July 2019 – Lebron News

July 31, 2019

ESPN’s Katie Nolan snuck into LeBron James’ ESPYs after-party by posing as USWNT star Rose Lavelle

Every year after the ESPYs, LeBron James hosts an “Uninterrupted” after-party that the ESPN host Katie Nolan says is “famously impossible to get into.”

During this past week’s episode of her podcast “Sports?” Nolan shared her experience of successfully crashing this year’s edition.

Nolan told listeners that she wasn’t on the list to get in but that her fellow ESPN reporters and close friends Dianna Russini and Cassidy Hubbarth were invited. She said, however, that even being on the list didn’t guarantee access.

Nonetheless, Nolan said she tagged along with Russini and Hubbarth after the main ESP

July 31, 2019

Drake is bringing LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s Uninterrupted to Canada

Four years after its initial 2015 founding, LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s digital media startup Uninterrupted is expanding beyond American borders for the first time. James and Carter have struck a partnership with Drake to launch Uninterrupted Canada, which will bring the company’s unique blend of culture, sports, and media to Canadian fans—and, importantly, business partners.

“Expanding into Canada with some incredible partners puts Uninterrupted on a global scale and creates new opportunities for even more athletes and fans to be a part of what we’re building,” said James, in a statement.

Uninterrupted Canada will be run by CEO Scott Moore, a veteran Canadian sports media exec, and chief creative officer Vinay Virmani, a film producer and actor. The new Can

July 31, 2019

LeBron James Loses His Mind And His Shoe At Bronny’s AAU Games

Back in the summer of 2000, a 15-year-old LeBron James, playing for an AAU team in Oakland, rolled through his pregame layup line with a double-scoop ice cream cone in hand. It was apparently very funny. It’s the summer of 2019 and LeBron James is still enjoying himself in the AAU layup lines—lately, by yamming off-the-backboard dunks while his son and teammates look on. (Just like he did this time last year, only with different dunks.) This is what LeBron Jameses Jr. and Sr. got up to over the weekend:

During a different game, Bronny’s teammates Dior Johnson and Devontes Cobbs connected on a through-the-legs alley-oop in transition. The play did not involve his son at all, and LeBron James still lost his left shoe during the ensuing celebration. No one can deny that this is a man who loves and will die right now for his Sport and for SPORTS in general. “But for real my shoe really jump off my foot in excitement,” James wrote later.

James is an extremely online and enthusiastic father. At age 34, he is effe

July 31, 2019

Drake Teams With LeBron James’ Uninterrupted to Launch Canadian Offshoot of Sports-Media Brand

Drake, the Canadian music artist and Toronto Raptors mega-fan, is getting into the sports-media business with a major assist from NBA superstar LeBron James.

Uninterrupted, the athlete-empowerment brand and media company founded by James and his longtime business partner Maverick Carter, is launching in Canada in partnership with Drake. Uninterrupted Canada is the first international expansion for Uninterrupted, which launched in the U.S. in 2015 with backing from Warner Bros. and Turner.

Drake commented, “Uninterrupted has been an incredible platform for athletes to tell their stories and connect with fans. I’m honored to partner with LeBron to bring Uninterrupted to Canada, a country that continuously supports innovation and creativity.”

Like the U.S. version, Uninterrupted Canada will produce “athlete-driv

July 30, 2019

ESPN’s Katie Nolan pretended to be Rose Lavelle to get into LeBron James’ post-ESPYs party

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Last Slide Next Slide

This was a night Katie Nolan won’t forget anytime soon.

The ESPN personality and host of “Always Late with Katie Nolan” hosted the ESPYs red carpet show prior to the event with coworkers Dianna Russini and Cassidy Hubbarth. After partying with the U.S. women’s national squad, the trio headed to LeBron James’ exclusive post-ESPYs bash.

“Every year LeBron has this party, the Uninterrupted party – famously impossible to get into,” Nolan recounted on her podcast, Sports? last week.

The USWNT had made it to James’ party before the ESPN trio. As they waited in line, Rose Lavelle, the breakout star of the World Cup-winning squad, was leaving the party. The group was sure to take note of that.

“The (host) has her little iPad with the list on it. Again, to reiterate: Cassidy and Dianna, on that list. Me, no, not at all,” Nolan said. “Never even sniffed it. So Cassidy goes first. She’s like, ‘Cassidy Hubbarth.’ The woman looks, ‘You’re all set.’ Diana. ‘Dianna Russini.’ ‘You’re all set.’

“I’m very aware of where I stand on a list of people going to a party. And I’m OK with it. I’m just not going to go, because I’d rather not go and not feel bad that I can’t get in.”

MLB TRADE DEADLINE: Six teams with most urgency to get a move done

LAVELLE: USWNT star’s teacher once said she wouldn’t go pro

Then came Nolan’s turn to enter. The host asked for her name.

“Dianna goes, ‘It’s L-a-v-, Rose how do you spell your last name?'” Nolan explained on the podcast.

At that point, Nolan picked up on the

July 30, 2019

Just Some Kids from Northeast Ohio

At LeBron James’ I Promise School.
Read More

July 30, 2019

Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee joins the squad for Space Jam 2

Well, it looks like Space Jam 2 really is happening, with LeBron James filling the Michael Jordan role, Sonequa Martin-Green possibly playing his wife, and Don Cheadle playing some third character, and now Deadline says that director Terence Nance has made an “amicable” departure from the film, with Warner Bros. quickly replacing him with Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee—who has a nice box-office track record thanks to the financial success of the aforementioned Girls Trip and the Tiffany Haddish/Kevin Hart vehicle Night School. He’s also the creator of HBO’s Random Acts Of Flyness.

The Deadline story is pretty light on other news about Space Jam 2, but we can assume it’ll be about LeBron James playing basketball against aliens with the Looney Tunes, possibly with a surp

July 30, 2019

Don Cheadle joins LeBron James, Anthony Davis in ‘Space Jam 2’ Cast

Cheadle is the second non-athlete to join the Space Jam 2 cast alongside Walking Dead and Star Trek: Discovery star Sonequa Martin-Green.

LeBron James received another Space Jam 2 co-star on Friday, with Oscar nominee Don Cheadle joining James, Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson in the highly

July 30, 2019

Kevin Hart and Tons of Celebs Celebrate at his 40th Birthday Party

Kevin Hart celebrated his big 4-0 in grand fashion, and tons of celebs were on hand to ring in Kevin’s new decade on earth.

As for who showed up at L.A.’s TAO restaurant … well, for starters, LeBron James, Don Cheadle, Meek Mill, Chris Paul, Nick Cannon, Usher, Evan Ross, Draya Michele, Karrueche Tran, Marlon Wayans, Michael Ealy, Gabrielle Union … shall we go on.

The dinner was at TAO, and the party will be continuing through Sunday on to The Highlight Room. TAO and The Highlight Room are connected to Dream Hollywood … one the hottest hotels in town.

Kevin pre

July 30, 2019

Can LeBron make this Lakers roster work?

This is the story you know:

Last summer as the Los Angeles Lakers built their team around new star LeBron James, they loaded up on ball handlers who were light on shooting ability and passed on adding reliable big men, assuming James would play more in that role. It was a plan, ratified by James, that included playing up-tempo and taking playmaking pressure off him as he moved into the later stage of his career.

It did not work. The Lakers couldn’t shoot and the floor shrunk on James. They ended up going on a monthslong quest for big men. Point guards Lonzo Ball and Rajon Rondo got hurt. James took over the majority of the ballhandling anyway; he played the fastest pace of his career at age 34; and two months in, he suffered the worst injury of his career. The Lakers finished 37-45 and missed the playoffs.

Now, the Lakers want to write a new story. It goes like this:

James will be the primary playmaker — as he has been on his teams for the past 16 seasons, planned or not — with Rondo back as a probable backup making $7 million less. The roster now has a spate of 3-and-D players, with Danny Green, Avery Bradley and Jared Dudley joining a re-signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

A blockbuster trade for Anthony Davis, the return of Kyle Kuzma and the addition of DeMarcus Cousins will give the Lakers a dramatically more robust front line, with Davis there to share James’ scoring and playmaking load.

Put James and Davis in a pick-and-roll, spread the floor with those shooters (who also will work hard at the other end) and let the magic happen. Throw in the possibility of adding a champion such as Andre Iguodala and another veteran role player along the way — perhaps even another shooter such as Kyle Korver — and the formula is there.

“There’s no question this is a much stronger team that fits around LeBron better,” said one league executive.

“They started backups a lot last season, and they had some guys on their bench that shouldn’t have been in the league,” said one scout. “If they stay healthy, they have a playoff lineup now.”

“They added Anthony Davis; if they did nothing else, they were going to be way better,” said another league executive.

July 30, 2019

‘NBA 2K20’ Player Ratings Revealed

As the anticipation surrounding NBA 2K20 keeps growing, 2K has finally revealed the ratings for the top 20 players in the upcoming game.

Similar to last year’s ratings LeBron James remains at the top spot with 97 overall followed by recent 2019 NBA Finals MVP and champion Kawhi Leonard, his new West Coast rival, right behind him. Rounding out the top five are MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kevin Durant and James Harden all with a rating of 96.

NBA 2K20 arrives for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC September 2 and features Dwayne Wade and Anthony Davis as cover stars.

Check out the top 20 NBA 2K20 player ratings below. And in related gaming news, Pokémon GO is launching a One Piece crossover event.

1. LeBron James – 97 overall
2. Kawhi Leonard – 97 overall
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo – 96 overall
4. Kevin Durant – 96 overall
5. James Harden – 96 overall
6. Steph Curry – 95 overall
7. Anthony Davis – 94 overall
8. Paul George – 93 overall
9. Damian Lillard – 92 overall
10. Joel Embiid – 91 overall
11. Kyrie Irving – 91 overall
12. Nikola Jovic – 90 overall
13. Russell Westbrook – 90 overall
14. Klay Thompson – 89 overall
15. Karl-Anthony Towns – 89 overall
16. Jimmy Butler – 88 overall
17. Kemba Walker – 88 overall
18. Donovan Mitchell – 88 overall
19. Rudy Gobert – 88 overall
20. Blake Griffin – 88 overall

Watch Now. Presenting the NBA 2K20 Ratings Reveal #2KRatings ?https://t.co/L13qOi0TXd

— NBA 2K20 (@NBA2K) July 15, 2019

JUST IN: Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are the second-highest rated duo in NBA 2K20 with an average overall ratin

July 30, 2019

Raptors didn’t lose in free agency, but Kawhi Leonard certainly won – Sportsnet.ca

Oh, to be Kawhi Leonard: to vacate a championship city and leave a smoking, emotional crater and go to one of the biggest media markets in the world after forcing your new team to strip itself of every future asset:

And still have people wish you God speed.

Forget Board Man getting paid. This is Teflon Man getting paid.

From the best available reporting, it now seems as if Leonard not only ended up in the city he wanted to be in all along — remember, he wanted to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers when the San Antonio Spurs were fixing to move him last season — but he also played a little hardball, too. He did what NBA stars have done since LeBron James took his talents to South Beach, only in a quieter, closed fist-inside-a-velvet-glove kind of way.

Richard Deitsch, my co-host from 4-7 p.m. on Sportsnet 590, debated this very notion on Friday: Where could Kawhi Leonard best continue to build on his legacy? We both agreed the Lakers were a little whorish. Deitsch said Toronto and I said the Clippers, where I’d felt he was headed all along.

I still feel that Leonard chose the ballsiest path: throwing in his lot with the Clippers and lifting that franchise into favoured status over LeBron and Anthony Davis and the Lakers, who truth must be told have been dining off their history for the past five years. The teams share a city and an arena, but they don’t share the hearts of the city’s basketball culture.

Now Leonard can maybe win a third title with a third different team — he’s taken less money to do so and now has a chance to maybe settle all the ghosts surrounding a franchise that was the Buffalo Braves before moving to San Diego; a franchise that has had some nice players and some pretty moments but was also once owned by Donald Sterling, a man who was forced to sell the franchise because of racist comments. Pro sports has had some truly awful owners — to make it on the Mt. Douchemore of that list is something. But Sterling managed it.

July 30, 2019

Sources: Fear of Lakers dynasty drove Clips’ deal

As fears mounted that the Los Angeles Lakers had pushed to the cusp of creating an unprecedented Big Three, the LA Clippers made a blockbuster trade for Oklahoma City‘s Paul George — and cleared the path for free-agent Kawhi Leonard to sign a four-year, $141 million contract with the Clippers, league sources told ESPN.

The Clippers became the last line of defense for the balance of power in the NBA — never mind the franchise’s own future. The Clippers had come to believe that, without a deal for George, Leonard was prepared to sign with the Lakers and create a Staples Center partnership with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, sources said.

Had Leonard joined the Lakers, they would have been overwhelming title favorites, and it perhaps would have thrust the Clippers back into the franchise’s dark ages. Now the Clippers are in Western Conference contention, shoulder-to-shoulder with the Lakers — as well as the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz.

George and Leonard wanted to play together, and George and his agent, CAA’s Aaron Mintz, approached Thunder general manager Sam Presti in recent days and requested a trade, league sources said. Leonard’s message to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was essentially this: Get George, and you’ll get me.

Before free agency started, the Clippers knew they needed a second star to lure Leonard but had no idea whom he wanted. The Clippers inquired on deals for Washington‘s Bradley Beal and New Orleans‘ Jrue Holiday, but those guards weren’t available in trades. Eventually, Leonard made his intentions known to the Clippers: Paul George.

To Leonard, the cost was immaterial. He wanted to walk into a championship contender and believed George represented the co-star he needed to combat James and Davis, sources said. Leonard wanted to play for Doc Rivers, a coach with whom he could feel a kinship he felt was similar to his relationship with Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, sources said.

In the end, Presti made the best of an impossib

July 30, 2019

Analysis: Warriors’ loss of Kevin Durant will hurt for years to come

SportsPulse: Kevin Durant is headed to Brooklyn and may have just created the new super team. As Jeff Zillgitt explains, despite Durant likely missing all of next season the Nets are in prime position for years.
USA TODAY

For the Golden State Warriors, Kevin Durant’s departure for the Brooklyn Nets is even more devastating than the sight of Durant going down with a ruptured Achilles during the NBA Finals.

Chances are, Durant will recover from the injury.

Chances are, the Warriors will not recover from the loss of Durant — “recover’’ being measured by their five-year status as a juggernaut in the NBA Finals, winning three titles during their run as Western Conference favorites.

Signing Klay Thompson to a five-year, $189.6 million max deal is an important step forward in securing the Splash Brothers. Thompson and Steph Curry likely will remain together for at least another three years, with Curry entering the third year of a five-year, $201 million deal. But on Sunday that felt like a consolation prize after Durant agreed to a max deal with the Nets.

TRACKER: Analysis, numbers on all the big names and big deals

Yes, Curry and Thompson remain arguably the best shooting backcourt in NBA history. On top of that, Draymond Green, the Warriors’ All-Star forward, has gone from good to great. And the Warriors’ bench is deep and talented.

The Warriors also could lose DeMarcus Cousins, who at times looked formidable during the NBA Finals, to free agency. And Thompson, who is recovering from a torn ACL suffered during the NBA Finals, is expected to be sidelined at least until December. But those are minor issues compared to Durant’s departure.

The Brooklyn Nets hit the jackpot while the New York Knicks were left with jack squat. USA TODAY Sports Jeff Zillgitt breaks down the winners and losers in the early going of NBA free agency.
USA TODAY

During the NBA Finals, the Toronto Raptors exposed how Durant’s absence weakens the Warriors. And with the Los Angeles Lakers having added Ant

For someone who has never seen the early morning rush at the I Promise School in Akron, Ohio, it is a joyful sensory overload at first. It feels like being in close proximity to the floor of a basketball court when the home team’s starting lineup is announced. Kids spill out of cars and into the school building, where they are greeted by a line of adults and older students who clap them into the building. The radio version of a DJ Khaled hit blares from speakers, pouring down the winding staircases at the entrance. Mostly, the students run through the line of clapping hands, jumping up for high-fives or strolling confidently, brushing off a white sneaker or a T-shirt in the process. On average, the whole ritual takes more than thirty minutes.

It’s just a glimpse of the way in which LeBron James is trying to change public schooling in Akron for children labeled “at risk.” Warmth is key: If a student entering the building seems distressed or unresponsive to the enthusiastic ruckus, someone gently pulls him or her aside to check in. The people who work at the school know these kids well enough to decode a smile or lack thereof. “At the I Promise School, everything is different,” says Ciara DeBruce, who has a daughter heading into the fourth grade there. “Everyone genuinely cares.”

The word “family” is peppered throughout the school: on walls, on shirts, on its materials, on a large black flag that sits at the school’s back door. Everything the school does is done to foster the idea that everything within the walls of the building is an extension of the family unit a student left behind to come to school that day. Everyone at the I Promise School has a nickname, Michele Campbell, the executive director of the LeBron James Family Foundation, tells me. She rattles them off matter-of-factly as each adult passes by. There’s Kit Kat, Tyga, someone who is simply nicknamed ” No. 1.” Everyone calls Campbell “Boss,” though in a way that is not necessarily tied to any rigid hierarchy. It’s more playful, endearing. “If you stay here long enough,” Campbell says, “we’ll get you a nickname, too.”

LeBron, of course, is adorned with the most famous nickname of all. The one that echoes both within these halls and far outside of it. When King James was a fourth grader, he missed 83 days of school. He moved constantly, burdened by instability at home. Through a network of people who believed in him and who saw the potential his future held, he flourished. Speaking with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols in 2018, he explained what might be considered a guiding philosophy of the I Promise School: “I think that’s what kids ultimately want: They just want someone to feel like someone cares about them. And that’s what we’re trying to do here.”

The doors of the I Promise School are just a few stones throws away from where LeBron’s legacy took flight: St. Vincent-St. Mary High School. If you are an Ohioan of a certain era, you may have found yourself driving through the sometimes crummy weather of Northeastern Ohio on a fall or winter evening in the early 2000s. You may have found yourself standing in a line or hovering outside open gymnasium doors just to get a small glimpse of He Who Would Be King. So many of us in this state and beyond watched him in disbelief, climbing endlessly on the air during warmups, flinging passes through impossible slivers of unoccupied space. Now, James is reshaping the worlds of children who were like he once was. They might not yet have world-changing dreams beyond getting through the day and making it better than the day before it, but James is surrounding them with an entire roster of adults who believe in them. The I Promise School is the bridge from one past to several futures.

The second morning ritual at the I Promise School begins in a circle. After breakfast, students are asked to react to a song—how it makes them feel or not feel, what it inspires in them, what it reminds them of. On the floor of a dark classroom, students sit in a circle and crane their necks toward the wall, where a projector is playing the full eight-minute video for “We Are The World.” As the song churns forward, the group doesn’t fidget or squirm, as one might expect of young children. Instead, the students sit still, gazing at the video with fascination. One girl, maybe nine years old, leaps up and yells “CYNDI!” as Cyndi Lauper briefly flashes across the screen.

The post-song process of exploring the kids’ feelings and thoughts is miraculous to see—young people examining and expressing their feelings with their own language. Their desires are simple but profound. One student says he wants to have a good day, better than the last one. “How are you going to do that?” the teacher asks. The student ponders and then perks up and insists that he’s going to help his classmates, share and speak up when he has a problem. It’s the small things. Talk to the students like anyone else trying to figure out how to stumble through life the best way they can.

This is one of the numerous “trauma-informed” practices that the I Promise School employs to connect with its students. It’s part of a holistic approach to learning that the school’s trauma specialist, Nicole Hassan, boils down to simply being aware of what might be going on with a student and finding useful solutions to helping them work through their problems. It starts with getting students to identify whatever their baggage is, and then working to find a way to leave it at the door. “We encourage them to find the language to talk through what to do,” Hassan, who has taught in Akron Public Schools for 15 years, says. She took on her role at the I Promise School after studying the work of Bruce Perry, a doctor with a specialty in trauma and healing in children. “So now, it’s no longer about yelling or hitting someone.”

Much of the day at the I Promise School revolves around conversation, sitting in circles. “Getting the brain out of survival mode and to a place where it can think and process,” Hassan says. “It’s transformational.” By focusing on varying the modes of communication between students and adults, I Promise is, by extension, serving the parents. DeBruce has heard from other parents how the tools are transforming their lives at home. “I know a lot of parents that

Related

Share This Story!

Ex-teammate Kendrick Perkins: Kevin Durant ‘finally got his own team’ as face of the Nets

Sent!

Posted!

THINGS TO CARE ABOUT

COP OR DROP?

The next step in the player-empowerment era

1. Winner: Brooklyn Nets

2. Loser: Charlotte Hornets

1. Jimmy V’s speech (1993)

2. Stuart Scott’s speech (2014)

3. Pat Summit’s Arthur Ashe Courage Award (2012)

The Clippers closed the deal with Kawhi Leonard

The Clippers also got Paul George

THINGS TO CARE ABOUT

THE CHAMPS ARE HERE

THINGS TO CARE ABOUT

THEY’RE GOING TO THE ‘SHIP