NBA

5:09 PM ET ESPN News Services As the decision to bench center Andre Drummond while the team pursues a trade has drawn criticism — most notably from Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green — Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said “nobody’s decision should be muted.” Bickerstaff said Drummond was not with the team Wednesday, and

1:06 AM ET The Brooklyn Nets are the NBA’s latest superteam, an offensive juggernaut featuring two former MVPs in Kevin Durant and James Harden and the owner of one of the biggest shots in NBA Finals history in Kyrie Irving, who also is widely considered to have the best handles the sport has seen. But

12:53 AM ET OKLAHOMA CITY – With 5:28 remaining in the fourth quarter, Damian Lillard hit two hard dribbles with his left hand, putting his man on his hip and squaring up the help defender, Al Horford. It was a one-point game, the Oklahoma City Thunder leading, and as Lillard does, he hit the eject

6:16 PM ET Minnesota Timberwolves guard D’Angelo Russell will undergo arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body in his left knee and is expected to miss four-to-six weeks, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Russell had missed Minnesota’s previous three games with what the team said was a sore left leg. He’s averaging 19.3 points and

2:21 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green devoted almost the entirety of his postgame news conference Monday night to calling out the NBA’s treatment of its players, while citing various examples of double standards around the league. Green’s unprompted, three-minute tirade came on the heels of the Cleveland Cavaliers —

1:53 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN Winston Churchill once said of Russia, “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” If there is an NBA equivalent to that quote, it is Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons. There might not be a more confounding player in the NBA than Simmons. He has the size

5:02 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis will be re-evaluated in two to three weeks after suffering a calf strain during Sunday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets, a source told ESPN. Davis underwent an MRI on Monday which revealed an aggravation near his Achilles, the source said. The Lakers and Davis will be

7:01 AM ET Not much can stop the Utah Jazz right now. The owners of the best record in the NBA have won 18 of their past 19 games heading into Monday’s heavyweight showdown with the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia 76ers. Speaking of the East, the Boston Celtics continue to slide both in the standings and

12:08 AM ET Los Angeles Lakers star big man Anthony Davis aggravated tendonosis in his right Achilles, a source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and was held out of the second half of Sunday’s 122-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets. Davis missed two games earlier this week with the injury. The Lakers officially termed it as

8:01 PM ET Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant will miss at least the next two games with a mild left hamstring strain, the team announced Sunday. The Nets are scheduled to play the Sacramento Kings on Monday and the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. Durant has missed nine of the Nets’ 28 games this season. Six

11:01 PM ET The Brooklyn Nets annihilated the Warriors in Kevin Durant‘s return to the Bay Area on Saturday night, defeating Golden State 134-117. It was Brooklyn’s league-high seventh 130-point game. Before the game, Nets coach Steve Nash said that while he believes this game against his former team carries extra weight for Durant, the

2:24 AM ET As the Brooklyn Nets ‘Big Three’ of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving continue to work on building their on-court chemistry, Irving and Harden had a brief conversation at practice this week to clarify their roles. “We established that maybe four days ago now,” Irving said after the Nets’ 134-117 win

7:36 PM ET LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma both received warnings for violating the NBA’s anti-flopping rule in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 115-105 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, the league announced. The NBA said James’ violation occurred with 2 minutes, 33 seconds remaining in the second quarter when James, positioned between Dillon Brooks

6:34 AM ET Inside the Golden State Warriors‘ practice facility in Oakland, California, Kevin Durant sat at the podium and responded to the first question of the 2018-19 season: How would he handle all the attention focused on his looming free agency that coming offseason? “Wake up in the morning, come to practice and go

12:00 AM ET Steve RichardsESPN Three of the brightest young stars in the NBA put on a show Friday night as Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis of the Dallas Mavericks and Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans posted an array of dazzling numbers. Doncic had a career-high 46 points and 12 assists, Porzingis had

2:44 PM ET NEW YORK — Kevin Durant practiced with the Brooklyn Nets on Friday after missing six days in the league’s contact tracing coronavirus protocols and is slated to play on Saturday against his former team, the Golden State Warriors. Friday was the first time Durant has been with the Nets since he was

2:50 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry is happy to let his game do the talking as it pertains to the MVP race this season. Curry, 32, is in the midst of one of the best stretches of his career, averaging 35.3 points a game and shooting 53-for-101 from

10:44 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge grew up in Eugene, Ore., and after a stellar four-year career at BYU, made his living over his 14-year NBA career as a tough, hard-nosed guard who could shoot. Decades later, Ainge fell in love during the draft process with another Oregon