NBA Previews

On Jan. 11 in Paris, Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the Brooklyn Nets 111-102. Lately, Mitchell and the Cavs are excelling regardless of the location, resulting in a rapid climb in the Eastern Conference standings. The Cavaliers will attempt to push the NBA’s longest active winning streak to eight games Thursday night when they face the Nets in New York in the aftermath of the trade deadline. Cleveland is 2-0 against Brooklyn so

South Florida fans will finally get an in-person look at 7-foot-4 San Antonio rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama when the Spurs visit the Miami Heat on Wednesday. The Spurs enter with a four-game losing streak, having just concluded a 2-5 homestand. The Wednesday contest will be the start of a nine-game road trip for San Antonio, which owns the worst record in the Western Conference. The Spurs have been just about equally bad at home (5-21)

The Sacramento Kings will see a different version of rookie Ausar Thompson when the former San Francisco Bay Area youth standout returns to Northern California to begin a six-game trip with his Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. Thompson, the fifth overall pick of the 2023 draft despite never having played college ball, wound up scoreless with two rebounds and no assists when the Pistons were drubbed 131-110 at home by the Kings on Jan. 9.

With their annual Grammy Awards road trip complete, the Los Angeles Clippers have come out as big winners, singing to the tune of a 6-1 mark while rising to first place in the Western Conference. The Clippers return home Wednesday to play host to the New Orleans Pelicans, now that music’s biggest night has cleared from their building. They already have unpacked their luggage, but not baggage. After losses by Oklahoma City and Minnesota on

The Philadelphia 76ers just aren’t the same team without reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid. All they can do is continue to compete and hope that Embiid is healthy enough to join them for a long playoff run. The team announced that Embiid underwent successful surgery Tuesday on the lateral meniscus in his left knee. Embiid will be re-evaluated in about four weeks. The Sixers are 4-11 without Embiid this season, including a 118-102

Just about everything has gone right for the Cleveland Cavaliers since the calendar flipped to 2024. Winners in 14 of their last 15 games, Cleveland aims to extend the league’s longest win streak to seven when it visits the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. The NBA’s best record since the start of December belongs to the Los Angeles Clippers and the Cavaliers handed L.A. one of its five defeats in more than two months with a

The Brooklyn Nets showed a brief compilation of highlights when Kevin Durant returned last week with the Phoenix Suns. As for Kyrie Irving, he may not get the same reception Tuesday night when the Dallas Mavericks visit the Nets, as the guard and his former team are hardly concerned about celebrating the occasion. Irving is returning to Brooklyn on the one-year anniversary of the deal that sent him to Dallas in exchange for Spencer Dinwiddie,

Sunshine State counterparts meet for the final time in the 2023-24 regular season on Tuesday when the Miami Heat host the streaking Orlando Magic. Orlando heads into Miami a winner in three straight and in four of the last five, picking up a 111-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Sunday. The win ensured the Magic a winning record on their five-game road swing, which concludes with Tuesday’s contest. Orlando can finish with a season

By winning nine straight games with an often-undermanned roster, the New York Knicks engendered thoughts of a playoff run the Big Apple hasn’t seen this century. A loss in game No. 10 served as a reminder of how thin the margin for error is for the Knicks in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Knicks will look to get back in the win column Tuesday night when they host the Memphis Grizzlies in the final