7:20 AM ET Jeremy WillisESPN.com Coaches at all levels of athletics have to be teachers, tacticians, psychologists and master motivators. And they will go to some extreme and bizarre lengths to motivate a team. Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said he channeled 1980s prop comic Gallagher in an effort to inspire and excite his team

2:20 PM ET ESPN News Services The Miami Heat and Bam Adebayo have agreed to a five-year max extension, Adebayo’s agent, Alex Saratsis, told ESPN’s Zach Lowe on Tuesday. The deal includes escalator clauses that can take its total to $195 million over five years, Saratsis told ESPN. The contract has not been signed and

5:51 PM ET Former All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins has agreed to a one-year deal with the Houston Rockets, he told Marc Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated. The Rockets were limited to offering the veteran’s minimum to Cousins, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL in his left knee suffered after he signed

2:47 PM ET Free-agent center Alex Len plans to sign a one-year deal with the Toronto Raptors, a source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal is for $2.3 million, the source said. Len is the second free-agent center added by the Raptors after the team lost both Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol in free agency,

12:52 PM ET Markieff Morris is returning to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers announced that they had re-signed the forward on Monday but did not disclose terms of the deal. Earlier Monday, Morris had tweeted that he was returning. “Run it back! #Lakeshow,” he tweeted. Run it back! #Lakeshow — Keef Morris (@Keefmorris) November

6:20 PM ET Free-agent guard Austin Rivers has agreed to a three-year, $10 million deal with the New York Knicks, a source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. After four years with the LA Clippers, Rivers spent short stints on the Wizards and Suns before finding a home with the Houston Rockets, who signed him off waivers

The Los Angeles Lakers are shoring up their defending championship run by adding a big man with championship experience whose career started with the purple and gold. The Lakers are finalizing a two-year deal with center Marc Gasol, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe. The free-agent signing, which would pry Gasol away from

5:01 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Jayson Tatum has agreed to a five-year extension worth up to $195 million extension with the Boston Celtics, a source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The full designated rookie max of $163 million could go up to nearly $200 million with All-NBA escalators, sources said. Tatum’s agent Jeff Wechsler and the

8:17 PM ET Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has agreed to a three-year, $40 million deal to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, told ESPN on Saturday. Caldwell-Pope re-signed with the Lakers in July 2019 on a two-year, $16.6 million deal that included an $8.5 million player option for the 2020-21

8:47 PM ET Free-agent guard Brad Wanamaker has agreed to a one-year, $2.25 million deal to join the Golden State Warriors, his agent, Steve McCaskill, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Wanamaker played a productive role with the Boston Celtics and now is expected to see some significant minutes as Stephen Curry‘s backup. Wanamaker, 31, made his