Yahoo Sports AM: Bronny to the Lakers

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NHL Awards: Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon won his first Hart Trophy as league MVP. The night’s other big winners included Chicago’s Connor Bedard (rookie), Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck (goalie) and Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes (defenseman).

NFL antitrust lawsuit: The NFL has been ordered to pay $4.7 billion in damages in a class-action antitrust suit filed by subscribers of “NFL Sunday Ticket.” Under federal antitrust law, that payout becomes over $12 billion in actuality. The league intends to appeal.

Reese ties Parker: Sky rookie Angel Reese had her ninth consecutive double-double in Thursday’s loss to the Aces, tying Candace Parker’s mark from 2015 for the longest such single-season streak in WNBA history.

️ Birds overtake Yanks: The Orioles (51-30) leapfrogged the reeling Yankees (52-31) atop the AL East as New York lost its fourth straight game, and seventh of eight.

LeBron “Bronny” James Jr. is taking his talents to Los Angeles, where history with his father awaits.

The pick: The Lakers selected the 6-2 guard out of USC with the 55th pick on Thursday. If he takes the court with his dad, they’ll become the first father-son duo to play together in NBA history.

The numbers say he’s overrated: James had an incredibly underwhelming freshman season, averaging 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting below 40%.

That didn’t stop him from dominating draft coverage thanks to his last name, which rubbed some people the wrong way.

“We wouldn’t be talking about him if his name was Joe Thomas,” one NBA executive told the New York Post.

But could he actually be underrated? Yahoo Sports’ Tom Haberstroh crunched the numbers and found that sons of NBA players vastly outperform their draft slots. Call it the nepo-baller phenomenon.

From Tom:

Since the modern two-round draft was established in 1989, about 2,000 players have been selected to enter the top pro league on the planet.

Veteran scouts and fancy statistical models try to identify and analyze dozens of variables and traits wingspan, college coach, nationality that can signal future success amid the noise.

After crunching the data, it’s hard to find a trait that has mattered more than the answer to a simple question: Did your dad play in the NBA? If yes, that player tends to be a draft night steal.

According to data-tracking from Basketball-Reference’s researcher Jay Hutchinson, dating back to the 1989 draft, there have been 68 draftees whose fathers played in the NBA.

The legacy draftees, based on where they were drafted, were on average expected to generate 1.65 annual win shares in their NBA careers, the equivalent caliber of the 16th pick.

Instead, they yielded 2.15, a 30% bump, which was more indicative of a No. 10 pick. Said another way, players with NBA bloodlines have performed six slots better than their actual draft spot.

How impressive is that? Consider this: a 30% edge for legacy picks was larger than any college program in the study that sent at least 25 draftees to the league even higher than Kentucky (+26%).

The last word: “It’s a ridiculous advantage,” one GM told Yahoo Sports about nepo-ballers growing up around the game. “You have a much better chance to make it if you have a parent who played in the NBA.”

More NBA draft: Grades for every team | Early 2025 mock

Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper have earned spots as All-Star starters as the top vote-getters in the AL and NL after the first round of fan voting concluded on Thursday.

Judge (3,425,309 votes): The Yankees centerfielder is batting .304 with an 1.131 OPS while leading the league in doubles (23), homers (30) and RBI (77).

Harper (3,277,920 votes): The Phillies first baseman his batting .303 with a .981 OPS to go along with 20 doubles, 20 homers and 58 RBI. He did, however, limp off the field Thursday night with an apparent hamstring injury.

Phase two: The top two vote-getters at each position (including six outfielders) move onto the second round. But with Judge and Harper already in, there are just four AL outfield finalists and the NL first base slot is filled.

AL finalists:

C: Adley Rutschman (Orioles), Salvador Pérez (Royals)

1B: Ryan Mountcastle (Orioles), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays)

2B: Jose Altuve (Astros), Marcus Semien (Rangers)

3B: José Ramírez (Guardians), Jordan Westburg (Orioles)

SS: Gunnar Henderson (Orioles), Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals)

DH: Yordan Alvarez (Astros), Ryan OHearn (Orioles)

OF: Juan Soto (Yankees), Steven Kwan (Guardians), Anthony Santander (Orioles), Kyle Tucker (Astros)

NL finalists:

C: William Contreras (Brewers), J.T. Realmuto (Phillies)

1B: N/A

2B: Ketel Marte (D-Backs), Luis Arráez (Padres)

3B: Alec Bohm (Phillies), Manny Machado (Padres)

SS: Mookie Betts (Dodgers), Trea Turner (Phillies)

DH: Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers), Kyle Schwarber (Phillies)

OF: Jurickson Profar (Padres), Christian Yelich (Brewers), Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers), Fernando Tatis Jr. (Padres), Brandon Marsh (Phillies), Nick Castellanos (Phillies)

What’s next: Phase two voting begins Sunday, and starters will be announced on Wednesday. The full rosters, determined through a mixture of player ballots and selections from the Commissioner’s Office, will be revealed on July 7. The All-Star Game is July 16 in Arlington, Texas.

Atlanta The USMNT suffered a devastating and chaotic 2-1 loss against Panama, playing a man down for nearly the entire match after Tim Weah’s early red card. The Americans will likely need to beat Uruguay, one of the tournament favorites, on Monday to avoid elimination.

Detroit 15-year-old Miles Russell carded a 2-over 74 in his up-and-down PGA Tour debut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where Akshay Bhatia (-8) leads after 18 holes.

Georgetown, Guyana India crushed defending champion England by 68 runs to advance to Saturday’s T20 Cricket World Cup championship, where they’ll face South Africa.

Florence, Italy The 111th Tour de France begins Saturday in Florence, the 26th time it’s started outside France and the first in Italy. To avoid the Olympics, the race will end on a time trial from Monaco to Nice the first time it’s ever finished outside Paris.

MLB’s data-fueled pitching revolution has left hitters struggling to keep up, but new technology is helping them fight back and even the playing field.

High-tech batting practice: A new machine called Trajekt Arc can replicate the experience of facing any pitcher, allowing hitters to practice against every pitch. The product was first launched three years ago and 19 of 30 MLB teams are now using it.

Trajekt features a video screen that projects a full-size hologram of any pitcher, imitating their exact windup, arm angle and pitch mix, per ESPN.

This season, MLB decided to allow teams to use it during games, meaning hitters can head down to the cages and take swings against the exact pitches they’re about to see.

What they’re saying: “This is the first piece of technology we’ve had that truly benefits us,” one position player told ESPN. Pitchers aren’t so thrilled: “It’s impossible for a pitcher to mimic the at-bat but they could be hitting my fastball for the next three hours? That’s not fair,” said Yankees reliever Caleb Ferguson.

Is it working? The jury’s still out. While some believe in-game use of Trajekt is contributing to the lower strikeout rate against relievers this season, 2024 offenses are still producing some of the worst offensive numbers in MLB history.

27 years ago today, Mike Tyson bit part of Evander Holyfield’s ear clean off in one of the most infamous moments in boxing history.

Once wasn’t enough: Tyson received a two-point deduction and the fight resumed minutes later only to see Tyson bite Holyfield’s other ear, leading to his disqualification. He was fined $3 million and had his boxing license revoked, though it was reinstated a year later on appeal.

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