ESPN.com • June 24th, 2025

How Cooper Flagg and the beleaguered Mavericks responded to a shocking NBA draft lottery

Stephen A. Smith explains what Cooper Flagg needs to do in the NBA to live up to the hype. (1:19)ON THE AFTERNOON of May 12, Cooper Flagg's immediate family gathered inside his hotel room at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Chicago. There was his twin brother, Ace (who is one minute older), his father, Ralph, and his mother, Kelly.They finished getting dressed for the 2025 NBA draft lottery, which began later that night at 7 p.m. local time at the McCormick Place Convention Center, a short walk...

ESPN.com • June 23rd, 2025

NBA Power Rankings -- for next season: OKC at No. 1? Where's Houston?

The 2024-25 NBA season has officially come to a close as the Oklahoma City Thunder are crowned the new champions of the league and claim their first NBA title after defeating the Indiana Pacers in an exciting seven-game series.After making their first Finals appearance in over 10 years, the Thunder retain the top spot in our Way-Too-Early rankings. But after an unpredictable postseason, where did the other 29 teams end up as we head into the summer?As we close the door on another exciting NBA se...

ESPN.com • June 19th, 2025

NBA Finals 2025: Why one Hall of Fame sidekick sees a lot of himself in OKC's Jalen Williams

HE WAS A no-star recruit coming out of high school, landing at a small college before a sudden growth spurt. He didn't register on NBA scouts' radars until a couple of years later, as success didn't come immediately even at that level, and then zoomed up the draft boards into the lottery late in the process.

This once unheralded prospect just kept getting better and better after arriving in the NBA, establishing himself as a do-it-all co-star, a perfect complement to an MVP who led the league i...

ESPN.com • June 16th, 2025

NBA Finals 2025: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the lost art of the midrange jumper

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander goes off for 35 points to help the Thunder come from behind and tie the NBA Finals at 2-2. (2:12)TRAILING BY A point late in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the Oklahoma City Thunder's season seemingly hanging in the balance, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander brought the ball up the left side of the Gainbridge Fieldhouse floor.The MVP had the matchup he wanted and went to work one-on-one against Indiana Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith.Gilgeous-Alexander darted left, taking two hard dribbles aw...

ESPN.com • June 8th, 2025

'Always competitively present': Alex Caruso's journey from G League to veteran leader

ALEX CARUSO FIRST arrived in Oklahoma City with a head full of hair and flickering hopes of an NBA career.It was September 2016, and the Thunder had invited Caruso to a tryout for an Exhibit 10 contract -- an opportunity for a $50,000 bonus and a roster spot with the G League affiliate Oklahoma City Blue.He was one of six players at the workout, but unbeknownst to Caruso, he was the only one that Oklahoma City's management and coaches really wanted to watch.Then-Blue coach Mark Daigneault, who w...

ESPN.com • May 25th, 2025

Rivalry renewed: Why this absurd Knicks-Pacers series could signal a massive shift in the East

The Pacers head back to Indiana with a 2-0 series lead after beating the Knicks in a hard-fought Game 2. (3:25)MICHAEL JORDAN'S WALK-OFF message to then-Indiana Pacers coach Larry Bird after vanquishing him in Game 7 in the 1998 Eastern Conference finals is one of the most memorable moments of "The Last Dance" documentary."You b----. F--- you."It's just one stitch in the tapestry of Pacers rivalries over the decades. For a team that hasn't won a championship since moving from the ABA to the NBA...

ESPN.com • May 16th, 2025

The Knicks might need more OG-Mikal magic to stop the Celtics

Mikal Bridges shows no remorse as he a slams down the hammer over Cade Cunningham after a big OG Anunoby block. (0:34)AS TOBIAS HARRIS spotted up from the left wing late in a Game 6 during the NBA playoffs' first round last month, the Detroit Pistons veteran saw New York Knicks wing Mikal Bridges sprinting at him, prompting Harris to put the ball on the floor and attack the basket instead.But Harris, looking to cap the possession with a dunk, had company at the rim. New York's OG Anunoby had got...

ESPN.com • May 15th, 2025

Nikola Jokic is defying stat-chasing culture -- and he's still an MVP front-runner

Nikola Jokic scored 44 points to go along with 15 boards, but the Nuggets fall to the Thunder 112-105. (1:24)WITH A SECOND remaining in Sunday's Game 4, Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic called for the ball after Jalen Williams hit a pair of free throws to push the Oklahoma City Thunder's lead to five points.After receiving the inbounds pass from Michael Porter Jr., Jokic launched the longest shot of these NBA playoffs, literally and figuratively.His football-style toss from 81 feet out sailed...

ESPN.com • May 12th, 2025

New York's best -- and perhaps only -- chance to beat the champs? Get to clutch time

Mike Greenberg calls Jalen Brunson the "most clutch player" in the NBA, questioning how the Mavericks let him leave for the Knicks. (1:37)AFTER THE FINAL buzzer sounded and the New York Knicks poured onto the Little Caesars Arena floor to celebrate their series-clinching Game 6 win over the Detroit Pistons, forward Mikal Bridges secured his headset for an interview with legendary play-by-play announcer Mike Breen.Bridges had made one of the defining plays of the victory -- a left-handed putback...

ESPN.com • May 9th, 2025

Oklahoma City Thunder's defense has become their 'calling card'

ALEX CARUSO POUNCED, ripping the basketball away from Memphis Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. in the final minute of Game 3 in the first round of the playoffs.The Grizzlies, trailing by three points, desperately needed to generate a good shot on this possession against the Oklahoma City Thunder. They came into the game down 2-0 in the series, and they had already watched their once unassailable 29-point lead evaporate. But with Ja Morant watching from the tunnel while propped up on crutches, t...

ESPN.com • May 2nd, 2025

Inside Gregg Popovich's fight to return to the sideline

Stephen A. Smith details why he is happy that Gregg Popovich will still be in basketball as team president for the Spurs. (2:03)Editor's note: This story was published on March 18. On May 2, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Gregg Popovich will step down as head coach of the Spurs and transition full-time to team president of basketball operations.THE DRIVE FROM Keldon Johnson's ranch in Boerne, Texas, to the Frost Bank Center used to be predictable. Thirty minutes on the weekends, 45 during t...

ESPN.com • April 30th, 2025

Why the Rockets' launch is still awaiting a superstar

JALEN GREEN ACKNOWLEDGED that he wasn't quite ready for the playoff stage.For Green, the Toyota Center lights felt brighter than ever for Game 1 against the Golden State Warriors, a foe that features a few future Hall of Famers with long track records of playoff success. This was the postseason debut for Green and several other young core players for the Houston Rockets, a franchise whose painful rebuilding process that started with the trade of James Harden is just beginning to pay major divide...

ESPN.com • April 28th, 2025

Steph and Draymond's 'last ride' comes down to Playoff Jimmy

Golden State's postseason hopes rest on Jimmy Butler's impact as the Warriors push for one more run with their core. (1:03)BEFORE STEPHEN CURRY went out for his pregame ritual workout in Utah on Feb. 5, he emerged from the visitors locker room at the Delta Center to hug Andrew Wiggins as he was coming off the floor.Wiggins had just learned that he was being traded to the Miami Heat in a five-team blockbuster deal that would send Jimmy Butler III to Golden State. Moments later, a heavyhearted Ste...

ESPN.com • April 23rd, 2025

The rapid rise of Amen and Ausar Thompson: From lottery picks to the playoffs in two seasons

THE DAY AFTER the visiting Denver Nuggets ended the Houston Rockets' nine-game winning streak in late March, Amen Thompson stepped in front of his teammates at the team's newly opened 75,000-square-foot training facility.Finally, it was his turn in the team-bonding exercise: Tell your life story in five minutes."Everybody goes over the time," Thompson told ESPN.He couldn't help it.Spinning essentially the same two narratives into one as the Rockets leaned in closely to listen, the soft-spoken Th...

ESPN.com • April 22nd, 2025

Luka? Brunson? Here are six NBA superstars who need a ring to cement their legacies

Great regular seasons make NBA players rich and famous. Great playoff runs make them legends. This has always been the standard and will always be.

Charles Barkley is judged, whether it's fair or not, because of his lack of a championship. Kevin Garnett went from being viewed as a failing star, as he lost in the first round of the playoffs seven consecutive years in Minnesota, to the definition of a leader after winning a title in Boston. Jerry West was one of the great champions in league hist...

ESPN.com • April 21st, 2025

Firings, dysfunction and chaos: Inside Dallas' lost season and the end of the Luka Doncic era

Luka Doncic receives a standing ovation from Mavericks fans after he leaves the game with 45 points in his return to Dallas. (2:01)DALLAS MAVERICKS' OFFICIALS and select staffers, past and present, packed the team's plane along with members of Dirk Nowitzki's inner circle. The flight was bound for Springfield, Massachusetts, in August 2023, to celebrate the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame induction of the most legendary figure in franchise history.Mavs general manager Nico Harrison mad...

ESPN.com • April 19th, 2025

NBA postseason preview: Stars, matchups and X factors that could decide the champion

The 2025 NBA playoffs are set! An exciting final week saw the Eastern Conference bracket finalized on Friday. The West wasn't set until the last game, an overtime clash between Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors and Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers. There are now officially 20 teams fighting for a chance to win the Larry O'Brien trophy, five of which have never won it all.In the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers claimed the top seed after a dominating, 64-win regular season. But the reigni...

ESPN.com • April 19th, 2025

NBA Rank, playoffs edition: The 50 most impactful players for 2025

Who will decide the next two-plus months of NBA basketball?Welcome to NBA Rank: 2025 Playoffs Edition, where ESPN's experts are counting down the 50 most impactful players ahead of the league's gauntlet through the postseason.Can MVP favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder break through for the franchise's first title? Can three-time MVP Nikola Jokic add another championship to his Hall of Fame résumé? How far can Luka Doncic and LeBron James, in his 18th career...

ESPN.com • April 19th, 2025

Picking each NBA playoff series: Potential upsets, 7-game thrillers and the Finals

Stephen A. Smith details why the Celtics' Jayson Tatum should have more recognition for his career thus far. (2:41)Between the introduction of the NBA Cup and the play-in tournament, the NBA has given teams more opportunity to celebrate success during the grind of the regular season. Still, make no mistake: The NBA's best-of-seven playoffs is where the action means the most.Because there are fewer series and matchups are so meaningful, we don't typically pick the entire NBA playoff bracket befor...

ESPN.com • March 31st, 2025

Playoff positioning to tanking teams: What to watch the rest of the NBA regular season

Tim MacMahon says he was stunned by LeBron James' carelessness with the ball in the Lakers' loss to the Bulls. (1:31)We're in the final weeks of the 2024-25 NBA regular season, and teams are zeroing in on the postseason. But there are plenty of games left before the regular season ends April 13.Though the Oklahoma City Thunder have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, the race for the West's No. 2 seed is tight. Meanwhile in the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and New...

ESPN.com • March 27th, 2025

SGA or Jokic for MVP? Answering the biggest NBA awards questions

The Thunder became the NBA's first team to reach 60 wins thanks to a big performance from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander against the Kings. (1:43)As the 2024-25 NBA regular season winds down, teams turn their attention to the postseason. Others began strategizing for the lottery.The NBA regular-season awards are also right around the corner, with the biggest storyline being which Western Conference superstar will claim MVP.It appears there are no clear winners for any of these major awards, with Defens...

ESPN.com • March 25th, 2025

'Two lions are better than one': The Warriors' season hinges on an unlikely friendship

Jimmy Butler comes up with a key block late in the fourth quarter and celebrates with Draymond Green after drawing a foul. (0:46)AS JIMMY BUTLER boarded his first team flight with the Golden State Warriors the day before his Feb. 8 debut against the Chicago Bulls, he had something in his carry-on that he rarely travels without -- his dominoes.It's an integral part of some of his fondest memories with his late father, Jimmy Butler Jr., who died a year earlier. His father drove an 18-wheeler and s...

ESPN.com • March 24th, 2025

'The Wonder Boy': How the Mavericks lost out on Jalen Brunson

Excerpted from THE WONDER BOY: Luka Doncic and the Curse of Greatness Copyright © 2025 Tim MacMahon. Published by Grand Central Publishing, a Hachette Book Group company. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.MINUTES AFTER THE Mavs' 2021-22 season ended, Mark Cuban indicated that Jalen Brunson's return was a sure thing -- casually dropping "obviously after re-signing JB" while discussing offseason plans during a live interview on Bally Sports Southwest. Throughout the...

ESPN.com • March 12th, 2025

NBA Power Rankings: Injury outlook for all 30 teams

The end of the NBA regular season is a month away and one team (the East-leading Cleveland Cavaliers) has already clinched a playoff spot with several more on the brink.

As is usually the case, the teams with the best chances in the playoffs are those that can stay healthy. We've seen teams like the New Orleans Pelicans and the Dallas Mavericks stumble down the standings due to mounting injuries.

For this week's Power Rankings, we're taking stock of each team's health and how each should appro...