Great Britain have claimed a second gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics after Huw Nightingale and Charlotte Bankes won the mixed team snowboard cross event.
Tag: League
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England v Nepal scorecard
Scorecard: England vs Nepal, T20 World Cup, Mumbai
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Sri Lanka v England scorecard
Scorecard: Sri Lanka vs England, third T20
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Australia v England commentary
Ball-by-ball Ashes updates: England face Australia in final Test at SCG
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Victor Wembanyama unconcerned about knee as Spurs prep for Pacers
(Photo credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images)
In what easily could have been an NBA Finals preview between two of the best teams in the league, the San Antonio Spurs rallied from a 19-point first-half deficit for a 134-132 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday.
But as thrilling as the win was, the postgame focus was on the health of Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs superstar left the game with 10:32 remaining with a hyperextended left knee.
‘I have not been able to talk to the medical staff yet, but I saw what everybody else saw,’ said Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson. ‘There’s a visual there, but he finished the game on the bench with his teammates so that made me feel good. I have no idea what to say, but it was good to see him walk back out and finish the game with his teammates.’
Wembanyama said he was sore after the game, but ‘very confident’ he won’t have to miss any time with the injury. Still, given how important Wembanyama is to the future of the Spurs, the team will be cautious with their superstar. That puts his status in question when San Antonio travels to face the Indiana Pacers on Friday.
‘I was this close to coming back into the game, but they had to hold me back,’ Wembanyama joked. ‘The good thing was that it was just a hyperextension, so it should be minimal. We’re going to do everything tomorrow and make sure everything is OK.’
Regardless of whether Wembanyama suits up on Friday, the Spurs will look to build off Wednesday’s momentum.
The Spurs trailed the Knicks by 10 at the half and by nine heading into the fourth quarter, but outscored New York 41-30 in the final 12 minutes to close out a much-needed home win and snap a two-game losing streak.
‘I thought we were not very good for a lot of stretches in the first half and the competitive response and the energy we were putting as the game went on into the right areas, we felt it,’ Johnson said. ‘I was extremely proud of guys who stepped up tonight, especially those guys in the fourth quarter.’
Nobody stepped up more than Julian Champagnie, who set a franchise record with 11 3-pointers on his way to a career-high 36 points. The fourth-year pro took all 17 of his shots beyond the 3-point arc and converted five more than he ever had before.
‘I think we’ve been there before when it comes to a guy going down and someone having to step up and figure things out,’ Champagnie said. ‘For us (Wednesday), it was one of those things where we dropped two at home, Utah and Cleveland, but we want to protect our home court.’
The Pacers, on the other hand, are trying desperately to find answers in what has been a challenging season. Indiana has battled injuries all year and comes into Friday’s game on a 10-game losing streak, including a 112-110 defeat against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. They enter 2026 with the worst record (6-28) in the league.
‘The real question should be why did we give up 68 points in the first half and only 44 in the second half?’ said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. ‘And that’s because in the second half, we played like a together team that was supporting each other and not like strangers. That’s how this has got to be. We’re having too much pity nonsense going on during games that needs to go away.’
–Field Level Media
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Zanetti: Serving Inter and my mission to help the next generation
Javier Zanetti lived out his dreams as a player, lifting 16 trophies in an Inter Milan career that spanned a record 858 appearances, winning 145 caps for Argentina, and earning a reputation as one of the best defensive players of his generation.
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Bengals Offer A 2026 Blueprint In Brisk Dismissal Of Cardinals
Geoff Hobson
On the last Sunday of 2025 in September weather, the Bengals offered a snapshot of what they’re planning for next Opening Day in their 37-14 walkover victory against the Cardinals.
The league’s most lethal and diverse offense. (Nine receivers catching Jioe Burrow”s 305 yards.) A fast, alert defense that gets the ball back for them. (Six three-and-outs.) A surgical-strike special teams. (A 57-yard field goal and 43-yard punt return.)
And keeping it together: Head coach Zac Taylor’s player-centric approach in a locker room that knows how to laugh and when to not with a core that’s been to the Super Bowl looking to show the kids how to get back.
It may be the first team that plans to ride paleontology rather than chemistry to championships.
What other sports team in the Cenozoic, or any other era, has a quarterback who gifts his offensive line fossils during the holidays?
“We did just about everything you can hit,” said center and captain Ted Karras after the Bengals eased to 429 yards. “Screened it Trick play Holy What we have? Forty minutes time of possession?”
Forty minutes and 56 seconds to be exact. Their most in regulation in 22 years. Plenty of time to see the wish list unfold, always topped by a healthy Joe Burrow completing a state-of-the-art 77% of his passes to a bottomless vat of options, ranging from generational talents to gadgets.
(Exhibit A: On a day Bengals All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase did something no one ever did in their first five seasons by recording his seventh touchdown to go with 117 catches and 1,316 yards, Chase Brown quietly upped his own record with his 65th ball of the season for the most catches ever by a Bengals running back.)
While Burrow found six receivers for a catch of at least 18 yards, a situational suffocating defense anchored by two gifted cornerbacks gave the Cardinals’ best player, record-breaking tight end Trey McBride, a longest play of an 18-yard touchdown after the game’s two-minute warning.
“We put our two best guys on their two best guys,” said Bengals rookie linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. “That’s how you do it.”
Cornerbacks Dax Hill and DJ Turner II had help, of course. The 6-foot, 195-pound Hill was able to run with and muscle the 6-4, 246-pound McBride on the early downs while dime cornerback DJ Ivey and a selection of zones stalked him on third down.
McBride’s ten catches were enough to break the NFL’s single-season record for catches by a tight end. But after Hill knocked down a deep pass underthrown by backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett on the sidelines on the first series of the second half, McBride had just two catches for 18 yards on four targets. When they got the ball back, it was Bengals, 30-7.
Meanwhile, Turner, the Pro Bowl alternate, made sure the Cards’ leading receiver, Michael Wilson, did nothing more than a 38-yard catch-and-run touchdown. He had four catches for 51 yards on nine other targets.
“We just keep on improving,” said Turner of a defense that has allowed 42 points in the last ten quarters. “I tell everybody, if you make a mistake, just don’t make it again. I made mistakes in the league. I learned from them. I improved That’s what I tell all the boys.”
Turner loved the Cody Ford play. The locker room did. When Taylor gave him another target and threw him a game ball for his 21-yard catch, the “Cody, Cody,” chant was as loud as the one that erupted in Paycor when he made his play late in the third quarter.
Ford, all 6-3, 346 pounds of him, a backup offensive lineman who started at four spots last year, found himself in another one last Tuesday when offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher approached him with the play.
They didn’t know if tight end Noah Fant (ankle) could play (he ended up being active), so the Bengals wanted to make sure they had another body available for their big personnel groups.
“Just to keep the guys in the O-line room, keep that energy sky-high. Not that I need to create anything to do that,” Taylor said. “But we practice it, he caught it during the week, and I felt like (it was) the right moment to get it called.”
The route was a hitch. Not only that, he would be split wide. Not only that, the greatest receiver of his time, Ja’Marr Chase, would be in the progression.
“I thought he was joking,” Ford said. “Then we practiced it. Then we practiced again. And I began thinking, they’re going to run this.”
It’s a glimpse of why the Bengals are still playing hard for Taylor with no playoff tiebreakers in the offing. Down deep, he’s still the Cynthia Circle commissioner back in the Norman, Okla., cul-de-sac organizing all the backyard games.
“It was a positive,” Turner said of the Ford play. “I was happy for him.”
Taylor has modeled his program on one main tenant. He takes care of his players. Mind and body. All he asks in return is that they don’t hurt the club. It was a nice kick to a holiday week. Word came down Saturday night to Ford. If they had enough points, they were rolling him out. It turned out a 23-point lead with 18 minutes left was enough.
“I’m so happy for him,” said left tackle Orlando Brown Jr., his college teammate at Oklahoma. “He’s one of these guys that works his butt off every day. And it’s his (29th) birthday.”
Taylor had no idea about a birthday. But Brown knows Taylor gets. Taylor knows Brown, a captain, gets it. A lift in a season without many. But rarely lacking Taylor’s coveted energy. No, Brown said. He was not surprised at Ford’s 17-yard YAC.
“Not many people know he’s a crazy athlete,” Brown said. “Big pitcher in high school. We’d go play basketball at the summer rec in Oklahoma. No names. But there were NBA players where he was just taking their shots off the backboard. Let’s just say Cody got the best of them.”
Then Brown and Ford were doing the interview bit with Brown holding the microphone. Somebody interrupted and asked what Burrow fossil Ford had chosen. Burrow had invited the O-line to his home last week and told them to choose which ones they wanted.
Ford, Brown, and right tackle Amarius Mims went with a cave bear skull.
“It was one of the biggest ones there,” Ford said. “I would love to have a bear skull at my house.”
Brown’s toddler boys also loved it.
“That’s who Joey B. is,” Brown said. “He’s always going to get you something really cool. Something you never really expected. Which is really cool. I loved it. I thought it was awesome.”
A peek at 2026.
“I’m always for fun stuff like that,” Burrow said of his ninth receiver. “No. 1, it keeps the defense off balance. No. 2, it was just fun.”
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Australia v England scorecard
Scorecard: Australia vs England, fourth Ashes Test, Melbourne
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Australia v England commentary
Ball-by-ball updates: England face Australia in must-win Ashes Test
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Hearts sweep aside Falkirk to move six points clear
Claudio Braga and Stephen Kingsley were on target as resurgent Hearts won 2-0 away to misfiring Falkirk to move six points clear at the top of the William Hill Premiership.
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NFL players are wearing their philanthropic passion on their cleats
Being a professional athlete, especially in the NFL, creates a unique brotherhood.On the field, players compete tooth-and-nail against one another, often delivering some of the most violent and brutal hits that can be imagined. Off the field, they often regularly rely on one another for guidance as they navigate an almost unimaginable life of athletic stardom.Video above: A look inside All-Pro Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack BaunOne of the quickest-growing connections throughout the league is in players’ philanthropic efforts, which are on full display in the next two weeks for the league’s My Cause My Cleats event.”I have yet to come across a player in the many locker rooms that I’ve been in through the years that doesn’t have a desire to help, that doesn’t have a desire to make an impact to those less fortunate, or maybe injured, or the widows and the orphans of the world,” Miles Killebrew, a safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, said.The My Cause My Cleats event is a two-week campaign during which NFL players get to show off a little of their personal style while promoting the causes that are nearest to their hearts. The player-led initiative brings hundreds of personal causes to the forefront and gives each player a chance to show a bit more of their off-the-field personality during games.Austin Hooper, a tight end for the New England Patriots, will be promoting the work his foundation is doing to support kids who are aging out of the foster care system. That work is born out of his own experience with a foster child living with his family when he was a kid.”I don’t really think I’ve actually said this publicly before, but like, a part of me kind of felt a little guilty because I remember growing up when we’re thinking about having a foster care kid come stay with us full time,” Hooper told CNN Sports. “And I remember me and my siblings, we weren’t like against it, but … all three of us were really little, and we kind of felt bad that we would treat him right, but everyone else in the community would know that he wasn’t our family.”So, kind of selfishly, when I got in the position, I was like, ‘Look, man, you messed that one up big time when you were a little kid, didn’t know any better. You got to kind of try to make this right.’”It’s a chance to show off what Brian Hooks, the chairman and CEO of Stand Together, calls a “philanthropic locker room” – a term he attributed to New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis – in which players can work together to accomplish the goals they’ve set for themselves in their community work. Hooks said his organization has worked with Killebrew and other NFL players to connect them with charities that work in areas that they’re passionate about.”This isn’t about two weeks. It’s not even about what happens on game day,” Hooks told CNN Sports. “This is about a movement, a yearlong, player-led movement that helps people who want to make a difference take the next step, to get engaged in their communities.”While the NFL has other league-wide events – such as Salute to Service early in November and Crucial Catch in October for breast cancer awareness – the My Cause My Cleats weeks allow players to promote their own individual causes.”While we were the ones for years saying we have so many guys who care, and here’s what this person is doing and here’s what this guy’s doing, we don’t have to do it anymore in the same way,” Anna Isaacson, the league’s senior vice president of social responsibility, said to CNN Sports, “because this campaign allows players to have the platform to take the NFL’s marketing muscle and really showcase who they are as humans and what they care about.”Picking their causesThe causes that players choose can be born out of life experiences as unique as the players themselves.Hooper’s foundation works with foster children to provide material things – clothes, shoes, laptops, etc. – and provide mental health services.”When you think of foster care, obviously you think of the infant. You think of the toddler. You don’t think of the 17-, 18-,19-year-old young man or woman that, depending on which state you’re in, you know, get a GED maybe, and $100 and it’s like, ‘All right, good luck. Go play life in America,’” Hooper said. “That’s a tough prospect. So, when I was made aware of that. I just kind of try to … kind of fill that role.”For Killebrew, he’s been working with various charities since he entered the league but is representing Café Momentum during this season’s My Cleats My Cause.Inspired by his parents, the former Detroit Lions safety has always had “a heart to serve.” He was connected with Café Momentum by former Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander and has since fallen in love with the group.”The fact that Cafe Momentum, they take youth who are have some run in with the justice system (and) their reputation … is now tarnished to the world,” Killebrew said. “They take them and say, ‘No, you’re not your biggest mistake.’ They say, ‘You get a second chance.’ And they introduce them to the to the restaurant industry, and they provide them with everything that they need, all of the resources, all of the support to then reinvent themselves.”He added, “It is so cool to see the transformation in these youth when all they have is someone saying that they believe in them. I wanted to be on board with that. That spoke to my heart and aligned with what I really wanted to achieve while I’m in the league, and I’ve been on board ever since.”Showing off players’ passionIsaacson told CNN Sports she had no doubt that My Cause My Cleats would be a success during its first season in the league. What’s surprised her is the passion players show each and every year as the campaign now enters its 10th season.”It was hundreds of guys from the start,” Isaacson said. “So, I mean, I think we’ve been impressed that it has sustained itself … and every year there is a significant number of players who want to participate. But I think from year one, we were impressed by the number of guys who opted into this campaign.”In a world of extreme attention on uniform uniformity – the NFL has 64 employees whose only job is to look for dress code violations on game day – there is not exactly a lot of room for displays of personality and individuality in the NFL uniform.But being allowed to have flashy, loud shoes for even just a couple games can reveal a lot about the league, NFL senior vice president of player operations Tracy Perlman said to CNN Sports.”This personalizes it for the fan, because fans see, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this player cares about foster care. This player cares about domestic violence,’” she said. “So I feel like it fits in perfectly, because it’s like, here are the pillars of what we do in the community, and here are all of the things that the NFL is touching through players and clubs.”The players enjoy having those moments where they can show off their causes and their personalities.Killebrew said he works closely with the artists who design his cleats and – though he won’t be able to play this year, due to a knee injury that ended his season last month – he was able to show kids working with Café Momentum that their faces would be featured on the cleats.”We’re able to also have the actual youth that we’re representing like on our cleat, and we get to show them like in person,” he said. “We went down to Café Momentum with … (Steelers linebacker) Malik Harrison and (Steelers tight end) Connor Heyward and we were able to go down there and actually show them like, ‘Hey, this is our cleat we’re gonna wear this. That’s you on our cleat.’ And it was just cool to see the look on their face and just kind of that enjoyment, that excitement behind it.”Hooper is a little less involved in the design – “I wear a helmet, they’re the artists,” he said – but loves playing while knowing that he’s representing his foundation.”I wouldn’t say there’s more pressure,” he said, “I would say I actually have more fun. … When you’re out there, you got to be locked in on your job and be ready to get after it. But, I look at it a different way. This is a fun day. I get to do something that normally I wouldn’t do, other than, you know, my plain Jane cleats that I wear, something fun.”And of course, when I got them on, I definitely want to score, for sure – put a stamp on ’em wearing those.”
CNN —Being a professional athlete, especially in the NFL, creates a unique brotherhood.
On the field, players compete tooth-and-nail against one another, often delivering some of the most violent and brutal hits that can be imagined. Off the field, they often regularly rely on one another for guidance as they navigate an almost unimaginable life of athletic stardom.
Video above: A look inside All-Pro Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun
One of the quickest-growing connections throughout the league is in players’ philanthropic efforts, which are on full display in the next two weeks for the league’s My Cause My Cleats event.
“I have yet to come across a player in the many locker rooms that I’ve been in through the years that doesn’t have a desire to help, that doesn’t have a desire to make an impact to those less fortunate, or maybe injured, or the widows and the orphans of the world,” Miles Killebrew, a safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, said.
The My Cause My Cleats event is a two-week campaign during which NFL players get to show off a little of their personal style while promoting the causes that are nearest to their hearts. The player-led initiative brings hundreds of personal causes to the forefront and gives each player a chance to show a bit more of their off-the-field personality during games.
Austin Hooper, a tight end for the New England Patriots, will be promoting the work his foundation is doing to support kids who are aging out of the foster care system. That work is born out of his own experience with a foster child living with his family when he was a kid.
“I don’t really think I’ve actually said this publicly before, but like, a part of me kind of felt a little guilty because I remember growing up when we’re thinking about having a foster care kid come stay with us full time,” Hooper told CNN Sports. “And I remember me and my siblings, we weren’t like against it, but … all three of us were really little, and we kind of felt bad that
“So, kind of selfishly, when I got in the position, I was like, ‘Look, man, you messed that one up big time when you were a little kid, didn’t know any better. You got to kind of try to make this right.’”
It’s a chance to show off what Brian Hooks, the chairman and CEO of Stand Together, calls a “philanthropic locker room” – a term he attributed to New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis – in which players can work together to accomplish the goals they’ve set for themselves in their community work. Hooks said his organization has worked with Killebrew and other NFL players to connect them with charities that work in areas that they’re passionate about.
“This isn’t about two weeks. It’s not even about what happens on game day,” Hooks told CNN Sports. “This is about a movement, a yearlong, player-led movement that helps people who want to make a difference take the next step, to get engaged in their communities.”
While the NFL has other league-wide events – such as Salute to Service early in November and Crucial Catch in October for breast cancer awareness – the My Cause My Cleats weeks allow players to promote their own individual causes.
“While we were the ones for years saying we have so many guys who care, and here’s what this person is doing and here’s what this guy’s doing, we don’t have to do it anymore in the same way,” Anna Isaacson, the league’s senior vice president of social responsibility, said to CNN Sports, “because this campaign allows players to have the platform to take the NFL’s marketing muscle and really showcase who they are as humans and what they care about.”
Picking their causes
The causes that players choose can be born out of life experiences as unique as the players themselves.
Hooper’s foundation works with foster children to provide material things – clothes, shoes, laptops, etc. – and provide mental health services.
“When you think of foster care, obviously you think of the infant. You think of the toddler. You don’t think of the 17-, 18-,19-year-old young man or woman that, depending on which state you’re in, you know, get a GED maybe, and $100 and it’s like, ‘All right, good luck. Go play life in America,’” Hooper said. “That’s a tough prospect. So, when I was made aware of that. I just kind of try to … kind of fill that role.”
For Killebrew, he’s been working with various charities since he entered the league but is representing Café Momentum during this season’s My Cleats My Cause.
Inspired by his parents, the former Detroit Lions safety has always had “a heart to serve.” He was connected with Café Momentum by former Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander and has since fallen in love with the group.
“The fact that Cafe Momentum, they take youth who are have some run in with the justice system (and) their reputation … is now tarnished to the world,” Killebrew said. “They take them and say, ‘No, you’re not your biggest mistake.’ They say, ‘You get a second chance.’ And they introduce them to the to the restaurant industry, and they provide them with everything that they need, all of the resources, all of the support to then reinvent themselves.”
He added, “It is so cool to see the transformation in these youth when all they have is someone saying that they believe in them. I wanted to be on board with that. That spoke to my heart and aligned with what I really wanted to achieve while I’m in the league, and I’ve been on board ever since.”
Showing off players’ passion
Isaacson told CNN Sports she had no doubt that My Cause My Cleats would be a success during its first season in the league. What’s surprised her is the passion players show each and every year as the campaign now enters its 10th season.
“It was hundreds of guys from the start,” Isaacson said. “So, I mean, I think we’ve been impressed that it has sustained itself … and every year there is a significant number of players who want to participate. But I think from year one, we were impressed by the number of guys who opted into this campaign.”
In a world of extreme attention on uniform uniformity – the NFL has 64 employees whose only job is to look for dress code violations on game day – there is not exactly a lot of room for displays of personality and individuality in the NFL uniform.
But being allowed to have flashy, loud shoes for even just a couple games can reveal a lot about the league, NFL senior vice president of player operations Tracy Perlman said to CNN Sports.
“This personalizes it for the fan, because fans see, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this player cares about foster care. This player cares about domestic violence,’” she said. “So I feel like it fits in perfectly, because it’s like, here are the pillars of what we do in the community, and here are all of the things that the NFL is touching through players and clubs.”
The players enjoy having those moments where they can show off their causes and their personalities.
Killebrew said he works closely with the artists who design his cleats and – though he won’t be able to play this year, due to a knee injury that ended his season last month – he was able to show kids working with Café Momentum that their faces would be featured on the cleats.
“We’re able to also have the actual youth that we’re representing like on our cleat, and we get to show them like in person,” he said. “We went down to Café Momentum with … (Steelers linebacker) Malik Harrison and (Steelers tight end) Connor Heyward and we were able to go down there and actually show them like, ‘Hey, this is our cleat we’re gonna wear this. That’s you on our cleat.’ And it was just cool to see the look on their face and just kind of that enjoyment, that excitement behind it.”
Hooper is a little less involved in the design – “I wear a helmet, they’re the artists,” he said – but loves playing while knowing that he’s representing his foundation.
“I wouldn’t say there’s more pressure,” he said, “I would say I actually have more fun. … When you’re out there, you got to be locked in on your job and be ready to get after it. But, I look at it a different way. This is a fun day. I get to do something that normally I wouldn’t do, other than, you know, my plain Jane cleats that I wear, something fun.
“And of course, when I got them on, I definitely want to score, for sure – put a stamp on ’em wearing those.”
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Australia v England scorecard
Scorecard: Australia vs England, first Ashes Test
-
New Zealand v England scorecard
New Zealand v England – third ODI: live scorecard and commentary
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Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Doris Burke in ’26 Women’s HOF class
(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)
Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne lead the 2026 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame class revealed on Thursday.
WNBA and Team USA coach Cheryl Reeve, ESPN basketball analyst Doris Burke and international basketball legends Isabelle Fijalkowski of France and Amaya Valdemoro of Spain are also to be inducted in a ceremony next June.
Parker was inducted in her first year of eligibility. A superstar at the University of Tennessee, Parker won back-to-back national titles with the Lady Vols and was the No. 1 pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft.
She’s a seven-time WNBA All-Star, two-time WNBA MVP (2008, 2013) and became the first player in WNBA history to win Rookie of the Year and League MVP in the same season.
She’s the only player in the WNBA with championships with three different teams: the Los Angeles Sparks (2016), the Chicago Sky (2021), and the Las Vegas Aces (2023).
A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Parker retired prior to the 2024 season. Like Delle Donne, a seven-time WNBA All-Star and two-time league MVP who retired after the 2024 season, she can be eligible for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame four years after officially retiring. Delle Donne won her second WNBA MVP award in 2019 and claimed the WNBA championship the same year with the Washington Mystics.
She attended the University of Delaware and set 45 school records, including 3,039 career points. She’s ninth on the NCAA’s all-time scoring list. She was Rookie of the Year with the Chicago Sky after being selected second overall in 2013.
Delle Donne played in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where Team USA claimed gold, and recently was named managing director of Team USA’s 3-on-3 national team.
Reeve is a four-time WNBA Coach of the Year, won four WNBA titles with the Minnesota Lynx and coached Team USA to a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She assisted with Dawn Staley and Doug Bruno on the Team USA coaching staff headed by Geno Auriemma in 2016.
Fijalkowski won five French League championships and played for the Cleveland Rockers for two seasons in the WNBA.
Valdemoro won three WNBA titles with the Houston Comets and eight Spanish League titles.
Kirkwood Community College head coach Kim Muhl and late Clemson Tigers star Barbara Kennedy-Dixon are also in the 2026 class.
Burke was a standout guard at Providence but is widely recognized for her broadcasting career. Burke, 60, has covered college basketball since 1991. In 2023, she was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for her pioneering work in broadcasting. In 2024, she was the first woman to call the NBA Finals as a television analyst.
–Field Level Media
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New Zealand v England scorecard
New Zealand v England – second ODI: live scorecard and commentary
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Steph Curry exclusive: Golden State Warriors superstar opens up on free agency in 2027 and preparing for the 2025/26 season
Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry speaks exclusively to Sky Sports to discuss 2027 free agency
Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry has opened up on his plans for free agency in 2027 after admitting situations change “really fast” in the NBA.
The prospect of Curry, a two-time league MVP and 11-time All-Star, playing for any franchise other than The Dubs is a strange one.
After being drafted with the seventh overall pick in 2009, Curry has gone on to revolutionise the game of basketball, helping himself to four championships, one finals MVP and the NBA record for most three-pointers made with 4,058 to add to his overall tally of 25,386 points.
All while wearing No 30 for the Warriors.
- 4 x NBA champion
- 2 x NBA MVP
- 2022 NBA Finals MVP
- 11 x NBA All-Star
- 2 x NBA All-Star MVP
- 11 x All-NBA Team selection
- 2024 NBA Clutch Player of the Year
- 2 x NBA Three-Point Content champion
- Most three-pointers made in NBA history
Curry signed a one-year extension with the team in 2024, worth a reported £47.5m ($62.6m) and ending growing speculation around his future in the process, keeping him in San Francisco until 2027.
Two years from now, when that deal expires, the greatest shooter of all time will be 39.
After averaging just under 25 points, six assists, and over four rebounds in his 16th season, as well as longevity being more prominent than ever in the league, it is clear to see that his time in the NBA is far from over.
But could the next chapter in his illustrious career lie away from Chase Center? Do not rule it out.
“What I have learned about this league is that things change really fast,” Curry told Sky Sports while discussing Underrated Golf, a programme set up by the point guard to break down barriers to entry and increase diversity in the game of golf.
Underrated Golf is an initiative led by Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry to create a pathway into the sport for young athletes from underrepresented communities.
The programme aims to break down barriers in the game of golf to give prospects a level playing field, in a bid to create a more inclusive and accessible environment for young golfers.
“What you might feel like in two years from now could be totally different. I try to stay in the moment as much as possible; it’s not the glitziest answer but it allows me to enjoy what is happening now.
“I do want to play for only one team, let’s keep that pretty clear. Being at the Warriors has been unbelievable and I feel blessed to have only played for one franchise and to have accomplished what we have.
“So if I could have the best of both worlds and continue to be championship relevant over the next couple of years, that would be great but this league is wild. You kind of just stay in the moment.”
Despite a decision on his future looming as we approach 2027, Curry’s full focus remains on securing more success with the team he holds so dear to his heart in the upcoming 2025/26 season.
The arrival of six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler in February has shown early signs of promise after the Warriors reached the Western Conference semi-finals last time out, only to be denied the opportunity to show their title-winning credentials following a Grade 1 hamstring strain for Curry in game one against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
A 4-1 defeat in the series would follow but heading into 2025/26, the roster has been bolstered by a new two-year deal for Jonathan Kuminga, as well as the arrival of 2024 NBA champion Al Horford,to run alongside long-term teammate Draymond Green in the frontcourt.
Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler (left) Stephen Curry (centre) and forward Draymond Green (right)
With Curry now back to full fitness and fresh depth surrounding him, the intentions from the Warriors have been clear from pre-season.
The Dubs are 3-1 in games Curry has featured in, beating the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers twice, with attention now turning to the season opener against the Lakers on October 21, live on Sky Sports.
When asked what aspects of the game still motivate a player who has already achieved so much in the sport as we approach a new 82-game season, Curry added: “I talk about championships, and that drive – it allows every part of the journey to matter.
“Even in the off-season, how you prepare for the year, come in and try and build chemistry with your teammates and how you get through the emotional rollercoaster of an 82-game season.
“All of that is built into being at your peak come playoff time in April.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry during the pre-season game against the Los Angeles Clippers
“Individual accolades take care of themselves. When you win, everybody is rewarded. As long as I’m taking care of championship motivation, everything else takes care of itself. Whether you win or not, you just lay it all out there.
“We have a brand new team again. We’ll all try and stay healthy and try and get to the finish line. That’s our goal.”
The Warriors have won seven championships in total across their 78-year history, with Curry leading them to more than half of that total.
If the franchise is to add an eighth banner to the rafters in 2026, their point guard will be the man to lead them there.
His powers at the highest level are showing no signs are waning, with the 37-year-old looking to replicate the successes of the likes of LeBron James and Kevin Durant by “redefining” what it is to be playing at a high level towards the latter stages of their respective careers.
“I feel like I’ve got some good basketball ahead of me. I’m trying to redefine what it is to be playing at a high level at this age,” said Curry when the question of his timeline leading the roster was posed.
“I still love the work that goes into it and playing the game; hopefully, that will carry me. I don’t want to put any limits on it.”
Watch the Golden State Warriors against the Los Angeles Lakers live on Sky Sports + on October 21, tip-off 3am UK time.
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West Virginia, UCF jousting for first Big 12 victory
(Photo credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images)
The start of Big 12 play has not gone well for West Virginia and UCF.
The Mountaineers and Knights join hapless Oklahoma State as the only schools off to an 0-3 start in conference action. On the plus side, somebody will earn their first Big 12 win Saturday afternoon when West Virginia visits UCF in Orlando, Fla.
The Mountaineers (2-4, 0-3 Big 12) are on a three-game skid since collecting a 31-24 nonconference home win over Pittsburgh on Sept. 13. During its losses to Kansas, Utah and BYU, West Virginia surrendered 1,436 yards while being outscored 127-48.
In the first year of Rich Rodriguez’s second coaching stint with the school, the Mountaineers are getting outscored 76-13 in the first half of league games and have not led at any point. In their 38-24 loss Oct. 3 at BYU, redshirt freshman quarterback Khalil Watkins was 7 of 15 for 81 yards in his first career start while freshman Scotty Fox Jr. completed all three of his passes for 54 yards.
‘He played hard,’ Rodriguez said of Watkins. ‘I think he’d like to have some plays back, but that was a tough environment to make your first start.’
The young duo will get more playing time now that Nicco Marchiol (foot) will miss the rest of the season and backup transfer Jaylen Henderson (undisclosed) was ruled as doubtful for Saturday’s game.
‘So the two young guys have been taking more reps, which is good for them,’ Rodriguez said. ‘Every rep they can take is going to help with their growth.’
West Virginia’s 22.3 points per game are second-worst among the 16 Big 12 teams. Wilkins is 10 of 21 for 144 yards while Fox has thrown eight passes and carried the ball 12 times.
Whoever starts at quarterback may hand off a majority of the snaps as the Mountaineers are fourth in the Big 12 at 206.2 rushing yards per game, which includes 199.3 rushing yards per game in league play.
While the Mountaineers are coming off blowouts, Central Florida (3-3, 0-3) has been competitive in Big 12 games. After a 14-point loss at Kansas State on Sept. 27, the Knights followed it up with a 27-20 loss to Kansas and last week’s 20-11 loss at Cincinnati.
Cam Fancher completed 28 of 49 passes for 222 yards last week while rushing for 109 of UCF’s 191 yards and a touchdown. The Knights are averaging 200 yards on the ground.
UCF took the loss despite holding possession for 39 minutes, 44 seconds and running 90 plays to the Bearcats’ 48. The Knights only got to the red zone once because they sabotaged their possessions by committing 10 penalties.
During its three-week slide, UCF committed 22 penalties and converted 14 of 46 third downs.
‘That’s three weeks in a row where we have shot ourselves in the foot on a lot of drives. And that’s got to get better,’ Knights coach Scott Frost said. ‘The discouraging part is we’re fighting with these guys but not winning. The encouraging part is that the stuff going wrong, we can fix.’
–Field Level Media
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UFL announces new teams in Columbus, Louisville, Orlando
(Photo credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images)
The United Football League unveiled three new franchises Tuesday ahead of the league’s third season this spring: the Columbus Aviators, Louisville Kings and Orlando Storm.
The league also rebranded two existing franchises, with the Arlington Renegades now the Dallas Renegades and the Houston Roughnecks becoming the Houston Gamblers.
‘Today marks an important step forward for the United Football League,’ UFL co-owner Mike Repole said. ‘Columbus, Louisville, and Orlando are true football cities with deep sports roots. We’re proud to bring professional football to these communities — in energetic, fan-driven stadiums built to create an authentic gameday experience and strengthen the foundation of this league for years to come.’
Rounding out the new-look, eight-team league are three returning members: Birmingham Stallions, DC Defenders and St. Louis Battlehawks.
‘We’re heading into this season with new teams, new markets, new venues, and a renewed energy that reflects the momentum building around this league,’ Repole said.
The three new franchises replace the Memphis Showboats, Michigan Panthers and San Antonio Brahmas, who took part in the UFL’s first two campaigns.
The Aviators will play at Historic Crew Stadium, former home of the Columbus Crew of MLS. The Kings will play at Lynn Family Stadium, home of Racing Louisville of the NWSL. The Storm’s home games will be at Inter&Co Stadium, home of Orlando City of MLS and the Orlando Pride of the NWSL.
The Renegades are moving to Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, home of FC Dallas of MLS. The Gamblers are moving to Shell Energy Stadium, home of the Houston Dynamo of MLS.
–Field Level Media
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Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve suspended one game for tirade at officials
(Photo credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images)
Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve has been suspended one game and fined for her conduct during and after Friday’s 84-76 loss to the host Phoenix Mercury in Game 3 of their WNBA semifinals series, the league announced Saturday.
Minnesota assistant coaches Eric Thibault and Rebekkah Brunson were also fined for separate infractions.
The punishment stems from Reeve’s late-game outburst following a pivotal no-call involving Lynx star Napheesa Collier in the final minute. Reeve pursued and berated a game official on the court, was slow to leave after her ejection with 21.8 seconds remaining, directed profanity toward fans while exiting and later launched into a blistering critique of the league’s officiating in her postgame press conference.
‘For the leadership to deem those three people semifinals playoff worthy is (expletive) malpractice,’ she said of the officiating crew.
Video from courtside circulated on social media showing Reeve shouting obscenities at fans as she was escorted off the floor, while the National Basketball Referees Association publicly defended the no-call on the decisive play. Collier left the game with a leg injury, which Reeve suggested could be a fracture.
Reeve, a four-time WNBA champion and one of the league’s most accomplished coaches, will serve her suspension Sunday when the Lynx face the Mercury in Phoenix for Game 4. The series stands at 2-1 in favor of Phoenix.
–Field Level Media
