Basketball

5/14/2025 |  Oregon gets a taste of a WNBA future via preseason Liberty game (Associated Press (AP)) EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — There was no shortage of “WNBA Portland” T-shirts among the fans at the New York Liberty’s preseason game at the University of Oregon.
The sellout crowd, which welcomed former Ducks Sabrina Ionescu and Nyara Sabally back to Eugene for a WNBA exhibition against the Toyota Antelopes, exemplified the popularity in Oregon of women’s basketball, and of women’s sports in general. 

5/14/2025 |  Connecticut Sun exploring all options, including sale of franchise according to team president (Associated Press (AP)) The Connecticut Sun are looking at all options for the franchise’s future, including a potential sale, team president Jen Rizzotti said Tuesday.
The team is owned by the Mohegan Tribe, which runs the casino where the team has played since 2003. The Tribe bought the franchise for $10 million and relocated it from Orlando that year. The Connecticut franchise was the first in the league to be run by a non-NBA owner and also became the first to turn a profit. 

5/14/2025 |  As WNBA popularity soars, player salaries remain a big hurdle for the league to address (Associated Press (AP)) Breanna Stewart will start her ninth WNBA season in a few days. The New York Liberty All-Star and WNBA champ has been around the league long enough to watch her peers fight for visibility. She’s seen only a small uptick in player salaries over the years amid the WNBA’s meteoric rise in popularity.

5/14/2025 |  Flagg, the presumed No. 1 pick, settling into his new reality now that Dallas has won draft lottery (Associated Press (AP)) CHICAGO (AP) — Cooper Flagg is starting to settle into his new reality.
The former Duke star has been considered the presumptive No. 1 pick in next month’s NBA draft for some time and now knows that pick is held by the Dallas Mavericks — winners of the draft lottery earlier this week.

5/14/2025 |  Dallas Mavericks were paid $33 million over 3 years by Chime for jersey patch (CNBC Sports)

• In Chime Financial’s IPO prospectus on Tuesday, the company disclosed terms of its sponsorship deal with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.
• The fintech company paid over $33 million during a three-year stretch, the company said.
• Cynthia Marshall, the former CEO of the Mavericks, is on Chime’s board.