Rumors

Maxime Aubin: I can confirm it was Wemby’s idea. Last Saturday, after the loss, he asked if he could visit a children’s hospital before heading back to France.

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Carmelo Anthony surprised a 12-year-old boy with tickets to the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden. The gesture, captured and distributed on various social media platforms, shows Carmelo Rios opening a box from the athletic gear giant Fanatics and uncovering a New York Knicks jersey with his name on the back. Then, he pops open a computer to see a video message from Anthony, who tells him about the free tickets.

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Ian Begley: Knicks say watch parties at MSG during postseason have raised more than $350,000 for Garden of Dreams - a charity for local youth in need. youth charity. Next Knicks-hosted watch party is on Saturday night:

Twitter

There are several titles that Dan Gilbert can go by: entrepreneur, philanthropist, billionaire, NBA team owner. But of all the titles, the one Gilbert’s most proud of is that of father. Gilbert, who is the Chairman of the Board of Rocket Companies and is the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has five children. His oldest son, Nick, died in 2023 after a long battle with neurofibromatosis, or NF, a rare disease that causes tumors to grow on nerve tissues. NF is one of the most prevalent rare genetic disorders in the U.S., impacting approximately 1 in every 2,000 births, or roughly 170,000 Americans. The condition can cause tumors to form anywhere on the nerves of patients at any point in their lives. There is no cure. Gilbert said his son Nick developed his first tumor shortly after he was born. “The first one was on his optic nerve, between his eye and his brain,” Gilbert said. “It wasn’t growing for the first five years, until he was close to six years old, and then it started growing.”

CNBC

That tumor led to Nick’s first bout of chemotherapy. But it would not be his last. On his 10th birthday, Nick learned that he would soon need to undergo his first major surgery. Gilbert said his son responded to the difficult news as he did to all challenges in life, with optimism and a sense of humor. ″[Nick] just wanted to know if there was macaroni in the hospital,” Gilbert said. He added, “He always believed that he was going to get through all this. And so did we.”

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After the surgery, Nick underwent several rounds of chemo and radiation therapy. But he didn’t let that stand in the way of achieving his goals. Despite his battle with NF, Nick was still able to maintain close friendships, attend Michigan State, and even work as an intern in the business development unit at his dad’s company. But by 2018, the disease was catching up with him. “There were some tumors, that just kind of got away from us,” Gilbert said. “We had two major surgeries that year. And from that point on, until 2023 when we lost him, there were just surgeries and chemo.” Gilbert says they tried everything, but a tumor on his brainstem grew too quickly for them to manage. “These weren’t cancerous tumors. They’re benign, but they can grow and cause all kinds of damage.”

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For Gilbert, who considered his son his best friend, losing Nick was a devastating blow. And he was not alone in his grief. Before he died, Nick had become a symbol of preservation and determination in two cities: his hometown of Detroit, and in Cleveland, where he had become a fixture at Cavs games. “He was loved by everybody. Everybody that met him loved him. He loved everybody.” Gilbert said it was frustrating, having billions of dollars and access to the best doctors in the world, but still not being able to stop this devastating disease from taking someone he loved. “That’s a sobering thing,” Gilbert said. “You can’t fix everything, so you just try to take one step in front of the next, do the best you can.”

CNBC

Something that Gilbert and his family have worked hard to control is how Nick is remembered. They’ve taken several steps to ensure that Nick’s memory will live on. They opened Gilly’s Clubhouse in downtown Detroit. Gilly was a nickname given to Nick by his friends. The upscale sports bar was Nick’s vision and a project that he was developing before he died. Gilbert’s other children, Nick’s siblings, started The Gilly Project, a community based non-profit dedicated to Nick’s honor. And Gilbert made curing NF a key pillar of the Gilbert Family Foundation, the Detroit-based philanthropy Gilbert and Jennifer launched in 2015. Those efforts — punctuated by an annual benefit event in Detroit —have raised millions towards finding a cure. “We raised $12 million in one night. We keep breaking records. We’re contributing about $50 million a year to research.”

CNBC

NBA Base: Michael Jordan surprised his former high school teacher, Ms. Etta, with a FaceTime call while she was in hospice care to fulfill her wish of seeing him one last time. Some things are bigger than basketball. 🥹🙏 (h/t @fos)

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Someone paid more than $9 million to have lunch with basketball player Stephen Curry and Warren Buffett, and the legendary investor also promised to match the winning bid so both their favorite charities will benefit. The auction on eBay was intended to revive an event that Buffett hosted for more than two decades that raised $53 million for the GLIDE Foundation homeless charity in San Francisco. This year's auction that wrapped up Thursday night also raised month for Curry's Eat.Learn.Play. Foundation that he established with his wife, Ayesha.

NBC Bay Area

There’s another Ball in the bunch. LaMelo Ball and his partner Ana Montana announced that they had welcomed a baby boy into the world earlier this year and that they are launching a platform and nonprofit in order to support women through the fertility and IVF process. The new addition to the family was born in January and the couple told People in a statement that their son, LaOne, “has changed our hearts in the best way.” “Family has always meant everything to us, but becoming parents has given us an entirely new perspective on love, purpose, legacy and what truly matters most,” the couple said.

New York Post

Dave McMenamin: Duncan Robinson was named as the NBA Cares Bob Lanier Community Assist Award winner for the month of April

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Vivek Jacob: Darko Rajakovic and his family has donated US$79,761 across SickKids Hospital in Toronto, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, and the University Children's Hospital in Belgrade. Raptors had 2,417 assists this season, Rajakovic had committed to US$33/assist.

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Jason Beede: Inbox: #Magic guard Jevon Carter and his wife, Taylor, along with the Treadmill Mentality Foundation will host a diaper drive before Games 3 and 4 in Orlando. The Carters will match each donated diaper, up to 20,000. All donations support the Central Florida Diaper Bank. More:

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