Transfers will determine which teams win the Power Five conferences, which teams advance to the College Football Playoff and which team wins the national championship.

This isn’t a wild prediction.

The transfer portal has revolutionized the Bowl Subdivision for better and for worse, simultaneously giving student-athletes newfound freedom to switch schools without penalty while deeply complicating how coaches and programs attack roster management and retention.

But there’s no way to overstate the role transfers will play during the 2023 season. In some cases — Colorado, Arizona State, Nebraska — the portal has helped new coaches almost completely flip the roster in advance of spring practice.

Some of the teams chasing two-time defending champion Georgia will lean on transfers to close the gap. Notre Dame’s playoff odds look much better after bringing in Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman as the new starting quarterback. Michigan’s portal class should help keep the Wolverines at or near the top of the Big Ten.

Eight others join the Irish and Wolverines when it comes to this year’s top transfer classes:

Florida State

Best transfer: OL Jeremiah Byers (Texas-El Paso)

Byers is one of several offensive linemen set to start or play major roles as FSU prepares to make a playoff run. Colorado transfer Casey Roddick should start at one of the two guard spots and Auburn transfer Keiondre Jones will help in the run game after starting 22 games for the Tigers. The Seminoles also grabbed a pair of tight ends in South Carolina’s Jaheim Bell and Shorter University’s Kyle Morlock. Another South Carolina transfer, edge rusher Gilber Edmond, led the Gamecocks with nine tackles for loss in 2022.

LSU

Best transfer: LB Omar Speights (Oregon State)

All but one of LSU’s 11 transfers come from the Power Five; the one exception, Southeastern cornerback Zy Alexander, was a two-time Football Championship Subdivision All-America pick. While Alabama receiver Aaron Anderson is a very strong prospect who could contribute as soon as this season, the class is focused on defenders capable of improving last year’s ninth-place finish in the SEC in yards given up per play. Alexander is joined by Speights, Syracuse cornerback Duce Chestnut and others in remaking the Tigers’ back seven.

Colorado

Best transfer: DB Travis Hunter (Jackson State)

Twenty-four transfers join Colorado’s traditional recruiting class to remake the depth chart and add depth heading into coach Deion Sanders’ first season. Most transfers arrive from the Power Five, chasing playing time after failing to crack the depth charts at Alabama, Michigan, Florida or Arkansas. But the biggest additions come from Jackson State, where Sanders had spent the previous three years. One is his son, Shedeur, the Buffaloes’ likely starting quarterback. And there’s Hunter, the top prospect in the 2022 class and one of the most promising young talents in the sport.

MAKING STATEMENT:Colorado’s Sanders assembles strong recruiting class

Oklahoma

Best transfer: LB Dasan McCullough (Indiana)

This is another solid transfer class for Brent Venables, this time joining one of the top-ranked traditional recruiting classes in the FBS. Stanford transfer Walter Rouse pencils into one of the open spots at left or right tackle after spending four season as the Cardinal’s starter on the blind side. After one season at South Carolina, tight end Austin Stogner has rejoined the program and figures to be the Sooners’ top option at the position. Former Michigan wide receiver Andrel Anthony had moments of brilliance with the Wolverines and will have the chance to play a major role as OU tries to replace roughly two-thirds of last year’s receiving yardage. Lastly, McCullough was one of the top freshmen defenders in the Power Five in 2022.

Oregon

Best transfer: DL Jordan Burch (South Carolina)

Oregon’s newcomers has the potential to remake a defense that ranked 88th nationally in yards allowed per play last season. Burch is an NFL talent who should demand attention and free up the rest of the Ducks’ front seven. At linebacker, Oregon brought in Iowa transfer Jestin Jacobs in the hope that he can remain healthy and produce at an all-conference level. Another three transfers may start in the secondary: Khyree Jackson (Alabama) at cornerback and Tysheem Johnson (Mississippi) and Evan Williams (Fresno State) at safety.

Southern California

Best transfer: DB Christian Roland-Wallace (Arizona)

This transfer class leans a little more toward the defensive side of the ball after Lincoln Riley snatched up Caleb Williams and others to fix the offense heading into his debut season. It includes two starters off Arizona’s defense: defensive tackle Kyon Barrs, a former all-conference pick, and Roland-Wallace, a four-year starter. There are several other pieces set to join Williams and the Trojans’ offense, beginning with former South Carolina running back MarShawn Lloyd. Look for former Florida guard Ethan White to step into the starting role at left guard.

Mississippi

Best transfer: LB Monty Montgomery (Louisville)

Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders will push incumbent starter Jaxson Dart while LSU transfer Walker Howard takes over as the Rebels’ presumed quarterback of the future. There’s also help on the way at wide receiver in Louisiana Tech transfer Tre Harris (935 receiving yards in 2022) and former five-star Texas A&M recruit Chris Marshall. Bringing in Montgomery and Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste from Central Florida will help the defense at a need area..

Michigan

Best transfer: LB Ernest Hausmann (Nebraska)

Hausmann is one of three Big Ten transfers set to join Michigan, along with quarterback Jack Tuttle and tight end AJ Barner from Indiana. Only a rising sophomore, Hausmann was one of the few bright spots for the Cornhuskers in 2022 and played his best game in a blowout loss to the Wolverines. Jim Harbaugh again went into the portal for offensive linemen, nabbing Myles Hinton and Blake Nugent from Stanford and Arizona State’s LaDarius Henderson. Edge rusher Josiah Stewart was one of the top defenders in the portal and is a lock to play major snaps for the Wolverines’ defense.

Auburn

Best transfer: RB Brian Battle (South Florida)

Auburn’s transfer group has an SEC flair, with additions coming in from Mississippi (linebacker Austin Keys), Kentucky (defensive lineman Justin Rogers), LSU (linebacker DeMario Tolan) and Vanderbilt (edge rusher Elijah McCallister). Most of the remaining transfers come on the offensive side of the ball, including three Group of Five linemen with starting experience. Battle checks in after finishing third in the American in rushing yards and fourth in yards per carry in 2022.

UCLA

Best transfer: RB Carson Steele (Ball State)

UCLA may have a found a replacement for quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson in Kent State transfer Collin Schlee, who tossed 13 touchdowns for the Golden Flashes last season and could keep the seat warm for five-star incoming freshman Dante Moore. Steele brings experience and production to the backfield as the Bruins’ running game aims to replace the combined 2,004 yards and 26 touchdowns compiled by Thompson-Robinson and Zach Charbonnet in 2022. Former California wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant (65 receptions for 755 yards) is a plug-and-play addition to the passing game.

PHOENIX — The Cincinnati Bengals’ young core of Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins is a hard combination to stop.

Although they came up just short of a second consecutive trip to the Super Bowl this season, the Bengals’ championship window is seemingly wide open – if they can keep the trio together, that is. 

The attention has shifted to the Bengals’ pocketbook in the offseason. Burrow and Higgins are both entering the final year of their rookie contracts (the Bengals have until May 1 to exercise Burrow’s fifth-year option) and both are eligible for extensions. Cincinnati is expected to sign Burrow to a long-term deal, but Higgins’ future with the team isn’t as certain.  

‘It would be nice for Tee (Higgins) to be on the same side with me still as long as we can go,’ Chase told USA TODAY Sports at Super Bowl 57 Radio Row at the Phoenix Convention Center. ‘Somebody later down the line is going to have to do something for us to have this team stay together.’

Both Chase and Higgins racked up 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. Chase, who considers himself ‘the best receiver in the league,’ is entering the third year of his rookie contract and is eligible for an extension next offseason.

Super Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more

When asked how the franchise can keep him and Higgins, Chase said, ‘I really don’t know.’ But Chase believes Higgins has the talent to be ‘one of the best in the league.’ 

‘He’s a great receiver man. He’s an outstanding guy,’ Chase said. ‘Tee is ridiculous. He can run routes. He can go up and get it, the acrobatic catches. He made some plays this year that I’ve never seen.’

Chase also talked about uplifting another teammate: Defensive end Joseph Ossai, who committed a costly penalty in the AFC championship game loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. 

Ossai was flagged for unnecessary roughness after hitting Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes out of bounds with 8 seconds left. The 15-yard penalty set up a winning 45-yard field goal for Kansas City.

‘While all that was going on, we had a team talk behind closed doors and cameras. You know just prayed and made sure everybody is on the same page and showed love for each other,’ Chase said. ‘I know Joe (Burrow) told the whole team he loves them. We all said the same thing to one another. Being around each other every day and just knowing that anything can happen in a matter of seconds. It’s scary. Just taking advantage and living in the moment.’

He continued: ‘As an athlete, we go through a lot of things in the football season and an ‘L’ is the worst one. Letting it go is probably the hardest, but the next game is always the biggest game. That’s how you have to think about it. If you’re not ready for the next game mentally, then you are going to mess up yourself.’

PHOENIX — ‘No crush, no rush’ is a slogan the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense uses. The four-word phrase coined by defensive ends and outside linebackers coach Jeremiah Washburn means the defense has to stop the run to earn the right to rush the quarterback. Entering Super Bowl 57, the defense has lived up to its motto.

“If you don’t stop the run, you can’t pass rush nobody,” Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said. “You got to take care of business. Early on, you got to send a message and let them know what the game is gonna be. You got to be the dictators. That’s any defense that wants to win a game, you got to let them know what it’s gonna be for the day.”

The Eagles had the NFL’s second ranked defense in the regular season and the unit hasn’t given up more than seven points in each of its postseason wins leading up to Super Bowl 57. When it comes to rushing the quarterback, the Eagles are on an historic pace.

The Eagles defense has amassed 78 total sacks across the regular season and postseason, the third most in NFL history. Philadelphia is three sacks away from surpassing the 1985 Chicago Bears for the second most sacks ever and five sacks shy of eclipsing the 1984 Bears (82 sacks) for the NFL single-season record.

“I am happy that we are in the talks of potentially being that. That’s what you dream of,” Graham said. “You dream of trying to be the ones who beat the ones who done it before us.”

Super Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more

Getting to the quarterback is a task the Eagles have specialized in this season. The Eagles are the only team since 1982 (when sacks became an official statistic) to have four different players record at least 10 sacks in the same season. Outside linebacker Haason Reddick compiled a team-high 16 sacks in his first season in Philadelphia, tied for the second most in the NFL. Coming into Sunday’s Super Bowl he has a postseason-high 3.5 sacks, including a strip sack in the NFC championship that injured San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, which dramatically changed the course of the game. 

“We’ve been decent at stopping the run, getting up in the scoreboard, getting teams in must-pass situations and must-score situations that allows us to go out there and rush,” Reddick said.

Along with Graham (drafted in 2010), defensive tackle Fletcher Cox (drafted in 2012) is one of the elder statesmen on Philly’s defense. The Eagles are the only team the 11-year veteran’s ever suited up for. He shied away from saying this year’s group is the best he’s ever been a part of. The unit’s cohesiveness is what stands out, he said.

“Hold each other accountable. Be one unit,” Cox said. “The coaches do a really good job about emphasizing why we’re here and knowing we’re good as a group and as a defense – everybody just complementing each other.” 

The group has been stout collectively. They are the first team since the 2000 Baltimore Ravens to allow seven points or fewer in multiple playoff games in a postseason run. Yet it all starts up front with the simple philosophy that they’ve mastered leading up to Super Bowl 57 – no crush, no rush.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on Twitter @TheTylerDragon.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is now the second leading scorer in NBA history. LeBron James eclipsed his 38,387 points Tuesday night with a fadeaway jumper against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Hall of Fame center was in attendance at the Los Angeles Lakers game to show his support. He stood next to James in a brief ceremony after he scored the record-breaking shot and gave him a hug.

On Wednesday, Abdul-Jabbar published an essay further congratulating the current Lakers star, explaining the hype leading up to the moment and sharing why he and James never had a strong relationship.

‘Whenever a sports record is broken — including mine — it’s a time for celebration,’ he said. ‘It means someone has pushed the boundaries of what we thought was possible to a whole new level. And when one person climbs higher than the last person, we all feel like we are capable of being more.’

Abdul-Jabbar said he ‘had to laugh’ at the speculation surrounding what his thoughts were on his record being passed.

Prior to James capturing the scoring title, he was asked about his relationship with Abdul-Jabbar, which he said was nonexistent. Fellow Laker great Magic Johnson also suggested that there might be tension between the old guard and new.

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The six-time NBA champion said that he was hurt by the comments and wants people to understand that he has nothing but desire to celebrate James’ accomplishment.

‘It’s as if I won a billion dollars in a lottery and 39 years later someone won two billion dollars,’ he said. ‘How would I feel? Grateful that I won and happy that the next person also won. His winning in no way affects my winning.’

Abdul-Jabbar continued that it’s been 34 years since he retired from the league and is now more focused on his social justice efforts — the NBA named its social justice award after him in 2021 — and his family. He takes full responsibility for not developing a relationship with James.

‘By nature I have never been a chummy, reaching-out kind of guy (as the media was always quick to point out). I’m quiet, shy, and am such a devoted homebody that you’d think I have agoraphobia. I like to read, watch TV, listen to jazz. That’s pretty much it. …

‘That disconnect is on me. I knew the pressures he was under and maybe I could have helped ease them a bit. But I saw that LeBron had a friend and mentor in Kobe Bryant and I was just an empty jersey in the rafters. I couldn’t imagine why he’d want to hang with someone twice his age. How many do?’

Despite the lack of connection, Abdul-Jabbar said his appreciation for James has grown throughout the years as he excelled on the court and showed care for social justice issues off of it.

‘LeBron makes me love the game again,’ he said. ‘And he makes me proud to be part of an ever-widening group of athletes who actively care about their community.’

PHOENIX — Roger Goodell seemed a bit defensive.

Sure, we’ve seen that position before. This time, during his annual Super Bowl media set, the NFL commissioner put up the Shield in defending NFL officials in the wake of some pointed criticisms … and, well, some of the mess witnessed by mega millions during the conference title games.

“I don’t think it’s ever been better,” Goodell declared of the quality of the league’s officiating.

Say what?

Of course, that’s what you’d expect Goodell to say as the biggest game of the year looms, even if it’s not a universal opinion.

Super Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more

No question, NFL officials handle their business well. As Goodell noted, there were more than 42,000 plays during the season and multiple infractions could occur on any play. Way more often than not, the NFL officiating crews will make the right calls. They act quickly, decisively and typically correctly as all sorts of mayhem that could include warp speed or big bodies unfolds around them. And replay reviews usually settle disputes when plays are red-flagged by coaches challenges or subject to automatic reviews.

Yet that big, fourth-down reception by Philadelphia Eagles receiver DeVonta Smith early in the NFC championship game sure didn’t look like a catch (shame on the San Francisco 49ers for not challenging it). And on the play near the end of the AFC title game when a scrambling Patrick Mahomes drew a late-hit penalty that set up an easier game-winning field goal, did the officials miss an apparent holding penalty by Orlando Brown against Trey Hendrickson?

Add a questionable intentional grounding flag and a replay of a third-down by the Kansas City Chiefs after they were apparently stopped, and it’s no wonder the Cincinnati Bengals left Arrowhead grumbling about the calls.

Goodell tried to clear up one of the suspect sequences from the AFC game, insisting (conspiracy theorists, take note) that there was no communication from the NFL’s command center in New York (even though there’s a “replay-assist” component available) that suggested the presumably stopped third-down play in the fourth quarter be replayed. Referee Ron Torbert explained that the play was ruled dead because the play-clock hadn’t been properly reset.

“That was stopped appropriately because the clock was running, by an official on the field,” Goodell said. “That happens frequently in our game. That’s not an unusual thing to have that happen.”

Even when the officiating has never been better. Hmmm.

Goodell knows. Nobody’s perfect.

He suggests that the scrutiny, though, has intensified because of technology that includes hi-definition television.

“It will never be perfect,” Goodell said. “We all have to realize the quality of our broadcasts, you’ve never been able to see the kinds of things you can see today. You see it in ‘Super Slo-Mo,’ you see it where you can actually stop it. Sometimes, that distorts a call potentially, but the reality is that our officials are held to an incredibly high standard and I think they need it.

“Will we try to get better? You betcha.”

Goodell pushed back hard on the buzz generated by Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers recently, which contended that the NFL has lost too many talented officials to network television jobs. Fox Sports lured two former officiating directors, Mike Pereira and Dean Blandino; CBS hired former referee Gene Steratore (who also refereed college basketball games) and ESPN uses former referee John Parry for Monday night games.

While Goodell argued that there is no significant talent drain at work, Rodgers’ larger point, which has been raised in previous years, is that the NFL seemingly under-values the impact of top officials – and the top administrators. The theory is that with better pay from the NFL, they won’t leave.

“I do not think that’s a factor at all,” Goodell said. “Zero.”

One thing for certain: The crew headed by referee Carl Cheffers, working his third Super Bowl, will be in the perfect position on Sunday to make Goodell’s case – or not.

MILAN (AP) — Before scoring two goals, Victor Osimhen apologized for missing a shot.

During the warmup ahead of Napoli’s match at Spezia last weekend, a shot from Osimhen hit a female fan in the stands. The Nigeria striker immediately climbed over the barriers to say sorry.

“I was making a practice shoot and then I kicked the ball so hard and there was a lady there and the ball hit her so hard so I had to go there to give her a hug and say, ‘I’m sorry. It wasn’t intentional,’” Osimhen said.

The Spezia fans would have probably wished his shooting was as wayward during the match — Osimhen scored two second-half goals to help runaway Serie A leader Napoli win 3-0.

His eye for goal, technique and precision is impressive, as is his speed and physicality. Osimhen’s second goal against Spezia was a header that had echoes of one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s most famous scores in Italy but the Napoli forward leapt even higher than the Portugal great.

It was the fifth straight league match Osimhen had scored in and took his tally to 16 in 17 Serie A matches this season.

Just as Napoli is leading the Italian league, Osimhen is leading the scoring chart, with the forward having scored four more goals than Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman and Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martínez.

“I believe my confidence is getting higher every day, each training,” the 24-year-old Osimhen said. “And I’m really happy about this, about this form.

“And of course I have to say a big thank you to my teammates, most especially the coach that has given me this confidence and to repay him I have to continue to work for the team, to try to score as much as I can for the team to help them get to victory.”

Next up for Osimhen and Napoli is a home game against last-place Cremonese.

Napoli has a 13-point lead in Serie A, while Cremonese is 10 points from safety and hasn’t won a single league match this season while scoring only 15 goals.

Osimhen alone has scored more than the entire Cremonese team this season.

But Cremonese pulled off a big upset when it won at Napoli on penalties in the Italian Cup three weeks ago. It then went on to eliminate Roma, too, and reach the semifinals for only the second time in its history.

“Cremonese and these players need to show that we belong in this league,” Cremonese coach Davide Ballardini said. “We showed that in the Italian Cup, we also want to show it in Serie A.”

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Two former Ohio State University football players, one on trial on rape charges and the other a witness, testified during a trial in Franklin County Common Pleas Court Wednesday that players were told by team officials to record or get evidence of consent with their sexual partners to protect themselves.

Amir I. Riep and Jahsen L. Wint, both 24 and former defensive players for the Buckeyes, are each charged with two counts of rape and one count of kidnapping, all first-degree felonies. They’re accused of raping a then-19-year-old female freshman on Feb. 4, 2020 at a Northwest Side apartment Riep and Wint were staying at.

The Columbus Dispatch does not publish the names of alleged sexual violence victims without their consent.

Attorneys in the case gave their closing arguments Wednesday and the case was turned over to the jury. The jury began deliberations late Wednesday afternoon before going home. Jurors will resume deliberations Thursday morning.

A key piece of evidence in the case is a cellphone video Riep took of the alleged victim, which was played in court. The short video is visually dark but captures the sound of the woman saying she’s crying and then agreeing after Riep asks if the sex was consensual.

Testimony: OSU football players told to get evidence of sexual consent

Riep and a witness, Lloyd McFarquhar, another former Ohio State football player who played defensive back and on special teams, testified Wednesday during the trial that players were told to get evidence that their sexual partners consented to protect themselves from any possible future issues.

Riep and McFarquhar did not testify who on the Buckeyes staff told them or other Ohio State players to do this.

Ohio State football team spokesman Jerry Emig declined to comment Wednesday to The Dispatch on whether university staff has ever instructed athletes about getting a video record or other evidence of consent from their sexual partners.

Shortly before 5 p.m., Emig sent a statement to The Dispatch by email: ‘In general, when the Department of Athletics speaks with student-athletes about consent, we work closely with subject matter experts on campus and follow the university’s well established Non-Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct Policy.

‘You’ll see that page one of the policy defines consent as, ‘permission that is clear, knowing, voluntary, and expressed prior to engaging in and during an act. Consent is active, not passive. Silence, in and of itself, cannot be interpreted as consent. Consent can be given by words or actions, as long as those words or actions create mutually understandable clear permission regarding willingness to engage in (and the conditions of) sexual activity.”

Riep’s defense attorney, Dan Sabol, played four short videos in court on Wednesday which he said show instances from 2018 and 2019 when Riep recorded women after sex. In the four videos, the women are clothed or not on camera and agree when Riep asks if what they did was consensual.

Franklin County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Meyer objected to the four videos being shown to the jury, but Common Pleas Court Judge Kimberly Cocroft allowed it.

Riep testified he told one of the girls before recording, ‘I’m on the football team and this is something that we just are taught to do to protect ourselves. It’s nothing against you.’

Riep played for Ohio State for three seasons (2017 to 2019) and Wint played for four seasons (2016 to 2019).

Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day dismissed both players from the team on Feb. 12, 2020, saying they had failed to live up to the standards of Day and the program.

McFarquhar just finished his fifth season with the team.

Lawyers give closing arguments

Meyer told the jury to compare the four videos Sabol presented with the video of the alleged victim. 

“One of these things is not like the others. Listen to what those other women say, their voices, their demeanor, what they say and how they say it,” Meyer said.

Sabol and Sam Shamansky, Wint’s defense attorney, argued the woman had consensual sex with both men but regretted it afterward.

Sabol said the woman probably didn’t mean for her allegations to get this far. Shamansky accused the alleged victim’s father of pushing his daughter and authorities to pursue criminal charges.

Defense attorneys pointed to discrepancies between what the alleged victim told a nurse and a detective three years ago and what she testified to during the trial.

At trial, for example, the woman testified she sought a civil protection order against the two men the day after the incident and this delayed her from getting a sexual assault exam until Feb. 6. She got the civil protection order on Feb. 11, Shamansky said. 

“These are demonstrable lies,” Shamansky said.   

Sabol and Shamansky compared their clients’ calm demeanors on the stand to the alleged victim’s tearful and inconsistent testimony. 

“Why was there a difference in their demeanor?” Meyer said at closing. “Only one of them was traumatized by this. Only one was the victim of … a brutal gang rape.”

Dispatch staff writer Bill Rabinowitz contributed to this report. 

Contact Jordan Laird at jlaird@dispatch.com or on Twitter: @LairdWrites

The Los Angeles Lakers have reached a deal to trade guard Russell Westbrook to the Utah Jazz and acquire guard D’Angelo Russell from Minnesota in a three-team deal that also includes Utah sending guard Mike Conley to the Timberwolves, a person familiar with the deal told USA TODAY Sports.

The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly until the deal is official. 

The Lakers will also get Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt from Utah. Minnesota also will receive Nickeil Alexander-Walker and picks, and the Jazz will get Juan Toscano-Anderson and a first-round draft pick from the Lakers. 

Westbrook may seek a buyout from the Jazz so he can join a potential contender.

The Westbrook experiment never quite yielded the results the Lakers sought when they acquired him from Washington in the summer of 2021. He wasn’t a fit alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis with the Lakers missing the playoffs last season, resulting in coach Frank Vogel’s dismissal, and the Lakers are just 25-30 and in 13th place in the Western Conference this season.

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Even under .500, the Lakers are two games behind the Jazz for a play-in spot and four games behind sixth-place Dallas, which just acquired Kyrie Irving from the Nets.

First-year Lakers coach Darvin Ham moved Westbrook to the bench and that staggered the minutes James, Davis and Westbrook were on the court together and freed up Westbrook to play his style. It worked to some degree but not enough to lift the Lakers into solid playoff position.

Los Angeles explored trades for Westbrook before and during this season but were unable to move him until this deal. Westbrook, who is in the final year of a five-year, $206.7 million contract that pays him $47 million this season, averages 15.9 points, 7.5 assists and 6.2 rebounds and is shooting 41.7% from the field and 29.6% on 3-pointers.

Russell returns to the Lakers, the team that drafted him with the No. 2 pick in 2015. The Lakers traded him to Brooklyn after just two seasons, and the Nets dealt him to Golden State as part of the deal that allowed the Nets to sign Kevin Durant. Russell was on the move again in 2020 when Golden State traded him to Minnesota in the deal that sent Andrew Wiggins to the Warriors.

Russell is in the final year of a four-year, $117.3 million contract so the Lakers can retain salary cap space for free agency after this season. An All-Star in 2019, Russell averages 17.9 points and 6.2 assists and shoots 46.5% from the field and 39.1% on 3-pointers this season. He is talentet, but he has been shuttled from one team to another in an eight-year career.

The Lakers are desperate for help. James just passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

Conley has one season left on his contract, but just $14.3 million of the $24.3 million is guaranteed for the 2023-24 season. The Jazz continue to rebuild the roster with team CEO Danny Ainge running basketball operations alongside general manager Justin Zanik. Since July, the Jazz have accumulated 12 first-round picks in trades.

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.

Before Donna Kelce delivered homemade cookies to her sons earlier this week, she contemplated the odds of Jason and Travis Kelce set to become the first brothers to play on opposing teams in the Super Bowl. 

“It’s like having a lottery ticket and punching it,’’ she told USA TODAY Sports. “I think the odds are just astronomical.’’ 

But two professors with an expertise in statistics crunched the numbers and said the chances of brothers facing off in the NFL’s marquee game are no Lotto-type long shot.

Gary Lorden, a mathematics professor emeritus at California Institute of Technology, estimated the odds are 40-to-1. 

Sheldon Jacobson, a professor in the department of computer science at the University of Illinois, estimated the odds are 25-to-1 to 75-to-1 depending on the variables.

Super Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more

It will take place Sunday when Jason Kelce, a center with the Philadelphia Eagles, and Travis Kelce, a tight end with the Kansas City Chiefs, and their respective teams face off in Super Bowl 57. 

“I was surprised how good these odds are,’’ Jacobson told USA TODAY Sports by email. “But with so many brother pairs, it adds up quickly.’’ 

During the Super Bowl era, 323 documented sets of brothers have played in the NFL, according to figures compiled by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Jacobson said the 25-to-1 odds are based on “ideal conditions” – such as the brothers being distributed across the NFC and AFC and all teams having the same chance of making the Super Bowl.   

“Very unlikely, but it does provide a best-case scenario,’’ he said, adding that skewing the data ‘here and there” led to estimates ranging from 60-to-1 to 75-to-1 for the brother-vs.-brother matchup.

‘The fact that we’ve now seen it once in 57 years is consistent with those numbers,” he said.

With 40-to-1 odds, Lorden said, the situation is equally likely to occur or not occur every 25 years.

Those calculations suggest the history being made by the Kelces is overdue.

‘It’s not really anything I would call remarkable at all,” Lorden said, adding that his estimate was conservative. ‘I wanted to nudge it in the direction where if it were somewhat rare based on my analysis, then I would say so. But it’s not.”

The Kelce brothers have joked about a Super Bowl rematch. The odds of that happening?

Well, the teams would have to meet in the Super Bowl in back-to-back years – something that has happened only once. The Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills played each other in the Super Bowl in 1993 and 1994. 

Then the brothers would have to escape injury. And Jason Kelce, who has hinted at possible retirement, would have to return for the 2023 season. And …

“That analysis gets more challenging,’’ Jacobson said. “Let’s just say it’s highly unlikely.’’