Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
New Orleans Pelicans: The Pelicans have named David Cosgrave as Vice President of Health & Performance and Joe Sharpe as Head Athletic Trainer Cosgrave spent over 12 years in the Premier League, contributing across performance environments at Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool FC, Stoke City, and Fulham FC. He later played a key role at FC Copenhagen during a highly successful period, contributing to six Danish titles and multiple deep UEFA competition runs between 2014 and 2021. Sharpe brings over two decades of NBA experience to the Pelicans organization. He most recently spent six seasons (2018-24) with the Charlotte Hornets as the Director of Healthcare and Sports Performance. Prior to joining the Hornets, Sharpe spent ten seasons as senior athletic trainer for the Oklahoma City Thunder (2008-18) and four seasons as head athletic trainer for the Charlotte Bobcats (2004-08).
There are several titles that Dan Gilbert can go by: entrepreneur, philanthropist, billionaire, NBA team owner. But of all the titles, the one Gilbert’s most proud of is that of father. Gilbert, who is the Chairman of the Board of Rocket Companies and is the majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has five children. His oldest son, Nick, died in 2023 after a long battle with neurofibromatosis, or NF, a rare disease that causes tumors to grow on nerve tissues. NF is one of the most prevalent rare genetic disorders in the U.S., impacting approximately 1 in every 2,000 births, or roughly 170,000 Americans. The condition can cause tumors to form anywhere on the nerves of patients at any point in their lives. There is no cure. Gilbert said his son Nick developed his first tumor shortly after he was born. “The first one was on his optic nerve, between his eye and his brain,” Gilbert said. “It wasn’t growing for the first five years, until he was close to six years old, and then it started growing.”
That tumor led to Nick’s first bout of chemotherapy. But it would not be his last. On his 10th birthday, Nick learned that he would soon need to undergo his first major surgery. Gilbert said his son responded to the difficult news as he did to all challenges in life, with optimism and a sense of humor. ″[Nick] just wanted to know if there was macaroni in the hospital,” Gilbert said. He added, “He always believed that he was going to get through all this. And so did we.”
After the surgery, Nick underwent several rounds of chemo and radiation therapy. But he didn’t let that stand in the way of achieving his goals. Despite his battle with NF, Nick was still able to maintain close friendships, attend Michigan State, and even work as an intern in the business development unit at his dad’s company. But by 2018, the disease was catching up with him. “There were some tumors, that just kind of got away from us,” Gilbert said. “We had two major surgeries that year. And from that point on, until 2023 when we lost him, there were just surgeries and chemo.” Gilbert says they tried everything, but a tumor on his brainstem grew too quickly for them to manage. “These weren’t cancerous tumors. They’re benign, but they can grow and cause all kinds of damage.”
For Gilbert, who considered his son his best friend, losing Nick was a devastating blow. And he was not alone in his grief. Before he died, Nick had become a symbol of preservation and determination in two cities: his hometown of Detroit, and in Cleveland, where he had become a fixture at Cavs games. “He was loved by everybody. Everybody that met him loved him. He loved everybody.” Gilbert said it was frustrating, having billions of dollars and access to the best doctors in the world, but still not being able to stop this devastating disease from taking someone he loved. “That’s a sobering thing,” Gilbert said. “You can’t fix everything, so you just try to take one step in front of the next, do the best you can.”
Advertisement
Something that Gilbert and his family have worked hard to control is how Nick is remembered. They’ve taken several steps to ensure that Nick’s memory will live on. They opened Gilly’s Clubhouse in downtown Detroit. Gilly was a nickname given to Nick by his friends. The upscale sports bar was Nick’s vision and a project that he was developing before he died. Gilbert’s other children, Nick’s siblings, started The Gilly Project, a community based non-profit dedicated to Nick’s honor. And Gilbert made curing NF a key pillar of the Gilbert Family Foundation, the Detroit-based philanthropy Gilbert and Jennifer launched in 2015. Those efforts — punctuated by an annual benefit event in Detroit —have raised millions towards finding a cure. “We raised $12 million in one night. We keep breaking records. We’re contributing about $50 million a year to research.”
Whitmore, only 21 years old, said he nearly lost much more than his NBA career. “That was a life-threatening type of illness I had,” he said. “I’m just grateful to be alive, to be honest, and to be alive and talk to my family and talk to you guys and be around my teammates.”
Whitmore was first listed as out due to right shoulder soreness while doctors worked towards a diagnosis. As Whitmore explained to Miller, the problem was caused by his ribs restricting blood flow to his right arm. That led to a blood clot, which caused him to wake up with discomfort in his shoulder. A few more days would pass before Whitmore airballed a series of midrange shots at shootaround in Memphis on Dec. 20. “I knew something was wrong,” Whitmore said. The symptoms worsened as Whitmore made several trips to the hospital before the blood clot was found on an ultrasound. He then had three surgical procedures before he was on the road to recovery. As Whitmore tells it, he’s “fine now” but only after a long and difficult process. His parents were integral in helping him get through it, as they took shifts to be by his side during his hospital stints.
Whitmore also felt immense support from his teammates and others in the Wizards organization. “[Before] going into surgery, I got videos from like each and everybody separately. Even in the group chats they were wishing me a healthy recovery and a successful surgery. Some teammates came to visit me in the hospital, coaches, coaching staff, even the front office. So, everybody was there. I felt love from afar even when I wasn’t in the building, but when I came back everybody welcomed me with open arms so I was really grateful for that,” he said.
“The first thing is, he was slow to get up,” Nowinski said. “It was hard to tell if he was unconscious or not. There was a brief period of time he didn’t move, but he was clearly not feeling right. And I noticed he lost his balance when he first moved, which is another sign of a concussion, and a suggestion that this was a pretty serious injury.”
Advertisement
Nowinski cautions about rushing him back too soon. According to Nowinski, the 48-hour window isn’t necessarily a well-known marker in the latest neurological science, but rather more of a cautionary reflection of the NBA’s typical “every-other-day” game schedule. For example, the NFL doesn’t have a set time span in its revamped policy; instead, the league instituted a five-step return-to-play protocol that every concussed athlete must pass. “NBA players often return to full participation faster than we see, for example, in the NFL,” Nowinski said. “That’s in part because most NFL games are a week apart, and so they have a more gradual return to play. The league protocols are designed to fit the game schedule rather than necessarily what we think about in terms of managing long-term risks.”
Veteran ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale is confronting his fifth battle with cancer, having revealed on Monday that biopsy results confirmed a diagnosis of melanoma in his lung and liver cavity. The 86-year-old is set to begin immunotherapy as he faces this latest health challenge. Mr Vitale, known affectionately as "Dickie V", expressed his unwavering confidence in a statement released by ESPN. "I've beaten melanoma," he declared. "I've beaten lymphoma. I've beaten vocal-cord cancer. I've beaten lymph-node cancer. I'm four for four and I'm fully confident I'm going to make it five for five." Separately, Mr Vitale shared on social media that he had undergone ten days of extensive testing, including scans, MRIs, bloodwork, and a biopsy. He admitted, "I obviously did not get the report today that I was hoping for when my oncologist called," but affirmed his intention to "win the battle," adding: "Now at least I know what I face." His previous health battles had led to a two-year absence from the airwaves, though he made a return shortly before March Madness in 2025.
Still, Vitale said in his ESPN statement that he feels “fantastic." And he quickly turned the focus of his statement to his long-running efforts to raise money for pediatric cancer research, notably with next month’s annual gala in his name that has raised more than $105 million in its two-decade history. “At 86 years young, I've lived a hell of a life, and I'm more motivated than ever to raise money for kids battling cancer,” Vitale said, adding that he hopes to raise $12 million with the 21st “Dick Vitale Gala” set for May 1 in Sarasota, Florida.
