Sports
Steve Kerr not expected to return as USA Basketball head coach: report
It seems one gold medal in the Olympics as head coach is all USA Basketball’s Steve Kerr wants to see, as he’s reportedly not expected to continue with the men’s team.
NBA reporter Marc Stein reports that Kerr is done leading the USA, the winners of gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Stein adds that Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, or Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue, is expected to replace Kerr, who had both on his staff in Paris.
Head Coach Steve Kerr of the USA Basketball Men’s Team talks to the media after the game against the Canada Basketball Men’s Team on July 10, 2024 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Mercedes Oliver/NBAE via Getty Images)
Kerr has been a part of Team USA since 2016, when the Golden State Warriors head coach joined legendary San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s staff for USA Basketball.
Team USA would secure gold that year and the following Olympics in Toyko in 2021. Kerr would, then, take over as head coach after Popovich stepped down following the gold-medal victory.
In 2023, Kerr’s leadership was questioned by some after finishing fourth in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
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But this year’s performance at the Paris Olympics saw Team USA fight back against Serbia to reach the gold medal game, where they would eventually defeat host country France in thrilling fashion.
During the 2024 Olympics, Kerr was criticized for benching players like Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid, both players who have been featured in the NBA’s first-team All-Pro, for the entirety of some contests. He even called himself an idiot after leaving Tatum out of Team USA’s first game in Paris.
However, with a star-studded roster that included Steph Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant and more, Kerr had to make some tough choices along with his coaching staff to divvy out playing time based on matchups.
Steve Kerr of the Men’s National Team talks to the media during practice on July 13, 2024 in Abu Dhabi, The United Arab Emirates at tNYU Abu Dhabi. (Ryan Stetz/NBAE via Getty Images)
No matter the critiques, Team USA went 6-0 in Paris, winning the country its fifth consecutive gold medal in the Olympics.
Whoever USA Basketball chooses as Kerr’s replacement will likely be the head coach leading the squad into Los Angeles in 2028.
Spoelstra makes for an experienced candidate considering his 750-527 career record as head coach in the NBA with the Miami Heat for the past 17 seasons. He has also led his team to six NBA Finals, which includes three victories with back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013.
Spoelstra is also of the Popovich coaching tree, which could go a long way for USA Basketball.
As for Lue, he has a slightly better career record at 312-217, having coached the Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers. Lue’s squad, which featured James and Kyrie Irving among others, defeated Kerr and the Warriors in the legendary 2016 NBA Finals when the Cavs were down three games to one before coming back to win it all.
Steve Kerr Head Coach of Team USA looks on during the Men’s Group Phase – Group C match between Serbia and USA on Day 2 of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade Pierre Mauroy on July 28, 2024 in Lille, France. (Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images)
Kerr will continue coaching the Warriors, but he will step aside to allow another coach to lead Team USA in the future.
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Sports
Toronto Maple Leafs top pick Gavin McKenna reveals that he’s changing his jersey number
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Toronto Maple Leafs No. 1 draft pick Gavin McKenna has already been on the ice with the team as it held its development camp this week, but the highly-touted rookie is going to have to make a big change for this fall.
His number.
When he was playing for the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers and then again at Penn State this past season, McKenna wore the No. 72.
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Toronto Maple Leafs top pick Gavin McKenna has revealed that he’ll be opting for a new number for his rookie campaign. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
The expectation was that McKenna would wear No. 72 with the Maple Leafs, and he did so this week at development camp. Plenty of fans have also already ordered No. 72 jerseys with his name on the back.
On most rosters, No. 72 is unique enough that he wouldn’t run into any issues wearing it. However, on July 1, the Leafs signed two-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who has worn No. 72 for most of his career, except during his first two seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, when he wore No. 35.
So, some were wondering how this would work out. Would the Leafs want their new franchise player to get his pick of the number litter, or would they defer to a two-time Vezina winner?
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Gavin McKenna wore No. 72 in juniors, as well as last season at Penn State. (Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images)
Well, it turns out that McKenna will be the one swapping numbers, and he’ll be switching to No. 92 this season.
McKenna had to get creative here because the obvious number changes were a no-go in Toronto. Adding 7 and 2 would be 9, but that was retired in honor of Charlie Conacher and Ted Kennedy.
Another option would’ve been to flip the digits and go with No. 27, but that was retired in honor of Frank Mahovlich and Darryl Sittler.
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So, 92 it is.
However, McKenna reached out to one of the three previous players to wear the number, Jeff O’Neill, to ask whether he was comfortable with him using it.
It’s fair to say he was down with the idea.
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McKenna will be a key piece of a Maple Leafs team that is looking to bounce back after a nightmare 2025-26 campaign that saw them finish last in the Atlantic Division.
Sports
Dodgers’ Eliezer Alfonzo praying his sister and stepmother will be found in Venezuela
It’ll be the culmination of nine minor-league seasons. But Eliezer Alfonzo‘s major-league debut on Sunday won’t include his family watching from Dodger Stadium.
Alfonzo’s younger sister, Eliana, and stepmother, Patricia, have been missing since last month when earthquakes caused widespread devastation in his home country of Venezuela.
“I’ve been trying to support my dad a lot, every day talking to him, trying to be with him,” Alfonzo said of the elder Eliezer Alfonzo, a retired major-league catcher. “It’s a little tough from here because I would like to be there with him, supporting him every day.”
His father, of course, would love to be in attendance for his son’s debut. He told him as much when he heard the Dodgers were calling him up.
The Dodgers switched their backup catchers Saturday, optioning Chuckie Robinson. They saw an opportunity to give Alfonzo some runway behind Dalton Rushing, with starting catcher Will Smith’s stay on the injured list expected to extend through the All-Star break.
The elder Eliezer Alfonzo, however, is doing whatever he can to locate his wife and daughter. Their dog was found alive, which gave the younger Eliezer Alfonzo hope.
“We’ve just gotta stay together as a family, as a country,” Alfonzo said. “Because I feel like we’re a beautiful country, we’re a really beautiful people over there. It’s not just about my family, it’s all families that have lost people already. But we’ve got hope. We just pray, we ask God to give them back to us alive.”
Alfonzo’s locker in the clubhouse is next to countryman Miguel Rojas’ stall. Rojas’ wife, Mariana, and their two children were in Venezuela, planning to renew Mariana’s passport and seek Venezuelan citizenship for their children, when the earthquakes hit. They managed to stay safe and have returned to the U.S.
“I just want to be here for him,” Rojas said. “At the end of the day, that’s the best thing I can do for him, is being a good teammate and being a friend for him. Because I know there’s going to be ups and downs. He’s going to have a lot of time to be caught [up] in baseball, and that’s going to probably take his mind away from stuff. But sometimes he’s probably going to feel weak, and he’s going to start thinking about his family. So I’m going to be here, I’m right next to him. And that’s what I told him.”
Rojas, who played against the elder Eliezer Alfonzo for years in Venezuela, reached out Saturday morning and promised him he’d save the ball from his son’s first major-league hit.
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Kylian Mbappé’s seventh goal of the World Cup lifts France past Paraguay in physical Round of 16 match
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The United States may not have been in action on Independence Day, but France — who fittingly played an important role in the Revolutionary War — was on the pitch in Philadelphia against Paraguay in a massive Round of 16 clash for a trip to the quarterfinals.
It was a hot day in the birthplace of our nation, and that made things difficult for both teams in more ways than one.
While Paraguay is a great squad, they were significant underdogs against a heavily favored French team led by superstar Kylian Mbappé, who has been lighting it up this tournament.
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French and Paraguayan players get into a shoving match during their Round of 16 match on Saturday in Philadelphia. (Kyle Ross-Imagn Images)
Obviously, the heat itself is a factor, but it also made for a slower pitch, something that was believed to play into the hands of Paraguay.
However, most of the action in the first half was played on their end as France put the pressure on through the first half hour of the match.
It was intense, and that intensity boiled over in the 35th minute with some pushing and shoving after Mbappé and Paraguay’s Andrés Cubas started a wild shoving match.
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But while the intensity ramped up — and stayed high for pretty much the entire game — Paraguay weathered the storm and had every reason to feel good about reaching halftime with the game scoreless.
France got some more scoring opportunities in the early part of the second half, including a near-breakaway for Mbappé.
France’s Kylian Mbappe scored the go-ahead and ultimately game-winning goal against Paraguay on a penalty kick. (James Lang-Imagn Images)
In the 67th minute, France was awarded a penalty kick for a foul against Desire Doue that had to go to VAR for review, and it was Mbappé who took it.
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Mbappé has tended to do most of his damage in the second half, and that trend continued here with him drilling the penalty past Paraguay goaltender Orlando Gill.
That was his 19th career World Cup goal, and his seventh of this tournament alone, tying him with Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the tournament lead.
Paraguay seemed to fade after the Mbappé goal, but turned it on again late, forcing Mike Maignan to make his first save of the day about 89 and a half minutes into the match.
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It seemed like Paraguay’s plan was to try and get a rise out of the French, and they succeeded in drawing three yellow cards. In fact, they even tried to keep that going after the match with players meeting near midfield for some more pushing and shoving.
But France is moving on, and they will take on Morocco in a quarterfinal match on Thursday in Boston.
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