One of the big questions around TNT Sports no longer having NBA rights is what would happen with NBA TV, which is owned by the NBA itself, but operated by TNT Sports.

And while the sides did come to an agreement last fall that will see continued highlights for Bleacher Report and House of Highlights, the future of NBA TV wasn’t spelled out at that time. But it’s now clear that whatever its future holds, TNT Sports won’t be a part of it.

That news comes via a memo that TNT Sports CEO Luis Silberwasser sent to employees Friday. In the memo, Silberwasser mentions that this deal will end as of October 1, and that they made several proposals to keep operating the network, but couldn’t work out a deal with the NBA. Awful Announcing obtained that memo. Here it is in its entirety:

Hi everyone,

I want to provide an update on the future of NBA TV and our digital partnership with the league. After discussions with the NBA in recent months, we have mutually decided to part ways at the end of the 2024-25 season.

We made several proposals to continue to provide services and operate the NBA TV network and related digital assets. However, we were unable to agree on a path forward that recognized the value of our expertise, quality content, and operational excellence that our fans and partners have come to expect from TNT Sports. We will work closely with the NBA on a transition plan for the league to assume the responsibility of programming and operating NBA TV and NBA.com, which will be effective October 1.

It’s important to note that, as part of our new NBA agreement announced late 2024, we will continue to be digital and content partners with the league in other areas of our business such as Bleacher Report and House of Highlights, along with our ability to license and create NBA related content for our TNT Sports properties, and live games in some of our key international markets.

I understand the impact of this news to our team members, especially those who work exclusively on our NBA TV productions. In the coming weeks, we will hold meetings with those who contribute directly to the NBA partnership as we begin to embark on a thoughtful transitional phase.

If you have any immediate questions, please reach out to your P&C partner and we will make every effort to transparently discuss this matter with you.

I’d like to thank everyone who has worked tirelessly on NBA TV and our digital partnership throughout these playoffs, this week’s NBA Draft, and historically through the years. You have delivered a fantastic experience for NBA fans with an emphasis on quality that will be impossible to replicate.

Luis

It’s not entirely surprising that the sides couldn’t figure out a way to extend this partnership. Much of the logic for TNT Sports with operating NBA TV was that it fit in nicely with their NBA on TNT coverage. That saw many people, both in front of and behind the camera, work for them on both of those networks. It would seem significantly harder to operate NBA TV without NBA rights elsewhere (although it is notable that Silberwasser indicates they wanted to do that, making “several proposals”), especially with that network receiving less exclusive games in recent years.

The overall cord-cutting environment may also factor in to how desirable NBA TV is to work with the league on. While national league-specific networks haven’t faced quite as much turmoil as regional sports networks to date, fewer people with cable or equivalent bundle packages means less subscribers for league networks too. NBA TV was in just 33 million homes in May, slightly more than half its peak, and there are questions about its future in the overall TV ecosystem with so much programming and viewing shifting to streaming services.

For TNT Sports, this looks like a further refocusing of their efforts on the rights they do have. They’ve got a swathe there, including baseball, college sports, NASCAR, and more, and they’ve received some praise recently for their French Open and FIFA Club World Cup work. But it is interesting to see them exit this long-running partnership; while the NBA launched NBA TV in-house in 1999, the now-TNT Sports had been operating it since October 2008.

For the NBA, there’s also probably some logic in ending this partnership if TNT Sports’ proposals weren’t appealing to them. The league has significantly boosted its in-house content efforts in recent years, so it’s possible they could return to operating NBA TV themselves. They also have three new/existing media partners now; while Amazon probably doesn’t want to get into the cable network business (and NBC did make their own move out of that business on the sports side with the closure of NBCSN), ESPN’s certainly in it, so there could be some level of deal struck there (or even just a content-sharing or content production deal, where the NBA still runs the channel itself but can bring in content from their partners).

Thus, the league would seem to have options on what to do with NBA TV. And we’ll see which way they eventually decide to go as we get closer to that October turnover date. But it is interesting to see them and TNT Sports move on from this long-running partnership.

Georgia landed its 15th commitment for the 2026 class earlier this month when Brownsville (Tenn.) Haywood cornerback Caden Harris announced that he had switched his commitment from Vanderbilt to the Bulldogs. The 6-foot, 160-pound prospect chose Georgia over 39 other offers, giving Georgia assistant and cornerbacks coach Donte Williams his second cornerback commitment for the 2026 cycle. A third could be coming on Friday.

Watch Harris’s junior highlights above.  Harris is ranked as the No. 94 overall prospect, the No. 9 cornerback in the country, and the No. 4 overall recruit in Tennessee according to 247Sports. He ranks as the No. 85 overall recruit in the country in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, as well as the nation’s No. 11 cornerback and No. 3 overall prospect in Tennessee. Harris joins Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas’ four-star Justice Fitzpatrick to give Williams a pair of Top 100 prospects at cornerback, with both being ranked among the top 10 cornerbacks in the country on 247Sports. Harris has visited Georgia for a spring practice and took his official visit on June 6.

“I’m a man of my word. Coach Donte and I had a conversation prior to my commitment, so I for sure had to at least come see what was offered to me,” Harris told Dawgs247’s Ben Wolk. “All of it was important. I retained a lot of information that was needed, so overall it’ll all tie in together. The message has been that I’m wanted, and they’ll continue to push for me.”

Below is the 247Sports Scouting Report for Harris from April 28, which comes with a player comparison of Ambry Thomas.

“Wiry cornerback with the reach, twitch and speed to mirror top weapons at the game’s highest levels. Turned heads in a combine setting spring before senior year not only acing footwork drills, but also holding his own out on the perimeter during 1-on-1s. Keeps his eyes on the hips of assignments as he fights to maintain phase and is quick to pivot. Owns valuable experience in both press-man and off-man coverage. However, needs to improve play strength if he’s going to be asked to jam every series on Saturdays, which should happen as he’s very young for the grade. Additional weight is also likely to make him much more effective in run support. Not one that has generated a ton of takeaways throughout his prep career, but reacts fast and gets to the football. Should be viewed as a high-upside outside corner that might need some time to get the body right, but one that has the athleticism to be a multi-year impact player for a Power Four program. Frame and testing numbers should be attractive to NFL evaluators one day, especially in a passing era.”

Not a VIP subscriber to Dawgs247? Sign up now to get 50 percent off access to everything Jordan D. Hill. Kipp Adams, Benjamin Wolk, and Olivia K Sayer have to offer on all things Georgia and access to the No. 1 site covering the Dawgs.

MANASQUAN — In Shore Conference high school basketball, when one side boasts one-sixth of the 18-man All-Shore Conference team, it’s a super-team.

In the Jersey Shore Basketball League, it is a work-in-progress.

Jaycen Santucci, Justin Fuerbacher and Colin Byrne were all members of the 2025 Shore Sports Insider All-Shore Team and the three local standouts from this past winter joined forces for the first time in JSBL play Thursday night for Ortho-NJ. The trio combined for 28 points in support of 51 points by teammate George Papas in a 125-106 loss to RKE Athletic.

It was a baptism-by-fire of sorts for three accomplished high-school players who are three of several who will be testing themselves right after graduation by competing in a league that houses mostly current college players with a sprinkling of current and former professionals — which includes the former Monmouth University star, Papas.

“It’s an important step for experience,” Fuerbacher said of his JSBL debut. “You have seen college guys before, you know what college guys look like and you see what real pros look like. I think it’s important to get that taste in your mouth, but there is also an aura around this league. It’s very well-known, so when people ask, ‘Hey, do you want to play in the JSBL?’ you jump at that opportunity.”

Justin Fuerbacher at CBA this past winter. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspimages.com)

As seniors at their respective high schools this past winter, Santucci, Fuerbacher and Byrne all starred as top scorers, rebounders, defenders and distributors. Santucci was a First-Team All-Shore guard at Central Regional, where he averaged 19.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists as a senior on the way to becoming the second-leading scorer in Golden Eagles history behind 2,000-point scorer Jermaine Clay.

Fuerbacher was a four-year contributor at Christian Brothers Academy, where few players make an impact as a freshman in any capacity, much less to the degree that Fuerbacher did four years ago. This past winter, he closed out his career with a Second-Team All-Shore selection after averaging 11.9 points and 5.1 rebounds as the CBA captain while playing through a sprained ankle for most of the season.

While both Santucci and Fuerbacher were returning All-Shore players from their junior seasons, Byrne made the leap between his junior and senior year to become a Third-Team All-Shore selection in leading a turnaround at Middletown North. The Lions went 0-10 in divisional play in 2023-24 and after moving out of a division with Rumson-Fair Haven, Red Bank Regional, Red Bank Catholic and Holmdel, they churned out an 18-9 season this past year and won the Class B Coastal division championship — Middletown North’s first division championship in 14 years. Byrne averaged 18.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and three assists in his final high school season.

“This gets us college-ready,” Byrne said. “These guys out here all have experience playing four years of college, so it gets us ready for what we’re going to see in the next couple of months.”

The credentials of each of the three players would have stood out in a Shore Conference All-Star Game, but on Thursday night, they were of little use against a veteran RKE Athletic team led by its own trio of Shore Conference alumni, only far more seasoned than the recent graduates on Ortho-NJ. Mater Dei Prep alums Peter Gorman (33 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Kyle Cardaci (25 points, six rebounds) helped lead the scoring effort while Manasquan alumnus and current Monmouth University wing Jack Collins chipped in 16 points, six rebounds and six assists.

“Everyone is skilled and more tuned,” Santucci said of his first experience in JSBL competition. “Everybody out here can shoot, everybody out here can dribble, so it’s kind of position-less.”

Central senior Jaycen Santucci during the WOBM Christmas Classic final vs. Manasquan. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspimages.com)

Cardaci played his college career at Bryant, Coppin State and Saint Peter’s, while Gorman is coming off an all-conference senior season at Ramapo in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) where he was also voted as the NJAC Player of the Year. Cardaci won a Shore Conference Tournament championship as a junior at Mater Dei Prep in 2017 and Gorman was a senior standout on the 2019-20 Seraphs team that upset No. 2 seed Middletown South as a 15 seed in the Shore Conference Tournament. Collins, meanwhile, was a starter on Manasquan’s 12-0 team during the COVID-shortened 2021 high school season.

Santucci, Fuerbacher and Byrne are all hoping to have similarly accomplished careers after high school, and playing in the JSBL before heading to campus is an early step they hope will prepare them for a college basketball atmosphere that demands newcomers — whether freshmen or transfers — to be able to contribute in year one.

“Everybody else is coming in ready, so you want to be able to keep up,” Fuerbacher said. “Playing in a league like (the JSBL), you want to get as many live reps as possible against guys like that.”

“It’s just like we’re freshmen in high school again,” Santucci said. “It’s a completely different level. It’s going to be the same kind of adjustment and it might take a little longer, maybe not as long, but you’ve just got to feel it out and see where you fit in.”

Peter Gorman during opening-night JSBL action. (Photo: Bob Badders | rpbphotography.com)

Santucci will be the most local of the Ortho-NJ All-Shore trio, as he is staying in Ocean County at Georgian Court University as a prized recruit for GCU head coach Dave Fedor.

Fuerbacher is headed to Division III Middlebury College in Vermont and Byrne will continue his career at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. Stonehill will be playing its first season in Division I in 2025-26.

Santucci and Fuerbacher each made their JSBL debuts on Thursday night and reached double-figures in scoring, with Santucci posting 16 points and eight rebounds, while Fuerbacher went for 11 and nine. Byrne was coming off a 15-point night in a season-opening loss to Sterns Trailer and finished with two on Thursday.

Former Matawan guard Mike Dunne went for 16 points and eight rebounds and former Raritan star Mike Aaman — the Shore Conference Player of the Year in both 2011 and 2012 — put up 11 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in the loss. Papas went off for 51 on 16-for-32 shooting, including 10-for-24 from three-point range.

“The games are competitive, it’s just that guys are so good that it’s tough to play defense against them,” Santucci said. “It becomes more like trading baskets than actually playing.”

Papas and Cardaci exchanged words in the final minute of the game and had to be separated during the postgame handshake line —  a heated finish to a game RKE controlled from the end of the first quarter through the final whistle of the game, which came before the buzzer due to the rising tensions between the two players.

“These guys don’t become pros without having a little edge to them,” Fuerbacher said. “I don’t want to say I was surprised, but you don’t go into a basketball game thinking that something like that is going to happen. It adds to the experience.”

“These guys compete,” Byrne said. “You could see it coming.”

WCT Warriors guard Andre Wells defended by RKE Athletic’s Kyle Cardaci during opening-night action in the JSBL. (Photo: Bob Badders | rpbphotography.com)

Game 2 Recap: Larson Ford 97, WCT Warriors 88

Pepperdine transfer and former Montclair Immaculate star Zion Bethea scored 22 points and recent Red Bank Regional graduate Zayier Dean led a balanced supporting effort with 17 as Larson Ford bounced back from its season-opening loss Wednesday with a win over the WCT Warriors on Thursday.

Dean followed up his 23-point season debut on Wednesday with another double-digit scoring effort on 7-for-14 shooting from the field (3-for-4 from three-point range) that also included four rebounds and five assists. Bethea, meanwhile, did most of his damage from the free-throw line, where he shot 11-for-13. Bethea — who is currently in the transfer portal ahead of his red-shirt senior season — also added five rebounds and four assists.

Colts Neck alumnus Lloyd Daniels was one of four Larson players to chip in 14 points, with Daniels also grabbing five boards and shooting 3-for-4 from the three-point line. Larson and WCT each attempted 27 three-pointers and Larson’s strong shooting (11 makes; 41 percent) vs. WCT’s poor shooting (6 makes; 22 percent) proved to be the difference in the outcome.

St. John Vianney alum Alex Leiba — who also played at Pepperdine this past season — turned in an all-around effort with 14 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. Je’lon Hornbeak (11 rebounds, five assists) and Gene Campbell (seven rebounds) also scored 14 points apiece in the win.

Former Seton Hall forward Jorge Mercado led the WCT Warriors with 22 points and nine rebounds. A pair of Shore Conference alumni packed up Mercado’s effort, with former Matawan point guard Andre Wells going for 18 points, five rebounds and nine assists while former Lakewood standout Ryan Savoy contributed 19 points and nine rebounds. Former Manasquan center Quinn Peters also reached double-figures with 11 points.

The 2025 year has rolled into its summer months, meaning the latest school year has concluded. Lebanon County saw several local athletes find success in their respective sport and it brought us a year of new milestones and broken records.Following spring athletics from 2025, fans can now vote for the best achievements from individuals and teams around the area. 12 team and personal accomplishments were nominated for marking significant achievements this past spring and it’s time to decide which were the best.Both polls are now open and will run from Friday to noon July 4.Want to nominate an athlete for weekly or seasonal polls? Email Zavier Gussett at zgussett@ldnews.com. Include the athlete’s name, sport and a little bit about their accomplishment.Softball superlatives: Lebanon County postseason awards following 2025 spring season

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