The New York Post reported on Thursday that Anthony would consider waiving his no-trade clause in search of a new destination, but his agent, Leon Rose, has since refuted the claims, according to Ian Bagely of ESPNNewYork.com. Anthony later confirmed his agents words, stating that he never considered ducking out of New York. MORE: Anthony threatened to beat up Hardaway Jr. | Cavs guard Irving OK after knee scare | Topp moments in 2014...

With the news that Noah will not be with the team until further notice, it is worth taking some time to game out how the different ways this separation can happen affect the Knicks’ salary flexibility moving forward. MORE: Celtics’ cap situation opens door for star trade First, the fundamentals. After this season, the Knicks owe Noah $37.8 million over two seasons. While he has a $17.8 million salary this season, there is not much flexibility on that component, so it will be largely ignored....

MORE: Phil Jackson pleads for patience | Mock draft: Knicks go big | Lakers offseason Assets When Phil Jackson took the job of running the Knicks last year, he looked at the roster and did not see much that he wanted to keep around. Carmelo Anthony signed on for five years as a free agent, and Jackson will have him as his star player going forward (at least in the short term)....

How it wasn’t unanimous for the Pelicans’ Mr. Basketball, who got all but two votes, is the real head-scratcher. Moreover, there was one question that wasn’t included in the poll but might be the most critical one for the 2015-16 season: “Can Kobe Bryant and LeBron James dial it back to get their teams where they need to go?’’ MORE: Every team’s greatest strength for this season | PREDICTIONS: How will the playoffs shake out?...

MORE: Kobe’s retirement tour | LeBron’s greatest moments After the game was over and after the players conducted their interviews with the media, the two giants of the game met up for an exchange of goods. Earlier this week, James told a story about how, when he was in high school, Bryant stopped by and gave him a special pair of his sneakers. James said he wore those shoes and played in them while beating Carmelo Anthony....

Kobe Bryant took to Twitter to congratulate Antetokounmpo on winning the award, sharing a Tweet of his from August of 2017 referring to him as “MVP.” MORE: NBA Awards 2019: Complete list of finalists, winners Antetokounmpo prompted Bryant to call him “MVP” after tweeting “Still waiting for my challenge.. @kobebryant.” It seems the 2007-08 MVP’s developed a knack for ESP in his retirement. 

This week he sat down with TNT’s Ernie Johnson to cover a wide range of topics, including, yes, his troubled relationship with former teammate Shaquille O’Neal (“If I had a do-over, I think I would take more of a leadership role in talking to Shaq earlier, before things went south,” Bryant said.) MORE: Yes, Kobe is an All-Star | Kobe told Byron Scott he was retiring during a game...

Bryant, who has yet to do anything more than bike exercises, is being measured on a weekly basis, according to the team. Bryant is anxious to ramp up his workouts, even though there is little to return as the Lakers are struggling. Of course, Bryant believes he can make even that team better. And he's right on some level, but they won't contend regardless.

The former Manchester United captain completed a return to Goodison Park on Sunday, 13 years on from his move to Old Trafford as an 18-year-old. Rooney: Everton is no retirement home Rooney insisted at his presentation that he was not moving “to a retirement home” and is determined to end Everton’s 22-year wait to win a major trophy. And Koeman believes his drive to add more success to a glittering career could be an important lesson to the rest of the squad....

A QR code found at PAX Aus this week confirmed the internet’s previous suspicions surrounding a poster featuring a silhouette from Tokyo Games Show earlier this year. Kojima Productions displayed the teaser, which referred to an upcoming project, with a single question: “Who am I?” Social media immediately lit up with responses to the question: it was Elle Fanning. But despite the correct guesses, neither developer Hideo Kojima nor studio Kojima Productions responded with further information about what she was starring in, exactly....

Despite having beaten Arsenal in the Europa League in midweek, the German outfit are yet to record a league win from 12 games in 2016-17. In a bid to arrest that run of results, manager Peter Stoger has chosen to hand a debut to teenager Yann Aurel Bisseck for Sunday’s clash with Hertha Berlin. Defensive midfielder Bisseck - who recently represented Germany at the Under-17 World Cup - does not turn 17 until Wednesday, meaning he becomes the youngest German player to ever play a top-flight match....

Newsweek reported that the mom of three, who just launched Lemme—a company selling what she described on Instagram as the “cleanest gummy vitamins and supplements”—told the Wall Street Journal that her son Mason, 12, hasn’t had a French fry in a year. “I was having my one-on-one time with my son [Mason],” she told the WSJ, “and he said, ‘Mom, I need McDonald’s French fries today, please. It’s been a year since I’ve had it....

On a recent episode of The Kardashians, the 43-year-old revealed that her “body’s changed” since undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, a process that uses “a combination of medicines and surgical procedures to help sperm fertilize an egg,” according to Planned Parenthood. “Eight months of IVF treatment has definitely taken a toll on my body mentally and physically, and, you know, it’s taken a lot to get me to the place of feeling really comfortable and happy with the changes,” she told her stylist Dani Michelle on the episode....

Thika United who finished 16th in the Kenyan Premier League last season are set to play Ushuru in a two-legged playoff that would determine who gets promoted to the top flight competition next season. Ushuru finished third in the National Super League. But the Kiambu County side moved to the Sports Dispute Tribunal to stop the exercise that is slated for December 6 for the first leg with a return leg to come four days later....

The Cubs’ third baseman told reporters on Thursday that he received a text from a Connecticut number he was unfamiliar with. The text had a simple message: “Welcome to the Mets.” The text briefly unsettled Bryant, who has faced trade rumors all offseason. It didn’t take much time for him to sort the situation out. Bryant called his agent, Scott Boras, and Boras called Cubs GM Jed Hoyer. Hoyer said the report wasn’t true....

The second thing goes in hand with the first; if the Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman is healthy enough to be in the lineup — and he had a goal in his first game back, then another in his second to force overtime in an eventual 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers — then, by definition, he's healthy enough to take some hits. Even dirty ones. MORE: Season’s final day | Bruins win Presidents’ Cup | Playoff picture...

Now comes Kansas, where Busch won in May, and a chance to build on his success in Sprint Cup’s championship series. MORE: Tough day at Charlotte | Winners, losers “Anything can happen,” Busch said after Sunday’s race. “That’s why you’ve got to run these races, so am I surprised? A little bit. Am I shocked? No. We’ve just got to keep doing what we know how to do and luckily we had the opportunities to be able to battle back and work ourselves back in the position to where we can have a good strong finish....

Yet the NASCAR Cup Series points leader was enraged after the race, and the culprit was the rules package NASCAR has implemented for 2019; a package that has impacted some races this season more than others. “The package sucks,” Busch said after the race, via Frontstretch’s Dustin Albino. “No f—ing question about it. It’s terrible. All I can do is b— about it and fall on deaf ears and we’ll come back with the same thing in the fall....

Who cares about practice? Kyle Busch, that’s who. MORE: Danica wrecks | NASCAR makes qualifying changes | Budweiser Duel breakdowns Busch made an aggressive move through the middle of a pack of traffic Wednesday to post the fastest speed in Sprint Cup practice at Daytona International Speedway as drivers practiced for Thursday’s Budweiser Duel qualifying races. Busch paced practice with a speed of 200.776 mph. Jimmie Johnson, who will start on the front row for the Daytona 500, was second-fastest at 200....

But Busch suggested Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth, who was ousted from the Chase at Talladega, might still have a score to settle with Joey Logano. MORE: Owens: Logano will pay | Kenseth lashes out at Logano | Harvick pleads innocent It was contact from Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford that spun Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota Oct. 18 at Kansas Speedway — while Kenseth was leading with five laps left in the Hollywood Casino 400 — hereby depriving Kenseth of his best chance to advance in the Chase with a victory....