Category: Sport

We’re at the 2025-26 NBA All-Star break and it’s almost the start of “silly season,” as Yahoo analyst Dan Titus and others around the industry call it. That’s the time when we see more teams tanking and more unlikely players stepping up for fantasy basketball managers. So by the end of the season, who knows, we may have some surprising names on this list.

For now, there aren’t any major surprises. Since the end of 2025, we’ve had a few new performances jump up into the overall High Score perfect lineup since we last checked in just before Christmas. Let’s go over the updated perfect lineup as of the All-Star break.

More on the top performers

Cade Cunningham, guard: Back when Cade dropped this astonishing score in November, we all thought he might be on his way to an MVP-type season. And while the Pistons have maintained their position atop the Eastern Conference, injuries and regression have plagued Cunningham. He averaged 31.6 points per game in November, but has failed to average more than 25 points per game in any month since then. Cade is still among the league leaders in assists per game (9.6), however, trailing only Nikola Jokić.

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Luka Dončić, guard: There was a point at which Joker was sidelined, and Dončić became the gold standard in High Score and fantasy basketball overall. His 99-point performance against the Jazz came back in December. Since then, Dončić has done just about everything you could ask of him as a fantasy manager. Unfortunately, he entered the ASB dealing with a hamstring injury that sidelined him the past four games. He made a brief appearance in a Team World round-robin matchup on Sunday before exiting on a minutes limit. Hopefully that means he’s ready to go coming out of the break.

Nikola Jokić, frontcourt: Jokić had previously been on the perfect overall lineup with a high score of 99 points. He smashed that with 108 points if you remember back on Christmas Day against the Timberwolves, when he posted 56-16-15. Chances are we won’t see anyone top that the rest of the season but more surprising things have happened. Unfortunately, shortly after that game, Jokić was sidelined for almost all of January due to a knee injury. He’s since returned and is still working his way back to MVP-level Joker. His scoring is down significantly though, averaging just 23.3 points per game in February so far.

Jalen Johnson, frontcourt: Johnson has been one of the most valuable players in fantasy basketball this season. He was drafted on average toward the end of the second round or early third round in High Score and has been a top-five asset this season. It’ll take a lot for Johnson to unseat Jokić as the top overall player in High Score but he has an outside chance. The Hawks shipped out PG Trae Young and PF Kristaps Porziņģis prior to the trade deadline, clearing the way for Johnson to be the alpha. His scoring remains inconsistent, but Johnson is averaging a triple-double in four games this month.

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[It’s not too late to create or join a High Score league, a new way to play Fantasy Basketball on Yahoo with simple rosters and scoring]

Kawhi Leonard, frontcourt: Leonard threw up 94 fantasy points back at the end of December with 55 points, 11 rebounds and 8 stocks. After starting the season 6-21, the Clippers have been on a pretty wild run to position themselves for at least the Play-In Tournament in the West. A lot of that is thanks to Kawhi having his best season since 2019-20, his first in L.A. With James Harden now in Cleveland, this offense will run exclusively through Leonard, who just needs to stay healthy to cap off this bounce-back season.

Tyrese Maxey, utility: Earlier in the campaign, it appeared Maxey was on his way to competing for a scoring title. As we head into the ASB, that would be pretty difficult as the Sixers guard sits sixth in the NBA in scoring at 28.9 points per game. He also ranks sixth in High Score fantasy basketball at 55 points per game. With Paul George suspended and Joel Embiid always dealing with injuries, Maxey should continue to be among the top High Score assets and on plenty of playoff rosters.

With the fresh fantasy baseball season approaching, it’s time to get you some tiered rankings from my Shuffle Up series. Use these for salary cap drafts, snake drafts, keeper decisions or merely a view of how the position ebbs and flows. We started last week with infield spots, and today we complete them with the shortstop position. The outfield and the pitching spots will follow later this week.

The numbers are unscientific in nature and meant to reflect where talent clusters and drops off. Assume a 5×5 scoring system, as usual.

More Tiered Rankings

The Big Tickets

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In what can fairly be termed an off year, Witt still led the majors in hits and doubles and was the seventh-most valuable hitter for 5×5 leagues. The Kansas City lineup has an upgraded feel to it, with eight of its primary starters expected to be league average or better. Witt likely hasn’t peaked yet, about to enter his age-26 season.

De La Cruz has trimmed his strikeouts significantly the last two seasons and he’s no longer a batting average risk. And when you combine his speed with his average exit velocity, we can confidently project him to have a high BABIP yearly. De La Cruz had a strange powerless stretch last year, going 74 games with just one homer, and it’s possible he might eventually move off shortstop. But I still want to be proactive to his case, knowing we haven’t seen his peak yet.

Neto won’t be a screaming bargain, but he’s likely undervalued simply because he missed 36 games last year and it slightly muted his counting stats. Neto has improved his average every season and already has the category juice you demand in the early rounds. Even with a pedestrian Anaheim lineup supporting him, I’ll consider Neto in the second round and pounce on him in the third. You want players on the escalator, and Neto steps into his age-25 season.

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I had to regretfully move Lindor down after we learned he needed hamate bone surgery. I’m not going to play the injury optimism game, especially for someone reading for his age-32 season.

Legitimate Building Blocks

Peña grew into a star last year but he’s still undervalued, perhaps because a month on the injured list muted his final counting stats. Take advantage of the discount this one last time. He’s expected to bat leadoff in Houston, which is good for the volume. And he’s right in the middle of his peak years.

It hurt me to fade Seager, one of the best hitters in baseball. Seager’s plate discipline is so perfect that there’s a popular zone-judgment metric that’s named after him. But the reality is that Seager has played just one full season out of the last seven (ignoring the 2020 truncated year) and that’s not a trend to swim against as he turns 32. Seager’s average has dropped into the .270s the last two years and he’s never been interested in stealing bases. I’ll stay open-minded if his price slips in my rooms, but I can’t consider him at current ADP.

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Perdomo was the No. 11 player in 5×5 value last year but his ADP is nowhere near that for the fresh season. This presents an attractive “regress and win” opportunity where Perdomo can actually give back a significant amount of last year’s stats and still be a fantasy profit. Perdomo is a high-percentage base-stealer and entering his age-26 season, so I’m not worried about that column. And he’s the rare player who had more walks than strikeouts last year, and those players are always attractive targets. Maybe the 20 homers won’t come back, but there’s enough broad profile here to make Perdomo a cornerstone player.

Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down

Adames was a screaming fade last year after changing teams on a big contract and heading to a roomy park, but that angle only worked for the first half. He conked 18 homers and slugged .494 in the second half, and he even picked up his running. He might be a shade past his peak into an age-30 season, but so long as you’ve assembled batting average elsewhere, I could sign off on Adames around his Yahoo ADP of 106.3.

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Wilson’s profile is filled with some interesting contradictions. He’s the hardest player to strike out in the AL but he actually has a poor chase rate and a low walk rate, too. His contact metrics were also low, which is why his Savant page suggests a .277 average last year, not the .311 number he finished with. But if you pick Wilson you’re betting on the Sacramento park (great for offense) and Wilson’s pedigree (he was the sixth overall pick in 2023 and zoomed through the minors). He’s capable of stealing 10-12 bases, too, like any front-9 ballplayer is.

Some Plausible Upside

Holliday gave us category juice and a trimmed strikeout rate last year, but he needed hand surgery in mid-February and should open the year on the injured list. This is the type of news that could wreck a season, because we can’t expect Holliday to be sharp — and ready to run — the moment he comes off the injured list. Ultimately, the conclusion is the same as with Lindor — don’t be the injury optimist in your pool.

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The Red Sox take a lot of heat for money not spent, but they were lucky when Bogaerts walked after the 2022 season. The X-Man hasn’t even been a league-average hitter the last two years. It’s a good thing he’s running, because he’s below code in every other column we use for scoring. The Padres are on the hook for eight more years.

Bargain Bin

MILAN — Figure skating has been an Olympic event for longer than there have been Winter Olympics. It’s true: men’s, women’s and pairs skating events were held at the 1908 Summer Olympics; the Winter Games didn’t make their debut until 1924 in Chamonix, France. Even ice dancing now has a 50-year pedigree, beginning in 1976 in Innsbruck.

Team skating, by contrast, is virtually brand new, dating only back to Sochi in 2014. National teams, only in the fourth iteration of team competition, are still figuring out exactly how to set up their rosters to maximize the potential for both team and individual success.

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Because here’s the not-so-secret truth of the team skate: It can have a significant effect on an athlete’s individual performance. Because the team event starts the Olympics, and because the Olympics take place in such a tight time frame, the physical and emotional cost of the team event can ripple right on through into individual ones, affecting and potentially upending individual dreams.

This year at Milan, team skating began even before the Opening Ceremony, lasting until Sunday, Feb. 8. The very next day, ice dancers began their short program, and on Tuesday, the men’s skate began. Given that the United States ran out the same athletes in both of those team segments — ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and men’s skater Ilia Malinin — it’s fair to wonder just how much of an effect the quick turnaround might have had.

“We had a little bit more time than our other teammates did,” said pairs dancer Ellie Kam, who with partner Danny O’Shea skated both team events, but had a full week to recover. (The women have nine days between skates.) “I can’t imagine having to do back-to-back programs the next day. … Keeping your head focused for that period of time is definitely really hard. So I don’t envy that at all.”

“We trained specifically for it. We knew that it was coming,” O’Shea said. “We’ve done back-to-back competitions in the past. … Two years ago, we finished nationals (in Ohio) and got on a plane to fly to Shanghai (for Four Continents) … and we medaled at that Four Continents.”

While not blaming the schedule for their silver medal finish, Chock did point out the workload that she and Bates had endured early in the Games. “We just performed four times in six days at the Olympics,” Bates said last week. “We have never done anything like it. It took so much mental strength and discipline to stay focused over the last six days and to deliver four great performances.”

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Ilia Malinin, who dramatically rallied the United States to victory in the team event but collapsed in his own individual event, didn’t blame the schedule for his woes. But it’s worth noting that he probably wouldn’t have skated the second team free skate had the United States held more of a points advantage. That may or may not have hurt his mental state heading into his own free skate, where he imploded on ice, but it surely took a toll on his physical one.

The team event obviously isn’t going anywhere, but could the schedule change? A reversal, perhaps, with the individual events coming first?

“We would definitely prefer to have the individual events first and then the team event later on,” O’Shea said earlier in the week. “That would really allow the athletes to get into the celebratory feel that a team event has and really let loose a little bit more in watching the other athletes and being able to participate in cheering on your team.”

Other skaters held slightly different views. “In my opinion, I think that having a team event first and then an individual event is better,” Japan’s Masaya Morita said through an interpreter. “The motivation of the Japanese team has increased.”

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“I’m happy to have this opportunity (to team skate first),” Italy’s Sara Conti said through an interpreter. “I don’t want to call it training because it’s not training, but I don’t even feel the pressure. … The spirit of the team has helped me a lot in terms of tension.”

Figure skating is such a massive Olympic viewership magnet that you could make an argument either way for the team positioning — placing the team event first introduces everyone to the skaters who then go on to face their individual battles; starting out with individual skaters allows for an Avengers-style getting-the-team-together climactic finish to the Games.

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Either way, the International Skating Union is keeping its cards close to its vest. An ISU spokesperson provided the following statement to Yahoo Sports on the question of schedule changes:

“Following established processes, the ISU will review competition schedules for future editions of the Olympic Winter Games in coordination with the IOC and the respective Organizing Committees in due course ahead of the next Olympic Winter Games edition.”

So there you go. Future Olympic skaters better prepare for the back-to-back, just in case.

When Jeff Hafley agreed to become the Miami Dolphins’ next head coach, he had to understand what was coming in the short term. The only way for the Dolphins to move forward was to clean house. It wasn’t going to be a fun short-term experience, but it needed to be done.

The Dolphins started the week by beginning that process. Bradley Chubb, acquired in 2022 from the Denver Broncos for a package that included a first-round draft pick, was reportedly cut. Tyreek Hill, acquired in 2022 for five picks including a first-rounder and coming off a serious knee injury, is reportedly out too. Guard James Daniels, signed to a three-year, $24 million deal less than a year ago, was also let go.

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And everyone is waiting for resolution on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. If he is let go, the resulting record dead cap hit will certainly signal the obvious: This is a full rebuild. Check back in 2027 (or 2028 … or 2029), Dolphins fans.

“As we piece this thing together, it’s going to take time and there’s going to be a lot of hard work, but then it’s going to be built the right way,” Hafley said when he was introduced to the media.

The “going to take time” part of that seemed most relevant Monday.

Dolphins roster being turned over

When the Dolphins were getting aggressive in trading and paying players like Hill and Chubb, they viewed themselves as contenders. A hot start in 2023, which included a 70-point eruption against the Broncos, turned out to be a mirage.

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For all of the big moves the Dolphins made, they never even won a playoff game. They still have the longest gap between playoff wins. Their last one came in 2000. Hafley started his coaching career in 2001.

That’s what will make the rebuild sting even worse. There wasn’t a division title, home playoff game or playoff win to show for anything the past few years. And now it gets torn down again.

[Get more Dolphins news: Miami team feed]

Cutting Hill, Chubb and Daniels cleared $34.4 million in cap space, according to Spotrac, which the Dolphins had to do to get cap compliant. There’s not a ton of cap space to work with. There are a couple of extra third-round picks via trades and the Dolphins will get a quality player at 11th overall in April. But they don’t have a lot of difference makers on the roster, and it’s possible new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan has other moves planned, via more cuts or a trade of someone like Jaylen Waddle. There will be a lot of players on the way out, and not a lot of resources to bring new talent in.

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Miami’s roster could look bleak this season. Sullivan knew what he had to do to clean up a cap mess and a roster that wasn’t good enough to compete in the AFC East. It still will be difficult. And the Dolphins haven’t even figured out the quarterback situation.

The Dolphins’ quarterback dilemma

Sullivan was asked when he first met the media about what happens next for Tagovailoa and the Dolphins’ future at quarterback.

“Obviously that’s a huge question looming over the organization,” Sullivan said. “I’d be naïve to think that everybody doesn’t understand that.”

It seems impossible for the Dolphins to reconcile with Tagovailoa after his play bottomed out, especially after his most recent concussion, and he was benched last season. The Dolphins would take on a staggering $99.2 million in dead money to cut him, which would be a record, and if it’s designated as a post-June 1 move it would be $67.2 million this year and $31.8 million in 2027, according to Over The Cap. Miami wants to trade Tagovailoa but that seems unlikely unless the Dolphins take on most of his salary. You can overcome a massive dead hit, as the Broncos did with Russell Wilson, but it’s difficult. Especially when there’s a ton of other dead cap hits on the books. And the Dolphins don’t have an obvious path to get a new quarterback, especially considering how few can’t-miss quarterback prospects there are in this year’s NFL Draft.

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The Dolphins seem destined to go into the season with a cheap quarterback, putting that decision off a season, very few blue-chip players to build around, plenty of rookies and bargain free agents contributing, with a first-time NFL head coach leading it all in a division that includes the Patriots and Bills, two very good teams. It’s going to be ugly.

Dolphins fans are used to ugly. They haven’t seen their team win a playoff game in a quarter century. But this seems different. It might be a while before there’s hope again in Miami.

Arizona crashed — hard.

Here’s everything you missed in the 15th week of the regular season, and the latest Associated Press poll.

Michigan overtakes Arizona at No. 1

Arizona’s undefeated run through college basketball ended.

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The Wildcats, after starting the season on a 23-game win streak, lost back-to-back games this past week. Kansas handed Arizona its first loss of the season without the help of star Darryn Peterson, who missed that contest at Allen Fieldhouse with flu-like symptoms, on Feb. 9. Then Texas Tech went into Tucson and handed the Wildcats a second loss in overtime on Saturday night, thanks to 31 points from JT Toppin.

The two defeats dropped Arizona three spots in this week’s poll to No. 4. That paved the way for Michigan to take over the No. 1 spot. It also made Miami (Ohio) the last undefeated program in the country. The Redhawks, at 25-0, will take on UMass and Bowling Green on Tuesday.

The Wolverines improved to 24-1 last week after a 30-point blowout over UCLA. They’ve got No. 7 Purdue and No. 3 Duke up this week. Houston moved up a spot to No. 2 after Arizona’s skid, and UConn climbed to No. 5.

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It’s probably not time to panic about Arizona yet. The Wildcats were bound to slip eventually. No team has gone undefeated and won the national championship in half a century. And, Arizona has lost these two games by a combined seven points. But the Wildcats will have to rebound with No. 23 BYU — which has gone on a string of losses and is without star Richie Saunders after his ACL tear — and No. 2 Houston this week. A rematch with Kansas and Iowa State are still on the Wildcats’ schedule, too. Things could spiral quickly.

There is, though, plenty of time to rebound before the Big 12 tournament starts. Assuming this week goes well, there’s no reason to start doubting the Wildcats just yet.

Games to watch this week

All times ET | * denotes neutral site

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Monday, Feb. 16

No. 2 Houston at No. 6 Iowa State | 9 p.m. | ESPN

Tuesday, Feb. 17

No. 1 Michigan at No. 7 Purdue | 6:30 p.m. | Peacock
No. 22 Miami (Ohio) at UMass | 7 p.m. | ESPN+

Wednesday, Feb. 18

No. 23 BYU at No. 4 Arizona | 9 p.m. | ESPN

Friday, Feb. 20

Bowling Green at No. 22 Miami (Ohio) | 8:30 p.m. | CBSSN

Saturday, Feb. 21

No. 4 Arizona at No. 2 Houston | 3 p.m. | ABC
No. 1 Michigan at No. 3 Duke | 6:30 p.m. | ESPN*
No. 6 Iowa State at No. 23 BYU | 10:30 p.m. | ESPN

AP Top 25

The full Associated Press men’s basketball poll from Feb. 16, 2026.

1. Michigan (24-1)
2. Houston (23-2)
3. Duke (23-2)
4. Arizona (23-2)
5. UConn (24-2)
6. Iowa State (22-3)
7. Purdue (21-4)
8. Kansas (19-6)
9. Nebraska (22-3)
10. Illinois (21-5)
11. Gonzaga (25-2)
12. Florida (19-6)
13. Texas Tech (19-6)
14. Virginia (22-3)
15. Michigan State (20-5)
16. North Carolina (20-5)
17. St. John’s (20-5)
18. Saint Louis (24-1)
19. Vanderbilt (21-4)
20. Arkansas (19-6)
21. Louisville (19-6)
22. Miami (OH) (25-0)
23. BYU (19-6)
24. Wisconsin (18-7)
25. Alabama (18-7)

Others receiving votes: Clemson 55, Utah State 45, Tennessee 36, Villanova 29, Kentucky 15, Miami 10, Saint Mary’s 3, VCU 1

Being a Daytona 500 winner is a whole lot like being a Masters champion or an Oscar winner. No matter where you go for the rest of your life, no matter what you do in the rest of your career, you’ll always be known as a Daytona 500 winner.

Plus, you get a pretty sweet ring and a Rolex, too.

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Tyler Reddick won the Daytona 500 Sunday night in one of the wildest, most chaotic final laps in recent memory. Probably a good dozen drivers had a shot at winning the race as it wound through its final turns, but in the end, 23XI’s Tyler Reddick was the last man driving. (Almost literally; the second through fifth cars crashed behind him, joining the dozens that had wrecked earlier in the race.)

Going on a couple hours’ sleep — “I’m used to that with an 8-month-old and a 6-year-old” — Reddick spoke to Yahoo Sports Monday morning to discuss that finish, his new jewelry, and what happens when Michael Jordan himself tells you you’re his driver.

“Something felt right from the beginning of the day, to go the way it did,” Reddick said. “It’s surreal. You dream of having the opportunity to cross the finish line first in the Daytona 500. To be able to seize the opportunity was huge, because some drivers go their whole career with only getting one shot. Some drivers never get that opportunity to win that race. So it was super important for me to capitalize on the moment in front of me.”

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In front, behind and around him. Reddick combined data, strategy and good old gut instinct in that final lap. “It took a little bit of everything,” he said. “The things we’ve learned, been working on on the Cup side, the strategy to get in that position, leaning on numbers and data decisions about the final laps. And then I leaned on and relied on instincts, the type of things that helped me get to where I am today from dirt racing.”

A self-professed late bloomer, Reddick first attended the Daytona 500 as a fan, sitting in the backstretch and watching Matt Kenseth’s rain-delayed win in 2012. Back then, he was a dirt track racer just trying to break through the dirt-to-asphalt barrier. He found a seat in Ken Schrader’s ARCA car in 2013, and then caught the attention of Brad Keselowski, who put him in a Camping World Truck in 2014. From there, he moved upward through the ranks of then-Xfinity and Cup series … until the day in 2022 when he received the proverbial summoning before the throne.

Two days after the now 30-year-old Reddick was born, Michael Jordan — then with only three championships to his name — dropped 48 points on the Philadelphia 76ers. So Reddick knows Jordan as a basketball player only from highlight films. Even so, the GOAT’s shadow was long enough to intimidate Reddick … right up to the moment that Jordan and Denny Hamlin — co-owners of 23XI Racing — made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“The first time I met him,” Reddick recalled, “he and Denny both told me, ‘Of all the drivers in the Cup garage, you’re the guy we want the most. You’re our first pick, and we’d love to have you drive our race cars.’”

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That made an impression on Reddick, even if he can only remember Jordan on the Washington Wizards. “When you have someone like [Jordan] that believes in you and what you do, what you’re about and how hard you work, and how much you care about racing,” Reddick says, “and then hearing how much he cares about racing too on top of that, it just helps really sell it that 23XI is where I need to be.”

Jordan and Hamlin’s faith paid off. Reddick has won six races since joining 23XI at the start of the 2023 season, and he’s made the playoffs every year. He won the 2024 regular-season championship and was one of the now-defunct Championship 4 that year. He and his family struggled through personal challenges last year — his infant son Rookie had to have surgery after doctors found a tumor in his chest — but wife Alexa, Rookie and Rookie’s older brother Beau were in victory lane Sunday night.

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“We travel on the road together,” he said. “I feel it’s important to share these moments with our children. To celebrate the biggest times together is important, especially coming off of some of the things we went through the last year.”

Reddick is in the midst of a media crush — his voice is already ragged, and he’s got a New York media car wash to go — and then he’ll need to get ready for the Atlanta race this coming weekend. But he’s already getting used to the fact that, yes, he’s a Daytona 500 champion.

“Looking at the ring, it helps,” he said, laughing. “Looking down at my Daytona Rolex watch, yeah. Every time I look at the time on this thing, I’ll think of this race and that day.”

Buffalo Bills players expressed concerns with the team’s training staff via the 2025 NFL team report cards, which the league stopped the NFLPA from publishing due to an arbitration ruling. The news that the NFL blocked the NFLPA from publishing these reports broke over the weekend, but Pro Football Talk obtained the 26-page ruling, which includes multiple criticisms of how certain NFL teams function, including the Bills.

“The Union dropped the Club in the overall rankings from prior years because ‘issues … previously raised [by Players] … have not been addressed and thus have become greater concerns,” as stated in the ruling, per PFT.

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“The Union claimed Players were concerned that ‘current [training] staffing is inadequate to help them recover,’” it continued. “‘And travel continues to be the worst part of their experience’ because they ‘do not have a comfortable amount of space when traveling and the travel schedule itself is a source of significant dissatisfaction.’”

Buffalo’s front office opted to retain the current training staff shortly after introducing former offensive coordinator Joe Brady as the team’s new head coach, following Sean McDermott’s dismissal.

Coming out of the Bills’ Week 12 loss to the Houston Texans, Buffalo had more than 15 players dealing with significant injuries.

Last season, Buffalo had 17 players miss a total of 246 games, which ranked fifth in the NFL. The injured reserve list was packed for the Bills during the 2025 campaign. Defensive tackle Ed Oliver missed 14 games due to several injuries, while kicker Tyler Bass was lost in training camp to ankle and knee injuries. They were among several others to miss significant time for the Bills in 2025.

New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart will play for Fenerbahçe Opet in April ahead of the EuroLeague Women Final Six, the team announced Monday.

The announcement has sparked concerns from WNBA fans about her potential availability to start training camp. The EuroLeague Women Final Six is scheduled from April 15-19. WNBA training camps opened for the 2025 season on April 27, which would give Stewart time to get back prior to reporting — should the league keep a similar schedule.

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The 2025 regular season began on May 16; this year, season tipoff is set for Friday, May 8.

Despite the CBA negotiations still ongoing, Stewart said she was encouraged by the recent progress on the Game Recognizes Game with Stewie and Myles show.

Stewart will return to Fenerbahçe after playing for Opet in the 2022-2023 season. Stewart won the Turkish League title and was named Euroleague Final Four MVP. She also led Opet to its first EuroLeague Women’s championship after a 35-point performance over Çukurova Mersin. Stewart has also played for the UMMC Ekaterinburg, Dynamo Kursk and the Shanghai Swordfish during her time overseas.

Last season, Stewart averaged 18.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists for the Liberty. The Liberty were defeated by the Phoenix Mercury in the first round after winning the WNBA championship the previous year. Stewart is currently playing with Mist BC for the Unrivaled league.

The Cleveland Browns will reportedly hire Atlanta Falcons defensive pass game coordinator Mike Rutenberg as defensive coordinator, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. The Browns hired Rutenberg over Browns linebackers coach Jason Tarver and Houston Texans defensive passing game coordinator Cory Undlin.

Rutenberg will replace Jim Schwartz, the former Browns defensive coordinator who resigned after the team selected Todd Monken instead of him for the head coaching position. This will be Rutenberg’s first time as a defensive coordinator. Similarly, the Browns’ new offensive coordinator, Travis Switzer, is serving in this role for the first time.

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Before joining the Falcons, Rutenberg coached under Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh with the New York Jets and the San Francisco 49ers. The Titans requested to interview him for their defensive coordinator opening before hiring Gus Bradley.

The 44-year-old also spent time in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Washington Commanders and at the collegiate level with New Mexico State and UCLA.

Rutenberg will take over for a Browns defense that ranked in the top five in yards allowed and sacks last season. The team is also expected to bring back 2025 Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, who set the NFL’s single-season record with 23 sacks last season. Browns linebacker Carson Schwesinger also won Defensive Rookie of the Year.

The Browns are coming off a 5-12 season and missed the playoffs the last two seasons.

The New York Mets have not had a team captain since David Wright retired in 2018. And that will continue as long as Steve Cohen owns the franchise, he said.

“As long as I’m owning the team, there will never be a team captain,” Cohen told reporters before the Mets’ first full-squad workout on Monday. “That was my decision. My view is the locker room is unique. Let the locker room sort it out year in, year out.”

Cohen added that he has felt that way ever since buying the Mets in 2020.

Sentiment had been building toward shortstop Francisco Lindor being named captain going into his sixth season with the team. The Mets even appeared to indicate that by including him in a video honoring Wright when his number was retired last season. (The team deleted the video, but it can still be found online.)

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The topic was raised before last season, but Mets players such as outfielder Brandon Nimmo pointed out that several in the clubhouse — including Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Sean Manaea — filled the role as team leader at various times.

Lindor is under contract for another five years after 2026 following the 10-year, $341 million contract extension he signed in 2021.

The Mets have had four official team captains in franchise history. The first was Keith Hernandez, given the honor in 1987 after the team won the World Series. Hernandez shared the designation during the 1988 and ’89 seasons with Gary Carter. The team then went without a captain for 11 seasons until John Franco received the title.

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After Franco left New York as a free agent, the Mets again went without a captain for eight years until David Wright was named by the organization during the spring of 2013. No one in team history might embody a team captain more than Wright. He was given the nickname “Captain America” during the World Baseball Classic that year.

At the time, only two other MLB teams had designated captains: Paul Konerko with the Chicago White Sox and Derek Jeter with the New York Yankees.

Last season, three teams had captains: Salvador Perez with the Kansas City Royals, Marcus Semien with the Texas Rangers and Aaron Judge with the New York Yankees. Semien is now Lindor’s middle infield partner at second base after being acquired in exchange for Nimmo in November.

“My view is every year, the team’s different, and let the team kind of figure it out in the locker room rather than having a designation,” Cohen added, via MLB.com. “Having a captain in baseball doesn’t happen often. It’s actually unusual. Whatever previous ownership did, that was their way of doing things. I look at things differently.”

The importance of the team captain role for the Yankees is likely a reason Mets fans give the title some value. It could also be viewed as a reward for a longtime star, like Lindor has been for the Mets.

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During his five seasons in Queens, he has batted .261/.338/.462 with 148 doubles, 141 home runs, 445 RBI and 117 stolen bases. This year, he’ll tie the number of seasons he played with the Cleveland Guardians before being traded to the Mets before the 2021 campaign.