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The WNBA and the players' union met for about three hours Monday in the first in-person bargaining session involving players since October, a gathering one source close to the situation described as "helpful" as both sides work toward a new collective bargaining agreement. The gathering was based more on sharing the sentiments, philosophies and perspectives driving each side's positions and having honest dialogue around those viewpoints, sources said, as opposed to exchanging new proposals. Sources told ESPN it was valuable for both sides to meet in person, ask questions and receive direct answers, as they look to break the monthlong stalemate in talks, with the 2026 season scheduled to begin in less than 100 days and the need for a deal increasingly urgent.
The AT&T Dunk Bus tips off in Miami in partnership with the Miami HEAT. There will be a community day on January 30 and a Game Day activation on February 1 ahead of the Miami HEAT and Chicago Bulls game. “At its core, basketball is about community and connection,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 2025 KIA NBA MVP and 2025 NBA Champion. “The AT&T Dunk Bus is a great way to create meaningful moments for fans in different cities and keep that connection to the game strong.”
Hunter was removed by the NBPA for a variety of reasons, which included nepotism. And he claims that Fisher and Kobe Bryant were negotiating CBA deals with Stern personally, a claim Fisher denies. But 15 years later, the league having grown exponentially financially with many earning generational wealth, the legacy of Hunter could be viewed differently. He said he doesn’t care about legacies, but he told the Globe he negotiated arduously for his players and foresaw the league’s growth. “I hear from players from time to time,” Hunter told the Globe. “They call me. I was up at Harvard [for a basketball event] and a guy came over with me and said, ‘You’re the Black man that created more Black millionaires than anybody else in the history of the country.’ And I just kind of chuckled. I said, ‘Yeah, I guess,’ you know. “And so I’ve gotten that from time to time from people — people who kind of understand the game, understand the economics of the game, and said that, you know, I should be credited for all the millionaires, black millionaires, I created.”
Manu Ginobili, the former San Antonio Spurs star, is part of a group planning what's being called the Sports Performance Hub, described by the team as a next-generation sports, education and community development project. The privately funded, $280 million development will include a planned 10,000-seat stadium for Miami FC of the United Soccer League, along with elite sports training facilities, a basketball complex, a boarding school, a hotel, academic buildings and other amenities on a single campus.
"You don't have to be blind to see the growth that Miami has experienced in the last 20 years," Ginobili said. "I remember when I started going to Miami in 2002, when I made it to the NBA, and what it has turned into is incredible. It has become not only a hub for Latin America, but a worldwide hub."
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Local officials have praised the proposal. Mayor Steve Losner said late last year the project could "be an incredible asset, while providing long-term benefits to our local economy." City documents outline plans for tennis and pickleball courts, walking paths and playgrounds in the first phase, followed by training facilities, athlete development programs and performance technology centers.
Lakers G Luka Doncic is “partnering with Shopify” to “launch a direct-to-fan platform, using his intellectual property to sell directly to fans.” 77X, named after Doncic’s jersey number, will “sell experiences, merchandise and collectibles.” The financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed. Doncic’s Chief Business & Brand Officer Lara Beth Seager “will act as CEO of 77X.” 77X will be “free for fans to join, offering them options such as video interviews, games, and interacting with Doncic on decisions such as new colors for his Jordan signature shoe.” Doncic will also “engage fans through physical events and pop-ups, with the first scheduled for All-Star Weekend” in L.A. 77X’s revenue streams will be “generated through a combination of merchandise sales, creative collaborations, and brand partnerships” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 1/27).
Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal reported Wednesday that “multiple” NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball franchises are in “emergency talks” with Victory+ ahead of the potential shuttering of Main Street Sports Group, operator of the FanDuel Sports Network RSNs. Per previous reporting, Main Street has until the end of this month to line up a buyer before the nine MLB franchises with which it is partnered — all of whom opted out of their deals earlier this month — leave for good.
“And to make this all now again a sports story — it brings us back to that NBA owner who told us, quote: 'No one knows where their sales are from.' Yeah, I told that owner, Pablo, that we now know where at least some of those sales are coming from. And the answer is Russia.”
NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum has now explained why the league is pushing forward with the project and which markets it views as priorities. "If you're a fan, it's hard to follow professional basketball in Europe. It's easy to follow the NBA, but it's hard to follow European basketball," Tatum told Sportico. "Top tier at EuroLeague is missing some of the biggest commercial markets in Europe. There's no top-tier team in the UK at all, and the UK is the biggest market in Europe. There's no top-tier basketball team there: in London, in Manchester. "There's no permanent top-tier team in the top league there in Paris, in Berlin, in Rome," the executive went on to say. "So, they're missing the biggest commercial markets, which is why they are not able to commercialize basketball.
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"Our idea is to create this league – call it 12 to 16 teams – with the biggest countries having permanent franchises. Call it the UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, or France. Two teams in each one of those markets that we know with certainty will have franchises there, and then we'll open it up to the rest of the ecosystem."
As the Financial Times reports, the NBA will share financial projections for its proposed European division with private equity firms and elite football clubs. Per the report, Blackstone, CVC Capital Partners, RedBird Partners, and General Atlantic are among the firms involved.
According to multiple independent sources, Sole Retriever can exclusively report that Jordan Brand has no plans to release another Jordan Zion model after the Jordan Zion 4. Zion signed one of the largest rookie contracts in the sneaker endorsement world, with his seven-year, $75 million deal making headlines in 2019 before he even stepped foot on an NBA court. There has been no news or reports of Zion signing an extension with Jordan Brand to this point, meaning his contract is up this year.
Miguel Ángel Paniagua announced this Thursday on El Partidazo de COPE that Real Madrid will join the NBA Europe project . It is 99% certain that the club will be one of the 12 founding members of the new competition starting in the 2027-2028 season, thus bypassing the EuroLeague, with which FC Barcelona has extended its license for the next 10 seasons .