The Oklahoma City Thunder appear headed toward a rebuild, but how should they complement ascendant young point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? With head coach Billy Donovan out the door and point guard Chris Paul potentially following him, the Oklahoma City Thunder appear headed for a rebuild. However, after trading Russell Westbrook and Paul George last offseason,
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1:58 AM ET The last time we saw the Los Angeles Lakers, nearly a week ago when they were finishing off the small-ball Houston Rockets in the second round of the playoffs, centers Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee had been relegated to socially distant cheerleaders on the bench. An important role in a mostly-empty, fanless
Beijing Ducks’ Jeremy Lin (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images) The elastic soul of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat by Kevin Yeung Jeremy Lin is coming back to the NBA. At 31 years old with declining health, it seemed as though Jeremy Lin’s wild NBA career was drawing to a close after
7:05 AM ET THWACK!! Detroit Pistons defensive wizard Tayshaun Prince, all 215 pounds of him, smashed into an immovable, 7-foot-3, 260-pound object named Zydrunas Ilgauskas. The Cleveland Cavaliers big man planted himself adjacent to Prince with the explicit purpose of preventing him from tracking a precocious 21-year-old LeBron James. Splat!! This time the culprit was
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. The Boston Celtics have only been outscored by the Miami Heat by a total of eight points so far in the Eastern Conference Finals, but that narrow margin
Loving Sports When They Don’t Love You Back, by Jessica Luther and Kavitha A. Davidson, is a look at the complicated moral dilemmas of the modern sports fan. Throughout the last four years, since Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the National Anthem, a sort of reckoning has taken place in the sports world. His activism, and
10:57 AM ET Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has won his second consecutive MVP award, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Antetokounmpo joins Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell as back-to-back MVPs. Antetokounmpo joins Michael Jordan (1987-88 season) and
Building player pick probabilities from a massive sample of mock drafts reveals just how divisive this NBA Draft class is. Say you’re the Atlanta Hawks, and you really like Obi Toppin in the upcoming NBA Draft, but you’re not sure if he’ll still be available at No. 6. Do you move up, or hold on
NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – MARCH 03: Juan Hernangomez #41 of the Minnesota Timberwolves reacts against the New Orleans Pelicans during the second half at the Smoothie King Center on March 03, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting
10:45 PM ET In the NBA postseason, there’s often a team that discovers its potential along the way. It learns who it is, banks on its strengths and builds confidence with each win. The Toronto Raptors accomplished that in the 2019 playoffs, and in the Year of the Bubble, the Miami Heat are that team.
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. The NBA head coaching carousel never stops spinning. Despite the New York Knicks (Tom Thibodeau), Brooklyn Nets (Steve Nash) and Cleveland Cavaliers (J.B. Bickerstaff) all filling their vacancies
Is Giannis Antetokounmpo more like Michael Jordan or Scottie Pippen? And how much nuance is missed in such an obtuse question? I was reminded recently of how difficult and ill-fitting comparisons can be when Richard Jefferson tweeted that Giannis is a “Pippen” in need of a “Jordan.” Comparisons are born from questions with difficult answers. Who
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – AUGUST 29: Khris Middleton #22 of the Milwaukee Bucks (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) Thursday night is a must-win for Baker Mayfield and the Browns by Steven Kubitza Chiefs announce fan who attended opener has tested positive for COVID by Mike Phillips Khris Middleton was robbed of an All-NBA
7:20 AM ET I first started hearing versions of it from rival executives at the end of the 2014-15 season, when the Miami Heat traded two first-round picks for Goran Dragic on an expiring contract — and finished 37-45, one game short of the playoffs: If it wasn’t the Heat, we’d all be laughing at
LeBron James sits and waits at the top of the mountain, while all of his presumed challengers keep coming up short. Friday, Sept. 18, was nearly a historic day. That’s the day the Western Conference Finals begin. For a week it looked like that series would feature the L.A. Clippers vs. the L.A. Lakers in
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (Photo by Kim Klement – Pool/Getty Images) Bam Adebayo stuffs Jayson Tatum at the rim with game-winning block (Video) by Gerald Bourguet Bam Adebayo made one of the best blocks in NBA playoff history, and Twitter went wild Bam Adebayo blocked Jayson Tatum at the summit, but it’s unlikely he’ll
Game 1 between the Celtics and Heat was an instant classic. With Game 2 looming tonight, what questions do each team need to answer? The Miami Heat escaped Game 1 with a three-point overtime win, thanks to the last-second defensive heroics of Bam Adebayo. It was a crucial win but at least a dozen 50-50
6:24 AM ET THE NINE MONTHS it took to schedule a dinner between Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and the franchise’s newest superstar, LeBron James, really wasn’t that long by Los Angeles standards. James lives in Beverly Hills; Buss lives in Playa Vista. Busy people, L.A. traffic, intense jobs — nine months is actually
The 2019-20 All-NBA teams were unveiled by the league on Wednesday, which of course led to debate. The 2020 NBA Playoffs are entering the final stretch, as the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat battle in the Eastern Conference Finals, while the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets prepare to face off for the right to represent the
9:47 PM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Having played JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard sparingly in the second round against the small ball-centric Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel acknowledged he’ll need to bring his bigs back into the fold against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Western Conference
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA – SEPTEMBER 10: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers and Alex Caruso #4 of the Los Angeles Lakers react during the second quarter against the Houston Rockets in Game Four of the Western Conference Second Round during the 2020 NBA Playoffs at AdventHealth Arena at the ESPN Wide World
Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard released a new song paying tribute to the late Kobe Bryant on Friday with a little help from Snoop Dogg. Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard, also known as Dame D.O.L.L.A., released a song honoring the late Kobe Bryant on Friday, with the legendary Snoop Dogg joining in
3:49 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James made history Wednesday when he was named to a 16th All-NBA team in his 17-year career, which snapped a tie with Hall of Famers Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most in NBA history. James was
In a furious back-and-forth game full of clutch performances, Bam Adebayo made himself the hero with an epic defensive play to save Game 1. Working on a game story is a weird, unsettling task. The job is to braid together the most meaningful threads of a basketball game into a single narrative retelling. But the
The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. The LA Clippers … are still the LA Clippers. Following their third straight defeat in which they led by double figures, the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead
The Denver Nuggets stunned the LA Clippers in Game 7, advancing to the Western Conference Finals. For the second time in the 2020 NBA Playoffs, the Denver Nuggets overcame a 3-1 deficit to win the series. In the process, not only did they become the first team in NBA history to do so, but they advanced
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum ripped the Clippers. The Los Angeles Clippers authored one of the greatest choke jobs in the history of basketball, blowing a 3-1 lead to Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, and the Denver Nuggets despite holding a double-digit lead in each of the last three games. While every Western Conference rival sitting
7:02 AM ET Michael Malone and LeBron James experienced their first conference finals together 13 years ago: the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ stunning 2007 upset of the Detroit Pistons in which James was just 22 and Malone was an assistant coach. Their faces aren’t quite as smooth now and they have less hair, but their presence together
Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images Bam Adebayo is the last and greatest hero of Game 1 by Ian Levy The date of the 2020 NBA Draft has officially been locked in. Mark your virtual calendars, draft prospects, general managers and basketball fans! The 2020 NBA Draft date has officially been locked in by the league.
The Indiana Pacers are interviewing a dozen candidates for their vacant head coaching gig after the team fired Nate McMillan. During their time in the Orlando bubble, the Indiana Pacers had us all believing that Nate McMillan was their head coach for the foreseeable future, especially after the team signed him to a contract extension following