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The Trail Blazers have signed the 39-year-old big man to a one-year contract, according to a report from ESPN, which cites unidentified league sources. Gasol began last season with the Spurs before joining the Bucks after receiving a buyout in early March. But, he injured his foot and appeared in just three regular season games with Milwaukee. Gasol said earlier this month he thinks he’ll be completely healthy by the start of next season....

Storylines first, projections to follow… Who will win the race for the No. 1 pick? Unlike last season when Duke’s RJ Barrett entered the season as the consensus favorite to be selected No. 1 overall — although he was eventually overtaken by teammate Zion Williamson — there is no clear frontrunner for 2020. North Carolina’s Cole Anthony is where most fingers will point to open the year, but Georgia’s Anthony Edwards and Memphis’s James Wiseman will also be early contenders....

The Oklahoma City Thunder appear to have fallen out of contention in the West after losing their All-Star pairing of Paul George and Russell Westbrook, while both Los Angeles teams have strengthened considerably as they look to mount a major challenge for the title. Meanwhile, the East continues to improve, and the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks are two teams that could reach the Finals after Kawhi Leonard left the Toronto Raptors....

NBA teams are also preparing for the upcoming draft, so with no shortage of news and rumors around the league – here is everything you need to know for April 28th. Doc Rivers full of praise for his Clippers team The Los Angeles Clippers exited the playoffs on Friday as they lost 129-110 to the Golden State Warriors. Many had expected the Clippers to get swept by the two-time defending champions, however, Doc Rivers’ starless team were able to almost push Steve Kerr’s men all the way – and Rivers is full of praise for his team:...

The game also concluded a few hours after the verdict given out by the grand jury on the shooting of Breonna Taylor, where the cops involved escaped no major charges. Many of the players on display tonight were staunch supporters of the movement that was meant to bring justice to Taylor, so the post-game conferences were dominated by talk related to the verdict. NBA News Update: Jaylen Brown not surprised with the Breonna Taylor verdict, Kemba Walker at a loss for words While their loss to the Miami Heat in a crunch Game 4 which saw them go down 1-3 in the series was certainly on their mind, there were more important matters at hand for Boston Celtics stars Jaylen Brown and Kemba Walker....

NBA News Update: Daryl Morey signing with Philadelphia 76ers after parting ways with Houston Rockets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report on this move by the Philadelphia 76ers as seen in the tweet above. The Athletic’s Shams Charania later added details about the length of the contract and by when the signing is likely to be completed. Daryl Morey’s long-term association with the Houston Rockets came to an abrupt end after he stepped down as the general manager of the franchise....

Despite sitting out all of overtime in San Antonio’s Game 5 victory over Houston, Leonard vows to play Thursday when the series resumes. The assertion removed some of the doubt Spurs coach Gregg Popovich expressed in his postgame presser. MORE: Manu blocks Harden to seal Spurs’ Game 5 win It also reported the ankle was bothering Leonard throughout the game and that he aggravated the injury when he stepped on James Harden’s foot....

How do you go into attack mode after picking up four first-half fouls? How do you bounce back from an 11-point dud and deliver that alpha masterpiece everybody is looking for every single night? James didn’t deliver one of his 50-point specials in response, but he might have played two of the smartest quarters possible instead. He finished with 34 points in a 112-99 victory that has the Cavaliers one win away from a third straight NBA Finals appearance....

Almost all of the lottery picks have been hits which is quite remarkable and the top guys have shown flashes of greatness. Luka Doncic has led the way, while DeAndre Ayton has been solid and efficient. So, with more than a quarter of the season having passed, we decided to look at the favorites to bring home the award this year. It wasn’t easy to choose just five out of such an impressive class, but we’ve decided to give it a shot....

The Celtics’ young core of Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown failed to reach the same heights of 2018, whereas Gordon Hayward looked like a shadow of his former self after returning from a serious injury that caused him to miss the entire 17-18 season. In free agency, Kyrie Irving will leave for Brooklyn, although the impending arrival of Kemba Walker will soften the blow. The Celtics are also being linked with a number of other stars around the league, and here are three players that could link up with the Celtics over the next week....

There is also an objective way to measure those claims. Positive Residual, a sports analytics site, has an NBA schedule tracker that analyzes various schedule factors, including strength of schedule (using a combination of opponent strength, rest and altitude) and rest-advantaged games. Through its tool, we can see which teams really do have the hardest and easiest schedules. MORE: Ranking 10 best games on NBA calendar NBA’s easiest, hardest schedules in 2022-23 Based on Positive Residual’s methodology, the Nuggets have the easiest schedule in the league, while the Spurs have the hardest....

The Pacers’ halftime lead of 44-37 was still manageable until they blew the game wide open in the third quarter. It was a 71-44 lead heading into the fourth and the game was a foregone conclusion from there. Veteran NBA player Kenneth Faried suffered a hand injury in the third quarter so that’s something to watch out for in the game against the Phoenix Suns. Also on Thursday, the Phoenix Suns won their first game after three tries in Las Vegas with a 90-84 victory over the winless Denver Nuggets....

Of special interest is the effect that newly hired Suns coach Igor Kokoskov will have on the decision. Kokoskov was the head coach of the Slovenian national team last year in its run to the gold medal in the EuroBasket tournament — which featured Doncic averaging 14.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists in nine games. That’s led to speculation that Kokoskov would push the Suns to draft Doncic. But sources familiar with the Suns’ thinking told Sporting News on Thursday that’s just not the case....

The 2019 NBA draft was one of the best drafts in recent memory. After initially being labelled as a weak draft, which was top heavy, a lot of players were touted to be great and NBA ready role players, looking to take the next step to stardom. There are a huge number of trades that took place as teams looked to draft exactly the player they wanted. Without waiting for the season to decide for us, let’s take a look at the 5 biggest players that can be considered as the ones who went up the most compared to their mock draft positions and how they ended up going higher than expected....

Or maybe not all that eager. “I really don’t know how much I have to show,” Morant told Sporting News on Thursday. “Not being cocky, I just feel like, most people seen me already. But I mean, it will be an honor just to go out and play in front of those guys, see how the city is and get to know the organization better.” NBA MOCK DRAFT 2019:Pelicans, Knicks, Hawks snag Duke stars; Lakers pick sharpshooter...

The redshirt junior forward announced Wednesday on Instagram that he plans to leave school early to “test the waters” at the next level, becoming the fourth Cavaliers player in three days to declare. “This has been an unbelievable experience and I can’t even begin to put it in to words. I have grown so much from my first day on Grounds both on and off the court, which is why I am confident in announcing my intentions to declare for the NBA Draft,” Diakite wrote, in part....

But to everyone’s surprise, Golden State Warriors suffered another defeat at the hands of the Kawhi-led Toronto Raptors, losing the game 92-105, and the Raptors take a mammoth 3-1 lead home for Game 5, which is to be played on Monday night. So without further ado, here are the 3 biggest talking points from Game 4 of the 2019 NBA finals: #3 Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney made a strong return to the lineup, but to no avail Klay Thompson, one half of the famous Splash brothers, missed his first playoff game ever in Game 3, sitting out with a strained left hamstring....

Then the fourth quarter came. Stephen Curry lit up with 17 of his 37 points, and the Warriors won 104-91 Sunday night in Game 5 to put the Cavaliers on the brink of elimination. Game 6 is Tuesday night (9 p.m. ET, ABC) in Cleveland, and the Cavaliers now must regroup after consecutive blowout losses. MORE: Must-see NBA Finals photos | Barnes ends first half with huge dunk James totaled 40 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists and, perhaps most importantly, 45 minutes....