ESPN Daily

In 2008, Lisa Salters reported an E60 documentary called Blood Brothers about the family of former NBA star Carlos Boozer and their quest to save their son, Carmani, from sickle cell disease. But it turns out that journey was just the tip of the iceberg, because in April of this year — 16 years later — Blood Brothers was back on for a very different reason. ESPN NBA Draft Analyst Jonathan Givony joins host David Dennis, Jr. to take us through Lisa and E60’s reporting from 2008 and April of this year, and explain how a story of medical triumph ultimately landed in his own jurisdiction as the Boozer’s younger sons, twins Cameron and Cayden Boozer, became top NBA draft prospects. You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The field for the College Football Playoff is set and with a new expanded 12-team format, this looks to be the most exciting path to the title that we have ever seen. And as we are quickly reminded, no matter how big the playoff bracket gets, someone is always going to be left out, and that someone is always going to have something to say about it. But what about those other 36 bowls? The ones that have nothing to do with winning a national title? Are they nothing more than a big show of pomp, circumstance and giant Pop Tarts? David Hale joins David Dennis Jr. to tell us what we can expect to see this bowl season, and beyond, as college football, in its second century of tradition, is evolving faster than it ever has. You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Emirates NBA Cup is now in year two and we're all still trying to feel out what place it will take in the league’s attention economy. But one thing is clear –– nearly everyone is thrilled to have some bigger stakes on the table this early in the NBA season. Are the Oklahoma City Thunder ready to avenge their playoff elimination against the Dallas Mavericks? Can the New York Knicks prove their new offense-first approach to be a winning formula? Are Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors ready to contend for another title?  With the cup quarterfinals happening Tuesday and Wednesday, Tim Bontemps joins David Dennis Jr. to preview what to watch for and why this week will give us our biggest indication yet as to which contenders are for real. Tue, Dec. 10  Magic vs. Bucks | 7 p.m. ET (TNT)  Mavericks vs. Thunder | 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT) Wed, Dec. 11  Hawks vs. Knicks | 7 p.m. ET (ESPN) Warriors vs. Rockets | 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT) You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

14 weeks into the 2024 NFL season, and the playoff picture is starting to come into focus. The Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions, and Philadelphia Eagles are in. And both the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers are sure to punch their tickets to the postseason soon. In the NFC, the competition for the rest of the landscape is fierce, while in the AFC, all but one of the teams currently slated for the playoffs has more than a 90% chance of making it in. So today, Michele Steele and Ben Solak break down how the teams that are in got there, and what everyone else needs to do in order to have a shot. You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 2024 Formula 1 season wraps up this weekend in Abu Dhabi and in many ways nothing is different, but at the same time, everything has changed. First off, you have Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver wrapped up his fourth straight title a couple weeks ago. But his team, Red Bull, has somehow fallen off the map. And now legendary names like McClaren and Ferrari – who haven’t won a team title in decades – have once again raced their way to the top of the standings. Now, just add a mix of reality TV magic and a little bit of Brad Pitt, and you have yourself the modern Formula 1 package. So today, Laurence Edmondson joins David Dennis Jr. to explain all the drama from the garage to the track and tells us why the resurgence of F1 is just getting started. You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In recent years MLB’s Hot Stove has been kind of lukewarm. Even with big ticket free agents on the market, the pursuit of free agents dragged well into the New Year each winter. But ESPN’s Jeff Passan tells today’s host, David Dennis Jr., that won’t be the case with Juan Soto this offseason. The transcendent lefty slugger has virtually every big market owner chasing after him with a blank checkbook, looking to change the fortunes of their team with one big transaction. And with Soto looking to find his new home by the end of next week’s winter meeting, and Scott Boras leading negotiations for him - and a bevy of other big name free agents - the dominos should start to fall soon. You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s been more than a decade since the Philadelphia 76ers began their so-called “process” to tank-the-team, earn high draft picks, and set themselves up for a bright future. This strategy has now become the norm across sports, and for the Sixers’ sake, it did yield them Joel Embiid, the team’s first MVP winner in 22 years.  But it’s also been filled with crisis after crisis. Two number one picks that flopped and big time trades, first for Jimmy Butler and then James Harden, that ultimately went nowhere. This year, the offseason acquisition of Paul George plus the retention of breakout star Tyrese Maxey was supposed to give Embiid his best shot at a title. But with the big man missing 15 of 19 games and George and Maxey also missing time, Philadelphia finds itself near the bottom of the standings. From the outside, it looks to have brought about a complete breakdown in the locker room and major question marks about team president Daryl Morey’s best laid plans.  Today, Ramona Shelburne takes inside the latest, and possibly biggest Sixers crisis yet.  You can honor Jim Valvano and support ESPN’s V Week with a donation to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The WNBA’s newest team - the Golden State Valkyries - are coming to San Francisco in  May. And by the end of this week, we’ll have a better idea of which players fans of bay area women’s basketball will be rooting for. Because Friday’s WNBA expansion draft will welcome the Valkyries first players. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton covers the W and is here to explain how all of this expansion stuff works – and how a new CBA should help the Valkyries use not just the expansion draft, but also trades and free agency to get competitive, fast. http://v.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There were two big games on the week 13 NFL schedule - the Philadelphia Eagles at the Baltimore Ravens, and the San Francisco 49ers at the Buffalo Bills.  And we did watch Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, and a suddenly transcendent Eagles defense make a statement against Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Zay Flowers and the rest of the Ravens, during Sunday night football we saw Josh Allen potentially cement his MVP campaign against Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers. But Ben Solak wants us to know that there were also unexpected stories across the league. Like how the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals met up in the highest scoring meeting the two teams have ever had. Joe Burrow’s heroics weren’t enough to outmatch Russell Wilson’s prolific passing day.  Or how between Shane Steichen, Jerod Mayo, Drake Maye, and Anthony Richardson, we might be seeing the rivalry between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots enter a new - post Tom Brady and Peyton Manning - generation. And there’s even a second life for Bryce Young with the Carolina Panthers, who may have lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in overtime, but seem to be heading in the right direction. So Ben Solak joins us to tell us what he watched - and handicap the NFL’s MVP race as the season starts to wind down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We have arrived at Thanksgiving eve. And while you may be getting your stomachs ready for a meal full of all the fixings, don’t forget the annual football feast you will soon digest as well. Between the NFL and college, it’s four days of high stakes games to squeeze-in between all the family festivities.  Will Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins finally beat the cold weather curse? Have the Chicago Bears and Caleb Williams turned the corner with new Offensive Coordinator Thomas Brown? Who will bolster their playoff case as Texas and Texas A&M face each other for the first time in 13 years? And how’s the Heisman race shaping up? So many things to chew on and we are here to feed those thoughts. Today, Kevin Clark, host of This is Football, helps sift through the playoff implications at both levels and shares his recipe for understanding the difference between matchups of both the savory and unpalatable varieties.  Other topics include: Can Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins get back into the playoff mix?  Does a bad matchup between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys mean the NFL should change its approach to Thanksgiving? Is Colorado Buffalo Travis Hunter the Heisman favorite? Could Boise State leapfrog to a first round bye?  Should Alabama be on upset alert again? Can Saquon Barkley beat out Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson for the MVP?  Can the Baltimore Ravens fix their defensive flaws?  Is it possible for Nick Sirianni to ever have job security in Philadelphia?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The San Jose State Spartans were preparing for another hopeful – but largely uneventful – women’s volleyball season in 2024. But then a publication outed a player on that team as transgender and from there the protests and backlash grew seemingly by the day. Player lawsuits, coach accusations and boycott threats, and that was just from inside their own locker room. Soon teams all over the San Jose schedule decided to forfeit their matches, but also never gave an official reason why.  So today, ahead of the Mountain West Conference Tournament, Katie Barnes joins us to quiet the noise and turn up the conversation on a team from San Jose that just wants to play the game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and that means we’re entering the stretch run in the NFL. A dozen weeks into the season, and some teams are starting to separate themselves from the pack.  Like the Detroit Lions, who week after week keep bullying their opponents, and the Kansas City Chiefs, who just find ways to win seemingly every Sunday. And then there’s the Philadelphia Eagles, who are looking to stake their claim in the NFC. So before we sit around the Thanksgiving table and tell each other what we’re thankful for, Ben Solak goes fact-or-fiction on Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, Chicago Bears rookie Caleb Williams, and the reclamation of Carolina Panthers signal caller Bryce Young. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This weekend, two top-ten women’s college basketball teams — the USC Trojans and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish — face off in Los Angeles. It will be a battle between two of the league’s biggest stars, USC’s Juju Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo. Another player to watch coming this season is UConn’s Paige Bueckers, but you already know that because she has been the player to watch since she was in middle school.  All three of these stars are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a fresh new season of women’s college basketball unburdened from the discourse that dominated last season. Elle Duncan joins us to explain how the wave of excitement from last season shows no signs of stopping this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For Washington Commanders fans, the Daniel Snyder ownership era was a brutal 24-year stretch. The once proud franchise became a laughingstock both on the football field and off, as the NFL and Congress launched various investigations into misconduct, sexual harassment, and financial improprieties.  Then in 2023, financial executive Josh Harris bought the team and oversaw its decision to draft budding superstar quarterback Jayden Daniels. Even with close losses to good teams over the last two weeks, optimism in the nation’s capital is at its highest level in decades.  Actor Jeffery Wright has lived that story. The Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe Award-winning performer has not only been rooting for the burgundy and gold since the Nixon administration, but also grew up with Josh Harris. And that made him the perfect person to help our resident D.C. native Clinton Yates explore a complicated relationship with the Commanders.  Today, we dig into all that, as well as Wright’s love for Arsenal, his days as a Lacrosse player, and his new TV series “The Agency.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

11 weeks into the NFL season, playoff possibilities are starting to take shape. But who has a shot at each conferences’ coveted Number 1 seed? It's the envious position every team desires as it ensures not only an extra week of rest and recovery when the playoffs start, but also home field advantage all the way through the conference championship round. That would be the easy road to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. So today, we are joined by our intrepid NFL expert Bill Barnwell, who looks at every squad that could take the top spot, but he also saves room on his plate for another serving of Tommy Cutlets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A generation later, the images of one of the worst scenes to ever take place in an NBA arena are still shocking. A cup full of liquid hurtling through the air, striking Indiana Pacers small forward Ron Artest, and setting off a powder keg - as coaches, security, members of the Pacers, and fans came to blows in the stands, the tunnel, and on the court itself. When the bad blood between the Pacers and rival Detroit Pistons boiled over in Auburn Hills, it was impossible to ignore the sight of mostly black players clashing with mostly white fans. And elements around the NBA used the ugly night, and fear that it caused, to force changes in the NBA dress code that could only be called draconian today. So Andscape senior writer David Dennis Jr. joins Clinton Yates to remember how it all went down, and explore how it changed the NBA forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There was a lot of action across the NFL in week 11. And games ending on blocked field goals in back to back weeks was just the tip of the iceberg.  Because even as the Chicago Bears failed to end their now 11 game losing streak against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field, we also saw Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs and the rest of the Detroit Lions put up a league high 52 points on a hapless Jacksonville Jaguars team missing Trevor Lawrence. In one of Sunday’s marquee matchups between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, The Steel Curtain burst out of the past, stifling MVP front runner Lamar Jackson. While in Orchard Park, Josh Allen put on his Superman cape and handed Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs their first loss of the season. So Mercury Morris and all of the 1972 Miami Dolphins can pop some champagne and relax as they remain the lone undefeated team in NFL history. Ben Solak takes us through what stood out to him in week 11. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, UFC 309 will take place, and the main event will be the long-delayed match between arguably the greatest of all time in Jon Jones and possibly the greatest heavyweight of all time in Stipe Miocic.  Even though these two are getting all the hype, there are still plenty of questions. Is this the fight everyone wants to see? What do these two fighters have to prove? When it’s over, will these two legends fight anymore or walk away with their legacies? And what about interim champion, Tom Aspinall? Where does he fit into all this drama?  To clear all this up, our combat sports expert Andreas Hale joins us to break down everything we should be watching for Saturday night and why – when it’s all said and done – we still might have more questions than answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1986, 20-year-old Mike Tyson became the youngest Heavyweight Champion ever, kicking off four years of utter dominance that made him one of the biggest icons in sports. But by the time he officially retired in 2005, it was hard to imagine ever seeing him in a ring again. So news that, in 2024, he would fight a 27-year-old Jake Paul in an officially sanctioned fight caught everyone by surprise.  Today, Andreas Hale joins David Dennis Jr. to explain why Mike Tyson remains a fixture of sports culture and explores whether or not Friday’s bout versus Jake Paul is actually a good idea.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Bears were already a mess coming into last Sunday’s matchup against the Patriots. But since they fell 19-3 to the hapless Pats at Soldier Field, things have gotten even worse.  On Tuesday, head coach Matt Eberflus announced the firing of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron as one last hail mary to try and rescue this season. Courtney Cronin covers the Bears and is here to discuss what made this team crumble and what is to come for quarterback Caleb Williams and the whole team as they face some of the best teams in the NFL in the coming weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices