The NBA Summer League is over. The Charlotte Hornets won the popular and essential summer league event with an 83-78 victory against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, July 20.

The NBA offseason is officially here, though there are unresolved issues, such as the restricted free agency of Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga, Chicago’s Josh Giddey and Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas. Plus, the Los Angeles Lakers plan to finalize a deal with Marcus Smart, and the Los Angeles Clippers could make a deal that brings Chris Paul back to the franchise.

Let’s take a look at what happened at Summer League in Las Vegas and what the next couple of months hold for the NBA:

Who won the 2025 Las Vegas Summer League title?

Kon Knueppel and the Charlotte Hornets went 6-0 on their way to securing the franchise’s first Summer League title. It was also their first Summer League playoff appearance.

The Sacramento Kings finish the season 5-1 after failing to secure their Summer League crown. The franchise did win Summer League titles in 2014 and 2021.

Who was the MVP of the 2025 Las Vegas Summer League title game?

Kon Knueppel was named as the MVP for the Summer League title game. He shot 8-for-21 from the field and finished with 21 points. He also shot 4-for-11 from the 3-point line.

Knueppel, who was the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, played with a bandage over his right eye after taking a hard fall during a game on Saturday, July 19. The wound required five stitches.

The rookie told the ESPN broadcast that the biggest takeaways from playing in the Summer League was getting familiar with the NBA game and spacing.

Who were other 2025 NBA Summer League standouts?

Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 draft played in just two games, scoring 31 points on 10-for-21 shooting in his second game.

Nique Clifford, Sacramento Kings

Clifford had a strong Summer League in Vegas, averaging 16.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.2 steals, while shooting 55.4% from the field and 50% on 3-pointers. Clifford, 23, moved up draft boards as the college season progressed, and the Kings acquired him with the No. 24 pick in June. He had 19 points, 12 rebounds in five assists against Chicago.

Tre Johnson, Washington Wizards

Johnson, the No. 6 selection in June, played in just two games, but averaged 19.5 points and shot 58.3% from the field and 45.5% on 3-pointers.

Derik Queen, New Orleans Pelicans

Queen, who had surgery on his left wrist Friday and will be re-evaluated in 12 weeks, averaged 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Nikola Topic, Oklahoma City Thunder

Topic, a 6-6 guard who missed last season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, contributed 11 points and 7.3 assists. The Thunder drafted him No. 12 in 2024 and could be even deeper and more dangerous with his development.

Kyle Filipowski, Utah Jazz

In a good sign for the rebuilding Jazz, Filipowski, the 32nd pick in the 2024 draft, averaged 29.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists, while shooting 56.1% from the field and 39.1% on 3s in three games. He scored 32 points on 12-for-17 shooting against Charlotte.

Ron Holland II, Detroit Pistons

Holland, the fifth pick in 2024, posted 21.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 4.0 steals per game and shot 52.8% from the field and 46.7% on 3s – just what the improving Pistons need in 2025-26.

Terrence Shannon Jr., Minnesota Timberwolves

Shannon is pushing for a bigger role in Minnesota’s rotation after solid but limited playoff minutes. The No. 27 pick in 2024, Shannon averaged 22.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.7 steals and shot 47.6% from the field and 38.5 on 3s.

Drew Timme, Brooklyn Nets

In three games, Timme, who was not drafted coming out of Gonzaga in 2023, averaged 25.3 points and 8.0 rebounds, while shooting 55.4% from the field. He dropped 30 points against Washington.

Yuki Kawamura, Chicago Bulls

The 5-8 Kawamura spent last season on a two-way contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, and his Vegas play earned him another two-way contract with the Bulls. He averaged 10.2 points and 6.2 assists and shot 41.7% on 3s.

Curtis Jones, Denver Nuggets

Jones, an undrafted rookie, agreed on a two-way contract with the Nuggets after averaging 14.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists and shooting 54.9% from the field and 46.7 on 3s.

What’s next for the NBA’s offseason?

Aside from those aforementioned restricted free-agent situations and lingering deals that need to be signed, it’s quiet time in the NBA for the most part. There might the other deals, and of course, teams will still be plotting to improve rosters before training camps open in October.

In an NBA-adjacent event, the 2025 Eurobasket is August 27-September 14 in Cyprus, Finland, Poland and Latvia, with the knockout stage (round of 16 through the final) in Riga, Latvia. Several NBA players will participate, including the growing likelihood that Luka Dončić will play for Slovenia.

When will the 2025-26 NBA schedule be released?

The 2025-26 NBA schedule will likely will be unveiled in August. Last year, the league and teams released detailed schedule and TV information on August 15.

The second act of Jayden Daniels’ NFL career will come with high expectations – for himself and the Washington Commanders.

In 2024, the Commanders made the NFC championship game, with their rookie quarterback as the main reason. For a franchise devoid of success for more than two decades and a carousel at quarterback, Daniels was more than a revelation. He took on a mystic presence. He was a savior.

Now the Commanders will enter the 2025 season considered Super Bowl contenders (fair or not) and Daniels will be on MVP shortlists. An ESPN poll that took the temperature of NFL executives and coaches left Daniels as the No. 5-ranked quarterback in the league. Ahead of him were the powerful AFC quartet of quarterback: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow.

“I gotta go out there and prove myself each and every day, no matter if it was last season, this season, 10, 20 years down the road,” Daniels said in May, “you have to prove yourself each and every season.

“Outside noise doesn’t matter,” he continued, “have to go there and keep proving yourself.”

Taken second overall in the new Commanders regime by general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn, Daniels carried over his production from Louisiana State to the pros. He rushed for the most yards ever by a rookie quarterback (891). The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner completed 69% of his passes and threw 25 touchdowns – five of which came in the final 30 seconds of regulation or overtime – to nine interceptions. He easily won Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.

Off the field, Daniels was instrumental in catalyzing the culture change Quinn instilled from the top of the organization down.

“He’s an amazing teammate. The amount of work that he puts in that goes unseen here to get ready to play, to learn it, to teach others to, you know, connect the guys … there is no flinch in Jayden Daniels,” Quinn said in May. “He’s as focused and relentless as you could about getting better. And so that’s why I said for us around here, like, man, we appreciate that and there’s a lot of things that, he and the rest of us are really digging in hard on to say, ‘All right, can we get this better?’”

Jayden Daniels’ 2025 NFL season goals? From learning to mastery

Throughout Daniels’ first full offseason as a pro, the coaching staff and the quarterback concentrated on taking aspects of his game from “really good” to “elite” with the goal of being “the best at this concept,” Quinn said.

The freedom an offseason provides was new to Daniels. Some of that was difficult to navigate, Daniels said, but he leaned on his support system.

“It was fun just to sit back and reflect and figure out how I’m going to move throughout this offseason and move forward,” Daniels said.

For offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, that meant receiving plenty of texts and calls from Daniels, who is a football junkie. Kingsbury didn’t have to give him any homework.

“His mind is never very far away from the game, so if he sees something or has a thought, he likes to reach out and talk through it,” Kingsbury said in May. “And so that relationship has really grown, I think kind of figuring out where we want to continue to get better at.

“That’s all he kind of thinks about is how he can get better and watches a ton of film, watches a ton of football overall. And so, that organically really takes care of itself in a way when you have a guy who wants to be that great.”

A potential head-coach candidate once again, Kingsbury, quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard and assistant quarterbacks coach David Blough were all retained by the Commanders this offseason with the goal of providing a stable “ecosystem,” in the words of Peters, for Daniels.

“It’s huge,” Kingsbury said of the continuity at Daniels’ disposal. “I think you look traditionally through the NFL, the guys who’ve had a ton of success have been able to stay in those long-term, all-time greats and just the comfort level and then you being able to take the ownership of it and understand it inside and out, where now you’re correcting people, you don’t even need the coaches. And he’s kind of getting to that point.”

Going into Year 2, Kingsbury said, Daniels shifted from learning to mastery of the scheme. Daniels said “transparency” between he and Kingsbury has improved; he relays what he likes, Kingsbury offers his viewpoints and they agree on the middle ground.

 “Just watching him move around, he’s not thinking as much, he’s playing fast and letting his natural gifts kind of take over and that’s what we want to see,” Kingsbury said. “So, I expect him to take a big jump.”

The spotlight will only increase. The Commanders are scheduled to play in 10 standalone windows this season, starting Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers on ‘Thursday Night Football.’

Commanders have ‘massive opportunity’ with Jayden Daniels on rookie contract

Throughout last season, Daniels faced questions regarding his durability. The 6-foot-4 passer is listed at a generous 210 pounds. Big hits he took in the first month of the season didn’t assuage those concerns. Daniels suffered a rib injury against the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 20 following a long run that affected him for the better part of a month.

Neither the Commanders nor Daniels had any specific weight goals or bulking desires for the offseason. Quinn said he’s where he expects Daniels to be on the scale, but that working out more has naturally made him leaner.

“He knows what he has to do to protect himself and where he feels comfortable playing,” Kingsbury said. “But the arm strength, it looks better and you can tell he’s stronger, there’s no doubt.”

While Daniels improved himself, Peters improved the roster. He brought back key veterans who bonded with Daniels in tight end Zach Ertz, linebacker Bobby Wagner and backup quarterback Marcus Mariota. He traded for wideout Deebo Samuel, formerly with the San Francisco 49ers, and left tackle Laremy Tunsil. The Commanders used their first-round draft pick on offensive lineman Josh Conerly.

“We have a massive opportunity, and you know, none of us are taking that lightly,” Commanders owner Josh Harris said regarding Daniels’ rookie contract in February after the team’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC title game.

But Daniels’ favorite target, wide receiver Terry McLaurin, and the front office are locked into a contract standoff that has devolved from standard to bitter.

In Quinn’s mind, whoever Daniels is working with on the field has the benefit of working with a leader who understands the larger goal.

“I know he’s worked hard through the offseason, but he’s just in command of the things that he wanted to work,” Quinn said. “He and his teammates, they’ve really put in a lot of work together.

“You can sense when people are going for it and you know, he’s certainly one that is.”

The Washington Commanders have had a busy offseason. They’ve traded for left tackle Laremy Tunsil and wide receiver Deebo Samuel to bolster one of the top offenses in the NFL from a year ago. On defense, they added decorated pass rusher Von Miller in free agency.

There’s been news off the field as well with the franchise announcing plans to build a new stadium in Washington D.C. The franchise hopes to build on the site of RFK Memorial Stadium where the team played from 1961 to 1996 and is two miles east of the U.S. Capitol building.

Washington may be facing a challenge as well from the highest-ranking elected official in the country.

‘I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington (name),’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’ I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington,’ Trump posted.

He continued: ‘The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone.’ He went on to state that the Cleveland Guardians should do the same and change the franchise name back to its former name.

Washington also faces some question marks with getting that deal with Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser needing to get approval from the D.C. Council.

‘I would put my level of concern – because when you’re a big city mayor you’re concerned about everything – I’ll put it at a four [out of five],’ Bowser said earlier this month.

Washington started out as the Boston Braves back in 1932 before changing its name in 1933. The franchise kept its now-former name when it relocated from Boston to Washington D.C. in 1937 and it remained for decades.

In July 2020, the franchise dropped the name and logo.

‘We are announcing we will be retiring the (former) name and logo upon completion of this review,’ the team said in a statement at the time and that team officials were ‘working closely to develop a new name and design approach that will enhance the standing of our proud, tradition rich franchise and inspire our sponsors, fans and community for the next 100 years.’

The franchise went by the name Washington Football Team for the 2020 and 2021 NFL seasons before rebranding as the Washington Commanders ahead of the 2022 season.

This isn’t the first time Trump’s voiced his dislike for the Commanders name. When asked about the stadium plans earlier in July, Trump said he wouldn’t have changed the name in the first place.

‘It just doesn’t have the same, it doesn’t have the same ring to me,’ he said. “But, you know, winning can make everything sound good. So if they win, all of a sudden the Commanders sounds good, but I wouldn’t have changed the name.”

A new stadium is one of the top priorities of the Commanders’ new ownership group led by Josh Harris. That group finished a deal to buy the team in May 2023 and are hoping to finish construction by the 2030 NFL season.

In the meantime, the team would continue to play its home games at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.

The team has not released a statement in response to Trump’s comments at time of publishing.

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders said in a video posted by his eldest son on Sunday, July 20 that he’s “not all the way recovered” but otherwise showed signs of returning to his job in Boulder soon after recently battling an undisclosed health issue this summer.

“You know I’m still going through something,” Sanders said to his daughter Shelomi and son Deion Jr. “I ain’t all the way recovered.”

The video posted by Deion Jr. then shows him dipping his legs in an ice bath. The same video showed him more physically active than before, with footage of him shooting baskets on a basketball court, sitting down after tennis lessons and discussing a “run-walk” he finished at his estate in Texas.

“I’m getting better, though, right?” Sanders said to his youngest daughter Shelomi in the video.

Sanders appeared at a Big 12 Conference media days event on July 9 in Frisco, Texas, but declined to reveal the health issue that has kept him away from campus in Boulder while a wave of recruits visited in June.  Recruits were told he was out sick.

While recovering in Texas, Sanders, 57, also missed a number of events in May and June, including the wedding of his star player, Travis Hunter, on May 24 in Tennessee, a speaking appearance in Florida scheduled for June 8 and Colorado’s annual youth and high school camps in Boulder in June.

Colorado doesn’t open preseason football practice until late July and doesn’t open the season until Aug 29 against Georgia Tech. But Sanders indicated he’s coming back soon.  In a video posted by his son Shilo on July 16, Sanders is heard talking on the phone with Shilo and telling him that he would try his best to rent a plane to visit him in Florida before visiting his other son, Shedeur, in Ohio as they try to make the rosters of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns.

“And then go to work,” Sanders said.

In an interview with media personality Phillip Dukes posted on July 17, Deion Jr. also gave an update from Texas.

‘We headed back to Colorado next week,’ Deion Jr. said. ‘It’s a blessing. It’s been a long journey, a long road and soon everybody will know the reason I haven’t left this house this summer. … Everyone will know in the next few weeks or so.’

In another video posted on July 17, Sanders said Shedeur recently mentioned his father’s weight loss and said he looked like Lil Duval, the comedian and actor.

In late May, Deion Sanders said on a podcast with former NFL cornerback Asante Samuel that he had lost 14 pounds related to his health issue.

He has a history of blood circulation issues in his legs, but it’s not clear if that’s related to his recent sabbatical.

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

If any golf fan or media member ever uses the word ‘boring’ in connection to Scottie Scheffler, their Masters credentials should be revoked, their golf clubs taken away and their country club logo polo shirts burned into a heap of ash.

Because what is the point of this game if not to witness and recognize the brilliance, ruthlessness and efficiency of the greatest player we have seen since Tiger Woods?

It has been in fashion over the past few years during Scheffler’s rise to dismiss him as a personality, as an entity, regardless of his performance on the course. Too vanilla. Too understated. Too wholesome. Too much of a regular guy to lure the masses into watching a major championship Sunday.

It’s true that if Woods was dominating the Open Championship the way Scheffler did this weekend, culminating with a four-stroke victory and fourth major title, it would be a national event. Scheffler does not have that kind of pull now and probably never will. It’s possible nobody ever will.

But to downplay Scheffler because he doesn’t generate that kind of fan adoration, or to ignore the fascinating moment he’s creating right now for golf, is to completely miss the point. 

If you aren’t enthralled watching somebody run laps around their peers in a sport that isn’t supposed to produce week-in, week-out dominance, did you even like golf in the first place? If you aren’t entertained by a player who picks the right strategy on almost every hole, controls his distances far better than anyone on the planet and is now an increasingly Woodsian clutch putter on major weekends, maybe pickleball is more your speed. 

What, do you want Scheffler to fist pump a little more? Start beefs with Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau? Reveal a messy personal life with a bashed-in windshield?

Sorry, but that’s not the way the Scheffler era is going to go down. Nor is it going to be an obsessive march toward Woods in the all-time major count the same way that Woods devoted his career to chasing down Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18. 

In fact, it seems just as possible that whenever Scheffler inevitably wins a U.S. Open to complete his career Grand Slam, he might just head home to Texas for good, knowing there won’t be much more to add to his legacy in the game.

And we can speculate about that possibility because of what Scheffler revealed at his news conference before the Open began. The question was about how long Scheffler had ever celebrated a victory. What followed was a 494-word answer in which Scheffler described a phenomenon that many elite athletes, and particularly in this generation, understand innately but hesitate to talk about publicly.

‘It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for, like, a few minutes,’ Scheffler said. ‘It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling. To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf to have an opportunity to win that tournament. You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister’s there, it’s such an amazing moment. Then it’s like, OK, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on.

‘Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport. To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world because what’s the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It’s fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.’

He went on from there, talking about the wrestling match in his mind between desperately wanting to win tournaments such as the Masters and the Open and then realizing that, as soon as it’s over, you kind of just move on to the next thing.

‘At the end of the day, sometimes I just don’t understand the point,’ he said.

If only Woods ever said anything half that interesting or revealing about his state of mind. Instead, he spent most of his prime regurgitating cliches and keeping his most humanizing qualities private until they unintentionally spilled out into the public realm. 

But Woods was a different phenomenon. He literally changed the game with his length of the tee, his physicality, his Black and Asian identity, his charismatic celebrations. It was fascinating and thrilling to watch it in real time, even as inevitable as his victories often seemed. 

Scheffler’s superpower is that he clearly doesn’t need this. He’s driven to be great, but he also understands at age 29 that his life isn’t going to be different in any meaningful way if he wins four majors or 14, and even his mood isn’t going to change for more than a few minutes whether he wins or loses. 

And lately, there have been a lot of wins: 17 of them in his past 80 tournaments on the PGA Tour, with a statistical profile that puts him a lot closer to Woods than most people recognize.

What Scheffler did this week at Royal Portrush to crush the field was clinical and skillful and often just breathtaking. Maybe that kind of monotonous winning doesn’t sell a lot of golf clubs or watches to the casual fan, but it’s authentic to a player who should only be accused of boring the masses in one sense: He’s figured out this game in a way only a small handful of others ever have.