Billionaire mortgage lender Mat Ishbia has agreed to the record $4billion purchase of the Phoenix Suns and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury from owner Robert Sarver.
Ishbia and Sarver announced the deal, which ends the latter's tumultuous tenure as owner, in respective statements on Tuesday. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the staggering figure, pointing to the deal being expected to be finalised in the near future.
Sarver had announced in September that would sell both franchises, having been fined by the NBA the maximum $10million with a one-year suspension following an independent investigation that found he "engaged in conduct that clearly violated common workplace standards".
The deal, that will see Ishbia buy the majority stake of both franchises, exceeds the previous NBA record of $2.35billion when Joe Tsai bought the Brooklyn Nets in 2019.
United Wholesale Mortgage president and CEO Ishbia has been pursuing ownership of NBA and NFL teams in recent times.
"I am extremely excited to be the next governor of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury," Ishbia said in a statement. "Both teams have an incredibly dynamic fan base and I have loved experiencing the energy of the Valley over the last few months."
Sarver's tenure at the Suns dated back to 2004, with Ishbia's acquisition including all of his interest along with a portion of minority partners.
"Mat is the right leader to build on franchise legacies of winning and community support and shepherd the Suns and Mercury into the next era," Sarver said in his statement.
Jalen Brunson savoured a savaging of the Golden State Warriors and insisted the New York Knicks are only getting started after their winning streak reached eight games.
Recruited in July from the Dallas Mavericks, Brunson is averaging a career-best 20.8 points and 6.2 assists with the Knicks, and his numbers against the Warriors were in keeping with that strong form, posting 21 points and five assists.
His latest impressive display came in a 132-94 drubbing of last season's NBA champions, who were without Stephen Curry for a third successive game due to a shoulder injury and lost for the 15th time in 18 road outings this term.
Brunson told TNT: "This is great. We want to keep stacking wins, keep getting better. We've got a lot more to do, a lot more to prove.
"This is only the beginning for us, we've got to keep going. I'm learning as I'm going, my team-mates trust me, the coaching staff trusts me, I trust them. We're growing every day, we're getting better every day.
"We've got to keep fighting and can't be complacent."
The Knicks have shot up to sixth in the Eastern Conference by turning a 10-13 record into an 18-13 standing, putting them in playoffs contention for now.
With six players in double figures for points, led by Immanuel Quickley's 22-point haul that included five three-pointers from six attempts, the Knicks won by their biggest margin in the last two seasons.
They have the longest current winning streak in the NBA, but Brunson is taking nothing for granted at this stage. The Knicks have had just one top-10 finish in the Eastern Conference in the last eight seasons, and this campaign remains in its early stages.
Asked what else the Knicks have left to work on, Brunson said: "Everything. We can't be complacent at all, we've just got to keep grinding, staying focused.
"This is only game 31, and we've got to have our eyes on the prize."
The New York Knicks extended their winning run to eight games to shoot into playoffs contention while they compounded the Golden State Warriors' road woes with a 132-94 rout on Tuesday.
The reigning champions, missing 2022 NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry for a third straight game with a shoulder injury, slumped to 3-15 on the road this season, sitting 15-17 overall.
Offseason Knicks addition Jalen Brunson scored 21 points with five assists, while Immanuel Quickley top scored off the bench with 22 points. Julius Randle had 15 points with 12 rebounds and five assists.
The Knicks, who never trailed in the blowout win, had six players reach double-digit scores, with the 38-point triumph their largest margin of victory in the last two seasons.
The victory also means the Knicks boast the longest active win streak in the NBA, having conceded an NBA-best 97.8 points per game during the streak.
The Knicks, who had not beaten the Warriors at home for almost a decade, hit 11 triples in the first half, finishing the game with 17-of-40 three-point shooting, led by Quickley with five.
Jordan Poole scored a team-high 26 points for the Curry-less Warriors, who had James Wiseman play 22 minutes, scoring four points with three rebounds.
The Knicks improved to 18-13 overall to sit sixth in the Eastern Conference.
Markkanen shoots Jazz past Pistons
Seven-foot Finnish power forward Lauri Markkanen scored a career-high nine three-pointers in his 38-point haul as the Utah Jazz won 126-111 over the Detroit Pistons.
Jordan Clarkson had 12 points within 1:51 of gametime but it was Markkanen who stole the show, matching his career-high points output.
The game was the Jazz's third in four evenings, with Malik Beasley adding 17 points off the bench while Clarkson finished with 21. Jarred Vanderbilt had 18 points with 13 rebounds.
Nuggets take over in the west
The Denver Nuggets moved into top spot in the Western Conference with a 105-91 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies led by another Nikola Jokic triple-double.
The back-to-back NBA MVP recorded his sixth triple-double of the season, putting on a brilliant passing display, with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists.
The Nuggets (19-11) defense kept the Grizzlies to 44.4 per cent shooting and only 19.2 per cent from beyond the arc, with Ja Morant top scoring for Memphis with 35 points along with 10 assists.
Reigning NBA Finals MVP Stephen Curry will plot out a timeline for his return from a left shoulder injury in the new year.
Curry suffered a shoulder subluxation in last Wednesday's 125-119 loss to the Indiana Pacers, with initial reports stating he would miss a "few weeks".
The 34-year-old point guard has avoided surgery and is hopeful of plotting out his return soon.
"This is an interesting one just because I haven’t had an injury like this on the shoulder, so it's a wait and see approach," Curry said on the Warriors' bench during NBA on TNT's coverage of the game with the New York Knicks on Tuesday.
"I'm still in the early healing process, so I'm nowhere near picking up a basketball yet. It'll be a few weeks.
"Maybe we'll get to the new year and I'll start to key in on a timeline from there."
The Warriors are 15-16 overall, sitting 11th in the Western Conference, coming into Tuesday's road game. Golden State have a 3-14 road record this season.
The reigning champions have won two of their past seven games, including managing one win from the two games since Curry's injury.
Curry is leading the NBA this season in three-pointers made, with 5.0 per game. The four-time NBA champion is averaging 30.0 points shooting at 50 per cent with 6.6 rebounds and 6.8 assists this season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Milwaukee Bucks have each contended for and won titles in the past 10 years, but they have very rarely both been good at the same time.
LeBron James led the Cavaliers to four straight NBA Finals between 2014-15 and 2017-18 as they enjoyed an epic rivalry with the Golden State Warriors.
But Cleveland were tied for the second-worst record in the league the following year, with James in Los Angeles, as Central Division rivals Milwaukee came to prominence with the NBA's best record in Giannis Antetokounmpo's first MVP year.
The Bucks have since had control of the division and again lead the Eastern Conference through 30 games at 22-8.
Yet now there is a challenge from the Cavs, who are a competitive 21-11 and have won four straight games ahead of hosting the Bucks on Wednesday.
Having already shown real signs of progress last year in reaching the play-in tournament, Cleveland have kicked on again after a trade for Donovan Mitchell that they hope will turn them into a serious player in the East.
So far, that looks to be the case, with Mitchell's career-high 29.3 points per game leading the team – and ranking eighth in the NBA – while he has produced in big games against the Boston Celtics.
The Cavs are 2-0 against the second-placed Celtics this season; however, they are 0-2 against the Bucks, who will be intent on batting away their division rivals ahead of Christmas.
PIVOTAL PERFORMERS
Cleveland Cavaliers – Jarrett Allen
The Cavaliers will hope the physicality of Allen can be the missing piece against the Bucks. He has played only 12 minutes against Milwaukee so far this season, absent for the first game and withdrawn injured in the second having scored only a single point.
Since returning from that hip injury earlier this month, Allen has averaged 14.9 points and 9.3 rebounds, with 26 rebounds across his past two outings.
Milwaukee Bucks – Giannis Antetokounmpo
Nobody likes playing against Antetokounmpo, but only against the Brooklyn Nets and the Utah Jazz has he averaged more points per game across his career than against the Cavaliers.
Although the Cavs have spoken of Evan Mobley having the potential to become a player in the Giannis mould, neither he nor his team-mates have a fix for the 'Greek Freak' when he is in form – as he was in scoring 38 points in their last meeting.
KEY BATTLE – Can Cavs keep focus after halftime?
Two of the Cavaliers' three worst quarters this season in terms of points differential were the two third quarters they have played against the Bucks. They represented two of Milwaukee's four best quarters of the year.
The Cavs, again on a four-game winning run, had dominated the first half of the teams' most recent meeting, up by 11 before losing the third quarter 35-10 as they were blown away by the Bucks' title0calibre intensity.
Cleveland must show they are capable of going toe-to-toe with such opposition if they are to be a genuine threat this season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The Cavaliers may have struggled badly in Milwaukee this season, but they won their final two home games against the Bucks last year, providing hope of another win at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, where they are a league-leading 15-2 in 2022-23.
The Bucks have a 130-97 all-time lead in the series, although the Cavs have a 60-53 advantage in Cleveland.
Luka Doncic felt his ejection during the Dallas Mavericks' defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves was uncalled for after he and head coach Jason Kidd were thrown out by the officials.
The pair were both ejected during the third quarter as the Mavs slipped to a 116-106 loss, moving them to 15-16 for the season.
Doncic's protests for a no call after a possible foul saw him earn two quick whistles from referee Rodney Mott, before Kidd was also sent with two technicals from referee Nick Buchert for his angry response.
The Slovenian played just over 28 minutes before then, amassing 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Having finished second with 18 technicals last season, Doncic acknowledged he likely earned his first, but professed his puzzlement at being handed a swift second.
"I probably deserved the one, but two for sure no," he said. "I deserved the first one, I'm not going to lie. But for sure not the second one.
"I was really shocked when I was ejected. It was confusing. I don't even know what was going on. I heard that I got ejected [and] I was like 'that was [a] surprise'."
Kidd bit his tongue when it came to his own post-match comments, having been left fuming at the call to toss Doncic and then his own ejection, effectively cutting his media conference to the bare minimum.
"I'm here because I have to be here," he said. "I already gave up money, so I don't want to give up any more. So no questions.
"We'll go back and look at the tape and see how we can get better. They were the better team tonight, and we'll go from there."
With another clash against the Timberwolves on Wednesday, Dallas will get the chance to offer an immediate response.
The Mavericks then travel to the Houston Rockets on Friday, before a Christmas Day home game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Chris Paul told Patrick Beverley to "just play basketball, man" after the latter's celebration that appeared to make fun of the 37-year-old's height during the Los Angeles Lakers' defeat to the Phoenix Suns.
Beverley was fouled by Paul while scoring a layup before placing his hand just above the floor, seeming to imply his opponent was not tall enough to deal with him.
It was a questionable time for Beverley to make such a gesture as Phoenix were comfortably leading the game, while he himself had otherwise struggled compared to fellow veteran Paul's impressive showing.
After the Suns completed a 130-104 win on Monday, Paul dismissed the celebration, saying: "You can't pay attention to that stuff. That ain't new. He ain't come up with it. But just play basketball, man."
Paul recorded 28 points, with eight assists and four rebounds, compared to Beverley's nine points, three assists and one rebound as the Suns strolled to a routine win against a depleted Lakers side.
Coach Darvin Ham was without Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Austin Reaves due to injury, and it showed as the Lakers could not keep up with their opponents at Footprint Center.
Ham did, though, defend Beverley's actions, saying: "Pat is Pat. He wears his feelings on his sleeve. I think everybody is getting a little too uptight with guys celebrating.
"Obviously, there's sportsmanship issues, and you have to be respectful of your opponent. I get that. And I think for the most part, we are. But I don't want to see the league get to a place where players can't have natural enthusiasm.
"The passion and emotion that's involved with this game, and the trash talking, as long as no one is disrespecting another person's family or spouse or kids or anything like that, I think it's fodder. It's fun fodder, man."
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