MIAMI (AP) — Most of the top NBA playoff contenders stayed out of the down-to-the-wire frenzy at the trade deadline.Miami and the Los Angeles Clippers beefed up instead.And a slew of other teams — including the Golden State Warriors — made moves with short-term finances and long-term ramifications in mind.The NBA’s 3 p.m. EST deadline Thursday for trades to be consummated did not arrive quietly, with a flurry of deals getting struck in the final hour and at least one other notable move falling apart before reaching the finish line. Deals that included at least 41 players and 15 future draft picks were struck on either Wednesday or Thursday — the biggest move likely being the one Thursday that saw Andrew Wiggins going from Minnesota to the Warriors so D’Angelo Russell could leave Golden State finally be paired with his good friend Karl-Anthony Towns with the Timberwolves.Here's how busy the Timberwolves were at trade-deadline time: They announced the jersey numbers of eight new players Thursday... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Most of the top NBA playoff contenders stayed out of the down-to-the-wire frenzy at the trade deadline.Miami and the Los Angeles Clippers beefed up instead.And a slew of other teams — including the Golden State Warriors — made moves with short-term finances and long-term ramifications in mind.The NBA’s 3 p.m. EST deadline Thursday for trades to be consummated did not arrive quietly, with a flurry of deals getting struck in the final hour and at least one other notable move falling apart before reaching the finish line. Deals that included at least 41 players and 15 future draft picks were struck on either Wednesday or Thursday — the biggest move likely being the one Thursday that saw Andrew Wiggins going from Minnesota to the Warriors so D’Angelo Russell could leave Golden State finally be paired with his good friend Karl-Anthony Towns with the Timberwolves.Here's how busy the Timberwolves were at trade-deadline time: They announced the jersey numbers of eight new players Thursday... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Each of the last nine NBA Finals have included either the Miami Heat or Andre Iguodala.They’d like to go there together now.Iguodala is about to get back on the floor, and the Heat are hoping that they’re closer to becoming legitimate contenders again. The trade sending Iguodala to Miami is official, finally getting completed on Thursday with league approval one day after the Heat struck a deal with the Memphis Grizzlies to land the 2015 NBA Finals MVP.“He won, what, three championship rings?” Heat guard Goran Dragic said in Los Angeles after the deal was agreed upon. “Happy to have him. Can't wait to pick his brain. He's going to do great things for us.”It ended up as a three-team deal: Miami sent Justise Winslow, James Johnson and Dion Waiters to Memphis, with the Grizzlies sending Iguodala, Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill to the Heat. The Grizzlies then flipped Johnson to Minnesota for Gorgui Dieng. The Grizzlies were also working on either waiving or buying out Waiters.Before... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Andre Iguodala's trade to Miami was getting closer to the finish line Thursday after the Heat and Memphis Grizzlies agreed to terms on a six-player trade, according to two people with direct knowledge of the terms.The portion of the trade involving Iguodala was agreed upon Wednesday night, as was the 2015 NBA Finals MVP agreeing to a two-year extension with Miami that will be formalized when the totality of the deal actually gets approved by the league sometime Thursday.Justise Winslow knew he was leaving Miami for Memphis on Wednesday night, as evidenced by some social-media posts and a late-night visit to his now-former locker room to pack up his belongings and wish a security guard well. Also in the deal: Dion Waiters and James Johnson leaving Miami for Memphis, with Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill leaving the Grizzlies for the Heat.Miami and Memphis were also working on a third component, that being adding Oklahoma City in what could have brought Danilo Gallinari to the Heat.... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Shooting guard Dion Waiters has been suspended by the Miami Heat for their season opener against Memphis on Wednesday night for what was described as "conduct detrimental to the team.""There were a number of unacceptable incidents this week, culminating with his unprofessional conduct on the bench last night," Heat President Pat Riley said in a statement Saturday night. "As a consequence, I feel we had to suspend him."Waiters got into a discussion with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra during Friday night's game, though the Heat did not specifically address what any of the incidents were.Waiters played only 10 minutes in Friday night's preseason finale — nine players got more, not even including Jimmy Butler, who got the night off for rest. Waiters averaged 14.3 minutes per game in four preseason appearances.Waiters is the second player to face publicly announced punishment from the Heat already this season. James Johnson was not permitted to attend training camp because his level of conditioning was not at the team's standards, and returned to practice late in the preseason.Waiters is entering his fourth season with the Heat. He's missed 126 of a possible 246 games over the last three years, largely because of ankle injuries and a subsequent surgery on his foot and ankle.Waiters averaged 12.0 points last season in 44 games. The Heat said he will be permitted to return to the team on Thursday.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Golden State owner and CEO Joe Lacob often uses the same phrase when asked about how much money the Warriors are willing to spend to keep a championship-contending roster together."Whatever it takes," Lacob says.In the NBA, those words have never been as weighty.The summer spending starts Sunday in the NBA, with teams and players set to reach agreements on more than $2 billion — maybe even more than $3 billion — in new deals over the next few days. It's a risk-reward play, one where teams must dig deeply into their pockets to land the best players and hope that those massive financial commitments don't end up crippling their franchise for years.The Warriors are likely to offer Kevin Durant a $221 million, five-year deal that will come with two big pills for the team to swallow. One, he'll be on a $38 million scholarship next season while he recovers from Achilles surgery and cannot play. And two, Durant would be owed more than $50 million when his then-35-year-old self plays the final year... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — A flight was awaiting Miami Heat President Pat Riley on Saturday, just as he hoped.It just wasn't to Toronto or Milwaukee for Game 1 of a playoff series. That's the problem.Riley's second home in Malibu, California, is one of his happy places — though with the NBA playoffs starting this weekend, Malibu is about the last place he wants be right now. The playoffs aren't on Riley's calendar this season, so he's taking 10 blue notebooks to Malibu and plans to fill them with ideas on how to make sure that's not the case in 2020."I'm going to write and write and write and write," Riley said. "That's where we are for the next couple of weeks. Once the hangover subsides, then we'll have more coherent thought."A challenging offseason awaits the Heat, who went 39-43 this season and will return for training camp in about five months without Dwyane Wade — probably their best player this season, and at times certainly their most important player. Wade is retiring, and if the Heat have plans... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wade has gone full circle.He arrived in Miami in 2003, holding his 16-month-old son Zaire at the introductory news conference the day after the Heat drafted him and changed their franchise forever. The last time he would speak in that very same room as an active NBA player was earlier this week, when he held his 5-month-old daughter Kaavia for the farewell address.A life was starting on his way in. Another life is starting on his way out."This city has allowed me to grow," Wade said. "I hope they're proud of what they have helped me become. So, this city means everything to me. It's forever, forever, forever going to be my home. This is the end of the basketball part of me, but there's so much I want to do in this city. So much more that we can accomplish together. I definitely look forward to that."The only certainty about next season for the Heat is that Wade's jersey will be retired.The rest is anyone's guess.Even with Wade averaging 15 points and shooting a career-high... [More]

DALLAS (AP) — A matchup of the NBA's top two rebounders is on with Detroit's Andre Drummond returning against DeAndre Jordan and the Dallas Mavericks after the Pistons big man missed three games while in the concussion protocol.Drummond took a shot to the nose in a win over Miami a week ago and missed games against Sacramento, Washington and New Orleans. The visit to the Mavericks on Friday night wraps up a three-game trip.The 6-foot-11 Drummond leads the league at 14.9 rebounds per game. Jordan is second at 14.0 rebounds per game in his first season in Dallas after signing as a free agent. Drummond is third in the NBA with 36 double-doubles, and the 6-11 Jordan is tied for 11th with 29.Drummond left in the first quarter last Friday against the Heat after getting hit in the face by the arm of Miami's James Johnson. It did not appear to be intentional blow.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

DETROIT (AP) — Andre Drummond left Detroit's game against Miami on Friday night with a nasal injury after he was hit in the face by an opponent's arm.James Johnson of the Heat caught Drummond in the face in the first half, and the Detroit big man left after playing only 7:14. Drummond is not expected to return.Ish Smith, a backup point guard for Detroit, also left because of adductor tightness. Smith was in his third game back after missing 19 because of a right adductor tear.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Dwyane Wade's first touch of the game was a lob to set up a dunk. His first shot was a corner 3-pointer. And his first trip into the lane resulted in getting his shot swatted away.All three of those plays left him smiling.Wade's 16th and final season — his "last dance," as he calls it — got off to an unofficial start Saturday, when the Miami Heat broke training camp at Florida Atlantic University with their annual scrimmage. His stats, as if they even mattered: eight points on 2 for 7 shooting, with three assists and a steal in 23 minutes."It was cool," Wade said. "We've been working hard in practice, obviously. But to be out here today in front of some fans, getting to play in a different energy, you could see it in everybody. Guys were moving quicker. Guys were into it."Wade got the big cheer at the start, and his fellow 16-year veteran got the biggest cheer at the end: The final play of the scrimmage was Udonis Haslem hitting a game-winning jumper, one that gave... [More]

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Part of Miami coach Erik Spoelstra's annual mandate to players, whether a 16-year veteran like Dwyane Wade or a second-year guy like Bam Adebayo, is to evolve.Spoelstra expects the same from himself.The Heat opened training camp on Tuesday with players who accounted for 98 percent of their scoring, 98 percent of their assists and 97 percent of their rebounding from last season. And keeping the same team means that those players, by now, have heard just about every speech and seen just about every trick in the Heat book.Hence, the challenge for Spoelstra this season: Keeping the message and the approach fresh."I look back on it now and I don't even know how I prepared for my first training camp," Spoelstra said after the first practice of the season at Florida Atlantic University. "With this group, this probably felt more like a practice and an extension of last year's playoff prep because we had so many familiar faces. So that was nice."Wade was back in Heat camp... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — This time last year, Miami's Goran Dragic was already tired and the season was just getting started.It's very different now.When the Heat hold their first practice of the season Tuesday, Dragic expects to be as rested and ready as he's been for any training camp in years. The point guard who went to his first All-Star Game last season wore down as the year went along, in part because of the grind he put himself through last summer while leading his native Slovenia to the European championship.This summer, he played less — and is hoping that pays off this season."I feel amazing. I feel great," Dragic said. "I think one of the smartest moves I made was retiring from the national team, because I feel energized and pumped for this season. I always kind of hit a wall toward the end of a season, but I feel like this season is going to be a totally different story."At 32, Dragic is Miami's third-oldest player — among those in the Heat locker room, only Udonis Haslem (38) and the entering-his-final-season... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — The NBA offseason has arrived, which means nothing will happen for the next four months other than a draft, three summer leagues, free agency, the creation of a new schedule, coaching hires, trades, roster reworkings and possibly movement toward letting high school graduates jump directly into the league again.It all adds up to very little downtime.There is no shortage of questions about what will happen this summer — leading off, of course, with yet another decision to be made by LeBron James about his future and where he'll play next season as he resumes his quest for more championships.Here are some non-James topics heading into the offseason:KAWHI LEONARDThe mystery of the 2017-18 NBA season is the mystery of the offseason as well. Leonard played in only nine games for the Spurs this season while dealing with a leg injury, the specifics of which are a closely guarded secret even by San Antonio's notoriously tight-lipped standards. He could get a supermax deal, he could... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — If there was any reason for solace in the Miami Heat locker room after the final game of the season in Philadelphia, it was this: They knew they lost to a better team.The Heat were good. They weren't great.Hence, the challenge of the offseason is clear: The Heat have to not only find ways to improve, but will have to find some creative ways to make it happen. They don't have a pile of salary-cap space to play with, they don't have any picks in this year's draft and they know that fellow Eastern Conference clubs like the 76ers — who needed five games to oust Miami from the playoffs — might only get better."We gave everything we have," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "We have to be OK with that."And with that, there is Question No. 1 of the offseason: Does Wade have any more to give?Wade is considering retirement, a decision that could affect some of the personnel decisions the Heat will make this summer, plus could also have an impact on whether Udonis Haslem returns to Miami for... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Monday is the day that the Miami Heat will gather for the annual team picture. They're always set up the same way: coaches sitting in the middle of the front row, the team's shorter players sitting on either side of Erik Spoelstra and his assistants, support staff and taller players standing in the back.Some smiles might be forced.The Heat are dealing with a 7-foot problem, at the wrong time of year. Center Hassan Whiteside was fined an undisclosed amount Sunday for "comments detrimental to the team" — a response to his remarks expressing frustration with his role. He went on an expletive-laden tirade after Miami's 110-109 overtime loss Saturday to the Brooklyn Nets, when the Heat missed a chance to clinch a playoff spot, saying he should play more and might be better elsewhere.The team had no additional comment Sunday. They resume practice Monday, when Whiteside's words will be a hot topic again."Man, it's annoying, you know. Why we matching up? We got one of the best centers... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Monday is the day that the Miami Heat will gather for the annual team picture. They're always set up the same way: coaches sitting in the middle of the front row, the team's shorter players sitting on either side of Erik Spoelstra and his assistants, support staff and taller players standing in the back.Some smiles might be forced.The Heat have a 7-foot problem to deal with, at the wrong time of year. The playoffs start in two weeks, and Miami's highest-paid player — center Hassan Whiteside — is voicing his frustration with his role. He went on an expletive-laden tirade after Miami's 110-109 overtime loss Saturday night to the Brooklyn Nets, when the Heat missed a chance to clinch a playoff spot, saying he should play more and may be better off elsewhere."Man, it's annoying, you know. Why we matching up? We got one of the best centers in the league," Whiteside said. "Why we matching up? A lot of teams don't have a good center."Whiteside didn't play in the final 21 minutes on... [More]

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was asked in London last week about fining misbehaving players, and even he acknowledged the penalties aren't much of a deterrent."More symbolic than anything," Silver said.It might be time for the league to change that.At least based on what's happened in the NBA the past couple days. The postgame locker-room incident that involved some players from the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday — the holiday celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., no less — was a bad look for the league, as was the wild swing that Orlando's Arron Afflalo threw at Minnesota's Nemanja Bjelica on Tuesday.The James Johnson-Serge Ibaka dustup during the Miami-Toronto game last week earned those players one-game suspensions that cost them a total of about $300,000. Utah's Rodney Hood might have been lucky to have been fined only $35,000 for slapping a phone out of a fan's hand. Ben Simmons and Kyle Lowry were probably smart to just talk about taking their... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA has suspended Miami Heat forward James Johnson and Toronto Raptors forward Serge Ibaka one game apiece for throwing punches at each other.The punishment was announced Wednesday by Kiki VanDeWeghe, the league's executive vice president for basketball operations.The fight began with 7:50 remaining in the third quarter of the Heat's 90-89 victory over the Raptors on Tuesday night in Toronto. Ibaka and Johnson started shoving each other while waiting for the ball to be inbounded under the Miami basket. Both received technical fouls and ejections.Johnson is serving his suspension Wednesday night when the Heat visit the Indiana Pacers. Ibaka will serve his suspension Thursday night when the Raptors host the Cleveland Cavaliers.The NBA also fined the Raptors' DeMar DeRozan $25,000 and the Heat's Goran Dragic $10,000 for a separate altercation at the end of the game, during which DeRozan attempted to shove.___For more NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball

F James Johnson (right ankle) aggravated his injury on Saturday. He sat out Tuesday and is day-to-day.