NEW YORK — The Nets haven’t taken a straight path the past few years, but as 2026 begins, there’s a clearer sense of where they’re headed. The results aren’t always there yet, but the growth, the youth and the direction all feel real.

With a new year here, it’s a good time to look at what Nets fans can be grateful for right now.

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DALLAS — The 76ers are stacking days with their Big Three.

Paul George is expected to remain primarily at small forward after Kelly Oubre Jr. returns from injury.

Quentin Grimes is adapting to a different role as players return from injury by providing solid defense and taking open shots.

Those things stood out in Thursday’s 123-108 ...Read more

CLEVELAND — New year, new injury update from the Nuggets.

Jonas Valanciunas will be out for at least four weeks with a right calf strain, the team announced Thursday.

Valanciunas, 33, was making his first start of the season Wednesday in place of the injured Nikola Jokic when he pulled up with a limp during the third quarter. He had 17 ...Read more

As he exited Kaseya Center on Monday night, Bam Adebayo said there is no better way to end a year than with a win. Apparently, the Miami Heat believe there is no better way to also start the year.

So make it a four-game winning streak, this time with a 118-112 New Year’s victory Thursday night over the Detroit Pistons at Little Caesars Arena....Read more

NEW YORK — Two rookies made their first career starts for the Nets and Cam Thomas provided a scoring lift off the bench with an efficient 21 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the absence of key starters in a 120-96 loss to the Houston Rockets on Thursday night at Barclays Center.

Brooklyn opened 2026 with a second straight loss and ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Lynx star Napheesa Collier will undergo surgery on both ankles, sidelining her for the second season of Unrivaled and potentially the start of the 2026 WNBA season.

Both Collier and Unrivaled, the 3-on-3 basketball league Collier helped co-found, announced the surgery Thursday. Unrivaled stated that Collier’s expected recovery...Read more

If you beat the team that beat the team, does that make you the team to beat?

The Knicks were about to find out. And then they blew it.

After all, the San Antonio Spurs have had the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder’s number. They’ve defeated the 2025 NBA champs not one, not two, but three times this season, including a 20-point ...Read more

TORONTO — The new year couldn’t arrive soon enough for the Nuggets.

Already down four starters, including three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, they were hanging on for dear life with a third-quarter lead over the Raptors on Wednesday night. Then, as the final hours of 2025 ticked away, one more cursed injury struck. Jonas Valanciunas abruptly ...Read more

The fourth-ranked UConn men’s basketball team closed 2025 in dominant fashion as it rolled to its ninth consecutive victory with an 90-67 win over Xavier in Cincinnati’s Cintas Center Wednesday night.

The Huskies (13-1, 3-0 Big East) had four players in double figures, led by redshirt-senior captain Alex Karaban, who finished with 19 points...Read more

DURHAM, N.C. — Duke was in the zone Wednesday as the No. 6 Blue Devils opened ACC play against Georgia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Blue Devils came away with a hard-fought 85-79 victory, but only after finally slowing the Yellow Jackets’ shooters with something unexpected — a zone with 1-2-2 and 3-2 looks.

Freshman Cameron Boozer...Read more

Entering Wednesday’s game between the Magic and Pacers, Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley wanted his team to rebound the ball better and limit Indiana’s fast-break chances — two statistical categories that helped the Raptors take down Orlando two days prior.

Although the Magic allowed 15 fast-break points (half as many as they gave up at ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A glance through the stands at Spectrum Center on Wednesday could have left a deceptive impression. If the average paying customer was not wearing a blue-and-gold “Curry” Warriors jersey, they were either decked out in a red “Curry” Davidson outfit or perhaps white “Curry” USA garb.

The host Hornets? Barely an ...Read more

ATLANTA — With the Timberwolves down 29 with 7 minutes, 52 seconds left in the fourth quarter in their game Wednesday against the Hawks, Anthony Edwards threw his towel up in the air during a timeout huddle and left the floor.

Coach Chris Finch had decided to empty his bench toward the end of the Wolves’ most embarrassing effort of the ...Read more

The bad: Derrick White attempted 10 3-pointers in Tuesday’s matchup with the Jazz and made just two of them.

The good: just about everything else about the Celtics guard’s latest outing.

White finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, six assists and a staggering seven blocks as Boston beat Utah 129-119 at the Delta Center, becoming the ...Read more

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — When Caleb Wilson earned an offensive rebound and put-back about seven minutes into No. 12 North Carolina’s game against Florida State on Tuesday night, it brought a good portion of the Dean E. Smith Center crowd to its feet.

The play wasn’t anything overtly flashy. Yes, there was the trademark display of Wilson’s ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It is a scene witnessed in almost every NBA city the Warriors visit: fans arriving hours before tipoff and congregating in the lower bowl to gawk at Steph Curry’s legendary shooting routine before begging him for a signature or picture.

Curry almost always obliges, but it may be difficult for him to accommodate all ...Read more

Duke has won the basketball recruiting battle for Deron Rippey Jr., the top-rated point guard in the Class of 2026.

Rippey, listed at 6-foot-2, was pursued by nearly every top basketball program in the country, including North Carolina and Kentucky. He narrowed his list to five schools: Duke, N.C. State, Texas, Tennessee and Miami.

“The (...Read more

DENVER — An MRI gave the Nuggets the best bad news of the year.

Nikola Jokic will miss at least four weeks while recovering from a hyperextended left knee, the team announced Tuesday, but his ACL was spared in an ominous-looking injury Monday night. Testing on Tuesday revealed no ligament damage that would entail season-ending surgery.

The ...Read more