MIAMI — As strength and conditioning coach Bill Foran begins retirement after 33 years with the Heat, he has a message for fans: You will see a different Tyler Herro this season.

“He has totally dedicated himself to the weight room,” Foran said during a phone conversation last weekend. “His body is transformed. He will be a much better ...Read more

NEW YORK — Not all Nets players are fully vaccinated, at least not yet.

Nets GM Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash hosted their ahead-of-the-season press conference with reporters on Tuesday, and Marks conceded that if the season were to start today, several players would be unable to participate due to New York City’s COVID-19 ...Read more

Jon Scheyer's strong early start to his Duke head coaching career on the recruiting trail jumped another level on Monday.

Dereck Lively II, a five-star center rated as the No. 2 player in the class of 2022, committed to play for Scheyer and the Blue Devils next season.

The 7-1, 220-pound center made his commitment via Instagram Live from his ...Read more

It should’ve been easy. It could’ve been simple. It might’ve been incredible.

The Clippers historically broke ground on a new arena Friday in Inglewood, a move completing their graduation from NBA renters into actual homeowners, an all-grown-up moment for a franchise that has been growing exponentially since it shed owner Donald Sterling ...Read more

In just over a week, the balls bounce for real, with the start of training camps, including the Miami Heat’s. Until then, there remains time to deal with some of the abstracts being considered by the NBA for 2021-22 and beyond.

— No automatic out-of-bounds reviews: For years, the NBA struggled with the never-ending reality that was the ...Read more

NEW YORK — If any NBA star is going to retire early, my money would be on Kyrie Irving. But the only thing funnier than the notion that his retirement somehow hinges on a trade is that the trade would be to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons.

Irving is equal parts humanitarian and hooper, dare I say more of the former than the latter. The...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Two commitments from top-five national recruits in the past two weeks, including a pledge from the No. 1 basketball player in the country. A likelihood that two more top-10 prospects will join Kentucky's 2022 class in the coming weeks, giving John Calipari one of his best recruiting hauls ever in Lexington.

What's driving ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After the thumping, pre-event soundtrack of Kanye West and Roddy Ricch finished, but before Kawhi Leonard and Paul George grabbed chrome-tipped shovels and moved ceremonial piles of dirt, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer walked onto a scaled-down model of a basketball court near the corner of Inglewood's Prairie Avenue and Century ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Say this for Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association: She understands her constituency. The league will not enact a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for its players this season, according to an ESPN report this week, in large part because the union regards any such proposal as a “non-...Read more

LEXINGTON Ky. — When Chris Livingston, the latest five-star basketball recruit to commit to Kentucky, was looking for a new place to finish his high school career, he met with legendary Oak Hill Academy head coach Steve Smith, who realized that one line of questioning spoke volumes of the 17-year-old’s mindset.

“Coach, can I get into the ...Read more

What’s true in Brooklyn is also true in Los Angeles, at least says Carmelo Anthony, who joined LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook in the Lakers’ pursuit of an NBA title.

The Nets have not shied away from setting championship expectations for a roster headlined by Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Anthony, who ...Read more

BALTIMORE — Los Angeles Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony, one of the most prolific players of all time, never dreamed of playing in the NBA. Growing up in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and the Murphy Homes in West Baltimore, the only thing that mattered was seeing the next day.

In Anthony’s new memoir, “Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised,” the 10-...Read more

Veteran point guard John Wall and the Houston Rockets have reportedly reached an agreement on the inevitable: The Rockets will trade their former All-Star ... whenever the opportunity presents itself.

So far, however, that has appeared near impossible. Wall is due an atrocious $92 million over the next two seasons. Only two players are set to ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Roy Williams is back being an assistant again. The former North Carolina men's basketball coach is serving as the ambassador for the Asheville Championship, a basketball tournament created after the city successfully pulled off playing host to the Maui Invitational last year.

The inaugural event will feature South Carolina, ...Read more

“Rebound Stoudemire! Back out to Allen! His 3-pointer . . . Bang! Tie game with five seconds remaining!”

No, ESPN’s Mike Breen did not call it that way at the end of Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals.

The moment before Ray Allen’s franchise-altering 3-pointer against the San Antonio Spurs was a rebound by Chris Bosh that forever will live...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Ben Simmons and the 76ers seem destined to split. The Sixers have made the playoffs in each of his four seasons he’s played, but fans are growing impatient after Simmons averaged 9.9 points in 34.5 minutes against the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Opinions are split on Simmons’ true value because he ...Read more

Chris Bosh arrived last to the podium Saturday, the final of the 16 inductees from the Class of 2021 to be enshrined at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

But he also arrived earlier than expected, his career cut short in 2016 by blood clots, the former Miami Heat forward offering his compelling oratory in Springfield, Mass., at age...Read more