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Basketball legend Michael Jordan voiced his support for LeBron James on Saturday after President Donald Trump posted a critical tweet regarding the Los Angeles Lakers superstar. According to Geoff Bennett of NBC News, Jordan released a statement through a spokesperson that read, "I support LJ. He's doing an amazing job for his community." On Friday night, Trump questioned James' intelligence and suggested he preferred Jordan: @realDonaldTrump LeBron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike! Jordan was the latest in a long line...

As he is wont to do, LeBron James once again took aim at President Trump, blaming him for using sports to divide the country. [Trump is] dividing us and what I've noticed over the last few months, he's kinda used sport to kinda divide us, and that's something that I can't relate to because I know that sport was the first time I ever was around someone white and I got the opportunity to see them and learn about them and they got an opportunity to learn about me and we became very good friends. Set aside for a moment...

Eighty-six-year-old liberal journalist Dan Rather seems to be getting more conspiratorial as he ages. The disgraced ex-CBS Evening News anchor on Monday speculated that the reason NBA star LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Los Angeles Lakers is to... fight Donald Trump. It’s true that James is liberal, but one respondent on Twitter perhaps summed up how odd Rather’s conspiracy theory is: “I dunno. I think he went there to play basketball for the Lakers.” Rather wasn’t done offering deep thoughts on Monday. Later in the day, he linked the summer heat to global warming.

The biggest name in basketball is headed to Hollywood. Through a short news release issued by his agents at Klutch Sports, LeBron James announced at 8:05 p.m. Sunday night that he would join the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency and sign a four-year, $154 million contract. In what has become an every-four-years ritual for the three-time N.B.A. champion, James has chosen to switch teams for the third time in his career, opting to leave his home-state Cleveland Cavaliers for a second time and join one of the league’s glamour franchises. James took to Instagram to say goodbye to Cavaliers...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- LeBron James agreed to a four-year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, ending his second run as the face of his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. James, born in Akron and drafted No. 1 by the Cavs in 2003, is leaving the Cavs for the second time in eight seasons. But this time, it's two-years removed from bringing the organization its first title. James' agreement with the Lakers was announced through a simple press release sent by his agent, Rich Paul, which says James, a 14-time All-Star, three-time Finals MVP, and two-time Olympic...

LaVar Ball has another message for the Lakers: If you want to keep Lonzo, you’ll need to take his brothers, too. The outspoken, media-seeking father of the rookie point guard is adamant about seeing Lonzo’s lesser-talented younger brothers, LiAngelo and LaMelo, join him in the NBA, and seems willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen. “I want all three boys to play for the Lakers,” LaVar told Lithuanian journalist Donatas Urbonas. “But if that does not happen, I’m telling you the story [of] what’s gonna happen first. If they don’t take Gelo this year, I bring back...

A father who didn’t think a couple high school basketball coaches were qualified to coach his sons isn’t stopping with the professionals. It took less than five weeks into Lonzo Ball’s rookie season for LaVar Ball to blame the Lakers’ coaching staff for not translating his son’s talent into production. Naturally, the basketball dad pumped himself up as the man for the job. “They’re soft. They don’t know how to coach my son,” LaVar Ball said of the Lakers staff in a recent interview with Bleacher Report. “I know how to coach him. I tell him to go get the...

Tom Hawkins, who played six seasons for the Lakers, worked as a broadcaster in L.A. and later served as a Dodgers executive, passed away at his home in Malibu on Wednesday. He was 80. A 6-foot-5 forward, Hawkins starred at Chicago’s Parker (now Robeson) High School before playing at Notre Dame, where he became the first African-American student-athlete to earn All-America honors for the Fighting Irish. Hawkins was the first Irish player to average in double figures for scoring and rebounding during each of his three seasons (freshmen were ineligible during his collegiate career). His 1,318 career rebounds remains the...

Before Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, before Gregg Popovich and Larry Brown, even before Red Auerbach, there was John Kundla. Kundla, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Minneapolis Lakers to five NBA championships, died Sunday. He was 101. Son Jim Kundla said his father died at an assisted living facility in Northeast Minneapolis that he called home for years. With George Mikan in the middle and Kundla the calm, steady hand directing the team, the Lakers won the 1949 championship in the BAA — the league that preceded the NBA and NBA titles in 1950 and 1952-54, cementing...

Rod Hundley, basketball’s irrepressible Hot Rod, who parlayed showmanship on the court with flair at the microphone to become a fan favorite for more than half a century, died on Friday at his home near Phoenix. He was 80. Hundley was an electrifying presence at West Virginia University, played for the Lakers and stamped his persona on broadcasting, mostly for the New Orleans Jazz. “Nobody did the things I did on the court and nobody has done them since,” Hundley said of his collegiate exploits in “Hot Rod Hundley: You Gotta Love It Baby!” (2012), written with Tom McEachin. “I’d...

The Lakers each had the T-shirts on their chairs in their dressing room before the game. Every player except backup center Robert Sacre wore the shirts. "I think it's us supporting that movement and supporting each other as well as athletes," Bryant said after the game. "I think the beauty of our country lies in its democracy. I think if we ever lose the courage to be able to speak up for the things that we believe in, I think we really lose the value that our country stands for.

“When I got my sixth foul, I was just like, ‘Oh, dang!’ Then I got to come back in, so I thought it was something special. I didn’t know what was going on.”

Vern Mikkelsen, a Basketball Hall of Fame forward who starred for Hamline and the Minneapolis Lakers, died Thursday night at age 85 at his home in Wayzata... The 6-foot-7 Mikkelsen was a territorial draft selection by the Lakers in 1949, joining another future Hall of Famer, center George Mikan. Mikkelsen became a six-time NBA All-Star in his 10 seasons, all with Minneapolis, averaging 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds...

Bill Sharman helped the Boston Celtics win championships as a player and led the Lakers to their first NBA title in Los Angeles as a coach in 1972. He spent 35 years with the team... Sharman — who died Friday at 87 — will be remembered as the man who molded the Lakers into an elite franchise, guiding the 1971-72 squad to a historic 33 consecutive victories and an NBA title, their first in Los Angeles...

Flynn Robinson passed away on Thursday at age 72 after a battle with cancer (multiple myeloma). Robinson was a 6-foot-1 guard who played just one, special season with the Lakers.

Father Earl 'Magic' Johnson II 'Couldn't be prouder!' Wicked gossip rag TMZ caught Johnson's gay, 20-y.o. son out on the Sunset strip this weekend while the lad was home from NYU for the holiday: man is this kid laying-it-on-thick with the purse, mink stole, and effeminate accent- OK we get it already, dude.  Just remember when you're paying $100 for a Lakers ticket that the owner's son is wearing mink coats with diamond necklaces to five-star restaurants while daddy Magic sends the rest to Obama. He told the interviewer he's a big Lakers fan still though, and is 'hoping and praying' for...

Jerry Buss, the longtime owner of the Lakers whose penchant for showmanship helped turn the game of basketball into “Showtime” and who led the team to 10 NBA championships, died Monday. He was 80.

The NBA on Tuesday gave Lakers forward Metta World Peace a one-game suspension for an altercation with Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons.

Our long national nightmare is over as Dwight Howard has finally been traded. According to ESPN.com, the Los Angeles Lakers have acquired the All-Star center from the Orlando Magic in a complicated four-team deal that also involved the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers. Howard may be the biggest, but he is not the only big name switching teams. In addition to Howard moving to the L.A., the Nuggets will receive Andre Iguodala and the 76ers will receive Andrew Bynum, both of whom were 2012 All-Stars. The 76ers will also receive 11-year veteran Jason Richardson, and the Magic will receive three...

LOS ANGELES -- A woman whose 2-year-old son fell to his death following a Los Angeles Lakers game says she put him on a ledge to take a photo of him. City News Service reports Monday that Hoia Mi Nguyen told defense attorneys in a deposition that she wanted to capture the moment of baby Lucas Tang's attendance at the Nov. 21, 2010 game.