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ESPN exec on Charles Barkley: ‘I would be lying if I said we weren’t interested’

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ESPN exec on Charles Barkley: ‘I would be lying if I said we weren’t interested’

Charles Barkley may be the hottest free agent to hit the market next year, if he hits the market.

As Warner Bros. Discovery wrangles with the NBA in court, hoping to win back a piece of the league’s media rights for 2025, there is already a line of suitors for Barkley, the company’s biggest star in sports.

ESPN’s chief of content, Burke Magnus, said Tuesday he would be interested in bringing Barkley to the network if he were available. Asked at a Front Office Sports conference in New York if he could see a world with Barkley at ESPN, Magnus said he could.

“Yeah,” Magnus said at the “Tuned In” conference. “That would be a perfect world. … I would be lying if I said we weren’t interested in Charles. The entire industry is interested.”

NBC chairman Mark Lazerus said he would also have interest in Barkley. NBC will start broadcasting the NBA next season.

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Whether Barkley would have interest in ESPN or NBC is another question. The Basketball Hall of Famer, who has been part of TNT’s iconic “Inside the NBA” studio show since 2000, said in August he would remain with TNT Sports even after it lost the NBA. Barkley is in the third year of a 10-year, $210 million deal.

“I love my TNT Sports family,” Barkley, 61, said in a statement in August. “My #1 priority has been and always will be our people and keeping everyone together for as long as possible.

“We have the most amazing people, and they are the best at what they do,” his statement continued. “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them both on the shows we currently have and new ones we develop together in the future. This is the only place for me.”

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In July, Disney, NBC and Amazon won the bidding rights for the NBA’s next media deal, which will start with the 2025-26 season and last 11 years. The agreements with the three companies are worth $77 billion in total. WBD did not get a piece of the rights and sued the NBA to enforce what it says are matching rights from the current contract.

That lawsuit is currently in New York State court with a schedule that has put it on course for trial in April.

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(Photo: Cliff Hawkins / Getty Images for The Match)

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Louisville men’s basketball coach suffers bizarre injury trying to avoid celebration

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Louisville men’s basketball coach suffers bizarre injury trying to avoid celebration

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Sometimes, even winning takes a toll.

Louisville Cardinals men’s basketball head coach Pat Kelsey learned the hard way on Tuesday night as he tried to avoid the postgame celebration fracas following their win over the Kentucky Wildcats.

Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey did not like a call during the second half as the Louisville Cardinals hosted the Kentucky Wildcats at the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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The No. 12 Cardinals defeated the No. 9 Wildcats 96-88 at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville.

He entered his postgame media availability with his right middle finger in a splint. He said he was trying to avoid his assistant coaches mobbing him after the victory on the other side of the arena.

“Now I’m 50, but I got some wheels,” he said. “There’s a curtain that separates the two halves of the court, and I try to bust through, but my finger gets caught on something.”

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Louisville Cardinals head coach Pat Kelsey went into the Cardinal student section after the Cards beat the Cats 96-88 in the UofL-UK annual rivalry game at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky Nov. 11, 2025. (Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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Kelsey said his finger was bent at nearly 90 degrees but was unsure if it was broken. A team physician helped him reset the finger.

“There’s so much adrenaline going on in my body right now, I didn’t feel anything,” he said.

Louisville’s win over Kentucky is one of their biggest in recent years. Kelsey took over the Cardinals as head coach after the team went 8-24 under Kenny Payne during the 2023-24 season.

The Cardinals were 27-8 last year and made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2018-19 season.

Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey shouts instructions to his team during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kentucky in Louisville, Kentucky, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

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Louisville had lost 14 out of its last 17 against Kentucky before the win on Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jameis Winston, not Russell Wilson, will start Sunday for the Giants if Jaxson Dart can’t

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Jameis Winston, not Russell Wilson, will start Sunday for the Giants if Jaxson Dart can’t

Jameis Winston entered last Sunday as the New York Giants’ No. 3 quarterback.

This week, he appears to be set to make his first start of the season.

Winston has been moved ahead of fellow veteran quarterback Russell Wilson on the Giants’ depth chart, according to multiple media outlets. The move puts Winston in line for what appears to be a likely start Sunday against the Green Bay Packers as regular starter Jaxson Dart remains in concussion protocol.

It’s the first major decision made by interim coach Mike Kafka since the Giants’ firing of coach Brian Daboll on Monday. New York went 20-40-1 in three-plus seasons under Daboll, including a 2-8 start to this season.

A 10-time Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl champion with the Seattle Seahawks, Wilson started 11 games for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2024, his 13th NFL season. He was signed during the offseason by the Giants to be their 2025 starting quarterback.

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Winston was signed to be Wilson’s backup. In his previous 10 NFL seasons, Winston had gone 36-51 as the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints and Cleveland Browns, with 154 touchdowns and 111 interceptions.

In April, the Giants traded up nine spots in the draft to select Dart with the No. 25 overall pick. The rookie out of Mississippi ended up earning the No. 2 quarterback spot. But Wilson was largely ineffective during the Giants’ 0-3 start, and Dart was promoted to starting quarterback in Week 4.

Dart helped spark the Giants to wins over the Chargers and the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in two of his first three starts. Overall this season, Dart is 2-7 as a starter, completing 63% of his passes for 1,417 yards passing with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions.

Last week against the Chicago Bears, Dart hit his head on the ground during the third quarter and eventually was checked for a concussion for the fourth time this season. Wilson entered the game mid-drive and led the Giants to an eventual field goal and a 20-10 lead.

Overall, however, Wilson was ineffective again — he completed three of seven passes for 45 yards and was sacked twice — as the Giants collapsed and lost the game 24-20.

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Antonio Brown pleads not guilty to Miami attempted murder charge

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Antonio Brown pleads not guilty to Miami attempted murder charge

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Former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown pleaded not guilty to an attempted murder charge stemming from a May shooting in Miami.

Brown’s lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, said in an email that he has already filed a written not guilty plea to the attempted murder charge. Brown could be in a Miami courtroom as early as Wednesday morning for a bond hearing, Eiglarsh said.

Eiglarsh said Brown was simply protecting himself from a person he had problems with before.

 

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 Antonio Brown attends his album release dinner at Panda on April 28, 2022 in New York City.  (Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images)

“The actions he was forced to take were solely in self-defense against the alleged victim’s violent behavior. Brown was attacked that night and acted within his legal right to protect himself,” Eiglarsh said.

The charge stems from an event in Miami in May, with the alleged victim just so happening to be the same person who waved a Palestinian flag during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance in February.

Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu was arrested in June on charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace by interrupting a lawful assembly, revealing a link between the shooting incident and the Super Bowl.

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Antonio Brown attends Friday’s at Red Martini Restaurant and Lounge on February 3, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Prince Williams/Wireimage)

Several videos on social media showed Brown getting into a fight with multiple people following matches at an Adin Ross boxing event in May. The popular streamer hosted a 10-match card sponsored by Stake, Kick and Brand Risk Promotions.

One video showed Brown appearing to fight in a parking lot as a crowd moved toward an alley. Then a gunshot appeared to ring out, sending spectators running in the opposite direction.

Brown admitted that he had “slammed” one person’s security guard. He said he told one of the officers that he hadn’t done anything. The Washington Post reported the next month that a warrant was out for Brown’s arrest.

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Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers reacts with Antonio Brown #81 during the second half of the game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on December 26, 2021, in Charlotte, North Carolina.  (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

The former NFL star has had multiple legal issues in the past. He was sued in 2019 over allegations of rape and sexual misconduct, which he eventually settled with his accuser. He pleaded no contest to felony battery and burglary charges in June 2020. Brown was arrested again in 2023 over allegations of unpaid child support.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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