7:18 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN NEW ORLEANS – Paul George will officially make his Los Angeles Clippers’ debut Thursday against the New Orleans Pelicans. Coach Doc Rivers confirmed pregame that George, who has missed the team’s first 11 games as he recovered from offseason shoulder surgery, will suit up and play. “He’s had two practices
Another draft season is upon us, and that means it is time to unveil the Step Back’s starting point for ranking 2020 NBA Draft prospects. The 2019-20 NBA season kicked off a few weeks ago, and the college basketball season is upon us. That means that prospect evaluation for the 2020 NBA Draft is finally
The injuries are beginning to mount and NBA teams up and down the standings are looking for fill-in production. Who is being asked to step up? If there is anything that has defined the early portion of the 2019-20 NBA season, it’s injuries. We began the year knowing Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson would likely
12:51 AM ET HOUSTON — Notorious pest Patrick Beverley‘s reputation as an elite defender isn’t accurate, according to Russell Westbrook, who cited James Harden‘s 47-point performance in the Houston Rockets‘ 102-93 win Wednesday over the LA Clippers as proof. “Pat Bev trick y’all, man, like he playing defense,” Westbrook said. “He don’t guard nobody, man.
After rolling the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden to the tune of a 108-87 final score, it wasn’t the Cleveland Cavaliers who received praise. Instead, local and national pundits destroyed the defeated franchise that got blown out on its home floor by a “hapless” rebuilding team. Of course, when you play in such
1:50 AM ET LeBron James likes to pass the ball. Legend has it he developed his appreciation for the pass as a 9-year-old playing for the Summit Lake Hornets in a rec basketball league in Akron, Ohio. He fed a diminutive teammate named Sonny Spoon by rolling the rock his way. It was the only
The Portland Trail Blazers are off to a slow start this season, but Damian Lillard is doing all he can to turn around the team’s fortunes. The Portland Trail Blazers ended a four-game losing streak last Sunday night, with a 124-113 overtime win over the Atlanta Hawks. Damian Lillard again led the way, with 30
7:08 PM ET HOUSTON — Kawhi Leonard will play against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday in the first of a back-to-back set while Paul George is expected to make his LA Clippers debut on Thursday at New Orleans. Clippers head coach Doc Rivers ruled George out before the game against the Rockets but said that
A couple weeks ago, Basketball Insiders started a series looking over who were some of the biggest surprises so far in this young NBA season. This week, we’re changing it up a bit by taking a look at some of the biggest disappointments. To start this off, we’re looking at the Northwest Division. It’s funny
9:16 AM ET Houston, we have a Westbrook … now what? Following the initial shock of the Russell Westbrook trade to the Houston Rockets, there were three immediate questions about the superstar on the court: Can Westbrook shoot well enough to play in Houston’s system? Can Westbrook and James Harden coexist? Does Westbrook make the
It seems silly this outcome was ever in question, but in leading the surprising Phoenix Suns, Devin Booker is proving he’s already an NBA superstar. For the first four seasons of Devin Booker‘s career, questions persisted about whether he was really a winning player. Sure, he could score, but was he anything more than a
1:57 AM ET PHOENIX — Anthony Davis had a wrap on his right shoulder before the game and tape around his ribs by the end of it, but neither setback stopped him from putting up 24 points and 12 rebounds in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 123-115 win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. “He wants
A couple weeks ago, Basketball Insiders started a series looking over who were some of the biggest surprises so far in this young NBA season. This week, we’re changing it up a bit by taking a look at some of the biggest disappointments. To start this off, we’re looking at the Northwest Division. It’s funny
5:36 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors guard Damion Lee suffered a non-displaced fracture of the fourth metacarpal in his right hand during Monday night’s loss to the Utah Jazz, the team announced Tuesday after an MRI revealed the fracture. Lee, who is on a two-way contract with the Warriors for the second
Significant injuries popped up for a number of NBA teams this week and we’re breaking down each in detail. You know what they say: Bad things often come in threes. Well if that is the case, Monday was an extremely bad day as we received reports on injuries to, not one, not two, not three,
Devonte’ Graham is hitting shots and winning games for the Hornets. What did we all miss about this former second-round pick? I’d love to be able to generalize Devonte’ Graham, to look at the leap he’s taken from his first to his second season and derive some sort of timeless wisdom about the developmental trajectory
7:00 AM ET NOBODY SAW MUCH of Daryl Morey in the days after the Houston Rockets landed in Tokyo for the NBA’s Japan Games. The Rockets’ general manager confined himself to his room at the Ritz Carlton in Roppongi Hills during the team’s six-day visit, spotted leaving for occasional jaunts to the Shake Shack located
Based on the first two weeks of the regular season, the Charlotte Hornets seem to have found their franchise point guard. It’s a reality that’s come as a major surprise to most fans and analysts, who deemed the three-year, $57 million contract Charlotte awarded to Terry Rozier as among the summer’s very worst. More shocking,
1:06 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green became the first player in Chase Center history to be ejected from a game during Monday night’s 122-108 loss to the Utah Jazz. Green, who returned to the lineup after missing five straight games because of a torn ligament in his left index
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images David Fizdale isn’t likely to last much longer as head coach of the New York Knicks, so here’s a look ahead to five potential replacement candidates. The New York Knicks are going to fire head coach David Fizdale soon. They just are. Barring some miraculous turnaround, the Knicks’ 2-8 start
3:46 PM ET Gordon Hayward will undergo surgery on his fractured left hand in New York on Monday afternoon, and a timeline on his return to the Boston Celtics will come after the procedure, his agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Hayward suffered the injury in Saturday’s 135-115 win over the
It may be just a few weeks into the season, but a myriad of storylines have already made their social media and television rounds, chief among them players that seem to have taken a leap on the court and are emerging as game-changers or even potential stars. Many of these spots could be taken by
2:27 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Following a 113-104 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Sunday, Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis admitted he is still feeling discomfort in his right shoulder that he jammed on a missed dunk attempt two weeks ago. “There’s really never a play I don’t feel it,” Davis said. He
Are the New York Knicks failing to implement their plan? Or muddying the waters by trying to change it on the fly? At 1-7, the New York Knicks own the worst record in the NBA and are off to their worst start in 10 years. Their two biggest summer signings, Julius Randle and Marcus Morris,
11:08 PM ET After a 21-point blowout loss at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, New York Knicks president Steve Mills and general manager Scott Perry addressed the media to express their displeasure with the team’s struggles. “We’re not happy with where we are,” said Mills. “This is not where we expected to be
It may be just a few weeks into the season, but a myriad of storylines have already made their social media and television rounds, chief among them players that seem to have taken a leap on the court and are emerging as game-changers or even potential stars. Many of these spots could be taken by
5:03 PM ET The Miami Heat have suspended guard Dion Waiters 10 games without pay for conduct detrimental to the team following an incident on the team charter on Thursday. It is Waiters’ second suspension of the season. Waiters experienced a “panic attack” on the team’s flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles after consuming a
Gordon Hayward was finally looking like his former self, but the Boston Celtics forward fractured a bone in his hand on Saturday. Heading into Saturday’s matchup with the San Antonio Spurs, Gordon Hayward was looking like he did during his peak years with the Utah Jazz. Through the first seven games of the 2019-20 campaign,
11:21 PM ET OKLAHOMA CITY — It was the first play of the game and as is customary in Oklahoma City, the (mostly) full house crowd stood waiting the first bucket of the game for the home team. The Oklahoma City Thunder were playing the Golden State Warriors on a Saturday night in the big
It may be just a few weeks into the season, but a myriad of storylines have already made their social media and television rounds, chief among them players that seem to have taken a leap on the court and are emerging as game-changers or even potential stars. Many of these spots could be taken by