il Page 684 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Who’s the Evil Empire now?
LOS ANGELES — It is official: The Los Angeles Dodgers are now the new Evil Empire....

Guess we’re gonna have to wait a little longer for all those other big NBA trades
Yeah, never mind, fam. None of that shit happened — yet — except for Russell Westbrook going to the Los Angeles Lakers, which was by far the biggest trade of the evening....

LOL JK Padres, no Max Scherzer for you
Hey, so, cool story. Remember that one time I wrote about how Max Scherzer was totally going to the San Diego Padres like five hours ago? Also, unrelated — have you ever seen “Elf” with Will Ferrell? Well, if you have (or if you haven’t, whatever), there’s a scene where Buddy the Elf, played by Ferr...

Deadspin fixes NBA free agency, Part IV: Power Forwards
Charles Barkley once said, “What do you call a power forward that only averages six rebounds per game?” Someone said, “what?” And the answer was, “A small forward.” That was funny as shit....

Suni Lee steps in for Biles and everything she touches turns gold
An American gymnast has won the gold medal in the women’s individual all-around… again. For the last five years, since the 2016 Rio Games, it has been assumed that the gold medal would be returning to the United States, with Simone Biles, the greatest gymnast of all time, expected to do the honors f...

Where should — or shouldn’t — some top rumored NBA Draft Day trade candidates go?
People pay more attention to these rumors than the games, it seems. You believe that shit?...

Hear me out: NBA, WNBA should adopt 3x3 format for in-season hoops tourneys
Stefanie Dolson, Allisha Gray, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young are Olympic gold medalists now. They should also be the catalysts for a permanent change in both WNBA and NBA basketball....


The MLB Draft has been mistreating seniors for far too long
Picture this: ...

Deadspin fixes NBA free agency, Part III: Small Forwards
Again, if you see a dude here that you label a shooting guard, then whatever. Think of this more as “Swingmen II.” If your favorite swingman wasn’t mentioned on either, then perhaps they’ll make the sleepers for Saturday, Saturday Sleepers, whatever the editors call ‘em. If he is a part of none of t...

The 2021 NBA Draft could shift the power of the league
If you’re like most sports fans, the 2021 NBA Draft is probably the last thing on your mind right now....

Aw nuts, Man United might have figured it out
We should have enjoyed it more, if it is indeed over: the period of time where Manchester United couldn’t stop tripping over its own dick, burned through name managers simply because they had a name, bought mediocre players for astronomic prices simply to appear to be in action, and generally spun t...

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’...

Team USA takes out all its frustrations on Iran, but it’ll only get tougher from here
OK, look, Team USA wasn’t losing to Iran....

Andrew Friedman has always been good at his job — <i>and</i> is a scumbag
As we said when this first broke, the task for the Dodgers is the simplest one. And it appears that they’re at least thinking about walking that road, as the team puts it into the water that they might just ditch Trevor Bauer at the first rest stop they can find before driving off....

Deadspin fixes NBA free agency — Part 2: Shooting Guards
Disclaimer: If you don’t see a guy here that you think is a shooting guard, he might be a small forward. What’s the difference nowadays? Who knows? Do you know anyone that plays one of the two positions and not the other? In fantasy and in 2K, nearly every two can play the three, and vice versa, and...

Olympics are confirming what we already knew: NBA officiating is trash
It’s safe to say at this point that the USA men’s basketball team has not lived up to its expectations. The team consists of some of the best players in the world, and yet, despite the abundance of talent, Team USA continues to fall short against lesser opponents. No matter what head coach Gregg Pop...

Simone Biles just made the most impressive move of her career
The strength of Simone Biles should be celebrated. ...

Team USA women’s hoops reaches the big 5-Oh
While most of us were sleeping, the Team USA women’s basketball squad outlasted Nigeria, 81-72, in its Olympic opener last night. No, they didn’t blow out their opponents, as their male counterparts also failed to do in their 83-76 loss — but at least they freaking won....

Lydia Jacoby is what makes the Olympics special
Lydia Jacoby personified what makes the Olympic Games so special. ...