News

12:00 AM ET ATLANTA — For at least one night, the Atlanta Hawks appeared to have finally found the fearsome twosome they tried to form last offseason, when they traded for All-Star Dejounte Murray. The late June swap with the San Antonio Spurs was intended to pair Murray with fellow guard Trae Young, Atlanta’s All-NBA

3:42 PM ET NEW YORK — Donovan Mitchell still remembers the noise. As a young fan sitting inside Madison Square Garden during a playoff game years ago, he was watching the New York Knicks, his hometown team, play on the game’s biggest stage. On Friday, before a pivotal Game 3 (the series is tied 1-1;

8:00 AM ET IT’S MARCH 31 and the revitalized New York Knicks are in Cleveland to face the equally upstart Cavaliers. The stakes are high. New York, at 44-33, sits four games behind the Cavs in fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings. But tonight’s showdown offers more than just another checkmark at the end

8:28 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN NEW YORK — Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid received a flagrant foul 1 after kicking Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton in the first quarter of Thursday night’s game at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Claxton fouled Embiid less than three minutes into Game 3 of the first-round series, and then stepped

8:00 AM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN Midway through the second quarter of Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown huddled his team up. Up 11, his message was clear: Keep. Pushing. These guys can’t keep up with us. Here’s the bad news for the Warriors: Brown might be right. For years

12:39 AM ET MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Dillon Brooks exchanged words with LeBron James during the third quarter of the Memphis Grizzlies‘ series-tying 103-93 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Wednesday’s Game 2 and had plenty more to say about the NBA’s all-time leading scorer postgame. The confrontation occurred after the Grizzlies called a timeout

7:22 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown made it two awards in as many days for the Kings franchise as he cruised to a unanimous selection as the NBA’s Coach of the Year, which was announced on TNT Wednesday night. “These honors don’t come around often, so you’re very appreciative of them,”

11:46 AM ET The NBA executive vice president and head of basketball operations, Joe Dumars, said Draymond Green‘s “excessive and over-the-top actions” and his history as a “repeat offender” were instrumental in the league’s decision to suspend him for Game 3 of the Golden State Warriors‘ Western Conference first-round series against the Sacramento Kings. “Here’s

11:45 PM ET The NBA has suspended Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green for one game for stepping on the chest of the Kings’ Domantas Sabonis, the league announced Tuesday night. Green was ejected for the incident, which occurred with 7:03 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ 114-106 loss to the Kings in

7:25 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox was named the runaway winner of the NBA’s inaugural Jerry West Clutch Player of the Year Award Tuesday night, capping a stellar season for the sixth-year guard, who has played a huge part in Sacramento’s dramatic resurgence this season. Fox earned 91 out of 100

8:00 AM ET AS THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS play in their first playoffs since LeBron James skipped town for the second time in 2018, they do so knowing the impact the franchise icon created for the organization. They know they are writing a chapter in the history book James authored so much in. The shadow is

12:53 AM ET ESPN News Services SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was ejected from a playoff game after stomping on the chest of Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis. The play happened in the fourth quarter of Game 2 of the first-round playoff series Monday night after Stephen Curry grabbed a defensive

7:11 PM ET MEMPHIS — Memphis Grizzlies power forward/center Jaren Jackson Jr. became the second-youngest Defensive Player of the Year winner in NBA history. The league announced Monday evening that Jackson, 23, won the honor, finishing ahead of Cleveland’s Evan Mobley and Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez in voting by a media panel. Jackson joins Alvin Robertson,

8:00 AM ET Marc J. Spears SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Minutes after scoring a game-high 38 points following the first Sacramento Kings‘ playoff victory in nearly 17 years, guard De’Aaron Fox walks to the scorers’ table and greets owner Vivek Ranadive. The 18,253 fans at the Golden 1 Center know what’s coming next as a countdown

5:33 PM ET MEMPHIS — Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant shouted in agony as he ran off the court holding his right hand midway through the fourth quarter of Sunday’s Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers and did not return. Memphis trailed by four when Morant exited and went on to lose 128-112, with the

6:57 PM ET Jamal CollierESPN MILWAUKEE — Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out for the remainder of Game 1 against the Miami Heat with a lower back contusion, the team announced. After picking up his second foul on a charge taken by Heat forward Kevin Love with 1:46 remaining in the first quarter, Antetokounmpo

2:18 PM ET All-Star forward Paul George is likely to miss the LA Clippers‘ entire opening-round Western Conference playoff series against the Phoenix Suns because of his sprained right knee, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Sunday. George has been progressing on the rehabilitation from the injury he suffered on March 21, but the Clippers

12:48 AM ET Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. — De’Aaron Fox finished off a dazzling playoff debut that was years in the making and had one more task to do. With the home crowd counting down following an exhilarating return to the postseason, Fox pressed the button and lit the ceremonial beam, letting out 17 seasons

5:07 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN PHILADELPHIA — A year ago, James Harden entered the playoffs with the Philadelphia 76ers having played 21 games with his new team, and still was acclimating to a new environment after arriving here via a blockbuster midseason trade. On Saturday afternoon, Harden and the 76ers opened up this year’s playoffs

12:28 AM ET ESPN News Services MINNEAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 11 rebounds to lead Minnesota into the playoffs, as the Timberwolves muscled and hustled their way past the Oklahoma City Thunder 120-95 to finish the play-in tournament Friday night. Rudy Gobert had 21 points and 10 rebounds in his return from

6:58 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Two-time defending NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo were named the three finalists for the league’s MVP award for a second straight season Friday night. The awards finalists for all seven of the league’s major individual honors, which are voted on by media members, were

9:52 PM ET Associated Press MIAMI — Max Strus and Jimmy Butler scored 31 points apiece, and the Miami Heat got into the playoffs by rallying in the final minutes to beat the Chicago Bulls 102-91 in an Eastern Conference play-in game Friday night. Tyler Herro added 12 points and Bam Adebayo grabbed 17 rebounds

1:18 PM ET DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks have been fined $750,000 by the NBA for “conduct detrimental to the league” after an investigation into the franchise’s decision to sit several key players for the April 7 loss that eliminated the team from play-in contention. The NBA commenced an investigation the day after the Mavs

6:18 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins has been cleared to play in Game 1 of the team’s first-round series against the Sacramento Kings. “Andrew looks great, feeling good and is ready to go,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after practice Thursday afternoon. Wiggins hasn’t played since Feb.

5:11 PM ET Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS — – Rudy Gobert rejoined the Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday after a team-imposed suspension for their first play-in game, but lingering back trouble has compromised his status for the second one. Gobert was dismissed from the arena Sunday after throwing a punch at teammate Kyle Anderson in an argument in

12:46 AM ET Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander highlighted his 32-point night with a go-ahead baseline jumper and four clutch free throws in the final 29 seconds, the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New Orleans Pelicans 123-118 on Wednesday night to remain alive in the Western Conference play-in tournament. Josh Giddey had 31

11:59 PM ET Jamal CollierESPN TORONTO – As Fred VanVleet stepped up to the free throw line with 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter of Wednesday’s play-in game between the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors, the home crowd went silent as the Raptors guard took a few hard dribbles and spun the ball in

3:43 PM ET Arkansas freshman Anthony Black, a projected top-10 pick, will enter the 2023 NBA draft and forgo his remaining college eligibility, he said on ESPN’s “NBA Today” on Wednesday. “Being one and done was always a goal of mine, but it wasn’t something I necessarily expected to happen,” Black told ESPN. “Coming in,

10:13 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN The NBA sent a memo to its league office staff Tuesday instructing them to reduce expenses and limit hiring for the remainder of the fiscal year because of economic constraints, sources confirmed to ESPN. “Like other businesses in the US and globally, the league office is not immune to macroeconomic

1:24 AM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — LeBron James had 30 points and 10 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers claimed the seventh spot in the Western Conference playoffs with a grueling 108-102 overtime victory over the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA’s play-in tournament Tuesday night. Dennis Schroder scored 21 points and iced