LOS ANGELES — Barely a week ago, a charmed Lakers season screamed three words.

Deep playoff run.

Today, a jinxed Lakers season soberly whispers three very different words.

Shut it down.

With less than a month of games remaining, the Lakers season is done, finished, kaput.

Twisted and torn by the sudden same-day injuries to their two best ...Read more

It didn’t take long for Michigan basketball to make its first addition out of the transfer portal.

Tennessee transfer J.P. Estrella shared news of his commitment to the Wolverines on his Instagram account Thursday, which comes just three days after Michigan’s season ended and two days after the portal window opened.

Estrella, a 6-foot-11 ...Read more

HOUSTON — Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with appendicitis and will undergo surgery on Thursday in Houston, per the 76ers.

This is another ill-timed health issue for Embiid, and for the Sixers’ postseason outlook. It typically takes multiple weeks to return to exercise following an appendectomy, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

The ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Whether it’s conventional wisdom or wishful thinking, the prevailing narrative at the opening of the college basketball transfer portal Tuesday morning was a simple one: Mark Pope will need to land some studs this offseason.

But is that really the case?

As more players declare their intentions to transfer between now and ...Read more

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — On Tuesday morning, a night’s sleep after watching college basketball’s national championship game, the University of Miami professor had students set their watches to 10:15 a.m., as he does every class, and then review motivational author Stephen R. Covey’s “Seven habits of highly effective people.”

“Who can ...Read more

DENVER — For all the incongruity and awkwardness of this Denver Nuggets season, it almost doesn’t feel right for it to be punctuated by a milestone win streak.

There were too many injuries, too many different lineups, too many costly freak plays in the clutch. It has been, in large part, a year of repressed collective talent.

Yet here were...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Magic coach Jamahl Mosley made it clear at shootaround that he wanted his team to piece together a performance that Orlando fans would enjoy during the final home game of the regular season against the Timberwolves on Wednesday night at Kia Center.

Although the Magic made some miscues on offense and weren’t as sharp as they ...Read more

DETROIT — Cade Cunningham and Isaiah Stewart are used to hearing fans cheer each time their names are announced at Little Caesars Arena. However, on Wednesday night, the crowd showed even more excitement. The Pistons’ 137-111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks marked Cunningham’s and Stewart’s respective returns from injuries.

After ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A man with alleged ties to Israeli organized crime helped run high-stakes illegal poker games at a luxury Encino mansion owned by former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, according to authorities and court documents.

Yevgeni Gershman, 50, of Woodland Hills, has agreed to plead guilty to four federal counts including conspiracy to ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Chicago Bulls are not giving up one aspect of their current infrastructure.

President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf spoke mostly about change on Tuesday after the firing of former executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas and general manager Marc Eversley. But the executive also reserved the final ...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago Sky fans still might be reeling from Monday’s blockbuster trade of All-Star forward Angel Reese. But the wheel keeps turning in the WNBA.

On Wednesday, the league opened a three-day window for free-agent negotiations, allowing teams to make their first (legal) contact with a slew of talent ranging from former MVPs to ...Read more

SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors entered Tuesday night with only one objective: Make sure Steph Curry made it through his allotted 25 minutes against the woeful Kings.

Sure, they also wanted to win the game – they did that in an 110-105 victory over arguably the most dysfunctional franchise in American pro sports and snapped a four-game losing ...Read more

BOSTON — The first two meetings between the Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets were one-sided blowouts. The rubber match was a much closer fight.

Boston trailed Charlotte by as many as 11 points Tuesday night at TD Garden before rallying to win 113-102 in a possible first-round playoff preview.

Jaylen Brown finished with 35 points and nine...Read more

TORONTO – You still can’t spell play-in without Miami Heat.

So for a fourth consecutive year, the postseason will begin with the pre-playoffs for Erik Spoelstra’s team.

Assured of no better than a No. 7 regular-season finish in the East, and currently at No. 10 in the conference, the Heat again will have to try to do it the hard way, ...Read more

NEW YORK — Good for E.J. Liddell. Not great for the tank.

With Brooklyn’s injury list still swallowing half the rotation and the draft lottery picture tightening by the day, Liddell used Tuesday night as a personal argument. The two-way forward delivered a career-high 21 points in his second start of the season, and the Nets beat the ...Read more

The final weeks of the Minnesota Timberwolves schedule hasn’t been filled with many of the several teams that are tanking to close out the season.

That’s one reason other teams in the Western Conference have had lengthy win streaks while the Wolves are stumbling to the finish line.

Another reason? The Wolves are down two important players ...Read more

DENVER — Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets saluted former coach Michael Malone as he transitioned to the college game Monday with a shocking move to North Carolina.

“I’m happy for him,” Jokic said. “Probably a little bit different. Was he ever a coach in college? No?”

Malone was in fact a college hoops assistant coach throughout ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Chicago Bulls need to enter an era of hands-on ownership.

President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf voiced that belief Tuesday while addressing the media in a video conference following the firing of executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas and general manager Marc Eversley. The news conference marked Reinsdorf’s first ...Read more

INDIANAPOLIS – Dan Hurley let all of his emotions out before Monday night’s national championship game. He wore sunglasses to cover his tears walking through the team hotel and on the bus ride over to Lucas Oil Stadium, welling up with pride knowing his team was one of the last two standing.

By the time the game ended and his players shed ...Read more