8:58 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri said Monday night that while his relationship with former coach Dwane Casey has significantly improved but there is “still plenty of work to be done” for him to get to the same place with former franchise icon DeMar DeRozan after he fired Casey and traded
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – FEBRUARY 24: Vanessa Laine Bryant (L) and Kobe Bryant attend the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 24, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Mike Coppola/VF19/Getty Images for VF) Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty doubts 2019-20
The Timberwolves released a statement today, announcing the passing of Jacqueline Towns, the mother of star center Karl-Anthony Towns. She had been hospitalized with symptoms related to COVID-19 since late last month. We’ll all be keeping the Towns family and the frontline medical workers who worked so hard to care for her in our thoughts.
3:45 PM ET Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, the mother of Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns, has died due to complications from the coronavirus, her family said Monday. She was 58. “Jackie was many things to many people — a wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend,” the Towns family said in a statement. “The matriarch of
8:09 AM ET The Chicago Bulls suspected the 1997-98 season would be their last run together. For all the championships and success with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson, there was a feeling among many in the organization that the good times had run their course. That season is captured in “The Last Dance,”
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. Something is rotten in the state of Utah. At least that’s the implication from a variety of reports and rumblings that fomented over the past few days. On
Keyontae Johnson hasn’t gotten much attention but he has the tools to be one of the most impactful wings in the NBA Draft 2020 class. The absence of buzz surrounding Keyontae Johnson is strange. The NBA and the mainstream scouting consensus adores athletic tools, so much so that a prospect like James Wiseman is slated
8:55 AM ET It’s time for the ninth annual Luke Walton All-Stars — a tribute to guys who fight for their NBA lives before landing in a role that suits them. (Read about the origins of the column here.) Erik Spoelstra sat with Robinson before Miami sent him to the G League last season, and
9:00 PM ET Four players remain in the NBA HORSE Challenge after a first round that saw Atlanta Hawks All-Star Trae Young, 2020 Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings, 2008 NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce and Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Chris Paul knocked out of the tournament. That sets up a final four that will include
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 08: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate his basket and LA Clippers foul during a 112-103 Lakers win at Staples Center on March 08, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is
9:34 AM ET The NBA HORSE tournament is finally here (7 p.m. ET Sunday on ESPN), but which player has the best chance to bring home the title? Can the active NBA stars reign supreme in this playground shooting exhibition? The WNBA will send Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings and two-time 3-point champion Allie Quigley,
This week, Basketball Insiders is taking a look at various positions among players in the NBA and ranking who is the best of the best. Our writers have previously used very specific guidelines to rank the best players by position in the NBA. Today, we’re taking a look at the point guards. The floor generals.
After a bland first three games of the players-only NBA 2K tournament, Patrick Beverley and his trash talk showed why it was a good idea in the first place. If you’re like me, watching other people play video games isn’t the most enjoyable way to spend your time. For a lot of people, the joy
12:39 AM ET At the end, a disgusted Patrick Beverley shed his headset and took a frustrated swipe toward the camera before leaving his gaming seat without much to say. It was one of the rare moments that the ultracompetitive LA Clippers guard was speechless. Despite being swept Saturday by Phoenix’s Deandre Ayton in the
Here’s everything you need to know, from results to reactions, from the semifinals and final of ESPN’s 16-seed NBA 2K Players Tournament. Actual NBA basketball can’t be played right now, but ESPN, the NBA and the NBA Player’s Association have teamed up to bring you the next best thing — digital hoops. The 16-seed tournament
11:51 PM ET The NBA 2K Players Tournament is over and Devin Booker is the best NBA 2K20 player in the league. Booker defeated Deandre Ayton 2-0 in an all-Phoenix Suns final on ESPN on Saturday night, earning bragging rights and a $100,000 donation to a charity of his choice for coronavirus relief. Booker went
This week, Basketball Insiders is taking a look at various positions among players in the NBA and ranking who is the best of the best. Our writers have previously used very specific guidelines to rank the best players by position in the NBA. Today, we’re taking a look at the point guards. The floor generals.
7:24 PM ET Associated Press Victor Oladipo is going to be busy on the next few Friday nights. The Indiana Pacers guard is hosting a Friday night Instagram Live concert series called BASE:LINE LIVE. Each week, three independent artists will be featured on the NBA’s Instagram account for the show. It speaks to one of
Even if the NBA regular season is canceled, we’ve seen enough to start assessing the first season of notable rookies. What did the Golden State Warriors see from Eric Paschall? When the Golden State Warriors selected Eric Paschall with the No. 41 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, they certainly didn’t expect that he’d spend his
7:05 AM ET While it’s unclear how much time will elapse before play resumes in the 2019-20 NBA season, if it does at all, there are concerns among the league’s general managers and athletic training staffers that games might begin again before players are physically ready. “If you tell us two weeks in advance, and
It’s April and, let’s face it, the world is starved for basketball-related content. Less than a week ago, this space included the admittance of imaginary one-on-one rules and a wholehearted recommendation for a video game tournament. Literally, seriously, honestly: Anything to scratch that itch. And speaking of the aforementioned itches, it must be poison ivy
12:05 PM ET As information gathering on draft-eligible prospects remains limited during the coronavirus pandemic, many NBA teams are united in hopes of encouraging the league office to push the date of the draft from June 25 to no sooner than Aug. 1, sources told ESPN. Multiple top team executives expressed to ESPN their belief
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. Welcome to our Friday mailbag edition of The Whiteboard! In these uncertain times, with a ton of actual time on our hands, we figured we might as well
7:00 AM ET CHRIS MCCULLOUGH GLIDED through the air for a two-handed stuff at the rim. It was Jan. 12, 2017, and the Long Island Nets’ momentum was mounting. Inside Barclays Center — the Brooklyn Nets‘ G League affiliate also called the arena home during its inaugural season — Long Island was amid a fourth-quarter
8:29 AM ET As we approach the one-month mark since the night the NBA stopped, let’s look back on some of the good and bad of the 2019-20 season so far: 1. The state of the Spurs I found it — the precise moment the Spurs defensive backslide hit its nadir: The Gregg Popovich we
Here’s everything you need to know, from results to reactions, from the quarterfinals of ESPN’s16-seed NBA2K Players Tournament. Actual NBA basketball can’t be played right now, but ESPN, the NBA and the NBA Player’s Association have teamed up to bring you the next best thing — digital hoops. The 16-seed tournament kicked off last Friday
12:24 AM ET The semifinals for the NBA 2K Players Tournament are set for Saturday and each will feature a player from the Phoenix Suns and the LA Clippers in the two head-to-heads to determine the finalists. After quarterfinal action Thursday on ESPN2, four players came out victorious: Suns guard Devin Booker, Clippers big man
It’s April and, let’s face it, the world is starved for basketball-related content. Less than a week ago, this space included the admittance of imaginary one-on-one rules and a wholehearted recommendation for a video game tournament. Literally, seriously, honestly: Anything to scratch that itch. And speaking of the aforementioned itches, it must be poison ivy
Michael Jordan was still a somewhat normal and accessible athlete even after the Chicago Bulls won their first NBA championship. “M.J., who’s open?” Those were Phil Jackson’s famous words to Michael Jordan with just under seven minutes left in Game 5 of the 1991 NBA Finals. The answer was John Paxson and Jordan found Paxson
The Chicago Bulls are conducting quite an interesting interview process as they search for a new general manager. Here are power rankings for their top GM candidates. Quarantine has got even the Chicago Bulls rethinking their current toxic relationships. As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on April 3, the Bulls are conducting a formal search process