NBA

4:52 PM ET Marc J. Spears Former President Barack Obama has joined NBA Africa as a strategic partner and minority owner, sources have told ESPN’s The Undefeated on Tuesday. NBA Africa conducts the league’s business on that continent, including most notably the new Basketball Africa League (BAL). Obama plans to help the league’s social-responsibility efforts,

3:08 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN METAIRIE, La. — When the New Orleans Pelicans were searching for a new head coach, they found the answer in Phoenix Suns assistant Willie Green. Green, the lead assistant during the Suns’ improbable run to the NBA Finals, now shifts his attention to trying to find success in New Orleans

10:05 AM ET Nick DePaulaESPN Ahead of the 2021 NBA draft, projected top overall pick Cade Cunningham has signed a multiyear footwear and apparel endorsement deal with Nike. After a COVID-19-impacted market found a majority of last season’s rookies playing out the 2020-21 season without a sneaker deal, brands are now returning to aggressively sign

4:47 PM ET The New Orleans Pelicans are finalizing a trade to send Steven Adams, Eric Bledsoe and two future first-round picks – including the 10th overall pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft – to Memphis for center Jonas Valanciunas and the 17th overall pick, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Determined to create significant financial flexibility

4:43 AM ET Associated Press SAITAMA, Japan — Luka Doncic is only a 22-year-old Olympic rookie, a player who might still be a few years away from his best basketball. Sergio Hernandez doesn’t need to wait. “For me, I said this two years ago: He is the best player in the world, including the NBA,”

10:08 AM ET The Unites States faltered down the stretch Sunday in a 83-76 loss to France at the Olympics. The U.S. led 74-67 with 3:41 remaining, before Evan Fournier ignited a 14-0 run that helped France secure the victory. Fournier finished with 28 points for France. It is the United States’ first Olympic basketball

9:06 AM ET TOKYO — Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday arrived in Japan on a private jet just before 11 p.m. Saturday, less than 24 hours before Team USA opens Olympic play against France in a vital game out of the gate. It was a brutal travel day after an exhausting playoff stretch,

7:10 PM ET The Los Angeles Lakers made their first move in what promises to be a busy offseason by extending a qualifying offer to second-year guard Talen Horton-Tucker, the team announced Thursday. The qualifying offer for Horton-Tucker is $1.9 million, according to ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks, and will make the 20 year

7:51 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers extended a qualifying offer Friday to center Jarrett Allen, making him a restricted free agent. The team had until Aug. 1 to make the offer to Allen, a 23-year-old acquired last season in a trade from Brooklyn and viewed as one of Cleveland’s core pieces. The

12:53 AM ET TOKYO — The trio of players making the unprecedented jump from the NBA Finals to the Olympics are all scheduled to be in Japan by Saturday. The hope is for Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday to be available when Team USA opens play Sunday against France, according to coach Gregg

3:29 PM ET Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Thousands of fans lined downtown Milwaukee streets on Thursday to catch a glimpse of their beloved Bucks in a parade to celebrate the city’s first NBA championship in half a century. Six police officers on horseback clopped past cheering fans at the head of a procession that included

3:55 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN The New Orleans Pelicans officially named Willie Green as their next head coach Thursday. Green is coming off a stint as an assistant with the Phoenix Suns, who just made a run to the NBA Finals, which delayed the timing of the Pelicans’ announcement. “After an extensive and collaborative search,

8:18 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Television ratings for the NBA Finals and playoffs posted sizable increases over last year. But that was the only good news for the NBA as far as viewer numbers. According to Nielsen, the NBA and ABC on Wednesday, the six-game series between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix

11:58 PM ET Atlanta Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu — the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft — underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder on Wednesday and will miss approximately six months, sources told ESPN. Okongwu’s role grew as the season wore on for the Hawks, but a lingering

12:17 AM ET The Milwaukee Bucks are the 2021 NBA champions after rallying from a 2-0 series deficit against the Phoenix Suns. Now what? We’re not wasting any time spinning forward to next season, where a host of current contenders and potential superteams will aim to unseat Giannis Antetokounmpo & Co. in 2022. What will

7:35 AM ET Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Two shootings in downtown Milwaukee early Wednesday as crowds celebrated the Milwaukee Bucks‘ first NBA championship in 50 years left three people wounded, police said. The shootings both happened at about 12:42 a.m. at two locations near Water Street, police said in a statement. TV station WISN had

11:26 PM ET James Jackson The Milwaukee Bucks are the 2020-21 NBA champions and have snapped a 49-year title drought, the league’s fifth longest entering this season. This ring proved to be hard-fought as Milwaukee is just the third team in Finals history to win four straight after trailing 2-0, joining the 2006 Miami Heat

11:44 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN MILWAUKEE — Eight years ago, a skinny teenager stood between his parents on the court inside Bradley Center here and gazed up at the rafters, where the retired jerseys for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson hung in the rafters. “Maybe in 15 years, 20 years,” the young man said, “maybe