Oral Roberts guard Max Abmas, who had a spectacular run in the 2021 NCAA tournament, has entered the transfer portal. During his senior year, Abmas averaged 21.9 points per game and shot 37.3% from beyond the arc. He is also an excellent passer and rebounder, averaging 4.4 rebounds and 4 assists per game.
Abmas became a breakout star in the 2021 NCAA tournament when he led Oral Roberts, seeded 15th, to a surprising Sweet 16 run. He scored 29 points in the first round, 26 points and seven assists in the second round and 25 points in a two-point Sweet 16 loss to Arkansas. This year, his team made another NCAA tournament appearance, although they lost to Duke in the first round.
Abmas, a 6-foot guard from Texas, is expected to be one of the best guards in the transfer portal and is likely to draw interest from several teams. There are reports that he could be headed to the Kentucky Wildcats, who are looking to fill out their roster with experienced players to complement their incoming freshmen. While Kentucky already has a loaded backcourt, Abmas' shooting ability and experience could be valuable additions to the team.
Regardless of where he ends up, Abmas' presence in the transfer portal is sure to generate interest from many teams looking to add a seasoned and talented player to their roster.
Dogecoin investors are accusing Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and the second richest man in the world, of defrauding people using Dogecoin for a "pump-and-dump" scheme. The investors claim that Dogecoin qualifies as a security, which Musk denies. He has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which is seeking $258 billion in damages, arguing that his tweets about Dogecoin were harmless and did not defraud anyone. Musk's lawyers dismissed the lawsuit as a "fanciful work of fiction," and argued that it is lawful to tweet words of support for a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion. They added that the investors failed to provide proof of how Musk intended to deceive anyone or what risks he was hiding.
Musk has faced several lawsuits over his tweets, but last month, a San Francisco jury found him not liable for a tweet saying that he had arranged funds to privatize Tesla. Musk is known for his love of Dogecoin, one of the most popular meme-cryptocurrencies other than Shiba Inu. He was accused of jacking up the price of Dogecoin by nearly 36,000% over two years and then letting it fall rapidly. However, his lawyers deny any fraudulent activities and urge the court to dismiss the case.
In a recent note to investors, Wall Street analyst Laura Martin has speculated that a merger between Apple and Disney could be worth 15-25% for the tech giant, prompting questions of whether such a deal could be on the horizon. The two companies have had strong links, and CEO of Disney, Bob Iger, was quoted saying that if Steve Jobs had lived, the merger of the two companies would likely have taken place. Both Apple and Disney are marketing giants, but Martin suggests that Disney is faced with a tougher marketing challenge, as all of its products compete in the “leisure category,” whereas Apple’s mobile products are seen as utilities. While Apple is valuable for the hardware it directly sells to consumers, Disney’s revenue stream is more widespread, leading to losses in value in adjacent industries.
Martin argues that the two companies are “better together,” with Apple being the better distributor and Disney being the better content creator, but a merger would come at a significant cost, expected to be upwards of $200 billion. Such a deal could also provide a definitive answer to the question of who will succeed Iger when he retires. With both Apple and Disney performing well in the current market, speculation over the possibility of a merger continues to intensify.
