ESPN’s Wednesday night Best of the NBA presented by State Farm series debuts tonight at 7 p.m. ET with a historic NBA doubleheader. The night begins with Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals, where the Cleveland Cavaliers, led by LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, defeated the defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors, starring Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, forcing another game in the series. In Game 5, James and Irving became the first teammates in NBA Finals history to each score over 40 points. At 9:30 p.m., ESPN will re-air Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, where the Cavaliers defeated the Warriors for the third straight game, bringing Cleveland its first NBA title and becoming the first team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit in the Finals.

Prior to the games, NBA Champion and analyst Richard Jefferson, who was a member of the 2015-16 Cavaliers team, will reflect on Games 5 and 7 with digital commentator Omar Raja beginning at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN’s Twitter.

Round one of the NBA 2K Players Tournament between 16 current NBA players – including top seeds Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks – will air this weekend on ESPN and ESPN2.

Tournament coverage begins Friday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN, with a matchup between Derrick Jones Jr. (16) and Kevin Durant (1) tipping off at 7:30 p.m.

Round One Schedule:

Friday, April 3: ESPN

• 7:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. ET: NBA 2K Players Tournament Preview Show
• 7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. ET: Derrick Jones Jr. (16) vs. Kevin Durant (1)

Friday, April 3: ESPN2, 8:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. ET

Sunday, April 5: ESPN2, 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET

The remote in-home edition of NBA Countdown will be available on ESPN’s YouTube page Tuesdays and Thursdays with host Maria Taylor and analysts Jalen Rose, Paul Pierce and Jay Williams.

Hoop Streams will be live on ESPN’s Twitter and YouTube platforms Tuesdays and Fridays beginning at 5 p.m. ET with host Cassidy Hubbarth, and analysts Kendrick Perkins and Amin Elhassan. All shows will be available on the ESPN App upon conclusion of the live show.

The Jump host, Rachel Nichols, interviewed two-time NBA All Star and three-time Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) Champion, Stephon Marbury to discuss the CBA’s plans for resuming games and the role he’s playing to help fight COVID-19 in his hometown of New York.

Full Interview: https://youtu.be/ChOpKkr-HA0

ICYMI:

Mike Breen, Doris Burke, Rachel Nichols, Chiney Ogwumike, Jalen Rose, Stephen A. Smith, Maria Taylor and Adrian Wojnarowski, all participated in ESPN’s #oneteam PSA, to address the importance of following health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Top ESPN NBA Headlines

Michael Jordan series on ESPN, ‘The Last Dance,’ moved up to April

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How the Charlotte Hornets are adding Kobe Bryant and playoff basketball to their break

Isaiah Thomas knows the struggles NBA draft prospects are going through

Dwane Casey describes how the Pistons confronted the coronavirus

More NBA digital content is available on the NBA section of ESPN.com.

All ESPN programming is available to stream on the ESPN App.

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