Despite having the worst record in the WNBA, the Connecticut Sun made one of the most shocking moves of the season, trading with the Washington Mystics for forward Aaliyah Edwards.

Edwards, 22, is in her second year in the WNBA after being selected sixth overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2024 draft. In return, the Mystics will receive Jacy Sheldon, the fifth overall pick from the same draft class. Sheldon spent one season with the team that drafted her, the Dallas Wings, before joining the Sun. In addition, the Mystics will earn the rights to swap first-round picks with the Sun in 2026.

Edwards is a bit of a Connecticut legend, playing her college years at UConn, where she won numerous awards and honors, helping the team to three trips to the NCAA Final Four and one trip to the NCAA Championship Game. Her WNBA career has been a bit lackluster, though she is still young and figuring out her role in the league.

Here is everything to know about this trade.

Aaliyah Edwards outlook

Edwards was highly-touted coming out of college. It would’ve been hard not to laud her talent after she’d received a multitude of honors and distinctions including first-team All-American (2024), third-team All-American (2023), first-team All-Big East (2023-24), Big East Most Improved Player (2023), Big East Sixth Woman of the Year (2021), and Big East All-Freshman team (2021). However, Edwards is more than a Connecticut legend coming home.

She flashed serious potential during her rookie campaign, averaging over 7 points and 5 rebounds during her rookie season. While her numbers have fallen off during her sophomore campaign, she has shown potential to be a game-changer. But, she has not started a game for the Mystics all season.

With that in mind, it was probably in Washington’s best interests to trade Edwards away. Sheldon is a solid return, especially after the team traded guard Brittney Sykes to the Storm earlier this week. Sheldon will fill in nicely until Georgia Amoore returns from injury next year and even then, Sheldon has proven herself a more than capable bench option.

When is the WNBA trade deadline?

The WNBA trade deadline is Thursday, August 7, at 3 p.m. ET, meaning there are only a few hours left for teams to make trades at the time of writing this. This year’s trade deadline has been quieter than expected given the underlying circumstances surrounding the league’s upcoming CBA agreement, which the players are going to opt out of. With that in mind, many players arranged their contracts to expire following this season in anticipation of a pay raise next year.

With so many players on expiring deals, you’d expect to see more trades. However, the WNBA’s strict salary cap rules and draft pick restrictions make it difficult for trades to be made. That said, there are still a few high-end players that could be on the move before the deadline today.

Jacksonville Jaguars first-round pick Travis Hunter is days away from making his highly anticipated pro debut. Jaguars head coach Liam Coen already announced he’ll play on both sides of the ball, but quarterback Trevor Lawrence is hoping Hunter gets a heavier workload on offense.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero asked Lawrence Thursday about whether the quarterback is petitioning for Hunter to get more time at wide receiver than cornerback. Lawrence began his answer diplomatically, praising Hunter’s talent and saying it’s hard to keep him off the field.

That said…

‘Selfishly, yeah, I definitely want him on offense more,’ Lawrence said. ‘I told him, ‘Do you wanna come catch touchdowns, or do you want to maybe break up a pass or two a game? That’s the decision you’ve gotta make.’

The quarterback went on to continue praising Hunter, saying that he’s certain the two-way phenom will be making plays regardless of whether he’s on offense or defense.

‘Of course, as a quarterback, I hope he plays more offense. Wherever he plays to make our team better – because he will make us better – is what’s gonna happen. So (I’m) all for whatever that is,’ Lawrence said.

Entering Saturday’s preseason opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Hunter was listed as a starting wide receiver on Jacksonville’s first unofficial depth chart. On defense, Hunter is listed as a second-string cornerback.

In his last season at Colorado last year, Hunter had 96 receptions, tallying 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns as a receiver. As a cornerback, he recorded 36 tackles, 11 pass defenses, four interceptions and a game-sealing forced fumble in an overtime win against Baylor.

Arch Manning has not had a full season as a starter yet for Texas football, but anticipation for his NFL career is already running rampant.

Arch Manning, the nephew of former NFL Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning, is widely projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, despite attempting just 95 career passes over his first two seasons with the Longhorns.

Manning’s grandfather, Archie Manning, said he has not spoken to his grandson about his impending pro decision. But he told Texas Monthly he does not anticipate his grandson leaving Texas after starting one year in Austin.

“Arch isn’t going to do that,’ Archie told Texas Monthly. ‘He’ll be at Texas.”

This could serve as a warning to any NFL teams potentially aiming to tank for the Texas Longhorns quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick. While Peyton and Eli Manning eventually went on to become the No. 1 overall picks in the 1998 and 2004 drafts, respectively, both stayed at college through the duration of their eligibility.

Archie also went No. 2 overall in the 1971 NFL Draft, playing 13 seasons in the NFL. Eli Manning won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, while Peyton won one with the Indianapolis Colts and one with the Denver Broncos.

Texas was ranked as the No. 1 team in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll released on Monday, Aug. 4. The Longhorns will open the season against No. 2 Ohio State in Week 1 on Aug. 28 in Columbus, Ohio.

Manning has completed 63 of 95 passes for 969 yards, nine touchdowns and two interceptions while mainly serving as a backup to Quinn Ewers in his first two collegiate seasons. Ewers was a seventh-round selection by the Miami Dolphins in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Nick Kurtz made his MLB debut less than a year atter being drafted fourth overall by Athletics.
The 22-year-old slugger became first rookie in history to hit four homers in a game.
Kurtz has 23 home runs, 61 RBIs and a 1.035 OPS in his first 75 games.

WASHINGTON — Nick Kurtz’s dominance has been so startlingly sudden, so consistent and enduring that it’s challenging to pinpoint exactly when the Athletics realized just what they had on their hands.

It’d be understandable if that moment came in spring training, when the 6-5, 240-pound Kurtz showed up just seven months after he was drafted fourth overall out of Wake Forest and immediately displayed a mindset beyond his years, and a plate approach more suited to a player a decade into his major league career.

It’d be obvious if that ah-ha sequence came July 25, when Kurtz became the first rookie in major league history to hit four home runs in a game, a 6-for-6 night in which he also tied the major league record with 19 total bases.

Or perhaps by month’s end, when Kurtz had tallied 25 extra-base hits, one shy of Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx’s franchise record set in 1932, earning him American League rookie and player of the month honors.

For Brent Rooker, though, the jaw dropped for good over two nights in June, when his young teammate’s greatest attributes – the gorgeous swing, the inner calm, the prodigious power – came together in a manner that turns bad ballclubs good.

The Athletics – housed in Sacramento for the moment – might have been swept in four games by the Houston Astros if not for Kurtz. He hit a pair of walk-off home runs in that four-game series, coming off Astros relief aces Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader, moonshots that sent thousands of fans gleefully into the Yolo County night.

“He was good before that,” Rooker, the A’s two-time All-Star outfielder, tells USA TODAY Sports, “but everybody realized how good he could be. Those were two of the better relievers in the entire league. He had great at-bats against them in crucial situations and hit two home runs to win two games.

“As impressive as he was prior to that, those two nights kind of shined a light on how special he is.”

How special?

Special enough to debut April 23 yet still post 23 homers by early August, to go along with a .307 average, 1.035 ERA and 61 RBIs, leading all rookies.

Special enough to mark that epic four-homer night in Houston (the kid doesn’t like the Astros, it seems) not as an apex but rather the midpoint of a 20-game heater in which he batted .480 with nine homers and a 1.575 OPS.  

And special enough to earn the esteem of a young yet salty clubhouse with his quiet yet significant presence.

“The joy of all of it,” says A’s manager Mark Kotsay, “is the humility that he shows day in and day out.”

‘They fly through the minor leagues’

It would be easy for Kurtz to carry the traits of an entitled young baseball bro. In short, he’s always been elite, even after he left the snowy climes of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in search of greater competition.

Kurtz made enough of a splash to earn a spot on Team USA’s 12-and-under team in 2015, a squad that won eight of nine games to claim a WBSC World Cup title in Taiwan. Kurtz was a slugger and also the top pitcher on that team, but it was as much networking opportunity as it was youth baseball nirvana.

A handful of teammates went on to attend Baylor School, a college prep boarding school and hothouse for baseball development in Tennessee. As Kurtz schlepped through the uncertain weather patterns of Central Pennsylvania in spring, his pals’ recruiting efforts finally paid off.

“I was playing in the snow and bad weather in Pennsylvania,” says Kurtz, “so I decided maybe going south was the best thing for me as a player. It just kind of worked out that way.”

And what a squad. Christian Moore went on to star at Tennessee and was chosen four slots behind Kurtz in the 2024 draft; he also made his major league debut this season, for the Los Angeles Angels. Infielder Henry Godbout went on to Virginia, was drafted in the second round in July and signed with the Boston Red Sox.

In his junior year, Kurtz said, almost the entire lineup was committed to Atlantic Coast or Southeastern conference schools.

Kurtz went to Wake Forest, a school better known for its “pitching lab,” yet whose rep for churning out sluggers is about to grow significantly.

It was there that Kurtz, under associate head coach Bill Cilento and assistant Matthew Wessinger, took both his mechanics and approach to a higher level.

“That’s stayed true from my freshman year in college,” says Kurtz, “to where I am today.”

By his junior year, Kurtz’s statistics were predictably video game variety – a .531 on-base percentage and 22 homers in 54 games, and the A’s snagged Kurtz fourth overall, two picks after teammate Chase Burns, a right-handed pitcher, was selected by Cincinnati.

Yet consider this: Barely a year later, Kurtz has already hit one more home run in the big leagues (in just 75 games) than he did his senior season at Wake Forest.

How has Kurtz made the game’s highest level seem as simple as a weekend series at Duke?

He points to the A’s most recent draft pick – left-hander Jamie Arnold, chosen 11th overall out of Florida State – as an example of how the college game is, perhaps more than ever, an express lane to prepare young players for the big leagues.

“You see more and more guys getting called up earlier than you’ve ever seen before,” says Kurtz. “More kids, very talented guys are going to college, especially with NIL – more guys are getting to school.

“We picked Jamie Arnold this year. I faced him many times and that’s as pro-ready an arm I’ve seen. I think he’s one of the best. Every school in the SEC, ACC, they might have a guy or two like that.

“The advancements we’ve made internally at the school have prepared all of us.”

The A’s will certainly vouch for that. Kurtz is now the overwhelming favorite to earn AL Rookie of the Year honors, but until he suffered a fractured forearm, A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson – drafted in 2023, debuted in 2024, an All-Star in 2025 – was the choice.

“Those guys, it seems like they fly through the minor leagues and are ready to compete at the big league level,” says A’s catcher Shea Langeliers, drafted ninth overall out of Baylor by Atlanta in 2019. “The college game is advancing and those kids are more mature.

“The talent level is getting closer to the minor league level, so you’re almost playing minor league baseball in college.”

A big week for ‘Big Amish’

Yet Kurtz, Langeliers says, is different.

“Seeing him for the first time in spring training, being around him, thinking of when I was 22, compared to where he’s at at 22, it’s just a massive difference,” he says. “Maturity-wise, how he sees the game, how quickly he’s adaptable and adjustable, it’s been really impressive.”

Kotsay, in his fourth season as A’s manager, hints at an extremely high ceiling for Kurtz based on the dispatch with which he adjusts to pitchers. Kurtz’s 11.4% walk rate is well above average, but as he matures as a hitter, he should cut into a 29.4% K rate.

“It’s really eye-opening to see a young player make adjustments almost pitch-to-pitch in an at-bat, and he’s got that ability, which is really special,” says Kotsay. “When we talk about classifying big league hitters, I always say, guys in the Hall of Fame make adjustments pitch-to-pitch.

“Guys that are All-Stars make adjustments at-bat to at-bat, and guys that are everyday players, it can be a game or a series before the adjustment’s made.

“I think he’s leaning on that top one – where he’s got a knack to make an adjustment pitch-to-pitch.”

Kurtz is enjoying a big week in the Mid-Atlantic – he had roughly 40 family and friends roll down from Lancaster to Nationals Park; and no, despite Kurtz’s “Big Amish” nickname teammates bestowed upon him, they did not travel by horse and buggy.

A larger throng is expected this weekend at Baltimore’s Camden Yards, where Kurtz attended countless games as a kid.

Success came quickly then and, somehow, it’s coming even faster now.

“I would say I’m a little shocked, surprised,” says Kurtz. “I knew I was a good hitter, but having a really good rookie year is pretty cool to see.”

And there’s still two more months for Kurtz to expand what seems to be a limitless horizon.

The NFL has banned teams from giving players smelling salts or ammonia capsules starting this year. But according to the players’ union, they can still use the products on the sidelines. It will have to be from their own supply or a teammate’s, however, since the clubs are no longer allowed to dole them out.

What does the ban really mean? And what does this mean in terms of player safety?

Why did NFL ban smelling salts and ammonia capsules?

In a memo obtained by USA TODAY Sports, the NFL made its change due to ‘the lack of evidence supporting the safety or efficacy of (ammonia inhalants) marketed for improving mental alertness or boosting energy.’

‘Ammonia’ refers to ammonia capsules, inhalers, ammonia in a cup, and any form of “smelling salts,” per the memo. The ban pertains to all club personnel, including the training staff and coaches.

NFL Players’ Association clarifies smelling salts, ammonia ban

The NFLPA said the league did not inform the union of the policy change prior to the memo’s release. The union clarified that the memo did not mean the players could no longer use the substances. Rather, they are on their own for making sure they are there on the sidelines during games and practices.

‘It restricts clubs from providing or supplying them in any form,’ the union said in a memo to members obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

The products are not addictive and can’t cause long-term health damage, according to the Cleveland Clinic. But ‘conditioning your body to rely on an external stimulus to go on with your day or to pump yourself up can be a slippery slope toward testing out addictive substances.’

A second suspect has been arrested for throwing a green sex toy at a WNBA game.

The incident happened Tuesday, Aug. 5, at the Phoenix Mercury’s game against the Connecticut Sun. The green sex toy allegedly hit a man in the stands who was watching the game with his 9-year-old niece.

Kaden Lopez, 18, was taken into custody at the arena, according to Fox 10 Phoenix, which reported that Lopez was booked into jail on suspicion of disorderly conduct, assault and public display of explicit sexual material.

Lopez said it was a ‘stupid prank that was trending on social media.’ He bought the sex toy the day before to take it to the game, according to court documents.

This is the fifth known incident of a sex toy being thrown at a WNBA game. Here’s the timeline:

July 29: The first incident at the Golden State Valkyries-Atlanta Dream game, the toy landed on the court at the Gateway Center Arena in Atlanta.
Aug. 1: It happened again at the Golden State Valkyries-Chicago Sky game, the toy landed on the court at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
Aug. 5: Indiana Fever-Los Angeles Sparks game at Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles. With two minutes remaining in the second quarter of Tuesday’s game, a sex toy landed on the court in the lane near Fever forward Sophie Cunningham, who earlier in the week went on social media to plead with fans not to throw things on the floor and posted another reaction after the game. On the same night, sex toys were thrown in the stands at the Mercury and New York Liberty games.

(This story was updated to change a video.)

It doesn’t matter how it happened, only that it did. And that the long- and short-term future for one of college football’s top young players is now in question. 

Shoulder, hamstring and core injuries in his first year in Gainesville, and now a calf injury in fall camp.

“I’m not an injury-prone guy,” Lagway said last month during SEC media days.  

Then a left calf strain arrived before the start of fall camp, and now the inevitable is here: when and how could the glass crack again?

Lagway missed time or didn’t participate full-go throughout the entire offseason, multiple injuries not only stalling his development – but also leaving the Gators’ 2025 resurgence in question. In one short year, Lagway’s injury timeline has moved from unlucky to unnerving.

Whether it’s increased level of competition, intensity of training or just plain bad luck, four injuries (two relatively serious) before the start of Lagway’s second season is cause for concern. More problematic: it’s not a long or difficult a jump from calf strain to a much bigger problem.

Especially since we’ve seen it of late among the greatest athletes in sports. 

Aaron Rodgers and Tyrese Halliburton dealt with calf strains in the last two years, and both strains preceded season-ending Achilles injuries. Kevin Durant’s Achilles injury in 2019 started with a calf strain, too. 

But before we go down that rabbit hole and scuttle the season for a rising star quarterback and a team with College Football Playoff hopes, before we make too much of Lagway wearing a compression wrap on his left calf in practice, maybe he’s not Mr. Glass at all.

Maybe he just got dinged more times than most. 

“The whole injury thing, for the most part, is relatively new for me,” Lagway said last month, and he hasn’t spoke to media since. “I feel better than I ever have right now.”

It was last month when Lagway admitted to USA TODAY Sports that the throwing shoulder injury didn’t occur during his breakout freshman season as most believed, but that it was something he dealt with the entire season.

A season in which he won every game he started and finished.

His 6-1 record overall as a starter included a lone loss to Georgia, where he left late in the second quarter with a hamstring injury — with the Gators leading 10-3. Other than that, Lagway’s freshman season (even with modest numbers) was high-level production in the nation’s most difficult conference.

He has had soreness in the shoulder since high school, and has typically used rehabilitation instead of surgery to overcome pain and stiffness. The shoulder injury (and the core injury) forced him to miss throwing in spring practice.

Then the calf injury showed up before fall camp, and despite the soreness, Lagway has been throwing and looks sharper than ever. The only question now: will the calf hold up?

“The guy’s been working hard all summer,” Florida coach Billy Napier said earlier this week. “Certainly, hopefully, he’ll be able to do more and more as we go day-to-day.”

That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it’s also all Napier and Florida have to hold. Because with Lagway, Florida is a legitimate threat to reach the College Football Playoff. 

Without him – and with sixth-year nomad Harrison Bailey or former walk-on Aidan Warner playing quarterback – the Gators may have problems reaching bowl eligibility.

Earlier this week, former Alabama coach Nick Saban – speaking during his Nick’s Kid’s Foundation event – said five teams could win the SEC this season. One of those teams was Florida. 

Even with the uncertainty of Lagway’s health, or the nation’s toughest schedule. Which, frankly, Napier and the team are getting tired of talking about.

Spot the ball, they all say now. Doesn’t matter that the schedule includes games away from Gainesville against Georgia, LSU, Miami, Texas A&M and Mississippi, and home games against Texas and Tennessee, Florida played the same schedule last year. 

And by the end of the regular season (and with a healthy Lagway), the Gators were playing as well as anyone in the SEC. 

There’s a lot to like about this Florida team, one that Napier has patiently and organically built through high school recruiting instead of relying on the crapshoot that is the transfer portal. An experienced and deep offensive line, some of the SEC’s best young skill players and a defense that developed last year with Lagway. 

In the six games Lagway started and completed, the Florida defense gave up an average of 13.1 points per game. In the other seven games, the Gators gave up an average of 31.5.

“He makes everyone better,” Napier said. “That’s what rare players do.”

If they can stay on the field.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.