NBA News

DALLAS (AP) — Cooper Flagg didn’t get a call, and his coach and a teammate got kicked out of the game trying to stick up for the rookie No. 1 pick of the Dallas Mavericks. Less than a quarter later, Flagg was the first teenager to score 51 points in an NBA game in Dallas’ 138-127 loss to the Orlando …

In theory, a professional sports league is an enterprise that allows the average person to watch some of the world’s best athletes play a competitive game. The modern NBA has made it easy to forget that. Perhaps time will be kinder to the league’s 2025-26 season than we’re about to be, but Friday might have been the clearest possible window …

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Paul George scored 23 points, Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. each had 21 and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 115-103 on Friday night. Joel Embiid had 19 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists in his return to the lineup to help the 76ers remain sixth in the Eastern Conference with five games to play. …

Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg isn’t ready to be ruled out of the Rookie of the Year race just yet. The race between Flagg and his former Duke teammate, Kon Knueppel of the Charlotte Hornets, has been close. Advertisement But Flagg sent a message Friday night, becoming the first teenager to score at least 50 points in an NBA regular-season …

NEW YORK (AP) — CJ McCollum had 25 points and seven assists and the surging Atlanta Hawks routed the Brooklyn Nets 141-107 on Friday night for their fourth straight victory and 18th in 20 games. Fifth in the Eastern Conference at 45-33, the Hawks remained 1 1/2 games ahead of sixth-place Philadelphia and seventh-place Toronto and moved within 3 1/2 …

Cooper Flagg stands alone in NBA history after Friday. The Dallas Mavericks rookie became the youngest player in NBA history to record a 50-point game at 19 years and 103 days old, posting 51 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in a 138-127 loss to the Orlando Magic. Advertisement Flagg is also the ninth rookie in NBA history …

HOUSTON (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 25 points and the Houston Rockets won their fifth straight game, beating the Utah Jazz 140-106 on Friday night. Durant shot 8 of 12 from the field and added five assists. It was the 45th time this season he’s scored 20 or more points while shooting 50% or better. That’s second among NBA players …

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 26 points, Jayson Tatum added 23, and the hot-shooting Boston Celtics capitalized on another fast start in a 133-101 victory over the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night. Tatum was an assist shy of his second straight triple-double despite sitting out the entire fourth quarter of a game the Celtics never trailed. He had …

NEW YORK (AP) — CJ McCollum had 25 points and seven assists and the surging Atlanta Hawks routed the Brooklyn Nets 141-107 on Friday night for their fourth straight victory and 18th in 20 games. Fifth in the Eastern Conference at 45-33, the Hawks remained 1 1/2 games ahead of sixth-place Philadelphia and moved within 3 1/2 games of fourth-place …

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Brandon Miller scored 22 points, Kon Knueppel added 20 and the Charlotte Hornets beat the Indiana Pacers 129-108 on Friday night for their eighth victory in 10 games. Miles Bridges scored 19 points and LaMelo Ball had 18 points and nine assists to help the Hornets improve to 42-26. Charlotte was 24 of 49 from 3-point …

NEW YORK (AP) — New York center Karl-Anthony Towns was held out of the Knicks’ game Friday night against the Chicago Bulls because of a right elbow impingement. Towns was in a good mood as he participated in pregame warmups and took a couple of shots. However, he stood in front of the visitor’s bench and grabbed his elbow before …

Sacramento Kings rookie Maxime Raynaud was named Western Conference Rookie of the Month for the month of March, the league announced. Raynaud was selected by the Kings in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft with the 42nd overall pick, out of Stanford. Advertisement In 15 games played and started in March, the former Cardinal star has averaged 17.9 …

PHOENIX (AP) — Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw and the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year. Parker, Holdsclaw and members of the 1996 Olympic team were all in attendance as well as Amar’e Stoudemire and Mike D’Antoni. Advertisement They will be joined by longtime …

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A pair of NBA head coaches defended Memphis and its culture Friday following criticism by Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James that the Grizzlies should just relocate to Nashville. Current Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo and Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic, an assistant in Memphis before taking over as head coach of Toronto, said their experiences did not …

The Los Angeles Lakers suffered both insult and injury Thursday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the team’s blowout loss, star guard Luka Dončić was forced to leave the game due to a left hamstring injury. Dončić underwent an MRI on Friday and was diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, resulting in the Lakers ruling him out indefinitely, …

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic has been ruled out for the final five games of the regular season. The team announced that Doncic was diagnosed with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, which he suffered on April 2 in the Lakers’ blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Advertisement Doncic has missed 13 games this season. In missing the …

This is exactly what the Lakers and their fans feared when they saw Luka Doncic pull up and grab his hamstring in the third quarter Thursday night. Doncic has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain and will be out for the remainder of the regular season, the Lakers announced. While the Lakers did not discuss the playoffs — …

The Los Angeles Lakers lost in embarrassing fashion against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, falling 139-96 — but Luka Doncic was hurt during the game, adding injury to insult. While the severity was unknown, it didn’t look good — and those fears were confirmed on Friday afternoon when ESPN reported that Doncic has a Grade 2 hamstring strain …

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Luka Doncic will miss the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers’ regular season with a Grade 2 strain of his left hamstring, the team announced Friday. Doncic is the NBA’s top scorer and the driving force behind the Lakers’ surge into the third spot in the Western Conference standings, but he injured his leg during Los …

The Golden State Warriors are reportedly getting back their superstar this weekend with Stephen Curry set to return Sunday for their game against the Houston Rockets. Curry is expected to be cleared to play, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Anthony Slater, after missing more than two months – 27 consecutive games – due to a persistent knee injury. Advertisement …

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top of the Dodgers’ batting order could only stay quiet for so long. Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman — the first four hitters in the Los Angeles lineup — all homered Friday in a 13-6 win over the Washington Nationals. It was Tucker’s first home run since joining the Dodgers. It was …

PARIS (AP) — Ousmane Dembélé scored twice in the first half as Paris Saint-Germain beat Toulouse 3-1 and increased its lead of Ligue 1 to four points on Friday. The game was brought forward to give PSG more recovery time ahead of next Wednesday’s Champions League quarterfinal with Liverpool at the Parc des Princes. Advertisement PSG came into the match …

Caleb Williams said that he had no idea that NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin’s nickname was “Iceman” and that his motive for trying to trademark the name was about “control.” “It’s funny because I didn’t know, my dad probably knows his [Gervin] nickname was that,” Williams told Front Office Sports this week. “It’s not anything between me and George …

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer in the third inning, and Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman went deep as well as the Los Angeles Dodgers pummeled the Washington Nationals 13-6 on Friday. Andy Pages also homered for the Dodgers, but it was the top of their order — which had been struggling — that really …

There is no good time to lose a player like Luka Dončić, and no good way to lose him. But the way the Los Angeles Lakers lost him Thursday night — in the midst of getting absolutely poleaxed by the defending NBA champion and Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, to a non-contact soft tissue injury, just over two weeks before …