Category: 6. Sports

As we prepare to enter the month of September, it’s not too early to be thinking about your fantasy basketball drafts for next season. Identifying potential breakout players can be key. Last season, Josh Hart and Payton Pritchard were among the players who took their fantasy games to another level. Let’s highlight five potential breakout players for this upcoming campaign.

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Matas Buzelis, Chicago Bulls

 

 

2024-25 Season: 8.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.0 APG, 82nd Current Yahoo Fantasy Rank

The Bulls continue to make the Play-In Tournament, but haven’t been able to emerge from it victorious. Chicago still has Nikola Vučević and Coby White to lead the way and they have some respectable depth with Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones, Zach Collins and Isaac Okoro on the roster.

The Bulls might have hit on Buzelis, who they selected with the 11th pick in the 2024 draft. His rookie averages of 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.9 blocks and 1.2 3-pointers don’t jump off the page, but he didn’t play much early in the season. After he became a starter in February, he averaged 13.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 1.7 3-pointers over 31 games. He shot 47.3% from the field, 80.6% from the free-throw line and 34.9% from behind the arc during that span.

Buzelis should be primed to enter this season as the Bulls’ starting power forward. There is no reason to believe that he can’t average around 30 minutes a game in that role, if not more. With his ability to block shots and hit 3-pointers, he is someone to target in drafts.

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Jaylen Wells, Memphis Grizzlies

 

 

2024-25 Season: 10.4 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 1.7 APG, 111th Current Yahoo Fantasy Rank

The Grizzlies selected Wells in the second round of the 2024 draft, and he immediately made an impact. He came off the bench for the first five games of last season, then entered the starting lineup. He never relinquished the role, finishing with averages of 10.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.7 3-pointers. Despite his starting job, he averaged a modest 26 minutes per game.

One of the big moves of the offseason was the Grizzlies trading Desmond Bane to the Magic. Bane was one of the focal points of their scoring attack, averaging 19.2 points and posting a 23.3% usage rate last season. That marked the fourth straight season in which Bane averaged at least 18.2 points. 

The Grizzlies made some depth additions with Ty Jerome and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and drafted Cedric Coward. However, none of them figure to handle the scoring burden that Bane had. Wells should not only continue to start this season, but he will likely play more minutes and see an increase in his 15.9% usage rate. He shot 35.2% from behind the arc last season, so more minutes and more shot attempts could propel him to average more than 2.0 3-pointers per game, while also chipping in more in other counting stats.

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Andrew Nembhard, Indiana Pacers

 

 

2024-25 Season: 12.5 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 4.7 APG, 99th Current Yahoo Fantasy Rank

A run to the NBA Finals last season ended in disaster for the Pacers when Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles. He will be out for the entire 2025-26 season, which will make it difficult for the Pacers to repeat their success. 

There is no one player on the roster who can make up for Haliburton’s production. The Pacers should use both Nembhard and T.J. McConnell to soak up Haliburton’s minutes at point guard. McConnell is a hard-nosed player who can rack up stats in a hurry when given added playing time. However, he has never averaged more than 26 minutes per game in a season. The last three seasons, he has averaged 20 minutes or fewer. Given his all-out style of play, it’s difficult to envision him holding up over 82 games if the Pacers play him 30+ minutes a night.

McConnell should see an increase in production as well, but Nembhard is the more appealing option for fantasy purposes. He averaged 33 minutes per game last season, which helped him produce 12.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.5 steals. Nembhard should continue to average over 30 minutes per game, so the possibility of added playing time to fill the open gap of Haliburton leaves him with the potential for a career season.

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Kevin Porter Jr., Milwaukee Bucks

 

 

2024-25 Season: 11.2 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 5.4 APG, 152nd Current Yahoo Fantasy Rank

The Bucks made headlines this summer when they waived Damian Lillard, who is recovering from a torn Achilles that could keep him out for all of this season. They did so to add Myles Turner, who provides a significant upgrade at center for them over Brook Lopez. However, with a lot of money tied up in their front court, the Bucks were left to bargain shop at their guard spots. Their guard depth chart includes Gary Trent Jr., Cole Anthony, A.J. Green, Ryan Rollins and Gary Harris.

The most notable move that the Bucks made at guard was signing Porter Jr. to a two-year deal. He didn’t do much with the Clippers last season, but he saw his production increase when he was traded to the Bucks. With the Bucks, he averaged 11.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 3-pointers in 19.9 minutes per game.

With Lillard out, Porter Jr. averaged 30 minutes in the Bucks’ playoff series against the Pacers. He only shot 39.6% from the field in the series, but he still averaged 11.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.4 3-pointers.

This might be cheating a bit to consider Porter Jr. a potential breakout player. He isn’t that far removed from a 2022-23 season with the Rockets in which he averaged 19.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.4 3-pointers over 34 minutes per game. However, he hasn’t had much fantasy impact since then. Given the Bucks’ options at guards, Porter Jr. should average somewhere between 25 and 30 minutes per game this season. With his ability to contribute in multiple categories, that kind of playing time leaves him with appealing upside.

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Sam Hauser, Boston Celtics

 

 

2024-25 Season: 3.5 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 0.5 APG, 57th Current Yahoo Fantasy Rank

When Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles against the Knicks in the playoffs, it changed the direction of the Celtics’ franchise. With him potentially missing all of next season, the Celtics decided to get their cap in order. To shed some payroll, they traded away Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday. Luke Kornet also left in free agency, and while Al Horford has yet to sign with another team, it appears unlikely that he will return to Boston.

The Celtics landed Anfernee Simons in the Holiday trade, but they didn’t make any other big additions this summer. Their power forward and center spots are especially thin. Options include Neemias Queta, Chris Boucher, Luka Garza and Xavier Tillman. With that in mind, Hauser will have the opportunity to earn more playing time.

Hauser is a three-point specialist. He has shot at least 41.6% from behind the arc in all four seasons of his career. If he can approach 30 minutes a game, he has the potential to average 3.0 3-pointers per game, while also becoming more of a factor in rebounds. For those hunting for threes late in drafts, Hauser should be a top target.

The INEOS Grenadiers rode to fifth place on the fifth stage team time trial at the Vuelta a Espana.

The Grenadiers tackled the 24km course in Figueres at 56.4km per hour to clock a time of 25:42.73, 16 seconds behind winners UAE Team Emirates – XRG.

The team started strongly, clocking the fastest time at the first checkpoint led through by Italian time trial champion Filippo Ganna.

The Grenadiers continued to work well together, with Luxembourg time trial champion Bob Jungels, Brandon Rivera, Victor Langellotti and Magnus Sheffield pulling turns before dropping off.

With four riders left to cross the finish line, Ganna, Michał Kwiatkowski and Ben Turner worked well to protect GC hopeful Egan Bernal.

Bernal now sits 10th overall ahead of a tough day in the mountains tomorrow, with 170km and 3,475m of elevation from Olot to Pal.

RIGA (Latvia) – Back in 2017, there were more than 10,000 fans in the stands of the Fenerbahce Arena in Istanbul, but they went silent as Latvia pushed through to defeat the hosts Türkiye.

Fast forward to 2025, and the roles reversed. It was the Turkish enjoying the silence this time, as a sold out Arena Riga witnessed Cedi Osman, Alperen Sengun and others storm to a comfy 93-73 win over Latvia to kick start their Group A campaign.

Turning Point

Tip-off. We probably had the fastest dunk in EuroBasket history, as Ercan Osmani converted the tip into a dunk immediately. While a game-starting dunk is in no way a legit turning point, it was a sign that Türkiye were locked in from the start, while Latvia were not.

The hosts did hang around, but when Cedi Osman and Shane Larkin started making their shots from deep in the third quarter, the lead ballooned all the way to +22 with seven minutes to play.

TCL Player of the Game

Pick your poison. Cedi Osman was a key factor in the third quarter, and had a team-high 20 points, Kenan Sipahi set his EuroBasket career-highs with 19 points and five threes made, and Türkiye were a +37 team in his 28 minutes of work, while Shane Larkin had 15 on the day.

However, it felt like Alperen Sengun was that key factor, providing the anchor on offense to keep the Turkish ship in safe waters on the Baltic sea.

Sengun finished with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists on the day, getting an high efficiency rating of 23.

Stats Don’t Lie

When Türkiye are making shots, they aren’t thinking about winning a game, they are here to go all the way.

Against Latvia, they made 15-of-25 three-pointers, not a lot any team can do when they are that hot. They have broken their previous mark at EuroBasket, having previously made 14 against France in 2022.

Bottom Line

Türkiye’s message was loud and clear, and they get to enjoy a day off thinking about the early matchup with Czechia on Friday.

Latvia have plenty to improve to impress their loyal fans, and they probably can’t wait for the game with Estonia to tip-off, also on Friday. Rihards Lomazs led the scoring with 16 points off the bench, while Kristaps Porzingis was held to 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting with Ercan Osmani as his primary defender.

Of course, it was a collective team effort on defense for coach Ergin Ataman, but Osmani deserves praise for his performance, for sure.

They Said

For more quotes, tune in to the official post-game press conference!

FIBA

NEW YORK — She just can’t quit the US Open.

After losing in the revamped mixed doubles tournament with Reilly Opelka, and then dropping her first-round match against 11th-seeded Karolina Muchova — a three-setter that saw her even the match after dropping the first — Venus Williams will stick around in Queens for a bit longer to play doubles.

The 45-year-old icon has accepted a wild card into the doubles draw alongside former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez. (Fernandez is still in the singles draw after defeating Rebecca Marino in the first round. She’ll play Elsa Jacquemot in the second round on Wednesday.)

Williams, a two-time US Open singles champion, has also won two doubles titles in Flushing Meadows — in 1999, alongside her sister, and then again ten years later (again with Serena).

The seven-time Slam singles champ was certainly feeling the love from the New York crowd in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night, and after the match she said it was perhaps the most supportive crowd she’s ever played in front of. (And that’s saying something, considering she’s been on the Hologic WTA Tour since 1994 and has won 23 total majors.)

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a crowd that much on my side,” she said. “When I lost those first two games, they were just still right there with me every point. Didn’t matter if I was losing and it was starting to roll fast, they were just right there with me. It felt great.

“I knew going into this match that people in this stadium, people in the United States, people around the world were really rooting for me, and that felt great.”

Venus and Leylah Fernandez Come Full Circle

Fernandez is a fitting partner for Williams. In Cincinnati, when the reigning Washington D.C. champion was scheduled to potentially play Venus in the third round — that didn’t end up happening, as both players lost before that — Fernandez talked about her kinship with Williams.

“Venus, she’s a legend,” Fernandez said earlier this summer. “She’s an icon. Growing up, when I first started playing tennis, people asked me, ‘Who did you watch when you were growing up?’ I always said Justine Henin and the Williams sisters.

“I see a lot of similarities between their family and my family. They kind of built the path for us, and if I do have the opportunity to play against her, I’m just gonna be super happy, a little kid living her dream and playing one of her idols.”

She won’t play against her, but will instead play with her — which is probably even more thrilling.

The World No. 30 also recalled meeting Venus back in 2020, when she first turned pro and didn’t know many players. It was in August of that year, at the Top Seed Open outside of Lexington, Kentucky, and Fernandez remembers that Venus was one of the first players who wanted to practice with her, something she always appreciated and will never forget.

“I thought I was going to be very intimidated, but she was super nice and welcoming,” Fernandez said. “She encouraged me, so it was pretty cool.”

Williams and Fernandez will play sixth-seeded Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez in the first round.

 

Emma Raducanu returned to the third round of the US Open for the first time since winning the 2021 title with a 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Indonesia’s Janice Tjen.

US Open: Draws | Scores | Order of play

It was Raducanu’s second straight win over a potentially tricky qualifier. Having dropped just three games against former doubles No. 4 Ena Shibahara in the first round, she found herself taking on the surging Tjen, who had compiled a 101-13 record since graduating from Pepperdine University last May. That included a first-round upset of No. 24 seed Veronika Kudermetova in Tjen’s first career meeting with a Top 50 player.

Her second was a marked contrast. Raducanu needed just an hour to end No. 149-ranked Tjen’s run and advance to the third round of a major for the third time in 2025. There, she will face either No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina or another qualifier, 18-year-old Tereza Valentova, in a bid to reach the second week of a major for the fourth time overall.

“Super dangerous opponent,” Raducanu said in her on-court interview. “She was playing extremely well, and I thought any ball that I put mid-court that was not necessarily good enough, she just put away easy. So I was really pleased with how I performed today.”

More to come…

 

We are closer to finding out who will be triumphant at the 2025 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship (22 August-7 September).

The global volleyball tournament has seen the initial 32 teams wittled down to 16, as the remaining nations enter a knockout stage final round in Bangkok, Thailand from Friday, 29 August onwards.

All three medallists from Paris 2024 – Olympic champions Italy, USA and Brazil – advanced with perfect 3-0 records, with Volleyball Nations League winners Italy aiming to be crowned world champions for the first time since 2002.

They are not the only countries to emerge from the pool stage with three wins out of three. Türkiye topped Pool E without dropping a single set, while the People’s Republic of China, Poland and Japan went unbeaten in their pools.

Hosts Thailand are keeping the party alive and will take on three-time champions Japan in the final round, and tournament debutants Slovenia have written more history by reaching the round of 16.

The knockout stage of the World Championship runs from 29 August to 7 September, with all matches taking place in the Thai capital’s 15,000-capacity Indoor Stadium Huamark.

Find the key details for the round of 16 matchups below.

A force’s new assistant chief constable has said she wants to “instil hope, confidence and trust”.

Rachel Shields has been appointed to the ACC position at Avon and Somerset Police, taking on the role after Will White retired earlier this year.

Ms Shields started her policing career with Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland in 1999 as a response constable. She came to Avon and Somerset Police in 2021.

In a statement, she said: “I applied to be ACC because I believe in the importance of policing, especially during times of instability and fear in our communities.”

After almost 22 years of service in Northern Ireland, Ms Shields moved to Avon and Somerset Police as a detective superintendent.

Within six months she was promoted to head of investigations, in February 2022.

Ms Shields said: “I want to instil hope, confidence and trust. I will specifically seek to guide our efforts in improving our overall performance, be productive and impactful with the resources we have, support our anti-racism strategy and role model service leadership.”

From her time policing in Ireland, Ms Shields has experiences of fractured communities.

She said she hopes the new role will help her to continue to build relationships between communities and the police officers who serve them.

Away from her job, Ms Shields is a mother to two children and said she spends her time cheering them on from the sidelines of a hockey pitch.

Chief Constable Sarah Crew said: “It’s rewarding to see someone who so naturally aligned with our vision and values bring her wealth of experience to Avon and Somerset and go on to develop a depth of knowledge of the organisation, its people and our communities.

“I have great hopes for the impact that she will have in this new role both within the constabulary and with our partners and communities.”