Rumors

While the Sixers are home waiting on next week’s NBA draft lottery, Daryl Morey is making news on Capitol Hill. During a Senate hearing on the shift in sports broadcasting from television to streaming Tuesday, an old tweet from the Sixers’ president of basketball operations resurfaced during one senator’s interaction with NBA executive William Koenig, who handles the league’s media rights deals. In October 2019, while still the general manager of the Houston Rockets, Morey offered his support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong by sharing a graphic stating, “Fight For Freedom Stand with Hong Kong.”

inquirer.com

Freedom’s account was banned on March 11 after receiving several warnings that his previous videos had broken the app’s “community guidelines,” he told The Washington Post. Freedom appealed the ban shortly after but was told that TikTok reviewers had determined his account would not be restored. On Thursday, TikTok reinstated the account while CEO Shou Zi Chew was on Capitol Hill to argue that Americans’ TikTok feeds are unaffected by China’s restrictive censorship rules.

Washington Post

When we spoke, Ballmer had just returned from a whirlwind day of briefings on Capitol Hill, where he met with the House Select Committee on Modernization and the Problem Solvers Caucus, as well as Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, and Representative Kevin McCarthy, the chamber’s top Republican. He also sat down with Denice Ross, the chief data scientist in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. On the Senate side, he briefed around 25 senators — all of them Democrats, despite his best efforts to assemble a bipartisan audience.

New York Times

Oleh Kosel: Stan Van Gundy in regards to the events in D.C. and Capitol Hill today: "I was like everybody else watching. It's an embarrassing and shameful day."

Twitter

Afterward, Kanter made the rounds on Capitol Hill, visiting nearly a dozen lawmakers from both parties, strolling hallways with which he's become familiar in a dark suit and designer sneakers. "You guys know my story because I play in the NBA," Kanter said at the news conference. "But there are thousands and thousands of stories out there that are way worse than mine. That's why I'm trying to use my platform to be the voice of all those innocent people who don't have one."

oklahoman.com

Boston Celtic Enes Kanter joined Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Capitol Hill Tuesday to help introduce Markey's and Wyden's new bill, the "Turkey Human Rights Promotion Act." The press conference came before President Trump is supposed to host Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the White House Wednesday.

The Hill

Rosas was invited to Capitol Hill by a friend of his, political consultant Larry Gonzalez, who works closely with lawmakers on the all-Democrat caucus. The two met through a Google Next Generation leadership group that focuses on minorities. When Gonzalez read that Rosas was the first Latino general manager in NBA history, he wanted to make sure the members of the caucus heard his story and what he’s trying to do to advance their community. “They want to hear and see that there is opportunity,” Gonzalez said. “There are, unfortunately, some situations where some folks make it and don’t necessarily put the ladder back down for others to get up. I think that’s a big part of his story.”

Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Capitol Hill staffers lined up on Wednesday to try free vegan sausages and meet former NBA star John Salley at PETA's 23rd annual Congressional Veggie Dog Lunch. The annual event is organized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a prominent animal rights group, and intended to promote the message that "animals are not ours to eat" and tout what the group says are the benefits of going vegan.

The Hill

Dr. Peter Casterella is an interventional cardiologist (stents and angioplasty) at Swedish Hospital on Capitol Hill. He was on duty when Donaldson was wheeled into the operating room. His job was to get Donaldson’s blood pressure under control. “By all means, he should have died on the day it occurred,” Casterella says. Thanks to the swift, intense work by Dr. Samuel Youseff and the cardiology team at Swedish, Donaldson survived the aortic dissection. The physical recovery was slow – he was later diagnosed with sleep apnea – yet the psychological consequences are often harder to remedy.

The Athletic