NBA

11:31 PM ET Disgruntled superstar James Harden said the Houston Rockets are “just not good enough” after the team’s second consecutive blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, adding that he doesn’t believe the team can improve enough to be a contender. “I love this city. I literally have done everything that

3:40 PM ET As the NBA tightened coronavirus protocols to try and preserve a season teetering amid positive tests, thinning rosters and game postponements, the league made a dramatic change that most franchises had wanted all along: The closing off of rooms to non-team guests in road hotels. The NBA and National Basketball Players Association

5:02 PM ET The NBA continues to grapple with COVID-19-related and contact-tracing issues. The league’s health and safety protocols have sidelined players; games have been postponed; and teams have been forced to take the court with the minimum eight active players. Amid thinning rosters and growing concern across the league, the NBA has no plans

1:15 PM ET Washington Wizards point guard Russell Westbrook is expected to miss at least the next week with a left quadriceps injury, the team announced Monday. Westbrook will be reevaluated at the end of the week. It is the latest blow in an already disappointing 2-8 start for the Wizards, who entered the season

12:55 PM ET ESPN News Services The NBA called off two more games because of COVID-19-related and contact tracing issues, postponing Monday’s game in Dallas between the Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans as well as Tuesday’s matchup in Chicago between the Bulls and the Boston Celtics. Those moves come one day after Miami‘s game

5:25 PM ET The Miami Heat have added stars Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic to the team’s out/health and safety protocol list after the completion of contact tracing. Joining them on the Heat’s list are Kendrick Nunn, Maurice Harkless, Udonis Haslem and KZ Okpala. Guard Avery Bradley was placed into the health and

7:04 AM ET The Golden State Warriors have won four of their past five games, including a 21-point comeback against the LA Clippers on Friday night. Stephen Curry — his 2-of-16 showing Sunday night against the Toronto Raptors notwithstanding — has found his scoring groove. Although they aren’t the same title contenders of seasons past,

7:11 PM ET As coronavirus-infected players, contact tracing quarantines and ancillary injuries thin rosters of available players, the NBA has no plans to pause the season, a league spokesman told ESPN. “We anticipated that there would be game postponements this season and planned the schedule accordingly,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN in a statement.

4:46 PM ET Sunday night’s game between the Celtics and Heat in Boston has been postponed, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Celtics were set to play with the minimum eight players after nine players were ruled out, including seven because of the NBA’s health and safety protocols. While Kemba Walker (knee) and Romeo Langford

10:05 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN Before the NBA season started last month, commissioner Adam Silver was asked on a conference call with reporters what it would take for the league to shut itself down again, like it did in March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “I think we are prepared for isolated cases,” Silver

10:06 PM ET ESPN News Services CHARLOTTE, N.C. — LaMelo Ball became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists and the Charlotte Hornets beat the Atlanta Hawks 113-105 on Saturday night for their third straight win. Ball, 19, replaced Markelle Fultz as the youngest

12:12 PM ET The Philadelphia 76ers‘ game against the Denver Nuggets will be played Saturday as scheduled, sources tell ESPN, after several Sixers players were part of contact tracing. The 76ers are expected to have nine eligible players for Saturday’s game, including three cleared from protocol: Joel Embiid, Danny Green and Paul Reed, sources tell

3:15 AM ET Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry scored 38 points in a 115-105 win over the LA Clippers on Friday night, bringing his team all the way back from a 22-point second half deficit while reminding the rest of the basketball world just how much more fun the game can be when

10:13 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN NEW ORLEANS — It was little brother’s night Friday inside the Smoothie King Center — and almost a historic one, as well. Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball nearly became the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double as he posted 12 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in

3:33 PM ET The Philadelphia 76ers are expected to have multiple players miss time due to contact tracing and are still awaiting results of Friday’s coronavirus testing, sources tell ESPN. Those players were in close contact with Seth Curry, who sources say returned a positive test on Thursday. The team learned of Curry’s positive test

3:08 AM ET LOS ANGELES — A day after a mob of pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Los Angeles Lakers captain LeBron James wondered what would have happened if the group of insurgents was mostly Black people, and blamed the mayhem on President Donald Trump. “We live in two Americas,” James said Thursday following

6:29 PM ET Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving did not play against the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night due to personal reasons. Speaking to reporters an hour and 45 minutes before tipoff, coach Steve Nash said he “just found out” that Irving would not be playing. “I sent him a message in the last

3:48 PM ET Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. has been ruled out of Thursday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks. The Nuggets listed Porter as not with the team because of health and safety protocols. Porter had been expected to have his seven-day protocol quarantine, which started last Thursday as a result of contact