INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — As the Cavaliers experience growing pains with four new players, relief might be ahead: Kevin Love.The All-Star forward, sidelined since Jan. 29 with a broken left hand, said Friday he could return sooner than expected. The initial timetable was for him to be out two months."If I can get back before eight weeks, great," he said. "So I'm hoping that that is the case."Love's recovery has picked up speed in recent days. He's now able to catch the ball with a padded glove to protect his left hand, and the progress is such that there's less risk for re-injury."One of the things I can do now is kind of catch the ball, guide it and shoot it within 12-15 feet so that feels good to do something other than run on the treadmill or run on the bike so it's nice," he said.The Cavaliers have been transformed since the last time Love played, with their roster overhauled by three trades before the deadline. Cleveland is just 3-4 since adding guards George Hill, Jordan Clarkson... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — Chicken noodle or tomato? J.R. Smith didn't serve up any explanation.Cleveland's mercurial shooting guard declined an interview request Friday, a day after the Cavaliers suspended him one game for throwing a bowl of soup at assistant coach Damon Jones.The soup toss came following Thursday's shootaround at the team's training facility, hours before the Cavs played the Philadelphia 76ers, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not disclosed details.Smith was with his teammates Friday — the Cavs didn't practice, but watched film — and after getting in some extra shots, he told a team spokesman he will address the media at Saturday's shootaround before the Cavs play Denver.Until then, what triggered his brothy outburst remains a mystery.ESPN.com first reported the reason for Smith's suspension.Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said Smith did not address the team over the... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Cavaliers starting guard J.R. Smith was suspended one game by the team for throwing a bowl of soup at assistant coach Damon Jones.The soup tossing happened after the team's morning shootaround, and Smith sat out Thursday night's loss against Philadelphia, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not disclosed details.Smith, who had a history of fines and other issues before coming to Cleveland in 2014, is expected to practice Friday and play Saturday when the Cavs host the Denver Nuggets.Cavs coach Tyronn Lue did not provide any specifics about Smith's one-game ba on Thursday.ESPN.com first reported the reason for his suspension.In 56 games, Smith is averaging 8.3 points and shooting 39 percent. Rodney Hood started against the Sixers in place of Smith, who has played a key role in the Cavs making the NBA Finals the past three seasons.Smith may have arrived in Cleveland with a checkered past, but he's mostly been a good citizen and has endeared himself to Cleveland fans with his hustle and knack for knocking down big shots.Jones previously played for the Cavs and is in his second season as an assistant on coach Lue's staff. Jones played in the NBA for 11 seasons for 10 teams.Before Thursday's clash with Smith, the talkative Jones engaged in a lively shooting contest with point guard George Hill.

CLEVELAND (AP) — A person familiar with the situation says Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith was suspended one game for throwing a bowl of soup at assistant coach Damon Jones.Several hours later Thursday, the Cavs announced the suspension and Smith sat out the team's loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Smith is expected to practice Friday.The person spoke to The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity because the team is not divulging specifics of Smith's punishment. ESPN.com first reported the reason for Smith's suspension.Cavs coach Tyronn Lue refused to reveal any details Thursday.Rodney Hood started in place of Smith, who has struggled in his fourth season with the Cavs.Jones previously played for the Cavs and during Thursday's shootaround he engaged in some trash talk with George Hill during a shooting contest.

MIAMI (AP) — Only the biggest accomplishments are celebrated by the Los Angeles Lakers. They hang banners for championships, they retire jerseys for legends, they build statues for the elite.Back-to-back winning months are no cause for a party.But for a franchise that still may miss the playoffs for a fifth consecutive year — after not reaching them on five occasions, total, in its first 65 seasons — the results of late are worth noting. The Lakers had winning records in January and February, the first such stretch since March and April 2013, and a season that looked to be a disaster at the midway point is getting more than a little interesting.On Thursday, the Lakers went into Miami and opened March with a 131-113 win over the Heat."Early on, even when we weren't winning games, I could tell this was a group that is eventually going to be a really good basketball team," Lakers coach Luke Walton said. "We went into training camp and the way that they worked, the way that they competed, the... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Isaiah Thomas still feels like there's time.He's four months away from free agency, the wheeling-and-dealing period when — the way things were looking a year ago — he would be signing a contract worth well over $100 million, ensuring himself a level of wealth that would be well beyond what the player picked last in the 2011 NBA draft should have reasonably expected.Nothing is certain now.He's gone from a star in Boston to being cast aside in Cleveland and now finds himself as a backup with the Los Angeles Lakers, still trying to get healthy after hip surgery. If that wasn't enough, there's the added strain that what he does over these next few high-stakes weeks will go a long way in determining what he'll earn and where he'll play over the next few years."All you need is one team to love you," Thomas said Thursday. "It's like the draft all over again. You just need one team."He averaged just under 29 points per game last season. And until Thursday night, when he led the Lakers... [More]

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Former Los Angeles Lakers guard Corey Brewer will sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder after he clears waivers.The move was confirmed by Brewer's agent, Happy Walters, on Thursday.The Lakers agreed to a buyout with the 6-foot-9 Brewer on Wednesday. He will help fill the void Andre Roberson left for the Thunder when he ruptured his left patellar tendon and was lost for the season. The Thunder have started multiple players with limited results since the injury.Brewer, 31, averaged 3.7 points in 54 games with the Lakers this season. He averaged 11.9 points per game for Houston during the 2014-15 season and has career averages of 8.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.Brewer played for Thunder coach Billy Donovan on Florida's 2006 and 2007 national championship teams.___More NBA basketball: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball

MIAMI (AP) — Isaiah Thomas still feels like there's time.He's four months away from free agency, the wheeling-and-dealing period where — the way things were looking a year ago — he would be signing a contract worth well over $100 million ensuring himself a level of wealth that would be well beyond what the player picked last in the 2011 NBA draft should have reasonably expected.Nothing is certain now.He's gone from a star in Boston to being cast aside in Cleveland and now finds himself as a backup with the Los Angeles Lakers, still trying to get healthy after hip surgery. If that wasn't enough, there's the added strain that what he does over these next few high-stakes weeks will go a long way in determining what he'll earn and where he'll play over the next few years."All you need is one team to love you," Thomas said Thursday. "It's like the draft all over again. You just need one team."He averaged just under 29 points per game last season. He hasn't scored more than 24 in any game this... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — This LeBron James-to-Philly stuff is getting either silly — or serious.Just days after three billboards, paid for by a Pennsylvania company, popped up in Ohio urging James to sign with the 76ers this summer as a free agent, the three-time NBA champion reportedly was spotted in the Philadelphia area over the All-Star break touring area high schools.Sixers TV game analyst Alaa Abdelnaby said he was told that James, who has three kids, looked at private schools in Philadelphia last month."I've told this to a few other people, and I have no problem saying this," Abdelnaby said on Philly Sports Talk. "My brother lives in the Philadelphia area and he told me that LeBron, last week through a superintendent, was in the area checking out some private schools during the All-Star break."At Thursday's shootaround before the Cavs hosted the Sixers, James was asked if he was in Philadelphia."Pennsylvania? Nah," he said. "What are you talking about? Over the All-Star break, I... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — This LeBron James-to-Philly stuff is getting either silly — or serious.Just days after three billboards, paid for by a Pennsylvania company, popped up in Ohio urging James to sign with the 76ers this summer as a free agent, the three-time NBA champion reportedly was spotted in the Philadelphia area over the All-Star break touring area high schools.Sixers TV game analyst Alaa Abdelnaby said he was told that James, who has three kids, looked at private schools in Philadelphia last month."I've told this to a few other people, and I have no problem saying this," Abdelnaby said on Philly Sports Talk. "My brother lives in the Philadelphia area and he told me that LeBron, last week through a superintendent, was in the area checking out some private schools during the All-Star break."At Thursday's shootaround before the Cavs hosted the Sixers, James was asked if he was in Philadelphia."Pennsylvania? Nah," he said. "What are you talking about? Over the All-Star break, I... [More]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ersan Ilyasova is returning to the Philadelphia 76ers.The 76ers signed the forward from Turkey on Wednesday after he was waived by the Atlanta Hawks. Ilyasova played 53 games for the 76ers in 2016-17 before he was traded to Atlanta at last year's deadline.Ilyasova averaged 10.9 points and 5.5 rebounds in 46 games this season for Atlanta, including 40 starts. He is fourth in the NBA with 22 charges drawn after leading the league with 36 in 2016-17.To make room for Ilyasova, the 76ers waived Trevor Booker, a forward they acquired from Brooklyn in December when they dealt former No. 3 pick Jahlil Okafor to the Nets.

WASHINGTON (AP) — You can own a pair of shoes worn in a game by Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry — and support a cause, to boot.Curry posted on Instagram that he'll be auctioning off the sneakers he wore in Golden State's game at the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night to raise money for My Brother's Keeper Alliance.He says the effort "was created to reduce barriers and expand opportunity" in support of "young men and boys of color in their pursuit of achievement and higher success in life."___More NBA basketball: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Lakers have waived veteran guard Corey Brewer.The Lakers also recalled big man Thomas Bryant from their G League affiliate on Wednesday.The 31-year-old Brewer joined the Lakers late last season from Houston in a trade for Lou Williams. Brewer played in 54 games for Los Angeles this season, averaging 3.7 points and 1.7 rebounds mostly as a reserve.The Lakers bought out Brewer's contract so he could have a chance to sign with a playoff contender. Despite improved play in 2018, Los Angeles (26-34) is 11th in the Western Conference and is almost certain to miss the postseason for a franchise-record fifth straight year.Brewer also has played for Minnesota, Dallas and Denver, winning a 2011 championship ring with the Mavericks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — With an offer to visit the White House as NBA champions rejected and rescinded, Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors instead spent their day off in the nation's capital touring the National Museum of African American History and Culture with local students.In town ahead of their game against the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night, Warriors players, coaches and front office executives met with students from Durant's hometown of Seat Pleasant, Maryland, which is 8 miles from the White House. Traditionally, the reigning champs will be feted by the president when they play at Washington.The Warriors didn't want to wade into much political talk at their pregame shootaround Wednesday, a day after they went to the museum.Did they miss the pomp and circumstance of the customary White House visit?"No," Durant said. "Not at all."His teammate David West simply shook his head when asked the same question. Coach Steve Kerr? "You're not going to get me to go down that path,... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Joaquin Oliver was buried in a jersey bearing Dwyane Wade's name. So perhaps it was fitting that Wade's best game this season came in sneakers with Oliver's name scrawled on them.The Miami area is reeling right now, and will be for a while, in the aftermath of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. The school will reopen Wednesday, the first official day it will be in session since 17 students and teachers were killed in a Valentine's Day massacre that only cranked up the volume on the national debate over guns.Oliver was one of the 17 victims. His parents buried him in a Wade jersey. Wade is trying to meet the family, hoping to thank them, comfort them, listen to them, help them, hug them, and almost certainly cry with them."That they thought of me in that process, as something that he would have wanted, is mindboggling," the Miami Heat guard said.So is the fact that, again, Wade finds himself trying to solve a problem that apparently cannot be solved. He has been... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — LeBron James has Philadelphia's basketball pulse racing.The NBA superstar still hasn't seen three billboards urging him to join the 76ers, but he's flattered by the idea that a city would want him to play there."That's dope," he said.The three billboards were unveiled on Monday on busy Interstate-480 outside Cleveland, and each contains a message asking James to sign with the Sixers this summer as a free agent.The signs, which were paid for by a Chester, Pennsylvania, company were inspired by the Oscar-nominated film, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." But their objective was to entice James to come to Philadelphia.Although James may not see the signs because they're not on any route he would take from his home in Bath, Ohio, to Quicken Loans Arena, the three-time champion was warmed by their sentiment."It is actually very flattering that I'm sitting here at 33 and in my 15th year and teams or guys — I don't want to say teams because that becomes tampering... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — LeBron James has Philadelphia's basketball pulse racing.The NBA superstar still hasn't seen three billboards urging him to join the 76ers, but he's flattered by the idea that a city would want him to play there."That's dope," he said.The three billboards were unveiled on Monday on busy Interstate-480 outside Cleveland, and each contains a message asking James to sign with the Sixers this summer as a free agent.The signs, which were paid for by a Chester, Pennsylvania, company were inspired by the Oscar-nominated film, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." But their objective was to entice James to come to Philadelphia.Although James may not see the signs because they're not on any route he would take from his home in Bath, Ohio, to Quicken Loans Arena, the three-time champion was warmed by their sentiment."It is actually very flattering that I'm sitting here at 33 and in my 15th year and teams or guys — I don't want to say teams because that becomes tampering... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — LeBron James is flattered Philadelphia fans are fawning for him.Three billboards urging James to sign with the 76ers this summer as a free agent appeared outside Cleveland on Monday. The signs were inspired by the Oscar-nominated film, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," but their aim was to entice James to come to Philadelphia.Although James hasn't seen the billboards, which were paid for by a private Pennsylvania company, the three-time champion was warmed by their sentiment."It is actually very flattering that I'm sitting here at 33 and in my 15th year and teams or guys — I don't want to say teams because that becomes tampering — but people in their respective city want me to play for them," he said. "That's cool I think. That's dope."James can opt out of his contract with Cleveland following this season and the superstar can hit the free-agency market.___More AP NBA: apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball

NEW YORK (AP) — The Golden State Warriors are heading to Washington, just not to the White House.The traditional champions' invitation was never granted from President Donald Trump — and it appeared the Warriors might have declined it, anyway. So they plan to spend their day in the city with local children Tuesday."We're doing a great thing anyways," All-Star Klay Thompson said Monday, after the Warriors beat the New York Knicks in the opener of a road trip."The White House is a great honor but there's extenuating circumstances that we felt that we're not comfortable doing. We're not going to politicize anything, we're just going to hang out with some kids, take them to an African-American museum and hopefully teach them things we learned along the way and life lessons, and we'll still be getting some great memories."Warriors All-Star Stephen Curry had said he did not want to go to the White House last September and Trump then made it clear he wasn't welcome, sending a tweet that read :... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — The courtship of LeBron James has taken an Oscar-worthy turn — toward Philadelphia.Three billboards urging James to leave the Cavaliers and sign with the Philadelphia 76ers this summer as a free agent have been installed along Interstate 480, south of Cleveland. The signs are inspired by the movie "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," an Academy Award nominee for best picture.The sequence of signs includes one with the slogan "Complete The Process," a play on the Sixers' "Trust The Process" mantra with their young team and a billboard that reads: "#PhillyWantsLeBron."ESPN.com reported the billboards were leased by Power Home Remodeling, a company based in Chester, Pennsylvania. A company executive said the goal is to bring James, a three-time NBA champion, to Philadelphia because "we think the best athletes should want to play here."With a young nucleus of talented players including Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, the Sixers, who play in Cleveland on Thursday... [More]