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The Highland Park, Illinois, home formerly owned by Michael Jordan could serve as the perfect getaway for fans of luxury, privacy and, of course, basketball. The home, which sold for $9.5 million in December, became available for rental on Airbnb this month. According to NBC News, the home is now owned by John Cooper, a real estate investor.
The home, in Highland Park, Illinois, has a stunning price tag and requires a minimum seven-night stay. For example, a weeklong respite over Labor Day weekend, checking in on Aug. 29 and out on Sept. 5, would cost $120,920.
Anthony Chiang: Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis says he did not work out for the Heat during the pre-draft process. Jakucionis was projected by many to be a lottery prick.
Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears was aware when his former classmates from the Joliet West High School (Ill.) Class of 2025 wore their caps and gowns and walked the stage to get their diplomas last month. For Fears, his bigger dream is coming into fruition tonight as he is expected the walk the 2025 NBA draft stage at Barclays Center in Brooklyn to shake the hand of NBA commissioner Adam Silver. “Just looking back, seeing all my friends graduating this year and people I grew up with all my life is definitely an experience,” Fears recently told Andscape. “It was something I kind of had to get over. Not being able to kind of graduate and be in that moment. But I’m getting ready for something better.”
But league sources are telling Heavy Sports the club would like to buy a ticket for the Wednesday night drawing. Currently holding the 28th pick, the Celts are said to be trying to make a trade to move up in the draft, with particular interest in projected lottery pick Kasparas Jakucionis, a 6-foot-6 point guard from Illinois.
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Tony Jones: Illinois freshman Will Riley was in Utah today for a workout with the Jazz, league sources tell The Athletic. Riley is a projected first round pick
Conor Bergin: The prospects at the Blazers pre-draft workout today will include: Asa Newell (Georgia), Jase Richardson (Michigan State), Liam McNeeley (UConn), Hansen Yang (Qingdao Eagles), Rasheer Fleming (St. Joseph’s), Will Riley (Illinois)
First-round pick candidate Will Riley declares for draft
Illinois freshman wing Will Riley has declared for the NBA Draft, he told ESPN's Jonathan Givony. Riley joined teammate Kasparas Jakucionis in declaring for the draft on Monday. A five-star prospect in the Class of 2024, Riley averaged 12.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 25.6 minutes per game for Illinois this past season while shooting 43.2% from the field and 32.6% from three.
After one NCAA season with Illinois, Lithuanian combo guard Kasparas Jakucionis declared for the 2025 NBA draft. “This has been my dream from a young age,” he told ESPN, revealing his decision on Monday.
The businessman who purchased NBA legend Michael Jordan's beleaguered Highland Park, IL, mansion for the heavily discounted price of $9.5 million has now had to implement his own discount after putting the iconic property on the rental market for an eye-watering $230,000 a month. Nebraska native John Cooper purchased the nine-bedroom, 19-bathroom mansion in December—paying just over half of the most recent $14.89 million asking price for the dwelling, which had been on the market for 13 years. Initially, he vowed to protect the Chicago-area home's enduring legacy—although he noted that he had some "exciting plans" for the future of the home.
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attended Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, while his father, Rick Brunson, was an assistant coach for the Bulls from 2010 to 2012, maintained a strong connection with Rose during their time as teammates in New York. At the time, Brunson was transitioning into a larger role as the focal point of a team’s offense following his postseason breakout with the Dallas Mavericks in 2022. He has since emerged as one of the league’s best guards, averaging 26.7 points and 6.7 assists across 206 regular-season and postseason games since the start of the 2022-23 season. “Probably Jalen Brunson. You know what I mean? Derrick grew up in Chicago, and Jalen’s dad coached him during high school,” Grimes said. “Derrick was a big influence on Jalen’s life. He would ask him a lot of questions and talk to him almost all the time during that second year when we were all in New York.”
EJ Liddell signs two-way deal with Bulls
Michael Scotto: The Chicago Bulls and forward EJ Liddell have agreed to a two-way contract, league sources told @hoopshype. The Illinois native impressed during training camp and is now set to remain with the organization heading into the 2024-25 season. pic.x.com/zin8a7f3Yw
Near the north side of Illinois State’s basketball arena is a statue of a coach kneeling as a player stands behind him with his hand on the coach’s shoulder. The coach is Will Robinson, the first African American head basketball coach in NCAA Division I history. The player is former Illinois State star guard Doug Collins, who is also a Basketball Hall of Famer. “They paid to have a statue built in front of our arena at Illinois State,” Collins said at the Hall of Fame news conference at the Mohegan Sun on Saturday. “It was Coach Robinson kneeling down with my hand on his shoulder. And I always tell people, ‘That’s not a basketball story.’ That’s a white kid from Benton, Illinois, being with this Black man from Detroit and them coming together creating a Division I program they could leave. “It was a love story. My hand on my shoulder, to me, was saying, ‘Coach, I trust you and I believe in you.’ And I think it’s harder and harder to get those relationships these days because a coach’s voice is way down the ladder in terms of who these guys are listening to. He said, ‘Wherever your voice hits a young man’s life will determine how you will be able to help.”
Collins also was the No. 1 pick in the 1973 NBA draft out of Illinois State, a three-time All-American and played on the 1972 Olympic basketball team member. He holds Illinois State records in career scoring (2,240), season scoring (847), career field goals made (894), and season field goals made (352). The floor at Illinois State’s CEFCU Arena was renamed “Doug Collins Court” in 2007. He was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016. And 15 years after the statue was unveiled, Collins credited Robinson for much of his success. “I went to play in college for the first Black coach in Division I basketball, and I grew up in an all-white community and Coach Robinson was from Detroit. Coach Rob, I fell in love with him and he helped me toughness and gave me great wisdom,” Collins said.
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