With the Boston Celtics holding a 3-0 lead over the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, it won’t be long before all eyes zone in on the draft, which is set for June 26–27.For the first time ever, the draft will span two days. While no player in this year’s pool is as captivating as 2023 No. 1 overall selection Victor Wembanyama, there’s plenty of talent to go around, especially from Wembanyama’s native country of France.Here is our latest lottery mock draft, with just over two weeks left until 58 players hear their names called in New York:1. Atlanta Hawks: Alexandre Sarr, F/C, FranceSarr has started to slip to No. 2 in a handful of mock drafts in favor of fellow Frenchman Zaccharie Risacher, but his defense could do wonders for an Atlanta team that has yet to find its identity …

The Toronto Maple Leafs are without star forward Auston Matthews for the second consecutive game when the Boston Bruins on Thursday for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference first-round series. Matthews, dealing with an illness, skated briefly on Tuesday and Thursday morning but was ruled out for those games. Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed Matthews' status for Game 6 on Thursday morning. Without Matthews, the Maple Leafs staved off elimination with a 2-1 overtime victory versus the Bruins in Game 5. Boston holds a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. Matthews did not play in the third period of Toronto's 3-1 loss in Game 4 on Saturday and Keefe said he was "removed by doctors." He played just 14:16 and recorded a shot on goal and two hits before exiting for the…

There was 1:09 left on the clock when Eli Manning, under pressure from the New England Patriots defense, hurled the football downfield. The three-time world champion Patriots, up 14-10 at the time, were defending a perfect run through the regular season and postseason. At that point, only the 1972 Miami Dolphins had accomplished the feat and with the clock ticking away, The Pats seemed poised to replicate the Dolphins’ mythic feat. And then David Tyree made this catch, a play immediately etched in the pantheon of New York sports moments alongside The Flip and The Four-Point Play. That catch turned the tide. The Giants scored a touchdown to win the game and David Tyree became New York legend. The Helmet Catch is so tied into Tyree’s reputation that the photo on his Wikipedia page …

Some people are fans of the Kansas City Chiefs. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Kansas City Chiefs. This 2016 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the previews so far here. And buy Drew’s new book here. Your team: Kansas City Chiefs. Your 2015 record: 11-5. Hottest team in football to close out the regular season! You should make a banner of that. You just experienced a second year of Andy Reid playoff football, Kansas City. How’d it feel? Pretty bad? Ready to cut yourself? Are you now willing to accept ANY other head coach so that you don’t have to live through this recurring nightmare of steady, fruitless, B-minus football? I know I would be. Let’s get into it. Your coach: Andy Reid. Time for the LSUFreek gif… I needed th…

Some people are fans of the Arizona Cardinals. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Arizona Cardinals. This 2013 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the 2013 NFL previews so far right here. Your team: Arizona Cardinals Your 2012 record: 5-11, after starting the season 4-0. I dare you to find a worse 4-0 team in NFL history. Ryan Lindley started three games for that team. He had a QBR of 10. This team’s remarkable inability to find an adequate replacement for Kurt Warner finally led to coach Ken Whisenhunt’s demise and the hiring of… Your coach: Bald miracle worker Bruce Arians. Before 2012, Arians was known primarily as the offensive coordinator that Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Alabama fans all loved to despise. But after one inspi…

The Premiership is taking the day off in favor of some hot qualifying action for Euro 2008. But don't worry, many of your favorite British football stars still found a way to embarrass themselves. Wales 1-5 Slovakia. Welsh goalkeeper Paul Jones was so excited about making his 50th cap today that he decided to make his head look absolutely ridiculous. Dennis Rodman saw that and said, "eh, that's a bit much." And if he would've just changed that 0 to a 1, and put a dash in between the numbers, he'd have had an accurate score prediction on the back of his head. Wales ended up getting pounded, and some Welsh barber wasted an awful lot of time. Scotland 1-0 France. The old maxim "if it's not Scottish, it's crap," was proved true again tod…

data-mm-id=”_143he3okv”>Conor McGregor knocked out Donald Cerrone quickly in his return to the octagon at UFC 246. McGregor came out firing quickly and absolutely obliterated Cerrone quickly, finishing the fight in just 40 seconds.Check this out:WOAHHHH pic.twitter.com/q08sxO7YbV— ???? ✌? (@ALBY_LAD) January 19, 2020"The Notorious" appeared to break Cerrone's nose with a shoulder strike in the clinch just seconds into the fight, then landed several strikes that sent Cowboy to the canvas, including a huge left high kick. With Cerrone down, McGregor poured on the pressure and finished him off. Referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop proceedings just 40 seconds in to the first round. It officially goes down as a TKO victory, sending McGregor's record to 22-4 with 19 k…

data-mm-id=”_ogm9ta4yl”>Greg Jennings has been on an apology tour of sorts recently, trying to make nice with a Packers fan base that loved him for years and then loathed him when he left for greener, money-laden pastures in Minnesota with the hated rival Vikings. First he appeared on ESPN Wisconsin radio yesterday and admitted he made a mistake with how he handle the departure and also said he never wanted to leave. Today, he appeared on First Things First and discussed how he could tell, based on what the Packers were doing, that he was leaving Green Bay heading into the final season with them in 2012. Tom Brady's interview made @GregJennings think about his last year in Green Bay."If you look at the writing on the wall with Tom Brady, even with myself, there's certain…

data-mm-id=”_910fbvdbb”>If there's Major League Baseball in 2021 — and that's a big if — they need to go back to extra innings as we've known them for over 150 years. Let's get that out of the way. Putting a runner on second base without him earning his way out there is a bastardization of the game and goes against the very fiber of the sport. But dammit, for one year where everything is weird and we're drawing it up as we go, the new wrinkle is enjoyable. It is not, as myself and other purists may have believed, a signal that Western Civilization is collapsing. See, we've already seen plenty of those from the non-baseball category. The early returns on the experimental rule are very good. It is serving its purpose in eliminating marathon games that nu…

data-mm-id=”_esrl4c3et”>The Jacksonville Jaguars are trudging through yet another season as a bottomfeeder of the AFC standings. They currently sit at 1-10 on the year. Three different quarterbacks have started for the Jags in 11 games. Gardner Minshew, once viewed as some type of shiny rock found in the rough of the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, has been firmly planted on the sideline after hurting his thumb. Forced to start Mike Glennon this past Sunday, the Jags lost their 10th game of the season to the Cleveland Browns. General manager Dave Caldwell paid the price soon after. Jacksonville announced it had fired Caldwell at 5:30 p.m. ET, less than two hours after the end of the Browns-Jaguars game. The decision brings an end to a seven-year run by Caldwell at the helm of the Ja…