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INDIANAPOLIS — The NBA 2K League is relocating its in-person competition to Indianapolis, leaving behind the New York City studio that had been its primary home since launching five years ago.

Much of the league’s early action was hosted at the 115-seat venue in Long Island City, with occasional tournaments in other cities. The coronavirus pandemic forced the league into remote play for much of 2020 and 2021.

The league will continue with some remote competitions but will also host teams at its new NBA 2K League Studio at The Pavilion at Pan Am beginning April 20. The studio features two stages, allowing for simultaneous gameplay that the league believes will better serve its online broadcasts. Fans will be able to attend, but the league says it isn’t announcing ticket information yet.

“We are thrilled to get back to our live studio experience in the heart of downtown Indianapolis — a city overflowing with passionate basketball fans and known for putting on some of the biggest events in American sports,” NBA 2K League president Brendan Donohue said. “The NBA 2K League is proud to call Indianapolis our home for the 2022 season.”

The league’s 24 teams are all operated by NBA teams, with the exception of Shanghai’s Gen.G Tigers, which have been based out of the University of Kentucky’s state-of-the-art esports space amid the pandemic.

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Ahh yes. The day has finally come to Chicagoland. After an extremely long season filled with questions about our leadership, the new Chicago Bears coaching staff is finally here!

Things don’t just end with the new General Manager and Head Coach positions we recently filled either. From top to bottom, the entire Chicago Bears coaching staff has received a fresh coat of paint. So, who are these new guys? Let’s find out!

General Manager: Ryan Poles

Up first is our new General Manager, Ryan Poles. Poles comes to the Bears as the former Director of Player Personnel for the Kansas City Chiefs. He was the first new hire for the Chicago Bears coaching staff changes that have happened recently, and he was a great pick. If holding a higher position on the 2020 Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs franchise doesn’t make you a believer yet, maybe a Hall of Famer’s opinion will convince you. Earlier this week, Tony Dungy appeared on the Under Center podcast where he said he thinks Poles will be sensational for our team, and that we should expect big things going forward.

Head Coach: Matt Eberflus

Next is new Chicago Bears Head Coach, Matt Eberflus. Eberflus joins our team after spending time on the Indianapolis Colts as their Defensive Coordinator. The defensive focused head coaching mindset is a new one for the Bears. But, when it comes to our team and the output we see on gameday, a little bit of change might not be the worst thing. Erik Lambert of Sports Mockery points out how Eberflus comes from a great coaching tree and has his own record of success to show for it. He thinks he will be able to handle the pressure of our city, and we like to think so too.

Offensive Coordinator: Luke Getsy

The next Chicago Bears coaching staff hire for this year is new Offensive Coordinator, Luke Getsy. For a team like the Bears who are completely rebuilding their coaching staff, you can’t do much better than Getsy. In recent years, Luke Getsy was the Quarterbacks Coach and Passing Game Coordinator for the Green Bay Packers. That can only mean good things for Fields’ development, right? If you are a former All-Pro Center for the Packers named Corey Linsley, you would say it does. When asked about the Getsy as the Bears new OC, Linsley only had positive things to say, “I’d bet the house on him to advance Justin Fields and help him grow. I couldn’t think of a better guy to help a young quarterback grow.” We love to hear that.

Defensive Coordinator: Alan Williams

About a week ago, the Bears announced the hiring of their new Defensive Coordinator. And if your name is Alan Williams, then, congrats on the new role!

Alan Williams has more than 20 years of experience in the NFL with most of his roles coming as a defensive backs coach. His most recent stint was with the Colts like Eberflus, and he’s not the only guy coming from that franchise. With decades worth of coaching experience that spans multiple levels and organizations, there’s plenty to learn about Williams. He has quite the record and we’re excited to see what he’ll bring to the defensive side of the ball for our team.

Special Teams Coordinator: Richard Hightower

This next Chicago Bears coaching staff change involves the Special Teams Coordinator position. To fill that position, the Bears turned to former San Francisco 49ers Special Teams Coordinator, Richard Hightower. Hightower spent five years with San Francisco, and he was part of the 49er’s upset of the Packers in their playoff game this year. Seriously, if you need any evidence that he’s our guy, look no further than this perfectly executed special teams play while considering how that game ended. Hint: it was a game-winning field goal by special teams kicker Robbie Gould.

Quarterbacks Coach: Andrew Janocko

The Quarterbacks Coach s a crucial position in any franchise, especially one with a young and talented signal-caller like the Bears. Because of the, the Bears decided to go with former Vikings Quarterbacks Coach, Andrew Janocko. Last year was his first in the position, and he helped lead Kirk Cousins to the 4th highest passer rating in the league with only 7 interceptions all season. When the Chicago Sun Times examined the recent Bears coaching staff moves on the offensive side, they were quick to point out Janocko’s success with Cousins and red-zone expertise. Needless to say, we can’t wait to see what he does with Fields.

The Remaining New Hires

We’ve examined quite a few new hires to the Chicago Bears coaching staff, and surprise, there’s more! Tyke Tolbert was added on as our Wide Receivers Coach and Passing Game Coordinator. Jim Dray recently joined us as our Tight Ends Coach to help develop Cole Kmet and Chris Morgan comes to the team as our new Offensive Line coach.

On defense, two more former Colts coaches made their way to Chi-town. They are, Linebackers Coach, Dave Borgonzi, and Defensive Backs Coach, James Rowe. Check out the BearsWire to learn more about these new pieces and to keep track of any future additions. With all the changes, it’s clear that both Poles and Eberflus came to Chicago with a well thought out plan. Now, it’s time to watch them execute!

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PHILADELPHIA — If Ben Simmons remains on the Philadelphia 76ers past Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, Joel Embiid said he’ll be welcomed back to the team.

But, in a lengthy answer to the question of what it will mean for Simmons and the Sixers after Philadelphia lost 114-109 to the league-leading Phoenix Suns Tuesday, Embiid made it very clear that it will be up to Simmons to show he wants to be part of the team if that scenario comes to pass.

“Like I’ve been saying since the season started, I’m happy,” Embiid said. “Whoever wants to play is welcome. If someone wants to play, they’re welcome. But we’ve got guys here that want to be here, that show up every single night.

“Like I said … I don’t know what other type of word I can use, but I get paid to bring results and win games. I don’t get paid to, you know, babysit Tyrese (Maxey). I get paid to challenge him to try to help me win games. I get paid to, you know, do the same thing to Tobias and all the other guys and they respond to it, every single time. And just like the same way they challenge me, they know that it is never personal. I always go at them, and they always come back at me, because we all got the same goal: we want to win.

“But anybody is welcome to play. And if you want to be part of us, I am sure everybody is gonna be fine with it, but you got to show up. You got to want to be there. And I’m sure everybody is going to accept whoever that is. But, you know, to answer your question, I’m just worried about the guys that are here, and for the guys that are here, and if you’re here, I’m going to challenge you and we’re going to challenge each other to be better and try to win a championship.”

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One way or the other, Philadelphia will get some level of clarity Thursday, when the NBA’s 3 p.m. trade deadline passes. Either Simmons will finally be sent packing from Philadelphia, in exchange for James Harden or some other combination of players and picks, or he will remain on the team and there will be a moratorium on potential Simmons trades until the offseason, at the earliest.

Ever since Simmons chose not to report for training camp more than four months ago, the drama surrounding his situation, and whether or not he’ll be moved, has hung over this city and franchise like an ever-present cloud, casting a shadow over everything the team has done this season.

And, despite all of that, Philadelphia finds itself comfortably ensconced among the upper tier of teams in the Eastern Conference after playing their final game before the deadline, sitting in fifth place in the East with a 32-22 record after Tuesday’s loss, putting them two-and-a-half games back of the East-leading Miami Heat.

But that didn’t stop the 76ers from admitting that they’ll be thrilled to see the deadline pass, and with it the constant speculation about what the roster will look like.

“Absolutely,” 76ers coach Doc Rivers said, when asked if he’ll be glad to have the clarity that comes with the deadline passing. “Especially this year, just because of the situation we’re in.

“I know, like, our guys are NBA players and all that, but they’re human. I can’t imagine the amount of names that have been thrown in. So every single guy goes to bed tonight thinking this may be his last night or whatever, so that’s tough. It really is.”

Still, Rivers admitted that Philadelphia, which has dealt with a series of injuries and absences in its backcourt all season long, needs to add a backup point guard behind starter Tyrese Maxey regardless of what happens with Simmons.

“We have to get another guard,” Rivers said. “We just do … we need a point guard. And we’re looking. But they don’t grow on trees, as you know. In the first half, we got away with it, we actually stretched the lead.

“We may do nothing. You can only do something if there’s something there. But that’s clearly something we’re looking for. That and size.”

Rivers also said it will be nice that the team can take the next two days to just get away from everything, before returning to the court Friday night here against the Oklahoma City Thunder with whatever their team will look like for the rest of the season.

“I think the biggest break we have is we have two days off, and the next time we play, we’ll have our team,” Rivers said. “From a coach standpoint, I can’t wait for that, personally. I really can’t wait for that.”

The same could be said for his players, as Sixers forward Tobias Harris — who, having been dealt during the season four times during his NBA career, is very familiar with trade speculation — admitted the noise that has followed Philadelphia around this season has been difficult for the team to block out.

“That will be good for us. Because you’re just hearing everybody’s name. I’ll just be honest, it’s one of those things … trade rumors always come around, even for guys around the NBA, but in this situation, yeah, I was reading an article and there were five guys on the top 10 list to be moved, whatever,” he said. “So, obviously don’t get twisted: that has an impact on guys’ mental, psyche, focus, all the way down the line. So we’ll see what happens.”

Even with all of that, however, Harris admitted he will be refreshing his phone over the next two days as he waits to see what will happen.

“I think everybody else is in the same position as well, checking their phones to see what happens,” Harris said. “It’s our livelihoods and our jobs.”

The same can be said for everyone else here, as well, as both the 76ers and their fans will wait and see if the Ben Simmons Saga has finally run its course, or if it will drag on past the deadline and into the offseason.

“I think a couple of us will finally be able to breathe,” guard Matisse Thybulle said with a smile. “That’s what makes the NBA exciting. You never really know what you’re gonna get.”

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In continuation with the league’s celebration of its 75th anniversary season, the NBA revealed its list of the 15 greatest coaches in history on Tuesday.

The list includes four active NBA coaches: San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers and Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

The remaining coaches are Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, K.C. Jones, Pat Riley, Larry Brown, Chuck Daly, Don Nelson, Jerry Sloan, Red Holzman, Jack Ramsay and Lenny Wilkens.

The list was selected by a panel including 43 current and former NBA head coaches along with the National Basketball Coaches Association. While the 50 players who made the NBA’s greatest 50 players list also made the 75th anniversary team, two coaches — Bill Fitch and John Kundla — who made the 10 greatest coaches list released during the 1996-97 season were left off this list.

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The NBA announced the participants for the three events that will take place on Saturday of All-Star Weekend in Cleveland: the 3-point contest, the slam dunk contest and a revamped skills challenge that will feature three teams of three players.

The new skills challenge format will allow Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo to team up with his brothers, Alex and Thanasis, to compete together in a four-round competition that tests shooting, passing and dribbling.

The Antetokounmpo brothers will be matched up against three players from the Cleveland Cavaliers — All-Star guard Darius Garland joined by big men Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley — and three rookies — Scottie Barnes of the Toronto Raptors, Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons and Josh Giddey of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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The NBA will crown a first-time winner in both the dunk and 3-point contests.

Orlando‘s Cole Anthony, Houston‘s Jalen Green and Golden State‘s Juan Toscano-Anderson will all take part in the dunk competition for the first time, while the New York Knicks‘ Obi Toppin returns after finishing as the runner-up last season.

Although this year’s 3-point contest champion will win the competition for the first time, a few players will come in with some experience.

Chicago‘s Zach LaVine will make his third consecutive bid to win the contest, aiming again to become the first player in NBA history to win both the 3-point contest and dunk contest in his career (LaVine won back-to-back slam dunk contests in 2015 and ’16). Atlanta‘s Trae Young will make his second career appearance.

The rest of the eight-person field will be participating for the first time, including CJ McCollum, who was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans earlier Tuesday, Minnesota‘s Karl-Anthony Towns, Toronto‘s Fred VanVleet, Memphis‘ Desmond Bane, the LA Clippers‘ Luke Kennard and Brooklyn‘s Patty Mills.

All-Star Weekend will take place Feb. 18-20.

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