Nov 16, 2025; Stockholm, SWEDEN; Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Danton Heinen (43) shoots against Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74) in a Global Series ice hockey game at Avicii Arena. Per Haljestam-Imagn Images
To a man, the Nashville Predators think highly of Juuse Saros. It’s more than just what he does as the club’s No. 1 netminder that makes him a valuable member of the locker room; it’s the kind of person he is off the ice that endears him to teammates and coaches alike.
That character showed itself Wednesday, as the Predators practiced for the first time since returning home from Stockholm, Sweden, after earning a split with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL Global Series.
Saros came to Wednesday’s morning skate sporting a special Hockey Fights Cancer mask that featured four members of the Predators’ organization affected by cancer.
Bigger than sports 💜
Juice debuts an extra-special Hockey Fights Cancer mask, honoring four members of our organization affected by cancer:
Those Saros was honoring included locker room attendant Craig “Partner” Baugh; Sheila Crisp, wife of former Preds broadcaster Terry Crisp; Lexi Rogers, daughter of equipment manager Pete Rogers and Erin Daunic, late wife of current Preds television play-by-play broadcaster Willy Daunic.
“A lot of people are involved, unfortunately, with cancer within the last couple years,” Saros said during media availability Wednesday. “I thought I would honor all those people by fighting against it.”
Saros also said he came up with the idea after finding out the Preds would feature a Hockey Fights Cancer Night, which will take place Nov. 22 when they face the Colorado Avalanche at Bridgestone Arena.
The mask was created by DaveArt’s David Gunnarsson, a noted designer of custom masks worn by other goaltenders around the NHL.
“He’s been doing all my masks, and obviously does a great job,” Saros said of Gunnarsson. “The portraits came out great.”
Baugh is a prostate cancer survivor. Sheila Crisp is also a survivor. Rogers was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.
Saros was emotional when talking about Erin Daunic, who passed away at 54 this past July. She worked as an executive for a nonprofit in Nashville.
“(It) was very sad news to hear,” Saros said. “Erin was nice and brought such joy to every room she walked into. Willy’s always been amazing. I thought it was the least I could do.”
Saturday's game against the Avalanche will benefit the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. Fans can purchase ticket packages that include a themed hat to benefit the 365 Pediatric Cancer Fund, an initiative established by former Preds Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne in 2013.
The mask was Saros’s way of showing his support to the cause.
“I reached out and asked if I could honor (the four), and thought this would be a good way to do that,” Saros said.
"We won't. We want to try to win," Cuban said Wednesday in an email when asked if he and Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont would seek a deal for Davis.
1) This is exactly what a GM/owner/front office person should say if they intend to trade a player, all in an effort to gain or maintain leverage. Take Cuban's comment with a grain of salt.
2) How much influence does Cuban have in the Mavericks' front office right now? Officially, he is an advisor to team governor Patrick Dumont, who is still making the ultimate calls (Dallas has two interim GMs running basketball operations — Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi — while the search for Harrison's full-time replacement continues). Much of ESPN’s story on Wednesday focuses on Cuban's efforts to get back in the door and regain some power in basketball operations.
3) Dallas holding onto Davis and seeing how good this team is with him, a healthy Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg was always on the table. Dallas went into this season thinking it had a playoff roster, but that roster has just not been healthy. Irving is recovering from a torn ACL and is considered likely to return at some point this season, however, there is no timeline. Flagg has played well as a rookie, but his season has been up-and-down, in part because he was asked to play out of position at the start of the season as a point forward. Still, his potential shines through.
The problem is this: Dallas controls its 2026 first-round pick in the NBA draft, but doesn't control its picks from 2027-30. The Mavericks have started 4-11 in a deep Western Conference and it's going to be tough sledding for a while Davis (strained calf) is out for another week or so. Also, this team clearly needs a point guard and it's unclear when Irving might return, he is rightfully making sure he is all the way back and not rushing things. The Mavericks are already 5.5 games out of the top six in the West and sitting in 13th place. Maybe the Mavericks can climb back into the play-in, but how dangerous are they? Is it worth it to wait to see what this team might be?
Which leads to the logic that Dallas should trade Davis (and maybe Irving, although that may be an offseason move), rebuild around Flagg and other young players such as Dereck Lively II, end up in the lottery and get a running mate for Flagg.
However, that may not be the direction Dallas' ownership chooses to go. Just ask Mark Cuban.
During the 2024-25 season, Brett Berard was one of the most talked-about prospects in the New York Rangers’ pipeline.
He came into rookie camp hungry and eager to prove what he was capable of, and that’s exactly what he did.
The 2020 fifth-round pick stood out with his blazing speed and scrappy, hard-nosed style of play, which was truly impressive for a 5-foot-9 forward.
While he didn’t make the Rangers’ opening-night roster out of training camp, Berard eventually earned an NHL spot and played a total of 35 games for the Blueshirts, recording six goals, four assists, and ten points.
Last year marked Berard’s coming-out party, but it’s been a different story for him to kick off the 2025-26 campaign.
From being sent down to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League out of training camp to his slow offensive start, Berard has gone through some adversity.
Through his first 14 games in the AHL, Berard had not scored a goal. His recent scoring slump wasn’t for a lack of chances though.
“He’s generated a lot of chances… He wants to make a play, and sometimes when he does that, his hands move but his feet don't,” Wolf Pack coach Grant Potulny said.
On Tuesday, Berard finally did score his first goal of the season, and celebrated with a sense of strong passion and relief.
It was a big weight lifted off of his shoulders. Berard actually feels that some of the struggles he’s gone through to open up the season helped him in a certain way.
“It took a little bit to score, so getting that one in today was great,” Berard said. “For me, I just want to try to provide for the team. Going through a skid, you start to put a lot of pressure on yourself to produce. I mean, I've scored in this league, and it's something that I guess is different for me going through a skid like that, but I think it definitely has made me stronger and mentally tough, kind of dealing with that, especially early on in the season.
“It's a long year. It's easy to kind of think about that too much. I mean, for me, it is just kind of generating the chances they're going to go in. It's just how hockey works, so I'm just waiting for that to happen, and today, it did. I was really happy to see it.”
During the Wolf Pack’s 3-2 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds on Tuesday afternoon, Berard played on a line alongside Dylan Roobroeck and Trey Fix-Wolansky, while playing a role on both the power play and penalty kill.
It’s not always easy to play in a handful of NHL games and then adapt to life back in the AHL.
Berard appeared to be in good spirits about the whole situation. He’s trying to live in the moment and focus on his role in Hartford.
“It's awesome. I love the coaches. I love the guys in the room, but it's different. I was up (with the Rangers) in March last year, and I was back down in October, so it's a long time of being away from Hartford and away from these guys. I mean, we have a great group coming back here. It was a super easy adjustment.
“The coaches are awesome, and they're open and honest with you about what you need to do and get better, and that's all I'm trying to do. Not focus on getting called up or not focus on what might happen. I'm here in Hartford, and I'm here to help the team win, and I love the guys in the room. I love the coaches, so it's been a blast coming to the rink every day.”
Not only has Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider evolved into the club's top defenseman, but he's also become the team's most durable player.
Seider, whom the Red Wings selected in the opening round (sixth overall) in the 2019 NHL Draft, has never missed a game during his career.
He recently skated in his 346th career NHL game, officially passing the previous record of 345 consecutive games that was set by John Ogrodnick for games to begin an NHL career with the Red Wings.
Seider, along with Lucas Raymond, is one of the most visible faces of the young wave of talent that emerged in the 2021-22 NHL campaign.
While both Seider and Raymond have yet to appear in a Stanley Cup Playoff game, both players understand the need to elevate Detroit's culture into the firm mindset of a team that doesn't take any games off.
"That has to be the kind of mindset to go on every single game," Seider said following Detroit's 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday evening. "We know we're a good team, but the chance can't be one night on, one night off kind of thing. It's been just too many years of that, so I think we've got to change the culture right now. This was a good step."
Seider, who continues to play in all situations for the Red Wings, once again leads all players in average ice time per night, averaging 25:03 per outing.
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As MLB free agency begins in earnest with the qualifying offer deadline behind us, right-hander Dylan Cease hits the open market with one of the more vexing résumés of any front-end arm in recent memory. With a track record featuring tantalizing highs and confounding lows over a sizable sample size of innings that has grown uninterrupted over the past half-decade, Cease inspires a wide range of opinions across the industry, setting the stage for an especially fascinating trip to free agency.
Cease, who turns 30 just before the new year, is a Rorschach test of sorts for clubs seeking high-end starting pitching. Some will see a nearly unrivaled strikeout artist with impressive durability, one who comfortably warrants a nine-figure contract commensurate with those awarded to some of the other best starting pitchers in baseball. Others will see Cease as volatile and unworthy of a significant long-term commitment, a pitcher who has too often struggled to perform his most basic duty of preventing runs.
There is merit to both sides of the Cease outlook. Let’s start with the positives. And who better to sell the skills of the right-hander than his agent, Scott Boras, who spoke on Cease at the GM Meetings earlier this month during his latest round of puns and wordplay:
“You go and look at pitchers that can give you 30+ starts five years in a row, and other than Dylan they cease to exist,” Boras said. Pun aside, Boras immediately hit on one of Cease’s standout traits, one that makes him quite unique in an era when so many prominent starters have missed significant time due to arm injuries, lessening the frequency with which they are amassing a full season’s workload. Cease too has an elbow surgery on his ledger, but it came during his senior year of high school in 2014, an untimely development that impacted his draft stock, though not enough to sway the Cubs from drafting him in the sixth round and giving him a $1.5 million bonus to sign.
Since Cease returned from that injury as a teenager and began his pro career, he has been remarkably durable. Dealt to the White Sox at the 2017 trade deadline in the package for Jose Quintana, Cease ascended the minor-league ranks without much trouble and hasn’t been on the injured list once for an arm injury as a major leaguer since debuting in 2019. And while Boras’ pun-based compliment may have been a minor exaggeration, he wasn’t off by much: Cease is one of just four pitchers who have made at least 30 starts in each of the past five seasons, alongside José Berríos, Kevin Gausman and Patrick Corbin.
This degree of durability is staggering in this era. While the industry is still in constant search for more clarity regarding how to prevent and/or forecast pitcher injuries, one common saying in baseball is that the best predictor of future injury is past injury. And though Cease’s Tommy John surgery in high school could still be held against him in this case, his decade-plus of taking the mound without any issues since his amateur days carries more weight, and is why his workload is largely viewed as a positive aspect of his free-agent profile.
That said, no pitcher is fully immune to the physical perils of their profession. And while it’s much easier and perhaps logical to point at oft-injured arms as more risky investments than those who haven’t spent much or any time on the IL, it’s not hard to identify recent examples of pitchers with similarly lengthy track records of health as Cease ultimately needing to go under the knife anyway: take Gerrit Cole last year, or Corbin Burnes earlier this season — unfortunately shortly after signing a mega-deal in free agency with Arizona.
With all that in mind, predicting whether Cease’s durability will sustain over the duration of his next contract is likely a fool’s errand. Of course, even more important to Cease’s free-agent case than how much he’s pitched is how he’s pitched. Taking the ball roughly every fifth day for the past five years is valuable, but we wouldn’t be talking about Cease at the top of the market if his proclivity to munch innings was his headlining skill.
So, let’s get back to Boras:
“And also his strikeouts — he’s a 200-strikeout guy, a very rare guy on the market. And unlike the other famous Dylan, this one is exclusively electric.”
We’ll move past the musical reference and stay focused on the point that Boras is trying to make, which is to highlight Cease’s other most obvious strength alongside his durability: his knack for racking up whiffs with a high-velocity, high-spin arsenal that is viscerally present every time he takes the mound. Cease’s 29.8% strikeout rate in 2025 ranked third among qualified starters behind only Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet. He is the only pitcher in baseball to strike out at least 200 batters in each of the past five seasons. In fact, only six other pitchers have struck out 200+ batters three out of the past five seasons — Cole, Burnes, Gausman, Freddy Peralta, Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler — stellar company that helps highlight why Cease is discussed in such high regard.
Incredibly, Cease’s punchouts have largely been the product of just two pitches: a four-seam fastball averaging 97 mph and a slider ranging from 87-89 mph. These two offerings have accounted for roughly three-quarters of Cease’s total pitches over the past five seasons, with an 82 mph knuckle-curve appearing about 10% of the time and a new sinker making some cameos in 2025 and a rare change-up surfacing here and there. There has long been speculation about what Cease could become if he diversifies his pitch mix, though it’s also difficult to argue with the effectiveness of his two go-to weapons. That said, how he evolves as he ages — especially if his current velocity begins to decline — is something interested teams are sure to be contemplating when weighing a pursuit of Cease in free agency.
Durability is a strength for pitcher Dylan Cease.
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / REUTERS
Dylan Cease’s top weakness: Giving up runs
So, Cease has provided a steady supply of innings with an abundance of strikeouts to boot. What’s not to love? While swing-and-miss may be sexy and is very much in vogue in the modern game, it is not the primary objective for starting pitchers. Teams win by scoring more runs than their opponent, and Cease’s track record of consistently stopping opponents from scoring is shockingly shoddy for a pitcher with his peripheral skills. This is where Cease’s case as an elite rotation option becomes cloudy — and how if he secures a major payday, he will stand out as a historical outlier.
The general consensus among those projecting free-agent contracts this winter is that Cease should easily land a lucrative long-term deal. A sampling of such forecasts:
From Kevin Brown’s historic $105 million pact with the Dodgers in December of 1998 to Burnes’ $210 million deal with the D-backs 26 years later, 29 starting pitchers have signed free-agent contracts with a total value in excess of $100 million. If Cease joins this select cohort in the coming months as expected, he will do so with the highest ERA in his platform season (4.55) before becoming a free agent. The previous high watermark before securing a nine-figure free-agent contract belonged to Aaron Nola, who posted a 4.46 ERA in 2023 before re-upping with the Phillies on a seven-year, $172 million contract. Otherwise, no other free-agent pitcher in the $100 million sample had posted an ERA even above 4.00 before hitting the open market. Only lefties Mike Hampton (1.346) and Barry Zito (1.403) posted higher WHIPs in their platform year than what Cease (1.327) just did.
Cease’s 4.55 ERA in 2025 ranked 43rd out of 52 qualified pitchers, marking the second time in the past three years that he ranked in the bottom-10 on the ERA leaderboard, having ranked 38th of 44 qualified arms in 2023 with a 4.58 ERA in 177 innings in his final season with the White Sox. Still, with Cease’s stupendous 2022 campaign in which his 2.20 ERA ranked third and he finished second in AL Cy Young voting hardly a distant memory, his disappointing 2023 performance wasn’t nearly enough to dissuade San Diego from spending considerable prospect capital to acquire him from Chicago. The Padres were promptly rewarded with a much-improved showing in 2024, as Cease returned to Cy Young ballots, lowering his ERA to 3.47 and ranking third in the NL in fWAR.
But Cease regressed again in 2025, turning in a quality start in just eight of his 32 outings, and allowing at least four runs more times (10) than he allowed one or fewer (9). The strikeouts were still there, of course, providing some strong peripherals that he (and Boras) could certainly still lean on positive indicators moving forward. At the same time, selling a pitcher who just posted an ERA closer to 5.00 than 3.00 is a much different assignment for Boras than extolling the ace-like talents of other recent clients like Burnes, Blake Snell, Carlos Rodón, Cole or Stephen Strasburg.
Overall, Cease’s ability to cash in despite an outlier poor performance relative to his historical parallels as a top-tier free-agent starting pitcher will be an intriguing litmus test for how teams value past performance vs. future projection. Cease has provided his potential suitors with an ample amount of evidence in both directions, bearish and bullish, with underlying skills still worth dreaming on but a sizable sample of innings that convey an arm that is far less reliable than most top-dollar starting pitchers.
And if anything, the real lesson in reviewing the most lucrative free-agent starting pitcher contracts ever is the vast range of outcomes for these arms once signed. Some of these deals have fundamentally changed franchises for the better, while others have devolved into embarrassing and arduous long-term commitments, either due to performance or to injury. Where Cease’s tenure with his new team will fall on this spectrum of starting pitcher — considering how up-and-down his career has been — is anybody’s guess.
Third-ranked UConn will be without Tarris Reed Jr., its top scorer and rebounder, against No. 4 Arizona on Wednesday night. Reed is dealing with an ankle injury and is considered to be game-to-game, UConn said in a release. The 6-foot-11 senior from St. Louis had 21 points and eight rebounds Saturday in a win over No. 7 BYU in the Hall of Fame Series at TD Garden in Boston.
Oct 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred before game three of the 2025 MLB World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball says it will comply with a Senate committee’s request for documents detailing gambling investigations.
Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5. The request followed indictments of Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz accusing them of taking bribes to rig pitches for bettors. Both have pleaded not guilty.
“We’re going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred said Wednesday during a news conference at an owners meeting.
Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays.
“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.
He said it was too early to say whether MLB will take a stance on prediction markets, in which contracts are traded based on actual events such as game scores.
“We’re well aware of the issues, the different regulatory framework, but not in a position where I want to articulate publicly a position on it,” he said.
Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into the Cleveland pitchers didn’t have a timetable. Ortiz was placed on paid leave on July 3 and Clase on July 28. They are not on track to accrue additional salary until opening day on March 25.
“We think that we should take advantage of the offseason to make sure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” Manfred said.
MLB is aiding players who have received threats related to gambling following the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized sports betting in most states.
“We have had in place for some time services that are available to players that receive threats of this kind in terms of providing support through law enforcement,” he said. “We do take it as a very serious issue and do provide support on an ongoing basis.”
The National League's Teoscar Hernández, of the Dodgers, poses with the winner's trophy after the All-Star Home Run Derby on July 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (Julio Cortez / Associated Press)
The deal announced Wednesday by the league will also return baseball to NBC and bring three MLB events — an opening night game, the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams game — to Netflix for the first time.
As part of the deal, ESPN will integrate the league's streaming platform MLB.TV into its recently launched direct-to-consumer service that provides the sports channels to consumers with or without a cable subscription.
MLB.TV provides local telecasts of out-of-market games to consumers. In the 2026 season, new customers will now be able to purchase the service as part of an ESPN subscription. Pricing has not yet been set for the combined services.
ESPN Unlimited subscribers will get an additional 150 out-of-market games over the course of the season at no additional cost. ESPN will offer local games in the six MLB markets that no longer have regional sports networks — San Diego, Cleveland, Seattle, Minnesota, Arizona and Colorado. The games, which are produced by MLB, will be available to purchase for streaming in those markets through ESPN.
ESPN will no longer carry "Sunday Night Baseball," a staple of the network for decades, but will have a package of 30 weeknight games. It will also retain its coverage of the MLB Little League Classic and carry a game on Memorial Day.
ESPN is paying $550 million for the new three-year package, the same as the last contract, according to people familiar with talks who were not authorized to comment publicly.
While ESPN and MLB exchanged harsh words when their longtime arrangement broke up earlier this year, both sides praised the eventual outcome, which puts a greater emphasis on streaming.
"Bringing MLB.TV to ESPN’s new app while maintaining a presence on linear television reflects a balanced approach to the shifts taking place in the way that fans watch baseball and gives MLB a meaningful presence on an important destination for fans of all sports,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro called the deal "a fan-friendly agreement" that prioritizes the Walt Disney Co. unit's "streaming future."
"Sunday Night Baseball" will move to NBC, with 25 prime-time games on the broadcast network or NBCUniversal's streaming platform Peacock. Already the home of "Sunday Night Football," and "Sunday Night Basketball," the addition of the MLB — at $200 million a season — means NBC will have live sports in prime time on every Sunday throughout the year.
The network is also picking up the wild card round of the MLB postseason that had been carried on ESPN.
In 2027 and 2028, NBC will carry the most consequential game played on the final Sunday of the season.
NBC Sports also gains the rights to the late Sunday morning game, which will be carried on Peacock and followed by a "whip-around" show presenting action from contests around the league that day. Peacock carried the morning game in 2023 and 2024 before it went to Roku this past season.
MLB games exclusive to Peacock will also be shown on the newly launched NBC Sports Network, which is being offered to cable and satellite TV providers.
Netflix is paying around $50 million per year to carry the 2026 opening night game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees on March 25. The annual Home Run Derby, previously on ESPN, also moves to the streamer, as does the Field of Dreams game, which will be played in Dyersville, Iowa, where the set for "Field of Dreams" is located.
The deal continues Netflix's approach of offering appointment sporting events to its subscribers rather than investing in a full season package.
The new MLB deals only run for three years. The league wants them to align with its major TV rights package that includes the playoffs, the World Series and the All-Star Game. Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TBS carry those packages until 2028.
The Chicago Blackhawks have been a nice surprise early on this season. The Original Six club currently sports a 10-5-4 record and is fourth in the Central Division standings. They have also won six out of their last 10 games, so they have been continuing to have early-season success.
While the Blackhawks are having a strong start to the season, pending unrestricted free agent (UFA) defenseman Connor Murphy is continuing to create buzz as a trade candidate. This is because the right-shot blueliner was given the No. 19 spot on NHL insider Chris Johnston's latest trade board for The Athletic.
With the Blackhawks having a ton of young promising defensemen, it is understandable that questions about Murphy's future in Chicago continue to arise. It would make sense for the Blackhawks to move him if they do not plan to extend him, as he would have the potential to get them a decent return. Contenders are always on the hunt for right-shot defensemen with size at the deadline, so Murphy could be a very popular target if made available.
The Blackhawks trading Murphy would certainly be notable, though, as he is currently in his ninth season with Chicago. With this, he has been a key part of their roster for nearly a decade.
In 19 games this season with the Blackhawks, Murphy has recorded three assists, 17 hits, 20 blocks, and a minus-1 rating.
New York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov has been placed on injured reserve after sustaining an upper-body injury in their 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
Romanov, who underwent season-ending shoulder surgery toward the tail end of the 2022-23 season, missed 18 games in 2024-25 with an upper-body injury. He has missed five games already this season for the same reason.
The 25-year-old, who signed an eight-year deal worth $6.25 million annually this summer, has recorded one assist in 15 games this season, averaging 19:27 minutes per game, skating on the third defense pairing.
The Sixers will fly to Milwaukee and play the Bucks on Thursday night. Here are observations on their loss to Toronto:
McCain on the scoreboard
Justin Edwards got the start and guarded Ingram. The 21-year-old shared the floor with Maxey, Edgecombe, Dominick Barlow and Andre Drummond.
Maxey pressed his foot to the gas pedal from the opening tip. He scored eight of the Sixers’ first 10 points, including a slick step-back three on Immanuel Quickley. Maxey fired five long-range jumpers in the first quarter and made three.
The Sixers used Grimes, Trendon Watford, Jabari Walker and Jared McCain off the bench. Instead of playing the full first quarter, Maxey checked out with 2:12 remaining and McCain subbed in. He soon had his first points of the season.
McCain drilled a mid-range jumper on his first shot. He’d gone 0 for 9 over his prior four outings and dealt with serious rust in his return from injury. Wednesday’s outing — five points in 14 minutes — was his best yet.
McCain kicked off an 8-0 Sixers run early in the second quarter by canning a top-of-the-key three. Walker capped the spurt by draining a triple that gave the Sixers a 36-35 edge.
Season-worst turnovers night
Walker did solid work on the glass and the Sixers had a great rebounding start overall. In under 14 minutes, they recorded 10 offensive rebounds.
Despite that superiority on the boards, the Sixers didn’t have a massive advantage in the possession game because of their turnover struggles.
Off-target passes and strange decisions were both prevalent problems. Every Sixers starter had at least two turnovers and the team finished with a season-high 21 giveaways.
Edgecombe had four of those turnovers and also missed his first six field goals. The rookie flipped a switch to finish the first half, though. Edgecombe threw down a big dunk, grabbed a steal and assisted a Maxey three. He scored a driving bucket with 6.8 seconds left in the second quarter to lift the Sixers to a 56-53 lead.
No comeback miracles
For the third straight game, the Sixers changed their starting lineup in the second half. Grimes and Watford replaced Edwards and Barlow.
The Sixers had a rough first few minutes of the third quarter, which included Watford fouling Ingram on a three-point attempt. Toronto pulled ahead with a 10-2 run and kept growing its lead. The Sixers fell behind by 16 points on a Ja’Kobe Walker three late in the third.
The Sixers sure didn’t open the fourth quarter like they’d chalked the game up as a loss and were thinking about the second night of their back-to-back. They continued their comeback habit and made a high-paced, highlight-filled charge back into the contest.
Edgecombe hammered home a coast-to-coast jam. Drummond had a steal and a slam. Grimes caught fire. He sunk two consecutive threes to slice the Sixers’ deficit to 109-106.
Of course, the Sixers had a tiny margin for error. Maxey threw a pass that wound up out of bounds when he wasn’t on the same page as Grimes. Quickley cashed in on an Ingram kick-out feed, nailing a three. He hit a key pull-up jumper, too.
While the Sixers have earned their early-season comebacks, the reality is that teams lose the vast majority of games in which they face late double-digit deficits. Wednesday was one of those nights for the Sixers.
Despite showing signs of improvement, the Kings matched their longest losing streak since the 2021-2022 NBA season after falling 113-99 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday at Paycom Center.
Sacramento, without star big man Domantas Sabonis, extended its losing skid to seven games after a characteristic third-quarter collapse against the defending NBA champions.
With a 3-12 record, the Kings are off to their worst start through 15 games since going 2-13 to start the 1990-91 season.
Coach Doug Christie pointed out marked corrections in terms of his team’s competitiveness but recognizes that the morale in his locker room remains relatively distressed.
“What I would say is frustrated. That’s probably the term I would use,” Christie told reporters after the loss.
Yet again, the Kings managed to stay competitive throughout the first half before succumbing to a second-half swoon, giving up nine turnovers in the third quarter alone.
Even though Christie is stressing high-level execution and focus during practice sessions, the Kings’ late-game product isn’t there. It’s headed in the right direction, but it’s not there just yet.
“The level of competition the guys brought I thought was really, really high level,” Christie added.
“That’s what we need to get ourselves out of where we’re at, and if we do that on a night-to-night basis, most nights in the NBA you give yourselves a chance to win. This was the world champs and there were eight, nine minutes left, and they found themselves right there.”
Sacramento’s leading scorer, Zach LaVine, was limited to eight points for a second consecutive game after shooting 4 of 10 from the floor and a paltry 0 of 4 from beyond the arc.
Precious Achiuwa, starting amid Sabonis’ absence, tallied 15 points and nine rebounds, while Dennis Schröder added a team-high 21 points off the bench.
The Kings’ fourth stop of a five-game road trip takes them to Memphis on Thursday, where they’ll look to put a historic start in the rearview against the Grizzlies.
Stephen A. Smith looks on before an NFL football game between the Detroit Lions and the Baltimore Ravens, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, in Baltimore. (Nick Wass / Associated Press)
Since 2021, Smith also has been an analyst on ESPN's "NBA Countdown" pregame and halftime studio show.
But he isn't anymore, at least not on a full-time basis.
This week, ESPN announced a new "NBA Countdown" broadcast team that features host Malika Andrews and analysts Brian Windhorst, Michael Malone and Kendrick Perkins, with frequent contributions from Shams Charania.
Smith said Tuesday on "The Stephen A. Smith Show" that he hadn't been demoted from his status as a show regular, as some outlets suggested. Instead, he said, the change was something he had asked for while negotiating his reported five-year, $100-million contract to remain with the network earlier this year.
Why? Smith said he simply no longer has the time.
"I didn't want to be on the show," Smith said. "I negotiated coming off of it. Now I love doing 'NBA Countdown,' but once the countdown show is over, I got other things to do than to be in studio, watching the doubleheader and coming on at halftimes. I got other stuff that I want to do, to prepare for 'First Take' the next day, the next morning, and to do an abundance of other things that I aspire to do."
Smith said his departure from "NBA Countdown" had been reported "months ago," and he is correct. In breaking the news of Smith's new deal with ESPN in March, The Athletic's Andrew Marchand wrote that Smith "will not be a regular on ESPN’s premiere NBA pregame show anymore."
ESPN did not immediately respond on Wednesday to a request for a comment.
Smith added that he will continue to make frequent guest appearances on several ESPN shows, and that includes "NBA Countdown."
"If they need me in L.A. for 'NBA Countdown,' I'll be there," Smith said. "Matter of fact, I have days in my contract to be there. I just don't have to be there full time."
