News

3:48 PM ET Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard will not play Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans and told reporters that he could miss three or four games due to his right groin strain. Lillard suffered the injury on a drive to the basket during a Feb. 12 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. He

5:43 PM ET Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns will remain sidelined indefinitely as he continues to recover from a left wrist injury. Coach Ryan Saunders told reporters that the team held Towns out of its first practice after the All-Star break on Wednesday. Saunders said Towns will miss upcoming games, but the coach did not

7:46 PM ET It is a “good assumption” the NBA will use a target score to end next season’s All-Star Game after experimenting with the concept for the first time on Sunday, Byron Spruell, the NBA’s president of league operations, told ESPN Wednesday in New York. That is not set in stone yet, as league

8:06 AM ET NBA Insiders Can LeBron James catch Giannis Antetokounmpo in the NBA MVP race? Who is the favorite to win the NBA Finals? Does Zion Williamson have any chance in the Rookie of the Year race against Ja Morant? We polled the ESPN Forecast panel of experts for their predictions now that we

1:09 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry still isn’t cleared to take contact in practice as he continues his rehab from a broken left hand. But as he gets closer to returning over the next few weeks, his teammates and coaches dropped a new nickname on him during Tuesday’s

10:02 PM ET After a brief and tumultuous tenure, John Beilein is leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers as coach, league sources tell ESPN. The Cavaliers are promoting associate head coach JB Bickerstaff to become the full-time head coach, and he’ll run his first practice on Wednesday evening, league sources said. Beilein, 67, is expected to say

12:05 PM ET High school prospect Makur Maker will be eligible for the 2020 NBA draft if he applies as an early-entry candidate, according to a memo distributed to NBA teams by the league office. The memo also included a revised agreement to the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the National Basketball Players

3:54 PM ET Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has been elected as a vice president of the National Basketball Players Association. Irving replaces Pau Gasol on the NBPA executive committee. Gasol’s three-year term expired. “This was the right time for me to run for a leadership position in the NBPA,” Irving said. “I have been

6:38 PM ET Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 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 The Houston Rockets are doubling down on small ball, planning to use

3:27 PM ET Nick DePaulaESPN With nearly 6.5 million viewers tuned in to an epic dunk-off between Aaron Gordon and Derrick Jones Jr., the 2020 Slam Dunk Contest helped launch each player not only to new heights on the hardwood, but also in the marketing world. In the aftermath of his narrowly claimed Slam Dunk

12:58 AM ET The 69th NBA All-Star Game featured notable changes at the United Center in Chicago, highlighted by the two teams — Team LeBron and Team Giannis — racing to the wire toward the target score rather than playing to the buzzer. The new format seemed to bring out playoff-level intensity in the players,

11:13 PM ET The Cleveland Cavaliers and John Beilein have discussed the possibility of him stepping down as head coach during the NBA All-Star break, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst. Beilein left for the All-Star break weighing his future as coach — including the possibility that he’s coached his final game, league

2:53 PM ET Associated Press DETROIT — Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who is the Quicken Loans founder and chairman, is slowly returning to work eight months after he had a stroke. Gilbert, 58, returned to his Detroit office early this year. He’s there one or two days a week, using a wheelchair and accompanied

11:37 PM ET Lawrence MurrayESPN.com The 2020 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest at the United Center in Chicago already had the potential to be memorable Saturday night. 2008 winner Dwight Howard was returning! Pat Connaughton was participating for the first time! Derrick Jones Jr. was back after coming in second back in 2017! And Aaron

10:21 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN CHICAGO — Between them, Buddy Hield and Devin Booker took 108 3-point shots Saturday night. It took until the 108th and final one to determine who would come out on top in the NBA’s 3-point shootout — with Hield, thanks to hitting four of the five money balls on his

2:37 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN CHICAGO — Joel Embiid has heard all of the chatter about the awkward fit between he and fellow Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Ben Simmons on the court, and whether the two of them are capable of winning at the highest levels playing together — noises that have only grown louder as

11:59 PM ET The Rising Stars Challenge got off to a sleepy start in the first quarter Friday, and Team World took a 10-point lead into the halftime locker room despite equipment damage courtesy of New Orleans Pelicans power forward Zion Williamson. But Charlotte Hornets small forward Miles Bridges flipped a switch in the second

10:38 PM ET CHICAGO — United Center rims proved to be no match for rookie Zion Williamson. After catching a lob pass from USA teammate Trae Young in Friday night’s Rising Stars Challenge game, Williamson slammed down a two-handed jam that caused the rim to bend. At halftime, spading experts had to bring out a

1:26 PM ET CHICAGO — It might be early in the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities, which feature events with famous musicians, chefs, Instagram stars and actors, but one person has already left top draft pick Zion Williamson starstruck: former President Barack Obama. Williamson said his meeting with Obama was one of his top life experiences.

2:11 AM ET BOSTON — For a brief moment, Lou Williams and the LA Clippers thought they might be able to escape Boston with what they thought could have been a four-point play. But after saying they saw one official count what they thought was a Williams 3-point shot with the foul with 23.6 seconds

9:32 PM ET BOSTON — LA Clippers guard Paul George suffered a strained left hamstring again and was ruled out in the second half against the Boston Celtics on Thursday night. The Clippers announced George was out at halftime because of the same injury that cost him nine straight games in January and a total

11:24 AM ET Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker will replace the injured Damian Lillard in this weekend’s NBA All-Star Game and 3-point contest. The NBA named Booker as Lillard’s replacement Thursday, one day after the Portland Trail Blazers star suffered a right groin strain. Booker, 23, will make his first career All-Star appearance in his

3:26 AM ET DENVER — The Los Angeles Lakers increased their stranglehold on the Western Conference’s No. 1 spot with an impressive road win against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, but LeBron James claims seeding isn’t a topic of conversation for L.A. “We don’t talk about it,” James said after the Lakers’ 120-116 overtime win

6:45 PM ET Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo missed his second straight game Wednesday, just days after his girlfriend gave birth to the couple’s first child. In addition to sitting out against the Indiana Pacers, Antetokounmpo also missed Monday’s game against the Sacramento Kings. Milwaukee (46-7) has the NBA’s best record

By early 2000, Carter was a newly minted All-Star, a dynamic scorer and one of the NBA’s rising names, but he was still a foreign entity playing in Canada for the Toronto Raptors. It would take a generational moment, his performance in Oakland, to reach his grandest level of fame. Yet before Carter could become

2:39 AM ET HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets provided a glimpse of their potential when both of their superstar guards have it rolling. “It’s pretty scary,” James Harden said after a 116-105 win over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday at the Toyota Center. Harden scored 42 points in the win, the most by the NBA’s

7:25 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN PHILADELPHIA — Brett Brown has plenty of experience dealing with Joel Embiid‘s social media posts. So, after the All-Star center’s latest foray into that space Monday, the Philadelphia 76ers coach did his best to downplay any significance in Embiid’s resurfacing of his beef with the fans. “Is it ideal? Maybe

12:16 PM ET Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A judge Tuesday set an October trial date for a man charged with conspiring with the ex-wife of Lorenzen Wright to kill the former NBA player more than nine years ago in Memphis. Shelby County judge Lee Coffee told Billy Ray Turner during a court hearing that

11:37 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO — For the first time since he was traded away last summer, Andre Iguodala faced off against the Golden State Warriors Monday night at Chase Center. Iguodala, 36, spent six seasons with the Warriors, winning three NBA championships and the 2015 Finals MVP before being dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies

6:47 PM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Vanessa Bryant expressed grief and anger in an Instagram post Monday as she copes with the deaths of her husband Kobe Bryant, their daughter Gigi and seven other people in a helicopter crash last month. “My brain refuses to accept that both Kobe and Gigi are gone,”