6:18 PM ET After leading the Utah Jazz to a first-round upset of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs last year, it was inevitable Donovan Mitchell would return this season with a target on his back. But after struggling for much of the early season, Mitchell is now outperforming his rookie year and has

12:15 PM ET Associated Press LAS VEGAS — NBA Summer League is going international this year. The Chinese and Croatian national teams will join all 30 NBA clubs at this year’s tournament in Las Vegas, taking place from July 5 through July 15. China sent a team to Summer League in 2007, and Croatia will

12:57 AM ET ESPN News Services SACRAMENTO, Calif. — D’Angelo Russell scored 27 of his career-high 44 points in the fourth quarter, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson made a layup with eight-tenths of a second remaining, and the Brooklyn Nets rallied from 28 points down in the second half to beat the Sacramento Kings 123-121 on Tuesday night

8:18 AM ET SAN ANTONIO — Discomfort contorted Gregg Popovich’s face as he pondered a defensive demise nobody wanted to concede. With the San Antonio Spurs mired in a three-game skid at the time, and mere minutes before the Feb. 27 start of a league-best nine-game winning streak, Popovich seemed to have given up hope

12:09 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will not play against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night because of a sore left groin. With 12 games to play, the Lakers trail the LA Clippers by 9.5 games for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, meaning James’ personal streaks of

12:41 AM ET SAN ANTONIO — Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry drained a 61-foot 3-pointer to close the first quarter of Monday night’s 111-105 road loss to the San Antonio Spurs. It is the longest shot anyone in the league has hit all season, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The shot came

7:45 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — Almost a year-and-a-half after Isaiah Thomas was traded away from the Boston Celtics, he will finally get a chance to be recognized at TD Garden on Monday night. “It’s always good to be back,” said Thomas, who was healthy and available to play against the Celtics for the

1:56 AM ET LOS ANGELES — After watching the Brooklyn Nets somehow erase a 10-point deficit in 57 seconds to tie the game late, Lou Williams did something that the super-scoring sub hadn’t done in his career before. Danilo Gallinari took an inbounds pass with 5.3 seconds left before passing to Williams, who drilled a

8:16 PM ET Malika AndrewsESPN MILWAUKEE — When given a choice of who he would rather be defended by — Joel Embiid or Ben Simmons — Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t miss a beat before responding. “It’s easy,” Antetokounmpo said. “I would rather Ben guard me than Joel. It’s simple. If Joel’s been guarding me all night

6:46 PM ET OKLAHOMA CITY — Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins will have an MRI on his sore right foot, the team announced Sunday. Cousins, who is listed as questionable for Monday’s game, left Saturday’s win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the fourth quarter with what was initially listed as a sore right