NBA

7:24 AM ET NBA Insiders NBA players spent the past week publicly and privately grappling with the shooting of Jacob Blake by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, before refusing to play in games Wednesday, setting off protests by athletes across American sports. What does this historic week mean for the NBA and other leagues? What were

12:02 PM ET NBA players have decided to resume the playoffs, a source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Thursday’s three playoff games will be postponed. A resumption of the season could come as soon as Friday, but there is expected to be a return to the play by the weekend according to sources. Players held a

9:36 AM ET This story was reported and written by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Malika Andrews and Zach Lowe. WE HEARD IT in their voices. The pain. The anger. The desperate cry for justice. The video of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black father of six, being shot seven

1:51 AM ET For the last six years, the NBA has bathed in the congratulatory spirit of compromise, the model for commissioner-player communication. In ousting the racist former LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, both the players and the league could claim satisfaction. The player voice was heard so powerfully that for the first time in

6:05 PM ET The Milwaukee Bucks have boycotted Game 5 on Wednesday against the Orlando Magic to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The NBA announced shortly after that all of Wednesday’s playoff games — including Game 5 between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder and Game 5 between the

1:56 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — With Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors just over 24 hours away from its scheduled tip, the possibility of boycotting the game remains on the table for both teams in the wake of the police shooting of

1:58 AM ET It took 13 months from when they started believing they were going to win a championship that the LA Clippers had to finally play a truly meaningful game. Oh, there were important games, like the first few in their series with the Dallas Mavericks. There were games they badly wanted, like opening

6:53 PM ET Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was named the 2019-20 NBA Defensive Player of the Year on Tuesday. Antetokounmpo won the award in a landslide, receiving 75 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters and earning 432 points total. The 2018-19 MVP, Antetokounmpo becomes just the fifth player to win

6:30 AM ET Under every socially distanced player seat in the gyms in the NBA bubble is one of the newest pieces of league technology — and it has Kobe Bryant’s fingerprints on it. Last month, the NBA announced a partnership with Hyperice, a recovery technology company based in Orange County, California, that provides all

12:00 AM ET It’s excruciating to watch, but Trevor Ariza does anyway. He hasn’t missed a minute of his Portland Trail Blazers team competing in the Orlando, Florida, bubble, and he screamed so vociferously and triumphantly when the Blazers put the finishing touches on their shocking Game 1 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, his

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