NBA

3:04 PM ET ESPN News Services Ben Simmons, who has cleared health and safety protocols and is eligible to rejoin the Philadelphia 76ers, will not play in Friday night’s preseason finale, the team announced. Simmons’ absence is listed by the team as “reconditioning” and he did not travel with the team to Detroit for the

5:15 PM ET ESPN News Services The Sacramento Kings are exercising the third-year option on guard Tyrese Haliburton, a source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday. Haliburton averaged 13.0 points, 5.3 assists and 1.5 steals in 58 games last season and was named to the NBA All-Rookie first team. He suffered a season-ending knee injury

10:58 AM ET After architecting the franchise’s first NBA championship in 50 years, Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst has agreed to a long-term contract extension, he told ESPN on Friday. Horst had one year left on his contract, and his new deal — finalized Friday morning with his agent, Brian Elfus, and team officials

11:48 PM ET Kevin Durant said he wishes “none of this stuff would happen” but he isn’t upset that Kyrie Irving is not with the Brooklyn Nets. Durant said he has not spoken to Irving since the Nets decided on Tuesday that their starting point guard will not practice or play with the team until

4:27 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson will miss the start of the regular season because of a right foot injury that required offseason surgery, Pelicans vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said on Thursday. Williamson received scans on Wednesday, and after reviewing the scans with Dr.

2:33 PM ET The Boston Celtics have suspended Marcus Smart for Friday’s final preseason game against the Miami Heat, with a source telling ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that the guard was punished for missing the team flight. Smart, who has since joined the team on the trip, declined to address his suspension with reporters Thursday, saying

6:18 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Charlotte Hornets signed guard LiAngelo Ball to a non-guaranteed contract Thursday, paving the way for him to eventually sign with their G League team, a source confirmed to ESPN. Ball, who averaged 9.6 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 17.4 minutes across five games for the Hornets’ entry

10:02 AM ET Given the league’s high vaccination rate, the NBA’s primary form of COVID-19 detection this season will center on designated team officials — largely members of the medical staff — using small, at-home testing devices that can return results in 20 minutes. The NBA will still rely on lab-based testing in many instances,

12:44 PM ET The Houston Rockets signed guard Armoni Brooks to a multi-year contract Thursday. Terms were not announced, but sources told ESPN’s Wojnarowski that Brooks signed a four-year deal that includes a guaranteed first year, plus trigger dates on guarantees for successive years. Brooks, 23, has been one of Houston’s top perimeter shooters this

12:50 PM ET Associated Press MIAMI — At Miami’s first NBA preseason game of the year, something caught Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s attention as he stood in his customary spot between his team’s bench and the scorer’s table. Fans, he noticed, were just a couple of feet away again. “Front-row seats that were filled,” Spoelstra