PHOENIX — San Francisco 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel is not one to speculate on the 49ers’ current quarterback situation.

‘That’s not my call. I don’t too much speak on who is going to be the starter,’ Samuel told USA TODAY Sports at Super Bowl 57 Radio Row at the Phoenix Convention Center.

But there is one thing he knows for sure: ‘Losing Jimmy (Garoppolo) is pretty big.’

Samuel said 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan informed the team that Garoppolo will not return as the veteran is headed for unrestricted free agency after injuring his foot in Week 13. He didn’t play for San Francisco again the remainder of the season. 

‘Kyle came out and said there’s no scenario where Jimmy will come back,’ Samuel said. ‘Being around Jimmy for four years and being around the league for the last four years, you see a lot. People come in, people leave, people get cut. Not only just Jimmy, we have a few free agents on our team, which no team is going to look exactly the same. But losing Jimmy is pretty big.’

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When asked where he thinks Garoppolo will land, Samuel said the Indianapolis Colts. 

JIMMY G: Kyle Shanahan sees no scenario where Jimmy Garoppolo is back with 49ers 

Samuel said both Trey Lance and Brock Purdy are fully capable of leading the team and are ‘unique’ in their own way.

‘What makes Trey so special is … he can use his feet. He is kind of that dual threat quarterback. He can put that fear in you running,’ Samuel said. ‘What makes Purdy so special is that he’s so decisive. He’s poised and he’s not afraid to mess up … Purdy can move around a little bit too.’

Samuel added: ‘It’s going to be a competitive match and the coach is going to make the best decision for the team.’

The 49ers season ended with a 31-7 NFC Championship loss to the Philadelphia Eagles after Purdy and backup quarterback Josh Johnson were both injured. 

‘It hurts losing that game, but it didn’t hurt as bad as it should if that makes sense,’ Samuel said. ‘What were you supposed to do in a moment like that. We didn’t want our season to end that way. If anything, we wanted to put up a fight instead of not having a chance.’

The WNBA says they are looking into the Las Vegas Aces and salary cap circumvention after allegations arose accusing the team of paying players under the table.

The question around salaries surfaced after the team signed Candace Parker, a two-time league MVP and 35-year-old forward Alysha Clark, who signed a two-year, $220,000 deal.

Parker, 36, was signed for a $100,000 contract, She made $195,000 during the 2022 season. The salary cap for the 2023 season is $1,420,500.

The current collective bargaining agreement explicitly forbids teams from trying to circumvent the salary cap,

The Aces are also being probed after statements were made by former forward Dearica Hamby.

Last month, The Aces sent Hamby and a first-round pick to the Los Angeles Sparks for a 2024 second-round pick and the negotiating rights to forward Amanda Zahui B.

After the trade, Hamby released a statement on social media accusing Las Vegas of “traumatizing” statements surrounding the trade.

“Being traded is a part of the business,” Hamby said. ‘Being lied to, bullied, manipulated, and discriminated against is not. My relationship with my daughter’s been broadcasted. If that can happen to me, that can happen to anybody.”

Hamby announced her pregnancy shortly after the Aces won the WNBA championship. According to Hamby, the team enticed her to sign a contract extension and accused of her of signing the deal knowing she was pregnant with her second child. 

Hamby says the team called her a “question mark,” saying she “didn’t hold up [her] end of the bargain,” and for also “not taking precautions to not get pregnant.” 

In 32 games last season, Hamby, a two-time Sixth Woman of the Year, averaged 9.3 points and 7.1 rebounds.

In 1965, Lew Alcindor – before he was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – finished a brilliant high school basketball career in New York that made him the most famous prep star.

He chose to play college ball at UCLA, a school at the time with yearly expectations to win a national championship.

He won three titles with the Bruins, was named the NCAA tournament’s MVP three times and was a two-time Associated Press Player of the Year.

He met expectations and entered the NBA with expectations. They seemed impossible to meet, yet Abdul-Jabbar won six titles, six MVPs, two Finals MVPs and finished his career as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points.

And when Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James passed Abdul-Jabbar and became the league’s scoring leader, I thought about expectations.

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The expectations placed on James were unrealistic and unfair. And yet 21 years after Sports Illustrated put him on the cover with the headline “The Chosen One” and 20 years after USA TODAY named James its boys high school player of the year for the second consecutive season, James surpassed expectations.

The odds were not in James’ favor. By his own admission, he fell into the category called at-risk children. He missed 83 days of school in fourth grade, and if you understand that part of James’ life, you understand his LeBron James Family Foundation and his I Promise School – designed to help kids similar to him.

Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has called James the greatest story in sports.

It doesn’t happen often that a 16-year-old projected to be one of the all-time greats ends up as one of the all-time greats, if not the GOAT.

But that’s what James did. He has four MVPs, four Finals MVPs, 19 All-Star selections and 18 All-NBA selections, two Olympics gold medals, is No. 4 on the all-time assists list, the all-time playoff points leader, No. 2 all-time in playoff assists, No. 2 all-time in Finals points and No. 2 all-time in Finals assists.  

And now, he is atop the all-time scoring list.

James and Abdul-Jabbar are not particularly close. Abdul-Jabbar has been critical of James’ stances on social issues. Asked before the season about his relationship with the former Lakers great, James said, “No relationship.”

But on Tuesday night, there was respect and appreciation and maybe the beginning of a better relationship.

Abdul-Jabbar sat courtside and presented James with the game ball after James broke the record. The two embraced, and whatever differences they have had melted. Abdul-Jabbar was gracious after the game.

‘What LeBron has done off the court is more important than what he’s done on the court,’ Abdul-Jabbar said. ‘He’s keeping kids in school. He’s provided leadership and an example on how to live.’

James called Abdul-Jabbar by his nickname, ‘Cap’ (for captain) during the in-game ceremony.

“To be able to be in the presence of such a legend as great as Kareem, it’s very humbling,” James said. 

From different places and eras and with different perspectives, they stood at center court as the top two scorers in NBA history – players who exceeded expectations to become two of the greatest players in basketball history.

Follow NBA columnist Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt

INDIANAPOLIS — First time I saw LeBron James, his mom was braiding his hair. This is a true story, all of it, and there will be parts that defy belief, but what was happening at the adidas ABCD Camp in 2001 wasn’t unbelievable. Just sweet.

LeBron James’ story has always been sweet. That’s the part that defies belief. All these years later, after those braids went up and came down, after his haircuts grew shorter and shorter, as his hairline receded – the only part of his body or mind that suggests he’s mortal – LeBron remains almost too good to be true.

When people debate the greatness of LeBron, his impact – When people ask: What’s his most impressive achievement? – I’m saying that’s it. The enduring sweetness of his story. Because that, to me, feels impossible.

Breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time NBA scoring record? Seemed difficult, sure. But records get broken. The NBA titles? Hey, people win. Playing as well as he’s playing at age 38? He’s an outlier, a physical marvel, like someone made by Marvel.

But to live his life in the public eye, with the world’s spotlight on him since 2002 – when Sports Illustrated put him on its cover at age 17 and called this high school junior “The Chosen One” – and to live it without blemish?

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I’d say that’s impossible, but it’s like those Nike ads have told us: We are all witnesses.

LeBron outsmarts me; it goes viral

First time I saw him, he was in the bleachers at the gym at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J., where adidas held its camp to rival the Nike All-American Camp in Indianapolis. Remember those days? Kids had to choose the camp to attend – the shoe to honor – and in 2001 LeBron James was the sneaker industry’s hottest commodity since Michael Jordan in 1984.

Sonny Vaccaro was there for MJ and he was there for LBJ, and while LeBron seemed destined for the swoosh – he showed up at the adidas camp in a pair of Nikes – Sonny was pulling out all the stops. He got LeBron to Teaneck, had custom-made “The King” T-shirts waiting for him in his hotel, and arranged travel for his mother, Gloria, to attend camp as well.

This was back when players could enter the NBA Draft out of high school, and everyone knew LeBron was going pro. Everyone. In 2001 I was working for The Charlotte Observer, covering the programs at Duke, UNC and North Carolina State, and none of them was trying to recruit LeBron. Because they knew: He was a pro.

In 2001 he was 16, a high school junior sitting in those bleachers at Fairleigh Dickinson. Gloria was sitting behind him, working on hair that was at least six inches high, pulling it down into braids. She braided one-half of his hair tight to his scalp, and left the other half pointing skyward. He rose from the bleachers and started making shots.

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LeBron later attended the Nike camp wearing adidas, because even at age 16 he was a businessman, an adult. One of the things that gets overlooked about LeBron, overshadowed by a combination of physical gifts we’ve never seen, is his intelligence, his maturity. Every so often LeBron will give us a peek behind the curtain, describing a section of a game in minute detail, as if he’s reading from the play-by-play printout. But he’s not. That’s just his brain revving at a ridiculous level.

Saw it first-hand during the 2011 NBA Finals, and lots of you saw it too. Might not remember my part in it, which would be fine. But here it goes:

It was after Game 2, a Miami Heat victory against Dallas, but LeBron wasn’t playing like LeBron in those Finals. He was deferring in the fourth quarter, had done it both games, and with the series tied at 1-1 after two games in Miami, I decided to ask him about it. Again, this is after a victory. He’s not expecting this sort of negativity, but I basically tell him “it’s almost like you’re shrinking” in the fourth quarter, then I ask: “What’s going on?”

LeBron doesn’t pause. He talks for 24 seconds, splitting his answer into two neat segments. In part one he talks about basketball, about teammate Dwyane Wade being on a roll offensively, about him focusing his energies on the defensive end. Then he pauses for about a quarter-second, and smirks to himself. Here comes part two, where he eviscerates me:

“You go back and watch the film,” he said, “and you ask me a better question tomorrow.”

It was brilliant, and it was caught on film – because what isn’t? – and went viral as these things tend to do. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate that moment so much, to admire the intellect behind that answer in real time, that I show it to journalism classes when I speak there. As a reminder of two things: One, how not to ask a question. And, two, how LeBron James’ gifts aren’t just physical.

No allegations, no rumors, no whispers

He grew up with everyone watching, in the newly arriving era of cell-phone cameras and social media. When was the last time LeBron James was out in public without a stranger’s cell phone taking it all in? How many years, how many decades, has he lived his life as one of the most recognizable people on planet Earth, without a misstep?

Seriously, think about that. The worst thing he ever did, if we’re going to use such a loaded term – the worst – was “The Decision,” when he went on ESPN to announce he was “going to take my talents to South Beach,” stunning his northeast Ohio home on live national television.

“The Decision” was filmed at the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich, Conn., with scores of kids in the background. At the time, because so many of us – yes, us – were angry with his decision to leave Cleveland to form the first super team, we held the location against him. He was using those kids as pawns, we said, as human shields. Maybe he was. Maybe he wasn’t.

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Did you know “The Decision” has been credited with raising more than $2.5 million for the Boys & Girls Club of America?

Think about our stars, our legends, our heroes, our most famous athletes. Don’t make me list all their names here, all their scandals, because the fallibility of Brett Favre or Barry Bonds or Kyrie Irving or Lance Armstrong isn’t the point.

The point is the infallibility of LeBron James.

No scandals. No allegations. Not even whispers, and people like me, we hear whispers all the time. We don’t write them, because they’re whispers not facts, but we hear them. And it affects how we view certain athletes, because how could it not? We’re human.

When it comes to this, when it comes to so many things, LeBron James seems inhuman in the best of ways. Perfect? Close. Damn close. And in this era of snoops and rats and leaks and “sources,” that’s the most incredible thing about this most incredible man:

More than 20 years in the brightest spotlight, and the worst thing he ever did was raise millions of dollars for the Boys & Girls Club of America.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at  www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin will not be a part of the NFL Network’s coverage from Super Bowl 57 in Arizona after he was sent home following a woman’s complaint about Irvin’s conduct on Sunday. 

NFL Media confirmed that Irvin ‘will not a part of NFL Network’s Super Bowl LVII week coverage,’ but didn’t provide further details. 

“Honestly, I’m a bit baffled with it all,” Irvin said to the newspaper. “This all happened in a 45-second conversation in the lobby. When I got back after going out … I came into the lobby, and I talked to somebody. I talked to this girl. I don’t know her, and I talked to her for about 45 seconds.

“We shook hands. Then, I left. … That’s all I know.”

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Irvin said he was drinking and didn’t recall any other details. 

“I don’t really recall that conversation, to tell you the truth,” Irvin said. “We were out drinking. It was just a friendly conversation. ‘What’s up?’ I don’t even know. … I am totally perplexed. That’s honestly all that happened. Nobody was in my room. It was a 45-second conversation in the lobby, a handshake and we left. … I don’t know. I don’t know what this is, and it’s running me crazy.”

Irvin has been making the rounds telling his side of the story, also speaking with “Shan & RJ” on 105.3 the Fan in Dallas about what happened.

He said he was asked to move hotels after the incident. 

“They said, ‘Well, last night you walked in, you talked to somebody.’ I said, ‘I didn’t talk to anybody, I went straight to the room,” Irvin told the radio station. ‘And then they showed it on camera that I did talk to somebody. I talked to this girl for about a minute… But that’s why they moved me, because I guess the girl said I said something to her within that minute that we talked, and so they moved me.”

Irvin was at Super Bowl Opening Night on Monday, conducting interviews for NFL Network.

A Glendale (Ariz.) Police spokesperson told the Dallas Morning News the department was unaware of any incident involving Irvin.