Bruins

<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 it reads &ldquo;President Trump rescinded former President Joe Biden&rsquo;s order that extended the enrollment periods for Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) plans in most states, and granted additional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

Joel Embiid churned out a career-best 70 points against highly touted rookie Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, leading the Philadelphia 76ers to a 133-123 win on Monday night at the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Philadelphia.&nbsp;
Embiid only played 36:38 &mdash; the fewest minutes ever in a 70-point performance. He became just the ninth player in NBA history to score 70 points in a single game. 
The 7-foot, 280-pound center joined Michael Jordan as the only players to record 65+ points, 15+ rebounds and 5+ assists in a game. With his final stat line, he became the only player in NBA history with 70 points, 18 rebounds and 5 assists.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
"WILT NEVER DID THIS?!" Joel Embiid can't believe that he and Michael Jordan are the only players in NBA history to have 65+ points, 15+ rebounds, and 5+ assists in a game 😅 <a href="https://t.co/XeuXaUlV2y">pic.twitter.com/XeuXaUlV2y</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1749627241200582911?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2024</a></blockquote>

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

The reigning NBA MVP had himself a night, going 23-of-41 from the field and 21-of-23 from the free-throw line. The Spurs had no answer for Embiid all night long, as he surpassed the Sixers' single-game scoring record of 68 points set by Wilt Chamberlain.
Embiid, who extended his streak of scoring 30 points or more to 21 games. Thanks to Embiid&rsquo;s recent play, Philadelphia has won six straight games and are just half a game behind the Milwaukee Bucks for second place in the Eastern Conference.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Highlights from Joel Embiid&rsquo;s Historic Night 🔥 &bull; 70 PTS 18 REB 5 AST &bull; 24-41 FG 1-2 3 PT 21-23 FT<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BrotherlyLove?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BrotherlyLove</a> | 🎥: <a href="https://twitter.com/sixers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sixers</a> <a href="https://t.co/DJXlRuc2tj">pic.twitter.com/DJXlRuc2tj</a>
&mdash; No Ceilings (@NoCeilingsNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NoCeilingsNBA/status/1749636703399067689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 23, 2024</a></blockquote>

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

For San Antonio, the rookie sensation Wembanyama had 33 points of his own to go along with 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. He had his fifth-straight game of 20 points or more and continues to build his Rookie-of-the-Year case despite the Spurs&rsquo; dreadful 8-35 record, which is last in the Western Conference.

Joel Embiid churned out a career-best 70 points against highly touted rookie Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs.

Joel Embiid erupts for 70 points to beat Victor Wembanyama, Spurs

SlamBall co-founder Mason Gordon spoke to Alex Kennedy about the sport's return, the new season on ESPN and much more.

The return of SlamBall: Co-founder Mason Gordon discusses new season

Throughout NBA history, there have been plenty of supremely talented teams. However, only a select few managed to string together multiple championships, revolutionize how the game is played and dominate to the point that they defined their era.&nbsp;
It&rsquo;s extremely difficult to create a dynasty, but these six teams earned that distinction.
Boston Celtics (1957-1969)
While it&rsquo;s difficult for today&rsquo;s NBA fans to fathom, the Boston Celtics managed to win 11 championships in just 13 seasons. Celtics head coach and general manager Red Auerbach pulled off a draft-day trade in 1956 that changed the franchise forever, with Boston acquiring No. 2 overall pick Bill Russell in exchange for Cliff Hagan and Ed Macauley. Russell would become one of the most dominant defenders and rebounders of all-time, and when paired with Bob Cousy, John Havlicek and Sam Jones among others, the Celtics became an unstoppable force.&nbsp;
Today, winning three-straight championships is considered an astonishing feat, yet these Celtics managed to win eight consecutive titles from 1959 to 1966 &ndash; a record that is virtually impossible to break. While it was certainly a very different era of basketball, Boston deserves a ton of credit for revolutionizing the game and sustaining that level of dominance for more than a decade.
Los Angeles Lakers (1980s)
The 1980s belonged to the "Showtime" Lakers, a dynamic and star-studded team led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Under head coach Pat Riley's leadership, the Lakers thrilled fans with their fast-paced style of play. From 1980 through 1991, the Lakers won five championships and made nine NBA Finals appearances.
Magic&rsquo;s unparalleled playmaking abilities and Kareem&rsquo;s automatic skyhook made these Lakers nearly unstoppable on the court. The Lakers&rsquo; rivalry with the Celtics (and Magic Johnson&rsquo;s personal rivalry with Larry Bird) added another layer of excitement to the NBA, culminating in memorable NBA Finals matchups and moving NBA playoff games to live broadcasts rather than being on tape delay.&nbsp;HBO&rsquo;s show &ldquo;Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty&rdquo; has introduced the Showtime era to a new generation of fans.&nbsp;
Chicago Bulls (1991-1998)
On June 19, 1984, the Chicago Bulls selected Michael Jordan with the No. 3 overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. It didn&rsquo;t take long for Jordan to make his mark on the league, as he won Rookie of the Year and became a household name. Jordan was the lynchpin of the Bulls&rsquo; dynasty and became the biggest sports star that the world had ever seen. Coached by Phil Jackson, MJ and Scottie Pippen led the Bulls to six championships in eight years, thanks to two different three-peats. In the 1995-1996 season, the Bulls amassed a record-setting 72 wins, solidifying their status as one of the greatest teams in NBA history (although the record would later be broken by another team featured on this list).&nbsp;
These Bulls teams captured the imagination of fans worldwide. The Bulls&rsquo; dynasty and Team USA's "Dream Team" (which featured Jordan and Pippen alongside other NBA superstars like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone and Charles Barkley) deserve a lot of credit for making basketball popular across the globe. Just as &ldquo;Winning Time&rdquo; is bringing the Showtime Lakers back into the spotlight, ESPN&rsquo;s docuseries &ldquo;The Last Dance&rdquo; became a huge hit and showcased Jordan&rsquo;s dominance and popularity to younger fans who never got a chance to watch him play live.
San Antonio Spurs (1999-2014)
The San Antonio Spurs, guided by the steady hand of coach Gregg Popovich, enjoyed an extended period of excellence. By now, you&rsquo;re probably realizing that dynasties tend to start when a team drafts a special player. For the Spurs, that player was Tim Duncan, who is often regarded as the greatest power forward in NBA history. While Duncan wasn&rsquo;t a flashy player, he was incredibly consistent and capable of taking over games offensively and defensively.&nbsp;
Duncan and Popovich captured five NBA championships between 1999 and 2014. They managed to win across different eras, first with David Robinson, Avery Johnson and Sean Elliot, then with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Bruce Bowen, and later with Kawhi Leonard, Parker and Ginobili among others. The Spurs' success was built on fundamentals, exceptional team chemistry and a selfless approach to the game. Their sustained success over more than a decade solidified them as a modern NBA dynasty.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/200413-shaquille-oneal-kobe-bryant-cs-1211p.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="458" />
Los Angeles Lakers (2000-2002)
The Lakers of the early 2000s were an unstoppable force, combining the dominant inside presence of Shaquille O'Neal and the scoring prowess of Kobe Bryant. Coached by the legendary Phil Jackson, this superstar tandem led Los Angeles to three consecutive NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Teams had to pick their poison against these Lakers, as Shaq and Kobe were nearly impossible to defend one-on-one. Shaq dominated with his imposing size and physicality in the paint, while Kobe made teams pay with his unmatched scoring ability and constantly evolving skill-set. Together, they formed one of the most formidable duos in NBA history, complementing each other's strengths on the court (while often butting heads off the court). Who knows how many more championships the Lakers would have won if Shaq and Kobe managed to get along and make things work in L.A.&nbsp;
Golden State Warriors (2014-2022)
The Golden State Warriors' dynasty has been a breathtaking display of offensive brilliance and finesse. Led by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the Warriors revolutionized the game with their three-point shooting, fast-paced style of play and small-ball lineups. Head coach Steve Kerr, who won five championships as a player with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs dynasties, helped the Warriors capture four NBA championships in eight years (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022).&nbsp;
The Warriors won 73 games in 2016, breaking the previous record set by the Bulls. And as if this team wasn&rsquo;t already scary enough, Golden State signed Kevin Durant and became even more unstoppable. Even after Durant left in 2019, the Warriors managed to win another championship, beating the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals last year. The Warriors revolutionized the modern NBA, and their dynastic run may not even be over. After all, Curry, Thompson, Green and Kerr are still around and the team recently added veterans Chris Paul, Cory Joseph and Dario Saric in hopes of chasing a fifth ring.

Alex Kennedy looks back on six of the most unstoppable dynasties throughout NBA history.

Exploring the most dominant dynasties throughout NBA history

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; Aaron Gordon scored 27 points, Nikola Jokic added 23 and the Denver Nuggets moved one win away from their first NBA championship by beating the Miami Heat 108-95 on Friday night to take a 3-1 lead in the title series.
Bruce Brown scored 21 off the bench for the Nuggets, who took both games in Miami to grab complete command. They&rsquo;ll have three chances to win one game for a title, two of those in Denver, the first of them in what&rsquo;s sure to be a raucous atmosphere for Game 5 on Monday night.
Jamal Murray had 15 points and 12 assists &mdash; his fourth consecutive double-digit assist game &mdash; for Denver.
Jimmy Butler scored 25 points for Miami, which has now fallen into 3-1 holes in each of its last three finals appearances &mdash; this one joining 2014 and 2020. Bam Adebayo had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Heat, while Kyle Lowry had 13 points.
The Heat walked off the floor in silence, fully aware of how much trouble they&rsquo;re in now.
The Nuggets were overwhelming favorites to start the series, for obvious reasons. Denver was the Western Conference&rsquo;s No. 1 seed; Miami was the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s No. 8 seed. The Nuggets had won nine of the last 10 regular-season meetings between the teams, and their run of success over the Heat has continued through four games of the finals.
Denver led by 13 going into the fourth, and Miami came out for the final quarter with appropriate desperation. The Heat scored the first eight points, Jokic committed his fifth foul and had to go to the bench with 9:24 left &mdash; and it was down to 86-81 when Butler converted a three-point play with 8:42 remaining.
But the Nuggets &ndash; who fell apart in the fourth quarter of Game 2 for their lone loss of the series &ndash; didn&rsquo;t fold, even with their two-time MVP still out. Murray made a 3-pointer to stop Miami&rsquo;s 8-0 spurt, and Jeff Green made a huge corner 3 from near the Heat bench for a 94-85 edge with 6:21 left.
Jokic checked out with Denver up 10. He came back with the Nuggets up nine.
Miami didn&rsquo;t take advantage of that chance, and now finds itself on the wrong end of history. Teams that take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals have won 35 out of 36 previous times, and the Heat will have to buck that trend to keep Denver from winning its title.
The Nuggets even survived a scare. Jokic tweaked his right ankle when he landed on the back of Max Strus&rsquo; foot midway through the opening quarter. He remained in the game after it happened, briefly retreated to the Denver locker room before the start of the second quarter and played the rest of the way with no evident issues.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Murray played with tape protecting the bottom of his left hand, thanks to a nasty floor burn he got in Game 3. &hellip; It was Denver&rsquo;s 25th win on the road this season, tying a franchise record set last season. ... Michael Porter Jr. scored 11 for the Nuggets.
Heat: It was retiring 20-year veteran Udonis Haslem&rsquo;s 43rd birthday and rookie Nikola Jovic&rsquo;s 20th birthday. Jovic was 58 days old when Haslem signed his first Heat contract. &hellip; If it was Miami&rsquo;s home finale this season, then the Heat went 613-299 in its home arena during his career. &hellip; Miami started the playoffs 6-0 at home. The Heat are 0-4 on their home floor since.
SLOW START
Miami led 21-20 after one quarter. The 41 combined points were the fewest in the first quarter of the last 24 finals games; the first quarter of Game 4 of the Toronto-Golden State series in 2019 had 40 points.
CELEB WATCH
Kentucky coach John Calipari was in the crowd, as was Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker, two-time WNBA MVP A&rsquo;ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields and twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder &mdash; who helped the Miami Hurricanes make the Elite Eight in this year&rsquo;s NCAA women&rsquo;s tournament.

The Nuggets moved one win away from their first NBA championship by beating the Heat 108-95 on Friday night to take a 3-1 lead.

Nuggets now in full command of NBA Finals, top Heat 108-95 for 3-1 lead

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Some might say Stan Kroenke and his family would be pulling off the impossible by bringing a long-awaited NBA title to Denver.
Less discussed &mdash; at least these days &mdash; was their willingness, in 1999, to dive into a messy acquisition process for a largely irrelevant franchise that had been considered a relocation prospect as the 21st century approached.
All of the talk of them relocating no longer exists.
Now, the conversation is about how the Nuggets were able to reach their first NBA Finals thanks to the stubborn patience displayed by the Kroenkes, who have taken an unorthodox route toward assembling an unorthodox winner. Denver hosts the Miami Heat in Game 2 Sunday night after&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/miami-heat-denver-nuggets-nba-sports-755531bae7f944958c4225f8d5f54bad">winning the Finals opener</a>.
Kroenke&rsquo;s deal to purchase the Nuggets, along with the Colorado Avalanche and their home arena for $450 million, included a clause that tethered the NBA franchise to Denver for the ensuing 25 years. These days, the Nuggets are estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.93 billion.
&ldquo;One thing I know about Stan is that when he sets his mind to doing something, and when he thinks he&rsquo;s right, he&rsquo;s going to fight for that,&rdquo; said Wellington Webb, who was Denver&rsquo;s mayor in 1999 and helped broker the deal that closed a year later between Kroenke and the Nuggets.
Though Kroenke married into money &mdash; he wed Walmart heiress Ann Walton in 1974, a few years after meeting her during a ski trip to Aspen &mdash; he had already honed his business chops. His first deal: Taking a $1,500 loan at 6% interest from his dad so he could buy part of a clothing shop with his friend.
Not long after, he got into the real estate business, building shopping centers with a developer who was tight with Walmart founder Sam Walton.
Real estate and sports are, these days, almost intertwined &mdash; a reality Kroenke grasped quickly.
&ldquo;I always thought I&rsquo;d enjoy (owning a sports franchise) because the professional sports business is part business and part sports,&rdquo; Kroenke told the Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune in 2022, &ldquo;and I love both of them.&rdquo;
Kroenke&rsquo;s representatives did not return messages left by The Associated Press seeking an interview.
His first major jump into sports was his partnership with Rams owner Georgia Frontiere. In the mid-1990s, Frontiere was chafing at the inability of Los Angeles to build a new stadium, She was looking for partners to bankroll a move to St. Louis. Kroenke bought in, and when Frontiere died in 2008, he exercised his right to purchase a majority stake in the team.
The sad irony is that it was Kroenke, the Missouri native, who moved the Rams out of St. Louis and back to LA where they are the main tenant in his $5.1 billion stadium. His connection with Denver &mdash; much different.
&ldquo;One of my dreams was to be involved in a professional basketball team,&rdquo; Kroenke told The Denver Post, shortly after closing the deal for the Nuggets. &ldquo;This is a dream I&rsquo;ve had for a long time.&rdquo;
There is, in fact, a strong argument that the basketball trophy might be the most meaningful for a family that has amassed three Stanley Cup trophies with the Avalanche, a Super Bowl trophy with the Rams and is still looking for glory with Arsenal, the Premier League soccer team it has had a controlling interest in since 2011.
Kroeke&rsquo;s son, Josh, was a standout basketball player in high school and played at University of Missouri. He now runs the Nuggets.
&ldquo;I thought that you could bring a championship to Denver,&rdquo; Josh said in a recent interview on team-owned Altitude Sports Radio. &ldquo;Trying to do something that&rsquo;s never been done before, it&rsquo;s not always easy, and it&rsquo;s usually met with a lot of resistance. ... We&rsquo;re mostly excited for the city to get to experience this. But the job&rsquo;s not done.&rdquo;
The Nuggets were parked squarely in NBA purgatory when the team went on the block in 1999, having not sniffed relevancy since their mid-80s heydey, when the teams were highlighted by coach Doug Moe&rsquo;s uptempo offense. Their situation off the court wasn&rsquo;t much better. In the late &rsquo;80s, then-owner Sidney Shlenker had toyed with the idea of moving the team to Memphis.
His sale to a media conglomerate that was never truly hot on owning sports teams did nothing to tamp the idea that the Nuggets were a team that might be available to move. And teams were moving; Between 2001-08, Memphis (from Vancouver), Oklahoma City (from Seattle) and New Orleans (from Charlotte) all adopted existing franchises in a flurry of NBA reshuffling.
When Denver went on the block, the highest bidder, billionaire businessman Donald Sturm, came in with a $460 million offer, but balked at the idea that he couldn&rsquo;t move the team.
In stepped Kroenke, who had no problem with the arrangement. A side note: To close the sale, Kroenke had to outmaneuver another group fronted by none other than John Elway.
&ldquo;It was clear Sturm wasn&rsquo;t going to work out,&rdquo; Webb said. &ldquo;And my only question was, &lsquo;Is the new guy going to be supportive of the team winning?&rsquo; Because if the arena is full, not only do the owners make money, but city makes money, as well.&rdquo;
The Kroenkes have answered Webb&rsquo;s question with their willingness &mdash; increasingly rare in pro sports &mdash; to play the long game, both on the roster and on the bench.
The roster was built in workmanlike,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-finals-nuggets-jokic-murray-malone-18329e13dfecae50834ebc06d409027c">no-drama fashion</a>,&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-playoffs-nikola-jokic-denver-nuggets-mvp-lebron-lakers-8e668572f9f43942175ded63e7a61832">highlighted by Nikola Jokic</a>, who entered the league as an unheralded second-round pick from Serbia. The coach, Michael Malone, was hired in 2015, and there was never much talk of making changes after disappointing finishes to their seasons in 2018, 2019 and even last year.
Today, Malone sits behind only Gregg Popovich (Spurs), Erik Spoelstra (Heat) and Steve Kerr (Warriors) &mdash; who have a combined 11 championships on their coaching resumes &mdash; in terms of longevity among the NBA&rsquo;s 30 head coaches.
&ldquo;That has a ton to do with where we are today,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t be more thankful for working for an ownership group that is not impatient and is not trying to find the next great thing, but is saying &lsquo;Hey, listen, let&rsquo;s let this grow and marinate into something special.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Despite his family&rsquo;s large role in the Denver sports scene &mdash; the Kroenke business also owns the MLS Colorado Rapids, and the National Lacrosse League&rsquo;s Colorado Mammoth, who lost the deciding game in that league&rsquo;s title series Saturday &mdash; Kroenke has still taken his fair share of criticism around town.
It&rsquo;s a byproduct of his 2004 move to bundle his teams&rsquo; TV rights and air them on company&rsquo;s new regional television network, Altitude.
In 2019, the region&rsquo;s biggest cable operator, Comcast, stopped carrying Altitude due to a disagreement over fees the cable giant was charging to carry the network. The ensuing legal battle has kept the Nuggets off the local airwaves in millions of homes for the last four seasons. The battle between billion-dollar companies has left many average Nuggets fans feeling like the only real losers in the equation.
But whatever bitterness lingers from the cable dispute has mostly been set aside over the past few months. All the playoff games have been on national TV.
Meanwhile, Kroenke stays firmly in the background. He can make it from his apartment at the top of Ball Arena through some back passageways and into his luxury suite to watch games in less than two minutes. Sometimes he brings his German Shepherd along.
&ldquo;I think that not only is he a good businessman,&rdquo; Webb said, &ldquo;but he also feels he has something special in Denver. And I think it&rsquo;s always been his goal to do right by Denver.&rdquo;

Some might say Stan Kroenke and his family would be pulling off the impossible by bringing a long-awaited NBA title to Denver.

Kroenke bought Nuggets, kept team in Denver, now hoping to deliver title

Rick Adelman, a Hall-of-Fame coach and one of only 10 coaches in NBA history to have won more than 1,000 games, is the recipient of the 2023 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced today.
&ldquo;Rick Adelman&rsquo;s NBA coaching career has been highlighted by innovation, integrity, and excellence,&rdquo; said Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle, who is also the NBCA president. &ldquo;His teams always played to their strengths, and Rick always found subtle ways to reinvent NBA basketball to help his players thrive. His quiet, unassuming nature belies his impact as one of the great NBA coaches of all time.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I am honored to receive the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award,&rdquo; Adelman said. &ldquo;To be included with the past winners is special. Chuck was a great coach and respected by all those who coached against his teams. To receive an award like this I have to thank all those who helped me along the way, in particular my assistant coaches and front offices. I would also like to thank the players I had through the years. Their effort and cooperation made everything I did possible. Good players make coaching much easier.
&ldquo;This event makes me think of Michael Goldberg, who was a big help to all coaches and especially to me. He was a good friend who I miss. Thanks to the National Basketball Coaches Association, Coach Rick Carlisle and David Fogel. I also want to thank the Selection Committee for presenting me with this honor. I am grateful to all of those who made this possible, especially my wife Mary Kay and my family. Thank you.&rdquo;
Adelman coached in the NBA for 29 years, including 23 as a head coach for five different teams (the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves), amassing a 1,042-749 (.582) career record. He led his teams &ndash; known for their free-flowing, read-and-react motion offenses &ndash; to the playoffs 16 times, to the Conference Finals four times and to the NBA Finals twice.
He played collegiately at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles and, as a senior in 1967-68, was voted West Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Drafted by the San Diego Rockets in 1968, Adelman played seven seasons in the NBA.
Adelman began his coaching career at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon, in 1977 where he led his teams to a 141-39 record and three conference championships in six years. It was while at Chemeketa in 1983 that he was hired by the legendary coach Jack Ramsay as an assistant coach for the Blazers, a position he held until he was named head coach midway through the 1988-89 season.
In his first full season as an NBA head coach in 1989-90, Adelman led the Blazers to a 59-23 record, the Western Conference championship and a trip to the NBA Finals. Two years later, the Blazers were once again Western Conference champions and back in the NBA Finals. Under Adelman, Portland had four straight seasons of 50-plus wins, a record of 291-154 (.684) and were in the playoffs all six seasons.&nbsp;
Adelman coached the Warriors for the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons before assuming the reins in Sacramento in 1998. In eight seasons as head coach of the Kings, Adelman had a 395-229 (.683) record, winning 50 games or more in five consecutive seasons and taking the team to the playoffs each year.
In 2007, Adelman was named the Rockets' head coach, leading Houston to back-to-back 50-plus win seasons in his first two years and a winning record in all four seasons. Adelman closed out his coaching career with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where his teams improved from 17 to 26 to 31 to 40 wins in his three seasons at the helm.
In 2014, upon his retirement, Adelman ranked ninth all-time in both games coached (1,791) and games won (1,042). Today, he ranks 10th in games won and 13th on the all-time playoff wins list with 79. His teams had a total of 11 50-win seasons and two 60-plus win seasons. Adelman finished runner-up in Coach of the Year voting four times with three different teams (1990-91 with Portland, 2000-01 and 2001-02 with Sacramento and 2008-09 with Houston) and was a three-time All-Star Game coach.
Adelman was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2021. He was inducted into the Loyola Marymount Hall of Fame in 1986 and was named Oregon Sports Person of the Year in both 1990 and 1992. In 2015, the West Coast Conference (formerly the WCAC) inducted him into its Hall of Honor.
&ldquo;Rick Adelman is widely respected for his teaching, his tough-to-defend motion offenses, and his ability to get players to buy into his philosophy,&rdquo; said David Fogel, the National Basketball Coaches Association's executive director and general counsel. &ldquo;His commitment to the game and his players is reflected in his career accomplishments and makes him a most worthy recipient of this award. Congratulations to Coach Adelman on this prestigious recognition.&rdquo;
The National Basketball Coaches Association&rsquo;s Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award honors the memory of Hall-of-Fame coach Chuck Daly, who set a standard for integrity, competitive excellence and tireless promotion of NBA basketball. The award is determined annually by a Selection Committee comprised of some of the most respected coaches and basketball executives in the game, including Bernie Bickerstaff, Billy Cunningham, Joe Dumars, Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, Pat Riley, Donnie Walsh and Lenny Wilkens.
The prior recipients are Mike Fratello (2022), Larry Brown (2021), Del Harris (2020), Frank Layden (2019), Doug Moe (2018), Al Attles and Hubie Brown (2017), K.C. Jones and Jerry Sloan (2016), Dick Motta (2015), Bernie Bickerstaff (2014), Bill Fitch (2013), Pat Riley (2012), Lenny Wilkens (2011), Jack Ramsay and Tex Winter (2010), and Tommy Heinsohn (2009).

Rick Adelman is the 18th recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.

Rick Adelman named winner of Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award

The jacket that Michael Jordan famously and grudgingly wore while receiving an Olympic gold medal has been in Brian McIntyre&rsquo;s possession for more than three decades now.
He figures the time is right to let someone else enjoy it.
The red, white and blue Reebok jacket that Jordan &mdash; a Nike athlete &mdash; was forced to wear on the medal stand alongside the other members of USA Basketball&rsquo;s first &ldquo;Dream Team&rdquo; at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics is headed to auction. Sotheby&rsquo;s, which has the offering that will run through June 28, estimates that the jacket could fetch anywhere from $1 million to $3 million.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve enjoyed it and it&rsquo;s just the right time to do this,&rdquo; McIntyre said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s easier to do this than it is to leave things for my kids.&rdquo;
Jordan is aware of the decision to auction the jacket, McIntyre said.
McIntyre was with the Dream Team in Barcelona through his role with the NBA. He joined the league&rsquo;s communications department in 1981 and stepped aside into an advisory role for then-Commissioner David Stern in 2010. Part of his job, outside of overseeing public relations at all the major NBA events, was to help at other major events with NBA players &mdash; including the world championships and the Olympics.
That&rsquo;s why McIntyre was in Barcelona working with the players. The U.S. Olympic Committee had sent word that Jordan would have to wear the full athlete uniform on the medal stand, and Jordan complied &mdash; with one adjustment. For the ceremony where the Americans got their gold medals, he draped an American flag over his shoulder to hide the Reebok logo.
And when Jordan came off the medal stand, he took off the jacket and tossed it aside, then gifted it to McIntyre.
&ldquo;He said, &lsquo;I certainly don&rsquo;t want it,&rsquo;&rdquo; McIntyre said.
So, McIntyre took it. He brought the jacket &mdash; which has a patch that reads &ldquo;Reebok is proud to honor America&rsquo;s finest&rdquo; &mdash; to Jordan at an event when the NBA legend was shifting to baseball in 1994, thinking Jordan would ask for it back.
Instead, Jordan signed it: &ldquo;To Brian, Thanks for Everything, Michael Jordan.&rdquo;
McIntyre kept it the last 29 years, wearing it occasionally. The jacket and Jordan&rsquo;s reluctance to wear it was a big story in Barcelona and became a talking point again when &ldquo;The Last Dance&rdquo; documentary re-told part of the story with sound from Jordan in 1992 revealing his frustration with the situation.
That said, anything involving that team, and those Olympics, has obvious historical value. It was the first time the NBA sent its players to an Olympics, and the game was forever changed.
&ldquo;We watched the &lsquo;Dream Team&rsquo; in the &rsquo;92 Olympics fast-forward the growth of basketball, by a lot,&rdquo; McIntyre said. &ldquo;I mean, it really helped develop the game worldwide &mdash; not just for the NBA, but in basketball in general.&rdquo;
Sotheby&rsquo;s is offering the auction online and will display the jacket in New York from June 24-28.
&ldquo;To be able to sell this relic from such a historic world event &mdash; one that is often credited for multiplying the popularity and global reach of basketball &mdash; is both rare and unparalleled,&rdquo; said Brahm Wachter, Sotheby&rsquo;s head of streetwear and modern collectibles. &ldquo;And beyond its legendary place in Olympic history, the jacket represents Michael Jordan&rsquo;s fierce and devoted loyalty to Nike, a transformative and revolutionary partnership between two powerhouses that has stood the test of time.&rdquo;

The jacket that Michael Jordan famously and grudgingly wore while receiving an Olympic gold medal is being auctioned off.

Michael Jordan’s ‘Dream Team’ Olympic jacket heading to auction

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Nikola Jokic had 39 points and 16 rebounds to rally the Denver Nuggets to a 97-87 win over Phoenix on Monday night, taking a 2-0 lead over the Suns in the Western Conference semifinals.
Jokic, who learns Tuesday if he&rsquo;s edged Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo for his third consecutive NBA MVP award, recently renamed for Michael Jordan, scored 26 in the second half as the Nuggets erased a seven-point third-quarter deficit.
Jokic&rsquo;s big night was necessary as Jamal Murray scored just 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting after he scored 34 in the series opener when he had six 3-pointers. Murray was 0 for 9 from long range Monday night.
Aaron Gordon added 16 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 14 points and went 4 for 4 from beyond the arc, including back-to-back swishes that erased a 73-70 deficit and put the Nuggets ahead for good early in the fourth quarter.
Devin Booker led Phoenix with 35 points and Kevin Durant added 24.
The teams get an extended break before the series resumes with Game 3 in Phoenix on Friday night.
The Suns, who lost Chris Paul to a tight left groin late in the third quarter, took a 73-70 lead thanks to Booker&rsquo;s 31 points &mdash; which matched Jokic&rsquo;s output &mdash; entering the fourth quarter.
The Suns went cold, however, and Denver surged ahead 76-73 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Caldwell-Pope, forcing a Phoenix timeout at the 8:56 mark.
After allowing Denver to take 17 more shots than they had in Game 1, the Suns flipped things Monday night, taking 15 more shots than the Nuggets in the first half, but they led just 42-40 at the break.
The Suns pushed the lead to seven in the third quarter but both Durant and Deandre Ayton picked up their fourth fouls late in the period, taking a seat, and Paul walked gingerly to the locker room at the 4:32 mark and didn&rsquo;t return.
TIP-INS
Suns: Phoenix held the Nuggets to their lowest-scoring first quarter all season, limiting them to 18 points. ... The Suns didn&rsquo;t shoot a single free throw in the first half. ... Paul finished with 8 points.
Nuggets: Jokic scored 11 of Denver&rsquo;s first 14 points but only had 13 by halftime. ... The Nuggets had 68 points by halftime in the series opener but made just 16 first-half shots Monday night. ... Murray was 1 for 7 from the floor before halftime and scored just 4 points before the break.

Nikola Jokic had 39 points and 16 rebounds to rally the Nuggets to a 97-87 win over Phoenix on Monday, taking a 2-0 lead over the Suns.

Nikola Jokic’s 39 points leads Nuggets past Suns 97-87

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Jamal Murray kept imploring the crowd to get louder and louder with each trip down the floor.
As if the Nuggets point guard even needed to. His play was already rocking the arena.
Murray scored 34 points, hitting six of Denver&rsquo;s 16 3-pointers, and the Nuggets sprinted past the Phoenix Suns 125-107 on Saturday night in Game 1 of their second-round series.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a bad man,&rdquo; Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.
Any response to that adulation?
&ldquo;Thanks?&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;Appreciate it. ... I&rsquo;m just playing my game. ... I&rsquo;m doing whatever it takes to win.&rdquo;
And maybe show a nation that doesn&rsquo;t always get to watch the Nuggets &mdash; you know, because they&rsquo;re usually on so late &mdash; what the players have known all season: They&rsquo;re talented and worthy of their top seed in the Western Conference. They don&rsquo;t mind if the Suns, as the fourth seed, are the trendy pick to beat them, either.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to keep doing what we&rsquo;re doing, keep proving everybody wrong,&rdquo; Murray said.
Reigning back-to-back NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had 24 points and 19 rebounds, while Aaron Gordon finished with 23 points. But this was the Murray Show, where he went 6 of 10 from 3-point land and frequently exhorted for more noise from the already raucous crowd.
&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s be honest, some of the shots he hit tonight I don&rsquo;t think anybody could have stopped him,&rdquo; Suns coach Monty Williams said.
Kevin Durant scored 29 points and grabbed 14 boards for the Suns, with Devin Booker adding 27 points and Chris Paul 11. Booker averaged 37.2 points in a first-round series win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
&ldquo;I thought that they were just more physical, played with more force,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to regroup and do a much better job of playing with pace on offense.&rdquo;
Game 2 is Monday night in Denver.
This is a different sort of playoff series than two years ago, when the Suns swept the Nuggets in the second round. Back then, Denver was without Murray after he tore his ACL.
Now healthy, Murray is flashing his 2020 form inside the NBA bubble that helped Denver advance to the Western Conference finals.
&ldquo;Jamal just continues to add to the legend of playoff Jamal,&rdquo; Malone said.
Murray had the play of the night when he stole a pass, split defenders Paul and Durant at top speed and knocked in a layup high off the glass. It brought the capacity crowd to its feet.
The dynamic point guard was far from done energizing the fans, hitting a 3-pointer with just under 7 minutes remaining. He implored them for more noise, even holding a hand to his ear.
Leading 106-95 with 7:40 remaining, the Nuggets went on a 14-0 run to put away the game. Denver led by as much as 25 and improved to 38-7 at home through the regular season and playoffs.
Durant cut off a question about whether he was surprised by the Nuggets.
Because he&rsquo;s not.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re the No. 1 seed for a reason. They got a two-time MVP. They&rsquo;ve got a deep team. I&rsquo;m not surprised,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got our work cut out for us.&rdquo;
The difference was the 3-point line, where the Nuggets outscored the Suns by a 48-21 margin. That and turnovers, where the Suns had 16, including seven by Durant.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got to be way more careful with the ball,&rdquo; Durant said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve to look to either shoot the ball or make the correct pass. ... I dang got near half our turnovers. We&rsquo;ll be fine. I think we&rsquo;ve just got to play with confidence, shoot with confidence and see what happens next game.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Suns: Williams used his challenge early &mdash; with 55.4 seconds left in the first quarter &mdash; when Booker was called for a charge on a made a basket. It paid off as the call was overturned and Booker awarded a free throw, which he made. ... Deandre Ayton scored 14 points. ... Durant has 4,730 playoff points to move closer to passing Karl Malone (4,761) seventh place on the NBA&rsquo;s postseason points leaderboard.
Nuggets: Malone called a timeout 32 seconds into the second half to settle his team down. Malone said the conversation was simple: &ldquo;Wake up,&rdquo; he recounted. ... Bruce Brown had 14 points.
PAUL PRAISE
As Paul approaches his 38th birthday next week, Malone said the one thing that hasn&rsquo;t changed over the years is Paul&rsquo;s elite competitiveness.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;ll be 55 years old, playing in a rec league back in North Carolina, and he&rsquo;s going to be the same guy,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;The guy hates to lose, ultra-competitive and one of the greatest leaders I&rsquo;ve ever been around. ... No matter what stage of his career, he still finds a way to impact winning at a high level.&rdquo;

Murray scored 34 points, and the Nuggets sprinted past the Suns 125-107 on Saturday night in Game 1 of their second-round series.

Jamal Murray scores 34, Nuggets beat Suns 125-107 in Game 1

DENVER (AP) &mdash; Nikola Jokic had a triple-double and Jamal Murray scored 35 points as the Denver Nuggets eliminated the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-109 in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.
Anthony Edwards, who led Minnesota with 29 points, hit the back iron on a 27-foot 3-point attempt at the buzzer that would have sent the game into overtime.
Jokic overcame a slow offensive start to finish with 28 points, 17 rebounds and a dozen assists. He made just 8 of 29 shots, but scored eight points down the stretch to help the Nuggets fend off the pesky Timberwolves.
Michael Malone passed Doug Moe with his 25th playoff win as Nuggets head coach.
The top-seeded Nuggets will face the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers-Phoenix Suns series in the second round. Those teams tipped off later Tuesday night with the Suns needing one more victory to end the Clippers&rsquo; season.
Denver advanced thanks to making 32 of 36 free throws.
Michael Porter Jr. was held without a basket until his dunk with 10:08 left in the game. Jokic missed eight of his first 10 shots 48 hours after tying his career playoff high with 43 points in a Game 4 overtime loss at Minnesota.
Karl-Anthony Towns added 26 points for the Wolves, Rudy Gobert had 16 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out and Nickeil Alexander-Walker chipped in 14 points.
The Nuggets got 14 points from Aaron Gordon and Bruce Brown, who was in Edwards&rsquo; face on the game-tying attempt at the buzzer. Porter scored all eight of his points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of clutch 3-pointers after missing his first five shots from behind the arc.
The Nuggets went into halftime with the lead for the fifth time in the series, but they were up just 48-47 after Jokic and Porter combined to go 2 for 16 from the floor.
Murray, whose 16 first-half points kept the Nuggets in it after they fell behind by 13 early on, got a long rebound and pulled up for a 26-foot 3-pointer when no defender picked him up in transition. That put Denver ahead 48-45 with their first lead since the opening minutes.
The Wolves, who avoided a sweep with an overtime win in Minneapolis on Sunday, jumped out to a 25-12 lead before the Nuggets began chipping away.
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: Kyle Anderson, who sustained a left eye injury and facial bruise in Game 4, didn&rsquo;t make the trip back to Denver so he could see some specialists, coach Chris Finch said.
Nuggets: Denver won a playoff series under Malone for the fifth time in the last five seasons. They were beaten in five games last year by the eventual champion Golden State Warriors when Jokic was without Murray and Porter, who were both recovering from surgeries.

The Denver Nuggets eliminated the Minnesota Timberwolves 112-109 in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.

Nuggets eliminate Wolves 112-109 behind Murray, Jokic

After monitoring the NBA awards races all season, Nekias Duncan shares his final selections for DPOY, ROY, MIP, 6MOY and more.

Nekias Duncan's 2022-23 NBA award selections: DPOY, 6MOY, MIP, more

On Wednesday afternoon, Ed Cooley was introduced as the new head coach for the Georgetown Hoyas.&nbsp;
This move follows 12 successful seasons at Providence, including seven NCAA tournament bids in the past nine years it has been held and a Big East regular-season championship in 2021-22.
"I am excited for the opportunity to lead the men's basketball program at Georgetown University," Cooley said in a statement. "I plan on hitting the ground running, getting to work on the court and cultivating relationships in and around the District. Accepting this opportunity with Georgetown is not a decision I took lightly."
In an <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/college-basketball/exclusive-ed-cooley-on-why-he-left-providence-for-georgetown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exclusive interview with John Fanta of FOX Sports</a>, Cooley described his reasons for leaving Providence.
"When I did a deep dive of what's important &mdash; I always said yes to everybody, and I always said no to Ed. Coach Cooley did everything, but Ed needed a change," Cooley said. "I thought Georgetown was the place for me to make that change. As hard as it was because it's in-conference, and because a lot of people look at that as villainous or betrayal, I hope people give me an opportunity to serve Ed. And it sounds selfish, it sounds real selfish, but sometimes change is need on both sides and I felt for me change was needed...
"The Big East has a lot to do with the change even though it's tough because it's in-conference. I love the Big East. I love basketball-centric places. They're the recruiting fertile ground of the DMV area that expands.&rdquo;&nbsp;
I caught up with two Georgetown Hoya legends in Jerome Williams (a.k.a. Junk Yard Dog) and Michael Sweetney to discuss their thoughts on the changing of the guard at their alma mater and the direction of the program.&nbsp;
Jerome Williams (JYD)&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/280613766_5301049609946020_6743750996342787581_n.jpg" alt="" width="515" height="515" />
Etan: Talk to me about your first thoughts on the new hire Ed Cooley for Georgetown.
JYD: "From first impressions, he hit the ball out the park. He really ushered in the alumni. He even got people like Reggie Williams commenting positivity about him taking over the reins of Georgetown&rsquo;s basketball program, and that&rsquo;s a long-term Hoya alumni who helped bring a national championship to the hilltop. So right now, all of the alumni, myself included, we're very excited.
"We&rsquo;ve always supported every regime that has been at Georgetown since I&rsquo;ve been here, and that includes Coach Patrick (Ewing), Coach JT3 (John Thompson III), Coach (Craig) Esherick. And obviously, I was blessed to have Coach John Thompson. So Ed Cooley is no different in terms of the support that he will receive from me, and the Junk Yard Dog Dogg Pound. I&rsquo;m here to support this alma mater through thick and thin. But like I said, Ed Cooley&rsquo;s first impression has really gone over well with everyone. And add to that &mdash; he has the resume of what he accomplished at Providence that has really energized this entire Georgetown community, with him being a Big East Champion and Coach of the Year, so that all helps. So yeah, we&rsquo;re all definitely excited."
Etan: Yeah, people are really buzzing here in the DMV. This seems like this was the coach that a lot of people wanted. You heard the chatter even during the tournament before Providence lost. But the electricity around the program seems to have been reignited. Would you say that&rsquo;s an accurate description?&nbsp;
JYD: "Definitely, the electricity is back. When he says he wants to sell out the arena which holds 20,000 [people], that&rsquo;s exactly what needs to happen. And that starts with the alumni, it starts with the students and it starts with the overall community. So that&rsquo;s the key."
Etan: Now, of course, programs don&rsquo;t turn around overnight and it&rsquo;s been a tough few years for Georgetown just as far as wins and losses. So what would your advice be to Hoya fans as far as patience?&nbsp;
JYD: "My advice would definitely be that everything is a process and Rome wasn&rsquo;t built in a day. But, with the world the way it is around college sports and the transfer portal, you look at teams like Missouri, who transformed very quickly into a winning program. And that was largely due to the transfer portal."
Etan: Yeah, the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/is-the-ncaas-transfer-portal-getting-out-of-control" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transfer portal is definitely a game changer</a>, but it&rsquo;s like musical chairs; you lose four players and then you get four new players. It&rsquo;s an interesting dynamic right now that we&rsquo;re in with college basketball.
JYD: "That's absolutely correct. In some ways it&rsquo;s damaging, and in other ways, it can be transformative."
Etan: Very true. So let&rsquo;s talk about the history of Georgetown and why it&rsquo;s so historically special as a program and what it means to the DMV area and really all of college sports.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
JYD: "Well, it helps when the Georgetown University basketball program is in a good place. It helps all of college basketball. And Georgetown has meant so much to the Black community from what Coach Thompson has built not only as an individual for himself, not only as a program and a university, but for what he has done for other Black coaches who helped build other programs. The John Chaneys and Nolan Richardsons and countless others who he has helped open doors for, including Ed Cooley. So that&rsquo;s where, when Georgetown is in a good place, they represent a larger piece to the masses."
Etan: That&rsquo;s great. So are we going to see you at some of the games? Can fans expect to see you and the Junk Yard Dog Dogg Pound representing on the sidelines this season?
JYD: "Yes sir, you saw me at many of the games this season supporting Patrick (Ewing) and the program. I was able to move back to the area this year. My son [Jeremiah] goes to St. Albans now and plays for Team Takeover, so I&rsquo;m here ready to continue to support the program. My daughters [Gabby and Giselle] are playing volleyball for Georgetown, so I&rsquo;m here."
Etan: That&rsquo;s great, and what year is your son? I&rsquo;ve seen some of the clips you&rsquo;ve posted on social media. He looks like he&rsquo;s gonna be good&nbsp;
JYD: "Thanks I appreciate that, and your son [Malcolm] as well. But my son is a little younger. He&rsquo;s [in the] 2029 [class] and he is just loving the game, working hard, and getting better and better. And that&rsquo;s all you can ask at this age. But let me say, thank you for writing this and showing some love to your school&rsquo;s biggest rival historically."
Etan: No problem, it&rsquo;s always been nothing but respect for Georgetown.
Michael Sweetney&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/97028325_3148150111902658_5846889772051595264_n.jpg" alt="" width="517" height="641" />
Etan: Okay, so how do you feel about the new hire of Coach Ed Cooley and the new direction that Georgetown is going in? What were your first initial thoughts?&nbsp;
Sweetney: "Well, first let me say that it was sad for me personally to see how it went for Patrick (Ewing) these last couple of years. Winning trumps everything, and we&rsquo;ve had it tough for his last few years, so I was definitely sad to see Patrick struggle the way that he did. He loves Georgetown so much and had such a special relationship with Coach Thompson, and I know he really wanted to be successful. So that part was definitely sad for me to see."
Etan: Yeah, I grew up a Patrick Ewing fan. I was a Knicks fan. I actually <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/podcasts/the-rematch/episodes/basketballnews-com-episode-48-nba-hall-of-famer-patrick-ewing-talks-knicks-days,-turning-the-hoyas-around,-charles-oakley,-more" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interviewed him on The Rematch last year.</a> It was just an honor to be able to sit down with him. I mean, Patrick is a legend.&nbsp;
Sweetney: "Exactly, I definitely feel the same way. And he&rsquo;s a great guy all around. But to answer your question about the Ed Cooley hire, I think everyone is excited about what&rsquo;s to come. I personally really respected the way he immediately connected with the alumni and made a concerted effort to make the point clear that he wanted the alumni to be involved, and that&rsquo;s important. It&rsquo;s no secret that, for a long time, a lot of the guys felt distant from the program. So for him to come in and that&rsquo;s one of the first things on his agenda was to reach out to the alumni, it made a lot of ears throughout the Georgetown community perk up. It was a great first impression for all of us, so we&rsquo;re all excited about that aspect for sure."
Etan: Now, I&rsquo;ve heard that from a few guys that over the last decade or so, there has been distance from the program. I don&rsquo;t understand why, but I&rsquo;ve heard quite a few former players mention that.&nbsp;
Sweetney: "Yeah, that&rsquo;s pretty accurate, because a lot of guys have been feeling like that. I don&rsquo;t think it was intentional. It&rsquo;s just a lot of people from the program never reached out and said, 'Hey guys, come to the games,' or, 'We&rsquo;re going to have this special program to bring the alumni back together and back into the fold of the program.' It was really no interaction. It was almost like, 'Hey if you want to come to the game, you have to jump through hoops.'
"Luckily for me, I had direct access. So I would just call Pat Jr. and he would always look out. But it was never anyone from Georgetown who ever contacted me and said, 'Hey, come around. We have this event.' I don&rsquo;t even know if they had anyone assigned to do that &mdash; not really sure why. I don&rsquo;t think it was personal. But yeah, a lot of guys felt they weren&rsquo;t embraced the way alumni who have given so much to the program should be."
Etan: And what did Coach Cooley do differently? You and JYD both mentioned this, so I'm just curious. What exactly did he do?&nbsp;
Sweetney: "Well, for example, he held a Zoom [meeting] just yesterday and JYD was on there. But it was just with a lot of Georgetown former players and he introduced himself to us, told all of us how honored he was to be given this opportunity for a program he has so much respect for. He was knowledgeable of the history of the program, and he specifically told us, 'Hey, I want you all to be involved. This is a family thing and whatever I have to do to make things comfortable for you all, just let me know because I want you to be a part of this entire process.'
"And a few players &mdash; I don&rsquo;t want to say their names because it wasn&rsquo;t a public meeting &mdash; but a few guys specifically said that, for years, they thought the program didn&rsquo;t like them or respect them, so this was a breath of fresh air. So yeah, Coach Cooley definitely started off on the right foot with all of us."
Etan: You know, the DMV is really excited about the direction of the program. Do you get that same feeling?&nbsp;
Sweetney: "Definitely. And a large reason for that is because Cooley is saying all the right things. And what he did at Providence, when he got there, the program was where it was, and he&rsquo;s shown that he can turn programs around. He has the resume to support that, and people in the DMV are hoping that he can do the same thing here. And also, with the DMV being a hotbed as far as recruiting, it&rsquo;s one of the top places in the country for high school players going on to play Division I. So hopefully, he can get in and develop those relationships in the DMV and get some of this local talent."
Etan: So you mentioned that, and that&rsquo;s something else that&rsquo;s always brought up. One of the biggest criticisms you hear around the DMV is that two of the biggest schools in the area &mdash; Georgetown and Maryland &mdash; haven&rsquo;t kept the local DMV talent local. You saw Coach Kevin Willard came in on Day 1 last year and made a concerted effort to recruit guys from the DMV: Jamie Kaiser, Deshawn Harris-Smith and Jahnathan Lamothe. All of them are from the area.
Do you expect that same level of focus from Coach Cooley? People don&rsquo;t understand the level of talent in this area, but for a long time, so many have left to play somewhere else. I just watched Jordin Hawkins for UConn light up Arkansas for 24 points last night. They&rsquo;re headed to the Sweet 16 and he&rsquo;s from right here and went to DeMatha.
Sweetney: "Definitely, that&rsquo;s one of the things Coach Cooley mentioned. He&rsquo;s definitely aware of it and he told us specifically that he wanted to focus on and develop those relationships in the DMV and get some of this local talent to stay home. And I hope that&rsquo;s the case because there is so much talent in this area."
Etan: There definitely is. It&rsquo;s really amazing. KD made that documentary a few years ago &mdash; "Basketball County: In The Water.&rdquo; So I think that really showed the world how special the DMV is.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Sweetney: "Now, let me ask you a question if you don&rsquo;t mind?"
Etan: Oh, you&rsquo;re gonna take over the interview? (Laughing) Sure, go ahead.
Sweetney: (Laughing) "No, but seriously. Because we were discussing the DMV talent and I&rsquo;ve seen your son Malcolm play, he is a tremendous talent and can do a lot on the basketball court. But would you be open to him coming to Georgetown? I know we&rsquo;re a rival school and you&rsquo;re Syracuse royalty, but 'What If' you know?"
Etan: Oh, you just gonna put me on the spot huh? (Laughing) Well honestly, and people ask me this all the time, that&rsquo;s one of the reasons <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/high-school-basketball-malcolm-thomas-qa-dematha-stags-season-acit-championship-recruiting-maryland-dmv-etan-thomas-prospect" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I did an article with Malcolm</a>. We sat down and discussed this because so many people say to me, "So Malcolm is definitely going to Syracuse?" And I always respond with, "He&rsquo;s going to whatever situation is best for him, whether that&rsquo;s Syracuse or somewhere else." Of course, both his parents went there, so yes, there is history there. But I was glad to hear him echo that he wants to go to the best place for him.&nbsp;
Sweetney: "So it wouldn&rsquo;t be weird for you to cheer for Georgetown if he came to us?"
Etan: Not at all. Listen, I bleed Orange, make no mistake, but I genuinely want him to go to the situation that&rsquo;s best for him. My situation at Syracuse worked out for me, but it has to be the right situation for him.&nbsp;
Sweetney: "That makes total sense."
Etan: I mean, Malcolm grew up here. He&rsquo;s a PG County kid. Although he has his love for Syracuse because both his parents went there, he grew up watching Georgetown, Maryland and all the DMV schools and surrounding schools like all of the other kids who grew up here. What do you think with your sons? I know they&rsquo;re a little young now, but when they get older.
Sweetney: "It&rsquo;s funny because people always say that to me too. They say they&rsquo;re future Hoyas and I&rsquo;m like, 'Well I don&rsquo;t know, we&rsquo;ll see.' But like you said, I want them to do whatever is best for them. Whatever fits their needs and their happiness. So I get it. Just had to ask you that, and honestly, that&rsquo;s good to hear because your son can play. So I'm glad to hear that you&rsquo;re open to it.
"But yeah, we&rsquo;re in a good place as a program and going in a good direction, so I think fans can expect an entire wave of local talent coming to Georgetown and exciting times in the near future."

Etan Thomas talks to Jerome "Junk Yard Dog" Williams and Michael Sweetney about their first impressions of Ed Cooley at Georgetown.

Georgetown legends Jerome Williams, Michael Sweetney on Ed Cooley hire

Nekias Duncan checks back in with this year's NBA award races with an in-depth look at who leads the pack through the end of February.

2022-23 NBA award front-runners Vol. 2: MVP, DPOY, ROY, more

LeBron James is on the verge of eclipsing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time NBA scoring mark of 38,387 career points. At his current 29.3 point-per-game season average, James is nine games away from breaking a record that, for a long time, seemed close to untouchable.
James' transcendant greatness forces us to reevaluate what constitutes an "unbreakable" record. So what are some other examples across sports?
Starting with other basketball records, Abdul-Jabbar still boasts the NBA's all-time mark for made field goals with 15,837. James, despite his historic scoring, currently sits a whopping 1,882 made baskets behind Abdul-Jabbar. Even the Father Time doubters can't expect James to get there before he retires.
The career rebounding leaders are Wilt Chamberlain (23,924) and Bill Russell (21,620). No other player has ever reached 18,000 boards. Barring a drastic change to the game, it's safe to say those two marks will stand the test of time. Chamberlain's 100-point game, along with <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-what-are-the-most-unbreakable-individual-records-in-nba-history-lebron-james-wilt-chamberlain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">several other single-game and season-highs</a>, also seem untouchable.
Pete Maravich holds the NCAA record for most career points (3,667); he averaged over 40 points per game and set the bar in just three seasons. Antoine Davis of Detroit-Mercy is currently second and giving his best shot, but even at 3,274 points, he's well behind as he nears the end of a five-year college career.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And Pistol Pete doesn't even come close to Pearl Moore, who holds the women's college all-time scoring mark with 4,061 career points &mdash; the vast majority coming during her time at Francis Marion University between 1976 and 1979. Here's why <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/pearl-moore-didnt-need-a-3-point-line-to-dominate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Moore isn't shown on NCAA leaderboards.</a>
Lastly, while Abdul-Jabbar (and soon James) rest atop the NBA's scoring list, we simply cannot forget about Oscar Schmidt. The Brazilian legend is believed to be the leading basketball scorer of all-time across professional competition with a whopping 49,737 points. Go learn about Schmidt if you haven't yet.
Now let's switch gears and highlight other sports.
Even after the NFL's 21st-century passing surge, no receiver has come within 5,000 yards of Jerry Rice's 22,895-yard total. The San Fancisco 49ers legend holds several league records, but this one in particular feels unreachable.
Cal Ripken Jr.'s games-played streak (2,632 games) is one of Major League Baseball's most iconic records, spanning over 16 seasons. Modern sports science knows the value of rest during a long baseball season, so this record&nbsp;should&nbsp;stay forever. Another streak built to last: Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak in 1941.
On the other side of the plate, Nolan Ryan's 5,714 strikeouts dwarf any other pitcher and lead second-place Randy Johnson by 900 K's. Cy Young's whopping 749 complete games, like Ripken's appearance streak, is also immortalized with help from today's game. Young's dominance at the turn of the 20th century came at a time when pitchers breezed through complete games. That won't happen anymore &mdash; the active leader is Adam Wainwright with just 28.
Any hockey record associated with Wayne Gretzky is probably unbreakable &mdash; as Shoresy says, "Don't nickel-and-dime the Great One!" &mdash; but his hallowed 2,857 career points might be the most outrageous career tally in all of sports. Gretzky would still&nbsp;be the all-time points leader even if he never scored a goal thanks to his 1,963 assists. However, like with LeBron, the hockey world is on watch for Alex Ovechkin to overtake Gretzky's 894 career goals. Ovechkin, age 37, is 84 goals away.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Motorsports can add an unbreakable record of its own. Richard Petty, driver of the famed No. 43, has 200 NASCAR wins to his credit, which is nearly double any other driver (David Pearson has 105). He dominated in an era during the 1960s and 1970s with uneven parity and a jam-packed schedule, so it's also illogical to think we'll see someone match his 10 consecutive victories in 1967.
Soccer has existed for so long and in so many places that all sorts of renowned records are scattered across the world. But two legends continue to be on top. Pele's 92 hat tricks are by far the most by a male player; Christiano Ronaldo is a distant second with 60.&nbsp;
Canadian legend Christine Sinclair has the most recorded international goals in soccer history by any man or woman. She surpassed the United States' Abby Wambach in 2020 and is still charging ahead, with 190 to her current total across over 20 years of international competition.
Michael Phelps is the most dominant Olympic athlete ever. His 28 gold medals are the most by any athlete by far &mdash; including 23 golds, the only person to ever eclipse double-digit gold medals. Additionally, Simone Biles' 19 world gold medals, including the Olympics and other competitions, more than double the next-closest gymnast.&nbsp;
Finally, we reach several records that seem impossible to break, unless the same record-setting athlete tops themselves. Katie Ledecky is the picture of pushing limits in the pool, setting so many fastest times that a tweet like this feels like the fairest way to sum up her stardom:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
15:37.99?!?<a href="https://twitter.com/katieledecky?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@katieledecky</a> just clocked the 14th-fastest swim in HISTORY, and now owns 18 of the top-20 times ever recorded in the event 😲<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TYRProSeries?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TYRProSeries</a> <a href="https://t.co/v8VO3VVrbt">pic.twitter.com/v8VO3VVrbt</a>
&mdash; USA Swimming (@USASwimming) <a href="https://twitter.com/USASwimming/status/1614416917984595969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
And you can debate the validity of the sport all you want, but what Joey Chestnut has done in the world of competitive eating feels inhuman. He holds 55 records involving 55 food disciplines, including the 76 hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes during the 2021 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. He has not relinquished the hot-dog-eating crown since 2007.
Will LeBron James' final point tally reign like these records? It's too early to say, but by holding the honor, the King joins some of the pillars of American and international sports.

Ethan Fuller looks at some of the most untouchable records in sports, including marks held by Wayne Gretzky and Jerry Rice.

What are the most unbreakable individual records in sports history?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Michael Porter Jr. scored 30 points, Jamal Murray added 25 and the Denver Nuggets rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings 113-106 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight win.
&ldquo;We got down by 20 points and we didn&rsquo;t drop our heads,&rdquo; coach Michael Malone said. &ldquo;We just stayed with it, kept on chopping away and were able to get the win.&rdquo;
Porter and Murray sparked an 8-0 run in a span of 56 seconds late in the fourth quarter to turn a tie game into another win for the top team in the Western Conference.
Porter's 3-pointer broke a 96-all tie with 3:14 to play and Murray followed with a desperation 3 just before the shot clock expired. Murray then added a steal and breakaway layup to make it 104-96 with 2:14 to play and Denver hung on from there.
&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what you want,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;You need your best players to step up.&rdquo;
Nikola Jokic added 20 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds for the Nuggets, who have won eight of their last nine games.
De'Aaron Fox scored 26 points and Kevin Huerter added 11 for the Kings, who have lost three of four games to open a six-game homestand.
&ldquo;This was a game, especially the first of a back-to-back, we needed to have more energy than them,&rdquo; Huerter said. &ldquo;We came out the right way &hellip; and obviously they kind of worked us in the second half.&rdquo;
The Kings built a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter before the Nuggets chipped away thanks to the play of Porter, who scored 19 points in the first half.
Sacramento led 56-47 at the break, holding Jokic to two points on two shots.
&ldquo;The most important stretch of this game was how we closed the second quarter,&rdquo; Malone said. &ldquo;They had all the momentum, they were feeling good and we allowed that to happen. They didn&rsquo;t feel us. To have that run of 23-12 to kind of get back in the game, cut it to nine at the half, and then we used our third and fourth quarter to kind of continue that.&rdquo;
But Jokic scored 14 points in the third quarter to cut the deficit to four points headed into the tight final period.
&ldquo;At some point we were tired and made some mistakes,&rdquo; said acting Kings coach Jordi Fernandez. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s human nature.&rdquo;
SHORT-HANDED
The Kings were without coach Mike Brown and star center Domantas Sabonis.
Brown entered the health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19 and missed the game. Fernandez took his place.
Sabonis was sidelined with an avulsion fracture of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb. Sabonis hurt his non-shooting hand in the fourth quarter of Sacramento&rsquo;s loss to Washington on Friday. He will be re-evaluated Wednesday.
Denver forward Aaron Gordon missed the game with a shoulder injury.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: This was the third time in the past six seasons that Jokic was held to two points or fewer in the first half when playing at least 17 minutes. ... G Bruce Brown left the game in the second quarter with a sprained right ankle and didn't return. ... Zeke Nnaji replaced Gordon in the starting lineup for his third start in three seasons in the NBA. He fouled out with no points in 15 minutes.
Kings: Alex Len, who had played 25 minutes all season, started in place of Sabonis. ... Former Kings GM Vlade Divac sat courtside next to owner Vivek Ranadive.
&nbsp;

Michael Porter Jr. scored 30 points, and the Denver Nuggets rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings 113-106.

Nuggets rally to beat Kings 113-106 for 5th straight win

One day before Thanksgiving &mdash; immediately after the New Orleans Pelicans defeated the San Antonio Spurs &mdash; Zion Williamson was asked an innocent question: What is your favorite dish?
&ldquo;You're trying to set me up,&rdquo; Williamson replied. &ldquo;No matter what answer I give, social media is going to clown me. So, no comment."
Williamson was smiling and many people thought the exchange was funny. However, upon reflection, it&rsquo;s a bit sad. Over the years, Williamson has dealt with so many weight-related jokes and barbs that he doesn&rsquo;t even feel comfortable broaching the topic of food.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
&ldquo;You tryna set me up&hellip;.no matter what I answer I give, social media gonna clown me. So no comment.&rdquo; Zion Williamson refused to say what his favorite Thanksgiving dish is 🤣 <a href="https://t.co/wiOVx0QCOG">pic.twitter.com/wiOVx0QCOG</a>
&mdash; Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1595777133523017728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

Unfortunately, what Zion said is probably true. Had he answered this question, his mentions likely would&rsquo;ve been full of rude memes and jokes about his weight.&nbsp;
Not only has Williamson&rsquo;s weight been the butt of many jokes online, but media members have also discussed his body a ton. It can&rsquo;t be easy to have so much attention focused on your weight at 22 years old, especially when your earnings are directly tied to your body.
Williamson&rsquo;s contract with the Pelicans features periodic weigh-ins and &ldquo;the sum of his weight and body fat percentage must be below 295,&rdquo; according to <a href="https://www.nola.com/sports/pelicans/article_85296674-00a5-11ed-97cb-ef28af9a5590.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian Clark of NOLA.com</a>. If this number is above 295, the team can reduce his guaranteed money. Williamson has hired a private chef and personal trainer to meet his contractual requirements. And it&rsquo;s worth noting that he&rsquo;s not the only NBA player with a weight-related clause in his contract.
Though the Pelicans would argue that they are just trying to keep Zion healthy and protect their superstar asset, there&rsquo;s no question that these weigh-ins (plus the barrage of jokes and negativity) could take a toll on a person and potentially affect their relationship with food.&nbsp;
While there&rsquo;s no evidence that Williamson has dealt with an eating disorder (and I&rsquo;m not suggesting that he has), there are many athletes who do struggle with disordered eating.
Approximately 10 million men in the United States will suffer from an eating disorder during their lifetime, and elite athletes are nearly three times more likely to have an eating disorder, according to a study by the Norwegian University of Sport and Physical Education.
For example, many boxers develop eating disorders &mdash; such as anorexia, bulimia or binge eating &mdash; since they are expected to cut weight and heavily restrict what they eat prior to fights.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
&ldquo;There is a misconception that eating disorders are disorders for females. The reality is that men struggle with eating disorders just like women do,&rdquo; <a href="https://globalsportmatters.com/health/2019/08/28/hidden-figures-male-athlete-eating-disorders-often-overlooked/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Erin Rubenking, the associate director and clinical care coordinator for the University of Colorado Athletic Department&rsquo;s Psychological Health and Performance program. &ldquo;It often takes men a much longer time to get help because of that.&rdquo;
Several years ago, former New York Knicks center Michael Sweetney <a href="https://hoopshype.com/2017/06/12/after-battling-depression-and-surviving-a-suicide-attempt-mike-sweetney-is-spreading-positivity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opened up to me</a> about the harassment he faced about his weight and how it affected his mental health.&nbsp;
&ldquo;When I go talk to kids, I use my life as an example. I tell them, &lsquo;Google my name. All you&rsquo;re going to see is a bunch of fat jokes and bad stuff about me. You won&rsquo;t find anything positive,&rsquo;&rdquo; Sweetney said. &ldquo;A lot of these kids get cyberbullied, so I try to use myself as an example to help them get through it. I tell them what I went through, show them [negative] articles that were written about me and make it clear that everything is going to be okay &mdash; even if they don&rsquo;t understand or believe that right now. And one thing I&rsquo;ve realized is that a lot of the people who cyberbully others are going through something themselves, and are unhappy with themselves, so they pick on other people.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never mention the person&rsquo;s name, but about a year ago, a writer reached out to me. He wrote a really bad article about me a while back &mdash; it was just terrible, going in on me and mocking my weight &ndash; and he found out that I&rsquo;d suffered from depression. He called me to apologize and said that he was suffering from depression too and he felt that picking on other people would make him feel better. I didn&rsquo;t hold any of it against him; in fact, we still keep in contact and we&rsquo;re good friends now. People go through things. But that&rsquo;s where, again, I can point to my own story and tell kids, &lsquo;It&rsquo;s not you. It&rsquo;s more likely that the other person has some issues they&rsquo;re working out.&rsquo; Fortunately, I think my talks have been helping people.&rdquo;
After Sweetney&rsquo;s father died in 2003, his depression got so bad that he attempted suicide during his stint with the Knicks.
&ldquo;I remember the night,&rdquo; Sweetney told me. &ldquo;We were in Cleveland one night and I just took a bunch of pain pills, hoping it would take me out. But I woke up the next morning thinking, &lsquo;Well, it didn&rsquo;t work.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s how bad it was. I didn&rsquo;t like basketball and I just didn&rsquo;t like life at the time... Even after I tried to commit suicide, nobody really knew. I was suffering really bad. I was in New York, battling this while the media was writing [negative] articles about me, and I felt like I had nowhere to go. I just kept digging myself into a deeper hole of depression&hellip;
&ldquo;[I] tell kids my story. You know, &lsquo;Hey, I was the ninth pick in the NBA draft &mdash; the same class as LeBron James and Dwyane Wade &mdash; and people looked at me as being a potential All-Star and whatnot. I didn&rsquo;t live up to that, and a big part of that was because of my depression. I kept digging my hole deeper.&rsquo; I try to tell these kids, &lsquo;At the first sign of depression, get help. Go talk to someone. Don&rsquo;t hold it in.&rsquo; For me, it got to the point where I was holding it in and I gained so much weight that I lost my NBA career.&rdquo;
Pointing to a more recent example, DJ Carton &mdash; who currently plays for the Iowa Wolves of the NBA G League &mdash; has been open about his struggles with disordered eating. While playing at Ohio State, he lost a significant amount of weight while battling an eating disorder and ultimately took a leave of absence, citing mental health issues. After the season, he transferred to Marquette and was able to resume his career.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Most people don&rsquo;t realize that eating disorders can be deadly. Every 52 minutes, at least one person dies from issues related to an eating disorder, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. Each year, 10,200 deaths are the direct result of eating disorders, as they can cause complications such as heart failure, kidney failure, pancreatitis, peptic ulcers, type-II diabetes, gallbladder disease and heart disease. Also, roughly 26% of people who are struggling with disordered eating will attempt suicide at some point.&nbsp;
Fans may think jokes or insults about an athlete&rsquo;s weight are harmless, but these barbs can have serious consequences and take a toll on someone&rsquo;s mental health.

Mocking an athlete's weight can have serious consequences. Alex Kennedy explores the prevalence of eating disorders in pro sports.

Reflecting on weight-related jokes in sports and the harm they cause

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) &mdash; Zia Cooke scored 17 points, Aliyah Boston had the 61st double-double of her career and defending national champion No. 1 South Carolina opened with a dominating 101-31 victory over East Tennessee State on Monday night.
Boston finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds in 20 minutes.
The Gamecocks celebrated their 2022 NCAA Tournament title with championship rings and a banner unfurled in the arena rafters to the cheers of a boisterous, happy crowd at Colonial Life Arena.
South Carolina held its opponent to 4-of-28 shooting in the first two quarters. ETSU missed 15 straight shots during one stretch.
East Tennessee&rsquo;s Jiselle Thomas, a first-year transfer from Temple, led East Tennessee with seven points on 2-of-20 shooting.
NO. 2 STANFORD 86, SAN DIEGO STATE 48
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Kiki Iriafen had a team-leading 16 points and six rebounds, sending Stanford past San Diego State to open the season.
Iriafen was one of four players who had double-digit points for the Cardinal, including Elena Bosgana (15 points), Cameron Brink (13) and Indya Nivar (13). Alex Crain and Meghan Fiso each had nine points for the Aztecs, who were held to 31.6% shooting (18 of 57) by the Cardinal defense.
NO. 4 IOWA 87, SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY 34
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Caitlin Clark scored 20 points as Iowa opened the season with a win over Southern.
Clark, a junior guard who was a unanimous Associated Press preseason All-American, shook off a couple of early injuries to finish with a 6 of 10 shooting night.
Iowa center Monika Czinano, back for a fifth season after leading the nation in field-goal percentage the last two seasons, scored 10 points on 3 of 4 shooting.
Amani McWain led Southern with eight points.
NO. 7 LOUISVILLE 87, CINCINNATI 68
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Hailey Van Lith scored 28 points to lead Louisville to a victory over Cincinnati in the season opener for both teams.
The Cardinals broke the game open with a 15-0 first-quarter run and led 46-25 in the final minute of the first half. The Cardinals shot 51.7% and outrebounded the Bearcats 39-27.
Sophomore Braylyn Milton led the Bearcats with a career-high 28 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Milton was perfect on five 3-point shots. Mya Jackson and A&rsquo;riel Jackson added 12 points apiece.
NO. 8 IOWA STATE 87, CLEVELAND STATE 54
AMES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Ashley Joens had 28 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, and Iowa State opened the season with a victory against Cleveland State.
Joens, a preseason All-American, nearly recorded a double-double in the first half with 24 points and nine boards. She has 50 career double-doubles.
Stephanie Soares added 15 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks for the Cyclones. Gabriella Smith led Cleveland State with 16 points and Brittni Moore added nine.
NO. 9 NOTRE DAME 88, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 48
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Olivia Miles had 17 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and six steals to help No. 9 Notre Dame rout Northern Illinois.
Transfer post players Kylee Watson (Oregon) and Lauren Ebo (Texas) made their Notre Dame debuts. Watson started and scored nine points, while Ebo added 10 points off the bench.
Janae Poisson led NIU in scoring with 14 points.
NO. 10 NC STATE 82, QUINNIPIAC 45
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Jada Boyd scored 14 points as North Carolina State led wire-to-wire in a season-opening victory over Quinnipiac.
Boyd shot a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. The junior forward also had five rebounds, a block and two steals in just 20 minutes of play. Quinnipiac was led by Cur&rsquo;Tiera Haywood&rsquo;s eight points and five rebounds. Jackie Grisdale also had eight points for the Bobcats.
NO. 13 VIRGINIA TECH 101, MOUNT ST. MARY&rsquo;S 45
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) &mdash; Cayla King made a school record nine 3-pointers and scored a career-high 33 points, All-American Elizabeth Kitley added 17 points and Virginia Tech rolled over Mount St. Mary in both teams&rsquo; season opener.
Virginia Tech never trailed thanks to King&rsquo;s opening 3-pointer and after Mount St. Mary&rsquo;s answered with a basket the Hokies reeled off 20 straight.
Michaela Harrison scored 15 points for Mount St. Mary&rsquo;s, which shot 27% and was outrebounded 45-23.
NO. 15 OKLAHOMA 105, ORAL ROBERTS 94
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Madi Williams scored 19 points, Skylar Vann added 18 and Oklahoma opened the season with a win over Oral Roberts.
The Sooners finished at 47.6% shooting after hitting 60% of their shots in the first half.
Oral Roberts outscored Oklahoma 24-6 in the final 5:18 to get the margin down to 11. Tirzah Moore scored 25 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
NO. 16 LSU 125, BELLARMINE 50
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) &mdash; Angel Reese scored 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds in her debut with LSU and the Tigers coasted past Bellarmine in the season opener.
The transfer from Maryland, where she was an All-American, had 14 points in the first quarter when the Tigers took a 31-8 lead and went on to a school record for points in a game.
West Virginia transfer Jasmine Carson added 17 points and Alexis Morris 16 for LSU, which returned only one starter (Morris) and five players from Kim Mulkey&rsquo;s first team, which had the greatest turnaround by a first-year coach in Southeastern Conference history.
Hayley Harrison scored 19 points for the Knights.
NO. 17 MARYLAND 88, GEORGE MASON 51
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) &mdash; Abby Meyers scored 19 points in her debut for Maryland as the retooled Terrapins defeated George Mason.
Meyers, an AP honorable mention All-American at Princeton and one of nine new Terrapins, made 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
Taylor Jameson scored 15 points for George Mason, which was 5 of 22 from 3-point range and had 18 turnovers.
NO. 18 BAYLOR 88, LAMAR 50
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash;Jaden Owens had a career-high 12 assists to go with 11 points for her first career double-double and Baylor pulled away for a season-opening win over Lamar.
Missouri transfer Aijha Blackwell and freshman Bella Fontleroy both added 17 points for the Bears, who used a 7-0 run early in the second quarter and a 9-0 late to go up 47-31 at halftime.
Lamar shot 32% in the second half and finished just 3 of 12 behind the 3-point line. Akasha Davis led the Cardinals with 13 points and eight rebounds.
NO. 20 OREGON 100, NORTHWESTERN 57
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Freshman Grace VanSlooten scored 20 points and Oregon downed Northwestern for the Ducks&rsquo; 10th straight season-opening win, and ninth straight under coach Kelly Graves.
Jennah Isai added 17 for the Ducks, who went 20-12 overall last season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament but lost in the first round to Belmont.
Caileigh Walsh had 15 points and six rebounds for Northwestern, which went 17-12 last season.
NO. 21 CREIGHTON 73, NO. 23 SOUTH DAKTA STATE 64
BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) &mdash; Lauren Jensen scored 17 of her 30 points in the fourth quarter and Creighton pulled away from South Dakota State in the only Top 25 matchup on the opening day of the season.
Creighton, the surprise team of the NCAA Tournament last year when they beat No. 8 Iowa and No. 10 Iowa State, made 10 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter.
Myah Selland scored 22 points to lead South Dakota State, which won the WNIT last season.
NO. 22 NEBRASKA 100, OMAHA 36
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Isabelle Bourne had 21 points and nine rebounds, leading Nebraska to the runaway victory in its season opener.
Allison Weidner added 19 points and nine rebounds, and South Dakota transfer Maddy Krull had 18 points with four 3-pointers. Alexis Markowski had 13 points and eight rebounds for the Cornhuskers.
Elena Pilakouta had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Mavericks.
NO. 24 PRINCETON 67, TEMPLE 49
PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) &mdash; Kaitlyn Chen scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Ellie Mitchell added 12 points and 15 boards, and Princeton defeated Temple to spoil the debut of Owls coach Diane Richardson.
Princeton won its 16th straight regular-season game dating to last season. Prior to the game, the Tigers honored its 2021-22 campaign with a banner unveiling and ring ceremony. The Tigers pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the NCAA Tournament, upending Kentucky in the first round.
Jasha Clinton scored 15 points and Tiarra East had 11 points and 11 rebounds for Temple, which was just 18-of-62 shooting.

Opening night for women's college hoops was highlighted by Aliyah Boston and the defending-champion South Carolina Gamecocks.

Defending women's national champs, No. 1 Gamecocks, rout ETSU 101-31

Dwight Howard has announced that he will be playing overseas in Taiwan for the Taoyuan Leopards.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Dwight Howard announces he&rsquo;s headed overseas to play in Taiwan for the Taoyuan Leopards. <a href="https://t.co/DpikvhnXYm">pic.twitter.com/DpikvhnXYm</a>
&mdash; Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeAScotto/status/1589805033964834818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2022</a></blockquote>

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

Howard spent the 2021-22 NBA season with the Los Angeles Lakers where he averaged 6.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in just 16.2 minutes a night over 60 games played.
Howard is an eight-time All Star, three-time All-NBA selection, three-time Defensive Player of the Year, and an NBA champion.
The former No. 1 overall pick's move overseas follows fellow NBA veteran Eric Bledsoe, who signed with the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association just over a week ago.&nbsp;

Dwight Howard has announced his move to Taiwan's Taoyuan Leopards.

Dwight Howard signs with Taoyuan Leopards in Taiwan

MIAMI (AP) &mdash; The NBA made its voice heard during the 2020 election cycle. LeBron James&rsquo; &ldquo;More Than A Vote&rdquo; initiative, formed after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor sparked a national protest movement, was everywhere. Players were leading get-out-the-vote marches and rallies, making themselves more visible politically than ever before.
This year, the approach is of a more grassroots variety.
All 30 teams are doing various things in advance of Tuesday&rsquo;s midterm election, like airing public service announcements, leading registration drives and having employees volunteer at polling locations. The league won't play any games on Election Day.
But the volume is lower than two years ago. The &ldquo;More Than A Vote&rdquo; campaign is dormant, <a href="http://morethanavote.org/">its URL says the site can't be reached</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/morethanavote/status/1480240992745885697?s=20&amp;t=2YCPWi0mHQ1lbdCS746MoA">its last tweet coming in early January</a>.
That said, Golden State guard Stephen Curry&rsquo;s still has a clear message: All elections, including Tuesday's that will decide control of Congress, very much matter.
&ldquo;I think the message has been broadcast loud and clear for a decade now in terms of how important these moments are,&rdquo; Curry said. &ldquo;Athletes can leverage their platforms to different politicians, different communities that are important to them, different causes, and that&rsquo;s happening.&rdquo;
Curry&rsquo;s 17 million Twitter followers have seen him post multiple times in recent weeks about voting &mdash; &ldquo;our future is on the ballot,&rdquo; he said. He also promoted a summit for young voters in California.
If there is a trend in the NBA in this election cycle, it&rsquo;s just that &mdash; getting young voters involved.
Francesca Pierre-Michel, an 18-year-old high school student in Miami, just voted for the first time last week.. She was with about 500 other students at an event organized by the Miami Heat that brought them all to an early voting location to cast ballots. They came in on a caravan of buses, the line snaking around the outside of the building.
The significance of the Heat getting involved wasn&rsquo;t lost on Pierre-Michel.
&ldquo;For me, that&rsquo;s not the reason why I went to go vote,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;But I feel like for the rest of my peers, seeing the Heat or their favorite basketball team being involved and encouraging young adults, that helps. I wanted to vote because I wanted to get my voice heard. I&rsquo;m 18. My vote really counts now.&rdquo;
The Heat arranged for the new voters to celebrate with pizza for lunch. Pierre-Michel also got the &ldquo;I Voted&rdquo; sticker, which has become her prized souvenir.
&ldquo;I put it on my binder,&rdquo; she said.
Boston guard Grant Williams also promoted &mdash; and participated in &mdash; early voting, flying home to North Carolina to make sure his ballot got cast last month.
&ldquo;I encourage everyone to go out and make a difference!! Our state and local elections are just as important if not more than the presidential so let&rsquo;s use that right for the better!!&rdquo; <a href="https://twitter.com/Grant2Will/status/1584961396176867329?s=20&amp;t=NgigKrquZYvovQmMXKYJxA">he tweeted.</a>
Taking a regular-season day off is a rarity for the NBA, which typically does not play on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve and tries to avoid scheduling games on the day of the NCAA men&rsquo;s basketball championship game. It also has a few days off built around the All-Star Game, which takes place in February.
All 30 NBA teams are in action Monday, the night before Election Day, and there will be voting-themed messaging at many of those game sites.
In Chicago, the Bulls will have a player speak to fans about getting out to vote, and their opponent, the Toronto Raptors, will be wearing shirts encouraging voting, even though there is no national election in Canada on Tuesday.
Atlanta will encourage <a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-race-and-ethnicity-atlanta-political-parties-5ca73a0e7aaa2022038281394e1ee6ea">Georgia voters to go to the polls</a> in a state where the race between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker will help decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. In Dallas, the Mavericks partnered with several nonpartisan organizations to promote voter registration in a state where the governor's seat is on the ballot, as well as with Black churches to support &ldquo;Souls to the Polls&rdquo; efforts.
Curry believes that even if it's not as apparent as 2020, things are getting done.
&ldquo;Everybody has to do their part and you might not understand the ramifications of it in the moment but I think the trickle-down effect is really presenting itself in a loud way every year,&rdquo; Curry said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if it&rsquo;s because I&rsquo;m getting older, but it&rsquo;s more on my radar, front of mind, way more than it ever was. That matters.&rdquo;

All 30 teams are doing various things in advance of Tuesday’s midterm election. The league won't play any games on Election Day.