NBA

NEW YORK – The Knicks needed their finisher more than ever.

SEATTLE – One of the biggest nightmares for Seattle SuperSonics fans is one step closer to becoming reality.

By the Athletic staff

INDIANAPOLIS – Tyrese Haliburton’s best game of the 2025 playoffs, one of the best of his career, just happened to come on the night his dad was back in the building.

Former Seattle SuperSonics star Shawn Kemp pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in Pierce County Superior Court on Tuesday for shooting at two men inside a Toyota 4Runner outside the Tacoma Mall in March 2023.

MINNEAPOLIS – Getting a young star trio in the NBA to reach its full potential is a precarious and delicate business, part Jenga tower and part ship in the bottle.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Timberwolves are a team that pride themselves on defense, but it was their defense that ultimately let them down in a 128-126 loss to the Thunder.

SEATTLE – With jury selection scheduled Tuesday, opening statements are expected to begin Wednesday in the trial of ex-Sonics star Shawn Kemp, who is accused of shooting at two men inside a Toyota 4Runner outside the Tacoma Mall in March 2023 as he tried to recover items stolen in an earlier car prowl.

The New York Knicks have life.

MINNEAPOLIS — In accumulating the best record in the NBA and in becoming the team with the best scoring differential in league history, the Oklahoma City Thunder have made a living of being on the right end of some lopsided scores. There are reasons for this. The Thunder were the best defensive team in the league this season. They are supremely physical. They cause turnovers and make it difficult for opposing teams to run an offense. They have a steely demeanor that consistently allows them to keep their foot on the pedal.

MINNEAPOLIS – The court still exists. Here at Powderhorn Park, a leafy area smack dab in the middle of the city, is where Dave Holmgren was introduced to the game.

NEW YORK — Pascal Siakam is relatively quiet, choosing to let his game do the talking instead. On Friday night against the New York Knicks, his game was loud in front of a hostile Madison Square Garden crowd.

This is what we’re missing. That’s all I thought Wednesday, as Andrew Nesmith — who much of America had never heard of — hit six consecutive 3-pointers in the final 5 minutes. As the New York Knicks, who led by 14 points with 2:39 left in Game 1 of the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals, deteriorated on national television.

The belief that the Los Angeles Lakers, led by head coach JJ Redick, had in former Gonzaga star Rui Hachimura and his growth as a player was evident before the 26-year-old forward started his sixth NBA season.

OKLAHOMA CITY – It would have been one thing if these youthful, exuberant and absurdly talented Oklahoma City Thunder imposed their will on the decimated Denver Nuggets in this West semifinal series, sweeping them en route to asserting their title-contending superiority or, at worst, sending them home with a gentleman’s sweep.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday he expects discussion about expansion to be on the agenda for the next meeting of the league’s owners this summer.

Throughout Orlando’s first-round playoff loss against Boston, it became common to see Jalen Suggs with a basketball in his hands.

Gonzaga record-setting point guard Ryan Nembhard has received an invitation to the NBA G League Elite Camp next weekend in Chicago.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – In the visitors’ locker room at FedEx Forum Friday night, Klay Thompson had one word to sum up the Dallas Mavericks’ season: “tumultuous.”