Steve Smith and Matthew Renshaw watched helplessly from the sidelines as Australia suffered a devastating eight-wicket loss to Sri Lanka at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday morning AEDT, a defeat that will heap pressure on the national selection panel.
Mets owner Steve Cohen blasts Dodgers, Edwin Diaz responds
Steve Cohen has never been shy about flexing both muscle and microphone. This week, the owner of the New York Mets turned his attention west, toward the gold standard of spending and winning — the Los Angeles Dodgers — and more specifically, toward their newly signed closer, Edwin Díaz.
“They’re formidable,” Cohen said, measuring his words like a trader reading a volatile market. “They have the ability to spend, but so do I by the way.”
Translation: Don’t mistake Queens for small market humility.
Cohen made it clear that while Los Angeles may collect All-Stars like beachfront property, he believes the Mets are built for collision, not comparison. The goal, he said, is to “meet them somewhere along the way in the playoffs.” That’s not hope. That’s a forecast, and a potential warning shot across the bow to the back-to-back World Series champions.
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But the sharper edge came when Cohen addressed Díaz’s departure. The Mets pivoted to Devin Williams after losing their All-Star closer, a move Cohen described as “really clever.” He even suggested New York’s offer to Díaz “might’ve been better,” raising eyebrows from Citi Field to Chavez Ravine.
Díaz, now wearing Dodger blue in Glendale, Arizona didn’t blink. “I was a free agent,” he said calmly. “The Dodgers did a great job recruiting me. At the end of the day, I chose to be here.”
And that’s the part that stings.
Because in today’s MLB arms race, money matters. Legacy matters more. The Dodgers sell rings. Cohen sells belief.
If October delivers Mets vs. Dodgers, it won’t just be payroll vs. payroll. It will be ego vs. ego — and one former closer standing in the middle of it all.
Mets, Mike Tauchman agree to minor league deal
With their final bench spot still in a bit of flux, the Mets made another addition to their very large group of players in camp, signing veteran Mike Tauchman to a minor league deal, according to Will Sammon of The Athletic. Tauchman, despite being on a minor league contract, will have a very open opportunity to make the team with a strong camp.
Tauchman, now 35 years old, has been around, as one could easily surmise. Originally drafted by the Colorado Rockies in tenth round way back in 2013, Tauchman worked his way up with a very strong minor league career until making his Major League debut with the Rockies in 2017. He spent the 2018 season shuttled between the Rockies and Triple-A Albuquerque, never finding his footing as a regular major league player.
That changed for him prior to the 2019 season, when he was traded to the Yankees and immediately became a strong contributor for them, hitting .277/.361/.504 (128 wRC+), earning 3.0 fWAR in just 89 games.
2020 and 2021 were not as kind to Tauchman, as a shoulder injury hampered him in 2020. He hit just .242/.342/.305 (79 wRC+) in the COVID-shortened campaign. 2021 was even tougher on him, hitting .181/.284/.283 (63 wRC+) between the Yankees and Giants.
In 2022, he took his talents to South Korea, playing for the Hanwha Eagles. He was excellent in Korea, hitting .289/.366/.430, earning himself a shot in MLB again, this time with his home state Chicago Cubs. He’s spent the last three years in Chicago, two with the Cubs (2023 and 2024), and one with the White Sox (2025), before hitting free agency this winter. He was remarkably consistent in those three seasons, earning a 108, 110 and 115 wRC+ in 108, 109, and 93 games respectively. He also grades out as bang average defensively per Outs Above Average, though he is more of a corner outfielder than center fielder nowadays.
Tauchman, being a solid-but-unspectacular Major League contributor will do wonders for the Mets bench, should he make the team. Recent signing MJ Melendez still has a minor league option, so they can afford to keep both in the organization if Tauchman hits the ground running. His ability to help in right field should Carson Benge struggle, and give Carlos Mendoza another option at DH should Brett Baty be in the field, makes his roster fit easy to envision. On top of that, Luis Robert Jr. has had his fair share of injury struggles in his career, and while Tauchman is not much of a center fielder anymore, he can provide cover in right should Benge have to shift over in case of an injury.
Where does the Suns’ passing stand this season?
Among the many questions on my mind, the ones about the Suns’ passing this season keep coming back: How clean is their ball handling? In what situations do they turn the ball over the most? Are they really playing fast? Many questions often go unanswered, or at least aren’t fully explored.
Today, I decided to dig seriously into this topic, analyzing key stats from the last 500–600 Suns turnovers (excluding offensive fouls and violations) since the start of the season. Enjoy the read!
According to available data, the Suns average around 570 passes per game this season. That’s a high volume, clearly in the upper range of the league. For comparison, the Thunder average 494, and the Cavaliers 644 passes. If we dig further, looking at passes per possession (Phoenix averages about 100 possessions per game), we get 5.7 passes per offensive possession.
Even if that doesn’t always mean pace, it confirms what the Suns have been trying to show all season: the ball moves…a lot. This figure is interesting because it reflects collective intent, even on a roster where Devin Booker remains a major playmaker (30.1% AST, 35% ball dominance), and Collin Gillespie acts as a secondary creator (23.8% AST, 31%). These numbers aren’t extravagant, showing it’s not “elite” passing, but rather a shared, team-oriented passing.
The Suns play about 100 possessions per game. For veterans, that can be fast, but in today’s NBA, it’s actually slow (22nd in pace). So yes, they pass a lot, but in a controlled, half-court, highly systemic style. This completely nuances the idea of “fast” or “run & gun” teams that have made the franchise famous in the past.
Looking deeper at touches highlights the Suns’ passing DNA: a methodical, structured game where actions are generally built carefully. With 3.05 seconds and 2.37 dribbles per touch (15th and 19th), Phoenix prioritizes reading the defense over speed — though they can certainly accelerate the tempo when needed. Initiation zones confirm this profile: very few post-ups (24th), moderate use of elbows (22nd), but more emphasis in the paint (15th). Everything points to half-court passing, intentional, perimeter-focused, aiming to create three-point opportunities, perfectly matching the team’s slow pace.
The results? The Suns generate a lot without being ultra-sharp: 25 assists for 45.7 potential passes, 65.7 points created, and 3.8 secondary assists. An AST-to-pass% of 8.9% shows patient, constructed passing rather than aggressive ball-hawking. It reflects both the team’s pace and the tendency to be inconsistent in some sequences or games.
Looking at the 594 turnovers this season, I divided the analysis into two parts: first, who loses the ball the most? Second, in which situations?
Unsurprisingly, Devin Booker leads with 125 turnovers. 64 of them on bad passes; Collin Gillespie and Royce O’Neal round out the podium with 80 and 68. But looking at turnover rate (TOV%, the percentage of a player’s possessions ending in a turnover) tells a different story, as it measures efficiency rather than volume.
Oso Ighodaro tops the chart at 21.7% TOV, a concerning figure (he has only 12% usage, meaning he loses one in five possessions), but still workable as a sophomore with added responsibility. Ryan Dunn and Royce O’Neale hover around 15%. Booker and Gillespie steer the ship cleanly at ~13%, excellent numbers.
Booker is slowly becoming a reliable primary creator. He is elite in half-court decision-making, stabilizing the offense. This season, only six players have +1000 minutes, +30% AST, +30% USG, and <15% TOV: Booker, Luka Dončić, James Harden, Cade Cunningham, LaMelo Ball, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Now, the core of the work: the goal isn’t just analyzing a single game, but understanding a team as a dynamic system. By studying possessions — especially turnovers — I aim to separate structural trends (tactics, talent, team DNA, schemes) from contextual factors (fatigue, injuries, lineups, opponent adaptation, pace).
The goal isn’t to predict a score, but to anticipate scenarios: spot recurring vulnerabilities, understand when they emerge, and distinguish what remains stable from what fluctuates.
This work will take time and a deep video study. Eventually, the tracking will allow objective insights, like “33% of DHO actions at the top of the key in Q4 against a top-10 defense end in turnovers.”
Looking at the numbers, the Suns’ biggest ball exposure isn’t isolation, but speed and primary creation. Transition is the main friction point: 13.1% TOV on 18.8 possessions, high and frequent, usually caused by moments of haste or inattention. Next is ball-handler pick-and-roll: 13% TOV on 21.8 possessions. Even though their league ranking (4th/30) shows they are relatively clean, the volume naturally produces turnovers.
By contrast, isolation (9.9% on 6.9 possessions) and post-up (8.2% on 3.4 possessions) are well-controlled, low-volume plays — clearly not Phoenix’s game this season. Roll man in PNR seems secure (9.8%, 5.4 possessions) but is rarely used; DHO (11.4%, 5 possessions) is secondary and should be optimized.
Ultimately, the Suns’ passing reflects neither chaos nor over-reliance on isolation. It shows a structured, patient team focused on half-court play. The ball moves a lot, within a methodical framework as emphasized by Jordan Ott, and turnovers appear mostly when pace increases, or primary creation is pressured.
The issue isn’t volume, it’s context. Identifying situations where the ball is most vulnerable helps understand Phoenix’s true identity, and anticipate weaknesses rather than merely observe them.
Do broken hamate bones sap player power?
The news that Corbin Carroll had suffered a broken hamate bone in his hand was not the way the D-backs wanted to start spring training. I guess the good news – if there is any – is that the injury happened at the beginning of the pre-season, minimizing the amount of regular season time lost. Indeed, with almost six weeks between the injury and Opening Day, he may not end up missing much time, if any at all. However, there is a common perception that even after the player returns, the injury can have a negative impact, particularly in regard to their power. According to orthopedic sports surgeon Dr Deepak Chona:
“The amount of time varies, but generally projects to six weeks after returning. Most likely, this timing correlates with the recovery of grip strength and control of the bat. This dips after surgery (1) because of the generalized trauma/swelling to the muscles of the hand and (2) because the part of the bone (called the hook of the hamate) that they cut out to treat the fracture is involved in generating grip force as well.”
Is there statistical data to back up a drop in power? To see if there is, I used Fangraph’s Injury Report tool to find the occurrences of broken hamates in the majors over the last five years. There were seventeen, including some to names you might recognize – backup catcher James McCann suffered the same injury, while on the Mets in 2022. Three of those took place in September, and the players concerned didn’t return that year. So I excluded those from the sample, because they will have been well past the period of weakness described by Dr. Chona, by the start of the following campaign.
Firstly, the average date between the event and the player coming off the Injured List was 61 days. That’s a little longer than expected, but is skewed by two players who each spent more than a hundred days on the IL. Half the fourteen players returned in seven weeks or less – which fits in with the 6-8 week time-frame often reported – the quickest being Emmanuel Rivera’s 36 days. So there is a chance that Carroll could indeed be back on the active roster in time for Opening Day, though it is more likely he will miss some time. But what might his performance be like when he comes back?
To look at that, I took the final thirty games for each player (which may be partly or all from the previous season), and compared their numbers there, against the first thirty games after their reactivation (or up until the end of the year). Angel Martinez and Emmanuel Rivera had made zero and two major-league appearances respectively before suffering their fractures. On the other hand, Rafael Marchán did not appear in the majors at all in 2023 after coming off the IL, and Mike Trout played only one game post his injury. So I skipped all four of their numbers entirely, even though this does reduce our sample-size to ten.
I then took the quick and dirty approach of simply averaging the triple-slash lines plus OPS. To be entirely accurate, I should have weighted these by PAs, but life’s too short, and this isn’t a doctoral thesis, so I’m happy with a “good enough” approach. Again, I do caution that this is a very small sample, and every individual case is going to be different. Past performance is no guarantee of future production, and please consult with your financial advisor before making any decisions based on these numbers. But the results we have, are as listed in the table below:
Before hamate: .192/.268/.328 = .596 OPS
After hamate: .217/.293/.358 = .651 OPS
Hence the disclaimer above. Because otherwise, I’m sure there would be a rush of players running off to get their hamate bones removed, in order to boost their batting average by 25 points. Hey, Tommy John surgery makes you throw harder, doesn’t it? But if we look in particular at the isolated power metric of ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average), it hardly changes: .136 before, and just five clicks higher afterward, at .141. With a sample size of less than three hundred games on each side, that doesn’t seem statistically significant. While Dr. Chona’s logic makes sense, over the past five years it doesn’t appear that hamate injuries have led to a decline in power post-procedure.
It is possible that this is a relatively recent phenomena, resulting from improvement in care after the operation and rehabilitation processes. We’ve seen this in regard to Tommy John, which was once seen as the kiss of death to a pitcher’s career, but is now “super easy, barely an inconvenience.” Ok, I exaggerate, but it does take time for broader perceptions to catch up with advances in medical technology and procedure. It is possible that, previously, hamate surgery did have an impact on player power, but that no longer seems – at least, necessarily – to be the case. Which is good news for Corbin Carroll and the Diamondbacks.
Nate Williams signs with Golden State Warriors on two-way deal
The Long Island Nets lost a big piece of their team on Monday afternoon as wing Nate Williams officially signed with the Golden State Warriors on a two-way deal. This comes as Williams has been one of Long Island’s biggest scorers and playmakers.
Williams becomes the first Long Island player to be called-up for a two-way deal this season…
The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer was first with the news…
A league source told NetsDaily that Williams had hoped to remain with the Nets at the NBA level, but ultimately planned to pursue the best available opportunity for him. “He can really help out a playoff team,” the source said. Now Williams gets the chance to do just that as the Warriors control their own destiny, sitting with a 29-26 record.
While Williams would have been a solid player on both ends of the court with Brooklyn, his turning 27 years old this weekend put him outside of Brooklyn’s timeline. The Nets’ average age, a little more than 23 years old, is youngest in the NBA. The Warriors who still see themselves as a contender got a very talented shooter.
After going undrafted in the 2022 NBA Draft, Williams joined the Utah Jazz for the 2022 NBA Summer League. He would later sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Jazz before being waived and ending up on the Salt Lake City G League team.
Since then, Williams has bounced around, playing a total of 47 games at the NBA level, starting four of them, across three seasons from 2022 through 2025. He played five games for the Portland Trail Blazers in 2022-23, then the Houston Rockets, averaging 3.3 points in 7.4 minutes per contest.
He also appeared in 81 regular-season G League games, starting 62 of them, across three seasons with the Salt Lake City Stars and Rio Grande Valley Vipers. After Williams was waived by the Rockets in July, he found himself on the South Bay Lakers roster. It’s safe to say that Williams has become a bit of a mainstay on the West Coast, despite being a Sag Harbor, Long Island native.
When Williams was asked about his development so far this season, Williams told NetsDaily, “I feel good, I feel really good … I feel confident. I’m just continuing to work every day, take care of my body, and put in the work behind the scenes that nobody sees. I just want to continue to try and perform and get this team to win some games.”
Long Island fans saw a connection built between Williams and Yuri Collins before Collins left to go and play overseas in Israel. Williams and Collins who had been the G League’s top playmaker were both G League veterans that Brooklyn acquired this summer to help with the rookies’ adjustment as they cycled through the Island. Collins had some very nice words to say about Williams.
“Nate’s just one of those guys who knows how to play basketball,” Collins told ND. “You don’t have to say too much to him. He’s an older guy. He’s played in the NBA and has a lot of minutes in the G League as well. A lot of our stuff is stuff we don’t even have to talk about, it’s just kind of our experiences coming together and making plays like that on the court.”
For the remainder of the season, Williams shared a few goals he had in mind with ND: “Shooting, playmaking, just trying to be a complete player for this team and a leader for this team. Not be emotional. Not get down on my teammates. Try to encourage my teammates, and just be a good teammate and a good player. Moreso, be a good teammate. I put a lot of work in. I’m not worried about the basketball part of it; that’ll take care of itself. But, just be a good teammate, and try my hardest to help this team win.”
Williams has averaged 17.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 steals in his 22 regular-season games for the Long Island Nets. These numbers are fairly on par with what he did throughout the first 13 games in the Tip-Off Tournament, where he averaged 19.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.2 steals.
In his final game for Long Island before the All-Star break, Williams showed up in a big way. The New York native (Rochester) separated himself head and shoulders from everyone else. Williams finished the game connecting on 12 of his 23 shots, for better than 50%, and went 3-of-9 from deep for a huge 30-point game.
Williams impressive day didn’t stop there. He hauled in seven rebounds, as well as picking up two assists. Now, he has his chance to play alongside one of the NBA’s greatest shooters of all time, Steph Curry.
Williams signing opens up a G League standard spot for Long Island, but it doesn’t yet resolve Brooklyn’s open roster spot or the secondary moves if Brooklyn makes a call-up of their own from Long Island.
For a long time this season, one had to figure that a two-way deal was going to be given to Grant Nelson or Nate Williams. Now, it seems like the Warriors have answered that question for Long Island. Now, should Brooklyn want to elevate E.J. Liddell to a standard deal, a two-way spot would be Nelson’s to lose. Not to mention, Brooklyn can also use a 10-day deal here and there for tryouts of sorts.
All in all, this is a fantastic move for Williams. It’s a move that’s well-deserved. However, this will put Long Island in a less-than-ideal spot as the G League playoffs are right around the corner. Who steps up now? Long Island lost arguably its best scorer and biggest playmaker; however, all hope is not lost. The Long Island team now revolves around their NBA assignees, their three two-ways and Alabama seven-footer Grant Nelson who has repeatedly said his goal in a two-way slot. .
Report: Sixers to convert Jabari Walker’s deal; sign Tyrese Martin to two-way deal
ESPN’s Shams Charania has reported that the Sixers will be signing Jabari Walker to a two-year standard contract. Walker hasn’t been able to play for Philadelphia since Feb. 3 after playing the maximum 50 games on his two-way contract.
With Cameron Payne returning to the team as well, the Sixers roster will be filled out with 15 players.
Details of this contract haven’t come out just yet, but Derek Bodner of PHLY has been doing some math on when the Sixers can use two prorated minimum contracts while staying under the luxury tax. Doing so now seems to signal that they were able to.
Walker’s promotion will also open a two-way spot for the team to use. Bodner reports former Brooklyn Net and Allentown native Tyrese Martin will fill that slot.
Walker, who played in 45 of those 50 active games will suddenly come as some much needed depth for a Sixers team; Payne and Martin as well. As the last two games before the All-Star break showed, it only took a couple guys getting sick for the team needing to play Kyle Lowry extended minutes.
Walker’s averaged 12 minutes a night putting up 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in that time. He’s given the Sixers some solid hustle off the bench, in the 76th percentile for defensive rebounding rate while having career-highs in block and offensive rebounding rate, per Cleaning the Glass.
Martin, 26, is a combo guard who stands at 6-foot-6. He played his college ball at Rhode Island and UConn before being selected in the second round by the Golden State Warriors in 2022. He was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in a draft night deal. He spent two years in the G League before getting a two-way deal with Nets ahead of last season. Brooklyn converted him to standard contract in 2024-25, but recently waived him on Feb. 5 after a busy trade deadline.
Wizards sign Alondes Williams to 10-day contract
The Washington Wizards have signed Alondes Williams to a 10-day contract, the team announced Monday.
Williams, 26, has averaged 20.2 points per game on 43.5% 3PT across 13 appearances with the Capital City Go-Go this season. The 6-foot-4 guard was recently named a G League All-Star.
The Wake Forest product is an efficient 3-point shooter with a score-first mindset. He recently dropped 40 points on 62% FG in the Go-Go’s 122-116 loss to the Birmingham Squadron on Feb. 7.
Washington’s roster now sits at 13 standard NBA contracts, three two-way contracts and two 10-day deals (Williams and Kadary Richmond).
The Wizards return from the All-Star break at 7 p.m. Thursday against the Indiana Pacers.
3 Chicago Blackhawks Who Could Be Olympians In 2030
Teuvo Teravainen is the only player on the Chicago Blackhawks’ active roster participating in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, taking place in Milano Cortina. Adam Gajan, who is a Blackhawks prospect playing at the University of Minnesota Duluth, is the third-string goalie for Team Slovakia.
There were a handful of Blackhawks players who could have been chosen to make their respective teams, but only Teravainen earned a spot in the end.
The number of Blackhawks participating is likely to increase by the time the games reach France in 2030. If all goes well, these three players should find themselves earning spots on Olympic rosters by then:
Connor Bedard - Canada
Connor Bedard was on the cusp of making Team Canada this time around, but an injury at the worst time didn’t help his case. At the time of the injury, Bedard was keeping pace with the league’s leading scorers, but missing about a month took him out of that race.
Right now, Bedard is one of the best young players in the NHL. By the time he is in his seventh NHL season, if he stays healthy, Bedard will be one of the best in the world. He is already an All-Star caliber player, but making the hardest team in the world to make is something he will achieve in his career.
Last summer, Bedard was committed to working on some of the deficiencies in his game, and a lot of it appears to be corrected so far this year. Bedard came in faster, stronger, and more willing to play a 200-foot game. All of these skills will only help his Team Canada case down the line.
Spencer Knight - USA
For the 2026 Olympic Games, Team USA just went with the three goalies that they brought to the 4-Nations Face-Off in 2025, which includes Jeremy Swayman, Connor Hellebuyck, and Jake Oettinger. Chances are that they will be looking in another direction by 2030.
Spencer Knight had a case to make it this year, based on his play with an up-and-down Blackhawks team. Knight covers up for a lot of Chicago’s defensive issues, and he’s only 24. When he’s 28 in 2030, he should be at the height of his powers by then.
When you look at the landscape of goaltending around USA Hockey, Knight is right in the middle of it. By that time, he may even be at the forefront of all goalies in the NHL, competing for Vezina Trophies and playoff positioning. Being a part of Team USA in the future must be on his checklist, and rightfully so.
Anton Frondell - Sweden
The Chicago Blackhawks selected Anton Frondell with the 3rd overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Frondell’s national team is Sweden, which is one of three countries (United States, Canada) icing an entire roster of NHL players in the 2026 Winter Olympics. However, he could have easily fit in on that team with the skills he possesses.
At the World Junior Championships representing Sweden, Frondell played incredible hockey and led them to a Gold Medal. You’d have to think that more international dominance is in his future.
Frondell is likely to make his NHL debut at some point this season, and he should be a lock for the Olympics by the time 2030 rolls around.
Sweden is deep, but it is hard to see them being deep enough to keep a kid like Frondell off their roster, especially if he is an NHL regular by then.
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2027 All-Star Saturday 3-Point Contest field already shaping up to be legendary
It's time for the NBA to recognize and treat the 3-Point Contest for what it is — the best part of All-Star Saturday. It has the star players, it has the drama, and it brings it every year. It is time to start closing All-Star Saturday Night with the 3-point contest.
Next year might be the right time because the field is already starting to stack up. This year’s winner, Damian Lillard, posted a screenshot of a text he had with Stephen Curry — and Curry had already said on NBC that he would be back in the contest next year.
DAME AND STEPH SET IT UP OMGGGGGGG pic.twitter.com/T7dUTKK9AK
— TDS (@Travis_DameS1de) February 16, 2026
Devin Booker told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic that he was in for next year, but losing this year stung, so the one on his home court in Phoenix might be his last.
Devin Booker said next year may very well be the last time he competes in the NBA All-Star 3-point contest as he lost, 29-27, to Damian Lillard in this year's final.
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) February 16, 2026
"This one hurt a little bit. I wanted this one bad. Wish I was defending it in Phoenix but it'll probably be the…
This one had to hit Booker hard, all he had to do was hit one of his final three moneyballs and he would have won the event, but...
Devin Booker misses his final 3 shots, giving Damian Lillard the 3-point contest win!
— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) February 14, 2026
NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/pPy392dxGZ
For his part, Curry seems good to go.
Steph got put on the spot, and needed just 4 tries to hit this INSANE shot. pic.twitter.com/Uqh75PNNg0
— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) February 16, 2026
Yankees’ Jasson Dominguez starts critical push for roster spot with powerful statement
Observations from Yankees’ spring training on Monday:
Dom’ bomb
Jasson Domínguez, who has plenty at stake this spring as he tries to make a case to avoid going to Triple-A, homered off non-roster invitee Dylan Coleman in live batting practice.
Sick time
Ryan McMahon was in the clubhouse Monday morning and attended the team meeting before the Yankees held him out of workouts as he dealt with flu-like symptoms.
Caught my eye
Andy Pettitte arrived at camp and spent time chatting with Cam Schlittler on a back field.
In his role as a special adviser for the Yankees, Pettitte has been a valuable resource for Schlittler during his emergence as a key rotation piece.
Tomorrow’s schedule
The Yankees will hold their second full-squad workout.
Dodgers' Tommy Edman won't be ready for opening day. 'We're not going to rush it'
Position players reported to spring training at Camelback Ranch for the Dodgers on Monday, but manager Dave Roberts revealed that the team will be without its versatile second baseman and utilityman Tommy Edman when it opens the season against the Arizona Diamondbacks at home on March 26.
The 30-year-old Edman underwent ankle surgery during the offseason after being limited to 97 games in 2025 in his first full season with the Dodgers.
“I think just looking at where his ankle is at, trying to play the long view that you don’t want to have any regression or setbacks," Roberts said. "So, how can we be methodical with it? Just for me, knowing that he’s just taking swings is enough. We’re not going to rush it. We want to put him in the best position, so I think it just kind of became [clearer] very recently.”
Read more:Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes responds to Manny Machado, Bryce Harper comments about spending
Edman will open the season on the injured list, something he is at peace with. He felt that a return before opening day was a bit ambitious, and that it would be better to err on the side of caution.
“That was always kind of a stretch, just due to the nature of the injury and the timing of the surgery and everything,” Edman said. “I think, having been out of the boot for a little over a month now, I was just kind of waiting to see how it progressed, and everything has gone exactly on-schedule. We were kind of leaving opening day open, just in case it happened to feel way better than expected. Everything’s on the expected schedule so far. As I get into more baseball stuff, I still have to work into the adaptation of volume. As the volume goes up, the swelling kind of increases a little bit, so I’ve got to take it slow and let the progress play out the way it was planned all along, instead of trying to speed it up.”
For now, Edman is slow-playing it.
“He took some swings a couple days ago, [from] both sides,” Roberts said. “He did some skipping, some light jogging, I think it was. He’s getting his body into baseball shape, so obviously he’s not going to be ready for the start of camp. He’s in that same bucket of, ‘When he’s ready, he’s ready.’ But each day, there’s been progress.”
Evan Phillips excited to be back
Days after signing a one-year contract to return to the Dodgers — despite being non-tendered earlier in the offseason — Evan Phillips expressed relief at being back.
“[The offseason] was quiet for a little bit,” Phillips said. “I leaned on my agent to be patient and trust that things were going to work out and we're certainly glad that we're back. It was definitely a very, very wild ride this offseason. It feels like I never left, so it's kind of weird to get all the handshakes and hugs, but it’s just another spring training to me. I'm certainly glad to be back in Dodger blue.”
Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes told reporters Sunday that Phillips should return to the Dodgers sometime in the middle of the season. He underwent Tommy John surgery last June.
“[I’ve been] doing long toss a few times a week, hoping to get on the bullpen or on the mound for a bullpen next month,” Phillips said. “I'll start that mound progression here in the next couple of weeks. I think, actually, Tuesday I'll throw off of the mound for the first time, but it won't be to a catcher or anything. It'll just be a catcher standing up and there's a slow progression, week by week. So [there will be] plenty of steps ahead that's going to keep me busy here in Arizona, but I’m definitely looking forward to that progression.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Why this season has been ultimate roller coaster for Kawhi Leonard
For Kawhi Leonard, this season has been the ultimate roller coaster.
He went from being the biggest snub of the NBA All-Star Game to putting on its best performance after commissioner Adam Silver added him as an injury replacement.
He went from helping the Clippers become the hottest team in the league amid a 17-5 run to watching them deteriorate into rebuild mode after they traded James Harden and Ivica Zubac earlier this month.
He went from being embroiled in drama before the season even began amid allegations that the Clippers circumvented the salary cap regarding a $28 million endorsement deal through Aspiration to having one of the best seasons of his career.
He went from being dismissed an injury-riddled has-been to reminding everyone that he’s one of the league’s top superstars.
Leonard has quietly been one of the biggest storylines of the season for both the best and worst reasons.
And on Sunday, he was at the center of the basketball world after eking his way into the All-Star Game as the sole representative of the Clippers and their shiny new $2 billion arena, which hosted the event.
Leonard responded by putting on a MasterClass in showmanship. He scored 31 points in 12 minutes on 11-for-13 shooting from the field and 6-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc during the World versus Stripes contest, including making a game-winning stepback 3-pointer with four seconds left.
Even though his team didn’t make the championship round of the league’s new round-robin tournament, he received four of the 14 MVP votes. (Anthony Edwards received the remainder of the votes after leading his team to win the competition.)
For Leonard, Sunday was a microcosm of his season as a whole: He has managed to shine through all of the drama.
“I feel like I’m one of the best when I am playing basketball,” he said.
There are a long list of hypotheticals surrounding this season for Leonard.
If it weren’t for the Clippers’ dreadful 6-21 start, would he have been in the MVP conversation? If the team hadn’t punted this season by trading two of their most important players, could he have helped them claw their way up the Western Conference standings? If it weren’t for the Aspiration scandal, would the league’s coaches have voted him into the All-Star Game as a reserve?
For Leonard, the most frustrating part of all this is he’s finally playing like himself again.
He’s averaging a career-high 27.9 points a game and is leading the league in steals (2.1). He’s also averaging 6.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the Clippers, who are in 10th place in the Western Conference with a record of 26-28.
There’s no doubt about it: When Leonard is healthy, he’s atop the league.
The problem is that’s a big caveat.
Heading into this season, Leonard had missed 226 regular season games since joining the Clippers in free agency in 2019, as well as multiple playoff series. It has been such a glaring issue that two years ago, ESPN’s Stephen A Smith said Leonard should retire.
But this season, Leonard has come roaring back. He’s dominant. He’s fluid. He’s one of the top two-way players in the game.
It’s unfortunate timing considering his great play has been overshadowed by all of the drama.
He was embroiled in controversy beginning at Clippers’ media day, when he was peppered with questions about the salary cap circumvention allegations. “None of us did no wrongdoing,” he said at the time. “We invite the investigations.”
Five months later, Leonard was once again in the spotlight after the Clippers stunningly traded Harden and Zubac in an attempt to get younger and clear salary cap space for free agency in 2027.
The player who’s famous for his stoicism couldn’t help but show tinges of disappointment.
“It’s a complete turnaround from what I thought we could potentially do,” Leonard said Feb. 6. “Not saying we were contenders. But we thought we could make some noise or mess somebody’s season up.”
The question is what’s next for Leonard?
That’s a big unknown for now. He has one season left on his deal after this one. And the Clippers reportedly turned down multiple inquiries about him ahead of the trade deadline.
Leonard, who has been the face of the franchise for seven seasons, watched Paul George leave in free agency in 2024 and then Harden wanted out a few weeks ago. Now, the championship window on this iteration of the team has been officially slammed shut.
Will he be a part of what’s next for the Clippers?
Could he demand a trade? Or eventually leave in free agency? Or will he remain a centerpiece of the team’s retooling? And how does the Aspiration scandal impact all of this?
Right now, there are more questions than answers for the beleaguered superstar.
Leonard is clearly choosing to deal with the uncertainty by focusing on the one thing he can control.
His game.
He’s finally healthy and he’s hellbent on reminding the world what that means.
Olympic hockey arena to install lighter boards after player feedback
The new banners are expected to be pasted on in time for the men’s hockey qualification round Tuesday, the league sources say. Arena staff began removing the current banners immediately following Monday night’s women’s hockey semifinal between Canada and Switzerland.
The banners were going to be changed all along due to wear and tear, but players and NHL officials have pointed out to the IOC how the darker green color specifically in different areas of the boards could be problematic for sight when it comes to finding a black puck.
In the U.S.-Denmark game, United States goalie Jeremy Swayman said he couldn’t see a puck coming at him fired from near the Denmark bench.
“It was a flash screen and it was just the perfect height right between the stands and board level, and I truly lost it,” he said.
The CBC and NBC broadcast crews wondered aloud during the telecast whether Swayman lost the puck because of the color of the boards in the vicinity of where the puck was shot.
To Swayman’s credit, he didn’t use it as an excuse, joking after the game that he was colorblind, so it didn’t matter to him anyway.
“It’s something all of us always have to face and we play in different arenas every night in the NHL, so this is just one, another one, and it’s a challenge that we have to embrace,” Swayman said.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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Police: Browns safety Ronnie Hickman jumped by 4 men in a New York hotel lobby
NEW YORK (AP) — Cleveland Browns safety Ronnie Hickman was treated for minor injuries and released, the team said on Monday after New York police received reports that he was jumped by four men in a hotel lobby.
The Browns said Hickman, 24, was at home resting with his family. There have been no arrests and an investigation continues, according to a statement from the New York Police Department.
Authorities said they responded to a 911 call at 4:35 a.m. Monday reporting an assault in a hotel lobby.
“Upon arrival, officers were informed that four unidentified individuals punched a 24-year-old male about the body following a verbal dispute,” police said. “The suspects fled the location in an unknown direction.”
An undrafted free agent out of Ohio State, Hickman has played 41 games over three seasons, recording 173 tackles, three interceptions and one fumble recovery.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl