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    Rockets’ Russell Westbrook Traded to Wizards for John Wall

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyRockets’ Russell Westbrook Traded to Wizards for John WallWestbrook and Wall were both unhappy on their teams. Houston is also giving up a future first-round pick in the trade, which will reunite Wall with his college teammate DeMarcus Cousins.Russell Westbrook spent just one season with the Houston Rockets.Credit…Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressBy More

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    Diego Maradona Loved Basketball. Its Stars Loved Him, Too.

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storymarc stein on basketballDiego Maradona Loved Basketball. Its Stars Loved Him, Too.Maradona, the Argentine soccer legend, was a big fan of his country’s biggest N.B.A. star, Manu Ginobili. But his fandom extended to Michael Jordan and, recently, Stephen Curry.Diego Maradona was a big fan of the N.B.A., from Michael Jordan to Manu Ginobili to Stephen Curry.Credit…Massimo Sambucetti/Associated PressBy More

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    Kevin Durant Says He’s Ready to Return. ‘It’ll Come Naturally.’

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesWho Gets the Vaccine First?Vaccine TrackerFAQAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyKevin Durant Says He’s Ready to Return. ‘It’ll Come Naturally.’Durant, the Nets star, said he felt “solid” after missing all of last season with an Achilles’ tendon injury. It has been almost 18 months since his last N.B.A. game.Kevin Durant said he had been training “as hard as I could” to prepare for this season, when he and Kyrie Irving are expected to play together for the first time.Credit…Kathy Willens/Associated PressBy More

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    The N.B.A. Slam Dunk Champion Cashes In

    Derrick Jones Jr. of the Miami Heat poses for a portrait during the 2020 NBA All-Star weekend in Chicago.Credit…Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE, via Getty ImagesSkip to contentSkip to site indexThe N.B.A. Slam Dunk Champion Cashes InDerrick Jones Jr. took The New York Times behind the scenes of his free agency to reveal all of the nerves, contemplation and, ultimately, joy.Derrick Jones Jr. of the Miami Heat poses for a portrait during the 2020 NBA All-Star weekend in Chicago.Credit…Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE, via Getty ImagesSupported byContinue reading the main storyBy More

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    N.B.A. Free Agency Frenzy: 5 Takeaways

    AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storymarc stein on basketballN.B.A. Free Agency Frenzy: 5 TakeawaysA player was traded three times, and the Lakers and Clippers jockeyed for each other’s stars. But Milwaukee is still waiting for a big decision from its biggest star: Giannis Antetokounmpo.Many of the N.B.A.’s off-season questions have been answered, but not the ones being asked about Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee.Credit…Harry How/Getty ImagesBy More

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    Toronto Raptors Will Play Home Games in Florida Because of Pandemic

    The Toronto Raptors are heading south for the winter — at least for the start of it.The Raptors announced Friday that they would begin the 2020-21 season based in Tampa, Fla., amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic’s impact in Canada. In a statement, Masai Ujiri, the Raptors’ president of basketball operations, left open the possibility that the team could return to Toronto at some point this season. The Raptors are the only N.B.A. team based outside of the United States, and Canada has imposed strict measures about travel between the two countries. Cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. continue to skyrocket.“So we’ll be away from our home and our fans for now,” Ujiri said in the statement. “They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. I’m not sure that’s possible for us — we love Toronto and Canada, and we know we have the best fans in the N.B.A. For now, I’ll ask you to cheer for us from afar, and we’ll look forward to the day we are all together again.”The team had been trying to work out a deal with the Canadian government so that it could play its home games in Toronto. But a spokesman for Patty Hajdu, Canada’s health minister, said “a decision was made to not allow the Raptors to play in Toronto at this time” based on advice from the federal public health agency.“We are going to continue our dialogue with the Raptors and look forward to the safe return of N.B.A. basketball in the future,” Cole Davidson, the spokesman, said in an email.The Toronto Blue Jays faced a similar predicament this summer ahead of the start of the Major League Baseball season, ultimately opting to play the majority of their home games in Buffalo, N.Y.The N.B.A. season begins Dec. 22, with players arriving for training camps on Dec. 1.The Raptors had been working with government officials for weeks to try to find a way to play games in Toronto this season. Ujiri even wrote an op-ed for the Toronto Star last week to make a public plea for his case. He referred to the lessons the team — and the rest of the league — had learned from playing out the remainder of last season in a bubble at Walt Disney World outside of Orlando, Fla.“We’ve provided detailed proposals to governments about how we, and the teams that visit us, could play safely in Toronto,” he wrote.For now, though, the Raptors will be based in the U.S. More