LOS ANGELES — I love him like you love him.

But it's time.

Austin Reaves is the Lakers' breath of fresh air, a sharpshooting respite from all the drama and dirge, a stirring journey from undrafted to indefatigable. My favorite, everybody's favorite.

But it's time.

If the Lakers are going to get where they need to be, they'll have to get ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Even on Mother’s Day — the day dedicated to relaxation and pampering for moms — the Sparks took the hardwood in Torrance, sweating through defensive sets, refining footwork and hitting jumpers.

It’ was a shortened practice, but practice nonetheless. There’s no time to pause. The WNBA season opener is less than a week ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The basketball coaches at Santa Monica College had this kid.

A wisp of a player at 5 feet 3, he wasn't a particularly strong shooter and didn't score much. What he lacked in skill he more than compensated for by diving on the court, taking charges, stripping the ball from the guy he was defending.

The basketball coaches at ...Read more

DENVER — The Nuggets delivered a performance only a mother could love.

Pass out the Capri-Suns and orange slices. They won the participation trophy. They tried really hard.

But in the biggest game of the Western Conference semifinals, where results matter more than energy and effort, the Nuggets shot like the rim was a moving target.

...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls will be anxiously awaiting the results of a handful of ping-pong balls alongside 13 other teams on Monday night.

This year’s NBA draft lottery is one of the most highly anticipated iterations of the event in recent history as teams jockey for a chance to take Duke standout Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick...Read more

DENVER — If the Nuggets do indeed thrive on the adrenaline of a thrilling playoff game or series, then a 3-1 lead over the Thunder might’ve been too simple for them.

Instead, they’ll have to find a way to win two of the last three games to upset the top seed in the Western Conference — with two of those three situated in Oklahoma City ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Off the floor, Golden State Valkyries forward Kayla Thornton is as laid back as one could be.

She seemingly always has a smile on her face, and on the right day, you might catch her singing through the hallways of the Valkyries’ practice facility in Oakland.

But on the floor, everything about the El Paso, Texas, native is ...Read more

MIAMI — For as cogent as Pat Riley was on a variety of subjects in his emotional, forthright, candid conversation at Friday’s state-of-the-Heat address at Kaseya Center, not all was clearly spelled out by the franchise patriarch.

And in one respect, it came off as alpha-beta soup.

Are Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo the cornerstones?

Is the ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Sky refuse to take the fewest 3-pointers in the WNBA again.

The Sky tried to get by without taking 3s last season, attempting a league-low 14.9 per game and averaging only 4.8 makes. It simply didn’t work. Abandoning the arc allowed defenses to smother the paint, leaving then-rookies Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO – The Minnesota Timberwolves are in a race against the calendar and the healing power of Stephen Curry’s left hamstring to close this series out. To do that, they might have to finish the series in five games, before Curry might return for a potential Game 6.

After an easy win in Game 2, Game 3 was anything but, as the Golden ...Read more

NEW YORK — For the past two days following the Boston Celtics’ Game 2 loss, the basketball world had prewritten the defending champion’s obituary.

With the series shifting to Madison Square Garden and the road team in a 2-0 hole, percentages from past NBA seven-game series gave the Celtics just a 14.3% chance to advance to the Eastern ...Read more

DENVER — That smile. That darned smile.

Every possible pearly white, from a star who traditionally lets his game do the talking, glinted from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s mouth as he strolled off the floor at Ball Arena Friday night. His lips stretched wide. His eyebrows crinkled.

His stat sheet — 7 of 22 from the floor for 18 points in the...Read more

NEW YORK — After opening the Eastern Conference semifinals with a pair of embarrassing home losses, the Celtics returned to form Saturday at Madison Square Garden.

The defending NBA champions regained both their shooting stroke and their second-half poise in Game 3, routing the New York Knicks, 115-93.

Five Celtics players scored in double ...Read more

CHICAGO — The NBA draft combine takes place Sunday through May 18 at Wintrust Arena. The combine is vital for aspiring players to show their skills to scouts before the NBA draft on June 25-26.

The NBA draft lottery will be held at 6 p.m. Monday at McCormick Place, with ESPN televising. The Chicago Bulls’ pre-lottery position is No.12, ...Read more

MIAMI — Pat Riley entered the room Friday afternoon in a blue sports jacket, salmon shirt and silver-fox hair that, as usual, provided stylish cover for the street fighter underneath.

“How many of you were born after I got here?” the Miami Heat president said while taking a seat before the cameras for his postseason news conference.

A ...Read more

DENVER — Nikola Jokic found his seat on the bench and bellowed at the rafters of his building, the one he has transformed into a temple that worships him.

The agony of his missed buzzer-beater opportunity was doubled by the grim fact that he would have to play through his struggles for another five minutes.

The Nuggets had his back.

Despite...Read more

NEW YORK — The Villanova Wildcats are now proudly represented in Manhattan and Vatican City.

After Thursday’s Conclave in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, the world learned that the newly elected Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, graduated from Villanova University, the basketball-obsessed school just outside Philadelphia, in ...Read more

Former UConn women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers has only gotten a taste of WNBA physicality less than two weeks into her first training camp with the Dallas Wings. Though she’s already feeling the challenge of battling professionals for the first time, the rookie guard is no stranger to competing against bigger and stronger players ...Read more

NEW YORK — Karl-Anthony Towns doesn’t spend much time on social media. But if he opened Instagram or X, he’d see it — Knicks fans weeping tears of joy. A franchise once buried by dysfunction now delivering a revival. The Knicks did that.

They’ve restored belief in a city that had almost given up.

“We know we’re repping the city ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — As Luka Doncic sat inside the makeshift press conference room inside Crypto.com Arena following the Lakers’ season-ending loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, he fielded multiple questions about what he learned over the previous couple of months.

Even though it had been nearly three months ...Read more