN captured the grisly moment during its broadcast. Former nine-time All-Star forward Paul George just wrapped up a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s drug policy. He’s eligible to make his return for the Philadelphia 76ers Wednesday, against a weirdly not-quite-tanking Chicago squad. Per PHLY Sports’ Derek Bodner, Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse suggests that George remains in game shape. The 35-year-old is in the second season of a bloated four-year, $211.6 million contract he signed with the 76ers as a free agent in 2024. His production doesn’t exactly mesh with his salary, but he’s still a productive two-way role player on a solid, postseason-bound squad. David Banks-Imagn ImagesHence then, the article about around the nba acuff s historic reebok deal a supersonics return cam thomas cut loose more was published today ( ) and is available on Bleacher Nation ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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