SEATTLE — The coaches and teammates who watched Mitch Johnson play across the Seattle area as a teenager didn't think he'd grow up to be a leader.

They saw he already was one.

“I remember having conversations with guys in middle and high school and just knowing that Mitch was for sure going to be a coach or GM,” said Jon Brockman, a ...Read more

Throughout these NBA playoffs, the Knicks have answered the “Rest vs. Rust” debate rather emphatically.

Buoyed by three days off before the start of their second-round series, the Knicks pounded the beleaguered Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1, then kept punching en route to a low-stress sweep.

The Knicks then enjoyed eight full days off ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — This promised to be a difficult, complicated and even painful offseason for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

They desperately need to find a co-star for Anthony Edwards.

They need to keep Edwards happy and believing in their ability to progress toward an NBA championship in a daunting conference.

They need to do so without ...Read more

NEW YORK — The New York Liberty’s Core 4 is back, but they didn’t faze the No. 1 overall pick.

Sabrina Ionescu’s 2026 regular season debut didn’t fix a third-quarter funk — a repeated theme during the Liberty’s early season.

This time, the Liberty lost sight of Dallas Wings rookie Azzi Fudd, who erupted for five 3-pointers in the...Read more

DENVER — Seven years ago at a Lakewood gym, Jon Wallace challenged Jamal Murray to make an NBA All-Star team. When the Denver Nuggets guard finally pulled it off this February, he immediately issued himself a new challenge. A new expectation.

Now it’s another mission accomplished.

Ten seasons into his career, Murray is All-NBA for the ...Read more

San Diego State had five foreign-born players on its men’s basketball roster for next season.

Now it has six.

The latest addition is Isaiah Sy, a 22-year-old sharpshooting wing who was born in France and spent the last three years playing in the United States, averaging 10.0 points and 4.6 rebounds for Oregon State last season. He announced ...Read more

CLEVELAND — The Knicks beat an Atlanta Hawks team punching above its weight as a No. 6 seed. They beat a Philadelphia 76ers team that, despite upsetting the No. 2 Boston Celtics in the first round, finished the regular season just two games above the East’s 10th seed.

And now they’ve taken a commanding 3-0 Eastern Conference Finals lead ...Read more

If you’ve been watching the Western Conference finals, the truth of the Golden State Warriors’ standing in this league has hit you harder than a Stephon Castle dunk.

The Dubs’ window to compete for championships is over. Done. Kaput.

It was one hell of a run, though, wasn’t it?

When I say it’s over, I’m not talking about a ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid is no longer the answer for the Philadelphia 76ers.

But he isn’t the question, either.

A lot of people are failing to grasp the second aspect. Their mental framework is still centered around Embiid. The firing of Daryl Morey, the hiring of Bob Myers, the conspicuous absence of any vote of confidence in Embiid ...Read more

MIAMI — No, Adam Simon responded with a laugh, nothing sinister at play as the Miami Heat’s assistant general manager prepared for his Thursday overnight flight to Athens, Greece, after completing pre-draft scouting work at the Chicago combine.

Yes, off to Greece, as in the offseason home of NBA rumor of the moment Giannis Antetokounmpo.

...Read more

NEW YORK — Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson acknowledged the conundrum.

Atkinson was largely satisfied with the difficulty level of the New York Knicks’ looks during their furious fourth-quarter comeback in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, saying the attempts were in the “first percentile of shot quality.”

But he ...Read more

NEW YORK — The end to the New York Knicks-Cleveland Cavaliers Eastern Conference finals was written long before the series began. It was an elephant in the room the second the Cavaliers miraculously upset the No. 1-seeded Detroit Pistons to punch a ticket to the Eastern Conference finals and a date with the Knicks.

Cleveland’s season was ...Read more

When LeBron James spoke to the media at the end of his 23rd NBA season, he expressed that he wasn’t sure what the future held for him and his Hall of Fame career.

“When the time comes, then obviously you guys will know what I’ve decided to do,” James said last week after the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo.— If Bill Self had it to do over again, he wouldn’t have been quite as candid about the personal crossroads he was staring at starting March 22, after his Kansas Jayhawks lost 67-65 to St. John’s in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

But rather than evade or dismiss post-game questions about his coaching future in ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kon Knueppel added another piece of NBA hardware to his growing collection.

The Charlotte Hornets’ rising star was named first-team all-rookie Wednesday night, putting the bow on his initial season in the NBA. Knueppel joined friend and former Duke standout Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio’s Dylan Harper...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jason Kidd tried every verbal trick to minimize and distance his role in the worst trade in NBA history, but no amount of soap, or gasoline, could completely wash his guilt.

Not Nico Harrison-level guilt, but culpability, which is why Kidd is no longer the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks.

On Wednesday at the American ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Jamahl Mosley deserved better from the Orlando Magic.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the Magic were wrong to move on from him. Sometimes in sports — just like in life — two things can be true at the same time. A franchise can decide it needs a new voice while also acknowledging the old voice did an admirable job. A coach ...Read more

NEW YORK — Madison Square Garden has seen Eastern Conference finals heartbreak before. Tuesday night, the Knicks answered it with something far more satisfying.

A year after blowing a 17-point fourth-quarter lead against the Indiana Pacers in Game 1, the Knicks authored their own late-game stunner, rallying from 22 points down to beat the ...Read more

NEW YORK — With just over seven minutes left in the third quarter of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals and the Knicks trailing the Cleveland Cavaliers by nine, Jalen Brunson gave an impassioned speech — a cry for help — to his teammates on the sidelines. The gist of the message? It had to be along the lines of lock-in defensively ...Read more