He was 86.

West, nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his late-game exploits as a player, was an NBA champion who went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Olympic Team in 2010. He will be enshrined for a third time later this year as a contributor, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called West “one of the greatest executives in sports history.”

“He helped build eight championship teams during his tenure in the NBA — a legacy of achievement that mirrors his on-court excellence,” Silver said. “And he will be enshrined this October into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor, becoming the first person ever inducted as both a player and a contributor. I valued my friendship with Jerry and the knowledge he shared with me over many years about basketball and life.”

West was “the personification of basketball excellence and a friend to all who knew him,” the Clippers said in announcing his death. West’s wife, Karen, was by his side when he died, the Clippers said. West worked for the Clippers as a consultant for the last seven years.

He was an All-Star in all 14 of his NBA seasons, a 12-time All-NBA selection, part of the 1972 Lakers team that won a championship, an NBA Finals MVP when the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in 1969 — the first year that award was given out, and still the only time it went to a player on the losing team — and was selected as part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

West was general manager of championship teams with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping build the “Showtime” dynasty. He also worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers. Among his many highlights as an executive with the Lakers: he drafted Magic Johnson and James Worthy, then brought in Kobe Bryant and eventually Shaquille O’Neal to play alongside Bryant.

His basketball life bridged generations: West played with Elgin Baylor, whom he called “the most supportive and the greatest player of that era,” and Wilt Chamberlain. As a coach and executive, he worked with a who’s-who of NBA stars from the last 40 years: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, Worthy, O’Neal, Bryant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George among them.

“I marvel at them, at the joy they brought basketball fans all over the world,” West said in 2019.

Even in the final years of his life, West was considered basketball royalty. He routinely sat courtside at Summer League games in Las Vegas, often watching many games in a day while greeting long lines of players — LeBron James among them — who would approach to shake his hand.

“The game transcends many things,” West said while attending Summer League last year. “The players change, the style of play may change, but the respect that you learn in this game never changes.”

James, on social media, offered his condolences: “Will truly miss our convos my dear friend! My thoughts and prayers goes out to your wonderful family! Forever love Jerry! Rest in Paradise my guy!” the NBA’s all-time scoring leader wrote Wednesday.

West is 25th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, and while the league has never confirmed that West was in fact the model for its logo — a player dribbling a ball, set against a red-and-blue background — the league has never said otherwise, either.

“While it’s never been officially declared that the logo is Jerry West,” Silver said in 2021, “it sure looks a lot like him.”

West is still the NBA Finals’ all-time leader in total points, along with field goals made and attempted as well as free throws made and attempted. He played in the title series nine times with the Lakers; his teams went 1-2 against the New York Knicks, and 0-6 against the Celtics.

“Those damn Celtics,” he often said.

West also hit one of the most famed shots in finals history, a 60-footer at the buzzer of Game 3 of the 1970 series between the Knicks and Lakers to force overtime.

Tributes from across the sports world quickly poured in Wednesday morning. The Los Angeles Dodgers released a statement calling West “an indelible figure on the Los Angeles sports landscape for more than 60 years,” and the NBA was planning a pregame tribute to West before Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.

“Jerry West is one of my favorite people that I had the honor to get to know in the NBA,” Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison said Wednesday. “He welcomed me to the league, offered advice from the first day, and asked nothing in return. He will be missed.”

Michael Jordan said he considered West “a friend and mentor — like an older brother to me.”

“I valued his friendship and knowledge,” Jordan said. “I always wished I could have played against him as a competitor, but the more I came to know him, I wish I had been his teammate. I admired his basketball insights and he and I shared many similarities to how we approached the game.”

A native of Chelyan, West Virginia, West was known as a tenacious player who was rarely satisfied with his performance. He grew up shooting at a basket nailed to the side of a shed and often shot until his fingers bled. He became the first high school player in state history to score more than 900 points in a season, averaging 32.2 points in leading East Bank High to a state title.

Basketball, he would later reveal, was his therapy.

In his memoir, “West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life,” West chronicled a lifelong battle with depression. He wrote that his childhood was devoid of love and filled with anger as a result of an abusive father. He often felt worthless, and to combat that, he said he put his energy into playing the game.

West led West Virginia University — where he is still the all-time leader in scoring average — to the NCAA final in 1959, when the Mountaineers lost by one point to California.

A year after he won Olympic gold in Rome, West joined the Lakers, where he spent his entire pro playing career. He was honored as one of the league’s 50 greatest players in 1996 and when the league expanded the polling to 75 players to commemorate its 75th anniversary in 2021, West was selected again.

“You know, it never ceases to amaze me the places you can go in this world chasing a bouncing ball,” West said in 2019, when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian honor — by then-President Donald Trump. “My chase began in Chelyan, West Virginia, where I strung a wire basket with no net to the side of a bridge. If your shot didn’t go in, the ball rolled down a long bank and you would be chasing it forever. So, you better make it.

“I was a dreamer. My family didn’t have much, but we had a clear view of the Appalachian Mountains, and I’d sit alone on our front porch and wonder, ‘If I ever make it to the top of that mountain, what will I see on the other side?’ Well, I did make it to the other side, and my dreams have come true. I’ve been able to see the sides, thanks to that bouncing ball.”

Associated Press Writer John Raby contributed to this report

And the Stanley Cup Final took a heated turn Monday night.

Evan Rodrigues had a pair of third-period goals, Niko Mikkola and Aaron Ekblad also scored and the Panthers used yet another airtight finishing kick to pull away and beat the Oilers 4-1 for a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 shots for Florida, which was 1-8 all-time in Cup final games before this series started — and now is two wins away from capturing its first championship. Score through two games: Florida 7, Edmonton 1.

“A six-man job against the best players in the world,” Ekblad said.

But the win came with a price for Florida as the Panthers lost Barkov, their captain when Edmonton forward Draisaitl launched toward him midway through the third period and hit him in the head. Barkov remained down for some time, needed help getting to the bench and went down the tunnel for the Florida locker room for further evaluation.

Florida coach Paul Maurice offered no update on Barkov’s condition, and was far more tight-lipped than he tends to be after wins.

“This isn’t The Oprah Winfrey Show,” Maurice said of the Barkov hit. “My feelings don’t matter.”

Mattias Ekholm scored and Stuart Skinner stopped 25 shots for the Oilers, who now have to buck some serious history.

Edmonton has only successfully rallied from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series once — against San Jose in Round 2 of the 2006 playoffs. And teams that start the Stanley Cup Final down 2-0 have come back to win only five times in 54 previous situations.

“I think we feel that we came here and played well enough that we should have a split,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It doesn’t always happen.”

The series resumes with Game 3 in Edmonton on Thursday night.

“We can certainly be better,” Draisaitl said. “It starts with me. … I certainly have a lot more to give. Not my best tonight. Obviously, owning that.”

Draisaitl was given only a minor penalty for roughing on the hit that knocked Barkov from the game. Rodrigues got a tip-in goal to make it 3-1, the first power-play score Edmonton allowed in its last 34 times being down a man.

Connor McDavid had a chance to get Edmonton within one on a breakaway with about 6 minutes left. He got stopped by Bobrovsky, and then he and Matthew Tkachuk tussled a bit along the boards after the play — the Panthers still steaming over the hit on Barkov.

“I have no response or comment on that,” Tkachuk said when asked what he thought of Draisaitl’s hit on Barkov, and if he had a level of concern that Florida’s captain could miss time.

Said McDavid of the hit: “I thought it was part of the game.”

And added Ekblad: “We’re hoping he’ll be fine.”

Emotions were high all night. Edmonton’s Warren Foegele was ejected in the first period for a knee-on-knee hit that knocked Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen from the game briefly; that ejection, plus an injury to Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse left them with only 11 forwards and five defensemen for much of the game.

Rodrigues scored early in the third off a turnover for a 2-1 lead, setting the tone for yet another Florida comeback. The Panthers — who trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes — are now an NHL-best 5-2 when trailing after one period in these playoffs.

Ekblad sealed it with an empty-netter with 2:28 left.

“It’s supposed to be hard. It’s supposed to be difficult,” McDavid said. “I’m excited to see what our group’s made of.”

Just like Game 1, one team cashed in on its first shot. It was Florida on Saturday, and Edmonton this time.

There wasn’t much to it: Ekholm skated nearly the full length of the ice with the teams playing 4-on-4, taking a harmless-looking shot that got between Bobrovsky’s leg pads and squirted into the back of the net. McDavid — playing in the building where he got drafted in 2015 — got one of the assists on the goal, his 27th assist of this postseason.

Midway through the second, the Panthers knotted it up. Mikkola had two shots on a shift; one was at the wrong net, and the other more than atoned for that near-blunder.

Moments after he inadvertently wheeled a backhand toward Bobrovsky — who was alert enough to save his teammate from the embarrassment of an own goal — Mikkola handled a delivery from Anton Lundell and blasted it past Skinner to pull Florida into a 1-1 tie.

“Bob was awake,” Mikkola said.

Shots were 22-7 Florida after 40 minutes, the Oilers — who led the league in shots on goal this season — being held to a season-low entering the third. Bobrovsky was tested a ton more in the third than he was in the first two periods, but was up to the task again and yielded two goals or fewer for the 12th time in his last 13 games.

And Florida, for the first time, is two wins from the Cup.

“It’s special,” Rodrigues said. “Trying to embrace it. Trying to stay in the moment. That’s two big wins for our team, but I think we’ve already turned the page and are getting ready for Game 3.”

Silver, speaking in his annual pre-NBA Finals news conference, did not offer any hints on when the next series of deals will be completed, other than saying “in the relative near term.” The current deals with ABC-ESPN and Turner Sports expire after next season and the NBA has been talking with NBC, ESPN and Amazon, among other networks and platforms, about what comes next.

“It’s complicated for several reasons,” Silver said. “One is the advent of new platforms, particularly streaming and the interest of streaming companies and in the traditional media companies also carrying our games on streaming platforms. It’s complicated because with multiple partners, all seeking similar assets in many cases, you’re just figuring out the right way to balance those games as they go to different partners.”

The expectations, from networks and others involved in the process, is that the new agreements will be for 11 years and could exceed $70 billion in total value. Those would smash the existing norms for both value and deal length; the current one is nine years, $24 billion.

“We tend to do long-term deals,” Silver said. “We think that’s good for the stability of the league. But it means to a certain extent you’re trying to predict the future, which is of course impossible. Part of it is a bet on the partners that we’ll ultimately align with and their ability also to adjust the times and their willingness to continue to invest in media and to become global, which is very important to the league as well.”

What remains most unclear is how, or if, Turner will remain involved with the NBA when the new deals get struck.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav sounded an ominous note in late 2022, saying that Turner and WBD “don’t have to have the NBA” once their current deal expires. If WBD is not part of the next deals, one of the most recognizable changes for fans could be the demise of the highly popular “Inside the NBA” program featuring former NBA stars Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith.

“That show, in particular, is special.” Silver said.

When the deals get done — whether it’s in the coming days, weeks or even months — it would clear the way for the next major item on the NBA’s to-do list, that being expansion.

Silver has been very clear on the order of his top agenda items in recent seasons, those being preserving labor peace (which was achieved with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement) and getting a new media deal (talks ongoing). Then the league, at some point, will turn its attention toward adding new franchises.

“By turning to expansion, it doesn’t mean that we’re going to announce that now we’re ready to add teams,” Silver said. “It means that there will be a committee of NBA governors that will focus on it. … I actually am looking forward to that. I think the league, it’s not preordained that we will expand this time, but I know there’s an enormous amount of interest out there”

In other topics covered by Silver:

Caitlin Clark

Silver didn’t opine on the hard foul that Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark took from Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter last weekend, a play that has been scrutinized in countless ways from countless parties.

“As a fan, obviously, it’s nothing new in basketball that there’s sort of welcome-to-the-league moments, especially for heralded rookies,” Silver said. “But of course, I want to see Caitlin treated fairly and appropriately in the league. I would say, seems like she can take care of herself. She’s a tough player.”

Silver calls Clark “an incredible talent” and says all the attention she helps brings is good for the game — while noting that the growth of the fan base for the women’s game didn’t start just now, either. He also said it can’t be ignored that there are “larger societal issues at work … some having to do with race” when discussing the attention Clark generates and how that is received.

“Sports, historically, has been a platform for people to talk directly about these issues,” Silver said. “I don’t think we should hide from them, and I think the players are happy to engage about these issues.”

Tanking

Silver said he believed the $750,000 fine the NBA issued to the Dallas Mavericks was appropriate last season, after a brief investigation showed the team engaged in “conduct detrimental to the league” by sitting out most of its key players against the Chicago Bulls on April 7, 2023.

The Mavs still had a chance to reach the playoffs, but the NBA said the it believed the team made its roster decisions that night “in order to improve the chances of keeping its first-round pick in the 2023 NBA draft.” That pick became Dereck Lively II, who has played a significant role for the Mavericks in their run to the NBA Finals.

“In terms of what Dallas did last year, we sanctioned them. We did what we thought was appropriate at the time,” Silver said. “I would only say that the success they saw this season, that they’re now seeing in the playoffs and here they are at the finals, I don’t attribute it to one draft pick — as important as that draft pick has been to their team.”

Pick a storyline. There are many in these NBA Finals.

The matchup is now set: It’ll be Boston against Dallas for the Larry O’Brien Trophy, a series that starts on the Celtics’ home floor on June 6 — meaning everyone will be sitting around and waiting for about a week, a byproduct of the Celtics and Mavericks making short work of their respective conference finals.

Dallas eliminated Minnesota on Thursday night, winning 124-103 to finish off a 4-1 victory in the Western Conference finals. Boston’s spot was clinched Monday night, after the Celtics beat Indiana 108-105 to cap a 4-0 series in the East.

“We’re going to the NBA Finals,” Doncic said during the on-court celebration in Minneapolis on Thursday night. “Just can’t believe it, man.”

It’s Boston’s second time in the finals in the last three seasons, after falling to Golden State in six games in 2022. Dallas is in the title round for the first time since winning the championship against Miami in 2011.

Much will be made, and rightly so, of Irving and the Celtics meeting with a title on the line. Boston made a blockbuster move in 2017 by trading for Irving, with the hopes of seeing him grace its parquet floor in the NBA Finals.

Hey, it’ll happen now — just not as the sides envisioned seven years ago.

Irving was an All-Star in both of his Boston seasons, then left as a free agent to join the Brooklyn Nets in 2019 a few months after saying — vowing, really — that he would be staying with the Celtics. There have been some interesting moments in his returns to Boston; he’s been routinely booed and had a water bottle thrown at him, while he’s been fined for making an obscene gesture and raised ire by stomping on the Celtics’ leprechaun logo at midcourt following a Brooklyn playoff win there.

“Boston’s in the way and in between our goal,” Irving said when the West finals ended Thursday night.

Irving’s message to the Mavericks: Enjoy this moment.

“Nothing’s guaranteed in this league, especially making it to the finals every year,” said Irving, who won a title playing alongside LeBron James with Cleveland in 2016. “We couldn’t have done it without a collective responsibility, us working together every single day, practicing hard, doing the little things. We should reward ourselves by playing hard.”

Porzingis spent nearly three years in Dallas after being traded there by the New York Knicks in 2019. He’s in his first season in Boston and has been a huge part of the Celtics’ success — but got hurt in Round 1 against Miami and hasn’t played since, though it seems reasonable to think he may be ready for the NBA Finals.

“He’s progressing well and he’s working really hard to get back,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said.

The Celtics won the two head-to-head meetings against the Mavericks in the regular season, 119-110 at Dallas on Jan. 22 and then 138-110 in Boston on March 1.

The Mavericks didn’t have an answer for Tatum; he had 39 points in the January game, 32 in the March matchup. The Celtics didn’t have an answer for Doncic; he had triple-doubles in both games — 33 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists in January, then 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in March.

Those games won’t mean much now.

“This group believes,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, who played for the Dallas team that won a title in 2011. “They believe in each other. … This is a special group.”

The Celtics are seeking their 18th title overall, which would break a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in NBA history, and their first championship since 2008.

Against the Warriors two years ago, the championship experience of Golden State prevailed. Lessons were learned then, Boston has insisted since, and the Celtics will get a chance to finish the season differently this time.

“It’s a new challenge. It’s a different situation,” Celtics center Al Horford said. “I’m just excited to be in this position and to have this opportunity.”

The Celtics will have spent more than a week without a game before the finals start. Mazzulla said all that downtime won’t be spent idly.

“Nothing’s really valuable if you let it go to waste,” Mazzulla said. “Between now and June 6, we have to take every experience that we’ve been through, and we’ve got to make sure we take advantage of it and that we utilize it to put ourselves in the best position to win.”

“He’s a really good prospect who has a lot of room for growth,” Rich Paul, the CEO of Klutch Sports Group, told ESPN, which first reported the decision. Paul later confirmed the decision to The Associated Press.

LeBron James, Bronny’s father and the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, posted his reaction on his social media accounts, including one Instagram story that had the simple caption: “BRONNY STAYING IN DRAFT!” The decision was not unexpected, given that James had given no sign in recent weeks that he would exercise his option of returning to college and postponing his NBA plans.

James played one year of college basketball at USC and averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists last season. He played in 25 games, missing the start of the season after needing a procedure last year to fix what was diagnosed as a congenital heart defect, which was found after he went into cardiac arrest during a summer workout.

A panel of doctors cleared James for NBA play earlier this month.

“I’m just trying to put in the work and see where it takes me,” James said at the NBA draft combine after getting that clearance and taking part in workouts.

James — who was listed at 6-foot-4 on USC’s roster but measured 6-1½ at the combine — announced his intention of entering the draft in April, with the caveat he was also going into the transfer portal and maintaining his college eligibility. Early-entry candidates for the draft had until 11:59 p.m. EDT on Wednesday to decide whether they would stay in or return to college.

The draft is June 26-27.

LeBron James, who can become a free agent this summer, will be entering his 22nd NBA season this fall. If Bronny James plays in the NBA next season, they would be the first father-son duo in the league simultaneously as players. There have been about 100 instances in NBA history of players joining the league after their fathers played, but none at the same time.

LeBron James said many times in recent years that he would like to play in the league alongside his son, and it certainly remains a possibility that a team that drafts Bronny James might do so with hopes of luring his father to that roster.

“The kid has to do what he wants to do — and I don’t even want to say kid no more — the young man will decide what he wants to do and how he wants his career to go,” LeBron James said when the Los Angeles Lakers’ season ended earlier this spring.

AP’s Tom Withers in Cleveland contributed.

Larger than life, only in part because of his nearly 7-foot frame, Walton was a two-time NCAA champion at UCLA, a two-time NBA champion, a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, an on-court icon in every sense of the word. And off the court, Walton was a chronic fun-seeker, a broadcaster who adhered to no conventional norms and took great joy in that, a man with a deeply serious side about the causes that mattered most to him.

“Bill Walton,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said, “was truly one of a kind.”

The following has been released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/fdlty5X3F5

— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 27, 2024

Walton died Monday at age 71 after a prolonged fight with cancer, the league announced on behalf of his family. He was the NBA’s MVP in the 1977-78 season, the Sixth Man of the Year in 1985-86 and a member of the league’s 50th and 75th anniversary teams. That followed a college career in which he blossomed under coach John Wooden at UCLA, becoming a three-time national player of the year.

“I am sad today hearing that my comrade and one of the sports world’s most beloved champions and characters has passed,” Julius “Dr. J” Erving, a fellow Hall of Famer, wrote on social media. “Bill Walton enjoyed life in every way. To compete against him and to work with him was a blessing in my life.”

Tributes immediately began pouring in, and the NBA held a moment of silence to commemorate Walton’s life before Game 4 of the Boston Celtics-Indiana Pacers matchup in the Eastern Conference finals Monday night.

Walton, who entered the Hall of Fame in 1993, was one of the game’s most beloved figures. His NBA career — disrupted by chronic foot injuries — lasted only 468 games with the Portland Trail Blazers, San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers and Celtics. He averaged 13.3 points and 10.5 rebounds in those games, neither number exactly record-setting.

Still, his impact on the game was massive.

“I love him as a friend and as a teammate,” Celtics legend Larry Bird said. “It was a thrill for me to play with my childhood idol and together we earned an NBA championship in 1986. He is one of the greatest ever to play the game. I am sure that all of my teammates are as grateful as I am that we were able to know Bill. He was such a joy to know and he will be sorely missed.”

Walton’s most famous game was the 1973 NCAA title game, UCLA against Memphis, in which he shot 21 of 22 from the field and led the Bruins to another national championship.

“One of my guards said, ‘Let’s try something else,’” Wooden told The Associated Press in 2008 for a 35th anniversary retrospective on that game.

Wooden’s response during that timeout: “Why? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

They kept giving the ball to Walton, and he kept delivering in a performance for the ages.

“It’s very hard to put into words what he has meant to UCLA’s program, as well as his tremendous impact on college basketball,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said Monday. “Beyond his remarkable accomplishments as a player, it’s his relentless energy, enthusiasm for the game and unwavering candor that have been the hallmarks of his larger-than-life personality.

“It’s hard to imagine a season in Pauley Pavilion without him.”

When Walton retired from the NBA he turned to broadcasting, something he never thought he could be good at — and an avenue he sometimes wondered would be possible because he had a pronounced stutter at times in his life.

Turns out, he was excellent at that too: Walton was an Emmy winner, was named one of the top 50 sports broadcasters of all time by the American Sportscasters Association and even appeared on The New York Times’ bestseller list for his memoir, “Back from the Dead.” It told the story of a debilitating back injury suffered in 2008, one that left him considering taking his own life because of the constant pain, and how he spent years recovering.

“I lived most of my life by myself. But as soon as I got on the court I was fine,” Walton told The Oregonian newspaper for a story published in 2017. “But in life, being so self-conscious, red hair, big nose, freckles and goofy, nerdy-looking face and can’t talk at all. I was incredibly shy and never said a word. Then, when I was 28 I learned how to speak. It’s become my greatest accomplishment of my life and everybody else’s biggest nightmare.”

The last part of that was just Walton hyperbole. He was beloved for his on-air tangents and sometimes appeared on air in Grateful Dead T-shirts; Walton was a huge fan of the band and referenced it often, even sometimes recording satellite radio specials celebrating what it meant to be a “Deadhead.”

12 takeaways from Bill Walton’s White Sox broadcasting debut, including how he’s ‘much better at getting high than getting low’

And the Pac-12 Conference, which has basically evaporated because of college realignment, was another of his many loves. He always referred to it as the “Conference of Champions” and sang its praises all the way to the end.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” he once said on a broadcast, tie-dyed T-shirt on, a Hawaiian lei around his neck.

Walton was involved in the broadcasts of college and NBA games for CBS, NBC and ABC/ESPN in his career along with stints working for the Clippers and Sacramento Kings as an analyst. He returned to ESPN and the Pac-12 Network, touting the roots of his beloved conference, in 2012.

“Bill Walton was a legendary player and a singular personality who genuinely cherished every experience throughout the journey of his extraordinary life,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro said. “Bill often described himself as ‘the luckiest guy in the world,’ but anyone who had the opportunity to interact with Bill was the lucky one. He was a truly special, giving person who always made time for others. Bill’s one-of-a-kind spirit captivated and inspired audiences during his second career as a successful broadcaster.”

But Walton always will be synonymous with UCLA’s dominance.

He enrolled at the school in 1970, before freshmen could play on the varsity team. Once he could play for Wooden, the Bruins were unbeatable for more than two years — Walton’s UCLA teams won their first 73 games, the bulk of the Bruins’ extraordinary 88-game winning streak. It was snapped against Notre Dame in 1974, a 71-70 loss in which Walton shot 12 of 14 from the field.

“Bill Walton’s passing is a sad tragedy. One of the great ones in UCLA basketball history,” Digger Phelps, who coached that Notre Dame team, posted Monday on social media. “We were great friends over the years. It won’t be the same without him.”

UCLA went 30-0 in each of Walton’s first two seasons and 86-4 in his career on the varsity.

“My teammates … made me a much better basketball player than I could ever have become myself,” Walton said at his Hall of Fame speech in 1993. “The concept of team has always been the most intriguing aspect of basketball to me. If I had been interested in individual success or an individual sport, I would have taken up tennis or golf.”

Walton led the Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA title, then got his second championship with the Celtics in 1986.

“Bill Walton was an icon,” said Jody Allen, chair of the Trail Blazers. “His leadership and tenacity on the court were key to bringing a championship to our fans and defined one of the most magical moments in franchise history. We will always treasure what he brought to our community and the sport of basketball.”

The Celtics released a statement saying: “Bill Walton was one of the most consequential players of his era. … Walton could do it all, possessing great timing, complete vision of the floor, excellent fundamentals and was of one of the greatest passing big men in league history.”

Walton considered himself fortunate to have been guided by two of the game’s greatest minds in Wooden and Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach.

“Thank you, John, and thank you, Red, for making my life what it has become,” Walton said in his Hall of Fame speech.

Walton was the No. 1 pick by the Trail Blazers in the 1974 draft. He said Bill Russell was his favorite player and found Bird the toughest and best he played with, so it was appropriate that his playing career ended as a member of the Celtics.

“Playing basketball with Larry Bird,” Walton once said, “is like singing with Jerry Garcia,” referencing the co-founder of the Grateful Dead.

In his final years, Walton spoke out about issues that mattered most to him, such as the problem of homelessness in his native San Diego.

“What I will remember most about him was his zest for life,” Silver said in a statement. “He was a regular presence at league events — always upbeat, smiling ear to ear and looking to share his wisdom and warmth. I treasured our close friendship, envied his boundless energy and admired the time he took with every person he encountered.”

Walton died surrounded by his loved ones, his family said. He is survived by wife Lori and sons Adam, Nate, Chris and Luke — a former NBA player and now a coach.

Said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who was teammates with Walton in Boston: “He defiantly competed for every moment in life to be the greatest it could possibly be.”

Teams were told of the clearance in a memo sent Monday morning, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the league did not publicly release any details. All players at the draft combine in Chicago undergo medical examinations.

ESPN first reported the NBA’s decision.

The clearance determination was likely expected, given that Bronny James was able to play the final 25 games for Southern California this past season as a freshman. He suffered cardiac arrest during a practice session in July 2023 and needed a procedure to fix what was diagnosed as a congenital heart defect, then missed several months while recovering.

The NBA convened what is known as a fitness-to-play panel — three doctors who review medical records — to determine if James should be cleared. They determined that he is “medically able and fit to play basketball in the NBA,” which means he can take part in the combine.

James is on a roster to participate in on-court games Tuesday, though rosters and playing plans often change at the combine. All players at the combine are also expected to participate in a media session on Tuesday.

The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists at USC this past season. He has until later this month to decide if he is going to stay in the draft or return to college basketball for at least one more season.

LeBron James — the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and someone who just finished his 21st season in the league — said many times in recent years that he would like to play in the league alongside his son. But when this season ended, the Lakers star who could become a free agent this summer said he hasn’t “given much thought lately” about the notion of playing on a team with Bronny James.

“The kid has to do what he wants to do — and I don’t even want to say kid no more — the young man will decide what he wants to do and how he wants his career to go,” LeBron James said when the Lakers’ season ended with a playoff loss to Denver. “I just think the fact that we’re even having the conversation is pretty cool in the sense of that. Obviously, we’ll see what happens.”

Others scored more points, others grabbed more rebounds, others had more blocks, others made more steals. But never had there been a player who, in Year 1 of his career, posted all these averages — at least 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 3.6 blocks and 1.2 steals per game.

Until now.

The long-expected result became reality on Monday, when the Spurs’ star from France was announced as the NBA’s rookie of the year. He’s the third San Antonio player to win the award, joining David Robinson in 1990 and Tim Duncan in 1998 — both of whom, like Wembanyama, were No. 1 overall picks and instantly anointed as centers who would lead the Spurs to greatness.

Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and Charlotte’s Brandon Miller were the other finalists for the award.

“Leading rookies in most categories and leading the league in blocks, I’m pretty proud of this,” Wembanyama said when the season ended.

Wembanyama became the first international winner of the award since Dallas’ Luka Doncic in 2019 and the fifth such winner in the last 10 seasons. Andrew Wiggins (Canada) won in 2015, Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic) won in 2016, Ben Simmons (Australia) won in 2018 and Doncic followed the next season.

Wembanyama became just the fourth player, and first rookie, to finish a season with at least 1,500 points, 250 assists and 250 blocked shots. The others: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it five times, Hakeem Olajuwon did it twice and Robinson did it twice. Nobody had done it since 1993-94, when Olajuwon and Robinson both had such a season.

The rookie award may be the start of a big week for Wembanyama, who will be in the top three finishers for Defensive Player of the Year as well. That award gets announced Tuesday, with Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert and Miami’s Bam Adebayo the other finalists.

The NBA will reveal the MVP — either Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Dallas’ Luka Doncic or Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — on Wednesday.

Butler will not be able to play for the Miami Heat in a win-or-else game Friday night against the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Play-In Tournament because of a right knee injury that will sideline him for several weeks.

An MRI exam Thursday showed he sprained the medial collateral ligament, an injury that typically takes at least four weeks or more to heal.

That means if the Heat win Friday, they still wouldn’t have Butler for a Round 1 playoff matchup with the Boston Celtics — a daunting matchup even if Butler were healthy. The Celtics, the top overall seed in the playoffs, finished 18 games ahead of the Heat and went 3-0 against them in the regular season.

“We will do this the hard way,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said in Philadelphia on Wednesday night, when Butler played most of the game after getting hurt and the Heat lost 105-104 — missing out on a chance to be the No. 7 seed in the East. “That has to be the path right now.”

The path gets much harder now for the reigning Eastern Conference champions.

Butler was injured in the first quarter in Philadelphia, grabbing at the knee in obvious pain and limping throughout the remainder of the game — but staying in most of the way. He played 40 minutes, finishing with 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and five steals.

His mobility appeared to get worse as the game went along, and Spoelstra said postgame that Butler’s knee kept getting stiffer and stiffer. Butler was 2 of 4 from the field when he got hurt — then 3 of 14 the remainder of the game.

“I thought the adrenaline would kick back in and I’d be able to move,” Butler said after the game. “And it just wasn’t the case. I wasn’t able to do anything on either side of the ball and I think I hurt us more than I helped us, actually.”

Butler’s absence Friday will add to serious injury issues for the Heat.

They have been without starting point guard Terry Rozier for two weeks because of a neck injury and will play without him again Friday. Shooting guard Duncan Robinson has missed 10 of the last 15 games with a back problem, and in the five games he did play in that stretch, he was clearly affected — shooting only 6 of 26 (23%) from 3-point range. For his career, he’s a 40% shooter beyond the arc.

“We’ve had experience with that,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said of playing short-handed. “The biggest thing for us is to rally around each other and get the W.”

Porter is the second person to be banned by Commissioner Adam Silver for violating league rules. The other was now-former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling in 2014, shortly after Silver took office.

In making the announcement, Silver called Porter’s actions “blatant.”

“There is nothing more important than protecting the integrity of NBA competition for our fans, our teams and everyone associated with our sport, which is why Jontay Porter’s blatant violations of our gaming rules are being met with the most severe punishment,” Silver said.

The investigation started once the league learned from “licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets” about unusual gambling patterns surrounding Porter’s performance in a game on March 20 against Sacramento. The league determined that Porter gave a bettor information about his own health status prior that game and said that another individual — known to be an NBA bettor — placed an $80,000 bet that Porter would not hit the numbers set for him in parlays through an online sports book. That bet would have won $1.1 million.

Porter took himself out of that game after less than three minutes, claiming illness, none of his stats meeting the totals set in the parlay. The $80,000 bet was frozen and not paid out, the league said, and the NBA started an investigation not long afterward.

“You don’t want this for the kid, you don’t want this for our team and we don’t want this for our league, that’s for sure,” Raptors President Masai Ujiri said Wednesday in Toronto, speaking shortly before the NBA announced Porter’s ban. “My first reaction is obviously surprise, because none of us, I don’t think anybody, saw this coming.”

The league has partnerships and other relationships with more than two dozen gaming companies, many of whom advertise during NBA games in a variety of ways. Silver himself has been a longtime proponent of legal sports wagering, but the league has very strict rules for players and employees regarding betting.

And what Porter was found to have done was in violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which states: “Any Player who, directly or indirectly, wagers money or anything of value on any game or event in the Association or in the NBA G League shall, on being charged with such wagering, be given an opportunity to answer such charges after due notice, and the decision of the Commissioner shall be final, binding, and conclusive and unappealable.”

Silver cautioned last week that this move was possible, saying what Porter was accused of represented “cardinal sin” in the NBA. Porter has not commented since the investigation began, and never played for the Raptors again — he was listed as out for all of Toronto’s games for the remainder of the season citing personal reasons.

The league also determined that Porter — the brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. — placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using someone else’s betting account. The bets ranged from $15 to $22,000; the total wagered was $54,094 and generated a payout of $76,059, or net winnings of $21,965.

Those wagers did not involve any game in which Porter played, the NBA said. But three of the wagers were multi-game parlays, including a bet where Porter — who was not playing in the games involved — wagered on the Raptors to lose. All three of those bets lost.

“While legal sports betting creates transparency that helps identify suspicious or abnormal activity, this matter also raises important issues about the sufficiency of the regulatory framework currently in place, including the types of bets offered on our games and players,” Silver said. “Working closely with all relevant stakeholders across the industry, we will continue to work diligently to safeguard our league and game.”

Porter was on what is called a two-way contract, meaning he could play for both the Raptors and their affiliate in the G League. His salary for this year was around $410,000; had the Raptors signed him to a standard NBA contract next season, as seemed possible, his salary would have exceeded $2 million.

The 24-year-old Porter averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26 games, including five starts. He also played in 11 games for Memphis in the 2020-21 season.

ESPN first reported the investigation, which it said surrounded Porter’s performance in games on Jan. 26 and March 20. In both games, Porter played briefly before leaving citing injury or illness. Porter played 4 minutes, 24 seconds against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first of those games, then 2:43 against Sacramento in the second game.

In both of those games, Porter did not come close to hitting the prop-wager lines for points, rebounds and 3-pointers that bettors could play at some sportsbooks. For example, one set of prop wagers for Porter for the Clippers game was set at 5.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists; he finished with no points, three rebounds and one assist. For the Kings game, they were around 7.5 points and 5.5 rebounds; Porter finished that game with no points and two rebounds.

The league said its probe “remains open and may result in further findings,” and that those findings are being shared with federal prosecutors.