NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has “no doubt" that suspended Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving is not antisemitic, he said at a conference on Thursday, while LeBron James took to Twitter to defend his former teammate whose status with the Nets remains a mystery.
NEW YORK (AP) — Suspended Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving met with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday, a person with knowledge of the meeting said.
The Nets banned Irving for at least five games without pay on Thursday after he refused to say he had no antisemitic beliefs.
Nike has suspended its relationship with Kyrie Irving and canceled its plans to release his next signature shoe, the latest chapter in the ongoing fallout since the Brooklyn Nets guard tweeted a link to a film containing antisemitic material.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Brooklyn Nets suspended Kyrie Irving for at least five games without pay Thursday, dismayed by his repeated failure to “unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs.”
Golden State coach Steve Kerr went into last season uncertain if his club would be good enough to contend for another NBA championship.
He got his answer. He’s getting another ring.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — LeBron James came to Las Vegas for a preseason game. And a pitch.
James, who has spoken in the past about wanting to eventually own an NBA franchise — with Las Vegas on his mind — has sent another crystal-clear message to Commissioner Adam Silver, reminding him of his plans.
Robert Sarver says he has started the process of selling the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, a move that came barely a week after he was suspended by the NBA over workplace misconduct that included racist speech and hostile behavior toward employees.
NEW YORK (AP) — Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver was likely spared even stronger sanctioning by the NBA for his racist, misogynistic and hostile words and actions because of one key conclusion by investigators, Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday.
Unvaccinated NBA players and team personnel must submit to weekly COVID-19 testing this season, the league told its clubs in a memo Tuesday.
There will be certain exceptions to that mandate, the league said, such as when the unvaccinated person is considered to have been “recently recovered” from COVID-19.
Bill Russell's No. 6 jersey is being retired across the NBA, a first for the league.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Thursday that the number worn by the 11-time champion, civil rights activist and person good enough to be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach was being permanently retired by all 30 teams.
Reaction from the basketball world and beyond on the death of NBA great and 11-time champion Bill Russell:
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The NBA has completed the process of changing the transition take foul rule, ending years of discussion about what to do with the long-maligned tactic.
And, also as expected, the play-in tournament is going to be around for the foreseeable future.
The NBA has sent another strong indicator that the penalty for transition take fouls is about to change.
Such fouls will result in a penalty of one free throw, plus retention of the ball, at all three summer leagues this season — first the two smaller ones in San Francisco and Salt Lake City that start this weekend, then the 30-team one in Las Vegas that opens next week.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The secret about how Orlando was going to take Paolo Banchero with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft was incredibly well-kept.
NEW YORK (AP) — The question for weeks leading into the NBA draft was whether the first pick would be Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren or Jabari Smith Jr.
The answer finally came Thursday night — and even Banchero didn't know it until moments before the announcement of the Orlando Magic's selection.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Paolo Banchero never worked out for the Orlando Magic. He didn’t have to, either.
His year at Duke provided all the information they needed.
The latest — and perhaps most important — piece to Orlando’s rebuild is Banchero, the 6-foot-10 forward who went No.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver canceled plans to attend Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics on Monday night because of the league's health and safety protocols.
Adam Silver was on his phone constantly in late December. At that time, the NBA had more than 100 players sidelined by virus-related issues, along with some head coaches, assistant coaches, referees and team staffers.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday that he expects the oft-maligned “transition take foul” to come with stiffer penalties next season.
Silver expects the rules regarding the play — where a defender intentionally commits a foul to halt a transition opportunity for the opposition — are going to change this summer.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Over the last three seasons, six franchises have reached the NBA Finals. The league has seen five Eastern Conference champions in the last five seasons. This will be the fourth consecutive year that the team which hoists the trophy won’t be the same as the one who did the year before.
The State Department said Tuesday that it still pushing to have regular contact with WNBA star Brittney Griner of the Phoenix Mercury, who has been detained in Russia for nearly three months.
A consular official was able to meet with Griner last week, when her pre-trial detention in Russia was extended for one month. Griner has been detained — wrongfully, U.S.
Bob Lanier, the left-handed big man who muscled up beside the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as one of the NBA’s top players of the 1970s, has died. He was 73.
The NBA said Lanier died Tuesday after a short illness.
Devin Booker does not take having another chance at an NBA championship lightly.
Over his first four years in Phoenix, among players who appeared in at least 200 games spanning the 2015-16 through the 2018-19 seasons, nobody in the NBA experienced more losing than Booker did.
TORONTO (AP) — Philadelphia guard Matisse Thybulle was listed as ‘ineligible to play’ on the official NBA injury report for the 76ers' game Thursday night at Toronto.
Thybulle, a defensive specialist, has not said publicly whether he is vaccinated against COVID-19.
NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA plans to keep its next All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, despite its opposition to Utah's ban on transgender youth athletes playing on girls teams.
CLEVELAND (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver didn't like the circumstances that led to the blockbuster Ben Simmons-James Harden trade. He just doesn't see a way to fix them.
Silver noted that players being unhappy with their teams and asking for trades is nothing new.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Brooklyn Nets are hopeful of a change to a local vaccine mandate that would make Kyrie Irving available for home games, one that New York City's mayor is “struggling” with whether to make.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Jarrett Allen went from being snubbed to a sub.
Passed over in fan voting and overlooked by coaches as a reserve, Cleveland's center will replace an injured James Harden at this year's All-Star Game in Cleveland and give the Cavaliers two All-Stars for the first time since 2018.
This should be easy.
The NBA will reveal the All-Star reserves on Thursday night and, if the league’s coaches — they choose the reserves, meaning they’re the only voters who matter now — did their homework, surprises should be few and far between.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday that there are no plans to pause the season, even as numbers of players entering the league's health and safety protocols related to the coronavirus continues to rise.
DENVER (AP) — There's no game in Chicago on Tuesday, no trip for the Bulls to Toronto for another on Thursday.
Just like that, the coronavirus has disrupted the day-to-day operations of the NBA.
If Thomas Bach or Adam Silver need some pointers on standing up for human rights instead of the bottom line, they should give a call to Steve Simon over at the women's tennis tour.
Finally, someone picked right over the almighty yuan.
Adam Silver, the basketball fan, would prefer to see Kyrie Irving on the court again with the Brooklyn Nets as soon as possible.
Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, would prefer to see Irving vaccinated.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers are acquiring All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook from the Washington Wizards for three players and the rights to first-round pick Isaiah Jackson.
According to two people with knowledge of the deal, the Lakers are trading Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell to Washington for Westbrook, who is a Los Angeles native and helped lead UCLA to a pair of Final Four appearances.
NEW YORK (AP) — Terrence Clarke, the former Kentucky guard who died in a car accident while preparing for the NBA draft, was recognized Thursday in a ceremony midway through the first round.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver introduced Clarke’s mother, brother and sister.
The NBA’s play-in tournament is back for at least one more season.
As expected, the league’s board of governors gave approval Tuesday to the plan that would bring back the event in April 2022.
Detroit, you are on the clock.
The NBA offseason — if you can call it that — is here. The Milwaukee Bucks officially flipped the league calendar to summer on Tuesday night, capturing their first title in 50 years and turning out the lights on a season that navigated its way through a pandemic to crown a new champion.
PHOENIX (AP) — Adam Silver said about 6,200 words in his annual state-of-the-league news conference before Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Here’s one that stood out: Parity.
The NBA commissioner was a more-than-keen observer on Tuesday night, watching the Phoenix Suns win their first finals game in 28 years and the Milwaukee Bucks lose their first finals game in 47 years.
PHOENIX (AP) — The NBA may emerge from the pandemic on better financial footing than it first anticipated, though Commissioner Adam Silver warned Tuesday that it’s too early to declare things fully back to normal.
MIAMI (AP) — The NBA told its teams Thursday that it intends to return to a normal schedule next season, with training camps opening in late September and the regular season set to begin on Oct. 19.
NEW YORK (AP) — From Michael Jordan soaring through the air to Willis Reed simply walking onto the court, Marv Albert supplied the sound that went with the sights.
Albert has called numerous sports during a Hall of Fame career that spans nearly 60 years, though he is mostly linked to basketball.