BBall gets a new ball.

Found this on NBA.com today: Spalding has redesigned the basketball used in the NBA.

"The new ball, manufactured by Spalding, features a new design and a new material that together offer better grip, feel, and consistency than the current leather ball. This marks the first change to the ball in over 35 years and only the second in 60 seasons."

Conspiracy theory: they redesigned it with a better grip to help Shaq's free-throw shooting.