Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin scored his 900th career on Nov. 5, the first NHL player to reach that milestone.
He scored in the second period against Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.
The Capitals will honor Ovechkin on Nov. 26 with a pregame ceremony for reaching 900 goals and 1,500 games.

The NHL’s greatest goal scorer has another big round number to go with his record total.

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin scored in the second period against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday, Nov. 5, to become the first NHL player with 900 career regular-season goals.

He backhanded the puck into a wide-open net from the right faceoff circle at 2:39 after a Jakob Chychrun shot. Ovechkin had started the play by intercepting a clearing attempt by Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.

‘It’s a huge number and no one ever did it in NHL history and to be the first player to do it is a special moment,’ Ovechkin told reporters.

Teammates poured onto the ice to congratulate him. His goal ended up as the game-winner in the 6-1 victory.

‘What an amazing athlete and just a tremendous individual for the game of hockey,’ Blues coach Jim Montgomery told reporters. ‘He’s made the game great.’

The Capitals’ 2004 No. 1 overall pick had scored No. 895 on April 6 to pass Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky and become the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer. He finished last season with 897 goals and needed three this season to reach 900.

Goals aren’t coming as quickly this season after he dealt with an injury that limited his participation in training camp. He hit the milestone in his 13th game of the season and 1,504th of his career.

Ovechkin, 40, said this week he was trying not to think about his slow start.

‘As soon as you think you haven’t scored or you scored two goals in 12 games, you just put pressure on yourself,’ he told reporters on Nov. 3. ‘You have to go out there and do the best you can for your team.’

Now that Ovechkin has connected, the Capitals will hold a pregame ceremony on Nov. 26 to honor him for reaching 900 goals and 1,500 games, also achieved this season.

‘900 goals. A number only Alex Ovechkin could make feel inevitable,’ Capitals team owner Ted Leonsis posted on social media. ‘A generational talent, a loyal leader and the heartbeat of DC hockey. Congratulations, @ovi8. What an incredible moment for you, the @Capitals and fans everywhere.’

Ovechkin has a chance to break another Gretzky record: most combined regular season and playoffs goals. Gretzky had 1,016 and Ovechkin is at 977 after Wednesday. He would need 40 more to pass Gretzky but will need to pick up his pace.

He has been known to score in bunches, though. Last year, he had two goals in his first seven games, then 15 goals in his next 13.

Ovechkin is in the final year of his contract and hasn’t announced his plans for next season.

‘I still enjoy the moment, everyday coming to the locker room, not (so) much practice, but I still love the game,’ he told TNT after Wednesday’s game.

In the meantime, he continues to add to his career total, making him harder to catch.

Here’s a breakdown of his 900 goals:

Alex Ovechkin career goals breakdown

Total goals: 900, first overall
Even strength: 569, second overall
Power play: 326, a record
Short-handed: 5
Empty net: 65, a record
Game winners: 138, a record
Overtime goals: 27, a record
Multi-goal games: 179, second overall
Goalies scored against: 183, a record
20-goal seasons: 20, tied for second
30-goal seasons: 19, a record
40-goal seasons: 14, a record

Alex Ovechkin goals by season

Season: Goals, career total

(* denotes he led the league)

2005-06: 52, 52
2006-07: 46, 98
2007-08: 65*, 163
2008-09: 56*, 219
2009-10: 50, 269
2010-11: 32, 301
2011-12: 38, 339
2012-13: 32*, 371
2013-14: 51*, 422
2014-15: 53*, 475
2015-16: 50*, 525
2016-17: 33, 558
2017-18: 49*, 607
2018-19: 51*, 658
2019-20: 48*, 706
2020-21: 24, 730
2021-22: 50, 780
2022-23: 42, 822
2023-24: 31, 853
2024-25: 44, 897
2025-26: 3, 900

Dates of Alex Ovechkin’s milestone goals

1: Oct. 5, 2005
100: Oct. 12, 2007
200: Feb. 5, 2009
300: April 5, 2011
400: Dec. 20, 2013
500: Jan. 10, 2016
600: March 12, 2018
700: Feb. 22, 2020
800: Dec. 13, 2022
895 (breaks Gretzky’s record): April 6, 2025
900: Nov. 5, 2025

The Texas Attorney General’s antitrust division is investigating anticompetitive business practices in youth hockey, USA TODAY has learned. 

The Dallas Stars, the $2 billion National Hockey League team that seized control of youth hockey in the state, are a focus of the investigation. 

The state probe, which is in its early, information-gathering stages, comes on the heels of a USA TODAY investigation in August that revealed how the professional sports franchise monopolized every level of amateur hockey in Texas from preschoolers to adults.  

‘The Dallas Stars have not been contacted by the Texas Attorney General’s office,’ Joe Calvillo, the NHL team’s director of communications, said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY. ‘The Dallas Stars are committed to providing the best possible experience for all players, teams and families who participate in our leagues and tournaments through long-standing partnerships with cities across the DFW Metroplex.’

Reached by phone, assistant attorney general Paige Etherington, who is working on the case, told USA TODAY that the office does not comment on confidential investigations. 

It’s the second investigation a state agency has launched into a youth hockey organization in response to USA TODAY’s reporting. The Colorado Secretary of State’s office in October opened an investigation into the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association’s mismanagement of a charity 50/50 raffle held at professional sporting events that was supposed to benefit youth hockey families. 

As part of the Texas probe, Etherington and investigator Stephen Craig of the Texas Office of the Attorney General’s antitrust division spoke to Lisa Bry, a Dallas-area hockey mom who went public about her experience with the Stars for USA TODAY’s series. 

Etherington and Craig asked Bry about the Stars’ dominance in the youth hockey market, pricing power and the experiences of rinks that try to compete with the NHL team. They discussed Stars-run youth leagues, tournaments, private lessons and stay-to-play hotel requirements – a practice detailed by USA TODAY in March. 

The state’s investigation, Bry said, gives hope to hockey parents across the country who feel stuck in a system in which corporate interests exploit families and kids’ passions for profit.  

“I hope the Stars are shaking in their boots right now,” Bry said of the state investigation to USA TODAY. “I think this could be huge.” 

USA TODAY’s investigation detailed how the Stars used tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to build an ice rink empire, crush competition and regularly raise prices while diminishing the quality of their services. Knowing most families have nowhere else to go, the Stars impose their will by reminding parents that they can block the pathway for any kid trying to advance to the sport’s highest stages. 

The reporting documented multiple examples of the Stars retaliating against people they perceive as threats, from coaches who defect to other rinks to parents who criticize them on Facebook. The Stars also stacked the Texas Amateur Hockey Association – the nonprofit USA Hockey governing body that regulates the sport in the region – with their own executives, all but ensuring no one would stand in their way. 

A USA TODAY investigation in March revealed how three now-former Stars executives profited off their positions with the NHL team and Texas Amateur Hockey Association by forcing participants at Stars-run tournaments to book minimum three-night hotel stays they did not always want or need. At the same time, those executives ran a business that took a cut of the revenue from each hotel booking. 

Stay-to-play requirements, which are common across youth sports, are perhaps the clearest example of the Stars’ anticompetitive business practices, Luke Hasskamp, an antitrust attorney with Bona Law, told USA TODAY in July.  

Threatening and retaliating against parents and coaches who use non-Stars-run rinks and locking cities into 20- to 30-year leases to manage taxpayer-funded rinks, Hasskamp said, could also run afoul of antitrust laws, which require firms to compete for business solely on the merits of their products and services. 

Stay-to-play requirements were one focus of a 2020 antitrust lawsuit against Varsity Brands, a company that required participants at its youth cheerleading competitions to stay at specific hotels from which it received kickbacks. Varsity agreed to limit its stay-to-play policies as part of its $82.5 million settlement of that lawsuit.  

Stars spokesperson Dan Stuchal said in July that the NHL team would “loosen” its stay-to-play requirements in response to USA TODAY’s reporting. Two current and former Stars employees who served on the Texas Amateur Hockey Association board also resigned from their seats and one did not seek reelection. 

Etherington and Craig asked Bry for names and contact information of others in the Texas hockey community to potentially interview for the state investigation. They also told Bry they planned to issue her a civil investigative demand – a discovery tool that government agencies use to compel information before filing a lawsuit – for her Stars-related documents and correspondence. 

Bry said she is more than willing to comply. 

“My hope is to deter other markets from following this model that the Stars have created and that the Stars look internally and maybe do some better business decisions,” Bry said. “It shouldn’t be the way it is. Kids aren’t dollar signs.” 

Kenny Jacoby is an investigative reporter for USA TODAY who covers issues in sports, higher education and law enforcement. Contact him by email at kjacoby@usatoday.com. Follow him on X @kennyjacoby or Bluesky @kennyjacoby.bsky.social.

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders believes coaches should prevent players from wearing ‘short shorts’ during games.
While NCAA rules require pants to cover the knees, the rule is often not enforced.
Sanders said he shows his players photos of former NFL players on his staff to demonstrate how to dress properly.

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders is questioning why other college football coaches don’t step in to prevent players from wearing short shorts on the field during games, saying that this fashion issue is a matter of “respect for the game.”

Sanders said this on Wednesday, Nov. 5, during his weekly ‘Colorado Football Coaches Show’ as his team prepares to play at West Virginia Saturday. Such short shorts have gotten widespread attention recently, with some kickers wearing short pants that don’t cover their knees.

“I don’t understand how us coaches allow it,” Sanders said on the show. “How do we allow that? I have too much respect for the game. I really do.”

NCAA football rules require players to wear pants covering the knees, but it’s generally not enforced, leaving Sanders to enforce it on his own.

Sanders made it clear that “our guys don’t do that” and if they did, the message would be to “get back in the locker room.”

He brought it up as he spoke about the need for attention to detail in preparing players. With several former NFL players on his coaching staff, Sanders said he puts pictures of them during their playing days on screen in team meetings. It’s a way for him to show his players how to dress properly.

“Did you see that with any of those?” Sanders said he asks his players. “And we made it to the mountaintop.”

Sanders spoke out against “biker shorts” in football before, in July, at Big 12 Conference media days in Texas.

He said then it makes him “sick” because “I’m a football guy.”

The issue got more attention on Saturday, Nov. 1, when ESPN showed Oklahoma kicker Tate Sandell wearing “Daisy Dukes,” as described by ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

“Dressing like that should be a penalty,” Herbstreit said on the broadcast.

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

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin scored his 900th career goal on Nov. 5.
St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington picked up the milestone puck and tucked it in his pants.
A linesman spotted the move and made Binnington return the puck.

Washington Capitals players poured onto the ice to mob Alex Ovechkin after he scored his 900th career goal during the second period on Wednesday, Nov. 5.

They weren’t paying attention to where the milestone puck was.

But St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington knew its location. The feisty netminder, who had given up the goal on an Ovechkin backhander, picked up the puck and tucked it inside his pants.

But he didn’t get away with it.

Linesman Michel Cormier had spotted the move. He talked to the goalie in his crease and Binnington reached into his pants and gave the puck to the on-ice official.

Ovechkin laughed when asked by reporters after the game about the incident.

‘Yeah, I just saw it,’ he said. ‘I’m not going to comment.’

Ovechkin’s goal had given the Capitals a 2-0 lead at 2:39 of the second period.

Anthony Beauvillier and John Carlson scored within the next seven minutes, and Binnington was pulled in favor of Joel Hofer.

Binnington, the 4 Nations Face-Off-winning goalie, fell to 3-5-2 with a 3.34 goals-against average and .859 save percentage.

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The Los Angeles Lakers managed to rally in the second half to produce a 118-116 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.

The Lakers overcame a 12-point deficit against Victor Wembanyama and Co. Luka Doncic flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 35 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds. Marcus Smart contributed with 17 points, five assists and five rebounds.

While the Lakers turned things around in the fourth quarter, Los Angeles nearly gave the game away with some mistakes…

Marcus Smart nearly costs Lakers game

The Lakers nearly gave the game away, allowing the Spurs to stay competitive throughout the final seconds.

Marcus Smart began the tense finish when he turned the ball over on an inbound pass with seconds left in regulation. 

Smart decided to move quickly, trying to pass the ball across the court to take advantage of a mismatch, but did not fully have his foot out of bounds.

‘As a 12-year vet, I can’t make that mistake,’ Smart said after the game.

Jake LaRavia commits costly foul late

Jake LaRavia entered the game with 0.4 seconds left on the clock and made a second mistake for the Lakers that could’ve sent the game to overtime.

LaRavia was called for a shooting foul on Julian Champagnie while the Lakers led 118-116. Luckily for the Lakers, Champagnie missed both free throws. Champagnie has shot 85.2% from the free-throw line in his career.

MIAMI — Soccer star Lionel Messi discussed highlights of his legendary career, shared excitement for the upcoming World Cup and received the key to the city at the America Business Forum on Wednesday, Nov. 5.

Messi was interviewed by Miami major Francis Suarez, while Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas joined the stage to gift his captain with the local honor.

“This is a small token from this city whose hearts you have captured,” Mas told Messi.

“I feel very honored by this… This distinction for me is a great honor,” Messi said as he accepted the key.

Messi often tugged at his microphone, while wearing a charcoal gray suit during the interview at the Miami Heat’s Kaseya Center, where fans in the lower bowl chanted his name between responses.

Messi discussed several topics, including his journey from his hometown of Rosario, Argentina, to his soccer stops at Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami. He also discussed his failures with the Argentine national team before winning the World Cup in 2022.

“Well, it’s difficult to convey the feeling of that moment and find the words to describe what that title meant on a personal level, for my family, my teammates, and my country,” Messi said of Argentina’s third World Cup title won in Qatar. “For me, it was special.”

While Messi has yet to officially declare whether or not he will play in the 2026 World Cup, he has shared excitement about the possibility in previous interviews.

Messi said the 1994 World Cup was a turning point for the sport in the United States, and believes the next World Cup “will be something extraordinary.”

“I think it’s an important moment for soccer in the United States in general, which I hope will be taken advantage of to continue growing,” Messi said regarding next summer’s tournament co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Messi, who last month signed a three-year extension with Inter Miami through 2028, reiterated retirement is far from his mind when asked about his legacy.

“The truth is that it’s not something I’ve thought about or worried about when I retire,’ Messi said. ‘For now, I’m going to continue enjoying myself and continue playing.”

Messi was the final speaker on Day 1 of the conference, which also featured U.S. President Donald Trump as the headliner one year after his election for a second term.  

FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Formula One president/CEO Stefano Domenicali were also speakers with sports ties at the event on Wednesday.

Trump joked he campaigned for a second term so he could be in charge during World Cup 2026.

“I wanted to be president when they have the World Cup and look what happened, Gianni. I’m president and we have the World Cup,” Trump said directed toward Infantino.

Trump said tickets for the World Cup held from June 11-July 19, 2026 – “are selling at record numbers that they’ve never sold before. They’re doing record business.”

Trump reiterated the 250th anniversary of the United States on July 4, 2026 will feature a UFC fight at the White House, which he said is “going to be a tough ticket.”

Trump also mentioned the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, among his brief mention of sports during his speech.

Infantino walked onto the stage holding a World Cup ball, and played the hits he usually discusses in front of American audiences – explaining the difference between soccer and football to start.

Infantino also joked about his soccer career, with talent unlike Messi.

“I realized if I ever want to touch the World Cup, I had to become FIFA president,” Infantino said.

Infantino also acknowledged his budding relationship with Trump, saying he considers the president a “close friend.”

“He’s very helpful in everything that we do for the World Cup,” Infantino said of Trump. “He’s really engaged. He has such incredible energy. He does what he says, and says what he thinks. That’s why he’s so successful.”

Before receiving the key to the city, Messi was applauded after acknowledging he rarely participates in public speaking events.

“It was much more difficult for me to speak in public, to do this type of event. My thing was always playing, and that’s what I did,” Messi said. “The truth is that today, I felt very good. I had a good time, I enjoyed myself.”

Messi returns to action with Inter Miami in Game 3 of their first-round MLS playoff series against Nashville SC on Saturday, Nov. 8.

Dallas’ owner admitted before Monday’s loss to Arizona how important being ‘relevant’ was to him.
Tuesday, the Cowboys executed two trades, including a blockbuster with the Jets for DL Quinnen Williams.
Yet still, the Cowboys remain among the minority of NFL teams that are actually below .500.

Being ‘relevant’ in the parity-laden NFL isn’t a very high bar. Yet if you have to take a crowbar to your organization to achieve that standard, then it will likely be damn near impossible to exceed much more than, well, (temporary?) relevance.

There’s no doubt Jerry Jones would very much like to win his first Super Bowl in 30 years. He’d doubtless be thrilled to play in the NFC championship game for the first time in … 30 years.

Yet winning a fourth ring isn’t necessarily an all-consuming objective for the longtime owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who tipped his hand yet again prior to his team’s Monday night loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

‘The Dallas Cowboys probably have the kind of interest that we have in no small part because we stay out front, and we stay controversial,’ Jones said on Stephen A. Smith’s SiriusXM show.

‘When it gets slow, I stir that (expletive) up. Fact. I just want to be relevant. I just want you to be looking at us.’

And here we are. Staring at the pseudo-relevance.

Eighteen of the NFL’s 32 teams currently stand at .500 or better. Jones’ isn’t one of them. The Cowboys are 3-5-1, good for second place in the sorry NFC East – barely – and 11th place overall in the conference. Dallas is two games behind the Detroit Lions, who currently hold the NFC’s final wild-card spot.

Yet Tuesday, Jones made good on his Monday teases, consummating trades he signaled were coming prior to the Cowboys’ public face plant on ‘Monday Night Football.’ Not 24 hours later, they’d traded for a linebacker (Logan Wilson) who’d just been benched by the Cincinnati Bengals, owners of what is the NFL’s worst defense by orders of magnitude, before obtaining the New York Jets’ Quinnen Williams, a three-time Pro Bowler who’s one of the league’s better defenders … and also one who cost Dallas dearly.

Relevant, huh?

On the one hand, you have to hand it to Jones. Though his team is entering its bye, it’s now positioned to largely dominate the NFL news cycle following the Williams deal – likely for the rest of this week, and maybe for the rest of 2025. Though the Cowboys will be two games under .500 when they return to the field, you won’t be able to avoid them. Dallas is set to embark on a five-week stretch after its week off that will include three prime-time games, a nationally televised matchup with the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the 4:25 p.m. ET window on Nov. 23 and a Thanksgiving meeting with … the Kansas City Chiefs, a living, breathing dynasty like the one Jones had decades ago.

But on the other hand?

According to the NFL’s analytics, the Cowboys have a 5% chance of making the playoffs. Wilson – in theory – and Williams are bound to improve a defense that is the league’s worst this side of Cincinnati. But is that really saying much? Are they going to cover Marvin Harrison Jr.? Or A.J. Brown? Are they going to prevent teammate George Pickens from indulging some of his worst on-field habits, as he did Monday night? Is Williams, who turns 28 next month, really going to be a cornerstone here – especially when he’s due $46 million in base salary over the 2026 and ’27 seasons and given his arrival dilutes the organization’s ability to reload the roster in the aftermath of the late-summer trade of pass rusher extraordinaire Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers? For those keeping score, Parsons returned two first-round picks, while Williams cost a Round 1 and Round 2 selection – so that’s an appreciably degraded defense now devoid of most of the Parsons profits that might have eventually replenished it.

And taking on Williams’ salary and pooling it with fat paychecks already taken home by Prescott and wideout CeeDee Lamb, guard Tyler Smith and others further restricts Jones’ ability to add topflight veterans in the future.

Maybe Jones thinks the Cowboys should or must win now, especially considering moves of this magnitude and the forfeiture of so much of the Parsons bounty. Especially given quarterback Dak Prescott is 32. Especially at a time when the NFC – and league at large – doesn’t seem to have an apparent juggernaut.

But the pre-Williams Cowboys couldn’t deal with a Cardinals team, now 3-5 itself, triggered by journeyman backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett and a band of fill-in running backs. They can’t stack up with the Eagles. Or the Rams. Or the Seahawks. Or the Buccaneers. Or the Lions. Or probably Parsons’ Packers even though they could only manage a tie with the Cowboys during his return to Dallas earlier this season.

‘They’re better because they can’t be worse, just having Quinnen Williams on the team,’ said former New York Giants vice president of player personnel Marc Ross, now an NFL Network analyst.

‘I thought the Micah Parsons trade was bad, and you’re making another trade here that is just trying to make up for that. … I don’t think that’s a win for the Cowboys.

‘They can’t rush the passer, and they can’t cover anybody – and I don’t think they can do that even now. … They’re not good enough to compete right now.’

But after Jones’ latest shell game, at least they’re relevant. Maybe even until Christmas.

A contract dispute between Disney and Google led to YouTube TV dropping ESPN and other Disney-owned channels.
The conflict highlights a larger power struggle between traditional media companies and tech giants over sports broadcasting rights.
Approximately 10 million YouTube TV subscribers are affected by the channel blackout.

The standoff between ESPN – corporate overlord Disney – and YouTube TV – corporate overlord Google – has little to do with subscriber counts. Or viewership numbers. Or money, even. (It’s always about money, of course, but let’s zoom out for a moment.) 

Those data points and cash flows are all minor components of the situation the companies find themselves in, which began Oct. 30 when YouTube announced it would stop airing Disney-owned stations, including ABC and ESPN in the sports world, and options such as FX, National Geographic and Disney Channel in the larger entertainment space. 

The bigger picture is that the blackout is a harbinger of the future of how we watch sports and the rivalries that define where we consume the content. Because caught in the middle of the boardroom back-and-forth are the fans.

Hopefully you already knew that these massive corporations – the leagues are included in this – have no interest in serving the public. Line graphs going to the upper-right-hand corner of screens are in style, and the people making them will do anything to push them in that direction, even if it means not airing a “Monday Night Football” game or a Saturday of college football. 

Tech giants poised to further disrupt sports broadcasting

The approximately 10 million YouTube TV customers – by far the biggest losers in this drama – already pay $82.99 per month for the service that essentially replaced cable. Good luck filling a sports-centric “quad-box” without ESPN, ESPN2 or SEC Network. Disputes between carriers and networks such as ESPN still happen, but that there is a warring between a company with the streaming might of YouTube is another point to consider. YouTube TV currently controls the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package for an additional monthly cost.

Where do people go to watch the highlights of games they missed, which may have aired on ESPN? YouTube. Where are the younger demographics, craved by these companies, allocating their screen time? YouTube.  

The company is only beginning to flex its muscles when it comes to obtaining live rights via those billion-dollar agreements with leagues that usually last more than a decade. And that’s exactly what a company like Disney – heavily invested in the NFL, NBA, SEC football and the NHL – fears. Their competition isn’t other networks. It’s the tech giants, with Amazon included in that group.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has already said the league will attempt to renegotiate its 11-year deal worth more than $100 billion ahead of next season. The NBA agreed with three entities for around $76 billion for a broadcast deal that started this season. Amazon secured major rights within those deals. YouTube wanting to be next makes sense. Only so many companies are willing, or capable, of paying the rights fees. Google’s current market capitalization exceeds $3.3 trillion – it will be well-positioned to get involved at its leisure. 

Leagues, fans caught in middle, but only the former has sway

Leagues are caught in the middle and have already tried to play both sides. The NFL, for example, aired the Week 1 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers on YouTube. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that the league is OK with a diminished rating for a Dallas Cowboys game, as will certainly be the case after their Nov. 3 game against the Arizona Cardinals missed YouTube TV viewers. 

That’s just one example of the incestuous nature of this entire thing. ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” pulled in 435,000 viewers on YouTube. It’s worth noting that YouTube TV is not the same as looking up videos or watching a live stream on YouTube, but it’s all part of the company’s sports strategy. 

The tinfoil hat crew will say that the stalemate, from ESPN’s point-of-view, is about driving people to download and pay for the ESPN direct-to-consumer app (going at $30 a month or $300 per year). There’s no way the sign-ups during this past week – not that we’d ever see that data – would justify the standoff. 

Mickey Mouse has enlisted its top lieutenants, from Scott Van Pelt to Adam Schefter and Mike Greenberg, to sound the alarm and sway public opinion with relatively inauthentic social-media posts. Maybe the issue will get through to one consumer or two. In the C-Suites where it matters? They’re wasting their character count. 

Of all polities, the United States Senate has even called out the strain the continued segmentation has placed on consumers. Need we look for another sign of how out of control this has gotten? 

Eventually, the games will come back on. A deal will be made. The only real effect will be more money coming out of fans’ pockets. Thank goodness for autopay. 

Luka Dončić led the charge as the Los Angeles Lakers beat Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs 118-116 on Wednesday night.

Dončić pushed for a triple-double in the first half, with 22 points, seven assists and six rebounds in just over 20 minutes of play. Dončić and the Lakers led 60-59 at halftime.

Dončić collected his fourth foul with eight minutes left in the third quarter, threatening a potentially strong finish due to foul trouble.

But the Slovenian star managed to overcome the foul trouble and finished out the game. The Spurs had three players foul out late in the fourth quarter, including Wembanyama. The 2023 No. 1 pick finished with 19 points and eight rebounds.

The Spurs led by as many as 12 points in the game while the Lakers never led by more than four points.

Here’s a breakdown of Dončić’s latest performance:

Luka Dončić stats tonight vs. Spurs

Points: 35
FG: 9-for-27
Free Throws: 13-for-17
Rebounds: 9
Assists: 13
Steals: 5
Blocks: 2
Turnovers: 4
Fouls: 5
Minutes: 42

Spurs vs. Lakers highlights

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