8:58 PM ET The Detroit Pistons won Tuesday night’s NBA draft lottery and the right to pick No. 1 in the 2021 draft. The Pistons will be followed by the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers, with the Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic rounding out the top five. The Rockets (17-55), Pistons (20-52) and Magic (21-51)
NBA
7:00 AM ET The 2021 NBA draft lottery drawing will be unveiled Tuesday night at 8:30 ET on ESPN. The ultimate prize is believed to be the right to select Oklahoma State star Cade Cunningham at No. 1, but inclusion in what NBA evaluators believe could be a historically strong top-5 is a much-coveted circumstance
3:40 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The idea that Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons will spend the offseason improving his shooting stroke has become an annual discussion in Philadelphia. That certainly will be the case again this offseason, after Simmons melted down at the foul line — and disappeared from Philadelphia’s offense — as the 76ers
10:56 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN For only the second time in 50 years, the Atlanta Hawks are heading to the conference finals. The fifth-seeded Hawks knocked off the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers in Philadelphia 103-96 in Game 7 to advance. In a back-and-forth affair, the Hawks ultimately came out on top. The game featured 20 lead
7:00 AM ET The NBA’s conference semifinals had a bit of everything. We were treated to two thrilling Game 7s, with the Milwaukee Bucks outlasting the Brooklyn Nets in overtime and the Atlanta Hawks stunning the top-seeded Philadelphia 76ers at home to advance. We got another historic comeback from the LA Clippers, who were down
1:46 AM ET For most of Game 7, Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young‘s patented “shiver” gesture — the one he unleashes to let onlookers know he has transformed into Ice Trae — had a different connotation. Ice Trae had been ice cold all night, missing 19 of his first 21 shots attempts from the field.
4:54 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN On the day the Phoenix Suns played their first Western Conference finals game in more than a decade, Suns general manager James Jones was honored as the league’s Executive of the Year. In a tight vote, which is conducted by the league’s executives themselves, Jones got nine first place votes
7:16 AM ET The NBA’s Western Conference finals showdown between the Phoenix Suns and LA Clippers will begin without two of the league’s biggest stars. Suns guard Chris Paul, who remains in the league’s health and safety protocols, has been ruled out of Game 1 (3:30 p.m. ET on ABC) and Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard
1:00 AM ET The game could’ve been a movie, the action on the sidelines a soap opera and the dialogue between Kevin Durant and his longtime friend P.J. Tucker a stage play. But for all the drama that spilled on the floor Saturday night in an epic overtime Game 7 that saw the Milwaukee Bucks
6:38 PM ET Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY — Once again, the Utah Jazz endured a postseason collapse. But making an early exit from the NBA playoffs stung much more this season. The top-seeded Jazz fell to the LA Clippers in six games after blowing a 2-0 series lead. Injuries to All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and
12:50 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Patrick Beverley, Terance Mann and Marcus Morris Sr. stood on the court and urged the first sellout crowd at Staples Center in over a year to cheer even louder as history was unfolding in dramatic fashion. For the first time in their 51-year history, the Clippers are going to
2:30 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Looking back on it now, there was no way to see what Terance Mann did in the Los Angeles Clippers’ 131-119 series-clinching win over the Utah Jazz on Friday night coming. No way. Anyone who says they foresaw the second-year player scoring 39 points to send the Clippers to
3:47 PM ET ESPN News Services Bradley Beal won a gold medal with USA Basketball 11 years ago, leading the Americans in scoring on their way to an undefeated run at the under-17 world championship. He’s looking for another gold this summer on international basketball’s biggest stage. The Washington Wizards guard has committed to playing
9:15 AM ET The Boston Celtics are trading Kemba Walker and their 2021 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for a package that includes Al Horford, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Along with Walker and the No. 16 overall pick in 2021, the Celtics are also sending a 2025 second-round pick to the Thunder
1:15 AM ET NBA fans were anticipating a Brooklyn Nets–Milwaukee Bucks matchup to turn into a classic series. What’s happened is it’s turned into a classic 2021 series. This messy, flowless, injury-riddled, unpredictable and dramatic season has its mascot: a seven-game saga after the Bucks struck back to take Game 6 from the Nets, 104-89
4:15 PM ET Rick Carlisle — who led Dallas to the 2011 NBA championship — informed Mavericks owner Mark Cuban on Thursday that he won’t be returning as coach next season, Carlisle told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Carlisle had two years left on his contract. He spent 13 seasons as Mavericks coach. “‘After a number of
3:17 AM ET With Kawhi Leonard out indefinitely with a sprained knee, Paul George channeled his old mindset of being the franchise leader in Indiana and produced arguably his finest game and moment as a member of the LA Clippers on Wednesday night. Playing in front of a hostile crowd that has taunted his every
2:00 AM ET Every person who lived, worked or played in the NBA Bubble in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, last summer was affected by the experience — some rather profoundly. Between the isolation, the separation from friends and family, the inability to escape from the game — or even the Disney campus — the challenges