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Texas Tech vs. Utah college football game: Start time, TV channel and more
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Why Jonathan Kuminga can't ‘be the player he wants to be' on Warriors' roster
Why Jonathan Kuminga can't ‘be the player he wants to be' on Warriors' roster originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Like any agent worth his commission, Aaron Turner is his client’s biggest cheerleader, as he is first among those who believe Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga is a starting role away from becoming a perennial NBA All-Star.
Maybe he is, but that’s not happening in Golden State. Not as long as the core trio – Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler – remains intact. And if there’s no room for Kuminga in the starting lineup, he can’t be the player he wants to be.
“It’s probably true,” Turner said Friday during a guest appearance on “Dubs Talk.” “But that doesn’t mean that it can’t work, or it’s not OK for the time being. JK’s an ambitious 22-year-old. I’m not going to take that away from him. I love that. He should be. (He’s) young. You want to keep growing and get better.
“The way JK moves is he wants to keep pushing the envelope, and I’m not going to take that away from him. I actually agree with it. Can he be the player he wants to be here, right now, with this roster composition? No. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to win and he’s not willing to sacrifice for the group.”
That concession is bound to have an impact on any contract offer. How high are the Warriors willing to go for someone slotted to come off the bench as a sixth or seventh man?
Golden State’s latest offer, roughly $75 million over three years, really is a two-year deal because Year 3 is a team option. That offer was made with considerable reluctance, and bumping up to $100 million or more is does not seem to be on the horizon.
Turner acknowledges that Kuminga’s contract value is lower than most of his fellow lottery picks in the 2021 NBA Draft, largely because he entered the league with a team with an incumbent superstar. A team built not to develop but to chase championships.
“Those other guys didn’t really go to teams that were winning,” Turner said. “If the Warriors didn’t win in ’22, (negotiating a new contract) is probably very fluid and easy. But they did, and that kind of complicated things.”
Five of the six players selected before Kuminga in the 2021 NBA draft signed extensions last summer.
No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham (Pistons), No. 3 pick Evan Mobley (Cavaliers) and No. 4 pick Scottie Barnes (Raptors) received five-year $224 million rookie maximum deals. So, too, did No. 8 pick Franz Wagner (Magic), who was selected right after Kuminga. No. 2 pick Jalen Green (Rockets) took a three-year extension worth $106 million and No. 5 pick Jalen Suggs was extended for five years at $150.5 million.
Each of those players joined a rebuilding team. Cunningham, Green, Mobley, Barnes, Suggs and Wagner were starters from Day 1.
So, too, was Josh Giddey, selected sixth overall by Oklahoma City. The Thunder studied him for three seasons before tapping out last summer and trading him to Chicago. After one season with the Bulls, Giddey received a four-year extension worth $100 million.
Four years into their careers, each has been identified as a cornerstone for his current franchise. The same can’t be said of Kuminga, who also entered with much less experience.
Blame it on the circumstances, if you will, as there is no way to project how high JK might be flying if he had been drafted by a team without an established core.
Kuminga is acutely aware of the nine-figure contracts among his peers and dreams of having one. He is worth it, according to Turner.
“JK does a good job of running his own race,” he said Friday. “He’s not too caught up in what everyone else is doing. He understands his circumstances are unique and accepting of that.
“But does he think he’s on the level of those guys and the money they’ve gotten? Yeah, he does. He does. And, frankly, I do too.”
The Warriors have no desire to offer Kuminga $100 million or more. Four seasons into his NBA career, they do not unanimously perceive him as a franchise cornerstone. They hope he can be the path to acquire a veteran who would be more compatible with their core.
If Kuminga enters next season with the Warriors, he’ll be a reserve. Someone who can come off the bench and change the direction of a game. With so many veterans expected on the final roster, his youthful energy will have tremendous value.
It’s one thing to accept such a modest role, quite another to embrace it with joy.
“If you look at any championship team, sacrifice is required,” Turner said. “It needs to come from somebody with talent. That’s just part of it. JK’s probably got to be that guy. Not saying the other guys don’t have to do it on the team as well, but he’s going to have to sacrifice his personal ambitions and goals, which he’s not gotten a chance to chase yet.
“He hasn’t gotten that part of his career like some of his peers, where he gets to kind of figure out exactly who he is. That’s kind of been suppressed by the first championship the Warriors won in ‘22 and then kind of everything they came after that.”
Coming off the bench doesn’t speak to Kuminga’s heart. Barring a last-minute trade – and such discussions have a way of being revisited – he’ll have to land an opportunity where he can become a starter. And be the player he wants to be.
Offseason NBA beef watch: Trae Young and Patrick Beverley
Patrick Beverley has never shied away from a beef. With anyone.
Enter Trae Young. Beverley and the Atlanta Hawks' All-Star guard have been going back and forth this week, and it all started over the All-Star Game. It all began on X, when Beverley responded to a question about why players go harder in random summer pick-up games than the All-Star Game — Beverley said the All-Stars take the game for granted — then Young jumped in and said All-Stars should speak on that.
Relax. Let us speak for ourselves.
— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) September 14, 2025
Beverley came back hard at Young on the Pat Bev Podcast. It started with Beverley saying, "I don't think he's won enough to even speak to me like that or tweet me like that," and then added, "I've talked to people who played in Atlanta. They don't wanna play there. Why? They don't think he's a good leader. They don't think he's a good teammate."
Shots fired.
Young came back hard in an almost 12-minute video where he said Beverley was about seeking attention. "You don't know what it's like to be in my position, you don't know what it's like to put my shoes on. I promise you — there's not a selfish bone in my body."
Kevin Durant rallied to Young's defense, calling Beverley "delusional." The Hawks' social media team put together a video of Young scoring on Beverley.
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) September 18, 2025
Beverley then came back with shots of his own, saying Young gets coaches and general managers fired because of his play.
It’s time for the truth… https://t.co/YPlISXCNNwpic.twitter.com/rdA4hBxUEA
— Pat Bev Pod (@PatBevPod) September 19, 2025
In this beef, the ultimate score is that Young is a four-time All-Star, while Beverley played in zero.
Young, however, enters this season feeling some pressure. The Atlanta front office went out and put the best team — on paper — around Young he has ever had with Kristaps Porzingis at the five, shooting and defense in Nickeil Alexander-Walker, more shooting in Luke Kennard, plus Jalen Johnson returns healthy from a breakout year sidelined by injuries, and Zaccharie Risacher should take a step forward in his sophomore year. The Hawks are projected as a top-four team in the East.
Young did not get the contract extension he wanted this summer, and now the pressure is on him to lead this group to a high seed and maybe the second round of the playoffs, or it will not just be Beverley asking questions.
A year on, Manchester City’s legal experts have the Premier League in a corner | Barney Ronay
Charges tribunal is still to report on rule breaches, but does the league want to discredit its eight-time champions anyway?
Happy one-year anniversary! How has it been? How do you feel? More, or less, in love? Have you counted down the days? Are you happier, wiser, more centred, like a man in a porridge advert going for a soulful morning run in a sunlit cul-de-sac?
Perhaps, to offer another perspective, you feel so viscerally nauseated at the prospect of leafing through the pre-planned partisan responses to a highly complex piece of legal wrangling there’s a danger your own intestines will liquefy and snort out of your nostrils straight into the toaster. Who knows? Maybe that was the point all along.
Continue reading...Cycling world heads for Rwanda under a cloud of controversy after Vuelta chaos
First road world championships in Africa should be cause for celebration – instead the sport is mired in controversy
Africa’s first hosting of the road world championships should be a moment of celebration for cycling and the continent but Rwanda instead finds itself the backdrop to a sport mired in infighting and controversy.
The Vuelta a España ended on Sunday after three weeks of racing characterised by mass pro-Palestinian demonstrations against the presence of the Israel-Premier Tech team.
Continue reading...Clayton Kershaw delivers another special L.A. moment as Dodgers clinch playoff berth
Clayton Kershaw blew a kiss to his family, pounded a fist in his glove, then made the familiar trot from the Dodgers’ dugout to the Chavez Ravine mound.
This time, however, he did it alone.
In what was his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium, coming one day after he announced that he would retire at the end of this year, Kershaw took the field while the rest of his teammates stayed back and applauded.
On a night of appreciation for his 18-year career, the moment belonged to him — and an adoring fan base that has watched his every step.
The first time Kershaw ever pitched at Dodger Stadium, he was a much-hyped and highly anticipated 20-year-old prospect. His talent immense. His Hall of Fame future in front of him.
When he did it for potentially the last time on Friday night, he was a much-beloved and long-admired 37-year-old veteran. Hardened by the failures that once defined his baseball mortality. Celebrated for the way he had learned to overcome.
Few athletes in modern sport play for one team, for so long. Fewer still experience the emotional extremes Kershaw was put through, or manage still to weather the storm.
When Kershaw was asked about Dodgers fans during his retirement news conference Thursday, that’s the dynamic he quickly pointed to.
“It hasn’t been a smooth ride,” he said. “We’ve had our ups and downs for sure.”
Between boundless cheers and intermittent boos, historic milestones and horrifying heartbreaks, triumphant summers and torturous falls.
In regular-season play, baseball has maybe never seen a more accomplished pitcher. Kershaw’s 2.54 ERA is the lowest in the live-ball era among those with 100 starts. He is one of the 20 members of MLB’s 3,000 strikeout club. He is one of four pitchers to win three Cy Youngs and an MVP award.
In October, however, no one’s history has been more checkered. There were implosions against the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013 and 2014. The infamous fifth game of the 2017 World Series against the sign-stealing Houston Astros. The nightmare relief appearance in 2019 against the Washington Nationals. Nine trips to the playoffs in his first 11 seasons, without winning a championship.
In those days, it made Kershaw’s relationship complicated with Dodger Nation. He was heroic until he wasn’t. Clutch until the autumn. It didn’t matter that he was often pitching on short rest, or through injuries and strenuous workloads, or in situations no other pitcher would have ever been tasked. He was the embodiment of the Dodgers’ repeated postseason failings. The face of a franchise that could never clear the final hurdle.
In Kershaw’s case, though, that’s how such an enduring bond was built.
By persevering through such struggles. By coming back every season. By finally getting over the hump with World Series titles in 2020 and 2024. By never shying away and never backing down.
“With that responsibility as the ace, you've got to take on a lot of scrutiny or potential failures,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Everything wasn't optimal for him. But he never complained about it. Never made an excuse for it.
“I think the fans, certainly at his highest moments, have shown their love for him and support. In those other times, I think it's just, the fans have been hurting along with him. Wanting so much for a guy that's been such a stalwart and a great citizen and person for this city and organization.”
"I think the respect, the universal respect, is certainly warranted 10 times over.”
Over a 6-3 win against the San Francisco Giants that ended just minutes after the Dodgers clinched their 13th consecutive postseason berth, that’s what was celebrated from Kershaw’s first pitch to his last.
The left-hander pitched 4 ⅓ innings of two-run ball, striking out six batters on four hits and four walks, but it wasn’t his stats that mattered. He struggled with his command, averaged only 89 mph with his fastball, and left the mound with the Dodgers trailing, but the memories from this night will go far beyond that.
From the moment Kershaw emerged on the field at 6:23 p.m., fans rose to their feet. They cheered and chanted his pregame routine in the outfield and bullpen. They roared when his name was introduced shortly before first pitch.
They knew this could be his Dodger Stadium send-off, a sentimental opportunity to say thank you for all he accomplished and all he endured.
So, when he then emerged for the start of the first inning, they serenaded him with an extended ovation. Alone on the field, he smiled and waved from the top of the mound.
“This is one of those moments where Dodger fans, you all have seen him for 18 years and watched his career grow and everything that he's gone through,” Roberts said. “People are going to back and go, 'I was there for the last time he started a home game at Dodger Stadium.'”
From there, the night was surprisingly tense.
Kershaw gave up a home run on the third pitch of the game to Heliot Ramos. He spent the next four innings battling traffic, stranding two runners later in the first, another two in the second, and two more in the third after a Wilmer Flores RBI single.
Read more:Plaschke: Clayton Kershaw retiring with legacy as the greatest Dodger ever
By the fourth, it was clear Kershaw was not long for the evening. His pitch count was rising. The bullpen was active. And with two outs in the inning, Willy Adames was extending a two-strike at-bat.
On the ninth pitch of that battle, however, Kershaw finally got a whiff on a slider. For the first time since first pitch, Dodger Stadium erupted once again. When Kershaw returned to the dugout, he had enough left in the tank to face at least one more batter.
When he returned to the mound to begin the fifth, he struck out Rafael Devers with a knee-high fastball for a called third strike.
With that, Kershaw’s night was over. Roberts started to the mound. The infield swarmed him with a line of hugs.
In the stands, applause echoed through a sell-out crowd of 53,037 — which included former teammates Austin Barnes, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Trayce Thompson and AJ Pollock; as well as other Los Angeles sports icons from Magic Johnson to Matthew Stafford (a childhood friend of Kershaw’s from Texas).
Then, after an embrace with a smiling Roberts, Kershaw made the slow walk back off the field.
He took a deep breath. He gave a hugging motion to his family sitting in the loge level. Then he donned his cap, and repeatedly said thank you as he looked around the stadium. After more hugs with coaches and teammates in the dugout, he reemerged into view for a raucous curtain call.
Read more:'I’m really at peace.' Why Clayton Kershaw decided to make resurgent 2025 season his last
“I’m super grateful to every single Dodger fan who’s come through the stalls here at Dodger Stadium, and everyone that I’ve gotten to meet along the way,” Kershaw had said the day before. “It’s been pretty special to have that fan base behind us all these years. There’s nothing better than having a full Dodger Stadium and getting to pitch in front of it.”
Now, one more October awaits — with the Dodgers (87-67) officially clinching a postseason berth Friday after roaring to the lead on back-to-back home runs from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts in the bottom half of the fifth.
Kershaw’s role in this last title chase is uncertain. With a loaded rotation, but shaky bullpen, the Dodgers' best use for him could come in a relief role. Roberts said he envisions Kershaw fitting somewhere on the playoff roster, but has stopped short of any guarantees.
Either way, Kershaw has already left his mark this season, finishing Friday with a 10-2 record and 3.55 ERA. His legacy with the Dodgers, and its forever indebted fan base, has long been cemented.
“I think the only thing I can say right now is thank you so much,” Kershaw said in an on-field postgame interview amid one last stadium-wide ovation. “It hasn’t always been a smooth ride, but you guys have stuck with me. Thank you so much. We got another month to go.”
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Creighton AD says $300M project will help achieve vision of becoming the ‘model program’ of Big East
The "Fly Together" project has amassed the largest donation in Creighton school history, with $100 million as a lead gift and an estimated $300 million total to help pace schools with larger athletic departments and budgets.
Mets' Carlos Mendoza explains why he pulled Brandon Sproat after four innings vs. Nationals
Mets fans are excited to see their three young arms pitch for their team, especially at Citi Field. But Brandon Sproat's outing was short on Friday as the right-hander lasted just four innings against the Washington Nationals.
It started great, with Sproat striking out three of the first six batters he faced, but defensive miscues -- one of his own -- resulted in a four-run third inning for Washington.
Despite that one hiccup, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was impressed with Sproat's start.
"The first two innings, he was pretty nasty, especially the way he was using the breaking ball," he explained. "The sweeper, the curveball, he used a lot of them for strikes to get chases, swing and misses, get back in counts, The sinker was playing up. The third inning, he lost it a little bit. It got away from him a little bit because he lost the strike zone there for a minute. One batter from getting out of that inning, then they hit some balls really hard there."
"First two innings were good. Leadoff walk, not a recipe for success," Sproat said of his outing. "Threw the ball away there. Frustrated with myself, make that play nine times out of 10…the second walk. Walks are never good."
Sproat allowed four runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five batters across his four innings, but at just 71 pitches, it's curious that Mendoza decided to pull Sproat. The second-year skipper explained that with the Mets fighting to hold on to a playoff spot, he didn't want to risk the game getting away from them.
"I like what I saw. Even though he only gave us four, I was aggressive with him," Mendoza continued. "I thought he could have kept going, but where we’re at every game, I’m going to be aggressive when we need to. It was a positive outing for him."
Entering Friday's series opener, the Mets (79-74) were 2.0 games ahead of the Diamondbacks and Reds with nine games remaining. Every game matters at this time of the year, but Mendoza also pointed out that the Nationals hitters, especially the lefties, were starting to get to Sproat. He wanted to avoid them facing Sproat a third time.
"Watching those lefties in that third inning. After [James] Wood, [CJ] Abrams, all the lefties, there was some hard contact from them," Mendoza explained. "Wasn’t going to take chances there, especially after we got back. Wanted to give [Huascar Brazoban] or whoever a clean inning. That was the reason there."
But both Mendoza and Sproat were happy with how the fourth inning went. After the Mets cut their deficit to 4-2, Spraout got a groundout and struck out Paul DeJong and Jorge Alfaro to end his night.
"Had a good bounceback in the fourth. I was pleased with it, control what I can," Sproat said. "If I dwell on [the third inning], it’s not going to do anything for me. Told myself it’s the past, put it in the past, it is what it is, gotta move forward for this team. And that’s what I was able to do."
Sproat said there was no conversation with Mendoza about being taken out and respected his manager's decision. But Sproat, now after his third big league start, is experiencing in real time that in the majors, pitchers need to go pitch by pitch.
"That’s the beauty of this game, you’re never really out of it," Sproat said. "Runners first and second, no one out and you’re one pitch from a doubleplay. Gotta take it pitch by pitch and you’re only as good as your next one."
In three starts since his debut, Sproat has pitched to a 3.94 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP while striking out 15 batters across 16.0 innings.
Florida restores Vernon Maxwell’s college stats, making him the program’s leading scorer again
Florida has formally restored basketball great Vernon Maxwell’s final two years of college statistics.
Mets Notes: Jose Siri has tough day in CF, Ryan Helsley's 'huge' performance vs. Nationals
The Mets defeated the Nationals, 12-6, in their series opener but while the score may appear lop-sided, it wasn't always. In fact, the defense of the Mets could have cost them this matchup and a chance to keep their ground in the wild-card race.
With youngster Brandon Sproat on the mound in the third inning, the right-hander was struggling. His throwing allowed the tying run to score and he had runners on first and second with no outs. Sproat, however, induced a clutch double play before allowing a double to give the Nationals the lead. Then going up against Josh Bell, Sproat threw a 1-0 sinker that Bell lined into left-center field but Jose Siri seemed to have a beat on it. Siri got to his spot on the run and reached out for the ball. The ball hit the inside of his glove and popped out, allowing another run to score.
The very next hitter, Daylen Lile, hit a grounder into center field and Siri took a bad route to the ball, allowing it to go to the wall and Lile ended up on third with a triple and scored the fourth Nationals run of the inning.
Siri didn't help himself at the plate either, going 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts. The Citi Field crowd booed the first-year Met as he struck out in the fourth when the Mets tried to retake the lead.
"He didn’t have a good day, obviously," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. "All I was telling him was to keep your head up. Mistakes happen, he went a long ways for that ball got there and dropped it, and then a poor route on the grounder in the gap. I know it could get hard, but not putting your head down and keep competing, that was my messaging to him. They’re going to make errors; it’s going to happen. What I don’t like is guys putting their head down, that was my messaging to him."
Sproat was a lot more forgiving of Siri's attempt in the outfield.
"Props to Siri for running after that ball," he said. "It was a long run, heck of an effort for it."
Since his return to the team on Sept. 9 after fracturing his leg back in April, Siri has only appeared in four games and is 1-for-12 with nine strikeouts over that span.
The return of Helsley?
Aside from the win, Ryan Helsley's performance on Friday was encouraging. The big trade deadline acquisition has struggled mightily since coming to Queens, but has strung together some good outings of late.
Over his last three appearances, he's allowed just one hit and one walk across three innings with one strikeout. Friday was extra impressive as he came in in a high-leverage situation. With the Mets only up 8-6 in the seventh, Mendoza called on Helsley and the veteran delivered, getting a ground out, a strikeout looking and a line out to finish the 1-2-3 frame.
"There’s a lot to like. The way the slider, below the strike zone, getting chases and swings and misses there," Mendoza said of Helsley's outing. "Tried a few times to elevate the fastball, even though he didn’t get swing and miss on the nine-hole hitter, it was effective enough with the fastball. Throwing strikes but executing when he needs to.
"I’ve been saying, we need him. This is a guy that’s proven before in this league. It’s good to see him out there in that situation, up two in the seventh in high-leverage for him to get three outs was huge."
Raley continues to give Mets options
Speaking of the Mets' bullpen, they used six relievers, including Brooks Raley, who continues to give New York exactly what they need whenever they call upon him.
Raley got three outs, two in the fifth after Huascar Brazoban struggled and then one to start the sixth. His performance helped him pick up his second win of the season.
"This is a guy who is coming off Tommy John surgery," Mendoza said of Raley. We’re using him for two ups, multiple innings. As early as the fifth inning, sixth, seventh, eighth. He’s a total pro. He’s very honest with us in letting us know how he’s feeling every day. To have a guy like that in that bullpen where you can shoot him anywhere is a luxury. We’re going to continue to need him, but we have to continue to take care of him as well."
Raley returned to the Mets in mid-July and has been great. He's pitched to a 2.42 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP across 25 games (22.1 IP).
Mike Gundy buyout: What it would cost for Oklahoma State to fire storied coach
After Oklahoma State's devastating loss to Tulsa Sept. 19, the chatter around firing Mike Gundy is mounting. What would it cost to move on from coach?