— If you’ve got an extra $5B (that’s billion, with a B) hanging around the house, you could buy the NBA’s Boston Celtics, who are on the market, two weeks after they won their 18th league championship. Would make a nice birthday gift for your special someone.
Celtics just gave star Jayson Tatum a 5-year, $314M contract, which works out to $62.8M a year, or $765,853.65 per game. Big business.
Boston’s total payroll and luxury tax bill for the 2025-26 season is estimated to reach around $438M; really expensive- their window to win another title isn’t very long.
— Golden State traded Klay Thompson to Dallas; Warriors won four NBA titles while Thompson and Seth Curry were in the Bay Area. Thompson banked around $260M in his 13 years playing for Golden State, which gets a pair of 2nd round draft picks back from Dallas.
— 34-year old Paul George signed a 4-year, $212M deal with the 76ers; he scored 22.6 ppg for the Clippers this past season.
— Cleveland Cavaliers signed G Donovan Mitchell to a 3-year, $150.3M contract extension; Mitchell scored 26.6 ppg for the Cavaliers last season, leading them to a 48-34 record.
— Chris Paul signed up with the San Antonio Spurs on a 1-year, $11M deal; he’s played 19 years in the NBA, scoring 9.2 ppg in 58 games for Golden State last year.
— Utah State is firing football coach Blake Anderson for off-field reasons; Utah State went 6-7 each of the last two years, after going 11-3 in Anderson’s first year with the Aggies. Two other administrative people have also been fired; lawyers will cash in, as the coaches try to get paid on their way out the door.
— Famous birthdays, July 3rd:
Jan Smithers, 75
Frank Tanana, 71
Bruce Altman, 69
Tom Cruise, 62
Greg Vaughn, 59
Moises Alou, 58
Neil O’Donnell, 58
Grant Wistrom, 48
— Mets 7, Nationals 1 (10)
Mets scored 16 runs the last two nights, 11 of them in the 10th inning.
Pete Alonso hit a 2-run homer in the 10th inning.
— Dodgers 6, Arizona 5
Teoscar Hernandez had the walk-off single for LA.
Christian Walker has 15 homers at Dodger Stadium since 2018.
— Brewers 4, Rockies 3
Rhys Hoskins was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 9th inning.
Rockies lost for 7th time when they led after eight innings.
— A’s 7, Angels 5
Brent Rooker/Lawrence butler hit back/back homers.
Mitch Spence allowed only one run in 5.1 IP; he is 5-4 this year.
— Orioles 2, Mariners 0
Grayson Rodriguez tossed 6.1 scoreless innings.
This was Orioles’ first win without a home run since May 31.
— Rangers 7, Padres 0
Nathan Eovaldi allowed one hit in 7 shutout IP.
Nathaniel Lowe homered twice, knocked in four runs.
— Phillies 6, Cubs 4
Trea Turner homered twice, knocked in four runs.
Cubs have lost seven of their last nine games.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Braves, Cardinals, Padres
AL: Orioles, Guardians, Mariners. Wild Cards: New York, Twins, Royals
