NBA

8:05 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN New Orleans Pelicans rookie forward Zion Williamson returned to the NBA campus on Friday night, the team said in a statement. Williamson, who initially left the bubble in Orlando, Florida, on July 16 to tend to a family medical emergency, now enters the NBA quarantine period before he can rejoin

1:16 PM ET LA Clippers guard Lou Williams is the latest member of the team to leave the NBA campus with an excused absence. Williams joins Patrick Beverley and Montrezl Harrell as Clippers players who had to leave the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Beverley left to tend to an emergency personal matter,

7:15 AM ET Remember the regular season? It was a thing, I swear. Here is the first part of my official NBA awards ballot for that season. Most Valuable Player 1. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks2. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers3. James Harden, Houston Rockets4. Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers5. Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers A few

7:00 AM ET Editor’s note: This story originally ran on April 21, 2020. BEN SIMMONS CAN still summon the bounces in his head. The first sprung high off the rim, then the ball descended straight back down to the iron, where it bandied about two, three, four times before finally nestling through the strings, coronating

6:06 PM ET MILWAUKEE BUCKS COACH Mike Budenholzer would like to know what constitutes the antonym of asterisk. If such a word exists, he says, that’s what should be attached to whichever team wins the 2020 NBA championship under such unusual circumstances. It’s also, he argues, what should be affixed to the 1999 San Antonio

Jul 14, 2020 If the sixth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers play up to their potential, they are a legitimate title contender in the NBA’s 2019-20 restart. This team has the talent to beat any of the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers in a seven-game series. But these mysterious dudes also face a gargantuan amount

7:51 PM ET In the first NBA game played in more than four months, LA Clippers guard Lou Williams sat in the team’s socially-distanced bench area Wednesday and noticed the new atmosphere all around him. The 2019-20 season was on again as the Clippers and Magic got the season restart underway with the first scrimmage

6:17 AM ET The restart of the 2019-20 NBA season is almost here, as all 22 teams ramp up practices inside the bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World. With scrimmages tipping off Wednesday, here’s our breakdown of every team in Orlando, Florida, including: current seed and most likely

10:04 PM ET The Wilf family that owns the Minnesota Vikings has emerged as a serious candidate to buy the Minnesota Timberwolves, league sources told ESPN. Only recently did the Wilfs emerge as one of the groups bidding to buy the NBA team in their city from billionaire Glen Taylor, sources said. There are several

6:52 AM ET NBA Insiders In his 17th season, LeBron James faces a major new challenge along with his Los Angeles Lakers teammates: heading into the Orlando bubble for the NBA restart after a hiatus of almost five months and taking the legendary franchise to its 17th championship. How will James look in Florida? Can

6:42 AM ET NBA Insiders How many championships will Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James finish his career with? Can he catch Michael Jordan as the greatest basketball player of all time? James and the Lakers enter the NBA restart in Orlando, Florida, as one of the top title contenders, though this will be unlike

6:11 PM ET Days after receiving a warning for not wearing a face covering in common areas at the NBA campus, Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard continued to question the need for a mask inside the league’s so-called “bubble” in Orlando, Florida. “They sanitize everything,” Howard said on an Instagram Live video he posted

6:52 AM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Chirp, chirp, chirp! “Is that me ringing?” New Orleans Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry wondered aloud, looking down at the proximity monitor clipped to his credential as he walked from the practice facility inside Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex to conduct his virtual news conference on

7:07 AM ET The NBA told teams Friday that none of the seeding games inside the Orlando, Florida, bubble will count toward individual regular-season honors. That means Zion Williamson won’t get the chance to beat the odds and challenge front-runner Ja Morant for the Rookie of the Year crown, and LeBron James won’t get to

1:37 PM ET A 2003-04 LeBron James Upper Deck rookie Patch Parallel card sold at auction for $1.845 million on Sunday at Goldin Auctions to Lob.com CEO Leore Avidar. The price tag on the rare card sets a record for modern-day cards (recognized as cards produced in 1980 or later) and is the most any

5:51 PM ET The Denver Nuggets are finally getting closer to becoming whole as Gary Harris and Torrey Craig are expected to arrive to Orlando on Sunday, a source confirmed to ESPN. Upon arrival, Harris and Craig will go through the two-day quarantine process per protocol on the NBA campus in Orlando, Florida. The Athletic

10:23 PM ET A week and a half into life in the bubble, Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard has received attention for his escapades rather than for what’s most important to him as the NBA nears its restart: helping his teammates on the court and helping create positive change in the United States. He

3:13 PM ET If the NBA is going to determine its awards for the 2019-20 season based on games played up to when it went on hiatus March 11, Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel thinks L.A.’s final weekend before the break should be seriously considered. The Lakers beat Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks,