Rumors

At the 2023 All-Star break, Houston (13-45) owns the NBA’s worst record, and Victor Wembanyama is viewed by many scouts and analysts as one of the league’s best draft prospects in years. Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta is quite aware and already connecting dots. To conclude an interview at Galveston’s Mardi Gras celebration on Saturday night with KPRC (Houston’s NBC television affiliate), Fertitta said this when the Rockets were mentioned: Thank God we’ve got 10 days off. And pray for Victor!

Rockets Wire

Juneteenth celebrates the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States dating back to June 19, 1865. On that day, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were now free, two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery on Jan. 1, 1863.

The Undefeated

Internally, Bulls president and chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf has introduced paid time off annually for Juneteenth, which celebrates Union forces, led by Major General Gordon Granger, arriving in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 and proclaiming all slaves in the state free by executive decree. Though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it wasn't until the Union's victory in the Civil War that it was enforced in states once under Confederate control — Texas being the last. The Bulls also plan to feature paid time off for each future Election days.

NBC Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers announced that they will recognize June 19, also known as Juneteenth, as an annual paid holiday for the entire organization. It will go into effect this Friday. Juneteenth -- sometimes referred to as Freedom Day -- commemorates African-American freedom. On June 19, 1865, Union general Gordon Granger read federal orders in Galveston, Texas, that all previously enslaved people in Texas were free.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Fertitta, a Galveston native who owns the Houston Rockets and a global restaurant empire, told CNBC's Power Lunch early this month that his business was off $1 million a day from a base of $12 million a day in restaurant sales. "But remember, that last million in sales is your most profitable," he said on CNBC, which airs his reality show Billion Dollar Buyer. "That's where your heavy profit is, so if you don't cut expenses than what can you cut? We're not going to cut the quality of the product. You can only cut labor."

Houston Chronicle