The WNBA has deleted a social media post that appears to show two of its star players, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, making a $400 bet with each other on their teams’ game — an act that seems to be in violation of the league’s collective bargaining agreement.
The post was made Wednesday afternoon on X ahead of that night’s game between Reese’s Atlanta Dream and Bueckers’ Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas, and deleted soon after. It featured a video that showed Bueckers talking to a reporter, who mentions that “at All-Star weekend, you and Angel made a bet with each other on this game.”
Bueckers appears to jokingly play dumb. “We did?” she asked.
The video then cuts to footage of Reese and Bueckers, apparently at practice during last weekend’s All-Star festivities in Chicago, joking around and making a friendly wager with each other on the Dream-Wings game later that week.
“If y’all win, you get your 400,” Reese appears to say before adding that if Atlanta wins, “you owe me 400.”
A WNBA spokesperson said in a statement emailed to The Times: “While the social media post was intended to be lighthearted, WNBA players are well aware of the league’s policies prohibiting betting on WNBA games and receive training every year reinforcing those policies. We recognized that the post missed the mark, removed it shortly after it was published, and addressed the matter internally.
“We will also use this as an opportunity to reemphasize with the players involved that conversations about wagering on WNBA games, even when intended as a joke, can have negative consequences.”
Reese had 22 points and 12 rebounds in her team’s 82-81 victory against the Dream. During a postgame news conference, Reese laughed out loud when a reporter made reference to the wager she had with Bueckers.
“Yeah, I’ll be requesting my Apple Pay after this,” Reese said.
Reese also apparently was alluding to the bet when she added the hashtag #cuatrocientos (Spanish for four hundred) to an X post later that night.
Bueckers, who had 16 points in the loss, was not asked about the bet after the game.
According to Article XIV, Section 5(c) of the league’s CBA, “Any player found by the Commissioner after a hearing to have been guilty of wagering (directly or indirectly), or of offering or attempting to wager, money or anything of value on the outcome, score, or any other aspect of any WNBA Competition shall, in the sole discretion of the Commissioner, be subject to a fine, suspension, and/or dismissal and disqualification from any further association with the WNBA.”
The Women’s National Basketball Players Assn., the Wings and the Dream did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
WASHINGTON — The American Dream may not be dead for many Black Americans, but it is further away than at any point since the Civil Rights Movement, warns a report by the National Urban League.
Released on Thursday, the annual “State of Black America” report grimly describes Black Americans ‘ economic and political prospects as having worsened due to policy changes from President Trump’s administration, according to a copy obtained by the Associated Press.
The report contends that the challenges it highlights for Black communities are warning signs for the prosperity of all Americans.
“It may be the focus is us, but the impact is not just us,” said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. “While they have targeted and focused on Black Americans, these attacks are going to impact broadly working Americans, poor Americans, aspirational middle-class Americans, and this is what this report points to.”
Tracing the arc of American history, the Urban League describes Black Americans’ struggle for emancipation from slavery and equal economic and political rights as a gruesome but optimistic part of the American story.
Now, the report says, the Trump administration is at odds with the goals and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, citing the overhaul of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as the president’s focus on overhauling voting laws through the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, as examples of rollbacks of long-sought civil rights policies.
The report’s authors offer policy and strategy recommendations for civil rights groups aiming to combat the Trump administration.
“The civil rights community must consolidate its legal resistance and turn courtroom wins into durable policy,” the report says. “The movement must build economic infrastructure that doesn’t depend on the goodwill of any one administration.”
The AP reached out to the White House for comment on the report.
Report contributors include a potential Democratic presidential contender
This year’s report includes contributions from members of Congress, and policy and legal experts, as well as some media personalities.
U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks, Lisa Blunt Rochester and Raphael Warnock all contributed to the report, as well as Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey contributed a video message to the report.
Moore, who is widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, submitted an essay focused on closing the racial wealth gap and Black Americans’ history of economic advancement in the face of adversity.
“With wisdom and grit, my mom was able to lift me and my family to a higher rung on the economic ladder. But too often wisdom and grit aren’t enough,” Moore wrote.
He later called closing the racial wealth gap “a matter of moral clarity” but cautioned that “government alone cannot close the racial wealth gap. It’s going to take all of us,” referencing the private sector and civil society.
Report blasts ‘economic assault’ on Black Americans
Whether corporate America and major nonprofits are still willing to participate is an open question. The report condemns the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back diversity initiatives and economic advancement projects in the private sector, and expresses frustration with companies that cooperated with an “economic assault” on Americans, especially Black Americans.
“This has been a campaign of coercion and oppression directed at these institutions who have been out here working hard to, if you will, change America,” Morial said. “The important thing about companies is that every company has not bent the knee. Some may have done some cosmetic changes. Some have been in full and complete retreat.”
The DEI rollbacks are a jarring reversal for the Urban League, which held sway in the Biden White House on economic and social policies. The report lauds President Biden’s administration for signing a sweeping COVID-19 stimulus package, as well as laws supporting minority small businesses and a bipartisan infrastructure bill.
“Not every promise was kept, and the current administration is pushing to roll our wins back, but these wins serve as a blueprint for what is possible through sustained advocacy and a clear vision,” the authors write. The agenda, the Urban League declares, was “the most consequential federal investments in Black America since the Great Society.”
The organization and its civil rights allies now find themselves in a strikingly different political environment under the Trump administration.
“Looking at our current political landscape, the calls for racial healing and righting of this nation’s wrongs in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd feel like a fever dream,” the report reads.
But the study also acknowledges that Black Americans have overcome more dire and discriminatory moments.
Latest Black America report is the Urban League’s 50th edition
The Urban League’s inaugural 1976 report on the state of Black America was described by the New York Times at the time as “a profoundly depressing document” that laid out the persistent disparities between the economic outlooks of Black and white Americans, a decade after the Civil Rights Movement’s crowning achievements were signed into law.
The report was established as a response to that year’s State of the Union address by President Ford and the Democratic response, neither of which mentioned the economic outlooks for Black Americans. The report offered policy recommendations on crime, education, housing, social services and general economic policy.
“It is a document that does not attempt to cover up the seriousness of the situation black people find themselves in,” the authors wrote at the time. Several of its recommendations were later taken up by President Carter, who was elected to the White House months after the report’s release.
This year’s 50th anniversary document echoes the frustration found in the inaugural report. While Morial acknowledged that the Urban League’s assessments may lead to pessimism, he urged Americans concerned about civil rights and economic progress to respond at the ballot box and with their pocketbooks.
“We cannot be dejected. We cannot be cynical. We must act,” Morial said. “We have to fight to make sure that those that are really trying to kill the essence of the American dream don’t win.”
Saudi Arabia has hosted the last two Asian Champions League Elite finals and has now been confirmed for the next three.
Published On 30 Jul 202630 Jul 2026
Saudi Arabia will organise the next three editions of the Asian Champions League Elite finals after the Asian Football Confederation’s executive committee confirmed the country’s provisional hosting rights had been made permanent.
The Saudis have hosted the first two editions of the event, which sees the quarterfinals, semifinals and final played in a centralised venue, since the continent’s premier club competition was restructured before the 2024/2025 season.
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Jeddah-based outfit Al-Ahli have won the title on the two occasions the city has hosted the finals, defeating Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale in 2025 before beating Machida Zelvia, also from Japan, in May.
The upcoming edition of the tournament, which features the domestic champions of the leading competitions from the region, will see the league phase expanded from 24 to 32 teams.
The qualifying rounds will start on August 11, with the draw for the league phase to be held in Kuala Lumpur on August 18 and play commencing on September 14.
Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli completed their back-to-back victories with a 1-0 win after extra time against Machida Zelvia, of the Japanese J1 League, in last year’s final.
Fellow Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal are the record winners of the competition with four wins from nine appearances in the final – which is also a record.
Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds and South Korea’s Pohang Steelers have each lifted the trophy twice, having both appeared in the final on three occasions.
The checklist to launch an independent minor league baseball team is long and daunting. Can you find a place to play? How do you find enough players, and make enough money to pay them? How can you persuade a community to support a home team?
Here’s a new one: If minor league baseball is all about affordability, how do you compete against a nearby major league team that might undercut you on pricing?
This astounding dilemma is brought to you by the Angels, and their combination of a consistent focus on affordability and a consistently bad team.
Zach Neto is the best player the Angels have drafted and developed since Mike Trout — that is, in the past 17 years — and the team is considering whether to trade Neto ahead of next week’s trade deadline. That might make the team better in the long run, but almost certainly not next year.
And, next year, the Angels will have competition for the Orange County baseball dollar, a few exits down Interstate 5. On Tuesday, the Irvine City Council approved a five-year agreement under which a yet-to-be-named minor league team would play at the sparkling ballpark within the city’s Great Park, starting next May.
“We might not, on certain days, be the cheapest ticket in town,” said Paul Freedman, co-founder of Innovation Baseball Partners, the company for which the Irvine team is the fourth in its portfolio of minor league teams, all based in California and all competing in the Pioneer League, where players are limited to no more than two years of professional experience.
No ticket prices have been announced for the Irvine team. Jamie Rosenberg, another IBP co-founder, told the Irvine City Council that the IBP team in Long Beach charges roughly $10 to $15 for general admission, with a $2 special every Tuesday.
“The idea is to make this an accessible, affordable entertainment option for the community,” Rosenberg said.
Angels pitcher Reid Detmers throws from the mound against the Houston Astros in front of a sparse crowd Tuesday at Angel Stadium.
(Scott Strazzante / Associated Press)
On Tuesday, three hours after Rosenberg spoke, the Angelsplayed the Houston Astros at Angel Stadium. On StubHub, you could buy a ticket for $2.
“I think Angel fans would hope the team gets better and maybe those prices would go up,” Freedman said, “but what we’re confident in is that we’re going to have a value experience.”
On Tuesday and every other day at Angel Stadium, the Angels proudly display a sign advertising a collection of what the team calls its “family value merchandise.” A T-shirt or a cap can be yours for $9.99, and a souvenir baseball with the team logo sells for $7.99.
“We really focus on a family of four,” Freedman said. “Can a family of four afford a night out?”
The Angels offer a family package — four tickets, four hot dogs, and four drinks — for $44.
You may remember what Angels owner Arte Moreno said in spring training: “The number one thing fans want is affordability.”
That infuriated Angels fans, of course, since their team has baseball’s longest playoff drought — 12 years, counting this one. Freedman says the fans of his teams want affordability too, but he cautioned against stretching the comparison too far.
For one, Trout plays in Anaheim. You can see a future Hall of Famer there all summer, and stars from around the league, and you can see the Yankees and Red Sox and Dodgers every year.
“We’re not ever going to replace the majesty of going to see the Dodgers with Shohei [Ohtani] playing,” Freedman said, “but we can create an environment that’s more fun.”
For two, whatever $2 tickets you might find in Anaheim put you in the vicinity of the top of a foul pole. All the tickets in Irvine put you right behind home plate, because there are barely 1,000 seats.
And, for fun, Freedman and his partners are planning to become the first American team to integrate elements of the Asian fan experience into the game presentation.
“We want to be doing things you haven’t seen in an American baseball game before,” he said, “and we want to put a fair price on that, one that is reasonable and allows us to operate our business.”
The traditional minor league team operates far from the shadow of a major league team. The Pioneer League, for instance, has teams in the California towns of Modesto and Marysville, and in Idaho Falls and Missoula, Mont.
The Irvine launch will be different and challenging — and, yes, fun. But success depends on paying customers, and nothing attracts customers like a trial offer.
The rules are simple. Each day there’s a new footballer and the challenge is to guess who they are in as few attempts as possible.
After each wrong guess you unlock a new clue. Guess the answer after as few clues as possible to score more points.
Three is a good score, four or five points is exceptional.
So take part and return for more tomorrow.
Today’s player and clues set by BBC Sport’s Adam Millington.
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CHICAGO — Jonquel Jones had 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, helping Caitlin Clark and Team Spoon outlast Marina Mabrey and Team Coop 129-122 in the WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday night.
Dominique Malonga had a first-half dunk for Team Coop, but Team Spoon had eight players score in double figures in an All-Star Game that featured 127 three-point attempts and very little defense. Allisha Gray had 19 points for Team Spoon, and Clark finished with 17.
The WNBA celebrated its 30th season by holding its first All-Star Game in Chicago since 2022. This time, the marquee event was played in front of a record crowd of 19,783 at the United Center instead of the smaller Wintrust Arena in downtown Chicago, a sign of how much the league has grown.
Jones, a 32-year-old center for the New York Liberty, was named MVP. Nneka Ogwumike scored 11 points for Team Spoon while passing Maya Moore (119) for the most career points in All-Star Game history.
Kelsey Mitchell had 28 points for Team Coop, and Mabrey scored all of her 23 points during a red-hot first half. Malonga finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
WNBA greats Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon drafted the All-Star teams from players that were either voted as starters by fans, media and fellow players or chosen as reserves by the league’s coaches. Las Vegas’ Becky Hammon coached Cooper’s team, and Minnesota’s Cheryl Reeve was in charge of Weatherspoon’s squad.
Clark went 5 for 15 from beyond the arc and had five assists in her return to the All-Star game. The Indiana Fever guard missed last year’s event in Indianapolis because of a groin injury.
The 24-year-old Clark came out firing, connecting from 33 feet and 37 feet on her way to 11 points in the first 2 1/2 minutes. She buried another three early in the second quarter off a slick no-look pass from Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles, the only rookie selected for the game.
Clark and Mabrey each put on an offensive show, but Malonga got the biggest cheer of the night. The 6-foot-6 center from the Seattle Storm ran down the lane, got a pass from Angel Reese and threw down a right-handed jam with 6:24 left in the first half.
Reese jumped up and down as Malonga finished the play, and the two exchanged a mid-air chest bump on their way back down the court.
It was the first dunk in a WNBA All-Star Game since Sylvia Fowles in 2022. Lisa Leslie (2005), Jones (2017), Brittney Griner (2019) also have accomplished the feat.
Leslie was on hand for the festivities, along with South Carolina coach and former WNBA guard Dawn Staley. Former NBA star Dwyane Wade also was courtside.
The rules are simple. Each day there’s a new footballer and the challenge is to guess who they are in as few attempts as possible.
After each wrong guess you unlock a new clue. Guess the answer after as few clues as possible to score more points.
Three is a good score, four or five points is exceptional.
So take part and return for more tomorrow.
Today’s player and clues set by BBC Sport’s Flora Snelson
After more quizzes? Go to our dedicated Football Quizzes and Sports Quizzes pages and sign up for notifications to get the latest quizzes sent straight to your device.
Manchester United have signed goalkeeper Janina Leitzig from Leicester City for an undisclosed fee.
The 27-year-old becomes their second signing of the summer following the arrival of defender Andrea Medina.
It is believed the former Germany youth international has signed a three-year deal at United after they triggered the release clause in her Leicester contract, which was renewed in 2025.
Leitzig has been at Leicester for three years, initially on a season-long loan from Bayern Munich, where she became a regular starter.
She leaves having made almost 70 appearances in all competitions but could not save Leicester from Women’s Super League relegation last season.
“It is a real honour to be a Manchester United player,” said Leitzig.
“I’m ready to bring all of my experience of competing at the highest level to help the team to have a successful season.
“I am joining a really excellent group of goalkeepers. Everyone has told me about the great environment that they have created.
“I cannot wait to push all together to maintain the high performance standards that this club deserves.”
Leitzig has been a long-term target for United and BBC Sport first reported in 2023 that they had made contact with the German goalkeeper while on loan at Leicester.
She will wear the number 25 shirt at Manchester United.
Hull FC interim coach Andy Last told BBC Radio Humberside:
“Really disappointed, it would have been great to get two points. Unbelievable crowd came in on the back of a season where we have really struggled. The loyalty of the supporters is second to none.
“We got off to a great start. We felt the start was important for us to get that engagement with the supporters and we thought Rovers were a bit fragile after their last two performances, so it couldn’t have gone any better.
“The tries we conceded were real soft ones and that was down to fatigue.
“Second half, Rovers just did what they do which is suffocate you of field position. I ended up with a bit of a neck ache because I was looking to my left all the time. That pressure they put you under forced us into some uncharacteristic errors.”
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters told BBC Humberside:
“I’m really proud. The first 10 minutes was a nervous start, 12 [points] down, it could have got ugly but we fought.
“I thought Tom Amone and Kyle Lawton were outstanding. They made a big difference when they came on. I say it every week but what Dean Hadley brings to our team is incredible.”
[On Elliot Minchella and Jez Litten] “When times get a little bit tough you want your leaders to stand up and that is what I thought both of those guys did tonight and put in great performances.
“I said before the game that I thought this was the perfect game for us to show we’ve still got that fight. Being 12-0 down at your rivals to be able to kick on at the back end was what we needed.”
In Japan, fans come up with a song for each player and sing it happily and relentlessly. Nootbaar played in the major leagues, not in the Japanese league, so he was not sure he would get a song until he came up to bat.
“I don’t know how everybody in the stadium knew how to do it,” the St. Louis Cardinals outfielder said Wednesday at Angel Stadium. “Everybody was chanting it. It was pretty awesome.”
Japan’s Lars Nootbaar, center, played for Team Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
(Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press)
In Japan, baseball games are nine innings of songs and chants, drums and noise sticks. No excessively caffeinated in-game hosts. No scolding video commands to make some noise. The joyful sounds are organic, and they come from the fans.
Nootbaar attended Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s last game in Japan and absolutely raved about the energy in the stadium. Does he believe that kind of fan experience would translate to an American ballpark?
“I don’t see why not,” Nootbaar said. “It would probably have to start small, but it would be cool to integrate that.”
We’re starting small, and soon. A minor league team plans to launch in Irvine next year, and the entrepreneur behind it is pitching it as a way to provide fans with a taste of Asian baseball.
“We’re going to really lean into some of the innovation in fan experience that you’ve seen in Korea and Japan,” said Paul Freedman, co-founder of Innovation Baseball Partners.
“We’ll be the first, to our knowledge, to bring that as the fan experience of an American baseball team.”
The team would play in the Pioneer League, the independent league in which Freedman and his partners previously launched teams in Oakland and Long Beach. In Oakland, the ballpark is a pop-up. In Long Beach, the team plays at 70-year-old Blair Field.
The defending champions of Korea’s league last year held spring training in Irvine. More Koreans live there than in any city in the United States besides New York or Los Angeles.
Asian food will be available at the games, as will hot dogs.
On Tuesday, the Irvine City Council is scheduled to consider a five-year contract with Innovation Baseball Partners, under which the team could sell naming rights to the Great Park stadium and would split the revenue with the city 50-50. The agreement also provides a framework for potential expansion of the stadium from 1,300 to 3,000 seats.
Don Wakamatsu, who runs baseball operations for Freedman’s teams, was the first Asian-American manager in major league history and managed Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki with the Seattle Mariners.
Ichiro won’t be playing in Irvine — the Pioneer League limits players to no more than two years of professional experience — but Wakamatsu plans to tap into his network to ensure the team has an Asian manager or coach and a nucleus of Asian players.
Wakamatsu described Freedman’s model of minor league teams as “somewhere between conventional baseball and the Savannah Bananas” and believes the Asian style could take hold in Irvine.
“If we can truly capture some of that excitement and fan interaction,” Wakamatsu said, “I think we’ll get a deeper connection with the players.”
To help launch the Irvine team, Freedman tapped two Korean-Americans: Martin Kim, a onetime interpreter to former Dodgers pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu and international business development executive with the Dodgers and Major League Baseball; and Yugina Yun, an Orange County-raised sports executive that said she “begged” to join the team as its operations director.
“The element that we’d really like to bring forth is the idea that fans in the stands can impact a team,” Yun said. “We want them to feel like they’re a part of the culture from the ground up.
“We’re not manufacturing the experience. They are.”
If you watched the World Baseball Classic, or for that matter the World Cup, you don’t have to be sold on this. On the night before the World Cup final, Argentinian fans took over Times Square, singing and chanting and waving banners.
A sign outside this year’s WBC finals in Miami listed 16 “permissible instruments” (bongos, cowbells and tambourines welcome) and eight “prohibited instruments” (no airhorns, please). In Tijuana, where Dodgers icon Justin Turner is playing this season, airhorns buzz constantly, and games feature skits between innings.
“I think there is a lot of attention to how different cultures have taken America’s pastime and created experiences around it that are different than we have here,” Freedman said. “We’re excited to bring some of that back home.”
The Rams, as is seemingly their custom with a Super Bowl scheduled to be played at SoFi Stadium, made blockbuster trades to improve an already star-studded roster.
Players will report to training camp Saturday at Loyola Marymount as favorites to win Super Bowl LXI in their home stadium in February.
Much, however, can go awry on the way to the NFL’s biggest showcase.
Injuries, subpar performances by Rams players and coaches, and outstanding clutch play by opponents — see the 2025 Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks — could derail the Rams’ presumptive date with destiny.
On Sunday, they will hold the first of 11 training-camp practices before preseason games against the Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints and the Chargers.
Here are six things to watch in training camp:
Quarterback Matthew Stafford’s workload
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford speaks with coach Sean McVay during an organized team activities workout in May.
(Kevin Terrell / Getty Images)
In 2025, because of a back issue, Matthew Stafford did not take a single training-camp snap.
The lack of on-field preparation did not appear to adversely affect him: Stafford eventually tested his fitness after training camp ended — and he went on to win the league’s most valuable player award for the first time.
So the Rams learned from the experience. Preseason inactivity is not necessarily a bad thing for a 17-year veteran who has thrown more than 9,000 passes in regular-season and playoff games and thousands more in practices.
McVay is expected to limit the 38-year-old Stafford’s participation in full-team drills.
Without the luxury of veteran Jimmy Garoppolo running the offense, rookie Ty Simpson, the 13th pick of the NFL draft, and fourth-year pro Stetson Bennett will get plenty of snaps with the starters and with backups during preseason games.
The Myles Garrett effect
Rams defensive end Myles Garrett, left, speaks during a news conference while sitting next to coach Sean McVay on June 2.
(Ric Tapia / For The Times)
The Rams in June made the biggest and boldest move of the offseason when they traded for defensive end Myles Garrett, a two-time NFL defensive player of the year who amassed an NFL record 23 sacks last season for the Cleveland Browns.
Garrett joins a front that includes outside linebacker Byron Young and interior linemen Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Poona Ford and ….
Donald?
The Rams, at least publicly, are still waiting on a decision from the three-time NFL defensive player of the year who retired after the 2023 season. If Donald does not make his plans known before report day, it will not stop speculation about a return before or during the season.
Who will be the third receiver?
Rams wide receiver Xavier Smith catches a pass in practice in May.
(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)
Puka Nacua spent part of the offseason in rehab and is the defendant in a civil lawsuit. During organized-team activities, he appeared fit and sounded determined to build on an All-Pro resume that could eventually earn him a record-setting contract.
After discussing trading Davante Adams for A.J. Brown, McVay and general manager Les Snead ultimately chose to stick with the 13th-year pro and future Hall of Famer, who last season led the NFL with 14 touchdown catches.
During the draft, the Rams passed on the opportunity to select former USC receiver Makai Lemon and opted instead to pick Simpson, Stafford’s heir apparent.
With much-loved but seldom-used Tutu Atwell now playing for the Miami Dolphins, Xavier Smith, Jordan Whittington, Konata Mumpfield and rookie CJ Daniels will compete for the opportunity to be a third receiver.
Secondary as primary strength
Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie participates in drills during practice in May.
Both played in three Super Bowls for the Kansas City Chiefs, winning two.
They join safeties Quentin Lake and Kam Curl — both of whom received extensions — to give the Rams one of the strongest units in the league.
Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. and safeties Kamren Kinchens and Jaylen McCollough provide depth and experience.
Jimmy Lake replaced Aubrey Pleasant as defensive backs coach.
Offensive line depth
Rams guard Steve Avila, right, blocks defensive tackle Poona Ford in practice in May.
(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)
Left tackle Alaric Jackson will not face criminal charges for a domestic incident that resulted in his arrest in June. But the NFL could still suspend Jackson, who in 2024 was forced to sit out two games for violating the league’s personal-conduct policy.
Warren McClendon Jr., the starting right tackle, has experience playing on the left side. Rookie Keagan Trost and veteran David Quessenberry could compete to back up Jackson.
McClendon, guards Kevin Dotson and Steve Avila and center Coleman Shelton are in the final year of their contracts. Jackson is signed through 2027, though his salary is not guaranteed, according to Overthecap.com.
Special teams
Bubba Ventrone will be tasked with helping the Rams turn around their special teams unit in 2026.
(Brevin Townsell / Los Angeles Rams via the Associated Press)
Last season, the Rams lost several games that featured major special teams breakdowns.
NEW YORK — The WNBA has grown at an exponential rate during Cathy Engelbert’s tenure as commissioner, a stewardship that at times has been tumultuous during her nearly seven years at the helm.
Engelbert, the second-longest tenured WNBA president or commissioner, helped negotiate a transformative collective bargaining agreement this past spring that gives the WNBA its first core of million-dollar player salaries.
“There’s not a lot of jobs where you can make over 30-plus millionaires instantly, right?” Engelbert said in a phone interview with the Associated Press heading into this weekend’s WNBA All-Star festivities in Chicago. “It just doesn’t exist in most companies, except if you’re like a stock-option company, and your stock does really well. Most of them are under the age of 30 and there are more to come.”
Even with the financial gains, the WNBA’s growth has come amid a strained partnership between the commissioner and players. Engelbert has been criticized for how she has handled various situations, including for being out of touch or not doing enough to help combat social media vitriol.
New York Liberty All-Star Breanna Stewart, vice president of the WNBA players’ union executive committee, said there is a respect for Engelbert among the players, just not much of a relationship.
Her Liberty teammate, Sabrina Ionescu, said she talks more to NBA commissioner Adam Silver than Engelbert.
WNBA business is booming
While the commissioner continues to try and strengthen her relationship with players, the business of the WNBA has thrived.
Engelbert was involved in talks that led to a record media rights deal worth over $3 billion. The league has had record ratings, attendance and team valuations, and will expand to a record 18 teams by 2030.
“We’ve been in hypergrowth mode now for two or three years and companies, if you look back in time, you are not in hypergrowth mode forever,” Engelbert said. “We’re preparing ourselves now for the next version of ourselves, which probably isn’t as hypergrowth.”
From a business standpoint, though, the league has grown, including navigating the coronavirus pandemic that could have crippled the WNBA.
“Give Cathy credit, as she advocated for the season,” Seattle Storm owner Ginny Gilder said. “We had no idea what was going to happen. People had to make decisions. Cathy pushed the Board of Governors to not only have a shortened season, but to fully pay the players. Don’t bicker. We were going to figure out the finances.”
Expansion fees have gone up five-fold over the past few seasons. Golden State paid $50 million to join the league and Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia — all joining the league over the next four years — each paid $250 million.
“Look at the financial side in such a short period of time — Cathy with all the work she did and the staff she hired deserves a tremendous amount of credit for that,” Gilder said. “If you look around the league from 2015 to 2020 to now, you know it is a completely new day.”
Valuations of teams were around $5 million to $10 million a decade ago and now the average is around $460 million, Engelbert said.
“When you’re CEO, when you’re commissioner, you’re going to have good days and bad days. But if you just looked at the overall scorecard, you’d have to say we’re doing great,” Washington Mystics owner Ted Leonsis said.
More endorsements for WNBA players
It’s nearly impossible to turn on a major sporting event over the past few years without seeing a WNBA player featured in a commercial. From Gatorade to State Farm, Nike and CarMax, product ads feature some of the league’s top newsmakers, including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, A’ja Wilson and Sabrina Ionescu.
Engelbert said when Clark was drafted, it created a “domino effect, because they started seeing the value of putting players in their ads and then separately endorsing the players. I’m really proud of that because when I came to the league, absent a few sneakers ads, I don’t remember any players in spots. Maybe there were a few.”
The commissioner has seen the trend continue with younger players coming into the league, including Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Olivia Miles.
“Everybody sees the W is here to stay,” the commissioner said.
The commissioner’s future and what’s next for the WNBA
Engelbert deflected questions about her future other than to say she’s turning 62 this year and that was the mandatory retirement age at her old job at Deloitte, where she was the president.
“I haven’t given it a ton of thought. We’ll think about it,” Engelbert said of how long she will stay in her current role, adding she is “focused on the whack-a-mole that is our season. I always tell people don’t focus on me, focus on the rest of my team.
“You always want to leave an organization better than you found it. Internally we’re proud of the team we’ve built.”
Silver said in Las Vegas that he supports what Engelbert is doing.
“I think Cathy continues to do a strong job building that league,” the NBA commissioner said. “We’ll have ongoing discussions about what the future looks like.”
With media rights stable for the next decade as well as labor peace achieved and expansion finished for the immediate future, Engelbert said her list of priorities includes a look at officiating, with WNBA referees finding themselves at the center of questions from frustrated players, coaches and fans. She also wants to help teams with lower attendance improve those numbers, and expand the league’s international footprint.
Arsenal have brought in Spain goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez on a free transfer – their sixth signing of the summer.
The 27-year-old joins the Women’s Super League side after leaving Real Madrid at the end of last season.
Rodriguez will wear the number 16 shirt and will compete for minutes with Daphne van Domselaar and Anneke Borbe, both of whom struggled with injuries last season.
“I’m so proud to join this great club. Arsenal is one of the top clubs in the world and I’m really excited to be part of the team and take on this new challenge,” said Rodriguez.
“I want to help us compete for trophies and make more history, together with our supporters.”
In six years at Real Madrid, Rodriguez made 215 appearances – a club record – and was made captain last year.
Since making her senior international debut in 2021, she has earned 34 caps for Spain including three as her side won the 2023 Women’s World Cup, though she has since lost her starting role to Barcelona’s Cata Coll.
Arsenal have had a busy transfer window as they prepare for the 2026-27 Women’s Super League season, with Georgia Stanway, Ona Batlle, Selina Cerci, Geraldine Reuteler and Lisa Baum all reinforcing Renee Slegers’ squad.
Last season, they finished second in the WSL and reached the semi-finals of the Women’s Champions League.
The rules are simple. Each day there’s a new footballer and the challenge is to guess who they are in as few attempts as possible.
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Today’s player and clues set by BBC Sport’s Huzaifah Khan.
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Larne manager Gary Haveron said he was “proud” of his players’ efforts in their 4-0 home defeat by Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League second qualifying round, first leg.
The Inver Reds trailed at the break after Bruno Duarte converted from the spot, but the Serbian club would add another three in the second period as Duarte grabbed a second, while Vasilije Kostov and Muhammed Cham found the net to all but finish the tie off.
Haveron felt his team can take a lot from the experience but accepts they were up against a “different level” of opposition.
“I’m extremely proud,” Haveron told BBC Sport NI.
“For long stages in the first half we frustrated them and were probably a bit disappointed to come in one down given the soft penalty.
“I thought the shape was really good, discipline really good and in the second half we got caught up in the occasion and chased the game a bit too much. When you give a quality team space in behind, they can hurt you and did that in a 10-minute spell when they scored two goals and killed the tie.
“It’s a learning opportunity for us and we can take so much as a club, coaching staff and players. The quality is different level and some of the finishes were ridiculous.”
Larne will travel to Belgrade for the second leg next Wednesday [19:00 BST] and while Haveron accepts the Champions League is “a step too far”, he is hopeful they can push on in the Europa or perhaps Conference League qualifiers.
“Our ceiling wasn’t the Champions League,” he stressed.
“Winning the first game [against Tre Fiori] gave us an opportunity in the Europa League, gave us an opportunity in the Conference League that gives us a level of football we can be competitive in.
“We made group stages previously [2024/25] but you need to get lucky with the draw and it gives us a chance to be competitive.
“When you get to this stage of the Champions League, it’s a step too far, but about the occasion, the experience and performance, so next week will stand to us going into the rest of the season.”
Taylor previously took charge of the 2017 FA Cup final, also a 2-1 win for Arsenal against Chelsea.
He also refereed the Community Shield in 2015 and the 2018 Championship play-off final.
Taylor received praise for the way he handed the Euro 2020 game between Denmark and Finland, which had to be halted when Christian Eriksen collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest.
He has also been appointed to several high-profile Uefa matches, including the 2020 Super Cup final, with Bayern Munich beating Sevilla 2-1, the 2021 Nations League final, in which France beat Spain 2-1, and the 2023 Europa League final which saw Sevilla beat Roma on penalties.
Taylor faced a great deal of abuse after the Europa League final, but was firmly backed by Uefa referees’ chief Roberto Rosetti.
Taylor was then shouted at by angry fans as he walked though Budapest Airport with his family.
In October 2025, Taylor spoke to BBC Sport about the impact of that night and the events that followed.
“That’s the worst situation I’ve dealt with in terms of abuse,” Taylor said.
“Not only because I was travelling with family members at the time, but it also highlights the impact of people’s behaviour on others. Even in a match like that, where there was actually no major mistakes in the game.”
Taylor, who also took charge of games at the Fifa Club World Cup in 2022 and 2025, hinted in last October’s interview that his career could be coming to an end.
“I’m 47 next week, so that’s quite old for somebody to be operating at this level, running around after people a lot younger than you,” Taylor said.
“It’s much more of a challenge now to maintain the levels of fitness and to rest and recover.”
His retirement creates a gap at the top of refereeing in the English game.
Refereeing body Pro Ref, formerly known as PGMO, has merged its officials into one group for the 2026-27 season.
The creation of the professional referee group, which will service the Premier League and Championship, is intended to give greater opportunities to up-and-coming officials, such as Farai Hallam and Tom Kirk.
Warrington Wolves rediscovered their early-season form to dominate reigning Super League champions Hull KR and move within two points of second place.
Three defeats in their previous four games had cast doubts over Wire’s play-off credentials but they made light of those fears as tries from Lachlan Webster, James Harrison, Matty Ashton and Danny Walker put them virtually out of sight by the break.
Joe Philbin celebrated his return to action with another in the second half and, after Oliver Gildart had hit back, Ashton took his Warrington try tally to two on the night and 101 in total with a late second score.
Defeat left the Robins, who have now lost three of the last four, in danger of falling out of the top six, with rivals Leigh Leopards kicking off later.
Both sides badly needed a win to reinvigorate their respective flagging bids for the play-offs, with Robins boss Willie Peters conceding before the game that defeat would probably end their defence of the League Leaders’ Shield which they won in such style last summer.
There was little sign of that panache at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, as they began well but misfired at crucial moments, and 19-year-old Wolves full-back Webster punished them with his first Super League try.
Harrison cut through an out-of-sorts defence to extend the lead and, after Hull KR’s Mikey Lewis had been brilliantly held up in-goal by Albert Hopoate, Ashton bagged his 100th try for the club.
Walker was soon in support to score another after Toafofoa Sipley had raced through a gaping hole in the visitors’ defence.
The Robins tried to raise their game at the start of the second half but Wire again soaked it up and hit back as Philbin, back after being out injured for five games, took the lead to 28-0.
Gildart made use of a brilliant Jack Broadbent pass to finally get the away side on the scoreboard, but Lewis’ mounting frustration finally boiled over as he was sin-binned for a late challenge on Ewan Irwin, who kicked the resulting penalty.
Ashton added his second try of the afternoon before James Batchelor notched a late consolation for the visitors.
Great Britain’s Josh Kerr breaks the world record for the fastest mile, held by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj since 1999, by half a second in the Diamond League London event at the London Stadium.
A man who allegedly sent Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray a profane message that included a racist slur has been fired after social media users figured out where he worked.
On Monday, the former Sparks player posted a screenshot on her Instagram Story of a DM she said she received following her team’s loss to the Indiana Fever on Sunday.
“People act like we make this s— up,” Gray wrote. “And the audacity to tell us as athletes to ‘shut up and dribble.’”
Her post included the sender’s user handle. Folks on social media discovered that the man worked for Hilton Grand Vacations and pressured the company to punish him for his alleged misdeed. Initially, the company wrote on X that it was investigating the matter and would “take appropriate action based on the findings of our review.”
Hours later, Hilton Grand Vacations posted that the person allegedly responsible for the racist message “is no longer with the company.”
“His behavior was in violation of multiple company policies and does not reflect our company’s values in any way,” Hilton Grand Vacations stated.
The Aces posted a statement Wednesday on X condemning the messages directed at Gray and offering support for those who stand up against such attacks.
“We stand behind those who have the courage to speak up for themselves,” the organization stated. “We are united with anyone who has been targeted by this type of unacceptable behavior.
“We stand with organizations, like Hilton Grand Vacations, that hold individuals accountable for racist conduct. We commend them for the swift manner in which they acted in addressing this manner.”
The WNBA reposted the Aces’ statement and said it “stands with Chelsea and every member of our league.”
“We unequivocally condemn racism and all forms of hate,” the league wrote. “There is no place for this behavior in sports or anywhere, and we remain committed to protecting the players and fostering an environment built on respect and inclusion.”
As part of the collective bargaining agreement reached in March, the WNBA introduced a no-hate campaign that included a stronger fan code of conduct that specifies punishments for online abuse of players and other inappropriate behaviors.
Still, Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas told reporters last month that she received death threats and racist abuse after an on-court incident in which her fist pressed into Fever star Caitlin Clark’s throat while they were scrambling for the ball. No foul was called at the time, but the WNBA later assessed Thomas a Flagrant 2 foul and suspended her for a game.
Speaking to reporters June 30, Thomas called out the league and commissioner Cathy Engelbert for not doing more to protect players off the court.
“Time and time again, players are going through this and the league remains silent,” Thomas said. “I’m sick and tired of it. It’s time for them to step up and have our backs.”
Engelbert released a statement following Thomas’ comments.
“We are aware of Alyssa Thomas’ comments, and what she and her teammates have experienced is completely unacceptable and not representative of the WNBA community,” the commissioner said. “The league and our security team have been in contact with the Phoenix Mercury organization and remain committed to protecting all players.”
During last weekend’s Fever-Aces game, Gray drew a foul on Clark while driving to the basket, but her elbow also appeared to make contact with the Indiana star’s stomach. Clark doubled over after the whistle in what some said appeared to be an attempt to get a foul called on Gray, but none was called.
The racist message received by Gray did not appear to mention Clark or any specific incident.
PHILADELPHIA — For years, as stars such as Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper pleaded for the chance to play in the Los Angeles Olympics, and for Major League Baseball to back up its talk of growing the game internationally by participating in the world’s greatest sporting festival, the league was reluctant: Would the owners truly benefit from shutting down the season for a week and lending their best players to an event beyond their control?
Now that MLB is on board, the league wants the players to make an extraordinary commitment to back up their talk: If you’re selected to play in the Olympics, you must play. Or else.
The “or else” is not rhetorical. If a player is not on the injured list and is selected for the Olympics but declines to participate, the player would be subject to fine and/or suspension. In addition, the players would be ineligible to play for the first 14 days when the season resumes after the Olympics, according to a proposal from the commissioner’s office to the players’ union and obtained by The Times.
Under a tentative MLB plan, the first half of the 2028 season would end on July 9, with the All-Star Game on July 11. The Olympic baseball competition would start on July 13, with the second half of the season starting on July 21.
So as to discourage placement on the injured list as a way to avoid playing in the Games, a player selected for the Olympics but on the injured list as of July 9 would be excused, but he could not be reinstated to his team’s major league roster until Aug. 4, even if he had recovered from the injury before then.
“We went down the road on LA 2028 because we saw it as a unique opportunity to market the sport with our very, very best players,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday in a meeting with the Baseball Writers Assn. of America.
“It is a disruptive undertaking for us … If we’re disrupting an entire season and we’re going to undertake that effort, we want our very best out there, so that people see how great our game really is.”
The league also does not want to undermine its All-Star Game, and it is reasonably foreseeable that some players might wish to skip the All-Star Game for a two-day summer break if they are going to play the next week at the Olympics.
In that scenario, under its proposal, the league would have the right to declare the player ineligible for the Olympics, and the player would be subject to fine and/or suspension as well as ineligibility for the first 14 days of the second half.
Bruce Meyer, the executive director of the players’ union, said the MLBPA plans a counterproposal.
“They want to make it mandatory for players who are selected to appear at the All-Star Game and the Olympics,” Meyer said Tuesday. “The proposals that they made in terms of what the discipline would be, the ramifications if a player doesn’t want to do that, in our view, are extreme.”
To use a Dodgers example, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was selected for this year’s All-Star Game, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said last week that he would not pitch.
Given that situation in 2028, if Yamamoto wished to pitch for Japan, he would have to be available for the All-Star Game. If not, Japan could lose him for the Olympics, and the Dodgers could lose him for his first two starts of the second half.
Meyer said the union is in “a very early stage of discussions” with the league. It is unclear how much time might be needed to resolve the issue, as well as what Meyer called “travel and accommodation” issues, which involve LA28.
It also is uncertain how long MLB would be willing to wait before committing to an All-Star site and date, although the league moved the 2021 game from Atlanta to Denver three months before the game date. San Francisco is expected to host the 2028 game, in large part because Los Angeles is a short flight away for an Olympic competition that would start two days later.
It is clear, however, that the league is getting tired of not always securing participation from marquee players in marquee events. The “you can’t pitch in the All-Star Game if you pitched on the previous Sunday” rule was intended to protect pitchers.
“It’s clear to me that teams are managing their pitching in a way to take advantage of the Sunday pitcher rule,” Manfred said. “I do think it’s really important that we always re-evaluate our approach to the All-Star Game in order to get the very, very best players that can participate in that game.”
The World Baseball Classic was a smashing success this year, even as the United States started a rookie pitcher in the championship game. Do we really need to mandate player participation in the Olympics, especially since so many great players already have said they want to be there?
“The WBC takes place at a point in time that the players are just beginning to ramp up for the season,” Manfred said. “There’s a whole host of reasons why, at that point in the calendar, players might not be ready to play.
“In contrast, the schedule for the Olympics is going to cover days that players otherwise would be playing in major league games — if they’re not on an injured list, they’d be out there playing. That is a huge difference.”
In another column, we could argue the merits of moving the final round of the WBC — the semifinals and championship game — to July, when players “otherwise would be playing in major league games.” That would grow the game, too.
But that is for another day. It would be absurd for MLB to miss out on the global marketing platform that is the Olympics. The issues MLB raises are legitimate; the solutions need not be so draconian.
The opening ceremonies in Los Angeles take place two years from Tuesday. The Olympics have taught us this about boycotts: No matter how worthy the cause, no one pays attention once the Games start. The Soviet Union boycotted the L.A. Games in 1984, and we had a grand time without the Russians.
No one cares if you’re not there. In MLB, a star-studded core wants to be there. Seize the moment.
Welcome back to the Lakers newsletter, where we’ve reached the “statement” portion of the summer.
After a busy wave of free agency, the Lakers made many of their offseason moves official this week: Jaden Hardy, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes, Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton and Kevon Looney are in; Austin Reaves is back; Deandre Ayton is out to Washington.
The onslaught of announcements, photo ops and new social media graphics bring us one step closer to our opening day roster. With the veteran pieces in place, we’ll take a look at how the young players are shaping up.
All things Lakers, all the time.
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Summer league showtime
Adou Thiero hurt his right wrist on a hard fall during the Lakers’ second summer league game this month. The bigger injury risk might be slamming his hand too hard on a dunk.
In his second season and his first summer league, Thiero wants to break into the rotation for the new-look Lakers. The high-flying forward’s progression after an injury-plagued rookie season is one of the key stories of the Lakers’ summer league.
Thiero did not make the strongest summer impression. During the first game at the California Classic in San Francisco, the 22-year-old looked like he was playing in fast-forward. Not in a good way.
Going three-for-10 from the field with nine points and multiple out-of-control drives to the rim, Thiero did not look like the returning NBA player on the Lakers’ summer league roster. He missed the team’s last game in San Francisco because he took a hard fall in the prior game.
Two months after he last played in a competitive game, Thiero said he was just so eager to play in the California Classic that he needed to “take it back a couple of notches and slow my game down.”
Thiero slowed down and soared higher in Las Vegas, where he had 20 points, four rebounds, three steals, two blocks and no turnovers in the Lakers’ Las Vegas summer league opener. The tape on his right wrist didn’t hold him back from slamming dunk after dunk after (windmill) dunk against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Gotta put on a show,” Thiero said on the Amazon Prime broadcast of his windmill dunk. “Lakeshow for a reason.”
Thiero, who is still working on improving his three-point shot, could add an athletic, energetic boost to the Lakers offense. With Walker Kessler filling the much-needed lob-catching center role, the Lakers have potential to be one of the league’s best offenses. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are just that good.
It’s on the defensive end that young players, including Thiero and rookie Cameron Carr, will need to prove their value. The Lakers, who added Ziaire Williams on a one-year deal Monday in their 15th roster spot, are looking for more defense on the wing.
Thiero said he has had conversations with the Lakers coaching staff about growing into an aggressive point-of-attack defender. His instructions are to “cause havoc,” he said. Thiero has delivered with a team-high nine steals during four summer league appearances.
Cameron Carr shoots over Lachlan Olbrich of the Golden State Warriors during a summer league game.
(Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
Carr has four blocks, including several on jump shots. With a 38-inch vertical and an 8-foot-8 standing reach, Carr used his length and athleticism to lead Baylor with 45 blocks last season.
But as he makes the transition to the NBA level, Carr said there’s still a lot for him to learn. The 184-pound guard plans to make the weight room his second home. He can get deflections but gets beat on drives. Catching up on the court starts with catching up to the speed of the game mentally.
“[In the NBA] they kind of rely on being smarter up top, and so it’s just trying to be ahead of everybody, trying to be ahead of the play, and be in the same space they’re in. We all flow as one,” Carr told reporters in Las Vegas. “I feel like right now, I’m a little bit behind because I’m a little bit younger. I mean, this is my first time practicing, this is the first time playing with them, so it was a little bit just trying to catch up.”
On offense, Carr is already showing important skills that could earn him a rotation spot. His jumper is pure and smooth. He went 11 for 32 from three-point range in his first four summer league appearances, averaging 17 points. He missed the second game in Las Vegas because of a minor thumb injury. At 6-foot-5 with a high, consistent release, Carr had Stan Van Gundy gushing about his shooting on the Amazon Prime broadcast in Las Vegas.
While eyes are fixated on the two most recent draft picks, the Lakers’ leading summer league scorer is unheralded Arthur Kaluma.
The South Bay Lakers forward had a standout 34-point performance against the Dallas Mavericks and is averaging 20 points in four summer league appearances. In Vegas, he’s shooting 76.2% from the field and 59% overall this summer.
Kaluma averaged 14.6 points and 4.9 rebounds for the South Bay Lakers last season. The 6-7 forward is a versatile scorer who can stretch the floor with his three-point shot. He shot 37% from three-point range in the G League last season and made six of 10 threes against the Mavericks in his summer league statement.
The 24-year-old, like many of his summer league teammates, is battling for his NBA dreams. Each team is allowed up to three two-way players at a time, and the Lakers have already announced their maximum allotment. Guard Chris Mañon, who finished second in G League defensive player of the year voting last season, re-signed, and rookies Peter Suder and AK Okereke got their first professional contracts.
But that doesn’t mean all three are locked in for the season. Last year, the Lakers waived Christian Koloko five months after re-signing the center to a two-way deal to add Drew Timme in his spot.
“The G can get grimy, you know what I’m saying?” Kaluma said to reporters in Las Vegas. “It’s a time where everybody is trying to fight for a position and there is a certain hunger that you have to have in order to be successful in the G. And I feel like that drive that I had my first year in it pushed me into this summer to really get better and work on my game and come here and have the opportunity to perform.”
These summer league games don’t officially count. For many in the league, the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas is more about off-court schmoozing than the on-court product.
But with players trying to make a name for themselves and fighting for their jobs, don’t tell anyone these games don’t matter.
“In these summer league settings, there’s 29 other teams that are looking and watching these games,” Lakers summer league coach Ty Abbott said, “and this is opportunities for all of them. So there’s no room to not take a game seriously. Every possession matters, every rep, every drill, every practice.”
Poll results
Last week, we asked if you would like to see the Lakers retire LeBron James’ jersey. Here are the results:
Yes: 32 No: 54
Programming update
Summer league is winding down and I’ll be on vacation this week so the Lakers newsletter will rest for at least one week. Thus no new poll question for now. But if you like the polls — or have poll questions you want to ask your fellow newsletter subscribers — email me your thoughts at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com.
Favorite thing I ate this week
The bánh cuốn đặc biệt plate at Bánh Cuốn Lưu Luyến in Garden Grove.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
My Instagram algorithm has been feeding me unrelenting videos of Vietnamese food and this is the rare instance in which I’m not mad at social media platforms tracking my movements. At least they’re delivering something I want.
After being subjected to dozens of videos of people making Vietnamese steamed rice rolls (bánh cuốn), I decided to hunt some down for myself at Bánh Cuốn Lưu Luyến in Garden Grove. The bánh cuốn đặc biệt — a combination plate with plain steamed rice sheets, sheets stuffed with ground pork and mushroom and pieces filled with shrimp — satisfied my internet FOMO cravings. Every plate is complete with an egg roll, tofu, ham, mung beach shrimp cake and vegetables. I think even my mom would approve of this restaurant.
