2 Page 103 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Second Coming of Dennis Smith Jr.
Maybe all he needed was to come home. Smith is from Fayetteville, North Carolina, and is now playing with the Charlotte Hornets, just a mere three hours from his hometown. The Hornets are Smith’s fifth team in six seasons. Last year, he split time between three teams, including the Hornets. So why h...

Should a player’s legacy be defined by postseason results?
Justin Verlander has a great shot at winning the American League Cy Young award this year. He pieced together a dominant season — at age 39 — after recovering from Tommy John surgery and helped lead the Houston Astros to another World Series. ...

Gus Johnson, not Ian Eagle, should succeed Jim Nantz as the voice of March Madness
Ian Eagle is really good at his job. Gus Johnson’s just better....

I could play this New York Times umpire game for hours
I love umpires. I don’t love to hate them like other baseball fans do, though. I’ve always leaned in the direction of leniency. I know that officiating in any sport is difficult, thankless, and downright hazardous to your health in some situations. Umpires get it the worst though, perhaps because th...

A decade after the Thunder traded James Harden, regret should linger
A decade after Oklahoma City traded James Harden on the eve of the 2012-13 regular season, it still stands as an atrocity upon the art of dynasty-building. As the central players involved in that deal wind down their Hall of Fame careers in bleak situations, there is no more denying it, Oklahoma Cit...

Washington Wizards trying to relive glory days of mid-2000s mediocrity
The Washington Wizards of the mid-aughts will always be remembered more for how their time together ended than the actual run itself — and for good reason. The team only won one playoff series, and that was the year before it traded Kwame Brown for Caron Butler, who would make his only two all-star ...

Has Aaron Judge played his last game in pinstripes and a look at some notable 2023 MLB free agents
MLB wants everyone to focus on the World Series right now. The organization wants the baseball world’s focus on the matchup between Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander and Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper; the Aaron Nola vs. Yordan Alvarez showdown; and the fact that it’s a 1-seed going ag...

Will have some more of this, thank you
Tuesday night was Klay Thompson’s 651st regular-season game as a Golden State Warrior. When you add the 145 playoff games, Thompson’s been a part of 796 games in his career, and he’d never been ejected from one — until Tuesday night in Phoenix. ...
![Jaylen Brown has cut ties with Kanye West [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/541992806d3cc59c75d12f2a54b3a59e.jpg)
Jaylen Brown has cut ties with Kanye West [Updated]
This piece was posted nearly two hours before Jaylen Brown announced he was leaving Kanye West’s Donda Sports marketing firm. It has been updated with the latest news....

2022 NFL rookie wide receiver ranking Week 7: Another relatively quiet week for these pass catchers
Last season we did our weekly rookie quarterback tracker, but with only one taken in the first round of 2022, we’ve moved onto another highly coveted position. For 2022 we’ll keep track of all six first-round wide receivers and their progress throughout the year. Some of our first-round rookies are ...

Week 7 NFL Powerless Rankings: The losses keep piling up
It’s time to check in on the teams that can’t get out of their own way. We’re nearing the halfway point of the 2022 NFL season and it’s been unpredictable, but there are always a few teams we expect to disappoint their fan base. Now let’s get into the powerless ranking for Week 7....

Houston, we have a champagne problem
Champagne isn’t the only thing the Houston Astros are keeping on ice. ...

If ya can't beat 'em, hire 'em
If you can’t beat ‘em, hire the manager that beat you. Yeah! That’s the phrase. At least it is for the Texas Rangers, who successfully courted Bruce Bochy out of three-year retirement to become their new manager. Bochy is best known to Texas as the mafioso who picked them apart in the 2010 World Ser...

Christian McCaffrey traded to 49ers
Carolina Panthers’ do-it-all back Christian McCaffrey was sent packing Thursday night to the San Francisco 49ers for second-, third- and fourth-round picks in 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2024, first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter....

Wouldn’t you know it, Cristiano Ronaldo is being a whiny turd again
If one were interested in fairness when it comes to Cristiano Ronaldo — and I’m not for a host of reasons, including the big glaring one (actually two) — one would have to concede that being a professional athlete requires an absurd amount of defiance. At some point in our childhood, we’re all told ...

Top 5 Heisman candidates at college football's midway point
The Heisman Trophy is awarded to college football’s most outstanding player. Entering this season, three quarterbacks — including last year’s winner — were favored to earn this prestigious honor. It’s Week 8 and that trio of QBs are each building a strong case. But they’re joined by two other stando...

Deadspin's NBA awards predictions
Perhaps it’s the COVID fatigue, partisan politics, or the malaise of a slumping economy, but this off-season has felt like forever. With elections ramping up in November, we need the NBA back to distract us from our country headed toward political chaos. Both sides of the aisle have become insuffera...

2022 NFL rookie wide receiver ranking Week 6: The battle of attrition is kicking in
Last season we did our weekly rookie quarterback tracker, but with only one taken in the first round of 2022, we’ve moved onto another highly coveted position. For 2022 we’ll keep track of all six first-round wide receivers and their progress throughout the year. Some of our first-round rookies are ...

It’s the NBA’s turn to take up the mantle for Brittney Griner
They say, “out of sight, out of mind.” Thankfully, that hasn’t been the case for Brittney Griner, largely due to her wife and the women of the WNBA....
