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Speaking about creating top-tier clubs, especially in the UK, Mark Tatum added that in the preseason, the NBA Europe Live tour format may return, with NBA clubs playing preseason games against European teams. “If we operate a top-tier competition in Europe, then we will have a big incentive to bring this back”, he clarified. Once more, Tatum wasn’t negative about Eastern European clubs joining the project, even if he implied that they might fight for their qualification via the Basketball Champions League: “There’s a role in our league for teams from Eastern Europe. We want clubs from Serbia, Israel, Turkey, and Greece”.
Pittsburgh point guard transfer and Kentucky signee Jaland Lowe has withdrawn from the 2025 NBA Draft and will attend UK in the fall, he announced via social media on Thursday. "Can't miss out on this opportunity," Lowe wrote. "See you soon, BBN."
The EuroBasket 2025 resurfaces Finland as the host of Group B in Tampere. Looking to clinch a berth in the Round of 16, Finland will face Sweden, Great Britain, Montenegro, Lithuania, and Germany from August 27 to September 3. “It was packed house every night, a lot of fun and really competitive games,” the Vantaa native recalled the 2017 tournament between the top European national teams, “I’m looking forward to build on that. I think we have a really good team. Hopefully, we can create some buzz and kind of make a big run.”
The tweet was deleted about five minutes later, and a league source confirmed to Front Office Sports they were hacked. The NBA declined to include any additional comment about the hack. Official NBA X accounts from other countries, including Spain (402,400 followers) and the UK (102,400 followers) were also hacked and tweeted out the same announcement. Not all official NBA accounts were hacked as the Latin America (795,300 followers) and Philippines (88,000 followers) accounts did not have the tweet posted.
One idea the NBA has already explored, sources said, is partnering with major soccer clubs in places such as Manchester, U.K., to have expansion teams under the soccer clubs' umbrellas. Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich are soccer powerhouses that already have basketball teams in the EuroLeague.
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LeBron James' production firm the SpringHill Company has agreed to merge with Fulwell 73, the U.K.-based production company behind "The Kardashians," the firms said Monday. Why it matters: The deal gives both companies scale and global reach at a time when the entertainment industry is under enormous pressure to evolve.
Jon Chepkevich: Quinn Ellis has agreed to join the Portland Trail Blazers for NBA Summer League, I’m told. The 6’4” British southpaw guard is coming off a very strong season w/ Trento in Serie A and EuroCup. Among the undrafted free agent market’s top prospects.
Ugonna Onyenso — a 7-foot sophomore on this past season’s UK team — will declare for the NBA draft. Onyenso plans to hire an agent and forgo his remaining two years of NCAA eligibility, according to ESPN.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) has lost the appeal of its invalidation action against a United Kingdom (UK) trade mark filed by Pizza Texas Bulls Inc (Pizza Bulls) in classes 30, 39, and 43 in NBA Properties Inc. v. Pizza Texas Bulls Inc [2023] EWHC 3040 (Ch). Interestingly, the NBA was successful in the European Union (EU) in relation to identical marks under Opposition No B3146352, and prevented the Pizza Bulls mark being registered in the EU.
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The reign of King Charles — the CNN show, not the British monarch — began rather quietly Wednesday. The weekly show, hosted by Gayle King and Charles Barkley, drew just 501,00 viewers for its debut, according to same-day Nielsen ratings (it adjusted up a little from 486,000 in fast nationals). It finished a distant third among the biggest cable news channels in total viewers and didn’t really moving the needle from CNN’s recent averages in the hour. In fact, it ranks as the smallest audience of any of CNN’s primetime debuts this year.
Shaquille O'Neal would 'definitely be involved' in potential ownership bid with expansion NBA team
Shaquille O’Neal smiled as he walked into Club SI for a party he was co-hosting with David Beckham during Saturday night’s Las Vegas Grand Prix and did his best British accent. “We’re very close,” O’Neal told The Messenger. “The fact that I have David Beckham’s number and Tom Brady’s number in my phone, it doesn’t get any bigger than that.” The last time I talked to O’Neal, he told me he wanted to help bring an NBA team to Las Vegas but wasn’t interested in partnering with LeBron James. O’Neal, however, has softened his stance and would welcome a partnership with James. “If there’s ever an NBA team that’s going to come here, I would definitely like to be involved,” he said. “With LeBron, without LeBron, I just want to be involved.”
“Throughout my career, even though I represented Great Britain, and I’m thankful for that, at the time our country was going through a lot. I did everything that I could to build this basketball program. While I was there, it was always in the back of my mind what would be to play for South Sudan I never had the opportunity to play for South Sudan, and I never had the opportunity to do so. When I retired, it was a lot easier to put it together, because I was familiar with it. It wasn’t just a random thing. It was a lot of players who represented us in different windows that were in my camps since we created them. I’ve been involved with the communities, for this to come together I had a team with me I was familiar with, how we did it, and what we wanted to do”, he went on saying. This goal was always there for Luol Deng. “I’m very proud. When I became the president of the Federation, I told everyone that my goal first was to get out of zone five, and then make it to AfroBasket, to the FIBA World Cup, and to the Olympics. So far we’ve been able to achieve all of that. For me, it’s a special day. It’s something that I knew was possible for us to do, and I knew it took a lot of work”, he stated.
“To be in this position is a blessing. We have the talent, we have players and Luol Deng; shout out to him, he’s envisioned this since he’s been in the NBA. Obviously, he wasn’t able to play for South Sudan, he played for Britain but this is unbelievable. I can’t believe that we’re in this situation”, he went on praising the President of the South Sudan Basketball Federation Luol Deng.
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