New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday. By TonyTheTiger (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
New Orleans Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday celebrated his daughter’s first birthday with an Instagram post. In the caption, he mentioned the past year being one of the toughest challenges he’s faced as a husband and father.
“My 🌎 is 1 year today!!! To think that last year was the scariest, most stressful time of my life and a year later My ❤️+ 🌎 are healthy and happy!! God is real, he is merciful, but most of all he is loving! He has blessed me with more than I could ever imagine. Happy Birthday Sweet girl!! Daddy Loves You!”
The smiles were replaced by fright last year as Holiday’s wife, Lauren Holiday, suffered a major health scare while she was pregnant.
“My wife was, I think, four or five months pregnant, and all of a sudden she found out she had a tumor,” Holiday said to ESPN. “Because she has another person in her, obviously there are things she couldn’t do for them to know what type of tumor it was or how serious it was.”
Holiday’s wife, formerly known as Lauren Cheney, an ex-United States women’s national team soccer player, had surgery last October to remove a benign tumor from her brain a month after their daughter was born.
Holiday tended to his wife for three months and missed 12 regular-season games before Lauren gave Jrue her blessing to return to the court.
“It was really just to see where my wife was in her recovery,” Holiday said to ESPN. “And since she’s doing so well, and since my daughter’s getting bigger, and since my family and her family are there to help her out with anything … I just feel comfortable being back and being able to leave them, if it’s on a road trip or whatever it is.”
In Holiday’s first game back, he scored 21 points and helped the Pelicans reel off four consecutive victories, after they started out 2-10 in his absence. The Pelicans would finish the season 34-48, missing the postseason.
In the offseason, Holiday signed a 5-year, $126 million deal to remain with the Pelicans. New Orleans opens preseason play against the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 3.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST HOSTED BY JASON ROMANO, FEATURING CORI CLOSE
Cori Close is the head coach for the UCLA women’s basketball team. In her 15 seasons at UCLA, she has 358 career wins, back-to-back Final Four appearances, and her first national championship in 2026.
Today on the podcast, Cori Close joins Jason Romano to share about her experience leading UCLA to the women’s national championship, clinging to Christ during this past season, what it means to abide in Jesus, loving her players well, and the Gospel impact she wants to make with the platform she has.
Nate Ament greets NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Virtually every college basketball program in the country wanted Nate Ament out of Highland School in Virginia. He was ranked No. 4 in his high school class according to 247Sports, and was already projected as a likely lottery pick for the 2026 NBA Draft.
That dream became a reality on Tuesday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, when the former Tennessee Volunteer was selected No. 13 overall by the Miami Heat. Miami was making the selection for the Milwaukee Bucks as part of Monday’s blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.
The 19-year-old’s selection made him the highest-drafted Volunteer since Marcus Haislip in 2002.
When asked by ESPN when his dream of becoming an NBA draft pick materialized, Ament thought back to his childhood.
“When I first started playing basketball with my brothers at the park,” he answered. “Just realizing how much the game means to me, but how much it brought us closer together.”
Ament started all 35 games he appeared in for the Volunteers, missing two due to a leg injury. He averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game and helped lead Tennessee to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight, where the Vols lost to eventual national-champion Michigan. Ament was named to the All-SEC second team as well as the SEC All-Freshman team, and his 584 points were third-most ever by a Tennessee freshman.
Along with Arizona star Brayden Burries, whom Milwaukee drafted at No. 10 overall, Ament joins an overhauled Bucks team looking to bounce back after a 2025-26 season that ended without a playoff appearance for the first time in 10 years.
Ament could’ve played his one year of college ball anywhere, but the 6-foot-10 small forward chose Tennessee partly because he shared a common faith with head coach Rick Barnes, who was in attendance for his player’s big moment. In doing so, Ament became the highest-ranked high school player to ever commit to the Volunteers.
During Barnes’ recruiting pitch to Ament, he referenced the Bible verse Matthew 17:20, which says in part, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”
Barnes then gave him a mustard seed, something Ament plans to keep forever.
“It meant a lot to know that my head coach is super strong in the faith and someone I can turn to when I’m not necessarily feeling well or I have questions,” he told Knoxville’s WVLT News in March.
In a way, it can be said that Ament literally carries the Bible with him on the court; he wore No. 10 as a nod to one of his favorite verses, Isaiah 41:10.
“Earlier in my career, I was always super nervous before games,” he told a group of reporters in March. “I still am now, to be honest. But that verse always calms me down, knowing that God is my strength and He will raise me up with His victorious right hand.
“To be able to lean on your faith in times of trouble and knowing that — win or lose, good performance or bad performance — Jesus is always going to be here with me kind of just allows me to play more free, more confident. Just trusting in God and not leaning on my own understanding.”
No matter the praise or the scrutiny that comes his way in Milwaukee, Ament said that in all things hopes he reflects Jesus, and His words in Matthew 23:12.
“I kind of come back to the Bible verse a lot, ‘Whoever is humble will be exalted, whoever exalts themselves will be humbled,'” he told WVLT. “So for me, I just want to stay humble as much as possible. And I know that in the end, I’ll be exalted.”
Ament’s first chance to don a Bucks uniform will come next month in the NBA Summer League.
San Antonio Spurs forward Harrison Barnes, Feb. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
From 2012-2016, Harrison Barnes was a key piece of a Golden State Warriors team that went to the postseason four straight years and the NBA Finals twice. He averaged 33.0 minutes, 8.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in the 2015 Finals for the squad that won the world championship.
Now at 34 years old, he’s back in the NBA Finals for the first time in a decade, this time with a new team and a much different role. After starting 52 games during the 2025-26 regular season for the San Antonio Spurs, he’s made no starts this postseason and is averaging 8.5 minutes with no points during the Finals. His role now is more as the wily veteran helping provide leadership to a young Spurs team led by emerging stars like 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama, 21-year-old Stephon Castle and 20-year-old rookie Dylan Harper.
The Spurs are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014, and Barnes is grateful to have another crack at winning a title. Though much of the team’s core is young players with the majority of their career still ahead of them, he’s reminding his teammates not to take this opportunity for granted.
“This may be the last time both teams are in the Finals for a while. We have no idea,” Barnes said after shootaround on Friday, via Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News.
The Spurs will have to dig out of a 3-1 hole after surrendering a 29-point lead that eventually led to a 107-106 New York Knicks win in Wednesday’s Game 4, the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. If the Spurs are to come back, the leadership from Barnes could be a factor.
His teammates have already noted how valuable his presence is. As they navigate this deep playoff run early in their career, the wisdom provided by someone who’s been there several times is invaluable.
“Shout out to HB,” forward Devin Vassell told the Express-News. “It’s been great for us so far and just his wisdom and his knowledge being in so many different games, Game 7s, championship games, whatever the case may be. He’s been able to just kind of calm us down and just tell us kind of what to expect.”
After a decorated three-year career at North Carolina, Barnes was drafted by the Warriors in 2012 with the No. 7 overall pick and made the All-Rookie Team. He stayed with Golden State through the 2015-16 season, when the Warriors lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals. He’s since played for the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings before joining the Spurs ahead of the 2024-25 season. His last playoff appearance before this season was in 2023, when he averaged 28.0 minutes and 10.7 points per game for the Kings during a first-round series loss to the Warriors.
Now in his 14th NBA season, the Ames, Iowa, native is relishing the opportunity to play in the Finals once again. He told KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa, that he didn’t expect to be back in the Finals this late in his career.
“There were a lot of years where we were missing the playoffs,” he said. “…To be here this year where we’re in the NBA Finals, it’s a very unique and special situation.”
Earlier this year, he played his 1,000th career NBA game. He said he attributes his longevity to “having a village and day-to-day work and commitment. Obviously, it starts with my faith, but also my wife, Brittany, being the rock for me,” he told KCCI.
Barnes’ faith in God has been central to his life and career, and he’s been open about sharing how important it is. He calls himself a “devout Christian” on his website, lists the Bible verse Acts 4:12 in his X bio, and writes “#IJNIP” (In Jesus’ Name I Play) in his Instagram bio.
“Money, fame, and talent can be the top priorities for most professional athletes, but for Harrison Barnes, it’s his relationship with God that comes first. He is a Christian,” his website says. “Ever since he was young he grew up in the church. His faith has always been a big reason why he plays.
“On the inside of his shoes he has TGBTG, which is ‘To God Be The Glory’ and he just plays for Him. … He just realizes it is not his work, but His.”
Barnes’ faith began to take shape in high school, thanks in part to attendance at retreats, Sunday School and Bible studies. He even led some of those Bible studies.
“I wanted to leave an impact on the school, and I wanted Christ to be represented there,” Barnes told Iowa State Daily in 2009 after committing to play at North Carolina. “So I wanted to start that Bible study just to get a coalition of believers together and also integrate non-believers in there and just have that fellowship.”
He continued later: “I try to make [God] the center of my life and then just have that infiltrate all other spheres, such as glorifying Him on the basketball floor with all the gifts that He’s given me.”
The Spurs and Knicks continue the NBA Finals back in San Antonio for Game 5 on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
The much-anticipated Western Conference Finals between what many consider the NBA’s two best teams tipped off on Monday, and it lived up to all the hype and more.
The No. 2-seeded San Antonio Spurs, led by Victor Wembanyama, outlasted league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, 122-115, in two overtimes in Game 1 to notch a road victory and seize early control of the seven-game series.
San Antonio battled to a seven-point halftime lead, but a fourth-quarter surge from the Thunder sent the contest to OT tied at 101. The Spurs finally pulled away in the second overtime to cap the instant classic.
The Last 15 Minutes of Game 1: Oklahoma City Thunder vs San Antonio Spurs 🍿🎬 PURE CINEMA pic.twitter.com/1XsgZkXswV
— Not Locked On Fantasy Basketball (@MaarkyBoy) May 19, 2026
Game 1 marked the first real adversity the Thunder have faced in this year’s playoffs. After winning the NBA Finals a season ago for the first time since the franchise has been in Oklahoma City, the Thunder cruised to two four-game sweeps in the first two rounds of these playoffs. OKC dispatched the Phoenix Suns in the first round and the Los Angeles Lakers in the second. Only two of those eight wins came by less than 10 points.
An unexpected star for the Thunder during the team’s dominant run has been 23-year-old second-year guard Ajay Mitchell. The 2024 second-round pick started the last two games of the series with the Suns and each of the four games against the Lakers, and the crafty lefty has performed admirably. He’s averaged 17.1 points, 4.9 assists and 4.0 rebounds so far in these playoffs while shooting 35.1% and providing stout defense in more than 30 minutes per game. Each of those totals is an improvement on his season averages.
After that Game 3, Gilgeous-Alexander was asked about what the former UC Santa Barbara standout brings to the team.
“He’s a gamer,” SGA said of Mitchell. “Works super hard, never shaken by the moment. He’s just ready for his opportunity and he takes full advantage of it. It might be a shock to the world, but it’s no shock to us. We knew who Ajay Mitchell was the day he stepped foot in the building, and he’s just showing it to the world.”
Mitchell was born and raised in Belgium until he moved to France at age 17 to advance his basketball career. In France, he played briefly with Wembanyama, who now provides the opposition on Mitchell’s path to a second straight title.
During his postgame press conference after Game 3 against the Lakers, Mitchell was asked to reflect on where basketball has taken him in life.
“It’s been more of just being grateful,” he said. “I think looking back to where I was, looking back to myself as a little kid in Belgium just dreaming of playing in the NBA, and then God putting me in those positions, I just truly feel grateful for those opportunities. I feel like I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder, and every time I step out on the court I just want to prove myself and be a winning player and help my team win.”
Mitchell writes “All glory to God” in his Instagram bio, and he’s been known to post about faith on the social media platform. In January, he opened up about his journey with His Huddle.
“Faith plays an important role in my basketball career,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure and stress from basketball, and being able to pray and talk to God about it really helped me throughout the years. Praying and talking to God helps me remind myself of what I’m grateful for.”
Mitchell spent his youth attending church in Belgium, but it wasn’t until his time in college with the Gauchos that a true relationship with God blossomed. Now as a rising NBA star, he wants to use his platform to tell others about all that Christ has done.
“The impact I would like to have is just to be able to share God’s Word,” he told His Huddle. “Understanding that God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins really changed my perspective. It helped me to seek forgiveness from God, and also forgive others.”
Mitchell wasn’t in the starting lineup for Game 1 against the Spurs on Monday and registered a quiet four points on 2-of-5 shooting with five assists, four rebounds and two steals. He did lead the Thunder bench with 34 minutes played and was +7 on the night.
The Thunder hope he can return to the kind of production he exhibited in the first two rounds of the playoffs as they seek to bounce back in Game 2 in Oklahoma City on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
