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8:34 AM ET NBA Insiders After Friday’s release of the new 2020 NBA schedule, it’s time to look ahead at the games, players and teams that will be most compelling when the season resumes on July 30 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. Which playoff races are most important, which

8:24 PM ET Nick Friedell Close ESPN Staff Writer Nick Friedell is the Chicago Bulls beat reporter for ESPN Chicago. Friedell is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and joined ESPNChicago.com for its launch in April 2009. Tim MacMahon Close ESPN Staff Writer Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009

11:11 AM ET Of the 302 NBA players to take tests on Tuesday, 16 have tested positive for the coronavirus, the NBA and NBPA announced in a joint statement Friday. Any player who tested positive will remain in self-isolation until he satisfies public health protocols for discontinuing isolation and has been cleared by a physician.

9:59 AM ET Vince Carter confirmed that he has retired from the NBA, ending his 22-year career. Carter announced his retirement on the Ringer’s “Winging It With Vince Carter” podcast, saying he is “officially done playing basketball professionally.” Carter, 43, initially announced last year, when he signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks, that

1:55 PM ET Dallas Mavericks center Willie Cauley-Stein informed the team that he will opt out of the restart of the NBA season, opening up a roster spot the Mavs intend to fill by signing point guard Trey Burke, sources said. Cauley-Stein, who expects to become a father in July, averaged 5.2 points and 4.6

2:06 PM ET It started eight months ago with a tweet: Chris Murphy, a Democratic U.S. senator from Connecticut, told the world how much he enjoyed Draymond Green‘s op-ed in The Washington Post labeling the NCAA “a dictatorship” and calling for increased compensation to college athletes. Green reached out to Murphy’s office to thank him

10:39 PM ET NEW YORK — New York Knicks president Leon Rose said Wednesday that he intends to have the next permanent coach of the franchise in place by the end of July. Speaking in his first interview since being hired in March, Rose told MSG Network’s Mike Breen that he intends to have “two

7:48 PM ET Forward Jabari Parker and center Alex Len, both members of the Sacramento Kings, said Wednesday they’ve tested positive for the coronavirus. “Several days ago I tested positive for COVID-19 and immediately self-isolated in Chicago which is where I remain,” Parker said in a statement released by the team. “I am progressing in

12:50 AM ET Free-agent guard JR Smith, out of the NBA for two years, has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Avery Bradley on the Los Angeles Lakers‘ roster for the season’s Orlando restart, sources told ESPN. Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and Smith’s agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, were discussing

6:51 AM ET Tim Bontemps Andrew Lopez While other NBA players started working out in their home markets this week to prepare for training camp, Zion Williamson never left. The New Orleans Pelicans‘ rookie phenom has been working out at the team’s facility throughout the hiatus, one of several players the league granted exceptions to

10:49 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley has opted out of playing in the NBA’s Orlando restart of the season, he told ESPN on Tuesday night. Bradley, who started 44 games for the Lakers this season, informed team management of his decision to stay back. The Lakers will be able to sign a

11:10 AM ET Two-time All-Star Andre Drummond says he plans to pick up his player option that will keep him in Cleveland for another year. Drummond, who was traded to the Cavaliers by the Detroit Pistons in February, has a $28.75 million option for the 2020-21 season. He said on Tuesday’s episode of the ESPN

11:18 PM ET Associated Press DALLAS — Dallas Mavericks veteran guard Courtney Lee will be out injured when the team is scheduled to resume organized workouts next week. The Mavericks said Monday night that Lee injured his left calf during the NBA hiatus. The team said he wouldn’t be available when workouts start up again

5:48 PM ET Portland Trail Blazers forward Trevor Ariza is opting out of participation in the NBA’s Orlando restart of the season, committing instead to a one-month visitation window with his young son, sources tell ESPN. Ariza, a starter, has been involved in a custody case over his 12-year-old son, and the mother’s decision to

11:13 AM ET With a looming free agency, Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans — a Most Improved Player candidate for the 2019-2020 season — will sit out the NBA’s restart in Orlando, Florida, as a preventive measure, sources told ESPN. Bertans, 27, is on the cusp of a lucrative, long-term contract and has had two

8:02 AM ET FOR JULIUS JONES, H Unit has been home for 18 years. He’s on death row, serving time for a crime he maintains he didn’t commit, in a cell alongside 53 others stacked in two rows inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. In 2002, Jones was convicted of first-degree murder for the

10:19 AM ET Projected top-five NBA draft pick Deni Avdija will resume his season with Maccabi Tel Aviv when the Israeli basketball league returns Sunday, he told ESPN. “Before I go to the U.S., I have a job to finish here in Israel,” Avdija wrote in an email. “As a competitor I am committed to

12:51 PM ET ESPN News Services Potential early-entry candidates for the 2020 NBA draft will have until Aug. 17 to declare that they are entering the draft, according to a memo obtained by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday. The new deadline is pending the NBA finalizing an agreement with the players’ union on system rule

11:58 PM ET Baxter Holmes Close ESPN Senior Writer Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) is a senior writer for ESPN Digital and Print, focusing on the NBA. He has covered the Lakers, the Celtics and previously worked for The Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times. Zach Lowe Close ESPN Senior Writer Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) is a senior

4:26 PM ET All-Star guard Victor Oladipo plans to ramp up activity with the Indiana Pacers starting next week and evaluate his repaired torn quad tendon prior to making a final commitment to playing in the season’s restart in Orlando, he told ESPN on Saturday. Oladipo, 28, is hopeful to return to play with the

10:51 AM ET NBA Hall of Famer Wayne Embry, who was the first African American to become a general manager in pro sports, believes players should use their voices by continuing to play during the current protests while supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. “I’ve always been a proponent of sports being a model of

6:57 AM ET Associated Press BEIJING — The Chinese basketball league has restarted after an almost five-month shutdown for the coronavirus pandemic, with fewer foreign players and no fans in the stands. The CBA was suspended on Jan. 24 after the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, a week before it was scheduled to return following a

7:58 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN For Memphis Grizzlies swingman Justise Winslow, the idea of playing out the rest of the season in Orlando, Florida, is “tricky.” Winslow spoke with former NBA forward Caron Butler on the league’s Twitter feed on Friday afternoon and expressed concern about the continuation of the season, the same way he

2:40 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Wizards guard Bradley Beal is a star at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., but away from it he has had to go through some of the same frightening interactions with law enforcement that countless black people in this country have. At the “Together We Stand” march — hosted by

12:27 AM ET Weeks after the team issued a statement condemning “racism, bigotry, violence and prejudice in all its forms” the Los Angeles Lakers announced a pair of moves to aid in their mission to spur positive social change. The Lakers announced the hiring of Karida Brown as the team’s director of racial equity and

5:43 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Bucks guard Sterling Brown, who was tased by Milwaukee police in 2018 after being cited for a parking violation, sees the NBA’s restart in Orlando as an opportunity to campaign for issues of social justice and racial equality. “A lot of eyes will be on us while we’re in Orlando,”

2:11 PM ET Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says if his players take a knee during the national anthem, he hopes to join them. In an interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines on Thursday, Cuban was asked how he would react if he saw his players not standing for the anthem. “If they were taking

5:37 PM ET The NBA Coaches Association fears new league standards and guidelines that could bar team staffers in high-risk categories for the coronavirus from attending the season’s restart in Orlando could “severely jeopardize” their future employment opportunities. NBCA executive director Dave Fogel and president Rick Carlisle have concerns that several assistants and three head

8:21 PM ET NBA Insiders Who will be the most important and exciting players to watch when the NBA returns next month? The league is set to restart action on July 30 in Florida with eight seeding games for each of 22 teams before a potential play-in series and then the standard playoffs. LeBron James

10:09 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Any athlete who has a positive test for COVID-19 will have to rest and refrain from exercise for two weeks from the later of the date of the player’s first positive test and/or resolution of their symptoms, if they have any, according to the NBA’s health and safety protocol for