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Sports

LeBron James and Billie Jean King lead tributes to American journalist Grant Wahl

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CNN
 — 

The death of prominent journalist Grant Wahl at the World Cup in Qatar has led to an outpouring of shock and grief across the sports world, with NBA star LeBron James and tennis great Billie Jean King leading the tributes to the American.

Wahl, 49, died after collapsing while covering Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match. The circumstances around his death are unclear.

King said Wahl’s death was “heartbreaking.”

“A talented journalist, Grant was an advocate for the LGBTQ community & a prominent voice for women’s soccer,” King tweeted Saturday. “He used his platform to elevate those whose stories needed telling. Prayers for his family.”

On Friday in Philadelphia, basketball star James said he had been “very fond of Grant.” While Wahl was at Sports Illustrated, he did a cover story on James when James was in high school.

“I’ve always kind of watched from a distance even when I moved up in ranks and became a professional, and he went to a different sport,” said James, speaking at a postgame press conference. “Any time his name would come up I’ll always think back to me as a teenager and having Grant in our building … It’s a tragic loss.”

Tyler Adams, the captain of the US men’s national soccer team, which was knocked out of the World Cup by the Netherlands in the last 16, sent his “deepest sympathy” to Wahl’s wife, Celine Gounder, and to those who knew him.

“As players we have a tremendous amount of respect for the work of journalists, & Grant’s was a giant voice in soccer that has tragically fallen silent,” Adams wrote on Twitter.

Qatar’s World Cup organizers said on Saturday that Wahl “fell ill” in the press area, where he received “immediate medical treatment on site.”

He was then transferred to Hamad General Hospital, said a spokesperson for the Supreme Court Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the body responsible for planning the tournament.

Wahl was treated in the stadium “for about 20-25 minutes” before he was moved to the hospital, Keir Radnedge, a columnist at World Soccer Magazine, told CNN Saturday.

“This was towards the end of extra time in the match. Suddenly, colleagues up to my left started shouting for medical assistance. Obviously, someone had collapsed. Because the chairs are freestanding, people were able to move the chairs, so it’s possible to create a little bit of space around him,” Radnedge said.

He added that the medical team were there “pretty quickly and were able to, as best they could, give treatment.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reacted to Wahl’s death on Saturday, adding that senior State Department officials were in touch with Qatari officials and Grant’s family.

“Grant Wahl was an inspiration to many. Our thoughts are with his wife Dr. Céline Gounder and all those who loved him. State Department officials are in touch with Grant’s family and with senior officials in the government of Qatar to ensure his family gets the support they need,” Jean-Pierre wrote on Twitter.

“Only some days ago, Grant was recognized by FIFA and AIPS (the International Sports Press Association) for his contribution to reporting on eight consecutive FIFA World Cups,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a statement.

Infantino and FIFA media director Bryan Swanson were at the hospital on Saturday to offer any kind of support needed for the family, friends, and the journalists who were also his housemates in Qatar.

The co-editors in chief of Sports Illustrated, the publication where Wahl spent the majority of his career, said in a joint statement they were “shocked and devastated at the news of Grant’s passing.”

“We were proud to call him a colleague and friend for two decades – no writer in the history of (Sports Illustrated) has been more passionate about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell,” said the statement.

It added that Wahl had first joined the publication in November 1996. He had volunteered to cover the sport as a junior reporter – back before it reached the heights of global popularity it now enjoys – eventually becoming “one of the most respected soccer authorities in the world,” it said.

The statement said that Wahl also worked with other media outlets including Fox Sports. After leaving Sports Illustrated in 2020, he began publishing his podcast and newsletter.

Other current and former US soccer players, including Ali Krieger and Tony Meola, shared their condolences, as did sporting bodies such as Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League.

Wittyngham, Wahl’s podcast co-host, told CNN on Saturday the news of his death had been hard to fathom.

“For Americans, Grant Wahl is the first person you read covering soccer. He was kind of the only person for a while … Grant was the first person who really paid genuine attention to this sport in a meaningful way,” Wittyngham said.

Several journalists shared stories of reporting alongside Wahl, and having encountered him at multiple World Cups over the years.

“Before he became the best covering soccer he did hoops and was so kind to me,” wrote famed broadcaster Dick Vitale.

Timmy T. Davis, the US Ambassador to Qatar, tweeted that Wahl was “a well known and greatly respected reporter who focused on the beautiful game.”

“The entire US Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” US Soccer said in a statement on its official Twitter account.

“Grant made soccer his life’s work, and we are devastated that he and his brilliant writing will no longer be with us.”

US Soccer praised Wahl’s passion and “belief in the power of the game to advance human rights,” and shared its condolences with Wahl’s wife and his loved ones.

Gounder also posted the US Soccer statement on Twitter.

“I am so thankful for the support of my husband Grant Wahl’s soccer family and of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight. I’m in complete shock,” wrote Gounder, a former CNN contributor who served on the Biden-Harris transition Covid-19 advisory board.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the department was in “close communication” with Wahl’s family. The World Cup organizers also said they were in touch with the US embassy “to ensure the process of repatriating the body is in accordance with the family’s wishes.”

Wahl had covered soccer for more than two decades, including 11 World Cups — six men’s, five women’s – and authored several books on the sport, according to his website.

He had just celebrated his birthday earlier this week with “a great group of media friends at the World Cup,” according to a post on his official Twitter account, which added: “Very thankful for everyone.”

In an episode of the podcast Futbol with Grant Wahl, published days before his death on December 6, he had complained of feeling unwell.

“It had gotten pretty bad in terms of like the tightness in my chest, tightness, pressure. Feeling pretty hairy, bad,” Wahl told co-host Chris Wittyngham in the episode. He added that he sought help at the medical clinic at the World Cup media center, believing he had bronchitis.

He was given cough syrup and ibuprofen, and felt better shortly afterward, he said.

Wahl also said he experienced an “involuntary capitulation by my body and mind” after the US-Netherlands game on December 3.

“This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve done eight of these on the men’s side,” he said at the time. “And so like, I’ve gotten sick to some extent at every tournament, and it’s just about trying to find a way to like get your work done.”

He further described the incident in a recent newsletter published on December 5, writing that his body had “broke down” after he had little sleep, high stress and a heavy workload. He’d had a cold for 10 days, which “turned into something more severe,” he wrote, adding that he felt better after receiving antibiotics and catching up on sleep.

Wahl had made headlines in November by reporting that he was detained and briefly refused entry to a World Cup match because he was wearing a rainbow t-shirt in support of LGBTQ rights.

He said security staff had told him to change his shirt because “it’s not allowed,” and had taken his phone. Wahl said he was released 25 minutes after being detained and received apologies from a FIFA representative and a senior member of the security team at the stadium.

Afterward, Wahl told CNN he “probably will” wear the shirt again.



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Technology

Xbox Game Pass Is About To Get One Of 2022’s Best Games

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Image: Raw Fury

Just because the spooky season has passed doesn’t mean Microsoft’s Netflix-like subscription service is fresh out of spice to stimulate your gaming senses for the rest of November. While November’s assortment of games isn’t quite as loaded as last month’s helpings, it does feature a diverse hodgepodge of games, including one of the best-written titles to come out of 2022.

Here’s everything coming to and leaving Xbox Game Pass in the coming weeks:

November 15

  • Pentiment (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Somerville (Cloud, Console and PC)
  • Vampire Survivors (Cloud)

November 17

  • Dune: Spice Wars (Game Preview) (PC)
  • Ghostlore (Game Preview) (PC)
  • Lapin (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Norco (Cloud and Console)

November 22

  • Gungrave G.O.R.E (Cloud, Console, and PC)

November 29

  • Insurgency: Sandstorm (Cloud and Console)
  • Soccer Story (Cloud, Console, and PC)

November 30

  • Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC)

Read More: A Stunning Southern Dystopia Is One Of The Best-Written Games Of The Year

The creme de la creme of this month’s assortment of Game Pass games isn’t the spice melange of the Dune real-time strategy game but rather a little-known text-based point-and-click adventure game called Norco. You play as Kay, a 20-year-old woman who returns to her childhood home after the passing of her mother from cancer. When you aren’t completing your mother’s half-finished chores with the help of a self-aware robot named Million, you’re searching the industrial underbelly of New Orleans for your brother Blake, who went missing shortly after your mother’s passing. In our review of Norco, Kotaku said the game is “a stunning piece of magical realism” with exceptional dialogue that “plays its cards with enormous subtlety.”

If you missed out on playing this gem when it was a Game Pass PC offering back in March, now’s your chance to give this Disco Elysium-esque game a try. Fair warning, Norco contains instances of violence, suicide, substance use, and mature language.

G/O Media may get a commission

If you’re in the upper echelon of Game Pass’ Ultimate tier and feel a tingle in your spine at the fact that “LeBron James frame data” is a phrase you can say now that makes sense, you get the added bonus of a free MultiVersus MVP pack drop this month. Obviously, reaping the benefits of this bundle’s variant, ring-out, and banners requires you to have the MultiVersus installed on your gaming device. And all Game Pass subscribers will get a bounty of DLC updates for The Elder Scrolls Online: Firesong (available today), The Elder Scrolls Online: Dark Heart of Skyrim Celebration (available on November 17), and Dead by Daylight: Forged in Fog (available on November 22).

Game Pass, much like the saying “out with the old in with the new,” is losing some games to make way for the new hotness. The following games are going back into the Xbox vault as of November 30:

  • Archvale (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Deeeer Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Console and PC)
  • Mind Scanners (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Mortal Shell (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Undungeon (Cloud, Console, and PC)
  • Warhammer 40,000 Battlesector (Cloud, Console, and PC)

      

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Sports

Elon Musk’s new $8 blue checkmarks cause chaos on Twitter as pranksters impersonate LeBron James

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Elon Musk’s efforts to authenticate Twitter users led to a nervous moment for Los Angeles Lakers fans, who thought they were losing franchise cornerstone LeBron James.

‘Thank you #LakersNation for all the support through the year,’ read a tweet from an account with the handle, @KingJamez. ‘Onto bigger and better things! #ThekidfromAKRON #ImComingHome.’

No, James isn’t being dealt back to Cleveland for a third stint with the Cavaliers, but was instead being impersonated by a Twitter prankster. James’ account uses a slightly different handle: @KingJames.

The confusion was understanding, considering that the bogus James account was adorned with a blue check – Twitter’s traditional way of showing that an account user’s identity has been verified. 

However, Musk has promised a change to that system following his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform. The checkmarks will be available at a yet-to-be-announced date for anyone willing to pay a $7.99-a-month subscription, which will also include some bonus features, such as fewer ads and the ability to have tweets given greater visibility than those coming from non-subscribers.

Experts have expressed concern that making the checkmark available to anyone for a fee could lead to impersonations and the spreading of misinformation and scams.

A tweet, seemingly from LeBron James, turned out to be completely bogus despite Twitter’s renewed efforts to improve its verification system 

Elon Musk’s efforts to authenticate Twitter users led to a nervous moment for Los Angeles Lakers fans, who thought they were losing franchise cornerstone LeBron James

Those fears proved prescient for Lakers fans, who were coaxed into thinking that James was forcing his way out of Los Angeles. And given the team’s 2-8 start, such a demand would be understandable for a title-focused player approaching 40.

Twitter has already banned the @KingJamez handle following Musk’s directive to suspend any user pretending to be someone else without clearly identifying as a parody account.

Similarly, another user parodying ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter was suspended despite being clearly labeled: @AdamSchefterNOT.

‘Josh McDaniels is out as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, sources tell ESPN,’ read a tweet from the @AdamSchefterNOT account.

There are about 423,000 verified accounts under the outgoing system. Many of those belong to celebrities, businesses and politicians, as well as media outlets.

But a large chunk of verified accounts belong to individual journalists, some with tiny followings at local newspapers and news sites around the world. The idea was to verify reporters so their identities couldn’t be used to push false information on Twitter.

Another user parodying ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter was suspended despite being clearly labeled: @AdamSchefterNOT

Musk sought to reassure big companies that advertise on Twitter on Wednesday that his chaotic takeover of the social media platform won’t harm their brands, acknowledging that some ‘dumb things’ might happen on his way to creating what he says will be a better, safer user experience.

The latest erratic move on the minds of major advertisers who the company depends on for revenue was Musk’s decision to abolish a new ‘official’ label on high-profile Twitter accounts just hours after introducing it.

Twitter began adding the gray labels to some prominent accounts Wednesday, including brands like Coca-Cola, Nike and Apple, to indicate that they are authentic. A few hours later, the labels started disappearing.

‘Apart from being an aesthetic nightmare when looking at the Twitter feed, it was another way of creating a two-class system,’ the billionaire Tesla CEO told advertisers in an hour-long conversation broadcast live on Twitter. ‘It wasn’t addressing the core problem.’

Media sites like The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal received an official designation, as did most major corporate brands. And then they were gone.

Musk sought to reassure big companies that advertise on Twitter on Wednesday that his chaotic takeover of the social media platform won’t harm their brands, acknowledging that some ‘dumb things’ might happen on his way to creating what he says will be a better, safer user experience

Before they disappeared, the labels were causing confusion. For instance, users in London could see an ‘official’ label attached to a BBC News account, but the label didn’t show up for users in the U.S.

YouTube personality and author John Green jokingly noted that he got the label, but his younger brother and ‘vlogging’ partner Hank Green didn’t make the cut. But then John Green’s label was gone, too. Another popular YouTuber, Marques Brownlee, who posts videos on technology, tweeted he got the label, then tweeted again that it disappeared, which attracted the attention of Musk himself.

‘I just killed it,’ Musk responded, though at first it wasn’t clear if he was referring specifically to Brownlee’s label or the entire project.

The gray label — a color that tends to blend into the background whether you use light or dark mode to scroll Twitter — was an apparent compromise. But it was expected to lead to more confusion, as Twitter users accustomed to the blue check as a mark of authenticity would now have to look for the less obvious ‘official’ designation.

Esther Crawford, a Twitter employee who has been working on the verification overhaul, had said Tuesday on Twitter that the ‘official’ label would be added to ‘select accounts’ when the new system launches.

‘Not all previously verified accounts will get the ‘Official’ label and the label is not available for purchase,’ said Crawford, who recently was the subject of a viral photo showing her sleeping on the floor of a Twitter office while working to meet Musk’s deadlines.

Crawford said those receiving the label would include government accounts, commercial companies, business partners, major media outlets, publishers and some public figures. But after the labels started disappearing Wednesday, she again took to Twitter to say ‘there are no sacred cows in product at Twitter anymore.’

‘Elon is willing to try lots of things — many will fail, some will succeed,’ she said. ‘The goal is to find the right mix of successful changes to ensure the long-term health and growth of the business.’

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Sports

LeBron James to NBA commissioner

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LAS VEGAS — After wowing the crowd at T-Mobile Arena, scoring 23 points in 17 minutes in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 119-115 preseason loss to the Phoenix Suns, LeBron James saved his biggest play for the postgame news conference Wednesday night.

When asked a question about the NBA hosting the exhibition game in Las Vegas, James used the occasion to make a personal plea to commissioner Adam Silver, angling to be first in line to own the team if the league ever expands to Sin City.

“I would love to bring a team here at some point. That would be amazing. I know Adam is in Abu Dhabi right now, I believe,” James said, alluding to the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks’ preseason trip that Silver is attending. “But he probably sees every single interview and transcript that comes through from NBA players.

“So, I want the team here, Adam. Thank you.”

Wednesday was not the first time James has expressed interest in owning a team in Las Vegas, but this certainly was his most direct declaration.

In June, on an episode of his YouTube show “The Shop: Uninterrupted,” James first revealed his goal.

“I want a team in Vegas,” said James, who is already a part-owner of Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox. “I want the team in Vegas.”

Silver was asked during his annual NBA Finals news conference about the league expanding beyond its current 30 teams and said there are no immediate plans to do so.

“We are not discussing that at this time,” Silver said. “As I said before, at some point, this league invariably will expand, but it’s not at this moment that we are discussing it.”

However, when asked specifically about Seattle and Las Vegas as potential expansion locations, Silver endorsed both locations.

“Those are wonderful markets,” Silver said. “We were in Seattle. I’m sorry we are no longer there. We have a WNBA team in Seattle in an almost brand-new building that’s doing spectacular. And Las Vegas, where we will be at our summer league in July, has shown itself to be a great sports market as well.”

The LA Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers played a preseason game in Seattle this week.

James laid it on thick, saying that Las Vegas has “the best fan base in the world,” and winking as he said it, clearly aware that his statement would generate some buzz.

James, who is 37 and entering his 20th season, would need to be finished playing in order to own a team. He would also need to link up with an ownership group to purchase a team, despite having a net worth north of $1 billion, according to Forbes.

The most recent NBA team to go on the market, the Minnesota Timberwolves, sold for $1.5 billion in 2021. The Brooklyn Nets sold for an NBA-record $2.35 billion in 2019. The Suns are expected to set a new record, according to a report from ESPN’s Baxter Holmes, as current owner Robert Sarver fields offers after committing to part with the franchise in the fallout from the league suspending him for a year and fining him $10 million after a nearly yearlong investigation into his workplace conduct.

James is under contract with the Lakers through the 2024-25 season.

“I think it’s a great city, the natural organic energy that’s here built into the city, it goes hand in hand with the level of sports that have been considered to be placed here,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “It’s a no-brainer. Down the road. I don’t want to speak for the NBA or the commissioner but I think at some point you’ll see a permanent NBA team here calling Las Vegas home.”

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Sports

Robert Sarver: LeBron James and other NBA figures respond to Suns owner decision

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CNN
 — 

LeBron James and Chris Paul have criticized the NBA for the punishment handed down to Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, who this week was fined $10 million and suspended for a year after an independent investigation found he engaged in hostile, racially insensitive and inappropriate behavior.

The report, commissioned by the NBA last fall after an ESPN report about Sarver’s behavior, found the Suns owner had “on at least five occasions during his tenure with the Suns/Mercury organization, repeated the N-word when recounting the statements of others.”

He also “engaged in instances of inequitable conduct toward female employees, made many sex-related comments in the workplace, made inappropriate comments about the physical appearance of female employees and other women, and on several occasions engaged in inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees.”

“Read through the Sarver stories a few times now,” James wrote on Twitter. “I gotta be honest…Our league definitely got this wrong. I don’t need to explain why. Y’all read the stories and decide for yourself. I said it before and I’m gonna say it again, there is no place in this league for that kind of behavior.

“I love this league and I deeply respect our leadership. But this isn’t right. There is no place for misogyny, sexism, and racism in any work place. Don’t matter if you own the team or play for the team. We hold our league up as an example of our values and this aint it.”

According to the NBA, 320 current and former employees who worked for Sarver were interviewed. The NBA said Sarver and the Suns and Mercury organizations cooperated with the investigation.

Sarver, who has been the Suns’ and Mercury’s majority owner since 2004, cannot have any involvement with the team during the yearlong suspension and must complete a workplace training program. The $10 million fine is the maximum allowed as determined by the NBA by-laws.

Paul, a 12-time All-Star who has played for the Suns since 2020, also said the NBA’s punishment should have been more severe.

“Like many others, I reviewed the report. I was and am horrified and disappointed by what I read,” Paul wrote on Twitter. “This conduct especially towards women is unacceptable and must never be repeated.

“I am of the view that the sanctions fell short in truly addressing what we can all agree was atrocious behavior. My heart goes out to all of the people that were affected.”

In 2014, then Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was given a lifetime ban by the NBA and forced to sell the franchise after being recorded making racist remarks.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who had not long assumed his role before the Sterling allegations came to light, explained why Sarver wasn’t given a lifetime ban for his comments.

“This case is very different and it’s not that one was captured on tape and the other isn’t,” Silver said, per NBA.com. “Indefensible is not strong enough – it’s beyond the pale in every possible way – but it was a whole different context than what we saw in that earlier case.

“Looking back over his track record of hiring, his track record of support for particular employees, what the actual people said about him – while there were terrible things – there were also many, many people who had very positive things to say about him through this process. I took all of that into account.

“There are particular rights here, somebody who owns an NBA team as opposed to somebody who’s an employee. The equivalent of a $10 million fine and a one-year suspension, I don’t know how to measure that against a job. I don’t have the right to take away his team … but to me, the consequences are severe.”



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Sports

After Robert Sarver investigation, LeBron James adamant NBA ‘definitely got this wrong’

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LeBron James detailed his disappointment with the NBA’s punishment of Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver on Wednesday, writing “our league definitely got this wrong” in a series of social media posts.

Sarver was banned from the NBA for one year and fined $10 million after the league released its findings on Tuesday from a 10-month independent investigation into allegations of workplace abuse during Sarver’s tenure as managing partner of the Suns that has spanned nearly two decades.

Earlier Wednesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver conducted a news conference in New York following the league’s board of governors meeting and addressed concerns he has fielded from the player base — which is nearly 75% Black.

Among the litany of allegations first reported by ESPN.com last November and corroborated by the investigation conducted by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Sarver was found to have, on least five occasions, repeated the N-word when recounting the statements of others.

“I’ve talked to some players,” Silver said Wednesday. “Those have been private conversations. I’ll leave it for the players to speak directly how they feel.”

Silver continued to describe his conversations with players as “disheartening” because, he said, “I think, for those players to see that we continue to deal with these issues.”

Later Wednesday, Tamika Tremaglio, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, issued a statement, saying that “Sarver’s reported actions and conduct are horrible and have no place in our sport or any workplace for that matter.”

Tremaglio added that she has “made my position known to Adam Silver regarding my thoughts on the extent of the punishment, and strongly believe that Mr. Sarver should never hold a managerial position within our league again.”

James’ statement echoes his stance from 2014 when the league was investigating alleged racist misconduct from then Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.

“There’s no room for Donald Sterling in the NBA — there is no room for him,” James said prior to a Miami Heat playoff game against the Charlotte Bobcats. ” … They have to make a stand. They have to be very aggressive with it. I don’t know what it will be, but we can’t have that in our league.”

James has spent the last half of his NBA career, which is entering its 20th season this fall, as a public advocate for social change.

Silver said from a personal standpoint he was in “disbelief” when informed of Sarver’s transgressions, but that many of the players and coaches in the league that he spoke to found the situation all too familiar.

“Look, I think it’s no secret this is a league where roughly 80 percent of our players are Black. More than half our coaches are Black,” Silver said. “I will say that none of them maybe are as shocked as I am, living their lives, that I don’t think they’re reading this saying, oh, my God, I can’t believe this happens.”



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Sports

LeBron and LA Lakers have ‘productive discussion’ with the star entering final year of current deal

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LeBron James and LA Lakers chiefs have ‘PRODUCTIVE discussion’ over his future with the star eligible to become an unrestricted free agent after this season

  • LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers have begun talks on a contract extension
  • Lakers star James can sign an extension for up to two years worth $97.1million
  • James’ agent Rich Paul reportedly described the first day of talks as ‘productive’

By Tyrell Feaster For Dailymail.Com

Published: | Updated:

Thursday marked the first day LeBron James and the Los Angles Lakers could begin discussions on a contract extension and they reportedly went well.

James is currently set to be a free agent when his contract expires at the end of the upcoming 2022-2023 season. 

The Lakers star reportedly met with the club’s vice president and general manager Rob Pelinka Thursday to speak about his future. James’ agent and chief of Klutch Sports Rich Paul stated that negotiations were still ongoing but the called the first day of talks ‘productive’, according to ESPN. 

LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers started talks on a contract extension Thursday

Lakers VP/GM Rob Pelinka (left) and new head coach Darvin Ham (right) were both involved

The report claims that new Lakers coach Darvin Ham was also involved at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo. 

James who turns 38 in December, is eligible to sign a two-year contract for up to $97.1million if he wishes to stay in Los Angeles. 

It is believed that James has no intention of leaving the Lakers until at least 2024 when his oldest son ‘Bronny’ Lebron James Jr. will be eligible for the draft. 

LeBron James with agent and CEO of Klutch sports Rich Paul spotted together at in 2018

Even at his advanced age James has remained one of the most unstoppable players in the game, regardless of playing less games in order to try and maintain his fitness. 

Last season James averaged an impressive 30.3 points ppg, 6.2 assists, and 8.2 rebounds while playing in 56 games. He also averaged 37.2 minutes per game, which is the highest he has recorded since the 2016-2017 season in Cleveland.

James remains committed to the organization but would consider leaving in 2024 when his oldest son, 17-year-old Bronny James (Lebron James Jr.), becomes eligible for the NBA Draft, per Marc Stein.

Bronny is currently a senior at Sierra Canyon high school and most recently played in the Peach Invitational where he averaged 17.8 points, 5.6 assists and 5.2 rebounds shooting 44% from three point range. 

 Lebron and Bronny James pictured here following Sierra Canyon postseason victory

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Technology

MultiVersus Open Beta Patch Nerfs Taz, Batman, Iron Giant

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Screenshot: WB Games / Kotaku

MultiVersus, WB Games’ answer to Super Smash Bros., entered open beta earlier today with a new playable character in real-life basketball player LeBron James and a host of balance changes.

While the MultiVersus update focuses on several characters, the most significant adjustments were saved for Looney Tunes rep The Tasmanian Devil (or Taz for short). Taz was a force to be reckoned with during the closed beta, with some comparing the utility of his Tornado special to similar tools that made Kirby villain Meta Knight so dominant in the days of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

“Our plan is to transition the Tornado to a cooldown move in an upcoming patch,” the patch notes read. “The tornado is Taz’s signature move, so we want to keep it as one of his most powerful attacks, with the cooldown forcing more intentional use of it. These nerfs will reduce Taz’s strength, especially at higher levels of play, so expect some buffs to the other moves in his kit in the near future.”

WB Games

In the meantime, Taz’s Tornado received a slight damage reduction as well as a decrease in duration and hits.

Other changes in today’s update include increased cooldown on Batman’s Batarang special, numerous bug fixes for the Iron Giant (please just take him out entirely), and a weight reduction for Scooby Doo investigator Velma Dinkley. Velma is another character considered to be among the best in MultiVersus, so it’s possible she’ll see more substantial changes in the future.

Here’s a full breakdown of the MultiVersus patch:

Batman

  • Air/Ground Neutral Attack: Cooldown on Batarang increased from 13s to 14s. Pick up of Batarang returns 11.55 second up from 11.05. This means that the minimum time between Batarang throws is 2.45s up from 1.95s.
  • Batman’s Batarang pick-up cooldown created very small windows where the Batarang wasn’t in play. This change should make it so opponents of Batman have a larger window between Batarang attacks to gain advantage.
  • Bug Fix: Air/Ground Side Special: Fixed a bug where Grapple would sometimes shoot you off the map.

Bugs Bunny

  • Air Up Attack: Startup window increased by 2 frames, active window decreased by 2 frames
  • The hitbox made it so that Bugs Bunny hit nearly all around himself. This should make the up air a bit more reasonable to deal with.

Iron Giant

  • Bug Fix: Air Down Attack: can no longer combo into itself
  • Bug Fix: Air/Ground Down Special: can no longer repeatedly hit and lock opponents in place forever
  • Bug Fix: Air Up Attack: Can no longer repeatedly hit opponents

Steven Universe

  • Air Neutral Attack: Knocks opponents up and away to prevent an infinite attack caused by alternating Air Down Attack and Air Neutral Attack.

Taz

  • Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that was preventing Taz from doing any aerial attacks once he reached his air special limit.
  • Air/Ground Side Special: If you have been following early access, Taz’s Tornado has been dominating his character kit and presenting a non-obvious knowledge check for newer players. By reducing its effectiveness we hope to improve his gameplay health and loop and bring the game to a healthier state for newer players.
  • A decrease to the tornado’s duration and the additional duration gained by passing an ally.
  • Removing one of the multi-hits of the tornado.
  • Decreasing the hit pause of all the hits in the tornado.
  • Reduced knockback from the final hit in the tornado from 1375 to 1275.
  • Right now, our plan is to transition the Tornado to a cooldown move in an upcoming patch. The tornado is Taz’s signature move so we want to keep it as one of his most powerful attacks, with the cooldown forcing more intentional use of it. These nerfs will reduce Taz’s strength, especially at higher levels of play, so expect some buffs to the other moves in his kit in the near future. Thank you for your patience and we will continue to evaluate Taz’s gameplay health.

Velma

  • Weight: reduced from 70 to 63
  • It was an oversight on our part that Velma is one of the heaviest characters in the game. This change should bring her more in-line with where we originally envisioned her.

MultiVersus is currently in open beta on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and the Epic Games Store.



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Sports

LeBron James’ 42-point show lights up Drew League; Kyrie Irving no-shows

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LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored 42 points in a successful return to the Drew League while teaming up with DeMar DeRozan for a 104-102 win in L.A.’s famed pro-am basketball league Saturday.

Longtime Drew League commissioner Dino Smiley told ESPN he expected Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving to play in the game preceding James’ and DeRozan’s, but that did not occur.

“We still have a couple games left today and then six tomorrow, so we’ll see,” Smiley said late Saturday afternoon.

Smiley said Irving playing Saturday “sounded like it was going to be a sure bet, but I don’t know what happened.”

While the Drew League’s Saturday slate was being played near Compton, California, some 55 miles away in Thousand Oaks, a participant at Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy’s girls’ basketball skills camp posted a video of Irving working with the campers to her Instagram account.

Handy coached Irving for five seasons when they were both a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers organization.

The Drew League game Saturday marked the first public glimpse of the 37-year-old James playing basketball in more than three months. He missed seven of the Lakers’ final eight regular-season games in the spring because of a left ankle sprain and missed 26 games in all of 2021-22, which ended up being one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.

“I’m 100 percent healthy,” James told ESPN during the first half of action.

He finished with 42 points on 18-for-36 shooting (2-for-13 from 3), 16 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists. DeRozan, a Drew League staple who invited James to play on his and fellow Southern California native Casper Ware’s team, scored 30 points on 9-for-23 shooting with 14 rebounds.

James and DeRozan’s team, called the MMV Cheaters, trailed team Black Pearl Elite by as many as seven points in the fourth quarter before storming back.

DeRozan’s feed to James for a two-handed, rim-bending dunk with 1:22 remaining put MMV up by six and seemingly in control. But BPE followed with a 3-pointer and a layup created by stealing an inbounds pass, and James was suddenly in jeopardy of losing his first game back at the Drew League in more than a decade.

Following a timeout, MMV inbounded the ball to James, who was fouled with 4.5 seconds left, sending him to the free throw line with his team up 103-102.

He made the first. And then things got interesting.

“I walked up to LeBron up the end, and I told him, ‘Hey, I need one [miss],'” Mike Nwabuzor of BPE, who plays professionally overseas, said afterward. “And he actually smoked the free throw. So that was probably the best moment. But the whole game was fun. Great competition. It’s just great to share the court with him.”

James missed the second free throw, but Ethan Alvano of BPE put up a potential game-winning 3 at the buzzer that fell short, and James raised his fist in victory.

“I thought we really could have pulled it off,” said Alvano, who recently signed a two-year contract to play in South Korea. “We had some mistakes down the stretch. But, man, that’s a lifelong dream to play against, with, whatever with LeBron James. Someone that I grew up watching, someone I grew up idolizing. So it was an honor, it was a blessing to share the court with him.”

It was James’ first appearance at the Drew League — which was founded in 1973 and has seen a pilgrimage of NBA players descend on the Charles Drew Junior High School gymnasium during the summers for decades — since the NBA lockout in 2011.

“When that first happened it was a surprise because Baron [Davis] brought him in to play, and I think he was coming just to watch, and then he got excited seeing the crowd and the game and then he wanted a jersey,” Smiley said. “So, that’s how that one took place.”

Davis was one of about a dozen former or current NBA players on hand to watch Saturday, a group that also included Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors; Montrezl Harrell of the Charlotte Hornets; and Kendrick Nunn and Talen Horton-Tucker of the Lakers.

Irving’s absence erased much of the intrigue for the day surrounding James and his former teammate.

Irving recently picked up his $36.5 million player option for the 2022-23 season with the Brooklyn Nets, and James is in the final year of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, although he will be eligible to sign an extension with L.A. starting next month.

Los Angeles has engaged Brooklyn in trade talks in recent weeks to attempt to acquire Irving in a deal that would send Russell Westbrook to the Nets, sources told ESPN. Thus far, those talks have not progressed toward an agreement.

Instead, the focus was on the court, with James — four years into his Lakers tenure — ingratiating himself with the L.A. basketball scene.

“For him to be here and come to the middle of the ‘hood where regular people are every day that look up to him, he’s a superstar so for him to come here and grace these people with his presence, I think it’s super dope,” Alvano said. “I’m glad he did it and it’s great for the community.”

Added Smiley: “It was just an epic, epic afternoon of basketball.”

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Sports

Atlantic Notes: Raptors, Durant, Brogdon, Melton, Knicks

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The potential price tag for acquiring Kevin Durant isn’t what should matter most to the Raptors, argues Scott Stinson of The National Post, who says that determining whether Durant would actually be motivated and invested in playing for Toronto should be the most important factor for the team’s lead decision-makers.

As Stinson writes, Durant’s motivation in asking for a trade out of Brooklyn remains a bit nebulous, especially since he just signed a four-year extension last August. That should concern vice chairman and president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, because dealing for a superstar who might not be engaged or on the same page as the club could be disastrous, according to Stinson.

Drawing parallels between Ujiri’s trade for Kawhi Leonard in the 2018 offseason to the Durant sweepstakes now doesn’t make sense, per Stinson, because the situations aren’t similar.

Leonard was coming off an injury that caused him to miss almost the entire 2017/18 season, was on an expiring contract, and the Raptors teams led by Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan had been given ample time to breakthrough in the East, but couldn’t get past LeBron James. The Raptors finished second in the East in the two years after Leonard left Toronto, so obviously the team remained competitive and didn’t mortgage its future to acquire him, Stinson writes.

Durant, on the other hand, has four years remaining on his deal, so obviously it will cost significantly more to land him, plus the current version of the Raptors is ascendant, with Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, Gary Trent Jr., and Precious Achiuwa among the new additions who made significant contributions to a team that improved its win total from 27 to 48. Dealing away from an emerging core only for Durant to balk at the idea of staying could put Toronto in a hole that would be difficult to climb out of, says Stinson.

Here’s more from the Atlantic:

  • Could a lesser role on the Celtics benefit Malcolm Brogdon from a health perspective? “The knock against him coming out of college is that he had terrible knees,” a rival general manager told Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “I mean, some of the examinations were really suspect in terms of how long his lower body would be able to take NBA pounding. So that’s why he ended up going in the second round, because he was damn near red-flagged. So the fact of the matter is he’s probably better off coming off the bench with limited minutes, trying to be impactful in 18 rather than trying to play 30 and always being injured. The question becomes how he’ll accept that.” Boston reportedly views Brogdon as a sixth man, and he said shortly after the deal was announced that he’s motivated to win a championship and is willing to sacrifice his individual stats for the betterment of the team.
  • De’Anthony Melton believes he’s a “great fit” for the Sixers, writes Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link). “Once I saw the team, I’m like, ‘OK, that’s a great spot,’” Melton told The Inquirer by phone last week. “That’s a great fit for me. … I understand what this team needs. I understand what this team is trying to do. I’m ready for the task at hand. I’m ready for whatever’s to come.” Melton was acquired from the Grizzlies in exchange for the No. 23 pick (David Roddy) and Danny Green in a draft-day swap.
  • Signing free agent guard Jalen Brunson was a solid move for the Knicks but they still look like a play-in team on paper, Ian O’Connor of The New York Post opines. According to O’Connor, while Brunson is a good player and the best point guard the Knicks will employ in years, neither he nor RJ Barrett or Julius Randle are capable of being the best — or second-best — players on a championship-caliber team, and unless something drastic changes, New York will begin 2022/23 as “just another barely relevant club.”

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