NBA expansion explained: teams in Vegas and Seattle, LeBron’s role and hungry billionaires

The NBA has moved a step closer to adding teams in Seattle and Las Vegas.The league’s board of governors met this week and voted to explore bids and applicants for teams exclusively in those two cities, beginning the process for its first expansion in more than two decades. Bids are expected to be in the $7bn to $10bn range per franchise.Commissioner Adam Silver had previously described this year as a target for a decision on expanding the 30-team league, which last added a new franchise in 2004. The league will now evaluate bids over the next several months

US runners led off course in chaotic half-marathon given entry to world championships

Three runners who were led off course in a race that served as a qualifier for the World Road Running Championships have been given entry into the upcoming competition.Jessica McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat were leading the USA Track & Field Half Marathon Championships in Atlanta earlier this month when the guide vehicle took the trio off course. Molly Born, who had been more than a minute behind the leaders, came through to win the race, with Carrie Ellwood and Annie Rodenfels in second and third. McClain, Hurley and Kurgat finished in ninth, 12th and 13th respectively, around two minutes behind Born.As well as missing out on the first prize of $20,000, McClain, Hurley and Kurgat were deprived of the three qualifying places for the World Road Running Championships awarded to the top finishers in Atlanta

Lily James, Andy Murray and a million Britons: padel’s rise nears milestone

It was once seen as a quirky upstart or continental fad. But padel now has nearly a million players across the UK after participation levels more than doubled in 2025.According to LTA figures seen by the Guardian, 860,000 Britons played padel at least once last year – up from 400,000 in 2024 and 129,000 in 2023 – as the racket sport’s dizzying rise continued.The LTA, tennis’s national governing body, puts the extraordinary boom down to padel’s accessibility, with beginners able to play in minutes, more courts, and the cool factor from celebrities such as Eva Longoria, Lily James and Cristiano Ronaldo taking up the sport.Rapper Stormzy and tennis star Andy Murray have also become vocal advocates for the fast-paced racket sport, which combines many of the rules and scoring system of tennis with some elements of squash, including a back wall

Max Gawn: ‘If I didn’t like walking to a cafe and talking footy, I probably wouldn’t have a beard’

The question takes Max Gawn, 249 games into one of the great AFL careers, by surprise. What has his life in footy given him but, also, what has it taken away?“I haven’t been asked that, probably because I haven’t retired yet, but I think 250 games is a good chance to talk about it,” he says in the lead-up to his milestone match against Carlton on Sunday.“I’ve always thought when AFL players snub the press conference on retirement, I’m like, ‘come on, the game has given you a lot’. And the game has given me a lot.“The game’s given me everything I am currently, really

Revealed: secret plans for two-day London Marathon with 100,000 runners

The London Marathon is in advanced talks about staging a two-day event in 2027, allowing tens of thousands more runners to take part in the iconic race and to raise tens of ­millions more for charity.While the Double London Marathon, as it is being called internally, has not been granted formal approval it is believed to have the backing of the mayor’s office for it to be staged on Saturday and Sunday 24-25 April next year.The one-off event would allow a world-record 100,000 amateur runners to take part over the weekend, with 50,000 running the course on each day. It is also expected that the elite men’s and women’s races would also be staged on separate days, in what would be a celebration of top-level and grassroots sport.Last year a record 56,540 finishers raised £87

The Spin | Cricket’s Tetris calendar is a recipe for player burnout and fan apathy

Clinical guidance suggests recovery from emotional trauma can take weeks or months. In some cases, the lingering pain can last for years. Elite cricketers, though, are expected to compress that timeline into days.Take Mitchell Santner. The New Zealand captain oversaw his team’s crushing 96-run loss by India in the T20 World Cup final on 8 March