Raphael Stevens

In this articleNBALeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers at a game against the LA Clippers at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on July 30, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.Mike Ehrmann | Getty ImagesThe biggest star in the National Basketball Association isn’t happy about the current state of the league.LeBron James used social media this week to express his frustration about the injuries the NBA is experiencing during its 2021 postseason. Superstar players including James Harden, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and James’ teammate Anthony Davis suffered key injuries in the NBA’s 72-game campaign and postseason. James suggested in his Twitter posts that the decision to start the 2020-21 season last Christmas is the culprit.Without proper recovery, players can fall victim to soft tissue injuries due to muscle overuse. The wear and tear was a reason the NBA considered starting a new season in January, perhaps on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, after it finished the 2019-20 season last October due to the pandemic.James used Twitter to apologize to NBA fans missing out on seeing the star players, including him, as the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated by the Phoenix Suns. And Davis’ injury may have cost him a chance at a repeat. James then tweeted: “And I know all about the business side too/factors so don’t even try me! I get it.”But the “business side” is the real culprit. James is a part of the NBA, and it needed to be saved to protect media rights.Money rules everything In NBA circles, few disagree with James and note his points are valid, though some suggest grandstanding. Again, James is out of the playoffs, and remaining in the spotlight, especially with his new “Space Jam” movie on the horizon, can only help.Still, James has the clout to gripe about NBA affairs on social platforms, and few in the league office will challenge him publicly.Defending the league’s stance on the matter in a statement, NBA spokesperson Mike Bass noted injury rates “were virtually the same this season as they were during the 2019-20 season while starter-level and All-Star players missed games due to injury at similar rates as the last three seasons.”Looking back on the NBA’s decision to return so quickly, one league executive pointed to the future impact of the NBA’s media rights.Disney and AT&T’s WarnerMedia pay the NBA roughly $2 billion per year, and the Christmas Day package is a premium asset to leverage to advertisers. Hence, losing those games on that day would be costly. If the NBA didn’t play, the networks would distribute “make-goods” to marketers. That means networks would provide extra ad inventory to make up for the lost opportunity.Also, networks could request rebates on fees they pay the NBA due to the lost content. And come renegotiation time, they’ll calculate those make-good losses and trim the NBA’s money. And if that happened, the league would eventually feel the financial pain.The NBA will seek significant increases in rights, perhaps up to $75 billion, when its deal is up after the 2024-25 season. So, sacrificing content and losing fan engagement is risky. And the league was already missing 40% of its revenue with no fans in arenas due to the pandemic. Hence, it knew the consequences and valued the health of its business more than James’ concerns.”[The NBA] allowed the networks to say, ‘We can afford to give you a lot more if you start earlier,'” said former National Basketball Players Association executive Charles Grantham.The players lost about 20% of their paychecks due to the shortened season. That could have increased to 25% had the NBA started in January with 62 games. Not many players can afford that loss or have James’ resources to sustain their lifestyles.James has made over $340 million in NBA contracts throughout his career, including $39 million this season, the sixth-highest in the league. Include the $65 million annually in endorsements, and the overall compensation figure is even higher, according to Forbes.The average NBA player’s salary for the 2020-21 season was $7.4 million. And of the roughly 513 contracts, only 20 players made more than $30 million, according to basketball-reference.com.Viewership is too importantBut Grantham, now the director of the sports management program at Seton Hall University, agreed with James’ frustrations. He noted team owners used scare tactics, mainly the force majeure clause, which threatened to decimate the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement with players.Grantham then pointed to team values staying afloat during Covid-19 and questioned why players should suffer any losses. The Utah Jazz sold for $1.6 billion days after the NBA’s bubble season ended last year. And in March, the Minnesota Timberwolves agreed to sell at a price of a little over $1 billion.The NBA loves bragging about increasing team values since Steve Ballmer inflated the market in 2014 with his purchase of the Clippers. Before then, few were interested in buying an NBA team, noted respected marketing executive Tony Ponturo. But player unions receive none of the money from those franchise transactions.Asked if NBA owners would have sacrificed the CBA — and risked team values — if players resisted a December return, Grantham responded: “I don’t think the owners would’ve done it.”And on the networks side, “The advertisers would adjust,” said Ponturo. “It was great for the NBA and broadcasters to have the Christmas games, but with the NFL so strong, the advertisers would be fine.”Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James holds his ankle after going down with an injury during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks Saturday, March 20, 2021, in Los Angeles.Marcio Jose Sanchez | AP PhotoSome of the frustration derives from players being told a December return was initially off the table. And NBA Commissioner Adam Silver floated January as a return last September when Covid-19 was still spreading. The thing is, networks know consumers rarely watch TV in the summer. And this year, especially, going up against the Tokyo Olympics isn’t favorable to the league, ESPN or Turner Sports.So the NBA pivoted, and it may have saved its viewership.Overall, the NBA averaged 1.3 million viewers throughout its national games on ESPN, ABC and TNT this season. Media executives suggest those numbers are down. But though injuries play a factor, viewership in the more profitable postseason is up — at least in the first round.The league said it averaged roughly 3 million viewers in the first round, which is up 3% when compared with the 2019 postseason. And the NBA’s play-in tournament helped with fan engagement entering the playoffs. James and fellow NBA superstar Steph Curry averaged 5.6 million for the Lakers versus Golden State Warriors play-in game. It was the most-watched contest on ESPN since the 2019 Western Conference round.When viewership is strong, networks pay more. Now the NBA should hope for a big-market Finals match, as a Milwaukee Bucks vs. Jazz match-up wouldn’t exactly be a ratings draw.But so far, without James, younger stars, including Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, are helping the NBA stay relevant. The Philadelphia 76ers are near a collapse in Doc Rivers’ first year. The Phoenix Suns are a success story. Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks are a mess. And Durant is keeping fans engaged.Even James took notice of Durant’s performance in Game 5 against the Bucks.The NBA, though more profitable and exciting with James, is surviving without him. Injuries are always bothersome, and fans do favor the stars playing. But this is entertainment, and the show goes on. Next season should help, though. The Warriors will be back; James and the Lakers, too.Most importantly, stars will have normal time to rest and recover as they return to business. More

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen told CNBC on Friday there’s no single fix to resolve the shipping delays that have disrupted the global economy.That’s because one key reason they are happening — consumers buying more physical products during the Covid pandemic as they spent less on services — will not revert right away, Petersen said in a “Mad Money” interview.”The real, probably, solution here is: Wait it out. No one likes to hear that,” said Petersen, whose company is a freight forwarder that uses cloud computing and machine learning to help modernize the global shipping industry. Privately held Flexport was No. 41 on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 in 2021.”I think you’re going to see dollars shift back [to services] and the decline in goods, but it may take a while, especially with the Christmas season coming up,” Petersen said.Numerous challenges — from congestion at ports to shortages of shipping containers — have arisen during the coronavirus pandemic, leading to higher costs and delays. Home Depot even bought its own container ship to try mitigating problems.Demand for goods returning to normal, pre-Covid levels is unlikely to be enough to deliver reprieve to the shipping industry, Petersen said. “Until we somehow get the flow to get below normal, it’s really going to be very hard to resolve,” he said.Petersen said some near-term improvements can be made, adding that Flexport’s technology is designed to do just that.For example, he said the company recently used machine learning to analyze the roughly 400,000 containers it’s shipping right now and found “they’re only 70% full.””So, we can put more stuff in the containers. Very simple solution. We’re working with our clients to say, ‘Hey, stuff the thing full because I can’t put more containers on the ship, but I can put more stuff in the container.”Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected] More

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday looked ahead to next week’s key market events, which include public remarks from multiple Federal Reserve officials and earnings reports from Nike and FedEx.The “Mad Money” host’s lookahead came after another down day for Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 533 points Friday to finish up its worst week since October.”The Fed is in warning mode, and warning mode … can be brutal,” Cramer said, adding that history also shows late June is a tough time for stocks in general. “The bad news is that the sell-off probably isn’t done,” he said.Revenue and earnings-per-share projections are based on FactSet estimates:Monday: Bullard speaksInvestors will be paying close attention to what St. Louis Fed President James Bullard has to say Monday, Cramer said. That’s because the central bank official’s interest rate comments Friday morning on CNBC weighed on market sentiment.”If he doesn’t drop the 2022 rate hike talk, I expect the averages to keep getting hit,” Cramer said, explaining that money would likely then keep “flowing into the high-growth stocks by midday, perhaps late day, that thrive in a slowing economy — Adobe, Nvidia, a couple others I’m going to mention — and then flow out of the construction, farm equipment, aerospace, oil plays, industrials.”Tuesday: Powell speaksThe Fed remains in focus Tuesday, with Chairman Jerome Powell scheduled to make public comments, Cramer said. He expects Powell will simply acknowledge Bullard’s view, he said, without forcefully pushing back.”If Powell doesn’t defang Bullard’s comments and the market falls, I think that’s the time to do some selective buying in higher growth stocks,” Cramer contended, pointing to Adobe, Amazon and Advanced Micro Devices as three companies to consider buying.Wednesday: Winnebago, KB Home earningsWinnebago3Q fiscal 2021 results before the bell; conference call at 10 a.m. ETProjected EPS: $1.77Projected revenue: $839 million”We know the RV and motor home industry is on fire right now, but it hasn’t mattered to the stocks at all,” Cramer said. “Many people think of these as a pandemic play because Winnebagos are cleaner, safer ways to take a vacation, so maybe the stock goes down no matter what,” he said.KB Home2Q results after the bell; conference call at 5 p.m. ET.Projected EPS: $1.63Projected revenue: $1.48 billionThe company “needs to confirm everything that Lennar just told us about the fantastic state of the housing market yesterday morning,” Cramer said. “If KB Home does that, I would actually circle back to Lennar … because it’s the biggest beneficiary from the current cycle and it just reported a magnificent quarter.”Thursday: Accenture, Nike and FedEx earningsAccenture3Q fiscal 2021 results before the bell; conference call at 8 a.m. ETProjected EPS: $2.24Projected revenue: $12.77 billionNike4Q fiscal 2021 results after the close; conference call at 5 p.m. ET.Projected EPS: 51 centsProjected revenue: $11.09 billion”We’re expecting a big number from their U.S. business, but at the same time the possibility of a weaker Chinese number … is very much on the table,” Cramer said. However, he said if Nike meets expectations and management avoids any stumbles on the conference call, “I suspect they’ll be rewarded with a series of price target boosts, maybe even an upgrade or two. Great story, but not if China stays as important as it’s been.”FedEx4Q fiscal 2021 results after the bell; conference call at 5 p.m. ETProjected EPS: $4.98Projected revenue: $21.47 billion”I think FedEx is a fantastic situation, but this is one that may not be able to maintain its momentum,” Cramer said.Friday: Paychex, CarMax earningsPaychex4Q fiscal 2021 results before the bell; conference call at 9:30 a.m. ETProjected EPS: 67 centsProjected revenue: $980 million”Typically, this stock comes in hot and then gets clobbered no matter what they say, even good things. This time, the stock’s been clobbered ahead, so it might be a good buy going into the quarter,” Cramer said.CarMax1Q results before the open; conference call at 9 a.m. ETProjected EPS: $1.63Projected revenue: $6.17 billion”Now that we finally have a break in commodities, we need to hear that used cars have become more plentiful. Unfortunately, I doubt that’s what we’re going to hear from CarMax,” Cramer said.Questions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected] More

In this articleAMZNAmazon driver Shawndu Stackhouse delivers packages in Northeast Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, April 6, 2021.Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty ImagesIt’s typically one of the biggest sales of the year. And in 2021, Amazon Prime Day could be even bigger.The annual two-day shopping event is set to kick off at 3 a.m. ET on June 21 and will include discounts on more than 2 million items for Prime members — about twice as many as last year.EMarketer is forecasting that total digital sales in the U.S. on Prime Day will jump 17.3% year over year to $12.18 billion. Sales made exclusively on Amazon on Prime Day will grow 18.3% from 2020 levels, to $7.31 billion, it said.”That is an incredible number,” said Dave Kender, editor in chief of Reviewed, but “most of the products are not that interesting.””There are diamonds in the rough,” he added. “You just have to work to find them.”More from Personal Finance:Suze Orman’s best advice for small business ownersEarly signs that you have a spending problemHere are some money moves while the Fed keeps rates lowNaturally, Amazon-branded products will be heavily discounted, including two-for-one sales on the Echo Dot and Fire TVs starting at $99.99.Other standout sales include Apple AirPods with a charging case marked down 25% to $119.99 and a Shark IQ Robot Vacuum for $319.99 — a savings of $280.It’s a great time to start stocking up on summer travel supplies or back-to-school gear, especially from small businesses. Brooklyn, New York-born bag company State will offer half off a kids backpack, which normally retails for$95, and Rockland has a rolling duffle bag for $50, about 55% less than retail.This year some of the very best deals will be on small kitchen appliances like electric kettles and coffee makers, according to Nathan Burrow, senior deals editor at Wirecutter.Burrow predicted air fryers could be one of the most popular items overall, outshining even the Instant Pot, which has remained one of the hottest sellers for years.Of course, you must be an Amazon Prime member to take advantage of Prime Day deals. If you haven’t already joined, it’s free for 30 days. After that, you can cancel or sign up for a month-to-month membership for about $13 or pay $119 for the year. For deal hunters, note that membership also includes free music, movies and e-books, as well as discounts on groceries at Whole Foods.Then, download the Amazon app, scroll through upcoming deals and mark the items you are interested in as “watching,” Julie Ramhold of Dealnews advised. You’ll receive a notification when the price drops.When a deal is live, add the item to your cart immediately. Some offers sell out quickly, Ramhold said. Once it is in your cart, you’ll have 15 minutes to decide whether to complete the purchase.If there is a specific product that you are set on and you don’t see it in upcoming sales, you can create a wish list and Amazon will alert you if it does become part of a Prime Day deal.However, some of the best bargains are not exclusive to Amazon at all.Walmart, Target and Best Buy are holding competing deals events — as they have in previous years — to coincide with Amazon Prime Day 2021.Already, Best Buy is selling the Roku Express for just $29.99 and Jabra earbuds for $179.99, a $50 discount. During Office Depot’s discount days, which run from June 21 to June 23, an Acer Chromebook will be marked down 25% to $169.99.But buyer beware. As vaccination rates increase and the economy bounces back from Covid, post-pandemic sprees — or so-called revenge shopping — can quickly lead to overspending, according to a recent report by the American Institute of CPAs.Already, 2 in 5 Americans said shopping online more has made it harder to stick to a monthly budget.About 39% of those polled said they often don’t know how much they’ve spent on their credit or debit card until they see their monthly statement.”Merchants have powerful strategies to encourage you to spend,” said Neal Stern, a member of the association’s financial literacy commission.Determine what you plan to purchase and how much you’ll spend before you start shopping.Neal SternCPA”Determine what you plan to purchase and how much you’ll spend before you start shopping,” he said. “If you have a plan, you’ll be less likely to give into overspending.”Also, before checking out, always look to see if there are better deals elsewhere, Kender advised. Open a new tab and search the product’s model number to see prices from other websites.And finally, read user reviews and research price histories so you can determine how good the product — and discount — really is.”There is no such thing as a good deal on a bad product,” Kender said.Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. More

The golf industry is seeing a surge in demand during the pandemic, with PGA Tour Superstore reporting a 55% increase in overall year-to-date sales compared with 2019.Demand is so high that suppliers are struggling to keep up, Dick Sullivan, CEO of PGA Tour Superstore, said on CNBC’s “The Exchange” on Friday. “We are hearing that factories are purchasing additional factories overseas to keep up with this incredible demand,” Sullivan said.”The demand has been unprecedented,” he said — and unexpected.”There’s no factories anywhere around the world that predicted this kind of growth,” Sullivan said.”In a lot of cases the assumptions were that once we were vaccinated, once people were able to go back inside, that less people would be outside, and we’re not seeing that,” he said. “We’re continuing to see people want to be outside.”PGA Tour Superstore is also facing the same supply-chain challenges as others in the retail industry, with congested ports, container shortages and Covid-19 outbreaks slowing shipments.”We’re not immune to what we are seeing everywhere across all industries, but we are working with all our suppliers, and, you know, what may have been just a few days of lead time unfortunately is turning into weeks,” Sullivan said. “But I was in California this week working with suppliers to see how we can accelerate the lead times to make sure we satisfy this demand.” More

Shares of the Peter Thiel-backed psychedelic start-up Atai Life Sciences jumped Friday on their first day of trading on Wall Street.The newly listed Nasdaq stock opened up 40% before pulling back some. The shares closed up nearly 30% to $19.45 each.The German biotech’s initial public offering was priced Thursday night at $15 per share, the high end of the expected range. The company, which aims to make psychedelic drugs to treat mental health disorders, raised $225 million at a valuation of $2.3 billion.Atai is the third psychedelic biotech to go public in the U.S., following in the footsteps of MindMed, which went public on the Nasdaq in April, and Founders Fund-backed Compass Pathways, which listed in September. As of Thursday’s close, Compass Pathways was up 26% since its debut, and MindMed, which just announced its CEO’s resignation, was down about 19% since its IPO.Each biotech is developing therapies using the psychedelic mushroom compound psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA derivatives to treat addiction and mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and traumatic brain injury. Three years after its founding, Atai Life Sciences has 10 therapeutic programs in its pipeline, each at various stages of clinical trials.Atai founder and Chairman Christian Angermayer said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday, “The world we’re building is a bad place for our brain, so mental health issues will go up. But I do think we have some real shots in our portfolio to end the mental health crisis.”Investor interest in psychedelic treatments has grown alongside burgeoning interest in these therapies from the medical community.Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Icahn School of Medicine are among the centers studying psychedelics and psychology. Recent studies establishing MDMA’s promise in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and the efficacy of psilocybin, a hallucinogenic chemical found in psychedelic mushrooms, in treating drug-resistant depression have only heightened interest in the space.Angermayer was an early investor in Compass Pathways, and his own company Atai serves as a holding company for various psychedelic start-ups pursuing alternative treatments for mental illness. He told CNBC on Friday that new-age biotechs are building on centuries of practice in shamanistic cultures and religions.There are currently federal restrictions for psychedelic mushrooms, MDMA — commonly known as molly or ecstasy — and LSD around the world. However, Oregon last year became the first U.S. state to legalize psychedelics for therapeutic use. Residents in Washington, D.C., also recently voted in support of decriminalizing the use of psychedelics for medicinal purposes.Atai Life Sciences at the Nasdaq for its IPO, June 18, 2021.Source: NasdaqAngermayer is betting that federal approval of these drugs for therapeutic use could make a huge difference for those suffering from mental illness. “They are very, very powerful medications, but they have to be taken under supervision. … You will be tripping while you are sitting with your therapist.”Atai Life Sciences is backed by the billionaire investor Thiel, as well as Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Investments and Angermayer’s own Apeiron Investment Group, among others.According to venture capital tracker CB Insights, VC deals in psychedelics have risen substantially in the last three years: 2018 and 2019 saw less than $100 million of venture capital invested in psychedelic start-ups, but 2020 saw $346 million. By April 2021, VCs had already invested $329 million in the industry.It’s no wonder that Atai’s IPO was more than 12 times oversubscribed, according to one market source who asked to remain anonymous due to the nature of the discussion. “A good portion was taken up by existing investors,” the person said, adding that Thiel is the largest existing investor and that he’s “doubled down” in the IPO.Investment fund Palo Santo said it had taken a notable stake in Atai’s IPO. “There is an urgent need to address our broken mental healthcare system,” Daniel Goldberg, co-founder of Palo Santo, said in a statement. “We believe psychedelics will expand treatment options and transform the outdated system.”Atai submitted an S-1 filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission in April that showed it raised an aggregate of $362.3 million from private investors at that point.The company, which describes itself as a drug development platform, was set up to acquire, incubate and develop psychedelics and other drugs that can be used to treat depression, anxiety, addiction and other mental health conditions.Atai, which has roughly 50 staff members in offices across Berlin, New York and San Diego, is currently partnered with 14 companies focusing on drug development and other technologies.In exchange for a majority stake in the drugs and technologies they’re developing, Atai helps the scientists raise money, work with regulators and conduct clinical trials. None of Atai’s drugs have been formally approved by regulators to date.Thiel made an $11.9 million investment in Atai through his venture firm, Thiel Capital, in November.”Atai’s great virtue is to take mental illness as seriously as we should have been taking all illness all along,” Thiel, who co-founded Palantir and PayPal, said in a statement shared with CNBC at the time. “The company’s most valuable asset is its sense of urgency.” More

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) speaks at the Coronavirus press briefing in Trenton, New Jersey.Michael Brochstein | Barcroft Media | Getty ImagesNew Jersey met its goal of fully vaccinating more than 4.7 million people who live, work and study in the state about two weeks before its original target date of June 30, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.The milestone comes after an aggressive vaccination campaign that included door-knocking and incentives for residents of the state, such as free beer and wine, free passes to state parks and even dinner with Murphy and his wife.The state has also surpassed President Joe Biden’s goal of getting 70% of adults vaccinated with at least one dose before the Fourth of July. New Jersey has vaccinated about 77% of its adults with at least one dose, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:New Covid study hints at long-term loss of brain tissue, Dr. Scott Gottlieb warnsBiden administration to spend $3.2 billion on antiviral pills for Covid  Five years before a vaccine can ‘hold the line’ against Covid variants, England’s medical chief says President Biden’s Fourth of July Covid vaccination goals are in jeopardy The fast-spreading delta Covid variant could have different symptoms, experts say”Because of the millions of you who stepped forward to protect yourselves, your families and our communities today we are proud to announce that we have now exceeded our initial goal, and with 12 days to go before our self-appointed deadline,” Murphy said Friday at a press briefing.The outbreak in New Jersey, which peaked in January at a seven-day average of more than 6,000 new cases a day, has since subsided to a daily average of around 260 cases per day over the past week. New Jersey has recorded more than 1 million Covid cases and 26,000 Covid deaths since the start of data collection.Covid deaths in the state peaked in April 2020 with a seven-day average of 345 deaths per day. The number has since fallen to an average of 6 deaths per day.The state previously defied CDC recommendations to allow vaccinated individuals to not wear a mask indoors, but it adopted the CDC guidelines two weeks later. More