5:48 PM ET Portland Trail Blazers forward Trevor Ariza is opting out of participation in the NBA’s Orlando restart of the season, committing instead to a one-month visitation window with his young son, sources tell ESPN. Ariza, a starter, has been involved in a custody case over his 12-year-old son, and the mother’s decision to
Jonquel Jones, Connecticut Sun, (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) The Connecticut Sun announced that Jonquel Jones will sit out the entire 2020 WNBA season, a huge blow for their title hopes. Last week, the WNBA finally rolled out their plans for safely conducting the 2020 WNBA season — a shortened, 22-game run with all the
11:13 AM ET With a looming free agency, Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans — a Most Improved Player candidate for the 2019-2020 season — will sit out the NBA’s restart in Orlando, Florida, as a preventive measure, sources told ESPN. Bertans, 27, is on the cusp of a lucrative, long-term contract and has had two
8:02 AM ET FOR JULIUS JONES, H Unit has been home for 18 years. He’s on death row, serving time for a crime he maintains he didn’t commit, in a cell alongside 53 others stacked in two rows inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. In 2002, Jones was convicted of first-degree murder for the
Tom Brady posts grateful Instagram message to dad on Father’s Day by Mark Powell Webb Simpson wins an RBC Heritage unlike any other by David Salituro ESPYs (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) 2020 ESPYs full results and highlights Like pretty much everything else in the world right now, the ESPYs are being held without fans
Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images San Antonio Spurs wing Lonnie Walker opened up about his hairstyle and the emotional significance of cutting it. For the first two years of his NBA career, the most recognizable thing about Lonnie Walker IV may have been his unique, trademark hairstyle. While the wing out of the University of
10:19 AM ET Projected top-five NBA draft pick Deni Avdija will resume his season with Maccabi Tel Aviv when the Israeli basketball league returns Sunday, he told ESPN. “Before I go to the U.S., I have a job to finish here in Israel,” Avdija wrote in an email. “As a competitor I am committed to
12:51 PM ET ESPN News Services Potential early-entry candidates for the 2020 NBA draft will have until Aug. 17 to declare that they are entering the draft, according to a memo obtained by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday. The new deadline is pending the NBA finalizing an agreement with the players’ union on system rule
Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images The NBA is reportedly concerned over the spiking number of coronavirus cases in Florida. Surprise, surprise! The spiking number of coronavirus cases in Florida, the state where the NBA is planning to restart its 2019-20 season, has become a major cause of concern for the league. According to ESPN’s Zach
11:58 PM ET Baxter Holmes Close ESPN Senior Writer Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) is a senior writer for ESPN Digital and Print, focusing on the NBA. He has covered the Lakers, the Celtics and previously worked for The Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times. Zach Lowe Close ESPN Senior Writer Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) is a senior
4:26 PM ET All-Star guard Victor Oladipo plans to ramp up activity with the Indiana Pacers starting next week and evaluate his repaired torn quad tendon prior to making a final commitment to playing in the season’s restart in Orlando, he told ESPN on Saturday. Oladipo, 28, is hopeful to return to play with the
EL SEGUNDO, CA – JULY 13: Jeanie Buss, controlling owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers, looks from a balcony before the start of a news conference where Anthony Davis was introduced as the newest player of the Los Angeles Lakers at UCLA Health Training Center on July 13, 2019 in El Segundo, California.
10:51 AM ET NBA Hall of Famer Wayne Embry, who was the first African American to become a general manager in pro sports, believes players should use their voices by continuing to play during the current protests while supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. “I’ve always been a proponent of sports being a model of
6:57 AM ET Associated Press BEIJING — The Chinese basketball league has restarted after an almost five-month shutdown for the coronavirus pandemic, with fewer foreign players and no fans in the stands. The CBA was suspended on Jan. 24 after the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, a week before it was scheduled to return following a
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 25: Injured Klay Thompson #11 of the Golden State Warriors reacts on the bench after the Warriors made a basket against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chase Center on November 25, 2019 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using
7:58 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN For Memphis Grizzlies swingman Justise Winslow, the idea of playing out the rest of the season in Orlando, Florida, is “tricky.” Winslow spoke with former NBA forward Caron Butler on the league’s Twitter feed on Friday afternoon and expressed concern about the continuation of the season, the same way he
The world is on fire. And, frankly, the news of pending basketball hardly seems important in the slightest. The planet-wide pandemic and sweeping protests have turned everybody’s day-to-day routines on their head – but, obviously, for one group, it has done so in awful and disproportionate ways. If you can donate, consider doing so. If
Credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images Internal support is apparently growing, but the New York Knicks are destined to screw up hiring Kenny Atkinson. The New York Knicks are embarking on a coaching search, with Tom Thibodeau, Mike Woodson, and interim head coach Mike Miller as rumored candidates. Kenny Atkinson looks like an obvious candidate too, and
2:40 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Wizards guard Bradley Beal is a star at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., but away from it he has had to go through some of the same frightening interactions with law enforcement that countless black people in this country have. At the “Together We Stand” march — hosted by
Which NBA player archetypes are threatened, endangered or recovering? The 2014-15 NBA season saw the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. The Golden State Warriors emerged as the new dynasty not only due to their talent, but their play style: running mostly undersized lineups with an abundance of shooting. The
Zion Williamson, #1, New Orleans Pelicans, (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) Zion Williamson is featured in NBA 2K21’s first look on the PS5 console. NBA 2K21 released a sneak peak featuring Zion Williamson on Thursday. The same day Sony released their first look at the new PlayStation 5 console, 2K Sports dropped a video showing off their
12:27 AM ET Weeks after the team issued a statement condemning “racism, bigotry, violence and prejudice in all its forms” the Los Angeles Lakers announced a pair of moves to aid in their mission to spur positive social change. The Lakers announced the hiring of Karida Brown as the team’s director of racial equity and
The world is on fire. And, frankly, the news of pending basketball hardly seems important in the slightest. The planet-wide pandemic and sweeping protests have turned everybody’s day-to-day routines on their head – but, obviously, for one group, it has done so in awful and disproportionate ways. If you can donate, consider doing so. If
5:43 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Bucks guard Sterling Brown, who was tased by Milwaukee police in 2018 after being cited for a parking violation, sees the NBA’s restart in Orlando as an opportunity to campaign for issues of social justice and racial equality. “A lot of eyes will be on us while we’re in Orlando,”
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images The Whiteboard is The Step Back’s daily basketball newsletter, covering the NBA, WNBA and more. Subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Sitting 6.0 games outside of a playoff spot when the NBA season was suspended, 2.0 games behind the threshold they’d need to reach
2:11 PM ET Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says if his players take a knee during the national anthem, he hopes to join them. In an interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines on Thursday, Cuban was asked how he would react if he saw his players not standing for the anthem. “If they were taking
The Miami Heat have the depth and personnel to make a deep postseason run. The suspended NBA season came at the perfect time for the Miami Heat. After starting the season with 25 wins in their first 34 games, they went 16-15 over their next 31 contests. A four-month reprieve is exactly what this team
5:37 PM ET The NBA Coaches Association fears new league standards and guidelines that could bar team staffers in high-risk categories for the coronavirus from attending the season’s restart in Orlando could “severely jeopardize” their future employment opportunities. NBCA executive director Dave Fogel and president Rick Carlisle have concerns that several assistants and three head
Former NBA player John Salley speaks onstage during the 2011 Cedars Sinai Sports Spectacular at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on May 22, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Four-time NBA champion John Salley played late into June many times. Salley believes the NBA would benefit by changing their season schedule. John
8:21 PM ET NBA Insiders Who will be the most important and exciting players to watch when the NBA returns next month? The league is set to restart action on July 30 in Florida with eight seeding games for each of 22 teams before a potential play-in series and then the standard playoffs. LeBron James