Eagles

<div>
In the first few days of his second presidential term, Donald Trump signed a number of executive orders that will have an impact on the healthcare industry, some issuing new policies and some rescinding policies set forth by prior administrations. This has had a devastating impact on the American people.
While the country is on pins and needles awaiting the next bomb (both literally and figuratively) to drop from the Trump administration, Michael Jordan has figured out a way to actively combat one of the casualties (U.S. Health Care) of Trump&rsquo;s plan for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and extended tax cuts for the upper echelon of the American population.&nbsp;
</div>
<div>From an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/01/republicans-medicaid-cuts">article in The Guardian titled:&nbsp;&ldquo;Medicaid recipients fear &lsquo;buzzsaw cuts&rsquo; for Trump&rsquo;s agenda&rdquo;</a>, it reads&nbsp;</div>
<div>&ldquo;Republicans are considering a rollback of the federal social safety net, particularly Medicaid, which has nearly 80 million enrollees in all 50 states. The budget plan proposes an $880bn reduction in funding for the insurance over the next 10 years, an amount that experts warn would hollow out the program and have ripple effects across the entire American healthcare system.&rdquo;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>From an <a href="https://www.maynardnexsen.com/publication-president-trumps-latest-executive-orders-impacting-health-care">article in the MaynardNexsen titled &ldquo;President Trump&rsquo;s Latest Executive Orders Impacting Healthcare&rdquo;</a> it reads &ldquo;President Trump rescinded former President Joe Biden&rsquo;s order that extended the enrollment periods for Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) plans in most states, and granted additional funding for third parties aiding enrollment in ACA insurance. While ACA enrollment nearly doubled under the Biden administration to about 24 million people, those gains are attributed primarily to government subsidies that lowered the cost of ACA premiums. The effect this rescission will have on enrollment trends is one thing to watch in the coming years&rdquo;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>While all this is happening in real-time, Michael Jordan opened his fourth health clinic in North Carolina on February 19 in Wilmington. This new clinic, established in collaboration with Novant Health, focuses on providing care to uninsured and underinsured patients.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/michael-jordan-etan-thomas-2_690w.jpeg" alt="" width="740" height="492" /></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>MJ has spoken publicly exhibiting a tremendous amount of sincerity and passion about how important these clinics are and how many people they will help. He has addressed the growing issue of healthcare disparities and affirmed his dedication to providing healthcare to all people regardless of their income or economic status in particular in his hometown of North Carolina.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Many people are pleasantly surprised to see this side of MJ, but it goes along with what I witnessed as his teammate for the Washington Wizards.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>I recall one time in particular when I was sitting in the training room getting treatment and he was getting his knee drained, which fans didn&rsquo;t know at the time he had to often do in order to continue playing. MJ asked me about a book (Soul On Ice by Eldridge Cleaver) he saw me reading on the plane and we engaged in a deep conversation about race, politics, the community, and much more.&nbsp;</div>
<div>
Sitting in earshot was his bodyguard, George, who chimed in and said jokingly, &ldquo;Yeah Michael doesn&rsquo;t like to tell anybody the things he does, so people don&rsquo;t think he does anything&rdquo;&nbsp;
</div>
<div>He then proceeded to tell me a story of when MJ was all set to have this big event at an exclusive golf resort in Georgia back in the day, and he found out that they were still keeping an old tradition of not allowing Black People to join the club, but of course, they would let MJ participate. Well, long story short, right before the event, MJ informed the organizers that he was going to cancel everything if they didn&rsquo;t change their policy and of course, they capitulated to his demands.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/michael-jordan-etan-thomas-4_690w.jpeg" alt="" width="743" height="563" /></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>I remember responding saying, &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a great story that people need to hear. Why wouldn&rsquo;t you tell people that ?&rdquo; And MJ looked at me and said, &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t do it for that.&rdquo; I remember looking at George and him saying, &ldquo;See, he doesn&rsquo;t want to tell anybody anything&rdquo;&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>I tell this story for this reason. Playing with MJ for two years with the Wizards, I saw him do a lot of things quietly that nobody knew about. And from time to time I would whisper to him, &ldquo;You&rsquo;re not gonna tell anyone about this either huh?&rdquo; And he would just smile and shake his head. In fact, he didn&rsquo;t even tell anyone that he donated his entire salary to the victims of 9-11. I remember being in the locker room when he was watching the coverage on TV and made the decision. Nobody found out until later that he did that.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Now, for years I have been on panels and programs talking about activism and athletes and they would always bring up MJ as the antithesis to the activist athlete and his infamous statement &ldquo;Republicans Buy Shoes Too&rdquo;. They would always paint MJ as the athlete who doesn&rsquo;t care about the community or really anything outside of himself and I would always push back on that because that&rsquo;s just not what I saw when I was his teammate. Now, did he lend his voice to causes or speak out on political issues that directly impact the Black Community? No, he didn&rsquo;t. But did he do nothing behind the scenes and have no interest or care for the community? I can&rsquo;t say that because that&rsquo;s not what I saw.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>People don&rsquo;t know about MJ&rsquo;s community impact platform, known as the Black Community Commitment (BCC), which is a 10-year, $100 million initiative focused on creating equitable futures for Black Americans through education, economic justice, narrative change, and social justice.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>They also don&rsquo;t know about him funding nonprofit institutional grantees and grassroots organizations across the country through his Open Call Community Grants program.&nbsp;They don&rsquo;t know about his Jordan Brand Wings Scholars Program which has sent hundreds of kids to college on full scholarships. But like George told me in the training room, he doesn&rsquo;t tell anyone so people assume he does nothing in the community.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Now, going back to MJ&rsquo;s 4th healthcare clinic.&nbsp;There is indeed currently a national healthcare crisis in the United States.&nbsp;In 2025, an estimated 27.1 million Americans of all ages are projected to be uninsured, representing an uninsured rate of 8.2%, according to data from the National Health Interview Survey. MJ&rsquo;s efforts have helped thousands of uninsured Americans actually receive care.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/michael-jordan-etan-thomas-3_690w.jpeg" alt="" width="741" height="494" /></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Furthermore, as many Americans have found out the hard way, being insured does not guarantee full coverage. There is a large percentage of working-class Americans who are currently drowning in medical expenses, faced with increased costs of medications (thanks to the Trump administration), and higher co-pays all while having limited access to essential treatments.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>An article by Vishwesha Kumar of Fadeaway World, described Jordan&rsquo;s Health Clinic as,&nbsp;&ldquo;After witnessing the positive impact of these centers, Jordan donated $10 million to Novant Health to expand the project, leading to additional clinics being built in Wilmington. His efforts have helped thousands of patients receive their first-ever primary care visits, reinforcing his dedication to improving healthcare access.</div>
<div>
The new Wilmington facility spans 7,300 square feet and includes 12 patient rooms, offering comprehensive medical services to uninsured and underinsured individuals. In addition to primary care physicians, the clinic will have a community health worker to connect patients with essential local resources. The facility will be open on weekdays, aiming to serve as a lifeline for many who struggle to access consistent coverage.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Micheal Jordan doesn&rsquo;t have to do any of this. He could ride off into the sunset and not care about what anyone thinks about him. He doesn&rsquo;t need any additional notoriety. He already has all the fame a man could possibly have. He doesn&rsquo;t need pats on the back or nods of approval from anyone. He does this because he genuinely cares.&nbsp;
</div>
<div>&ldquo;Michael Jordan gives back but you didn't know it. Like LeBron does, but it's just seldom they show it.&rdquo;~Nas</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>

While all this is happening in real-time, Michael Jordan opened his fourth health clinic in North Carolina.

In This Trump Era, Michael Jordan’s Free Health Clinics Are Very Much Needed

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Texas commit Ronald Holland had 15 points and USA Basketball rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Team World 90-84 at the Nike Hoop Summit on Saturday night.
Bronny James &mdash; the son of LeBron James, who was in attendance &mdash; made his USA Basketball debut and scored 11 points, including a pair of free throws to seal it with 5.4 seconds remaining.
Holland added nine rebounds, six steals and five assists for the Americans, who got 11 points from Isaiah Collier. Jared McCain, DaJuan Wagner and Justin Edwards each scored 10 points for Team USA.
Mackenzie Mgbako scored 22 points for Team World, which got 17 from Michael Nwoko, 15 from Aden Holloway and 12 from Andrej Stojakovic &mdash; the son of former NBA player Peja Stojakovic.
The U.S. improved to 17-7 against the World teams at the Nike event that dates to 1995.
Mgbako made a fadeaway with 7:56 left to put the World team up 70-69, but the Americans quickly reclaimed the lead and kept it the rest of the way. James made a 3-pointer with 4:54 left to push the USA lead out to six, and Holland had a putback score with 3:00 remaining to make it 86-79.
WOMEN&rsquo;S GAME
TEAM USA 100, TEAM WORLD 79
LSU commit Mikaylah Williams scored 22 points, Notre Dame commit Hannah Hidalgo added 13 and Team USA topped Team World 100-79 in the inaugural women&rsquo;s game of the Nike event.
Connecticut commit Kamorea Arnold, Stanford commit Sunaja Agara and Oklahoma commit Sahara Williams each had 10 points for the Americans, while Hidalgo finished with eight assists and five steals. Texas commit Madison Booker finished with eight points, eight assists, five assists and three steals for Team USA.
Williams was 6 for 7 from 3-point range.
Shaneice Swain &mdash; who is entering the WNBA draft and expects to be picked Monday &mdash; led Team World with 19 points, while Toby Fournier had 18 points with nine rebounds and Nyadiew Puoch scored 16 points.

Both the men and women represented Team USA with victories over Team World on Saturday.

USA Basketball sweeps Team World at Nike Hoop Summit

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) &mdash; When it comes to Auburn and the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers know how to make an opening statement.
Johni Broome had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots, and No. 9 seed Auburn beat Iowa 83-75 on Thursday for its 10th consecutive opening-round win dating to the mid-1980s.
The Tigers (21-12) made 11 of 12 free throws over the final four minutes to lock up a second-round matchup with No. 1 seed Houston, which survived a scare from 16th-seeded Northern Kentucky..
It was a decidedly Auburn-oriented crowd two hours from campus.
&ldquo;They were loud and rowdy the whole game,&rdquo; Auburn guard Allen Flanigan said. &ldquo;It felt like a home game for us.&rdquo;
Broome even made his ninth 3-pointer of the season to push the margin into double digits for the first time with 16 minutes left.
The Tigers appeared poised to pull away in front of a partisan orange-and-blue crowd, going up by 17 with a 13-2 run midway through the second half sparked by Tre Donaldson&rsquo;s three 3-pointers off the bench.
The eighth-seeded Hawkeyes climbed back into it, twice cutting it down to four but coming no closer.
&ldquo;We knew they had another run in them,&rdquo; Broome said. &ldquo;We were like, &lsquo;Let&rsquo;s make a stop and win this game.&rsquo;"
Auburn had six players score in double figures. Wendell Green Jr. had 15 points, and Donaldson, Jaylin Williams and KD Johnson each finished with 11. Allen Flanigan scored 10.
Payton Sandford scored 21 points for Iowa. Kris Murray had 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting and nine rebounds. Filip Rebraca scored 14 points.
The Hawkeyes found themselves playing in essentially a road game. But they declined to use that as an excuse.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re used to playing in hostile environments,&rdquo; Connor McCaffery said. &ldquo;Obviously if we had our choice we would have preferred it to be a little more neutral, but that&rsquo;s not why we lost at all.
&ldquo;We won at Rutgers, we won at IU (Indiana) and those places are 100 times louder than it was here today.&rdquo;
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, Connor&rsquo;s father, echoed that sentiment after his team ended with a third straight loss.
&ldquo;Every game in our league is a hostile environment so it cannot be an excuse, nor do we want to make it one,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We were right there, and you have to give credit to your opponent.&rdquo;
Johnson had a scary moment in the final minute of the first half.
He went up attempting to block a shot by Rebraca, who pump-faked and sent Johnson somersaulting over the top of the Iowa player.
The junior guard landed with a thud on his lower back and buttocks, sending the crowd into a hushed silence. Johnson stayed down briefly, writhing in pain, before heading to the bench to get checked out. He played in the second half.
&ldquo;I was just scared,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;I wanted to make sure I didn&rsquo;t hurt myself in any other way. That was crazy.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Auburn: Made seven 3-pointers in the second half after a 1-of-9 start.
Iowa: Fell just short of a fifth consecutive 20-win season. Missed all nine first-half 3-point attempts and finished 7 of 27 (25.9%) from deep. A team averaging 80 points a game was held to 26 in the first half.
&ldquo;Our speed and quickness was obviously a factor on the defensive end,&rdquo; Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.
UP NEXT
Auburn is 1-6 all-time against Houston, among the favorites to win it all. The Tigers lost in the second round last season. The big question will be the status of Cougars All-American Marcus Sasser, who aggravated a groin injury and didn&rsquo;t play in the second half.

Johni Broome had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks, and No. 9 Auburn beat Iowa 83-75 on Thursday in the NCAA Tournament.

Broome, Auburn hold off Iowa 83-75 in first round of NCAA Tournament

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; President Joe Biden celebrated the NBA champion Golden State Warriors at the White House on Tuesday as he expressed concern for Californians who have suffered through waves of destructive weather.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all closely monitoring the storms, the floods, the landslides all across California, and our heart is with all of the families of the communities that are hurting,&rdquo; he said.
Biden visited the state Thursday and has approved disaster assistance.
The Warriors have won four championships in eight years, but they didn&rsquo;t visit the White House while Donald Trump was president. He made a show of publicly disinviting them after Stephen Curry, the team&rsquo;s star, said he wasn&rsquo;t interested in going.
&ldquo;The Golden State Warriors are always welcome in this White House,&rdquo; Biden said. He also honored Curry as &ldquo;one of the great sportsmen of our time.&rdquo;
He said the Warriors&rsquo; &ldquo;reflect America&rdquo; with their style of play, showcasing &ldquo;constant motion, with individual freedom and personality that comes together as one team, a team that plays with joy, with drive to be their best.&rdquo;
The Warriors beat the Boston Celtics in a six-game championship series last year, a victory that came after a difficult stretch for the team.
Although they won the championship in 2015, 2017 and 2018, their dreams of a dynasty fell apart when key players were injured. The Warriors fell to the bottom of the league.
&ldquo;The last couple of years were pretty tough,&rdquo; Biden said. &ldquo;Critics wondered if this team was gone for good as a championship team.&rdquo;
Biden has faced his share of doubters over the years, and he joked, &ldquo;Fellas, I know what it feels like.&rdquo;
Vice President Kamala Harris, a California native and longtime Warriors fan, spoke first at Tuesday&rsquo;s ceremony.
&ldquo;As a very proud daughter of Oakland, California, it gives me immense personal pride as the vice president of the United States to say, Dub Nation is in the house,&rdquo; she said.
Harris said she has a custom Warriors jersey that she keeps by her treadmill at home, calling it &ldquo;a symbol of grit, determination and teamwork.&rdquo;
Along with Biden, Harris got a new jersey from Curry on Tuesday. It had the number 1 &mdash; for No. 1 fan, she remarked &mdash; and Biden got one with 46, since he&rsquo;s the 46th president.
Curry said he hopes to see it &ldquo;on the wall of the Oval Office&rdquo;
&ldquo;Hopefully we can come back and check if it&rsquo;s up there,&rdquo; he said.
Curry and coach Steve Kerr stopped by the White House briefing room before the ceremony.
Curry thanked the administration for its work to bring home Brittney Griner, the women&rsquo;s basketball star who had been jailed in Russia on drug charges. He called her a &ldquo;big part of our basketball family.&rdquo;
&ldquo;It means a lot to know that she&rsquo;s here and home safe with her family,&rdquo; Curry said.
Kerr said he participated in a roundtable on gun violence with White House officials and two of his players, Moses Moody and Klay Thompson.
&ldquo;We learned a lot about what this administration is doing to help create a safer environment in our country,&rdquo; Kerr said.
Biden signed gun legislation last year, but he&rsquo;s pledged to keep working toward tighter restrictions, including an assault weapons ban.&nbsp;

“The Golden State Warriors are always welcome in this White House,” Biden said.

Biden welcomes the Warriors, pledges support for California

Basketball News highlights the reporting, analysis and podcasts that defined a year of basketball in 2022.

Best of Basketball News: Spotlighting our top content from 2022

The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced the list of eligible candidates for the Class of 2023, including several high-profile, first-time nominees including Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Gregg Popovich, Dwyane Wade and the 1976 U.S. Olympic Women&rsquo;s Basketball Team. &nbsp; A first look at the list of eligible nominees was provided by &ldquo;NBA Today&rdquo; on ESPN; the complete list of eligible candidates can be found below. &nbsp; Finalists from the North American and Women&rsquo;s committee for the Class of 2023 will be announced on February 17, at 5:30 p.m. ET in Salt Lake City, Utah, during NBA All-Star Weekend. &nbsp; The entire Class of 2023, including those selected by the direct-elect committees, will be unveiled during the NCAA Final Four in Houston, Texas, on April 1, in a nationally televised broadcast at 11 a.m. EST.
NORTH AMERICAN NOMINATIONS &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Ken Anderson (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; John Beilein (COA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Gene Bess (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Chauncey Billups (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Tom Chambers (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; John Clougherty (REF) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Michael Cooper (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Joey Crawford (REF) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jack Curran (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Mark Eaton (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Cliff Ellis (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Michael Finley (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Pau Gasol (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Leonard Hamilton (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Lou Henson (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Ed Hightower (REF) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; David Hixon (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Mark Jackson (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Marques Johnson (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Gene Keady (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jim Larranaga (COA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Maurice Lucas (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Shawn Marion (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Rollie Massimino (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dick Motta (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dirk Nowitzki (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jake O&rsquo;Donnell (REF) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Tony Parker (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jim Phelan (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Gregg Popovich (COA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Bo Ryan (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Stan Spirou (COA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Reggie Theus (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dwyane Wade (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Buck Williams (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; John Williamson (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Paul Westhead (COA)
WOMEN&rsquo;S NOMINATIONS &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Leta Andrews (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jennifer Azzi (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Gary Blair (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Doug Bruno (COA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Becky Hammon (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Becky Martin (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Debbie Miller-Palmore (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Kim Mulkey (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Valerie Still (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Marian Washington (COA) &nbsp; INTERNATIONAL DIRECT-ELECT &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jackie Chazalon &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Mirza Delibasic &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dusan Ivkovic &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Semen Khalipski &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Vladimir Kondrashin &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Eduardo Lamas &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Marcos Leite &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Shimon Mirrahi &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Amaury Pasos &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Manuel Sainz &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Togo Soares &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Ranko Zeravica &nbsp; WOMEN&rsquo;S VETERANS DIRECT-ELECT &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; 1976 US Olympic Team (TEA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; 1982 Cheyney University NCAA Final Four Team (TEA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Alline Banks Sprouse (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Edmonton Commercial Grads (TEA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; John Head (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Yolanda Laney (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Nashville Business College (TEA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Lometa Odom (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Harley Redin (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Hazel Walker (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Valerie Walker (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dean Weese (COA)*
CONTRIBUTOR DIRECT-ELECT &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Pete Babcock &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dick Baumgartner &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Henry Bibby &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Marty Blake &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Vic Bubas &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Doug Collins &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Wayne Duke &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Bill Foster &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Bob Gibbons &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Simon Gourdine &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Tim Grgurich &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Junius Kellogg &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Johnny &ldquo;Red&rdquo; Kerr &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Tom Konchalski &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Bobby Lewis &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Fred McCall &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jack McCloskey &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jon McGlocklin &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Speedy Morris &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dennis Murphy &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Curly Neal &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jack Powers &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Will Robinson &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Gene Shue &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jim Valvano &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Donnie Walsh &nbsp; VETERANS DIRECT-ELECT &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; 1936 US Olympic Team (TEA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; 1972 US Olympic Team (TEA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dick Barnett (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Tom Blackburn (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Sid Borgia (REF) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Charles Brown (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Freddie Brown (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jack Coleman (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Charles Eckman (REF) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Leroy Edwards (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Leo Ferris (CONT) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Hy Gotkin (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Travis Grant (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jack Hartman (COA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Cam Henderson (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Robert Hopkins (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Charles Keinath (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Greg Kelser (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Kentucky Wesleyan 1966, 1968, 1969 (TEA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Bob Love (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Loyola of Chicago (TEA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Billy Markward (CONT) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Ed McCluskey (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Jack McKinney (CONT) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Bill Melchionni (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Francis Meehan (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Lucias Mitchell (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Donald &ldquo;Dudey&rdquo; Moore (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Joe Mullaney (COA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Willie Naulls (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; North Catholic High School Junior Varsity (Philadelphia, PA) (TEA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Don Otten (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Philadelphia SPHAS (TEA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Kevin Porter (PLA)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Glenn Roberts (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Lennie Rosenbluth (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Kenny Sailors (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Fred Schaus (CONT) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Sam Schulman (CONT) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Paul Silas (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Dick Van Arsdale (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Tom Van Arsdale (PLA) &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Lambert Will (CONT)* &bull; &nbsp; &nbsp; Max Zaslofsky (PLA)

Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Gregg Popovich and Dwyane Wade are among the candidates for the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Basketball Hall of Fame announces candidates for Class of 2023

Kyrie Irving&rsquo;s first press conference after returning from his suspension was met by a barrage of reporters seemingly throwing a series of questions at him that could have potentially resulted in him being suspended again.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
The media smh <a href="https://t.co/6ZsGU5llll">pic.twitter.com/6ZsGU5llll</a>
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1594830463675375620?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 21, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

One interpretation is that the reporters were just doing their job in asking Kyrie the questions that inquiring minds would like answered. However, another interpretation is that Kyrie asked (very politely) if the reporters could simply stick to questions about the actual game, and they seemingly ignored his request and continued to ask questions that could potentially get him in hot water once again &mdash; an intentional attempt to set him up.
I wanted to delve deeper into this topic, so I reached out to journalist Chuck Modiano, who is a senior writer for Deadspin and has also written for the New York Daily News.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/chuck1_690w.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="409" />
Etan Thomas: Does it seem like the media is now picking on Kyrie?
Chuck Modiano: Let me first say that you have been doing a great job on social media covering this.
Thomas: Oh, I appreciate that.
Modiano: No problem. Well, there are definitely a couple of members who keep harping on it, but the problem is, they don&rsquo;t do that to other athletes. I don&rsquo;t think Jerry Jones is going to be peppered the same way. I know initially they asked him, but I doubt the questions will continue. I could be wrong, but we&rsquo;ll see. But the double standard always exists with Black athletes and it always has, and part of that double standard is the makeup of the press &mdash; and what the press finds noteworthy and not noteworthy to pursue. So yeah, it&rsquo;s definitely there and will continue to be there and we have to keep calling it out.
Thomas: I agree, but I don&rsquo;t see enough people calling it out and that&rsquo;s the part that frustrates me. It seems like it&rsquo;s just accepted. And let&rsquo;s take the actual content of everything that happened with Kyrie out of the discussion for a moment, and just compare this to how, say, Brett Farve was dealt with in the media. I mean, he didn&rsquo;t have to do anything &mdash; he didn&rsquo;t have to apologize or nothing?
Modiano: I think Brett Favre is a great recurring example. With Kyrie, it goes so far beyond the initial discussion of anti-semitism. It goes to something greater in media. The Black athlete is profitable and the Black athlete&rsquo;s perceived misbehavior is profitable. And we know this when a discussion should shift and it does not. So I&rsquo;ll give you an example. So there was a period of time where the discussion moved from Kyrie Irving to Jeff Bezos &mdash; let&rsquo;s hold Amazon accountable. He&rsquo;s making all this money off "Hebrews To Negroes." And let&rsquo;s form a petition, etc. And there were some famous actors joining in the charge. Rolling Stone actually had pictures of those actors, but most publications, even if the article was focused on Jeff Bezos and Amazon, still had the cover picture of Kyrie. So I said, "Well, that&rsquo;s not about perceived anti-semitism, that&rsquo;s about anti-Blackness." Because, again, the whole article was about Jeff Bezos and Amazon, so why is Kyrie on the cover picture? That was an editorial choice and that&rsquo;s when you have to examine the fact that anti-Blackness will get you more clicks and there is more profit in anti-Blackness.
Thomas: That&rsquo;s interesting. Now that you say that, I definitely noticed that as well. And to your point, there are a lot of Black media that participate in that as well. Right now, there are a lot of people trying to give Jerry Jones a pass. I just saw Stephen A. Smith and Jason Whitlock both defending him today. I actually tweeted about it.
Modiano: It&rsquo;s completely ridiculous. And listen, I am someone who has marched with former Nazis who are now against Nazis and are now on the anti-racism side and it&rsquo;s their life mission to flip other Nazis. So I am someone who believes to the greatest extent that reform is possible. But let&rsquo;s take Jerry Jones here, and put aside the fact that probably 95% of white people in Arkansas in 1957 more than likely shared a certain belief about Black people, I think we can safely say that. But not everyone joined a mob to terrorize Black students, so there is a difference between racist thoughts and racist actions. And it&rsquo;s important to remember that in 1954, the Brown vs. Board of Education was put into law, and the one of the ways white people would fight against that law was through mob action, and Jerry Jones was a part of that. So if you&rsquo;re going to tell me he&rsquo;s changed, I need to see it. I see his comments about [Colin] Kaepernick. I see the fact that he has never had a Black head coach. I see him donating half a million to Governor [Greg] Abbott&rsquo;s campaign. This doesn&rsquo;t sound like he has changed too much since 1957.
Thomas: And the same with Brett Favre. I haven&rsquo;t seen anything where he's tried to make amends after this $77 million Mississippi state-welfare-fund scandal or any evidence that he has changed. They say it&rsquo;s always something with Kyrie; well, it&rsquo;s always something with Brett Favre, right?
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JerryJones?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JerryJones</a> <a href="https://t.co/kpy9G3XaFU">pic.twitter.com/kpy9G3XaFU</a>
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1596296501747228674?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

<div>
<div>Modiano: Oh, don&rsquo;t get me started on Brett. He has a long, ugly history and I&rsquo;m not just talking about outwardly supporting Donald Trump at the height of his racism and Charlottesville and Jan. 6th, or the inappropriate messages and nude pictures he sent to New York Jets game day host Ms. Sterger, but yes there is definitely enough history for there to be much more upheaval of outrage from the media. So we have to ask, why is the Brett Favre scandal not given the same attention and scrutiny as Kyrie? The answer could be simply that Brett Favre is not going to produce the amount of clicks that Kyrie will. But then you have to ask: why is Kyrie going to produce more clicks? Because Brett is retired and Kyrie is an active player? I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s it. I think it&rsquo;s because of anti-Blackness. We have a white customer service base that likes to see Black athletes being denigrated and will use Black media talking heads, like the ones you named before, to do the actual denigrating. That&rsquo;s the bottom line. So some will say, "No, it&rsquo;s the anti-semitism that is a much bigger issue." Well, if that were the case, all forms of perceived anti-semitism would garner the same reaction that Kyrie did, and it doesn&rsquo;t.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Thomas: And to your point, let me read this <a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1596184440513777665" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweet from Shaun King</a> that read: &ldquo;So we now know that Donald Trump just had dinner with one of the most explicit bigots and Holocaust-deniers in the world right now, Nick Fuentes. I need to see if Trump and the people who support him get the Kyrie Irving treatment now. I seriously doubt it." Now they can&rsquo;t say that Kyrie has more power and influence than Trump, so will there be a big outrage about Trump?&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Modiano: We already know the answer to that. Of course there won&rsquo;t and Nick Fuentes is a proud white supremacist and racist. He is an actual Holocaust denier and has spewed actual anti-semetic rhetoric out of his mouth. And Trump has himself said a lot of perceived, I&rsquo;ll say, antisemitic statements. So in comparing the reaction of that to Kyrie, you&rsquo;re right; it&rsquo;s not the same outrage.&nbsp;A few years ago, I wrote an article with the New York Daily News asking, "Why are we not critiquing white athletes?" Whether it&rsquo;s Tom Brady with the Trump hat in his locker or Brett Favre posing in a picture with him on the golf course, where were those same reporters who pressed Kyrie then? Where were the pointed questions that we are seeing repeatedly with Kyrie? So if we are going to have a media that is critiquing athletes the way they are with Kyrie, ok that&rsquo;s fine, but let&rsquo;s do it with the white athletes too.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Thomas: So, how can Kyrie navigate through this? Because it seems like the media is going to continue to press him on topics where they&rsquo;re almost trying to play GOTCHA with him. He has to meet with the media, or he&rsquo;ll get fined. So should he just keep repeating the phrase, "Can you please only ask me basketball questions?" Or do the Marshawn Lynch ("I&rsquo;m just here so I won&rsquo;t get fined")?</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Modiano: I&rsquo;ll tell you what, I thought he turned the Thanksgiving question on its head pretty nicely. I thought it was brilliant how he navigated that. He ended positively, he wished everyone a happy holiday, and he did it with a smile, but he also made the point clear: I&rsquo;m not personally celebrating Thanksgiving. And I think that&rsquo;s great because it now brings the much larger discussion that is not going on about the actual history of Thanksgiving and the treatment of indigenous people of this country, so I thought he navigated that question brilliantly.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Thomas: But do you think the media was again trying to pick at him? I tweeted about this and it got a very strong response. Anyone who has been even remotely following the NBA knows about Kyrie Irving&rsquo;s connection to his Native American heritage. When I saw that, I was like, "Are they just trolling Kyrie now?" They could&rsquo;ve asked any other player on the team that, but they ask him in particular? I just don&rsquo;t think they would&rsquo;ve asked Deni Avdija (the Washington Wizards forward who is Jewish) if he would like to wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas; I just personally don&rsquo;t think they would.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
They know Kyrie Irving doesn&rsquo;t celebrate Thanksgiving and they know exactly why because he has explained his connection to his Native American heritage and the celebrated slaughter of his people. The media is being very intentional right now with Kyrie <a href="https://t.co/RCKWhaJn0I">https://t.co/RCKWhaJn0I</a>
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1595784312359624707?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Modiano: So, I&rsquo;m leaning toward what you&rsquo;re saying. I don&rsquo;t know who the particular reporter was, I don&rsquo;t know the history, and we have to look at media collectively, not just this one person.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Thomas: Oh yeah, it wasn&rsquo;t particular to Meghan Triplett, the Nets new sideline reporter; I wasn&rsquo;t saying that. I was just using this one instance as yet another example, not her in particular. &nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Modiano: Right, but I think collectively, it&rsquo;s no question the media has a double standard with Kyrie. It&rsquo;s abundantly clear. So I&rsquo;ll say it like this: I can&rsquo;t say definitively that it&rsquo;s a racial double standard, but I will say that it&rsquo;s worthy of an investigation of a possibly racial double standard. And it&rsquo;s not just Kyrie, there has been a racial double standard historically with Black athletes for decades.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Thomas: So let me ask you this: People like Shaq and Charles Barkley were very direct with their critique of Kyrie. I actually tweeted about this as well.&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Immediately they got <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CharlesBarkley?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CharlesBarkley</a> to go live and condemn <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/KyrieIrving?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#KyrieIrving</a> and I know he hadn&rsquo;t actually watched <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HebrewsToNegroes?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HebrewsToNegroes</a> to even know what he was talking about. But Barkley is one of the go to Black Media used to condemn Black People and it&rsquo;s sad<a href="https://t.co/58aGoedJo8">https://t.co/58aGoedJo8</a> <a href="https://t.co/XC1kdKqKXi">pic.twitter.com/XC1kdKqKXi</a>
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1595022874901090311?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Modiano: I&rsquo;m telling you, you&rsquo;ve been on it on social media. And your interviews have been great too. Different perspectives. You even got a Rabbi! I haven&rsquo;t seen anyone go to the length to actually sit down with a Rabbi and discuss this.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Thomas: (Laughing) Well, there&rsquo;s been a lot to cover, but it seems like people like Charles Barkley and those of his ilk are just not willing to move past it. He brought it up again last night, saying he was disappointed that more NBA players didn&rsquo;t come out and speak against him. I&rsquo;m just like... he has apologized, served his suspension, went through the entire ridiculous six-step criteria they laid out for him, met with Adam Silver, met with Joe Tsai, and they all gave him the stamp of approval that he is not anti-semitic (although he never said anything out of his mouth that was anti-semitic). He went through all of those steps, so how long will it be before the media as a collective whole stops trolling him?&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Modiano: My response to the many problematic things that come out of Charles Barkley&rsquo;s mouth is: Why is he being uplifted as this voice of Black America or something? I remember a few years ago, CNN did this series called Race In America, led by Charles Barkley. What qualified him to lead that series?&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Thomas: They could&rsquo;ve gotten Craig Hodges, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Colin Kaepernick, John Carlos, Tommie Smith or if they wanted contemporary athletes, they could&rsquo;ve gotten LeBron James, Eric Reid, Jaylen Brown, the Olympian Gwen Berry, Swin Cash... There are so many combinations of athlete activists they could&rsquo;ve gotten. And I interviewed most of them in my book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/We-Matter-Athletes-Activism-Sports/dp/1617755915/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=66c9a448-2d15-42b5-ad8b-555bf1229604" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"We Matter: Athletes And Activism.&rdquo;&nbsp;</a></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Modiano: Right, but they didn&rsquo;t want any of them, they wanted Charles Barkley. Why? The same reason he was on CNN being the spokesperson of Black America, which I believe you tweeted about too.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Thomas: Yes, <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1594710024969912322?s=46&amp;t=DudNOqBBO4hPI-A58FFLUg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I did actually.</a>&nbsp;</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Modiano: I told you, you&rsquo;ve been on it! (laughing) But why Charles Barkley? Because they know what his position will be on the topic, so it doesn&rsquo;t matter that he doesn&rsquo;t have a rich history of social justice like all the athletes you mentioned before and interviewed in your book. They like the positions he takes so that will trump his actual qualifications. Same with Herschel Walker. But just think about it, they don&rsquo;t do that with white athletes; they don&rsquo;t turn them into the spokespersons for white America on race relations. Anybody know where Larry Bird stands on anything? Kevin McHale? Dirk? Jerry West? Chris Mullin? We have to question these networks who continue to put the mic in Charles Barkley&rsquo;s face but at the same time, we know the answer. It&rsquo;s because he is saying what they want to hear a Black person say. Anti-Black is anti Black whether it&rsquo;s on Fox News, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Jason Whitlock or Charles Barkley.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Thomas: So basically, a lot of people in the media are pawns like Kyrie said&hellip; You don&rsquo;t have to answer that. Like you said, we already know the answer.</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Check out these related episodes of "The Rematch."</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Craig Hodges and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf:</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/96aRuVyFs2Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Rabbi Harry Rozenberg:</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0VV_Pzg4gdw" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>Dave Zirin:</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UGCSVkZzeyU" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/viola1_690w.png" alt="" width="525" height="254" /></div>
</div>

Has the media treated Kyrie Irving fairly? Etan Thomas sits down with journalist Chuck Modiano to discuss the coverage of Irving.

How long will the media continue to troll Kyrie Irving?

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Jeremy Roach scored 16 first-half points to help seventh-ranked Duke open Jon Scheyer&rsquo;s coaching tenure with a 71-44 win over Jacksonville on Monday night.
Freshman Mark Mitchell had a team-high 18 points for the Blue Devils, who used a 25-4 run spanning halftime to blow the game open.
It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Scheyer taking over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. Duke has 11 new players, including the nation&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked recruiting class and two power-conference transfers. The Blue Devils didn&rsquo;t have top freshmen Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead for this one as they recover from preseason injuries.
Mike Marsh scored 15 points to lead the Dolphins, who shot 34% and missed 18 of 19 3-pointers before making two meaningless 3s late.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 69, UNC WILMINGTON 56
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Love and RJ Davis scored 17 points apiece and North Carolina began a season of grand expectations by pulling away from UNC Wilmington.
Armando Bacot added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels, who were perhaps most impressive at the defensive end. UNCW shot 29.8% from the field.
The Tar Heels, who were the NCAA Tournament runner-up in April, began the new season with the top ranking for the first time in seven years. It&rsquo;s a record 10th time that North Carolina has been ranked No. 1 to start a season &mdash; one more than rival Duke.
Trazarien White scored 19 points for UNCW, which faced a top-ranked team for the first time in program history.
NO. 2 GONZAGA 104, NORTH FLORIDA 63
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 22 points, Julian Strawther added 16 and No. 2 Gonzaga used a big first-half run to beat North Florida in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Anton Watson had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and five steals for Gonzaga, which won its 68th consecutive home game, the nation&rsquo;s longest such streak.
Carter Hendricksen scored 16 points, Jadyn Parker 13 and Jose Placer 12 for North Florida, a veteran-laden team from the Atlantic Sun Conference that returned its top four scorers from last season.
NO. 3 HOUSTON 83, NORTHERN COLORADO 36
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Marcus Sasser scored 21 points, J&rsquo;Wan Roberts added 12 points and six rebounds, and Houston opened the season by beating Northern Colorado.
Sasser, a preseason All-American, scored 11 points in the first half. He finished 7 of 14 from the field and made 4 of 8 3-pointers. The senior guard missed the second half of last season and all of Houston&rsquo;s run to the Elite Eight with a toe injury.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson won his 700th career game and 200th with the Cougars.
Matt Johnson II, Riley Abercrombie and Caleb Shaw each scored eight points for the Bears.
NO. 4 KENTUCKY 95, HOWARD 63
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Antonio Reeves scored 22 points, CJ Fredrick had 20 and Kentucky beat Howard with All-American Oscar Tshiebwe and two other players sidelined.
Tshiebwe had a procedure last month on his right knee. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler (right leg) and sophomore forward Daimion Collins (personal reasons) were also out, but the Wildcats still shot 55% against the overmatched Bison.
Jacob Toppin and freshman Cason Wallace each added 15 points for Kentucky.
Kobe Dickson scored 17 points and Elijah Hawkins had 14 for Howard, which shot 34%.
NO. 5 KANSAS 89, OMAHA 64
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Gradey Dick added 23 points in his debut, and Kansas began defense of its national championship without suspended coach Bill Self by routing Omaha.
Bobby Pettiford Jr. added 13 points, Dajuan Harris had 11 points and eight assists, and Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar Jr. scored 10 for the Jayhawks, who broke open a close game in the second half with two big runs.
Self served the first of a four-game punishment along with assistant Kurtis Townsend as part of the fallout from a 2017 federal investigation into college basketball corruption.
Jaeden Marshall scored 13 points and Luke Jungers had 12 for the Mavericks.
NO. 5 BAYLOR 117, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 53
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Adam Flagler scored 21 points to lead six players in double figures as Baylor won the opener of its 20th season with coach Scott Drew.
Flagler, a preseason All-Big 12 pick who also was the Bears&rsquo; leading scorer last season, also had eight assists and one of his four 3-pointers started a 24-0 run midway through the first half.
LJ Cryer had 16 points and Dale Bonner, another returning guard, had 14.
Alvin Stredic scored 14 points and Terry Collins 10 for Mississippi Valley State in its first game for new coach George Ivory.
NO. 9 CREIGHTON 72, ST. THOMAS 60
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Baylor Scheierman made back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to give Creighton the lead for good.
Arthur Kaluma scored 17 points, Trey Alexander had 12 and Scheierman added 11 as the Bluejays won their 25th opener in 26 years.
St. Thomas, a Summit League member beginning its second season in Division I, gave the Bluejays all they could handle until the last few minutes. Andrew Rohde had 15 points to lead the Tommies.
NO. 10 ARKANSAS 76, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 58
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) &mdash; Trevon Brazile had 21 points and 12 rebounds in his debut as Arkansas won its season opener.
Brazile, a sophomore transfer from Missouri, scored six straight points during an 11-0 run early in the second half that gave Arkansas a 16-point lead with 15 minutes left.
Wichita State transfer Ricky Council led the Razorbacks with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting.
Grant Nelson and Boden Skunberg had 17 points apiece to lead North Dakota State.
NO. 11 TENNESSEE 75, TENNESSEE TECH 43
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Tyreke Key came off the bench to score 17 points and Tennessee beat Tennessee Tech in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Key, an Indiana State transfer, connected on 4 of 8 3-pointers to ignite a sluggish Volunteer offense. Zakai Zeigler scored all but two of his 12 points in the second half.
Brett Thompson led the Golden Eagles with 15 points.
NO. 12 TEXAS 72, UTEP 57
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Tyrese Hunter scored 18 points to lead Texas past UTEP in the debut of its new arena.
Hunter, a transfer from Iowa State, was 6-of-8 shooting and added five rebounds. Ze&rsquo;Ri Onyema led UTEP with 10 points.
Texas this season moved to the $375 million Moody Center on the edge of campus, leaving behind the old Frank Erwin Center after 45 years.
NO. 13 INDIANA 88, MOREHEAD STATE 53
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Preseason All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis and freshman Malik Reneau each scored 15 points, helping Indiana beat Morehead State in the season opener for both teams.
The Hoosiers have won all six matchups in the series and are 26-0 all-time against Ohio Valley Conference foes.
Mark Freeman led the Eagles with 14 points, and Drew Thelwell had 11 for the OVC favorites.
NO. 14 TCU 73, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 72
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Mike Miles hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds remaining to finally put TCU ahead to stay against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which built an early 20-point lead in the season opener for both teams.
Miles, the preseason Big 12 player of the year, hit from deep beyond the top of the key for a 71-68 lead.
Emanuel Miller had 15 of his 19 points in the second half, and Miles finished with 15 points for the Horned Frogs. They returned all five starters and five other scholarship players after winning their first NCAA Tournament game since 1987.
Shaun Doss had 25 points with four of Arkansas-Pine Bluff&rsquo;s 13 3-pointers.
NO. 15 AUBURN 70, GEORGE MASON 52
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Wendell Green Jr. scored 16 points while K.D. Johnson and Johni Broome each had 12 to lead Auburn to a season-opening win over George Mason.
The Tigers weren&rsquo;t really challenged much in their first game since losing NBA first-round draft picks Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.
Ronald Polite III led George Mason with 10 points, and Victor Bailey Jr. had nine.
NO. 16 VILLANOVA 81, LA SALLE 68
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Daniels scored 24 points to make coach Kyle Neptune a winner in his Villanova debut.
Neptune replaced Hall of Famer Jay Wright, who retired in the offseason. The Wildcats returned three starters (a fourth, Justin Moore, was injured) from the team that lost a national semifinal game to Kansas. Eric Dixon added 20 points for Villanova.
Daniels made his first five 3-pointers and the Wildcats used an early 10-0 run to put away their city rival and spoiled 74-year-old coach Fran Dunphy&rsquo;s return to the bench.
Josh Nickelberry scored 22 points to lead the Explorers.
NO. 17 ARIZONA 117, NICHOLLS STATE 75
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Azuolas Tubelis scored 23 points and Arizona went on a massive opening run to begin its second season under coach Tommy Lloyd with a rout.
Ballo scored 18 points, helping Arizona set a school record with 71.7% shooting from the floor against the reigning Southland Conference regular-season champions. The Wildcats opened the game with a 30-4 run.
Micah Thomas led Nicholls State with 20 points.
NO. 18 VIRGINIA 73, NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL 61
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman sparked a 15-2 second-half run, and Virginia beat North Carolina Central after blowing a 16-point first-half lead.
Armaan Franklin led Virginia with 21 points in the season opener for both teams, and Francisco Caffaro had 10.
Justin Wright scored 20 and Eric Boone had 18 for the Eagles, who used a 12-0 run just after halftime to go ahead. But Clark hit a 3 and Beekman followed with a steal and a breakaway.
NO. 19 SAN DIEGO STATE 80, CAL STATE FULLERTON 57
SAN DIEGO (AP) &mdash; Darrion Trammell hit three 3-pointers during a 29-10 run to open the second half and finished with 18 points as San Diego State beat Cal State Fullerton.
Fellow newcomer Jaedon LeDee and Lamont Butler scored 11 points apiece and Nathan Mensah had 10 for the Aztecs, who won their 10th straight season opener and their 17th in 18 seasons.
Vincent Lee scored 11 and Jalen Harris 10 for the Titans, the defending Big West Conference champions.
NO. 20 ALABAMA 75, LONGWOOD 54
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Freshman Brandon Miller had 14 points and 13 rebounds in his debut as Alabama beat Longwood.
Fellow freshman Rylan Griffen also scored 14 for the Crimson Tide, and point guard Mark Sears had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Freshman guard Jaden Bradley added 11 points and six boards.
Alabama held Longwood to 27% shooting and blocked nine shots. Michael Christmas led Longwood with 12 points.
NO. 21 OREGON 80, FLORIDA A&amp;M 45
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) &mdash; N&rsquo;Faly Dante had 16 points and 10 rebounds as Oregon opened with an easy win over Florida A&amp;M.
Keeshawn Barthelemy added 13 points for the Ducks, ranked to start the season for the ninth straight year. Will Richardson scored 11.
Jordan Tillmon and Jordan Chatman had eight points apiece for the Rattlers, who have 11 new players. Florida A&amp;M coach Robert McCullum was on Oregon coach Dana Altman&rsquo;s staff from 2014-17.
NO. 22 MICHIGAN 75, PURDUE FORT WAYNE 56
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) &mdash; Hunter Dickinson had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and freshman Jett Howard added 21 points in Michigan&rsquo;s season-opening win.
After Purdue Fort Wayne opened an 8-4 lead, Michigan went on a 20-0 run to take control.
Quinton Morton-Robertson scored 15 points and Bobby Planutis added 13 for the Mastodons.
NO. 23 ILLINOIS 87, EASTERN ILLINOIS 57
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) &mdash; Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 24 points and Coleman Hawkins had 23 points and 12 rebounds as Illinois cruised past Eastern Illinois.
Dain Dainja added 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Illini, who outrebounded the Panthers 53-30 in the opener for both teams.
Kinyon Hodges scored 14 points and Yaakema Rose added 10 for Eastern Illinois.
NO. 24 DAYTON 73, LINDENWOOD 46
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Mustapha Amzil scored 14 points, DaRon Holmes II and R.J. Blakney each had 13 and Dayton beat Lindenwood in a sluggish opener for both teams.
Dayton was without injured point guard Malachi Smith and didn&rsquo;t play particularly well until late, but it had a large margin for error against Lindenwood, which was playing its first game after moving up to Division I.
Chris Childs had 15 points for the Lions, who shot 33% from the field.
NO. 25 TEXAS TECH 73, NORTHWESTERN STATE 49
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) &mdash; Daniel Batcho had 12 points and 10 rebounds as Texas Tech rolled past Northwestern State in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Texas Tech broke it open late in the first half and led 42-23 at halftime.
Isaac Haney led Northwestern State with 16 points.

It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Jon Scheyer taking over Duke's program.

Roach leads No. 7 Duke past Jacksonville in Scheyer’s debut

WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; Kevin Durant said Friday the Brooklyn Nets could have handled this tumultuous week a bit differently &mdash; a week in which his coach was fired and teammate Kyrie Irving was suspended for posting a link to an antisemitic work.
Then Durant clarified on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/KDTrey5/status/1588549639191818240?s=20&amp;t=WSOsLWtBWyk3WhGm45cMyw">that he doesn't condone hate speech</a> and &ldquo;is about spreading love always.&rdquo;
Durant spoke Friday at the Nets' shootaround in Washington ahead of the evening's game against the Wizards. When asked what he thought of Irving&rsquo;s recent conduct, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-nets-nba-sports-basketball-9967fe0a7d519ec88bb69653903269a3">which landed the guard a suspension of at least five games</a>, Durant said: &ldquo;I ain&rsquo;t here to judge nobody or talk down on nobody for how they feel, their views or anything. I just didn&rsquo;t like anything that went on.
"I felt like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization.&rdquo;
Within an hour, Durant followed up <a href="https://twitter.com/KDTrey5/status/1588549639191818240">via a tweet</a>.
&ldquo;Just wanna clarify the statements I made at shootaround, I see some people are confused,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t condone hate speech or anti-semetism (sic), I&rsquo;m about spreading love always. Our game Unites people and I wanna make sure that&rsquo;s at the forefront.&rdquo;
Irving did apologize in <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckhj8iIu0HN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">an Instagram post</a> for not explaining the specific beliefs he agreed and disagreed with when he posted about the documentary.
Nets general manager Sean Marks said Friday that the team has had some dialogue with Irving, but not enough given the circumstances.
&ldquo;The organization has made multiple attempts to get with Kyrie and his representation and to have them clarify his feelings and put out a sense of remorse for this, and that obviously didn&rsquo;t happen, and he refused to disavow that until his tweet last night,&rdquo; Marks said.
Marks said Irving&rsquo;s apology was a step, but actions will speak louder than words. He also said the team is not considering releasing Irving at this time.
&ldquo;There is going to be some remedial steps and measures that have been put in place for him to obviously seek some counseling ... from dealing with some anti-hate and some Jewish leaders within our community,&rdquo; Marks said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to have to sit down with them, he&rsquo;s going to have to sit down with the organization after this, and we&rsquo;ll evaluate and see if this is the right opportunity to bring him back.&rdquo;
Irving's reluctance to apologize came hours before the FBI said it had <a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-new-jersey-46e3d27517e58fffb3ec446e8cbf2d88">received credible information about a &ldquo;broad&rdquo; threat</a> to synagogues in New Jersey, Irving&rsquo;s home state.
In Florida on Saturday, the phrase &ldquo;Kanye is right about the jews&rdquo; was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kanye-west-aaron-donald-brooklyn-nets-new-england-patriots-nfl-b77fc5d2a9196b3b9f5992f139d4915a?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_medium=AP_Sports&amp;utm_source=Twitter">projected on the outside of one of the end zones</a> at the TIAA Bank Field stadium in Jacksonville during the Florida-Georgia football game &mdash; a reference to recent antisemitic comments that the music mogul formerly known as Kanye West has made on social media and in interviews. The incidents come four years after the deadliest attack on American Jews, when 11 people were <a href="https://apnews.com/article/kanye-west-entertainment-music-religion-dfaf38656f6e50469d353c8af10e4b41">killed at a synagogue</a> in Pittsburgh.
The Nets also parted ways with coach Steve Nash this week and despite the star tandem of Durant and Irving, the team has a 2-6 record. Durant said the team has the ability to tune out all the turbulence.
&ldquo;It's just the way of the NBA now. So many outlets now and their stories hit pretty fast now. That's where all the chaos is coming from," he said. "Everybody's opinions, everybody has an opinion on the situation, we're hearing it nonstop, but once the ball starts bouncing and we get into practice, none of that stuff really seeps into the gym.&rdquo;
___
Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister

Durant clarified on Twitter that he doesn't condone hate speech and “is about spreading love always.”

Durant: Nets 'could have kept quiet' about Irving, tumult

The Los Angeles Clippers have gotten their 2022-23 season off to a great start with a 103-97 win over their local rival, the Lakers, and everybody played a part.
In his first game since June 2021, Kawhi Leonard produced 14 points and 7 rebounds off the bench in 21 minutes. In another return over 18 months in the making, John Wall added 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 24 minutes.
Paul George registered a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double to go along with 4 dimes, Marcus Morris dropped 14 points and Ivica Zubac had his own double-double with 14 points and 17 boards.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Entering this year, there was a multitude of questions hovering over the entire Clippers organization:
<ul>
<li>How will Kawhi Leonard look after missing the entire last season? Did he put on too much muscle? How will load management be handled with him this season?</li>
<li>How will the acquisition of John Wall work after he missed almost two years of action? Will the Clippers be getting the old John Wall or just an older John Wall?</li>
<li>How will Paul George fare after also coming off of an injury that derailed what was a very productive season in 2021-22?</li>
</ul>
I caught up with two former Clippers greats, Darius Miles and Maurice Taylor, to explore these questions and much more.
Darius Miles
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot-2022-10-21-at-16-14-10-540845-jpg-0-jpg-webp-image-2120-1413-pixels-scaled-59_.png" alt="" width="751" height="376" />
Etan Thomas: The Clippers really looked good in their first few games. A lot of people are saying they could win it all. How good do they look to you?
Darius Miles: "I don&rsquo;t wanna jump out there too quickly; it&rsquo;s still early, but I think they look really good. Seeing the pieces, the depth, having Kawhi back, PG. I&rsquo;m so excited for John Wall. He&rsquo;s always been one of my favorites. I saw him get a little frustrated there at the end against the Lakers. This is a different kind of role; he wanted the ball in his hands at the end like he was back in D.C. So he is adjusting to the new role, and I think it&rsquo;s gonna be just fine."
Etan: One of the things with John Wall people were wondering was if he can he get back to the Washington Wizards-level version of himself on the court after sitting out two seasons, but he looks good to me so far.&nbsp;
Miles: "He definitely looks good, I really want John to embrace this new role because if he does, the sky's the limit. And he&rsquo;s been saying all the right things. I heard one interview and he kept saying, 'I&rsquo;m so excited that I don&rsquo;t have to do it myself.' So he has to really embrace the fact that, sometimes down the stretch, you&rsquo;re not going to have the ball in your hands. You may have to go to the corner and spot up and let Kawhi and PG run this two-man game like they were doing against the Lakers. And sometimes, they may need (John) to speed dribble it up and initiate the offense, but other times it may be something different. And he just has to fully embrace the different times, whatever they are, because really, he can &mdash; and I believe will &mdash; be vital for this team."
Etan: You know, I&rsquo;m really rooting for PG to have a great year. He has taken a lot of criticism really since the Bubble season.
Miles: "I think last season while Kawhi was out, he really just put his head down and went to work. He wasn&rsquo;t saying much, wasn&rsquo;t getting into too much, and, before the injury, he was having a great season. I think this year is gonna be the same thing. He came out and said, 'Yeah this is Kawhi&rsquo;s team, so I&rsquo;m not gonna let the media play that game with us of whose team it is.' He squashed all that. 'This is Kawhi&rsquo;s team, and that&rsquo;s going to go a long way for us.' Because it cuts down on the chatter, you know?"
Etan: Definitely, like how Magic Johnson did with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Miles: "Exactly, just so there&rsquo;s no discussion. I&rsquo;m very, very excited for the Clippers. I wanna see the Clippers win a chip in L.A. Now, of course we don&rsquo;t have the ridiculous number of championships like the Lakers have, but this year, I think this team could really pull it off. And we&rsquo;re not talking about the best team in L.A. &mdash; we already got that. We&rsquo;re talking about winning it all."
Etan: Let&rsquo;s stay on PG for a minute. Why do you think he receives so much criticism? He was really getting criticized heavily I thought.
Miles: "That&rsquo;s just this day and age. As soon as someone sees a vulnerable spot, they jump on it. That&rsquo;s just how it is unfortunately."
Etan: It&rsquo;s interesting though because PG talked about struggling with his mental health while in the Bubble, and it was like, people got mad at him. Other players like Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan talked about their mental health, and they were praised for their courage, given awards and sitting on panels. I mean, PG just announced not long ago that he was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/clippers-paul-george-giving-away-3-million-in-free-therapy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">giving away $3 million in free therapy</a>.
I just co-wrote <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Finding-My-Voice-Grieving-Pushing/dp/1642598313/ref=nodl_?dplnkId=64d1657e-59d6-4718-87b6-89b40eb80095" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Emerald Garner&rsquo;s book</a> (Eric Garner&rsquo;s daughter), "Finding My Voice," and she talked about how costly therapy is and how much her entire family should&rsquo;ve had it for their mental health, and he is giving away $3 million of free mental health therapy for people!
Miles: "Yeah, how could anyone be mad at that? I don&rsquo;t know. I never really understood it myself. I&rsquo;m happy when any athlete has the courage to talk about their mental health because them saying that gives other people the comfort that they don&rsquo;t have to be ashamed. So yeah, I agree with you. It should&rsquo;ve been praised not mocked."
Etan: You mentioned Russell Westbrook earlier, and that&rsquo;s my guy. I played with him in OKC for a year, but they got him in the matrix right now, nonstop criticism. It&rsquo;s like he is taking the heat for a poorly-constructed team.
Miles: "Man, I love Westbrook. And I&rsquo;m glad [Charles] Barkley said something about it. But people don&rsquo;t understand how the slander, the politics of the game, the wrong situation or construction of a team, like you said, how that can take away someone&rsquo;s love for the game, and it looks like that with Westbrook. His body language, that 'lion' that makes Westbrook, Westbrook you know? Now, he&rsquo;s second-guessing himself; not sure if he should pass or shoot, just everything is off. I hate to see my man go through this."
Etan: So last question, there have been built-up expectations before for the Clippers. The year in the Bubble and the season before the Bubble, everyone was waiting for them to match up with the Lakers. It seemed like those years could&rsquo;ve been the Clippers' years as well. And I know a lot of teams always say this, but this season, it does really feel like this could be the Clippers year to win it all.
Miles: "I hear you. I just don&rsquo;t want to get too ahead of myself &mdash; especially with guys coming off of injuries &mdash; but then, we came out the gate looking really good this year. And we have a really deep bench, like 10-11 deep. I&rsquo;m super excited for this season, but I don&rsquo;t wanna jump out there too soon. I appreciate the support from Barkley, but not yet. But do I feel like we could be a contender? Absolutely.
"Also, we gotta see what happens with Kawhi&rsquo;s injury and his load management, and if that is a plus or a minus. I love the team, love the coach, Ty Lue; they have the team built to win the championship. They have the ability to beat any team &mdash; Golden State, Portland, Phoenix, Denver, anyone in the West or the East. Of course a lot has to go right, but yes, I&rsquo;m excited. (It's) gonna be a great year for us."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Maurice Taylor&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screenshot-2022-10-21-at-16-14-49-maurice-taylor-net-worth-jpg-jpeg-image-1200-600-pixels.png" alt="" width="750" height="375" />
Etan Thomas: How good can the Clippers be this season?&nbsp;
Maurice Taylor: "I think they could be really good, top-tier even. If you look at how the team is constructed, they really have everything you need in today&rsquo;s game. They&rsquo;re a really good defensive team, they can run, they can shoot threes, they&rsquo;re athletic. They can play iso ball, but don&rsquo;t have to rely on iso ball in order to be productive. And they have an incredibly deep bench. And they&rsquo;re big. They had a lineup out there with [Nic] Batum, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George; those are 6-6 to 6-8 wing players. And for Kawhi and Paul George to be the elite defenders they are, what other team has guys that size who can all defend and score at that level at the same time?
Etan: And how much do you think John Wall can help this team? Here in D.C., we&rsquo;re all rooting for him to do well. I <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/marcin-gortat-a-lot-of-people-owe-john-wall-an-apology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interviewed his former teammate Marcin Gortat</a>, who also echoed those sentiments, especially taking into consideration everything he went through that he detailed over the summer. But how great of an addition was Wall to this team?&nbsp;
Taylor: "I don&rsquo;t understand why there weren&rsquo;t more teams in line to get John Wall, especially contenders. The only knock against him was that he hasn&rsquo;t played in two seasons for whatever reason &mdash; still not sure what was going on in Houston &mdash; but he looks good so far. He looked quick. He didn&rsquo;t look like he lost a step at all, which was what so many people were worried about. But I was definitely impressed. If he can be that for us, I don&rsquo;t see anyone in the East who would be able to stop us if we make it to the Finals.
Etan: Yeah I saw Charles Barkley picked the Clippers to win it all and doubled down after the game against the Lakers. So he is sticking with his pick. He may have even said, "GUARANTEED!" (Laughing)
Taylor: "Well, I&rsquo;m not going that far (laughing). But remember, I was with the Clippers during the down years. The bad old days (laughing). So for us, the guys I talk to from my era, it&rsquo;s amazing to be discussing the Clippers in terms of championship favorites. But yes, they could definitely win it all this season."
Etan: I agree, and does T-Lue get enough credit for his coaching? Especially the way he was able to keep the team together last season when Kawhi was out. I know he was my former teammate, so I may be a little biased, but I do think he doesn&rsquo;t get the recognition he should for the job he has done coaching.&nbsp;
Taylor: "I think he is definitely underrated. In today&rsquo;s NBA, the notion is almost that you don&rsquo;t really need a coach because of the level of talent. We heard that when he took over in Cleveland and was coaching LeBron [James]. You heard that in Brooklyn with Steve Nash..."
Etan: Well, that may not be the best example because of how disgruntled it seems Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are with Steve Nash, but continue.
Taylor: "Yeah that&rsquo;s true. But, point being, I think good coaches sometimes fall through the cracks because players are so good now. But in reality, coaching is the X-factor for each team. That&rsquo;s why Miami was so good, that&rsquo;s why Boston with Ime Udoka overachieved the way they did last season. But to answer your question, no, Ty Lue definitely doesn&rsquo;t get the credit he deserved, and for the very reason you mentioned. He held everything together while his star player was out for the entire season. And he really pieced together a team. Like, they have a great unit. If you look at the Lakers, they just have a bunch of guys who got signed together. That&rsquo;s a pickup game, what the Lakers have."
Etan: And no proven shooters. They have some developing shooters, but they need proven shooters who can contribute immediately, right?&nbsp;
Taylor: "Absolutely, I don&rsquo;t know what they&rsquo;re thinking over there, but that&rsquo;s not my problem. We&rsquo;re constructed as a complete team, and you have to give credit to Steve Ballmer &mdash; when you have a team governor who goes all out for his team? I mean, the Clippers haven&rsquo;t had that in history, at least not while I was there. We&rsquo;re in arguably the best market in the league, so to have an organization that&rsquo;s willing to invest in their players and open their checkbooks the way Steve Ballmer is, it&rsquo;s going to be attractive to free agents to come to the Clippers. And they&rsquo;re making moves to win the whole thing. They&rsquo;re not penny-pinching or trying to spend the bare minimum. They are investing the way a team is supposed to."
Etan: If only someone could&rsquo;ve recorded Donald Sterling earlier while you were there (laughing).
Taylor: "Man, don&rsquo;t get me started (laughing). It&rsquo;s a night and day difference, but that&rsquo;s why they are in the position they are in. People always say players make the team, and that&rsquo;s true, but the ownership, the way the organization is run makes all the difference. So a lot of this credit, like I said, has to go to Steve Ballmer."
Etan: I hear you, so last question: Kawhi Leonard. I don&rsquo;t know how they&rsquo;re going to do with the load management for the entire season. Against the Lakers he came off the bench well into the second quarter. I&rsquo;m sure that&rsquo;s not going to be the strategy for the entire season, but how good did Kawhi Leonard look to you?&nbsp;
Taylor: "He looked really good. He moved well. With wing guys, when they come back from injury, you wanna see how their lateral movement is, if they have that pop back, and he had all of that. He definitely looked strong. And he&rsquo;s only going to get better as the season progresses. But the thing I am a little concerned with is the very load management (subject) you mentioned.
"A team can load management themselves right out of the playoffs if they&rsquo;re not careful. Is it going to get to a point where he&rsquo;s back and he&rsquo;s at full strength and he is their main guy this season? Or is it going to be an ongoing situation where, 'Okay, we have a back-to-back, we&rsquo;re going to rest him this second game?' If you do that enough times, that could change the dynamic of your playoff run or position. Because Golden State doesn&rsquo;t have any load management players, and that&rsquo;s who you have to be eyeing on the way to the Finals. So I am a little concerned, to be honest. But, other than that, things look very good for the Clippers this season."
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1.png" alt="" width="750" height="375" />

Etan Thomas speaks with former Clippers greats Darius Miles and Maurice Taylor about LA's opening night win and the upcoming year.

Darius Miles and Maurice Taylor have high praise for the Clippers

According to Front Office Sports, <a href="https://frontofficesports.com/draymond-green-jordan-poole-fight-video/?fbclid=IwAR06DN4uNMRkH-dmcZ5KKm4FRXQVxiyw_yT7hl6mGwMiMUykbqM9l3VJ2Mc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TMZ paid an estimated $120,000</a> for leaked footage of the Golden State Warriors' recent incident between Draymond Green and Jordan Poole.
The Warriors announced Saturday that they've <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2022/10/07/warriors-investigate-jordan-poole-draymond-green-fight-video-leaked-tmz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched an investigation to see which one of their employees was responsible for the leak</a>.&nbsp;
On Friday, NBA trainer Chris Matthews a.k.a. Lethal Shooter &mdash; <a href="https://youtu.be/6VDwmFm5sOM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who I interviewed on my podcast "The Rematch" last month</a> &mdash; tweeted his opinion on the matter, to which I responded:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Not weird at all, employees of NBA organizations leak info to the media all the time. A lot of times media pay them to do so, like an inside informant/snitch. Been happening for decades, but whatever Warriors employee leaked this to TMZ should be fired.
&mdash; Etan Thomas (@etanthomas36) <a href="https://twitter.com/etanthomas36/status/1578395171338813441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
The Athletic's David Aldridge and I have already <a href="https://youtu.be/ix8XD_4t3R0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had a back-and-forth over my characterization of the media in the past</a>. When I posted the screenshot of my reply to Lethal Shooter's tweet on Facebook, David <a href="https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02UKeEzgNUhxZAtQVX32BRgJaQi9fUoF8yyehwZecVnFhMazKcMxagHoMtJNzBk16l&amp;id=100003621989018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commented on it</a>, which brought about another healthy debate between us:
<blockquote>
David Aldridge: "Just curious: What evidence do you have that 'media' pay teams and/or team employees for information?"
Etan Thomas: "I did lump in TMZ and supermarket tabloid media into the big bucket of media. But they are the media, and every media outlet picked up their story on Draymond. But to answer your question, my eyes are the evidence that they have paid team employees, etc. for info. I first saw that my two years in the league with MJ (Michael Jordan). It happens quite a bit, as it happened here."
Aldridge: "I can't and won't go back and forth with you on this, but by definition, no one in the 'media' as I define that term &mdash; and, I think I have some standing here &mdash; pays for information. This is part of the problem: When entities like TMZ, Fox News, etc. are just called 'media' and people think everyone in my profession does what they do. That's the same B.S. you'd call out if someone made some blanket statement like 'NBA players are bad fathers' &ndash; which SI did back in the day, and for which SI was rightly, and roundly, criticized.&rdquo;
Etan: "I would have to respectfully disagree. TMZ, supermarket tabloids, etc. are in fact a part of the media whether you wanna claim them or not. I get why you don&rsquo;t, but they still are. Now, I didn&rsquo;t say all media. I didn&rsquo;t say most media. I said many times the media (pays for inside information), and that statement is 100% accurate because they (TMZ and those of their ilk) do this all the time. Respectfully, all media isn&rsquo;t good media. But it is interesting that I haven&rsquo;t heard any good media condemning TMZ either."
</blockquote>
I have the utmost respect for David, his body of work, his ethics and him as a person. I even interviewed him for <a href="https://a.co/d/3oYaKAD" target="_blank" rel="noopener">my book,</a> "Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge," back in 2013. As I mentioned before, I also had a great debate with him and Marc Spears of ESPN regarding the Old Media vs. New Media.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ix8XD_4t3R0" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
However, on this topic, we have differing perspectives. Our Facebook exchange prompted me to reach out to Howard Bryant of ESPN and Michael Lee of the Washington Post &mdash; two more men in the media who I have a great deal of respect for &mdash; to further delve into this topic.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/howard-bryant-gt-img.jpg" alt="" width="599" height="377" />
First, here is my conversation with Howard Bryant:
Etan: Do you think it&rsquo;s ethical for TMZ, supermarket tabloids, etc. as members of the media to pay an employee for pictures or video or leaked footage in your opinion?
Howard Bryant: "So let&rsquo;s break this down. The word 'media' covers a lot of ground. In the current world of social media, podcasts, athletes executive producing documentaries, etc., media and journalism are not always the same thing. So to address your specific question, is it ethical to pay for material? Well, in traditional journalism, the answer is no. However, is it a practice that is a common practice? Sure. When Jackie Robinson retired in 1956, he sold his story to Life Magazine for $5,000. Is it ethical for someone to pay for a leaked tape of a racist owner talking about Magic Johnson? Is it ethical for someone to take a tape of something that doesn&rsquo;t belong to them &mdash; which I think is really the question &mdash; so if you have a tape of the Golden State Warriors practice, which is not yours, even though they say possession is 9/10ths of the law, to go and take that info and profit off of it? So let&rsquo;s break down the second piece of this...
Etan: Well, before you go there, I think everyone will agree on that part as far as the employee of the Warriors selling the info to TMZ. But I&rsquo;m not quite asking about it from the employee&rsquo;s standpoint, but more from the media-outlet standpoint.
Bryant: "So from the media-outlet standpoint, yes, it&rsquo;s news. And it depends on your policies, and that&rsquo;s the difference between what we would call 'reputable' media and 'tabloid' media. The tabloid media has always paid for information. If you go back and look at the British tabloids, that&rsquo;s all they do; that&rsquo;s why they call them 'paparazzi.' If you can snap me a picture of X athlete, I got $20 for you. If you can snap me a picture of X athlete and his family, I got $50 for you. If you can snap me a picture of X athlete and his mistress, I got $1,000 for you. They have been doing this forever. But for traditional, reputable journalism, the answer was always, 'No. We don&rsquo;t do that, period.'"
Etan: So you&rsquo;re saying there is absolutely no crossover of this practice into reputable journalism?
Bryant: "Well, what we are seeing now, especially in the age of documentary &mdash; everyone wants to get paid to talk. So the money piece of journalism is becoming a greater and greater piece of reputable journalism, and this disreputable piece has become even bigger because the celebrity side of it is becoming more and more important.&nbsp;
"So if you&rsquo;re TMZ right now, is it reputable? Probably not. But on the other hand, as these other sides become more and more powerful, would TMZ be doing the people somewhat of a service, however they obtained their information? Is it important for the public to know what happened? Absolutely."
Etan: So you&rsquo;re saying the ends justify the means?
Bryant: "I don&rsquo;t know... I&rsquo;m saying that is the quandary. Do you feel it&rsquo;s valuable journalism? Does the public need to know that Donald Trump said what he said on the Access Hollywood tape? Is that piece of information valuable to the public? Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes it&rsquo;s no. Is it important for us to hear what <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/howard-beck-explains-differences-in-donald-sterling-robert-sarver-cases-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Sterling said</a>? That was the smoking gun that led to him being forced to sell the team. It literally changed the history of the NBA. So was it valuable? Yes. Would I have paid for it? No I wouldn&rsquo;t, but was it important? Sometimes that trash journalism that people have decried for a long time actually produces valuable information.
"The question is, how do we sit with that practice? Which I believe is your question. We would like to think that we take the improper obtaining of the information and we do proper things with it. Or do we just sink deeper into the gutter?"
Etan: Right. So the question then becomes: When do all of those involved become part of this improper or disreputable equation? And how can you separate TMZ and those of that ilk from the traditional, reputable media if the traditional media is complacent and finds value in what is produced from the disreputable media? Does what I'm saying make sense?
Bryant: "Makes perfect sense. And that again is the quandary. But let me answer the first part, then we&rsquo;ll get to the second part of your question. It&rsquo;s tough to just say 'the media, the media, the media.' It drives me crazy when athletes say that because I&rsquo;m like... y&rsquo;all are talking about yourselves too."
Etan: Of course, and this is what so many are pushing for the police to do with the so-called &ldquo;bad apples&rdquo; &mdash; although I don&rsquo;t agree with that theory; it&rsquo;s more of a bad system, but that&rsquo;s a whole 'nother discussion &mdash; but who better to criticize and hold the entire entity of the media accountable than someone from within? I&rsquo;m a part of the media now.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Bryant: "Are you a journalist?"
Etan: Yes, I am.
Bryant: "Then the standards have to apply to you as well, right?"
Etan: Definitely, but I also feel that I am in the position where I can criticize from both sides, having been a player. Seeing a lot of what I don&rsquo;t like in the media and becoming a part of it, I'm attempting to do things differently and having the journalistic integrity to call out what I see as going against reputable media. So if I see someone like a TMZ and I say I have seen the media do this too often...
Bryant: "I hear you, but I would still make a distinction between tabloid journalism and our reputable journalism because we don&rsquo;t all operate the same way."
Etan: And I get that, but I will say that after TMZ did obtain this info, every media outlet &mdash; whether reputable or not &mdash; did report from that information; thus, becoming part of the equation. So if you are not condemning the practice, then the only possible conclusion or connection is that you are complicit, excusing and/or in support of it, right?
Bryant: "I hear you, but it&rsquo;s what you do with the information and how you use it. If you see the information of Ray Rice slugging his girlfriend in an elevator, that information that you obtained from TMZ or whoever, you then apply ethical journalistic standards to following the rest of that information. Your issue is more of the process of tabloid journalism and not of the media as a whole in and of itself, and I get that. But we have to ask ourselves, 'Is this information important for the public to have?' And many times, it is. Not always, but many times it is, and I think that&rsquo;s the difference
"Was it in the public&rsquo;s interest to know the details of what was in the Pentagon papers? One hundred percent, yes. Is it in the public's interest to know what Ime Udoka is doing in his private life? Not really. I don&rsquo;t think so. So there&rsquo;s a thin line. If the people in power are lying to you, the entire dynamic changes. Whether those people are an NBA organization, an administration in the White House, the police, a company, a business &mdash; it does change things. So yeah, it depends."
Etan: Are you at all surprised that you don&rsquo;t hear some of the reputable media outlets or journalists condemning the TMZs of the world or the supermarket tabloids that pay for stories and leaked footage and pictures, etc.?
Bryant: "No, not at all. But everyone has to understand &mdash; this has been going on for 100 years. So I think what it comes down to, that the instructions have decided and we went through this in journalism school, is that there are different layers to doing this job, and we&rsquo;re going to let the public decide who you trust.&nbsp;
"But that&rsquo;s why this job requires ethics. That&rsquo;s why this job is really, really important and shouldn&rsquo;t be taken lightly. The media has the goal of obtaining the truth so you can allow the people, who are sitting at home or listening to your podcast or reading your books, the chance to understand and make the discussions for themselves. And the other piece of this that we know is the institutions always lie to the people. So sometimes these things provide the counter. It&rsquo;s not my practice, but I can&rsquo;t lie and say I don&rsquo;t see the value in some instances of the practice."
Etan: Hmm...
Bryant: "But I do get your point. But let me add this: An even bigger problem is when the reputable guys like us think that we&rsquo;re better than everyone else. And when we fall down, then it provides the opportunity for anyone to say, 'Well, they&rsquo;re all the same.' When you have a reputable outlet trading access for information or the practice of withholding information from the public so someone can make money off of a book, and you hold all that information across a presidential election &mdash; and you know what I&rsquo;m talking about &mdash; that gives us more of a bad name than the TMZs and supermarket press. Although, I understand your overall point. But an argument could be made that that&rsquo;s also unethical and putting yourself ahead of the public. So that&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s up to us to make sure that we are walking the walk."
Etan: That makes sense.
Bryant: "Listen Etan, I&rsquo;ve known you for a long time and have read your work for a long time and I appreciate the fact that you are trying to hold the media accountable. Because the fact of the matter is, if we reputable media start doing unethical things like the tabloid media, then it is all the same and your point holds. So yes, I appreciate you in this space."
Etan: Well, I appreciate you too, and that&rsquo;s why I wanted to reach out to you for this discussion. Very good breakdown, I appreciate you taking the time, sir.
Bryant: "Anytime Etan. This was a great discussion."
I also had a lengthy discussion with Michael Lee of the Washington Post.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/c05ca8fe-0a76-47d4-bc1b-cff2aa8e0649.png" alt="" width="601" height="602" />
This, too, was a very open, honest and thorough talk about the ethics of journalism and tabloid vs. reputable media. You can listen to our conversation below:
<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YbTxm40f5sINqxwyQBag-I2zz4XapLP3/preview" width="100%" height="100" frameborder="0"></iframe>
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1.png" alt="" width="600" height="300" />

Etan Thomas has a healthy discussion with well-respected media members about the Warriors' leaked tape and journalistic practices.

Is it ethical for the media to pay NBA employees for leaked footage?

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) &mdash; Doc Rivers is at ease using his platform as an NBA coach to fight bigotry and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-lakers-orlando-magic-milwaukee-bucks-covid-nba-a0eb7661e235e49472f8fe634e5694f7">racial injustice</a>, campaign for politicians he believes in and advocate for social change on themes ranging from poverty to police brutality.
Sometimes, his speeches sound like they were delivered by someone running for office. Might the 60-year-old Rivers, the son of a Chicago police officer, someday stump for change as an actual politician?
&ldquo;Oh God, no. I wouldn&rsquo;t win, number one,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;And number two, that&rsquo;s not what I want to be.&rdquo;
Rivers is fine with wading into political waters &mdash; and the older he gets and the more he learns about modern issues and Black history with deep meaning to him, the more he speaks out. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-election-doc-rivers-20161109-story.html">At Donald Trump</a>. At police misconduct. At the horrors of racism that have shadowed him his entire life. At the idea that, even as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, it can still be hard to find his place as a Black man in America.
&ldquo;When you hear, &lsquo;America first,&rsquo; that scares me, because I&rsquo;m a Black man and that&rsquo;s not including me,&rdquo; Rivers said last week in an interview with The Associated Press. &ldquo;I want us to all be included. I want us all to function with each other.&rdquo;
Rivers has become an agent of change in the NBA and found his voice as an activist, trying to contribute perhaps more to the league than he has already, first as an All-Star guard and then with a coaching career that includes the 2008 championship with Boston and a spot this year on the list of the <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/nba-75-top-15-coaches-league-history">15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History</a>. That outreach starts at home &mdash; or perhaps, on this point, on the road &mdash; where Rivers used training camp not just as the usual time to rehash X&rsquo;s and O&rsquo;s but as a daily history class. The Sixers practiced at The Citadel, the military college where tanks and jets and plaques dedicated to prisoners of wars dot the campus, an education all part of Rivers&rsquo; plan to squeeze more out of camp than basketball.
&ldquo;All of it is good for us,&rdquo; Rivers said.
The Sixers usually hold camp at their New Jersey complex but Rivers wanted to strengthen team bonding with a road trip. The Sixers gathered last week for team dinners, played card and video games, and had serious conversations, the type of day-to-day activities largely shelved the last two seasons because of COVID-19 protocols.
&ldquo;When you have camp at home, you don&rsquo;t get that,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;They go home at the end of practice and they don&rsquo;t spend time with each other.&rdquo;
Rivers was a guard with the Knicks in the early 1990s when the team held camp at the College of Charleston. Back then, coach Pat Riley made the players walk from the team hotel to the arena.
The 76ers stuck to the team bus last week.
Rivers and the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjNiiDBOzeX/?hl=en">Sixers organized field trips to the Old Slave Mart Museum</a>, often staffed by individuals who trace their history to the enslaved people of Charleston, and to the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture. Citadel President Gen. Glenn Walters and retired professor and historian Bernard Powers both spoke to the team.
&ldquo;My people, my African people coming here, the people that gave up their lives for us to be able to be in this position, it was good to learn about all of that,&rdquo; said center Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon and recently <a href="https://apnews.com/article/philadelphia-76ers-nba-sports-basketball-joel-embiid-84c7239b1fd373687d0e4efba7688623">became a U.S. citizen</a>.
Powers said by phone that he talked to the Sixers at their team hotel about such topics as the role Charleston played in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the slave revolt of 1739 and the descendants of enslaved people known as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-georgia-property-taxes-savannah-2037b8ba08c5aad82cc3ebbb89849874">Gullah</a>, who live in small island communities scattered over 425 miles (684 kilometers) of the Southern Atlantic U.S. coast.
&ldquo;This was the port where a greatly disproportionate number of Africans were brought here,&rdquo; Powers said. &ldquo;This place, more than any other, might be very likely a source of their ancestry. They could think about perhaps having a personal connection to this place.&rdquo;
Rivers believed the experiences resonated with a team full of 20-somethings all the way up to coaching staff veterans.
&ldquo;Teaching American history is under assault right now. And it&rsquo;s not Black history or teaching about slavery, it&rsquo;s American history,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;And so I was amazed. The first thing that I was taught the other day was, how many players, and not only players, coaches, came up to me and said, &lsquo;Wow, I never was taught that in my history class.&lsquo;&rdquo;
Rivers referenced learning about shameful historic chapters such as the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tulsa-massacres-race-and-ethnicity-af589e8c37a31bcd30f0f7977a9ca4c0">Tulsa Race Massacre</a> as an adult rather than learning about the white mobs in school as one reason he has pushed for more Black history to be taught in all schools.
&ldquo;You should know your history. You really should,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;Could you imagine if we were not taught the history of Germany and the Holocaust? There really is no difference. I want to make sure we&rsquo;re taught the same history.&rdquo;
History matters, but it's today&rsquo;s headlines that trouble Rivers.
Before he took questions from reporters after Wednesday&rsquo;s practice at The Citadel, Rivers addressed the death of a 14-year-old shot in the chest near a northwest Philadelphia high school athletic field. The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-philadelphia-710cc55cdb89fa8a946db84d3cb74924">shooting occurred</a> hours after Mayor Jim Kenney signed an executive order banning guns and deadly weapons from the city&rsquo;s indoor and outdoor recreation spaces including parks, basketball courts and pools.
Rivers, as he has in the past, urged for stricter laws on firearms.
&ldquo;Obviously, if anybody knew the answer, we would try to find the answer there, you know, other than taking guns off the street,&rdquo; Rivers told reporters. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s too political. So we&rsquo;ve got to figure it out.&rdquo;
Rivers mentioned a few times during his AP interview that he doesn&rsquo;t want to get &ldquo;too political&rdquo; but matters of state matter to him. He was invited before the 2020 election to <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2020/11/02/doc-rivers-joe-biden-rally-philadelphia-76ers-donald-trump-election/">speak at a Joe Biden rally</a> after the <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/76ers/news/presidential-candidate-joe-biden-quotes-76ers-doc-rivers">Democratic presidential candidate used Rivers&rsquo; words</a> on the Jacob Blake police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in his own speech at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, calling for racial unity. Rivers later <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-joel-embiid-doc-rivers-philadelphia-76ers-michael-jordan-fdc9df2eb2206acf110a02d6d51d5c5d">decried the riotous Jan. 6 attack</a> on the U.S. Capitol, though he said at the time that &ldquo;democracy will prevail.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t used to be&rdquo; political, Rivers said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always been aware of politics, I&rsquo;ve always been involved. But what got me involved is, we have this separation of race now, of pitting races against each other.&rdquo;
Rivers <a href="https://coalition.nba.com/about/">serves on the board</a> of the NBA Social Justice Coalition. The advocacy organization called members of Congress in support of an executive order designed to improve accountability in policing. Rivers was in Washington when <a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-biden-covid-health-law-enforcement-agencies-10587efaf2a8858261ad00c92a575aef">Biden signed the order</a> on the second anniversary of George Floyd&rsquo;s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. The order was meant to reflect the challenges in addressing racism, excessive use of force and public safety when Congress is deadlocked on stronger measures.
&ldquo;I think we need police reform,&rdquo; Rivers said. &ldquo;Our training has to be better. The thing that bothers me is that everyone should want that, including the police.&rdquo;
The Sixers coach said today&rsquo;s NBA players are more politically aware and involved in societal change than when he played in the 1980s and '90s but he wanted more of the wealthy players, especially ones with millions of social media followers, to speak up on thorny current events. Rivers talked to the Sixers about the power of voting &mdash; the NBA this season scheduled no games on <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-nba-sports-voter-registration-827945d5b94f984baa992d71809a1c6b">Nov. 8, which is Election Day</a> &mdash; but won&rsquo;t force his players to vote.
But he can make them listen.

Doc Rivers is at ease using his platform as an NBA coach to fight bigotry and racial injustice.

76ers' Doc Rivers merges Black history lessons into camp

In a released statement, Phoenix Suns and Mercury governor Robert Sarver announced that he will be reluctantly <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/robert-sarver-announces-intentions-to-sell-phoenix-suns-mercury" target="_blank" rel="noopener">selling his portion of the franchise</a>. Simultaneously, he made sure to make the point clear that this was against his wishes, and that he didn&rsquo;t believe any of this was fair to him.&nbsp;
Let&rsquo;s be clear: This isn&rsquo;t a real punishment. Sarver is cashing out, and stands to make around $2 billion when he sells the franchise. But that doesn&rsquo;t appear to be the point for him. No, instead, Sarver has somehow transformed himself into the victim in the situation.
Recently, AndScape senior writer (and frequent guest on ESPN's Around The Horn) David Dennis Jr. <a href="https://archive.wpfwfm.org/mp3/wpfw_220922_100000collision.mp3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joined my show</a> with Dave Zirin, "The Collision: Where Sports And Politics Collide."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
We asked Dennis to discuss Sarver&rsquo;s unapologetic departure and his possible plans in the near future.
Etan Thomas: David, I want to read <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidDTSS/status/1572641668251389952?s=20&amp;t=3AvIsxxafvOpk7M31VHjsw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a tweet of yours</a>. I want you just to go a little bit more in-depth. In this tweet, I saw the segment on Around the Horn and I thought it was great; that's the reason I reached out to you. But your tweet said, "Pardon my cynicism here, but Sarver already seems to be planning out his cancel culture tour that is going to make him richer than he was before. And we've seen all of this before." Go into a little more detail about what you meant.
David Dennis Jr.: "Yeah. So, he took an excruciatingly long, what, five days to decide to give up the team? And Sarver has already greased the wheels to start his cancel culture tour, which we've seen so many celebrities do after they're called out for racism, misogyny, sexual misconduct, etc. Instead of owning up to it, they say, 'Well, I was canceled by this woke mob.' Basically, code language that says, 'These Black folks, these women, etc. are out of control and they cost me my career,' and they go on a Fox News tour pushing that false narrative. And Sarver's comments that he made about why he's selling the team were all about that. It was about the fact that he wasn't given a chance to do right, it was the fact that he was basically saying cancel culture without saying that phrase.
"And this is a pathway that so many other people have taken that he now seems ready to take himself. He can write a book about how he was wronged by these NBA players. He can go on Fox News and the Newsmaxes of the world as a business consultant and talk about this. He can go on a worldwide tour, basically talking about how he was the affronted person, because of the fact that he was not allowed to clear himself of all of the racism and misogyny that he was accused of. And we've seen this so many times, and there's so much money to be made in it. Now, as far as the penalty? There&rsquo;s really no penalty for being a terrible person. I mean, he's already going to sell the team for $2 billion, and he has a financial forward-thinking thing that he's already looking forward to."
Dave Zirin: What were your thoughts, David, about the way that Adam Silver handled all of this? Initially, Silver was widely criticized for how he handled this. And then, a school of thought has emerged that said, "Maybe Silver played it correctly because he allowed public opinion to push Sarver out." I frankly wonder if that gives Silver too much credit, but I would love to hear your thoughts.
Dennis: "Yeah. I mean, there's one thing that this country loves to do &mdash; it loves to give white men the benefit of the doubt, especially when it comes to racial reckoning, right? There's always some idea that there is some great master plan. I don't see the master plan. I see a guy who was being paid by the owners to speak out on behalf of the owners, and that's what he did. The other 30 white-men billionaires did not see enough of a problem with what Sarver did to kick him out of the league. Adam Silver got that memo, and he went out there and was the voice box for those people. If the NBA really felt like Sarver did something or felt like they could say something strong about Sarver, the statement that they put out, the investigation would not have said that there is no racial or sexist animus in his actions of saying the N-word or insulting women.
"It was, 'Here's the information, but also, we're going to defend him at the same time.' Adam Silver, probably deep down in his hope of hopes, thought that this wasn't going to happen so that he would get let off the hook and that the NBA would look good in the long run. But the problem with that is he ends up putting the onus on Black folks, Black players, Black fans to protest. But whatever happened to white folks just going out and doing what's right just because it's the right thing to do? Which, we did not see from the other owners."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Pardon my cynicism here but Sarver already seems to be planning out his &ldquo;cancel culture tour&rdquo; and it&rsquo;s going to make him richer than he was before. We&rsquo;ve seen this before. <a href="https://t.co/ZluZo9Zdwn">pic.twitter.com/ZluZo9Zdwn</a>
&mdash; David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidDTSS/status/1572641668251389952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Etan: It's interesting. We had <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/howard-beck-explains-differences-in-donald-sterling-robert-sarver-cases-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sports Illustrated writer Howard Beck on last week</a>, and he made some good points. I asked him the difference between this situation and the Donald Sterling situation, and why they were handled differently. I thought a precedent had been set and this one didn't follow that. But he made some good points. He said some of the differences being No. 1, there was no smoking gun, no actual audio of Sarver saying this that could be repeatedly played throughout the media. The timing of everything, there wasn't the player uproar or the national media uproar, like there was with Sterling.
And he talked about even the press conference, the amount of media that was there, it paled in comparison to that of Sterling. Do you think those are all relevant factors as to why Adam Silver and the governors were reluctant to give Sarver the Sterling treatment? Or do you think those are irrelevant factors?
Dennis: "I do think that those are factors. I think, here's the biggest factor, is that [the] Donald Sterling [incident] happened in what, 2013, 2014? And since then, these white billionaires have learned that if you are in fact caught on tape saying terrible things about people, you can still become the President of the United States. And so, you've learned that there are more people who actually side with you for these things than they thought before. There was a time when Donald Sterling did this that people thought, 'Oh, this is going to be universally panned as wrong.'
"But now, we live in a society where people believe what Robert Sarver did was not wrong, and he has more backers than they originally thought. And billionaires are more likely to stick to their guns because they see that we have a country in which racism and misogyny are more accepted than they once thought it was. If you could be on the Supreme Court or President of the United States or continue to own your companies, then why the hell do I even have to listen to a bunch of Black players, a bunch of Black fans who are just upset? I'm still the one with power. So, I think that is the biggest change. It's not the change in the players or the league. It's society as a whole, that is more accepting in this country of racism, and despite all the cancel culture stuff that they're talking about."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Zirin: But do you think, David, that there's also been a polarization? I mean, since Donald Sterling, obviously the great societal difference since then has been the growth and expansion through 2020 of the Black Lives Matter movement, the largest demonstrations in the history of the United States. I mean, it makes me wonder if the climate has also produced an environment where if we were coming up on the season, players would not have put up with this either. And I think that might have created a much greater conflict than what we're currently seeing.
Dennis: "Oh yeah. I mean, I agree in saying that there's racism, but I think that they feel like they have more backers behind what Sarver's doing than they once thought before. So, it is a different sort of environment. And players were going to be more vocal and do all those things, but there was also probably enough of what the owners believed that they can put up with than they probably could before. There's more of an appetite for being okay upsetting Black people, I think, than before. And then that's why we end up with this sort of head-on collision.
Etan: You referenced Robert Sarver's statement. I want to read a little bit of so people know exactly what we're talking about. Sarver said in his statement:&nbsp;
<blockquote>
Words that I deeply regret now overshadow nearly two decades of building organizations that brought people together and strengthened the Phoenix area through the unifying power of professional men's and women's basketball. As a man of faith, I believe in atonement and the path to forgiveness, I expected that the commissioner's one year suspension will provide the time for me to focus, make amends and remove my personal controversy from the teams that I, and so many fans love.
But in our current unforgiving climate, it has become painfully clear that this is no longer possible, that whatever good I have done or could still do is outweighed by what I have said in the past and for those reasons, I am in the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury.
</blockquote>
So, as you said, he doesn't sound very apologetic. He really sounded like he's going to not go away quietly, but we might see him on that Fox News, right-wing Tucker Carlson tour talking about how he was done wrong and unjustly forced to sell his team.
Dennis: "Yes, that's exactly what he is doing. And another thing, he said he wanted a year to atone for this. He had a year; the investigative report came out a year ago. So, these things were already out, and he had a year to fix this and make this right. And we don't even know if those are words he regrets because Robert Sarver's the only person who says that, when he said the N-word, he was repeating it from somebody else. So, we don't even know if he's telling the truth about the origin of why he was saying those words in the first place. Because I do find it hard to believe that he heard another Black person say, 'N-words in the back, white people in the front.' And he just decided to repeat that? So, he had all the time to atone and do all that stuff. This just feels like a defense that he's going to use as fuel for his... whatever campaign that he's going to run going forward."
Etan: But let me jump right in with that. Even with that, people leave out the part about Earl Watson telling him, "Wait a minute, you can't say that word. It means something different when you say it." And then, him ignoring, I guess, what Earl Watson said, or [thinking] "You&rsquo;re beneath me, you can't tell me what I can't say. Why can't I say the N-word too? if Draymond Green could say it, why can't I say it?" So he kept saying the N-word over and over &mdash; the actual word.
And it's just interesting hearing a lot of people, who happen to be white, not understand how that's unacceptable in any way shape or form when you're specifically told that what you were saying is offensive. You know what I mean? I don't understand how so many people don't make that connection.
Dennis: "I think that connection is very clear. I just think they don't care. And that's exactly what Sarver said to Earl Watson. That he doesn't care. And I think that's going to be part of his next thing is why. Can't you see him doing an N-word documentary about why can't white people say this word and Black people can? This is a tale as old as time. Every time a white person gets called out for saying the N-word, we all ask the question of, 'Why can't white people say it?' And I just want to know, why do white people want to say it so badly? It just feels like if I'm in a conversation with somebody and they say, 'Hey, that's offensive,' a decent human being just says, 'Okay, my bad, I apologize.' That&rsquo;s just how human interaction works. But this has literally tormented white folks for decades that they cannot say this one word.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Zirin: It's really staggering. I mean, I have teenage children who understand why you don't say that word in any context. And yet, these supposedly "masters of the universe," emphasis on the word "masters" in their own mind, can't get it through their own heads about what is, or is not, offensive. And it's because as you said, they're leaning in that direction in the first place and they resent the fact they can't do what their great grandfathers were able to do, I think they say to themselves, "Why am I denied what previous generations of my white forefathers were able to do?" And that, in and of itself, offends them.
Dennis: "Yeah. I mean, and if we want to talk about a very long history, there's a long history of white men having trouble with the word 'no' when it comes to a lot of things. And part of becoming a white billionaire, quite frankly, is not taking no for an answer &mdash; no matter who it harms. And that comes to a head in these situations, and that&rsquo;s exactly what we saw with Robert Sarver."
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/violalogo1.png" alt="" width="750" height="375" />

David Dennis Jr. speaks on Robert Sarver's poor attempt to spin his selling of the Suns and Mercury into a victim mentality.

Disgraced NBA team governor Robert Sarver blames everyone but himself

Following a 10-month investigation into claims of racism, sexism, misogyny and workplace misconduct, the NBA recently announced that Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver would be suspended for one year and fined $10 million. Now, many people in and around the NBA are calling for a harsher punishment.
On Friday, NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio appeared on ESPN&rsquo;s NBA Today and said that Sarver should be banned for life.
&ldquo;We are absolutely calling for that,&rdquo; Tremaglio told ESPN&rsquo;s Malika Andrews. &ldquo;I am speaking on behalf of our players.&rdquo;
Over the last 48 hours, prominent players and sponsors have also made it clear that they don't agree with the Sarver ruling.
On Wednesday, both LeBron James and Chris Paul spoke out on Twitter.
&ldquo;Read through the Sarver stories a few times now. I gotta be honest&hellip; Our league definitely got this wrong,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;Y&rsquo;all read the stories and decide for yourself. I said it before and I&rsquo;m gonna say it again, there is no place win this league for that kind of behavior. I love this league and I deeply respect out leadership. But this isn&rsquo;t right. There is no place for racism, misogyny, sexism, and racism in any work place. Don&rsquo;t matter if you own the team or play for the team. We hold our league up as an example of our values and this ain&rsquo;t it.&rdquo;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Paul, who has played for the Suns since 2020-21, agreed with James and mentioned that Adam Silver&rsquo;s decision wasn&rsquo;t harsh enough.
&ldquo;Like many others, I reviewed the report. I was and am horrid and disappointed by what I read,&rdquo; Paul said. &ldquo;This conduct especially towards women is unacceptable and must never be repeated. I am of the view that the sections fell short in truly addressing what we can all agree was atrocious behavior. My heart goes out to all of the people that were affected.&rdquo;
PayPal, one of the Suns&rsquo; primary sponsors (which includes a jersey-patch deal since 2018), publicly stated that they will not renew their contract after next season if Sarver keeps his ownership stake.
&ldquo;PayPal is a values-driven company and has a strong record of combatting racism, sexism, and all forms of discrimination,&rdquo; CEO Dan Schulman said in a statement. &ldquo;We have reviewed the report of the NBA league&rsquo;s independent investigation into Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver and have found his conduct unacceptable and in conflict with our values. PayPal&rsquo;s sponsorship with the Suns is set to expire at the end of the current season. In light of the findings of the NBA&rsquo;s investigation, we will not renew our sponsorship should Robert Sarver remain involved with the Suns organization, after serving his suspension.
"While we strongly reject the conduct of Robert Sarver, we remain supportive of the team, its players, and the experienced and diverse talent now leading the organization, including: Head Coach Monty Williams, General Manager James Jones, Assistant General Manager Morgan Cato, and Senior Vice President of People and Culture Kim Corbitt.&rdquo;
Basketball News&rsquo; Etan Thomas <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/howard-beck-explains-differences-in-donald-sterling-robert-sarver-cases-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke with SI's Howard Beck yesterday</a> about how the Sarver decision differed from the Donald Sterling ban, how Silver has handled this and what could happen next.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Following the NBA&rsquo;s announcement, Sarver released the following statement:
&ldquo;Good leadership requires accountability. For the Suns and Mercury organizations, that begins with me,&rdquo; Sarver wrote. &ldquo;While I disagree with some of the particulars in the NBA&rsquo;s report, I would like to apologize for my words and actions that offended our employees. I take full responsibility for what I have done. I am sorry for casing this pain, and these errors in judgement are not consistent with my personal philosophy or my values.
"I accept the consequences of the NBA&rsquo;s decision. This moment is an opportunity for me to demonstrate a capacity to learn and grow as we continue to build a working culture where every employee feels comfortable and valued.
"I am extraordinarily proud of the Suns and Mercury organizations and the record we have built concerning diversity, inclusion, and giving back to the community. It means a great deal to me that our dedicated and hardworking employees have made Phoenix a basketball destination &mdash; for both players and fans.&rdquo;
Key figures within the organization will soon speak publicly at the Suns' Media Day on September 26. This situation isn't going away and it's likely that more players and coaches will speak out once Media Days and training camps get underway.

Following the NBA's suspension of Suns owner Robert Sarver, many people in and around the NBA are calling for a harsher punishment.

NBPA, stars, sponsors call for Suns owner Robert Sarver to be banned

Howard Beck is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated who was front and center during NBA Commissioner Adam Silver&rsquo;s press conference on Wednesday. His direct question to Silver about the difference in behavioral standards and accountability for Robert Sarver vs. any other employee in the NBA went viral, as many were shocked by the Commissioner&rsquo;s answer.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
"There are particular rights here to someone who owns an NBA team as opposed to somebody who is an employee." Adam Silver answered <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardBeck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HowardBeck</a>'s question as to why there is a different standard held for Robert Sarver as an owner in the NBA (via <a href="https://twitter.com/NBATV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBATV</a>) <a href="https://t.co/ndmwDr7rkN">pic.twitter.com/ndmwDr7rkN</a>
&mdash; Sports Illustrated (@SInow) <a href="https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1570142214042288136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
On Thursday morning, Beck <a href="http://archive.wpfwfm.org/mp3/wpfw_220915_100000collision.mp3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joined my show with Dave Zirin</a> ("The Collision, Where Sports And Politics Collide&rdquo;) to discuss how the Sarver situation differs from the Donald Sterling investigation.
Dave Zirin: What was the mood at that presser? Did you feel like you were alone in having this concern, this question of the hypocrisy at play?&nbsp;
Howard Beck: "Yeah, I mean, just to set the scene a little bit... This is at a Midtown hotel that the NBA uses often, and so this is a very ornate ballroom that is always set up for Adam Silver's press conferences following a Board of Governors' meeting. It feels pretty formal in those rooms. It's interesting to think about Donald Sterling, which we'll get to, I'm sure, but eight years ago that had to be moved to a massive hotel ballroom at a different hotel because of obviously the international interest. I mean, CNN was there and I think Inside Edition or one of those [shows] and all the TV entertainment shows, like TMZ, everybody. There were hundreds of people in the room for the Sterling thing because of the nature of that and because of how public it was in the wake of the tape. This was a much more scaled down, kind of sedate, very formal news conference.
"It was a smaller group, maybe a dozen of us, and we're there to ask Adam, I think, just questions about the process, how they reached it. Clearly by my question and some others', we're also bringing to the table, 'These are the concerns, if not our own necessarily, but the things we know are out there. This is how the public is reacting.' People would like to know why this is different to Donald Sterling. To the point of my question to him, why a team owner can do things and still hold his position that the average employee would be fired for within seconds. It's not an emotional back and forth. It's a fairly standard press conference where you're just looking to see where Adam Silver's rationale is... trying to get the best explanation for the public and to inform whatever pieces we may be writing about it. There's not a tone in there. It's just a back-and-forth standard press conference in the way I felt it."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Etan Thomas: I want to ask you specifically about his explanation of how it's so different than the situation with Donald Sterling.
Howard Beck: "If you want to drill down, and listen, we should remember this throughout our discussion today and anybody's discussion of any of this: Adam Silver's a lawyer by trade. He's been the Commissioner for eight or so years now. He's worked in the NBA for a couple decades, 20 maybe closer to 30 years. He's a lawyer by training, and the people who wrote this report on Robert Sarver are lawyers. It was a law firm that was hired to do it.
"Keep that in mind when we talk about the differences between Sarver and Sterling, because I think the facts that are on the table and viewing it through the prism of, if you're a lawyer processing this and you're thinking about what you can prove versus what is clear, what you can accomplish versus what you would like to accomplish, which may be different things... Look at it through the lens of a lawyer. I think sometimes that's helpful to understand how the league got to where it did.
"Donald Sterling, when it happened, there was a tape. There's that. Smoking gun right out the gate. No smoking gun when Baxter Holmes' story for ESPN first comes out last November. There was this wait and see. We got to have an investigation. We got to hire this law firm. They're going to interview hundreds of people. The law firm has finished its work. We now have that in hand. There's still no smoking gun that is comparable to Donald Sterling being taped by his mistress surreptitiously saying a bunch of horrendously offensive things, racist things that the whole world then got to listen to together repeatedly. That's the first piece. The second piece is that when the Sterling..."
Etan Thomas: Wait, wait, wait. Before we go to the second piece, let me just follow that up. Was it more about the court of public opinion or is it more of the legal court? Because if they interviewed all the people, they never said &mdash; and you correct me if I'm wrong &mdash; that the interviewees didn't coincide with the allegations.
Howard Beck: "Right."
Etan Thomas: They didn't have any of that, so there was no dispute on if he actually said what he was accused of saying, correct?
Howard Beck: "Yeah, for the most part. When Sarver responded to the report and to the suspension the other day, his quotes for his statement that he put out basically were like, 'I accept this and I'm sorry, but I don't agree with all of the chapter in verse.' There was a little bit of quibbling still even as he was accepting the results. We don't know which of those things there were. But yes, you're right, largely everything that had been alleged has now been corroborated through hundreds and hundreds of interviews by the law firm. Yes, but I'm saying... You asked the right question, of course, which is, 'Are we talking about court or court of public opinion?' I think it's both.
"To go back to Sterling for a minute... Here's the full scope of what happens with Sterling. There's a tape, so everybody can be appalled by hearing it themselves. It's not just reports of what somebody said or witnesses heard. We are all hearing it, so there's that shock value. Then on top of that, it happens during the playoffs. It happens involving Donald Sterling's team during the playoffs, and now they're going out to the court with their jerseys on inside-out as a form of quiet protest, but talking amongst themselves [about not playing] and surely the league, of course, was aware that. You've got a threat of a player strike. You've got sponsors fleeing. You've got the whole world saying, 'NBA, what are you going to do? How can you have this guy in your midst?'
"The pressure on the league at that moment was intense. Thus the hundreds and hundreds of media members in a ballroom for Adam Silver's press conference versus the dozen yesterday. The circumstances were so different that, I think, when you ask about the court of public opinion versus what you can prove in court or what the NBA can prove if they need to, to justify ousting an owner, it all kind of merges a little bit, because you need the groundswell of support. You need the public support. You need the players to be pushing in a certain direction. You need to get enough of the other NBA owners to support you as Commissioner, because Adam Silver cannot unilaterally oust anybody. He doesn't have that power.
"Because of the groundswell of outrage that happened with the Sterling case and how immediate it was and how intense it was, Adam Silver had all of the backing in the world, all the political capital, if you want to put it in those terms, to make the tough decision and say, 'He's done, he's out.' Plus, Donald Sterling had an estranged wife, Shelly Sterling, who was a part owner of the team and could wrest control from him, which helped the NBA immensely in that whole process. When you ask why it's different... Listen, racism is racism, sexism is sexism, misogyny is misogyny, and hostile workplace environment and everything else that's happened under Sarver is what it is. But the political reality of trying to remove an owner, that's why it's different than Sterling. It's the things I just laid out. Those things make, I think, the path to trying to resolve this in the same fashion much more difficult."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Dave Zirin: I think the key element there, Howard, is the idea of a player revolt during the playoffs as opposed to an offseason where it's difficult to get comment. Chris Paul weighed in, LeBron James weighed in. But it's not the sort of thing where there are cameras in the faces of players after every game asking their opinion. Did you see that as a vital difference in terms of the court of public opinion?
Howard Beck: "This is one of the things that's interesting to me. If the NBA... Now listen, I'm not going to say the NBA had complete control over the timing of the investigation. That's always kind of a murky thing to try to assess, but all along we've been going, 'What's taking so long? What's taking so long?' I asked Adam that question multiple times at multiple press conferences over the last year. The NBA's best option in this case would've been to have this investigation, this report, come out like a month or a month-and-a-half ago in the dead of the offseason so that by the time Media Day comes along and training camps open, we've all kind of forgotten about it.
"This is now fresh in everybody's minds. It's mid-September. Everyone's reporting to training camp within the next two weeks, and Chris Paul and LeBron James, who came out very strongly on Twitter last night, are going to be asked about this on Media Day as will players on probably every team... Certainly all the veteran players who we usually go to for the big-picture type stuff or anybody who's been a very strong social-justice activist in the last few years... the Jaylen Browns of the world. We're going to be asking them all two weeks from now, 'What'd you think of the Sarver conclusion and the fact that he was not banned for life or do you think it was strong enough?' This is going to be front and center, I believe, when training camps open in a couple of weeks.
"There will be at least the possibility of more pressure on the league, more publicity around this story that maybe pushes this thing along. I can't predict that it's going to ever escalate to the level of the Sterling case. I want to caution on this note too: it's not fair for the players to have to bear the burden of adjudicating this or making the league do the right thing, but the players also have the most powerful collective voice on this by far. If Adam Silver can't act without the owners, if the owners don't want to act because they're the other owners and they just don't want to have to do this, because they're worried a bit somebody may be coming for them one day... who has more influence than anybody? It's the 450 players. It's LeBron and Chris Paul as the leaders of that Association.
"They cannot be ignored, and we cannot underestimate how big a deal it was. Dave, you said it, and I was alluding to it earlier... The threat of a player strike or any player action during the playoffs during the Donald Sterling saga was a huge leverage point or a pressure point for the league. I don't think we're going to get to that point in this case, but if the union keeps pushing on this and the players keep pushing on this, I don't think that the NBA can just say, 'Well, we've already resolved it. It's over. We've made our decision.' No. You can always tell a guy, 'You know what? We think it's time to sell.' If he doesn't want to sell, then you can use whatever leverage you've got. You can try to coerce, convince, whatever, and if he doesn't get there, then maybe you take the next step.
"Any given day, Robert Saver can just decide to step out. He doesn't have to own the team. He could also just reduce to minority-owner status, sell the majority share and not be the face of it anymore. Maybe that would be enough for a lot of us who think that this has fallen short to resolve it, but the idea of him still being in that seat courtside in about a year from now when the suspension's over seems like a bad look for the NBA."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Etan Thomas: Let me ask you this, because you gave a path that could possibly happen with training camps opening and players being more vocal about the situation and the possibility that could apply more pressure, but I want to talk to you about the difference in the Adam Silver that we saw yesterday compared to the one we saw eight years ago with Donald Sterling and the language that he used. Now, correct me if I'm wrong at any time in this. When Donald Sterling happened, he pretty much said, "I'm going to urge all of the governors to get on board with this." Something to that effect. Whereas here, it was kind of like, "Well, I work for them, and this is kind of what they want. I feel remorse and I'm sorry to all the victims and people, employees and everything like that, but this is kind of what we have to go with." Totally different, right?
So if Adam Silver had a different tone and approach, could that have changed things a little bit? Because after he did that with Donald Sterling, then immediately you saw Mark Cuban come out in support. The same Mark Cuban who before that was saying that we should be cautious because of the possibility of opening up Pandora's box, but when he set the tone, then the tone changed. You saw Ted Leonsis right after that come out in support. So my question is, in theory, could Adam Silver have set the tone a lot more than he did yesterday?"
Howard Beck: "Yeah, I think that's a really fair point. It's a weird relationship. Adam Silver's the Commissioner, he is the face of the league in a lot of ways politically... the figurehead. He is the lead executive for policy matters and all kinds of just general public relations and business deals and all kinds of stuff, but he doesn't actually lead the NBA. He works for the 30 teams, for the Board of Governors, and so they employ him, not the other way around. That said, yes, in that position, you have the ability, because you've got the bully pulpit and you've got the public's attention... you can lead on the messaging. You can say that, 'I, Adam Silver, the Commissioner of the NBA, believe that this is the kind of conduct that should not exist in our league, and I am urging our Board of Governors to go down this road.'
"The problem is, if you don't think that support is there, you just put yourself out on an island, and the Board of Governors may not be real appreciative of it. They might say, 'We're not there. Sorry.' Now you've suffered a massive public loss where some majority of the 30 owners has voted not to go down this path that you wanted to go, that you have now staked a public claim on. You have to be... Again, I hate putting these things in political terms, but there's an aspect of it. Just like you don't go make some major policy proclamation before you think you've got the votes, you got to count the votes first.
"My guess would be, and then I'm only speculating, but that if Adam Silver doesn't believe he's got the votes and won't have the support to banish somebody for life, which is again a very drastic step that's only been done once... then he is not going to go there. We can criticize it as, 'Well, that's a failure of leadership. If you believe this, you should push it this direction and tell the board to follow you.' But if the board doesn't follow you, now you're out on an island, and you've just lost a lot of capital publicly and with the board. I don't know what that does for your effectiveness in the role. Maybe it's the end of your role."
Etan Thomas: But he did do that with Donald Sterling, and we saw it be effective.
Howard Beck: "Again, I've said this, and Etan, you and I may have even discussed this at some point along the way here. I think that on the one hand, Adam rightly got all the praise that he got for making the bold decision that he did on Sterling swiftly and decisively &mdash; within days after that tape became public, I think it was. That said, it was really the only decision he could make because of all the things we talked about earlier &mdash; because the possibility of a player revolt, because of sponsors fleeing, because of the intense public attention and backlash that just did not exist in this case.
"We can sit here and say, 'Well, if we put everything down on paper, here's all of Donald Sterling's offenses against society. Here's Robert Sarver's offenses against society.' We put them both on paper, and we go, 'Yeah, I think those things equal about the same punishment in our view.' We could do that, but that's not the reality. The reality is, how is the world responding to this and what does that provide the league in terms of the momentum or the support or the cover to try to do something that's really difficult?
"Again, never underestimate the fact that Donald Sterling's wife, Shelly Sterling, as a part owner of the team, played a really influential role in being able to wrest control of the Clippers away from him. There's just not that same element in this case. You can stand on conviction and say that we are going to hold the line. This is the principle. We're applying the same principle broadly, even if these cases are somewhat different. But if you can't follow through, because it's really hard to remove an owner and because you're now introducing a lawsuit that is not going to be a suit against Adam Silver. It's going to be against the whole league. Now all the other owners are having to deal with the legal battle, the financial strain, all the stuff that goes with that. That's a lot that you have to consider before you go down that path."

Howard Beck opens up about the NBA's one-year suspension of Robert Sarver and why he isn't banned for life like Donald Sterling.

Howard Beck explains differences in Donald Sterling, Robert Sarver cases

NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver was likely spared even stronger sanctioning by the NBA for his racist, misogynistic and hostile words and actions because of one key conclusion by investigators, Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday.
The law firm that spent nearly a year digging into the situation determined Sarver's use of slurs &ldquo;was not motivated by racial animus."
Had that not been the case, Silver indicated, Sarver's punishment <a href="https://apnews.com/article/phoenix-suns-nba-sports-basketball-mercury-10452a9e19873c53422d07502053f798">&mdash; a one-year suspension and $10 million fine &mdash;</a> would have been far more severe.
&ldquo;It was relevant," Silver said after the league's Board of Governors meetings concluded. &ldquo;I think if they had made findings that, in fact, his conduct was motivated by racial animus, absolutely that would have had an impact on on the ultimate outcome here. But that&rsquo;s not what they found."
And that, to Silver, is one of the key distinctions between the Sarver case and the one surrounding then-Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling in 2014, when he was banned for life and fined $2.5 million for racist comments.
Some players, Silver said, have reached out to him to voice concerns. Silver said he would keep the details of those conversations private.
But LeBron James &mdash; obviously, one of the league's most prominent player voices ever &mdash; took his concerns public Wednesday night, tweeting that the NBA did not go far enough with Sarver.
&ldquo;I gotta be honest&hellip;Our league definitely got this wrong," <a href="https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1570184134827573248?s=20&amp;t=WgehmbfoznbRtEH1w-V32w">James tweeted to his 52 million followers.</a> &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t need to explain why. Y&rsquo;all read the stories and decide for yourself. I said it before and I&rsquo;m gonna say it again, there is no place in this league for that kind of behavior.
&ldquo;I love this league and I deeply respect our leadership. But this isn&rsquo;t right. There is no place for misogyny, sexism, and racism in any work place. Don&rsquo;t matter if you own the team or play for the team. We hold our league up as an example of our values and this aint it," he wrote.
Suns point guard Chris Paul echoed James' sentiment later Wednesday.
&ldquo;Like many others, I reviewed the report,&rdquo; <a href="https://twitter.com/CP3/status/1570220418191228928">Paul wrote on social media</a>. &ldquo;I was and am horrified and disappointed by what I read. This conduct especially towards women is unacceptable and must never be repeated. ... I am of the view that the sanctions fell short in truly addressing what we can all agree was atrocious behavior. My heart goes out to all of the people that were affected.&rdquo;
The NBA had the option of giving Sarver a longer ban than the one-year suspension. The $10 million fine was the maximum allowable, as was the case with Sterling's $2.5 million fine eight years ago; NBA rules on maximum fines were changed in 2019.
Another reason Silver, who was the ultimate decider of the penalty in this case, stopped short of suspending Sarver for longer or even banning him: He said he took into account a number of anonymous details that could not be revealed in the investigative report that was published Tuesday, along with other elements of Sarver's actions in his 18 years owning the Suns and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.
&ldquo;There were these terrible things," Silver said. &ldquo;There are also many, many people with very positive things to say about him through this process. And ultimately, I took all of that into account in making the decision that the one-year suspension plus the fine was appropriate."
A 10-month investigation into Sarver's behavior confirmed he had used racist language, made sexually inappropriate comments, left some employees &mdash; male and female &mdash; feeling uncomfortable with his words and actions, and took part in what would be considered workplace bullying.
&ldquo;Indefensible is not strong enough,&rdquo; Silver said.
But the league did not have discussions about removing Sarver as owner during the Board of Governors meetings. Silver permanently banned Sterling after tapes of him making racist comments were leaked to TMZ in a move that started the process of Sterling being forced to sell the franchise.
&ldquo;This case is very different," Silver said. &ldquo;It's not that one was captured on tape and the other isn't. ... Mr. Sarver ultimately acknowledged his behavior."
Sarver did, and issued an apology Tuesday, though noted he did not agree with all of the report's findings.
Silver was asked about how most employees of any company would likely face firings if they were to use racial slurs or partake in lewd actions or comments in the way that the investigation showed that Sarver did.
&ldquo;It's hard to make those comparisons to somebody who commits an inappropriate act in the workplace in somewhat of an anonymous fashion versus what is a huge public issue now around this person," Silver said. &ldquo;There's no neat answer here, other than the rights that come with owning an NBA team, how that is set up within our Constitution. What it would take to remove that team from his control is a very involved process, and it&rsquo;s different than holding a job. It just is. When you actually own a team, it&rsquo;s just a very different proposition."
A difference between the Sterling and Sarver cases is this: Sarver cooperated with the league&rsquo;s investigation and Sterling, in many ways, did not. Sterling wound up suing the NBA for $1 billion in federal court after his lifetime ban was announced, saying his constitutional rights were violated.
The report said Sarver &ldquo;repeated or purported to repeat the N-word on at least five occasions spanning his tenure with the Suns."
&ldquo;However, the investigation does not find that Sarver&rsquo;s conduct in any of these instances was motivated by racial animus,&rdquo; the report read, adding that investigators made &ldquo;no finding that Sarver used this racially insensitive language with the intent to demean or denigrate.&rdquo;
The Sterling investigation &mdash; from when the audio tapes of him making racist remarks to a girlfriend were released, to Silver&rsquo;s announcement of the lifetime ban &mdash; took three days. The Sarver probe took 100 times longer, involved more than 320 interviews and the review of more than 80,000 documents and other materials.
Both investigations were handled by the same New York-based firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz. Attorney David Anders led both probes.
Sarver will be welcomed back in 2023, though Silver made clear that his words and actions going forward will be highly scrutinized.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have the right to take away his team," Silver said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to rest on that legal point because of course there could be a process to take away someone&rsquo;s team in this league. It&rsquo;s very involved, and I ultimately made the decision that it didn&rsquo;t rise to that level. But to me, the consequences are severe here on Mr. Sarver."
Sarver&rsquo;s punishment is also similar to others levied in past high-profile examples of wrongdoing, either words, actions or both.
In 1993, then-Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott was fined $25,000 and suspended one year for making &ldquo;racially and ethnically offensive remarks.&rdquo; And last year, the NFL fined the Washington Commanders $10 million, plus investigative fees, after a probe found the team&rsquo;s workplace environment for women was, in the words of Commissioner Roger Goodell, &ldquo;highly unprofessional" &mdash; but stopped short of suspending owner Daniel Snyder.

One key conclusion by investigators may have spared Robert Sarver for his racist, misogynistic and hostile words and actions.

NBA considered suspending Robert Sarver for more than 1 year

RJ Nembhard Jr. had 16 points and six assists, Isaiah Mobley added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and the Cleveland Cavaliers held off the Atlanta Hawks 94-90 on Saturday in the NBA Summer League.
Mobley, a second-round pick in this year's draft, grabbed six rebounds on the offensive end and added four assists for the Cavaliers (3-2). Fellow second-rounder Luke Travers pitched in with 14 points and five boards. Cam Young scored 15 points. First-round pick Ochai Agbaji did not play.
Tyrese Martin scored 21 to top the Hawks (2-3). Chaundee Brown Jr. added 17 points. Chris Clemons finished with 16 points, while Tyson Etienne scored 13.
Atlanta's top pick A.J. Griffin &mdash; 17th overall &mdash; did not play.
PISTONS 102, MAGIC 86
Jules Bernard had 22 points and nine rebounds, Charlie Moore had 21 points and eight assists, and Detroit cruised past Orlando.
Bernard sank all three of his 3-point attempts for the Pistons (3-2). Braxton Key added 15 points, while Stanley Umude scored 13. Detroit sat first-rounders Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren for the finale.
Justin James had 18 points to lead the Magic (2-3). Tommy Kuhse added 13 points, while Zavier Simpson and Daniel Oturu scored 10 apiece.
Orlando dropped its final three games without top pick Paolo Banchero. The Magic decided to pull Banchero from the event just hours before a showdown with No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren and Oklahoma City.
TIMBERWOLVES 89, HORNETS 86
Kevon Harris scored 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting to help Minnesota fend off Charlotte.
Harris hit all four of his 3-pointers for the Timberwolves (2-3). Wendell Moore Jr. had 15 points, while second-round pick Josh Minott scored 12. Marial Shayok had seven points, 10 rebounds and four steals.
JT Thor finished with 28 points and five steals for the Hornets (2-3). Justin Minaya scored 10 points and Mark Williams, the 15th overall pick, had eight points and seven rebounds.
Thor completed a three-point play, then buried a 3-pointer to get the Hornets within 88-86. Jacob Gilyard sank 1 of 2 free throws with 4.9 seconds left and Minott blocked Bryce McGowens' 3-pointer to end the game.
SPURS 90, GRIZZLIES 87
Malaki Branham made five 3-pointers and scored 23 points to help San Antonio turn back Memphis.
Branham, the 20th overall pick, was 5 of 8 from distance to help the Spurs (1-4) notch their first win in their final try. DJ Stewart added 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, while Robert Woodard II had six points to go with 10 rebounds.
Kenneth Lofton Jr. paced the Grizzlies (2-3) with 27 points and 12 rebounds. First-rounder David Roddy added 19 points. Ronaldo Segu and Kennedy Chandler scored 13 and 10, respectively.
Lofton sank a 3-pointer with 2:07 remaining to give Memphis an 87-86 lead. Branham answered with a 3 and Blake Wesley &mdash; the No. 25 pick &mdash; hit 1 of 2 free throws with 4.1 seconds left to cap the scoring. Dakota Mathias missed a 3-pointer on the game's final shot.
BULLS 119, 76ERS 104
Marko Simonovic scored 26 points, Malcolm Hill added 23 and Chicago breezed past Philadelphia.
Simonovic made 11 of 15 shots and grabbed eight rebounds to help the Bulls (4-1) close out with three straight wins. Carlik Jones scored 15 points but had seven of Chicago's 15 turnovers. Dalen Terry, the 18th overall pick, had three points, two assists and two rebounds in nine-plus minutes.
Charlie Brown Jr. led the 76ers (2-3) with 21 points. Grant Riller scored 19. Trevelin Queen had 16 points and seven of Philadelphia's 21 turnovers. Filip Petrusev scored 14.
NETS 102, CELTICS 95
Cam Thomas scored 25 points, David Duke Jr. added 24 and Brooklyn knocked off Boston.
Thomas added six assists for the Nets (3-2), while Duke handed out five. Kessler Edwards scored 15 points and Day'Ron Sharpe had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Juhann Begarin topped the Celtics (3-2) with 25 points. Mfiondu Kabengele scored 18. Second-rounder JD Davison &mdash; Boston's only pick in the draft &mdash; totaled 17 points and 10 rebounds.
KINGS 92, ROCKETS 81
Jeriah Horne scored 20 points to lead Sacramento over Houston
Jared Rhoden pitched in with 15 points and seven rebounds for the Kings (3-2). Sacramento chose to sit No. 4 overall pick Keegan Murray for the finale.
Tari Eason, the No. 17 pick in the draft, had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets (2-3). TyTy Washington Jr. scored 15 points, while Daishen Nix had 14 points and seven boards. No. 3 overall pick Jabari Smith Jr. had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
LAKERS 95, MAVERICKS 84
Cole Swider scored 16 points to spark Los Angeles past Dallas.
Swider sank 4 of 6 from 3-point range for the Lakers (3-2). Jay Huff had 13 points, Javante McCoy scored 12 and Scotty Pippen Jr. 11.
A.J. Lawson had 19 points to lead the Mavericks (0-5) &mdash; the only team without victory in the event. Moses Wright scored 17 with six boards. Jaden Hardy scored 15 but had seven of Dallas' 19 turnovers. Lawson turned it over six times. Jerrick Harding had 11 points and five assists.
HEAT 86, CLIPPERS 83
Kyle Allman Jr. scored 26 points, sinking a go-ahead 3-pointer with 31 seconds left, and Miami rallied past Los Angeles.
Allman added seven rebounds and six assists for the Heat (2-3). Dru Smith had 22 points and Jamal Cain pitched in with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Miami outscored Los Angeles 31-20 in the final quarter
Reggie Perry, Jay Scrubb and Xavier Moon all scored 16 for the Clippers (2-3).

Check out this recap of Saturday's NBA Summer League action.

Nembhard, Mobley lead Cavs past Hawks 94-90 in Summer League

Recently, LeBron James <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ifwhen-the-nba-adds-a-team-in-las-vegas-lebron-james-wants-to-own-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made headlines</a> when he said that he wants to own an NBA team in Las Vegas.
Well, he's not the only one.
Floyd Mayweather just revealed that he has been in talks with "certain individuals" at the NBA about bringing a franchise to Vegas and owning said team.
"I've been talking to certain people for the last six months," Mayweather <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/boxing/mayweather-working-behind-the-scenes-to-bring-nba-to-las-vegas-2591937/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told reporters</a>. "That's something I've been working on behind the scenes, but I've never come out to publicly talk about it with the media. My team and I have been working behind the scenes with the NBA. I can't say exactly where, but I'm working on getting a team."
Mayweather has said that his net worth is over $1.2 billion. This week, Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2022/06/12/billion-dollar-ballers-these-athletes-tiger-woods-lebron-james-federer-messi-ronaldo-mayweather-have-earned-more-than-1-billion-apiece/?sh=2e6bb0e74501" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated</a> that James' net worth is roughly $1.16 billion and they have Mayweather's estimated net worth at $1.08 billion.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said that Las Vegas "has shown itself to be a great sports market" and that when the league seriously explores expansion, there is "no doubt Vegas will be on the list."&nbsp;
And Las Vegas is doing all of the right things to be ready when that day comes, as our Tommy Beer <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/ifwhen-the-nba-adds-a-team-in-las-vegas-lebron-james-wants-to-own-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote earlier this week</a>:
Earlier this year, the Oak View Group&nbsp;<a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2022/03/30/las-vegas-nba-arena-rumors-sports-entertainment-district-oak-view-group" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a>&nbsp;that it had purchased 25 acres of land in Vegas to build a $3 billion sports and entertainment district that will include a 20,000-seat arena.
"The arena will be world-class,"&nbsp;<a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2022/03/30/las-vegas-nba-arena-rumors-sports-entertainment-district-oak-view-group" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said CEO Tim Leiweke</a>.&nbsp;"It will be for music, it'll be for sports, it'll be for cultural activities, and should the NBA decide to come &mdash; and by the way, there's no certainty or no guarantees that the NBA is ever coming to Vegas but should they come &mdash; we certainly will be NBA-ready and make sure that we hit all of their standards."
The arena will be located 10 minutes from the strip and it's expected to break ground sometime in 2023.

Floyd Mayweather says he has been "working behind the scenes with the NBA" to bring a franchise to Las Vegas.

Floyd Mayweather 'working with NBA' to bring a team to Las Vegas

Many college students &mdash; even Division I basketball players &mdash; have a window of time around Christmas to travel home, see their families and press pause on the motion and stress of life at school.
Baylor freshman Jeremy Sochan did not have that luxury.&nbsp;
Sochan's mother, stepfather and brother live in Milton Keynes, a medium-sized city in the United Kingdom. Between the short break (Baylor men's basketball played on Dec. 20 and Dec. 28), the long flight and the surging COVID-19 pandemic, a homecoming simply was not feasible.
Instead, the highly-touted prospect bought a ticket to finally see his first NBA regular-season game, tagging along with Baylor assistant coach Bill Peterson and a couple of Peterson's friends to watch the Dallas Mavericks host the Milwaukee Bucks on Dec. 23.
The freshman was enthralled. He lingered in the American Airlines Center well after the game ended, soaking up the atmosphere.
"Afterwards he just kept saying, 'Coach, I can't thank you enough,'" Peterson told BasketballNews.com in a phone interview. "He just had a different appreciation for it. Because he was from another country, going to an NBA game wasn't something he did all the time."
Soon, Sochan will live those moments almost every day. The 6-foot-9-inch forward is headed to the 2022 NBA Draft as a sure-fire first-round pick and a possible lottery selection. Sochan's journey to June 23 includes crisscrossing the globe for basketball, and in his NBA Draft Combine interview, he aptly proclaimed himself a "citizen of the world."
"My family's from all over the place &mdash; Poland, America, and I lived in England most of my life &mdash;&nbsp;and it's hard to answer the question when someone says: Where are you from?" Sochan told BasketballNews.com over the phone. "Because you don't really have one specific place. So I try and explain it that way."
In the past five years alone, Sochan has suited up for five different elite basketball programs, beginning from his home in England and traversing through Poland, the United States (twice) and Germany. But the takeoff started in his hometown of Milton Keynes, where Sochan grew up after being born in Oklahoma and living briefly in Southampton.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Where it all started 💙 <a href="https://twitter.com/ItchenBball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ItchenBball</a> <a href="https://t.co/MIZHcS6llo">pic.twitter.com/MIZHcS6llo</a>
&mdash; Jeremy Sochan (@SochanJeremy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SochanJeremy/status/1455881532934086658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

After playing for his local club, the Milton Keynes Trojans, Sochan spent one season at Itchen College in Southampton as a high-school-age freshman. (Sixth-form colleges in the UK are somewhat like private high schools in the U.S.). Sochan adamantly states that basketball is on a serious rise at the youth level in England, and he might be right.
According to an article from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/author/vithushan-ehantharajah">Vithushan Ehantharajah</a><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/us-sport/nba/british-basketball-teams-players-b1825787.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&nbsp;of The Independent</a>,&nbsp;basketball ranked as the second-most popular sport at the recreational level behind only soccer, and over 1.3 million people said they hooped at least once a week in a study between 2018 and 2019. Per the same 2021 article, the United Kingdom is ninth in the world and first in Europe for NBA League Pass subscriptions.
In Sochan's estimation, the problem is a lack of funding that limits the ceiling of player development. It's part of the reason he moved on from UK programs.
"Unfortunately, I feel like it's not funded well enough, and there's not a lot of exposure or resources for basketball," Sochan said. "So at times, it's difficult. It's difficult to rent a court. It's expensive, and you'd have to have a massive group of people... But there's a lot of potential, and it's a country with a lot of immigrants [and] a lot of people around the world. So if they put money in it, and resources, it's gonna be a great place for basketball, for sure."
As Sochan made waves in England, his mother, Aneta Sochan, was leveraging her connections abroad. Aneta is Polish and played Division II basketball at Oklahoma Panhandle State University before her own professional stint with Polonia Warszawa in Poland. She moved to England with Sochan's late biological father, Ryan Williams, as Williams pursued a professional career, and later settled in Milton Keynes with her current partner, Wiktor Lipiecki. Sochan's holidays were typically spent with Aneta's extended family in their home country.
Aneta sent emails and film to the Polish Basketball Association, looking for inroads for her son. Eventually, they came in the form of development camps in Poland and Spain, and persuading Dawid Mazur to allow him to compete for a spot on the Poland U16 National Team.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Sochan exploded in his second year with the program. He put up 16.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.1 steals and 3.0 assists per game in the summer of 2019, leading Poland to the European Class B title and winning MVP honors in his tour de force through the continent.
Sochan had proven himself on one of the largest European stages. But as his name reached scouting circles in the United States, Sochan transferred to La Lumiere High School, a national powerhouse program in Indiana. It featured a loaded roster that fielded some of the country's top prospects, including draft classmate Jaden Ivey and Louisville commit Kamari Lands. Sochan's third high-level team in three years &mdash; and three countries &mdash; tested his resolve as a young talent.
"It was interesting because I feel like there's differences, of course, between European basketball and American basketball," Sochan said. "In America, I feel like the players are a lot more confident... just more confident and free, and at first, it was a little bit difficult for me to understand that. But I feel like as time went on, [me] building confidence and my teammates believing in me, it got a lot easier."
A barrier to entry exists whenever an athlete joins a new team. For international players like Sochan, that barrier can feel thicker and taller, particularly with the stereotypes that persist surrounding European hoops.
Later on at Baylor, Peterson wanted Sochan to challenge the narrative.
"I would joke with him a lot about [how] one of the monikers in the NBA is that European guys are soft, or they're wusses. That goes around the NBA," Peterson said.
"So he would say to me, 'I do not want to be a wuss. I'm not a wuss,' he would always say, and I said, 'I know.' Sometimes when guys hit you, you gotta hit 'em back. You gotta stick 'em on an offensive or defensive boxout. You gotta hammer 'em on a screen. It sends a message."&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_17794238-1_690w.jpg" alt="" width="740" height="370" />
Time and again, Sochan demonstrated his physical toughness and determination. He did it by solidifying himself as a four-star high school recruit at La Lumiere in 2019-20, becoming the youngest player in Poland men's senior national team history in 2021 and smothering opponents with the Bears in 2021-22. Sochan also charted his own course when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted his basketball plans.
Sochan returned home for school vacation in the spring of 2020 as a high school junior at La Lumiere. Then, the school told Sochan to stay in Milton Keynes for an extra week as activities paused. One week became two weeks, then a month. Sochan ultimately never returned. As the United States reeled from the impact of the virus, Sochan pivoted back to Europe and settled on Orange Academy, a development program under German pro team Ratiopharm Ulm.
"Germany was pretty good with the COVID situation, and also, they were one of the only clubs to offer me no contract, so I could be eligible for college," he said. "So it was a great opportunity."
Sochan verbally committed to Baylor in the summer of 2020 before he headed to Germany. But the pandemic and travel hurdles kept him from visiting campus after he committed; all of his conversations with coaches came via phone and Zoom. And after never seeing his family while at La Lumiere, Sochan had to leave them again for another year when he took off for Orange Academy.
"Of course it's difficult; you can be a little homesick," Sochan said. "But I think, as of an early age, I always used to go to camps in Spain and Poland on my own. It was an easy adjustment for me. Personally, I am confident, just knowing the reason I'm leaving home. [It] helped me stay on course and keep on working every day. I'm doing this for my family, of course, and myself &mdash; to get better. I feel like that motivated me to keep on going,"
Peterson recalls receiving a video from Sochan while the then-17-year-old was at Orange Academy. It was 30 seconds of Sochan alone on an outdoor court in Germany, laughing and smiling while drilling himself on ball-handling exercises that Peterson had recommended.&nbsp;
"Coach, I'm working on this. How do I look?" Sochan would ask him. "Am I getting better?"
The grind has powered Sochan through those lonely nights away from home. He celebrated his 19th birthday on May 20 with dinner at an Italian restaurant &mdash; and by working out in front of teams on the final day of the Combine. Though he may be surrounded by new teammates, new coaches, new audiences and new cultures, he knows he has two constants: family and basketball.
"I feel like it's just understanding where you came from &mdash; your family &mdash; and just being able to stay present," Sochan said. "Just being able to get better every day is what I feel like grounds me. And I think it's important for me to just get better every day and just keep on learning &mdash; whether it's through basketball on the court, off the court, mentally, physically."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Many Polish goods, are things that I will be missing on the 24th for the 3rd time in the row. More importantly I will be missing the physical presence of my family, I&rsquo;ve had it far from perfect but nobody has so I&rsquo;m just like you. We all sacrifice something for the greater good. <a href="https://t.co/KmlRBIVmG7">pic.twitter.com/KmlRBIVmG7</a>
&mdash; Jeremy Sochan (@SochanJeremy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SochanJeremy/status/1474444438042783744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

At Baylor, Sochan and Peterson developed a bond over their travels. The 65-year-old Peterson made several stops at the college and NBA level before arriving at Baylor in 2017. He served as a player development coach and scout for the Dallas Mavericks from 1999-2000, coached six seasons as an assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks from 2007-13 and spent three seasons at the helm of the Erie Bayhawks in the G League (formerly known as the D-League). With those positions, plus other coaching roles in the collegiate ranks, Peterson collected experiences and stories from his trips across Europe and China.
The two met frequently for lunch around the Baylor campus. They'd chat about Premier League soccer (Sochan is a noted Arsenal fan) and EuroLeague basketball. Peterson learned that Sochan's grandmother lived about an hour from a clinic he once hosted in Poland.&nbsp;
"It was fun because he could relax and realize, 'Hey, Coach Peterson has been over there and kind of knows where I'm from [and] some of my background anyway, because he's traveled there a lot more than maybe some of the other coaches on the staff,'" Peterson said.
As Sochan acclimated to his fifth elite program, his confidence started to shine. He formed close friendships on the Baylor team, specifically with fellow draft prospect Kendall Brown and promising injured freshman Langston Love. Fans saw Sochan's energy radiate from his colorful hairstyles and powerful slam dunks. Meanwhile, in practice, he wowed Peterson with his quick and willing inclination to move the ball around, displaying the court awareness of someone who had played with and against veterans &mdash; which Sochan had, of course, in Poland.
"He has a great understanding of how to play for a kid [who's] 18 years old &mdash; like, really understands offense, how to move the ball and make the next pass, and do it in limited dribbles," Peterson said.
"He plays like a pro. I mean, he plays like a guy that's 10 years older than his age."
If a teammate withheld a pass, Sochan wasn't afraid to call him out or ask the coaches about the play afterward.&nbsp;
"Occasionally he'd go, 'Hey, come on, man. Let's move the ball.' You would expect a senior to be saying that, not a freshman," Peterson said. "He has that instinct about him to feel that and help that happen on the floor."
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YLmn3MftMm8" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Along with his quick processing on offense, Sochan's defensive toughness and versatility have not just pushed back on his European stereotypes &mdash; they've become hallmarks of his game and a sales pitch as a prospect. BasketballNews.com's Senior NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock remembers watching Sochan on Jan. 29 against Alabama, when the forward posted 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals for the Bears.&nbsp;
"During that game, Sochan displayed his defensive versatility and potential," Babcock said. "He also showed flashes as a player that could stretch the floor and be an effective slasher."
Sochan has steadily risen on draft boards throughout the spring; Babcock most recently slotted him in at No. 15 overall to the Charlotte Hornets in his latest <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com NBA Mock Draft.</a>&nbsp;Babcock said that the lottery is definitely within reach for Sochan, and that he likely won't stick around past the teens of the draft order. He noted that, in addition to wielding an archetype built for today's NBA, Sochan carries a journey that should favorably position him for the professional lifestyle.
"Similar to the advantages that experiences on the court create, off-the-court experiences also provide learning opportunities. It's all a part of growing up, and from the sounds of it, Sochan has seen and done a lot, which I think will help him transition to the NBA," Babcock said.
Peterson believes that playing for five programs in five years doesn't just help Sochan on the court; it also teaches him how different team cultures can each be uniquely successful.
"If you work at IBM, and everybody in IBM wears a suit and coat and a tie, and then you move and you go work for a grocery store chain [like] Kroger, H-E-B or whatever, and everybody there just wears a polo shirt and nice slacks, you're not going to keep wearing suits when you go work at Kroger or you're gonna look like an idiot," Peterson said. "That's not the culture they have. You have to adjust somewhat to what their culture is and what their program's about. And he's had to do that five different times."
The NBA has a small but noteworthy history of English and Polish talent. James Donaldson, Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Michael Olowokandi and OG Anunoby are players with English ties who have played over 300 games in the league. Marcin Gortat is the lone Poland native with over 100 appearances.
Sochan aims to be a beacon for both countries.
"I think it's really exciting," he said. "I think it's a great opportunity for me, personally, to connect these communities to the NBA again."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Looking to go to the hottest concerts, sports, theater &amp; family shows near you? Get 100% guaranteed tickets to more than 125,000 live events from TicketSmarter, the official ticket marketplace of BasketballNews.com.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ticketsmarter.com/?utm_source=basketballnewscom&amp;utm_medium=tsaff&amp;utm_campaign=referral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Order online now</a>!

Jeremy Sochan speaks with Ethan Fuller about his twisting, turning, worldwide basketball journey heading into the 2022 NBA Draft.

Jeremy Sochan, a 'citizen of the world,' sets course for the NBA

Etan Thomas sits down with three legendary NBA point guards to discuss the impact Steph Curry has had on basketball today.