Kevin Durant wants to be with the Phoenix Suns and is expected to sign a contract extension, according to franchise owner Mat Ishbia.
The two-time NBA Finals MVP and four-time Olympic gold medallist, who joined the Suns in February 2023, is under contract at Footprint Center through the 2025-26 season.
Durant made a strong start to his 18th NBA season - averaging 27.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 53.3% shooting and 42.9% from three-point range - though he is currently sidelined with a calf strain.
And Ishbia expects the 36-year-old to retire as a Sun, with both parties set to pursue a two-year, $120 million maximum extension following the conclusion of the 2024-25 campaign.
"[Durant] loves being in Phoenix, we love having him," the Suns owner told ESPN.
"He's off to an amazing start this season, and we're off to a very good start. We expect Kevin to sign an extension and be with us for the long term. We hope he finishes his career here in Phoenix.
"You can't sign a two-year extension this last summer, you can't do it based on the NBA rules. So, we figured after the season, we'd talk about it, take care of it.
"Kevin wants to be here, we want Kevin here. There's never been one grumbling of anything different."
LeBron James heaped praise on Dalton Knecht after he tied the NBA's single-game rookie record in the Los Angeles Lakers' win over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday.
He scored nine 3-pointers, including going 6-for-6 in the third quarter, while scoring a career-high 37 points in the Lakers' 124-118 win, their sixth on the bounce.
Knecht now shares the record with Rodrigue Beaubois (2010), Yogi Ferrell (2017) and Utah's Keyonte George (2024).
The Lakers' six-game winning streak is their longest since February 2021, while they have also extended their perfect home record this season to 7-0.
James, who had 26 points and 12 assists, had previously said that he was a fan of Knecht, having watched him at Tennessee while he was in college.
"Same s*** I saw last year," said James, when asked about being ahead of the curve in praising Knecht.
"Everybody on the internet called me a liar. So, what am I now?
"I watched him. I watched Tennessee a lot. I did not think he would fall to us. I thought it would be impossible."
Knecht was the 17th overall in the 2024 NBA draft, and James brushed off the suggestion that the Lakers 'found' him.
"They [The Lakers] didn't 'find' DK," he added. "The other 16 teams f***** it up. Did anybody watch him? You don't 'find' an SEC player of the year."
Evan Mobley says the Boston Celtics were a "good test" for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they saw their perfect start to the NBA season ended.
The Cavaliers were 15-0 going into the game, the fourth team in NBA history to open with that record, but a slow start cost them as they lost 120-117 to the defending champions on Tuesday.
Cleveland fought back to cut a 21-point deficit to two in the third quarter, with Donovan Mitchell making it a four-point game with 24 seconds remaining, but they could not snatch a win as Al Horford's late dunk sealed it.
Mobley had 22 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Cavaliers, and chose to focus on the positives from the defeat, in particular, their response to the half-time deficit.
"I'm happy how we fought back," said Mobley. "That was the main thing that I can be happy about.
"I feel like we didn't start the best. That was the main thing that really shot us in our foot. But overall, I feel like we played a pretty good game.
"I think it was a good test, and from what I saw out there, we could beat anybody."
Mitchell, Cleveland's top scorer with 35 points, added: "[I learned] that it's the group I thought we were.
"It's just a test. This is a big test. Whether you win, lose or draw, it's just a test, and obviously, you want to learn through wins, but we lost tonight.
"But there's a lot we can take away from the good in the second half and a lot we can learn from the first half to get better at."
The Celtics bounced back from a defeat to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the NBA Cup with this result and made it three wins on the trot.
They improved their record to 12-3, though they still sit below the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference, and Derrick White says Boston knew a lot was riding on this result.
"Everybody knew that they were undefeated and coming to our building," he said. "And also, it's an NBA Cup game, and we already lost one game.
"So, it was a really big game in that aspect. So, we were all aware [of the excitement around it]."
The defending NBA champions held off the league’s hottest team on Tuesday night, with Jayson Tatum scoring 33 points and adding 12 rebounds to lead the Boston Celtics to a 120-117 victory over Cleveland and hand the Cavaliers their first loss after 15 straight wins to open the season.
Cleveland cut a 21-point deficit to two in the third quarter, and Donovan Mitchell hit a rainbow 3-pointer with 24 seconds left to make it a four-point game. Tatum sank one of two free throws, and then collided hard with Mitchell at the other end, leaving the Cavaliers guard on the floor in need of medical attention.
Mitchell eventually stepped to the line and sank both free throws, but Boston inbounded the ball without trouble and passed it downcourt for an easy Al Horford dunk to clinch it.
Tatum sank six of Boston’s 22 3-pointers and added seven assists for Boston’s third straight win.
Mitchell scored 35 points, and Evan Mobley had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who were the fourth team in NBA history to open the season with 15 wins in a row. The 15-game winning streak was the longest in franchise history.
The Celtics scored 19 of the last 26 points in the second quarter to turn a five-point lead into a 65-48 advantage at the break. Cleveland cut a 21-point deficit to two in the third.
The Celtics were 14 for 22 from 3-point range in the first half. They were up by five with 5:05 left when they hit four straight 3’s, and six in all down the stretch, opening a 65-48 halftime lead.
Knecht matches rookie 3s record for surging Lakers
Dalton Knecht tied the NBA's single-game rookie record with nine 3-pointers while scoring a career-high 37 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 124-118 for their sixth consecutive victory.
LeBron James had 26 points and 12 assists, and Anthony Davis had 26 points and 14 rebounds as the Lakers improved to 7-0 at home. Austin Reaves added 17 points for the defending NBA Cup champions, who improved to 2-0 in group play this season.
The Lakers hadn't won six straight since February 2021, shortly after their championship run in the Florida bubble.
Lauri Markkanen scored 25 points for the Jazz, who have lost three straight. Keyonte George scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, and Collin Sexton added nine of his 19 in the fourth.
Knecht hit 3-pointers on four consecutive possessions in the third quarter, getting the entire crowd on its feet. He scored 21 points in the third alone. His ninth 3 put LA up by 25 early in the fourth, but he didn't score again, and Utah trimmed the lead down the stretch.
Knecht tied the single-game rookie 3-pointer record shared by Rodrigue Beaubois (2010), Yogi Ferrell (2017) and Utah’s Keyonte George (2024).
Doncic helps Mavericks win in return
Luka Dončić returned to the lineup and scored 26 points, Klay Thompson added 19 and Kyrie Irving had 18 as the Dallas Mavericks beat the undermanned New Orleans Pelicans 132-91 in an NBA Cup game.
Doncic, who missed his first game of the season in Dallas' win at Oklahoma City on Sunday due to a knee injury, shot 10 of 16 overall and 3 for 8 from 3-point distance. He hit a pair of step-back 3-pointers midway through the fourth quarter giving Dallas a 111-75 lead.
Trey Murphy III, playing his fourth game this season because of hamstring issues, scored a season-high 19 points to lead the Pelicans. New Orleans was missing five of its rotation players. Two-time All-Star Zion Williamson missed his sixth consecutive game and is out indefinitely.
The Mavericks won their third straight, finishing with their highest point total of the season and largest margin of victory.
New Orleans has lost 11 of its last 13 games.
The Pelicans cut Dallas’ lead to 81-65 late in the third period before Irving followed a 25-foot 3-pointer with another seconds later, pulling up from 29 feet.
Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers was impressed by Damian Lillard's "courage" as he secured a late win over the Houston Rockets in the NBA.
Lillard returned to the Bucks' line-up after missing the last three games while in concussion protocol and made a go-ahead layup with 3.9 seconds left to clinch a 101-100 win.
He finished with 18 points and 10 assists to make it three wins from four for Milwaukee, who started the season 2-8.
However, Lillard also missed all six of his 3-point attempts, but Rivers maintained his confidence in the eight-time All-Star, comparing him to one of the NBA's greatest shooters.
"Dame just has great courage, you know?" Rivers said. "Reminds me a lot of Ray Allen in that way.
"Ray didn't have a lot of bad shooting nights, but when he had one, if you had one shot to make, you still wanted to go to him. And that's how you feel about Dame.
"Like, whether he's on fire or not, he just has this thing in him that he believes that he should take the last shot and make the last shot. And he does it over and over."
Brook Lopez scored 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting, along with 10 rebounds, while Giannis Antetokounmpo chipped in with 20 points and 13 rebounds.
The Rockets looked set to extend their winning streak to six games though, as they edged to a 100-99 lead with 1:17 remaining until Lillard's late involvement flipped the script.
"I could feel it was one of those games where I needed to keep going, keep my foot on the gas down the stretch," Lillard said.
"It just came down to those last two plays. I got one to go, and we were able to get a stop on the other end."
Franz Wagner tallied 32 points and eight assists as the Orlando Magic kept rolling with Monday's 109-99 victory over the injury-plagued Phoenix Suns.
Orlando also received 20 points and nine assists off the bench from Anthony Black to extend its winning streak to six games by taking this matchup of teams currently going in opposite directions. Goga Bitadze added 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting along with 10 rebounds for the Magic, who are now 6-4 since All-Star Paolo Banchero went to the sidelines with an oblique injury.
Phoenix was dealt a fourth consecutive loss while playing without three starters in Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic. The Suns are 1-5 since Durant went down with a calf injury after starting the season 8-1.
Devin Booker, coming off a season-high 44-point effort in the Suns' loss at Minnesota on Sunday, managed just 17 in this one while missing six of seven shots from 3-point range.
Tyus Jones paced Phoenix with 18 points and eight assists, while Grayson Allen scored 17 points off the bench.
Orlando remained in control after scoring the final four points of the first quarter to take a 26-22 lead after one period. The Magic then dominated the second, shooting 60 percent for the quarter while outscoring the Suns by a 38-26 margin to head into the break owning a 64-48 advantage.
The Magic's lead got as high as 19 points in the second half, and they maintained a double-digit cushion until a Booker 3-pointer with 3:36 remaining got Phoenix within 98-91.
Lillard returns, hits winning shot as Bucks end Rockets' winning streak
Damian Lillard capped his return to the Milwaukee Bucks' lineup by making a go-ahead layup with 3.9 seconds left that lifted his team to a 111-110 win over the Houston Rockets.
Having missed Milwaukee's previous three games while in concussion protocol, Lillard went just 6 of 18 from the field while compiling 18 points and 10 assists in 36 minutes. The eight-time All-Star hit the biggest shot of the night, however, by driving past a Houston defender and eluding another to convert the layup that put the Bucks ahead.
The Rockets then failed to get a shot off before time expired as their five-game winning streak came to an end.
Milwaukee, meanwhile, has now won three of four following a surprising 2-8 start to the season. The Bucks received 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting along with 10 rebounds from Brook Lopez in this victory, while Giannis Antetokounmpo chipped in 20 points and 13 rebounds.
The Rockets got 26 points from Fred VanVleet and 21 from Jalen Green but struggled from the perimeter, shooting just 28.1 per cent from 3-point range.
Houston shot just 26.9 per cent overall in the second quarter and was outscored by a 30-17 margin for the period as the Bucks built a 57-45 half-time lead.
Milwaukee's advantage was 14 points deep into the third quarter before the Rockets began closing the gap. Houston finished the period on a 9-2 run to pull within 83-80 entering the fourth following a three-point play from Alperen Sengun.
The Rockets' surge continued into the fourth quarter, as Sengun's tip-in with 1:58 left put the Bucks at a 100-94 deficit. Milwaukee scored the game's final seven points, however, with AJ Green's clutch 3-pointer with 1:17 remaining cutting the lead to 100-99 and setting up Lillard's game-winner.
Clippers hold on to halt Warriors' run
Norman Powell scored 23 points and the Los Angeles Clippers survived a late comeback attempt by the Golden State Warriors to hand the current Pacific Division leaders a 102-99 loss.
Powell went 5 of 6 from 3-point range on a night the Clippers shot 47.1 per cent from beyond the arc en route to their fifth straight win at the brand-new Intuit Dome. Los Angeles had lost its first four games at the state-of-the-art arena.
James Harden dished out 16 assists to go along with 12 points to help the Clippers end Golden State's three-game winning streak and deal the Warriors just their third defeat in 13 games this season. Ivica Zubac contributed 17 rebounds for Los Angeles.
Stephen Curry finished with 26 points for Golden State and Andrew Wiggins had 22, and the duo nearly led the Warriors back after Powell's 3-pointer with 2:30 left staked the Clippers to a 102-92 lead.
Wiggins answered with a three-pointer of his own with 1:44 to go, and Curry followed with a layup to cut the margin to five points entering the final minute. After Harden misfired on a 3-point try, Wiggins scored off a Draymond Green feed with 35 seconds remaining to pull the Warriors within 102-99.
Powell then was stripped of the ball on the following possession, but both Curry and Gary Payton II missed 3-point shots in the closing seconds as the Warriors' rally fell short.
Powell had 11 points and Harden scored 10 in the first half to lead the Clippers to a 56-45 advantage at half-time. Los Angeles was up 61-49 early in the third quarter before the Warriors reversed momentum, as they outscored the Clippers by a 23-11 count over the next eight minutes to tie the game at 72-72 late in the period.
James Harden may consider himself one of the most confident players in the NBA, but he does not expect to overhaul Stephen Curry's all-time 3-pointer record after going second in the charts.
Curry made a pair of 3-pointers as the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Utah Jazz 116-105 on Sunday, finishing with 20 points, 11 assists and six rebounds.
His first 3-pointer of the evening, made with around six minutes to go in the first quarter, was the 2,794th of his NBA career, the second-most in league history.
Having surpassed Ray Allen's total of 2,973, Harden only trails Curry – who has hit 3,782 3-pointers ahead of his Golden State Warriors facing the Clippers on Monday.
Asked about his feat after Sunday's game, Harden said: "Unbelievable accomplishment. It's just a testament to the amount of work that I've been putting in.
"As I get older and just chip away at an unbelievable career, I start to accomplish things like that. So I don't ever want to take it for granted.
"I just want to give motivation to the youth and every other person that's chasing a dream to play professional basketball or whatever it is, so it's an honour."
But when asked if Curry's mark was now within his sights, Harden – who is just a year younger than the all-time record holder – said nobody will ever take that honour, adding: "I'm one of the most confident guys that we have in this league, but no, I probably won't catch Steph.
"I don't think anybody will honestly. He can shoot the s*** out of the ball. Granted a lot of these guys are on that list for being catch-and-shoot players, so they came off pindowns, they were spot shots or whatnot.
"Now, where the game has evolved, guys like Steph are coming off pindowns, he's creating off isos, he's coming off pick-and-rolls.
"There's so many different variables to be able to shoot the 3, make shots and do it at an efficient high level.
"Somebody has to have an unbelievable career, shoot the ball well and make a lot of 3s. If it happens, it's going to be when we're not here anymore. So that'll be in there for a minute."
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