LeBron James hasn’t forgotten that one clip of Jaylen Brown.

The Los Angeles Lakers star was asked about his relationship with Brown on Sunday night, shortly after L.A.’s 111-89 loss to the Boston Celtics. While he didn’t have anything bad to say, he did reference a moment from a Summer League game a few years ago when Brown was caught criticizing James’ eldest son, and current Lakers player, Bronny James.

“Our relationship has been pretty respectful,” James said. “Besides that s**t he said about Bronny at Summer League, but other than that, we’ve been alright.

“I think he went on social media and said something about it. It’s all good.”

Though James was joking a bit, he was referencing an old clip from an NBA Summer League game in 2024 in which Brown told Angel Reese and Kysre Gondrezick that “I don’t think Bronny is a pro.”

Brown actually went on social media soon after and tried to clean up those comments.

That all took place before Bronny’s first real NBA game. The Lakers selected him with the No. 55 overall pick in the draft that summer, and he ended up playing in 27 games last season while spending time with the Lakers’ G League affiliate.

He’s been doing the same thing this season, too. Bronny has averaged 2.2 points and 1.2 assists in 29 appearances with the Lakers this season while playing 7.3 minutes per game. In six games with the South Bay Lakers, he’s averaged 15.5 points and 5.2 assists.

Bronny did not play in the Lakers’ loss Sunday night. Luka Dončić led the way with 25 points and five rebounds, and James added 20 points and five assists while shooting 1-of-5 from the 3-point line.

Brown led the Celtics with 32 points and eight rebounds in the win, which pushed them to 37-19 on the season. Brown has averaged 29.2 points and seven rebounds per game this season and is shooting nearly 49% from the field. 

“This whole MVP thing, I don’t understand why his name is not getting talked about some as well,” James said. “Like, nobody gave them a shot to start the season.”

Though James admitted that Bronny has a ways to go in his development in the league, and he wasn’t that serious about it Sunday night, he’s clearly not going to forget those who have criticized his son in the past — even if it was years ago.

An already difficult season for Tyrese Haliburton has gotten worse.

The Indiana Pacers All-Star, who’s been sidelined all season with a ruptured Achilles tendon that he suffered in Game 7 of last season’s NBA Finals, now has shingles.

That’s according to head coach Rick Carlisle, who announced Haliburton’s condition to reporters Sunday. Per Carlisle, Haliburton will be away from the team for 2-3 weeks with the illness. 

Per the Mayo Clinic, shingles can be passed to anyone who isn’t immune to chickenpox. The condition doesn’t impact Haliburton’s availability. His Achilles tendon injury is expected to sideline him until the start of next season at the earliest. 

But he’s dealing with an illness that, according to the Mayo Clinic, can be “very painful” and generally impacts people who are 50 or older. Per the Mayo Clinic:

“Pain is usually the first symptom of shingles. For some people, the pain can be intense. Depending on the location of the pain, it can sometimes be mistaken for problems with the heart, lungs or kidneys.”

Carlisle told reporters that Haliburton is experiencing pain and that he’s expected to make a full recovery.

“It’s a very painful thing,” Carlisle said,” per the Indianapolis Star. … “He will make a full recovery, but this happened over the last few days. 

“He was meeting us in D.C. and had some odd symptoms and he came back here. That’s what’s happening with him. We certainly wish him a speedy recovery. It’s a unique case and a unique situation, but I talked to him a few times and he’s always in a good mood, so he’ll get through it.”

Patrick McDermott via Getty Images

Haliburton had emerged into one of the NBA’s best guard’s last season prior to his Achilles tendon injury. He made his second career All-NBA team and led the Pacers to a surprise trip to the NBA Finals as a 4 seed. 

There, the Pacers pushed the Thunder to seven games before losing the series. But Haliburton, who started Game 7 a lingering calf injury, ruptured his Achilles early in the first half. The Pacers couldn’t recover from the injury, and Haliburton’s promising career got derailed at 24 years old by one of the worst injuries in sports. 

Haliburton is hoping in the long term to recover in time to return to his All-NBA form. In the short-term, he’s dealing with a difficult illness. 

The Pacers, meanwhile, are last in the Eastern Conference at 15-43 on the heels on winning last season’s conference title. 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — Jacob Bridgeman was full of confidence when he walked off the course on Saturday night, a six-shot lead over perhaps the most popular golfer on the PGA Tour in hand. And for 15 holes on Sunday, that didn’t dwindle, either.

But when that bravado fell, it fell fast.

“I couldn’t even feel my hands on the last couple greens,” he said.

Luckily for Bridgeman, he was able to keep it together on the 18th hole at Riviera Country Club. After a bogey and a lot of work for a par save on the two holes behind him, which cut his lead back to just a single stroke, Bridgeman played the final hole perfectly. He landed in the fairway with his drive, stuck his approach about 20 feet short of the cup and left himself a simple two-putt par to seal the win.

Finally, he was able to relax.

Bridgeman carded a 1-over 72 on Sunday, which dropped him back to 18-under on the week. That was just enough to give him his win at the Genesis Invitational, the first of his career on the PGA Tour.

With it came a $4 million check — which was just more than half of what he had earned over his first three seasons on the PGA Tour combined — and a jump to the very top, though just barely, of the FedExCup standings.

“I thought it would be a lot easier than it was,” he said. “I kind of had everything under control, especially to start the day and I felt great throughout the day … But I don’t think it will get any easier than a six-shot lead.”

Bridgeman didn’t really make any mistakes for most of his round. He birdied twice in his first three holes, and he was even through 15. The lone true stumble came at the par-3 16th, when he landed his tee shot in the bunker and struggled to get out of it before settling for a bogey. He had to scramble to safe par at the 17th, too.

But he got it done.

“I thought he handled everything really well,” said Rory McIlroy, who finished a shot back at 17-under. “Because I wasn’t putting pressure on him it probably felt to him like he didn’t need to do that much, but he played very well … It’s hard to close out big tournaments. Even though he was a little shaky coming down the stretch, he held it together when he needed to.”

The winning moment wasn’t something Bridgeman was shying away from all week the way that some athletes would, either. He was envisioning it when he woke up on Sunday morning, trying to picture what it would feel like with the trophy in hand.

That, while he knows it might be unusual, feels like the right way to go about it.

“I don’t think I should try and forget about it or not realize what’s going on,” he said. “The magnitude of the situation almost just makes me focus more.”

Though he was admittedly “a little bit nervous” when he first woke up, Bridgeman still managed to see the win in his head. It just didn’t quite turn out like he had hoped.

“I pictured myself walking up that hole with a four-shot lead and knowing that I’d won, but unfortunately for me it was only a one-shot lead and I became a lot more nervous,” he said. “So I kept my head down, didn’t really look up until the end. I felt like if I had kind of become overwhelmed by the moment it might have distracted me.”

Now with the win in the books, Bridgeman will head right to Florida for the Cognizant Classic starting in just a few days. He had already secured a trip to the Masters this spring, too, after he reached the Tour Championship last season. So the next few months will be a build-up for his first career trip to Augusta National.

Though it’ll be incredibly different than anything he’s faced, preparing for the major championship as a Tour winner will make things much, much easier.

“Getting the monkey off my back winning for the first time I think is huge,” he said. “I think the Masters in itself is going to be a whole ‘nother challenge just because that’s the golf tournament that every golfer growing up wants to win, wants to play in, wants to compete in.

“I know that one will be a little bit more mental and physically taxing on me, but I’m very excited for it.”

We’re in that slow period between the Super Bowl and the new league year where it sometimes feels like the NFL world has ground to a halt. Which makes this the perfect time to ask: Where in the world are our Canal Street Chronicles readers? 

We don’t want or need your address or any personal details. Just sharing the state is fine, or city and state if you’d like to be more specific. Same thing if you live abroad… if you’d like to just share the country, that’s cool, and if you want to share more details like the city or region, that’s totally up to you. 

United States

• Florida
• Louisiana
• New Jersey
• Texas

International

• England

We’ve got people all over the country and even a few abroad. I’ve bolded our MHR staff and contributor footprint areas and now it’s your turn to scroll down to the comments and let us know where you are! We’ll update this list as locations are shared.

It’s still early in the college baseball season, but after eight games, the Oregon Ducks have shown an explosive offense, a solid defense, and really good pitching. It’s a combination that could take the Ducks a long way this year as they still look for their first trip to Omaha since reinstating the program back in 2009.

Oregonwent to 8-0 for the first time since 2012, after the Ducks completed a four-game sweep of the Youngstown State Penguins on a rainy and dreary day at PK Park. Fortunately, Mother Nature held off the rain just long enough for the weekend series to be completed.

If the Penguins had any thoughts of perhaps capturing one game this weekend, the Ducks eliminated any hope of that as Oregon scored four runs in the bottom of the first and cruised from there for a big 15-6 win. The big blow came off Drew Smith’s bat as he smacked a fastball that bounced on top of the fence and then went over for a three-run homer and an early 4-0 lead.

That was just the beginning for the Duck offense as they scored in six of their eight at-bats. They wound up with 15 runs and 12 hits on the day. The win went to Ryan Featherston, who came in from the bullpen to earn his second win of the season.

In the third game of the series, pitcher Ryan Clarke dominated on the mound as he went six shut out innings and allowed just two hits in the easy 7-0 win. Gabe Miranda hit his first homer as a Duck and catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus also went downtown to propel the Oregon offense.

It was a bit closer on Friday as Oregon had to hold off a late Penguin rally in the ninth inning for the 3-0 win. It was head coach Mark Wasikowski’s 300th win of his career. It was a 1-0 score for most of the game, but then the Ducks managed to get two insurance runs in the eighth inning.

Oregon opened the series off with a bang with a huge 18-1 victory. Maddox Molony led the way with three hits, including a home run and three runs driven in.

The Ducks go on the road for the first time this season as they travel to Las Vegas to play in the Live Like Lou Baseball Classic. They’ll open the tournament on Friday when the Ducks face Arizona.

Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.

This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Duck baseball goes to 8-0 with weekend sweep over Youngstown State

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• Adam Silver says the league would “seriously consider” rookie free agency if it ends tanking.
• A draft-free system changes incentives for “poverty franchises,” but risks star clustering.
• Alternatives like post-elimination win incentives exist.

Is the NBA Draft on the chopping block? Commissioner Adam Silver said that he and his advisors would “seriously consider” replacing the rookie draft with free agency if it’s the only definitive way to end tanking.

I am fully onboard with this idea!

With the 2026 tanking crisis reaching a fever pitch following record-breaking fines for the Jazz and Pacers, the league’s “flattened odds” lottery experiment has officially failed to deter strategic losing.

As owners grow restless over plummeting ticket sales in rebuilding markets, the nuclear option of a rookie open market is no longer just a “think-piece” theory; it’s a looming reality for the next NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Eliminating the NBA draft would actually help small market teams

Claiming small-market teams would be “cooked” is the wrong takeaway.

Players prioritize money, usage, and minutes, which are resources that are limited on every roster. A top rookie might choose the Charlotte Hornets over the Los Angeles Lakers if Charlotte can guarantee 35 minutes a night and the “keys to the franchise,” whereas the Lakers might only have a bench role available.

Each team would actually land players who want to be there and are more loyal to the franchise. Players would choose teams based on coaching staff and training facilities rather than being “forced” into a bad situation. This shifts the burden onto front offices to be competent to attract talent.

I opened the debate up on TikTok and was immediately met with hundreds of hot takes as well as a few intriguing solutions. Here are some of my favorites, along with my personal responses.

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What NBA fans are saying

M.T.C||.vids: The NBA should NOT remove the draft. Players won’t willingly move to bad teams that have no chance of winning anything.

Metler: All the reason for those franchises to become competent and stop being rewarded with lottery picks.

M.T.C||.vids: How on earth do you expect a franchise to just “become competent”? This free agent format would make super teams stronger and weaker squads less talented, dealing with the bums the league doesn’t want. The draft allows bad teams to get good young players

Metler: It allows awful franchises to ruin the best young talent coming into the league.

buzz_master: Boston and LA would be good forever. It’s everything they want.

Metler: It’s good for the league for those teams to always be good. Same as how it’s good for college hoops for Duke, Kansas, North Carolina, and Kentucky to always be good.

r08: Then the small market will always be at the bottom. The contender will always be the contender.

Metler: The same teams are already at the bottom anyways and are given false hope when they get a superstar for a rookie contract who then forces his way out. The solution is to build grassroots programs and connect with youth basketball in your state and city. Develop NBA talent in your hometown that you could sign in the future.

zacharydegraeve: I really think they should. I don’t think it’s the most popular opinion, but teams that build their organization top to bottom to lose so they can acquire a star prospect aren’t able to properly develop that prospect and build around that prospect in four years.

Metler: Why do we keep sending the best prospects to awful situations? If you want elite talent in your organization, earn it. Build better facilities, get better coaches, learn to develop players.

Cadie: I like what the PWHL does. Once you’ve been eliminated from the playoffs… every win after elimination gains points towards draft position. More points = higher draft position.

Metler: It’s way better than what we have now but NBA teams would still try and manipulate it.

Emorris984: Just use the NFL format!

Metler: They would tank even harder…

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It’s time to abolish the NBA draft

I was shocked by the outcry about protecting organizations that don’t even try to win games. Why are we so concerned about the bottom feeders of the league? Do you think college basketball sits around trying to game-plan ways to improve Boston College and make them relevant?

Imagine if we sent all the best high school recruits to the worst programs. We don’t. Those players go to North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, Arizona, and Duke. So why do we suddenly stop caring about the development of the best young talent coming into the NBA and then send them into awful situations?

A lot of the argument is built on the idea that teams like the Hornets would never be able to land a superstar coming out of college. My response to that concern is the 2009 NBA Draft. Do you really think the Hornets wouldn’t have had a legitimate chance to recruit Stephen Curry out of Davidson to play for his hometown team – the same team his dad played for?

The Hornets’ NBA championship odds wouldn’t be +50000 every single season if they had successfully recruited Curry back in 2009.

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.