The Philadelphia 76ers are the NBA’s greatest enigma. At home, the Sixers are a powerhouse. Their 25-2 record speaks for itself, but that number still fails to encapsulate their impressiveness in their own arena. The 20-point drubbings of the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, the teams with the best record in each conference, add
1:26 PM ET CHICAGO — It might be early in the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities, which feature events with famous musicians, chefs, Instagram stars and actors, but one person has already left top draft pick Zion Williamson starstruck: former President Barack Obama. Williamson said his meeting with Obama was one of his top life experiences.
NBA All-Star weekend jerseys have patches honoring Kobe and Gianna Bryant and the seven other Calabasas crash victims as well as a black band for former NBA Commissioner David Stern. Kobe Bryant will be in the hearts and on the mind of the NBA community gathering in Chicago for All-Star Weekend. The first All-Star Game since
2:11 AM ET BOSTON — For a brief moment, Lou Williams and the LA Clippers thought they might be able to escape Boston with what they thought could have been a four-point play. But after saying they saw one official count what they thought was a Williams 3-point shot with the foul with 23.6 seconds
The Philadelphia 76ers are the NBA’s greatest enigma. At home, the Sixers are a powerhouse. Their 25-2 record speaks for itself, but that number still fails to encapsulate their impressiveness in their own arena. The 20-point drubbings of the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, the teams with the best record in each conference, add
The Houston Rockets’ small-ball experiment might not result in a championship, but it’s taking Moreyball to its logical extreme. Give the Houston Rockets credit: Regardless of whether their newfangled small-ball experiment results in a championship, they’re willing to challenge the NBA status quo. Conventional wisdom dictates that teams need a big-bodied center to score near
9:32 PM ET BOSTON — LA Clippers guard Paul George suffered a strained left hamstring again and was ruled out in the second half against the Boston Celtics on Thursday night. The Clippers announced George was out at halftime because of the same injury that cost him nine straight games in January and a total
Damian Lillard and Ja Morant raised each other over and over again as their teams battled for a crucial win and playoff position. With the Grizzlies and Trail Blazers engaged in a battle for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference, Wednesday night’s game held all sort of significance. What normally might have been a
The Warriors are betting they can turn Andrew Wiggins into something more than he’s been. What did we learn about that process from his first game? Human beings have a tendency to want to fix people. Whether it’s in their personal relationships or their favorite basketball team, they often believe that they are brought into
11:24 AM ET Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker will replace the injured Damian Lillard in this weekend’s NBA All-Star Game and 3-point contest. The NBA named Booker as Lillard’s replacement Thursday, one day after the Portland Trail Blazers star suffered a right groin strain. Booker, 23, will make his first career All-Star appearance in his
The Philadelphia 76ers are the NBA’s greatest enigma. At home, the Sixers are a powerhouse. Their 25-2 record speaks for itself, but that number still fails to encapsulate their impressiveness in their own arena. The 20-point drubbings of the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, the teams with the best record in each conference, add
3:26 AM ET DENVER — The Los Angeles Lakers increased their stranglehold on the Western Conference’s No. 1 spot with an impressive road win against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, but LeBron James claims seeding isn’t a topic of conversation for L.A. “We don’t talk about it,” James said after the Lakers’ 120-116 overtime win
It’s been uttered many times before: “Rappers wanna be ballers, ballers wanna be rappers.” Who do the ten NBA All-Star starters compare to in the rap game? Rap and hoops go together like Jerry Ferrara (Turtle) and fitted caps circa the “Entourage” era. They are practically synonymous. A game that was immortalized on the streets
6:45 PM ET Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo missed his second straight game Wednesday, just days after his girlfriend gave birth to the couple’s first child. In addition to sitting out against the Indiana Pacers, Antetokounmpo also missed Monday’s game against the Sacramento Kings. Milwaukee (46-7) has the NBA’s best record
Looking to bolster their standing in the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz revamped their bench a little bit back in December. They added Jordan Clarkson in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and released Jeff Green who, to that point, hadn’t had quite the impact they’d imagined when the team signed him in the offseason.
The Dallas Mavericks will add the recently released Michael Kidd-Gilchrist to fill some minutes on the wing. Can he cash in on this golden opportunity? Take a look back at the top 10 picks of the 2012 NBA Draft, and the biggest disappointment in that group is pretty easy to identify. It’s obviously not Anthony
By early 2000, Carter was a newly minted All-Star, a dynamic scorer and one of the NBA’s rising names, but he was still a foreign entity playing in Canada for the Toronto Raptors. It would take a generational moment, his performance in Oakland, to reach his grandest level of fame. Yet before Carter could become
Brilliant, maddening, exploratory, exhaustive: all of these things could be applied to James Harden as well as the legendary jam band Phish. Wildly talented. Insanely efficient, if not necessarily economical. Rambling, self-indulgent, offensive to some and taking as much time as humanly possible to get anywhere. Questionable fashion and abundant facial hair. Having a rabidly
2:39 AM ET HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets provided a glimpse of their potential when both of their superstar guards have it rolling. “It’s pretty scary,” James Harden said after a 116-105 win over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday at the Toyota Center. Harden scored 42 points in the win, the most by the NBA’s
They had the time, and now the time has passed. The earthquake that is the NBA Trade Deadline has passed over. With only the aftershock that is buyout season left, it’s only fair to look into who came out as the winners and losers at the deadline. Drew Maresca’s already dove into who the winners
7:25 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN PHILADELPHIA — Brett Brown has plenty of experience dealing with Joel Embiid‘s social media posts. So, after the All-Star center’s latest foray into that space Monday, the Philadelphia 76ers coach did his best to downplay any significance in Embiid’s resurfacing of his beef with the fans. “Is it ideal? Maybe
D’Angelo Russell made his debut for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night, putting up 22 points on just 12 shots, adding 5 assists and hitting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. He provided a dynamic boost of playmaking to an offense that hasn’t always had it this season and Minnesota was generally humming at that end,
12:16 PM ET Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A judge Tuesday set an October trial date for a man charged with conspiring with the ex-wife of Lorenzen Wright to kill the former NBA player more than nine years ago in Memphis. Shelby County judge Lee Coffee told Billy Ray Turner during a court hearing that
Looking to bolster their standing in the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz revamped their bench a little bit back in December. They added Jordan Clarkson in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and released Jeff Green who, to that point, hadn’t had quite the impact they’d imagined when the team signed him in the offseason.
11:37 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO — For the first time since he was traded away last summer, Andre Iguodala faced off against the Golden State Warriors Monday night at Chase Center. Iguodala, 36, spent six seasons with the Warriors, winning three NBA championships and the 2015 Finals MVP before being dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies
Photo by Bill Smith/NBAE via Getty Images New York Jets: 5 offseason needs in 2020 by Mike Phillips The origins and history of the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest including the unforgettable 1988 NBA Slam Dunk Contest highlighted by the battle between Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins. In celebration of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest returning
6:47 PM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Vanessa Bryant expressed grief and anger in an Instagram post Monday as she copes with the deaths of her husband Kobe Bryant, their daughter Gigi and seven other people in a helicopter crash last month. “My brain refuses to accept that both Kobe and Gigi are gone,”
They had the time, and now the time has passed. The earthquake that is the NBA Trade Deadline has passed over. With only the aftershock that is buyout season left, it’s only fair to look into who came out as the winners and losers at the deadline. Drew Maresca’s already dove into who the winners
11:33 AM ET Associated Press LeBron James is considering a return to the Olympics. James — a two-time gold medalist and three-time Olympian — is among 44 players announced by USA Basketball on Monday as finalists for the team that will play in the Tokyo Games this summer. James played in 2004, 2008 and 2012,
12:06 AM ET HOUSTON — It surprised Bojan Bogdanovic that he was substituted back into the game for the final possession with the Utah Jazz needing a shot to send the game into overtime or win, much less coach Quin Snyder designed the final play with him as the primary option. It’d been a rough