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'She's part of our family': Brittney Griner makes long-awaited return to Baylor

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'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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

 

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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Dispatch audio reveals what was heard inside Josh Jacobs’ home before alleged domestic violence arrest

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Dispatch audio reveals what was heard inside Josh Jacobs’ home before alleged domestic violence arrest

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Released dispatch audio has added some context to the alleged domestic violence incident involving Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, one of which came from inside his Wisconsin residence.

The audio, obtained by TMJ 4, reveals a dispatcher speaking with a police officer about the “yelling and screaming” she could hear on an open line within Jacobs’ home.

“Things being thrown, open line,” the dispatcher tells the officer. “…Possibly a male and female.”

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Josh Jacobs of the Green Bay Packers jogs off the field after a 26-34 loss to the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Dec. 14, 2025. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

Then, a second call’s audio was added, as a dispatcher describes a neighbor calling about what they can hear from Jacobs’ home.

“The neighbor is calling now, saying that her neighbor was assaulted,” dispatch called out.

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When authorities arrived at Jacobs’ residence, he wasn’t there. He left the scene in his Mercedes G-Wagon, though police tracked his license plate readers. A call went out to stop the vehicle if it was seen on the road.

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Jacobs was arrested on Tuesday following an investigation by the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department, and he was booked on five domestic abuse-related charges.

The department said in the statement that Jacobs was booked into Brown County Jail on charges of domestic abuse battery, domestic abuse criminal damage to property, domestic abuse disorderly conduct, strangulation and suffocation, and intimidation of a victim. According to Brown County Jail records, strangulation and suffocation is a felony, while the other four are misdemeanors.

Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs runs the ball and stiff arms Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trikweze Bridges during the second half of an NFL game in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jessica Tobias)

The investigation remains active and ongoing, the statement added.

Jacobs’ attorneys, David Z. Chesnoff and Clarence Duchac, say the 28-year-old denies all charges.

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“Josh vehemently denies the allegations, and this matter is in the early stages of investigation with important evidence that has not yet been made public,” the attorneys’ statement read.

“We ask for fairness and restraint while the judicial process takes its course.”

The NFL was made aware of the situation and has contacted the Packers. Green Bay also told The Athletic that it wouldn’t make comment due to the ongoing investigation on the matter.

Josh Jacobs of the Green Bay Packers stands for the National Anthem before an NFL wild card playoff game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 10, 2026. (Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images)

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Jacobs finished his second season with the Packers, tallying 929 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on 1,234 carries in 2025. In 2024, he racked up 1,329 yards on 301 attempts with 15 touchdowns to lead the way for the Packers’ ground game in his inaugural season up north.

Jacobs, who spent five seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders prior to his time in Green Bay, has led the league in the past with rushing yards. His 2022 campaign saw 1,653 yards and 12 touchdowns across a full 17-game slate.

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Alyssa and Gisele Thompson joined NWSL in high school. Their younger sister might be better

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Alyssa and Gisele Thompson joined NWSL in high school. Their younger sister might be better

Few players are driven to club soccer practice by a national team player. But then few players have two sisters who play for the U.S. women’s team.

Also Zoe Thompson is just 14, so you can’t expect her to drive herself.

But here’s the thing that truly sets Zoe Thompson apart. Although eldest sister Alyssa, 21, has already played in a World Cup and middle sister Gisele made 38 NWSL appearances and played four times for the national team before her 20th birthday, Zoe may actually be the best of the three.

“She’s better technically,” said her father Mario Thompson, who coached all three.

“I think she’s the combination between Alyssa and Gisele,” said Carlos Marroquin, owner of the pre-professional women’s team that gave Alyssa and Gisele their start.

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So maybe there should be a line of coaches, teammates and family members waiting to drive her to practice or to her debut with Marroquin’s team, the Santa Clarita Blue Heat, on Saturday evening at The Master’s University.

The Santa Clarita Blue Heat coach Leonardo Neveleff, center, talks to his team before a practice at Valencia High. Zoe Thompson makes her debut with the team Saturday.

The team, which competes in USL W league, has long been a summer proving ground for elite college players and aspiring pros with alumni that includes Venezuela’s Deyna Castellanos, once a finalist for FIFA’s world player of the year award; World Cup veterans Savannah DeMelo and Ashley Sanchez; former Chelsea and Atlético Madrid star Ana Borges of Portugal; and Natalia Kuikka, a five-time Finnish player of the year.

This year’s roster includes more than two dozen Division I college players, meaning Zoe Thompson will be playing with and against women much older than her.

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Did we mention she’s still in middle school?

“She’s always having to get out of her comfort zone, no matter what,” said Mario Thompson, whose job as Zoe’s father is to both nurture and protect his daughter’s talent.

Zoe has followed a different path than her sisters. Alyssa and Gisele were born less than 13 months apart and grew up playing together, practicing together and pushing each other. Zoe, born seven years later, grew up watching them, imitating them and wanting to be them.

But she had to do the work alone.

“It’s a unique dynamic where Alyssa and Gisele had each other,” their father said. “It wasn’t just Alyssa by herself. She always had a partner.”

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Zoe, however, observed a lot by watching.

“I feel like their mistakes helped me,” she said. “But at the same time, there are some mistakes that I’ve made that they haven’t. I’m learning differently, but I’m more learning from them.”

Zoe Thompson hugs her father Mario Thompson after practice.

Zoe Thompson hugs her father Mario Thompson after practice at Valencia High.

Still, this is uncharted territory. No family has ever had a trio of siblings play for the women’s national team, and the pressure of having to match the success her sisters have had will be inescapable, if unfair, for Zoe.

It’s a level of pressure that has the potential to be crushing.

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“She kind of has this expectation that’s put upon her already that ‘oh, she’s going to be like her sister,’” Gisele said. “But it’s her own life.”

And Mario Thompson, an elementary school principal who has been intimately involved in all his daughters’ careers, is having to negotiate all this on the fly.

“Everyone sees the glam and the glitz of Alyssa and Giselle, but people don’t really understand it’s a lot of pressure,” he said of the sisters, who will both be heading to Brazil with the national team next week. “They see all the great stuff, but it’s also their job.”

Mario Thompson faced some of the same issues with Alyssa, the second-youngest U.S. woman to play in a World Cup, so he limited her media interviews and tried to let her be a teenager — albeit it an exceptionally talented one. Zoe faces the additional burden of having do all that while following in her sisters’ footsteps.

“I’m very mindful and aware of that,” he said. “She’s already in the spotlight without having to be in the spotlight. It’s that pressure. I want her to love the sport, love this journey. That’s kind of how I raised all three of them.”

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Zoe Thompson during a practice session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat.

Zoe Thompson during a practice session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat soccer team.

For her part Zoe, mature well beyond her tender age, dismisses the hype with a shrug.

“There are going to be comparisons,” she said. “But we’re such different people that I think it’s unfair. At the same time, they can have those comparisons, they can have those opinions, but I’m not them. So it’s not going to be any different, how I play.”

Plus, having two accomplished sisters has its advantages. In the spring Zoe trained with the youth teams at Chelsea, where Alyssa now plays, and this summer she says she’ll train with Angel City, Gisele’s team. But the drawback of being a (much) younger sister is Alyssa and Gisele had each other to lean on growing up. Zoe has had to go it alone and that, she said, has made her stronger.

“Mentally, it is harder. But seeing my sisters and where they are, it’s kind of a motivation for me,” said Zoe, who has already been called in three times by the U-14 national team. “They were kind of at the same place I am. And it’s just very motivating to see them where they are. That’s just kind of where I want to be.”

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If there’s been one constant in the girls’ soccer careers it’s been their dad, who has been intimately involved in with all three, drilling them in the backyard of their Studio City home or walking them down the street to a park, where they shared the lumpy grass with softball players and unleashed dogs.

They were often, but not always, willing participants since the family didn’t have a TV when the girls were growing up.

Zoe Thompson drives the ball past a teammate during a training session.

Zoe Thompson controls the ball during a training session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat soccer team.

And while the hours and hours of practice certainly honed the sisters’ skills, their parents can’t explain where the girls got their immense physical gifts. Mario played football and basketball and ran track at Occidental College with modest success while his wife, Karen, an occupational therapist, played basketball and ran cross-country in high school, hardly the pedigree that could be expected to produce three world-class soccer players.

Perhaps part of the answer lies in their unique DNA, a mix of Mario’s Black and Filipino background and Karen’s Italian and Peruvian roots.

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“It was never the plan, ‘Hey, let’s have some soccer players’,” Mario said.

But once the sisters decided that was their plan, the parents had to adjust. The girls had rare talent, Mario Thompson quickly realized, and it had to be developed. So Alyssa and Gisele began playing with an elite boys’ team while they were still in high school and passed up scholarships to Stanford to sign lucrative contracts with Angel City while their were teenagers.

Zoe has chosen another way, playing with Tudela FC, an all-girls team that practices near her home, and with the Blue Heat, where she’ll be facing stronger, more mature players for the first time. Mario Thompson hopes those aren’t the only differences, although he said the road his youngest daughter takes will ultimately be up to her.

“My hope is she goes through college and just goes a different pathway, different journey,” Mario Thompson said. “It’s a roller-coaster ride and so for [Zoe], I think she sees that roller-coaster ride and I don’t know if it’s a rush to let me get to that. She wants to eventually be a pro, but I don’t think it’s ‘I need to get there as soon as possible.’”

“It’s Zoe, what do you want?” he added. “It’s not like you have to be here, you have to do this. It’s none of that. It’s about, ‘Hey, Zoe, this is your journey.’ We want you to enjoy it, have fun with it, be happy with it.”

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She appears to be accomplishing all three of those goals. She’s also both confident and comfortable in her abilities and believes she’s already ahead of both her sisters despite the weight of expectation.

Zoe Thompson with head coach Leonardo Neveleff at the conclusion of a training session.

Zoe Thompson with head coach Leonardo Neveleff at the conclusion of a training session in preparation for her debut with the Santa Clarita Blue Heat soccer team. Thompson, 14, is the younger sister of U.S. women’s soccer players Gisele and Alyssa Thompson.

But she’s also well aware of the pitfalls ahead, having seen Alyssa and Gisele occasionally stumble into them.

“Yeah, it is a lot of pressure but I feel like we just had different paths,” she said. “They didn’t really know they were going to do soccer. They didn’t know that was their sport. But I feel like that path was set for me.

“It was just like I grew faster. I kind of took the understanding of what they were doing, and then I did it a little faster.”

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There are other differences as well. Gisele is a defender and Alyssa a forward, but Zoe plays in the midfield. And while it was sometimes difficult to get anything more than a giggle from Alyssa in an interview even after she turned pro, Zoe already gives complete, thoughtful answers to most questions.

Zoe’s game is also different; while Alyssa and Gisele are both exceptionally fast, Zoe relies more on her skill.

“Zoe’s more technical than her sisters at this stage,” her father said. “She’s better on the ball, she has a better understanding of the game. A lot of their game was because of speed. Hers is more thinking, hers is more of the ball on her feet.

“Technically, she’s better and understands the game at this age.”

Gisele, the sister who chauffeurs Zoe to practice in Santa Clarita, agrees. But, she adds, Zoe’s greatest strength may actually be her desire.

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“She just has so many great qualities that me and Alyssa don’t have,” she said. “At her age, she wants it way more than we did. She loves soccer with a passion. Me and Alyssa didn’t love it as much as she does.”

And if that passion translates to performance, Zoe will someday join her sisters on the national team. By then she may even be in the driver’s seat.

Team owner Carlos Marroquin talks to Zoe Thompson after a training session.

Santa Clarita Blue Heat team owner Carlos Marroquin talks to Zoe Thompson after a training session at Valencia High.

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Thunder lose star Jalen Williams for Western Conference Finals Game 7 as hamstring injury lingers

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Thunder lose star Jalen Williams for Western Conference Finals Game 7 as hamstring injury lingers

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The Oklahoma City Thunder will be shorthanded in Saturday’s pivotal Game 7, as one of Oklahoma’s key contributors has been sidelined with an injury.

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OKC guard Jalen Williams has been ruled out for Game 7 with a hamstring issue, ESPN reported on Friday. Williams appeared to aggravate his left hamstring during the Thunder’s 122-113 victory in Game 2. He missed the next three games before returning for Game 6, but logged just 10 minutes off the bench in Oklahoma City’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday, which forced a winner-take-all Game 7.

“He’s obviously not 100%,” Mark Daigneault, the head coach of the Thunder, said.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams watches during the fourth quarter against the San Antonio Spurs in Game One of the NBA Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on May 18, 2026. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

Daigneault applauded Williams for fighting through the injury and doing everything he could to help Oklahoma City.

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“He didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect. So, it was a matter of getting him out there in kind of an insulated role and see what he can bring to the team. He’s an All-Star player, he’s an All-NBA player. He hasn’t done a full return to play [protocol] like he would if this was the regular season, and yet, he just wants to do whatever he can to try to contribute whatever he can to the team.”

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“I give him a lot of credit to get himself out there. He did the best he could. He’s certainly not the reason we lost.”

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams reacts to a shot by forward Luguentz Dort in the third quarter against the San Antonio Spurs during game one of the Western Conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on May 18, 2026. (Alonzo Adams/Imagn Images)

Williams did not talk to reporters after Thursday’s game in San Antonio.

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Williams underwent surgery last offseason to repair a wrist injury but still played a key role in the Thunder’s run to the NBA Finals last season. He appeared in just 33 regular-season games before this year’s playoffs.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams drives into the paint during the first quarter of Game Two of the NBA Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on May 20, 2026. (Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

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The winner of Saturday’s Game 7 will advance to the NBA Finals to face the New York Knicks. New York snapped a nearly three-decade Finals drought by sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.

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