Rumors

Coming out of high school in Kansas, the 6-foot-7, three-star recruit Spencer Jones was hoping basketball would help him land at a reputable college, not the NBA. It worked out perfectly when he committed to Stanford in 2019. “I was not planning on making it big,” Jones tells Front Office Sports. “The goal was just to use basketball to get into a place like [Stanford]. Everything else kind of felt like a bonus.” It was only after his sophomore season in 2020–21 that the NBA became a realistic option. But he was expected to be a second-round pick at best, so he believed a Stanford degree should take priority. “Spencer has always liked basketball, but he never was one of those guys that said, ‘My dream was playing in the NBA,’” Dwayne Jones, Spencer’s father, tells FOS.

Front Office Sports

Last month, the 24-year-old Jones posted about the underappreciated art of defense, a “difficult and unglamorous job” that’s helped him carve out a role with the championship-contending Nuggets. A few weeks later, he explained the importance of adaptability through his career’s evolution from preps to pros. His content is tailor-made for LinkedIn, the business-focused social network for career connections, job hunting, and yes, earnest lessons about how everything in life comes back to enterprise software sales. Jones has more than 23,000 followers on the platform—more than twice as many as on Instagram; he often clears 1,000 reactions with a comments section full of company founders and executives.

Front Office Sports

Although Jones’s LinkedIn activity nods to his on-court success, he’s really using the platform to prepare for a career after basketball. “I know once my [basketball] career is over,” Jones tells FOS. “I’m using all this to just pretty much seamlessly bounce into the next thing.” Jones had an idea what the next thing could be. While basketball was central to his Stanford experience, so was learning about venture capital investing, reading pitch decks, and understanding start-up financials. He also mingled with the school’s elite network.

Front Office Sports

In the midst of a star-making season with the Detroit Pistons, Jalen Duren, 22, also drew major attention when he posed on the cover of SLAM earlier this month, showing off his muscular arms in a tribute to Pistons great Ben Wallace. When the magazine cover was released, social media took notice. “People slowly finding out that jalen duren is fine as s*** is so funny lol,” one person wrote via X.

usmagazine.com

When presented with the evidence that he had become the NBA’s newest “sex symbol,” Jalen Duren said he was “shocked.” “It was crazy, bro,” Duren exclusively told Us Weekly about the reaction. “I definitely didn’t expect it to blow up as much as it did. God willing, it did. To be on the SLAM cover is a great opportunity. It was a great honor. It definitely caused a lot of attraction and gravity. I don’t know how, but it was cool.”

usmagazine.com

We're told after Allen Iverson walked out, that there was a change of heart and he did sign some people's merch, but not everyone's. And so Eli's sister Jada took to social media to express her disappointment in a post that's gone viral. “I just thought it was really not fair on the kids. You know, maybe he might be having a bad day, but those kids are having a bad time, like they're going through cancer.“

YouTube

Redick's wife, Chelsea, had posted about the ordeal on Instagram, and so many friends had referenced her post in texts to him that the Lakers coach, who has sworn off social media to help him focus on the job, redownloaded the app and logged into his dormant account just to see what his wife had shared. He was in the middle of his coaches' meeting when he read her message. "I cried," he said, before apologizing for the interruption.

ESPN

NBA Courtside: Rich Paul believes when Elon Musk let people pay for blue check marks, the NBA should’ve created its own platform for real NBA journalist and fans to avoid the fake aggregators or accounts who act like reporters (Via Game Over)

x.com

The LA Clippers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 126-89 Sunday night, capping off a 15-3 stretch dating back to December. For one fan, it meant he had to eat his words -- literally. Clippers coach Ty Lue said on Dec. 20 that he told the team their goal was to go 35-20 in their remaining games. At the time, they had a 6-21 record. Robert Flom, managing editor of the independent Clippers blog 213Hoops responded to Lue's proposition by writing on X: "If they go 15-3 in any stretch this season will print and eat this tweet."

ESPN

Flom stayed true to his word, saying that he would indeed eat a printout of his post during a podcast episode Monday evening. Lue had a message for Flom postgame: "He's got to go live."

ESPN

Andrew Dukowitz: Anthony Edwards message to the Minnesota community. “Man I just love Minnesota, all the love and support they show me, so I’m behind them. I’m behind whatever they with. I don’t really have social media so I’m not in tune with everything. I’ve heard about the stuff going on. Me and my family are definitely praying for everyone”

x.com

Tyrese Haliburton: Alex Pretti was murdered.

Twitter

NBA Communications: Anthony Black’s fastbreak dunk over four defenders in Berlin is the most-viewed highlight of the season across NBA social platforms, generating 85 million views and counting. The Magic and Grizzlies face off again in Europe today at the O2 Arena in London, live NOW on Prime Video.

Twitter

Former NBA player Kyle Singler made some wild claims in a concerning video on social media Saturday. In the explicative-laden rant posted to Instagram, Singler — who looks visually distraught and disheveled — alleges that people are taking his money, along with claiming that his child is being abused. “I don’t feel safe,” Singler said. “I’ve got people in my life taking my money — this is a message to everybody in my life who has been messing with me. My child is being sexually, physically, emotionally, spiritually abused. Shame on everybody that knows me that’s not helping, not intervening. F–k y’all. Duke, Medford (Oregon), everybody.”

New York Post