Diana Taurasi retires; Luka Dončić notches first triple-double with Lakers in win over Mavericks
This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.
😜 Good morning to all, but especially to ...LUKA DONČIĆ AND THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS
You cannot convince me that Luka Dončić didn't want this one, and not just the W. In front of the man who shipped him out of Dallas earlier this month, the Los Angeles Lakers' heir apparent picked up his first triple-double as a member of the purple-and-gold last night -- and in the first meeting against his old club no less. With Mavericks GM Nico Harrison in attendance, Dončić produced a stat line authored by only one other Laker: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Talk about hold my beer.
In truth, Dončić didn't shoot well, but he did enough of everything else as he went for 19 points, 15 rebounds, 12 assists, three steals and two blocks. There were also at least nine other players on the court at any given moment. LeBron James (27 points, 12 boards) and Austin Reaves (20 points, five assists) helped power the Lakers to their 107-99 victory, a win that boosts their record to 35-21 and, perhaps more importantly, 7-2 since the Feb. 2 blockbuster deal for Anthony Davis that still kinda doesn't seem real.
After Harrison's coffee shop convo with his Lakers counterpart Rob Pelinka, Dallas' GM may never need to buy another cup of java in L.A. Fans in the arena shouted their appreciation for Harrison's move on night that the Lakers also delivered a video tribute for Davis, who did not play. For his part, Dončić's former teammate, the game-high scorer Kyrie Irving with 35 points, summed up the reunion with three words: "Awkward as s---."
It's around this time that we typically kick it to one of our stellar NBA scribes to drop a little knowledge, but on this day I don't think anyone can say it any better than Dončić (who, it should be noted, is also still processing all this) so he'll take us out: "The closure's gonna take a while, I think. You know, it's not ideal. But like I said, I'm glad this game is over. You know, there's a lot of emotions. But we go little by little, and every day is better."
👍 Honorable mentions 🏀 And not such a good morning for ...THE NO. 3 FLORIDA GATORS
Can you feel it? As March creeps closer and the stakes get higher, you can feel that win-to-get-in desire that often permeates the college basketball world this time of year. I'm not saying that unranked Georgia's stunning 88-83 takedown of No. 3 Florida puts them in the "get in" conversation -- far from it, says Matt Norlander -- but a loss most certainly would have torpedoed their chance without running the table at the SEC Conference championship.
The Gators didn't do themselves any favors in all phases of the shooting department, and the closer they got to the rim the smaller the hoop must've appeared. They were 11 of 32 (34.3%) from beyond the arc, 18 of 29 (62.1%) from the line and a ghastly 15 of 27 (55.5%) on shots Stat Broadcast considered layups. Even with all that, Georgia almost wound up as the (lowercase) goat because the Bulldogs had a 26-point lead in the first half, yet found themselves down by a point with 88 seconds to go. Georgia can thank its hot outside shooting (10 of 19, 52.6%) for escaping with the win.
In another notable games, No. 2 Duke continued to do Duke things as the Blue Devils dropped the hammer on the Miami Hurricanes, 97-60. More intriguing than the result is whether Jon Scheyer will lose his top assistant, Jai Lucas, to the Canes once Jim Larrañaga departs after the season.
Plus, we've got Issac Trotter with his Trotter's 10 Trends, which this week covers Oregon's depth and the Big East Defensive Player of the Year battle as two of his featured items, along with Jerry Palm's Bracketology Bubble Watch.
👎 Not so honorable mentions 👋 Diana Taurasi retiresThe retirement of Diana Taurasi, the WNBA's all-time leading scorer and a champion at every level, should not have been a surprise. She had been hinting at it. The Mercury held an on-court sendoff following the their final home game last season. Her kids hugged her at center court. She laid the microphone down on the logo after addressing the Phoenix crowd. Still, it's going to be hard to imagine a league without her.
Consider this: Taurasi, 42, played 20 WNBA seasons, all for the Mercury, and she appeared in more than 60% of the games the franchise -- one of the WNBA's original eight -- over the history of the organization. All of the numbers are staggering. She's the only player to score more than 10,000 points in the WNBA, has six Olympic gold medals, is a three-time WNBA champion, a two-time Finals MVPs and the league MVP in 2009. She was drafted in 2004, back when current WNBA stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were literally toddlers.
Tributes came from far and wide, as you would expect. Taurasi, who grew up a Lakers and Kobe Bryant fan, was famously nicknamed "The White Mamba" by her idol. Next up? A well-earned retirement and a trip to Springfield and any other Hall of Fame that would be lucky enough to have her. Meanwhile, Jack Maloney takes a look at the players who might be able to catch her scoring record.
🏈 NFL combine prospect rankings, bold predictions, workout tracker and the fastest 40s everWe've still got a day before (some) players take the field at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, but that just means we've got one more day to share a bevy of our advance insights including:
We gave you a mountain of content yesterday, so I want to run back the links to where you can find the key prospects to watch, notable snubs and landing spots for the key players:
⚽ USWNT, big Premier League showdown predictionsIt may not be a UEFA Champions League week -- that returns next week, and you can watch it all on Paramount+ -- but this midweek is still turning into quite an eventful one. After a crazy 4-4 draw between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid yesterday, today brings U.S. women's national team action and a bunch of Premier League play. The U.S. will face familiar foe Japan on Wednesday night for the SheBelieves Cup title, which Pardeep Cattry breaks down for us. The Americans have to win to take home the title as a draw will be enough for the visitors. In England, Manchester City and Tottenham play in a battle of rich clubs that Chuck Booth explains are far from where they want to be at this point of the season. Here's a look today's major action:
- Cattry: "USWNT 1, Japan 1 -- The U.S. women's national team wraps up the SheBelieves Cup on Wednesday, facing a must-win game against Japan if they are to win the competition for a sixth time in a row. It sets up for a fascinating test for this particular version of the USWNT -- head coach Emma Hayes is working with a fairly inexperienced group as she begins the long process to prepare for the 2027 Women's World Cup, with 13 members of the current squad having 20 caps or fewer. They will take on a Japan team that has arguably been the best side at the SheBelieves Cup, outscoring the opposition eight to one in two games so far. It's a hard result to predict because of the USWNT's era of experimentation, but expect a fiercely contested game regardless."
- Booth: "Tottenham 3, Manchester City 1 -- On the surface, it may seem like a battle of clubs without a direction as Tottenham and Manchester City meet in the Premier League, but with Ange Postecoglu's Spurs getting healthier by the day and Pep Guardiola's City side clinging on for dear life in the top five, the stakes will be high. No team has had Guardiola's number quite like Tottenham during his time in the Premier League and they'll engineer yet another upset in their home stadium winning behind Brennan Johnson."
⚽ Manchester City at Tottenham, 2:30 p.m. on Peacock ⚽ Empoli at Juventus, 3 p.m. on Paramount+ ⚽ Real Madrid at Real Sociedad, 3:30 p.m. on ESPN+ 🏀 No. 8 Michigan State at No. 16 Maryland (M), 6:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network 🏀 Georgetown at Connecticut (M), 6:30 p.m. on FS1 🏀 Ole Miss at No. 1 Auburn (M), 7 p.m. on ESPN2 🏀 Notre Dame at No. 13 Clemson (M), 7 p.m. on ACC Network 🏀 NC State at Syracuse (M), 7 p.m. on ESPNU 🏀 76ers at Knicks, 7 p.m. on ESPN 🏀 Houston at No. 10 TCU (W), 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2 🏀 No. 2 UCLA at Wisconsin (W), 8 p.m. on Peacock 🏀 No. 7 St. John's at Butler (M), 9 p.m. on CBSSN 🏀 Spurs at Rockets, 9:30 p.m. on ESPN 🏒 Canucks at Kings, 10 p.m. on TNT/truTV ⚽ SheBelieves Cup: Japan at United States, 10:30 p.m. on TBS
cbssports
