Month: October 2024

New Orleans Pelicans and forward Trey Murphy III agreed to a four-year, $112 million contract extension (per ESPN). The deal includes no incentives and no player option, per sources.

The 24-year-old Murphy was the No. 17 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, averaged a career-high 14.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game over 57 appearances last season. Over his first 198 career appearances, Murphy averaged 11.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

Murphy is set to make $5.1 million this season with his new deal, which runs through the 2028-29 season; however, it is likely he’ll miss the start of the regular season due to a right hamstring strain.

The New Orleans Pelicans will host the Chicago Bulls in their regular season opener at 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday in New Orleans.

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Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday that Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Aidan O’Connell is expected to miss four to six weeks with a broken thumb on his right (throwing) hand, based on preliminary testing. He’s scheduled to undergo further evaluation on Tuesday.

O’Connell left Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams after Las Vegas’ second possession after Rams safety Kamren Curl made contact with O’Connell’s right hand as O’Connell followed through on a pass on third-and-21. O’Connell was in obvious pain as he and the Raiders’ offense left the field, with athletic trainers examining his hand on the sideline before he left for the locker room. The QB was later seen wearing a heavily wrapped splint on the thumb after Sunday’s 20-15 loss. O’Connell said of the timing of the injury: “Super unfortunate. I was really looking forward to today and this opportunity, and so for it to be cut short like that was definitely hard.”

Gardner Minshew replaced O’Connell at QB after his departure, completing 15 of 34 passes for 154 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions in the loss. O’Connell, a second-year veteran, took over from Minshew as the Raiders’ starting quarterback last week in a 32-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was O’Connell’s first start since he started 10 games as a rookie in 2023.

Minshew signed to a two-year free agent contract with $15 million guaranteed, and won the starting job in the preseason. He completed a career-high 70.7% of his passes for 1,014 yards and four touchdowns in five starts.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are advancing to the World Series after defeating the New York Mets with a 10-5 win in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, clinching in six games.  The Dodgers will face the New York Yankees in the World Series.

The Dodgers fell behind 1-0 after the first inning before scoring the game’s next six runs, with two-run home runs in the bottom of the third from Tommy Edman and Will Smith. Shohei Ohtani later hit an RBI single in the sixth, with three more runs scored from LA in the eighth inning. This will be the first World Series appearance for Ohtani, 30, who made history this season as the first person ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases.

The Dodgers will now appear in its fourth World Series since 2017; they lost in back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018, and won in 2020 during the pandemic-shortened season. The Yankees and Dodgers have played against each other in the World Series 11 times previously, but this will mark their first matchup in 43 years (the Yankees have won eight of those 11 previous championships.)

The 2024 World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers begins on Friday, Oct. 25th at 7 p.m. ET at Dodger Stadium.

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Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was carted off the field in the second quarter of Sunday’s game against the Cincinnatti Bengals after suffering what a right Achilles injury.

NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported: “Browns QB Deshaun Watson, who was carted off, is feared to have suffered a torn Achilles injury, sources say. A likely season-ending injury for Watson and unfortunately exactly as it appeared on the field.”

After dropping back to pass on the play in question, Watson abruptly fell forward to his knees and remained hunched over for some time as the Browns’ medical staff attended to him on the field.  A closer look at the play shows that Watson’s leg appeared to hyperextend on the noncontact play as he tried to carry the ball on the first play after the two-minute warning.

The Browns announced after halftime that Watson would not return after suffering an Achilles injury, with Cincinnati leading 7-0 lead at that point.  Dorian Thompson-Robinson entered the game upon Watson’s exit. Prior to leaving the game, Watson completed 15 of 17 passes for 128 yards.

Watson, 29, entered Sunday with just five touchdowns in six games for the Browns (1-5). The quarterback is currently in the third year of a five-year, $230 million fully-guaranteed contract he signed after he was traded from the Houston Texans to the Browns in March 2022, and is due to make $46 million in 2025/2026.

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