Free Republic

If the NBA was looking to score a big ratings windfall to kick off a new season, this wasn't it. Viewership for NBA games has dropped by double-digit percentages through the opening weeks of the regular season, according to Sports Media Watch. Compared to the same juncture in the 2023-24 NBA calendar, NBA ratings on ESPN are down 28 percent year over year. Ratings for the 2024 Boston Celtics-Dallas Mavericks Finals were reportedly the lowest the league has seen in three years. Viewership for most live sporting events has tailed off in the cord-cutting era. Traditional ratings metrics are still...

NBA star Rudy Gobert has voiced his approval of Donald Trump's appointee for health secretary ahead of the president-elect's return to the White House. As the clock ticks down to his inauguration on January 20, Trump has already begun to rapidly fill the spots up for grabs in his cabinet and the West Wing. And, amid the slew of appointments, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has become one of the most influential men in health. The announcement sent shockwaves through the public health sector due to Kennedy's controversial stances on health. However, amid the criticism of his appointment, Kennedy, the nephew...

A father threw his eight-month-old son against a wall during a fit brought on by an NBA videogame. Jalin White, 20, admitted to the act last week, in the wake of his child abuse arrest. The now-hospitalized youngster is not expected to live, meaning White may soon be charged with homicide. What predated the fit of rage made it even more disturbing - with cops revealing it was a game of 2K that set him off. Down two points in the fourth quarter, the defendant became frustrated while holding the baby, a criminal plaint states - describing how the dad...

NBA coach Steve Kerr mocked Donald Trump after the former president clinched the White House on Wednesday. Trump swept the battleground states in a historic win this week to deliver him to a second term. Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors and outspoken supporter of Democrats, mocked the former president by saying he is glad there was no voter fraud this time around. “I believe in democracy. I think the American people have spoken and voted for Trump. I want him to do well the next four years. I want our country to do well.” Kerr told reporters...

Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, has once again used an NBA press conference as a platform to attack Donald Trump with a 15-minute tirade delivered ahead of Saturday’s game. Popovich kicked off his attack by calling Trump “pathetic,” Fox News reported. Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, has once again used an NBA press conference as a platform to attack Donald Trump with a 15-minute tirade delivered ahead of Saturday’s game. Popovich kicked off his attack by calling Trump “pathetic,” Fox News reported.

While the WNBA is getting sellout crowds for the finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx, the league’s owners will not be making a return on their investment for the foreseeable future, sources close to the situation said. The NBA owns nearly 60 percent of the league. When one combines the NBA owners’ personal stakes in WNBA teams and the WNBA itself, the amount rises to 75 percent, a source with direct knowledge of the numbers said. The NBA team owners have invested hundreds of millions in the WNBA since its 1996 formation, per sources.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Honored for his devotion to a basketball team that doesn’t have a Hall of Fame history, Billy Crystal couldn’t help but note the irony. “How strange to be getting a ring before any of the Clippers,” he said. The actor is being added to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s James F. Goldstein SuperFan Gallery and took part in a ceremony Sunday along with fellow entertainer and filmmaker Spike Lee and Philadelphia businessman Alan Horwitz. Longtime Lakers fan Jack Nicholson is also being added but the three-time Academy Award winner was not able to attend.

One of the giants of the sports world passed away yesterday. Dikembe Mutombo was an impressive basketball player with an 18-year NBA career, and at 7-foot-2-inches tall, he towered over mere mortals as well as some of his teammates and competitors. Born in 1966 in what is now the Republic of the Congo, Mutombo was one of 10 children of a principal and his wife. At age 21, he came to the U.S. to play basketball at Georgetown University, and he parlayed his college success into the NBA. Mutombo played in the big leagues for nearly two decades, including five-year...

Dikembe Mutombo, the Hall of Fame center whose playful finger-wags after blocking shots — which he did 3,289 times in his career — became iconic, has died at the age of 58 due to brain cancer, the NBA announced. Mutombo died surrounded by his family, according to the league. His family had announced a couple of years ago that the legendary Congolese big man had a brain tumor. Mutombo played 18 NBA seasons but made a bigger and more meaningful impact off the court, where he had worked tirelessly for years to help people back in his native Democratic Republic...

Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo has died at 58 years old after a battle with brain cancer. Mutombo’s career spanned from 1992-2009, and featured eight All-Star appearances and four Defensive Player of the Year awards. “Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”

With all of the things impacting our inflation-ridden, more racially divided, and public-school-failing society, Steph Curry’s highest priority is … abortion. Tragically, the NBA All-Star and Olympic champion, spared from the violence of abortion himself, doesn’t believe that millions of others deserve the same opportunity to live out their God-given purpose. Curry, an ardent Democrat supporter and celebrity at DNC conventions, recently told CNBC that he endorses Kamala Harris and that abortion is “at the top of the list for me.”A professing (seemingly cultural) Christian, Curry wasn’t always so vocally pro-abortion. In a 2022 article, Curry told Rolling Stones magazine...

If there’s one person who understands the struggle that came with the job of Adrian Wojnarowski, it’s fellow ESPN insider Adam Schefter. Wojnarowski shockingly announced he was retiring from ESPN as the outlet’s lead NBA insider on Wednesday morning to become the general manager of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program. As part of his announcement, Wojnarowski said that he was “no longer driven” to make the investment in his role that he needed to and that he wanted to spend his time “in ways that are more personally meaningful.” Adrian Wojnarowski shocked the NBA world on Wednesday when he...

In a bold move that sent shockwaves through both the sports and political worlds, the Miami Heat found themselves at the center of a national controversy when they released a passionate statement aimed directly at Donald Trump and his allies

NBA superstar Steph Curry, who has long touted his Christian creds and beliefs on and off the court, has said in an interview that he’s endorsing Kamala Harris for President specifically because she’ll defend abortion rights. Curry has been relatively vocal about his supposed faith, particularly in episode five of the Facebook series, “Stephen vs. The Game.” Curry grew up in the church, attending youth group every Wednesday evening and Sunday morning services. His testimony has been featured frequently, such as Here and Here, and he once described his conversion to the faith when he was in grade eight, recounting:...

Team USA men’s basketball star Stephen Curry and head coach Steve Kerr backed Vice President Kamala Harris for president while talking to reporters on Thursday. President Biden announced Sunday he was withdrawing from his re-election campaign and endorsed Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Biden’s decision came after weeks of upheaval from top Democrats and donors following his disastrous debate with former President Trump. Curry and Kerr, who are with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA, made their comments days before the team begins its Olympics matchups. "Vice President Harris is primed to bring her energy to...

Former NBA guard Terrence Ross had a terse message for politicians in the U.S. in the aftermath of an assassination attempt on former President Trump. Ross took to task politicians who offer outlandish statements in the middle of political cycles and then act shocked when something like the shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania occurs. "What’s happening to our country? Our government and politicians divide us, then act shock when things go to far," Ross wrote on X. "It shouldn’t be red vs blue. It should us vs them. We have more in common than any of these...

Sides has obviously never seen Caitlin Clark play basketball before she was drafted by the Fever. And Sides likely has no idea who she has on her team—the greatest clutch shooter in women’s basketball history. It is time that someone from the Fever front office notified Coach Sides that she has the greatest shooter in college basketball history playing on her squad! Here are a few of the shooting records Caitlin Clark broke in the last year: NCAA records Most career points — Division I, men’s and women’s (3,951) Most points in single season — Division I, women’s (1,234) Most...

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban might be the only one who thinks that President Joe Biden is still fit for office after last night’s debate. The commander-in-chief was a total train wreck during last night’s debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump, and his inability to form coherent sentences was a profound contrast to Trump’s responses. The only positives to come from the debate were the goldmine of memes. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban might be the only one who thinks that President Joe Biden is still fit for office after last night’s debate. The commander-in-chief was a total train wreck...

The NBA Finals being outdrawn by Caitlin Clark in TV ratings is a good indication that the league is in trouble.

BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics again stand alone among NBA champions. Jayson Tatum had 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds as the Celtics topped the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 on Monday night to win the franchise’s 18th championship, breaking a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in league history. Boston earned its latest title on the 16th anniversary of hoisting its last Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2008. It marks the 13th championship won this century by one of the city’s Big 4 professional sports franchises. Jaylen Brown added 21 points and was voted the NBA Finals MVP....