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In an extensive interview with Sports Illustrated, Kelly said he was “100 percent” preparing players for a work stoppage and “there’s some steps that we’re taking to make sure that we’re prepared.” Asked how far he would go to extract changes to the very system the union he represents agreed to three years ago (before he was on board), Kelly said “(as) far as necessary,” and later said he thought the union’s opposition “could” lead to a work stoppage. He added, “(I) don’t hope to have one.” He said he was open — and hopeful — to finding middle ground with the league so that the players’ concerns are met while competitive balance is maintained.
Rachel Nichols has worked at some of the biggest mainstays in sports media. Now she’s growing her presence at one of them. Nichols, who is a regular at Fox Sports and Monumental Sports Network, will host a new weekday show for Sports Illustrated. “The Story with Rachel Nichols” will stream weekdays at 9 a.m. on the FAST channel SI TV, starting Monday, October 19, and run again several times during the day.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Rose talks about the “youth” who watch basketball, forgotten legends, and what he thinks will happen to him. He made it clear how he wants to be remembered. “That I played hard. That I was a winner”, he told Sports Illustrated. “Truth to be told, given how my story has unfolded, in X amount of years, they probably won’t remember me anymore”, he continued.
In an interview for Sports Illustrated, the retired former NBA superstar revealed that he actively rooted for the Knicks to win the championship. "I kind of had them winning the entire time," Rose admitted. "My son is a Jalen [Brunson] fan. So he was cheering for them the whole playoffs. I called Rick [Brunson] right before they got to the Finals and told him that they was going to play against Wemby [Victor Wembanyama] now. And if they was going to play against them, that they was going to win."
The first, when he took his talents from Cleveland to South Beach in 2010, was unveiled in an ESPN TV special after weeks of in-person meetings with team executives. The second, when he returned to the Cavaliers in 2014, was revealed in an online open letter dictated by James to Sports Illustrated, after a private, face-to-face clearing of the air between James and Cavs owner Dan Gilbert. (Veteran NBA reporter Chris Sheridan predicted on his own website that James had decided to leave Miami for Cleveland a few days before the SI letter dropped.)
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Sweeney, 41, will continue with the Spurs through the NBA Finals, the Magic said. San Antonio has homecourt advantage when it takes on the New York Knicks in the Finals, which start Wednesday night on ABC. He agreed to a four-year deal with the Magic that includes an additional one-year team option, a league source confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel. Sports Illustrated first reported the length of Sweeney’s contract.
Katz now lists Westbrook as one of his favorite players to have covered. He’s not alone. While Westbrook was criticized by many members of the media after his Kings rant, others quickly sprang to his defense. NBA reporter Cayleigh Griffin tweeted that Westbrook was one of her favorite players to cover while in Houston. Sideline reporter Lesley McCaslin echoed those sentiments, noting Westbrook’s intensity actually made her better at her job. And off-camera, he showed a rare personal touch. When McCaslin was pregnant, Westbrook surprised her by personally selecting a high-end stroller as a gift. "He’s more human than people would ever think," McCaslin told Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins in 2016. "He just doesn’t want you to know that."
Keith O’Brien on Larry Bird: I just loved that story of that summer that Bird spends with that traveling band of all-stars in Europe. There are some other big names on that team, including future NBA greats like Sidney Moncrief. That is the moment, in the summer of 1977, when Larry Bird really becomes Larry Bird, and it is really as a result of that summer traveling on that team, when Sports Illustrated decides to put Bird on the cover of the magazine in November of that year, which really is a turning point in his life. So I think that the entire summer and fall is just crucial to the narrative of Larry Bird. I believe the Larry Bird that we would come to know was born on a basketball court in Europe. I really do believe that. That is the moment when Larry Bird becomes Larry Bird.
Zach Lowe: I started at Sports Illustrated, then I went to Grantland. Bill [Simmons] was my boss for a long time. Made glorious fun of many people—including David Kahn. Some of those people took it well. Others did not. And some of those others liked to take out their rage against Bill… on Bill’s subordinates. At the Board of Governors meeting one year in New York, I was there. David Kahn was there representing the Timberwolves. Glenn Taylor was also there, but Kahn, I guess, was an alternate governor. I don’t know. I said, ‘You know what, there’s David Kahn. I’ve never met him before. I’m going to go introduce myself.’ Walk across the room. ‘Hey David, Zach Lowe, Grantland. Just wanted to put a face to a name, all that.’ I don’t know if I had made fun of him at some point, probably. He just looks me dead in the eyes and says: ‘Tell your boss he’s a f*ckin a**hole.’ And walks away. And I was like… ‘Okay. That’s how it’s going to be.’
Former ESPN executive editor Cristina Daglas has landed a new job with Monumental Basketball —which operates the Wizards, Mystics, and the G League’s Capital City Go-Go— the organization confirmed to Front Office Sports. Daglas’s title is head of research and identity. The role is similar to how the Clippers hired former Sports Illustrated writer Lee Jenkins in 2018, with the title of executive director of research and identity.
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The NBA media arms race continues, this time with the NBA on NBC bringing on an insider for studio and digital coverage. On Monday, NBC Sports announced it has hired Chris Mannix as its NBA insider. The veteran Sports Illustrated reporter already works as a contributor to NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics coverage and now will cover the league nationally on NBC and Peacock broadcasts starting Oct. 21, when pro hoops returns to NBC for the first time in more than 20 years.
Chris Mannix: The Indiana Pacers team plane has landed in Tulsa, a team official told SI. The Pacers plane circled the OKC area before landing in Tulsa to refuel. A tornado warning is in effect in Oklahoma City.
Collins wrote the essay for Sports Illustrated, which was posted on April 29, 2013. It was the cover story for the magazine’s May 6 print edition. “We knew it was going to be online at 11 a.m. Eastern time,” Collins said. “I was living in Los Angeles at the time. There were people I felt should hear it from me first, so that weekend, there were a lot of phone calls that were being made.”
Unlike Wojnarowski, who worked as a beat reporter at local newspapers before becoming an award-winning columnist, and Charania, who started trying to be an insider while still in high school, Fischer began his career hoping to write longform magazine features. “I never wanted to be an insider,” he said. Fischer scored an internship at Sports Illustrated in 2015 and stacked his portfolio with human interest articles. He got coffee with an NBA coach obsessed with Starbucks. He chronicled the rigorous routines that two over-40 players went through to stay on the court near the end of their careers. “I made all these relationships around the NBA by writing these non-threatening stories,” he said.