The Suns are in turmoil and Deandre Ayton has been a part of it. Can his new deal and new focus help quell the storm and get them back to championship contention? Deandre Ayton plays for the Phoenix Suns. The Phoenix Suns have been owned by Robert Sarver for 17 years. That is a problem
Collin Sexton looks like a star and scores like a star. Now he’ll have to prove to the Utah Jazz that he can lead a team like a star. Imagine a childhood friend grows up to become the star player on your high school team. He’s named a McDonald’s All-American, then gets a scholarship to
8:00 AM ET The LA Clippers enter the 2022-23 season — Year 4 of the Kawhi Leonard–Paul George era — with enormous expectations. They have a superstar two-way duo. They have perhaps the deepest roster in the league. They are loaded with veteran experience and interchangeable players at almost every position. And they have a
Anthony Edwards didn’t make the 25-under-25 last season, a huge mistake on our part. Here’s what we missed and why we won’t miss again. It felt only appropriate that I write the profile for Anthony Edwards this year, considering I found myself in the uncomfortable position of having to defend our collective decision to leave
11:30 PM ET OKLAHOMA CITY — The Adelaide 36ers, the seventh-place squad in Australia’s 10-team National Basketball League last season, boarded a 6 a.m. commercial flight on Sept. 28, when a few players sat in business class and the rest of the roster and staff squeezed into coach. The team made connections in Sydney and
LaMelo Ball has the talent to transform the Charlotte Hornets and take them to new heights. Can he keep making the subtle improvements it will take? Assuming LeBron James stays healthy most of this season, he’ll pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. It’s a select club, those few who at some
4:46 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green apologized to the Golden State Warriors on Thursday morning for an altercation with Jordan Poole the day before, Warriors general manager Bob Myers said. Green subsequently left the training facilities and is not expected back until Saturday. The Warriors are still in the process of
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a budding star hiding in plain sight. Is this the year the rest of the NBA finally takes notice? Arguably no young player experiences a starker contrast in their standing among mainstream and diehard audiences than one Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. To more casual observers, Gilgeous-Alexander is seen as just another young player consuming
8:00 AM ET MIAMI — UDONIS HASLEM was vacationing in Orlando with his family this past July when he saw a black SUV pull up to his rental house. “My antenna goes up,” the Miami Heat veteran says of the moment. “A black SUV? I can’t see inside it? I told my kids, ‘Go in
Victor Wembanyama and Scott Henderson faced off in a showcase of two top NBA Draft prospects. They were every bit as good as advertised. ESPN was likely hoping for something dramatic when they arranged to televise an exhibition game between the G League Ignite and the French team Metropolitans 92 — featuring a matchup between Scoot
Scottie Barnes is entering his second year with the Toronto Raptors but you can already find traces of NBA legends in his versatile game. Start with the frame. 7-foot-3 wingspan. 6-foot-9 tall. 230 pounds. Low post strength and a stride that bursts like Usain Bolt. A constant commitment on defense. The possible comparisons and career
9:49 PM ET Golden State Warriors‘ All-Star Draymond Green threw a punch at teammate Jordan Poole at practice on Wednesday, sources told ESPN. The two players had been verbally sparring prior to some pushing, which escalated when Green took a swing and made contact with Poole, sources said. Team officials are reviewing the episode. Poole
3:46 PM ET As NBA executives consider the transformative impact 7-foot-4 French prospect Victor Wembanyama’s performance on Tuesday could impose on the NBA’s tanking and trade market this season, his agent insists that there’s no plan to listen to some team executives who suggest shutting down the projected No. 1 pick until the 2023 NBA
The term unicorn is overused but it still fits for Jaren Jackson Jr. and he and his Memphis Grizzlies are ready to show you why. Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies is a man of many tastes. He is into high fashion and has music albums available for download. How many professional athletes balance such
8:00 AM ET NBA Insiders The NBA was without its full slate of stars for much of last season, as a number of the league’s best players missed extensive time. But the start of the 2022-23 season marks a fresh start and return to the court for those stars. Marquee veterans such as Kawhi Leonard
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports The NBA’s most surprising team of last season also had the splashiest summer. How exciting will the Cavaliers be in their high-expectation encore? Things can change quickly in the NBA. Believe it or not, we are only about 2.5 years removed from then-Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein reaching out to
5:30 PM ET As Robert Sarver prepares to sell the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, investment bank officials who have managed the sales of professional sports franchises told ESPN that they expect the transaction’s final price to set a record. “It’ll be the highest price ever paid for an NBA team,” one
The Miami Heat have inked Tyler Herro to a multi-year deal, but was it worth giving the Sixth Man of the Year that kind of raise? When the Miami Heat drafted Tyler Herro, the expectation was that he would join the legacy of sharpshooters that roamed South Beach. So far, he’s done quite well with
As a rookie, Josh Giddey proved himself to be one of the best passers in the entire NBA. How good can he be as the Thunder roster around him improves? Few teams in modern NBA history have been as transparently focused on losing basketball games as the Oklahoma City Thunder. After four seasons of spinning
12:09 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Milwaukee Bucks are slight favorites to win the 2023 NBA championship, and Luka Doncic was tapped as most likely to win the 2023 Most Valuable Player award in NBA.com’s annual survey of all 30 of the league’s general managers. The 21st edition of the survey was released Tuesday and
Nikola Jokic alone makes the Denver Nuggets a fringe contender. But a healthy and productive Michael Porter Jr. could make them much more. Two years ago, Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić won league MVP after averaging 26 points, 11 rebounds and 8+ assists on a 57/39/87 slash line. Last year he won the award again,
R.J. Barrett signed a four-year extension during the offseason with the Knicks and could be on the cusp of a breakout season. R.J. Barrett is no stranger to disrespect. As soon as he was drafted by the New York Knicks with the No. 3 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, it began. Because of the
12:14 AM ET NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons made his long-awaited debut with his new team on Monday after almost a year and a half away from the game. After pushing for a trade out of Philadelphia while citing mental health concerns and then dealing with offseason back surgery, Simmons said he
Stay Connected Download our mobile apps Your favorite teams, topics, and players all on your favorite mobile devices. © 2022 Minute Media – All Rights Reserved. The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only. All advice, including picks and predictions, is based on individual commentators’ opinions and not that of Minute
As a rookie, Herb Jones was already one of the most impactful defenders in the NBA. And the versatile forward is just getting started. It’s generally a safe assumption that first-year NBA players will struggle on defense. As modern offenses create more space on the floor and use an increasingly wide range of set plays,
5:01 PM ET Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns was hospitalized last week with a throat infection that caused him trouble breathing and forced him to be on bed rest for days, sources told ESPN. Towns spoke to the media Monday for the first time since falling ill and said his weight was down to 231
NBA preseason stats are notoriously unreliable especially if there is only a game or two to draw from. But there are still important things to watch for. Just a handful of teams began their preseason schedules over the weekend and only the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards have actually played multiple games. But even
8:00 AM ET NBA Insiders Which NBA players are on the verge of a breakout season? Last year, it was third-year point guard Ja Morant, who increased his scoring to average to 27.4 points per game from 19.1 during his sophomore season and led the upstart Memphis Grizzlies to the league’s second-best record. Morant set
The 25-under-25 is a celebration of the best young players in the NBA, but 25 is never enough. Here are the best players who just missed the cut. For the sixth year in a row, The Step Back is honoring the best young players in the NBA with our 25-under-25. The list is exactly that
1:37 AM ET ESPN News Services The Phoenix Suns lost their preseason opener at home to a hot-shooting Adelaide 36ers team from Australia’s National Basketball League 134-124 on Sunday night. The Suns, whose last game at Footprint Center was a 33-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, became