News

1:02 PM ET Milwaukee Bucks starting guard Donte DiVincenzo will miss the rest of the playoffs with a tendon injury in his left foot, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. DiVincenzo left Thursday’s 113-84 win over the Miami Heat in the second quarter due to the injury. The 24-year-old had started 66 games for the Bucks

3:47 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Playing in their first home playoff game in eight years, the Los Angeles Lakers looked like a true championship contender for the first time in a while. L.A., the No. 7 seed, won 109-95 on Thursday night to take a 2-1 lead in its first-round matchup against the No.

7:27 PM ET The three fans banned indefinitely by the Utah Jazz made vulgar and racially offensive comments to Ja Morant’s parents, the father of the Memphis Grizzlies star guard told ESPN. A statement from the Jazz cited one “verbal altercation” that occurred during Utah’s series-tying 141-129 victory at Vivint Arena on Wednesday night, but

1:19 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN The New York Knicks say they have banned a fan who spit on Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young on Wednesday night during Game 2 of their first-round playoff series. The Knicks released a statement on the matter on Thursday afternoon. “We investigated the matter and determined that this patron, who

2:41 AM ET Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant cut toward the basket, caught the pass, cocked the ball back in his right hand and soared to the rim early in the second quarter. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert met Morant at the summit and stuffed the dunk attempt, a spectacular block by a big

9:33 PM ET Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook suffered a right ankle injury and left the floor limping in the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s playoff game at Philadelphia. Westbrook stepped on 76ers guard Furkan Korkmaz‘s foot and rolled the ankle with 10:28 remaining and the Wizards down 17 points in Game 2 of the

6:46 AM ET TAJ GIBSON HAS heard all the questions before. When Tom Thibodeau takes a job, Gibson knows what’s coming. And when Thibodeau was named coach of the New York Knicks last year, Gibson fielded all those regular questions — including those from Knicks forward Julius Randle. There’s an internal script that plays out

2:12 AM ET For as long as they have shared basketball rights — and hearts — in Los Angeles, there have been remarkably few playoff matchups between the Lakers and Clippers over the years. Like zero, to be precise. Fifteen years ago, the Lakers were one win away from creating the first “Hallway Series” at

9:46 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Brooklyn Nets forward Jeff Green both left with injuries Tuesday night in Game 2 of the first-round series between the two teams. Tatum exited the game with 8 minutes, 48 seconds to go in the third quarter when he was accidentally poked in the

2:54 AM ET The Denver Nuggets walked into the locker room at halftime of Game 2 of their first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers with a lead, but also had the inescapable presence of Damian Lillard‘s supernova first half simmering in the air. Lillard had the flamethrower set to maximum heat, firing in

12:02 AM ET On the eve of the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder, the NBA’s social justice coalition released a statement Monday night calling on the U.S. Senate to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act as a way to honor the memory of Floyd and “others who have been victims of police

8:08 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year on Monday night, edging out teammate Joe Ingles and New York Knicks guard Derrick Rose for the award. “For me, it was tough,” Clarkson said in an interview on TNT’s “Inside The NBA.” “My first couple

11:14 AM ET Brian Windhorst Close ESPN Senior Writer ESPN.com NBA writer since 2010 Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years Author of two books Tim MacMahon Close ESPN Staff Writer Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009 Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell was

1:55 AM ET The big stage and bright lights of the 2021 NBA playoffs didn’t prove to be too much for several young stars making their playoff debuts Sunday, as they did everything from hitting game-winning shots to setting franchise records. Using data from the ESPN Stats & Information group, here’s an All-Star team of

4:40 PM ET Chris Paul returned in the second quarter of the Phoenix Suns‘ first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday after suffering a right shoulder contusion. With the Suns up 11 in the second quarter, LeBron James leaped over Paul for an offensive rebound and putback layup, drawing L.A. within 38-29 with

1:04 PM ET The NBA is eager to restart the conversation with its teams and the players’ association about adding a midseason tournament to the league’s calendar, sources told ESPN. Commissioner Adam Silver, a proponent of the idea, has gained optimism that the success of the play-in tournament could drive momentum to reengage teams on

12:51 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Ever since the Brooklyn Nets put together their Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden four months ago, the basketball world has waited to see what these Nets would look like in the playoffs. While it took a bit for the show to get

9:21 PM ET For a player still seeking his first playoff series victory, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic has assembled an extraordinary list of postseason performances. Doncic added to it with his 31-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist afternoon to lead the Mavericks to a 113-103 win over the LA Clippers in Saturday’s Game 1 at Staples Center.

12:50 PM ET After a second surgery in 28 months to repair his right quadriceps tendon, Miami Heat guard Victor Oladipo could be cleared to return to full-contact basketball as soon as November, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jonathan Glashow told ESPN. Glashow performed the procedure on May 13, and he expressed surprise that Oladipo had even

1:15 AM ET Brianna Williams Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print Ja Morant was “on his grizzly” as he led the Memphis Grizzlies to a playoff spot with a win over league MVP finalist Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. Read more: Lessons from the wildest NBA season on record The 21-year-old put

9:56 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Friends since their high school days and former USA Basketball teammates and NBA Players Association leadership members together, LeBron James and Chris Paul are about to go against each other in the playoffs for the first time in their storied careers. “It’s going to be comparable to playing against

10:05 AM ET Two 6-foot-9 Florida twins ranked among the top 15 high school juniors in the country — Matt and Ryan Bewley — are signing two-year deals with the Overtime Elite professional league, sources told ESPN, marking the first prep underclassmen to sign contracts with an American professional basketball league. Matt, who is ranked

1:24 AM ET During an impassioned speech that took place in the middle of the season after a loss, Russell Westbrook told the Washington Wizards that they were going to make the playoffs despite all the injuries, a COVID-19 outbreak and losing streaks the team had to endure this season. On Thursday night, Westbrook delivered

7:46 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry are the finalists for this year’s NBA Most Valuable Player award. The top three vote-getters for each of the NBA’s major end-of-season awards — MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the

12:57 AM ET LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers‘ postseason run opened with Wednesday’s winner-take-all play-in game against the Golden State Warriors. And it took everything the defending champions had to win it, 103-100. LeBron James‘ 34-foot 3-point heave to beat the shot-clock buzzer fell through the net with 58.2 seconds remaining, breaking a

1:30 AM ET LOS ANGELES — By all accounts, the play-in tournament has been a resounding success for the NBA this year. It created exciting new scenarios toward the end of the regular season and mostly stemmed the widespread tanking which had made a mockery of the final month of play for the 14 teams

7:59 PM ET NEW YORK — After a regular season riddled with injuries, the Brooklyn Nets are entering the NBA playoffs as close to fully healthy as they’ve been all season. Star guard James Harden, who missed over five weeks with a hamstring strain, was available to play in just two games during the final

7:00 AM ET The 2021 NBA postseason officially tips off Tuesday with the play-in tournament followed by the first round of the playoffs on Saturday. After a thrilling end of the regular season with seeds finally decided on the last day, the Charlotte Hornets and the Indiana Pacers will start things on Tuesday in the

May 15, 2021 The season has been a slog for the Boston Celtics. There was a spate of COVID-related absences that shut down practice for a stretch, a knee injury that hampered Kemba Walker, nine straight games missed by key mid-season acquisition Evan Fournier, and finally a devastating season-ending injury to Jaylen Brown. The Celtics

7:37 PM ET LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers‘ defense, ranked No. 1 in the NBA during the regular season, will be tested by the league’s leading scorer, Stephen Curry, right away to begin the postseason in Wednesday’s play-in tournament game against the Golden State Warriors (10 p.m. ET, ESPN). “We know who the