With the Liz Cambage trade talk, the upcoming WNBA season is growing considerably more complicated, and more interesting.
For over a year, both the WNBA and the New York Liberty pretended Westchester County Center was a viable venue. New owner Joseph Tsai acknowledged right away that the team's permanent home needs to be elsewhere—perhaps at the Barclays Center.
BASEBALL
Madison Bumgarner’s no-trade list has been meticulously crafted to maximize his leverage once talks heat up.
Last year, Hunter Pence was an $18.5 million drag on the Giants. This season, he's a $1 million bargain for the Rangers and looks like an obvious Comeback Player of the Year choice.
PRO FOOTBALL
Adam Gase won a power struggle in the Jets' front office when Mike Maccagnan was fired. It's not a great look, but there could be one small positive in the mountain of dysfunction.
The Dolphins gave a huge extension to Xavien Howard, but did it reset the market for cornerbacks? That's debatable.
SOCCER
It is looking more and more likely that Chelsea will be unable to sign any new players this summer. Luckily, the team has a secret weapon.
COLLEGE SPORTS
The NCAA said it would create a group to study issues highlighted in recent court hearings involving student-athletes' names, images and likenesses. Several aspects of the announcement are confounding.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR's All-Star Race this weekend might seem like overkill—after all, the series' stars compete against one another on 36 other weekends—but it actually might be on to something with the race's format.
HORSE RACING
This year's Preakness Stakes field has been set, but with Pimlico Race Course a shadow of its former self, the race's days in Baltimore may be numbered.
HOCKEY
Even if the Hurricanes fall short of their ultimate goal, this season has been a success, on the ice and in their bottom line. "Last year at this time I said we did about $500,000 to date in new business," team president Don Waddell says. "This year we’re over $3.6 million now for next year."
After his team emerged from the NBA draft lottery with the first overall pick, Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry had four words scribbled at the top of his packet: "This is our moment." Expectations had been understandably low that New Orleans would win the Zion Williamson sweepstakes: Beyond their lackluster odds to come out on top—just a 6% chance—the Pelicans were fresh off a rocky season in which they missed the playoffs, fielded a trade demand from Anthony Davis and endured changes in their top-level leadership. Now, though, the Pelicans again have hope, and New Orleans no longer looks like such a bad place for Davis.
Can Tiger do it again? Sportsbooks like Woods' chances at the PGA Championship: Along with Brooks Koepka, he is listed as the favorite at Bethpage Black, at 10-1 odds. Dustin Johnson is just behind them, at 11-1.
Number To Watch: The bettor who won $1.2 million with Woods' Masters victory is at it again, having placed a $100,000 bet on Woods to capture a Grand Slam this year, which would win him $10 million. (For what it's worth, the only golfer to ever win a calendar-year Grand Slam is Bobby Jones, and that was in 1930, before golf's modern era.)
Last week, we highlighted the odds that Kyler Murray would throw for 17.5 touchdowns this season (-154 for the over, +120 for the under). Those odds have since shifted to -175 for the over and +135 for the under.
Even before free agency can wreak havoc on Golden State's roster, injuries may be tearing it down. For Warriors assistant GM Kirk Lacob, the only way to fight injuries is to better predict when they may happen. Utilizing data from wearable tech and smart cameras placed around the court, the Warriors are learning how to keep their players healthy by understanding the limits of their bodies. "At no point will we be able to stop injury," Lacob explains, "but are pretty sure we can better predict when things might happen and reduce the overall amount of injuries, and ultimately help our recovery."
