The Ringer by Mirin Fader
Read More

The Wait and Weight for Bronny James

A fan wearing a white LeBron James Lakers jersey arrives well over an hour before tip-off. Another man sports a wine-colored LeBron Cavaliers jersey here at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, California. There are plenty of other James replicas on this Wednesday night in early February: James’s yellow Lakers jersey. His purple one. His black one. But everyone in the building is here to see a different James, Bronny James, the King’s eldest son and USC’s 19-year-old freshman guard. Bronny sprints out of the tunnel alongside his teammates to warm up ahead of their matchup against Cal. Drake and 21 Savage’s “Circo Loco” is blasting, but it appears Bronny can hardly hear it. He has white earbuds in, blocking out the noise. Blocking out the student marching band, drumming and screaming and clapping. It’s Cal’s first sellout since 2017, and it isn’t because of the competitiveness between the two teams; at the time, the injury-marred Trojans had dropped six of their past seven games, dwelling at the bottom of the Pac-12 standings. Fans came to see Bronny.

Bleacher Report by Mirin Fader
Read More

WHAT TYLER SKAGGS LEFT BEHIND

Every morning, Debbie talks to Tyler. Good morning, she says quietly, walking downstairs, taking a deep breath, facing another day. I’m going to take the dogs for a walk now. Little things to let him know she’s thinking about him.She often walks to the giant mural of Tyler, right across the street from Santa Monica High School, which he attended, and where she coaches softball. Cars, buses whiz by. It’s eerie, as Debbie walks to the mural, stares at Tyler there. It’s still incomprehensible that he is on this wall and not in her arms. “It’s been hell,” Debbie says. “The whole year feels like a blur.” Getting up every day is an accomplishment. So is making dinner. Calling people. Working. Talking. Breathing.

Bleacher Report by Mirin Fader
Read More

THE LEGACY OF MAMBACITA

Something magical happens when a girl touches a basketball for the first time. Power is in her palms. She can do anything, be anything. When she is on the court, she doesn’t have to shrink. She can call a play as loud as she wants. And she can count on the court. The court never changes. It is the same when she arrives on a Monday, a Friday. To love basketball, as a young girl, is to love something in a way that only other young-girl hoopers can understand. It’s different from family love. Different from friend love. Different from relationship love. It’s a deep-down love that resists explanation. Gianna “Gigi” Bryant had that deep-down love.

Bleacher Report by Mirin Fader
Read More

THE LIFE OF LAMELO

LaMelo Ball tries to catch his breath, placing his hands on his hips as if holding on to them is all that is preventing him from falling down. His hamstrings burn. His knees creak. His white ankle socks have turned a dirty shade of gray from his beach sprints this October afternoon. As he stares out at the Pacific Ocean, his feet sink into sand so dense it might as well be tar. The glittering, blue-green waves have no beginning, no end. Some might find it idyllic, relaxing, here on the beach in the sleepy, saltwater-scented beach town of Wollongong, Australia. Not LaMelo. He doesn’t like to think about what’s out there. It’s not just that he’s far from home, from all he knows. LaMelo is afraid of the ocean. Or more so, of everything in it. Tiger sharks, great white sharks, bull sharks. He is sure that if he dips his feet in, lets the water swirl around his toes, he’ll be swallowed up. This is the other side of the Pacific, but it’s the same ocean.And there’s something else familiar, something else after him. He can sense it, see it out of the corner of his eye. He realizes he’s being watched.

The Ringer by Mirin Fader
Read More

Michael Porter Jr. Finds Meaning After Almost Losing Basketball

Michael Porter Jr. lay on a bed in a patient room, staring up at the ceiling, left alone with his doubts and fears. Not again, he thought. Not again. He felt as if he were in a dream. A terrible, agonizing nightmare. And he felt intense déjà vu. For good reason: He had indeed been in this exact room, in this exact bed, inside this exact Dallas medical facility—not once, but twice before.

The Ringer by Mirin Fader
Read More

Jrue Holiday’s season of change

They waited with terror, not knowing what would happen. Ruminating on what could happen. Suddenly, they realized just how unpredictable life could be. How arbitrary it all seemed. How things could be fine one day, then twist into chaos the next. Back in 2016, Jrue Holiday’s wife, Lauren, a former star midfielder for the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, underwent medical testing. She had been experiencing terrible headaches and was six months pregnant with their daughter at the time. Then, one word from the doctors changed everything. Tumor.
The couple let the word sink in. In a moment, their entire world had shifted. A world where Lauren had been a two-time Olympic gold medalist and FIFA World Cup champion and where Jrue was a star point guard for the New Orleans Pelicans. The doctor told them the brain tumor was benign. The road ahead was no less daunting, as both Jrue and Lauren were still in shock, still fearful for the future. “I don’t think people realize how strong she was in a situation where her life and her child’s life were possibly in danger,” Jrue says. Change, Jrue was learning, could come at any moment. For anyone. Change, he soon realized, was the new normal for the Holidays. There would always be a before and an after. The way things were and the way things would be.

The Ringer by Mirin Fader
Read More

Darius garland and the cavs are coming up clutch

It was as if Darius Garland were a kid again, counting down seconds on the shot clock. 3 … He’d dribble on the concrete court outside of his home in Gary, Indiana, picturing this moment: zooming past a defender to set up the game-winning shot.   2 …
He’d launch a buzzer-beater from God knows how far, well beyond the 3-point line his mother, Felicia, painted on the driveway.  1 …“Kobe!” Garland would scream in those moments, leaving a silky follow-through in the air for emphasis, as Bryant often did, as if to say: In case you didn’t know, I am that dude. Other times, young Garland would yell: “Derrick Rose!” or “Dame Time!” “You work for those big-time moments,” Garland says.

The Ringer by Mirin Fader
Read More

THE SUMMER OF AUSTIN REAVES

Austin Reaves stood off to the side as cameras flashed brightly in the distance. He was just out of frame, watching his teammates pose during the Los Angeles Lakers’ media day earlier this month. LeBron James and Anthony Davis, with 27 All-Star appearances combined, walked in front of a white backdrop, getting ready to take a photo together. Then a cameraman called upon Reaves, a third-year guard who went undrafted out of Oklahoma two summers ago, and signaled for him to join in.

The Ringer by Mirin Fader
Read More

DAVANTE ADAMS AND THE RACE AGAINST TIME

Davante Adams anxiously awaited the news. Despite having played nine seasons in the NFL and being arguably the most decorated active wide receiver in the league, he eagerly awaited something most people would think is an afterthought at this point of his career. He needed to know whether he had made first-team All-Pro. Adams doesn’t ordinarily care for awards, for recognition. His motivation has always come from within. From seeing how far he can push himself past his own lofty standards. But this time was different.

The Ringer by Mirin Fader
Read More

DAVANTE ADAMS IS PEAKING IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE

Davante Adams could feel his daughter’s eyes on him. Watching him. Intently focused on his arms, his legs. His face. Then-15-month-old Daija couldn’t look away as her dad worked out in the middle of a gym inside their Danville, California, home last April. So he strapped Daija into a bouncer a few feet away that allowed her to jump and jump until her little legs grew tired. Normally, when bench-pressing heavy weight in front of his Packers teammates, Davante would struggle to complete one rep. But with Daija watching, he easily completed three. She’s watching me, he thought to himself. I have to show her that her daddy can do this. That her daddy is strong.