🪄 More Murray Magic!

Rise and Shine! The Nuggets and Lakers did it again! And so did Jamal Murray. In another breathtaking finish, Murray handed LeBron’s squad a second heartbreaKing loss at the horn to officially sink the Lakers. And Los Angeles isn’t the only team headed to Cancun, as Oklahoma City overwhelmed New Orleans to complete the sweep. Meanwhile, the Heat got burned by a White-hot Celtic. On the ice, there was no Lightning to OKC’s Thunder, as the Cats clawed through Tampa Bay to bounce the Bolts. Plus, the Stars shined in Vegas to even the series. Finally, two no-hit bids turned into a bodacious walk-off blast in the MLB, and the Cowboys finally found their replacement for Ezekiel Elliott. Let’s eat!

WTF Stat: The Suns have zero first-round draft picks between now and 2030 and just two total picks in that same span (a 2024 second-rounder and a 2028 second-rounder) - Phoenix owes its Big 3 of Kevin Durant (35), Bradley Beal (30), and Devin Booker (27) a combined $151 million next season.

🏈 Chiefs and TE Travis Kelce agreed to a 2-year, $34M extension through the 2025 season, with $17M fully guaranteed in 2024, making him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL - Kelce, 34, has been selected to nine straight Pro Bowls and is fresh off his third Super Bowl title with Kansas City

🏈 Patriots and DT Christian Barmore agreed to a 4-year, $92M extension through the 2028 season, with $42M guaranteed - Barmore has started 44 games for New England after being selected No. 38 overall in the 2021 draft and recorded a career-high 8.5 sacks last season

🏈 Cowboys are reuniting with RB Ezekiel Elliott as the two sides agreed to a 1-year, $3M deal - Elliott, 28, was the Cowboys leading rusher for six straight seasons from 2016 to 2021 before leaving Dallas for New England last offseason

🏀 Timberwolves HC Chris Finch ruptured the patellar tendon in his right leg while colliding with G Mike Conley during Minnesota’s series-clinching win against the Suns on Sunday - Finch’s availability to coach Game 1 of the second round is unknown

⚾️ Nike is expected to upgrade several elements of their new MLB uniforms by the start of the 2025 season after changes this spring led to widespread malfunctions and complaints from players and fans - the modifications include a return to larger lettering on the back of the jerseys

NBA Playoffs - First Round

• West, Game 5 | #2 Denver Nuggets 108, #7 Los Angeles Lakers 106 (DEN Wins series 4-1): Jamal Murray almost didn’t play last night. Instead, he played the hero. In another instant classic featuring a frantic 4th quarter, Nikola Jokic (25 PTS, 20 REB, 9 AST) and the Nuggets expunged a 53-50 halftime deficit with a swift 3rd-quarter swing while Anthony Davis (17 PTS, 8-11 FG, 15 REB) nursed a shoulder injury on the bench, but Davis returned for the final frame, and LeBron James (30 PTS, 9 REB, 11 AST, 4 STL) kept Los Angeles alive with some massive buckets down the stretch, including a pair of game-tying free throws with 26 seconds to play; however, reminiscent to Game 2, Jamal Murray (32 PTS, 5-10 3PT, 7 AST) said goodnight, and knocked down a tough game-winning runner with 3.6 seconds left to end the Lakers season, putting the final exclamation point on a sensational series between two heavyweights - Los Angeles led at halftime in all five games of the series, and Denver will face No. 3 Minnesota in a mouthwatering second-round matchup

• East, Game 4 | #1 Boston Celtics 102, #8 Miami Heat 88 (BOS leads series 3-1): Derrick White (38 PTS, 8-15 3PT, 3 AST) banged eight triples on his way to a career-high 38 points, Jayson Tatum (20 PTS, 5-15 FG, 11 REB, 5 AST) was still effective despite an off-shooting night, and although the C’s lost Kristaps Porzingis (14 MIN, 7 PTS) to a non-contact calf injury in the 2nd quarter, Boston jumped out to a 53-36 lead at the break and didn’t look back to rout Bam Adebayo (25 PTS, 17 REB) and the Heat for the second game in a row, putting them one win away from the gentleman’s sweep - Adebayo received a flagrant-1 with 5:04 left after contesting a Tatum three during a dead ball which caused Tatum to roll his ankle, but he was luckily okay

• West, Game 4 | #1 Oklahoma City Thunder 97, #8 New Orleans Pelicans 89 (OKC Wins series 4-0): Break out the brooms! After three quarters of back-and-forth ball, CJ McCollum (20 PTS, 9-16 FG, 6 REB) and the Zion-less Pels took an 80-75 lead with 8:50 remaining but scored just two points over the next five minutes, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (24 PTS, 10 REB, 3 AST) and Jalen Williams (24 PTS, 8 REB, 4 AST) sparked a late OKC run to complete the sweep on the road, as the top-seeded Thunder handled business for their first playoff series win since 2016 - the “Dorture Chamber,” Lu Dort (11 PTS, 8 REB, 2 STL) locked down Brandon Ingram (8 PTS, 2-14 FG, 6 AST) again, and Ingram finished the series averaging 14.3 points per game on 34.5% shooting

See the full box scores here.

Tonight’s Schedule - First Round (East, Game 5s)

• #7 Philadelphia 76ers @ #2 New York Knicks 7:00pm ET, TNT - (NYK lead series 3-1)

• #5 Orlando Magic @ #4 Cleveland Cavaliers 8:00pm ET, NBA TV - (Series tied 2-2)

• #6 Indiana Pacers @ #3 Milwaukee Bucks 9:30pm ET, TNT - (IND leads series 3-1)

See the entire NBA playoffs bracket here.

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs - First Round

• East, Game 5 | Florida Panthers 6, Tampa Bay Lightning 1 (FLA Wins series 4-1): Victor Hedman (1 G) and the Bolts only trailed 2-1 after two periods, but Aleksander Barkov (2 G, 1 A), Carter Verhaeghe (2 G, 1 A), and the Cats rattled off four unanswered goals in the final frame, and Sergei Bobrovsky (31 SV) was outstanding between the pipes to close out the series in Sunrise, as the 2023 Eastern Conference champs coasted to the second round where they will face the winner of Boston and Toronto

• West, Game 4 | Dallas Stars 4, Vegas Golden Knights 2 (Series tied 2-2): After dropping the first two games at home, the Stars took both outings in Vegas to even the series, as Wyatt Johnston (1 G) tied the game at two in the 2nd period before Ty Dellandrea (1 G) gave them the lead minutes later, and then Roope Hintz (1 G) cashed in on an empty net to give Dallas a gritty win over Jack Eichel (1 G) and the defending champs - Evgenii Dadonov (1 G) scored an impossible goal in the 1st period, and it was a super physical game

See the full box scores here.

Tonight’s Schedule - First Round (Game 5s)

• East | (A3) Toronto Maple Leafs @ (A2) Boston Bruins 7:00pm ET, ESPN - (BOS leads series 3-1)

• East | (M3) New York Islanders @ (M2) Carolina Hurricanes 7:30pm ET, TBS - (CAR leads series 3-1)

• West | (C3) Colorado Avalanche @ (C2) Winnipeg Jets 9:30pm ET, ESPN - (COL leads series 3-1)

• West | (WC1) Nashville Predators @ (P1) Vancouver Canucks 10:00pm ET, TBS - (VAN leads series 3-1)

See the entire Stanley Cup playoffs bracket here.

MLB - Top Games

• Seattle Mariners 2, Atlanta Braves 1: In a game dominated by the starting pitchers, Atlanta's Max Fried (6.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 7 Ks) and Seattle's Bryce Miller (7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 10 Ks) each threw six no-hit innings, but Fried was pulled before the 7th, in which Ronald Acuna Jr. (1-4, 1 R) broke up Miller’s no-no with an infield single. And then Mitch Garver (1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBIs) stole the show, as the Mariners DH tattooed a two-run, walk-off blast into the second deck in the bottom of the 9th for a thrilling Seattle dub - pimp job, alert!

• Baltimore Orioles 2, New York Yankees 0: In the first meeting of the year between two AL East powerhouses, Gunnar Henderson (1-3, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI) took Clarke Schmidt (5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 Ks) deep for a leadoff homer in the 1st inning and then scored again in the 8th thanks to a costly error by New York’s gold glove shortstop Anthony Volpe (0-4) with two outs, while Grayson Rodriguez (5.2 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 3 Ks) and Baltimore’s bullpen blanked the Bombers to open up a four-game set at Camden Yards with a shutout win - at 22 years old, Henderson is the youngest player in MLB history to have 10 home runs in a season before May 1!

• Chicago Cubs 3, New York Mets 1: After being held hitless by Luis Severino (8.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 5 Ks) for seven innings, Nick Madrigal (0-1, 1 RBI) finally got the Cubbies on the board with an RBI groundout in the 8th, and then Christopher Morel (1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBIs) smoked a tiebreaking two-run bomb off Edwin Diaz (1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 3 Ks) in the top of the 9th to steal one from Brandon Nimmo (1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI) and the Mets at Citi Field

• Los Angeles Dodgers 8, Arizona Diamondbacks 4: Andy Pages (1-3, 3 RBIs) racked up three ribbies to help the Dodgers build a 6-1 lead, and Will Smith (1-4, 1 HR, 2 RBIs) clubbed a solo shot in the 6th before Shohei Ohtani (2-4, 1 RBI) sealed the deal with an RBI double in the 8th, as Los Angeles beat the Snakes in the desert to improve to 19-12 on the year

• Toronto Blue Jays 6, Kansas City Royals 5: Justin Turner (2-5, 2 HRs, 2 RBIs) ordered himself a double dose of dingers, Danny Jansen (1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI) also went yard, and Vladimir Guerroro Jr.’s (2-4, 1 RBI) one-run double in the 6th proved to be the difference, as the Jays outpowered Freddy Fermin (2-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI) and the Royals in Toronto for a timely dub - it’s the Blue Jays first time scoring more than five runs in 21 games

See the full MLB scoreboard here and the current standings here.

On April 30, 2022, the 49ers selected Iowa State QB Brock Purdy with the final pick of the NFL draft, making him that year’s “Mr. Irrelevant.” The nickname is given to the final pick of each NFL draft, which happened to be Purdy at No. 262 overall, the last selection of the seventh round. One year prior, San Francisco traded their first-round picks in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and their third-round pick in 2022 to the Dolphins in exchange for the 2021 No. 3 overall pick, which they used to select QB Trey Lance. Lance was expected to eventually take over the starting role from Jimmy Garoppolo but only started four games in two seasons before being traded to the Cowboys for a 2024 fourth-rounder. Luckily for the 49ers, they fell backward into Purdy, who soon became one of the most improbable stories in sports. After both Lance and Garoppolo went down with injuries in 2022, Purdy’s number was finally called, and he went 7-1 as a starter to lead the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game. Last year, he finished fourth in MVP voting while throwing for a third-best 31 touchdowns in the regular season before becoming the first Mr. Irrelevant to start in a Super Bowl at quarterback. Of course, San Francisco ultimately lost to the Chiefs. However, Purdy has cemented himself as not only the most relevant Mr. Irrelevant in NFL history but also one of the top quarterbacks in football - the Jets selected Alabama S Jaylen Key with the final pick in this year’s draft to make him the newest Mr. Irrelevant.

NBA Playoffs - First Round (Game 5s)

• Philadelphia 76ers @ New York Knicks 7:00pm ET, TNT

• Orlando Magic @ Cleveland Cavaliers 8:00pm ET, NBA TV

• Indiana Pacers @ Milwaukee Bucks 9:30pm ET, TNT

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs - First Round (Game 5s)

• Toronto Maple Leafs @ Boston Bruins 7:00pm ET, ESPN

• New York Islanders @ Carolina Hurricanes 7:30pm ET, TBS

• Colorado Avalanche @ Winnipeg Jets 9:30pm ET, ESPN

• Nashville Predators @ Vancouver Canucks 10:00pm ET, TBS

MLB

• Chicago Cubs @ New York Mets 7:10pm ET, Local

• Cleveland Guardians @ Houston Astros 8:10pm ET, Local

• Los Angeles Dodgers @ Arizona Diamondbacks 9:40pm ET, ESPN+

• Full Schedule

Trivia Time Answer

C. Georgia. The Dawgs hold the record for the most players selected in a single NFL draft, with 15 in 2022. They are followed by the 2004 Ohio State crop and the 2020 LSU group, who each had 14 apiece. Michigan’s 13 picks this year are the fourth-most in a single draft. All four aforementioned teams won the national championship that same year except for the Buckeyes, who won it all in 2002 - Georgia had a record five defensive players taken in the first round of 2022!

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When asked about his future with the Lakers postgame, LeBron said, “I’m not going to answer that.”