4 UFC fights to look forward to in June and July by Ben Coate Chicago Cubs announcer Len Kasper unsure there will be baseball by Mark Carman Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images Real talk from Damian Lillard: if the NBA regular season has fewer than 82 games and doesn’t expand the playoffs, some players are going
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LeBron James, #23, Los Angeles Lakers. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) LeBron James took to Twitter to salute rapper Killer Mike for his speech about the Atlanta anti-racism protests on Friday night. Anti-racism protests are sweeping the nation following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer earlier this week in
5:24 PM ET Detroit Pistons coach Dwane Casey lived through desegregation in Kentucky and said he knows what it has felt like to go into a new school unwanted and unwelcome. He’s seen the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky. On Saturday, Casey, who is black,
2:37 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN As the NBA’s board of governors met Friday afternoon to assess options for how to restart the season, the league’s general managers have expressed their preference to go straight to the playoffs. In a survey of all 30 general managers, which was viewed by ESPN, 16 said they would prefer
Stephen Jackson, #5, (Photo by Ron Jenkins/BIG3/Getty Images) Retired NBA veteran Stephen Jackson was a close friend of George Floyd. He’s working to make sure all the officers involved are held accountable. Being an NBA player doesn’t protect anyone from police violence, racial profiling and racial abuse, a fact that has been, unfortunately, made clear
7:17 PM ET Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 Ramona Shelburne Close ESPN Senior Writer Senior writer for ESPN.com Spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News The NBA is planning a Thursday vote of the league’s Board of Governors — with owners expected to
2:59 PM ET ESPN News Services Former NBA player Stephen Jackson spoke at a rally Friday afternoon in Minneapolis in remembrance of his friend George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died in police custody after pleading that he could not breathe. “I’m here because they’re not gonna demean the character of George Floyd, my
Thabo Sefolosha, #25, Atlanta Hawks, (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) 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 news this morning is consumed with reports about chaotic protests in Minneapolis and around the country,
6:50 AM ET MICHELE ROBERTS HAD just stepped out of an Uber when her phone started buzzing. It was a little after 8 p.m. on March 11, and the National Basketball Players Association executive director had left her New York office after meeting with NBA commissioner Adam Silver to discuss the next steps amid the
Basketball is back, baby. Well, sorta. OK, actually, not really. But they’re talking about it. Finally. Beyond that, they’re apparently making true, meaningful progress. And although the NBA is circling through potential scenarios — bubble games, re-seeding, ignoring conferences, etc. — there’s a very real chance that this shindig gets underway by mid-July. To celebrate
6:20 PM ET Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard believes a play-in tournament for teams on the outside of the playoff picture “would be perfect” as the NBA considers options for how it could potentially restart its season. The Blazers were 3½ games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the final playoff spot in the Western
CHICAGO, IL – MARCH 20: Basketball star Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls talks to the press 20 March after practice at the Berto Center in Deerfield, Illinois. Jordan reiterated that he has returned to basketball because of his love for the game. (COLOR KEY: Microphone (L) is red) AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read
9:12 AM ET ESPN News Services LeBron James and other high-profile athletes have taken to social media to voice their outrage over the death of a black Minnesota man who was pinned down by police. George Floyd, 46, died Monday night while in Minneapolis police custody. A bystander’s video showed an officer kneeling on the
5:48 AM ET DAMIAN LILLARD HAS never entered the Portland Trail Blazers‘ training center through the media entrance, but there’s nothing natural about May 8, the first time he walks into the facility since the NBA shuttered it March 20 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Wearing a mask, Lillard steps into a makeshift check-in area,
Urban Meyer (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) Urban Meyer recruited LeBron James to play for Notre Dame football. Before he was the best basketball player of his generation, LeBron James was a pretty good wide receiver at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s in Akron, Ohio. LeBron could have been an All-Pro tight end if he decided to
7:49 PM ET Count the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as the latest institution to have its best-laid plans felled by the coronavirus. Jerry Colangelo, the chairman of the board of the governors for the Hall, told ESPN on Wednesday that enshrinement ceremonies for the Class of 2020, one of the most star-studded lineups
MILWAUKEE, WI – JANUARY 20: Former Marquette Golden Eagle Dwyane Wade addresses the media prior to game between the Marquette Golden Eagles and the Providence Friars at the Fiserv Forum on January 20, 2019 in Milwaukee, WI. (Photo by Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Dwyane Wade’s new hairdo shocks followers and gets love from
The 2020 NBA Draft was scheduled to take place in approximately one month from today. But then the COVID-19 pandemic happened and resulted in delays for just about every profession worldwide. So instead of preparing for the upcoming draft and/or analyzing the 2020 NBA Playoffs, we are looking back at recent drafts and how the
2:08 PM ET The NBA’s cleanest method of resuming its season is to bring the 16 current playoff teams to its designated “campus,” seed them as they are now — eight East, eight West — and play the NBA’s normal postseason. Sticking to 16 limits the number of bodies, which cuts the chance of COVID-19
Who would win a March Madness-style tournament if all active NBA players were grouped based solely on the first letter of their first names? People love hypothetical scenarios based on arbitrary parameters. It’s why horoscopes are so popular. The same holds true for sports – especially during a pandemic with no actual sports happening. So many
11:41 AM ET Old audio of Michael Jordan has surfaced in which he says he told NBA executive Rod Thorn, who was part of the USA Basketball selection committee, that he wouldn’t play on the Dream Team in 1992 if Detroit Pistons star point guard Isiah Thomas was also selected to the team. “Rod Thorn
As Basketball Insiders has continued its “Looking Back” series, it was only a matter of time until we crossed the double digits. Now that time has come. Today we are taking a look at how all of the tenth overall picks since 2009 have fared in the NBA. As you probably know, as the lottery
12:00 PM ET The final, fleeting fight for 30 teams to resume the NBA’s season is raging through these last days of indecision. Hours of commissioner Adam Silver’s time are being spent engaging owners and high-level executives who are making the case for how the league should march into the summer’s playoffs, including those desiring
Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images The newly released Quibi documentary, “Blackballed,” sheds more light on the LA Clippers and the Donald Sterling incident in an unconventional format. In terms of quality, the newly released Blackballed is nearly on par with ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. Shedding light on the infamous Donald Sterling incident back in
Cult-favorite Labyrinth is getting a sequel directed by Scott Derrickson by Mia Johnson NHL scheduled to move into Phase 2 of return to play plan in early June by Mary Clarke Tim Duncan, #21, San Antonio Spurs (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images) Tim Duncan sounded old beyond his years when he provided a
8:13 AM ET IT’S STILL DARK when George Hill drives up the dirt road. It is 5:30 a.m., and Hill parks his Dodge pickup, trudges over to a small hut perched 12 feet above the ground, climbs the ladder and settles in to watch the sunrise. Wearing Wrangler jeans and a hoodie emblazoned with the
6:25 AM ET In team-by-team virtual calls with players this week, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts said the “overwhelming” sentiment has been that “they really want to play” and resume the 2019-20 season, most likely in late July at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida. “It’s time. It’s time,” Roberts told ESPN.
Photo by Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images VICE TV has a new documentary “One Man and his Shoes” looking at Air Jordan sneakers and their rise to fame. Michael Jordan wanted to wear Adidas when he entered the NBA in 1984. Adidas had no money for Jordan, only willing to give the young man out of North
6:17 PM ET Cleveland Cavaliers big man Andre Drummond left a big tip for a waitress at a Florida restaurant on Sunday. Kassandra Diaz, a server at Che Restaurant in Delray Beach, said she didn’t know who the customer was until she saw that he had left a $1,000 tip on a $164 check. “When
Orlando Magic, Patrick Ewing, (TONY RANZE/AFP via Getty Images) 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. We’re heading into what would normally be the season for outdoor music and art festivals, everyone’s favorite venue to