Rumors

Finch had been coaching the Sheffield Sharks since 1997 and wasn’t sure where it was all going. As he bounced from England to Germany to Belgium, coaching teams like the Giessen 46ers and Euphony Bree, Finch was also applying to Division III coaching gigs in an effort to return home. He missed out on several opportunities but eventually coached the British National Team at the London Olympics and returned stateside with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Houston Rockets’ developmental league affiliate.

New York Times

So, you got fans rooting for you in Gambia? Yes, but we’re everywhere, though. In Gambia. We got people in Sweden and Denmark. We were just in London, England. All over the world. People in Gambia, when they grow up, their goal is to get to Europe. They really think Europe is paradise. But then when they get here it is kinda still tough. You still got to work and do all your stuff and get your things right to still live a good life.

Andscape

Sky Sports News: BREAKING: Sky Sports announces deal to show NBA and WNBA for 11 years from the 2025/26 season 🚨🏀

Twitter

When the in-season tournament was first floated out as an idea by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, the thought was it would take place closer to the middle of the season, or perhaps be like the FA Cup in England, which stretches over the duration of the English Premier League season. Neither of those options made sense as the NBA talked to teams and began figuring out the logistics of the tournament. “The earliest iterations for this were always a mid-season tournament that would take place in the January and February time frame,” Wasch said. “As we got into this with teams, we came across two challenges with that. The first was that it was during a time of year where teams are starting to think of the playoff race and they’re looking at the standings and they’re sizing up where they are in the conference. One of the big things we didn’t want to do with this was distract from the chase for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. We didn’t want to take anything from the playoffs and the NBA Finals. The second was, some of the unique dates around that time with the trade deadline and NBA All-Star Game in February. It just felt like a mid-season tournament was going to be a distraction.”

themessenger.com

Few people in the NBA have more experience with this type of competition than Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse, who spent a decade serving as a head coach in Europe, primarily in England. "Well, personally, I love it," Nurse said. "I've been through it a lot of years over there. It's just a part of every season over there and it's interesting. Obviously it comes from soccer ... so people are really in tune with it. Even the players are in tune with it, what's going on and why you're doing it. So I love it from that standpoint. I think the other standpoint is you're getting down to one-game knockouts at this level. I think it will be amazing to watch once it gets to that point."

ESPN

Chris Finch coached England in the London Olympics, so he has a first-hand understanding of both the level of play and the mentality of the players when they put that jersey on. Yes, he acknowledged, it could be in the best interests of the organization for some of the players involved to stay home and not expose themselves to injury or fatigue that can come from an event like this. “I think it’s great for our guys. It’s great for them to go away, play high-level basketball, play in different roles, just kind of play a different slightly different style,” Finch said.

The Athletic

The duo’s outing in England is one of several times they have been spotted together in recent months. Shakira — who moved to Miami with sons Milan, 9, and Sasha, 7, whom she shares with Piqué, 38 — attended a Heat game in May and shared a selfie video cheering on the team. Several days later, Shakira shared a clip of herself singing and playing guitar via Instagram, which Butler “liked.”

usmagazine.com

Marc Stein: Former Jazz swingman Miye Oni is signing with the @LondonLions in England, league sources say, bringing a third former NBAer to the @EuroCup team alongside @Kosta Koufos and Sam @Sam Dekker. More NBA from me: marcstein.Substack.com

Twitter

Instead he represents Poland, the land of his mother, while also holding an American passport. So can we call him English? “I am English,” he says. “I lived in England most of my life through primary and secondary school, living in Southampton and Milton Keynes. That’s where my family live, it’s where my home is, in Milton Keynes.” He adds that he wants to “do good things for basketball in England” and we talk about Hoopsfix — an organisation and website trying to promote the game and keeping track of dozens of Britons on rosters for leading American colleges. “Trying to build a lot more awareness around basketball in England, an All Star Classic helping young players try to get to the top,” Sochan says. But, while there are clubs such as Leicester Riders and London Lions trying to climb the European ladder, any talent yearns for a scholarship to the United States.

The Times

Jeremy Sochan: My background is very unique. My mom is Polish, my dad is American. I lived in England most of my life. I played for the Polish national team while living in England. We traveled all over Europe. We played in many countries. All of that helped me grow not only as a player but also as a person. I’m just open to a lot of different people, cultures, and experiences. It helped me open my eyes to have a bigger perspective on life.

For The Win

Sochan’s origin story is unusual, even for the NBA. Both his parents played basketball at Division II Panhandle State in Oklahoma, but Sochan grew up in England, where his late father, Ryan Williams, played for the Reading Rockets and Bristol Flyers. His mother emigrated from Poland to play at Panhandle, as she was a point guard for SKK Polonia Warszawa in Warsaw. Jeremy started playing as a kid in England. With his mother’s Polish citizenship, he was able to play for the Polish under-16 national team, then became the youngest member of Poland’s senior national team. He then came to the United States himself, playing high school in Indiana at La Lumiere before going to Baylor.

The Athletic

According to Liverpool Echo journalist Matt Addison, the said idea will definitely do all parties involved good and a project should be done sooner rather than later. Based on Addison’s assessment, through adverts starring Salah and James, it will just be a matter of time before Liverpool can “catch up in revenues” with its London rivals Manchester United, who has Cristiano Ronaldo on its squad. “There’s almost a bit of me that wonders if Liverpool have got enough out of him [Salah] commercially, marketability wise in all sorts of countries,” Addison said on the Liverpool.com podcast. “We talk so often about the Nike kit deal, one of the areas in which Liverpool can help them catch up in revenues with Manchester United. They could’ve made even more of Salah given the status he rightly holds.”

Clutch Points

He went on to play in the NBA G-League, as well as in Japan, the Philippines, Germany, and most recently back in England with the Plymouth Raiders. However, the London-born Rwanda international feels he can make it in the world's premier league, telling ESPN: "As I've gotten older and more professional, I've really put more time into taking care of my body and doing all of the things necessary to maintain my health -- even going above and beyond.

ESPN

On Wednesday, RedBird Capital Partners invested $750 million into Fenway Sports Group, the controlling company of not just the Sox, but another iconic franchise, Liverpool F.C. Coinciding with that transaction, LeBron and his longtime friend and business partner, Maverick Carter, traded in their 2 percent ownership of the English football club to join the Fenway ownership group at large. Three hours after the deal was finalized, the chairman of both storied organizations, Tom Werner, spoke with The Athletic to discuss what it would mean to have LeBron, 36, and Carter, 41, onboard like this. At one point, Werner was asked, specifically, how Liverpool had already benefited from being associated with an NBA legend like LeBron? Unprompted, this is what Werner said:

The Athletic