ATLANTA (AP) — There is almost certainly pain coming for the Hawks, or at least their fans, yet first-time NBA head coach Lloyd Pierce and second-year general manager Travis Schlenk refuse to notarize that word while in charge of Atlanta's only woebegone pro team.Training camp begins Tuesday for the team that last season lost more games than any other in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks were 24-58, and their offseason moves are not likely to move them closer to playoff contention.They're going to be painfully young outside of their two potential marquee players. Vince Carter, though, is 41 years old ahead of his 20th NBA season. And Jeremy Lin, 30, signed over the summer too, joining his seventh NBA team. Oh, and they signed 30-year-old center Cole Aldrich last week.Still, the brass is excited for training camp to open next Tuesday.The NBA, after all, is as much about massive rebuilds these days as it is assembling super teams. The Hawks qualify for the former, and Pierce knows that game... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Kristaps Porzingis is back with his teammates, though the New York Knicks don't know when he'll be back on the court.Joakim Noah won't be back, though the terms of his departure still are being negotiated.So while there are questions, the Knicks also feel they have certainty with the way they are building their team.They insist their future first-round draft picks will be used to select players for their own team, not to be dangled in trades that could land them an established player."We're committed to following a plan and not just shifting and pivoting because we see something that we think is attractive and might fast track something," Knicks president Steve Mills said Thursday. "I've seen that happen and go wrong too many times and that's not what we're going to do."It's happened in New York, where the Knicks traded young players and future assets in 2011 to acquire Carmelo Anthony, rather than sign him the following summer as a free agent with the cap space they had.... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Jimmy Butler knows that NBA players can force their way into trades.Forcing their way into a trade that suits the player, that's an entirely different story.Butler has told the Minnesota Timberwolves that he has no intentions of re-signing with the club next summer, his way of saying "trade me now" or "lose me for nothing later." The Athletic first reported Butler's decision.It's a power move that players can make.Thing is, it comes with risk — because what happens next is not up to Butler.This was the lesson learned from the Kawhi Leonard situation, from the Kyrie Irving situation, from the Paul George situation. Leonard supposedly was hoping for a trade from San Antonio to the Los Angeles Clippers. Irving wanted to be sent by Cleveland to either San Antonio and Miami. George was widely assumed to leave Indiana for the Los Angeles Lakers.Leonard is in Toronto , at least for one season.Irving got sent to Boston , and is a free agent next summer.George landed in Oklahoma City,... [More]

TORONTO (AP) — Kawhi Leonard has yet to address the media in Toronto since his trade to the Raptors, but team president Masai Ujiri said Tuesday that his star acquisition is happy and healthy."He is determined and seems in the right frame of mind," Ujiri said. "You will be hearing from him shortly. I think there is a fire inside of him and we are all excited about that."Leonard was the centerpiece of one of the NBA's biggest off-season trades. The Raptors acquired the two-time Defensive Player of the Year from the San Antonio Spurs along with Danny Green in exchange for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a draft pick. Ujiri swung the deal while in Kenya working with his nonprofit, Giants of Africa.While Leonard has remained mum on the move, Ujiri said he's not concerned about the 27-year-old's commitment to the franchise, saying Leonard worked out with Raptors coaches in Los Angeles, and has visited Toronto a couple of times."Basketball person. Just loves the game," he said. "Wants to play... [More]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz are expected this season to join Philadelphia's Big Three.No, not as franchise cornerstones — the No. 1 draft picks were already part of that trio with All-Star center Joel Embiid.But as long-distance shooters, Simmons and Fultz went 0 for the season on 3s; Simmons, the NBA rookie of the year, missed all 11 attempts and Fultz went 0 for 1 from 3-point range.Sixers coach Brett Brown said both players have put in the work needed on their jumpers, though neither player will ever become defined by his work beyond the arc. Brown said Fultz took about 150,000 shots this summer under the tutelage of trainer Drew Hanlen. Simmons has worked with his brother, Liam, a former college basketball assistant coach, at 3s and shooting from the elbow.Simmons attempted just one 3 in the postseason and he'll have to establish some sort of long-range jumper to become a serious all-around threat in the NBA."His jump shot's not going to define him," Brown said... [More]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz are expected this season to join Philadelphia's Big Three.No, not as franchise cornerstones — the No. 1 draft picks were already part of that trio with All-Star center Joel Embiid.But as long-distance shooters, Simmons and Fultz went 0 for the season on 3s; Simmons, the NBA rookie of the year, missed all 11 attempts and Fultz went 0 for 1 from 3-point range.Sixers coach Brett Brown said both players have put in the work needed on their jumpers, though neither player will ever become defined by his work beyond the arc. Brown said Fultz took about 150,000 shots this summer under the tutelage of trainer Drew Hanlen. Simmons has worked with his brother, Liam, a former college basketball assistant coach, at 3s and shooting from the elbow.Simmons attempted just one 3 in the postseason and he'll have to establish some sort of long-range jumper to become a serious all-around threat in the NBA."His jump shot's not going to define him," Brown said... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Miami Heat guard Dion Waiters will begin this season as he finished last season — unable to play.Waiters has not recovered sufficiently enough from left ankle surgery to be ready for the start of training camp next week, the team announced Tuesday. Heat President Pat Riley said it's unlikely that Waiters will be ready for the start of the regular season as well.The announcement wasn't a total surprise because Waiters was told when he had the procedure in mid-January that he could be sidelined for up to 10 months."Dion will not be returning to the court until the Heat medical team and training staff deem him healed, rehabbed and physically conditioned for all basketball activities," Riley said.Heat point guard Goran Dragic was taken aback by the news."This is kind of out of the blue for me," Dragic said. "At the end of the day, he knows what is best for him. I'm hoping he's going to be ready when we need him."Waiters is due to make about $11.5 million this season, the second... [More]

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Timberwolves center Justin Patton has had surgery for a broken foot for the second straight year and is out indefinitely.The team said Tuesday that Patton's operation on his right foot in New York went as planned.Patton sustained the same injury, a fractured fifth metatarsal, on his left loot last year after he was drafted 16th overall out of Creighton. He was acquired by the Timberwolves in the draft-night trade with Chicago for Jimmy Butler.As a result of his surgery, Patton appeared in only one game as a rookie last season. He averaged 12.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 38 games for Minnesota's G-League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves. Behind Karl-Anthony Towns and Gorgui Dieng, playing time for Patton was already going to be hard to come by.___More AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Timberwolves center Justin Patton is sidelined indefinitely after injuring his right foot during a workout.The Timberwolves said Sunday that Patton will undergo surgery.The 6-foot-11 center played in one game for Minnesota last season, scoring two points and recording one steal in about four minutes on April 1 against Utah.Patton appeared in 38 games for the Iowa Wolves, averaging 12.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks for Minnesota's G League affiliate.Patton was selected 16th overall in the 2017 NBA draft. The Timberwolves acquired Patton's draft rights, along with Jimmy Butler, in June 2017 from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the draft rights to Lauri Markkanen.___For more AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Manu Ginobili walked into the San Antonio Spurs practice facility and saw the intense efforts of his young teammates in preseason workouts.Ginobili had put himself through those same workouts for 16 seasons. But this August morning, the 41-year-old realized he couldn't. For a player who has literally thrown himself into his basketball career, the realization his body and spirit were no longer willing cemented the decision to walk away from the NBA."I couldn't see my body going through that kind of grind again," Ginobili said Saturday during a press conference at the Spurs practice facility. "I felt that I had a good season, that I left everything that I had in the previous season both physically and mentally."Ginobili was thoughtful, self-effacing and funny in his first interview since announcing his retirement Aug. 27 on social media. He steps away after helping San Antonio win four of its five NBA titles, the last coming in 2014.His retirement, along with Tony Parker's... [More]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Prosecutors are reviewing allegations that Houston Rockets star James Harden took a woman's cellphone outside a Scottsdale nightclub last month.Police told The Arizona Republic that a city prosecutor is looking at their investigation.The 42-year-old woman reported that she was recording a fight Aug. 11 when Harden grabbed her by the wrist.She says he then grabbed her cellphone and threw it onto the roof.According to the police report, Harden and someone in his entourage gave her $500 to pay for a replacement.The woman was treated at a hospital for a wrist injury.Harden, who played at Arizona State University, was voted the NBA's Most Valuable Player in June.A representative for the Houston Rockets did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee officer involved in the stun gun arrest of Bucks' player Sterling Brown has been fired because of social media posts mocking the incident, the city's police chief said Thursday.Police Chief Alfonso Morales said the firing decision was not tied to anything Erik Andrade did when Brown was arrested, but explained that the social media posts compromised the officer's ability to testify in other cases. Morales spoke about the case at a Marquette University event.Brown sued the police department in June and accused officers of using excessive force and targeting him because he's black. A group of officers swarmed on him at a Walgreens parking lot because he didn't immediately remove his hands from his pockets. Brown was standing with the officers waiting for a citation for parking in a disabled spot early on Jan. 26, but never appeared to threaten police before or during his arrest, according to police body camera videos.Andrade later mocked Brown on Facebook for... [More]

BOSTON (AP) — The Celtics were in sunny Los Angeles, it was another sub-zero winter day back in Boston, and Gordon Hayward was stuck in rehab, shooting baskets from a chair and picking up marbles with his toes to work his surgically repaired ankle back into shape."The hardest part of the whole process has been the mental challenge," Hayward said Thursday, reporting that he is 100 percent healthy and preparing to be on the court for the Oct. 16 opener against the Philadelphia 76ers. "I think you find the fight within yourself."The Celtics' top free-agent acquisition of the 2017 summer, Hayward was injured in the first quarter of the first game of the season when he landed awkwardly on his left leg, breaking his tibia and dislocating his ankle. He may have been able to return before the end of the season, but then he needed more surgery in May.Other players did their best to keep up his spirits: One time, Aron Baynes brought back some Krispy Kreme doughnuts from a road trip and drove them... [More]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee officer involved in the stun gun arrest of Bucks' player Sterling Brown has been fired because of social media posts mocking the incident, the city's police chief said Thursday.Police Chief Alfonso Morales said the firing decision was not tied to anything Erik Andrade did when Brown was arrested, but explained that the social media posts compromised the officer's ability to testify in other cases. Morales spoke about the case at a Marquette University event.Brown sued the police department in June and accused officers of using excessive force and targeting him because he's black. A group of officers swarmed on him at a Walgreens parking lot because he didn't immediately remove his hands from his pockets. Brown was standing with the officers waiting for a citation for parking in a disabled spot early on Jan. 26, but never appeared to threaten police before or during his arrest, according to police body camera videos.Andrade later mocked Brown on Facebook for... [More]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee police officer involved in the stun gun arrest of Bucks' player Sterling Brown has been fired because of social media posts.Police Chief Erik Morales disclosed the firing during a speech at Marquette University on Thursday, but he did not name the officer.Brown sued the police department in June and accused officers of using excessive force and targeting him because he's black. A group of officers swarmed on him at a Walgreens parking lot because he didn't immediately remove his hands from his pockets. Brown was standing with the officers waiting for a citation for parking in a disabled spot early on Jan. 26.One officer later mocked Brown on Facebook for his arrest . A total of 11 officers involved in the arrest were disciplined or retrained.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Thunder All-Star guard Russell Westbrook underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee on Wednesday, putting his availability for the season opener against the Golden State Warriors in doubt.The team says Westbrook decided after suffering from inflammation in the knee this past weekend that he'd have the procedure. He'll be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks, close to the season opener at Golden State on Oct. 16.Westbrook was the league MVP in 2016-17 and averaged a triple-double last season for a second straight season. He averaged 25.4 points, a league-leading 10.3 assists and 10.1 rebounds last season.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Thunder All-Star guard Russell Westbrook underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee on Wednesday, putting his availability for the season opener against the Golden State Warriors in doubt.The team says Westbrook decided after suffering from inflammation in the knee this past weekend that he'd have the procedure. He'll be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks, close to the season opener at Golden State on Oct. 16.Westbrook was the league MVP in 2016-17 and averaged a triple-double last season for a second straight season. He averaged 25.4 points, a league-leading 10.3 assists and 10.1 rebounds last season.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed free agent forward Luol Deng, the latest former Chicago Bulls player to reunite with coach Tom Thibodeau.Deng's one-year deal is for the minimum salary of $2.4 million for a player with his experience, according to a person with knowledge of the contract who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team does not release terms.Deng will join former Bulls teammates Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Derrick Rose in Minnesota. They all played for Thibodeau with Chicago, too.Just two seasons into a four-year, $72 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, Deng was waived on Sept. 1 in a buyout move that allowed them to spread the final season of that albatross deal over a three-year span of the salary cap limit.The contract was a remnant of the administration of former Lakers basketball boss Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak, the duo that was dismissed seven months after handing out hefty deals to Deng... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Udonis Haslem arrived at the Miami Heat facility for a workout one day last week, and was told he needed to sign a waiver before he took the court.The reason: Technically, he wasn't on the team."That was a little weird, having to do that," Haslem said.It won't be a problem for the next year. Haslem officially signed his one-year, $2.4 million contract with the Heat on Monday, a deal that was struck last week and finally became official when he put pen to paper. Haslem will enter his 16th NBA season, all with the Heat, and that means the Miami native will be with his hometown franchise for more than half of its 31-year history."For the hometown kid in me, that means the world," Haslem said. "I wish I understood how big that is right now, because I really don't, but I know it's big."Haslem was the seventh-oldest player in the NBA last season — and will rise at least one spot on that list this season, with the retirement of San Antonio's Manu Ginobili. Vince Carter is 41 and will... [More]

PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix Suns star guard Devin Booker has undergone surgery on his right (shooting) hand and is expected to be sidelined for six weeks.That would cause him to miss not only all of training camp but probably the first couple of games of the regular season.The Suns said in a brief statement that the surgery was performed in Los Angeles on Monday by Dr. Steven Shin to repair the fifth metacarpophalangeal joint.It's the same hand that bothered him late last season. Booker, last season's NBA 3-point champion, signed a maximum five-year, $158 million contract in the offseason.___For more AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports