Russell

Welcome back to this week’s Lakers newsletter, where we’ve apparently never heard of an offseason.

During an allegedly sleepy period on the NBA schedule, the Lakers shook everyone awake with a blaring alarm. Twice.

Mark Walter, 14 months after agreeing to buy the NBA’s premier franchise, is selling his controlling stake in the Lakers to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger at a staggering $12.5 billion valuation that would be the highest in sports history. When Kushner and Iger seemed poised to cash in even more after a reported Buss family vote to sell remaining shares of the team, team governor Jeanie Buss said emphatically, “Not today.”

Buss is contesting her family’s reported plan to sell its remaining 17.8% of the team to Iger and Kushner. Her lawyers issued a scathing letter saying her younger brothers are “doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers,” and that she should remain the controlling governor of the Lakers, as described in the family trust.

One 47-year reign in the NBA hangs in the balance this week. Quietly, another 18-year run has already concluded.

‘Just a kid from inner city L.A.’

Russell Westbrook with the Clippers in 2023.

(Matt York / Associated Press)

Reggie Morris Jr. won’t just remember the way Russell Westbrook changed basketball. Even after Westbrook’s retirement, his former high school coach chooses to see the way the former Lawndale Leuzinger star is changing the city that raised him. That’s even more important than the NBA record 209 triple-doubles.

“I believe that his impact on this community,” Morris said, “is far greater than his basketball impact.”

Westbrook was once just a short kid with size 14 shoes and an even bigger chip on his shoulder. He grew into an electrifying guard at UCLA, where he went to two Final Fours. He blossomed into one of the most productive, yet polarizing, players in NBA history. Through it all, he remained dedicated to the community that would later fail to fully embrace his no-holds-barred playing style.

The L.A. native was named NBA most valuable player in 2017. The same season, when Morris was coaching at Loyola Marymount, Westbrook reached out about starting an Elite Youth Basketball League team for young players.

Westbrook set the NBA record for triple-doubles and averaged a season-long triple-double four times. Between the stat-stuffing performances, he launched Why Not Premier, an EYBL girls team with the same resources and investment as the boys.

The 2012 Olympic gold medalist was named to the NBA’s 75th anniversary team in 2021 after snarling, dunking and driving with full force every play, every night. On the way, he regularly returned to his hometown.

“Before he was a walking headline,” actor Michael B. Jordan said in a video Westbrook posted on social media last Wednesday for his retirement announcement, “he was just a kid from inner city L.A. who could jump higher than anybody had a right to.”

The video shows Westbrook walking through a museum of his basketball career then into an unfinished wing that represents “the mentorship, the foundation, the kids who are going to grow up wanting to move just like he did … [that] hasn’t been built yet either.”

Tributes to Westbrook flooded in. Fifteen-year-old highlight reels showing baggy shorts, jaw-dropping athleticism and a crossover that nearly shook defenders out of their shoes popped up on social media again. Even his own high school coach had forgotten just how dynamic Westbrook was in his prime.

“He didn’t back down from anybody,” said Morris, now the director of Westbrook’s Team Why Not EYBL team and the boys’ basketball head coach at Redondo Union. “He was fearless. He was relentless. There’s never really been a player quite like him. I would say he kind of has, like, a Charles Barkley, a young Charles Barkley spirit, where he was just passionate and fiery. He wasn’t PC. He wore his emotions on his sleeves, and he didn’t really apologize to anyone for how he felt or what he was there to do.”

Westbrook’s unapologetic attitude became a defining characteristic of his game. He was defiant. He was dynamic. He was exciting and explosive, but exhausting.

After 11 seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, where the Thunder went to the playoffs nine times with one NBA Finals appearance, Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets. When he got to the Lakers in 2021, it was his fourth team in as many seasons.

Russell Westbrook brings the ball upcourt for the Lakers.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

Westbrook’s two-year run with the Lakers was “bittersweet” for Westbrook, Morris said. Returning to the community that raised him was expected to be a triumphant homecoming. But the team struggled, his efficiency waned and fans turned on him. He became a punch line and a negative example of LeBron James’ potential influence after the superstar lobbied for the trade that brought Westbrook to L.A. He sparred with reporters.

The public feuds started to overshadow what those close to Westbrook know him to be in private: a maniacal hard worker with a competitive streak that demands respect.

“A lot of people looked at the emotions on the court and thought Russ was loud,” Durant wrote in a poignant note on X. “Nah to me, he was quiet and methodical. He [led] by example and once the lights were bright, he let everything out and experienced pure freedom. It was inspiring as his teammate and everywhere I went, I seen it inspire people from all walks of life.”

Westbrook will now inspire away from the court. When Nike reached out to Westbrook about starting an EYBL team, he knew where to go with the idea. He hadn’t been part of the regular travel ball circuit growing up and instead stuck closely with his local coaches, including Morris. He wanted that same loyal experience for his youth team.

Westbrook’s Team Why Not expanded to include a girls program Why Not Premier in 2022. His wife, Nina, also played basketball at UCLA, and the couple has been a strong supporter of the UCLA women’s basketball program.

Westbrook, who often trained at UCLA’s basketball facility that the men’s and women’s programs share, would readily share knowledge with UCLA’s women’s players, UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close said. He welcomed them in workouts, showed them what food he had packed in Tupperware containers to stay on a healthy diet and encouraged them to train for long, productive careers.

“There’s so much bad press about, ‘Oh, college athletes or pro athletes are just a bunch of takers, they all are about money first,” Close said, “and the Westbrooks, and specifically Russ and Nina, they’re about giving back and they’re about making a difference.”

Even during the season, Westbrook made himself available to players on his EYBL teams as often as possible, visiting between playoff runs or at least supporting them through social media.

“They feel his presence when he’s there, and he’s hands-on in the situation,” Morris said. “He’s not just giving money; he’s trying to help the kids, give them a different aspect or a different take on what he knows and give it back to them.”

Jared McCain is one of Team Why Not’s most prominent alumni. The 22-year-old Oklahoma City guard posted a picture from his EYBL days to his Instagram story last week showing Westbrook with his arm wrapped around McCain’s waist.

“Legend!!” wrote McCain, who graduated from Corona Centennial. “Thank you for everything.”

Morris and Westbrook had talked about the end more often lately. They knew if not this year, it would have probably been next year. Morris could never have envisioned the career was going to be this decorated, but the longtime coach knew it was going to be successful. If he hadn’t become a future Hall of Famer, Westbrook would have easily become a president of a successful company, Morris said.

Don’t rule it out for his second act.

“When you have a work ethic like his, it’s just part of who he is,” Morris said. “It’s not gonna go anywhere.”

Best thing I ate this week

Signature beef udon at Azuki in Seattle.

(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)

This technically isn’t the best thing from this week, but I needed to share this extra food gem from my hometown. Azuki’s unassuming storefront in Seattle’s Capital Hill neighborhood is easy to miss but the homemade udon noodles should not be overlooked. The signature beef udon noodles had a simple, light broth that leaves the perfect amount of salty coating on your tongue. The thin slices of beef are perfect with the chewy udon noodles. The only way the meal would have been better was if it was on a cold winter day.

In case you missed it

Jeanie Buss contests family sale of Lakers ownership stake to Bob Iger, Joshua Kushner

Inside Lakers mega-deal: Mark Walter made a shocking decision. Bob Iger, Joshua Kushner jumped at the chance

Lakers again have most nationally televised games on their schedule

Shaikin: Some questions (and answers) about Mark Walter selling the Lakers

Swanson: Bob Iger could be the Imagineer to lead the Lakers back to glory

$12.5 billion deal: Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner agree to buy Lakers

New Lakers co-owner Joshua Kushner is a lifelong Democrat with deep interest in sports

Plaschke: Too many questions, not enough answers. Lakers sale doesn’t pass smell test

LeBron James set to return to L.A. on Christmas Day for Lakers-76ers matchup

Until next time…

As always, pass along your thoughts to me at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com, and please consider subscribing if you like our work!

Westbrook, a former NBA Most Valuable Player, holds the record for the most career triple-doubles in league history.

Triple-double king and former NBA MVP Russell Westbrook ‌announced his retirement after 18 seasons on Wednesday via social media.

“Sometimes you don’t even know when you’ve already ⁠watched the end. You ⁠had to be there. And now it’s over,” Westbrook wrote on his social media post.

Westbrook’s decision was announced during a three-and-a-half-minute video. He didn’t respond to any of the questions by the ⁠narrator, but the theme made it clear Westbrook was leaving on his own terms.

At the end of the video, the screen read: “The greatest thing he left behind couldn’t fit inside a museum. It never had to be said.”

Westbrook, 37, ⁠recorded 209 triple-doubles, including a record 42 during his stellar 2016-17 Most Valuable Player (MVP) season. He averaged a career-high 31.6 points to go with 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists that season to become the first player since the legendary Oscar Robertson (1961-62) to average a triple-double over a full season.

A nine-time All-Star, he ranks fifth all-time in career assists (10,351) and 14th in scoring (27,176). Westbrook led the NBA ‌in assists three times and scoring twice.

In 2021, Westbrook was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. He was named All-Star Game MVP in consecutive seasons (2015, 2016) and won a gold medal with the United States in the 2012 Olympics in London.

He averaged 20.9 points, 8.0 assists and 6.9 rebounds in 1,301 regular-season games with seven franchises.

In 135 career playoff games, Westbrook averaged 22.5 points, 7.1 assists and 6.7 rebounds.

Oklahoma City and Westbrook’s run to the NBA Finals

Westbrook was selected fourth overall by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2008 NBA Draft, and the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City before his rookie season.

Westbrook spent 11 seasons ⁠with the franchise and teamed with Kevin Durant to make the Thunder one of ⁠the top teams in the NBA. Oklahoma City reached the NBA Finals in 2012, when James Harden was also on the team, before losing to the Miami Heat.

Westbrook made eight of his All-Star appearances with the Thunder. His other was when he averaged 27.2 points for the Houston Rockets ⁠in 2019-20, his lone season with the team.

“Russell Westbrook is the ultimate competitor,” Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti said in a statement. “His internal belief and unbridled fearlessness helped establish the ⁠foundation of our organization from day one in 2008 and he elevated ⁠the confidence and inspired our community in every year thereafter.

“Russell will be as successful in his life after basketball as he was during his career because his qualities and gifts transfer. His impact on our community is still felt today, and he is beloved for his devotion as much as his ‌talent.

“He built a Hall of Fame career not by making statements or simply by breaking records, he did it by showing us all the power of asking one simple question: Why Not?”

Westbrook bounced around to five teams over his last ‌six ‌seasons. He averaged 15.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in 64 games (with 58 starts) for the Sacramento Kings last season.

Westbrook was a college star at UCLA before leaving for the NBA after two seasons. He was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore.

WASHINGTON — After a generation of comfortable Democratic majorities in the House, Republican congressmen seemed resigned to life in the minority–until Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and the Congressional Opportunity Society began using House rules to wage guerrilla war against the entrenched leadership.

Dismissed at first as gadflies and ideologues, the young Republicans gradually developed political muscles. Two landmark events marked their coming of age: the resignation of Speaker Jim Wright following Gingrich-backed charges of ethics violations, and the election of Gingrich as whip, the second-ranking post in the House minority leadership.

Gingrich’s rise to prominence coincided with a major change in Washington’s political climate. In the 1980s, Washington was a town with clearly marked ideological divides. Issues such as Nicaragua and abortion dominated the agenda; battle lines were clear. The 1990s look quite different. With communism in retreat, the old foreign-policy battles no longer seem so important. After 10 years of a GOP White House, conservatives seem less opposed to strong government, and liberals less committed to it.

In retrospect, Gingrich’s call for sanctions against South Africa’s minority-white government seems a turning point in the emergence of the still unsettled Washington picture. Here was a leading conservative taking a position closer to that of Jesse Jackson than Margaret Thatcher.

If Washington has changed as the result of Gingrich’s challenges, Gingrich is changing as he becomes part of the Washington Establishment he once scorned. Like many political challengers before him, Gingrich seems to be finding that Establishments aren’t so bad–once the club lets you in.

This shift may cause him trouble down the road–Hell hath no fury like a right-wing scorned–but for now Gingrich has the best of both worlds: the support of conservatives and, increasingly, the respect and even friendship of moderates and some liberals.

During a relaxed and casual meeting, Gingrich seemed eager to talk about history and ideas. At times he seemed more like a popular college history teacher–a job he once held–than a powerful member of the congressional leadership. He seems comfortable with himself and his ambitions; confident of making his mark and willing to run risks.

He also has a quality that is rarer in Washington than it should be. For all the huge egos in Washington, there are relatively few people who see themselves against the backdrop of history. Gingrich is one. Men like Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill are often in his speech–perhaps this says something about the scale of his ambition. That both these men were mavericks who changed parties and allies during their careers says something else about Gingrich. He will be hard to pin down in the political battles of the future–his loyalty seems given more to a vision than to people or parties.

Question: What is your foreign-policy vision for the United States?

Answer: Well, I think first of all you have to start with the presumption that there are three huge changes under way. There’s the rise of the true world market, where competitiveness and the speed of information flow and ease of transportation means that you are beginning to be connected internationally in the sense that in the 19th Century you had a national economy.

Second, there is the spread of the technology of destruction in such ways that you’re going to have, by the end of the century, places like Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria that are capable, at a minimum, of threatening European cities with ballistic missiles and chemical and nuclear warheads. By the year 2000 to 2010, they may be able to attack the United States directly. That is a whole level of combat and conflict that we are not used to.

Third, you are living through a fundamental change in the Soviet empire. This clearly destabilizes the whole planet in the sense that for 45 years we had a bipolar world, with a Western coalition containing the Soviets . . . .

You have to start with a fundamental reassessment of America’s role, as decisive in some ways as the late ‘30s decision to commit us to stopping Japan and Germany or as decisive as the late ‘40s decision to contain the Soviet empire.

But we’ve got to reformulate a new image of where the planet is going. What does America want in the world–and then what is America’s role in trying to get it?

Q: It’s interesting that you mentioned those two periods, the ‘30s and the ‘40s, as times of great change because in both those times the conservative movement tended to take a more isolationist stance.

A: If you go back before 1937 and 1938, conservatism, from say 1860 to 1928, was the internationalist movement. And it was the Democrats, the (William Jennings) Bryan wing of the Democratic Party that was isolationist . . . .

Then, beginning in the ‘20s, you had a role reversal. And as the conservatives became less the government and more oppositional, they also became less internationalist and more isolationist. What you had, beginning with Eisenhower, and Nixon in all fairness–Nixon was one of the people who voted for the Marshall Plan–you had the emergence of first, an internationalist anti-communist Republicanism and then under Reagan and Bush that has broadened . . . .

I think that today there is much more isolationism in the Democratic Party than in the Republican Party . . . (where) there’s much more internationalism and much more of a commitment to the world market . . . .

Q: How would you define the differences between your view and that of the Democratic Party?

A: Well, there’s a difference about the question of safety, a difference about the question of international competition and a difference about the speed of transition–if I can break them down like that.

First of all, safety. The liberal Democrats basically are myopically focused on Central Europe and on Gorbachev, and their basic theme is, since Gorbachev seems to be succeeding and Soviet power seems to receding from East Germany, the world is safer. Therefore, we can demilitarize.

I would argue that we’re caught in the tragic irony that the curve, if you will, of threat from Iraq, Iran and Syria is rising at a rate about as fast as–or faster than–the curve of Soviet threat is declining . . . .

Now the question I would pose is: Is the world still going to be dangerous–even if Gorbachev succeeds? My answer would be yes. In fact, the world’s going to be more dangerous than people think. Dictators are going to have higher-power weapons that are more sophisticated than people think. And some of these dictatorships are very big. The Syrian Army has more artillery than the American Army. So when you say, “Gee, we can shrink dramatically,” my answer is fine–if you’re willing to allow the Iraqis to threaten American cities without SDI. If you’re willing to allow the Iraqis and the Iranians to seize the oil fields, and if you’re willing to give up Israel . . . . And I think most of my Democratic friends on that are just sophomoric. I don’t think they’d even look at the data base, because it conflicts with their ideology.

And the second big question is the world market . . . . The bureaucratic welfare state and permissive attitudes are incapable of competing in the world market. The correct answer is to reform and revitalize America, not to retreat . . . .

And I think a lot of my Democratic friends, because they have to bear the burden of the public-school bureaucracy in the inner city, and they have to bear the burden of the big-city machines, and they have to bear the burden of union work rules–their reaction is to say, “Gee, we have to find ways to withdraw from the world market, and to somehow build a self-sustaining America.” I think that’s crazy and I think in the long run it means a lower standard of living and fewer jobs for Americans.

Lastly, there is the question of speed. I thought it was almost funny that George Mitchell and Dick Gephardt decided that George Bush wasn’t moving fast enough. If you look historically over the Bush Presidency and you look at the change in Panama, Nicaragua, East Germany, Hungary, Poland . . . this has been unbelievable . . . .

I say this: I’m a conservative and I’m willing to criticize George Bush, and I voted to override on the Chinese student veto, but I have to say overall that they get A-plus marks on managing a transition of unbelievable complexity. And getting freedom further in 18 months than anyone would have thought possible.

Q: Among the Soviet Republics, Lithuania is an easy call in that we never recognized the annexation, but then you start looking at other separatist movements–including Russia. Isn’t there a fear of a nuclear Lebanon in the Soviet Union?

A: You have a fear of the unknown there. You’ve also got to recognize objective realities. There’s an Indian reservation in northern Vermont that claims it’s not in the United States. Now what if Gorbachev decided next Thursday to recognize it? I mean, you’ve got to decide, all right, what are the ground rules here. The Soviet Union does exist . . . . I think it’s now an empire in transition, but it exists. And it is going to have to decide inside itself how it allows itself to dismember. If they adopt a rule that says if the Georgians vote 70% to secede, that is frankly a more open rule for withdrawal than we have in the United States . . . .

Of course, if Russia does declare itself independent or sovereign it will be the first time that the mother country declared herself free from the empire. So it would be a dramatic change. And I think our position is that all of these republics have the right of self-determination and we would certainly encourage the Soviet government to tolerate and negotiate with all of these republics.

Q: As an American Georgian, you would know that.

A: Yeah, that’s right. I mean, we Georgians, we’ve already had this argument. Now, you can make the argument in their case that it wasn’t a voluntary collection (of republics); it’s the late 19th Century empire. That’s a good argument. But you are seeing Gorbachev take what is, after all, a pretty radical position and saying, look, we’re going to figure out a legal formula for you to get out of here. Well, that’s pretty amazing . . . .

And I think it’s a little unfair to say yeah, he did all that, but boy now I have this new excuse to get mad at him. And as long as he doesn’t use military force, it seems to me that we owe him the opportunity to try to lead his own country to sort itself out . . . .

Q: How is the Administration responding?

A: Well I think that the decision by the Soviet government to open up some economic activity in Lithuania is a victory for Bush. And I think if he can continue to encourage and nudge Gorbachev in the direction of re-establishing economic patterns with Lithuania, I think it will be a very big plus for him.

Q: Earlier you remarked that, in talking to the President about Lithuania, you said we need Winston Churchill, not Stanley Baldwin. Does that still apply?

A: Well, I think the President convinced me that it wasn’t the same kind of situation; that who we may need is George Bush, and that, in fact, he is negotiating and maneuvering his way through a very complicated situation with considerable skill.

Q: OK, let’s talk now about some of the global economic issues, because I think it’s clear to all of us that they are going to be dominant. Some people think that the economic competition among the former Western allies may become very, very fierce. Do you?

A: Not necessarily fierce, but it will become intense. But . . . it’s not that we’re competing for the same pie. We’re competing to build bigger bakeries . . . . The world market is extraordinarily underdeveloped and there is an enormous amount of money to be made over the next century helping the entire planet achieve a high standard of living. So there ought to be intense competition for how we build the bigger bakery. But we don’t have to have any kind of competition over who gets bread, because everybody ought to be getting bread . . . .

Q: Do you think that the world economy is breaking up into blocs or that there is a danger of this?

A: There’s a permanent danger of breaking up into blocs, but I wouldn’t exaggerate that. I think there is much, much more to be gained in the long run by actively building global countries and global companies. We are much better off to have more IBMs and more General Motors and Fords and AT&Ts; that are able to be everywhere. And we’re much better off to have thousands of new, small businesses that compete everywhere a jet airplane goes, and anywhere a fax machine can receive their latest advertisement. And I think we want to encourage this, more than anybody else, because we are perfectly suited for the world economy.

Q: More than any other country?

A: More than any other country. I mean geographically, we can reach both Europe and Asia simultaneously and Latin America. And in terms of our own cultural background. We are the only universal country of the planet, the only country that has people from everywhere. And therefore, we ought to be the advocates of the widest global market.

Q: Does that suggest the possibility that other countries may not be as enthusiastic for this as we are–for example, Europe?

A: They may not be. I mean, the Europeans don’t even have a real concern about that. On the other hand, the Europeans need us to balance off the Germans . . . . The price of having a market of nations that really do compete with each other, is that you have got to be able to sit down for long negotiations, and you just have to go in and tough it out.

Q. This sounds a lot like what used to be called liberal internationalism in the 1940s. So is it true that the liberalism of today is the conservatism of tomorrow?

A. Could be. I think that it’s that and an ongoing sense of thesis, antithesis, synthesis to some of that . . . . But if you would have interviewed a Democrat back in 1948, he would have said, “Gee, this sounds like Theodore Roosevelt.” Theodore Roosevelt’s wing of the Republican Party has consistently been the dominant dynamic in American life for most of the last century.

Q: So would you say Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Newt Gingrich is the line of succession?

A: No . . . . To be honest, I’d say Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Reagan. It’s important to remember that Reagan was an FDR Democrat, and that when the Democratic Party moved to the left, Reagan left.

Bo Lowrance models his game after Freddie Freeman. So, it’s fitting that the Dodgers selected the 6-foot-5, 200-pound high school infielder — ranked the No. 21 overall prospect by MLB.com — with the 40th pick in the MLB amateur draft on Saturday.

“He’s obviously a first baseman, and I’m on the left side, so defensively a little different,” Lowrance said of Freeman during a conference call with media. “But he’s still unbelievably athletic, and a big thing that I’ve watched for years is his approach and how he uses the whole field. … [Freeman is] somebody that I’m always trying to emulate.”

Lowrance hit .435 with 12 home runs last season at Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville, S.C.

A left-handed batter and right-handed thrower like Freeman, Lowrance is expected to develop as a shortstop — noting former Dodger Corey Seager has a “super smooth” defense at 6-4 he hopes to replicate — with a potential role at third, depending on how the prep star grows into his frame.

“Yeah, definitely want to be a shortstop,” Lowrance said. “I believe I’m capable of it. I think I have the glove skills and the athleticism. I think it’s just going to turn into who I want to become at the plate in terms of my overall size and frame. Like, if I ultimately put on a bunch of weight and kind of grow out of the shortstop position, then maybe that’s where that’ll change.”

Lowrance hit it off with the Dodgers’ front office in June at the draft combine in Phoenix.

And even though the Dodgers didn’t exactly see the Freeman comparison Lowrance mentioned, they would be thrilled if he turned out anything like the 10-time All-Star.

“Bo was definitely our main target coming into the day,” Dodgers amateur scouting director Zach Fitzpatrick said. “Probably would have said there’s a pretty low chance we were able to acquire him, had you asked me in the morning. So as the picks start coming off the board and realizing there’s a little bit more opportunity to get him, our excitement level climbed. And then to actually be able to call his name was a home run for us.”

“I’ve been in communication with them for a while,” Lowrance added. “I’ve loved their scouting staff. I have a great relationship with them.”

The Dodgers entered the draft with the smallest bonus pool at $3,951,900; the White Sox had the most cash to work with, boasting $20,489,500.

Fitzpatrick, though, said the Dodgers’ strategy centered around taking the best player available.

The approach carried over into the Dodgers’ second and final pick on the day — Florida right-handed pitcher Russell Sandefer at No. 132.

Sandefer posted a 3-2 record as a junior in 2026 with a 4.42 ERA over 19 games and 12 starts. The Dodgers were intrigued by his repertoire and heat.

“As we dove into Russell throughout the spring, kind of all departments — from scouting and what we saw at the park to our player development group and our analytics group — kind of flagged Russell as very intriguing and then having a lot of upside left,” Fitzpatrick said.

“A starter at Florida, threw a lot of strikes; there’s obviously velocity, there’s a deep mix, and he performed and had some pretty stellar outings along the way that helped us believe in his upside and different ways we can help him access it more consistently.”

Lowrance was happy to be part of the Dodgers’ draft class.

“Just a whole wave of emotions,” he said. “I’m extremely grateful, first off, and couldn’t be more excited. I mean, yeah, I’ve said it already: It’s the best team in baseball, and nobody else that I want to be a part of.

“Couldn’t have drawn it up any better.”

Leclerc now looked locked in for victory, but there was great doubt over second place.

Hamilton, who earlier had a five-second penalty for moving before the lights went out at the start, was 20 seconds back from his team-mate, but Verstappen was closing in and Russell was going with the Dutchman, having dropped back with a pit stop on lap 34 forced by a slow puncture.

But on lap 48, Verstappen spun off at Stowe. Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said the rear wing did not close properly, meaning Verstappen had less downforce as he turned in, causing his loss of control.

Verstappen’s off brought out the safety car, and initially it looked as if there would be a short blast to the finish with the Ferrari drivers contesting victory on fresh tyres.

But Russell did not pit, so he would have taken any restart between them, which would have delayed Hamilton’s charge, even by a few seconds.

But Verstappen had crashed with only four laps to go, and there was doubt about whether the incident would be cleared in time.

As the cars came around to approach the start of the final lap, the timing screen initially said the safety car would pull in, but a few seconds later that message was replaced by another saying it would stay out.

The full post-race FIA statement said: “The safety-car period regulation states that one lap must be completed following the unlapping procedure.

“This process was followed by race operations. The ‘safety car in this lap’ message was displayed erroneously due to a software error.”

The safety-car finish guaranteed Leclerc’s first win since the 2024 US Grand Prix in Austin.

Russell’s podium was his first at his home race and he said: “Really pleased to be standing here, even though it was a very lucky race. I had the puncture but I was lucky to get the safety car at the end.”

Hamilton said: “I just didn’t have it today. I jumped the start, got a five-second penalty but Charles had the pace on me today. I struggled with the balance of the car. I gave it everything and I am grateful to be up here.”

Lando Norris took fourth for McLaren after a solid but quiet race as the world champions wait for upgrades due at the Hungarian Grand Prix this month.

Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was fifth, followed by the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and 18-year-old British rookie Arvid Lindblad.

Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri dropped to the back after being involved in a first-lap incident and recovered to 11th, behind the Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly.

Finn Russell will not feature in Scotland’s opening Nations Championship match of the summer series but could feature against South Africa, says head coach Gregor Townsend, who welcomes back Jonny Gray.

Fly-half Russell, 33, has not fully recovered from the calf injury that kept him out of the latter part of Bath’s domestic campaign and was not considered for the match at Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes in Cordoba on Saturday (20:10 BST). The Scots face the Springboks in Pretoria on 11 July then Fiji at Murrayfield on 18 July.

Tom Jordan starts at 10 in Russell’s absence, with Fergus Burke among the replacements.

Gray returns against the Pumas, having missed this year’s Six Nations, while fellow lock Scott Cummings, 29, and prop Pierre Schoeman, 32, will win their 50th caps.

“Great for [Jonny Gray] to be back in the squad,” said Townsend. “Since his move to Perpignan, he’s played very well so his form’s been rewarded with this opportunity. It’s nice obviously nice that him and Scott Cummings are playing together.

“Jonny was at Glasgow when Scott came through as an 18-year-old. It will be great to see them both back int he second row again.”

Overall, the XV in Cordoba shows eight personnel changes to the team that finished the Six Nations with defeat to Ireland in Dublin in mid-March.

Full-back Kyle Rowe, centre Rory Hutchinson, wing Jamie Dobie, fly-half Tom Jordan, hooker George Turner, prop Elliot Millar-Mills and Cummings are the players joining Gray in coming in to the side.

Kyle Steyn moves from left to right wing to accommodate Dobie. Prop Zander Fagerson and wing Darcy Graham, who started in Dublin, drop to the bench.

Gregor Hiddleston could make his Scotland debut off the bench.

“We’ll have to gel quickly,” Townsend said.

“It’s our first game since we played in Dublin. We’ve got a lot of evidence in the Six Nations and November that when we get our game in place in attack and defence, we can cause problems to any team in world rugby and do more than that, convert opportunities.

“I believe that our squad now is much deeper and we use that bench to continue what the starters are doing or actually raise the energy.”

Scotland: Rowe, Steyn, Hutchinson, Tuipulotu (capt), Dobie, Jordan, White; Schoeman, Ashman, Millar-Mills, Gray, Cummings, M Fagerson, Darge, Dempsey.

Replacements: Hiddleston, Sutherland, Z Fagerson, Samuel, Brown, Horne, Burke, Graham.

Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda celebrates after the Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos to win the NL pennant in 1981.

(Associated Press)

Years as manager: 1976-1996

Record: 1,599-1,439, .526 win pct

After serving as the team’s third base coach for four seasons, Lasorda took over as manager late in the 1976 season when Alston announced his retirement. He led the Dodgers to the National League pennant in his first two full seasons, losing both times to the Yankees in the World Series. He won his first World Series in 1981, knocking off the Yankees, and rallied his team to a surprise title in 1988 in which the Dodgers beat the heavily favored Athletics. Lasorda was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, his first year of eligibility.

A fiery and vibrant presence who spent 71 years with the Dodgers, Lasorda managed nine players who won the NL rookie of the year award. The Dodgers also opened the Japanese player pipeline on his watch. Hideo Nomo, the first Japanese big leaguer to permanently relocate to the U.S., joined the Dodgers in 1995. Three decades later, the team features Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on its star-studded roster.

Gabriel Bortoleto – 6/10

A tidy race to lead Audi home and finish just outside the points.

Nico Hulkenberg – 5.5/10

Solid enough but finishing behind Bortoleto takes the shine off it. He gained places from his lowly starting position, however.

Pierre Gasly – 5/10

Slipped down the order so a disappointing Sunday for Alpine who just looked short on pace.

Ollie Bearman – 4.5/10

A clean but anonymous afternoon for Bearman. Haas didn’t have much to fight with.

Franco Colapinto – 4.5/10

Not spectacular but a steady finish for Colapinto, who kept his Alpine out of trouble.

Esteban Ocon – 4/10

Finished behind team-mate Ollie Bearman again, which made for a poor return. Lost ground at the start and never looked like a points contender.

Alex Albon – 4/10

Williams had a tough race and Alex Albon finished two laps down. Unlike this team-mate Carlos Sainz, he at least got to the flag.

Fernando Alonso – 4.5/10

The final classified finisher. He gained places largely through others retiring, however his five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane made this another race for Aston Martin to forget.

Lance Stroll – 3.5/10

Aston Martin driver retired after 45 laps, ending a difficult race from the back row.

Carlos Sainz – 4/10

Out after 23 laps when his car stopped on the pit straight. Led Williams once again in qualifying which is all that can be said.

Sergio Perez – 4/10

Only lasted a few laps for Cadillac. Out-qualified team-mate Valtteri Bottas but barely turned a wheel this weekend with several car issues in practice plaguing him during the race, too.

Valtteri Bottas – 3.5/10

The first retirement, after just two laps. There was almost no race to judge. Started behind his team-mate but Cadillac’s Sunday was over before it had begun.

George Russell’s victory over Max Verstappen further reduces teammate Kimi Antonelli’s lead in the drivers’ title race.

A thirsty George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday to trim Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli’s Formula One championship lead to 40 points.

Max Verstappen finished 1.6 seconds adrift, after crashing in qualifying and starting fifth, at his Red Bull team’s home circuit with Antonelli third and 0.3 behind after a thrilling chase to the line at scenic Spielberg.

The win was Russell’s second of the season, after he took the opener in Australia, his career seventh and Mercedes’ seventh in eight rounds so far.

Antonelli has 171 points to Russell’s 131 with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, fifth on Sunday after running second and battling Verstappen wheel-to-wheel, dropping to third on 125.

In the constructors’ standings, Mercedes have 302 points to Ferrari’s 204.

“Incredible to be back on the top step. It’s been a little while, so I am definitely going to enjoy this one this evening,” said Russell, who can now head to his home British GP at Silverstone next weekend on a high.

He revealed over the radio after taking the chequered flag that his drinks system had failed during the race, the first of the season to be declared a “heat hazard”. “Nice race for it to do so, I’m a little bit thirsty,” he said.

Oscar Piastri was fourth for McLaren, ahead of Hamilton, with Isack Hadjar sixth for Red Bull.

Reigning champion Lando Norris, last year’s winner in Austria, was seventh with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc eighth and Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and rookie Arvid Lindblad completing the top 10.

“I was having to push every single lap and when you push those boundaries there’s bound to be a small mistake or two,” said Russell.

“I knew how quick the guys were behind. Kimi has been extraordinarily quick this whole season, so every lap I was looking at the timing board.”

Mercedes driver George Russell controversially stole pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with the last lap of the session.

The result came amid late drama as Russell set his lap, beating Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, despite passing yellow flags for a crash by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the penultimate corner.

Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who was running just ahead of the Briton, also passed the Verstappen incident, but did not improve his time and will line up fourth.

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were sixth and seventh behind Verstappen, who kept fifth despite his crash.

Russell insisted he had slowed sufficiently for the Verstappen incident, and claimed there was just a single yellow flag showing, rather than the double waved yellows which might have been expected for such a situation.

“I had a big lift,” Russell said. “I went into the corner 0.5secs up and I came out 0.25secs up. It was great to get that lap.

“I just spoke with Toto [Wolff, team principal] and he said everything is fine with the yellow flag. Big 100m lift before the corner. So that’s good to hear.”

The late drama was caused by a big crash for Verstappen, who lost control going into the high-speed downhill right-hander and spun across the gravel into the barrier.

George Russell bounced back from the disappointments of the past few races to take pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Russell edged out Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari by just 0.064 seconds as runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli could manage only third place in the other Mercedes.

McLaren’s Lando Norris took fourth from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, while Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc crashed on his first lap in the final session and will start 10th.

Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri was seventh, from Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg.

More to follow

“Doctor Who” is going through another major regeneration.

The BBC announced Wednesday that it is not moving forward with a previously announced “Doctor Who” Christmas special. Last year, the broadcaster teased a “spectacular” special episode written by showrunner Russell T Davies for the 2026 holiday.

“After careful consideration, the BBC, Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf have collectively decided not to go ahead with the previously announced Doctor Who Christmas episode,” the BBC wrote in its latest update. “This decision was not taken lightly, and we know it will be disappointing for fans, but in order to set the show up for future series, it was decided that rather than bridge the gap with a one off special, we are choosing to push forward to invest in the long-term future of the show which ensures that when the TARDIS lands once more, it does so in all its glory.”

Whovians know that the Christmas Day specials are a longstanding tradition for the sci-fi series. Previous holiday episodes have marked the first full appearance of David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor in 2005 as well as Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor in 2023.

BBC’s plan now is to “put Doctor Who out to competitive tender” in order to “[secure] the next phase of the show for future generations” — meaning they are inviting potential producers to pitch their ideas for the next era of the long-running series. This also means Davies and producer Bad Wolf are parting ways with the franchise.

“And so GOODBYE from me to Doctor Who but HELLO to a big new future for the show,” Davies wrote in a Wednesday Instagram post, confirming his exit. “You’ll have to wait a bit longer for new Doctor Who… but you’ll be waiting for MORE Doctor Who than a one-off. So it’s worth it!”

Davies, who led the “Doctor Who” revival from its 2005 launch to 2010 before returning for his second stint in 2023, also said that he had not written a script for the previously planned Christmas special and “no actor was ever approached to play the next Doctor.”

“I’m as excited as anyone to see what comes next!” Davies added. “Will they keep the theme tune? Will they lose the blue box? Will they bring back the Drahvin?! It’s all up for grabs, which is so Doctor Who, exciting and unpredictable and new!”

Bad Wolf, which worked on the two seasons starring Gatwa as the Time Lord, also on Wednesday confirmed its exit on Instagram in a post thanking fans and those that joined them on this “incredible journey through Space and Time.”

“It has been a joy and a privilege to have been at the helm of the TARDIS alongside the brilliant Russell T Davies,” read the production company’s statement. “Doctor Who is – and always will be – a show that shines light into the darkness and it has been an absolute honour to have been its torch bearer for 26 episodes with the BBC and Disney+.”

The BBC in its announcement reiterated its commitment to “Doctor Who” and its future. It also shared that a previously announced animated “Doctor Who” series for CBeebies is currently in production.

This latest “Doctor Who” update comes during a tenuous time for the franchise. The series has faced low viewership, Disney+ exiting as the show’s co-producers and Gatwa ending his run as the Doctor. The most recent season concluded with a cliffhanger, with the Fifteenth Doctor regenerating into a form resembling Rose Tyler, the companion portrayed by Billie Piper.