Happy Friday everyone! Pete is off today and Monday, but don’t fret, I, Shanna McCarriston, am here to take over. It’s been a minute since I’ve written the newsletter and I’m excited to be bringing you all the most important sports news of the day.
I hope you’ve all been enjoying the nice spring weather we’ve been getting lately. This weekend I might actually take a break from sitting on the couch and watching reality television/sports and actually go for a nice walk in nature. A major adjustment, I know.
Today we are going over the NBA trade deadline and also taking an early look at the NFL Draft and players expected to have the most value in MLB this upcoming season.
Let’s get to it.
📰 What you need to know
1. Recapping the NBA trade deadline, from winners and losers to reactions 🏀
It’s NBA trade deadline time, which means eyes emojis mean more, overreactions are everywhere and many surprises are hitting Twitter. I love chaos, so this is a fun time of year for me. Let’s get into that chaos.
One of the biggest deals of this trade deadline came right at the buzzer, from the Miami Heat (we’ll get to more of that in a bit.) While the Heat got most everyone talking, there were a lot of other moves made around the league.
If you couldn’t keep up with all the action, don’t worry, we have the recap you need to make it seem like you did. We also have the crazy Twitter reactions players had to all the deals that went down … because this is the NBA after all.
Here are some of the winners and losers from the deadline:
- Winner: Miami Heat — The Heat grabbed All-Star guard Victor Oladipo in exchange for Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and a draft spot. Oladipo is averaging 20 points a game and could make the Heat more dangerous this season. The Heat also didn’t have to give up too much to get the All-Star.
- Loser: Houston Rockets –The Rockets didn’t get the best return for Oladipo and, while he was plagued with several injuries, he is having one of his better seasons.
- Winner: Chicago Bulls — The Magic sent Nikola Vucevic and Al-Farouq Aminu to the Bulls for Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter and two future first-round draft picks. These additions could help Chicago jump from 10th place to inside the top eight
- Loser: Boston Celtics — It seemed like all roads were leading to the C’s picking up Aaron Gordon, but instead Boston ended up with Evan Fournier (meanwhile Gordon headed to the Nuggets.) While it wasn’t the worst trade to happen, this was another episode of grand statements made by Danny Ainge not coming to fruition.
Before you move on, our NBA experts also ranked every single deal that went down yesterday afternoon.
2. What would it take for the Jags to trade the No. 1 pick? 🏈
USATSI
As of right now, the Jacksonville Jaguars have the No. 1 pick in next month’s NFL Draft (they can thank the New York Jets for that one) and are expected to use it to take quarterback Trevor Lawrence out of Clemson. While they are likely going to keep the first overall selection, especially since the Jags could use someone like Lawrence, history shows it’s not a guarantee that the top spot team doesn’t trade the pick away.
In the last 60 years, the No. 1 pick has been sold nine times. It’s not something that happens often, but it’s not out of the question. CBS Sports’ own Cody Benjamin took a look at the hypotheticals and came up with what it would take for the Jags to part with that top pick.
- New York Jets: 2021 first (No. 2), 2022 first (via Seahawks), 2021 second (No. 34), 2022 second, 2021 fourth (No. 107)
- Miami Dolphins: QB Tua Tagovailoa, 2021 first (No. 3), 2021 first (No. 18), 2021 second (No. 50), 2022 second
- Atlanta Falcons: WR Calvin Ridley, 2021 first (No. 4), 2022 first, 2021 second (No. 35), 2022 second, 2021 third (No. 68)
- Philadelphia Eagles: QB Jalen Hurts, 2021 first (No. 6), 2022 first, 2022 conditional first (via Colts), 2021 second (No. 37), 2022 second
- Detroit Lions: OT Taylor Decker, 2021 first (No. 7), 2022 first, 2022 first (via Rams), 2023 first (via Rams), 2021 second (No. 41), 2022 third
3. Ranking the top 100 MLB players for the 2021 season ⚾
Mike Meredith/CBS Sports
Baseball season is oh so close. As such, CBS Sports wants to get you ready for Opening Day so our MLB expert Dayn Perry went ahead and ranked the 100 players who will have the most value this year.
We don’t have time to go through the entire list, but we are gonna take a glimpse into the top five, which consists of four outfielders and one pitcher.
- Mike Trout, Angels, CF: No shock here, right? Even in a season afflicted by small sample sizes and a global pandemic, Trout showed no signs of slowing down. He is still the best player on the planet
- Mookie Betts, Dodgers, RF: Betts’ first season with the Dodgers ended in his team winning the World Series, but also with him winning a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger and a second-place finish in the NL MVP balloting
- Juan Soto, Nationals, LF: Soto, just 22, may already be the best pure hitter in baseball. As Perry notes, his combination of power and patience belies that young age, and he’s toe-deep into what should be a legendary career
- Ronald Acuna, Braves, CF: At only 23, it’s crazy how well-rounded Acuna already is. His blend of hitting, fielding and base-running make him one of the most complete players around
- Jacob deGrom, Mets, SP: The top pitcher in the game has put up a 2.10 ERA and a 5.81 K/BB ratio over the last three seasons
That top five may not be surprising, but the entire list is definitely worth a read when you have to time to comb through it.
4. NCAA announces independent evaluation into disparities between men’s and women’s basketball tournaments 🏀
Getty Images
Over the past week, the clear disparities between workout facilities at the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Division I Basketball Tournaments have been put on blast. The conversation started last Thursday when Stanford sports performance coach Ali Kerschner posted photos on social media that displayed the drastic difference between what men’s teams competing at the NCAA Tournament in Indiana get to use to work out and what the women competing at the NCAA Tournament get in Texas.
Yesterday — one week later — NCAA president Mark Emmert announced that the NCAA is hiring a law firm to conduct an independent review of the situation. The law firm hired has extensive knowledge in Title IX and gender equity issues.
They plan to have “preliminary assessments” by late April and expect a final report by this summer.
- Emmert: “While many of the operational issues identified have been resolved, we must continue to make sure we are doing all we can to support gender equity in sports. As part of this effort, we are evaluating the current and previous resource allocation to each championship, so we have a clear understanding of costs, spend and revenue.”
Chair of the NCAA Committee on women’s athletics Suzette McQueen said the differences in the tournament “undermines the NCAA’s authority as a proponent and guarantor of Title IX protections, and it sets women’s college athletics back across the country.”
After the videos and photos showing the differences between the facilities hit social media, athletes and coaches criticized the NCAA and asked that they fix the disparities. The weight room was eventually upgraded, but not before outrage from the sports community … which begs the question of whether anything would have happened if the outrage didn’t get so loud.
📝 Odds & Ends
📺 What to watch this weekend
Friday
🏀 Celtics vs. Bucks, 7:30 p.m. | MIL -6 | TV: ESPN
🏒 Jets vs. Flames, 10 p.m. | CAL -125 | TV: ESPN+
🎾 Miami Open, Various times | TV: Tennis Channel
Saturday
🏀 NCAAW: No. 1 UConn vs. No. 5 Iowa, 1 p.m. | TV: ABC
🏀 NCAAM: No. 1 Baylor vs. No. 5 Villanova, 5:15 p.m. | BAY -7.5 | TV: CBS
Sunday
🏁 NASCAR Cup Series at Bristol (Dirt), 3:30 p.m. | TV: FOX
🏀 NCAAM: No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Florida State, 5. p.m. | MICH -1.5 | TV: CBS
🥇 The best thing I saw yesterday
Without a doubt, this is the most athletic dog on the planet and might be the most athletic living thing in the world. If you haven’t seen this video yet, you have to give it a watch.