NBA

8:00 AM ET The NBA’s Eastern Conference is deeper than it has been in decades, setting up what should be a wild sprint to the playoffs over the final seven weeks of the 2021-22 NBA regular season. With five teams within 2.5 games of first place in the conference, and just six games separating sixth

8:41 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers are coming back from the All-Star break at less than full strength. All-Star guard Darius Garland will miss Cleveland’s game Thursday night at Detroit with a back issue that has slowed him for weeks while newly acquired guard Caris LeVert is sidelined with a sprained right

4:23 PM ET NEW YORK — As the Brooklyn Nets continue to wait and hope that the New York City vaccination mandate gets lifted and Kyrie Irving is able to play in home games again, Nets coach Steve Nash sees a renewed sense of optimism from the 29-year-old guard that a resolution might be coming

5:29 PM ET Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Trail Blazers announced Wednesday that center Jusuf Nurkic will be sidelined for at least four weeks because of left foot plantar fasciitis. The team said the condition has been bothering Nurkic since September. He will be reevaluated after four weeks. Nurkic has started 56 games

4:46 PM ET The New York Knicks and guard Kemba Walker have agreed that the four-time All-Star will be sidelined for the remainder of the team’s schedule, allowing him to work out in preparation for the 2022-23 season, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. In a statement released by the team, Knicks president of basketball operations

11:40 AM ET The Cleveland Cavaliers are promoting assistant general manager Mike Gansey to the GM title in the wake of Koby Altman’s recent ascension to president of basketball operations, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Gansey’s climb completes a remarkable rise in the Cavaliers’ front office: a Cleveland high school player hired an intern in

6:38 PM ET Dan HajduckyESPN Close Hajducky is a reporter/researcher for ESPN. He has an MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University and played on the men’s soccer teams at Fordham and Southern Connecticut State universities. A Kobe Bryant card was sold privately last week for $2 million, PWCC Marketplace announced Tuesday, the highest a

4:55 PM ET Guard Jevon Carter plans to sign with the Milwaukee Bucks once he clears waivers, agents Mark Bartelstein and Reggie Brown of Priority Sports told ESPN on Tuesday. The Nets waived Carter upon reaching an agreement with free agent guard Goran Dragic on Monday. Carter is the second perimeter player this month to

2:12 PM ET New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson has been absent from the court this season due to a foot injury, but according to JJ Redick, Williamson has been absent as a teammate his entire time in the NBA. “There’s a responsibility that you have as an athlete when you play a team sport

11:00 AM ET Dallas Mavericks governor Mark Cuban credited Luka Doncic‘s recent dominance in part to the 22-year-old superstar’s reaction to criticism regarding his conditioning early in the season. “I think he was humbled a little bit,” Cuban said Tuesday during an appearance on 1310 The Ticket in Dallas. “I think he didn’t like being

8:00 AM ET NBA Insiders ESPN’s ranking of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team has been revealed. What did we get right and what did we get wrong about our countdown of the league’s 76 greatest legends? Michael Jordan tops the list, followed by LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Wilt Chamberlain. The top 10

12:53 PM ET Free agent guard Goran Dragic is signing for the rest of the season with the Brooklyn Nets, his agent Bill Duffy of BDA Sports told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Dragic began the season on the Toronto Raptors before he was sent to the San Antonio Spurs at the trade deadline and subsequently had

8:00 AM ET NBA All-Star Weekend was a showcase of today’s superstars, but it was also a celebration of the best players throughout 75 years of league history. Earlier in the 2021-22 season, the NBA unveiled its 75th Anniversary Team, a squad full of iconic players representing different points in the evolution of basketball. But

8:00 AM ET With the conclusion of Sunday night’s All-Star game in Cleveland, the NBA is officially on break until Thursday. As the league-leading Phoenix Suns have built a 6.5-game lead over the second place Golden State Warriors in the West, the East race continues to be tight. The Miami Heat sit atop the East,

11:19 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN CLEVELAND — The two kids from Akron stole the show at Sunday night’s All-Star Game. Stephen Curry put on a shooting clinic all evening, hitting 16 3-pointers and scoring 50 points, while LeBron James hit an absurd, one-legged turnaround jumper to clinch the victory for Team LeBron over Team Durant

8:08 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN CLEVELAND — Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul will be out for the next six to eight weeks due to an avulsion fracture in his right thumb, a source confirmed to ESPN. The injury is a massive blow to a Suns team with the league’s best record and knocks the All-Star

7:16 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN CLEVELAND — Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell announced Sunday evening that he wouldn’t be able to play in Sunday’s All-Star Game due to an upper respiratory illness. “It is a great honor and has always been a dream of mine to be selected as an NBA All-Star,” Mitchell said in

4:03 PM ET Mechelle VoepelESPN.com Close Mechelle Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996. Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul is the first recipient of the Kobe & Gigi Bryant WNBA Advocacy Award, the league announced