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☆ Deal close for Washington Commanders football team
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

If finalized, the sale would mark the end of the controversial ownership of the Washington franchise by embattled billionaire Daniel Snyder. News of the near deal was first reported by Sportico, which reported the team sold for $6 billion, a record for a North American sports franchise. Snyder purchased the team, then named the Washington Redskins for a reported $750 million in 1999. It adopted the Commanders name last year, after playing two seasons with the name Washington Football Team. “Today marks the end of a long, difficult chapter for all employees and fans of the Washington football organization,” read a statement from Lisa Banks and Debra Katz, two attorneys representing more than 40 former Washington Commanders employees.

☆ The Play-In Team That’s a Preview of the NBA’s Future
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Robert O Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Most of the teams in the NBA’s play-in tournament don’t want to be there. Before the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves shelled out five players and four first-round draft picks for shot-blocking center Rudy Gobert in hopes of becoming a Western Conference elite. Now they’ll have to survive a bonus stage just to punch a ticket to the first round of the playoffs.

☆ NBA’s Miami Heat sheds FTX from its arena’s name
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

New York CNN —The home arena for NBA’s Miami Heat is getting rid of FTX in its name, months after the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange’s fall from grace. Security software company Kaseya acquired naming rights for the formerly named FTX Arena in a $117 million deal. The Miami Heat and Miami-Dade County ended their relationship with FTX and began to search for a new naming rights partner the day the cryptocurrency exchange filed for bankruptcy. The arena was renamed FTX Arena in 2021 after the company reportedly entered a $135 million, 19-year deal. Kaseya is headquartered in Miami and is the first local company to receive naming rights to the arena, according to the statement.

☆ NBA and Players’ Union Agree To New 7-Year Contract As Focus Turns to TV Deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Robert O Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

NBA commissioner Adam Silver can turn to an upcoming round of media-rights negotiations now that a new collective bargaining agreewment with players is in place. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association agreed in principle early Saturday to a new collective bargaining agreement, the parties said, giving the league a long period of assured labor stability as it heads into a new round of media rights deals on the horizon. The seven-year agreement—which still needs to be ratified by players and team governors—will go into effect at the start of the 2023-24 season, according to people familiar with the negotiations. It includes a mutual opt-out after its sixth year and includes language to try to both curb the trend of top players missing games and limit the spending of the NBA’s richest teams.

☆ YES Launches Streaming Platform Offering Access to Yankees, Nets Games Without Pay-TV Subscription
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Joe Flint | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A New York Yankees spring-training game in Tampa, Fla., this month. The television home of the New York Yankees is launching a streaming service that will allow fans in the region to watch games without needing a cable or satellite subscription, the latest sign of the continued erosion of the traditional pay-TV bundle. The YES Network, which also airs games of the National Basketball Association’s Brooklyn Nets and the WNBA’s New York Liberty, on Wednesday said its new streaming option would cost $24.99 a month or $239.99 annually.

☆ Magic Johnson and Josh Harris group officially place bid on Washington Commanders
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —A group led by billionaire Josh Harris and NBA legend Magic Johnson has officially placed a bid to buy the NFL’s Washington Commanders from embattled owner Daniel Snyder, a source told CNN on Tuesday. CNN confirmed last week that Johnson joined the Harris group. ESPN, which first reported news of the bid, reports that the Harris and Johnson-led group is offering to pay Snyder’s $6 billion asking price. A representative for Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers hall of famer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Magic Johnson and Josh Harris have bid on the Washington Commanders.

☆ Why the NBA’s Best Players Keep Sitting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Robert O Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A generation ago, the NBA’s detractors complained that players “don’t play defense.” Today, as top stars routinely miss games to manage or prevent injuries, critics leave off the last word. With the 2022-23 regular season nearing its conclusion, the league finds itself performing a bothersome annual ritual: fighting off criticism from disappointed ticket buyers at arenas, bored at-home viewers and its own alumni. “We survived playing in Chuck Taylors and flying commercial, for a lot less money,” said Hall of Fame forward and TNT rabble rouser Charles Barkley, at the league’s All-Star showcase in Salt Lake City last month. “To ask guys to play games…Come on, man. You make all that money, you have an obligation to the fans.”

☆ Ja Morant Will Remain Away From Memphis Grizzlies for Four More Games as NBA Gun Investigation Continues
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Robert O Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant will miss four more games as the NBA’s gun investigation continues. All-Star point guard Ja Morant will miss at least the next four games, the Memphis Grizzlies announced Wednesday evening, intensifying a drama that began last weekend after he was seen with what appeared to be a handgun in an Instagram Live video. Morant has already been away from the team for the past two games, after the video recorded early Saturday morning at Colorado nightclub Shotgun Willie’s surfaced. Earlier Wednesday, the Glendale Police Department announced that there was not enough evidence to charge Morant with a crime.

☆ Jayson Tatum Still Plays Like Kobe. He Got Better By Playing Beyond Kobe.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The NBA’s All-Star Game MVP award, named after Kobe Bryant, may be the only honor in the league that a player can win simply by wanting it more than anyone else. In Sunday night’s installment of the game, a defense-free affair in which players took turns bouncing passes to themselves off the backboards and launching increasingly long-range and low-percentage 3-pointers, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics earned the trophy. His methods were straightforward: he shot his triples mostly from the arc, not the half-court stripe. His motivation was obvious, too.

☆ The Viral Sensation Who Shaq Says ‘Saved’ the Slam-Dunk Contest
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Jason Gay | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

For the record, I don’t consider the declining state of All-Star Games to be the greatest dilemma facing planet earth. As a societal priority, I would put fixing All-Star Games somewhere between edible pickleball rackets and tuxedos for chickens. That said, we can probably agree that the NBA All-Star Game’s Slam Dunk Contest had reached a dilapidated state. This competition was once a showcase of the NBA’s signature virtuosity—the ability of its players to defy gravity, be creative and introduce new athletic shoes. It featured towering legends of the game like Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, and of course, the beloved 5-foot-6 astronaut from Atlanta, Spud Webb.

☆ Why Is Every Player in College Basketball Suddenly So Old?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Laine Higgins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

There once was a time in college basketball when the best teams had locker rooms full of veterans, while the best high school prospects would skip right over college for the professional ranks. It was true in the late 1990s and, unexpectedly, it’s true again in 2023. This season there is a glut of upperclassmen, like Gonzaga senior Drew Timme and Houston senior Marcus Sasser, sticking around campus for extra years. At the same time, the top young talent, like identical twins Amen and Ausar Thompson, has been siphoned off by alternative leagues, like the NBA’s developmental G-League Ignite and Overtime Elite.

☆ Richard Parsons Is Investing in People Who Are Overlooked
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Emily Bobrow | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When Richard Parsons became chief executive of Time Warner Inc. in 2002, he assumed he was pioneering a new era of Black CEOs in American corporations. “I had envisioned that on the heels of the Great Society initiatives of the 1970s, there would be a wave of people who were ready,” he says. “But for a number of reasons, this didn’t happen.” Today, only six Fortune 500 companies are run by Black CEOs—a record high. After decades of leading companies as varied as Citigroup Inc. and the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, Mr. Parsons, 74, felt moved to tackle this pipeline problem himself. Together with a team of venture investors, including Ronald Lauder and Kenneth Lerer , he launched the New York-based Equity Alliance fund in 2021 to “democratize capital” by backing venture funds and early-stage ventures led by women and people of color.

☆ Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving Are Gone. The Brooklyn Nets Start Over Again.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Jason Gay | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kevin Durant is on his way to the Phoenix Suns, and there’s excitement within the basketball dorkosphere about how his arrival changes the balance of power within the NBA’s Western Conference, and what it will be like to see Durant in grape and orange versus former frenemies in Golden State—not to mention his departed-to-Dallas buddy, the point guard provocateur, Kyrie Irving. But I don’t want to talk about that stuff.

☆ LeBron James Breaks the NBA’s All-Time Scoring Record
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The last time the NBA’s all-time scoring record changed hands was a little less than four decades ago, when Los Angeles Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar slung a skyhook over the Utah Jazz. Abdul-Jabbar’s 17th point of the night gave him the 31,421st of his career, moving him two past Wilt Chamberlain. On Tuesday night in Los Angeles, with his 36th point against the Oklahoma City Thunder, LeBron James tallied the 38,388th of his own career and edged past Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s new scoring king. The historic bucket came on a step-back jump shot near the end of the third quarter as Abdul-Jabbar looked on. James raised his arms in celebration, and his family joined him on the floor for a mid-game ceremony alongside Abdul-Jabbar and NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

[1/7] Feb 7, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Former Los Angeles Lakers player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hands the game ball to forward LeBron James (6) after James becomes the NBA all time scoring leader against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second half at Crypto.com Arena. /Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY SportsFeb 7 (Reuters) - Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer on Tuesday, setting the new mark with a fadeaway jumpshot late in the third quarter of a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Lakers great Abdul-Jabbar, who took the title from Wilt Chamberlain with his signature skyhook on April 5, 1984, sat courtside at Tuesday's game. "I just want to say thank you to the Laker faithful, you guys are one of a kind," James said. Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter RutherfordOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Towns said the lawmakers could have until early spring, otherwise, to develop and fine tune any proposals that emerge from Nichols' death. Share this -Link copiedMemphis police’s vaunted Scorpion unit is deactivated after Tyre Nichols' death Memphis police’s vaunted Scorpion unit has been permanently deactivated. Share this -Link copiedNFL calls for change after 'senseless death' of Tyre Nichols A day after the release of video showing the police beating of Tyre Nichols, the NFL on Saturday condemned the violence. Demonstrations continued Saturday in Atlanta, Boston and Charlotte following the release of video footage showing five former Memphis police officers beating Tyre Nichols, who died on Jan. 10. Attorney Blake Ballin’s comments follow the release of video footage showing the officers punching and kicking Tyre Nichols during a Jan. 7 traffic stop.

☆ The Lacrosse Superstar Who Wants to Feed Steph Curry
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Jason Gay | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pro basketball talent arrives from everywhere now. International players—Giannis! Nikola!—are some of the biggest names in the NBA. You have late bloomers who play four seasons of college, can’t miss sensations who leave for the draft lottery after one year, and some who skip it altogether, heading to overseas clubs or into a developmental program like the NBA’s G League. Pat Spencer is trying to make the NBA from a more unusual place:Lacrosse.

☆ Basketball’s Best Passer Understands the Art of Letting Go
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Early in Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nikola Jokic caught a pass from his teammate, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Or, rather, Jokic touched the ball for a moment, hardly letting it come to rest before flipping it back again. A Minnesota defender had turned his head as Caldwell-Pope snuck to the rim; Jokic’s return-to-sender package met him there, and Caldwell-Pope laid it in. Alongside a retooled supporting cast, Jokic has averaged a career-high 9.9 assists per game. His distribution animates basketball’s second-best offense, an attack that has the Nuggets at the top of the Western Conference.

☆ The NBA’s Smartest Teams Are Letting Games Roll to a Halt
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

One of the most athletic and dynamic players in the NBA was, for the moment, doing nothing. Ja Morant leaned over and grabbed his shorts, his sneakers a few inches away from the basketball that his teammate John Konchar had just inbounded—which is to say, had just dropped to the floor like keys on a countertop. Morant’s Memphis Grizzlies led the Charlotte Hornets by 29 points, late in the third quarter of an early-January game, and he was content to let the ball sit there as long as he could. Twenty-six seconds of game clock ticked by before a Hornets defender jogged into the backcourt, forcing Morant to pick the ball up. Only then did the Grizzlies’ 24 seconds on the shot clock begin.

☆ Final farewell: From Sidney Poitier to Pope Emeritus Benedict a look back at the influential figures who died in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +55 min

Other world leaders who died in 2022 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who died in August. The final days of 2022 saw the loss of some exceptionally notable figures, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2022 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Dan Reeves, 77. A Cuban-born artist whose radiant color palette and geometric paintings were overlooked for decades before the art world took notice. A prolific character actor best known for playing villains and tough guys in “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Ocean’s Eleven” and other films.

☆ The Brooklyn Nets Have Gotten Boring—and Brilliant
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Just before Christmas, the Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant was asked about his team’s absence from the NBA’s holiday slate of games. Under normal circumstances, a club with two A-list stars and title aspirations would be a no-brainer inclusion. Durant acknowledged that the abnormality of the Nets’ last few months, and specifically his offseason trade request, likely had something to do with it. “I probably [am] responsible for us not playing on Christmas, with what went on this summer,” Durant said with a grin. We play on the 26th, that’s close enough.”

☆ The Brooklyn Nets Have Gotten Boring—And Brilliant
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Luka Doncic Authors the NBA’s Gaudiest Triple-Double: 60-21-10
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The big question, for the Dallas Mavericks, is a rhetorical one: What more can Luka Doncic do? The implied answer is “nothing.” The puzzle of the Mavericks’ season is that they tread water even while their 23-year-old point-forward and MVP candidate ascends. Tuesday night, though, Doncic seemed to take the question seriously, and in doing so authored a basketball masterpiece. In a 126-121 overtime win over the New York Knicks, Doncic scored 60 points, grabbed 21 rebounds and passed out 10 assists. The performance marked the first 60-20-10 game in NBA history, and just the second 60-point triple-double.

☆ The NBA’s Plan to Stop Runaway Offenses Is a Crackdown on Walking
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

With 10 seconds left in a late-November game against the Dallas Mavericks and his Golden State Warriors trailing by two, Stephen Curry faked a 3-pointer. Curry was called for traveling—and the Warriors lost. “I didn’t think it was a travel,” Curry said after the game. But so far this season, the protests of even the NBA’s superstars are going unheeded. After years in which it seemed that players could walk around the court unencumbered by dribbling, NBA referees are blowing the whistle much more often on traveling violations.

Recently released basketball star Brittney Griner on Friday thanked President Joe Biden for securing her freedom from Russian captors and vowed to play in the upcoming WNBA season. "I dug deep to keep my faith and it was the love from so many of you that helped keep me going," Griner wrote. "President Biden, you brought me home and I know you are committed to bringing Paul Whelan and all Americans home too. Phoenix tips off its 2023 season on May 19 and Griner left no doubt she'd be in uniform. Griner, 32, is one of basketball's most decorated stars, with a gold medal from the 2016 Olympics and a WNBA ring from 2014.

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