The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered its second loss in six games on Friday night, succumbing to the Dallas Mavericks without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on hand.

A 106-98 defeat, OKC missed the scoring impact of Gilgeous-Alexander’s as nobody in the lineup reached 20 points, with Jalen Williams being the high scorer with 19 points on 22 shots. That couldn’t quite get the job done, even when winning the rebounding and turnover battles.

The Thunder now sets its focus on its upcoming opponent, the Brooklyn Nets. This could potentially be another night without Gilgeous-Alexander as he’s listed as a game-time decision before the team’s contest on Sunday evening.

But beyond that, a slew of impactful players for both teams will be sitting on the bench due to injury. For the Nets, it’s Cameron Johnson, Cam Thomas and Bojan Bogdanovic, among others. Johnson is the only player listed as questionable for Sunday night’s bout.

On Oklahoma City’s side, Isaiah Hartenstein still remains on the sideline with a calf strain, Chet Holmgren is yet to return from his hip fracture, and Ajay Mitchell’s toe injury has him out for the foreseeable months. All the while, Gilgeous-Alexander could possibly be coaching from the bench as well.

Though, this is a Brooklyn team who doesn’t frighten the Thunder. A 14-28 team, Oklahoma City will look to come inside Paycom Center with an edge as the team looks to recoup from its loss to Dallas just a couple nights prior. The Thunder has lost two consecutive games just once this season, and should be refined heading into Sunday to not make it happen twice.

Williams will have to take the scoring reigns and prove to be more efficient offensively in Gilgeous-Alexander’s absence. Working without three of his right hand men, this is where Williams can separate himself and showcase his ability to win a game as the primary point of leadership on Sunday night.

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Donald Trump made a new, big promise last week about tariffs — the latest in a string of outsized pledges to use tariffs to benefit the United States.

On his social media platform, he declared that he wants to create what he’s calling the “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs and other revenues from foreign sources.

To be clear, that name itself is misleading: the overwhelming number of tariffs are paid by American businesses importing goods, not by external foreign sources.

The post is the latest in a long line of promises Trump has made about tariffs, which are at the center of his economic strategy. Those promises on tariffs will be hard to keep, economists say — and some even work against each other.

The goals for tariffs: revenues, jobs, and the war on drugs

One of Trump’s big tariff promises is bigger revenue. On the campaign trail, he told a Georgia crowd that “we will take in hundreds of billions of dollars into our treasury and use that money to benefit the American citizens.”

He also has repeatedly said tariffs would boost U.S. manufacturing. In that same Georgia speech, Trump said he would impose tariffs on cars made in Mexico. “We will put a 100% tariff on every single car coming across the Mexican border and tell them, the only way they’ll get rid of that tariff is if they want to build a plant right here in the United States with you people operating that plant.”

At a recent press conference, he also said tariffs could stem illegal immigration and drugs.

“Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country,” he said. “We’re going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada, because Canada, they come through Canada too, and the drugs that are coming through are at record numbers.”

These tariff goals are at cross-purposes

It sounds great — one simple trick to tackle drugs, debt, and jobs. But it’s hard to see how it could all happen at once.

“You can have a tariff for revenue or you can have a tariff for restriction, but you can’t have both,” says Erica York, vice president of federal tax policy at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning economic think tank.

Since a tariff is a tax that American importers pay for goods from other countries, tariffs do bring in some revenue.

But Trump also wants tariffs to boost manufacturing. The idea here is to make, say, foreign cars more expensive, meaning Americans would buy fewer foreign cars.

This is where a big contradiction comes in: if Americans buy fewer foreign cars, tariff revenue goes down.

And that’s not the only contradiction York sees in Trump’s policy. If Trump threatens tariffs on Mexico or Canada and succeeds in getting them to crack down on immigration or drugs — that is, if Mexico or Canada changed their policies in order to get Trump not to tariff them — that would mean no additional revenue, and also no additional protection for American workers.

“The way the incoming Trump administration is talking about it is that they can have their cake and eat it, too. But that is just not the case,” York said.

NPR asked the Trump team to explain how tariffs can accomplish all of Trump’s stated goals. They didn’t answer specifically, saying instead that tariffs will “protect the American manufacturers and working men and women from the unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets.”

Higher prices and uncertain revenues

Trump’s tariff proposals go way beyond what he imposed in his first term. He has floated tariffs of up to 60% on Chinese goods, plus a proposed 25% on Canada and Mexico. He has even suggested a blanket 10% to 20% on all imports.

But even new, high tariffs wouldn’t raise the kind of revenue Trump seems to want. Trump has often pointed to the 19th century, a time before the federal income tax, as an era he admires.

“It’ll make our country rich,” he said at a December press conference, speaking with admiration about the days of former President William McKinley. “That was when we were at our proportionately the richest,” Trump said.

During the campaign, Trump even suggested he wanted to replace the income tax with tariffs.

Experts have said that would be impossible. Last year, tariffs accounted for just 2% of government income.

According to one analysis from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the maximum revenue that Trump’s threatened tariffs could generate would be $780 billion. That’s around a third of the total revenue from income and corporate taxes, and also doesn’t account for the economic effects of higher tariffs, like higher prices and slower growth, not to mention retaliation from foreign countries.

Kimberly Clausing co-wrote that analysis and also worked in the Biden Treasury Department. She emphasized the tariff hikes would hurt lower-income Americans the most through higher prices — while at the same time, helping higher-income people receiving Trump’s proposed tax cuts.

“I think a cynical reading of what the Trump administration is suggesting is a bunch of regressive tax cuts that help those at the top of the distribution, that are paid for with the regressive consumption tax that’s going to hit the poor the hardest,” she said.

Copyright 2025 NPR

There is one item on the Tennessee Titans’ to-do list this offseason that stands out among all the rest. Obviously, that item is finding a new starting quarterback for the 2025 season.

After a brutal year of quarterback production in 2024, the Titans are a near lock to bring in a new signal caller. Whether they use the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on a quarterback, sign one in free agency, or look to pull off a trade, a new starter is almost certain to be under center in Tennessee.

Most of the talk about the Titans landing a quarterback has surrounded the draft. Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward have been talked about constantly since Tennessee landed the top pick.

However, the rumors surrounding free agents like Sam Darnold and Aaron Rodgers have been loud as well.

With that being said, a new projection has come out that has the Titans signing Darnold in free agency.

Matt Johnson of SportsNaut had Tennessee signing Darnold as one of his 15 predictions for the offseason.

“A return to the Minnesota Vikings now seems out of the question. The Las Vegas Raiders might also be an option, but it’s hard to believe they would see Tom Brady as a franchise savior. Instead, Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan rolls the dice with his job on the line in 2025,” Johnson wrote.

“Tennesee has already demonstrated that it is willing to spend big in NFL free agency, even if it isn’t in the team’s best long-term interest for building a team. Darnold provides stability and if Tennessee uses its first-round pick on a right tackle, the Titans offensive line could be good enough for Darnold to succeed on a three-year deal.”

Darnold put together a monstrous 2024 season with the Minnesota Vikings. He ended up playing all 17 games, completing 66.2 percent of his pass attempts for 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. He also picked up 212 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

At 27 years old, Darnold is still young enough to be a long-term quarterback. He will turn 28 before the 2025 season kicks off, but the Titans would still have their long-term signal caller if they sign him.

Many are split with their opinions about Darnold. Some think that he was a product of playing with the Vikings and having an elite supporting cast. Others think that Darnold is the real deal.

It would be a risk to sign Darnold, but so would drafting a quarterback.

Expect to hear a ton of rumors and specluation about Tennessee and its quarterback situation as the offseason gets going. Darnold is a name to keep a very close eye on.

Make sure you bookmark Tennessee Titans on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!