Report: Chargers, Rams Could Be Forced to Play Outside California Amid COVID-19
Dec 4, 2020
The Exterior of SoFi Stadium is shown before the Los Angeles Rams play the Dallas Cowboys in an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong )
The Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams are reportedly preparing plans for practicing and playing home games outside California after Santa Clara County informed the San Francisco 49ers they couldn't operate in the county amid rising COVID-19 concerns.
Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson reported Friday the NFL has "had communications" with both the Chargers and Rams, who play in Los Angeles County, about a possible rapid relocation. The Niners have moved to Arizona and will host the Buffalo Bills at the Cardinals' State Farm Stadium on Monday night.
A source provided further details to Robinson about the evolving situation:
"[NFL] operations may not be able to continue [in California] soon and considering where we're at in the schedule, dramatic changes like the 49ers' relocation of operations could encompass the remainder of the season. That could be the case for all of the teams [in California]. The situation is being monitored and how it will impact the rest of the season is a little fluid right now. But the best thing everyone can do is just prepare for any eventuality."
Los Angeles County hasn't surpassed the COVID-19 thresholds necessary for the higher level of restrictions that include a ban on contact sports, but rising infection and hospitalization rates in L.A. could cause that to change "possibly as early as next week," per Robinson.
Both the Chargers and Rams play at the newly opened SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. They each have three home games remaining on their regular-season schedules.
Chargers
Dec. 6 vs. New England Patriots
Dec. 13 vs. Atlanta Falcons
Dec. 27 vs. Denver Broncos
Rams
Dec. 10 vs. New England Patriots
Dec. 20 vs. New York Jets
Jan. 3 vs. Arizona Cardinals
If the L.A. teams are forced to relocate, the NFL may have to make further schedule adjustments to finish the campaign on time after multiple coronavirus-related adjustments in recent weeks.
Robinson noted both teams are seeking "backup plans that could include the use of another NFL facility in neighboring states."
Besides the Cardinals, other teams in the western United States include the Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders and Seattle Seahawks. The Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints are additional options if moving more toward the central U.S. is put on the table.
Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr.: Odds, Fight Time, Scorecard Predictions
Nov 27, 2020
Former boxer Mike Tyson gestures to the crowd before a WBC heavyweight title boxing match between Deontay Wilder and Artur Szpilka, of Poland, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Former world champion boxers Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. are set to face off in an eight-round exhibition fight Saturday night at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
It's the main event of a unique card that will also see former NBA guard Nate Robinson take on YouTube star Jake Paul. It'll likely be more of an entertainment spectacle than a night of elite-level boxing, but that doesn't take away from the hype the event has created.
Let's check out all of the important details for fight night in L.A. That's followed by a closer look at what to expect from the main event and a prediction for who will walk away with the bragging rights.
It's hard to get a firm grip on what to expect Saturday night. The California State Athletic Commission, which sanctioned the bout, has treated it like a lightly competitive exhibition with eight two-minute rounds, which drew the ire of both fighters.
"I'm not happy at all. That's for women," Jones told reporters in October. "Why we doing two-minute rounds?"
Tyson added: "Not a real fight? It's Mike Tyson versus Roy Jones. I'm coming to fight and I hope he's coming to fight and that's all you need to know."
There was also some suggestion the fight wouldn't be scored and no winner would be declared, but the co-owner of fight broadcaster Triller said the fight will be scored and will have a winner, albeit an unofficial one. According to Variety's Joe Otterson (h/t Yahoo Sports), "the World Boxing Council will have three former champions watching the fight remotely who will declare an unofficial winner should the fight go the distance."
There's a chance this starts off as a glorified sparring session but evolves into a more hard-hitting battle once the jabs start flying and the adrenaline starts flowing.
Tyson is viewing the fight as a proving ground. The 54-year-old New York City native wants to show he can still live up to the nickname, "The Baddest Man on the Planet," and potentially set the stage for more high-profile exhibitions in the future.
"I don't know. I might do this for a while. Let's check this stuff out," Tyson told ESPN's Peter Rosenberg. "It would be so awesome if we could do this all around the world and fight the best fighter in that country, exhibitions with this guy in that country, exhibitions all over the world. Wouldn't that be great?"
He was the most dominant fighter in the world at his peak, but his last fight came in June 2005, and he hasn't recorded a victory since knocking out Clifford Etienne in February 2003.
Jones was in the ring as recently as February 2018, when he scored a victory over Scott Sigmon by unanimous decision.
That's the former four-division champion's biggest advantage heading into the bout. From a preparation standpoint, it should have been much easier for him to get back toward true form. He's also three years younger than Iron Mike.
Tyson has felt like the more motivated fighter during the buildup and has worked his way into terrific shape for his return to the boxing spotlight.
It may not result in a crushing knockout like he often delivered throughout the 1980s and 1990s, but it should be enough to outpoint Jones on Saturday night.
Prediction: Tyson by decision
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Rockets' Russell Westbrook Hands Out Thanksgiving Food to LA Families in Need
Nov 20, 2020
Former UCLA basketball player and current player for the Oklahoma Thunder Russell Westbrook speaks to the crowd after being honored with a basketball court named after him following the first half of an NCAA college basketball game between UCLA and Arizona, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
"Yesterday my friends, family & I were in LA handing out Thanksgiving meals to those in need," he tweeted. "Things are challenging right now & people are struggling. This is why it is more important than ever for me to support my community any way I can while keeping everyone safe."
Yesterday my friends, family & I were in LA handing out Thanksgiving meals to those in need. Things are challenging right now & people are struggling. This is why it is more important than ever for me to support my community any way I can while keeping everyone safe. #whynotpic.twitter.com/38FhmL1rSm
The 32-year-old grew up in Hawthorne, California, and played collegiately at UCLA, and the area is clearly still important to him given this gesture.
Joshua Espinoza of Complex noted last year was the eighth annual Thanksgiving dinner that Westbrook's Why Not? Foundation hosted. It provided food to hundreds of people.
On the court, it remains to be seen where Westbrook will play during the upcoming season. Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported the "Rockets feel no pressure to trade James Harden or Russell Westbrook, regardless of the superstars' strong desire for fresh starts with different franchises."
Vanessa Bryant Sues LA County Sheriff over Leaked Photos of Kobe Bryant Crash
Sep 22, 2020
Kobe Bryant, right, and Vanessa Laine Bryant arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Vanessa Bryant is suing Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and his office over multiple deputies taking photos of Bryant's late husband and child, Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant, after they died in a helicopter crash in January.
According to TMZ Sports, the lawsuit alleges that "no fewer than eight sheriff's deputies at the crash site, pulled out their personal cell phones and snapped photos of the dead children, parents and coaches. The deputies took these photos for their own personal gratification."
Richard Winton of the Los Angeles Times noted Villanueva admitted in March that eight deputies took or shared photos.
Kobe, Gianna and seven others died when the helicopter they were traveling in crashed in Calabasas, California, en route to Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California.
A male deputy allegedly showed the photos to a woman at a bar, and a bartender then called the sheriff's department to inform it of the situation.
Vanessa Bryant alleges that Villanueva attempted to cover up the fact that the photos were taken by telling the deputies they would not be punished if they deleted the photos. She says in the lawsuit that she and other family members of those who died in the crash were not informed of the photos by Villanueva and only found out about them when the bartender's story went public.
The lawsuit states: "Ms. Bryant feels ill at the thought of strangers gawking at images of her deceased husband and child, and she lives in fear that she or her children will one day confront horrific images of their loved ones online."
At the time of their death, Kobe was 41 years of age and Gianna was 13. Kobe is best remembered for his historic basketball career, as he spent all 20 of his NBA seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and won five championships in the process.
Gianna was a rising basketball star in her own right with aspirations to play basketball at a major college and in the WNBA.
As part of the lawsuit, Vanessa Bryant is seeking punitive damages and other unspecified damages.
NFL Monitoring Air Quality in Inglewood Ahead of Rams vs. Cowboys Opener
Sep 12, 2020
En foto del 4 de septiembre del 2020 el campo de juego del estadio SoFi en Los Ángeles. Cuenta con una pantalla al centro única, doble vista y que cuelga del centro. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
The Los Angeles Rams and NFL officials are reportedly monitoring air conditions around SoFi Stadium to determine whether Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys can go ahead as scheduled.
Steve Wyche of the NFL Network reported Northern California wildfires have created air-quality concerns throughout the state, but "projections are positive" about the game being played with kickoff staying at 8:20 p.m. ET (5:20 p.m. local time) for NBC's Sunday Night Football broadcast.
The game's status could come into question if the Air Quality Index reaches 200 or above, which would be considered unhealthy, per Wyche. If that happens, the league will decide between changing the start time, relocating the game or moving it back to later in the week.
L.A. and Dallas have different bye weeks, so trying to reschedule the game outside of Week 1 would be difficult.
CNN'sJason Hanna and Christina Maxourisreported wildfires on the West Coast have caused at least 26 deaths, including 19 in California, and led to widespread evacuations in the affected areas.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said Friday he was hopeful the contest would be played on time.
"We did check that out and things are looking good," McVaytold reporters. "So, we'll be in good shape. That shouldn't be an issue for us."
The clash between the Rams and Cowboys is one of the most anticipated matchups on the Week 1 schedule, and it could play a role in the NFC playoff race at season's end.
No timetable was provided for a final decision about the game's fate.
HBO 'Hard Knocks' 2020: Best Rams, Chargers Storylines, Reaction for Episode 3
Aug 25, 2020
The Rams hold their first practice at their new stadium, SoFi Stadium Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
The third episode of HBO's Hard Knocks is often when the narrative shifts to preseason games as players on the roster bubble have an opportunity to make a statement during live action.
Not so much this year.
With preseason games canceled, Tuesday's episode of Hard Knocks: Los Angeles highlighting the Chargers and Rams focused on the first week of practice with pads. That first week arrived later than usual in 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, but viewers were treated to montages of actual hits and the sounds of football right around the corner.
Padded practices meant Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen and cornerback Chris Harris Jr. got to go against each other again, like they so often did when the latter was on the Denver Broncos.
"Being able to put that work in together is just going to make us better," Harris said after their practice battles.
It was a shift away from the reminders of the new normal of safety protocols, testing procedures, Zoom meetings and stricter rules in place during the pandemic that dominated the first two episodes.
So was the introduction to SoFi Stadium for the Rams.
The entire team, including quarterback Jared Goff, defensive tackle Aaron Donald and head coach Sean McVay, was blown away by the sheer size of the stadium as they took the field for their first scrimmage. If that scrimmage was any indication, Donald is going to rack up plenty of sacks this season.
Rookie linebacker Clay Johnston is no Donald, but he was fired up for a chance to play in the stadium and had quite the notable name to turn to when looking for advice.
Johnston's father, Kent, was a strength coach for the Green Bay Packers for seven years and was the best man at Brett Favre's wedding. The Gunslinger made a surprise appearance during a virtual visit with Johnston to put the rookie's mind at ease as he competes for a job.
While Johnston is competing for a roster spot on the Rams, defensive end Melvin Ingram has been more of a vocal leader for the Chargers.
Tuesday's episode explained the three-time Pro Bowler wasn't taking reps until he received a new contract. Even though he wasn't practicing, Ingram was still on the field as a veteran leader giving advice to his teammates whenever he wasn't making music in the studio.
Long before setting the (since-broken) NBA record for career three-pointers with the Indiana Pacers, Reggie Miller honed his shooting stroke as a high schooler in the greater Los Angeles area...
Peyton Watson's Crash Course in Stardom
Jun 11, 2020
The day LeBron James enrolled his son, Bronny, at Sierra Canyon, the high school basketball team became the most famous on the planet. The elite private school's 42-acre campus in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley sits right next to Iverson Movie Ranch, where The Lone Ranger, Bonanza and countless other Westerns were filmed. Mater Dei, the other prep school powerhouse in the area, is just 20 minutes from an idyllic stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway, which cuts through the part of Newport Beach seen on The O.C.
To the outside world, those schools make sense here. They fit the vision of Los Angeles—the one projected onto a million big and little screens—that's infiltrated the collective imagination. This is the mansion-in-the-hills L.A. The bronzed-bodies-on-the-beach L.A. The gluten-free-influencer L.A. This is a city built on illusions, so perhaps it's only fair that people fall for the magic trick. And there is some truth to it. It's just not all it is. L.A. isn't a single thing. It's 10 million people; it's 4,000 square miles. It contains multitudes.
So while Sierra Canyon can boast of having six assistant coaches, 15 games on ESPN and a $7 million arena, and Mater Dei of more than 1,100 wins and 11 state titles in the past 39 years, it's also true that the best high school basketball player in California goes to school right between them.
Follow that coastal highway, which runs along the water from Malibu to Laguna Beach, and it veers inland as it cuts through Long Beach. By the time it passes Long Beach Polytechnic, the PCH is just a six-lane city boulevard. There isn't a rumor of the famous Southern California coastline, save for an occasional palm tree tucked between a McDonald's, two motor inns and a muffler shop.
But right by that deceptively named stretch of road, a 6'8" 17-year-old has made himself into the brightest star in L.A.'s 2021 class. And for a cadre of L.A. sports legends, the fact that the talented teenager has stayed at his local public school means something. They've become the village that's raising the city's rising generation of hoopers. And they're all convinced the next one up is Peyton Watson.
The gym at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, California, went abuzz as Kevin Durant—in a red beanie and a baggy gray sweatshirt—took a seat courtside. He'd arrived right after the tip of January's Real Run Winter Classic's main attraction: Arizona State-bound Josh Christopher's Mayfair versus Watson's Long Beach Poly.
A 215-pound senior, Christopher looked at ease with all eyes on him; the lanky Watson's poker face was harder to read. "Just seeing [Durant] at the game, bro, I was in awe," Watson says. "I was like, 'What, bro? This can't be real.' It gave me butterflies; I'm not even gonna lie."
Christopher was the gem of L.A.'s public school league—Quavo and Ja Morant had already come to see him play, and a Sports Illustrated feature would drop on Christopher later that month. He and his running mate, 5-star point guard Dior Johnson (who has since transferred to Oak Hill Academy), could score at will, but Watson and his younger brother, Christian, babyfaced and just 6'0", weren't far behind.
Though Poly eventually lost in overtime, Peyton had proved to be his older rival's equal, offsetting Christopher's 32-point effort with 30 of his own. A few days after the game, Watson gained 1,000 new followers on his Instagram. By the time the season ended, the forward was 247Sports' top-ranked junior in the state.
BR Video
That Christopher got offers from top schools such as Arizona State, Michigan and UCLA was more proof to Watson that he could realize his dreams while sticking at his local school. Sure, he wouldn't have as many eyes on him as Bronny James (Watson has 5.19 million fewer Instagram followers). And he wouldn't have the space he would while playing with a team full of 5-star recruits. But he also knows the box-and-ones and the traps he regularly faces are as much a boon as a burden.
Watson recalls a game last season in which a team wasn't double-teaming him: "They were whole-teaming me." He's getting a crash course in what it means to be the man. "I wanna show people that you don't have to go the route of going to a prep school," Watson says. "My goal, first and foremost, is to win. But also, I'd love to prove that I'm the greatest player to ever go to Poly."
On an overcast day at the end of the strangest April in memory, I park right next to Discovery Well Park, atop Signal Hill, near the GPS pin Watson's uncle, Brantley, dropped for me. Brantley's standing near the entrance of the park, leaning against a railing right at the crest of a steep grade. His nephews, who I'm here to meet, are nowhere in sight.
"I have them running this hill every other day," Brantley says. "Lunges, sprints, jumps."
Peyton's and Christian's heads come into view. The now-6'3" Christian is pushing to keep up with his brother—half a foot taller and ever so slightly more filled out—who's a couple of steps ahead.
"I gave them a few days off because it was so hot out. Now, they're out of shape," Brantley says, laughing. Then he shouts down at the brothers. "Come on! Gotta get those legs strong."
When they reach us, both brothers collapse against the railing. Peyton smiles and thanks me for driving down to meet him. Christian remains quiet, a bit skeptical. He's 15, a sophomore, 18 months younger than his brother, and he's not yet used to cameras in his face. His brother is the one who's gotten the headlines, who has the 10,200 Instagram followers, who the D-I coaches are at practice to recruit.
Damien Massey, a trainer who works with the Watson brothers, pulls up, and we head a few blocks west to Hill Street. He tosses Christian and Peyton each a basketball, and they start dribbling up the hill. Two dribbles right, between the legs, two dribbles left. Next, it's the same thing, but behind the back. Then, hesitations.
At the top of the hill, Peyton crouches over the basketball and hikes it to Christian. He runs a skinny post, and Christian hits him in stride. "You can tell they've been watching LeBron," Massey says, shaking his head.
The brothers are winded, but they still owe Massey a minute of jumping rope. Behind them, even in the fog, we can see most of Long Beach: the high school, the office buildings downtown and the smoke rising from the giant working port.
Massey points to a football field in the distance. For years, it had been a run-down dirt park dubbed the Dust Bowl. "Willie McGinest helped get that field renovated," he says. "Now, we run bleachers there at least once a week."
After games last year, McGinest, who was a two-sport star at Long Beach Poly before winning three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, started pulling Peyton aside for "Willie Talks"—five-minute check-ins about mindset, mistakes and handling all the attention. As you'd expect, even in the crowded gyms, no one interrupted the 6'5", 265-pound former linebacker, and he never minced words. "He's not thin-skinned," McGinest says of Peyton. "He's at Poly; coaches and players don't hold back. It's always been real raw when it comes to sports and developing: telling the players what they need to hear and not what they want to hear."
Peyton Watson and his younger brother, Christian, dribbling in Signal Hill, where the brothers work out every other day.
"Willie's hilarious," Peyton says. "He keeps it real. He's like another father figure in my life. He's somebody I look up to."
McGinest tells me his daughter got him hooked on the show All-American and how he'd just finished an episode in which a character spoke about the need to keep the resources—in this case, talented young athletes—in the neighborhood. The parallel to Watson is clear.
"I commend his parents and Peyton for wanting to add to the richness of our tradition at Poly and keeping the resources right here—he is the resource," McGinest says. "Keep it rich and let everybody else figure it out. Because they can go buy whatever they need. We don't buy our athletes, and we don't bribe them with all the fancy trinkets. We just put them out, develop and love on them, and as a community, we raise them. And the output is what you've seen over the last five decades."
The list of athletic alumni is legendary. Poly has produced baseball stars Tony Gwynn and Chase Utley, as well as tennis legend Billie Jean King. But it's always been a football school first. McGinest, DeSean Jackson, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marcedes Lewis and many other NFL players all have walked the school's hallways. The basketball output is less prolific, highlighted by current Grizzlies big man Jordan Bell. But Watson hopes to change that.
More than any of the other major sports, high school basketball stars are actively recruited to private prep schools around the country. Sierra Canyon's two best players—BJ Boston and Ziaire Williams—transferred in the July before their senior years. Peyton's father, Ju, says they got offers from a few private schools around L.A. (and this year heard from Napa, California's Prolific Prep and Phoenix's Hillcrest Prep, both top-five programs in their respective states, per MaxPreps), but they never took them too seriously. "It's cool to go to Mater Dei, and it's cool to go to Sierra Canyon, but I always thought high school was about 'our neighborhood is better than your neighborhood,'" Ju says.
"What I was proud of," McGinest says, "was I went to a public school and we didn't have to do all that and we still kicked everybody's ass."
The Watson home sits on a quiet, tree-lined street in Long Beach's Bixby Knolls neighborhood. It's a block of attorneys and doctors and kids who go to private schools. That meant Peyton was an outlier—not just on the court but also in his neighborhood growing up, and then, eventually, on his high school team because of where he was from. "All of our neighbors that he grew up with don't look like him," Ju says. "Poly changed him."
On his own among the 4,000-plus student body, Peyton used basketball as a lifeline.
The coaches didn't know Watson, who'd played on club teams outside Long Beach, but he impressed enough at tryouts to become the first freshman in four years to make varsity. That didn't mean he was going to get treated as a savior; if anything, it made him a target for his teammates.
Watson was like a little brother to the juniors and seniors around campus, but in the gym, they'd test him. "I didn't ask for anyone's help," Watson says. "I didn't come to my parents and complain. I didn't go to the coach and complain. I just took it all. It honestly built this toughness inside of me and this dog inside of me that no one can take from me."
Ju remembers his son coming home one day with a red welt on his sternum. The coach had put Peyton on senior captain Darryl Polk Jr., who now plays at Pepperdine; every chance the upperclassman got, he'd back the skinny freshman down with a shoulder to the chest. "Obviously, they thought he had a lot of potential, but them guys down there weren't treating him like he had a lot of potential. They were treating him like he was shit," Ju says. "We're so fortunate that he had a chance to go through that. A lot of kids of his caliber, nobody ever tells them they suck."
Before one of Watson's games that freshman season, Dart Stamps, long a coach of legendary AAU teams in L.A., walked into the gym and noticed that lanky kid slapping hands and fully engaged during layup lines. He walked over and asked Poly coach Shelton Diggs about the player he thought was an upperclassman: "I said, 'What grade is this kid in?' And he said, 'A ninth grader.' And I said: 'No way! No way.'"
Watson was the first freshman in years to make the Long Beach Poly varsity roster and was forced quickly to adapt to the physicality of his older, and bigger, teammates.
Stamps, who had stepped away from AAU for a few years to train NBA players, was just getting back into the circuit and knew that Watson would be his point guard. Right away, Stamps told Ju his son was going to be a star: "I was like: 'I know players. I've been doing it for 30 years, and this is a player right here!'"
Stamps' faith let Watson believe he could be special on the court. He'd ridden the bench his freshman year, but now a guy who'd coached Baron Davis, Paul Pierce and so many L.A. stars was putting the ball in his hands. "He really instilled that killer in me," Watson says, remembering a three-on-three drill in which Stamps would stack the deck against him. "He's like, 'If you're really like that, if you're really bad, Peyton, you should be able to score five straight times.'"
Stamps and Watson both start laughing about a scrimmage early in that AAU season. "I would initiate the offense, and we'd run the play [he called] almost every time," Watson says. "But this time I'm thinking, 'All right, I gotta get in my bag. I gotta do a little something.' And as soon as I go to start, he saw it in my eyes, and he's like: 'Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.'"
"He started going one-on-one, so I grabbed the ball out of his hand, right?" Stamps says. "And then he looked at me like I was crazy. He looked at me like, 'What the hell are you doing?'"
The next time down, Watson blew by his defender, saw that there was no help in the lane and took off. It was his first-ever in-game dunk. "He was mad, so he came and dunked on the whole team as a ninth grader," Stamps says. "I just said: 'OK. I'm done. I don't have nothing to say.'"
Watson returned to Poly as a sophomore after averaging 25 points per game on Stamps' team. He wasn't buried on the bench, but he still wasn't starting. And though, as Poly's sixth man, he played a lot, Watson was annoyed. For the first time, he started weighing the possibility of a transfer. There were private school programs that were interested. If he played someplace else, he'd get all the minutes and all the shots. He could be the star.
"The philosophy at Poly is that nothing is given," Watson says. "Transferring was a thought, most definitely, but at the end of the day, going somewhere where everything is just gonna be handed to you isn't always the best situation."
By the end of that second season, Watson was starting to bloom. He was also starting to grow. That spring, when he showed up on his new AAU team—the Nike EYBL squad The Truth—he was 6'5".
Watson was one of the last players added to a roster meant to be headlined by USC-bound shooting guard Reese Dixon-Waters, one of the top guards in the state. But in their first game, it was Watson who put up 27 points. By the end of the summer, Peyton climbed the national rankings and was brought up to play with the older kids on the U17 team.
By the time his junior season tipped off, Watson had grown another two inches. "And I'm not done growing," Watson says, grinning. "I'm a legitimate 6'8" right now."
"When I seen that he'd grown to 6'8", I said, 'It's over!'" Stamps says. "He's just a basketball player, man. What we call a hooper."
Basketball's taken Eugene "Pooh" Jeter to Ukraine, France, Spain and, for most of the last eight years, China. But he's always been known first and foremost as an L.A. hooper.
As a kid, he played on Stamps' AAU team—his coach connected him with Davis, who became his mentor. "B.D. is the Godfather of L.A. basketball," Jeter says. "Point period. B.D. really took the time to come back in the inner city and make sure that, first of all: 'I'm visible. You can talk to me about whatever.'"
Inspired by Davis' example, Jeter started a camp for the best young players in the city called Hometown Favorites. His dream is to build a network of L.A. basketball mentors for the next generation. "I have Chris Paul, Shai [Gilgeous-]Alexander, DeMar [DeRozan], Russ [Westbrook], BD, Andre Miller, Trevor [Ariza], Josh Childress, Bobby Brown," he says. "Like, it goes on and on."
I love reading stuff like this. Got me out here in China smiling my bro @peytonwatsonnn. And y’all @LBPolyHoop won. Got texts saying you had 41pts 13rebs and 7asts. Geeez!! https://t.co/dfpKlh2J34
In August 2019, Watson showed up at the second Hometown Favorites—the first one he and Christian had been invited to—on a mission. He thought he was the best 16-year-old in L.A. Now was the time to prove it.
Peyton thrived in the drills and scrimmages, but Jeter says it was during a film session that Peyton caught his eye. Devin Williams—a trainer better known by his social media handle @DevintheLab—was showing tape of Kemba Walker ahead of a dribble handoff drill. Fifteen kids watched the projected video when, all of a sudden, in the darkened gym, Peyton spoke up. "'Hey, hey, hey! Bring that back!'" Jeter remembers him saying. He was impressed the teenager was that obsessed with the minutia of guard play. "I looked over and I said: 'Oh, he's different. He's special. He's special.'"
Since the camp, Watson texts with Jeter every day. He also talks with Ariza twice per month. Ariza—a star at the public Westchester High School—was another mentee of Davis'. If Jeter's the ringleader and McGinest is the stern uncle, Ariza is that chill brother you always emulated. He says Watson is like a sponge for advice.
"I view Peyton like a baby brother," Ariza says, laughing. "Or, like a baby, baby brother. I'll let him know when he's out of line or not doing something appropriate, but I'm gonna let him be his own man too. You can't stand on the kid and not let him be free."
He wants to be to Peyton what Davis was to him: a trusted voice. He's already given him one of Davis' most impactful hand-me-down lessons: Don't get distracted from your work now, because you can have everything you've ever dreamed of once you make the league.
Ariza remembers his first time squaring off with Davis in the NBA: "It was like: 'OK, he's gonna hit me? I'm gonna have to hit him back. He's gonna talk shit to me? I'm gonna have to talk shit back to him. It was funny, because it was just like playing one-on-one against your big brother."
The hoop is set up on a brick driveway, between a manicured hedge and a lemon tree, in front of the Watsons' garage door. It's on an incline, which means the rim sits at different heights from different distances. Still, as Ju and Massey run the brothers through their drills, they hit nearly every shot.
When the drills are finally over, Peyton gets in his defensive stance. Christian sizes him up, dribbles right and misses a jumper. Peyton clears the board. He hits from mid-range, takes the ball up top and then puts his shoulder down and finger-rolls it in.
"Is that 2-0, Chris?" Massey laughs.
Peyton nods, checking the ball to Christian: "It's about to be 3-0."
Christian passes it back a bit too hard. "It's never 3-0."
With organized basketball runs on hiatus amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Watson has been left to refine his game on the hoop in his family's driveway.
Peyton misses a contested jumper, and Christian gets to work. He starts left and then blows by to the right, using his body to shield off his leaping brother's 7'1" wingspan. Now he starts right and then crosses over to stop on a dime. He sells a pump fake. Peyton flies by. He gathers and swishes it from 15 feet. It's 2-2.
Ju and Massey are talking now. Peyton locks in. Christian tries to drive for the win and gets hip-checked. He calls a foul. He's hot. Peyton just grins.
"It's a big-brother thing, man," Peyton says later. "I know what he's gonna look to do when he gets frustrated. And if I can shut his water off, I know I can get in his head."
Christian drives hard to his left again, but Peyton's ready for it, pinning the ball against the backboard. Peyton grabs the board, backs his little brother down to the block and hits a left-handed leaner from 12 feet. Game.
"He's my best friend," Peyton says. "We tell each other everything. But when we start playing, there's a competitiveness that comes out of both of us and we really just don't like each other. He's always trying to aspire to be better than me, and I know I can't allow that."
The brothers play again, and Peyton wins 3-2 for a second time. Christian wants another shot, but Ju calls it. It's getting too heated for his liking.
He and Peyton both tell me that Christian is the best in the city at guarding Peyton. The little brother's seen every single move a thousand times.
The two brothers compete at everything: video games, Uno and, of course, basketball. The Watson parents limited competition to keep their sons from fighting, but they've relaxed the ban on one-on-one given the restrictions around the coronavirus pandemic. Now, every afternoon, the brothers play game after game in their driveway. It's all they have for now.
Before COVID-19, Peyton had big plans for the summer. He was set to head up north for the EYBL to join the Oakland Soldiers—the same team LeBron played for in high school. "To be honest with you, I think if there would've been EYBL, I would've been the No. 1 player in the country by the end of the summer," Peyton says. "That's my goal. That's exactly what I think is gonna happen by the end of my senior year. In those final rankings, I wanna be No. 1."
Instead, he and all the other best high schoolers in the country are stuck at home. The youth-basketball machine—camps, AAU, campus visits, tournaments—has ground to a halt for who knows how long. Jeter sends Peyton and Christian YouTube links to ball-handling drills. He tells them to work on chair shooting and their left hands. "If you can go to some hills, run the hills. Do your sprints," he says. "You can always be in shape."
After Zoom class each morning, Peyton lifts weights, shoots out front and takes a run. He's gotten offers from UCLA, Michigan, Arizona and a handful of other schools, but he hasn't decided yet. He's like every L.A. high schooler—in limbo.
It's eerily quiet when I walk by Long Beach Poly that April afternoon. It's Wednesday at 2 p.m., but the courtyard is empty and the gate is locked. The Poly students are stuck at home, just like the students at Sierra Canyon and the ones at Mater Dei.
Every player has to find their own toolbox with which to build his game. For Peyton, it's Signal Hill and Christian and his collection of mentors. There's no telling when he'll get to lace up his sneakers and play five-on-five again. But he's sure of one thing: When this is all over, he'll be ready.
Joseph Bien-Kahn is based in Los Angeles and has written for the New York Times Magazine, Wired and Playboy. This is his first piece for B/R. He can be reached on Twitter @jbienkahn.
Brown University students Felicia Renulus and Bretram Rogers join David Gardner's How to Survive Without Sports podcast to discuss their school's recent decision to demote 11 varsity sports to the club level, their fight to reverse this decision and this moment of rising student-athlete empowerment.
UCLA Issues Cease and Desist on Jackie Robinson Stadium's Use for 'Field Jail'
Jun 3, 2020
UCLA players take batting practice at Jackie Robinson Stadium before their NCAA college baseball tournament regional game against Maryland in Los Angeles, Monday June 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
UCLA released a statement Wednesday in which it condemned local police using its Jackie Robinson Stadium as a "field jail" to hold those detained during Tuesday's protests regarding police brutality and racial injustice:
We’re troubled by accounts of Jackie Robinson stadium being used as a “field jail.” This was done without UCLA’s knowledge or permission. As lessee of the stadium, we informed local agencies that UCLA will NOT grant permission should there be a request like this in the future.
According to Dennis Romero of NBC News, the Los Angeles Police Department acknowledged the fact that it used Jackie Robinson Stadium for that purpose, but Officer Mike Lopez said they were "no longer" using it.
As of Tuesday morning, the LAPD had arrested more than 2,700 in relation to protests taking place after George Floyd was killed May 25 while in Minneapolis police custody. Officer Derek Chauvin was shown on video pinning Floyd to the ground facedown with his knee across Floyd's back and neck for almost nine minutes, and he refused to release him despite Floyd saying on multiple occasions that he couldn't breathe.
Chauvin was one of four officers responding to an alleged forgery at the scene who were subsequently fired, and he was arrested and charged withthird-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter Friday. None of the other officers present have been charged.
In the wake of Floyd's death, there have been protests against police brutality and racial inequality in major cities across the country. That has also led to looting in some cities, including L.A.
UCLA urban planning professor Ananya Roy drew attention to the fact that people were being held at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Tuesday. In a tweet, Roy said people were arrested for violating curfew, loaded onto L.A. County Sheriff's Department prison buses and brought to UCLA's home baseball stadium.
Per Romero, Jackie Robinson Stadium is leased and occupies federal Veterans Affairs land, so there is some gray area regarding what the city's rights were with regard to using it as a field jail.
The venue has been home to the UCLA men's baseball team since 1981, and it is named after former UCLA great Jackie Robinson.
Robinson went on to break the MLB color barrier in 1947 when he appeared in a game for the Brooklyn Dodgers, making him the first black player in MLB history.
Brandon Boston Is Ready for the Spotlight
May 19, 2020
Sierra Canyon's Brandon Boston Jr. #3 in action against Paul VI during a high school basketball game at the Hoophall Classic, Monday, January 20, 2020, in Springfield, MA. (AP Photo/Gregory Payan)
Brandon Boston feels like the plot of his life could make for a good movie one day.
The 6'7" forward wants to be a filmmaker one day, and he often thinks about ideas for movies and television shows, which he writes down or types up. And there may not be a better place for him to start than his own story: A promising, hard-working player moves with his family from his childhood home in Georgia to Los Angeles, where he emerges from a star-studded roster of celebrity teammates to become a top-10 national prospect only to see his crowning moment—a journey to the California state championship—taken from him by forces beyond his control.
In this case, a global pandemic.
Casting his part wouldn't be hard. He'd tap his little cousin for the role. But he would have to find others to play his teammates at Sierra Canyon.
"They would have to be bulky," he says about who would play teammate Shy Odom. "Shy is a big dude. Bronny, they'd have to be funny, have a lot of energy and always want to play."
It's April, and Boston has been sheltering in place at his house in Los Angeles for the past two months after his senior season ended abruptly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a Zoom virtual meeting, he swivels back and forth in an office chair, wearing a bright blue Kentucky long-sleeve shirt, the kind he might be wearing when he arrives on campus at some point this fall. He's talking about how much he looks up to LeBron James, Bronny's dad, and about the experience of playing last season on a team with a who's who of NBA progeny, from Bronny James to Zaire Wade, top-five-ranked Stanford commit Ziaire Williams and Amari Bailey, who's ranked eighth in the class of 2022.
Sierra Canyon's games were televised on ESPN, and he and his teammates traveled the country (and the world) to play in front of packed arenas. Cameras followed them everywhere.
Brandon Boston had helped lead Sierra Canyon to a 30-4 record and a spot in the California state championship before the coronavirus pandemic ended the season after a stunning win in the regional final.
His mind circles back to the movie of his life and how his last game against Etiwanda High School had felt like a heroic climax. The crowd, the energy, stepped up when the game was on the line.
Down 13 points in the final three minutes, Sierra Canyon clawed its way back any way it could. Bronny was diving on the floor. Odom was snagging rebounds and taking elbows to the face. Bailey was running through the lane and straight to the basket like a freight train.
And then Brandon had his moment.
With 1:29 left, he unleashed a crossover move with a hesitation jab step to get his defender off-balance. Then he pulled up from the three-point line for a game-tying jumper to bring the score to 61-61.
A mid-range jumper from Williams a little more than a minute later secured the comeback victory, along with a place in Brandon's memory. In the locker room afterward, he watched his teammates celebrate and cry tears of relief and joy. It's a moment he wishes he could relive.
"We practiced all year for a game like that, and to come out with wins like that, I was speechless," he said. "I couldn't believe that happened.
"I play to win, play to put on a show," he said later. "I want fans to know that I was the best player when they leave the building."
In big-time moments, Boston says something comes over him, a feeling.
Every hooper has his or her own antics, whether it's Steph Curry's three-finger gesture when he nails a three or Lance Stephenson's dance moves.
Boston has his, too.
And after falling to the ground following his game-tying three versus Etiwanda, Boston stayed on the floor and celebrated by extending his right arm out while keeping his left elbow bent inward. Placing his fingers on imaginary strings, he began strumming his own electric guitar.
With the game on the line, Boston looked like a rock star in the making.
It was Brandon Sr. who put the ball in his son's hands when BJ, as most know him, was only three years old. Some days, early in the morning, he'd take his young son to their local YMCA, or outside to go shoot around in their front driveway. He would have him run through dribbling drills in the basement, where Brandon Sr. would make BJ wear anti-grip gloves to control the ball. He'd show him figure eights, looping the ball around and through each of his small legs.
BJ grew up in Atlanta, specifically the north side (or Nawf, for those familiar with Migos lexicon), in an upwardly mobile neighborhood. Brandon Sr., who is originally from Pittsburgh, came from a tough upbringing and wanted more for his son. When he noticed BJ's attraction to basketball, he dedicated himself to helping his son develop his game. Midway through BJ's freshman year at Norcross High School in Georgia, he took BJ to his first workout with Chuck and Michael Pack, twin brothers who run Double Trouble Training and have been working with BJ for the past four years.
It was on a Saturday at a local Lifetime Fitness gym in Atlanta. Chuck remembers meeting Brandon Sr. and liking his vibe right away, how he radiated energy. Meanwhile, BJ, who was an unranked prospect his freshman year, was on the shy side and a little quiet at first. Chuck had heard his name around the ATL, but he wasn't a top-notch player yet.
"I knew who he was a little bit; he definitely wasn't a high-profile player by any means at the time," Chuck said in a phone interview.
To get a feel for him and see where he was at athletically, Chuck tested his strengths and weaknesses during the workout. They ran through ball-handling drills, wearing the same grip gloves Brandon Sr. made BJ wear as a kid, as well as full-court transition layups and shooting. Chuck saw a lanky kid, still growing into his size. He couldn't even dunk at the time.
But what stood out to Chuck was how BJ came to their next workouts having retained what he was learning. He paid attention, focused on the feedback and applied it quickly. By their fifth workout, Chuck wanted to see what kind of player BJ wanted to be.
"Yo, what's your goals or whatever?" Chuck asked him during warm-ups. What he heard back was that BJ wanted to be more, a lot more.
"He said he wanted to be McDonald's All-American," Chuck recalled. "He had three years left at Norcross, so he wanted to win three state championships, and to definitely be the NBA's top player. ... He told me by 25-26, he should be the best player in the world."
So they all pushed him, both his father and his trainers. Sometimes to the point where he'd cry, or refuse to work out at all. It wasn't a sign of defeat, but a frustration with the process, with understanding that potential takes time to develop. But the workouts began to pay off, and by his sophomore year, ESPN ranked him No. 15 overall and the No. 6 shooting guard in the country.
As the attention grew, his trainers felt that humbling him was just as important within his training.
"He got so much praise from everyone else, so my brother and I, we never told him 'good job,'" Chuck admitted. "If he had 35 points or something, we would say, 'Bro, you had two turnovers, you missed this rebound, you missed this from the passing lane.' He understood it came from a good spot."
Brandon Sr. kept him just as accountable, not allowing his son to go to work out if his room wasn't clean or his homework wasn't done. Brandon Sr. declined to be interviewed for this story because he wanted his son to speak for himself.
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"His dad came from a more tough area," Chuck said. "I think through that, his dad just tried to put BJ in the best situation to learn and have a good life. I think he set him on the right track and just pushed him.
"Some people are like, 'Let me talk to B,' but BJ always says, 'Go talk to my dad. My dad will handle it.' His dad oversees everything, makes sure no one is out to hurt him or do anything bad. ... I hope one day when I have a son, I'm something like that."
His mother, Alissa, also played a big role in BJ's development. She greeted him with breakfast and a smile when he'd return home from a workout at 7 a.m. BJ grew to appreciate her energy, how she supported him when he was unranked and felt like everyone was doubting him. When he was 16, he convinced a local tattoo artist to give him his first ink. BJ chose his mom's favorite bible scripture, Jeremiah 29:11.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"
In time, Chuck started to see a turning point in BJ's maturity and how he conducted himself around other people. He was always laughing and joking around, and as he became more notable, he didn't shy away from the attention.
During one of their workouts, a group of people playing on the other end of the court noticed him. Rather than ignore them or brush them off, BJ stopped the workout to talk to them.
"They all just came over, 'Oh my God, that's BJ!'" Chuck said. "He could have been, like, 'No, I'm not taking a picture,' but he just stopped and talked to them. That probably made their day. BJ is really people-oriented. People love being around him."
It was BJ's energy that caught the eye of Kentucky head coach John Calipari.
"When I'm watching young people play, I'm watching how they impact the game in a positive way, their body language, their spirit about them on the court," Calipari said in a phone interview. "How they dominate the game before three or four minutes of a game, I'm watching. I want to know if they can dominate well. BJ, he ends up being able to dominate both defensively, blocking shots, making plays, and then he can dominate the game offensively, too."
Boston's maturity, along with his floor-stretching range, earned him an offer from Kentucky's John Calipari before he began classes at Sierra Canyon for his senior year.
By his junior year at Norcross, BJ had established himself as a top-10 prospect with offers from almost every premier program in the country, including Duke, Kansas and Ohio State. But BJ wanted a program that would keep it real with him and his family. That's what he got from the Kentucky coaching staff when he visited in July.
"They told me ... what I was going to expect when I come to the campus," BJ said. "Just come in, be prepared for Coach Cal to be yelling and for me every day in practice, be prepared to work hard."
Calipari was intrigued with how BJ carried himself during his visit, a maturity that he felt was a reflection of his upbringing. He laughed with Brandon Sr. about their Pittsburgh connection, how the city has a certain way about it, the "ins and downtowns and the crick."
"I think [BJ] wanted what we're about," Calipari said. "He didn't need anything handed to him. He didn't need to be promised, to say, 'You're going to take this many shots, and here's everything we're going to do.' ... I don't think he wanted that. I think that's [why], at the end of the day, everybody wanted him."
BJ committed to Kentucky on the spot.
"I want him to teach me how to be a pro," he said. "What things I need to do and what I need to get there."
BJ soon decided his first steps couldn't wait for Lexington. For his senior season, he hatched a plan to leave Norcross and head to McEachern High School, a public school about 35 miles west in Powder Springs, Georgia, to team up with Auburn commit Sharife Cooper.
"Sharife, that's my brother," Boston said. "It would have been crazy."
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The two had joined forces on the AAU circuit the prior summer, playing on the AOT Running Rebels. Together, they were an eyebrow-raising offensive threat, dishing lobs and no-look passes to each other so in sync, it was as though they were always on the same wavelength. Boston saw them selling out gyms at every game.
"I was gonna go there at first, honestly. But I don't think that would have benefited my whole family."
During a visit to Los Angeles with his father, BJ checked out Sierra Canyon, a private school in the nearby suburb of Chatsworth. He immediately liked the outdoorsy vibe of the campus, but he also felt the school would benefit his sister, Brandi.
He knew she looked up to him and that a private school like Sierra Canyon could have her around successful people who knew not only what they wanted to do, but how to get there. Visions of past alumni were hard to ignore, names like Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Willow Smith, Ireland Baldwin—all celebrities with brands, platforms and their own businesses.
"I really came for my family," he said. "Growing up with the kids that go to Sierra Canyon, it's just a different environment and better schooling. I think it was good for them to come out here."
BJ also would get the benefit of added exposure while growing accustomed to the larger arenas he will experience at the next level and playing alongside other stars.
The next year, he and his entire family moved with him to Los Angeles, a change that the family appears to have embraced. His sister, as BJ hoped, has made new friends and adopted new hobbies, like volleyball and dance. And BJ has gotten used to the West Coast vibe.
"It reminds me of High School Musical," he said about the school. "It's just like a movie 'cause it's different than where I came from."
Before the season started, BJ found himself on a 23-hour flight to China with his newest teammates. They went to five different cities, tried new types of cuisine and visited outdoor hot tubs and huge malls. BJ didn't speak Mandarin, so at times, it felt like all he had were his new teammates to talk to.
BJ and his sister, Brandi, from early in his high school career at Norcross.
They brought that connection to the court. BJ found himself becoming a vocal leader and holding his younger teammates accountable. They came to take practice as though it was a game.
"We're all competitive," Boston said. "We all want to win, we all talk trash and we're all pretty good. ... Playing with those good guys, I feel like competing every day in practice made me a better player, made me want to work hard and play with other good players.
While Boston admits he misses home at times—his friends, the food, the NAWFside vibes—he also recognized that Sierra Canyon was putting him in a position to deal with a new circumstance and make the best of it.
"Coming in here, I really got my mental health strong," Boston said. "[That's] a big part on the court. You gotta, like, stay in control and keep your emotions controlled. ... I think I handled it really well. I'm used to cameras being in your face. But here, they came all at once. Everybody was at every game, every game was sold out. It was crazy."
That mindset will help him deal with the incoming attention—and doubts—that are set to come his way at Kentucky. The Wildcats' entire starting five declared for the 2020 NBA draft, leaving Kentucky's incoming recruiting class with a sizable vacuum to fill.
"That class is a really strong class," Calipari said of a group that also includes top-60 prospects Terrence Clarke, Devin Askew, Isaiah Jackson and Cam'Ron Fletcher, who together comprise what is considered the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, per 247Sports. "We may not be the best team early, but if these kids come together, we have the talent, the length and the experience in some of the older kids [that] by the end of the year, this will be one of those teams."
Boston is confident his class can handle the quick transition.
"I feel like we're gonna shock a whole lot of people," Boston said. "A lot of people don't think we can do it, but I think we're going to shock a lot of people by winning games. I feel like the talent--our talent--is unmatched. And we all get along well, so I think we're going to jell ... when we get out there."
He can see himself bonding with his incoming teammates, just like he did at Sierra Canyon.
"I really think it's going to be like how this year was, times five," he said about the bonds he hopes to form with his new teammates at UK. "We're going to have a lot of fun."
Though Boston had gained plenty of attention when he played in Georgia, the crowds his Sierra Canyon team regularly drew offered him a preview of what his games might look like when he plays at Kentucky.
While other top recruits such as Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd have opted to skip out on college and join the G League, Boston is committed to his decision, one he feels is another step in his journey toward what he hopes lies ahead.
"When you talk over a five-year period, he's going to be one of those kids that we talk about," Calipari said.
While Boston thinks that conversation will center around his similarity to New Orleans forward Brandon Ingram ("just because we look alike"), he adds, "I gained a lot from Kevin Durant's game, too, [as well as] Jamal Crawford. I can really handle the ball."
Don't be mistaken: BJ has his own vibe. He's the type to hand himself the auxiliary cord to play music, still rocks skinny jeans and doesn't just think he could beat Durant; he knows he can.
"I could learn some things," he said about the chance to compete against Durant. "But I think I could take him."
That doesn't mean he wants to be the next KD, though.
"[I want] to be the next Brandon Boston, that's all I can ask for," he adds. "A player that's going to get after it, a player that is versatile, can do anything a coach asks me. Becoming the best player on the court."
To get there will be no small feat. He will have to roll with whatever punches the COVID-19 pandemic brings, will have to get to know yet another new team and have to fit into Kentucky's system. But he hasn't shown any sides of faltering or stumbling yet.
This is how a rock star makes it from one curtain call to the next show—from the stage at Sierra Canyon to Rupp Arena at Kentucky.
Deyscha Smith is a sportswriter based in Boston who writes for Boston.com and the Boston Globe. She can be reached via Twitter, @deyschasmith.
Longtime Sports Illustrated writer, author and host of The Dream Team Tapes podcast, Jack McCallum, joins The Full 48 with Howard Beck to discuss the final episodes of “The Last Dance,” Karl Malone, the Bryon Russell push-off, MJ and the Dream Team and more.
