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7:00 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN It has been 100 days since the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the 2020 Eastern Conference finals inside the NBA’s bubble at the Walt Disney World resort. Both teams entered the 2020-21 season with aspirations of getting at least that far again, but as they

8:20 PM ET Associated Press ATLANTA — Atlanta Hawks guard Rajon Rondo will miss at least three more games because of right knee soreness. Rondo sat the past three games for the Hawks, though he was medically cleared for Monday night’s loss to the New York Knicks. He did not get on the court, leaving

9:50 PM ET LOS ANGELES — LA Clippers guard Paul George was ruled out due to right ankle soreness before Tuesday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs. Clippers coach Ty Lue said that George tweaked his ankle during the Clippers’ 112-107 win in Phoenix on Sunday. George, who scored 39 points in 38 minutes

4:37 PM ET ESPN News Services Prosecutors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday decided not to file criminal charges against a police officer in the shooting of Jacob Blake last August. The shooting of Blake, who was unarmed, prompted NBA players to protest the shooting by not playing games on Aug. 26-28. More than 100 NBA

12:30 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN After the Toronto Raptors fell to 1-5 with a demoralizing 126-114 loss to the undermanned Boston Celtics on Monday night, All-Star guard Kyle Lowry said that in order for the Raptors to right themselves, they’ll need to get their swagger back. “We just need to get a little bit grittier,

12:44 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN NEW ORLEANS — Entering Monday night, NBA teams holding a lead of six points or more with less than 25 seconds remaining in regulation were 8,104-2 over the past 10 seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The Indiana Pacers made sure the New Orleans Pelicans took loss No.

5:32 PM ET Malika Andrews Close ESPN Staff Writer Staff Writer Joined ESPN in 2018 Appears regularly on ESPN Chicago 1000 Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 NEW YORK — After being exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19, Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant is

6:49 AM ET The Cleveland Cavaliers are tied for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. The Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets are both two games under .500. The Toronto Raptors have one win. Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are currently tied for the East’s No. 7 seed — with the New

11:48 PM ET It was a big night for Stephen Curry. The Golden State Warriors‘ superstar set a career-high with 62 points in Golden State’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Curry’s 62 points are the most by a Warrior since Rick Barry scored 64

4:09 PM ET Seven members of the LA Clippers support staff — including one who tested positive for COVID-19 — are in quarantine away from the team, sources told ESPN. The quarantined group, which traveled via vans from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles over the weekend, includes no players, coaches or team management, sources

4:41 PM ET Houston Rockets star guard James Harden was a late scratch for Saturday afternoon’s home game against the Sacramento Kings due to a sprained right ankle. Harden turned the ankle late in Thursday’s win over the Kings, but he was not listed on the official injury report. The Rockets announced that he would

12:21 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN With the New Orleans Pelicans clinging to a three-point lead with 2.6 seconds left and Brandon Ingram at the free throw line to put the game away with one more shot, he already knew what was about to happen. He looked to the side and television cameras captured Ingram telling

3:11 PM ET Paul Westphal, a Hall of Fame guard who was a five-time All-Star and a three-time All-NBA first-team selection, has died at the age of 70, the Phoenix Suns announced Saturday. Westphal had been diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2020. He grew up in Southern California and played college basketball at USC

3:15 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors were hoping that Draymond Green‘s return would give the team a defensive edge it has been missing since the start of the regular season. Green missed most of training camp, all three preseason games and the first four regular-season games because of a combination of

8:27 PM ET When Gregg Popovich trudged through the tunnel at the AT&T Center after being ejected Wednesday, the magnitude of the moment — Becky Hammon replacing him to become the first woman to act as head coach in a regular-season NBA game — didn’t immediately set in. “Not on the way to the locker

11:17 AM ET Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. is expected to miss multiple games because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols related to COVID-19, according to multiple reports. The Athletic first reported that Porter will miss Friday’s game against the Phoenix Suns as the Nuggets conduct contact tracing. The Denver Post reported that

11:36 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Toronto Raptors benched All-Star forward Pascal Siakam for Thursday night’s year-ending 100-83 victory over the New York Knicks in Tampa, Florida. “It was a discipline thing for an internal matter,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said after his team won its first game of the season. “That’s the decision we

11:44 PM ET John Wall had problems sleeping the night before, as his heart and mind raced in anticipation of his Houston Rockets debut, a comeback from a two-year injury layoff that was delayed another week by an NBA-mandated quarantine due to COVID-19 protocols. It had been 735 days, as Wall precisely pointed out after

9:01 AM ET The NBA is planning to roll out an ambitious aspect of its leaguewide contact tracing program by requiring players and many team staffers to wear sensor devices during all team-organized activities outside of games starting Jan. 7, according to a league memo obtained by ESPN. Only Tier 1 and Tier 2 individuals

8:38 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard will play for the LA Clippers on Wednesday for the first time since suffering a mouth laceration on Christmas night. Clippers head coach Ty Lue said Leonard will return against the Portland Trail Blazers after a two-game absence due to the mouth injury suffered at Denver last

11:23 PM ET Becky Hammon made history on Wednesday, becoming the first woman to act as head coach during an NBA regular season game. The San Antonio assistant coach filled in for head coach Gregg Popovich after he was ejected in the first half of the Spurs’ 121-107 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Popovich

7:19 AM ET In terms of NBA beef, Paul George vs. Damian Lillard seemed to be an unlikely rivalry — at least one that seemingly came out of nowhere. But with one wave goodbye three seasons ago, the George-Lillard conflict was born. It’s got everything an NBA dispute needs — on-court trash talk, antics and

4:56 PM ET Memphis Grizzlies star point guard Ja Morant has a Grade 2 left ankle sprain and is expected to miss 3-5 weeks, the team said Tuesday. An MRI on Tuesday revealed the severity of the sprain after initial X-rays on Monday night showed no fracture. Morant was hurt in Memphis’ 116-111 overtime win

10:49 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Snow might have been falling from the sky back in Milwaukee, but in Miami on Tuesday night, the Bucks were making it rain from beyond the arc. Milwaukee set the single-game NBA record for 3-point field goals made, with 29 in a 144-97 victory over the Heat. The only Bucks

3:17 PM ET Dallas Mavericks big man Kristaps Porzingis was a full participant in practice Tuesday for the first time since undergoing surgery in October to address a lateral meniscus injury in his right knee. No definitive timetable has been set for Porzingis to play in games, but coach Rick Carlisle said he anticipates that

12:55 AM ET Sometime around 4:30 p.m. local time Monday, Rudy Gobert walked out of the 21c Museum Hotel in the west end of downtown Oklahoma City and stepped onto a bus to make the seven-block trip over to Chesapeake Energy Arena. Nine and a half months ago, Gobert walked out of that same hotel

8:52 PM ET NEW YORK — Memphis Grizzlies star point guard Ja Morant left the Barclays Center court area in a wheelchair Monday night after spraining his left ankle in the second quarter. The team announced he would not return to the game. Morant went up to attempt to block Brooklyn forward Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot‘s shot

12:31 PM ET NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie has been diagnosed with a partially torn right ACL, the team announced on Monday. He is scheduled to have surgery next week. Dinwiddie was injured in the third quarter of Sunday night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets when he drove against Bismack Biyombo and

7:20 AM ET The LA Clippers, thanks to an impressive 2-0 start — a season-opening win over the Los Angeles Lakers and a Christmas Day triumph against the Denver Nuggets — might have had the inside track for No. 1 in our latest NBA Power Rankings. Then Sunday happened. In a matinee showdown, the Dallas

5:51 PM ET The Dallas Mavericks set an NBA shot-clock era record by leading the Los Angeles Clippers by 50 points at intermission Sunday en route to a 124-73 victory. Yes, Kawhi Leonard was out, but it’s safe to say even someone of his talent couldn’t have helped the Clippers, who trailed 77-27 at intermission.