NBA
The second and final day of the 2024 NBA draft wrapped up Thursday, kicking off with the Toronto Raptors taking San Francisco forward Jonathan Mogbo 31st. Elsewhere, the Portland Trail Blazers took Marquette guard Tyler Kotek 34th and traded him to the Knicks, who drafted UC Santa Barbara guard Ajay Mitchell 38th and sent him to Oklahoma City. The Phoenix Suns acquired the draft rights to forward Oso Ighodaro, the 40th overall pick, from the Knicks in exchange for the draft rights to Kevin McCullar Jr., the 56th overall pick, and Boston’s 2028 protected second-round pick. The Suns also took Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. and sent him to the Knicks. The 76ers took UCLA center Adem Bona 41st. The Celtics drew 54th, choosing Gonzaga forward Anton Watson.
Bronny James, the son of Lebron James, was also drafted, going 55th overall to the Lakers.
The NBA draft was completed on a second day in a second borough of New York, with the Toronto Raptors taking Jonathan Mogbo of San Francisco with the No. 31 pick. The league went to a two-day format this year instead of having its draft drag too late into the night. The second round was held Thursday at ESPN’s Seaport District studios in Manhattan after the first round took place as usual at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Ten players and their families attended, sitting in a room off the studio set, though the two players who were left in the green room at the end of the first round, Duke’s Kyle Filipowski and Johnny Furphy of Kansas, didn’t return.
It was the dream that LeBron James first floated a few years ago, the notion of playing in the NBA alongside one of his sons. And it’s a step closer to reality now. Bronny James — the oldest son of the NBA’s all-time scoring leader — was drafted Thursday by the Los Angeles Lakers, the team that his father has played for since 2018. Bronny James was taken with the No. 55 overall pick, deep in the second round and with only three picks remaining in this year’s draft. The move doesn’t guarantee that father and son will play in a game together, but it certainly raises the possibility that it could happen in what would be an NBA first.
WNBA
DeWanna Bonner had 24 points and 10 rebounds, DiJonai Carrington scored 10 of her 22 points in overtime, and the Connecticut Sun beat the Washington Mystics 94-91. Carrington sank a wide open 3-pointer with 2:43 left in overtime and she stole it at the other end, leading to a fast-break layup for an 89-85 lead. Carrington added another 3-pointer with 56.4 left for a 92-88 lead before Myisha Hines-Allen answered with a three-point play. Washington called a timeout with 15.5 seconds left, trailing 92-91. Ariel Atkins dribbled into the lane and passed it out to the corner for Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, who was short on a 3-point attempt. Carrington made two free throws with 3.9 left for a three-point lead and Julie Vanloo’s halfcourt heave was not close at the buzzer.
Arike Ogunbowale had 23 points, five 3-pointers and nine assists, veteran guard Odyssey Sims added 18 points in her season debut and the Dallas Wings snapped an 11-game losing streak with a 94-88 victory over the Minnesota Lynx. Dallas (4-13) won for the first time since May 26. Minnesota (13-4) was coming off a 94-89 victory over the New York Liberty on Tuesday for its first Commissioner’s Cup championship. Dallas trailed 45-30 with 3:22 left in the second quarter before scoring the next 15 points, spanning the halftime break, to tie it at 45-all early in the third. Minnesota pulled within three points with a minute remaining in the fourth, but Jacy Sheldon answered with a wide open 3-pointer at the other end to cap the scoring.
Jewell Loyd had 16 points, five assists and five rebounds, Skylar Diggins-Smith added 13 points and eight assists and the Seattle Storm beat the Connecticut Sun 72-61. Nneka Ogwimike also scored 13 for the Storm and Ezi Magbegor finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. The Sun led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter and Loyd hit two free throws to give Seattle its first lead, at 30-28, with about 2 minutes left in the half. Ogwumike hit a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter that gave Seattle the lead for good and sparked a 12-2 run capped when Horston scored five consecutive points to make it 53-44. Alyssa Thomas had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Sun and Brionna Jones also scored 14 points.
Jewell Loyd scored 23 of her season-high 34 points in the first half and played most of the game with a swollen left eye, and the Seattle Storm held Caitlin Clark to just three points in the second half of an 89-77 win over the Indiana Fever. Seattle improved to 2-0 in the beginning stages of a WNBA-record nine-game homestand that won’t see the Storm head on the road again until mid-July. Clark finished with 15 points and seven assists, playing before another sold-out crowd with many fans wearing various No. 22 jerseys with her name across the back. But it was Loyd who put on the show.
MLB
George Springer had three hits, including a pair of three-run homers, and José Berríos pitched seven strong innings as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the slumping New York Yankees 9-2. The loss was New York’s season-worst fourth straight and ninth in 11 games, dropping the Yankees out of first place in the American League East. They are percentage points behind Baltimore. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added a solo home run as Toronto won its second straight after losing the previous seven. Berríos allowed two runs on two hits, walked three and struck out a season-best eight. Yankees starter Carlos Rodón gave up 10 hits and matched a career worst by allowing eight earned runs in five innings.
Bryce Harper limped off the field with an apparent hamstring injury after making the final out for the Philadelphia Phillies in their 7-4 loss to the Miami Marlins. Hustling down the line as he tried to beat out a grounder to the right side, Harper reached for his left hamstring after crossing first base and hobbled toward the dugout. He will undergo imaging today. Earlier in the day, the slugger was elected by fans to start at first base for the National League in the July 16 All-Star Game at Texas. Philadelphia teammate Kyle Schwarber also got hurt, exiting in the ninth inning after experiencing left groin tightness. Schwarber, normally a designated hitter, started in left field — just his third game in the field all season.
Luis Robert Jr. homered in the first inning and five Chicago pitchers combined on a three-hitter as the White Sox beat Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves 1-0 in the makeup of an April 3 rainout. Sale struck out a season-high 11 in seven innings against his original team. The 35-year-old lefty allowed four hits and walked one in a fourth straight solid start. He was touched up only when Robert connected on a low-inside slider for his eighth home run. Chicago ended a four-game slide and won for just the second time in nine games. The White Sox have the worst record in the majors at 22-61. Atlanta has lost two in a row and three of four.
Byron Buxton had a three-run homer among his three hits and the Minnesota Twins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 13-6. Twins shortstop Carlos Correa left the game in the seventh inning after being hit by a pitch on the right wrist by Bryce Jarvis. X-rays were negative and the team listed him as day-to-day. Correa was on base five times, with a single, two walks, catcher’s interference and a hit by pitch. Buxton also scored three times as the Twins scored all 13 of their runs between the second and fifth innings. Minnesota took two of three in the series and has won four of its last five. Ketel Marte hit his 17th homer for Arizona.
Corbin Burnes scattered nine hits over seven innings, rookie Heston Kjerstad homered and drove in three runs and the Baltimore Orioles pummeled the struggling Texas Rangers 11-2. Cedric Mullins, Adley Rutschman and Colton Cowser also went deep Thursday night for the Orioles, who built an 8-1 lead in the fourth inning against Jon Gray and coasted to their second straight victory following a five-game skid. Adolis Garcia homered for the defending World Series champion Rangers, who have lost four in a row to fall seven games below .500. Texas has dropped seven consecutive road games and eight successive road series openers.
Kyle Isbel and Maikel Garcia hit back-to-back triples to start a sixth-inning rally, and Vinnie Pasquantino delivered the go-ahead sacrifice fly that sent the Kansas City Royals to a 2-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians. Sam Long earned the win, wiggling his way out of Michael Wacha’s jam in the sixth and retiring the side in the seventh. John Schreiber handled the eighth before James McArthur worked a perfect ninth for his 14th save. Ben Lively took the loss for Cleveland, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk over six innings. The Guardians wound up leaving nine runners on base.
Davis Daniel pitched four-hit ball over eight innings and struck out eight in his first major league start, and the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-0 for their fourth consecutive victory. Luis Rengifo hit a two-run homer and moved atop the American League in batting average. Miguel Sanó and Willie Calhoun also went deep for the Angels, who matched their longest winning streak of the season. Daniel didn’t walk a batter and retired 10 straight from the fourth inning through the seventh. He threw 98 pitches, 66 for strikes. The previous major leaguer to pitch at least eight shutout innings with eight strikeouts or more in his first career start was Jason Jennings for Colorado in August 2001 at the New York Mets.
Ian Happ homered in the 10th inning, Nico Hoerner had three hits and also went deep, and the Chicago Cubs snapped a four-game skid with a 5-3 win over the San Francisco Giants. Happ homered to center Thursday off Luke Jackson with automatic runner Cody Bellinger on base. Héctor Neris struck out two in a scoreless ninth inning for the win, and Porter Hodge worked around a first-and-second, no-outs jam in the 10th to complete his first save opportunity. The Giants had a three-game win streak snapped. They were seeking their first four-game sweep of the Cubs since 2012.
Jonathan India had two hits to extend his hitting streak to nine games, Spencer Steer homered and the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-4 on Thursday night. India had his sixth straight multi-hit game. He had reached safely in 11 consecutive at-bats before finally being retired Wednesday. Reds starter Andrew Abbott (7-6) was the winner, allowing two runs on two hits and six walks in five innings. Cincinnati won for the second time in six games. Miles Mikolas (6-7) lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing at least one run in each inning he pitched in. He gave up a career-high 10 runs, nine of them earned, on 12 hits and a walk.
SOCCER
José Fajardo beat backup goalkeeper Ethan Horvath in the 83rd minute to give Panama a 2-1 victory over the United States at the Copa America and put the Americans in danger of elimination if they don’t beat Uruguay in their first-round finale. The U.S. played nearly the entire game a man down after a silly foul by Tim Weah in the 18th minute. Folarin Balogun put the short-handed U.S. ahead in the 22nd minute but César Blackman tied the score in the 26th. Horvath, who replaced injured Matt Turner at halftime, couldn’t prevent Fajardo’s close-range shot and Panama beat the U.S. for just the third time in 27 meetings.
Tim Weah and other members of the U.S. national team were targeted with racist abuse on social media after the Americans were beaten 2-1 by Panama in the Copa America. The U.S. Soccer Federation issued a statement saying it was “deeply disturbed with the racist comments made online.” Weah, who is Black, was sent off with a red card in the 18th minute after punching a Panama player. It was earliest red card for a U.S. player since Jimmy Conrad was tossed from a 2010 friendly against Honduras. The short-handed Americans nearly held on for a tie, but Panama scored a late goal that put the U.S. hopes of advancing past the first round in serious jeopardy. U.S. Soccer said several of its players were the targets of racist comments.
The penalty shootout is a tense battle of wills over 12 yards (11 meters) that has increasingly become a huge part of soccer and an unavoidable feature of the knockout stage in the biggest competitions. Shootouts were added to the laws of the game in 1970 and have marred careers, spawned pizza adverts and helped to definitively secure a place for Lionel Messi in the pantheon of soccer greats. It’s why those who delve into the psychology and science of soccer are perplexed as to why this tiebreaker system has been overlooked by many teams especially in these data-driven times. Shootouts are likely to be a key part of Euro 2024's knockout stage starting Saturday.
NFL
A jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages Thursday after ruling that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service. The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV.
OLYMPICS
Sha’Carri Richardson never made it to the start, let alone the finish, of the 200 meters at the last Olympic trials. At these trials, even in the opening round of what’s really her second-best race, she flashed another glimpse of the kind of sprinter who has emerged from all that trouble three years ago. Bursting from the starting block and turning the curve into her own, personal glidepath, Richardson was able to slow down over the final 20 meters and still won her opening round in 21.99 seconds. Noah Lyles and Gabby Thomas also cruised through their opening rounds of the 200, while Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone ran 53.07 seconds to win her first round of the 400-meter hurdles.
Fred Richard and Brody Malone moved closer to a trip to the Olympics with solid performances during the opening night of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials. Richard, a junior at Michigan, posted an all-around score of 85.600 on Thursday night to lead Malone, a three-time national champion, by a half-point. Malone is at 85.100. Shane Wiskus, a 2020 Olympian along with Malone, is third at 84.300. The five-man U.S. Olympic team will be announced shortly after the trials end on Saturday night.
NHL
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon was the big winner at Thursday’s NHL awards show, taking home the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s MVP as the Ted Lindsay Award as the league’s most outstanding player as decided by the NHL Players Association. Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard was selected as the league’s top rookie, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy. Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets won the Vezina Trophy as the top goalie. Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks was named winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the top defenseman.
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