Tigers, Nationals game postponed by rain and rescheduled for a doubleheader on Wednesday
The games are scheduled for 1:05 p.m. and previously scheduled 6:45 p.m.
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Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bo Nickal signs with Real American Freestyle for wrestling return, challenges Jon Jones
Bo Nickal is taking on a brand new challenge. The UFC middleweight prospect transitioned into MMA in 2021 off the heels of a tremendous collegiate wrestling career at Penn State. Now Nickal is returning to his roots, as he announced on Wednesday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show" that he has signed with Real American Freestyle (RAF) wrestling. Advertisement "I'm going to be pursuing something new, pursuing something different that's maybe a little bit foreign to a lot of the MMA fans that listen to this show," Nickal said. "There's this lesser-known sport called wrestling. It's a really great base for professional MMA, and I'm going to throw my hat in the ring and do some wrestling matches with the Real American Freestyle promotion coming up. August 30, I'll be competing in Cleveland, Ohio, and putting the singlet and shoes on, and see how it goes. "At the end of the day, my UFC contract is me fighting MMA with them, and I think at the same time, for me to compete in wrestling, you see a lot of guys do jiu-jitsu matches or whatever it is. Realistically with fighting, I've been getting two fights a year, and I think that's probably going to be continuing, I think that's going to be the trend, which I'm fine with. But I'm 29 years old, in my prime, and I'm just fired up to compete. ... [My] competitive spirit is just as strong as its ever been, so I'm looking to get a few wrestling matches before the fights, and I think it will just keep me sharp, motivated and hungry." Nickal comes as a surprise addition to the Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff-helmed endeavor, considering his status as a UFC-contracted athlete. RAF is the latest attempt to professionalize amateur wrestling. Longtime wrestling coach Izzy Martinez is also involved in spearheading the project. Advertisement Ultimately, Nickal joins a laundry list of ultra-talented wrestlers involved, including names like Wyatt Hendrickson, Lance Palmer, Darrion Caldwell, Beau Bartlett, Nathan Tomasello, Matt Ramos, Seth Gross, Mikey Caliendo, Sarah Hildebrandt, Lucía 'Jami' Guzman, Audrey Jimenez, Zeltin Hernandez Guerra, Kennedy Blades, Zahid Valencia, David Carr, Kyle Dake, Trent Hidlay, Kyle Snyder, Aaron Brooks, Evan Wick, Austin Gomez, Real Woods, Will Lewan and Parker Keckeisen. At UFC Des Moines this past May, Nickal suffered his first defeat in professional MMA after starting 7-0, falling short in a second-round stoppage at the hands of Reinier de Ridder. Ideally, Nickal is hoping to return to the cage sooner rather than later. In the meantime, though, he awaits his first dance partner with RAF. He's open to all comers, even a fantasy matchup with a recently retired all-time great. Advertisement "I'm ready to go with anyone," Nickal said. "Jon Jones vs. Bo Nickal wrestling? He's a little big. I'll meet him at 230 [pounds] or something. "It's friendly. That's the thing about wrestling, it's cool — it's not like you're punching each other in the face, and you can just compete, and I scrap with my buddies every day. It gets chippy and then you maybe talk a little crap here and there, then it's all good." In addition to competing, Nickal noted that he'll also provide commentary for RAF and help serve as a mentor for his fellow wrestlers who are looking to keep their careers alive after collegiate athletics.
New York Times
18 minutes ago
- New York Times
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to sign supermax extension
NBA free agency is moving quickly but a number of key players remain, including a multi-time All-Star rehabbing a torn Achilles. Meanwhile, the Knicks are nearing a deal to hire Mike Brown as head coach, replacing Tom Thibodeau. Ezra Shaw / Getty Images Matthew Stockman / Getty Images Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2025 NBA MVP, has agreed to sign a four-year, supermax extension worth an estimated $285 million that will — at least temporarily — give him the highest annual salary in NBA history, two league sources confirmed. The contract, which will take Gilgeous-Alexander through the 2030-31 campaign, will be worth about $71.25 million per season based on current cap estimates. ESPN was first to report the news. Soobum Im / Imagn LA's center target list, which began the day with Brook Lopez, Clint Capela and Deandre Ayton on it, quickly shrank to one by the early evening with Lopez agreeing to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers and Capela heading to Houston via a sign-and-trade with the Atlanta Hawks. Ayton was clearly the Lakers' top priority. He was picked first in the same draft as Luka Dončić, shares an agency with Dončić under Bill Duffy, who heads WME basketball, and is best equipped to give the Lakers the rolling lob threat Dončić has thrived alongside. Signing Ayton is not without risk — The Athletic's Jason Quick detailed those in his piece on Ayton's time with the Blazers — but a return to high-stakes basketball at a critical juncture in his career combined with a point guard who can prop up centers who are way less talented certainly makes this seem worth it. However, there's competition. The Milwaukee Bucks, who lost Lopez to the Clippers in free agency, are trying to remain competitive and have access to the full midlevel exception after some cap creativity and a need for a center — giving them the ability to offer roughly $6 million more than the Lakers. GO FURTHER The Lakers are once again at the center of the NBA offseason Stephen Lew / Imagn The New York Knicks' search for a new head coach may be nearing a conclusion soon. After conducting a first round of interviews over the last two weeks, the Knicks have formally invited Mike Brown back for a second interview, which is taking place Tuesday, league sources tell The Athletic. In addition, New York is considering bringing back both James Borrego and Micah Nori for second interviews, multiple league sources said. Read more below. GO FURTHER Knicks set for second interview with Mike Brown, Dawn Staley not considered finalist: Sources Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images 1) Free-agent crop. This year's class isn't exactly reminding us of 2010 when teams cleared cap space to pursue LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amar'e Stoudemire and Chris Bosh. It doesn't even have a Joe Johnson in it. The true headliners of this free-agency class include Myles Turner, a 40-year-old Chris Paul and the recently bought-out Deandre Ayton. Dorian Finney-Smith and Nickeil Alexander-Walker being two of the bigger potential gets in free agency kind of proves that point. They're good role players. But those might be two of the biggest headlines we get in the first week. 2) Lack of cap space. The Brooklyn Nets have a lot of cap space, and then it takes a lot of finagling and massaging of the cap to clear space with other teams. A few teams, such as Portland and maybe Utah, could make trades to get themselves under the cap, but we're just looking at Brooklyn, depending on what the Nets do with their free agents. Why don't any teams have cap space? Well… 3) Everybody is looking toward 2026. The hope for a lot of teams is probably that Luka Dončić won't be impressed by what the Lakers are doing and decline to sign the extension that will likely be available to him on Aug. 2. From there, he'll at least test the waters of free agency in 2026, and then they can pounce with their pitches. I'm assuming a lot of them will include how bad Nico Harrison is and how they'd never be like him. Have to play to your audience! Anyway, teams have positioned themselves to have flexibility in 2026. Trae Young could also be a free agent then, if he wants, as can a lot of other top or significant players in the league. 4) Trades are kind of the wave for change now. The Paul George situation from 2024 was kind of fluky. As we've seen already this summer, trades are the big way of making changes to your roster. Kevin Durant to Houston. Kristaps Porziņģis to Atlanta. Desmond Bane to Orlando. And a lot more deals reshaping rosters. That's the way, at least this summer, to make things happen. GO FURTHER NBA free agency 2025: Grades, head-scratchers and more analysis from Day 1 Joshua Gateley / Getty Images The Hawks are giving up a second-rounder and cash to get Nickeil Alexander-Walker to sign a four-year, $62 million deal. The new Wolves owners keep adding to the till! For the Hawks, Alexander-Walker potentially gives them a playmaking wing who can knock down 3-pointers and provide a defensive punch on the wings. This has the chance to help put them further in a position to make a leap in the East. He pairs nicely with Dyson Daniels, and he can help take some of the initiation responsibilities from Trae Young to move him off the ball more. It looks like the fourth year will have a player option, so it might not be a straight-up four-year deal for Alexander-Walker. The last three seasons, he's shot 38.5 percent from deep, so the shot should be more than reliable moving forward. Grade: A- GO FURTHER NBA free agency 2025: Grades, head-scratchers and more analysis from Day 1 Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images Following years of Trae Young trade rumors, the Hawks have built a team optimized to fit around the recently evolved version of him. Last season, then-general manager Landry Fields traded Dejounte Murray for this year's Most Improved Player, Dyson Daniels, and extended forward Jalen Johnson for what looked like a team-friendly deal. Onsi Saleh replaced Fields this offseason, swiftly completing the rebuild. At the opening of free agency Monday, Atlanta reportedly agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves for stout defensive wing Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Then they reportedly agreed to sign sharpshooter Luke Kennard, joining recent trade acquisition Kristaps Porziņģis in a reloaded Hawks rotation. Atlanta can roll out a lineup of Young, Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher (last year's No. 1 pick), Johnson and Porziņģis on opening night. Coming off the bench will be Onyeka Okongwu, who showed some impressive development when he was promoted to the starting lineup last season; Alexander-Walker; Kennard; last week's 23rd pick, big Asa Newell; 2023 15th pick Kobe Bufkin at backup point guard; hybrid defensive big Mouhamed Gueye and spark plug shooter Vit Krejcii. Read more on Atlanta's active offseason. GO FURTHER Hawks' rapid rebuild around Trae Young comes full circle, so is he still Atlanta's future? Ethan Miller / Getty Images The underlying question that will impact a few select teams as they tiptoe into the free-agent and trade markets: How much powder should they keep dry in case Giannis Antetokounmpo pushes his way out of Milwaukee? That's something for a team like Houston to ponder, but the Rockets are hardly the only ones. For instance, it's fair to wonder if part of the Lakers' reticence to push in harder around their current roster is because they think they can be a landing spot for the Bucks' superstar if he demands a ticket out of Milwaukee. Ditto for teams like the Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors that, for differing reasons, see themselves as possible destinations for the Greek Freak. You'll notice all these teams are off to relatively quiet starts thus far in free agency. Ironically, however, the team that may have done the best job positioning itself may also be the one that has been the most active. You might notice that amidst all of the Atlanta Hawks' wheeling and dealing, they now own a potential Bucks' draft pick in both 2026 and 2027, and thus would hold the key to the Bucks being able to tank their way back into contention post-Giannis. Read more here. GO FURTHER NBA free agency has been good for the middle class, and more Day 1 thoughts Brad Penner / Imagn Losing Dorian Finney-Smith to the Houston Rockets came with its own set of issues. The Lakers, according to team sources, offered two years against the four-year, $53 million deal he got with Houston because they wanted to maintain as much future flexibility as possible to be in position to land a superstar down the line to pair with Dončić. Without Finney-Smith, the Lakers quickly pivoted to Jake LaRavia, the Sacramento Kings' free agent who had interest from multiple teams. The 6-foot-7, 42-percent 3-point shooting wing was an unrestricted free agent after the Memphis Grizzlies declined his fourth-year option last November. In Memphis and, briefly in Sacramento, LaRavia flashed the kind of potential that some evaluators coveted at a low price tag this free-agent cycle. 'Everyone can use a player like him,' one Western Conference executive told The Athletic. Another executive praised LaRavia's toughness, his shooting and promising skills as a playmaker off the dribble. According to league sources, LaRavia was the Lakers' first call when free agency officially opened at 3 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday. GO FURTHER The Lakers are once again at the center of the NBA offseason Trevor Ruszkowski / Imagn Big names: Myles Turner, Deandre Ayton, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Al Horford, Ben Simmons Restricted free agents: Cam Thomas, Josh Giddey, Christian Koloko, Jonathan Kuminga, Quentin Grimes, Isaiah Jackson Veteran lead guards: Malcolm Brogdon, Spencer Dinwiddie, Cameron Payne, Monte Morris, Delon Wright, Elfrid Payton, Jordan McLaughlin Important veterans: Gary Payton II, Trey Lyles, Amir Coffey, De'Anthony Melton, Dante Exum, Markelle Fultz, Tim Hardaway Jr., Malik Beasley Young guys to take a chance on: Bol Bol, Bones Hyland, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Bryce McGowens, Wendell Moore Jr., EJ Liddell, JT Thor, Ziaire Williams, Brandon Boston Jr., Jared Butler, Caleb Houstan, Josh Minott Mentors: Kyle Lowry, Patty Mills, Tristan Thompson, Taj Gibson, James Johnson, DeAndre Jordan Forwards: Larry Nance Jr., Markieff Morris, Vlatko Čančar, Guerschon Yabusele, Dominick Barlow, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl Wings and shooters: Doug McDermott, Alec Burks, Eric Gordon, Torrey Craig, Jae Crowder, Seth Curry, Landry Shamet, Lonnie Walker IV, Duncan Robinson, Gary Harris, Damion Lee, Garrison Mathews, Javonte Green, Talen Horton-Tucker, Dalano Banton, Tre Mann Big men: Chris Boucher, Thomas Bryant, Marvin Bagley III, Moe Wagner, Jaxson Hayes, Bismack Biyombo, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Alex Len, Jericho Sims, Kai Jones, Charles Bassey Plumlees and Zellers: Marshall, Miles, Cody, Tyler, Luke GO FURTHER NBA free agency 2025: Grades, head-scratchers and more analysis from Day 1 Ken Blaze-Imagn The big fear among a certain class of players was that the 2025 free-agent market would be a repeat of 2024's. Last season saw several players in the league's middle-class get squeezed as teams seemed unusually reluctant to part with exception money; even good players coming off solid years like Tyus Jones and Gary Trent Jr. had to settle for minimum deals, while the multi-year money that found players such as Caleb Martin still shorted their perceived value. This year, not so much. We are not even technically in the first official day of free agency on the West Coast as I write this, and already eight players have received some or all of the nontaxpayer midlevel exception (NTMLE) from eight different teams — Dorian Finney-Smith, Brook Lopez, Kevon Looney, Luke Kennard, Luke Kornet, Jake LaRavia, Caris LeVert and Tyus Jones. For that, I suspect we can partially thank the Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves. They showed in the playoffs what quality depth can do for a contender or even quasi-contender in the postseason. In today's 'weak link' NBA game, having eight good players can pretty easily swamp a team with the traditional top-heavy model of two or three max-contract superstars surrounded by some guys from the Y. Read more of my big-picture takeaways from the first night of free agency. Jerome Miron / Imagn It's the complaint that they all have, the exhausted, the annoyed, the aggrieved. The NBA, no matter what the mass media says, is more than the Los Angeles Lakers. Every time a big-name player gets released, every time a big-name free agent hits the market, every time a star wants a trade, an army of purple-and-gold photoshops arrives with the talking heads to turn the league's eyes to the West. And a lot of days, those people have a point. But here in the early moments of the NBA offseason, the Lakers have firmly established themselves as the main character, for better or worse, because of their glaring deficiency at center, because of the big decisions ahead and because their two superstars are at wildly different stages in their career. Read on for more on the Lakers' last 48 hours. GO FURTHER The Lakers are once again at the center of the NBA offseason Benny Sieu / Imagn Day 1 of free agency is in the books, and we don't really have the big free agent everybody is looking to grab this year. We mostly have a lot of trades happening, and teams wondering if Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to give up on being with the Milwaukee Bucks for life. Teams around the league are still trying to figure out life in the era of the crippling second apron, and we're seeing teams fully start to grasp how much they need to avoid that Trojan horse hard cap the owners worked into the collective bargaining agreement. Usually, we get super excited about free agency opening up. I'm not sure it will ever get more exciting than midnight striking on the East Coast and immediately getting a notification that Timofey Mozgov and the Los Angeles Lakers had agreed to a four-year deal for $64 million back in 2016. That was the year of the salary-cap spike, and we saw all kinds of ridiculous free-agent deals before Kevin Durant upset everybody by signing with the 73-win Golden State Warriors. There are four big reasons the actual free agency itself seems lower stakes and lower drama this year. Read on to find out. GO FURTHER NBA free agency 2025: Grades, head-scratchers and more analysis from Day 1 Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images Shew. NBA free agency has been underway for less than 24 hours, and already a cascade of deals has cleaned out the market. Of my top 25 free agents, only eight remain on the market, and one of them (Malik Beasley) is in that situation for non-basketball reasons. I've already opined on several of the Day 1 moves throughout this blog, but the thing about focusing on single transactions is that sometimes you miss the big picture. So taking a step back from the fray, exhaling, and looking out over the landscape from a busy day of transactions, here are three big thoughts that hit me: Read on for more. GO FURTHER NBA free agency has been good for the middle class, and more Day 1 thoughts The Nuggets will save $17.3 million in salary this upcoming season and $34 million altogether with the Cam Johnson-Michael Porter Jr. trade, exchanging one sweet shooting wing for another. The downside is that they also lost a 2032 unprotected first-round pick. Nikola Jokić will be 36 during the 2031-32 season, so that is a dicey move. David Berding / Getty Images Why did the Wolves re-sign a player in Joe Ingles who will turn 38 in October and played a total of 114 minutes last season? The logic is rooted in a long-running philosophical preference of president of basketball operations Tim Connelly and coach Chris Finch. Locker room dynamics play a big role in team success, and Connelly pays as much attention to them as any lead executive in the league. Ingles signed in Minnesota last summer as a free agent with the expectation that he would have a significant spot in the rotation. The Wolves sold him on a Kyle Anderson-like role after Anderson, a favorite of Finch's, left in free agency. That was before Minnesota made a major trade, sending Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. The two-for-one deal took most of the minutes that otherwise could have been allotted to Ingles, who took the change in stride. Meanwhile, younger players such as Josh Minott were getting restless sitting at the end of the bench with no clear path to a spot in the rotation. At the end of the season, team sources said, Minott asked for the Wolves to decline his option so he could seek a role on a team with the chance to play more. Knowing that would have been difficult to accomplish in Minnesota with Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark and Rob Dillingham all ahead of Minott in the pecking order, the Wolves obliged Minott by declining to pick up his team option. They also allowed Luka Garza to pursue a real role elsewhere, and the Boston Celtics swooped in Monday to give him a two-year, fully guaranteed deal. The Celtics had long been fans of Garza's, periodically checking in with the Wolves on his availability over the years, team sources said. GO FURTHER Wolves lose Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luka Garza, retain Joe Ingles as NBA free agency opens Brad Penner / Imagn Jordan Clarkson is a worthwhile low-risk, solid-reward signing for the Knicks, who were pressed for scoring off their bench during this past spring's playoff run. Clarkson has struggled over the past two seasons in Utah, but he should receive easier looks inside what was a top-five Knicks offense last season. If it works, the Knicks hit a home run, considering the likely low price. An affordable rotation player is especially valuable in the two-apron era. Clarkson can play alongside Miles "Deuce" McBride, who the Knicks consider a point guard defensively but use more like a small wing on offense, deploying him to space the court and cut instead of running the offense. Clarkson can guard off the ball but handle it more on the other end. If it doesn't work — if Clarkson continues to trend downward as he enters his mid-30s — there isn't much financial risk, and New York can move elsewhere without much of a bump. Congratulations to the Bucks on playing salary cap bingo today. They made moves on the margins with a veteran minimum contract, a biannual exception deal and a non-Bird free agent signing in the same day. The Bucks had no Bird rights on any of the three players reported to have new deals to re-up with the Bucks today — Taurean Prince, Gary Trent, Jr. and Kevin Porter, Jr. — yet re-signed all of them without using a cent of their nontaxpayer midlevel exception. Porter's deal is for the rarely used biannual exception, something only two of the league's 30 teams took advantage of a year ago. That deal is two years and will pay him the full biannual exception of $5,390,700 in 2025-26, with the maximum allowed 5-percent raise to $5,660,235 in 2026-27. Trent's deal is as a non-Bird free agent, which can be for up to a 20 percent raise on his old salary. However, because he was on a minimum deal, it's actually a 20 percent raise on his minimum for this year, which takes his number for hits season up to $3,697,100. With the maximum allowable 5 percent raise, he'll make $3,881,955 in 2026-27. Finally, Prince's deal is for the veteran minimum, but because it is for multiple seasons, it doesn't count for the cap-friendly $2.3 million like one-year vet minimum deals do. Instead, Prince is on the books at $3,303,770 for 2025-26 as a nine-year veteran, and for next year at an estimated $3.89 million if he picks up his player option. Milwaukee is still $12.7 million below the luxury tax line and $18.9 million below the first apron — where they are hard-capped due to Porter's contract — with at least two roster spots left to fill. The Bucks have their entire $14.1 million nontaxpayer midlevel exception remaining, as well as early Bird rights on restricted free agent guard Ryan Rollins. The Bucks could also create an additional roster spot and $2.2 million in room by waiving Chris Livingston's non-guaranteed deal, although that money would go right back to another minimum contract to fill the roster spot. Jesse Johnson / Imagn One of the primary reasons the Wolves chose big guys Naz Reid and Julius Randle over Nickeil Alexander-Walker was the depth behind him. They believe Terrence Shannon Jr., Jaylen Clark and Rob Dillingham are ready for more minutes in the backcourt and on the wing, and now coach Chris Finch has an extra 25.3 minutes per game to spread around. The most recent collective bargaining agreement forces those kinds of choices on teams. With little to no spending power for free agents, the Wolves are determined to run back most of last year's team to see if another year together will get them one step further. They will return nine of their top 10 players and are in the market for another ballhandler or a more traditional center behind Rudy Gobert, team and league sources said. They do have a $5.7 million taxpayer midlevel exception, but given how close they are to the second-apron threshold of $207.8 million, they will only use it if they think the player they get will make a significant impact on next season, those sources said. GO FURTHER Wolves lose Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luka Garza, retain Joe Ingles as NBA free agency opens Page 2
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ben Simmons to Knicks Rumor Is Drawing Attention
Ben Simmons to Knicks Rumor Is Drawing Attention originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Ben Simmons could find his way to another top NBA team after finishing the 2024-25 season with the Los Angeles Clippers. The veteran point guard played 51 games between the Clippers and the Brooklyn Nets, averaging 5.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists, shooting 52% from the field and 72.7% from the free-throw line. Advertisement As he keeps trying to get close to the potential he showed during his first years with the Philadelphia 76ers, Simmons is reportedly drawing attention from one of the most iconic franchises in the association. Less than a year since his three-year tenure with the Nets finished, Simmons could return to the East Coast. Ben Simmons taking shots up with the Brooklyn Cruz-USA TODAY Sports New York Knicks reporter Ian Begley shared on Wednesday that the 2025 Eastern Conference finalists have "checked in" on the Australian point guard during the still-young free agency period: "The Knicks have also checked in on free agent Ben Simmons, per sources familiar with the matter. But people briefed on the matter say a decision on that roster spot isn't expected until after the head coach is hired." Advertisement A polarizing figure like Simmons doesn't go unnoticed. Many fans reacted to the report on social media, giving mixed reviews to this potential move. "Why, dude sucks," one fan wrote. "IM PLEASED WITH THIS DEVELOPMENT," a second fan said. "Na we good just pay me instead it would be the same production," a third fan wrote. "The confidence will rise playing in MSG !! Who doesn't want to play for those NY fans," a fourth fan added. "He plays D," a fifth fan noted. "Checked in to make sure he stays away from MSG I hope," a sixth fan wrote. Simmons went from being considered something close to the second coming of LeBron James to a guy trying to revive his career without much success. He's now a veteran who can orchestrate the offense and play defense, not the $203.3 million career earner his unlocked potential made teams believe he was. Related: Ben Simmons, Raptors Report Surfaces After Clippers News This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
