NBA

5:02 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Timberwolves lost two starters before locking up the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference on Sunday with Rudy Gobert being sent home for swinging at teammate Kyle Anderson and Jaden McDaniels fracturing his right hand, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Gobert was escorted to the

12:00 AM ET The NBA postseason is here, with 20 teams still fighting for the 2022-23 title. And after a campaign of blockbuster trades, record scoring numbers, the end of a historic playoff drought and a wild race to the finish to decide play-in tournament seeding, who is going to win this thing? The No.

7:20 AM ET The NBA’s play-in tournament adds a fascinating wrinkle to the end of the 2022-23 regular season and the start of the postseason. Teams were already less incentivized to tank games down the stretch because of the flattened lottery odds instituted in 2019. Now that the top 10 teams in the standings will

12:04 PM ET LOS ANGELES — The Lakers are signing two players — including LeBron James‘ former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Tristan Thompson — on the final day of the regular season to add depth for the playoffs, sources told ESPN on Sunday. Thompson joins the Lakers having last played in 2021-22 for the Chicago Bulls,

1:17 AM ET PORTLAND, Ore. — With his parents and sister in attendance at the Moda Center, Bronny James scored 11 points and made key plays in the late stages as a USA Basketball team of the nation’s top high school seniors defeated a World team of international players age 19 or younger, 90-84, in

12:26 AM ET The 2023 NBA playoffs are almost here. The Golden State Warriors are the defending champions but are still battling to qualify for the postseason, in which 16 teams will face off in four rounds of action to determine the 2023 NBA champion. The top six teams in each conference automatically qualify for

2:57 AM ET DALLAS — ONCE AGAIN, the Dallas Mavericks changed plans during a bizarre final week of what Luka Doncic described as “a very disappointing season.” A few days after declaring he’d play so long as the Mavs had even the slimmest of postseason hopes, the franchise announced Doncic would sit out after playing

1:04 PM ET DALLAS – All-Star guard Kyrie Irving and four key Dallas Mavericks role players will sit out Friday night’s home game against the Chicago Bulls, a game the Mavericks must win to avoid being eliminated from the play-in scenario. The Mavs announced late Friday morning that Irving (right foot injury recovery), shooting guard

2:42 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said that Zion Williamson will not practice with the team on Saturday and would not play in any play-in tournament games next week if the Pelicans are still in the play-in. Griffin, speaking to local media

8:00 AM ET All of a sudden, Jaren Jackson Jr. found himself on an island. It was midway through the third quarter on March 18, and after Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry had used a pump fake to get Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks to fly by him on the right wing, Jackson was

2:05 PM ET DALLAS — The NBA denied the Dallas Mavericks‘ protest of their March 22 loss to the Golden State Warriors, the league announced Thursday. Dallas protested the 127-125 loss because of their claim that the officials did not properly administer an out-of-bounds call with approximately two minutes remaining in the third quarter, resulting

8:00 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN No player is more synonymous with the modern NBA’s offensive evolution than Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry. He is the only player in NBA history to make more than 400 3-pointers in a single NBA season, and the only one to make more than 3,000 in his career. For

8:00 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN HOUSTON — Coming out of the All-Star break, the Houston Rockets knew they weren’t going to be in contention for a spot in the NBA play-in tournament. They were 13-45, had lost seven straight games heading into the break, and were two weeks removed from trading disgruntled veteran Eric Gordon

9:31 PM ET DALLAS — During an unscheduled pregame media availability Wednesday evening, Mavericks Governor Mark Cuban blamed Jalen Brunson‘s father for the point guard’s departure from Dallas and declared that re-signing Kyrie Irving would be the franchise’s top offseason priority despite the team’s lackluster results since the blockbuster trade to acquire the All-Star guard.

7:16 PM ET Jamal CollierESPN MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo (knee) will miss Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Bulls, coach Mike Budenholzer announced prior to the game. Antetokounmpo was listed as probable on the injury report leading up to the game and took the court for a shortened version of his regular pregame

8:00 AM ET The bottom seven seeds in the Western Conference postseason picture are still a toss-up, but there is another serious NBA race that will be determined in the final week of the regular season. This year’s MVP race between Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo will be decided in the next few

1:06 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN PHILADELPHIA — After watching Joel Embiid dismantle the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night, Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers was certain of only one thing. “We did so many things wrong,” Rivers said, “but what we did right was Joel Embiid. “The MVP race is over.” There are still five days

2:35 PM ET DALLAS — All-Star guard Luka Doncic declared that he would not consider being shut down for the season as long as the Dallas Mavericks have postseason hopes, no matter how long the odds. “I’m playing tomorrow,” Doncic said after Tuesday’s practice. “When there’s still a chance, I’m gonna play. So that’s not