NBA

8:50 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN PHILADELPHIA — Toronto Raptors rookie forward Scottie Barnes left Game 1 of Toronto’s first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers here at Wells Fargo Center because of a left ankle sprain Saturday night. Barnes, who had 15 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in 31 minutes in his first career

6:28 PM ET Australian guard Dyson Daniels will enter the 2022 NBA draft, he told ESPN Saturday. “I’m all in for the draft,” Daniels said. “I feel more than ready for this next step in my career and I’m excited for this process to begin.” Daniels, the No. 10 prospect in the ESPN 100, is

4:00 PM ET The 2022 NBA playoffs have finally arrived! After an unprecedented regular season, featuring some of the closes races in recent memory, Saturday marks the beginning of what each of these 16 teams hope will be a two-month march to the NBA championship. In the Western Conference, Donovan Mitchell and the No. 5

4:29 PM ET Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela suffered no structural damage to his right knee but could miss a significant part — if not all — of an opening-round playoff series against the Miami Heat, sources told ESPN on Saturday. Capela underwent an MRI on Saturday in Miami and is expected to have his

11:35 AM ET After running and shooting without back pain for over a week, Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons is expected to take the next step on the floor in the coming week and begin practicing against teammates on the court, sources told ESPN on Saturday. His continued progress is fostering hope that Simmons could

12:09 PM ET Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo has cleared the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the team announced Saturday, and is expected to be available for Game 1 vs. the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday. Adebayo missed the Heat’s regular-season finale against the Orlando Magic last Sunday after entering the protocol. Adebayo is averaging a

8:00 AM ET NBA Insiders The NBA playoffs are here with four first-round games taking place on Saturday and Sunday. In the East, all eyes will be on the Boston Celtics vs. Brooklyn Nets series as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving look to upset the No. 2 seed Celtics, who are without injured center Robert

1:07 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN For the New Orleans Pelicans, all seemed lost in the third quarter Friday night in Los Angeles. The team that started the season 1-12 and was 14-32 at its lowest point had fought its way back to 36-46 and grabbed the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference play-in tournament.

1:14 AM ET What lies ahead in the NBA postseason? The Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves are advancing as seven seeds, while the Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Pelicans captured eight seeds on the final night of the NBA play-in tournament. Every first round series is set: Miami Heat vs. Hawks, Boston Celtics vs. Nets,

1:05 AM ET The NBA postseason is here, and it’s shaping up to be a wide-open chase to the 2022 title. The Phoenix Suns ran away with the league’s best regular-season record — eight games clear of the second-best Memphis Grizzlies. Devin Booker, Chris Paul and the reigning Western Conference champs are on a mission

10:20 PM ET Despite losing starting center Clint Capela to a first-half injury in Friday’s play-in game, the Atlanta Hawks rallied behind Trae Young’s season-saving second half to beat the Cavaliers, 107-101, in Cleveland. The Hawks advance to face the Miami Heat, the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded team, in a first-round playoff series that begins Sunday

7:59 PM ET Phoenix Suns majority owner Robert Sarver will be retiring as executive chairman from Western Alliance Bancorporation in June, ending a two-decade tenure with the nearly $56 billion asset company. The company’s recent announcement of Sarver’s impending departure comes amid the NBA’s investigation into the Suns and Sarver, which the league launched in

4:36 PM ET NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving says he does not care what the outside world thinks about his decision not to get the COVID-19 vaccination — and is steadfast in his belief that he made the “right decision for me.” “I can really say that I stood firm on what

9:00 PM ET Atlanta Hawks starting center Clint Capela left in the first half of Friday’s play-in game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a hyperextended right knee and will not return, according to the team. The injury occurred late in the first half when Cavaliers center Evan Mobley fell against Capela’s leg as Mobley was

4:13 PM ET France’s Ousmane Dieng, a 6-foot-10 projected lottery pick, will enter the 2022 NBA draft, he told ESPN on Friday. He’s the first European star to make the leap to Australia as part of the NBL’s Next Stars program, and is ranked No. 12 in the ESPN 100 rankings of draft prospects. Dieng,

5:40 PM ET Associated Press PHOENIX — Phoenix Suns guard Landry Shamet didn’t practice Friday because of a left foot injury. The Suns have the NBA’s best overall record and are preparing for the first round of the playoffs against either the Clippers or the Pelicans. Shamet has been one of the team’s top players

3:36 PM ET Associated Press CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls will be without two assistant coaches for at least their playoff opener against the Milwaukee Bucks after Chris Fleming and Damian Cotter tested positive for COVID-19, coach Billy Donovan said. Donovan said the team found out Friday morning that Fleming — Chicago’s lead assistant —

4:38 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors are listing star Stephen Curry as “probable” heading into the first game of their series against the Denver Nuggets. “We expect him to play,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We’ll see how he’s feeling tomorrow.” Whether Curry comes back on Saturday or later