Rumors

Masai Ujiri: I won't lie. It can be a grind sometimes. But I don't golf. I don't drink. I don't go to happy hours. This is my fun. This is my hobby. Reaching out, getting to know other people's cultures, traveling to other people's countries. Living in Morocco is totally different from living in Rwanda or Ethiopia. Different languages, different food, different religion. So on the first day of each camp we have what we call a "culture day" where the coaches spend time exploring the community. To be honest, I get inspiration from Anthony Bourdain. I think what he did was remarkable, and it's what we want GOA to do with sports. Basketball can be the entry point, but how do they live? What's their culture like? How can we help?

Sports Illustrated

One of Love’s heroes, the late Anthony Bourdain, visited Phuket (the town, not, so far as I know, the elephant sanctuary) for one of his TV shows. Love stood on the street there one night, with the bustle of the evening behind him, and posted (in tribute to Bourdain), “Parts Unknown — Thailand.” “Obviously I love the guy and wanted to eat street food, talk to the locals and film/take photos of remote-type places,” Love said, which is what Bourdain did before his death by suicide last year. “My stomach survived, too. The main thing he taught me, especially from ‘Parts Unknown’ is to be relentlessly curious without fear or prejudice. I’ll try and live by that quote forever now.”

The Athletic

After seeing his LeBron James mural vandalized for the second time in five days, Jonas Never opted to put an end to what had become an apparent hot-button topic among some fans. Never told ESPN he covered the mural with white paint Wednesday not long after a vandal had splattered yellow paint on his work, which featured James in a Los Angeles Lakers jersey on a wall at the Baby Blues BBQ restaurant in Venice. "I thought I had learned a long time ago to never touch religion or politics," said Never, the Los Angeles-based muralist who has also designed murals of the late Anthony Bourdain and Stuart Scott among many others. "I guess it is never touch religion, politics or anyone against Kobe," Never cracked.

ESPN

But the truth is, even some of his close friends know only superficial details about him. He prefers cooking shows to ESPN, and he treats the release of the NBA schedule like a holiday because he can comb Zagat for new restaurants to try. Popovich likes avant-garde movies and presidential biographies, and though he earns $11 million per year to coach basketball, he wishes his life were as cool as Anthony Bourdain’s. Culture or politics or the gift of Tim Duncan, the future Hall of Fame center who was the foundation to all five of San Antonio’s championships, are ripe topics. But how he grew up? “We talked about God, we talked about religion, very personal things,” said Koblik, who has known Popovich for close to 40 years. “But never about his childhood. That just wasn’t part of what we talked about.”

Washington Post