UCLA's star big men during a run of seven straight NCAA championships had a massive impact on the history of The Associated Press men's college basketball poll.

A sculpture commemorating the famous 1967 meeting of Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and other athletes — now known as the Ali Summit — has been unveiled on the site of the original gathering.

The Denver Nuggets' first NBA championship cements Serbian center Nikola Jokic as one of the game's preeminent player.

Denver rookie Christian Braun is in rarified air with the Nuggets two wins shy of winning the first NBA championship in franchise history.

In many ways, Jim Brown used his platform as one of the greatest football players of all time to fight for people very much like him.

Nikola Jokic might be on the cusp of entering some highly exclusive clubs.

This was the first All-Star weekend since the death of 11-time champion, Hall of Fame player and Hall of Fame coach Bill Russell.

This week’s new entertainment releases include an album from Paramore that shows off the band's funkier side, the Academy Award-nominated documentary “All That Breathes” about Indian brothers who heal birds of prey, and two rom-coms just in time for Valentine's Day — “Your Place or Mine” on Netflix and “Somebody I Used to Know” on Amazon Prime Video.

Randy Bennett earned his 500th win as Saint Mary’s coach when the 18th-ranked Gaels beat San Francisco 68-59 for their 11th straight victory.

There’s been an evolution of the NBA’s Most Valuable Player trophy in the 70 or so years since it was first awarded.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each scored 35 points and the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers 126-117 in the opening game of the NBA regular season.

Marcus Smart has been in Boston long enough to appreciate what Bill Russell meant to the Celtics, the city and the country.

The Basketball Hall of Fame has added 16 new members.

Sue Bird just knows how to win.

Bill Russell’s No. 6 jersey is being retired across the NBA, a first for the league.

Bill Russell never had to find his voice as an activist.

The NBA community lost a giant on Sunday after reports that Bill Russell had died were confirmed.

The NBA great Bill Russell has died at age 88.

He hit a championship-winning shot with Michael Jordan.

The last 12 months have been a transformative year in the NBA when it comes to diversity among coaches.

Jaylen Brown is starting the NBA Finals on the road.

The Celtics’ transition from a team that has gone from just outside the top tier of the Eastern Conference to one that's four wins way from the franchise’s 18th NBA championship began the moment Ime Udoka took the microphone at his introductory news conference.

Somewhere, Gregg Popovich must be pleased.

Two of the NBA’s most significant dynasties emerged in the second decade of the 2000s.

The NBA is honoring its 75th anniversary team during the All-Star Game, but the league won’t be able to duplicate the magic from 25 years ago in its return to Cleveland.

Hall of Famer Julius Erving says the commercial success he and other NBA players enjoyed in the 1980s didn't just happen.

The Boston Celtics say Hall of Famer Sam Jones has died at the age of 88.

Basketball fans hoping to buy something from Bill Russell’s memorabilia collection should expect some big-name competition.

Jayson Tatum scored 37 points and the Boston Celtics beat Los Angeles 130-108 in Lakers star LeBron James’ return.

Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker will make his second trip to the World Series as a manager and first since leading the San Francisco Giants to the NL pennant in 2002.

The NBA, known today as a leader when it comes to culture and racial issues, was anything but during the 1950s when segregation divided the country.

Four months after the pandemic-delayed induction of the Class of 2020, the Basketball Hall of Fame gathered to enshrine 16 more new members.

Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce was in a class of 16 scheduled to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend.

Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell will be offering hundreds of items at auction from his personal collection of memorabilia.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is an NBA legend, but the man known for his trademark skyhook shot has also devoted his life advocating for equality and social justice.

Jay Wright used to sell tickets to games in the long-defunct United States Football League.

Kobe Bryant is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame now, along with contemporaries Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, headliners of a group of nine who got their delayed and long-awaited enshrinement on Saturday night, more than a year after being announced as the Hall’s Class of 2020.

The Big 12 announced late Thursday that Saturday’s home game against TCU and next Wednesday’s game at Oklahoma have been postponed in accordance with the league’s interruption guidelines. With the latest changes, Baylor’s next scheduled game is at home Feb. 13 against No. AdThe NHL is releasing the names of players who are “unavailable” to the club for practice, travel or games due to virus protocols. ___West Virginia is boosting home attendance to 2,800, or 20% of capacity, for the men’s basketball game Feb. 13 between the 17th-ranked Mountaineers and No. ___Thursday’s women’s basketball game between No.

Not long after came a seismic jolt, the helicopter crash of Kobe Bryant in the fog-shrouded California hills that reverberated across sports and across continents. Deep into the year, a bookend to Bryant, Diego Maradona died from a heart attack in Argentina weeks after brain surgery, the waves of grief rippling across soccer. The losses, of course, came against a backdrop of a pandemic, its number of fatalities rolled out daily on TV screens. Niekro won 318 games and pitched until he was 48, his knuckleball dancing and mystifying batters across the decades. Kurt Thomas in 1978 became the first U.S. male gymnast to win a world title but lost an Olympic shot in 1980 because of the boycott.

FILE - In this Jan. 15, 1988, file photo, former Boston Celtics teammates Bill Russell, Sacramento Kings coach, left, and K.C. Jones, Celtics coach, meet before the start of the Kings-Celtics NBA basketball game at the Boston Garden in Boston. Basketball Hall of Famer K.C. Earlier this year, two of Jones’ Celtics teammates died: John Thompson, 78, and Tom Heinsohn, 86. Only Russell and fellow Celtics teammate Sam Jones won more NBA championships as players.

FILE - This Sept. 30, 2018, file photo shows former Boston Celtics great Tommy Heinsohn prior to a preseason basketball game in Boston. Tommy Heinsohn, who as a Boston Celtics player, coach and broadcaster was with the team for all 17 of its NBA championships, has died. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)BOSTON – Tommy Heinsohn, who as a Boston Celtics player, coach and broadcaster over more than 60 years was with the team for all 17 of its NBA championships, died Tuesday. Heinsohn was the NBA coach of the year in 1973, when the team won a then-record 68 games. “It’s hard to imagine the Boston Celtics without Tommy Heinsohn,” the team said in a statement.

That’s just fine with Los Angeles Lakers guard Danny Green. Sunday would be his 257th career postseason appearance, two shy of matching Derek Fisher for the most in NBA history. He entered Game 3 of the NBA Finals seven free-throw attempts shy of matching Shaquille O’Neal (2,317) for another postseason record. It’s the 20th NBA Finals game for Foster, the 10th for Brothers and the first for Fraher. It’ll be the eighth finals game for Zarba, the fifth for Goble and the first for Brown.