Baxter Holmes

Employee suing Suns for retaliation fired by team The Phoenix Suns have fired an employee who is suing the team for discrimination, harassment and retaliation, ESPN has learned.

NEWS: The Suns have fired an employee who is suing the team for discrimination, harassment and retaliation, ESPN has learned. All told, there have been five civil lawsuits filed in federal court against the organization by current or former employees in a 10-month span. www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Ex-NBA player McLemore gets prison sentence A judge sentenced Ben McLemore to more than eight years in Oregon state prison after the former NBA guard was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in 2021.

NEWS: A judge sentenced Ben McLemore to more than eight years in state prison Wednesday after the former NBA guard was found guilty for raping and sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman at a Lake Oswego house party in 2021: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

How Cooper Flagg and the beleaguered Mavericks responded to a shocking NBA draft lottery The presumptive No. 1 pick of the 2025 draft and the organization, still reeling from trading away Luka Doncic, might just be made for each other -- at exactly the right time.

NEW: "We never even considered that the impossible could happen on May 12," one Mavericks source tells ESPN. "I'm not sure there has ever been a more abrupt reversal of fortune.” How Cooper Flagg and the Mavs responded to a shocking NBA draft lottery: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Suns again sued by employee for discrimination A current employee has sued the Suns, citing allegations of discrimination, harassment and retaliation, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by ESPN.

NEWS: The Suns are being sued by a current employee, the fourth suit against the team since November. In this one, a staffer says he was demoted after raising security concerns and that the Suns failed multiple arena audits, with handguns & knives making it inside: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

NEW: On Boston's Jrue Holiday, the long lineage of his defensive prowess (which dates back more than 50 years in a family defined by its remarkable athletic success) and his philosophy today.
www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

'Job well done': Inside Gregg Popovich's unparalleled NBA legacy Friends, colleagues, players and confidantes all agree: Popovich has impacted more people across the game than perhaps anyone in history.

NEW: Adam Silver, Mike Krzyzewski, Steve Kerr, Jerry Colangelo, Larry Brown and Hank Egan, who coached Gregg Popovich in college, all weigh in on the legacy of the legendary coach. "He impacted more people in our game than anybody," Krzyzewski tells ESPN. www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Celts pounce after Banchero sits, oust Magic in 5 The Celtics broke open Tuesday night's game after Paolo Banchero went to the bench with his fifth foul and rolled to a 120-89 victory to close out the series in five games.

Dispatch from Boston, where the Celtics ousted the Magic in style, posting the biggest win by any team trailing at halftime in playoff history. Along the way, the Celtics proved that they can find ways to win even when a team takes away what they do best: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Tatum again leads C's, features wrist in celebration Jayson Tatum scored 37 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter, to give the Celtics a 3-1 series lead over the Magic -- and showcased a new celebration featuring his injured right wrist.

Dispatch from Orlando, where Jayson Tatum’s 37 points — including 16 in the fourth quarter — and a new celebration involving his injured right wrist gives the Celtics a chance to close out the bruising Orlando Magic back in Boston: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Celts vent after loss: Refs not controlling play Through three games of this first-round series, the seventh-seeded Magic have displayed a physical style of basketball that the defending champion Celtics say they believe is over the line.

Dispatch from Orlando, where Jaylen Brown says of the Celtics' first-round series vs. Orlando, "There might be a fight break out or something because it's starting to feel like it's not even basketball and the refs are not controlling their environment." www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Bloodied KP fires up C's: Won't let teams 'punk us' Kristaps Porzingis laughed off a bloody gash on his forehead late in the third quarter of Boston's Game 2 win, saying he knew his reaction would fire up the Celtics crowd.

Dispatch from Boston, where Kristaps Porzingis laughed off a bloody forehead gash, fired up the TD Garden crowd and said the Celtics "won't let anybody punk us." Said Boston HC Joe Mazzulla: "I like watching him bleed on the court. I think it's important." www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

'He's got it': An oral history of the NBA's COVID-19 shutdown -- and how it changed sports forever On the fifth anniversary of the night the NBA shut down, ESPN reveals how it happened, down to the minute -- told by the players, executives, politicians, doctors and journalists who were there.

NEW: Five years ago today, Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, and the NBA shut down, signaling to many the start of the pandemic in America. After dozens of interviews with those directly involved, Tim MacMahon and I reconstructed the events of that day: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Ex-Knick Robinson's kidney transplant successful Ex-NBA guard Nate Robinson had a successful kidney transplant Friday at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.

NEWS: Nate Robinson first learned nearly 20 years ago, when he was playing for the New York Knicks, that his kidneys weren't functioning properly and that he would one day need a transplant. Today, after a successful surgery, he has a new kidney. www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

The heave-making fourth-quarter star the Celtics need to make a repeat title run Last season's star-turn in the NBA Finals was a decade in the making for Payton Pritchard, who says a meeting with a six-time All-Star set him a path to NBA success and championship glory in Boston.

NEW: As a child, Payton Pritchard dreamed of making the NBA, even if others suggested a backup career. Now, he’s the king of half-court heaves, a fourth-quarter dynamo and a front-runner for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. On the highs and lows of his journey: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

An NBA All-Star, a legendary father and the enormous weight of legacy Beyond quietly dominating like Wilt and trying to lift a woebegone franchise to contention, Domantas Sabonis is chasing something even bigger: finishing an evolution his iconic dad began 40 years ago.

NEW: On lineage and legacy, fathers and sons and what it means to be a Sabonis. "He is a warrior," Arvydas tells ESPN of Domantas. "Like me." www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Back in Indy, Metta World Peace laments how it all went wrong Returning to face his former team, Metta World Peace talks candidly about how he believes he won't ever recover from how his Pacers tenure ended.

On the 20-year anniversary of the “Malice at the Palace,” my story from 2016 on Metta World Peace lamenting how that event defined his time in Indy: “That’s something that I can never, ever forgive myself for.” www.espn.com/blog/los-ang...

'There's disbelief about him because he's just that good': Inside Cooper Flagg's improbable rise From grade school, Flagg has faced test after test -- all designed to define his ceiling. He has passed them all, fueled by lessons from one of the greatest teams in NBA history.

New ESPN feature story from earlier this week, with reporting from Las Vegas, Maine and North Carolina -- on the improbable rise of Cooper Flagg and the legendary 1980s NBA team that helped shape him: www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...

Former employee files civil lawsuit against Suns Andrea Trischan, a former Suns employee, seeks what the team said is $60 million in damages after filing a civil lawsuit against them, alleging discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination.

NEWS: Ex-Phoenix Suns staffer sues team, claiming racial discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination, according to lawsuit obtained by ESPN. The lawsuit also alleges racial, sexual and financial misconduct among current and former Suns executives. www.espn.com/nba/story/_/...