The trade may end up pushing New York’s top prospect out of his best position, a columnist for The Athletic writes. 

Trade details: New York Yankees acquire OF/1B Cody Bellinger and cash considerations from the Chicago Cubs for RHP Cody Poteet

The Yankees needed another bat after the departure of Juan Soto, and they got one on the cheap, so to speak, trading a replacement-level arm to the Cubs and taking on about 90 percent of Bellinger’s remaining contract. Bellinger makes the Yankees somewhat better, but I don’t think he does enough to address their lineup questions, and he may end up pushing their top prospect — Jasson Domínguez — out of his best position.

If I were in the Yankees’ shoes, I would have preferred to acquire Seiya Suzuki, whose OBP skills would be a perfect fit for a Yankees lineup that is going to have serious problems putting guys on base. Among Yankees currently on their roster, Aaron Judge is the only one who had an OBP over .324 last year, and the only one who had an OBP over .319 against left-handed pitchers.

Bellinger’s OBP last year was .325, just a tick below his career OBP of .334, and his OBP against lefties in 2024 was just .305 (career .321). Adding him to a lineup that will already have left-handed regulars at a minimum at second base (Jazz Chisholm Jr.) and catcher (Austin Wells) — as well as the switch-hitting Domínguez, who is substantially better batting left-handed — isn’t solving any of their main offensive problems.

Trading for Suzuki rather than Bellinger would also have allowed the Yankees to keep Domínguez at his natural position of center. It appears that New York intends to play Bellinger in center, even though he’s just an average defender there, and slide Domínguez to left, where he’ll eventually be a plus defender, but struggled in his first stint there in 2024. They could also put Bellinger at first base, where’s he’s still plus, and restore Domínguez to center, assuming the club misses out on or declines to sign one of the remaining free-agent first basemen, like Christian Walker, or decide instead to sign outfielder Teoscar Hernández.

Bellinger does have pull power, and as a left-handed hitter, he could get a few extra homers out of Yankee Stadium’s short right field. His pull percentage was actually at a career low 40.5 percent this past season, which is still higher than the MLB average, and I assume the Yankees will encourage him to restore his higher pull rates of prior years. Even his relatively low home run total from 2024 of 18 would rank third among returning Yankees, behind only Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.

I’ve buried the lede a little here, though, which is that the Yankees got Bellinger for free. They traded Cody Poteet, a 30-year-old right-hander who has been a replacement-level pitcher by FanGraphs’ WAR, which is likely more accurate than bWAR in his case given his .237 BABIP allowed in the majors and .302 BABIP allowed in Triple A. (That is, he’s been super lucky in the majors, because his time in Triple A says he has no special ability to limit hits on balls in play that would support him sustaining such a low major-league BABIP going forward.)

The Yankees are even getting $2.5 million from the Cubs in each of the next two years, so they’ll pay Bellinger $25 million this year, and $22.5 million in 2026 if he doesn’t opt out. (If he opts out, the two clubs will split his $5 million buyout.) That’s a bit rich for his 2.2 WAR performance this past season, but a steal if he gets back to his 4.4 WAR performance from 2023. I can talk all day about how Suzuki was a better fit, but he also would have cost them something more in prospects or young big leaguers than Bellinger did. Suzuki also has a no-trade clause, which may have complicated a deal.

I’d be a lot more unhappy to see the Cubs dump a salary had they not just made a big swing for Kyle Tucker, and if this makes them more inclined to go trade for or sign a No. 2 starter, than all the better. The Cubs’ owner shouldn’t be crying penury, but if moving Bellinger — a fine but ultimately superfluous player on this roster, which still probably has more outfielders than they can play — makes adding that one additional arm feasible, I’m good with it.

The Cubs need one more arm ahead of their passel of back-end starters, including Jameson Taillon (who bounced back to 2.2-2.3 WAR last year), the forever underrated Javier Assad, Jordan Wicks, and Ben Brown (who I think is probably better suited to the bullpen). As with their lineup prior to the Tucker trade, they’ve assembled a really good rotation of 2-3 WAR starters. Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga were at exactly 3.0 fWAR last year, although Steele is better than that when fully healthy. They need a better starter out front, whether it’s ahead of or just behind Steele.

The budget room they just regained from trading Bellinger should go right into pitching — not into Tom Ricketts’ pocket.

(Top photo of Bellinger: Orlando Ramirez / USA Today)

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Kim Caldwell had one season of coaching Division I basketball under her belt when she was hired as Tennessee’s new head coach. 

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In October, before Kim Caldwell had coached a game for Tennessee, she sat on an orange couch in her office and tried to get comfortable.

This was both a physical and philosophical challenge for the first-year Lady Volunteers coach at the time. At five months pregnant with her first child, there were certain realities about what “comfortable” might look like moving forward for her, and she missed the caffeine that she had given up months earlier (especially at this point in the year when team prep could seem never-ending).

But there was a deeper question: How does Caldwell — who had coached just 33 Division I basketball games — get comfortable in a position once held by one of the most important people in women’s basketball? And not just that, but how does she proceed when the program had fallen from its previous heights to a middling territory, which in Lady Vols-speak, is as bad as irrelevance? As someone who had coached against just three power conference opponents, how would she come up with the answers to get this program back to the standard that Pat Summitt set?

Caldwell, 36, grew up when Tennessee and UConn ruled women’s college basketball. Summitt and Geno Auriemma — their intensity and their rivalry — broke through the noise to make those epic matchups part of the mainstream sporting culture.

“It made people talk about women’s sports. It made people talk about women’s basketball,” Caldwell said. “It was such an incredible time.”

At her AAU practices in West Virginia, Caldwell’s teams were split up not by Team A versus Team B but by the Lady Vols versus the Huskies. At a tournament as a high school player, she looked into the stands and saw Summitt and Auriemma sitting next to one another evaluating recruits and later, walking past Summitt in the hallway.

She never thought — even as recently as a year ago — that she would be coaching against Auriemma in that rivalry game, or throwing on an orange pullover and walking into tournaments to recruit just like Summitt. Last summer, as she prepared for one such tournament in Chicago, she had to give herself a pep talk before walking into the gym — “Here we go. You’ve got bright orange on. Hold your head up high. Get in there,” she told herself — as she wondered if any players would react to her the way she once had to Summit.

Along with UConn and Stanford, Tennessee is tied to a singular coach like almost no other program in women’s college basketball — or college sports. So even on the days when she doesn’t drive past the nine-foot statue of Summitt outside Thompson-Boling Arena on her way to Tennessee staff offices, she still walks by a glass display of the eight national championship trophies that Summitt won. “The Summitt” is painted in script on the floor where Caldwell now coaches her home games. And then there’s the Tennessee orange. A color that Summitt made iconic.

In her book, Summitt wrote, “I remember every player — every single one — who wore the Tennessee orange, a shade that our rivals hate, a bold, aggravating color. … But to us, the color is a flag of pride, because it identifies us as Lady Vols and therefore as women of an unmistakable type. Fighters.”

Since Summitt retired in 2012, Tennessee has been fighting. First, to remain at the top, where Summitt had led the program. And then, to retain relevance. Both endeavors were mostly failures, though the program retained some prestige simply because of its history.

Now Caldwell, who had one season of coaching Division I basketball under her belt when she took the job in April, holds the reins to one of the sport’s most important programs.

“There’s an enormous weight that comes with it, and I knew that going into it. You talk about the history, what Pat Summitt did for sports in general, what she did for the state of Tennessee, what she did for basketball,” Caldwell said. “Where basketball is now. … I don’t know that we would be here without her.”

But over the last few seasons, as women’s basketball has grown more and more popular, Tennessee has been strangely missing from the fold. As the game moves forward, Tennessee hopes that its most recent (unexpected) hire means the Lady Vols don’t miss the next chapter, too.

The surprise around the women’s basketball world was palpable last April when Tennessee fired Kellie Harper. Many assumed she would get at least another season to try and turn around the program.

But any surprise around Harper’s firing paled when compared to the reaction when Tennessee announced its new head coach less than a week later: a swift “who?”

Caldwell had just finished her first season at Marshall. Though she had led the mid-major to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997 (and just the second time in program history), it lost to four-seed Virginia Tech by 43. Before Marshall, Caldwell had spent seven seasons as the head coach at her alma mater, Division II Glenville State University in West Virginia.

The minimal Division I and power conference experience was obvious, but it was just as glaring that she had no ties to Summitt or even the state of Tennessee. The program stayed within the Summitt tree after she retired, hiring Tennessee native Holly Warlick, a longtime assistant and former player under Summitt, and then, in 2019, turned to Harper, a Tennessee native, Summitt protégé and beloved alum. Neither returned the program to its elite perch, failing to reach the Final Four for more than a decade.

Recruits had never witnessed Tennessee achieve the way the program historically had, though their parents remembered. Getting this hire right was important; every passing day seemingly moved the program further from contention.

Given that Harper was fired with four years left on her contract and she had received an extension from Tennessee athletic director Danny White just a year earlier, most in the industry assumed such a drastic move indicated that White planned to swing for the fences. Harper earned $1.1 million a year — making her the 12th highest-paid coach in women’s college hoops — so if the Lady Vols upped that salary even a bit, they could likely lure a high-profile coach to Knoxville. Tennessee alum and Duke coach Kara Lawson and Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, who had just won two WNBA titles, were considered people White should pursue. USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb was among the prominent names on media coaching lists. A report connected Tennessee’s search firm to Indiana coach Teri Moren.

The names being floated were esteemed within women’s basketball. Lawson, the only UT alum currently coaching at a high level, was the only Summitt connection in the group.

From Knoxville, White felt a pull away from his predecessors, who had hired from the Summitt tree.

“We had already gone through those chapters twice,” he said. “If there was any pressure at all, it was probably more so to go outside (the tree) and try something different. I don’t know if that was real or something I invented myself, but I certainly didn’t feel pressure to stay inside of coach Summitt’s tree.”

In administrative circles, White’s choice was unexpected, but his methods weren’t surprising.

As the Buffalo AD, he hired men’s basketball coach Nate Oats, who had only two years of college experience as an assistant and had only been a head coach of a high school boy’s basketball team. (Alabama hired Oats five seasons later.) White also hired Lance Leipold as Buffalo’s football coach despite Leipold’s previous seven seasons off everyone’s radar at a Division III school. (Kansas hired him five years later.) At UCF in 2018, White hired Josh Heupel. Many assumed Heupel’s career had dead-ended three years earlier and were surprised he was landing a big job. After three bowl game appearances with UCF, White brought Heupel to Tennessee, which is in the College Football Playoff this season as the No. 7 seed.

“He’s kind of got a Midas touch,” Leipold told The Athletic in 2022.

Hiring for the Tennessee women’s job is its own beast. His conversations with Caldwell reminded him of talking to Heupel. He liked that her system was different and exciting, utilizing a full-court pressing defense that forced turnovers, an offense that took early 3s and hockey-style substitutions that kept players’ legs fresh throughout the games. Her sample size at Marshall was small, but the program had gone from .500 in conference play to winning the league title in her first year.

“I think more frequently in different sports, at the highest level, people are seeing,” White said, “that coaching is coaching.”

The decision made one thing clear: Hiring Caldwell could make White look prescient — and more importantly, the move could return Tennessee to the top of women’s basketball — if it works out. If it doesn’t, it likely will be considered an obvious and avoidable misstep in caretaking the program.

For the first time in a long time, more eyes and scrutiny are on Tennessee. Not because of high expectations, but because everyone wants to know: Is Caldwell the answer to the post-Summitt conundrum?

When Caldwell’s agent, Brian Stanchak, called her on April 1 to tell her Tennessee’s search firm was gauging her interest, Caldwell wondered if it was an April Fool’s Day joke.

“Honestly. I was thinking, ‘Anyone but me. There’s got to be people that have more experience under their belt or an assistant,’” Caldwell said. “I mean, it’s been one year (in Division I).”

Caldwell took a call with Tennessee mostly for the experience of interviewing for a prominent position. She was genuinely happy at Marshall. She and her husband, Justin, had just bought their dream house — a four-bedroom custom home on a spacious lot with an apartment above the garage for her mom.

Other mid-major and power conference jobs had come up during her head coaching career, and her response was always the same: “I love winning and I love my players. I don’t love everything else that comes with coaching, right?” she said. “The lower level you are, the more basketball you usually get to do. That’s as honest, as transparent as I can be about it.”

But the Tennessee job was different.

With a tornado warning in West Virginia hitting right before her scheduled interview slot, she huddled in a closet, rather than postponing because of the inclement weather. She sweated through the interview, not because she was nervous but because the closet was so stuffy. When it ended, she thanked Tennessee for the conversation and assumed that would be the end of it.

But when White wanted her to visit Knoxville, it began to sink in that she actually had a shot.

“Do I stay here because I love it and I’m happy, or do I take the best job that I’m ever going to get offered right now?” Caldwell said. “Because I can work for 80 more years, and I will never get offered a job of this magnitude again.”

Caldwell was surprised at how comfortable she felt in Knoxville, and leaned toward a yes if an offer came.

But there were still detractors. Her mom asked why she would leave a state where she was beloved to coach somewhere she wouldn’t be. ”They’re gonna be like: Who is this? Why is she now our coach?” Caldwell said her mom cautioned.

She told her mom the same thing she had told her players: Don’t leave any regrets on the floor.

So when White called, she accepted. But she also knew the pressures that would come at Tennessee. An antsy fan base, a motivated athletic department, the women’s basketball world wondering how she could solve a puzzle that had proven impossible for other Division II and mid-major coaches.

“I think you just have to bet on yourself and say, ‘Hey, you’re gonna be uncomfortable for a while, but I was just uncomfortable for six months. Yes, I can be uncomfortable again,’” Caldwell said. “You bet on your own success.”

Every season, Caldwell keeps a notebook on her team, what’s going right and wrong, and, most importantly, how she’s feeling. Even during a season when the pressure is so different and the stage is so much bigger, she finds consistent trends in what she writes and feels from year to year.

“I’m miserable,” she said with a laugh in mid-December. “So I’m right on track.”

This is how it goes for Caldwell’s system: In November and most of December, she’s miserable. She never wants to talk basketball at Thanksgiving. By Christmas? She might be ready to talk hoops as things usually start coming together.

With the Lady Vols sitting at 8-0, a few of the early questions have been answered. Tennessee picked up significant wins over Florida State and Iowa earlier this month, but Caldwell knows SEC play will be different.

Home attendance is the highest in Knoxville since the 2015-16 season, and recruiting took off immediately with Caldwell. She’s already picked up two top-25 players in the 2025 class, matching a pace close to Summitt’s in her final five years. By comparison, Warlick signed 10 in seven seasons, and Harper signed just one in her five classes from 2020-24.

“I was pretty shocked at first. And then I kind of told myself, ‘Why not?’ It’s not like the program was a national powerhouse,” said ESPN analyst Andraya Carter, a member of Summitt’s final recruiting class at Tennessee. “I had a lot of reservations, but I started seeing some of the (recruits) she was getting. I just was like, ‘Let’s go.’ The system that she’s running is literally one where you can’t hesitate, so for me, as an alum, not an analyst, I’m not going to hesitate either. … Let’s see what she’s got.”

Caldwell’s Lady Vols lead the nation with 98 points per game and turn over opponents a nationally best 30 times a game. Last season, Marshall finished in the top five nationally in both categories — so that part feels pretty familiar.

But Caldwell’s still getting used to some differences. At Marshall, she had three assistants, one graduate assistant and two managers. At Tennessee, she has a staff of 13 and nine managers. She never had a video coordinator before coming to Knoxville; now practice and game footage are ready and clipped for her nearly by the time practice is over. She said she learned more during her first three weeks in Knoxville than an entire season at Marshall.

With SEC play around the corner, the toughest tests are still ahead of the Lady Vols, but with each win, the argument grows that White made the right move and Caldwell could be the unexpected answer at Tennessee. Will that be enough to bring the program back to its previous heights? Caldwell’s confident enough to bet on herself and her team.

“You don’t turn it down,” Caldwell said. “And then you spend every day trying to make sure that they realize they didn’t make a mistake.”

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; Photos: Bryan Lynn / Icon Sportswire, Damian Strohmeyer / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images, Donald Page / Getty Images)

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The atmosphere in Las Vegas rivaled a Mountain West Conference semifinal, a columnist for The Athletic writes. 

LAS VEGAS — Prior to checking out for good, $514,971 richer and another MVP award bound for his trophy case, Giannis Antetokounmpo closed off a drive from Kenrich Williams. He met the Oklahoma City Thunder forward at the rim, blocking the sneak attempt at a layup.

The ensuing transition featured Giannis two-handing a pass ahead to Gary Trent Jr., who drilled a 3 from the right wing. It was Antetokounmpo’s 10th assist. One of the best to ever do it punctuated his first NBA Cup crown with a dominant triple-double in a 97-81 win over Oklahoma City, the best team in the West.

And the response to his final sequence from the crowd at T-Mobile Arena just might have — might have — matched the volume showered onto the trampoline dunkers.

Nothing Tuesday night had the crowd lit quite like the trampoline dunkers. Oh, and the wave.

Maybe this should be the last NBA Cup in Las Vegas.

It might not be, of course. The expectation, based on the behind-the-scenes discourse at the final, is the NBA Cup will likely be back. But Wednesday’s finale to the second annual in-season tournament proved something more is needed. It’s not terrible. It’s just not enough.

The NBA Cup is established now. It’s growing roots into the culture of the league. It has successfully added some juice to otherwise low-stakes regular-season games. But if it’s going to be a thing, it needs to be a thing. And the atmosphere at T-Mobile rivaled a Mountain West Conference semifinal.

“It’s closer to, like, elevated regular season than it is to the playoffs, in my opinion,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “The time of year has to do with that, the nature of a series versus a one-and-done situation has to do with that. But playing elevated opponents, good opponents with some elevated stakes, elevated distractions is a good experience in December for our team.”

Something is missing. It’s not the players. They’ve leaned into the concept (and the fast buck). It’s not the quality of the games. It’s not the matchups. It’s not the league’s marketing resolve.

Maybe it just needs more time to establish the tradition, for the NBA’s penchant for drama to make its way to the NBA Cup. Maybe it needs some non-NBA teams to add a little spice to the bracket.

Or maybe Vegas just isn’t it.

The NBA hasn’t held an All-Star Game here since 2007 for a reason. And if the league’s biggest showcase couldn’t work here, what chance does a diet championship game have of thriving?

This isn’t the city’s fault. Las Vegas is excellent. It’s been a great partner of the NBA for years with Summer League. This sports market has proved to be lively for the NHL’s Golden Knights. And for the WNBA’s Aces. And for whichever NFL team the Raiders are playing.

But for the NBA Cup and its aspirations? Vegas isn’t really turning up. It isn’t adding much pomp to this circumstance.

The spectacle of Vegas figures to be ideal for the spectacular the NBA seeks to summon. But the glitz of Vegas seems to work against the league on this. Too much is here to compete with the randomness of the Cup. Too much distraction in this paradise of indulgence to invest in the NBA’s choreographed theatrics.

The city lights up for the NBA in July. The basketball love is palpable for Summer League. The signage is everywhere. The people are talking about it. The fans are excited. You can feel Las Vegas’ embrace.

The NBA Cup this year had little of that. Not much feel in the city. No constant Sphere love reminding why everyone is here. Even Uber drivers assumed Bruno Mars was responsible for the traffic near T-Mobile Arena. But his performances at nearby Dolby Live, leading up to New Year’s Eve, don’t start until Wednesday night.

In fairness to Vegas, it’s just hard to get hype about teams so random to this community as Milwaukee and Oklahoma City.

The whole idea of the NBA Cup was to generate fervor. Manufacture magnitude. The NBA is desperately trying to curb falling ratings and adjust to the seismic shift in viewership. So, “not-terrible” isn’t satiating.

For the second year in a row, the NBA Cup delivered an intriguing matchup. Again, it pitted an entrenched star against a rising one. Last year: LeBron James vs. Tyrese Haliburton. This year, Giannis vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, by all accounts a riveting showdown. Two MVP candidates. Two teams playing their best basketball. Two contrasting styles in a fight city that understands the intrigue of dueling strategies.

But these international stars clearly don’t pack the casual-fan appeal of LeBron, and it was evident in vibes. Which suggests this only has legs if LeBron or Steph Curry or Boston makes it to Vegas. But the bigger the stars, the more intense the games, the more potential for a disappointing environment.

“We’re about to enter a new television deal,” said commissioner Adam Silver, who held court with a group of reporters before Tuesday’s game. “We’re going to have two new partners who are going to be programming in a very different way. We’re going to be going from 50 to 75 regular-season broadcast exposures. … All the games are going to be available on streaming. So it’s going to be a very different approach next year.”

Giannis deserved better than empty seats poorly camouflaged with darkness by the tricks of stage lighting. SGA deserved more than ambient halftime noise on a loop. This second-round-of-the-draft energy wasn’t worthy of a trophy presentation from Silver.

The commissioner said franchises want the semifinal games in their arenas. Making the Cup final a home game for the top seed is extra revenue for the deserving franchise.

Oklahoma City, owners of the best record, certainly would’ve benefited from the juice of its maniacal crowd. The Thunder managed just 31 points in the second half. Didn’t muster so much as a rally.

But hastily putting on a game, and getting a fan base on board so suddenly, is a tall task. The semifinal of the NBA Cup was on Saturday. The current setup would’ve given the NBA two days to make accommodations for the final. A neutral site allows the league to prepare in advance, no matter the teams.

Amazon, which will have the rights to the knockout rounds, figures to have a say in the matter. The neutral site could be better for its plans for advanced presentation, the “different approach” to which Silver alluded.

But Amazon might also prefer a better atmosphere to convey to its audience of streamers.

Here is an idea, borrowed from our Bucks writer, Eric Nehm: Put the NBA Cup final in the Sphere.

If the venue’s gotta pull its weight for this to work, the Sphere could add some novelty and intrigue. Like outdoor hockey games at Wrigley Field and college hoop games on an aircraft carrier. The awe-inspiring futuristic globe — owned by a company owned by the New York Knicks owner — was off on Tuesday night. No doubt preparing for the U2 concert starting on Wednesday. An immersive film of a U2 concert.

Imagine Giannis blocking Atlanta’s Clint Capela on 1.2 million LED pucks.

Logistically, a hoop court might be tough to pull off in the Sphere. But something needs to happen. The NBA Cup needs performance-enhancing digs for Year 3.

Or more trampoline dunkers.

(Top photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

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No Iowa women’s basketball player will wear No. 22 again. 

No Iowa women’s basketball player will wear No. 22 again.

That is because, on Feb. 2, the Hawkeyes will retire Caitlin Clark’s jersey during an in-arena ceremony as Iowa takes on USC at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Over her four years with the program, Clark rewrote both the Iowa and NCAA record books. Last winter, she became the all-time women’s NCAA Division I scoring leader, major college scoring leader and all-time Division I men’s and women’s scoring champion in a 17-day span. During her career, Clark also broke the record for 3-pointers in a single season, made two national championship appearances, was a four-time AP All-American and was twice named the National Player of the Year.

All of that only relays part of Clark’s legacy, however, as her impact was seen and felt in the frenzy surrounding every game she played. Iowa broke countless attendance, merchandise and television records. ESPN said the 2024 national championship between the Hawkeyes and Gamecocks was the most-watched basketball game (men’s or women’s college or pro) since 2019, averaging 18.9 million viewers and peaking at 24.1 million viewers, a 90 percent increase from the 2023 title game.

“I’m forever proud to be a Hawkeye and Iowa holds a special place in my heart that is bigger than just basketball,” Clark said in a statement. “It means the world to me to receive this honor and to celebrate it with my family, friends and alumni. It will be a great feeling to look up in the rafters and see my jersey alongside those that I’ve admired for so long.”

“Caitlin Clark has not only redefined excellence on the court but has also inspired countless young athletes to pursue their dreams with passion and determination,” Director of Athletics Beth Goetz said. “Her remarkable achievements have left an indelible mark on the University of Iowa and the world of women’s basketball.”

When Clark’s No. 22 is raised to the rafters it will join Michelle Edwards’ No. 30 and Megan Gustafson’s No. 10 to become the third women’s basketball player to have their numbers honored at Iowa.

With Clark having transitioned to the professional ranks — where she made the All-WNBA first-team as a rookie with the Indiana Fever — the Hawkeyes entered into a transitional season. Shortly after last year, longtime head coach Lisa Bluder retired, giving way for her longtime associate head coach, Jan Jensen, to take on the lead role. Now led by junior forward Hannah Stuelke and senior transfer guard Lucy Olsen, Iowa opened the season winning its first eight games. However, the Hawkeyes have dropped two of their last three contests, falling to Tennessee and Michigan State.

Iowa’s matchup on Feb. 2 will be its first against the Trojans following USC’s move to the Big Ten. USC is led by JuJu Watkins, who despite being only a sophomore, is already viewed as an heir apparent to Clark in terms of continuing to elevate women’s college basketball.

Tipoff for USC-Iowa is set for 1:30 p.m. ET and the contest will air on FOX.

“Retiring her number is a testament to her extraordinary contributions and a celebration of her legacy that will continue to inspire future generations,” Goetz said. “Hawkeye fans are eager to say thank you for so many incredible moments.”

(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)

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João Fonseca, 18, plays tennis beyond his years but still gets homesick. 

What’s the right moment to hitch your hopes to an up-and-coming tennis player?

People were having visions of Carlos Alcaraz’s future when he was 10, the age at which Babolat and the other big racket companies sometimes start handing out equipment and swag. At France’s Les Petit As, the premier tournament for juniors 14-and-under, any prospects racking up games, sets and matches will already have an agent in their parents’ ear, if not a signed contract.

By those measures, having faith in Joao Fonseca, the easy-going Brazilian teenager with the wavy light hair who can already hit serves at 140mph (225kmh), seems like a pretty conservative bet.

Some more numbers. At 18, he’s the youngest player to make the field for the ATP Next Gen Finals in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a competition for the top-ranked men’s players who are 20 or younger. And at 6-foot-1 (185cm), Fonseca is in the Goldilocks zone — not too tall, not too short — of players who have won most of the Grand Slams the past decade.

Fonseca grew up worshipping Roger Federer, which is part of the reason his lead sponsor is On, the Swiss sports manufacturer that Federer has a significant stake in. On signed Fonseca, who hails from Rio de Janeiro, two years ago when he was just 16.

“They said it was going to be me, Iga (Swiatek) and Ben Shelton,” Fonseca recalled during an interview last month. “Of course I said yes.”

Perhaps Fonseca’s business acumen is as precocious as his tennis talent. On’s stock price was $17.36 two years ago. It’s around $55 now. His contract lets him travel with a physiotherapist full time; it’s also gotten him onto the practice court with Shelton, 22, when they have landed at the same tournaments.

The first time they met, at the 2023 Mallorca Championships, Shelton figured out Fonseca was the new guy in the On team and suggested they practice the next day.

“I was like, ‘I am nothing and you want to practice with me?’,” Fonseca said.

He wasn’t nothing then and he certainly isn’t now. He won the U.S. Open junior title in September 2023, the season he became the first player from Brazil to top the junior rankings. In February, he smashed Arthur Fils in the first round of the Rio Open, 6-0, 6-4. At the time, the loss appeared to be a major setback for Fils, who is now ranked top 20 in the world and is the favorite for the Next Gen tournament, which begins today. They played each other in the last match of the first day. Fonseca beat Fils again, in five best-of-four game sets, breaking on a sudden-death deuce in the final set before serving out like a veteran.

That first loss in Brazil has become more palatable for Fils ever since it happened. Fonseca started the year ranked world No. 727. He’s up to No. 145 now and he came within a couple of games of his first Grand Slam main draw in New York this August, losing to Eliot Spizzirri — four years his senior — in three sets in the last round of qualifying.

The obvious comparison to a top player is world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, given Fonseca’s big serve, easy baseline power and shy demeanor on the court and off it. Fonseca hums along like a flywheel, ready to whip his opponent off their axis when he leans into a forehand, or perhaps a two-handed backhand down the line. He can also change gear.

At the Madrid Open, Fonseca went a set down to Alex Michelsen, an American who is another rival in the 20-and-under bracket. Outplayed in cross-court forehand rallies, Fonseca started marmalizing balls straight down the middle and asking Michelsen to generate angles, pinging anything short to the corners. Michelsen couldn’t pass the exam: Fonseca served him a 6-0 bagel to level the match and prevailed in the third set.

“He is a player who can play his best under big pressure, and he has the ability to adapt fast to different situations,” his coach Guilherme Teixeira wrote over email. Teixeira has been working with his charge since he was 11; Fonseca’s mother, Roberta, has watched him play for much longer than that.

Roberta, who also answered questions over email, said she has never seen her son get nervous before a tennis match. She remembers him losing when he was eight or nine because he kept volleying balls that were heading out back into play. He was seriously upset leaving the court, but as soon as he saw his mother he started begging her to sign him up for another tournament.

None of this, including qualifying for the Next Gen Finals, guarantees anything. Alcaraz and Sinner both won it on their climb up the tennis mountain, but the tournament has also featured younger versions of Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, and Casper Ruud — all of them Grand Slam finalists but just one of them, to date, a winner. Medvedev won the U.S. Open in 2021. Many of the fabled eight at the end of each season have never gotten close.

Fonseca is in this year’s lineup alongside Fils and Luca Van Assche of France; Michelsen, Learner Tien and Nishesh Basavareddy of the U.S.; Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic and Shang Juncheng of China, who also goes by his Americanized name, Jerry Shang.

It’s hard to say whether there are any Grand Slam finalists in that group, especially in tennis. The kids with the swag and the spots at Les Petits As may be alright, but wariness in the face of teenage hype is the far safer posture. Brazil hasn’t produced a top men’s tennis player since Gustavo ‘Guga’ Kuerten, the three-time French Open champion and former world No. 1 who helped revolutionize tennis with his early adoption of polyester strings.

For decades, players from the country and the rest of South America have had to overcome their rearing almost exclusively on red clay. It’s a far greater challenge for them than for players from other red clay hubs like Spain because of the distance that South Americans have to travel to find different playing surfaces and opponents. There is no wonder that young people tend to gravitate to the far more accessible game of soccer instead, before getting to talk about the influence of World Cup trophies, Ronaldo Nazario and Neymar. To play tennis in Brazil, you mostly have to be a member of a private club.

Fonseca remembers traveling to Europe to compete for the first time when he was about 13. He played on a public court in Germany with a picturesque view. Tennis balls appeared free and unlimited.

“In Europe, you have so much more help,” he said.

He was lucky enough to be born into a family of means with sports-mad parents. His mother flirted with professional volleyball. She and her husband, who competed in junior tennis in Brazil as a teenager, have run half-marathons and competed in road and mountain cycling and adventure races.

“Sport runs through our veins,” Roberta said.

Joao played just about anything they offered to him, including soccer, volleyball, swimming, judo, skateboarding, surfing, and skiing, plus tennis. His mother said he excelled at all of them.

At six, he would score all the goals at soccer tournaments for his academy while also chasing back on defense. He could swim all four strokes from an early age, and his swim club bumped him to the competitive team. He achieved his purple belt in judo at 10.

Teixeira spotted his tennis potential when he first saw him at 11. The quality of his shots, his pure contact with the ball, was far ahead of other kids his age and older, but there was something else he noticed. Wins didn’t excite him all that much and losses didn’t make him all that sad.

“On tour, you need to compete and practice week after week and be able to manage your emotions,” Teixeira said. “He just resets his mind and starts again.”

In the last year, Fonseca’s first as a full-fledged professional, Teixeira has seen him dial up that dedication. He is treating tennis as his career for the first time, engaging in practices and gym sessions with what Teixeira describes as a new level of seriousness.

This is a typical training day schedule for him, which begins with tests on his muscles to determine how hard he can go that day:

8:30 a.m.: Tests
9 a.m.: Physiotherapy and warm-up
10 a.m.: Gym
11 a.m.: Practice on court
1 p.m.: Lunch and rest
3 p.m.: On court
4:30 p.m.: Gym
5:30pm: Physiotherapy, if needed

Teixeira said Fonseca is also paying more attention to his rest and what he eats. He is diligent with breathing exercises that can help him stay calm during matches. Improving his footwork is high on the agenda for 2025.

Fonseca is still a teenager, though. He can only manage a month or so away from home before fatigue and homesickness set in. This season, he tried to play tournaments for four or five weeks, before returning home for a couple weeks of training and seeing his friends and family.

He’s still a teenage tennis player too. His biggest challenge is consistency: figuring out how to win when he isn’t playing his best. In junior tennis, the better player — the one with the best technique and the best shots — usually wins the tournament. That’s not how it shakes out during the serious stuff.

“In the pro tour, there’s a lot of players that can find the solutions, and the ones that find more solutions during the tournaments, during the weeks, they have better results,” Fonseca said. He went 7-7 in ATP matches this year; not bad for an 18-year-old. Sinner was 11-10 in 2019, the year he turned 18.

Fonseca has time, but for some things he is impatient, especially shaking that assumed allegiance to red clay and slow courts. Instead, he wants grass to be his best surface one day

“I love Wimbledon,” he said. “I want to be like Sinner or (Novak) Djokovic. Those guys that play good on any surface.”

(Top photo: On)

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Before Lee Fitting was terminated in 2023, women who worked with the former executive say his behavior toward them went unchecked for years. 

The memo from Norby Williamson, one of ESPN’s top executives, was short and direct: Lee Fitting, a senior vice president of production who had been at ESPN for more than 25 years, was “no longer with the company” and ESPN would be “finalizing a new production structure” for the shows he oversaw.

The timing of Fitting’s dismissal — the memo was sent on Aug. 21, 2023, about a week before the start of the college football season — amplified the shockwaves felt through ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Conn. Since 2004, Fitting oversaw “College GameDay,” and his leadership cemented the program into the cultural zeitgeist, catapulted the popularity of on-air personalities like Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, and turned the show into a revenue and ratings winner.

As the show rose, so did Fitting’s profile within ESPN. In addition to “College GameDay,” he eventually oversaw all college and NFL properties, giving him the power to make and break careers, and he was expected to one day succeed Williamson as head of the network’s programming. When he was escorted out of the building by security, some at ESPN’s headquarters groused at what they perceived as indecorous treatment. For all he’d accomplished, Lee Fitting deserved better.

There was, in contrast, a subset of current and former ESPN employees who reacted differently. “I can’t believe it took this long,” said one woman.

She and others had watched Fitting rise within ESPN despite, according to them, making comments objectifying women, criticizing their physical appearance and making crude jokes, some sexual in nature, in the workplace. This went on unchecked for years, according to the scores of current and former ESPN employees interviewed by The Athletic, who requested anonymity to speak freely because they still work in sports media. It had a devastating effect on numerous women who believed they had to endure or go along with his conduct to stay employed or ascend at ESPN. Many women in sports media quietly shared their interactions and concerns about Fitting with each other. Some left ESPN in part because of their experience with him.

But in 2023, a complaint regarding Fitting was made with ESPN’s human resources department, prompting officials at ESPN to question a group of employees, including some prominent female staffers. A short time later Fitting, then 48, was done at ESPN. “It finally caught up to him,” said one of the women questioned.

Fitting, via a spokesperson, denied some of the allegations made against him while choosing not to address others. He declined to comment on the broader characterization of him as someone who mistreated women during his tenure at ESPN or why he was let go by the network.

Fitting’s ouster is among the most significant examples of ESPN’s ongoing reckoning with its past. Since chairman Jimmy Pitaro came from parent company Disney in 2018, there have been significant changes. A less publicized part of that transformation has been a behind-the-scenes effort to clean up the boys’ club ethos that long permeated the company. In the last two years, ESPN has removed at least four male employees — three in elevated positions — who were accused of wrongdoing toward women and/or subordinates.

ESPN declined to discuss Fitting’s dismissal, citing the company’s policy to not discuss personnel matters. Williamson, who is no longer at ESPN, also declined to comment. In a statement, the network said: “ESPN is dedicated to maintaining the most inclusive, respectful and comfortable work environment for everyone. Our people are the most valuable resource at ESPN, and we ensure our commitment by providing year-round guidance, including extensive support and training. On top of that, we clearly communicate workplace expectations for all, while emphasizing care, sensitivity and accessibility in response to any employee needs.”

In its early years, ESPN’s culture was openly hostile toward female employees. Women were ogled and subject to aggressive overtures and male employees offered female co-workers advancement in exchange for sexual favors. It was not unusual for office monitors to show the Playboy Channel.

In James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales’ 2011 oral history of ESPN, “Those Guys Have All the Fun,” they describe the company’s atmosphere in its early years (it was founded in 1979) as “a wild wellspring of sexual misconduct.”

It wasn’t until the late 1980s that someone drew attention to the problem. On-air personality Karie Ross spoke up about what she felt was rampant sexual harassment at a meeting of at least 200 employees. “I decided the only way to get my point across was to stand up in front of the whole place,” she said in the book. Afterward, Ross felt marginalized and left the company.

Former president Steve Bornstein blamed the widespread misogyny, in part, on ESPN’s location in Bristol. “It’s one hundred miles from real civilization, and you got the kind of testosterone, jock mentality, frat house approach that’s pretty much a recipe for stupid decisions being made,” he said in “Those Guys Have All the Fun.”

By 1996, when Fitting landed a job in ESPN’s production assistant pool, the company remained a problematic place for women, according to several who worked there at the time. The “frat house approach” persisted.

Fitting, a fraternity member while he attended James Madison University, graduated from ESPN’s production assistant program and became an associate producer on “College GameDay” in 2000 and was promoted to feature producer two years later. In the spring of 2004, he impressed his boss, Mark Gross, with a pitch for how he’d run the show. Fitting was put on smaller live shows that summer to hone his skills, and by that fall, at age 29, he was sitting in “College GameDay’s” lead chair.

The show, which began in 1987 as an in-studio production (it didn’t go on the road until 1993), was already popular. The casting of Fowler, the unflappable host; Herbstreit, the former college quarterback; and Lee Corso, the ex-coach-turned-charming-goofball, had already resonated. Fitting launched it into a different stratosphere. He made the show feel younger, fresher and unpredictable.

During a visit to Ole Miss in 2014, everyone on set wore custom bow ties. Katy Perry, at the apex of her pop stardom and decked out in a pink mohair sweater and matching space buns, arrived with a state trooper detail carrying a tray of drinks. The segment culminated with her tossing corn dogs at the camera, shucking off Lee Corso’s mascot helmet and leading the crowd in the “Hotty Toddy” chant.

“The number one rule to producing good television is not to be scared,” Fitting said in the keynote conversation at the 2017 SVG College Sports Summit in Atlanta. “You’ve got to be willing to take risks and you have to be willing not to worry about what your boss or bosses say when you take those risks.”

Fitting also excelled at aspects of the job, such as hobnobbing with college coaches on the golf course or socializing with executives from the show’s corporate sponsors over drinks. “Lee is a gregarious, social, friendly guy. If we brought advertisers around, Lee knew how to shake hands, and he was skilled at that,” said John Skipper, ESPN’s president from 2012-17. He added: “Lee clearly made the show better and made the show extraordinarily entertaining and extraordinarily popular. He was a golden boy.”

And he was extremely popular with many male executives at ESPN. Fitting was assured; he was good at golf (a valuable currency in the ESPN ecosystem; multiple executives belonged to the same golf club as Fitting). People see the on-air talent at ESPN and assume it is a company of confident operators. But as one longtime employee framed it: ESPN is actually a “kingdom of dorks,” and Fitting was a cool kid with a gravitational pull. Some of the most powerful men at the company liked being in his orbit.

The show’s success and Fitting’s popularity afforded him great latitude. If he wanted a baby bison on the set during a show in Fargo, N.D., someone rounded up a baby bison. His sway over the show’s budget and personnel decisions and ability to expand its reach was unmatched by others running ESPN programs. And as one of the few shows not centered in Bristol, there was less oversight by the bosses back at HQ.

In an oral history of the show published by The Ringer, “SportsCenter” host Scott Van Pelt said about “College GameDay”: “They’re their own kind of country, so to speak — favored-nation status.”

The cast got special catering, security, transportation and more. Staffers who moved from elsewhere at ESPN to “College GameDay” went from boxed lunches to takeout from the Capital Grille. “It was steak, not sandwiches,” said one person who worked on the show. “It was almost piggish.”

Said one employee: “The common theme is — there are no rules. It’s ‘GameDay’ rules.”

Many women who worked on “College GameDay” and under Fitting elsewhere at ESPN — The Athletic spoke to more than 20, including six who participated in the network’s 2023 investigation into Fitting — said that the workplace culture under Fitting featured boorish behavior and offensive remarks, many of them sexual in nature.

Around 2012, some ESPN employees were watching the NCAA’s men’s basketball tournament from a conference room in Bristol when Fitting allegedly commented on a woman (who was not present and didn’t work at ESPN) and her ability to “open her throat” to down a beer, then joked that the woman would be good at performing fellatio, according to one person present. (The Athletic also spoke to a former ESPN employee who the person present told about the alleged comment.) Fitting, via his spokesperson, said this incident never happened.

In a production meeting around 2014, no chairs were available for a woman on staff. Fitting patted his lap and said to her: “I’ve got a seat right here for you,” according to one person in the room and another person who was told about the remark from another individual present. Fitting denied this allegation. One female ESPN employee said that Fitting sent her a text message around 2018 that read: “You look hot.” She showed the text to a producer, who recalled the woman’s hand shaking as she showed the producer the message.

On more than one occasion, he jokingly asked a female staffer for her hotel room number and also routinely joked about performing bed checks, according to “College GameDay” employees. Fitting denied those allegations. He also allegedly bragged about his and his wife’s robust sex life, according to multiple sources.

When he saw a woman in an outfit he liked, he’d let her know, sometimes in ways women and other employees found crude and/or humiliating. He once loudly exclaimed “Goddamn!” when a woman appeared on set in a skirt he liked. These types of comments were so frequent that one female “College GameDay” employee developed a strategy to blunt his behavior. Whenever he would say or do something inappropriate, she would open up a notebook and mimic writing something down. When Fitting would ask what she was doing, she’d respond: “Just jotting this down for the book.”

Boozy dinners near college campuses were common, followed by visits to a local bar, and Fitting was a frequent late-night texter.

In a 2015 Harrisonburg, Va., Daily News-Record profile, Fitting bragged about his partying days as a JMU fraternity member, and some “College GameDay” employees felt that side of him never truly graduated. “It was a frat boy sense of atmosphere all the time,” one former show employee said. In “The System,” a book by Armen Keteyian and Jeff Benedict, Fitting mused about bringing the show to The Grove at Ole Miss, remarking: “Ah, sundresses and alcoholic beverages.”

Many women who worked on “College GameDay” and under Fitting elsewhere at ESPN said they felt pressured to go out for drinks and tolerate the inappropriate remarks, worried that if they did not present as members of the boys’ club they’d be ostracized. Sometimes, before or after saying something crude or sexist, Fitting would use a phrase — “It’s OK, she’s one of the guys” — to justify why his remark was permissible, sources said. When one female employee left the show, Fitting dismissed her as “no fun” in front of a group of employees, according to one person present.

Some women who appeared on-camera were told by Fitting how to style their hair, how much makeup to wear, what outfits he approved of or did not like. He sometimes referenced aspects of their body that he advised them to conceal.

One woman said that one day, when she and Fitting were working in different locations, he had seen her on an in-house feed and texted her that he liked her hair in a ponytail. She brushed off the comment, but he texted again: “Put your hair up in a ponytail.” The woman replied that she had already been in hair and makeup for the day, to which she said Fitting responded: “Put your hair up in a ponytail before I do it for you.” (Fitting denied saying that he would put her hair up if she did not.)

Another woman said Fitting, in addition to commenting on her makeup and wardrobe, told her she should refrain from laughing on air because he found her laugh annoying. (The Athletic spoke with a person she later told about that exchange.)

“You already have these things in the back of your mind. And then when somebody doesn’t think you can advance in your career because you don’t check a box, that awareness can become an insecurity,” one woman said.

Fitting, via his spokesperson, said it was his job to provide feedback to male and female on-air talent regarding their appearance and on-air delivery.

Fitting commented so frequently on how women looked that judging women in that way became engrained in how he operated the show. In the production truck, he would direct people to scan the crowd for “hot” women who could be shown on the broadcast, according to multiple people who worked with him. In 2012, “College GameDay” was in South Bend, Ind., for an October game between Notre Dame and Stanford. Fitting had an issue with the crowd shot behind the studio set: The Notre Dame cheerleaders in the shot were not attractive enough. They were no Oregon cheerleaders, he remarked. (Fitting had a particular fondness for the Oregon cheerleaders, multiple people said, citing comments he made about them that spanned years). As Fitting ordered the Irish cheerleaders cut from the shot, no one batted an eye.

In 2016, Fitting was promoted to vice president and given oversight of all college football and basketball studio and remote production. It gave him even more influence over the ESPN star-making machine.

One ESPN employee said that around 2017 she asked Fitting if she could meet with him in New York to discuss work opportunities. She said that he then asked via text whether he should get a hotel room for the night, which she interpreted as him asking if he should get a room for the two of them. She decided to drop the matter and the meeting never happened. Fitting, via his spokesperson, said that the woman misinterpreted his question; he was asking if he should reserve a conference room at the hotel.

Another ESPN employee said she asked to meet with Fitting to discuss career opportunities on three occasions. Each time he asked her to meet with him for drinks, she said. She declined, as she said other women at ESPN told her not to meet with Fitting alone outside of work. Said another female staffer: “Women had warned each other to be conscious of interactions with him.” Fitting said through his spokesperson that it was common for him to get drinks with men and women as part of his job.

During Fitting’s rise, ESPN took action against some men accused of misconduct. In 2006, Sean Salisbury was suspended for showing pictures of his genitals to co-workers at a bar; his contract was not renewed when it expired in 2008. In 2009, Steve Phillips was fired for having an affair with a production assistant. One connection between those two cases: The wrongdoing was reported on by media outlets.

Around the time of the Phillips affair, ESPN also let two vice presidents go after the consensual relationship they were in — which had been earlier disclosed to higher-ups — was reported on. Within the company, that move was considered unnecessary and reactionary, evidence that the company was reeling.

Williamson called a meeting of people in leadership, and the message he delivered was that the company “wasn’t putting up with any of this,” said one attendee. But most of the alleged wrongdoing by Fitting shared with The Athletic occurred after that meeting. And despite Williamson’s message, many women at ESPN still believed that if they raised the alarm about Fitting’s behavior it would cost them their careers.

“It’s survival,” said one woman.

The person present when Fitting allegedly made the joke about the woman being good at fellatio rebuked him at the time because a young female staff member was also present. “If I laughed along to that, I’m teaching them it’s OK,” the person said. But that individual did not raise the matter to HR or anyone else because, that person said, Fitting was far from the only man at ESPN who acted that way and that person doubted that reporting him would change anything.

The woman he allegedly sent the text message to that read “You look hot” concluded that escalating the issue was too fraught. Her producer understood her predicament: “Lee Fitting has more power and juice than you, so if you say something, you put your job and livelihood in jeopardy.”

The woman who said Fitting texted her asking if he should get a hotel room for their meeting in New York disclosed that interaction to a male executive at ESPN. However, she decided not to report the matter to HR and asked the male executive to keep her disclosure quiet. (That executive corroborated her account.)

“I was trying so hard to keep the job and get more opportunities,” said the woman. “You get blackballed if you say anything. Are they gonna keep me or Lee Fitting?”

Skipper, during his run as ESPN’s president, championed diversity issues and the careers of many women at the network. But he was also running ESPN when much of the alleged wrongdoing by Fitting took place. Skipper said he was never made aware of any concerns or complaints about Fitting’s behavior when he was at ESPN.

“I did invite people and made it clear that if there were issues (with any employees), people could come to me and tell me. And they did (regarding others). On the other hand, I recognize how hard it is to go all the way to the top of the company and tell the president,” Skipper said.

Speaking generally about people coming forward, he added: “It is a hard thing to do. You’ve got to decide. I mean, if you’re exposed to something, maybe it is somebody who is going to decide what your bonus is next year. If it’s a colleague, you know, it’s wrong, but people still have the old ‘I’m not going to tell on anybody’ thing.’ And then, until a company establishes a track record of actually holding the people responsible, you always fear you’re basically going to get into the bad parts of being a whistleblower. Will these people resent you and (then) they’re unhappy?”

Skipper abruptly resigned in 2018 to seek substance abuse treatment in what he later said was a cocaine extortion plot, and Pitaro moved over from parent company Disney and became ESPN’s president. In 2020, he added the title of chairman — ESPN’s first who did not rise through its ranks in Bristol. According to multiple sources, Disney tried to insert Pitaro as Skipper’s No. 2 earlier, but Skipper rebuffed those efforts, protective of ESPN’s insular culture. But with Skipper gone, Pitaro had a clear field to force change.

He was quickly labeled a “boy scout” by some long-time ESPNers as he pushed the company’s internal business and culture to be more synergistic with Disney’s, to pull “Bristol closer to Burbank,” as one ESPN executive put it. He transformed the human resources department. Longtime chief Paul Richardson departed in 2021 and senior vice presidents Sonia Coleman and Judy Agay arrived from Disney.

Among the changes they made: Preseason meetings with shows during which members of the human resources group that handles complaints address show staff and emphasize creating a welcoming work environment and outline resources to help address problems. A member of that staff also visits each show during the season and reiterates those messages. The company also created an executive women’s forum with an open line to company leadership to address issues.

“It usually takes a lot to get fired by ESPN,” Miller and Shales wrote in “Those Guys Have All the Fun.” But as those changes took hold, and with Pitaro empowering the new leaders in human resources, that was no longer true.

Rob King, a senior executive who oversaw “SportsCenter,” ESPN.com and special projects during his tenure and had been with the company for almost two decades, was fired in March 2023 amidst harassment allegations. When contacted, he referred The Athletic to a statement he posted on his personal social media account shortly after the news surfaced: “The time is right for me to leave the company. I’m looking forward to spending more time with my family and friends, and wish the company continued success.”

SportsCenter anchor Max McGee was let go in February 2024 after the company received a complaint about him from a female employee, according to ESPN sources. McGee said he had been advised not to comment and referred questions to a spokesperson, who did not respond to multiple requests seeking further comment. In November, a “SportsCenter” producer was let go after being accused of inappropriate behavior toward subordinates.

The first sign of trouble for Fitting came in 2023 when ESPN learned that “College GameDay” was integrally involved in a scheme that involved sending falsified submissions to The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which operates the Emmys, and led to “College GameDay” receiving more than 30 statuettes that it didn’t earn.

That scheme, made public by The Athletic, led to Fitting being banned from future Emmy participation, according to multiple sources. Then, in July 2023, an HR official contacted some employees who had worked with Fitting about a “confidential matter.” According to multiple sources, a complaint had been made against Fitting, prompting an HR inquiry.

The people who participated in the probe said they were asked questions such as: Did you ever feel pressure to drink or socialize? Did you ever feel like you had to engage in flirtatious behavior? Did you ever feel like you were passed over for an opportunity based on anything other than merit? Were inappropriate comments ever made about your appearance or your body? Were women ever pitted against each other in the workplace?

Those who participated in the probe said the questioning eventually focused on Fitting. Multiple people said they described to an HR official instances in which they believed Fitting engaged in inappropriate conduct and/or discriminated against women. Two current ESPN executives briefed about the result of the HR investigation said the findings gave the company little choice but to let Fitting go.

Fitting, through his spokesperson, declined to address why his employment was terminated by ESPN.

Some women who worked at ESPN were stunned that the company finally cut bait with Fitting. Others lamented the years of transgressions that went unseen or ignored. A few expressed relief that their careers might be allowed to flourish now without having to fake being “one of the guys.”

The significance of Fitting’s ouster was underscored when ESPN put Amanda Gifford, who joined the company in 2004 and came up through the radio side of the company, in charge of college football event production. Early on, Gifford met with women working on “College GameDay” to hear about their experiences and make clear that she was there for them if they had issues or concerns.

Fitting, meanwhile, was only out of work for a few months. In January 2024, he was hired at WWE, a company embroiled in a sexual assault and trafficking scandal allegedly involving founder Vince McMahon that has prompted a federal investigation. McMahon characterized the allegations as “baseless.”

WWE’s president is Nick Khan, who was previously a talent agent who represented a number of ESPN personalities.

Fitting produces “Monday Night Raw” and “Friday Night SmackDown,” and those broadcasts now more closely resemble “College GameDay.” At the time of Fitting’s hiring, Khan called him a “phenomenal leader”; Paul “Triple H” Levesque recently heralded him as a “game-changer.”

A WWE spokesperson said the company had no comment on the allegations against Fitting.

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic. Photo: ESPN)

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With the Pelicans firmly at the bottom of the West, now is the time to buy low on New Orleans’ younger players. RotoWire fantasy basketball expert Mike Barner analyzes his situation and other trade opportunities.

We saw our first noteworthy NBA trade, with Dennis Schroder being dealt to the Warriors. As trade rumors continue to swirl, there are also trades to be made in fantasy basketball. Let’s discuss some players to buy low on, sell high on or hold based on their current production.

Buy

It has been a disappointing season for Duren, who is averaging 8.9 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. That’s not terrible, but it’s a far cry from the 13.8 points and 11.6 rebounds per game that he averaged last season. The big difference is that he averaged 29 minutes per game last season, but has averaged just 24 minutes per game this year.

When Duren gets extended run, he is usually productive. He played 32 minutes against the Heat on Monday, posting nine points and 16 rebounds. The key was, Isaiah Stewart left the game with a knee injury. Should he be forced to miss time, then Duren would have a clear path to significantly more minutes. Even if Stewart isn’t out for an extended period of time, it just shows that Duren is one Stewart injury away from providing fantasy managers with a huge boost in rebounds. He might be available at a discount right now.

Murphy isn’t exactly struggling. He is averaging 18.1 points per game, which is on pace to be the best mark of his career. However, he is shooting just 41.7% from the field and 32.8% from behind the arc. For his career, he has shot 45.0% from the field and 38.6% from behind the arc. Expect his efficiency to improve as the season moves along, especially from deep.

One of the main reasons to try to acquire Murphy is that injuries have contributed to the Pelicans posting a 5-22 record that has them in last place in the Western Conference. Since they aren’t going to make the playoffs, they could trade away a veteran or two as the deadline approaches. If that were to be the case, then Murphy would likely continue to receive plenty of minutes and shot attempts.

Sell

Wiggins has rebounded from averaging 13.2 points per game last season to average 17.7 points per game this season. The biggest difference has been his shooting 43.8% from behind the arc. He shot just 35.8% from deep last season. His usage rate has also increased from 20.9% last season to 23.0% this season.

The Warriors needed more scoring from Wiggins with Klay Thompson no longer in the picture. However, the addition of Schroder could result in Wiggins taking a slight hit in his usage rate. Schroder has been locked in offensively, averaging 18.4 points per game for the Nets. That will surely go down with his new squad, but the point remains that he adds another competent scorer to the mix for the Warriors. Given that Wiggins is only averaging 4.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, any hit to his scoring contributions would deal a blow to his fantasy value.

Paul has proven to be a valuable addition for the Spurs. He has taken over as their starting point guard, averaging 9.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 8.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.7 3-pointers per game. Just as impressive is the fact that Paul has yet to miss a game this season.

Paul has not only played in every game this season, but he is averaging 28 minutes per game. Prior to this season, injuries had limited him to 65 or fewer games in each of the last three seasons. He is 39 years old, so asking him to play this many minutes per game and hold up over the course of the entire season might be much. His fantasy value is likely at its peak right now, so it might not be a bad idea to shop him to other fantasy managers who need assists.

Hold

With Paul George gone, there were plenty of shots up for grabs on the Clippers heading into this season. They have mostly been soaked up by Powell, who has a 26.8% usage rate. Not only is he shooting more, but he is doing so in efficient fashion. He is shooting 50.2% from the field and 48.4% from behind the arc, which has enabled him to average 23.5 points and 3.9 3-pointers per game.

Also benefiting Powell is that Kawhi Leonard (knee) has yet to play in a game this season. There have finally been some encouraging reports coming out of Los Angeles with Leonard progressing and becoming a limited participant in practice. However, even when he does return, he could play limited minutes for a while. There is also the chance that he goes down with an injury again, given his history. Don’t panic and trade away Powell just because there have been some positive reports on Leonard. He should remain one of the Clippers’ leading scorers throughout the season.

The Suns badly needed a point guard, and they did a great job filling that void by adding Jones in the offseason. With Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal in the starting lineup with him, it was fair to expect that Jones might not be able to replicate the production that he had last season as one of the leading members of the Wizards. However, he hasn’t missed a beat with his new team, averaging 12.8 points, 6.9 assists and 2.4 3-pointers over 32 minutes per game.

Helping Jones’ cause is that the Suns have been hit hard by injuries. Durant and Beal have played only 15 games each. Beal has not played more than 60 games since the 2018-19 season. Durant has played 55 or fewer games in three of the last four seasons. It might be rare for the Suns to have all of their top three players healthy at the same time. That means they will likely continue to rely on Jones to play a significant role.

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Dennis Schröder would like to end his career with the Golden State Warriors, but understands the business side of the NBA.

Schröder would end NBA career with Warriors if opportunity arises originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

If it were up to Dennis Schröder, he would play out the remainder of his NBA career with the team he has yet to take the floor for.

The veteran guard, who was traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Warriors last week, spoke to local Bay Area reporters on Tuesday at Chase Center, where he was asked if he hopes to remain with Golden State past the 2024-25 NBA season after playing for seven different teams throughout his 12-year career.

“For me, it [doesn’t] really matter. In Europe, where I grew up, you play [with a new team every year],” Schröder said. “I don’t really care if I stay in one spot, I just want to be in one spot where I’m really appreciated, where people know my value, what I bring to the table every single night, every single day. Having my beautiful family here, if that works out, of course I’d want to end my career here. But I know the business side of it, I’ve been here 12 years.

“I don’t have [any] problem if they have other visions, but right now I’m here, and I will be the most professional, most competitive guy every single night and try and go after it. It would obviously be nice if you stay at one location, but you’ve got to be realistic too sometimes, and you’ve just got to know it’s a business as well.”

A desire to work out a long-term agreement appears to be mutual for both Schröder and the Warriors after general manager Mike Dunleavy, in speaking to reporters on Monday, expressed Golden State’s hope of re-signing the unrestricted free agent in the offseason.

“No doubt [on looking into keeping him long term],” Dunleavy said. “Anytime you’re giving things up — in this case, we’re giving up some draft capital — I don’t think you intend for it to be a short-term thing. At Dennis’ age, we still think he’s got a lot of good years left in him and we’ll have the ability to re-sign him after the season. Again, we think he’s a good fit for us on both sides of the court. Hopefully, there’s a relationship here longer than a few months.”

Schröder practiced with the Warriors for the first time on Tuesday, and will log another session on Wednesday before suiting up for Golden State for the first time in Thursday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum.

From there on out, if Schröder provides the Warriors with the consistent two-way play they believe he can, Golden State might look to lock the 31-year-old up long-term.

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The NBA Cup has been a hit with players and the league’s core fans, but it hasn’t captured the imagination of casual fans. Yet.

LAS VEGAS — The arena was mostly full, the Bucks were dancing at center court, and Damian Lillard was holding a trophy aloft under a rain of confetti — something he had never gotten to do before. In their locker room, the Bucks were loud and celebrating.

“It’s the best feeling ever — just winning,” NBA Cup,” tournament MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo said. “We had this goal as a team and we have accomplished it. I’m very proud of everybody. I’m so happy for our team. We got our first trophy together and this is just the beginning.”

Yet, in a sign of how both players and teams are treating the NBA Cup, the champagne room the NBA set up for the Bucks to have that celebration and drench each other went untouched — Milwaukee didn’t want to make too much of this win with 70% of the NBA season still to be played (a lesson two-time cup winning coach Darvin Ham passed along).

All of which begs the question:

Is the NBA Cup a success?

Yes.

And no. It was always going to take time to build what Adam Silver envisioned. How you view the event’s success depends upon the lens through which you choose to view the NBA Cup.

The players like it, and with that the games tend to have a little more intensity. To a man, the players on all four teams in Las Vegas for the cup semifinals and finals — and other players who spoke about it but whose teams didn’t advance — praise the NBA Cup.

“I like it. I think it provides excitement for us as players and excitement for the fans,” Lillard said on an off day. “It’s something on the line before you get to the playoffs. I think it just brings out the best in us.

“You get in these Cup games where the floor is different. The uniform is different. You know that we’re playing for something. There’s a prize at the end, obviously, a trip to Vegas and ultimately just an opportunity to win something as a team.”Don’t forget the money. Make no mistake, the half-a-million prize money for the winning team motivates players.

Motivated players has led to the NBA Cup games passing the eye test of being played at a higher level and with more intensity than a standard November or December regular season game. Players are diving on the court for loose balls and playing with an increased physicality and focus in these games.

Who is watching?

Better games has made the NBA’s core fan base happy — tried and true NBA fans, the ones with League Pass who are listening to NBA podcasts (and the podcasters themselves) love it.

The NBA Cup is a hit with people who already love the NBA.

However, part of the goal of the NBA Cup was to draw in casual fans and turn some eyeballs away from the NFL and college football during November and December.

Nobody thinks that has happened.

NBA ratings overall are down this season, 19% year-over-year. However, Adam Silver called the dip part of a broader trend of cable viewership being down, and it’s also hitting other sports (including college basketball and the NHL). At the very least, domestic television ratings are a complex soup as a younger generation of viewers with a host of streaming options consume sports in a different way — almost as many people stream NBA games now as sit in front of a television watching the game (although right now the business model is primarily built on that later idea).

The NBA Cup didn’t spark a reverse in those ratings concerns. The NBA was prepared for a little dip in ratings because a year ago the Lakers — with LeBron James and the massive Lakers nation fan base — won the whole thing. It also helped the energy in the T Mobile Arena that Los Angeles is a cheap and short one-hour plane flight (or four-hour drive) away from L.A. While the Atlanta Hawks had a sizable contingent of fans in the arena for their semifinal game on Saturday, that was more because the NFL’s Falcons played the Raiders on Monday night, so the fans were already here. Fans who find out on Tuesday or Wednesday that their team will play in Las Vegas on Saturday must make a significant commitment to be there.

Changes are coming to the NBA Cup

The NBA Cup is not a finished product and will look different next year. Not the least of those reasons is that the semifinals and finals will have a new broadcast partner, Amazon Prime, as part of the league’s massive new television deal.

What other changes could we see? Nothing is set but here is some of what has been floated:

• Doubling the length of the group stage to eight games. Executives mentioned this to Tim Bontemps of ESPN, suggesting it would both build more interest and allow the better teams (Boston and Cleveland this season, for example) to move on rather than get bounced quickly because of a loss or two. This also would necessitate a longer NBA Cup campaign, which leads to…

• Moving the NBA Cup later in the season. This has been floated before and reportedly discussed with Amazon. The premise is simple: Stay away from football. While part of the original idea was that the NBA Cup was to draw the eyeballs of more casual fans away from football, that has not proven to work out. Would moving the NBA Cup to a later date help with that? Maybe, but now it would be competing with the NBA All-Star Game, the trade deadline, and the end-of-season playoff push. There is no more natural fit on the calendar than where it is now, but it’s being discussed.

• Semifinal games in a home arena, only championship in Las Vegas. A mid-season trip to Las Vegas is another clear motivator for players who crave a break from the marathon grind of the NBA regular season.

However, putting the games in Las Vegas — in the Pacific time zone — with only days notice of which teams will be in the final four (let alone the championship game) leads to low energy in the building. The NBA Cup championship game Tuesday started at 5:30 local time, and it had the energy in the T-Moble Arena of a mid-major conference tournament semifinal day game because of it. If Atlanta vs. Milwaukee had been in one of their home areas, would the vibe have been different? However, in multi-use arenas (most around the league), this becomes a scheduling nightmare of dates that must be left open.

Silver hinted nothing will change on this front for next season, but it’s something to watch.

• Move the championship game around. The NBA is trying to build a tradition in Las Vegas with the NBA Cup. However, what would the vibe be if the final four were in Madison Square Garden in New York City (even if the Knicks did not advance)? New Orleans? Miami? Seattle? Why not move the NBA Cup final around more like the All-Star Game? Would that create more buzz in a market?

• Play all the games (group and knockout rounds) consecutively over two/three weeks rather than spread it out. The NBA tries to differentiate the NBA Cup games from regular season games with different (occasionally blinding) courts and uniforms, but the effect on casual fans can be confusing. During group play, Tuesday nights are NBA Cup games (that count toward the cup and regular season), Wednesday and Thursday are regular season games, and then on Friday, they are NBA Cup games again. For a casual viewer, it’s confusing.

Why not designate two or three weeks as NBA Cup weeks and play every game straight through? Every night in that window is NBA Cup night. Make it feel a little more like a tournament Americans are used to (the current, broken-up format is closer to how European soccer in-season tournaments are played, but that is baked into the culture of the sport in a way it is not here).

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The Nuggets could be a perfect fit for the Bulls guard, who has never played next to a superstar.

You’d smile too if there was a possibility to play alongside Nikola Jokić. (Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Over the course of human history, we’ve seen great inventions that have dramatically accelerated civilization. The wheel, to use one example, certainly ranks in the top five. And whoever came up with the insane notion of mashing together two cookies, with vanilla ice cream as the filling center … we all commend you.

As it stands, we might be on the threshold of a similar evolutionary leap as the ice cream sandwich, and it comes to us via the Denver Nuggets, who are reportedly interested in acquiring Bulls guard Zach LaVine.

The high-scoring shooting guard has, for a variety of reasons, grown underrated to an extent that borders on ridiculous.

Yes, his contract is indeed huge. LaVine earns $43 million this year and has another two years left at roughly $46 million and $48.9 million, although that last year is a player option.

The financial component of LaVine is a major hurdle, and for the past few years, the league reportedly deemed the contract untradable due to its scale.

That always seemed like a bridge too far, and it reeked of teams or individuals putting Chicago’s lack of results solely on LaVine, instead of looking at management and ownership, who have never seemed to understand what to actually do with a player like him.

LaVine is not a first option. He’s been pushed into that role before, and he’s had decent individual results, but he was never supposed to be the primary guy. There was a pretty significant reason for that.

Over the course of his career, and especially since he entered his prime during his Chicago years, LaVine became an outright wicked off-ball scorer.

In 2020-21, LaVine ranked seventh in catch-and-shoot 3-point percentage (48.9%) of players with over 50 games played, while being Chicago’s primary offensive weapon (by far).

That same season, he ranked in the 97th percentile in cutting efficiency, again as the primary offensive player on the Bulls, with defenses gearing up to stop him.

Since then, LaVine has remained a high-efficiency player on actions not on the ball, only falling below 40% on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers during his injury-riddled season last year, when he was limited to 25 games.

What’s intriguing about that level of efficiency is LaVine has never played with a player who is an elite playmaker and also operates as the first option.

In short, he’s never had his Batman.

In Denver, he’d finally have his … well, Joker. But Nikola Jokić is also Batman in this scenario.

All right, forget the superhero analogy. LaVine has never played next to a superstar, and he’s certainly never played alongside a superstar of Jokić’s caliber as someone who might go down as one of the 10 best players of all time.

In Denver, LaVine would essentially walk into the most effortless 20-25 points per game he could ever imagine due to his aforementioned skills playing off the ball.

The 29-year-old would also bend defenses to a degree that would open up the floor more for both Jokić and Jamal Murray, which should inject new life into Denver’s offense.

With Jokić drawing frequent double-teams, LaVine would stand to immediately benefit due to the ball moving and popping like he’s never seen in Chicago, with all due respect to DeMar DeRozan.

LaVine would also inject some much-needed 3-point creation into Denver’s offense. While Michael Porter Jr. would likely head to Chicago in such a deal, the forward isn’t able to create 3-point shots off the dribble to the extent of LaVine, as he simply lacks the ball-handling, speed and touch to hit off-angle shots as he contorts his body in the air.

This isn’t to say some challenges wouldn’t develop in Denver, as LaVine isn’t a noteworthy defender. Offensively speaking, however, the fit just makes sense.

Oftentimes in the NBA, obvious trades don’t get made. Teams will pivot into a direction that catches most observers off-guard, and we’re left imagining what a certain player on a certain team could look like.

Here, the possibility makes an otherworldly level of sense.

It’s obvious. It’s fresh. It’s the right thing to try. So, based on past experiences … don’t get your hopes up.

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