LAS VEGAS — The Clippers’ NBA Summer League contest Friday against the Houston Rockets offered a chance for Kobe Brown to show he’s capable of being a rotational player for the Clippers this season.

But misfortune struck in the third quarter when Brown got tangled with a Rockets defender who fell on his right ankle. Brown sat on the Clippers’ bench for a few minutes before he limped to their locker room.

Brown didn’t return in the Clippers’ 95-92 win at Cox Pavilion on Friday night after sustaining what the team described as a right ankle contusion.

Brown is entering his third season with the Clippers and the team is eager for the 2023 30th overall draft pick to make an impact. He’ll make $2.65 million this season and will have a qualifying offer for next season at $4.7 million.

“He’s just got to continue to do what he did tonight,” said Clippers assistant coach Jerry Castleberry, the team’s Summer League coach. “Play great defense. Make the right reads. We’ve been talking about it all training camp. Get in the paint, draw two, make the right reads and if they put a small on him, he showed his ability to be able to score against a mismatch tonight and doing it the right way — quickly, getting downhill, not dancing, just getting straight to the point.

Brown scored 10 points in the first quarter, going four for five from the field, making both of his three-point attempts. On one of those threes, he ran the length of the court and took a pass for a lob dunk.

Brown finished with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists in 20 minutes.

“Ankle is good,” Castleberry said. “Ankle is fine. Just precautionary. He’ll be OK.”

The Clippers waived Jordan Miller before summer league started, but they still had a roster spot so he was added to the team.

He did not disappoint Friday, producing 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Miller has been given an opportunity to show the Clippers — and any other team — how the Summer League is useful for him.

“With this team it takes a lot of humility. Not thinking less of yourself but also thinking less of yourself,” Miller said. “Just finding a way to maximize whatever role it is. It’s not just for me, but it’s for all the guys. We got guys that can score. The only way we’re going to get on the floor is defending and making open threes. That’s just the reality of it. … But for the most part, just working game reps. Like, you’re not going to get a lot of ball-screens. You’re not going to get a lot of touches. So you just got to work on your off-ball shooting, movement shooting and being able to not mess up defensively.”

It was on defense where Clippers rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser was at his best.

Niederhauser blocked four shots and had 10 rebounds. He used his seven-foot frame as a deterrent and displayed why the Clippers drafted him out of Penn State.

“He did everything he was supposed to do,” Castleberry said. “He was great with rim-protection, changing shots and I just thought he was good.”

Charlotte Flair pushed back on what she believed was a double standard in the pro wrestling industry when it came to her age and any notion she’s at the back end of her career.

She pointed to several of her male colleagues, including Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, CM Punk and John Cena in a column for The Players’ Tribune. 

She wrote that the next step for female competitors “isn’t the same amount of TV segments, or main events, or titles or money or opportunities as men. The next big step is the same amount of years as men.”

Raquel Rodriguez, who will be a part of the all-female premium live event, Evolution, on Sunday, told Fox News Digital in a recent interview she agreed with Flair’s assessment and praised the legendary pro wrestler for her vulnerability and bravery for putting her heart on the line.

“I do agree with her,” Rodriguez said. “I do agree there is a little bit of a double standard there. I do feel like, because we are women, we are told, at a certain age, ‘You have to stop. At a certain age, you should be thinking about other things, having kids, getting married, whatever it is. At a certain age, you shouldn’t be pushed in the main story anymore. You had your time. 

“I do see something wrong with that because there are men on the other side that are aging gracefully, and aging like fine wine and so are the women. But they are getting used a little more and put in these situations where the women just have to keep trying to compete and constantly being put in that pressure cooker of performing and accelerating, and it is difficult.”

Raquel Rodriguez enters the ring during Monday Night RAW at Nationwide Arena June 23, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio.  (Rich Freeda/WWE via Getty Images)

WWE STAR DREW MCINTYRE TALKS PUTTING HIMSELF UNDER THE MICROSCOPE TO GET BACK INTO SHAPE BEFORE RETURN

Rodriguez explained that with aging comes longer times to rest and recuperate, and the potential of performing like a gymnast in the ring lessens.

“It is difficult because, you know, with age also comes more need of rest and recuperation. And we can’t do as many things like these beautiful gymnasts that are in NXT flipping in and outside of the ring,” she said. 

“Older women, they are not going to be able to accomplish those kinds of feats, but there is other ways and purposes that our superstars can continue to perform and provide for the WWE company, and I see that for all of our women. 

“They are so talented, and it has taken so much time and so much hard work to build their start to where it is at. And I think they deserve to keep their start up there and to have it pushed even more if their work ethic and their stars is asking for it, yeah 100%.”

Rodriguez will be a part of Evolution this time around. She was still in the WWE Performance Center for the first all-female premium live event in 2016.

Raquel Rodriguez during the Women’s Royal Rumble at WWE Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Feb. 1, 2025. (Joe Camporeale/Imagn Images)

She and Roxanne Perez will defend their tag-team titles in a fatal four-way match against Flair and Alexa Bliss, Sol Ruca and Zaria and Kairi Sane and Asuka.

The event begins Sunday.

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AVP, the biggest and longest-running professional volleyball league, will play matches in an NBA arena for the first time this weekend in Inglewood.

A crew picked up 16 dump truck loads from a quarry in Palm Springs, delivering 300 tons of sand into the Intuit Dome for AVP League matches on Friday and Saturday.

The crew constructed a wooden sandbox barrier to protect the arena floor. The sand, pre-washed and compacted upon arrival, was dumped into an 18-inch wooden frame, with elements such as hospitality added to help remove debris from the air.

“If all goes well, it’s about a six- to eight-hour build from start to finish with the court,” said Logan Dan, head of operations for AVP Professional Beach Volleyball Tours. “It takes about six hours to build the court specifically.”

Once the event concludes, the crew dismantles the frame and removes the sand using equipment that looks like a modified small tractor.

“We break the box open and use a skid steer with a box broom attachment — it sweeps up a lot of the sand,” Dan said.

Although indoor beach volleyball is unusual, the AVP’s new league model — introduced last year — has made it possible to bring tournaments to unconventional venues. The league is investing in creative ways to grow accessibility and exposure.

“What that has allowed us to do is to bring volleyball into different areas that it might not be,” Dan said. “For instance, we’re going to New York next week, and we’ll be putting a court in Central Park, right in Wollman Rink, where they normally have ice skating in the winter and pickleball in the summer.”

Conditions for beach volleyball differ significantly between outdoor and indoor play. Sun, wind and heat heavily influence outdodor players’ performance and court dynamics. Indoors, the environment remains cooler and still, free from elements such as whipping winds or scorching sun.

“It’s so close and loud and intimate that it creates that very cool environment,” Logan said.

AVP declined to disclose what it costs to build courts in unconventional locations such as the Intuit Dome.

Logan said AVP staff hope fans will enjoy a fun, family-oriented community environment that features more seats close to the action than a typical beach volleyball court.

Workers cover the floor of the Intuit Dome with sand ahead of an AVP league event.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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The schedule

AVP League matches start Friday at 5 p.m. with the L.A. Launch playing the San Diego Smash in the first match.

Doors open Saturday at 4 p.m., with the Palm Beach Passion playing the L.A. Launch during the first match.

Tickets started at $43.50 apiece.

What’s at stake

The AVP League format differs from traditional tournaments. A men’s duo and women’s duo represent a city and their combined records determine position in league standings. At the end of league play, one of eight cities will be crowned the AVP League champion. The playoffs feature a postseason tournament seeded based on each duo’s record during the season. The tournament splits into male and female competition groups, with the winning duo in each group earning the top prize.

The top two teams in the league standings are the L.A. Launch and the Palm Beach Passion. L.A. Launch is undefeated, while Palm Beach Passion is 6–2.

Who is playing in Inglewood?

Four of the league’s eight city teams will be represented. The lineup includes numerous Olympians, USC alums and a former NBA player.

No. 1 L.A. Launch
Men: Hagen Smith and Logan Webber | Women: Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft

No. 2 Palm Beach
Men: Trevor Crabb and Phil Dalhausser | Women: Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson

No. 6 San Diego Smash
Men: Chase Budinger and Miles Evans | Women: Abby Van Winkle and Geena Urango

No. 8 Miami Mayhem
Men: Chaim Schalk and James Shaw | Women: Kelly Cheng and Molly Shaw