Kobe Bryant’s Dad, Joe Bryant, Dies Four Years After His Son Passed Away

Joe Bryant, father to NBA legend Kobe Bryant, who also boasted an eight-year NBA career of his own, has died at age 69. His death comes just four-and-a-half years after his son Kobe and granddaughter Gigi were tragically killed in a January 2020 helicopter crash along with seven others. La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy confirmed to the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday that Bryant died from a massive stroke.

The Philadelphia native, nicknamed “Jellybean” for his love of sweets, began his basketball career at John Bartram High School and then at La Salle University before going on to be selected by the Golden State Warriors in the first round and 14th overall pick of the 1975 NBA draft. After having his rights sold just four months later, the six-foot-nine forward spent eight seasons in the NBA, playing first with his hometown team the Philadelphia 76ers for four years, then San Diego Clippers and Houston Rockets. Bryant went on to make a name for himself in Europe after departing from the Rockets following the 1982-83 season. For a decade, Bryant played for Italian and French teams before returning to the U.S. to pursue a coaching career. Most notably, he served as head coach of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks from 2005 to 2007.

Jerry West, a 3-time Hall of Fame selection and the NBA logo, dies at 86

Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame three times in a storied career as a player and executive and whose silhouette is considered to be the basis of the NBA logo, died Wednesday morning, the Los Angeles Clippers announced.

He was 86.

West, nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his late-game exploits as a player, went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team in 2010. He will be enshrined for a third time later this year as a contributor.

West was “the personification of basketball excellence and a friend to all who knew him,” the Clippers said in announcing his death. West’s wife, Karen, was by his side when he died, the Clippers said.

He was an All-Star in all 14 of his NBA seasons, a 12-time All-NBA selection, part of the 1972 Lakers team that won a championship, an NBA Finals MVP as part of a losing team in 1969 and was selected as part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

West was general manager of eight NBA championship teams with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping build the “Showtime” dynasty. He also worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers. Among his many, many highlights as an executive with the Lakers: he drafted Magic Johnson and James Worthy, then brought in Kobe Bryant and eventually Shaquille O’Neal to play alongside Bryant.

Even in the final years of his life, West was considered basketball royalty. He routinely sat courtside at Summer League games in Las Vegas, often watching many games in a day while greeting long lines of players — LeBron James among them — who would approach to shake his hand and pay him respect.

“The game transcends many things,” West said while attending Summer League last year. “The players change, the style of play may change, but the respect that you learn in this game never changes.”

He’s 25th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, and while the league has never confirmed that West was in fact the model for its logo — a player dribbling a ball, set against a red-and-blue background — the league has never said otherwise, either.

“While it’s never been officially declared that the logo is Jerry West,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in 2021, “it sure looks a lot like him.”

Bill Walton, Hall of Fame player who became a star broadcaster, dies at 71

Basketball legend Bill Walton, who led the UCLA Bruins to two national titles before winning two championships during his NBA career, has died at the age of 71 after a prolonged battle with cancer.

Walton died Monday while surrounded by his loved ones, his family said in a statement released by the NBA.

“Bill Walton was truly one of a kind,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

He was the NBA’s MVP in the 1977-78 season and a member of the league’s 50th and 75th anniversary teams. That all followed a college career in which he was a two-time champion at UCLA and a three-time national player of the year under iconic coach John Wooden.

LSU star Angel Reese declares for WNBA draft via Vogue photo shoot, says ‘I didn’t want to be basic’

Bayou Barbie is WNBA bound. LSU star Angel Reese, who is known for her eyelash extensions, painted fingernails and ferocious play in the paint, formally declared for the WNBA draft on Wednesday. Her announcement comes two days after the Tigers’ season ended with a loss to Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Elite Eight round of the women’s NCAA Tournament .

Reese, who has expressed an interest in working in fashion and modeling, announced her decision via a photo shoot in Vogue , saying she was inspired by tennis great Serena Williams announcing her retirement in 2022 in a similar manner.

Reese, who publicly had left open the option of returning for another year at LSU, acknowledged having made up her mind to turn pro before March Madness began.

“Of course, I like to do everything big,” Reese told the magazine. “I didn’t want anything to be basic.”

“I’ve done everything I wanted to in college,” added Reese, who also has expressed interest in playing professionally in Europe during the WNBA offseason. “I’ve won a national championship, I’ve gotten (Southeastern Conference) Player of the Year, I’ve been an All-American. My ultimate goal is to be a pro — and to be one of the greatest basketball players to play, ever. I feel like I’m ready.”

Reese, a dynamic, 6-foot-3 forward who can run the floor, guard the perimeter and block shots anywhere, likely will join Clark, the expected No. 1 pick by Indiana, as one of the top players drafted on April 15. Draft analysts have projected Reese as a seventh or eighth overall choice. An undeveloped outside shot is among the few questions about her game as she leaves college.

Reese grew up in Baltimore and began her college career at Maryland, where her brother, Julian, plays for the men’s team. She transferred to LSU in 2022 and the Tigers won the program’s only national title in Reese’s first season.

“She helped transform our program,” LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. “We are all indebted to Angel Reese for the contributions she has given to this program, helping us win our first national championship, and the contributions she made on our university as a whole.”

Reese registered 61 double-doubles for the Tigers in two seasons. Only Sylvia Fowles had more double-doubles at LSU.

Reese averaged 20.9 points and 14.4 rebounds per game at LSU, including seven games with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds. Reese became the first SEC player since Vanderbilt’s Wendy Scholtens in 1989 and 1990 to lead the league in both scoring and rebounding in consecutive seasons.

This season, Reese was named the SEC Player of the Year. Reese has played four college seasons but was among those athletes granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA because their careers overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: AP News

N.C. State and its 2 DJs headed to 1st Final Four since 1983 after 76-64 win over Duke

ONFIRE-TV.com – Bruising big man DJ Burns Jr. plays with plenty of joy, skipping on and off the floor and interacting with North Carolina State fans that he often works into a frenzy with slick moves and a soft-touch shot.

“I was raised in a happy environment,” Burns said. “I try to take that with me everywhere I go.”

Now he can take that to the desert for the Wolfpack’s first Final Four in four decades. The 6-foot-9, 275-pound Burns scored a season-high 29 points on 13-of-19 shooting, DJ Horne had 20 and 11th-seeded N.C. State beat Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke 76-64 in the South Region final Sunday. N.C. State is back on basketball’s biggest stage for the first time since the late Jim Valvano was sprinting around the court looking for someone to hug after winning the 1983 national title with an upset over Houston and Phi Slama Jama.

“These guys are so special,” seventh-year coach Kevin Keatts said. “Nine elimination games or you go home.”

These Wolfpack (26-14) head to Glendale, Arizona, with the most losses ever for a Final Four team, but on a winning streak that began after losing their last four regular-season games, and seven of nine. They had to win five games against past national champions in five days in the ACC Tournament, including a win over Duke in the quarterfinal round, just to get into the 68-team NCAA Tournament field. Now they will play 7-foot-4 All-American Zach Edey and Purdue in the first national semifinal game, before defending champion UConn takes on Alabama.

Longtime Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos dies at 94

Peter Angelos, owner of a Baltimore Orioles team that endured long losing stretches and shrewd proprietor of a law firm that won high-profile cases against industry titans, died Saturday. He was 94.

Angelos had been ill for several years. His family announced his death in a statement thanking the caregivers “who brought comfort to him in his final years.”

Angelos’ death comes as his son, John, is in the process of selling the Orioles to a group headed by Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein. Peter Angelos’ public role diminished significantly in his final years. According to a lawsuit involving his sons in 2022, he had surgery after his aortic valve failed in 2017.

Born on the Fourth of July in 1929 and raised in Maryland by Greek immigrants, Peter Angelos rose from a blue-collar background to launch a firm in his own name after receiving his law degree from the University of Baltimore in 1961.

In August 1993, Angelos led a group of investors that bought the Orioles. The group included writer Tom Clancy, filmmaker Barry Levinson and tennis star Pam Shriver. The price tag of $173 million — at the time the highest for a sports franchise — came in a sale forced by the bankruptcy of then-owner Eli Jacobs.

While remaining active in a law firm specializing in personal injury cases, Angelos assumed a hands-on approach to running his hometown team. Few player acquisitions were carried out without his approval, and his reputation for not spending millions on high-priced free agents belied his net worth, which in 2017 was estimated at $2.1 billion.

In 1996, his firm brought a lawsuit on behalf of the state of Maryland against tobacco giant Philip Morris, securing a $4.5 billion settlement. The Law Offices of Peter Angelos also earned millions of dollars through the settlement of asbestos cases, including a class-action suit on behalf of steel, shipyard and manufacturing facility workers.

Angelos made headlines as well in baseball. In 1995, he was the only one of 28 owners who refused to adhere to a plan to use replacement players during a union strike that began during the 1994 season.

“We’re duty bound to provide major league baseball to our fans, and that can’t be done with replacement players,” he insisted.

At the time, Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. was only 122 games from breaking Lou Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games played. The streak would have ended if the season started with replacement players and Ripken remained on strike, but the owners and players reached an agreement before opening day and Ripken ultimately ended up extending his record run to 2,632.

Angelos also fought for years to create an exhibition series between the Orioles and Cuba’s national team, a quest that reached fruition in 1999. On March 28, the Orioles played in Havana while Angelos sat alongside Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The teams met again on May 3 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

The series marked the first time the Cuban national team had faced a squad composed solely of major league players, and the first time since 1959 a big league club played in Cuba.

“He’s always had an interest in politics, especially foreign policy. That, and his involvement with baseball, made it a natural thing,” said John Angelos, a son and the Orioles’ current chairman and CEO.

The Orioles never won a World Series with Angelos as their owner. The team finally ended a run of 14 consecutive losing seasons in 2012, reaching the postseason under manager Buck Showalter. Baltimore made it to the American League Championship Series in 2014. But in 2018 the bottom fell out when the Orioles finished 47-115, the worst record in the majors and worst since the franchise relocated from St. Louis in 1954.

Showalter was fired, and a major rebuild began the following season under rookie manager Brandon Hyde. The Orioles capped a swift rise from their rebuild by winning 101 games and a division title in 2023.

Though the team was never sensational, its home base certainly stood out. Sellout crowds were the norm after Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992. The iconic structure was built predominantly with brick, mortar and steel — much in the same fashion as old-time ballparks — and was the blueprint for other stadiums to follow.

In an era when owners often sell the name of their team’s stadium or arena to advertisers with the highest bid, Angelos never succumbed to such a transaction.

Source: WBAL

NFL Rumors: Odell Beckham Jr. to Be Released by Ravens After Contract Restructure

The Baltimore Ravens are expected to release wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. before midnight on Wednesday. ESPN’s Dan Graziano explained why the Ravens will formally release Beckham with a post-June 1 designation after restructuring his contract in January: Beckham signed a one-year deal worth up to $18 million last offseason. He finished the 2023 campaign with 35 catches for 565 yards and three touchdowns. The Ravens have seen a host of departures from their 13-4 team, which earned the AFC’s No. 1 seed before falling to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. Players who have left via free agency or trade include running back Gus Edwards, right tackle Morgan Moses, guard John Simpson, safety Geno Stone and linebacker Patrick Queen.

Now it appears Beckham will head elsewhere after just one season in Baltimore. The Ravens have a bona fide No. 1 wideout already in Zay Flowers, and they have depth behind him in Rashod Bateman and the re-signed Nelson Agholor. But sans Beckham, they could still use more reinforcements at the position to help reigning MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson. Baltimore has already done work on offense to do just that, notably signing ex-Tennessee Titans superstar running back Derrick Henry. But it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Ravens use an early draft pick on a receiver once again to bolster the offense.

Ravens signing ex-Titans RB Derrick Henry to two-year, $16 million deal

Backfields are going to look a whole lot different in the NFL next season after a run on free agent quarterbacks and running backs during the league’s two-day legal tampering period. After QBs ruled Day 1 , running backs continued to make strides in free agency Tuesday with four-time Pro Bowler Derrick Henry agreeing to a two-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens, a person with knowledge of the contract told The Associated Press. Henry’s jump from the Tennessee Titans, where he spent his first eight seasons, was among the biggest moves on the eve of the league’s new year, which officially begins at 4 p.m. EDT Wednesday. That’s when free agents can sign contracts they’ve agreed to this week.

Henry’s deal is worth up to $20 million and includes $9 million guaranteed. The two-time NFL rushing champ joins a Baltimore team that annually produces one of the league’s leading ground games.

Running backs have struggled to earn big money in recent years — to the point where Henry organized a group chat among top players at the position last summer. This year’s free agent class included Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Tony Pollard, all of whom found new homes during Monday’s free agency frenzy . Barkley, Jacobs and Pollard were the three running backs franchise tagged a year ago at $10.1 million, and none signed long-term deals with their teams by the July deadline. All three became free agents this year when their teams declined to tag them again, this time at $12 million. Henry turned 30 in January. The four-time Pro Bowler led the NFL in 2023 with 280 rushing attempts and ranked second to Christian McCaffrey with 1,167 yards rushing. His 12 rushing TDs were fourth in the AFC. Henry leaves Tennessee ranked second in franchise history with 9,502 rushing yards, trailing only Eddie George (10,009).

The Ravens finished with the NFL’s best regular-season record in 2023 before losing to Kansas City in the AFC championship game. Now they add another proven offensive playmaker to work alongside quarterback Lamar Jackson, who is coming off his second MVP season.

LeBron James Becomes First NBA Player to Score 40,000 Career Regular Season Points

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers recently faced off against the Denver Nuggets. James seemingly broke a record in the league during the game, becoming the first player to reach 40,000 career regular-season points. After the game, James spoke about his game that night, saying the milestone was “bittersweet” due to the Lakers’ loss. “Being the first player to do something, it’s pretty cool in this league, just knowing the history, the greats that’s come through the league, and then you see some of the greats on the floor tonight, it was great to compete,” said James.

LeBron continued, “But for me, the main thing, as always, is to win, and I hated that it had to happen in a defeat.” 

source: NBA

Former NFL star Marshawn Lynch reaches deal in Las Vegas DUI case

Former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch has reached an agreement with city prosecutors to bring an end to a Las Vegas DUI case from 2022.

Las Vegas Municipal Court records show a hearing for Lynch took place Wednesday morning to enter the agreement, about an hour before his case was scheduled to head to trial.

Lynch submitted to a misdemeanor count of DUI. Other charges for operating an unregistered vehicle and failure to drive in a travel lane were consequently dropped.

Under the agreement, Lynch will serve 200 hours of community service, complete a victim impact panel class and DUI school, and stay out of trouble. He also has to pay a $1,140 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for May 21.