NBA

4:25 AM ET In what’s too early to call a complete collapse but too stunning to label a mere stumble, the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are now slated to compete in the NBA’s play-in tournament with a little more than a week remaining in the regular season. Friday’s 106-101 loss to the Portland Trail

10:02 PM ET With the addition of play-in games to the 2021 NBA playoffs, the scramble for seeding is wilder — and more important — than ever, with almost every game down the stretch having significant postseason implications. Here’s a breakdown of all the key games from Friday night and what the results mean for

5:13 PM ET New Orleans Pelicans star Zion Williamson is out indefinitely with a fractured left ring finger, the team announced on Friday. Williamson underwent a CT scan on Thursday that revealed the injury. A treatment plan and timetable for his return will be determined after further evaluation. The Pelicans (30-36) entered Friday’s game against

7:00 AM ET IT WAS NOV. 5, 2017, game nine for the newly formed superteam in Oklahoma City. After a bumpy 4-4 start, the Thunder were in Portland to take on a division rival. Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts had taken his spot in the narrow hallway of the Moda Center pregame to talk with

11:00 PM ET The Nets are in serious jeopardy of slipping to the East’s third seed after their 113-109 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday as Brooklyn has lost four straight games for the first time all season. The Milwaukee Bucks are only a half game behind Brooklyn and own the tiebreaker between the

2:25 PM ET Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden, who has been out for over a month with a hamstring strain, says he is “very confident” he will return before the playoffs begin. “The plan is to hopefully get an opportunity to play a couple games before the postseason,” Harden said Thursday. “We’re just taking one

11:55 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN The New Orleans Pelicans have agreed to a multi-year contract with two-way player Naji Marshall, sources told ESPN on Thursday. Marshall has been a large part of the Pelicans’ rotation in the last month. In the last 19 games, he’s averaged 8.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 25.8

6:48 PM ET Kyrie Irving and the Brooklyn Nets each have been fined $35,000 for violating the NBA’s media access rules, the league announced on Wednesday. “The fines result from Irving’s repeated refusal to participate in postgame media availability,” the league said in a statement. The NBA requires that healthy players be made available upon

7:00 AM ET DURING OCCASIONAL SCROLLS through his Twitter mentions, Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles saw enough references to a particular stat to pique his curiosity. “I honestly Googled it one time to try to figure out what they’re talking about, and I had f—ing no idea still after reading it,” Ingles says. “I didn’t

12:39 AM ET The New Orleans Pelicans finally found a way to slow down Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry — all they needed was a lighting failure inside Smoothie King Center on Tuesday night. With 3:58 remaining in the third quarter and the Warriors leading 77-71, Curry set up for another 3-pointer when

10:48 PM ET Amid a year of difficulties with players and staff, Indiana Pacers coach Nate Bjorkgren’s future with the franchise is uncertain as the regular season nears an end, sources tell ESPN. Bjorkgren has significant work to do with his relationships among players throughout the team and with some members of the organization, but

4:13 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is expected to miss back-to-back games against the LA Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday and Friday to rest his injured right ankle, sources told ESPN. It is possible James could miss more games, sources said, as he works through discomfort in a right ankle

11:31 AM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — Anderson Varejao is back with the Cleveland Cavaliers, signing a 10-day contract Tuesday to begin a stint to celebrate his 12-year run with the team. The 38-year-old center hasn’t played in the NBA since 2017 with the Golden State Warriors. The Brazilian agreed to come back and finish

12:42 AM ET Stephen Curry has set the bar so high for himself that nobody seems surprised anymore when he puts up eye-popping numbers on a nightly basis. The latest example came Monday night during a 123-104 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, as the Golden State Warriors star guard poured in 41 points. The

2:44 PM ET LeBron James will sit out the Los Angeles Lakers‘ game against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night at Staples Center to rest his right ankle, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne. James aggravated the ankle in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 121-114 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center.

7:00 AM ET The NBA regular season ends May 16. But we still have so much to figure out! Will the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets or Milwaukee Bucks secure the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference? Can the surging Phoenix Suns outduel the Utah Jazz in the race for the Western Conference’s top seed?

8:57 PM ET In an epic showdown among some of the league’s most talented stars, Giannis Antetokounmpo dropped 49 points to outduel Kevin Durant‘s 42 points and lift the Bucks to a 117-114 victory over the Nets on Sunday. The game — which came down to the final seconds — was one that many considered

2:08 AM ET DALLAS — Luka Doncic couldn’t hardly believe the box score from the Dallas Mavericks‘ 125-124 win over the Washington Wizards. He wasn’t too amazed by his 31-point, 12-rebound, 20-assist triple-double despite joining an exclusive club with that line. The only other players in NBA history to record 30-point, 20-assist triple-doubles: Oscar Robertson,