Inside the NBA’s 100-page safety plan: Big questions and key details
After months of work, the NBA released its health and safety protocol for the resumption of the 2019-20 season on Tuesday. It covers the teams’ ramp-up over the next several weeks in their home markets, the onboarding of every team upon arrival at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and the guidelines for how the […]
Continue readingHow a torn Achilles and a global pandemic began to prepare Rodney Hood for life after basketball
“The initial thought is like, ‘Damn. Most guys used to retire after the Achilles injury,’” the Portland Trail Blazers swingman told ESPN this month. “Nobody really but Dominique Wilkins has come back to be the same person as he used to be or better; but now, more and more guys come back and they’re healthy.” […]
Continue readingAvery Bradley: Coalition wants NBA’s plan for black causes before restart
Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley — a co-leader of a players coalition with Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving — says his group is eager to hear the league office, ownership and sponsors detail a plan on issues of importance to the black community before the NBA’s restart in Orlando, Florida. Bradley and the players […]
Continue readingBucks veteran guard Kyle Korver seeking change more than elusive championship
Kyle Korver‘s 17-year NBA journey has moved him from very white communities to primarily black locker rooms across the league. Still, in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the coronavirus pandemic, the Milwaukee Bucks sharpshooter says he has a lot to learn about racial injustice. So, he says he supports whatever NBA players want […]
Continue readingNine ways these playoffs could wildly reshape the NBA
Next month, the NBA is set to descend upon Walt Disney World to attempt to finish out the 2019-20 season. And while winning a championship will be the goal for all 22 teams, plenty of what transpires could have enormous implications and reshape the league. Because of the unusual circumstances driving the restart amid the […]
Continue readingNBPA’s Michele Roberts says players discussing best way to use influence on BLM movement
National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts said the players she represents spent the weekend discussing how they could best use “our obvious influence — either by playing or not playing — to make sure we enhance and move this movement forward” rather than distracting from it. After nearly 100 NBA players participated in […]
Continue readingAdam Silver confident player concerns over NBA’s return will be addressed
With a group of players concerned about the NBA restarting its season amid a pandemic and social unrest around the country, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he is listening and his sense is that the league and its players will be able to “work through most of those issues over the next few weeks.” Silver […]
Continue readingLakers players say there’s still time to ‘figure things out’ ahead of restart
“[There’s] no divide,” one Lakers player told ESPN. “Still have some time to figure things out as a league and as a team,” another Lakers player told ESPN. Among the dissenting voices on the call that featured nearly 100 players were Lakers backup center Dwight Howard and starting shooting guard Avery Bradley, sources told ESPN. […]
Continue readingInside Toronto Raptors GM Masai Ujiri’s trade for Kawhi Leonard
ON A GRAY August morning in 2015, Raptors president Masai Ujiri has had enough of an impromptu lockout. He’s outside a weathered basketball gym in Lagos with a camera crew and 55 young men clad in teal T-shirts that read “Nigeria Dreams Big.” Because of the cameras, facility staffers believe there’s money to be made […]
Continue readingSources: NBA’s top young players seeking league-financed insurance protection
Miami’s Bam Adebayo, Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox, the Los Angeles Lakers’ Kyle Kuzma, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell and Boston’s Jayson Tatum — five players with significant star and earning power — talked with executive director Michele Roberts and senior counsel Ron Klempner about the NBPA facilitating talks with the league on possible insurance allowances for players, sources […]
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