Deadspin > Sports News Without Fear, Favor or Compromise

Faulting the Nets would be too easy. Worse, it would be unjust.

The Philadelphia Eagles are getting quite a bit of attention during the offseason. Different pundits have already picked Philly to win the NFC East in 2022 and possibly even make a little noise in the playoffs. Pro Football Focus ranked the Eagles seventh among all 32 NFL rosters. But is this Philly hype deserved?

In a lot of ways, it’s the perfect symbol of anyone who moves to Brooklyn. You show up, tell all your friends back home that you’re now a New York hotshot while struggling along and never really accomplishing anything. And then after a couple or three years you realize it’s just too much of a hassle and life would be…Read more...

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Just when you thought the 2022 free agency period was going to be an Ambien pill, the Brooklyn Nets soap opera returned to inject an adrenaline needle to the vein.

From one of the first tweets on Skip Bayless’ profile it would appear that he is enjoying his vacation. FoxSports1’s Undisputed is off this week and there is a picture of him hanging out at Lil’ Wayne’s house. A couple of millionaires enjoying an evening being rich. It would be logical to think that this is how…Read more...

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We’ve got some rare raw footage here, folks. Amongst rumors of California schools encroaching on his conference and a near-bottom-of-the B1G 2023 signing class, Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh is taking some presumably much-needed family time. But while he might be off the clock, his daughter Grace, an…Read more...

Jamie Kerstetter came so close to achieving her dream: To be the “worst player” with a WSOP bracelet. We kid of course, as she would.

Now that we’ve moved past the NBA draft, it’s time for the free agency signing period to commence. And this year, one of the most talked-about names that could be on the move is Deandre Ayton. The 23-year-old center believes he’s earned a max contract. It’s just too bad the Phoenix Suns don’t seem to share the same…Read more...

Here’s the end of regional conferences as we know it. USC and UCLA, two staples of the West Coast-heavy Pac-12 Conference, are reportedly leaving for the Big Ten Conference. The move was first reported Thursday afternoon, signaling an even-greater power shift from the Power Five Conference model, when all the biggest…Read more...

Four days after Roe v. Wade was overturned, an unidentified woman was involved in a domestic situation that led to her requiring medical attention. The man involved was arrested for felony domestic violence. But instead of the attention being on the victim, most of the interest had to do with the accused — a…Read more...

Serena Williams’ 2022 Wimbledon lasted longer than her last appearance at the All-England Club. In 2021, she left in tears after slipping on the court and suffering a hamstring injury.. Not having played in a year, her rustiness was evident in her error-prone play and she was promptly escorted off 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7)…Read more...

I love advanced analytics. At the same time, I know the results that come from analytics can lead people down some pretty insane rabbit holes and toward some pretty hot takes. One stat leads to another, which leads to another, and all of a sudden you’re saying that C.J. Beathard deserves another shot at a starting…Read more...

My compatriot Stephen Knox covered all this not so long ago, but if you need a refresher…

Daniel Jones is living the good life in the tri-state area. He lives in a neighborhood in Hoboken, N.J., befitting someone who makes $6 million per year. He also doesn’t take a long ferry/subway trip into New York for work, he just drives up the road to the New York Giants practice facility. It’s a good life but it…Read more...

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During a podcast appearance earlier this week, Pittsburgh Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin told listeners that he expected second-year halfback Najee Harris to be a “bell cow” for the team this season.Read more...

Some words in the English lexicon get tossed around like loose change on a rollercoaster. Professional sports take it to another level when players, coaches, and pundits feel the need to hand out compliments. The word “superstar” has become as commonly attached to guys as the word “player.” Yes, they are all players,…Read more...

In yet another unbelievable press conference for Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf League, fans of the sport received a jaw-dropping master class in bullshit-spewing and question-dodging from Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, and Pat Perez, some of the most recent PGA Tour defectors. I mean, now that they have so…Read more...

The NFL responding to the overturning of Roe v. Wade by not saying a word was a maddening yet predictable PR outcome. It was never a multiple choice, “What will the league say?” question. It was more of a true-or-false statement along the lines of “The NFL will stare at their feet, not say a word, and hope no one…Read more...

The United States men’s national under-20 soccer team’s initial celebration for qualifying to the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup lasted all of five seconds. They got into a fight with Costa Rica. The American’s CONCACAF U-20 Championship quater-final was heated throughout, with plenty of those mass confrontations FIFA likes…Read more...

Stages of development aren’t linear, and not every stage as you move along the line are pleasant. As the USMNT has more and more players making their mark in the biggest leagues in the world, one stage before they are main stars on the biggest teams is that they’re going to be shuffled around a bit until they, or the…Read more...

The A’s’ time in Oakland is dwindling. We don’t know when they’ll be gone. We just know that it’s going to happen. If team president Dave Kaval’s cryptic tweets talking about the energy from sports fans in Las Vegas last year weren’t proof enough, MLB has all but confirmed our suspicions with their latest announcement.

For once, the Washington Commanders chose competence. It’s not a common occurrence for franchises whose owners are being accused of dodging a subpoena from the United States Congress. With both their home stadium and reputation crumbling by the day, one smart decision was staring them right in the face: Re-sign Terry…Read more...

Apparently, the next step after finishing up a career as a pro athlete is stepping into another one inside a boxing ring. We’ve seen this trend gain momentum over the last couple of years, and now former NFL running backs Le’Veon Bell and Adrian Peterson are set to be the next to try their hand at the sweet science.…Read more...

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It’s hard to imagine that’s how Serena Williams would end her career. There’s always the U.S. Open, where she won her first Grand Slam, where she’s rightly worshiped, where some of her biggest wins have come. And yet, it’s hard to see how the U.S. Open will go much better than Wimbledon, where she lost in three sets…Read more...

The Baltimore Orioles haven’t been good for several years now. The last time they reached the playoffs was 2016. The last time they reached the ALCS, they got swept by the Royals and they’ve finished last in their division in four of the last five seasons.

Oh, man. I feel for the American Christian right this week. After the Supreme Court’s decisions on Roe v. Wade, Maine school funding, and a football coach’s right to pray on the field, how will they get to play pretend that they’re being persecuted by society anymore?Read more...

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the hype. Arch Manning’s Texas commitment has the Longhorns dreaming of national championship glory again. By the time Manning 3.0 is eligible for the 2026 NFL Draft, it will have been 20 years since Vince Young painted his Jackson Pollack on the Rose bowl turf during the 2006…Read more...

In my two-plus decades watching wrestling, I’ve consumed a ton of content. I’ve seen basically every iteration of the art form. I believe I can see a trainwreck coming inside the squared circle quicker than most and appreciate when the symphony of sports entertainment is pulled off flawlessly. It’s also rewarding when…Read more...

If you’re at all involved in college football news, you’ve likely seen a big ol’ number floating around the rumor mill this week: $9.5 million.Read more...

Formula 1’s winningest, most visible driver, Lewis Hamilton, got called the N-word by FF1 champion Nelson Piquet in an interview during the 2021 season. Piquet is the father of 2021 F1 world champion Max Verstappen’s girlfriend Kelly. Verstappen is Hamilton’s biggest rival in F1, and that’s about as far as I got…Read more...

The Atlanta Hawks were the second best offensive team in the NBA this past season. Trae Young had the best season of his career averaging 28.4 points and 9.7 assists per game on 46/38.2/90.4 shooting splits. He kept his team’s offense rolling all season despite many injuries. Of players who averaged three or more…Read more...

LOS ANGELES — Timely Warning Crime Alert — Robbery.

The Houston Rockets and John Wall have agreed to a buyout of his contract where he’ll take a pay cut of about $6.5 million. That’s not a bad deal considering Wall just sat out an entire season and made over $44 million to do so.

Has anyone checked on Amy Schumer?Read more...

Now that Aleksej Pokuševski and Franz Wagner have understudies and Jabari Smith Jr. has a couple more guards who won’t pass him the ball, it’s time to peek inside the 2023 NBA Draft. And if you’ve done that, you’ve no doubt come across the name Victor Wembanyama. The French big man has a frame similar to Chet Holmgren…Read more...

Less than a year ago, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made it sound as if the long-awaited induction of two-time Super Bowl champions head coach Jimmy Johnson in the Ring of Honor was just around the corner. Now, it seems that has been all but forgotten by Jones.

Nothing screams free agency like the New York Knicks ready to throw millions of dollars at the wrong player.

It was one of the shorter turnarounds in the recent history of NBA free agency becoming the world’s biggest soap opera (the dawn of which is probably “taking my talents to South Beach”). Sometime yesterday, rumors broke that Kyrie Irving and the Nets could see eye-to-eye with Irving heading into a player-option year.…Read more...

After the odd calm of the 2022 NBA Draft, the next phase of the 2022 off-season begins on Thursday — free agency. Recent trends show that major free agents tend to re-sign from their current teams to reap the max amount of years and money only their current teams can offer. With that in mind, let’s look at the…Read more...

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Kevin Durant is under contract for one more year with the Brooklyn Nets, but based on the bevy of reports and leaks on the extremely fluid Kyrie melodrama and its potential fallout, his employment is volatile. That uncertainty has spawned a multitude of options for Durant, but only the Portland Trailblazers have taken…Read more...

As gross as it is that any organization would protect a member at the expense of a victim, it’s also way too common. We’ve seen it in sports, in the NFL with the Washington Commanders and USA Gymnastics with Larry Nassar. We’ve seen it in television with Fox News and Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes. We’ve seen it in…Read more...

As we’ve said a few times now, AEW always has a way out.

LOS ANGELES — It’s time for Dave Roberts to make a call to the bullpen.Read more...

The road to the NBA just got a little tougher for Bronny James. In the latest Rivals high school player rankings, James slid more than 30 spots down the list, from No. 29 to No. 60. Ranking in the top 60 players in the nation isn’t bad, but such a drop-off in four months isn’t a good look by any means.