Rumors

What was seen and heard on a tour, however, was reminiscent of the mission LeBron James launched in 2011 to teach disadvantaged children to read. It’s a mission that grew into a public school James opened in 2018, I Promise School, and a job training program for adults that includes the first Starbucks of its kind. Something similar is happening on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Albert Gutzmann School, opened in 1972, is one of four elementary schools in Berlin with full sponsorship from Alba Berlin, the city’s pro basketball team that plays in the EuroLeague. Alba has dozens of employees in those schools providing counseling, sports coaching, after-school learning and a connection for the students (and their families) to a pro team that makes them want to stay engaged at school. Alba Berlin is the only basketball franchise in Germany, if not the whole EuroLeague, this involved in its local school system.

New York Times

Clemente Almanza: Jalen Williams on if he wants the fan barking to continue: “I hope it continues. I think it’s cool.” He joked: “I’ve been on the record that I’ve been barked at Target, Starbucks. Probably can chill out a bit.”

Twitter

Spencer Haywood: I watched the whole [2007-08] season. … I was like, “Woah man, we got Kevin Durant up here, this is so beautiful!” Next thing they were leaving. And guess who I saw at the All-Star game [that season].  Clay Bennett. God! No disrespect to him but, you know, he did what he needed to do to get Kevin to Oklahoma City. We allowed him to take it. Now, I have a little withdrawal when I drink Starbucks.

HoopsHype

The James museum is a part of the large complex his foundation purchased and renovated in Akron, called House 330, where he opened a Starbucks to train adults enrolled in his mentoring program. House 330 has expanded to include a sports bar, pizza shop, retail store and now the museum. James’ mother Gloria was among those on hand for the Home Court public opening. “I used to get on my mom a lot about saving everything, ever since I started playing sports,” James said. “She kind of threw it in my face when stuff was being prepared down at the museum, because a lot of the stuff in there is stuff that she saved. And that’s pretty cool.

The Athletic

None of the other nearly 33,000 Starbucks on Earth are like this one in Akron, which opened Wednesday morning, in no small part because it’s the only Starbucks that is a part of James’ now 12-year quest to break cyclical poverty in his hometown by confronting its root causes. “I would say it’s ‘forever work,’” Michele Campbell, the first and only executive director for the LeBron James Family Foundation told The Athletic in an extended interview earlier this year. “The world’s always going to have issues to deal with; we’re just a microcosm of that here in Akron. But I feel like what we’re building, and it’ll continue, long past my lifetime, is how to operate a community differently and how to think differently and how to be thoughtful and strategic and meet people where they are.”

The Athletic

“I don’t want to say it ever becomes too much, but there are times when I wish I could do normal things,” James said Thursday while standing in an arena hallway in Indianapolis about an hour after the Lakers beat the Pacers there. A member of a camera crew that has been following him for the past few years filmed him as he spoke. “I wish I could just walk outside,” James said. “I wish I could just, like, walk into a movie theater and sit down and go to the concession stand and get popcorn. I wish I could just go to an amusement park just like regular people. I wish I could go to Target sometimes and walk into Starbucks and have my name on the cup just like regular people.” He added: “I’m not sitting here complaining about it, of course not. But it can be challenging at times.”

New York Times

“I understand the addiction from every single level. I haven't left, in my mind, all the bad things that happened. Like I didn't forget about it. Nor have I forgotten about four years ago when I was just putting on a green apron at Starbucks. I'm not that far in the clouds. I have an absolute responsibility to provide hope for people who aren't in healthy situations when it comes to addiction. “That proceeds anything else in my life.” Last summer, he was a pivotal presence in Bucks’ calls for social justice that brought the NBA postseason to a halt, bringing a spotlight to issues surrounding race and policing. And this year, he’s formed “Vin Baker Recovery” to open treatment centers in Milwaukee. “I call him my older brother,” Bucks forward Brook Lopez said. “It's been a special bond that we have created. And he's such a great basketball mind as well. Just having played on an NBA floor, he sees things sometimes the coaches miss. He knows what it's like, and so it's very special having him on the sideline.”

Yahoo! Sports

Baker told the group that his own addiction cost him his NBA career and left him penniless after losing millions of dollars. He ultimately rebuilt his life after getting sober by working as a barista Starbucks. Now nine years sober, he said he was working as a manager at a Starbucks when the Bucks called to offer him a coaching job.

kenoshanews.com

CJ McCollum, shooting guard. What you might not know: He has become a connoisseur of wine, and often visits Oregon’s renowned vineyards, about 45 minutes outside of Portland. If he’s not studying wine, he is binge-watching shows such as Ozark, Peaky Blinders and Game of Thrones. Also hosts his “Pull Up” podcast with Jordan Schultz, the son of Starbucks owner Howard Schultz.

The Athletic

Teammates and close friends Wade and Udonis Haslem have talked casually during the past year about owning a team. “I would love for it to be the Heat but we haven’t been specific about a team,” Haslem said. “Our conversations have been more about owning a team, not owning this team. That would be amazing. I would never thought I would be owning Subways, Starbucks and Einsteins, so who’s to say that would be out of my cards? It’s definitely possible.”

Miami Herald

Dwain Price: Carlisle: "Our assist percentage is the highest in the league right now in preseason, which, that and $3.50 will get you something at Starbucks. It is preseason, but it's a good indicator that we’re moving the ball better and finding each other. And our pace number is up." #Mavs

Twitter

That swish from the left corner was Huerter’s first of 15 straight made three-pointers in an individual drill. Los Angeles Lakers Coach Luke Walton, Starbucks coffee in hand, stopped mid-stride to watch Huerter move around the arc. Peja Stojakovic, one of the best shooters in NBA history and now the director of player personnel for the Sacramento Kings, paused a conversation to do the same. A Western Conference scout tracked Huerter’s shots on a chart, and when it was only makes and no misses he picked up his pencil and mouthed a single word: Wow.

Washington Post

“eSports will be a boon for traditional media,” Leonsis said. “The two drivers of revenue and fan affinity will be digital sports and digital gaming and gambling. Outside of the U.S., digital gambling is accepted. You go do digital gambling like you would go to a Starbucks … if you look at things like Draft Kings, if you put a virtual team together, you watch all of the games. You’re really interested. When casual fans bet on games, like the NCAA Tournament or the Super Bowl, the viewership stays really high.”

NBA.com

During a January 2017 Cavaliers road trip, beat reporter Jason Lloyd and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst drove together from Sacramento to San Francisco. Holding back the juicy bits, the writers swapped notes for their upcoming books — Windhorst’s Return of the King and Lloyd’s The Blueprint: LeBron James, Cleveland’s Deliverance, and the Making of the Modern NBA. Upon arrival, Lloyd mentioned that two businessmen, Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann, wanted to meet him in San Francisco. The pair, who previously built a successful workout app called Strava, had a new subscription-based, multicity sports news site called The Athletic. They wanted Lloyd as editor-in-chief of the Cleveland branch. Lloyd planned to turn them down. “You waited until now to mention this?” said Windhorst, baffled. “Take the meeting! What do you have to lose?” “I wouldn’t have met with them if it wasn’t for Brian,” says Lloyd, who promised the businessmen 15 minutes. “After two hours, I left Starbucks knowing I was probably going to make the jump.”

Cleveland Magazine