Every so often, just for a moment, Jimmy Butler will let you in. He’ll pull back the curtain and let you see who he is, how his mind and motivations assemble.

He mostly keeps that area closed off, opaquely answering he doesn’t care about random ideas like statistics, as he says night after playoff night.

Even if the question is framed that...Read more

NEW YORK — Former Nets assistant Amar’e Stoudemire suggested there’s no bad blood between him, the Nets or Kyrie Irving, and that the media took his words in an appearance on ESPN’s First Take out of context.

Stoudemire, who broke the news of his departure from Steve Nash’s coaching staff in a May 12 nationally-televised conversation ...Read more

CHICAGO — A few hours before their franchise-altering night, the Orlando Magic made a rare change.

Jeff Weltman, president of basketball operations, was scheduled to be the Magic’s on-stage representative at Tuesday’s NBA draft lottery.

Before it started, however, coach Jamahl Mosley told Weltman he was “feeling a little lucky” and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The smattering of fans are standing, shrieking, bouncing, transforming the lower bowl of Crypto.com Arena into a downtown block party.

Dancers hop across a stage behind one basket. Sparky the Dog leads cheers from midcourt. Lisa Leslie waves from courtside. The relentless DJ Mal-Ski fills every quiet moment with chants and ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Disappointment and outrage grip Sixers nation this week. Understandable.

But there is hope.

What if the Sixers get ... better? They can.

Every shortcoming the team displayed in its 12-game playoff run can improve. Every single one. They might lack championship DNA — there’s no analytic for heart — but they certainly ...Read more

MIAMI — Miami entered these Eastern Conference Finals in the unusual predicament of being both a No. 1 seed and a clear underdog in the series, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers.

On Tuesday night, the Heat showed everybody what it can do with those odds.

Buoyed by a 22-2 stampede to start the third quarter, the Heat reversed momentum ...Read more

NEW YORK — Lottery luck still alludes the Knicks.

The franchise will pick 11th, the spot they were slotted before Tuesday’s draft lottery drawing, failing to move up for a depressing 18th consecutive time in the lottery. It’s a streak that started after the Knicks won the Patrick Ewing sweepstakes in 1985.

The Orlando Magic won the ...Read more

The Kentucky basketball roster for 2022-23 is pretty much set. John Calipari said so a couple of weeks ago when appearing on a Louisville radio show. The UK coach said he expected to have 10 scholarship players for next season. No more than 11.

Though currently testing the NBA Draft waters, Jacob Toppin is expected to return. Keion Brooks said ...Read more

CHICAGO — The NBA draft lottery misfortune that’s surrounded the Orlando Magic for nearly 20 years has ended.

The Magic won Tuesday night’s draft lottery in Chicago, coming away with the No. 1 pick for the first time 2004.

After early success with the lottery, the Magic had either stayed at or fallen from their pre-lottery positioning in...Read more

MIAMI — A potentially seismic shift hit the Eastern Conference finals less than three hours prior to Tuesday night’s start of Game 1 at FTX Arena, when the Boston Celtics announced that forward Al Horford had entered NBA health and safety protocols and would be out for the series opener against the Miami Heat.

The designation not only had ...Read more

As Warriors coach Steve Kerr was driving to work ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals series, his focus wasn’t on the Memphis Grizzlies, but rather on his cough, his congestion, and the cases of COVID-19 that had popped up at the team’s San Francisco facility.

As cases of COVID waned around the country, the NBA made testing ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — For the last 10 or so years, Stephen Curry’s mother would brag that two of her three children were college graduates.

But that officially changed Sunday morning.

Curry didn’t walk across the stage at Davidson College’s graduation ceremony — he has a Western Conference finals to prepare for — but he eagerly waited to...Read more

The mother of Rajon Rondo’s children has been granted an emergency protective order after he allegedly pulled a gun on her and threatened to kill her.

Ashley Bachelor, the NBA point guard’s 36-year-old ex-girlfriend, claims that Rondo was playing video games with their son last week when she asked the child to finish doing laundry, ...Read more

The biggest question facing the Sixers this summer is how difficult James Harden is going to make it on them. Everything else is going to be some derivative of three obvious truths.

1) The old version of Harden might have been worth $270 million over five years.

2) The elder version most definitely is not.

3) The Sixers need to keep Harden in...Read more

It took 13 years, but Steph Curry made good on his promise.

Curry was a baby-faced 21-year-old in 2009 when he decided to skip his senior year at Davidson College in favor of entering the NBA draft a year early.

When he did that, Curry vowed he would return to school and earn the seven courses he needed at the time to earn his degree — one ...Read more

FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — Almost five months after he became the fifth commissioner in ACC history, Jim Phillips stood in front of a crowded hotel banquet room in Charlotte and emphasized the single priority most critical to the league’s future. It was Phillips’ first major public appearance in his new role, and he was speaking at the ACC�...Read more

I remember when it happened. March 2, when the Dallas Mavericks played the Los Angeles Lakers. That’s when I realized Luka Doncic was a top-5 player.

But Sunday night, after Luka Magic’s Mavericks ran up a 47-point lead to dismiss the league-best Suns in Game 7 — in Phoenix — I realized top-5 might not do him justice.

Doncic repeatedly...Read more