Jerry West, a man so completely associated with the National Basketball Association (NBA) that his silhouette is the league’s logo, lets out a sigh and slowly shakes his head when discussing the bitter labor strife between owners and players.
Fans should enjoy the LeBron James show in Miami this season because there was likely to be a work stoppage after the current labor agreement expired in June, he said.
“I would be shocked if there wasn’t [a lockout],” the Hall of Famer and 14-time All-Star for the Los Angeles Lakers said. “I would be absolutely shocked.”
He said NBA Commissioner David Stern, who said the league lost US$370 million last year, should consider the National Football League’s model of revenue-sharing, which gave teams “a chance to compete on a level playing field.”
“In the NBA, if you’re in a small market where you don’t have Fortune 500 companies there to support your franchise, you’re at much more of a risk,” West said.
He said it was time Stern told the players the NBA needed to be “a growing viable league instead of having the haves and have-nots. Because that’s what they have now ... He needs to say: ‘Fellas, look we’re going to have an honest talk here. And this honest talk is not going to be fun for you people.’”
Lower player salaries would help to make the league more affordable, West said, because tickets were “very, very expensive, particularly in the larger markets.”
“You often wonder what is the saturation point? Are we getting true fans or are we having corporate fans that are bringing their people? That would be a concern of mine,” West said.
West defended the decision by James, the NBA’s reigning MVP, to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and join fellow All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat.
“LeBron James earned the right to be a free agent. He can go anywhere he wanted. He’s young, he’s single, it’s about lifestyle. In Cleveland it’s cold in the winter,” he said.
He told Heat president Pat Riley to disregard the venom he has attracted for landing free agents James and Bosh, while re-signing Wade, to create a potential NBA juggernaut.
However, West cautioned that Miami’s title hopes could be dashed in an instant.
“LeBron James is a brilliant player,” he said.
“Unselfish. But every time he goes out there, there’s a risk he might get hurt. And one injury can destroy any plan that you might have to build a team, particularly around someone of his caliber,” West said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite