TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama jury on Thursday awarded $9.25 million in damages after finding that The New York Times defamed a college basketball player by incorrectly reporting that he was at the scene of a fatal shooting in Tuscaloosa.
Kai Spears, who played for the University of Alabama men’s team, sued the Times in 2023 after it published a report, citing a person familiar with the investigation, that indicated he was a passenger in a car involved in the shooting. The Times reported that the person had spoken “on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.”
Days later, the Times acknowledged its error in an editor's note and corrected the story.
The eight-person jury delivered its verdict after a nine-day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. Matt Glover, an attorney for Spears, said he was pleased with the decision and believes “this verdict will improve journalism throughout the country.”
The Times was reviewing its legal options after losing in court, spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said.
“We’re disappointed the jury found The Times liable for an honest mistake,” Stadtlander said in a statement Thursday. “We thank the jury for its service, but believe the verdict and award of damages are contrary to law and not supported by the evidence."
Three other basketball players from the school were present at the January 2023 shooting, which killed a 23-year-old mother. In the lawsuit, Spears claimed the inaccurate reporting had caused him emotional distress and forever linked him with a murder.
A Times article reporting on the verdict Thursday said the newspaper “had not lost a defamation lawsuit brought in the United States over one of its articles in more than 50 years.”
FILE - A sign for The New York Times hangs above the entrance to its building in New York, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
DALLAS (AP) — WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert denounced people she said are trying to “sow divisiveness” as the league grapples with a debate over transgender athletes.
Engelbert made the comments Thursday before the Indiana Fever's 91-85 loss to the Dallas Wings at the home of the Dallas Mavericks.
Demonstrators showed up outside American Airlines Center, as they have at other venues since the Fever's Sophie Cunningham voiced support for barring transgender girls and women from girls' and women's sports in an extensive ESPN profile.
The league issued a statement last week criticizing efforts to make an issue about the eligibility of transgender athletes in the WNBA. Engelbert's comments in a pregame gathering in Dallas were her first since the league called out what it said were bad faith efforts to use the debate to “demean or marginalize others.”
“People are trying to use the league to sow divisiveness,” Engelbert said Thursday while sitting alongside Wings CEO and managing partner Greg Bibb.
“We’re being the center of political football for people who have never watched the WNBA, never have written about the WNBA or reported on the WNBA,” Engelbert said, echoing NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's recent use of “political football” to describe the debate that has engulfed the WNBA.
The league’s collective bargaining agreement states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” but it does not include any more specific language about gender identity or sex assigned at birth. Earlier this month, two former NBA players, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, declared themselves eligible for the WNBA draft, saying they identify as women.
Engelbert sent a memo this month to team presidents and general managers saying the league would discuss the subject of transgender women in women’s basketball.
“There’s always going to be haters out there and we denounce it,” Engelebert said Thursday. “But that’s what happens when you have made it as a legitimate sports media and entertainment product.”
See AP’s full WNBA coverage here
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham is stretched before a WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings in Dallas, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Christie Slape, of Round Rock, Texas, holds a sign outside American Airlines Center before a WNBA basketball game between the Indiana Fever and the Dallas Wings, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
