Tag Archives: NBA

ESPN reports: Charlotte Hornets star guard LaMelo Ball said Sunday night he didn’t mean to offend anyone with a comment the NBA said was “offensive and derogatory” while levying a $100,000 fine on him. After Saturday’s 115-114 win in Milwaukee, sideline reporter Shannon Spake asked Ball about the team’s defensive strategy against Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo on the game’s final …

The Associate Press reports: The NBA on Wednesday approved the sale of controlling interest of the Dallas Mavericks from Mark Cuban to the families that run the Las Vegas Sands casino company. The deal was approved just shy of a month after the families of Miriam Adelson and Sivan and Patrick Dumont announced their intention to buy the club. The …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: After a year in the market for a naming rights partner, the Magic’s home arena has a new name: Kia Center. The Magic announced the sale of its arena naming rights to Kia America on Wednesday, replacing Amway Center as the new name for the tax-payer funded venue in Orlando. The partnership will include new indoor …

Florida Politics reports: NBA players cried foul when the Orlando Magic donated $50,000 to support Ron DeSantis’ presidential ambitions. Now, Florida’s Governor wants to dunk on the entire league. Financial disclosures released this week show the Orlando Magic donated $50,000 to Never Back Down, a super PAC supporting DeSantis. “A political contribution from the Orlando Magic is alarming given recent …

Sports Illustrated reports: The Orlando Magic’s donation to Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign is receiving negative attention across the league. That reaction comes in official form from the NBPA, the players’ union, which is labeling the support “alarming.” And on a more personal level, it’s coming from players like New Orleans Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr.. “So the @OrlandoMagic who have …

CBS Sports reports: After initially declining to publicly comment, the Orlando Magic issued a statement on Wednesday regarding their recent $50,000 donation to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ Super PAC, “Never Back Down Inc.” “To clarify, this gift was given before Governor DeSantis entered the presidential race,” a Magic spokesperson said. “It was given as a Florida business in support of …

The Washington Post reports: Former Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade moved his family out of Florida because of the state’s increasing hostility to LGBTQ people — including Wade’s daughter, Zaya. That revelation emerged in an interview Wade gave reporter Rachel Nichols for her Showtime program Headliners. “I have to make decisions for my family, not just personal, individual decisions,” Wade …

Reuters reports: The Golden State Warriors were sued on Monday by an FTX customer who accused the reigning National Basketball Association champions of fraudulently promoting the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. Elliott Lam, a Canadian citizen and Hong Kong resident, filed his proposed class-action lawsuit in San Francisco federal court on behalf of “thousands, if not millions” of people outside the United …

CBS News reports: Outside of Barclays Center on Sunday, hours before the Brooklyn Nets’ game against the Memphis Grizzlies, a large crowd of Black Hebrew Israelites gathered in support of Kyrie Irving, who is returning from a suspension. Irving was suspended on Nov. 4, a week after he’d publicized an antisemitic film on social media and repeatedly refused to apologize …

ESPN reports: Nike has suspended its relationship with Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving in the wake of the controversy surrounding his social media post about a book and movie containing antisemitic tropes, the company announced Friday night. Nike also said it will no longer launch Irving’s new shoe, the Kyrie 8. The shoe, Irving’s eighth with the company, had been …

ESPN reports: The Brooklyn Nets suspended Kyrie Irving for at least five games without pay Thursday, dismayed by his repeated failure to “unequivocally say he has no antisemitic beliefs,” with Irving later issuing an apology for his social media post last week about a book and movie that feature antisemitic tropes. Irving had refused to apologize during a post-practice media …

The New York Daily News reports: Surprised by a vaccine mandate that left him unable to play for much of last season, Kyrie Irving described himself as a “martyr” for refusing the COVID-19 shot while facing heavy scrutiny. “I was not expecting a mandate to be brought down in a way where it wasn’t going to let me play at …

“I made this choice, and I thought I could keep it to myself, I can keep it private, but people are always gonna wonder why. I was raised in a holistic household where anti-vax is not like a term that was ever used. “It’s a weird term that’s kind of been thrown around just to label people. We grew up …

TMZ Sports reports: Longtime NBA referee Ken Mauer says he was forced out of the league after refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine due to religious reasons. The 36-year NBA veteran joined Jason Whitlock on his show, “Fearless” and revealed the reason he’s been MIA from the hardwood this year is because of the league’s vax mandate. “I never thought …

The Spokane Spokesman-Review reports: During the interview, John Stockton asserted that more than 100 professional athletes have died of vaccination. He also said tens of thousands of people – perhaps millions – have died from vaccines. “I think it’s highly recorded now, there’s 150 I believe now, it’s over 100 professional athletes dead – professional athletes – the prime of …

Yahoo Sports reports: Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, currently embroiled in a standoff over his decision to not get vaccinated, took to Instagram Live on Wednesday to clarify he has no plans to retire. In his first public comments on the vaccine since it emerged that he would miss Nets home games for refusing to get the shot, Irving spoke …

ESPN reports: Kyrie Irving will not play or practice with the Brooklyn Nets until he is eligible to become a full participant under local COVID-19 vaccination requirements, general manager Sean Marks said Tuesday. “Kyrie has made a personal choice, and we respect his individual right to choose. Currently the choice restricts his ability to be a full-time member of the …

NBC News reports: Eighteen former NBA players were charged with attempting to defraud the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of nearly $4 million, officials said Thursday. “The defendants’ playbook involved fraud and deception,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss told reporters. “They will have to answer for their flagrant violations of law.” Strauss called Terrence Williams, a 34-year-old Seattle native who …

“I feel like my only option was to get vaccinated or not play in the NBA. It feels good to play, but getting vaccinated, that’s going to be something that stays in my mind for a long time. “It’s not something I wanted to do, but – I was kind of forced. I guess you don’t own your body. That’s …

NBC News reports: Andrew Wiggins, the Golden State Warriors forward who balked being vaccinated against the coronavirus, has been vaccinated, the team’s coach said Sunday. “He just told me today that he was fine with us acknowledging it, and that will be the end of it,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters. Wiggins, who had sought a religious exemption from San …