Tantalizing new NBA superteam possibilities, plus college football’s 22,000-mile schedule

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Good morning! Be like Malika Andrews today.

Teasers: LeBron and Steph, together again?

There is history attached to Team USA men’s basketball at the Olympics, and it’s not just about gold medals. This is a period when the country’s best players spend an inordinate amount of time together, playing some of the most important basketball of their lives. Deep bonds form.

LeBron James’ relocation to Miami began at the 2006 FIBA World Cup and the 2008 Olympic Games. James and Chris Bosh joining Dwyane Wade on the Heat changed the course of NBA history.

So it’s easy to wonder, after an armada of basketball legends looked like best friends in France while winning gold: Can it happen again?

Sam Amick has a column this morning on the possibilities, and they are tantalizing. A few thoughts:

A LeBron James–Steph Curry pairing is the most fun and, in my opinion, least likely. James won’t leave his son in L.A., and Curry has long wanted to retire a Warrior. But it was incredible to watch two legends jell so well on the court. At least we got to see them play together this summer.
The epicenters — or the, uh, Suns — of these scenarios: Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. Should Phoenix implode this year or next, both Booker and Durant could be elsewhere, as impossible as that seems. Sam points out Team USA coach Steve Kerr going out of his way to compliment Booker. Durant could rejoin Golden State or link up with his new BFF/little-brother figure Anthony Edwards in Minnesota. Both are much more realistic than anything with LeBron.

Read the rest of Sam’s list here, and don’t forget about Miami’s Bam Adebayo, who’s still just 27 years old, playing on a team stars have flocked toward, alongside an aging Jimmy Butler.

Moving on:

News to Know

The latest on Chiles
Yesterday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said it would not reopen the case into Jordan Chiles’ Olympic gymnastics floor exercise bronze medal, which was reclaimed on Sunday after a dizzying week of debate. (Chiles won bronze in the event after USA Gymnastics coaches appealed the initial scoring, but the court ruled over the weekend that the appeal came four seconds late.) Now USA Gymnastics says it has evidence that the appeal was filed within the proper window and plans to appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal. I’m tired. See more here.

AFC East Pro Bowlers on the move?
Both Jets defensive end Haason Reddick and Patriots pass rusher Matthew Judon are the subject of swirling trade rumors this week, for slightly different reasons. Reddick, who joined the Jets just months ago via trade, requested a fresh trade yesterday, as the two-time Pro Bowler seeks a new deal. Judon, meanwhile, has garnered interest from multiple teams after a tumultuous training camp, stemming from his own quest for a new contract. My bet: both players sign new deals before the season starts. More in Scoop City.

Duran suspended for slur
The Red Sox suspended outfielder Jarren Duran for two games yesterday, one day after a hot mic caught him directing a homophobic slur at a heckling fan. He appeared morose at a news conference yesterday and profusely apologized for his words, though he did wear a shirt that read “F— ‘Em,” which Steve Buckley says eliminates all need to cut Duran any slack.

More news

Things You Need to See: Earthquake on set!

A 4.4-magnitude earthquake struck near Los Angeles yesterday, shaking the homes and offices of millions. One of those: ESPN’s studios during a live segment on “NBA Today.” Just look at the wobble:

.@malika_andrews kept her cool and made sure everyone was OK after an earthquake hit the ESPN L.A. studios during NBA Today.

A true professional 👏 pic.twitter.com/wwataq5Yqk

— ESPN (@espn) August 12, 2024

Major props to host Malika Andrews for both making sure her coworkers were safe and unharmed while seamlessly finishing the segment. I might’ve clocked out right there.

Airline Miles: UCLA’s new exhausting reality

We have talked for years about how this season will be different in college football. Conferences are scrambled. The College Football Playoff expanded by 200 percent. But we are just two and a half weeks from actually seeing this change, and no team exemplifies this more than UCLA in the Big Ten.

The evidence is not complicated, either. Simply look at their road games (approximate miles in parentheses):

Aug. 31: Hawai’i (2,550)
Sep. 21: LSU (1,605)
Oct. 5: Penn State (2,250)
Oct. 19: Rutgers (2,445)
Nov. 2: Nebraska (1,275)
Nov. 15: Washington (960)

That comes out to a little over 22,000 miles traveled (round trip) for the Bruins this year, with five round trips across multiple time zones. All while doing homework and stuff. The farthest they traveled for a trip last year was 760 miles to Oregon State.

To be fair: Big Ten travel won’t always be this bad. UCLA had the misfortune of previously scheduled games against the Rainbow Warriors and my Tigers. But still — it’s a massive difference. And lots of smaller schools in other leagues have to make some similar trips, but without Big Ten travel budgets.

Will that affect UCLA’s outlook this year? It probably should. The school is already a “forgotten” member of the Big Ten’s new western contingent, and is ushering in a new era under coach DeShaun Foster. The Bruins received zero votes in the initial AP Top 25.

Throughout the next two weeks, we’ll be pondering how college football will be different this year (and it’s a great time for CFB fans to subscribe to Until Saturday). Let’s hope someone at UCLA is collecting all those mileage points.

Watch This Game

All times Eastern

MLB: Dodgers at Brewers
8:10 p.m. on TBS
The NL West is suddenly a close race, and Milwaukee remains the class of the NL Central. Are the Dodgers (just four games ahead of the Diamondbacks) actually in trouble? I’ll believe it when I see it. But I didn’t expect intrigue this late in the season. That’s fun.

Get tickets to games like these here.

Pulse Picks

Long before he was a polarizing college football coach, professional two-sport star and all-around lightning rod, Deion Sanders was quiet at Florida State. He was also the most gifted athlete anyone had ever seen. Chad Graff collected the best stories from Prime Time’s college years, which is worth a read this morning.

Were the Paris Olympics actually the best ever? On TV and streaming, they were, Richard Deitsch writes.

Jim Bowden has an early list of the top 50 MLB free agents this offseason. The winter of Soto is coming.

Brody Miller wrote about that weird decision by Matt Kuchar, and published it a day later in true Kuchar fashion. Golf can be so messy.

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our Paris cohort’s roundup of favorite scenes from the Olympics. I’m frankly jealous of them.

Most-read on the website yesterday: I loved this story from our Minnesota contingent, who talked to new vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s former high school football players. This was fun.

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