6:26 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN New Orleans Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball watched, as seemingly everyone else did, as a clip of his father, LaVar, calling him “damaged goods” made the rounds last week. The clip, from the “Ball in the Family” show on Facebook, was fodder for social media mavens and talk show hosts
NBA
8:15 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma is out indefinitely with a stress reaction in his foot, an injury he suffered while he was working with Team USA this summer, the Lakers announced. Kuzma has not been cleared for full practice or game participation and will miss at least the first three weeks
7:58 PM ET The NBA 2K League said on Thursday it will have a Shanghai team that will begin play in the 2020 season, making it the first squad from outside of North America to join the National Basketball Association’s esports arm. The team, to be launched by esports organization Gen.G, will be the NBA
6:24 PM ET Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Grizzlies forward De’Anthony Melton will miss one to two months with what the team has described as a stress reaction in his back. The Grizzlies announced Melton’s injury Thursday in a team release. Grizzlies officials said Melton should return to basketball activities in four to eight
4:00 PM ET For the ninth season in a row, ESPN.com is predicting the top players in basketball with NBArank. Who will be the best player this season? To get the final prediction, we asked our expert panel to vote on pairs of players. LeBron James vs. Kawhi Leonard. Zion Williamson vs. Luka Doncic. Devin
4:56 PM ET Associated Press WASHINGTON — For years, the Wizards would head into a season with proclamations from players, management or ownership — if not all three — about how many wins they were hoping for or how deep a playoff run they thought possible. New general manager Tommy Sheppard outlined a different definition
3:59 PM ET OKLAHOMA CITY — Responding to recent critical comments made by Kevin Durant about the Oklahoma City Thunder organization, general manager Sam Presti pushed back against the idea there’s lingering animosity between the sides. “If there is anything that Kevin Durant ever, ever needed from me or from anyone here, it would be
2:59 PM ET The New Orleans Pelicans have hired Teresa Weatherspoon and AJ Diggs as two-way player development coaches, the team announced Thursday. Weatherspoon and Diggs will work with the Pelicans’ two-way players, currently guard Josh Gray and forward Zylan Cheatham, and accompany their transfers to and from the G League. Weatherspoon, 53, who recently
2:29 PM ET The NBA G League is experimenting this season with a new rule under which all trips to the free throw line will include only a single foul shot that will be worth one, two or three points depending on the nature of the foul leading to the attempt, officials told ESPN. It
8:44 AM ET LeBron James has been the No. 1 player in ESPN’s NBArank since the beginning. He had just disappointed and somewhat disappeared in the 2011 NBA Finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks, yet he was still recognized as the game’s greatest all-around performer later that year. For eight seasons we asked ESPN’s basketball