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Oct 15, 2020 Sports Africa Network recently hosted a roundtable with five basketball players from the African continent. The discussion revealed the tremendous potential the sport has for enhancing mutual understanding between Africa and the USA, while highlighting the challenges remaining. Thirteen Africa-born men play in the NBA today, nearly enough to fill a team

1:00 PM ET Phil Mickelson will take part in another high-profile match, but this time Tiger Woods will not be part of it. Charles Barkley will partner with Mickelson in a match against Stephen Curry and Peyton Manning on Nov. 27 at Stone Canyon Golf Club in Arizona. Called Capital One’s The Match: Champions for

6:23 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN Sometime between now and the 2020 NBA draft on Nov. 18, the league should lift the monthslong transaction moratorium, allowing its annual round of offseason chaos to officially begin. There are many things the NBA will need to sort out over the next few months, from the salary cap rules

5:24 PM ET ESPN News Services MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota sports columnist and radio personality Sid Hartman, an old-school home team booster who once ran the NBA’s Minneapolis Lakers and achieved nearly as much celebrity as some of the athletes he covered, died Sunday. He was 100. Hartman, whose first newspaper column was published in 1945,

12:22 PM ET Former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey took out a full-page advertisement in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday to thank the numerous people who helped him during his 13 seasons with the team. But he saved his most effusive praise for Rockets star James Harden, writing, in bold, “James Harden changed my

7:00 AM ET The Los Angeles Lakers are the 2020 NBA champions, blitzing through the bubble playoffs with a 16-5 record and finishing off the Miami Heat in six games in the NBA Finals. Now what? As the league enters an offseason of more uncertainty, we’re taking a way-too-early look at where all 30 teams

6:30 AM ET It’s the never-ending debate among today’s NBA fans: Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James. Or should that be LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan? While arguments can be (and have been) made for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell and other NBA greats, the modern debate over who is the greatest since

2:08 PM ET New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson was the victim of an attempted car theft last Saturday afternoon but was unharmed, Saints spokesman Greg Bensel confirmed. “I can confirm that an incident did occur in Orleans Parish involving Mrs. Benson while she was in her vehicle,” Bensel said in a statement.

8:17 PM ET For the third time since May, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association are extending a negotiating window that preserves each side’s rights to terminate the collective bargaining agreement due to the pandemic, sources told ESPN on Thursday. The NBA and NBPA agreed on a new Oct. 30 deadline to complete ongoing

4:30 PM ET Any eulogy for Daryl Morey’s groundbreaking tenure as Houston Rockets general manager should probably start with the 2017-18 season — when Houston took a 3-2 lead in the conference finals over perhaps the greatest team ever assembled, and might have upset those Golden State Warriors had Chris Paul not suffered a hamstring

2:31 PM ET Ty Lue is finalizing a five-year deal to become the next coach of the LA Clippers, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday. Lue, who has served as an assistant with the Clippers, has been the front-runner for the team’s vacancy since Doc Rivers was dismissed on Sept. 28, sources had told

12:04 PM ET Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is stepping down, sources told ESPN. In the aftermath of Houston’s elimination from the NBA’s restart in Orlando, Florida, Morey approached owner Tilman Fertitta with the idea of leaving the job and the sides quietly worked through an exit agreement to conclude his 13 seasons running

6:10 AM ET The longest season in NBA history is finally complete. More than a full calendar year after teams reported to training camp, the Los Angeles Lakers were crowned champions, accepting the Larry O’Brien Trophy on Sunday night inside the NBA’s campus environment at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The NBA’s bubble was

6:30 AM ET ESPN News Services Brett Brown has resigned as the head coach of the Australian Boomers ahead of the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics. He has informed Basketball Australia that a change in his personal circumstances over recent months has left him unable to commit to the men’s national team Olympic campaign. As a result,

11:54 AM ET Nick DePaulaESPN In advance of the 2020 NBA Draft, top prospect LaMelo Ball has signed a multi-year shoe deal with Puma, immediately becoming a key face of the brand at just 19 years-old. “I am really excited to be joining the Puma family,” said LaMelo Ball. “I believe the brand is the

11:12 AM ET Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 Tim MacMahon Close ESPN Staff Writer Joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009 Covers the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks Appears regularly on ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM Clippers assistant coach Ty Lue’s candidacy for the Rockets‘ head-coaching job has

5:30 PM ET Stan Van Gundy is meeting with New Orleans Pelicans officials on Tuesday, emerging as one of four expected finalists for the franchise’s coaching job, sources tell ESPN. Another New Orleans finalist — LA Clippers assistant Ty Lue — has a meeting set for this week, too, sources tell ESPN. Van Gundy’s reputation

7:25 AM ET Who is the greatest player of all time: Michael Jordan or LeBron James? Those aren’t the only two candidates, but they do dominate the debate — which got new life this week when the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship, giving James his fourth title. We asked our ESPN Forecast panel

10:02 PM ET ESPN News Services The 17th NBA title in Lakers franchise history is still fresh in the minds of their fans, but any public celebration of it in Los Angeles will have to wait. The Lakers announced Monday that due to safety precautions related to COVID-19, the team will hold off on any

2:53 PM ET Dave McMenamin Close ESPN Staff Writer Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09. Malika Andrews Close ESPN Staff Writer Staff Writer Joined ESPN in 2018 Appears regularly on ESPN Chicago 1000

8:55 AM ET There is an amazing clip from ESPN’s The Jump in April 2018, the day after LeBron James‘ fourth career postseason game-winning buzzer-beater — a 3-pointer that put his Cleveland Cavaliers up 3-2 in their first-round series against the Indiana Pacers. That gave LeBron one more postseason walk-off shot than Michael Jordan, who

12:00 AM ET THE OTHER DAY Jeanie Buss sent a text to Phil Jackson, the previous coach to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a title. This was not an unusual occurrence. The two have remained friends and talk often. But the reason for this text was extraordinary. Buss’ team was on the verge of

7:11 PM ET Goran Dragic is listed as active for the Miami Heat ahead of Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. While it’s unclear if Dragic will be able to play, this marks the first time since tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot in Game 1 that the

7:23 AM ET THE CLOSET INSIDE Buzz Williams’ office at the Bradley Center was, at most, 5 feet deep. He thinks it had a chair or a small couch inside. He’s pretty sure there was a light. But he’s not sure it would’ve mattered to Jimmy Butler either way. Butler just needed a space to

6:33 PM ET Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis (right heel contusion) is listed as probable for Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat on Sunday. Davis acknowledged on Friday after the Lakers’ Game 5 loss to the Heat that he originally suffered the injury during the Western Conference finals against

4:48 PM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The NBA upheld the two calls Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel took exception with in L.A.’s 111-108 Game 5 loss to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals on Friday, however the league did find two other calls that should have gone the Lakers’ way. In

7:25 AM ET LeBron James has lived through many NBA Finals games in which he’s played great and lost. It’s one of the stories of his career. But the Game 5 duel James staged with Jimmy Butler in the Miami Heat‘s season-saving 111-108 victory Friday over the Los Angeles Lakers instantly goes in the pantheon

3:03 AM ET LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — With less than 10 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers trailing by one, LeBron James appeared to be putting the final touches on a 40-point masterpiece to clinch his fourth NBA title. Draped by seemingly the entire Miami Heat defense, James, who led the league in

7:10 AM ET Almost every competitive playoff series reaches a point of strategic equilibrium. All the big adjustments have been made. All that is left is to rearrange the fringes: making tiny rotation tweaks; layering counter atop counter to sets the opponent has smothered in their basic forms; varying the location of those sets. It

7:20 AM ET INSIDE THE NBA’S BUBBLE, there is a pathway around the residences — a nearly mile-long loop and a longer, 1.6-mile loop that encompasses the Coronado Springs resort, one of the Disney properties that has become a home away from home for the league. During the NBA Finals, it hasn’t been unusual to