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12:48 AM ET NBA Insiders Last year, a dark horse contender pulled off consecutive upsets to win the NBA championship. Who could be this year’s Raptors? Friday night’s action featured three of those dark horses: the Houston Rockets. Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics. Saturday’s games will show us a handful more: • Miami Heat vs.

5:56 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN The way the New Orleans Pelicans handled the minutes of rookie forward Zion Williamson was seemingly the talk of the NBA on Thursday night as the league returned to play in Orlando, Florida. On Friday afternoon, Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin spoke to reporters to try

7:04 AM ET The Milwaukee Bucks are big favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference. According to Caesars Sportsbook, they enter the bubble at minus-230 to reach the NBA Finals in October. Still, respect from Vegas is one thing, but execution in Orlando is another. While the Bucks hold the league’s best record, the

12:51 AM ET NBA Insiders It’s not easy to recall the storylines and themes that dominated the 2019-20 NBA season prior to its suspension, which seems like eons ago. But the battle for supremacy between the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers in their home market — and more largely the Western Conference — was

5:44 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN New Orleans Pelicans rookie forward Zion Williamson was cleared to play by the team and will suit up in Thursday night’s NBA restart opener against the Utah Jazz, the team announced. Coach Alvin Gentry told reporters that Williamson had to go through his pregame warm-ups before the team made a

6:41 AM ET After 20 full weeks on hiatus, the 2019-20 NBA season is finally ready to restart. In case you’d forgotten, the Milwaukee Bucks lead the Eastern Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers are atop the West, the Memphis Grizzlies are clinging to the West’s 8-seed and the Toronto Raptors are still — more than

2:25 PM ET Denver Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly has spoken with Michael Porter Jr. about the second-year forward theorizing the coronavirus pandemic is “being used for population control.” Connelly did not make a statement, but Nuggets head coach Michael Malone said he learned about Porter’s comments — which were made on a

6:05 AM ET FRED VANVLEET TRUDGED from the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Naples, out the double doors and into the stifling Florida humidity. The Toronto Raptors guard squinted, his eyes adjusting to the sunlight as the words came into focus. He saw “Black Lives Matter” in large, white letters across each side of two buses

6:24 AM ET In the NBA, where rosters can change dramatically from season to season, how much of an edge is it to have continuity heading into the league’s 2020 restart? Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, whose team checks in near the top of our list, has high hopes. “Continuity [will] help with trying

10:07 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon is feared to be lost for one to two weeks because of a left ankle injury suffered in a scrimmage Tuesday, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Rockets are expected to have a clearer sense of Gordon’s injury timeline once he’s evaluated again Wednesday, sources

6:30 AM ET The NBA restart begins Thursday night, as the Utah Jazz–New Orleans Pelicans and LA Clippers–Los Angeles Lakers showdowns welcome fans back to basketball after the league’s four-month hiatus. Will we be watching an all-Los Angeles Western Conference finals? Plenty of our experts think so. Meanwhile, the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks don’t begin their

7:15 AM ET This is an NBA award season unlike any other. On top of that, the league has loosened positional designations, allowing voters more flexibility in crafting ballots. With MVP, Rookie of the Year and the other major awards covered last week, let’s look at the five-man teams. All-NBA First team G: LeBron JamesG:

6:51 AM ET The NBA unveiled its bubble-like campus to the 22 teams who were invited to finish the season in Orlando, Florida, nearly four weeks ago. Since then, players, coaches and other key personnel have settled in and found unique ways to keep themselves busy when they’re not practicing or working out. But what’s

6:55 AM ET As they face the reality of a sea of red ink playing in empty or near-empty arenas for the 2020-21 season, some NBA owners are quietly preparing to find cash to weather the storm. Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob has informed fellow owners of a deal he’s considering with Goldman Sachs

6:45 AM ET After a 4½-month hiatus, the NBA season resumes Thursday in Orlando, Florida. The Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans tip things off, followed by a nightcap between the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers. The Clippers’ duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George had ample time to recover from nagging injuries during

3:50 PM ET Associated Press The NBA is handing down one-day quarantines to players who forget to go to their designated locations for the daily coronavirus test — with Dallas‘ Kristaps Porzingis the latest to get that penalty. Porzingis missed Dallas’ scrimmage on Sunday because of his forgetfulness. Denver‘s Paul Millsap had to sit out

10:55 AM ET The NBA has placed Lou Williams on 10-day quarantine after the LA Clippers guard was investigated by the league for what he did while on an excused absence from the Orlando, Florida, campus. The league announced Williams’ quarantine on Sunday, three days after Williams was photographed by the rapper Jack Harlow at

7:22 PM ET The NBA is investigating what LA Clippers guard Lou Williams did while on an excused absence from the Orlando, Florida, campus, so it can assess the length of his re-quarantining process, multiple sources told ESPN on Saturday. Williams was photographed at an Atlanta gentleman’s club on Thursday night by the rapper Jack

1:45 PM ET Note: This article was originally published on December 12, 2019. It has been updated to reflect the selection of Tom Thibodeau on July 25, 2020. The New York Knicks have found their next sideline leader, and it’s someone who has plenty of history with the team. Sources tell ESPN that the Knicks

1:17 PM ET The New York Knicks and Tom Thibodeau are finalizing a five-year deal to make him the franchise’s next head coach, sources tell ESPN. Knicks president Leon Rose and agent Spencer Breecker of CAA Sports were working Saturday to complete contractual terms and a signed agreement is expected in the near future, sources

8:05 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN New Orleans Pelicans rookie forward Zion Williamson returned to the NBA campus on Friday night, the team said in a statement. Williamson, who initially left the bubble in Orlando, Florida, on July 16 to tend to a family medical emergency, now enters the NBA quarantine period before he can rejoin

6:38 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown said Thursday that Ben Simmons has had a “paradigm shift” in his thinking when it came to taking 3-pointers. Simmons didn’t waste any time proving his coach was right. Playing at a new position — power forward — as part of Philadelphia’s new-look starting lineup

5:16 PM ET Indiana Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis has a significant left foot injury and will leave the NBA’s bubble in Orlando, Florida, to seek treatment from a specialist, sources told ESPN. The Pacers open the restart next Saturday against the Sixers. Any long-term loss of Sabonis would be significant, as he’s averaging 18.5 points

7:15 AM ET Remember the regular season? It was a thing, I swear. Here is the first part of my official NBA awards ballot for that season. Most Valuable Player 1. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks2. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers3. James Harden, Houston Rockets4. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers5. Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers A few

7:34 PM ET Though Victor Oladipo started in Thursday’s opening scrimmage for the Indiana Pacers, the decision hasn’t been officially made for his participation in the regular season and beyond. “I think today was big, just getting our conditioning up and getting a feel for the game again,” Oladipo said. “Obviously it’s been a minute

6:06 PM ET MILWAUKEE BUCKS COACH Mike Budenholzer would like to know what constitutes the antonym of asterisk. If such a word exists, he says, that’s what should be attached to whichever team wins the 2020 NBA championship under such unusual circumstances. It’s also, he argues, what should be affixed to the 1999 San Antonio

Jul 14, 2020 If the sixth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers play up to their potential, they are a legitimate title contender in the NBA’s 2019-20 restart. This team has the talent to beat any of the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers in a seven-game series. But these mysterious dudes also face a gargantuan amount

7:51 PM ET In the first NBA game played in more than four months, LA Clippers guard Lou Williams sat in the team’s socially-distanced bench area Wednesday and noticed the new atmosphere all around him. The 2019-20 season was on again as the Clippers and Magic got the season restart underway with the first scrimmage

2:56 PM ET The NBA has ended its relationship with a basketball academy in China’s Xinjiang province, according to a letter sent to U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn. The letter, which was first reported by Sports Illustrated, was in response to a letter by Blackburn to the NBA that asked a series of questions about the

10:04 PM ET The Wilf family that owns the Minnesota Vikings has emerged as a serious candidate to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves, league sources told ESPN. Only recently did the Wilfs emerge as one of the groups bidding to buy the NBA team in their city from billionaire Glen Taylor, sources said. There are several