10:52 AM ET Steve Alexander This week’s risers and fallers column lands during the first round of March Madness, when the attention of many a basketball fan is focused on the college game. Still, we trust your ability to multitask and take advantage of the distraction to improve your fantasy basketball team’s roster by following

3:35 PM ET Atlanta Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic has signed a four-year, $68 million contract extension, sources told ESPN on Thursday. The Hawks announced a multiyear extension for Bogdanovic, but the team didn’t reveal any terms. Bogdanovic declined his $18 million player option for the 2023-24 season and replaces it with a new long-term deal,

12:25 PM ET The betting odds to win MVP of the NBA regular season moved dramatically this week at sportsbooks, with 76ers star Joel Embiid catching Denver‘s Nikola Jokic, the longtime favorite, in what’s turning out to be a close race. Embiid moved from a 2-1 underdog to an odds-on favorite Wednesday. Jokic had been

4:17 PM ET Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS — Injured star Karl-Anthony Towns is expected to return to action “in the coming weeks,” the Minnesota Timberwolves announced Wednesday. Minnesota’s game against Boston on Wednesday night marks the 49th consecutive game missed by the three-time All-Star big man with a severely strained right calf muscle. Towns suffered the

11:42 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN LOS ANGELES — Stephen Curry walked to the far side of the court coming out of a timeout in the fourth quarter of the Golden State Warriors‘ matchup against the LA Clippers. His lips were curled inward, and a sheepish grin was across his face. He shook his head and

7:25 AM ET AS THE LA CLIPPERS‘ charter plane took off from the Los Angeles International Airport runway on a cloudy afternoon on Feb. 25, several players were napping when the Denver-bound flight took a sudden veer toward the left seconds into the air just above the Pacific Ocean. The Clippers’ plane began to shake

10:50 AM ET ESPN Fantasy The fantasy basketball playoffs started this week for most fantasy managers, but what about those who have Kevin Durant and/or Ja Morant on their roster? Is it worth holding out hope that they return in time for a boost in the weeks ahead? Or is it time to move on

6:24 PM ET Meyers Leonard has signed with the Milwaukee Bucks for the rest of the season, the team announced Tuesday. Leonard’s second 10-day deal with the Bucks expired on Monday and Milwaukee decided to retain the 7-footer through the playoffs. Leonard, 31, has played sparingly for the Bucks thus far, appearing in just five

3:38 PM ET Scoot Henderson, the projected No. 2 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, will not play the final five games of G League Ignite’s season, a league official told ESPN. The initiative to shut down Henderson, 19, comes from G League executives who feel Henderson has shown enough with his play this season.

6:33 AM ET Marc J. Spears SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown wasn’t exactly sure what happened in a skirmish between both teams toward the end of a 133-124 loss to the visiting Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night. But Brown had a message for any NBA team hoping to test his Kings as