📰🏟️ Two teams, one Cup

Good afternoon. The top-five sports stories of the day are at your fingertips. Just keep scrolling.

—Kyle

1) NY Knicks win NBA Cup, first title since 1973

The Knicks erased a double-digit deficit to defeat the San Antonio Spurs 124-113 last night and win the third NBA Cup title in league history, with G Jalen Brunson named tournament MVP after averaging 34.8 points/game.

• Each Knicks player earned ~$531K in prize money for winning the mid-season NBA Cup tournament, while each Spurs player received ~$212K for placing second.
• The NBA Cup is the first trophy the Knicks have won since their last NBA Championship 52 years ago.

How the Knicks made history

2) NFL is locked in a battle to fix its officiating

The collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and its referees union is due to expire after this season, with talks for a new one in progress. 

• But thus far, “those discussions have been unsuccessful,” according to a recent memo from the NFL to teams.
• The reported sticking points are the NFL’s desire to implement a performance-based model for rewarding referees, rather than seniority, and the league’s push to shorten refs’ offseasons so they can receive more training and development.

Flag on the play: explore the NFL’s officiating issues

3) ACC football unveils uneven conference schedules

The ACC announced plans to move to a nine-game conference schedule beginning in 2027, with next season serving as a “transition year” where 12 of 17 teams play nine league games, and the other five teams play eight league games.

• The conference’s uneven scheduling will continue even after the transition year. Starting in 2027, 16 ACC teams will play nine conference games and one will play eight, due to the math of a 17-team league.
• The ACC also remains contractually tied with Notre Dame, playing five nonconference games per year against the Fighting Irish.

Inside the ACC’s new 9-game slate

4) WNBA star is the latest high-profile athlete burglary

New York Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu’s home in Los Angeles was burglarized on Monday night when she and her husband, Las Vegas Raiders OL Hroniss Grasu, weren’t at home.

• The thieves reportedly stole several handbags worth $60+K from the WNBA All-Star’s home—among other items—before fleeing the scene, with no arrests made.
• Ionescu is the latest high-profile athlete to have their home burglarized, joining Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Joe Burrow, Luka Dončić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and most recently Browns QB Shedeur Sanders during his NFL debut last month.

What we know about the latest incident

5) Nick Saban becomes NHL minority owner

Saban, a current ESPN analyst and arguably the greatest CFB coach in history, is part of a group that bought a minority stake in the NHL’s Nashville Predators this week for an undisclosed amount.

• The former Alabama head coach joins a Predators ownership group led by former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who became the team’s majority owner in July.
• Saban is a noted Predators fan, having attended games during the team’s 2017 run to the Stanley Cup Final, and showing up at the Predators’ development camp earlier this summer.

More on Alabama Jones’ pivot to Nashville

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