April 2026

There were 1,484 posts published in April 2026 (this is page 51 of 149).

Clippers never considered moving on from Tyronn Lue this season, say their ‘plan is to win with Kawhi’

More than a month and a half into the season, the Los Angeles Clippers were left for dead. They were surrounded by controversy, with a contentious handling of Chris Paul’s final season in the NBA and the Aspiration-Kawhi Leonard scandal lurking behind their atrocious early-season record. Well into the third week of December, the Clippers were a Western Conference bottom dweller.

Then they dug themselves out of that hole — err, grave — transformed their aging roster midseason and, with more youth, made a push for the play-in tournament, securing the team’s 15th straight winning season along the way.

That head-turning turnaround came to an abrupt end on Wednesday, when L.A. blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead to Stephen Curry and a shorthanded Golden State Warriors team on the last legs of its dynasty.

But Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank remains confident in both head coach Tyronn Lue and 34-year-old star forward Kawhi Leonard. In his end-of-season news conference on Friday, Frank told reporters that Lue will maintain his role and that, if Leonard’s goals are aligned with the Clippers, they’d “like to win with Kawhi.”

Frank hired Lue to replace Hall of Famer Doc Rivers in 2020. Frank’s trust in Lue has been apparent, even as the team hasn’t made it out of the first round of the playoffs since its Western Conference finals run in 2021, and the one-time NBA Executive of the Year claims his faith didn’t waver during L.A.’s abysmal start to the season.

“Ty not being the coach was never, ever, ever a consideration. Even at our lowest point, when we were 6-21, there never ever was any conversation of Ty not being the coach,” Frank said Friday, via Clippers reporter Justin Russo.

“Ty’s going to be the coach here for a long, long time. And I think when you talk about partnerships, and you talk about stable organizations, when you have adversity or you go through tough stretches, you dig in, and you work really, really hard at identifying the problems. Everyone takes ownership of the issues. And then you come together and [say], ‘OK, how can we make things better?’

“I thought Ty and the staff did an unbelievable job of, every day, showing up with a great spirit and just kept at it.”

Frank was complimentary of how Lue managed a new-look roster down the stretch of the season. The Clippers changed things up drastically at the trade deadline.

They traded a 36-year-old James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers and a now-29-year-old Ivica Zubac, as well as Kobe Brown, to the Indiana Pacers. In return, the Clippers got back two-time All-Star guard Darius Garland from the Cavs, plus emerging wing Bennedict Mathurin, young forward Isaiah Jackson and some much-needed draft assets — namely two first-round picks — from the Pacers.

One constant was Leonard, who averaged a career-high 27.9 points per game this season and reminded the world of his dominance during this year’s All-Star Game.

Leonard was asked about his Clippers future after the team’s play-in tournament loss to the Warriors on Wednesday. He deflected, saying, “Let me cry about this loss a little bit more.”

He added: “We’re gonna have our discussions when that time comes.”

Frank was much less cryptic about his plans.

“Our plan is to win with Kawhi,” Frank said Friday. “At the appropriate time, we’ll sit down with Kawhi and, very similar to 2024, lay out our plan. And if our goals are aligned, then we’d like to win with Kawhi.”

Leonard previously won an NBA championship and NBA Finals MVP award with both the San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors. He will turn 35 in June and is entering the final year of a contract extension he signed in 2024.

Leonard has spent the past seven years with the Clippers — playing six seasons in the process — and Lue has been the team’s coach practically Leonard’s entire stay in L.A.

The Clippers have been competitive. Frank wants them to contend again. He made it clear Friday that he believes Leonard and Lue can help them do that.

Magic vs. Pistons: Who will survive physical East clash? Series keys, schedule and prediction

The Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, the Detroit Pistons, will take on the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic in the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs. It’s the first time these teams have squared off in the postseason since 2008. (I think Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson were literally in kindergarten during that series.)

Schedule| Odds | Pistons breakdown | Magic breakdown
Head-to-head| Matchup to watch | Key question| Prediction

East: Magic-Pistons • 76ers-Celtics • Hawks-Knicks • Raptors-Cavaliers
West: Suns-Thunder • Wolves-Nuggets • Rockets-Lakers • Blazers-Spurs

Game 1: Sun., April 19, at Detroit (6:30 p.m., NBC)
Game 2: Wed., April 22, at Detroit (7 p.m., ESPN)
Game 3: Sat., April 25, at Orlando (1 p.m., Peacock)
Game 4: Mon. April 27, at Orlando (time and network TBD)
*Game 5: Wed., April 29, at Detroit (time and network TBD)
*Game 6: Fri., May 1, at Orlando (time and network TBD)
*Game 7: Sun., May 3, at Detroit (time and network TBD)

*if necessary

(Via BetMGM)

Detroit Pistons (-500)
Orlando Magic (+375)

Before the season, we wondered what Detroit might have in store after last season’s historic breakthrough. The answer, it turned out: another historic breakthrough.

Just two seasons after winning 14 games and finishing with the NBA’s worst record, the Pistons went 60-22, leading the Eastern Conference nearly wire-to-wire. Detroit took the top spot in the East on Nov. 7 and never let it go, fueled to the top by All-Star play from point guard Cade Cunningham and center Jalen Duren — both of whom could wind up meriting All-NBA selections, now that Cunningham’s eligible — and an elite defense that’s been an absolute meat grinder to play against, night in and night out.

J.B. Bickerstaff’s crew finished the regular season second in fewest points allowed per possession, behind only the Thunder. They tied for first in how frequently they forced turnovers, and prevented shot attempts at the rim at a top-five level. When opponents did get one off, Detroit held them to the league’s second-lowest interior field goal percentage, with ace reserve Isaiah Stewart posting by far the stingiest mark of any defender to contest at least 100 up-close looks.

Detroit led the NBA in blocksandsteals, and tied for second in deflections — disruption, disruption, disruption. They also, it’s worth noting, finished dead last in opponent free-throw attempt rate, sending opponents to the charity stripe more often than any other team in the league — par for the course, considering how physically guys like Duren, Stewart, Ausar Thompson, Ron Holland and Javonte Green play at the point of attack.

That’s not a bug, though. It’s a feature — the distillation of an identity, the delivery and relentless repetition of a message: Playing against us is gonna be hard, every single possession, and it’s gonna friggin’ hurt.

Everything to know for the NBA playoffs: Predictions, series previews, X-factors

It’s a mantra that kept Detroit on the right side of the scoreboard more than 70% of the time despite a below-average half-court offensive efficiency mark, despite finishing in the bottom-third of the league in 3-point makes, attempts and accuracy, and despite lacking a dependable source of shot creation outside of Cunningham … or, at least, appearing to lack one, right up until two-way revelation Daniss Jenkins averaged 16 points and seven dimes per game while shooting 41% from 3-point land after Cunningham suffered a collapsed lung.

That message, that mantra, that identity kept Detroit razor-sharp while Cunningham convalesced. Including the game when he sustained the injury five minutes into the opening quarter, the Pistons went 9-3 without their MVP-candidate point guard, outscoring their opponents by 10.1 points per 100 possessions, with two of their three losses coming in overtime.

The rest of the Pistons’ rotation just stepped up and kept rolling, locking up home-court advantage and setting the stage for what would be another historic breakthrough: Detroit’s first trip to the Finals since 2005.

They’re capable of playing physical, aggressive, connected basketball. It just might take the threat of extinction to get it out of them.

Two nights after looking like they’d very much like to end their next huddle with “1-2-3, Cancun,” the Magic came out for their second play-in game looking like they’d undergone a collective exorcism. Or, maybe, a factory reset — a hard reboot that returned them to the kind of hard-nosed squad that had finished second in the NBA in defensive efficiency in each of the last two seasons.

We hadn’t seen that version of the Magic much this season. We were supposed to see something even better — an iteration that married the elite stopping power of Jamahl Mosley’s previous squads with a revamped offense, one decongested and supercharged by the arrival of sharpshooter Desmond Bane.

The price Orlando paid for Bane — four first-round draft picks — was awfully dear. But if his high-volume, high-efficiency shooting and downhill driving game could help smooth out the rough edges of an often staid and stagnant offense, delivering an attack capable of propelling Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Co. past the first round for the first time, it’d be worth the hefty cost.

The good news: Bane largely did his job, averaging 20-4-4 on 48/39/91 shooting splits while leading the team in minutes and playing in all 82 games. Orlando’s offense improved by 4.4 points-per-100 year-over-year. The Magic scored like a near-league-average offense in Bane’s minutes — that might not sound like much, but considering “league-average” is a level they haven’t reached since Dwight Howard left, it kind of is — and actually looked damn good when Bane shared the floor with Jalen Suggs and Anthony Black in a three-guard alignment that blitzed opponents by nearly 14 points-per-100.

The bad news: That’s about all that really went right.

Injuries again reared their ugly head, with Banchero (left groin strain), Wagner (right high ankle sprain), Suggs (left hip contusion, right MCL sprain) and Black (left lateral abdominal strain) combining to miss 101 games. The quartet that was supposed to form the core of a contender — Banchero, Wagner, Bane and Suggs — has shared the floor for just 214 minutes across 20 games this season, not nearly enough to develop the kind of chemistry that can drive a winner.

With the exception of Black, who averaged 15-4-4 on improved shooting in his third season, none of Orlando’s other recent draftees showed signs of emerging as key contributors. The defense slipped, forcing turnovers less frequently, allowing a higher shooting percentage at the rim, and dropping from No. 2 in points allowed per possession last season all the way down to No. 14. They went just 23-30 against .500-or-better opposition, and 10-20 against teams that had a top-10 point differential.

To top it all off, Banchero — the No. 1 overall pick, Rookie of the Year, All-Star, maxed-out cornerstone — largely underwhelmed, putting up nice counting stats (22.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game) but doing so while shooting just 50.7% on 2-pointers and 30.5% on 3-pointers, without making a significant defensive impact, and with the Magic posting a better point differential with him off the court than on it. (Again.)

It was all just so … uninspiring. It looked like things would end with an appropriately wearying fizzle, with Orlando losing to a Celtics team resting all of its starters in the regular-season finale before getting outclassed by a Sixers team without Joel Embiid in the first play-in game, with Banchero shooting 7-for-22 with six turnovers.

But then: the win over Charlotte, with Banchero taking the fight to the Hornets’ front line from the opening tip, with every Orlando defender pressuring the ball and nailing hair-on-fire rotations, and with a level of aggression and intention that so often seemed so lacking in Central Florida. It was a sight for sore eyes; more than that, it worked. It served as a reminder that, even if Mosley’s voice isn’t carrying quite like it used to, this team can summon something better than what we’ve seen.

The challenge now: doing it again, against the best team in the East.

The two teams split the season series, 2-2.

Detroit took the first meeting back in October, hanging 135 points on a Magic team that stumbled out of the starting blocks behind double-doubles for Cunningham (30 points, 10 assists, six rebounds), Duren (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Thompson (12 points, 11 rebounds, six assists). Orlando returned serve a month later, eliminating the Pistons from NBA Cup group play with a 112-109 win that featured a picture-perfect intentional free-throw miss and rebound by Cunningham that would’ve led to a game-tying triple try by Duncan Robinson 3 … had Anthony Black not soared out to block the shot:

The Pistons scored a 106-92 win in March largely on the strength of their defense, holding Orlando to just 35 second-half points and 38% shooting for the game while forcing 19 Magic turnovers that led to 26 Piston points. Cunningham led the way with 29 points, 11 assists and six rebounds as Detroit cruised despite going just 4-for-30 from 3-point range — tied for the second-fewest long-distance connections in a victory by any team this season.

The Magic knotted things up in the final week of the season, as the Pistons came to town missing Cunningham, Stewart, Robinson, Tobias Harris and Caris LeVert, all but inviting their hosts to capitalize. Orlando obliged in a 123-107 win, led by 31 points on 16 shots from Banchero:

Injuries impacted the series some. Banchero missed one Magic win, while Cunningham and half the Pistons’ rotation missed the other. Black missed Detroit’s March win; Wagner missed the final two meetings, which the teams split.

How the Magic try to slow down Cade

Cunningham largely had his way with the Magic during the regular season, averaging 32.7 points, 10.7 assists and 8.3 rebounds in 37.7 minutes per game across three meetings with Orlando. His combination of size, strength, skill, vision and pace makes him an exceptionally tough cover for most teams, but Orlando doesn’t have a like-sized, just-right matchup for him.

He’s too big for Suggs and Bane, and too strong for the reedier Black. He’s too quick off the bounce for Banchero and Wagner, and too savvy at getting to his spots for youngsters like da Silva and rookie Noah Penda. Go over the top of his ball screens, and he’ll put you in jail, keeping you on his back as he either sprints to the rim, patiently surveys the scene in search of the best shot, or works his way into contact to draw a trip to the foul line. Go under them or leave your big in drop coverage — a reasonable enough ploy against a 34% 3-point shooter — and you still run the risk that he’ll just pull up and dot your eye with a 3.

Send help or crank up the heat by blitzing or trapping his pick-and-rolls, and he’ll beat you with the pass, threading the needle to a rolling big man or firing a skip across the court to a waiting shooter. Show him too much of any one coverage, and he’ll pick that lock in about two possessions, diagnosing how to get what he wants and dissecting you until he gets it.

Mosley might open the series looking to make Cunningham prove he’s all the way back from the collapsed lung; in a three-game end-of-season cameo, he shot just 8-for-25 outside the restricted area. If a week of practice and conditioning work has Cade back in form with a rediscovered rhythm, though, the Magic will need some fresh answers: Detroit scored 119.1 points-per-100 against them in Cunningham’s minutes, a rate that would‘ve ranked third in the league in offensive efficiency this season, dominating the run of play. Orlando can ill afford a similar command performance if it hopes to upset the No. 1 seed.

Can Orlando score enough to make this a series?

The version of the Magic we saw on Friday against Charlotte — one where Banchero, Wagner, Bane and Suggs are all getting downhill and touching the paint to create good looks and draw contact, where the bigs and wings are pounding the offensive glass — might have a shot. But that was predicated on Orlando showing up with the intent to bully a smaller, thinner, more finesse-oriented team. Detroit is … um … not that.

If the Pistons meet that level of force in kind without buckling, committing live-ball turnovers to fuel Orlando’s transition game and 24-second violations that limit their shots on goal, what else can the Magic turn to against Detroit? If they can’t out-physical the likes of Thompson, Cunningham, Harris, Holland and Co. on the perimeter, and if they find themselves running into the brick walls of Duren and Stewart at the cup, can they generate and knock down enough 3s to stay connected? (They shot just 30.9% from deep against Detroit as a team during the regular season.)

All season long, it’s felt like Orlando’s offense has amounted to less than the sum of its parts. If they can’t find a higher level of cohesion, and quick, that Detroit defense might just grind it into dust.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Orlando turn in such a spirited, pugnacious performance to survive the play-in. But I don’t think “we’re gonna rough you up” is going to work against a bigger, better bully — one that’s on a mission to earn the respect that seems to continue to elude it in the eyes of the broader basketball cognoscenti, no matter how many games it wins or how impressively it wins them. I think the Pistons make a statement, take care of business quickly, and then ask who’s next.

This Sony Portable Outdoor Speaker Is Almost 50% Off Just in Time for Summer

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Sony’s portable speakers don’t get the same attention as its headphones, but they should. This Sony ULT Field 3 is a compact, rugged speaker you can toss into a bag without worrying about it, and right now, an open-box unit is on sale for $109.99 on StackSocial. Its sale price offers features you’d normally see at a higher cost.

The Sony ULT Field 3 is clearly tuned for bass, with a dedicated woofer inside a relatively small body, and you’ll notice that low-end presence even at moderate volume. Turn on the ULT mode, and the bass gets more aggressive, which works well in open spaces where sound tends to get lost. Indoors, though, it can start to overpower vocals and finer details. The speaker works better if you spend a few minutes in the Sound Connect app adjusting the seven-band EQ. Dialing things back gives you a more balanced profile for podcasts or softer music. It also supports Party Connect, letting you sync it with other Sony speakers for a wider sound setup, if you need wider coverage for a group setting.

It’s also built to handle rough use, with an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, so it can survive splashes, sand, or light rain. Battery life is another area where this speaker holds up well. Sony claims up to 24 hours of playback, though that depends heavily on how loud you listen and whether ULT mode is on. Push the volume to the max, and that number drops closer to five hours, which is in line with most speakers of this size. Fast charging adds some flexibility, though, with about two hours of playback from a quick 10-minute charge. Overall, the Sony ULT Field 3 is a great portable speaker, and this sale makes it a good time to buy just before summer.

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Suns vs. Thunder: Can Phoenix compete with the champs? Series keys, schedule and prediction

The Western Conference’s top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the eighth-seeded Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs. The two franchises haven’t met in the postseason since 1997, when the Thunder were the Seattle SuperSonics and Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp were still patrolling the floor.

Schedule| Odds | Thunder breakdown | Suns breakdown
Head-to-head| Matchup to watch | Key question| Prediction

East: Magic-Pistons • 76ers-Celtics • Hawks-Knicks • Raptors-Cavaliers
West: Suns-Thunder • Blazers-Spurs • Wolves-Nuggets • Rockets-Lakers

Game 1: Sun., April 19 at Oklahoma City (3:30 p.m., ABC)
Game 2: Wed., April 22 at Oklahoma City (9:30 p.m., ESPN)
Game 3: Sat., April 25 at Phoenix (3:30 p.m., NBC)
Game 4: Mon., April 27 at Phoenix (TBD)
*Game 5: Wed., April 29 at Oklahoma City (TBD)
*Game 6: Fri., May 1 at Phoenix (TBD)
*Game 7: Sun., May 3 at Oklahoma City (TBD)

*if necessary

(Via BetMGM)

Oklahoma City Thunder (-3000)
Phoenix Suns (+1300)

They are the defending champions. They didn’t quite coast to the 2025 NBA title, requiring Game 7 victories against both the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers, but they were a 68-win juggernaut that never quite found its peak in the playoffs … and still won the damn thing. And now they have the playoff scars to show for it.

The Thunder looked the part of a defending champion to begin the season, starting 24-1, even without Jalen Williams, who was recovering from offseason surgery to his wrist. There was talk of 70-plus wins, even a record for most wins in a regular season.

Then, the upstart San Antonio Spurs offered a reminder that OKC is, in fact, mortal, defeating the Thunder three times over a two-week span, all leading into Christmas. Over the next 35 games, the Thunder looked like any other contender, finishing 21-14.

Just as it looked like the Spurs might overtake OKC for the West’s No. 1 seed, the Thunder stepped on the gas again, winning 19-of-20 games down the stretch. (They threw away the final two games of the season, once they had the top seed clinched.) They posted the NBA’s best record (64-18) and net rating (+11.1). Quite a title defense.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was sensational all season. He is the favorite to win a second consecutive MVP award, and therefore has a case for the Best Player Alive — along with Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama, his chief rivals in the West.

Everything to know for the NBA playoffs: Predictions, series previews, X-factors

Williams, who was limited to only 33 games, spent the season trying to round himself into All-NBA form and never quite got there. But Chet Holmgren, the NBA’s second-best defender (behind Wembanyama) and a heck of an offensive talent, too, stepped forward in Williams’ absence, and he has a chance to make an All-NBA roster instead.

Point is: There’s a lot of talent up top for OKC, and it does not end there. Alex Caruso, Lu Dort and Cason Wallace remain a pack of defensive wolves. Isaiah Hartenstein plugs every other hole in a roster. The Thunder have talent that may not even crack a playoff rotation, including Jared McCain, who they added at the deadline just for fun.

The Suns weren’t supposed to be good. At all. In fact, they were bad last season. Real bad. Then, they traded Kevin Durant for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and draft picks, and waived-and-stretched Bradley Beal, waving the white flag on a failed era.

Devin Booker remained. And he is still awesome. He made another All-Star team, averaging a 26-4-6 on 46/33/87 shooting splits. But the Suns weren’t supposed to have enough around him. They were shallow last season, and they shed their stars.

But Brooks brought with him a winning attitude from his days on the Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets. He was the human embodiment of everything first-year head coach Jordan Ott demanded — all-out effort. And he added attitude.

The Suns followed suit. They got more than they bargained for from Collin Gillespie, Royce O’Neale, Jordan Goodwin, Oso Ighodaro and on down the line. Green missed 50 games. Brooks missed 26. And Booker missed 18. And still the Suns kept surviving.

They start with a top-10 defense, all based on effort, and figure out the offense, mostly relying on Booker, Green and Brooks to create. Gillespie does his share, too. They got contributions from everyone, including Mark Williams and Grayson Allen. Phoenix, all season long, was a collective, a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

The Thunder won their regular-season series with the Suns, 3-2.

Throw out the regular-season finale, a 135-103 Phoenix victory, since both teams emptied their benches in a meaningless game. The Suns handed OKC another defeat, 108-105, in early January, when Booker made a last-second game-winner.

Booker missed two games against the Thunder, both blowout losses. Green didn’t play a second against OKC this season. Don’t glean too much from their five games.

But! The lineup of SGA, Williams, Dort, Wallace and Holmgren — one of many the Thunder will weaponize — beat the Suns by 33 points in 35 minutes. No lineup from any team finished better than +20 in any amount of minutes against OKC this season.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Dillon Brooks

SGA is the NBA’s MVP. Brooks thinks he is the NBA’s MVP. This should be fun.

Do I expect Brooks to slow Gilgeous-Alexander? Maybe a little. If anyone knows SGA’s game, it is his fellow Canadian national team star. Brooks did defend SGA for 50 possessions this season, according to the NBA’s tracking data, “holding” the MVP to 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting and forcing three turnovers against his six assists.

Then again, the Thunder scored 142.3 points per 100 possessions when Brooks was matched up with Gilgeous-Alexander, which doesn’t bode well for the Suns’ chances.
SGA averaged 30 points on 51/50/86 shooting splits in three games against the Suns, and OKC outscored Phoenix by 19.9 points per 100 possessions in his minutes.

But do I expect Brooks to annoy the hell out of Gilgeous-Alexander? Absolutely. And that’s what makes this matchup the one to watch. Phoenix won’t win many matchups in this series, and they sure as heck won’t win this one, but Brooks competes like hell. He’ll make SGA work for everything he gets, and there are few things cooler to watch.

Can Jalen Williams find his shooting stroke?

Williams was OKC’s second-best player on its championship run. He made the All-NBA third team and All-Defensive second team last season. He is one of 30 players ever to score 40 points in an NBA Finals game and the fifth-youngest to ever do it.

He can pretty much do it all, scoring from all three levels, passing with aplomb, defending every position, rebounding, screening, whatever the game calls for, really.

He was not that player this season. He missed the first 19 games of the year to offseason wrist surgery. He played 24 straight games, before missing 26 of his next 28 games to a hamstring injury. He returned again for seven of OKC’s final 11 games.

Through it all, Williams’ scoring average dipped from 21.6 points per game (on 48/37/79 shooting splits) to 17.1 points per game (on 48/30/84 shooting splits). He is driving just as often as he always did. His assists per game are up to a career-high 5.5. And he’s still grabbing about 5 rebounds per game. His defense isn’t far off.

It’s his jump shot that has suffered. He is shooting 37.3% from the midrange and 29.7% on above-the-break 3s, down from 45.9% and 36.4% last season. You wonder if the wrist is an issue, if the hamstring makes things worse. Defenses will wonder the same and defend Williams accordingly. Ripple effects can be felt on OKC’s offense.

Suddenly, the Thunder are no longer a top-three offense but the seventh-rated one. That may not make a difference against an eighth seed. But against stiff competition they’re going to need Williams, or at least the threat of an All-NBA release valve — someone who can make the defense pay when it bends toward Gilgeous-Alexander.

All of the analytics suggest Oklahoma City is an overwhelming favorite, as do the oddsmakers. I can’t tell you how many players on the Thunder would start for the Suns, but it’s a lot. Still, I respect Phoenix’s hustle too much not to give them a game.

Where to watch Kansas City Royals vs. New York Yankees: Live stream, TV channel, odds for Saturday, April 18

The Kansas City Royals enter Saturday’s game against the New York Yankees on a five-game losing streak. The lost the series’ opener 4-2 on Friday after Ryan McMahon hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning. Starting pitchers are Noah Cameron for Kansas City and Will Warren for New York.

  • Kansas City Royals: 7-13 (No. 5 in AL Central)

  • New York Yankees: 11-9 (No. 2 in AL East)

  • Spread: New York Yankees -1.5

  • Moneyline: New York Yankees -170 (60.2%) / Kansas City Royals +140 (39.8%)

  • Over/Under: 8.0

Kansas City Royals: Noah Cameron (1-0, ERA: 3.94, K: 14, WHIP: 1.25)
New York Yankees: Will Warren (1-0, ERA: 2.45, K: 20, WHIP: 1.25)

Weather: 65°F at first pitch

Ballpark: Capacity: 47,309 | Roof: Open | Surface: Grass

Gerrit Cole hits 96 mph in first rehab start amid return from Tommy John surgery

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole officially began his rehab assignment Friday, making his first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery in early 2025.

Suiting up for the Somerset Patriots, the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, Cole threw 4 1/3 innings with 3 hits allowed, 3 earned runs, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts on 44 pitches. While pitch-by-pitch data isn’t available online, he reportedly hit 96 mph in the first inning.

He was also throwing quite a curveball.

Cole’s trouble came in the second inning, when he walked a batter then allowed an RBI double to Dylan Campbell and a homer to Bryson Ware on back-to-back at-bats.

Per MLB.com, Cole has been moving smoothly through rehab this year, with two short starts in spring training. His side session on Wednesday went well enough the Yankees decided to start the rehab assignment clock, which dictates that a player must be added back to the MLB roster within 30 days of the start of his rehab assignment. Tommy John patients may also receive three 10-day extensions.

Cole is reportedly forecast for a return in June, though he seemed happy with where he was earlier this week:

“I have no complaints,” Cole said on Monday. “The stamina was good. The pitches are fine right now. They’re good. I’m a little nit-picky, but everything is good.”

Without Cole, the Yankees are off to an 11-9 start after a 4-2 win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday. When Cole is healthy, they will be expecting to have one of the best pitchers in baseball back in a rotation currently headlined by Max Fried and Cam Schlittler.

NBA Play-In Tournament 2026: Where to watch, who’s left, TV schedule and more

The 2026 NBA playoffs began with a play-in tournament on April 14. The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers have been eliminated so far, while the Philadelphia 76ers and the Portland Trail Blazers have secured spots in the playoffs. The final elimination games, between the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference, and the Orlando Magic vs. Charlotte Hornets in the Eastern Conference, are set for Friday, April 17. The regular playoffs are set to begin April 18.

Every play-in game will stream exclusively on Prime Video. Here’s what you need to know so you won’t miss a single game of the 2026 NBA play-in tournament, including the complete schedule and where to stream, plus key dates for the rest of the playoffs.

Dates: April 14 – 17, 2026

TV channel: n/a

Streaming: Prime Video

The NBA playoffs unofficially begin with the play-in tournament from April 14-17. The playoffs then officially get under way on April 18. 

All games of this year’s play-in tournament will be broadcast live on Prime Video from April 14-17, with winners advancing to the first round of the NBA Playoffs starting Saturday, April 18.

The play-in tournament features the teams ranked 7th through 10th in each conference. In the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat played Charlotte Hornets and the Orlando Magic faced the Philadelphia 76ers. In the Western Conference, The Portland Trail Blazers played the Phoenix Suns while the Golden State Warriors played the L.A. Clippers. 

All times Eastern.

  • April 17, 7:30 p.m.: East Final Eliminator Game, Orlando Magic vs. Charlotte Hornets (Prime Video)

  • April 17, 10 p.m.: West Final Eliminator Game, Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors (Prime Video)

All times Eastern.

  • April 14-17: NBA Play-In Tournament

  • April 18: NBA Playoffs begin

  • May 4: Conference Semifinals begin (can move up to May 2 or 3)

  • May 19: Eastern Conference Finals begin on ESPN/ABC (can move up to May 17)

  • May 20: Western Conference Finals begin on NBC/Peacock (can move up to May 18)

  • June 3: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 1 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

  • June 5: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 2 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

  • June 8: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 3 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

  • June 10: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 4 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET

  • June 13: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 5 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET (if necessary)

  • June 16: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 6 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET (if necessary)

  • June 19: NBA Finals 2026 – Game 7 on ABC, 8:30 p.m. ET (if necessary)

Padres sale reportedly close to being finalized for $3.9 billion

The San Diego Padres’ sale process is close to being finalized, with private-equity billionaire José E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, purchasing the team for $3.9 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The valuation would be about $1.5 billion more than what Steve Cohen paid for the New York Mets in 2020 and the highest ever for an MLB franchise. Any sale agreement would require approval from 75% of MLB owners.

Ownership groups led by Golden State Warriors and Valkyries principal owner Joe Lacob, Detroit Pistons and Platinum Equities owner Tom Gores, and AS Roma, AS Cannes and Everton FC owner Dan Friedkin, along with Feliciano and Jones, were reportedly among the bidders under consideration.

The Seidler family, which currently owns the Padres, has been exploring a potential sale since November. Former chairman and majority stakeholder Peter Seidler died in November 2023 at the age of 63 after a long illness. John Seidler, Peter’s brother, currently controls the family trust, and thus the Padres, after being approved by MLB owners a year ago.

Interest in the Padres comes amid a strong run for the franchise. The team has made the playoffs in four of the past six seasons, including reaching the National League Championship Series in 2022, when they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Padres are 13-6 this season, entering play Friday.

Glimmer of Light Appears for Roma as They Face Atalanta

For quite a long time (or maybe it’s just felt incredibly long to me), it’s felt like Roma’s season was collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions. Como, an opportunistic and annoyingly resilient side backed by the richest owners in Italy, seemed poised to turn Roma’s recent stumbles into something more permanent. And yet, the door to salvation has cracked back open just a smidge. Como has faltered, capped by a loss to Sassuolo, and we now return to our regularly scheduled programming: table-watching.

The thing about the final gasps of a season is that momentum doesn’t build in this setting. Instead, it feels like there’s just a limited amount of hope allotted, and when one side loses that hope, another side inevitably gains it. With that in mind, Roma gaining a touch of a reprieve doesn’t feel earned, but inherited; still, the opportunity is real. With Roma sitting just ahead of Atalanta and still within reach of the top four, as Juventus occupy that tenuous final Champions League place, the math has simplified. Win, and the conversation changes. Lose, and the death spiral becomes just a bit more permanent. The margins are that thin and the stakes are that blunt.

If Roma is, in any meaningful sense, the team it once hinted at being earlier this season, then this is where that Real Roma needs to stand up (to paraphrase one Marshall Mathers). They will only be able to do this through execution. Whatever belief once surrounded this side has eroded, and it’s been replaced by a more familiar uncertainty and doom about the club’s long-term potential. The table offers them one last invitation to change the script: step into the fight with Juventus, or drift out of it. Will they lose themselves in the music the moment they want it? Will they never let it go?

What to Watch For

Can We Get Wesley and Pisilli Back?

If Roma wants to get a win out of this one, they’re going to need two of the only players in the squad who consistently make things happen without needing the entire system to click first. Wesley is still dealing with a hamstring issue and looks unlikely to be risked, while Niccolò Pisilli is stuck in that late-test limbo with an ankle problem. Even if one of them makes the bench, it’s hard to see either being close to 100 percent. That’s a problem, because Roma don’t exactly have redundancy in those roles. Wesley gives you directness that no one else in this side really offers right now, while Pisilli’s value is different but just as important. He speeds things up. He plays forward. He turns stagnant possession into something that at least resembles intent, which has been in short supply since the long-term injuries to Matias Soulé and Paulo Dybala neutered Roma’s creative power.

Against an Atalanta side that will be out for blood and a chance to get into Europe themselves, those skills are not optional. You’re not going to slowly work your way through them over 90 minutes. You need players who can break structure, who can create something out of nothing when the game starts to tilt. Without Wesley and Pisilli, Roma can still compete. But they start to look a lot more like a team hoping the match comes to them, instead of one capable of taking it.

Can Gasperini End the Drama with A Win Against His Prior Employer?

The most annoying part of the past few weeks of Roman drama is that this didn’t have to be a storyline. Not like this.

Instead, Roma head into one of the biggest matches of their season with the focus split between the pitch and a very public fracture between Gian Piero Gasperini and Claudio Ranieri. What started as a disagreement over squad decisions and messaging has spilled out into the open, culminating in Gasperini visibly emotional in his pre-match press conference after allegedly being caught off guard by Ranieri’s comments. That’s where things stand now: there’s tension, there’s noise, and we now have a match that suddenly feels like it’s carrying more than just three points.

Ignore the drama, because reality is simpler than that. This spat between Ranieri and Gasperini, two icons of Italian football, shouldn’t be resolved in press conferences or clarified through intermediaries. Roma didn’t bring Gasperini in to navigate internal power struggles. They brought him in because of what he did at Atalanta: nine years of turning a club without traditional resources into one of the most consistent sides in Italy and a regular presence in the Champions League. He built something there out of parts most managers wouldn’t have known how to use. That’s the résumé with Atalanta, and that’s the project with Roma.

This is the moment where that résumé has to translate. Not eventually, not over the course of a long rebuild—now. Because whatever tension exists, whatever frustration is bubbling underneath the surface, it all looks very different if Roma walk off the pitch tomorrow with three points. Win, and the noise quiets for the moment. Win, and the idea behind the hire starts to feel real again. Lose, and everything just gets louder. Nobody wants that. Nobody needs that. Certainly not me, because I want to get back to podcasting happy.

Brooklyn Nets jersey history No. 55 – Jayson Williams (1992-99)

The Brooklyn Nets have 52 jersey numbers worn by over 600 different players over the course of their history since the franchise was founded in 1967 as a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), when the team was known as the “New Jersey Americans”.

Since then, that league has been absorbed by the NBA, with the team that would later become the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets before settling on the name by which they are known today, bringing their rich player and jersey history with them to the league of today.

To commemorate the players who played for the Nets over the decades wearing those 52 different jersey numbers, Nets Wire is covering the entire history of the franchise’s jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team.

And for today’s article, we will continue with the second of eight people to wear the No. 55 jersey, big man alum Jayson Williams. After ending his college career at St. John’s, Williams was picked up with the 21st overall selection of the 1990 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns.

The Ritter, South Carolina native played the first two seasons of his pro career with the Philadelphia 76ers instead after being dealt there before the start of his rookie campaign. That ended when he was dealt to the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets in 1992 for the final seven seasons of his NBA career.

During his time suiting up for the Nets, Williams wore only jersey No. 55 and put up 8.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.

This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets jersey history No. 55 – Jayson Williams (1992-99)