LOS ANGELES — Top USC basketball recruit Alijah Arenas has been released from the hospital and is resting comfortably, his family announced in a statement Wednesday.

Arenas lost control of his Tesla Cybertruck just before 5 a.m. Thursday as he was returning from the gym, according to Josiah Johnson, who co-hosts the “Gil’s Arena” ...Read more

No fourth-quarter comeback this time.

The Nuggets closed out the Clippers comfortably in Game 5 for a 3-2 series lead behind a Jamal Murray 43-point explosion. Here are three key developments from the 131-115 win.

Nuggets fans, and Christian Braun, ride Clippers’ James Harden: Late in the third quarter, with Denver up 96-82 and Nuggets fans ...Read more

BOSTON — A slobber-knocker of a first-round playoff series ended with a one-sided steamrolling Tuesday night at TD Garden.

The Celtics routed the Magic, 120-89, in Game 5 to eliminate Orlando and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals, where they’ll face either the New York Knicks or the Detroit Pistons.

Jayson Tatum was terrific ...Read more

NEW YORK — In NBA history, 13 teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit, and coach J.B. Bickerstaff was a part of one.

It occurred when he was an assistant coach under Kevin McHale, as the Houston Rockets achieved the feat in the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2015. As in the rest of his career, Bickerstaff ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Rename the school Shaqramento State. Or perhaps Shaq State will do.

Sacramento State announced Tuesday that it hired outsized personality and hoops icon Shaquille O'Neal as general manager of its forlorn men's basketball program. OK, so maybe hired isn't an accurate term because O'Neal — whose net worth is estimated at $500 ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — When JJ Redick took the Lakers coaching job 10 months ago, he vowed that they would use math to their advantage. Tuesday, standing in the same building where he made that pledge, he said something that would've made Isaac Newton fire an apple off the wall.

"We have to win Game 5 and that's it. It's been conveyed by coaches [and]...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings have made a decision regarding their head coach.

Doug Christie is finalizing a deal with the team to have the interim title removed and become the full-time head coach, a league source confirmed Tuesday. ESPN’s Shams Charania was first to report the news.

The decision comes less than a week after ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The first step toward restoring a Kobe and Gianna Bryant mural that was tagged in downtown Los Angeles has already begun, less than a day after news broke that the artwork had been vandalized.

On Tuesday morning, Lakers star Luka Doncic’s foundation donated $5,000 to a fundraiser to help restore the art piece, located on a ...Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. — The wait is over, and Alex Karaban will be staying with the UConn men’s basketball program for his redshirt senior season.

For the second offseason in a row, Karaban weighed a decision between staying in college and going into the NBA draft, where he likely would’ve been selected in the second round. Karaban spent time ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green went directly to the camera and put his face mere inches from the lens. He wanted to tell the world that he was still its best defender.

As if there was any question of that after he played picture-perfect defense on Houston center Alperen Şengün’s last-second isolation shot to seal a Warriors win and a 3-1 ...Read more

HOUSTON – Through the fouls and scraps between bitter basketball enemies, the Warriors had an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead over the Houston Rockets in a contentious series on Monday night at Chase Center.

The Warriors did just that.

And even nursing a sore lower back, Jimmy Butler came up clutch when it counted in Golden State�...Read more

MIAMI — How much fight did the Miami Heat have left? How much bone-deep belief could they muster? Any at all? The answers came fast Monday night. The game, like this series, fell like an avalanche on the Heat, starting the clock on their offseason after Miami was swept like dirt from the NBA playoffs’ first round by Cleveland.

Bam Adebayo ...Read more

MIAMI — In the end, cold, hard realities caught up to the Miami Heat, their season ending with Monday night’s 138-83 thrashing at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers at Kaseya Center.

The reality of a 37-45 team attempting to win a playoff series against a team that finished 27 games ahead of the standings.

The reality of postseason life ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Game 5 is a pivotal contest for the Clippers and the Denver Nuggets.

Pivotal because the winner in a series that's tied at 2-2 will be one win away from advancing in the Western Conference playoffs.

Pivotal because the loser will be one loss away from their season being over.

Pivotal because the team that wins Game 5 and ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Four days after he was involved in a serious Cybertruck accident that led to him being put into an induced coma, top basketball prospect Alijah Arenas is walking and talking and expected to be discharged from the hospital "very soon," according to the co-host of his father's podcast, "Gil's Arena."

Arenas, according to Josiah ...Read more

DENVER — If you want to know what the Nuggets think about Michael Porter Jr.’s brief excursion from their bench during a Game 4 altercation, simply refer to David Adelman’s description of it.

“I thought Mike made a non-aggressive walk,” the interim coach said Monday.

Porter is technically subject to a one-game suspension after ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State has made a Shaquille O’Neal-sized splash.

O’Neal has agreed to become the men’s basketball program’s new general manager, a high-ranking university official confirmed to The Sacramento Bee on Monday. ESPN reported O’Neal will be serving in a “voluntary” role.

O’Neal, a four-time NBA ...Read more

MIAMI — There was a time when Max Strus thought a playoff series in Miami in April in 2025 would come in a Heat uniform. Then the money got in the way.

The result has been Strus in opposing Cleveland Cavaliers colors over the past week, offering the type of grit against the Heat that he previously offered in the Heat’s 2023 run to the NBA ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Luka Doncic had more color in his skin Sunday, his body warmer than when he slowly hobbled out of Target Center Friday night in sweats Friday night. He’d felt miserable during Game 3.

“Virus,” he said. “Still have it.”

At least he was feeling better — even if things were looking worse for his team.

The Lakers ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO — Warriors star Jimmy Butler is reportedly expected to play in Monday night’s Game 4 against the Houston Rockets.

Butler is listed as questionable with a pelvic contusion, but he and the Warriors expect him to return, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, after he missed Saturday’s Game 3. He participated fully in the ...Read more