8:55 PM ET The Brooklyn Nets‘ season ended unceremoniously Sunday night in a first-round sweep at the hands of the NBA defending champion Toronto Raptors. In other circumstances, this could be construed as a disappointment. Instead, Brooklyn’s demise was met with a collective shrug, because the team was horribly short-handed. And it was always about

1:05 PM ET The NBA and sports worlds are paying tribute to Kobe Bryant on what would have been the Basketball Hall of Famer’s 42nd birthday. Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among nine people killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on Jan. 26. On Sunday, Vanessa Bryant delivered a personal and heartfelt

11:11 PM ET Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul wasn’t shy about shouldering the blame for his team’s 2-0 hole entering a critical Game 3. He said he had to show up. And that’s what he did on Saturday, putting the Thunder back in the first-round NBA playoff series with a 119-107 overtime victory over

8:09 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Indiana Pacers find themselves on the verge of elimination after losing 124-115 to the Miami Heat on Saturday afternoon to fall behind 3-0 in their best-of-seven first-round series. A major factor in the defeat was that the Heat went to the free throw line

11:23 PM ET It was a frigid winter December night in Boston and the Celtics had just polished off another division opponent behind the spirited efforts of their rejuvenated wunderkinds, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Two lockers over, Kemba Walker was beaming like a proud father. Boston’s prized free-agent acquisition, who managed to somehow transform

2:22 AM ET Paul George has struggled to find his shot in the past two playoff games, but the LA Clippers guard says he has to impact the game in other areas because “scoring the ball is not what I do.” After shooting 3-for-16 from the field, including 1-for-8 on 3-point attempts, in the Clippers’

5:30 PM ET The Portland Trail Blazers are down yet one more starter, losing power forward Zach Collins to season-ending surgery on his left ankle, the team announced Friday. Collins has a hairline medial malleolus stress fracture, according to the team, and a date for surgery has yet to be determined. Collins had averaged seven

10:49 AM ET After returning to campus after the birth of his son, Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley Jr. is clearing quarantine Friday morning and will be in the lineup for Game 3 of the Western Conference first-round series against the Denver Nuggets, sources told ESPN. Conley is expected to return as a starter

8:45 PM ET NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league is likely to delay its previously planned Dec. 1 start for the 2020-21 season in the hope of getting paying fans back into arenas. Though the NBA bubble environment in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, has been a success, Silver said the league is not focusing

8:58 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Minnesota Timberwolves won the 2020 NBA draft lottery Thursday night and the right to the first pick in the draft later this year. The Timberwolves, who ended the season with the third-worst record, will be followed by the Golden State Warriors — who ended the season with the worst