djdunson Page 22 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Was Dallas’ Kyrie Irving pickup a troll job, or do they actually expect results?
During a season in which league-wide parity has been the overarching theme, the drama-free Dallas Mavericks dove headfirst into unknown depths by acquiring team arsonist Kyrie Irving from the Brooklyn Nets. All it took was Dorian Finney-Smith, point guard Spencer Dinwiddie, some second-round picks, ...

Can Cam Thomas take over for Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn?
One man’s trash being another man’s treasure has never meant more than it has in regard to Brooklyn Nets combo guard Cam Thomas. One day after Irving threw the Nets into the dumpster bin and demanded a trade, he sat due to “calf soreness,” which has become the NBA’s go-to diagnosis for healthy playe...

Kyrie Irving has his finger on the Brooklyn Nets’ dead man’s switch
A dull day with the Brooklyn Nets is merely the calm before a Kyrie Irving storm. On Friday afternoon, the Nets star point guard added another chapter to his tumultuous tenure in Brooklyn by placing his finger on a metaphorical dead man’s switch by outright requesting a trade from the Nets. ...

NBA’s Nepo babies aren't on the court — they're in front offices
What do Bob Myers, Travis Schlenk, Rob Pelinka, and Monte McNair have in common? They’re each experiencing different stages of the NBA’s own burgeoning nepo baby regimes....

Tom Brady’s pre-Super Bowl retirement makes things awkward for Fox’s Greg Olsen — but here’s a solution
The comeback king may finally be done, but Tom Brady’s football obituary should begin with his error of making one comeback too many. The venerable Patriots legend Tampa Bay Buccaneers mercenary-for-hire announced his retirement in a no-frills social media post on Wednesday morning....

21 Jump(shot) Street: Virginia basketball coach suits up, impersonates 13-year-old JV player
Adult sensibilities don’t belong in youth sports. Grown people take sports way too seriously. Countless times overzealous parents, coaches, and spectators have tainted the purity of amateur sports. An assistant coach on the staff of the junior varsity basketball team in Portsmouth, Virginia recently...
![Checking in on the top high school recruits ahead of National Signing Day [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/26f088e4fbbfe211ed1b32c2d6ee6c82.jpg)
Checking in on the top high school recruits ahead of National Signing Day [Updated]
Only four unsigned top 100 college football recruits remain on the approach to National Signing Day — Early Signing Day. From that select group, Nyckoles Harbor, the No. 1 athlete in the Class of 2023 out of Washington D.C.’s Archbishop Carroll, is the highest-rated uncommitted recruit left roaming ...

The Joseph Ossais are partially why we watch the NFL
Patrick Mahomes is a thief. On Sunday night, he slipped up in the pocket, darted for the first down, stepped out of bounds, and stole a win from the Cincinnati Bengals. He also put defensive end Joseph Ossai in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons....

Mahomes and Hurts’ Black quarterback Super Bowl showdown has been decades in the making
With all due respect to the Salt Lake City NBA All-Star Weekend, Glendale, Arizona is 2023’s “Black Super Bowl.” A week before NBA superstars and celebs descend on Utah, Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes will take the field as the first pair of black quarterbacks to start against one another in a Supe...

Is Eric Bieniemy being held to an unrealistic standard?
Eric Bieniemy’s circuitous route to an NFL head coaching throne has taken him through at least 16 interviews, and the beat goes on. The coaching game of musical chairs is nearing its conclusion once again, and Bieniemy’s only coaching interview during this cycle has been with the Indianapolis Colts....

A rising tide lift all boats and it's time we threw Jason Whitlock’s ilk overboard
Choosing between women’s and men’s sports is a false choice. If you’re a certain blogger for Glenn Beck’s conservative Blaze media, revisionist history can be a comfort zone that vilifies feminism in sports as your woke sports boogeyman, but makes you look like a headass instead. Jason Whitlock’s re...

The NFC Championship Game’s weakest links
The Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers have been the NFC’s two-headed monsters all season. For the majority of this season, they’ve been the kaijus of the conference. However, the bigger they are, the harder the fall — and one of these behemoths has to end the weekend with a gaping hole in ...

The AFC Championship Game’s weakest links
A championship-caliber unit is only as strong as its weakest link. Entering Championship Weekend, the rosters are so deep, and refined that it gets tougher to find dents in their armors. These aren’t the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears. The Kansas City Chiefs found a way around their lack of go-to ...
![Ebony and Irony: QB who lost scholarship for using N-word on video gets offer… from an HBCU [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/03ccb725868822f780782507c33f43d2.png)
Ebony and Irony: QB who lost scholarship for using N-word on video gets offer… from an HBCU [Updated]
As Signing Day approaches, Nease High’s disgraced quarterback Marcus Stokes has a second chance at fulfilling his college football aspirations. After a senior season in which Stokes gained 2,672 yards, rushed for 496 yards, and scored 28 touchdowns, the four-star passer (or 3-star, depending on wher...