Rumors

The first NBA All-Star Game presented by NBC Sports since 2002 featured the widely-acclaimed “USA vs. The World” format and delivered the largest NBA All-Star audience since 2011, averaging 8.8 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo, according to preliminary Nielsen data and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

NBC Sports

Shams Charania: The NBA's Board of Governors meeting in the spring is expected to be critical for stakeholders to better understand the factors around expansion. Discussing on NBA Today:

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NBA Base: Bill Simmons on the state of the NBA and Adam Silver’s leadership: “It’s the first time I’ve really wondered like, do we have the right guy running the league? Because he doesn’t seem interested in actually fixing real problems that everybody can see. And it’s not about like, look at the NBA Cup... Your schedule is too long. You have to fix this.” (Via The Bill Simmons Podcast)

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Marc Stein: The NBA, I'm told, will officially announce the precise roster breakdown for the All-Star Game on Tuesday.

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As federal prosecutors continue to investigate possible illegal sports gambling on NBA games, they are looking into additional games beyond the seven contests named in a Department of Justice indictment this fall.

New York Times

“The government has ongoing investigations,” David Berman, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, said in court last week. “And our understanding is the defendant has conducted himself in similar manners in other instances as well.” It is not known how many games are being investigated, or if there are other NBA players who may be implicated.

New York Times

NBPA: Statement from the NBPA and its Executive Committee on the Fatal Shooting in Minneapolis by ICE. “There comes a time when silence is betrayal” -MLK

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HoopsHype's NBA agent rankings have been a longtime feature on the site - one that agents themselves pay close attention to, by the way. That section provides just a snapshot of the business at any given moment, though. Now we're going deeper, giving you a comprehensive look at how the agent landscape has evolved and how it continues to change. With this tool, you'll be able to explore agents' client histories, the deals made under their representation, and the latest agency switches.

HoopsHype

Main Street Sports Group has missed its January payments to numerous undisclosed NBA teams, sources told SBJ today, as its delicate sale to DAZN and uncertain future has now trickled from MLB to pro basketball.

Sports Business Journal

Sources said default notices have likely already been sent to Main Street by the league’s primary law firm Proskauer and that a 15-day cure period will begin once the default notices are formally received. In the interim, Main Street will continue to produce this month’s games on its FanDuel Sports Networks for the 13 teams: the Hawks, Hornets, Cavaliers, Pistons, Pacers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bucks, T’Wolves, Thunder, Magic and Spurs. Main Street has not yet responded to a request for comment. In another development that could be fortuitous for the NBA franchises, sources believe those 13 teams had safeguards written into their Main Street contracts that line them up to be primary payees from Main Street’s creditors should the business eventually collapse.

Sports Business Journal

Nearly a year after emerging from bankruptcy, regional sports network operator Main Street Sports is once again teetering on the brink of financial calamity. The company is in advanced talks on a deal to sell itself to DAZN, the London-based sports streamer. If an agreement for DAZN to take majority control does not happen by January, however, Main Street Sports is planning to shut itself down entirely, industry sources said. Such a move would revert the local rights of nine Major League Baseball teams, 13 in the NBA, and seven in the NHL back to those respective leagues and franchises. Resolution on the future path of Main Street Sports is expected by early January. MLB’s Cardinals did not receive a scheduled December rights payment from Main Street Sports, and there is a chance that several other teams, particularly in the NBA, could suffer the same fate in the coming weeks. St. Louis, however, has not terminated its rights agreement.

Front Office Sports

Marc Stein: Adam Silver acknowledges concern with the soft tissue injuries that have sidelined numerous star players this season and says the league office is "very focused on it" but pushes back on the notion early season game overload is causing the injuries. "They're not," Silver said.

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The other main option is to penalize intentional fouls in some or all situations. To specifically get rid of the foul-up-three issue, any intentional foul committed by a team that is winning in the final 30 seconds of the game would result in its opposition getting one free throw and retaining possession. This is how Hollinger imagined one possible interpretation of that philosophy: “If the offense is in the bonus, a take foul by the winning team up by three points in the last six seconds (or eight or 10, whatever the committee thinks is appropriate) is one shot and the ball out of bounds.”

New York Times

Lev Akabas: The speed of the NBA is significantly faster this year than any other season of the player tracking era

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