NBA

2:18 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James led the first round of fan voting for this year’s NBA All-Star Game. The update was released by the NBA on Thursday afternoon. Durant, who missed all of last season — his first as a member of the

6:58 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN When more than 90 players who signed as free agents become eligible to be traded Saturday, it will mark the unofficial start of trade season in the NBA. Several big names have already been traded since mid-November, including James Harden, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, Victor Oladipo, Chris Paul and Jrue

12:12 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN For New Orleans Pelicans coach Stan Van Gundy, what he saw from Zion Williamson on Wednesday night was unlike anything he’d seen from the 20-year-old so far this season. “I told Zion at the end of the game that it was by far his best game of the year if

1:00 AM ET Eric WoodyardESPN The back-to-back reigning MVP clocked out early Wednesday night. In 31 minutes, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo was near picture perfect, recording a triple-double through three quarters for the fourth time in his career. Therefore, he took on a new role as team photographer. While sitting on the sideline, “The

9:16 PM ET LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers might have missed each other in the playoffs last year, but Lakers reserve Jared Dudley, in a new book, revealed his team was primed for the “Battle for L.A.” because of Paul George. “We hear some of those guys talking about how

6:45 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors big man Kevon Looney will be out at least the next two weeks as he continues to recover from a sprained left ankle, the team announced Wednesday. Looney suffered the injury late in the first half of Tuesday’s 111-107 loss to the Boston Celtics and had

7:40 PM ET Associated Press No additional NBA players have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week, the league said Wednesday, after nearly two dozen games had to be called off in the past month because of virus-related issues. That continued a good two-week trend: After 27 players were positive in results released between

6:13 PM ET USA Basketball is in the planning stages of creating a pre-Olympic bubble in Las Vegas for Team USA, Australia and Spain to train and play exhibition games against one another before leaving for Tokyo, managing director Jerry Colangelo told ESPN. With NBA players expected to make up the core of all three

4:50 PM ET Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has begun individual basketball activities as he continues to recover from a right calf strain suffered at the start of the season, the team said Wednesday. Love has not played since Dec. 27 after initially suffering the injury during the preseason and aggravating it against the Philadelphia

7:00 AM ET Eric WoodyardESPN WHEN MYLES TURNER was told he would miss two to three weeks after suffering an avulsion fracture in his right hand on Jan. 14, he had one reaction. “No way,” the Indiana Pacers big man told his first-year coach Nate Bjorkgren. The Pacers’ next scheduled game, against the Phoenix Suns,

12:28 AM ET Paul George and Kawhi Leonard did their best to go blow for blow with the Brooklyn Nets‘ Big Three. But during the Nets’ 124-120 win over the LA Clippers in a game that lived up to the pre-game hype, the Clippers star duo could not keep up with Kevin Durant, James Harden

11:40 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors center Kevon Looney sprained his left ankle during the first half of Tuesday’s game against the Boston Celtics and did not return. The injury occurred with a little over two minutes to play in the first half. Looney appeared to step wrong as his ankle turned.

9:32 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Fred VanVleet set a Toronto Raptors franchise record and a record for undrafted players by scoring 54 points in Toronto’s 123-108 victory over the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night. “It was just time. … It’s just time,” VanVleet told SportstNet in Toronto after the game. “I’ve been missing a lot

4:08 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN As the NBA continues to tighten its health and safety protocols to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the league will begin requiring players to wear K95 or KNF94 masks in all instances where required, sources told ESPN. The policy will go into effect sometime in the next week, sources said,

1:15 PM ET Oklahoma City Thunder guard George Hill will miss at least four weeks after having a procedure on his right thumb, the team announced Tuesday. Hill had a procedure to address a mallet finger injury at the Kerlen-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles and will be re-evaluated in four weeks. He is averaging 11.8

10:19 AM ET The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are progressing toward an agreement for an All-Star Game on March 7 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, a single-night event that encompasses a game between the Eastern and Western Conferences and skills competitions, sources told ESPN. While a formal agreement has yet to

8:32 AM ET Team USA will open Olympic play with a rematch against France, the opponent that ended its 58-game winning streak at the 2019 World Cup. The draw for the 12-team tournament was held in Switzerland on Tuesday with the Americans being put into a group with France, Iran and the team that qualifies

1:54 AM ET Four courtside fans — at least one of whom was not covering her face with a mask — were ejected from Monday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks following a verbal spat with Lakers star LeBron James, the Hawks confirmed to ESPN. Juliana Carlos, who later posted on social