ORLANDO, Fla. -- For weeks, Los Angeles Lakers Coach Frank Vogel has insisted that the Lakers wouldn't change the way they played or their goals in each individual game once they clinched the top seed in the Western Conference.

To that end, he played all of his starters against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night in Orlando even though...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Ben Simmons is injured.

The 76ers power forward left the third quarter of Wednesday's game against the Washington Wizards with a left knee injury and did not return.

Simmons grabbed an offensive rebound with 5 minutes, 53 seconds left the quarter. He dribbled to the corner before throwing an outlet pass to Al Horford. The two-...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Suddenly, the outcome of 76ers' game against the Washington Wizards no longer mattered.

The Sixers' championship hopes could have a lot to do with how Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris perform in the upcoming postseason.

But Simmons left the third quarter of Wednesday's 107-98 win against the Washington Wizards at The...Read more

Doc Rivers sat down for his video conference call with reporters on Wednesday and stayed on his social justice message. The Los Angeles Clippers coach wore a blue baseball cap with the word "VOTE" in capital letters.

He was asked about President Donald Trump's critical comments that NBA players were "disgraceful" for kneeling during the ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NBA bubble continues to be a success.

None of the 343 players who were tested for COVID-19 on the Disney World campus since results were last announced on July 29 have returned confirmed positives, the league and National Basketball Players Association announced Wednesday. There were also no positive tests from July 29 or ...Read more

Like the team logos and corporate advertisements digitally superimposed onto the courts, everything inside the NBA's Disney World bubble isn't always what it seems.

You might think that with games stacked on top of one another all day and no responsibilities other than basketball, it would be easy for players to focus.

But according to LeBron ...Read more

There was a lot working against the Miami Heat entering Tuesday's matchup against the Boston Celtics.

Heat All-Star Jimmy Butler was ruled out for the game because of right ankle soreness.

Miami was playing its third game in four days and on the second night of a back-to-back set following Monday's loss to the Toronto Raptors.

And the game ...Read more

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on Tuesday took less umbrage with an apparent critical officiating mistake in Monday's loss to the Toronto Raptors than with the "trickery" employed by players to attempting to embellish fouls.

In question was the flagrant foul called on Heat center Kelly Olynyk in a tie game in the closing minutes of the 107-103...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Seconds away from forcing overtime Tuesday, the Clippers saw their opportunity to win stolen by the Phoenix Suns.

Center Ivica Zubac's tipped pass, which would have started a fast break in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, instead landed in the hands of Suns star Devin Booker, whose game-winning basket as time expired ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- It wasn't easy and it wasn't pretty, but the Los Angeles Lakers clinched the top seed in the Western Conference.

They did it with a 116-108 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night, 4 1/2 months later than they expected to achieve the feat. As the Lakers await their first-round opponent, they will continue the work of ...Read more

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Another seeding game, another undermanned opponent.

This time, however, the outcome was different for the 76ers inside the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. They defeated the undermanned and weary San Antonio Spurs, 132-130, Monday night thanks to Shake Milton's three-pointer with 7.2 seconds left.

The Sixers pulled within...Read more

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- The pre-playoffs have opened for the Miami Heat at the NBA's Disney World bubble.

Monday it was a 107-103 loss to the defending NBA champion Toronto Raptors at the Wide World of Sports complex, firmly entrenching the Raptors in the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Tuesday for Erik Spoelstra's team, it's a matchup...Read more

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The 76ers must get tougher.

That's one of the takeaways from the 127-121 loss to the Indiana Pacers as the Sixers' season restarted Saturday.

The Pacers (40-26) were physical and more aggressive. They had JaKarr Sampson, a 6-foot-7 former Sixer, guarding 7-footer Joel Embiid. Another former Sixer, guard T.J. McConnell, came...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- There have been some games in the NBA's bubble that have led to conjecture about whether these gyms are easier for shooters or something about this setting aids offenses more than defenses. High-scoring games have been the norm in the restart's first weekend.

That was not the case Saturday evening when the Los Angeles Lakers ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Nothing changed.

The 76ers still commit too many mistakes. Their chemistry is still in question. And the Sixers still have a knack for underachieving.

On Saturday, they suffered a 127-121 defeat to the undermanned Indiana Pacers at the VISA Athletic Center in a seeding-game opener for both teams.

But the Sixers dropped to 39-...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NBA has gone to great lengths during the restart of its season to make players forget -- if even for a moment -- that they are playing inside empty gymnasiums. Music thumps during most possessions. Fans watching from home are digitally stitched onto videoboards ringing the court.

But every so often, during breaks in play, ...Read more

As was the case around the NBA during the first two days of the league's regular-season resumption, almost all of the Miami Heat players and staffers took a knee during the national anthem that preceded Saturday's game against the Denver Nuggets.

The exception was center Meyers Leonard, who has family military ties. He stood at attention during...Read more

Illinois will have its two stars back on the court in orange and blue next season.

A day after guard Ayo Dosunmu announced he will return to Illinois for his junior year and bypass the NBA draft, Kofi Cockburn followed suit. The 7-footer will play his sophomore for the Illini in 2020-21, keeping the team's dynamic duo from last season intact.

...Read more