Franchise Opportunities in San Francisco, CA

The Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers combined to pay more than $88 million in revenue sharing receipts to smaller-market teams for the 2021-2022 season, according to a memo obtained by ESPN on Friday.

Eight more larger-market teams -- including New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Miami, the LA Clippers and Brooklyn -- delivered an additional $75.6 million in revenue sharing to smaller-market teams, the memo said, bringing the total amount from the 10 teams to $163.6 million.

There were 20 teams collecting a total of $404 million in revenue sharing that also included an additional $240 million in luxury tax payments, according to the memo.

The Warriors paid an additional $170 million in luxury tax payments, and the Lakers another $45 million in tax as part of the league's punitive penalty for exceeding the salary cap.

The Indiana Pacers received the most in revenue sharing receipts -- $42.2 million -- along with the Denver Nuggets ($35.5M), Portland Trail Blazers ($32M), Charlotte Hornets ($31.6M), Sacramento Kings ($29.9M), New Orleans Pelicans ($28.9M), Memphis Grizzlies ($28M), San Antonio Spurs ($26.3M), Minnesota Timberwolves ($25.6M) and Orlando Magic ($23.4M), Detroit Pistons ($21.5M) and the Cleveland Cavaliers ($19.9M).

Under the terms of the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, 50% of the league's luxury tax payments are delivered into revenue sharing. The NBA total tax of $481 million accounted for the $240 million shared with the 10 non-tax-paying teams, which also included the Oklahoma City Thunder ($17.5M), Utah Jazz ($11.7M), Atlanta Hawks ($10.8M), Washington Wizards ($7.2M), Milwaukee Bucks ($6.7M), Toronto Raptors ($2.1M), Phoenix Suns ($1.6M) and Houston Rockets ($931,000), according to the memo.

ESPN's Bobby Marks contributed to this report.

The Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants squared off on Friday at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona. This is the second matchup of spring training between these Bay Area rivals. Righty James Kaprielian took the mound for the A’s against Giants free agent signee Ross Stripling.

Both teams commemorated St. Patrick’s Day; with the Giants wearing special green caps and the A’s wearing their traditional green jerseys and caps.

The A’s kicked off the scoring when Seth Brown singled to right, driving in Aledmys Diaz who had doubled.

The A’s jumped to a 3-0 lead when Cristian Pache continued his hot hitting, driving in Conner Capel and Jace Peterson with a sharp single to left. Pache, batting .364, is making his case for one of the final roster spots this spring.

San Francisco got on the board in the 3^rd Inning when Joc Peterson, fresh from his stint with Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), drove in Bryce Johnson who led off the inning with a single.

Tony Kemp extended the lead to 4-1 when he singled home Ramon Laureano in the bottom of the 4^th.

Kaprielian was sharp for four innings holding the Giants to five hits, no walks, only 1 earned run and 4 K’s. Trevor May replaced him and pitched a scoreless inning striking out all 3 batters he faced. Domingo Acevedo pitched a scoreless sixth inning for the A’s. Chad Smith continued the streak of scoreless innings by retiring all three batters he faced in the 7^th.

The Giants scored in the top of the 8^th when Brett Auerbach singled off of Drew Steckenrider, driving in Bryce Jonson for his second run of the day.

The A’s answered in the bottom of the 8^th as Brent Rooker drove in Tyler Wade with a single to right field. With bases loaded, Ryan Noda drove in Kevin Smith with an infield single. The A’s 14^th hit of the day brought the score to 6-2. Rooker then scored on a Denzel Clarke groundout to third; bringing the score to 7-2.

Charles Hall came in to pitch the 9^th. After a leadoff walk, he ended the Giants’ day with a double play ball and strike out.

Martín Gallegos tweeted that Manny Piña flew to Atlanta to visit with Dr. Lourie regarding his left wrist issue. Lourie is the doctor who performed Piña’s season-ending surgery on the same wrist last year.

These teams will meet next on March 26, when they head back to the bay to resume the rivalry at Oakland Coliseum. (TV: NBCSCA, Radio: A’s Cast, Bloomberg 960 AM/103.7 HD2)

It has become increasingly normal for employers in major cities to offer hybrid or fully remote work since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but San Francisco’s employers stand out.

Nearly 30% of San Francisco job openings in January 2023 offered hybrid or fully remote work, up from about 5% in 2019. That is the highest share among 50 largest U.S. cities, a study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows.

The researchers analyzed more than 250 million job postings to measure the growth of remote work over time globally.

In the U.S., Washington, D.C. closely follows S.F. with 27% of job positions offering work-from-home options. Boston, Chicago and Atlanta are the other cities with shares over 20%. The national average has remained below 12%.

“It is clear now the new normal is hybrid,” said Nicholas Bloom, a co-author of the NBER research and economics professor at Stanford University.

In 2019, most major U.S. cities had a share of around 5% of job postings that offered remote work opportunities. The pandemic’s onset in early 2020 resulted in the number of job listings offering hybrid or fully remote work benefits to rise, in most cases doubling by the end of the year.

Not only is San Francisco the leader in remote work in the U.S., it’s one of the top globally. While the United Kingdom had a higher share of telework than the U.S. in January 2023 at 18%, San Francisco outranked top U.K. cities, such as Manchester, Bristol and London.

Cities with industries that have computer-based jobs, like tech, tend to have more job opportunities offering more hybrid or remote work, the NBER research shows. Employers looking for workers with more advanced degrees are also more likely to allow for remote work.

“The top cities are San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Boston,” Bloom said. “These are all ... high-paying, expensive cities with pretty educated workforces and those are the kind of people that tend to work from home.”

Despite slight declines in mid-2021 and mid-2022, which Bloom attributes to seasonal trends, the share of open jobs offering hybrid or remote work in San Francisco has been on the rise since the early days of the pandemic.

Remote work has its advantages, but also downsides in a city like San Francisco, which is home to many large companies, said Sujata Srivastava, the San Francisco director of public policy nonprofit SPUR.

More for you

It gives employees flexibility that can increase happiness and productivity, the director said. However, the new working landscape has also created challenges for ridership for the city’s transit systems and business recovery downtown.

“It's hard to run a small business without knowing on a given day how many customers you can rely on,” Srivastava said.

Reach Adriana Rezal: [email protected]

A server at San Jose’s Karimi Restaurant is suing his employer and accusing them of threatening deportation and forcing him to house two other employees at his apartment, the Mercury News reports. The lawsuit also alleges the employee was underpaid by $80,000 during the almost four years he worked at the restaurant and that the owner threatened to “destroy him and his family.” It goes on to say that the employee was forced to “affirmatively misrepresent” that owner Rifakat Saiyed’s wife worked at the restaurant in order to receive COVID-related unemployment benefits.

Afwan Mohammed, now 23, arrived in the U.S. on a student visa from India, when he began working at the restaurant. He’s the main leaseholder at the apartment where the two other employees were (and are currently) residing. Further issues remain with the apartment Mohammed was forced to share despite moving on to another job and apartment, as three Karimi employees and a fourth person are still there and under threat of eviction. Mohammed filed for a temporary restraining order against Saiyed in September, which was approved, but in the proceedings, Saiyed denied the harassment claims against him. The restaurant owner could not be reached for comment by the paper.

California’s 2023 commercial salmon fishing could be canceled

“Nearly record-low numbers” of Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River have led the Pacific Fishery Management Council to adopt a proposal close California’s 2023 commercial salmon fishing season for the first time since 2008, the Los Angeles Times reports. The group is expected to finalize the decision in a meeting early next month. “We don’t have enough salmon this year to have a season,” the president of the Golden State Salmon Association told the paper.

Big Apple Bagels opens in Folsom

Stay with us here: Illinois-based bagel business, Big Apple Bagels, is opening a new store in Folsom, the Sacramento Bee reports. The brand is known for its “made-from-scratch bagels,” franchisee Scott Walters told the paper, and joins a sister location in El Dorado Hills. The Folsom location is expected to open later this year.

Eat your heart out at not one, but two restaurant weeks in the East Bay

Restaurant weeks are not only a way for restaurants to drum up some business — although that part helps — but also a great way for diners to experience the food at various restaurants at a relative discount. Two restaurant weeks in the East Bay are underway, with a number of great places participating during lunch, brunch, and dinner: Oakland Restaurant Week started on Thursday, March 16, and runs for 11 days until Sunday, March 26, while Fremont Restaurant Week starts Friday, March 17 until Sunday, March 26.

Here are five observations from the Warriors’ 127-119 loss in Atlanta on Friday night — a 10th consecutive road loss — dropping them to 36-35 on the season, only a half-game up on the seventh spot, leaving them increasingly vulnerable to Play-In danger.

1. The signature sequence

The Warriors clearly didn’t want Steph Curry, on the front side of a challenging road back-to-back, to play the entire fourth quarter before Saturday night’s game in Memphis. So Steve Kerr went searching for the briefest of breathers. He took Curry out with 6:15 remaining and the Warriors down three. Despite a plea to remain, Curry reluctantly took a seat.

This felt like a tenuous moment for the Warriors. It always is when Curry sits in a close game. The next few possessions would be magnified. Atlanta’s lead was still three a minute later. Klay Thompson was battling John Collins on the block. He stood him up well and produced a defensive stop. The fort was being protected.

That stop came with a bonus. Thompson ripped the loose ball away from Collins while Collins fell to the floor. The Warriors had a numbers advantage flying in the other direction. Thompson took two dribbles, spotted Jordan Poole and fired an outlet pass up court. But it was off target. He led Poole too far. The fastball went out of bounds. It was one of the more costly of their 17 turnovers. Thompson and Curry had six each.

The turnover was bad enough. But mistakes tend to compound. The end of that clip hinted at both the importance of this moment in a spiraling season and the Warriors’ inability to do everything in their power to turn this road trouble around.

As the ball flies out of bounds — you can rewatch it above or below — Curry pops off the bench to check himself back into the game. That’s enough. It’s been 61 seconds. The deficit had held firm. They were still down only three. But the Warriors needed the win and Curry apparently couldn’t stomach another second of spectating.

As Curry is walking toward the scorer’s table, you also see Donte DiVincenzo strolling toward the corner in frustration and Poole beginning the slow jog and turn downcourt. Maybe they believed the referee would hold action and let Curry check into the game. But the officials pinged the ball right back into play. Atlanta moves fast. If you aren’t aware, you’re in danger.

So before Curry could check into the game, before DiVincenzo and Poole realized they needed to get back on defense, before Thompson had shaken off the turnover and picked up his assignment, the Hawks had fired the pass up the court to De’Andre Hunter. He found himself wide open for 3. Poole isn’t in the picture. DiVincenzo can’t get back in time. Thompson can’t get out. Hunter hits the 3 to put the Hawks up six.

The Warriors still had several chances after this blunder. They had the deficit down to one with under two minutes left. They missed decent looks down the stretch that might have bumped them over the top. But they lost another road game because they made too many avoidable mistakes over the course of 48 minutes. It’s been the story all season.

2. Here’s another one

Kerr showed his frustration most late in the second quarter. Thompson had a right-corner 3 that would have tied the game. He air-balled it into traffic. Clint Capela scooped it up.

In the last few seasons, Kerr has continually railed against the state of transition defense across the NBA. He believes it’s one of the areas where newer players are worse than ever — firing 3s, producing long rebounds, chasing loose balls, lingering too long and jogging back without facing the repercussions that would have come from coaches back when Kerr played.

Add this clip to the lowlight reel. DiVincenzo is in the far corner. It would typically be his responsibility to fly back. He crashes inside instead. But he’s far from the only culprit. JaMychal Green, upset he didn’t get a foul called for him, starts motioning toward the referee. Jonathan Kuminga creeps up behind Capela in a brief search of a possible steal. Poole watches the action and then jogs back before realizing that Hunter has leaked out and nobody is back.

This leads to an easy pass and dunk. Kerr jumps off the bench for a timeout before Hunter has even landed, staring first at Poole and then DiVincenzo as they all try to absorb what led to the breakdown.

3. Stat of the night

This was the Warriors’ 10th consecutive road loss. It was their last game in an Eastern Conference arena this season. They went 3-12 on the road against the East, winning only in Toronto, Washington and Cleveland.

These are the cities where they lost: Charlotte, Detroit, Miami, Orlando, Milwaukee, Indiana, New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta.

4. Anthony Lamb returns

The Warriors converted Lamb to a standard NBA contract Friday afternoon, giving him eligibility after using up all 50 of his two-way contract games. With Andre Iguodala, Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II out and Draymond Green suspended, Lamb immediately stepped into a large frontcourt rotation role.

He played 21 minutes, scored eight points attacking the rim and cutting off-ball early, grabbed five rebounds and apparently did enough to earn Kerr’s nod late in the game. Lamb was in the closing lineup and grabbed a couple of important loose balls.

Lamb is on a prorated minimum contract for the rest of the season and then will be a restricted free agent this summer, assuming the Warriors extend the qualifying offer.

5. Standings update

The Warriors are 36-35. That’s still enough to keep them in the sixth spot in the West because the rest of the conference is so forgiving. The Timberwolves had a chance to pull even with them, but they lost in double overtime in Chicago and lost Anthony Edwards to an ankle injury. The Mavericks had a late game against the Lakers. With a win, Dallas would pull into a tie.

The Warriors go to Memphis, Houston and Dallas to close this road trip. Green is expected back from his suspension Saturday night against the Grizzlies. Ja Morant will not be back from his suspension yet.

(Photo of Steph Curry: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)