MIAMI (AP) — The NBA has told teams avoid high-fiving fans and strangers and avoid taking any item for autographs, the league’s latest response in its ongoing monitoring of the coronavirus crisis that has spread to most corners of the planet.The league, in a memo sent to teams on Sunday and obtained Monday by The Associated Press, offered 10 recommendations to players with hopes of decreasing risks of getting the virus — among them, not taking items such as pens, markers, balls and jerseys from autograph-seekers.The NBA also told teams that it is consulting “with infectious disease experts, including the Centers for Disease Control” and infectious disease researchers at Columbia University in New York. “We are also in regular communication with each other, NBA teams including team physicians and athletic trainers, other professional sports leagues, and of course, many of you,” the league wrote in its memo to teams, their physicians and athletic training staffs. ESPN first reported on the... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Knicks forward-center Bobby Portis was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Wednesday for recklessly making contact above the shoulders of an airborne shooter.Portis was assessed a Flagrant Foul 2 and ejected in the second quarter of the Knicks' 117-87 loss at the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.Portis is averaging 9.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 20.6 minutes in 37 games this season.