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7:10 PM ET The Los Angeles Lakers made their first move in what promises to be a busy offseason by extending a qualifying offer to second-year guard Talen Horton-Tucker, the team announced Thursday. The qualifying offer for Horton-Tucker is $1.9 million, according to ESPN front office insider Bobby Marks, and will make the 20 year

7:51 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers extended a qualifying offer Friday to center Jarrett Allen, making him a restricted free agent. The team had until Aug. 1 to make the offer to Allen, a 23-year-old acquired last season in a trade from Brooklyn and viewed as one of Cleveland’s core pieces. The

12:53 AM ET TOKYO — The trio of players making the unprecedented jump from the NBA Finals to the Olympics are all scheduled to be in Japan by Saturday. The hope is for Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday to be available when Team USA opens play Sunday against France, according to coach Gregg

3:29 PM ET Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Thousands of fans lined downtown Milwaukee streets on Thursday to catch a glimpse of their beloved Bucks in a parade to celebrate the city’s first NBA championship in half a century. Six police officers on horseback clopped past cheering fans at the head of a procession that included

3:55 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN The New Orleans Pelicans officially named Willie Green as their next head coach Thursday. Green is coming off a stint as an assistant with the Phoenix Suns, who just made a run to the NBA Finals, which delayed the timing of the Pelicans’ announcement. “After an extensive and collaborative search,

8:18 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Television ratings for the NBA Finals and playoffs posted sizable increases over last year. But that was the only good news for the NBA as far as viewer numbers. According to Nielsen, the NBA and ABC on Wednesday, the six-game series between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix

11:58 PM ET Atlanta Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu — the sixth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft — underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder on Wednesday and will miss approximately six months, sources told ESPN. Okongwu’s role grew as the season wore on for the Hawks, but a lingering

12:17 AM ET The Milwaukee Bucks are the 2021 NBA champions after rallying from a 2-0 series deficit against the Phoenix Suns. Now what? We’re not wasting any time spinning forward to next season, where a host of current contenders and potential superteams will aim to unseat Giannis Antetokounmpo & Co. in 2022. What will

7:35 AM ET Associated Press MILWAUKEE — Two shootings in downtown Milwaukee early Wednesday as crowds celebrated the Milwaukee Bucks‘ first NBA championship in 50 years left three people wounded, police said. The shootings both happened at about 12:42 a.m. at two locations near Water Street, police said in a statement. TV station WISN had

11:44 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN MILWAUKEE — Eight years ago, a skinny teenager stood between his parents on the court inside Bradley Center here and gazed up at the rafters, where the retired jerseys for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson hung in the rafters. “Maybe in 15 years, 20 years,” the young man said, “maybe

3:49 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN MILWAUKEE — As Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns prepare for Game 6 of the NBA Finals Tuesday night, they do so knowing they’ll see a very familiar face when the game begins. Scott Foster, who has officiated 11 straight postseason losses in games Paul has played in, will be

4:10 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Team USA guard Zach LaVine was put into health and safety protocols on Monday and didn’t travel with the rest of the team on its flight to Tokyo for the Olympics. USA Basketball said in a statement that it hoped LaVine would be able to join the team in

5:18 PM ET MILWAUKEE — Before the Phoenix Suns even arrived in Milwaukee for the biggest game of their lives in Tuesday’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals (9 p.m. ET, ABC), their coach could sense his team’s hangover had cleared from Saturday’s tough loss in Game 5. “When we got on the plane, the

4:21 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN MILWAUKEE – For eight years, Giannis Antetokounmpo has worked toward the moment he and the Milwaukee Bucks find themselves in right now: one win away from an NBA championship. So it should come with little surprise that Monday afternoon, a little more than 24 hours before playing the biggest game

3:58 PM ET Wes Unseld Jr., has agreed to a four-year deal to become the new head coach of the Washington Wizards, sources told ESPN on Saturday. Washington officials completed an agreement with the Denver Nuggets associate head coach and his agent Brian Eflus on Saturday on a long-term deal to replace Scott Brooks, sources

11:09 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Team USA built some needed momentum for the Olympics with a quality win over current world champion Spain, 83-76, Sunday night in their final exhibition game before heading to Tokyo. After falling behind by as many as nine points in the first half, Team USA showed off his shooting

2:14 AM ET PHOENIX — If there ever was a time for Monty Williams to come up with one of the adages he has been heralded for, it was after his Phoenix Suns‘ 123-119 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday. The defeat was Phoenix’s third in a

1:43 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN PHOENIX — As Suns star Devin Booker drove into the lane inside the final 30 seconds of Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night, it felt like it was about to be a storybook moment. The Suns were trailing by one, and Booker — who had already hit

2:28 AM ET PHOENIX — Jrue Holiday knows what everyone wants him to do. No one needs to tell him to be more aggressive offensively. Or to keep shooting, that his shots will eventually start falling. “We always kind of throw that out there,” says his father, Shawn Holiday. But Shawn has coached his son

6:08 PM ET ESPN News Services Denver Nuggets wing Will Barton has declined his $14.7 million player option for the 2021-2022 season and will become a free agent, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. There is a strong interest between the team and Barton to negotiate a new deal once free agency opens in August, sources

8:06 PM ET Tim BontempsESPN PHOENIX — Two days after Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s ridiculous block of Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton‘s dunk attempt late in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals helped save Milwaukee’s season, he still can’t explain exactly how he was able to pull it off. “It’s

10:07 PM ET PHOENIX — After coming up small in what would have been the biggest win of his career, missing out on taking a 3-1 lead over the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals, Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul went to the tape. Just like Paul and teammate Devin Booker reviewed the film

6:15 PM ET The Washington Wizards are offering Denver Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld, Jr. the franchise’s head coaching job, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Contract talks will begin tomorrow and those are expected to result in an agreement that’ll make him the franchise’s next head coach, sources tell ESPN. Unseld, who has served as a

8:00 AM ET NBA Insiders The Milwaukee Bucks know what it takes to come back from a 2-0 deficit, having already done so in the second round against the Brooklyn Nets. Now, after falling behind 2-0 in the NBA Finals, the Bucks return to Phoenix with the series level at two games apiece. Can the

3:40 PM ET DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks hired Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd as head coach in large part because they believe he’s uniquely suited to guide Luka Doncic as the 22-year-old two-time All-NBA selection pursues his championship aspirations. In a news conference Thursday to introduce Kidd and new general manager Nico

2:44 PM ET Adrian Wojnarowski Close Senior NBA Insider Host of The Woj Pod Joined ESPN in 2017 Brian Windhorst Close ESPN Senior Writer ESPN.com NBA writer since 2010 Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years Author of two books LAS VEGAS — Bradley Beal is expected to miss the Tokyo Olympics because of health and

1:55 AM ET Tim BontempsESPN MILWAUKEE — Teams don’t become NBA Finals contenders overnight. The same goes for players developing into All-Stars and league MVPs. Making those kinds of gains, and reaching that kind of rarified air, takes time and pain, sweat and tears. For Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, the past eight years have

2:04 AM ET MILWAUKEE — When are we going to see a Khris Middleton game? From the Deer District to the bluffs of Lake Michigan, this has been the persistent question around town since the Bucks returned to Milwaukee down 2-0 to the Phoenix Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals. Giannis Antetokounmpo will get his

12:07 PM ET Denver Nuggets assistant coach Wes Unseld Jr. and Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham are the front-runners in the Washington Wizards‘ coaching search, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Bucks assistant Charles Lee also has emerged as a finalist for the job, sources said. Unseld, who has served as a Nuggets assistant since

8:21 PM ET LAS VEGAS — Team USA stabilized itself by putting together its most complete game of its Olympic preparation schedule, beating Argentina 108-80 Tuesday night. After back-to-back losses that saw the Americans struggle with offensive execution and defensive stamina, they showed more traction on both fronts 12 days before their Olympic opener in