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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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.
Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.
“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.
He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.
After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.
“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”
MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME
Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.
He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.
Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.
He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.
Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.
It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.
In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.
Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.
Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.
After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.
Sports
Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card
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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June.
But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract.
White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card.
Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City. ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))
“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”
White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it.
UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT
The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan.
On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter.
UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready.
“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”
Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.
Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote.
The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion.
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