WNBA to expand to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia over next 5 years, giving league 18 teams
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Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
K'Andre Miller is eager for his new start after trade from New York Rangers to Carolina Hurricanes
Associated Press K'Andre Miller kept his phone off and avoided social media in recent weeks with his future uncertain after five seasons with the New York Rangers. Now, he's eager to jump into the Carolina Hurricanes' aggressive system. The Hurricanes acquired the 25-year-old former first-round pick to bolster their blue line and gave him a long-term contract Tuesday, the first official day of free agency. He joins a team that has made seven straight playoff trips and is coming off a third trip to the Eastern Conference final in that span. Carolina has a headlining defenseman in Jaccob Slavin, but is retooling that group with veterans Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov unlikely to return. The tweaks trading away defenseman Scott Morrow — a rising prospect pressed into playoff duty due to injuries — and draft picks to New York to land Miller. 'They have such a fast team,' Miller said Wednesday in a Zoom call with reporters. 'They get up and down the ice in a fast motion and they do everything as a team. It's a fun group to watch and they've had a lot of success recently. So I'm excited to join that style of game, and they have a great team over there.' The Hurricanes project the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Miller as a strong fit with his size and skating ability. They're counting on him to bolster a system that relies on an aggressive forecheck to pressure opponents, get control of the puck and keep it to maintain pressure in the offensive zone. The Hurricanes are betting Miller is still on the rise, handing him an eight-year contract paying an average annual value of $7.5 million through the 2032-33 season. There were certainly flashes of it with the Rangers as a regular Metropolitan Division foe for the Hurricanes. The No. 22 overall pick in 2018 by the Rangers has played at least 74 regular-season games for four straight seasons, including posting 17 goals and 56 assists for 73 points over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. But his play fell off last season as he went from looking like a Rangers building block to expendable, coming amid New York's overall crash from Presidents' Trophy winner in 2024 to six points out of a wild-card playoff spot this year. Afterward, Miller tried to tune out 'all the speculation and kind of noise and uncertainty with New York." That meant focusing instead on getting stronger and getting mentally prepared for what's next. And now, that's a new start. 'I think there was a lot of noise throughout the season,' Miller said. 'So I think it was definitely in the back of my head that something could happen, might happen. I loved my time in New York and it was great, but I'm excited for what's to come in Carolina.' ___ AP NHL: recommended
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sophie Cunningham's twerking goes viral after Fever wins Commissioner's Cup
Nobody was more excited when the Indiana Fever won the Commissioner's Cup than WNBA star Sophie Cunningham. The WNBA team made franchise history when they beat the Minnesota Lynx 74-59 in the 2025 Commissioner's Cup Final on Tuesday, July 1. Advertisement After the big win, the attention quickly turned to Cunningham, 28, during the post-game celebrations. In a viral video posted to X, the blonde bombshell WNBA star could be seen turning her back to the camera and twerking low during her teammate Sydney Colson's livestream, igniting a firestorm on social media. Some fans praised her celebratory dance, with one fan commenting on X, "Now this is how you get WNBA viewership up." Another person wrote, "We're here for it!" Someone else said, "Sophie giving the fans what they all wanted." At the same time, others didn't love it. Advertisement "Oh, you think you've seen some moves? That's cute. I've seen better crossover plays in a kindergarten playground. Keep practicing, and maybe one day you'll be ready for the big leagues," one person wrote on X. "Yet they want us to take the WNBA seriously," someone else wrote. "Nothing shaking," a third person said. "She should never do it again," another person commented. How defending Caitlin Clark made Cunningham a fan favorite This isn't the first time Cunningham has gone viral in recent weeks. The University of Missouri standout also made waves on June 17 when she was ejected from the WNBA Fever clash against the Connecticut Sun. Advertisement During the game, Cunningham threw a flagrant 2 foul in defense of her teammate Caitlin Clark. Since the incident, her popularity has skyrocketed on social media.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
LeBron James to Cleveland? Why heading East for the crown could be the move
The dust has largely settled in 2025 free agency and many around the league are still wondering: What in the world is going on with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers? It's a question that seemed to be answered last week when the 40-year-old picked up his $52.6 million player option to re-join the Lakers for next season. But all that clarity went out the window the moment his agent Rich Paul paired the news with an extended statement about the need for urgency in LakerLand. Advertisement "LeBron wants to compete for a championship," Paul told ESPN. "He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we've had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career. "We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what's best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what's best for him." Look East, LeBron. (Photo by) (Harry How via Getty Images) Well, so much for that urgency. The Lakers' response has been so tepid it's hard to even categorize it as a response. For one, the team still hasn't even officially announced or publicized the return of the all-time leading scorer and second-team All-NBA member. Then they let Dorian Finney-Smith walk to rival Houston. They whiffed on Brook Lopez, who went to the other Los Angeles team, and still haven't added a center. Advertisement Maybe LeBron saw the writing on the wall and acted first to get in front of the Lakers' imminent apathy. Paul made it known, telling ESPN's Dave McMenamin earlier this week, that four teams have inquired with the Klutch Sports CEO about trading for James. Engineering a trade, with his no-trade clause in hand, may have been the plan all along. Should LeBron's goal truly be to win a championship, then the calculus is simple: He needs to head East. More specifically, he should take his talents back to Cleveland, where the road to the Finals is clearer than ever. The West's Grand Slam The West has eaten the East's lunch time and time again this century. Since 2000, in head-to-head matchups, the Western Conference has won the majority of inter-conference games in a staggering 23 of the last 26 seasons, according to Basketball-Reference tracking. The final tally has the West earning 6,316 wins against the East compared to just 4,997 victories on the other side. It's unfathomable how lopsided the conferences are. The East could go 1,318-0 going forward and they'd still have a worse record against its conference foe since 2000. A development that the ever-observant LeBron has assuredly noticed, the rich are indeed getting richer. Advertisement Over the past few months the Western Conference has clinched what I'll call the Conference Grand Slam — winning the regular season, the NBA Finals, the Draft Lottery and more recently, the free agency window (more on that later). After the clean sweep, the West has put itself head and shoulders above its easterly foes. As of Wednesday morning, the three most likely teams to win the championship — OKC, Houston and Denver — all hail from one conference, per BetMGM odds. Which, if it holds, would be the first time since 2008 that the three heaviest favorites entering the season belong to the same conference, per tracking. [Get more Lakers news: Lakers team feed] Knowing how cavernous that gap is now, it would be understandable if both James and the Lakers surveyed the landscape and came to the conclusion that, without forgoing long-term assets, the purple-and-gold simply can't compete at the highest levels together. Advertisement But one team in the East can. That's his former squad, the Cleveland Cavaliers — where James can end his career where it all began. Cleveland still sits atop the broken East It wasn't long ago when the Boston Celtics were thought to be building an enduring reign atop the NBA, but then the 2025 playoffs happened. In Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks, Tatum crumbled to the hardwood with a ruptured Achilles. The Celtics lost the series and immediately vacated their seat among the NBA's inner circle. But it wasn't just Tatum and Boston who took a big step back. Milwaukee's Damian Lillard and Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton suffered Achilles tears in the playoffs as well, all but removing those three clubs from serious title contention in 2025-26. Though Milwaukee added Myles Turner, it did so at a historic cost of stretch-and-waiving Lillard's $113 million contract over the next five seasons. Meanwhile, the reigning East champs pushed their 2025 first-round pick a year down the road and largely sat out free agency, presumably with the goal of maximizing their 2026 first-round pick that they deftly reacquired from New Orleans during the NBA Finals. The opening is there for Cleveland now that Boston has dismantled its championship roster. The Celtics' difficult looming cap decisions were made easy by Tatum's injury. They traded Jrue Holiday's long-term contract to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Anfernee Simons' expiring contract and then dumped Kristaps Porzingis' salary on the Atlanta Hawks in another cost-saving measure. Together, shedding Holiday and Porzingis' contracts lopped off $144 million off the Celtics' 2025-26 total salary and tax bill. Boston effectively waved the white flag. Advertisement Meanwhile, in Milwaukee, the Bucks hit the nuclear option in the wake of Lillard's injury. Once Brook Lopez left Giannis Antetokounmpo's side and headed West to join the Clippers in free agency, it ensured that none of the Greek Freak's starting teammates from the 2021 championship team remain with the club. Milwaukee pivoted by waiving Lillard and bringing in Myles Turner at four years and $107 million to help rescue a decimated roster. It remains to be seen whether the Turner deal will stifle a possible Antetokounmpo trade demand. Even if a request isn't made, Milwaukee doesn't have a title-worthy supporting cast around Antetokounmpo. They've taken a step back even though they're trying. Elsewhere, the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks appear eager to crash the East contender party with their moves, but the leap would have to be massive; neither team even had a winning record last season. The case for the Cavs going for LeBron is simple: They won 64 games last season, but looked severely flawed in yet another disappointing postseason run. As LeBron's former Cleveland teammate Channing Frye presciently said on an Oddball episode back in March, the current iteration of the Cavs doesn't measure up to the LeBron Cavs teams simply because they lack what Frye termed as 'a bully' on the floor. What better way to solve that problem than to bring back the bully that led the 2016 championship himself? It's possible, but it will take some heavy lifting. Because of the new trade-restrictive CBA, the Cavs re-acquiring James will likely necessitate additional teams being involved. Advertisement A four-team framework proposed by cap guru Eric Pincus from B/R is the most intriguing option, looping in Houston and Utah as trade partners. The bones of the trade are as follows: Cleveland sends Darius Garland to Utah for Walker Kessler; Houston receives Finney-Smith in a sign-and-trade; the Lakers add Jarrett Allen and De'Andre Hunter; the Lakers move LeBron and his son Bronny back home to Cleveland. Various picks and salary cap filler would certainly be included to grease the wheels, but that's the basic structure. Yes, it's a mammoth trade, but one that checks a ton of boxes for the respective teams and stays within the bounds of complicated cap rules. As I wrote in this space back in May, Allen would be a perfect high-flying rim protector for Luka Dončić. Back then, I surmised that Cleveland would only entertain an Allen departure if they got bounced early from the playoffs. Which they did. For the Lakers, adding Hunter and Allen in a trade would explain why they haven't pursued top wings and centers in free agency. As for Cleveland, trading for Bully 'Bron solves two other pressing issues. Look, the team is paying its undersized backcourt, Garland and Donovan Mitchell, an astounding $276 million over the next three seasons, which is simply untenable. As we saw clearly this postseason, having two weak defenders on the perimeter will doom the Cavs in the modern 'weak link' NBA that marginalizes one-way players. Trading out Garland to a team long desperate for a lead point guard, the Jazz, would quell that concern. Advertisement Secondly, James' impending retirement could open up cap space for Kessler, who is due an extension off of his meager $4.9 salary in 2025-26. It's a dream scenario for Cleveland. How many All-NBA caliber players can they acquire without long-term money attached? It's LeBron, and … that's it. The big picture also justifies the LeBron-to-Cleveland move. For LeBron or any West player seeking a championship, they have to head East. The West is only getting better In almost comical fashion, the East-West divide widened on draft lottery night. Dallas leapfrogged 10 teams to win the rights to draft Cooper Flagg, one of the most accomplished freshmen to ever make the jump to the league. Advertisement It's not just that Flagg represents an elite talent going West. He's joining an unusually potent club at the top of the draft. With a record of 39-43, the Mavericks are the winningest team to select (and retain) their No. 1 overall pick since the 1982 Lakers. (For the historians out there: yes, the 41-41 Orlando Magic drafted Chris Webber in 1993, but traded him to 34-48 Golden State for the No. 3 pick, Anfernee Hardaway, and three first-round picks.) If that's not enough draft luck going the Western Conference's way, the San Antonio Spurs — already loaded with Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox — soared six spots on lottery night to snag Dylan Harper, another top prospect at the college level. The team already struck gold last year, drafting Stephon Castle, who won Rookie of the Year. With the highly underrated big Luke Kornet joining the squad from Boston, San Antonio is poised for a breakout season on the back of its internal development. Advertisement Kornet's arrival is symbolic of another larger trend in the NBA. During this free agency window, we've continued to see the Great Western Migration of NBA talent. From the East, the Western Conference added Cam Johnson, Ty Jerome, Jrue Holiday, Luke Kornet, D'Angelo Russell, Brook Lopez and Jusuf Nurkic — seven players who are considered positive impact players going forward, according to Estimated Plus-Minus ratings. The East? They brought in just four from the Western Conference: Desmond Bane, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Luka Garza and CJ McCollum. Zoom out and the picture gets even bleaker for the East. The 16 players that switched conferences to the East are collectively far worse than the 15 players that went the other way. According to EPM data from West-to-East players registered an aggregated MINUS-14.6 EPM while the West saw that same total check in at plus-5.3. Said another way, the caliber of players that the West took from the East were 20 points better per 100 possessions than the ones that the East took from the West. West adding talent And this doesn't even consider the Antetokounmpo situation looming over the league. If Antetokounmpo asked out of Milwaukee in the near future, the asset-rich teams that seem to be in prime position to trade for the two-time MVP are in the West: San Antonio and Houston. Of course, Antetokounmpo could force his way into easterly locales like New York and Atlanta, but it's hard to see Milwaukee preferring that trade route compared to what some West teams can offer. One detail that could give Atlanta a leg up: the Hawks possess Milwaukee's unprotected 2026 first-round pick swap from New Orleans. If the Bucks want to bottom out next season, they'll have to get Atlanta's participation in a deal. Advertisement If LeBron doesn't head back to Cleveland and Milwaukee reroutes Antetokounmpo to the West soon, the East's outlook will wear the 'Leastern' Conference label in near perpetuity. OKC could be building a dynasty and the only teams that seem to be daring to challenge them are coming from their own conference. While we're here, it's downright nonsensical that we're sticking with an antiquated playoff system of requiring an equal eight teams from each conference when the East-West imbalance continues to spiral out of control. The obvious fix for the blatant league inequity is moving to seeding the playoffs 1-16 league-wide regardless of conference affiliation, something that reportedly Adam Silver is a big proponent of. However, such a rule change would require a heavy majority of owners voting for the change and it's hard to see East owners going for it. Maybe the East-West divide naturally thins out when top players recognize the easier path to the Finals and decide to flee the West in the coming years. Ever the pioneer in player movement, James could walk down that road in the coming days and show everyone the way. If the league's eldest player wants to win a fifth championship while he's still at an All-NBA level, it's clear that the loaded Western Conference is no country for old men.
