NBA

12:35 PM ET The NBA has entered into exploratory conversations with the Walt Disney Company about restarting the remainder of its season at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, in late July, NBA spokesperson Mike Bass said Saturday. “The NBA, in conjunction with the National Basketball Players Association, is engaged in

10:41 AM ET ESPN News Services Jerry Sloan, a bulldog as a player for the Chicago Bulls and coach of the Utah Jazz, died Friday at the age of 78. The Jazz announced that Sloan had died from complications from Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia, which he had revealed diagnoses of in April 2016.

4:34 PM ET Don Nelson, the winningest coach in NBA history, had just finished a stroll on the beach in his beloved Hawai’i on Friday when a reporter informed him that his coaching contemporary Jerry Sloan had died from complications of Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia at age 78. “Oh, he was a dear

7:19 PM ET Among marketplaces where governmental restrictions are keeping practice facilities shuttered, teams are asking the NBA whether players can bypass returns to those cities and report directly to the league’s proposed campus environment for the start of training camps, sources told ESPN. Most teams in regions still adhering to stay-at-home policies amid the

9:12 AM ET Kevin Love is fretting about COVID-19. He’s not spending a lot of energy worrying whether he’ll get it, or grieving the death someone of close to him who contracted the coronavirus. He frets because he knows what can happen if people experience the loss of a loved one, become consumed with the

9:00 AM ET “The Last Dance” is over, but let’s lead off our five NBA things with some unfinished business: 1. Dishonoring a champion With precious few exceptions, great teams have a life cycle. They gain experience, win a lot, age, and get bad. There are ways to mitigate the pain, but almost never to

3:26 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Coming to America from Greece, as a teenager, was not always the smoothest transition for Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. Before “Giannis” became a household name, those who couldn’t pronounce his last name, in addition to his rare freakish athletic ability and ball-handling skills at his size, often called the

4:46 PM ET ESPN News Services Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway, no stranger to the nuances and hurdles of the recruiting trail, says it will only get tougher with the entry of the G League. Hardaway, speaking to ESPN’s The Jump in an interview aired Thursday, said it came as an unpleasant surprise when the

7:00 AM ET What if the Splash Bros. had Wilt Chamberlain playing center? How many titles would the Lakers have won if Magic Johnson was running the break with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal? Imagine Hakeem Olajuwon and James Harden teaming up in Clutch City. We asked our NBA writers to come up with an

4:11 PM ET NBA teams are expecting the league office will issue guidelines around June 1 that will allow franchises to start recalling players who’ve left their markets as a first step toward a formal ramp-up for the season’s resumption, sources told ESPN. Teams expect a similar timeline from the league on when they’ll be

7:00 AM ET What if Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen could’ve played alongside prime Derrick Rose? How many titles would the Celtics have won if Larry Bird and Bill Russell were on the same team? Imagine LeBron James taking his talents to South Beach to team up not only with Dwyane Wade, but Tim Hardaway

7:00 AM ET Editor’s note: This story was first published on April 16, 2020. “Game 6: The Movie,” a cinematic production of 1998 NBA Finals Game 6 airs on Wednesday, May 20 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN and the ESPN App. ON APRIL 27, 1997, Chris Webber and the Washington Bullets were visiting the

12:19 AM ET When Timberwolves president Gersson Rosas set about assembling a front-office staff in Minnesota in 2019, he was insistent that the group include a doctor who specialized in medicine and technology. Rosas was looking for someone analytical who could help the Timberwolves use data to optimize the health of players. Rosas eventually hired

4:33 PM ET Former Chicago Bulls forward Horace Grant has fired back at claims Michael Jordan made about him during “The Last Dance” documentary series on ESPN. In a radio interview with Kap and Co. on ESPN 1000 in Chicago on Tuesday, Grant said it “is a downright, outright, completely lie” that he leaked much

7:00 AM ET YEARS AGO, AFTER a bad hurricane hit Wilmington, North Carolina, Michael Jordan came back to help the recovery effort. Jordan doesn’t go home very often, but he had some friends with him on that trip and wanted to show them where he’d grown up while they were in town. The house, a

10:22 PM ET Many basketball fans enjoy debating who was better between Michael Jordan and LeBron James. But when the Los Angeles Lakers‘ star fantasizes about playing with Jordan, it’s as his teammate, not his adversary. “Me personally, the way I play the game — team first — I feel like my best assets work

4:55 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The NBA’s draft lottery won’t take place Tuesday in Chicago as was originally planned, but whenever it does happen it is likely to look the same as last year, league sources told ESPN. Since play was suspended March 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic, teams at the top of the

6:43 AM ET NEARLY 22 YEARS have passed since Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf took one last shot at keeping the team together, but he remembers the meeting like it was yesterday. “I remember the date,” Reinsdorf said. “It was July the 3rd in 1998.” The Bulls had won their third straight NBA title and