LOS ANGELES — Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger, successful businessmen by any measure, paid $12.5 billion for the Lakers, easily the highest price ever for a sports franchise.

It was a rare chance to acquire an iconic sports brand, and by all accounts, timing was everything.

The enormous sale price has implications for the rest of the NBA and ...Read more

CHICAGO — For the third season in a row, the Chicago Sky will not compete in the WNBA playoffs.

It happened, rather fittingly, with yet another beatdown at the hands of the Indiana Fever, a team that has defeated the Sky the last nine times the two teams have met. The Sky spent the last week teetering on the edge, racking up a few last-gasp ...Read more

MIAMI — With the signing of Klay Thompson, the Miami Heat added a player who sets up as a final component of Erik Spoelstra’s 2026-27 rotation.

But that doesn’t mean the work is necessarily done — with plenty to consider before the Sept. 29 start of training camp, the Oct. 3 start of the Heat’s preseason or the Oct. 21 start of their ...Read more

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — Christian Braun is channeling some serious Sith Lord vibes these days. Your hate only makes him stronger.

“It’s honestly good for you, every once in a while, to get punched in the mouth,” the Nuggets guard told me over the weekend at the Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood, home to his summer 2026 youth camp with ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Former Missouri star and Kansas City, Kan., native Mark Mitchell has chosen to spend his fifth season of college basketball with the Kentucky Wildcats, his agent and brother Brandon Mitchell of BAM Sports and Entertainment told media outlets over the weekend.

Mitchell is one of dozens of “former” college athletes from ...Read more

Sometimes even a win can feel like a loss, and the Las Vegas Aces faced that dilemma in their 88-78 road victory over the Toronto Tempo on Sunday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Aces starting forward NaLyssa Smith suffered a non-contact left knee injury during the third quarter and had to be helped off the court after she was ...Read more

WASHINGTON — When Cheryl Reeve’s Minnesota Lynx finished inches short of a WNBA title two years ago, the presumption was they’d be right back in the Finals a season later.

The Lynx did the job in the regular season, finishing first by a dominant four games. But they only made it as far as the semifinals, bowing out soon after star ...Read more

MIAMI — As the Miami Heat continue their roster waiting game — even with the impending agreement with Klay Thompson — two names merit consideration when it comes to the current consternation over not fully filling out the roster.

Landry Shamet.

Zach LaVine.

And, no, they have nothing in common.

But both could become part of a common ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — It didn’t take Mark Mitchell long to decide that he wanted to be a Kentucky Wildcat.

Mitchell, one of the top basketball players in the SEC over the past two seasons, committed to the Cats on Saturday, just one day after earning another season of eligibility and transfer rights through a lawsuit against the NCAA that was ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — The Timberwolves and Lynx have a new majority owner. The good news is we don’t have to learn a new first name.

One Marc is stepping back, a new Marc is stepping forward.

Based on the way the organization is spinning what otherwise would qualify as bombshell news, the introduction of a new controlling owner sounds more like a ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — VJ Edgecombe weaved his way around the Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center, interacted with the kids at his ProCamp and stopped to say hello or grab a quick selfie with almost all those in attendance at his event on Saturday.

A smile hardly left his face as he dunked on campers and participated in some knockout and dribbling ...Read more

MIAMI — Giannis Antetokounmpo has become the latest Miami Heat star to merit personal accommodations, with former Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Vin Baker to join him in the transition to the Heat.

While Baker was not Antetokounmpo’s personnel coach on the Bucks staff, the two have a longstanding relationship, including Baker serving as a ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — When Terrence Brown was a kid, he hitched rides across the country to attend club basketball tournaments he wasn’t playing in.

He just loved basketball and wanted to catch a glimpse of emerging players whom he idolized.

Much of Brown’s early years were spent on or around a basketball court — somewhere, anywhere — and ...Read more

At a recent Lynx practice, coach Cheryl Reeve reminded her team that only Natasha Howard has won a WNBA title.

Howard, 34, has won three, in fact: with the Lynx in 2017, then twice with Seattle.

Napheesa Collier recalled Reeve’s point in early August: “[Howard] does the championship things, night after night, with rebounds and getting ...Read more

DALLAS — One of the more popular myths accepted as fact is that the WNBA has bricked the breakaway slam dunk that is Caitlin Clark phenomenon.

If the WNBA had blown this chance, Clark’s Indiana Fever would not be selling out larger arenas like they did on Thursday night when they lost to the Dallas Wings, 91-85, at the American Airlines ...Read more

DENVER — The Nuggets are adding another bucket-getter to their offense.

DeMar DeRozan, whose 26,711 career points rank 16th in NBA history, is signing a one-year veteran minimum contract to join the Nuggets for his 18th season in the league, two sources told The Denver Post on Friday, confirming a report by Chris Haynes.

DeRozan will make $3...Read more

The pathway for the Heat’s first major move since the trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo was cleared on Friday as guard Klay Thompson negotiated a buyout from the Dallas Mavericks.

After Thompson clears the 48-hour waiver period, he is expected to join the Heat in free agency, multiple NBA sources have confirmed to the South Florida Sun Sentinel...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Billionaire investor Marc Lore is selling his controlling stake in the Timberwolves and Lynx to a tech investor with the same first name.

Marc Stad, 47, is the founder and managing partner of Dragoneer Investment Group, a San Francisco investment firm that manages more than $35 billion in assets, according to the company’s ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — The athlete far more little girls can identify with, and aspire to be, than we want to admit is not Caitlin Clark, but her Indiana Fever teammate who comes off the bench and averages 8.8 points per game.

Sophie Cunningham is irresistible content, and famous. Who cares if she averages a little more than 23 minutes per game?...Read more

DENVER — On a spreadsheet, this looks good. But this is not a good look.

From a financial standpoint, it made sense to let Peyton Watson move on, convinced he is not worth the four-year, $88 million contract Cleveland gave him. The Nuggets remain the only team in the second apron. So they were not going to pay Watson.

The problem is that the...Read more