The Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets look to extend their seasons when they meet in a 2026 NBA Play-In Tournament matchup on Tuesday night. The winner will play the loser of Wednesday’s Magic-76ers matchup for the eighth seed on Friday, while the loser is eliminated. Miami won the season series 3-1, but Charlotte won the most recent game, 136-106 on March 17. The Heat (43-39), who were fourth in the Southeast Division, are 17-24 on the road this season. The Hornets (44-38), who finished third in the Southeast, are 21-20 on their home court. 

Tipoff from Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. Charlotte is a 6-point favorite in the latest Heat vs. Hornets odds, while the over/under for total points scored is 230.5. Before making any Heat vs. Hornets picks, check out the Heat vs. Hornets predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

Visit our DraftKings promo code review to see their latest offers and get started.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in betting profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past eight-plus seasons. The model entered the 2026 NBA playoffs on a sizzling 23-9 roll (72%) on top-rated NBA spread picks this season. Anyone following its NBA betting advice at sportsbooks and on betting apps could have seen huge returns.    

Now, the model has simulated Heat vs. Hornets 10,000 times and just revealed its coveted NBA picks and betting predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see the model’s picks. Here are several NBA odds and NBA betting lines for Hornets vs. Heat:

New to sports trading? Visit our Kalshi promo code review to see their latest offers and get started. 

Top Heat vs. Hornets predictions

After 10,000 simulations of Heat vs. Hornets, SportsLine’s model is going Under on the total (230.5), which has incresed by three points since the opening line. Charlotte has trended heavily to the Under this season with 63% of its games hitting that side of the total. 

The SportsLine model is projecting the Heat to have six players scoring 10.6 or more points, led by Bam Adebayo’s 20.9 points. LaMelo Ball is projected to lead the Hornets with 24.6 points scored, while five Charlotte players are projected to score more than 10.5 points. The teams are projected to combine for 226 total points as the Under hits 58% of the time. See the spread pick at SportsLine.

How to make Hornets vs. Heat picks

After simulating each possession 10,000 times, the model also says one side of the spread hits nearly 60% of the time. You can head to SportsLine to see the model’s NBA picks. 

So who wins Heat vs. Hornets, and which side of the spread hits nearly 60% of the time? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Heat vs. Hornets spread to back, all from the model that has returned well over $10,000 on top-rated NBA picks, and find out.

Semenyo’s case is the latest in a growing list of racist abuse suffered by Premier League players this season, with four players targeted during a single weekend in February.

The UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) is investigating the abuse of the four players in February, which included Sunderland defender Lutsharel Geertruida, Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri, Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana and Wolves striker Tolu Arokodare.

Earlier on Monday, Sunderland condemned racist abuse directed at forward Brian Brobbey on social media following his side’s 1-0 league win over Tottenham.

Years after winning gold medals at the  Paralympics and various World Championship titles, Heinrich Popow believes the future for disabled people is brighter than it has ever been, thanks in part to the success and growing popularity of the Paralympics. But there is one particular societal issue the lower leg amputee would like to see change: Adults should view people with disabilities through the same eyes and curiosity as children. 

“The biggest change I would love to see is to break the barriers of having this, we call it in German, Berührungsangst, being afraid to come too close,” Popow told DW. “The way that kids interact with people with a disability, and also with stuff they see for the first time. That is what I would like to see adults do.

“So when I, for example, go to Kindergarten with shorts in the summer, I’m the coolest daddy in the world because kids accept me. And then they ask me, ‘What do you have?’ So I explain. And because my two daughters, always put some new stickers on my legs, every day I have a different leg.

“What I really would love to see is that we accept each other the way we are and learn from kids.”

One of Germany’s greatest para athletes

Popow maintains that the amputation of his lower leg was tougher on his parents than on his 9-year-old self. He stayed active in sports, and eventually settled on athletics at the sports club, Bayer Leverkusen. In 2002, at age 19, Popow won a bronze medal at the International Paralympics Committee World Athletics Championships in Lille, France. Three bronze medals in the T42 category followed at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, a silver in Beijing 2008, and a gold medal in the 100-meters in London Paralympics. He won gold in the long jump in the 2016 Games in Rio. “Sports gave me the opportunity to push barriers and limits,” said Popow. And it still does. 

Advertisement

In addition to pushing and prodding those who may be newly disabled toward sport these days, he actively promotes and defends people with disabilities in Germany and around the world. He is often seen in clinics and other engagement opportunities for the mobility firm, Ottobock (which employs him), which focuses on, among other things, prosthetics for those who have had amputations, injuries, or neurological diseases. 

Inclusivity breeds success

Popow’s travels have led him to believe that countries that do well at the Paralympics usually do well with the inclusivity of the disabled back at home. Germany finished a disappointing 11th in the 2024 Paralympics medals table. Popow believes he has a clue why. 

 “Grassroot sports in Germany are not improving the way they need to improve,” he told DW. Federal government research in 2022 suggested more than half of disabled people in Germany avoided sports. Part of the reason could be that 90% of all playing fields and gymnasiums were not barrier-free.  Meanwhile, insurance companies often do not cover medical devices for sports. 

“I feel the government and insurers can save a lot of money if they realize paying for disabled sports is better than the bill from a pharmacy. Sports is the best medicine.

Advertisement

“I  do running clinics, and I see activity all over the world. The Netherlands is doing a great job.  It is the size of the German state of North Rhine Westfalia, and it is more successful than our whole country.” The Netherlands was 4th in the 2024 Paralympics medal table. 

Does the International Day of Persons with Disabilities help?

Popow is an avowed booster for the disabled. He is sure that the one day of the year set aside by the UN to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities is positive in ways that go far beyond simple awareness. “I forget the day of my marriage sometimes,” he joked. “But this UN day becomes more and more special.”

Yet he acknowledges that having lived with his disability since 1992 (he was nine when a rare form of cancer in his left calf led to his lower leg being amputated), the day personally matters less to him than it previously did. Those who are recently disabled see things much differently, and the acknowledgment of that fact is important, he said. 

“I have no restrictions from my disability in my daily life. It is packed with kids, job, and everything, but no further movement is important.” 

“But to be honest, and this is something also the (disability) community thinks about, it’s more important if we think about disabilities every day, like the awareness we should have every day. A special day is nice, but it is only one step. We need that second and third day,” he says. 

Advertisement

And beyond.

Edited by: Matt Pearson 

Paralympics: How athletes earn a living

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

A little tired but with a smile on her face, Kathrin Marchand arrives for her first training session of the day. Together with her rowing partner Valentin Luz, the para-athlete will spend the first few hours of the day on the water in a double scull. A few quick stretches, and then they’re off.

“Five years ago, I never would have thought I’d be rowing this much again,” Marchand told DW. “I consider it a privilege that I can still compete at the elite level.”

Now 35, Marchand made her Olympic debut in 2012 in London as part of the German women’s eight. Four years later, she competed for the second time at the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

After the Olympics in Brazil, Marchand ended her sporting career, completed her medical degree and then began working as a doctor in 2018 — until a stroke in 2021 turned her life upside-down.

During an indoor cycling class, the left side of her body suddenly went numb, she recalled. “I didn’t immediately think of a stroke back then because I was simply far too young. I was 30 years old and had no preexisting conditions,” she said.

Marchand didn’t call an ambulance until an hour after the incident. An MRI scan at the hospital then confirmed the stroke. “In that moment, you think: ‘What did I do to deserve this?’”

Adjusting to a new reality

The medical bolt from the blue changed the young doctor’s life. Since then, Marchand has had problems with concentration and forgetfulness, and difficulty orienting herself, as well as a limited field of vision. It has taken her a long time to get used to her new reality and come to terms with her limitations.

“It’s really hard when you’re suddenly torn away from your everyday life,” she said. “I’ll never be healthy again. I’ve learned that the body isn’t a machine, even if I sometimes wish it were.”

The stroke has meant she has had to scale back on a number of fronts. “I have to lower my standards. I set fewer goals for myself, but I’ve also learned not to be quite so hard on myself.”

But Marchand is determined to make the best of her situation. “I’ve changed my perspective. Of course my limitations annoy me, but in the end, it comes down to how you deal with them.”

Advertisement

From Rio to Paris and Olympics to Paralympics

Just a few months after her stroke, Marchand was back in a rowing boat — this time, however, as a para-athlete. “Sports teach you a lot about how to cope with negative events. A sports career isn’t always smooth sailing, there are some lows but also positives,” she said.

Marchand didn’t have to wait long for her first successes in her “new” discipline. She won her first medals at the European and World Championships and also qualified for the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, where she took fourth place in the German mixed four-person boat.

“I used to have nothing to do with para sports and had no connection to it at all,” said Marchand.

“But then I spoke with para-athletes and started looking into it. I went to my first training session and it was absolutely wonderful. Everyone there had a disability, and then you see: ‘Hey, having a disability isn’t so bad.’ It was a totally positive experience.”

Advertisement

Marchand makes sporting history

After several years competing in summer Paralympic sports, Marchand took it a step further with a new challenge: para cross-country skiing. Her first winter training sessions on the narrow skis weren’t easy, but she adapted to such an extent she qualified for the Milan-Cortina Games earlier this year.

In doing so, she became the first athlete in history to have competed in the Summer Olympics, the Summer Paralympics and the Winter Paralympics.

Since then, Marchand’s profile has grown. She has become a public figure in Germany — and wants to use that to encourage others facing similar challenges.

“I’m just living my life and find it amazing when I can inspire other people or serve as a role model,” she said. “I’m always happy when I get messages saying, ‘Hey, we love what you’re doing, and it’s helped us get through a difficult time.’”

Aiming for 2028 Paralympic medal

Marchand tries to wring as much from her own life as possible, and believes that “in the end, the stroke has given me more than it has taken away.” She admits that often sounds strange to other people.

Advertisement

“I used to be healthy, and now I’m sick. Why would anyone want to be sick when they can be healthy?”

Her explanation is simple: “Before the stroke, my life was much more stressful; I worked a lot and took much less joy in the things I did.”

It’s sad to admit to that, she said. “I could have turned my life around before, but I didn’t. It’s a shame that it takes a moment of fate to realize so many things.”

Today, Marchand is content with her life and knows her limits. Nevertheless, she has set herself a major goal at the Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028, where she hopes to finally win her first Paralympic medal in the para-rowing boat.

Advertisement

This article was originally written in German.

Meet a successful amputee equestrian pursuing her dream

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

FIFA executives are considering asking President Donald Trump to suspend Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids during the World Cup, according to a new report.

A nationwide ICE moratorium for the duration of the 39-day tournament could be framed as a win-win for both the Trump administration and the international soccer organization, FIFA insiders told The Athletic.

The move could ease countries concerns about ICE operations during the World Cup, which kicks off in June across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico and is expected to draw more than one million international fans.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons previously signaled that the agency would serve as a “key part of the overall security apparatus” for the tournament.

Since returning to office, Trump has overseen a nationwide immigration crackdown which the Department of Homeland Security says led to the removal or departure of nearly three million undocumented immigrants in his first year. As part of this effort, ICE agents have deployed across states, resulting in the deaths of two American citizens in Minnesota in January, and sparking public protests over aggressive tactics.

The pitch: ‘FIFA Unites the World’

With less than two months until the tournament begins, senior FIFA executives have discussed with Gianni Infantino, the organization’s president, the prospect of him reaching out to Trump directly to ask for an ICE moratorium, four people with knowledge of the matter told The Athletic.

The initial plan was to ask that federal immigration agents stay clear of World Cup sites in the 11 American host cities but the proposal later expanded to include the cities themselves. And since the tournament will extend across more states — including base camps throughout the country — officials ultimately concluded that the request should call for a nationwide moratorium.

FIFA executives talked about crafting a tailored pitch for the president: that his administration and the soccer organization could jointly announce a temporary pause on immigration enforcement, framing it publicly as “a positive news story” built around the slogan “FIFA Unites the World.”

Insiders told The Athletic, owned by The New York Times, that Infantino is open to the idea and would attempt to engage the president.

Infantino, a Swiss‑Italian with a background in sports law, appears to have developed a close relationship with Trump and the pair have met on several occasions at the White House. In December, Infantino gave Trump the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize, which Trump has proudly displayed in the Oval Office.

Given this, FIFA insiders believe Infantino may be able to translate his rapport with the U.S. president into a substantial policy change. Still, it’s not clear whether Infantino has spoken to Trump, or if he plans to, The Athletic reported.

Spokespeople for FIFA and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Independent.

It’s unclear how the White House will respond to FIFA’s proposal. A month-long ICE moratorium would represent a major departure from one of the Trump administration’s core priorities and campaign promises. It could also suggest that the administration views its immigration enforcement tactics as problematic, a notion that Trump officials have largely rejected.

In February, following the deaths of Americans, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, Trump said that immigration agents “could use a little bit of a softer touch.” But, he added: “You still have to be tough.”

Last month, he said that ICE agents are “nice guys” and “great patriots that have been abused.”

When asked for comment by The Athletic, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle didn’t directly address the prospect of an ICE moratorium during the World Cup.

“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, the FIFA World Cup 2026 will be one of the greatest and most spectacular events in the history of mankind, right here in the United States of America,” Ingle said. “This event will generate billions of dollars of economic impact and bring hundreds of thousands of jobs to our country. The president is focused on making this the greatest World Cup ever while ensuring it is the safest and most secure in history.”

Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA World Cup Task Force, said that the president had told him to “ensure a safe and secure World Cup.” The task force, he said, will bring together local, state and federal partners.

Cast your mind back to August 2022. Tottenham defender Cristian Romero tugged back Chelsea‘s Marc Cucurella by his hair.

The VAR, Mike Dean, opted not to intervene for an obvious red card.

It created a line in the sand. From that point on, a zero tolerance approach was adopted.

Has the hair been tugged? Then it is a red card for violent conduct.

A strict application means we have to accept that there are cases, like Keane and Martinez, where the punishment appears too severe.

It is a bit like handball in the Champions League. People do not like some of the penalties, but they know what they are getting.

If you want consistency then you cannot have common sense too.

After the Keane red card, referees’ boss Howard Webb was very clear that hair pulling was “quite an offensive thing”.

“It was the appropriate outcome,” Webb said. “It was unusual but if we see it again next week it will be the same outcome.”

It took a few months before we did see it in similar circumstances with Martinez, and Webb was proved to be correct.

There has only been one other VAR red card in the Premier League, for Southampton’s Jack Stephens on Cucurella.

There have been several other instances in the Club World Cup, Women’s Super League and Women’s Euros.

Hair pulling is one of those dark arts which is usually only spotted through video evidence.

It happens off the ball but is more identifiable than the subtle elbow to the chest or a nip to the stomach.

Even in the EFL, which does not have VAR, Ipswich’s Leif Davis was recently banned after being picked up on camera pulling the hair of Leicester’s Caleb Okoli.

Evidence is not always clear, however.

Fulham‘s Kenny Tete could have been sent off for yanking the hair of Manchester City‘s Antoine Semenyo in February. It may well have happened, but the VAR did not feel the evidence was conclusive enough for a review.