The Cleveland Cavaliers will not buyout J.R. Smith before the deadline as they have every intention of attempting to trade him in June.

Smith signed a four-year, $57 million contract with the Cavaliers in 2016 with just $3.8 million of his $15.6 million salary for 19-20 guaranteed.

Because the Cavaliers are well over the luxury tax line, there is little incentive to agree to a buyout with Smith at a reduced figure.

The Boston Celtics informed the New Orleans Pelicans that "everyone can be available" when they discuss an Anthony Davis trade this offseason.

There has been varying speculation whether the Celtics will make Jayson Tatum available in Davis trade talks.

The Celtics were unable to execute a trade for Davis as the trade deadline due to the presence of Kyrie Irving on their roster while also on a Derrick Rose rule max contract.

Anthony Davis does not consider the Boston Celtics as a long-term destination, according to Shams Charania.

Davis said over the All-Star break that all 29 teams outside of the Pelicans are on his list of preferred trade destinations. 

Davis' father made headlines at the beginning of the month by stating that he doesn't want his son to play for the Celtics after how they treated Isaiah Thomas. 

Kyle Kuzma said he welcomes the scrutiny of playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I wouldn’t want it any other way. I want people to talk about me, good or bad. Because if they’re not, you’re not doing something right. I’d rather be talked about bad in L.A. than play in Orlando and not get talked about," said Kuzma.

Kuzma was recently named the MVP of the Rising Stars Challenge. 

Anthony Davis stated that the Boston Celtics are on his list of teams that he would sign a long-term contract with, adding that he "never said Boston wasn't on my list". 

He then said in a later interview that he wants to play for any team outside of the Pelicans.

“All 29 other teams are on my list. I don’t have a preferred destination. I just want to win. Big market, small market - I don’t care. I just want to win. Whatever team I get traded to, I’ll play for it that year or whatever. I’ll make the best of it and then when free agency comes, see what happens. I can’t tell the future," said Davis.

Davis added that he never gave anyone a list of teams he'd like to get traded to.

“I never gave a destination. Anthony Davis never gave a destination of where he wants to play.”

The Toronto Raptors were interested in trading for Nikola Mirotic from the New Orleans Pelicans at the trade deadline.

The Raptors and Pelicans worked together on a three-way trade that would have sent Delon Wright to the Orlando Magic.

The Pelicans instead traded Mirotic to the Milwaukee Bucks, which led the Raptors to pivot to their acquisition of Marc Gasol instead.

The New Orleans Pelicans attempted to block Anthony Davis from playing in another game with the franchise, according to "a litany of sources" that spoke with Scott Kushner of The Advocate.

The NBA and NBPA, however, pressured the Pelicans to continue playing Davis despite his trade request.

Davis made a trade request shortly before the deadline, but the Pelicans opted not to execute a deal and will instead wait until the offseason to resolve the situation.

Alvin Gentry has reached the point where he doesn't want to speak about the Davis situation anymore.

“We have to get to a point where we are not bringing this up every time I step in front of the camera,” Gentry said. “To be honest with you, most of the answers, if you want them, you have to go to him and ask them. Whatever our new normal is, we want to get back to that. We want to put this stuff behind us.”

Kristaps Porzingis had a wish list of four teams for a potential trade with the Dallas Mavericks omitted. 

Porzingis had the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors on his list, according to two people with knowledge of the list.

The initial reporting following the trade indicated that Porzingis planned to sign the qualifying offer with the Mavericks as a restricted free agent. Comments made since then have suggested a long-term deal between the Mavericks and Porzingis now has a better probability. 

The New York Knicks attempted to engage the Sacramento Kings on a trade for Marvin Bagley III in addition to De'Aaron Fox as they gauged the market for Kristaps Porzingis.

The Kings were not interested in discussing a deal involving Bagley for Porzingis.

The Knicks ultimately traded Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks in a package that included Dennis Smith Jr.

Bagley was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, selected ahead of Luka Doncic.

Magic Johnson believes the New Orleans Pelicans acted in bad faith in their trade talks with the Los Angeles Lakers on Anthony Davis.

Johnson replied "No" when posted the question by reporters.

"We knew that basically at the end of the day, what happened, happened," Johnson said. "And we knew that when we first started, in terms of what happened. But hey, it is what it is."

Johnson also disagreed with the notion that the public nature of trade talks were unfair to the Lakers' young core.

"Quit making this about thinking these guys are babies because that's what you're treating them like," Johnson said. "They're professionals. All of them. And this is how this league works. They know it, I know it -- that's how it goes.

"So we've got to move forward, and we are moving forward. They played outstanding against Boston. Give them credit. And we want to play well today and continue on. This is a part of the league. You've got a good side of the business that we get paid to be professional basketball players, and there's deals like this."