2:20 AM ET ATLANTA — The Los Angeles Lakers limped into the All-Star break on Tuesday, falling below .500 for the first time since Nov. 7 after a 117-113 loss to Atlanta Hawks. At 28-29, the Lakers are 2.5 games back of the Sacramento Kings for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. For
NBA
1:04 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN PHILADELPHIA — After spending a few tortured minutes at the podium inside the Wells Fargo Center interview room being asked questions about yet another loss to the Boston Celtics, as 76ers center Joel Embiid was finally granted a reprieve from talking about his team’s 112-109 defeat, he decided he had
12:27 AM ET Associated Press NEW ORLEANS — Anthony Davis doesn’t want to play for New Orleans anymore. In a blowout loss Tuesday night, he noticed his teammates might have felt the same way. “We sucked,” Davis said. “Nobody was interested in playing, is what it looked like.” If the Lakers want to stay in
8:00 AM ET Robert Sanchez HE’S A HERO back home. Regardless of how the basketball world might view him these days — as a man disbelieving of his own basketball mortality, as the undersized malcontent who fractured the locker room in Cleveland, as a backup with a questionable future — Isaiah Thomas is adored in
11:07 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN After the Boston Celtics suffered a disappointing home loss to the LA Clippers on Saturday night — a second straight game that saw Boston surrender a double-digit lead before going on to lose outright — forward Marcus Morris decided he had some things to say. “For me it’s not really
9:48 PM ET Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s vice president of referee development and training, disagreed with the National Basketball Referees Association’s defense of a no-call of a seemingly obvious travel violation by the Washington Wizards‘ Bradley Beal on Monday. McCutchen, who has held the position since 2017 after an on-court career as a ref for
6:35 PM ET Adrian WojnarowskiESPN Nearly a year after a hip procedure, Denver Nuggets guard Isaiah Thomas could make his return to the lineup on Wednesday night, league sources told ESPN. Thomas, who was upgraded to questionable for the Nuggets game against Sacramento in Denver, will make a determination about playing earlier in the day
6:07 PM ET OAKLAND, Calif. — Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry is looking forward to serving as an ambassador for his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, this weekend during All-Star festivities. Curry, who spent most of his childhood in Charlotte while his father, Dell, starred for the Hornets, and went to school at Davidson
2:43 PM ET The NBA found that there was no tampering violation by the Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson in relation to potential contact with Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons. “We have concluded that Magic Johnson’s statements regarding Ben Simmons do not constitute a tampering violation,” the NBA said in
1:00 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Michael Jordan says James Harden‘s streak of 30 straight 30-point games and Russell Westbrook‘s 10 straight triple-doubles are both impressive and tough to accomplish. But the Charlotte Hornets‘ owner said Tuesday — flashing a big grin — that there is one accomplishment tougher than both of those