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      Growing Chorus of N.B.A. Stars Boos League’s Virus Strategy

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.The Friendship of LeBron and Anthony DavisThe N.B.A. Wanted HerMissing Klay ThompsonKobe the #GirlDadAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyGrowing Chorus of N.B.A. Stars Boos League’s Virus StrategyGiannis Antetokounmpo and Kawhi Leonard joined LeBron James in criticizing the league’s plans for an All-Star Game, while Kevin Durant questioned protocols.Kevin Durant spoke out against the N.B.A. on social media on Friday night after he was pulled from a game because of the league’s coronavirus health and safety protocols. He had already played 19 minutes.Credit…Frank Franklin Ii/Associated PressFeb. 6, 2021Updated 4:53 p.m. ETMultiple N.B.A. stars, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant, added their voices to the growing chorus of players criticizing the league’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, particularly plans to hold the All-Star Game in Atlanta on March 7.“We’ve got to all follow the big dog,” Antetokounmpo told reporters on Friday night, referring to LeBron James, who this week said that holding the game would be “a slap in the face” for players. Echoing James, Antetokounmpo, the reigning Most Valuable Player Award winner, said he had “zero excitement, zero energy” for the game.Following Antetokounmpo’s comments, Leonard, the Los Angeles Clippers forward, said he was not surprised by the league’s plans, but that it was “just putting money over health right now, pretty much.”“We all know why we’re playing it,” said Leonard, a four-time All-Star. “It’s money on the line. There’s the opportunity to make more money.”The All-Star events are a chance to showcase the N.B.A.’s top talent. There is also a financial benefit, although how much is unclear. This year, the league, in conjunction with the players’ union, is planning to hold the 3-point contest and the skills competition on the same day as the game to condense an affair that typically lasts days. The N.B.A.’s collective bargaining agreement requires those selected for the All-Star Game to play if they are healthy.Nonetheless, a condensed schedule does not eliminate the added health risks of an event bringing together the game’s best players from across the country for an exhibition — and presents a sharp contrast to rules that bar players from sharing hugs and handshakes after games to help reduce the chances of infection spread.The league’s protocols appear to be wearing on some players, including Durant of the Nets, who was pulled from a game on Friday night in a strange spectacle that played out on TV and social media. About 20 minutes before the Nets were to tip off against the Toronto Raptors, the Nets announced that Durant would not start the game because of the league’s virus protocols. Just after the game started, the Nets announced that Durant had been cleared to play. But then, after Durant played a little more than 19 minutes, he was pulled from the game and ruled out because of the protocols.Shortly after leaving the game, Durant posted on Twitter, “Free me.” He had appeared frustrated on the TV broadcast as he walked out of the arena after being removed from the game, tossing a water bottle to the side as he walked into the tunnel.The N.B.A. then released a statement saying that Durant had tested negative for the coronavirus three times in the past 24 hours but had “interacted” with someone who first had an inconclusive test result before the game on Friday, then a positive result during the game. An inconclusive test, according to the N.B.A.’s protocols, does not necessarily require quarantine, so Durant was allowed to play. But when the positive result came in, the league pulled Durant “out of an abundance of caution.”In response to the statement, Durant tweeted: “Yo @nba, your fans aren’t dumb!!!! You can’t fool em with your Wack ass PR tactics.”Mike Bass, a spokesman for the N.B.A., told The New York Times that the All-Star Game “has been an important tradition throughout the history of the league and remains one of our top events for global fan interest and engagement. The health and safety of everyone involved is at the forefront of our discussions with the Players Association.”The players’ union declined to comment, but Chris Paul, the Phoenix Suns guard and president of the players’ union, told reporters on Friday: “Guys are entitled to their feelings, their decisions, everything. I think the job for the union has been to try to make sure our players are healthy and safe.“This is something that was a decision by the league, and we are definitely day in and day out trying to figure it out,” he added. “But we’ve got 450 players that we are always trying to get insight from. It’s tough, but we are trying to figure it out right now.”Paul also said that he had previously spoken to James about the topic.The league has struggled to contain virus outbreaks this season. The N.B.A. has postponed 23 games in connection with infections and contact tracing, and has stationed security guards on the court before and after games to discourage players from socializing. Only five of the league’s 30 teams have not had a virus-related postponement.On Jan. 12, the league and the players’ union announced new health protocols to deal with a rash of game postponements. Among the new rules, players and staff have been directed to remain at their homes or hotels when on the road except for team activities and essential tasks. After a recent game between the Miami Heat and the Nets, a security official interrupted Nets guard Kyrie Irving’s attempt to exchange jerseys with the Heat’s Bam Adebayo — much to the bafflement of Irving. (Irving slipped a jersey to Adebayo after their next game two days later.)Others players have weighed in on the All-Star game as well. On Friday, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, who was selected to his first All-Star team last season, said: “I feel like, for the most part, they have done a great job of trying to keep us safe,” referring to the league, “though you can’t control everything. But I do understand the concerns about it, especially in Atlanta.”His teammate Kemba Walker, a four-time All Star, told reporters on Friday that he agreed with James.“He’s a smart man,” Walker said. “He’s been around. He’s a leader. A lot of things he says are correct. He feels the way he feels. I’m probably going to be on vacation.”Earlier in the week, De’Aaron Fox, the top guard on the Sacramento Kings, said holding the game would be “stupid.”“If we have to wear masks and do all this for a regular game, then what’s the point of bringing the All-Star game back?” Fox told reporters. “Obviously, money makes the world go ’round so it is what it is.”For the moment, the N.B.A.’s virus-related game postponements have died down. The most recent one was on Monday, when the Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets were supposed to play in Denver. Two days later, the league said in its weekly report that no new players had tested positive for the coronavirus. The week before there had been one case, a sharp reduction from the 27 reported over the two weeks prior. In January, several teams were missing multiple players because of infections and contact tracing, but now most teams are no longer missing anyone for that reason.N.B.A. players — like much of the country — are under enormous mental strain, as Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors said in a podcast interview that was posted on Friday. He said this season has been particularly difficult with longer days as a result of daily testing and restrictions in the league’s protocols.“Even on off days, you have to go to the facility and test,” Green said. “And so even just seeing that facility that day, although you may not even go in and work out, but you drive into that facility every day. Mentally, it’s exhausting and so it’s been a very tough season to say the least, and I think a lot of guys are struggling with it.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      LeBron James Doesn't Want an All-Star Game

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesSee Your Local RiskVaccine InformationWuhan, One Year LaterAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. All-Star Game Would Be ‘Slap in the Face,’ LeBron James SaysJames has “zero energy and zero excitement” about flying to Atlanta in a pandemic for an exhibition game.“I don’t even understand why we’re having an All-Star Game,” LeBron James said.Credit…Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated PressFeb. 5, 2021, 7:33 a.m. ETAs the N.B.A. finalizes arrangements to stage an All-Star Game in Atlanta on March 7, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers issued a strong rebuke of the whole concept, calling the idea “a slap in the face” for players who thought the annual midseason showcase would not take place this season.Speaking after he led the Lakers with a triple-double in a nationally televised victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night, James said he had “zero energy and zero excitement” about flying to Atlanta in the midst of a pandemic for what amounts to an exhibition game.While James acknowledged that the N.B.A. players’ association consented to the proposal, he said he had been eagerly anticipating the league’s scheduled break from March 5 through March 10, given that the Lakers and the Miami Heat faced the shortest off-season (72 days) in league history after meeting in last season’s N.B.A. finals in October.“I don’t even understand why we’re having an All-Star Game,” James said.Earlier on Thursday night, the N.B.A. notified its teams that it expects to have “finalized agreements” with the players’ association by next week on holding the All-Star Game as well as a dunk contest, a 3-point contest and a skills competition — all on March 7. Those plans were conveyed in a memo issued to the league’s 30 teams, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.A typical All-Star weekend includes even more events and can stretch across four days, but next month’s proposed trip would still require participants and various team and league employees to be in Atlanta on March 6 and 7. The All-Star functions are likely to take place at the Atlanta Hawks’ State Farm Arena, according to two people familiar with the negotiations but not authorized to discuss them publicly.Negotiations between the league and the union on a modified All-Star proposal have been ongoing for more than two weeks, but the prospect of bringing representatives of numerous teams to interact in one place — given all the coronavirus-related disruptions that the league has faced during the first six weeks of the season — had been criticized as needlessly risky even before James’s blasts.“If I’m going to be brutally honest, I think it’s stupid,” De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings said on Wednesday.Noting that the N.B.A. has instituted countless health and safety regulations to limit potential coronavirus exposure, including rules aimed at curtailing postgame fraternizing between teams, Fox added: “If we have to wear a mask and all this for a regular game, then what’s the point of bringing the All-Star Game back? But, obviously, money makes the world go round, so it is what it is.”The league does not have a separate television contract for its All-Star festivities, but All-Star programming is regarded as the jewel of Atlanta-based Turner Sports’s annual N.B.A. coverage. Having at least one night of All-Star events to broadcast would give Turner an opportunity to recoup some prime advertising revenue, and holding the game in Atlanta means Turner’s coverage crews won’t have to travel.The Phoenix Suns’ Chris Paul, the president of the National Basketball Players Association and one of James’s longtime friends, has been described as one of the strongest backers of an All-Star weekend boiled down to one day in Atlanta — with both the league and union determined to ensure that the game benefits historically Black colleges and universities and Covid-19 relief efforts.The Coronavirus Outbreak More

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      Anthony Davis Is the Teammate LeBron James Has Been Waiting For

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.Will the Harden Trade Work Out?The N.B.A. Wanted HerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMarc Stein on basketballAnthony Davis Is the Teammate LeBron James Has Been Waiting ForJames, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar, has seemed happier and looser with Davis around. The duo have already won a championship together, but, somehow, seem to be getting better.Anthony Davis may be the best teammate LeBron James has ever had (no disrespect to Dwyane Wade).Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressFeb. 3, 2021, 8:00 a.m. ETAnthony Davis started to say that he and LeBron James blend together as a basketball duo with the made-for-each-other properties of peanut butter and jelly. Then Davis caught himself.“I can’t be jelly,” Davis said.Referring to Dwyane Wade, James’s former All-Star running mate in Miami, Davis said, “D-Wade is jelly.”This was a quick but memorable chat we had at Barclays Center last season. Respectful of the bond and championships James shared with Wade on South Beach years earlier, when Wade was the one universally known as James’s most talented teammate ever, Davis searched for an adjacent metaphor that felt more appropriate.“Maybe we’re peanut butter and bananas,” Davis said, sounding unsure for one of the few times since he joined the Los Angeles Lakers.The conversation stays with me — and not only because Davis was so descriptive. I registered it as a measure of his contentment and belief, at an embryonic stage in his partnership with James, that they were already on course to become as dangerous a combo as they looked on paper.It also sticks in my head as the last time I successfully managed to break away from a pack of colleagues to secure some one-on-one time with a coveted subject, however brief, in an N.B.A. locker room after a game. Several of my fellow N.B.A. reporters and I refer to the practice as “sidling” — in tribute to a “Seinfeld” episode in which one of Elaine’s work colleagues, referred to as “a real sidler” named Lou, repeatedly managed to get close to her before she could detect him. In the current climate, such sidling is not possible because the news media’s access to locker rooms went away indefinitely last March because of the coronavirus pandemic.The usual wave of nostalgia I am prone to get swept up in duly hit me recently when I did the math and realized that one year had passed since that successful sidle in January 2020 — with no telling when the next opportunity will come. Yet there is some satisfaction knowing that my last locker-room sidle was such a good one, providing a handy window into the union that ranks as one of the few sure things in today’s N.B.A.Most teams have played at least 20 games, which is a traditional marker for front offices to assess their teams, but not this season. Not when game postponements and coronavirus-related lineup disruptions are so prevalent. Complicating evaluations further: Training camps were condensed, practice time and pregame shootarounds are scarce, and off-court bonding opportunities are drastically reduced.“I think it’s going to take a little bit longer to get a real sense, for any team in the league,” Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka said in a recent television interview with Spectrum SportsNet.What can be said, six weeks into such an uneven season, is that the Lakers remain on a tier unto themselves no matter what the standings say, thanks largely to their starry twosome of James and Davis.As good as the James-Davis pairing was in last year’s championship season, it may be even more potent this year.Credit…Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesThe Nets created the most ambitious assemblage of offensive talent in league history by trading for James Harden on Jan. 14 to play alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Denver’s Nikola Jokic have made big men fashionable again by promptly establishing themselves as certifiable candidates for the Most Valuable Player Award with their performances in January. The Utah Jazz (with a recent 11-game winning streak) and the Los Angeles Clippers (with the league’s best record as of Tuesday morning at 16-5) have likewise made strong opening statements.Yet you wouldn’t put any of those teams on the Lakers’ level. You can’t. Not with the Nets looking so vulnerable defensively and depth-wise in support of their flammable trio. Not until Embiid can sustain his ridiculous near-triple-double production for a longer stretch. For Denver, Utah and the Kawhi Leonard-led Clippers in the West, a question nags at them all, even in prosperous times: What if James and Davis are getting better together?“They’re better than last year,” Sixers Coach Doc Rivers said last week, already treating the matter as decided.After leading the league in assists last season for the first time, James is trying something new: He’s on pace to shoot a career-best 40.9 percent from 3-point range and is attempting nearly seven 3s per game. James also has played each of the Lakers’ 22 games, squelching any notion that, at age 36, he would be skipping chunks of the regular season to preserve his body after the shortest off-season (72 days) in league history.The standards for Davis are so high after he won his first championship in October that his 22.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game have actually generated criticism that he has started slowly, including from Davis himself. Maybe he won’t be the Lakers’ leading scorer ahead of James again, as he was last season, but Davis’s ability to play so many positions and cover so much of the floor remains the driving force behind the Lakers’ fearsome defense.The Lakers top the league in defensive efficiency, allowing just 104.8 points per 100 possessions, with the versatile and ultra-mobile Davis anchoring L.A.’s resistance. The myriad options he provides Lakers Coach Frank Vogel may be best illustrated by the way Davis memorably guarded Miami’s Jimmy Butler in Game 4 of the N.B.A. finals, then made a rare start at center in the clinching Game 6 victory when Vogel wanted a lineup that could play faster.With six new players on the roster, there are still issues to resolve before the playoffs. Vogel is smoothing out his rotation, and team chemistry will need more time to ferment to reach the levels of togetherness that steeled the Lakers during their stay inside the bubble at Walt Disney World last season. Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schröder had bigger roles on their previous teams. Talen Horton-Tucker, like Alex Caruso before him, is an emerging role player. Questions abound about how Vogel can possibly find minutes for everyone.Davis was the Lakers’ leading scorer last season, helping ease the burden on James, who typically provides most of the offense on his team.Credit…Ringo H.W. Chiu/Associated PressYet with James and Davis to lead the way, after they agreed to new mega contracts with the Lakers almost in tandem in early December, there are roughly 29 coaches who would trade problems with Vogel. The Lakers played in the Disney World bubble through Oct. 11, but hushed concerns about that very tight turnaround by winning their first 10 road games. Going 5-2 on a 15-day road trip that finally came to an end Tuesday, when the Lakers flew home from Atlanta, only figures to boost their resilience quotient.No James team will ever be devoid of drama, given the scrutiny James invites as an all-time great and how demanding he can be on teammates. Evidence is mounting, though, that James has never coexisted so comfortably with a co-star. Not even Wade.Age is presumably a factor. James is eight years older than Davis, secure in his legacy and at a point in his career when he needs more help than he would care to admit. But it also reflects supreme respect for Davis’s talents — how he is perfectly suited, as a two-way menace who looks ominously bigger than his listed height of 6-foot-10, to complement James’s all-court game.“If you saw their chemistry off the floor, it’s no wonder they’re the best duo in the N.B.A.,” Jared Dudley, the veteran Lakers forward, said of James and Davis.Davis tried to put it into words for me in Brooklyn a year ago. It’s one of the few things he hasn’t managed to pull off since forcing a trade to the Lakers.My opportunity to sidle over to his locker came while a pack of reporters had encircled James. I approached Davis, after covering him a fair bit in his New Orleans days, and told him his presence seemed to make James happier and looser.“He makes me happy,” Davis said.The Scoop @TheSteinLineCorner ThreeCleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton, right, scored 42 points against the starry Nets on Jan. 20. Cleveland won in double overtime.Credit…David Richard/USA Today Sports, via ReutersYou ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com. Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.(Responses may be lightly edited or condensed for clarity.)Stein: You can’t say that all of last season’s bubble triumphs have been undone — that’s hyperbole — but I understand the reaction. I don’t like the idea of crowds, either.My position from the start of the season was that, beyond the considerable safety concerns involved, it’s not even fair. Teams that can admit reduced crowds hold a competitive advantage over the teams whose local jurisdictions mandate that buildings stay empty.Utah has increased its capacity to about 3,900 spectators from 1,500 since you voiced these concerns, but none of this is new or exclusive to the Jazz. As noted here, Atlanta and Miami last week became the eighth and ninth teams to start playing in front of reduced crowds at home. On Tuesday, Phoenix made it 10 by announcing that it, too, would begin admitting up to 1,500 fans starting on Feb. 8. The N.B.A. is allowing each of its 30 teams to make the call on letting fans in or not if local laws permit indoor gatherings.I can admit, though, that I reacted as you did when I heard last week that momentum was building toward the staging of an All-Star Game in Atlanta that would require players who were selected to be there March 6-7. Flying a bunch of the league’s best players to one location for an exhibition game in the midst of a pandemic seems especially unwise and needlessly risky — and I would imagine that there are All-Stars who will be reluctant to go.If (when?) this substitute game comes together, admirable philanthropic pursuits supporting historically Black colleges and universities and Covid-19 relief efforts will be part of it, but I would have voted for restricting N.B.A. All-Star business in 2021 to All-Star voting only. Safety first.Q: Why do headline writers use “spoil” so often? It was used on many stories after Cleveland’s Collin Sexton had his career night against the Nets on Jan. 20. Doesn’t the use of this word imply that the win rightfully belonged to the Nets, and that the Cavaliers took something that wasn’t theirs? — Andy Moore (Pittsburgh)Stein: Questions about headlines are best answered by editors rather than writers, since writers typically don’t write the headlines that land on their stories. But I had to try to respond because the copy editor energy in your question was so good.The newsiest aspect of the game in question, for a broad audience, was the debut of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving as teammates. I don’t see it as sinister to assert that the Cavaliers spoiled the Nets’ hopes for a grandiose opening act for their new star trio.Habit is surely a factor here, too. Virtually every game in every sport has a favorite and an underdog, which feeds into the “spoil” concept. Perhaps most crucially, “spoil” is also a headline-friendly word because it’s short, which will always matter to newspaper copy editors dealing with limited headline spaces. I’ve done just enough copy-desk work over the years to understand that.Q: I’m curious to know if Amar’e Stoudemire is the first N.B.A. player or coach to observe Shabbat this seriously. Also: Is he is forfeiting salary for those days? — Andrew Esensten (Palo Alto, Calif.)Stein: In my 28 seasons covering the league, speaking strictly about players and coaches, Stoudemire’s insistence that he avoid work on Shabbat is certainly the strictest observance I have seen.Ben Falk, who worked in the front office in Portland and Philadelphia before beginning his excellent Cleaning The Glass website, had the blessing from both of those teams to put religion first from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, as chronicled in this Sports Illustrated article by Chris Ballard. Tamir Goodman played Division I college basketball at Towson University without playing on Shabbat — after turning down a scholarship offer from Maryland because it was impossible to secure that time off.Those, though, are the only basketball examples I can readily cite. It’s difficult to answer more definitively than that.I don’t want to diminish the significance of the Nets’ gesture to allow Stoudemire to be away from the team from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown every week for religious reasons, because it is a wonderful gesture. Yet there’s no denying that this would be much more challenging to work through with an active player or if Stoudemire was a more prominent member of the Nets’ coaching staff.Stoudemire is a player development assistant in his first season with the club. The Nets have several player-development coaches and a big staff in general. Mike D’Antoni, Ime Udoka and Jacque Vaughn are the three assistants who sit beside Coach Steve Nash during every Nets game.Stoudemire, in other words, does not have a role with the Nets in Year 1 that compels him to be with the team every second or to join the traveling party.Numbers GameD’Angelo Russell, third from left, and Karl-Anthony Towns, right, have played in only five games together since Russell was traded to Minnesota on Feb. 6, 2020.Credit…Andy Clayton-King/Associated Press2Only two players were averaging 100 touches per game as the N.B.A. moved into February: Denver’s Nikola Jokic (102.4) and Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis (100). They are both listed at 6-foot-11.29.3In his third season, Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks started 2 for 21 on 3-pointers and is shooting 29.3 percent from long range, which ranks 168th leaguewide. Doncic’s overall statistical production remains spectacular, and he creates numerous good looks from 3 for his teammates that aren’t being cashed in, but his 3-point shooting is cause for concern. He shot 32.7 percent on 3s as a rookie and 31.6 percent last season, struggles magnified by Dallas’s dearth of outside shooters after trading Seth Curry to Philadelphia and the team’s early woes. Injuries, coronavirus-related disruptions and a road-heavy schedule are all factors, but the Mavericks’ 8-13 start is one of the league’s most alarming through the season’s first six weeks.2-8While the Lakers thrive, the Heat were only 2-8 in the 10 games that Jimmy Butler missed while awaiting clearance to rejoin the team via the league’s health and safety protocols. Coming off the shortest off-season in league history at 72 days after last season’s trip to the N.B.A. finals against the Lakers, Miami (7-13) has played several games with a depleted roster and awoke Tuesday at No. 13 in the Eastern Conference.5Saturday is the first anniversary of Minnesota’s acquisition of D’Angelo Russell in a trade with Golden State. Russell and his close friend Karl-Anthony Towns have played together in only five games in that span because of injuries and the Timberwolves’ exclusion from the N.B.A. restart last summer.13Last Sunday was the 40th anniversary of the N.B.A.’s first international broadcast — 13 days after the game was actually played. On Jan. 31, 1981, Primarete Indipendente TV in Italy aired a Boston Celtics home victory over the Los Angeles Lakers from Jan. 18, 1981. This season, when opening night rosters featured 107 international players from 41 countries, Sky Italia will broadcast at least 10 N.B.A. games per week. There were only four international players in the league during the 1980-81 season.Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Send any other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      ‘This Kid’s Special’: Candace Parker Owned L.A. From Day 1

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main story‘This Kid’s Special’: Candace Parker Owned L.A. From Day 1Parker, long the face of the Los Angeles Sparks, opened her W.N.B.A. career with a statement game. Its message has held up for 13 seasons and counting: She deserved the hype.Candace Parker after leading the Los Angeles Sparks to a championship, her first, in 2016. The Chicago Sky now hope she can bring them their first title.Credit…David Sherman/NBAE, via Getty ImagesFeb. 3, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETCandace Parker’s storied tenure with the Los Angeles Sparks is over. On Monday, she signed a two-year deal with the Chicago Sky, one of the most shocking decisions ever in W.N.B.A. free agency. Parker, who was drafted No. 1 over all by the Sparks in 2008, is headed back home, not far from where she grew up in Naperville, Ill.Parker’s move is seismic for its basketball implications. She won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2020 and will now play for a team stacked with Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley and Diamond DeShields. But for longtime fans of the W.N.B.A., her departure marks the end of one of the most impressive runs any player has ever had.Few phenoms like Parker, who entered the league awash in astronomical hype, ever live up to their potential. For her, it took 38 minutes. In her W.N.B.A. debut, against Cappie Pondexter and Diana Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury, she scored 34 points, sinking 12 of 19 field goals, and had 12 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. No rookie has ever scored more in a debut. The 6-foot-4 point-forward even outshined two star teammates — the Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie and DeLisha Milton-Jones, a two-time Olympic gold medalist — in the Sparks’ win.Parker helped the Sparks take down the big-name stars Cappie Pondexter and Diana Taurasi in her W.N.B.A. debut against the Phoenix Mercury on May 17, 2008.Credit…Barry Gossage/NBAE, via Getty Images“Man, Candace was ballin’,” Milton-Jones said recently. “She was hoopin’ and, you know, we saw things in practice. I saw her in college. And when we got her there in training camp and practicing everything, we were like, ‘OK, this kid’s special.’”Opponents waiting for Parker to hit a rookie wall are still waiting. The coups kept coming from the league’s do-it-all forward, who finished her first season averaging 18.5 points per game on 52.3 percent shooting from the field, 9.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.3 steals per game. She became the league’s only player ever to win the awards for rookie of the year and most valuable player in the same season.Parker’s transition from the nation’s most popular college basketball player at Tennessee to L.A. superstar was seamless. The stars aligned when the Sparks, one of the most successful franchises in one of the W.N.B.A.’s biggest markets, won the draft lottery for the No. 1 pick in 2008. With Leslie, a career Spark with three M.V.P. awards and two championships, creeping toward retirement, the keys were ready to be handed off.Parker shared the floor with Leslie for two seasons, and ever since, the Sparks have been her team. In 13 seasons, she made the playoffs 12 times, was named to five All-Star teams, earned six All-W.N.B.A. first-team honors, won two M.V.P. awards, and in 2016 won her first championship.“I think that the league should definitely be talking with the Sparks franchise to immortalize Candace in front of the Staples Center regardless of where she ends her career, because she was just that huge,” Milton-Jones said. “Candace should be the freakin’ emblem, you know, for the W.N.B.A. because, man, her being born when she was born to enter the league when she did — it was monumental.”Basketball will forever remember the four heartbreaking words Parker spoke after her teammate Nneka Ogwumike hit the game-winning bucket in Game 5 of the 2016 finals against the Minnesota Lynx. “This is for Pat,” Parker said through tears during the celebration, referring to Pat Summitt, the legendary Tennessee coach who had died less than four months earlier.Parker and Nneka Ogwumike, right,  have led the Sparks for the past nine seasons, winning a championship together in 2016.Credit…Hannah Foslien/Getty ImagesWhen Parker retires, her reel of greatest on-court moments will include many against the Minnesota Lynx from their yearslong rivalry with the Sparks. The 2016 and 2017 finals between the teams starred four future and current M.V.P.s — Los Angeles’s Parker and Ogwumike, and Minnesota’s Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles. And it was far more than just a W.N.B.A. squabble: It was perfect league-to-league synergy, pitting Parker’s Volunteers fan base against Moore’s UConn Huskies’ fans as well.Those series moved the W.N.B.A. forward in more ways than one. Game 5 in 2017 was the most-watched finals game since 2003. Parker cemented her legacy by winning her first championship and the finals M.V.P. award in 2016. With the pressure at its highest, she had a double-double to close out Game 5, scoring 28 points with 12 rebounds.Parker’s basketball lore is only part of what made her time with the Sparks special. Last season, Parker balanced raising her daughter, Lailaa, while inside the league’s bubble at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.,; leading the Sparks on the court; and broadcasting N.B.A. games for TNT and NBA TV. In the midst of one of her best seasons ever, at age 34, Parker devoted nights off from playing to talking about basketball on national TV.Parker, left, on set with the TNT N.B.A. analysts Ernie Johnson, center, and Kenny Smith, right, before a game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors in 2019.Credit…Jack Arent/NBAE, via Getty Images“I think it just talks about her work ethic,” said Ticha Penicheiro, a former teammate. “And sometimes I wonder, does she have 24 hours in one day? Or does she have more? She bought some extra hours on Amazon or something? Because how can she do all of that? You know, and to be able to do everything so well.”Every team wants to find its Candace Parker. Her game was so ahead of its time: Look closely and you can see traces of her fast-paced flare in the league’s newest crop of positionless forwards, such as Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Napheesa Collier and A’ja Wilson.Parker’s story is still being written. If the 40-year-old Sue Bird and the 38-year-old Diana Taurasi are any indication, she could have half a decade or longer to play. And Parker just might be the missing piece that helps earn the Sky — a team accustomed to losing its top-tier talent — their first-ever championship.A second ring would put Parker in another echelon of basketball winners. But that doesn’t mean she has anything left to prove. At this point, she is playing for herself.“I mean, as long as she’s playing, yes, that’s going to be important,” Milton-Jones said. “But if she finishes her career with just one, hell, her body of work speaks for itself. It speaks for itself. At least she won’t be Charles Barkley.”Even if great moments might be ahead for Parker, Los Angeles will be the city where her professional career was made. The Sparks franchise has a lot of thinking to do without her, though she is still attached to the area as a part-owner of L.A.’s Angel City F.C., a planned National Women’s Soccer League expansion team, along with her daughter.For now, it’s time for Parker, a three-time Ms. Basketball of Illinois, to come home.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      What To Know About The Biggest W.N.B.A. Free-Agency Moves

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe Biggest W.N.B.A. Free-Agency MovesCandace Parker is not the only one leaving Los Angeles, but Diana Taurasi is staying in Phoenix. W.N.B.A. free agency kicked off Monday with a shuffling of stars.Candace Parker, who had been with the Los Angeles Sparks since she was drafted in 2008, headlined Monday’s free-agency moves by signing with the Chicago Sky.Credit…Chris O’Meara/Associated PressFeb. 1, 2021, 6:34 p.m. ETA landmark collective bargaining agreement before last season increased top-tier W.N.B.A. salaries to $215,000 from about $117,500. But though the new pay scale was in effect ahead of the 2020 season in Florida, it’s only this year that a number of the league’s biggest stars are unrestricted free agents and in a position to cash in.Free agents were officially able to sign new contracts on Monday, and many did. Here is a breakdown of some of the biggest free-agency moves so far:Candace Parker to the Chicago SkyParker, who won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award with the Los Angeles Sparks last season, is moving on to be closer to her roots. A Naperville, Ill., native, she signed with the Chicago Sky on Monday.“This was a very difficult decision for Candace to make as Los Angeles is her home now,” Boris Lelchitski, Parker’s agent, said in an email on Monday.Although Parker and her 11-year-old daughter, Lailaa, have made Los Angeles home, Illinois is where Parker got her start. “It was just a decision based on where she thought she could most enjoy writing the last few chapters of her amazing career,” Lelchitski said.Parker had been with the Sparks since she was drafted No. 1 over all out of Tennessee in 2008.This is big get for James Wade, the head coach and general manager of the Sky, who has made two postseason appearances in two seasons with Chicago.“It’s an incredible story of a homecoming between a team striving to become a championship organization and one of the best players in basketball,” Wade said in a statement announcing the signing.Chicago immediately becomes a contender with Parker, a two-time Most Valuable Player Award winner, alongside young, athletic players like guard Diamond DeShields and forward Gabby Williams. Adding Parker as an option for the assist machine Courtney Vandersloot could mean trouble for post defenders.Alysha Clark to the Washington MysticsAlysha Clark averaged a career-high 10 points per game last season with the Seattle Storm.Credit…Octavio Jones for The New York TimesClark was a key factor for the Seattle Storm in their 2018 and 2020 runs to a W.N.B.A. championship. A nine-year veteran, she shot 55.8 percent from the field on the way to a career-high 10 points per game last season.Mike Thibault, Washington’s head coach and general manager, had sought Clark through free agency and trades with Seattle in the past. “We’ve offered them a trade at one point,” Thibault told reporters during a video conference call on Monday. “They were smart and didn’t do it.”With the Mystics, Clark looks forward to being challenged to become a more complete player before calling it a career. “It’s not that I have to be fancy in anything that I’m doing,” Clark told reporters on Monday. “I just want to be as well rounded and reach my full potential before I decide to hang them up.”Clark’s biggest asset is her ability to guard every position. It has been a staple of her game that has caught the attention of her peers.“She’s strong. She’s physical. It’s like having a little bodyguard wherever I go,” Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi said of Clark last season.Diana Taurasi Returns to the Phoenix MercuryDiana Taurasi, right, has been with the Phoenix Mercury since she was drafted No. 1 over all in 2004.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressTaurasi, who has missed significant time over the past three seasons because of a lingering back injury, has re-signed with Phoenix.“Diana has given her entire career to our organization and community, and we don’t take for granted her unrivaled impact on basketball,” Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman said in a statement on Monday. He added that the team was confident that she had “more All-W.N.B.A. days ahead of her.”Taurasi has been with the Mercury since they took her with the top pick in 2004.Taurasi’s return, keeping her alongside the 2020 free-agent acquisition Skylar Diggins-Smith, bodes well for the future of the Mercury. Diggins-Smith electrified fans with a game-winning buzzer beater against the Connecticut Sun last season after Phoenix had blown a double-digit lead.“When they play well, we play well, and that’s what you need from your best players” Mercury Coach Sandy Brondello said of her backcourt duo of Taurasi and Diggins-Smith during a postgame media session in September.But the chemistry is still building, as was evident during the 2020 playoffs when Phoenix lost to the Minnesota Lynx, 80-79, despite having possession in the waning seconds of the game.Chelsea Gray to the Las Vegas AcesChelsea Gray celebrated after scoring a 3-point basket in front of Washington Mystics.Credit…Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressGray’s move to Las Vegas from the Sparks began last off-season. As a restricted free agent then, Gray wanted to test the waters. A California native, she knew being close to family was one of her priorities, so if she wasn’t going to remain in Los Angeles for the long term, Las Vegas was the next best option. The media company Uninterrupted posted a video on Monday documenting Gray’s trip to Vegas last off-season. The 25-minute video showed how Gray and the Sparks worked out a one-year deal for the 2020 season so she’d be eligible for the maximum contract in 2021, per the new collective bargaining agreement.The video concluded with the announcement that Gray had signed a deal with the Las Vegas Aces this time around. Despite making deep playoff runs in 2019 and 2020, the Aces lacked experience at the guard position. Gray has proved to be more than capable as a floor general for a team with frontcourt talent.Instead of Parker and Nneka Ogwumike, who had been central players for the Sparks, Gray will now facilitate an offense with A’ja Wilson, the reigning M.V.P., and Liz Cambage, who is expected to be back this season after receiving a medical exemption last year because of the pandemic.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      The N.B.A. Misses Klay Thompson

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The NBA SeasonVirus Hotspots in the N.B.A.Will the Harden Trade Work Out?The N.B.A. Wanted HerAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyThe N.B.A. Misses Klay ThompsonThompson, the Golden State Warriors’ All-Star guard, is a great shooter, for sure. But his absence, for a second consecutive season because of injury, leaves a hole that goes beyond basketball.Because of injuries, Klay Thompson hasn’t played in a game since the 2019 N.B.A. finals. Warriors General Manager Bob Myers described Thompson as a “corner piece” of Golden State’s puzzle.Credit…Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press, via Associated PressFeb. 1, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETKlay Thompson could have re-entered the game for the Golden State Warriors, but he knew his work was done. It was Jan. 23, 2015, and Thompson had spent the third quarter scoring a record 37 points without missing a shot against the Sacramento Kings.Early in the fourth quarter, after finishing with 52 points for the game, he grabbed a box score and a seat on the bench.“He probably could’ve broken even more records,” James Michael McAdoo, one of Thompson’s former teammates, recalled in a telephone interview. “But it wasn’t even a thought for him: ‘Nah, man. I’m cool.’ And he treated the rest of the game like he would any other: always engaged, cheering for guys like me when I was getting those garbage minutes.”At the time, the Warriors were just beginning to assert their dominance. They were still a few months from making the first of five straight appearances in the N.B.A. finals, a run that produced three championships. But while Warriors guard Stephen Curry was scripting drama on nearly a nightly basis, it was Thompson and his molten third quarter against the Kings that seemed to signal to the basketball-watching world that the Warriors — officially, undeniably — were different.“It was ridiculous,” Bob Myers, the team’s general manager and president of basketball operations, said in a telephone interview. “Honestly, it’s a blur. That whole season, man, that’s the one where I should’ve just ridden off into the sunset. That’s the one where you’re saying to yourself, ‘Wow, this is a dream.’ Everything was perfect.”Clips of that perfect quarter in that perfect season recently circulated on social media, marking the game’s sixth anniversary while offering a reminder of Thompson’s absence. It has been nearly 20 months since he last appeared in uniform for the Warriors, who have won 26 games without him.After tearing up his left knee in the 2019 N.B.A. finals, Thompson experienced a calamitous setback in November, when he tore his right Achilles’ tendon in an off-season workout. All told, Thompson is expected to miss two full seasons. And in this strange, largely spectator-free period for the league, an endlessly drab atmosphere somehow feels just a bit gloomier because of his absence.“It’s too bad for the league, for us, for everybody,” Myers said. “But mostly, for him.”Thompson, who will turn 31 on Feb. 8, has yet to play a game since re-signing with the Warriors for five years and $190 million in July 2019. The psychological toll has weighed on him. Two seasons of his prime: gone. His teammates hurt for him, too. Curry told The Undefeated that he cried when he learned that Thompson had been injured again. “A lot of tears,” Curry said.Thompson, center, Stephen Curry, right, and Draymond Green, left, were the core of Golden State’s team as it made five straight trips to the N.B.A. finals.Credit…Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesThe jarring part, McAdoo said, was that Thompson had seemed fairly indestructible, rarely missing games through his first eight seasons.“I don’t think I ever even saw him getting therapy,” said McAdoo, who spent three seasons with the Warriors, from 2014 to 2017, and now plays in Japan. “Dude was a tank.”McAdoo, though, recalled how Coach Steve Kerr would often say that teams needed to be good, and they also needed to be lucky. Thompson is coping with his share of bad fortune.“He has faith that he’s going to come back 100 percent,” his father, Mychal Thompson, said in an interview. “He knows he needs to be patient.”Mychal Thompson, a former N.B.A. center, added that his son had been encouraged by the high-level play of the Houston Rockets’ John Wall and the Nets’ Kevin Durant, both of whom missed significant time because of Achilles’ tendon injuries before returning this season. The Warriors are planning/hoping/yearning for Thompson’s return before the start of next season.On Saturday night, Thompson made his first public comments of the season when he joined the NBC Bay Area’s broadcast crew for a stretch of the Warriors’ 118-91 win over the Detroit Pistons.“Just a little bored at times,” Thompson said. “But I’m feeling good. I’m happy to be back with my teammates. Unfortunately, I’m not playing. It kills me every day, but I plan on playing for a long time, and I don’t want to have any mishaps come this rehab.”Thompson, who remains in a walking boot, added that he had been reluctant to make his cameo, but then he saw that the network had produced a branded “Reporter Klay” backdrop for him to use.“Someone went through great lengths to make that happen,” he said, deadpan, “so I felt bad not fulfilling my end of the deal.”Myers likened his job as general manager to assembling a jigsaw puzzle: Say the puzzle is missing a random piece toward the right. Though the missing piece might be noticeable, Myers said, the general idea of the puzzle would still be intact.Now say the puzzle is missing one of the corners.“If you walked into the room and looked at it, you’d say, ‘Where’s the corner piece?’” Myers said. “And I’d say, ‘Well, I can’t find it.’ And you’d say, ‘Well, the puzzle looks screwed up.’ And I’d say, ‘It didn’t come in the box!’ But I know it stands out. Klay is a corner piece.”The Warriors were missing two corner pieces last season. Curry was sidelined for all but five games because of a broken left hand. Thompson split his time between San Francisco and Los Angeles as he focused on rehabilitating his knee. He watched from a remove as the Warriors finished with the worst record in the league.“It’s pretty abrupt to go from five straight finals to just out for the season,” Myers said, “and I think he was just working through how to manage that mentally. I can’t speak for him, but I think he was trying to figure out where to be, and it was challenging.”This season, Curry has returned to his familiar form, and the Warriors — with multiple new pieces — have been mostly competitive after a rocky start. At the same time, Thompson has been a much more consistent presence around the team, taking up residence on the bench at home games — something he did far less often last season.“I think it’s much better for him to be around the guys and feel like you’re a part of it,” Mychal Thompson said. “It helps the time go by faster.”Klay has picked his spots to counsel teammates, like the first-year center James Wiseman, who received several tips from Thompson during a recent game against the Minnesota Timberwolves: Stay aggressive, take care of your body and be a great teammate.“I just love to listen,” Wiseman said in a conference call, “and he can tell.”Thompson was electric against the Sacramento Kings on Jan. 23, 2015, scoring 37 points in the third quarter and 52 points for the night.Credit…Ben Margot/Associated PressThompson has long kept his approach simple. He loves his dog, a bulldog named Rocco, spending time by the water, playing chess and shooting a basketball. His demeanor has not changed since he entered the league in 2011, which is no small feat. He is as popular among his peers as he is with fans. Few players, if any, are less polarizing.“I think what’s most endearing about Klay is that what you see is what you get,” Myers said. “And that is so hard in the N.B.A. It’s such a hard place to not be affected by the money, by the celebrity, by social media, by the fans — who the heck knows? But he’s always put himself and the N.B.A. in the proper place. He’s maintained his center.”The public got a quirky glimpse of that in 2017, and it had nothing to do with his 3-point shooting or his defensive prowess. The Warriors were in New York to play the Nets when Thompson was randomly stopped on the street by a television news reporter who was interviewing people about the dangers of faulty scaffolding. Thompson proceeded to do an on-camera interview in which he explained his mental calculation about whether he walks under scaffolding or around it.“I usually observe if the piping and stuff is new,” he said.When Thompson was later asked about his cameo on the local news, he told reporters that he had wanted to offer his thoughts as a “concerned citizen.”“There are a lot of layers to Klay,” Myers said, “and all of them are good. When you peel them back, you just get more authenticity with him.”McAdoo said he was always struck by Thompson’s pregame ritual of reading the newspaper at his locker. (Thompson has said that it helps him relax.)“And he actually reads it,” McAdoo said. “I just found it so odd: ‘Bro, who still reads the newspaper?’”Myers daydreams about Thompson’s eventual return, he said, and about what it will mean for Thompson and for his teammates. In the meantime, another season lurches along without him. The wait continues.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      John Chaney, Hall of Fame Temple Basketball Coach, Dies at 89

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyJohn Chaney, Hall of Fame Temple Basketball Coach, Dies at 89He won more than 500 games and six Atlantic 10 tournament championships with Temple, and he took his teams to the N.C.A.A. tournament’s regional finals five times.John Chaney, the longtime Temple University basketball coach, in 1999. He insisted that his players show discipline on the court and that they pursue their studies.Credit…Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesJan. 29, 2021Updated 5:54 p.m. ETJohn Chaney, the famously combative Hall of Fame coach who took Temple University to 17 N.C.A.A. basketball tournaments, largely recruiting high school players from poor neighborhoods who were overlooked by the college game’s national powers, died on Friday. He was 89.His death was announced by Temple. The university did not say where he died or specify the cause, saying only that he died “after a short illness.”Chaney was 50 when Temple hired him, giving him a chance to coach major-college basketball after 10 seasons and a Division II championship at Cheyney State College (now Cheyney University), outside Philadelphia.He coached at Temple, in Philadelphia, for 24 seasons, winning more than 500 games and six Atlantic 10 tournament championships and taking his teams to the N.C.A.A. tournament’s regional finals five times. He did that despite having only one consensus all-American, the guard Mark Macon, who led the Temple team that was ranked No. 1 at the close of the 1987-88 regular season.Chaney was voted the national coach of the year in 1987 and 1988 and elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in 2001.His tie often askew as he shouted in his raspy voice at his players and the referees, Chaney was a consummate battler. He insisted that his players show discipline on the court — he regarded turnovers as basketball’s greatest sin — and that they pursue their studies and conduct themselves properly, however chaotic their lives might be.Having grown up poor in the segregated Depression-era South and in Philadelphia, Chaney viewed himself as a mentor to young men who often came from broken homes.“Sometimes I’m a little nasty,” he once told The Orlando Sentinel. “But underneath I still carry with me a strong feeling of concern for youngsters. I’ll do just about anything to convince a youngster he can be a winner, and not just a winner in basketball but a winner in life. I want players to take up my value system.”Macon, who later played in the N.B.A. and became an assistant to Chaney at Temple, said in an interview with Comcast SportsNet that Chaney was “my mother and my father,” adding, “He’d tell me the right thing to do and not to do.”But Chaney’s outrage at what he perceived as injustice sometimes raised questions about his own standards of behavior.Incensed by what he saw as an effort by John Calipari, then the coach of his Atlantic 10 rival Massachusetts, to intimidate referees, he charged at Calipari after Temple had lost to his team by one point in a 1994 game, shouting “I’ll kill you” as onlookers held him back.On the eve of a 2005 game against St. Joseph’s, Chaney said he would send “one of my goons” after the team’s players, whom he accused of using illegal screens to free up shooters. The next night he inserted a 6-foot-8-inch, 250-pound bench warmer, Nehemiah Ingram, into the game. Ingram committed a flurry of fouls, one of which leveled a St. Joseph’s senior forward, John Bryant, breaking his arm.Chaney was suspended for one game over the outburst at Calipari and for five games after the St. Joseph’s incident.Always outspoken, he railed against what he perceived as culturally biased and racist standardized academic testing requirements imposed by the N.C.A.A. for basketball eligibility. He expressed disdain for the administration of President George W. Bush and spoke out against the Iraq war.Chaney was surrounded by his players after Temple beat St. Bonaventure on Jan. 28, 2004, for his 700th career victory. He finished his career with a total of 741.Credit…George Widman/Associated PressJohn Chaney was born on Jan. 21, 1932, in Jacksonville, Fla., and grew up in a low-lying house that often flooded. His stepfather, seeking work in a defense plant, brought the family to the Philadelphia area during World War II.Chaney was voted the most valuable player of Philadelphia’s public high school basketball league in 1951, but his family was too poor to buy a suit for him for the award ceremonies. He wore his stepfather’s suit, its sleeves and pants hanging down.He became a small-college all-American at the historically Black Bethune-Cookman College in Florida, then played briefly for the Harlem Globetrotters and played for teams in Sunbury and Williamsport, Pa., in the semipro Eastern League, where he was named the most valuable player.Chaney was the first Black basketball coach in Philadelphia’s Big Five — Temple, Penn, Villanova, St. Joseph’s and La Salle. His first Temple team went 14-15, but that was his only losing season with the Owls. His 1987-88 squad finished with a 32-2 record and went to a regional final. But Chaney’s teams were barely above the .500 mark in his last four years at Temple.He had a record of 516-253 at Temple from 1982 to 2006 after posting a 225-59 record at Cheyney State from 1972 to 1982.Information on survivors was not immediately available.While Chaney’s temper memorably got the best of him at times, he apologized for the Calipari and St. Joseph’s incidents.But even after his retirement, he seemed to enjoy reprising his provocative image. In a 2010 interview with The Temple News, a student newspaper, Chaney was asked if he had any regrets.“The only regret I have is that I exposed so much of myself to the media,” he said. “Certainly, I regret the language I used with Calipari. I should have waited until after the game was over and then took him outside and beat the hell out of him.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Sekou Smith, Award-Winning N.B.A. Reporter and Analyst, Dies at 48

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesSee Your Local RiskVaccine InformationWuhan, One Year LaterAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySekou Smith, Award-Winning N.B.A. Reporter and Analyst, Dies at 48Mr. Smith, the creator and host of NBA.com’s “Hang Time” blog and podcast, covered professional basketball for more than two decades. He died of complications of Covid-19.Sekou Smith, a reporter for NBA-TV and NBA.com, had a long career covering basketball.Credit…Turner SportsJan. 28, 2021Updated 5:58 p.m. ETThis obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.For much of his journalism career, you would never see Sekou Smith in a sport coat. Not at the N.B.A. games he covered, not in the newsroom.“Wearing a tie? No, never happened. Wearing a suit? Oh, you can forget about it,” said Arthur Triche, who used to work in public relations for the Atlanta Hawks and regarded Mr. Smith as his best friend.That was until Mr. Smith started working as a multimedia reporter and analyst for NBA TV and NBA.com in 2009, when he became “the fashionista,” Mr. Triche said.Mr. Smith’s bold clothing choices matched his reporting style: authentic, fair and unafraid, said Michael Lee, a sports reporter for The Washington Post who met Mr. Smith almost 22 years ago. While he was tough on teams, they knew it was always merited, Mr. Lee said.“He can make enemies his friends,” he said.Mr. Smith died of complications of the coronavirus on Jan. 26 at a hospital in Marietta, Ga., where his family lives, according to Mr. Triche and Ayanna Smith, one of Mr. Smith’s sisters. He was 48.Sekou Kimathi Sinclair Smith was born on May 15, 1972, in Grand Rapids, Mich., to Estelle Louise Smith, an information technology specialist, and Walter Alexander Smith, who was a teacher and a school principal. His parents were often present at Mr. Smith’s sporting events, of which there were many: He played basketball, tennis, soccer and football and wrestled.Ayanna Smith said Sekou had especially liked riding his bike up and down Auburn Avenue, the street where they lived as children and a continuing reference point for their family’s group text messages in more recent years.“We were the ‘307 Auburn’ chat,” Ms. Smith said. “Every morning, whether it was Dad or Sekou or one of my brothers and sisters, one of us would text in there about the weather or whatever was going on.”The Coronavirus Outbreak More