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From Bill Plaschke: It’s historical, it’s heartwarming, it’s the brightest of headlines for a franchise desperately in need of some good news.
But it’s not very smart. And, for two of the main people involved, it’s not very fair.
Thus a wet blanket should be tossed over the Lakers’ engineering of the most celebrated 55th overall pick in NBA draft history.
Yeah, they did it, of course they did it, they drafted an untested 19-year-old kid named Bronny James Thursday to unite him with his father LeBron in becoming the NBA’s first father-son duo.
They did it even though Bronny was ignored by virtually every other NBA team with a chance to draft him.
They did it even though Bronny struggled last season for USC in his return from a cardiac arrest episode that cost him five months.
They did it even though most experts agreed that his game — five points, three rebounds and two assists per appearance for the Trojans — could have used at least another year of college tutoring.
NBA history: Lakers draft Bronny James, who will join father LeBron
NBA draft 2024: all the first- and second-round picks
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CLIPPERS
From Broderick Turner: The biggest news for the Clippers on Thursday wasn’t the drafting of Minnesota guard Cam Christie in the second round at No. 46, but the uncertainty of Paul George and his future with the team.
George has a player option for $48.7 million and has to let the Clippers know by Saturday whether he’ll opt in on his deal.
George can become a free agent if he and the Clippers are unable to come to an agreement on an extension before Sunday. He’s eligible to get a four-year deal worth $221 million from the Clippers before that date, something George is seeking.
“We love Paul,” said Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations. “We very much want to retain Paul, but we also very much understand and respect the fact this is a business and players have a finite amount of time to be able to not just make the most amount of money, but to be able to pursue whatever they want.
“We hope Paul’s decision is to be here. He’s been awesome. He’s been an All-Star three of the five years. He’s one of the best two-way players in the league. He’s a terrific person. He’s got a great family, so we hope he’s here. But also respect the fact that if he chooses to opt out, that’s his choice. He’s earned it and we’ll see how things play out.”
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From Broderick Turner: The Clippers selected Cam Christie with the 46th pick in the second round of the NBA draft on Thursday.
Christie played at Minnesota, where he averaged 11.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Christie, who turns 19 next month, is a 6-foot-5 shooting guard who shot 40.3% from the field and 39.1% from three-point range.
“I’m just going to bring a, you know, competitive mentality,” Christie said during an interview with ESPN moments after he was drafted. “Every day, I’m going to show up. I know I have a lot of work to do, but I have a lot of motivation and good people behind me to kind of propel me to help me get to that point.”
NFL
From Sam Farmer: The NFL suffered a huge setback Thursday and was ordered to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages for violating antitrust law in a class-action suit over pricing of DirecTV’s “Sunday Ticket” packages.
A Los Angeles jury voted unanimously that the league colluded with DirecTV, along with CBS and Fox, to drive up pricing of the premium product.
The jury deliberated for roughly five hours over two days. If the verdict stands, the jury said the league owes $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class.
The NFL could be liable up to $14.1 billion under federal laws that triple the amount won in antitrust cases.
The plaintiffs alleged the NFL colluded with network partners CBS and Fox, along with DirecTV, to ensure the pricing of “Sunday Ticket” remained high, thereby violating antitrust law.
ANGELS
From David Wharton and Nathan Fenno: Not many victims of the opioid crisis in America make national headlines. Tyler Skaggs was different.
The 27-year-old was a professional athlete, a pitcher for the Angels, wealthy and famous. On a road trip with the team, he was found in his hotel room. He had choked on his own vomit after consuming a mix of alcohol, oxycodone and fentanyl.
His death on July 1, 2019, sent shock waves through the sports world. A highly publicized criminal investigation not only revealed that Skaggs had secretly used painkillers for years, but also led to the arrest of a team employee accused of providing him with tainted, black market pills.
Five years later, The Times has pored over hundreds of pages of court documents and cellphone records to reconstruct Skaggs’ final hours. Playing cards with teammates on a three-hour flight. Teasing rookies on the bus. Trading affectionate texts with his wife until late at night.
Even the most ordinary details tell an important story, offering an intimate look at an epidemic that has ravaged the country.
Davis Daniel dazzles in his MLB debut, leading Angels to win over Tigers
Shaikin: Scott Boras is 71. How much longer does baseball’s most famous agent plan to work?
Dodgers batboy saves Shohei Ohtani with incredible dugout catch
COPA AMÉRICA
Jose Fajardo beat backup goalkeeper Ethan Horvath in the 83rd minute to give Panama a 2-1 victory over the United States at the Copa América on Thursday night in Atlanta and put the Americans in danger of elimination if they don’t beat Uruguay in their group-stage finale.
The U.S. played nearly the entire game a man down after a silly foul by Tim Weah in the 18th minute.
Folarin Balogun put the short-handed U.S. ahead in the 22nd minute but César Blackman tied the score in the 26th.
Weah was sent off by Salvadoran referee Iván Barton with a straight red card for punching Roderick Miller in the back of the head. A pro-American crowd of 59,145 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was irate, especially after two other calls went against the host country.
U.S. Soccer says Tim Weah and other players were targets of racist abuse
SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: Just when you thought Mexico’s soccer team couldn’t sink any lower, El Tri takes out a shovel and tunnels a little deeper.
The latest excavation project took place Wednesday when Mexico dug itself a hole it may not be able to climb out of in an embarrassing 1-0 Copa América loss to Venezuela before a disappointed pro-Mexican crowd of 72,773 at SoFi Stadium. Drawn into a group with Jamaica, Ecuador and Venezuela, none of which are ranked inside the top 30 in the world, the bare minimum — the minimum — Mexico had to achieve in the tournament was to finish in the top two and advance to the knockout stages.
With Wednesday’s loss, Mexico may not be able to clear even that low bar. If it doesn’t win Sunday’s group-play final against Ecuador, El Tri’s Copa América is over. Venezuela, meanwhile, is on to the next round.
U.S. Soccer aims to use 2026 World Cup to jump-start youth development
OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: He shed the bulky knee brace strapped around his right leg, stuck his vault cold to open one of the biggest competitions of his life, and Brody Malone still didn’t crack a smile as he scurried off the mats at Target Center on Thursday.
Malone’s mission is far from done.
In second place after the first day of Olympic trials, the three-time U.S. champion is in a strong position to earn his second Olympic team berth with 85.100 points in the all-around. He trails 2023 world all-around bronze medalist Frederick Richard, who surged into the top spot in the final two rotations and finished with an 85.600.
The top all-around finisher locks in a coveted Olympic berth on the five-man team that will be announced Saturday (2 p.m. PDT, NBC). Malone, third-place finisher Shane Wiskus (84.300 points) and Yul Moldauer, who is tied for fifth (83.700), are vying for their second Olympic berths.
OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD
A rendering shows how a new floor will be built on top of the first rows of seats at the Coliseum, creating a large surface to stage track and field events. The lower level will be used for warm-ups and various other functions during the 2028 Olympics.
(Courtesy of LA28)
From David Wharton: There was no way to bring the Olympics back to Los Angeles for a third time without holding track and field at the Coliseum. Not with all those ghosts knocking around.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias competed at the historic stadium during the 1932 Summer Games, winning the javelin and hurdles. Carl Lewis won four golds there in 1984, a competition that also featured the infamous Zola Budd-Mary Decker collision in the 3,000 meters.
But as local organizers devised plans for the 2028 Olympics, they faced a basic dilemma: There wasn’t enough room on the Coliseum floor for, well, a track.
Renovations in the early 1990s added 14 rows of seats at the bottom of the bowl, moving the stands closer for football, shrinking the size of the field. The LA28 organizing committee needed a temporary fix.
The solution will require thousands of columns and metal plates to build a new floor about 11 feet above the current one. Because the bowl slopes away in all directions, this elevated surface will have room to stretch out, covering all those added seats.
Not everyone is thrilled about the stadium’s role for 2028. A Coliseum official has expressed disappointment about a proposed opening ceremony that would begin under his renowned peristyle, but shift to the newer, glitzier SoFi Stadium for formal protocols.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1939 — Joe Louis stops Tony Galento in the fourth round at Yankee Stadium to retain the world heavyweight title.
1953 — Betsy Rawls wins the U.S. Women’s Open with a six-stroke playoff victory over Jacqueline Pung.
1966 — Ernie Terrell scores a unanimous 15-round decision over Doug Jones in Houston to win the WBA title, which had been stripped from Muhammad Ali.
1971 — Muhammad Ali wins a four-year legal battle to overturn his 1967 conviction for draft evasion in an 8-0 vote by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1992 — Connie Price-Smith, who earlier won the discus, wins the shot put at 62 feet, 6 inches, to become the first woman to win both events at the U.S. Olympic trials since Earlene Brown in 1960.
1992 — U.S. Dream Team beats Cuba in 1st exhibition basketball game, 133-57.
1994 — Oleg Salenko scores a World Cup record five goals as Russia beats Cameroon 6-1.
1994 — NHL Draft: Windsor Spitfires (OHL) defenceman Ed Jovanovski first pick by Florida Panthers.
1995 — NBA draft: Maryland power forward Joe Smith first pick by Golden State Warriors.
1997 — Evander Holyfield, bleeding badly from his right ear after being bitten by Mike Tyson, retains the WBA heavyweight championship in Las Vegas when Tyson is disqualified after the third round.
2000 — NBA Draft: Cincinnati power forward Kenyon Martin first pick by New Jersey Nets.
2005 — NBA Draft: Utah center Andrew Bogut first pick by Milwaukee Bucks.
2006 — NBA Draft: Benetton Treviso (Italy) power forward Andrea Bargnani first pick by Toronto Raptors.
2007 — Frank Thomas hit his 500th home run to become the 21st major leaguer to reach the career mark.
2007 — Craig Biggio becomes the 27th player in major league history to get 3,000 hits in Houston’s 8-5 11-inning victory over Colorado.
2007 — NBA Draft: Ohio State center Greg Oden first pick by Portland Trail Blazers.
2009 — Nineteen-year-old Joey Logano becomes the youngest winner in the history of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, winning the rain-shortened race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
2012 — Kentucky becomes the first school to go 1-2 in the NBA Draft. New Orleans Hornets select Kentucky forward Anthony Davis with the No. 1 pick. Then Charlotte follows by taking fellow freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. The Wildcats join UNLV with six players drafted in the entire draft. UNLV had six players drafted in 1977 — but none in the first round.
2023 — New York Yankees’ pitcher Domingo Germán (30) throws a perfect game in 11-0 win over Oakland A’s at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum; it is his first complete game in 7-year MLB career.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.