Free Republic

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah pharmacist is upset the man who admitted to breaking into his pharmacy has been let off the hook. On May 28, President Donald Trump pardoned 25-year-old rapper NBA YoungBoy, who had been sentenced to nearly two years in jail in Utah back in December 2024. The President didn’t explain why he pardoned the rap star. NBA YoungBoy’s record includes drug fraud and weapons charges, both federally and at the state level. “My very first gut reaction to hearing that pardon was what a terrible lesson to teach your boys,” Phil Cowley, a Utah pharmacist,...

Shawn Kemp, who spent the majority of his NBA career with the Seattle SuperSonics, entered a guilty plea in the 2023 shooting outside the Tacoma Mall in Washington state. The Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office confirmed that Kemp admitted to second-degree assault in the incident. The six-time NBA All-Star initially faced charges for first-degree assault with a firearm. Prosecutors later tacked on a second count of first-degree assault and a charge of drive-by shooting. If he had been convicted on the original charges, the 55-year-old could have been up against a considerably longer prison sentence. Tacoma police received a call...

Former NBA guard Craig Hodges, regarded as one of the league’s premier three-point shooters before Steph Curry, painfully understands his career is defined more by a letter he wrote than his ability to knock down shots. As a star reserve with the Chicago Bulls, Hodges joined his teammates in 1991 for a visit to the White House to celebrate the Bulls’ first NBA Championship with President George H.W. Bush. Hodges, an outspoken advocate for social justice and civil rights during his 10-year NBA career, viewed the trip as an opportunity. Near the end of the celebration, Hodges, dressed in a...

In a highly physical Game 4 between the New York Knicks and the Detroit Pistons, in which seemingly so many contact-filled plays weren't resulting in fouls, officials acknowledged after the fact that one huge one was missed on the final play. With the Knicks leading by one, Detroit's Tim Hardaway Jr. drew contact from New York's Josh Hart as Hardaway went up for the potential winning shot with 0.3 seconds remaining. The 3-point attempt misfired, and the sold-out crowd awaited a foul call. It never came, incensing the Pistons bench and fans. The Knicks, meanwhile, escaped with a 94-93 victory...

‘Kids Don’t Need To Be Drinking These’ – Kawhi Leonard Takes a Dig at Popular Drink Brand April 25, 2025 | 7:51 PM EDT The Los Angeles Clippers took care of business with a 117-84 win in Intuit Dome’s first-ever playoff game. Kawhi Leonard posted a double-double, notching 21 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists in the Clippers 34-point rout over the Denver Nuggets. During Kawhi’s postgame press conference, he seemed to take a subtle jab at an iconic sports drink. Kawhi Leonard Takes a Shot at Gatorade, an NBA Sponsor Gatorade has made a name for itself in the...

Jackson says the NBA puts business ahead of sacred Christian holidays.The NBA had a four-game payoff slate for Sunday, April 20, 2025, beginning with the league-best-seeded OKC Thunder hosting the Play-In Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference. It was followed by the defending champions, the Boston Celtics, opening their title defense against the Orlando Magic, and the East's top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers taking on the Miami Heat. In the nightcap, NBA fans were treated to a showdown between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors in the West. But while a loaded Sunday slate like that is basketball heaven for NBA...

Professional sports are all about mom, apple pie and the flag, right? Baseball is our “national pastime,” football is our national religion, basketball is…well…marketing for athletic shoes? And hockey is an advertisement for restorative dentistry? Anyway, these leagues are supposed to be red, white and blue. Apart, that is, from some knee taking and refusing to stand for the National Anthem, buying into the whole “America is systemically racist” thing, supporting trans this and that, and OK, the Budweiser debacle, which is at least sort of associated with them. Sigh. Sports used to be so simple. Players were expected to...

NBA legend Dominique Wilkins discusses his surprising Boston Celtics stint and how he felt respected in Boston, contrasting the experiences of past Black athletes.Dominique Wilkins breathed Atlanta Hawks almost all his career and it was almost too much to imagine him anywhere else — much less in Celtics green and white. The same team who had ruled the Eastern Conference for decades, leaving teams like Wilkins' Hawks constantly chasing shadows. For a player who had become the heart of Georgia basketball, Boston felt like foreign territory. Georgia had given him something North Carolina never did — love. Real, open-armed love....

McGrady doesn’t view LeBron in the same category as Kobe or Kyrie.He didn’t rely on orchestrated plays or structured offensive sets. His game was built for the playground, for the rawest form of basketball. A man against another, with nothing between them but space and opportunity. It was an art form, and McGrady mastered it. A different kind of player For over a decade, T-Mac was among the paragon of one-on-one scorers. A two-time scoring champion, a seven-time All-Star, a Hall of Famer with a signature game that blended finesse and force. He thrived in isolation, where creativity dictated survival...

Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban is facing calls from his own former employees to flee the Texas city following recent controversy. The NBA organization recently descended into a meltdown when the team traded away its biggest star, Luka Doncic, to the Los Angeles Lakers. And despite selling his majority stake in the Mavericks in 2023, Cuban, who has been outspoken critic of Donald Trump's agenda in Washington DC, has found himself in the firing line. Last week, a former Mavericks event manager, Gavin Mulloy, took aim at the billionaire on Facebook, claiming that he 'should be run out of...

Mark Cuban has been brutally honest about his displeasure with the Dallas Mavericks since he sold his majority share to the Adelson family in December 2023. He thought he would still be in charge of basketball operations, but it wasn't allowed to be in the contract when he sold the team, and the Adelsons decided to hand the reins to Nico Harrison. Cuban voiced his frustrations in a recent Facebook comment about his role with the team, but he also revealed that owning the Mavericks wasn't exactly a fruitful endeavor. "You didn't say a word when [your bonus] showed up...

Plezi Hydration is part of a team-up with the NBA star and former First Lady.

Film director Spike Lee wore a jacket to the NBA All-Star Game with a message demanding slavery reparations. Cameras caught the message as Lee stood on the sidelines during Sunday’s game while he enjoyed his courtside seat, which reportedly ran for up to $57,000 per ticket. “We wan out 40 acres and a mule,” the message read. “Yes, reparations, no subterfuge.” The Do The Right Thing director has been an advocate of slavery reparations for blacks for years. Lee has even added the concept of slavery reparations into at least one of his films. The theme was reportedly a part...

Fans of the Toronto Raptors have become the latest group of Canadian fans to boo the U.S. national anthem during a professional sports game. The Canadian fans booed during the Raptors 115 to 108 win against the L.A. Clippers on Sunday. Raptors fans were not the first Canadian sports fans to boo the U.S. anthem in the wake of announcements of tariffs set by U.S. President Donald Trump. Last week, Canadian fans at two NHL games booed during the U.S. national anthem, and now Canadian NBA fans are joining them.

The blockbuster three-team trade early Sunday morning had major financial ramifications for Luka Doncic. He was in line to receive a super-max contract from the Mavericks next offseason but is no longer eligible after being traded to the Lakers. The super max would have allowed Doncic to sign a five-year, $345 million contract with the Mavericks this summer. Instead, the most the Lakers can offer him next offseason is a five-year, $229 million deal, according to ESPN, a whopping $116 million less than what he could’ve gotten from Dallas.

The homes of professional athletes have become the target of a recent burglary spree that has hit players from the NFL, NBA, and now, the NHL. Evgeny Malkin, the longtime star and Stanley Cup champion center for the Pittsburgh Penguins, was burglarized on January 11 at his home in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, while playing a game in Pittsburgh, TMZ Sports reports. According to TMZ Sports, the security system at Malikn’s home was not functioning during the break-in. All three of Malkin’s Stanley Cup rings were stolen. As of this writing, no arrests have been made ... The burglary spree has targeted...

Fewer people are watching the NBA than in previous years, including some of the sport's top names. Ratings for NBA games on ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV are down 25% through Saturday, according to Sports Media Watch, and there are many ideas floating about why. Three-pointer propensity and lack of defense are the two main bugaboos observers point to. And it's become clear that players rest more often than they used to and that the regular season has been watered down in recent years. Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla was asked about the declining ratings, and one would...

With the Boston Celtics on pace to shatter the NBA's record for 3-pointers attempted by a team this season, and 3-pointers in general being up across the league, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Tuesday night that the league is studying the trend. He also said criticisms of offenses becoming "cookie-cutter" and that teams are copying each other is something he thinks the league should take seriously. "The answer is yes, [we are having] many discussions about the style of basketball [being played]," Silver told a small group of reporters Tuesday night before the championship game of the league's second annual...

Colin Cowherd blasted the National Basketball Association’s ratings collapse because the league has failed to give the fans what they want and compared that epic collapse to what has happened with the Democrat Party. In a recent broadcast of his The Herd show, Cowherd noted that NBA commissioner Adam Silver has done a good job addressing CTE problems and has “navigated a multitude of cultural changes.” But Silver’s “tinkering” has strayed so far from what the fans want that TV ratings have collapsed. Cowherd said, “He tinkers, he evolves.” Meanwhile, the NBA ratings are down 48% in the last 12...

Fox Sports analyst Colin Cowherd has claimed the NBA and the Democrat party share an issue when it comes to losing supporters. Despite signing a 11-year, $76 billion TV deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon this summer, the NBA's ratings have taken a severe hit over the past decade with figures plummeting even further this season. The league's ratings have taken a 48 percent drop over the last 12 years, and this year alone they are down 28 percent on ESPN, according to Front Office Sports. Many fans and analysts have pointed to load management as a source of blame...