Halfway through what was ambitiously billed as a wide-open season featuring more potential champions than usual in the N.B.A., three teams have separated themselves. The Milwaukee Bucks and the co-tenants of the Staples Center in Los Angeles — LeBron James’s Lakers and Kawhi Leonard’s Clippers — are in a tier of their own at the […] More
LOS ANGELES — The Orlando Magic were less than 24 hours removed from the elation of a stunning victory this week when Coach Steve Clifford found himself admonishing his players after one of their most lethargic losses of the season. “If you want to be really good, you have to find your intensity every night,” […] More
A new year, at the start of a new decade, makes this a natural time for N.B.A. teams to search for innovative ways to combat the offensive flourish of the previous decade. Yet as disconsonant as it sounds, especially for a league reputed to be as progressive as the N.B.A., its coaches are increasingly dipping […] More
LOS ANGELES — Kevin Love was still relatively new to the Cleveland Cavaliers in February 2015, and still struggling to find his niche within the team’s offense, when LeBron James, his most high-profile teammate, logged on to Twitter to deliver a message. “Stop trying to find a way to FIT-OUT,” James wrote, “and just FIT-IN.” […] More
The Zion Williamson era is finally set to begin in New Orleans. Williamson, the most anticipated N.B.A. prospect since LeBron James, is expected to make his rookie debut at home for the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 22, David Griffin, the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations, said on Wednesday. The Pelicans will face […] More
Want more basketball in your inbox? Sign up for Marc Stein’s weekly N.B.A. newsletter here. Alex Caruso of the Los Angeles Lakers certainly isn’t gloating about, at last count, accruing more All-Star votes in the Western Conference than Utah’s Donovan Mitchell and Phoenix’s Devin Booker — as well as a pretty popular veteran in Portland […] More
The W.N.B.A. and its players’ union have signaled a radical shift in how female athletes are to be compensated with a tentative contract agreement that would sharply increase salaries and provide generous maternal benefits in a move Commissioner Cathy Engelbert called “a big bet on women.” The implications of the agreement stretch far beyond basketball […] More
Do not be alarmed by the gusts of wind you heard on Sunday evening. Sighs of relief from an entire borough of New York City can be jarring. Kyrie Irving made his return to the Nets at home against the Atlanta Hawks, and it was almost as if he had never left. The mixture of […] More
