The Brooklyn Nets forward won the contest in his first appearance last year and should he defend the title in Chicago on Saturday he would become the first player to do so since Jason Kapono won the contest in 2007 and 2008. Harris led the NBA in three-point field goal percentage last season and is currently shooting 40.5 percent from beyond the arc, marking the third consecutive season he has converted 40 percent of more of his attempts from three-point territory....

In fact, it was more like an air ball. The 2021 NBA All-Star Game had its lowest ratings ever, and its smallest TV audience. The game drew just 5.94 million viewers, which is the only time it’s ever failed to draw 6 million viewers. It was the third time the game drew fewer than 7 million viewers in the last 13 years. The 3.1 overnight rating Sunday was also the lowest in history....

Lakers forward LeBron James led all Western Conference players with more than six million fan votes, making him an All-Star captain for the third consecutive year. Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo ran away with the Eastern Conference vote, so get ready for a Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis rematch in Chicago. MORE: When is the 2020 NBA trade deadline? Keep in mind the starters and reserves won’t be tied to their conferences for the All-Star Game, but rather thrown into a pool and drafted by the captains....

The league announced the finalists for six individual awards, and the races have come down to three candidates for the following honors: Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man, Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year. MORE: The MVP case for Nikola Jokic without advanced stats Finalists were chosen based on voting results from a global panel of media members, which includes both broadcasters and writers....

Each of the three finalists — Jokic, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo — had a legitimate case for winning the award, but the controversy surrounding Jokic’s win was the fact that the Nuggets were just a sixth seed, again harking back to Westbrook’s win. Jokic averaged 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game, and had one of the all-time great individual seasons. In the past, however, an MVP is usually on a dominant team that goes on deep playoff runs....

The NBA issued a memo Monday telling league members to, among other things, favor fist-bumps over high-fives and limit autographs, according to ESPN. With NBA travel not curtailed, though, it seems unlikely for players to completely eliminate the risk of COVID-19 given their daily interactions with hundreds (if not thousands) of people. The risk of serious illness, however, is relatively low for athletes in peak physical condition, as experts say older adults are at the highest risk of severe complications....

Please note that there are some top options that aren’t listed in the playbook. They are in play as always, but we wanted to provide options across all salary ranges. Most players are listed by their FanDuel positions, but note that they may be eligible at other positions on the other sites. Position wise, it is easier to mix and match with the multiple DraftKings options than it is for FD....

Sporting News is tracking all the deals announced Thursday at the 2018 draft in Brooklyn, N.Y. NBA DRAFT 2018: SN’s pick-by-pick analysis The Hawks traded the draft rights to PG Luka Doncic (third pick overall) to the Mavericks in exchange for the draft rights to PG Trae Young (fifth pick overall) and a protected 2019 first-round draft pick. The Hornets traded the draft rights to PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11th pick overall) to the Clippers in exchange for the draft rights to SF Miles Bridges (12th pick overall) and two second-round picks....

On the other hand, there are some significant translation questions in terms of his shot and body. Also, Jackson had multiple off-the-floor incidents this year that teams will undoubtedly need to do their due diligence on with intel work. What else is there to know? Well, here’s a quick breakdown. NBA TRADE RUMORS: Tracking all the latest moves ahead of the NBA Draft Strengths Jackson is an elite athlete as well as an elite competitor....

While the influx of young bigs may ultimately make long-term team construction difficult for NBA franchises with finite roster space and a limited need for centers, having so many big men in one class means draft evaluators get to watch them match up when their teams face off. Earlier this season, an eye poke robbed us of a full game battle between Duke’s Marvin Bagley III and Michigan State’s Jaren Jackson Jr....

The optimism around the Heat — the fifth seed in the East — heading into the series was significantly dampened by Game 1 as they let an early lead slip and also lost Goran Dragic and Bam Adebayo to injury. Butler also went down but battled on, playing again in Game 2 as the Lakers again came out on top Friday 124-114. GREER: Not even a healthy Adebayo can stop this version of Davis LeBron James and Anthony Davis tallied 33 and 32 points, respectively, and both look to be in the mood to clinch the Lakers’ 17th title in double-quick time....

The former Warriors guard told The Undefeated he wanted more of a chance to be on the floor, compete and contribute. “I could say it was playing time, but I think it was just me being emotional as a kid,” McCaw said. “I just wanted more. Not necessarily more playing time, but more opportunity for myself. I’m not discrediting the Warriors and what they chose to do. I just think being a young kid, you see all the younger guys competing and doing their thing and you feel like, ‘OK, I’m just that kid, or I could be doing exactly what he’s doing....

Thus, winning their second title in franchise history and first since 1971. The Greek Freak also finished with 14 rebounds, five blocks and two assists while shooting 16-of-25 from the field and an incredible near-perfect 17-of-19 from the free-throw line. It was all tied up leading into the final period but Milwaukee sealed the victory by outscoring the Suns 28-21. Four other Bucks players score in double figures including 17 from Khris Middleton, 12 points and 11 assists from Jrue Holiday and 16 off the bench from Bobby Portis....

Perhaps the craziest thing about the series through six games is that the total points scored are all square, with the Cavaliers and Warriors scoring exactly 610 points each. Another crazy trend: LeBron James doing his thing with supreme confidence. He has scored 41 points in the each of the past two games, and that’s a big part of why I believe Cleveland (+5, 206.5) will win Game 7....

Joakim Noah is a decent player. He was better than decent for years. He, like anybody, deserves whatever money he can get in this environment, and watching him head back to his hometown would be fun. MORE: NBA free agency live blog, analysis, rumors That said: The Knicks are about $30 million under the luxury tax, which means they could very well end up devoting $18 million of that to Noah, who’s 31 and coming off the worst season of his career....

This year’s free agency period will kick off on Monday at 6 p.m. ET. Teams can begin negotiating with free agents at that time, though the reality is many of those conversations have already happened. Most contracts can’t officially be signed until Friday at 12:01 p.m. ET. However, many players will agree to the terms of a contract verbally before putting pen to paper. Sporting News is keeping track of all the signings for the 2021 offseason....

Armstrong went through all of McGee’s career highlights — like when he ran back on defense even though his team still had the ball. MORE: Meet Brandon Armstrong | Kobe Bryant | James Harden | Tim Duncan | Russell Westbrook Even better, McGee met Armstrong on the set of ESPN’s “SportsNation” on Monday. Someone please sign McGee so we can have more awesomely JaVale moments this season.

Both teams are side-by-side in the standings, but nowhere near where they were projected to be, fighting to stay in the Play-In Tournament picture. The Celtics have fallen to 16-19 after a horrendous loss to the Clippers without Paul George or Reggie Jackson. Boston posted the second-worst 3-point percentage in NBA history (min. 40 attempts), going 4-for-42 (9.5%) from beyond the arc in the loss. The Hawks have lost their third game in a row, falling to 15-19 after another blowout loss to the Bulls, allowing 130-plus points to Chicago in back-to-back games....

L.A. is an 8.5-point favorite, with a total of 220, as of about 11 a.m. ET. Check The Linemakers on Sporting News’ odds page for updated Las Vegas lines. ATS: The average score after AccuScore ran its 10,000-plus simulations is Clippers 112-Rockets 102, and there’s nearly a 54 percent chance the Clippers cover a -8.5 spread, a two-star (out of four) AccuScore hot trend. In the past week, AccuScore has gone 7-4 (63....

The league notified teams Monday that it will no longer allow the “ninja-style” headbands that grew in popularity last season, NBA spokesperson Mike Bass told ESPN. Bass said the NBA chose not to intervene in 2018-19 because it didn’t want to be disruptive in the middle of the season. But it’s taking a stance on the issue now before the regular season tips off next month. The league’s competition committee is set to meet Monday to discuss concerns regarding the size and length of the headbands, as well as how they are tied before an official rule change is made....