perk Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

The Kyrie Irving to LA, Damian Lillard to Boston rumors will dominate the NBA offseason
At the risk of being a hypocrite and drowning Denver in a flood of Los Angeles Lakers’ developments, the departure from the postseason has stirred up the underbelly of latent Kyrie Irving free agency rumor-mongering. Even in defeat, the superstar carousel never ends in Los Angeles — or Boston for th...

Patrick Mahomes takes NHL-related social media knockout thanks to his brother's troubles
What do you get when an NHL team can’t find a new home combined with a two-time Super Bowl MVP trying to court the outcast franchise to the city he plays in? A social-media smackdown! One combatant was Patrick Mahomes, whose younger brother, Jackson Mahomes, was recently arrested and charged with ag...

Denver Post columnist pens love letter to Nikola Jokić's undies
The low point of the NBA season has been the interminable debate over the MVP. From Kendrick Perkins and JJ Redick stirring an empty pot about prejudice giving the leg up to Nikola Jokić in the MVP race to Doug Gottlieb bashing his own skull in, blithering on about how race helped Joel Embiid win MV...

Roger Goodell and the Top 10 sports figures we’d like to...'celebrate' 4/20 with
There’s something communal about smoking weed. Whether at a bar or house party, one of my favorite parts of any evening of imbibing is sneaking off to an inconspicuous alley and passing around a joint while cracking jokes, coughing, and getting that perfect head rush before re-entering the foray daz...

Redefining what it means to be a unicorn
“Unicorn” is up there with “new normal” and “positionless basketball” as far as terms I would love to see removed from my brain. Any big man with guard skills is dubbed a unicorn, and we’re led to believe the NBA is a mythical universe populated by elves, dragons, and wizards. Well, technically the ...

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 ...

George Karl tried to stick up for JJ Redick and should have sat this one out
George Karl picked the wrong day to go after Kendrick Perkins. On the Tuesday episode of First Take, JJ Redick and Perkins had a discussion about the NBA MVP that was loud, animated, and eventually went viral on social media. Perkins is not one to back off of his opinions so after the episode, he pa...

JJ Redick and Kendrick Perkins are becoming ESPN’s new debate-show circus
JJ Redick looks like he’d rather be receiving a colonoscopy than embracing the debate on First Take. Redick joined ESPN after retirement, riding the success of his podcast The Old Man and the Three, and initially seemed like an odd fit for First Take. However, the more he strikes a nerve with his co...

Kyrie trade losers are the real winners
Kyrie Irving is a basketball monkey paw. His hardwood alchemy can grant your ephemeral wishes on the court, but with dire side effects on your long-term team chemistry. Stick with him long enough and he’ll deliver a plague to your franchise and refuse to get vaccinated afterward. If basketball were ...

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 ...
![Keep an eye on these 23 breakout stars in 2023: Part 1 [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/6cf68cc114d6fc425405878c9d90ecc7.jpg)
Keep an eye on these 23 breakout stars in 2023: Part 1 [Updated]
One year ago, who would have thought that Julián Álvarez would be the breakout star of the World Cup instead of Gio Reyna, or that TCU backup Max Duggan would lead the Horned Frogs to a national championship game on the 1-yard line of 2022’s closing? Trying to predict which figures will rise to the ...

Week 13.5 NFL Powerless Rankings: Nothing good is happening for these teams
At the intersection of Week 14 and Week 13, it’s time to take an unsettling look at this season’s worst. These are the squads who need a 12th man on the field to keep pace with their peers because whatever they’re doing right now isn’t working. Let’s dive in, but hold your nose, the stench is strong...

Week 11 NFL Powerless Ranking: The champ is here!
It’s time to check in on the teams that can’t get out of their own way. We’re halfway through the 2022 NFL season, and much of it has been unpredictable, but there are always a few teams we expect to disappoint their fanbases. Now let’s get into the powerless ranking for Week 11....

Vance Joseph deserves another head coaching gig
A forgotten head coach from a forgotten time in Denver Broncos’ history, Vance Joseph is most well known for being the man Sergio Dipp was talking about during the greatest sideline report of all time....

It hasn’t been all smiles and sunshine for the Rams, but it also wasn’t for the last back-to-back champions — the Patriots
Saying the Rams have had a rough start to the season would be an understatement. Although they are 2-2, the offense has struggled and has become one-dimensional. It’s Cooper Kupp or bust and let the defense bail ‘em out if they can. Now the Dallas Cowboys are visiting in Week 5, bringing one of the ...

What has happened to Malika Andrews is proof that media and other organizations need to be more careful
Across political, cultural, and geographic lines, most people will agree that changes to this thing, which in English we call humanity, are necessary, and also likely to never happen. Our natural instinct is to judge quickly, taking into account none of our biases and prejudices, and link up with pe...

Cooper Kupp’s dominance knows no bounds as he continues to set NFL records for the Rams
The 2022 NFL season has gotten off to a slow start for the Los Angeles Rams. LA was pummeled by the Buffalo Bills in the season opener, 31-10. The Rams haven’t looked great all-around, but the one constant has been Cooper Kupp’s production. In Week 3 against the Arizona Cardinals, Kupp could become ...

Defending champs look less than Super in season opener
The NFL has the longest offseason in American sports. Thursday’s season opener was 207 days after the Rams won Super Bowl LVI. The hype surrounding Los Angeles entering the 2022 season was palpable. According to Caesars, the Rams have the fifth-best odds to repeat as champions at +1100 with Buffalo....

Thursday Night Football: Bills have personnel advantage, Rams have historical advantage
Since 2004, it’s become a tradition for the defending Super Bowl champion to kick off the season at home. The only exceptions came in 2013, when the Baltimore Ravens had to play on the road due to a scheduling conflict with the Orioles, and 2019, when the NFL opted to celebrate its 100th season with...