NBA players are building on the framework of Colin Kaepernick’s protests during the national anthem that helped raise awareness about police brutality, efforts that have permeated the league since it restarted its season in Florida last month amid the coronavirus pandemic. But where Kaepernick’s demonstrations raised awareness, NBA players want their actions to move the needle further. But transforming the widespread embrace for social justice in America from a moment into a movement requires targeting systemic barriers and changing laws, not just mindsets.One target has been voting, with initiatives such as the LeBron James-led More Than A Vote.“We have some ears," James said recently, “and we will continue to push the envelope."Pushing the voting envelope could provide a tangible legacy for today’s socially conscience players who want to transition symbolism into substantive change.According to Pew Research Center, Black voter turnout saw a sizable jump during the 2018 midterm elections... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo has been suspended for Milwaukee’s final game of the regular season, handed a one-game penalty Wednesday for headbutting Washington’s Moe Wagner.It’s unknown if Antetokounmpo would have played in Thursday’s game against Memphis anyway, given that the Bucks have already secured the No. 1 overall seed in the NBA playoffs that start next week.Antetokounmpo will be eligible for Game 1 of the Bucks’ first-round series against Orlando, which will almost certainly be played Monday or Tuesday at Walt Disney World.The incident happened Tuesday night, when Wagner took a charge against Antetokounmpo in the second quarter. Antetokounmpo appeared to be speaking angrily, followed Wagner to the other end and the headbutt took place a few seconds later.Antetokounmpo said after the game that the headbutt was a “terrible action” and that if he “could go back, turn back time and go back to that play, I wouldn’t do it.” He said he was frustrated by an accumulation of contact, on a night where he had already been awarded 12 free throws in his first 10 minutes of play.Antetokounmpo was ejected from the game for the Flagrant-2 foul. He finishes the regular season with averages of 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists, numbers that are likely good enough to win him a second consecutive NBA MVP award.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Pacers coach Nate McMillan wasn't sure how this season would end.So before the league's teams arrived in the NBA bubble, McMillan and president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard started discussing a potential contract extension.On Wednesday, McMillan and the Pacers added another year to his current deal, which was set to expire after next season.“It's just a one-year extension. I felt that was appropriate for both sides," McMillan told reporters on a pregame Zoom call. “Normally, I don’t do any negotiations 'till after the season. But this has been an unusual season for all of us — coaches, players and management — and we’d been talking about this. We just thought a one-year extension really was appropriate."The relationship between McMillan and Pritchard predates their arrival in Indianapolis.After Pritchard finished the 2004-05 season as Portland's interim coach, he became the team's assistant general manager and was later promoted to GM before he was... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Damian Lillard has no shortage of motivation.There’s the painful kind, the kind that comes from dealing with the death three months ago of a cousin who was very close to him. There’s the made-up variety, stemming from the belief he shared Tuesday night that people who cover the league don’t respect his work. There’s the silly stuff, like a back-and-forth on social media with other NBA players.And then there’s probably the biggest sort — his want to get the Portland Trail Blazers back to the playoffs.He topped a 51-point performance on Sunday by offering a 61-point performance on Tuesday, doing all that with the Blazers’ postseason fate still not secure and knowing that any loss would put a sizable dent in those playoff hopes. He’s the 12th player in NBA history to have consecutive 50-point games, and just the second — joining only Wilt Chamberlain — to have three 60-point games in a season.“Couldn’t have been a better time for that type of game,” Lillard said... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo was ejected from Milwaukee's game against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night after the NBA MVP headbutted Moritz Wagner.Wagner took a charge from Antetokounmpo, who didn’t like the call in what had become a physical game.During a break in the action with Milwaukee challenging the call, Antetokounmpo approached Wagner and started jabbering at him before headbutting him and drawing the ejection in the second quarter.He had 12 points and nine rebounds in 10 minutes before exiting the floor.The game itself is meaningless.The Bucks have already clinched the top seed in the East, while the Wizards, who are winless in the bubble, have already been eliminated from playoff contention.Antetokounmpo's headbutt could draw a punishment from the league and keep him out of the team's final seeding game against the Grizzlies on Thursday.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — There will be an NBA Bubble MVP.The league announced that there will be an All-Seeding Games Team and a Player of the Seeding Games, honoring the best performers from the seeding games that started July 30 and will conclude Friday.The awards will be announced Saturday afternoon, prior to Game 1 of the Western Conference play-in series. A panel of sportswriters and broadcasters who have been on-site at the Walt Disney World resort covering the season restart will vote for the award winners. There will be a five-player first team and a five-player second team, with no breakdowns by position.Top candidates would likely include Phoenix's Devin Booker, Dallas' Luka Doncic, Portland's Damian Lillard, Houston's James Harden, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Indiana's T.J. Warren.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Thibodeau made the first addition to his New York Knicks coaching staff on Tuesday, hiring Kenny Payne as an assistant.Payne has spent the last 10 years at Kentucky, where he has been John Calipari's associate head coach since 2014. He was part of the staff that won the 2012 national championship and won its first 38 games in 2014-15.Thibodeau said Payne has “an outstanding ability to forge relationships with players.”“He knows what it takes to win and has learned from one of the best coaches there is in John Calipari," Thibodeau added.Thibodeau was hired last month as coach of the Knicks, who have been one of the NBA's worst teams. Payne, on the other hand, has been part of one of college's best.The Wildcats reached four Final Fours and won 295 games with Payne working under Calipari, who like Thibodeau praised Payne's relationships with players.“As a basketball coach and a teacher, he could run any program in the country,” Calipari said. “Simply, he’s as good as they... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo will miss the Milwaukee Bucks’ game Monday with the Toronto Raptors after having oral surgery.Bucks coach Mike Budehnolzer said Monday it was uncertain whether Antetokounmpo would play in the team’s final two seeding games Tuesday against the Washington Wizards and Thursday against the Memphis Grizzlies.“I believe he’s going to be here in the arena today to support and be with his teammates,” Budenholzer said. “We’ll see how he responds, how he feels tomorrow.”Budenholzer said NBA protocols dealing with dental issues enabled Antetokounmpo to get treatment without having to spend time in quarantine. The Bucks have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for a second straight season. ___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Zion Williamson’s rookie season is ending without a playoff berth.It’s not an uncommon stop on the NBA learning curve.Even for No. 1 draft picks, like Williamson was a year ago, winning takes time. The last player to go from being the top overall selection one year to a playoff-game starter the very next season was Derrick Rose — more than a decade ago. LeBron James needed three years to make the playoffs. John Wall needed four seasons. So did Kyrie Irving, his wait ending in large part because James returned to Cleveland.Williamson is about to learn what that process is like. The New Orleans Pelicans are out of playoff contention, something they pretty much knew was the case after a loss to San Antonio on Sunday afternoon — and something that became mathematically certain that night, when Portland beat Philadelphia.“What I see is what everybody else on the planet sees: that he’s a hard-working, aggressive player,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said of Williamson.... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Zion Williamson’s rookie season is ending without a playoff berth.It’s not an uncommon stop on the NBA learning curve.Even for No. 1 draft picks, like Williamson was a year ago, winning takes time. The last player to go from being the top overall selection one year to a playoff-game starter the very next season was Derrick Rose — more than a decade ago. LeBron James needed three years to make the playoffs. John Wall needed four seasons. So did Kyrie Irving, his wait ending in large part because James returned to Cleveland.Williamson is about to learn what that process is like. The New Orleans Pelicans are out of playoff contention, something they pretty much knew was the case after a loss to San Antonio on Sunday afternoon — and something that became mathematically certain that night, when Portland beat Philadelphia.“What I see is what everybody else on the planet sees: that he’s a hard-working, aggressive player,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said of Williamson.... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Zion Williamson’s rookie season is ending without a playoff berth.It’s not an uncommon stop on the NBA learning curve.Even for No. 1 draft picks, like Williamson was a year ago, winning takes time. The last player to go from being the top overall selection one year to a playoff-game starter the very next season was Derrick Rose -- more than a decade ago. LeBron James needed three years to make the playoffs. John Wall needed four seasons. So did Kyrie Irving, his wait ending in large part because James returned to Cleveland.Williamson is about to learn what that process is like. The New Orleans Pelicans are out of playoff contention, something they pretty much knew was the case after a loss to San Antonio on Sunday afternoon -- and something that became mathematically certain that night, when Portland beat Philadelphia.“What I see is what everybody else on the planet sees: that he’s a hard-working, aggressive player,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said of... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green’s suggestion for Devin Booker’s future did not amuse the NBA.The league fined Green $50,000 on Sunday for violating the league’s anti-tampering rule with his comments about Booker, the Phoenix Suns’ star guard.“Get my man out of Phoenix,” Green said Saturday during an appearance as an analyst for TNT. “It’s not good for him. It’s not good for his career.”Asked on-air if he was tampering, Green replied, “maybe.”The league tightened its rules before this season when it comes to matters such as tampering, salary cap circumvention and free agency timing rules — with one emphasis being the rule prohibiting player-to-player tampering.Booker has not been to the playoffs with the Suns, who have not made the postseason in 10 years. The Suns are 5-0 so far inside the so-called bubble at Walt Disney World, which is playing host to the NBA's restart, and that streak has moved Phoenix into playoff contention.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green’s suggestion for Devin Booker’s future did not amuse the NBA.The league fined Green $50,000 on Sunday for violating the league’s anti-tampering rule with his comments about Booker, the Phoenix Suns’ star guard.“Get my man out of Phoenix,” Green said Saturday during an appearance as an analyst for TNT. “It’s not good for him. It’s not good for his career.”Asked on-air if he was tampering, Green replied, “maybe.”The league tightened its rules before this season when it comes to matters such as tampering, salary cap circumvention and free agency timing rules — with one emphasis being the rule prohibiting player-to-player tampering.Booker has not been to the playoffs with the Suns, who have not made the postseason in 10 years. The Suns are 5-0 so far inside the so-called bubble at Walt Disney World, which is playing host to the NBA's restart, and that streak has moved Phoenix into playoff contention.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — All-Star Ben Simmons will have surgery on his left knee, a big blow for the Philadelphia 76ers and their hopes of making a deep run in this season’s playoffs.The 76ers announced Saturday that Simmons will be leaving the NBA’s season-restart bubble at Walt Disney World. There was no immediate timeframe for his return, and it’s likely that no firm timetable on his recovery will be set until after the surgery.Simmons left Philadelphia’s game against Washington on Wednesday midway through the third quarter because of injury, officially diagnosed as a subluxation of the left patella. A subluxation is a partial and temporary dislocation; the patella is the kneecap.Tests performed since revealed a loose body inside the knee, which led to the decision for surgery.“After consultation with the 76ers medical staff and several specialists, Ben Simmons will undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a loose body in his left knee,” the 76ers said on Saturday in a team... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — All-Star Ben Simmons will have surgery on his left knee, a big blow for the Philadelphia 76ers and their hopes of making a deep run in this season’s playoffs.The 76ers announced Saturday that Simmons will be leaving the NBA’s season-restart bubble at Walt Disney World. There was no immediate timeframe for his return, and it’s likely that no firm timetable on his recovery will be set until after the surgery.Simmons left Philadelphia’s game against Washington on Wednesday midway through the third quarter because of injury, officially diagnosed as a subluxation of the left patella. A subluxation is a partial and temporary dislocation; the patella is the kneecap.Tests performed since revealed a loose body inside the knee, which led to the decision for surgery.“After consultation with the 76ers medical staff and several specialists, Ben Simmons will undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a loose body in his left knee,” the 76ers said on Saturday in a team... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The last time Devin Booker walked off the court as a winner in four consecutive games, these were the opponents: Hampton, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Notre Dame.That is, until now.Booker and the Phoenix Suns — the team that came to the NBA restart at Walt Disney World with the worst record in the Western Conference and the second-worst record of the 22 teams in the field — are perhaps the best story of the bubble.They’re 4-0 at Disney, breathing real life into playoff hopes that basically were nonexistent when the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic on March 11. It’s the team’s first four-game winning streak since December 2018; Booker missed one of those games, so it’s his first run of four wins in a row since helping Kentucky make its Final Four run in 2015.“It definitely feels like a tournament, a big AAU tournament, the March Madness tournament,” Phoenix’s Cameron Payne said Friday. “That’s something I never even got a chance to be... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans have scratched rookie Zion Williamson from the lineup for Friday night's game against the Washington Wizards.The team designated Friday a rest day for the NBA's top overall draft choice after he scored 24 points in 22 minutes in the Pelicans' 140-125 loss to Sacramento on Thursday.Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry noted that Williamson has not played games on consecutive days at all during his entire rookie season, “and that’s the same thing here.” "We just thought it would be best right now to do it this way, and we’ll evaluate tomorrow and see what’s going on,” Gentry added.The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Williamson has seen his playing time limited after missing nearly two weeks of practice in July to attend to a family medical matter.The former Duke star has played as few as 14 minutes and not more than 25 minutes in a game since the Pelicans resumed their season July 30. Williamson has averaged nearly 17 points and about 19 minutes in the Pelicans'... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans have scratched rookie Zion Williamson from the lineup for Friday night's game against the Washington Wizards.The team designated Friday a rest day for the NBA's top overall draft choice after he scored 24 points in 22 minutes in the Pelicans' 140-125 loss to Sacramento on Thursday.The 6-foot-6, 285-pound Williamson has seen his playing time limited after missing nearly two weeks of practice in July to attend to a family medical matter.The former Duke star has played as few as 14 minutes and not more than 25 minutes in a game since the Pelicans resumed their season July 30. Williamson has averaged nearly 17 points and about 19 minutes in the Pelicans' four games in the Disney complex. He has averaged 22.4 points in 23 total games this season after missing the first 44 games of his rookie campaign while recovering from right knee surgery.The Pelicans' playoff hopes have faded with three losses in their past four games. They might need to win all of their final four regular-season games to have a chance to qualify.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — The last time Devin Booker walked off the court as a winner in four consecutive games, these were the opponents: Hampton, Cincinnati, West Virginia and Notre Dame.That is, until now.Booker and the Phoenix Suns — the team that came to the NBA restart at Walt Disney World with the worst record in the Western Conference and the second-worst record of the 22 teams in the field — are perhaps the best story of the bubble.They’re 4-0 at Disney, breathing real life into playoff hopes that basically were nonexistent when the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic on March 11. It’s the team’s first four-game winning streak since December 2018; Booker missed one of those games, so it’s his first run of four wins in a row since helping Kentucky make its Final Four run in 2015.“It definitely feels like a tournament, a big AAU tournament, the March Madness tournament,” Phoenix’s Cameron Payne said Friday. “That’s something I never even got a chance to be... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — This is the land of in-between for the Los Angeles Lakers.Games right now matter, in the sense that only three contests are left to build momentum for the postseason. And games right now don’t matter, in the sense that the Lakers basically knew five months ago that they would be the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.They lost again Thursday night, with LeBron James getting the night off in a defeat to the Houston Rockets. The Lakers are 2-3 so far in the bubble, and their offensive numbers are brutal.There are 22 teams here at the NBA restart at Walt Disney World. Of those 22, the Lakers — the team with the second-best record in the NBA — rank last in field goal percentage (.408), last in 3-point percentage (.234), last in points per game (98.8) and next-to-last in free throw percentage (.729).“This is a totally different season, a totally different drastic situation for all of us, including myself,” James said this week.If they win Game 1 of the... [More]