Tag: Fox Sport News

MILAN — Already denied a goal and an assist by successful Latvian challenges earlier in the game, Brock Nelson couldn’t resist sending a message.

The American forward celebrated his go-ahead goal midway through the second period by playfully pointing at the net and signaling “good goal” to make the point that this one counted.

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“You never know how many looks you’re going to get, so when you have that happen, you’re like maybe tonight’s not my night,” Nelson said. “You just try to stick with it. All the guys were positive for sure.”

Nelson’s goal was the lid-lifter the U.S. men’s hockey team needed to seize control of the match and get its quest for Olympic gold off to an encouraging start. The Americans added two more goals by the end of the second period, salting away a 5-1 victory over Latvia on Thursday night in the opening match of group play for both teams.

“That goal by Brock was really big,” American defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “It felt like we were pushing and pushing, kind of waiting for the dam to break.”

The last time the U.S. men’s hockey team captured Olympic gold, a group of college standouts and minor-league nobodies engineered the Miracle on Ice. Forty-six years later, the Americans boast a star-laden roster composed entirely of NHL players and the belief that it is at last their time again.

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Their starting goaltender is the reigning NHL MVP and a three-time Vezina Trophy winner. Their group of defensemen includes four who appeared on ballots in last year’s Norris Trophy voting. Their attacking talent includes the likes of Auston Matthews, Jack Eichel and Brady and Matthew Tkachuk. It’s the deepest, strongest roster at these Olympics besides Canada’s, which is somehow even more loaded.

Only six members of Latvia’s roster currently play in the NHL, but the U.S. entered Thursday’s matchup expecting a fight. Latvia is a proud hockey country with a history of punching above its weight class. At the 2023 World Championships, the Latvians won a surprise bronze medal, toppling the likes of Czechia, Sweden and the U.S.

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The opening period was an exasperating one for a U.S. team that put the puck in the back of the net three times yet skated off the ice with just a single goal.

Quinn Hughes thought he had put the U.S. ahead 2-0, but referees ruled that Nelson was offside during the buildup. Then, after a Latvian goal against the run of play, Nelson appeared to score on a deflection to make it 2-1, but referees ruled that minimal contact between J.T. Miller and Merzlikins in the crease was enough to be goaltender inference.

Annoyance turned to disbelief for the Americans late in the first period when U.S. attackers twice beat Merzlikins, only to have their shots clang off the post. First it was Nelson. Then it was Matthew Tkachuk. The older Tkachuk brother was so certain that he had scored that he began to raise his arms in celebration, only to put them on his head when he realized he had been denied. Linemate Jack Eichel also put both arms in the air, then quickly put them back down.

Credit the U.S. for bearing down and responding by dominating the second period. The U.S. limited Latvia to just two shots and peppered Merzlikins over and over until Nelson finally broke through.

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A deft Jack Hughes pass from behind the net set Nelson up all alone in front of the net with only Merzlikins to beat. Nelson stayed patient and made no mistake, deking the Latvian goaltender the wrong way and burying the puck into an open net.

The goals came easily for the U.S. after that. Tage Thompson went backhand over the shoulder of Merzlikins from a tight angle to make it 3-1. Beautiful tic-tac-toe passing set up Nelson for his second goal of the game barely a minute later.

Latvia changed goaltenders after the second period, not that it slowed the U.S. onslaught. Auston Matthews struck less than three minutes into the third period.

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The Americans are unlikely to face more resistance in their next group-stage game against Denmark on Saturday night. It might not be until Sunday against  Leon Draisaitl and Germany that the U.S. is truly challenged.

If the Americans get this version of Nelson to lead their fourth line, it might be even longer than that.

“What could he have had, like four or five goals tonight if they wouldn’t have gotten called back?” Matthew Tkachuk said. “He was awesome.”

A third state would like to enter the battle for the next home of the Chicago Bears.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds voiced an interest in luring the NFL team on Wednesday, according to the Des Moines Register, calling the idea a “wild pass.” A day later, an Iowa Senate subcommittee advanced Senate File 2252.

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If passed, the bill would modify Iowa’s major economic growth attraction program to “include incentivizing the building of a professional sports stadium by a National Football League franchise in the state.”

The Bears do not appear to have publicly reacted to the move.

Iowa’s interest is the latest development in the Bears’ quest to find a post-Soldier Field home. The Bears have floated both a lakefront site near Soldier Field and a development in the suburb of Arlington Heights, both of which would require more than a billion dollars in taxpayer support. The Illinois legislature reportedly declined either project for 2026, leading team president Kevin Warren to float a move to northwest Indiana.

Indiana politicians have moved to meet that interest. The cities of Gary, Hammond and Portage — NW Indiana’s three largest cities — have all signaled interest in the Bears.

An Iowa state senator had an interesting way to describe the situation, via Front Office Sports:

Sen. Kerry Gruenhagen (R., Iowa), in a statement, said the bill was filed to “show a team in our neighboring state that we are ready for them if their home state doesn’t want them. While Illinois and Indiana squabble over this issue, we are ready to get off the sidelines and into the game.”

Not every Iowa politician is interested in the enormous expenditure that landing the Bears would require, though. Iowa House minority leader Brian Meyer told the Register he didn’t see the idea as serious:

“It’s all a game, it’s all a gimmick,” Meyer said. “I get it. I understand. But the time to get serious is upon us and we need to focus on issues that really matter to people. And I understand, obviously there is no way the Chicago Bears are moving to wherever they want them to, right? So the reality is we’re not going to annex Galena, Illinois, either. So let’s get serious. We need to buckle down and focus on school funding, clean up the waterways and make life more affordable.”

There are obvious challenges to bringing the Bears to Iowa that not even Indiana would really face. For starters, there’s the question of how far you can move from Chicago and still call yourself the Chicago Bears. One could argue that moving to Indiana would break that threshold, but northwest Indiana is still considered part of the Chicago metropolitan area by the U.S. Census.

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It’s roughly a 40-mile drive from Soldier Field to Portage, the farthest city of the Indiana trio. The Iowa border, meanwhile, is more than 150 miles. So moving the Bears would mean severing generations of local connections for a state with about a third of the population of the Chicago metro area.

You would hope that’s a factor in the Bears’ eventual decision.

David Rubenstein, a billionaire who has owned the Baltimore Orioles since 2024, met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2012, Front Office Sports reported Thursday.

While Rubenstein, a founder of the Washington, D.C.-based private-equity firm The Carlyle Group, is named in the Epstein files, he’s not accused of any wrongdoing.

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Among the millions of emails released by the Department of Justice last month are exchanges between Rubenstein and Epstein. Those reveal that Rubenstein met with Epstein for dinner in November 2012, four years after Epstein pleaded guilty to a state charge of solicitation of prostitution with a minor.

“Mr. Rubenstein had one meeting for 20 minutes in Carlyle’s office, at the request of people seeking Mr. Rubenstein’s participation in philanthropic endeavors, none of which were pursued by Mr. Rubenstein,” a spokesperson for Rubenstein said in a statement provided to multiple outlets on Thursday.

“Nice meeting you finally,” Epstein wrote in an email to Rubenstein on Nov. 12, 2012. Epstein and Rubenstein were reportedly previously introduced via email by Boris Nikolić, a physician once named as “successor executor” to Epstein’s estate.

In that Nov. 12 email to Rubenstein, Epstein noted that Ehud Barak, a former prime minister of Israel, would be in Washington and asked whether Rubenstein would be interested in meeting with Barak to discuss the forecast for the economy following the election.

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At the time, incumbent Barack Obama had just defeated Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

Rubenstein then responded, “Thanks very much. Enjoyed the chance to meet you as well.”

Later in the same message, Rubenstein added: “I need to check my schedule tomorrow. I really like ehud and I am up to speed on what congress and wh are doing — though impact on the economy is still a bit of guess work.”

Rubenstein’s spokesperson addressed that back-and-forth in their statement.

“A brief email thanking Mr. Rubenstein for the meeting also suggested a meeting between Mr. Rubenstein and Ehud Barak, which never occurred,” the spokesperson told multiple outlets.

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“There is nothing more to Mr. Rubenstein’s involvement than that innocuous interaction.”

That said, as reported by FOS, Epstein sent an email to Rubenstein two weeks later, and his reply suggested another meeting between them was in the works.

On Nov. 26, 2012, Epstein emailed Rubenstein a link to an article about Barak leaving politics. Less than two hours later, Rubenstein responded, “So no dinner this week?”

Epstein replied later that day, “dinner is a better idea now.. looking for interesting things to do.”

Outside of Rubenstein’s direct correspondence with Epstein, there’s other evidence of their connection in the files. FOS reported Thursday that in July 2012, a “Sarah K” emailed Epstein a photo of a woman in a bathing suit, which Epstein forwarded to Nikolić and wrote “for david rubenstein.”

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The woman’s face is redacted in the files.

Nikolić, who told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month that he “deeply” regrets associating with Epstein, responded back then to that email, “Thank you! HOT.”

A spokesperson for Rubenstein said Rubenstein had never received or seen that email from Nikolić, per FOS.

Rubenstein and fellow private-equity billionaire Mike Arougheti spearheaded the purchase of the Orioles from the Angelos family in January 2024, reportedly acquiring ownership of the club at a price that valued the team at $1.725 billion.

Peter Angelos, who led the purchase of the Orioles in 1993, died at 94 in March 2024. Soon after, Rubenstein, a Baltimore native, officially took over as the franchise’s control person.

Trinidad Chambliss’ push for an extra year of eligibility has paid off.

The Ole Miss quarterback was granted an injunction in Mississippi state court on Thursday that allows him to play for the Rebels in 2026. Chambliss, who transferred from Ferris State, had argued that he should have received a medical redshirt in 2022 while he was playing for the Bulldogs and dealing with health issues before his tonsils were removed in 2024. Chambliss redshirted in 2021 while he was at Ferris State and didn’t appear in a game in 2022.

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The injunction from Judge Robert Whitwell came after the NCAA twice denied Chambliss’ request for a sixth year of eligibility. In January, the governing body denied his request for a waiver and then subsequently denied his appeal. During the hearing Thursday, news emerged that the NCAA had denied Chambliss’ request to reconsider its decision.

Whitwell noted before he issued the injunction that the NCAA’s lawyers had left the courtroom and were not present at the time of his ruling Thursday afternoon. Whitwell talked for over an hour before issuing his ruling, and it was obvious over the course of his remarks that he was going to rule in Chambliss’ favor as he noted that the NCAA had operated “in bad faith” and that it disregarded Chambliss’ medical issues in refusing to grant him the waiver.

Whitwell also made clear that he was not ruling that the NCAA’s rules were illegal or making a larger example of the NCAA’s eligibility system.

Chambliss, 23, was one of college football’s breakout stars in 2025. After relieving an injured Austin Simmons in Ole Miss’ second game of the season, Chambliss totaled 30 touchdowns and threw just three interceptions as the Rebels made it to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff before losing to Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.

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Chambliss’ performance in the quarterfinals against Georgia was a game that will live forever in Ole Miss lore. He was 30-of-46 passing for 362 yards and two scores as the Rebels outscored the Bulldogs 27-13 in the second half for a 39-34 Sugar Bowl win.

His return to Ole Miss is a huge boost for the Rebels as they look to get back to the College Football Playoff under new coach Pete Golding. The former Ole Miss defensive coordinator became the team’s head coach ahead of the playoff in December as Lane Kiffin decided to leave Ole Miss for the open job at LSU.

To say that having Chambliss back for a second season in Oxford is massive may be an understatement. Simmons transferred after the season to Missouri and, had Chambliss not come back, Auburn transfer Deuce Knight would have been the prohibitive favorite to start for the Rebels.

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Chambliss will likely be one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy ahead of the 2026 season even with Kiffin and former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. now at LSU. Ole Miss added the No. 18 transfer class in the country this offseason, according to On3, and signed Michigan State RB Makhi Frazier and (controversially) Clemson LB Luke Ferrelli among others.

With Chambliss now set to play for the Rebels next season, there’s still one more eligibility case among starting quarterbacks in the SEC remaining. Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar has received a temporary restraining order in his efforts to play for a seventh season of college football, with a hearing set for Friday over a possible injunction that would clear the way for him to play next season.

Thursday was a quieter day in the medal department for the United States, but there were still plenty of highlights in Milan. The U.S. men’s hockey team dominated, and Breezy Johnson’s great week continued.

54-year-old Rich Ruohonen made history, and Chloe Kim just missed out on it. Lastly, Jessie Diggins medaled in her farewell tour.

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Here are five of the top stories from Day 6 of the Milan Cortina Olympics:

U.S. men’s hockey makes opening statement

Team USA men’s hockey couldn’t have gotten off to a better start as it opened Olympic play on Thursday. For the first time since the 2014 Olympics, NHL players are back, and they made their presence known in a 5-1 win over Latvia behind a strong performance from Brock Nelson.

Nelson, who plays for the Colorado Avalanche in the NHL, finished the game with two goals, and had another goal and assists denied after successful challenges by Latvia. The Ottawa Senators’ Brady Tkachuk, Buffalo Sabres’ Tage Thompson and Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews each scored a goal.

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No three-peat for Chloe Kim

Going into Thursday’s women’s halfpipe final, Chloe Kim had the opportunity to become the first snowboarder to win three straight gold medals. Kim was unable to make history after finishing behind South Korea’s Gaon Choi as a silver medalist for the first time in her career.

Choi was able to overcome a scary fall in her second run to finish in first and make history of her own, becoming the youngest snowboarding gold medalist in history, at 17 years and 101 days old. American snowboarder Red Gerard previously held the record when he won the 2018 slopestyle at 17 years and 227 days old.

Breezy Johnson trades in Olympic gold for an engagement ring

What a week for U.S. skier Breezy Johnson. After winning Olympic gold in Sunday’s downhill competition, Johnson got engaged to her boyfriend, Connor Watkins, at the base of the super-G run in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Thursday.

Johnson told NBC’s Cara Banks that she had hopes of getting engaged at the Olympics. The big news lifted her spirits after she crashed out of Thursday’s super-G and did not finish. Johnson will have to be extra careful with her new hardware after she broke her gold medal earlier this week.

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Rich Ruohonen becomes America’s oldest Olympian

Rich Ruohonen is a perfect example of why you are never too old to go for it. At 54 years old, Ruohonen became America’s oldest person to ever compete in the Winter Games. Ruohonen, a personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, originally filled in as skipper last season for Team USA’s Danny Casper. On Thursday, Ruohonen was subbed into Team USA’s game against Switzerland.

Ruohen’s temporary role turned into a part-time job as the team’s alternate — or fifth player. After 30 years of Olympic Trials frustration, he was able to finally secure a spot in the 2026 Winter Games. Joseph Savage (52 in 1932) and Mac McCarthy (51 in 1948) were the only other Olympians over 50 to compete in the Winter Olympics, according to the co-founder of the International Society of Olympic Historians, Bill Mallon. Many elite curlers retire in their late 30s.

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Jessie Diggins wins bronze during her final Olympics

U.S. cross-country skier Jessie Diggins’ farewell tour added an exclamation point, taking bronze in Thursday’s women’s 10km — while competing with bruised ribs. Diggins said this will be her final Olympics and that she will retire after the season finale in Lake Placid, New York, in March.

Diggins won gold at the 2018 team event in PyeongChang and won silver in the 30km freestyle and bronze in the individual sprint in 2022. The 33-year-old’s list of accomplishments also includes 33 career World Cup wins and reaching the podium 87 times.

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Highlight of the day

Have yourself a day, Brock Nelson!

One more thing

The action in Milan provided plenty of highlights on Thursday, but mogul skier Tess Johnson’s boyfriend’s grandpa might be the best thing you’ll see all day.

The 2026 Milan Cortina Games became the last moment of freedom for a Slovak man who wanted to see his nation’s ice hockey team play in the Winter Olympics.

A 44-year-old Slovak national was arrested Wednesday in Milan, ending a run during which he eluded Italian authorities for 16 years for alleged shopping thefts perpetrated in 2010. The man was apprehended after checking into a guest house outside of Milan, reportedly after police received a tip from hotel staff, according to a statement released by the local Carabinieri police force (via Reuters).

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The fugitive intended to watch Slovakia play Finland in men’s ice hockey the following day. Alas, the man did not get to see the Slovaks take the ice versus the Finns.

Slovakia won its opener in group play with a 4-1 victory over Finland. The man was taken to the San Vittore prison in Milan after being arrested and will serve 11 months and seven days.

Had the man avoided capture for three more days, he might have been able to see Slovakia play home country Italy in its next group-play matchup. Apparently, that would’ve been pushing his luck too far. He had already evaded arrest for 16 years since Italian prosecutors issued a warrant for him.

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The end result of the story feels like what ultimately took down Neil McCauley (played by Robert De Niro) in 1995’s “Heat.” McCauley could have gotten away from Los Angeles police and detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) and presumably enjoyed the rest of his life on the run.

But just like the Slovak fugitive decided to go back to Italy to watch his nation’s ice hockey team, McCauley felt the need to exact revenge on Waingro (Kevin Gage) for ratting his heist crew out to police. That’s what got him caught in the end.

For years now, I’ve searched for a simple way to explain the current state of college athletics to those unfamiliar.

How do you best help people understand the instability of a structure and system so profitable and popular?

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“Everything seems to be going well. What’s all the hubbub about?” they’ll say.

Perhaps they are right. Perhaps the cries of chaos from stakeholders are only necessary growing pains for an entity evolving from amateur to professional.

Perhaps that’s OK.

But on Thursday afternoon, for a few fleeting moments, a realtime snapshot existed that, more than anything, highlights the absurd state of the industry.

Within a county courthouse, situated in the tiniest of towns in the most rural of areas in north Mississippi, a 23-year-old quarterback’s collegiate eligibility — his Heisman Trophy hopes, his team’s championship aspirations, his more than $5 million in promised compensation — hinged on a decision from a 70-plus-year-old chancery court judge who just so happens to hold a law degree from the school, Ole Miss, that stands to benefit most from his ruling.

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This is less than ideal.

Set aside your feelings on the decision from Judge Robert Q. Whitwell to grant quarterback Trinidad Chambliss an extra year of eligibility. Remove the names and school logos. Put away your inherent bias and partiality. Look at the whole.

Is it healthy for college sports to have the eligibility of athletes determined within courtrooms across America?

In fact, as Whitwell, his Southern accent thick enough to peel paint, completed the 90-minute reading of his order and subsequent decision, the judge grew emotional, unable to keep within the joyous feelings of being the man who permitted Chambliss — by all accounts a standup human being and brilliant footballer — another year of collegiate eligibility, another chance to chase dreams, to earn millions.

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It was a scene ripped from the pages of a novel from famed Mississippi-reared author John Grisham.

It’s easy to argue that this is one of the most compelling stories in recent college football history: a Michigan-born kid so lightly recruited that he began his career in Division II, did well enough there (Ferris State) to earn a spot playing major college football in the South as a backup, before replacing the starter midseason and leading the Ole Miss Rebels to their best season in more than 60 years.

The latest chapter came Thursday, within that courtroom as part of a lawsuit against an organization, the NCAA, that denied Chambliss three different times in the last two months an additional year of eligibility — all over claims that illness (lingering tonsillitis, plus mononucleosis and COVID) kept him from playing in 2022.

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Let’s not get bogged down on the facts of the case. Here’s the gist: Over a five-hour hearing Thursday, Chambliss and his attorneys argued before the judge that he was sick enough to warrant a medical redshirt for that season; the NCAA argued he did not produce enough medical evidence to back up that claim; the judge sided with the quarterback.

There is something more important here.

This case was different from many other judicial decisions deeming the NCAA in violation of antitrust law. This was not an “antitrust” case. It was a “contract” case.

In fact, this case may have cracked a door to a new avenue of legal challenges against the NCAA’s rules. Chambliss’ attorneys, instead of suing over antitrust claims (more difficult to prove), sued the NCAA over breaching its contract with Ole Miss as a member university of which all athletes, including Chambliss, are third-party beneficiaries.

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In layman’s terms, the NCAA “failed,” as the judge said, to uphold its membership agreement with Ole Miss, which states that it must “commit to the well-being and development of student-athletes” and apply its rules in “good faith.”

By not granting Chambliss a sixth year of eligibility, the NCAA breached its contract and acted in bad faith, causing harm to Chambliss in a number of ways in which the judge detailed, including the loss of compensation in what he described as the new “labor market” of college sports; loss of an additional year to develop for the NFL (something that Ole Miss assistant coach Joe Judge, a witness in the case, stressed during his time on the stand); and, in an interesting twist, the loss of college football’s fan base in witnessing one of the best players in the country, the judge said.

As in many of these cases, the NCAA is made to be the bad guy here. Evil. Sinister.

But there is something important to remember: The NCAA is charged with enforcing rules and standards that are created by member schools. As it turns out, a committee of school administrators — not the NCAA staff — denied Chambliss’ waiver appeal.

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The root of the denial has gone mostly unreported, but here it is: Committee members requested to see practice logs from Chambliss’ 2022 season as a way to determine the severity of his illness. However, since 2022, Ferris State has switched operation systems that archive practice logs. The records were lost or were so difficult and costly enough to obtain that they never made it to the committee.

The NCAA staff’s original denial of Chambliss’ eligibility waiver in December preceded the denied appeal from the committee in early January and triggered the lawsuit to be filed soon afterward. And then, on the morning of Thursday’s hearing, Chambliss’ last resort for eligibility through the NCAA — a “reconsideration” — was rejected.

It mattered not, of course.

Within a courtroom, from a local judge, another college athlete received additional eligibility.

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Since Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia successfully sued the NCAA in December of 2024, Chambliss is the 11th player to receive an injunction for extended eligibility in 55 lawsuits filed. In 34 of those cases a judge ruled in favor of the NCAA in a preliminary judgement, or the case was voluntarily dismissed.

About a dozen cases are still pending, including one coming Friday, when Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar and attorneys plan to argue for an eighth year of eligibility before, yes, a Tennessee judge.

Of the 11 successful injunctions granted to extend a player’s eligibility, seven of them have come in state court from a local judge — a new way that attorneys have found to reach a decision that most benefits their clients, moving away from filing federally.

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On Thursday, Chambliss’ counsel paved the way, perhaps, for another avenue to test and eventually topple NCAA standards.

In its statement in reaction to the news, the NCAA says the decision illustrates the “impossible situation” created from differing court decisions in lawsuits supported by its member schools attacking the very rules that they created. These “conflicting court decisions,” the statement read, make “partnering with Congress essential to provide stability” — another plea to lawmakers to adopt federal legislation to govern the industry.

At the very least, all of this has provided something personally useful: I’ve found a simple way to explain the current state of college athletics to those unfamiliar.

A courthouse. Congress. And an infinity of billable hours.

Chicago White Sox general manager Chris Getz issued a mea culpa Thursday after wrongly calling one of his more important players a switch-hitter for a month.

That player is Luisangel Acuña, the younger brother of Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. and a former top-100 prospect. Chicago acquired the 23-year-old as the main return in the Luis Robert Jr. trade last month, and he’s expected to play a significant role on the team in 2026.

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Acuña is a right-handed hitter. He was right-handed when the Texas Rangers signed him out of Venezuela in 2018, and he has never dabbled in switch-hitting as far as we can tell. He was still right-handed when the White Sox acquired him for one of their top trade chips.

Still, for some reason, Getz repeatedly referred to Acuña as a switch-hitter in public appearances, as Roundtable’s Sam Phalen compiled:

That highlight reel made the social media rounds Wednesday, leading to Getz admitting he was wrong, with some tongue-in-cheek comments via MLB.com:

“So I probably have been getting carried away describing his versatility,” Getz joked. “He can play every position on the field. Why does it have to stop there? I called Luisangel and told him that even though he’s just right-handed, we still love him.”

On the one hand, this is silly. Everyone’s made a mistake like that, such as thinking an athlete plays a position he doesn’t. It’s hard to imagine the White Sox declining to pull the trigger on the Robert trade because Acuña is right-handed.

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On the other hand, it would be polite to call this a bad look for Getz. An MLB general manager is supposed to have deep knowledge of not just every player on their team but also every player in the minor-league organization. If a no-name outfielder suddenly hits a homer over the batter’s eye in Low-A or a teenage pitcher reaches 100 mph in the Dominican complex, the GM is supposed to know about it.

That applies to players outside the organization, too. A move such as the Robert trade should be coming after hours of legwork evaluating every interested team’s minor-league system for under-appreciated talents. Getz acquiring Acuña is a bet that a guy who was Baseball America’s No. 66 prospect in 2024 can still be an impact talent, despite slashing .248/.299/.341 in 233 MLB plate appearances, and you don’t make those calls unless your staff has pored through reams of data and scouting reports.

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So if a GM has something as basic as a player’s handedness wrong, that’s worth remembering.

Getz has worked for the White Sox since 2016 and was promoted to general manager in 2023. His tenure has so far consisted of overseeing a rebuilding system while fielding one of the worst teams in MLB. Despite some interesting moves such as the signing of Munetaka Murakami, Vegas isn’t expecting a much better team this year, with BetMGM pegging the Sox’s over/under at 66.5, third-worst in MLB.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nikola Topić made his NBA debut in Thursday’s 110-93 loss against the Milwaukee Bucks. Topić received a standing ovation when he entered the game, his first since being diagnosed with testicular cancer. He’d been out since October as he underwent chemotherapy treatment.

He finished the game with two points, 1 rebound and 1 assist in 12 minutes.

The 20-year-old was assigned to the OKC Blue on Sunday and played in two G League games, averaging 14.5 points and 5.5 assists through two games with the OKC Blue.

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The 6-foot-6 Serbian guard had yet to make his NBA debut since being drafted with the 12th overall pick in the 2024 draft. Topić missed his rookie season and essentially had a redshirt rookie season after partially tearing his ACL before the draft. He played in the Summer League and preseason before his diagnosis this year.

Topić received minutes with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell out on Thursday night. Gilgeous-Alexander and Mitchell have missed time with abdominal injuries, while Williams is dealing with a hamstring injury. Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein also rested in the team’s last game before the All-Star break.

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The defending champions sit atop the West standings at 42-14.

The NBA is getting fed up with some of the most obvious tanking in recent memory.

The league announced Thursday it has fined the Utah Jazz $500,000 and the Indiana Pacers $100,000 for their roster management in recent games. In the statement, NBA commissioner Adam Silver took the rare step of describing both teams’ actions as blatant attempts to improve their draft position by losing:

“Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” said NBA commissioner Adam Silver. “Additionally, we are working with our Competition Committee and Board of Governors to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct.”

The statement points to specific examples for both teams. The Jazz’s offense was described as “conduct detrimental to the league,” with the NBA noting the franchise removed star players Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. after the third quarter in a game against the Orlando Magic on Feb. 7 and Miami Heat on Feb. 9.

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No injuries or any other reasons were provided for Markkanen or Jackson’s removal, though Jackson has since been reported to have been on a minutes restriction due to a knee issue that led to surgery. Utah led the Magic 94-87 entering the fourth quarter and led the Heat 85-82 at the same point, at which point the two All-Stars were pulled.

Funnily enough, the Jazz actually won that second game 115-111. The Magic, however, came back to win 120-117 in that first game.

Jazz owner Ryan Smith took exception with the fine in a social-media post: “agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense …”

The Pacers, meanwhile, are accused of violating the NBA’s Player Participation Policy in connection to its game against the Jazz on Feb. 3. An NBA investigation that included a review by an independent doctor found that star forward Pascal Siakam and two other starters, all of whom were held out, could have played under the policy’s medical standard.

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Siakam was officially held out due to rest, but the NBA said the Pacers could have held the players out of other games “in a way that would have better promoted compliance with the Policy.” The Jazz “won” the game 131-122.

The fines represent the NBA taking a stance against tanking, though the teams might just see them as the cost of doing business. It’s certainly not like they’re going to be better going forward, as Jackson was ruled out for the season earlier Thursday and Markkanen has missed games on both Tuesday and Thursday due to rest.

Along with the Washington Wizards, Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans (whose unprotected 2026 first-round pick is controlled by the Atlanta Hawks), the Jazz and Pacers are two of five teams with 18 or fewer wins this season. The prize is obvious for whichever team manages to finish the season with the NBA’s worst record: a guaranteed top-five pick in a draft with one of the strongest college freshman classes in the history of basketball.

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Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Duke’s Cameron Boozer and UNC’s Caleb Wilson all loom as potential franchise-changers, with plenty more impact talents behind them for teams unlucky in the lottery. Teams have had this draft circled on their calendars for years, and have acted accordingly.

Like the Jazz, the Wizards also have a big man acquired at the trade deadline who might not play again this season in Anthony Davis. The former Mavericks star hasn’t suited up for the team yet due to a finger injury, nor has Trae Young, who was acquired last month and remains out with an MCL injury.