Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas embrace during an NBATV interview. (Photo Courtesy: NBA/Twitter @NBA)
Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas are legends. One grew up in Michigan, the other in Chicago. Both went on to Hall of Fame careers and won multiple NBA championships. They were best friends for many years during their basketball career. And then something happened. After meeting in the NBA Finals in consecutive seasons in 1988 and 1989, their relationship seemed to be over.
In 1992, Magic famously helped keep Isiah off the 1992 Dream Team, a team that Thomas was clearly good enough to be on and should have been on.
Johnson admitted he helped keep Thomas off the Dream Team in part because he says Isiah spread rumors that he was bisexual or gay after Magic contracted HIV in 1991.
It was messy. It was ugly. It didn’t seem like reconciliation was possible.
But then an amazing thing took place recently when the two reunited in a special that aired Tuesday Night on NBATV.
“My wife, my mother, my father saying you all need to get back together,” Magic said. “So when everybody called, I said no question we’re going to do this.”
As Isiah sat and listened, he began to get emotional as Magic continued to share his feelings.
“You are my brother,” Magic said to Isiah. “Let me apologize to you. If I hurt you. That we haven’t been together. God is good to bring us back together.”
The two embraced in a long hug, both emotional and tearful. It was a wonderful moment for two of the greatest to ever play the game.
“I’ll always be here,” Isiah said.
Magic responded as always the competitor that he is. “And I’m still mad that you beat me.”
Both laughed and embraced one last time.
In Ephesians 4:31-32, Paul says we are to forgive as Christ forgave us. Magic and Isiah have finally done that and are once again, brothers.
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:31-32
Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
With 2025 coming to a close, Sports Spectrum is highlighting our most-viewed stories of the year.
In just his second year in charge at Texas Tech, head coach Grant McCasland took his No. 3-seeded Red Raiders to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight before suffering a five-point loss to top-seeded and eventual-champion Florida. It was his second straight tournament berth and third overall as a head coach, including one appearance with North Texas.
As he’s ascended the college basketball coaching ranks, McCasland has also been unashamed to speak boldly about his faith in Jesus.
“God’s called us all to something,” he said during his introductory press conference at Texas Tech. “I know that our purpose is to pour our hearts into you guys every single day. We love winning, but the only way you can truly win is if you love people with all your heart, and I believe that.”
While he was leading North Texas, where he was named the 2019-20 Conference USA Coach of the Year, McCasland joined the Sports Spectrum Podcast in 2020 to share about his faith. He said his life revolved around church and sports growing up, but in seventh grade God started to break down the idol that sports had become to him.
“I think that was the turning point where I decided that, ‘OK, I get it now. Jesus can’t be a part of what I am, He has to be who I live my life for and give my heart to completely,’” McCasland recalled on the podcast.
Our story was published March 27, the day of Texas Tech’s Sweet 16 matchup against Arkansas, in which the Red Raiders rallied late and won in overtime. Texas Tech played again two days later and nearly knocked off Florida, but couldn’t hold onto a late lead.
Largely due to the exciting March Madness games McCasland’s team was involved in, lots of readers came across our story over the course of that week. It’s our No. 4 most-viewed story of 2025:
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg with the ball against TCU on Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Yaxel Lendeborg barely played basketball in high school because of academic eligibility issues. He started his post-preps career at a community college, Arizona Western College in Yuma. Yet, there he was celebrating a Players Era title with his Michigan teammates Friday night, holding the enormous ring he received for being named tournament MVP.
The 23-year-old forward had just posted a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double in an utterly dominant 101-61 victory over Gonzaga. It was the Wolverines’ second top-25 win in as many days. They took home $1 million in NIL money and beat their three opponents by an average of 36.7 points.
Lendeborg scored 17.3 points and pulled down 7.3 rebounds per game in the tournament, while shooting 63.0% from the field and 43.8% from 3-point range. He is the team’s leading scorer (16.0), second-leading rebounder (7.6) and second-leading assist man (3.3) through its first seven games.
“We know we’re capable of national championships,” he said after Friday’s victory. “As long as we continue to grow together, we’re going to be the best in the country and nobody will be able to stop us.”
Lendeborg has been guided along his unlikely journey by God. He has publicly shared about his faith at various times and declares that he is “blessed and highly favored” in his Instagram bio.
When he was in high school, Lendeborg spent countless hours playing video games. His grades — and basketball career — suffered as a result. Conversations with his mom, Yissel Raposo, helped Lendeborg change his mindset as he prepared to enter college.
After three years at Arizona Western, Lendeborg landed at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) for an opportunity to compete at the Division-I level. He was an All-American Conference first-team selection and named the league’s defensive player of the year in both of his seasons at UAB.
“This still doesn’t feel real to me, but I thank God every day for helping me and guiding me through this new chapter in my life,” he told UAB’s athletics website in 2023.
Coming off a season in which he averaged 17.7 points and 11.4 rebounds, Lendeborg became the top-ranked player in the transfer portal when he decided to enter his name. He also went through the NBA Draft evaluation process and may have been a lottery pick.
Ultimately, he decided to stay in school and play for coach Dusty May, who’s in his second year at Michigan but faced Lendeborg when he coached Florida Atlantic. Reflecting on his path to Ann Arbor in a recent interview with MLive.com, Lendeborg gave thanks to the Lord for guiding his steps.
“It’s all a blessing to be honest with you,” he said. “All glory to God and thank you to my mom as well for helping me out and digging me out of the hole that I was in.”
Tattooed on Lendeborg’s left shoulder are three crosses, visual evidence of how important his relationship with God is to him.
“I pray before games to let Him know I believe,” he said. “And I’m always grateful for what He’s done for me.”
The Wolverines (7-0) have this week off before they host Rutgers (5-3) in their Big Ten Conference opener Saturday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET.
Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)
Charlotte Hornets rookie Kon Knueppel entered the NBA this season with high expectations as the No. 4 overall pick from the 2025 NBA Draft. A few months in, he’s exceeded nearly all of them.
The 6-foot-6 guard is averaging 19.4 points per game — more than any other rookie in the league — and he delivered his first signature performance with a career-high 32 points Nov. 14 against the Milwaukee Bucks, the team he grew up watching in his hometown.
But for Knueppel, everything remains rooted in gratitude and his faith in God.
“It’s such a blessing from God to be able to enter the NBA,” he told ESPN shortly after being drafted, “but to be able to share it with your family is beyond comprehension, so it’s such a special moment for us and for me.”
That gratitude stretches back generations. Knueppel’s great-grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Germany and became a pastor, planting seeds of faith that have shaped the Knueppel family for decades.
“It’s really a generational thing,” Kon said earlier this month on the “Non-Microwaved Truth” podcast with C.L. Whiteside, a former high school coach of Knueppel’s. “I think that’s how it’s supposed to be. That’s how God wants people to live. He wants Christians to live that out and pass it down to their kids and be a generational thing.”
Knueppel is one of five brothers, all raised in a home where Christian formation was as foundational as basketball. He attended Lutheran school from kindergarten through senior year, spending his high school years at Wisconsin Lutheran High School, where he blossomed into the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year before spending one season in college at Duke.
“That was something that was important to my parents — having a Christian education,” he said on the podcast. “I think just being involved in something like that on a daily basis is really good. It makes it easier on the parents, especially when both of my parents worked, to be able to know and trust that we’re getting good information about Jesus in school.”
But his faith wasn’t just something he absorbed. As he matured, he began sharing it too. During high school, Knueppel once gave the message at one of the school’s daily chapel gatherings, though he admitted it was uncomfortable territory for him in front of that many people.
Privately, his interest in Scripture has only grown. When asked on the podcast who his favorite person in the Bible is — other than Jesus — he pointed to Job.
“I just think it’s so countercultural to have a bunch of bad things happen to you — like catastrophic things happen to you — and still remain so strong in your faith,” Knueppel said. “I think it’s really remarkable.”
Staying connected to Jesus in the whirlwind of the NBA lifestyle takes intentionality, but Knueppel has already established rhythms that ground him.
“I think one of the cool things the NBA does is about an hour before tip, there’s chapel — before every game,” he said on the podcast. “Obviously, the lifestyle of an NBA player, you’re not home to go to church on Sunday, which is tough. It’s tough not be part of a home congregation. But being able to have that chapel opportunity before every game is awesome, because there’s 82 games.”
He also stays rooted through a group chat with friends as they work through a Bible-in-a-year plan on the Bible app.
And as his platform grows, Knueppel is already thinking intentionally about how to use it. He points to athletes like Tim Tebow, C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy as models for faithfulness in the spotlight, calling Tebow “an excellent example.”
“In all of the interviews and postgame stuff, just making sure it’s known Who you’re grateful to and why you have the ability to play,” Knueppel said. “Those guys who just share on a regular basis and it feels natural, I think that’s something I’ll do.”
Knueppel and the Hornets (4-13) are back in action at 7 p.m. ET Wednesday against the New York Knicks (10-6) at home.
