2021 — Anfernee Simons, Portland 2020 — Derrick Jones Jr., Miami 2019 — Hamidou Diallo, Oklahoma City 2018 — Donovan Mitchell, Utah 2017 — Glenn Robinson III, Indiana 2016 — Zach LaVine, Minnesota 2015 — Zach LaVine, Minnesota 2014 — John Wall, Washington 2013 — Terrence Ross, Toronto 2012 — Jeremy Evans, Utah 2011 — Blake Griffin, L.A. Clippers 2010 — Nate Robinson, New York 2009 — Nate Robinson, New York 2008 — Dwight Howard, Orlando 2007 — Gerald Green, Boston 2006 — Nate Robinson, New York 2005 — Josh Smith, Atlanta 2004 — Fred Jones, Indiana 2003 — Jason Richardson, Golden State 2002 — Jason Richardson, Golden State 2001 — Desmond Mason, Seattle 2000 — Vince Carter, Toronto 1999 — No competition 1998 — No competition 1997 — Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers 1996 — Brent Barry, L.A. Clippers 1995 — Harold Miner, Miami 1994 — Isaiah Rider, Minnesota 1993 — Harold Miner, Miami 1992 — Cedric Ceballos, Phoenix 1991 — Dee Brown, Boston 1990 — Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta 1989 — Kenny Walker, New York 1988 — Michael Jordan, Chicago 1987 — Michael Jordan, Chicago 1986 — Spud Webb, Atlanta 1985 — Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta 1984 — Larry Nance, Phoenix

Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Phoenix’s Devin Booker have been 3-point champions at All-Star weekend before, and they’ll try to win that trophy again Sunday. The NBA revealed the 15 players Tuesday who will be taking part in the other on-court events besides the All-Star Game in Atlanta, with the overwhelming majority of them pulling double-duty between those competitions and the game itself. Curry, Booker, the Boston duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, Chicago’s Zach LaVine and Utah’s Donovan Mitchell — all of them All-Stars — will be the six competitors in the 3-point contest. All-Stars Luka Doncic of Dallas, Domantas Sabonis of Indiana, Julius Randle of New York, Nikola Vucevic of Orlando and Chris Paul of Phoenix will be five of the six entrants in the skills competition. They’ll be joined by Portland’s Robert Covington, the only current NBA player who is a graduate of a historically Black college and university. Covington went to Tennessee State. HBCUs will be a major part of... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — Pat Riley is always looking around for ways to make the Miami Heat better. This offseason has him wondering if that improvement might come from within. The Heat president said Friday that the top offseason priority of the Eastern Conference champions “is to take care of the players that we have” such as free-agent-to-be Goran Dragic, all while maintaining salary cap flexibility to add an impact player in a 2021 offseason that could see many stars on the move. “We have a good idea of what we want to do,” Riley said in his annual end-of-season media availability. No plan can be considered completely firm yet; the NBA’s board of governors were meeting Friday, simultaneous to Riley speaking, to discuss ideas about when it might be feasible to start next season -- with Dec. 22 as the initial target for a season of about 72 games. And the financial details for next season remain unclear as well, such as the salary cap and luxury tax numbers. All that will have an obvious impact on... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic had their arms slung over the other’s shoulders as they walked out of the arena following the final game of Miami’s season, helping each other in the most painful of moments. That was the Heat way all year long. A bunch of strangers at the start of the season forged intense bonds over the next 12 months, and the result was a surprising run to the NBA Finals. Another Eastern Conference championship banner will be swaying in Miami soon, and there is no doubt that the Heat will enter next season — whenever it starts — believing that they’re among the favorites to win the 2021 NBA title. “This season has been a tremendous season for us, for me,” Dragic said. “We had a lot of bonds together. We go through good times, bad times, but we always stay together. And I think that that’s something that it’s really rare to find.” The Heat went from 10th in the East last season to second in the NBA this season, falling to the Los Angeles Lakers... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Miami Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. was carted off the court and fitted for a neck brace after colliding with Indiana Pacers center Goga Bitadze late in the third quarter Friday.Jones was trying to get around a screen when he ran into the 6-foot-11 Bitadze and fell to the floor. The Heat announced via Twitter after their 109-92 loss that Jones had a neck strain and had undergone an MRI, CT scan and concussion test. The Heat said Jones would be re-evaluated over the weekend.During his postgame press conference, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra urged caution before reacting one way or another until all tests have been completed. But the initial signs, including that Jones had movement and was not reporting numbness in his extremities, were considered positive.The Heat face the Pacers in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series beginning Tuesday.Players from both teams stood on the court in silence as Heat personnel and eventually emergency medical workers tended... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Miami Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. was carted off the court and fitted for a neck brace after colliding with Indiana Pacers center Goga Bitadze late in the third quarter Friday.Jones was trying to get around a screen when he ran into the 6-foot-11 Bitadze and fell to the floor. Jones lay on his stomach for several minutes with his right hand over the back of his head.Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after Miami's 109-92 loss that the issue was with Jones' shoulder and neck. Jones was evaluated by doctors on-site and was getting more tests Friday night, including an MRI and CT scan. Spoelstra urged caution before reacting one way or another until all tests have been completed. But the initial signs, including that Jones had movement and was not reporting numbness in his extremities, were considered positive.The Heat face the Pacers in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series beginning Tuesday.Players from both teams stood on the court in silence as Heat... [More]

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Miami Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. was carted off the court and fitted for a neck brace after colliding with Indiana Pacers center Goga Bitadze late in the third quarter Friday.Jones was trying to get around a screen from Bitadze when he collided with the 6-foot-11 center and fell to the floor. Jones lay on his stomach for several minutes with his right hand over the back of his head.He had a towel over as he was carted off the court.Players from both teams stood on the court in silence as Heat personnel and eventually emergency medical workers tended to Jones. Once the brace was on, they rolled him onto a backboard and lifted him onto a stretcher before wheeling him off the floor.Heat center Bam Adebayo, one of Jones’ closest friends on the team and someone who was not playing in Friday’s game, followed the group of rescue workers off the floor. Jones appeared to have movement in most of his extremities, and was tapping the toes of his sneakers on the court several times while being evaluated.The Heat did not have any immediate diagnosis.Jones has averaged 8.6 points, 4 rebounds and 23.4 minutes for the Heat this season. He won the slam dunk championship during the All-Star break.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Harrison Barnes of the Sacramento Kings became the latest NBA player to reveal that he has the coronavirus, making the announcement Tuesday and saying he has hopes to join his team for the league’s restart later this summer.Barnes is the only player who has started all 64 of the Kings’ games this season. To extend that streak, he’ll need to be cleared and arrive at Walt Disney World before Sacramento’s season resumes with the first of its eight seeding games on July 31 against San Antonio.“Prior to the team leaving last week, I tested positive for Covid-19,” Barnes wrote on social media. “I’ve been primarily asymptomatic and am doing well. I’m quarantined and am abiding by the safety protocol until I’m cleared for action. I hope to join my team in Orlando when it is safe to do so! Stay safe out there.”Barnes is averaging 14.7 points this season for the Kings.The league said Monday that 19 players tested positive during in-market testing after July 1, those... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — A person with knowledge of the situation says Miami forward Derrick Jones Jr. has tested positive for the coronavirus, a result that came in shortly after the Heat and other NBA teams began mandatory testing in preparation for next month's resumption of the season.Jones, the reigning NBA slam dunk contest champion, still plans to play when the Heat get back on the floor at the Disney complex near Orlando next month, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because neither the Heat nor the player revealed the result publicly.League officials have expected that positive tests would be inevitable, and believed that starting a testing regimen now — roughly five weeks before games begin at Disney — will give players with positive results time to recover and get back with their teams before those contests start July 30.A small number of NBA players publicly revealed Wednesday that they had tested positive, including Sacramento teammates Jabari Parker and Alex Len and Indiana's Malcolm Brogdon. All-Star Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets has also tested positive, a person with knowledge of that situation told AP on Tuesday.Jones will be a free agent when this season ends. He's averaging a career-best 8.9 points this season for the Heat, who have clinched a postseason berth.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

MIAMI (AP) — A person with knowledge of the situation says Miami forward Derrick Jones Jr. has tested positive for the coronavirus, a result that came in shortly after the Heat and other NBA teams began mandatory testing in preparation for next month's resumption of the season.Jones, the reigning NBA slam dunk contest champion, still plans to play when the Heat get back on the floor at the Disney complex near Orlando next month, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because neither the Heat nor the player revealed the result publicly.League officials have expected that positive tests would be inevitable, and believed that starting a testing regimen now — roughly five weeks before games begin at Disney — will give players with positive results time to recover and get back with their teams before those contests start July 30.A small number of NBA players publicly revealed Wednesday that they had tested positive, including Sacramento teammates Jabari Parker and Alex Len and Indiana's Malcolm Brogdon. All-Star Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets has also tested positive, a person with knowledge of that situation told AP on Tuesday.Jones will be a free agent when this season ends. He's averaging a career-best 8.9 points this season for the Heat, who have clinched a postseason berth.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

It’s reasonable to think Milwaukee is not going to win all 21 of its remaining games, which means not all is lost for the Golden State Warriors this season.They’ll still be the only team in NBA history to win 73 games.The Warriors were a record 73-9 in the 2015-16 season, and the Bucks fell to 52-9 with their loss in Miami on Monday night. But there’s still a chance Milwaukee could be able to make a case as the most dominant team in league history in one regard — margin of victory.This season’s Bucks are outscoring teams by 12.26 points per game. That’s on pace to be second-best in NBA history, just a smidge behind the mark of 12.28 set by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers — a team with a Hall of Fame coach in Bill Sharman, four Hall of Fame players in Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich, Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, and a player who would become a Hall of Fame coach in Pat Riley.And the Bucks are in that stratosphere.“We’ve still got a lot more basketball to play,” guard Wesley Matthews said.... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Ratings for the NBA All-Star Game were up 8% over last year, with an average of 7.3 million viewers watching Sunday night’s broadcast on TNT.About 8 million viewers were tuned in for the end of the game, where LeBron James’ team defeated Giannis Antetokounmpo’s team 157-155 in the first target-score format in All-Star history. The fourth quarter was untimed and was broadcast commercial-free.TNT’s pregame coverage, which included tributes to Kobe Bryant, averaged 6.3 million viewers. That figure represented a 19% increase over viewership for the same show last year.For the weekend — including Friday's Rising Stars game and Saturday's showing of the Skills Competition won by Miami's Bam Adebayo, the 3-point contest won by Sacramento's Buddy Hield and the dunk contest won by Miami's Derrick Jones Jr. — Turner Sports said ratings were up 15% from last year.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on Saturday night at NBA All-Star weekend. (all times local):9:45 p.m.Miami Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. celebrated his 23rd birthday by winning the All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, edging Orlando Magic forward Aaron Gordon in a memorable showdown that required two tiebreaker jams.Jones and Gordon each got a perfect 50 on both of their dunks in the final. Then they got two more perfect scores on their first jam in the dunk-off.Jones then took off from just inside the foul line and threw down a windmill jam with his left hand, drawing a 48 from the panel of five judges.After a short discussion with Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, Gordon brought out 7-foot-5 Boston Celtics rookie Tacko Fall and positioned him near the basket. He then took the ball from Fall's hands on his way to a thunderous dunk.The United Center gasped as the courtside NBA stars celebrated. But Gordon was awarded a 47, giving the victory to Jones.Gordon also lost a memorable dunk contest to Zach LaVine... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — The NBA-backed Basketball Africa League on Saturday announced the 12 teams that will compete in the inaugural season.The clubs, from a dozen African nations, are: Groupement Sportif des Pétroliers (Algeria), Petro de Luanda (Angola), Forces Armées et Police (Cameroon), Zamalek (Egypt), Gendarmerie Nationale Basketball Club (Madagascar), AS Police (Mali), AS Salé (Morocco), Ferroviàrio de Maputo (Mozambique), Rivers Hoopers BC (Nigeria), Patriots BC (Rwanda), AS Douanes (Senegal) and Union Sportive Monastirienne (Tunisia).“It's amazing creating a league in Africa,” said reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, a Greek born to Nigerian parents. “Giving opportunities to African talent and African players to go out there and showcase their talent, I knew it was going to happen.”The teams from Algeria, Cameroon, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Rwanda earned the right to be in the league through qualifying tournaments. The teams from Angola, Egypt, Morocco,... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins have never talked to one another about the 1988 dunk contest.They might be the only ones.It is still the dunk contest by which all other dunk contests are measured: Two stars, at the peak of their powers, the players who finished first and second in that season’s scoring standings, going head-to-head to decide a winner. Jordan left the old Chicago Stadium that night with the trophy. To this day, many believe Wilkins was the rightful winner. Either way, it was a never-to-be-forgotten show — and now, for the first time since that night 32 years ago, the dunk contest is returning to Chicago on Saturday night.“I did have a homecourt advantage, yes,” Jordan said this week in an interview with The Associated Press.“The fans got their money’s worth,” Wilkins said in a separate interview with AP.This season’s dunk contest entrants — Orlando’s Aaron Gordon, Miami’s Derrick Jones Jr., the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dwight Howard and Milwaukee’s Pat Connaughton... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins have never talked to one another about the 1988 dunk contest.They might be the only ones.It is still the dunk contest by which all other dunk contests are measured: Two stars, at the peak of their powers, the players who finished first and second in that season’s scoring standings, going head-to-head to decide a winner. Jordan left the old Chicago Stadium that night with the trophy. To this day, many believe Wilkins was the rightful winner. Either way, it was a never-to-be-forgotten show — and now, for the first time since that night 32 years ago, the dunk contest is returning to Chicago on Saturday night.“I did have a homecourt advantage, yes,” Jordan said this week in an interview with The Associated Press.“The fans got their money’s worth,” Wilkins said in a separate interview with AP.This season’s dunk contest entrant — Orlando’s Aaron Gordon, Miami’s Derrick Jones Jr., the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dwight Howard and Milwaukee’s Pat Connaughton... [More]

CHICAGO (AP) — Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins have never talked to one another about the 1988 dunk contest.They might be the only ones.It is still the dunk contest by which all other dunk contests are measured: Two stars, at the peak of their powers, the players who finished first and second in that season’s scoring standings, going head-to-head to decide a winner. Jordan left the old Chicago Stadium that night with the trophy. To this day, many believe Wilkins was the rightful winner. Either way, it was a never-to-be-forgotten show — and now, for the first time since that night 32 years ago, the dunk contest is returning to Chicago on Saturday night.“I did have a homecourt advantage, yes,” Jordan said this week in an interview with The Associated Press.“The fans got their money’s worth,” Wilkins said in a separate interview with AP.This season’s dunk contest entrant — Orlando’s Aaron Gordon, Miami’s Derrick Jones Jr., the Los Angeles Lakers’ Dwight Howard and Milwaukee’s Pat Connaughton... [More]

MIAMI (AP) — In deciding whether to pursue a trade for Andre Iguodala, the Miami Heat went all-in on research. They talked to people who knew Iguodala. They watched what he did last season. They took a deep dive into the analytics.And they came to a determination.“He’s elite,” Heat President Pat Riley said.Simple as that. That’s why Iguodala is now in Heat colors, and a team that wasn’t even good enough to make the playoffs last season is thinking big as it gears up for a run at the 2020 postseason. Iguodala, Jae Crowder and Solomon Hill all joined the team for a game-day shootaround practice in Sacramento on Friday to get their first taste of what life with the Heat is like.“He's an elite defender, an elite team defender, elite assist-to-turnover percentage, he ranks up into the top of those areas that are real tangible,” Riley said. “You don't lose that in seven months. And probably it was a blessing in disguise that he didn't play for seven months.Iguodala last played an NBA game in... [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) — A person familiar with the negotiations says Andre Iguodala is headed to Miami after the Heat and Memphis Grizzlies agreed Wednesday night on his long-awaited trade.As part of the deal, Iguodala agreed to a two-year extension, with the second of those years being a team option, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade has not been finalized.The person also said Miami and Memphis were still working to complete terms of what the Heat are giving up in the deal, and that a third team — Oklahoma City, in a package that would include Danilo Gallinari potentially headed to the Heat — was still in play. Oft-injured forward Justise Winslow said he was part of the deal and was headed to Memphis, the former Heat starter reaching out to fellow former Duke players Tyus Jones and Grayson Allen with a message.Jones and Allen are both members of the Grizzlies. Winslow has missed much of this season with a bone bruise in his back.Iguodala,... [More]