10:31 PM ET NEW YORK — An MRI confirmed that Knicks rookie Obi Toppin has a right calf strain, the team announced on Saturday. Toppin will be reevaluated in seven to 10 days. The Knicks are scheduled to play four games in the next week. Toppin was injured in the Knicks’ season opener against the
NBA
12:28 PM ET Associated Press LeBron James told the world in 2020 that Black Lives Matter. He helped convince many who had never voted to finally head to the polls. He found more ways to continue elevating the lives of people in his hometown. If that weren’t enough, he won another NBA championship. James’ on-court
12:37 PM ET Associated Press DETROIT — Kevin Love will be back in the starting lineup for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night against the Pistons after the star forward missed the season opener with a calf injury. Love had been sidelined since the team’s first exhibition game against Indiana on Dec. 12, when he
11:33 AM ET Four Houston Rockets players — center DeMarcus Cousins, point guard John Wall, shooting guard Eric Gordon and two-way guard Mason Jones — who were considered close contacts under the NBA’s COVID-19 protocols will be forced to quarantine until Wednesday, a league source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The players had already been ruled
1:15 AM ET A bloodied Kawhi Leonard was forced to leave the LA Clippers‘ 121-108 win at the Denver Nuggets in the fourth quarter after taking an inadvertent elbow to the face from teammate Serge Ibaka. Ibaka was going up for a rebound when his elbow collided with Leonard’s face. Leonard immediately collapsed to the
8:55 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN BOSTON — Kyrie Irving found himself back on the Boston Celtics‘ famed parquet floor on Christmas Day, wearing his customary No. 11 jersey — the same number he said he hoped would one day hang from the rafters here inside TD Garden. Only this time, Irving wasn’t playing for the
2:44 PM ET K.C. Jones, who personified winning as a hard-nosed point guard and then coach of the Boston Celtics during a Hall of Fame career has died, the Celtics confirmed Friday. He was 88. K.C. was Jones’ given name, although some joked the “C” stood for championships. It was easy to see why. He
6:03 PM ET The Houston Rockets are traveling to Portland with nine players — one more than the minimum required to play an NBA game — for Saturday’s road game against the Trail Blazers. The Rockets, whose season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder was postponed due to a lack of available players, have six
7:27 PM ET The Los Angeles Lakers have begun engaging with starting point guard Dennis Schroder in contract extension talks, and those discussions are expected to pick up again as soon as mid-February, sources told ESPN. Before the start of the season, Schroder turned down an initial Lakers offer to extend his contract for an
7:23 PM ET Eric WoodyardESPN Inside a fan-less Fiserv Forum on Friday, the Milwaukee Bucks beat Golden State Warriors 138-99 in their home opener — the second-largest margin of victory ever on Christmas Day. And although superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo struggled offensively, finishing 4-for-14 with 15 points, he has already noticed a big change in the