Category: NBA News Blog

NBA news blog

ESPN Michael Jordan documentary reportedly coming in April

There will be some top-notch basketball TV-viewing available in April. Not the NBA. But something we all want to see. Here’s the New York Post reporting:

ABC/ESPN’s highly anticipated 10-part Michael Jordan documentary, “The Last Dance,” is being moved up to April, The Post has learned.

Sources said the start date will be Sunday, April 19. It was originally slated for June…

Netflix owns the international rights to the docuseries.

And here’s the Chicago Sun-Times:

Fans haven’t been the only ones pining for the early release. Lakers star LeBron James told ESPN’s “Road Tippin” podcast last week that there’s no better time to air the series.

”If they release that thing right now? The views on it?” he said. “Listen, if I’m Michael Jordan, I’m going in there and I’m making a conference call and I’m like, ‘OK, what’s the reason that we’re going to hold on to it until June now? Compared to now when everybody is at home?’ Because it’s done [being edited]. It’s done. Yeah, it’s done.”

There’s no reason to think the NBA will suddenly return to action in April. This Jordan doc should absolutely be the best basketball TV we get.

Kings launch program to connect with community during coronavirus

One by one, organizations across the NBA, sports, and the world in general are adapting to our present reality: dealing with coronavirus. Teams have to protect their players and staff, and once they have a handle on that, they’re able to look around and see what they can do for others. Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting on the Kings:

The Kings are launching a program entitled “In This Together,” a wide-ranging effort to engage and connect with the community during the coronavirus crisis through online activations, health awareness, physical and educational activities, business support and more.

The initiative is part of a league-wide campaign to help the global NBA community through difficult and unprecedented times as the world wrestles with a global pandemic. The NBA, which hasn’t played a game since its first player contracted the coronavirus on March 11, has encouraged teams to develop programs in four categories: Know the Facts, Acts of Caring, Expand Your Community and NBA Together Live.

We’ll keep sharing stuff like this with you, but starting this week will resume also putting up pure basketball content as well. We’ll be posting an exclusive player interview with you later today.

OJ Mayo will reportedly sign with team in China

For those of you wondering what guard O.J. Mayo is up to lately, here’s ESPN.com with an update:

Former NBA guard O.J. Mayo is close to joining the Chinese Basketball Association to play for powerhouse Liaoning Flying Leopards, pending medical and other procedural clearances.

Mayo, 32, landed in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang — home to the No. 3-ranked Flying Leopards — from Taipei on Friday. He has since entered a 14-day quarantine, as mandated by government medical officials.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28967006/ex-nba-guard-oj-mayo-poised-join-chinese-league-powerhouse

Mayo, who is now 32 years old, played in the NBA during the 2008-16 seasons, first four seasons with the Grizzlies, one season with the Mavs, then three seasons with the Bucks. His NBA career average is 13.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

Knicks owner James Dolan tests positive for coronavirus

Knicks owner James Dolan has tested positive for coronavirus. But the good news is, his symptoms are minor, and hopefully he should be fine.

Here’s New York Newsday reporting:

Madison Square Garden executive chairman and chief executive officer James Dolan has tested positive for the coronavirus, joining 10 NBA players and a number of staffers from other teams who have been disclosed to have the fast-spreading virus.

The Knicks announced the news late Saturday night in a tweet, noting: “He has been in self-isolation and is experiencing little to no symptoms. He continues to oversee business operations.” …

No Knicks player has been reported to have tested positive for the virus. The Nets tested all players at a private facility and four players were revealed to have tested positive, including Kevin Durant.

And the New York Post:

According to a source, Dolan is self-isolating with his family in the Hamptons and his test came back earlier this week. The Knicks said he “continues to oversee business operations.”

Dolan, who owns the Knicks and Rangers, is 64 years old. He did not attend the Knicks’ final road trip to Washington and Atlanta, but sat baseline at the Garden for their final home game on March 8 against the Pistons. Detroit’s Christian Wood became one of 10 players to test positive.

We wish Dolan a speedy recovery. Fortunately, it sounds like he’ll be just fine.

Pistons forward Christian Wood almost fully recovered from coronavirus

The bad news is, this is another coronavirus item. The good news is, it’s about a player’s near-full recovery. Here’s the Detroit News reporting:

The Pistons cleared the first wave of COVID-19 testing on Wednesday, with only one positive test.

Christian Wood, one of the first NBA players to test positive for coronavirus, is almost fully recovered. In order to be cleared, a person needs two negative tests, spaced at least 24 hours apart. Wood passed the initial test Wednesday and will take the second test on Thursday, a league source told The Detroit News.

The Pistons also tested 16 other members of their traveling party of more than 50 people, which included players, coaches, front office members and support staff. That group traveled to road games against the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers on March 8 and 11, respectively.

Here’s to more good news coming soon, we hope.

Pistons scout Maury Hanks hospitalized due to coronavirus

The coronavirus bad news continues, and has now put a Pistons scout in the hospital. Here’s the Detroit Free Press reporting:

A Detroit Pistons scout has been hospitalized with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Free Press early Thursday.

“One of our scouts, who works out of his home office in another state, has been hospitalized with COVID-19 in that state,” the source said. “We do not have any information as to the potential vector of exposure.”

The source spoke on condition of anonymity because of health privacy rules. East Tennessee State basketball coach Steve Forbes tweeted Wednesday that the scout’s name is Maury Hanks, a college scout in the Pistons organization since 2014.

We wish all the best to Hanks.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer will buy the LA Forum and build new arena near it

Big moves that Clippers ownership have focused on for a while now have taken a major step forward. Here’s the OC Register:

The owners of the Los Angeles Clippers will buy The Forum concert venue in Inglewood for $400 million as part of a settlement agreement with Madison Square Garden Co..

The agreement ends years of legal battles that threatened the feasibility of a proposed $1.2 billion Clippers arena in the city that soon will be home to an adjacent $5 billion NFL stadium for the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers. That 18,000-seat arena just south of the new NFL stadium will still move forward.

Here is info straight from the Clippers:

CAPSS LLC has reached an agreement with The Madison Square Garden Company (NYSE: MSG) to purchase The Forum in Inglewood, which will continue to operate as one of the premier live-music venues in the United States. The formation of CAPSS LLC and the acquisition of the Forum were driven by L.A. Clippers Chairman Steve Ballmer and L.A. Clippers Vice Chairman Dennis Wong.

By reaching an agreement with MSG, CAPSS LLC will acquire the Inglewood venue, simultaneously resolving litigation surrounding plans for the new NBA arena. As part of the agreement, all of MSG’s current Forum employees will be extended employment offers by the new owner.

This transaction, which remains subject to Hart-Scott-Rodino and other customary closing conditions, is expected to close during the second calendar quarter of 2020. CAPSS LLC is purchasing The Forum for $400 million in cash.

The new Clippers arena project would be a privately financed, state-of-the-art, 18,000-seat basketball arena, team headquarters complex and community center located on West Century Boulevard between South Prairie Avenue and South Yukon Avenue. The project is currently undergoing an environmental review by the City of Inglewood. Public hearings to approve the project are expected to be held later this summer.

“This is an unprecedented time, but we believe in our collective future,” said Ballmer. “We are committed to our investment in the City of Inglewood, which will be good for the community, the Clippers, and our fans.”

Having The Forum and the new Clippers arena under the same ownership will allow for coordinated programming between the two venues, improving traffic congestion around basketball games and concerts.

More from the Register:

Madison Square Garden Co., which bought The Forum for $23.5 million in 2012 and invested $100 million in renovations, has waged an all-out war to try to stop the Clippers from coming to the city. MSG sued Inglewood and its mayor, James T. Butts Jr., in 2018, alleging he tricked the company’s executives into giving up their rights to the land needed for the proposed arena.

The Forum’s owners claimed their fight was not about stopping the competition and instead was an attempt to protect Inglewood residents from a project that would “inflict severe traffic congestion, pollution and many other harms” on the city.

And, the Los Angeles Times reporting:

The deal is expected to close during the 2020 second quarter. The new ownership group has no plans to tear down the Forum, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, and will keep it operating as a concert venue…

The Clippers’ billion-dollar arena would sit less than two miles away from the Forum on West Century Boulevard, and be part of a larger Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Complex that would house team offices, a practice facility and public outdoor spaces.

UPDATE: No salary reductions for Sixers at-will employees

UPDATE: STATEMENT FROM JOSH HARRIS, FOUNDER OF HARRIS BLITZER SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT

“Our commitment has been to do our best to keep all of our employees working through this very difficult situation. As part of an effort to do that we asked salaried employees to take a temporary 20% pay cut while preserving everyone’s full benefits — and keeping our 1500 hourly workers paid throughout the regular season. After listening to our staff and players, it’s clear that was the wrong decision. We have reversed it and will be paying these employees their full salaries. This is an extraordinary time in our world – unlike any most of us have ever lived through before – and ordinary business decisions are not enough to meet the moment. To our staff and fans, I apologize for getting this wrong.”

ORIGINAL POST BELOW. THE UPDATE IS ABOVE

Sports leagues are on hold. It’s an adjustment for the entire leagues, including individual teams, and of course the people they employ.

Here’s Philly Voice with an update:

At-will employees making over $50,000 for the Sixers and Devils have been asked to take salary reductions of up to 20 percent as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, a team source confirmed to PhillyVoice on Monday evening. Marc Stein of The New York Times was the first to report the news.

Those employees include employees in marketing, sales, communications, and a variety of different members of business and sports operations for both franchises, a team source told PhillyVoice. The change will apply to the period through the end of the Sixers’ fiscal year on June 30th.

The Sixers will not have layoffs and there will not be any changes to health insurance or 401k as a result of the move, a team source told PhillyVoice, which was part of the internal discussion about such a move being made.

The fallout from coronavirus continues.

Charles Barkley tests negative for coronavirus

Good news. Charles Barkley has tested negative for coronavirus.

As most of you presumably know, “testing negative” for a bad thing is good. It means the person does not have that bad thing.

Here’s the New York Post:

Charles Barkley has tested negative for COVID-19, Turner Sports announced on Monday.

Barkley, 57, made the fact that he was taking the test public after the NBA suspended its season. Barkley said he hadn’t been feeling well on “Inside The NBA” and took the test out of caution on March 12. He had been feeling better, but just got the results on Monday.

All everybody needs to be doing right now, these next few weeks, is to stay home.

Utah Jazz arena employees to receive financial relief

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, some good news is emerging out of Salt Lake City.

The Desert News reports:

Thanks to generous donations and creative collaboration, the vast Vivint Arena workforce, suddenly off the clock since games and events there were recently postponed, will soon receive financial relief and temporary employment opportunities, multiple sources have told the Deseret News.

A little more than 1,000 part-time arena employees — who make things click for games, concerts and other events — will have extra funds placed in their next paycheck thanks to donations from Gail Miller, the Miller family and Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, according to sources.

The economic assistance will be distributed equally — an undisclosed amount — to employees in light of the arena’s temporary closure and workers being furloughed because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to a suspension of the NBA season and a postponement of scheduled entertainment.

Rough waters remain ahead. But this is a very generous gesture being made to people who help make events at the arena a success.