draft Page 31 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Lots of great players were drafted, then immediately traded — and went on to be All-Stars
The weirdest thing about the NBA draft is the longstanding practice that once draft day comes, there’s no more trading draft picks. It makes some sense within the framework of the league rules and salary cap, but every year, it results in weird situations where a player is drafted by a team that he’...

Green Bay continues trying to please Aaron Rodgers by targeting favorite Randall Cobb
Good news Texans fans! You may not have a strong defense, good head coach, tons of early draft capital, or a quarterback devoid of controversy, but what you do have is one of Aaron Rodgers’ favorite targets from his past and a team willing to do anything to keep Rodgers happy. ...

A Super Bowl ring will fix all hurt feelings in Green Bay
Well, it looks like things are finally turning around in the Green Bay soap opera. ...

What to make of Rodgers’ and Adams’ cryptic IG stories
Aaron Rodgers has been making Packers’ fans sweat for months now, whether it be through expressing his displeasure with the organization while hosting Jeopardy or through his inaction during the most pivotal moments of this offseason. Rodgers has made cryptic comment after cryptic comment attempting...

Sad spectacle of NHL stepping on yet <em>another</em> rake is exhibit 999 that it’s time to abolish the draft
Had Logan Mailloux been picked in the second round of the NHL draft, as ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported was likely to have happened, it still would have been gross. It just would have slipped into the second day of the draft, sparing hockey some embarrassment that even though the admitted sex offen...

Buffalo, with Sabres-ian flourish, bucks history, takes D with No. 1 pick
It’s not that selecting a defenseman with the first pick in the NHL draft is always a mistake....

The Kraken are preserving cap space apparently, but for who? For what?
We’re still only in the leaked stage, and leave it to the NHL to not think that the Seattle Kraken’s expansion draft would get out before the big show tonight thus rendering it moot, but it appears that GM Ron Francis has gone the pretty boring route. No Carey Price, no side deals that actually pilf...

I thought having a crowd would make Monday Night Raw try harder. That’s my bad
Monday Night Raw was last in the pool, as it were. AEW Dynamite has run two shows in front of live crowds, and really had been operating in front of a crowd since they started letting fans fill the seats at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Fla. WWE returned to its normal arena show last Friday on Smac...

Unleash the Kraken
They won’t admit it, but there is a decent amount of pressure facing the Seattle Kraken ahead of their first year as an NHL franchise. ...

What happens in San Antonio stays in … Vegas?
“There’s no hard and fast rule across sports for how to handle team histories and intellectual property when franchises relocate, but there should be some common sense: when a team moves, if it changes its name, it relinquishes the history. It’s just good practice. Can you imagine the Oklahoma City ...

Hear me out: Klay Thompson's return alone does not restore Dubs to NBA’s elite
The Golden State Warriors had a pretty disappointing season. Despite Steph Curry turning back the clock and making jaws hit the floor on a routine basis, the Dubs still couldn’t manage to sneak into the actual postseason — losing their bid for the Western Conference’s 8-seed in a 117-112 loss to the...

Finally, a woman is on a cover of an NBA 2K edition, and who better than Candace Parker?
EA Sports made it a hot line; 2K’s making it a hot song...

Aaron Rodgers' ‘mental health’ work this offseason has been admirable
Aaron Rodgers is perfectly content doing Aaron Rodgers things, whether you like it or not. The NFL MVP from the 2020 season, who has been embroiled in a tense standoff with the Green Bay Packers front office this offseason, seems to have thoroughly enjoyed how he has put his offseason to use. Accord...

Cat Osterman tells Deadspin about her return to Olympic softball ahead of the Games
Cat Osterman will wear a different number when she steps onto the Tokyo dirt this summer — 38. It was her tryout number for USA softball after taking a few years away from playing the game. She wore No. 8 when she won Olympic gold in 2004 and silver in 2008 and in her storied career at Texas. Now, i...

The Phoenix Suns’ Finals trip reeks to high heavens
The Phoenix Suns’ run to the NBA Finals is fugazi....

Go North!
As discussed last week, the FIBA men’s basketball Olympic Qualifiers are underway this week and will run through July 4, determining each of the final four teams that will compete in Tokyo this summer....

Why New Orleans’ Paulson Adebo is a can’t-bust DB
The 2021 NFL Draft class was filled to the brim with elite cornerback prospects. Nine were selected in the first two rounds, yet still after the first 64 picks, several talented DBs remained available. Among the names not yet called was Stanford corner, and two-time All-Pac 12 defender, Paulson Adeb...

Who have been the luckiest and unluckiest teams in the NBA draft lottery?
Whenever a team does poorly, many fans of said team will point to luck as a contributing factor....

The true price of camaraderie and competition
The concept of sports gambling has gotten skewed in the past year. Now that it’s becoming legal in more and more places, you see Allen Iverson or Paige Spiranac in a dress that very well might cause her to cough up her soul (now word on how AI would fit into it) telling you about all the things you ...

What’s important, what’s pointless
Nine years ago or so on some blog from a previous life, I wrote much of what’s to follow here when Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the field, much in the same way Christian Eriksen did yesterday. Whenever something like this happens, broadcasters, pundits, anyone forced to comment on things that really ...