Michael Jordan's racing team was dealt a painful blow by a United States district judge who denied his team's request for an injunction just before the culmination of the 2024 NASCAR season.
Jordan, who co-owns 23XI Racing with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, was joined by Front Row Motorsports in a suit against NASCAR and its chairman. The lawsuit claimed NASCAR gave all Cup Series teams a last-minute offer in September; but both teams refused to sign the offer on antitrust grounds.
Judge Whitney summarized much of the claims by the racing teams as being speculative and not definitive.
As reported by the New York Post, the racing team owners claimed NASCAR's charter system limits competition by binding teams to the series, its tracks, and suppliers in an unfair manner.
The lawsuit said Chairman Jim France and NASCAR are "monopolistic bullies."
The teams wanted the court to grant an injunction that would release them from a clause in the NASCAR charter that prevents them from suing its sanctioning body. However, U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney ruled mid-day Friday that the two racing teams did not meet the burden required to be granted the injunction.
The injunction would have allowed the teams to compete as usual (as chartered teams) while still suing NASCAR. Instead, they may now have to compete as "open" teams, which does not guarantee them a spot in NASCAR races and limits their revenue. This could cause drivers and sponsors to leave the teams because they are not privy to those guarantees.
As reported by NBC Sports, the judge decided that the plaintiffs did prove they would suffer "irreparable harm if the injunction is not granted."
Judge Whitney summarized much of the claims by the racing teams as being speculative and not definitive.
"Although Plaintiffs have alleged that they will face a risk of irreparable harm, they have not sufficiently alleged present, immediate, urgent irreparable harm, but rather only speculative, possible harm," the judge wrote.
The judge also noted that the teams "alleged a possibility" that they will lose sponsorship agreements, citing that this wording is "too speculative."
The judge further wrote that the teams only "allege that their drivers may leave if Plaintiffs compete as open teams."
"Presently, this harm is too speculative to merit a preliminary injunction."
The judge went on, "Plaintiffs have not alleged that their business cannot survive without a preliminary injunction. Instead, they allege that their businesses may not survive without a preliminary injunction."
The ruling went on similarly about "potential" losses and future business losses being "merely speculative."
"As such, this speculative harm does not warrant the extraordinary relief of a preliminary injunction," he concluded.
The ruling comes just two days before the NASCAR Cup Series Championship in Phoenix on Sunday.
Four drivers are headed into the final race in a tie for first place in the Cup Series standings; one of whom is the No. 45 car driven by Tyler Reddick for Jordan's 23XI team.
23XI's other driver, No. 23 Bubba Wallace, is in 18th place. Both drive Toyotas.
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Hall of Fame basketball player Scottie Pippen said in his memoir that scorekeepers incorrectly attributed statistics to Michael Jordan, often taking away from his own statistical totals.
The 58-year-old won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls alongside Jordan in the 1990s and was a threat on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
In his memoir, titled "Unguarded," Pippen alluded to the idea that Jordan manipulated scorekeepers into wanting to doctor statistics in his favor.
"Michael was better at getting people to do whatever he wanted," Pippin reportedly wrote in an excerpt. "I saw it over and over, from the first training camp in 1987 to the last victory rally in 1998. Here's how it worked: Say I deflected the ball and tapped it over to him. I should get credit with the steal, right? Nope. More often than not, the steal went into his column on the stat sheet, and I could do nothing about it," Pippen claimed, according to Bounding into Sports.
'He was horrible to play with. It was all 1-on-1. He's shooting bad shots.'
Pippen recalled a time an official scorekeeper came into the locker room after a game and informed Jordan that he needn't worry and that they would "take care of" him.
"One night, a scorekeeper came into the locker room after the game to hand the stat sheets to Phil Jackson and the coaching staff. The sheet breaks down the points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocked shots, turnovers, and so on for everyone who played the game. I couldn't believe the look the guy gave Michael: 'See, MJ, we take care of you.' No wonder in the nine full seasons we played together, he averaged more steals than me in every year except two."
Jordan led the NBA in steals per game twice, in 1987-1988 and then again in the 1992-1993 season.
Pippen led the league once in 1994-1995.
Tension has grown between the former teammates over the years, with comments from Pippen becoming increasingly sour:
"He was horrible to play with. It was all 1-on-1. He's shooting bad shots," Pippen said in 2023 about the start of Jordan's career. "All of a sudden, we become a team and we start winning. Everybody forgot who he was. He was a player that, really, winning wasn't at the top of his category. It was scoring."
It was also no secret that Jordan's son, 33-year-old Marcus, dated Pippen's 49-year-old ex-wife Larsa for several years. The pair allegedly broke up in early 2024.
"What's wrong with this guy? I guess he has a book to sell," commentator Eric Butler told Blaze News. "What's weirder is that Pippen's ex-wife was dating Jordan's son. The whole relationship between the two is strange, right down to Pippen claiming Michael wasn't as good as everyone thinks, which is obviously not true," Butler added.
Pippen was a seven-time NBA All-Star and had his number 33 retired by the Chicago Bulls in 2005.
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Retired NBA player Gilbert Arenas has a solution to fix the NBA’s lack of defense — and it involves racism.
“I know what they can do. Get rid of all the Europeans,” Arenas said on his podcast, "Gils Arena."
“They have no athleticism, right? They have no speed, no jumping ability, they are a liability on defense.”
“They didn’t soften the rules for the Americans, they softened the rules to open it up international,” Arenas continued, adding, “This is not our league, this is not the American South, this is the Euro style.”
Steve Kim believes Arenas has unwittingly gone “MAGA.”
He notes that it’s basically the same thing as “the replacement theory” since “he’s blaming the immigrants.”
Whitlock agrees, seeing Arenas’ take as fairly racist and full of misinformation, but he does admit there are “tiny kernels of truth there.”
“Tiny kernels of truth in terms of the NBA wanted to extend its international reach. That was their whole big plan for ‘we’re going to overtake the NFL, we’re going to be the international game, they’re going to love us in China, they’re going to love us here,’” Whitlock explains, adding that the NBA is suffering “the consequences of globalism.”
“Now, the chickens are coming home to roost, and it’s not an American game,” he adds.
To hear more, watch the clip below.
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The Chicago Bulls Basketball team has a long list of former players and coaches whose names have already gone down in history as some of the best there ever were: Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman, to name a few.
However, they all left the Bulls and left former college basketball coach — now a former Chicago Bulls head coach — Tim Floyd to make his own magic.
Floyd joined Jason Whitlock to discuss his time as head coach and shares a story that would have forever changed the history of the Bulls’ dynasty and the NBA.
Floyd says that he believes he was hired because they “wanted a college guy to go develop pros because the league was going to get younger.”
However, Bulls head coach was an intimidating seat to fill.
“You’re replacing a legend and a squad that had just won six titles in eight years. And the only two years they didn’t win, Michael was playing baseball,” Whitlock says.
Floyd was apprehensive about taking on the role at first and even told Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf that he wanted to wait to replace Phil Jackson.
Why?
A year before “The Last Dance,” Floyd was flown to Seattle to discuss taking Jackson’s spot with Reinsdorf after the 1995-96 season.
And he wouldn’t do it — yet.
“I think it’s too early,” Floyd said.
“This team is the Beatles,” he continued, “And I think it needs to die its own natural death.”
“So, indirectly,” Floyd jokes, “I take credit for the last two championships.”
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The hunt for Kevin Durant's basketball legacy and identity is over. We know exactly who Durant is and what he means to the game. The Tokyo Olympic Games clearly defined Durant.
In an era of fraudulently packaged, corporate-handcuffed professional athletes, Kevin Durant is the realest one playing. He's skinny Charles Barkley with championship rings.
When he was on the court, you couldn't take your eyes off Barkley. Built like a Hall of Fame offensive tackle, Barkley exploded up and down the court like a triple jumper. Off the court, you couldn't avoid Barkley either. His mouth and deeds courted controversy.
The same is true of Durant. His rail-thin, 7-foot body belies his playing style. And his authenticity and transparency keep him in the news cycle.
Thirty years ago, the force of Barkley's personality and playing style overshadowed Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird at the Barcelona Olympics. Barkley was the leading scorer on the Dream Team and the biggest attraction.
In perhaps the weirdest and most disappointing Olympics in history, Kevin Durant was the lone star and biggest attraction. He came across as the only star athlete who actually wanted to be in Japan. Gymnast Simone Biles, the face of the Games, sure didn't want to be in Tokyo. Naomi Osaka? U.S. track and field sprinters?
Leading this Olympic basketball team to the gold medal was important to Durant. He accomplished his goal Friday night, scoring 29 points in an 87-82 victory over France. It's Durant's third Olympic gold medal. He draped himself in the American flag and celebrated like representing his country meant something to him and his teammates.
Durant is a "real one," which is urban slang for someone who values their authenticity. That's the connection between Barkley and Durant.
Kevin Durant wears his flaws. He feuded with Draymond Green when they were teammates at Golden State. Durant traded Twitter barbs with his former OKC teammate Kendrick Perkins. Durant once had to apologize for explaining his authentic reaction to visiting India and being shocked by the country's primitiveness. Everyone remembers Durant getting busted with a burner social media account. Durant's nasty Instagram exchange with actor Michael Rapaport featured some very regrettable language.
Durant, like him or not, tells people exactly how he feels. He engages with people he probably shouldn't. Durant is real.
Let me tell you the realest thing about Durant — his hair. We've seen LeBron James drop a fortune trying to fix the bald spot at the top of his dome. Durant's bald patch is worse. He doesn't care. He owns his George Jefferson. It reminds me of the way Barkley owned his weight problem.
Kevin Durant is relatable.
When he entered the NBA 13 years ago, he had loftier goals than being the most relatable superstar of his era. He wanted to define his era. He had a chance to unseat LeBron James as the heir to the throne vacated by Michael Jordan a decade earlier.
When the Seattle Supersonics selected Durant with the No. 2 pick in the 2007 draft, James had yet to win an NBA title or MVP trophy. Despite a four-year head start, he was still within Durant's reach.
Five years later, Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden — playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder — met LeBron's Miami dream team in the NBA Finals. Had the Thunder won, it would've ruined LeBron's legacy and catapulted Durant to the top of the NBA food chart. It would've been the second consecutive year that James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh failed on basketball's biggest stage.
The Heat won the series 4-1. Durant and OKC never made it back to the NBA Finals. Westbrook refused to defer to Durant, who was clearly the more talented and transcendent player. Frustrated and desperate to make ground on James, Durant bolted Oklahoma City for a Western Conference rival and championship-proven Golden State. His goal of defining his era ended when he left Oklahoma.
By the time he won his first title with the Warriors in 2017, James held three championship rings — two with Miami and one with Cleveland.
Kevin Durant will never be regarded as the best player of his generation. That title belongs to LeBron James. Durant likely won't be regarded as the best shooter of his generation. His former Golden State teammate Steph Curry owns that distinction.
Durant will be Charles Barkley with championship rings. Barkley seems much happier than Michael Jordan.
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