11:55 AM ET Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who expressed optimism last week that the NBA season could resume as soon as mid-May, has backed off discussing any potential timetables for the league playing games again. “I have no idea,” Cuban said Wednesday on ESPN’s Get Up. “I mean, the only thing I know is
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9:51 AM ET In the 2016 NBA Finals, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 Finals deficit, beating the 73-win Golden State Warriors to give the city of Cleveland its first major professional sports championship in 52 years. To do so, the Cavs needed to
10:42 PM ET Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart, who announced Monday that he is clear of COVID-19 after testing positive two weeks ago, confirmed Tuesday night that he plans to donate blood so it can be studied with the hope of finding a treatment for the coronavirus. Michael Joyner, an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic,
5:22 PM ET The NBA, NBA Players Association and 2K have partnered to produce an NBA 2K tournament that will air on ESPN and ESPN2 starting Friday, it was announced. The NBA 2K20 Player Tournament is Friday through April 11, according to a statement, and will begin airing on ESPN with a half-hour preshow at
8:43 AM ET “The Last Dance,” a 10-part documentary event featuring the untold story of Michael Jordan and the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls championship season, is now coming to ESPN on April 19. Due in part to the coronavirus pandemic that has suspended the NBA season and caused shelter-in-place measures across the country, the documentary has
6:18 PM ET Shaquille O’Neal is playing some defense while the NBA season remains suspended. The Hall of Fame center attempted to clarify his brief appearance on the hit Netflix documentary “Tiger King,” saying that while he loves big cats, he “had no idea” what was going on at the Oklahoma ranch owned by Joseph
5:56 PM ET More than 115 athletes, coaches and sports personalities from 13 countries have joined to raise money for a COVID-19 response fund aimed at providing assistance for individuals fighting the global pandemic. Simone Biles, Mark Cuban, Stephen Curry, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Hawk, Rose LaVelle, Jack Nicklaus, Michael Phelps, David Ortiz and Michael
1:00 PM ET Brian Windhorst Close ESPN Senior Writer ESPN.com NBA writer since 2010 Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years Author of two books Tim Bontemps On Tuesday, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were officially postponed until 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. For USA Basketball, the postponement of the Games means the men’s
9:45 PM ET Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart, who tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago, has been cleared by the Massachusetts Department of Health, he announced on social media Sunday night. Smart and the Celtics were in Milwaukee on March 11, preparing to play the Bucks the next night — in front of no
1:02 AM ET Kevin WangESPN.com Former NBA guard O.J. Mayo is close to joining the Chinese Basketball Association to play for powerhouse Liaoning Flying Leopards, pending medical and other procedural clearances. Mayo, 32, landed in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang — home to the No. 3-ranked Flying Leopards — from Taipei on Friday. He
11:20 AM ET Former New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury is trying to arrange a deal that would deliver 10 million N95 masks to New York City, but he has run into issues coordinating a deal between a Chinese company and the coronavirus-struck city. Marbury told the New York Post that he arranged for a
10:27 PM ET NEW YORK — James Dolan, the owner of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, has tested positive for the coronavirus, his NBA team said in a statement on Saturday night. The Knicks said that Dolan, 64, is experiencing “little to no symptoms” and is self-isolating. He is the first U.S.
3:54 PM ET ESPN NBA analyst Doris Burke has received a positive diagnosis for COVID-19 but says she is now symptom-free more than two weeks after her initial concerns of an illness. Burke addressed her diagnosis with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday’s episode of The Woj Pod. She told Wojnarowski she was tested March 17
10:50 AM ET The NBA is going to need to build a bubble. The top challenge facing the league is creating a safe environment for players, coaches, referees, support staff and technical operators. An environment that, in the early stages of resuming the season, might not include fans. It might not include travel. It might
9:03 PM ET Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey was pacing the sideline, barking at the officials, down double digits early in the fourth quarter of a March 11 game against the Philadelphia 76ers and trying to find a way to scratch back in it. That’s when Jim Scholler, the team’s athletic trainer, suddenly sprung
12:27 PM ET All Utah Jazz players and staff have been cleared by the Utah Department of Health after completing their respective periods of isolation and quarantine following exposure to the coronavirus, according to a team official. More than two weeks ago, Jazz center Rudy Gobert was one of three NBA players to test positive
8:00 AM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Khris Middleton took the pass from Donte DiVincenzo and slammed it home, cutting the Milwaukee Bucks‘ deficit to six points with 44 seconds left. The Phoenix Suns would go on to win, handing the Bucks the second of three consecutive losses. No one knew it at the time, but it
8:00 AM ET For the current generation of college basketball players, Kobe Bryant was an icon. They dreamed of one day playing the game the way he did. He inspired them. They idolized him. He was “The Mamba” and they wanted to emulate his work ethic. In some cases, he was also the motivation behind
3:18 PM ET Fred “Curly” Neal, the face of the Harlem Globetrotters for 22 years, died Thursday morning in Houston at the age of 77, the team announced on Twitter. Neal, with his slick ballhandling skills, recognizable shaved head and playful banter, in 2008 became just the fifth Globetrotters player to have his jersey retired,
8:53 AM ET Tim Bontemps 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 AS SOON AS the NBA season had been indefinitely suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, Drew Hanlen’s phone lit up with a FaceTime call. It
12:54 PM ET USC freshman Onyeka Okongwu is entering the 2020 NBA draft, he announced Wednesday. “I am declaring for the draft, forgoing my final three years of school [and] planning on signing with an agent in the near future,” Okongwu told ESPN in a text message. Okongwu also posted a message to social media
5:54 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James taped a message of support and gratitude for UCLA health care workers Wednesday, joining a trend of athletes finding ways to support medical staffers on the front lines of the coronavirus. Athletes from around the world, from Pete Alonso to Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Stephen Curry, are
9:11 AM ET Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he hopes the NBA resumes playing games in May, saying that the league’s restart can help bring people together amid the coronavirus pandemic. In an interview published Tuesday by Dallas television station WFAA, Cuban cited “people I’ve talked to at the CDC and other places” for
1:54 AM ET Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns says his mother has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Towns spoke about his mother’s condition in an emotional Instagram video Tuesday night, revealing she is in a coma and connected to a ventilator. He said he was told early last week that his mother was not feeling
1:51 PM ET SEVENTY-TWO HOURS before the NBA shuttered its practice facilities to players, Denver Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly decided to streamline rounds of telephone conversations and text messages with his front office peers into a conference call. Most executives were working out of their homes, crisis managers on the front line
7:00 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN During the first 19 games of his career, Zion Williamson has put up numbers that have him in the company of legends Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan. His strong performance — averaging 23.6 points per game on 58.9% shooting — has led many to wonder if Williamson, even
9:09 PM ET The Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils have notified non-contracted employees they will be subject to pay cuts starting as soon as next month, sources confirmed to ESPN. Both teams are owned by billionaire Josh Harris. The cuts will affect full-time employees who make $50,000 or more and would go as high
11:33 AM ET NBA icon Charles Barkley, who announced 10 days ago that he was being tested for the coronavirus after falling ill, does not have COVID-19, he said Monday. “I’ve received my COVID-19 test results this morning and they are negative,” he said in a statement released by Turner Sports. “I’d like to thank
8:47 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN Before the NBA suspended its season due to the coronavirus pandemic, LeBron James posted his best weekend of the 2019-20 season. He put up 37 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks and reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, and followed that with a 28-point, 8-rebound,
10:42 PM ET Nick DePaulaESPN Rockets center P.J. Tucker, known for his longtime love of limited edition sneakers almost as much as for his 3-and-D role with Houston, will be opening his own sneaker boutique later this year. Tucker made the announcement Saturday during an Instagram Live Q&A with Nice Kicks. “We’re looking to do