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#pounditFriday, March 29, 2024

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Dwight Howard being sued over alleged unpaid wages

Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard is being sued by two women who claim the NBA player owes them unpaid wages for personal services.

TMZ Sports reported the news about the lawsuit and says the women claim they were hired by Howard in Dec. 2018 to provide personal management services. The women thought they would be helping Howard with business and administrative tasks but ended up doing much more after he fired his gardener, butler and maid.

The women even had to look after Howard’s snake collection as part of their new duties. One of the women says she helped Howard get his Lakers contract last year.

The women were fired in January though and say Howard owes them $50,000 in unpaid wages.

Howard is now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers after a deal with the Lakers did not materialize, to Howard’s surprise. The 35-year-old won his first career championship last season with the Lakers. This isn’t the first time recently that he has faced some damaging accusations.

Video: Lane Kiffin does funny Nick Saban impression

Lane Kiffin

Lane Kiffin loves to have fun with Nick Saban, and he did that on Monday.

Kiffin’s name has been linked to the Auburn job since the Tigers fired Gus Malzahn. Kiffin, who is in his first season at Ole Miss, was asked on Monday about the Auburn rumors.

Kiffin said he has not had talks about replacing Malzahn. Then he pulled out the Saban impression, repeating exactly what Saban said in 2006. Saban was the coach of the Miami Dolphins at the time and denied that he was taking the Alabama job.

Of course, we all know that Saban ended up going to Alabama after the Tide came back with an offer he couldn’t refuse.

If Kiffin really is following Saban, that means he will end up at Auburn. Then he would be able to troll Saban all day long before losing once a year to him.

Ole Miss fans! It’s time to jump aboard the Lane Train! This Lane Train shirt is a perfect gift for you or a friend – you can buy it here.

Giannis Antetokounmpo on track to set NBA record for career earnings

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo just locked up a monster contract extension with the Milwaukee Bucks, and this may only be the start of huge earnings coming his way.

Giannis on Tuesday agreed to a 5-year, $228.2 million contract with the Bucks, beating the deadline by less than a week.

Antetokounmpo has already earned over $81 million in the NBA. He is making $27.5 million in the upcoming season, giving him $108.5 million. Then add the $228 million on top of that, and he’s at over $336 million.

As Jared Weiss pointed out, Antetokounmpo is in position to sign yet another big contract. Antetokounmpo would be 31/32 when he is eligible for a new deal in 2026-2027. Stack another possible $200-plus million deal on top of what he’s already made, and Giannis would be at over half a billion in career earnings. None of that counts his off-court earnings.

When you think about what Antetokounmpo came from, those kinds of career earning figures are wild. He already has two MVP awards and is only 26, so he still has plenty of room to grow.

Three pressing questions for the College Football Playoff committee

Luke Fickell

The latest College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday, and they have left many pressing questions.

This year is unlike any other we have seen, which is why the job of ranking teams is so difficult for the committee. The ACC, SEC and Big 12 aimed to play full conference schedules, while the Pac-12 and Big Ten started late and then endured multiple cancellations. Among Group of 5 teams, some conferences played full schedules.

All the cancellations and postponements, plus the relative lack of non-conference games, has made it even more difficult than usual to compare teams.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have some serious questions for the committee we would like answered.

1) Why did Cincinnati drop in the rankings?

The Bearcats are 8-0 and have not played since Nov. 21. Their last two games were canceled, but they are scheduled to play Tulsa in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game on Saturday. So why would they drop if their resume did not get weaker? Georgia moved ahead of them because they went from 6-2 to 7-2 with a win over Missouri. The way I see it, Cincinnati hasn’t lost this year, and they’ve looked good. You can’t convince me that Georgia, Florida or Iowa State — all with two losses — are better. Yet all three of those two-loss teams are ranked ahead of the Bearcats.

2) Why isn’t Coastal Carolina higher?

The Chanticleers are 11-0. They’ve played a full schedule and won every game. They played a legit BYU team in a game scheduled at the last second, and they won. They won at Louisiana, and the Ragin’ Cajuns beat No. 6 Iowa State. In a year when so many Power 5 schools have hardly played games, and when so many school have lost games, a team that has played 11 and won all 11 should be rewarded even more. There is zero excuse not to have Coastal Carolina in the top 10 at minimum.

3) What’s the infatuation with Iowa State?

Iowa State at No. 6 is a joke. The Cyclones have lost to Louisiana and Oklahoma State. If they were that good, they’d be 10-0. Maybe Iowa State loses in the Big 12 Championship to Oklahoma and drops down and this becomes moot. But I wouldn’t have them this high for now. They should be lower, and Coastal and Cincinnati should be above them.

This is not a question for the committee but an observation we all know: there is a heavy SEC bias from the committee. They have the SEC with four of their top eight teams. Alabama deserves to be No. 1. Texas A&M at 7-1 has some solid wins but proved they don’t belong on the field with Bama. And then you have Florida and Georgia each with two losses but still in the top eight. Florida just lost to a mediocre LSU team at home. What’s so impressive about that?

Photo: Paula Lively/Wikimedia via CC-BY 2.0

ESPN’s Domonique Foxworth wants Josh Allen to fail because his fans are pro-America

Domonique Foxworth

ESPN analyst Domonique Foxworth admitted that he enjoys it when Josh Allen fails because he doesn’t like Allen’s fans.

Foxworth was a guest on ESPN podcast “The Right Time with Bomani Jones” and talked about his feelings on Allen. Foxworth said does not want Allen to fail, but he does enjoy it sometimes because Allen’s fans like America and dogs.

“I am fully aware that I have biases. And my biases are not based on Josh Allen. It’s based on the people that are defending Josh Allen. I would be 100 percent lying if I said that when Josh does something dumb, a little part of me doesn’t get happy. And it’s not because I don’t want Josh to succeed,” Foxworth said.

“It’s because the people who are telling me that Josh is the second coming and Josh is better than everybody are people with American flags and dogs and skulls and crossbones. … If you go just take a dip into their tweet history, it’s some really concerning retweets and likes. … It’s not about Josh,” he concluded.

Sheesh, Domonique, what do you have against the American flag and dogs? Those are two things generally regarded as pretty awesome.

Foxworth, 37, played college ball at Maryland and was an NFL cornerback from 2005-2011. And he doesn’t seem to like dogs or the American flag.

H/T OutKick

Clippers’ locker room atmosphere already improving?

Kawhi Leonard

The 2019-20 LA Clippers were a spectacular trainwreck, in large part due to a lack of chemistry between their players. That may already be improving this season however.

New Clippers forward Nicolas Batum spoke positively of the team’s locker room environment on Tuesday. Batum said that the atmosphere has been “crazy” in terms of how fun and light his teammates have been, per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. He also noted how welcomed he has felt and that all his teammates reached out to him for his birthday earlier this week.

Batum, 32, is a 12-year NBA veteran who has also played for the Portland Trail Blazers and the Charlotte Hornets. He was one of the new additions to the Clippers over the offseason along with Serge Ibaka, Luke Kennard, and others. Montrezl Harrell, JaMychal Green, and Landry Shamet were the primary departures from last year’s team.

The Clippers were previously the subject of a rather explosive report about their chemistry issues last season. While the core of that team is still intact, hopefully a more cohesive culture is beginning to emerge under new head coach Tyronn Lue.

Clippers fans, show everyone who runs Los Angeles with this great “We Run LA” shirt. It makes a perfect gift for you or a friend – you can buy it here:

Kostas Antetokounmpo gets memed after brother Giannis spurns Lakers

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo is officially off the market, and the Internet definitely thinks that is bad news for his younger brother Kostas.

Giannis agreed Tuesday to re-sign with the Milwaukee Bucks on a five-year supermax deal, eliminating the possibility of a departure in free agency next offseason. Kostas plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, and many thought that Kostas’ presence might help lure Giannis to the team.

After news of Giannis’ extension broke, Kostas got hit with a deluge of Twitter memes. Here were some of the best ones:

Kostas did win a championship with the Lakers last season and had one really cool moment during the celebration. But he still made just five total appearances for them all year and averaged a meager 1.4 points per game. Thus, it is safe to say that Kostas is looking pretty expendable right now.

Luka Doncic has funny reaction to concerns about his weight

Luka Doncic

Luka Doncic does not particularly seem to mind all the “Donthicc” memes.

The Internet took notice of the Dallas Mavericks star looking a little hefty during the start of preseason play over the weekend.

When asked about the social media reaction to his weight on Monday, Doncic laughed it off.

“What can I say? I’ve never been a muscular guy,” said Doncic, per Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News.

“I mean, people on Twitter say every [kind of] stuff,” the 21-year-old added. “But, it’s true I’m not in my best shape. I will get there for sure. But, you know, I’ve never been a muscular guy, so what can I say?”

Doncic, who is listed at 230 pounds, put up gaudy numbers last year of 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game. He relies more on craftiness than on explosiveness, so he can afford to take more time to get into shape.

That said, Doncic’s weight has been a concern in the past, so it will be a storyline to watch with the regular season tipping off in just one week.

Florida’s Keyontae Johnson in stable condition after scary incident

Florida Gators logo

Florida forward Keyontae Johnson collapsed on the court in a terrifying incident during Saturday night’s game against Florida State, but fortunately it sounds like his health is improving.

The Florida basketball team said in a statement on Tuesday that Johnson has been upgraded to stable condition. He has been breathing on his own and was even able to FaceTime with his teammates.

Florida was coming out of a timeout roughly four minutes into the game when Johnson collapsed on the court. The junior was given emergency medical treatment, stretchered off the floor and rushed to a Tallahassee hospital. The Gators announced an hour after the incident that Johnson was in critical but stable condition.

We still don’t have any details of what went wrong, but it’s great to hear Johnson’s health is trending in the right direction.

Johnson was named the SEC’s Preseason Player of the Year before the season. He averaged 19.7 points and 6.0 rebounds through Florida’s first three games.

This Baker Mayfield pass was the longest in recent NFL history

Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield attempted a Hail Mary at the end of the first half of the Cleveland Browns’ loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night. The ball sailed out of the back of the end zone and fell incomplete, but it still ended up being a noteworthy play.

Mayfield was standing at Cleveland’s 40-yard line when he launched the ball toward the end zone. Most quarterbacks probably wouldn’t have been able to reach the goal line from that spot on the field, but Mayfield actually overthrew the ball. The pass, while unsuccessful, was the longest ever recorded by Pro Football Focus in terms of how far it traveled in the air. When you add the 60 yards it traveled across the playing field, plus the end zone and add on a few more yards, Mayfield’s pass probably went nearly 75 yards.

An incomplete pass is nothing to brag about. Mayfield would likely tell you that the throw was the same as a 10-yard pass that missed its mark, but that was still an impressive show of arm strength.

Baltimore’s 47-42 win over the Browns was as entertaining as it gets. Between the epic shootout and Lamar Jackson’s mysterious locker room incident, Mayfield’s unsuccessful Hail Mary got lost in the shuffle a bit. If nothing else, it’s something for opposing defenses to keep in mind.