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🚨 HEADLINES

🏀 LaMelo to Minnesota: The Hornets are trading LaMelo Ball to the Timberwolves for Naz Reid, four draft picks and three pick swaps, a surprising move that sees Charlotte pivot away from its 24-year-old franchise cornerstone. Minnesota also gets guard Josh Green in the deal.

⚾️ CBA update: MLB made a big, public push for a salary cap and floor on Thursday with the release of a campaign that argues such a change is necessary to fix the issues caused by the massive spending gap between teams. The union, long vehemently opposed to a cap, responded by accusing the league of trying to "reduce player compensation by billions."

🏀 Mabrey ties scoring record: Tempo guard Marina Mabrey dropped 53 points in Thursday's blowout win over the Sparks, tying the WNBA's single-game scoring record. She also hit a record-tying nine 3-pointers… for the second time in her last three games.

⚾️ So close: The Rays came within two outs of pitching a combined no-hitter on Thursday that would have been just the second no-no in franchise history. Instead, they had to settle for a 13-2 victory over the Royals in which star 3B Junior Caminero had his first career 3-HR game.

🏀 Year 20: Al Horford, 40, will sign a two-year, $14 million deal to stay with the Warriors. Whenever he first takes the court this fall, he'll become just the 13th player in NBA history to play at least 20 seasons in the league.

See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.

⚽️ PERFECT NO MORE: USMNT STUMBLES IN FINALE

Mauricio Pochettino's heavily rotated USMNT struggled early before regaining momentum — and Christian Pulisic — in the second half of a 3-2 defeat to Turkey on Thursday night.

The bright side: Turkey's stunning game-winner in the eighth minute of stoppage time, as deflating as it felt in the moment, changed nothing about the Americans' place atop Group D.

Yes, but: Poch's men must learn from their mistakes without losing the confidence that has shaped the early phases of a stellar World Cup campaign. And judging by the team's postgame remarks, the players seem equal to the task.

  • "We had a lot of chances and we could have done better in some defensive plays … But we're full of confidence. I'm not worried about it," said midfielder Brenden Aaronson.
  • "I believe in this team," added winger Timothy Weah. "I think we've done such a great job to get to this point. When you look at the previous games against Australia and Paraguay, we just have to keep that same mentality."

Next up: The Americans will take on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 on Wednesday at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.

  • Group D: Third-place Paraguay and second-place Australia played to a 0-0 draw, with each gaining the vital fourth point needed to secure their places in the next round.
  • Group E: With just 13 minutes to rescue Ecuador's World Cup dreams, Gonzalo Plata poked a corner kick past Manuel Neuer to beat Germany 2-1 and claim a place in the Round of 32. Ivory Coast clinched second place with a 2-0 win over Curaçao, booking their first-ever trip to the knockouts.
  • Group F: The Netherlands beat Tunisia 3-1 to finish on top of the group and earn a date with Morocco. Sweden, thanks to this sensational equalizer, salvaged a critical draw against second-place Japan that will see them advance from third.

Standings, clinching scenarios for the remainder of the group stage

⚾️ ALL-STAR VOTING UPDATE: TOO MANY JAYS?

MLB All-Star voting has long been in the hands of the fans. But given the state of this year's ballot, it might be time to look into changing that tradition.

Blue Jays everywhere: The Phase 1 voting results were revealed on Thursday, with the top two players at each position (and top six outfielders) moving onto Phase 2. And while the NL ballot appears to roughly correlate to performance, the AL ballot features Blue Jays at every single position. That includes 2B Ernie Clement — a good if unspectacular player — who's officially a starter after leading all AL players with 3.2 million votes. His 1.2 WAR ranks 63rd in the AL.

  • C: Shea Langeliers (Athletics), Alejandro Kirk (Blue Jays)
  • 1B: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), Ben Rice (Yankees)
  • SS: Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals), Andrés Giménez (Blue Jays)
  • 3B: Kazuma Okamoto (Blue Jays), Junior Caminero (Rays)
  • OF: Aaron Judge (Yankees), Mike Trout (Angels), Byron Buxton (Twins), Cody Bellinger (Yankees), Daulton Varsho (Blue Jays), Jesús Sánchez (Blue Jays)
  • DH: Yordan Alvarez (Astros) vs. George Springer (Blue Jays)

Ballot stuffing: This isn't a new phenomenon, but it's perhaps never been quite so egregious. Consider that Toronto is just 39-42 and doesn't have a single player with an OPS over .800. It makes sense, though: American baseball fans have 29 teams to choose from, Canadians have one. They have every right to vote for their guys, it just might dilute what should be the special honor of being named an All-Star.

NL: The leading vote-getter on the Senior Circuit makes a little more sense, with Shohei Ohtani (3.3M votes) earning the start at DH. And while there are a lot of Dodgers and Braves below, that's less about ballot stuffing than a crop of really good players on really good teams.

  • C: Drake Baldwin (Braves), Will Smith (Dodgers)
  • 1B: Freddie Freeman (Dodgers), Matt Olson (Braves)
  • 2B: Ozzie Albies (Braves), Bryson Stott (Phillies)
  • SS: CJ Abrams (Nationals), Mookie Betts (Dodgers)
  • 3B: Max Muncy (Dodgers), Alec Bohm (Phillies)
  • OF: Andy Pages (Dodgers), Brandon Marsh (Phillies), Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves), Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers), Juan Soto (Mets), Michael Harris II (Braves)

What's next: Phase 2 of voting runs from Monday through Thursday, with all starters, pitchers and reserves being announced on Saturday, July 4, for next month's Midsummer Classic in Philadelphia.

⚽️ THE DISGRACE OF KANSAS CITY?

44 years ago, West Germany and Austria played one of the most controversial games in World Cup history, a match now known as the Disgrace of Gijón. Could we see history repeat itself tomorrow in Kansas City?

State of play: Algeria and Austria play at Arrowhead Stadium tomorrow in the final time slot of the group stage (10pm ET, FS1), meaning they will know exactly what permutations would secure their progression, as well as the potential opponents that would come with it.

  • Barring multi-goal defeat, both teams should advance to the Round of 32 behind group-winner Argentina. A draw would ensure safety, but because the second-place team in their group will likely face Spain (world No. 3) — while the third-place team is projected to face Switzerland (No. 17), or perhaps Egypt (No. 26) — it would actually be beneficial for both teams to lose.
  • Thus, we could see a scenario play out where Algeria and Austria are both actively trying to lose tomorrow's matchup in Kansas City. Not exactly the final-time-slot-of-group-stage drama FIFA was hoping for.

Flashback: Not only has this happened before, but both of these teams were involved!

  • In 1982, Algeria was in second place after its group stage slate and looked set to advance to the knockouts, but West Germany and Austria still had one game left against each other in Gijón, Spain. They knew there was an exact result — a German win by one or two goals — that would see both teams go through at Algeria's expense.
  • Germany scored in the 11th minute, and then both teams deployed their very best stall tactics for the rest of the game. It was an ugly scene that has since come to be known as the Disgrace of Gijón.

Problem not solved: Though the collusion appeared obvious, FIFA was unable to prove any foul play; they did, however, shift the schedule for future World Cups so that all teams within a group play their final matches at the same time. Despite those efforts, this year's expanded format has opened the door for a potential "Disgrace of Kansas City."

📺 WEEKEND WATCHLIST

⚽️ World Cup, Group Stage Finale

We've almost reached the knockouts, with six more games today and tomorrow to close out the group stage. Of the 24 teams playing this weekend, four have clinched a spot in the Round of 32 (France, Norway, Argentina, Colombia) and just two have been eliminated (Jordan and Panama).

Friday: Norway vs. France (3pm ET, Fox); Senegal vs. Iraq (3pm, FS1); Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia (8pm, FS1); Uruguay vs. Spain (8pm, Fox); Egypt vs. Iran (11pm, FS1); New Zealand vs. Belgium (11pm, Fox)

Saturday: Croatia vs. Ghana (5pm, FS1); Panama vs. England (5pm, Fox); Colombia vs. Portugal (7:30pm, Fox); DR Congo vs. Uzbekistan (7:30pm, FS1); Algeria vs. Austria (10pm, FS1); Jordan vs. Argentina (10pm, Fox)

Plus… The knockouts begin on Sunday in Los Angeles, where Canada takes on South Africa at SoFi Stadium (3pm, Fox).

⛳️ Women's PGA Championship

The LPGA's third major continues this weekend (Fri-Sun, Golf/Peacock/NBC) at Minnesota's Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Leaderboard: South Korea's Ina Yoon shot a scorching 9-under 63 on Thursday, tying the lowest round in tournament history. Australia's Karis Davidson (-7) isn't far behind, followed by American Alexa Pano (-5) and South Korea's A Lim Kim (-5).

The Maple Leafs are on the clock in Buffalo, where 32 young men will hear their names called tonight in the first round of the 2026 NHL Draft (7pm, ESPN). Rounds 2-7 are tomorrow (11am, NHL), when another 192 prospects will continue their journey toward the professional ranks.

Consensus No. 1: Penn State winger Gavin McKenna — the former WHL Rookie of the Year who ranked second in the nation with 1.46 points per game last season as a freshman for the Nittany Lions — is the heavy favorite to go first overall to Toronto.

  • ⚾️ MLB: Cubs at Brewers (Fri. 7:45pm, Apple); Dodgers at Padres (Fri. 9:45pm, Apple); Yankees at Red Sox (Sat. 1pm, ABC; Sun. 7:20pm, NBC) … A trio of heated rivalries headline this weekend's slate.
  • ⚽️ NWSL Challenge Cup: Gotham FC vs. KC Current (Fri. 8pm, Prime) … The annual matchup between the reigning champions (Gotham) and Shield winners (KC) is taking place in Columbus, Ohio.
  • 🏀 WNBA: Sparks at Fever (Sat. 8pm, CBS); Lynx at Wings (Sun. 2pm, CBS); Aces at Sky (Sun. 4pm, CBS); Liberty at Valkyries (Sun. 7pm, ESPN)
  • ⛳️ PGA: Travelers Championship (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/NBC) … Eric Cole (-7) leads after Round 1 at TPC River Highlands, with Scottie Scheffler (-6) and Matt Fitzpatrick (-6) among the six golfers lurking one stroke back.
  • 🏎️ F1: Austrian Grand Prix (Sun. 9am, Apple) … Can Lewis Hamilton follow up his first win at Ferrari with another victory?
  • 🥍 PLL: Week 6 in San Diego (Sat-Sun, ESPN/ESPN+) … The WLL also plays one game on Saturday night (11pm, ESPN+).

Plus: 🏁 NASCAR Cup Series at Sonoma Raceway (Sun. 3:30pm, TNT); 🎾 WTA's Bad Homburg Open (Fri-Sat, Tennis); 🏀 BIG3 Week 2 in Detroit (Sat. 4pm, CBS); 🏈 IFL Week 16 (Sat-Sun, Yahoo Sports).

Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!

🥊 GOOD READS: BOXING EDITION

Elliott Worsell, Uncrowned: Jaron 'Boots' Ennis is a new kind of Philly fighter

The man they call "Boots" has long been hailed as boxing's future. Now, as he readies to challenge unified champion Xander Zayas, the latest heir to Philadelphia's rich fighting tapestry has a chance to become something far more difficult: the sport's present.

Lewis Watson, Uncrowned: I tried making weight like a fighter. Here's what I learned about combat sports' most dangerous addiction

I set a weigh-in date, targeted 154 pounds (super welterweight) — which felt about right for my 35-year-old frame of 5-foot-11 — and put myself through something resembling a six-week training camp, as though a fight contract had just landed through my mailbox. How bad could it be?

Elliott Worsell, Uncrowned: Ghosts of the USS Intrepid

In June 2001, a nationally televised fight aboard a retired aircraft carrier left one man dead and another forever scarred. A quarter-century later, George Khalid Jones returns to the scene of one of boxing's most infamous tragedies to reckon with what remains.

⚾ MLB TRIVIA

On Thursday, former White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski gifted the baseball from the final out of Game 1 of the 2005 World Series to Pope Leo XIV, a White Sox fan who was in attendance that night.

Question: Which team did the White Sox play (and beat) in that World Series?

Hint: Their stadium had a hill in center field at the time.

Answer at the bottom.

⚽️ WORLD CUP: MAKE YOUR PICKS!

The knockout stage of the world's biggest soccer tournament is almost here! Pick your winners for each game in the Round of 32 in 2026 Soccer Pick 'Em from Yahoo Sports and FOX One.

How to play: Make picks each round, earn points for correct predictions and climb the leaderboard. You can play solo against the field, create a private group with friends to compete for bragging rights, or join a public group to play with other fans.

🏎️ YAHOO SPORTS x APPLE TV

This weekend's Formula 1 Lenovo Austrian Grand Prix 2026 continues our season-long partnership with Apple TV for F1 coverage.

Tune in: All three practice sessions (Fri. 7:30am/11am ET; Sat. 6:30am) and tomorrow's qualifying (10am) will air for free on Yahoo Sports, while Sunday's race (9am) will stream for free on Apple TV, the new U.S. home of Formula 1.

Trivia answer: Astros (they played in the NL until 2013)

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Source: Yahoo Entertainment