NBA

3:17 AM ET SALT LAKE CITY — The LA Clippers find themselves trailing 2-0 for the second straight series, but Kawhi Leonard says his team has “a lot of fight” left in it. The Clippers, though, are going to have to dig deeper than any other team in NBA history to get out of this

12:58 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Milwaukee Bucks are still breathing in the playoffs — barely. Already trailing 2-0 in an Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Brooklyn Nets, and finding themselves trailing by 3 with 83 seconds to go in Game 3 Thursday night at Fiserv Forum after a Kevin Durant 3-pointer, the Bucks

5:24 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Chicago Bulls announced Thursday that guard Coby White will be out until at least the latter stages of training camp after undergoing surgery to repair a left shoulder injury he suffered over the weekend. The team said the injury occurred while White was “engaged in basketball activities away from

5:35 PM ET SALT LAKE CITY — Jordan Clarkson saw the hateful racial slur spray-painted all over a well-known Filipino food truck in Utah on social media and was overcome with raw emotion. “F— C—-s” and an offensive image of a face with slanted eyes was sprayed on the side of the World Famous Yum

1:36 PM ET Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley has been ruled out of Thursday’s Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against the LA Clippers due to a mild strain of his right hamstring. Conley, who also missed Game 1, suffered the injury during the first half of Utah’s series-ending win over the Memphis

8:35 AM ET Associated Press For USA Basketball, the last stop before the Tokyo Olympics will be Las Vegas. The men’s and women’s national teams will hold training camps in Las Vegas in July, they announced Thursday, and they’ll be playing seven exhibitions there against other Olympic-bound national teams as well. USA Basketball will open

2:03 AM ET Chris Paul plans. He planned when he forced a trade out of New Orleans a decade ago. He planned when he creatively leveraged a contract option to get himself to Houston. He planned when he helped change an arcane age rule in the collective bargaining agreement that enabled him the chance to

1:37 AM ET Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone said he felt his team “quit” in Wednesday night’s 123-98 loss to the host Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals. “I felt we quit tonight, which is something you never want to see,” Malone said. “So I guess for Game 3, I’m just

1:55 AM ET It had been seven years since a player had a game in the postseason with 15 assists and no turnovers, but Chris Paul accomplished the feat on Wednesday as the Phoenix Suns routed the Denver Nuggets 123-98 to take a 2-0 lead in the second-round series. The last player to post a

9:18 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert reclaimed the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award Wednesday night, becoming the fourth player to be named the league’s top defender at least three times over the course of his career. Gobert, who won the award in 2018 and ’19 before Giannis Antetokounmpo won

8:34 PM ET Boston Celtics president Brad Stevens has received team permissions to interview several assistant coaches for his franchise’s head coaching job, including the LA Clippers‘ Chauncey Billups, sources told ESPN. Stevens started making calls on Wednesday to get the OK to talk to several candidates, including Billups, Milwaukee Bucks‘ Darvin Ham and Charles

4:04 PM ET Atlanta Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter will miss the rest of the NBA playoffs because of a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee, the team announced Wednesday. Hunter experienced some mild swelling in his right knee prior to Game 1 against the Philadelphia 76ers in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, and he

4:35 PM ET LeBron James intends to change his Los Angeles Lakers jersey number to No. 6 next season, a source confirmed to ESPN. James, who has worn No. 6 as a member of Team USA and wears the same digit on his practice jersey, had worn No. 23 during his first three seasons with

2:42 PM ET LeBron James plans to change his Los Angeles Lakers jersey number to No. 6 next season, a source confirmed to ESPN. James had worn No. 23 during his first three seasons with the Lakers. The number change was first reported Wednesday by The Athletic. Fellow Lakers star Anthony Davis will keep his

12:04 PM ET Nate Bjorkgren has been fired as Indiana Pacers coach after one season with the team, sources told ESPN. Bjorkgren was informed Wednesday of the decision to dismiss him, sources said, after he met with management Tuesday. The Pacers are expected to pursue a more experienced, established head coach after Bjorkgren lost the

12:53 PM ET Miami Heat president Pat Riley was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Wednesday for violating the league’s anti-tampering rule. Riley was fined for comments made during a June 4 radio interview regarding Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James who played for the Heat from 2010-14 before returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers. “I

2:58 AM ET SALT LAKE CITY — As Paul George stood at the line with 10 minutes, 11 seconds remaining in Tuesday night’s Game 1, Utah Jazz fans serenaded him with chants of “Playoff P!” And with 1:37 left, the taunt of choice, and the loudest of the night, was an “overrated” chant that 18,007

3:25 AM ET Utah Jazz star Donovan Mitchell didn’t feel well at halftime of Tuesday’s Game 1 against the visiting LA Clippers. He was a bit under the weather, feeling nauseated and a little light-headed. And he really felt sick about his performance in the first half. “Yeah, I was definitely feeling it a little