DALLAS — Steve Ballmer leaned over from his baseline seat and shook hands with a reporter walking by, the Clippers owner appearing somber after watching his team get eliminated from the playoffs with a 114-101 loss in Game 6 against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Arena.

A few minutes later, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said Ballmer ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Once the 76ers’ season had ended and their locker room at the Wells Fargo Center was open to the media early Friday morning, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey spent several minutes together seated in a corner, the foundations of the franchise conversing about fouls uncalled and opportunities missed.

Those were six thrilling games ...Read more

Jevon Porter, 20, has three older brothers, three potential role models. Like him, all three are basketball players.

Michael Porter Jr., 25, is locked in, pursuing a second consecutive NBA championship with the Denver Nuggets. He’s in the second year of a five-year, $179.3 million contract, a key cog on arguably the best team in the NBA.

...Read more

STORRS, Conn. — Two years ago, the UConn men were coming off a stinging first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament and the roster was in upheaval; players impatient about development were moving on. A conversation with Dan Hurley evolved into a long lament about the new ways of college basketball, ending with a vow to “adapt or die.”

Perhaps...Read more

DALLAS — At 10:51 p.m. Central time, the Los Angeles Clippers could see their season slipping away. They were down by 20 points when coach Tyronn Lue called a timeout with 9:24 left in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks.

He grabbed his clipboard to draw up a play with his coaching staff gathered around ...Read more

DENVER — Before taking on Tim Connelly’s Timberwolves in the playoffs for the second time in as many years, Nikola Jokic tipped his cap to the general manager who drafted him.

The Nuggets center pointed out how dramatically the perception of Connelly’s 2022 blockbuster trade has changed since last year, when Minnesota was the No. 8 seed ...Read more

Patrick Beverley could be facing discipline from the NBA after throwing the ball into the stands and hitting a woman during the Milwaukee Bucks' season-ending loss to Indiana on Thursday, then kicking a female journalist out of his interview because she does not subscribe to his podcast.

Beverley was caught on camera rising from his seat on the...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Clippers expect Tyronn Lue to be the coach of the team for a "long time" and the plan is to offer him a contact extension so he's not coaching the 2024-25 season in the final year of his deal, according to a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The subject of Lue and an ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Lakers have fired coach Darvin Ham after two seasons, both of which had some unarguable successes and both of which ended with the Lakers losing to Denver in the playoffs.

The team reached the Western Conference finals in Ham's first season and won the in-season tournament in the second. But inconsistent lineups and too much...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Less than two years ago, LeBron James loved Darvin Ham.

“So damn excited,” he tweeted when the Lakers hired their rookie coach.

Less than a year ago, Rob Pelinka was thankful for Darvin Ham.

“I’m incredibly grateful for Darvin, mostly because of just his character and makeup,” Pelinka said to reporters, later adding,...Read more

CHICAGO — When their names were announced as selections by the Chicago Sky on WNBA draft night, Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese shared one thought: finally.

Just weeks earlier, they were deadlocked in the paint in the SEC tournament championship game — swatting each other’s shots, locking arms as they jockeyed on the low block, laughing ...Read more

It's a good time to be in the sports business, and no one knows that better than the NBA.

In the coming weeks, the league is expected to announce a new game-changing multiyear media rights pact that reportedly will more than double its annual fees from TV and streaming outlets to $6 billion annually after the 2024-25 National Basketball ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After being eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the Denver Nuggets for the second consecutive season, the Lakers have fired coach Darvin Ham, the team announced Friday.

The decision comes days after the Lakers lost in Game 5 to Denver after Jamal Murray's second game-winner of the series.

The Lakers went 47-35 this season, the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers kept giving their fans hope.

Even after posting their worst regular-season winning percentage in seven seasons, there was belief the Sixers could make a deep postseason run. Joel Embiid’s return from knee surgery was supposed to make them tough to beat.

But in reality, while they might have been better...Read more

MIAMI — The Heat now face their most difficult decision of the summer: Whether to grant Jimmy Butler’s impending request to essentially replace the two years and $101.2 million remaining on his contract with a three-year deal worth $161 million.

Butler, who turns 35 in September, has some leverage in this.

If the Heat refuse to give him ...Read more

Let’s just come out and say it: The Heat can’t extend Jimmy Butler’s contract as NBA convention mandates. They can’t pay him $113 million for two re-done years and keep him until 38.

They have to trade him this offseason, if possible, or live with the unsettling consequences of his playing out the two remaining years on his current deal...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Smart money’s not the only group taking up real estate in downtown Philadelphia.

Add Knicks fans to the list after their takeover of the Wells Fargo Center in Games 3 and 4 of their first-round playoff matchup against the 76ers, both of which featured “M-V-P” chants for Jalen Brunson and “Let’s go Knicks” chants all...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Harry Hunter Wendelstedt Jr. and Harry Hunter Wendelstedt III are the only father-son tandem to work major league games together. The father went by Harry and the son by Hunter.

They umped several games in the same crew in 1998, when Harry was getting ready to retire and Hunter was a 26-year-old rookie breaking into the big ...Read more