Sports
Lakers hold off late Hornets rally to close road trip with win
In the back of the house at the Spectrum Center, the Hornets’ home arena, workers are greeted with a wall of quotations from an array of famous people, from Jeff Bezos to Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, all surrounding an incredibly basic quote from their former boss, Michael Jordan.
“Just play” it reads on the wall. “Have fun. Enjoy the game.”
For a time on the Lakers’ trip that ended Monday with a 124-118 win in that same building, the Lakers were doing none of the three. But after beating the Hornets to win their third straight, faint traces of optimism emerged as the team moved toward Thursday’s trade deadline.
“When we put our minds to it, we can beat any team in this league,” Anthony Davis said. “You know, we lose two we felt like we should’ve won. Maybe won two that the people in Nevada thought we should lose. When we buckle down defensively and play the right way, play Laker basketball, then we’re a tough team to beat.”
Blowout losses to Houston and Atlanta completely erased any of the momentum built after their two-overtime win against Stephen Curry and the Warriors. LeBron James’ hourglass emoji post only escalated trade-deadline tensions, and Thursday when it was determined that he and Davis would miss the Lakers’ game with the Celtics, a sense of dread kicked in.
Then, the Lakers won and won again, and by the time they took the court in the first half on Monday, they were playing. Having fun. Enjoying the game.
D’Angelo Russell wagged his head and celebrated with the Lakers’ bench after splashing a three. Austin Reaves flipped no-look passes while Davis and James traded turns slamming home dunks, the Lakers looking very healthy against a short-handed 10-win Hornets team playing on the second night of back-to-back games.
“Super fun. Guys are making shots. We’re playing the right way. Swinging the basketball. Getting stops. It’s who we are. It’s who we want our identity to be,” said Davis. “It doesn’t always seem to happen that way, like, kinda at the end of the third and most of the fourth.”
Davis finished with a triple-double of 26 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists, while Russell contributed 28 points and six assists and James had 26 points and seven assists.
The Lakers had 74 points in the first half and they would lead by as many as 21 points. And it seemed they would fully recapture the vibes their Grammy trip started with.
But as the lead slipped away in the fourth quarter, the issues that have plagued the Lakers through much of their season resurfaced.
Barely playing. No more fun. Who could enjoy it?
James’ legs filled with cement. The rims tightened on Russell and Reaves. And the touches didn’t find Davis often enough to exploit their clear interior advantage.
As the Hornets chipped away, the Lakers even resulted to letting the basketball sit untouched in their backcourt while the seconds ticked off the clock — a time-burning strategy that wasn’t quite the same as grabbing the game by the horns.
Miles Bridges and Brandon Miller, two of the only healthy Hornets usually in their best lineups, exploded for 74 combined points. Only when Davis blocked a three-pointer from Bridges could the Lakers exhale, their 4-2 road trip secured.
“We dropped our guard a little bit,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “…But all of that said, we kept fighting, making big defensive plays when we needed to.”
Monday’s win in Charlotte was the Lakers’ final piece of data for the front office as they enter Thursday’s trade deadline, an incredibly tight eye of a needle that needs threading considering their strengths, their weaknesses and their limited pathways for making changes.
With access to just a lone first-round pick — from 2029 nonetheless — and limited players they are willing to trade who are healthy and hold value around the league, the organization is in a tough place as it enters what appears to be a seller’s market.
With playoff expansion putting 20 teams into the postseason mix (counting the play-in tournament), a poorly regarded draft class and low appetites for rebuilds, sellers are scarce, with prices still inflated in the eyes of executives around the NBA.
The Lakers, still in the middle of so many trade rumors, felt at least somewhat confident in the group they headed home with.
“This is who we have,” James said, “so there’s nothing else to talk about.”
Jarred Vanderbilt injury update
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt is dealing with a foot sprain.
(Michael Wyke / Associated Press)
Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt will be out at least three to four more weeks after the team announced Monday that he has a sprain in the middle of his right foot.
Vanderbilt, who usually defends an opponents top perimeter player, suffered a noncontact injury to the foot during the first half of the Lakers’ upset win in Boston on Thursday.
After consulting with multiple foot specialists, it was determined surgery is not needed now. He’ll be reevaluated in about a month.
Vanderbilt missed the first 20 games this season because of a heel injury in his left foot. During his absence, his defensive versatility, ability to force turnovers and rebounding were sorely missed.
Over the last 12 games he played, Vanderbilt averaged 8.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 steals. He was a plus-30 in 41 minutes against Golden State in the first game of the six-game road trip, which ended in Charlotte.
Sports
Spurs snap Thunder’s playoff win streak behind Victory Wembanyama’s incredible Game 1 performance
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The Oklahoma City Thunder came into Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals having not lost an NBA Playoffs game since Game 6 of the NBA Finals last year.
But they hadn’t faced Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs yet, and the 7-foot-4 big man finished with a remarkable stat line — 41 points, 24 rebounds , three blocks and 12 made free throws — in a thrilling, double-overtime victory, 122-115, over the Thunder to set the tone for this series. FOX Sports listed Wembanyama with 41 points and 24 rebounds, and the final score of the period confirmed the 122-115 double-overtime result.
Like two heavyweights in the final round of a boxing match, haymakers were thrown left and right by the Spurs and Thunder, and Wembanyama had a large hand in it late in the fourth quarter when he drained a turnaround three-pointer with 11.5 seconds left on the clock to give San Antonio a 101-99 lead.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs reacts during the second quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game One of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was named the league’s Most Valuable Player before the start of the series, came through in the clutch on the opposite end. With 3.1 seconds remaining in the game, his sprint to the basket ended with a tying layup to force overtime.
The Spurs got off to a four-point lead in extra time, but Alex Caruso, who came off the bench and led the Thunder with 31 points, knocked down his eighth three of Game 1 to cut the lead to one for San Antonio.
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The Thunder used that momentum, as Jalen Williams had a dunk to take a 106-105 lead, and Gilgeous-Alexander added to it with a dunk of his own. “Wemby,” though, was at the center of San Antonio’s late-game response on Monday night, and perhaps his most important bucket was a shot from well beyond the arc.
Wembanyama took the ball from Stephon Castle and added to the guard’s assist total with a 27-foot three near the Oklahoma City logo to tie the game at 108 apiece with 27 seconds left. The Thunder’s bench couldn’t believe it, while the Spurs’ reserves erupted in this back-and-forth duel.
Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs dunks against Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter of Game One in the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
Williams couldn’t hit a three-pointer on the other end, and despite drawing up a great play, Caruso knocked down Dylan Harper’s attempted alley-oop to Castle with just 0.7 seconds remaining in overtime to keep the score where it was.
Needing one more extra period, Wembanyama took the game into his hands. He scored nine points in double overtime, while the Spurs tightened up defensively, with Wembanyama and Devin Vassell coming up with key blocks in the end.
Castle finished with 11 assists to lead the Spurs in that category, while rookie guard Dylan Harper made vital contributions with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and a game-high seven steals in the win. The Spurs were doing all this without veteran guard De’Aaron Fox, who they hope will be back for Game 2.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder drives to the basket against Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs during the first quarter of Game One in the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on May 18, 2026. (Joshua Gateley/Getty Images)
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Williams had 26 points for Oklahoma City, while Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 24 points on 7-of-23 shooting with 12 assists and five steals.
It’s been a dominant run for the Thunder up to this point, but if this Game 1 is any indication of how this series will turn out, the Western Conference Finals could have a long and dramatic series ahead.
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HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL
CITY SECTION PLAYOFFS
MONDAY’S RESULTS
First Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter 16, #17 Middle College 6
#20 Cleveland 20, #13 Dorsey 2
#10 North Hollywood 12, #14 USC-MAE 0
#18 Taft 13, #15 Central City Value 0
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys 19, #17 Alliance Bloomfield 2
#20 East Valley 14, #13 Community Charter 3
#14 VAAS 18, #19 Angelou 0
#15 Reseda 24, #18 Stella 0
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn 44, #17 West Adams 33
#20 Hawkins 28, #13 LAAAE 7
#14 Franklin 19, #19 Mendez 7
#18 Diego Rivera 24, #15 Discovery 8
WEDNESDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
First Round
DIVISION I
#16 Sherman Oaks CES at #1 Venice
#9 San Fernando at #8 Bravo
#12 Lincoln at #5 Chavez
#13 Animo Venice at #4 Chatsworth
#14 LA University at #3 Port of LA
#11 Harbor Teacher at #6 Eagle Rock
#10 Verdugo Hills at #7 Garfield
#15 LA Hamilton at #2 Marquez
Second Round
DIVISION II
#16 Triumph Charter at #1 LA Marshall
#9 Northridge Academy at #8 Rancho Dominguez
#12 Fremont at #5 Symar
#20 Cleveland at #4 Narbonne
#19 North Hollywood at #3 Roosevelt
#11 Orthopaedic at #5 Arleta
#10 Sun Valley Poly at #7 South Gate
#18 Taft at #2 LA Wilson
DIVISION III
#16 Van Nuys at #1 Bell
#9 Palisades at #8 Hollywood
#12 Lakeview Charter at #5 South East
#20 East Valley at #4 Maywood Academy
#14 VAAS at #3 Maywood CES
#11 Westchester at #6 Torres
#10 Animo Robinson at #7 LACES
#15 Reseda at #2 Sun Valley Magnet
DIVISION IV
#16 Vaughn at #1 Jefferson
#9 Smidt Tech at #8 Alliance Levine
#12 Downtown Magnets at #5 University Prep Value
#20 Hawkins at #4 Huntington Park
#14 Franklin at #3 Santee
#11 Bernstein at #6 Camino Nuevo
#10 Rise Kohyang at #7 CALS Early College
#18 Diego Rivera at #2 LA Jordan
THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE
(Games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Quarterfinals
OPEN DIVISION
#8 Granada Hills Kennedy at #1 Granada Hills
#5 El Camino Real at #4 San Pedro
#6 Wilmington Banning at #3 Birmingham
#7 Legacy at #2 Carson
Note: Division I-IV quarterfinals May 22 at higher seeds; Semifinals all divisions May 27 at higher seeds; Finals all divisions May 29-30 at TBD.
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Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.
He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.
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New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.
“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”
Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)
He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.
Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.
Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.
Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.
New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)
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Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.
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