The John Deere Classic does not have the strongest field in golf year in and year out, but the event typically features a handful of stars.
Jordan Spieth will tee it up this year. As will defending champion and Ryder Cup star Sepp Straka. This year’s event also includes International stars Sungjae Im and Jason Day, 2023 American Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, and 2009 Champion Golfer of the Year Stewart Cink.
But Patrick Cantlay, who the tour had listed in the original John Deere Classic field, decided to withdraw on Monday. Scotsman Russell Knox will replace him in the field.
The tour did not specify why Cantlay withdrew.
Yet, if Cantlay had remained in the field, it would have marked his first appearance at the John Deere Classic. TPC Deere Run has hosted this event since 2000.
Another notable withdrawal is Cameron Davis, who won the Rocket Mortgage Classic this past week for the second time in his career. His win in Detroit also vaulted him up the FedEx Cup rankings and gave him exemptions into next year’s Masters, The Players, and all eight Signature Events. As such, Davis felt obligated to take the week off and soak in his victory, which certainly did not come easy both on and off the golf course. Had Akshay Bhatia not three-putted, Davis would have likely faced Bhatia in a sudden-death playoff, and who knows how that would have shaken out. But Davis was the lone man to finish at 18-under as he happily stood atop the leaderboard after 72 holes.
As for Cantlay, his last appearance came at the Travelers Championship, where he tied for fifth. The week before, the former UCLA Bruin turned in the best major performance of his career, tying for third at Pinehurst No. 2. It seems he has found something as of late, an impressive development given that Cantlay has had a sporadic season. Before the U.S. Open, his best two finishes came at Riviera and Hilton Head, tying for third and fourth, respectively. But he also struggled at the Players, the PGA Championship, and the Memorial. He did not have his best stuff at the Masters, either.
Cantlay is also not listed among the entrants for next week’s Genesis Scottish Open, the final tune-up for The Open Championship at Royal Troon. As such, all signs point to golf fans seeing Cantlay next at golf’s oldest major championship in two weeks’ time.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
In the aftermath of the release of the U.S. women’s national team Olympic roster, it’s clear a new era has arrived. What it’s full of is a roster that features youth and versatility at the forefront.
Ahead of the planning and preparation for the Summer Games, let’s take a look at notable names on the list, the ones who missed out and the one player who’s addition might be an overcast on the rest.
Notable misses: Alex Morgan
For the first time in 13 years (and the irony of it being 13 is strong) the U.S. women’s national team roster for a major tournament does not have the name Alex Morgan listed on it. We all know Morgan’s name for one reason or another, so before we dive into the present, we have to look back.
Photo by C. Morgan Engel/Getty Images
Alex Morgan was a member of the 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023 women’s World Cup rosters, and the 2012, 2016, and 2021 Olympic rosters. Morgan has 224 appearances with the senior national team under her belt with 123 goals and 53 assists. For those of you who like to do the math, Morgan has either scored or assisted a goal in 79% of her senior caps. She is the 13th player in USWNT history to reach 200 caps and is fifth on the all-time scoring list. Needless to say, her trophy case is full, but let’s run through her accolades anyways:
Three World Cup trophies
One World Cup silver medal
One Olympic gold medal
One Olympic bronze medal
World Cup silver boot
NWSL golden boot
US Soccer’s Female Athlete of the Year award (2012 & 2018)
Four-time CONCACAF Player of the Year (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018)
Five-time FIFA Women’s World 11 selection (2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022)
“Her record speaks for itself,” said new USWNT head coach Emma Hayes in the press conference to announce the 2024 Olympic roster. Alex Morgan is, arguably, one of the best to play her position.
Even greater than her accomplishments on paper are those that are intangible. Her leadership, her class, and her determination to fight for equal pay for the US Women’s National Team are qualities that, quite simply, cannot be replicated.
Today, I’m disappointed about not having the opportunity to represent our country on the Olympic stage. This will always be a tournament that is close to my heart and I take immense pride any time I put on the crest.
Alex Morgan has made a lasting impact on the USWNT, and her legacy will never be forgotten. Even in this painful moment, with her statement, Morgan displayed ultimate class and remained an exceptional teammate.
The Olympic schedule is grueling. Each team will play a game every three days — that’s only two days rest in between — and because of that all 18 players on the Olympic roster are expected to carry a heavy load. In comparison, World Cup rosters are 23-players deep and teams have more than two days of recovery between games.
While this could seem like the end of the road for Alex Morgan’s senior national team career, it’s impossible to ever fully rule out a competitor like Morgan. We do know one thing: she’ll be watching this summer’s Olympic games on TV with the rest of us.
Notable Makes: Crystal Dunn, Casey Krueger, Korbin Albert
Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF
Crystal Dunn being named to the US Women’s National Team roster for a major tournament is something that the forward has accomplished four times already, most recently for the 2023 World Cup. However, she hasn’t seen her name listed under the FORWARDS category for a major tournament since 2016.
Dunn is a goalscorer and plays forward for her NWSL club, Gotham FC, but has been playing outside-back for the USWNT since 2019. Upon taking over at the helm of the USWNT, Emma Hayes immediately brought Dunn into camp as a forward.
Dunn provides a veteran presence, leadership, and versatility as a player that can play forward, midfield, or defense.
Photo by David Berding/USSF/Getty Images for USSF
Casey Krueger is a consistent standout defender in the NWSL every year, and has seen herself called into many USWNT camps, but only made one major tournament roster. Krueger was listed as an alternate for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but when rosters expanded due to COVID-19, she joined the squad as a rostered player. Krueger is a fan-favorite, as a player that is nothing but consistent on the field and is constantly overlooked at the National Team level.
Photo by Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Korbin Albert is a notable make, but for all of the wrong reasons.
In March of this year, Albert found herself at the center of controversy, receiving criticism from not only USWNT fans, but former USWNT players including Megan Rapinoe. Fans found anti-LGBTQ videos that Albert posted to her personal TikTok, and also found her having liked a post hoping for pain to be inflicted on former USWNT star Megan Rapinoe
Korbin Albert plays her club soccer at PSG and was a breakout star in the midfield for the team during the inaugural Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup earlier this year. Immediately following the tournament, her hateful social media activity surfaced.
Fans turned on her, and it caused enough stir to even warrant a response from Rapinoe.
Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF
“To the people who want to hide behind ‘my beliefs’ I would just ask one question, are you making any type of space safer, more inclusive, more whole, any semblance of better, bringing the best out of anyone?… because if you aren’t, all you believe in is hate. And kids are literally killing themselves because of this hate. Wake TF up!”
Shortly after, Albert posted an apology on her Instagram stories.
Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF
Captain Lindsey Horan and Alex Morgan spoke to the media in a press-conference, and expressed their disappointment, but stated that the matter was being handled internally. Since then, fans have been calling for more transparency into how the matter was handled. Albert’s play has suffered, and she has been audibly boo-ed at every USWNT match she has appeared in since.
Many were speculating that Albert may not make the 2024 Olympic roster because of her actions, but without knowledge of how the matter was being handled internally, fans were in the dark.
Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images
“There’s no denying that there’s been a lot of work that’s going on in the background,” Hayes said of Albert, adding that Albert is young, learning from her experiences, and has had a tough time in reference to the backlash and boos she has received from fans.
“She’s spending time working on herself,” continued Hayes, “and I want the fans to really embrace Korbin because I do think she’s a tremendous human being.”
The issue itself is much larger than just Korbin Albert, though, and her name being listed on this roster shows a changing of the guards in more ways than one.
The USWNT has consistently been a safe space for LGBTQ fans, and players on the team have always made it that way. A new era of young talent brings fears around perhaps a new identity of the USWNT, and questions about if it can remain the same safe space that it has always been.
Albert’s inclusion in the roster coupled with Hayes’ comments around it is drawing a cloud of negativity that is, in some ways, close to overshadowing the positivity that has come with the announcement of this young, dynamic new era. How, if any it impacts the team internally is a wait and see.
India took home the Cricket World Cup on Saturday with a nail-biting victory over South Africa in the final. The match came down to the wire, and there’s a very real chance that India could have lost without these heroics from SuryaKumar Yada.
In cricket the ball must always be in the field of play to be ruled as a catch. If Yada caught the ball and stepped out it would have been ruled as six runs. If he batted the ball down inside the field of play it would have given the batsmen ample time to record runs as well. So the only option was to catch the ball, throw it back inbounds, the run in and make a double catch — without stepping out.
It’s easier said than done, and requires incredible focus as well as processing speed. It’s not something you see very often, especially at a moment this important. At this stage in the final a full six runs would have put South Africa in the driver’s seat to win. Instead they lost a critical batsman that helped propel India to win the World Cup.
If you love days that are jam-packed with news, you should be EXTREMELY happy about November 5, 2024. Not only is that Election Day, but it’s also the NFL’s trade deadline.
In late June, the league sent out all the important dates for 2024 and 2025, and that’s when it became apparent that these two events would happen on the same day.
In March, the NFL owners agreed to move back the in-season trade deadline by one week, taking into account the 17-game season and the desire for another week for teams to decide whether or not to add to their rosters via trade for any postseason pushes. There was also a proposed amendment that would push the deadline past Week 10, but the proposal that was passed, proposed by the Pittsburgh Steelers, was this one, which has it after Week 9.
It remains to be seen what it will look like from a coverage perspective when teams are making those decisions at the same time the country itself is making far more impactful ones, but one should expect one’s Twitters and newsfeeds to be far past overload.
The NFL’s trade deadline ends at 4:00 p.m. EST that day, while polls will close later in the day and into the night. Which should give NFL fans just enough time to either rejoice in, or bemoan, the moves their teams did or didn’t make before hopefully voting as they see fit.
Perhaps voters in the Bay Area will be flummoxed by a Brandon Aiyuk deal. Or New York and Pittsburgh-area voters might still be shaking their heads from a Russell Wilson trade to the Jets. By that time, Aaron Rodgers will probably be somebody’s vice presidential candidate, which would bring the two stories together in a nice, chaotic fashion.
Maybe the more astute among us will consider voting by mail, so the focus can be completely on the craziest day in the NFL season. In any event, get ready for some chaos, and hydrate accordingly!
Also, if you’d like to know more about NFL Votes, a “league-wide, nonpartisan initiative that supports and encourages civic engagement among NFL players, and legends, club and league personnel, and fans,” you can do so here.
The 2024 NHL Draft is in the books and it’s consistently one of the most difficult drafts to try and parse. A mixture of extreme youth, paired with multi-national scouting, the majority of the players selected on Friday and Saturday won’t see the ice in the NHL for a few years — making it more of an exercise in strengthening a pipeline, rather than build a team directly.
While it can be difficult to evaluate classes immediately following a draft, the best we can do is look at a class based on how well each team did with its draft capital — and based on what scouting services through of these picks prior to the event itself. To this end we had some massive winners in 2024, and some absolute head-scratching picks.
Winner: San Jose Sharks
When you have the No. 1 pick and get the best player you’re going to be a winner by default, but there’s more to what the Sharks did than just Macklin Celebrini. This team got incredible value up and down their draft board, bolstering their defense with Sam Dickinson and nabbing Igor Chernyshov with the No. 33 pick (he was 17th on my big board).
This was a forward-heavy class for the Sharks who are in dire need of scoring. There’s a clear approach here to rebuild the team the right way, and we could very well be looking at this class as a turning point for the franchise that finally brings some teeth back to the shark tank.
Loser: Anaheim Ducks
Things weren’t so great for the Sharks’ northern neighbors, and yes a lot of this has to do with taking Beckett Sennecke with the No. 3 overall pick. It’s not that Sennecke is a bad player — in fact, he could be pretty good. The issue is a complete misunderstanding of draft capital and how to work the board.
Multiple teams wanted to move up into the Top 4 of this class where the elite NHL-ready players were. Not only did the Ducks manage to not take one of these top guys, but they also didn’t move back and get anything for it. When you shock everyone so much that even your top pick is stunned … well, it’s not a great sign.
Across their first three picks the Ducks were a -15 in their pick vs. consolidated rankings, meaning they consistently took players earlier than independent scouting projected. Now, this could mean they were right and everyone else is wrong — but that rarely plays out well.
Winner: Montreal Canadiens
The biggest benefactor of the Ducks going off script were the Canadiens, who got an absolute steal at No. 5 in Ivan Demidov. The No. 1 wing in this class, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see him go at No. 2 if the Blackhawks elected to go offense over defense.
Montreal really needed to find star-power in this class, and they did just that with both Demidov and Michael Hage. The Canadiens might need to wait a little while for Demidov to take the jump, but he’s going to be worth the weight. He’s been dominating the MHL as a true 18-year-old, finishing with 60 points in 30 games. If this can continue in the KHL we’re going to see a monster player in the pipeline who can finally turn this team’s fortunes around.
Winner: Carolina Hurricanes
The Canes consistently find a way to be competitive while also keeping their shelves stocked, and the 2024 NHL Draft was no different. While this will definitely be an offseason with a lot of change in Raleigh with Jake Guentzel set to sign with the Lightning, and Martin Necas being a wild card. Despite this the draft itself was a massive boon for the first test for the organizations since GM Don Waddell left to join the Blue Jackets.
Despite moving back in the draft multiple times, the Hurricanes still managed to be a +24 in their first three picks — getting massive value in their selections vs. consolidated rankings. This was really set up by selecting Nikita Artamonov with the No. 50 pick, despite being the 25th best player in ranking and the No. 29 on my board.
There was very real potential for Artamonov to be a Top 15 pick, and the Canes have the luxury to allow him to develop in Russia until it’s time to bring him over. A do-everything forward with legitimate 2nd line potential, we could see him being a future star.
Loser: TRADE ALERT
Having the NHL Draft in the Las Vegas Sphere made for some of the most incredible images in the history of the event. Unfortunately this also made for abject terror whenever a trade happened during the draft and the Sphere had a massive warning horn and the words “TRADE ALERT.”
It was enough to terrify everyone watching.
my therapist: “the 2024 nhl draft trade alert and horn are not real they can’t hurt you”
Former first-overall NFL Draft selection JaMarcus Russell is facing a lawsuit over a check written to him in the summer of 2022, and allegations that the former NFL quarterback misappropriated donation funds for weight-room equipment at the school where Russell was a football coach for his benefit.
As first reported by WKRGit is alleged that Russell approached Chris Knowles seeking a donation for the football program at his alma mater, Williamson High School, where the former LSU passer was a volunteer coach. According to court documents obtained by WKRG and reviewed by SB Nation Knowles wrote a check to the retired quarterback, which he deposited at Navigator Credit Union (NCU) in July of 2022.
According to Simone Eli of WKRG, Knowles stopped payment on the $74,000 check when “ … Russell wouldn’t provide a receipt of the donation and quit returning his phone calls.” NCU then filed a Complaint against Russell in the Circuit Court for Mobile County in March of 2023, alleging that Russell breached the terms and conditions of his demand deposit account. Specifically, NCU alleges that Russell “ … breached the agreement by failing or refusing to comply with its payment terms and conditions and by specifically drawing a check on his account with [NCU] for which payment was stopped.”
The lawsuit filed by NCU against Russell — Case No. CV-2023-900559.00 — is seeking $56,826.08 in specific damages, plus “attorney fees, punitive damages, and costs.”
Russell, in his Answer to the Complaint which was obtained by WKRG and reviewed by SB Nation, generally denied the allegations set forth by NCU in the lawsuit. While admitting that he deposited the check, Russell, through counsel, asserted that he did not stop payment on the check. Russell has also demanded “strict proof” of the allegations set forth by NCU in their Complaint.
Furthermore, Russell has since filed a Third-Party Complaint against Knowles and Selwonk Enterprises, asserting that Knowles “ … stopped payment on the check causing substantial losses” to the retired QB.
The matter is set for a trial in October of this year.
According to WKRG Russell lost his volunteer position with Williamson High School last fall. “JaMarcus Russell was relieved of his volunteer coaching duties at Williamson High School during the fall of last year,” Mobile County Public School officials confirmed to WKRG.
WKRG also reports that Williamson High School “never saw any of the money.”
Welcome to Playing Through’s morning ritual — Golf Talk Today.
Each morning will feature a Golf Talk Today, where the crew will discuss various elements throughout the PGA Tour, LPGA, LIV Golf, and more.
There are six normal events, a major championship and the Olympics until the FedEx Cup Playoffs are here. Only the Top 70 get into the Aug. 15-18 FedEx St. Jude Championship.
While there is still plenty of time to gain much-needed FedEx Cup points, the clock is ticking for some of these guys.
Last year, the PGA Tour moved the playoff number from 125 to 70 for its first event. From there, only the Top 50 survive to play in the BMW Championship. To cap off the three-week playoff, the top 30 make it to the Tour Championship in Atlanta, where a FedEx Cup champion will emerge.
Let’s take a way too early look at those on the outside looking in that need a solid finish to the regular season so they can live to fight another day in the playoffs.
Notable PGA Tour Players outside the Top 70
*as of July 1, 202
— Nicolai Højgaard (No.74) — Justin Rose (No. 75) — Keith Mitchell (No. 76) — Nick Dunlap (No.87) — Rickie Fowler (No. 93) — Joel Dahmen (No. 103) — Daniel Berger (No. 123) — Webb Simpson (No. 131) — Matt Kuchar (No. 140)
These are just a handful of players that will currently not make the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Rickie Fowler could miss the playoffs if he does not go on a solid run in the next few weeks. He has just two Top 25s on the season and has missed five cuts in 18 starts.
The former Oklahoma State Cowboy finished T31 last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Fowler finally got his second Top 25 at the Travelers as he was T20.
His best finish came at the RBC Heritage, a T18.
Nicolai Højgaard is another name that is interestingly outside the Top 70. He has a runner-up finish, a top 10, and two top 25s. The former Ryder Cup member has missed five cuts this season, though.
He has not completed a tournament inside the Top 20 since the Masters, where he was T16. Since that week, Højgaard missed three cuts, and his best finish came at the RBC Canadian Open in a T35.
However, he is still close enough with a strong stretch of golf and could see himself in Memphis for that first playoff event.
Justin Rose, who is ranked No. 75, is another who could make the playoffs.
It has not been the Englishman’s best season, with just one Top 10 and two Top 25s. He did finish T6 at the PGA Championship but missed the cut at the U.S. Open.
There is a lot of golf left for players to earn FedEx Cup points and a spot in the playoffs. Nonetheless, time is not on these golfers’ side, as they need a momentum boost to push their way into the Top 70.
ICYMI: Top stories across professional golf
Check out these stories:
U.S. Senior Open: Golfer makes mind blowing consecutive holes-in-one that will make your jaw drop
Cameron Davis wins Rocket Mortgage Classic thanks to Akshay Bhatia’s 3-putt
Former World No. 1s Ruoning Yin, Atthaya Thitikul prevail in LPGA team event
DP World Tour’s Italian Open sees ‘Comeback King’ Marcel Siem triumph in playoff
Rocket Mortgage Classic: Akshay Bhatia leads tournament, best dressed players
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
A little after 3:00 p.m. ET, the United States Golf Association (USGA) suspended play at the U.S. Senior Open as dangerous storms rolled into the Newport, Rhode Island area.
Tournament officials tried to get ahead of the weather, scheduling final round tee times to begin at 8:20 a.m. ET. But fog delayed play by two hours, putting the field in Mother Nature’s hands.
The USGA also hoped to resume the final round on Sunday, but storms dampened the course, and humid conditions called for more thundershowers later in the evening. As a result, the USGA called the shot to restart the final round on Monday morning, but an official starting time is TBD. The forecast calls for more rain in Rhode Island on Monday afternoon.
Hiroyuki Fujita holds a three-shot lead over LIV Golf’s Richard Bland, as Fujita sits at 16-under. Richard Green is 12-under, while Steve Stricker, the 2019 U.S. Senior Open champion, is at 11-under.
Players faced challenging conditions during the final round as a stiff breeze blew off the Atlantic Ocean and across Newport Country Club. But the one contender who thrived on Sunday was Bland, who won the Senior PGA Championship last month at Harbor Shores in Michigan. Bland birdied his first three holes to soar into contention and was 4-under through 10 holes when officials called players off the golf course. He owned one of the best rounds on Sunday, as only Ernie Els had a better day. The South African is 5-under through 15 holes but 10 back of Fujita.
The leaderboard follows below:
1. Hiroyuki Fujita -16 (10)
2. Richard Bland -13 (10)
3. Richard Green -12 (10)
4. Steve Stricker -10 (10)
T5. Vijay Singh -7 (15)
T5. Paul Stankowski -7 (10)
T5. Bob Estes -7 (10)
T8. Ernie Els -6 (15)
T8. Stephen Ames -6 (14)
T8. Thongchai Jaidee -6 (12)
T11. Padraig Harrington -5 (14)
T11. Y.E. Yang -5 (12)
T11. Steven Alker -5 (11)
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
The USA Olympic Track and Field Trials ended with a major statement by arguably the most dominant track athlete in the world right now.
There was never any doubt that women’s 400-meter hurdles superstar Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone would qualify for Paris; it was all about how fast she would run and by how wide a margin she’d win by.
The 24-year-old McLaughlin-Levrone promised to “let it fly” prior to the final, and she lived up to her word. Competing against a talented field, McLaughlin-Levrone lowered her own world record from 50.68 to 50.65 seconds to cap off the final day of competition at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
“I’m just amazed, baffled, and in shock,” McLaughlin-Levrone told NBC’s Lewis Johnson after the race.
Unparalleled dominance
For context, second-placed Anna Cockrell (52.64 seconds) and third-placed Jasmine Jones (52.77 seconds) both ran personal bests to seal their Olympic spots, becoming two of the 12 fastest women of all-time in the process, yet still finished two seconds behind the reigning Olympic champion. That’s a level of domination straight out of a video game.
No one has owned this event like McLaughlin-Levrone. She owns seven of the 10 fastest times in history, and has not lost a 400m hurdles race since a silver medal finish in the 2019 World Championships to fellow American Dalilah Muhammad, who ran what was then a world record time of 52.16 seconds. (Incidentally, Muhammad finished 6th in Sunday’s race, the final Olympic trials of her decorated career)
McLaughlin-Levrone’s incredible world record progression
McLaughlin-Levrone, who missed last year’s World Championships in Budapest due to injury, has set 400-meter hurdles world records in her last five US and global championship finals.
2021 US Olympic Trials – 51.90 seconds 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021) – 51.46 seconds 2022 US World Championship Trials – 51.41 seconds 2022 World Championships – 50.68 seconds 2024 US Olympic Trials – 50.65 seconds
For 16 years, Russia’s Yuliya Pechonkina held the world record at 52.34 seconds. Dalilah Muhammad set a new standard in the 2019 US World Championship Trials at 52.20, lowered it again to 52.16 in the aforementioned Worlds in Qatar, and McLaughlin-Levrone has since taken this race to unprecedented heights. She’s running high-level 400m flat times but with ten 30-inch barriers in the way.
Is there anyone who has any shot at beating McLaughlin-Levrone in Paris?
Barring something completely unexpected, the one woman within shouting distance of McLaughlin-Levrone is Femke Bol of The Netherlands. Bol won bronze in the Tokyo Olympics, silver in the 2022 Worlds, and gold in last year’s Worlds in McLaughlin-Levrone’s absence. Her personal best of 51.41 seconds is the third fastest in history, and she broke the indoor 400m flat world record earlier this year, so she’s a force to be reckoned with.
It’s been nearly two full years since the last time Bol’s silver to McLaughlin-Levrone’s gold at the World Championships in Oregon. The stars have otherwise not aligned for those two to race each other in any of the 400m hurdles, 400m flat, or even the 4x400m relays. We should see them competing in both the hurdles and as anchors for their respective countries in the Olympic relays. If anyone stands a chance to create an epic long-term rivalry with the former University of Kentucky standout, it’s the 24-year-old Bol.
What is abundantly clear is that McLaughlin-Levrone is one of one. It is inarguable that she is the greatest of all-time in this discipline, and when the track portion of the Olympics begins in early August—women’s 400m hurdles qualifying starts Aug. 4 and the final is Aug. 8—a worldwide audience will get to see why she’s one of the most special athletes of her generation.
The Philadelphia 76ers opened up more than $61 million in cap space this summer in an effort to lure another star to come play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. As NBA free agency opened on Sunday evening, there’s serious optimism that Philly is on the cusp of landing the top player on the market.
The Sixers are “strong frontrunners” to land Paul George in free agency, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. George and the Los Angeles Clippers have “moved on” from one another in free agency, according to Woj, opening the door for George to join a new team.
The Sixers are the only suitor for George ahead of his Sunday night meeting with Philadelphia, according to Clippers reporter Law Murray.
Per source … there’s a real chance that Paul George will make his final decision tonight. The expectation at some point is that he will choose the Philadelphia 76ers.
There are no other teams in the running at the moment.
The Clippers have put out a statement on George’s departure even before he officially signs with a new team:
Clippers’ statement on Paul George parting ways following a significant gap in contract talks, exploring an opt-in and trade scenario and excitement about new opportunities and greater flexibility under new CBA to field a “highly competitive team” moving forward: pic.twitter.com/Uajbail3Hk
The Clippers cited the more punitive luxury tax thresholds under the new CBA in their statement on George’s exit. The threat of penalties for crossing the “second apron” also played a role in the Denver Nuggets losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic in free agency.
The Clippers had reportedly offered George a similar deal to Kawhi Leonard’s three-year, $153 million extension, but were unwilling to go to four years. George is seeking a four-year max contract.
The Clippers agreed to a two-year, $70 million extension with James Harden as free agency opened on Sunday.
Maxey is a restricted free agent this offseason, meaning the Sixers have the ability to match any contract he receives. Maxey is expected to re-sign with the Sixers after the franchise takes its big swings in free agency.
George is 34 years old, and is coming off another strong season with the Clippers where he averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game wiht 41.3 percent shooting from three-point range (on 7.9 attempts per game) and 90.7 percent free throw shooting.
We’ve already seen the New York Knicks load up to challenge the Boston Celtics with a bold trade for Mikal Bridges. Now that George is leaving the Clippers, it’s possible Philadelphia will form a third legitimate East contender.
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:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25507667/1715725059.jpg "Welcome to the new era of the U.S. women’s national team welcome,to,the,new,era,of,the,u,s,women,s,national,team,sbnation,com,front-page,soccer,united-states-womens-national-team,all-womens-sports,womens-soccer,uswnt-coverage")
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25507670/2148994765.jpg "Welcome to the new era of the U.S. women’s national team welcome,to,the,new,era,of,the,u,s,women,s,national,team,sbnation,com,front-page,soccer,united-states-womens-national-team,all-womens-sports,womens-soccer,uswnt-coverage")
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25507675/2155651782.jpg "Welcome to the new era of the U.S. women’s national team welcome,to,the,new,era,of,the,u,s,women,s,national,team,sbnation,com,front-page,soccer,united-states-womens-national-team,all-womens-sports,womens-soccer,uswnt-coverage")