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The decision is a clear sign that the league is taking seriously allegations made by anonymous employees of San Francisco-based green bank, Aspiration, who told the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast that the four-year, $28 million endorsement deal Leonard received from the company in 2022 was for a “no-show job” intended to “circumvent the (NBA) salary cap.”
Two Bay Area GOATs in their respective lanes are teaming up under one huge roof, the Westin St. Francis in Union Square. Michael Mina, the celebrity chef who gained nationwide acclaim for his San Francisco restaurants, is tagging in Golden State Warrior Steph Curry for two new projects debuting this fall in the hotel. The former will bring the twelfth location of his Bourbon Steak restaurants back to San Francisco, already a hit in Seattle and New York. The latter will open the Eighth Rule, a bourbon-driven bar, per a press release. The two projects will open in October, with both concepts hiring now.
Chef Michael Mina will return to the downtown San Francisco hotel where he opened his first and eponymous fine dining restaurant 20 years ago — and he’s drafted Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry to open an adjacent bourbon bar. Mina is resurrecting his modern steakhouse Bourbon Steak at the Westin St. Francis at Union Square in October. Across the lobby will be the Eighth Rule, a reservations-only bar that marks Curry’s first brick-and-mortar hospitality business, though not his first foray into bourbon. Two years ago, he launched bourbon whiskey company Gentleman’s Cut. The Eighth Rule will serve cocktails and a spirits menu, according to an announcement. Curry is involved in the development of the business, and Mina Group will operate it.
Ira Winderman: Kel'el Ware getting the night off tonight for the Heat at summer league in San Francisco. Heat vs. Warriors at 7 p.m. on ESPN+, ESPN3 and FanDuel Sports app. (No cable.) He opening with lineup of Keshad Johnson, Pelle Larsson, Vlad Goldin, Kasparas Jackucionis, Kira Lewis Jr.
Tom Osborn: Dylan Harper will travel with the team to San Francisco for the California Classic but will not play due to a “minor groin issue,” a Spurs spokesperson said. The club is hopeful he will play in Vegas.
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No. 2 pick Dylan Harper ruled out for California Classic due to injury
Tom Orsborn: Dylan Harper will travel with the team to San Francisco for the California Classic but will not play due to a “minor groin issue,” a Spurs spokesperson said. The club is hopeful he will play in Vegas.
Tom Orsborn: Riley Minix also won’t play in San Francisco due to his ongoing recovery from shoulder surgery, but the club is hopeful he will be cleared to play in Vegas.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry’s wife, Ayesha, has a successful restaurant in downtown San Francisco called International Smoke. The late Nate Thurmond, a former Warriors center/forward, once had a BBQ restaurant called Big Nate’s in San Francisco and there is now one at Chase Center. Former Warriors head coach P.J. Carlesimo had a restaurant 25 years ago in San Francisco called P.J. Mulhern’s. Now, Green has entered the restaurant scene as a founder and owner of a unique restaurant serving Ethiopian and Dominican fusion in the Lower Nob Hill neighborhood. It’s not uncommon to see Green at Meski eating dinner, enjoying craft drinks, vibing to the deejay and enthusiastically signing autographs and taking pictures. But on Wednesday night, the patrons at Meski will be cheering for him and the Warriors during a watch party of Game 5.
Spruell said the league was considering “formats that lean into this idea of international play, to some extent leaning a little bit on this idea of U.S. versus rest of the world, and then also going all the way from the mini-tournaments we experimented with in San Francisco, maybe that has some application, more on a nations or regions based.” “NBC is very much leaning into it, given their role — we are, as well,” Spruell continued. “Looking to do something new and different yet again, but excited about the possibility.” Silver then added: “It’s not lost on us … we’ll be in L.A., the home of the ’28 Summer Olympics, and we’ll be competing in the arena at Intuit, where the basketball competition will take place in the 2028 Olympics. So I think all of those factors, when they come together, it presents an enormous opportunity for us to do something with an international competition instead of the traditional All-Star formats that we’ve used.”
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Danielle Lerner: Rockets center Jock Landale (OUT, knee contusion) is doing some return to play conditioning on the court in San Francisco. He could be available later on in the series. Jae’Sean Tate (OUT, ankle impingement) isn’t as far along. No word on when he might be cleared to play.
Jalen Green scores 38 points, Rockets tie series
Danielle Lerner: FINAL: Rockets win 109-94 to even the playoff series against the Warriors at one game apiece before it heads to SF for the next two games. Jalen Green (38 points, eight 3s) was excellent. So was Houston's defense in a game with physical/ verbal sparring.
RTPGFX: Malik Thomas from San Francisco has entered the NBA Draft and also the transfer portal. In his senior year he averaged 19.9 PPG, 3.9 REB and 2.1 AST!
Silver also took part of the blame for this past February’s game in San Francisco, which he thought “was a little better, but it was a miss. We’re not there in terms of creating an All-Star experience that we can be proud of and that our players can be proud of. “…We sell competition, and I think that our players recognize they’re not putting their best foot forward when there’s a sense that not all in on playing an All-Star Game. And I take responsibility, too, because we’re both a sport and an entertainment brand, and we recalibrated for this year’s All-Star Game in San Francisco around more of an entertainment product and don’t think it worked. “The breaks were too long. I get it; it was an opportunity to celebrate TNT as they were going to have their last All-Star Game. It was well intentioned, but I think the long stoppage in play, for example, in that final game didn’t work for anyone.”
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