Basketball

Subterms

    More stories

    • 113 Shares119 Views

      in Basket

      Enes Kanter Freedom and the Consequences of Speaking Out

      by

      Enes Kanter Freedom has condemned human rights abuses in Turkey for years. Now he claims the N.B.A. is blackballing him as he focuses on abuses in China.“My activism actually started when I was 9 years old,” Enes Kanter Freedom told a rapt audience of pro-democracy activists that included Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion known for his opposition to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.Freedom was at the Olive Tree Cafe in Greenwich Village on Feb. 23, dressed in a sport coat over a dark T-shirt that read, “Freedom For ALL.”“My mom told me — I remember when I was a kid — ‘Believe in something and always stand up tall for it. Even if it means sacrificing everything you have.’”Freedom used to be known as Enes Kanter, a serviceable N.B.A. center who has publicly defied President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, where Freedom was raised. But in recent months, the player has made headlines mostly by calling out China’s human rights abuses and ripping the N.B.A. for doing business with the country. In November, he changed his name, choosing Freedom as his surname, and his activism now overshadows his identity as a player.It has also made him a political weapon that right-wing politicians and pundits have used to bludgeon the N.B.A. and its biggest star, Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, a frequent conservative target whom Freedom has singled out for criticism.But Freedom’s allies aren’t just on the right. Many left-leaning pro-democracy activists, like those at the Greenwich Village event, have also embraced him. Because he brings attention to their cause, they have looked past his appearances with right-wing television hosts like Laura Ingraham, who welcomed Freedom on her show but once told James to “shut up and dribble.”At the moment, Freedom is not in the N.B.A. No team has signed him since he was traded and cut last month, and to hear him tell it, his activism is the reason. He has invited comparisons to Colin Kaepernick, the former N.F.L. quarterback who in 2016 began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and who has accused the N.F.L. of colluding to keep him out of the league.For decades, the N.B.A.’s plans for global expansion have included China, where there are more fans of the league than there are in the United States. Before the coronavirus pandemic, top N.B.A. stars routinely traveled there to promote shoe brands. China accounted for a steady stream of television and sponsorship revenue for the N.B.A. until the league’s relationship with the Chinese government frayed in 2019.Freedom declined to be interviewed by phone or in person, but agreed to answer questions over text message.“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize why I got little playing time and was released,” he said. “But it does take people with a conscience to speak out and say it’s not right.”The perception — whether true or not — that Freedom is being punished for his political beliefs has become pervasive among his allies.Jeffrey Ngo, a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist in Washington, said Freedom’s criticism of China “must have at least played a role” in his not playing.“All of a sudden there’s all this attention and people telling him to stop talking about it or there would be consequences,” Ngo said. “And then those consequences came.”Adam Silver, the commissioner of the N.B.A., said in an interview that the league’s position on China had not changed. He also denied that the league had blackballed Freedom, saying that comparisons to Kaepernick were “completely unfounded and unfair.”The Great ReadMore fascinating tales you can’t help but read all the way to the end.Brash and funny, Emily Nunn uses her popular Substack newsletter, The Department of Salad, to hold forth about ageism, politics and, oh yes, leafy greens.For years, a virus hunter worried about animal markets causing a pandemic. Now he’s at the center of the debate over Covid’s origins.A few years ago, Nicola Coughlan was working in an optician’s office in Ireland. Now, with “Bridgerton” and “Derry Girls,” she’s starring in two of the most beloved shows on Netflix.“We spoke directly about his activities this season,” Silver said, “and I made it absolutely clear to him that it was completely within his right to speak out on issues that he was passionate about.”Freedom said Silver characterized their conversation wrongly, but — in what has become a trend for him — he wouldn’t offer specifics.‘Always Full of Joy’Freedom never ended up playing for Kentucky but was still drafted into the N.B.A. with the No. 3 pick in 2011.James Crisp/Associated PressEarly in his career, Freedom gave little indication that he would become an outspoken human rights advocate.Raphael Chillious, then a Nike executive, first met Freedom at a basketball camp in Greece when Freedom was about 16. Freedom, who was born in Zurich, was one of the best rebounders on the floor — and shy, Chillious recalled.“I don’t think he was confident in his English at that point,” Chillious said. “So he wouldn’t initiate conversations.”Freedom played for a professional team in Turkey before going to the University of Kentucky in 2010. But because he had been paid by the Turkish team, the N.C.A.A. ruled him ineligible.“He was heartbroken,” Orlando Antigua, an assistant coach with the program, said through a university spokesperson. “It was very difficult. It was difficult for all of us.”Freedom instead served as a student assistant, improving his English by watching the Nickelodeon cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants.”The Utah Jazz selected him with the third overall pick in the 2011 draft even though he never played a college game. Brandon Knight, a college teammate, described Freedom as “super goofy” and “always full of joy.” After his rookie year, Freedom, no longer shy, posted a message on Twitter asking “for a blonde” to join him for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.“Once he got used to being here and around his teammates, he’s a really loyal guy,” said Tyrone Corbin, who coached Freedom on the Jazz.‘Shut Up and Stop Talking’A protest in front of the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee in February.Arnd Wiegmann/ReutersFreedom’s foray into public political activism began in 2016 with his denunciations of Erdogan, who detained thousands of people in Turkey after a failed military coup. Erdogan blamed the coup attempt on Fethullah Gulen, an Islamic preacher and former ally. Freedom is Gulen’s supporter and friend, and he has referred to Erdogan as the “Hitler of our century.”Turkey canceled Freedom’s passport and issued a warrant for his arrest. Freedom’s father, Mehmet Kanter, wrote a letter disowning him and was later arrested, and acquitted, on terrorism charges in Turkey. Freedom has not been back to Turkey since 2015.A chance encounter at a basketball camp in New York last summer turned the player’s attention to China.“I took a picture with this kid, and her parents called me out in front of everybody and said, ‘How can you call yourself a human-rights activist when your Muslim brothers and sisters are getting tortured and raped every day in concentration camps in China?’” Freedom told the crowd at the Olive Tree, referring to allegations commonly made by Uyghur rights activists of abuses by China in Xinjiang, a region in northwest China. The State Department, under the Trump administration, labeled it genocide, and the Biden administration has maintained that position.Freedom, who is Muslim but knew little about the Uyghurs, threw himself into the cause. Tahir Imin, a Uyghur activist in Washington who met Freedom at a Capitol Hill rally, said that Freedom “boosted the morale of Uyghur activism.”That was just over a week after Freedom opened the N.B.A. season with the Boston Celtics, in October. Ahead of their first game, Freedom posted a video on Twitter with a caption referring to China’s leader, Xi Jinping, as a “brutal dictator.” During the game, he wore shoes designed by the Chinese dissident artist Badiucao that said “Free Tibet,” referring to the region Chinese troops invaded and seized in 1951. The N.B.A.’s response, Freedom said, was to try to silence him. In several media appearances after that game, he said two league officials demanded that he take off the shoes, and he refused. At the Olive Tree, he changed the story, saying the officials were with the Celtics.He also said the N.B.A. players’ union separately tried to get him to stop wearing the shoes.“Instead of advocating on my behalf, I have encountered the union telling me I need to shut up and stop talking about the human rights violations in China,” Freedom said to The New York Times.Freedom’s story is difficult to corroborate because he would not disclose the names of his antagonists. The union would not comment on the specifics, but said in a statement that it supported Freedom and other players’ speaking out on important issues.Brad Stevens, the president of basketball operations for the Celtics, said team staff members merely asked whether the shoes were a violation of the league dress code.“Even the next day, I just walked up to him and said, ‘Hey, you always have our support to freely express yourself and say what you want,’” Stevens said. Freedom confirmed this exchange.Even if Freedom’s criticisms were not an issue for the Celtics, they have hit a sore spot in China. Tencent, which streams N.B.A. games in China, pulled Celtics games, evoking memories of 2019, when China stopped broadcasting N.B.A. games on its state television network after a Houston Rockets executive shared a Twitter image supportive of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The Chinese government was outraged, and the N.B.A. drew bipartisan criticism in the United States for what some saw as a weak response.The N.B.A. said the 2019 episode cost the league hundreds of millions of dollars. Silver, the commissioner, said that he wants the N.B.A. to normalize relations with China, despite the criticism. “Virtually every major U.S. company” does business there, he said.“So then the question becomes,” Silver added, “why is the N.B.A. being singled out as the one company that should now boycott China?”The league did, however, recently pull business out of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. The difference between China and Russia, Silver said, was that the U.S. government instituted an economic boycott of Russia.“It’s very difficult for the league to practice foreign policy,” Silver said.‘Money Over Morals’Shoes Freedom has worn with protest slogans during games.Getty Images and Associated PressFreedom has criticized some iconic players, including Michael Jordan, who owns the Charlotte Hornets, and James, the Lakers star, for their business with Nike, which has deep ties to China. During a game against Charlotte on Oct. 25, Freedom wore white Nike Air Jordans that said “Hypocrite Nike” and “Made With Slave Labor.” The Washington Post reported in 2020 that some Nike shoes were being made with Uyghur labor. (In a statement at the time, Nike said that it was “concerned” about reports of forced labor, but that the company did not find any Uyghur labor or that of other ethnic minorities from the region in its supply chain.)Freedom has accused James of choosing “money over morals” by associating with Nike, and he wore custom shoes that mocked James — much to the delight of prominent Republicans who have attacked James, who is Black, for his social justice advocacy. A spokesman for James declined to comment, and a representative for Jordan did not respond to an inquiry.As Freedom’s new identity and activism have raised his profile, he has drawn a backlash for his choice of targets and allies.In December, the former N.B.A. player Jeremy Lin announced that he would play for the Beijing Ducks for the 2021-22 season, drawing a stinging reply from Freedom.“Haven’t you had enough of that Dirty Chinese Communist Party money feeding you to stay silent?” Freedom wrote on Twitter. “How disgusting of you to turn your back against your country & your people.”Lin, who is Taiwanese-American, was born in Torrance, Calif., and the suggestion that Lin’s country was not the United States was met with disapproval on social media.In late November, Freedom appeared on Fox News with Tucker Carlson, the conservative host who has frequently denigrated immigrants and social justice activists. Freedom had just become an American citizen, and Carlson asked him whether people who grew up in America were as likely to “appreciate the freedoms” offered by the United States. Freedom’s response — that American critics “should just keep their mouth shut and stop criticizing the greatest nation in the world” — seemed to please Carlson, but clashed with Freedom’s portrayal of himself as a champion of free expression.Uriel Epshtein, an executive director at the Renew Democracy Initiative, which hosted Freedom at the Olive Tree, said the criticisms of Freedom’s appearance on Carlson are “relevant,” but “they pale in comparison to the simple fact that Enes has taken unbelievable personal, professional and security risks to do what he thinks is right.”The Carlson appearance, combined with Freedom’s attacks on James and Jordan, who is also Black, brought a sharp response from, among others, the journalist Jemele Hill.“Taking shots at prominent Black athletes who have done significant social-justice work will not help Freedom advance freedom,” Hill wrote in a column for The Atlantic. “All he’s doing is empowering right-wingers who delight in silencing social-justice advocates.”Freedom has also been criticized for agreeing to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, which this year hosted several conspiracy theorists and election results deniers. He later backed out, saying he needed to focus on basketball.‘I Don’t Want to Retire’Charles Krupa/Associated PressIn February, the Celtics traded Freedom to Houston, which immediately waived him. Stevens, the Celtics executive, said the trade “was a basketball-driven decision, one thousand percent.”The Rockets declined to comment.Sen. Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, said Freedom’s release was a “disgusting example” of the N.B.A.’s “cowardly appeasement toward Communist China.” Freedom reposted the Twitter messages of other elected Republicans who expressed similar sentiments. Others on the right have explicitly likened Freedom to Kaepernick.The comparison is, at best, inexact. Some in the N.F.L.’s largely white fan base have described the protest of Kaepernick, who is biracial, as unpatriotic — even though he began kneeling during the national anthem at the suggestion of a former Green Beret. Freedom’s criticisms of the Chinese government, though pointed and perhaps irritating to the league, are largely popular in the United States.The athletes are different, too. Kaepernick was four seasons removed from a trip to the Super Bowl as a starting quarterback. Freedom, a journeyman center, is a strong rebounder with a soft touch around the rim. But his plodding, physical style of play has fallen out of favor in the N.B.A., which is now weighted toward shooters who are fast and can play multiple positions. Freedom is none of those things, and he struggles defensively. The Celtics signed him to a minimum contract to be a situational backup center before he began his China activism. He averaged 11.7 minutes in 35 contests — roughly in line with what a player in that role would receive — and scored 3.7 points a game.Freedom was not the least skilled player in the league when he was cut, but his role on N.B.A. teams began to shrink well before his China activism. He has not been a full-time starter since 2018. And many other players who have talents more suited than his to the current style of play also are not in the league.At the Olive Tree, a man in the audience asked Freedom what he wanted to do next.“I don’t want to retire at the age of 29,” Freedom said.“Sometimes,” he added, “sacrifice is a very important word, so there are bigger things.”Mike Wilson More

    • 150 Shares199 Views

      in Basket

      Brittney Griner Said to Be ‘OK’ as Russian Court Extends Her Detention

      by

      Griner, the W.N.B.A. star, has been detained on drug charges in Russia since mid-February and is now expected to remain in custody until at least May.A Russian court extended the detention of the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner by two months on Thursday, and denied an appeal from her legal team, who had hoped to have her transferred to house arrest.Griner, 31, has been held in Russia since mid-February on drug charges that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years if she is convicted. Griner is “OK” and has seen her Russian legal team multiple times a week while she has been in custody, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified publicly because of the sensitivity of the matter.The Russian Federal Customs Service said on March 5 that its officials had detained an American basketball player, who was later identified as Griner. Customs officials accused Griner of having vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at the Sheremetyevo airport near Moscow.On Thursday, the Russian news agency Tass reported that Griner’s detention had been extended to May 19 during a hearing. Griner’s legal team in Russia had hoped to have her transferred to house arrest at the hearing, but were not surprised that the appeal of her detention was denied, according to the person with knowledge of the situation.The investigation into the charges is ongoing, and it is typical for a Russian court to add time to the detention until a trial date — if one is necessary — is set, according to the person. Thursday’s hearing did not deal with the merit of the charges, the person said.The W.N.B.A. season begins May 6. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a seven-time All Star for the Phoenix Mercury, is one of the game’s most prominent stars.She is being held at a time of increasingly tense relations between the United States and Russia after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month. U.S. officials have repeatedly accused Russia of detaining and sentencing American citizens for dubious reasons.The continued detention of a high-profile American could even be an effort by Russia to gain leverage in the political and economic standoff with Washington over the invasion, experts say.Tass reported that Griner had not been visited by U.S. consular officials, despite Russia’s willingness to facilitate a meeting. But last week, Representative Colin Allred, Democrat of Texas, told The New York Times that Griner had been denied consular access by Russian officials.“It’s already a violation of international norms and the way these things are handled when they happen to Americans abroad,” Allred said last week.Griner is among the many W.N.B.A. players who compete internationally to supplement their American salaries, and she has played for the Russian team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, for several years.Those close to Griner have said little publicly about the detention since it became widely known on March 5, likely hoping to arrange for her return through quiet diplomacy.On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, joined an increasing number of politicians and public figures who have shown support for Griner when she tweeted “Free Brittney” with a link to a BBC article about Griner. More

    • 75 Shares149 Views

      in Basket

      Russian Court Extends Brittney Griner’s Detention

      by

      A Russian court has extended the detention of the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner to May 19, the Russian news agency Tass reported on Thursday, adding tension to the most dangerous moment in U.S.-Russia relations since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.Ms. Griner, 31, a seven-time W.N.B.A. All-Star center for the Phoenix Mercury, is being held on drug charges that could carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.The Russian Federal Customs Service said earlier this month that its officials had detained the American basketball player after they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at the Sheremetyevo airport near Moscow in February. They did not immediately release the name of Ms. Griner, who was later identified by Tass.Ms. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, is one of several W.N.B.A. players who compete on international women’s teams in the off-season to supplement paychecks that are a fraction of their counterparts’ salaries in the N.B.A. She has played for the Russian team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, since 2014.Representative Colin Allred, Democrat of Texas, told The New York Times last week that Ms. Griner, a Texas native, had been detained on Feb. 17 and that he was working with the State Department to have her released. Russian authorities have so far denied the State Department’s request for a meeting between consular officials and Ms. Griner, Mr. Allred said.American officials, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, have said that certain details surrounding Ms. Griner’s detention could not be disclosed due to privacy constraints.Since she was detained, family and friends of Ms. Griner have come forward to express their shared desire to get her home safely.Ms. Griner’s wife, Cherelle T. Griner, said in an Instagram post last week, “We love you babe!” and “There are no words to express this pain.”The State Department has advised all U.S. citizens in Russia to leave the country and has warned that the U.S. Embassy in Moscow has “severe limitations” on its ability to provide assistance to Americans there. The W.N.B.A. said on Mar. 5 that all of its other players in Ukraine and Russia had left those countries. More

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Basket

      After Hiatuses, These Teams Are Back in the NCAA Women’s Tournament

      by

      Some teams — like Illinois State and Massachusetts — will have already made history before taking the floor.The N.C.A.A. basketball tournaments always represent the chance to make history.Some teams have already done that before taking the floor.Massachusetts, a No. 12 seed in the women’s bracket, set a program record with 26 wins en route to making its first tournament in 24 years.UMass, the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament champion, will face No. 5 Notre Dame in Oklahoma. Coach Tory Verdi took over in 2016, when the Minutewomen weren’t exactly a high-profile program.But make no mistake; the Minutewomen aren’t just happy to be in the tournament. They want to shake up the field.“I feel like all of us really step up to that challenge, like the bigger the stage, the better we play,” Sam Breen, a graduate forward and the A-10 player of the year, said this week.Breen leads a group that has witnessed the program’s rebuilding, and one which includes Sydney Taylor and Destiney Philoxy, who were both second-team all-conference.Here are four more teams looking to create a new tournament narrative after years away from the biggest stage.HowardKaiya Creek, right, and Howard reached the tournament for the first time since 2001 and beat Incarnate Word in the First Four.Sean Rayford/Associated PressOn Wednesday, Howard made history twice in the same game: By defeating No. 16 seed Incarnate Word, 55-51, in South Carolina, the Bison won the first women’s First Four game.It was also Howard’s first tournament victory — ever.The Bison (21-9) made the field by winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament final, avenging their loss to North Carolina A&T in the championship game last season. Top-seeded Howard handled No. 2 Norfolk State, 61-44.So, for the first time in 21 years, the Bison are part of the N.C.A.A. tournament, and they already have a win under their belt thanks to a 15-point double-double from Brooklyn Fort-Davis.Their reward? A date on Friday with No. 1 seed South Carolina, one of the favorites in the field.FairfieldFairfield Coach Joe Frager is hoping to lead the Stags on a deep tournament run in his final season.Matt Rourke/Associated PressFairfield Coach Joe Frager knew this season would be his last.In October, ahead of his 15th season with the Stags, he said he would step away at the end of the year, citing his health.Frager has led postseason runs before: His Southern Connecticut State squad won the 2007 N.C.A.A. Division II championship in 2007, his last year there before he went to Fairfield.Under his predecessor, Dianne Nolan, the Stags earned an at-large bid to the 2001 N.C.A.A. tournament.They hadn’t been back since.“This has been a special season due to the efforts of our coaching staff and players,” Frager said. “This group has been focused and goal-oriented from beginning to end, and that speaks volumes about the leadership provided by our seniors. Right now, I am very much in the moment. I’m sure after some time passes, I’ll be able to savor the memories of this great season.”Fairfield (25-6) defeated Manhattan to take the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament championship and earn an automatic qualifier. The Stags are led by the senior forward Lou Lopez-Senechal, who scored 24 points in the conference title game. They’ll play Texas, a No. 2 seed and the Big 12 Conference tournament champion, on Friday.Nevada-Las VegasU.N.L.V.’s Essence Booker scored 25 points in the Mountain West Conference tournament championship game.Rick Bowmer/Associated PressU.N.L.V. (26-6) hasn’t been to the tournament since 2002. A win over Colorado State in the Mountain West Conference tournament championship game put it back there 20 years later.As a No. 13 seed, U.N.L.V. has an immediate challenge on Saturday night in the form of No. 4 seed Arizona, which lost to Stanford in last year’s title game.Coach Lindy La Rocque took over the program in 2021, and a year later has it back on college basketball’s biggest stage.U.N.L.V. averages 75.6 points per game, its most since 2009-10. The team is led by Essence Booker, who was named the Mountain West tournament’s most valuable player after dropping 25 points in the championship game.Texas at ArlingtonStarr Jacobs, the Sun Belt Conference player of the year, has played only a single Division I season.After transferring from Temple College, a junior college in Texas, she became the first U.T.A. player to average more than 20 points per game. She also led U.T.A. (20-7) to its first tournament appearance in 15 years.As a No. 14 seed, the team will face third-seeded Iowa State on Friday night. It will be the program’s last time representing the Sun Belt, as the university will join the Western Athletic Conference next season.Before then, though, U.T.A. wants to show its star power — or rather, Starr power.Illinois StateThe Redbirds, the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champions, have won a single N.C.A.A. tournament game, in 1989. They haven’t even had the chance since 2008.No. 15 seeded Illinois State (19-13) will play on Friday against No. 2 seed Iowa, the Big Ten tournament champion and one of the most dynamic and high-profile teams of the N.C.A.A. tournament.The Redbirds are 1-5 in the N.C.A.A. tournament, and it won’t be easy to beat the Caitlin Clark-led Hawkeyes.Juliunn Redmond leads the Redbirds in scoring with 17.6 points per game, while the all-conference forward DeAnna Wilson has tallied eight double-doubles this season.LongwoodLongwood’s Kyla McMakin, right, leads the Lancers in scoring. Longwood beat Campbell in the Big South tournament title game.Rusty Jones/Associated PressWhen Longwood takes the court Thursday night in Raleigh, N.C., it will have been more than a decade in the making.The No. 16-seeded Lancers, who completed their transition to Division I in the 2007-8 season, struggled through years of losing seasons before making the tournament. Just three seasons ago, they finished 3-27.Now, behind the Big South Conference player of the year Akila Smith, who is tied for third in Division I in blocks with Kansas State’s Ayoka Lee, the Lancers (21-11) will get a chance in a play-in game against Mount St. Mary’s. A win on Thursday would earn them a date with No. 1 North Carolina State. More

    • 138 Shares139 Views

      in Basket

      Nets Fined $50,000 for Letting Kyrie Irving Into Home Locker Room

      by

      Irving is not allowed to be with the Nets at Barclays Center because he has not been vaccinated against Covid-19.The N.B.A. fined the Nets $50,000 for allowing guard Kyrie Irving to enter the team’s home locker room during Sunday’s game against the Knicks even though Irving had not been vaccinated against Covid-19 and thus was not allowed to be with the team at Barclays Center.Irving had attended the game as a spectator, with a seat in the front row.Under New York City law, Irving cannot play in games at Barclays Center because of a vaccine mandate for New York City-based workers who perform in-person work. While Mayor Eric Adams loosened some vaccine requirements this month, he has left in place the private sector mandate. Under the N.B.A.’s health and safety protocols, teams are obliged to follow local rules.The Nets declined to comment.During a public appearance on Sunday, Adams responded to a heckler who urged him to let Irving play: “Listen, you’re right. Kyrie can play tomorrow: Get vaccinated.”Nets forward Kevin Durant called the rule “ridiculous” after the game against the Knicks. He also criticized the mayor.“It just feels like, at this point now, somebody is trying to make a statement or point to flex their authority,” Durant told reporters. “Everybody out here is looking for attention. That’s what I feel like the mayor wants right now: some attention.”Minutes after the N.B.A. announced the Nets’ fine on Monday, Durant issued a statement through the Nets and softened his stance toward Mr. Adams.“The last two years have been a difficult and painful time for New Yorkers, as well as a very confusing time with the changing landscape of the rules and mandates,” the statement read. “I do appreciate the task the mayor has in front of him with all the city has been through. My frustration with the situation doesn’t change the fact that I will always be committed to helping the communities and cities I live in and play in.”Irving’s vaccination status has vexed the Nets for the entire season. He has played in only 18 of the team’s 68 games, in part because the mandate has barred him from playing home games, and he has refused to be vaccinated. Irving is allowed to play in road games where cities do not have vaccine mandates. Only Toronto, where the Raptors play, prohibits unvaccinated visiting players from competing.Irving’s limited availability has contributed to the Nets’ free-fall from one of the best teams in the N.B.A. to one fighting just to make the playoffs with 14 games left. Unless Adams changes his mind, Irving will be eligible for only four of the team’s remaining games.The downturn in positive tests nationwide and the lifting of other mandates had raised optimism within the Nets organization that Irving’s return as a full-time player was imminent. While Irving’s limitations under the mandate have received outsize attention because of his celebrity, the rule applies to New York City employees at more than 180,000 businesses, as well as other local sports teams like the Knicks.Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, told ESPN last month that he felt the rule disallowing Irving from playing in home games “doesn’t quite make sense” because opposing players who are unvaccinated are allowed to play at New York City venues. Later that day, Adams agreed with Silver, saying that the rule was “unfair,” but also that lifting the mandate would “send mixed messages.”The N.B.A. pushed for its own vaccine mandate for players before the season, but the players’ union said no.Irving’s attendance at Sunday’s nationally televised game against the Knicks created a spectacle. Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, the N.B.A.’s biggest star, weighed in on Twitter during the game, writing that the law “literally makes ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE!!!”He added: “They say if common sense was common then we’d all have it. Ain’t that the truth. #FreeKyrie.” More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Basket

      Brittney Griner’s Detention in Russia Is Cloaked in Silence

      by

      Those close to Griner have said little publicly since the W.N.B.A. star was detained in Russia on Feb. 17 on drug charges. Their approach has parallels with other efforts to release Americans held overseas.The detention of the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner in Russia on drug charges has left her supporters searching for a road map to a resolution in what could be an especially dangerous situation during the war in Ukraine.An exact parallel is hard to come by, but a situation nearly five years ago, in which three U.C.L.A. basketball players were accused of crimes while in China, blended sports, international diplomacy and a desire for secrecy in a way that echoes Griner’s situation as efforts to bring her home continue quietly.“It is an extremely sensitive situation,” said Representative Colin Allred, Democrat of Texas, who said he was working with the State Department to have Griner released. He added, “What we’re trying to do now, of course, is be helpful and not do anything that’ll place Brittney in any kind of danger or make her situation worse.”Griner’s attorney in Russia contacted the U.S. Embassy shortly after she was detained on Feb. 17, Allred said, after Russian Federal Customs Service officials said they had found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. Allred said the Russian authorities have denied the State Department’s request that consular officials meet with Griner.“It’s already a violation of international norms and the way these things are handled when they happen to Americans abroad,” Allred said.Griner, 31, a center for the W.N.B.A.’s Phoenix Mercury, is said to be facing up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the drug charges. Many W.N.B.A. players supplement their salaries by playing internationally during the off-season. Griner has played for the Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2014. Those close to her, and officials from the W.N.B.A. and its players’ union, have said little about Griner’s situation beyond that they support her and hope to have her return home safely.The length of her detention so far is not unusual given the charges, said Tom Firestone, an attorney at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, who was the resident legal adviser to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow while working for the Justice Department. Russia’s customs service said in a statement on Saturday that it had opened a criminal case into the large-scale transportation of drugs.“Russia has not had liberalization in its cannabis laws the same way we have in the United States,” Firestone said.Russian prosecutors have two months to conduct a preliminary investigation and build a case, but can receive extensions beyond that, Firestone said. Getting out on bail is difficult for people charged with narcotics offenses, and will be especially so for Griner since she is not a Russian citizen, Firestone said.“They should get consular access certainly,” Firestone said. “When an American is arrested overseas the first source of assistance from the U.S. government is the consulate at the U.S. Embassy.”What role, if any, UMMC Ekaterinburg is playing in Griner’s case is unknown, but local ties can be crucial in situations like these, as they were for the three U.C.L.A. basketball players, LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, who were detained in China for shoplifting in November 2017 before a preseason game.From left, Cody Riley, LiAngelo Ball and Jalen Hill were accused of shoplifting while on a trip to China in 2017 with the U.C.L.A. men’s basketball team.Lucy Nicholson/Reuters“We were in Hangzhou, the headquarters of Alibaba, who was our host for the tournament, and they had a deep and nuanced appreciation for the local laws, customs,” said Larry Scott, who was then the commissioner of the Pac-12 Conference. He added, “And it was important to take guidance from them in addition to working with U.S. government officials and others.”Ball, Hill and Riley were in custody for less than a day before being released on bail. They returned to the United States about a week later and apologized publicly for the theft.Ball, who is the brother of the N.B.A. players Lonzo and LaMelo Ball, was the most well-known of the three U.C.L.A. players. “I’d like to start off by saying sorry for stealing from the stores in China,” LiAngelo Ball said at a news conference after returning to the United States. “I’m a young man, but it’s not an excuse for making a really stupid decision.”Scott also said the remorse shown by the players was instrumental in their being allowed to return swiftly. “They were apologetic for it and expressed that,” he said. “There’s an element of saving face involved for local authorities to understand foreigners coming in respect local laws and the local culture.”It is unclear whether Griner had drugs in her luggage, and American officials have repeatedly accused Russia of detaining U.S. citizens for specious reasons. But those close to Griner appear to be following one of the strategies employed by those surrounding Ball, Hill and Riley in 2017: creating as little public noise as possible.Russia-Ukraine War: Key Things to KnowCard 1 of 4On the ground. More

    • 75 Shares159 Views

      in Basket

      Nets Beat the New Look 76ers

      by

      The Nets were amazing. The 76ers were awful.Philadelphia turned out to celebrate and express itself in its own inimitable way. Around the time that Julius Erving and Allen Iverson were sharing a courtside hug, 76ers fans at the Wells Fargo Center were filing into the arena so they could boo Ben Simmons, a former member of their team, as he warmed up for a game in which he would not play.The fans, at least, were out for payback, eager to share how they felt about Simmons, a one-time star who had spurned their team and effectively forced his way out last month. Now employed by the Nets, Simmons changed into casual clothing for his new team’s game against the 76ers on Thursday night and soon found a spot on the visitors’ bench. He had a great vantage point to enjoy a rout.One game is not a referendum on two teams’ fortunes, or on a seismic trade that rattled the N.B.A. But what transpired in Philadelphia was jarring in all kinds of ways. The Nets were amazing. The 76ers were awful. And for two teams that could find themselves meeting in the postseason, the fallout could linger.“It was lovely,” the Nets’ Kyrie Irving said.“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” the 76ers’ Tobias Harris said.As the Nets went about their business of plowing their way to a 129-100 win, a few narratives, some of them familiar, surfaced: Who would want to face the Nets in the first round of the playoffs? Has there even been a more dangerous team that has spent so many months teetering on mediocrity? And what are we supposed to make of the new-look 76ers, a team that has been vying for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, after that debacle?“I don’t want to say they wanted to win any more than us,” said Doc Rivers, the coach of the 76ers. “But they played that way. It was clear. Every single loose ball. Every long rebound. They got to everything tonight. They blew up simple dribble handoffs that we run. They ran right through us.”It sounded as if those dribble handoffs were going to haunt Rivers. He said he had counted nine instances when Nets defenders intercepted them. (The 76ers had a lot of lackluster dribble handoffs.)A small thing, and correctable? Perhaps. The 76ers had been skating along quite nicely since the big trade last month, the one that sent Simmons to Brooklyn and James Harden to Philadelphia. In fact, entering Thursday, the 76ers had won all five games in which Harden had appeared in uniform for them, most of them by lopsided margins, including a 15-point victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday. And Harden had been terrific, averaging 24.6 points and 12.4 assists while shooting 53.1 percent from the field, forming a fearsome tandem with Joel Embiid.But Harden’s performance against the Nets — 3 of 17 from the field, 11 points, 4 turnovers — did little to remedy his reputation as a player who is prone to struggling in big games. He was also outshone by one of the other players who was included in last month’s trade: Seth Curry, who ought to be overlooked no more. Against the 76ers, he scored 24 points while helping to space the floor for Irving and Kevin Durant.Afterward, Harden did his best to spin his night forward. Maybe, he said, the 76ers needed to get their butts kicked.“Since I’ve been here, everything has been sweet,” he said. “We’ve been winning games. So tonight was good for us, and we get an opportunity to come down to reality, watch film and continue to get better.”It should be noted that not everything is rainbows and puppy dogs for the Nets, who have lost 17 of their last 22 games. Simmons, who has not played since last season, is still working his way back into playing shape, and who knows how he will jell with the Nets once he returns. And Irving, who is unvaccinated, still cannot play in home games. Barring a change in public policy, that will remain the case in the postseason. But when Irving is available to play, look out. He scored 50 points against the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday, and he and Durant combined for 47 on Thursday.“Coming into the game,” Irving said, “I just told the guys, ‘Simplify it. Two baskets and a basketball. Don’t pay attention to what’s going on. No distractions. No fear. And let’s just live with the results.’ ”Before the game, Rivers was asked if he thought the 76ers and the Nets constituted a rivalry. Not yet, he said. The Yankees and the Red Sox have a rivalry. Duke and North Carolina have a rivalry. Rivers even cited the rivalry between the 76ers and the Boston Celtics, one that dates back decades. Rivers recalled that when he was coaching the Celtics and lost an important game to the 76ers, Tommy Heinsohn, the former Celtics great who was working as one of the team’s television broadcasters at the time, “almost killed me.”Still, the 76ers and the Nets are now connected in an odd way, having swapped disgruntled stars. They are also growing familiar with one other as title hopefuls in the same division. As for their becoming rivals?“Let’s make it one,” Rivers said. “Both of us want the same thing, right? We have the exact same goal.”For one night, at least, one team seemed closer to reaching that goal than the other. More

    • 138 Shares139 Views

      in Basket

      LeBron Fandom, and the Making of a Friendship in ‘King James’

      by

      Rajiv Joseph’s new play, which chronicles the bond between two LeBron James fans over 12 years, is having its world premiere at Steppenwolf in Chicago.CHICAGO — When the actor Glenn Davis talks about his new play, “King James,” he gets some variation on this question: “So, are you playing LeBron James?”Not quite.“I’m 5-10,” Davis said, laughing. “He’s 6-9.”And there’s also this: James, the basketball superstar who broke hearts in Cleveland when he left to play for Miami 12 years ago, is not the protagonist of Rajiv Joseph’s “King James.” Rather, the play, which is having its world premiere at Steppenwolf Theater Company here, tracks the friendship between two young men in Cleveland, Shawn (played by Davis) and Matt (Chris Perfetti of “Abbott Elementary”), over a dozen years.Told in four quarters that span James’s rookie season to his championship season with Cleveland in 2016, “King James,” directed by Kenny Leon, explores how fandom can create a lifelong connection between two people who otherwise have little in common.“Rajiv’s first draft had a lot of basketball in it,” said Davis, 40, a longtime friend of Joseph’s and for whom the role of Shawn was written. “But as each new draft came in, the specifics about basketball began to disappear because Rajiv wanted to make sure this play was about friendship.”“Sometimes a love of the game is the only way people who have difficulty expressing their feelings are able to articulate them,” said Rajiv Joseph, the playwright.Lyndon French for The New York TimesKenny Leon is directing his first Steppenwolf production, and said he’s cherishing the opportunity to help develop Joseph’s work.Lyndon French for The New York TimesThe play, which is in previews and will open March 13, was originally slated for Steppenwolf’s 2019-20 season before the pandemic forced its postponement. It now arrives at the same time as several basketball-themed TV projects, including Adam McKay’s HBO mini-series “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,” about the team led by Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1980s, and the upcoming Apple TV+ documentary mini-series “They Call Me Magic,” about Johnson’s life on and off the court.In “King James,” Joseph uses James’s career as a window to examine the emotional nature of fandom, and how it can facilitate relationships and increased openness among people, particularly young men.“At least in the sort of heteronormative world in which I grew up, it was a struggle for young American men to communicate emotion,” Joseph, 47, said over coffee at Steppenwolf’s Front Bar before a recent rehearsal. “Sometimes a love of the game is the only way people who have difficulty expressing their feelings are able to articulate them.”Growing up in Cleveland in the 1980s and ’90s, Joseph was surrounded by passionate sports fans.“We were a Cleveland family — we watched the Cavs, we watched the Indians, we watched the Browns,” he said. “And all of our moods fluctuated accordingly.”In the play, LeBron James’s infamous “Decision” announcement looms large for two fans of the Cavaliers.Lyndon French for The New York TimesHe began writing “King James” in the summer of 2017, a year after James had led the Cavaliers to the championship, making them the first Cleveland team to win a major championship in 52 years. He drew from his experience as a Cleveland native inundated with the reactions of friends and family to “The Decision” — a live prime-time special in 2010 in which James, a free agent after seven seasons with the Cavaliers, announced he was leaving his hometown team to “take my talents to South Beach,” as James infamously put it.“I thought this would be an interesting way of exploring my own relationship with LeBron,” said Joseph, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2010 for his play “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.” (He previously collaborated with Davis on that production, which ran on Broadway in 2011.) “This play is a sort of alchemy of stories I’ve heard, conversations I’ve had with people and the general sense of being a young person in Cleveland Heights and those heightened emotions that come out when you start arguing about sports.”The cast and creative team of “King James” had widely varying basketball knowledge — and loyalties. Davis, who was a high school basketball player in the Chicago area but gave up the sport to pursue a theater career, is a lifelong Bulls fan. Leon, who grew up in Florida, has been a Los Angeles Lakers fan for 35 years. Perfetti, 33, who is from upstate New York, grew up in a home “where there was always some sports game on television,” but he didn’t begin following basketball seriously until about six months ago.They watched James’s announcement together — which was Perfetti’s first time seeing it. But, for Joseph and Davis, the special was a reminder of a milestone moment in the basketball world, one in which every fan remembers where they were and what they were doing when they found out.“It was traumatic,” Joseph said. “But when you watch LeBron from then, you realize he was such a different person than he is now — like we all are. If any of us look back at when we were 25, I bet we’d kind of wince at some of the things we did and said.”“Rajiv reminds me of August,” Leon (above left, with Joseph) said, referring to August Wilson. “Even if I’m hating a moment, he can embrace that and go down the hall and rewrite it.”Lyndon French for The New York TimesThis is Leon’s first time directing at the Steppenwolf Theater. When he was contacted last October, Leon, a Tony-winning director whose most recent Broadway production was “A Soldier’s Play” in 2020, already had about a half-dozen projects in the works, including upcoming Broadway productions of Adrienne Kennedy’s “The Ohio State Murders,” starring Audra McDonald, and a revival of “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death,” Melvin Van Peebles’s 1971 musical. (Leon, 66, also runs the True Colors Theater Company, which is based in Atlanta.)But he said he jumped at the chance to oversee the production after its previous director, Anna D. Shapiro, resigned as the Steppenwolf’s artistic director in August. (Davis and Audrey Francis, both Steppenwolf ensemble members, replaced Shapiro as artistic directors.)“You don’t get a lot of opportunities to work with a living playwright on a new play that you think is beautiful and will have a great life,” Leon said as he nursed a cocktail after a rehearsal late last month. “The last time was when I worked with August Wilson on his last play, “Radio Golf,” leading up to the Broadway production [which opened in 2007].”The value of having Joseph in the room for rehearsals, Leon said, was that if he didn’t understand a character’s motivations for doing something, he could ask.“A lot of Rajiv reminds me of August,” Leon said. “I can tell him what I feel. Even if I’m hating a moment, he can embrace that and go down the hall and rewrite it.”And there were plenty of nips, tweaks and tucks to the script in the month leading up to the first performance. It was especially helpful, Joseph said, to have Perfetti’s perspective as an N.B.A. outsider in a play with some deeply insider references. (The Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s use of Comic Sans font in his letter to Cleveland fans after James’s departure, in which he lambasted James for his “disloyalty,” gets a shout.)“There’s lots of lines in the play where he was like, ‘Why am I saying this?’,” Joseph said of Perfetti. “And some of those lines were cut because of that.”“King James” plays out in four quarters, from LeBron James’s rookie year to his championship season with Cleveland in 2016. After Chicago, the play will have a run in Los Angeles.Lyndon French for The New York TimesBut audience members don’t need to be basketball fans to understand the larger points. The play’s first quarter, for instance, ends with Matt and Shawn — who to that point had been strangers — making plans to attend a season of Cavaliers games together. The action then picks up six and a half years later, when the two men are best friends.“With my best friend, the first and second quarter in our relationship feels like it went by that quickly,” Davis said. “That’s how it happens, you know?”Though Matt is white and Shawn is Black, Joseph decided not to make race a focal point of the show — at least, not right away. It eventually factors into their reactions to James’s return to Cleveland in the third quarter, but Joseph said that, having grown up in the diverse suburb of Cleveland Heights — where the play takes place — it “just made sense to me, before I even knew what the play would be about, that it would be a Black guy and a white guy.”“I didn’t anticipate any kind of racial tension in the play,” he said. “But the more I thought about what I was writing about, it just comes out and you allow for the story that wants to be told.”Following its five-week run here, “King James,” commissioned by Steppenwolf and the Center Theater Group of Los Angeles, will transfer to the Mark Taper Forum there in June, with Davis and Perfetti reprising their roles, and Leon again as director. Both Leon and Joseph are hoping for an eventual Broadway transfer, too.It will be special, everyone involved agrees, to present the show in the city where James currently plays. But Leon said it’s important to remember that “80 percent of the audience will be the same,” referring to the audience members who will not be passionate fans of the local team. “We’re going to try to strike those universal chords,” he said. “That’s what makes the play work. Somebody has to be able to say ‘Oh, that’s how I treat my friend’ or ‘That’s how it was when I didn’t see my mother for 10 years.’”Joseph, who has never met James, said he would be “thrilled” if James were to see the show during its Los Angeles run, which will coincide with the N.B.A. finals.“But, on the other hand, I hope he can’t come because he’s still playing,” he said. More