Oct 21, 2020 Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS — New Indiana Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren went right to work Wednesday. Less than 24 hours after accepting the job, the 45-year-old former Toronto Raptors assistant started explaining his plan. He expects the Pacers to move the ball and take more 3-pointers. He wants the defense to be more
NBA
5:18 PM ET Five weeks after the LA Clippers suffered an embarrassing playoff collapse, Tyronn Lue addressed the team’s chemistry and leadership issues on his first official day as the franchise’s new head coach. Lue, who won a championship and went 128-83 in less than three full seasons as head coach in Cleveland, will try
2:12 PM ET Stan Van Gundy has agreed to a multiyear deal to become the next head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Van Gundy, the former Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons head coach, becomes the seventh coach in Pelicans franchise history. The Pelicans and Van Gundy’s representative,
11:34 AM ET Eric WoodyardESPN The 2020 NBA draft is less than a month away, but the Minnesota Timberwolves still don’t see a can’t-miss guy to take with the No. 1 pick. After months of planning to make the top pick for the second time in franchise history, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas
6:30 AM ET NBA Insiders The NBA has plenty to figure out ahead of the start of free agency and trade season. The transaction moratorium will be lifted sometime before the Nov. 18 draft, but before then, let’s dive into the biggest storylines this offseason has to offer. Which players are the most intriguing targets?
8:52 PM ET ESPN News Services SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will let fans back in outdoor stadiums for pro sporting events in counties with low coronavirus infection rates, the state’s top health official said Tuesday. San Francisco and neighboring Alameda and Santa Clara are the only counties that meet the threshold for pro sports. However,
12:22 PM ET The Indiana Pacers have agreed to a multiyear deal to hire Toronto Raptors assistant Nate Bjorkgren as their head coach, sources told ESPN. The Pacers officially named Bjorkgren as their new head coach Tuesday but did not disclose terms of his deal. Bjorkgren, a disciple of reigning NBA Coach of the Year
7:06 AM ET This NBA offseason is full of decisions that could impact the hierarchy of the league for years to come. Will back-to-back MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo hold off on signing a supermax extension with the Milwaukee Bucks? Will the Golden State Warriors keep or trade the No. 2 overall pick in November’s draft? Will
6:23 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN Sometime between now and the 2020 NBA draft on Nov. 18, the league should lift the monthslong transaction moratorium, allowing its annual round of offseason chaos to officially begin. There are many things the NBA will need to sort out over the next few months, from the salary cap rules
Oct 15, 2020 Sports Africa Network recently hosted a roundtable with five basketball players from the African continent. The discussion revealed the tremendous potential the sport has for enhancing mutual understanding between Africa and the USA, while highlighting the challenges remaining. Thirteen Africa-born men play in the NBA today, nearly enough to fill a team
5:24 PM ET ESPN News Services MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota sports columnist and radio personality Sid Hartman, an old-school home team booster who once ran the NBA’s Minneapolis Lakers and achieved nearly as much celebrity as some of the athletes he covered, died Sunday. He was 100. Hartman, whose first newspaper column was published in 1945,
12:22 PM ET Former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey took out a full-page advertisement in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday to thank the numerous people who helped him during his 13 seasons with the team. But he saved his most effusive praise for Rockets star James Harden, writing, in bold, “James Harden changed my
2:08 PM ET New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson was the victim of an attempted car theft last Saturday afternoon but was unharmed, Saints spokesman Greg Bensel confirmed. “I can confirm that an incident did occur in Orleans Parish involving Mrs. Benson while she was in her vehicle,” Bensel said in a statement.
8:17 PM ET For the third time since May, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association are extending a negotiating window that preserves each side’s rights to terminate the collective bargaining agreement due to the pandemic, sources told ESPN on Thursday. The NBA and NBPA agreed on a new Oct. 30 deadline to complete ongoing
4:30 PM ET Any eulogy for Daryl Morey’s groundbreaking tenure as Houston Rockets general manager should probably start with the 2017-18 season — when Houston took a 3-2 lead in the conference finals over perhaps the greatest team ever assembled, and might have upset those Golden State Warriors had Chris Paul not suffered a hamstring
12:04 PM ET Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is stepping down, sources told ESPN. In the aftermath of Houston’s elimination from the NBA’s restart in Orlando, Florida, Morey approached owner Tilman Fertitta with the idea of leaving the job and the sides quietly worked through an exit agreement to conclude his 13 seasons running
2:31 PM ET Ty Lue is finalizing a five-year deal to become the next coach of the LA Clippers, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday. Lue, who has served as an assistant with the Clippers, has been the front-runner for the team’s vacancy since Doc Rivers was dismissed on Sept. 28, sources had told
6:30 AM ET It’s the never-ending debate among today’s NBA fans: Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James. Or should that be LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan? While arguments can be (and have been) made for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell and other NBA greats, the modern debate over who is the greatest since