Advertisement - scroll for more content
Diamond owns the linear TV rights for 15 NBA teams, 11 NHL teams and 11 MLB teams. But it's streaming rights that matter here. Diamond has the streaming rights for all of the NBA and NHL teams under its portfolio, but for only five MLB clubs -- the Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers and Kansas City Royals. These are the 15 NBA teams under Diamond: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs.
Marc J. Spears: Kings star De'Aaron Fox had 29 points in the 2nd half, tied for the most in a half in Kings/Royals postseason history. Oscar Robertson had 29 points in the 2nd half on March 28, 1963 against the Celtics. @ESPNStatsInfo pic.twitter.com/k5WYcD9pYs
Giannis Antetokounmpo buying a stake in MLB team
Jeff Passan: Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is purchasing a stake in the Milwaukee Brewers, sources tell ESPN. Follows the model of Patrick Mahomes: small-market star investing in the local baseball franchise, which Mahomes did in joining the Royals' ownership group.
The first pitch of the Milwaukee Brewers game against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, July 20 has been changed from 7:10 p.m. to 3:10 p.m. The team says the change is to avoid conflicting with Game 6 of the NBA Finals, which is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. at Fiserv Forum. "Yes, we want to watch the Bucks game too," the Brewers tweeted on Sunday.
Marc J. Spears: De'Aaron Fox is the first Kings player with 40 points & 10 assists in a game since Tiny Archibald on March 13, 1973 with the Kansas City Royals. Sadly for losing Sacramento, it has allowed 120 points in 8 straight games, tied for the 2nd-longest streak over the last 35 seasons
Advertisement
'After all, this was a high-profile sporting event, which entailed a risk of crimes ranging from vandalism to assaults on players (e.g., the 1993 fan's stabbing of tennis great Monica Seles), assaults on coaches (e.g., the 2002 assault of Royals Coach Tom Gamboa by two fans), player-fan brawls (the 2004 brawl involving numerous fans and players at the end of a Pistons-Pacers NBA game), and even mass murder or terrorism (e.g., the mass murder of Israeli athletes by terrorists at the Munich Olympics).'
“… Basketball has always been our escape. I’m from Kansas. Of course, they voted Republican. But when the Royals won (the World Series), the entire city was celebrating a parade with no arrests. So you can’t tell me unification doesn’t exist through sports. To me, sports has always been the healing part of our country. Education and awareness is key.”
Nicknamed “Hooks,” Mr. Wanzer played his entire nine-year NBA career with the Royals and participated in five NBA All-Star Games. He teamed with Bobby Davies to form one of the best backcourts in league history, and a popular debate of the era was whether that duo was better than Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman of the Boston Celtics. The 5-foot-10, 172-pound Mr. Wanzer often was described as the best NBA player pound for pound and inch for inch. “He was a player’s player (he never missed a game in his NBA career and usually played all 48 minutes) and as good as anyone in that decade (the 1950s), including Cousy,” former Royals owner and coach Les Harrison said decades ago. “He was a complete player. Every time we played Boston, he guarded Cousy and he usually outplayed him.”
Glenn DuPaul, who worked as an analytics intern for baseball's Kansas City Royals, is the Nets new director of analytics, NetsDaily has learned. DuPaul, who graduated from Lehigh earlier this year, had served as an intern for the Royals for nearly a year and a half before joining the Nets earlier this month. He lists his new job on his LinkedIn page. DuPaul has been working sports analytics --aka sabremetrics-- for several years, according to his LinkedIn bio, He's worked previously as an intern at Basketball Info Solutions, and a Sabremetrics columnist at both Hardball Times and Beyond the Boxscore, an SB Nation blog. He's also written for ESPN and SI's "Call to the Pen" baseball blog. For a while, he had his own site, Baseball's Economist. He has a degree in Business/Managerial Economics from Lehigh.
A Nets insider admitted that the hire was "out of the box" but that DuPaul came with "glowing endorsements" from the Royals who did go to the World Series this year and have a reputation as an operation that takes advantage of analytics. The Nets coach, Lionel Hollins, however, has been a poster boy for those who've criticized over-reliance on deep stats.
Advertisement
Bo Jackson, the former Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals outfielder who threw out the first pitch Monday at U.S. Cellular Field, defended Bulls star Derrick Rose for taking the deliberate course back to the court after ACL surgery last May. "I am quite sure that Derrick is going to come back when he needs to," Jackson told reporters in the press box during a wide-ranging conversation. "I couldn’t say either way whether he should or not. Derrick will know when it’s time to come back. I think he has handled it very well. It seems like the people who are having fits about this are you guys. "Derrick has handled it well. He is a new dad and seems happy. Why push it? Between the media and the public pushing him he should come back, he should come back ... what if he did come back and reinjure himself? Then you’re going to point fingers at the staff of the Bulls saying he shouldn’t have come back. You guys can’t have it both ways. Let him heal, come back home and when he comes back home, welcome him."
Jack Twyman, who died Wednesday from cancer at 78, elevated the meaning of “teammate” to an unchartered altitude when he took responsibility for Maurice Stokes, and later became his legal guardian, after the futuristic forward went into a coma three days following an accident during a Royals game March 12, 1958, and woke up paralyzed. “Mo was stranded in Cincinnati and I lived there,” Twyman told me when we last spoke three or four years ago, utterly downplaying the sacrifice of his family and the enormity of the undertaking. “I did what anyone would have done for a friend.’’
When NBA folks came to town last week, people and buildings were awash in Kings colors, a sign of loyalty, and in some cases a plea for help. Meanwhile, in Anaheim, can you hear it? The collective yawn? Folks in Orange County are bored with all of this. Or, rather, never collectively got on board with the idea of the Kings becoming Royals and becoming part of their culture. The idea of the Kings moving to Anaheim never generated talk-radio discussion, never generated letters to the editor of support to the local papers.
Like a desperation shot at the buzzer, three California lawmakers rolled out a bill on Monday to derail efforts by the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association to leave town. The bill came as Kings majority owners in the Maloof family prepare to make their case to NBA officials on why they should be allowed to move the team from California's capital to Anaheim in Southern California and only a few days ahead of the filing deadline for relocation papers. In Anaheim the Kings, potentially rebranded as the Royals, would play in Honda Center, which will be refurbished with proceeds from up to $75 million in lease revenue bonds recently approved by Anaheim's city council.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement