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“During the dead ball, Thompson grabs the jersey and body slams Herro,” crew chief Mark Davis said in the pool report. “Herro responds and they are both ejected for fighting fouls. Green is ejected as his actions escalated the altercation. Rozier as well is ejected as his actions were escalators to the altercation. Coach Sullivan is assessed a technical foul and ejected for his unsportsmanlike comments directed at me as I was attempting to redirect [Alperen] Şengün.” Udoka said he didn’t see the incident between Thompson and Herro live, but later watched a replay. “They were in each other’s faces, bumping chests a little bit. One guy is stronger than the other,” he said.
Mark Davis is also a huge women’s basketball fan and bought the Las Vegas Aces from MGM International for roughly $2 million in 2021. He poured money into the franchise, including a $40 million practice facility, the first specifically built for a WNBA team. Two WNBA championships later, and the Aces are worth $140 million and tops in the league, by Sportico’s count.
Elsewhere, Jackson, who turned 45 on April, celebrated his birthday Thursday night with a star-studded dinner at Delilah in Las Vegas, according to videos on his Instagram Story. Those in attendance included Raiders owner Mark Davis and James’ good friend and former teammate, two-time NBA champion J.R. Smith.
Tom Brady buys partial stake in Las Vegas Aces
After winning seven championships in the NFL, five-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady is joining another champion. The 45-year-old former quarterback has reportedly purchased an ownership stake in the Las Vegas Aces. The Aces are the reigning champions in the WNBA and the majority owner of the franchise is Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis. Brady’s purchase is still subject to the approval of the WNBA’s league office and his minority stake is for an undisclosed amount. But his new affiliation with the team should have a positive impact on the organization.
Semafor couldn’t learn the price being discussed, but Forbes reported in August that Raiders owner Mark Davis had received an offer from an unnamed investor for a minority stake that valued the team at $6.5 billion. That would be a record for any professional sports franchise, easily surpassing recent deals for both the NFL’s Denver Broncos and the Premier League’s Chelsea club.
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The WNBA playoffs have practically been an infomercial for Becky Hammon’s brilliance as a head coach. She has the Aces two wins away from their first WNBA championship going into Tuesday night’s game against the Connecticut Sun. Her in-game decisions have been flawless – if you want to know how to run plays out of a timeout, go back and watch the end of Game 3 of the semifinals against the Seattle Storm – and no less than LeBron James has taken notice. Impressive as Hammon has been, however, it raises a question: What the hell were the Portland Trail Blazers and Orlando Magic doing in passing her by? And what’s the excuse for all the other sad-sack NBA teams that didn’t even bring her in for an interview? “I have not,” Aces owner Mark Davis told USA TODAY Sports when asked whether he’s heard from any jealous NBA owners. “But I’m sure they’re sitting there thinking, 'Hmm, why didn’t I think of that?’ ”
When reached for comment, Jay Bloom said, “While it is most certainly too preliminary to comment on our group’s efforts, Bill Foley’s extraordinary success with the Vegas Golden Knights, together with Mark Davis’s Las Vegas Raiders’ incredibly warm reception by the community and his exceptional world class facilities, and further, the addition of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, clearly demonstrate that Las Vegas is already a major player in the world of professional sports.” Jay continued, “Be it ultimately our group or someone else, Las Vegas is clearly the most deserving city in the nation for an NBA expansion franchise team.”
Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis is expanding his desert sports empire. He entered an agreement to purchase the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces from MGM Resorts International, the team announced today. The deal is pending approval by the league’s board of governors. MGM brought the Aces — formerly the Utah Starzz and San Antonio Stars — to Vegas in 2018. The team, led by league MVP A’ja Wilson, reached the 2020 WNBA Finals. WNBA ownership has already been a topic of discussion in 2021, as LeBron James suggested he wanted to buy the Atlanta Dream from Kelly Loeffler after she lost the Georgia Senate runoff election.
Hawks 83, Celtics 74 in game one. And Boston might not have point guard Rajon Rondo in game two after he was ejected for bumping a referee late in the loss. What a colossal brick by Rondo, who was understandably upset with the horrible call (gotta call a jump ball there). Rondo popped off, then took a step closer to ref Mark Davis – I’m surprised Davis didn’t walk away – tripped a bit, but clearly bumped him with his chest.
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