NBA and NHL Postseason Preview, the A's Still Lack a Plan and More
A's future uncertain as the NHL and NBA postseason picture becomes more clear
There’s only a couple of weeks left in both the NHL and NBA seasons.
The Sacramento A’s?
The city of Oakland and the County of Alameda re-engaged with the Athletics’ about a new lease. Their current agreement in the Coliseum expires in 2024. The A’s need a place to stay for the next few seasons, while their arena in Vegas is built. Reported proposals include the A’s paying $97 million for a lease extension of up to five years, with an option to opt our after three.
Some of the reported terms include:
The A’s giving up their share of the Coliseum and paying to convert it to a Soccer field
The Athletics are required to abandon their team name, colors, and branding upon relocating to Las Vegas.
Oakland needs guarantees for an expansion team from Major League Baseball.
The A’s are obligated to assist in the transfer of ownership to a local individual.
Both sides think a deal is possible. Sacramento and Salt Lake City have been floated as other interim options before A’s land in Las Vegas.
PS: Folks are speculating that two players were demoted for supporting protesters with merch
A Sprint for the postseason
Only a handful of games remain in the NBA season. Outside of the Blazers, the West Coast is represented well in the postseason standings. There’s still a lot to figure out before brackets are set out West.
Golden State is on a five-game streak, including a crucial win over the No. 11 Rockets. The Warriors (10th seed) and Lakers (9th seed) are 1.5 games apart.
Sacramento is 1.5 games ahead of the Lakers. The Kings are tied for the seventh seed with the Phoenix Suns. Both teams are one-game behind the Mavericks and Pelicans. Sac currently holds the tie-breaker and sits in seventh. New Orleans and Dallas are tied for the fifth and sixth seeds.
In the fourth seed, the Clippers are five games back from one of the top-3 seeds. They are three games above the Kings in the seventh spot, after losing to Sacramento this week. Los Angeles is .500 since the All-Star break so they might not remain the top-seeded team in the pacific time zone. Kawhi Leonard and James Harden are also banged up.
KEY MATCHUP: Warriors versus Lakers on Tuesday, April 9 at 7 p.m. pt in Los Angeles.
NHL Postseason taking shape
In the NHL, the Western Conference is pretty much locked up. The Kings, Kraken and Knights all locked-in bids for the postseason. Seattle distanced itself from the Canucks and Flames in the Wild Card race this week. The Kings are the other Wild Card team in the Pacific. Las Vegas sits atop the conference with 111 points and 9 games remaining in their season.
MORE: The Ducks and Sharks both missed the playoffs again :(
NFL
Seahawks meet with free agent guards
Make Mayock addresses how he handled Derek Carr
Warren Sapp joins Deion’s staff at Colorado
Rice goes with Montana over Young
Mostert signs extension with Miami
Mariota is first QB to wear No. 0
San Francisco disrespected Armstead
NBA
Rajon Rondo calls it a career, officially
Westbrook gets into it with a fan
Blake Griffin isn’t retired, officially
LeBron reportedly wants to own an NBA team in Las Vegas
Bronny joins the Transfer Portal
Russ trolled in Sacramento again
Doc Rivers compares Kawhi to Kobe and Jordan
Jerry West goes into HOF for the third time (this time as an executive)
MLB
Padres' Korean reliever Go Woo-suk began the season in Double-A
Scott Boras opens up about MLB Free Agency
Phil Bickford joins the Yankees
Fans get down at the Padres’ home opener
Padres trade for AJ Preller (Yes, he was there before)
Giants send Joey Bart to Pirates
Tatis honors Padres’ late owner
Nelson Cruz retires as a Mariner
NHL
Sidney Crosby matched Wayne Gretzky's NHL record for the most seasons averaging a point
Golden Knights have several key Free Agents after this year
Jonathan Quick is the American goalie with most victories in history
MORE
Microsoft is working on an Xbox AI chatbot
Henderson sports arena renamed
That’s it for this week. I finally caught the Vince Staples Show on Netflix. It was definitely entertaining. Any thoughts?