7:59 PM ET PHOENIX — The LA Clippers will have to stave off elimination in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals without their starting center, Ivica Zubac. Zubac was ruled out before Monday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns with a sprained right MCL injury that he suffered in Game 4. The 7-footer was
NBA
3:15 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN ATLANTA — An MRI on the sprained right ankle of Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young revealed a bone bruise in his foot Monday afternoon, and he’ll be listed as questionable for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night. “That’s the head of our
11:59 PM ET The first 3-pointer came from basically nothing, a simple flare on the right wing where Milwaukee Bucks‘ forward Khris Middleton caught the ball in isolation, jab stepped a couple of times, held the ball to wait for a dummy screen, then jab stepped again. There was enough space to pull, and Middleton
10:38 PM ET The Portland Trail Blazers reached an agreement on a five-year deal to hire LA Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups as the franchise’s new coach on Sunday, sources told ESPN. Billups, 44, will be introduced at a Tuesday news conference in Portland. The deal includes a team option on the fifth season, sources said.
3:02 AM ET LOS ANGELES — The LA Clippers are the only team to come back from 2-0 deficits in the first two rounds, and head coach Ty Lue says they can continue their postseason of comebacks even if the odds are historically slim. The Clippers went cold in the fourth quarter, including one of
3:30 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Just one win away from the NBA Finals, Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul said he will not allow himself to consider what it will be like to compete on basketball’s biggest stage for the first time in his 16-year career quite yet. “Not until the job is done.
8:52 PM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Philip Anschutz has agreed to sell his 27% stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to two owners of the Dodgers, according to a published report. Citing unidentified sources, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that the 81-year-old billionaire is selling his stake to Mark Walter and Todd
12:43 PM ET Associated Press Khris Middleton ordinarily wouldn’t be thinking about anything right now other than what the Milwaukee Bucks are trying to accomplish in the NBA playoffs. An invitation to play in the Olympics, that’s not ordinary. Milwaukee starting guards Middleton and Jrue Holiday plan to play for the U.S. in the Tokyo
1:51 AM ET MILWAUKEE — If there was one play to summarize the futility of the Atlanta Hawks‘ offense in Game 2 against the Milwaukee Bucks‘ swarming defense on Friday, it was probably the first possession of the second half. Trailing by 32 points at the half, the Hawks opened the third quarter unable to
9:47 PM ET Brianna Williams Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images From tipoff to halftime the Milwaukee Bucks started Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals with their foot on the gas. They jumped out to a 77-45 lead over the Atlanta Hawks and never looked back. In the first half Jrue Holiday guarded Trae Young
1:43 PM ET The Dallas Mavericks have agreed to terms with Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd to be their head coach and longtime Nike executive Nico Harrison to be their general manager and run the franchise’s basketball operations, sources told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon on Friday. Kidd, who had two stints with the Mavericks
2:28 AM ET This year’s edition of the LA Clippers has cobbled together comebacks off scrappy defense, tactical adjustments and unlikely heroes. But most of all, with Kawhi Leonard sidelined for the past five games, they have leaned on Paul George. The former MVP candidate, one of the few active Clippers with significant conference finals
7:06 PM ET Jason Kidd has emerged as a strong front-runner to be hired as the next head coach of the Dallas Mavericks and the team is closing in on hiring a new general manager, sources told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and the soon-to-be hired general manager
7:00 AM ET AFTER DELIVERING A triple-double in the series opener, Luka Doncic put down 39 points in Game 2 to silence a half-capacity Staples Center crowd and hammer a refrain: The LA Clippers had no answer. As the Dallas Mavericks packed a 2-0 lead into their bags to return home, Clippers players lingered in
1:31 AM ET Seventeen days ago, an NBA title contender enlisted a guard with an All-NBA Defense honor to his name to take on the challenge of defending Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young in a Game 1. On Wednesday night in the opening tilt of the Eastern Conference finals, another NBA title contender handed
2:50 PM ET The Boston Celtics are finalizing an agreement to hire Brooklyn Nets assistant Ime Udoka as their new coach, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Udoka spent the 2020-21 season on Steve Nash’s staff with the Nets. Prior to that, he spent one season with the Philadelphia 76ers and seven years under coach Gregg
3:18 AM ET PHOENIX — Deandre Ayton couldn’t stop smiling after the Phoenix Suns‘ 104-103 win on Tuesday gave them a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals over the LA Clippers. The big man wore a permagrin as he basked in the joy that came from dunking home the go-ahead bucket in the game’s
2:39 AM ET With the play drawn up and ready to go, right before they broke their huddle, Monty Williams’ last message to his team was simple. “Execute it,” he said. “If he throws it, DA, you’ve got to, like, try to dunk it. OK?” Williams was talking to Deandre Ayton, telling his third-year big