8:00 AM ET For the current generation of college basketball players, Kobe Bryant was an icon. They dreamed of one day playing the game the way he did. He inspired them. They idolized him. He was “The Mamba” and they wanted to emulate his work ethic. In some cases, he was also the motivation behind
NBA
6:30 PM ET The ticketing giant StubHub has begun furloughing employees, making it the first major ticketing company to publicly admit to significant cost-cutting moves in the wake of financial damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Following the postponement or cancellation of hundreds of sporting events — including 448 NBA and NHL games, along with
5:54 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James taped a message of support and gratitude for UCLA health care workers Wednesday, joining a trend of athletes finding ways to support medical staffers on the front lines of the coronavirus. Athletes from around the world, from Pete Alonso to Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Stephen Curry, are
8:53 AM ET Tim Bontemps Tim MacMahon Close ESPN Staff Writer Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009 Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM AS SOON AS the NBA season had been indefinitely suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, Drew Hanlen’s phone lit up with a FaceTime call. It
12:54 PM ET USC freshman Onyeka Okongwu is entering the 2020 NBA draft, he announced Wednesday. “I am declaring for the draft, forgoing my final three years of school [and] planning on signing with an agent in the near future,” Okongwu told ESPN in a text message. Okongwu also posted a message to social media
9:11 AM ET Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he hopes the NBA resumes playing games in May, saying that the league’s restart can help bring people together amid the coronavirus pandemic. In an interview published Tuesday by Dallas television station WFAA, Cuban cited “people I’ve talked to at the CDC and other places” for
8:17 AM ET The Chinese Basketball Association, seen by many sports leagues as a trial balloon for recovery from the coronavirus crisis, has delayed its restart, according to multiple reports and confirmed by ESPN. The league had hoped to begin April 15, following about 11 weeks of being shut down, but now won’t attempt resuming
1:54 AM ET Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns says his mother has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Towns spoke about his mother’s condition in an emotional Instagram video Tuesday night, revealing she is in a coma and connected to a ventilator. He said he was told early last week that his mother was not feeling
11:46 PM ET IMG Academy forward Kenyon Martin Jr. has declared for the 2020 NBA draft, his father, Kenyon Martin Sr., told ESPN. Martin Jr., a 6-foot-7 wing, chose a year of the post-graduate school over a Vanderbilt scholarship to prepare for the draft. In an Instagram post, he wrote that “There was a lot
8:00 AM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Khris Middleton took the pass from Donte DiVincenzo and slammed it home, cutting the Milwaukee Bucks‘ deficit to six points with 44 seconds left. The Phoenix Suns would go on to win, handing the Bucks the second of three consecutive losses. No one knew it at the time, but it