Rumors

Julius Erving: I don’t think anybody’s done a better job than LeBron James, for one thing, as a current athlete. There are a lot of people who follow his example, with the foundation, the family businesses, and the educational opportunities that he’s provided for youth. Michael Jordan was great in terms of the magnanimity of what he’s been able to do and build, to a three-to-five-billion-dollar empire. There are probably a half-dozen others who are special, with what Tiger Woods was able to do in his years. The success he had on and off the golf course translated into big money. So, I kind of have occupied a certain type of space, and I’ve always thought that popularity is important, but I think respect is more important than popularity. So I’ve always gone the route of: I want people to respect me. And I think when I walk through a door these days, I get a lot of respect. So I might not have as much money as some of the other guys— Interviewer: But they respect you. Julius Erving: But I got the respect.

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Tiger Woods, the tournament’s host, spoke to the Lakers and took questions from the group, including one from LeBron James, one athlete who has occupied the rarest airspace in his field, quizzing another. “I asked him what the difference in the challenges of climbing the ranks was,” he told The Athletic. “What was the hardest challenge? Was it more of a challenge or harder to climb from zero to No. 1 — or stay at No. 1 knowing everybody was chasing you?”

New York Times

Dave McMenamin: The Lakers continued their “Genius Talks” series with a field trip to Riviera Country Club on Saturday for the Genesis Invitational, with Rob Pelinka arranging a visit and address from Tiger Woods for the team (📸: @Lakers)

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Dan Woike: Lakers had a team outing today at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera and met with Tiger Woods.

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Goldman Sachs has agreed to buy a majority stake in Excel Sports—a talent agency that represents Caitlin Clark, Derek Jeter, and Tiger Woods—in a deal valuing the business at close to $1 billion. Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Excel Sports Management announced Tuesday that they have agreed to “form a new strategic partnership.” Specifics of the deal, which was rumored late last month, were not disclosed. But two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Front Office Sports the valuation and that it is for a majority stake.

Front Office Sports

Goldman Sachs is nearing a deal to buy a majority stake in the sports talent agency representing Tiger Woods, Caitlin Clark and Derek Jeter, as Wall Street deepens its bets on the booming sports industry. Goldman’s asset management division was in late-stage talks to buy a controlling stake in Excel Sports Management at a near $1bn valuation, said two people briefed on the matter. The agency was formed by sports super agent Jeff Schwartz, who left the talent industry group IMG in 2002 to form a breakaway firm and was later joined by former IMG executives Casey Close and Mark Steinberg.

ft.com

Because we’ve seen LeBron spend a lot of time on the golf course this offseason. Now Doc, you play a lot of golf. Can something like that aggravate this injury? Dr. Alan Beyer: Absolutely. Golf is one of the more difficult athletic pursuits on the spine. The spine wasn’t made to rotate the way the golf swing forces it to. It could definitely be tied to LeBron chasing that little white ball a bit more — his back is starting to give him issues. He’s hardly participated in training camp or games. So yes, this could be related to his offseason activities. But you can't ask a guy to live in a bubble his whole life. If this is what LeBron chooses to do after 23 years of devotion to the NBA — so be it. He’ll come back from it. He’s not hitting a thousand balls a day like Tiger Woods or Scottie Scheffler. He’s just playing recreational golf, and yes — that could have some impact on his lower back.

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Curry is a self-proclaimed “golf junkie.” He plays 40 rounds a year, carries a reported +1.3 handicap index and has flirted with the idea of going pro after basketball. He has played with President Barack Obama and at Augusta National. With that privilege, Curry said, comes a responsibility to assist others who need obstacles removed to have success in golf — and life. Those obstacles were supposed to be eased by the arrival of Tiger Woods. But Woods’s success never translated into an influx of people of color reaching the PGA or LPGA tours. That left an opening for Curry to take a shot at changing the complexion of another game through Underrated Golf. “It’s a solvable issue, if that makes sense,” he said. “Get kids into the game earlier and get clubs in their hands, make sure there’s no financial burden on, or a barrier to, them being able to play the game. The game needs it. I would almost be doing myself a disservice” to not invest.

Washington Post

Trump announced on Thursday the National Garden of American Heroes will include statues of African American icons. This was where he mentioned Bryant as one of the national figures. “Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali. Not a bad athlete, what do you think, Muhammad, not too bad, and the late Kobe Bryant. People love Kobe Bryant. We're going to save Tiger Woods for another time,” Trump said.

Clutch Points

That kind of personal wealth puts Bridgeman in elite NBA company—only three other players have become billionaires—Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James. (Tiger Woods is the fourth professional athlete to have achieved billionaire status.) But unlike those four superstars, Bridgman did it the harder way—without much fanfare or international celebrity. “He didn’t waste his time just thinking about the game of basketball,” LeBron James tells Forbes. “He’s always had a business mindset. Obviously, he loved the game because he got to [the NBA]. But then he used all the resources, outlets; the connections—to his advantage and he’s built an unbelievable portfolio.” Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas needs just one word to describe Bridgeman, who played in the same era. “Legendary,” says the two-time NBA champion. “He’s the real success story. A pioneer and a great businessman.”

Forbes.com

Chris Webber: “To me, the greatest basketball player of all time is Michael Jordan… the time it was in my life, for beating my bad boys… like, when we used to watch SportsCenter every day, and Tiger [Woods] was winning one out of five… Jordan is giving you 45, Christmas, winning championships… I got to see him leave for baseball when his father passed away… watching him hug that trophy… Jordan definitely had the most impact.”

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For at least 30 years, the most forged autograph in the world has been Michael Jordan. At third-party authenticator James Spence Authentication, vice president Jimmy Spence says he sees at least one fake MJ autograph every single day. The percentage of Jordan signatures Spence says he fails is an astounding 95 percent — 30 percent higher than the next highest, Tiger Woods. As retail prices for Jordan memorabilia have skyrocketed — Upper Deck sold a signed basketball for $699 in 1994; the cheapest today is $7,999 — fraudsters have swooped in like never before. And because of some holes in the authentication process, they are getting away with selling counterfeit items at record levels.

Cllct

Jim Riswold, a visionary and irreverent adman whose playful and occasionally provocative Nike commercials featuring Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Bo Jackson redrew the playing field for product endorsements and propelled athletic footwear into the cultural stratosphere, died on Aug. 9 at his home in Portland, Ore. He was 66.

New York Times

Flora Kelly: Based on ESPN personalization data, the WNBA has seen the largest YoY growth (+47%) among sports with 1M+ favorites Caitlin Clark led all players with +373% MoM growth to become the 4th most-favorited active athlete, only behind LeBron James, Tiger Woods and Steph Curry

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