The GIST

Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder vie for NBA Cup crown

The NBA’s in-season tournament is wrapping up just in time for the holidays with tomorrow’s 8:30 p.m. ET winner-take-all NBA Cup finale that will feature a pair of No. 1 seeds: the Milwaukee Bucks and the Oklahoma City (OKC) Thunder.

December 16, 2024

Top-25 college basketball matchups ruled the weekend

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Women’s college basketball jump-started conference play with two thrilling top-25 matchups, while the men’s side saw chaos in the non-conference slate this weekend.

December 16, 2024

Unrivaled confirms $222K average salary thanks to extensive VC, partner investment

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In a recent SB Nation interview, Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell confirmed the new 3v3 pro women’s basketball league boasts a salary pool exceeding $8M. That’s a $242K average salary for the league’s 33 players (and $222K if all 36 spots are filled), exceeding the WNBA’s current $214K max salary. This doesn’t consider player equity or revenue sharing, which is worth millions.

December 16, 2024

NBA Cup semifinals tip off on Saturday

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The NBA Cup, the league’s second annual in-season tournament, is heading to Sin City, with four teams vying for a spot in Tuesday’s grand finale. What happens in Vegas…will send every player on the championship-winning team home with a sweet payday, so let’s toss up the ball and preview tomorrow’s semis tilts.

December 13, 2024

Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder secure NBA Cup semifinal berths with two more spots still up for grabs

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With the four-game NBA Cup group stage in the rearview mirror, we’re in the midst of four do-or-die quarter-final matchups. Swap your holiday countdown cal for a basketball — ’tis the (NBA) season after all.

December 11, 2024

Paige Bueckers, Flau’jae Johnson, and JuJu Watkins pave the way with latest NIL wins

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LSU basketball star and Puma athlete Flau’jae Johnson announced a player exclusive shoe deal on Friday, shortly after UConn phenom Paige Bueckers’ historic player edition shoe with Nike last week. These moves are the new normal in college basketball, where women are outperforming men in terms of NIL and shoe deals.

December 09, 2024

Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd requests trade, WNBA expansion draft kicks off tonight

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From the soon-to-be 14th WNBA team Toronto Tempo’s rather quick name drop, to tonight’s expansion draft, to major news in Seattle, the W offseason headlines are flying fast and furious. How’s that for pace?

December 06, 2024

Sports Business

WNBA builds on 2024 draft success with December expansion draft

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December 06, 2024

As discussed on yesterday’s episode of The GIST of It, the WNBA is hosting its first expansion draft since 2008 today as the Golden State Valkyries post up to join the league. With today’s draft seeing historic interest from media and sponsors, the W is primed for the big leagues.

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The GIST of It Podcast

Ep #422

Volleyball's spotlight moment, plus a College Football Playoff primer

December 19, 2024

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Volleyball's spotlight moment, plus a College Football Playoff primer

Hello, hello!
Forget the holidays — it’s playoff season for a few fall college sports: women’s volleyball and football. On this episode of The GIST of It, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz first preview tonight’s national volleyball tournament semifinals, where all four No. 1 seeds will be duking it out for a spot in Sunday’s championship. And volleyball is just getting started in the U.S., with major news about the Pro Volleyball Federation and League One Volleyball dropping this week.
Then in part two, it’s all about the College Football Playoff, which begins on Friday night. The gals dig through the revamped 12-team format before shouting out the top players to watch on the gridiron. Hut, hut.
A big thank you to Aflac for partnering with us on today’s episode! Add Aflac to your team to close the insurance gap today. Learn more at aflac.com/thegist.