In a historic first, the NBA Finals is a battle of non-taxpayers
Yahoo Sports AM is our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it every weekday morning.
🚨 Headlines
⛳️ Scottie wins (again): Scottie Scheffler didn't win until his ninth event this year. After running away with the Memorial, he's now won three of his last four events and pocketed nearly $10 million in the past month.
Advertisement
⚾️ Down goes No. 1 (again): Two weeks after Texas A&M became the first No. 1 overall seed ever eliminated in softball regionals, Vanderbilt became the first No. 1 overall seed ever eliminated in baseball regionals.
⚽️ Celebration turns ugly: The excitement following PSG's Champions League victory was marred as celebrations across France devolved into chaos, leaving two fans dead, nearly 200 more injured and 300 arrested.
🏀 Zion faces lawsuit: Zion Williamson has been accused of rape and abuse in a civil lawsuit filed by a woman claiming to be his former girlfriend. The Pelicans forward has denied the allegations.
🏁 McLaren can't lose: Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris went 1-2 at the Spanish Grand Prix, giving McLaren seven wins (and 16 podiums) through nine F1 races this season.
🏀 NBA Finals: No taxpayers
(Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports)
Oklahoma City and Indiana will meet in the 2025 NBA Finals, which will be the first in the luxury tax era (2003-present) to feature two teams that weren't taxpayers.
Advertisement
Last two standing: 11 teams exceeded the tax threshold of $170.8 million this season, and eight of those taxpayers made the playoffs (Timberwolves, Celtics, Knicks, Lakers, Nuggets, Bucks, Warriors, Heat). But the last two teams standing are the Thunder, who ranked 25th in payroll ($165.6 million), and the Pacers, who ranked 18th ($168.2 million).
Contract breakdown: OKC and Indiana share fairly similar balance sheets, with mega deals for their point guards and veteran big men. The rest of their rosters are filled out with reasonably-paid veterans and rookie contracts. The 2024-25 salaries for both starting fives:
Thunder: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($35.9M), Isaiah Hartenstein ($30M), Luguentz Dort ($16.5M), Chet Holmgren ($10.9M), Jalen Williams ($4.8M)
Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton ($42.2M), Pascal Siakam ($42.2M), Myles Turner ($19.9M), Aaron Nesmith ($11M), Andrew Nembhard ($2M)
Exclusive club: This year's champion will join the 2006 Heat, 2014 Spurs, 2015 Warriors, 2017 Warriors and 2020 Lakers as the only non-taxpayers to win a title while the luxury tax was in effect, per Spotrac's Keith Smith.
Notes:
Advertisement
Finals preview: What to know about this unexpected matchup (Ben Rohrbach/Yahoo Sports)
📸 The world in photos
()
🇺🇸 Erin, Wisconsin — Sweden's Maja Stark fended off world No. 1 Nelly Korda to win the U.S. Women's Open by two strokes for her first major title and a record-tying $2.4 million prize. Not bad for someone who'd earned less than $131,000 on tour so far this season.
Tiafoe celebrates his fourth-round victory. ()
🇫🇷 Paris — No. 15 Frances Tiafoe and No. 12 Tommy Paul became the first American men to reach the French Open quarterfinals since Andre Agassi in 2003. As many as three American women could join them.
Pope Leo XIV greets Yates and other cyclists before their ride through Vatican City. (Francesco Sforza via)
🇮🇹 Vatican City — Simon Yates won the Giro d'Italia after erasing an 81-second deficit on the final mountain stage. The 2018 Vuelta a España champion joins Chris Froome as the only Brits to win multiple Grand Tours.
⚾️ Boswell: Baseball is pretty great right now
(Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Are we living through a golden age of baseball? In his latest column, longtime Washington Post scribe Thomas Boswell makes the case that MLB's on-field product is as good as it has ever been.
Advertisement
Here's Boz:
This year I've watched plenty of MLB games and enjoyed them — a lot. I find baseball just as well-paced, dramatic and aesthetically pleasing as the sport I first fell for long ago. This has surprised, pleased and confused me.
I'm one of those who, for years, has complained about two problems. First, games were too slow. Second, I agreed that the analytics era focus on "three true outcomes" — homers, walks and strikeouts, none of which involve defensive plays — subtracted athletic action. So why was I enjoying the game so much?
The answer: Thanks to the pitch clock, games aren't too slow anymore. And aside from the steady rise in strikeouts, the "three true outcomes" aren't all bad trends. In fact, statistics suggest today's brand of baseball is remarkably similar to the brand that was played during MLB's boom years from 1975-1994, a 20-year stretch that saw the league's popularity skyrocket and showed "what the sport looks like when it's healthy," writes Boswell.
Advertisement
1975-94: The average team scored 700 runs per 162 games, with 121 steals, 529 walks and an OPS of .713. The average game time was 2:43.
2024-25: The average team scores 709 runs per 162 games, with 122 steals, 506 walks and an OPS of .711. The average game time is 2:39.
The last word: "If we could love only perfect things, our days would be bleak. Baseball, as we find it today, is an opportunity to appreciate an imperfect thing and allow it to make us feel happy," writes Boswell. "MLB has warts. But I've never been happier to have an exciting crisp version of the old game for summer company."
Full column: Is baseball actually troubled, or is it as good as it has ever been?
⚽️ PSG finally conquer Europe
(Maja Hitij/UEFA via Getty Images)
PSG stormed past Inter Milan, 5-0, on Saturday night in Munich to win the club's first Champions League title after years of falling disappointingly short.
Advertisement
From Yahoo Sports' Henry Bushnell:
For a little over a decade, PSG was a controversial project and a collection of names. It was Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Beckham, then Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi. It was a club transformed by money and defined by unflinching ambition.
It was many things, but never the one thing it desperately wanted to be — until Saturday, when PSG, in its very first year without a megastar, became the European champion.
PSG manager Luis Enrique is hoisted into the air by his players. ()
Behind the scenes: To be clear, this was not some low-budget rebuild or underdog story. PSG spent $800 million over the last two years, more than any other club. The difference: Instead of splurging on all-world players, they invested in talented but not-yet-heralded youngsters who, sans ego, would heed the demands of manager Luis Enrique.
Advertisement
Enrique took charge in the summer of 2023 and set out to build a team-first culture at a club where stars had been "treated like gods," he explained. He wasn't afraid to lecture Mbappé (as seen here), and ultimately, wasn't afraid to lose him.
"I would like him to stay. He's the cornerstone of the team," Enrique said last year around the time Mbappé exited for Real Madrid. "But the moment he leaves, the team becomes the cornerstone. I think we can be even better next season."
Completing the treble: PSG are the ninth club to win domestic league, domestic cup and European Cup titles in the same season, joining Celtic (1966-67), Ajax (1971-72), PSV Eindhoven (1987-88), Manchester United (1998-99), Barcelona (2008-09; 2014-15), Inter Milan (2009-10), Bayern Munich (2012-13; 2019-20) and Manchester City (2022-23).
📺 Watchlist: Monday, June 2
The Red Raiders are in the WCWS semifinals for the first time. (Texas Tech Athletics)
🥎 Women's College World Series, Semifinals | ESPN
No. 6 Texas advances to the Final with a win over No. 7 Tennessee (12pm ET), while a loss would trigger a winner-take-all game at 2:30pm. No. 12 Texas Tech advances with a win over No. 2 Oklahoma (7pm); a winner-take-all game would be at 9:30pm if needed.
⚾️ NCAA Baseball Championship, Regionals | ESPN+
10 teams have already advanced to the Super Regionals. The final six spots will be determined in tonight's elimination games. If you can only watch one, make it No. 14 Tennessee vs. Wake Forest in Knoxville (6pm, ESPN2), as the defending champion Vols look to keep their hopes of a repeat alive.
🎾 French Open, Fourth Round | TNT, truTV, Max
No. 6 Novak Djokovic (7:55am), No. 7 Madison Keys vs. fellow American Hailey Baptiste (8:30am) and No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. No. 17 Andrey Rublev (2:15pm) headline the action.
🏀 NBA Finals trivia
Reggie Miller and Jalen Rose during the 2000 NBA Finals. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Pacers are back in the Finals for the first time since 2000, when their lone appearance on the NBA's grandest stage ended in a 4-0 sweep.
Advertisement
Question: Who swept them?
Hint: Their center won MVP that year.
Answer at the bottom.
⚾️ The perfect season
(August Frank/Lewiston Tribune via AP)
LSU Shreveport became the first college baseball team ever to finish a season undefeated, capping their 59-0 campaign on Friday with the school's first NAIA national championship in any sport.
By the numbers: The Pilots played only four one-run games and won eight games by 15+ runs. They led the nation in ERA (2.38) and fielding percentage (.982), ranked second in runs per game (11.3) and third in batting average (.361). Three players hit better than .400 and ace Isaac Rohde finished 16-0.
Advertisement
For comparison's sake: The NCAA's best single-season winning percentages are .914 by Arizona State (64-6 in 1972) in D-I, .939 by Savannah State (46-3 in 2000) in D-II and .978 by Trinity College (45-1 in 2008) in D-III.
Trivia answer: Lakers
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
38 minutes ago
- New York Times
Football's capacity to make men cry: ‘I was buying milk and just burst into tears thinking about Palace'
Forget the scoreline in the top corner of the screen. The image of the distraught Inter Milan supporter who flashed up on television screens around the world, as his team prepared to take a meaningless corner in the 76th minute, told the story of the Champions League final. Crestfallen and broken, his bottom lip was quivering and tears were streaming down his face. A fourth Paris Saint-Germain goal had not long been scored at the other end of the stadium and it was all too much for a man who looked like his world had come to an end. 'Imagine getting like that about football?' It's hard to explain to people who have no interest in the game why so many of us are so immersed and emotionally invested in this sport that it leads to the kind of behaviour — uncontrollable tears (of joy as well as despair), hugging total strangers, or even turning the air blue after something totally innocuous — that would be almost unthinkable in a public space anywhere else. Advertisement Football, essentially, is escapism; a place for us to forget about the trials and tribulations of everyday life and, for better or worse, completely lose ourselves. 'It's a cathartic experience,' Sally Baker, a senior therapist, says. 'Men are very rarely given permission to express their emotions. But within the context of football, they are — and no one's going to judge them. Everyone's in it together. 'They could swear — people use language at a football match that they never would use outside. It's a safe place and it's a unique environment for men to let off steam.' Those comments resonate on the back of something else that happened last Saturday night in Munich. With less than two minutes remaining, the television cameras showed PSG's assistant coach in tears in the technical area. His name is Rafel Pol Cabanellas and he lost his wife to a long-term illness in November last year. With or without a heartbreaking personal story, football's capacity to stir the emotions is extraordinary. Carrying our hopes and fears, the game plays with our feelings in a way that few things in life can and, at the same time, provides a form of sanctuary. The video features crying. A lot of crying. It lasts for one minute and 24 seconds and was filmed at Wembley Stadium on the day of the FA Cup final. The referee's whistle had just blown after 10 minutes of stoppage time and Crystal Palace, after 164 years of waiting, had beaten Manchester City 1-0 to finally win the first major trophy in their history. Joao Castelo-Branco, ESPN Brazil's correspondent in the UK, had decided to leave his seat in the press box moments earlier to try to get some footage of the Palace supporters. To describe what follows as scenes of celebration doesn't come close. It's so much more than that. It's raw. It's magical. It's moving. It's genuinely heart-warming. It's football — that simple game that means nothing and everything — touching the soul. Advertisement 'It just captured something special,' Castelo-Branco says, smiling. So special that you find yourself watching it over and again, looking at the faces of the people — men and women, young and old — and thinking about all the stories they could tell you about how their lives became so entwined with Crystal Palace Football Club, as well as wondering why this moment means so much personally to them. 'When I was there, I was feeling, 'This is incredible, and I was just trying to hold it together',' Castelo-Branco says. 'There was so much going on that you don't know where to film. And I think sometimes then you see fans turning the camera everywhere really quickly. But I tried to hold on a bit, to rest at that couple, but then at the same time move on a bit to show that there were all these different characters that were celebrating. Everywhere I turned was a beautiful shot of emotion.' 'That couple' feature at the start of the footage, when a woman overcome with emotion falls into the arms of a man who looks like he has been following Palace for more years than he cares to remember. His eyes are filled with tears. Behind them, another supporter of a similar age stands alone with his arms aloft, totally overwhelmed by the moment. Some fans have their hands over their mouths in disbelief, almost frozen. Others are wiping away tears with their scarves. One man is hunched over, face down and sobbing. Another supporter — his father, perhaps — wraps his arms around him and the two of them end up singing together. People of all ages are crying everywhere you look — crying and smiling. 'It's beautiful,' Castelo-Branco adds. 'And a really special thing about it is that not many fans were filming (on their phones). People were really living that moment.' True raw emotion, fans really living the moment. As I joined in the stands to film this video, there were hardly any fans with their phones out. Grown men and women hugging and crying. Amazing atmosphere. #CrystalPalace beautiful ⚽️#Wembley #FACup — Joao Castelo-Branco (@j_castelobranco) May 18, 2025 Following Palace's triumph at Wembley, there were similar scenes a few days later in Bilbao, where Tottenham Hotspur beat Manchester United to win the Europa League. A couple of months earlier, it was Newcastle United's turn after they defeated Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final. But it doesn't have to be a long wait for a trophy that tips people over the edge at a football match. Gary Pickles remembers being in the away end at Brighton in 2019, when Manchester City were on the verge of winning their fourth Premier League title in eight seasons, holding up his phone, filming the fans all around him, and suddenly being stopped in his tracks. 'I noticed my son, Niall, had his hands on his head and tears were streaming down his face. We were winning the league. But he's really sobbing. I was like, 'What's up?' Whatever it was just triggered him. He was about 25 — it's not like a young kid doing it.' Pickles, who has been following Manchester City since the 1970s, makes an interesting point when we discuss whether his son's behaviour at Brighton is not as unusual as it would have been in the past. 'That video was just before Covid,' he says. 'But I think certainly since Covid, when there was a lot of talk about mental health issues, it's helped men to speak about that and maybe show their emotions.' Looking back provides a bit of context. In an article on the BBC website in 2004, under an image of the former England international Paul Gascoigne crying at the 1990 World Cup, a clinical psychologist talked about how 'a lot of men know more about how a car works than their own emotions'. Reading that quote again now, a couple of decades later, makes you realise how much life has changed – and in a relatively short space of time too (either that or all my mates are especially useless when it comes to knowing how to change a tyre). 'I think men have moved on hugely,' Baker, the senior therapist, says. 'I guess the old stereotype is that if men and sports were going to exhibit any emotions, it was normally anger. And there were apocryphal stories of women living in dread of their menfolk coming back if their team had lost. But men are more willing, and able, to express a fuller range of emotions than just anger. Advertisement 'I think they've changed a lot in the last 20 years. And I know that by the number of men I see. It used to be one man for every nine women I saw. And now it's much more like I'll see two men for every three women, so it's coming up to parity. There's a willingness to explore their own sense of self, what drives them and who they are.' That's not to say that men never cried at football in years gone by. When this topic of conversation came up in the office, my colleague Amy Lawrence told a story about being in the away end at Anfield in 1989, when Michael Thomas scored a dramatic late goal to clinch the league title for Arsenal against Liverpool on the final day, and how she was nowhere near her friends when she eventually came up for air amid the chaotic celebrations that followed. 'I found myself next to a guy who looked like your absolute classic 1980s football hooligan,' she said. 'He was massive. He was a skinhead. He was covered in tattoos. He looked terrifying. But he had tears rolling down his cheeks and he was blubbing like a baby. I can still see his face today. It was beautiful because he was the last type of person that you would ever expect to break down emotionally at a match.' The same can't be said for young Ricky Allman, who was only 11 years old when Leeds United were on their way to being relegated from the Premier League in 2004. With his shirt off and 'Leeds Til I Die' written across his chest, Allman was heartbroken as the television cameras homed in on him in the away end at Bolton Wanderers. Leeds were losing 4-1 and it was all too much for him. 'My bottom lip came out. A full-on, uncontrollable lip,' Allman told The Athletic in 2020. His mother, Beverley, was watching at home. 'She rang me in tears, 'Are you alright?' she said. You've been on telly. They panned on the crowd and you were crying — I haven't stopped crying since.'' Plenty of Palace fans were saying the same thing for a week or more after beating Manchester City. In Kevin Day's case, the initial sense of shock eventually gave way to tears in, of all places, his local supermarket. Advertisement 'For the first minute (after the final whistle) I couldn't speak,' the writer, comedian and lifelong Palace fan says. 'Then I looked around me and I was the only one not in tears. It was incredible. Mates of mine who I've known for so long, stoic people, who normally wouldn't cry… they were just broken. 'I've never felt elation like it. My son came round at 9am the next morning. He's 29. He threw himself into my arms like he hasn't done since he was a five-year-old. He was sobbing. 'And then, Monday morning, I was in the Co-op buying a pint of milk and I just suddenly burst into tears. I just thought to myself, 'The last time I was in here we hadn't won the FA Cup'.' Thinking about those who are no longer with us and unable to share a landmark moment can often trigger our emotions at football, as was almost certainly the case with the PSG coach Rafel Pol Cabanellas in Munich. It could be the memories of a grandparent who introduced someone to a club in the first place or, for Day, of his late father, who was always at the end of the phone to discuss the Palace match afterwards. 'Everyone I spoke to on that Saturday evening had someone they wished they could have called,' he says. 'There must have been about three million Palace fans looking down from heaven. 'On a serious note, though, I do wonder whether all the posters put up in pubs in south London over the last five years, about how it's alright to talk, have actually had a positive impact and that this generation of men do think it's alright to show their emotions. Maybe that message is finally getting through. 'Or maybe it's just any group of men where something happens that they've waited 120 years for, finally happens. I don't know. 'But I'm starting to get goosebumps thinking about it all again now.' (Illustration: Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Manan Vatsyayana/AFP, Odd Andersen, Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Rockies go streaking with 2nd straight win over Marlins
The post Rockies go streaking with 2nd straight win over Marlins appeared first on ClutchPoints. The Colorado Rockies heard the noise. Everyone pointed and laughed when Colorado hit 50 losses before getting their tenth win. They heard everyone say that golfer Scottie Scheffler had as many wins as they did from May 2 to June 1. Remember when they had not won a series? Well, it's in the past now. The Rockies picked up win number 11 on Tuesday and took the series from the Miami Marlins. Rejoice, Denver sports fans. This is not only the Rockies' first series win of the season. It is their first winning streak of the season, at a whopping two games, and the first time they've beaten a team twice all year. It started on Monday when they beat the Marlins 6-4. Catcher Hunter Goodman, one of the lone bright spots so far, led the way with three RBIs. Advertisement Goodman came through again for the Rockies on Tuesday, hitting a game-winning homer in the eighth inning. Colorado pitching held on for a 3-2 win in which their bullpen threw six scoreless innings. Their 162-game pace moved from 24.7 to 29.2 with the two wins. While this does not exactly put them in the playoff race, it's good for the team to feel some sort of momentum. The Rockies were not trying to be good this year. Their one big contract, Kris Bryant, has been an unmitigated disaster. Their pitching is miserable, which is par for the course in Denver, and their young players are not blossoming. Still, they fired manager Bud Black after the dreadful start. The National League West is going to be a gauntlet, with four teams fighting for playoff appearances. That means the Rockies are going to be a punching bag all season long. If they can become a spunky team, maybe they'll win some games that change the outcome of the season. But until then, the 2024 White Sox better watch out. Their record of 121 losses in a season is in danger.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Rockies' Scottie Scheffler quip after ending 57-series sweep drought
The post Rockies' Scottie Scheffler quip after ending 57-series sweep drought appeared first on ClutchPoints. Can you believe it? The Colorado Rockies have swept the Miami Marlins for their first sweep in 57 different series. The drought is finally over. Advertisement Alongside the Chicago White Sox, the Rockies have been one of the worst teams in professional sports over the last two seasons. It won't be getting better over the next few years either. However, sweeping an opponent is a great feeling, and nobody can take that away from the players. Before the series started against the Marlins, a comparison tweet was made on X, showing that Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer in the World, had as many wins since May 2 as the Rockies did at three. Well, now that the Rockies swept the Marlins, they decided to respond humorously. Of course, it is all in good fun. The PGA only plays Thursday-Sunday, but Scheffler is coming off his third win of the season at The Memorial. Scheffler doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. His burst onto the scene has put him in conversations with Tiger Woods on multiple occasions. He has three career Major wins, including two at The Masters. The next Major is next week, and it will be the U.S. Open. Scheffler will aim to win that for the first time in his career. The Rockies are now 12-50. They will likely end the season with the most losses of all time, surpassing the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets at 120. Their schedule does not get any easier as they take on the Mets this weekend at Coors Field, who just swept them at Citi Field. That series is followed by meetings with the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves. Advertisement It was not too long ago that the Rockies lost at Coors Field to the San Diego Padres by the score of 21-0. Since then, they have had wins against the Padres, New York Yankees, and Arizona Diamondbacks. It doesn't come often, but the Rockies can score some runs with a young offense. Related: Rockies go streaking with 2nd straight win over Marlins
