11:00 AM ET Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle will miss multiple games after returning a positive PCR test for COVID-19, sources told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. Due to the positive test, Carlisle will miss his first matchup against the Dallas Mavericks — the team he coached for 13 seasons before resigning this past offseason — on
NBA
12:40 PM ET Center/power forward Christian Wood calls the Houston Rockets‘ historically unprecedented seven-game winning streak “a little surprising,” but he’s adamant that the recent success is representative of the team’s potential. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Rockets are the only team in NBA history to have a losing streak of at least
9:30 AM ET Marc J. Spears The Basketball Africa League’s second season will begin March 5, 2022, in Dakar, Senegal, the BAL have confirmed after sources told ESPN’s The Undefeated. The 2022 season will include 12 club teams from 12 African countries that will also play games in Cairo and Kigali, Rwanda. The BAL season
8:00 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN More than five years after winning his second Most Valuable Player award, Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry could be on his way to claiming a third. Curry, who is second in the NBA in scoring and first in both 3-pointers made and attempted, got 94 of the 100 first-place
1:07 AM ET MEMPHIS — After the Los Angeles Lakers squandered an early lead against an undermanned Grizzlies team in Thursday’s 108-95 loss, Anthony Davis said L.A.’s identity is far from the championship contender it’s supposed to be. “These guys already feel like they’re the underdogs when they’re coming in, especially when they’re without their
7:37 PM ET Toronto Raptors vice-chairman and president Masai Ujiri has tested positive for COVID-19, he said in a statement released by the team Thursday. Ujiri said he is fully vaccinated and has received a booster shot. He was present at a Giants of Africa event Sunday and later learned of “positive COVID-19 tests among
11:58 AM ET Evidence exists that this works: For a span of 1 minute, 39 seconds, LeBron James and Russell Westbrook flashed that they can be the two-headed, turbocharging, floor-commanding, do-everything duo that motivated the Los Angeles Lakers to overhaul their roster in the offseason. Trailing the Cleveland Cavaliers late in the second quarter on
2:41 PM ET Jamal Collier Chicago Bulls forward Derrick Jones Jr. entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols on Thursday, making him the fifth Bulls player sidelined during what has become a teamwide COVID-19 outbreak. Jones joins DeMar DeRozan, Matt Thomas, Coby White and Javonte Green all entering the league’s protocols in a nine-day span.
10:40 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN The Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors separately announced Thursday morning that they had canceled practice out of “an abundance of caution” because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols. Both teams played home games Wednesday night, with the Pacers defeating the New York Knicks and the Raptors losing to the
2:23 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Pelicans guard Kira Lewis has torn the ACL and suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his right knee and will miss the remainder of the season, the team announced Thursday. The injury occurred in the Pelicans’ 120-114 overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets on