MIAMI — The very biggest of the victories in Miami’s basketball history are easy to list because they are etched in eternity for the Heat and fans: Being awarded an NBA franchise. Hiring Pat Riley to run the show. Trading for Alonzo Mourning. Drafting Dwyane Wade. Trading for Shaq. Winning a first league championship. Acquiring LeBron James ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — For almost as long as Chris Finch has been head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Micah Nori has been his right-hand man on the bench.

But that is changing after five seasons.

Nori will become the next head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, ESPN reported.

The 52-year-old Nori will get his first head coaching opportunity ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — They work 10 miles apart. Their respective teams had close to the same number of wins this past season and made it to the same round in the playoffs.

Bill Guerin and Tim Connelly also have a similar problem.

Guerin, the Wild’s president of hockey operations, desperately needs a No. 1 center.

Connelly, the Timberwolves ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — He’s trying to set a tone. For guys to have a level of discipline. To feel as though they have accomplished something.

Two weeks into 6 a.m. strength and conditioning summer workouts for his UNLV basketball team, Josh Pastner likes what he has witnessed. Likes his team.

“We’re still trying to learn our group,” Pastner ...Read more

MIAMI — A franchise seemingly adrift at sea for years in hopes of harpooning a whale on the NBA personnel market now has its trophy catch, with the Miami Heat late Monday night reaching an agreement to acquire two-time MVP and 10-time All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks.

In search of a big-game move since the ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Last month, Minnesota Timberwolves President Tim Connelly said the Wolves had to change after losing decisively to the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, two teams they may be chasing down in the Western Conference.

The made the first major move of their offseason Monday night in trading Julius Randle to the Brooklyn ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley has officially launched a bid to bring an NBA expansion team to Las Vegas, he announced Monday.

Foley has hired Morgan Stanley & Co. to be his exclusive financial adviser as he looks to build an ownership group around his existing Southern Nevada sports holdings, he said in a statement ...Read more

DETROIT — Dusty May knew the game, embraced the game and played it brilliantly. In two stirring seasons at Michigan, he balanced the transactional aspects of a rapidly changing sport and became a coaching star. A coveted star.

May made an indelible mark at UM, capping a 37-3 season with a national championship, the Wolverines’ first in 37 ...Read more

MIAMI — The speculation has turned to substance when it comes to a competing bid for Giannis Antetokounmpo, with the Miami Heat again facing the prospect of being bested by the Boston Celtics.

After weeks of such conjecture, multiple outlets as well as the South Florida Sun Sentinel sources now say that Celtics’ forward Jaylen Brown is on ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Even during an early start to their offseason, the Los Angeles Clippers got one major win in May.

The Clippers were the quiet winners of the NBA draft lottery, where, with coin-flip odds, they swiped the Indiana Pacers' first-round pick in a loaded draft class. The No. 5 pick can add an immediate rotation player for the Clippers...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando Magic haven’t won a playoff series in 16 years.

Sean Sweeney knew exactly what he was signing up for when he accepted the job.

He knew this wasn’t a rebuilding project. He knew this wasn’t the kind of opportunity most first-time NBA head coaches inherit. And after watching his introductory news conference ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky men’s basketball announced the “buy” games on its 2026-27 schedule last week. Dick Vitale was unimpressed.

“Five legit challenges” and “many cupcakes” is how the ESPN analyst characterized the overall UK non-league slate in a post on the social media platform X.

Wrote Vitale: “Cats fans and players ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Dallas Wings fans will be able to watch Azzi Fudd play basketball even after this WNBA season ends. The rookie announced that she’s joining Project B, a new women’s basketball league, set to start early next year.

Fudd explained why in an exclusive interview with Fortune’s Emma Hinchliffe, focusing on the ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Kiah Stokes let out a big laugh when she heard the question.

“They’re making us get our money’s worth for sure,” the Valkyries center said jokingly.

The WNBA’s decision to expand to a 50-game schedule starting next season is drawing that kind of reaction across the league: part excitement, part exhaustion just ...Read more

DENVER — Coban Porter is getting another chance on the court — one even he said he has to prove he deserves.

Porter, the former University of Denver player who killed Kathy Limon Rothman in a DUI crash in 2023, is returning to college basketball for MSU Denver this year. The university announced his addition to the Roadrunners’ roster on ...Read more

NEW YORK — This is no longer Broadway. It is the Canyon of Heroes. It is Champions Way, newly-erected orange and blue street signs saying as much litter the roughly mile-and-a-half-long stretch beginning adjacent to the intersection of West Thames and Little West before concluding at New York City Hall.

Droves on droves of fans flood the ...Read more

NEW YORK — First, there were keys — the ceremonial keys to the city that Mayor Mamdani gifted the Knicks for bringing home the franchise’s first championship in 53 years.

Then, there was Keys — Alicia Keys, whose spirited rendition of “Empire State of Mind” capped an epic day of reveling among generations of Knicks fans who never ...Read more

NEW YORK — Scores of Knicks fans were left on the sidelines Thursday after they were turned away from the packed-to-capacity ticker-tape parade hours before the celebration even kicked off.

Some fans scrambled up building construction scaffolding just to get a glimpse of the championship team.

The NYPD estimated that more than two million ...Read more