Cavaliers forward Nae’Qwan Tomlin is likely to be promoted from his two-way deal to a standard contract but not right away, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes in his latest mailbag (subsciber-only story). Teammates and coaches are lobbying for it and he has the support of the front office but the organization is in no hurry to do so. The cap-strapped franchise will likely keep its roster options open until the trade deadline passes, since Tomlin has only been active for 41 games, meaning he is still nine away from the 50-game threshold for two-way players. The Cavs only have seven games prior to the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- The Pistons defeated New Orleans without All-Star starter Cade Cunningham in the lineup on Wednesday. Cunningham sat out due to an illness and a left hip contusion. He’s questionable to play in Detroit’s home game against Houston on Friday, Hunter Patterson of The Athletic tweets .
- The Bucks have limited trade assets but they’re comfortably below the luxury tax line and about $18MM under the first apron. So what kind of moves might they make, short of trading their superstar? The Athletic’s Eric Nehm proposes a number of hypothetical deals, a few of which include Kyle Kuzma , Gary Harris and Amir Coffey as well as a blockbuster that would involve Bobby Portis and several other players to acquire the Kings’ Zach LaVine .
- Quenton Jackson ‘s ankle was “jammed,” according to coach Rick Carlisle, during the Pacers’ loss to the Celtics on Wednesday. Jackson wasn’t on crutches in the locker room afterward, according to the Indianapolis Star’s Dustin Dopirak (Twitter link ), and seemed to be moving around OK though he was in some pain. He’s questionable to play against Oklahoma City on Friday.