6:04 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Philadelphia 76ers said Tuesday that All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons would both miss Thursday’s game against the Chicago Bulls — and that Simmons will miss Friday’s game against the Washington Wizards — due to the same contact tracing that kept both of them from participating in Sunday’s All-Star
NBA
3:55 PM ET Paul Pierce, Chris Bosh, Chris Webber, Michael Cooper, Lauren Jackson, Ben Wallace and Yolanda Griffith are among the finalists in the 2021 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class, announced Tuesday on ESPN’s The Jump. Pierce, a first-time nominee, spent 15 of his 19 NBA seasons with the Boston Celtics, winning a
3:00 PM ET After electing a star-studded Class of 2020 — led by NBA legends Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and the late Kobe Bryant — the Basketball Hall of Fame will officially enshrine two classes in 2021. The full Class of 2020 was unveiled on April 4, 2020. The nine new members of the Basketball
11:49 AM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — – A federal judge in California has ruled that Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, can obtain the names of four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who allegedly shared graphic photos from the site of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, their daughter Gianna and seven others.
11:59 AM ET Associated Press The NBA’s mini-bubble in Atlanta for the All-Star Game apparently worked. No players, coaches or game officials tested positive for COVID-19 while in Atlanta, the NBA said Monday after the final tests were processed and results were returned to the league and the teams involved. That includes Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid
6:46 AM ET The NBA’s second half is here. Which stars, storylines and matchups are we watching down the stretch? Can LeBron James and the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers wrestle the Western Conference lead from the Utah Jazz? Can Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors stay in the hunt? Can the New York
6:47 AM ET When the Minnesota Timberwolves fired head coach Ryan Saunders last month and made the rare in-season move to hire Toronto Raptors assistant coach Chris Finch — bypassing Wolves associate head coach David Vanterpool, who is Black — it renewed the conversation about the NBA’s hiring practices for coaches. “It’s discouraging,” one Black
11:06 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN Portland‘s Anfernee Simons was all smiles as he became the first Trail Blazers player to win the NBA dunk contest, which took place during halftime of Sunday night’s All-Star Game. Simons bested rookies Obi Toppin of the New York Knicks and Cassius Stanley of the Indiana Pacers to bring home
11:24 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Thanks to a perfect 16-for-16 performance from the field — including banking in multiple jump shots — Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo won his first NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award, as Team LeBron cruised to a 170-150 victory over Team Durant on Sunday night in Atlanta. “You know
5:19 PM ET The 2021 NBA All-Star Game festivities are tonight in Atlanta. Due to COVID-19, it’s all happening Sunday. That’s right, all the skills, all the scoring, all the 3s and all the dunks in one night. It’s Team LeBron vs. Team Durant with LeBron James and Kevin Durant serving as captains. They drafted
8:26 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry won his second 3-point contest, while Indiana Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis outdueled Orlando‘s Nikola Vucevic in the final round of the skills challenge prior to Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game. Curry scored 28 points in the final round of the 3-point contest, nailing his last
7:03 PM ET Seventeen pairs of unique Air Jordan sneakers were auctioned off Sunday, with proceeds of more than half a million dollars going to benefit a children’s hospital in Portland, Oregon. The annual event at Oregon Health and Science University Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, in partnership with Nike designers, provides patients an opportunity to create
7:09 PM ET Six-time All-Star forward Blake Griffin has agreed to a deal to join the Brooklyn Nets for the rest of the season, his agent Sam Goldfeder of Excel Sports told ESPN on Sunday night. The Nets are using one of their veteran minimum contract slots to sign Griffin, sources said. Griffin informed Nets
3:04 PM ET Associated Press Kawhi Leonard is planning to play for Gregg Popovich again and chase a gold medal. Leonard said Sunday at the NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta that he is planning to compete with USA Basketball this summer at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics — which would reunite him with Popovich. Leonard spent
11:31 AM ET Philadelphia 76ers teammates Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are uncertain for Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta after contact with a barber, who potentially has contracted the coronavirus, sources told ESPN. The barber, located in the Philadelphia area, is undergoing additional testing Sunday because of an inconclusive positive test, sources said. The
9:53 AM ET Kelly CohenESPN A Kobe Bryant rookie card sold for $1.795 million late Saturday on Goldin Auctions, an online auction house and repository for sports memorabilia, making it one of the most expensive basketball cards ever sold. The “1996-97 Topps Chrome Refractors #138 Kobe Bryant Rookie Card — BGS PRISTINE/Black Label 10” is
5:34 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Saturday said the NBA will not require anyone to get a COVID-19 vaccine, however he believes “most players” will ultimately choose to do so. “We’re seeing this now, both in the actual numbers of people getting vaccinated in the United States and opinion polls, that
12:17 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has committed to giving his winnings from Sunday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta to several Philadelphia homeless shelters, meaning $100,000 will go to the various organizations. “So many have fallen on such hard times during the pandemic,” Embiid said in a statement released by the team