Attorneys for Zion Williamson’s former marketing agent are continuing their legal push to examine whether the former Duke All-American accepted improper benefits before playing for the Blue Devils, allegations the NBA rookie's attorney said are “baseless.”Prime Sports Marketing and company president Gina Ford filed a lawsuit last summer in a Florida, accusing Williamson and the agency now representing him of breach of contract. That came after Williamson had filed his own lawsuit a week earlier in North Carolina to terminate a five-year contract with Prime Sports after moving to Creative Artists Agency LLC.In a court filing Tuesday in the North Carolina case, Prime Sports-Ford attorneys continued to argue that last summer’s No. 1 overall NBA draft pick didn’t meet the definition of a student-athlete because he was “ineligible/permanently ineligible” to play college sports. The filing references housing for Williamson's family during his time with the Blue Devils as well as three luxury... [More]

Cleveland (AP) — The Cleveland Cavaliers are missing from the NBA's Disney World summer bubble. They hope Commissioner Adam Silver doesn't need to pop their plans again.One of eight teams whose COVID-19-interrupted season ended when the league decided to resume play with 22 teams in Florida next month, the Cavs are using their omission as fuel."Whatever it is we have to do as a group this summer to get better, we need to go out and do that,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Tuesday on a Zoom call. “Whatever party the NBA is throwing, this one happens to be in Orlando, we need to do whatever we can in our power to make sure that we’re getting invited to the party — and that’s been the message to our guys.”The Disney slight was an odd finish to the Cavs' strange, staggered season. It will be remembered for first-year coach John Beilein's stunning departure at the All-Star break, the acquisition of star center Andre Drummond and the team's brief resurgence under Bickerstaff, who exuded restraint... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Leon Rose took over as Knicks president on March 2, which should have given him a month and a half of season to evaluate his team.He got a week and a half.The Knicks played only six games before the season was suspended because of the coronavirus. There will be no more for them, because they are not among the 22 teams who will resume in Florida.So with another losing season over, the longtime player agent can begin making changes that can perhaps finally move the Knicks in a positive direction.The Knicks finished 21-45, extending the worst stretch in franchise history by missing the playoffs for the seventh straight season.The turmoil started early, even by Knicks standards. Coach David Fizdale was fired just 22 games into his second season and Steve Mills was dismissed as president in February. Mike Miller guided the team as interim coach after Fizdale's departure and had the Knicks defending and competing much better, but Rose is likely to search for yet another new coach.His... [More]

Cleveland (AP) — The Cleveland Cavaliers are missing from the NBA's Disney World summer bubble. They hope NBA Commissioner Adam Silver doesn't need to pop their plans again.One of eight teams whose COVID-19-interrupted season ended when the league decided to resume play with 22 teams in Florida next month, the Cavs are using their omission as fuel."Whatever it is we have to do as a group this summer to get better, we need to go out and do that,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said Tuesday on a Zoom call. “Whatever party the NBA is throwing, this one happens to be in Orlando, we need to do whatever we can in our power to make sure that we’re getting invited to the party — and that’s been the message to our guys.”The Disney slight was an odd finish to the Cavs' strange, staggered season. It will be remembered for first-year coach John Beilein's stunning departure at the All-Star break, the acquisition of star center Andre Drummond and the team's brief resurgence under Bickerstaff, who exuded restraint... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — Lloyd Pierce sees improvement in each of the five players he calls the core of the rebuilding Atlanta Hawks.There is pressure for the coach to deliver proof of that growth. Pierce says it's time for a young team led by Trae Young to become a winner.Young averaged 29.6 points and 9.3 assists and earned the All-Star berth in only his second season. Young and John Collins give the team two young high-scoring starters and reason to hope a streak of three straight losing seasons will end.“The excitement is the possibility of what they can become as they continue to grow together,” Pierce said Tuesday. “I’m always focused on the big picture and it’s really about getting those guys to all be a we team and to play together and for us to grow in the same way these guys have done individually.”Pierce said in April the Hawks “need to make a major jump next year."Atlanta's 20-47 record provided no proof of improvement. The Hawks finished in a virtual tie for last in the Eastern Conference,... [More]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Charlotte Hornets won’t be among the 22 teams headed to Orlando when the NBA season returns — and that has coach James Borrego concerned about his young, developing team falling behind the rest of the league.(asterisk)It is a disadvantage? Yeah, it could be a major disadvantage,” Borrego said.The Hornets, who are owned by Michael Jordan, are one of eight teams awaiting guidance from the league on what they’ll be allowed to do on their own while other teams resume play at the Disney sports complex on July 31. The layoff means Hornets players could go more than eight months between playing in meaningful games after the league shut down in March following the coronavirus outbreak.That’s troublesome for Borrego, who felt like his team was playing its best basketball at the end of last season and was eager to reconvene in Orlando and continue that development.Charlotte finished the season 23-42 and in 10th place in the Eastern Conference, but made steady progress throughout... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Golden State Warriors expect to have a better idea about how Klay Thompson’s recovery from reconstructive left knee surgery is going once the team can finally reconvene after the long separation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.For now, general manager Bob Myers is encouraged Thompson has experienced no setbacks during the extensive rehabilitation process.“I think we’ve got to take a look at him when we see him," Myers said Monday on a conference call. “There’s different versions of 100% — 100% for you or I when we walk around the street is not 100% of an NBA basketball player playing basketball. So until we kind of test him and see him and he’s starting one-on-one and then two-on-two — and obviously the pandemic has not allowed him that opportunity to do those type of things.” Thompson tore the ACL in his left knee on June 13 during Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors and had surgery July 2. He was reevaluated over the All-Star break and the... [More]

Seven-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge will miss the remainder of San Antonio’s season while he recovers from surgery on his right shoulder, a major blow to the Spurs' postseason chances, assuming the season continues as planned.The Spurs announced Monday that Aldridge had the surgery on April 24, stemming from an injury he suffered in a game at Utah on Feb. 21.San Antonio is one of the 22 teams will that report to the ESPN Wide Wide Of Sports complex at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida, starting next month, when the NBA plans to resume its season. The Spurs have been to the playoffs in 22 consecutive seasons, matching the longest streak in NBA history.When play resumes, the Spurs will be among four teams — the others being Portland, New Orleans and Sacramento — that are all separated by a half-game in the race for ninth place in the Western Conference and potentially a berth in a play-in series. The gap between those four teams is .010 percentage points.Aldridge played in two more... [More]

Seven-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge will miss the remainder of San Antonio’s season while he recovers from surgery on his right shoulder, a major blow to the Spurs' postseason chances, assuming the season continues as planned.The Spurs announced Monday that Aldridge had the surgery on April 24, stemming from an injury he suffered in a game at Utah on Feb. 21.San Antonio is one of the 22 teams will that report to the ESPN Wide Wide Of Sports complex at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida, starting next month, when the NBA plans to resume its season. The Spurs have been to the playoffs in 22 consecutive seasons, matching the longest streak in NBA history.When play resumes, the Spurs will be among four teams — the others being Portland, New Orleans and Sacramento — that are all separated by a half-game in the race for ninth place in the Western Conference and potentially a berth in a play-in series. The gap between those four teams is .010 percentage points.Aldridge played in two more... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bulls' new top basketball executive wasn't ready to make any announcements about the coaching staff on Saturday.Arturas Karnisovas still has not met in person with head coach Jim Boylen. And that's something he would like to do before going public with any decisions.Boylen's future is the biggest issue hanging over the Bulls, who were left out when the NBA’s Board of Governors approved a 22-team format to restart the pandemic-interrupted season next month in Orlando. Chicago has missed the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, a tough stretch for a franchise whose dominance in the 1990s was chronicled in the ESPN documentary “The Last Dance.”The Bulls overhauled their front office when they hired Karnisovas as executive vice president of basketball operations in April and Marc Eversley as general manager a few weeks later.Boylen remains on the job. But for how much longer?“I haven't met face to face yet,” Karnisovas said during a conference call. “There haven't... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Durant won't play for the Brooklyn Nets if the NBA season resumes.“My season is over,” Durant told The Undefeated on Friday. “I don’t plan on playing at all. We decided last summer when it first happened that I was just going to wait until the following season. I had no plans of playing at all this season.”Durant ruptured an Achilles tendon a year ago for Golden State in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against Toronto.He also had COVID-19 this year.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Another season of setback and tumult has mercifully ended for the Minnesota Timberwolves, this time in the strangest of ways after the NBA's decision to resume virus-halted play with 22 teams.The revelation of the makeshift plan immediately put the Timberwolves, who finished 19-45 for the third-worst record in the league, in offseason mode after nearly three months in limbo while the world wrestled with the COVID-19 pandemic and all NBA arenas went dark.There was no arguing from Minnesota, where the 18 games remaining on the original schedule before the shutdown would have had little benefit as long as star center Karl-Anthony Towns was sidelined with a wrist injury.“While we are disappointed for our team and our fans that our season is coming to an end, we understand and accept the league’s plan to move forward with 22 teams. It is important that we be a good teammate not only to the NBA, but to the other 29 teams to support the efforts to complete this season and prepare... [More]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — After reaching five straight NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors couldn't have foreseen such a strange, disappointing season as they debuted their snazzy new Chase Center in San Francisco.The Warriors had the worst record in the NBA at 15-50 with a roster of largely unknowns taking the court night after night.Kevin Durant had departed. Klay Thompson sat out recovering from surgery for a torn left knee ligament sustained in Game 6 of last year's finals against champion Toronto. Stephen Curry broke his left hand. Andrew Wiggins arrived and never got to showcase his star talent alongside the team's top rotation before pro sports were halted because of the coronavirus pandemic.Steve Kerr's coaching got tested like never before as he relied on rookies and young players to learn on the fly because that's all Golden State had available.Then the Warriors were one of the teams left out when the NBA’s Board of Governors approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida appeals court has temporarily granted NBA rookie Zion Williamson’s attempt to block his former marketing agent’s effort to have the ex-Duke star answer questions about whether he received improper benefits before playing for the Blue Devils.The order Thursday granted Williamson a stay and paused proceedings in the lawsuit from Prime Sports Marketing and company president Gina Ford, whose attorneys must respond within 10 days.That lawsuit filed last summer accused Williamson and the agency now representing him of breach of contract. Williamson had filed his own lawsuit a week earlier in North Carolina to terminate a five-year contract with Prime Sports after moving to Creative Artists Agency LLC.Ford’s attorneys had submitted questions in filings last month that included whether the New Orleans Pelicans rookie or anyone on his behalf sought or accepted “money, benefits, favors or things of value” to sign with Duke. They sought answers within 30 days to establish facts... [More]

A sampling of reaction from around the NBA on Thursday, after the league's Board of Governors voted to approve a 22-team format for the resumption of the season next month at the Disney complex near Orlando, Florida:“We can now focus our efforts on preparing for the 2020-21 season and, ideally, putting ourselves in position to be a very successful team. In many respects, despite our won-loss record, we had a productive season this year. Our rookies gained valuable experience, several of our young veterans showed marked improvement, our injured players progressed in their rehab, and our culture remained strong.” — Bob Myers, general manager of the Golden State Warriors.“To all the fans in Minnesota, I appreciate you all!! Trust me when I say this, the best is yet to come!!” — Josh Okogie of the Minnesota Timberwolves.“From a fan perspective, I’m curious to see what it plays like. This is going to be new for everyone, obviously. So it’s going to be really hard to tell for who benefits from... [More]

The NBA took a major step toward getting back on the court Thursday, with the league’s Board of Governors approving a 22-team format for restarting the league season next month at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida.The vote was 29-1, with Portland casting the dissenting vote, said a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league did not publicly release voting details. The National Basketball Players Association has scheduled a meeting for Friday to vote on the plan.Teams would arrive at Disney around July 7 and play an eight-game slate of games starting July 31 at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex. All teams will stay, practice and play at Disney and the NBA Finals — which would have started Thursday if not for the coronavirus pandemic that caused the NBA to suspend its season on March 11 — will likely stretch into October.“The Board’s approval of the restart format is a necessary step toward resuming... [More]

A person with knowledge of the situation says the NBA’s Board of Governors has approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season in late July at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida.The format calls for each team playing eight games to determine playoff seeding plus the possible utilization of a play-in tournament for the final spot in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference postseason fields, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the league had not yet revealed the vote result publicly.It is the most significant step yet in the process of trying to resume a season that was suspended nearly three months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic. There are numerous other details for the league to continue working through — including finalizing specifics of what the testing plan will be once teams arrive next month at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex and the calculating the financial ramifications of playing a shortened... [More]

The NBA has told the National Basketball Players Association that it will present a 22-team plan for restarting the season to the league’s board of governors on Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.The teams that will be going to the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex on the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida, would play eight games to determine playoff seeding starting around July 31 before the postseason begins, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the league has not released its proposal publicly.The plan, once approved, would have 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams going to Disney, and the cutoff being that teams must be within six games of a playoff spot at this point. Playoffs would start in August, and the NBA Finals will likely stretch into October, the person said.The Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics already have clinched playoff... [More]

The NBA has told the National Basketball Players Association that it will present a 22-team plan for restarting the season to the league’s board of governors on Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation said.The teams that will be going to the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex on the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida would play eight games to determine playoff seeding starting around July 31 before the postseason begins, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Wednesday because the league has not released its proposal publicly.The plan, once approved, would have 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams going to Disney and the cutoff being that teams must be within six games of a playoff spot at this point. Playoffs would start in August, and the NBA Finals will likely stretch into October, the person said.The Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics already have clinched playoff... [More]

The NBA has told the National Basketball Players Association that it will present a 22-team plan for restarting the season to the league’s board of governors on Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation said.The teams that will be going to the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex on the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida would play eight games to determine playoff seeding starting around July 31 before the postseason begins, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Wednesday because the league has not released its proposal publicly.The plan, if approved, would have 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams going to Disney and the cutoff being that teams must be within six games of a playoff spot at this point. Playoffs would start in August, and the NBA Finals will likely stretch into October, the person said.The Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics already have clinched playoff spots... [More]