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It has been nearly three weeks since the NBA suspended its season indefinitely. The NBA and National Basketball Players Association are discussing the possibility of withholding up to 25% of players' remaining salaries in a league escrow if regular season games are eventually canceled and not made up, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.  Players will be paid on full checks on Wednesday, but they have not been assured further payments,  according to The New York Times Marc Stein . Per ESPN, the NBA continues to be optimistic that the season will resume at some point, but the NBA's financial future was seemingly made more complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. The league  could exercise the Force Majeure clause in the collective bargaining agreement , which covers for catastrophic circumstances. Per ESPN, once there is a cancellation of games, the clause is automatically triggered. The use of the clause protects against a dramatic drop in the salary cap and luxur

Los Angeles defensive lineman Isaac Rochell credits teammate Joey Bosa as being the best passer rusher in the league. Sheltering in place is a common theme for people around the world. The same goes for NFL players trying stay in shape and keep their sanity during a global pandemic. Sports Illustrated spoke with Chargers defensive lineman Isaac Rochell about what he’s doing to keep busy and stay in peak physical condition. Rochell just finished his third year in the NFL and considers himself blessed to live in Southern California, a place he describes as “the nicest part of the country.” Living in California certainly has its benefits, especially when it comes to exercise. Rochell says he “can go across the street to the beach and do beach workouts … it’s almost a blessing in disguise because it’s forced us to get out on the beach and do some sand workouts we wouldn’t normally do.” The 24-year-old lineman out of Notre Dame says the Chargers' defensive line is the best in the c

The most baffling question of the NFL offseason: Are the Los Angeles Chargers really set on using Tyrod Taylor as their starting QB? Heading into 2020, there are a lot of teams who have played musical chairs with their starting quarterback. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers let NFL passing yards leader Jameis Winston leave so that they could sign Tom Brady, the Carolina Panthers waived Cam Newton to sign Teddy Bridgewater and the Los Angeles Chargers let Philip Rivers go and sign a one-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts. The Chargers were the runner-up in the Tom Brady sweepstakes, but after losing out of him, they have decided to use Tyrod Taylor as their starter and draft a rookie early on in this year’s NFL Draft. Does this move make sense? Interestingly, I think this is the correct move for the long-term success of the franchise. Bringing in a quarterback like Cam Newton or Jameis Winston would cost the team upwards of $25-30 million per season, which would take up a large amount of s

Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis talks about how he and his family are dealing with quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic, the latest NFL free agency news, and donating to Feeding America. Hall of Fame running back turned NFL Network analyst and CBD beverage  entrepreneur, Terrell Davis, is typically very busy, especially during the NFL season. But now that he, like most of the country, is practicing self-isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic, Davis finds himself with a lot more free time, which he happily welcomes.  Davis, a father of three, told Sports Illustrated he is taking full advantage of the extra down time by spending it with his family. "These are moments we otherwise wouldn't have gotten a chance to do." The former Broncos running back went on to say he is trying to "relish this moment because there is going to be a time when they get old and they move out and I won't have time to spend with them, so I'm trying to take advanta

UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones has pleaded guilty to his second drunken driving offense in New Mexico. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones has pleaded guilty to his second drunken driving offense in New Mexico. Court records show the 32-year-old mixed-martial arts fighter entered his plea Tuesday and was sentenced to one year of supervised probation. Jones also was ordered to complete a minimum of 90 days of out-patient treatment, pay maximum fines and fees, and complete community service. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped other charges of possession of an open container, no proof of insurance, and negligent use of a deadly weapon. In a statement, Jones apologized for disappointing family members, friends and fans. “I accept full responsibility for my actions and I know that I have some personal work to do which involves the unhealthy relationship I have with alcohol,” Jones said. Jones was arrested last week in A

The Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance being moved up should lead to the release of all streams. LeBron James asked and he received. According to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand ESPN and ABC will move the ten part Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance from June to April . And while this is cause for celebration amongst sports fans amidst a world currently without sports, it shouldn’t stop there with His Airness. If Jordan and LeBron can be brought together in harmony amongst the people then there is a bigger movement at play here...one that calls for everyone to #ReleasetheStreams . If you’re sitting on it, put it out. Immediately. I understand there are financial ramifications and things haven’t exactly gone as planned. But let’s be honest. Things suck right now. And we all need some entertainment relief. Look what happened with the damn Tiger King . Disney is rich. What’s to stop them from dropping Black Widow now? Then perhaps the trend could continue with

Ajax continued paying Abdelhak Nouri's salary while in a coma following his heart attack. Ajax has canceled Abdelhak Nouri's contract just days after he returned home  after over two years in the hospital following an on-field heart attack that wound up with him in a coma, according to Dutch media reports .  Ajax paid the 22-year-old's salary for the past two years, and his contract was set to be automatically renewed July 1. Ajax was reportedly required to notify Nouri's family if the club was terminating the deal. His family has reportedly been seeking a bigger settlement since Ajax admitted to providing "inadequate" medical assistance when he collapsed during a preseason friendly against Werder Bremen in Austria in 2017. Nouri was revived on the field following the cardiac arrhythmia and was then airlifted to a local hospital, but Ajax said it should have acted quicker to use a defibrillator. Nouri, despite being able to communicate to a degree with his

“He was bringing me back with one arm.” LeBron to the rescue Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony did an Instagram Live chat over the weekend and Melo gave us a story of a different kind of heroism from LeBron.  Wade’s wife Gabrielle Union asked Melo to tell the story of “when we were in the Bahamas and it didn’t look like you were going to make it.” Melo was taken aback and said just thinking of the incident made him sweat, but he did end up recounting the harrowing ordeal.  LeBron, Melo and D-Wade were vacationing in the Bahamas and had taken a boat out to snorkel and swim to a cave. When the rest of the crew returned to the boat, Melo lingered in the water for a bit. Then he felt himself being pulled by the current ”in the middle of the ocean, opposite from the boat.” That’s when LeBron leapt into action. “Then I look up at the boat, and I see Bron jumped off the boat like he’s MacGyver,” Anthony said. “He jumped off the boat into the water. He was bringing me back with one arm.

Our business of football analyst draws a parallel between Tom Brady and another QB who left his long-time team. He also offers perspective on Bill O'Brien's situation in Houston. With some time having passed since the two-part decision by Tom Brady to (1) leave the Patriots , and (2) join the Buccaneers , I thought I would share my perspective looking back. I completely expected the first decision and was completely surprised by the second. Let’s examine. Goodbye, New England As I commented at the time, Brady’s renegotiation of his Patriots contract a year ago framed what was to come. Along with his usual cap deferral (Brady now counts $13.5 million on the Patriots cap while no longer there), Brady strategically negotiated an end to the contract after last season, making him a free agent for the first time in his two-decade career. Negotiating that “out” was purposeful; he wanted out. I see some parallels from my time with the Packers and the end of the Brett Favre era. Bo

This season, more so than any other, promised to be Mike Trout's best yet. Every baseball season at its start is a blue Tiffany box tied with white satin ribbon in the palm of your hand. Something special will be revealed, guaranteed. The mysteries are in only the particulars and magnitude of its bejeweled splendor. We could have made one easy guess about this season. It promised to be the greatest season of the greatest player of this generation, Mike Trout. Instead, the coronavirus pandemic has stolen the probability of such a gift—the gift of one full season of peak Trout. It is one of a million small consequences that today mean nothing against the global threat to human life. But within the baseball community it is a consequence that will have aesthetic and historical import. Trout turns 29 on Aug. 7. The Angels' center fielder is coming off a season in which he set career highs for home runs (45) and slugging (.645), even though he missed the final three weeks of t

We crunched 10 years’ worth of data to determine—based solely on the numbers—which college programs have the right to brand themselves the modern ‘U.’ Part II: Linebacker U. We determined each “Position U.” by measuring what every college should strive to do, in sports and beyond: Prepare students for professional careers. For the full explanation of our scoring system, scroll to the bottom of this article. Penn State has long been known as Linebacker U., but Sean Lee, now a rotational player in Dallas, is the program’s last “great” linebacker still active in the NFL. In fact, aside from Lee and NaVorro Bowman, no Nittany Lions linebacker who entered the league since 2010 has been a starter for any NFL team for more than a season. That leaves the Linebacker U. competition to two SEC powerhouses: Alabama and LSU , who have each put a dozen linebackers into the NFL since 2010. For our project, we considered linebackers to be off-the-ball (aka “stack”) LBs, as opposed to stand-up ed

The network previously planned to air the 10-part documentary 'The Last Dance' in June. ESPN and ABC will move the release of the 10-part Michael Jordan documentary "The Last Dance" from June to April, according to the New York Post's Andrew Marchand.  The documentary detailing Jordan's final season with the Bulls in 1997-98 will debut its first installment on Sunday, April 19. The schedule for when each episode will air has yet to be announced. The highly-anticipated documentary will hopefully help fill the void left by the suspension of all live games across the NBA, NHL , MLB and college sports . The NBA suspended play indefinitely on March 12, and no return date has been targeted.  Numerous NBA players have tested positive for the coronavirus, including Jazz All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell , two-time Finals MVP Kevin Durant , and Celtics guard Marcus Smart.  There are more than 729,100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus globally acr

May events in San Jose, London and Temecula, Calif. have been canceled due to coronavirus outbreak. Three Bellator events slated to be held in May were canceled on Monday, according to ESPN's Ariel Helwani . Bellator 242 was scheduled for May 9 in San Jose, followed by Bellator London on May 16. Bellator 243 was slated to be held back in California on May 29, including a flyweight match between Liz Carmouche and Mandy Bohm. UFC postponed three upcoming events on March 16 amid the coronavirus outbreak. UFC president Dana White said the league's offices will be closed through March 31, asking all employees to begin working from home.  UFC on ESPN+ 29, UFC on ESPN 8, and UFC on ESPN+ 30 will be postponed due to the coronavirus.  There are more than 729,100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus globally across at least 171 countries.

The NCAA granting spring athletes an extra year of eligibility was the appropriate gesture, but the devil will be in the details—and the dollars. The NCAA has left the front porch light on for Class of 2020 spring sports athletes. The runners, jumpers, softball players, baseball players and others who had their college careers cut short earlier in March can come back to school for another year . Winter sports athletes? Not so much. Unfortunate as it is, that was always a long shot. The spring sports that were canceled just as seasons had begun were the more obvious casualty. Three centuries ago in mid-March, when the decisions were made to terminate those seasons, it seemed too early to call off the mid-June College World Series. By the end of March, that decision isn’t questioned by anyone. So, yes, this is an appropriate gesture, and let’s take a moment to acknowledge that. The NCAA and its member schools, so often derided for allegedly treating student-athletes as chattel, too

O'Neal clarified his appearance on the Netflix show with 'Tiger King' star Joe Exotic. Shaquille O'Neal defended his appearance on the Netflix Show Tiger King  on Monday, saying he "had no idea" about the events occurring at the Oklahoma ranch owned by featured character Joseph Maldonado-Passage. Maldonado-Passage, who goes by "Joe Exotic," was sentenced to 22 years in prison in January after being found guilty in a murder-for-hire plot. He was also found guilty of illegally selling tiger cubs. "So we go in there, and it's a beautiful place, and the character that was there was Exotic Joe," O'Neal said on  The Big Podcast With Shaq . "We're there and I dropped some donations for the tigers' foods and all that. We take pictures with [the] tigers. We went back a couple times. Then we go back another time and we found out that he's involved with all the stuff, and then, actually, I stopped going." O'Neal

The NBA hopes to have the event launch on Friday, according to Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes. The NBA is planning a "players-only NBA-2K tournament" to be broadcast on ESPN, according to Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes .  "The league hopes to launch the event Friday, with the tournament including some big-name players," per Haynes. The NBA suspended play indefinitely on March 12 after Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Teammate Donovan Mitchell also tested positive, as did Pistons forward Christian Wood , Celtics guard Marcus Smart and four members of the Brooklyn Nets , including Kevin Durant.  No return date has been set for the NBA, and there remains the possibility that the remainder of the 2019-20 season is canceled entirely. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban remains optimistic the NBA will resume , citing late May as a potential timeframe.  There are more than 729,100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus globally across at least 171 countries

The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will be converted to a 350-bed facility, according to the Wall Street Journal's Katie Honan. A training facility at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y. is being converted into a 350-bed facility to fight the coronavirus outbreak, according to The Wall Street Journal's Katie Honan .   The Billie Jean King Tennis Center is one of the stadiums used for the US Open, held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park each August. Construction to alter the facility could begin on Tuesday, per Honan.  The United States Tennis Association suspended all tournaments indefinitely on March 13. The French Open has been postponed until September, but there has been no announcement on a delay for the 2020 US Open.  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the death toll in New York due to the coronavirus had climbed to 1,218 as of Monday morning. There are more than 729,100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus globally across at least 171 countrie

Carter was the first player in school history to be named to the All-SEC first team and All-American in the first three years of her career. Texas A&M three-time All-American guard Chennedy Carter has declared for the WNBA draft, forgoing her senior season, Carter announced on Twitter Sunday. “After much consideration, thought and conversation I have decided to forgo my senior season and enter the 2020 WNBA Draft,” Carter said in a statement. “It saddens me that I was not able to chase a national championship with my teammates this year due to circumstances beyond our control. Although a difficult decision, I am looking forward to pursuing my childhood dream of playing in the WNBA.” Carter leaves school holding Aggie records for length of a double-digit scoring streak (62), 20-point games (62) and 30-point games (12). The three-time All-SEC first team guard needed just seven points to become the school's all-time leading scorer, and 17 points to reach 2,000 in her career.

Lee wrote the script in 1996, and had tabbed Denzel Washington to play Robinson. People across the country adhering to self-quarantine protocol received a surprise bit of reading material on Sunday in the form of an unmade, previously unreleased script from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee. On his Instagram page, Lee posted a video to his fans wishing them well as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic. He also shared the link to an unmade script he wrote for a would-be feature film about Jackie Robinson. Calling the film one of his "dream projects," the version Lee released is the fifth draft of the script, and was written in 1996. Though the project was never made, Lee had already tabbed his choice to play the iconic Robinson. "I wrote a script for Jackie Robinson—I wanted Denzel (Washington) to play Jackie, but Denzel said he was too old," Lee said. "I pulled the script out of the vault, so I'm gonna share the script with you. And

The buyer is reportedly known for having the largest collection of Lakers memorabilia worldwide. The towel that Lakers legend Kobe Bryant had draped over his shoulders during his farewell speech in his final NBA game in 2016 , along with tickets to the game, sold for more than $30,000 Sunday at a virtual action, according to CNN's Amanda Jackson.   Bryant ended his farewell speech with his trademark, "Mamba out," sign-off. As Bryant walked off Staples Center's floor for the final time as a player, a fan grabbed the Body Armor towel off of Bryant.  Per CNN, it was originally sold in an earlier auction in 2016 for just over $8,000. Jeff Woolf, president of Iconic Auctions, told CNN that the buyer is known for having the largest collection of Lakers memorabilia worldwide.  "He is a devoted Lakers fan," Woolf said. "His long-term plan is to create a museum in Southern California." Earlier this month, the same bidder paid nearly $30,000 for a mid

What does moneyline mean in the gambling world? How can bettors make the most cash on moneyline bets? What Are Moneyline Sports Betting Odds? Once available only in Delaware, Montana, Nevada and Montana, legalized betting is now offered in several states. From recreational bettors to high rollers, millions of Americans place bets on a variety of events everyday. While odds on pro and college sports are the most prevalent, prop-betting options on politics and entertainment are also readily available. This SI Gambling 101 feature explains moneyline odds and provides examples of pros and cons associated with them. Also know as a “straight up” bet, moneyline wagers require bettors to pick which side will win outright. Moneyline favorites will always have negative odds while the underdog side receives a plus price. Neither side receives a point-spread advantage or disadvantage on straight up wagers. Original bet amounts are returned to players on all winning moneyline wagers. How Do NF

De'Andre Hunter’s path to the NBA has never been a cookie-cutter one, and that’s outlined in a new docuseries he made with his brother. Hawks rookie De’Andre Hunter did not believe the NBA season was actually suspended when he first heard about it. It happened while play was stopped during Atlanta’s last game, against the Knicks, and Hunter had some doubts about his source. “It was our ball, I think it was an out-of-bounds, and Cam Reddish came over to me and said, ‘Yeah bro, season over.’ I was like, ‘What you talking about?,’” Hunter told Sports Illustrated over the phone. “I didn’t believe him at the time because Cam always be playing and stuff.” But Hunter went back to the bench and confirmed the truth from the rest of his teammates, meaning his rookie season would be cut short—for now. Hunter’s journey has never been a cookie-cutter one, and that’s outlined in a new docuseries, Brotherhood the Virginia product and his brother made about De’Andre’s path to the NBA. Produ

Washington will reportedly boost its secondary by signing cornerback Ronald Darby. Cornerback Ronald Darby has agreed to a one-year, $4 million deal with Washington, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. Darby has spent the last three seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. Last season, he recorded 37 tackled and two interceptions in 11 games played. Quarterbacks have completed 64% of their passes when targeting Darby in coverage. Darby has struggled with injuries and has missed 20 games over the past three seasons. JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington expects Darby to compete with Fabian Moreau for the starting role.