Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon is listed as questionable for Sunday’s Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

He is dealing with a left hamstring strain, the Nuggets said. Gordon sustained the injury late in Game 6 against Oklahoma City.

Gordon was tabbed as “the soul of this team” by players such as Nikola Jokić and played a crucial role in the Nuggets’ success throughout the postseason.

He hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds of Game 1 that put the Nuggets ahead and proved to be the difference in a 121-119 victory against the Thunder.

Gordon is averaging 16.8 points, 7.3 rebounds (3.5 offensive boards per game) and 2.9 assists and shooting 48.5% from the field, 38.2% on 3-pointers and 85.1% on free throws in the playoffs.

Golden State star Stephen Curry just missed the final four games of the Warriors’ series against Minnesota with a grade 1 hamstring strain.

How did Aaron Gordon suffer his hamstring injury?

Gordon was seen grabbing at his hamstring after chasing a loose ball late in the Nuggets’ 119-107 Game 6 victory against the Thunder. He hopped over Oklahoma City’s Alex Caruso trying to get to the basketball and grabbed at his hamstring when the ball went out of bounds with 1:45 left in the fourth quarter. Gordon checked out of the game with 53.4 seconds remaining in the fourth and did not return.

When is Nuggets-Thunder Game 7?

The Oklahoma City Thunder will play the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, May 18, at 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will be played at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City and air on ABC and ESPN+.

Although Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty did not compete at the Preakness Stakes, that did not stop the race from providing one of the most exhilarating finishes in recent memory.

Pre-race favorite Journalism headed into the final straightaway several lengths behind leader Gosger, but even after getting sandwiched between two other horses and nearly bumping the inside railing on the final turn, Journalism found an extra gear and blazed past everyone to win the Preakness by less than a length.

It was the type of finish we see in movies, and it begs the question: ‘Can Journalism pull it off again?’ Journalism was the pre-race favorite at the Kentucky Derby as well, but wound up as the runner-up to Sovereignty. With Sovereignty expected to compete at the Belmont Stakes, will Journalism finish in second yet again, or did the win at Pimlico unlock something in that horse? After all, Journalism showcased exceptional stamina in the win, and the Belmont Stakes is traditionally the longest race of the Triple Crown.

Here’s when the Belmont Stakes will run.

When is the 2025 Belmont Stakes?

The 157th running of the Belmont Stakes will take place on Saturday, June 7 at 6:50 p.m. ET. The race will actually be shorter than the usual 1.5 miles though. The race will be hosted by the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, which boasts a smaller dirt track.

That change in length could prove a vital change that affects any horse’s chances of winning, particularly Journalism’s after the Preakness winner displayed tremendous stamina in its win at Pimlico. This year’s Belmont Stakes, will be 1.25 miles, just 1/16th of a mile longer than the Preakness Stakes.

A regional round of the 2025 NCAA softball tournament that had largely gone according to form just got its first major upset.

In its second game of the tournament, No. 1 national seed Texas A&M was stunned by Liberty 8-5 Saturday in the Bryan-College Station Regional at Davis Diamond, putting one of the pre-tournament favorites on its heels unexpectedly early in the event.

Aggies ace Emiley Kennedy was tagged for 11 hits and eight earned runs, though she managed to strike out eight batters across seven innings. Entering the day, Kennedy, a first-team All-SEC selection, had lost just one game since March 10.

Liberty was carried by senior outfielder KK Madrey, who went 3 for 3 and had three RBIs, including a two-run homer in the sixth inning that stretched her team’s lead to 8-5. Madrey’s home run was the highlight of a decisive five-run inning for Liberty, which turned a two-run deficit into a three-run lead.

Paige Doerr and Alyssa Henault added two RBIs apiece for the Lady Flames, who improved to 49-12 this season and are now one win away from their first super regional appearance in program history.

With the loss, Texas A&M will now try to avoid a shockingly early elimination when it faces off Saturday night against the winner of a Saturday afternoon game between Marist and Saint Francis, the latter of which the Aggies beat 18-0 in five innings on Friday.

Should Texas A&M avoid another upset, it will have to beat Liberty twice on Sunday to advance to the super regional round and keep its national title aspirations alive.

The Aggies came into Saturday with a 46-8 record on the season, earning it the NCAA tournament’s top seed ahead of four-time reigning national champion Oklahoma.

Texas softball entered the 2025 NCAA tournament as one of the best teams in the country, with a No. 6 national seed and a foreseeable path to the Women’s College World Series.

In their second game of the tournament, the Longhorns are showing just how dangerous they can be.

Texas hit six home runs in its matchup Saturday against Michigan, with the dingers coming off the bats of five different players.

The offensive outburst carried the Longhorns to a 16-4 run-rule victory against the Wolverines, improving their record to 2-0 in the NCAA tournament. Texas has won those games by a combined score of 26-6, with both games ending in five innings.

Sophomore Katie Stewart, an all-SEC second team honoree, hit two of those six homers, both of them solo shots. The home runs were her 14th and 15th this season, the second-most on her team.

Notre Dame transfer Joley Mitchell provided the highlight of the onslaught with a grand slam that stretched the Longhorns’ lead to 13-3 as part of a nine-run fourth inning.

Leighann Goode, Kaydee Bennett and All-American Reese Atwood also homered for coach Mike White’s team.

In its first season in the SEC, Texas entered the day with a 47-10 record. The Longhorns are aiming to make it back to the WCWS for the third time in four seasons. Last year, they advanced to the WCWS championship series, where they fell to archrival Oklahoma, which claimed its fourth consecutive NCAA title.

Brandon Hyde, who guided the Baltimore Orioles through a gutting rebuild and led them to a 101-win season and consecutive playoff berths, was fired by the club on Saturday as it holds the second-worst record in the American League.

Hyde, 51, was in his seventh season as Orioles manager, a tenure in which expectations grew exponentially after he was hired following a 115-loss season in 2018. The club lost 108 games in Hyde’s first year and 110 games in 2021, but held the team together as the top draft picks awarded for those lost seasons began to arrive in Baltimore.

The results were almost instantaneous: Baltimore won 101 games in 2023, the first full season for All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson, and just its second AL East title since 1997. The Orioles won 91 games in 2024 and again earned a home playoff series as the top wild card.

But the Orioles were 0-5 in postseason games under Hyde, getting swept by the Texas Rangers in the 2023 AL Division Series and the Kansas City Royals in a wild-card series last season. The postseason failures resulted in significant changes on Hyde’s staff, including new hitting coaches and bench coach Robinson Chirinos.

Yet the Orioles are 15-28, last in the AL East and ahead of only the Chicago White Sox in the AL. Hyde becomes the third manager fired in the past 10 days, joining Pittsburgh’s Derek Shelton and Colorado’s Bud Black.

‘The poor start to our season is ultimately my responsibility,’ Orioles GM Mike Elias said in a statement. ‘Part of that responsibility is pursuing difficult changes in order to set a different course for the future.’

Third base coach Tony Mansolino will serve as the club’s interim manager.

Elias, architect of the teardown and rebuild, also aimed to fortify a roster badly exposed in the postseason. But his $15 million investment in 41-year-old pitcher Charlie Morton has been a disaster – he has an 8.35 ERA and the Orioles have lost all 11 games in whic he’s pitched – and slugger Tyler O’Neill has been both injured and ineffective, with a .180 average and .605 OPS in 93 plate appearances. The lineup has also badly missed 2024 All-Star Jordan Westburg, limited to 23 games due to a hamstring injury.

Elias’s inability to deepen the organizational pitching pool – both through an unwillingness to spend high draft picks on pitchers and in the offseason – put the club at a significant disadvantage when early-season injuries struck right-handers Zach Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez. The club has won just two of its 14 series this season.

The slow start has been a continuation of a second-half fade last season: Baltimore went 34-38 to squander a narrow lead in the East and get relegated to the wild-card round. Now, the Orioles have backslid even further, very likely out of the playoff race and seeking a leader who might guide it through rough patches, just like its previous manager.

Hyde’s firing comes as the club is mired in a 2-10 stretch, which included a pair of sweeps at the hands of the Minnesota Twins. The final indignity came in a 4-3 loss to the Washington Nationals, during which the club gave up a late lead on a James Wood home run off Keegan Akin, followed by a ninth-inning go-ahead tally when Nasim Nuñez beat closer Felix Bautista to the bag to allow the winning run to score from second on an infield single.

It was a loss emblematic of the Orioles’ season – Hyde on paper pushed all the right buttons, such as deploying the left-hander Akin against young slugger Wood. But the move did not work and the club’s ultimate undoing was its untimely hitting: Baltimore left 15 runners on base, reflecting its .192 batting average – worst in the majors – with runners in scoring position.

‘Brandon Hyde is someone I have come to know and deeply admire, not only for his extensive knowledge of baseball, but also for his exceptional leadership as a manager,” said Orioles owner David Rubenstein in a statement. ‘I am sincerely grateful for his significant accomplishments over the past six years, which have greatly benefited both the Orioles and the city of Baltimore.

‘However, as is sometimes the case in baseball, change becomes necessary, and we believe this is one of those moments. The Orioles organization is truly appreciative of everything Brandon has contributed during his tenure, and we wish him nothing but success in whatever path he chooses next in the world of baseball.’

Hyde’s firing comes on the day of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, a full-circle moment for his tenure. It was on Preakness day in 2022 that catcher Adley Rutschman – the first overall pick in 2019 who kick-started the rebuild – arrived in the majors.

Now, the two-time All-Star is struggling with a .214 average and .654 OPS, a symbol of the club’s dropoff from the second half of 2024 through the first half of this one.

Junior Alvarado, the jockey who rode Sovereignty to victory in the Kentucky Derby on May 3, has sparked controversy after race stewards said he used his riding crop in excess of the allowable limit of six strikes during the race.

Alvarado faces a $62,000 fine and two-day suspension for allegedly striking Sovereignty eight times, in violation of the so-called ‘crop rule.’ It has been violated more than 2,500 times in less than three years, according to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), which regulates Thoroughbred racing in the United States.

The crop rule took effect when HISA’s Racetrack Safety Program began in July 2022.

“I am surprised to see that high of a number (of violations),’’ said Ramon Dominguez, a retired jockey and 2016 inductee to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. “At the same time, (jockeys) are adapting or changing. Most jocks certainly want to conform and follow these rules.’’

In a sport reeling from declining public interest and concerns over animal welfare, along comes another potentially divisive issue. But industry leaders such as Lisa Lazarus, CEO of HISA, told USA TODAY Sports it’s an opportunity to educate the public, even with Sovereignty’s team skipping the Preakness Stakes and pointing toward the Belmont Stakes on June 7.

Lazarus said 90% of the crop-rule violations have resulted from jockeys striking their horse seven times, one over the limit.

“I’m not minimizing the importance, but it’s essentially a jockey like miscounting, just losing track,’’ Lazarus told USA TODAY Sports. “They still broke a rule. We still enforce it, but we do look at the one-over quite differently than we do more-than-one over (the limit).”

Why are crops allowed in horse racing?

Not everyone believes the crop is necessary.

Sweden and Denmark essentially restrict its use for anything but safety reasons, and Norway generally does the same.

In 2021, the New Jersey Racing Commission (NJRC) imposed a rule allowing the crop only for safety reasons such as steering a horse to avoid interference with another horse or to avoid an accident. But starting in July 2022, New Jersey and all other states began operating under the rules and regulations of HISA, which allows for the use of crops.

“A riding crop is a tool,’’ said jockey Mike Smith, who won the Triple Crown in 2018 on Justify. “It’s not to hurt (the horse). It’s just to get their attention.

“I mean, they’re 1,200 pounds of muscle, man. And sometimes they’ll just pull back against you. Show them the riding crop or tap them with it, even behind by their back end. And it’s not out of pain, it just kind of scares them, gets their attention.’’

Terry Meyocks, president and CEO of the Jockeys Guild, said he thinks using a crop for safety and to encourage the horse are intertwined.  

‘When you’re going through a hole at the top of the stretch, you want to use the crop to get through that hole so no horse or rider gets injured,” Meyocks told USA TODAY Sports.

But Jerry Bailey, a Hall of Fame jockey who won the Kentucky Derby twice, said he doesn’t believe the crop is used for safety. ‘I never have,” Bailey told USA TODAY Sports. ‘The reins are the best thing to use for safety by far.”

On the crop being used for safety and encouragement, Bailey added, ‘This is the mantra that the jockeys took collectively when this (numerical limits on strikes) was first implemented several years ago. And of course I’ve been retired for 20 years now, but I had the sentiment then, and I have it now, that the reins are the best devices that a rider has to keep a horse straight and to maintain a safe trip.”

How a crop is used during a race is also enforced. HISA’s Racetrack Safety Program Rulebook provides specifics, such as:

‘A rider shall not raise the crop with the Jockey’s wrist above the Jockey’s helmet when using the crop or use the crop on any part of the horse’s body other than the shoulders or hindquarters. Also, a rider may use the crop only on the hindquarters or the shoulders to activate and focus the horse and a jockey must allow at least two strides for the horse to respond before using the crop again.’

What did Junior Alvarado say?

Alvarado, 38, did not respond to USA TODAY Sports’ messages left with his wife and agent but did speak out on a podcast hosted by C.L. Brown, a columnist for the Louisville Courier Journal.

Alvarado said he was not thinking about how many times he was hitting Sovereignty during the race. He also said he “forgot it was a rule.’

‘I was seeing my dream coming true right in front of me,” he added. ‘The whip rule was the last thing I had on my mind.”

Alvarado’s agent has indicated the jockey will appeal the disciplinary action.

‘I would like to just get it over with and put it behind me; I don’t want to carry this one extra day, but at the same time, I don’t want to give up that easily like they were right,” Alvarado told the Daily Racing Form last weekend.

“I would like to move forward and fix something. As everybody can see, it’s unfair the penalties we’re facing. Maybe (by appealing) we can get something good out of this.”

He also told the Daily Racing Form, “I didn’t abuse the horse. Nobody can tell me, even if they can prove that I hit the horse two extra times, it was in an abusing way – it’s just ridiculous. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime, and I don’t think there was any crime.”

Marc Guilfoil, director of stewarding for HISA, is adamant that Alvarado did not abuse Sovereignty with the whip.

“There wasn’t a blemish on the horse,’’ Guilfoil said. “Junior Alvarado is an excellent rider and a good person. But he broke a rule and so we are enforcing the consequences for that rule.’’

Do crops hurt the horses?

Rick Arthur, former equine medical director for California, addressed the issue of whether crops hurt horses in 2019, while he was speaking at the 53rd International Conference of Horseracing Authorities in Paris.

“There are those who argue that whipping doesn’t hurt … but that’s nonsense and we all know that,’’ Arthur said at the time. “Whips are noxious stimuli. They hurt. That’s why they’re used. Run faster or I’ll hit you again. More importantly, for a sport that relies on public support, whipping simply looks abusive.’’

This week, Arthur told USA TODAY Sports that based on systematic post-race inspections that began about 15 years ago in California, there has been an 80% drop in visible welts and cuts inflicted from crops, and advances in crop technology then dropped those injuries to ‘virtually nil.”

Despite the progress in crop technology, Arthur said he thinks crops should be used only for safety reasons.

Lazarus and others in the industry hail the new crop as a game-changer.

“The materials that we now use on crops are incredibly light,’’ she said. “They’re almost like Styrofoam. They’re very unlikely to hurt a horse.’’

All crop models are tested by Susan Stover, a professor emeritus of surgical and radiological sciences at the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Among other things, Stover said, she looks at the crop’s stiffness “to make sure that it’s not too rigid (and) … has a greater chance of injuring the horse.’’

Eight crop models have been approved for use by HISA, according to Ann McGovern, HISA’s director of racetrack safety. In a statement provided to USA TODAY Sports, McGovern said before HISA enforcement began, “some regional bootleggers made crops because some riders preferred thicker handles, longer shafts and harsher materials.’’

Dominguez, the retired jockey, manufactures the 360 Gentle Touch (360 GT) Riding Crop approved by HISA. He said the crops used in the U.S. began to evolve in 2007.

“The difference is night and day between 2007 and today,’’ he said.

Crop controversy creates a gap

Between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of this year, crop violations have decreased by 6%, according to HISA.

That may call into question whether the disciplinary action is serving as an effective deterrent. But the $62,000 fine levied against Alvarado has triggered outrage from the Jockeys Guild, which represents Thoroughbred and quarter horse jockeys.

“This is absurd,’’ the Jockeys Guild’s Meyocks posted on his X account May 9.

Lazarus said, “There’s definitely been a meaningful gap between the public’s reaction and those who’ve been in racing a long time. … The public’s reaction was very positive in that they saw HISA was serious. We enforce our rules whether it’s a Wednesday at Parx (Casino and Racing) in Pennsylvania or at the highest level of horse racing that we have.”

HISA rules called for Alvarado to be fined 10 percent of the jockey’s portion of his winnings from the purse – $31,000 of his $310,000. Because Alvarado had another crop-rule violation within 180 days of the Kentucky Derby, the fine was doubled.

It could have been worse for Alvarado, who won the Kentucky Derby for the first time. If he’d struck the horse two more times, Sovereignty would have been disqualified from the race, based on HISA’s rules.

Alvarado is scheduled to serve his two-day suspension May 29-30. He must appeal by the end of Monday, 10 days after the stewards met with Alvarado and issued the order of his violation. 

Alvarado, who ranks sixth among leading riders based on purse money won, has nine crop-rule violations, according to HISA’s website. No other rider in the top 10 has more than five violations, according to HISA’s website.

But Tyler Gaffalione, who ranks 16th, has 19 violations and Francisco Arrieta, who ranks 14th, has 20 violations. Slightly more than 3.4% of riders have 10 or more violations of the crop rule, according to HISA’s website.

Seven of Alvarado’s violations were for seven strikes, one over the limit, and the eighth violation was for exceeding the limit by one to three strikes, according to records on HISA’s website.

When crop changes began

In 2007, jockeys in Britain were required to use newly developed padded whips. Those whips made their way to U.S. tracks and changes began. That included a push to call a whip a crop, according to Meyocks, who recalled a Jockey Club safety meeting he attended with Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron.

“Chris basically said we got to change the terminology, and we were talking about perception,’’ Meyocks said. “And I’ve been saying this for years, it’s not OK to spank kids anymore or whip kids anymore. Why is it OK to use the terminology of whipping on horses with horses? We changed it to riding crop.’’

When talking about limits on crop strikes, Guilfoil cited Victor Espinoza’s victorious ride on American Pharaoh at the 2015 Kentucky Derby.

“I was working for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission when American Pharaoh came down the stretch and got hit 28 to 32 times depending on how you count,’’ Guilfiol told USA TODAY Sports. “I remember I called the test barn and I said, ‘Go over that horse with a fine-tooth comb and make sure there’s not a blemish on that horse.’ … So we know, I know, that the horse wasn’t abused.

“But somebody out there with their family and they see a horse getting hit 32 times coming down the stretch. I tell people all the time, if you did that to a dog, you’d be in jail.’

‘A matter of opinion’

Bailey, who won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Rider seven times, said Alvarado had a ‘great” ride at the Kentucky Derby and did a good job staying out of trouble. Bailey also said he saw this issue coming with the limit of six strikes.

‘I’m fully aware of the anti-whip sentiment from groups around the country, specifically PETA,” Bailey said. ‘I’m fully aware of let’s protect our horses. I feel the same way. But I’ve said this from the beginning: It is really, really difficult, if not impossible, to keep count of how many times you use the riding crop in any race, much less a race like the Kentucky Derby. It’s just really hard.”

But he also said he supports the rule limiting strikes.

‘I truly understand the reason behind it, and I think our sport has become better with HISA,” Bailey said.

Someone else who still supports the rule: Bill Mott, who trains Sovereignty. He said he watched the replay of the race dozens of times and saw Alvarado strike the horse only six times, not the eight the stewards said they saw.

‘I think it comes down to sort of really it’s a matter of opinion,” Mott said. ‘I thought it was a picture-perfect ride, of course.”

151st Kentucky Derby page print

Brock Purdy’s relevance hasn’t been in question for some time now. But after finally and deservedly joining the ranks of the NFL’s top-compensated quarterbacks Friday, it’s time for the former “Mr. Irrelevant” to evolve into Mr. Eminent – who may or may not be a distant relative of Mr. Unlimited. (Sorry, onward.)

For the past three seasons, the San Francisco 49ers have had a roster full of Tiffany players surrounding a Costco quarterback, which is not shade aimed at Purdy – if you’ve ever found a high-quality bargain at the wholesale warehouse, then you know. But even once the newly extension-eligible Purdy landed his long-awaited, five-year, $265 million ($181 million guaranteed) windfall, it was already fully apparent that the 2025 Niners were going to be far less accessorized.

The NFL is something of a zero-sum game by design – hence the parity that keeps things interesting on one level or another for all 32 of its fan bases. With a bag paying out an average of $53 million annually, Purdy, 25, now finds himself tied with the Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff, from that financial benchmark’s perspective, for seventh place on the league’s salary scale. And that feels about right for a guy who’s reached two NFC championship games, one Super Bowl and earned a Pro Bowl nod while crafting a gaudy a 104.9 passer rating over the course of 40 NFL games. Sure, it’s ridiculous he’s averaging more money than Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson – but it’s equally outrageous that Tua Tagovailoa and Trevor Lawrence remain ahead of Purdy on the QB check-cashing order.

To say Purdy needs to now start earning his dough would be bogus considering the final pick of the 2022 NFL draft has banked about $2.6 million – total – during his first three seasons as a professional, a figure many of the NIL-enriched QB1s from the Power Four college football conferences would sneer at. Still, after years of thriving with passers who didn’t command top dollar – Jimmy Garoppolo also led San Francisco to the Super Bowl – Purdy does need to affirm that GM John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan were right to fully invest in a player basically no one wanted coming out of Iowa State.

Purdy inherited a Lamborghini midway through the 2022 campaign, when the 49ers had initially given the keys to Trey Lance – he cost far more in terms of asset expenditure than merely the No. 3 pick of the 2021 draft – before he and, then, Garoppolo were injured. Purdy won all seven of his starts as a rookie before his throwing elbow was shredded during the NFC championship game in Philadelphia. But he recovered from his surgery quickly and sufficiently enough to get the Niners all the way to overtime of Super Bowl 59 a year later … before they guessed wrong on the coin toss and ultimately bowed the knee to Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

But Lamborghinis are high-maintenance vehicles, and the battered Niners spent most of 2024 in the shop. They’ve since been stripped of Pro Bowl-caliber parts like Deebo Samuel, Charvarius Ward, Talanoa Hufanga, Dre Greenlaw, Javon Hargrave, Aaron Banks and Leonard Floyd – in part to reset an aging roster, but also to recalibrate their finances in order to slot Purdy’s new money into their cap structure. Now the question is whether the Lambo has become a Jetta.

‘We knew that we had to make sacrifices around the roster to make sure that you can pay a quarterback,’ team owner Jed York told NFL Network last month.

All-universe back Christian McCaffrey barely played in 2024, dogged by injuries. Purdy’s favorite receiver, Brandon Aiyuk, barely played in 2024, dogged by injuries. Pass rusher Nick Bosa appeared mortal on a talent-drained defense. Left tackle Trent Williams, soon to be 37, remains prone to injuries and barely played half the season, leaving Purdy’s blind side too often exposed.

And Purdy – the man now scheduled to pull down a quarter of a bil – suffered through his worst season, throwing a pedestrian 20 touchdown passes while posting a career-worst 12 interceptions as his 96.1 passer rating dipped to 13th in the league. It all added up to a campaign when San Francisco plummeted from NFC champs to a 6-11 outfit.

Purdy pressed too often and was clearly and understandably hindered by his diminished supporting cast in 2024. But his new payday is now going to make that a fact of life. Purdy’s most strident critics – and there are plenty – will also rewind to the Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs and the missed throws and reads that arguably precluded the 49ers from capturing a record-tying sixth Lombardi Trophy. Unlike truly elite passers such as Mahomes, Josh Allen or Joe Burrow, maybe Purdy hasn’t yet definitively proven he’s a bona fide truck and not just a fancy trailer.

Yet it’s worth noting his coach would vehemently disagree.

‘Brock is the leader of our team,’ Shanahan said at the end of the largely disastrous 2024 season. ‘I’ve loved these three years with Brock. I plan on being with Brock here the whole time I’m here.

“He’s a guy I’ve got a lot of confidence in just as a human, but it starts with what he’s done in the field these last two and a half years and capable of winning a Super Bowl with him. We just almost did. And I know he is capable of getting the Niners a Super Bowl in the future.”

Maybe Purdy gets nitpicked by the rest of the world because he’ll always be a seventh-rounder. Maybe his unremarkable size and outwardly apparent physical limitations dull his shine. Or perhaps it’s a perception that Shanahan is such a brilliant offensive mind, that you or I could take the snaps in Silicon Valley and get this team into the playoffs (speaking for myself, patently untrue). But, heck, Purdy’s still just barely cracked the top quartile of the league-wide QB1 salary scale.

But it is time for him to show he can propel this franchise – one that hasn’t won a championship in 30 years. He needs to be a leader on a squad still breaking in quite a few greenhorns. He’s now the youngest, richest quarterback in what could be the league’s toughest division top to bottom – and it’s just as easy to foresee the 49ers finishing in fourth place as first. However coming off their last-place finish did arm them with the league’s easiest schedule in 2025 – based on their opponents’ 2024 winning percentage anyway.

They are certainly relieved to have their main arm locked up, too.

‘I’ve been in situations where you have a great roster and the quarterback isn’t set, and it’s hard to have sustained success,’ York said. ‘We want to make sure that Brock is a long-term partner. We want to make sure that he’s a part of our team for a long time.

‘(I)t’s like, ‘Alright, he’s our guy.’ And if he’s our guy, you have to know that and make those decisions, and that’s where we are right now.’

Now it’s up to Purdy to prove that he’s more than another Jeff Garcia or Alex Smith or Colin Kaepernick and that his new contract isn’t pyrite – but a means to finally get the 49ers back into the Super Bowl goldmine they used to raid with regularity.

The New York Liberty opened their WNBA title defense Saturday with an impressive 92-78 win over the Las Vegas Aces.

The Liberty picked up where they left on last season and used a well-rounded effort, with Breanna Stewart leading the way with 25 points on 10-for-14 shooting. New addition Natasha Cloud impressed fans at the Barclays Center. The veteran guard shined in her first appearance with the Liberty, recording 22 points, eight assists, and six rebounds.

Reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson was outstanding for the Aces, scoring 31 points and leading all players with 16 rebounds. However, there wasn’t much support available, with Las Vegas as a whole shooting 35%. Six-time All-Star Jewell Loyd couldn’t find her shot in her Aces debut, netting just five points on 2-for-11 shooting.

Here are highlights and game recap from the WNBA opener for the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces:

New York Liberty vs. Las Vegas Aces: WNBA highlights

New York Liberty down Las Vegas Aces in WNBA season opener

The Liberty stepped things up in the fourth quarter, holding off any chance of an Aces comeback in a 92-78 win at the Barclays Center.

A 29-point final quarter against a team as talented as Las Vegas is as impressive as it sounds, with Breanna Stewart and Natasha Cloud (in her Liberty debut) the standouts. Stewart put up 25 points on 10-for-14 shooting, missing a double-double by a single rebound. Cloud, meanwhile, had 22 points, eight assists, and six rebounds, winning over New York fans in her first game since signing with the team this offseason.

Las Vegas saw A’ja Wilson put on a show, with the center scoring 31 points and a game-best 16 rebounds. However, the rest of the Aces struggled to find their shot, with Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray combining to make just nine of 31 field goal attempts.

Liberty 63, Aces 58 after third quarter

The Aces have picked it up, and as expected this has become an intensely competitive game between two of the WNBA’s top teams. New York leads by five, with Breanna Stewart’s 19 leading the way. However, A’ja Wilson leads all scorers with 24, and it seems like the defending champs don’t really have an answer for the Las Vegas center.

WNBA: Liberty take commanding 47-33 lead over Aces into halftime

The New York Liberty put together an outstanding second quarter, outscoring the Las Vegas Aces 28-13 to take a 14-point lead into the locker room. It could have been worse for the Aces, only for Breanna Stewart’s potential buzzer-beater three being ruled out on replay as the half came to a close.

Stewart leads the Liberty with 13 points, while Natasha Cloud (10 points, three assists) is showing out in her first game since joining the team this offseason. For Las Vegas, A’ja Wilson’s 13 points have been a bright spot, but the Liberty have dominated on the glass to take charge of the game.

WNBA: Aces lead Liberty 20-19 after one quarter

With A’ja Wilson in dominant form, Las Vegas holds a 20-19 lead at the end of the first quarter. The 2024 MVP already has 11 points in this one, along with four rebounds.

A more balanced Liberty have gotten points from all over, with Nyara Sabally leading the team with six despite playing just three minutes off the bench.

Aces vs. Liberty: WNBA game underway

The Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty have tipped off at Barclays Center, with both teams officially off and running in the 2025 WNBA season.

What time is Aces vs. Liberty?

The Las Vegas Aces vs. New York Liberty game will tip off at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 17 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

How to watch Aces vs. Liberty: TV, stream

Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York
TV: ABC
Stream: Fubo, ESPN+

Stream Aces vs. Liberty with Fubo

The cracks in the foundation are harder to see in the glow of an NBA championship.

Eleven months ago, the Boston Celtics won the title and were immediately listed as favorites to repeat with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jru Holiday, Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Payton Pritchard returning.

The title, a league-best No. 18, capped an eight-year run that included six Eastern Conference finals appearances and two trips to the NBA Finals. With the players coming back, Brad Stevens running the front office and Joe Mazzulla coaching, it was easy to think more, more, more.

Yet, situations change quickly as is becoming custom in today’s NBA. As the league calendar turned on July 1, 2024, the Celtics ownership group announced plans to sell the storied franchise, and the team’s payroll and luxury taxes for the 2025-26 season – approximately half a billion dollars – began seeping into conversations about the Celtics’ future.

Ownership announced in March it reached a deal to sell the team for a record $6 billion valuation to a group led by William Chisholm. Two months later, Tatum ruptured his right Achilles in Game 4 in this year’s Eastern Conference semifinals series against the New York Knicks, sidelining him for about a year.

After the Knicks eliminated the Celtics 119-81 in Game 6 on Friday night, Boston’s future is murkier and the prospect of returning the same roster and paying $500 million in roster salary and luxury taxes for a team that won’t have Tatum for about a year becomes problematic.

Could the Celtics, one of the NBA’s premier franchises, start to unload salary this offseason in ways that once again reshape the league and alter the power dynamic?

With Boston’s playoff exit, it guarantees the NBA will have a different champion for the seventh consecutive season. That has given playoff-caliber teams optimism that with the right move or two, they can capitalize on a Finals window.

If you’re one of those teams, you look at Boston’s roster and see players like Brown, White, Holiday and Porzingis who can help a team to the next level.

Brown is in the second season of a five-year, $285 million contract; Holiday is in the first year of a four-year, $134 million contract (he has a player option for 2027-28); Porzingis has one more season remaining on his contract; and White’s four-year, $118 million extension begins next season.

To express the enormity of the financial situation, Tatum’s five-year, $313.9 million extension starts next season and will pay him $71.4 million in 2029-30. Chatter among executives at the draft combine in Chicago this week zeroed in on Holiday’s availability.

Even deep-pocketed franchises that are worth $6 billion have financial limits. Team-building and roster construction require a fresh approach. Adding star upon star and dollar on top of dollar aren’t viable options.

It illustrates the turbulent nature of today’s NBA – a byproduct of the 2023 collective-bargaining agreement that aimed to “ensure that every team was in a position to compete for championships and had the resources available to do so,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in July.

He later added: “What the fans want to see is great competition. And for fans of whatever team they’re rooting for, they want to believe that their team, regardless of the size of the market or the depth of the pockets of ownership, are in a position to compete in the same way the 29 other teams are.

“So from my standpoint, as long as teams are emerging through strong management, great players, great chemistry, through great coaches and great management of the organization, let the results happen however they play out. I don’t have a predetermined view.

“I do think, though, the fact that we’ve had six different champions over the last six years does speak to the system. It does suggest that through successive collective-bargaining agreements, through changes in our revenue-sharing programs and other things we are able to control at the league, statistically the league has become more competitive over time.”

And the Celtics, one of the league’s storied franchises, are discovering exactly what that means.

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt

The New York Knicks dominated Game 6 against the Boston Celtics, avoided the pressure of a Game 7 on the road and reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years.

The Knicks eliminated the Celtics 119-81 in Game 6 on Friday night.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Knicks with 21 points and 12 rebounds, Jalen Brunson had 23 points, six assists and six rebounds and Josh Hart recorded a 10-points, 11-assists, 11-rebounds triple-double in a game filled with statistical oddities.

The third-seeded Knicks will play the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers in the conference finals – the Knicks haven’t been to the NBA Finals since 1999 and the Pacers haven’t been since 2000.

Game 1 is Wednesday in New York (8 p.m. ET, TNT).

Let’s take a look at some of the wild stats and numbers surrounding Game 6:

Wild stats from Game 6 of Celtics vs. Knicks

This Knicks reached the conference finals for the first time since 2000. Entering the game, they had the league’s third-longest streak of not making it to conference finals – behind Charlotte (never have been) and Washington (1979 was the last time the Wizards made it that far).

Brunson was just 3 years old the last time the Knicks got this far, and his dad, Knicks assistant coach Rick Brunson, was on that 2000 team.

The quirky X feed called NBA Scorigami noted that the 119-81 result was the 3,168th unique score in NBA history and the 23rd this season.

The Celtics trailed by 41 points – 92- 51 – late in the third quarter, and they had not trailed by more than 12 points in a game during this season’s playoffs until Friday.
The Celtics had lost just three games this season by 20 or more points – the largest margin of defeat was 21 points.
The margin equaled the third-largest points differential defeat in Celtics playoff history.
Boston scored 37 points in the first half which was a season-low, and the 20 first-quarter points and 17 second-quarter points were also season lows in a first and second quarter for the Celtics this season.
New York’s 64 first-half points were the most the Celtics allowed in the first half this season – eclipsing the 59 the Knicks scored in Game 5.
New York’s 27-point halftime lead matched the largest lead after two quarters in Knicks playoff history.
Hart became the the first Knick to register a triple-double in a playoff game since Walt Frazier in 1972. Frazier, a Knicks TV analyst, was sitting courtside to watch Hart’s accomplishment. He’s just the third player in franchise history to have a playoff triple-double (Frazier, Dick McGuire).
This is the ninth time the Knicks and Pacers have met in the playoffs with the Pacers winning five of the series. They met six times from 1993-2000, creating one of the era’s best, most intense rivalries.

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt