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Silver named LaMelo Ball and Dejounte Murray as the replacements to join the All-Star reserves Ball, the 2020-21 Rookie of the Year, learned of his accomplishment just minutes before the Hornets hosted the Raptors in Charlotte. Ball’s All-Star honor helps him join an elite all-time NBA list. At 20 years and 182 days old, Ball will be the fourth-youngest player in NBA history to take part in an All-Star Game, with just Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Magic Johnson doing it at a younger age....

Instead of holding its typical All-Star events over multiple days, the league crammed everything into one evening. On Sunday, the best players from around the NBA will hit the floor at State Farm Arena in Atlanta with the skills competitions and All-Star Game all taking place over the course of a few hours. Now that the participants for each event have been revealed, here’s a breakdown of this year’s All-Star festivities....

Ahead of this year’s All-Star festivities, which will take place March 7 in Atlanta, the league has released the final fan voting results. A few big names are unsurprisingly at the top of the lists, but there are some eye-openers on the leaderboards. MORE: LeBron has “zero excitement” for 2021 All-Star Game Kevin Durant and LeBron James emerged as the leading vote-getters in the Eastern and Western Conferences, respectively, earning more than 5 million votes each....

For the first 28 years of the sharpshooting competition, the format remained constant. Then, in 2014, the NBA added a rack of all money balls. Now, the 2020 version will include two shots from six feet behind the 3-point line, worth three points each. Shooters will also have 10 extra seconds to complete the contest, compensating for the added shots. MORE: Full list of NBA All-Star starters and reserves...

The contenders have separated themselves from the pretenders, while a number of teams that have fallen in early holes are in desperate search of ways to salvage their respective seasons before it becomes too late. The same goes for individuals around the league. The Sporting News has made end-of-season awards predictions ahead of the 2021-22 season and through the first quarter of games played. Based on what we’d seen through the first 20 games of action....

When the league switched to a five-game Christmas slate in 2008, it began commemorating the holiday on team’s uniforms by using a snowflake NBA logo. On Christmas Day 2012, the league introduced Christmas Day uniforms for the 10 teams in action, a tradition that lasted for five seasons until Nike took over as the NBA’s official outfitter ahead of the 2017-18 season. While the days of the Christmas Day uniform are no more, each of the teams slated to play on Christmas Day in 2021 have made specific sartorial choices for the holiday, with eight of the 10 teams in action opting to go with their “City Edition” uniforms....

This year the NBA will ditch the sleeves and the one-color experiment, stealth jerseys and keep it simple. The jerseys will have players’ first names on the back. It’s a bit more subdued for the NBA these days but maybe that’s what the league needs. It’s a good way to get fans to buy into it since star players are recognized by their first name anyway. MORE: Gallery | Kobe is jealous of Tim Duncan | Derrick Rose leaves game with injury...

NBA commissioner Adam Silver hopes to negotiate this fall with the National Basketball Players Association on a new collective bargaining agreement that will answer that question. 2015-16 Rankings: PGs | SGs | SFs MORE: Grading each team’s offseason Silver told the Boston Globe that he has been talking with NBPA executive director Michele Roberts “on a regular basis” and is ready to proceed with talks. “We’re looking forward to engaging with the union,” Silver said....

Yet there are only 60 picks and, well, several more than 60 players declared for the draft. That discrepancy triggered the standard flurry of undrafted free agents signing contracts with teams, a run that started not long after the festivities in New York concluded. While most of the UDFA’s will have to go the summer league route to prove themselves, don’t overlook those whose names weren’t called Thursday, as they undoubtedly will have a chip on their shoulders....

Not every franchise feels it has a chance to land a star, but plenty have lucked out with diamonds in the rough like Kyle Kuzma, Donovan Mitchell, Pascal Siakam and others in recent years. Gonzaga’s Brandon Clarke is one of 2019’s most interesting prospects, and he just might turn out to be the biggest steal of the draft for the team that recognizes his unique traits. Clarke had his first team workout with the Hornets on Monday, who pick 12th overall....

So, congrats to all the NBA Draft prospects — average age, 21.3 — who copped to not really knowing what the movie is about, per a Bleacher Report video from the Combine. “Four passes before a shot” is dead, and it should be. MORE: 2015 Mock Draft | The Greatest Draft Ever MVPs: Norman Powell for dropping “white people basketball;” Robert Upshaw for the Matthew McConaughey shoutout; and Michael Qualls for thinking Jimmy Chitwood is black and maybe an owl....

But for NBA talent evaluators who have long seen Smart as a potential franchise-making player and a sure Top 10 pick, the incident won’t have a direct impact on Smart as a draft prospect. “I would not say something like that helps a player,” one general manager told Sporting News. “But I don’t think it will hurt him all that much. He has a good reputation, the guys who have coached him in his career, with Team USA, everyone....

Needless to say, making a call of Warriors-Cavs isn’t exactly going out on a limb, but it’s worth recognizing that the video game has proven its simulation engine prophetic in many other instances. This year’s game already deserves credit for being right on six of the eight first-round series (including correctly predicting the surprise of the Pelicans over the Trail Blazers), nailing exactly how the Thunder’s season would turn out post-Carmelo Anthony trade, and being on the mark with the final three games in the conference finals....

The Warriors’ win didn’t come easy, but now they have a chance to take control at Oracle Arena on Wednesday. Here are three takeaways from Golden State’s crucial victory: The Warriors are sharing the ball Golden State doubled Toronto’s assist output, totaling 34 to the Raptors’ 17. Four different Warriors recorded at least five assists in Sunday’s contest. Draymond Green was just one assist away from notching his second consecutive triple-double of the championship series....

Iguodala made a crucial 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining to seal the Warriors’ 109-104 win as they evened the series at 1-1 on Sunday. Curry felt the Raptors’ lax approach to Iguodala — a three-time NBA champion and the 2015 Finals MVP — was disrespectful. “The whole fourth quarter they were playing some janky defense just trying to send bodies to me everywhere and our whole roster just took advantage of it,” he told ESPN....

Now, in no small part thanks to the remarkable irresponsibility of general managers last offseason, that $1 billion has shrunk to about $400 million for the summer of 2017. TRADE TRACKER: Biggest rumors, reported deals ahead of free agency The biggest shift actually comes at the bottom, as exactly half of the league’s teams will start the offseason looking at a Mid-Level exception as their best way to add new talent....

It was also a very expensive compliment as the NBA slapped the Clippers with a $50,000 fine Friday for violating the league’s anti-tampering policy. “[Leonard] is the most like Jordan that we’ve seen,” Rivers said on ESPN. “There’s a lot of great players. LeBron is phenomenal, KD is phenomenal. Not that [Leonard] is Jordan or anything like that, but he’s the most like him. Big hands, post game, can finish....

On the surface, this year’s free agency might not have the same luster as years past, with the few big names that are involved likely to stay put. However, there is always the prospect of big trades capable of shaking up the outlook of the league. Before the flurry of signings gets going, it’s only right to go through the exercise of attempting to predict where some notable names will land....

Portland is hoping to add a center before training camp, according to a report from The Athletic, which cites an unidentified league source. Greg Monroe, Pau Gasol, Kenneth Faried and Kosta Koufos, among others, are some of the veterans at the position who remain unsigned. Koufos has received interest from at least four teams, according to an earlier report from Yahoo Sports. The Trail Blazers have already acquired one big man this summer as they landed Hassan Whiteside from the Heat....