NBA

11:00 PM ET Game 4 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers was always going to be memorable. It was taking place on August 24 — 8/24, the numbers that the late Kobe Bryant wore. Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine people who died in a helicopter crash in January. The

1:18 PM ET The Toronto Raptors say that Kyle Lowry has been diagnosed with a left ankle sprain and that his condition will be updated as appropriate. Toronto’s Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Boston Celtics begins on Thursday. With just a little more than three minutes left in the first quarter of Sunday’s Game

2:17 AM ET Moments after Paul Millsap blocked his shot and stared him down, Donovan Mitchell had the ball on the left wing, a one-point Utah Jazz lead and Millsap standing in his way. Mitchell sized up the Denver Nuggets power forward, dribbled between his legs and drilled a 25-footer before staring at the Denver

9:20 PM ET When Luka Doncic first stepped foot on the AdventHealth Arena court Sunday afternoon, he hoped to prove to himself and the Dallas Mavericks’ medical staff that he could play in Game 4, about 40 hours after spraining his left ankle. Doncic received clearance to play and then proceeded to deliver a historic

2:37 PM ET Dallas Mavericks star guard Luka Doncic will play in Sunday afternoon’s Game 4 against the LA Clippers despite spraining his left ankle in Friday night’s Game 3 loss. Doncic warmed up about an hour and a half before Game 4 before his status was determined. A source told ESPN that an MRI

1:21 AM ET Over his 17 seasons in the NBA, LeBron James has developed a system to prepare for the playoffs. There is a ramp up at some point in the last third of the NBA season. A handful of games where he pushes himself to play more minutes than most observers would probably like

4:05 PM ET Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic is officially listed as questionable for Sunday’s Game 4 due to a sprained left ankle that caused him to exit Friday night’s 130-122 loss to the LA Clippers in the fourth quarter. Coach Rick Carlisle said he anticipates that the Mavs will not know whether Doncic is

1:29 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year for the 2019-20 season on Saturday afternoon. Nurse, who led the Raptors to the NBA championship last season, received 90 of the 100 first-place votes from a panel of media members. He

2:15 AM ET The Western Conference quarterfinals between the #2 LA Clippers and #7 Dallas Mavericks is headed to a Game 4 on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC), with the Clippers leading the Mavericks 2-1 following Friday night’s 130-122 Game 3 win by the Clippers. This matchup has pitted the top two offenses in the

5:41 PM ET Golden State Warriors president Rick Welts issued a public apology Friday to Toronto Raptors counterpart Masai Ujiri for an altercation with a deputy sheriff that happened as Ujiri was trying to walk onto the court in Oakland after the deciding game of the 2019 Finals. “To my personal and professional friend Masai

10:49 AM ET After returning to campus after the birth of his son, Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley Jr. is clearing quarantine on Friday morning and will be in the lineup for Game 3 of the Western Conference first-round series against the Denver Nuggets today, sources tell ESPN. Conley is expected to return as

11:26 PM ET Portland Trail Blazers star guard Damian Lillard left Thursday’s 111-88 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the third quarter because of a dislocated left index finger. X-rays on Lillard’s finger were negative, the team announced. Lillard, who scored 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting in 30 minutes, did not return to the

8:58 PM ET ESPN News Services The Minnesota Timberwolves won the NBA draft lottery Thursday night. The Timberwolves had a 14% chance at the No. 1 overall pick and a 40.1% chance to land in the top three. The Golden State Warriors hold the No. 2 pick, the Charlotte Hornets got the No. 3 pick

1:48 AM ET Luka Doncic described it as “an amazing feeling” to get his first NBA playoff win after the Dallas Mavericks‘ 127-114 victory over the LA Clippers in Wednesday’s Game 2, and it’s a sensation he expects to experience again soon. “We’ve just got three left,” Doncic said, referring to how many more wins

12:41 AM ET With about eight minutes to go in the third quarter Wednesday night, Philadelphia 76ers guard Josh Richardson tried to throw an entry pass to teammate Joel Embiid, who had established post position in the middle of the lane. The pass was awful. Richardson jumped to throw it and it was loopy and

7:45 PM ET The LA Clippers ruled Patrick Beverley out for Game 2 due to a lingering left calf strain. Coach Doc Rivers said the team’s starting point guard was not moving well in the morning shootaround. He was added to the afternoon injury report as questionable before the team downgraded him to out. Beverley

11:19 PM ET A countersuit filed by Toronto Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri includes new video footage that shows the San Francisco Bay Area police officer with whom he had an altercation in the moments after the Raptors won Game 7 of the 2019 NBA Finals was the aggressor. The suit was filed

11:06 PM ET NBA Insiders Should we be concerned about the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers after Game 1? The first round of the NBA playoffs has officially kicked off with all 16 teams in contention having a game under their belts in the Florida bubble. As a result, injuries, trends and difficult