The Southeastern Conference has fined Texas A&M football $50,000 for violating the NCAA’s policy on faking injuries in a contest.

According to a Tuesday, Oct. 21 news release, the National Coordinator of Football Officiating reviewed game video from the Aggies’ 45-42 win over Arkansas on Saturday, Oct. 18 and deemed the Aggies to have violated the NCAA’s playing rule governing feigned injuries.

The penalty in question came at the 12:55 mark of the fourth quarter after Texas A&M defensive back Tyreek Chappell went down ‘to the ground, creating the appearance of an injury’ after the Arkansas offense had snapped the ball. Video showed that a Texas A&M staff member was seen ‘signaling demonstratively’ at Chappell to the ground and that Chappell was not involved in any contact during the play. He returned to the game two plays later.

The National Coordinator for Football Officiating determined that the action by Chappell and the instruction of the staff member, was ‘a clear attempt to gain an unmerited advantage by stopping the game to be awarded an injury timeout.’

‘We respect the SEC’s decision and understand the importance of upholding the integrity of the game. While we accept the ruling, we do not agree with the decision and want to be clear that we never coach or instruct our players to feign injury,’ Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said in a statement. ‘Texas A&M football remains firmly committed to the highest standards of sportsmanship, competitiveness, and integrity.

‘We’ll use this as an opportunity to review our processes and ensure we continue to represent our great university and the SEC with class and accountability.’

If Texas A&M is found to violate the policy again, the Aggies will be fined $100,000 and any further violations will result in the suspension of Elko for the next game. Texas A&M stays on the road in Week 9 and travels to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff at Tiger Stadium against No. 19 LSU.

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There was no motivational speaker, and no catchy slogan, to help frame the Oklahoma City Thunder’s quest to repeat as NBA champions as they began this preseason.

“They’re not bringing in David Goggins,” Chet Holmgren explained, and then he began to give the broad strokes of how the second-youngest team in league history to win an NBA title is approaching the task of becoming the first team to win back-to-back NBA titles since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.  

There have been ‘team film sessions and team addresses, I guess you could say,” Holmgren told USA TODAY Sports before a Thunder preseason game against the Bucks last week in Milwaukee, but that isn’t much different than how the Thunder operated in years past. The themes are new, however.

They’re not centered on the singular goal of winning a title like Oklahoma City just accomplished by beating the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. They instead focus on what happened to the NBA teams that didn’t experience another celebration the next year, and how to avoid that fate.

“I just think we have a lot of realists on the team,” Holmgren said. “We understand we did something special last season, but we also understand that’s last season and it doesn’t do anything for us this season. If anything, it makes this season harder because you have that title next to your name and everyone’s kind of measuring themselves up to that, so they’re gunning for you.”

OKC Thunder: ‘Most promising core’ and massive payday

These are uncharted waters for the Thunder, who will go through their NBA championship ring ceremony and face the Houston Rockets on Tuesday, Oct. 21, as part of the NBA’s opening night of the 2025-26 season. They will be the decided title favorites with a roster that’s the envy of the entire league. The Thunder were just named the ‘most promising young core’ in the league in the NBA’s annual GM survey for the third year in a row.

Their rapid and remarkable rebuild is complete, with an array of intriguing young role players and future first-round draft picks still available to trade if they want to make more moves.

Their star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has his own signature shoe line, and made recent appearances on ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’ and the cover of GQ Magazine after joining Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal as the fourth player in NBA history to win league MVP, NBA Finals MVP and the scoring title in the same season.

Their front office, meanwhile, is doling out money like never before to ensure the core of the Thunder’s first championship team can stay together for the foreseeable future.

Gilgeous-Alexander signed a 4-year, $285-million max extension in July. Five days later, All-Star sidekick Jalen Williams signed his own 5-year max rookie extension that could be worth as much as $287 million. Holmgren also agreed to a five-year extension worth nearly $240 million on the same day. Those new deals are in addition to giving Alex Caruso a 4-year, $81-million contract extension last December after acquiring him via trade. The Thunder also signed center Isaiah Hartenstein to a 3-year, $87 million contract via free agency before last season.

The implication is clear as other teams adjust to major injuries and the financial sticking points of the NBA’s more restrictive collective bargaining agreement. As Gilgeous-Alexander put it simply at the Thunder’s media day last month: ‘It would suck to lose the NBA championship in 2026.’

‘It’s definitely not going to get stale, but we also have to understand that if we want to be successful we have to play for more than things that happened this summer,’ Holmgren added. ‘Winning a championship, obviously signing an extension and being able to take care of your family, it’s extremely important. But if that’s all you’re playing for, you’re not going to be very successful beyond that. We have to understand that not everyone has gotten that and we have to play for each other and when everybody’s successful, everybody gets rewarded. You have to have a level of selflessness knowing that everybody is trying to maximize their window.’

Why some NBA champions don’t go back-to-back

League history suggests those plans can easily go awry. There have been 13 teams to win back-to-back NBA championships since 1947, with the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls the only organizations to have achieved the feat multiple times.

This is now the longest gap between repeat NBA champions since the league went 19 years between the end of the Celtics’ dominating run with Bill Russell through the 1960s and the back-to-back NBA championships won by Magic Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar and the Lakers in 1987 and 1988. The reasons vary.

The Celtics lost Jayson Tatum to injury last season during their title defense. The Denver Nuggets lost key depth from their 2023 NBA championship squad, and, as it turned out, were in the midst of internal turmoil that eventually led to the firing of both General Manager Calvin Booth and coach Michael Malone at the end of last season. Golden State hasn’t finished better than sixth in the Western Conference standings since winning the 2022 NBA title and couldn’t pull off a repeat in 2016 despite winning a league-record 73 games in the regular season. 

The Milwaukee Bucks blew a 3-2 series lead to the Celtics without Khris Middleton in the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals after winning it all in 2021. The Lakers, featuring Caruso, won the NBA championship in the bubble in 2020 only to lose in the first round the next year as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference after LeBron James and Anthony Davis missed significant regular-season action due to injury. The Toronto Raptors watched star Kawhi Leonard leave via free agency after winning the 2019 NBA Finals. 

The San Antonio Spurs, with former coach Gregg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, never had back-to-back titles among their five championship runs. All-time greats like Larry Bird, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain never repeated as champions, either.

The 1977 Portland Trail Blazers, the only team younger than the 2024-25 Thunder to win an NBA championship, are also a cautionary tale. Portland won 50 of its first 60 games the next season, but lost to the eventual champion Seattle SuperSonics in the playoffs after league MVP Bill Walton suffered a foot injury that altered the rest of his playing career.

“There’s some things that you have to learn through the fire,” Caruso said. “We got a little taste of it towards the end of last season when people started playing better than their records indicated or better than their percentages shooting-wise. That’s probably the biggest thing. Being ready for the unexpected.”

This is perhaps why Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault keeps mentioning how pleased he is that the entire team showed up to training camp in shape this year. He doesn’t want the internal dynamics and principles that got the Thunder to this place to change even in the face of a different set of circumstances and challenges. ‘That’s served us well,’ Daigneault emphasized. ‘It creates a level of familiarity for everybody.’

There’s an awareness of how hard the Thunder’s mixture of stars, depth and chemistry is to replicate, and how easy it can be to lose in the NBA.

Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers remembers calling Michael Jordan to pick his brain on how to repeat after Rivers led the Celtics to an NBA championship in 2008. Jordan, as Rivers recalled last week before facing the Thunder during a preseason game, responded with some ‘colorful’ words of wisdom that also strike at the very reason why Oklahoma City is as well positioned as it is moving forward.

‘It’s getting your role players to be role players again,’ Jordan told Rivers.

‘They’ve been on the road with the freaking trophy, having freaking parades all summer, and now you’ve got to get them back playing the role they did,’ Rivers said. ‘The Thunder last year, when you think about all the young guys and yet they had young guys who have bought into the roses, it’s pretty amazing what Mark has done there.’

Now, they just have to do it all over again.

George Springer’s three-run homer in Game 7 of the ALCS sent the Blue Jays to the World Series.
Springer’s home run was his 23rd in the postseason, third on the all-time list.
The 36-year-old signed a $150 million deal with the Blue Jays before the 2021 season.

TORONTO – The sea of humanity was closing in on Jeff Hoffman, a dizzying flood of white jerseys converging near the Rogers Centre mound, but one Toronto Blue Jay kicked it into high gear and broke from the pack.

George Springer, bad right knee and all, 36 years old, been there, won that, made a beeline from the dugout to his closer in the seconds after the Toronto Blue Jays returned to the World Series for the first time since 1993 with a pulsating 4-3 comeback win over the Seattle Mariners in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.

“I probably ran as fast as I could in the moment,” says Springer.

“I wanted to be out there with the boys.”

Yet every Blue Jay on that field knows their season would be over without Springer.

His three-run home run with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning turned a 3-1 deficit into Great White North nirvana, another stunning bullet point in one of the greatest postseason résumés in baseball history.

It was Springer’s 23rd career playoff homer, now tied with Kyle Schwarber for third on the all-time list, and it was a paradox:

Stunning, but also what the game has come to expect from a guy playing in his fifth Game 7, who could convince the most cold-hearted quant that the clutch gene exists.

“This is the George Springer I’ve always known,” says Blue Jays right-hander Chris Bassitt, who pitched a perfect eighth inning after Springer’s shot off Eduard Bazardo staked them to their first lead of the night. “Who I’ve played against. He’s an MVP-caliber player and a lot of people wrote him off.

“We didn’t write him off. We trusted him. And damn, it feels good.”

It is a feeling that will endure at least until Friday, Oct. 24, when the Blue Jays welcome the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to Rogers Centre for their first Fall Classic appearance since Joe Carter touched ‘em all and completed back-to-back titles in 1992 and ’93.

Oh, the Dodgers know Springer.

He bombarded them in the 2017 World Series, hitting five home runs – including two in a crazy Game 2 win at Dodger Stadium – and banging out 11 hits to win MVP honors.

Yet that seems like a baseball lifetime ago. Springer’s good name was sullied when those Astros champions’ sign-stealing scheme was unearthed. Springer and Co. were booed mercilessly at every road stop, even as they dispersed to different teams.

Fans’ memories are long. Yet Springer’s October greatness has outlasted them all.

So long that Blue Jays postseason hero Trey Yesavage was an eighth-grader when Springer won World Series MVP honors.

Now, Yesavage is the Blue Jays’ No. 2 playoff starter who counts Springer as both teammate and inspiration.

“I’ve learned to never give up,” says Yesavage. “People hate him, people cheer when he gets hurt, he’s been banged up, able to come out here and do everything for this team.

“He’s a special player and I’m so blessed to be his teammate.”

Doing it for the culture

In a sense, he has been the glue that fuses these Blue Jays together. Legacy superstars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – the ALCS MVP – and Bo Bichette were seen as the cornerstones of the club when they debuted in 2019.

Yet it wasn’t until Springer signed a six-year, $150 million contract before the 2021 season that the Blue Jays truly began to cook. They made the playoffs in ’22 and ’23 but missed them in ’24 as Springer had the worst season of his career.

And then what?

He bounced back with 32 home runs and a .959 OPS.

After Game 7, three generations of Springers were bouncing about the Rogers Centre turf. Springer’s children are four and two years old now, seasoned enough to appreciate their dad is doing something special.

This home run came three days after he took a 95-mph pitch off the knee, driving him from Game 5 early. He was back for Game 6 but looked greatly compromised and in pain in his fifth plate appearance.

In Game 7, he walked and scored a run in the first but then bounced to third and struck out. The Mariners seized a 3-1 lead. The Mariners’ win probability looked as likely as January snow in Ontario.

Yet the Mariners cracked the door open with questionable managerial solutions and there was Springer, second and third, one out, seventh inning, down 3-1.

In the Blue Jays dugout, manager John Schneider and hitting coach David Popkins engaged in their usual rally ritual – Schneider would take a seat, rather than hang on the rail, a practice that goes back to Opening Day and continued as the Blue Jays posted the most comeback wins in the majors.

“I was sitting next to Pop and he said, ‘It’s really good we have a lot of practice at this.’”

In the clubhouse, Kevin Gausman was done with his one-inning relief stint when a teammate looked at the TV and said, ‘Here’s your moment, George.”

And then, history. Again.

‘Had to get myself in check’

Springer swung and sent the ball on a high arc to left field. Rogers Centre rumbled, and the ball sailed over left fielder Randy Arozarena’s head. In the bullpen, Hoffman was milling about, assuming that if he’d get in the game, it’d be in a losing situation.

And the ball traveled right over his head, into the first row of seats.  

Above the playing surface, Springer’s father, George Springer Jr., had to sprint up the aisle and out of the seating bowl to get his breathing right.

“I had to take a moment and leave and go up to the concourse and get myself in check,” he says. “Because I was very emotional to see that happen and understand in that moment what it meant.

 “You never get used to this. It’s nuts. It’s wild. It’s incredible. He’s 36 years old. A lot of players at this stage of their careers are done playing. Not only is he playing, he had the best regular season of his entire career.

“Now he has the opportunity in the postseason to experience this once again? I’m just so happy for him. He’s so deserving of this honor.

“And that’s what it is: A privilege and an honor.”

It was the first Game 7 go-ahead homer when a team was trailing by multiple runs, according to Major League Baseball. Schneider saw it was a mismatch.

“Georgie has an uncanny ability to navigate situations that not many people have been in,” he says, “to slow down the moment and understand. I think when there’s a guy that hasn’t been in that situation going up against a guy that has been, I’m always gonna take the over on the guy that has been there.

“I’ve heard Georgie articulate how he navigates at-bats and can back guys into corners based on what he swings at and what he doesn’t. Pretty cool.”

And now, Springer has a chance at a second World Series title. He’ll bring with him an .883 career postseason OPS and a knack for showing his teammates the way.

“He’s showing it again now, in a different city, a different market, and he’s the same guy,” says Hoffman. “To me, it tells me he’s one of the best to do it in the postseason all time.

“And I’m glad he’s on our side.”

The La Liga match between Barcelona and Villarreal that was scheduled to be played in the United States has been canceled, the league and game promoter announced on Tuesday, Oct. 21.

La Liga players and coaches strongly opposed the Dec. 20 match at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, protesting with 15-second pauses at the start of games in the last week.

Tickets for the match – destined to be the first La Liga match played outside of Spain – were slated to go on sale Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The decision has been made to cancel the organization of the event due to the uncertainty that has arisen in Spain over the past few weeks,” La Liga said in a statement.

La Liga added it “deeply regrets that this project, which represented a historic and unparalleled opportunity for the international expansion of Spanish soccer, will not be able to move forward.”

“The staging of an official match outside our borders would have been a decisive step in the global expansion of our competition, strengthening the international presence of clubs, the positioning of players and the Spanish football brand in a strategic market such as the United States.

“The project fully complied with federation regulations and did not affect the integrity of the competition, as confirmed by the competent institutions that oversee compliance, which opposed it for other reasons.

“In a context of increasing global competitiveness, where leagues such as the Premier League and competitions such as the UEFA Champions League continue to increase their reach and ability to generate resources, initiatives such as this are essential to ensure the sustainability and growth of Spanish football.

“Passing up such opportunities makes it difficult to generate new revenue, limits clubs’ ability to invest and compete, and reduces the international profile of the entire football ecosystem.”

Relevent Sports, which is owned by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, released a statement to USA TODAY Sports, saying the game would be postponed.

“Given the current uncertainty in Spain, there is insufficient time to properly execute an event of this scale. It would also be irresponsible to begin selling tickets without a confirmed match in place.”

The match was initially announced on Oct. 8, while the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFC) initiated a symbolic protest on Oct 17 “as a demand for the lack of transparency, dialogue and coherence of LALIGA, regarding the possibility of playing a competition match in the United States.”

Girona players initiated a pause for about 15 seconds after kickoff before beginning play against Barcelona on Saturday, Oct. 18. Oviedo and Espanyol players stood still in the first 15 seconds of their Friday, Oct. 17 match.

“The Spanish Footballers’ Association categorically rejects a project that does not have the approval of the main players in our sport, and demands that the employers’ association create a negotiating table in which all information is shared,” their organization said in a statement.

Real Madrid was also vocal in the discourse of the Miami match, saying in a team statement that the match would affect the competitive advantage.

La Liga clubs play home and away matches, and the Dec. 20 match would have been moved from Villareal’s home stadium.

La Liga confirmed the match will be played at Villareal’s Estadio de la Cerámica on Dec. 20. Barcelona will host Villareal on Feb. 28 or March 1.

The Miami Dolphins host the Cincinnati Bengals at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday Night Football on Dec. 21 at 8:20 p.m. ET.

Colorado football coach Deion Sanders caught a turtle while fishing in Texas and also visited Estes Park, Colorado, last week to see elk. But now it’s back to work for the Buffaloes after a bye weekend last week.

Sanders’ team is 3-4 with a game coming up at Utah on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 10:15 p.m. ET. A little time away still seemed to boost his mood Tuesday at his weekly news conference in Boulder. He discussed his encounters with wildlife in two states.

“I went to Texas,” Sanders said of his bye week. “I enjoyed myself. Fished like crazy. I caught a turtle one time about a foot. I don’t know how that happened. But he’s no longer with us. It was a big turtle. He’s no longer with us.”

Deion Sanders visited Estes Park

Sanders also visited Estes Park last week, about 37 miles northwest of Boulder. But he said he couldn’t shop there because he feared he’d attract a crowd.

“You know, I couldn’t get out of the car because of, you know, the prominence that God afforded me, because I want to get out and walk the streets and, you know, do a little Estes shopping,” Sanders said. “But I’ve seen all the, you know, what you call those big things? The moose, elks? What’s an elk? What’s a moose?”

When told a moose is bigger, Sanders indicated he was in surroundings he wasn’t familiar with and he didn’t want to create any national news on his visit.

“You gotta, you know, I’m Black, okay?” Sanders said. “I don’t know elk, moose, deer. Like, they all, like family to me. But I saw a lot of big animals around Estes, and I’m not used to that. So it was it was great. And some deer tried to cut across the front of the car and (I) definitely wasn’t going to hit them. You know, this is all I needed, a brother hitting a deer in Estes. Hey, no, not gonna happen.”

Sanders, 58, also has snowmobiled in Colorado previously but appears to be hesitant about skiing.

“Those are things that Black folks don’t do,” Sanders said about skiing. “I went to the lift line and just to look. I didn’t see us represented there… Oh, Lord, help me today. I don’t know why I’m in a silly mood today.”

Now it gets serious again.

Deion Sanders has struggled in road night games

Colorado will face a Utes team that is 5-2 after suffering a 24-21 loss at BYU last week. Utah is a 13.5-point favorite over the Buffaloes, according to BetMGM. And it’s not exactly an ideal environment or matchup for Colorado, which is 0-6 at Utah since 2011.

The Buffs also have struggled in night games under Sanders. They are 6-11 in games starting at 7:30 p.m. ET or later since 2023, including 1-6 in those night games away from home.

To beat the Utes, Colorado will have to counter a Utah offense that ranks first nationally in third-down conversions (57.6%) and sixth nationally in rushing offense (245 yards per game).  But starting quarterback Devon Dampier appeared to get injured last week against BYU, raising the possibility that freshman quarterback Byrd Ficklin will play instead.

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

It’s the start of a new era for watching the NBA on screens across the country.

NBA games will be available nationally in more places and on more days than ever before when the 2025-26 season begins this week, as $76 billion of new media rights deals go into effect. TNT is out, Amazon is in and NBC is back. ESPN/ABC returns but with rights to the signature NBA studio show they’ve struggled to recreate on their own over two decades of broadcasting games.

‘Inside the NBA,’ featuring TNT’s award-winning pregame, halftime and postgame ensemble of Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O’Neal and Ernie Johnson, is back with the same cast and will air on ABC and ESPN, beginning with ESPN’s first national broadcasts of the regular season this week. After months of speculation about the future format of the show, the network announced ‘Inside the NBA’ will air on 20 days during the 2025-26 regular season and serve as a pregame, halftime and postgame show around high-profile games broadcast on ESPN and ABC.

Here’s more details on the return of ‘Inside the NBA’ this season, including when it starts airing on ESPN, how to watch and the format the show is adopting now partnered with a new network:

When does ‘Inside the NBA’ start?

‘Inside the NBA’ is scheduled to air on ESPN or ABC at least 20 days during the 2025-26 NBA regular season, beginning with ESPN’s first doubleheader of games on Wednesday, Oct. 22 in which the New York Knicks play the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs face the Dallas Mavericks.

Johnson, Barkley, Smith and O’Neal will serve as a pregame, halftime and postgame show for the NBA games broadcast by ABC or ESPN on the days their show airs, including another ESPN doubleheader on Thursday, Oct. 23 with an NBA Finals rematch between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers before the Golden State Warriors host the Denver Nuggets.

ESPN’s pregame coverage on Wednesday is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET before the Knicks vs. Cavaliers tip off. ESPN currently lists the postgame start of ‘Inside the NBA’ as 12:05 a.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 24 following Spurs vs. Mavericks.

Watch live NBA games with Fubo

‘Inside the NBA’ regular season schedule

‘Inside the NBA’ will air irregularly during the early portion of the NBA schedule, with three broadcasts during the first week of action, and then just one more scheduled appearance before Christmas Day. Barkley and company will be part of the network’s holiday showcase games.

There is only one announced episode after March 14 due to Barkley, Smith and Johnson being involved with Turner Sports’ March Madness coverage. But the show is slated to air on ESPN and ABC throughout the NBA playoffs, including the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals, with dates to be announced later in the season. Here’s the full regular-season schedule:

Wednesday, Oct. 22
Thursday, Oct. 23
Wednesday, Oct. 29
Wednesday, Nov. 12
Thursday, Dec. 25
Saturday, Jan. 24
Wednesday, Jan. 28
Saturday, Jan. 31
Saturday, Feb. 7
Friday, Feb. 20
Saturday, Feb. 21
Sunday, Feb. 22
Friday, Feb. 27
Saturday, Feb. 28
Sunday, March 1
Friday, March 6
Saturday, March 7
Sunday, March 8
Saturday, March 14
Sunday, April 12

‘Inside the NBA’ format on ESPN, ABC

‘Inside the NBA’ pregame shows on ESPN will begin one hour before tipoff, with postgame shows starting immediately after the game ends. Pregame shows on ABC will begin 30 minutes prior to tipoff. Saturday prime-time games on ABC will also have a postgame show starting immediately after the game ends that will continue on the ESPN app. ‘Inside the NBA’ is also the pregame show for the NBA Sunday Showcase series on ABC.

‘We’re proud that ‘Inside the NBA’ – one of the most iconic and beloved shows in all of media – will play a leading role in our NBA coverage,’ ESPN president of content Burke Magnus said in a statement on Oct. 9. ‘Fans should expect the same great show they’re accustomed to watching as it becomes an essential part of the highest-profile events in the NBA, including the NBA Finals.’

The show will still be produced by TNT from Atlanta during the regular season. Disney, which owns ABC and ESPN, agreed to a sub-licensing deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT, as part of a settlement when Warner Bros. Discovery sued the NBA in August 2024 after its offer for one of the league’s new 11-year media rights deal was not accepted.

Among modern-day NBA rivalries, few come close to the spectacle that comes with Steph Curry vs. LeBron James. Since their years going head-to-head in the NBA Finals, the pair have had several more showdowns once James relocated to Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, James, who is dealing with a sciatica issue, will miss this contest, the first opening night he’s missed in his entire career. But that doesn’t mean this opening night will be any less enthralling though. With the game-changing acquisition of Luka Dončić last season, the Los Angeles Lakers secured their future, and we’ll get a glimpse of that future tonight.

That said, the first full season of the Dončić era in L.A. could get off to a rocky start. The Golden State Warriors were one of the best teams in the league after acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat at the trade deadline a season ago, boasting a 23-7 record to finish the regular season. When these Warriors are healthy, they’re one of the most dangerous teams in the league.

USA TODAY Sports will have full coverage of the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors on NBA opening night. Here is everything you need to know to follow along.

What time does Warriors vs. Lakers game start?

The 2025-26 NBA season opener between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. local) in Los Angeles.

What TV channel is broadcasting Warriors vs. Lakers?

NBC will televise the game between the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, the second game of an opening night doubleheader.

Stream Warriors vs. Lakers on Fubo

How to watch and stream Warriors vs. Lakers

Date: Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025
Time: 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT)
Location: Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles
TV: NBC
Stream: Fubo, Peacock

Warriors vs. Lakers latest line, odds

All odds via BetMGM as of Monday, Oct. 20.

Spread: Warriors (-2.5)
Moneyline: Warriors (-140); Lakers (+115)
Over/Under: 225.5

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the team will not force a trade ahead of the 2025 deadline.
Jones clarified any potential trade must make sense for the team’s roster and financial plans.
Despite a better-than-expected start, Jones said the team’s performance won’t dictate their trade strategy.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones implied shortly after trading Micah Parsons his team could use the assets acquired in that deal to trade for another immediate impact player.

But as the 2025 NFL trade deadline draws nearer, the 83-year-old clarified the Cowboys wouldn’t force a deal just for the sake of making one.

‘If there were a trade, it will be because it fits us,’ Jones said in a Tuesday, Oct. 21 appearance on 105.3 The Fan. ‘And to fit, it’s got to be a reason why the player would leave that we’re interested in going forward with, and it would have to fit us in terms of our plans on our roster, the financial and everything that goes with that.’

Jones’ comments come with the Cowboys off to a better-than-expected 3-3-1 start to the 2025 NFL season. Many anticipated the team would decline precipitously following the Parsons trade, but a stellar early-season showing from Dak Prescott and Dallas’ offense has the team firmly planted in the NFC wild-card picture.

That has led to rumors the Cowboys might be interested in adding talent to a defense that ranks 29th in defensive EPA per play while allowing the third-most points per game (29.4) through Week 7.

But Jones remained adamant that while the Cowboys will assess any and all possible deals, they would not let their current performance too much dictate their strategy on the trade market.

‘Just because we played well, all of a sudden everybody thinks, boy, you’re in the hunt, so it’s time to go out and gather up all of this talent that’s waiting around out here on the trees to add to it now that we feel good that we can be more competitive,’ Jones said. ‘That’s not realistic.

‘What’s realistic is that if we do see an opportunity, we are in as good a shape as we’ve been in in years with (draft) picks, with financial, with our (salary) cap,’ he added. ‘We’re in as good of shape as we’ve ever been if we see a way to improve our team with a player that makes sense today, this year, next year to entertain it and look at it.’

Jones also refused to preclude the Cowboys from trading away another player, though he conceded it wasn’t likely to happen.

If the Cowboys do acquire a player ahead of the 2025 NFL trade deadline, it would mark the second consecutive season the team makes such a move. Dallas acquired then-second-year receiver Jonathan Mingo and a 2025 seventh-round pick before the 2024 deadline from the Carolina Panthers in exchange for fourth-round selection.

Mingo has played just eight games for the Cowboys and logged five receptions for 46 yards.