6:05 PM ET Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Denver Nuggets with lower abdominal pain. Lillard has struggled to start the season, shooting below 40% from the field and below 30% from 3-point range. The Blazers officially ruled Lillard out with “lower abdominal tendinopathy.” He had
NBA
12:40 AM ET NEW ORLEANS — When he got off to a slow scoring start this season, James Harden said his body and conditioning weren’t yet ready to score 30 and 40 points. It took him 13 games but Harden cracked 30 points for the first time this season, and nearly hit 40. The Brooklyn
2:52 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Anthony Davis unloaded on the Lakers after Friday night’s 107-83 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves that was largely determined by a third quarter in which his team was outscored 40-12. “We sucked,” Davis said when asked about the third. “No defense. Can’t score. That’s not just this third quarter,
8:07 PM ET The NBA’s probe into possible pre-free agency tampering centered on the sign-and-trade acquisitions of Chicago’s Lonzo Ball and Miami’s Kyle Lowry appears to have reached the advanced stages, sources told ESPN on Friday. The NBA has conducted numerous interviews with team executives and player agents and have gathered electronic messaging of front
10:06 PM ET Associated Press DETROIT — Pistons power forward Kelly Olynyk will miss at least six weeks with a sprained left knee. Olynyk was hurt Wednesday in the Pistons’ 112-104 victory over the Houston Rockets, limping off the court in the fourth quarter. The Pistons said he underwent testing Thursday that revealed a Grade
1:54 AM ET ESPN News Services SALT LAKE CITY — Four players were ejected after Rudy Gobert and Myles Turner got into a scuffle late in the Indiana Pacers‘ 111-110 victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday night. The tussle began after Gobert appeared to pull Turner down to the ground with him after Turner
2:44 PM ET Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic tested positive for COVID-19 and entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Thursday, sources told ESPN. The Bulls listed Vucevic in the protocols, but the positive test means the two-time All-Star selection will be sidelined for 10 days or until he has two negative PCR tests
8:00 AM ET NBA Insiders The NBA season is — almost — a month old. What standouts are here to stay? The Eastern Conference standings is full of early-season surprises, including impressive starts from the Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers. Meanwhile, the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks are dealing with injuries as they work
12:23 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN NEW ORLEANS — Throughout the New Orleans Pelicans‘ much maligned start to the 2021-22 season, coach Willie Green has tried to stay positive about the direction in which his team is headed. But after a 108-100 loss to Oklahoma City on Tuesday night in which his team picked up five
3:52 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had no interest in rehashing Monday’s on-court incident involving his team and the Denver Nuggets, or the subsequent penalties handed down by the NBA on Tuesday. “I’m done talking about it,” Spoelstra said Wednesday after his team’s shootaround in advance of Miami’s game against
4:49 PM ET Three former Phoenix Suns employees have received messages from Penny Sarver, the wife of Robert Sarver, who is the team’s majority owner. Two messages came from the @pennsar Instagram account and another was a text message from a number that belongs to Penny Sarver. These former employees say they consider the messages
9:59 PM ET Denver Nuggets star and reigning MVP Nikola Jokic has been suspended for one game without pay for forcefully pushing Miami Heat forward Markieff Morris in the back on Monday night. The Nuggets will not have their franchise center against Indiana on Wednesday Markieff Morris was also fined $50,000 for his flagrant two
1:11 PM ET Emotions from NBA MVP Nikola Jokic‘s retaliatory bodycheck from behind on Miami Heat forward Markieff Morris on Monday night have spilled onto social media as the brothers of both players weighed in. As the league looks into whether to levy any further punishment over the Denver Nuggets star’s ejection after his run-in
11:56 PM ET Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic could be facing a possible suspension from the NBA after the reigning league MVP was ejected with 2:39 left in the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat for aggressively blindsiding Heat power forward Markieff Morris in retaliation to a hard foul. Jokic was bringing the ball down
12:41 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Warriors star guard Stephen Curry scored an NBA-season-high 50 points in Golden State’s 127-113 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night. Curry finished the night 14-for-28 from the field, 9-for-19 from 3-point range and 13-for-13 from the free throw line, while chipping in 10 assists and seven rebounds
6:13 PM ET After initial resistance, Philadelphia 76ers All-Star guard Ben Simmons met with a team-recommended medical specialist to discuss his mental health on Monday, sources told ESPN. It is unclear what Monday’s meeting means for the Sixers’ ultimate hopes of a Simmons return to play, but it was a change of direction for Simmons
8:00 AM ET Who are the best teams in the NBA right now? The Milwaukee Bucks certainly don’t look like a team that belongs in the upper tier of the league. The defending champs, who continue to be without Khris Middleton after the All-Star tested positive for COVID-19 last week, have lost five of their
1:59 PM ET Associated Press MIAMI — The NBA told its players, coaches and referees Sunday that they should receive booster shots against the coronavirus, with particular urgency for those who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The league and the National Basketball Players Association — working jointly based on guidance from the league’s