BOSTON — The Celtics’ long-awaited 18th NBA championship was a weight lifted for franchise centerpieces Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who’d watched the team fall short in the conference finals or NBA finals in five of the previous seven seasons.

“But another burden,” veteran guard Jrue Holiday said less than an hour after Boston’s ...Read more

The Lakers will honor late franchise icon Jerry West with jersey bands throughout the 2024-25 season.

The organization announced on Tuesday that the team will wear commemorative bands with West’s No. 44 on the left shoulder of all their jerseys this season.

West, who died in June at 86 years old, spent all 14 seasons (1960-74) of his ...Read more

WASHINGTON – Dan Hurley and a few returning members of the UConn men’s basketball team looked somewhat comfortable as they filed into the East Room of the White House on Tuesday. It was only about 15 months ago that Hurley walked shoulder-to-shoulder with President Joe Biden into the same room, and saw his team standing on the same risers ...Read more

NEW YORK — The NBA’s proposed operating budget has increased by nearly 8% year-over-year, and the league’s Board of Governors (BoG) were not adequately briefed on the candidates to replace Larry Tanenbaum as BoG chair ahead of Tuesday’s election, the New York Daily News has learned.

These concerns were highlighted in a letter Knicks ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Christian Wood will not be available for all of training camp, the Lakers announcing that he'll miss at least the next eight weeks because of more knee problems.

Wood underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Monday, the Lakers said. He also had the knee operated on last March.

For Wood, the injury delays the comeback ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Sky had a simple goal ahead of their game Friday against the Los Angeles Sparks: Feed Kamilla Cardoso.

Coach Teresa Weatherspoon set the expectation. Without Cameron Brink on the court, the Sparks didn’t have the size or the speed to match Cardoso in the paint. Guard Chennedy Carter reiterated the marching orders as ...Read more

MIAMI — While summer league can offer a taste of the potential of a team’s youth, it also has to be viewed in the limited spectrum of competition solely against other young players. Unlike the NBA, there are not a series of minicamps and OTAs to truly take stock of the fit among the big boys.

So the last view of Pelle Larsson was a ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The College of Alameda has hired former NBA point guard Gary Payton to be its next head men’s basketball coach, the school announced in a public report on Friday.

The Hall of Fame point guard is an Oakland native and played high school basketball at Skyline High in North Oakland. He was drafted in 1990 to the Seattle ...Read more

CHICAGO — Angel Reese’s record-setting rookie season is over after the Chicago Sky rookie suffered a wrist injury during a victory Friday night.

Reese made the announcement on social media Saturday evening. The Sky earlier in the day had listed her as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Wings at Wintrust Arena.

The All-Star...Read more

A quick scan of the box score would suggest: Napheesa Collier did it again.

Of course she did. Friday at Indiana she scored 26 with 10 rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

But look again.

A huge key to Minnesota’s 99-88 victory over the Fever in a nationally-televised game between the two hottest teams in the WNBA was Bridget Carleton.

She...Read more

NEW YORK — This potential second-round WNBA playoff matchup may not be much of a battle after all.

Thursday’s Liberty win over the No. 5 seed Seattle Storm could be a foreshadowing into this fall’s postseason: Noelle Quinn’s new-look squad isn’t a team equipped to stop the Liberty from getting back to the WNBA Finals.

Thursday’s ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Friday night, the Lynx will play the Fever in Indianapolis.

Meaning that two of the hottest teams in the WNBA will face off. So will the two WNBA players of the month — Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier in the Western Conference and Indiana’s Caitlin Clark in the Eastern Conference.

At the peak of a fine career, Collier is for...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope is making sure the commonwealth’s best young talent stays home for college.

After already getting class of 2024 standouts Travis Perry (Lyon County) and Trent Noah (Harlan County) on his first UK roster for the 2024-25 season, Pope has now added two star players from the ...Read more

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — After spending months on the West Coast, Nika Muhl’s first professional basketball game back in Connecticut was a family affair.

The former UConn women’s basketball point guard was selected No. 14 overall in the 2024 WNBA draft by the Seattle Storm, and her new team returned to Muhl’s old stomping grounds for the ...Read more

SEATTLE — Let's be clear about three things regarding Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd before we get to the "but."

Actually, it's more like a BUT. In the meantime, though ...

1) There's a good chance the Storm don't have championships in 2018 and 2020 if Jewell isn't on those teams. The 15.5 points she averaged in each of those seasons — ...Read more

MIAMI — Heading into a season, the term “reasonable expectations” almost comes off as an oxymoron. The mere point of expectation is of hope.

But then there is the South Florida sports landscape, where years and decades at least have led to tempered expectations.

For the Miami Dolphins, on the eve of the NFL, it’s to win a playoff game ...Read more

The Connecticut Sun bounced back from Wednesday’s brutal road loss to the Indiana Fever with a 96-85 rout of the Washington Mystics in D.C. on Saturday.

Veteran superstar DeWanna Bonner scored 16 points in the victory to reach 7,381 career points, surpassing Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings (7,380) for No. 4 on the WNBA all-time scoring list. ...Read more