Rumors

Gaining another perspective on this, Green shared a story from his rookie season attempting to talk trash to Bryant and the Lakers legend had a hilarious response, via Jimmy Kimmel Live: “I remember I walk into the locker room on the first day. I’m sitting next to Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson], I’m like, ‘Damn, we going to talk trash to everybody!’ And they were like, ‘Man, you on your own, we don’t do that.’ I’m like, ‘Y’all better talk trash with me or we’re going to have a problem.’ So, I go out, being the dumb rookie that I am, and I try to trash talk Kobe Bryant. Mind you, I get into the game, I probably played 24 seconds that game. I get into the game for a defensive stop to take us into overtime to end regulation. And most people run a play, pin-down here, pin-down there and trying to get somebody open. Kobe just flashed to the ball. So he flashed to the ball and me and Kobe ‘mano a mano’ and I lock up, sitting down. And we know what shot Kobe going to, shimmy, fadeaway over the left shoulder. He missed.

Lakers Nation

Draymond Green: “I say, ‘Yeah! Let’s go baby, we going to overtime!’ He said, ‘Come on, young fella. That had nothing to do with you, I just missed.’ So, you get him back, ‘Yeah, alright! You know, I locked that up!’ Meanwhile, he just walk away looking like, ‘Man, whatever.’ It hurts. That was my first time playing against Kobe. Before that game, I missed all my pregame stuff because I watched all his pregame warmups starstruck. I sat there and watched it the entire time like this and I just watched it starstruck. I missed everything I was supposed to do and then we had that moment and he left me feeling like trash. It was unbelievable.”

Lakers Nation

The newly debuted 2024 NBA Finals campaign, “The Toast,” is now streaming across all @NBA social platforms and the NBA App. NBA Legend and three-time NBA Champion Dwyane Wade gathers a cast of former champions and famous NBA fans – Ray Allen, Mike Breen, Ken Jeong, Magic Johnson, Jimmy Kimmel, Isiah Thomas, Queen Latifah and the newest members of the Chicago Sky Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese – to celebrate the pinnacle of the NBA season with a toast “to the Finals.”

NBA.com

During Smith’s appearance at the BSM Summit Wednesday, I asked him about Jimmy Kimmel’s comment last month that the late night host might retire after his current contract expires in 2026. Fifteen months ago, Smith told Sean Hannity that he’d “love” to be considered “heir” to Kimmel—so I asked Smith, whose current ESPN contract expires in July, 2025: Is that still the case? “I’d be very interested in succeeding him,” Smith answered. But only if his bosses at Disney, such as chairman Bob Iger, asked him to follow in Kimmel’s footsteps as ABC’s late night star.

Front Office Sports

The dialogue leans more into where Stephen A. Smith would love to one day end up: as a late-night television host. He’s been a guest host on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” In a dream world, that would be his job for the future. “I would jump at the opportunity to try and prove that I could do that,” Smith said. “I would really enjoy making people smile and laugh.”

The Athletic

If Kimmel ever decides to no longer host his show, Smith wants a crack at the gig. He’s still motivated to be the best at what he does in sports media, and the news last week of Shannon Sharpe joining him on “First Take,” which Smith publicly lobbied for on his show, is a sign he’s not coasting when it comes to his ESPN duties. He’s still a major part of the network’s morning lineup, NBA coverage and sports in general. But “Stephen A. Smith Live!” appeals to him. “You know, the big mission of mine is just really, really establishing my podcast, having a voice that extends beyond the corridors of ESPN,” he said. “Not to say that I want to leave, because I’m happy here and I’m treated well, but I have other aspirations.”

The Athletic

Smith isn’t just about late-night television dreams. Among his latest endeavors are acting classes this summer. In addition to his recurring role on the daytime soap opera “General Hospital” as Brick, a surveillance expert for the mob, he has made a couple of film cameos, including “I Think I Love My Wife,” directed by Chris Rock in 2007. “I am going to take (acting) more seriously, because one of the things that I’ve learned to love is you can be whatever the role calls you to be,” Smith said. “You don’t have to be subjected to society’s norms, restrictions and things of that nature. You can be whatever the role calls you to be.” Smith finds himself being recognized in public as Brick by soap opera fans. That’s a sign he’s gaining an audience more about entertainment than a sports scene. “I get stopped in every city in the country because they call me Brick,” Smith said. “I’ve got women — White, Black, old, young — all over the place screaming ‘Brick’ because they notice me from ‘General Hospital.’”

The Athletic

Her first major NBA marketing effort debuts Tuesday. The Henault-helmed campaign is called “We Are All in the Finals” and was produced by Brooklyn-based creative agency Translation. Planning, she said, began at the end of last year. “This has been the creative I’ve had the most impact on from a marketing perspective,” Henault said. Featured in the multi-spot TV and social campaign are South Korean rapper and NBA ambassador Suga (of the boy band BTS), skateboarder Tony Hawk, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, and retired NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. Oh, and a couple of guys named Magic Johnson and Larry Bird (and their championship rings) are in the campaign, too.

The Athletic

KC Johnson: Andre Drummond: "I put in the work day in and day out. I come in early and stay after to keep myself prepared for moments like this. It showed." Jimmy Kimmel sat courtside. Dummond has appeared on Kimmel's show multiple times. "I had to put a show on for him," Drummond said.

Twitter

And he may have gotten a bead on Zemmel and her wing woman because, once upon a time, Frelix used to sneak into the Target Center too. Were it not for the benevolence of a longtime leader of security for the Wolves, Frelix may never have been in that position last April, which led to his hiring as a full-time security guard by the team last summer. “I thank God every day,” Frelix said. “As soon as I step in an arena at home or on the road, I look up and say, ‘Thank you, God.'” His play on the protestor earned the quiet, humble security guard interview requests from “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and dozens of other media outlets, all of which he turned down in the heat of the moment. His journey to that moment, the story of where he came from, is so much more than that split-second save.

The Athletic

In the latest edition of Jimmy Kimmel’s “Mean Tweets,” the late-night host has tapped a slew of NBA players to read negative opinions about themselves on air. Everyone from Russell Westbrook to Anthony Edwards to Jalen Suggs participated in “Mean Tweets – NBA Edition 2022” on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Rolling Stone

All-Star forward Khris Middleton and center Brook Lopez appeared Friday on "Jimmy Kimmel Live: NBA Finals Game Night," one of ABC's pregame shows ahead of Game 4 between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors. Middleton played in a game of "College Knowledge," where he was asked to answer trivia questions alongside fellow Texas A&M attendee Deandre Jordan. The pair faced off against former University of Kentucky players Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Malik Monk.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

And it delves into his business ventures and entrepreneurship, including being one of the owners of MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers. It even touches upon his ill-fated 1998 talk show “The Magic Hour,” which comedian Jimmy Kimmel — a self-professed fan of Johnson — joked in the documentary “not just one of the worst talk shows but one of the worst television shows in history.”

USA Today Sports

Legendary basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who earned the moniker “Magic” for his superior talents as a high school baller, debuted the first episode of his Apple TV+ series “They Call Me Magic” Saturday at Austin’s South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. The four-part project, directed by Rick Famuyiwa (“Dope," "The Wood”) streams starting April 22. The series features famous fans like Snoop Dogg (who shows off his Lakers arm tattoo), Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Kimmel and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Filmmakers also talked to several athletes including Johnson's Lakers teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – whom Johnson annoyed by playing Parliament-Funkadelic on a boom-box – Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.

USA Today Sports