DENVER, CO – APRIL 03: San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich yells at referee David Guthrie after Guthrie threw him out of the game in the first few minutes against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center April 03, 2019. (Photo by Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images) The worst value deals
SAN ANTONIO, TX – APRIL 10: Dirk Nowitzki #41 of the Dallas Mavericks cries before the game against the San Antonio Spurs on April 10, 2019 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the
3:07 AM ET Playoff basketball is back! It has been a long regular season (177 days, to be exact), but the postseason has arrived, and it looks a lot different than it did a year ago. For the first time since 2010, a team not led by LeBron James will emerge from the Eastern Conference,
The Golden State Warriors will enter the 2018-19 NBA playoffs as the overwhelming favorites to win their third straight championship. Their victory isn’t a foregone conclusion — after all, the Houston Rockets were one Chris Paul hamstring strain away from potentially toppling them last season — but they know the stakes of this playoff run.
Basketball Insiders’ “Fixing” series has been going on for a few weeks. We’ve started with the teams that hovered around the bottom of the league this season and are now transitioning to teams that stayed in the playoff hunt through the duration of the season. Today’s team: the Washington Wizards. Much has been made about
Harry Giles is in the air, all seven feet and three inches of wingspan completely uncoiled. To go back just moments before, Giles steps up and receives the pass from Bogdan Bogdanovic. Bogdanovic then darts down the far sideline, around a screen and toward the basket as Giles throws a slightly overthrown bounce pass back
12:53 AM ET EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Looking into the rearview mirror at a season that went awry, several members of the Los Angeles Lakers spoke openly about the affect trade-deadline rumors surrounding the team’s pursuit of Anthony Davis had on the locker room. “At the trade deadline, everybody kind of lost themselves,” Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 31: RJ Barrett #5 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts in the second half against the Michigan State Spartans during the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament East Regional Final at Capital One Arena on March 31, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) How will Tottenham cope without Harry
TAMPA, FL – APRIL 07: Arike Ogunbowale #24 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish tries to shoot over Kalani Brown #21 of the the Baylor Bears at Amalie Arena on April 7, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) Lucifer rises for season 4 with an official Netflix release date
3:21 PM ET ESPN News Services The Detroit Pistons, who are in a win-and-in scenario for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, could be without Blake Griffin for their regular-season finale against the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. Detroit overcame a 19-point halftime deficit to beat the Grizzlies on Tuesday night and
We’re finally entering the homestretch of the 2018-2019 NBA season. Every team in the league has either five or six games left in their season. With such little time left, the playoff picture is almost all but formed. The top eight teams in the Western Conference have all clinched playoff berths. What remains to be
With an open roster spot and nothing to lose, the Phoenix Suns are set to meet with Jimmer Fredette. At 17-55 right now, the Phoenix Suns are locked into a last-place finish in the Western Conference. They also have an open roster spot, and according to John Gambadoro of the 98.7 FM the Suns were
7:50 AM ET The 2019 NBA draft comes with the debut of new odds throughout the lottery — giving more teams a reasonable chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick and a chance to select consensus top prospect Zion Williamson. The lottery will occur on on May 14 on ESPN, and the draft itself
If Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving team up in free agency this summer, they’re shaping up to be a highly dysfunctional star duo. By most accounts, it’s inevitable Kevin Durant will be leaving the Golden State Warriors in free agency this offseason. Kyrie Irving professed a commitment to the Boston Celtics at one point, but
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – FEBRUARY 17: Magic Johnson reacts after being introduced at halftime during the NBA All-Star game as part of the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend at Spectrum Center on February 17, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is
The Philadelphia 76ers are not your typical NBA team. First of all, they’re much better than most teams. Their 49-27 record is fifth-best in the league. They’re also unusual in that their best five-man lineup has appeared in just 10 games, sharing the floor for only 161 minutes. For context, know that there are 56
11:58 PM ET DETROIT — The Detroit Pistons overcame a 19-point halftime deficit for the first time in more than 30 years, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 100-93 on Tuesday night to keep their playoff hopes alive entering the final day of the NBA regular season. The last time Detroit accomplished this feat was March 31,
The opening week of the March Madness tournament yielded some entertaining games, but in the end, the “chalk” won out, setting the stage for all “Blue Blood” sweet sixteen. There were a few notable performances – Temetrius “Ja” Morant put on a show, showing why he may be the second player drafted overall in 2019.
Welcome to The Whiteboard, catching you up every morning on what’s good around the NBA. Find The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you by email. It’s the penultimate Wednesday night of the NBA season. The home team, the Orlando Magic, is fighting far harder than they should probably
11:27 AM ET Israeli wing Yovel Zoosman has submitted paperwork to the league office to make himself eligible for the 2019 NBA draft. “I am extremely happy to share that I will be declaring for the 2019 NBA draft in June,” Zoosman told ESPN. “Until then, I am totally committed and focused on helping my
The Bucks have been the best team in the league all season but they still have plenty of work to do in the playoffs. Here’s why they can get it down. The Milwaukee Bucks have been the best team in the NBA this season, yet still are not considered favorites to win the championship in
Welcome to The Whiteboard, catching you up every morning on what’s good around the NBA. Find The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you by email. He’s brash and bold, with the awe-inspiring, slack-jaw inducing illustriousness of a shooting star. From his avant-garde pregame fashion choices to the Mount
4:47 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball has committed to work with Creative Artists Agency after mutually parting ways with his previous agent, Harrison Gaines, last week. “After thinking about this decision over the last few weeks, I concluded that CAA made the most sense for my career both on and off the
If the Denver Nuggets do not win a title this season, a near certainty according to FiveThirtyEight’s NBA projections, it will happen in a predictable way. In four games of a seven-game series, an opponent will score more points than they will. This will happen because the Nuggets will miss some shots they often make.
Moving right along in Basketball Insiders’ yearly lottery-bound recaps, your talented and perennially disappointing Minnesota Timberwolves are up next. Our ‘Fixing Series’ aims to diagnose team-wide issues and offer future plans of attack heading into the offseason. And for what the Timberwolves lacked in the realm of consistent basketball, they made up for it in
9:39 PM ET Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni has been hospitalized since Friday due to an intestinal virus but expects to be released Tuesday and rejoin the team before the playoffs. D’Antoni, 67, has been under observation since Friday at Memorial-Hermann Hospital in Houston and will miss his third consecutive game when the Rockets play
Nothing ever goes according to plan and the 2018-19 NBA season had it’s share of discouraging surprises. Here are the biggest disappointments from this season. The 2018-19 NBA season was filled with its fair share of pleasant surprises, from the shockingly competitive Sacramento Kings to Paul George’s evolution into a top-five MVP candidate. Not everyone
1:41 PM ET Utah Jazz guard Kyle Korver, in a first-person piece published Monday on the Players Tribune, reflected on race relations in America and pondered his position as a white man playing in the NBA. In the piece titled, “Privileged,” Korver touched on a variety of race-related topics and shared his own experiences, citing
Moving right along in Basketball Insiders’ yearly lottery-bound recaps, your talented and perennially disappointing Minnesota Timberwolves are up next. Our ‘Fixing Series’ aims to diagnose team-wide issues and offer future plans of attack heading into the offseason. And for what the Timberwolves lacked in the realm of consistent basketball, they made up for it in
1:04 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — Dwyane Wade’s career all but ended Sunday. Yes, Wade and his Miami Heat still are mathematically alive with two games remaining in this final regular season of the Hall of Fame shooting guard’s career. But after the way Sunday played out — with Miami losing a heartbreaker in