NBA

TORONTO — One of the most historic streaks in sports history ended with LeBron James’ hands in the air. The player who had scored at least 10 points in nearly 1,300 straight regular-season games needed one more basket to move it along another game.

Former Gonzaga point guard Ryan Nembhard, an undrafted rookie with the Dallas Mavericks, continued his stretch of solid play Wednesday against the Miami Heat.

DENVER – Here’s a story you might have heard before: A Nembhard is defying expectations in the NBA.

The LA Clippers played 23 seconds of swarming defense, with timely rotations and intense ball pressure. It was all for naught because Klay Thompson needed just one second to catch a bounce pass and hoist a contested 3-pointer over John Collins and Kris Dunn.

As a 21-year-old, Haywood sued the NBA for the right to join the league despite its rule requiring players be four years removed from high school. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, with Haywood arguing the NBA’s stance violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.

LOS ANGELES – When Hall of Famer Grant Hill thought back on NBC’s coverage of the NBA in the 1990s, his mind went first to battling Michael Jordan. In those days, sportscaster Bob Costas’s monologues built the tension and John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock” provided the soundtrack as the tongue-wagging Chicago Bulls legend headlined marquee matchups on network television.

SAN ANTONIO – Something dawned on San Antonio Spurs wing Julian Champagnie as he watched his teammates taking turns trying to score on Victor Wembanyama, the team’s 7-foot-4 center.

Nearly 20 years after the Supersonics left Seattle to become the Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA is still mulling expansion, with Seattle a long-rumored suitor for a new team.

Within his 35-minute news conference, commissioner Adam Silver seemed to provide more reasons why the league won’t expand than any concrete reasons why the league will eventually add teams. 

Expansion will receive its most robust discussion among the NBA owners when they meet early this week for their annual summertime gathering in Las Vegas during NBA Summer League. In previous years, the focus was on collective bargaining agreements and media rights deals.

Frank Layden, who coached the Utah Jazz with a colorful presence in the 1980s and played a pivotal role in building the team’s success in the 1990s, died at 93, the Jazz announced on Wednesday. The cause of death was not announced.

PHILADELPHIA – Following the February trade deadline, Philadelphia 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said that “I know you have to squint a little, but we feel like this group” is still capable of winning a championship.

SEATTLE – Lenny Wilkens returned to Seattle Center where his Sonics teams rose to the heights of the NBA in the 1970s.

On the eve of the NBA draft, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander paraded through the streets of Oklahoma City, shirtless and with a Canadian flag wrapped around his waist. Joy finally infiltrated his cool and quiet demeanor. He swaggered about, embracing being The Man, leaning into his full superstar identity: champion, deadly scorer, regular-season and Finals MVP, the latest player born outside the United States to stake a claim as the best hooper in the world.

Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of a story analyzing the biggest winners and losers from the first round of the NBA draft.

Before the NBA crowned a new champion, another all-star had to suffer. For Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Game 7 turned into a tragedy, his toughness and determination bringing him this far, only to thrash his right Achilles’ tendon in the first quarter of the most important game of his life.

OKLAHOMA CITY – For the first time, the urgent, deafening, nonstop “OKC!” chants rained down on the NBA’s champions.

OKLAHOMA CITY – Those “two words” are back, the two that are, allegedly, the best in all of sports.

SEATTLE – Lenny Wilkens’ eyes flicker and his soft voice rises to an occasional crescendo as he tells the stories that have shaped his life.