Sports
Victor Wembanyama contract explainer: Is he taking discount? Does it help Spurs?
San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama just had an enormously successful third season in the NBA end in Finals heartbreak against Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks. Brunson famously elected to take a substantial discount on the contract extension he signed in 2024 in order to help the Knicks build the team that eventually took down Wembanyama and the Spurs.
Now, at least to an extent, Wembanyama is following in Brunson’s footsteps.
On Friday, Wembanyama reportedly signed a five-year, $252 million contract extension to remain in San Antonio. In theory, he could have made up to around $303 million. That decision both does and does not represent a substantial discount on his contract. What do I mean by that? Let’s dive into the cap mechanics of the deal and its broader implications for both the Spurs and the NBA at large.
So… is it a discount or not?
The answer here is a resounding “maybe.” Not every player has the same max salary, and the issue at play here is what sort of max Wembanyama would have been eligible for.
Max contracts are divided into three tiers. Players with 4-6 years of experience like Wembanyama can start their new contracts at 25% of the cap. Those with between 7-9 years of experience can start at 30% of the cap. Finally, players with 10 or more years of experience can start at 35% of the cap. However, players who hit certain benchmarks can leap up into the next tier. If Wembanyama had won MVP or Defensive Player of the Year or made an All-NBA Team next season, he would have been eligible to jump from the 25% max tier to the 30% max tier.
Most players signing rookie extensions aren’t eligible for 30% after their third season. A single MVP award at any point in the three previous seasons automatically triggers eligibility, but if a player is attempting to do so through All-NBA or Defensive Player of the Year as most do, he needs to either get there in the season before the contract starts (the fourth season for rookie extension candidates, like Wembanyama) or in two of the previous three seasons (the second and third seasons for a rookie extension candidate). Luka Dončić is the last player to reach eligibility before the start of his fourth season. Therefore, most players who can negotiate that 30% max do so through escalators. The contract is guaranteed at the 25% max, but if the player hits any of those benchmarks in his fourth season, it jumps to the 30% max.
What Wembanyama is doing here is foregoing those escalators. He just took a 25% max, no questions asked. Even if he makes an All-NBA Team or wins Defensive Player of the Year or MVP, he will not get boosted up to 30%. So the answer to whether or not Wembanyama took a discount depends on what happens this season.
How does this discount compare to Jalen Brunson’s?
Wembanyama’s decision will inevitably be compared to Brunson’s, but they are structurally quite different. Wembanyama is a former first-round pick entering his fourth season, making him automatically eligible for a rookie extension. It was just a matter of what sort of extension he took.
Brunson’s case is a bit more unusual. He signed his deal coming off his sixth season. His circumstances would have required waiting a full year to get what he was actually worth. Had Brunson merely played out the 2024-25 season, he would have become a free agent eligible to re-sign with the Knicks on a new deal starting at 30% of the cap. However, he instead elected to take a standard veteran extension following his sixth season. Veteran extensions can give a player up to a 40% raise on their previous salary, and since Brunson was already on a team-friendly deal signed in free agency, that mechanism capped him below his max.
The exact amount that Brunson gave up is a bit overstated. The number you see thrown around frequently is $113 million, because Brunson ultimately signed for $156.5 million, whereas his projected max would have been around $269 million had he waited a year. However, this ignores how much faster the extension would have allowed Brunson to reach free agency again and sign a new deal to replace the discounted one. During the seasons when these contracts overlapped, the discount was closer to $37 million, or about $12 million per year.
That’s right around the $10 million or so that Wembanyama is potentially sacrificing annually. Wembanyama is starting his new deal at 25% of the cap rather than 30%. Brunson went slightly further, starting his extension at 22.6% of the cap rather than waiting an extra year to reach 30%. When you consider the extra risk Brunson would have had to have taken on by waiting a year to sign, the degree of favor that each of them did their teams suddenly starts to look comparable. The Knicks used that favor to build a championship team. Now, San Antonio hopes to do the same.
What does this mean for the Spurs?
Managing Wemby’s workload
The single most important element of this contract for San Antonio has less to do with roster-building than it does load management. You might look at those Rose Rule escalators and think, “We’re talking about Victor Wembanyama here. He was absolutely going to win Defensive Player of the Year and make an All-NBA Team.” Well, that might be the case if not for the 65-game rule. Wembanyama just barely skirted beyond the threshold last season, and he didn’t reach it in the 2024-25 campaign.
The 65-game rule incentivizes injured players to suit up early for the sake of possible contract escalators. This isn’t speculation. It has literally happened. Take Tyrese Haliburton. He played in 33 of the first 36 games for the Indiana Pacers in the 2023-24 season, averaging just under 24 points and 13 rebounds in those games. And then he hurt his hamstring, missing five games, before returning for one and then missing five more. He played every game the rest of the season, but wasn’t the same player. He averaged 16.8 points and 9.3 assists the rest of the way on far less efficient shooting than he’d previously mustered.
He was so spectacular in the first half of the season that he still earned a Third-Team All-NBA selection and therefore received a 30% max contract rather than the 25% he otherwise would have received. But it seemed like he rushed back before he was ready. Haliburton himself essentially admitted that. In an interview with JJ Redick in which Redick alluded to Haliburton’s “$53 million incentive to come back,” Indiana’s superstar acknowledged he might have handled his recovery differently without the 65-game rule.
“I thought I was ready to go for the Portland game. So did our medical staff. Everybody agreed,” he said. “But if this was never the case, I might have been like, ‘Give it another game or two. Maybe think more through this. Let’s try to be 100%.’”
Now apply this thinking to Wembanyama, whose size increases his injury risk every time he steps on the court. The last thing the Spurs want is to ever force him to play hurt. Remember, he averaged only 29.2 minutes per game last season. San Antonio is incredibly cautious with him. Now, he has no contractual incentive to risk aggravating an injury unnecessarily. The Spurs can continue to manage his workload aggressively. Nothing is more important to the Spurs moving forward than Wembanyama’s health.
Ducking the luxury tax
The Spurs would have happily paid Wembanyama any legal amount because, if healthy, he is almost certainly to outplay his next contract. But getting this discount does still potentially mean quite a bit. The most obvious immediate benefit here is that, with Wembanyama at 25% rather than 30%, it becomes far easier for the Spurs to avoid the luxury tax in the 2027-28 season. Right now, they’re looking at around $10 million in tax room with three roster spots to fill. If Wembanyama were making 30%, he’d essentially fill that gap himself, forcing the Spurs to dump a contract to duck the tax.
You might say that the Spurs are a championship-caliber team that should be willing to pay the tax, but remember, this is an exceedingly young team hoping for a very long window. The new repeater tax is almost comically punitive. The Denver Nuggets are staring down a $400 million payroll if they keep Peyton Watson at market value, for instance. The Spurs have a lot of tax years ahead of them and they play in a relatively small NBA market.
Delaying the repeater clock for as long as possible absolutely matters. The Spurs likely would have done it one way or another. Now, doing so won’t have to mean, say, dumping Luke Kornet‘s partially guaranteed contract or trading Tobias Harris.
The weight of De’Aaron Fox’s contract
And then of course, there’s the De’Aaron Fox of it all. As has been widely discussed, the Spurs signed Fox to a four-year, $221.7 million max extension last offseason that is only now kicking in. With each passing year, that contract becomes cumbersome. This season, it’s fairly manageable. Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper are all still on rookie deals. But Wembanyama’s new deal kicks in for the 2027-28 season, and then Castle follows a year after that, with Harper getting paid last in a deal that will start in the 2029-30 season. We can safely assume that Castle and Harper are getting something close to the max, barring a catastrophe. Therefore, the Spurs were staring down a nightmare scenario in 2030 in which Wembanyama and Fox were on 30% max deals while Castle and Harper were at least making 25%, if not 30%, themselves. That would have been untenable.
The one-year overlap between Fox’s deal and the rookie extensions signed by San Antonio’s star-studded core is still a concern, but Wembanyama taking 25% instead alleviates the year-to-year weight of overpaying Fox meaningfully. They might still eventually decide to trade Fox, but they’d be doing so from a slightly stronger position. Teams won’t be able to point at their payroll as easily and say, “You have to do this, so you’d better give us something great to get us to take on Fox’s contract.” The Fox situation remains potentially problematic. Wembanyama’s discount just makes it less so.
And to this point, we’ve only really talked about Wembanyama’s discount in a vacuum. The Spurs have a history of convincing their best players to take less. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili all did so. Perhaps Castle and Harper cooperate as well and take slight haircuts for the sake of building a championship roster. That would make life far easier for the Spurs moving forward. Of course, there’s a catch: perhaps Wembanyama’s decision compels stars on other teams to take slightly less for the sake of the team, creating tougher competition for the Spurs moving forward. Yet most such cases will be much more complicated than Wembanyama’s.
What does this mean for everybody else?
Pressure on other stars to take discounts?
When Brunson won the championship, there was plenty of debate about whether or not his decision would trigger a wave of similar discounts from stars. But Brunson’s situation is anomalous on so many levels that it is essentially irreplicable. Team president Leon Rose is a former power agent whose first client was Brunson’s father, Rick, who is now a coach on the team. Their relationship spans decades. The Knicks have gone out of their way to acquire three of Brunson’s college teammates. He hosts a podcast with one of them, Josh Hart, about their experience as former roommates. They paid five first-round picks to get another of them, Mikal Bridges.
The degree of trust between Brunson and the Knicks is unique in all of basketball. We will likely never see a situation as specifically conducive to a discount as Brunson’s ever again. He could always safely assume that the Knicks would make him whole down the line. Most players can’t make that assumption with their teams.
Wembanyama’s situation, though, is a bit more notable. Think back to LeBron James. When he joined the Miami Heat in 2010, he took a sizable enough discount for Pat Riley to bring back Udonis Haslem and sign Mike Miller. When he returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014, however, he made it clear he would accept only a max contract. He would not take less than the max again for a full decade. Soon after returning to Cleveland, he was elected vice president of the NBPA.
James was and remains the face of the NBA. At that point, he was at the absolute peak of his powers. By taking a discount, he was giving the owners and general managers of other teams ammunition to convince their own players to do the same. Essentially, they could say, “Do you really think you deserve more than LeBron James? How are we supposed to compete with him if you’re making more money than he is?” Taking the max in 2014 removed some of that pressure on his fellow stars to take less.
Now, especially in the ultra-restrictive apron era, teams have that ammunition once again. We just watched Jaylen Brown get traded in part because of his 35% max contract. Karl-Anthony Towns was moved for similar reasons. Teams will once again pitch their players on the idea that competing with Wembanyama might mean taking the sort of discount that he did. NBA salary numbers are so cartoonish now that some teams will probably get away with it. Remember, $250 million is the discounted version of Wembanyama’s contract. There is a very real chance that he earns $1 billion solely in NBA salary before it’s all said and done. Teams are inevitably going to try to sell their stars on the idea that they are going to retire with generational wealth either way, so they might as well prioritize winning in their contracts.
Some players will do so. Others won’t. This has always been true to an extent, but the divide will probably get starker. Ironically, the teams that get these discounts are usually the ones that need them least. James took less to play for the historically competent Heat. Chet Holmgren eschewed these same escalators for the Oklahoma City Thunder a year ago. Brunson plays for the exceptionally well-run Knicks. Wembanyama’s Spurs won five championships in the two-and-a-half decades before his arrival. They have all been among the NBA’s more expensive teams, of course, but they are also among the smartest. Fortune tends to favor the prepared.
Contract management has never been more important
Having a smart front office has always been an enormous advantage. That advantage is even more meaningful under the draconian reign of the 2023 CBA. If the smart teams have contractual advantages on top of their strategic ones, well, that’s going to make it that much harder for the teams paying their players at the top of the market to compete. The Knicks just won their championship, thanks in no small part to Brunson’s discount. Oklahoma City’s title came with many of its best players on cheap rookie deals. Contract management has never been more important than it is today, and one day soon, discounts like this might become a necessity to winning championships.
The more players who take these discounts, the less powerful each of them becomes. After all, there’s still only one trophy at the end of the season. No matter how it happens, 29 teams and the hundreds of players they employ won’t win it every year. In practice, this means these discounts will no longer be a superpower for the teams that get them. Instead, max contracts could become anchors dragging down those that don’t.
We’re halfway through the 2023 CBA, assuming either side exercises its opt-out after the 2028-29 season. Maybe the rules will change again in ways that avert all of this by then. But what Wembanyama did here could drastically alter the contractual landscape superstars face. At the very least, taking every last cent is likely to draw some criticism. At most, it’s going to make it substantially harder for such players to realistically win championships.
The Spurs were already a terrifying opponent. Wembanyama just made them that much scarier.
Sports
Red Sox acquiring three-time All-Star Adley Rutschman in intra-division trade deadline deal with Orioles
The Boston Red Sox have acquired catcher Adley Rutschman from the Baltimore Orioles hours before Monday’s Major League Baseball trade deadline, ESPN reports. In return, the Orioles will receive a package of four players and a player to be named later, reports the Baltimore Sun. The return, headlined by right-handed pitching prospect Anthony Eyanson, also includes catcher Carlos Narváez, right-handed prospect Kyson Witherspoon and outfield prospect Enddy Azocar.
Rutschman, 28, is a former No. 1 overall draft pick out of Oregon State and a three-time All-Star. He had spent his entire professional career with the Orioles prior to this trade. This season, he’s enjoying a solid bounce-back campaign coming off an injury-compromised 2025 in which he posted the worst offensive numbers of his career. For that career, Rutschman has an OPS+ of 115 – the same as his 2026 figure – across parts of five big-league seasons. He’s averaged 20 home runs per 162 games played over that span, although his power has taken a dip in recent seasons. Rutschman is presently on the injured list with an inflamed wrist, but he could soon begin a minor-league rehab assignment.
Rutschman is owed the balance of a $7.25 million salary for this season, and he’ll again be arbitration-eligible for 2027, the final season before he’s slated for free agency.
The Orioles make the move despite being just 2 ½ games out of playoff position going into Monday’s slate of games. They do have rookie Samuel Basallo ready to take over as the team’s primary catcher moving forward. However, he’s on the IL with shoulder inflammation. In earlier deadline deals, the Orioles also traded starting pitcher Dean Kremer to the Twins and outfielder Taylor Ward to the Mariners.
Once healthy, the switch-hitting Rutschman is primed to fill the catcher void for the division-rival Red Sox, who have surged back into contention thanks to a franchise-record 21-4 record in July. This season, Boston catchers — mostly Connor Wong and Narváez — have combined for an OPS of just .615, which ranks 25th in MLB. Rutschman, in contrast, has a .764 OPS this season and a .756 mark for his career. That additional year of control means that Orioles fans must watch Rutschman — the face of their recent deep rebuild — in a Boston uniform not only for the rest of 2026 but also the 2027 season.
On the return side for Baltimore, Witherspoon, who turns 22 on Aug. 12, is the most notable addition for the Orioles. Coming into this season, CBS Sports ranked him as the No. 77 overall prospect. Here’s part of that write-up:
“Witherspoon has an uptempo delivery that sees him pitch off a high front side and really hinge on his back leg before he looses the ball from a high-three-quarters slot. Despite the frantic aesthetics, he was able to rein in his control at Oklahoma, with his strikeout-minus-walk percentage improving from 13.4% to 25.9% year to year. Witherspoon certainly has the stuff to start at the big-league level — his arsenal includes a heater that sits in the mid-to-upper 90s, a cutter, and two breaking balls — so his future will hinge on his ability to maintain those control gains as a professional.”
This season, Witherspoon, the No. 15 overall draft pick in 2025 out of the University of Oklahoma, has a 4.78 ERA in 17 starts at the High-A level. Eyanson, age 21 and a former third-rounder out of LSU, is in his first professional season. In 68 ⅓ combined innings at the High-A and Double-A levels, Eyanson has a 1.32 ERA with 94 strikeouts and 26 walks. Azocar, 19, is enjoying what may shape up to be a breakout season in 2026. Across 85 games at the Single-A and High-A levels, he’s slugging .540 with 18 homers, 27 doubles, six triples, and 11 stolen bases while spending most of his time in center field.
Bryant suffered a hyperextended knee, bone bruise and small fracture during Monday’s training camp practice
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Bears safety Coby Bryant will miss the next 8-10 weeks due to a hyperextended knee, bone bruise and small fracture suffered in Monday’s training camp practice, ESPN reports. Bryant, 27, had to be carted off after going down during a one-on-one drill, per Adam Hoge.
Chicago signed Bryant, formerly of the Seahawks, to a three-year, $40 million deal this offseason, hoping to fortify its secondary with 2025 starting safeties Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker, both free agents. Byard signed with the Patriots, Brisker with the Steelers.
A fourth-round pick out of Cincinnati in 2022, Bryant thrived when Mike Macdonald arrived in Seattle in 2024 and moved him from cornerback to safety. Over the past two seasons, Bryant recorded seven interceptions (and returned one for a touchdown), 139 tackles, 13 passes defended, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He started all 15 games he appeared in last season, as well as all three of the Seahawks’ playoff games en route to their Super Bowl triumph.
Chicago drafted Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman 25th overall in April, and he is likely to start at one safety spot. Cam Lewis could be next up to take Bryant’s starting spot early in the season.
The Bears open their 2026 season on Sept. 13 — less than six weeks away — against the Panthers.
The English Football Association is set to withdraw its support for Gianni Infantino’s re-election as Fifa president after his scrapped World Cup privatisation bid.
Infantino’s leadership is under intense scrutiny, with a widespread loss of confidence coming after his failed attempt to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors.
Wales became the first member association to officially retract its support for the Swiss-Italian in an attempt to force him out, and England is expected to follow suit.
The FA is preparing to send a letter to Fifa to withdraw its backing, piling more pressure on Infantino.
Infantino, whose decade-long reign is under severe pressure, announced on Friday night that he was shelving the widely-denounced plan, which had been rejected by three confederations after first being revealed earlier in the week.
Concacaf, the confederation for North America and the Caribbean, along with the Asian Football Confederation, fumed over the lack of consultation while Europe’s governing body Uefa threatened to boycott all Fifa competitions, including next year’s Women’s World Cup and the 2030 World Cup, before Infantino’s eventual climb-down.
Uefa confirmed that it had lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership after he went back on his plans, criticising the “shabby, backroom deal”, and has now written to the Fifa president confirming it is “actively considering” legal action in regard to the sell-off scheme.
The letter orders Infantino and Fifa to “take immediate steps to identify, locate, and preserve all documents and electronically stored information described in this notice that are in your or Fifa’s possession, custody, or control”.
Prime minister Andy Burnham said that Infantino is the “wrong man” to lead Fifa, while the FA called for a “full and robust review” into his leadership as the fallout of his U-turn continues.
Infantino also became the subject of criticism from within his administration, with senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigning over the plans, while Fifa chief operating officer Kevin Lamour claimed the president had “deceived” Fifa staff.
The proposal involved establishing Fifa Forward Enterprise and selling a 20 per cent stake to private investors, with Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Eternal reportedly earmarked as the lead investor group. He is the brother of Jared Kushner, who is the son-in-law of US president Donald Trump.
Trump, however, insisted he had not spoken about the sell-off plan with Infantino before it was scrapped.
There are calls for Infantino to resign, but as it stands he will run for re-election in March 2027.
Uefa has indicated that “no option should be off the table” regarding the future of Infantino, hinting at the possibility of a no-confidence vote.
Such a move, if triggered by just 43 national associations, would necessitate an Extraordinary Fifa Congress.
However, this action is considered improbable unless there is a strong conviction, if not certainty, that a majority of Fifa’s 211 member nations would vote to remove Infantino at such a gathering.
Several African and Asian football bodies, including those from Morocco, Egypt and Qatar, have publicly voiced their support for Infantino over the weekend.
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‘You created magic’: Rohit Sharma hails T Dilip as India replace fielding coach | Cricket News
Former India captain Rohit Sharma paid tribute to T Dilip after the former India fielding coach was replaced by Subhadeep Ghosh, thanking him for his work with the team over the last five years.Taking to Instagram Stories, Rohit wrote: “You are a legend, Dilip garu. You created magic within the group and [you are] a behind the scenes workhorse. Best wishes ahead.”Dilip worked as India’s men’s fielding coach under both Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir. He first joined the support staff in 2021 and served until the end of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He returned for a second stint during India’s Test tour of England in 2025 on a one-year contract but was not retained after it ended.
During his time with the Indian team, India won the T20 World Cups in 2024 and 2026, along with the 2025 Champions Trophy.One of Dilip’s most recognised ideas was the ‘Best Fielder of the Match’ medal, introduced during the 2023 ODI World Cup. The post-match fielding medal ceremony became popular among fans because of the creative ways in which the winner was announced.The initiative was aimed at building a stronger fielding culture within the team and encouraging players to take more risks and improve their athleticism in the field. Players such as KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were among the medal winners during the ceremony’s run.After his departure, Dilip shared a farewell message on Instagram, thanking the team and reflecting on his journey.“Five years. It is difficult to find the right words for a journey that has meant so much. When I first walked into this setup, I came in with one simple intention, to give everything I had every single day. Fielding has always been my way of contributing to the game I love, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to have played a part in this team’s journey.”He also said the fielding medal ceremony would remain one of his favourite memories.“The fielding medal will always hold a very special place in my heart. Seeing the excitement it created in the dressing room, the smiles it brought and the value the players attached to it are memories I’ll carry with me forever.”
The 2026 Wyndham Championship goes down this week at Sedgefield Country Club in North Carolina. Here’s everything you need to know to watch the PGA Tour tournament, including a full Wyndham Championship TV schedule, streaming information and complete tee times for the first and second rounds once they are released.
How to watch Wyndham Championship
After several busy months, the PGA Tour’s regular season comes to an end at the Wyndham Championship. That means this week is the final chance for players to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Betting favorite Cameron Young doesn’t have to worry about that, though. Ranked No. 3 in the standings, Young has already secured his spot at the Tour Championship.
But plenty of players will be fighting for position at Sedgefield Country Club. Rookie Jackson Koivun is currently ranked 70th, which is the position players need to match to qualify for the first playoff event, the 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Former U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (72nd) is on the outside looking in, as is major champion Jason Day (75th). Jordan Spieth, on the other hand, is ranked 55th, just outside the top 50 who will qualify for the second playoff event.
CBS and Golf Channel will provide TV coverage of the 2026 Wyndham Championship, while PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ will offer streaming coverage and featured group coverage all week long. Paramount+ will air simulcasts of CBS’s coverage.
You can find complete information about streaming or watching the tournament on TV below.
Tournament basics
What: 2026 Wyndham Championship
Where: Sedgefield Country Club, Greensboro, N.C.
When: Thursday-Sunday, August 6-9
Purse: $8.5 million ($1.53 million winner’s share)
With an ESPN+ subscription, you gain access to PGA Tour Live, where you can stream the best PGA Tour events live from wherever you want.
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How to watch on TV
CBS and Golf Channel will air TV coverage of the 2026 Wyndham Championship this week. Check out the full TV schedule below.
Thursday, August 6: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Friday, August 7: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Saturday, August 8: 1-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3-6 p.m. ET (CBS)
Sunday, August 9: 1-3 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); 3-6 p.m. ET (CBS)
How to watch online, streaming
You can watch the 2026 Wyndham Championship online via PGA Tour Live on ESPN+, including exclusive early coverage starting at 6:45 a.m. ET on Thursday and Friday and 7:45 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday. ESPN+ will also provide featured hole and featured group coverage for every round. You can stream CBS’s coverage on Paramount+. Golf Channel’s telecasts will be available on Golfchannel.com and the Golf Channel app.
2026 Wyndham Championship tee times: Round 1 (ET)
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2026 Wyndham Championship tee times: Round 2 (ET)
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FILE–Alexandra Eala of the Philippines celebrates after winning a women’s singles match against Naomi Osaka of Japan on day six of the Mubadala DC Open 2026 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on August 01, 2026 in Washington, DC. Emilee Chinn/Getty Images/AFP
LIVE: Alex Eala vs Jessica Pegula – Mubadala DC Open final
MANILA, Philippines–Alex Eala was trailing Jessica Pegula at the Mubadala DC Open Final when heavy downpour suspended play at William H.G. Tennis Center in Washington.
That turned out to be just the calm before the real storm that the top-seeded Pegula simply couldn’t weather.
Back against the wall, Eala went on a ferocious fightback to overpower the American World No. 3 in the last two sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, and capture the biggest win of her young career in front of a frenetic predominantly Filipino crowd at centre court on United States soil.
ALL ABOARD THE EALA EXPRESS 🔥
Alexandra Eala secures her first ever WTA Tour title!#MubadalaDCOpen pic.twitter.com/uSpxYxWqO5
— wta (@WTA) August 3, 2026
“It’s always a pleasure to share the court with you. I definitely learned so, so much, especially from your forehand lines and backhand crosses. So I’m really looking forward to many more finals with you,” said Eala, who chalked up her seventh win against a top 10 player this season.
The match, which was delayed for three hours due to the bad weather, was halted and pushed to another day when rain returned with Eala behind, 4-6, 2-1.
But it was certainly worth the wait, especially for Filipino fans, who stayed up in the wee hours of the morning to witness Eala achieve another historic feat.
The Filipino trailblazer claimed her first WTA Tour-level and WTA 500 title after going on another giant-slaying run.
“First, I wanna congratulate Alex on an amazing week, amazing tournament. I don’t know how much more I can say, but you’re an amazing player and just to see how far you’ve come over the last couple of years when we first played, see the amazing fans that follow you every single place you go, it’s not fun to play against, but I really do appreciate the fun atmosphere,” said Pegula, known for her calm and methodical style but unraveled amid Eala’s relentless and aggressive play at the resumption.
Eala opened her Washington campaign by rallying past Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen. She then dethroned defending champion Leylah Fernandez in another comeback win that saw her battle back from a 5-1 deficit in the second set.
The 21-year-old Eala also swept World No. 10 Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinal and dispatched four-time Grand Slam winner and former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the final four.
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Eala, who is expected to crack the WTA top 20, looks to sustain her fine form at the WTA 1000 Canadian Open in Toronto, where she’s seeded 25th and drew a first-round bye.
Eala evened her head-to-head matchup with Pegula, who ended her dream run in Miami in March of last year. She also denied Pegula a second crown in Washington.
Sports
BWF World C’ship 2026: The rare club of junior and senior world champions | Other Sports News
The BWF Badminton World Championships 2026, to be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi from August 17 to 23, will bring together the world’s finest shuttlers in pursuit of badminton’s most coveted individual title.
While Olympic champions, world No. 1 players and established stars will dominate the spotlight, a select group of players will arrive with an achievement that sets them apart from the rest. Long before conquering the senior circuit, they had already announced themselves as the best junior players in the world.
Making the transition from junior champion to senior world champion is one of the toughest feats in badminton, and only a handful of players have managed to complete that journey.
Akane Yamaguchi, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Ratchanok Intanon, Liu Shengshu and Dechapol Puavaranukroh all turned early promise into World Championship glory. As they return to New Delhi, the five former junior champions will be chasing another world title while looking to further strengthen their legacies on badminton’s biggest stage.
Five players who won both junior and senior world championships:
Akane Yamaguchi (Japan): From junior prodigy to three-time world champion
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World Junior titles: 2013, 2014 (women’s singles) -
Senior World titles: 2021, 2022, 2025
Akane Yamaguchi’s rise began with back-to-back women’s singles titles at the BWF World Junior Championships, making her the first Japanese player to achieve the feat. Soon after, she became the youngest-ever winner of a BWF Super Series title at the age of 16, signalling the arrival of one of Japan’s finest shuttlers.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Thailand): The junior king who conquered the senior stage
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World Junior titles: 2017, 2018, 2019 (men’s singles) -
Senior World titles: 2023
Kunlavut Vitidsarn rewrote the record books by becoming the only men’s singles player to win three consecutive BWF World Junior Championships titles, establishing himself as one of the brightest talents in the sport.
The Thai star has carried that promise into the senior ranks. He became Thailand’s first men’s singles world champion in 2023, claimed the silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, won the 2025 Asian Championships title and became the first Thai men’s singles player to reach world No. 1. Still in his mid-20s, Kunlavut will be among the leading contenders in New Delhi.
Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand): The teenage sensation who fulfilled her promise
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World Junior titles: 2009, 2010, 2011 (women’s singles) -
Senior World titles: 2013
Before Kunlavut made history, Ratchanok Intanon had already shown Thailand the path to badminton greatness.
The Thai star won three successive World Junior Championships titles and earned a reputation as one of the sport’s brightest teenage talents, thanks to her effortless strokeplay and creative shot-making.
She made an equally seamless transition to the senior circuit, becoming the youngest-ever women’s singles world champion in 2013 at just 18 years of age. Intanon later climbed to world No. 1, won multiple BWF World Tour titles and represented Thailand at four Olympic Games, cementing her place among the game’s most accomplished players.
Liu Shengshu (China): Doubles specialist making a rapid rise
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World Junior titles: 2022 (women’s doubles and mixed doubles) -
Senior World titles: 2025 (women’s doubles)
Liu Shengshu enjoyed a memorable BWF World Junior Championships campaign in 2022, winning gold medals in both women’s doubles and mixed doubles to showcase her versatility.
Her rise at the senior level has been equally impressive. Partnering with Tan Ning, Liu won the silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games before capturing the women’s doubles title at the 2025 BWF World Championships. The pair have quickly established themselves among the world’s strongest combinations and will once again be among the favourites in New Delhi.
Dechapol Puavaranukroh (Thailand): Reinventing himself as a world champion
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World Junior titles: 2014 (men’s doubles) -
Senior World titles: 2021 (mixed doubles)
Dechapol Puavaranukroh’s journey to the top took an unconventional route.
After winning the World Junior title in men’s doubles, the Thai shuttler switched his focus to mixed doubles, where he found his greatest success. Partnering with Sapsiree Taerattanachai, he won the 2021 BWF World Championships, reached world No. 1 and collected several BWF World Tour titles.
At the BWF World Championships 2026, Dechapol returns with Supissara Paewsampran and will be aiming to add another world title to his impressive résumé.
From junior promise to badminton’s biggest stage
Winning a World Junior Championship is often seen as a glimpse of future greatness, but only a handful of players manage to translate that promise into senior World Championship success.
Akane Yamaguchi, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Ratchanok Intanon, Liu Shengshu and Dechapol Puavaranukroh have all achieved that rare feat. As the BWF World Championships 2026 gets under way in New Delhi, the five former junior champions will once again be chasing badminton’s ultimate prize.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Veteran right-handed reliever Chris Martin was designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers on Monday after being reinstated from his third injured list stint this season because of a right shoulder issue.
Martin, who turned 40 in June, is 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA in 16 games this season, allowing 25 hits and 14 earned runs in 14 innings. He missed 75 games during his three IL stints.
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The 6-foot-8 Martin is an Arlington native who initially played for his hometown team in 2018 and 2019. He returned to the Rangers last season, when he had a 2.98 ERA over 49 relief appearances.
Martin is 19-25 with a 3.53 ERA in 434 relief appearances over 11 big league seasons with seven teams. His 149 games with the Rangers are the most with a single team, and he pitched 100 games for Boston in 2023 and 2024.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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Explained: How Pakistan pacer’s British citizenship puts PSL 2027 contract in limbo | Cricket News
Mohammad Amir‘s new British citizenship could create a fresh complication for the Pakistan fast bowler ahead of the 2027 Pakistan Super League (PSL). Although Amir played as a domestic cricketer in the PSL until last season, he is now expected to be treated as an overseas player.Amir spoke about the change during an appearance on Wisden’s The Scoop Extended, revealing that his new citizenship status would affect how he is classified in the PSL. His British citizenship was confirmed in June after Nottinghamshire signed him for the 2026 Vitality Blast.The move has already allowed Amir to be treated as a domestic player in English competitions. He also played for Trent Rockets in the 2026 edition of The Hundred after replacing David Payne.
What does it mean for Amir’s PSL future?
The situation is different in Pakistan. Amir is expected to be classified as an overseas player in the PSL, meaning any team wanting him will have to use one of its foreign-player slots.Amir played for Rawalpindi in PSL 2026 after being bought for PKR 5.4 crore in the league’s first auction. He was among the team’s major signings alongside Naseem Shah and Daryl Mitchell.The change could create a problem because players retained or bought before PSL 2026 were given two-year contracts covering the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Under the PSL auction rules, teams can retain up to seven players for PSL 12, while released players return to the auction pool.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has not yet clarified whether Rawalpindi can keep Amir under his existing deal after his status changes. The team may have to release him, renegotiate his contract or use an overseas-player slot to retain him.Reports suggesting that PSL 2027 could be Amir’s final season have not been confirmed by the cricketer, PCB or Rawalpindi.For now, what is clear is that Amir holds a British passport, is treated as a domestic player in England and is expected to be an overseas player in the PSL. A formal PCB clarification on his Rawalpindi contract is still awaited.
A high, soft pitch is one of the most satisfying shots in golf, and it’s easier to hit than you might think. Start by using a sand wedge or lob wedge. The loft of these clubs helps launch the ball, while the bounce allows the club to glide through the turf.
Many golfers struggle because the leading edge digs into the ground, causing fat or stubbed shots. Learn to use the bounce correctly, and you’ll start hitting crisp, consistent pitch shots around the green.
Here are five keys that will help you use the bounce of your club more effectively and improve your short game.
1. Set the clubface square
Lofted wedges are designed to appear open at address. Properly setting the club on its sole is critical because it allows the wedge’s full loft and bounce to work as intended.
Start with the clubface square to slightly open. Opening the face more can increase launch and bounce, which may benefit higher-speed players. But for most golfers, square to slightly open is an ideal starting point.
2. Keep the clubhead centered
Ball position is a key to consistent pitch shots. Ideally, the clubhead should be positioned near the center, or slightly forward, in your stance.
This helps reduce excessive forward shaft lean, which can expose the leading edge and cause the club to dig. If you prefer playing the ball farther back in your stance, opening the face slightly can add bounce and help offset the steeper shaft angle.
3. Start with a neutral shaft position
A neutral shaft position at address helps maintain the wedge’s natural loft and bounce. As a starting point, the grip should point toward the center of your body rather than significantly forward. This allows the sole of the wedge to rest on the turf as it was designed and gives the bounce a chance to work.
4. Proper release through impact
While your address position matters, the shaft angle at impact is even more important. Unlike a full swing shot, pitches do not require significant forward shaft lean at impact. With shorter swings and lower clubhead speeds, too much lean can expose the leading edge and cause the club to dig.
Instead, let the clubhead release naturally so it aligns more closely with the shaft through impact. This release pattern is different from a full swing and allows the bounce to interact with the turf first, creating cleaner contact and more consistent results.
5. Find a wedge that fits you
Even the best technique will only get you so far if you’ve got the wrong wedge setup. The right combination of loft, bounce, and sole design plays a major role in how the club interacts with the turf.
If your wedges consistently dig or feel harsh through impact, it may be an equipment issue rather than a technique issue. First, make sure your fundamentals are sound with a qualified golf instructor. Then, getting properly fit for your wedges can be a game changer.
Red Sox acquiring three-time All-Star Adley Rutschman in intra-division trade deadline deal with Orioles
Congratulations To The Frikkin Laser Winners!
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