NBA News

With a few hours to go before his team is set to take on the Washington Wizards on Wednesday, Joel Embiid’s playing status is unclear. The Philadelphia 76ers originally announced Embiid would miss the contest due to an illness, but the center posted on social media that his injury designation must have been an “April Fools joke.” In his tweet, …

Want to get more Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account here. One of the many reasons the final six weeks of the NBA season are often disregarded is that teams with differing interests meet in messy schedule spots. Advertisement Both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Houston Rockets played last night. This may be a …

In coordination with FIBA, the NBA on Tuesday touted “significant interest from a range of prospective teams and investors” for a new league to operate in Europe. “The level of engagement and the scale of the bids reflect the marketplace’s belief in our proposed model and the enormous, untapped potential for European basketball,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said in a …

FIFA appeared to have technical difficulties when it resumed World Cup ticket sales Wednesday after the 48-team field was finalized. Soccer’s governing body did not say which games and price categories were available. Advertisement Some people who clicked on what FIFA called its “last-minute sales phase” when sales opened at 11 a.m. EDT were directed into a queue for “PMA …

Want to get more Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account here. The red-hot Atlanta Hawks will be looking to keep rolling tonight as they take on the Orlando Magic at the Kia Center. Advertisement After a big win over Boston, my Hawks vs. Magic predictions are targeting Atlanta to notch their third victory in …

Naomi Girma is going to play at home in Northern California with the U.S. national team later this month for the first time since a send-off game for the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Coach Emma Hayes announced Wednesday that Girma, who was born in San Jose and played at nearby Stanford, will be on the roster when the U.S. plays …

Want to get more Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account here. The Sacramento Kings have sunk to the bottom of the Western Conference, leaving little to play for. However, my Kings vs. Raptors predictions forecast a motivated showing from veteran forward DeMar DeRozan when Sacramento wraps up its five-game road trip in Toronto. Advertisement …

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 113-127 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate. All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player. Donovan Mitchell 10 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds Advertisement Mitchell felt more like a passive participant. He was mostly just moving the ball around, even in …

Every year, a handful of fantasy basketball managers spot something others miss or move more quickly than the rest of the league. The term “league-winner” gets tossed around for any player who carries a team deep into the playoffs, but that requires both luck and stability. In a game that lasts upwards of 24 weeks, getting any player off the …

On March 1, the New Orleans Pelicans took the floor without Zion Williamson. Normally, this wouldn’t be worth highlighting. NBA star misses game isn’t exactly a rare headline these days, and Williamson isn’t exactly known as an ironman. Except that, leading up to that night, Williamson had played in 35 straight games, a career-best streak. He returned two days later …

Qualifying is done. The lineup is complete. The countdown to the biggest-ever World Cup is on, with the 48-team tournament in North America a veritable hodgepodge of stellar names and unheralded upstarts. Advertisement Here’s a look at what we learned from a qualification campaign that lasted 2 1/2 years, featured 2,527 goals, and finished Tuesday with six nations booking the …

The art of tanking is nothing new for the NBA. Teams have been finding ways to lose games in an effort to improve their Draft position at least as far back as the early 1990s when the league implemented weighted odds favoring the worst teams. Prior to that, there was an outright coin flip between the worst Eastern and Western …

ROME (AP) — Italy won’t get a chance at redemption for Roberto Baggio’s miss in the 1994 World Cup final at the Rose Bowl. The four-time champion isn’t even going back to North America for this year’s tournament after a penalty shootout loss to 66th-ranked Bosnia-Herzegovina in the qualifying playoffs. Advertisement It’s the third straight World Cup that Italy will …

On Tuesday, a pair of the league’s citizenship awards were announced. Two members of the Silver & Black received nominations. Harrison Barnes was nominated as an NBA Sportsmanship Award Finalist. The award is given to a player who most “exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship on the court with ethical behavior, fair play, and integrity.” Advertisement He was nominated alongside former Spurs guard …

On March 31, the Houston Rockets put on one of their best performances of the year, defeating the New York Knicks 111–94 at home. The Rockets set the tone from the beginning. Houston took control early in the second quarter and never gave it up, playing with confidence, speed, and accuracy. Against a Knicks defense that never quite found its …

The Lakers didn’t need Luka Doncic to take care of business in Monday night’s win over the Wizards as he served his one-game suspension because of an accumulation of technical fouls But they needed every bit of the MVP-caliber play carried into Tuesday night to blow out the Cavaliers 127-113 at Crypto.com Arena. Advertisement Doncic got off to another one …

The 2026 NBA Playoffs are less than two weeks away, with the SoFi Play-In Tournament tipping off on April 14 and the first round officially underway on April 18. The playoff picture is rapidly taking shape, with 20 teams already locked in and the remaining seeds still up for grabs as the regular season winds down. With just nine games …

Boston fans know the team is in another golden age of contention. But how long can it last? The Celtics secured their fifth consecutive 50+ win season since 2021-22 with a 114-99 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday night — the franchise’s 38th season with 50+ wins and its fourth time hitting that mark at least five seasons in …

Los Angeles Lakers head coach J.J. Redick laced up some custom-made sneakers for a good cause on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena. Redick wore custom made Nike sneakers designed by Salt Lake City artist John Millar for the NBA and the NBA Coaches Association in honoring Autism Acceptance Month. Advertisement The shoes were designed with the Lakers team colors of …

The tests kept coming in the month of March for the Lakers and they responded with the same resounding answer: We’re ready. Yet, even though the Lakers posted a 15-2 record last month, even though they beat some of the best teams in the NBA, they still have another big test on the horizon that will further show whether they’re …

Coming into March, the Lakers were floating adrift, fresh off three demoralizing losses to the Celtics, Magic and Suns and staring the toughest stretch of the season in the face. The Lakers exit March having loudly declared they are a legitimate contender. According to Positive Residual, they had the second-most games and the 10th-hardest schedule in March. Advertisement They finished …

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Celtics fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys. So many people deserve credit for the Celtics success in what was supposed to be a gap year in Boston. Despite …

Will two Big Ten teams face off with a national championship on the line? No. 3 seed Illinois and No. 1 Michigan are on opposite sides of the Final Four in 2026, and could guarantee the Big Ten the NCAA Tournament championship with wins in the national semifinals. The Fighting Illini take on No. 2 Connecticut, while the Wolverines face …

LOS ANGELES – The Cavs coming to town as a top Eastern Conference team posed another tough challenge for the Lakers. As was true throughout March, however, the Lakers were up to the test. They beat the Cavs 127-113 on Tuesday, and did so with great performances up and down the roster. Advertisement Luka Dončić, back from his suspension, was racking …

Who is and isn’t a blue blood in college basketball is often a heated debate. By definition a blue blood is a program with elite lineage. UConn’s blood line of elite success didn’t get going until the 1990s. The Huskies reached six Sweet 16s in the decade before breaking through in 1999 with the program’s first national title. Advertisement The …