But hosts all out for 329 after being 140-0 at lunch
For a time, it was heading up there with the worst. David Gower at Leeds in 1989, when Australia topped 600 and declared. Nasser Hussain in Brisbane, 2002, when Australia were 364 for two by the end of the day. Edgbaston 2005, where England lamped 407 from 80 overs. Those were the looming comparisons for captains deciding to bowl at the toss, after Pat Cummins did the same in the third Test at Cape Town, only for South Africa’s openers to smash 140 by lunch. Yet, by day’s end, Australia had taken 10 for a further 189, Mitchell Starc destroying the tail with four wickets in six balls, 329 all out constituting a serious Australian comeback.
What a rollercoaster. The Australian setup has looked frazzled on this tour: confused player selections for the squad, then for the XIs, confused shot selection in the middle, players bouncing around the order with nightwatch duties and injury absences. Here they chose to leave out their best player from the second Test, Scott Boland, for Nathan Lyon, and were forced to leave out their best player of the last decade, Steve Smith, for Josh Inglis, as well as dropping Nic Maddinson and Beau Webster for Cameron Green and Cooper Connolly. The last time a touring Australian side made four non-disciplinary changes was in the West Indies in 1984.
The Vegas Golden Knights are on a three-game skid and will look to get back into the win column on Tuesday. They host the Ottawa Senators at T-Mobile Arena.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PST.
The Golden Knights last played on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. They tied it up less than seven minutes after Columbus pulled ahead, and kept the game close for the remainder of regulation. Shea Theodore took a penalty early in overtime; the Blue Jackets scored on the ensuing power play, and the Golden Knights fell 2-1 in overtime.
The Senators last played on Saturday against the New York Rangers. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead, fought off New York’s comeback attempt, and scored two empty-net goals to secure a 7-4 win.
Carter Hart left morning skate early with an apparent injury. Golden Knights head coach Ryan Craig said that Hart is being evaluated and that Adin Hill will start in goal. Hill has a 4-1-0 record and an .882 save percentage in five games played this season.
Samuel Ersson is projected to start in net for the Senators. Ersson has a 0-3-0 record and an average save percentage of .835 in five games played this season.
The Golden Knights have lost their last three games and are looking to shake things up. Jonas Røndbjerg and Ville Heinola will enter the lineup for Raphael Lavoie and Dylan Coghlan.
Golden Knights Lines
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Mark Stone
Brett Howden — William Karlsson — Mitch Marner
Trevor Connelly — Tomáš Hertl — Braeden Bowman
Marc Gatcomb — Nic Dowd — Jonas Røndbjerg
Defense
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Jeremy Lauzon — Noah Hanifin
Ville Heinola — Rasmus Andersson
Goaltenders: Carter Hart / Adin Hill
Projected Senators Lines
Fabian Zetterlund — Tim Stützle — Claude Giroux
Warren Foegele — Dylan Cozens — Drake Batherson
Ridly Greig — Shane Pinto — Michael Amado
Nick Cousins — Stephen Halliday — Andre Burakovsky
Defense
Jake Sanderson — Artem Zub
Tyler Kleven — Jordan Spence
Nikolas Matinpalo — Carter Yakemchuk
Goaltenders: Samuel Ersson / Jonas Johansson
Special Teams
VGK power play: 24.4%, 9th
VGK penalty kill: 67.7%, 28th
Senators power play: 11.5%, T-29th
Senators penalty kill: 79.1%, 17th
Game Notes
Last season, the Golden Knights dropped both games against the Senators, finishing 0-1-1. They are 12-2-2 against Ottawa all time.
Golden Knights captain Mark Stone is on a seven-game point streak against the Senators. Stone has four goals and 12 points in eight career games against his former team.
Jack Eichel leads the Golden Knights in scoring this season with 19 points in 12 games. Eichel has 15 goals and 35 points in 25 career games against the Senators.
Tim Stützle leads the Senators in scoring this season with 16 points in 12 games. Stützle has two goals and 10 points in 10 career games against the Golden Knights.
Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart has a 2-3-0 record and an average save percentage of .900 in five career games against the Senators.
Senators goaltender Sam Ersson is 1-0-0 with a .960 save percentage in one career game against the Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights are 5-2-0 at home this season; the Senators are 3-2-0 on the road.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - OCTOBER 24: Yandy Diaz #2 of the Tampa Bay Rays strikes out for the final out against the Milwaukee Brewers to end the ninth inning in game two of the 2026 World Series at American Family Field on October 24, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Game 2 of the 2026 World Series ended, to some, in controversy. Yandy Díaz may, or may not, have checked his swing in a full count facing Aaron Ashby, getting himself punched out as the Brewers went up 2-0 in the Fall Classic. The called strike three set off a round of assurances that the check swing challenge system being tested in the minor leagues will fix this, that we will have a perfect game soon.
I’m not sure I want a perfect game. I’m not sure I want a perfect anything.
I wrote almost two years ago as the ABS system loomed on the horizon about preserving a tinge of doubt. That challenge system has turned out great. The most egregious calls, especially earlier in the season, were corrected, but limits on how many reviews you get and internal controls on who and when you can challenge introduced a new layer of in-game tactical decisions, adding friction to the newly-optimized strikezone.
That balance is the one that I’m increasingly interested in finding. Everything is very easy for us now. I can write this from my toilet while on a lunch break from my email job with a burrito in a heat bag on the back of a bicycle about to be dropped off outside my door. The perpetual optimization of the consumer life has made it easier to do nothing but stay home and consume, but has removed bumping into a friend walking down the street or seeing a cool bird because you had to walk through the park to get food yourself.
The increase in LLM usage underscores this as well. Once again I give a pledge to you all that you will never read a word of mine that came from Claude or Chat or any of the New C Words, but I work with people and text (a limited amount) with people and read essays from people that involve a prompt, and maybe a follow-up, and no sweat or creativity afterward. These things cause me great pain to read.
Baseball’s path to optimization hasn’t really made people more stagnant in the same way that DoorDash and streaming services have. Instead, the path to optimization has resulted in the thing that I believe is hurting the watchability of the sport: pitching is too good. We have learned how to add three miles per hour to everyone’s pitch, with an extra three inches of horizontal break to every sweeper, three inches of induced vertical break to everyone’s fastball, we’ve figured out tunneling so the three pitches a reliever features all look the same until past the swing decision point, and we’ve worked out that using five pitchers in a nine-inning game is more effective on a per-inning basis than three.
Indeed, one major reason why the Brewers and Rays are in the World Series in the first place is because they have so managed to optimize pitching. Between Jacob Misiorowski and Freddy Peralta and Aaron Ashby and Drew Rassmussen, this is what you get when you’ve hit the absolute prime in development. The only way to claw any of that back is institutional — I’m in favor of both limiting the number of pitchers you have on your roster, and tying the DH to pitcher usage in some way, but this post isn’t about that.
It’s about baseball losing friction. Once everything is optimized yes we should have a game where everything is decided solely by the players and … OK, yeah, sure, but that also means we never get a Jeffrey Maier, or a Jackie-and-Yogi at home plate, indelible moments of baseball’s history. Sports are meant to have a little mess, just a little, because that’s what we end up talking about.
Last Friday I saw the newly-restored remaster of Ken Russell’s The Devils, one of the more controversial and explicit pieces of film ever made. It was a little inconvenient to get there, as the bus we had to take is the least reliable bus line in the city, the mall the cinema is attached to is very much a liminal space with an elevator that has over the summer induced vertigo more than once. I could have stayed home, pulled up a torrent, watched it on TV not five feet from the desk where I work a full-time job.
But I didn’t, and the experience was better for it. Rolling my eyes at an unreliable bus leads to widening them at Sister Jean cloaked entirely in shadow. Forgoing the free torrent for a paid showing meant whoa I’ve never heard the score like that.
We want optimization, and we should get a good amount of it. This Series is the showcase of the uber-optimized ballclub though, and forgive me for preferring to argue whether Jackie was really out at home plate — and he was.
Last week was some of the best sleep I had gotten in a long time. Climbing into bed with the biggest, dumbest grin on my face, giddily scrolling through my phone on Canis, Reddit, and YouTube, seeing what everyone had to say about just how awesome the Minnesota Timberwolves are. Seriously, it was great.
I would whisper myself to sleep, repeating the mantra “82 and 0, 82 and 0…,” then dream of show-stopping sequences like Ant juggling the ball through traffic and rocking the rim, Melo doing the jump rope shuffle into a one-footed rainbow three, Beringer blocks, Kuminga lobs, TJ step-back threes, and secret handshakes that will be studied by kinesics experts and nonverbal communication researchers for decades.
There were also dreams of glory, of hoisted hardware, of an “anything is possible” redux with the legend himself, KG, sitting courtside, tears of joy glistening in his eyes. One can dream, but most of these dreams actually did happen, so why not that one as well?
Why not us?
Yes, I know the Wolves will officially not be going 82-0 this year, and that’s too bad. I had high hopes we could get it done this year. I’ve reached out to the NBA about reviewing the tape and possibly getting that loss to Cleveland reversed. They haven’t responded, but that’s on them.
Barring a reversal, just because we’re not going 82-0 doesn’t mean we can’t go 81-1, and putting the Cavs debacle aside there is still so much to be giddy about when it comes to this new look Wolves team. So let’s overreact, shall we? No single loss is going to stop us from listening to our hearts on repeat.
The heart is always right.
Best in the West
Is this year’s Wolves squad reminding anyone else of the 95-96 Chicago Bulls? You don’t even have to squint to see that Anthony Edwards is obviously MJ, while Scottie Pippen has undergone some sort of bifurcation process and split off into both LaMelo Ball and Jaden McDaniels. Then you’ve got defensive stalwart and human highlight reel Jonathan Kuminga, the Stifle Tower Rudy Gobert, Ayo Dosunmu, TJ Shannon, the French Prince Joan Beringer – hold up…
Are the Wolves actually better than the 95-96 Bulls? How is that even possible?
With a small enough sample size, anything is possible.
Also worth noting, in that historic Bulls season, they played their third game at home against the Toronto Raptors, and their next game on the road against…you guessed it…the Cleveland Cavaliers. Of course, unlike us, they beat Cleveland, but they weren’t on the second night of a back-to-back. Just something to consider when we’re comparing our respective places in NBA history.
That Bulls team also still holds the best net rating in NBA history at +13.4. While I do think that’s beatable, I firmly believe the Wolves have a real shot at breaking the NBA record for point differential, previously held by the 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder at +12.9 PPG.
Right now, even with the loss to the Cavs, the Wolves are second in the league in point differential at a still absurd +17 PPG, behind only Micah Nori’s Portland Trail Blazers. We love Micah, but there’s no way his team keeps this up. The Wolves, on the other hand, will, because of the power of friendship and Rudy’s goatee that Chris Finch strokes for good luck when no one is looking.
If the Wolves continue to not just beat the teams they should beat, but consistently crush them, a double-digit differential is sustainable.
And it wouldn’t hurt to embarrass some of our fellow West contenders while we’re at it.
By the way, last year’s Melo-led Hornets team had a double-digit point differential from January 3rd onward, and this team is leaps and bounds better than that fun but flawed Hornets squad. To add to that, as those mid-season buzzsaw buzzers were just starting to take flight, one game that especially turned heads was a 27-point drubbing of the Thunder in OKC.
Can we get in on that, please?
Ant is winning MVP
I’ve hitched my wagon to the Ant MVP train, and so far so good. With LaMelo allowing him to slide into his more natural shooting guard position, this fully realized version of Ant has never had this much space to work with. So far, after four games, he’s putting up 33.3 points per game on 72.1% true shooting. Ant has increased both his scoring and true shooting averages every year, which means…cue Disco Stu…
If the Wolves go 81-1, it will be hard not to give him the nod. But if, for whatever reason, something goes horribly wrong and the team finds itself struggling to claw its way to 60 wins, I think those numbers will still suffice, and Ant will have himself his first real piece of NBA hardware.
Ayo 6MOY campaign loading
It’s as simple as this: Ayo is a stud, and the Wolves are going to be the best team to come out of the West. Historically, the studliest bench player on the best team wins Sixth Man of the Year. This isn’t even an overreaction; it’s just the most logical take.
Jaden makes his first all-star game
Your favorite player’s favorite player gets to play on everybody’s favorite night. /s
Jaden will get a considerable number of player votes. What remains to be seen is how he fares in the fan voting, but with this team’s popularity having skyrocketed, I expect to see some favoritism swing the Wolves’ way. He’s more than earned the recognition.
What’s more, Jaden will win all-star MVP because Ant will continuously feed him the ball, and then at some point Jaden will do this…
Terrence Shannon Jr. will finish top-10 in the league in three-point percentage
Hey, he’s shooting 50% from long-range. Did I see this coming? No. Is it sustainable? Yes. How so? I don’t know. Through Crunch, all things are possible.
We’ve all heard the stories of TJ as a known gym rat. First player to arrive at the gym, last player to leave. It should come as no surprise that a player with his work ethic has managed to add this wrinkle to his game. I, for one, welcome our new three-point overlord.
Elsewhere Around the League
Miami Heat will miss the playoffs, again
The Heat are bad. Like, really, really bad. It’s basically Giannis and an assortment of chips, and I guess Bam but sometimes he is so invisible that calling him out at all, I feel, is one acknowledgement too many. And by the way, aren’t you supposed to trade the bag of chips? That’s how we got Ayo.
From what I’ve seen, this is a play-in team, at best. To all the talking heads out there who think the Heat will be fine: stop it. They will not be fine. They are atrocious, and after the Kalshi shareholder’s stunt in Milwaukee, I choose to bask in the schadenfreude of it all.
If I go to the gym and the Heat are playing, I will watch the game while on the treadmill and declare myself an honorary member of the 2026-27 Miami Heat.
Ty Jerome for Most Improved Player is a lock
Who had Ty Jerome averaging nearly 30 points per game on the 4-0 Memphis Grizzlies on their bingo card? And if you did, have you ever actually played bingo before?
With Ja finally gone, the Grizzlies are no longer just “fine in the West”. They’re on a roll, with Ty as the engine. He’s always been a bucket getter, but for the first time in his career he’s getting a chance to really let it fly, putting up nearly 20 shots a game (his previous high was 8.8 two seasons ago on the Cavs).
From logo threes to his signature floater, there’s no reason to believe he won’t keep his scoring output at least in the low-to-mid-20 point-per-game range. And if the Grizzlies keep winning, this race is all but over.
Denver is on life support
I will admit to this very much being confirmation bias.
It doesn’t help that the Nuggets got absolutely dismantled the other night at home by a Golden State Warriors team we all project to be pretty bad this season. But the Nuggets peaked in 2023, and they haven’t done much to disabuse that notion.
While they still might win enough games purely on the back of professional horse whisperer Nikola Jokić, they are nowhere near the top-4 and should probably be looking over their shoulder at those pesky Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers nipping at their heels. However the regular season pans out, I’m just not buying it.
The top two West teams are not who we thought they were
With OKC’s devastating key injuries (Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace are expected to miss several months, if not the entire season), the sky isn’t falling for them, but it is lowering considerably and moving quickly while doing so.
Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs’ rather clunky start is showing us that progress is indeed not linear. Even if they are choosing to cruise to the playoffs, that could make things awfully contentious in the upper bracket of the Western Conference as the rest of the season shakes out.
The Houston Rockets have been the most impressive team in the West so far, besides the Wolves, of course. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if those four teams are the ones wrestling for top seeding.
Obviously, the Wolves will be sitting comfortably in first, 20 or so games ahead of the next tier of teams when it’s all said and done. 81-1 is undefeated. That made more sense in my head.
Yaxel Lendeborg could be the first player to retire during his rookie season due to having lost all respect for the league
When asked what contributed to his surprise decision to leave the NBA so abruptly, Lendeborg simply said, “I ain’t no h**.”
Editor’s note: Technically, Gene Melchiorre retired from the NBA after his point-shaving scandal in college was discovered. Despite being the first overall pick, he had no way of fighting the story and walked away before Maurice Podoloff banned him
Now, you have faces of the league convincing people to gamble their savings away on prediction markets with no repercussions.
That’s sad.
What are your overreactions to the first week of NBA play? Do you agree that the Wolves will finish 81-1? Have you also reached out to the league about the Cavs game? Sound off in the comments below.
The reigning champion Knicks fell to 0-3 on the new season, pointing to either violent regression or a debilitating hangover, depending on who you ask. While fans and media have their theories, head coach Mike Brown points to three on-court causes.
Brown blames missing quality shot attempts, lacking physicality/pace, and the combination of careless turnovers and poor defense in transition, per SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley. Everybody has their piece of the picture, but zoom out and the problem may be a short-term sacrifice that bears fruit in the long run, like one the Knicks dealt with last year.
Brown was brought in partly to, and partly won a championship off, the willingness to use the regular season to experiment over trying to maximize wins. He installed a brand new offensive system, shortened starters’ minutes to save them for the rigors of the postseason, and constantly tried new players and lineups.
This strategy paid off in spades. Karl-Anthony Towns as a passing hub saved their season in the first round, third-stringers stepped up all year round and Jalen Brunson-Jose Alvarado lineups closed the greatest comeback in playoff history.
Coming into 2026-27, Brown has much cooler expectations, being the coach that accomplished the impossible versus the one that’d better or leave town. He’s also watched eight consecutive new NBA teams win and fail to make it back to the NBA Finals, and knows the Knicks can’t afford to be stagnant if they want to repeat.
Given he has more leash and political capital than any New York coach in recent history, and both the incentives and blueprint for innovating, it’s only natural he’d go even further in using the regular season, conceptually, to prioritize spring wins over winter ones. We’ve seen it in numerous ways these first three games, perhaps contributing to the early malaise by throwing new questions at a team trying to cheat off a test from last year.
Despite losing three games by single digits, all of which went down to the wire, the Knicks starters are playing about the same average minutes as they did last year. Brown has held firm with losing and bench-heavy units to see more of those combinations.
Speaking of bench-heavy units, the Knicks have poured 19 minutes into lineups without Brunson or Towns in three games this season. For comparison, outside of garbage time, they played these combinations for 47 minutes, total, in last year’s playoffs.
During training camp, Brown pointed to bigger offensive roles for his wings, so this trend aligns. We’ve seen OG Anunoby self-create much more of his offense.
The offense in general isn’t simply what the Knicks trotted out last season. They’ve heavily leaned into their freelance motion approach over set plays to start the season, a challenge that could help explain their 29th overall offensive start.
Brunson isn’t getting his usual amount of on-ball reps either, with his possession rate dropping from 45.7 percent last season to 29.6 percent this season, per film analyst DJ Zullo. This could be a factor in his poor shooting start.
Brown’s even shifted the rotation in these opening contests, closing with James Wiseman as the primary backup center over Andre Drummond in their latest contest. This, along with adjusting between defensive schemes, has given the Knicks a steady flow of new looks instead of allowing them to ride the championship’s coattails.
While these may make things somewhat tougher in the short term, if Brown is correct like he was last season, they’ll pay off down the line. A Knicks team that’s better prepared to make offensive plays when Brunson’s having a bad night, or rely on a deep bench cut in a pivotal Game 6, is one that’s better prepared to repeat.
There is a downside, as the Knicks are looking to rebuild their mettle and regain their rhythm amid a landscape that’s changing despite familiar faces. The ring bought them at least three games of rope, but if the losing continues, the noise won’t stay quiet.
Brown faced similar circumstances last year and successfully pivoted, so if that situation arose again, there’s no doubt he’d be able to do the same. But if the price for another championship is a 2-6 start in November, Brown, his team, and their fans should be happy to pay it.
Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Pierce said he's "tapped out" financially amid a custody battle with his ex-wife, Princess Santiago, according to court documents.
Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Pierce said he’s “tapped out” after his final check from FS1 in August, leaving him without a steady income amid a custody battle with his ex-wife, Princess Santiago, according to court documents obtained by TMZ.
Paul — who earned $195.1 million in salary over his 19-season NBA career, per Spotrac — pays around $28,000 in child support and another $20,000 in spousal support to Santiago per month, the court docs state.
The ex-couple share a son, King Rafael, who was born in February.
Princes Santiago with her son, King, in April 2026. Jam Press/@lifewithprincess
Paul spends around $48,000 a month in bills, including $8,000 in childcare, $5,000 in groceries, $7,000 on eating out, $3,200 on utilities, $1,000 on clothes and $3,500 on entertainment, among other expenses, per the court documents.
The 49-year-old adds that he has $300,000 in the bank and $3 million in property to his name.
Paul’s final check from Fox Sports came in August — and his average monthly income was $119,000 as an employee of the network.
Pierce says he earned around $23,000 in September from his partnership interests in other business ventures.
Paul Pierce attends the game between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers on October 22, 2025 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NBAE via Getty Images
Pierce is asking the court to deny Santiago’s request for $40,000 in legal fees and another $10,000 for a forensic accountant, whom she allegedly hired to review his financial records.
The Celtics legend’s attorney said his client, who is “financially drowning,” would have “great difficulty” paying these fees since his Fox Sports income ended.
Pierce and Santiago, an event director in Los Angeles, have been in a custody battle for months.
Santiago previously filed a paternity suit in January, claiming Pierce was the father of her son.
In court documents obtained by TMZ in August, Santiago provided text messages claiming Pierce ignored her throughout her pregnancy and “prioritized love interests and vacations” over their son.
She asked the court for sole legal and physical custody of their child, as well as child support payments.
Pierce hosts the “Ticket & The Truth” podcast alongside former teammate Kevin Garnett. He also hosts the “The Truth After Dark,” a weekly relationship and pop culture podcast co-hosted with Azar Farideh.
Paul Pierce talks to the media before the game between the Boston Celtics and the LA Clippers on January 22, 2025 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. NBAE via Getty Images
Paul worked as an analyst for FS1 after he was fired from ESPN in 2021 due to his conduct on social media.
At the time, the 10-time NBA All-Star shared a live Instagram video at a poker game that included strippers and smoking weed.
On Monday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman appeared on the FAN Hockey Show and provided a new update on the situation between the Detroit Red Wings and restricted free agent defenseman Simon Edvinsson.
The 23-year-old has reportedly grown tired of the organization and the prolonged delay in getting a new contract, having been eligible for over a year. It sounds increasingly like Detroit is looking to move on from the issue and potentially trade the sixth overall pick from 2021.
"There's a lot of interest in Simon Edvinsson," Friedman said, noting that Detroit is asking a fairly high price. He added that he thinks "the talks there are really picking up."
Friedman also spoke about Edvinsson and Detroit's other player on the way out, center Dylan Larkin, on Saturday during Rogers Saturday Night Hockey.
"The Red Wings continue to take calls on both players; we have heard...they have been asking about young centers either in the NHL or not yet there," Friedman said on his Saturday Headlines segment.
Several clubs have reportedly shown interest in Edvinsson, including the St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, Utah Mammoth, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins, and each has some intriguing pieces Detroit could target.
The Blues have Dalibor Dvorský, a top-ten pick in 2023, while the Flyers have a pair of young center prospects in Jack Berglund and Jett Luchanko. The Mammoth could offer marquee center prospects Ethan Belchetz and Caleb Desnoyers.
The Maple Leafs are not deep at center but have top-six forward Easton Cowen and center prospect Tinus Luc Koblar. The Bruins may have the most options of all, with Fraser Minten, Dean Letourneau and Dans Ločmelis.
Detroit has plenty of options, and acquiring a reliable forward in return could also help open up the team’s defensive rotation, creating more opportunities for players who aren’t seeing regular minutes, such as Axel Sandin-Pellikka.
The Red Wings still have time to reach a decision, but Edvinsson must sign a new contract before the December 1 deadline for restricted free agents. Otherwise, he would be ineligible to play for the remainder of the season. If Detroit cannot reach an agreement by then, it could mark the beginning of the end for Edvinsson’s time with the organization.
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Coast 2 Coast Tuesday returns to NBC and Peacock tonight with two action-packed NBA games. First at 8:00 PM ET, Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons take on Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Later, at 11:00 PM ET, Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers take on Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers.
See below to find out how to watch both games as well as additional information on how to live stream NBA games on Peacock.
Last season, Portland made the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-2021 season, powered by the emergence of a young core.
Avdija, who is coming off the best season of his career, earned his first career All-Star selection, averaging a career-high 24.2 points per game and 6.7 assists per game.
Donovan Clingan, now in his third NBA season, led the league in offensive rebounds per game (4.5), while Camara continued to establish himself as one of Portland's top defenders, leading the team in steals the last two seasons.
The Trail Blazers, led by new head coach Micah Nori, look to build on last season's success with the return of Damian Lillard, the franchise's all-time leading scorer.
The 14-year veteran missed all of last season while recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in April 2025 during his time with Milwaukee.
How to watch 2026-27 NBA games on NBC and Peacock?
The NBA is back on NBC and Peacock for the 2026-27 season with 100 regular-season games across its three marquee nights of the week: Peacock NBA Monday, Coast 2 Coast Tuesday, and Sunday Night Basketball, beginning Jan. 24, 2027.
All NBA games presented by NBC Sports will stream live on Peacock and all Peacock-exclusive games on Monday nights will also be presented on NBCSN. Telemundo, NBCUniversal’s Spanish-language broadcast network, will present 10 Sunday Night Basketballgames as well as the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 21, 2027.
What is the full 2026-27 NBA on NBC and Peacock schedule?
You can see the full schedule of 2026-27 NBA games airing on NBC, Peacock, NBCSN, and Telemundo here.
How do I sign up for Peacock to watch NBA games?
Peacock is available across a variety of devices. To get started, find or download the Peacock application on your device or head directly to PeacockTV.com to create a Peacock account. Then, you’re ready to watch!
Peacock offers one of the most comprehensive live sports streaming lineups available today, bringing together the NFL, NBA, MLB, WNBA, Premier League, NCAA football, NCAA basketball, golf, motorsports, and major global sporting events in a single service.
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - JULY 12: Former Tampa Bay Rays Player Evan Longoria waves during his #3 retirement at Tropicana Field prior to a game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Seattle Mariners on July 12, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The greatest player in franchise history, Evan Longoria, will be on hand throw out the ceremonial first pitch before game four of the 2026 World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers.
Originally drafted by the Rays as the 3rd overall selection of the 2006 draft, Longoria rapidly reached the big leagues by April 2008 and cemented himself as the team’s third baseman for the next decade, completely shattering franchise records along the way. During his 2008 campaign, Longoria became the first player in team history to be awarded the Rookie of the Year.
During his 10-year long tenure with the Tampa Bay Rays, Longoria hit .270/.341/.483 with 261 homeruns, registering a 123 wRC+ over 1,435 games played. The first four years of his career, Longoria was on a Hall of Fame trajectory as he averaged 6.7 fWAR per year, but then injuries began to take a toll on his performance. Still, Longoria provided the Rays with solid defense and offensive production throughout the second half of his time with the Rays.
In 2011, Evan Longoria provided fans with a lifetime memory when he punched the team’s ticket to the postseason with a walk-off homerun during Game 162 to finalize an incredible month long comeback.
To go along with 2008 Rookie of the Year award, Longoria won three Gold Gloves for Tampa Bay and took him a Silver Slugger award in 2009; Longoria also received MVP consideration in six of his 10 seasons with Tampa Bay, placing as high as 6th twice (2010 & 2013). Longoria twice hit three homeruns in a single game and hit for the cycle in 2017, just the second player in franchise history to do so.
Following the 2017 season, Longoria was traded to the San Francisco Giants and played decently for five years, averaging 1.4 fWAR per season. Longoria’s last hurrah came in 2023 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, with whom he reached the World Series.
Evan Longoria officially retired as a member of the Rays in 2025. Then earlier this year, the Rays retired the #3 and inducted Longoria into the Tampa Bay Rays Hall of Fame.
Trevor Connelly is just 20, but the Golden Knights rookie is already giving fans something to get excited about. He has four goals so far and is on pace for 26 this season. Not a bad start for the kid.
Vegas hosts Ottawa Tuesday at 7 p.m. PT at T-Mobile Arena, looking to shake off Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss to Columbus. Tomas Hertl scored for the Knights, with Connelly and Braeden Bowman picking up assists, but Adam Fantilli ended things in overtime.
Ottawa won’t exactly be arriving quietly, either. The Senators just put up seven goals in a 7-4 win over the Rangers, their highest-scoring game of the season.
Eichel and Stone Have History Against Ottawa
Jack Eichel leads Vegas with 19 points, including six goals and 13 assists. He’s also had the Senators’ number over the years, scoring 15 goals in 25 career games against them. In his last eight matchups with Ottawa, he’s added five goals and five assists.
Mark Stone has eight goals and 15 points this season, and he’s picked up six points in his last four games against the Senators. Vegas will need its top guys to deliver if Ottawa’s offense gets rolling again.
And then there’s Connelly. Four goals already have him tied for the rookie lead, and his 26-goal pace is something Golden Knights fans can dream about. Of course, keeping that up for an entire season is another story, but the early returns are promising.
Can Vegas Slow Down Stützle?
Ottawa’s Tim Stützle is coming in hot, with 16 points on eight goals and eight assists. He’s scored in three straight games and has a point in four consecutive outings.
Vegas can’t afford to give him too much room, especially after what the Senators did to New York.
The Knights have a strong history against Ottawa, going 12-2-0 all time. A win Tuesday would be the 410th regular-season victory in franchise history and give Vegas a chance to get back on track at home.
After letting one slip away in overtime, the Golden Knights will be eager to make this one count.
Australia were on the ropes halfway through day one against South Africa in Cape Town, but punched their way back into the fight to bring the third and deciding Test to life.
CHICAGO, IL - OCTOBER 24: Anthony Davis #23 of the Washington Wizards and Trae Young #3 of the Washington Wizards celebrate during the second half of an NBA game against the Chicago Bulls on October 24, 2026 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Washington Wizards’ 2026-27 regular season is young. And though AJ Dybantsa has still yet to make his season (and NBA) debut, the Wizards’ two established All-Stars, guard Trae Young and forward Anthony Davis, are producing the numbers fans expect.
Both Young and Davis are averaging 22 points a game each, both in the top 30 for the NBA. It should also be no surprise that Young and Davis are also taking the most shots per game. That said, Davis is making only y 44 percent of his shots so far this season, well below his career rate of 52.2 percent. That said, Davis has only played four games so this percentage should move up over time.
Young has started off on a hot streak with assists where he leads the NBA with 11.0 per game. Though he averaged just 8.0 assists per game last season though it was in just 15 total appearances with the Wizards and Atlanta Hawks. From the 2022-23 through 2024-25 seasons, Young averaged at least 10 assists per game though it also came with him averaging over 4 turnovers per game. This season, Young is only averaging 2.3 turnovers though four games is a small sample size.
If Young and Davis stay consistent, the Wizards should be a significantly improved team this season, even if they can’t carry Washington to a Top-4 finish in the Eastern Conference. Now, we’re just waiting on when Dybantsa to get cleared for his professional debut.
TORONTO, CANADA - OCTOBER 21: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors handles the ball during the game against the Chicago Bulls on October 21, 2026 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Kawhi Leonard will undergo a treatment and rehabilitation program due to left knee swelling, according to the Toronto Raptors. Leonard will be reevaluated in one week.
Toronto also revealed that medical imaging revealed no acute injury.
The longest stretch of games Leonard missed during his lone campaign with the Raptors in 2019 was four games over nearly a week. At the time, he wasn’t listed with an official acute injury and his absence was described as load management. The Raptors went 3-1 during this stretch.
If he’s cleared in one week (Nov. 4), he’ll miss a total of four games, including matchups against the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers.
Leonard missed the first 34 games of the 2024-25 season with the Los Angeles Clippers due to chronic inflammation and right knee swelling. While Raptors fans can breathe a sigh of relief that it’s not the same knee, it’s impossible to ignore the dread this news brings.
In Leonard’s defence, the superstar made up for his absence by playing 37 of the final 48 games of the season. In the following year, Leonard appeared in 65 contests, the second most games he’s played in since 2016-17. During that year with the San Antonio Spurs, he played a career-high 74 games and was an All-Star.
Toronto knew exactly what the Kawhi Leonard experience would be like when it traded for him this summer: He is going to miss time with injury concerns and load management, and the team will have to win games without him.
That starts this week. Leonard is out with swelling in his left knee and will be re-evaluated in one week, the team announced Tuesday. Toronto said in its release that Leonard "will undergo a treatment and rehabilitation program to address swelling in his left knee. Medical imaging revealed no acute injury." (Leonard hasn't missed time with a left knee issue since before the pandemic, it's usually the right knee that needs management).
Don't be surprised if he misses a couple of weeks (ESPN's Shams Charania called it a "period of weeks"). The Raptors will have Leonard in bubble wrap all season. At a minimum, expect Leonard to be out when Toronto hosts Orlando for two games this week, then travels to Los Angeles for a back-to-back Sunday and Monday against the Lakers and Clippers. That means Leonard will miss his only game at Intuit Dome this season.
After that, the Raptors continue on the road against the Nuggets and Bucks, and Leonard may well miss those games, too.
Leonard being out came somewhat out of left field: He played 28 minutes in a win at Washington last Friday, traveled to Minnesota with the team and was going through his normal pre-game routine Sunday when he became a late scratch due to his left knee.
Leonard averaged 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in the two games he has played this season, both wins for the Raptors. While he shot just 32.4% in those two games, he looked like his All-NBA self from a season ago in terms of process and getting to his spots, the shots just weren't falling. With Leonard and Scottie Barnes leading the way, the Raptors have a fierce defense that can win them a lot of games — and a lot of playoff games.
But that only works if Leonard is healthy, and that's the priority now.
LOS ANGELES — With the Dodgers season now concluded, we have some distance to look back at the television and radio broadcasts for the team in the 2026 regular season.
Joe Davis called 88 games on SportsNet LA, right in line with his 87 games in each of 2023, 2024, and 2025. The extra game locally this year came on July 19 at Yankee Stadium. The day before, Fox was set to televise Dodgers-Yankees with Davis on the call, but the game was rained out. The makeup game, during the day on Sunday, was televised by SportsNet LA with Davis and Orel Hershiser on the call, followed by a nightcap that was on NBC.
He said one of his favorite parts of SportsNet LA broadcasts this year was doing profiles of former Dodgers players, giving a glimpse into sometimes obscure players and telling the stories of folks the audience might not have known.
Here’s one example of one of those in-game profiles by Davis, on August 28 when the Dodgers played the Tigers in Detroit. Davis came back from break to start the top of the sixth inning talking about Goody Rosen (who folks here might remember from a Dodgers Rewind in September 2022).
“Happy Dodger birthday to Goodwin ‘Goody’ Rosen, who was from Canada, played center field for the Dodgers in the late 1930s, from 1937 through 1939, and then didn’t appear in another major league game for five years,” Davis said on the broadcast. “He was in the minors for four seasons before World War II opened up a bunch of roster spots across every team. So he comes back up, in 1945 Goody hits .345 for the Dodgers, but he was in his mid-30s by now so he only played one more season, retired from the big leagues. Kept on playing though, he played some semi-pro baseball and some fast-pitch softball for the Canadian national team. Goody lived to be 81 years old.”
Rosen’s story was interwoven by Davis into the first three pitches of the sixth inning, while Tommy Edman was batting, and harkened back to an older era when baseball broadcasts included more storytelling.
Stephen Nelson was on play-by-play for the other 57 SportsNet LA games in 2026, and also called 59 games on AM 570 radio, plus four more radio games in the postseason when the Dodgers were on the road. He also called all three exhibition Freeway Series games against the Angels on March 22-24.
The most prolific TV pairing for the Dodgers on SportsNet LA this year was Davis and Hershiser at 58 games with Nelson and Hershiser next with 27 games.
Eric Karros called 34 games, 19 with Nelson and 15 with Davis. Karros was also in the SportsNet LA booth alongside Nelson for three Freeway Series games in March.
Jessica Mendoza called 17 games for SportsNet LA, 11 alongside Davis and six with Nelson.
Dontrelle Willis also made his return to local Dodgers broadcasts this season for the first time since 2023, calling all seven games of a road trip through Miami and Cincinnati from September 12-18, two games with Davis and five alongside Nelson. Willis was the analyst for all four Dodgers games exclusively on Apple TV, with Wayne Randazzo on play-by-play.
Willis during the series in Miami on September 13 was inducted into the Marlins Hall of Fame. In that same game, Josue De Paula hit his first major league home run, a towering 416-foot blast to right field.
“First of all, what a bomb for your first hit in the big leagues. But being with Dontrelle that road trip was so fun. He hadn’t called a game for SNLA since 2023, which was my first year. And we’ve been trying to get him back. Because it’s just pure energy and joy,” Nelson recalled. “So, D-Train’s energy, combined with the energy Josue brought with that swing an in general down the stretch, was just a fun thing to be part of. And I’m so pumped for his future. It couldn’t be brighter.”
The other two games on SportsNet LA featured Nomar Garciappara as analyst alongside Joe Davis on April 26 against the Chicago Cubs, and Clayton Kershaw making his broadcast booth debut on August 25 against the Braves in Atlanta, also alongside Davis. Kershaw was also a part of some NBC Sports telecasts this season as an analyst sitting near the dugout.
Here are the television broadcaster pairings for all Dodgers regular season games in 2026.
Broadcasters
Games
W-L (Pct)
Runs scored
Runs allowed
Davis & Hershiser
58
34-24 (.586)
4.41
3.16
Nelson & Hershiser
27
20-7 (.741)
5.30
3.78
Nelson & Karros
19
12-7 (.632)
6.42
5.11
National TV games
17
9-8 (.529)
5.00
4.06
Davis & Karros
15
12-3 (.800)
527
3.13
Davis & Mendoza
11
4-7 (.364)
4.73
5.82
Nelson & Mendoza
6
4-2 (.667)
4.00
2.33
Nelson & Willis
5
2-3 (.400)
4.60
4.00
Davis & Willis
2
2-0 (1.000)
4.00
0.50
Davis & Garciaparra
1
1-0 (1.000)
6.00
0.00
Davis & Kershaw
1
0-1 (.000)
3.00
4.00
Freddie Freeman was trying to get Kyle Karros to look at his dad, Eric Karros, in the Dodgers broadcast booth.
Six times this season Colorado Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros played against the Dodgers when Eric Karros, Kyle’s father, was calling games. Karros would go out of his way to avoid acknowledging the relationship, almost to comical effect, at times simply referring to “the third baseman.”
After a Karros single at Dodger Stadium on May 26, first baseman Freddie Freeman was laughing with him and continuously pointing up to the Dodgers broadcast booth, where Eric Karros was calling the game, trying to get a reaction.
“I’m obviously a few years behind EK in terms of being a father to two boys. So I look up to him in many respects there; how he and Trish have raised Kyle and Jared,” Nelson recalled. “But calling a game with him hitting as Kyle homered off [Miguel] Rojas at Dodger Stadium was just awesome. And hilarious. He was so so proud but he was trying to be impossibly professional those Rockies series.
“Then later in the year, at Colorado. Kyle was hurt. And we were talking about him. Our director cut to a shot of Kyle in the Rockies dugout and he was looking up. I’m looking at him, and I’m like ‘I think he’s looking at you,’ and we start waving and Kyle smiles and waves back. That’s the good stuff, man.”
Charley Steiner missed nearly all of the 2024 and 2025 seasons while battling multiple myeloma and a broken back. But he gradually worked his way back in 2026, calling 35 Dodgers games on radio. In the beginning of the year he called one home game per series, and started the year calling the first three innings, then four, five, six, seven, and eventually on August 15 he called his first complete game of the season, a game Steiner felt was among the most important calls of his career.
Monday at age 80 was the most prolific of all Dodgers announcers in 2026, calling 155 regular season games and all eight postseason games on radio, after calling 27 spring training games with Tim Neverett on SportNet LA.
“I’m so fortunate to have Mo. I’m his partner, he’s my partner,” Steiner said. “We’re friends, and Duane [McDonald, producer and engineer] in the booth, it’s a nice — it’s family.”
“What a rare and special and unique character, and yet for twenty-something years we’ve been together, whether it’s in the booth, on the bus, in the airplane, at dinner. To be part of that, it’s a wonderful group,” Steiner added, on his long relationship with Monday. “When you do it for so long, and are so close, yeah, we just go out and play.”
Radio pairings here are fudged a little bit, as the 25 games that Steiner called but did not finish were also counted for Neverett (16 games) and Nelson (nine), so there’s some double counting here.
Kurt Helin
Raphielle Johnson
