NBA Digital announced plans for NBA League Pass to provide an innovative, first-of-its-kind experience that will allow fans to purchase and watch live NBA games in-progress at a reduced price. The new offering will be available for all NBA League Pass games beginning with the 2018-19 regular season.

The announcement was made by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Turner President David Levy at the Bleacher Report offices in New York, as Turner also introduced “Bleacher Report Live” as its new live sports streaming service.

Available to all fans via the NBA App and NBA.com, as well as B/R Live, the new NBA League Pass offering will provide fans with real-time access to live NBA action including pivotal matchups, record-setting performances and incredible comebacks. 

Turner Sports also announced its new B/R Live streaming service will distribute NBA League Pass – single games and the new offering – beginning with the 2018-19 regular season. Fans will have access to nearly 1,000 live out-of-market NBA games through Turner’s new direct-to-consumer platform.

“The distribution of content continues to evolve and Turner has invested in creating and delivering premium, multi-platform experiences including our soon-to-be-launched B/R Live sports streaming service,” said Levy. “Our long-standing partnership with the NBA has been led by a shared vision to provide fans with the most engaging experiences that match a wide variety of viewing preferences. This is a game-changing initiative to provide fans with personalized access to premium NBA content. From games on TNT and NBA TV or the volume of out-of-market games through NBA League Pass, to the defining moments of a thrilling matchup with a compelling story arc, we’ll have it covered.”

“This offering is a new and exciting way for fans to experience live NBA action," said Silver. "Turner Sports shares our commitment to innovation and to making our games even more accessible.”

YouTube TV will be the first-ever presenting sponsor for the NBA Finals.

The deal runs at least through 2019.

Google believes tying the “virtual” pay-TV brand to live sports has been an effective customer-acquisition tool.

Under the NBA deal, a logo with “Presented by YouTube TV” will be featured prominently during all NBA Finals games, including on the court and in-arena. YouTube TV will be featured in ABC ad spots and in-game callouts.

YouTube TV added NBA TV, the league’s 24-hour network, as part of the base package.

Steve Kaplan and Daniel Straus have valued the Memphis Grizzlies at more than $1 billion as part of their buy/sell clause with controlling owner Robert Pera.

Pera must decide whether he will sell his stake to Kaplan and Kraus at that valuation or buy them out at it.

The majority of Pera's net worth is held in Ubiquiti Networks stock.

Pera purchased the Grizzlies in October of 2012. When Pera bought the team in 2012, the NBA had concerns about Pera affording the team on his own and suggested the unusual buy/sell option between Pera, and Kaplan and Straus.

Pera put in $38 million of equity while Kaplan and Straus put in $25 million each.

Local limited partners put in a total of $78 million.

The NBA sent teams an email this month detailing the disruption of their trading system under the United States' new tax law. The NBA is still figuring out how to respond.

The new law forces manufacturers, farmers and others to pay more in capital gains taxes, if they trade an asset for something more valuable, and it also applies to sports teams trading player. 

“There is no fair-market value of a baseball player. There isn’t,” said Daniel R. Halem, the chief legal officer of Major League Baseball. “I don’t really know what our clubs are going to do to address the issue. We haven’t fully figured it out yet. This is a change we hope was inadvertent, and we’re going to lobby hard to get it corrected.”

Officials from the NBA and MLB expressed hope that Congress would revisit the provision.

For decades, teams have not paid taxes on trades, and thus have not had to account for the value of the assets they are exchanging, for tax purposes. 

The Internal Revenue Service allowed baseball owners to depreciate the cost of player contracts over several years to reduce the team's taxable income. It declared that “trades of player contracts owned by major league baseball clubs will be considered exchanges of like-kind property” under a section of the tax code.

Michele Roberts will seek a new contract as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association.

Roberts' original four-year deal expires in September.

Roberts had recently considered staying in the executive director role for only the lifetime of her original contract but she has since decided to extend her stay.

Chris Paul played a significant part in Roberts' hiring in July 2014 and he has built a strong working relationship with Roberts.

The NBA's collective bargaining agreement is signed through 2024.

In a report from Sports Business Journal about ESPN's relationship with the NFL, former president John Skipper is described as favoring basketball and his relationship with Adam Silver over the NFL and its leaders.

Skipper did not engage with the people who matter at the NFL, like Goodell and Brian Rolapp, executive vice president of media, sources said. 

Silver also did not socialize or develop close ties with influential NFL owners like Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones.

ESPN's new president, Jimmy Pitaro, has already met with key leaders from the NFL as he attempts to repair the relationship.

The NBA is preparing to get involved with elite high school basketball players more than a decade after creating the one-and-done rule.

Adam Silver and several of his top advisers have been engaged in listening tours and information-gathering missions with an array of stakeholders for months.

Silver's aim is much more comprehensive than simply re-opening the door for 18-year-olds to play in the NBA.

The idea of reversing the course by the NBA comes as a response to scandals in the NCAA.

The NBA could begin starting relationships with elite teenagers while they are in high school to help provide skills to develop them on and off the court.

The NBA could ultimately create a system where 18-year-olds could earn a meaningful salary.

The NBA is focusing on getting involved in two important periods in which they currently have minimal contact with prospects: the high school years and the time between high school graduation and when a young player is physically and emotionally ready to join the NBA.