The pinky finger on Alex Caruso’s right hand doesn’t look like a typical pinky. Around the middle knuckle, it bulges as if a small marble was implanted under the skin. It will come as no surprise to anyone who’s watched Caruso play basketball that this slight disfiguration is the result of him throwing his body around the court.

“Somebody stepped on it while I was on the ground during a game,” Caruso said during a phone interview before the 2025 NBA Finals. What might be surprising, though, is how old he was when the injury occurred.

“I think it was in, like, the first or second grade,” he said.

So, yes, the player we’ve seen throughout the playoffs, and in his first season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and really over the past five seasons, is who Caruso has always been. The running, the diving, the swiping, that blur of activity that looks like a tornado with arms — it all comes naturally to him. On the court, it’s Caruso’s version of breathing.

“I remember when he first started playing with us,” recalled Jason Bullard, a medical equipment salesman who was part of a group of 30- and 40-year-olds from the College Station, Texas, area, with whom Caruso played pick-up ball while in middle school. “He’d run around, guard everybody, take the ball and go, and just create all sorts of chaos,” Bullard added. “Some guys would even get annoyed. It’d be like, ‘Who’s this little kid running around trying to steal the ball from us every time?”

Caruso had joined the game — consisting of local businessmen, blue-collar workers, a professor at Texas A&M — after stumbling upon it one night at the park down the road from his house. He’d skip dinner, show up with his own ball 30 minutes before they’d begin and pretend he was there to shoot around, all in the hope that they’d need one more. Within about a year, he was a regular.

That capacity for wreaking havoc on the court is what propelled Caruso, now 31, from an undrafted guard in 2016, one close to accepting a contract to play overseas, into the NBA. But what’s transformed him into into one of the great role players of this decade, someone who — following the Thunder’s 123-107 series-tying Game 2 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Sunday night’s Finals matchup — is now just three wins away from a second ring, has been his ability to both build on those skills and refine them. These days, Caruso is more than just a basketball version of the Tasmanian Devil. In fact, ask him about his propensity for creating chaos, and he’ll balk at that description.

“I think when you use the word ‘chaos,’ it’s for the other team,” he said. “Creating chaos for them and making them have to think and second-guess things.

“For us, I’m trying to be settling and create a rhythm and flow.” More than that, Caruso added, he’s trying to “have an understanding of what we’re gonna do and then putting guys in positions where they can just play and don’t have to think.”

It took time for Caruso to reach this point. “He needed to refine that risk/reward balance that he has down so well now,” said Coby Karl, who coached Caruso in the Lakers’ G League program. Karl remembers speaking to current Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault during the 2017-18 season, when Daigneault was leading the Thunder’s G League team. The conversation turned to Caruso, who had spent the previous season with Daigneault before being let go by the Thunder. “He described him as Brett Favre,” Karl recalled. “It was like, whether he was trying to thread a needle on a pass or jump a passing lane for a steal, he was always going to go for it.”

When Caruso reunited with Daigneault on the Thunder last summer following a trade from the Chicago Bulls, he had become the 2.0 version of himself, a player whose ability to process the game has become as essential to his ability to impact it. Thunder coaches and players have marveled all year at how well Caruso is both able to absorb game plans and identify the strengths and weaknesses of opposing players. It’s why so many credit him for the Thunder’s leap from fourth in defensive rating last season to first this season — despite Caruso averaging just 19.2 minutes per game in the regular season.

[Mark Daigneault] described him as Brett Favre. Whether he was trying to thread a needle on a pass or jump a passing lane for a steal, he was always going to go for it.Coby Karl, former G League coach

“One of the most important things that he’s come in here and taught us is the importance of executing the details,” Thunder big man Chet Holmgren said before the Finals. “You’ll see so many times he makes a huge play out there, and it really comes down to inches. Was he in the right spot by a few inches? Was he able to reach the ball and poke it away by a few inches? That comes down to knowing where you need to be and when you need to be there, what you need to do and how to execute it. He’s really come in and preached the importance of that, kind of shown us firsthand what that looks like.”

It’s been a role-reversal for Caruso. Last time he was playing for a contender was with the Lakers during the 2019-20 season, when he was the newbie trying to soak up as much as possible from veteran teammates. There, Caruso was able to earn the equivalent of an NBA master’s degree. The key, he said, was having the confidence to speak up and share his thoughts, despite being a 25-year-old out of the G League.

“I wasn’t afraid to be wrong,” he said, “and that helped me grow. A lot of times you get corrected through mistakes.”

In L.A., playing alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Caruso perfected the role of wingman to the stars. Lakers coaches marveled at how on defense he’d often predict which plays LeBron preferred to stay home and then make his rotation for him, or on offense how he seemed to know precisely when to make an off-ball cut not to receive the ball himself but to trigger a shift that would benefit a teammate. And, of course, there were the more obvious plays, the 3s and fast breaks and steals and deflections. Caruso became one of the most feared defenders in the league, a key cog in the Lakers’ 2020 title run.

By the time he left as a free agent for the Bulls in 2021, Caruso was ready to lead an NBA team on his own. Like in L.A., his basketball IQ awed Chicago’s coaching staff, as did the way he’d just step onto the court with, in the words of former Bulls assistant Josh Longstaff, “an infectious energy.” 

But what impressed the group the most was his understanding of how to communicate with teammates. Say a player was having difficulty absorbing a scheme or concept during a walkthrough the morning of a game. “If it’s somebody who could be coached hard, he’d give them, like, a stern, ‘Come on!’ clap and say, ‘We need to get this right!’” Longstaff said. “And if it’s someone who needed to be approached more gently, he’d take his time, pull him aside and say something along the lines of, ‘We need you for this game, if you get in the game, we need you to do this and this,’ and he’d do all this while putting his arm on their shoulder.”

The Bulls gave Caruso a bigger role, and he responded with his best statistical seasons, along with a pair of All-Defensive team honors. Chicago, however, wasn’t ready to compete for a title. The Thunder were — and they were looking for one more piece to help snap their championship puzzle into place. General manager Sam Presti, who had let Caruso walk eight years earlier, believed Caruso was it. Because of the skills he’d always possessed but also the new ones he’d added along the way.

“I think it helps elevate the whole group if you can have those types of brains, and we really wanted the heart and the head in the building,” Presti said during a preseason news conference after acquiring Caruso in a trade for 21-year-old point guard Josh Giddey.

Presti’s evaluation and instincts turned out to be right. On the court, Caruso’s impact is evident. The Thunder’s already historic point differential improves when he’s playing. He’s spent the playoffs shadowing, and locking down, players of all skills and sizes, from explosive guards like Ja Morant to bruising giants like Nikola Jokić. No NBA player has deflected more passes per possession this postseason. He’s drilled more than 40% of his triples. In December, the Thunder signed him to a four-year, $81 million extension.

But ask Caruso to name some of the moments he’s most proud of, and he’ll point to a game where he scored just two points in less than 10 minutes of action. It was Game 2 of the second round. The Thunder were facing the Nuggets and coming off a crushing 121-119 home loss, one in which the Thunder had blown a double-digit lead. In the locker room afterward, Caruso could sense “some angst and frustration from the guys,” he said. It reminded him of his 2020 title run, when the Lakers had dropped the first game in each of the first two rounds.

“I remember very specifically having those conversations with LeBron, [Rajon] Rondo and the other older guys during that run,” Caruso said. “And their basic message was, ‘We’re going to go back and watch film, and we’ll see that we messed up game-plan stuff, and that’s all easy to fix.” And so here he was, sitting in a cold tub following a Game 1 playoff loss five years later, ready to impart the same lesson.

“I said to the group, ‘It was our mistakes. We gave it to them. We’re gonna correct it, and it will be fine,’” he recalled. The Thunder came out the next game and ran the Nuggets off the floor in a 43-point win.

Following their Game 1 loss in the Finals, the Thunder were back in a similar situation. And once again, Caruso was a calming influence for the group. When speaking to reporters the day after the loss, he singled out a few areas where he believed the Thunder could improve — “being a little more efficient in transition and maybe not forcing it at the rim and playing off two feet early in the game and spraying the ball a little” — but he made clear that he wasn’t alarmed.

Two days later, the Thunder were back on the floor, and this time Caruso decided he was going to take matters into his own hands. He was everywhere, swarming ball-handlers and blowing up screens and flying up and down the court and draining 3s. He finished with 20 points — a mark he never hit during the regular season — in 27 minutes of action off the bench, including four 3s, propelling Oklahoma City to victory.

After the game, a reporter asked Holmgren about Caruso’s “energy levels for a 30-year-old man.”

Holmgren smiled as he contemplated how to respond.

“Don’t disrespect our GOAT like that,” he said.

We’re about 40% through the MLB season, so it’s a good time to examine the list of Yahoo Fantasy Baseball MVPs. This is a data-driven group, the players who show up the most on the Top 500 Yahoo Public League teams. If you’re dominating your pool this year, it’s likely some of these players are on your roster.

[Smarter waivers, better trades, optimized lineups — Yahoo Fantasy Plus unlocks it all]

Although the top two MVPs are offensive players, I found it interesting that 12 of the top 15 names are pitchers. We know that pitching is much more variable than hitting year-over-year, but if you find the right answers on the mound, your winning odds increase significantly.

I’ll write up the top 12 guys and offer some quick hitters after that.

C Cal Raleigh, Mariners

Anyone who drafted Raleigh would have been thrilled with a repeat of his dynamite 2024 season, but he’s taken it up a notch this time around. A modest bump in walk and strikeout rate will always help, and Raleigh isn’t spooked by Seattle’s roomy home park — his homers have been evenly split. Aaron Judge would be the unanimous A.L. MVP if voting happened today, but Raleigh would deserve to be second. Raleigh’s bat is so important, the Mariners slide him to DH on days when he doesn’t catch.

OF Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs

Last year PCA had the looks of a Kevin Kiermaier type — an outstanding defensive outfielder who would do just enough on offense not to crush you. But you never know when young players might improve, and PCA looks like the most improved offensive player in baseball this year. He’s still producing despite a hacker’s approach — his strikeout, walk and chase rates are all below code — but he’s doing damage when he gets his pitch, bumping his hard-hit and pull rates. PCA is going to haunt the New York Mets for a while — he was the main return when New York traded for a Javier Báez rental (47 games) in 2021.

SP Joe Ryan, Twins

Ryan is one of my favorite pitchers to watch, always around the plate and especially consistent. He also illustrates that fly-ball pitchers can be as dominant as ground-ball pitchers — it’s merely important that pitchers control their outcomes, but it doesn’t matter if that’s through the ground (fewer home runs, obviously) or through the air (better WHIPs arrive this way). Ryan is also an artist more than a scientist, getting things done with a modest 93.2 mph fastball.

SP Kris Bubic, Royals

The Royals need to win low-scoring games to survive — they’re 27th in runs scored but fifth in ERA (and fourth in starting pitcher ERA). It’s hard to imagine Bubic was pitching for his rotation spot in March, but that was the story. Chalk up another successful Tommy John surgery — Bubic had the procedure in April of 2023 and he’s back to full throttle now, using an outstanding change to neutralize right-handed batters. It’s impossible to watch Bubic’s delivery and not think of Clayton Kershaw.

SP Robbie Ray, Giants

Ray had Tommy John surgery about a week after Bubic in 2023 and the comeback has been just as inspiring; Ray leads the majors in wins and is top 10 in strikeouts with 87. His mistakes are minimized in San Francisco’s expansive home park (2.00 ERA, 1.09 WHIP), not that he’s been bad on the road (3.06/1.05). Here’s another good case of how your middle- and late-round picks need to be executed with upside in mind.

OF Aaron Judge, Yankees

Judge entered the season with two MVPs in the bank and a ton of bold ink on his Baseball Reference page, so it’s frightening to imagine that this might actually be his best season. His batted-ball metrics remain a dream, and while he’s never going to be the contact king, he’s improved his strikeout rate to league average. He’s also probably enjoying the shift back to right field, after covering center field last year with Juan Soto in right. 

SP Garrett Crochet, Red Sox

Boston trades a handful of prospects to Chicago in exchange for a star left-handed pitcher in his prime — yeah, we’ve seen this movie before. Recall that the Red Sox acquired Chris Sale before the 2017 season. Sale eventually broke down in the second half of his Boston career, but he was outstanding in the first two seasons, finishing second and fourth in the Cy Young voting those years. Crochet has a higher WHIP at home but no ERA bias otherwise; his power stuff plays in any ballpark. Perhaps his Boston run will have more staying power than Sale’s did, given that Crochet was acquired into his age-26 season (Sale was 28).

SP Max Fried, Yankees

The Regression Police continue to track Fried, noting that his 1.78 ERA doesn’t jibe with his 3.40 expected ERA. That said, Fried has made some of that luck by trimming his walk rate and keeping his ground-ball clip above league average. An improved sinker has sparked his excellent A.L. debut, but Fried is never going to be dominant in the strikeout column.

RP Andrés Muñoz, Mariners ; RP Josh Hader, Astros

You sleep a lot better when you draft a healthy and productive closer, allowing you to handle the saves rat race from a position of leverage.

SP Carlos Rodón, Yankees

Has anyone ever drafted a fantasy staff exclusively of left-handed starters? Maybe this was a year to do it, with Bubic, Ray, Crochet, Fried and Rodon all showing up on this list. The Yankees need to be mindful of Rodon’s workload in the second half — he’s never made it past 178 innings in any season, but is currently on pace for 213 innings — and obviously, the Yankees will be playing in October.

SP Nick Pivetta, Padres

It’s the opposite of the Xander Bogaerts case — Pivetta traded the rigors of Fenway Park for the mistake-muting backdrop of Petco Park, and so far, so good. Of course, we have to be mindful that Pivetta has a 2.40 ERA at home and a 4.94 ERA on the road.

As for players on the list but not in the top 12:

• Hunter Brown was a breakout player last year, figuring things out in the middle of May. This year has merely been an extension of something we already saw.

• Teoscar Hernández gets a little lost in the shuffle in Los Angeles given all the star power with the Dodgers, but he’s going to knock in 100 runs again.

• Zach Neto was a rare case of March injury optimism being a good thing; he’s been excellent since his return.

• Given the immense power of James Wood, it feels unfair that he seems like he’s going to steal 20 bases, too.

• I was shocked MacKenzie Gore wasn’t on this list, but this data collection isn’t a perfect reflection of the season.

• Pete Alonso bet on himself with a pillow contract and has been a god in the middle of the Mets lineup.

• Hunter Goodman is one of the few reasons to watch a Colorado game in 2025.

• Byron Buxton might sail past 100 games for just the third time ever. He’s also interested in stealing bases again, after putting that task on the back burner for a few seasons.

• Oneil Cruz showed us in the second half last year that he could steal a base anytime he wanted (15-for-15), and this year he’s been more proactive with the assignment. The Pirates aren’t going anywhere, but at least they have Cruz, Paul Skenes and that wonderful home ballpark.

The Oklahoma City Thunder evened up the 2025 NBA Finals at one game apiece on Sunday night, beating the Indiana Pacers 123-107 and covering the 11.5-point spread. The game crept over the total of 228 on a layup by James Johnson on Indiana’s final possession.

The Thunder opened as 4.5-point road favorites in Indiana for Game 3, before the line was pushed out to 5.5 by respected money coming in on Oklahoma City. The total is 227.5 at BetMGM. The public is backing Oklahoma City and the over, with 54% of the wagers on the Thunder to cover and 67% of bets on the over. Oklahoma City is 0-7 against the spread on the road this postseason.

“We’re as balanced as it can really be on the spread at the moment,” BetMGM trader Halvor Egeland told Yahoo Sports. “Less than 1% difference in total bet money. A little bit more on the Thunder moneyline than the Pacers, but only slightly. Thunder winning would actually be the better result for us. Pretty one-sided on the total so far. Bettors are liking the over.”

Yahoo Sports asked handicapper Michael Fiddle for his thoughts on some best bets for Game 3 of the finals:

Game 3: Oklahoma City Thunder (-5.5, 227.5) at Indiana Pacers

Fiddle: “I love Oklahoma City in Game 3. If we understand the value of home-court advantage, it decreases as the rounds go on in the postseason. There’s less of a shock factor and players are more used to it. 

“In the conference finals, we saw the Thunder -8 in Oklahoma City and then when the series shifted to Minnesota, it was OKC -3, so a five-point difference. I have every outcome tracked for the last three seasons, and 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are the most important numbers against the spread in the postseason. The key-number scale slides up a little in the postseason because there are more blowouts. 

“A six-point move [OKC -11.5 at home to -5.5 on the road] is still too much for me, especially through numbers that have a lot of value. I don’t have as big a move up on Indiana’s power rating this postseason.

“I understand OKC is 0-7 against the spread on the road in the playoffs, but some of those are huge spreads like -15 in a closeout Game 4 in Memphis. I think this closes 6 or 6.5. Death, taxes and late money on OKC. We saw this in Game 1 and Game 2, and I think we see it again here.”

Best bet: Oklahoma City -5.5

Sure, the NBA Finals are in full swing, but fans of the 28 other NBA teams have one thing on their minds: the offseason. Known for big trades and drama, the NBA offseason has found ways to dominate the sports news cycle in times when basketball should be the last thing on anyone’s mind.

This offseason promises to be similar. Future Hall of Famers like Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo are expected to be available on the trade market, and one of the league’s premier franchises — the New York Knicks — are searching for a new coach. 

Where do all those stories stand with the Finals underway? Yahoo Sports has you covered with all the biggest NBA rumors below.

Knicks, Jason Kidd still in limbo

The Knicks may have narrowed down their coaching search to their top candidate, but there’s a problem: He’s already taken.

The Knicks are reportedly interested in Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, but New York has yet to ask the Mavericks for permission to talk to the coach. The Knicks like the idea for a few reasons, per Marc Stein. The franchise is familiar with Kidd after he spent the final year of his playing career with the Knicks. The team also believes Kidd could handle the media pressure and spotlight that comes with being in New York. Kidd also has familiarity with Knicks star Jalen Brunson. 

But in order to hire Kidd, the team needs to formally ask the Mavericks to speak with the coach. It’s unclear whether the Knicks will do that. Some in the Mavericks’ organization believe the Knicks will not ask the team for permission to speak to Kidd, per Stein. It’s possible that’s because the Knicks believe they will get shut down by the Mavericks, forcing them to look elsewhere for a new head coach.

The team finds itself in a strange spot after the surprising firing of Tom Thibodeau last week. Thibodeau posted a .565 winning percentage in five seasons with the Knicks and just took the team to the Eastern Conference finals. 

Given the strong personalities in the Knicks’ front office, the team could have multiple ideas on how to replace Thibodeau, per Stein, so losing out on Kidd might not be a huge barrier for the franchise.

Kevin Durant to the Knicks?

The Knicks could have an easy time bringing in a new coach, especially if the club acquires Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant. The Suns are expected to deal Durant after the team struggled despite bringing in elite talent last offseason.

While a number of teams — including the Houston Rockets, Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs — have been mentioned as suitors for Durant, the Knicks continue to be one of the teams consistently mentioned in rumors for the superstar. ESPN’s Shams Charania mentioned New York as a suitor for Durant in April, and his colleague, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, brought up that possibility Tuesday. 

The Suns may have struggled last season, but it wasn’t due to Durant. The 36-year-old showed little sign of decline, averaging 26.6 points and six rebounds over 62 games in Phoenix.

That should make Durant a popular trade target for a number of teams. It certainly sounds like the Knicks want to remain in that mix. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t be traded?

There is apparently no trade market for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo right now, per Windhorst. 

Antetokounmpo has not asked the team for a trade, and the Bucks reportedly aren’t looking to deal their star.

Given how quickly the NBA offseason shifts, that could change. The Bucks have plenty of incentive to deal their superstar now. Milwaukee was once again eliminated early in the playoffs, and the Bucks are in rough shape following Damian Lillard’s injury and the team’s lack of control over its future first-round picks. 

Antetokounmpo should bring in quite the haul if he gets dealt. The 30-year-old averaged 30.4 points and 11.9 rebounds for Milwaukee last season, and is under contract through the 2027-28 NBA season.

Expect a lot of NBA offseason action soon

While rumors are quiet at the moment, things could pick up relatively soon. Windhorst teased the NBA offseason could move faster than normal during an appearance on “First Take” on Tuesday.

Windhorst mentioned Charania has “cleared his calendar” ahead of the 2025 NBA Draft, which will take place June 25. Windhorst teased, “You’re gonna get your action very soon.”

That action should come once the NBA Finals conclude. If the series goes a full seven games, that would happen June 22, just days before the NBA Draft. It could make for a hectic draft season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder evened out the NBA Finals 1-1 on Sunday night, as the series heads to Indiana for the next two games.

The Thunder got back on track through the play of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, which shouldn’t come as a surprise given that he won, you know, the friggin’ MVP award this season.

That said, it’s worth honing in on what makes the slender 6-foot-6 guard so special as he seemingly becomes more unguardable as the stakes increase.

The ‘snakeability’

While ‘snakeability’ isn’t a word, it should be when Gilgeous-Alexander is on the ball, seeing as he’s capable of getting to the exact spot on the floor he so chooses after playing off the initial screen.

The 26-year-old loves the midrange pull-up, a shot he goes to almost nine times per game and hits at a 48% rate.

But it isn’t just him coming off a pick and then immediately pulling up. That’d be too easy. Instead, Gilgeous-Alexander probes the defense, gauges whichever defender has switched onto him and carefully calculates his next dribble, which determines if he steps back or goes straight up.

And let’s not forget the constant threat of the drive, which adds to his midrange proficiency. Defenders are well aware of his capacity of not just drawing fouls (247 made free throws this postseason) but also his ability to bend and twist himself into a pretzel just to get a shot off near the rim.

During the regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander converted an outright ridiculous 74.2% of his attempts within three feet, many of which were self-created off the dribble.

So as defenders pick up the 32.7-point scorer, they’re constantly forced to make decisions, immediately as he comes off the screen. Back up, and he’s splashing the jumper. Meet him early, he’ll accelerate and blow by. Call for a second defender, and he’ll either split the double-team, or step back to generate space and find the open man.

Essentially, Gilgeous-Alexander is unguardable in the sense that every decision comes with a possible negative side effect.

His primary scoring weakness, off-ball shooting, simply isn’t that big of a concern for the Thunder as the chiseled but lanky Gilgeous-Alexander is utterly elite at finding the ball and initiating the offense.

The added 3-pointer

While the Canadian is most dangerous nearer to the basket, he embraced the long ball this season to a point where it gave him a ripple effect of options.

Just two years ago, he took just 2.5 attempts from long range per game. That’s a mark he’s close to now hitting every night, meaning defenders now have to make a calculated decision in going under the screen when that used to be second nature.

The added spacing that’s provided by the more dynamic 3-point volume has created a larger playground area for the lead guard, as defenders now have to meet him 25-27 feet from the basket, as opposed to 18-20 feet.

This allows for Gilgeous-Alexander’s on-ball creativity to get optimized, and it means significantly improved movement patterns for his co-stars now that the offense can get initiated from farther out than it could two years ago.

That doesn’t take away from the fact the All-NBA guard is at his best when getting deep into the teeth of the defense, as teams are keenly aware of. But no team can justify leaving a player alone on the perimeter who made 163 3-pointers on the season at almost 38% accuracy.

The forgotten athleticism

While the vast majority of the conversation surrounding Gilgeous-Alexander hinges on footwork, shooting ability and drawing fouls, there’s an element that is often forgotten or perhaps conveniently ignored: his athleticism.

While not always utilized at great volume, Gilgeous-Alexander will lean into his enormously fast first step and change of pace when necessary.

Most importantly, he’ll use his athletic gifts to switch things up.

He’ll beat you with elite footwork on one possession. He might beat you with a simple shot-fake on the next, generating foul shots. And then, when you think you sorta, kinda have him figured out, he’ll turn on the jets and blow right by you in a straight-line drive, only to remind you that he’s got that in his bag, too.

Gilgeous-Alexander has intentionally turned his offensive approach into a guessing game for his defenders, making him one of the most unpredictable scorers we’ve seen since, well, Michael Jordan.

(No, we’re not turning this into a face-of-the-league discussion, don’t worry. But the comparison is apt.)

The 26-year-old has created an exceptional blueprint for high-scoring efficiency, even if almost no one is as skilled and as smooth as he is.

For years, his game will inspire younger players who understand the benefit of being unpredictable scorers. And, as a result, we’re likely going to see more players who understand how to leverage certain parts of their game to achieve greater heights.

That’s always a good thing.