Lamar Odom was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Las Vegas over the weekend after a Nevada State Police trooper spotted the 46-year-old, two-time NBA champion driving more than 100 mph, according to KTNV 13 Action News’ Tuesday report.
Around 2:20 a.m. on Saturday, the trooper saw a black SUV speeding on Interstate 15, where the speed limit was posted at 65 mph. When the trooper pulled over the car, which also changed lanes without signaling, they found Odom and an unidentified male passenger, per KTNV, which reported that both had red, watery eyes and smelled of marijuana.
On Saturday, when Odom was searching for his registration and insurance, he tried to initiate conversation with the trooper, according 8 News Now, which cited documents it obtained Tuesday. He asked how the trooper’s night was going besides him “driving like he was ‘in Back to the Future,’” the report stated, via 8 News Now.
Lamar Odom, flanked here by Derek Fisher and Trevor Ariza at a Los Angeles Lakers at a Christmas Day game in 2023, was arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of DUI over the weekend. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
(Allen Berezovsky via Getty Images)
When Odom was asked why he was speeding — 8 News Now reported that his SUV was tracked going as fast as 106 mph — he reportedly changed his story multiple times, first noting that he was “almost home” and then later saying that he was headed to his friend’s house.
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Odom reportedly followed a similar pattern when he was asked about the last time he consumed marijuana. At one point, he quickly changed his answer from he “doesn’t really smoke” to saying he “does not smoke,” according to the report 8 News Now obtained. Eventually, Odom admitted he smoked “maybe earlier today.”
The report showed that Odom failed the sobriety tests he was given and then was arrested, per 8 News Now.
As of Tuesday, Odom was no longer in custody, per The Associated Press, which cited Clark County jail records. He was booked there on charges of DUI, driving more than 41 miles per hour over the speed limit and failing to maintain travel in a street lane/improper lane change, as reported by USA Today.
Odom was part of the NBA All-Rookie first team with the Los Angeles Clippers, who drafted him No. 4 overall out of Rhode Island in 1999. He became the league’s Sixth Man of the Year with the Lakers in 2011 after helping the franchise win back-to-back titles in 2009-10.
Who’s really in charge of the New York Giants? Yahoo Sports’ Andrew Siciliano, Jori Epstein and Frank Schwab break down John Harbaugh’s introduction as the G-men’s new head coach. Plus, are the Buffalo Bills showing enough respect to Sean McDermott? The crew breaks those stories down, along with the latest head coaching hires and Indiana winning the CFP title. Don’t miss today’s packed episode!
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(1:25) – John Harbaugh introduced as Giants head coach
(14:03) – Did Sean McDermott deserve more love from the Bills?
(26:54) – Titans hire Robert Saleh as next head coach
(40:30) – Dolphins hire Jeff Hafley as head coach
(46:00) – Fernando Mendoza and Indiana win CFP title
(54:43) – One More Thing
Is there tension between John Harbaugh and Joe Schoen already? (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Well into his stay with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Mayfield is apparently still irked about how the whole thing went down.
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He responded to an article written by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s D. Orlando Ledbetter, who promoted the piece on X by writing on Tuesday that then-Browns and now-Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski had a “dumpster fire at quarterback in Cleveland.”
In that teaser, Ledbetter bluntly stated that Mayfield and Watson “failed.”
“Failed is quite the reach pal,” Mayfield retorted on X. “Still waiting on a text/call from him after I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. Can’t wait to see you twice a year, Coach.”
The Falcons hired Stefanski to replace Raheem Morris this past Saturday. Morris went 16-18 in his latest head-coaching stint. Atlanta hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2017 season. In all but one of the last eight seasons since, the Falcons have won seven or eight games.
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Although he ultimately posted a record of just 45-56 from 2020-25 in Cleveland, Stefanski is responsible for two of the Browns’ three double-digit-win campaigns this century.
The first of those occurred with Mayfield at quarterback. They went 11-5 in 2020 and advanced to the divisional round of the AFC playoffs, something they hadn’t done since the 1994 season. Cleveland put up a fight against a Super Bowl-bound Kansas City Chiefs team, too.
The rest is history. He got a chance with the Bucs, earned the QB1 job and has since made two Pro Bowls. The injury bug bit Mayfield this season, however, and his numbers were down.
Tampa Bay’s streak of four straight NFC South division titles came to an end. He’s eager to bounce back, including against Stefanski, who is now leading the rival Falcons.
Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones got their calls Tuesday after both eclipsed the 75% threshold required from a ballot of Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters. As expected, it was an emotional day for both.
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Beltrán shared the moment he got the call from Cooperstown as he was surrounded by friends and family. BBWAA member Jack O’Connell informed Beltrán of his election on speaker phone, prompting a celebratory roar from Beltrán’s supporters.
Jones, apparently, wasn’t informed of his election via a call from the Hall — not initially, at least. He appeared to learn the good news alongside the rest of the viewers on MLB Network, which broke the news.
He did so while surrounded by fellow former big leaguers at a golf tournament in the Dominican Republic.
Both players were on the receiving end of congratulations from their former teams and teammates. Braves chairman Terry McGuirk released a statement lauding Jones as “one of the most dominant centerfielders of his generation.”
The official Braves social media account took it a step further, declaring Jones “the greatest centerfielder of all-time.”
Chipper Jones on Andruw Jones: ‘Nobody did it better’
Jones’ former teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Chipper Jones agrees and declared Jones the best defensive outfielder of all time. He doesn’t understand why it took Jones nine ballots to get his call.
“This guy was the best guy to ever do it out there,” Chipper said. “You could say arguably. In my opinion it’s not arguably. He’s the best that’s ever done it.
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“To boot, 400 homers and 1,300 RBI. That’s not nothing. Maybe Willie [Mays]. Maybe peak [Ken] Griffey [Jr.], you know, for a period of time. But nobody did it better, nobody did it better out there.”
Beltrán’s former teammates weigh in
Beltrán’s former Houston Astros teammate, Jeff Kent, was elected to the Hall in December via a vote of the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee. He’ll join Beltrán and Jones in the 2026 induction ceremony. Kent issued a message congratulating Beltrán on his election.
“I want to send my congratulations on being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame class,” Kent wrote. “I’m proud of you. I know your family is proud of you, and I can’t wait until you and I meet up again in Cooperstown where we’ll be inducted into the most prestigious class in all of sports — the Baseball Hall of Fame.
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“Good luck my brother. I look forward to seeing you in July.”
Beltrán’s former teammate with the New York Mets, David Wright, also sent his regards in a statement.
“What an amazing accomplishment and well deserved,” Wright wrote. “… When I think of five-tool players, you are one of first faces that come to mind. And to top it off with your work ethic.
“I was able to witness firsthand your dedication and willingness to improve even though you were at the top of your game. Thank you for those lessons that stuck with me my entire career.”
Teams celebrate their former players
Beltrán and Jones each played for the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. Both teams issued their congratulations to their former players on Tuesday.
Less than two weeks after he was fired as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, McDaniel is expected to be hired as the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers, ESPN reports. Per the report, the Chargers want to hire McDaniel, and team management was scheduled to have dinner with him in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
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McDaniel has reportedly informed other teams, including the Cleveland Browns, that he’s not interested in their vacancies, and he is expected to accept the Chargers’ offer, according to ESPN.
McDaniel was a hot candidate on the coaching market despite his recent dismissal from the Dolphins. He reportedly garnered interview requests from the Ravens, Raiders, Browns and Buccaneers for head coach and coordinator vacancies.
If hired, McDaniel will be tasked with improving an offense that struggled the past two postseasons and further developing quarterback Justin Herbert.
Can Mike McDaniel fix what has ailed the Chargers the past two postseasons?
(Megan Briggs via Getty Images)
Can McDaniel solve the Chargers’ offensive playoff woes?
The Chargers made the playoffs in each of head coach Jim Harbaugh’s first two seasons on the job. But they fizzled out in the first round of the playoffs in each postseason behind tepid offensive performances. The Chargers lost 32-12 to the Texans in the wild-card round after the 2024 season. And they failed to score a touchdown in a 16-3 loss to the Patriots in the wild-card round two weeks ago.
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The Chargers fired offensive coordinator Greg Roman and offensive line coach Mike Devlin in the aftermath of the loss to New England. The expectation for McDaniel would be to produce an offense that gets the Chargers to the postseason and remain competitive once they get there.
Can Herbert take the next step under McDaniel?
Herbert experienced his most efficient season as a pro in 2024 in his first year under Harbaugh while running Roman’s run-heavy scheme. He threw for 227.6 yards per game while tallying 23 touchdowns and a career-low three interceptions in 17 starts.
Herbert followed that with the second Pro Bowl campaign of his six-season career in 2025, averaging 232.9 yards per game with 26 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He did so while playing behind a ravaged offensive line that played most of the season without Pro Bowl starting tackles Joe Alt (ankle) and Rashawn Slater (patellar tendon).
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Slater missed the entire season, and both he and Alt were sidelined for the Chargers’ playoff loss to the Patriots. Any improvement on the offensive side of the ball will require both to return to health next season.
Does McDaniel still have it as an offensive guru?
McDaniel was fired after the Dolphins missed the playoffs amid a second consecutive season with a losing record. His job was believed to be at stake midseason following a 1-6 start, but the Dolphins rallied to win five of their last eight games and finish 7-10.
As the season progressed, Miami’s offensive struggles were pinned on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, whom McDaniel benched for the last three weeks of the season. Now, if hired, McDaniel will work with Tagovailoa’s 2020 draft classmate Herbert, whom the Chargers selected with the No. 6 pick, one pick after the Dolphins drafted Tagovailoa.
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McDaniel developed a reputation as an offensive mastermind as the offensive coordinator under Kyle Shanahan with the San Francisco 49ers, which led to the Dolphins’ decision to hire him in 2022. The Chargers are hoping he can rekindle that spark in the same role as they seek to develop into a Super Bowl contender in Herbert’s prime.
While the electees understandably headline the annual Hall announcement, much can be learned about the rest of the ballot, too, as trends involving other candidates can help us forecast the next wave of Hall of Famers. With that in mind, here’s a look at five notable candidates on this year’s ballot, featuring four holdovers making intriguing gains toward election and one newcomer whose solid debut suggests he could reach the required 75% of voter approval to become Cooperstown-bound one day.
Chase Utley: 59.1% of the vote, third year
Voting history:
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An integral member of the fantastic late-2000s Phillies clubs, Utley has a lot of impressive modern statistical markers rather than gaudy traditional counting stats. With 1,885 career hits, he’s making a push to be one of the rare position players inducted into Cooperstown with fewer than 2,000 career hits. His 259 career home runs stand out relative to his positional peers but pale in comparison to the offensive résumés of the two second basemen most recently elected: Craig Biggio, a member of the 3,000-hit club, and Kent, whose 377 homers are the most ever at the position.
But Utley’s case is rooted in his all-around impact — a balanced offensive profile, a terrific glove at an up-the-middle position, impactful and ultra-efficient baserunning — which manifested in significant WAR totals during his peak that reflected his status as one of the best players in baseball. From 2005 to 2010, Utley ranked second in MLB in fWAR behind only Albert Pujols, a remarkable testament to his star-level performance that might’ve been somewhat overlooked because Utley never finished higher than seventh in MVP voting during that six-season span, while teammates Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins claimed the award in ‘06 and ‘07. Utley also never won a Gold Glove Award, but defensive metrics rated him exceptionally well, providing a serious boost to his WAR and bolstering his case as voters consider his candidacy through a more sabermetric lens.
Utley has made steady progress toward induction; he debuted at 28.8% two years ago and has more than doubled that mark two years later. He’s not quite on the doorstep, but anyone who reaches the 50% threshold is a near-certainty to get elected eventually, which means Utley is officially within striking distance of election, perhaps in the next two or three years.
Félix Hernández: 46.1% of the vote, second year
Voting history:
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It’s all about the peak for King Felix, who earned staff ace status with the Seattle Mariners at an astonishingly early age — he debuted as a 19-year-old in 2005 — and dominated in his early- and-mid-20s before his stuff and effectiveness plummeted as he entered his 30s. That Hernández is on the ballot already is a sobering reminder of just how abruptly his career ended, as he was just 33 when he pitched his final season with Seattle in 2019. At his best, however, even on Mariners teams that were rarely relevant on a national scale, Hernández transcended his surroundings and became a captivating force whenever he took the mound, and his statistical résumé during his spectacular, seven-year peak unquestionably resembles that of a Hall of Famer.
Because such a huge portion of Hall of Fame hurlers aged far more gracefully, Hernández’s case to be included in Cooperstown contends that he was so good in his 20s — and pitched so much during that time — that he amassed a Hall of Fame-worthy résumé before the fall-off occurred, and thus should not be kept out because of how ugly the ending ultimately was. A similar case was made about the offense of Andruw Jones, a player who delivered all-time production in his 20s before fading quickly as he aged, and he found his way to Cooperstown after a lengthy stint on the ballot.
This year, Hernández took a gigantic step forward, an emphatic demonstration that the cliff his career fell off isn’t nearly the demerit many thought it could be when he first appeared on the ballot. Any hesitation among the electorate seems to have already started to dissipate, as Hernández’s overwhelming brilliance at his best was deemed worthy enough to have the box next to his name checked on nearly half the ballots. We’re still in the early stages of understanding how the Hall electorate will handle this era of starting pitchers, considering their workloads were so much less than that of previous generations, but at the very least, consider Hernández’s encouraging trend a compelling mark in favor of any Hall case rooted in peak performance over longevity.
Chase Utley, Félix Hernández and Andy Pettitte received some of the biggest jumps in support on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot.
(Davis Long/Yahoo Sports)
Andy Pettitte: 48.5% of the vote, eighth year
Voting history:
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The pitcher with more postseason frames than any other in the game’s history, Pettitte offers a drastically different kind of candidacy than Hernández. Anyone who scoffs at Pettitte’s 3.81 postseason ERA is severely underselling how absurd it is to post such a solid mark across what was more than an entire regular-season workload of October innings: 276 ⅔, to be exact. For Pettitte to be that dependable in the highest-stakes games at so many stages of his career speaks to his rare aptitude as a pitcher, and while he certainly benefitted from playing for so many great Yankees teams, he generally made the most of those opportunities. His regular-season résumé doesn’t jump off the page nearly as much, with only three All-Star appearances and a handful of lofty placements on Cy Young ballots scattered across his 18-year career. But Pettitte was really good for a really long time, and it’s not uncommon for that to be rewarded with a spot in Cooperstown.
Pettitte’s case is also complicated by off-the-field considerations. Connections to performance-enhancing drugs — alleged or confirmed via positive tests and suspensions — have been an enormous part of Hall of Fame discourse for years now, but Pettitte occupies a unique position in that arena. He admitted to using HGH at specific intervals during his career, explaining that he sought out such measures only to help his return from injury, not in search of an advantage. Regardless of how Pettitte’s public remorse has been received, his relative lack of progress across his first seven years on the ballot suggested his admitted use was likely being held against him to a certain degree. Then again, his case was never a slam dunk like a Barry Bonds or a Roger Clemens would be sans PED suspicion, which made it hard to assess the degree to which Pettitte’s candidacy was hampered by statistical shortcomings vs. admitted PED use.
For the most part, players connected to PEDs have received a certain amount of support and then ended up stuck in that range for the duration of their time on the ballot. That was true for Bonds and Clemens, and even more recently with Manny Ramírez. Pettitte seemed to be tracking in a similar manner his first five years on the ballot, but he has suddenly broken the mold and surged up the ranks of vote-getters, making him one of the more fascinating candidates to monitor over the next two years. He has a lot of ground to make up to get to 75%, so election via the writers’ ballot still feels unlikely, but the fact that we’re having the conversation about his chances is a fairly shocking development.
Cole Hamels: 23.8% of the vote, first year
Hamels represents another important test case for how the electorate will evaluate modern starting pitchers, who had no chance of reaching some of the benchmarks long associated with Hall of Fame starters but might deserve election on the basis of their performance relative to the peers of their era. It’s also worth wondering how discourse surrounding Hamels could impact some of the other starters who have already been on the ballot with comparable résumés, such as Mark Buehrle. Hamels’ case is a scaled-down and more recent version of Pettitte in some regards, as a reliable and durable left-hander whose effectiveness in the regular season over an extended period of time helps compensate for a relative lack of high-end accolades (four All-Star games, four lower-level Cy Young finishes). Also like Pettitte, Hamels has some postseason heroics working in his favor, with a solid October résumé highlighted by his contributions to the Phillies’ 2008 championship run, when he won NLCS MVP and World Series MVP.
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Hamels (3.43 ERA across 2,698 innings pitched) and Hernández (3.42 ERA across 2,729 ⅔ innings pitched) also ended up with staggeringly similar career stat lines and workloads, despite taking hugely different paths to get there and offering entirely disparate aesthetics on the mound. That Hamels debuted on the ballot at a similar tally to what Hernández received a year ago speaks to how their candidacies will surely be contrasted in the coming years. He has plenty of work to do, but perhaps another sizable jump is in store for Hamels in the near future.
Bobby Abreu: 30.8% of the vote, seventh year
Voting history:
A two-time All-Star who never finished higher than 12th in MVP voting, Abreu’s case suffers severely from the abstract Cooperstown litmus test of asking, “Did this player feel like a Hall of Famer when he was playing?” While most observers would say no regarding Abreu, it’s impossible to deny that his statistical achievements across nearly two decades in the big leagues are absolutely worth serious consideration. Abreu was a consistent source of power and speed throughout his career, and his sizable final totals reflect that: He is one of four players in baseball history with at least 250 home runs, 500 doubles and 400 stolen bases, along with Barry Bonds, Rickey Henderson and Craig Biggio. Abreu’s tremendous on-base skills also stand out historically, especially combined with his longevity: Of the 87 players to log at least 10,000 plate appearances in MLB, Abreu’s .395 on-base percentage ranks 16th, behind 14 Hall of Famers and Bonds. That’s pretty good!
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Yet Abreu’s dearth of traditional accolades or signature postseason moments, having played mostly for mediocre teams, has obscured the totality of his on-field success. It’s one of the more confounding Hall of Fame cases we’ve seen because of how resounding it looks on paper — and how that contrasts with what his career elicited at the time.
While this year marked the most dramatic gains Abreu has made on the ballot, it doesn’t leave him much room for error. Another serious leap will have to happen next year for induction to seem likely before his 10 years on the ballot expire. At the same time, it’s noteworthy that we are even still pondering his case, considering how close he was to failing to garner the requisite 5% of the vote early in the process. Had Abreu received 19 votes in his first year on the ballot instead of 22, he’d have joined the likes of Kenny Lofton and Carlos Delgado (among others), who fell off the ballot on their first try despite some astounding collections of counting stats.
Abreu, meanwhile, survived the first round of cuts and has made just enough progress since then to be discussed in the annual round of Hall debates. Just as Lofton and Delgado might earn induction one day via the veteran’s committee, that might be Abreu’s most likely path to Cooperstown, considering how much ground he still needs to make up. But let’s not count him out just yet.
Naturally, Dave Dombrowski wasn’t too happy to see Bo Bichette land with the New York Mets last week.
That, the Philadelphia Phillies president said on Tuesday, felt like “a gut punch.”
“You feel it. That day you are very upset, I guess is the way to say it,” Dombrowski said, via the Associated Press. “You have to pick yourself up and shake it off. You can’t just wallow in what took place.”
Bichette agreed to a three-year, $126 million deal with the Mets on Friday. The two-time All-Star shortstop is expected to play third base for New York after spending his entire career to this point with the Toronto Blue Jays. That culminated with a run to the World Series last fall, in which they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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While he ended up in New York, the Phillies felt they were “very close” to landing Bichette. They had a meeting with him early last week and were working to prepare a long-term deal.
It’s unclear how close the two sides actually were or if a verbal agreement was reached. But Dombrowski said the Phillies were at the numbers that Bichette’s team had asked them to match.
“I can’t say that we ever thought it was done,” Dombrowski said. “There’s a difference. We thought we were very close to having a deal done. We thought it was going to happen. But it wasn’t done.”
Bichette matched his career high at the plate with a .311 batting average last season, something he first put up in his rookie campaign in 2019. He had 18 home runs and 94 RBI, too. He missed time in September and the playoffs due to a knee injury, however.
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While the Phillies missed out on landing Bichette, the team is bringing back the core of the team that made it to the NLDS last season. They re-signed catcher J.T. Realmuto to a three-year, $45 million deal. Considering the team won 96 games and the NL East title last season, they can still feel pretty good heading into spring training.
“I think we’re content where we are at this point,” Dombrowski said.
Speaking in the most assertive tone we’ve heard to date from a league power broker, Kraft married the expected push for an 18th game to the NFL’s quest to expand revenue through international growth. Everyone plays an 18th game — and that game is used to put every NFL franchise into an international game every season. Kraft’s belief is that the two-pronged push — expansion of the regular season and international slate — will draw more global interest in the league, resulting in more money for everyone.
Kraft even delivered an implied threat behind it: “So long as we can keep growing revenue, we can keep long-term labor peace.”
“We’re gonna push like the dickens now, to make international [exposure] more important with us,” Kraft said in the interview. “Every team will go to 18 [games] and two [exhibition games] and eliminate one of the preseason games. Every team every year will play one game overseas. Part of the reason is so we can continue to grow the cap and keep our labor happy. Because we’re sort of getting near the top here, you know, with the [domestic] coverage.”
“Ninety-three of the top 100 programs on television are NFL games,” Kraft continued. “Think about that. It’s really amazing. … You know, we had that Amazon game on Thursday a couple weeks ago — 31 million people streamed in. So as long as we can keep growing revenue, we can keep long-term labor peace.”
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Folks, that’s a lot of messaging packed in a fairly brief statement. And it adds some sharpened clarity to a future negotiation that has been spoken about in largely broad, uncertain terms. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has mused to the media about the addition of an 18th game as a logical next step for the league’s future and international play. And Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has spoken publicly about being supportive of putting an 18th game on the negotiating table down the line. Neither has effectively said, “This is what is going to happen and this is how it ties together … and the money we get from it will keep labor peace.”
That’s the important prism to focus through now: Labor peace. To keep it, NFL franchise owners are going to want that 18-game season. And if they can’t get it, there will be a rising likelihood of a lockout when the current collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association expires in early 2031. If NFL quarterbacks are going to be paid $70, $80, $90 million a season in the coming decades — and other cornerstone positions won’t be be far behind — the league is going to have to find a lot of money in the future to make that happen. And Tuesday was Kraft effectively saying “we have to expand elsewhere to find more new money, and the players have to come to that conclusion with us.”
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, pictured with head coach Mike Vrabel in November, made the case for more regular-season football. (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
(Perry Knotts via Getty Images)
To date, the NFLPA has pushed back on adding another game, citing health and safety concerns. As recently as September, the interim executive director for the union, David White, said of an 18th game: “We haven’t talked about it yet, and it certainly is not inevitable and should not be presented as such.”
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Yet, Kraft sounded certain in his confidence that it’s going to happen — especially for a team owner who has been through multiple collective bargaining negotiations and the longest player lockout in NFL history. He isn’t just any club owner. Not only is he more measured than Jones when he makes public statements, he has also played key roles in the NFL’s compensation committee, which ultimately sets Goodell’s extremely high salary. Among the league’s powerful, he’s one of the senior partners. All of which is to say his words carry weight with everyone.
From a revenue standpoint, Kraft’s tying together of the international slate and the 18th game make sense. Even with the most popular sports product in the United States, there is only so much money that can be squeezed out of the domestic entertainment landscape. To date, the NFL has been very good at getting to that ceiling, from embracing every possible delivery platform for its games, to an about-face on gambling that opened new frontiers in revenue, to molding a year-round content circus that has churned out a multitude of tentpoles: the annual scouting combine, free agency, a traveling on-site draft, the schedule release, minicamps and molecular levels of coverage in training camp.
Through it all, for decades, has been the undercurrent of global expansion. From the introduction of the NFL International Series in 2007, team owners like Kraft and Jones have been in alignment with each other and Goodell on the reach for global popularization. They’ve seen what it has done for the NBA’s coffers, and long admired the worldwide popularity (and television contracts) of the English Premier League. Not to mention the EPL’s audiences, which is approaching nearly 2 billion viewers on a weekly basis.
Those are the numbers the league’s elites are chasing — even if it takes decades. To get there would mean explosive revenue growth. That’s why deepening the NFL’s foothold is so vital when it comes to the international horizon. It’s not enough to just have a handful of games played by a handful of teams. Owners like Jones and Kraft believe you have to build an international NFL team in the aggregate, which you effectively do if you play 16 international games a season that bundle up every single one of the 32 franchises. And the NFL isn’t that far off, already having played seven international games during the 2025 season.
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This is the league’s international answer to an NFL Blue Chip Fund: one-game slices of all 32 teams, packaged together and sold to the international market every single season. It’s a vehicle that can open the possibility for new television contracts, new media rights deals, new licensing and merchandising possibilities, new sponsorships — and maybe someday, a new frontier of international NFL teams that call countries outside of the United States their home.
As Goodell told “Good Morning Football” in September of 2024: “We feel like this game is destined to be global. We expect to be in Asia soon. We expect to be in Australia soon. We’re going to make sure that our game is available around the globe. And I think the ownership has been great on that. They’ve passed a resolution where every team is obligated to play [internationally]. We’re going to have eight games [outside of the U.S.] a year, minimum. And if we do get to an 18 [game regular season] and two game [preseason], we likely will see even more international games. And I hope someday we’ll be playing 16.”
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Kraft went one step further Tuesday, definitively tying the two together. Now comes the ticking clock and what looks likely to be a very difficult negotiation — all until the team owners decide it won’t be a negotiation at all.
General manager Mike Dunleavy was on hand Tuesday night to address the Warriors’ short- and long-term plans ahead of Golden State’s home game against the Toronto Raptors.
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He was asked about Butler’s future with the franchise as well as that of disgruntled forward Jonathan Kuminga, who’s been languishing on the bench amid poor play and a trade demand. And … let’s just say that he has divergent thoughts on Butler’s and Kuminga’s value on the basketball court.
Dunleavy not ready to tear things down
With Butler’s injury prompting chatter of a full teardown and the end of the era of competitive basketball with Curry, Dunleavy was asked about the prospect of trading away Butler’s contract, which has one year and $56.8 million remaining beyond this season.
Dunleavy said that he’s not entertaining the idea.
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“I don’t envision that,” Dunleavy said. “But now that you’ve brought it up, I guess I’d say what I envision for him is kind of giving us a boost next year the same way he did last year when he arrived.
“And so, at some point during the season, him returning and being the player he’s been.”
That sounds like a man not ready to wave the white flag on the Curry era. It also sounds like the words of an optimist. Butler will be 37 next season and coming off one of the most serious injuries in sports.
Can Butler return to high-level basketball after ACL tear?
Butler’s been a boon for the Warriors and helped spark a run to the second round of the playoffs last season after arriving via a midseason trade. The Warriors made the playoffs as the No. 7 seed out of the play-in, then upset the No. 2 seed Rockets in the first round before falling to the Timberwolves in the second.
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Butler’s arrival was a big reason for that success, and he was playing at an All-Star level this season (20 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.9 apg, 1.4 spg) before tearing his right ACL Monday night. If anyone’s capable of returning from an ACL tear to play at a high level at 37 years old, Butler’s the type of player to do it. And for now, at least, Dunleavy appears to be holding out hope that that’s how things play out.
The alternative is not an appealing option and one that could mean dealing Curry while he still has trade value. They are not ready for that in Golden State.
What about Kuminga?
As for the short-term, Butler’s minutes just opened up, and they need to be filled. That could mean the end of Kuminga’s relegation to the bench. Head coach Steve Kerr opened the door to that possibility, telling reporters that Kuminga “could be” part of the rotation in Butler’s absence.
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That would require a willingness on both sides to thaw an icy relationship. Dunleavy doesn’t sound eager to extend an olive branch. When asked about Kuminga’s trade demand, Dunleavy suggested that Kuminga might not drum up much demand for his services.
“I think as far as the demand — I’m aware of that,” Dunleavy said. “I think in terms of demands, when you make a demand, there needs to be demand on the market. So, we’ll see where that unfolds.
The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 5. The Warriors have a lot to figure out before then.
The Mets struck a deal to acquire the center fielder on Tuesday, the team announced, finally pulling off a move they were reportedly interested in making at the trade deadline months ago. In exchange, the Chicago White Sox will receive infielder Luisangel Acuña and right-handed pitching prospect Truman Pauley.
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Robert just finished his sixth season with the White Sox. He recorded a .223 batting average with 14 home runs and 53 RBI in 2025, though he missed time late in the season due to a hamstring injury. Robert was an All-Star and a Silver Slugger during the 2023 campaign.
While he has struggled to stay healthy throughout his career, Robert has shown star ability as a hitter and fielder at his peak. He’s also coming off a season in which he put up a career-high 33 stolen bases. The White Sox picked up Robert’s $20 million option for the 2026 season, and he has another $20 million option with a $2 million buyout for the 2027 season.
Acuña held a .234 batting average with eight RBIs in 95 games last season as a rookie. Pauley spent time with the Mets’ minor-league teams last year after the team drafted him in the 12th round out of Harvard. The 22-year-old has yet to make his big-league debut.
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The White Sox went 60-102 last season, which marked their third straight year losing at least 100 games. They had the worst record in modern MLB history during the 2024 campaign, going 41-121.
The move to bring in Robert is one of several the Mets have made in recent days. Most notably, they reached a three-year, $126 million deal with former Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette. The team went 83-79 last season and missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons despite some aggressive acquisition of talent in recent years.
Robert represents the latest addition for a Mets franchise that hasn’t shied away from spending big under owner Steven Cohen.
