Caitlin Clark responds strongly to criticism that once plagued LeBron James

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever had a big lead over Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky on Sunday. The two rookie stars -- whose NCAA rivalry has carried over to the WNBA -- were showing out in an important regular season game at Wintrust Arena, and Clark was dishing dimes left and right as Indiana took a 15-point lead in the third quarter.

But Clark was quieter in the fourth, attempting just two shots over the final seven minutes as the Sky mounted a comeback and stunned the Fever. Reese's monster day (25 points, 16 rebounds) led Chicago to a one-point win, 88-87, and Clark was criticized after the game for being too deferential to her teammates in crunch time.

Early in his NBA career, LeBron James was often denigrated by fans and media members for being "too passive" late in games when his team needed something close to a guaranteed bucket. James has always been a willing passer, and fans usually found fault with the NBA's all-time leading scorer when it was perceived that he had shifted to a "pass-first" mindset in order to get his teammates going.

Clark is dealing with much of the same criticism, 18 games into her WNBA career. She scored efficiently against the Sky on Sunday, drilling five 3-pointers and scoring 17 points on 11 shots. She also racked up 13 assists -- a new personal best -- despite the loss, but turnovers and miscommunication with her teammates sparked the Sky's comeback.

"I'm sure there was an opportunity or two for me to probably attempt another shot there at the end, but I trust my teammates," Clark told reporters after Sunday's game. "I'm going to give them the ball every time."

For James, much of the criticism about his mentality went away after he won his first two championships with the Miami Heat. He is now a four-time NBA champion, and widely regarded as one of the very best basketball players in history. Only time will tell whether Clark's path will be similar, but individually, she is improving and understanding her team's needs better with each passing game (no pun intended).

Bronny James NBA Draft: What team is most likely to sign LeBron James' son?

Bronny James is headed to the NBA in 2024 but who is most likely to sign the son of the Los Angeles Lakers' legend, LeBron James, and is there a bigger game at play here than signing a new talent?

Bronny James, aged 19, stands at 6ft 2in tall and starred as a point/shooting guard for the USC Trojans from 2023/24 and considered as a four-star recruit, the son of the NBA icon is set to enter his father's sport in the very near future.

Bronny James spotted with the Lakers uniform

It comes around a year on from a dramatic incident at the Galen Center during practice when he collapsed after suffering a cardiac arrest, spending three days in hospital, before beginning a five-month recovery period that was marked by his debut with USC on December 10 in an incredible come-back story.

He entered the court to rapturous applause from his college peers. Scouts believe his best assets to be his shooting and defense as excellent qualities, despite being smaller than most of the NBA squad.

In particular, he's good at shooting off balance and he's good at quick and accurate shot releases, whilst he is known for his hard work and his ability to anticipate and silence rival point guards.

And he has a key agent in his corner who has no intention of letting him be pushed around to get into the NBA.

"Bronny is the same as my previous clients," his agent, Rich Paul said. "I got the word out early to teams that if you plan on bringing Bronny in, here's what you need to know:

"If you won't give him a real deal, there's nothing to talk about. It's hard to get real development on a two-way deal. I don't care about him going to the Lakers, or Phoenix, or about what number he gets picked. It's about fit."

So, after being declared medically eligible to enter the 2024 NBA Draft in May, he received 10 workout invites from teams, including from the Lakers, where his father currently plays, but who is most likely to pick him up?

At the moment, the Lakers are more likely than anyone else to pick up the youngster as they bid to lock his father down to the final contract of his career by offering him the chance to play with his son, although other teams are on the march.

However, James has distanced himself from this and has told his son to pick where he feels is best for him instead of being used as leverage to capture the four-time NBA champion's signature.

"The young man will decide what he wants to do and how he wants his career to go," LeBron James said at the time.

According to FanDuel, here are the latest odds to pick him up as of June 21:

Los Angeles Lakers: +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)

Phoenix Suns: +650 (bet $10 to win $75 total)

Minnesota Timberwolves: +750 (bet $10 to win $85 total)

Dallas Mavericks: +750 (bet $10 to win $85 total)

Toronto Raptors: +750 (bet $10 to win $85 total)

Utah Jazz: +1100 (bet $10 to win $120 total)

New York Knicks: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)

Cleveland Cavaliers: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)

Philadelphia 76ers: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total)

Miami Heat: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)

LeBron James Memes Posted by NBA Fans After Rumored Lakers-JJ Redick HC Contract

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

LeBron James' agent did his best to distance the Los Angeles Lakers star from the team's coaching search, but social media wasn't having it after Los Angeles finally made its decision.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the Lakers are hiring JJ Redick on a four-year contract.

Throughout the process, Redick's connection to James was inescapable. They launched a tactics-centric podcast in March, and Brian Windhorst of ESPN posited how the episodes were an interview of sorts for the former NBA guard.

James has yet to resolve his short-term future. He still hasn't decided whether he's going to pick up his $51.4 million option for 2024-25.

You'd assume the odds of him staying in Southern California have only improved with Redick's reported arrival, and that sets the stage for quite an interesting player/coach dynamic.

It would be wrong to say this is a legacy-defining moment for James because he cemented himself as an all-time great a long time ago. Redick's success or failure will, however, almost assuredly be attached to him in the years ahead.

If the 39-year-old thrives in his first NBA coaching opportunity, then LeBron will be credited for accurately seeing his potential in the role. But his critics will be eager to include this as a footnote in his legendary career if Redick flames out and the Lakers fall short of expectations.

A closer look at Michael Jordan's 1988 DPOY award raises questions about its validity. Has LeBron James been chasing a ghost?

It may be the most consequential Defensive Player of the Year award in NBA history.

In 1987-88, Michael Jordan became the first player ever to win the scoring title and the DPOY in the same season. To this day, the feat hasn't been duplicated.

The DPOY award represented a certain validation for the 25-year-old phenom. Before Jordan was crowned, he was crushed. Drafted by the Chicago Bulls 40 years ago this week, Jordan had developed a certain level of notoriety for being too focused on scoring at the expense of winning. Fanning the flames was the fact that Jordan led the NBA in scoring the previous season but was swept in the first round against the Boston Celtics for a second straight year. A scorer, they said, but not a winning player. The Defensive Player of the Year award, voted by the media, effectively quieted those questions.

"It's one of the goals I set for myself," Jordan told the AP after winning the award. "I wanted to show people that I am more than just a scorer. I am a complete player."

The award also delivered generational power, with its profound impact being felt even today when debating the legends of the game. The DPOY gave Jordan something that LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson never had: recognition for being the NBA's best defender.

But a closer look at Jordan's 1987-88 season reveals a substantial discrepancy between his home and road statistics, raising questions about the authenticity of his off-the-charts steals and blocks numbers that season — and shining a light on an era that seemed particularly vulnerable to the hidden hand of homer bias.

Considerable evidence — both statistical and corroborating video — suggests that Jordan's Defensive Player of the Year award may not be as valid as we thought.

'It just tees me off'

In 1987, Michael Jordan felt he was snubbed after not being recognized as one of the NBA's top defenders. (NBAE via Getty Images)

With a 6-0 record in the NBA Finals, Jordan finished his career with a résumé as shiny as any human being who has stepped onto the hardwood. He was a relentless two-way superstar from the guard position — soaring above the opponent and casting shadows across an era dominated by giants. There wil l never be another Michael Jordan.

There's a notion that every fiber of Jordan was consumed by winning the game. However, the six-time NBA champion also deeply cared about something else — public recognition. It wasn't enough to be a great defender — he almost certainly was; he wanted to be known as a great defender. The man behind the and-I-took-it-personally meme was consumed by his detractors, no slight too small to turn into redemptive fuel.

In 1986-87, Jordan's third season in the league, he was incensed that coaches left him off the All-Defensive teams even though Jordan became the first player in NBA history to register at least 200 steals and 100 blocks in the same season. In particular, it irritated Jordan that Michael Cooper of the Los Angeles Lakers won Defensive Player of the Year in 1986-87, garnering 25 of the 78 votes, while Jordan received just one.

Jordan made sure his discontent was known. In an 18-page Sports Illustrated feature in which SI writer Curry Kirkpatrick entrenched himself inside Jordan's growing empire, the Chicago Bulls star expressed deep resentment about his lack of recognition. In particular, Jordan called out the voting contingency about its apparent disregard for box-score statistics like blocks and steals.

"Michael Cooper is great at ball denial," Jordan told SI. "But check his other sta ts. This league gives defensive awards on reputation. It just tees me off."

The shot at Cooper set the tone for Jordan's vengeful 1987-88 season. Determined to be known as the best defender in the game, Jordan's DPOY campaign started off with a bang. On opening night, two days before the Sports Illustrated issue hit newsstands across America, Jordan tallied six steals and four blocks in a win against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Chicago Bull registered another six-steal game later that month. And another. In late January against the lowly New Jersey Nets, Jordan posted a career-high and franchise-record 10 steals. He didn't even play the fourth quarter.

Jordan walks off the court after a victory against the New Jersey Nets at Chicago Stadium in January 1988. (Raymond Boyd via Getty Images)

The mission consumed him. After the history-making Nets game, he openly admitted to hunting for steals so he could break the record.

"I knew I was close, and I asked to find out what the record was," Jordan told the Chicago Tribune that night. "I was on a roll. I was going for it, reaching for everything."

Jordan didn't stop reaching. By the end of the season, he led the league with 259 steals, displacing San Antonio guard Alvin Robertson, who topped the leaderboard in each of the previous two seasons. In 1987-88, Jordan also led all guards with a breathtaking 131 blocks. The next-highest total for a guard? Robertson's 69, almost half of Jordan's total.

At season's end, sportswriters looking at the statistical leaderboards were overwhelmed with gaudy per-game numbers next to Jordan's name: 3.2 steals and 1.6 blocks. To this day, it's never been matched.

The eye-popping stats propelled Jordan to his first Defensive Player of the Year award, earning 37 votes from writers, besting rim-protecting centers Mark Eaton (9) and Hakeem Olajuwon (7).

For almost four decades, Jordan's lone DPOY has stood unquestioned. We took a deeper look after a recent discussion with a man named Alex Rucker, who pulled back the curtain on the complicated role of an NBA home statkeeper.

An NBA statkeeper blows the whistle

Rucker is currently the CEO of a Boys & Girls Club in Texas and was once a top execu tive for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2020. Before that, he was a former statkeeper for the Vancouver Grizzlies and was an employee during their inaugural season in 1995-96. In February, Rucker told me he was among a number of home scorekeepers in the 1990s who selectively juiced the numbers for their players. In our interview for "Pablo Torre Finds Out," Rucker explained that, in his view, inflating certain box-score statistics for the home team was a common league-wide practice.

When Rucker landed the Vancouver job in 1995, he says he traveled to Detroit for a training session attended by other NBA professional scorekeepers who had held their positions for a number of years. Rucker, however, was just 19 years old while working for the expansion Vancouver franchise, the new kid on the block. He was eager to prove he could score a game as accurately as anyone in the room.

But then they reviewed a video clip of John Stockton getting an assist on a Karl Malone bucket, and things got weird. "There was no causal connection between the pass and the basket," Rucker told me on PTFO. "And the majority opinion by a mile was, 'Oh no, that's definitely an assist.'"

According to Rucker, the scorekeepers told him in no uncertain terms that it was an assist because it was John Stockton. Rucker soon realized what was expected. In Rucker's view, it was inferred that part of the scorekeeper's job was to give hometown stars the star treatment.

"I left there clearly understanding that, yes, we are supposed to prese nt the most accurate representation that we can, but the NBA is also an entertainment business," Rucker told me. "And it's up to us, in very small part as statisticians, to support or reinforce stars and excitement and fun. And that message was definitely reinforced internally within the Grizzlies."

When reached by Yahoo Sports, the league office declined to comment on Rucker's assertions. The Grizzlies, who moved to Memphis in 2001, declined comment for the story.

Rucker explained that, from his experience, subjective stats — primarily blocks, steals and assists, and sometimes rebounds — were a way to give star treatment. If a player tried to block a shot and the ball fell short, maybe give him the benefit of the doubt on a 50-50 play — block. If a pass was deflected by one defender and recovered by another, choose wisely as to which defender to award the steal. Assists were a thing of beauty, left to the eye of the beholder. To Rucker, it was an unspoke n part of the NBA's marketing machine, a way to get on "SportsCenter" in front of a national audience and grab attention.

Jordan was one of the most marketable athletes in the world. (NBAE via Getty Images)

Zooming out, the numbers seem to back up Rucker's testimony. Vancouver's young star, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, saw lopsided home/road splits in the blocks and steals columns during the time Rucker was a scorekeeper in Vancouver. But it wasn't just Vancouver; evidence of home bias showed up across the league, most dramatically in the '80s and '90s. In the '80s, the home team annually registered about 800 more blocks and about 450 more steals than the road team leaguewide, per Basketball Reference tracking. Over time, those home/road disparities began to even out, significantly so in the Adam Silver era. This past season, the homer effect on blocks and steals disparities has all but disappeared, just 135 more blocks at home than on the road and a measly 13 more s teals leaguewide.

According to the league office, in an effort to ensure the most accurate statistics, the NBA has used modern technology to apply real-time auditing of stats during games since the 2018-19 season. In today's environment, with more eyes on the game and a greater attention to detail in the legalized gambling era, the home/road disparity is now all but gone. The homer bias, at least statistically, seems to have been eradicated.

That doesn't mean accusations haven't surfaced. Last year, when a Redditor claimed that Jaren Jackson Jr.'s Defensive Player of the Year candidacy was propped up by homer-biased stats, the power of the Internet and access to video technology services allowed an army of NBA writers to instantly pull up Jackson's hundreds of blocks and steals and evaluate their validity. The verdict was delivered within minutes and it was unanimous: the blocks and steals were legit.

However, in the Jordan era, media members weren't ab le to put the microscope on home/road disparities, whether it was for Jordan or other star players. In the late '80s, there was no internet, no social media pressure to get things right, no public system of accountability.

The shadow looms large. If blocks and steals were heavily influenced by a hidden homer bias, the implications on the historical record can be significant. The damage of assist fudging, for instance, has a limited scope since there is no league-wide award given to the NBA's best passer. However, the ripple effect of questionable block and steal accounting can create a reputational sea change because Defensive Player of the Year awards are heavily influenced by those very same statistics.

Jordan's alarming home-road disparity

Michael Jordan defends against Michael Cooper in 1987 at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. (NBAE via Getty Images)

Fueled by the coaches' and media's non-recognition as an elite defender, Jordan took i t personally and filled the stat sheet in 1987-88. Even Cooper, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, took notice, telling the Los Angeles Times that Jordan deserved to be a candidate. "He has the stats to back him up," Cooper said in February 1988 that season.

What was considered a record-setting 1986-87 season paled in comparison to what happened in '87-88. But the underlying statistics fueling his DPOY-winning season were lopsided to an unnerving degree.

Breaking out his numbers into game location, we find that Jordan averaged a mind-boggling 4 steals and 2.1 blocks at home. But on the road, those numbers shrunk to a more normal rate of 2.1 steals and 1.2 blocks.

Put simply, Jordan's steals and blocks nearly doubled at home compared to the road. To account for possible uneven playing time effects, we can look at per-36-minute numbers for a truer portrayal of the phenomenon. Jordan's combined block and steals numbers ("stocks") were a whopping 82 percent higher at home (5.5 stocks per 36 minutes) than on the road (3.0).

It isn't unusual for the NBA's top defender to exhibit a slight home/road disparity. It's common knowledge that players perform better at home in front of friendly confines (as Jackson showed last season).

But the size of Jordan's 1987-88 gap is unprecedented.

Dating back to 1982-83 when the award was established, Jordan's home-vs.-away disparity in combined blocks and steals represents the largest of any Defensive Player of the Year award winner in NBA history.

No other instance in the award's history has a player shown a disparity that touched 160 percent — except for Jordan's 1987-88 season, which clocked in at 182 percent.

One might interpret the disparity as a reflection of a bygone era and perhaps not unique to Jordan's Chicago Bulls. However, Jordan's home/road disparities stood out even among his peers that season. According to Stathead.com, Jordan posted 165 steals at home (by far the most in the NBA) compared to just 94 on the road (tied for fourth). That gap of 71 steals blew away the competition, with the next largest gap among the top 15 league leaders in steals being 47.

Crucially, the additional home steals were instrumental in Jordan achieving the title as the league leader in steals. Jordan finished with the most steals at 259, speeding past Alvin Robertson's total of 243.

If we were to believe the official box score, Jordan was god-like at home and a mere mortal on the road. When looking at just road games, arguably a control group of impartial scorekeepers for every player, Jordan's steal count placed not first, not second but tied for fourth with Denver's Michael Adams. Jordan' s disparity in home steal numbers is illustrated below:

Though Jordan didn't lead the league in blocks, a similar trend emerges in that key defensive category. Jordan's 84 blocks at home ranked eighth most in the league, a highly unusual place to find a guard. On the road, his total of 47 blocks fell all the way down to 21st (tied), a more reasonable rung on the ladder for someone his size.

A look at Jordan's game log is telling. Of Jordan's 10 games with at least four blocks that season, nine of them came at Chicago Stadium.

The phenomenon seems isolated to this particular season. Examining Jordan's career, the six-time champion showed a disparity in home vs. road stats in his third season in 1986-87, but it doesn't hold a candle to the 1987-88 season surge shown in home stats.

Basketball Reference

It's important to note that after winning the Defensive Player of the Year award, Jordan's home rates returned to normal and within the same range of his peers. Jordan would never even approach the 1987-88 home stats for the rest of his career, an outlier of outliers.

An NBA spokesperson said the league had not verified Jordan's stats in the 1987-88 season and did not plan to do so.

If we assume that Jordan's road stats were the more accurate measure and used those rates for his home games in 1987-88, it would mean that approximately 30 percent of Jordan's steals and blocks would disappear from the record.

Err Jordan?

Bob Ryan isn't shocked by the possibility that Jordan might have benefited from homer-biased statistics. Ryan, the longtime writer for the Boston Globe who was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame for his basketball coverage dating back to the 1960s, says questionable statkeeping was an unfortunate stain on the game.

He remembers similar controversies surrounding Wilt Chamberlain's and Bill Russell's rebounding numbers in the 1960s. Their respective teams traded accusati ons that the opposing scorekeeper padded the stats to help their giant. Looking back, the numbers are indeed startling. Between them, Russell and Chamberlain registered 26 games with 40-plus rebounds. None of the 26 games were tabulated on the road, per Stathead.com tracking.

Did home statkeepers help pad the stats of the game's early giants? (Bettmann via Getty Images)

In the 1980s, the league became less of a mom-and-pop organization and more of a buttoned -up corporation. For quality control, statkeepers needed to pass annual tests to assess their knowledge and application of arcane scorekeeping protocols. However, the league could do only so much. Computers weren't around for the better part of the '80s, which meant most everything was kept by hand on pen and paper. Teams could file complaints, but the system wasn't nearly as refined as it is today.

As such, in the early days, Ryan held a somewhat skeptical view of the stat leaderboards. Every year, Ryan filled out his NBA awards ballot as a card-carrying media member of the Boston Globe and tried not to lean too heavily on subjective statistics like assists, rebounds, steals and blocks.

Ryan didn't vote Jordan for MVP that year. The Globe writer was one of the 16 voters who sided with Boston's Larry Bird. As consolation, it turns out, Ryan named Jordan as his Defensive Player of the Year, writing the following blurb in his Pro Basketball notes column that Cooper's injury that season held him back:

"If he's healthy, I know it's Michael Cooper, but you can't give (Defensive Player of the Year) to him this year. Do you go for a shot blocker like Mark Eaton? A guy with steals who may or may not be a good defensive player? I don't know. Since I'm not voting for Jordan (for MVP), who does steal the ball a lot but who is a good defensive player, anyway, I'm giving him this one. Michael Jordan."

As hard as it is to fathom now with fiery "First Take" debates and social-media wars of modern-day media, Ryan emphasized how insignificant the league-wide awards were back then — especially a second-tier award like Defensive Player of the Year. Voters back then almost certainly didn't fill out ballots w ith the same rigor as modern-day voters when a single vote can amount to tens of millions of dollars in a player's supermax extension because a player won Defensive Player of the Year.

"It wasn't that big a deal," Ryan says now in an interview with Yahoo Sports. "Nobody focused much on it. This is pre-internet takeover. It's pre-talk-show dominance. I may be wrong, but for me, I don't remember anybody fretting about it ever. Ever."

When I relayed Jordan's stinging quotes about Cooper's coronation as the league's top defender in 1986-87, Ryan could only laugh.

"That amuses me, that Michael Jordan would give a damn," Ryan says. "This is the same guy who got pissed off at [Chicago head coach] Doug Collins, who didn't keep score in a scrimmage. This is so classically Michael Jordan, getting pissed off about something that most people didn't give a s**t about. By the way, that's not a knock. That's who he is. That's his wiring."

Michael Cooper and Pat Riley believed Jordan was deserving of recognition for his defensive play in 1988. (Focus On Sport via Getty Images)

Today, Ryan stands by his DPOY pick for Jordan, acknowledging that, with Bird getting his MVP vote, it was Ryan's way of giving Jordan kudos for a remarkable season. Even if the stats were juiced, Jordan was still a feared defender.

Ahead of a matchup against the Bulls in 1988, Pat Riley, then the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, remarked about Cooper and Jordan's contrasting styles.

"Cooper's idea of defense is to shut a guy down with [ball] denial, cutting off passing lanes and containment by fighting through picks," Riley told the L.A. Times. "Michael Jordan is more like a free safety in football, always gambling, blocking shots and looking for steals. He's so good at it because of his anticipation. People aren't going to believe it because he's such a great offensive player, but his defense deserves m ore recognition than it gets."

In his MVP expository in the paper that year, Ryan stressed the difficulty in rendering award verdicts in the technologically challenged era of the late '80s.

"OK, so who did have the best year?" Ryan wrote in the Globe. "The truth is nobody knows for sure. Nobody can claim to have sat down and watched 82 Celtics videotapes and 82 Chicago videotapes."

Theoretically, Jordan could have just been twice as good a player at home. Or maybe the road scorekeepers were unfairly stingy. But the videotapes point to something else. A man in Latvia has been watching film of '80s and '90s NBA games and noticed certain things weren't adding up.

The man in Latvia

Reinis Lācis is the vice president of development at the European Youth Basketball League and assistant general manager for Latvian professional club Rigas Zelli. Lācis has been obsessed about the NBA since he was a child. Growing up around the game, he became a fixture on the basketball scene and has helped with data analysis for the basketball associates surrounding Kristaps Porziņģis, a Latvian native.

Lācis is also one of the first-known observers who spotted fishy statkeeping in the '90s. The 29-year-old runs a basketball site called Lamarmatic — a mash-up tribute to two of his most beloved American celebrities, former NBA player Lamar Odom and rapper Nas, whose famous debut album was called "Illmatic."

In 2016, Lācis published "An Unnecessary Breakdown of Van Exel's Fudged 23 Assists" after he came across a 2009 Deadspin story about a then-unnamed Vancouver Grizzlies scorekeeper (Rucker) who admitted to padding stats, most notably in Lakers guard Nick Van Exel's famous 23-assist game in 1997. Deadspin picked up the story from an eyebrow-raising post in the APBRMetrics message board by BobboFitos, a member and friend of the scorekeeper, who shared the scorekeeper's explanation that he participated in Van Exel's stat inflation "partly because I'm a Laker fan." The confessional ignited a scavenger hunt for Lācis. He wanted to dive deeper and investigate gaudy box scores of that era.

First, he needed the tape.

For mo st fans, finding full-game film of '80s and '90s basketball is an impossible task. Luckily, Lācis was uniquely equipped to get the job done. Like thousands of European NBA fans who envied American fans' access to regular local and national TV games, Lācis had collected old NBA digitized tapes from the '80s and '90s via underground online trading forums to quench his thirst for watching the best basketball players on the planet.

Van Exel's Lakers-Grizzlies game had evaded Lācis, so he logged on and, eventually, acquired a digitized VHS copy of the Van Exel game. (As it turns out, it had originally been recorded from an airing on Spanish television.)

He turned it on and couldn't believe what he saw.

His verdict, which he posted on his website, read: "Nick Van Exel shouldn't have had more than 17 assists. You can make an argument for him deserving only 15."

After being disillusioned by Van Exel's 23-assist game, he posted the assist reel t o his YouTube channel. Lācis felt compelled to investigate other big stat-lines. Lācis watched Shaq's 15-block game of 1993 (more like 10). He broke down the Toronto Raptors' record-breaking 23-block night of 2001 (more like 17). On a certain level , it was crushing.

"They ruined dreams," he wrote.

But part of him thought it was important to seek the truth about his favorite sport. That's how we met and embarked on our next scavenger hunt together.

Next on Lācis' list of games to acquire: any big defensive night during Jordan's 1987-88 season.

Red flags emerge

The internet isn't stocked with Michael Jordan games from his marvelous 1987-88 season. However, fans may have stumbled upon a video posted to the NBA's official channel in August 2022 titled "Michael Jordan's Got 10 Steals In One Game!"

The four-minute highlight reel showed his brilliance from that record-setting game against the New Jersey Nets — his crown jewel of the 1987-88 season — but the video conspicuously shows only six steals. In the comment section, amid a chorus of Jordan praise, some discerning commenters raised their hands and expressed confusion. One commenter remarked: "Still waiting for the 10 steals."

The game, it turns out, was played at home in Chicago. This only piqued our interest in finding game tapes. Luckily, Lācis dug up five, all at Chicago, for our review, in addition to one found on YouTube. We dove in. It turns out the puzzling "Jordan 10 Steals" video was only the tip of the iceberg.

The six full games we found tapes for from Jordan's Defensive Player of the Year campaign:

Lācis and I were most interested in the Feb. 15, 1988, game. The official box score indicates the Atlanta Hawks registered 10 turnovers and the Chicago Bulls tallied 10 steals. That detail immediately grabbed our attention. Turnovers fall into two categories: live-ball turnovers and dead-ball turnovers. By rule, dead-ball turnovers (i.e. traveling, out of bounds, 24-second violation, etc.) cannot be steals. For example, if, say, Atlanta's Kevin Willis traveled on a play, a steal couldn't be credited to a Bulls defender.

Only live-ball turnovers — like an intercepted pass or a recovered loose ball — can be assigned to a defensive player for a steal. The more live-ball turnovers in a game, the more steals in a game.

The Bulls having 10 steals on 10 Hawks turnovers meant that none of the Hawks turnovers could have been dead-ball turnovers. No travels. No offensive fouls. No ball tossed out of bounds. No 24-second violations. For an entire game. Could it be?

And then we watched the film — independently, as to avoid influen cing one another's findings. We compared notes. Turns out, we both saw the same troubling series of plays.

A 24-second violation by the Hawks' offense. Later, Atlanta reserve Chris Washburn dribbled off his foot out of bounds. An outlet pass to Dominique Wilkins bounces off his hands and into the scorer's table. Three dead-ball turnovers — three plays that could not have been considered a steal opportunity. And, yet, the box score indicated zero such plays.

It also meant an opportunity to hand out three excess steals to Bulls players.

We compared notes again. We both saw only two legitimate steals by Michael Jordan. The box score credited him with five. An excess of three steals. (To be precise, we saw two Jordan steals, at best, but possibly only one — when he poked the ball, chased it down and saved it from going out of bounds before throwing it directly to the Hawks for a turnover. The other play — a transition deflection by Jordan's teammate Mike Brown that was recovered by Jordan — could have gone either way.) There were three steals unaccounted for.

The incongruent turnover/steal columns presented a glaring red flag. In the other five games we watched, the live-ball turnovers and steals did not add up, either. In the Detroit game, eight Chicago steals on six Detroit live-ball turnovers. In the Denver game, 13 Chicago steals on just seven Denver live-ball turnovers. Again and again, the official steal counts were routinely outpacing the possible number of steal opportunities. Something was amiss.

All in all, by our count, the box score showed 59 steals on 41 live-ball turnovers, resulting in a whopping 18 excess steals.

Who benefited from all those extra steals? We brought our attention to Jordan's accounting. In the six games, the box scores indicated that Jordan's total steal count was 28. After comparing our notes from the film study, we each counted 12 steals. An astounding difference of 16 exces s steals. Almost every excess steal was being allocated to Jordan.

A pattern emerged as the games began to pile up in our film review. It appeared that Jordan benefited from deflections being erroneously recorded as steals. In games where there was a surplus of Jordan steals, we noticed that the turnover/steal counts would closer align after we counted the defensive plays that Jordan poked the ball out of bounds or back into the hands of the opposing team — even if there was no change of possession.

Steals should not be awarded in these instances, but Jordan seemed to benefit from the apparent generosity. And here's the thing: when other players made the same deflections on both teams, their steal counts tended to be scored by the book — that is, correctly. Twelve steals in six games for Jordan (two steals per game) would be much more in line with his road average that season (2.3) rather than his official home average of four steals.

In the block category, i t seemed that Jordan also benefited from some exceptional statkeeping. For instance, whenever Chicago Bulls forward Horace Grant blocked a shot but was whistled for the foul, he was, correctly, not credited with a block. But when Jordan did the same, his box score line tended to show excess blocks.

Something was going on. Which left only one thing to figure out: Who was the Chicago statkeeper?

'The greatest statistical tenure in American team sports'

Chicago Stadium was home to the Bulls from 1967-94. (Getty Images)

They called him Rosie. A legend in the Chicago Bulls organization, Bob Rosenberg worked as the team's scorekeeper for the Bulls from their inaugural season in 1965-66 all the way to 2023. He was there for Jerry Sloan's age-24 season, and he was there for Michael, and he was there for Ayo Dosunmu. In a story commemorating his retirement last year, longtime Chicago scribe Sam Smith, famed author of "The Jordan Rules," wrote about Rosenberg's remarkable run, calling it "what's probably been the greatest statistical tenure in the history of American team sports."

Rosenberg was an employee of the Bulls, but his omnipresence made him seem more like a family member, as constant as the red paint on the Bulls' floor and the hook of the Alan Parsons Project intro song. Rosenberg worked not just Bulls games, but also the games of the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bears and Chicago Black Hawks. He is the scorekeeper of scorekeepers.

Two legends of the game, working in the same building for over a decade, Jordan and Rosenberg shared a strong kinship. On the side, Rosenberg made scrapbooks for Jordan to commemorate hi s achievements. In the opening lines of MJ's 1999 retirement column, Chicago AP writer Jim Litke didn't mention Phil Jackson or Scottie Pippen. Instead, he raised Rosenberg's name and relayed a story about Jordan's shared obsession with stats:

"The first week Jordan played for the Bulls, scorer Bob Rosenberg looked up to find him studying the scorebook every time he reported to the table to re-enter the game. It didn't take long to figure out why. By knowing everybody's point and rebound totals, Jordan knew how the newspaper stories the next day would begin. Then he took the floor and made sure they always began the same way: 'Michael Jordan …'"

The Rosenberg and Jordan dynamic was written about in the press, and reportedly at one point drew scrutiny from the league office. According to a 1989 report from the San Francisco Examiner, Rosenberg would flash hand signals to inform Jordan how close he was to a triple-double. The league reportedly stepped in and told Rosenberg to cut it out.

Rosenberg admitted to signaling to help Jordan chase stats during Chicago's 1988 All-Star Game, a game in which Jordan scored a game-high 40 points, just shy of matching Chamberlain's then-record of 42. As the site's official scorekeeper, Rosenberg worked the game and remembered a postgame exchange he had with Jordan. In 2013, Rosenberg shared the following anecdote with the Chicago Tribune:

"Why didn't you tell me I was two points short of Chamberlain?" Rosenberg recalled Jordan asking him.

"I said, 'Look, every time you went by, I kept putting up two fingers. You didn't understand that?'"

To our knowledge, Rosenberg has never been accused of padding statistics for Jordan. But he wasn't without controversy. In 1998, a Western Conference executive told Sports Illustrated that Dennis Rodman received phony rebounds from the Chicago stat crew. Rodman, like Jordan's blocks and steals in the 1988 DPOY season, showed a statistical home/road disparity in the rebounding column. Rosenberg denied the claim. Multiple writers also made reference to claims that Rosenberg stat-padded Guy Rodgers' assist totals in his first and only full season with the Bulls in 1966-67, in which he was named an All-Star. In 1990, Rosenberg was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune for a story commemorating the esteemed career of a local Chicago sportswriter Jerome Holtzman, and Rosenberg himself brought up a stat-padding allegation from Holtzman:

"[Holtzman] was always accusing me of padding the assist totals for [ex-Bull] Guy Rodgers," Rosenberg told the Chicago Tribune in 1990. "Every time, he'd introduce me to people with: 'Th is is the guy that made Guy Rodgers famous in the NBA.'"

In 1966-67, Rodgers barely edged out Oscar Robertson for the assist title that season. Rodgers' assist averages that season: 12.4 at home, 10.1 on the road.

When reached by Yahoo Sports to address questions regarding Rosenberg's statkeeping, the Bulls declined comment. Multiple attempts to reach Rosenberg and Jordan went unanswered.

The Bad Boy Pistons respond

The Pistons, who defeated the Bulls in the playoffs in 1988, were not impressed by Chicago's reputation on defense. (Bill Smith via Getty Images)

Possibly juiced stats aside, the 1987-88 Bulls were a formidable team and finished with a 50-32 record, good enough to land the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference. Jordan and the Bulls clinched a 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs, setting up the highly anticipated matchup against the second-seeded Detroit squad led by Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer and the re st of the Bad Boy Pistons.

Jordan and the Bulls' elite defense would be put to the test. In Game 1, the Pistons shut down the Bulls, winning handily 93-82. Jordan tallied 29 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. However, the defensive columns were noticeably bare. Jordan didn't register a single steal the entire game, the first time in over a month he didn't come up with a theft. The game, it should be noted, was played in Detroit.

The Bulls and Pistons split the next two games. Then, before Game 4, with the Pistons up 2-1, Jordan gathered with NBA officials at halfcourt for a momentous occasion in front of the raucous Chicago crowd. Jordan was being presented with the Defensive Player of the Year award, the first of his career and a crowning achievement for the scoring phenom.

After the ceremony in Game 4, however, it was the Pistons who put on a show on the defensive end, looking every bit the superior defensive team, holding the Bulls without a field goal i n the final five minutes of the game. It was a devastating loss for the Bulls, getting outscored 96-77 on their home floor, despite Jordan's six steals.

The next day, a bold headline blared atop the sports section of the Detroit Free Press: "PISTONS NOT TRICKED BY THE BULLS' NUMBERS." In the story, columnist Charlie Vincent wrote: "And that gurgling sound you heard coming from your TV set was not the Bulls' choking. It was the Pistons' strangling them to within one loss of elimination."

Jordan received his Defensive Player of the Year award before Game 4 against the Pistons at Chicago Stadium. (Bill Smith via Getty Images)

As the headline suggested, Vincent also took issue with Jordan's coronation as the Defensive Player of the Year, arguing that the Bulls' defensive standing was all smoke and mirrors, and Jordan didn't deserve the league's top defensive award. The loudest crusader was none other than Laimbeer, the Pistons' center, who was ahead of his time in his discerning analysis.

Laimbeer argued for a nuanced approach to the Bulls' stats, pointing out that the Bulls' slow offensive pace artificially depressed the Bulls' opponent scoring averages. Propping up Jordan's candidacy, in Laimbeer's view, was the fact that the Bulls allowed an NBA-low 101.6 points per game.

"Being the best defensive team," Laimbeer said, "doesn't mean they have the best defensive team."

Laimbeer wasn't moved by the Bulls' first-ranked defense because he found the per-game numbers to be misleading. In a way, Laimbeer had unknowingly foretold the impending stats revolution that would take place across the sport, arguing for per-possession stats rather than ones that were influenced by slow offenses. (Indeed, the Bulls' top ranking in traditional points per game would slide to third in possession-based Defensive Rating, slotting behind the Utah Jazz and Laimbeer's Pistons, according to Basketball Reference.)

Laimbeer simply wasn't buying the Bulls' lowest opponent scoring average as a proxy for defense.

"It just means the other team scored less points," Laimbeer told the Free Press. "The Bulls run plays for Jordan and they take time to set them up, so that lowers the number of points scored. The best defensive teams are, oh, Boston is pretty good and Los Angeles and us when we play like we have the past two days."

Three days later, Jordan and the Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs in Detroit, losing the series 4-1.

Jordan's marks in the 1987-88 postseason: 3.8 steals and 1.5 blocks at home; 1.8 steals and 0.8 on the road.

Chasing the ghost

LeBron James once said he was chasing a ghost who played in Chicago. (Kevin Mazur via Getty Images)

Despite the early exit in the playoffs, Jordan took home the defensive hardware he craved, bolstered by the eye-popping stats and the attention they stoked. All told, Jordan ranked first in steals and eighth in blocks at home in 1987-88, but his standing in the league plummeted on the road, falling to fourth in steals and tied for 21st in blocks in front of non-Chicago statisticians. Whether an adjustment to his totals would have changed the results of the ballot, we may never know.

With top ranks overall, Jordan cruised to his first defensive accolades of his NBA career. His reputation as a top defensive player was sealed. Plaques hang forever, the mystique endures. As LeBron once told Sports Illustrated, "My motivation is this ghost I'm chasing. The ghost played in Chicago."

For years, Jordan's Defensive Player of the Year award has stood as an unassailable pillar in the GOAT argument. In May 2023 , ESPN's Stephen A. Smith published a video on the MJ vs. LeBron debate from his YouTube show arguing Jordan's case, concluding:

"Did you know that Michael Jordan is the former Defensive Player of the Year in 1988? LeBron James has never won a Defensive Player of the Year. We're talking about what you do on both ends of the court. And we're talking about Michael Jordan as the greatest."

Smith isn't alone. Last year on ESPN, Jalen Rose held up Jordan's DPOY as a primary reason he sides with the Chicago Bull over LeBron as well.

"When you talk about GOAT, the first word is greatest — and that means achieved more than somebody else," Rose said. "And if we're comparing Michael Jordan and LeBron — for example — Michael Jordan got 10 scoring titles; LeBron has one. Michael Jordan has been Defensive Player of the Year in the NBA; LeBron hasn't."

James is still chasing that ghost, and all the underlying statistics that were registered without modern-day safeguards. The closest James came to winning the Defensive Player of the Year award was placing second in 2008-09 and 2012-13. James finished in the top-five four different times, but never won Defensive Player of the Year outright. He has been voted onto six All-Defensive teams to Jordan's nine.

On a recent episode of "The Shop," James was asked if there was an award he wished he had won. "Yeah," James said. "Defensive Player of the Year. That's the only award that I don't have in my house. It kinda stings."

Once Jordan led the league in steals in 1987-88, he added the defensive hardware — Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defense — to his collection.

"I'm very happy," Jordan told the Chicago Tribune in 1987-88 after being named to his first All-Defensive team. "All season, I've been bringing it to people's attention that I wanted to be recognized for my defense, too."

Jordan, ever the closer, finished his quote with a dagger.

"Leading the league in steals certainly helped."

Rich Paul squashes LeBron James and Bronny package deal rumor, says limited pre-draft visits are 'by design'

Rich Paul, the founder of Klutch Sports Group and agent to numerous superstars, including LeBron James, told ESPN on Wednesday that there is no package deal between James and his son, Bronny James. Furthermore, he indicated his plan to shield the younger James from draft workouts with numerous teams is intentional. 

Jonathan Givony reported on Tuesday that teams have had trouble securing workouts with Bronny James ahead of the 2024 NBA Draft, which will be held from June 26-27. Bronny has so far just worked out with the Lakers and Suns. Paul confirmed that and said he is doing so in order to ensure that Bronny gets to a team that's a good fit and will offer him a guaranteed deal. 

Throughout this process, Paul has been consistent that he does not want Bronny on a two-way contract. 

"This is nothing new," Paul said. "The goal is to find a team that values your guy and try to push him to get there. It's important to understand the context and realize that this has always been the strategy with many of my clients throughout the years, especially those in need of development like Bronny. My stuff is by design."

"Bronny is the same as my previous clients," Paul added. "I got the word out early to teams that if you plan on bringing Bronny in, here's what you need to know: If you won't give him a real deal, there's nothing to talk about. It's hard to get real development on a two-way deal. I don't care about him going to the Lakers, or Phoenix, or about what number he gets picked. It's about fit. 

"If Bronny's name was Charles Jacobsen and he was my client -- I would do the same thing: identify teams that have real interest."

Bronny is widely projected to be selected in the second round next week. CBS Sports' Kyle Boone has him going No. 43 to the Miami Heat in his latest mock draft. 

Over the past few months, there has been speculation about a team taking Bronny earlier than expected in an effort to entice LeBron to sign with them as a free agent. LeBron is expected to decline his player option for next season and become an unrestricted free agent, and had previously spoken about his desire to play with his son. Paul addressed LeBron's latest thinking to ESPN.

"LeBron is off this idea of having to play with Bronny," Paul said Wednesday. "If he does, he does. But if he doesn't, he doesn't. There's no deal made that it's guaranteed that if the Lakers draft Bronny at 55, he [LeBron] will re-sign. If that was the case, I would force them to take him at 17. We don't need leverage. The Lakers can draft Bronny, and LeBron doesn't re-sign. LeBron is also not going to Phoenix for a minimum deal. We can squash that now."

While the Suns have had Bronny in for a workout, their only pick of the draft is No. 22, and it remains to be seen if they'd be willing to reach that high for him, especially after Paul's comments regarding LeBron's free agency. Unless another team decides to throw caution to the wind, the most likely destination remains the Lakers, who just so happen to have the No. 55 overall pick -- exactly in Bronny's projected range. 

Paul, however, did specifically mention three other potential draft night landing spots for Bronny in his interview: the Raptors, Mavericks and Timberwolves.

"There are other teams that love Bronny. For example, Minnesota, Dallas, Toronto. If it's not the Lakers, it will be someone else," Paul said. "Minnesota would love to get Bronny in, but I don't know who their owner is going to be. [Mavs GM] Nico Harrison is like an uncle to Bronny. If the Lakers don't take him at 55, Dallas would take him at 58 and give him a guaranteed deal. Masai [Ujiri, Raptors president], loves him. They could take him without even seeing him at 31. Workouts aren't everything for these teams."

Bronny missed the beginning of his freshman season for USC after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest last summer. After being cleared by doctors, he made his debut in December and played 25 games for the Trojans, averaging 4.8 points and 2.8 rebounds. 

Lakers Insider: LeBron James Won't Be Traded amid NBA Rumors on Contract and Future

Bart Young/NBAE via Getty Images

If LeBron James wants to retire with the Los Angeles Lakers, he'll get his chance.

Jovan Buha of The Athletic said the Lakers have no plans on trading James, even if he opts into the final year of his current contract.

"They're not going to trade LeBron," Buha said on his podcast (27:19 mark). "If LeBron is going to end up elsewhere, it's going to be him opting out and just leaving and signing with another team. Really, the only team that would make sense is the Philadelphia 76ers unless LeBron is willing to sign for the minimum or sign for one of the exceptions. I just want to put that to rest. The Lakers are not trading him."

James was subject to midseason trade rumors for the first time in his career in 2024 before he and agent Rich Paul shut those down. The Golden State Warriors reached out to the Lakers ahead of the trade deadline and were told in no uncertain terms that James wants to remain in Los Angeles.

James is expected to opt out of his $51.4 million player option for next season, but that's largely seen as a leverage play for a new contract. ESPN's Brian Windhorst said James could demand a no-trade clause in negotiations for a new deal to ensure he has full control over his fate.

Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal is the only NBA player who currently has a no-trade clause.

Regardless, the Lakers were never going to entertain the idea of trading James and no team would trade for LeBron without knowing he's 100 percent on board with the move. This is one of those things that should not need to be said. But in the era of social media users burning the midnight oil on the NBA trade machine, coming up with wild fantasy moves is par for the course.

LeBron James is the only person in control of his NBA future, just as he has been his entire two-decade career. Even as he approaches age 40, he's still far too great on the floor and too influential off it for the power dynamics to shift.

ESPN 2024 NBA Mock Draft: Bronny James to Lakers; Stephon Castle Joins Wemby, Spurs

Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images

Givony and Woo project the Lakers using the No. 55 pick in order to draft the son of LeBron James, days before James' deadline to accept or decline his Lakers player option.

The ESPN analysts meanwhile project that the San Antonio Spurs will use the No. 4 pick of the draft to select former UConn standout Stephon Castle, who Givony and Woo write could add perimeter shooting to an offense powered by 2023 top pick Victor Wembanyama.

The 2024 NBA Draft is slated to kick off on June 26 at 8 p.m. ET.

LeBron James must decide by June 29 whether to take his $51.4 million player option to stay in Los Angeles.

Although reporters including ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowksi and Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium have pushed back against the idea that LeBron James will make his free agency decision based on Bronny's draft position, the Lakers have continued to show interest in the former USC guard.

Dan Woike reported for the Los Angeles Times that James participated in a pre-draft workout for the Lakers, who were interested in "his athleticism, defensive potential and shooting at the Chicago draft combine."

James has also worked out for the Phoenix Suns, although Givony said Tuesday that other teams "say they cannot get Bronny James into their building" for another workout.

In addition to the Lakers and the Suns, James has been tied with the Dallas Mavericks, who NBA insider Marc Stein said "would have interest" in drafting James if he falls to No. 58.

Castle, meanwhile, has been projected going as high as the No. 2 pick thanks to the two-way role he played for Dan Hurley's Huskies as UConn earned a second consecutive NCAA title.

The 6-foot-6 guard has previously been mocked as going to the Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets, but the Spurs could be hoping he falls to No. 4 so that the team can boost their perimeter defense.

San Antonio ranked among the bottom 10 defensive teams in the league last season by allowing 115.6 points per 100 possessions. If Castle is able to translate his ability to defend perimeter scorers from the NCAA to the NBA, he could form an important part of the Spurs' defense as the franchise looks to take the next step in its ongoing rebuild next season.

LeBron James Turns Up To Lil Wayne’s “A Milli” In New Beats Commercial

LeBron James rhymes along to Lil Wayne's 2008 hit "A Milli" during his appearance in a new Beats commercial promoting the brand's new Pill + produ ct.

In the ad, the NBA star is dressed to the nines and in the midst of enjoying a plush party, where drinks are aflow and the energy appears to be festive. After exchanging pleasantries with a fellow attendeee, James hears the faint sounds of "A Milli" playing from a Pill + sitting on a table, prompting him to declare that he has to "turn this up."

Upon raising the volume on the Pill +, LeBron begins to rap along to the song's sample-driven hook before the commercial cuts to a black screen with "The Predicament June 25" written across.

LeBron James Visits "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" at Rockefeller Center on July 14, 2015 in New York City.

The four-time NBA champ's show of approval towards Weezy's chart-topping classic is the latest instance in which the two phenom's have been connected, either directly or by circumstance. In 2009, Wayne appeared alongside Drake, Lil Wayne, and Eminem on "Forever," a single from the soundtrack to LeBron's More than a Game documentary.

The following year, he would predict that LeBron's Miami Heat would win the NBA championship, a declaration that failed to come to fruition, as the Heat fell to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals.

Lil Wayne performs onstage at the NBA 2K23 Launch Event at Rolling Greens on September 07, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

However, the Hot Boy's affinity for the pride of Akron shifted after James and Dwyane Wade allegedly snubbed him while he was sitting courtside when the Heat visited New Orleans to play his hometown Pelicans during the 2010-2011 NBA regular season.

All parties eventually buried the hatchet, with Wayne later comparing his own career and longevity to LeBron's. "I would say that I'm like a LeBron," the rapper said in 2023.

LeBron James With Lil Wayne

"I dropped my first solo album when I was 14, and that's the same album I'm talking about that went platinum. The phenom that came out and I stuck something that came out. And I've been doing this at this pace or higher ever since, just like him."

See the Beats Pill+ commercial starring LeBron James below.

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LeBron James Teases New Beats Pill That Could Hit The Stores On June 25: 'Oh, We Gotta Turn This Up!'

In a teaser posted on Monday, Beats by Dre, which was acquired by Apple Inc. AAPL in 2014, has hinted at the launch of a new Beats Pill on June 25.

What Happened: The teaser, shared by Beats by Dre's official X, formerly Twitter, account, features Basketball legend LeBron James adjusting the volume on a Beats Pill while grooving on American rapper Lil Wayne's song.

Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox.

Why It Matters: The new Beats Pill has been the subject of several leaks, with various celebrities, including James and F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo, seen with the product in social media posts, reported AppleInsider.

The code found in iOS and an entry in the FCC database further indicate that the new Beats Pill could be hitting the market soon.

The teaser, which features the date June 25 and the words "The Predicament," has sparked speculation that the release could be linked to a new album or song, possibly by Lil Wayne, the report noted.

Last year, Beats by Dre released the Beats Studio Pro over-ear headphones, setting up a potential competition with Apple's AirPods Max. At the time, it was reported that users were comparing the two products and giving Beats Studio Pro a higher rating because of its over-ear design and competitive pricing.

Beats by Dr. Dre (Beats) was founded in 2006 by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine.

Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Janet Yellen Dismisses Donald Trump's Proposal To Replace Income Tax With Tariffs: 'The Impact Would Be To Make Life Unaffordable …'

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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Stephen A. Smith Blames LeBron James and JJ Redick’s Podcast’s Timing for Putting Darvin Ham Under the Scanner

It's been a while since Darvin Ham was fired by the Los Angeles Lakers as their head coach. The primary reason behind the decision was the subpar season that the Lakers had this year, which prompted the franchise to look for some major changes. However, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith believes that LeBron James starting his new podcast prompted Ham's eventual firing. In fact, SAS also thinks that LBJ colluded with JJ Redick through their new podcast to put Ham's coaching under the scanner.

The media veteran said that the timing of the podcast makes him question the intent behind starting it in the first place. He said that LeBron knew about the kind of challenges that Ham was facing and intentionally decided to talk about the Xs and Os of basketball at the highest level with another savant of the game to further highlight Ham's supposed inadequacy.

Smith believes that once everyone saw the kind of knowledge Redick possesses about the game, the noise became louder for him to replace Ham in LA.

Defending his past take on the matter, SAS said on First Take, "What I was saying on the air with Windy last week and Molly was that, couldn't have started it during the playoffs? Couldn't have started it after Darvin Ham lost the job? Did you have to start it in the middle of the damn season when he's [Ham is] on the hot seat?"

Host of the show Molly Qerim responded to Stephen A.'s claim by pointing out that if LeBron wanted his head coach fired, did he really needed to concoct an elaborate plan like this.

SAS immediately cleared his stance by stating that he is not putting those allegations on LeBron. He doesn't believe that LBJ orchestrated a plan to push Ham out. But he is only mad about the timing of the podcast because it did put Ham's chances of survival in LA on thin ice.

According to Smith, Ham's standing became weaker as the podcast picked up steam. Months later, the podcast has become one of the primary reasons why Redick is being considered a frontrunner for the job.

It's been a tough few weeks for Lakers fans as their franchise is still without a head coach. The hunt for the job started with several people in mind but ended up being mostly about Redick, James Borrego, and Dan Hurley. The UConn legend was even offered a lucrative six-year deal worth $70 million, but he ended up declining it to stay back in Connecticut.

After that, we are back to ground zero where it looks like Redick will be the one to be named the next head coach for the Lakers. According to Shams Charania, the Lakers were just testing the waters with their offer to Hurley.

He believes that they still want to give the position to Redick. Whatever the case might be, chances are we will get the big news once the NBA Finals series between the Mavericks and the Celtics is over.

I Love LeBron James, Says Super Falcons Star Oshoala

Super Falcons star Asisat Oshoala has revealed her admiration for Los Angeles Lakers star an basketball legend LeBron James, Soccernet.ng reports.

Oshoala is known for her football prowess, but she has never hidden her love for other sports like tennis and basketball. In fact, after she left Barcelona for US-based side Bay FC she shared pictures of herself at NBA games.

Oshoala also shared pictures of herself with Milwaukee Bucks brothers Giannis and Thanasis Antetokoumpo. The 29-year-old has also frequently shared pictures of Carlos Alcaraz, indicating that she is a fan of the Spaniard tennis star.

In a recent development, Oshoala has revealed that she loves LeBron James. However, it is not just because of his legendary status. It is due to his impact outside basketball.

"I love LeBron James. I like to see people have an impact outside their sport, and that's what I see in LeBron," Oshoala told FIFA.com.

"He has a foundation, he's built a school. These are things that are even bigger than basketball. That's why he's my favourite player."

LeBron is widely regarded as the greatest-ever basketball player. He has won four NBA rings and has made the all-star team 20 times. He is the all-time leading scorer in the NBA and is fourth on the all-time assists charts.

The Western Conference contender that could try to draft Bronny James

With less than two weeks to go before the 2024 NBA Draft, there is a gradually growing buzz about where Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, will be taken in the draft.

There are plenty who believe he is destined to be drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, if for no other reason than to appease his father. The elder James is about to become a free agent, and drafting his son seems to be the type of thing that could influence where he will play next season.

He has stated that he would love to play alongside his s on. On the other hand, a recent report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski indicated that it may not be a big priority.

The younger James has reportedly agreed to only work out for a very limited number of teams. According to Marc Stein, the Dallas Mavericks could be interested in drafting him, although there is an obstacle standing between them and that apparent goal.

Via Marc Stein Substack:

"The Mavericks would have interest in selecting Bronny James with the 58th overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, league sources say," Stein reported. But the Mavericks also realize it's extremely unlikely that James will still be available for selection. All current indications suggest that LeBron James' 19-year-old son will be selected earlier in the second round before Dallas makes the last pick in the draft."

The Mavs are currently fighting to stay alive in the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. One may surmise that their desire to draft the younger James may mean they will try to lure the elder James away from Los Angeles and complete their championship puzzle.

Story originally appeared on LeBron Wire

Lakers' LeBron James, Damian Lillard, More NBA Stars Attend WNBA's Aces vs. Liberty

Nick Cammett/Getty Images

Saturday's WNBA matchup between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty had some high-profile attendees from the NBA sitting courtisde.

NBA stars LeBron James, Damian Lillard and Bam Adebayo, as well as James' wife Savannah and agent Rich Paul, were all seated courtside at the rematch of the 2023 WNBA Finals.

The Liberty entered the matchup with an 11-2 record and currently sit in second place in the Eastern Conference. The Aces are 6-5 and in third place in the Western Conference.

This is the first time the Liberty and Aces have faced off since the 2023 Finals, which the Aces won 3-1 to clinch a second consecutive WNBA Championship.

Saturday represents the first of three matchups between the two teams this season, with the two squaring off in Las Vegas in August and back in New York in September.

While neither team is currently leading their respective conference, history suggests Saturday's matchup could certainly be a precursor to this year's finals.

The Liberty claimed a 45-43 lead at halftime, with Jonquel Jones leading the charge at 17 points. Kelsey Plum paced the Aces with 14 points at the half.

LeBron James on why the Celtics' offense is so deadly

Even though the Boston Celtics got routed in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, 122-84, on Friday, they're still one win away from winning their 18th world championship. Doing so would break the tie they have with the Los Angeles Lakers right now in total titles.

It is one thing that has made this offseason, at least so far, that much more frustrating for Lakers fans after their team fell well short of expectations and its potential this year.

Purple and Gold partisans may not want to admit it, but this year's edition of the Celtics has apparently been one of the better teams the NBA has seen in recent years, at least statistically. During the regular season, Boston ranked second in points per game, 3-point shooting percentage and defensive rating while finishing first in offensive rating and blocked shots per game.

LeBron James has been a rival of the Celtics for much of his career, but it didn't stop him from heaping praise on them and explaining why their offense is so deadly. He did just that on a recent episode of his "Mind the Game" podcast (h/t Lakers Nation).

"I think they do it with the pass that a lot of people don't really give them credit for. I think they're dribble penetration and once they see the defense start to rotate, they do it with the pass.

"To be honest, over the course of a 48-minute game they really only have two iso guys and that's Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Obviously, Payton Pritchard has the ability to play a little iso ball as well but they just have two iso guys. The rest of those guys they move off the pass. They move off the defense shifting. They've loaded up on those two great wings in Jayson and Jaylen and then now that's when their personnel really kicks in. That's when Derrick White is playing on a closeout, that's when Jrue Holiday is playing on a closeout, that's when Payton Pritchard is playing on a closeout. Al Horford is playing on a closeout.

"And I think they don't get enough credit for their ball movement when they're driving the baseline or driving the 45, the slow and getting the defense rotating. That's their superpower. Once that ball gets to popping and they got five guys around that perimeter that can all shoot the three…they all shooting high 30s, some of them in the 40s, but I don't think they get enough credit for how they play with the pass and the body movement that they have."

As James alluded to, the Celtics have found success by playing five-out on offense, and they're able to do so because their top six players are all legitimate 3-point threats. Five-out offenses have proliferated across the NBA in recent years, and the Celtics are the latest team to utilize that scheme at a high level.

It is also a reminder to the Lakers that they need to not just be an efficient 3-point shooting team, but they need to have more legitimate 3-point threats and increase their volume of 3-point attempts and makes.

While Boston has gone cold from downtown at times during this championship series, its mere volume of attempts has made it difficult for the Mavs to match them in points off 3-pointers. It's the exact same problem the Lakers had at various points this season.

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LeBron James Stands With Terrence Shannon Jr. Following Legal Victory Over a Rape Allegations of Last Year

LeBron James Drops Truth Bomb On Ex-Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr. Following Legal Victory Over Rape Allegations From Last Year Home » NBA » LeBron James Drops Truth Bomb On Ex-Illinois star Terrence Shannon Jr. Following Legal Victory Over Rape Allegations From Last Year

“Still A Long Way…”: When Magic Johnson Picked His GOAT From Michael Jordan and LeBron James

The craze over the greatest of all time, aka GOAT debate, never ceases to amaze the NBA followers. And more often than not, Michael Jordan and LeBron James emerge as two of the leading names in this argument, giving rise to polarizing reactions. A decade ago, Magic Johnson also added fuel to this fire for one of the first times, naming his preference out of the two.

Basing his judgment on James' achievements by 2014, Johnson provided MJ with an edge. However, the 5x champion candidly admired the former's capabilities, backing him to catch up with the latter by the end of his career. Expressing his thoughts on Dan Patrick Show, the 64-year-old declared,

"He [James] has a couple of championships now. Michael has six. So, he has got still a long way to go to catch Michael Jordan. But it could be done. If anybody could do it, he could probably end up doing it."

James was fighting an uphill battle against MJ back then. Despite winning back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013, the Akron-born failed to sustain his winning momentum. This tilted the odds against him, turning the debate heavily in Jordan's favor.

However, slowly but surely, the tables started to turn. James stacked up two more championships alongside numerous accolades in the following years. In February 2023, for instance, he became the league's all-time leading scorer, cementing his place in the NBA's Mount Rushmore.

Yet, 'The Buck' remained unfazed. He continued giving Jordan the upper hand in this debate while appreciating James' contributions to the game. Outlining his viewpoint during his last year's appearance on the show, the 12x All-Star stated,

"We have to celebrate both guys… I always say he [Michael] is special, and he is the best to me because he never lost in the NBA Finals… but LeBron is special in his own right and people shouldn't forget that either."

This highlighted one aspect of the entire argument. Johnson judged both the NBA greats based on his preset parameters. Much to Jordan's delight, he came out on top in those, earning the faith of his contemporary.

However, the debate remains open to interpretation, raising fan interest in the talks.

Brian Windhorst drops Lakers JJ Redick-LeBron James ‘interview’ truth bomb

Dan Hurley recently declined the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job offer to remain at UConn. As a result, JJ Redick has emerged as a head coaching candidate for the team once again. Redick is expected to interview for the position, but ESPN analyst Brian Windhorst thinks Redick has been interviewing for the job during his podcast Mind the Game with LeBron James.

"Anytime you hire a first time head coach, you're admitting that you're going to go through a learning curve… Frankly, [JJ Redick's] interviews have been in those podcasts with LeBron James," Windhorst said on ESPN. "They've extensively broken down the Lakers' offense, extensively broken down what they do. It's been out there for the whole world to hear, including from the Lakers front office.

Redick enjoyed a respectable NBA playing career. He has no NBA coaching experience, though. Still, he's displayed impressive knowledge of the game in the media world.

LeBron seems to respect Redick. Having James in your corner is impactful to say the least. In the end, the Lakers will make the final decision. There are other options, but Redick appears to be a serious candidate.

It needs to be remembered that James has a player option and could opt out of his deal. LeBron's decision will obviously play an important role in LA's future.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles has a number of questions to address during the offseason. Finding a new head coach is a top priority, but keeping James is also important. Additionally, the Lakers have to make other decisions about players on the roster.

LA may end up searching for potential trades this offseason. They could end up being active in free agency as well. Upgrading the roster will be crucial.

If LeBron stays, the Lakers will have no choice but to try to win a championship. James is going to be 40 years old and will not want to waste his final years on a rebuilding team. The Lakers struggled to find consistency during the 2023-24 season, so they will likely make some notable roster moves.

As for the head coaching position, a rumor recently emerged that suggested the Cleveland Cavaliers' job is more attractive than the Lakers' gig. There have been a number of stirrings about the desirability of the Lakers' head coaching position ever since they decided to move on from Darvin Ham.

Los Angeles has continued to hire candidates and then move on just a few years later over the past decade. Unless someone finds immediate success, they will have questions about their future with the team.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for this Lakers team. Will LeBron James remain in LA? Is JJ Redick going to become the franchise's next head coach? How will the Lakers ultimately address the offseason?

We will find out the answers to these questions soon. If Los Angeles has a good offseason, perhaps they will become a title contender once again during the 2024-25 campaign.

Jerry West dies at 86: LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, more remember Lakers legend

Jerry West, a former NBA champion who was immortalized in the NBA logo, died at the age of 86 this week. West will go down as one of the largest contributors to the game of basketball after making his mark on the sport for several decades. The Hall of Fame guard won the 1972 NBA title as a player and then won eight more as an executive. West set up the blueprint for the Los Angeles Lakers' 10 championship teams in the 1980s and 2000s, while also serving as an adviser for the Golden State Warriors.

Before reaching the NBA, West was a standout in the state of West Virginia as he dominated the high school ranks before landing at the University of West Virginia as a collegiate player. West is the Mountaineers' all-time leading scorer with 2,309 points and had his No. 44 retired by the school.

After a legendary career at the collegiate level, West was selected by the Minneapolis Lakers as the No. 2 pick in the 1960 NBA Draft, after another Hall of Famer, Oscar Robertson, was selected No. 1 overall in that draft by the Cincinnati Royals. 

West served as the co-captain on the 1960 United States Olympic men's basketball team, while also appearing in 14 NBA All-Star Games. He even helped the Lakers defeat the New York Knicks in the 1972 NBA Finals and led the team in assists in each of the five games in that series.

"We are overwhelmed by the love, support, and appreciation we have received from friends, colleagues, and basketball fans around the world," West's family said in a statement shared by the Clippers. "Jerry took incredible pride in his life-long association with the NBA. He felt fortunate to have been a player, coach, and executive during a time of explosive growth in the league. Above all else, Jerry cherished the close friendships and mentorships he formed with his teammates, coaches and players throughout his 64-year-career. We want to thank you, basketball fans everywhere, for supporting him. You fueled his burning desire to win -- he did it for you."

West leaves behind an iconic legacy when it comes to the sport of basketball. As a result, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, franchise legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and many others paid tribute to the star player and executive on social media.