The secret is out, as thrilling as a buzzer swish, as aggravating as a lost ball.

The truth is finally upon us, as delightful as a giant who can play defense, as sobering as a giant who can just as easily disappear.

You know who's the most important Laker? You know who's the one Laker who must prove he can play at a consistently high level for...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Southeastern Conference season in men's basketball will begin on Dec. 29-30, the league announced Friday.

The SEC schedule will be made up of 18 games. Ten league schools will also play in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in late January.

The league schedule, which was originally set to start Jan. 2, was not released.

SEC ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA - What will Elton Brand's front-office legacy be with the 76ers?

Will people remember him for being the general manager when 'The Process' failed to live up to its grand expectations? Will people instead say he never really got an opportunity to put his imprint on the franchise due to ownership's heavy involvement? Or will the ...Read more

CHICAGO - In his statement announcing Billy Donovan as the 21st head coach in Chicago Bulls history, vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas emphasized the success Donovan enjoyed throughout his basketball career.

From his Final Four appearance as a player at Providence, brief but successful coaching stop at Marshall, pair of...Read more

When it really counted, Anthony Davis did what the Los Angeles Lakers needed him to do. Early with his scoring - he scored the Lakers' first 10 points, and late with two critical rebounds in a game despite having been kept off the glass for most of the game.

With those rebounds, the Lakers stole what the Nuggets needed most - time to close the ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Charlotte Hornets point guard Devonte Graham has made peace with not winning the NBA's Most Improved Player award.

But he still thinks he got ripped off, not even being among the three finalists. He's for the NBA providing some definition to voters of what the award is.

"Obviously, I was upset about it. I'm pretty much over ...Read more

LOS ANGELES - Lakers legend Kobe Bryant scored 60 points against the Utah Jazz on April 13, 2016, before declaring "Mamba out!" and calling it a career.

It was a special night in team history. And one fan can own a unique piece of it.

Before leaving the Staples Center floor for the final time as a player, Bryant autographed two portions of it ...Read more

Now, of course, everybody knows, because that's what the national platform of the NBA's Eastern Conference finals does.

Now they know the swagger, see the versatility, appreciate the basketball maturity beyond his 20 years.

But for those closest to Tyler Herro, those who didn't wait for this playoff bandwagon, this is nothing new, even with ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA - Sometimes, what an organization needs most is a shock to the system. It needs more than a shake of the snow globe. It needs a sledgehammer.

The same is true for certain young players. They need more than inertia to propel them to superstardom. They need someone who is willing to push them off the plateau.

If the Sixers are this ...Read more

Winning: The Miami Heat is on the brink of the NBA Finals and a 20-year-old rookie, who wasn't even a top-10 pick, is leading the way

Tyler Herro scored a career-high 37 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, and the Heat beat the Boston Celtics, 112-109, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday to move within one win of ...Read more

NEW YORK - The Knicks were a little delayed getting on the court for their first group workouts Wednesday afternoon. After six months off, what's another few minutes anyway?

When they finally started practice, Tom Thibodeau began what he described as building a base of fundamentals.

"Offensively, we'll build our system more towards what the ...Read more

Dwyane Wade said Wednesday that he envisions Pat Riley continuing on with the work he has done as Miami Heat president no matter the result of these NBA playoffs, and that even if the job became vacant, it is not one he would pursue.

Asked if championship success could bring the Riley era to a close after a quarter century of stewardship of the...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The NCAA has approved star basketball player Olivier Sarr's transfer waiver to play immediately at Kentucky this season.

That doesn't mean Sarr is eligible to suit up for the Wildcats just yet.

On Tuesday night, ESPN commentator Dick Vitale said on social media that the NCAA had approved Sarr's request to play the 2020-21 ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. - Forgive me, fellow Central Floridians, for what I am about to write:

I have - clearing my throat - actually found myself rooting for Dwight Howard during the NBA playoffs.

Not only that, but - taking a deep breath - I am genuinely OK with Dwight winning a championship with the spoiled, hated, "We don't build championship ...Read more

LOS ANGELES - Throughout the summer LeBron James has used his social media and interview sessions in the NBA bubble to discuss issues of racism and police brutality, calling for justice in cases where Black people have been killed or seriously injured by police, and sharing thoughts about what he sees as a broken relationship between police and ...Read more

Two days after one of the greatest moments in team history, you'll never guess what the Lakers did for an encore.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

They went from The Mamba Shot to The Miserable Flop. They went from wholly inspired to mostly insipid. They went from the Lakers to ... the Clippers?

We honestly didn't know they had it in them, but ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - There was a telling moment during the 2020 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference March 6-7 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center that might have revealed something about the Kings' past and more about their future.

Kings vice president of strategy and analytics Luke Bornn participated in a panel discussion entitled...Read more

As the 2020 WNBA draft unfolded, Crystal Dangerfield sat in her home in Murfreesboro, Tenn., waiting ... then waiting some more ... waiting longer than she had ever really anticipated.

Most projections had the 5-foot-5 Dangerfield, a three-year starting point guard out of UConn, getting taken in the middle or late in the first round. But here ...Read more

Denver's fearless 23-year-old, Jamal Murray, saw his team's lead slipping away so he hit a smooth three-pointer from just behind the arc. Then he found teammate Paul Millsap, the man who'd never beat LeBron James in a playoff game, inside on the next possession. Then he punctuated a 10-1 Denver run with a deep three-pointer.

Murray sauntered ...Read more