ReportWire

Tag: NBA basketball

  • Ex-NBA player Damon Jones pleads not guilty to selling injury secrets

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he profited from rigged poker games and provided sports bettors with non-public information about injuries to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

    Jones, a onetime teammate of James, said little during back-to-back arraignments in federal court in Brooklyn, letting his court-appointed lawyer enter not guilty pleas in a pair of cases stemming from last month’s federal takedown of sprawling gambling operations.

    Jones, 49, acknowledged he read both indictments and that he understood the charges and his bail conditions, which include his mother and stepfather putting up their Texas home as collateral for a $200,000 bond that will allow him to remain free pending trial.

    Jones’ lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery, told a judge that they “may be engaging in plea negotiations.” He is due back in court for a preliminary conference with other defendants on Nov. 24.

    Jones was among more than 30 people arrested in the gambling sweep. The others included reputed mobsters and prominent basketball figures, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.

    Sports bettor Marves Fairley also pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges alleging he cashed in on information about injuries to NBA players, including some that prosecutors say Jones provided to him.

    Jones, an NBA journeyman, earned more than $20 million playing for 10 teams in 11 seasons from 1999 to 2009. He and James played together in Cleveland from 2005 to 2008 and he served as an unofficial assistant coach for James’ Los Angeles Lakers during the 2022-2023 season.

    According to prosecutors, Jones sold or attempted to sell non-public information to bettors that James was injured and wouldn’t be playing in a Feb. 9, 2023, game against the Milwaukee Bucks, texting an unnamed co-conspirator: “Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out.”

    James wasn’t listed on the Lakers’ injury report at the time of the text message, but the NBA’s all-time scoring leader was later ruled out of the game because of a lower body jury, according to prosecutors, and the Lakers lost the game 115-106.

    On Jan. 15, 2024, prosecutors said, Fairley paid Jones approximately $2,500 for a tip that Davis, the Lakers’ forward and center at the time, would see limited playing time against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of an injury.

    Fairley then placed a $100,000 bet on the Thunder to win, prosecutors said, but the tip was wrong. Davis played his usual minutes, scored 27 points and collected 15 rebounds in a 112-105 Lakers win, prompting Fairley to demand a refund of his $2,500 fee, prosecutors said.

    Jones, a native of Galveston, Texas, who played college basketball at the University of Houston, is charged in both cases with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. As part of his bail agreement, his travel is restricted to parts of Texas and New York City. He was allowed to keep his passport to use as identification for flying until he obtains a REAL ID, which his lawyer said should happen soon.

    A hot hand from outside the three-point arc, Jones once proclaimed himself in an interview with insidehoops.com as “the best shooter in the world.” He played in every regular season game for three consecutive seasons from 2003 to 2006.

    After his playing days, he worked as a “shooting consultant” for the Cavaliers and was an assistant coach when the team, led by James, won the NBA championship in 2016.

    In the poker scheme, according to prosecutors, Jones was among former NBA players used to lure unwitting players into poker games that were rigged using altered shuffling machines, hidden cameras, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table.

    According to the indictment, Jones was paid $2,500 for a game in the Hamptons where he was instructed to cheat by paying close attention to others involved in the scheme. His instructor likened those people to James and NBA All-Star Steph Curry, prosecutors said. When in doubt, Jones was told to fold his hand, prosecutors said.

    In response, according to prosecutors, Jones texted: “y’all know I know what I’m doing!!”

    The poker scheme often made use of illegal poker games run by New York crime families that required them to share a portion of their proceeds with the Gambino, Genovese and Bonnano crime families, according to prosecutors.

    Members of those families, in turn, also helped commit violent acts, including assault, extortion and robbery, to ensure repayment of debts and the continued success of the operation, officials said in court documents.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Doncic returns after 3-game absence, scores 44 to lead Lakers past Grizzlies 117-112

    [ad_1]

    Luka Doncic had 44 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in his return after a three-game absence and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Memphis Grizzlies 117-112 in the opening game of the NBA Cup for each team

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Luka Doncic had 44 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in his return after a three-game absence and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Memphis Grizzlies 117-112 on Friday night in the opening game of the NBA Cup for each team.

    Austin Reaves added 21 points for the Lakers and Jake LaRavia scored 13. It was Doncic’s 11th straight games of scoring at least 25 against the Grizzlies.

    Jock Landale and Jaylen Wells scored 16 points each to lead Memphis and Jaren Jackson Jr. finished with 15 points. Ja Morant was held to eight points — going 3 of 14 from the field — and seven assists.

    The Lakers continued to play without LeBron James, who is dealing with right sciatica. But Doncic, who missed the last three games with a left finger sprain and a lower left leg contusion, returned to the starting lineup.

    Both teams had significant runs before it settled into a closely played game. Memphis’ rally came in the second quarter and the Lakers answered it in the third before pulling away in the fourth.

    The Grizzlies built a double-digit lead in the second quarter while scoring 42 points, including a 27-4 rally in the closing minutes of the half. That gave them a 69-55 lead at the break.

    But the Lakers with Doncic controlling the offense, sliced away at the Memphis advantage in the second half, erasing the deficit in the first seven minutes of the third. That led to an exchange of leads as Doncic had 16 in the quarter.

    Entering the fourth, there had been 14 lead changes and seven ties.

    Lakers: Host Miami on Sunday.

    Grizzlies: Visit Toronto on Sunday.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Mark Walter finalizes his purchase of a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers

    [ad_1]

    LOS ANGELES — Mark Walter is the majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers after the NBA Board of Governors approved his purchase of a controlling stake from the Buss family.

    The Lakers and the league confirmed the next step Thursday in a transaction that is expected to close shortly. The sale of the NBA’s most valuable franchise was initially announced in June.

    Jeanie Buss will remain the Lakers’ governor under the deal for at least the next five years, and she will oversee day-to-day operations “for the foreseeable future,” the team said. Her father, Jerry Buss, bought the Lakers in 1979.

    But the Lakers are now primarily owned by Walter, the billionaire who is the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks among his numerous sports investments. His TWG Global holding company is also the majority owner of the new Cadillac Formula 1 team, which begins competition next year.

    Walter bought a 27% minority stake in the Lakers in 2021 before the current sale, which was completed with a franchise valuation of $10 billion — the highest ever set for a pro sports team.

    “The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports, defined by a history of excellence and the relentless pursuit of greatness,” Walter said in a statement. “Few teams carry the legacy and global influence of the Lakers, and it’s a privilege to work alongside Jeanie Buss as we maintain that excellence and set the standard for success in this new era, both on and off the court.”

    The Lakers have won 17 NBA championships and built a worldwide fan base through decades of consistent winning with many of the most famous players in basketball history, from George Mikan to LeBron James.

    “Mark Walter has a long association with our leagues, having served as a minority owner of the Lakers and as the principal owner of the WNBA’s Sparks for more than a decade,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. “As Mark assumes his role as majority owner of the Lakers, I have no doubt that he will be a committed steward of the team and a great addition to our league given his many successful ventures in business and sports.”

    Jerry Buss bought the Lakers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the Forum arena from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million.

    Silver said he is “thrilled” that Jeanie Buss will remain “an active and engaged member of our league.”

    Lakers fans are hoping Walter can match his success with Los Angeles’ other traditional marquee sports franchise.

    Since Walter took over the Dodgers in 2012, the team has made 13 consecutive playoff appearances while winning five NL pennants and two World Series titles. The Dodgers will play Game 6 of the current World Series on Friday night in Toronto.

    “Over the past decade, I have come to know Mark well — first as a businessman, then as a friend, and now as a colleague,” Jeanie Buss said. “He has demonstrated time and time again his commitment to bringing championships to Los Angeles, and on behalf of Lakers fans everywhere, I am beyond excited about what our future has in store.”

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Poker’s NBA-and-Mafia betting scandal echoes movie games, and cheats, from ‘Ocean’s’ to ‘Rounders’

    [ad_1]

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — The stakes. The famous faces. The posh private rooms. The clever cheating schemes.

    The federal indictment of a big-money poker ring involving NBA figures on Thursday, in which unsuspecting rich players were allegedly enticed to join then cheated of their money, echoed decades of movies and television, and not just because of the alleged Mafia involvement.

    Fictional and actual poker have long been in sort of a pop-cultural feedback loop. When authorities described the supposed circumstances of the games, they might’ve evoked a run of screen moments from recent decades.

    Poker in ‘Ocean’s Eleven,’ ‘Molly’s Game’ and ‘The Sopranos’

    A 2004 episode of “ The Sopranos ” showed a very similar mix of celebrities and mobsters in a New York game whose players included Van Halen singer David Lee Roth and football Hall-of-Famer Lawrence Taylor, both playing themselves.

    In 2001’s “Ocean’s Eleven,” George Clooney finds his old heist buddy Brad Pitt running a poker game for “Teen Beat” cover boys including Topher Grace and Joshua Jackson, also playing themselves. Clooney spontaneously teams with Pitt to con them. And the plot of the 2007 sequel “Ocean’s Thirteen” centers on the high-tech rigging of casino games.

    Asked about the relevance of the films to the NBA scandal, which came soon after a story out of Paris that could’ve come straight out of “Ocean’s Twelve,” Clooney told The Associated Press with a laugh that “we get blamed for everything now.”

    “‘Cause we also got compared to the Louvre heist. Which, I think, you gotta CGI me into that basket coming out of the Louvre,” Clooney said Thursday night at the Los Angeles premiere of his new film, “Jay Kelly.” He was referring to thieves using a basket lift to steal priceless Napoleonic jewels from the museum.

    2017’s “Molly’s Game,” and the real-life memoir from Molly Bloom that it was based on, could almost serve as manuals for how to build a poker game’s allure for desirable “fish” in the same ways and with the same terminology that the organizers indicted Thursday allegedly used.

    The draw of Bloom’s games at hip Los Angeles club The Viper Room were not NBA players, but Hollywood players like Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and “The Hangover” director Todd Phillips. (None of them were accused of any wrongdoing.)

    In the movie written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, Bloom, played by Jessica Chastain, describes the way a famous actor acts as an attractor for other players, the same way officials said Thursday that NBA “face cards” did for the newly indicted organizers.

    The unnamed actor, played by Michael Cera, was at least partly based on the “Spider-Man” star Maguire.

    “People wanted to say they played with him,” Chastain says. “The same way they wanted to say they rode on Air Force One. My job security was gonna depend on bringing him his fish.”

    In her book, Bloom described the allure for the players she drew.

    “The formula of keeping pros out, inviting in celebrities and other interesting and important people, and even the mystique of playing in the private room of the Viper Room added up to one of the most coveted invitations in town,” she writes, later adding that “I just needed to continue feeding it new, rich blood; and to be strategic about how to fill those ten precious seats.”

    Bloom would get caught up in a broad 2013 nationwide crackdown on high-stakes private poker games, probably the highest profile poker bust in years before this week. She got a year’s probation, a $1,000 fine, and community service.

    There were no accusations of rigging at her game, but that didn’t make it legal.

    The legality of private-space poker games has been disputed for decades and widely varies among U.S. states. But in general, they tend to bring attention and prosecution when the host is profiting the way that a casino would.

    A brief history of movies making poker cool

    Poker — and cheating at it — has run through movies, especially Westerns, from their silent beginnings.

    Prominent poker scenes feature in 1944’s “Tall in the Saddle” with John Wayne and 1950’s “The Gunfighter” with Gregory Peck.

    “The Cincinnati Kid” in 1965 was dedicated entirely to poker — with Steve McQueen bringing his unmatched cool to the title character.

    A pair of movies co-starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman really raised the game’s profile, though.

    In the opening scene of 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,’ a hyper-cool Redford is playing poker and refuses to leave until another player takes back a cheating accusation.

    In 1973’s Best Picture Oscar winner “The Sting,” 1930s con-men Newman and Redford seek revenge against a big fish and run a series of increasingly bold gambling scams that could’ve come from Thursday’s indictments. Newman out-cheats the man at poker to set him up for the big con, a phony radio horse race.

    The 1980s saw a dip in screen poker, with the subject largely relegated to the TV “Gambler” movies, starring Kenny Rogers, based on his hit song.

    But the end of the decade brought a poker boomlet from the increased legalization of commercial games.

    Then, at possibly the perfect moment, came “Rounders.” The 1998 Matt Damon film did for Texas Hold ’em what “Sideways” did for pinot noir and “Pitch Perfect” did for a cappella: it took an old and popular phenomenon and made them widespread crazes.

    Soon after came explosive growth in online poker, whose players often sought out big face-to-face games. And the development of cameras that showed players’ cards — very similar to the tech allegedly used to cheat players, according to the new indictments — made poker a TV spectator sport.

    The “Ocean’s” films and the general mystique they brought piled on too.

    Clooney, talking about the broader set of busts Thursday that included alleged gambling on basketball itself, pointed out that his Cincinnati Reds were the beneficiaries of sport’s most infamous gambling scandal, the 1919 “Black Sox” and the fixing of the World Series, “so I have great guilt for that.”

    “But you know there — we’ve never had a moment in our history that we didn’t have some dumb scandal or something crazy,” he said. “I feel very bad for the gambling scandal ’cause this was on the night that, you know, we had some amazing basketball happen.”

    —-

    Associated Press writer Leslie Ambriz contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Lakers’ Luka Doncic likely out at least one week with sprained finger, bruised leg

    [ad_1]

    LOS ANGELES — Luka Doncic is expected to be sidelined for at least one week because of a sprained finger on his left hand and a bruised lower left leg, the Los Angeles Lakers announced Sunday.

    Doncic had been off to a spectacular start to the season with back-to-back 40-point games for the Lakers, who play at Sacramento on Sunday night. He will be reevaluated in approximately one week, the team said.

    Doncic scored 43 points in the Lakers’ loss to Golden State on opening night, and he racked up 49 points in a victory over Minnesota last Friday night. Doncic scorched the Timberwolves despite spraining a finger on his non-shooting hand in the opening minutes.

    The Lakers also are without LeBron James, who will be sidelined until at least mid-November because of sciatica.

    Doncic’s probable one-week absence comes at an inopportune time for Los Angeles, which has six games in the next nine days. The Lakers will have to lean heavily on Austin Reaves, who has scored 51 points in their first two games.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • NFL reminds players of league gambling policy in light of federal indictments

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — The NFL reminded its players Friday that they are prohibited from taking part in any form of illegal gambling and betting on league games.

    In a memo obtained by The Associated Press, the league asked all 32 teams Friday to reiterate key aspects of its gambling policy and make the document readily available to players.

    “We all have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the Shield by ensuring that our game is played fairly, honestly and to the best of a player’s ability,” the NFL management council wrote in the memo. “NFL players must also take appropriate steps to safeguard the game against gambling-related risks that may undermine the confidence and trust of the fans.”

    The reminder followed an FBI investigation into illicit gambling activities resulted in the arrests of NBA coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and others.

    “These developments underscore the risks that all sports are facing in the current environment and serve as a reminder of the need to adhere strictly to the NFL gambling policy,” the NFL wrote.

    According to the NFL policy, players must not:

    —place any bet on NFL Football;

    —throw or fix any NFL game or event, or otherwise manipulate or attempt to manipulate any play or other aspect of an NFL game;

    —share confidential, non-public information regarding any NFL game, player or event with any third party.

    “That topic comes up every year,” Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “There’s a certain amount of presentations. It hits heavy. … Obviously, it hits the sports world and someone that’s a close friend of many of us, myself included, and you hate it. So, obviously, none of it’s worth it. … We’ve got to be pretty diligent on that.”

    The NFL Players Association sent a similar memo to players Friday pointing out that they should not bet on the NFL, gamble at the team facility or while traveling for a road game or staying at a team hotel, have someone bet for them, share “inside information,” enter a sportsbook during the NFL playing season except to access another part of the casino, or promote any form or gambling or any gambling entity.

    NFL players are allowed to legally place bets on other sports as long as they are off club property or not traveling with the team. They also are allowed to take part in traditional fantasy football leagues (prize money cannot exceed $250) and legally gamble at casinos on personal time.

    ___

    AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Sports betting is a booming business. The FBI’s NBA probe is putting it in the spotlight

    [ad_1]

    NEW YORK — The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures, on charges of illegal sports betting has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of professional sports gambling across the U.S.

    Since widespread legalization, the multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy to place wagers on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. It’s just about impossible to go to a basketball, football, baseball or other pro game today — or watch a matchup on TV — without seeing ads for sports betting.

    Fans can place wagers from their stadium seats, while “Bet” tickers scroll on TV sports broadcasts. Star athletes are frequently at the center of ads promoting it all.

    In Thursday’s indictment, federal investigators accused Rozier and other defendants of breaking the law by exploiting private information about players to win bets on NBA games. Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said in a statement that his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.”

    A separate indictment alleges Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and others participated in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games. Billups’ attorney declined to comment Thursday.

    Regulating sports wagering has proven to be a challenge — and experts warn about the ramifications for gamblers who typically lose money. Professional leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has raised eyebrows.

    Here’s what we know.

    Sports betting is probably as old as sports itself. But in the U.S., legal gambling really took off in 2018.

    That’s when the Supreme Court struck down the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act, which barred sports betting in most states. Once allowed only in Nevada, sports betting is now permitted online or in retail locations in 38 states and Washington, D.C. Missouri will become the 39th state on Dec. 1.

    Experts say the biggest jump has been online, through smartphone apps and platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel. Through the third quarter of this year, legal sports betting generated $10 billion in revenue, up about 19% from the same period a year ago, according to the American Gaming Association.

    The industry argues that legal wagering generates money for states and can deter illegal betting. Major operators point to technology they use to monitor suspicious activity. FanDuel said Thursday’s news illustrates “the stark contrast between legal and illegal betting markets.”

    There is plenty of money on the table both for those who place winning bets and the platforms that make it possible. The NBA and other pro sports leagues have also created revenue streams by partnering with sportsbooks and reaping advertising dollars.

    Live game stats provided by leagues are key to the sports world’s relationship with the gambling industry. When you’re able to bet what the next pitch in a baseball game is going to be, that’s because Major League Baseball is selling data to platforms “for a pretty high price,” according to Isaac Rose-Berman, whose research focuses on sports betting as a fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men.

    The NBA has a partnership with Sportradar for its data rights. Sportradar, in turn, provides FanDuel Sportsbook official NBA statistics. When the deal was announced in 2022, Sportradar touted it as a way “to monetize our long-term partnership with the NBA.”

    Each state has its own regulations and tax rates for sports betting. A handful restrict where you can place bets — allowing users to use mobile apps, but only while they’re physically inside a casino or within a certain radius of a stadium, for example. Others limit which betting platforms you can use or what you can bet on.

    “States sort of opened up a can of worms, and now some of them are starting to realize just how crazy this sports betting world sort is,” said Wayne Taylor, a professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University.

    An even stickier factor is when players and other team or league personnel are involved. The NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL all prohibit employees and players from betting on their own league games, although some gambling in separate areas is allowed.

    Legalized betting has certain security advantages in that unusual betting patterns — such as large bets being placed on a random player’s performance — can be immediately flagged. In some cases, sportsbooks have taken down odds on certain events to protect against manipulation.

    Still, experts like Taylor note that companies’ own financial interests may bring some of that into question. And across the sports market, he says the large number of players and scope of micro bet possibilities makes potential manipulation “easier to hide.”

    A prop is a type of wager that allows gamblers to bet on whether a player will exceed a certain statistical number, such as whether a basketball player will finish over or under a certain total of points, rebounds, assists and more.

    This kind of bet is key to the sports betting probe announced Thursday. Investigators pointed to a March 23, 2023, game involving Rozier, then playing for the Charlotte Hornets.

    Rozier played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds of that game — and not only did he not return that night, citing a foot issue, but he did not play again that season. He finished with five points, four rebounds and two assists — a productive opening quarter, but well below his usual total output for a full game. At the time, many bettors turned to social media to say that something shady occurred regarding prop bets involving his stats for that night.

    More broadly, the NBA has expressed concern about prop bets, while other sports leagues have worried about the potential for manipulation.

    Earlier this year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine urged his state’s gambling commission to ban prop bets after Major League Baseball placed two Cleveland Guardians pitchers on leave during a sports betting investigation.

    Sports betting also faces criticism for opening the door to addictive gambling.

    “The fact that it’s normalized, the advertising is aggressive, it’s available 24/7, the micro bets — all of this is adding up to tremendous increase in usage across individuals,” said Taylor, citing algorithms and other incentives betting platforms use to increase engagement.

    Rose-Berman notes that platforms make the most off of returning “biggest losers.” Recent research suggests that young men in low-income communities are particularly affected by financial consequences tied to sports gambling.

    “Upwards of 90% of sports bettors are not really going to experience significant negative impacts — but it’s really concentrated among those big losers and it’s going to be devastating for them,” he said.

    _____

    Associated Press reporters Tim Reynolds in Miami, David Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, and Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • LeBron James, Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry enter season as the NBA’s largest 20-year club

    [ad_1]

    LeBron James’ beard has quite a bit of gray in it these days. Chris Paul has been hearing questions for years about how much longer he wants to play. Kyle Lowry already has his retirement job lined up, for whenever that day comes.

    Meet the NBA’s current 20-year club. It’s bigger than ever before.

    There are no players currently in the league — and very few in the league’s 80-season history — with more seniority than the trio of James, Paul and Lowry. For the first time, the NBA has three players simultaneously entering their 20th seasons; James, when he makes his 2025-26 debut, will be the first 23-year player in league history, while Paul is going into his 21st season and Lowry is entering his 20th.

    “The love of the game is still high. The love of the process is even higher,” James said. “So, that’s what continues to push me to play this game. I mean, it is really that simple.”

    There’s nothing simple about it. To still be contributing at this level, at this point in their careers, is practically unheard of.

    All three invest plenty of their own money (they’ve made a combined $1.2 billion in NBA salaries) in their own individualized programs that have helped them survive the rigors of NBA life for this long.

    James’ workout regimen is legendary, yet still not invincible — he’ll miss the start of this season while dealing with sciatica and there’s no firm timetable for when he’ll actually take the floor with the Los Angeles Lakers to start Year 23.

    Lowry, at least since the NBA began tracking such stats, is the NBA’s all-time leader in charges taken, which means he’s probably taken more hard falls than anybody. And last season with San Antonio, Paul became the first player in NBA history to play 82 games in a 20th year of a career — and he started all of them, too.

    “I’ve always believed in ‘keep stacking days’ and that you just have to show up every single day, every single day,” said Paul, who rejoined the Los Angeles Clippers this summer. “So, that’s what I plan on bringing to this team. … My role on this team is obviously different than it’s been the past 20 years of being in the NBA, but showing up every day, if I can show some of the guys what it looks like every day to clock in and clock out, I’m excited for it.”

    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the first player in the 20-season club, getting there in 1988-89. Robert Parish followed in 1995-96 (and played a 21st season as well). Kevin Willis played 21 seasons, his career ending in 2006-07.

    The rest of the entrants into the club have all come in the last decade: Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Vince Carter (the league’s first 22-year player before James tied that mark last year), Jamal Crawford, Udonis Haslem, James, Paul and soon, Lowry.

    What the likes of James, Paul and Lowry have done, and how they’ve done it, has been noticed by everyone — veteran and younger players alike.

    “I’m asking and taking advice from these guys and I want to take even more advice from them in the future,” said San Antonio center Victor Wembanyama, who is going into his third season. “They’re definitely examples.”

    Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is entering his 13th season, pointed out that constant innovation in medicine, recovery, technology and more has made it possible for players to extend their careers if they choose to put in the effort.

    “At this point, if you don’t follow the blueprint that guys like Vince Carter, Dirk, LeBron … if you don’t follow that blueprint, I don’t know what blueprint you should follow,” Antetokounmpo said. “Those guys have been playing at a high level for so many years, they’ve been taking such good care of their body. They have their own physio, they have their chef. You know how you sit down with your financial advisor four times a year and you go through your finances? I think you should sit down with your doctors and your physios four times a year, minimum, to talk about what you want from your body.”

    Lowry is back with the Philadelphia 76ers this season, though he has signed with another team as well — Amazon Prime, which he’s joining as an analyst this season, even while still playing. It’s a multiyear deal with one of the NBA’s new broadcast partners, with the assumption that when he stops playing he’ll simply slide into a bigger analysis role.

    He’ll debut on Amazon next week. But his mind is fully on Year 20 as a player, not Year 1 of TV.

    “I love the game of basketball and I have had the ability to play professional basketball for 20 years and basketball my whole life,” Lowry said. “When you wake up every day you should still be motivated to play basketball. … And I have some unbelievable teammates, unbelievable teammates. That’s my motivation. I just want to continue to give what I’ve learned for as long as I can.”

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • It’s called automated officiating. The NBA is utilizing it to get even more calls right

    [ad_1]

    The play, in real time to the naked eye, might have looked very close to a violation. LeBron James leaped, got his right hand on the ball with a few tenths of the game’s final second remaining and tapped it through the basket to give the Los Angeles Lakers a buzzer-beating win last season.

    Referees on the floor called it correctly. Video replay backed up their call, and the Lakers got a victory over the Indiana Pacers.

    Turns out, it wasn’t close at all.

    The NBA has a relatively new tool called “automated officiating,” and the robotic eyes that are now tracking just about everything on basketball courts showed that James was nowhere near committing offensive basket interference on that play. It wasn’t needed to decide matters in that case — again, the humans got it right — but the NBA is tapping into technology more and more to ensure that plays like those get adjudicated correctly.

    “Turns out, computers are really good at this,” said Evan Wasch, an NBA executive vice president overseeing basketball strategy and analytics. “So, if we can invest in this technology to get more calls right on the objective ones, we do two things.

    “One, the accuracy on those calls, by definition, goes up. But we also free up the human referees to not have to focus on those calls and in turn allow them to focus more closely on the really difficult judgment plays that they’re so adept at and actually increase accuracy there, too. We think there’s what we call double bottom-line benefit to doing this from an accuracy perspective.”

    Basketball, of course, is not alone in veering toward higher-tech officiating.

    Robot umpires are getting called up to Major League Baseball next season; humans will still make the calls, but teams can challenge ball or strike calls and an automated system will determine if those challenges were successful. Many major tennis tournaments, even Wimbledon, have replaced line judges with electronic line-calling. Soccer has technology to tell referees if a ball fully crossed a goal line or if someone was offsides, calls that in real time might just be guesswork.

    It’s important to note that NBA referees are not being replaced. Technology is just helping; instead of six human eyes on a court, it’s now six human eyes and a whole lot of camera lenses that are there to collect as much data as the league can think of.

    “Let’s get it right,” Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers said. “And let’s get right quicker.”

    Those are the goals, the NBA insists. Using technology helps with game flow thanks to shorter review times, helps with the accuracy and also provides transparency in the ability to show fans and players computer-generated images to explain how calls were made.

    Cameras in arenas are helping to precisely make calls such as the ones along sidelines and baselines — who was a ball off, was it out of bounds, that sort of thing — as well as determining if blocked shots were good or was goaltending committed on those plays.

    “What we’re doing is tracking a bunch of objects in space with incredible precision,” Wasch said. “We are tracking a basketball, fingers, feet, heads, hands, all the parts of the body. We’re tracking them in space with cameras and sensors. And there’s an element of machine learning and artificial intelligence to build those algorithms on top of that to then know what in fact happened from a basketball perspective based on the movement of all those things.”

    The technology isn’t limited to calls or non-calls.

    Some referees have been wearing earpieces during this preseason as the league tinkers with ways for better communication methods. There’s been talk at the league of sending alerts to smartwatches about decisions on calls. And at summer league this year, there was even a sensor placed inside the ball to help collect data. The sensor weighs about the same as a raisin does. Hundreds of players used the ball, which typically weighs somewhere around 600 grams; nobody noticed that it was about a gram heavier than usual.

    In the end, it’s all about making the product better.

    “There’s actually been a ton of openness from the referees and the referee union on implementing this technology,” Wasch said. “It lets them focus on the things that they train for this job to do.”

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • The latest idea to save the NBA All-Star Game: US vs. the World. And there’s no shortage of intrigue

    [ad_1]

    Imagine this lineup: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama, all on the floor at the same time as teammates.

    MVPs. Scoring champions. NBA champions. Triple-double machines. Defensive wizards. International players, all together in one highly decorated, incredibly accomplished, flat-out-scary lineup the likes of which probably has not been seen too many times in basketball history.

    The NBA seems on the brink of making it possible.

    Changes to the All-Star format are most certainly coming, once again, and the plan that the NBA has settled on is one that has U.S. players going up against players from the rest of the world in a tournament setting. Think Ryder Cup golf or 4 Nations Face-Off hockey, and it just so happens that this season’s All-Star weekend at Inglewood, California, is smack in the middle of another national-pride sporting event — the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.

    “I talk to a lot of fans, and All-Star Games for whatever reason take on particular interest around basketball,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “I think we should be able to create something that’s fun, exciting, engaging. Not expecting guys to play the way they would in the finals necessarily or even in a playoff game, but yet to go out, play hard, put on a good show for the fans.”

    The plan, which isn’t yet finalized, calls for a three-team tournament: two American teams and one international team, all with eight-man rosters. The reason: Roughly two-thirds of NBA players are American and one-third are not, which is why the NBA thinks it’d be fair to give Americans two-thirds of the roster spots.

    “Hopefully, it’s going to be better,” said Jokic, the Denver star.

    It has become almost an annual exercise for the NBA: fixing the All-Star Game. Silver and other league officials — and to be fair, some players as well — desperately want the product to be better and more competitive. They tried having captains like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Antetokounmpo pick the teams for a few years, and not much changed. They tried go back to the standard Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format, and it wasn’t great either. Having a final score of 211-186 in Indianapolis in 2024 was the last straw in many respects, so the NBA last year tried a mini-tournament on for size and few people cared for that.

    Golden State’s Stephen Curry was MVP of that All-Star event, a four-teams-of-eight competition that had a 41-25 final score in the title matchup and saw the final game stopped for about 20 minutes for a tribute to TNT and its run as a league broadcaster.

    “I honestly thought last year went great until it dragged on for a long time,” Curry said. “We all know that All-Star has changed over the years, but there has to be some type of solution for keeping the players fresh and loose and keeping the action going. Last year it came to a screeching halt. But whatever the format is, I know we’re going to keep taking swings at the plate to figure it out, and that’s what the league is supposed to do.”

    International players have said they love the idea of a U.S. vs. The World concept. Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee star, has talked about it previously and playfully said that the league should give him credit for the idea.

    “The NBA’s going to take all the credit. But I love it, man,” Antetokounmpo said.

    “I think it’s going to be exciting for people to watch. I’m going to play hard. I’ve always been playing hard, but I think it’s going to put a little bit more juice to the game. … All players have ego. Nobody wants to be embarrassed. Guys will play harder because they don’t want to become — I don’t know how you say this — they don’t want to become viral. I’m excited for this format.”

    The league has been working on the plan for a few months, and Silver has said he hopes that it can be formally announced by the start of the season. The season begins Oct. 21.

    “The World vs. U.S.? We’ll see how it goes. I think it’s interesting,” said Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, who was a first-time All-Star last season. “I wanted to play in the East vs. West game, me personally, but I think I will have my opportunity to do that one day. … Playing for the U.S., I know we’re going to be playing hard. I think it will be good.”

    Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP and scoring champion from the champion Oklahoma City Thunder, knows the league wants a more competitive All-Star event. He isn’t sure if the format is a reason why someone would play hard or not.

    Like everyone else, he’s interested to see how it plays out.

    “Guys that make it are grown men and they’re going to compete if they want or not compete if they don’t want to. And I think that’s what it’s going to come down to,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So, the change in the format, it’s good, it’s fun. It keeps the fans engaged. It could be interesting. It’s what the league is supposed to do. They do a great job of that. But I think it’s just going to come down to if the players want to play or not.”

    ___

    AP Sports Writers Larry Lage in Detroit, Cliff Brunt in Oklahoma City, Arnie Stapleton in Denver, Steve Megargee in Toronto and Associated Press Writers Ian Harrison in Toronto and Michael Wagaman in Sacramento, California contributed.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Former NBA player Paul Pierce found asleep in car, arrested for alleged DUI

    [ad_1]

    LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former NBA player Paul Pierce was arrested Tuesday night on suspicion of driving under the influence on a Los Angeles highway after he was found asleep behind the wheel, state police said.

    California Highway Patrol officers responded at about 10:40 p.m. to an unrelated car crash involving multiple vehicles on the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 101, closing four of the six lanes to investigate, the agency said in a press release.

    When they reopened the lanes about an hour later, they saw a Range Rover SUV stopped in the road, south of the crash. Officers saw Pierce asleep at the wheel and “noticed signs of alcohol impairment” so they conducted a DUI investigation, the press release said.

    He was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, which will be reviewed by the Los Angeles city attorney.

    Pierce did not immediately respond to a message for comment, and additional contact information for him could not be immediately found.

    Pierce played for the Boston Celtics for 15 seasons, and most recently for LA Clippers before retiring in 2017. He also played for the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards.

    The 10-time All-Star and the MVP of the 2008 NBA finals was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

    Pierce was recently a cohost of Speak, a sports talk show on Fox Sports that was canceled in July 2025.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Deep in the 2nd week of training camp, LeBron James still hasn’t practiced with the Lakers

    [ad_1]

    EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Although LeBron James still has not participated in a full practice since the Los Angeles Lakers’ training camp started more than a week ago, coach JJ Redick is being pragmatic about the effect of the 40-year-old superstar’s absence on the team.

    “He’s on his own timeline,” Redick said.

    James began camp for his unprecedented 23rd NBA season last week with a lower-body nerve injury that kept him off the court. The Lakers held their sixth full practice of camp Thursday without the top scorer in NBA history, who also missed both of their first two preseason games while he works to get back into competitive condition.

    “You’ve got to play the cards you’re dealt,” Redick said. “That’s a shame, but that’s just the reality. … No one has got any time with LeBron. That’s not just (new center Deandre Ayton), but everybody. (James) hasn’t been on the court with the team, but that’s just the reality.”

    Redick and the rest of the Lakers expressed excitement last week about the chance to have their first full training camp together with James and Luka Doncic, who scarcely ever got to practice with his new team after joining Los Angeles in the middle of last season.

    Instead, the Lakers are installing their offense and building court chemistry during this camp largely without James on the court. They’re also getting limited time so far with Doncic, who is making a deliberate return to full speed after his participation in EuroBasket during a busy summer.

    Neither superstar played in the Lakers’ first two preseason games. They return to the court Sunday at home against Golden State.

    Doncic participated in some full practices last week, including scrimmages, but Ayton said Wednesday that he would love to get more practice time with the Lakers’ two biggest stars.

    “It’s something I’ve just been waiting on,” Ayton said. “Just got to prepare. JJ and the coaching staff probably have something where they can put stuff together for all of us to really grow chemistry.”

    James traveled with the Lakers on their preseason trips to Palm Desert, California, and San Francisco, but he has been performing individual drills and doing his own workouts.

    James made news and scared his fans earlier this week when he teased “The Second Decision” on social media — for what turned out to be an advertisement for a cognac brand. James has repeatedly said he doesn’t know whether he will retire after this season, only saying that the end to the longest career in NBA history will be “sooner than later.”

    Redick had said he was hopeful that James and Doncic would participate in at least one preseason game that could be used as a “dress rehearsal” for the regular season, but it’s no longer clear whether James will be able to suit up.

    Redick still expects Doncic to play in the preseason at least once. The Lakers have four preseason games remaining, including two in Los Angeles.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Common’s journey from Bulls ball boy to NBA theme song composer

    [ad_1]

    LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — When rapper-actor Common was a kid, he carried towels and sneakers as a Chicago Bulls ball boy who was close enough to hear the squeak of shoes and the roar inside the arena.

    Decades later, Common is helping set a different kind of tone for basketball: He has teamed up with his longtime collaborators to compose “Victory” as the official theme for NBA on Prime, the streaming platform announced Thursday. He worked with Karriem Riggins and James Poyser on the song, which will be a part of Amazon’s first exclusive season of NBA coverage.

    Common said he drew some inspiration for the song by watching basketball.

    “Basketball has a soul to it,” said Common, a three-time Grammy winner, who has also won an Emmy and Oscar. “It’s nostalgic but forward. The rhythm, the harmony, the movement, the teamwork, the star player. We wanted to capture all that in sound.”

    After learning Amazon wanted him as a composer, Common said one of his first calls was to his mother to share the news. It was a moment he described as a perfect partnership from the start.

    “You never know where God is going to lead you,” Common said. “You just got to stay open and be true to your craft, because now I feel like I’m part of the NBA in the way I’m supposed to be.”

    The song will serve as the signature sound of NBA on Prime each week starting with the upcoming season. It was recorded with a 70-piece orchestra at a studio in Nashville.

    The trio — whose credits span hip-hop, jazz and soul — produced three versions of the score including orchestral, hip-hop and rock.

    Manny Marroquin, a Grammy-winning engineer, will mix the final recordings before the theme’s Oct. 24 debut during Prime Video’s opening-night doubleheader featuring the Boston Celtics at the New York Knicks and the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Los Angeles Lakers.

    Poyser said it was important for the team to create a melody that could live in fans’ heads long after the broadcast.

    “We knew it had to be something that you could just hum,” said the three-time Grammy winner. “Like when you hear it, you got to be able to remember the melody.”

    “When you hear the orchestra hit and those drums drop, it just feels like the game,” added Riggins. “It’s got soul, energy and motion. Just like basketball.”

    Prime Video executive Amina Hussein said the streaming platform wanted a “sonic identity” that felt true to the culture of the game.

    “One thing that’s a baseline for everything we do is authenticity,” said Hussein, executive producer of NBA on Prime. She’s also head of U.S. sports on-air talent for Prime Video “We really want people to feel like they’re part of the broadcast. You want viewers at home to believe in you, to sit down, bob their heads with you, and feel like they’re watching the game with friends.”

    For Common, the project felt like destiny fulfilled.

    “I grew up wanting to play basketball, became a ball boy for the Bulls and was there for Michael Jordan’s first exhibition game,” said Common, whose late father, Lonnie Lynn, played in the American Basketball Association. “But as a musician now, I feel like I’m part of NBA history in the way I was meant to be.”

    The collaborators hope “Victory” resonates for many generations — much like NBC’s “Roundball Rock” — and opens doors for more artists of color in sports scoring.

    “Three Black men creating a theme song for the NBA on Amazon. That’s unprecedented,” Common said. “We hope some kid grows up hearing this and thinks, ‘We can compose too.’”

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • New Yorkers relish their sports and are ready to be loud and liquored up at their beloved Bethpage

    [ad_1]

    FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — New York sports fans have been so starved for something to celebrate that they poured out of Madison Square Garden onto the streets and snarled city traffic in May, all because the Knicks simply got out of the second round of the NBA playoffs.

    They’re already resigned to the Giants and Jets being bad, aware the Yankees and Mets might not be good enough. They need a team to pin their hopes on.

    The U.S. squad playing in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, a place revered by locals in ways no arena ever could, could be it. The Americans might as well trade their red, white and blue for Yankee pinstripes, because their support comes New York style: loud, loyal and liquored up.

    “There’s not going to be a lack of alcohol consumption,” U.S. player Ben Griffin said. “Fans are going to be loud. New York people love their sports.”

    New York teams have iconic championship moments like Joe Namath guaranteeing victory in the Super Bowl in 1969 and Willis Reed limping to the court to play Game 7 of the NBA Finals a year later, but the Jets and Knicks haven’t won since those guys were on the team.

    Fans wept in the stands at MSG when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, ending a 54-year drought. Now they’re working on another one of 31 years and counting.

    Even the Yankees don’t win like they used to, with only two World Series titles in the 2000s — and one came against the Mets, so a portion of New Yorkers hated the whole thing.

    It can make even longtime New York fans wonder if they can keep hanging in there. John McEnroe questioned why he didn’t switch allegiances after watching the Showtime Lakers when he was living in California and befriended team executive Jeanie Buss, but the Hall of Fame tennis player could never quit the Knicks.

    So he remains a regular at Madison Square Garden with Spike Lee, Ben Stiller and all the other fans who come to cheer on their Knicks. (Well, usually cheer.)

    “Listen, I’ve been in all of these arenas. If things are going bad in Indiana, the Indiana fans are going to try to rally their team back. The Knicks fans are going to boo their team,” said Stan Van Gundy, an NBA coach and broadcaster whose brother, Jeff, coached the Knicks to their most recent NBA Finals appearance in 1999.

    True, New Yorkers sometimes struggle to hide their disappointment. Giants fans couldn’t, booing throughout their home opener Sunday, and some Jets fans wore paper bags over their heads at MetLife Stadium last year.

    But when things are good, players say no place compares.

    “Everything is heightened, everything is better here,” the Knicks’ Josh Hart said. “With all due respect to other places I’ve played, New York, it’s the mecca, and when you have people that really wear their heart on their sleeves and they go out there and they’re really passionate about sporting events of their teams, they come to show love and that energy is what makes you feel that difference.”

    Some fans already started, booing loudly Tuesday morning as their shuttle bus passed Team Europe’s blue and yellow coach.

    Bethpage Black is the public course that New Yorkers arrive a day early to and sleep in their cars overnight for a chance to play. It’s not one of those hotel resort courses people play on vacation where there’s no trouble unless they drive it behind a palm tree. The Black is long and it’s hard. Arms get sore and legs feel weary. It hurts like playing against Lawrence Taylor’s Giants.

    But hard is how New Yorkers want things.

    “Everything we do, we grind. We grind every day. It’s so New York,” said David Caleca, the president of Bonnie Briar Country Club in nearby Westchester County.

    Besides playing Bethpage, Caleca was there when New York fans heckled Sergio Garcia during the 2002 U.S. Open. He’s also been in Shea Stadium when fans would boo their own Mets players, so knows emotions can swing in a New York minute.

    He thinks the U.S. team will receive a huge backing not only because it’s Bethpage but because of captain Keegan Bradley, who is a New Englander but played collegiately at St. John’s and displays the passion of someone who must be from Brooklyn or the Bronx.

    “He’s the kind of guy that New Yorkers love because he wears his emotions for everyone to see,” Caleca said.

    Some fans may be cheering as much for the course as Bradley’s team. He knows how New Yorkers feel about Bethpage, a place they learned the game from their fathers or spent summers caddying.

    “It’s much more than a golf course to a lot of these people,” Bradley said. “When you add all these things up, you’re going to get fiery fans.”

    ___

    AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson and Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.

    ___

    AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Germany rallies to beat Doncic’s Slovenia 99-91 and set up EuroBasket semifinal with Finland

    [ad_1]

    RIGA, Latvia — Luka Dončić’s 39 points were not enough for Slovenia as it lost 99-91 to Germany in a thrilling EuroBasket quarterfinal on Wednesday.

    Orlando Magic guard Franz Wagner scored 23 points and captain Dennis Schröder added 20 points and 7 assists for Germany, which will face Finland in the semifinals on Friday.

    Germany guard Andreas Obst’s 3-pointer capped a 12-0 run to put the World Cup champions ahead 77-74 early in the fourth quarter.

    Slovenia took the lead 86-85 on a Dončić 3-pointer with 4:12 to go before Schröder sank his only 3-pointer — he missed eight other attempts — to make it 88-86, and Germany closed it out from there.

    Dončić was assessed a technical foul early on and had 22 points as Slovenia led 51-45 at halftime. He picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter yet kept on scoring, although he appeared inhibited at times by the prospect of fouling out with a fifth foul.

    The Los Angeles Lakers star — five of 16 from 3-point range — had his fifth game of the tournament with at least 30 points scored. Dončić also had 10 rebounds and seven assists.

    Wagner was 13 of 14 from the free-throw line for Germany, seeking its second European Championship title after winning as host in 1993.

    Slovenia looked in control until Tristan Da Silva sank a 3-pointer with a halfcourt shot at the third-quarter buzzer, slashing Slovenia’s lead to four points.

    The final is on Sunday in Riga, Latvia, which has hosted all the knockout matches.

    Earlier, the Finns held off a Georgia fightback to win 93-79 and reach the semifinals for the first time.

    Mikael Jantunen led Finland with 19 points and Utah Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen contributed 17 points and six rebounds.

    “It’s been the same group for a long time. It’s a very tight group, like coming back and playing with your friends,” Jantunen said. “That’s the kind of basketball culture in Finland.”

    The Finns also showcased their depth by scoring 44 points from the bench to Georgia’s four.

    Finland led by 20 points in the third quarter before Georgia cut the deficit to six with just under eight minutes left in the fourth.

    Toronto Raptors forward Sandro Mamukelashvili led Georgia with 22 points.

    Coming off an upset of Nikola Jokic and Serbia, Finland surged into an early lead on strong three-point shooting and doubled up Georgia 30-15 early in the second quarter.

    Highly-rated 18-year-old forward Miikka Muurinen, who is projected to be a potential NBA first-round pick in 2027, scored 7 points off the bench.

    It was the first time in the quarterfinals as an independent nation for Georgia, which knocked out Olympic silver medalist France in the round of 16 and beat defending EuroBasket champion Spain in the group stage.

    In Friday’s other semifinal, it’s Greece against Turkey. Both teams had advanced on Tuesday.

    Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 29 points in Greece’s 87-76 win over Lithuania. Alperen Sengun’s triple-double helped unbeaten Turkey to a 91-77 win over Poland. ___

    AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • LeBron James writes op-ed for Chinese state media as NBA aims to rebuild in China

    [ad_1]

    HONG KONG — NBA great LeBron James wrote a rare op-ed in Chinese state media this week, pointing to basketball as an avenue for diplomacy amid tensions with the U.S.

    Writing in Monday’s edition of the People’s Daily newspaper, the 40-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star said “basketball is not only a sport, but also a bridge that connects us.”

    The piece was published as James was in China ahead of two NBA pre-season games next month in Macao between the Phoenix Suns and the Brooklyn Nets. And it comes as leaders in China and the U.S. seek options to avert a potential trade showdown between the world’s two biggest economies.

    U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose steep tariffs on China, which has said it would respond with retaliatory levies of its own. Trump said last month that he would delay the tariffs for 90 days as negotiators from both countries work on a potential deal, which could ultimately lead to a summit later this year or early next year between the U.S. leader and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

    As the standoff unfolds, James’ comments caught the attention of the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, which reported: “It is rare for the mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party to run articles carrying the byline of foreign sports stars. It is more common for international sporting heroes to connect with fans in China via Chinese social media.”

    The NBA is working to rebuild its brand in greater China, where basketball has long been popular. The games on Oct. 10 and 12 will take place more than five years after the league was effectively banned for a while in China over NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s decision not to punish Daryl Morey in 2019 for tweeting support of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.

    The geopolitical rift started when Morey, then the general manager of the Houston Rockets and now GM of the Philadelphia 76ers, tweeted support for protesters while the Nets and Los Angeles Lakers were in China.

    The tweet was deleted, but the fallout lasted years. No NBA games were shown in China for a year, and broadcasts of games only started returning regularly in 2022.

    There’s been a series of moves toward a return to normalcy between China and the league, including a visit by Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox last year that drew enormous crowds. Curry returned for a visit last month.

    Ahead of his 23rd season in the NBA, James said he was amazed by the reception he has received in China.

    “It’s super humbling for me to be able to come here, so far away from home, and get the reception and the love, I just wanted to pour it back to the community and to this country,” Xinhua, the official news agency, quoted him as saying as he wrapped up his visit in Chengdu.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • NBA player’s sister fatally shot at New Jersey apartment complex, her boyfriend charged with murder

    [ad_1]

    JACKSON, N.J. — The sister of Minnesota Timberwolves player Naz Reid was fatally shot at a New Jersey apartment complex by her boyfriend, who was charged with murder, authorities said Monday.

    Police went to the Paragon apartment complex in Jackson around 11 a.m. Saturday, after receiving reports of shots fired. They soon found Toraya Reid, 28, unresponsive near the complex’s exit, and she apparently had been shot multiple times, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said. Officers also saw Shaquille Green, 29, of Jackson running down a nearby road, and he was soon taken into custody without incident.

    Besides the murder count, Green also faces two weapons charges. Billhimer said Reid and Green had been in “a dating relationship” but did not provide further details.

    Green remained jailed on Monday, and prosecutors did not know if he had retained an attorney.

    Reid, 25, a New Jersey native and a star scholastic player in his home state, is about to enter his seventh season with Minnesota and recently signed a five-year contract with the team. He was named the NBA’s “Sixth Man of the Year” for the 2023-2024 season.

    Reid’s agents did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Monday.

    Jackson is a community in southern New Jersey, about 31 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Philadelphia.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Unrivaled women’s basketball league now valued at $340M after landing more funding

    [ad_1]

    Another group of big-name sports figures have invested in Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart’s 3-on-3 women’s basketball league Unrivaled as it aims to build on its promising inaugural season.

    The league announced Monday that it is now valued at $340 million after closing its oversubscribed Series B investment round led by Bessemer Venture Partners — a massive figure for the young league that just wrapped up its first season in March, and a reflection of the increasing momentum and interest in women’s sports.

    Serena Williams’ venture capital firm Serena Ventures came on as an investor, along with Atlanta Hawks star guard Trae Young, Franz and Moritz Wagner of the Orlando Magic, University of Maryland president Darryll J. Pines and his wife Sylvia, and prominent sports executive Sam Rapoport.

    Alex Morgan’s Trybe Ventures and Warner Bros. Discovery also built on their previous investments in the league.

    This round of investments comes after the league said it secured more than $28 million in Series A funding last December to go along with the $7 million raised during its seed round, which was announced in May 2024.

    Plenty of other stars invested in Unrivaled ahead of its first season, including NBA stars Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Carmelo Anthony, decorated coaches Geno Auriemma and Dawn Staley, Coco Gauff, Michael Phelps, Billie Jean King and Wanda Sykes.

    “We’re continuing to align with partners who elevate our league and accelerate our strategic growth. With Bessemer Venture Partners leading this round, Unrivaled is in an unprecedented position for a new sports league,” Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell said in a statement, adding that this round of investment proves “athlete-driven models can thrive at the highest levels of business.”

    Collier and Stewart, both stars in the WNBA, founded Unrivaled in 2023 to give top players another option to play in the U.S. in the offseason while supplementing their WNBA incomes. Unrivaled debuted in January with players earning the highest average salary in women’s professional sports league history, and players had equity stakes in the league.

    The league wrapped up its eight-week season with Rose winning the first championship.

    While platforming some of the game’s biggest stars like the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese, Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner and others, Unrivaled averaged 221,000 viewers on TNT and truTV during its regular season and two-day postseason sold out every game held at its arena in Miami.

    Unrivaled’s second season will tip off in January 2026.

    ___

    AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • NBA says it will open investigation into report that Clippers broke cap rules with Leonard deal

    [ad_1]

    LOS ANGELES — The NBA said Wednesday that it will investigate if a $28 million endorsement contract between Kawhi Leonard and a California-based sustainability services company allowed the Los Angeles Clippers to circumvent league salary cap rules, following a report by journalist Pablo Torre.

    The probe will focus on ties between Leonard, the Clippers and a company called Aspiration Fund Adviser, LLC, which filed for bankruptcy this year. It listed several creditors at that time, among them the Clippers (who were owed about $30 million) and a company called KL2 Aspire LLC that was owed $7 million.

    Leonard is listed as the manager of that company in California filings. KL is his initials, and 2 is his jersey number. Emails sent to his listed representatives seeking comment Wednesday were not immediately returned.

    “We are aware of this morning’s media report regarding the LA Clippers and are commencing an investigation,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said Wednesday.

    The Clippers denied that any league rules were broken. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer made a $50 million investment in Aspiration, and the company and the team announced a $300 million partnership in September 2021. That was about a month after Leonard signed a four-year, $176 million extension with the Clippers.

    “Neither Mr. Ballmer nor the Clippers circumvented the salary cap or engaged in any misconduct related to Aspiration,” the Clippers said in a statement released to several media outlets, including The Associated Press. “Any contrary assertion is provably false: The team ended its relationship with Aspiration years ago, during the 2022-23 season, when Aspiration defaulted on its obligations.”

    Aspiration’s co-founder, Joseph Sanberg, agreed to plead guilty last month after facing federal charges of wire fraud. Prosecutors said he defrauded investors and lenders out of $248 million, adding that “Aspiration’s financial statements were inaccurate and reflected much higher revenue than the company in fact received.”

    Torre, in his reporting, obtained a copy of the endorsement agreement between Aspiration and KL2 Aspire, one that called for Leonard to be paid $7 million annually for four years. Given that timetable, Leonard still would have been owed the final $7 million at the time of Aspiration’s bankruptcy filing.

    There is no evidence that Leonard did anything to publicly endorse Aspiration.

    “Neither the Clippers nor Mr. Ballmer was aware of any improper activity by Aspiration or its co-founder until after the government instituted its investigation,” the Clippers said. “The team and Mr. Ballmer stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way they can.”

    The league — which previously looked into claims that Leonard’s representatives asked for certain things that would be considered cap circumventions when he was a free agent several years ago — can issue stiff penalties if cap rules are found to have been broken by a team, including a fine of up to $7.5 million, the voiding of contracts and the forfeiture of future draft picks.

    ___

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Dwight Howard had a career like few others. The Basketball Hall of Fame took notice

    [ad_1]

    All Dwight Howard urges his doubters to do is this: look at the numbers. They tell the story, he insists. He averaged 15.7 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. Only 13 other players in the history of the NBA have posted those for a career.

    They all made the Hall of Fame.

    “So, why not me?” Howard asked.

    He doesn’t have to ask that question anymore.

    Howard — who is still upset, and some would say rightly so, for being left off the NBA’s 75th anniversary team that was unveiled nearly four years ago — wasn’t snubbed for the top individual honor that can be bestowed upon a player. He goes into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this weekend, the capper to a career where he was an eight-time All-Star, a five-time rebounding champion, a two-time blocked shots champion and the only player to win defensive player of the year in three consecutive seasons.

    “I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve had longevity, and I’ve been able to play as long as I’ve been able play and stay as healthy as I have,” Howard said. “And I want people to say that one thing about me is that I was always going to put my best foot forward, 100% effort. They can say, ‘No matter what it is, he’s going to put in everything he has.’”

    Howard is one of two dual-enshrinees this weekend; he and Carmelo Anthony are both going into the Hall of Fame for their individual achievements and again as part of the 2008 U.S. Olympic basketball team dubbed the “Redeem Team” after winning gold at the Beijing Games that summer.

    Also entering the Hall this weekend: women’s basketball greats Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, longtime NBA referee Dan Crawford and Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan – a winner of two NCAA titles when he coached at Florida.

    “It’s a great class,” USA Basketball men’s national team director Sean Ford said.

    Howard is 10th on the NBA’s all-time rebounding list, 13th on the list of blocked shots. He’s one of four players with three DPOY awards, behind only four-time winners Dikembe Mutombo, Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert. And he got his lone NBA ring in 2020, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat in the bubble finals.

    Only one other player — Elvin Hayes — finished his NBA career averaging as many points, rebounds and blocked shots as Howard did. Blocks didn’t become an official stat until 1973, but regardless, the numbers showed Howard was a lock for the hall in Springfield, Massachusetts, to call.

    “It was absolutely ridiculous that he didn’t make Top 75,” Stan Van Gundy, Howard’s longtime coach in Orlando, said when that 75th anniversary team was released.

    Howard and Van Gundy didn’t always agree. On this point, they’re in lockstep.

    “I was wondering if I was ever going to get into the Hall of Fame after the Top 75 thing, because it just seemed like, as far as my basketball play, I haven’t really received that much respect from my years in the league,” Howard said. “It was a little difficult. But then once I got the call, I was like, ‘Wow, this is here.’”

    The 75th anniversary team snub might come up in the speech that Howard is planning to deliver this weekend. If this speech goes like the one he gave earlier this year when he was inducted into the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame — he spent his first eight NBA seasons with the Magic, hardly missing a game after they took him No. 1 overall in the 2004 draft — expect some laughs and some tears. Howard doesn’t mind showing his emotions.

    The Hall didn’t make him wait, either. Howard was voted in during his first year of eligibility.

    “It’s happening. It’s me being in the Hall of Fame, being inducted in the Hall of Fame as player and then being inducted into the Hall of Fame as an Olympian,” Howard said. “It’s just like a double whammy, but in a good way.”

    ___

    AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

    [ad_2]

    Source link