10:31 PM ET OKLAHOMA CITY — Thunder guard Russell Westbrook left the floor late in the third quarter Monday against the New Orleans Pelicans with what the team called a left ankle sprain. Westbrook was leaping for a rebound and came down awkwardly, rolling over in pain before slapping the floor. He got up and
NBA
6:13 PM ET Adrian WojnarowskiESPN Cleveland Cavaliers interim coach Larry Drew has agreed to a contract to remain interim head coach for the rest of this season — and receive a partially guaranteed deal for the 2019-20 season, league sources told ESPN. Drew and the Cavaliers have been negotiating a solution to the issues that
3:39 PM ET Andre SnellingsESPN Read below for rest-of-season points-league ranks. We’re three weeks into the season, and the rankings are pretty stable at the top with positions 1-4 staying the same. As you move through the rest of the rankings, some of the changes are due to feedback from the past week — injuries,
12:51 PM ET Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside, the NBA’s second-leading rebounder, will not play in Monday’s game against Andre Drummond and the Detroit Pistons because of a knee injury. The Heat, who conclude a three-game road trip with Monday’s contest in Detroit, announced that Whiteside will be re-evaluated when the team returns to Miami.
3:18 PM ET The Houston Rockets, publicly and privately, have been adamant that defensive guru Jeff Bzdelik’s retirement was not related to his history with Carmelo Anthony. We now have proof that Bzdelik is willing to work with Anthony again, almost a decade and a half after he was fired as the Denver Nuggets‘ head
4:22 PM ET Former associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik is returning to the Houston Rockets and will rejoin the team full time after Thanksgiving, a league source told ESPN. Jeff Bzdelik is coming out of retirement to help repair a group that looks nothing like last season’s top-10 defense. Rockets associate head coach Jeff Bzdelik,
8:57 AM ET The Miami Heat will build off the best-selling third jersey in NBA history by making this year’s City Edition uniform another version of Miami Vice. The Heat unveiled their uniform Monday morning. It’s a black version of the white and pink jersey that broke sales records last year. “Miami Vice” was a
2:01 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LOS ANGELES — When Toronto Raptors forward Serge Ibaka found out Kawhi Leonard would be sitting out Sunday night’s game at Staples Center against the Los Angeles Lakers, he was determined to make up for Leonard’s absence. “I was just focused,” he said afterward. “I just wanted to go out
12:37 AM ET LOS ANGELES — Magic Johnson said Luke Walton will remain the Los Angeles Lakers‘ coach barring something drastic happening this season. “Yeah, we’re not going to fire him,” Johnson told ESPN after the Lakers fell behind by 41-10 in the first quarter before losing to Toronto 121-107 at home. “[The meeting last
1:52 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN LOS ANGELES — When Kawhi Leonard was a kid growing up in Southern California, he was surrounded by Los Angeles Lakers fans. His adolescence matched the heyday of Kobe Bryant’s tenure with the franchise, and his family — like so many others in Riverside and other parts of the Inland