Local broadcasting rights for 15 NBA teams have been ironed out, at least for this season, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reports. The league and Diamond Sports Group have reached an agreement that would guarantee Diamond’s regional sports networks will provide those local broadcasts.
That organization is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. Some of the contracts it had in place were signed through 2030. Now, all the individual broadcast agreements will last only through this season. Diamond runs Bally Sports Regional Networks.
The bankruptcy court must approve this agreement.
We have more from around the NBA:
- Major issues regarding the Hawk-Eye optical tracking system used by the league this year were recently detailed by Ben Dowsett of The Guardian. Dowsett now tweets that the problems have persisted and even worsened. Tensions between team analytics staffs and the NBA league office were on display during a “disastrous” league-wide conference call on Monday, according to Dowsett.
- Which teams rate the highest on the “Panic Meter” two weeks into the season? In the view of Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, the Bulls and Grizzlies are at the top of the list.
- Some players make big strides from their rookie season to their sophomore campaign. The Trail Blazers’ Shaedon Sharpe and Pistons’ Jalen Duren have made significant jumps thus far, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who also takes a look at some sophomores who are slumping in the early going.
The Bulls and the Grizz need a complete rebuild…
But at least the Bulls can trade their stars…
7 games into an 82 game season? Lol yeah makes perfect sense
For the Bulls, it’s two seasons too late.
LMAO, the Grizzlies’ best three players are all 25 or younger, what good would a rebuild do? They’re still very young.vThe Grizzlies at worst just need to ride out this season. They get 1-2 first round picks this off season, they’ll be fine!
Morant is obviously the best player on Memphis, and a case can be made that Steven Adams is their 2nd most important with what he does as a screener, physicality and rebounding.
Morant, Bane and Jaren Jackson are a great young core if Ja behaves. They have to figure out the 3 and 5 spots. Tillman is solid as a backup 5.
@grimjac is correct. Bulls should be 2 years into a rebuild right now. DeRozan is an expiring contract now. LaVine’s numbers have taken a dip in the early season. Assists way down. FG% and 3pt% both down. Vucevic brings a skill set that most teams are not looking for any longer, and he just got a fresh 3 year contract.
Granted, assists should be down for LaVine (he should *never* be a primary ball-handler for his team; he has absolutely no play-running IQ and is more efficient when teammates set up his plays anyway), but that’s still concerning. Vuc could still be valuable in the right context (the Clippers would be able to make decent use of him), but his contract is a hurdle. And DeRozan should have been traded last season.
Bulls look like they are coming together. They should see what it would take to get Brogdon from the Blazers. He would get them in the playoffs.
Grizzlies don’t need a rebuild. They need to embrace this down year. Come away with a Top-5 pick. And they need to find 2 players – successor to Adams and a wing player that pushes William’s to the bench aka that Top-5 pick.
Ja comes back and Marcus is your 6th man.
I’m taking a chance on Wiseman. See if you can find that talent without spending a lot. Or maybe Gafford, he’s not too expensive but would cost more in terms of assetz, obviously a better player at this point than Wiseman too.
The issue I have with the named bigs is that neither is good at passing or playmaking in general, and they’re inferior screeners (ESPECIALLY Wiseman, dear god). Adams does so much with smoothing out the offense with his screen-setting, screen-and-roll, screen-assists, and general playmaking chops in the half-court. Without him, the ball movement has always looked somewhat one-dimensional for the Grizz, even when Tyus was still there alongside Ja. It’s not just his defense; his absence is a big part of why the current Grizzlies can’t score worth a damn.
Marcus Smart to the Sixers on 3.