10:32 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN NEW ORLEANS — As the lights dimmed in the Smoothie King Center for the national anthem and a calm came over the crowd, one New Orleans Pelicans fan let Anthony Davis know exactly what he thought about his return to the city he once called home. “AD’s a sellout!” It
Kyrie Irving to miss Friday’s game against Boston Celtis with a right shoulder injury, according to Sports Center. News broke on Thursday afternoon that Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving will, in fact, miss Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics following a reported right shoulder injury. This does not bode well for Irving just days after fans
The Phoenix Suns were widely criticized for signing Ricky Rubio over the summer, but he’s already paying dividends for one the NBA’s biggest pleasant surprises. When the Phoenix Suns gave Ricky Rubio a three-year, $51 million contract in free agency this summer, pundits put the “critical” in “hypocritical” with their evaluations. Although the Suns had
2:52 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr cut his right hand during Wednesday night’s 104-90 win over the Chicago Bulls after breaking a clipboard in frustration. Kerr made light of the situation after the game, as he wore a bandaid on his hand while speaking to reporters at the podium.
Peruse the NBA leaderboard for the season and you will by-and-large find the usual suspects near the top. The Utah Jazz and Milwaukee Bucks are first and second in defensive rating. The Bucks and the Houston Rockets are both sitting squarely in the top five in offensive rating. All is as expected in the association.
6:45 PM ET Kyrie Irving will miss Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics in Brooklyn, the Nets announced Thursday, the eighth game Irving has missed due to a right shoulder impingement. Irving did not make the Nets’ most recent road-trip, including a game in Boston on Wednesday night. His absence was noted by fans in
With a game that transcends categorization and convention, Bam Adebayo is carving out a niche as one of the best big men in the NBA. Alvin Gentry did not want to talk about Bam Adebayo. The Pelicans head coach didn’t brush off the question, didn’t act put upon in any way. But when asked about
7:00 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN It was going to be the shining moment in Carmelo Anthony’s return to the NBA. Just 15 minutes into his debut with the Portland Trail Blazers, the 10-time All-Star rose up for an epic posterizing slam. There was just one problem, and his name was Jaxson Hayes. “I thought he
Arizona freshman guard Nico Mannion isn’t the flashiest of players, but his well-rounded offensive arsenal should be a clear plus in the NBA. Head coach Sean Miller arrived at Arizona in the fall of 2009. Over the past 10 years, he’s welcomed seven top-10 recruits to Tucson. Prior to this season, all five were forwards
It was only last February when Rodney Hood was traded for the second time in a two-year span. The Cleveland Cavaliers — a franchise that hoped to simultaneously vie for a championship in 2018 and build a core with eyes on the future — first acquired Hood from the Utah Jazz, the team that drafted
3:20 AM ET NEW ORLEANS — Late in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 114-110 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in Anthony Davis‘ homecoming Wednesday, LeBron James visited the ESPN broadcast table to express his disappointment with a call that was being reviewed. With the Lakers leading the Pelicans 108-107 with 1:22 left in the fourth
The Charlotte Hornets nailed the draft during the tail end of the Kemba Walker era and hired the right coach, meaning they could compete in the Eastern Conference soon. While Kemba Walker thrives in Boston, the team that let him go for nothing has charted a course forward. The Charlotte Hornets, subjected to the worst
11:39 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — It was a long five days between when Kemba Walker crashed to the floor in Denver on Friday and when he took the court with his Boston Celtics teammates here Wednesday night against the Brooklyn Nets. But on a night that was supposed to be all about Kyrie
In 127 total regular season games with Kyrie Irving, the Boston Celtics were 78-49. Without him, they were 26-15 – not setting the world on fire, but good nonetheless. The bulk of those 41 games without Irving came in his injury-shortened 2017-18. That’s the team that came within one game of knocking off LeBron James
2:32 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN MILWAUKEE — After a Wednesday morning shootaround with the Atlanta Hawks, Jabari Parker took some time to soak in the atmosphere of the newly constructed Fiserv Forum before sharing his honest thoughts. After spending his first four seasons in the league with the Milwaukee Bucks, the former No. 2 overall
7:04 AM ET When Anthony Davis asked the New Orleans Pelicans to trade him, preferably to the Los Angeles Lakers, it may have seemed like a tough decision. But he had five decades of history to show him how. In 1968, Wilt Chamberlain informed the Philadelphia 76ers that he wanted to be traded to the
Zach LaVine has been a prime figure in NBA news this season. It began in training camp when the young Chicago Bulls expressed their intentions of rejoining the playoff party for the first time since 2017. It continued when LaVine confidently told the media of his — and teammate Lauri Markkanen’s — February All-Star plans.
6:47 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr says he has never seen anything quite like the injury situation his team is dealing, while noting that he has been calling the healthy remaining players on the roster the ‘Elite Eight’ as they continue to play under adverse circumstances. “We could have
Carmelo Anthony is finally back on an NBA roster. Both he and the Blazers are in desperate need of revitalization. Can they make it work? Tuesday night, for the first time in over a year, Carmelo Anthony played in an actual NBA game,, though it was hard to watch him and see signs of the
2:38 PM ET Expectations were sky-high for last season’s Boston Celtics, but a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference and second-round playoff loss forced president of basketball operations Danny Ainge to reflect on the decisions he made. “I think that in hindsight, we should have cleaned out the roster a little bit to make it
Factoring in their expectations, the Philadelphia 76ers’ season hasn’t exactly gone par for the course. It hasn’t all been bad; At 11-5, just two games back of the Milwaukee Bucks for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, the team is about where most expected them to be. That gap could be even smaller, had
1:17 AM ET SAN ANTONIO — LeBron James banked in his first 3-pointer of the night and swished his fourth to move past Peja Stojakovic for No. 18 on the all-time 3-pointers list in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 114-104 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. It turns out the Spurs are partly responsible
In the press release that literally nobody asked for, the New York Knicks denied offering Richard Jefferson a contract “for clarification purposes.” The New York Knicks PR team is having a rough season. So are the Knicks themselves, at 4-13, which is the worst record in the Eastern Conference, but the public relations team hasn’t
The Lakers’ Danny Green threw down the best dunk of his career Sunday night. His reward? A “random” drug test. Danny Green of the Los Angeles Lakers is not known for his athleticism. Not that he isn’t athletic, but he’s best known for spacing the floor, knocking down timely 3’s on catch-and-shoot opportunities, and frustrating
10:29 PM ET ESPN News Services TORONTO — Pascal Siakam scored 25 points, Fred VanVleet added 24 and the Toronto Raptors held Joel Embiid scoreless for the first time in his career in a 101-96 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night. Embiid shot 0 for 11 against the Raptors, missing all four of
Factoring in their expectations, the Philadelphia 76ers’ season hasn’t exactly gone par for the course. It hasn’t all been bad; At 11-5, just two games back of the Milwaukee Bucks for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, the team is about where most expected them to be. That gap could be even smaller, had
7:00 AM ET The 2019-20 season is just over a month old, and we’ve already witnessed the abrupt fall of a dynasty, the rebirth of the Lake Show, Luka Doncic becoming appointment television and, of course, the return of Carmelo Anthony to the NBA. Which teams are rising and falling in the final Power Rankings
Brandon Ingram’s box score stats are scraping career-highs. But are all his points really helping the New Orleans Pelicans? Somehow, Brandon Ingram is only 22 years old. The shine of the Hollywood spotlight was unrelenting throughout the former second overall draft pick’s first three seasons in the NBA, allowing the burgeoning basketball populous insight into
4:02 AM ET LOS ANGELES — New Orleans Pelicans guard Josh Hart said he called some of his former Los Angeles Lakers teammates and front office staffers to clear up the negative comments he made about the organization on his podcast and on social media in September. Hart said he never intended those comments to
In today’s NBA, the offseason is almost as exciting as the regular season and playoffs. There is Free Agency, of course, but outside of the normal player movement storylines, there is also the neverending cycle of workout videos and hype generation. Every summer brings footage of players dominating an LA Fitness gym or of a