Former NBA player and coach Damon Jones is accused of attempting to profit from non-public information regarding LeBron James before a Los Angeles Lakers game in 2023, according to a bombshell indictment unsealed by the Department of Justice on Thursday.
Jones, and other defendants in the case — including NBA player Terry Rozier — face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The federal investigation into the alleged illegal betting scheme also implicates four New York mafia families. United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said during a press conference on Thursday that gambling allegations point to &#8220;one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”
Before the Lakers played the Milwaukee Bucks on February 9, 2023, Jones texted a co-conspirator to place a bet on the Bucks because he knew that the Lakers would be missing a key player, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/23/nyregion/nba-betting-scheme-indictment.html">indictment</a>. The indictment referred to the Lakers player only as &#8220;Player 3,&#8221; but given the details provided and James&#8217;s absence from the February 9, 2023, game, it&#8217;s apparent that &#8220;Player 3&#8221; is James.
&#8220;By virtue of his relationship with Player 3, the Lakers and other NBA personnel, the defendant DAMON JONES had access to non-public information, including medical information that had not been released to the public,&#8221; the indictment reads. Jones was a former teammate and coach of James when the NBA star was playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Before the Lakers played the Bucks in 2023, Jones is accused of texting his inside knowledge of non-public medical information to an unnamed co-conspirator, writing, &#8220;Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out! [Player 3] is out tonight. Bet enough so Djones can eat to [sic] now!!!&#8221;
Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to <a href="http://dailywire.com/Subscribe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DailyWire.com/Subscribe</a> to join now.
When Jones allegedly provided that information to the co-conspirator, James had not yet been ruled out on the injury report, but he would later be sidelined due to a lower-body injury, according to the indictment. James <a href="https://www.nba.com/news/lebron-james-ankle-out-vs-bucks">missed</a> the game against the Bucks due to ankle soreness, and the Bucks went on to win.
In another Lakers game a year later, Jones claimed to have learned that &#8220;Player 4&#8221; for the Lakers would likely be limited in his playing time or would not play well because of an injury, the indictment read. Jones was allegedly paid $2,500 by co-defendant Marves Fairley for the information. Fairley then placed a bet worth around $100,000 against the Lakers at a retail sportsbook, according to the indictment.
After Jones had given out the information, the NBA injury report listed &#8220;Player 4&#8221; as &#8220;probable,&#8221; but it was not publicly reported that he would potentially play a limited number of minutes. Anthony Davis was the only player <a href="https://ak-static.cms.nba.com/referee/injury/Injury-Report_2024-01-15_07PM.pdf">listed</a> as &#8220;probable&#8221; on the NBA&#8217;s injury report for January 15, 2024. Davis ended up playing his normal number of minutes and scored 27 points in a Lakers win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, causing Fairley to ask Jones to pay him back. Jones allegedly doubled down, arguing in text messages that the information he received was credible.

LeBron James/Damon Jones

FBI: NBA Insider Leaked LeBron Injury Info For Betting Scheme

betting

Crime

gambling

LeBron James

Mafia

U.S.

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LeBron James, the NBA’s self-anointed “King,” has once again traded American values for Communist applause — this time by authoring a fawning op-ed in People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship propaganda paper.
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James fawned over China’s basketball culture and praised the “friendliness” of his “Chinese friends,” all while the NBA attempts to reopen its lucrative market in the authoritarian state fully, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/lebron-james-china-nba-build-bridges-rcna230007">reported</a>.
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“Basketball is not just a sport. It’s a bridge that connects us,” James wrote, as if quoting directly from the CCP’s global harmony playbook.
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James is the first NBA player ever to publish in People’s Daily — a paper infamous for rubber-stamping CCP talking points and suppressing political dissent.
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Now 40 and entering his record-breaking 23rd NBA season, James did not use the platform to speak about democracy, freedom, or the Uyghur genocide, but to wax poetic about China’s “passion,” “friendliness,” and “impressive basketball atmosphere.” He gushed about how “moved” he is by China’s support and vowed to “give his all” in every game — as if his performance on the court were a debt owed to Beijing.
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This isn’t new behavior for LeBron. Back in 2019, when then-Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey dared to speak up for democracy in Hong Kong, James didn’t stand for freedom — he attacked it. Calling Morey “misinformed,” LeBron <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/14/us/lebron-james-nba-china-intl-hnk-scli">warned</a> about the supposed “ramifications” of exercising free speech. He stated:
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<blockquote>We all talk about this freedom of speech. Yes, we all do have freedom of speech, but at times there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you&#8217;re not thinking about others, and you&#8217;re only thinking about yourself. I don&#8217;t want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn&#8217;t educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke. And so many people could have been harmed, not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually. </blockquote>
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In other words: speak up for liberty, and you might hurt LeBron’s brand deals.
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James later said Morey’s pro-Hong Kong tweet could have caused harm “financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually.” But the only real harm? A dent in NBA profits from China.
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LeBron’s lifetime Nike deal is <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/lebron-james-nike-deal-bilion-maverick-carter">reportedly worth</a> $1 billion. His signature shoes? Among the top sellers in China.
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The NBA has billions at stake in China. In 2019, the league signed a <a href="https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Global/2019/07/29/Tencent-NBA/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">$1.5 billion streaming contract</a> with Chinese tech giant Tencent and has <a href="https://www.isportconnect.com/cctv-agrees-new-deal-with-nba-china/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">business ties</a> to state-run CCTV, which famously <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/08/china-state-tv-suspends-nba-broadcasts-after-morey-hong-kong-tweet.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com">yanked NBA games</a> after the Morey incident.
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Actor James Woods may have said it best during the 2020 NBA playoff protests, when LeBron first threatened to boycott, then backed off. Woods tweeted: “His China handlers didn’t like the optics?”
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
His China handlers didn’t like the optics? <a href="https://t.co/PsbhIXHd9E">https://t.co/PsbhIXHd9E</a>
&mdash; James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1299356993061179394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The NBA is preparing to play its first preseason games in China since 2019.
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When does a basketball player stop being just an athlete and start becoming a mouthpiece for a regime that crushes freedom?
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Apparently, when the checks are big enough.
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NBA Star LeBron James 2025 China Tour In Chengdu

LeBron James Pens Love Letter to China, Waxes Poetic About ‘Impressive Basketball Atmosphere’

China

After Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James — who has a long-standing history of flopping on the floor to draw unwarranted fouls from the opposition — flopped one time too many in Wednesday’s playoff game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, as a Minnesota combat veteran and former state representative who had both of his legs blown off in Iraq offered a deathless response on X.
“I had less of a reaction when my legs were blown off,” John Kriesel, who now serves as director of veteran services for Anoka County, reacted. Kriesel was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star medal after serving in Iraq; in 2006, he was injured by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that blew up. He is also the author of the autobiography Still Standing.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I had less of a reaction when my legs were blown off. <a href="https://t.co/2gWk1EtRzH">https://t.co/2gWk1EtRzH</a>
— John Kriesel (@johnkriesel) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnkriesel/status/1917976625112584332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Timberwolves won the game 103-96, eliminating the Lakers from the playoffs.
There were multiple hilarious responses to Kriesel’s post, including:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A player for the Dallas Stars hockey team died on the bench (flatlined for 2 minutes), was resuscitated in the hallway, and asked to go back into the game.<a href="https://t.co/XfSdKgHlo3">https://t.co/XfSdKgHlo3</a>
— Slim Tidings (@drfeedbacker) <a href="https://twitter.com/drfeedbacker/status/1918096265818083701?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Falls can be deadly for elderly men like LeBron. He could break a hip, be hospitalized and contract staphylococcal infection.
— Greg Brown (@the_Greglodon) <a href="https://twitter.com/the_Greglodon/status/1918109860270653733?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
He is a DIVA &#8211;his name should never be in the same sentence as MJ, Bird or Barkley &#8211;seriously <a href="https://t.co/xBKPVbkSEo">pic.twitter.com/xBKPVbkSEo</a>
— AJH (@UnamedLocation) <a href="https://twitter.com/UnamedLocation/status/1918082924622082507?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Poor LeBron, all 6’9, 250 pounds of him, ran into Minnesota’s Donte Divincenzo, 6’4, 203 pounds, during Wednesday’s Lakers playoff exit and…couldn’t get up.&#8221;
&#8220;Divincenzo, 47 pounds lighter, had no such problem,” Outkick <a href="https://www.outkick.com/sports/lebron-james-has-hall-fame-worthy-flop-sad-lakers-playoff-exit">mocked</a>. “LeBron was on the ground for more than 20 seconds. Men have been hit by prime Mike Tyson and stayed on the canvas for less time than LeBron sprawled himself out on the hardwood.”
Earlier in the series, James got caught after a flop, taking a surreptitious look, apparently to see if the refs had called a foul.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
LeBron think he slick 🤣 
(h/t bonbaguy23/TT) <a href="https://t.co/10OAMCcEJS">pic.twitter.com/10OAMCcEJS</a>
— Overtime (@overtime) <a href="https://twitter.com/overtime/status/1915127592258310587?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“James was hit in the face by Timberwolves forward Julius Randle, 30, in the fourth quarter of Game 2 in Los Angeles&#8217; first-round playoff series, and stayed on the floor for several minutes as referees discussed the call,” People Magazine <a href="https://people.com/lebron-james-caught-flopping-fans-think-lakers-playoff-win-11721511">reported</a>.
In a loss to the Boston Celtics during the regular season, James flopped again. Sports Illustrated wrote that he “may have added a lamentable lowlight to his highlight reel with a brutal flop late in the game.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Don’t ever compare this man to Jordan again <a href="https://t.co/Il9ccLztkt">pic.twitter.com/Il9ccLztkt</a>
— Samantha (@SN1onX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SN1onX/status/1898585868106870808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
There have even been videos featuring James’ legendary flopping habits:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Lebron FLOPS from Level 1 to 100" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/N7cZn9bgATE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@instabucketz/video/7337784992405277994" data-video-id="7337784992405277994" data-embed-from="oembed" style="max-width:605px; min-width:325px;">
<section> <a target="_blank" title="@instabucketz" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@instabucketz?refer=embed">@instabucketz</a> 
1 minute of LeBron James flopping 😂 Le🩴 <a title="instabucketz" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/instabucketz?refer=embed">#instabucketz</a> <a title="basketball" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/basketball?refer=embed">#basketball</a> <a title="basketball" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/basketball?refer=embed">#basketball</a> 
 <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - Instabucketz" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7337785051411647274?refer=embed">♬ original sound &#8211; Instabucketz</a> </section>
</blockquote>
 <script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>

Minnesota Timberwolves v Los Angeles Lakers – Game Five

LeBron Flops One Time Too Many, Provoking Deathless Response From Iraq Combat Vet

Celebrities

Iraq

Los Angeles Lakers

Minnesota

Veterans

LeBron James faced backlash online over the weekend after he acted rudely toward a young fan in Paris following Team USA&#8217;s gold medal victory at the Olympics.
Video that was posted online showed James scolding the young fan for wanting to take a selfie photo with the NBA star.
&#8220;Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!&#8221; James snapped at the boy. &#8220;Don&#8217;t do that.&#8221;
The kid appeared stunned by James&#8217; rudeness and arrogance.
Moments later, James broke out into a dance as he arrived at the restaurant that he was going to to celebrate the team&#8217;s win.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
LeBron James tells a white kid who’s a fan to back the f*ck up and get out of the way so he can celebrate his gold medal. What a complete piece of sh*t. <a href="https://t.co/IbLAdV10hG">pic.twitter.com/IbLAdV10hG</a>
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1822776788835303597?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
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LeBron James just snaps at a young white fan who wants to greet him and congratulate him on his win. Then he goes off and does a little dance over his gold medal. Brute. I’m heartbroken for the kid. <a href="https://t.co/bf9PlNCICa">pic.twitter.com/bf9PlNCICa</a>
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) <a href="https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1822791294856429621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
James faced a considerable amount of backlash online where many were stunned to see how he treated the kid.
&#8220;LeBron James shows his true colors as he shouts as a young boy who politely had asked for a photo in Paris,&#8221; one social media user wrote on X.
Another used posted: &#8220;LeBron James snaps at a kid waiting to take a picture with him. A total POS.&#8221;
Others called the event shameful because the kid was going to &#8220;remember this for the rest of his life.&#8221;
&#8220;Hey @KingJames, f you and that gold medal,&#8221; another user wrote. &#8220;Treat a kid that way, I hope no one ever buys another piece of crap merchandise from you or the @NBA who ought to suspend your a*s for unsportsmanlike conduct…off the court. You show your true character in how you treated that kid.&#8221;

Basketball – Olympic Games Paris 2024 – Day 15

LeBron James Slammed For Nasty Interaction With Young Fan At Olympics

Basketball

Paris Olympics

Sports

Basketball legends <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lebron-james-hundreds-of-top-celebrities-side-with-israel-after-terror-attacks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LeBron James</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charles-barkley-rips-san-francisco-during-live-nba-all-star-broadcast-you-cant-even-walk-around-down-there" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Charles Barkley</a> came to the defense of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/caitlin-clark">Caitlin Clark</a> against naysayers after her new team fell to 0-5 with Wednesday night&#8217;s loss to the Seattle Storm.
During TNT&#8217;s “Inside the NBA” <a href="https://x.com/ComplexSports/status/1793432883966706169">pregame show</a>, host Barkley reacted to the backlash against Clark — who was picked number 1 overall in the 2024 WNBA draft — and said &#8220;You women out there, y&#8217;all petty, man.” He also talked about the comments James made on the “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqJ2u11OTY0">Mind the Game</a>&#8220; podcast when he slammed the criticism against the rookie of the Indiana Fever team.
&#8220;LeBron, you&#8217;re 100% right on these girls hating on Caitlin Clark,” Barkley said. “Y&#8217;all petty, girls. I expect men to be petty because we&#8217;re the most insecure group in the world.”
“Y&#8217;all should be thanking that girl for getting y&#8217;all a** private charters, all the money and visibility she&#8217;s bringing to the WNBA,” he added.
James — drafted No. 1 overall in the NBA draft in 2003 — said he’s been where Caitlin is now and offered her support, saying that the best thing she could do was put on blinders and keep working, calling the criticism “the weirdest thing in the world.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Caitlin Clark’s popularity is about ‘White privilege’ and ‘pretty privilege’: host of ‘The View’ <a href="https://t.co/LjNrM7nm8F">https://t.co/LjNrM7nm8F</a> <a href="https://t.co/Mv8Qe4LEIP">pic.twitter.com/Mv8Qe4LEIP</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1793630850392715323?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;My advice to Caitlin, and my advice to anyone that comes in with this level of notoriety, out-of-this-world expectation, whatever the case may be, be a horse, man,&#8221; James said on the podcast. &#8220;The Kentucky Derby. Put your blinders on, go to work, show up to work, punch your clock in, prepare yourself, work on your game, work on your craft.&#8221;
&#8220;Kind of keep your mouth shut and just learn from the vets,&#8221; he added. &#8220;When they ask, voice your opinion if they want your opinion early on because everybody is looking for you to say anything and they&#8217;re gonna splice it and cut it and make it a negative thing.&#8221;
&#8220;The one thing I love that she&#8217;s bringing to her sport: More people want to watch,&#8221; James continued. &#8220;More people want to tune in. &#8230; Don&#8217;t get it twisted, don&#8217;t get it f**ked up. Caitlin Clark is the reason why a lot of great things is gonna happen for the WNBA. &#8230; I&#8217;m rooting for Caitlin because I&#8217;ve been in that seat before. I&#8217;ve walked that road before. I hope she kills.&#8221;
Criticism of Clark has come from all over, including outside the sports world with “The View” cohost <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/wnba/article-13449307/caitlin-clark-pretty-white-privilege-sunny-hostin.html">Sunny Hostin</a> saying the WNBA player benefits from “pretty privilege.”
&#8220;I do think that there is a thing called pretty privilege,&#8221; Hostin said. &#8216;There is a thing called white privilege. There is a thing called tall privilege, and we have to acknowledge that&#8230;But I do think that she is more relatable to more people because she&#8217;s white, because she&#8217;s attractive, and unfortunately, there still is that stigma against the LGBTQ+ community.”

2024 WNBA Draft

LeBron James, Charles Barkley Come To Caitlin Clark’s Defense Against Naysayers

Caitlin Clark

Charles Barkley

WNBA

NBA star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lebron-james-says-brittney-griner-shouldnt-even-want-to-come-back-to-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LeBron James</a> is taking heat online for walking into his son&#8217;s college basketball game and taking a seat while the National Anthem was playing.
The 34-second video clip, which notably does not show the entire playing of the anthem, went viral, racking up more than 3.9 million views on X in under 24 hours. Most commenters were displeased with James&#8217; actions, qualifying them as <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnDMacari/status/1734916899081736454" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disrespectful</a>, though in lockstep with the baller&#8217;s past actions and comments about the U.S.
&#8220;LeBron James casually walks into the basketball arena while the National Anthem is playing and takes a seat,&#8221; conservative Collin Rugg captioned the video, which was captured by O.C. Register reporter Luca Evans.
&#8220;Zero respect for the country that gave him the opportunity to be a basketball star,&#8221; Rugg added. &#8220;Zero respect for the country that allowed him to become a billionaire. Zero respect for the men and women who defend our country so he can live his life. Shameful.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
LeBron James casually walks into the basketball arena while the National Anthem is playing and takes a seat.
Zero respect for the country that gave him the opportunity to be a basketball star.
Zero respect for the country that allowed him to become a billionaire.
Zero respect… <a href="https://t.co/NaTmdeOabx">https://t.co/NaTmdeOabx</a>
&mdash; Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1734742092411478432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Just last year, James <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lebron-james-says-brittney-griner-shouldnt-even-want-to-come-back-to-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> that WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was being detained by Russia at the time, shouldn&#8217;t even want to come back to America.
“Now, how can she feel like America has her back?” James said. “I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?&#8217;”
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1702566054208000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3wPJyKfMQG4B-eRx4EhMSU">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Griner was arrested in Russia, back in February 2022, after being caught with marijuana vaping materials. She was sentenced to nine years behind bars but was freed months later in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wnba-star-brittney-griner-freed-from-russian-prison-in-swap-for-arms-dealer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">controversial prisoner exchange</a> for a notorious Russian arms dealer.
Two years earlier, James claimed the U.S. was a racist and oppressive country.
“It’s just heartbreaking,&#8221; James <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lebron-on-black-lives-matter-in-america-there-aint-been-no-damn-movement-for-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> at the time. &#8220;You guys don’t understand. Unless you’re a person of color, you guys don’t understand. I understand you might feel for us. But you will never truly understand what it is to be black in America.”
&#8220;No, this is a walk of life,&#8221; the athlete added about the Black Lives Matter movement. &#8220;When you wake up and you’re black, that is what it is. It shouldn’t be a movement. It should be a lifestyle. This is who we are. … I don’t like the word ‘movement’ because, unfortunately, in America and in society, there ain’t been no damn movement for us. There ain’t been no movement.&#8221;
“You know what’s going on now. Is that progress? I think we can all say that’s not progress,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The conversations being had right now and how many people are really listening or just having the conversations of trying to make things happen, that’s progress. We got a long way to go.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lebron-james-founded-a-school-based-on-equity-it-is-an-unmitigated-disaster" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LeBron James Founded A School Based On Equity. It Is An Unmitigated Disaster.</a>

Lakers’ LeBron Jame watches the game between the USC Trojans and the Long Beach State 49ers during the first half at Galen Center in Los Angeles Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023.

‘Shameful’: Video Goes Viral Of LeBron James Ignoring, Sitting During National Anthem At Son’s USC Game

Video Goes Viral Of LeBron James Ignoring, Sitting During National Anthem Son’s USC Game

Brittney Griner

NBA star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lebron-james" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LeBron James</a> released a statement supporting Israel after the country experienced one of the deadliest terror attacks in modern history over the weekend.
James&#8217; statement comes after Palestinian terrorists with Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Israel on Saturday and simultaneously launched a ground invasion in which thousands of terrorists invaded the country and hunted down innocent civilians. More than 1,300 Israelis were murdered and thousands more were injured.
&#8220;The devastation in Israel is tragic and unacceptable,&#8221; James said in a statement. &#8220;The murder and violence against innocent people by Hamas is terrorism.&#8221;
&#8220;The SpringHill Company family sends our deepest condolences to Israel and the Jewish community,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;We pray for peace in the region and reiterate our continued commitment to fight hate in all its forms.&#8221;
&#8220;We all must work to ensure this tragedy does not spread even more hate, racism, and antisemitism,&#8221; he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://t.co/DvjrsHg6QE">pic.twitter.com/DvjrsHg6QE</a>
&mdash; LeBron James (@KingJames) <a href="https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1712277442101174438?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 12, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
James&#8217; statement comes as more than 700 celebrities and entertainment executives <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/celebrities-entertainment-executives-sign-open-letter-support-israel-1235617300/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> onto a letter this week expressing support for Israel.
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The letter said in-part:
<blockquote>
Under the cover of thousands of rockets fired indiscriminately into civilian populations, Hamas murdered and kidnapped innocent men, women, and children. They kidnapped and murdered infants and the elderly. They raped women and mutilated their bodies. They paraded their bodies through the streets and on social media, and cowardly attacked the Supernova Music Festival – bringing death and destruction to an event celebrating friendship and love.
This is terrorism. This is evil. There is no justification or rationalization for Hamas’ actions. These are barbaric acts of terrorism that must be called out by everyone. They are a terrorist organization whose leaders call for the murder of Jews everywhere.
CCFP calls on our friends and colleagues in the entertainment industry to speak out forcefully against Hamas and do whatever is in their power to urge the terrorist organization to return the innocent hostages to their families.
As Israel takes the necessary steps to defend its citizens in the coming days and weeks, social media will be overrun by an orchestrated misinformation campaign spearheaded by Iran. We urge everyone to remember the horrific images that came out of Israel and to not amplify or fall for their propaganda.
</blockquote>
Major figures who signed the letter include Gal Gadot, Jerry Seinfeld, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Pine, Mayim Bialik, Liev Schreiber, Amy Schumer, Michael Douglas, Debra Messing, Bryan Lourd, Richard Lovett, Ryan Murphy, Zachery Levi, Sharon Osbourne, Tracey-Ann Oberman, George Lopez, Phil Rosenthal, Mekhi Phifer, Diane Warren, Haim Saban, Irving Azoff, Ynon Kreiz, Jody Gerson, Mark Hamill, Rick Yorn, Howie Mandel, Sherry Lansing, Rick Yorn, Tom Rothman, Julian Edelman, and Antoine Fuqua.

Lakers, Media Day, LeBron James

LeBron James, Hundreds Of Top Celebrities Side With Israel After Terror Attacks

Hamas

Israel

Defendants in the beating death of 17-year-old Ethan Liming have so far evaded any manslaughter charges, a jury decided Monday.
Deshawn Stafford Jr., 21, and his brother Tyler Stafford, 20, were both found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter in Liming&#8217;s death.
Deshawn was found guilty of aggravated assault and assault and a mistrial was declared on a count 1 charge of involuntary manslaughter. Tyler was found guilty of assault and not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Liming was beaten near basketball courts of NBA star and political activist LeBron James’ I PROMISE School in Akron, Ohio, on June 2, 2022. Liming and his friends were playing with SplatRBall water pellet guns before the altercation and the boy&#8217;s death.
The Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office found that the teen&#8217;s death was caused by blunt force head injuries and the death was ruled a homicide.
Bill Liming, Ethan&#8217;s father, said last year that his son was trying to defuse an altercation before he was beaten to death, adding that his son’s two friends, who are black, tried to rescue Ethan while he was still breathing, but were chased and assaulted by the perpetrators, who then “finished my son off,” according to <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/akron-canton-news/family-of-akron-teen-found-beaten-to-death-plead-for-someone-to-come-forward" target="_blank" rel="noopener">News 5 Cleveland</a>.
“Teenagers were being teenagers, and I don’t want to say too much about the investigation,” Mr. Liming recalled to the news outlet. “But apparently, some of his friends who were with him were fooling around in the parking lot, and some other people didn’t like it, and they went running back to Ethan’s car where he and his other friend were.&#8221;
“Ethan still thought it was horseplay when he got out of the car and was trying to tell people, ‘It’s relaxed. It’s just a joke. It’s a joke,&#8217;” he continued. “And the individuals didn’t like that.”
“One individual attacked him,” he said. “Ethan still tried to tell them it’s just a joke. And then another individual came up behind them, struck him in the head.”
“He was fighting back for his life,” Mr. Liming added. “The detective told me that, ‘Your son fought for his life.’ It was not over like it was like a single punch, he fell down and hit his head. That’s not what happened … he was fighting for his life. And then a third individual came up behind him and they overwhelmed them and they knocked him out on the ground.”
The Stafford brothers initially faced murder charges, however, a grand jury in Summit County issued new, lesser charges.
A third male, Donovon Jones, 22, was arrested last year for his involvement in the death. He had previously pleaded no contest to two counts of misdemeanor assault and was given a suspended sentence of 180 days, <a href="https://www.wkyc.com/amp/article/news/crime/verdict-in-trial-of-2-brothers-accused-in-death-of-akron-teen-ethan-liming/95-61d4899e-2da7-4e70-bf72-3503e8b6857d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to WKWC.
Sentencing for the Stafford brothers has been set for October 26.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/father-of-fatally-beaten-ohio-teen-ethan-liming-says-narrative-surrounding-attack-false-provides-new-details" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Father Of Fatally Beaten Ohio Teen Ethan Liming Says Narrative Surrounding Attack False, Provides New Details</a>

Ethan Liming

Verdict Delivered In Death Of Ethan Liming, Teen Beaten To Death Outside I PROMISE School

Violent Crime

There was a time, way back in another era, when the goal of the education system was to educate students. Back in those days, this goal was pursued through a merit-based approach. Kids were graded and ranked based on their performance. High performing students were advanced, low performing students were held back. Well behaved students were rewarded, poorly behaved students were punished. This was the general idea.
But this strategy has fallen out of favor in recent years. It was too mean, we were told and racist, too, somehow. Piece by piece, the system of merit-based education in public schools was dismantled, until finally there was nothing left. And into that gap came “equity&#8221; to replace it.
What does &#8220;equity&#8221; mean, exactly? That&#8217;s a question you&#8217;ll never get a real answer to. But in this case, we know what &#8220;equity&#8221; means from a practical perspective. It <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/10/22/school-spending-up-test-scores-down/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">means</a> spending more money for worse schools. It also means creating new schools, from the ground-up — because the only way to guarantee that you&#8217;re not perpetuating White Supremacy is to start from scratch. 
One of these new, non-racist schools was founded five years ago in Akron, Ohio, with help from NBA All-Star LeBron James. This was a big deal, we were assured at the time. NBC Nightly News was on the scene when the school launched:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="NBA Star LeBron James’ I Promise School Opens For First Day | NBC Nightly News" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TAF7zAThTus?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
NBC News touts this school as a &#8220;new approach to fix an old problem.&#8221; The &#8220;most important thing,&#8221; LeBron James says, isn&#8217;t test scores, or grades, or any objective sense of achievement whatsoever. Instead, the key is giving students, &#8220;the sense that someone cares about them.&#8221; But that’s not really an educational approach at all. It’s simply a cliche — and not a new one either. But it&#8217;s one that taxpayers in Ohio have been compelled to fund. As one local news <a href="https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2018/08/whos_paying_for_lebron_james_n_1.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> put it, &#8220;the district will pay more than half the costs [for the school] &#8211; perhaps around 75 percent.&#8221; That total <a href="https://www.outkick.com/lebrons-i-promise-school-posts-shockingly-poor-test-results/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amounts</a> to nearly $10 million a year, charged to taxpayers.
Yet the experiment was well worth the cost, the media reassured us, over and over. You can go back over the past several years and find many, many media reports gushing over LeBron’s school and calling for more schools just like it. Maybe we should even make LeBron James the Secretary of Education, while we&#8217;re at it. Why not? NBC News would certainly be on board with that. Just a month ago, they were on the scene again to do this glowing follow-up story on the I Promise School. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Inspiring America: LeBron James gives at-risk youths opportunities through I Promise School" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WhLnKw66cdQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
To recap: 1,600 students have attended the school; they promised to make healthy choices; and LeBron James cares about them. Et cetera. It all sounds pretty good.
But wait a minute, NBC News. How are the students actually performing in the classroom? That bit of information was left out of the report, which seems a little odd. Wasn&#8217;t the whole point of the school to help these children? Just a month later, now we know exactly why NBC News overlooked that little detail. A new piece in the Akron Beacon Journal reports that, &#8220;This fall&#8217;s class of eighth graders at the I Promise School hasn&#8217;t had a single student pass the state&#8217;s math test since the group was in the third grade.&#8221;
To restate: They haven&#8217;t had a single student in the eighth grade class pass the state math test since they started at the school in the third grade, five years ago. Well, that&#8217;s not encouraging. And to be honest, it&#8217;s a little surprising, because not all that long ago, the school claimed in a documentary that its students do extremely well on mandatory proficiency tests, including the so-called &#8220;MAP&#8221; standardized test.
The documentary is titled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuzDfEEzhfo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Every Child Deserves A Chance</a> and it&#8217;s from YouTube Originals. It&#8217;s quite long, so watch it when you can and see what impression you come away with. We can tell you LeBron James says the students &#8220;destroyed&#8221; the standardized tests. Later in the film, a thrilled administrator says that the students were at the 25th percentile and below — but that now, &#8220;91 percent of students&#8221; are &#8220;meeting their goals.&#8221; They&#8217;re all very happy about this.
But if you parse what they&#8217;re saying carefully, it sounds like an apples-to-oranges comparison. The administrator makes it sound like the students went from 25th percentile in the district to the 91st percentile. But in fact, the 91% number just refers to students who are meeting their &#8220;goals,&#8221; whatever that means and however that&#8217;s defined.
They&#8217;re presenting the data like this in order to suggest — falsely — that their new method of education was working and specifically, enhancing standardized test scores. But in fact it was doing the exact opposite. And in a brief moment at the very end of the documentary, we get some confirmation of that as an official with the school admits that the district isn&#8217;t happy with students&#8217; performance.
Following this? There&#8217;s all this celebration from LeBron James and all the taxpayer-funded administrators about how good the school&#8217;s test results are. And then they admit that, despite this success, the school has somehow received an &#8220;F&#8221; from the district for student achievement. They don&#8217;t elaborate. They don&#8217;t tell you that, in fact, zero of the students in one class had ever &#8220;met their grade-level markers&#8221; for math.
That seems like a significant discrepancy — one that the media, and taxpayers in Akron, would be very interested in, and yet none of the media outlets that have fluffed this school in the past few years have bothered to cover it. That documentary has been out for almost two years. NBC News must have missed it. 
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1194-lebron-james-founded-a-school-based-on-equity-it-is-an-unmitigated-disaster-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
The truth is that corporate media didn&#8217;t want to look too deep into the data, because it&#8217;s not just bad — it&#8217;s terrible. It keeps getting worse the more you read it. As the Akron Beacon Journal reported, the English scores for the 8th graders weren&#8217;t much better than the math numbers: &#8220;When the school&#8217;s first class of eighth graders graduated from I Promise, just 11% of them tested proficient on the state English language arts test.&#8221;
The article goes on: &#8220;Two of I Promise&#8217;s biggest subgroups of students, Black students and those with disabilities, are now testing in the bottom 5% in the state, landing the school on the Ohio Department of Education&#8217;s list of those requiring targeted intervention.&#8221;
You&#8217;ll often hear the counterargument that this is a school for troubled children, so of course their scores will be low. But that doesn&#8217;t explain why the scores are going backwards. According to the data, &#8220;last year&#8217;s sixth graders lost ground. When they were in fifth grade, 7% were proficient on the reading test. In sixth grade, just 2% were.&#8221;
Now, the point isn&#8217;t to gloat over the failure of this experiment. In some ways it was a noble effort. Admittedly, I&#8217;m not a fan of LeBron James personally. He&#8217;s a woke virtue signaler to such a degree that he pretends to read books about Malcom X. You&#8217;ve probably seen this clip before, but honestly it&#8217;s too good not to share again. Here it is:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Lebron James&#039; Surprising Lesson from &#039;The Autobiography of Malcolm X&#039;" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VdOtyUPcRxg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That&#8217;s the guy who&#8217;s going to re-invent our nation&#8217;s educational system with his bold new approach. The guy who is still failing his book reports at the age of 38. In any event, even if it’s kind of funny to have a school run by a guy who pretends to read books, and even if, aside from that, LeBron James is a reckless liar who regularly promotes BLM propaganda and slanders police officers, I can still respect a rich celebrity athlete at least attempting to do something productive. 
But the reason for the school&#8217;s failure is what&#8217;s instructive here. According to the accepted narrative, kids from &#8220;marginalized groups&#8221; struggle in school, especially inner city schools, because of systemic racism and a lack of funding — two issues, we’re told, which are related. So here is a school founded by a wealthy black man, with an extraordinary amount of funding both from tax payers and LeBron&#8217;s foundation — a school where everyone gets free lunch, and they have access to all of the state of the art educational tools, and everyone graduates with a scholarship, and so on — yet still the kids are failing. When it comes to math, literally all of them are failing.
In fact, they seem to be doing worse than they would in one of those allegedly &#8220;under funded&#8221; schools where the vestiges of systemic racism are still allegedly present. We have data on that. The way I Promise selects students is via a lottery, in which students who place in the bottom 25% of test scores in the district are eligible. But if you compare the I Promise students with kids in the bottom 25% in the district who *did not* attend I Promise, the kids who didn&#8217;t attend are doing better by some metrics.
This tells us a few things — all of them are forbidden truths. The most important is that all of the funding and inspirational platitudes in the world can&#8217;t make up for broken families and bad culture. Poor black kids come from both (and the two are obviously related). You will not be able to measurably improve any aspect of life for these kids — especially their educational performance — without addressing the fact that the culture they come from is deeply sick and their families are in absolute disarray. Talk to any teacher who has experience trying to teach these so-called “marginalized groups.” Very often their behavior and attitude in class isn’t just bad, it’s appalling. These are kids who have not received any kind of intellectual or moral formation at home or in their communities. In many cases their parents do not care about their education, or about anything else. The culture they are brought up in encourages them to act in outrageous ways and reject and disrespect all authority. That’s the fact of the matter. LeBron James can’t solve this on his own, of course, but he could start by at least acknowledging it and talking about it. But he won’t even do that.
As always, the Left seeks to solve problems without addressing the underlying fundamental issues. It&#8217;s like their genius plans to solve homelessness by putting the homeless in hotels or giving them free housing. You can give a homeless guy a room at the Ritz-Carlton and the place will look like a garbage dump within the span of three hours. Soon he&#8217;ll be right back out on the street. That&#8217;s because the homeless guy&#8217;s problem isn&#8217;t that he doesn&#8217;t have a home. Any halfway competent and sober person can manage to find some kind of housing. His problem isn’t a lack of housing, but that he&#8217;s a drug addict, or psychotic, or both.
It would be one thing if some coherent principle was at play here. But there&#8217;s nothing coherent about it. Consider that the Left&#8217;s solution to education and homelessness is to throw money at the problem, but their solution to law enforcement is to do exactly the opposite. Somehow the education system will improve if you give it more money, but the justice system will improve if you give it less money. How does that make sense?
You&#8217;ll never see any contemplation from the Left on this. Instead, they&#8217;ll continue to push the most destructive policies imaginable, only to backtrack when the consequences of their destruction are too obvious to deny. That&#8217;s happening now in Oakland. The president of the NAACP&#8217;s Oakland chapter just announced that: &#8220;Failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police, our District Attorney’s unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who murder and commit life-threatening serious crimes, and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric have created a heyday for Oakland criminals.&#8221;
Oh, you think? Congratulations, NAACP, you’ve finally realized that crime is bad. A stunning revelation. But of course, they are also incapable of tracing the problem down to its roots. The NAACP supported BLM&#8217;s insanity when it gave them power; now they&#8217;re against it when it embarrasses them. That&#8217;s all there is to it.
What happens next? It&#8217;s possible that, once these people are sufficiently embarrassed by what they&#8217;ve done to public schools in this country, they&#8217;ll stop experiments like the one that&#8217;s going on in Akron. But by that point, as if by design, it&#8217;ll be far too late. LeBron James will have moved on. The children won&#8217;t have that luxury. They&#8217;ll be uneducated, poor, and totally dependent on the government that pretended to care about them. 
Most people would call that a disaster. But our leaders have another name for it. They call it equity.
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Matt Walsh 2

LeBron James Founded A School Based On Equity. It Is An Unmitigated Disaster.

Education

Matt Walsh

Ohio

Readers Pass

Schools

The Matt Walsh Show

NBA star LeBron James broke his silence on Thursday after his 18-year-old son, Bronny James, suffered a cardiac arrest during a USC basketball workout this week.
&#8220;I want to thank the countless people sending my family love and prayers,&#8221; LeBron James <a href="https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1684594877429092352">wrote</a> on Twitter. &#8220;We feel you and I’m so grateful. Everyone doing great. We have our family together, safe and healthy, and we feel your love.&#8221;
&#8220;Will have more to say when we’re ready but I wanted to tell everyone how much your support has meant to all of us!&#8221; he added.
Bronny James was rushed to the hospital by ambulance on Monday after losing consciousness during the cardiac emergency, according to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2023-07-25/bronny-james-cardiac-arrest-usc">Los Angeles Times</a>. He was later taken out of the ICU after his condition stabilized.
A spokesperson for the family confirmed the news shortly after news broke about the incident.
“Yesterday while practicing Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest. Medical staff was able to treat Bronny and take him to the hospital,” the James family spokesperson <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/sport/bronny-james-cardiac-arrest/index.html#:~:text=“Yesterday%20while%20practicing%20Bronny%20James,when%20there%20is%20more%20information.">said</a> at the time. “He is now in stable condition and no longer in ICU. We ask for respect and privacy for the James family and we will update media when there is more information.”
“LeBron and Savannah wish to publicly send their deepest thanks and appreciation to the USC medical and athletic staff for their incredible work and dedication to the safety of their athletes,” the spokesperson added.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, who collapsed on the field after suffering a cardiac arrest during a game in January, tweeted Tuesday that he is praying for the James family.
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“Prayers to Bronny &amp; The James family as well. 🙏🏽 here for you guys just like you have been for me my entire process,” Hamlin wrote.
Bronny, the eldest child of the NBA star, committed to USC as a four-star recruit and a McDonald’s All-American in high school. He is <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/37901230/bronny-james-number-six-jersey-usc-basketball">ranked</a> as the 20th-best player and sixth-best point guard in the class of 2023, according to ESPN. Bronny, who is widely expected to play in the NBA in the coming years, has already signed record-breaking name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals with companies such as Nike, Beats by Dre, and PSD Underwear valued at $7.2 million, Sports Illustrated reported.

The 2023 ESPY Awards – Backstage

LeBron James Breaks Silence After Son Suffered Cardiac Arrest

NBA star LeBron James&#8217; 18-year-old son Bronny was rushed to the hospital Monday after suffering a cardiac arrest during a basketball workout at the University of Southern California (USC).
A spokesperson for the James family confirmed Bronny&#8217;s medical scare and added that the incoming freshman at USC is now in stable condition and out of the ICU, TMZ Sports <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/07/25/lebron-james-son-bronny-cardiac-arrest-usc-basketball-workout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Sources told TMZ Sports that a 911 call was made from USC&#8217;s facility at 9:26 a.m. Monday and Bronny was unconscious as first responders rushed him to the hospital.
&#8220;Yesterday while practicing Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest. Medical staff was able to treat Bronny and take him to the hospital,&#8221; the James family spokesperson said. &#8220;He is now in stable condition and no longer in ICU. We ask for respect and privacy for the James family and we will update media when there is more information.&#8221;
&#8220;LeBron and Savannah wish to publicly send their deepest thanks and appreciation to the USC medical and athletic staff for their incredible work and dedication to the safety of their athletes,&#8221; the spokesperson added.
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Buffalo Bills safety <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/buffalo-bills-gm-gives-stunning-update-on-damar-hamlin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Damar Hamlin</a>, who collapsed on the field after suffering a cardiac arrest during a game in January, tweeted Tuesday that he is praying for the James family.
&#8220;Prayers to Bronny &amp; The James family as well. 🙏🏽 here for you guys just like you have been for me my entire process,&#8221; Hamlin <a href="https://twitter.com/HamlinIsland/status/1683856662468218883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1683856662468218883%7Ctwgr%5E3d025c8c665de9f1a0ddf9a11635804ebc17e2ea%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fmens-college-basketball%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F38068148%2Fbronny-james-stable-icu-following-cardiac-arrest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
Bronny, the eldest child of the NBA great, committed to USC as a four-star recruit and a McDonald&#8217;s All-American in high school. He is ranked as the 20th-best player and sixth-best point guard in the class of 2023, <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/38068148/bronny-james-stable-icu-following-cardiac-arrest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to ESPN. Bronny, who is widely expected to play in the NBA in the coming years, has already signed record-breaking name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals with companies such as Nike, Beats by Dre, and PSD Underwear valued at $7.2 million, Sports Illustrated <a href="https://www.si.com/fannation/nba/fastbreak/news/bronny-james-nil-deals#:~:text=According%20to%20On3's%20NIL%20100,by%20Dre%20and%20PSD%20Underwear." target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.

Bronny James

LeBron James’ Son Suffers Cardiac Arrest During Basketball Workout

LeBron James' Son Suffers Cardiac Arrest During Basketball Workout

Cardiac Arrest

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> said Thursday that he’s “personally” paying for subscriptions to Twitter Blue for three prominent celebrity accounts: Stephen King, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lebron-james">LeBron James</a>, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/william-shatner">William Shatner</a>.
Some Twitter users saw the move as a form of trolling since those three individuals have vowed to not pay for the new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/twitter">Twitter</a> verification on principle. The social media platform recently removed their blue check verification from prominent business and celebrity accounts unless they paid the $8/month subscription fee. 
Following the Thursday update, only government accounts were eligible for free verification on Twitter.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/stephen-king">King</a> kicked off the conversation with a tweet that said, “My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t. My Twitter account says I’ve given a phone number. I haven’t.” Musk replied, “You’re welcome namaste.”
The billionaire CEO of Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX then <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1649173502572765185">tweeted</a> that he was “personally” paying for Twitter Blue for James, Shatner, and King. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I’m paying for a few personally
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1649173502572765185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In October 2022, King expressed his disdain for the concept of Twitter charging users $20/month for verification. “F*** that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron,” the horror writer posted at the time. “It ain’t the money, it’s the principle of the thing.” 
Musk responded, “We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8 [per month]?”
NBA star James tweeted on March 31, “Welp guess my blue [check] will be gone soon cause if you know me I ain’t paying the 5,” with the shrugging emoji. 
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“Star Trek” alum Shatner also directed ire toward Musk, <a href="https://twitter.com/WilliamShatner/status/1639811930243334145">writing</a> in March, “Hey [Elon Musk] what’s this about blue checks going away unless we pay Twitter? I’ve been here for 15 years giving my [time] &amp; witty thoughts all for bupkis. Now you’re telling me that I have to pay for something you gave me for free? What is this – the Colombia Records &amp; Tape Club?”
Since the updates, certain celebrities, including Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres, and Miley Cyrus, still have their blue checkmarks, though it’s unclear if they paid for Twitter Blue. Other celebrities lost their checkmarks and had various reactions.
“No blue check, still feel like me,” actor Ben Stiller <a href="https://twitter.com/BenStiller/status/1649122472770273302">wrote</a>.
Sesame Street’s Grover also shared his thoughts, <a href="https://twitter.com/Grover/status/1649184292126306304">writing</a>, “My cute adorable blue checkmark is now gone, but I, your cute adorable blue monster, am still here!”
Bette Midler was furious to have her blue check taken away. “Elon took my blue check away! I’m unverified! After all these years and thousands of tweets and free content, this worm has the nerve to de-certify me,” she wrote.
Later in the day, the “Hocus Pocus” star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bette-midler-melts-down-over-losing-blue-check-on-twitter-contributed-mightily-to-your-platform">lashed out</a> again. 
“Elon, deciding that I’m not me, I’m a fake, &amp; obliging ME, who has contributed mightily to your platform, (at least until you “tweaked the algorithm &amp; tanked my metrics”) to pay monthly because you don’t have enough money &amp; you’re humiliated b/c everyone thinks you’re a pathetic douche, is the funniest thing you’ve ever done. Let that sink in. Sorry to hear about your rocket,” Midler said.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk Reveals He’s ‘Personally’ Paying For 3 Celebs To Keep Their Blue Checks On Twitter

Elon Musk Says He’s 'Personally' Paying For LeBron James, Stephen King, And William Shatner To Keep Their Blue Checkmarks

Stephen King

Twitter

William Shatner

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