It was April 14, 2016. It was the first full day of Kobe Bryant’s new chapter as a retired NBA player. All he had done the night before was score a mind-boggling 60 points in his farewell game, not getting out of Staples Center until around midnight.His staff at Kobe, Inc. were certain they would beat their boss to the office that morning.They were wrong. He beat everyone there by two hours. “We have a lot of work to do,” Bryant told them.Even in retirement, Bryant found no substitute for hard work.Kobe Bean Bryant was many things: one of the greatest players in basketball history, a five-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist, a fluent speaker of multiple languages, a resident of the world, an Oscar winner, the self-described Black Mamba that started as a nickname and became his brand, someone so good he had two numbers retired by the Los Angeles Lakers.And he never stopped. Basketball was his obsession for 20 years in the NBA. Storytelling was the obsession for the rest of his life.Tears,... [More]

It was April 14, 2016. It was the first full day of Kobe Bryant’s new chapter as a retired NBA player. All he had done the night before was score a mind-boggling 60 points in his farewell game, not getting out of Staples Center until around midnight.His staff at Kobe, Inc. were certain they would beat their boss to the office that morning.They were wrong. He beat everyone there by two hours. “We have a lot of work to do,” Bryant told them.Even in retirement, Bryant found no substitute for hard work.Kobe Bean Bryant was many things: one of the greatest players in basketball history, a five-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist, a fluent speaker of multiple languages, a resident of the world, an Oscar winner, the self-described Black Mamba that started as a nickname and became his brand, someone so good he had two numbers retired by the Los Angeles Lakers.And he never stopped. Basketball was his obsession for 20 years in the NBA. Storytelling was the obsession for the rest of his life.Tears,... [More]

DALLAS (AP) — Luka Doncic is set to be the youngest All-Star starter since LeBron James, yet another link between the Dallas sensation and the player he grew up admiring, even when he was already playing pro ball as a 16-year-old in Spain.Now the 20-year-old Doncic waits to see who James, as the leading vote-getter, will take with the No. 1 pick before the other captain — Doncic's fellow European and 2019 MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee — gets to choose.“No, I don't think I will be,” the 2019 Rookie of the Year said with a laugh when asked if he thought he would be the top choice by the Los Angeles Lakers star.All that matters for the Mavericks is that Doncic was at the top of their draft board in 2018, and the trade up two spots to get the third overall pick ended up involving two players getting All-Star starts in their second seasons. Atlanta's Trae Young was one of the five Eastern Conference players to get voted in.Doncic leads the NBA with 12 triple-doubles — two more than... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — It’ll be an All-Star rematch: Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis.LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks will be the captains for the NBA All-Star Game, just as they were last season. They earned the captaincies by being the top overall votegetters from the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively.The other starters for the Feb. 16 game in Chicago: Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks.“For me, it's always a blessing just being part of All-Star weekend," James told TNT on Thursday night.James, as the leading overall vote-getter, will have the top pick when he and Antetokounmpo pick their teams; Antetokounmpo will pick first in the second round, when the reserves are... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — It’ll be an All-Star rematch: Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis.LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks will be the captains for the NBA All-Star Game, just as they were last season. They earned the captaincies by being the top overall votegetters from the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively.The other starters for the Feb. 16 game in Chicago: Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks.James, as the leading overall vote-getter, will have the top pick when he and Antetokounmpo pick their teams; Antetokounmpo will pick first in the second round, when the reserves are chosen.James is a starter for the 16th time, an NBA record. Being a 16-time All-Star also puts him third... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — It’ll be an All-Star rematch: Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis.LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks will be the captains for the NBA All-Star Game, just as they were last season. They earned the captaincies by being the top overall votegetters from the Western and Eastern Conferences, respectively.The other starters for the Feb. 16 game in Chicago: Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks.James, as the leading overall vote-getter, will have the top pick when he and Antetokounmpo pick their teams; Antetokounmpo will pick first in the second round, when the reserves are chosen.James is a starter for the 16th time, an NBA record. Being a 16-time All-Star also puts him third... [More]

ATLANTA (AP) — The Los Angeles Clippers were missing three starters for Wednesday night's game against the Atlanta Hawks. Kawhi Leonard wasn't playing because of left knee injury management, while Patrick Beverly was sidelined after leaving the previous night's victory at Dallas with a groin injury. Paul George was out for the seventh straight game with a left hamstring strain. The Hawks also were without their best player. Trae Young, averaging 29.2 points, was sidelined with a right thigh contusion.Lou Williams and Terance Mann started for the Clippers in place of Leonard and Beverly. Recently acquired Jeff Teague got the nod at point guard for the Hawks.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MIAMI (AP) — LeBron James still leads Luka Doncic in the race to become the leading Western Conference vote-getter and one of the two captains for next month’s All-Star Game, the NBA announced Thursday.James had 4,747,887 votes in the latest returns of fan voting, currently making the Los Angeles Lakers’ star the top overall vote-getter. Doncic has 4,598,323, good enough for the Dallas Mavericks guard to lead the Western Conference backcourt voting but 149,564 ballots behind James.The only other player with a reasonable chance of overtaking James or Doncic for the top West voting spot would be Lakers forward Anthony Davis, who has 4,412,619 votes. No other player in the West had topped the 3 million mark through the NBA’s most recent update.Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks remains the Eastern Conference voting leader, with 4,474,107 votes -- roughly 2 million more than Toronto’s Pascal Siakam.Captaincy for the game is given to the starter with the most votes from each conference;... [More]

It could be a Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis rematch in the All-Star Game.LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers has passed Dallas’ Luka Doncic for the overall and Western Conference lead in fan voting for the Feb. 16 game in Chicago, with about a week and a half left in the race. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo remains the runaway leader in the Eastern Conference voting.The game’s captains -- James and Antetokounmpo held the jobs last year -- will be the All-Star starters who receive the most fan votes from his conference. James also was a captain the first time the format was used in 2018, then going up against a team picked by Golden State’s Stephen Curry.Team LeBron beat Team Giannis last year, 178-164. Team LeBron also won the inaugural edition of this All-Star setup, topping Team Stephen 148-145 in the 2018 game.James’ lead over Doncic was 82,001 votes, the NBA said on Thursday when releasing the second balloting update. James leads the West frontcourt voting with 3,359,871, ahead... [More]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul George won't play for the Los Angeles Clippers against the Memphis Grizzlies because of left hamstring tightness.The team ruled him out before Saturday's day game at Staples Center. Coach Doc Rivers says it's possible George could return Sunday against the New York Knicks in the second game of a back-to-back, also a day game. After that, the Clippers are idle until hosting Golden State next Friday.George got hurt during a 126-112 win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday. He finished with 12 points before leaving late in the second quarter and didn't return.Also sitting out Saturday was guard Patrick Beverley, who missed his third straight game with a sprained right wrist. Rivers said he is close to returning.It's been that kind of a season so far for the Clippers, who've had their full roster healthy and available for just one game. Injuries and load management, primarily involving Kawhi Leonard, have forced Rivers to juggle lineups, which has hampered developing team chemistry.“I tell you why I think it hurts the most, the continuity that we need to be a champion, to me, is hard to work on or even have because you don't have time (together),” Rivers said. "I'm not worried about it yet, but it is actually on my mind for sure."___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Dallas’ Luka Doncic received more fan votes than any other player in the opening week of balloting for the NBA All-Star Game.The NBA released the first voting totals on Thursday and Doncic has received 1,073,957 -- 599 more than Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers is the only other player to top the million-vote mark so far, putting him well on his way to what would be a 16th consecutive All-Star appearance.James, Lakers teammate Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Clippers' Kawhi Leonard are the runaway leaders in the Western Conference frontcourt. Doncic and Houston’s James Harden also are off to enormous leads in the West guards race.In the East, Antetokounmpo, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Toronto’s Pascal Siakam are the leaders for the three starting frontcourt spots. Atlanta’s Trae Young has gotten the most votes so far in the East guard race, about 11,000 ahead of Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving. Boston’s Kemba Walker is 450 votes back of Irving.Other... [More]

Dallas’ Luka Doncic received fan votes than any other player in the opening week of balloting for the NBA All-Star Game.The NBA released the first voting totals on Thursday and Doncic has received 1,073,957 -- 599 more than Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers is the only other player to top the million-vote mark so far, putting him well on his way to what would be a 16th consecutive All-Star appearance.James, Lakers teammate Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Clippers' Kawhi Leonard are the runaway leaders in the Western Conference frontcourt. Doncic and Houston’s James Harden also are off to enormous leads in the West guards race.In the East, Antetokounmpo, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Toronto’s Pascal Siakam are the leaders for the three starting frontcourt spots. Atlanta’s Trae Young has gotten the most votes so far in the East guard race, about 11,000 ahead of Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving. Boston’s Kemba Walker is 450 votes back of Irving.Other notables... [More]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Clippers were resilient and dominant in the second half to put away the Los Angeles Lakers, using the NBA’s marquee Christmas game to show why the city and the Western Conference might belong to them this season. Kawhi Leonard scored 11 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter and had 12 rebounds and five assists to help the Clippers beat Lakers 111-106 on Wednesday night.The Clippers trailed by 12 points at halftime, by 15 in the third quarter, and by seven in the fourth quarter with 6:39 remaining, but they rallied to improve to 2-0 against the Lakers this season.“And we didn’t flinch,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “Like, we just kind of hung in there. Almost felt like we were biding our time and just trying to make a run. That’s something you have to have when things aren’t going great for you. You just got to hang in there, and I thought we did that tonight.”Leonard set a franchise record for points on Christmas, and he became the 10th player in NBA... [More]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 11 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter and had 12 rebounds to help the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 111-106 on Wednesday night in the NBA’s marquee Christmas game.Montrezl Harrell had 18 points off the bench, Paul George added 17 and the Clippers improved to 2-0 against the Lakers this season.Kyle Kuzma led Los Angeles with 25 points. LeBron James had 23 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, and Anthony David had 24 points. The Lakers have lost four straight games.Los Angeles had a chance to tie in the final seconds, but video review showed James touched the ball last after Patrick Beverly knocked it away as James went up for a 3. George hit two free throws for the final margin. Lou Williams made two free throws — after a questionable foul call against Davis for tapping the swingman after his transition layup rimmed out — to give the Clippers a 105-103 lead with 3:29 Leonard, who had a 3 to cap a 7-0 run and tie it at 101 with 5:14 remaining, then made four late free throws.TIP-INS Clippers: Williams had six points and seven rebounds. ... The Clippers had a 50-42 edge in rebounds.Lakers: The Lakers bench outscored the Clippers' backups 49-36. … James played in 14th Christmas Day game, second in NBA history to Kobe Bryant at 16.UP NEXTClippers: Host Utah on Saturday night.Lakers: At Portland on Saturday night.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard will sit out Sunday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder with left knee soreness. Clippers coach Doc Rivers also said guard Patrick Beverley will sit out with a sore right groin. Leonard typically sits out the second game of back-to-backs. He scored 26 points in a 134-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night. He is averaging 25.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game.Leonard's absence will put more responsibility on forward Paul George, who will play his first game in Oklahoma City since being traded in the offseason. George finished third in the MVP balloting last season with the Thunder.

The milestones are piling up, and running out, for Atlanta’s Vince Carter.His next game — which could come as early as Tuesday, when the Hawks visit the New York Knicks — will be the 1,504th in his career, which will tie John Stockton for fourth-most in NBA history. Barring injury, Carter will pass Dirk Nowitzki later this season for No. 3 on the career list.Third place is the ceiling for Carter; assuming he doesn’t change his mind about retirement and play again next season, he can’t catch No. 2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,560) or No. 1 Robert Parish (1,611). Nowitzki retired after 1,522 games.It has not been the ideal start to the farewell season. The Hawks are 6-21. They need to beat the Knicks on Tuesday just to stay out of last place in the Eastern Conference. But Carter’s last lap around the league has been worth celebrating.“Many different teams, many different highlights, many different moments of his career, too many to count,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. “But we’re going to cherish... [More]

TORONTO (AP) — If any people came to boo Kawhi Leonard on his return to Toronto, it was sure hard to hear them over all the cheering.Leonard received his championship ring to deafening applause and chants of “MVP! MVP!" before the Los Angeles Clippers visited the Raptors on Wednesday night.Earlier, the three-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP said he was expecting a mix of cheers and boos from Toronto fans who watched him lead the Raptors to a six-game victory over Golden State in June.“There’ll be some cheers but definitely, I think, more boos because they want to win the game,” Leonard said at shootaround. “They don’t want to be cheering for a player that’s on the opposing team.”Leonard's former teammates, along with coaches and team executives, gathered in a circle at center court before tip-off to greet their former star, who signed with the Clippers in free agency.Leonard embraced each player in turn before guard Kyle Lowry presented him with his ring. After slipping it on,... [More]

TORONTO (AP) — Kawhi Leonard expects to hear a mix of cheers and boos when he faces the Toronto Raptors for the first time since helping them win the NBA Finals.Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers make their lone trip north of the border Wednesday to play Toronto. The three-time All-Star and two-time Finals MVP will receive his championship ring in a special pregame ceremony.“There’ll be some cheers but definitely, I think, more boos because they want to win the game,” Leonard said. “They don’t want to be cheering for a player that’s on the opposing team.”Back in Toronto for the first time since his free agency meeting with the Raptors in July, Leonard said he experienced “flashbacks” of that championship run as the Clippers drove to the arena for morning shootaround.“The ride was fun,” Leonard said of his season in Toronto. “I had a great time last year with the coaching staff, the front office, and the players. It was a great experience.“Obviously it was different playing here for a... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — RJ Barrett was asked to explain something that would have been unusual to a 10-year veteran, let alone someone who had played 21 NBA games.Was it strange to have a coach run practice, only to fire him after it ended?“I mean, I have no idea. I just got here," Barrett said. “I don’t know how these things work."Welcome to life with the New York Knicks, rookie.It's nothing new when they change coaches, but the firing of David Fizdale was a head-scratcher even for the Knicks. When they finally got around to announcing his dismissal last Friday, hours after the practice he led, the Knicks did it with a two-sentence statement void of any quotes or any other explanation. They played at home the next night and then departed the following day for a road trip, all without president Steve Mills or general manager Scott Perry commenting on Fizdale's removal. That left it up to the players to do all the talking.The front office did speak earlier in the season, a strange press conference... [More]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Giannis Antetokounmpo had plenty of time to relax and enjoy his 25th birthday Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers.Antetokounmpo had 27 points and 11 rebounds before exiting the game with 8:56 to play and his Milwaukee Bucks ahead by 36. The Bucks went on to win 119-91 and capture their 14th straight victory.“The fans were unbelievable tonight,” Antetokounmpo said. “They made me feel special. They made this day feel special. Usually a lot of people, their birthday, they celebrate, they go out, they do all that. But that's not me. That's not what I do. But the fans made it really special for me.”The reigning MVP made 11 of 20 shots and recorded his 21st double-double of the season.“It was Giannis' birthday and we searched all over the city to find a gift and we couldn't find one, so we gave him this one,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “That's all I can come up with because we were awful.”The Bucks led by as many as 41 and extended their longest winning streak... [More]