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Texas A&M HC has massive praise for Wade Taylor IV ahead of home finale
Texas A&M senior guard Wade Taylor IV has been one heck of a player for the Aggies over the past four seasons.
In fact, with two games left remaining in No. 22 Texas A&M's regular-season and the home finale against No. 1 Auburn coming up on Tuesday evening, Taylor has a chance to make history in a big way.
He's 25 points away from being Texas A&M's all-time leading scorer. He's averaging 15.1 points per game on the season, but the Aggies will need a massive game from Taylor to beat the Tigers, so anything is possible in this big spot.
No matter what, though, head coach Buzz Williams believes the guard from Dallas, Texas has earned his spot in Texas A&M history.
“I personally think what four [Taylor] has done here in his four-year tenure, whether you talk about the wins of the program, his accelerated path and what’s he’s mean to each of the teams that he’s played on? I know it’s not the only record he’ll break but it’s maybe one of the most known. I think he’s the best player that’s ever played here when you add in all of those ingredients," Williams said in his Monday news conference (h/t On3).
Williams has been the head coach at Texas A&M since 2019-20 and he had a stint as an assistant coach with the program years before. He knows Aggies basketball well, so for Taylor IV to get that kind of credit from him before this massive game against Auburn means something.
Taylor's season high of 25 points came in early February against Rutgers, so he absolutely has the juice to break the record against Auburn.
To do it in his last game at Reed Arena against the No. 1 team in the country would be a terrific way for the Aggies to start off March.
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Raiders agree to contract extension with longest-tenured player
Four Raiders remain from the Oakland days of the franchise. The longest-tenured of those four players is now set to stick around in Las Vegas for a few more years, at least. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Raiders are extending left tackle Kolton Miller on a three-year, $66M agreement. The new deal includes $42.5M of guaranteed money. It’s no surprise that Miller is getting a new deal. We knew back in April that he was seeking a new deal as he skipped the team’s voluntary offseason program. Miller was entering the 2025 NFL season on the final year of the three-year, $54M extension he had signed in 2021 to move on from his rookie deal. This time around, he’s received a $4M-per-year raise. There were thoughts that the Raiders might be looking to draft his replacement with options like Armand Membou and Kelvin Banks Jr. in range at No. 6 overall, but the team opted instead for a pair of third-round, developmental linemen in Texas Tech’s Caleb Rogers and William Mary’s Charles Grant. Following the draft, Miller returned to team activities as the Raiders seemingly started to play ball. Miller had made it clear that he wanted to retire a Raider, it was just unclear whether or not the team was going to meet him there. Miller has been a full-time starting blindside blocker for the Raiders since they selected him 15th overall in 2018 out of UCLA. Out of a possible 116 games, Miller has been on the field for all but seven of them. It took a couple of years for his massive 6-foot-8, 325-pound frame to find his mojo in the NFL, but he improved year after year. Vegas opted to extend him before they even needed to make a decision on his fifth-year option, giving him an impressive — though not boundary-pushing — deal that would make him the fifth-highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL at the time. Miller rewarded their faith in him with the best season of his career, in which Pro Football Focus (subscription required) would grade him as the fifth-best offensive tackle in the league out of 83 players graded at the position, commensurate with his salary. Though he hasn’t graded that high in the three years since, rankings of sixth in 2022, 11th in 2023, and 13th last year show that, time and again, Miller is up there with the best bookends in the NFL. Miller’s new deal is, once again, impressive while not encroaching on the league’s highest-paid tackles, who are creeping up slowly on $30M per year. His $22M-per-year average ties him as the 11th-highest-paid tackle with Jordan Mailata and Zach Tom. The three-year term of the deal is short of those we’ve seen for young stars like Rashawn Slater (four years) and Tristan Wirfs (five years), but the contract length is well in line with players closer to his 29 years of age. Laremy Tunsil (28), Dion Dawkins (29), Ronnie Stanley (30), and Taylor Decker (30) all signed three-year deals of their own in the last two years. While kicker Daniel Carlson shared a rookie year in Oakland with Miller, he didn’t join the team until Week 3 after the team that drafted him (Vikings) waived him two weeks into the season. Having worn a Raiders jersey longer than any other player in the locker room, as a result, Miller’s tenure has been extended through the 2028 season. It’s still to be determined whether or not he’ll spend his entire career in silver and black, as he desires, but today’s deal goes a long way in helping him towards that goal.
Phillies' blockbuster trade just upped the pressure on Dodgers
The Philadelphia Phillies struck a deal to land a big bullpen arm in Jhoan Duran on Wednesday night, not only boosting their own relief corps but also putting more pressure on the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both the Dodgers and Phillies had been linked to Duran, a right-hander who posted 12 saves along with a 2.01 ERA so far this season. However, it was Philadelphia that struck the pre-trade-deadline deal, bringing the 27-year-old on board in exchange for a pair of the franchise's top 10 prospects. Now the next move belongs to Los Angeles. Both the Phillies and Dodgers are expected to be among the teams competing for the National League title in October, but Los Angeles is in desperate need to reinforce its bullpen before that happens. Dodger relievers Tanner Scott, Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips and Brusdar Graterol have all spent time on the injured list this year, and the Los Angeles bullpen has suffered with their absences. Entering Wednesday's action, Dodgers relievers had posted a minus-3.4 Wins Above Average (WAA), placing Los Angeles 25th among MLB's 30 teams in that category. Additionally, Dodgers starters have thrown just 493.1 innings this year. That's the lowest number in MLB and makes Los Angeles the only MLB team to have their starters not cross the 500-inning threshold. With L.A. starters not going deep into the game and current Dodger relievers struggling with health and performance when called upon, it's clear that Duran would have been a big piece for the Dodgers to add to their personnel puzzle. With Duran heading to Philadelphia and Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase off the trading block after being the subject of an MLB investigation, the number of true impact relievers is dwindling ahead of Thursday's 6 p.m. (Eastern) MLB trade deadline. Minnesota's Griffin Jax is still a possibility, as is David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, the clock is ticking on the Dodgers to make a move ... and it will likely be a costly one in terms of prospects. In the wake of the Phillies claiming arguably the biggest bullpen prize of the trade deadline, Los Angeles can't afford to wait.
Fabrizio Romano makes it sound like Alexander Isak to Liverpool transfer is imminent
Liverpool already signed one of the best strikers on the transfer market this summer in Eintracht Frankfurt star Hugo Ekitke, bagging the Bundesliga breakout star for a cool 80 million pounds. Ekitike was one of the best strikers in Europe last season and wanted by virtually every top Premier League club interested in a striker, including Chelse and Newcastle. Liverpool signed Ekitike as an upgrade on Darwin Nunez, but after selling Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich for nearly as much as they bought Ekitike for, the Reds are now after another forward. Except they want another striker. And they don’t just want any striker. They want the striker who rivaled Erling Haaland as the Premier League’s best last season, posting a career year and putting all of his raw talent together for Newcastle. Alexander Isak is practically begging for a Liverpool transfer After striking out on Ekitke to Liverpool, the Magpies are now at serious risk of losing their most prized player to Liverpool, too, as the Reds have been in hot pursuit of Alexander Isak. Now, Fabrizio Romano reports that Isak is simply waiting for Liverpool to submit a record-breaking transfer bid to Newcastle in order to force the Saudi Arabia-owned club into selling the superstar to Anfield. Isak, for his part, is reportedly so set on joining Liverpool that they are his “only clear choice” despite another Saudi government-owned club, the Saudi Pro League’s highly ambitious Al-Hilal, throwing a ton of money at the Swedish international. Romano writes that Isak made his decision to join Liverpool “weeks ago”, so Liverpool won’t have any sort of issues with getting the 25-year-old striker sensation to pen a personal agreement on contractual terms with the reigning Premier League champions. The fact that Isak is reportedly openly striking out of practice in order to leave Newcastle and is merely, per Fab, biding his time until Liverpool offers a deal to the Magpies is a huge sign that a deal is going to happen. If, as Romano says, Liverpool are ready to break another record – they already did with Florian Wirtz earlier this summer – to sign Isak, then it’s hard to see Newcastle saying no when they have a 25-year-old striker in his prime who is strong-arming the club into selling. Newcastle want to build something that lasts, so they can’t afford to get into a feud with their best player when they can take big money on the table and parlay that into a slew of upgrades for a team that is nowhere near competing with Liverpool in the Premier League just yet. Meanwhile, if Liverpool can bag Isak, which seems like it will be the case, they will have the most enviable squad in the league with Mohammed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Isak, Ekitike, and Wirtz leading the attack.
Kings Up The Ante For Warriors-Jonathan Kuminga Sign & Trade
While the Golden State Warriors want restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga to bend knee, he’s betting on himself this offseason. As a result, he’s eschewed all opportunities to return to The Bay on their terms. In fact, at this point, it’s starting to sound as if he wants to get out of town by any means necessary. Ironically, that could lead to the 22-year-old combo forward joining a franchise that’s even more dysfunctional than the Warriors have been these past two seasons: the Sacramento Kings. Kings Up The Ante For Warriors-Jonathan Kuminga Sign Trade “He wants to go,” Andscape’s Marc J. Spears tells ESPN colleagues Malika Andrews and Kendrick Perkins. “He wants to go and the Kings are offering a starting spot (at) power forward next to Keegan Murray, next to (Domantas) Sabonis. He’s talked on a Zoom call with (general manager) Scott Perry, (assistant general manager) BJ Armstong, and also with their head coach (Doug Christie). So he’s in. He wants to go there… but, I think that first (round pick), the Warriors don’t like the first.” A previous report mentioned that Kuminga had met with Sacramento’s decision-makers. However, it was believed that the Kings had offered the Warriors a package of Devin Carter, Dario Saric and a second-round pick. Perhaps that really was the proposed package at the time. Nevertheless, the intel Spears received makes Golden State’s decision to dig in their heels a real head-scratcher. Letting Down Their Guard? “The Warriors have been defiant,” ESPN senior insider Shams Charania tells Andrews in a separate segment. “They want a good player. They also want an unprotected first-round pick — a good first-round pick. The Sacramento Kings, I’m told, have actually offered a first-round pick in those conversations. It’s been a conditional first-round pick, as well as a potential rotation player… but the Warriors wanted the Sacramento Kings to give an unprotected fully (sic) first-round pick.” The Kings have first-round picks available in each of the next five drafts, including two 2027 first-rounders (h/t ESPN). With that in mind, they can probably afford to give Golden State one that’s unconditional. Yet, the interest Kuminga has in signing with them combined with his disinterest in remaining with the Warriors and his ability to become an unrestricted free agent next year doesn’t give them much incentive to do so. That’s particularly true with the Phoenix Suns, who are also hot on Kuminga’s trail, not having a tradable first-round pick. Consequently, the Suns have offered four second-round picks, according to Spears. Notably, ESPN posted a graphic showing that Phoenix only has three tradable second-rounders.
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