News

6:12 PM ET Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker is set to return against the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday after missing the past seven games with a left hamstring strain. Booker suffered the injury during the second quarter of a Nov. 30 win over the Golden State Warriors, and the Suns have taken a cautious approach

11:36 AM ET Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the team announced Sunday morning. David Fizdale will coach the team for Sunday night’s game in Chicago, which will be the Bulls‘ first since a COVID-19 outbreak on the team led to the postponement of their past

11:05 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — It took the New York Knicks being without nine players for head coach Tom Thibodeau to end Kemba Walker‘s removal from the team’s rotation after nine games. Walker had an electrifying return to the court, finishing with 29 points in 37 minutes against the Celtics, but he ultimately

6:23 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis will miss at least four weeks with an MCL sprain in his left knee before being re-evaluated, the team announced on Saturday. Davis suffered the injury in the third quarter of Friday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, when Wolves forward Jaden McDaniels lost his balance and

11:41 AM ET Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Durant becomes the eighth Nets player to enter the protocols. Forward Paul Millsap entered the protocols Monday, and was followed by forwards LaMarcus Aldridge, James Johnson and DeAndre’ Bembry and guard Jevon Carter on Tuesday morning. They were later

1:19 AM ET Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis will undergo an MRI on Saturday after he was forced to leave Friday night’s 110-92 loss at the Minnesota Timberwolves with a left knee injury. Davis was hurt in the third quarter, when Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels stumbled into his knee. “So far, all is in

5:12 PM ET The Brooklyn Nets are bringing back All-Star guard Kyrie Irving as a part-time player for games outside of New York, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The unfolding circumstances of Brooklyn’s season — including injuries, players lost to health and safety protocols and an inordinate minutes load on their superstar players — led

12:31 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN NEW YORK — With his Philadelphia 76ers trailing by nine points to the Brooklyn Nets and three seconds left in the fourth quarter Thursday night at Barclays Center, coach Doc Rivers called timeout. His goal, however, wasn’t to try to draw up a play. Instead, it was to deliver a

11:47 PM ET As the NBA tries to fortify itself against waves of positive COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, the league will increase daily testing and face mask use for players and staff through the holiday season, according to a memo obtained by ESPN. The NBA and National Basketball Players Association agreed to elevate testing

4:30 PM ET Dave McMenamin Close ESPN Staff Writer Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09. Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 MINNEAPOLIS — Los

8:00 AM ET It was almost 11 months ago that the Brooklyn Nets completed a blockbuster trade with the Houston Rockets for James Harden — which, as a result, meant All-Star guard Ben Simmons would remain with the Philadelphia 76ers. “I mean, this is a business,” Simmons said then. “Things like that happen. Only thing

12:27 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN As Devonte Graham sat in the New Orleans Pelicans‘ locker room after Wednesday night’s game, an Oklahoma City Thunder staffer walked in with a gift: the game ball from Graham’s wild buzzer-beating 3-pointer. “One of the guys from the Thunder walked in with the ball and said, ‘This is my

1:56 PM ET The Utah Jazz hired Danny Ainge to oversee basketball operations, naming him alternate governor and CEO of Jazz Basketball on Wednesday. Ainge will work closely with Jazz general manager Justin Zanik, who runs the teams’ day-to-day operations. Ainge stepped down as the Boston Celtics‘ president of basketball operations in June and now

8:00 AM ET LUKA DONCIC AND Dennis Smith Jr. had become fast friends after the Dallas Mavericks selected the teenager from Slovenia third overall in the 2018 NBA draft. Smith, whom the team had drafted ninth a year prior, had shown Doncic around the city and invited the new guy into his social circle. They

7:45 PM ET NEW YORK — Stephen Curry is the new 3-point king of the NBA. The Golden State Warriors star guard became the all-time leader in 3-pointers Tuesday night against the Knicks, passing Hall of Famer Ray Allen by knocking down the 2,974th 3-pointer of his career. The record-breaking shot came with 7 minutes,

11:26 AM ET The Brooklyn Nets ruled four players out due to health and safety protocols on Tuesday morning against the Toronto Raptors. The Nets now have five players out due to health and safety protocols after starting center LaMarcus Aldridge, starting swingman DeAndre’ Bembry, power forward James Johnson and point guard Jevon Carter, who

10:00 PM ET ESPN News Services Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry finished with five 3-pointers in Monday’s 102-100 win over the Indiana Pacers, putting him on the doorstep of the NBA’s all-time record that he will now look to break Tuesday night on the league’s grandest stage — Madison Square Garden. The 33-year-old sharpshooting

9:53 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — Milwaukee Bucks star Khris Middleton suffered a hyperextended left knee late in the third quarter of Monday night’s game here at TD Garden against the Boston Celtics, and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the night by the team. Middleton suffered the injury when he landed

1:49 PM ET As a COVID-19 outbreak sidelines 10 of its players, the NBA has postponed the next two Chicago Bulls games to allow the franchise to start getting back healthy players and curb further spread. In the first game casualties of the season, the NBA will reschedule the Bulls-Pistons game on Tuesday in Chicago,

8:00 AM ET As Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry continues his pursuit of Ray Allen’s all-time 3-point record — Curry is currently six behind the mark — we’re presenting our latest NBA Power Rankings with a focus on the deep ball. Which players are on pace to become their teams’ leader in 3s? Which

10:14 PM ET In his most explosive game with the Brooklyn Nets, Kevin Durant scored the most points in a game in the NBA this season, going off for 51 points in a 116-104 win over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday at Little Caesars Arena. With James Harden resting for the first time this season,

1:04 PM ET Jamal Collier The Chicago Bulls‘ team-wide COVID-19 outbreak continued to spread further on Sunday, when Zach LaVine and Troy Brown Jr. entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Their additions brings the Bulls’ total to nine players in the league’s COVID-19 protocols since the start of the

5:42 PM ET Jamal Collier Two more Bulls players — Ayo Dosunmu and Stanley Johnson — landed in the NBA’s health and safety protocols Saturday, bringing Chicago’s total to seven players sidelined amid a teamwide COVID-19 outbreak. Johnson just signed a 10-day contract with the Bulls on Thursday after the team was granted a hardship

1:08 AM ET PHILADELPHIA — Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry continues to say that the pursuit of Ray Allen’s all-time 3-point record is not weighing on his mind as he sits on the precipice of earning one of the bigger records in basketball. After another lackluster shooting performance — at least by his

3:49 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has suffered a setback in his rehab process and will be dialed back even more. Williamson, who has not played in a game this season because of offseason surgery he had for a fracture in his right foot, will be pushed back in his

8:00 AM ET Stephen Curry, just 10 3s shy of breaking Ray Allen’s all-time 3-point record, has put together the kind of historic career through 12 seasons that every young player dreams about. In a generation defined by shooting, Curry is regarded as the best. “I think people have compared him to myself and to

5:40 PM ET As the Philadelphia 76ers begin to gather momentum in trade conversations for All-Star guard Ben Simmons, the Portland Trail Blazers reiterated that one of the Sixers’ top targets — All-NBA guard Damian Lillard — is not available to be discussed, sources told ESPN. The Sixers and Blazers connected in recent days and

8:00 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN More than five years after winning his second Most Valuable Player award, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry could be on his way to claiming a third. Curry, who is second in the NBA in scoring and first in both 3-pointers made and attempted, got 94 of the 100 first-place

1:07 AM ET MEMPHIS — After the Los Angeles Lakers squandered an early lead against an undermanned Grizzlies team in Thursday’s 108-95 loss, Anthony Davis said L.A.’s identity is far from the championship contender it’s supposed to be. “These guys already feel like they’re the underdogs when they’re coming in, especially when they’re without their

7:37 PM ET Toronto Raptors vice-chairman and president Masai Ujiri has tested positive for COVID-19, he said in a statement released by the team Thursday. Ujiri said he is fully vaccinated and has received a booster shot. He was present at a Giants of Africa event Sunday and later learned of “positive COVID-19 tests among