LOS ANGELES — Alijah Arenas will withdraw his name from the NBA draft and return to USC for his sophomore season, according to a person familiar with the decision not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The former five-star prospect, whose father is NBA star Gilbert Arenas, was expected to spend just a single season at USC before ...Read more

MIAMI — Pat Riley is not retiring, resigning or — here’s the relevant point — retreating.

Did anyone expect that from him?

Nor is he tanking, backtracking or — again, the timely point — changing.

For some reason, there was some question entering Monday’s annual State of Riley address whether the Miami Heat president, at 81, had ...Read more

If a technical foul was the punishment, then so be it, Christian Braun decided. It was worth the satisfaction of the crime: a bit of hanging on the rim after a dunk, a sly finger-point at Jaden McDaniels.

Braun had played poorly in this series. Most of the Nuggets had. Any opportunity to regain some swagger in do-or-die Game 5, they happily ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla.— The Detroit Pistons began the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run after entering the period trailing 75-69. They managed to come within one point at 75-74, but then Tobias Harris committed a foul against Paolo Banchero, resulting in an and-one basket for the All-Star forward.

On the following offensive possession, Isaiah Stewart was ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kon Knueppel won’t have those friendly bragging rights over a good buddy this summer.

The Charlotte Hornets’ Kon Knueppel finished second in the KIA 2025-26 Rookie of the Year voting, the NBA announced Monday night. Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks — the No. 1 overall pick who was Knueppel’s teammate during their...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid didn’t lose Game 4 for the Philadelphia 76ers.

He didn’t win it for them, either.

Somewhere in between is a conundrum that will define the upcoming Sixers summer and those in the foreseeable future.

How do you fashion a competitive roster that is centered on two young scoring guards but also accommodates a ...Read more

SEATTLE — The timeline around a decision on NBA expansion and the potential return of the SuperSonics doesn’t sound likely to see a vote by owners happening this summer.

That was the message from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Monday during The Associated Press Sports Editors Commissioners meetings in New York. Speaking to a group of ...Read more

MIAMI — Miami Heat president Pat Riley spent more than an hour answering questions on various topics during his annual season-ending news conference Monday afternoon.

While a lot still remains up in the air on what’s next for the Heat at the start of an important offseason after missing the playoffs this season for the first time since 2019...Read more

HOUSTON — The Lakers still have control of this first-round series even after the blow they took from the Houston Rockets on Sunday night.

As ugly as their 115-96 loss was, the Lakers still hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference series.

All the Lakers have to do is win Game 5 on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena and they ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Trailing the heavily favored Boston Celtics two games to one, the 76ers received an ideal mid-series boost Sunday night. Joel Embiid, the oft-injured 2023 NBA MVP, was finally cleared to play after a seven-game absence.

Healed from the emergency appendectomy he underwent weeks earlier, Embiid returned, giving Philadelphia a ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — If the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to close out the Denver Nuggets in their NBA first-round playoff series, they will likely have to do so without Anthony Edwards.

Edwards hyperextended his left knee and suffered a bone bruise in the team’s Game 4 victory Saturday night at Target Center and is expected to miss multiple ...Read more

DENVER — Lock the door. Activate the alarm. Last one left, turn out the lights.

The Denver Nuggets’ championship window unofficially closed on their fingers Saturday night in Minneapolis.

For the third time in four games against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Nuggets just weren’t good enough. In Game 1, they choked. Thursday they ...Read more

MIAMI — As their process again has shown these past few days, the NFL draft is about draft picks, the newcomers, the next wave of rookies.

The NBA draft, by contrast, is one of the busiest times of the personnel calendar when it comes to veteran talent, when deals are sealed on the eve of the process, or during the process, or immediately ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — On a night the Nuggets started without one and a half key players, the Timberwolves finished without two.

They were unfazed. Injuries only made them more territorial in their building. Denver couldn’t pull away from them, not after Donte DiVincenzo was helped off with a torn right Achilles tendon, and not after star guard ...Read more

ATLANTA — With just over 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter of Game 4 between the Knicks and Hawks on Saturday, the Jumbotron read “get loud,” a signal for the home crowd to cheer on a team that had fallen behind more than 20 points on the night.

The operators manning the screens couldn’t have predicted what would happen next: In an ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — They’re in danger of throwing it all away.

The 60-win season. The No. 1 seed it earned them. Even some of the hard-earned momentum the Detroit Pistons have gathered as a franchise the past couple years, going from an NBA laughingstock to one of the league’s best stories.

Because the script they’re writing now, down 2-1 ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — VJ Edgecombe played 35 total games in his one season at Baylor. So after the Philadelphia 76ers selected him third in the 2025 NBA draft, he was told to have a short-term memory during the NBA’s daunting 82-game slate.

And early in the season, he was credited with being mentally tough and having a strong motor. Both were ...Read more