Yahoo Sports AM: The Cavs and Thunder are juggernauts

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🚨 Headlines

🏒 Deadline day: The NHL trade deadline is today at 3pm ET, but teams haven’t waited around to make their moves, with 13 trades in the past three days alone.

⚽️ 64-team World Cup? FIFA will consider expanding the World Cup to 64 teams in 2030 to celebrate the tournament’s centennial. The field is already expanding from 32 to 48 teams for 2026.

🏈 NFL moves: The Jaguars are trading WR Christian Kirk to the Texans and the Bengals have given All-Pro DE Trey Hendrickson permission to seek a trade.

🥊 Trilogy booked: After two epic bouts in 2022 and 2024, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano will meet for a third time this July at MSG (and on Netflix) in a battle for Taylor’s undisputed super lightweight championship.

🏈 Lanning extended: Oregon is giving head coach Dan Lanning a new six-year contract that will pay him nearly $11 million per season, making him the nation’s fourth-highest paid college football coach.

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🏀 Dynamic duo: The Thunder and Cavs are juggernauts

In any given NBA season, we’re lucky if we get to watch one historically great team play basketball multiple days a week. This year, we get to watch two.

By the numbers: The Thunder (+12.73) and Cavaliers (+11.53) are on pace for the best and sixth-best scoring differentials in NBA history. The top five on that list all won a championship that season.

• Cleveland (52-10), which already clinched a postseason spot, is on pace for 69 wins, tied for the third-most ever. They’re also in the midst of their third 12-game win streak, something only one other team has ever done (2006-07 Mavs).

• Oklahoma City (51-11), which should clinch a playoff spot any day now, is on pace for 67 wins, tied for the seventh-most in league history. They’ve won five straight and 14 of 16 to take a commanding 10.5-game lead atop the West.

What makes them so good? It’s pretty simple, really: The Cavs have an all-time great offense and the Thunder have a generationally elite defense.

• Cleveland’s offensive rating (122.9 points per 100 possessions) ranks second all-time behind only last year’s title-winning Celtics. They’re particularly lethal from behind the arc, shooting a league-best 39.3%.

• OKC’s defensive rating (105.9) is the NBA’s best in the last five years, and by far the best this season, with a larger lead over the second-place Magic (109.4) than the Magic have over the 13th-place Lakers (112.5).

And let’s not forget about their stars: While both teams boast impressive depth, OKC is led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s leading scorer and the favorite to win MVP. Cleveland’s alpha isn’t quite the same level (few are), but Donovan Mitchell is still the NBA’s 15th-leading scorer and Evan Mobley is the favorite to win DPOY.

Looking ahead: The Celtics are for real, so we can’t forget about the reigning champs. But given how the Cavs and Thunder have dominated the regular season, it would surprise no one if they were the last two teams standing in June. But history says that’s unlikely: Only three* of the 25 NBA Finals this century featured both No. 1 seeds.

*Lakers over Pacers (2000), Celtics over Lakers (2008), Cavaliers over Warriors (2016).

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🧠 Have the nerds ruined sports?

Some of the biggest brains in sports are in Boston this weekend for the 19th edition of the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference (aka. Dorkapalooza*).

Analytics, then vs. now: When SSAC began, “analytics” was still a relatively new concept that had the potential to upend sports. All these years later, the data-driven revolution has upended sports, and this weekend’s discussions will reflect that.

The present moment: The Washington Post published a series of stories this week about the current state of analytics, perhaps with SSAC in mind. The main takeaway, for me at least, is that the tone of the conversation is shifting. To be clear: analytics is here to stay (read: “How the Red Sox built MLB’s best prospect duo”). But we’re starting to see the cost of this mindset, and the endless quest for efficiency is increasingly being blamed for robbing sports of their beauty.

From the Post’s Dave Sheinin:

The analytics movement arguably has transformed the major sports landscape like no development since the dawn of televised games, changing the way coaches coach, players play, front offices evaluate talent and fans consume.

But what has occurred over the past half-decade in MLB and the NBA suggests that dynamic, if allowed to proceed unchecked for decades, can hasten the strategy optimization process, essentially “solving” games and causing a deleterious effect on a sport’s aesthetic appeal.

It is a revelation that carries ominous ramifications for leagues such as the NFL and the NHL, where analytics arrived later and have taken longer to shape organizational philosophies.

Dive in:

*Flashback Friday: Remember when Bill Simmons used to write for ESPN.com? Here’s his recap of the 2009 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which he dubbed Dorkapalooza 2009. Long live, “The Sports Guy” and the mid-2000s era of the internet. Simpler times, man. Simpler times.

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📺 ESPN’s $100 million man

Stephen A. Smith has signed a five-year deal with ESPN worth at least $100 million, per The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.

By the numbers: Smith’s previous deal paid him $12 million annually. He will now earn $20 million per year, making him the third-highest paid sports broadcaster.

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🏈 CFP committee names chairman, six new members

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee will have a new chairman for 2025, as well as six new members.

The new boss: Baylor AD Mack Rhoades, who joined the 13-member committee last year, is replacing Michigan AD Warde Manuel as committee chair. He has led Baylor’s athletic department since 2016 following previous stints at Missouri, Houston and Akron.

The new members: Committee members are given three-year terms. Five expired this spring, and a sixth member decided to step down after one year.

• Mark Dantonio: The former Michigan State head coach (2007-19) led the Spartans to three Big Ten championships, the 2015 playoff and 114 wins, making him the winningest coach in program history. He was rewarded last year with induction into the College Football HOF.

• Damon Evans: The former Georgia WR (1990-92) and AD (2004-10) has been Maryland’s AD since 2018. He was also named to the NCAA Transformation Committee in 2021, charged with addressing Division I’s biggest challenges in college sports’ rapidly evolving landscape.

• Ivan Maisel: The longtime sportswriter began his career in 1981 and was hired as ESPN.com’s first college football writer back in 2002. The Football Writers Association of America presented him with the Bert McGrane Award in 2016, essentially their Hall of Fame.

• Chris Massaro: The Colorado native has been Middle Tennessee’s AD since 2005, making him the fifth-longest tenured AD in the FBS. He’s also served on numerous other committees, including the NCAA Football Issues Committee and NCAA Division I Leadership Council.

• Wesley Walls: The former tight end had quite a career, both in college and the pros: The All-American at Ole Miss (1985-88) and College Football Hall of Famer (2014) was also a 14-year NFL vet (1989-2003), five-time Pro Bowler and 1990 Super Bowl champion with the 49ers.

• Steve Wieberg: The former USA Today reporter is actually a returning member after serving on the inaugural CFP committee. Like Maisel, he also received the FWAA’s Bert McGrane Award, and he was also inducted into the United States Basketball Writers Association HOF.

Returning members: Carla Williams (Virginia AD), Hunter Yuracheck (Arkansas AD), David Sayler (Miami-Ohio AD), Randall McDaniel (NFL Hall of Famer), Chris Ault (former Nevada head coach and AD) and Mike Riley (former Oregon State head coach).

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📺 Watchlist: Regular-season finale

The final weekend of the men’s college basketball regular season is upon us, as teams barrel towards their conference tournaments, which are already underway on the women’s side.

The headliner: No. 7 Alabama visits No. 1 Auburn (Sat. 2:30pm ET, ESPN) in a battle of potential No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers are a virtual lock, while the Tide could earn one by beating their rivals tomorrow night.

Other notable games: No. 6 St. John’s at No. 20 Marquette (Sat. 12pm, Fox); No. 19 Kentucky at No. 15 Missouri (Sat. 12pm, ESPN); No. 2 Duke at UNC (Sat. 6:30pm, ESPN); No. 17 Michigan at No. 8 Michigan State (12pm, CBS).

More to watch:

• 🏀 NBA: Grizzlies at Mavericks (Fri. 7:30pm, ESPN); Suns at Nuggets (Fri. 10pm, ESPN); Lakers at Celtics (Sat. 8:30pm, ABC); Nuggets at Thunder (Sun. 1pm, ABC); Cavaliers at Bucks (Sun. 8pm, ESPN)

• ⛳️ Golf: Arnold Palmer Invitational (Fri-Sun, Golf/NBC); LIV Hong Kong (Fri-Sat, FS2) … Wyndham Clark (-5) leads at Bay Hill; Paul Casey (-7) leads in Hong Kong.

• 🎾 Tennis: Indian Wells (Fri-Sun, Tennis) … The courts have been resurfaced this year with a new material that plays faster, and the change has garnered mixed opinions.

• 🏁 NASCAR: Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway (Sun. 3:30pm, FS1) … Katherine Legge will become the first woman to drive in a Cup Series race since Danica Patrick in 2018.

• 🏒 NHL: Kraken at Flyers (Sat. 12:30pm, ABC); Bruins at Lightning (Sat. 3pm, ABC); Devils at Flyers (Sun. 1pm, TNT); Penguins at Wild (Sun. 3:30pm, TNT)

• ⚽️ NWSL Challenge Cup: Orlando vs. Washington (Fri. 8pm, Prime) … Rematch of last year’s NWSL Final to decide the Challenge Cup champion.

• ⚽️ EPL: Nottingham Forest vs. Manchester City (Sat. 7:30am, USA); Manchester United vs. Arsenal (Sun. 12:30pm, NBC) … What’s more surprising: Forest in third or United in 14th?

Plus… UFC 313 (Sat. 10pm, ESPN+ PPV) … MLS Week 3 (Sat-Sun, Apple) … Six Nations Rugby (Sat-Sun, Peacock) … Unrivaled (Fri-Sun, TNT) … PWHL (Fri-Sun, YouTube).

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⚾️ MLB trivia

Which two MLB teams will play in minor league ballparks this season?

Answer at the bottom.

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⚾️ Athlete of the day: This kid

I love it. I was the same way as a kid, but with an imaginary baseball bat and my Ken Griffey Jr.-inspired swing. I mean, I was hitting absolute bombs in social studies class. You had to be there.

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Trivia answer: Athletics (Sutter Health Park in Sacramento) and Rays (George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa)

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