Sports

7:23 AM ET The PGA Tour heads to its marquee event this week with The Players at TPC Sawgrass. Unofficially labeled “golf’s fifth major,” The Players doesn’t just boast prestige — but a huge payday. This year, the purse is up $20 million. The winner will be cashing in a $3.6 million check, the largest

3:19 PM ET ESPN’s divisional boxing rankings highlight the best in the sport at every weight class. They will change often based on recent results and performances. Rankings are based on what a fighter has accomplished in the weight division in which he is ranked. A fighter who has announced he is moving up or

9:35 PM ET CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kyrie Irving‘s 50-point outburst during Tuesday night’s 132-121 win over the Charlotte Hornets was so impressive that Kevin Durant spent the first few moments of his postgame news conference clapping for his teammate at the podium. Durant called Irving’s performance a “master class” and said younger players should watch

11:23 PM ET ESPN News Services SAN FRANCISCO — Will Ferrell screamed and put a hand in Klay Thompson‘s face as the Golden State Warriors star lofted a baseline 3-pointer. Nice defensive closeout, no doubt. Ferrell took the floor and warmed up with the Warriors on Tuesday night — maybe just what coach Steve Kerr’s

1:28 PM ET The NBA suspended Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis for one game without pay for “aggressively confronting and making contact with a game official,” the league announced Wednesday. Sabonis was ejected in the Monday night game against the New York Knicks with 4:35 remaining in the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center in

9:18 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com The potential for a Rafael Nadal vs. Daniil Medvedev semifinal showdown. A blockbuster Naomi Osaka–Sloane Stephens first-round matchup. A full-capacity crowd. And a relaxed desert vibe to go with it all. It’s been three years (!) since the BNP Paribas Open has been played during its normally scheduled slot on

4:18 AM GMT All Blacks greats Jeff Wilson and John Kirwan have taken aim at Australian rugby, suggesting the country again must cut back to four Super Rugby franchises if it can’t find a way to keep more of its top-level talent on home soil. While the New Zealand and Australia teams are still weeks

7:53 AM ET LAS VEGAS — Kamaru Usman stood on stage Friday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena, his daughter Samirah next to him. The UFC welterweight champion and ESPN’s pound-for-pound MMA king was participating in a question-and-answer session with UFC interviewer Megan Olivi ahead of the UFC 272 ceremonial weigh-ins. Usman was asked if the winner

8:23 PM ET Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Alex Bowman beat NASCAR champion Kyle Larson in a door-to-door overtime battle at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that sent Hendrick Motorsports to victory lane for the second consecutive week. The win Sunday was the first of the year for Bowman and seventh of his career. It was

8:13 AM ET The PGA Tour heads to Arnie’s place, Bay Hill Club & Lodge, this week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau pulled out this week, citing an ongoing hand injury. Play begins Thursday. But a strong field will be at Bay Hill, a week before the Players Championship and a

2:48 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez proved on Saturday that he’s still one of the best fighters in the world, but more so, that age isn’t slowing him down. His masterclass performance en route to a unanimous-decision victory over Julio Cesar Martinez was just the latest impressive outing in a Hall of Fame

11:17 PM ET ESPN News Services Ukrainian wildcard Dayana Yastremska, who was forced to flee her home after Russia’s invasion last week, reached the WTA Lyon Open final after defeating No. 2 seed Sorana Cirstea 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday. She will face No. 8 seed Zhang Shuai in the final on Sunday. Yastremska, 21,

1:11 AM ET Jamal CollierESPN CHICAGO — Fans at United Center may have reveled in Bulls forward Derrick Jones Jr.’s flagrant foul on Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen on Friday night, but Jones insisted afterward that the foul was not intentional and denied being a dirty player. Jones was given a flagrant foul 1 in

10:51 AM ET The Dallas Cowboys are “likely” to release wide receiver Amari Cooper by the start of the new league year, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday. Cooper is due $20 million in fully guaranteed money on the fifth day of the new league year, March 20. The Cowboys designed Cooper’s $100 million

1:46 PM ET Associated Press LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky racing officials have denied trainer Bob Baffert’s request to stay his suspension for a failed postrace drug test by Medina Spirit that led to his disqualification as Kentucky Derby winner. Kentucky Horse Racing Commission board members on Friday voted 10-0 with three abstentions against the stay

7:00 AM ET ESPN staff On Aug. 24, the commissioners of the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 held a joint video conference to announce the Alliance, a new partnership between three of the five most powerful conferences in college athletics. The launch generated immediate reaction — and memes from “The Office” — and set expectations

10:05 AM ET ESPN News Services Major League Baseball deputy commissioner Dan Halem and MLB Players Association attorney Bruce Meyer plan to have an informal one-on-one meeting Thursday to resume talks amid baseball’s work stoppage, a source told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The meeting, which will take place in New York, between Halem and Meyer —

8:30 AM ET Andrei Svechnikov has two locations listed in his Instagram bio. One is Raleigh, North Carolina, where the Carolina Hurricanes star has played for the past four seasons. The other is Kazan, the Russian city where his family lived after stops in Moscow and Siberia. Svechnikov is Russian, a designation that’s taken on

12:56 PM ET On Monday, FIFA announced that it was indefinitely suspending Russian representative teams (men’s and women’s). (In a joint statement, UEFA announced they were removing club sides from all competitions.) This means Russia will almost certainly not be participating in the Qatar World Cup in November. The previous day, FIFA had condemned the

2:39 PM ET Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Embattled Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has sued Churchill Downs and track leadership in federal court, seeking to overturn his two-year suspension on grounds it violated his due process rights. The suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court names Churchill Downs Inc., CEO William C. Carstanjen