KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before dawn on a fall Friday, Steve Spagnuolo enters the Kansas City Chiefs facility with a large aluminum pan. The defensive coordinator finds a place for it in the defensive line meeting room, returns to his car and comes back with another pan, this one for the linebackers room. Then he…

SAN FRANCISCO — Klay Thompson didn’t want any of the pomp and circumstance. The warm welcome from 400 or so Warriors employees who met him at the Dallas Mavericks’ team bus Tuesday and cheered for him as he walked toward the visitors’ locker room inside this familiar Chase Center. The sailor caps that were inspired…

The annual race to the bottom of the NFL has several participants this season — 11 teams are at three wins or fewer heading into Week 11. Unlike last year, there is no consensus pot of gold at the other end of the failure rainbow. There are elite players in the 2025 NFL Draft class,…

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Just a few weeks before South Carolina began its campaign to defend its national title, fifth-year senior Te-Hina Paopao laughed and joked with teammates on the sideline during practice as coach Dawn Staley stood nearby and rattled off feedback to players conducting a full-court drill. Staley either didn’t notice or didn’t mind…

The New York Jets’ playoff hopes likely died in the Sonoran Desert. Owner Woody Johnson’s big swings — firing head coach Robert Saleh, replacing him with Jeff Ulbrich, trading for wide receiver Davante Adams — didn’t work. Johnson envisioned this season ending in the land of milk and honey. Instead, the Jets are 3-7 after…

PHILADELPHIA — Not much changed in the ending. The Philadelphia 76ers walked off their home floor again, with a bevy of New York fans again chanting “Let’s Go Knicks,” after another road win by Tom Thibodeau and company in the City of Brotherly Love. This time, Karl-Anthony Towns got the walk-off love as he left…

The Week 11 NFL Power Rankings are checking in on the most important position in the game — quarterbacks. It’s been a weird year for the most high-profile position in the game. The best quarterback in the league has not been that impressive. A can’t-miss prospect is missing by a lot. A future Hall of…

Two top-five teams lost just days after the first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2024 season were released, so there should be a Top 25 shake-up by the selection committee with the second rankings on Tuesday night. Just how much they change after Georgia and Miami lost is the question. My College Football Playoff…

Scott Boras maintains the base of his agenting empire in an office complex in Newport Beach, Calif., but in the afternoons during the baseball season the headquarters shifts location. Sometimes Boras holds court in a suite before games at Angel Stadium. When the Los Angeles Dodgers are in town, as they were throughout October, he…

The inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament was a topic of discussion among basketball fans last season. In its second year of existence, the tournament has been rebranded as the Emirates NBA Cup after the league announced a new multiyear deal with the airline company earlier this year. GO DEEPER In-Season Tournament renamed as Emirates NBA Cup…