Recently-named All-Star starter Luka Doncic will make his return to action on Monday night against the Detroit Pistons, head coach Jason Kidd confirmed. Doncic suffered a sprained ankle during the first quarter of the Mavericks' win over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday and missed the team's loss to the Utah Jazz on Saturday. 

Monday night's matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets lost most of its luster with the absences of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons due to their respective injuries. But Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving were ready to go, and something interesting might happen whenever those two are on the floor.

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla will be in charge of Team Giannis during the 2023 NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, the league announced on Monday night. Mazzulla is the first interim head coach to get the nod at the All-Star Game since Ty Lue in 2016, and is just the third first-year coach to earn the honor in the past 24 years. 

LeBron James and the Lakers have not gotten an accurate whistle down the stretch in a handful of games this season. That trend burned them again Saturday night in a brutal 125-121 overtime loss against the Celtics in Boston. With the score tied 105-105, the Lakers had a frontcourt sideline out of bounds with 4.1 seconds to play in regulation. LeBron curled around the top for the inbound pass and continued directly downhill, getting all the way to the rim for a game-winning layup attempt. 

We have seen NBA players pick up technical fouls for taunting. We've seen them get technicals for cursing, for obscene gestures and for making unnecessary contact with an official. On one hilarious occasion, we even saw Tim Duncan get T'd up for laughing. But never in the history of the NBA have we seen a technical foul quite like the one Eric Lewis hit Patrick Beverley with at the end of regulation of Saturday's game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.

Lonzo Ball's knee situation continues to look grim. The Chicago Bulls guard hasn't played since Jan. 14 of last season, when he was originally diagnosed with a seemingly innocuous knee bruise. After evaluation, it was determined Ball had a torn meniscus, for which he underwent surgery. He was expected back in six to eight weeks. 

Philadelphia 76ers star guard James Harden decided to try a new form of defense late in the third quarter of the contest between the Sixers and Denver Nuggets on Saturday afternoon. 

The NBA MVP race has tended to follow a certain track over the past few seasons. In 2021, LeBron James was the early favorite, but Joel Embiid emerged in the middle of the season as a prime candidate as James faded. In 2022, the same thing happened, but with Stephen Curry as the early front-runner. The 2022-23 season started with Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum as the Vegas darlings, but yet again, Embiid has barged his way into the proceedings.

PHILADELPHIA -- Fresh off of dominating reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets to the tune of 47 points, 18 rebounds and five assists in Philadelphia's 126-119 comeback victory on Saturday afternoon, 76ers center Joel Embiid expressed his feelings regarding not being voted as a starter for the All-Star game this season. 

Chris Paul led the Phoenix Suns to within two wins of the NBA championship in 2021, but things haven't gone as planned since. Phoenix suffered an embarrassing second-round Game 7 home loss at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks last season. Now they're hovering around .500 with Paul posting career-lows in scoring (13.7 points per game) as well as most value metrics. Phoenix acquired Paul hoping for an immediate push. Two years later, his window appears to be closing.

The Golden State Warriors and the Memphis Grizzlies battled Wednesday in the latest chapter of one of the NBA's growing rivalries, but Stephen Curry wasn't allowed to take part in the final 74 seconds of the nail-biting win due to one of the more bizarre ejections you'll ever see. 

Anthony Davis gave Los Angeles Lakers fans quite a scare at the end of the third quarter against the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night. The All-Star big man, returning to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 16, fell to the floor and grabbed at his ankle seemingly in pain in a scene that has sadly grown all too familiar to Laker fans, but he quickly got up, sank three free throws and remained in the game. Darvin Ham even joked that he nearly passed out seeing Davis on the ground, but in the end, it was all smiles after Davis' return to the lineup following a five-week absence.

The NBA has made a slight tweak to its annual All-Star Draft. In past years, the draft has come weeks before the All-Star Game, allowing players and fans to know who was playing for which team well in advance. That's going to change this season. The league announced on TNT Tuesday that this season, the draft will be held live at 7:30 p.m. ET,  just ahead of tipoff of the Feb. 19 All-Star Game. 

Part of the appeal of the Rui Hachimura trade the Los Angeles Lakers made on Monday was the relatively meager price. Opposing teams have spent the entire season asking the Lakers for one of their two tradable first-round picks in almost any negotiated trade, but the Washington Wizards were willing to send him to the purple and gold for three second-rounders. It seems, however, that the Lakers actually are prepared to make a sizable investment in Hachimura. It just isn't going to come through the trade itself.

If the Clippers are looking for a blueprint for turning a drain-circling season into a Finals run, they don't have to look far. Last season, the Boston Celtics were 25-24 on Jan. 25. This season, the Clippers sport the exact same 25-24 record entering play on Tuesday night vs. the Lakers. 

The Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards completed a trade that sends fourth-year forward Rui Hachimura to Los Angeles in exchange for Kendrick Nunn and three second-round picks (in 2023, 2028 and 2029), the teams announced Monday. Hachimura is averaging 13.0 points and 4.3 rebounds this season and matched a season-high with 30 points against the Magic over the weekend.

Following the Boston Celtics' shootaround on Monday, star forward Jayson Tatum told reporters that he may need surgery on his troublesome left wrist, which has been causing issues for him ever since he suffered a non-displaced fracture last season. 

One of the low-key hilarious lines of the classic 1971 version of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is delivered by Charlie's schoolteacher, played by a perfectly deadpan David Battley:

We're now less than a month away from the 2023 NBA trade deadline on Feb. 9, and as expected, the rumor mill is starting to heat up. This is about the time when teams have to decide if they want to be buyers or sellers, and with Victor Wembanyama waiting in the 2023 NBA Draft, there may be more of the latter than usual. 

The Toronto Raptors have lost 27 games already this season, but Saturday's defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics was unique even in a season full of disappointment. In the final 14.1 seconds, Boston needed two jump balls, and perhaps more importantly, two odd timeout calls, to escape Toronto with a victory.

The sky over Sacramento was a little darker Saturday night than it has been on recent evenings after the Philadelphia 76ers handed the Kings one of the more surprising defeats of the season. Philadelphia, playing without James Harden and Joel Embiid on the last night of a lengthy road trip, fell behind by 21 points in the second quarter of a game many teams would have treated as a schedule loss. Instead, the 76ers, fighting for an undefeated road trip, clawed their way back into the game.

Who's Playing

Brooklyn @ Phoenix

Current Records: Brooklyn 27-16; Phoenix 21-24

Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon is eager to make the All-Star Game for the first time in his career and is trying to use his prowess as a dunker as leverage to get there. "If I'm in the All-Star Game," Gordon said in a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, "I'll do the dunk contest." 

Dejounte Murray certainly has some thoughts when it comes to his time with the San Antonio Spurs. Despite blossoming into an All-Star prior to being traded to the Atlanta Hawks this past offseason, Murray still feels like he wasn't fully supported while playing for the Spurs, specifically by former teammate Tony Parker.

Another night, another history-making achievement for Nikola Jokic. Early in the third quarter of a 122-118 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, the reigning back-to-back MVP passed Alex English to set the Denver Nuggets' franchise record for assists with 3,680. Jokic is only center to ever lead a franchise in all-time assists, and his career total at the end of the night was 3,686. 

LeBron James followed up his season-best 48 points on Monday night with a 32-point outing on Wednesday. Though that wasn't enough for the Los Angeles Lakers to get a win against the Sacramento Kings, James moved closer to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time NBA scoring record. He eclipsed the 38,000-point threshold on Sunday against the 76ers, and now needs only 284 points to become the leading scorer in NBA history.

The Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls meet in the 2023 NBA Paris Game on Thursday, with the matchup set for Accor Arena in Paris, France. The Pistons aim to right the ship after five losses in the last six games, and Detroit is 12-35 this season. The Bulls are 20-24 overall after a 14-point win over the Golden State Warriors in their last game. Lonzo Ball (knee) and Javonte Green (knee) are out for Chicago. Cade Cunningham (tibia) and Marvin Bagley III (hand) are out for Detroit, with Jalen Duren (ankle), Cory Joseph (knee), and Nerlens Noel (foot) listed as questionable.

The New Orleans Pelicans will return from a five-game road trip when they host the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. New Orleans went 2-3 in those five games, including a 113-103 loss at Cleveland on Monday. Miami had its three-game winning streak snapped in a 121-113 loss at Atlanta earlier this week.  

We're just past the halfway point of the 2022-23 NBA regular season, and just as there is great parity among the teams at the forefront the title conversation, it would appear there is very little separation among the MVP candidates at this point as well. 

Who's Playing

Minnesota @ Denver

Current Records: Minnesota 22-23; Denver 31-13

Who's Playing

Sacramento @ Los Angeles

Current Records: Sacramento 24-18; Los Angeles 20-24

The Los Angeles Lakers have been without Anthony Davis for a full month, and his absence is beginning to take its toll. After winning five games in a row without Davis, they've now lost their last three, two of which came in heartbreaking fashion due to controversial calls at the end of the game. Given their limited depth and the other injuries they're currently dealing with, the Lakers need Davis back on the floor as quickly as possible if they are going to secure their place in the postseason.

Who's Playing

Houston @ Los Angeles

Current Records: Houston 10-33; Los Angeles 19-24

After Philadelphia's 113-112 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night, Doc Rivers revealed that the Sixers will be employing three different starting lineups moving forward in the season. This news came on the heels of Rivers shifting young star guard Tyrese Maxey to the bench in favor of De'Anthony Melton for the matchup with the Lakers. 

LeBron James had 35 points against the Sixers on Sunday night, but he didn't touch the ball on the final possession as Russell Westbrook went one on one against Joel Embiid and barely got a shot off. The Lakers lost 113-112. 

Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook is already the NBA's all-time leader in triple-doubles, and now he's also the all-time leader in triple-doubles off of the bench. 

Russell Westbrook played a good game for the Lakers on Sunday. He finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists, notching his fourth triple-double off the bench, the most in recorded history. He does good things for this Lakers team. He will never be a good fit with LeBron James, but he does good things. 

Who's Playing

Philadelphia @ Utah

Current Records: Philadelphia 25-16; Utah 22-23

Who's Playing

Dallas @ Portland

Current Records: Dallas 24-19; Portland 19-22

In general, we have the distinctions in place to recognize, in descending order, the best players in the league. We have the top of the food chain, the legitimate MVP candidates. We have the all-NBA guys, who aren't quite MVP material but are better than just an All-Star. And we have the All-Stars. 

I suppose you can't blame Draymond Green for continuing to talk about his landing a haymaker on teammate Jordan Poole prior to the start of the season. He's a big personality. He's open with the media, which, in turn, is going to milk him for all the content he's willing to offer. He gets asked the questions, and he answers them. 

The possibility that this could be Draymond Green's last season with the Golden State Warriors has been well chronicled. Team owner Joe Lacob has consistently maintained that there is a limit to the bill he's willing to foot, and if the Warriors did decide to re-sign Green on a multi-year deal this summer, that bill, depending on a few other decisions, could fly well north of $400 million including taxes, which is a figure that Lacob told The Athletic last summer was "not even remotely possible."

The San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors set an NBA record for attendance Friday, as an official crowd of 68,323 flocked to the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Warriors won the game 144-113 but the score was secondary to the history that was made.

Jaylen Brown will miss Thursday's game between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets with a right adductor strain. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla estimated that Brown would be out for "probably a week or two," but said the team still needed time to figure out how long Brown would sit. "I'm not sure what the timeline is," Mazzulla said. "I know he tried to give it a go today and wasn't able to do it. We'll know more the next couple days, see how he responds."

The Los Angeles Lakers aim to maintain an upward trajectory on Thursday at home. Los Angeles is 5-1 in the last six games, improving to 19-22 overall this season, and the Lakers host the Dallas Mavericks, who are 23-19 overall and 7-13 on the road. Patrick Beverley (hip) is listed as questionable for the Lakers, with Anthony Davis (foot), Lonnie Walker IV (knee), and Austin Reaves (hamstring) ruled out. Dwight Powell (hip) is questionable for the Mavericks, with Dorian Finney-Smith (adductor), Josh Green (elbow), and Maxi Kleber (hamstring) ruled out.

The Los Angeles Lakers continue to do everything in their power to prove to their front office that this team is worthy of a sizable trade. After starting the season 2-10, they've gone 17-12 since despite injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis. In a wide-open Western Conference, there's every reason to believe that this team could seriously compete for the championship with the right deal.

Who's Playing

Houston @ Sacramento

Current Records: Houston 10-30; Sacramento 21-18

Who's Playing

Phoenix @ Denver

Current Records: Phoenix 21-21; Denver 27-13

On a night when the Washington Wizards were missing their two leading scorers in Bradley Beal and Kristaps Porzingis, it was Kyle Kuzma who played hero to lift his team over the Chicago Bulls with his go-ahead 3-pointer in the closing seconds to secure a 100-97 win. It topped off a night where Kuzma finished with 21 points, four rebounds, and three assists while shooting 45 percent from the field. 

The Sacramento Kings -- in particular De'Aaron Fox -- were not happy with the way their loss to the Lakers on Saturday night was officiated down the stretch, but according to the NBA's Last Two Minute Report, the refs got it right. 

In the midst of the Brooklyn Nets' 102-101 win against the Heat on Sunday night, the team lost superstar Kevin Durant, who left the game in the third quarter with what the team called a right knee injury. On Monday, the team announced that Durant has a right MCL sprain and will be re-evaluated in two weeks. A little less than a year ago, Durant suffered an MCL sprain that kept him out for six weeks, but according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, there is optimism that he will be sidelined for less time with this knee issue, with the current expectation being that he misses a month.

With five seconds to play and the Nets trailing Miami by one, Kyrie Irving pulled up for what would appear, at first glance, to be an ill-advised, if not outright awful, potential game-winning 30-footer. 

Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet turned down a four-year, $114 million contract extension offer from the team last offseason, according to TSN. VanVleet, who has a player option for 2023-24 and can become an unrestricted free agent this summer, is looking for a deal worth at least as much as the one Tyler Herro signed with the Miami Heat -- $130 million over four years. 

Four-time NBA champion Andre Iguodala will make his season debut for the Golden State Warriors on Saturday against the Orlando Magic, he announced on his Point Forward podcast. Iguodala has missed the first 39 games of the season due to a hip injury, and at the age of 38, staying healthy is no longer easy for the former All-Star. But now he's ready to go, and it couldn't come at a better time for the Warriors.

The Golden State Warriors have had guys in and out of the lineup all season due to injury, and their game of musical players continued on Saturday night against the Orlando Magic. 

Who's Playing

Miami @ Phoenix

Current Records: Miami 20-19; Phoenix 20-19

The Toronto Raptors (16-22) and the New York Knicks (21-18) square off in an Atlantic Division matchup on Friday night. This is the second matchup of the year as Toronto secured the first win. On Dec. 21, the Raptors beat the Knicks 113-106. Meanwhile, Toronto leads the all-time series 59-44. They've won four of the last five outings.

Who's Playing

Atlanta @ Los Angeles

Current Records: Atlanta 18-20; Los Angeles 17-21

The last time Lauri Markkanen was on the floor he was a split-second away from delivering a truly remarkable buzzer-beater. Having apparently learned his lesson, he made sure not to leave anything to chance on Thursday night against the Houston Rockets. 

At the trade deadline during the 2020-21 season, the Denver Nuggets made a big move for Aaron Gordon. A few days later, they went on the road and beat the Los Angeles Clippers, who at the time were one of the league's leading title contenders and would eventually go to the Western Conference finals that season. 

In the most parity-fueled NBA season in years, a particular skill has emerged for teams looking to stake their claim as real contenders: Chaos management.

On Monday night, 22 players scored at least 25 points across the the NBA. Of those 22, 10 recorded at least 30, five crested 40 and two hit for 50-plus: Klay Thompson with 54, and Donovan Mitchell with 71, that latter of which goes down as the highest single-game output since Kobe Bryant's 81-piece in 2006. 

The Sacramento Kings have had their share of wild finishes this season, a number of them not going their way. On Tuesday, it was yet another crazy ending, but this time Sacramento got the break it needed to escape with a thrilling 117-115 victory over the Jazz. 

MILWAUKEE -- Up behind one of the baskets at Fiserv Forum, nestled into the very top of the lower bowl, sits the Jockey Crew, the Milwaukee Bucks' superfan section. One of their favorite chants, "Can't stop Giannis!" has rung around the arena countless times over the years, but rarely has it been as apt as it was on Tuesday night. 

Historic games are seemingly becoming a nightly thing in the NBA. In the past week alone we have seen Luka Doncic record the first 60-point, 20-rebound triple-double in NBA history, Giannis Antetokounmpo become the first player since Wilt Chamberlain to put up consecutive 40-20 games, and now, on Monday night, Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell pour in 71 points in an overtime victory against Chicago. 

When LeBron James missed time due to injury earlier in the season, he gushed about the performance of teammate Anthony Davis in his stead. "AD was the best player in the league over the last four-to-five games," James told reporters late in November. He wasn't far off at the time. In the five games James is referring to, Davis averaged 33.2 points and 17.4 rebounds per game. 

Klay Thompson torched the Hawks for 54 points on 10 3-pointers on Monday, but it was Kevon Looney who played hero with the game-winning tip as time expired to give Golden State a wild 143-141 overtime victory. It was the Warriors' fifth straight win, and their league-leading 17th at home. 

Who's Playing

Sacramento @ Memphis

Current Records: Sacramento 19-15; Memphis 22-13

The flipping of the calendar from December to January affords a new opportunity for players from across the league's landscape to make their mark. Here's a look at five players who will look to build off of the momentum they've established so far this season and parlay that into a breakout year in 2023.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Gary Payton II has been listed as available for Monday's game against the Detroit Pistons, which will be both his season debut and his Blazers debut. Payton underwent abdominal surgery in the offseason and has been out recovering ever since.

Who's Playing

Portland @ Golden State

Current Records: Portland 18-16; Golden State 18-18

Anthony Davis has been out for two weeks, but according to Lakers coach Darvin Ham, he might be trending in the right direction. At his pre-game press conference Friday, Ham said that the pain Davis has been enduring has "just about dissipated," and that he is moving in the right direction toward ramping up for a return. Davis also told a small group of reporters that he has a bone spur in his foot that could have been there as far back as his time at Kentucky, but that he is feeling hopeful about his recovery. 

Some people celebrate their birthdays by going out to a nice dinner, maybe blowing out the candles on a chocolate cake, or going out with friends to celebrate their special day. But if you're LeBron James you celebrate your birthday by demolishing the Atlanta Hawks, which is exactly what happened Friday night on James' 38th birthday. The four-time champion dropped 47 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to lift the Los Angeles Lakers to a 130-121 road win.