Has Steve Kerr forgotten that Stephen Curry is still a superstar? Kerr went on ]

New Orleans offers the best prizes though in Murphy and Herb Jones. Dunleavy should try to get both. Murphy is a versatile 6-foot-8 defender and an elite, high-volume shooter who would thrive in the Kerr motion offense. Jones is a terrifying defensive presence who could take the toughest perimeter assignment off Draymond’s aging shoulders. They would change the complexion of the entire Golden State roster. What is the harm in surrendering multiple first-rounders and Kuminga to secure a duo that would help the Warriors push for another title?

And if that doesn’t work, you pick up the phone and call Brooklyn. Michael Porter Jr. is currently averaging nearly 26 points a night and hitting 41% from deep. There is no better single fit for the Warriors than him. But around the league, word has been since the summer that the Nets have little-to-no interest in Kuminga. If that’s true, a three-team framework is a clean workaround.

The door shouldn’t be slammed shut on Butler or Green deals either. One of them would have to go if the Warriors had a chance to land Giannis Antetokounmpo anyway, with Butler’s $48.7 million salary being a perfect match for a deal. The Giannis dream aside, it’s hard to imagine too many deals that’d make sense involving Butler.

Green’s case is more complex: At age 35, he hasn’t shown he can be an All-Defensive player on a night-in, night-out basis. For only the second time in his Warriors tenure, the team is statistically better defensively when he’s off the floor than when he’s on. We’ve seen a lot of that lately: Draymond has been ejected twice in recent weeks, and even removed himself from a game after a heated discussion on the bench with Kerr.

Green has been in Golden State since the beginning. It’s hard to believe Steph would approve of moving his longtime running mate, and it’d be a shocker if the Warriors were to go behind his back to make the move. But if the goal is a fifth ring, and the perfect deal comes along, sentimentality has to go out the window along with those future picks.

Nobody is asking Golden State to do something stupid. The point is to do something decisive when Curry is still great enough to justify an aggressive bet. Kerr wants fans to believe the team is being smart by taking a long view. But the only truly irresponsible outcome is the one they’re drifting toward: wasting elite Curry seasons to hoard draft picks that might never open a championship window.

Both the Mets and Yankees continue to look for ways to improve their starting rotations this offseason. 

One player they’ve both shown interest in on the trade market is Brewers ace Freddy Peralta. 

Peralta would be a strong addition to both clubs rotation, but according to a report from the Athletic, Milwaukee’s asking price remains high even with just one year of control remaining.

The righty, of course, will earn a cost-efficient $8 million for this season. 

Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon indicated that a major-league-ready starting pitcher seems to be part of the Brewers’ desired return, as they look to remain a contender this year. 

Some of the other teams in the mix include the Dodgers, Braves, and Red Sox. 

The Yankees are currently in discussions with the Brewers about Peralta, and they are also reportedly talking with the Marlins about right-hander Edward Cabrera. 

The Mets have also reportedly shown interest in Cabrera, and they remain “seriously interested” in making an addition to their rotation. 

Peralta has made 30+ starts each of the past three seasons, and he’s coming off a year in which he posted a career-best 2.70 ERA and finished fifth in Cy Young voting. 

Cabrera made a career-high 26 starts last season for Miami and pitched to a 3.53 ERA. 

Wanna bet? If the wager involved Shohei Ohtani, the answer from gamblers was yes more often than it was for any other player in any sport last year, according to data from BetMGM.

When betting on game results in 2025, gamblers placed the most wagers on NFL games. However, when betting on individual athletes, gamblers placed the most wagers on Ohtani, the two-way superstar for the World Series champion Dodgers and National League most valuable player. Saquon Barkley, the running back for the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, ranked second.

That data considered only BetMGM wagers that involved individual players — sometimes for awards such as MVP, a spokesman said, but most often for prop bets determined by individual performance.

Read more:Shaikin: Should Angels fans just give up and join the Dodgers bandwagon?

By way of example from another sportsbook, Caesars Sports offered these World Series prop bets for Ohtani: Would he hit a leadoff home run? Drive in at least seven runs? Collect at least 10 hits? Hit a 470-foot home run? Hit at least five home runs? Deliver a walk-off hit? Hit two home runs and strike out 10 batters in the same game? Strike out 20 batters in the series? (Ohtani did not do any of those eight things.)

The most popular major leaguers beyond Ohtani among bettors, according to BetMGM, all were sluggers: Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees ranked second, followed by Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso of the New York Mets, Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds, Riley Greene of the Detroit Tigers and Bryce Harper of the Phillies.

Yet the most notorious MLB prop bets last year involved pitchers, not hitters.

In November, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted on federal charges that they “rigged pitches” — that is, they tipped bettors about whether they would throw a pitch outside the strike zone in specified situations and how hard they would throw it. Prosecutors say bettors won hundreds of thousands of dollars for themselves and paid Clase and Ortiz thousands of dollars for their help.

The pitchers have pleaded not guilty, with a trial scheduled for May. Prosecutors told the court last month that Clase, a three-time All-Star, likely would face 87 to 108 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines — that is, up to nine years — if convicted on each of the four counts in his indictment.

The pitchers also face a potential lifetime ban from baseball. Clase, 27, is under contract for $6 million this year; the Guardians hold a $10-million option for 2027 and another for 2028. Investors who pooled their money to support him in exchange for a percentage of his career earnings are at risk of losing their investment.

The types of prop bets placed on Clase and Ortiz may become even less popular next season.

Read more:Plaschke: Thank you, L.A. sports teams, for saving me during the worst year

On the day after Clase and Ortiz were indicted, Major League Baseball announced an agreement with sports book operators to cap such pitching prop bets at $200. The operators, MLB said, represented “more than 98% of the U.S. betting market.”

In its announcement, the league noted that most prop bets are not solely influenced by one person — that is, whether Ohtani hits a home run depends in significant part on how he is pitched.

“However, ‘micro-bet’ pitch-level markets (e.g., ball/strike; pitch velocity) present heightened integrity risks because they focus on one-off events that can be determined by a single player and can be inconsequential to the outcome of the game,” the league statement said. “The risk on these pitch-level markets will be significantly mitigated by this new action targeted at the incentive to engage in misconduct.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Phillies hire Don Mattingly as next bench coach originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Rob Thomson has a new right-hand man.

The Phillies announced Monday that they have hired Don Mattingly as their bench coach.

While the club did not announce the length of Mattingly’s contract, he indicated during his introductory press conference that he views the role as more than a short-term stop.

“I’ve committed to a couple of years with [Thomson] and we’ll go from there,” Mattingly said. “I’m assuming that would be it for me.”

The move comes after Philadelphia reshaped its coaching staff shortly after the season, shifting former bench coach Mike Calitri into a newly created field coordinator role. This opening allowed the club to pursue a veteran presence with extensive managerial experience — something the front office openly prioritized.

“Managers use bench coaches in different fashions during a game,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said during the end-of-season press conference. “I think it would be ideal to have somebody that has had some managerial experience.”

Mattingly, 64, fits that description cleanly.

He brings more than a decade of experience as a Major League manager, leading the Dodgers from 2010–15 and the Marlins from 2016–22. Across 13 seasons, Mattingly managed 1,827 games and was named the National League Manager of the Year in 2020. He then joined the Blue Jays as bench coach ahead of the 2023 season, spending the past three years in Toronto.

In Philadelphia, Mattingly’s role will center on supporting Rob Thomson during games — a responsibility he described as “being another set of eyes and ears,” helping stay ahead of situations and easing the decision-making load as games move quickly.

“It gets busy and fast,” Mattingly said. “You might be thinking about your pitching, then you’ve got a pinch-hit situation. All those things come fast. My job is to stay ahead a little bit and help lighten the load.”

It’s a reunion in several ways.

Thomson, Mattingly and Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long all overlapped in the Yankees organization. Thomson joined New York’s Major League staff as field coordinator in 2007. Mattingly served as the Yankees’ bench coach that season, while Long was in his first year as the club’s hitting coach.

“There’s a lot of familiarity there,” Thomson said, noting Mattingly’s attention to detail and communication style. “He’s been there. He’s done it. That matters — especially for our players.”

Now, Mattingly also joins an organization led in part by his son, Preston, the Phillies’ general manager — a dynamic Mattingly acknowledged required thought before accepting the role.

“I was concerned about it right away,” Mattingly said, explaining that maintaining trust inside the clubhouse was essential. “Players need to trust that I’m not a voice that’s just running upstairs talking about everything. That’s not how I operate.”

Beyond the dugout, Mattingly’s playing resumé stands on its own. The 1985 American League MVP spent all 14 of his Major League seasons with the Yankees, compiling 2,153 hits, 222 home runs and a .307 career average. He was a six-time All-Star and a nine-time Gold Glove winner.

Despite 43 years in Major League Baseball as a player and coach, Mattingly has yet to win a World Series. The Phillies — who have reached the postseason four straight seasons without a championship — will see if that changes with “Donnie Baseball” now on staff.

Don Mattingly met with the media Monday. You can watch the full availability below: