Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 9-2-22

Sports
Vanessa Bryant Awarded $16M By Jury Over Crash Photos
VANESSA AND KOBE BRYANT
Magic Johnson Addresses Rumor That He Donated Blood
Magic Johnson found himself at the center of an ugly internet hoax this week, and the Hall of Famer felt the need to address it on Tues- day.
A 10-year-old photo of Johnson was shared nu- merous times on social media this week and taken out of context. The photo was from a 2012 PBS documentary called “Endgame: AIDS in Black America.” In it, John- son talks about how he re- tired from the NBA following
Serena Williams Begins US Open With A Convincing Singles Win
SERENA WILLIAMS
Serena Williams, play- ing in what is likely the final tennis tournament of her sto- ried career, opened singles play with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Danka Kovinić in the first round of the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Williams will open dou- bles play with her sister Venus on Wednesday.
Williams will face world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the singles round of 64, also on Wednesday. It will be their first career meeting.
After early struggles with her serve Monday evening, Williams took 10 of the final 13 games against Kovinić, a 27-year-old from Montenegro who is ranked 80th in the world.
MAGIC JOHNSON
his HIV diagnosis in 1991 and later returned. Johnson was
shown at one point in the documentary having his blood drawn, which is where the photo came from.
Some of the people who shared the photo on social media claimed it showed Johnson recently donating blood to help COVID-19 pa- tients.
The same image was shared widely last year with a similar phony backstory. Johnson addressed the “false story” on Twitter last week.
Ben Simmons To
Vanessa Bryant was awarded $16 million on Wednesday by a federal jury over her lawsuit against the County of Los Angeles.
Bryant, who was joined by co-plaintiff Chris Chester in her lawsuit, was suing the county over first re- sponders sharing photos of the crash site where her hus- band Kobe and daughter, Gianna, died in a January 2020 helicopter crash.
Bryant argued the L.A. County sheriff’s and fire de- partments employees who took the photos and circu- lated them among friends had caused her emotional
distress and violated her pri- vacy. Even though these pho- tos were not circulated publicly, Bryant said know- ing they existed and had been shared privately were highly troubling for her.
The trial in the case lasted for 11 days. The jury took 4.5 hours to deliberate before de- livering their decision on Wednesday.
In addition to the mone- tary award to Bryant, Chester was awarded $15 million.
Nine people died in the Jan. 26, 2020 crash, includ- ing Chester’s wife and daughter.
Nets Next Season?
Change Positions For
After over a year away from the game, Ben Sim- mons could be coming back as something entirely differ- ent.
There have reportedly been some rumblings that the former All-Star Sim- mons could potentially play center for the Brooklyn Nets this coming season.
Simmons’ total inepti- tude at shooting jumpers has been well-documented, so placing him in the dunker’s spot while Kyrie Irving and
BEN SIMMONS Kevin Durant handle the
ball could help solve the spacing issues that Sim- mons creates.
Zach LaVine Announces Big Family News
Zach LaVine announced some big family news on Wednesday.
LaVine and his wife Hunter on Sunday wel- comed their first child into the world.
LaVine made a baby an- nouncement over Instagram to share the news. He in- cluded three photos in his post.
The baby’s name is Saint Thomas LaVine.
“Best feeling I’ve had is now being a Father,” LaVine wrote as his Instagram cap- tion.
The LaVines have been together for several years. Zach proposed to Hunter in
Zach LaVine with wife Hunter and new baby boy.
April 2020.
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