Caitlin Clark fever is raging.

After the Iowa superstar announced that she was going to enter the WNBA draft, the internet was ablaze. On Thursday, Clark opted to forego her optional fifth year due to the COVID pandemic and take her talents to the pros.

The Indiana Fever have the No. 1 pick in the draft, which will be held April 15.

Several of their players and a few legends posted on social media about the energy swirling around welcoming the NCAA Division I women’s scoring champion to the team.

‘we’re just simply reminding you that there are only 46 days until the 2024 WNBA Draft,’ the team said on X, formerly Twitter, with a graphic that says ‘#1 pick.’

‘It’s the way I’m here prepping for my next braid color and my Twitter start blowing up,’ Boston, who wore blue braids last season, said, with laughing emojis, ‘yall are hilarious.’

Indiana teammate Erica Wheeler also commented on how fans are buzzing for Clark.

‘Hahaha @CaitlinClark22 you got people I ain’t talk to in years asking for tickets for next season,’ she said, with the same laughing emojis. ‘I CANT HELP THEM!!! The babyyy goat is coming to town.’

‘Letssssss get it!!!! Welcome to #Indy @CaitlinClark22!!!’ she said, with a series of heart emojis.

Former Connecticut star and fellow Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo commented on the impact Clark will have on the professional game.

‘Incredible boost for the @wnba,’ she said.

LaChina Robinson, ESPN’s award-winning WNBA broadcaster, celebrated the camaraderie that Fever fans must be feeling.

‘The @IndianaFever right now,’ she said with a GIF of two people hugging.

Pat McAfee said his comments blasting an ESPN executive were a warning shot.

The radio show host and former NFL punter went on the ‘All the Smoke’ podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and explained previous comments he made on his own platform, ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’ In January, McAfee said Norby Williamson, ESPN’s executive editor and head of event and studio production, was ‘attempting to sabotage our program.’

‘I thought that was a warning shot to that guy,’ McAfee said in a clip posted on ‘All the Smoke’s X account, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. ‘… I guess a lot of people have a lot of fear of him. I do not. That guy left me sitting in his office for 45 minutes, no-showed me when I was supposed to have a meeting with him. … He also banned all my friends from coming on my show. There was a ban of ESPN talent on my show on YouTube that came directly from him.’

McAfee’s show became popular on YouTube before ESPN licensed it, positioning it to replace the noon time slot for ‘SportsCenter.’ That’s when McAfee said he noticed tension from within the company. There was also friction after Aaron Rodgers used his weekly spot on the program to blast Jimmy Kimmel, speculating that the comedian was among those allegedly involved in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

‘There became like a war almost from behind scenes from ‘SportsCenter’ people and people that had been at ESPN a long time against us coming in and taking their jobs and all this other (expletive),’ he said. ‘I didn’t see it like that. We were like pumped we made it to the big leagues. Hey I’m pumped we’re on the worldwide leader. That’s how I viewed it. … Immediately, it’s like, ‘This guy sucks. This guys’s ruining ESPN.’ It’s not coming from people outside ESPN, it’s coming from people within ESPN and I did not expect that at all. So I’m immediately like okay, we’re at war. If that’s what we’re doing, we’re at war.

‘And then once you start learning about how (expletive) is going behind scenes, things that are being said to people, things that are being leaked, the timing in which they’re being leaked, it’s like, oh, they’re trying to kill me. They’re trying to make our show impossible to advertise with, they’re trying to make sure people don’t watch our show. As I started learning that, I’m like, alright, I don’t know how this has gone in the past with other people, but this particular white trash kid from Pittsburgh, hey suits, this ain’t, this is not how this is gonna go.’

McAfee said he didn’t appreciate the media coverage of his initial comments directed toward Williamson that said he was calling out his ‘boss.’ McAfee said he views himself as an equal to Williamson and reports to ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Disney CEO Bob Iger. Disney owns ESPN.

‘I’m the executive producer of my show,’ McAfee said. ‘I report directly to Jimmy and Bob. I’m not really viewing anybody, like I saw everybody, ‘Pat calls out his boss.’ I don’t got a (expletive) boss. We talking Jimmy Pataro or Bob Iger, is that who we’re talking about? ‘Cause those are people that could technically be described as my boss.’

McAfee expresses regret for how big his comments got, especially that Pitaro and ESPN’s head of content Burke Magnus were caught up in the controversy.

‘I did not expect the backlash afterwards,’ he said. ‘People were attacking Burke because it made him look sloppy ’cause it’s inside the building. People were attacking Jimmy because it looks sloppy. And that was something that I did not think about. I was very apologetic about. I didn’t mean to take down my allies, to make allies look bad in the whole thing.

‘But I genuinely did not expect it to get as big as it did because I didn’t think I said anything that was that crazy. I’m a pretty good talker, I’m a pretty good promo cutter. Like if I really wanted to saw (expletive) down, I thought I could have done it in a much bigger way and I did not. So I was actually pretty proud of myself. I was like, look at me. I’m an adult. And then it got loud.’

No matter how much hype surrounds a player entering the NBA, it is not realistic to expect the player will live up to the hype, let alone surpass it, and become one of the all-time greats with multiple titles, MVPs and the most points scored.

In a remarkable career that has spanned two decades – a testament to longevity, consistency and durability – Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has done both. It was impossible to predict the kind of career James has had.

And he’s not finished. In his next game, James, who has scored more points than any player in NBA history, should become the first to reach 40,000 points. He’s at 39,991, and the Lakers play the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.

A look at James’ attack on NBA scoring legends:

LeBron James’ scoring milestones

First two points, Oct. 29, 2003

Against Sacramento in his NBA debut, James, just 18 years old, made a mid-range baseline jumper with 8:57 remaining in the first quarter. He finished with 25 points, nine assists and six rebounds.

10,000 points, Feb. 27, 2008

On a dunk in the third quarter against Boston, James reached the 10,000-point mark – becoming, at 23 years, 58 days old, the youngest player to reach 10,000 career points.

20,000 points, Jan. 16, 2013

In his third season with Miami, James scored his 20,000th point against Golden State, becoming the youngest player, at 28 years, 17 days, to hit 20,000 points.

30,000 points, Jan. 23, 2018

At a remarkable pace of about 10,000 points every five seasons, James became the sixth player in NBA history to reach 30,000 points, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.

32,293 points, March 6, 2019

In his first season with the Lakers, James reached another scoring milestone, passing Jordan as the No. 4 all-time leading scorer on a driving bucket just past the midway point of the second quarter.

33,644 points, Jan. 25, 2020

With 7:23 in the third quarter, James’ driving layup gave him 33,644 points and pushed him ahead of Bryant (33,643) for No. 3 on the scoring list. The game was in Philadelphia, Bryant’s hometown, and the next day, Bryant died in ahelicopteraccident.

36,929 points, March 19, 2022

In the second quarter against Washington, James tied Malone for No. 2 with a 3-pointer and then passed Malone with a layup on a backdoor cut.

38,388 points, Feb. 7, 2023

In one of the league’s most anticipated and historic moments, James passed Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. The record-setting shot was a fadeaway mid-range jumper against Oklahoma City.

39,000 points, Nov. 21, 2023

James hit 39,000 points against Utah earlier this season, continuing his methodical march toward 40,000 points.

39,898 points, Feb. 23, 2024

James had 30 points against San Antonio.

39,926 points, Feb. 25, 2024

Scoring 28 points against Phoenix put James less than 100 points from the unprecedented 40,000 mark.

39,960 points, Feb. 28, 2024

39,991 points, Feb. 29, 2024

James put up another 30-point game, finishing with 31 points on 12-for-24 shooting as the Lakers defeated the Washington Wizards 134-131 in overtime. He should cross the 40,000-point mark in his next game, assuming his double-digit scoring streak that stretches back to 2007 doesn’t end.

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt

Iowa’s final home game of the season against Ohio State on Sunday will be Caitlin Clark’s last time playing in front of the home crowd.

The NCAA women’s all-time leading scorer announced this will be her final season of college basketball, as she is declaring for the 2024 WNBA draft. Clark had one season of eligibility remaining thanks to NCAA athletes getting an extra year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Clark is widely expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, which is owned by the Indiana Fever.

‘While this season is far from over and we have a lot more goals to achieve, it will be my last one at Iowa,’ Clark wrote on social media. ‘I am excited to be entering the 2024 WNBA Draft.’

One of the biggest stars in college basketball, Clark has asserted herself as one of the greatest scorers in the game’s history while taking the sport by storm. Arenas have been sold out everywhere and ticket prices have reached levels not seen before just to see her play this season.

She passed Kelsey Plum as the NCAA women’s all-time leading scorer earlier this season, and with 3,650 career points, she is just 18 points away from breaking Pete Maravich’s all-time NCAA scoring record, men’s or women’s. This season, Clark has been averaging a Division I-leading 32.2 points and 8.7 assists per game for a scoring offense that is best in the country at 92.7 points per game. She has also already made more 3-pointers in a single season than any other player in NCAA history.

‘It is impossible to fully express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me during my time at Iowa – my teammates, who made the last four years the best; my coaches, trainers and stuff who always let me be me; Hawkeye fans who filled Carver every night’ Clark added. ‘And everyone who came out to support us across the country, especially the young kids.

‘Most importantly, none of this would have been possible without my family and friends who have been by my side through it all. Because of all of you, my dreams came true.’

Clark will play her final home game on Sunday against the No. 2 Buckeyes. No. 6 Iowa still has the Big Ten and NCAA tournament before Clark departs the Hawkeyes. The game was already the most expensive women’s basketball game in history based on average purchase price for a ticket, according to TickPick data shared with USA TODAY Sports.

Iowa is expected to be a top seed in the tournament this season; it was the No. 7 overall seed − or a No. 2 seed − in the women’s NCAA selection committee’s second top-16 seed reveal on Thursday, which could mean two more games at Iowa’s home arena. Clark led Iowa to the national championship game last season, which resulted in a loss to LSU.

Former Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson vowed to take legal action last week after learning that many of his NFL trophies were up for sale at an online auction in Texas.

That same auction was set to close Thursday evening, with bids on some of his trophies topping $10,000,  including his trophy for being named NFL MVP in 2012.

But just hours before closing, that auction has been postponed indefinitely. Bidding on hundreds of Peterson items has been suspended until further notice, including bids on his trophies, game balls, shoes, jerseys, jackets and neckties.

“It has been taken down temporarily,” said David Runte, the auctioneer at Texmax Auctions of Houston. “I’m not allowed to discuss it, but it’s a legal matter.”

Runte said all bids are in still in place.

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“Once we get the go-ahead from the authorities, we will relaunch the auction for probably a week,” Runte told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday.

Peterson’s representatives didn’t return messages seeking comment. It’s not clear who took the items from Peterson and sold them at the auction.  Peterson, 38, indicated they came out of his storage units, which is also where a court-appointed receiver has been trying to chase down and seize Peterson’s assets, according to court records in Houston. That receiver, Robert Berleth, was appointed by a court in Houston to collect on the massive debt Peterson still owed even after earning more than $100 million during his 15 seasons in the NFL.

Why is a debt collector going after Adrian Peterson?

The court-appointed receiver did not return messages seeking comment about whether the items up for auction were legally seized as part of that debt collection. Runte said he couldn’t say who the seller was in the Peterson auction.

But bidding on hundreds of Peterson items continued for more than a week after Peterson said on social media  that he didn’t authorize the sale of his “hard-earned” trophies and that he “wouldn’t go online and sell my personal items randomly.”

Meanwhile, the same receiver has accused Peterson of playing a shell game with his assets to avoid paying what he owes. Berleth is trying to collect on behalf of a Pennsylvania lending company that loaned Peterson $5.2 million in 2016 but wasn’t paid back. That company, DeAngelo Vehicle Sales (DVS), won a $8.3 million judgment in court against Peterson including interest in 2021. The company since has been trying to seize his property to get what it is owed, which now includes 9% in post-judgment interest.

Peterson facing property seizures

Last August, Berleth even filed a lawsuit against Peterson and his wife that said he learned in July that Peterson was attempting to auction property that was held in multiple storage units. Berleth then tried to seize that property but was informed by an employee at the storage facility that the units previously had been listed under Adrian Peterson’s name but had been transferred to the name of Peterson’s wife, Ashley.

“The transfer of storage units from Adrian Peterson to Ashley Peterson was an attempt to hinder, defraud and delay the receiver and the court,” the lawsuit stated.

Berleth also accused the Peterson’s of using “alter ego” companies to conceal their assets.

“The defendants have sought to conspire and conceal certain transactions and conveyances for the purpose of delaying and hindering the collection efforts of the judgment debtor,” said Berleth’s lawsuit, filed in Houston, near where Peterson lives.

Berleth’s lawsuit wants the court to enter a judgment against Peterson, his wife and their companies so that he can recover from them ‘jointly and severally.’

Adrian Peterson’s history of loan trouble

Peterson addressed his financial state last week, when he said an “estate sale company” included his trophies in a sale without his authorization. He said the company was allowed to go into his storage units with clear instructions.

“I want to emphasize that I’m financially stable and would never sell off my hard-earned trophies,” Peterson said last week on social media. “And if I was gonna sell ’em, I know people that I could sell them to. I wouldn’t go online and sell my personal items randomly.’

Records still show he has had a history of trouble paying back short-term loans. Last week, Berleth also filed a motion to keep his lawsuit active after unsuccessful attempts to serve notice on all the defendants – a motion the court granted on Thursday.

Peterson took out the loan from DVS in 2016 and promised to pay it back with interest in March 2017, five months later. According to the loan agreement, he planned to use most of the money to pay back other loans. But Peterson was coming off a knee injury in 2016, and the Vikings declined to pick up the $18 million option on his contract in early 2017, which made Peterson a free agent. Peterson’s earnings fell dramatically after that, never exceeding $3.5 million a year. He hasn’t played in the NFL since 2021.

Meanwhile, the court-appointed receiver seized a 2007 BMW at Peterson’s residence in 2022, as well as a Yamaha piano.

Short-term loan issues

In May 2016, Peterson took out a $2.4 million loan with Crown Bank and was supposed to pay it all back by the following December, according to court records. Then in October 2016, Peterson got his $5.2 million loan from DVS, part of which he planned to use to pay back Crown Bank. Peterson still defaulted on the Crown Bank loan, leading the bank to sue him in Minnesota for the $603,000 he still owed. That judgment was later satisfied, according to court records filed in 2019.

In May 2018, Peterson asked a man he knew for a $100,000 loan that was to be paid back a few months later with $25,000 in interest, according to court records filed on behalf of Peterson in 2019. Peterson agreed to provide two cars and a Rolex watch as collateral, including a Bentley valued at $250,000. After Peterson failed to pay back the loan on time, the man kept the collateral and sold the Bentley to someone else for $100,000, according to court records.

In May 2019, Peterson sued the man who lent him the $100,000, saying the man later refused repayment on the loan and instead kept collateral that was worth $400,000. Berleth, the receiver in the DVS case, then stepped into the latter loan collateral case to serve notice of his rights to Peterson’s non-exempt property.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

As the new person in charge of the Pac-12 Conference, commissioner Teresa Gould starts her first day on the job Friday with a clear sense of what she must do next.

Her once-proud league will shrink from 12 to only two members later this year — Washington State and Oregon State.

But then what?

What exactly is her mission as the commissioner of a two-team league?

Gould noted there are hundreds of student-athletes remaining at the two leftover Pac-12 schools at a time of transformative turbulence in college sports.

“All I could think about was they need a leader that is prepared to fight for them, a leader that’s prepared to fight on their behalf,” Gould said during an online news conference Thursday. “And I want to be that leader.“

So many uncertainties in the Pac-12 still remain after the latest wave of college football realignment essentially left these two schools shipwrecked in the Pacific Northwest.

But Gould, a former deputy commissioner of the Pac-12, was hired to take charge for several reasons. One was that she had “great ideas for the future where she would like to take our conference in sort of this rebuilding mode we find ourselves in,” Washington State President Kirk Schulz said Thursday.

What is the future of the Pac-12?

Even though it will have only two teams this year, the Pac-12 will still exist as the Pac-12 brand. It won’t be called the Pac-2, at least not officially.

“Starting July 1, as we continue as a two-member conference, we are the Pac-12 Conference, and we’re gonna continue to be the Pac-12 conference,” said Gould, who becomes the first female commissioner of a Power 5 conference. “That brand means something nationally. It means something in our footprint on the West Coast. It means something to our fan base. So we will continue to own the name, the logo and intellectual property.”

But the Pac-12 will not be allowed to continue with two members indefinitely. Gould has a two-year contract for a reason.

What are rules and options for the Pac-12?

The 10 other members of the Pac-12 are leaving this summer to chase more money and stability in other leagues based in other sides of the country — the Big Ten, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conferences. Oregon State and Washington State weren’t invited and instead were orphaned in the realignment wreckage.

Under NCAA rules, leagues in the Football Bowl Subdivision are required to have at least eight members. But if a league falls short of that, NCAA also allows a two-year grace period.  That means the two schools left in the Pac-12 have two years to figure out what to do next.

Ideally, they’d probably like to join one of those other Power Four leagues. If not, they could combine with the Mountain West Conference to form a Pac-14. or new Pac-12 with 14 members. The two leagues made an agreement last December that says they will negotiate the “consummation, as promptly as reasonably practicable, of a definitive transaction pursuant to which all MWC Member Institutions join Pac-12 as Pac-12 member institutions with no MWC Exit Fee payable by any MWC Member Institution to MWC.”

“The invitations, if made, would be effective as of the 2025-2026 NCAA season or the 2026-2027 NCAA season,” says the agreement obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

The agreement strongly discourages the Pac-12 from pursuing any merger with the Mountain West that involves anything less than all 12 Mountain West teams. For example, if the Pac-12 invited 10 Mountain West teams instead of all 12, it would owe the Mountain West a withdrawal fee of $122.5 million.  That stipulation also remains active two years beyond the agreement expiration date of August 2025 or August 2026 (if extended).

Is it certain the Pac-12 will combine with the Mountain West?

No. It’s just an option. Gould said Thursday that discussions haven’t even begun on that and that she wants to stay open-minded about what the league becomes beyond 2026.

“We are very much in the infancy stages of talking about what happens beyond 2026,” Gould said. “We are not discussing one model or one option. We’re looking at many and having a lot of different discussions about what that format and access looks like, how that revenue will be shared.”

In the meantime, Oregon State and Washington State will fill part of their football schedules with six games each against Mountain West Conference opponents and will compete as affiliate members of the West Coast Conference in basketball and other sports.

Shulz said it’s important to show appreciation to those leagues and not act like they’re looking to abandon them the first chance they get.

“Those conferences know that we have a multi-year window here where there’s gotta be some final landing spot for those two schools, and so I just think we’ve got to keep communications open back and forth,’ he said. “We’ve got to make sure that we don’t sort of… come strutting in there thinking we’re just better than everybody else because of where we were before. We’ll end up getting our ass kicked if that happens.”

What about the Pac-12 Networks and television rights?

Oregon State and Washington State also now control Pac-12 assets and future revenues after fighting a court battle with the departing membership and winning control of the Pac-12 governing board. That includes revenue from the College Football Playoff and Rose Bowl.

The Pac-12 Networks will go dark at the end of June, the league confirmed. But its studio in San Ramon, Calif., will stay up and running for at least the 2024-25 academic year in service of the two remaining Pac-12 schools.

In the meantime, the two remaining Pac-12 schools still are looking for a television partner to televise their home football games and provide revenue to the league. Gould said she was encouraged by the interest in it so far and said she’s hopeful there will be announcement about it in the near future.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

Tom Brady achieved virtually everything in his 23 seasons in the NFL — highlighted by his seven Super Bowls — but it is what he couldn’t achieve that helped make his legacy what it is.

Brady can now take one of those items from his defeat list and add it to his win column: his original 40-yard dash at the 2000 NFL scouting combine. Twenty-four years removed from participating in the NFL combine — and a year removed from officially retiring — Brady attempted to run the 40 again at 46 years old. His original 40-yard clocked in at 5.28 seconds.

The former sixth-round pick out of Michigan accomplished the challenge in a workout video for NoBull, proving that he is faster now at 46 years old than when he was 22.

Brady had two friends clock his 40-yard dash in the video, one clocking him at 5.18 seconds and the other at 5.12.

’24 years later, redemption is spelled T O M,’ Brady wrote in on social media.

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But, as is often the case with great competitors, Brady wasn’t satisfied with his performance. He set a new goal for himself:

Tom Brady combine results

Brady tested in the 40-yard dash, 20-yard split, 10-yard split, vertical jump, 20-yard shuttle and the 3-cone drill at the 2000 NFL Combine.

Here are Brady’s results from the 2000 combine:

40-yard dash: 5.28 seconds
20-yard split: 2.99 seconds
10-yard split: 1.77 seconds
Vertical jump: 24.5 inches
20-yard shuttle: 4.38 seconds
3-cone drill: 7.20 seconds