Philadelphia residents should stay as far away from the lottery as possible.

Three of their local sports teams were in action on Thursday night, at one point all playing at the same time. They all lost.

Arguably the most important game was the Phillies’ National League Division Series game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, where a win would have forced a decisive Game 5 back in the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday after trailing the series 2-0.

It took extra innings, but a brutal throw on a poor decision by Orion Kerkering sent the Dodgers to the National League Championship Series, ending the Phillies’ season.

That occurred while the Eagles were trailing at halftime to the New York Giants, but the G-Men turned it up a notch with three touchdowns from rookie running back Cam Skattebo to win 34-17. It was the first time the Giants had won a Thursday night game since 2015, and it was just the fourth time in their last 22 meetings, including the playoffs, the Giants beat them.

Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts runs during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

TRAVIS KELCE IS ‘TERRIFIED’ OF HIS DAD HEARING TAYLOR SWIFT’S RAUNCHY SONG; KYLIE KELCE REACTS TO IT

For the cherry on top, the Flyers lost their first game of the new NHL season to the two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers.

According to Bob Ventrone Jr., this was the eighth time in which the Phillies, Eagles, and Flyers all played on the same day, and the first time they all lost since Oct. 16, 1983. This was also the first time they had all played since 1993.

In 1991, the Flyers salvaged the day with a tie to the Pittsburgh Penguins after the Phillies lost to the New York Mets, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers squeaked out a win against the Birds.

The only time they all won was on Oct. 19, 1980.

There has never been a day when all four teams (the 76ers) have played on the same day.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Hyeseong Kim, center, scores the game-winning run past Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto (10) on a ground ball by Andy Pages and a throwing error by Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering during the 11th inning in Game 4 of baseball’s National League Division Series on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

At least the locals still have a Super Bowl championship they can still lavish in, but the Eagles have now lost two in a row and do not look anything like they did last season.

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Wearing size 17 shoes and standing 7-foot-3, Cherif Millogo is under the basket holding up his arms and touching the rim without leaving the ground. The rest of the “tiny” people in the St. Francis High gym are gawking in awe at his 7-9 wingspan.

That includes 6-8 head coach Todd Wolfson, who has twice won the basketball coaching lottery by having his second 7-footer show up out of nowhere. The first was 7-0 Belgium exchange student Gilles Dierickx when he was coaching at Chaminade in 2017.

This time, Wolfson received a phone call from an administrator at St. Francis in August.

“There’s a 7-3 kid wanting to come to St. Francis,” the administrator said.

“I thought he was lying,” Wolfson said.

Millogo didn’t play last season while attending the Cambridge Arts, Technology and Science Academy in Boston after tearing a knee ligament. He’s from the tiny West Africa country Burkina Faso. He was a soccer player until he had a growth spurt, participated in a basketball camp and was spotted playing in Togo, a country bordering Ghana. He ended up moving to Florida two years ago. He said he learned how to shoot a basketball watching YouTube videos of Kevin Durant.

He speaks French, English and two tribal languages. He has a 7-foot older brother and his father is 6-8. He turned 18 on Sept. 27, which means he has two years of high school eligibility left. His guardian is former UCLA and NBA player Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who came here from Cameroon.

Millogo was instantly embraced around St. Francis because of his engaging, friendly personality. During a practice, while listening in a circle around Wolfson, he had his arms around a teammate as if they were lifelong friends.

“He’s made me a better person,” Wolfson said. “His values are amazing.”

Millogo said his parents taught him to be respectful and friendly.

“For me, it’s natural,” he said.

Sophomore guard Luke Paulus said players were as surprised as Wolfson to learn about Millogo’s arrival.

“No way,” he said when he heard about the rumors. “First day of school, I saw him. ‘Wow, that’s a big human being.’ He’s a fun guy.”

Millogo, who’s Muslim, said attending a Catholic school is good. “I’m learning about new religions,” he said.

He also can show off his soccer skills if asked by juggling a ball with his feet.

Millogo joins an already talent-filled Mission League with the No. 1 class of 2026 prospect, Tyran Stokes of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, and top five 2026 prospect, Brandon McCoy of Sierra Canyon.

Cherif Millogo towers over his new St. Francis High teammates.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

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Millogo was asked if he was aware of Stokes and McCoy.

“From social media,” he said.

See what having an Instagram account can do to promote a high school basketball program? He said he saw a social media post of St. Francis’ students cheering at a game.

To say there could be lots of alley-oop passes this season for St. Francis might be an understatement. Wolfson, who has used a matchup zone defense at times during his coaching days, is teasing how it might make a return with Millogo in the middle. And he’s already planning for some new out-of-bounds plays trying to take advantage of Millogo’s height.

Millogo looks like a sold free-throw shooter and shot-blocker. Then there’s dunking with ease. He had nine dunks last weekend in a fall league game in which he scored 32 points. The previous game, he had 24 points, including five dunks. He should be eligible immediately next month when the season officially begins based on the fact he didn’t play last season, but St. Francis has yet to submit his transfer paperwork.

One thing is certain: The St. Francis student section and many other fans are going to be entertained watching Millogo deliver dunk after dunk.

Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James will miss the season opener with what the team said was a sciatica nerve injury on his right side, the team announced after practice Thursday. The Lakers said James will be re-evaluated in approximately three to four weeks and that further updates will be provided at that time.

James, who is entering an NBA-record 23rd season, was limited to mostly individual workouts while dealing with nerve irritation in the glute during training camp. He didn’t play in the Lakers’ first two preseason games.

When asked about managing stars Luka Doncic and James during camp before the announcement was made about his superstar player, Lakers coach JJ Redick told the media that the 40-year-old James was “on his own timeline.”

“You gotta play the cards you’re dealt,” Redick told reporters. “I know that’s a cliche, but that’s just reality. … No one’s gotten any time with LeBron. … He hasn’t been on the court with the team. So that’s just reality.”

The Lakers open the regular season Oct. 21 against the Golden State Warriors, but fans won’t get to see legends James and Stephen Curry share the court together at Crypto.com Arena.

The best-case scenario for James and the Lakers have him returning in three weeks, meaning he would miss the first five games and would return to play Oct. 31 at Memphis.

The four-week timeframe would have James missing the first nine games and coming back Nov. 8 at Atlanta.

The last time James spoke to the media was on media day on Sept. 29 and the conversation was about his plans on retirement.

He didn’t give a timeline then, mostly shrugging it off.

“I don’t know,” James said then. “I’m excited about today, I’m excited about an opportunity to be able to play a game that I love for another season. And whatever the journey, however the journey lays out this year, I’m just super invested, because like you just said, I don’t know when the end is, but I know it’s a lot sooner than later.

“So just being super appreciative of the fact that I could come up here, do another media day and talk to you guys and do all this stuff around here, so just excited about the journey and whatever this year has in store for me.”

James has just one year left on his deal with the Lakers, a $52.6-million contract option that he exercised over the summer. He did not sign an extension with the Lakers, meaning that James will be a free agent when the 2025-26 season is over, free to sign with another team — or retire.

James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer during the regular season with 42,184 points. He’s played the second-most regular-season games in history at 1,562, only 50 behind the leader, Robert Parish, a record James is in line to break this season — although that timeline has been pushed back because of his sciatica injury.

He averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists last season, showing no signs of slowing down.

“The things that still push me is the fact that the love of the game is still high,” James said on media day. “The love of the process is even higher. So that’s what continues to push me to play this game. I mean, it’s really that simple. Me training and working on my body and trying to get my body as close to 100% as possible every year, it’s something that’s like — it’s a beautiful thing for me.

“Just continue to challenge to see how well I can push myself to play the game at a high level, recover at a high level, be able to sleep better, mentally prepare, try to stay sharp throughout the course of a long season. And just the roller coaster of an NBA season, that’s all like, gratifying to me, no matter the good, the bad, the ugly. I love that process. … So much that goes into it, more than just picking up a basketball and shooting at the rim.”