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🏀 Good morning to all however particularly to …

THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS

One of many iconic households in all of leisure is transferring on from proudly owning one in every of sports activities’ crown jewels. The Buss household agreed to promote its majority stake within the Lakers to Dodgers proprietor Mark Walter. The franchise was valued at $10 billion, making it the costliest U.S. sports activities crew sale ever by a large margin.

• The Buss household belief, which incorporates all six Buss siblings, owns 66% of the crew.
• The household has owned the crew since 1979, when Dr. Jerry Buss purchased it from Jack Kent Cooke. Jerry Buss died in 2013, and his daughter Jeanie Buss has been the crew’s governor since. She’s going to retain that function.
• The Lakers received 11 titles underneath the Buss household’s possession.
• Magic Johnson congratulated Jeanie Buss and Walter on social media.
• The earlier largest U.S. sports activities franchise sale belonged to the Celtics, who offered to Invoice Chisholm for $6.1 billion in March.
• Walter — a minority investor within the Lakers since 2021 — bought the Dodgers in 2012. Since then, the Dodgers have received extra video games than some other crew, received two World Sequence titles and spent extravagantly on superstars similar to Shohei Ohtani.

It is that final level that is the largest. The Lakers, for all their pomp and circumstance and custom, had been removed from the largest spenders just lately, Sam Quinn notes, an strategy that price them on the courtroom.

R.J. Anderson detailed how Walter constructed the Dodgers right into a powerhouse by not solely sparing no expense however by hiring neatly, embracing developments and rather more. Oh yeah, and importantly, he stays out of the way in which.

Walter’s buy makes Luka Dončić an enormous winner, however would possibly make the GM who introduced him to Los Angeles, Rob Pelinka, a bit of bit antsy, Sam writes in his winners and losers.

• Quinn: “[Walter’s] going to place the suitable folks in place to steer this crew into the long run. That is no assure of something, in fact, but it surely’s a very good signal for Dončić’s hopes of competing for titles in Los Angeles. … Pelinka’s efficiency within the 2025 offseason is now paramount. If he can put a championship-level crew round Dončić and LeBron James, his job is probably going protected. But when this season goes poorly, with out the safety of the Buss household’s possession, his seat may begin getting very heat in a short time.”

👍 Honorable mentions

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 Ravens signal Jaire Alexander: Winners, losers and what’s subsequent

There is a Louisville faculty reunion taking place in Baltimore. At some point after Lamar Jackson inspired the Ravens to signal Jaire Alexander, Baltimore listened, signing the previous All-Professional cornerback to a one-year, $6 million deal.

There is not any doubting Alexander’s expertise. The 28-year-old former Packers standout has been a Professional Bowler and a second-team All-Professional in every of his final two wholesome seasons. The issue is these seasons have been in 2022 and 2020. He performed in simply seven video games in 2024 and 2023 and simply 4 in 2021, with a litany of accidents accountable.

Baltimore already had one of many league’s finest secondaries, which options Kyle Hamilton, Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins, Malaki Starks and Chidobe Awuzie. If Alexander stays wholesome — admittedly an enormous “if” — he provides an aggressive, ballhawking presence.

That makes Baltimore a winner and opposing quarterbacks a loser, Tyler Sullivan writes.

• Sullivan: “Within the seven video games he performed final season, Alexander allowed opposing quarterbacks to finish 56.7% of their passes with him in protection and recorded an 86.9 passer score. If Baltimore can keep its degree of play from the second half of final season on protection, the addition of Alexander solely makes the Ravens extra of a headache to face twice a 12 months, particularly if he can keep wholesome.”

Baltimore has arguably the NFL’s most gifted roster. All 11 of their 2024 Professional Bowlers return, and there is depth to spare. At this level, it is Tremendous Bowl or bust, and the Alexander transfer displays that.

🏀 NBA Draft high 100 massive board, mock draft: Cooper Flagg No. 1

With underneath every week to go till the NBA Draft, the finalized CBS Sports activities high 100 rankings have arrived. It must be no shock Cooper Flagg is No. 1, and Dylan Harper is No. 2. Now we have full scouting reviews for the highest 10 gamers proper right here.

In a late twist, Tre Johnson rose to No. 3; Kyle Boone offers him a grade of 93.5 (out of 100), compares him to Malik Monk and charges his strengths as “high-level scorer,” “creating playmaker” and “electrical fast launch weapon.” That final trait is what caught my eye most. When he is rolling as a bounce shooter, he is exhausting to cease.

In at No. 8 is Khaman Maluach, and Kyle wrote a fantastic story in regards to the South Sudan native, Duke product and “probably the most attention-grabbing prospect” within the draft:

• Boone: “With out a basketball objective throughout lockdown, he saved pushing himself however needed to get inventive: he’d stack massive tires one on high of one other till the makeshift rubber rim was 10 ft tall, or someplace shut. Then he’d follow his capturing. That continued for a 12 months earlier than NBA scouts advisable he attend NBA Academy Africa in Saly, Senegal, which opened in November 2018. … Maluach was the youngest participant ever at an NBA Academy faculty upon enrollment and roughly 4,700 miles away from his dwelling in Uganda — practically double the space, for scale, from Los Angeles to Durham, North Carolina.”

Maluach goes ninth to the Raptors in Kyle’s newest mock draft.

Nonetheless, it is Flagg, Maluach’s Blue Devils teammate, who has been and would be the object of fascination. Sam says if the Mavericks actually need to profit from Flagg, they need to commerce Anthony Davis.

🏒 How Panthers’ tradition lifted them to dynasty standing

“Tradition” is a phrase you hear rather a lot in sports activities however cannot actually outline. It is camaraderie, sure, but it surely’s additionally belief and teamwork. A capability to push each other with out pushing too exhausting and let gamers be themselves with out compromising on requirements.

The back-to-back Stanley Cup Last champion Panthers embody tradition, Austin Nivison writes.

• Nivison: “Paul Maurice‘s enthusiasm for teaching has been restored, and the tradition within the Florida locker room is the largest motive why. … In fact, crew leaders like Sam Bennett are the cultivators and caretakers of that tradition. The toughness and dedication to profitable from the Panthers’ high gamers turned evident shortly after their Sport 6 win. … In Dawn, tradition is immeasurable, however for very totally different causes. The Panthers have taken an overused cliche and developed a real dedication to selflessness and profitable.”

I beloved this story. Tradition could also be immeasurable, however you noticed it each step of the way in which. After which the Panthers had one heck of a celebration.

📺 What we’re watching Thursday

⚾ Angels at Yankees, 1:05 p.m. on MLB Community
⚾ Mets at Braves, 7:15 p.m. on MLB Community
🏀 Sport 6: Thunder at Pacers (Thunder lead 3-2), 8:30 p.m. on ABC
⚽ USMNT vs. Saudi Arabia, 9:15 p.m. on FS1