BASKETBALL

Here are the teams that have taken giant leaps in the latest FIBA world rankings. All of them performed well in the 2013 continental championship cycle, and by the time FIBA World Cup 2014 comes around, some of them will improve their rankings even further.

In an extensive four minutes plus interview to promote a basketball video game-- NBA 2K14 -- Michael Jordan Uncensored— NBA legend Michael Jordan stated that the only player that can beat him one-on-on when he was in his prime is Kobe Bryant.

FIBA world rankings are computed according to an eight-year cycle, taking into account the following tournaments:- Continental championships (FIBA Asia, FIBA Africa, FIBA Americas, Eurobasket, FIBA Oceania) - FIBA World Cup (FIBA World Championship until 2010) - Olympic basketball tournamentWhenever a new tournament is played, the one that took place eight years before is dropped from the computation. Teams' placings in the tournaments determine the points they have gained or lost, ...

If Andray Blatche is to be believed, none of the previous NBA season's conference finalists are the best in the league. That distinction belongs solely to Blatche's Brooklyn Nets.

Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry arrived at his team's media day wearing something radically different. Instead of wearing Nike shoes, as he had been doing for the past four years, he was wearing Under Armour.

Lamar Odom believes he has a lot of reasons to loathe his estranged wife Khloe Kardashian.

Lebron James shows off his very own limited edition Royal Oak Chronograph Watch by Audemars Piguet.

Brandon Bass, a third-year player for the Boston Celtics, can score, rebound, and defend well.He just doesn't know how to swim. In fact, his six-year-old son Brandon Jr. can swim better than him.

Ryan Anderson, who plays for the New Orleans Pelicans, couldn’t even start to talk about the tragic death of girlfriend reality TV star Gia Allemand.

On Thursday, IBT-Australia posted an article about Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant having some social media feud.

Looks like Amare Stoudemire went under the knife again. The difference this time is that it is not officially reported by the New York Knicks front office leading to wild speculations that the hush-hush procedure is meant to hide the actual status of the 30-year-old power forward’s ailing knees.

Retired professional basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stars in a new commercial ad for the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.

New York Knicks Amar'e Stoudemire knows how to spend quality time with his family.

Pending the National Basketball Association (NBA) owners’ approval, the league will see a return to the old format for the NBA Finals replacing the 2-3-2 format, which has been used since 1985.

How much are you willing to give for your parents?

Khloe Kardashian is now single, at least on Twitter.

Laquetta Theus has claimed that the father of her 2-year-old daughter is no other than Michael Jordan, a retired NBA professional basketball player and Chicago Bulls' frontman.

At this point, the Lynx had a big 26-point lead and Taurasi was getting visibly frustrated. More bumping and grinding from both and suddemly Taurasi suddenly kissed Augustus, probably out of sheer frustration.

NBA veterans and rookies looking for teams will get their chance to prove themselves as the respective training camps of NBA teams open on Saturday. For the said team try-outs various players have already been invited Tuesday and Wednesday.

From being a big-time star in college, former NBA lottery pick Adam Morrison has gone back to school -- this time as a member of the coaching staff.

Another high-profile athlete has fallen victim to a person working under false identities.A late-night operation conducted by the Colorado police in 2012 on the residence of Miami Heat forward Chris Andersen was able to seize property from the NBA player, leading to speculation about his involvement in child pornography.

It’s set: the first ever one-on-one match-up between an NBA owner and an active NBA player to date. Or at least, the first to be aired live as billionaire Robert J. Pera takes on Tony Allen in a charity game this Saturday at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee.

Oklahoma City’s training camp is days away, and the Thunder still have no good news on the return of their star point guard Russell Westbrook who suffered an injury in the 2013 post-season. However, Westbrook himself is very confident that he’ll be an even better player when he returns.

Brynn Cameron, who used to play for University of Southern California (USC) women’s basketball team, has just given birth to a baby boy with Los Angeles Clippers’ Blake Griffin.

With an aging core that includes veterans Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, the San Antonio Spurs decided that it is time to go young. That is, signing free agent small forward Sam Young, who is expected to add depth to their already deep wing rotation in San Antonio.

Take a look at the photo below.

The 2013 edition of FIBA Eurobasket generated a lot of buzz, not the least of which was France winning the gold for the first time. However, scouts flocked to Slovenia to check out those who could make an impact in the NBA in the near and not-so-near future. Here are the top NBA prospects that were spotted in Eurobasket 2013.

With the FIBA continental championships over and done with, all of the zone and automatic qualifiers are accounted for. However, with only 20 slots in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain being given away as prizes for the teams that top their zonal qualifiers, there are four more set aside for the so-called "wild card" entries.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is set to officially award the hosting of the 2016 NBA All Star Weekend to Toronto league within this week.