Thursday night’s contest between the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets has officially been postponed due to the raging wildfires in the Los Angeles area. The NBA announced the decision Thursday afternoon, hours before the game was supposed to tip-off.

‘The National Basketball Association game scheduled for tonight between the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena has been postponed due to ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area,’ the NBA said in its statement Thursday. They did not offer a new date for the game to be replayed, claiming that it would be announced at a ‘later date.’

There are at least five active fires in Los Angeles County and the ongoing struggle to contain the flames has inflicted significant damage. more than 100,000 people in the region have been forced to flee their homes. At least five people are dead and thousands of homes, businesses and even iconic Hollywood landmarks are either threatened, damaged or already destroyed by what Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called a ‘firestorm’ during a late Wednesday night briefing. Authorities warned more injuries and death are possible until the fires can be contained.

Why was the game postponed?

The fire in the Pacific Palisades continues to ravage the neighborhood, and additional fires have also cropped up in the Los Angeles area. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said it was too early to provide a death toll. He said almost 180,000 people have been ordered to evacuate, and another 200,000 face evacuation warningsThe fire has directly affected several members of the NBA community as well, including Lakers’ head coach JJ Redick, who lost his home.

This decision comes a day after Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard decided to step away from the team in order to help his family members who had been forced to evacuate their homes due to the fires as well. While the Clippers were not scheduled to play at home until Saturday, the Lakers were about to embark on a five-game home stand beginning Thursday night and running through Friday, Jan. 17. It is unclear how many, if any more will be postponed due to the fires.

Will the fire subside soon?

Wind gusts still pose a significant threat to Los Angeles and the fire crews attempting to stop the blaze, but the recent fights against the inferno have proved promising. The estimated damage to Los Angeles due to the fires is still being calculated, but NBC believes the total economic loss could tally over $50 billion.

The Las Vegas Raiders are starting from scratch after all.

Two days after firing coach Antonio Pierce on Tuesday, the team dismissed general manager Tom Telesco after only one season.

‘We appreciate (Telesco’s) efforts in helping build a foundation for the future,’ the Raiders said in a statement. ‘We wish Tom and his family all the best.’

Telesco, who previously served as the Los Angeles Chargers’ general manager from 2013-23, was the Raiders’ fourth general manager hired by Mark Davis since the owner took the reins to the organization in 2011. The team is also preparing to hire its sixth head coach in that same span.

Telesco was hired last January as the replacement for Dave Ziegler, who was fired alongside coach Josh McDaniels midway through the 2023 season. The Raiders stumbled to a 4-13 season, the franchise’s work mark since 2018, after trading star wide receiver Davante Adams to the New York Jets and rotating through Gardner Minshew II, Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder at quarterback.

All things Raiders: Latest Las Vegas Raiders news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

Telesco signed Minshew, who began the year as the team’s starting signal-caller but was lost to a broken collarbone in Week 12, to a two-year, $25 million contract this past offseason. The Raiders were unable to land a top passer in the 2024 NFL draft, with six players at the position being selected before they went on the clock at No. 13.

With that selection, however, Telesco chose tight end Brock Bowers, who went on to break several rookie records and be selected to the Pro Bowl in his debut campaign.

With both top positions now vacant, Davis and limited partner Tom Brady – whom Davis said he wants to have a significant voice in football matters – have the chance to reshape the organization.

The Raiders could be one of the most active teams this offseason in reshaping their roster. Las Vegas holds the No. 6 pick in the 2025 NFL draft and more than $107 million in projected salary cap space, according to Over The Cap, trailing only the New England Patriots for most in the league. Davis has voiced his desire to find a solution at quarterback, with Brady expected to help shape decision-making.

Las Vegas has already sought to talk with several candidates for its head-coaching vacancy, according to multiple reports: Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken, former New York Jets coach Robert Saleh and Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

This story has been updated with new information.

Former Tennessee Titans tight end Frank Wycheck was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) more than a year after his death at the age of 52, his family revealed.

Wycheck died on Dec. 9, 2023 after an apparent fall at his house. His family worked with researchers at Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center to diagnose him with the neurodegenerative disease, which can lead to dementia, memory loss and depression in those who have suffered repetitive brain trauma.

Wycheck had Stage III CTE at the time of his death. Stage IV is the most severe form of the disease.

Wycheck played 11 seasons in the NFL, including nine standout years with the Titans and (Houston Oilers). He generated 505 catches, 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns during his career but most famously tossed a lateral pass to receiver Kevin Dyson on the famed ‘Music City Miracle’ play.

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Wycheck’s effort on the play helped the Titans secure a 22-16 wild-card win over the Buffalo Bills en route to an appearance in Super Bowl 34. NFL.com named it the fourth-best play in league history in honor of the NFL’s 100th season in 2019.

Wycheck is survived by two daughters, Deanna Wycheck Szabo and Madison Wycheck Nowell, expressed gratitude for their father’s diagnosis in a statement provided by the family. They also noted that they hoped his death and diagnosis would shine a light on the disease, which greatly impacted Wycheck’s life and has been diagnosed in 345 of the 376 NFL players studied by Boston University’s CTE center as of February 2023.

‘My father put his body on the line throughout his career,’ Szabo said. ‘He loved the game and even more so loved his teammates. After retirement, he fought for years to bring light to his post-NFL journey and the fears he had around his struggles and symptoms that he knew whole-heartedly was CTE. He often felt forgotten and ignored, and that his situation was helpless.

‘Reflecting back, I wish our family had been educated on the signs and symptoms of CTE. Instead of believing that something was inherently wrong with him, we now know he was doing the best he could as a father and friend under circumstances beyond his control.

‘Our family is grateful to learn of his confirmed CTE diagnosis in hopes to continue our father’s desire to bring awareness, increased intervention, education, and support for NFL alumni and their families related to CTE. Our hope is that NFL alumni, who believe they are suffering from CTE, will be given the much-needed resources and guidance prior to their symptoms reaching a debilitating state. With on-going CTE research and diagnosis, we hope future NFL alumni and families will be explicitly given an outline and plan of action in receiving care and treatment. That’s what our father would have wanted.’

‘If one thing could come of this diagnosis, I pray that families all over the world would consider my dad’s story as a cautionary tale regarding the long-term consequences of repetitive brain trauma in athletes and to carefully think about their careers in professional contact sports,’ Nowell said.

‘This is a disease that began affecting my dad very early in his life, and I believe played a significant part in taking him way too soon. My hope is that with increased awareness, research, and advocacy for player safety, we can help fellow families of minor and professional athletes continue to thrive, not only during their careers, but after playing the sport they love so they can continue to share their legacies with generations to come.’

In his first season as an analyst on ESPN’s ‘College GameDay,’ Nick Saban showed more of a personality and sense of humor than he did for much of his 17 years as Alabama’s football coach, offering the sorts of smiles and jokes he rarely, if ever, displayed on the Crimson Tide sideline or behind the dais for news conferences.

As Shane Gillis learned, though, there are some things that aren’t a laughing matter to the college football legend.

The popular comedian drew widespread attention during his stint as the celebrity guest-picker on ‘GameDay’ ahead of Notre Dame’s 27-17 victory against Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Dec. 20.

That appearance was highlighted by an uncomfortably funny exchange between Gillis and Saban. Earlier in the show, and while Saban was away, Gillis, a Notre Dame fan, said that the Fighting Irish have a chance now in a sport in which players can legally be paid by everyone, adding that it’s ‘not just the SEC and not Coach Saban’ doing so.

When the two were later together behind the desk for the show’s game picks segment, panelist Pat McAfee stirred the metaphorical pot, telling Saban that Gillis accused him of cheating earlier in the program. Gillis didn’t back down from his earlier statement and took it a step further by referring to Saban as ‘Alabama Jones’ for the Indiana Jones-style hat he was wearing that night.

Saban didn’t appear particularly entertained by the back-and-forth, at least not as much as the rest of the ‘GameDay’ set, and as it turns out, he wasn’t.

On the latest episode of Gillis’ podcast, ‘Matt & Shane’s Secret Podcast,’ Gillis offered some additional, behind-the-scenes details from that night and revealed that Saban was very much not in on the joke.

Before they went on the air for the segment at the ‘GameDay’ table, Gillis said Saban informed him that he’d heard what the comedian had said earlier in the show. McAfee and fellow ‘GameDay’ mainstay Kirk Herbstreit assured him that Saban was simply messing with him, prompting Gillis to want to lean even further into it once the show went live again.

‘I would have never done that if I thought he was serious,’ Gillis said.

Saban debuted as a panelist on ‘GameDay’ last August, at the start of the 2024 season. He took the job after retiring as Alabama’s coach in January 2024 following a decorated run in which he led the Crimson Tide to a 206-29 record, nine SEC championships and six national titles. He had previously won a national championship at LSU.

Following their viral moment, Gillis was encouraged by McAfee and Herbstreit to talk things out with Saban after the show, but when Gillis did that, he learned just how truly angry the seven-time national champion was.

‘I went up to him after and he was like, ‘You think the SEC dominated because we cheated? That’s bull—!” Gillis said. ‘He spazzed on me.’

After that, the 73-year-old Saban was looking to get off the raised platform that the GameDay table was on inside Notre Dame Stadium, with only Gillis around to offer him assistance.

‘After he yelled at me I had to help him down and he, like, looked around to see if anybody else could help him, but I had to help him down,’ Gillis said. ‘I felt really bad about that.’

Thankfully for Gillis, Alabama Jones doesn’t carry around a whip.

Unrivaled, the brand-new three-on-three women’s basketball league created by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, begins play in just over a week.

The six-team league will feature some of the biggest stars in women’s basketball. Angel Reese, Sabrina Ionescu, and Alyssa Thomas are just a sample of the names Unrivaled has been able to bring aboard. With substantial salaries in place, plus a lucrative mid-season one-on-one tournament and a national broadcast deal, the league seems poised to further the momentum women’s sports have picked up towards claiming a bigger share of nationwide attention.

Players have already reported to Miami to begin practicing with their teams, with Unrivaled set to make its debut on Friday, Jan. 17. This season will take place at a purpose-built facility in south Florida, with the league’s first champion set to be crowned in mid-March.

Here’s what to know about Unrivaled, including TV and streaming details, players, teams, format, and schedule:

What is Unrivaled?: New women’s basketball league explained

Unrivaled is the latest push to drive more attention towards women’s basketball, particularly during the WNBA offseason. The league, founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, will operate in a three-on-three format, with the 2025 season taking place in Miami.

Some of the biggest names in the WNBA were sorted among the six teams that will compete in this first Unrivaled season, with play beginning on Friday, Jan. 17 and running through the league final on Monday, March 17.

In short order, Unrivaled has drummed up some big-name backers. Stars from elsewhere in the women’s sports world — among them, tennis powerhouse Coco Gauff, retired U.S. women’s national team icons Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, and golfer Michelle Wie West — are investors. Two of college basketball’s most successful head coaches (South Carolina’s Dawn Staley and UConn’s Geno Auriemma), NBA legends Carmelo Anthony and Steve Nash, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and actor Ashton Kutcher are also on the list of celebrities stepping up to the plate in support of the new league.

Among other things, Unrivaled is an attempt to solve two problems facing WNBA players. The WNBA season runs for less than six months, leaving a long window where players can either lose sharpness by not playing real games or go abroad on lucrative contracts for teams spread across the world.

However, the current league collective bargaining agreement includes a ‘prioritization rule.’ The rule requires any player who misses the start of their WNBA team’s training camp for international play to be suspended for the entire season, essentially pushing players to choose between a spot in the best women’s basketball league in the world or the sort of huge contracts foreign teams can dole out in leagues unrestricted by a salary cap.

Unrivaled sidesteps both problems. Players get tough competition and more income, while the calendar leaves players a few weeks to recover before WNBA preseason begins on April 28. The money is serious, too: Salaries are guaranteed to be over six figures, and the league will feature a one-on-one tournament in February that, per Collier, includes a minimum $250,000 prize for the winner.

Unrivaled: Format, rules for women’s basketball league

Unlike FIBA or Olympic three-on-three basketball, Unrivaled will play on a full court, with baskets at each end. Owing to the lower number of players on the floor at any given time, the playing surface will be 70′-by-50′ (as compared to the 94′-by-50′ size used in the WNBA). Games will be played in four seven-minute quarters.

Each team will play 14 games, with the top four teams at the end of the regular season advancing to one-game semifinals. The winners of those games will move on to a one-game final set for Monday, March 17.

Unrivaled 2025 teams and rosters

Laces BC

Jackie Young
Tiffany Hayes
Kayla McBride
Kate Martin
Alyssa Thomas (capt.)
Stefanie Dolson
Coach: Andrew Wade

Lunar Owls BC

Skylar Diggins-Smith
Courtney Williams
Allisha Gray
Cameron Brink (note: Brink is practicing with the team but will be unable to play due to injury)
Napheesa Collier (capt.)
Shakira Austin
Coach: DJ Sackman

Mist BC

Jewell Loyd
Courtney Vandersloot
DiJonai Carrington
Rickea Jackson
Breanna Stewart (capt.)
Aaliyah Edwards
Coach: Phil Handy

Phantom BC

Sabrina Ionescu
Natasha Cloud
Marina Mabrey
Katie Lou Samuelson
Satou Sabally (capt.)
Brittney Griner
Coach: Adam Harrington

Rose BC

Chelsea Gray (capt.)
Brittney Sykes
Kahleah Copper
Lexie Hull
Angel Reese
Azurá Stevens
Coach: Nola Henry

Vinyl BC

Arike Ogunbowale (capt.)
Jordin Canada
Rhyne Howard
Rae Burrell
Aliyah Boston
Dearica Hamby
Coach: Teresa Weatherspoon

How to watch Unrivaled: TV, streaming for 2025 season

Unrivaled’s first season will take place in just outside of Miami at a custom-built venue assembled by the league and its production partner, Mediapro. The schedule will run from Jan. 17 to March 17, with TNT and truTV broadcasting all games. Fans looking to stream Unrivaled can look to Max or Sling.

Broadcast details for the league’s midseason one-on-one tournament, which will run from Feb. 10-14, will be announced at a later date.

TV: TNT, truTV
Streaming: Max, Sling

Watch Unrivaled on Sling

Unrivaled 2025 season schedule

All times Eastern

Friday, Jan. 17

Mist BC vs. Lunar Owls BC: 7 p.m.
Rose BC vs. Vinyl BC: 8:15 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 18

Phantom BC vs. Laces BC: 2 p.m.
Lunar Owls BC vs. Rose BC: 3 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 20

Vinyl BC vs. Phantom BC: 8 p.m.
Laces BC vs. Mist BC: 9:15 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 24

Phantom BC vs. Mist BC: 7 p.m.
Laces BC vs. Vinyl BC: 8:15 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 25

Mist BC vs. Rose BC: 6 p.m.
Lunar Owls BC vs. Phantom: 7 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 27

Vinyl BC vs. Lunar Owls BC: 7 p.m.
Rose BC vs. Laces BC: 8:15 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 31

Phantom BC vs. Rose BC: 7 p.m.
Laces BC vs. Lunar Owls BC: 8:15 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 1

Mist BC vs. Vinyl BC: 6 p.m.
Rose BC vs. Laces BC: 7 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 3

Mist BC vs. Phantom BC: 7 p.m.
Lunar Owls BC vs. Vinyl BC: 8:15 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 7

Phantom BC vs. Lunar Owls BC: 7 p.m.
Mist BC vs. Rose BC: 8:15 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 8

Vinyl BC vs. Laces BC: 6 p.m.
Lunar Owls BC vs. Mist BC: 7 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 10

One-on-one tournament games: 7 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 13

One-on-one tournament games: 6:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 14

One-on-one tournament games, including tournament final: 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 18

Vinyl BC vs. Rose BC: 7 p.m.
Laces BC vs. Phantom BC: 8:15 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 21

Rose BC vs. Lunar Owls BC: 7 p.m.
Vinyl BC vs. Mist BC: 8:15 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 22

Lunar Owls BC vs. Laces BC: 6 p.m.
Phantom BC vs. Vinyl BC: 7 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 24

Rose BC vs. Phantom BC: 7 p.m.
Mist BC vs. Laces BC: 8:15 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 28

Laces BC vs. Vinyl BC: 7 p.m.
Phantom BC vs. Mist BC: 8:15 p.m.

Saturday, March 1

Vinyl BC vs. Lunar Owls BC: 6 p.m.
Rose BC vs. Mist BC: 7 p.m.

Monday, March 3

Laces BC vs. Rose BC: 7 p.m.
Lunar Owls BC vs. Phantom BC: 8:15 p.m.

Friday, March 7

Phantom BC vs. Laces BC: 7 p.m.
Lunar Owls BC vs. Rose BC: 8:15 p.m.

Saturday, March 8

Laces BC vs. Mist BC: 6 p.m.
Vinyl BC vs. Phantom BC: 7 p.m.

Monday, March 10

Mist BC vs. Lunar Owls BC: 7 p.m.
Rose BC vs. Vinyl BC: 8:15 p.m.

Sunday, March 16

Semifinals: 7 p.m.
Semifinals: 8:15 p.m.

Monday, March 17

Finals: 7:30 p.m.

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