NBA

1:30 PM ET Boston Celtics forward Gordon Hayward will miss around four weeks due to a Grade III sprain of his right ankle suffered in Monday’s win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Hayward, who scored 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals in 34 minutes, was trying to box out

6:30 AM ET NBA Insiders In early July, a couple of days before the Los Angeles Lakers boarded a plane for Orlando, Florida, hoping their trip would extend to the NBA Finals in October, Jared Dudley made a prescient remark. “[LeBron James] is ready for this moment, you can tell,” Dudley said. “You can see

2:00 AM ET NBA Insiders Playoff basketball is the NBA’s reason for being. It’s where players build their legends, various stakeholders cash in on revenue potential and fans record memories. It’s why the NBA went to extremes to deliver the postseason, investing more than $150 million in a bubble. The road there wasn’t without its

6:09 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Donovan Mitchell scored a career-high 57 points for the Utah Jazz, but it was his 8-second violation with 1:46 remaining in the fourth quarter that helped the Denver Nuggets escape from Game 1 of the first-round playoff series with a 135-125 overtime victory Monday. “It’s

6:48 AM ET SECONDS BEFORE ENTERING the Serbian gym, Mike D’Antoni casually mentioned to Steve Kerr that this stop on their European scouting trip was essentially pointless. It was the spring of 2004, just after Kerr joined the Phoenix Suns as a front-office consultant. D’Antoni was entering his first full season as head coach and

Aug 14, 2020 After 66 scrimmages, 88 seeding games, one Play-In — and plenty of fishing — the matchups for the 2020 NBA playoffs are finally set. And in an unprecedented atmosphere that could negate the benefits of home-court advantage, we could be in for another wild two months inside Disney’s ESPN Wide World of

12:35 PM ET Jimmy Butler is apparently a budding barista. And by the looks of it, the Miami Heat star might have a successful business on his hands inside the NBA bubble. According to the menu outside his Walt Disney World hotel room, Butler’s offerings include a latte, a cappuccino, a macchiato and more. A

7:15 AM ET The good news for the Los Angeles Lakers is they are the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs, the first time they’ve earned pole position in a decade and an honorable accomplishment after a traumatic season. The bad news is they appear to have won the least valuable No. 1

6:03 PM ET Attention is the utmost compliment in public life, and Damian Lillard has received plenty of it over the past week. In his Portland Trail Blazers‘ win-or-go-home squeaker on Thursday night, the Brooklyn Nets threw two bodies at Lillard before he even crossed half court. It seemed the most sensible strategy after Lillard

5:27 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Less than two hours after announcing to the world that his grandmother had passed away from COVID-19 on Saturday, Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic walked to center court, rubbed his face and loudly clapped his hands together. Then he went out and carried Portland

6:38 PM ET Vlade Divac has stepped down as general manager of the Sacramento Kings and Joe Dumars has assumed the role of the team’s interim executive vice president of basketball operations, the team announced Friday. Divac’s exit came a day after the Kings concluded bubble play with a 136-122 win against the Lakers. They

11:29 PM ET NBA Insiders Saturday’s play-in game (2:30 p.m. ET, ABC) between the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies is the rare NBA win-or-go-home contest, at least for the Grizzlies. If Memphis wins on Saturday, the rematch is Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), with the winner advancing to the NBA playoffs to face the

4:24 PM ET Associated Press LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Mo Bamba will not play for the Orlando Magic in this season’s playoffs after leaving the bubble for testing related to his previous bout with coronavirus, the team announced Friday. Bamba was diagnosed with COVID-19 on June 11. The 22-year-old appeared in 62 games with

9:32 AM ET The Chicago Bulls have fired coach Jim Boylen after two seasons, executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas announced Friday. Boylen was 39-84 without a playoff appearance after taking the head-coaching job in December 2018. His .317 win percentage is the second lowest to Tim Floyd (.205) in Bulls history for

11:56 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — When the idea of the NBA creating a bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort was first floated, Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard had one request: that if he was asked to come play in Orlando, the NBA give him the opportunity to make

11:00 AM ET All the scenarios, all the magic numbers, all the scoreboard watching — it’s all getting settled on Thursday. Here is where things stand as four teams battle for two spots in this weekend’s Western Conference play-in: Portland Trail Blazers: win and they’re in (as the No. 8 seed). Memphis Grizzlies: win and

7:10 AM ET NBA Insiders Thursday is the biggest day of the NBA restart, as we reach the conclusion of the red-hot Western Conference play-in battle. The Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns will all be in action, and only two will advance to face off on Saturday. We asked

11:30 PM ET Before the NBA season restarted, the league decided that the 88 seeding games at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex would not count toward season-long awards voting this year. Then on Tuesday the league announced that it would name an MVP and All-NBA teams for the restart games before the playoffs begin.