As LeBron James clings onto his playoff life with the injury-riddled Los Angeles Lakers and Kyrie Irving attempts to maintain the slumping Boston Celtics’ positioning in the standings, the third member of the former Cleveland Cavaliers big three is relishing the chance to play the game he loves. “I feel like a big part of
7:45 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN When Philadelphia 76ers general manager Elton Brand strode to the makeshift dais inside the team’s practice facility the day after last month’s trade deadline, he could’ve downplayed the expectations he had created for his dramatically remade team. He did not. “We believe we are in position to contend now,” Brand
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 13: Phoenix Suns Center DeAndre Ayton (22) grimaces on the bench during a NBA game between the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers on February 13, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) What Would Rick Do: Is Negan getting
4:01 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN OAKLAND, Calif. — As the Boston Celtics have meandered their way through this season, vacillating between looking like an NBA Finals contender and a team destined for a first-round playoff exit, the biggest barometer for success on a nightly basis has been the play of forward Gordon Hayward. Tuesday’s rout
The NBA announced this week some changes to the annual NBA Draft Combine process that should add some pretty interesting wrinkles to the mid-May draft evaluation window. The jist of the changes will sort of merge both the G-League’s annual showcase event held in Chicago a few days before the Combine and the Combine itself.
How seamless has Dario Saric’s conversion been in Minnesota from spot-up shooter to rim-running threat? Saric himself didn’t even realize it. And yet, the numbers reflect a far more aggressive Saric since the Timberwolves acquired Saric back in November in the Jimmy Butler trade, especially since Ryan Saunders took over as Minnesota head coach in
Welcome to The Whiteboard, your daily source for the previous day’s best NBA content from around the internet, plus an original column. Catch The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Andrew Wiggins owes Jimmy Butler a debt of gratitude for leaving the
8:00 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma could miss up to one week after an MRI revealed a minor ankle sprain, the team announced Tuesday. Kuzma suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Monday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers 113-105, when he appeared to roll his right ankle and then limp
Back in early December, the Miami Heat were struggling. Erik Spoelstra’s squad had a record of 10-14 and was in the early throes a six-game Western Conference road trip. Worse yet, the Heat were beset by injuries. For the second game of the trip — a roadie against the Clippers in LA — Miami knew
Eric Bledsoe believes the future is bright in Milwaukee, so bright that he put his signature on the dotted line of a four-year extension with the Bucks. Eric Bledsoe wants to be part of the Milwaukee Bucks’ future. On a day when the Bucks snagged Pau Gasol off of waivers, Milwaukee turned its focus to securing
SAN ANTONIO, TX – OCTOBER 7: Pau Gasol #16 of the San Antonio Spurs looks for room between PJ Tucker #17 of the Houston Rockets and teammate Eric Gordon #10 during a preseason game on October 7, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that,
8:37 AM ET The first time Gordon Hayward settled into an armchair to watch early film of his 2018-19 season, he was stunned. Who was that guy moving as though he were knee-deep in a vat of molasses? “I was thinking, ‘Wow, am I really that slow out there?'” Hayward admitted. “I think it’s hard
Al-Farouq Aminu remembers when he was on a minimum contract. It was five summers ago in 2014. The Dallas Mavericks had signed him to a two-year, $2.1 million deal with a player option for the second season. After playing as a rookie with the Los Angeles Clippers and spending the next three years in New
9:25 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The NBA announced Monday evening that it will be playing preseason games in Japan for the first time in more than a decade next season. The Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors will play games on Oct. 8 and Oct. 10 at Saitama Super Arena outside Tokyo. It will mark the
If the NBA’s statistical revolution has illuminated anything, it’s the merits of intentional, refined shot selection. Teams have shifted away from the mid-range in favor of more efficient spots on the floor. Those that eschew that logic tend to struggle on offense with basic math working against them. The San Antonio Spurs, however, despite a
11:20 AM ET Adrian WojnarowskiESPN The Los Angeles Lakers and free agent Carmelo Anthony are pausing talks on a possible contract agreement unless the franchise makes a turn back toward pursuit of Western Conference playoffs contention, league sources told ESPN. The Lakers had been leaning toward signing Anthony for the rest of the season —
In recent campaigns, the importance of a good, reliable bench unit has soared out the window as the rise in superteams grew larger. This is not to say that the Golden State Warriors regret not having a consistent Sixth Man of the Year contender in their second unit because, well, their back-to-back championships speak for
Magic Johnson has a problem. His team isn’t winning, His star player is old and pondering life after basketball. All day long Magic hears Click, clack, Laker. Click, clack, Laker. Clickety, clack, Laker. He thinks of Paul Westhead often. Farmer LeBron has a problem. His cows aren’t even cows– they’re people. How could this be?
8:09 PM ET Kareem Abdul-Jabbar‘s collection of memorabilia from his Hall of Fame career fetched nearly $3 million at auction on Sunday. Abdul-Jabbar put up 234 lots of memorabilia — including four of his six NBA championship rings — up for sale through Goldin Auctions with “much of the proceeds” going to his Skyhook Foundation
Sunday’s FanDuel slate: 6 p.m. ET: Orlando at Cleveland, Toronto at Detroit, Minnesota at Washington7 p.m. ET: Memphis at Oklahoma City My favorite plays of the day can be found on the following slides in FanSided’s FanDuel daily picks. Each day in order to offer a variety of price points at each position, you can find
8:20 PM ET BOSTON — Finally, almost five months into a rocky grind of a regular season, the Houston Rockets resemble the contender-caliber team that James Harden expected them to be. “It feels really, really good to kind of have a full roster and catch a rhythm,” Harden said after the Rockets’ 115-104 victory over
Al-Farouq Aminu remembers when he was on a minimum contract. It was five summers ago in 2014. The Dallas Mavericks had signed him to a two-year, $2.1 million deal with a player option for the second season. After playing as a rookie with the Los Angeles Clippers and spending the next three years in New
12:40 PM ET After signing LeBron James over the summer, it seemed like there was good reason for the Los Angeles Lakers to be heavy favorites in Las Vegas to make the playoffs. But after a 118-109 loss to the lowly Phoenix Suns on Saturday night, the view in Vegas is worse than ever. The
The best high salary and value picks for DraftKings fantasy basketball on Saturday, March 2. Saturday’s DraftKings slate: 7 p.m. ET: Orlando at Indiana7:30 p.m. ET: Brooklyn at Miami8:30 p.m. ET: Golden State at Philadelphia, Memphis at Dallas, Oklahoma City at San Antonio9 p.m. ET: New Orleans at Denver, LA Lakers at Phoenix, Milwaukee at
After earning the Most Valuable Player award last year, James Harden has pieced together an equally stellar 2018-19 campaign thus far. ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus estimates his league-leading offensive impact at eight points per 100 possessions, roughly three points ahead of the next closest player. On nearly 40 percent usage, his true shooting percentage stands at
With the trade deadline in the rearview, buyout moves made and rosters largely solidified, the contours of the NBA landscape are more defined than ever and the terms of engagement for the home stretch of the NBA season are largely set. Still, so much remains up in the air, and thus fascinating to monitor as
3:36 AM ET PHOENIX — Saturday was a new low for a Los Angeles Lakers team that has been digging itself into a deeper and deeper hole in recent weeks, losing to the league’s worst team, the Phoenix Suns, 118-109. The loss to the Suns (13-51) dropped the Lakers to 30-33, 4½ games behind the
Al-Farouq Aminu remembers when he was on a minimum contract. It was five summers ago in 2014. The Dallas Mavericks had signed him to a two-year, $2.1 million deal with a player option for the second season. After playing as a rookie with the Los Angeles Clippers and spending the next three years in New
DeMarcus Cousins looked surprisingly spry in his first game back from a torn Achilles, which is bad news for all the NBA teams who aren’t the Golden State Warriors. There were idiots (read: this writer) who figured DeMarcus Cousins would not add that much to the Golden State Warriors due to the severity of the
3:19 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — Star forward Kevin Love will rest his surgically repaired left foot when the Cavaliers face the Pistons on Saturday. Love still isn’t ready to play in back-to-back games, and with Cleveland scheduled to host Orlando on Sunday, the team is remaining conservative with his minutes and won’t play