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7:20 AM ET The NBA’s play-in tournament adds a fascinating wrinkle to the end of the 2022-23 regular season and the start of the postseason. Teams were already less incentivized to tank games down the stretch because of the flattened lottery odds instituted in 2019. Now that the top 10 teams in the standings will

12:04 PM ET LOS ANGELES — The Lakers are signing two players — including LeBron James‘ former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Tristan Thompson — on the final day of the regular season to add depth for the playoffs, sources told ESPN on Sunday. Thompson joins the Lakers having last played in 2021-22 for the Chicago Bulls,

1:17 AM ET PORTLAND, Ore. — With his parents and sister in attendance at the Moda Center, Bronny James scored 11 points and made key plays in the late stages as a USA Basketball team of the nation’s top high school seniors defeated a World team of international players age 19 or younger, 90-84, in

12:26 AM ET The 2023 NBA playoffs are almost here. The Golden State Warriors are the defending champions but are still battling to qualify for the postseason, in which 16 teams will face off in four rounds of action to determine the 2023 NBA champion. The top six teams in each conference automatically qualify for

2:57 AM ET DALLAS — ONCE AGAIN, the Dallas Mavericks changed plans during a bizarre final week of what Luka Doncic described as “a very disappointing season.” A few days after declaring he’d play so long as the Mavs had even the slimmest of postseason hopes, the franchise announced Doncic would sit out after playing

1:04 PM ET DALLAS – All-Star guard Kyrie Irving and four key Dallas Mavericks role players will sit out Friday night’s home game against the Chicago Bulls, a game the Mavericks must win to avoid being eliminated from the play-in scenario. The Mavs announced late Friday morning that Irving (right foot injury recovery), shooting guard

2:42 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said that Zion Williamson will not practice with the team on Saturday and would not play in any play-in tournament games next week if the Pelicans are still in the play-in. Griffin, speaking to local media

8:00 AM ET All of a sudden, Jaren Jackson Jr. found himself on an island. It was midway through the third quarter on March 18, and after Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry had used a pump fake to get Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks to fly by him on the right wing, Jackson was

2:05 PM ET DALLAS — The NBA denied the Dallas Mavericks‘ protest of their March 22 loss to the Golden State Warriors, the league announced Thursday. Dallas protested the 127-125 loss because of their claim that the officials did not properly administer an out-of-bounds call with approximately two minutes remaining in the third quarter, resulting

8:00 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN No player is more synonymous with the modern NBA’s offensive evolution than Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry. He is the only player in NBA history to make more than 400 3-pointers in a single NBA season, and the only one to make more than 3,000 in his career. For

8:00 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN HOUSTON — Coming out of the All-Star break, the Houston Rockets knew they weren’t going to be in contention for a spot in the NBA play-in tournament. They were 13-45, had lost seven straight games heading into the break, and were two weeks removed from trading disgruntled veteran Eric Gordon

9:31 PM ET DALLAS — During an unscheduled pregame media availability Wednesday evening, Mavericks Governor Mark Cuban blamed Jalen Brunson‘s father for the point guard’s departure from Dallas and declared that re-signing Kyrie Irving would be the franchise’s top offseason priority despite the team’s lackluster results since the blockbuster trade to acquire the All-Star guard.

7:16 PM ET Jamal CollierESPN MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo (knee) will miss Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, coach Mike Budenholzer announced prior to the game. Antetokounmpo was listed as probable on the injury report leading up to the game and took the court for a shortened version of his regular pregame

8:00 AM ET The bottom seven seeds in the Western Conference postseason picture are still a toss-up, but there is another serious NBA race that will be determined in the final week of the regular season. This year’s MVP race between Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo will be decided in the next few

1:06 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN PHILADELPHIA — After watching Joel Embiid dismantle the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night, Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers was certain of only one thing. “We did so many things wrong,” Rivers said, “but what we did right was Joel Embiid. “The MVP race is over.” There are still five days

2:35 PM ET DALLAS — All-Star guard Luka Doncic declared that he would not consider being shut down for the season as long as the Dallas Mavericks have postseason hopes, no matter how long the odds. “I’m playing tomorrow,” Doncic said after Tuesday’s practice. “When there’s still a chance, I’m gonna play. So that’s not

11:46 PM ET HOUSTON — The Los Angeles Lakers‘ late-season surge, with Sunday’s victory over the Houston Rockets marking their 10th win in their past 14 games, has LeBron James talking about a hopeful title run once again. “We just want to put ourselves in position to be able to compete for a championship,” James

12:56 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins is nearing a return to the team and is expected to be back early this week, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Monday. Wiggins, who has missed 22 consecutive games attending to a family matter, is expected to be back in the Bay Area

1:27 PM ET The NBA’s Western Conference playoff and play-in tournament races are more than what commissioner Adam Silver could have ever hoped. There are still eight teams that could end up in the West play-in tournament. The remaining teams battling for the playoffs are also battling for seeding — and the right to avoid

7:29 AM ET NBA insiders With the 2022-23 NBA season entering its final week, it’s time to take a look at the league’s major award races. While the contentious MVP race has garnered most of the attention, each of the league’s five major individual player awards has multiple worthy candidates. We asked our ESPN panel

8:01 PM ET The Portland Trail Blazers pulled off the largest NBA upset in 30 years on Sunday by knocking off the Minnesota Timberwolves as 19.5-point underdogs. The Trail Blazers were missing four starters, including star guard Damian Lillard, and had lost 11 of 12 games heading into the game. But Portland still managed to

9:59 AM ET Kentucky freshman Cason Wallace, a projected lottery pick, will forgo his remaining college eligibility and enter the 2023 NBA draft, he told ESPN on Saturday. “I’m all in,” Wallace said. “This season was fun. It had its ups and downs but the best part was having my brothers with me. We stuck

2:05 PM ET Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Bucks forward Thanasis Antetokounmpo has been suspended one game without pay for head-butting Celtics forward Blake Griffin on Thursday night. Antetokounmpo was ejected from the game after the incident, which occurred with 1:25 remaining in the Bucks’ 140-99 blowout loss. Antetokounmpo will serve his suspension Sunday when the

11:31 AM ET Associated Press Tony Parker and Pau Gasol played for him. Becky Hammon coached alongside him. Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade waged battles against him. He is San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. And he, finally, is a Hall of Famer. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame made it official Saturday, with

2:50 AM ET The NBA and National Basketball Players Association have agreed on a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement, clearing the way for labor peace through this decade, sources told ESPN on Friday night. The deal, which starts with the 2023-24 season, includes a mutual opt-out after the sixth year, sources said. The agreement landed

7:05 AM ET NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges is on the verge of completing a statistically perfect season that makes analytics pushers shudder and teammates smile all at once. Bridges, who started the 2022-23 NBA season with the Phoenix Suns before a midseason trade to the Nets, is on track to play

1:44 PM ET LaMarcus Aldridge is calling it a career — again. The 37-year-old big man announced Friday on Twitter that he is retiring for a second time. “In the words of TB12, you only get one big, emotional retirement… so, on that note…I’m thankful for all the memories, family and friends I made throughout

2:28 PM ET Discussions on lowering the minimum age to enter the NBA draft are no longer a part of the league’s labor talks with the National Basketball Players Association, clearing the way for the “one-and-done” era to continue into the foreseeable future, sources told ESPN on Friday. Talks on lowering the minimum age limit

5:24 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN New York Knicks All-Star forward Julius Randle will be reevaluated in two weeks for a sprained ankle suffered in Wednesday night’s win over the Miami Heat, effectively ruling him out for the remainder of the regular season. The NBA playoffs will begin two weeks from Saturday. Randle, 28, suffered the

12:22 AM ET Jamal CollierESPN MILWAUKEE — The Boston Celtics responded from one of their worst losses of the season with one of their biggest wins. The Celtics cruised to a 140-99 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, bouncing back from a disappointing loss in their previous game against the Washington Wizards and