Michael Pina

@michaelvpina.bsky.social

Senior staff writer, The Ringer Be better tomorrow

lebron in 2011: “all the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day, they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today” lebron in 2026: “here’s a polymarket referral code that will yield unfathomable riches if you play your cards right.”

From @theathletic.com: The NFL fined Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair $11,941 for having the name Hind Rajab written on his eye black during Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills. Rajab was a 5-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza in 2024.

NFL fines Texans LB Azeez Al-Shaair for displaying name of Palestinian girl on eye black

The league issued Al-Shaair a similar fine in January for a message in his eye black that read “stop the genocide.”

nyti.ms

Pina's fake Norm Powell trades had me trying to come up with a few of my own. The more I tried, the more I kept coming back to the same thing. Powell could be useful to a contender without being valuable enough for that contender to give the Bulls anything exciting.

Michael Pina@michaelvpina.bsky.social · 2w ago

went on the zach lowe show to ask one question about every team in the eastern conference! (the one i keep thinking about is toronto’s: can scottie barnes be the best teammate kawhi leonard has ever had?) open.spotify.com/s/DjYju8t

"I was not shocked that he helped somebody. My shock is that he was murdered. And no one has given us the complete truth or anyone has been held accountable. And it's been 7 months! ... there was more effort in vilifying him than pursuing justice" -- Alex Pretti's parents