Lawrence Shankland is “too good not to score regularly” and is sure to have a “big influence” at Rangers whether or not he starts games, insists manager Derek McInnes.
Shankland has scored once in five outings since his move to Ibrox and the captain was used as a substitute on Sunday as Rangers beat St Mirren 5-1 for their first win of the season.
The 31-year-old Scotland striker hit 22 goals for Hearts last term working under McInnes.
“When you have a player like Lawrence, who knows his way around the penalty box and how to score goals, I do not worry too much about it,” said McInnes.
“He is too good not to score regularly. He has consistently shown that over a period of time in the Premiership.
“Sometimes people can over emphasise these things. For me, it is a case of letting him play his natural game.
“The best strikers have that instinctive side to their game, where everything looks natural and seamless. I have no doubt he will do well here.”
McInnes chose to start with Ryan Naderi in the Premier Sports Cup victory over St Mirren and the German opened the scoring, while Nico Raskin was skipper.
“I said that when I spoke to Lawrence,” added McInnes. “Being captain does not guarantee anything, and he accepted that. He is not going to stamp his feet about it. Having worked with Lawrence before, he is a brilliant captain and a brilliant boy.
“You want your captain to have a big influence on and off the pitch, and I believe Lawrence will have that.”
“The priority is at the top end of the pitch,” said McInnes. “Number nines are normally more difficult ones to do, and it wasn’t an area we were looking at before Youseff’s injury.
“We’re hoping we can land on the one that we want and hopefully we can bring them here quickly.”
“Everything’s so sad,” the actor explains. “Not taking yourself seriously is the only way, because otherwise I would just be upset, especially as a Black woman in the year 2026. I hate when people are on ‘The Bachelor’ and they’re like, ‘I love laughing,’ but it’s true. I really love it.”
Williams, 37, knows a thing or two about making others laugh. A three-time Emmy nominee for supporting actress in a comedy series for her work on “Shrinking,” she’s made an art of it. On a show about grief and mental health, Williams is often on hand to bring the funny.
Curled up in a chair on the top floor of The Times’ offices in El Segundo, looking down on the runways of LAX boiling in the late July sun, Williams gives runway fierceness against the beige office walls. She is just like the pop of bubblegum pink polish on her toenails as she strikes a pose in a chic all-black linen ensemble — a delightful burst of cheer in a subdued environment, something effervescent amid so much inoffensive sameness. She’s always been that way.
I would know; I’ve known her since we were 12 years old, awkward adolescents in Marcia Barryte’s Dodson Middle School drama class. As we catch up, I remind her of a PG-13 scene she caused in eighth grade science class during an earthquake drill. (To be fair, the drama students were asked to play standardized patients, and she was assigned “hysteria.”) While the class collected our backpacks, she broke into an award-worthy performance, wailing about not wanting to die a virgin.
“No!” she gasps, covering her mouth but unable to hide the mischievous grin that’s broken across her face at the memory. “That’s very inappropriate. I love that.”
Under slightly different circumstances, it’s a storyline that could belong to her “Shrinking” character, Gaby Evans, a therapist who brings her sunny demeanor, audacious sense of humor and enviable stores of energy into every room. That’s partly because so much of who Gaby is has been carefully honed by the writers and Williams to align with the actor’s voice.
“We can write almost anything and Jessica can make it sound like it has stemmed from Gaby,” says series co-creator Bill Lawrence. “She’s in charge of Gaby’s voice — and it’s a tremendous safety net for us as a writing staff.”
Jessica Williams in “Shrinking.”
(Apple TV)
Williams agrees this has been her experience, one she’s grateful for in an industry often dead set on ignoring perspectives like hers. “At the end of the day, white guys are in charge of this business,” she says. “Progress in film and TV requires them to go to bat for us. I feel really lucky to be on a show where Bill pulled me aside and was like, ‘If I’m doing my job right, the first couple episodes, we write these stories, and then, there’s a moment where it switches to being your character and you are the shepherd of her.’ It made it really collaborative and a safe space for me to play.”
Three seasons in, the set has become the world’s best playground. For instance, the writers gave Williams ample runway in a scene where Gaby turns the tables and proposes to her boyfriend, Derek (Damon Wayans Jr.), after discovering an engagement ring in a desk drawer (and getting it stuck on her finger). “Look, if you’re a television writer and you have a proposal scene and you don’t let Jessica Williams run with it, you’re cheating yourself,” quips Lawrence.
That mutual trust doesn’t mean that Gaby and Williams are the same person — just that Williams’ lived experience has shaped who Gaby is. “The point of a scene is we don’t know what it’s going to be,” she says. “We learned our lines. We’re going to show up. The director’s here. They have an idea. We’re going to make this thing together. We’re going to ‘Yes, and?’ until we get the scene up.”
Her ability to take the ball and run with it is what caught Lawrence’s eye in the first place, discovering Williams as a correspondent on “The Daily Show.” “She works very hard at making it seem like it’s off the cuff,” he emphasizes. “She is quick to call the writing staff with questions and is always looking to improve things. That’s not always the truth with everybody. She works her ass off.”
Jessica Williams.(Ryan Pfluger / For The Times)
That work ethic was essential for her Season 3 arc, which found Williams facing some of the toughest acting challenges of her career. Gaby bonds with a new, albeit reluctant, patient, Maya (Sherry Cola), only to be devastated when Maya takes her own life. It’s the heaviest storyline of the season — and a heartbreaking look at the realities of suicide, loss and trauma in the lives of mental health professionals.
One of the show’s consultants had experienced a similar loss, and their insights helped the writing staff find dramatic resonance. For Williams, it was a chance to showcase what she always believed she was capable of. “For women, people of color, queer people, any minorities, we just want the opportunity to show what we can do,” Williams says. “I was rubbing my hands together. Like, ‘F— yeah. Let’s go.’ But I was also really nervous. Sometimes when I get scenes that are a bit more difficult, I wake up and I wonder if I can do it. Every single time it’s proving to myself that I can. It felt like I didn’t get to rest last season in a way that was really nice. Most times I feel like I’m just goofing, but that felt like, ‘Oh, I’m an actor.’”
That’s an inevitable side effect of appearing on a Bill Lawrence show. His blend of humor and pathos demands a high-wire act from his ensembles. “With Bill, you have to have the acting chops to be able to do the drama, but then be able to turn a joke very quickly,” says Christa Miller, who’s been married to Lawrence since 1999 and played major roles on “Scrubs” and “Cougar Town” before “Shrinking,” in which she stars as Liz. “You really have to be able to do it on a dime.”
Lawrence clocked early on that Williams had the chops to hold her own against heavyweights like Harrison Ford. “We knew comedically she would crush it. The only question mark was about who she was as an actress,” says Lawrence. “But she was great from the second she set foot onstage. It would’ve been a massive mistake not to let her showcase that stuff.”
The storyline also pushed Williams to reopen an old wound. In 2019, she lost her longtime boyfriend to a heroin overdose. “He had a therapist who had come recommended from my therapist,” she says. “I don’t remember that time that much because it was so intense and traumatic. I do remember my therapist was helping me work through it, but she was also like, ‘I’d like to check in with his therapist and see how he’s doing.’ That was the first place I went when they told me about that storyline. It was a good opportunity to work through that a little bit.”
Even though her grief was readily accessible, it also churned up emotions that Williams often tries to quiet. “There’s always something when someone dies, whether it’s suicide or an accident, where you feel guilt,” she reflects. “‘What could I have done?’ It was something that I’ve processed and am still processing, and it was easy to transfer that into Season 3. Grief is so ongoing. It’s a wound that I have forever, and I would give anything to not have it. But now I have it, and I live with it. It’s like an old friend.”
Williams describes the days filming those scenes as different for her, harder to shake. Driving home from the set in Burbank, she’d often take side streets back to her house in Eagle Rock, getting lost in music and her environment. “It felt like trying to shed it,” she explains. “I really felt it. But so many people responded to it in a way that was what I wanted. It’s such an intimate thing, this job, and to be able to portray something [that resonates], that’s the whole point.”
One emotion the work generated that she wasn’t expecting? Embarrassment. “I’m usually not embarrassed doing comedy,” she says. “I’m like, ‘There’s no rules. We can try anything.’ It doesn’t feel as vulnerable, whereas acting, there’s something fundamentally so indulgent about it.”
It’s a surprising admission; though I haven’t spent substantial time with Williams in years, she always seemed fearless to me. Willing to do whatever it took to get a laugh. It’s why our drama teacher invented an entirely new role for her in our spring musical, to showcase her generational comedic talent.
Williams agrees she was a cutup in class, but she never got the chance to do any capital-A acting in middle school. “I would get a part, and then I wouldn’t be able to do it,” she recounts. “Mrs. Barryte would have to call my parents and be like, ‘She did not do her homework. She has bad grades. She can’t do the play.’ I let people down. I remember feeling really sad about it.
“That taught me I’m a part of a team,” she reflects. “I have to be professional. I have to be ready. But I’m glad I don’t have to do my math homework to be able to perform. Public school’s tough — you had to be an awkward Black girl and get good grades to do the musical.”
That all changed when Williams found improv, joining the ComedySportz team at Harbor City’s Narbonne High (she continued on the college team while she was a student at Cal State Long Beach). “I cared about improv so much that I wasn’t not going to do my homework,” she says. “It just affected my life profoundly. I’m getting misty thinking about these programs that are underfunded, that s— really matters.”
Williams has also found reassurance in the response to her character. “She makes me more confident,” she admits. “Just seeing the response to Gaby. A lot of that is amazing writing, directing and an amazing crew, but it’s also my instincts.”
“The first time I was like, ‘Whoa, what the f—?’” she says of her three Emmy nominations for the role. “Second time, it was like, ‘OK, it wasn’t a fluke.’ And then the third time you’re like, ‘Oh s—!’ All the actresses that I admire are in this category, so I’m honored. But these are my peers too. So it’s like, ‘Oh, they see me.’ Gaby means something to people, it feels like — and that’s really nice. It encourages me to keep going.”
As for what that future will hold, besides at least one more season of “Shrinking,” Williams is hungry to do a play on Broadway, having not done theater since high school. Somewhere in there she’d like to capitalize on her tendency to play erudite characters and embody a detective in a thriller (preferably a paranormal one like her childhood faves “So Weird” and “The X-Files”).
Mostly, though, she just wants to keep doing what she’s been striving for since we were kids — “I want, when you watch me, for you to feel like you’ve seen something magic happen.”
Surrey duo Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence have been recalled to the England squad for the first two Tests against Pakistan.
The pair have been named in a 16-man squad before the series opener at Headingley on Wednesday 19 August but Jacob Bethell will miss the entire series through injury.
Joe Root will captain the side for the first time since being reappointed to the role in July, with Marcus Trescothick serving as interim head coach. McCullum’s replacement, Stephen Fleming, will begin his tenure against South Africa in December.
England’s 16-man squad for the first two Tests against Pakistan: Joe Root (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue.
Lawrence, who earned the last of his 14 Test caps in September 2024, is rewarded for his domestic form. The 29-year-old is the second-highest run-scorer in Division One of the County Championship, with 788 runs at 65.66, including five centuries, in 13 innings.
He is slated to bat at six, filling a middle-order vacancy created by Stokes’ retirement, but is far from a like-for-like replacement for the former captain.
Only Gus Atkinson (79 wickets) has taken more Test wickets for England than Stokes (78) since the start of June 2022. Lawrence, who bowls right-arm off-spin, has taken nine wickets from 178.2 overs in the County Championship this season.
Former vice-captain Pope was replaced by Bethell at number three for the final two Ashes Tests in Australia following an extended period of poor form and was subsequently dropped from the squad against New Zealand.
Like Lawrence, he has performed well in the County Championship, scoring 510 runs at 56.66, including five 50+ knocks, for Surrey, but will not automatically slot back into the side in Bethell’s absence.
Bethell suffered a knee injury during the ODI series against India in July and is set to be replaced by Jordan Cox, who made his Test debut against New Zealand at the Oval, at number three.
England’s men’s national selector, Marcus North, said: “We have selected a squad for the first two Tests that balances rising talent with the experience needed against a quality Pakistan team.
“Dan Lawrence returns following an exceptional season so far with Surrey and we believe he has the right level of experience, maturity and skill to complement our middle order.
“Jordan Cox is well regarded as one of the most exciting talents in English cricket and will have the opportunity to bat at three in place of Jacob Bethell, who sadly misses this series through injury.”
Essex’s Sam Cook returns to the squad for the first time since last summer. The 29-year-old seamer made his international debut against Zimbabwe in May 2025 and was named in the squad for the five-match series against India but did not feature.
Brydon Carse returns after a broken wrist ruled him out of the Indian Premier League and the start of the Test summer while England are sticking with spinner Shoaib Bashir, who featured in the first and third Tests against New Zealand after being overlooked during the Ashes.
For more than four decades his voice was embraced by millions, a calming baritone in a sea of Lakers bedlam.
Yet in the most unfair of twists, on the night his career ended he was silent and alone.
Three months ago, Lawrence Tanter was walking through his bedroom when he suddenly collapsed while losing all strength in his arms and legs.
He fell and couldn’t get up. He lives alone, so he couldn’t cry out for help. He was able to secure his phone, but he says he was too stubborn to call 911.
“I wanted to get up by myself,” he said. “I knew I would eventually get up by myself.”
But this 6-foot-7 bear of a man was too weak to get up by himself. Listening to a Lakers road game on a bedside radio, he remained on the floor and eventually fell asleep until finally summoning his oldest friend the next morning.
Lakers star LeBron James salutes public address announcer Lawrence Tanter before the start of a game in 2024.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
“I got there and I’m like, why didn’t you call sooner?” Joe Williams said. “I told him, ‘I know you’re a warrior but, c’mon man, this is serious.’”
Serious enough to be diagnosed as a stroke. Serious enough to quietly end the most sonorous, soothing stretch in local sports history.
For 43 years as the Lakers’ iconic public address announcer, Tanter has been the coolest sound in the city, the measured, reassuring voice that decorated the team’s two hype-filled homes with gravitas and grace.
When the Lakers announced his retirement last week as he continues to battle effects from the March 17 stroke, the man known to everyone as simply “LT” closed his career with taciturn perfection, summing up a Lakers lifetime in eight words.
“It’s been a great run,” he intoned this week from a hospital bed, his pipes still the strongest part of him. “I’ve been blessed.”
It is Lakers fans who have been blessed, gifted with a voice that, whenever they attended a game, reminded them they were home.
“LT is in every way a part of Laker history,” said former Laker and current broadcaster Mychal Thompson. “He too is a Laker legend.”
Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter gets set up at the scorer’s table before a game in 2011.
(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
When the retirement news broke with the Lakers announcing they were moving LT into an advisory role — a classy good-bye — fans everywhere broke out their LT best.
“Toooo many steps.” … “James Woooorthy.” … ”LeBronnnn James.”
And, of course, everybody’s favorite…“Llllaker Girlsss.”
“I always imagine, if he could hear God’s voice, it would sound like LT’s,” Thompson said.
This was never more true than on a somber night in late January in 2020. LT put his giant arms around a grieving city with pregame introductions that will never be forgotten.
“At one guard, number 24, 6-6, 20th year out of Lower Merion High School, Kobeee Bryant.”
The player taking the court was Avery Bradley.
“At the other guard, number 24, 6-6, 20th year out of Lower Merion High School, Kobeee Bryant.”
Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter watches play from his spot at the scorer’s table during a game in 2012.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
The player taking the court was Danny Green.
And on it went, all five Lakers introduced as Kobe Bryant before their game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the ultimate tribute before the Lakers’ first game since Bryant’s death.
It might have been LT’s finest hour, and every second of it broke his heart.
“The hardest introductions ever,” he remembered.
LT handled it simply by being LT, a comforting bard who could elicit much emotion with a slight change in cadence or key.
“With his timing, his rhythm, he could get excitement going without raising his voice,” said Bob Steiner, the retired Lakers executive who hired LT in 1982. “Lawrence became a star in the same way Chick Hearn was.”
While working for the Lakers, LT also worked for several jazz and rhythm and blues radio stations in town, most notably KJLH, which gave him built-in credibility in the city.
“If you go around town, you will find that he was known almost as much for his radio work as his public address work,” Williams said.
In combining the rhythm of jazz with the tenor of basketball, LT was the coolest cat at the scorer’s table, a distinctive figure in a white goatee and a newsboy cap who raised the roof while never raising his voice.
“I never tried to be a cheerleader,” said LT, 76. “I just tried to be a public address announcer.”
While many of today’s public address announcers are screamers, LT was so subtle that his most repeated call involved not the action, but the in-game entertainment.
“Everywhere we go, somebody recognizes his voice and does an imitation,” Williams said. “But nothing gets repeated like ‘Llllaker Girlsss.’”
Those two words, uttered at the end of every routine by the iconic dance team, contain the essence of LT’s greatness. He knows what you’re watching doesn’t need any embellishment; he’s capturing the scene with the power of subtlety.
“You’re sitting in the stands and when the dancers finish dancing, you say to your friends out loud, ‘Llllaker Girlsss,’ and everybody laughs,” said Pete Arbogast, who was the master of ceremonies when LT was inducted into the Southern California Sports Broadcaster Hall of Fame last year.
LT’s speech that afternoon was dominated by individual thank-yous to his many friends who attended the ceremony, typical LT humility.
“From my nose to my toes, I say thank you,” he concluded.
Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter is given brownies by actress Dyan Cannon before the start of a game in 2011.
(Los Angeles Times)
Today it is the Lakers who are thanking him.
“Since the 1980s, LT has narrated every chapter of Lakers basketball, connecting generations of fans, players, coaches and staff while becoming a trusted and unforgettable part of the Lakers experience,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “I am incredibly grateful for everything he has given to this franchise.”
His next stop should be the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where he deserves to be enshrined as a contributor, becoming the first public address announcer to receive such an honor.
What other PA voice defined a franchise like LT? Who else missed just two games in 43 years? Name another PA announcer who accumulated nine championship rings yet refuses to wear any of them, ever, because it was never about him?
“It’s high time the Hall of Fame inducts him as a valuable and legendary contributor to the game,” Thompson said.
And if he is one day inducted, how would he introduce himself?
“At one forward, number 43, 6-foot-7, from Thornton Township High School, Llllawrence TAN-ter …”
LT laughed at the thought. He never actually would say that. But wouldn’t you like to hear it? Just once?
“Laker games,” Thompson said, “will never sound the same again.”
The smooth and soothing voice that generations of Lakers fans grew so accustomed to when Lawrence Tanter was the longtime public address announcer has put down his microphone.
Tanter, known as the “Voice of the Lakers,” has retired from his game-day role, the team announced Tuesday, and he will become a special advisor for Lakers game presentation.
Tanter, 76, sat in his courtside seat as the public address announcer for 43 years at Lakers games, starting in 1982 when they played at the Forum and lasting until late March, when the team announced he would miss a game to attend to his health. Those with knowledge of the situation who are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said he had a stroke.
“Lawrence Tanter has been an integral part of the Lakers gameday experience for more than four decades, setting the tone for countless memorable moments with his professionalism, energy and signature booming voice,” said Jeanie Buss, the Lakers’ governor. “Since the 1980s, LT has narrated every chapter of Lakers basketball, connecting generations of fans, players, coaches and staff while becoming a trusted and unforgettable part of the Lakers’ experience. I am incredibly grateful for everything he has given to this franchise.”
From the days of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, to the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal era and the current LeBron James and Luka Doncic days, Tanter was the voice that resonated.
Scotland striker Lawrence Shankland says he is fulfilling his “dream” of joining “boyhood club” Rangers after completing his transfer from Scottish Premiership rivals Heart of Midlothian.
The 30-year-old, who has agreed a two-year deal at Ibrox with the option of a further 12 months, scored 88 goals in 171 appearances across four campaigns at Tynecastle.
And he captained the Edinburgh side to second place this season, missing out on the title to Celtic on the final day, with Rangers in third, eight points behind Hearts.
Shankland will miss out on Champions League qualifiers with Hearts but told Rangers TV: “Rangers is my boyhood club and it has always been a dream to play here, so I was really keen to get it done.
“The club are in a position where they want to get back to winning silverware more regularly and I want to be a big part of that, so that’s what I have come here to do.”
Shankland was out of contract at Hearts last summer – and was linked with a move to Ibrox then – before signing a three-year deal in late June.
The former Queen’s Park, Aberdeen, Ayr United, Dundee United and Beerschot forward went on to hit 20 goals in 34 games in all competitions, including four against Rangers, as Derek McInnes’ side chased a first title since 1960.
Rangers head coach Danny Rohl said: “He is a player with proven quality, leadership and work ethic – and his goalscoring record in Scotland speaks for itself.
“He understands the demands and expectations that come with playing for Rangers and we believe his character and experience will be a huge asset for the group.”
Immediately after completing his transfer, Shankland, who has scored four times in 18 Scotland outings, will join Steve Clarke’s squad for the World Cup.
“I wish him well at the World Cup this summer and look forward to welcoming him back to Glasgow during pre-season,” Rohl added.
