May 25, 2022
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In the wake of yesterday’s horrific shooting in Uvalde, Texas, NBA and WNBA leaders like Steve Kerr, Natasha Cloud, and LeBron James are leading the way as the sports world attempts to express its anger and call for stricter gun control. “We can’t get numb to this. We can’t sit here and just read about it and say let’s have a moment of silence,” Kerr said.
How An All-NBA Team Selection Means Millions [[link removed]]
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Tuesday’s All-NBA Team cemented the reputations of several next-generation stars — but represented a bonanza for three particular bank accounts.
Regardless of ranking, Devin Booker, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Trae Young are the biggest winners — and millions of dollars richer.
Making one [[link removed]] of the three All-NBA Teams can unlock enormous paydays via contract incentives — especially in the case of Young, who had clauses for unguaranteed money from last offseason’s rookie max extension.
Young’s deal now jumps from $176.9M to $212.3M in guaranteed money.Booker is now eligible for a four-year, $211M supermax contract, which would be the largest in Suns history.Towns is eligible to sign the same deal as Booker — the extension would start at $47.1M in 2024 and finish at $58.4M in 2027-28.
The Grizzlies’ Ja Morant made the second team, but a year too early. He’s eligible for a five-year, $186 million extension this summer — without a bonus from this year’s bid.
That figure would rise to $223 million if he makes an All-NBA team next season.
However the nominations affect stars’ wallets, the NBA has clearly ushered in a new era: This is the first time since 1954-55 that the entire First Team is 27 or younger.
The $140M Basher Behind The Red Sox’s Hot Streak [[link removed]]
Boston Red Sox
After an ice-cold start to the season, the Red Sox’s offense has finally caught fire — led by their prized offseason acquisition.
With Tuesday’s 16-3 blowout of the White Sox, Boston is 10-3 and has scored 95 runs over the last 13 games — compared to 95 over the first 29 games (10-19).
Nobody symbolizes the turnaround better than 2B Trevor Story, whose recent production is justifying the six-year, $140 million deal that brought him to Boston last offseason.
Story waited until May 11 to hit his first homer in a Red Sox uniform — but has racked up six HR and 17 RBI in his last five games.The 29-year-old was [[link removed]] the third player in MLB history to follow a three-HR game with a grand slam in the next one on May 19 and 20.Story’s $20M salary is [[link removed]] tied with SS Xander Bogaerts’ and SP Chris Sale’s as the highest this season on a team with [[link removed]] the league’s sixth-highest payroll ($200.9M).
Story’s early returns are more promising than comparable signings from the offseason’s red-hot middle-infielder market.
His 33 RBI are sixth in the majors, well ahead of Corey Seager (19), Carlos Correa (15), Javier Baez (12), and Marcus Semien (9) — who all signed contracts with higher or equal AAVs.
And Story could be Boston’s most valuable infielder for the foreseeable future — Bogaerts can opt out of his contract next offseason and hasn’t inked an extension.
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Blue-Liner Fox Leading Rangers From the Back [[link removed]]
Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
In November, the Rangers made sure to lock in their star defenseman Adam Fox for the long term with a record-setting contract extension.
The investment is paying off handsomely this postseason, as the 24-year-old blue-liner has developed a prolific scoring streak. Fox added a goal and assist to help the Rangers top the Hurricanes 4-1 on Tuesday and even their second-round series 2-2.
Fox has been the Rangers’ playoff talisman from the back end with his four goals and nine assists, the most for a defenseman — topping the Avalanche’s Cale Makar by a point.
He signed a seven-year, $66.5M extension — the largest in league history for a defenseman exiting his entry-level deal (3 YRs, $5.3M).Beginning with the 2022-23 season, he will carry a cap hit of $9.5M – T4 among NHL blue-liners.Fox’s 11 goals and 63 assists in the regular season put him fourth in scoring for defensemen.
New York has stormed back into the series — and the reigning Norris winner could shorten his odds to add to his trophy case the longer he helps keep the Rangers’ Stanley Cup hopes alive.
But Fox is still a long shot to win the Conn Smythe Trophy for postseason MVP — he’s currently tied for 15th at +5000, far behind favorite Makar (+450).
The Rangers head back to Carolina on Thursday for Game 5 (7 p.m. ET, ESPN) with the fifth-best odds (+1300) to win their first title since 1994.
Making Headlines
Washington Mystics
WNBA: Elena Delle Donne became the 40th player in league history to reach 4,000 points during the Mystics’ 70-50 victory over the Dream; the two-time MVP has averaged 20.2 points per game over her career.
NFL: The Steelers promoted Omar Khan to general manager; Khan has spent the last six seasons as their VP of football operations and business administration.
NCAAM: Baylor Scheierman announced he is withdrawing from the NBA Draft and will play for Creighton in 2022-23; Scheierman transferred from South Dakota State earlier this month after being one of the most coveted transfer portal players.
NBA: According to the NYDN [[link removed]], Kevin Durant has not spoken to Brooklyn’s front office since the season ended, and the organization is “hesitant” to give Kyrie Irving a long-term extension.
French Open: (1) Novak Djokovic, (3) Alexander Zverev, and (9) Felix Auger-Aliassime each advanced to the third round of the men’s competition. In the women’s tournament, (15) Victoria Azarenka and (18) Coco Gauff advanced, while (4) Maria Sakkari and (12) Emma Raducanu were eliminated.
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Written by Anthony Puccio [[link removed]], Doug Greenberg [[link removed]], Chris Kuc [[link removed]] Edited by Brian Krikorian [[link removed]]
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