NEW YORK — The Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau. The new question: Now what?

A franchise “singularly focused on winning a championship” must now settle on its locker room voice and basketball mastermind of the future.

The problem? The field hasn’t been more saturated with options in a long time.

Four NBA head coaches were ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Tim Connelly is a soft-spoken, likable gentleman who seems incapable of purposeful deceit. But when the Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations discusses roster management, I often wish that comic quote bubbles were a real thing and not imaginary.

Just to know what he has up his sleeve.

Connelly is a human ...Read more

The NBA Finals start between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers on Thursday, and it’s a series that matters to the Golden State Warriors of the past and future.

In fact, the series hasn’t even started, and the Warriors are already in the crosshairs.

Well before Game 1, ESPN already compared the Thunder to the last NBA dynasty...Read more

NEW YORK — The New York Knicks read the room — and the writing was on the wall for head coach Tom Thibodeau.

The Knicks parted ways with Thibodeau, the fourth-most winningest coach in franchise history, just three days after their season ended in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, a league source...Read more

NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson made his stance crystal clear.

Moments after the New York Knicks were eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals, Brunson was asked if he believed Tom Thibodeau was the right coach to lead the team moving forward.

“Is that a real question right now?” Brunson said. “You just asked me if I believe [Thibodeau] is...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Let’s be perfectly clear about this. There is no room for argument on this point.

Rivalries made college sports.

Then and now.

Then: Army-Navy. The Ivy League. Michigan-Ohio State. Oklahoma-Texas. California-Stanford.

And now: UCLA-USC. Alabama-Auburn. Duke-UNC. The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.

Without those...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — Mark Daigneault didn’t come to UConn to play basketball, and he didn’t join the basketball program just to hang out. That was readily apparent to those around him soon after he became a student manager in 2004.

“He was a kid that had a quiet maturity,” Jim Calhoun said. “It took me about halfway through the year to...Read more

NEW YORK — Someone is set to make history in the 2025 NBA Finals.

If the Indiana Pacers win the championship, it would mark the first in the 58-year history of the franchise.

If the Oklahoma City Thunder win it, it would be their first since moving to OKC 17 years ago. The organization won one title — in 1979 — as the Seattle Supersonics...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — My wife’s a hoophead, so we watch a lot of basketball in my house: college men and women, WNBA, NBA. Caitlin Clark, Kim Mulkey, Charles Barkley, and Shaq spend more time in my living room than I do. I see a lot of Jalen Brunson and Tyrese Haliburton, too.

That included Thursday night, when Brunson dropped 32 in the Garden in ...Read more

CHICAGO — The shadow that follows second-generation athletes can be imposing.

Phoenix Gill might not receive the same level of publicity as Bronny James, but as the son of a University of Illinois Hall of Famer and member of the 1989 “Flyin’ Illini” Final Four team, the St. Ignatius guard faced high expectations.

So when it came time ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — When the Sparks faced the Phoenix Mercury last month, the game ended with a failed Sparks comeback.

There was another comeback Sunday — and it belonged to Phoenix.

Unable to stay ahead after building an 18-point lead, the Sparks fell 85-80 to the Mercury at Crypto.com Arena for their third consecutive loss.

The third quarter...Read more

The Lynx tipped off their game with the expansion Golden State Valkyries in San Francisco on Sunday at about 5:30 p.m. Pacific time.

The Minnesota defense got to the game about an hour late.

But it was enough.

Down a point at halftime after allowing Golden State to score 52 points, the Lynx took over in the second half in an 86-75 victory ...Read more

SEATTLE — After falling behind by 17 points early in the fourth quarter, the Storm trailed by three with 13.3 seconds left when coach Noelle Quinn called timeout to draw up an offensive play.

In previous years, Quinn often gave the ball to Jewell Loyd with the game on the line and she built a reputation as one of the most clutch performers in...Read more

Tyrese Haliburton didn’t skip another chance to troll Knicks fans.

After his Indiana Pacers eliminated the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, Haliburton took aim at actor and Knicks superfan Ben Stiller.

Stiller had commented on a video showing Haliburton’s arrival for Game 6, writing on social media, “Good thing he brought his ...Read more

NEW YORK — Josh Hart didn’t sugarcoat it.

Typically the Knicks’ do-it-all glue guy, Hart was not satisfied with how he played in the Eastern Conference finals.

“I failed the team,” Hart said after the Knicks’ season-ending Game 6 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “I didn’t bring it the way I should have, ...Read more

MIAMI — Salt meet wound.

Not only will the Oklahoma City Thunder be playing in this year’s NBA Finals, but so will a team holding a considerable stake of the Miami Heat’s draft future.

In this case, it’s one and the same.

When the 2025 NBA Finals open Thursday at Paycom Center, the team in the home colors will be the team in ...Read more

INDIANAPOLIS — It happened again. Another slow start to the second half. Another hole the New York Knicks had to dig themselves out of, this time with the game, the series, a chance at the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance since 1999 on the line.

The Knicks, as they often do, played an imperfect first half to their win-or-go-home Game...Read more

The Knicks kept it close for as long as they could.

Even as the Indiana Pacers controlled the tempo, put on a shooting clinic and forced turnover after turnover, the Knicks never trailed by more than six points in the first half of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals.

They survived slow starts by Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns.

They...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The contract status of three of the Timberwolves’ “starting eight” requires immediate attention as the offseason commences. Coach Chris Finch sounds like he’s already made up his mind about the status of some other players.

“I think we definitely need to lengthen the rotation,” he acknowledged moments after the ...Read more