Category: NBA Basketball

12:34 PM ET

After officially signing with the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday afternoon, Michael Beasley has made his way to Orlando, Florida, where he began the league-mandated quarantine.

During a conference call with reporters, Nets general manager Sean Marks said that Beasley arrived at the team’s hotel, passed a physical examination and must test negative for the coronavirus for six consecutive days before he is cleared to join the team at practice.

The Nets had three vacant substitute roster spots after Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan and Taurean Prince tested positive for the coronavirus. Marks said that Tyler Johnson did not travel with the team for personal reasons but will be joining the group in Orlando.

Brooklyn completed the signing of Jamal Crawford later Thursday. Forward Donta Hall has agreed to a deal with the team, pending a physical, sources told ESPN, confirming a New York Times report.

Jul 9, 2020

Stephen Jackson apologized Wednesday night for using what he said were the “wrong words” in defending DeSean Jackson, but the former NBA player told CNN that what he said a day earlier should not be misinterpreted as support for anti-Semitism.

“As I first stated when I got on here, I could’ve changed my words,” Jackson told CNN. “But there’s nothing that said that I support any of that. There’s nothing that I said that I hate anybody.”

Jackson received criticism throughout Wednesday for saying that DeSean Jackson was “speaking the truth” with his social media posts in recent days that included an anti-Semitic message that he attributed to Adolf Hitler.

Stephen Jackson took to Instagram on Tuesday night to defend the Eagles’ receiver, saying in part: “You know he don’t hate nobody, but he’s speaking the truth of the facts that he knows and trying

3:05 PM ET

The Atlanta Hawks‘ G League affiliate became the first team in the league to hire a woman as general manager with the promotion of Tori Miller to the post on Thursday.

Congratulations, Tori! 👏 https://t.co/kXfulNw06T

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) July 9, 2020

Miller spent time as a basketball operations intern for the Phoenix Suns before her time in the G League. She was named assistant GM of the Skyhawks in July 2019 and began her G League career as basketball operations manager three seasons ago with the Erie BayHawks.

Former Skyhawks GM Derek Pierce will continue to oversee Atlanta’s scouting department in his role as VP of player personnel for the Hawks, the team said.

6:53 PM ET

Star guards James Harden and Russell Westbrook were among a small group of Houston Rockets players and staffers who did not travel on the team flight to Orlando, Florida, on Thursday, sources told ESPN.

Each member of the group is expected to join the team later at Walt Disney World after traveling on his own.

2 Related

Coach Mike D’Antoni was on the team flight, although he has yet to receive official word from the NBA that he has been cleared to coach the remainder of the season, sources said. D’Antoni, 69, said earlier this week that his medical screenings did not reveal any issues that would be considered red flags.

The league office informed the National Basketball Coaches Association that nobody would be placed in the high-risk category — meaning they wouldn’t be allowed to coach in the bubble — due to age alone.

The

6:17 AM ET

NBA Insiders

How well will the top teams in the NBA restart answer their big questions heading into the postseason? We polled the ESPN Forecast panel of 40 NBA experts for their confidence level in one key unknown about each of the top 10 teams in our latest round of Power Rankings.

Can the Houston Rockets‘ micro-ball approach work? Will the Los Angeles Lakers find an effective closing lineup? Do the Toronto Raptors have enough to take down the league-leading Milwaukee Bucks once again?

Voters marked their confidence in how effectively each team will answer each question, ranging from 0% to 100%. Here are the results, with teams ranked from most confidence to least confidence.

MORE: NBA Power Rankings and key questions for all 22 teams

The Clippers’ on-court chemistry

After dealing with injuries and roster moves for most of the season, the LA

Watch Now: Boomer and Gio: The NBA Orlando bubble is filled with holes (3:05)

Tom Thibodeau, a former New York Knicks assistant coach from 1996-2004, has emerged as the favorite to become the team’s next head coach. On Thursday, he had the chance to make his case officially, as he formally interviewed for the job, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. 

Thibodeau hasn’t coached since he was fired by the Minnesota Timberwolves in January of 2019 after the team failed to make substantial progress during his two-plus seasons as their coach and general manager. However, his stock around the league remained relatively high, thanks largely to his reputation as an excellent defensive mind. In addition to the Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets and Houston Rockets are also reportedly interested in Thibodeau. 

Thibodeau isn’t the only candidate on the Knicks’ radar.  Kenny

Nikola Vucevic had to raise his voice a bit to answer a question. He had just walked off the court after the first Orlando Magic practice of the restart, and some of his teammates remained on the floor while engaged in a loud and enthusiastic shooting contest.

After four months, basketball was truly back.

Full-scale practices inside the NBA bubble at the Disney complex started Thursday, with the Magic — the first team to get into the campus earlier this week — becoming the first team formally back on the floor. By the close of business Thursday, all 22 teams participating in the restart were to be checked into their hotel and beginning their isolation from the rest of the world for what will be several weeks at least. And by Saturday, all teams should have practiced at least once.

“It’s great to be back after four months,” Vucevic said.

The legal fight over NBA rookie Zion Williamson’s endorsement potential now includes an allegation that his family received $400,000 from a marketing agency before his lone season for Duke.

Prime Sports Marketing and company president Gina Ford filed a lawsuit last summer in a Florida state court, accusing Williamson and the agency now representing him of breach of contract. That came a week after Williamson filed his own lawsuit in a North Carolina federal court to terminate a five-year contract with Prime Sports after moving to Creative Artists Agency LLC.

In court filings Thursday in North Carolina, Ford’s attorneys included a sworn affidavit from a California man who said the head of a Canadian-based firm called Maximum Management Group (MMG) told him he paid Williamson’s family for his commitment to sign with MMG once he left Duke for the NBA.

The documents include a marketing agreement signed by Williamson with

NEW YORK (AP) — The Brooklyn Nets filled one of the openings on their roster Thursday by signing veteran Michael Beasley as a substitute player for the remainder of the season.

The Nets will resume play without Spencer Dinwiddie and DeAndre Jordan after they tested positive for the coronavirus. Wilson Chandler also chose not to play, and Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving aren’t returning from their injuries.

Beasley was the No. 2 pick in the 2008 draft and has averaged 12.4 points in 609 games over 11 seasons. He hasn’t played in the NBA since appearing for the Lakers in February 2019.

Beasley won’t be eligible to play until the sixth of Brooklyn’s eight seeding games because he has serve a suspension for violating the drug policy.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Brooklyn Nets plugged a couple holes in their roster Thursday with a pair of well-traveled veteran scorers.

The Nets signed three-time Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford and Michael Beasley as substitute players for the remainder of the season.

The Nets will resume play without Spencer Dinwiddie and DeAndre Jordan after they tested positive for the coronavirus. Wilson Chandler also chose not to play, and Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving aren’t returning from their injuries.

On the day the Nets practiced for the first time on the Walt Disney World Resort campus, they added a pair of players who can put up points.

The 40-year-old Crawford hasn’t played in the NBA this season after scoring 51 points while playing for Phoenix in the finale of the 2018-19 season. That made him the first player in NBA history with 50-point games for four different teams.