8:00 AM ET The NBA playoffs are less than a month away and both conferences feature seeding races that are sure to come down to the wire. Several top teams are missing key players who could return in time for the playoffs and help their teams’ postseason hopes. The No. 5 Chicago Bulls and No.
NBA
12:40 AM ET ESPN News Services MIAMI — Jimmy Butler and Udonis Haslem were shouting at each other, fingers were pointed in various directions, some Miami players were trying to play peacemaker and Heat coach Erik Spoelstra slammed a clipboard to the floor in frustration. And that wasn’t the evening’s low point for the Heat.
3:04 AM ET LOS ANGELES — As competitive as the LeBron James-less Lakers looked in Wednesday’s 126-121 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, the defeat only raised the stakes for their next game on the schedule, on the road Sunday against the New Orleans Pelicans. L.A. is currently No. 9 in the Western Conference standings with
1:55 PM ET Rutgers senior Ron Harper Jr. will declare for the 2022 NBA draft, he told ESPN on Wednesday. “I’m ready to put myself out there to get myself in the best position possible to be drafted,” Harper said. “I’m going all-in.” Harper, a projected second-round pick, was named an Associated Press All-American honorable
3:48 PM ET LOS ANGELES — LeBron James has been ruled out of Wednesday night’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers because of soreness in his left knee, the Los Angeles Lakers announced. The Lakers’ next game isn’t until Sunday at New Orleans, giving James a six-day stretch to rest his ailing knee. It will be
2:50 PM ET Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with the team, it was announced Wednesday. Terms were not released. Malone, who had the 2022-2023 season remaining on his deal, will now be tied to the franchise through what it hopes will be a window of championship contention over
3:22 PM ET Kendra AndrewsESPN MIAMI — The Golden State Warriors are resting Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Otto Porter Jr. on Wednesday against the Miami Heat, the second night of a back-to-back. The move isn’t necessarily out of character for the Warriors — they’ve been resting Thompson and Porter on one end of back-to-back
6:05 PM ET Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 Jeff Passan Close ESPN ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” The progress toward further changes to New York City’s private-sector vaccine mandate has inspired confidence that
8:00 AM ET 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 Kevin Pelton Close ESPN Senior Writer Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus series Formerly a consultant with the Indiana Pacers Developed WARP rating and SCHOENE system For a guy
8:00 AM ET Andrew LopezESPN WHEN HE WAKES up in the morning, Josh Hart is greeted by a smiling family. Every morning he opens his eyes and looks at the wall in his bedroom, where he sees a wedding photo and a picture of a newborn baby. Except it isn’t from his wedding. And it