The Houston Rockets have had players donning a total of 52 different jersey numbers (and have one not part of any numerical series for Houston assistant coach and general manager Carroll Dawson) since their founding at the start of the 1967-68 season, worn by just under 500 players in the course of Rockets history.

To honor all of the players who wore those numbers over the decades, Rockets Wire is covering the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who wore them since the founding of the team all those years ago right up to the present day.

With seven of those jerseys now retired to honor some of the greatest Rockets of all time to wear those jerseys, there is a lot of history to cover.

And for today’s article, we will continue with the 14th of 15 players who wore the No. 6, forward alum Gary Clark. After ending his college career at Cincinnati, Clark went unselected in the 2018 NBA Draft, instead signing with the Rockets.

His stay with the team lasted until he signed with the Orlando Magic in 2020.

During his time suiting up for the Rockets, Clark wore only jersey No. 6 and put up 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.

All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Rockets jersey history No. 6 – Gary Clark (2018-20)

The unofficial American holiday, Super Bowl Sunday, is now only days away. The NFC will be represented by the Seattle Seahawks, and the AFC will be represented by the New England Patriots. I, for one, am less than thrilled to see the Pats back in the big game. I assume that my feelings are shared by many Miami Dolphins fans who cannot believe that the dynasty that we believed was dead once Tom Brady and Billacheat had moved on, is back in the big game while our own team continues to struggle to even remain relevant. Anyway, I don’t know if there is any event with more bets on more predictions than the Super Bowl. Some of the things that you can bet on are ridiculous. You can literally bet on the color of Gatorade that is poured on the head of the winning coach.

Since this is your post, it is not about what others think or bet on, but about what you think. Tonights Phinsider Question Of The Day is:

What are your predictions for this coming weekend’s Super Bowl? Let us know who you think will win outright, along with the score and any other random or bold prediction that you would like to make for this weekend’s upcoming game.

Please share your thoughts and answers in the comments section below-

We have a Super Bowl-centric set of questions on this week’s Reacts survey!

First, fairly simple, who do you think will win this Sunday’s Super Bowl, the Seattle Seahawks or the New England Patriots?

I’m taking the ‘Hawks, although I can’t remember a Super Bowl where I’ve cared so little about the game. There’s no buzz! No drama! Nothing to really wrangle in the casual fan.

Drake Maye winning it all in his second year or Sam Darnold winning it all on his fifth team are the only topics I find interesting. Two defensive head coaches battling it out bucks the recent trend of hiring an offensive mind, so I guess that’s kind of neat.

There isn’t a big former Bear angle that moves the needle, unless you wanted to root against Seattle practice squadder Velus Jones Jr.

New England’s Khyiris Tonga had a cup of coffee in Chicago, as did Seattle tight end Eric Saubert. Leslie Frazier is the Seahawks assistant head coach, and he has a shot at a third ring. Former Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown got all the ‘Flus stink off him and is New England’s tight ends coach/passing game coordinator.

Our other question this week is whether or not you believe the Chicago Bears are a legit Super Bowl contender next season. They got the head coach and quarterback figured out, and are coming off a division title and a Wild Card win, so do you think this team is on the upswing enough to be in an honest-to-goodness Super Bowl window?

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Bears fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

NFL.com analyst Kevin Patra has a piece of advice for the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason: re-sign or replace linebacker Devin Lloyd.

“The Jags seem unlikely to use the franchise tag on Lloyd (projected at $28.2 million, per Over The Cap),” wrote Patra. “If he prices himself out of Jacksonville, there will be a gaping hole in the middle of Campanile’s D that needs to be filled.”

Lloyd did a bit of everything for the Jaguars‘ defense this past season and brought a high-impact presence. When he missed time briefly with an injury during the middle portion of the season, his absence was noticeable.

Lloyd finished the season totaling 25 pressures as a blitzer during the regular season, and ranked 11th among linebackers in PFF’s run defense grade. In coverage, he recorded five interceptions and two pass breakups.

As Patra pointed out, the franchise tag won’t be an option at that amount. As a free agent, Lloyd is going to garner interest from a number of teams. Spotrac is projecting that he earns a three-year deal worth $60.4 million.

For a Jaguars team that’s a bit short on cap space currently and has other needs to address — like the defensive line and cornerback — does Jacksonville have the flexibility to bring Lloyd back at that amount?

If Lloyd doesn’t return, there will certainly be a void to fill in the middle of the Jaguars’ defense and no obvious fill-in next to Foye Oluokun.

Current on the roster options to potentially take over for Lloyd include Ventrell Miller, Jack Kiser, Yasir Abdullah, and Jalen McLeod.

Addressing this position early on in the draft could be a real possibility for Jacksonville. Anthony Campanile’s defensive scheme and his coaching background at the linebacker position may have to be tasked with elevating this unit as well.

This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: What Jacksonville Jaguars must accomplish during 2026 NFL offseason

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell made a clear statement during Super Bowl week, claiming that the league is hoping to get to an 18th regular-season game with every team in the NFL playing at least one international game every single season. This echoes the comments of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who said similar on a radio show last month.

For the NFL to get the extra 18th game, though, the league will need to get the NFL Players Association to agree. On Tuesday, NFLPA interim executive director David White pushed back on Goodell’s asks from Monday.

“Our members have no appetite for a regular-season 18th game,” NFLPA interim executive director David White said at the union’s annual Super Bowl week news conference, citing player health and safety concerns that come with a longer regular season. “… The 18th game is not casual for us. It’s a very serious issue. It’s something that comes out of negotiations, and nothing will move forward until players have the opportunity to account for all of those factors, take that into consideration and then through negotiations, agree or not to the 18th game.

“But as it stands right now, players have been very clear they don’t have any appetite for it.”

Both White and NFLPA president Jalen Reeves-Maybin, currently a Chicago Bears linebacker, have stated that the NFLPA has not been contacted to discuss an 18th game, per ESPN.

“There’s 31 owners, they all have different agendas and opinions on things,” said Reeves-Maybin when asked if the extra game was inevitable. “… Maybe this is a way of them trying to influence. … We have not opened up any 18-game discussions. It’s not something that the players are excited about or really trying to press for. Then we put in a lot of work, and we put out a good product out there every year and it’s not something we feel the need for.”

White added: “An arbitrary statement carries no weight. It’s a free country. People could say what they like, but … is it increasingly inevitable? … The answer is absolutely not. It’s a point of negotiation.”

For the most part, NFL owners have gotten their way with the NFLPA in the last decade plus. Ownership got the players to end the lockout and union decertification in 2011, which opened the league up for lawsuits, by simply slashing rookie salaries with the rookie wage scale. After an uncapped 2010 season, the league’s salary cap was at or under $123 million from 2011-2013, the same rate as the 2009 cap. The owners didn’t spend any more money on players; they simply decided to take money out of incoming players’ pockets, players who had no seat at the table in the union because they were not yet NFL players, and give it to veterans, who could vote.

That, and changes to the practice schedule, was enough for the NFLPA to sign off on a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA). After the 2011 agreement, the NFLPA rushed an 11-year CBA, in part because of the uncertainty during the pandemic, with the league unable to play in front of fans in 2020.

After pushing around the players for 20-plus years, it sure seems like NFL owners are making statements, telling the NFLPA what they will eventually be agreeing to in public, rather than holding these negotiations behind closed doors.

The current CBA is set to expire after the 2030 season, but the NFL will want to negotiate labor peace before they enter a new round of broadcast agreements. Their current deals have opt-outs that can be triggered in 2029, so the league will probably want to start negotiating with television and streaming companies around then. So while the CBA, on paper, expires after 2030, it’s more likely that ownership will want to get a deal done with the union around 2028 or 2029.

Generally, the NFLPA’s biggest gains (at least recently) do not come in the form of direct financial benefits to the players. Ownership does not want their share of the pie to get smaller, and instead, they’re actually openly advocating for the opposite. While some owners are willing to spend well above the cap, use future cap space to pay current players and wait for that cap debt to be inflated out by the consistent $25 million per year increases that we’re seeing on the salary cap (this is tied to shared revenue in the league), every ownership group isn’t playing that game. For perspective, the Cleveland Browns have spent around $362 million more on players from 2020 to 2025 than the Los Angeles Rams have. Goodell said last summer that NFL owners are openly questioning the integrity of the league’s salary cap system.

This is all to say: No, the owners will not be giving players a bigger piece of the pie. They never really do. Instead, their goal is to increase the size of the pie. The problem, from an NFLPA angle, is how much bigger this pie can get before an 18-game season and 14-team playoff starts burning its players out of the league quicker due to injury.

On a rookie deal, the jump from a 16-game season and a 12-team playoff, which was standard in 2019, to an 18-game and 14-team playoff could mean an extra 12 games on a player’s body before the end of his rookie contract, the first time he’s actually able to negotiate on the open market. That’s significant.

I’m sure the NFL will be willing to give up some non-financial concessions for these extra games, but there’s not too much left on the docket. Practice time has already been slashed, and padded practices are already limited in a major way. The players already codified the reduced penalties for the marijuana policy. Kraft has floated that an extra game in the regular season will come with an extra bye, too, and will knock off a week of the NFL preseason, but a regular-season game for a veteran player is hardly comparible to a preseason game, when most of them already sit out that action, unless it also means a reduction in the extra week of training camp practices, too. Does this league want even less practice? Does either NFL ownership or the NFLPA care about that? We’re about to find out.

It will be interesting to track what demands the NFLPA makes in exchange for the plans of an 18th game, whether they get them or if ownership is just going to push around the players’ union again. This time, at least, the NFLPA won’t be led by an executive director who is being investigated by the FBI and allegedly did horse trading to bury a collusion grievance with the NFL.

For what it’s worth, the Packers’ union representative is right tackle Zach Tom, with the co-alternates being quarterback Jordan Love, tight end Tucker Kraft and safety Zayne Anderson, who is a free agent in 2026. Kicker Brandon McManus is a vice president in the union.

It’s hard to believe it was 20 years ago when the Steelers defeated the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.

It marked a turning point in the team’s storied history.

The stars from that 2005/2006 team are reminiscing on that special season that ended in confetti raining from the rafters and how they sent one of the franchise’s greats off on the highest of notes.

“We used to walk in the building and go upstairs and see those four trophies…you want to be a reason we put another one in there,” said Ben Roethlisberger

The elusive one for the thumb, 26 years in the making, and a story for the ages.

The game was held in Jerome Bettis’s hometown of Detroit.

“I remember that week going to his family’s house, his family cooking, spending so much time in his hometown. I think each of us wanted to win that for him,” Roethlisberger said.

“Sacrifice for this week – but we’re gonna be champions forever and that was our mindset,” Bettis said.

The tone was set when Joey Porter held the team back without Jerome’s knowledge and let him have the spotlight running onto the field by himself.

“I was shocked when I turned around and didn’t see anybody, but it was pretty cool,” Bettis said.

A slow game – 7-3 at the half in favor of the Steelers turned on a dime on the second play of the second half.

Fast Willie Parker electrified the crowd with a 75-yard touchdown.

“I didn’t know, but when you watch it on replay, I spin around to get my legs out of the way. I’m not gonna leave them in there to make it any smaller,” Alan Faneca said.

Those were the winning points and finally, the Steelers had that fifth Super Bowl Championship.

“It was a special day seeing Coach Cowher and Jerome, people that had been working to try and win a championship for so long,” Art Rooney II said.

It was a Hollywood ending for Jerome Bettis.

“One time, one opportunity and we seized that opportunity, and we became champions,” Bettis said. “To a person, to a family, to a city, to an organization, it meant so much to so many – make one for the thumb, all those things, really special.”

Bettis said the best part about that Super Bowl team was doing it together.

He remembers all the moments they went through to reach the ultimate goal and it’s that sense of accomplishment that keeps them bonded for life.

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The Intuit Dome will have an All-Star playing on his home floor, after all.

Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard has been named to the NBA All-Star Game by commissioner Adam Silver, the league announced Tuesday afternoon. Leonard was originally left off the roster after he wasn’t voted in by the fans, media or players as a starter or coaches as a reserve, but the teams were a player short under the new format.

This year’s All-Star Game will be “USA vs. the World.” Three teams — two teams of American players and one team of international players — will compete against each other in a round robin-style tournament on Sunday, Feb. 15. Leonard’s addition brings the total number of U.S. All-Stars to 16, the minimum required.

There was some backlash online after Leonard, who’s averaging a career-high 27.6 points per game, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and a league-leading 2.06 steals in 36 games played this season.  He’s also been as efficient as he’s ever been, shooting 49.7%, 39.1% from three-point range and has the fourth-best free throw percentage in the league at 91.3%.

This will be Leonard’s seventh career All-Star selection.

Per the NBA’s statement, the All-Star teams will be revealed at 4 p.m. PT Tuesday night on Peacock during the pregame show ahead of the Boston Celtics-Dallas Mavericks game.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard selected for NBA All-Star Game

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the midst of the NBA’s trade deadline are leaving no stone unturned. In rumors that are ramping up by the minute, it appears the Cavaliers are in the mindset of taking only big swings.

In an appearance on ESPN Cleveland, NBA insider Brian Windhorst discussed that, “The Cavs have talked to the Bucks about Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. The Cavs have talked to the Mavs about Anthony Davis.”

Windhorst also went on to state how the Cavaliers “are trying for this big swing”. Windhorst noted that they “clearly do not believe that this team is good enough…and have decided to start breaking up their core and decided to go big game hunting.”

Well, the Cavaliers appear to be ready to enter the endgame of their core four. Rumors have circulated around the willingness for the Cavaliers to take a big swing, and it appears to be much more aggressive than most thought. With the Cavaliers already circling around acquiring James Harden from the Clippers, it appears there are other moves that may be possible.

Giannis is the crown jewel of the trade deadline this season. It makes all the sense in the world if you are the Cavaliers to touch base on what potential offers would look like. The Cavaliers would obviously need to part with some combination of Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Max Strus, or Lonzo Ball with draft picks. For as attached as the fans are to the Cavaliers’ core four, you can see the logic behind trying to hitch Donovan Mitchell to a top-five player in the NBA regardless of the price.

Anthony Davis’s name being brought up is where things get dicey. Davis, since landing in Dallas, has just been living on the injury report. If the Cavaliers are looking to give up the farm to move the needle, Davis is about as risky a gamble as one can take. If the end goal for the Cavaliers is to reshuffle the deck with more reliable players for the present, Davis is far from the option to choose.

The main thing to take away from this Windy appearance is that the rumors are not smoke. There is a big fire brewing in Cleveland. The Cavs want to compete in what they view is a wide-open Eastern Conference, and they don’t believe they currently have what it takes to pursue a championship in this window.