NBA

12:33 AM ET TORONTO — Kyrie Irving knocked down the first buzzer-beating game winner of his NBA career in a thrilling 119-116 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday night. Irving shook off Raptors guard Fred VanVleet as the final seconds ticked off the clock, stepped behind the 3-point line and nailed the clutch shot

3:32 PM ET Marc J. Spears WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Chris Paul is now a college graduate. The Phoenix Suns guard graduated from Winston-Salem State University on Friday at Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex. Paul earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications. Paul originally attended Wake Forest, where he starred as a basketball player from 2003 to 2005

8:00 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN There is a narrow leader in the early race for the Michael Jordan Trophy. Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, who is averaging a career-high 30.2 points per game, claimed 47 first-place votes and was on 98 of 100 ballots cast in the 2022-23 debut of ESPN’s NBA MVP straw poll,

11:49 PM ET ESPN News Services HOUSTON — Tyler Herro matched the Miami record with 10 3-pointers and scored a career-high 41 points to help the Heat beat the Houston Rockets 111-108 on Thursday night. A night after making nine 3-pointers and scoring 35 points in a victory at Oklahoma City, Herro became the fourth

3:48 PM ET Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is expected to miss “a few weeks” with a left shoulder injury, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Warriors announced on Thursday that Curry suffered a left shoulder subluxation but did not provide a timeline for return. Curry suffered the injury with 2:04 left in the

2:00 PM ET The NBA and its players’ union have agreed to extend the deadline to give notice of plans to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement to Feb. 8, the sides announced in a joint statement Wednesday. Prior to Wednesday’s agreement, the opt-out deadline had been Thursday. Now it falls one day before

9:21 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN INDIANAPOLIS — Stephen Curry will receive an MRI on Thursday in Philadelphia after injuring his left shoulder in the Golden State Warriors‘ 125-119 loss at the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday. Curry sustained the injury with 2:04 left in the third quarter after attempting to strip Indiana’s Jalen Smith of the

8:00 AM ET Picture this: Zion Williamson vs. Ja Morant in this year’s Western Conference finals. The New Orleans Pelicans and Memphis Grizzlies look capable of bringing that showdown to NBA audiences this year with their recent surge to the top of the West standings. Then again, just a few weeks ago, some were quivering

12:28 AM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN MILWAUKEE — A fan was thrown out of the Golden State Warriors–Milwaukee Bucks game Tuesday night at Fiserv Forum after exchanging words with Draymond Green. As Giannis Antetokounmpo lined up for two free throws with 6:30 left in the third quarter of an eventual 128-111 Bucks win, a fan with

1:17 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Another dramatic chapter was written in the long, storied history of the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics‘ rivalry on Tuesday night. The Celtics won 122-118 in overtime in a game Boston appeared to have no business losing — then no business winning after a wild comeback by L.A.

10:22 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN WHEN WILL HARDY first saw Boston Celtics center Luke Kornet‘s weird trick to contest 3-pointers, he was bemused. “I thought it was absolutely f—ing hilarious,” Hardy, who spent last season as an assistant with the Celtics before becoming head coach of the Utah Jazz this summer, told ESPN. “‘You’re 20

8:00 AM ET The NBA is renaming its annual regular-season MVP award after Michael Jordan, the player who topped ESPN’s ranking of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team named last season. The league unveiled the newly designed Michael Jordan Trophy on Tuesday, along with five other reimagined trophies named after league pioneers that will now be

1:11 AM ET ESPN News Services PORTLAND, Ore. — Damian Lillard tied his own regular-season franchise record by making 11 3-pointers and finished with 38 points, leading the Portland Trail Blazers over the Minnesota Timberwolves 133-112 on Monday night. Lillard shot 11-for-17 from long range and didn’t play in the fourth quarter. The Blazers never

5:58 PM ET Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham — the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft — plans to have season-ending surgery on his left shin, sources told ESPN on Monday. Cunningham, who’s been sidelined since November 9, consulted with multiple doctors in recent weeks and ultimately decided with the Pistons and

8:00 AM ET HOW DOES A 6-foot-2 point guard whose self-described weight is “175 soaking wet” rank right up there with the NBA’s best big men in paint scoring? “Because motherf—ers can’t stay in front of me,” Ja Morant told ESPN aftering pondering the question for about as long as it takes him to get

11:21 PM ET DETROIT — If not for an Austin Reaves 3-pointer with 12.1 seconds remaining, the Los Angeles Lakers might have dropped the final leg of their six-game road trip Sunday against the Pistons. Instead, L.A. completed a 124-117 win against a Detroit team with the worst record in the league at 7-22 to

2:15 PM ET ESPN News Services Basketball taught Paul Silas how to be patient. As a player, he waited 10 years before winning his first championship. As a coach, he waited 15 years for a second chance at running a team. As a father, he waited 20 years before seeing his son get a chance

1:25 AM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN SAN FRANCISCO — In their first matchup since Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals, the Warriors beat the Boston Celtics 123-107 on Saturday night in Golden State’s best and most complete game of the season. Entering the contest, the Celtics were considered the better of the two teams with