Rumors

Barry Jackson: Couple ESPN notes: Haslem will be permitted to complete his upcoming studio assignments. He won't be yanked off the air. (ESPN hadn't planned on using Amazon-bound Cassidy Hubbarth in postseason but allowed her to do farewell Heat-Bulls game)... On Panthers tonight, Mike Monaco (who called UM-Syracuse football finale and is considered an upstart ESPN talent) calls Game 1 in Toronto with ESPN lead NHL analyst Ray Ferraro. (Sean McDonough is busy with Washington-Carolina).

x.com

Jason Beede: #Magic PA announcer Paul Porter won’t be at Kia Center for tonight’s Play-In game between Orlando and Atlanta, I’m told. Instead, he’ll serve as PA for the Lightning, who host the Panthers in their last home game of the regular season. I’m told it was his decision to be in Tampa.

Twitter

ESPN canvassed 136 teams in the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB and NHL from November 2023 to July 2024 on whether they offer accommodations that fans with invisible disabilities say would make their game-day experience better. Of the 136 teams, 120 responded. In the NFL, the Broncos, Texans, Patriots, Cardinals and Bengals did not answer questions. In MLB, the Brewers, Pirates, Mariners and Cubs did not answer. In the NBA, the Timberwolves declined to answer and the Clippers responded before their move to the Intuit Dome. In the WNBA, the Lynx declined to answer. In the NHL, the Panthers, Sabres, Jets and Senators did not answer. (The Utah Hockey Club was omitted because of the team's impending move to Salt Lake City.) Some teams did not answer every question in the survey.

ESPN

Jayson Tatum and Matthew Tkachuk are fresh off winning championships last season for their respective franchises. Months later, the former high school classmates reunited in St. Louis for an important task -- re-creating a photo they took together growing up. The Boston Celtics and Florida Panthers stars were classmates at Chaminade Prep, a small Catholic school in St. Louis. Tkachuk even appeared in a video for Tatum's class project.

ESPN

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum and Florida Panthers standout Matthew Tkachuk are not only St. Louis natives, but they went the same prep school as children. When the St. Louis Cardinals welcomed the two to throw out ceremonial first pitches on Sunday, it was only appropriate to have them recreate a viral photo from their school days. Tkachuk and Tatum were the subjects of a long-circulating photo from their middle school days, as both of them attended Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis. They recreated that photo on Sunday, and they even recruited the third classmate that had photobombed them to make the picture complete.

Larry Brown Sports

The parent company of Bally Sports Sun and Bally Sports Florida filed for bankruptcy protection last week, but its television coverage of six of the state’s pro teams - including the Heat, Marlins and Panthers - isn’t expected to be interrupted this season, according to a source briefed on the matter. Whether Bally Sun’s coverage of the Heat, Panthers, Orlando Magic and Tampa Bay Lightning will be interrupted next fall, at the start of the 2023-24 season, is less clear.

Miami Herald

In February, Jason Terry joined virtual personal training app FlexIt as its head of athletic performance. The app connects users with personal trainers who host live 1-on-1 workouts over video that start as low as $30 per session. Athlete ambassadors to have completed at-home workouts with FlexIt include NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens and former USWNT star Carli Lloyd. In March, FlexIt became the official virtual fitness partner of the NHL’s Florida Panthers.

SportTechie

Patrick Baldwin Jr. is moving on. The 6-foot-9 forward announced on social media Friday that he is declaring for the NBA draft after a disappointing freshman season at UW-Milwaukee. Baldwin played in just 11 games for the Panthers, who were coached by his father, averaging 12.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists. Patrick Baldwin Sr. was fired after UWM finished 10-21 and 8-14 in the Horizon League in his fifth season as coach.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

CAA Sports Basketball Division has officially announced the signing of junior Davion Mitchell from Baylor University who will be joining their 2021 NBA Draft Class. The 6’2″, 205-pound Guard is from Hinesville, Georgia where he attended Liberty County High School and competed under Coach Julian Stokes Prior to attending college, Mitchell was ranked a four-star recruit coming out of high school and was ranked No. 33 nationally by 247 sports, while competing for Coach Julian Stokes at Liberty County High School, leading the Panthers to their first Georgia 4A State Championship during the 2015-16 season.

Sports Agent Blog

Pitt coach Jeff Capel can comment on this case with more credence than the average talking head, considering he recruited, came to care for and would’ve coached Williamson in his only season at Duke, if not for Capel taking over the Panthers. “I think the guys should be able to go straight from high school,” Capel said after his team’s practice Monday afternoon. “That’s not an NCAA rule, that’s an NBA rule, but I think they should have the opportunity.”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Barkov had courtside seats to watch the Miami Heat on Sunday night — and got a closer view of Dwyane Wade than he expected. Wade was trying to steal a pass when he wound up diving about four rows into the stands with 3:04 remaining, and he wound up clipping Barkov on his way into the crowd. The Panthers' captain wasn't hurt and didn't mind. "D-Wade flying over you is really nice," Barkov said.

USA Today Sports

Durant’s Golden State teammate and fellow perennial MVP contender is well-known as a rabid Carolina fan, having been raised in Charlotte while his father, Dell Curry, played for the Hornets. Thus, he found himself the object of Durant’s scorn, as did one of his signature-series Under Armour shoes, appropriately in a Panthers' blue-and-black colorway. In a video posted to social media, Durant shows himself picking up the Curry show and saying, “Somebody get theses pieces of [expletive] outta here.” He then tosses the sneaker at his teammate, seated nearby, taunting him by saying, “How does that [expletive]-whipping taste?”

Washington Post

After starring at the University of Washington, playing in the NBA and venturing overseas for the final segment of his career as a player, Jon Brockman has returned to the place where his basketball journey began. The former Snohomish High School standout, one of the most successful athletes in county history, is serving as a volunteer coach for the Panthers boys’ basketball program this season.

Washington Times

There is growing optimism about Chris Bosh being cleared by the Heat to resume his career while remaining on blood thinners, according to a union source. Bosh pitched the Heat on playing late last season, while taking a new form of blood thinner that would be out of his system in eight hours or so. The Heat resisted that approach at that time but is now more open than it had been to Bosh playing while on blood thinners, according to the source. Bosh wouldn’t be the first athlete to do that: Former Florida Panthers player Tomas Fleischmann takes anticoagulant injections after games that are out of his system by game time.

Miami Herald