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Good morning! Make a deal today.
While You Were Sleeping: Uh ⊠what?
As we were closing up Pulse West Coast HQ for the night a few hours ago, in came social media posts we simply could not believe:Â The Mavericks are trading Luka DonÄiÄ, the annually All-NBA 25-year-old, to the Lakers for 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis. The kind of news you quadruple-check before sending to your group chat.
Alas, it is real, and it is stunning â a âholy shââ trade, says the Hall of Famer David Aldridge. The full deal (which also involves the Jazz), as reported:
A shocked John Hollinger calls this a huge risk for the Mavs. Sam Amick reports on the Laker perspective, also including this note:
As one source directly involved in the deal put it: âThis might be the most stunning trade in NBA history.â
As for who won this trade? Zach Harper peered through the bewilderment to give the Lakers an A. Additional reactions are rolling in our deadline live blog, with plenty more thoughts to come this week. Onward:
What Weâre Eating: Ready your grocery lists, folks
A week before the Super Bowl is the perfect time to plan your game day menu. If youâre in the mood for a project this week, the Pulse test kitchen is eying these recipes from our friends at NYT Cooking (all gift links, meaning anyone can read them for a few weeks â no subscription needed). The Pulser in parentheses will be testing:
Yum. Weâll report back Friday with our hopefully sparkling results. If none of these hit your spot, you can spend hours perusing the full Super Bowl recipes collection.
Weâll be back with some simple last-minute options later in the week, too. Happy cooking!
News to Know
Calipari upsets Kentucky
On a night full of upsets in menâs college basketball, there is one clear standout: John Calipariâs unranked Arkansas winning 89-79 over No. 12 Kentucky. Boos rained down as the former Kentucky coach of 15 years returned to Rupp Arena for the first time since leaving last spring. His new team is in 14th place in the SEC, but this win has to dull that sting a little.
Elsewhere: Kansas State ended No. 3 Iowa Stateâs 29-game home winning streak, short-handed No. 8 Tennessee got revenge on No. 5 Florida, USC topped No. 7 Michigan State, UConn downed No. 9 Marquette and No. 22 Texas Tech shocked No. 6 Houston in an overtime thriller, among other upsets. Whew.
Serious Matters: More accusations against Tucker
On Saturday, the Baltimore Banner reported three more massage therapists have accused longtime Ravens kicker Justin Tucker of inappropriate sexual behavior. A little more on the latest developments â and on Tucker, if youâre not familiar:
- Thatâs now nine total accusers, from five different facilities over five years.
- Who is Tucker? If kickers can be considered stars, the 35-year-old Tucker is. The most accurate kicker in NFL history, heâs a franchise legend on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
- What happens now:Â Tucker has not yet been charged with a crime, and a civil suit hasnât been filed. The NFL will look into the accusations, but says it previously wasnât aware of them.
Tucker has denied the accusations, says heâs never received a complaint from any massage therapist and called the reporting âtabloid fodder.â Read our full report here.
All-Star Bores: The All-Star malaise
I will admit a blind spot in the sports world for me: I just cannot bring myself to care about any All-Star games anymore. I will gladly applaud each player for their career-defining achievements ⊠and completely skip watching these contests.
I was reminded of that with this weekâs Pro Bowl festivities, in which deserving players got a nice vacation and played some minigames. It looked like fun, but I canât say it was interesting to the normal viewer.
- But maybe I am an outlier. I was reminded of a Pulse Poll we conducted in July, which asked what the worst All-Star game was. You selected the NFL.
- So I want to dive deeper, as we wrap up the supposed worst game today (at 3 p.m. ET on ABC, FWIW): Do you care about All-Star games ⊠at all?
Vote here. Weâll have the results and further discussion tomorrow.
Watch and Play
đș Soccer: Manchester City at Arsenal
11:30 a.m. ET on Peacock
Is City really back? Unclear, but two straight wins across Premier League and Champions League play is encouraging. They face the second-place Gunners in a massive tilt this morning. Best game on TV today.
đș NBA: Grizzlies at Bucks
8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
I continue to be fascinated by Memphis, sitting comfortably in the No. 3 spot in the West. Milwaukee has also been hot of late, and the star power is never lacking with the Bucks. Cure your Sunday scaries here.
