ESPN Daily

The NBA In-Season Tournament has had its fair share of criticism ever since the idea was first floated by Adam Silver. Everything from its merits, the timing and even the bold, colorful court designs drew the ire of basketball purists across the nation. But now, as the tournament heats up in its final stretch, people seem to get it. Four teams are left standing as the setting shifts to Las Vegas f...

No owner in sports has his identity as closely tied to a team like Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks. When he bought the Mavs in 2000, he was an unknown, newly-minted billionaire. But his outspoken, passionate, and innovative approach shook up the NBA and helped him become one of the most well-known businessmen in America.  So the news last week that Cuban was selling a majority stake in the team...

For fans of teams who didn’t have much to play for in the previous season, the NBA Draft represents a hopeful outlook towards the future; the chance to find their franchise cornerstone who can change their misfortunes and lead them to glory in the years to come. Or at least, that’s the ideal. Now, six weeks into the NBA season, we’ve reached the point in the calendar where certain rookies start to...

There are just five weeks left in the regular season, but the playoff picture only seems to be getting more muddied at this stage. There are teams like the Green Bay Packers, young and led by an inexperienced QB in Jordan Love, who are finding their stride and clawing into the wild card hunt after knocking off Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Lambeau on Sunday night.  At the top of the NFC, the 4...

The winter meetings mark the traditional beginning to Major League Baseball’s offseason. And this year, with three huge names on the market, including Shohei Ohtani, the best baseball player on the planet, the hot stove is sure to heat up. So today, Jeff Passan tells us who is available, who is buying, and how smart teams should approach the free agent market this winter. Learn more about your ad...

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and that means the playoff push is here. After 12 weeks of competition, the wheat is separating itself from the chaff. Some teams that got off to slow starts have turned their season around, and others with strong starts have fallen down the pecking order. Over the next six weeks, the field will narrow more and more as each team fights for a shot to win Super Bowl L...

While the College Football Playoff technically doesn’t start for another month, if you look closely you can see that in many ways it already has. Look no further than the fireworks of Rivalry Week: while appearing to keep up with decades old traditions, they are actually setting the table for the win-or-go-home repercussions of this weekend's conference championships. So today, Ryan McGee joins us...

The past two seasons have been tumultuous, to say the least, for Draymond Green. Throughout the Warriors dynasty of the past decade, Green has been the enforcer of the team, playing a crucial role in bringing four NBA championships to the Bay Area, pushing the envelope on league rules in the process. But now, Green’s latest suspension – for putting Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in a chokehold –...

Throughout human history, the allure of rare and mysterious artifacts has always summoned our bravest and most intrepid explorers to scour the ends of the earth. The Ark of the Covenant. The Holy Grail. And now, the Dallas Mavericks Barbie.   The ultra-rare Mavs Barbie, the product of a late 90’s collaboration between Mattel and the NBA, has given collectors everywhere headaches for years as the m...

It’s that time of year, America. It’s time to grab a plate and have a seat for Thanksgiving dinner. And while we may not have the same foods on our table, there is one dish we all get to dive into: the Detroit Lions playing on Thanksgiving day. If you’re a Lions fan, most of those Thanksgiving games this century have sat in your stomach like leftovers gone bad…but as a quick look at the standings...

Earlier this month, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, more commonly known as UFC, celebrated its 30th anniversary. The company’s explosive growth is unprecedented in the history of sports, recently earning a $12 billion valuation. But the UFC didn't just create a new kind of sports entertainment. It brought a relatively unknown fighting style out of the underground and into the mainstream, upend...

After more than a few lackluster primetime games over the first half of the NFL season, tonight’s Monday Night Football matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs is sure to deliver a feast to kick off Thanksgiving Week.  Not only is it the two best teams from each conference, with two presumptive MVP candidates at quarterback on each side, it’s also only the second time we’ve...

Nine games into CJ Stroud’s NFL career, and he’s already taking the league by storm. He resurrected a lifeless Houston Texans organization, and etched his name in the record books. Forget Rookie of the Year, he might be the NFL’s Most Valuable Player this season. Period. But there is so much more to Stroud than his heroics on the field…so today, ESPN’s Liz Merrill joins the show to tell us about w...

Even if you don’t follow basketball, odds are that you heard of Paige Bueckers. Even before she stepped foot on the floor at the University of Connecticut, clips of her getting buckets had gone viral as far back as when she was in middle school. And she arrived at UConn in 2020 as the next big thing; the next superstar that would lead the storied Huskies program to another national championship. ...

Colorado’s final home game of the 2023 season ended in agony last Saturday, a heart-wrenching 34-31 defeat — their fourth in a row — at the paws of the Arizona Wildcats. The prime time games and celebrities on the sidelines are gone for now, and with their record now sitting at 4-6, the Buffaloes need to win out just to be bowl eligible. But with Deion Sanders taking over a program that won one ga...

Billy Preston was thought to be the next one-and-done player when he signed with the University of Kansas basketball team back in 2017. But before he could make that leap, a minor fender bender opened the door into a world of illegal corporate payouts that unraveled his future in an instant. So today as Kansas, and their coach Bill Self – the highest paid coach in the sport – prepare to take on Ke...

Week 10 gave us some of the craziest finishes of the NFL season. The Houston Texans pulled off a last second victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, where rookie QB CJ Stroud basically “out-Burrowed” Joe Burrow himself, inserting himself into the MVP conversation in the process. Elsewhere in the AFC North, the Browns came from behind to steal a win from the Baltimore Ravens, who had been gaining mome...

Michigan has been one of the top teams in college football for the past few seasons. Ever since head coach Jim Harbaugh stepped on campus, they’ve stayed in the headlines, for better or worse. And now, In the midst of their undefeated season, allegations of sign stealing have taken over the narrative surrounding the team. The near-daily developments have been unexpected, and sometimes downright od...

Caitlin Clark is one of the greatest college basketball players we have ever seen. She’s the reigning NCAA women’s basketball Player of the Year after leading Iowa to the Final Four; and now in her senior season, she’s poised to set or break several more records. But regardless of what Clark accomplishes, she’ll do it all while holding her favorite title: Being just another kid from Des Moines. So...

University of Wisconsin’s star sophomore Laila Edwards is the first Black woman to make the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team. After an incredible freshman season that ended with Wisconsin’s record seventh national title, she now adds representing the U.S. to her resume.  Inspired by a chance meeting with Blake Bolden, the first Black woman to play professional hockey, Laila is showing a new gener...

Few jobs are more thankless than that of the referee. At best, your existence is completely invisible. No one notices when you do a terrific job. At worst, you become enemy #1 for fans or coaches or in lower levels, angry parents. Combine that with low pay and high pressure, and it's no wonder why officiating is undergoing a crisis at the moment. Not enough people are willing to do the job –– a jo...

The playoff picture is slowly starting to take shape as we get deeper into the NFL season. Teams like the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, who got off to slow starts, are finally hitting their stride.  Meanwhile, other teams are starting to raise more questions than answers. Can the Kansas City Chiefs defense carry a lackluster offense to the Super Bowl? How far can the Dallas Cowboys real...

Across the American sporting landscape, Pride Nights have become a popular way to reach out to the LGBTQIA+ community, a simple show of support meant to signify that sports are for everyone. In the NHL, teams have worn themed warm up jerseys that were later auctioned off for charity. But last year, Pride Nights became the epicenter of a public relations disaster for the league.  A small handful of...

There are few professions with a shorter leash than the job of an NFL coach. The league is a results-based business with 32 teams all vying for a Super Bowl ring. So if you can’t build a perennial contender, you can pretty much expect to be looking for other work sooner rather than later, with the fans all too eager to see you go.  That’s what’s going on right now in Pittsburgh, where offensive co...

Another season of men’s college basketball is upon us…and we really don’t know what to make of it. The usual teams adorn the top of the preseason polls: Kansas, Duke, and Michigan State, but there’s really no clear frontrunner that looks primed to stand above the crowd. Add to the wide-open field a whole crop of familiar faces in new places, as NIL deals and the transfer portal continue to dominat...