Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal is never afraid to deliver harsh criticism, and in the case of the players he thinks are the worst in the NBA, he wants them to ‘shut me up.’

In an interview with Complex posted on Wednesday, the 4-time NBA champion was asked who is currently the worst player in the league, and without much hesitation, he answered Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert. O’Neal also said Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons ‘is another bum.’

‘If you sign a contract for $250 (million), show me $250,’ he explained. ‘You got guys like him that (expletive) the system and over there, making all this money and they can’t (expletive) play. I don’t respect guys like that.’

Surely the comments made the rounds on social media, but when USA TODAY Sports asked O’Neal about his criticism toward the two players, he said his words should be used as motivation to prove him wrong.

‘Rudy and Ben show me what you got,’ he said. ‘People don’t understand the things I’m saying now on TV, it’s the same thing I said to my players as a leader. Young man, you getting paid 20 million. You ain’t doing nothing. Step your game up.

‘I’m not hating, I’m telling you the truth. If you don’t like the truth, that’s something you got to deal with. So now it’s out there, it’s viral. Show what you gonna do, Rudy and Ben. Shut me up.’

Rudy Gobert responds to Shaquille O’Neal comments

O’Neal has been critical of Gobert for several years despite him being a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, including this past season. Despite that, O’Neal said he thought Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo should’ve won the award.

Gobert responded on O’Neal’s criticism on social media on Thursday.

‘It is sad to see someone that has accomplished as much as you did @SHAQ both in sport and business still be triggered by another man’s finances and accomplishments. I get the entertainment part but unlike other folks, you don’t need that stuff to stay relevant,’ Gobert wrote.

Gobert signed a five-year, $205 million contract in December 2020 with the Utah Jazz before he was traded in 2022.

A federal judge in California said Thursday she will not grant preliminary approval to the current version of a proposed multi-billion-dollar settlement of three athlete compensation antitrust cases against the NCAA and the Power Five conferences.

Following a 2½-hour remote hearing, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken and lawyers for the sides agreed that the parties would get back to her in three weeks with what she termed a ‘prognosis’ for the proposed deal.

While Wilken said ‘it seems likely enough there will be a settlement,’ she also raised the prospect that the lawyers may come back to her and ‘say … give us a trial date.’

The NCAA’s lead attorney during Thursday’s hearing, Rakesh Kilaru, said during the session that given Wilken’s concerns, he and the plaintiffs’ lawyers ‘have to talk about whether we have a deal to talk about.’

In addition to providing a nearly $2.8 billion damages pool for current and former athletes over a span of 10 years, the proposed deal would allow Division I schools to start paying athletes directly for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL), subject to a per-school cap that would increase over time.

But the deal also would attempt to bring NIL payments under some enforceable rules, and Wilken said during the hearing she has issues with the proposed regulations, calling them ‘quite strict’ and questioning whether they would end up in athletes losing access to payments they have been receiving from collectives.

‘Taking things away from people doesn’t work well,’ she remarked.   

Wilken also questioned the legality of a deal that, because of its length, stands to impact the rights of future athletes who are far from college age – ‘the 6-year-old playing kickball on the asphalt,” as she put it. She wondered who would represent future classes of incoming classes of athletes who would be largely bound by the proposed settlement, and whether it was appropriate for the current plaintiffs’ attorneys to do that without them facing significant a conflict of interest due to their connection to this proposed deal.

The NCAA said in a statement Thursday night: “The settlement agreement the NCAA and autonomy conferences submitted to the court was the product of hard-fought negotiations that would bring stability and sustainability to college sports … That continues to be our goal and the NCAA and autonomy conferences will carefully consider the court’s questions, which are not uncommon in the context of class action settlements.”

However, Thursday’s developments unsettled some in the major-college sports community – especially Wilken’s concern with the proposed regulatory process, which the NCAA considers to be critical to a settlement. Kilaru, the NCAA’s attorney, stressed that association’s position is that pay for play is prohibited under NCAA rules – and that prohibition has been upheld by various courts.

Under the settlement, athletes would have to report NIL payments of more than $600 to a clearinghouse that would be established. And their deals would be subject to review, with the goal being the prevention of pay for play and deals that pay amounts above market value.

Athletes who have questions about the permissibility of their agreements would be able to seek advisory opinion from an enforcement group. If the enforcement group sought to sanction an athlete because of a deal, the athlete would have the ability to bring the matter to an arbitrator.

Wilken’s concerns about this ‘is a potential killer,’ said a source familiar with the process who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. ‘I haven’t seen all of it yet, but it doesn’t sound good, that’s for sure.’

Wilken raised questions with how a booster providing pay for play would be defined under the proposed setup.

‘Today’s third-party donor’ to a collective ‘is tomorrow’s booster. Now they can’t do it anymore …

‘What if Mr. Fan gives them a million dollars or gives them all a truck. Is that a booster? I don’t know. Is that a collective? I don’t know. Is having a winning team a valid business purpose?’

On several occasions she jousted directly with Kilaru, the NCAA attorney.

Discussing the prospect of schools directly paying athletes amounts, at their discretion within the cap, for their NIL, Wilken asked Kilaru: ‘That wouldn’t be pay for play?’

Kilaru: ‘No, Your Honor.’

Wilken ultimately said to all of the attorneys: ‘I turn this back on you all to’ find something ‘workable, consistent … enforceable and fair.’

Steve Berman, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday night that Wilken having concerns is ‘not totally unexpected. … We’ll try to negotiate something. I don’t think it’s all that hard. … And it’s not in (the NCAA’s) interest to stick their heads in the sand and face the consequences of continued litigation.’

As the NFL season kicks off Thursday, there’s another contest happening that affects 11 million TV viewers who can’t watch some sports and other programming.

All those channels went dark Sunday, Sept. 1, when DirecTV’s five-year contract with Disney ran out. For now, DirecTV subscribers cannot watch those channels, nor ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN News, ACC Network, SEC Network, Disney Junior, and National Geographic.

Also blacked out: eight Disney-owned ABC stations including channels in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Talks are ongoing, but if a resolution isn’t reached, sports fans are set to miss a slew of broadcasted events over the next few days.

The final rounds of the U.S. Open tennis tournament begin Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN with the women’s semifinals. The men’s semifinals are scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m. ET. The women’s final is at 4 p.m. Saturday on ESPN. The men’s final is at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on ABC.

What NFL and college football games are coming up on ESPN?

Upcoming college football games on ESPN and Disney-owned networks on Saturday, Sept. 7 (all times Eastern):

Noon: Arkansas vs. Oklahoma State (ABC and ESPN+), Kansas State vs. Tulane (ESPN), Georgia Tech vs. Syracuse (ACC Network), Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati (ESPN2), Troy vs. Memphis (ESPNU).
12:45 p.m.: McNeese vs. Texas A&M (SEC Network)
3:30 p.m.: California vs. Auburn (ESPN2)
3:30 p.m.: South Carolina vs. Kentucky (ABC and ESPN+)
4 p.m.: University of Texas-San Antonio vs. Texas State (ESPNU)
4:15 p.m.: Middle Tennessee vs. Mississippi (SEC Network)
7 p.m.: South Florida vs. Alabama (ESPN)
7 p.m.: Virginia vs. Wake Forest (ESPN2)
7:30 p.m.: Tennessee vs. NC State (ABC and ESPN+) and Houston vs. Oklahoma (SEC Network)
8 p.m.: Appalachian State vs. Clemson (ACC Network)
10:15 p.m.: Liberty vs. New Mexico State (ESPN2)
10:30 p.m.: Mississippi State vs. Arizona State (ESPN)

NFL: Upcoming games on Disney-owned channels include:

Monday, Sept. 9: New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers at 8:20 p.m. on ABC, ESPN and ESPN+; the ManningCast with Peyton and Eli Manning will be on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
Monday, Sept. 16: Atlanta Falcons at Philadelphia Eagles (ESPN); ManningCast on ESPN2. (Note: not scheduled for ESPN+).

DirecTV-Disney blackout: How can subscribers watch ESPN and other sports channels?

If you want to watch upcoming college football and NFL action on ESPN and its networks, you have some options:

ESPN+: You can get a standalone subscription to the streaming service for $10.99 monthly. You can also get it as part of a Disney bundle of services including Disney+ and Hulu, starting at $14.99 monthly.
Fubo: This streaming service, which includes ESPN and local channels including ABC where available, offers a seven-day free trial. After that, it costs $49.99 for the first month and $79.99 per month, subsequently. That basic Pro plan gets you at least 185 live channels including ESPN2, ACC Network Disney, Disney JR., Disney XD, Freeform FX, FXX and National Geographic. The Elite with Sports Plus package ($69.99 first month; $99.99 monthly after that) gets you ESPNU, ESPNews, SEC Network and NFL RedZone.
Hulu + Live TV: This Disney-owned streaming service has a three-day trial and starts at $76.99 monthly for more than 95 channels including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ACC Network, SEC Network, Disney, Disney JR., Disney XD, Freeform FX, FXX, FX Movies, National Geographic, National Geographic Wild. The $76.99 plan also gets you Disney+ (With Ads) and ESPN+ (With Ads). You also get access to the Hulu streaming service, which has original programs including ‘Only Murders in the Building.’ You can pay more to avoid commercials and get additional channels such as NFL RedZone.
Sling TV: Sling Orange (no free trial, $15 for your first month, then $40 monthly) has 35 channels including ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN3, Disney Channel, Freeform. But sports fans would likely want to add Sling Blue and the Sports Extra package ($45 your first month, then $70 monthly), which gets you as many as 74 channels including ACC Network, ESPNU, ESPNews, the SEC Network, NFL RedZone and local Fox and NBC networks (if available).
YouTube TV: The streaming service currently has a ‘Try 3 weeks free’ offer currently on its site. After that, your first four months of the YouTube TV Base Plan is $64.99 per month. That increases to $72.99 in the fifth month. YouTube TV has more than 100 channels including these affected by the blackout ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, Disney Channel, Disney Jr., Disney XC, FX, FXM, FXX, Freeform, ACC Network, SEC Network, National Geographic and National Geographic Wild (plus local ABC channels blacked out in 9 cities, too).
Try a digital antenna: Getting ESPN+ or the Disney bundle isn’t a catchall because the app doesn’t stream every event on ESPN’s liner networks, Ross Benes, senior TV and streaming analyst for eMarketer, told USA TODAY. However, a digital antenna can be used to get ABC and other major networks for free on your digital TV. However, he said, ‘not only do you have to buy the antenna, you need to mount it near a window or outside, point it toward the direction of the station, hope you are within distance of signal, and hope you don’t have anything blocking your transmission.’

Probably your easiest – if more costly bet – is to subscribe to a live streaming TV service such as Fubo or YouTube TV, he said. ‘But keep an eye out, digital cable is prone to carriage disputes, too,’ he said. ‘Digital cable has more flexibility to cancel when your sport season is done or if they drop channels.’

When will the DirecTV-Disney dispute end?

There’s no telling. Both sides told USA TODAY that talks were active and ongoing. However, rancorous public attacks suggest the standoff won’t end soon.

DirecTV chief financial officer Ray Carpenter told analysts in a converence call Tuesday that DirecTV asked Disney to let viewers watch the USC-LSU football game on Sunday night, but instead took a ‘hostile approach to our customers’ and called for the blackout.

Disney and ESPN executives charged that DirecTV ‘continues to misrepresent the facts around our ongoing negotiations,’ including its statement that DirecTV waive any future legal claims against Disney to achieve a deal.

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

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Alex Morgan is the rare athlete whose impact off the playing field was as great as it was on it.

Maybe even greater.

Morgan, who announced her retirement Thursday, leaves the game as a two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist. She’s fifth on the U.S. women’s national team’s all-time scoring list, with only five of her 123 goals coming from the penalty spot. She was runner-up twice for FIFA’s Player of the Year, and third another time, and her six appearances on FIFPRO’s World XI is second-most in history.

More significantly, Morgan leaves women’s sports in a far better spot than they were when her career began. She was instrumental in the USWNT’s fight for equal pay and played a significant role in the NWSL’s first-ever contract. The league’s first anti-harassment policy was a direct result of her efforts. She helped spark the current investment boom in women’s sports, pushing sponsors and potential owners to recognize their growth potential.

She knew her star status gave her influence, and she used it for the greater good.

“Charlie came up to me the other day and said that when she grows up, she wants to be a soccer player,” Morgan said in her retirement announcement, referring to her young daughter. “It just made me immensely proud. Not because I wish for her to become a soccer player when she grows up, but because a pathway exists that even a 4-year-old can see now.

“We’re changing lives,” Morgan said, her voice choking. “The impact we have on the next generation is irreversible, and I’m proud in the hand I had in making that happen and pushing the game forward and leaving it in a place that I’m so happy and proud of.”

Morgan, now 35, didn’t set out to be a disruptor. She wanted to play soccer, a sport she’s loved for as long as she can remember. But very soon after joining the USWNT, she found herself cast as America’s sweetheart, inheriting the role Mia Hamm once had.

Soccer fans loved her ruthlessness — there’s more than a few opposing goalkeepers who still get the shakes at the memory of Morgan bearing down on them — and those who didn’t know much, or care, about the game were captivated by her wholesome good looks. At a time when tennis players and Olympians were the only women athletes to have any kind of commercial success, Morgan became an exception.

But rather than insulating her, Morgan’s privileged status brought the wrongs that existed into sharper focus. When Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo filed a wage discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016, Morgan joined them.

“I felt significantly younger and more inexperienced than” the others, Morgan told USA TODAY Sports last year. “I felt like, in that moment, that was an opportunity to learn, to get out of my shell and feel uncomfortable even when doing the right thing.

“And so I think that was a pivotal moment for me, in realizing this platform that I have and this opportunity that I have in front of me to be able to say something and have people listen.”

That complaint would be the precursor to the equal pay lawsuit, which the USWNT players filed three months before the 2019 World Cup. Morgan became the lead plaintiff, knowing her name and fame would draw more attention to the case and increase the pressure on U.S. Soccer.

Though she and Rapinoe were the public faces of the lawsuit, which resulted in a landmark contract in 2022, Morgan’s involvement went well beyond that. Becca Roux, executive director for the USWNT Players Association, recalled Morgan returning documents with edits and notes. She was an active participant in calls with attorneys and advisers.

But her activism wasn’t limited to equal pay. Once she found her voice, Morgan raised it for a variety of issues.

She was outspoken in support of racial equality and LGBTQ+ rights. She was a steadfast ally to Mana Shim, her then-teammate who reported an abusive coach, and when Shim’s story became public, Morgan was unflinching in her demands that both the NWSL and U.S. Soccer do more to protect players. Frustrated with the lack of coverage of women’s sports and women’s athletes, Morgan joined with Sue Bird, Chloe Kim and Simone Manuel to create Togethxr, a media and commerce company.

She also wrote a series of children’s books, The Kicks, that promote teamwork and positivity for young girls. And when critics called the USWNT “arrogant” during the 2019 World Cup for having the audacity to own their greatness, Morgan pushed back — hard — at the double standard and the misogyny behind it.

“I’m so proud of what I’ve done because of having Charlie and knowing that she isn’t going to have to fight the battles that I had to fight,” Morgan told USA TODAY Sports last year. “My hope is that I fight for it now so she doesn’t have to. She gets to just have fun. She gets to play. She gets to do what she loves without worrying about that.”

Morgan is one of the greatest to ever play the game, in this country or any other. But it’s the work she did to level the playing field for the girls and young women who come after her, in soccer and every other sport, that make her a legend.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

The long wait for the first game of the 2024 NFL regular season has been extended a little bit longer.

Kickoff for Thursday night’s opener between the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs has officially been delayed after lightning struck in the area.

The start of the game, which was originally scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET, is now set for 8:40 p.m. ET.

Players were cleared from the field during pregame warmups, while fans were instructed to make their way from the stands to the concourse.

Isolated thunderstorms also resulted in heavy rain pouring into the stadium about an hour before kickoff.

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A Kansas City Chiefs superfan was sentenced to 17½ years in prison without parole for committing numerous armed bank robberies, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.

Xaviar Babudar, 30, also known as ‘ChiefsAholic,’ was also ordered to pay $532,675 in restitution to the victim financial institutions and give up an autographed painting of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes that has since been recovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, Babudar lived a nomadic existence at various locations around the Kansas City metropolitan area. He would usually show up at Chiefs games – both home and away – in a gray wolf suit.

Federal authorities say his 16-month crime spree, which began in March 2022, resulted in 11 different banks being robbed. Babudar stole $847,725, and authorities say most of that money was not recovered.

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In February, he pleaded guilty to one count of bank robbery, one count of money laundering, and one count of transporting stolen property across state lines. Babudar also pleaded guilty to another count of bank robbery, which was contained in a separate case filed in the Northern District of Oklahoma. He was sentenced to 17½ in each case, which will be served concurrently.

His life of crime ended on July 7, 2023, when he was arrested in Lincoln, California.

Bixby, Oklahoma, police caught him running from an armed robbery on Dec. 16, 2022, after stealing $139,500 from Tulsa Teachers Federal Credit Union. He was released on bond two months later, and the following month, he cut off his GPS monitor after winning $100,000 in gambling bets on the Chiefs.

Babudar proceeded to rob two more banks in Sparks, Nevada, and El Dorado Hills, California, while authorities looked for him.

Defenseman Marc Staal announced his retirement after 17 seasons in the NHL on Thursday and joined the New York Rangers as a player development assistant.

In his new job, Staal will work with defensemen throughout the organization. His retirement as a player comes approximately one month after his older brother, Eric, officially hung up his skates after 17 NHL seasons.

Marc Staal, 37, played his first 13 seasons with the Rangers after he was selected by the team with the 12th overall pick of the 2005 NHL Draft. His 892 games with New York are the sixth most in franchise history, trailing only Hall of Fame members Harry Howell (1,160), Brian Leetch (1,129) and Rod Gilbert (1,065) as well as Ron Greschner (981) and Walt Tkaczuk (945).

‘Congratulations Marc on a great career!’ the Rangers wrote on social media. ‘Thrilled to have you back and looking forward to your next chapter as #NYR Player Development Assistant.’

Marc Staal recorded five points (one goal, four assists) in 35 games last season with the Philadelphia Flyers.

He totaled 234 career points (53 goals, 181 assists) in 1,136 career games with the Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers and Flyers. He added 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in 128 playoff games.

Alex Goligoski retires after 17 NHL seasons

Defenseman Alex Goligoski announced his retirement Thursday after 17 seasons.

His professional career began in 2004 when the Penguins selected him in the second round of the NHL draft. He split the first 14 years of his career between Pittsburgh, where he won a Stanley Cup, as well as the Dallas Stars and Arizona Coyotes before spending the past three seasons in his native Minnesota with the Wild.

In the 2023-24 season, he appeared in 36 games and had 10 assists.

‘I think I’ve known for a while,’ Goligoski told The Athletic about retirement. ‘Do you hang around and see if some team wants to throw some money at you? I have no desire to move my family. No desire to go by myself and do all that. That’s the most amazing thing about finishing in Minnesota. It makes it easier to say, ‘Hey, I’m good.’

‘I think it’s the longevity of it, honestly. I can totally see where it’d be very difficult if you’re not planning on being done, where it’s like you don’t get a contract but you’re still younger. It feels to me like I’ve had my fun, I’ve done it long enough. I’m good to step away and move on.’

In 1,078 regular-season games, he tallied 475 points (87 goals, 388 assists) and added 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in 47 playoff games.

He was the second 17-year defenseman to retire Thursday, joining Marc Staal.

Sean McVay is preparing for first time as the Los Angeles Rams head coach to play a full season without star defensive tackle Aaron Donald. It’s a void in the interior of the Rams defense that the team has come to terms with just days away from their season opener against the Detroit Lions.

‘I want them to play the way that they’re capable of the way that they’ve played throughout the offseason, through training camp. I want them to be able to play within themselves. Go enjoy it,” McVay told reporters this week. “I really love this group that we’ve been around. We’ve said it over and over, and you know this too. You’re not ever replacing an Aaron Donald and that’s not what we’re asking of our guys.”

Despite Donald’s retirement in March, the Rams’ all-time sack leader still has a presence and impact on the franchise. McVay tells players stories about Donald and the future Hall of Famer visited the club leading up to Week 1.

“We were so fortunate and blessed to have such a special player in Aaron Donald to be around. What I thought was cool is he set a great example for guys that saw him play,” McVay said. “I can use him as stories all the time. He was around last week.”

While McVay admitted that he misses the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a player who helped the franchise win Super Bowl 56, he’s happy Donald is enjoying life as a retired athlete.  

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“It’s pretty special that he’s earned the right to be able to be so content, complete and full to use his words. He’s coaching his son’s football team, loving that. His three-year-old son Aaric had a great birthday at their house the other day,” McVay said. “I’m really happy for Aaron. I do miss him but I’m excited about the opportunity for these guys to go do their thing and start to etch their names in this thing.’

The Rams selected pass rusher Jared Verse and defensive tackle Braden Fiske with their first two picks in the 2024 NFL draft to help supplement the loss of Donald upfront. The two rookies are projected to start in the Rams’ base 3-4 defense. The team is also hoping returning defensive tackles Kobie Turner, who had a team-high nine sacks in 2023, and Bobby Brown make big impacts.

“I want Kobie Turner to be Kobie Turner. I want Bobby Brown to be Bobby Brown. Braden Fiske to be Braden Fiske,” McVay said. “That’s really what we’re looking for.”

On offense, wide receiver Cooper Kupp, the 2021 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, is healthy after missing five games last season.

“I think he’s done a fantastic job of getting his body back to where he wants it to be as far as feeling good, going out there, running, and doing all the things it takes to be Cooper Kupp,” Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “I’m just happy for him [and] the way that he’s feeling.”

Kupp is healthy and that should be a major boon for the Rams. But, as McVay said, they’ll certainly miss No. 99 in 2024 and beyond.