The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association appear to be close to working out a deal that would keep that from happening for the third time in two decades, according to The Vertical. MORE: Eight players with most to prove in ‘16-17 The report said a new collective bargaining agreement, expected to be finalized in the next few weeks, could include a higher rookie wage scale and two-way deals between the NBA Development League and the NBA that would add playing jobs....

James and Curry are set to hop on a conference call Thursday afternoon with the full rosters being revealed later in the evening on TNT. Ahead of that big announcement, Sporting News’ Jordan Greer (Team Stephen Curry) and Gilbert McGregor (Team LeBron James) decided to hold their own All-Star fantasy draft. (Gilbert has the height advantage on Jordan, so he’s LeBron.) ALL-STAR 2018: Paul George, Chris Paul among biggest snubs...

The NBA shared video of Jordan’s reaction to Larry Bird’s legendary performance in the 1988 3-Point Shootout via Instagram. A 24-year-old Jordan watched Bird hit eight of his final 10 attempts in the semifinal round, scoring 23 out of a possible 30 — all while wearing his Celtics warm-up jacket. A post shared by NBA History (@nbahistory) on Feb 13, 2018 at 1:24pm PST Jordan did not hesitate to offer his analysis on Bird’s choice of shooting apparel: “He didn’t take off his top yet....

The slumping Grizzlies, meanwhile, look to jumpstart their season in Portland against the surprising Trailblazers (10:30 p.m. ET, TNT). NBA odds: Lines and totals Thunder (3-2) at Bulls (3-2) Line: Bulls -1, Total: 208.5 Game outlook: Fred Hoiberg has the Bulls playing with more spark and fluidity on the offensive side of the ball than under former coach Tom Thibodeau. Increased ball movement and spacing has allowed for better shots and a quicker pace, mostly seen in the added number of three-point shots by Chicago...

The Sixers, who used the offseason to retool their roster, have not looked the part of a contender early on in the season. The Nets, who had a tumultuous offseason, have stumbled out of the gates with some poor play that required a players-only meeting just six games in. With all that’s gone wrong, the job security of head coaches Doc Rivers and Steve Nash came into question. Seven games into the season, Nash and the Nets mutually agreed to part ways....

Silver defended the league’s players in an interview Friday with PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff, saying league administrators support some of the players who hold the anti-police brutality protests during the National Anthem. Last Tuesday, Trump called into Fox Sports radio and said of the professional basketball players, “Some are very nasty. Very, very nasty, and frankly, very dumb.” Woodruff asked Silver to respond to Trump’s latest round of criticism directed toward the league, which the president also aimed at the NBA’s ongoing business dealings in China....

The first part of the draft process is the 2022 NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, May 17. This year marks the fourth draft lottery in which each of the league’s bottom three teams has a 14.0 percent chance of winning the top pick in the draft. From there, odds are staggered in order from worst to best record among the other non-playoff teams....

The NBA star's absence disappointed a sellout crowd of 13,635 at the HSBC Arena in Rio — the gymnastics venue at the 2016 Olympics — where the top ticket price for the preseason game was 2,000 Brazilian reals ($915). Taj Gibson led the Bulls with 18 points and Luol Deng added 14. Bradley Beal paced Washington with 16. Rose had played two preseason games without any sign of problems, but Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said the knee flared up in practice Friday and Rose ended his work about halfway through the session....

This will be a massive series for Smart, who will take on the bulk of the workload in trying to contain the greatest shooter of all time. Smart is often referred to as the captain and heartbeat of the Celtics. His vocal leadership is one thing, but his attitude, work ethic and effort on the court are influential across Boston’s roster. In relation to his opponent in the NBA Finals, doesn’t that description sound familiar?...

Both Rajon Rondo and Jae Crowder make their NBA Finals DK Showdown lineup debuts for us tonight. Kendrick Nunn returns for only his second usage. We’ve faded both Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo in the hopes of capturing more sturdy mid-tier production. It might not work, but it’s obvious we need to play Jimmy Butler and LeBron James, so those fades were necessary in this construction. DraftKings Showdown Picks: Lakers vs....

Teams were informed of the policy updates Monday in a memo obtained by the Associated Press, and come as dozens of NBA players and coaches have tested positive, forcing them to miss several games in recent weeks. Ninety-seven percent of NBA players are fully vaccinated, and at least 65 percent of eligible players have received a booster shot, according to the NBA. The decision from the NBA comes after a change in NFL COVID policy was announced earlier this month, allowing vaccinated players to return to play after 10 days rather than having to test negative to return to their team....

It is July 2017, and we’re just about a year out from the free agency of LeBron James. That means we are set up for about 50 weeks of mind-numbing sleuthing, interpreting a variety of mysterious quotes and cryptic tweets from James himself, hustling information from “sources close to James” and divining his preferred future destinations from his latest online photos. James should put up a picture of a few bags of Lipton on Instagram, and he will have us literally reading tea leaves....

The Vertical and other media outlets reported Lowry agreed to a three-year contract worth $100 million. The All-Star point guard was a point of emphasis for Toronto, which needed to re-sign both Lowry and forward Serge Ibaka to avoid a rebuild. Ibaka’s contract is worth a reported $65 million over three years. MORE: NBA free agency tracker | Vecenie’s FA signing grades “I’m coming back to Toronto because my heart is telling me that it’s home — and because staying home, for me and my family, feels like the right thing to do,” Lowry wrote....

Multiple Philadelphia players are set to enter free agency, including forwards Jimmy Butler and Tobias Harris — who were both acquired via in-season trades in 2019. Both stars are expected to receive max contracts and will have plenty of teams pursuing them. Philadelphia general manager Elton Brand discussed the impending offseason when he met with reporters earlier this week. “They have tough decisions to make and so do we,” Brand said, via the Philadelphia Inquirer....

That later could be coming soon. Johnson is slated to be a free agent this summer after spending the last two seasons in Boston. There’s virtually no chance that the Celtics, who are planning to bring in young big guys Ante Zizic and Guerschon Yabusele, will re-sign Johnson come July. Johnson started 77 games for Boston, but was the starter in only nine of the team’s 18 playoff games and did not play at all in four of them....

But New York doesn’t want to just be a one-hit wonder. The Knicks will be looking for an upgrade at point guard this offseason, and it seems they already have a few options in mind. MORE: What channel is Knicks vs. Lakers on today? From SNY’s Ian Begley: New York has enough cap space and future NBA Draft picks to start a conversation with Portland about Lillard’s status, but the franchise icon has never indicated that he wants to be traded....

I’m going to give a few of my favorite picks in this story, but first, a disclaimer: I’m not a winning sports bettor, and neither are any of your other favorite writers. There’s a strong selection bias at play any time you read free gambling advice on the internet. There are a few exceptions — and I’ll give you one if you stick with me until the end — but for the most part, only the losers have the willingness to part with tips....

“Obviously we want to play,” Paul, who is president of the National Basketball Players Association, told ESPN on Friday. “Oh, man, we want to play. We want to play bad. I think that’s the consensus among the guys around the league. MORE: Mark Cuban wants ‘White House protocol’ for testing before reopening Mavs’ facility “We want it to be obviously as safe as possible, but the biggest thing is, we miss the game....