PHILADELPHIA — It is impossible to watch Joel Embiid not play meaningful basketball for the 76ers without remembering the last time he played meaningful basketball. It was last summer, at the Paris Olympics, and what stands out now, in the hindsight of his and the Sixers’ miserable season, is not just how he played but what he said.

Embiid�...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The time had come, the Los Angeles Lakers decided, to make a choice.

Since trading for D’Angelo Russell and playing him with Austin Reaves, the two guards largely alternated in the spotlight surrounding LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The touches, the shots, the responsibility — it usually always was split.

But gradually ...Read more

NEW YORK — Friday’s matchup between the Timberwolves and Knicks lost a healthy dose of its intrigue just before the game when Karl-Anthony Towns, who came in as a game-time decision because of a thumb injury, sat out his second consecutive game. There will be no other rematches this season between Towns and his former team.

The Wolves were ...Read more

BOSTON — It was always going to be an uphill battle for the Magic without three starters and three key reserves against the Celtics on Friday night.

But on a night when Orlando was without Franz Wagner (return to competition reconditioning), Jalen Suggs (low back strain), Goga Bitadze (concussion protocol), Gary Harris (left hamstring strain)...Read more

MIAMI — This is when reality further hit home for the Miami Heat.

Mediocre without Jimmy Butler.

Mediocre with Jimmy Butler.

And, so, a 20-20 Miami Heat record one game from the midpoint of their season, even with Butler back after missing seven games due to a team suspension for “conduct detrimental to the team.”

With Butler offering ...Read more

NEW YORK — When Julius Randle signed with the Knicks in the summer of 2019, he joined a team that had just suffered its sixth consecutive losing season.

The Knicks were fresh off of a 17-win campaign that matched the worst season in franchise history.

Days earlier, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving had spurned them for the crossborough Nets.

It...Read more

He's back, baby.

Dick Vitale, the most-recognizable voice in college basketball broadcasting, will return to the airwaves Saturday, Jan. 25, for the Duke-Wake Forest game, ESPN announced Friday.

It will be Vitale's first game since April 3, 2023. He has battled multiple forms of cancer for the past three and a half years, and received word ...Read more

MIAMI — Ahead of Friday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets at Kaseya Center, Erik Spoelstra offered an opening comment about the return of forward Jimmy Butler from his seven-game team unpaid suspension.

That also included acknowledging that Butler would be returning to the team’s starting lineup.

“Look, we work in a league of ...Read more

CHICAGO — The three-year anniversary of Lonzo Ball’s ill-fated knee injury passed without fanfare Tuesday night.

For the past two years, the anniversary served as an ominous reminder of the depth of uncertainty surrounding the Chicago Bulls point guard’s future in the sport. When the first year passed, it felt foreboding. The second year ...Read more

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Todd Golden encouraged “people not to rush to judgment” in the wake of sexual assault allegations against Gators assistant and national championship-winning point guard Taurean Green.

Under investigation himself for sexual harassment and stalking, Golden also questioned the university’s Title IX process...Read more

ATLANTA — The Dejounte Murray trade once appeared to be a huge loss for the Hawks. Credit general manager Landry Fields for narrowing the margin by shipping Murray to the Pelicans last summer. That deal ultimately could end up being a win for the Hawks. They are pretty good now, and Fields has the means to make them better before the Feb. 6 ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points and Domantas Sabonis recorded his league-leading 36th double-double of the season to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 132-127 victory over the Houston Rockets on Thursday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

DeRozan scored 26 points in the second half and 16 in the fourth quarter for the Kings (...Read more

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida assistant coach Taurean Green is the target of a sexual assault complaint filed by an athletics department employee, according to an ESPN report.

The accuser said Green, the Gators’ point guard of back-to-back national champions in 2006-07, arranged to meet her in March 2024 an on-campus facility. Once there, ...Read more

Toughness?

Competitiveness?

That’s what the Warriors showed in Wednesday’s hold-on-for-dear-life win over the Timberwolves — a game they led 34-12 after one quarter but ended with a one-point margin of victory.

Sure, we can go with that, Steph Curry.

There is, of course, another way of looking at it: The Warriors — who have won eight...Read more

DETROIT — Through the first 41 games, every coach around the association has raved about the Detroit Pistons. They have spent the first half of the season as the league's most improved team, but no coach has praised the Pistons for their progression more than Rick Carlisle.

Despite leaving Detroit with a victory on Oct. 23, Carlisle knew the ...Read more

CHICAGO — Professional women’s basketball returns Friday as the Unrivaled league kicks off its inaugural season — and Chicago Sky star Angel Reese will be at the center of it all as she makes her debut with Rose Basketball Club.

Founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, Unrivaled is a 3-on-3 league designed to provide ...Read more

MIAMI — Perhaps little says as much about the convoluted current relationship between Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat as this: The team has reached the end game of its seven-game unpaid suspension of the former All-Star forward with the situation nonetheless ongoing.

With Wednesday night’s 117-108 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto....Read more

DENVER — Jamal Murray glared exclusively at The Denver Post.

The time was last July after Canada’s exhibition game against Team USA in Las Vegas. There was only one pertinent question: What is going on with the contract extension? “When we get there, we get there,” snapped Murray.

He was not comfortable talking about the deal, and he ...Read more