When the SEC and Big Ten squabble, like they are now over the College Football Playoff’s future format, it offers a runway for a worthy compromise.
Hernández: What did bowing to Donald Trump get the Dodgers? A visit from federal agents
They groveled at his feet when they visited him at the White House earlier in April, owner Mark Walter applauding when he lied about egg prices and team president Stan Kasten laughing at his attempts at humor.
They remained silent when he flooded their city with federal agents, chief marketing officer Lon Rosen refusing to comment on the racist kidnapping sweeps terrorizing the very community that helped them break attendance records.
And what did the Dodgers receive in exchange for betraying their fans and sucking up to President Trump?
A knock at the door from immigration enforcement.
Read more:Federal agents denied entry to Dodger Stadium parking lot, sparking new outrage over Trump sweeps
The Dodgers learned what many Trump voters already learned, which is that Agent Orange doesn't always reward subservience.
So much for all of their front-office genius. So much for staying out of politics.
Federal agents in unmarked vehicles formed a line at Dodger Stadium’s main entrance on Thursday, apparently with the intention of using a section of the parking lot as a processing center for detainees who were picked up during a morning immigration raid.
The Dodgers could look away when ICE was causing havoc in other parts of town, but even the morally compromised have limits. More than 40% of Dodgers fans are Latino. Transforming Dodger Stadium into ground zero for the administration’s war on brown people would be financial suicide for the franchise.
The agents were denied entry, according to the team.
There was speculation in and around the organization about whether the presence of the federal agents was a form of retaliation by a notoriously vindictive administration. Just a day earlier, the Dodgers said they would announce on Thursday plans to assist immigrant communities affected by the recent raids. In the wake of the visit, the announcement was delayed.
Ultimately, what did the Dodgers gain from their silent complicity of Trump?
They further diminished their stature as vehicles of inclusion, a tradition that included the breaking of baseball’s color barrier by Jackie Robinson and the expansion of the sport’s borders with the likes of Fernando Valenzuela, Hideo Nomo and Chan Ho Park.
They broke their sacred bond with the Latino community that was forged over Valenzuela’s career and passed down for multiple generations.
They at least resisted immigration agents’ efforts to annex their parking lot, but how much damage was already done? How much trust was already lost?
Consider this: When photographs of the unmarked vehicles in front of Dodger Stadium started circulating online, the widespread suspicion was that federal agents were permitted by the Dodgers to be there.
That was later revealed to be untrue, but what does that say about how the Dodgers were perceived?
Their announcement about their impending announcement looked like a cynical effort to reverse a recent wave of negative publicity, which started with Rosen refusing to comment on the immigration sweeps.
Asked if the Dodgers regretted visiting the White House, Rosen said, “We’re not going to comment on anything.”
On the day of the “No Kings” demonstrations, a 30-year-old performer named Nezza sang a version of the national anthem in Spanish that was commissioned in 1945 by the U.S. State Department under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Nezza, whose full name is Vanessa Hernández, later posted a video on her TikTok account showing a Dodgers employee directing her to sing in English. She disobeyed the order, explaining that because of what was happening in Los Angeles, “I just felt like I needed to do it.”
Read more:Dodgers say Nezza is not banned from stadium for singing national anthem in Spanish
In subsequent interviews, Nezza said her agent was called by a Dodgers employee, who said Nezza was to never return to Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers later clarified that Nezza wasn’t banned from the ballpark, but the incident nonetheless struck a chord. Reports of American citizens being detained or harassed have surfaced, creating a feeling the raids are as much about making brown-skinned people feel unwelcome as they are about deporting undocumented migrants. Nezza’s experience symbolized this feeling.
The incident resulted in widespread calls for a Dodgers boycott, which, coincidentally or not, was followed by the Dodgers teasing their announcement of support for immigrants.
The divisive environment created by Trump forced the Dodgers to take a side, however passively. Now, they have to win back angry fans who pledged allegiance to them only to be let down. Now, they have to deal with potential retaliation from the Mad King they pathetically tried to appease.
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
How the Buss family made the Lakers a Hollywood marvel
The story is so good, so rich, that Hollywood couldn’t resist.
The Lakers, a golden brand. The stars on the basketball court. The celebrities on the sidelines. The spotlight on the show flying up and down the floor 24 seconds at a time.
HBO made a series. Books have been authored. Documentaries have been filmed. No hyperbole is too outrageous.
Magic Johnson and Larry Bird helped save basketball. The Lakers were the greatest show in town. The highs and lows, the devastation and the jubilation, made them iconic.
And the ringmasters for the last 45 years have been the Buss family.
That era culminated Wednesday when a majority of Buss’ six children agreed to sell controlling interest of the franchise to Mark Walter for a record price — a $10-billion valuation that’s the highest in pro sports history.
Read more:Plaschke: Lakers had a great ride with Buss family, but Dodgers owner will give team new life
The initial reaction to the news — a sale that shocked the Lakers’ biggest partners inside and outside of the NBA — centered on what it will mean for the organization. Will Walter and his partners pour the same financial resources that they’ve deployed to turn the Dodgers into the best team in baseball? How will their capital boost the weakest areas of the franchise’s infrastructure? What will happen next?
We don’t know for sure. We do, though, know what just wrapped — an era of pro-sports ownership unrivaled in success and melodrama.
The start
Dr. Jerry Buss wasn’t a physician — the title came from a degree in chemistry at USC. And the money? It didn’t come from science. It came from real estate. But Buss was always one to sense an opportunity, and Jack Kent Cooke’s record-breaking divorce settlement meant that he was about to capitalize on one.
In 1979, Buss scrambled to put together a wild business deal — properties and cash moving between Buss, third parties and Cooke before the self-made man ended up with The Forum, the Los Angeles Kings and, in what would be his legacy, the Los Angeles Lakers. The price was $67.5 million.
The timing was impeccable. The team would win a coin flip and with it the right to select Johnson with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Buss' and Johnson’s relationship helped lay the groundwork for the player-empowerment era that dominates the current NBA, Buss realizing faster than his peers that the biggest and best players were what drove the league’s success.
In his first season as owner, the Lakers won an NBA title, kicking off a decade-long battle with the Boston Celtics that helped the NBA move from the margins of pro sports to the mainstream.
Yet it was more than Johnson leading fastbreaks, flashing smiles and dishing no-look passes. It was the merging of sports and entertainment that helped define what fans now experience.
In 1979, shortly after purchasing the Lakers, Buss commissioned the first Laker Girls dance team. The Forum Club became one of the city’s hottest nightspots. The games were more than athletic contests. They were events.
For the first 12 seasons Buss owned the team, they never won fewer than 54 games in an 82-game season. Titles came in 1982, 1985 and 1987 against the hated Celtics and in 1988 against Detroit.
The Lakers built one of basketball’s most unstoppable machines — Jerry West in the front office, Pat Riley on the sideline and Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Byron Scott and Michael Cooper flying on the break.
As Buss became one of the NBA’s most powerful figures, his children were at his side, learning the business. His daughter, Jeanie, famously helped organize events at the Forum. The family’s true promoter spirit couldn’t be suppressed — soccer, indoor tennis, roller hockey, the Buss family tried it all.
Read more:Q&A: Dave Roberts says Mark Walter will help make Lakers a perennial title contender
Even after Johnson’s stunning retirement after his HIV diagnosis, the Lakers missed the playoffs just once before they fully reloaded, first with Shaquille O’Neal, then with Kobe Bryant and finally with Phil Jackson.
Nothing, though, would last forever.
The transition
In 2005, The Times’ Hall of Fame basketball writer, Mark Heisler, wrote about Buss’ succession plan coming into focus.
“Jerry Buss wanted a crowd-pleasing basketball team the movie stars could relate to but might have gone too far,” Heisler wrote. “He wound up with the greatest floating soap opera in sports, and basketball was almost beside the point.”
Still, it was Buss’ legacy.
“I just can’t visualize myself walking away, relinquishing control,” Buss said in a 2002 story in The Times. “My relationship with this team is a lifelong marriage.”
The thing about family businesses, it turns out, is that family drama is always at play.
A Sports Illustrated feature in 1998 painted a story of jealousy and unease that seemed prophetic.
As Buss scaled back his involvement, Jeanie took on a greater role in the business side of the franchise while son Jim became a basketball executive. And the Lakers kept on winning.
Tensions between O’Neal, Bryant and Jackson ended with the dissolution of another dynasty after three consecutive championships. Belief in Bryant led to two more rings once they reunited him with Jackson and added Pau Gasol to the mix.
Through it all, the Lakers remained a family business in its truest sense, Buss’ youngest sons Joey and Jesse learning the ropes in business and scouting in the same way his older children did.
Jeanie's romantic relationship with Jackson, at best, complicated things in the organization. Still, she was always the one her father intended to lead the organization, beginning when Buss put her in charge of the team’s indoor tennis franchise when she was just 19.
“I figured, ‘If Dr. Buss [she refers to him by his preferred title] says he thinks I can do it, I must be able to do it,’” Jeanie told The Times in 2002.” If he never doubted me, how could anyone else? It was only later that I thought, ‘What the hell was I doing?’"
In 2005, son Jim began to take on a bigger role in the organization, becoming the team’s vice president of player personnel.
“When I hear somebody say, 'Are you qualified?' I’m like, 'If you had eight years of Jerry West plus Mitch Kupchak and all the talented scouts working on a daily basis tutoring you, I don’t know what other credentials you could have,'” Jim said then.
When Buss died in 2013 from complications of cancer, all six of his children held titles with the Lakers.
Read more:Lakers will be looking for bargain deals when offseason gets here
“Jerry Buss helped set the league on the course it is on today,” then-NBA commissioner David Stern said. “Remember, he showed us it was about ‘Showtime,’ the notion that an arena can become the focal point for not just basketball, but entertainment. He made it the place to see and be seen.”
While Buss was living, the Lakers missed the playoffs only twice. In the six seasons after his death, the Lakers never won more than 37 games.
Something had to change.
The fallout
Bryant took a fateful step at the end of a game late in the 2013 season, his Achilles tendon rupturing in his left leg. He miraculously made two free throws before heading to the locker room — a moment codifying him as an all-time Los Angeles legend and a moment, it turned out, that signaled the good times were about to end.
The following season, coach Mike D’Antoni’s Lakers won just 27 games, Nick Young leading the Lakers in scoring and Bryant playing only six times. After the year, Jim Buss told The Times that he saw a pathway forward and he told his family the same in a meeting earlier in 2014.
“I was laying myself on the line by saying, 'If this doesn't work in three to four years, if we're not back on the top' — and the definition of top means contending for the Western Conference, contending for a championship — 'then I will step down because that means I have failed,'" he said. "I don't know if you can fire yourself if you own the team … but what I would say is I'd walk away and you guys figure out who's going to run basketball operations because I obviously couldn't do the job.
"There's no question in my mind we will accomplish success. I'm not worried about putting myself on the line."
In 2015, the Lakers won only 21 games. In 2016, the team lost a franchise-most 65 times against a franchise-worst 17 wins. In 2017, they were headed to another season in which they would be more than 30 games under .500 when Jeanie fired Jim and Kupchak, the team's general manager.
They were replaced with Bryant’s former agent, Rob Pelinka, and Johnson.
Shortly after the decision, Jim, along with his brother Johnny, tried to remove Jeanie from the team’s board of directors, sparking a legal feud that included Jeanie filing a restraining order while she wrested control of the team.
“I must also point out that Jim has already proven to be completely unfit even in an executive vice president of basketball operations role and I recently had to replace him,” Jeanie said in court documents.
The Lakers signed LeBron James in 2018, traded for Anthony Davis and built a title team in 2020, the family’s biggest success in the years following their father’s passing.
With Jeanie firmly in charge, brother Joey helped run one of the league’s most-respected developmental teams in the South Bay Lakers — a program that helped develop players such as Alex Caruso. Jesse Buss and his scouting department found value in late first-round picks like Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma as well as an undrafted star in Austin Reaves.
In 2022, Jeanie produced a documentary for Hulu that dealt with heaps of the family’s drama, and Wednesday’s sale not coming from a majority — and not unanimous — vote again means that not everyone is on the same page.
While the Buss family will retain minority ownership, things will never be the same in the organization. The influx of money, of modernization, of more corporate structure could help the Lakers on the court.
But what they were under the Buss family, they’ll never be again.
“I really tried to create a Laker image, a distinct identity,” Jerry Buss once said. “I think we’ve been successful. I mean, the Lakers are pretty damn Hollywood.”
And on that era, the credits have begun to roll.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The $10bn LA Lakers sale proves sports have outgrown billionaires
The sale of the Los Angeles Lakers is many things.
First of all, it is a record. The glitziest team in basketball is changing hands at a valuation of $10bn, the biggest ever for a sports franchise. Second, it is probably an excellent deal for the buyer, even at that astonishing valuation. And third, the shift in majority ownership from the Buss family to an investment group led by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, is something else: inevitable.
Sports teams are an eye-watering asset class. Not only does owning one confer countless perks and the kind of societal status that most money can’t even buy, but team valuations in the major North American sports have been on a steep upslope for decades. The sale of the Lakers represents a new peak and is also the latest data point that illustrates a new fact about sports ownership. The best properties have become too valuable an asset class for people like Jeanie Buss to control them.
Related: Lakers to be sold to Dodgers owner at $10bn valuation, per reports
Buss’ father, Jerry, bought the team in 1979, and the Lakers have since then operated like one of the world’s largest family businesses. The Lakers are by far the biggest source of the Buss family’s wealth, and as ESPN reported on Thursday, the team has traditionally used its own revenues to pay its expenses. Its golden goose is an enormous local television deal with the LA cable provider Spectrum.
The cable bundle is dying, however, and these days the biggest sports teams are increasingly owned not by wealthy individuals and families but by consortiums of deep-pocketed investors and institutions. The Lakers had already moved in this direction; the Buss family sold a quarter stake in the team to a group led by Walter in 2021. That same group – with Walter as the frontman, but by no means doing it alone – took control of the Dodgers in 2012 and later bought control of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
Blue-chip sports properties like the Lakers are now too big for even most billionaires to just reach into their pocket and by all alone. For that reason, leagues have gradually made it much easier for institutional investors to buy stakes in teams. (The NFL, with limits, has swung open the door to private equity.) The corollary to that trend is that when a longtime owner like Jeanie Buss has buyers lined up with enough liquidity to secure her family fortune in cash, rather than ownership of a team, she’s likely to jump at it.
The Lakers’ new owners are likely to do very well on their investment. The decline of cable is a major threat to professional sports teams, and some smaller-market clubs in the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball have taken substantial cash flow hits as regional carriers have faded. But the Lakers are so entwined with one of the world’s largest cities that to bet against their continued growth is to bet against the future popularity of basketball, the city of Los Angeles and live entertainment altogether. Angelenos will not stop buying Lakers tickets and, even more critically, will not stop happily paying to watch 82 games per year, whether they’re doing that on a streamer or traditional TV. The Lakers are too big to fail, and some time down the line, someone will value them at well more than $10bn.
The sale will probably be good for Lakers fans, though they are not the priority in any transaction of this type. Walter’s group has done wonders with the Dodgers, seizing on the franchise’s natural advantages – a rabid fanbase and a location players want to play in – and turned the team into the most consistent winner in baseball. It is harder to flex a financial advantage in the NBA than in salary cap-less MLB, but Walter’s Dodgers have become the team with the best reputation among ballplayers. Not that the Lakers have a hard time attracting stars, but one could imagine them attracting even more of the players they covet. At the end of the day, isn’t that kind of product what fans want to see?
While this will all likely go fine for the Lakers, the shift in ownership models does raise questions about what will become of sports teams that don’t defy gravity by their very existence. Plenty of individual club owners have been massive flops who have earned the endless scorn of their clubs’ fans. But the fact of having one highly visible, specific owner has at least rendered a version of accountability. After all, it’s easier for Manchester United fans to chant “Glazers out!” than it would be to chant “shadowy consortium of institutional investors out!” A move toward large groups of investors controlling iconic teams will make it easier for individual actors to milk them for cash without facing the kind of public shaming that has long been possible for teams with more identifiable villains in the owner’s suite. The Lakers are big enough and successful enough that this dynamic might never come to a head. Most teams can’t say the same.
Warriors must de-emphasize small ball, prioritize adding center this offseason
Warriors must de-emphasize small ball, prioritize adding center this offseason originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Among the lessons the Warriors learned during the 2025 NBA playoffs, which was amplified after their ouster, is that they no longer can compete among the league’s elite with their relatively miniature paint presence.
Translated, impactful size in the NBA matters more than it did 10 years ago when the Warriors would go small and torture opponents. That strategy was effective for a variety of reasons, paramount being 6-foot-6 Draymond Green’s unique ability to slide over to center and play marvelous defense while running opposing big men off the floor.
Now that it is evident Green’s body, at age 35, has lost some of that ability, the Warriors must adjust. The encouraging factor, if you’re a fan, is that they concede it.
“I’d prefer not to have to play Draymond at center for 82 games,” general manager Mike Dunleavy said two days after Golden State was eliminated by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals.
“I don’t want to start next season with Draymond as our starting 5,” coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s doable for the last 30 games, like we did this year. But you see the toll it takes on him. He’s talked about it too.”
It’s not that Kerr should completely abandon his pet lineups; there will be instances when they’re useful. But those instances are rapidly diminishing.
The Western Conference is overrun with imposing big men: Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren in Oklahoma City, Alperen Şengün in Houston, Rudy Gobert and Julius Randle in Minnesota. There are Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II in Dallas, Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Zach Edey in Memphis and Ivica Zubac with the Clippers. And, at the top of this mountain range is three-time MVP Nikola Jokić in Denver.
Those 12 players – eight of whom are under age 30 – compose a smorgasbord of skill, length and athleticism. They all bring something to the paint. Jokić is transcendent, and Wembanyama is pointed toward that direction.
The Warriors’ counters, in addition to Green, are 6-foot-9 Trayce Jackson-Davis and 7-foot Quinten Post. Jackson-Davis provides some rim protection on one end but struggles to finish in traffic on the other. Post’s best attribute is perimeter shooting. They are valuable role players. They are not, at this stage of their careers, difference-makers on a contender.
(If there were a way to combine the best of Jackson-Davis with the best of Post, the Warriors wouldn’t be in this fix.)
“It’s important if those guys of positional size are good basketball players,” Kerr said. “You can’t just add size for size’s sake, and the pieces need to fit together.”
Given the ages of Stephen Curry (37), Jimmy Butler (turns 36 before training camp) and Green, logic dictates next season as Golden State’s last, best chance to chase a championship. It’s a longshot – they would represent the oldest core trio to win the NBA Finals – but Curry’s longevity makes it worth a shot.
The Warriors own a second-round pick (41st overall) in next week’s NBA draft, but league sources tell NBC Sports Bay Area they’re showing interest in veterans that might be available – and that future draft picks are in play. Golden State owns each of its first-round picks from 2026 through 2029.
In doubt that Curry, Butler or Green would be willing to sacrifice some of that in a deal that delivered a plug-and-play big man?
“The biggest things are you’ve got to look at both sides of the ball,” Dunleavy said. “How does a player of that position complement the guys we have? That’s specifically in the frontcourt (with) Jimmy and Draymond.”
Another option on the table is the future of Jonathan Kuminga. The Warriors will tender him an $7.98 million qualifying offer sometime by June 29, making him a restricted free agent. The 6-foot-7 forward still is an attractive trade asset, and it has become apparent the Warriors are willing to listen.
Myriad possibilities are centered around Kuminga, with a sign-and-trade option being complex but doable. Dunleavy, in his brief history as GM, has shown no fear of complexity.
What’s clear is that the Warriors must make strides to join the new NBA. They need shooting, always have.
They need 3-and-D wings, always have. They need productive size, someone who can bang and bump with the best of the West. That’s a new priority. We’ll submit five candidates in our next post.
The first Lions match is about laying down a marker – but Pumas bring range of threats | Ugo Monye
Early days in a Lions camp can be nervy and everyone wants to play in Friday’s first match but Argentina provide a tough test
Every single member of the British & Irish Lions squad is in the perfect sweet spot at the moment. Blair Kinghorn aside, they all arrived into camp with a spring in their step and a smile on their face because their dreams have been realised. Speaking from experience, it is amazing how quickly you can leave national allegiances at the door.
At this stage, there is no sense of what the Test team will be, no division, or feeling that you have to make do with being a midweek dirt-tracker – the thing you are probably most nervous about is who your roommate will be. You know it will be someone from a different country and my first roommate was Keith Earls. As the youngest member of the 2009 squad, he was responsible for looking after the Lions mascot and I felt like I needed to mind him. I soon realised there are few as competitive as Keith and he did not need minding at all.
Continue reading...Pacers beat Thunder to force NBA game seven decider
The NBA Finals will be decided by a winner-takes-all game seven for the first time in nine years after the Indiana Pacers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-91 in game six to level the series.
A fine attacking display from the Pacers, which included 20 points for Obi Toppin off the bench, stopped the Thunder from claiming the Championship in Indianapolis.
Star player Tyrese Haliburton, who missed game five with a calf injury, passed a late fitness test before tip-off and managed 14 points, five assists and two steals in 22 minutes of play.
"We just wanted to protect our court," Haliburton said.
"We didn't want to see those guys celebrate a championship on our home floor. Backs against the wall, we just responded.
"So many different guys chipped in. It was a whole team effort. I'm really proud of this group."
The victory means the NBA finals will go to game seven for the first time since 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first Championship with a 4-3 series win against the Golden State Warriors.
The Thunder will host game seven on Monday (01:00 BST) but will need a much improved performance to win their first Championship since 1979.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the newly-crowned Most Valuable Player, top scored for the Thunder with 21 points but his side paid the price for missing their first eight shots of the game, which gave the Pacers an early eight-point lead.
"Credit Indiana," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "They earned the win. They outplayed us for most of the 48 minutes. They went out there and attacked the game."
Monday's game will mark the 20th time the NBA Finals have gone to game seven, with the home side in the decider triumphing 15 times.
Results
Game one: Thunder 110-111 Pacers (Indiana lead 1-0)
Game two: Thunder 123-107 Pacers (Series tied 1-1)
Game three: Pacers 116-103 Thunder (Indiana lead 2-1)
Game four: Pacers 104-111 Thunder (Series tied 2-2)
Game five: Thunder 120-109 Pacers (Oklahoma Cit lead 3-2)
Game six: Pacers 108-91 Thunder (Series tied 3-3)
Game seven: Thunder v Pacers (Monday, 23 June 01:00 BST)
5 Reasons Tristan Jarry Might Make Sense For Edmonton
With yet another disappointing end to their season in the books, the Edmonton Oilers will look to regroup next season after their second straight Stanley Cup Final loss to the Florida Panthers.
And a big story was - once again - goaltending.
For both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, it was very much a Jekyll and Hyde act - a wild card in terms of which version was going to show up on a nightly basis.
Skinner ended up with an .889 save percentage in the playoffs - including five performances surrendering five or more goals and nine of his 15 appearances coming in at a sub-.900 save percentage - and Pickard ended the playoffs at .886 with seven of his 10 appearances clocking in at sub-.900.
The Oilers are in need of change between the pipes. And so are the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins happen to have a goaltender in 30-year-old Tristan Jarry whose contract they would be wise to unload due to a plethora of goaltending prospect talent waiting in the wings in their system. Between waivers and inconsistency, 2024-25 certainly wasn't an ideal campaign for Jarry, as he ended the season 16-12-6 with an .893 save percentage.
But there are several reasons why he might still be a good fit for the Oilers should they pursue a change in goaltending personnel.
With Dallas Cap-Strapped, It's Time For Penguins To Get AggressiveOn Thursday, the Dallas Stars announced that they extended veteran forward Matt Duchene to a four-year, $18 million deal.
1. He has an All-Star pedigree
Despite his inconsistency - and outright poor performance - over the past season-plus, the capacity for Jarry to perform at a very high level is there.
The veteran netminder has made two All-Star appearances - in 2020 and 2022 - and was decent down the final stretch of the 2024-25 season for the Penguins. It's very possible that the pressure of the Penguins' situation - and the team playing so poorly in front of him - have been large factors for his lapses in overall play.
Jarry is capable of reaching a higher level, as he still has a career .909 save percentage despite horrid stretches last season. A change of scenery - and a better team in front of him - should, conceivably, help that.
2. His AAV isn't terrible
At the end of the day, the going prices for starting goaltenders in the NHL is rising more and more by year, much like the cap itself. What seemed like a bad contract as recently as last season may not look so bad as soon as next season.
Jarry is slated to make $5.375 million for the next three seasons. While that number is not ideal if a goaltender is struggling, it's certainly not the end of the world if he's performing at around a league-average clip.
In addition, the Penguins have all three of their retention slots available, so it stands to reason that they could retain a pretty big chunk of Jarry's contract as a sweetener.
3. He has some history with Edmonton
Jarry spent some significant time in Edmonton during his junior days, as he suited up for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL for four consecutive seasons from 2011-15. During his tenure, he led his team to the Memorial Cup in 2014, posting a 44-14-3 record that season to pair with a .914 save percentage.
Perhaps the guy who has been there, done that with a team in Edmonton may be able to find a little mojo with a change of scenery to a familiar place.
4. The Oilers need to act while their window is open
Again, the elephant in the room for the Oilers is that their goaltending simply has not gotten the job done for them over the past several years.
4 Potential Oilers Buy-Outs And What They'd Look LikeEDMONTON – With another heartbreak in the rearview mirror, we enter silly season.
There was a goaltending battle in the Stanley Cup Final between Skinner and Pickard, something one does not typically see at that late a stage in the playoffs. Simply put, that cannot happen.
Jarry is still unproven in the playoffs with just 8 total games and at an .891 save percentage, but - with a shortage of high-quality netminders available right now - he may just be one of their best options to bank on a bounceback.
5. They should get another piece back in a trade
Honestly, the Penguins would probably need to send an asset along with Jarry in order for a team to take him. If this happens - in addition to retention - what's the real harm in banking on a rebound performance?
As mentioned before, the cap is going up significantly for the next three years, year-by-year. And the contract itself soon won't look all that bad. So, if the Oilers are desperate to find a solution and goal - and they want to maximize what they'd get out of taking on Jarry's contract - now is the time to bite.
Former Penguin Set To Join Coaching Staff For 2025-26 SeasonA few weeks after it was announced that Dan Muse would become the 23rd head coach in Pittsburgh Penguins franchise history, it appears that a former Penguin will be joining his coaching staff as well.
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Contentious Dodgers-Padres series ends with benches clearing and managers ejected
Seven times in the last 10 days, the Dodgers and San Diego Padres have renewed their steadily intensifying divisional rivalry.
And in the last inning of the last one of those games Thursday night, the mounting tensions between the clubs — and their respective managers — finally ignited into a benches-clearing confrontation.
At the end of the Padres’ 5-3 win against the Dodgers, San Diego star Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a Dodgers pitcher for the third time over the two recent series between the National League West foes, and a career-high sixth time by the team in his six years in the majors.
Moments later, Dave Roberts and Mike Shildt were face-to-face on the field, engaged in a shouting match that caused both benches to empty in a heated melee behind home plate.
Benches clear in the 9th inning of the Padres-Dodgers game in Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/ugfVSFmqtS
— MLB (@MLB) June 20, 2025
“I felt that he was trying to make it personal with me,” Roberts said of Shildt. “Which then, I take it personal.”
Indeed, as soon as Tatis got plunked on the hand by a 93 mph fastball from debuting Dodgers rookie Jack Little, Shildt came storming out of the dugout, walking over to check on Tatis while barking in Roberts’ direction.
Whatever Shildt said, Roberts took exception. Suddenly, he was charging onto the field, bumping into Shildt as the two jawed back and forth and their two teams swarmed around them.
“I didn’t feel good about Tatis — great player, good guy — getting hit,” Roberts said, insisting the pitch from Little, who had been activated before the game and was laboring through a two-inning outing, was unintentional.
“And so as he comes out, and he’s yelling at me and staring me down, that bothers me. Because, to be quite frank, that’s the last thing I wanted. I’m taking starters out of the game. Trying to get this game over with and get this kid a couple innings. And so that’s why I took that personal. Because I understand the game, and I understand that it doesn’t feel good to get hit. But understand again, intent versus clearly no intent.”
Shildt didn’t seem to care about that last point.
“After a while, enough’s enough,” he said. “Intentional, unintentional, the fact of the matter is we took exception with it. I responded.”
The scuffle didn’t get overly physical, with some light shoving between the clubs pushing the pile into the screen behind home plate. But emotions were running hot. Roberts and Shildt had to be separated from one another. Umpires ejected both men.
“Teams I manage don’t take anything,” Shildt said. “And after a while, I’m not gonna take it. And I’m not gonna take it on behalf of Tati, I’m not gonna take it on behalf of the team, intentional or unintentional. It’s really that simple. That’s how this game is played. And if you wanna call that old school, then yeah, we’ll play old-school baseball.”
Shildt’s latter point was proven in the bottom half of the inning.
After the Dodgers scored twice to generate some late life, Shohei Ohtani was hit by Padres closer Robert Suarez in a 3-and-0 count on a 100 mph fastball off his shoulder.
Roberts, watching from his office, said he believed “clearly there was intent behind it,” marking the second time in this series he felt the Padres threw at Ohtani to retaliate for Tatis getting hit.
“I don’t really care what they say,” Shildt said. “I really don’t.”
Did Roberts feel the Padres crossed a line?
“That’s their decision,” he said, “and Major League Baseball is gonna have to look at that.”
The plot only thickened from there.
This time, the benches stayed put — in part, it appeared, because Ohtani waved for his team to remain in the dugout as he walked up the first base line.
But because dugout warnings had been issued after Tatis’ hit-by-pitch, Suarez was ejected (along with Padres bench coach Brian Esposito). That forced the Padres to summon left-hander Yuki Matsui to close things out.
Read more:Federal agents denied entry to Dodger Stadium parking lot, sparking new outrage over Trump sweeps
And for a brief moment, it looked like he might blow it.
With two runners on, the Dodgers (46-30) were supposed to have the heart of their order up. However, Roberts had already pinch-hit for Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman an inning earlier, deciding to get his stars off their feet while facing a five-run deficit.
“We're at a stretch here of a lot of games, and I felt that that was the right time,” Roberts said.
Thus, it was Miguel Rojas and Dalton Rushing who came to the plate as the tying and go-ahead runs.
Rojas drew a walk to load the bases. Then Matsui spiked a sweeper that bounced under the chest protector of catcher Martín Maldonado, plating a run and moving the Dodgers’ other baserunners into scoring position.
Alas, Rushing struck out in a full count to end the game — denying the Dodgers the chance for a four-game sweep, but still leaving them 17-12 at the end of a daunting 29-game stretch against playoff-contending teams.
“It just shows we're deep,” Betts said of the Dodgers’ performance over the last month, which vaulted them to a 3½-game lead in the division and five-game advantage over the Padres (40-34).
“But we still got a couple months to go, and just have to keep playing good Dodger baseball."
Over those final couple months, there will still be six games to play against the Padres — all of which will come over another two-week stretch in mid-August.
When Roberts was asked whether the emotions of these past couple series might linger until then, he offered a diplomatic response.
"I don't know,” he said. “We're honestly trying to win baseball games, and that's our only goal.”
But in the visiting clubhouse, where initial X-rays on Tatis’ hand were inconclusive about the severity of his injury, the Padres didn’t seem ready to turn down the dial.
“They need to set a little candle up for Tati,” third baseman Manny Machado said of the Dodgers, “and hope that everything comes back negative.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Resiliant Pacers will not go away, force Game 7 Sunday after dominant 108-91 Game 6 win vs. Thunder
INDIANAPOLIS — Hanging in the rafters of the Gainbridge Fieldhouse are three Pacers ABA championship banners — every one of them was won on the road.
The Pacers are now just one more road win away from their first NBA championship.
With its season on the line, the Pacers demonstrated the resilience that had brought them to this point, led by their All-NBA point guard, Tyrese Haliburton, who played through a strained calf, still scored 14 points, and was +25 on the night.
“I felt like he did amazing today, he led us to win. He’s a soldier, he’s never going to let a little injury keep him from playing in the Finals, from leading us to a win,” Obi Toppin said of Haliburton.
In Game 6 the Pacers played their best game of the postseason — they just kept making plays.
LISTEN TO THAT CROWD POP
— NBA (@NBA) June 20, 2025
PACERS FANS WANT GAME 7!! https://t.co/ekecaau40Opic.twitter.com/3S1LfayEj2
That’s who these Pacers have been all playoffs and it’s why there will be a Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday after a 108-91 win in Game 6.
The Pacers played with the desperation of a team trying to save its season. Their ball movement was as crisp as it has been these playoffs. More importantly, they cranked up the pressure defense and forced 21 Thunder turnovers — MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 7 made buckets and 8 turnovers on the night — which led to transition buckets going the other way.
OH MY GOODNESS THIS PACERS SEQUENCE
— NBA (@NBA) June 20, 2025
HALIBURTON STEAL.
HALIBURTON NO-LOOK DIME.
SIAKAM SLAM WITH FORCE.
Indy seeking a Game 7 on ABC pic.twitter.com/hr7RKcCUbq
This game was decided in the second quarter.
That’s when Indiana’s defensive intensity overwhelmed the Thunder reserves, and things started to spiral. OKC shot 6-of-18 for the quarter and turned the ball over seven times, which sparked a 30-9 run by Indiana to close the second. The turnovers and misses allowed the Pacers to get out in transition, and they thrived in their element with a raucous crowd soaking up every minute of it. By halftime it was 64-42 Indiana and it was in total control.
T.J. McConnell got going in the second quarter. It started doing something he has done all series — attacking whenever Aaron Wiggins (or Isaiah Joe) is the defender. But once McConnell got a couple of buckets that way, the basket looked huge and he was hitting midrangers over everyone. He finished with a dozen points on the night.
Any dreams of a Thunder comeback were snuffed out when they failed to score on their first eight possessions of the second half. While there was a flicker of life late in the third, the Thunder cut the lead to 19, the game was never really in doubt.
Indiana did it with balance, led by Toppin scoring 20 off the bench. Andrew Nembhard scored 17, Pascal Siakam added 16, and there was Haliburton’s inspirational 14.
“Everybody was tied together, and that’s how it has to be,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We did better rebounding, we did better on the turnover count, and on Sunday we’re going to have to be better.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 on 7-of-15 shooting but had eight turnovers. Jalen Williams had 16 points, and as a team the Thunder were 8-of-30 on 3-pointers.
Struggling starting pitching continues to sink Mets during six-game skid: ‘It starts on the mound’
The Mets’ starting pitching was incredible to start the season.
Despite coming into the year viewed as one of their biggest weaknesses, it’s shined.
But with the depth being put to the test of late, things have began to falter off.
While it’s not completely to blame, the Mets’ shorthanded and suddenly struggling rotation has ended up being one of the biggest catalysts behind their current season-high six-game losing streak.
“It starts on the mound,” Carlos Mendoza said. “The starting pitching, they’ve been so good the whole year pretty much carrying us to this point, you lose guys who have been consistently throwing the ball well and get some bad outings -- it happens, we're going through a rough stretch right now.”
They received another one of those bad outings on Thursday night in Atlanta, as Clay Holmes battled through some struggles with his command and issued a career-high six free passes over just 4.2 innings of work.
The last of those came to Drake Baldwin with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth.
“The walks hurt us, especially that last inning,” Holmes said. “You walk that many eventually it’s hard to avoid the big inning -- the leadoff walk hurt, then [Ronald] Acuna got on and [Austin] Riley hit a good sinker. It forced me to throw more pitches, and it’s tough to overcome that many walks.”
Prior to Thursday’s showing Holmes had been a relatively steady presence in New York’s rotation -- that marked just the second time he’d failed to complete five innings since his second start of the season.
The 32-year-old has by-far passed the most frames he’s thrown in a big-league season.
While there’s always some concern about him eventually hitting a wall in his first year transitioning from the bullpen to the starting rotation -- Holmes insists he continues feeling strong out there.
“I feel like my stuff was some of the best it’s been all year today,” he said. “The ball was coming out well and I was moving really fast, so not really -- I feel good physically and pitch-wise, it’s just a matter of executing a little better.”
Pacers roll past Thunder 108-91 to send the NBA Finals to a deciding Game 7
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Season on the line, the Indiana Pacers did what they’ve done time and time again. They bucked the odds.
And the NBA Finals are going to an ultimate game.
Obi Toppin scored 20 points, Andrew Nembhard added 17 and the Pacers forced a winner-take-all Game 7 by rolling past the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-91 on Thursday night.
The first Game 7 in the NBA Finals since 2016 is Sunday night in Oklahoma City.
“The ultimate game,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.
Pascal Siakam had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, while Tyrese Haliburton - playing through a strained calf - scored 14 points. The Pacers started slowly and then turned things into a blowout.
Game 6 was a microcosm of Indiana’s season in a way. The Pacers started the regular season with 15 losses in 25 games, have had five comebacks from 15 or more down to win games in these playoffs, and they’re one win from a title.
“We just wanted to protect home court,” Haliburton said. “We didn’t want to see these guys celebrate a championship on our home floor. Backs against the wall and we just responded. ... Total team effort.”
TJ McConnell, the spark off the bench again, finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists for Indiana.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 21 points for the Thunder, who pulled their starters after getting down by 30 going into the fourth. Jalen Williams added 16.
“Credit Indiana,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “They earned the win. They outplayed us for most of the 48 minutes. They went out there and attacked the game.”
Good news for the Thunder: home teams are 15-4 in finals Game 7s. Bad news for the Thunder: Cleveland won at Golden State in the most recent of those and one of the three other home-team losses was in 1978 - by Seattle, the franchise that would move to Oklahoma City three decades later.
Indiana missed its first eight shots and got down 10-2. The arena, roaring just a few minutes before at the start, quieted quickly. Hall of Famer Reggie Miller, sitting courtside in a Jalen Rose Pacers jersey, was pacing, kneeling, generally acting more nervous than he ever seemed as a player.
No need.
After the slow start, the Pacers outscored the Thunder 68-32 over the next 24 minutes. An Indiana team that hadn’t led by more than 10 points at any time in the first five games - and that double-digit lead was brief - led by 28 early in the third quarter. The margin eventually got to 31, which was Oklahoma City’s second-biggest deficit of the season.
The worst also came in these playoffs: a 45-point hole against Minnesota in the Western Conference finals. The Thunder came back to win that series, obviously, and now will need that bounce-back ability one more time.
“Obviously, it was a very poor performance by us,” Daigneault said.
The Thunder, desperate for a spark, put Alex Caruso in the starting lineup in place of Isaiah Hartenstein to open the second half. There was no spark. In fact, there was nothing whatsoever - neither team scored in the first 3:53 after halftime, the sides combining to miss their first 13 shots of the third quarter.
And the outcome was never in doubt.
‘Vulnerable’: Legend’s call for England shuffle as ‘real stress’ emerges for star who ‘needs runs’
Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes it is “inevitable” that Jacob Bethell will feature in the Ashes series despite missing selection for this week’s series opener against India in Leeds.
What axing means for ‘scared’ Marnus as Ashes great makes stunning call on ‘dangerous’ star
Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes that underperforming Marnus Labuschagne could benefit from some time away from the spotlight following his Test axing, adding that Australia’s batting looks “very vulnerable” ahead of the Ashes.
Rays pitcher carted off field and taken to hospital after foul ball into dugout hits him in face
Jun 19, 2025; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; A group of Tampa Bay Rays players look as pitcher Hunter Bigge (43) gets medical attention after getting hit in the face by a foul ball in the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images
Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Rays pitcher Hunter Bigge was carted off the field in a frightening scene and taken to a hospital after getting struck in the face by a foul ball lined into the Tampa Bay dugout Thursday night.
Bigge was placed on a backboard and gave a thumbs up before being driven by ambulance to a nearby hospital for tests. He never lost consciousness and was able to converse with first responders, Rays manager Kevin Cash said.
In the top of the seventh inning, Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman sharply pulled a pitch into the Tampa Bay dugout on the first base side and the ball hit Bigge, a 27-year-old right-hander currently on the injured list.
Emergency medical personnel quickly arrived to attend to Bigge. After several quiet minutes, as visibly concerned Rays players knelt in the field, Bigge was loaded onto a stretcher and carted off.
After the game, Cash said Bigge was struck in the face. The ball left Rutschman’s bat at 105 mph, according to Statcast.
Bigge, on the 15-day injured list with a lat strain, received a standing ovation from the Steinbrenner Field crowd as he was loaded onto a cart. The game resumed after an eight-minute delay, and Baltimore held on for a 4-1 victory.
Bigge was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 12th round of the 2019 amateur draft from Harvard and made his major league debut for them on July 9 last year. He was traded 19 days later to Tampa Bay along with Christopher Morel and minor leaguer Ty Johnson for All-Star third baseman Isaac Paredes.
In 32 career appearances, including one start, Bigge has a 2.51 ERA and one save. This season, he has a 2.40 ERA in 13 relief outings covering 15 innings.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb