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After the Hawks ultimately left draft night 2024 with wing Zaccharie Risacher, many thought the Wizards won the night by selecting longtime consensus No. 1 Alex Sarr at No. 2, followed by Bub Carrington and Kyshawn George later on.
And at first glance, they did. At 7-foot-1 with premier defensive ability and an intriguing offensive game featured around rim-running and a potential outside shot, Sarr would’ve been the choice for most at No. 1.
But an unprecedentedly bad Summer League has many re-thinking Washington’s decision, and Sarr as a whole.
In four games played, Sarr shot an abysmal 19% from the field, including just 12% 3-point shooting. At his size, his nine-for-47 mark from the field was historically awful. And the eye-test, which featured plenty of timid play around the rim, backed that up.
The Frenchman’s worst performance of the summer came against Donovan Clingan and the Trail Blazers, where he shot an ice-cold 0-for-15, finishing with 0 points in a bizarre outing.
Despite all of that, Sarr is still a high-level prospect that’s going to be capable of making a positive impact on a nightly basis.
Despite him being No. 1 on most people’s boards, Sarr was and obviously still is a project, especially offensively. And one that will potentially require a few years of development to even reach a passable point. But his size, frame and fluidity continue to be unteachable attributes that could make him an all-world defender, and even down the road, scorer.
While Summer League for Sarr was rough, he’s already put that portion in the rearview mirror, and he luckily has his entire career ahead of him to prove he’s not that player.
More must-reads:
- Warriors' Stephen Curry believes NBA players are 'underpaid'
- Bucks executive opens up on Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors
- The 'NBA Summer League MVPs' quiz
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Klay Thompson Reacts Angrily To Fan Asking About Megan Thee Stallion’s Former Partner
Klay Thompson's time in the offseason has been eventful. But with particular reference to his stay in New York City, the Dallas Mavericks guard has had myriad experiences with fans. After being followed around by a fan through the streets of the city a few days ago, Thompson had a comparatively unpleasant interaction recently. In a video posted on X, a fan can be seen asking Thompson to comment on his girlfriend Megan Thee Stallion's former partner, Tory Lanez. Needless to say, the guard wasn't inclined to comment on this and was visibly annoyed by the question as he said, "Bro, stay away from me. Get away from me." The fan was taken aback by Thompson's reaction. After interpreting the guard's response as hostile, he can be seen hanging back, while adding, "Why are you scared of me, bro?" In a whirlwind of public attention, Thompson's relationship with Megan Thee Stallion became one of the primary talking points of the offseason. From viral posts on social media to celebrities commenting on the relationship, the two have constantly been in the limelight. While this hasn't been a negative occurrence for the most part, it is quite clear that her past relationship with the rapper struck a nerve. This could also be attributed to the stories associated with the two, as sources claim that Lanez assaulted Megan after a pool party at Kylie Jenner's home in 2020. The two reportedly argued at the party. On the journey back, while Megan demanded to be let out of the car, Lanez opened fire, harming her in the process. The rapper was convicted of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, and negligent discharge of the firearm, leading to a 10-year prison sentence. Reportedly obtained bodycam footage suggests that Lanez didn't intentionally fire the gun at Megan. But the supposedly new evidence isn’t enough to overturn the conviction. Given the broader context, it is easy to see why Thompson was bothered by the question. When considering the kind of media backlash and social media vitriol his partner has faced after the traumatic experience, especially with Lanez's fans demanding "justice" for him, the Mavs guard was well within his rights to be upset. Regardless, it appears that Thompson is protecting his peace at the moment. Given that he and Megan appear to be in a good place with regard to their relationship, he has every reason to take things at his own pace.
Aaron Boone Makes Feelings Clear After Yankees’ Big Trade
The New York Yankees didn't come into the season with the strongest third base situation, and it only got worse over time. They converted traditional second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the hot corner after getting him at the Trade Deadline last season and installed a timeshare with him, DJ LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza, and Oswaldo Cabrera there in 2025. However, the latter player broke his ankle on May 12, and the Yankees released the now 37-year-old LeMahieu on July 10. Chisholm was primarily back at second at that point, so this left Peraza and Jorbit Vivas as their only true remaining third basemen. With Peraza hitting .147 and Vivas hitting .164, it was clear what the team's biggest need was. That's why it acquired veteran third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies on Friday. New York manager Aaron Boone gave his thoughts about the 30-year-old before Friday's bout with the Philadelphia Phillies, via SNY. "I know there's real offensive potential there. I know he's had real offensive success, as well as some struggles there over the last calendar year or two," he said. "It seems like over the last month he's really started swinging the bat like he's capable of. He can impact the ball, he can control the strike zone, he's had some swing-and-misses that have probably hurt him a little bit." "But then he can really defend over there," he continued. "The handful of times that we've played against them that I watch him, you're like, 'That's what it should look like over there.' He moves really well and has that prototypical good third base thing." McMahon is slashing .217/.314/.403 with 16 homers and 35 RBI over 100 games this season. He also has a .978 fielding percentage and six errors. Right-handed pitcher Will Warren (6-5, 4.91 ERA) will start for the Yankees against Phillies right-hander Taijuan Walker (3-5, 3.75 ERA) on Friday.
Steelers rookie Will Howard may have already moved up the depth chart
Pittsburgh Steelers training camp is in full swing, and it’s already been full of excitement. With many new faces on the roster, fans are eager to see how these additions will fit in. After a busy and eventful offseason, training camp serves as the perfect opportunity for all the anticipation surrounding the team to start coming together on the field. One of the most talked-about positions for the Steelers this offseason has been quarterback. The team completely overhauled the position, leading to plenty of uncertainty and speculation early on. While the Steelers were strongly linked to Aaron Rodgers for some time, no official deal had been made by the start of the 2025 NFL Draft. Amid the uncertainty, the team made a bold decision by selecting Will Howard out of Ohio State, bringing in a new face and creating even more talk about the future of the position. Because the Steelers picked Howard late in the draft, there were questions about what his role on the team would be. Even before Rodgers signed, it was clear Howard wouldn’t be the starter. However, during a recent 7 shots drill, Howard unexpectedly took reps with the third team, raising more questions about where he might fit in. Rodgers is clearly locked in as the starting quarterback, with the hope that he can stay healthy throughout the entire season. Earlier in the offseason, he mentioned that this would likely be his final year, though he expressed excitement about the opportunity to play for a franchise like the Steelers. That said, Rodgers has always been unpredictable, and there’s still a chance his career may continue beyond this season. Regardless of what the future holds, his experience and football knowledge are incredibly valuable to the other quarterbacks on the roster, and they’ve made it clear how much they appreciate having him around. Mason Rudolph is expected to be the primary backup behind Rodgers this season. Rudolph was originally drafted by the Steelers and has spent most of his career in Pittsburgh as a dependable backup. However, he’s also shown he can step up when needed, filling in during important games and leading the team when called upon. Rudolph spent last season with the Tennessee Titans, gaining additional experience outside of Pittsburgh. After that brief stint, he re-signed with the Steelers early in the offseason, bringing familiarity, veteran presence and stability to the quarterback room behind Rodgers. Rudolph recently shared that Rodgers has been both incredibly helpful and genuinely friendly since joining the team. Many expected Skylar Thompson, another veteran backup the Steelers signed this offseason, to be next in line on the depth chart. However, with Howard now taking third-team reps, he could move up the depth chart as the season progresses. Rookies bring an element of unpredictability since they’re adjusting to a completely new environment and haven’t yet played in professional games. It’s hard to know how they’ll perform until they get real field experience. If Howard continues to perform well, there’s no reason he shouldn’t climb higher on the depth chart. It’s unlikely that Howard will get much playing time this year, but that doesn’t mean this season isn’t important for him. Learning from a player like Rodgers is incredibly valuable, and Howard has shared how grateful he is to have Rodgers as a mentor. Even if he doesn’t take the field this season, the experience and knowledge he gains behind the scenes could greatly influence his opportunities for playing time down the road. Steelers' future at QB likely isn't on the roster The Steelers were connected to several quarterbacks in this year’s draft class, and the situation drew plenty of attention due to the uncertainty surrounding Rodgers at the time. Although the team eventually signed Rodgers and selected Howard in the later rounds, it seems the search for a long-term franchise quarterback may still be ongoing. Rodgers is only on a one-year deal, and reports have already surfaced that the Steelers are eyeing next year’s quarterback draft class. Opinions on Howard vary, as some view him as a potential career backup, while others are optimistic about his upside and believe he could develop into a solid starting option in the future. Will Howard prove himself and continue to move up the depth chart?
Everything That Happened at Practice 3 of Packers Training Camp
As he headed back to his office after the third practice of Green Bay Packers training camp, coach Matt LaFleur probably wasn’t very happy. With new starting center Elgton Jenkins missing practice, shotgun snaps were sometimes an adventure – though not to the extent of Thursday’s practice. There were too many turnovers. And there was too much contact for a noncontact practice. First, the contact. Cornerback Nate Hobbs was the primary culprit. Early in practice, Hobbs knocked receiver Dontayvion Wicks to the ground after a catch. Later, Wicks was open over the middle but was hit in the back by Hobbs, which forced an incompletion but earned Hobbs a conversation with LaFleur. “It happened twice today, but it’s all good,” Wicks said. “We’re football players at the end of the day. We’re going to have to take some hits but it’s cool. I’m good. … “Coach always stresses team first, so he always talks about keeping each other up. That’s the main thing in practice, especially with no pads on. But some stuff happened. It happens. I’ve just got to control emotions and go onto the next play.” For the most part, the offense played relatively clean football during the first two practices. However, on Friday: - Running back Josh Jacobs ran for a first down but had the ball punched out; it appeared Hobbs forced the fumble. Receiver Romeo Doubs was there for the recovery. - On the first play of a 2-minute drill, Malik Willis telegraphed a pass into the flat, which Kalen King almost intercepted. - One play later, Willis was intercepted, though that was due to incidental contact between receiver Julian Hicks and cornerback Carrington Valentine in which Hicks hit the turf and Valentine grabbed the pass. - On the second play of a 2-minute drill, Jordan Love’s pass into the flat was almost intercepted by Xavier McKinney. - On third down in the red zone of a 2-minute drill, with the offense only needing a field goal, Sean Clifford was almost intercepted in the end zone by cornerback Tyron Herring. - During a third-down period, Tucker Kraft caught a pass, split two defenders and picked up the first down, but Javon Bullard forced a fumble that was recovered by McKinney. - During the same third-down period, Willis threw one right to safety Zayne Anderson for an interception on the second-to-last play of the day. Physical mistakes will happen. The hits in a no-pads practice perhaps bothered LaFleur more than anything. As he said before the first practice, “When you don’t have pads on, I told the guys, if we lose one person, that hurts our football team. So, they’ve got to respect each other enough to be able to compete but within the guidelines of how you play football without pads. So, I think that’s always the challenge.” Jordan Love’s Day For a third consecutive day, Jordan Love’s completion percentage was significantly over 50 percent. On Friday, he was 12-of-17. The first two plays of the day showed the full arsenal. First, on play action, he rifled one to the left to Dontayvion Wicks for a gain of about 20. Next, he showed finesse and touch by dropping one over the linebackers to Romeo Doubs, who made a leaping catch for a gain of about 15. Love and the No. 1 offense got two shots in starters vs. starters 2-minute drills. On the first, Xavier McKinney almost made a tremendous interception when he jumped a pass to the flat to Tucker Kraft on second down and Love couldn’t run through the pressure of Kenny Clark and Lukas Van Ness for a sack. While that drive stalled, his second drive found the end zone. Starting once again from the 35 with 1:20 on the clock and one timeout, Love on third-and-5 connected with Kraft in the flat. McKinney quickly made the stop and the ball was initially ruled short of the first down before Kraft was credited for a 5-yard catch. After a checkdown to Emanuel Wilson gained 6, Keisean Nixon was beaten by a step but recovered to break up an underthrown deep shot to Romeo Doubs. That set up a third-and-4 from the defense’s 49 and set the stage for the next segment in the story. Play of the Day: Touchdown to Dontayvion Wicks Jordan Love took the snap and took a couple steps to his left before firing a bomb to Dontayvion Wicks, who was running deep and to the right. With Xavier McKinney the closest defender, Wicks caught the ball near the goal line for a 49-yard touchdown. “We had to get down the field to win the competition,” Wicks said. “We called a play and I knew I had the post. I had a man on me. I released, ran full speed. I knew X was over the top, so I stemmed out a little bit and broke flat across. It was a runaway and J-Love gave me the ball, and I ran under it and that was all from there.” It was the first big win of the summer for the No. 1 offense. “It’s a lot of competition out there, a lot of good guys to go against,” Wicks said. “They always say iron sharpens iron, so going against them guys out there makes it easier for when you get in the game and going against some of the top players in the league. It gives you confidence. “It’s a real confidence boost doing it in practice and preparing for the games. We ain’t got a game till five weeks from here. We’re just trying to get better every day and stack the wins and stacking the chemistry. It’s always good to get some opportunities in practice and capitalizing on them. I think it gets you right and helps with that confidence and boosting that confidence for the games.” Player of the Day: Brandon McManus Kicker Brandon McManus turned 34 on Friday, and he celebrated with a superb display of field-goal kicking. The first 2-minute drive belonged to the No. 2s, which the defense won. The ball was moved forward to the defense’s 33-yard line for McManus to kick a 51-yard field goal, which he converted. After Jordan Love’s first 2-minute drive ended in a sack, the ball again was moved to the 33 for a 51-yard field goal. McManus kicked the ball and audibly reacted as if he had missed. The kick split the uprights, though. Next, Sean Clifford led the No. 3s into scoring position to set up McManus for a 33-yard field goal. After Jordan Love’s touchdown bomb to Wicks, McManus lined up for a 56-yard field goal. He made that one, too, with a few yards to spare. Next up was a field-goal period, with McManus converting from 40, 42 and 44 yards to run his training camp tally to 13-of-13. Packers Injury Updates New injuries: LG Aaron Banks (back), WR Savion Williams (concussion). “Just had a little back issue,” coach Matt LaFleur said of Banks. “Everything checked out all right. I would say it's going to be very day to day.” Old injuries: LB Quay Walker (ankle), receiver Christian Watson (knee), linebacker Collin Oliver (hamstring), running back Amar Johnson (hamstring) and offensive lineman John Williams (back) and center Elgton Jenkins (back). “My hopes are high, for sure,” Watson said. “Honestly, I’ve just been pushing as hard as I can and letting the training staff pull me back from doing stuff. But yeah, every time I’ve gotten to a new block, just getting through it really quick and feeling really good. I haven’t had any setbacks, so I’m just praying that continues.” Returning from injuries: Nobody. Packers Practice Highlights - On his first snap of the day, backup quarterback Malik Willis faked the handoff and ran to the right on a designed keeper. Picking up overpowering blocks by receiver Malik Heath and running back Chris Brooks, Heath sprinted to a significant gain. It will be interesting to see if the Packers have a package of plays for Willis. - On the next play, Willis completed a pass into the flat to Matthew Golden, though Brenton Cox might have had a sack in a live situation. - Speaking of Golden, a jet sweep didn’t go anywhere, due in part to Nate Hobbs’ work against the blockers, but an end-around did, as he took the handoff from Willis, turned on the jets and broke free up the left side. - Rookie seventh-round cornerback Micah Robinson had his first noteworthy play. Sean Clifford booted to his right and hit receiver Sam Brown, but Robinson was there instantly to limit the play to a minimal gain. - During the twos-vs.-twos 2-minute, Willis completed a pass to Mecole Hardman for 10 yards on the first play. After a 7-yard completion to Julian Hicks, Willis went deep to Hicks. Hicks might have gotten his feet tangled up with cornerback Carrington Valentine, who grabbed his second interception of the summer. - During the threes-vs.-threes 2-minute, Sean Clifford got the offense into scoring position. The big play came on the second snap, when Robinson was flagged for pass interference. The penalty was for 29 yards, which was where the ball landed and not where the penalty occurred. Regardless, completions to Cornelius Johnson and Sam Brown were stopped for short gains by Bo Melton and Jamon Johnson, respectively. On third-and-2, Clifford connected with Hicks for 8 yards and a first down to the 15 with 24 seconds remaining. The defense held, though. Clifford had to throw it away on first down and his deep corner route to tight end Ben Sims was caught just out of bounds. On third-and-10, rookie corner Tyron Herring dropped an interception in the end zone. Brandon McManus booted a 33-yard field goal. - Undrafted rookie safety Jonathan Baldwin had his first two noteworthy plays. Early in practice, he stopped a toss to running back Jalen White. Later, during a third-down period, he made a leaping pass breakup. - Keisean Nixon has had a superb start to camp. Romeo Doubs beat him for a sliding catch on a pass from Jordan Love; it was probably the only completion he’s allowed in three days. - For the second consecutive day, center Trey Hill was removed from the lineup for a moment because of a bad snap. - Practice ended with the offense facing second-and-11 (give or take) before a pre-scripted third-and-long. Love was 3-of-3 passing in this period. On third-and-9, Tucker Kraft took a short pass for a first down but Javon Bullard forced a fumble. Next, Love completed a checkdown to Josh Jacobs before hitting Kraft at the sideline on third-and-6 for the first down. Also in that period, Valentine broke up Malik Willis’ 50/50 ball to Matthew Golden on third-and-9, Baldwin broke up Sean Clifford’s pass to Hicks on third-and-8, Zayne Andeson dropped an interception on a pass to Golden on third-and-7 and Herring broke up Taylor Elgersma’s pass to Sam Brown on third-and-7. Added together, the defense won 5-of-6. Packers Lineup Notes - With Elgton Jenkins and Aaron Banks dealing with back injuries, Green Bay’s No. 1 line consisted of Rasheed Walker at left tackle, Jordan Morgan at left guard, Sean Rhyan at center, Jacob Monk at right guard and Zach Tom at right tackle. Monk played some center; Rhyan played some right guard. - The No. 2 line frequently was Anthony Belton at left tackle, Donovan Jennings at left guard, Trey Hill at center, Travis Glover at right guard and Kadeem Telfort at right tackle. - Through three days, the preferred secondary remains Nate Hobbs and Keisean Nixon at cornerback, Javon Bullard in the slot, and Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams at safety. - Kalen King, a seventh-round pick last year who spent all of his rookie season on the practice squad, did get a bit of time with the No. 1 defense as the slot mixed in with Nixon, Hobbs, McKinney and Williams. - Sticking with the secondary, this frequently was the No. 2 group: Carrington Valentine and Kamal Hadden at corner, King in the slot, and Zayne Anderson and Kitan Oladapo at safety. Packers Training Camp Schedule After Tuesday’s workouts and three consecutive days of practice, the players will not practice on Saturday. The Packers will get back to work on Sunday and Monday, with both practices starting at 10:30 a.m. Monday’s practice will be in full pads. Quote of the Day Friday marked Mark Murphy’s final practice as team president and CEO. The moment practice ended, Murphy walked off the field, just as he’d done hundreds of times during his tenure. As he reached Armed Forces Drive, he was surrounded by fans saying thank you, good-bye and asking for autographs. What sticks out about Murphy to coach Matt LaFleur? “For me personally, just the opportunity, and the support that he's given us to allow us to do not only our job, but look at all the resources that the organization has invested back into this team. It's pretty incredible. I've never been a part of anything like this. I mean, the facilities are first class. I would say, how we travel, how we just conduct and operate on a daily basis, has been nothing short of first class.”
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