Sports
Olivia Miles’ transfer portal entrance highlights power shift in women’s basketball
The top of the 2025 WNBA Draft experienced a major shakeup when Olivia Miles entered the transfer portal. Miles was projected to be the No. 2 pick in April’s draft and likely fall no lower than third overall, but instead she has elected to extend her college career, just not at Notre Dame.
Even though the era of the pandemic bonus year has essentially ended in college basketball as eligible players had to be on rosters during the 2020-21 season, which was when the current crop of fourth-year seniors was in high school, eligibility decisions are still at play for WNBA prospects. There are still medical redshirts, which is why Miles can play for another year because she missed the 2023-24 season with a torn ACL. Furthermore, juniors who turn 22 during the year of the draft have the option to go pro or remain in school.
Miles’ decision not only represents the emerging power of player agency in the women’s basketball landscape, but it is particularly interesting strictly from a basketball consideration, as she is beloved by WNBA talent evaluators. The former Notre Dame guard was all but guaranteed to be a lottery pick, with general managers calling her the safest pick in the draft beyond UConn’s Paige Bueckers. Her massive improvement as a 3-point shooter (24.6 percent before the injury compared to 40.8 percent after) was the tipping point when combined with her already excellent facilitation as a lead guard.
In theory, Miles’ stock has nowhere to go but down if her shooting doesn’t remain consistent at this level. That indicates that when she gets picked isn’t nearly as important as how much money she can make in the process, where she goes, and how her body feels after her ACL injury.
The WNBA is currently negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the players’ association that could potentially triple individual salaries. Rather than lock herself into a four-year rookie contract totaling about $350,000, Miles could wait to enter the league until 2026 and possibly recoup that figure within the first two seasons. Agents have been advising college players across the country with an additional year of eligibility to stay in school and reap the financial rewards of the next CBA.
If Miles makes her transfer decision within the next week, she could also secure name, image and likeness commitments before the final hearing in the House v. NCAA lawsuit on April 7. This is the last gasp for unregulated “pay-for-play” deals with athletes before they are assessed by an NCAA clearinghouse. Given Miles’ status as a two-time All-American — the only other multi-time All-American to ever enter the portal was LSU’s Aneesah Morrow, who left DePaul — Miles will presumably be raking in cash from collectives.
It’s worth remembering that Miles’ external sponsorships will likely stay with her when she turns professional, supplementing her WNBA salary. However, collectives affiliated with a university will only be interested in her as a collegian; thus, this is her last opportunity to pull in that particular revenue stream.
Most WNBA executives didn’t cite Miles’ health as a concern in the lead-up to the draft, as she has suffered only one significant injury and appeared to be in excellent form during the 2024-25 season. However, she told The Athletic in Birmingham that she is not close to where she wants to be post-injury.
“My physical shape could be better,” Miles said. “This injury, it’s a long, long process. Even after you’re healed, getting the rest of your body to catch up. I would say I’m not even 75 percent of the way there yet.”
Taking the leap from college to the WNBA requires a certain level of confidence not only in a player’s skills, but in their body. If Miles doesn’t feel physically herself, it wouldn’t be the right time to play against grown women in a physical league. That’s a similar calculation that Azzi Fudd had to make. The redshirt junior opted out of the 2025 draft to return to the Huskies despite also being a projected first-round pick. Fudd has barely played one full healthy season at UConn and could stand to get stronger before joining the W.
Miles also has more to accomplish at the collegiate level. She ended her season in the Sweet 16, just as she has every full season at Notre Dame, which was short of what the Irish — who were ranked No. 1 in the country on Feb. 17 — had hoped for. There were always questions about the fit between Miles and another ball-dominant guard in Hannah Hidalgo. Now, Miles can find another team where she is the full-time point guard and with more returning talent. Even if Miles returned, Notre Dame was losing half its rotation (Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld, Liatu King and Liza Karlen) and bringing in one top-100 recruit.
Flau’jae Johnson, a draft-eligible junior, said she wanted to do more winning before leaving LSU, despite already being a national champion.
“Once you taste the national championship, you want more,” Johnson said after losing in the Elite Eight. “And I feel like that national championship I had (as a freshman), yeah, I was a big factor in it, but there were bigger factors in that. I want my own one. Where I lead the team.”
Ta’Niya Latson, who was a 2025 All-American with Miles and Johnson, has experienced enough individual accolades at Florida State. She also entered the portal instead of the WNBA draft, having hit a repeated NCAA Tournament first-weekend ceiling with the Seminoles.
There will always be a draw to playing in the NCAA Tournament, one that the WNBA can’t match, and there are only so many years when players can take part in it. All of the aforementioned athletes have been deprived of postseason experience due to injury. Miles missed two tournaments, Fudd missed one and was ill during another, and Latson was injured during her freshman postseason.
This is a situation JuJu Watkins will have to consider when she returns from her ACL injury. Rather than go pro in 2027, she could stay in college a fifth year as a medical redshirt to get back the March time she lost, depending on what USC has accomplished to that point.
Miles’ decision doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It is representative of all the financial, medical and legacy-related questions that female athletes are confronting in a time when they have more agency than ever. The balance of power is shifting, and colleges and WNBA teams are now at the mercy of the players.
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
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The Indiana Pacers are one win away from heading to the NBA Finals.
The Pacers took Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 130-131, over the New York Knicks to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
The Knicks trailed by as many as 10 in the second quarter, as the Pacers could not miss throughout the first half. New York was able to come back, though, and lead, 64-63 with just over a minute to go, but Indiana ended the first half on a 6-0 run.
Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) reacts with center Myles Turner (33) after shooting a three-point basket during the second quarter against the New York Knicks of game four of the eastern conference finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. (Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images)
That run continued into the second half, as the Pacers went up a dozen points less than three minutes into the third quarter. But the Knicks kept within striking distance – after all, they did come back from 20 points down for a third time in these playoffs just two days ago.
But just like they did in the first and second quarters, the Pacers ended the third on a 12-5 run (the first was a 9-4 stretch). And this, too, extended into the fourth. With a 9-5 run to start the final frame, Indiana got out to a 15-point lead, their largest of the night.
Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) dunks during the first quarter against the New York Knicks of game four of the eastern conference finals for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. (Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images)
PACERS FAN FACES FELONY CHARGES FOR ALLEGEDLY STABBING 2 KNICKS FANS AT BREWERY
But the Knicks, again, weren’t dead – they went on a 10-2 run to cut their deficit to six with just under five minutes to go. But they could not find the magic this time around, and former Knick Obi Toppin hit the dagger with a three-pointer to put Indiana up 10 with just over 45 seconds to go.
Tyrese Haliburton went off for a triple-double, scoring 32 points, handing out 15 assists, and grabbing a dozen rebounds – all without committing a single turnover. Pascal Siakam added 30 points, while Benedict Mathurin had 20 off the bench.
Jalen Brunson (31), Karl-Anthony Towns (24), and OG Anunoby (22) combined for 77 of the Knicks’ 121 points. The Knicks also lost the turnover battle, 17-11.
The bad news is the Knicks will now have to win three games in a row in order to keep their season alive. The good news, though, is that quest will begin on their own home court on Thursday night. However, it was two losses at Madison Square Garden to open up this series that have put them in this position in the first place.
Team T-shirts are seen on seats prior to game four of the eastern conference finals between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. (Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images)
Game 5 is in New York on Thursday night.
When the Sparks traded for Kelsey Plum, the buzz around her reunion with former championship teammate Dearica Hamby centered on one thing: their pedigree elevating the franchise.
On Tuesday night, fans got a glimpse of the potential that the duo could attain. The chemistry. The comfort. The way they fed off each other’s energy — stepping up when the Sparks needed it most, looking to build momentum off a previous hard-fought victory.
By the fourth quarter of an 88-82 loss to the Atlanta Dream (4-2) on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, the Sparks (2-4) were on the verge of a comeback. A steal by Hamby near midcourt turned into an outlet on the fastbreak to Plum, who quickly dished it back for the finish, trimming the deficit to 66–63.
The second half belonged to them. Plum and Hamby combined for 39 points to rally the Sparks from a 40–31 halftime hole. Like clockwork, Plum buried a clutch three-pointer to cut the lead to 71–70 — the closest L.A. would get. Hamby’s late free throws pulled them to within two in the final minutes.
They led by example — attacking the basket, applying pressure on defense, diving for loose balls — doing everything necessary to win the close games the Sparks have so often found themselves in this season.
But in the end, like so often before, their effort fell just short.
Although the duo played with a sense of urgency, it’s still something the team as a whole struggles to sustain over a full 40 minutes, according to head coach Lynne Roberts. It seemed they might have turned a corner Sunday, but that performance now feels like the exception, not the start of a trend.
“My message to the group was we’ve got to be able to put 40 minutes together and not get down and then play with that urgency,” Roberts said. “We have the ability to play like that more, and that’s what I’d like to see when we go in those spurts or the droughts.”
As a team, the drought came in the second quarter. Coming off their highest-scoring game of the season, the Sparks looked out of sorts against a staunch Atlanta defense that refused to give up easy baskets.
The Dream disrupted the Sparks’ rhythm from the start, denying space for them to initiate sets, locate open shooters or generate meaningful possessions — the blueprint of Roberts’ offense. That inefficiency became more pronounced as the quarter progressed, when opportunities came sparingly and turnovers, whether from steals or denied attempts at the rim, became a recurring theme.
“I could do a better job,” Plum said, shouldering the brunt of the offensive inefficiency in the period. “Getting the people the ball, good shot. And I think we had a lot of good looks around the rim early… Just missed them, and credit to them.”
Plum finished with 27 points, five assists, three rebounds and four steals, and Hamby had 28 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals of her own, with Roberts adding that “those are stupid numbers. And her defense there in the second half got us back in it.”
With inconsistency still prevalent and struggles to close out games lingering, Plum and Hamby agree the team is close to improving, but the process is ongoing.
“If you watch these game, we’re right freaking there,” Plum said.
Hamby says success won’t come this early in the season, reflecting on her and Plum’s championship experience in Las Vegas.
“We enjoy the process — been part of the process,” Hamby said. “We know that it’s not like it happens overnight. It’s not going to happen in the first six games of the season.
“Obviously, we want to compete and we want to keep building. But perspective: this is a new group. We’re learning a whole new system. It’s predicated on chemistry, movement, space, team.”
But the road to success remains a marathon.
The Sparks will have only a few days to continue their team-building efforts before hitting the road for a matchup in Las Vegas against the Aces — the former home of both All-Stars. For Plum, it signifies her first return since the offseason trade.
The quick turnaround also gives Rickea Jackson, fresh off a concussion, more time to ease back into the lineup.
With starters logging heavy minutes and rookies thrust into high-pressure roles early in the season, the Sparks simply needed more bodies to ease the burden. The return of Rickea Jackson was a welcome boost.
Still, the Sparks took a cautious approach to her reintroduction. Jackson came off the bench and played limited minutes (12) mostly in the second half, as she worked to reacclimate to the pace of live play.
At times, she looked like a player still finding her rhythm, missing shots she typically makes and picking up uncharacteristic fouls. She finished with more fouls than any other stat: three fouls and just one rebound.
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Conor Daly’s race team got a bit more than they bargained for at the Indianapolis 500 over the weekend as the IndyCar driver copped to a gross act on Monday night during the victory banquet.
The Indy 500 was delayed nearly an hour because of rain. Drivers were forced to sit in their cars on the frontstretch until officials gave them the all-clear to begin racing. Because of the delay, Daly said he just could not hold his urine in anymore.
IndyCar Series driver Conor Daly, #76, during the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on May 25, 2025. (Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images)
“I want to thank my mechanics specifically, because there’s been a lot of talk tonight and I saw on the internet as well – a lot of toilet talk and maybe some using of the bathroom,” Daly said. “We had to wait a long time before the race. Never in my life have I urinated in my race car until Sunday.
“I was sitting on the grid, and I was like, ‘This is the best car I’ve ever been in, in my whole life. I’m gonna have to pee in this thing.’ I kid you not, I legitimately urinated in my race car before the race even started.”
Daly said he had to go “really bad” and admitted he sat through the entire race in his own urine. He said he “came clean” with his mechanics after the race was over.
Juncos Hollinger Racing driver Conor Daly, #76, sits on the wall after practice for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on May 19, 2025. (Grace Hollars-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
INDY 500 RUNNER-UP MARCUS ERICSSON, OTHERS PUSHED TO REAR FOLLOWING FAILED POST-RACE INSPECTION
“It was an embarrassing moment. I didn’t think I’d have to get there. (James) Hinchcliffe told me about that once but, anyway, now you guys all know.”
Daly finished eighth after starting out in 11th. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver led 13 laps and appeared to have one of the quickest vehicles on the track.
Juncos Hollinger Racing driver Conor Daly, #76, high-fives crew members on Saturday, May 17, 2025, during qualifying for the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
However, it was Alex Palou who got the last laugh and won the race for the first time in his career.
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