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Jabari Smith, at $24.4 million, would have been the highest paid NBA player as late as the 2007-08 season. Stephen Curry was the NBA’s highest paid player during the 2019-20 season and the first to crack the $40 million threshold; that would make him just the 29th-highest paid player next season. The NBA will have 16 players earn at least $50 million during the 2025-26 season; the NFL, MLB and NHL will have six between them.
As much as the public-facing narrative has shifted, Stars owner Tom Gaglardi said in a meeting with select media members Monday afternoon that his conversations with Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont have shifted as well. “Patrick and I had a conversation several months ago where he expressed to me that he wants to build a new arena, and would I go with him?” Gaglardi said. “‘Would the Stars come and play? We’ll build this and do all this wonderful stuff.’ “Patrick’s now done enough research and looking at these things, and he’s landed on that in order to optimize a building for basketball, that makes it difficult to play hockey in that arena. But that’s what he’s explained to me. I think before he thought the two sports would play together. He says the current model now, if you look at places like Intuit, Chase in San Francisco, these buildings are not capable of hockey, and that’s kind of where it’s going. His attitude, I think, has changed in terms of what he wants to do.”
New York sports fans who subscribe to Optimum can finally rejoice. MSG Networks was back on Altice-owned Optimum in time for Saturday’s Rangers-Sabres game after the two sides came to a new agreement to put MSGN’s channels back on the airwaves. Optimum stopped carrying Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and Devils games for its estimated 1 million New York City-area customers on Jan. 1. After weeks of fighting, the two sides reached a multiyear deal that gives Optimum the ability to sell lower-priced packages without MSG, which was on its basic tier, a source told The Post. MSG Networks is lowering the price it charges Optimum per subscriber from about $10 to $8, the source said.
Can there be an NBA equivalent to the 4 Nations? "I don't know what the format would be," said Lauri Markkanen, who sported Finland's 4 Nations jersey walking into a Jazz game last week. "Would it be the World against the US or North America? Is it going to be France? I think (the 4 Nations) is a really good format, and it's meaningful games for the break. You always want to fight for your country, so it'd be cool."
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You could have Team USA, Team Canada, Team Europe and Team Africa and then use the same format as the 4 Nations Face-Off (a round robin and then a final). Markkanen, at least, thinks something like that would work — especially because he'd feel a similar pride representing a European squad as he does putting on a Finnish jersey. "Not quite the same, but like it's up there for sure," he said. "It's like a brotherhood. You see a European guy on the other team, you talk with them after the game, and it's almost like you know each other and you're from the same country. You're not, but just sharing something coming to the States. And I think it's a thing that connects people. So definitely we feel prideful representing Europe."
Former NHL player P.K. Subban: 'I want Michael Jordan, I want Kobe Bryant. If you're a different version of that, you don't have my respect'
Former NHL player P.K. Subban: ‘If you're really about it, if you're really about sports, then you're about two things: Your teammates and the fans. And I'm sorry, it doesn't matter how much money you're making. When you do not show up to play, you're letting your teammates down. When you do not show up to play you're letting the fans down that are paying you 40, 50, 60 million. I don't care if you're getting 300 million, congratulations, but these people in here are paying $2,500 a ticket, five grand, that are blue-collar, hard-working people. If you don't get your head wrapped around that you shouldn't be in pro sports, because how are we going to grow? How do we expect you to be an example? Well guess what, you don't want to be? you are one. You're on the biggest stage, you just said it, they make the most money, you're an example. you got to show up. You gotta take that on. I’m sick and tired of making athletes greats, all-time greats, that are not the best examples. Those are the people that we want our kids, athletes to follow. That helps us in our game. Stephen A. Smith, you want athletes to be educated on this and understand this. They gotta understand the importance of showing up at the All-Star Game, and being on the court, and playing banged-up sometimes, and playing injured maybe at times, and participating. Because here’s the thing: because you’re making 100, 200, 300 million, you should be out there banged up. That’s why we pay you, is to max out. We talk about greatness and the longevity of somebody’s career. I don’t care if you play 50 years. I want your best 10. I want you on the court dominating. I want you to go all-out. I want Michael Jordan, I want Kobe Bryant. That’s what I want on every sport. That’s the guy that I follow. If you’re a different version than that, you don’t have my respect.’
Anze Kopitar, the only Slovenian to win hockey’s Stanley Cup, and Doncic, the only Slovenian named the NBA’s rookie of the year, were born just 38 miles apart and remain their country’s most popular and accomplished professional athletes. And though they talked on the phone occassionally and reportedly kept tabs on one another, they didn’t meet in person until 2019, when Doncic, then a rookie, came out to see Kopitar and the Kings beat the Dallas Stars. Afterward, they exchanged jerseys and posed for pictures.
“We’ve talked a little bit, but he’s got a lot of stuff on the go,” Kopitar said. “So we’re going to let the dust settle and then get an acclimated and all that stuff and connect.” Kopitar said his 8-year-old son Jakob is a big fan of Doncic so he expects he’ll be pressured into attending a few more Lakers games now. As for sharing housing tips on Southern California, where he’s lived for 18 years, Kopitar said he’s sure Doncic has all the help he needs. “He’s old enough. He’s going to want to pick wherever he wants to be,” he said. “But if he wants advice, I’ll be there to help.”
As the people of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities begin the long recovery from the region’s devastating fires, 12 professional sports organizations — Angel City FC, the Angels, Chargers, Clippers, Dodgers, Ducks, Galaxy, Kings, LAFC, Lakers, Rams and Sparks — have pledged a combined donation of more than $8 million to support victims in need, as well as those fighting the fires.
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Bolstering their financial contributions, the 12 teams (in partnership with the teams’ own foundations) have also joined forces with Fanatics and the Fanatics Foundation to distribute $3 million worth of Fanatics merchandise to Angelenos who have been evacuated from their homes. In addition to the apparel items being donated by Fanatics, teams are collectively contributing thousands more items that will be given out at three upcoming events.
Fanatics, professional leagues and Los Angeles sports organizations partnered on Friday, January 10 to launch an “LA Strong” collection of t-shirts and sweatshirts, with all proceeds benefiting the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and the American Red Cross.
To begin with, it is worth addressing the suggestion that the NBA’s decline is happening in isolation at a time when other leagues are thriving. To be sure, the NFL is thriving. So too is SEC football and Caitlin Clark-fueled women’s basketball. (Major League Baseball had a good year, but that is more akin to the NBA’s strong 2023 postseason, the result of having the highest-profile teams make deep runs.) The broader landscape is closer to what the NBA is experiencing this season. Men’s college basketball is down 21 percent, women’s college games are down 38 percent (owing in part to last year’s Clark boost), and the NHL is down 28 percent.
Much like the league as a whole, the Lakers have a lot of detractors heavily invested in their failure, and thus a subpar start for them is discussed much like a historically awful start might be for another team. The NBA is undoubtedly off to a subpar start this season, but that is no surprise for a league whose best-known players are pushing 40, whose top teams are short on charisma, and whose games are still — for a few more months — primarily tethered to cable. One might even argue that the ratings indicate a dissatisfaction with the product indicative of real problems with the quality of the game, though to be frank that is an opinion in search of data to back it up. While the league has addressed one of these problems with the new media rights deal, which includes dramatically more games on broadcast television, the other issues will be a challenge to overcome.
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