NBA

2:44 PM ET NEW YORK — Kevin Durant practiced with the Brooklyn Nets on Friday after missing six days in the league’s contact tracing coronavirus protocols and is slated to play on Saturday against his former team, the Golden State Warriors. Friday was the first time Durant has been with the Nets since he was

2:50 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry is happy to let his game do the talking as it pertains to the MVP race this season. Curry, 32, is in the midst of one of the best stretches of his career, averaging 35.3 points a game and shooting 53-for-101 from

10:44 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge grew up in Eugene, Ore., and after a stellar four-year career at BYU, made his living over his 14-year NBA career as a tough, hard-nosed guard who could shoot. Decades later, Ainge fell in love during the draft process with another Oregon

9:35 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors rookie center James Wiseman will be out at least another week as he recovers from a sprained left wrist. Wiseman, who was initially injured in a win over the Detroit Pistons on Jan. 30 will be reevaluated in 7-10 days, according to the team. “He had

7:22 PM ET Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young has been fined $20,000 for “directing inappropriate language toward a game official,” the NBA announced Thursday. The incident occurred on the final possession of the Hawks’ 118-117 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday at American Airlines Center. Young had been knocked to the floor while setting

6:21 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Ever since Anthony Davis was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, the big man adopted a two-pronged approach to revamping his image: earn a reputation as a winner and shed his reputation as being injury-prone. Davis accomplished that last year, capping a season in which he pushed through physical

4:46 PM ET Associated Press WASHINGTON — NBA scoring leader Bradley Beal will be held out of a game for rest for the first time this season, sitting out Washington’s matchup with the New York Knicks on Friday. Beal is averaging 32.8 points and 35.3 minutes per game for Washington (6-16), which is among the

11:31 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Raptors will continue to play home games in Tampa, Florida, for the rest of the 2020-21 NBA season, citing border restrictions and being “mindful of public safety measures” in Toronto as factors preventing them from returning home to play at any point this season. “Florida has been really welcoming

7:00 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN When the Brooklyn Nets added James Harden to a roster that already included Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the bookmakers in Las Vegas were quick to declare the NBA’s newest Big Three as the favorites to win the Eastern Conference, despite the fact that the Nets had started the season

11:58 PM ET DALLAS — As soon as Danilo Gallinari‘s difficult buzzer-beater attempt clanked off the rim, Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young ripped out his mouthpiece and stomped toward referee Josh Tiven to protest a critical no-call on the final possession of a 118-117 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Young had been knocked to the

7:53 PM ET Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns will return to the court for the first time since mid-January to play against the LA Clippers on Wednesday. Towns has been cleared to return from post health and safety protocol reconditioning. Towns, who hasn’t played since Jan. 13, announced on Twitter on Jan. 15 that he

5:15 PM ET The NBA is progressing on a plan to incorporate the slam dunk competition into halftime of the All-Star Game on March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, sources told ESPN. A three-point shootout and skills competition are also expected to be part of the Sunday night event, sources said. The NBA

4:44 PM ET Associated Press OAKLAND, Calif. — A law enforcement officer in California who sued the president of the Toronto Raptors over a 2019 scuffle following the team’s NBA Finals victory over the Golden State Warriors dropped his lawsuit Wednesday. The Raptors had just won their first title at Oracle Arena in Oakland on

2:04 PM ET One day after Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban confirmed that his team had stopped playing the national anthem before games, the NBA on Wednesday issued a statement saying that wouldn’t be the case. “With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming fans back into their arenas, all teams will play the

9:07 AM ET Associated Press ATLANTA — A historic Krispy Kreme Doughnuts store owned by Shaquille O’Neal was engulfed in flames early Wednesday, heavily damaging the structure. Atlanta fire crews responded to the iconic restaurant on Ponce De Leon Avenue shortly after midnight, news outlets reported. Video posted on social media showed raging flames. Battalion

6:58 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN It was just seven weeks ago that this NBA season tipped off, with Dallas Mavericks phenom Luka Doncic installed as the betting favorite to win MVP honors. But, like just about everything else in this pandemic-shortened season, nothing has gone quite to plan. Doncic’s Mavericks are in 14th place in

2:49 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN When the Utah Jazz reconvened for training camp in December, they’d had three months to think about how the prior season had ended: with Mike Conley‘s potential game-winning 3-pointer somehow spinning out against the Denver Nuggets. During those three months, the Jazz thought over and over again about that shot

1:45 AM ET Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr watched Michael Jordan drop in so many impossible shots over the years that he had to chuckle when asked whether Stephen Curry made a behind-the-head circus shot late in the first quarter of Tuesday night’s 114-91 win over the San Antonio Spurs reminded him of