Recently-traded WNBA guard could be key to a title
Then, just before the trade deadline, Carrington was traded to the Minnesota Lynx, owners of the league's top record. From the jump, it's been a seamless fit. Carrington is still coming off the bench, but this time, she's doing it for a championship contender.
It's only been three games, but her production has improved, too. In Minnesota, Carrington is averaging 13.3 points on 62.5% shooting (up from 10.4 points on 35.4% shooting in Dallas). In Saturday's win over the New York Liberty, she recorded 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals, hitting 6 of 10 shots. That marks her highest-scoring game in nearly two months.
On offense, she's getting cleaner looks than she did with Dallas, largely as a result of the Lynx's superior ball movement and spacing. On defense, she's surrounded by more capable defenders and thus able to better utilize one of her biggest strengths.
'[I'm] just getting back to playing how I know how to play — just playing free, and within a flow, not forcing anything,' Carrington told reporters in her postgame media availability on Saturday. 'Nobody forces anything, so it just makes it easier to get open shots, because we're gonna keep moving it until we get a great shot. We run the floor, everybody's rotating, and that's just how I instinctively play, so it's been a pretty easy transition.'
Last year, Carrington was a member of the WNBA All-Defensive First Team after a season on the Connecticut Sun in which she was tasked with guarding opposing teams' top guards.
On Saturday, she helped hold Sabrina Ionescu — who has been one of the WNBA's best guards this season — to just 10 points on 4 of 15 shooting. If the Lynx were to face the Liberty in the Finals, they now have another elite perimeter defender coming off the bench behind Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams — and someone who can immediately hone in on Ionescu.
'I told Cheryl, it's like a luxury to have that,' McBride said postgame.
For Carrington, the defensive transition from Dallas to Minnesota has been seamless. The Lynx have the league's best defensive rating at 95.5, and two Defensive Player of the Year candidates in Napheesa Collier and Alanna Smith. Carrington only raises Minnesota's defensive ceiling.
'At the end of the day, I feel like it's just about playing hard and competing — making it difficult — and that doesn't have anything to do with schemes,' Carrington said. 'It's just about heart, and about effort, and about wanting to do that. It's just about wanting to do that. Everything else falls into place. Everyone does the same schemes, so it's not like it's that difficult to adjust to a new team; you're guarding the same people. It's just playing hard — I'm able to really lock in on the ball and whoever I'm guarding, because I trust that behind me, everyone will be there rotating and they'll have my back if I do get clipped. As long as everyone's doing it at 100% effort, I feel like we're going to be great.'
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New York Times
3 minutes ago
- New York Times
Meet college football's next best hope for a two-way star in a post-Travis Hunter world
This article is part of our Freaks List series, which chronicles the strongest, fastest and most physical players in college football. LAS VEGAS — Koi Perich looks different from his Minnesota teammates in practice, and it's not because of his 6-foot-1, 200-pound frame. Outside of the quarterbacks, half the Gophers wear maroon jerseys, while the other half don white. Each day, Perich pulls on a split-colored jersey with maroon on one side and white on the other. On defense, Perich lines up at safety. Then he flips over to offense and plays receiver. For good measure, Perich also returns kicks and punts. Advertisement 'This isn't a gimmick,' Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said. 'This is a real thing where he's going to play offense. It could be a Wildcat quarterback. He's going to be on defense, he's going to kick return, he's going to punt return. But Koi will show us what he can handle and how much we give him.' Travis Hunter blazed a path for current and future two-way football stars by channeling his exceptional athletic ability into an unprecedented workload during last year's Heisman Trophy-winning campaign at Colorado. First in line to follow his example is Minnesota's sophomore safety, who made an immediate impact in his debut college season and has eyes on adding to his plate this fall. He's perhaps the most versatile threat in college football, but the major question facing Perich is whether he can produce on offense while remaining effective on defense, where he primarily shined as a freshman. 'I've played offense and defense my whole life,' Perich said. 'Ultimately, it's just playing football.' It's unfair to compare anyone's production directly to Hunter, who earned first-team All-American honors at cornerback and receiver last year, finishing with 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 16 scores, plus four interceptions and 11 pass breakups. But Hunter's snap percentage is more of a true mark for Perich. Last fall, Hunter competed on 84.6 percent of Colorado's snaps from scrimmage (86.8 percent on offense, 82.9 percent on defense), which was well beyond any other college player. 'We're going to do as much as Koi will allow us to do,' Fleck said in July. 'There's not a lot of people who can do that and do it successfully. We feel Koi can, and I'm not comparing him to Travis by any means, but I'm saying that he is somebody who did it within the last decade. That's how hard it really is. And if you're going to do it, you've got to be both feet in on it. But if there's one person that can do it, it's Koi.' Advertisement It requires talent, conditioning and endurance for any player to threaten Hunter's average of 119 snaps per game. But it's not hyperbole to suggest Perich can approach a similar snap count while impacting games on both sides of the ball. As a true freshman last fall, Perich led the Big Ten with five interceptions and was the only Football Bowl Subdivision freshman since 1976 to total more than 100 punt return yards (188), 100 kick return yards (314) and five interceptions in a season. Among Big Ten performers, Perich ranked fourth in punt return average and sixth as a kick returner. Reminder: Freshman Koi Perich led the @bigten in INTs last season 😲 Relive all 5️⃣ of the @GopherFootball star's picks 👇#B1GFootball x @koiperich3 — Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) June 30, 2025 In consecutive games, he intercepted game-sealing passes in the final seconds. In preserving a 24-17 victory against USC, Perich elevated to snag a jump ball in the end zone with nine seconds left to prevent the Trojans from running another play. He followed that pick with a goal-line interception with no time remaining in a 21-17 win at UCLA. 'I saw the videos of him jumping at the USC game,' Gophers defensive end Anthony Smith said. 'He got up there pretty high.' Perich's leaping ability was honed on the basketball court in tiny Esko, Minn., an unincorporated town located near the Iron Range of northern Minnesota. Perich averaged 17.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists per game as a senior at Esko High. But it was how high he soared — and his collection of broken rims — that left an impression on Fleck. 'I've got my dollar popcorn, my dollar diet soda, and I got some gummy bears and I'm like, 'OK, when am I gonna see … there it was,'' Fleck said. 'He did a 360 windmill dunk. And it wasn't the dunk; it was how high he was. Advertisement 'We were taught in the NFL there's a measuring stick of how fast a guy can get vertically, not just how high they can jump, but how fast they get vertically. It was very, very fast.' During his senior track season at Esko, Perich won the 100-meter dash at his sectional meet, with a time of 10.87 seconds that was tops in his class, but an injury sidelined him for state. As a sophomore, he'd won the state title in the long jump. That athleticism translated to the football field. As a high school senior, Perich scored 27 touchdowns, including five on interceptions, three on punt returns and another on a kickoff return. As a late addition to the 2024 All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Perich blocked a punt and had a goal-line interception to earn game MVP honors. Perich became an early recruiting priority for Fleck, but the head coach quickly discovered Perich had no attachment to his state's lone FBS program. Known as one of college football's most aggressive recruiters, Fleck made it a mission to catch the prospect's attention. He had to prove to Perich that he could count on three things if he stayed at home: 1) He could reach the NFL; 2) He could compete for a College Football Playoff berth; 3) The program could help him grow as a person. At one of Perich's high school games, Fleck rented a plane that flew above the stadium with a 'Row The Boat' sign trailing behind. The Gophers' full-court press sales pitch caught Perich's attention. 'I remember going to a high school game, watching one of the best performances I've ever seen from a high school player, and he knew it,' Fleck said. 'He was confident. The beginning of warmups, all the way through the end of the game, he pointed at me on the sideline. I've never pointed at a coach.' Few players emit the type of confidence Perich exudes in most public interactions. At a midsummer news conference, Perich walked to the podium wearing a WWE-style championship belt. He had earned it through team workouts and felt it was the right moment to display it. One of Fleck's friends watched the news conference live and sent him a screenshot, to which Fleck responded, 'That's Koi.' His swagger endears himself to Gophers fans and inevitably draws the ire of Minnesota's rivals. Advertisement Perich told reporters he never watched college football growing up — including the Gophers — and 'would just skip through college if I could and just gone straight to the Vikings, but you've got to do your three years.' His nonchalant attitude toward college football was clear during the recruiting process and especially at the end. Ohio State offered Perich with about seven weeks left in the recruiting cycle. 'It was super close. It came down to the last day,' Perich said. 'Ohio State is Ohio State. What I liked more about Minnesota was just ultimately their NFL safeties.' Koi Perich says he dreamed of playing for the #Vikings growing up. But, college wasn't part of the plan. "I would skip through college if I could… and gone straight to Vikings." — KSTPSports (@KSTPSports) July 16, 2025 Since 2019, Minnesota stars Antoine Winfield and Tyler Nubin have become All-Americans and second-round draft picks; Jordan Howden was a fifth-rounder. 'They laid the steppingstones for me,' Perich said. Perich describes the primary attributes of Hall of Fame safeties and his plans to emulate them: Ed Reed's ball skills, Brian Dawkins' hitting prowess, Troy Polamalu's instincts. Perich said Reed is one of the three living athletes he'd like to meet for a meal (LeBron James and Tiger Woods are the others). Perich has drawn comparisons to former Iowa All-American and current Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Cooper DeJean, from both inside and outside the Minnesota program. DeJean, who debuted at No. 60 in the latest NFL Network player rankings, dabbled as a two-way player in 2023 but broke his leg during a November practice his final season with the Hawkeyes. A season-ending injury is a worst-case example of what could go wrong from a player playing both ways, but coaches also fear elite players could wear down more gradually over the course of a game and limit their effectiveness at their natural position. Advertisement But Perich is undeterred. At an open Gophers scrimmage this month, Perich cruised past his teammates on a post route, slowed his stride and hauled in a deep pass for a 70-yard gain. After hitting the turf at Huntington Bank Stadium, he hopped up and immediately stuck out his arm signaling first down. His confidence, ability and potential all showed up in one play. 'He is a very, very confident individual,' Fleck said. 'I love that in terms of one of our best players, because everybody feeds off that.' Perhaps the right goal for Perich isn't to chase Hunter but to stretch his own boundaries. But by following Hunter's example, Perich could pilot his own path to excellence. 'Hopefully I get that chance. That would be very fun,' Perich said. 'Honestly, I think I have the ability to do it.' The Freaks List series is part of a partnership with GMC Sierra EV. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
New York Times
3 minutes ago
- New York Times
The Washington Wizards are stockpiling wings — but what's the plan?
It's a question about the 2025-26 Washington Wizards that comes up again and again: Why does the team have so many wings? The answer is interesting — and it cuts to the heart of the Wizards' roster-construction strategy but also to roster construction in the modern NBA. So I'm devoting the latest edition of The Athletic's Wizards mailbag to this topic. I've edited the submitted questions for clarity and to account for roster moves that occurred after the questions were submitted. Advertisement What's with all the wings? The Wizards appear to have five guards (Malaki Branham, Bub Carrington, CJ McCollum, AJ Johnson and Tre Johnson), three bigs (Marvin Bagley III, Alex Sarr and Tristan Vukcevic) and then about nine or so 6-6 to 6-8 guys who play the three (Justin Champagnie, Bilal Coulibaly, Kyshawn George, Khris Middleton, Corey Kispert, Dillon Jones, Will Riley, Jamir Watkins and Cam Whitmore). That seems like a bit of a glut that needs to be addressed by Will Dawkins, no? –Brooke T. I would like to 'second' this question. While we all respect Will Dawkins and Michael Winger, Wizards fans are already starting to fall into a mode where fellow fans can't question their moves, circa the 2020 Nats with Mike Rizzo (but without the championship). I think there are real, hard questions that can be asked about roster construction thus far. The team elected to pass on Khaman Maluach this year (and traded up in the draft last year, but not for a Zach Edey type) and hand the center position to a wiry Alex Sarr who may not be able to rebound his position. While we understand that they can't/shouldn't try to win this year, you also can't develop all these wings at the same time. They already had to ship out Colby Jones for pure roster-spot availability reasons, but how in the heck can these guys all develop at the same time if they all play the same position? They certainly can't all develop on the defensive end, where some of them will be playing out of position just to get minutes. And we all know that five minutes into the season, we will all be complaining about a lack of defense and rebounding. –Malcolm H. I agree that, against the backdrop of traditional NBA roster construction, the Wizards are super-heavy on wings, light on traditional bigs and thin on traditional point guards. I also agree that the 2025-26 Wizards almost certainly will be below-average in terms of defensive rebounding — probably even bottom five. I mean, the team finished last season 27th in defensive-rebounding percentage, and that was with two strong defensive rebounders, Jonas Valančiūnas and Kyle Kuzma, on the roster until the trade deadline. Now, without major offseason additions to shore up the already weak defensive rebounding, it's difficult to envision significant gains in that area. Advertisement But at this stage, positional roster imbalance is not the Wizards' primary concern, or perhaps even their secondary concern. They are attempting to bring as many high-upside players as possible onto their roster — through the draft, through trades, through signings — and do their best to develop those players into upper-level NBA players. Think of it as casting a wide net in an effort to see who, eventually, will stand out. Who will fill the Wizards' No. 1 bucket, that of a franchise cornerstone, someone along the lines of who Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is for Oklahoma City or who Jayson Tatum has been for Boston? Who will fill the No. 2 bucket of someone who isn't quite a franchise cornerstone but contends for All-NBA honors, someone akin to Jalen Williams for Oklahoma City or Jaylen Brown for Boston? And who will fit the No. 3 bucket, like Chet Holmgren for OKC and one of any number of very strong tertiary players for Boston last year? That, in my opinion, is Washington's greatest challenge and ought to be Washington's top priority: finding players who fill those broad roles. This explains why Wizards general manager Will Dawkins always says before every draft that he's looking for the 'best-available player' instead of trying to fill specific positional needs. He's looking for the prospects who have the best chances to fill one of those top-three buckets. So, why did Dawkins decide to draft wing Tre Johnson sixth overall instead of big man Khaman Maluach or anyone else who was still available? Dawkins thought Johnson was the best-available player, the player who has the best chance of becoming an upper-level NBA player. Once the team starts to fill those buckets, it can fill in the rest of the roster around those top-level guys. The roster is not built to win now. Heck, it's more accurate to say that, with a roster skewed so heavily toward youth and inexperience, this roster is built to lose in the short term. I say that without negative overtones. I think the front office did the responsible thing by not making roster moves this offseason to try to eke out a few more victories in 2025-26. As an impartial observer, I think the Wizards need to attempt to win the 2026 lottery to try to draft the franchise-changing player they so desperately need, to try to fill that No. 1 or No. 2 bucket that, for the moment, seems to remain unfilled. If I were in Dawkins' shoes, I'd be willing to sacrifice defensive rebounding this season if it were to help the Wizards land the 2026 draft's top prospect. Washington can use next offseason's ample cap space to shore up its defensive rebounding in free agency or trade for defensive rebounding from its full cupboard of wings and future draft picks. Advertisement The questions you've posed here are more about development, specifically whether the seeming overabundance of wings will inhibit those wings' long-term improvement. The point about the difficulty of the wings developing on defense is well-taken if we assume that some of the Wizards' wings will defend opponents who are either much faster and more agile or much larger and stronger. My conclusion is that all of us — me included — need to acknowledge that the NBA game has changed, and continues to change. Our traditional notions of positional roles don't apply as much as they once did. Because of the prevalence of the 3-point shot and because so many teams play fast on offense, defenders now have to cover more ground than ever before. It's now common for players we don't consider 'point guards' to initiate offenses, and it's now rare for centers on offense to play with their backs to the basket. It's a league increasingly populated by versatile players in the 6-foot-4 to 6-foot-9 range. The distinctions among what shooting guards, small forwards and power forwards are expected to do are murkier than ever before, particularly within switch-oriented defensive schemes. Let's examine the league's reigning champs, the Thunder. When everyone's healthy, the Thunder's starting lineup features a pair of 7-footers, Holmgren, who is ultra versatile, and Isaiah Hartenstein, who is more of a traditional big. A close look reveals that, with Holmgren missing more than half the season with an injury, the Thunder relied heavily on lineups dominated by players we regard as wings. During the regular season, nine of Oklahoma City's 10 most-used five-man lineups included only one big or no big at all. Wings such as Jalen Wiliams, Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe received tons of minutes. Even the Thunder's primary initiator, Gilgeous-Alexander, is 6-foot-6, a height typically associated with that of a wing. And Williams, commonly considered a wing, initiates the Thunder's offense quite a bit. Look, also, at the Celtics' teams of recent years. Yes, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White were referred to as the Celtics' 'point guards,' but in reality, Tatum and Brown were the Celtics' primary creators. My point isn't that the Wizards are trying to become the Thunder or the Celtics. My point is that great teams have versatile players, and that there's no such thing anymore as a player who is solely a small forward. You and I may think of Justin Champagnie, Bilal Coulibaly, Kyshawn George, Khris Middleton, Corey Kispert, Dillon Jones, Will Riley, Jamir Watkins and Cam Whitmore as guys best suited as threes, but in reality, many of them play the two, the three and the four and sometimes the one, with those roles varying by lineup or varying from possession to possession. Advertisement This goes back to one of my biggest pet peeves in the roster-construction punditry space. Pundits apply the guiding principles of NFL roster construction to the NBA, when, in fact, many of those principles are specific to football. 'The game of basketball is so fluid, and positionally things are changing,' Dawkins told me a few days after this year's draft. 'And unlike football, where you're drafting for one position on one side of the field, you have to play both ends of the floor in basketball. So sometimes you're playing one position on offense but you're playing a different type of position on defense, and there's cross-matches and mismatches. So the way the game is going, with the flexibility, the type of players we're drafting gives Coach (Brian) Keefe options. So we're just going to continue to find people who fit our attributes and bring them into our building.' Coulibaly and George are quintessential examples of this. With Coulibaly listed as 6-8 and George listed as 6-7, we'd traditionally consider them as threes. But last season, the Wizards often deployed Coulibaly and George defensively to guard opponents' top offensive initiators — a critical defensive role that, years ago, probably wouldn't have gone to 6-foot-8 or 6-foot-7 players. In the year ahead, I expect the Wizards' lineups to closely resemble the playing groups the Wizards employed during their best 10-game stretch last season, the stretch from Feb. 24 through March 15 in which they went 6-4. Think a three-wing lineup such as Carrington, Coulibaly, George, Middleton and Sarr or AJ Johnson, McCollum, Tre Johnson, Whitmore and either Bagley or Vukcevic. I won't be shocked to see the Wizards sometimes employ lineups of four wings and one big, depending on the opponent. On most nights, the Wizards will face opponents that play just one big at a time. Think Boston, Detroit, Philadelphia and Toronto, for instance. So, for the Wizards, employing wing-reliant lineups won't be the issue that will put Washington at a disadvantage. The Wizards will be able to make adjustments to protect themselves defensively against opponents that use lineups with two bigs. Cleveland's Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley would cause problems when they play simultaneously. New York would be tough on nights when Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson play simultaneously. Milwaukee would be a potential nightmare with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Myles Turner. Then again, Cleveland, New York and Milwaukee figure to cause problems for lots of East teams. Advertisement I think Wizards officials would portray having so many wings as an advantage for the players' development, citing how those players will have to compete against each other for playing time. There's some truth to that. Even with three-wing lineups, there will be only a finite number of minutes to go around. There's no question in my mind that, when healthy, and as long as they remain bought-in to the team concept, the highest-upside young players — Coulibaly, George, Tre Johnson and Whitmore — will get their minutes. But finding playing time for deserving players is something that Keefe will have to juggle. How many minutes will McCollum, Middleton, Kispert and Champagnie log each game? Perhaps Middleton will held out for one game of many back-to-backs, a decision that would keep Middleton healthy and would give opportunities for others, including Riley. I don't anticipate Jones or Watkins to play a whole lot, especially early in the season. And remember, with Washington now at 16 players on standard NBA contracts, the team will have to reduce its roster size by one player before the regular season starts. (Top photo of Kyshawn George: Reggie Hildred / Imagn Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Kirby Smart reveals his secret about ordering in Chick-fil-A drive-thru
Georgia football is a way of life in Athens. And it's not a surprise that head coach Kirby Smart gets recognized more often than not when he's in town. So how does he stay undetected when he picks up food in a drive-thru lane like Chick-fil-A? He revealed his secret to ESPN's Marty and McGhee. 'Worst thing about those places is they want your name. Right when I pull up, they go, 'Can I get a name for the order?' I always give them my son's name or my wife's name or if they're with me, somebody else. I don't like giving my own name. That gets into another conversation.' [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Smart joked that it's the best when folks don't recognize him. He also knows what Chick-fil-A's goal is and it's not questioning his playbook or game results. 'They're not worried about that. They try to get you through there quick,' he said, referring to the chain's reputation for fast lines. Smart and the Dawgs open the 2025 season between the hedges when they host Marshall on Aug. 30. Georgia will have at least three games this season air on Channel 2. The schedule includes Sept. 27 against Alabama and the rivalry games with Florida and Georgia Tech on Nov. 1 and Nov. 28. RELATED STORIES No. 5 Georgia is looking for defense to reclaim standard set by 2021-22 national championship teams AP top 25 college football preseason poll is out. How Channel 2 sports director Zach Klein voted Kirby Smart opens preseason camp for 10th season at Georgia with young team after 2024 SEC title
