Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw is Just Like Everyone Else Watching Shohei Ohtani
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw is Just Like Everyone Else Watching Shohei Ohtani

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw is just like every other MLB fan: He's sometimes befuddled by Shohei Ohtani's greatness.

Kershaw, on the 60-day injured list as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery he underwent in November of 2023, has had a front-row seat to watch Ohtani in his first season in Los Angeles. And the two-time American League MVP hasn't disappointed, as he is swinging a hot stick lately, having belted four home runs in his last three games for the Dodgers (24-13).

Kershaw raved about Ohtani on Monday night in an in-game interview with Dodgers broadcasters Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser on Spectrum Sportsnet LA during the team's 6-3 win over the Miami Marlins on Monday, saying that the Japanese slugger's recent hot streak has been "unbelievable."

"I don't remember him even being this good in Anaheim," Kershaw said, shaking his head. "I don't remember him ever being on this kind of tear. This is unbelievable. Every ball that he hits, he's just so strong. I don't get it. I don't think anybody does. He's just amazing."

We don't get it either, Mr. Kershaw.

Ohtani, 29, is the early frontrunner for the National League MVP, as he currently leads MLB in batting average, hits, home runs and OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging Percentage). In April, he broke the record for the most career home runs hit by a Japanese-born player.

Beyond the numbers, Ohtani's feats of strength have been of the usual, jaw-dropping variety. He smashed a heat-seeking missile of a single, the hardest-hit ball of the 2024 season, in an April 27 game against the Toronto Blue Jays. Ohtani crushed the second-longest home run of the 2024 season, a 464-foot blast into the center field bleachers of Dodger Stadium, on Sunday against the Atlanta Braves.

But the fact that Kershaw, an all-time great pitcher ticketed for Cooperstown, can't comprehend Ohtani's greatness tells you all you need to know about just how good he really is.

Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB, Shohei Ohtani
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SI:AM | The Pacers Have Every Right to Be Furious About Officiating
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

SI:AM | The Pacers Have Every Right to Be Furious About Officiating

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I hate when a basketball game ends with a dozen whistles in the final minute.

In today’s SI:AM: 

🦓 Was this a foul?
🤦‍♂️ What was Jamal Murray thinking?
😞 What happened to center fielders?

What a wild night in the NBA

The NBA’s Last Two Minute report from Game 1 of the series between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers is going to be a doozy.

The Knicks won the game, 121–117, behind another explosive scoring night from Jalen Brunson, who had 43 points to become the first player since Michael Jordan to score at least 40 points in four straight playoff games. But the Knicks also benefited significantly from several questionable officiating decisions down the stretch in a tight game.

The most crucial and most controversial was the offensive foul call on Pacers center Myles Turner with 12.1 seconds left. The play came immediately after a Knicks turnover gave Indiana new life, with New York leading 118–117 and the Pacers able to hold the ball for the last shot. Tyrese Haliburton brought the ball across halfcourt, guarded by Donte DiVincenzo. Turner came up to set a screen on DiVincenzo and DiVincenzo crumpled to the floor as if he’d been stuck by a cattle prod. Turner was whistled for a moving screen, giving the ball back to the Knicks and effectively ending any hopes of a Pacers comeback. (The Pacers challenged the call but it was upheld on review.)

Were Turner’s feet still moving when he set the screen? Sure. Slightly. By the letter of the law, it’s a foul. But it’s a marginal call at best, and not the type of foul that usually gets called at that stage in a playoff game.

“I think it’s best when the players decide the outcome of the game,” Turner said after the game. “I think it’s unfortunate that it happened. We reviewed it; they still called it an illegal screen. But it’s the playoffs, man. I feel like DiVincenzo did a good job of selling it. For the most part you can’t leave the game to be decided by the refs. So we have to take accountability as well. Of course it’s right after the game, I’m a little fresh in my emotions about it, but we know, at the end of the day, we can’t get to that position.

“The Last Two Minute report, we’re all looking forward to that coming out. I think there was two controversial calls. We had to use our challenge on one call on Tyrese [Haliburton]. And then the kickball by Aaron Nesmith that was not a kickball—you can clearly see it on the replay.”

While the moving screen call is debatable, there’s no doubt that Turner is right about the missed call on Nesmith. With 52 seconds left to play and the score tied at 115, Brunson tried to sneak a pass to DiVincenzo in transition. Nesmith deflected the pass, but the officials ruled that he did so with his foot, which is illegal, and the Knicks retained possession. In fact, video shows that Nesmith clearly deflected the pass with his hand, but the call was not reviewable.

The blown call denied the Pacers a fastbreak opportunity in the final minute of a tied game. Instead, immediately after the Knicks got the ball back, DiVincenzo hit a dagger three. Crew chief Zach Zarba told a pool reporter after the game that the call was incorrect.

The bad calls weren’t the only reason the Pacers lost. One other reason was that Haliburton made several questionable decisions in the final minutes (he had three turnovers in the last four minutes of the game). But when playing against a quality opponent in a raucous road environment, it’s next to impossible to win when you also have to overcome uneven officiating.

The other game on Monday night was equally interesting, but not equally competitive. In Game 2 of their series, the Minnesota Timberwolves eviscerated the Denver Nuggets, 106–80, to take a 2–0 lead in the series.

The result was notable for a few reasons. First of all, Minnesota was playing without center Rudy Gobert, who was away from the team awaiting the birth of his first child. Even without Gobert, the favorite to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award, the Timberwolves’ defense still held Denver to its fewest points since Game 7 of the 2020 first round against the Jazz (an 80–78 win for the Nuggets).

The loss also marked just the second time during the Nikola Jokić era that the Nuggets lost back-to-back home playoff games. The only other time was when the Phoenix Suns finished off a four-game sweep in Denver in the 2021 second round. The Nuggets were nearly unbeatable at home during their championship run last season, losing just one game in Denver (Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat). But the T-Wolves are just that good. Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns were excellent again in Game 2, combining for 54 points on just 32 shots. It’ll be an uphill battle for the Nuggets to come back and win the series after squandering home-court advantage so dramatically.

Nuggets’ Jamal Murray tries to steal the ball from Timberwolves’ Michael Conley Jr. in Game 2 in Denver on May 6, 2024.

Murray (top) looked completely frustrated during Denver’s Game 2 loss to Minnesota.

Isaiah J. Downing / USA TODAY Sports

The best of Sports Illustrated

The top five…

… things I saw last night:

5.Joel Embiid’s tweet after the moving screen call on Myles Turner.
4.Shohei Ohtani’s 441-foot blast for his MLB-leading 11th homer of the season. (He also leads the majors with a .370 batting average. His teammate Mookie Betts is second at .356.)
3.Sergei Bobrovsky’s sprawling save after a Panthers turnover.
2. Anthony Edwards’s Michael Jordan shrug.
1.Obi Toppin’s between-the-legs dunk in the middle of a tight playoff game.

Indiana Pacers, NBA, NBA Playoffs, New York Knicks
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NBA Fans Irate at Refs for How They Handled Michael Malone’s Game 2 Meltdown
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

NBA Fans Irate at Refs for How They Handled Michael Malone’s Game 2 Meltdown

Michael Malone and the Nuggets are in serious trouble in their series with the Timberwolves after getting blown out in Game 2, 106-80, in front of their home crowd on Monday night. Minnesota now leads the series 2-0.

NBA fans, meanwhile, wondered why Malone didn't get in actual trouble when he ran out on the court in the first quarter to yell at the refs during a break in the action.

Malone was furious and had to be separated from an official yet somehow he didn't get called for a technical foul, even though it clearly looked like he should have been whistled for one.

Here's how that played out:

Fans ripped the refs and the NBA for not laying down some sort of punishment on Malone, especially since players can get technicals for doing far less worse in games:

Game 3 of the series is Friday night in Minneapolis.

Denver Nuggets, Michael Ajayi, NBA, Timberwolves
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‘I Just Want to Win’: Dodgers Ace Walker Buehler Is Back and Ready to Compete
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

‘I Just Want to Win’: Dodgers Ace Walker Buehler Is Back and Ready to Compete

For 22 months, Walker Buehler dreamed about the moment he would next pitch in a major league game. As he woke up from elbow reconstruction surgery, as he muscled through exercises to strengthen the new ligament, as he endured setback after setback, he thought about climbing the mound. And then it turned out the part he liked best was actually descending it. 

“The ceremony of it is done,” he said with relief after he had allowed three runs in four innings in a 6–3 Los Angeles Dodgers victory over the Miami Marlins. “Now I can kind of focus on trying to be good and helping our team.”

He did enough on Monday, although he got some help from the league’s best offense (Los Angeles, with a .806 OPS) and the league’s third-worst (Miami; .626). He allowed six hits and no walks, and he struck out four. He used all six of his pitches—a cutter, a four-seam fastball, a sinker, a knuckle curve, a slider and a changeup. And he surprised both himself and his manager with his velocity. 

“I don’t expect to see 96, 97 [mph], where he was prior to the surgery,” Dave Roberts said before the game. Buehler had been closer to 95 mph in his rehab appearances, and he wondered whether those few ticks on the gun would return. But on Monday he averaged 95.9 mph and topped out at 97.6 mph. 

“I think I could be O.K. if I was [throwing] 92, 94 [mph],” he said. “I think I'm confident that way. But it helps a lot if I can throw 96 or 97.”

The velocity came back before the command did. Buehler, 29, took the field to a lengthy ovation from the 44,970 at Dodger Stadium, made longer when leadoff hitter Jazz Chisholm Jr. stepped out of the box to extend it, a move Buehler called “kind of cool.” (He then added, of the flamboyant center fielder, “That’s one of the better things I’ve seen him do on a baseball field, at least for me personally.”) Buehler reached two strikes on each of the first two hitters but allowed hits to both. He gave up a homer in the second on a sinker that didn’t sink, and he was a half a step slow covering first base, allowing the next batter to reach. But he seemed to settle in and begin hitting his spots, and he escaped the next two innings with only a single and a hit by pitch. 

“You could see the execution crisping up a bit,” said catcher Will Smith.

The velocity sagged in the later innings, but not because Buehler took something off to find accuracy; “I just got really tired,” he said. “I was just tired enough to throw it over there and they hit the top of it a couple of times.”

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Buehler returned to the mound with the Dodgers for the first time in nearly two years.

Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

The whole thing was exhilarating. Since he last pitched in a game that mattered, Buehler turned 28, then 29. He and his wife, McKenzie, became parents; daughter Finley recently turned three months old. He will be a free agent after this season. 

He is navigating a recovery almost without precedent. On Monday, Buehler joined some 100 other major leaguers who pitched again after a second Tommy John surgery; only about half a dozen did so with any real success as starters. 

Buehler endured his first Tommy John surgery two weeks after the Dodgers selected him out of Vanderbilt in the first round of the 2015 draft; he made his professional debut just shy of a year later. 

He tried to return down the stretch last year but shut himself down after just one rehab outing. He took it slow this spring but still encountered setbacks—a comebacker to his right middle finger that cut one outing short by some 50 pitches, spotty command that extended innings and forced him out of games early, a generally lackluster rehab assignment in which he admitted he never felt the adrenaline he weaponizes when he is at his best. 

At one point, Buehler seemed to be the future of the Dodgers’ pitching staff, a budding ace who watched the 2017 World Series from the stands before helping anchor the rotation en route to the ’20 title. From ’18 through ’21, he was by FanGraphs’ version of WAR, the seventh most valuable pitcher in the sport. It was easy to imagine that he would lead the charge through October for years to come. 

But that postseason, Buehler started Game 4 of the National League Division Series on short rest. He made his next start on six days’ rest and was scheduled to start a possible Game 7 of the National League Championship Series on regular rest. But Max Scherzer, scheduled to start Game 6, was scratched the night before when he complained of arm fatigue. Buehler again took the ball on short rest. He lasted four innings and took the loss. He made it until June of the next year before his UCL tore. Neither he nor the Dodgers have publicly attributed the injury to that playoff run—and indeed the UCL rarely fails from one incident—but it’s hard to imagine he will start on short rest this October. 

The Dodgers’ season could hinge on Buehler’s effectiveness this fall. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has pitched well after a disastrous debut, but this is his first season in MLB. Tyler Glasnow has been electric, but he has never thrown more than 120 innings in a season. James Paxton is 35. Gavin Stone is a rookie. Bobby Miller is out with shoulder inflammation. Clayton Kershaw is recovering from capsule surgery, which often ends players’ careers. 

“I just want to win,” Buehler said. “I think for me, it's always been being a guy that 25 other guys want to have the ball when we need to win the game.” This October will mark nearly 36 months since he last pitched in a postseason game. He’s already thinking about climbing that mound.

Buehler, Dodgers, Los Angeles, Tommy John, Walker
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Anthony Edwards and Minnesota’s Suffocating Defense Will Punch You in the Mouth
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Anthony Edwards and Minnesota’s Suffocating Defense Will Punch You in the Mouth

Rudy Gobert was out.

And Minnesota’s defense was suffocating.

Anthony Edwards had four first quarter points.

And the Timberwolves ended it with an eight-point lead.

The Nuggets are the defending champs led by the presumptive MVP.

And faced with playoff-level physicality, they crumbled.

Minnesota 106, Denver 80.

And, really—it wasn’t that close.

This wasn’t a game. It was a message. This was George Foreman–Joe Frazier. Mike Tyson–Trevor Berbick. Rocky Balboa–Clubber Lang. A Denver team has not taken this kind of bludgeoning since the Broncos spotted the Dolphins 70 points last fall.

Minnesota didn’t just come to win. The Timberwolves came to deliver a beating.

“We got beat up in our building,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone. “We got embarrassed in front of our fans.”

Said Nikola Jokić, “After that first quarter there [was] basically only one team on the floor.”

Jokić was bad. The two-time MVP—who, barring a surprise, will take home a third trophy in the coming days—got bullied. He was 5-of-13 from the floor. He missed his only three. He committed four turnovers, all in the first half, when Denver scored a meager 35 points. Gobert’s absence—he missed Game 2 due to the birth of his first child—opened the door for a breakout performance. Instead, Jokić fell flat.

Jamal Murray was worse. He was 3-of-18 from the floor. He was 0-for-4 from three. For 36 grueling minutes Minnesota hounded him with big, long bodies. Edwards. Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Jaden McDaniels. They applied full-court pressure. They bodied him when he attacked the rim. He looked exasperated when Alexander-Walker and McDaniels swarmed him during one possession in the first half. He looked defeated when he repeatedly bounced into the chest of Alexander-Walker when he tried to go off the dribble.

“We've had some really really good defensive efforts this year,” said Timberwolves coach Chris Finch. “But that has to be right up there with the best of them.”

Instead of focusing on Minnesota, Murray zeroed in on the officials. He clapped his hands. He yelled. He threw his arms up in frustration. He appeared to direct the money sign toward a referee in the second quarter. That could cost him some cash. TNT cameras caught Murray firing a heat pack onto the floor during live action. That could cost him a game.

“It’s inexcusable and dangerous,” said Finch. “Certainly can’t allow that to happen.”

Murray left Ball Arena without speaking to reporters.

Against the Lakers, the Nuggets were able to overcome mistakes. Against Minnesota, they pay for them. When L.A. jumped out to early leads, Denver was able to claw its way back. When Minnesota gets them in an early hole, the Wolves bury them. Minnesota had two starters (Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns) score in double figures. But they got eight assists from Kyle Anderson and 14 points apiece from Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid off the bench. McDaniels scored five points but was a team-high +26. Through three quarters, before Malone pulled his starters, Denver’s second unit scoring was just 10 points from Justin Holiday.

“They punked us,” said Reggie Jackson. “They literally manhandled us.”

The Timberwolves are not messing around. The 56 games they won in the regular season wasn’t misleading. The NBA’s No. 1 defense is legit. Minnesota could have been satisfied with taking one in Denver. The Wolves could have hopped on a plane with home court advantage. Instead, they outmuscled the more playoff tested team and will head to the Target Center on Friday with a 2–0 series lead. In the closing minutes Timberwolves fans who made their way to Denver showered Edwards with chants of M-V-P.

“It’s not about winning the first game,” said Edwards. “You want to win every game. You don’t want to split. You want to win two here, try to have home court advantage, and then win two at home.”

It’s certainly possible. Murray, who battled through a calf injury last round, is hobbled. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is, too. Jackson needed to be helped into the locker room in the second half after appearing to injure his left ankle. The Wolves can send waves of bodies at the Nuggets. Denver is just hoping to have enough healthy ones.

The Nuggets said all the right things after the game on Monday. “Hopefully we’re gonna go there and put up a fight and bring the series back,” said Jokić. Added Malone, “You can feel sorry for yourself, or you can do whatever you can to try to be better come Game 3.” But Minnesota is the better defensive team. In this series, so far, it has had the best player. The Target Center, which has not hosted a second round series in two decades, will be rocking. Denver didn’t face adversity like this during its 2023 championship run. The Nuggets will have to overcome it if they want to win another.

Anthony Edwards, Denver Nuggets, Jamal Murray, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA, NBA Playoffs, Nikola Jokic
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Jazz Have Jaw-Dropping Asking Price for Potential Lauri Markkanen Trade, per Report
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Jazz Have Jaw-Dropping Asking Price for Potential Lauri Markkanen Trade, per Report

The fact that forward Lauri Markkanen has raised his stock as a player in two seasons with the Utah Jazz is beyond debate.

Since coming over to the Jazz in the Cleveland Cavaliers' trade for guard Donovan Mitchell, Markkanen has raised his career scoring average by nearly three full points per game. In 2023, the Vantaa, Finland native made an All-Star team and was voted the league's Most Improved Player.

Precisely how much Markkanen has improved in the eyes of the league appears set to be tested this summer.

According to Tony Jones of The Athletic, Utah would want a king's ransom for its star in a hypothetical trade.

“Markkanen’s value to the Jazz is so great that it’s going to take an offer that is probably not going to come to pry him from the Jazz," Jones wrote Friday. "Something like four or five first-round picks, and a star-level talent coming over.”

Essentially, per Jones, the Jazz are looking for an offer similar to what they commanded for Mitchell—three players, three first-round picks, and two pick swaps. It's cleat that team executive Danny Ainge is looking to continue to accumulate capital to accelerate the franchise's rebuild.

Markkanen will turn 27 on May 22—whether he is deemed young enough (and good enough) to tempt teams to acquire him at a sky-high asking price remains to be seen.

Lauri Markkanen, NBA, Utah Jazz
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Christian Horner Boldly Claims Other Top F1 Team Should Be More Worried About Staff
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Christian Horner Boldly Claims Other Top F1 Team Should Be More Worried About Staff

The last week of news has been relentless for Red Bull. The team confirmed the departure of Adrian Newey, as well as the shocking news that he would be able to sign with another team immediately, before heading to America for the Miami Grand Prix. Then Max Verstappen placed second in an upset, with McLaren's Lando Norris earning his first career F1 victory. Now, Christian Horner is fending off the vultures.

On Friday, McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown spoke to reporters and suggested Newey may not be the last to leave Red Bull in the wake of the Horner sexual misconduct scandal from earlier this year. Per Motorsport.com, Brown said he was "not surprised" to hear of Newey's departure and more might follow in his footsteps.

"Am I surprised? Six months ago, I would have been surprised," Brown said. "But given everything that's gone on since the start of the year and knowing Adrian pretty well, and he's a very high-integrity individual, I'm not surprised he's moving on.

"I think the stuff that's going on there is a bit destabilizing. That's probably the first domino to fall, my guess is not the last based on the résumés that are flying around."

Brown went on to clarify that he meant what he said about the resumes and that his team has seen a noticeable uptick in applications to work for McLaren with all that's going on at Red Bull.

On Tuesday, Red Bull boss Horner finally got wind of the comments and responded that he is not very worried about it at all.

"I don't have any concern of the strength in depth. Of course, there is always going to be movement between teams," Horner said. "I don't know how many people we or have employed from McLaren this year. We have taken 220 people out of HPP into Red Bull Powertrains. So, when we are talking about losing people, I would be a bit more worried about the 220 than maybe one or two CVs."

He went on to note that it was "inevitable" for Brown and Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, to get involved. Horner said they "talk a lot" but he wouldn't get drawn into a back-and-forth.

The entire exchange does sound a lot like the captain insisting that, no, the water you see does not mean the boat is sinking and everything is fine. But there is not much else Horner can say. If he's to remain at the top of Red Bull he must project confidence that everything is going his way, even when it clearly is not. That's the job.

A win at the Miami Grand Prix would've put a lot of minds at ease. But with Verstappen finishing as the runner-up, Red Bull have a lot to think about before the Emilia-Romagna Grand at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, Italy.

f1, McLaren, red bull
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2024 PGA Championship Field Includes Tiger Woods, All of World's Top 100 Players
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

2024 PGA Championship Field Includes Tiger Woods, All of World’s Top 100 Players

The field is out for next week’s PGA Championship, and as expected the top 100 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are all on the list.

Actually, the top 103 in the world are in the 156-player field for Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., as well as a couple of intriguing names at No. 644 and No. 801 in the world.

No. 801 is Tiger Woods, the four-time PGA champion who won in 2000 at Valhalla in a thrilling playoff over Bob May. Woods set the consecutive-cuts-made record last month at the Masters before fading on the weekend to 60th, but left Augusta National optimistic for the rest of the majors this season. He accepted a special exemption to the U.S. Open last week.

No. 644 is LIV Golf’s Talor Gooch, who confirmed his special exemption from the PGA of America on Monday via his social media. His spot appears to underline the PGA of America’s desire to have the strongest possible field in its major; Gooch was a three-time winner and LIV Golf’s player of the year in 2023.

LIV Golf’s David Puig and Dean Burmester also received exemptions. Puig has won twice on the Asian Tour in the last seven months and is 106th in the world, while Burmester won back-to-back DP World tour events to end 2023 and won on LIV last month in Miami.

There are 15 LIV golfers in the field. Brooks Koepka is the defending PGA champion, a three-time PGA winner overall and coming in off a win last week in Singapore. Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed and Cameron Smith are other past major champions from LIV Golf in the field.

Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 who won last month at the Masters, is scheduled to compete but is on baby watch at home with wife Meredith. He is skipping this week’s Wells Fargo Championship, a signature event on the PGA Tour.

As usual, the field also includes 20 PGA professionals who qualified via the annual PGA Professional Championship. The total PGA professional count is 21, as Michael Block returns after a T15 finish last year at Oak Hill which earned him a spot at Valhalla.

The winners of this week’s Wells Fargo and Myrtle Beach Classic on the PGA Tour will receive spots in the field if they’re not in already.

Below is the full field for the the PGA Championship, which is May 16-19.

Åberg, Ludvig - SWEDEN
An, Byeong Hun - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Beem, Rich - Austin, TX
Bevell, Josh - Nashville, TN (CFT)
Bezuidenhout, Christiaan - SOUTH AFRICA
Bhatia, Akshay - Wake Forest, NC
Björk, Alexander - SWEDEN
Blair, Zac - Orem, UT
Block, Michael - Mission Viejo, CA (CFT)
Bowser, Evan - Naples, FL (CFT)
Bradley, Keegan - Woodstock, VT
Burmester, Dean - SOUTH AFRICA
Burns, Sam - Shreveport, LA
Cantlay, Patrick - Jupiter, FL
Clark, Wyndham - Denver, CO
Cole, Eric - Tequesta, FL
Cole, Preston - Charlotte, NC (CFT)
Collet, Tyler - Vero Beach, FL (CFT)
Conners, Corey - CANADA
Daly, John - Cleawarter Beach, FL
Davis, Cameron - AUSTRALIA
Day, Jason - AUSTRALIA
DeChambeau, Bryson - Dallas, TX
Detry, Thomas - BELGIUM
Dobyns, Matt - Glen Head, NY (CFT)
Donald, Luke - ENGLAND
Dufner, Jason - Auburn, AL
Dunlap, Nick - Tuscaloosa, AL
Eckroat, Austin - Edmond, OK
English, Harris - Sea Island, GA
Finau, Tony - Lehi, UT
Fitzpatrick, Matthew - ENGLAND
Fleetwood, Tommy - ENGLAND
Fowler, Rickie - Murrieta, CA
Fox, Ryan - NEW ZEALAND
Garnett, Brice - Gallatin, MO
Glover, Lucas - Jupiter, FL
Gooch, Talor - Oklahoma City, OK
Griffin, Ben - Chapel Hill, NC
Grillo, Emiliano - ARGENTINA
Gross, Larkin - Center Cross, VA (CFT)
Hadwin, Adam - CANADA
Harman, Brian - Saint Simons Island, GA
Harrington, Pádraig - IRELAND
Hatton, Tyrrell - ENGLAND
Henley, Russell - Columbus, GA
Herbert, Lucas - Orlando, FL
Hisatsune, Ryo - Japan
Hodges, Lee - Athens, AL
Hoffman, Charley - San Diego, CA
Hoge, Tom - Fort Worth, TX
Højgaard, Nicolai - DENMARK
Højgaard, Rasmus - DENMARK
Homa, Max - Scottsdale, AZ
Horschel, Billy - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Hoshino, Rikuya - JAPAN
Hossler, Beau - Mission Viejo, CA
Hovland, Viktor - NORWAY
Hubbard, Mark - The Woodlands, TX
Hughes, Mackenzie - CANADA
Im, Sungjae - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Jaeger, Stephan - GERMANY
Johnson, Dustin - Jupiter, FL
Jones, Jared - Houston, TX (CFT)
Kanaya, Takumi - JAPAN
Kaymer, Martin - GERMANY
Kellen, Jeff - Rockford, IL (CFT
)Kim, Si Woo - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Kim, Tom - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Kirk, Chris - Watkinsville, GA
Kitayama, Kurt - Las Vegas, NV
Knapp, Jake - Costa Mesa, CA
Kobori, Kazuma - NEW ZEALAND
Koepka, Brooks - West Palm Beach, FL
Kohles, Ben - Dallas, TX
Lawrence, Thriston - SOUTH AFRICA
Lee, Kyoung-Hoon - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Lee, Min Woo - AUSTRALIA
List, Luke - Augusta, GA
Lowry, Shane - IRELAND
MacIntyre, Robert - SCOTLAND
Malnati, Peter - Knoxville, TN
Marek, Brad - Berkeley, CA (CFT)
Matsuyama, Hideki - JAPAN
McCarthy, Denny - Jupiter, FL
McIlroy, Rory - NORTHERN IRELAND
McNealy, Maverick - Stanford, CA
Mendoza, Kyle - Oceanside, CA (CFT)
Meronk, Adrian - POLAND
Micheel, Shaun - Colliersville, TN
Mickelson, Phil - Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Mitchell, Keith - Saint Simons Island, GA
Molinari, Francesco - ITALY
Montgomery, Taylor - Las Vegas, NV
Moore, Taylor - Southlake, TX
Morikawa, Collin - La Canada, CA
Mueller, Jesse - Phoenix, AZ (CFT)
Murray, Grayson - Raleigh, NC
Nakajima, Keita - JAPAN
Niemann, Joaquin - CHILE
Noren, Alex - SWEDEN
Norrman, Vincent - SWEDEN
Oakley, Zac - King of Prussia, PA (CFT)
Ogletree, Andy - Alpharetta, GA
Olesen, Thorbjorn - DENMARK
Otaegui, Adrian - SPAIN
Pavon, Matthieu - FRANCE
Pendrith, Taylor - CANADA
Perez, Victor - FRANCE
Phillips, Tracy - Tulsa, OK (CFT)
Polland, Ben - Teton Village, WY (CFT
)Poston, J.T. - Sea Island, GA
Puig, David - SPAIN
Putnam, Andrew - University Place, WA
Rahm, Jon - SPAIN
Rai, Aaron - ENGLAND
Reed, Patrick - The Woodlands, TX
Rodgers, Patrick - Avon, IN
Rose, Justin - ENGLAND
Schauffele, Xander - San Diego, CA
Scheffler, Scottie - Dallas, TX
Schenk, Adam - Vincennes, IN
Scott, Adam - AUSTRALIA
Shattuck, Braden - Aston, PA (CFT)
Smith, Cameron - AUSTRALIA
Smith, Jordan - ENGLAND
Soderberg, Sebastian - SWEDEN
Somers, John - Clearwater, FL (CFT)
Speight, Josh - Dallas, TX (CFT)
Spieth, Jordan - Dallas, TX
Straka, Sepp - AUSTRIA
Stricker, Steve - Madison, WI
Svensson, Adam - CANADA
Svensson, Jesper - SWEDEN
Svoboda, Andy - Oak Brook, IL (CFT)
Taylor, Nick - CANADA
Theegala, Sahith - Spring, TX
Thomas, Justin - Louisville, KY
Todd, Brendon - Watkinsville, GA
Tosti, Alejandro - ARGENTINA
Valimaki, Sami - FINLAND
van Rooyen, Erik - SOUTH AFRICA
van Velzen, Ryan - SOUTH AFRICA
Villegas, Camilo - COLOMBIA
Walker, Jimmy - Terrell Hills, TX
Wallace, Matt - ENGLAND
Wells, Jeremy - Estero, FL (CFT)
Widing, Tim - SWEDEN
Woodland, Gary - Topeka, KS
Woods, Tiger - Jupiter, FL
Worthington II, Wyatt - Las Vegas, NV (CFT)
Yang, Y.E. - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Young, Cameron - Jupiter, FL
Zalatoris, Will - Dallas, TX

CFT -- Corebridge Financial Team/PGA Professionals

Brooks Koepka, PGA Championship, Tiger Woods, Valhalla Golf Club
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ESPN Analysts Call for NBA to Suspend Jamal Murray for Dangerous Game 2 Move
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

ESPN Analysts Call for NBA to Suspend Jamal Murray for Dangerous Game 2 Move

Jamal Murray was not happy during the Denver Nuggets' blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night. During a contentious second quarter, Murray threw a heat pack on the floor in the middle of action. On Tuesday morning's edition of Get Up, Jay Williams and Tim Legler both agreed that Murray should earn a suspension.

Williams called the move immature and Legler pointed out how bad the injury could have been if Karl-Anthony Towns had stepped on it. Not to mention the fact that one of Murray's own teammates could have slipped on the heat pack and been injured as well, which makes it extra reckless.

To make matters worse, Murray was also caught throwing a towel that landed harmlessly at a referee's feet moments earlier. When you add the two throws together it makes you wonder if he wasn't just throwing stuff on the court, but actually throwing things at the referee. Whatever his intentions were, he was throwing a fit.

Murray somehow lucked out because none of the referees saw what happened, which Timberwolves coach Chris Finch mentioned while calling out Murray for the dangerous act during this postgame press conference.

"It's inexcusable and dangerous," Finch said. "And I'm sure it was just a mistake and an oversight. I'm sure there was nothing intentional by the officiating at all. But certainly can't allow that to happen."

The thing is, if a fan threw something on the floor, he would be ejected. It wouldn't matter if the referees saw it. But when you consider what Mike Malone got away with earlier in the game when he was screaming in the face of Dedric Taylor, you have to wonder if they actually would have done anything to Murray if they watched him throw the heat pack.

Dewayne Dedmond was ejected from a game last season for throwing a massage gun onto the court during a game. Dedmond was throwing a tantrum on the bench after an argument with Erik Spoelstra. Since he was thrown out of the game, he had already been punished by the league when the Heat suspended him a game without pay. In Murray's case, he should have been ejected, but he wasn't even given a single technical.

A suspension seems like a no-brainer for the NBA here. Murray not getting so much as a technical foul for throwing multiple things — with one of those objects going on the floor in the middle of action — seems like a bad precedent to set. The way these two teams are playing right now, it doesn't even seem it would have any affect on the outcome of the series. The officials didn't do anything about this during the game so it's the league's duty now.

Denver Nuggets, ESPN, Jamal Murray, Jay Williams, Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA, Tim Legler
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Keon Coleman, Cooper DeJean Among Day 2 NFL Draft Picks to Make Impact as Rookies
7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Keon Coleman, Cooper DeJean Among Day 2 NFL Draft Picks to Make Impact as Rookies

Last week, we broke down which rookie first-round picks will make an immediate impact during the 2024 NFL season. There were plenty of options to choose from with many star players often coming from the opening round, but don’t overlook the Day 2 selections. 

Every year there are a handful of prospects with first-round grades who are available on the Friday of the draft because the quarterback position gets overvalued and teams tend to prioritize roster needs. This year, six quarterbacks were taken in the first round, leaving many potential star players on the board for the teams with established quarterbacks. 

Last year, Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr., Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis and Detroit Lions tight end Sam LaPorta were the first three picks in the second round. All three had dynamic rookie years for their respective teams. 

In the 2023 third round, the Los Angeles Rams selected edge rusher Byron Young and defensive tackle Kobie Turner, two Defensive Rookie of the Year candidates. Also in the third round, the Miami Dolphins added running back De’Von Achane and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers took edge rusher YaYa Diaby. 

Here are six players from Rounds 2 and 3 who could make an immediate impact as rookies this season. 

Keon Coleman, WR, Buffalo Bills, No. 33 (second round)

The 6'3" Coleman landed in the perfect spot to become an immediate contributor. He has the size and skill set to slide in as the Bills’ “X” receiver to complement speedy wideouts Curtis Samuel and Khalil Shakir. Most importantly, Coleman will have the luxury of catching passes from Josh Allen, who will probably rely heavily on Coleman’s sizable catch radius for downfield completions.  

The Florida State product is viewed as Stefon Diggs’s replacement, but they’re different players, with Coleman being more of a big-bodied wideout who can come down with 50-50 passes. Remember Allen’s misfire with Diggs downfield late in the playoff loss against the Kansas City Chiefs? Coleman will likely be a friendly target for Allen on contested throws, but he’ll need to improve his route running, an area Diggs mastered over the years. 

Cooper DeJean, DB, Philadelphia Eagles, No. 40 (second round)

It’s unknown whether DeJean will play safety or cornerback in Vic Fangio’s defense, but it will likely be a combination of both after how poorly things went for the Eagles’ secondary last season. 

The versatile DeJean could be the starting slot cornerback or a starting safety next to C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who returned in March as a free-agent acquisition.  If he’s in the slot, DeJean will have the luxury of playing next to Darius Slay and fellow rookie Quinyon Mitchell, the team’s first-round pick. DeJean likely will have an easier time getting acclimated to the pro level than Mitchell because outside cornerbacks tend to struggle early in their careers. Overall, the Eagles’ secondary will be better off after Philly landed two of the best defensive backs in the draft. DeJean, however, could have competition with Sydney Brown and Reed Blakenship at safety. 

Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Green Bay Packers, No. 45 (second round)

Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper

Cooper has the speed to be a sideline-to-sideline playmaker.

Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

The versatile Cooper could end the Packers’ recent trend of getting minimal results from rookie defenders. Edge rusher Lukas Van Ness, the team’s 2023 first-round pick, had a quiet rookie year, and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt and linebacker Quay Walker—two 2022 first-round picks—have struggled to find their footing. 

Cooper is an outstanding run defender and has the speed to be a sideline-to-sideline playmaker in the middle of the Packers’ defense. He will likely be an immediate starter after the release of De’Vondre Campbell. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Cooper emerges as the Packers’ middle linebacker and takes snaps from Walker and Isaiah McDuffie. 

Trey Benson, RB, Arizona Cardinals, No. 66 (third round)

The Cardinals could be the surprise team of 2024 because of the arrival of stud rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., but don’t overlook Arizona’s other moves this offseason to improve the offense. Benson made a name for himself at Florida State as an explosive playmaker who recorded 23 touchdowns and rushed for 1,896 yards during his final two seasons.

Benson will likely split carries with veteran running back James Conner, but there were times last year in which Conner struggled to adjust to Drew Petzing’s offense. Benson might offer more as a pass catcher and has sub 4.4 speed to generate explosive plays. The rookie back will also get to run behind a revamped offensive line with bookend tackles Jonah Williams and Paris Johnson Jr., the 2023 first-round pick. Benson, Harrison and Kyler Murray could quickly become a formidable trio in the NFL.

Junior Colson, LB, Los Angeles Chargers, No. 69 (third round)

Colson should benefit from need at the position and familiarity with the Chargers’ coaching staff. He started 36 games for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and will reunite with Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who held the same role at Michigan. 

The Chargers’ linebacker unit struggled constantly during the Brandon Staley era, leading to the team parting with Kenneth Murray Jr. and Eric Kendricks. Colson, who led Michigan in tackles the past two seasons, is a physical downhill linebacker with reliable instincts on the field. He should be in line for a starting role next to veteran Denzel Perryman. 

Bralen Trice, Atlanta Falcons, edge, No. 74 (third round)

Atlanta Falcons edge defender Bralen Trice

Trice had a combined 16 sacks the past two seasons.

Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

Many assumed the Falcons would select an edge rusher with their No. 8 pick, which instead ended up being quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Atlanta eventually filled the need with the third-round selection of Trice, a relentless playmaker for a Washington team that advanced to the national championship game in January.

Trice, who had a combined 16 sacks the past two seasons, won’t have to face stiff competition to win a starting job over veterans Lorenzo Carter and 2022 second-round pick Arnold Ebiketie. Trice could be this year’s version of Rams edge rusher Byron Young, the 2023 third-rounder who flourished under Raheem Morris, the Rams defensive coordinator turned Falcons head coach. 

Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Bralen Trice, Buffalo Bills, Cooper DeJean, Edgerrin Cooper, Green Bay Packers, Junior Colson, Keon Coleman, Los Angeles Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, Trey Benson
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