By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief of Digital Sports Desk
BOSTON – This week’s notebook begins with an item very close to home. For about a year-plus, your favorite columnist has been moonlighting from his main business and that is as a consultant to companies in professional (some college) and amateur sports. One of the main projects was “officially” announced this week by the NBA, although we began dabbling in the area with verbal agreements as far back as October 2025 when the NBA staged preseason games in Abu Dhabi.
In short: “It’s been great.”
Here is the official news release:
ISTANBUL, TÜRKIYE, April 30, 2026 – The National Basketball Association and Globalist Sports Corporation Organisation JSC – a multi-sport organization based in Istanbul – announced a multiyear collaboration for Globalist Sports to launch and operate the NBA Basketball School in Türkiye.
The NBA Basketball School Türkiye will deliver weekly activity in Istanbul and Eskişehir and provide tuition-based basketball development programming for youth ages 6-18, including skill development, 5-on-5 scrimmages and games, and life-skills sessions. The program will tip off with a launch camp from Saturday, May 16 – Tuesday, May 19, in Mersin, followed by a series of camps across Türkiye throughout the summer, including Ankara (June 13–15 and June 26–29) and in İstanbul (July 5–9 and July 18–21). Registration is open now at www.nbabasketballschool.tr.
Former NBA Vice President of International Communications Terry Lyons and his Pivottv Media consulting company assisted Globalist in securing the rights to operate the basketball camps and will work with USA and European basketball coaches and legends to attend the camps and conduct clinics on a regular basis. Lyons worked with the NBA from 1980-2008.
“For us at Globalist Sports, working with the NBA Basketball School represents an opportunity to bring world‑class standards, structure, and ambition to youth basketball in Türkiye,” said Devrim Kıvanç Co-Founder & CEO, Globalist Sports Corporation Organisation JSC. “We are incredibly proud to support the introduction of this programme locally and excited about the long‑term pathway it creates for young players to develop their skills, confidence, and potential as part of a globally recognised environment.”
“The launch of the first NBA Basketball School in Türkiye reflects the country’s growing passion for basketball and our ongoing commitment to supporting youth development across the region,” said NBA Europe and Middle East Associate Vice President Basketball Operations, Henry Utku. “Through this collaboration with Globalist Sports, we are excited for this program to provide young players with access to world‑class coaching, resources, and a structured environment that emphasizes skill development, teamwork, and values that extend beyond the court.”
The NBA Basketball School curriculum, which is designed to develop players and provide parents, coaches and organizations with a better understanding of the process of improvement, was created by the NBA’s International Basketball Operations department in consultation with current and former NBA coaches, players and player development specialists. Since 2017, NBA Basketball Schools have been announced or launched in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary India, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Spain, Switzerland, the UAE and Uruguay.
For the latest about NBA Basketball School Türkiye, follow @nbabasketballschool_tr and NBA Basketball School Türkiye. Fans in Türkiye can also follow the NBA on X, Facebook and Instagram and download the NBA App for the latest news, updates, scores, stats, schedules, videos and more. They can also purchase the latest NBA merchandise at NBAStore.eu.
Here’s a little insight from the inside: The NBA Basketball Schools are amazing. They’re located all over the world (see list above) and the league supports them all with an incredible amount of foundational and institutional knowledge. Everything from software to register and keep track of the campers and coaches to placing some NBA Legends at select events. The NBA runs tournaments between the various camps (Our U-17 boys team from Türkiye won last year’s tournament in Abu Dhabi and hope to defend that title this coming Fall).
I’ve found it quite fulfilling and have been happy to give back to the game that’s given me so much since my very first day in December of 1980.
While Basketball without Borders is the top of the heap in basketball development, NBA Basketball Schools are intended to introduce and teach the game to children as young as six or eight years old and continue until age 17-18.
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: Multiple media reports indicate that former Dallas Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban was trying to buy back a controlling interest in the team he loves but sold. Cuban owns 27% of the team after selling off 73% for $3.5 billion to the Adelson family in December 2023. The Adelsons have the right to buy another 20% from Cuban within four years of their deal, which would drop his stake to 7%. … In a recent podcast, Cuban said, “I don’t regret selling. I regret who I sold to,” indicating his displeasure in the direction the team took, mostly concetrating on the basketball operations side. (Initially, the deal indicated Cuban would still remain in charge of the team’s basketball operation). Of course, the Mavericks packaged franchise star Luka Dončić in a controversial trade with the LA Lakers for center Anthony Davis. The deal ultimately cost Nico Harrison, the head of basketball operations for the team, his job. Yet, Lady Luck shined on the Adelsons and Mavericks when the NBA Draft Lottery ping-pong balls gave them the rights to draft this year’s NBA Rookie of the Year in Cooper Flagg, a generational star.
While the trade certainly looked to favor the Lakers, both Dončić and Davis remain quite injury prone and the Mavericks are well on their way to a total rebuild with an extra pair of first round draft choices this June, a 2030 first rounder the Lakers obtained from Golden State and a slew of second round picks to come.
Meanwhile, Cuban dreams of what might have been as he counts a few extra billions from his Mavericks experience which came about after Cuban initially banked billions in a sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo.
It seems that the Dončić – Davis deal mirrors the Broadcast.com – Yahoo deal. In the end, as times changed, all of them, might be worthless.
ON THE BALLERS: In 2024, when the Oakland Athletics were heading out of the Bay Area, the Oakland Ballers became the newest member of the MLB-partnered Pioneer League, a minor league with a nod of approval from Major League Baseball. In their first season, the Ballers finished with the second-best record in the Pioneer Baseball League at 58-38 and sold over $1 million in branded merchandise, a Top 10 finish amongst all minor league franchises across the USA. In their second season, the Ballers delivered Oakland’s first baseball title since 1989, going 73-23 on the way to the league championship.
With a 10-year license in place at Oakland’s historic Raimondi Park and a solid ownership group in place, the Ballers are allowing accredited investors to share in the next phase of growth. Investors willing to put down a minimum of $10,000 can purchase shares (crowd share).
Recent Funding:
- The team successfully closed a community round in late April 2025 that raised over $3.77 million from approximately 3,800 fan-investors.
- In addition to community rounds, the team has opened rounds for accredited investors (individuals with high net worth or specific income levels) which have higher minimums of the $10-grand.
- Most of the investors have voting power with the right to vote on core team decisions like potential relocation or hiring the Head of Baseball Operations.
- There’s also Board representation as investors will have the ability to be represented by an elected Fan Director on the team’s board.
WNBA TEAM VALUATIONS: Before we get into the WNBA, let’s first remind everyone that the very Dallas Mavericks franchise that Cuban and the Adelsons are tossing billions at, one way or the other was once worth $12.5 million dollars when the NBA sold an expasnion franchise to Donald Carter in 1980.
Golden State team ownership invested $50 million to obtain the WNBA Valkyries in 2023. By 2025, the club had risen in value 10-times-over and was valued at $500 million when sports business publication Sportico crunched some numbers. Now? Sportico’s 2026 WNBA team valuations have the Valkyries valued at $850 million, leading the pack of WNBA franchises which are valued at an average of $427 million, up 59% year-over-year.
The New York Liberty (playing in Brooklyn) rank a distant second at $600 million, followed by the Indiana Fever ($560M), Seattle Storm ($425M) and Phoenix Mercury ($420M). Not too shabby, we say, noting the Atlanta Dream ($280M) rank last among the 13 WNBA clubs.
That’s a far cry from the opening tip-off of the WNBA back in 1997. Just ask the defunct Houston Comets (in the midst of obtaining the Connecticut Sun for some $300 million, the ultra defunct Charlotte Sting, Cleveland Rockers, Sacramento Monarchs and Utah Starzz. They all turned in their WNBA chips to the league with no return at all.
TIDBITS & NUGGETS: The hometown Boston Red Sox have under-performed in 2026 and it cost manager Alex Cora and a slew of bench coaches their jobs. Sox head of baseball (fancy title of Chief Baseball Officer) pulled the trap-door open for Cora, along with hitting coach Peter Fatse, bench coach Ramón Vázquez, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, and major-league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin. Former Red Sox player and game-planning coach Jason Varitek was “reassigned” to a new (and yet to be named) role within the organization.
When the Sox were 0-0 earlier this spring, the club issued a one-pager on 25 years of stewardship of the franchise, a cozy way of noting we all have limited time on this earth and the Sox franchise owners believe this is their time in space to steer the ship for the good of Boston and New England (see NESN).
There were very proud and noteworthy accomplishments, which included:
- Ending an 86-year old “Curse of the Bambino by winning the 2004 World Series
- Since 2002, the Red Sox won an MLB-leading four World Championships (2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018) while claiming five American League East titles
- The Sox made 12 MLB postseason appearances
- Off the field, the team ownership invested $500,000 in the preservation and improvement of Fenway Park
- Major changes included money-making construction of the Green Monster seats, the 521 Overlook, the field-level Jim Beam Dugout seating and even the state-of-the-art MGMMusic Hall concert venue
- They’ve hosted NHL Winter Classics, Harvard vs Yale college football and the Fenway Bowl, countless numbers of summer concerts and a few college graduation ceremonies
That’s all very good work, to the tune of $14 billion in visitor spending while also raising some serious cash for the JIMMY Fund cancer research and other great community events.
But, the fans of the Boston Red Sox are a demanding bunch. They expect execution, run production, flawless defense and victories. The 2026 club fell short in April and Cora and his coaches paid the price. Boston entered the month of May at (12-19) and, like the race on Patriots’ Day, the season is a Marathon, not a sprint.
Ace pitcher Garrett Crochet is now on the 15-day Injured List with left shoulder inflammation. Newly acquired starting pitcher Sonny Gray was placed on that same IL with a hamstring issue on April 21. Youngsters Connelly Early and Payton Tolle were called up to the Majors a bit early, but both have promising futures.
Interim manager Chad Tracy (up from the WooSox) is holding the reins. There’s 10-of-13 games at Fenway, started on May 1. and 32-of-the-next-56 (57%) of the next portion of the schedule at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.
One thing is for sure, Sox fans not only get “Sweet Caroline” in the 8th inning, but the one major addition this year in an effort to celebrate America’s 250th is “more Neil Diamond” with a pregame video to the tune of his hit, “America” to begin each home game.
Thank goodness he won’t be singing “Cracklin’ Rosie.” And the Sox will be in big trouble if they hear, “Song Sung Blue.” … Neil, baby, “More Cowbell.”
TIDBITS & NUGGETS II – Here’s some of the stuff I think about:
- As the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby was staged on Saturday, I couldn’t help but think about the 99th edition, in 1973, when a horse of 16 1/2 hands won the first leg of the Triple Crown. Five weeks later, Secretariat ran the perfect race at the Belmont Stakes to become the greatest thoroughbred race horse in history. That’s 53 years ago, for you mathematically challenged C+ students out there. Secretariat
- I also think of the 1971 Kentucky Derby when Cañonero II was shipped in from Venezuela with odds as long as his trip only to win the 20-horse race at Churchill. Cañonero II had a crooked foreleg and a $1,200 price tag as a yearling. He won the Derby and The Preakness at Pimlico but fell short (4th Place) at The Belmont when his foreleg acted up. In the Fall of that year, Cañonero II set the Belmont course record and defeated Riva Ridge. He was later purchased for $1,000,000 and later lived the life of a sire in Kentucky. The great, great, great grandson of the legendary Man O’War has this special memory because my father had him in blind draw of horses in a Pan American office pool. Payday.
Every single time I watch this horse race, it brings tears to my eyes:
Also ran thoughts for today:
- I’ve been getting more SPAM than Monty Python.
- Blue Horseshoe does NOT love Spirit Airlines.
- And, speaking of Sprit Air, what would 83-year old Norman Greenbaum think?
- Instead of the ultra-boring Chicago Sky, why didn’t the Ch-town faithful name their WNBA franchise “The Koalas?”
- Why didn’t Doral re-name their championship 7,739-yard, par 72 PGA Tour level course, “The Orange Monster?”