12:05 PM ET High school prospect Makur Maker will be eligible for the 2020 NBA draft if he applies as an early-entry candidate, according to a memo distributed to NBA teams by the league office. The memo also included a revised agreement to the collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the National Basketball Players
Atlanta sports. Those two words seldom bring joy or revelry. They are most often associated with pain, anguish, failure and lost opportunities. The story of any longtime Atlanta sports fan is a cautionary tale at best, and at worst, a deep-cutting tome of misery and strife. So you think you have it tough as a
Cameron Johnson was one of the more surprising reaches in the 2019 NBA Draft, but is that risk already paying off for the Phoenix Suns? Make no mistake about it: When the Phoenix Suns traded down from the sixth overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft to add Dario Saric and eventually draft Cameron Johnson
3:54 PM ET Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has been elected as a vice president of the National Basketball Players Association. Irving replaces Pau Gasol on the NBPA executive committee. Gasol’s three-year term expired. “This was the right time for me to run for a leadership position in the NBPA,” Irving said. “I have been
Always one of the most entertaining times of the year, the trade deadline is an annual must-see event for basketball fans. But in addition to the excitement it brings, it can also introduce a headwind of confusion. Case in point: The three-team trade between the New York Knicks, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers. After
6:38 PM ET Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 Tim MacMahon Close ESPN Staff Writer Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009 Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM The Houston Rockets are doubling down on small ball, planning to use
A new format and fresh faces brought the best out of everyone in Chicago for the 2020 NBA All-Star game. What transpired at NBA All-Star Saturday night set a high bar for fan’s expectations of the newly-changed All-Star game on Sunday. Before the game got underway, the league continued to celebrate the life and legacy
3:27 PM ET Nick DePaulaESPN With nearly 6.5 million viewers tuned in to an epic dunk-off between Aaron Gordon and Derrick Jones Jr., the 2020 Slam Dunk Contest helped launch each player not only to new heights on the hardwood, but also in the marketing world. In the aftermath of his narrowly claimed Slam Dunk
12:58 AM ET The 69th NBA All-Star Game featured notable changes at the United Center in Chicago, highlighted by the two teams — Team LeBron and Team Giannis — racing to the wire toward the target score rather than playing to the buzzer. The new format seemed to bring out playoff-level intensity in the players,
Jennifer Hudson and Dr. Dre honor the late Kobe Bryant ahead of NBA All-Star game on Sunday. It feels like yesterday when the sports world heard of the tragic passing of NBA legend, Kobe Bryant. Now, just weeks after the news has finally settled we’ve had the wounds reopened by way of multiple moving tributes
11:13 PM ET The Cleveland Cavaliers and John Beilein have discussed the possibility of him stepping down as head coach during the NBA All-Star break, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst. Beilein left for the All-Star break weighing his future as coach — including the possibility that he’s coached his final game, league
Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson dunked so hard at the NBA Rising Stars Challenge he literally broke the rim. All hail our king Zion Williamson, the rim-wrecker. I didn’t anticipate spending my Valentine’s Day evening watching the NBA Rising Stars Challenge, but my life choices led me to this moment. I have no regrets because watching
2:53 PM ET Associated Press DETROIT — Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who is the Quicken Loans founder and chairman, is slowly returning to work eight months after he had a stroke. Gilbert, 58, returned to his Detroit office early this year. He’s there one or two days a week, using a wheelchair and accompanied
The Miami Heat almost swept the festivities for the 2020 NBA All-Star Saturday night in Chicago as Bam Adebayo and Derrick Jones Jr won the skills challenge and dunk contest in one of the best nights in recent memory. The term “positionless” Basketball has dominated the discussion around the modern NBA. The idea was that
11:37 PM ET Lawrence MurrayESPN.com The 2020 NBA All-Star Slam Dunk contest at the United Center in Chicago already had the potential to be memorable Saturday night. 2008 winner Dwight Howard was returning! Pat Connaughton was participating for the first time! Derrick Jones Jr. was back after coming in second back in 2017! And Aaron
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
10:21 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN CHICAGO — Between them, Buddy Hield and Devin Booker took 108 3-point shots Saturday night. It took until the 108th and final one to determine who would come out on top in the NBA’s 3-point shootout — with Hield, thanks to hitting four of the five money balls on his
Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Ja Morant and Brandon Clarke put on the greatest dunk contest that never was. The Rising Stars Challenge between the World and U.S. teams was pretty exciting and delivered a special payoff for the fans who watched until the final minutes. Zion Williamson was the main attraction for the U.S. team
2:37 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN CHICAGO — Joel Embiid has heard all of the chatter about the awkward fit between he and fellow Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Ben Simmons on the court, and whether the two of them are capable of winning at the highest levels playing together — noises that have only grown louder as
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
11:59 PM ET The Rising Stars Challenge got off to a sleepy start in the first quarter Friday, and Team World took a 10-point lead into the halftime locker room despite equipment damage courtesy of New Orleans Pelicans power forward Zion Williamson. But Charlotte Hornets small forward Miles Bridges flipped a switch in the second
Clippers star Paul George re-aggravated his previous left hamstring strain and faces an unknown recovery time heading into the All-Star break. Hamstrings can be fickle. Los Angeles Clippers’ star forward Paul George re-aggravated the left hamstring strain he suffered earlier this season during the second quarter of a 141-133 double-overtime loss to the Boston Celtics
Kobe Bean Bryant, 41, died on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, from injuries sustained in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. Bryant was born Aug. 23, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was introduced to the basketball consciousness as a basketball phenom at Lower Merion High School. He was introduced to the national consciousness in 1996 when
First Things First’s Nick Wright speaks with FanSided’s Mark Carman about the tragic passing of Kobe Bryant during Super Bowl LIV week down in Miami. It might be Super Bowl week down in Miami, but there was notably a somber tone on Monday morning. On Sunday, the world learned of the tragic passing of NBA
10:38 PM ET CHICAGO — United Center rims proved to be no match for rookie Zion Williamson. After catching a lob pass from USA teammate Trae Young in Friday night’s Rising Stars Challenge game, Williamson slammed down a two-handed jam that caused the rim to bend. At halftime, spading experts had to bring out a
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