A legendary — and briny — solution to Max Fried's blister pickle
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Every now and again, there will be a pitcher somewhere in the major leagues who develops one of the simplest yet most aggravating ailments a pitcher can get: a blister on one of the fingers of his throwing hand.
Sometimes, especially if you catch them early, blisters are an easily fixable malady: a pin prick, a Band-Aid, maybe some Neosporin, a few days off. Sometimes it gets a little more complicated than that — maybe there's some blood trapped in it, and it'll cost 10 or 15 days on the injured list to avoid infection.
The most famous blister in New York City at the moment sits on the index finger of Max Fried's left hand. It cost him in his last start, Saturday against the Cubs, when it probably helped the Cubs get four runs off him (three earned) and certainly chased him from the game after just three innings.
'It's getting better, definitely down,' Fried said Monday in Atlanta, at the All-Star festivities. 'If there was a time to get it, this was the one.'
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Chris Paul calls return to Clippers a 'no-brainer' and doesn't know if this will be his last season
Chris Paul had options. Coming off a strong season for the San Antonio Spurs, entering an unrestricted free agent market where there might not have been a ton of cash to splash, but where there were a number of teams in need of a steady hand at the wheel of their offense, the future Hall of Famer reportedly drew interest from a handful of would-be suitors. Giannis Antetokounmpo's Bucks. Anthony Davis' (and, now, Cooper Flagg's) Mavericks. The Hornets, the home-state squad of a player born in Winston-Salem who starred at Wake Forest. The Suns, his old flame, the team he helped lead to the 2021 NBA Finals — the only title-round appearance of Paul's illustrious career. In the end, though, there was only ever really one option. 'It was a no-brainer. It was a no-brainer,' Paul said Monday at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. — the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers, the team for whom he starred from 2011 through 2017 and to whom he'll return next season — during a press conference reintroducing him to the franchise and its faithful. 'The easiest decision in this is sitting right up here,' he said, indicating his wife, children and mother, all seated in the front rows at his press conference. 'Right here. It's my family.' It's easy to forget, given how fast life moves in the world of the NBA, but Paul has now spent more time away from the Clippers than he spent with them. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Paul's six seasons in L.A. featured plenty of individual and team success — five All-Star selections, five All-NBA nods, six All-Defensive Team berths, five 50-win seasons and three playoff series victories, more than the Clippers had totaled in the previous 35 years. But they were also marked by numerous brutally timed injuries, a historic ownership scandal and a persistent inability to advance past the second round of the postseason — a staggering amount of baggage that, come the summer of 2017, left Paul feeling like the time had come for a fresh start elsewhere. In the eight years since he secured his exit from L.A., Paul has accomplished plenty. He finally got out of Round 2, partnering with past-and-future teammate James Harden on an incredible Rockets team that pushed the Kevin Durant-era Warriors to the absolute limit (and might well have toppled Golden State if not for yet another brutally timed injury). When the Houston experiment ran its course, he briefly brought the basketball gospel to Oklahoma City, producing a completely unpredicted and extremely fun playoff berth while helping shepherd the development of a gifted but green young guard named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Then came Phoenix, where he helped Devin Booker achieve superstardom, got Deandre Ayton a max contract, finally reached the Finals (before Giannis Antetokounmpo put an end to all that) and steered the Suns to a franchise-record 64 wins (before Luka Dončić put an end to all that). When new owner Mat Ishbia decided that trading for Bradley Beal gave Phoenix a better chance to win a title — which, you know, hindsight is 20/20 and all — Paul was on the move again, with one-year stops alongside Stephen Curry in Golden State and Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio. [Get more Clippers news: Clippers team feed] That's five stops in eight years — a prolonged sojourn for the greatest point guard of his generation, with his young family remaining in L.A. as he journeyed across the NBA landscape. And that, he decided this summer, was enough time away. 'This is one of those things I kind of manifested for a long time, sort of tried to speak it into existence,' Paul said Monday. 'But you just never know if it's really going to happen. Because I love to hoop. I love to play this game. But I love my family more than any of it.' And Clippers fans, it turns out, still have plenty of love for him. Whatever sour feelings might have attended his 2017 exit seem to have long since dissipated. As the fan reaction at Monday's reintroduction reminded us, and as Paul's reaction to it underscored, time has a way of healing all wounds — especially when the arc of that time bends back toward home: Amid the outpouring of love surrounding Paul's return, one question kept coming up: Just how much time do he and the Clippers have left? Paul signed a one-year contract for the veteran minimum. Could this season be his last? 'I don't know. I don't know that,' Paul told ESPN's Malika Andrews. 'I think throughout this season, at some point — guys that I know who've retired, and all this different type of stuff — you know, and you sort of figure it out yourself. It tells you. But I think more than anything, this season, I will definitely enjoy it. I don't take this for granted.' Paul struck a similar note in a conversation with Clippers play-by-play broadcaster Brian Sieman and in his news conference with reporters. He repeatedly emphasized the importance of remaining present, of trying to stay in the moment, and of approaching this coming season with excitement for the opportunity available to what could be an awfully good (if also awfully old) Clippers team without looking too far ahead. 'There's a lot of gratitude or whatnot to still get a chance to play at this age,' Paul said. 'But I've always believed in, keep stacking days. And that you just have to show up every single day. Every single day.' That approach — combined with all-time vision, touch and a legendarily maniacal competitive streak — has made Paul just the seventh player to last 21 years in the NBA, joining LeBron James, Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Kevin Willis and Robert Parish. That type of longevity would represent a towering achievement for any player. For someone who barely stands 6 feet tall, though, it's nearly unthinkable — as is the fact that, if you weren't paying attention last season, Chris Paul is still good. Paul averaged 8.8 points per game on 42.7% shooting last season, taking just 4% of his field goal attempts inside the restricted area and using only 14% of San Antonio's offensive possessions when he was on the floor — all career lows. Even so, he remained a net positive offensive contributor by virtue of remaining one of the league's highest volume distributors, dishing 7.4 assists per game (seventh in the NBA) with an assist-to-turnover ratio better than every big-minute contributor besides Tyrese Haliburton and Tyus Jones, and continuing to drill shots from floater range (52%), midrange (47%) and 3-point land (38%) at elite rates. Long possessed of perhaps the league's most larcenous hands, Paul also made his presence felt on the defensive end, snagging steals on 2.2% of opponents' offensive possessions. His steal rate has topped 2% in all 20 of his NBA seasons, the most of any player in NBA history, one season ahead of a pair of similarly ageless ball-hawking point guards, John Stockton and Jason Kidd. The introduction of an all-time table-setter helped expedite the development of the ascendant Wembanyama, who struggled at times during his rookie season to find consistent service, but experienced no such concerns during Year 2 — at least, not when CP3 was on the case. Paul-to-Wembanyama produced 121 baskets last season, the 15th-highest total of any assist combo in the NBA, according to PBP Stats; in a possibly related story, Wembanyama made his first All-Star appearance, and had an awfully good case for an All-NBA selection before being diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in February that brought a premature end to his season. (He's been cleared for a full-steam-ahead return next season.) The Spurs, who were outscored by 3.9 points per 100 possessions over the course of last season, actually outscored their opponents by 6.8 points-per-100 in the minutes when Wembanyama and Paul shared the court. And while plenty of the credit for that belongs to the biggest guy on the floor, don't overlook the impact of the smallest guy on it: Spurs lineups featuring Wemby sans CP3 got their doors blown off by 12 points-per-100. Paul finished the 2024-25 season ranked somewhere between 10th and 25th among all point guards in win shares (total and per 48 minutes), estimated plus-minus, value over replacement player, player efficiency rating, estimated RAPTOR and xRAPM, among other metrics. He also ended the season healthy, playing all 82 games for the first time since 2014-15 … and, perhaps even more importantly, he ended things feeling like he hadn't ended things. Paul feels like he's still got something left in the tank, and the Clippers feel like he — alongside incumbent superstars Harden and Kawhi Leonard and new arrivals Beal, Brook Lopez and John Collins — can help them push the likes of SGA's champion Thunder, the newly Durant-ified Rockets and Nikola Jokić's Nuggets atop the perpetually crowded West. That created the opportunity for a homecoming eight years in the making. 'If I'm really honest, I wanted to get back and play here by any means necessary, right?' Paul said Monday. 'I didn't even care what the team looked like. I just wanted to be home, be here with the Clippers.'
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Basketball Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady to join NBC as a studio analyst for 2025-26 NBA season
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WNBA power rankings: Liberty, Lynx finally take center stage in first Finals rematch of the season
Wonky scheduling? Check. Injured superstar? Yup. A heavyweight battle tilted on its head? Right again. A trifecta of this season's overarching trends takes center stage when the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty meet in their first Finals rematch this week. The game in Minneapolis (Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN) is the first of four matchups within the next three weeks. It will likely be played without 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart after she injured her leg in a loss to Los Angeles on Saturday. Head coach Sandy Brondello said there is no timetable for her return. Lynx forward Alanna Smith could also miss the contest. That puts a damper on the long-anticipated clash of teams that return the majority of their rosters from a 2024 Finals series that went a full five games and featured an immediately iconic quote by Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve. 'This s*** was stolen from us,' she said in the interview room following a Game 5 overtime loss. The Liberty, meanwhile, sprayed champagne and snapped photos in the locker room, reveling in redemption from a Game 1 overtime meltdown. In the months since, the Liberty front office tinkered toward a legacy while the Lynx relied on repeating the strong chemistry that led them to the brink of a record fifth WNBA title. The sides remain on a collision course for a Finals rematch, but now their first regular-season meeting — and possibly those to come — loses a layer of luster. The Lynx play three straight against the Liberty beginning in New York on Aug. 10 (12:30 p.m. ET, ABC), in Minnesota on Aug. 16 (2 p.m. ET, CBS) and back in New York on Aug. 19 (7 p.m., NBA TV). They can treat it as a playoff series, tinkering with adjustments in the lead-up to each contest. A healthy roster, rest and the rare privilege of practice time are advantages. The Liberty, already traversing constant bouts of adversity, will be caught in a whirlwind playing four games in six days before finishing out the series. They play in Dallas on Aug. 8, head home for the afternoon Lynx tip-off, play in Los Angeles on Aug. 12 and in Las Vegas on Aug. 13. Those chasing the Liberty won't care, but the champs sure can't catch a break. Every break of light at the end of the tunnel is extinguished upon proximity. Center Jonquel Jones, their double-double foundation, returned out of the All-Star break only for Stewart to exit in the third game with the whole gang back together. A 10-point loss to the 11th-place Wings on Monday night sparked a team meeting. Every starter will have now missed time, forcing Brondello to enlist her 10th different starting lineup in 24 games. Their nine-game winning streak to begin the season gave way when Jones missed a June 14 rematch with Indiana, then led by a healthy Caitlin Clark. Lengthy forward Leonie Fiebich went to EuroBasket. Nyara Sabally, also ruled out this week, is contending with lingering injuries. Ionescu missed a game, as did point guard Natasha Cloud. Cloud's presence will give New York a speedier, stronger defender in the Lynx series. Though with the overall defensive difficulties the Liberty displayed without Stewart, it may be negated. Emma Meesseman, the Mystics' 2019 Finals MVP and a three-time EuroLeague MVP, will land stateside soon to add to their riches. Minnesota's rule over the WNBA standings hasn't been immune to difficulties, either. Smith is working through an 'ongoing' ankle injury, Reeve said on Sunday. A back injury hampered her effectiveness in the final two games of the Finals series. Napheesa Collier, the runaway league leader in win shares, also missed a couple of games and is playing with a brace on her shoulder. She built the beginnings of this season's MVP campaign in the postseason, averaging 23.8 points, 9 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.9 blocks. The forward packed the stat line in a loss to Atlanta on Sunday with 32 points on 18 shots with 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. But no one else scored more than 12, and the frontcourt couldn't contain 6-foot-9 Brittney Griner's team-high 22 points. The Lynx falter most when they can't contribute around her. It hasn't proved a problem that often. The Lynx remain the league's best defense (93.3 points allowed per 100 possessions) and are scoring more on average through 26 games (85.8 ppg) than the same stretch a year ago (81.1 ppg). The offense remains historically clean, a data point to underline Reeve's belief in this team's chemistry continuity. The 1.919 assists-to-turnover ratio ranks third behind the heralded 2019 Washington Mystics (2.016) and 2023 Las Vegas Aces (1.951). They could again reset the assisted shot rate record after a historic 76.43 a year ago. The 2025 roster is at 74.50. In a season of odd stretches and moving team ceilings, the upcoming regular season series could mean a lot or nothing at all. Stars will miss time. Back-to-backs will impact availability. Rest will assist one team and burn the other. The No. 1 seed and home-court advantage through the Finals remain in the balance. The series still has a little bit of just about everything, only in a completely different way than it did nine months ago when it enthralled us all in October. Performer of the week: Dearica Hamby, Los Angeles Sparks The Sparks' five-game winning streak is a tad disingenuous given it consists of wins over Connecticut twice, Washington twice and a New York team reeling in the immediate aftermath of losing Stewart in the first three minutes. Still, wins are wins, and Los Angeles is making a post-All-Star push behind its duo of Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum. Hamby scored 17 points, shooting 72.7% overall (including making her only 3-point attempt), with 10 rebounds, one assist and one steal in the win over New York. In the three wins this week, she averaged 20.3 points, 11.7 rebounds and two assists. Even better for Hamby and Co.? Cameron Brink, the all-rookie level No. 2 overall pick, returns on Tuesday in her first action since an ACL tear cut her first year short. Brink will give the Sparks an appreciated defensive boost. She averaged 2.3 blocks over 15 games, second-best in the league. Game of the week Since we've already gone in-depth on Liberty-Lynx, let's look further into the week. Mercury at Dream, Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ION: Each team signed multiple jaw-dropping free agents to soar into the top of the standings at the halfway point. While Mercury trio Kahleah Copper, Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally have rarely played together, a strong supporting cast has Phoenix in a good spot with defense (99.1 defensive rating, fourth) and unselfish offensive play (21 assists per game ranks third). The Dream are shooting more 3-pointers than almost anyone else in the league, from point guard Jordin Canada on through to bigs Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones. Their size is tough to combat, as the Lynx experienced firsthand this week. Yahoo Sports power poll 1. Minnesota Lynx (22-5)2. Atlanta Dream (15-10)3. New York Liberty (17-8)4. Phoenix Mercury (16-9)5. Indiana Fever (14-12)6. Seattle Storm (16-11)7. Las Vegas Aces (13-13)8. Los Angeles Sparks (11-14)9. Washington Mystics (12-13)10. Golden State Valkyries (11-13)11. Dallas Wings (8-19)12. Chicago Sky (7-18)13. Connecticut Sun (4-21)
