ja Page 104 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Joel Embiid has overtaken Nikola Jokić for MVP
Don’t count MVPs before they hatch. Nikola Jokić’s third consecutive MVP has seemed like an inevitability during the first three-quarters of the season. Jokić’s triple-double averages, improved offensive efficiency, advanced statistics, and Denver’s No. 1 seed in the Western Conference all appeared ...

Antonio Conte wants to get fired more than anyone has ever wanted to get fired
It only takes a matter of hours after becoming a soccer fan to hear the term, “Spursy.” It only takes a couple more after that to completely understand that. It refers to Tottenham Hotspur and that no matter the situation, or the seeming unlikeliness, something weird will happen to the club, and in ...

The Timberwolves’ awful season just got a level worse than awful
The Minnesota Timberwolves’ season from hell continued Friday night as they lost to the Chicago Bulls in double overtime and may have lost Anthony Edwards for the remainder of the regular season to an ankle injury. There hasn’t been an official update from the team. Edwards returned to the bench in ...

The big man is dead in basketball until further notice
I have a question for both college and NBA basketball fans: When was the last time a team won anything with a low-post big man as their No. 1 option? Purdue’s Zach Edey is going to take home a treasure trove of hardware, and lucky for him, he’ll be at his place of residence to make sure no one poach...

The Great Debates tournament: Round of 32
Alright, things are heating up for those of you who understand the concept. The big-name debates largely rolled on with a couple of alliterative exceptions as Rest vs. Rust and Nature vs. Nurture were ousted. ...

These NBA playoff performers have the most to prove
Every year a group of players enters the NBA playoffs with the weight of their legacy on their shoulders. And every year, all but one player exits bearing even more weight than they went in with. This season is no different, despite the unprecedented parity in the league. So we’ve pinpointed the pla...

South Carolina women’s basketball team is the best in the NCAA Tournament — regardless of gender
Whether you call it irony or coincidence, the best team playing during college basketball’s biggest moment during a month that’s dedicated to the history of women makes too much sense. Yes, we all think of the men’s game when we think of March Madness. And yes, the men’s game brings in all the money...

Presenting the ‘You Gotta Be Kidding Me’ Team from opening day of March Madness
If you’re like me — an NBA fan who pivots to college basketball for a few weeks in March — the best part of the NCAA tournament is the unknown. What I don’t know about draft stock, a coach, a player, a team, or anything, makes the discovery all the more entertaining....

So, what was this Ja Morant suspension all about?
Ja Morant will be back on the court next week at some point. Which is good…maybe? One gets the sense that no one around him is really looking out for him, including his employer. But the NBA has a lot of money invested in him, so they need to rehab his image but do so quickly so he can get back on t...

Here's how Furman just busted your bracket
One of the first thrilling finishes of the 2023 NCAA Tournament also gave us our first March Badness play to consume in the form of Virginia’s stunning 68-67 loss to the Furman Paladins. Clad in Willy Wonka purple, Furman earned their golden ticket to the tournament for the first time in 43 years, a...

March Badness: Scandals defined the year in college hoops
In a year devoid of a dominant blue blood or player, college basketball stayed in the headlines for the worst reasons. Preseason No. 1 UNC whiffed on the season and missed the tournament entirely. Gonzaga is relying on a normal supply of veteran talent, but is less interesting to watch for casual fa...

Jalen Carter and his horrible, no-good, very bad Pro Day
Jalen Carter’s last few weeks went from bad to worse on Wednesday, when Georgia football held its Pro Day. Carter, the two-time national-champion defensive tackle with the Bulldogs, was without a shred of doubt considered one of the best players available in the 2023 NFL Draft, with many believing i...

Four Alabama players have been identified at the scene of a shooting — it’s fair to ask who wasn’t there
While we understand that today is supposed to be about basketball. The inadequacy of Alabama’s basketball program, the university, and law enforcement have given us reason to pause for something more important — additional information on the fact that the number of members, former members, student-a...

Damian Lillard sounds like he’s threatening to Barry Sanders his career
Damian Lillard was in the news Wednesday for sounding like an old head during an appearance on J.J. Redick’s The Old Man and the Three podcast. From saying young players were entitled, to worrying about the direction of the league, and all the championship tropes that have followed him in between, i...
![The most Mets thing ever? [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/a2250627fd5242550d5bc10207d4d106.jpg)
The most Mets thing ever? [Updated]
If I asked you, before the WBC, which team might have a player seriously injured not just during the World Baseball Classic, but doing something non-play involved during the WBC that feels like the baseball gods got loaded and said, “Hey watch this!”, there would only be one answer, right? You could...

Barcelona in yet another mess — another mess of their own doing
What FC Barcelona will tell you is that their comfortable lead atop La Liga at the moment (nine points) is indicative of being recovered from their years in financial hell. That all the levers they pulled (and the symbolism of Barca constantly talking about pulling their levers is hard to miss) have...

Ja Morant's off-court drama continues to escalate
On Wednesday, after meeting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant was suspended eight games by the league for conduct detrimental to the league. ...

What in the actual hell are the Las Vegas Raiders smoking?
Finding advantages other teams don’t have is a key to success in the NFL. If it’s a rare every-down running back, keep him and pay him. Could you imagine one of the NFL teams with an elite quarterback shipping them away no matter what assets they receive in return? Then you have what the Las Vegas R...

Are Jason Kidd’s new glasses a sign that he’s quiet quit?
There’s a phenomenon, a quirk, a thing that happens every so often with coaches, a subtle or sometimes overt change, that I believe tips their hand to whether they’ve quiet quit on the job. When a skipper knows his time at a stop is coming to an end, he’ll change his attire. It can be as obvious as ...
