1:37 AM ET It’s difficult to doubt the LA Clippers‘ personnel and its potential. Yet coming into this conference semifinals series against the Denver Nuggets, we still hadn’t seen the fully-intact, healthy Clippers play championship-quality basketball for a sustained stretch of time longer than 10 days after the All-Star break and before the March suspension.
As a versatile shooter with play-making ability on both ends, Aleksej Pokusevski is a top-five talent in this year’s draft class. Scattered across the 2020 NBA Draft class are perimeter players with international ties. LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton spent the past season preparing themselves in Australia’s NBL. Deni Avdija logged multiple years with Maccabi
The NBA Draft is a transformative moment for franchises as it provides them with the opportunity to jump-start a lost roster or continue building one on the rise. With the ever-increasing importance of the point guard position – which is as sought after as ever – teams are constantly on the lookout for their next,
Tyronn Lue is heading to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philadelphia 76ers needed to shake things up this offseason, and they started that process by parting ways with head coach Brett Brown after an embarrassing playoff exit. Wasting little time to name his replacement, Philly is all set to bring former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn
6:48 PM ET The Grizzlies‘ Ja Morant has been named the NBA Rookie of the Year. The league announced Morant as the winner Thursday night, saying he received 99 first-place votes and 498 total points in polling of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Heat guard Kendrick Nunn finished second with 204 points. The Pelicans’ Zion Williamson,
SPRINGFIELD, MA – SEPTEMBER 07: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2018 enshrinee Steve Nash (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) Did Jamie Newman hurt his NFL Draft stock by opting out at Georgia? by Mike Luciano The Brooklyn Nets have hired Steve Nash as their next head coach. The Brooklyn Nets spent most
Zach LaVine, Jim Boylen, Chicago Bulls. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) Anthony Davis says his back is ‘fine’, will play in Game 5 by Michael Corvo Zach LaVine and Jim Boylen nearly came to blows last year, so that’s neat. While Jim Boylen wanted Zach LaVine to punch the time clock, LaVine wanted to punch his
2:20 AM ET After two thrilling first-round Game 7s, the NBA’s conference semifinals are finally set. The Houston Rockets edged the Oklahoma City Thunder to set up a meeting with the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, while the Denver Nuggets outdueled the Utah Jazz to clinch a matchup with the LA Clippers. The Eastern Conference semis
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) Patrick Mahomes gets engaged to girlfriend Brittany Matthews by Alicia de Artola The Denver Nuggets stole Game 7 in a series of frantic final moments, completing an improbable 3-1 comeback over the Utah Jazz. The first-round series between the Nuggets and Jazz had been an offensive supernova, defined by the
12:41 AM ET FOR A MOMENT, there was a question if Chris Paul would ever play a game in an Oklahoma City Thunder uniform. He arrived last summer after two franchise-altering trades, one sending out All-Star Paul George for young prospects and long-term assets and the other acquiring Paul (and more picks) for team icon
Goran Dragic and the Miami Heat stunned the Milwaukee Bucks again in Game 2. When the Milwaukee Bucks dropped their second Game 1 of the 2020 NBA Playoffs, it was far too early to panic. After dropping Game 2 in their second-round series against the Miami Heat, however, it’s time to worry about the state
The Toronto Raptors swept the Brooklyn Nets with a win in Game 4. In the first winning sweep in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors routed the Brooklyn Nets in Game 4 on Sunday to advance to the second round of the 2020 NBA Playoffs. The Raptors’ franchise playoff-record 150 points were fueled by a historically
Jamal Crawford wants to play his 21st NBA season in 2020. When the Brooklyn Nets inked Jamal Crawford to bolster their roster following several big names either being ruled out of the rest of the season due to injury or a positive COVID-19 test, the basketball world rejoiced, as Crawford remains one of the better
6:18 PM ET Michael Porter Jr. said the LA Clippers passed on him twice in the 2018 NBA draft because their team doctor “thought that I would never play basketball again.” The Clippers had back-to-back first-round picks at 12 and 13 and traded the 12th pick for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander before selecting shooting guard Jerome Robinson.
Marcus Smart committed the NBA’s biggest flop this season. The 2020 Academy Awards were already in February, but Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart already has the strongest NBA submission for 2021. Smart is a gritty defensive player, vastly improved 3-point shooter and ultra-important glue guy on both ends of the floor for Brad Stevens’ Celtics.
Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart led the Boston Celtics to a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Raptors. After a somewhat surprising upset in Game 1, the Boston Celtics made sure the defending NBA champions knew they weren’t messing around with a narrow Game 2 victory on Tuesday to take a commanding 2-0 lead in this
6:42 AM ET ERIK SPOELSTRA COULD have winged it. If anyone was qualified to give a talk on how to deal with a case of imposter syndrome, it was the former video coordinator who worked his way up to become head coach of the Miami Heat. But Spoelstra had come to know his young sharpshooter,
The final sequence in Game 7 between the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz was insane. We could talk about how Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz came to life in the second half of Game 7 in their first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets. We could talk about how low-scoring the game
The NBA Bubble has been a new environment for everyone, including the photographers who shoot the games. The pictures make the game and you might have noticed that the game images from the NBA Bubble look a little different than what we’re used to. Veteran Getty photographer Mike Ehrmann spoke with The Step Back to
12:50 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Only minutes after Donovan Mitchell was lying face down on the court inside AdventHealth Arena, he plopped himself down in front of a video camera, his eyes still red from tears he shed after his Utah Jazz saw their season end with a heartbreaking 80-78
5:24 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Disappointment has begun to mount among Milwaukee Bucks players inside the NBA bubble and it doesn’t have anything to do with basketball or falling behind 1-0 to the Miami Heat. The Bucks suffered a 115-104 loss to the Heat on Monday, but on the same day in Wisconsin, there was
Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images Red Sox Got roasted for tweeting about rebuilding, then deleted it by Braulio Perez With Carmelo Anthony set to be a free agent this offseason, there appears to be interest from the Knicks in bringing him back to New York. When Carmelo Anthony used to play for the New York
The Nuggets beat the Jazz in a very close Game 5. The Utah Jazz struggled in the regular season against the Denver Nuggets, as their usually sharp defense faltered against the versatile Nikola Jokic and the deadly Jamal Murray. Quin Snyder made sure to reverse Utah’s fortunes in the playoffs, as the No. 6 seed
Utah Jazz superstar Donovan Mitchell smashed a bike in the tunnel while Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray collapsed in exhaustion after Game 6. It has been a tale of two Sundays for the opposing young guards of the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz. Last week, Donovan Mitchell was exuding all the confidence in the world.
7:12 AM ET Through six volcanic NBA playoff games against the Utah Jazz, Jamal Murray has: Averaged 34 points. Put up 50, 42, then 50 again — the last two in season-saving wins, as the Denver Nuggets look to become the first team since the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers to rally from a 3-1 deficit. (Do
With Jimmy Butler playing the role of closer, the Miami Heat stole Game 1 from the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks lost Game 1 of their first-round NBA playoff series, and the Miami Heat decided to help them run it back in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series too. Thanks to a disappointing performance from likely
In Game 1 of their second-round series, the Boston Celtics smothered the Toronto Raptors. The Toronto Raptors looked like world-beaters during their first-round playoff sweep of the Brooklyn Nets, but with a much tougher opponent on deck in the second round, the defending NBA champions looked just as vulnerable as the league’s other top contenders.
No, YOU’RE crying after watching Fred VanVleet greet his kids again. Everyone made note of the NBA Dad strength that enveloped Fred VanVleet in last year’s playoffs after his son, Fred Jr., was born. After watching the Toronto Raptors guard reunite with his kids for the first time in months within the NBA bubble, we
11:41 PM ET In his first moment in the spotlight as a member of the Miami Heat last fall, Jimmy Butler failed. It was the rigorous conditioning test the Heat put players through before training camp that is legend within the league. Some athletic trainers claim it’s the most demanding such test in all of
LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 25: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers defends LeBron James #6 of the Miami Heat during the NBA game at Staples Center on December 25, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. The Heat defeated the Lakers 96-80. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and