Rumors

With reports the NBA may be exploring expansion for the 2028-29 season, everyone has a take on the top cities as rumors were rampant. Some basketball pundits have suggested Nashville as a franchise location. However, Nashville Predators majority owner Bill Haslam has no immediate plans to make that happen. "We're not actively bidding on anything," Predators CEO Sean Henry, speaking on behalf of Haslam, told The Tennesseean on March 19. "Those are just rumors."

The Tennessean

Henry said there hasn't been talks between Haslam and the Grizzlies. "As far as any conversations with Memphis or the Grizzlies, that's not happened," Henry said. "I think Memphis is the right place for the Grizzlies to play and I hope they stay there forever."

The Tennessean

As the Golden State Warriors prepared to start Friday morning’s film session, many players and coaches had a more pressing issue on their mind than preparation for Sunday’s game against the Denver Nuggets. The reason? A member of their extended Warriors family, Team Canada men’s hockey star Macklin Celebrini, was in a tight Olympic game in Italy, so the group couldn’t take its eyes away from what was going on about 6,000 miles away from Chase Center. “We had half the team watching the final two minutes of the game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Saturday’s practice. “Because it was 2-2, and it was 10 o’clock, and we’re supposed to be starting film. Nope, we’re gonna watch to see what happens.”

New York Times

Washington Capitals: The #Gr8 brought a crew for King James 👑 #ALLCAPS x #LakeShow

Twitter

Macklin Celebrini’s 2024 Upper Deck Young Guns rookie card with a Gem-Mint PSA 10 grade has jumped from $450 six months ago up to $1,675 on Tuesday, according to online card sales database Market Movers. His more rare 2024 Upper Deck Young Guns Silver Outburst PSA 10 rookie card launched even higher, starting at $839 six months ago and now up to $4,219. And none of those cards even bear Celebrini’s nickname, given to him by the Golden State Warriors’ legend: “Chester.” Rick Celebrini, Macklin’s father, has worked for the Warriors as the team’s director of sports health and performance since 2018. So Curry has known the younger Celebrini for years, which helps explain why Stephen Curry nicknamed him on the fly during an interview at the 2024 NHL Draft. Curry tagged Celebrini as “Chester” drawing from Cheetos’ famous mascot “Chester Cheetah,” because “his hands are so filthy, just like after eating a big ol’ bag of Cheetos.”

New York Times

It seems like Boston throws a parade every year. Since 1980 they’ve had celebrations for the: * Celtics in 1981, ‘84, ‘86, ‘08, ‘24 * Patriots in 2001, ‘03, ‘04, ‘14, ‘16, and ‘188 * Bruins in 2011 * Red Sox in 2004, ‘07, ‘13, and ‘18 All of these were happy years, but it was actually 2017, the rare year without a trophy, that I deem the happiest.9 All four teams performed to expectations and made the playoffs, plus Tom Brady won MVP and every other Boston team had a player get some votes (Mookie Betts & Chris Sale for the Red Sox, Isaiah Thomas for the Celtics, and Brad Marchand for the Bruins). The radar charts help show what drives happiness in Boston.10 There were no trophies (“Proud”) in 2017, but enough from everything else to make it the happiest year in Boston sports history.

Charting Hoops

But hearing all that about Tom Dundon, hearing that the Carolina Hurricanes have flourished under his ownership. I would also point out that he is overseeing a huge renovation around the arena there in Raleigh where the Hurricanes play. I think that's an $800 million uh stadium and district project.

YouTube

Two members of the House Judiciary Committee on Monday sent letters to the commissioners of the four major U.S. men’s sports — MLB, the NBA, NFL and NHL — about the cost and difficulty of watching sporting events in the streaming era.

New York Times

The letters the Congressmen sent challenge the leagues to defend the antitrust protection they are afforded by the Sports Broadcasting Act, or SBA, passed by Congress in 1961 — something different from an oft-referenced exemption unique to baseball, which stems from a 1922 Supreme Court decision.

New York Times

Jabari Smith, at $24.4 million, would have been the highest paid NBA player as late as the 2007-08 season. Stephen Curry was the NBA’s highest paid player during the 2019-20 season and the first to crack the $40 million threshold; that would make him just the 29th-highest paid player next season. The NBA will have 16 players earn at least $50 million during the 2025-26 season; the NFL, MLB and NHL will have six between them.

New York Times

Silver said that he's "not exactly sure what the format will be yet." He noted that he "paid a lot of attention to what the NHL did" during its All-Star break this season.

Yahoo! Sports

As much as the public-facing narrative has shifted, Stars owner Tom Gaglardi said in a meeting with select media members Monday afternoon that his conversations with Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont have shifted as well. “Patrick and I had a conversation several months ago where he expressed to me that he wants to build a new arena, and would I go with him?” Gaglardi said. “‘Would the Stars come and play? We’ll build this and do all this wonderful stuff.’ “Patrick’s now done enough research and looking at these things, and he’s landed on that in order to optimize a building for basketball, that makes it difficult to play hockey in that arena. But that’s what he’s explained to me. I think before he thought the two sports would play together. He says the current model now, if you look at places like Intuit, Chase in San Francisco, these buildings are not capable of hockey, and that’s kind of where it’s going. His attitude, I think, has changed in terms of what he wants to do.”

Dallas Morning News

New York sports fans who subscribe to Optimum can finally rejoice. MSG Networks was back on Altice-owned Optimum in time for Saturday’s Rangers-Sabres game after the two sides came to a new agreement to put MSGN’s channels back on the airwaves. Optimum stopped carrying Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and Devils games for its estimated 1 million New York City-area customers on Jan. 1. After weeks of fighting, the two sides reached a multiyear deal that gives Optimum the ability to sell lower-priced packages without MSG, which was on its basic tier, a source told The Post. MSG Networks is lowering the price it charges Optimum per subscriber from about $10 to $8, the source said.

New York Post

Can there be an NBA equivalent to the 4 Nations? "I don't know what the format would be," said Lauri Markkanen, who sported Finland's 4 Nations jersey walking into a Jazz game last week. "Would it be the World against the US or North America? Is it going to be France? I think (the 4 Nations) is a really good format, and it's meaningful games for the break. You always want to fight for your country, so it'd be cool."

KSL.com