Sports
'She's part of our family': Brittney Griner makes long-awaited return to Baylor
WACO, Texas — At halftime of Baylor’s game against Texas Tech on Sunday, fans took part in a dunk contest. In the final round, one contestant asked Brittney Griner to pass him the ball off the backboard, which she immediately agreed to without any practice reps. Her first attempt missed the contestant altogether. Her second pass was a little too soft, and the fan was already on his way down when he caught the ball, so he was forced to lay it in instead of being able to dunk.
As the crowd cheered the effort despite the result, Griner decided that the fans were owed a slam anyway. In her bulky Baylor letterman jacket and Chucks on her feet, Griner took the ball and jammed it in with one hand, making up for her miss in the assist department.
They were doing a halftime dunk contest…
AND THEN BRITTNEY GRINER CAME ON THE COURT AND THREW ONE DOWN #NCAAW | @NoCapSpaceWBB pic.twitter.com/K5gIrRdUwP
— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) February 18, 2024
In a sense, it was a familiar sight for the Bears fans in attendance. No player in women’s basketball history has dunked as often as Griner, who had 18 in her Baylor career. The visual of Griner slamming the ball through the hoop, and celebrating uproariously afterward, is one that they’ve grown accustomed to.
But Griner hadn’t dunked at Baylor in more than a decade. Until Sunday, she hadn’t been at a Bears game since her collegiate career ended in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. The dominance, the joy, the silliness — they had all been absent.
Sunday was a turning point. Twelve years after she played her last game in a Bears uniform, Baylor finally retired Griner’s No. 42 jersey. The three-time All-American, two-time national player of the year, one-time national champion and Final Four most outstanding player, and all-time career blocks leader is now memorialized in the rafters of Foster Pavilion, the seventh player in program history to earn the honor. Baylor and Brittney Griner are choosing to once again link themselves together, this time for good.
This moment. @brittneygriner #SicEm | #GreaterThan pic.twitter.com/cTfnyOiVLi
— Baylor Women’s Basketball (@BaylorWBB) February 18, 2024
At an alumni event on Saturday, Griner said that she knows she hasn’t been around in a while, but that is going to change. Baylor University is her home, and now that she has returned once, she will keep coming back.
“All I wanted was Brittney to feel loved, by our team, by our university, by our community,” Baylor coach Nicki Collen said afterward. “It was emotional to see her tears. It was emotional to see her smiles yesterday. Whether this is healing or whatever, she’s a part of our family and I’m so grateful that we were able to get this done.”
The statistical argument for retiring Griner’s jersey is a no-brainer. Her list of accolades dwarfs any other player in school history, chief among them leading Baylor to a 40-0 title-winning season in 2012, the first time a team had won 40 games without losing in NCAA history. Once Collen took over as Baylor’s head coach in 2021, she says she “put it in the air that day.” Recognizing Griner was a priority from the moment she was hired, one that was put on hold by Griner’s arrest and subsequent detention in Russia.
Once Griner returned to the U.S., it was a matter of finding a date that worked with her WNBA, USA Basketball, and other commitments. Collen and Baylor were also adamant that the game be nationally televised, as a player of Griner’s caliber deserved the biggest stage, even in retirement.
Despite the long absence, Griner fit right in on campus, where she played from 2009 to 2013 under former Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, with whom she has long had a thorny relationship. Though Griner declined through her representation to speak to reporters, at the alumni event she fondly recalled longboarding down the quad as a student and suggested that she would get back on her board before heading home. She shared her go-to college meal — a meat and cheese burger with a caramel shake at Health Camp — and admitted that her taste buds haven’t changed much even as she has moved into adulthood. She talked about her favorite course in college on British literature, and her former professor happened to be in attendance, happy to reconnect with Griner.
She giddily watched highlights of her college days, laughing at the brashness of her younger self. She relayed a story of the 2010 Final Four in San Antonio when the Bears saw the UConn Huskies on the other side of the River Walk and proceeded to bark at them in anticipation of their national semifinal game, which they ended up losing. As a video of her dunks came up on the screen, she rubbed her knees and sighed, no longer as bouncy as she was before.
Griner is at ease anywhere and with anyone, but Baylor is her home. At the game Sunday, she sought out fans who were season-ticket holders when she was in school. One man who had been in attendance for Griner’s playing career was excited to bring his daughter, who wasn’t born then, to meet her for the first time. Griner ran through the tunnel like a player when she made her entrance, getting moved to tears pregame when her jersey was revealed.
The moment 🤩#SicEm pic.twitter.com/KmhpIZQkGu
— Baylor Athletics (@BaylorAthletics) February 18, 2024
She and former teammate Odyssey Sims clapped and nodded in encouragement when Aijha Blackwell found Darianna Littlepage-Buggs underneath the basket for an easy layup. Griner got up and cheered on a subsequent possession when Littlepage-Buggs had a block on the perimeter. She had a discussion with referee Maj Forsberg — a veteran of NCAA and WNBA games — about a play on the Bears’ end of the court. After the game, she stood in line with the players and coaches during the singing of Baylor’s alma mater.
She was so invested in the atmosphere at Baylor that she didn’t notice until midway through the second quarter that a full contingent of Phoenix Mercury staff was on hand, and sitting courtside, to witness the moment. Among those who made the trip to celebrate Griner were Mercury president Vince Kozar, former head coach Sandy Brondello, current coaches Nate Tibbetts, Michael Joiner and Kristi Toliver, and general manager Nick U’Ren.
Representatives from the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury celebrate Brittney Griner at Baylor. (Sabreena Merchant / The Athletic)
Griner was out of her seat during every stoppage as she seemingly attempted to connect with each of the 7,093 fans in the building. After the Bears had earned a comfortable victory — Collen said her players were inspired to give their best defensive performance of the season in front of Griner — the superstar spent nearly an hour taking pictures with hordes of alumni, staff, former players and donors.
When she was interviewed by Sheryl Swoopes and Brenda VanLengen on the ESPN broadcast, Griner said that watching her jersey be unveiled made her feel “seen.” Frankly, it’s hard to imagine Griner existing any other way.
She is the biggest presence in any room, literally and figuratively. At 6-foot-9, with her million-watt smile, she immediately captures your attention. Then, there’s her infectious personality. She’s goofy and game for anything, always just trying to have a good time, just as she did against the Red Raiders. People are drawn to her.
Griner was born to be seen, to be witnessed in all her glory. She should be the university’s greatest asset, the person they call to seal the deal with a recruit or to mentor younger players in practice. She belongs on Baylor’s version of Mount Rushmore.
Great moment postgame with BG and Lety Vasconcelos. One Baylor big passing on tricks to another. pic.twitter.com/Uic2Z1WsVd
— Sabreena Merchant (@sabreenajm) February 19, 2024
Griner had a long talk with Lety Vasconcelos after the buzzer. The 6-7 freshman has played in only 15 games and has reached double-digit minutes twice. But Griner was in her ear, explaining to a fellow center what she saw down the stretch in the fourth quarter and how to maneuver her body to use her size to her advantage.
Griner’s presence is still meaningful to the Bears, all these years later. Whether she’s revving up a crowd or passing on the lessons of her dominance, she has a role to play with Baylor. The university finally opened the door for Griner to come back, and she ran right through. She’s up for anything, which now includes a second act at the site of her greatest triumphs.
(Top photo of Brittney Griner: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)
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The highly anticipated 30th WNBA season tipped off Friday with three games, including the expansion Toronto Tempo’s first-ever contest.
The action continued Saturday with a full slate, including Caitlin Clark’s return after an injury-riddled sophomore season.
Clark and the Indiana Fever hosted the Dallas Wings on Saturday afternoon in a matchup featuring the four most recent No. 1 overall picks. The Wings outlasted the Fever 107-104, but the game was defined by Azzi Fudd’s — the most recent top pick — underwhelming debut.
Dallas Wings guards Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers react during the first half of the Fever’s season opener at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on May 9, 2026. (Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Fudd played 18 minutes off the bench, scoring three points — the lowest ever by a No. 1 overall pick in a WNBA debut.
Wings coach Jose Fernandez addressed Fudd’s performance after the game, encouraging the rookie to, “Keep doing what she’s doing, it’s her first year in the league. We got five really talented backcourt players.”
EX-WNBA STAR CRITICAL OF SKY ROOKIE HAILEY VAN LITH, BELIEVES POPULARITY PLAYED ROLE IN DRAFT SELECTION
In addition to Fudd, Dallas’ backcourt features last year’s top draft pick Paige Bueckers, last season’s No. 12 overall pick Aziaha James, four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale and starting guard Odyssey Sims.
Until Saturday, Kelsey Plum held the record for the lowest-scoring debut by a No. 1 pick. Selected first overall by the then-San Antonio Stars in 2017, she scored just four points in her debut. The Stars relocated to Las Vegas in 2018 and was subsequently rebranded as the Aces.
Dallas Wings guard Azzi Fudd warms up before the game against the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 9, 2026. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Despite the slow start to her first season in the league, Plum ended the year with All-Rookie team honors. In the years since, she’s been named to four All-Star teams and won two championships with the Aces.
The Wings’ decision to take Fudd with the No. 1 overall pick drew controversy, raising questions about whether Bueckers’ personal relationship with her influenced the selection. Late last month, Bueckers said last month it did not.
Azzi Fudd poses with WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected first overall by the Dallas Wings during the 2026 WNBA Draft at The Shed in New York City on April 13, 2026. (Angelina Katsanis/Getty Images)
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“Azzi Fudd was the No. 1 draft pick because she earned it, and it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with who she is as a human being, who she is as a basketball player,” Bueckers said, according to ESPN.
Neither Bueckers nor Fudd has publicly updated their relationship status since the April draft.
“Quite frankly, I believe me and Azzi’s personal relationship is nobody’s business but our own,” Bueckers also said in April. “And what we choose to share is completely up to us.”
Next up, the Wings play their home opener on Tuesday when they host the Atlanta Dream.
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The Lakers are one playoff defeat from their season being over and from the conversation turning to LeBron James’ future.
They are in a hole no team has climbed out of in the history of the NBA, the Lakers’ 131-108 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 putting L.A. down 3-0 in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.
James and his teammates gave a gallant effort Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, but the defending champion proved to be more than the Lakers could handle.
James finished his night with 19 points on seven-for-19 shooting, eight assists and six rebounds. Rui Hachimura had 21 points and Austin Reaves finished with 17 points and nine assists.
Even so, the Lakers have now lost all three games by double digits.
And the Lakers are fully aware that no NBA team has successfully come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs, with those teams holding a 161-0 record. Only four teams have forced a Game 7 after trailing 3-0, all of which ultimately lost the series, including the Boston Celtics in 2023.
Lakers forward LeBron James shows frustration as Thunder center Chet Holmgren slam dunks during Game 3 on Saturday night.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Game 4 is Monday night, when the Lakers will try to stave off elimination and a night that will determine how the conversations go with James if they lose.
James has been frequently asked this season about retirement, but he has not given any indication of what the future holds for him.
He’s 41 years old and playing in an NBA-record 23rd season.
James is in the final year of his contract that pays him $52 million, making him a free agent this offseason. He can retire, join another team or perhaps return to the Lakers next season.
That will be the conversation if the Lakers can’t win Game 4.
They will see the same Thunder team that had seven players score in double figures, led by Ajay Mitchell’s 24 points and 10 assists and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 23 points and nine assists.
The Lakers went down 13 in the third quarter and had to play catchup the rest of the way. They never did, going down by 112-94 with 6 minutes and 12 seconds left, forcing Lakers coach JJ Redick to call a timeout.
The deficit just kept growing, topping out at 27 points in the fourth.
They were outscored 33-20 in the third quarter. The Lakers didn’t take care of the basketball in the third, turning it over six times, and they didn’t play good defense, allowing the Thunder to shoot 59.1% from the field and 55.6 percent from three-point range,
The Lakers did not give an inch to the Thunder in the first half, even when they fell behind by 10 points.
They just kept grinding until they led 59-57 at halftime.
Hachimura had 16 points in the first half, continuing his hot three-point shooting by making all four of his threes. Luke Kennard came off the bench to give the Lakers 13 points, shooting five for six from the field and three for four from three-point range.
The Lakers kept the pressure defense on Gilgeous-Alexander. Though he had 14 points in the first half, he shot only four for 14 from the field and one for five from three-point range.
The Lakers shot 55% from three-point range in the first half, which went a long way in helping them.
The Lakers lost the first two games by identical margins of 18 points and each loss was magnified because Gilgeous-Alexander was kept under wraps for the most part by L.A.’s defense.
When Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his fourth foul with 10:34 left in the third quarter of Game 2 and went to the bench, the Thunder turned a five-point lead into a 13-point advantage at the end of the quarter.
So, when he wasn’t on the court, the Lakers failed to take advantage.
“Well, you know, again, I’ll repeat what I said after the game: we’ve got to be better in the non-Shai minutes,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
Role players like Mitchell and Jared McCain hurt the Lakers in the second game. Chet Holmgren also was hard to deal with.
“Mitchell and McCain have hurt us in those non-Shai minutes, and then Chet [Holmgren] has hurt us the whole game,” Redick said. “I think you’ve got to be willing to live with something. Shai playing one-on-one, thus far in the series, we haven’t been willing to live with, so you’re going to be in rotation. That can lead to smalls on bigs at the hole, and the offensive rebounding from Chet has really hurt us.”
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In 2025, Alex Palou kicked off the Month of May with a Sonsio Grand Prix win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Based on the odds, it’s likely that Palou will find himself in Winner’s Circle again this Saturday when INDYCAR goes back to IMS on May 9 (4:30 p.m. ET, FOX).
Considering Palou has already captured the checkered flag three times this season, are there any other drivers whose odds are worth a wager?
Here are the latest lines at DraftKings Sportsbook as of May 9.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
Sonsio Grand Prix 2026
Àlex Palou: 5/18 (bet $10 to win $12.78 total)
Kyle Kirkwood: 5/1 (bet $10 to win $60 total)
Pato O’Ward: 12/1 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
David Malukas: 14/1 (bet $10 to win $150 total)
Josef Newgarden: 16/1 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Scott McLaughlin: 20/1 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Christian Lundgaard: 30/1 (bet $10 to win $310 total)
Scott Dixon: 40/1 (bet $10 to win $410 total)
Will Power: 60/1 (bet $10 to win $610 total)
Felix Rosenqvist: 80/1 (bet $10 to win $810 total)
Alexander Rossi: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Ericsson: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Marcus Armstrong: 100/1 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Christian Rasmussen: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Graham Rahal: 150/1 (bet $10 to win $1,510 total)
Louis Foster: 300/1 (bet $10 to win $3,010 total)
Dennis Hauger: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Romain Grosjean: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Santino Ferrucci: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Rinus Veekay: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Kyffin Simpson: 500/1 (bet $10 to win $5,010 total)
Caio Collet: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Sting Ray Robb: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Nolan Siegel: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Mick Schumacher: 1000/1 (bet $10 to win $10,010 total)
Here’s what to know about the oddsboard:
Heavy Favorite: It doesn’t look like Alex Palou’s dominance will be slowing down anytime soon. As noted above, he’s already won three of the five races since the INDYCAR season started in March. With 186 laps led, Palou sits first in the standings and has the shortest odds to win the title again. Last season, he started from the pole and led 29 laps before winning the race.
Long Shot to Watch: While his odds of 150/1 to win at IMS are much longer than Palou’s, Graham Rahal is one to watch. At this race in 2025, he started second and led 49 laps before finishing sixth. He finished second at this course in 2015, 2020 and 2023. He’s currently 10th in the INDYCAR standings, with one top five and three top 10s.
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