6:09 PM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Like a parent being asked to rank their favorite children, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James wanted no part in assigning special value to a 2020 NBA championship, should he win it against his former team, the Miami Heat. “It’s no extra meaning to winning a championship,
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3:52 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Miami Heat were not expected to be in the NBA Finals. They are not favored to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. But good luck getting Heat star Jimmy Butler to agree with either of those facts. And, ahead of Game
11:38 AM ET Ramona Shelburne Close ESPN Senior Writer Senior writer for ESPN.com Spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News Ohm Youngmisuk Close ESPN Staff Writer Ohm Youngmisuk has covered the Giants, Jets and the NFL since 2006. Prior to that, he covered the Nets, Knicks and the NBA for nearly a decade.
7:00 AM ET The 2020 NBA Finals feature one of the league’s most iconic players matching up against the franchise that helped carve his amazing legacy. But these Finals aren’t just about LeBron James versus Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra. They’re about two red-hot basketball teams facing off for a historic championship in an unprecedented
6:45 AM ET An hour before the 2019 NBA Finals tipped off in Toronto — the first time the league’s showcase event had been played outside the United States — commissioner Adam Silver reminded those watching that basketball’s founder, James Naismith, was a Christian missionary who brought the game to China and Europe in the
7:50 PM ET The risk profile on next season, already trending toward the red, just got hotter for the LA Clippers. After a devastating postseason collapse along with the crashing realization that both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can become free agents next summer, parting with Doc Rivers Monday has only increased the stakes. This
10:41 PM ET Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban picked up Delonte West at a Dallas gas station on Monday and is attempting to help the homeless former NBA player get his life back on track, Cuban confirmed to ESPN. Sources close to West told TMZ that his family and friends have been trying to get
10:01 PM ET Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday approved legislation prompted by the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight other people that makes it a crime for first responders to take unauthorized photos of deceased people at the scene of an accident or crime. Reports surfaced after the
5:18 PM ET Doc Rivers is out as head coach of the LA Clippers, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, following a season that fell well short of championship expectations after the team landed All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George last summer. Against the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers squandered a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference
2:22 PM ET Sportsbooks have installed the Los Angeles Lakers as considerable favorites to beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. The early betting action, though, has been on the underdogs, and the odds are on the move. The Lakers are -400 favorites at William Hill U.S. sportsbooks, with the Heat listed as +320