Forward Jonathan Isaac chose not to join his teammates in protest Friday. While the rest of the Magic got down on one knee during the anthem, Isaac chose to stand.
CJ McCollum scored 33 points, teaming with Damian Lillard for 11 of Portland's 16 in overtime, and the Trail Blazers pulled out a desperately needed victory to resume their season by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 140-135 on Friday. Lillard finished with 29 points and nine assists as the Trail Blazers boosted their hopes for a seventh consecutive playoff appearance. Carmelo Anthony added 21 points as Portland moved within 2 1/2 games of the Grizzlies for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference.
Nurkic said he considered exiting the bubble after hearing the news.
LeBron James said that finding a rhythm on offense might take time for the Los Angeles Lakers. Defending, though, is crucial when the Lakers aren't at the top of their game offensively, he believes. The Lakers hope to enjoy a better offensive showing Saturday night when they meet the Toronto Raptors in a matchup of top NBA contenders at The Arena near Orlando.
"I don’t think that kneeling or putting on a T-shirt for me, personally, is the answer."
Evan Fournier led the way for Orlando with 24 points as the Magic beat the Nets.
The Wizards could really use some stability behind Bradley Beal at the shooting guard spot. Could Jerome Robinson be the guy?
Golden State met with Stan Van Gundy in May 2014 to discuss the franchise's head-coaching job ...
Rip City loved the drama from the Blazers' first seeding game.
Kings and Spurs join most of the NBA in kneeling during anthem as NBA restarts season.
Several NCAA college football programs announced their plans for preseason camps Friday signaling Power 5 leaders are pushing for a 2020 season despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest whipsaw development in the tortured path toward a college football season is this: They’re going to try to play.
We have collectively lurched between pessimism and optimism four or five times now. There were moments when a season seemed like an impossibility, and others when it seemed like an inevitability. But after the latest dip in confidence earlier this month, as virus numbers soared across America, we somewhat surprisingly have arrived at the doorstep of August with a plan. It may not be built on much more than hope and hubris, but there is a plan.
That plan does not involve spring 2021. Not yet, and seemingly not ever beyond a last option. The voices calling for that have gone quiet.
The push for fall ball continues and the resolve seems to have intensified as the plans have come into focus. The presidents and chancellors of several conferences could have thrown the brakes on this week, and they collectively did not.
So we press on. The Atlantic Coast Conference
intends to start preseason camp next week and begin games the second week of September. The Southeastern Conference intends to start camp next week and begin games Sept. 26th. The Pacific-12 announced Friday that it intends to start camp Aug. 17th and begin games Sept. 26th, and even released a full schedule of opponents and dates. Some Big 12 teams started camp Friday and intend to begin games Aug. 29th. The only Power-5 conference that has not yet started the countdown to launch is the Big Ten, which sent a memo to league schools Thursday saying that it hopes to make a call on whether to start preseason camp within the next five days.The Group of Five conferences (American Athletic, Mountain West, Conference USA, Sun Belt and Mid-American) have all watched the P5 cabal cut them off at the knees by eliminating many non-league games that would pay them big sums. But they’re still trying to cobble together schedules and play this fall.
Some of these schools are moving ahead despite government restrictions that currently don’t allow for football, or that prohibit interstate travel (it would be hard to play games with a two-week quarantine upon arrival in a certain state). They’re playing the long game, hoping things clear up at some point.
So here’s the thing: if the commitment to play is there, the oligarchs of college football need to articulate the motive. And one of the prime motives is this: they really need the money.
Say the quiet part out loud. The money matters. A lot.
That’s not necessarily something to be ashamed of. But saying so runs counter to the instincts of many college presidents, athletic directors and conference commissioners, who prefer to bloviate about high-minded ideals and pretend tens of millions of dollars in revenue are just an incidental byproduct of football.
What everyone involved in this enterprise needs to do is not just admit that the football money matters, but explain why it matters. I believe that a blast of honesty and transparency would be well received.
It matters because, without it, athletic directors are telling dozens of Olympic sport athletes that they no longer have a team. They’re telling coaches they no longer have jobs. They are laying off support staff. If football season doesn’t happen, the ramifications will be that severe—even at the big-budget schools.
We already saw Stanford, the most successful all-sports athletic department in America, eliminate 11 varsity programs. Many other schools operating on smaller budgets have also cut sports. Without the TV revenue that would come with football, this will be a recurring nightmare rolling across the country.
Now, is it true that athletic departments have shamelessly bloated themselves on obscene revenues and spent without restraint or regard for common sense? Absolutely. The schools that have doubled their athletic department staff and built every conceivable facility—waterfalls and miniature golf courses included—don’t engender great sympathy.
Trimming fat can absolutely be done, and should be done. The conspicuous consumption is obnoxious. Private jets are not a birthright, and an armada of analysts hired to break down third-down tendencies of every opponent are a disposable luxury. But this football-dependent economy is what college sports has created, and trying to tame that beast and turn it into a house pet is unrealistic.
If money didn’t matter— a lot —we wouldn’t have the current delineation between No Fall Football and Yes Let’s At Least Try Fall Football. The Ivy League, the Patriot League and other FCS-level conferences have all punted on the season, at least as a fall sport, because they don’t like the virus situation and don’t have a financial reason telling them otherwise. The big-money leagues are, for now, going ahead.
Will they eventually reach a point where outbreaks and optics force a halt? Maybe so. Maybe early, during preseason practice, or maybe later, once games begin. It could happen. The logistics remain daunting.
Major League Baseball, which is not being played in a bubble environment, has had some opening-week debacles. A college football program operating with an unpaid labor force would have a hard time powering through a Miami Marlins situation without shutting down the season.
To that point, something else college football needs to say outlet: what are the limits of an acceptable outbreak?
There has been a mountain of planning for how to test athletes for the COVID-19 virus, how to contact trace, how to quarantine, and how to safeguard. But nobody in any of the conferences has stepped up and said, “These are the thresholds that will signal a mandatory stoppage in practice or competition.” Not publicly.
Dr. Doug Aukerman, Oregon State athletic director for sports medicine, has been a great communicator on behalf of the Pac-12 when it comes to discussing playing sports during the coronavirus. He was on the Pac-12 Zoom call Friday for that very purpose. He said the league is “trying to come up with very specific criteria and benchmarks” that would halt a team’s season. “We want to have a decision tree made,” Aukerman said.
But nobody, anywhere, is talking specifics or articulating a league-wide threshold. Which indicates that they don’t want to be boxed into anything.
Maybe that’s smart, but it also feels a bit like leaving room to move the goalposts as needed. Already, we have seen some of that where college football is concerned. There was a time when a campus that wasn’t fully functioning would not be a campus that could play football—that time quickly and quietly passed.
For now, the swinging pendulum of college football has moved back toward the Play Ball side. The colleges are going to try. Let’s just be honest about the motivation.
Ionescu rolled her left ankle and had to be helped off the court in her third career WNBA game.
Two days after scoring 33 points with seven rebounds and seven assists in
her second WNBA game, New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu left Friday's game against the Atlanta Dream with a left ankle injury.Ionescu appeared to roll her ankle near mid-court while trying to avoid defensive pressure.
Ionescu needed to be helped off the court and could not put enough weight on her ankle to walk. The Liberty called the injury an ankle sprain in a statement released mid-game.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft, Ionescu won nearly every individual honor in college basketball during her career at Oregon. She recorded the most career triple-doubles in college basketball history, won the John R. Wooden Award twice and is the only NCAA Division I basketball player to record 2,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds in a career.
The 49ers attempt to claim John Lovett of waivers, but the Green Bay Packers had a higher priority.
John Daigle tracks available team targets and air yards throughout the offseason. (AP)
Pro Football Focus' George Chahrouri examines whether San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle or Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce is the NFL's best TE according to PFF. This game is streaming live on the Yahoo Sports mobile app, or on NFL Network
Because of the pandemic, Rams have not had much opportunity to test replacement players so, without preseason games, training camp will be critical this season.
NFL Network's Brian Baldinger breaks down the epic matchup between Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen and former Detroit Lions and current Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay from last season. This game is streaming live on the Yahoo Sports mobile app, or on NFL Network
John Daigle tracks every NFL player opting out of the 2020 season for COVID-19 concerns. (Getty Images)
Cincinnati Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow reveals the advice he got from former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning. This game is streaming live on the Yahoo Sports mobile app, or on NFL Network
The lack of on-field work at the team facility this offseason has "definitely tempered" Broncos General Manager John Elway's expectations for the team's offense this season. It has not tempered quarterback Drew Lock's expectations. "Not being able to be with the guys as much as you normally would is not going to change how I [more]
Rudy Gobert sank two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to cap a 14-point, 12-rebound and three-block performance, giving the Utah Jazz a 106-104 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in the first game of the NBA's restart on Thursday night. New Orleans, which led for most of the game and by as many as 16 points, nearly pulled out the victory as time expired when Brandon Ingram's 3-point attempt rimmed out in a bitter end to his 23-point night. Jordan Clarkson scored 23 points for Utah and helped lead a second-half comeback, while Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley each added 20.
Just like the first game of the night, the Lakers and Clippers kneeled together during the national anthem on Thursday.
"We just use that as fuel."
The Saints are signing receiver Bennie Fowler, Nick Underhill at NewOrleans.Football reports. Fowler, 29, played eight games for the Giants last season and made 23 catches for 193 yards. He also rushed for 20 yards. The Giants released Fowler in November. Fowler entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State in [more]
Tom Curran is joined by Phil Perry to discuss the Patriots cap space situation in the wake of a handful of players opting out of the 2020 season.
After not coming to terms with the Cowboys on a long-term deal before the July 15 deadline, Dak Prescott told Jori Epstein of USA Today: "I’m a Cowboy and couldn’t be happier." He surely would have been happier with a long-term deal. But neither side seems to be harboring animosity. "We had a great visit [more]
Gamers have long complained about the "Madden" franchise suffering absent of competition.
NFL Network's Rhett Lewis, DeAngelo Hall, Steve Mariucci and Maurice Jones-Drew debate the biggest snubs from the "Top 100 Players of 2020." This game is streaming live on the Yahoo Sports mobile app, or on NFL Network
Gruden knows who Marcus Mariota is and can be.
Before the NBA abruptly suspended the regular season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Houston Rockets were in the throes of a grand experiment, intriguingly embracing a small-ball lineup while eyeballing another potentially extended postseason run. Four-plus months later, the Rockets (40-24) will pick up where they left off, facing the Dallas Mavericks (40-27) on Friday in a seeding game at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando. The Rockets enter the restart in sixth place in the Western Conference standings.
The NBA stated a plan to begin next season Dec. 1.
Players, coaches and staff from both Utah & New Orleans took a knee during the national anthem in the NBA's first official game in Orlando as part of the season restart.
"This is the playoffs."
The pandemic has caused plenty of changes. Here's another: The defending Super Bowl champions are still waiting to get their Super Bowl rings. The Chiefs have yet to get the ultimate individual recognition of achieving the NFL's top prize. Earlier this week, a Chiefs spokesperson told PFT that there's no definitive word on the distribution [more]
NFL Network's Rhett Lewis, Steve Mariucci, DeAngelo Hall and Maurice Jones-Drew debate which of the Top 3 QBs ranked on the "Top 100 Players of 2020" list they would choose to build a team behind. This game is streaming live on the Yahoo Sports mobile app, or on NFL Network
Carson Wentz is still inexplicably working to win over NFL media, and NFL Network's Top 100 ranking is the latest example. By Reuben Frank
The Patriots will take four quarterbacks to training camp. They re-signed quarterback Brian Lewerke four days after waiving him. The Patriots had room for him after multiple players opted out of the 2020 season. The Patriots originally signed Lewerke as an undrafted free agent May 5. Lewerke, 23, was a three-year starter at Michigan State. [more]
On the latest Eagle Eye podcast, Reuben Frank and Dave Zangaro break down Carson Wentz's Zoom session with reporters.
Washington QB coach Ken Zampese explained on Thursday his plan for evaluating Alex Smith's progress returning from injury.
Matt Harmon continues his series of figures who will tell the story of the 2020 NFL season by looking at how Kevin Stefanski's offense can fix Baker Mayfield after a poor sophomore season.
Two former Michigan football players landed on the NFL's annual Top-100 List, which is voted on each year by the league's players on who is the best of the best heading into the season. New Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady checked in at No. 14, while Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark was tabbed as the 95th-best player in football. Brady, a six-time Super Bowl champion, completed 60.8 percent of his passes last season for 4,057 yards with 24 scores and eight picks, and also ran for three touchdowns.
Wagner knows that Adams is going to be a problem for opposing offenses.
Five days ago, the NFL and the NFL Players Association struck a deal on a revised Collective Bargaining Agreement, aimed at addressing various issues relevant to pro football in a pandemic. The formal agreement, however, has still not been signed. So what's the holdup? As one source with knowledge of the situation told PFT, "Lawyers." [more]
Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson and Terez Paylor discuss the impact of several high profile players opting out of the 2020-2021 season. Subscribe to the Yahoo Sports NFL Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Minnesota Vikings put three more players, including defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo, on their reserve list for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Once again, social media can be a ridiculous place.
Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Kennan Allen took to Twitter to argue he was the best wideout in the division over the weekend. Matt Harmon and Dalton Del Don debate his fantasy value on the latest Yahoo Fantasy Football podcast.
Pro Football Focus looks at which young quarterback is the second best in the NFL after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. This game is streaming live on the Yahoo Sports mobile app, or on NFL Network
NFL Network's James Jones believes Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady "too high" at No. 14 in "Top 100 Players of 2020" list. This game is streaming live on the Yahoo Sports mobile app, or on NFL Network
The Bears placed tight end Eric Saubert on the reserve/COVID-19 list Wednesday, the team announced. The Bears signed Saubert off the Raiders' practice squad Nov. 30, and he appeared in the final two games last season. He caught two passes for 21 yards. Saubert entered the NFL as a fifth-round choice of the Falcons in [more]
Is he the first domino to fall?
Several prominent Patriots have opted out of the season and Tom Brady is gone, so how will Bill Belichick keep things afloat after New England's two decades of dominance?
Saints general manager Mickey Loomis doesn't expect the unusual circumstances surrounding this pandemic-altered NFL season to dampen expectations for a team seeking a fourth-straight playoff appearance. There's been little turnover on coach Sean Payton's staff and most projected starters have been around for the past three seasons, including consecutive 13-victory regular seasons in 2018 and 2019. If anything, the Saints' roster stability and veteran leadership could make them better equipped than most clubs to enter a season that saw the usual offseason program and all four preseason games wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic.
The New England Patriots have had six players opt out of the 2020 NFL season, according to reports, and oddsmakers have responded accordingly.
The Giants claimed cornerback Shakial Taylor off waivers from the Broncos. Taylor played five games last season for the Colts, who signed him as a rookie free agent. He made seven tackles and one pass breakup. Taylor made his NFL debut at Kansas City on Oct. 6. The Colts waived Taylor on Nov. 25, and [more]
