Sports
Father-son duo LeBron, Bronny near historic playoff milestone
LeBron James and Bronny James made NBA history last season when a father and son played together for the first time. They took their family dynamic to another level this season by playing meaningful minutes together and even getting the first father-to-son assist in NBA history.
The James clan has the chance to add another chapter to its family lore this month, thanks to Bronny’s growth into a player that all of the Los Angeles Lakers can trust.
LeBron and Bronny seem likely to play postseason minutes together this month when the Lakers face the Houston Rockets in the first round. The greatest scorer in NBA history and his 21-year-old son have been teammates for nearly two years, but the prospect of accomplishing a new first is still special to both generations.
“It’s insane,” Bronny said Thursday after practice at the Lakers’ training complex. “I mean, I’ve literally watched his whole career. Now I’m a part of it. So it’s a great experience. I’m appreciative of it – but I’m part of the job, too. So I have to do my job as well. I’ve got to lock in.”
Bronny’s playing time has increased over the last month, and he has been a rotation member for the Lakers since Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves went down with injuries two weeks ago.
LeBron takes an obvious fatherly pride in Bronny’s development into a contributor for their short-handed team.
“Every moment we get an opportunity to play together is something I never take for granted,” LeBron said.
“Me being on the floor with him postseason, regular season, training camp, practices, it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me in my career, above everything I’ve accomplished,” he added. “The fact that he’s put himself in position to get his number called for a postseason game is pretty remarkable and pretty cool, given the circumstances that he’s been through over the last couple of years. He earned it. He deserves it. He’ll be ready.”
After playing sporadic NBA minutes during his first 1 1/2 NBA seasons, Bronny has stepped up into a regular role – partly out of necessity with the Lakers’ top two scorers sidelined, but also because he earned more playing time. He has played 13 minutes or more in seven of the Lakers’ past 10 games, averaging 19 minutes over the past four.
That responsibility seems likely to continue in the postseason, since Doncic and Reaves won’t play in Game 1 on Saturday, and there’s no timetable for their return.
Lakers coach JJ Redick confirmed he will be using every healthy option while Los Angeles attempts to beat overwhelming odds without its starting backcourt.
“We’re going to have to have all hands on deck in this series,” Redick said. “That’s just what we’re handed. I think Bronny has improved a lot. We trust him. The shooting piece (of his game), I’m a believer in, because of how well he shot it the last two years in the G League. … He’s improved a ton defensively, in terms of his body positioning, both on and off ball. We want him to continue to evolve as a disruptive defender as well.”
Bronny played only four playoff minutes last season during two of the Lakers’ first-round losses to Minnesota, and he acknowledges hasn’t played in many big games during his brief basketball career.
He spent his sole collegiate season at Southern California, but he didn’t suit up for the Trojans until midseason after his recovery from an offseason cardiac incident, and that team didn’t make the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s what I’ve wanted, to play in the playoffs,” Bronny said. “I wasn’t able to play in March (Madness), and this is a bigger stage than that. I’m so excited to get out there with my teammates and try to get some wins and try to make it further in the playoffs.”
If and when they play together this month, Bronny thinks they can connect quickly. After all, he knows LeBron’s game pretty well.
“I don’t want to give all the answers to the test, but I’ve been watching him for a long time, and I’ve kind of picked up on his tendencies,” Bronny said with a grin. “I think it’s good that I’m paying attention during his career and what he likes to do in the postseason. I think we’ll be able to play good together. My IQ isn’t going to be far behind him, but I know what he’s doing and where he likes to get the ball on the floor.”
Turkish wrestling icon Rıza Kayaalp made history by claiming his 13th European championship title, becoming the most successful wrestler in the competition’s history.
Competing at the 2026 European Wrestling Championships in Tirana, Kayaalp defeated Hungary’s Darius Atilla Vitek 7-1 in the final, surpassing the long-standing record of 12 titles held by Russian great Aleksandr Karelin.
The Greco-Roman heavyweight has now reached 15 European finals in his career, winning 13 gold and two silver medals, while maintaining his remarkable record of securing a medal in every European championship he has entered.
Kayaalp’s achievements extend beyond Europe, with five world championship gold medals, along with three silvers and two bronzes, in addition to one Olympic silver and two bronze medals, cementing his place among the greatest wrestlers in history.
Erdoğan, ministers hail Kayaalp’s historic 13th European wrestling title
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and senior officials congratulated Turkish wrestling legend Kayaalp after his victory in Albania.
Youth and Sports Minister Osman Aşkın Bak praised Kayaalp for adding another milestone to his decorated career, saying the national wrestler had written his name in history as the sole record holder after surpassing Russian great Aleksandr Karelin.
President Erdoğan personally called Kayaalp following his victory in Tirana. The president expressed pride in the achievement, describing the title as a historic record and extending his congratulations to the wrestler and his family.
Kayaalp thanked Erdoğan during the call, noting that he had fulfilled his promise to break the record, referencing earlier support pledged for sports facilities.
Members of the presidential Cabinet also shared congratulatory messages, highlighting Kayaalp’s determination and discipline, and praising his role in raising Türkiye’s flag at the top of European wrestling once again.
West Ham’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace on Monday condemned Wolves to Premier League relegation, boosted West Ham’s survival hopes and left struggling Tottenham in deeper trouble.
Bottom of the table Wolves have long been destined for the drop and their descent into the Championship was confirmed by the stalemate at Selhurst Park.
Wolves are now 16 points behind fourth-bottom West Ham, with a maximum of 15 available from their last five matches.
After eight seasons in the top-flight, Wolves succumbed tamely, winning just three of their 33 league matches to date this term.
Despite notable recent wins against Aston Villa and Liverpool, Wolves have looked like relegation certainties for months and their eight-year stay in the Premier League is coming to an end.
Vitor Pereira, now in charge of Nottingham Forest, started the season in charge of the Molineux club but the Portuguese coach was sacked in early November after a terrible start to the campaign.
Former Middlesbrough boss Edwards was brought in but he had an almost impossible task and has been unable to work a miracle.
Second-bottom Burnley look certain to join Wolves in the second tier next season.
They will be relegated if they lose against title-chasing Manchester City on Wednesday.
The Hammers’ draw improved their own survival prospects, moving them two points clear of third-bottom Tottenham.
Tottenham’s 2-2 draw against Brighton on Saturday was a boost to West Ham, with the two London rivals having five games left in the fight to avoid relegation.
Tottenham, winless in their first two games under boss Roberto De Zerbi, haven’t played in the second tier since 1977-78.
The north Londoners have gone 15 league matches without a win, stretching back to December.
Last in the Championship in 2011-12, West Ham’s biggest league win for three years, 4-0 over Wolves nine days ago, moved them out of the bottom three for only the second time in 2026.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side built on that result with a gritty point against UEFA Conference League semi-finalists Palace.
“It will go all the way, for sure. Not only at the bottom of the table but at the top. This season has been very tight,” Nuno said.
“We have a mission ahead and keep going. It’s going to be a fight until the end.”
Palace’s win at West Ham in September sparked Graham Potter’s sacking and Nuno’s eventual appointment as his replacement.
Nuno has gradually revived West Ham since then and from January 17 onwards, only four Premier League teams have picked up more points than the Hammers.
West Ham threatened first when Valentin Castellanos fired over from the edge of the area.
Brennan Johnson should have put Palace in front from Tyrick Mitchell’s cross, but the unmarked forward headed wastefully wide.
Johnson tried to make amends, curling narrowly wide from 18 yards.
But it was West Ham who finished the half stronger, with El Hadji Malick Diouf’s cross reaching Konstantinos Mavropanos for a towering header that forced a fine save from Dean Henderson.
Mavropanos had another header repelled by Henderson after the interval.
Palace winger Ismaila Sarr was denied a late winner when he slammed home from close-range, only for the goal to be disallowed for handball by Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Anthony Edwards scored 30 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves staged a double-digit fightback for a series-leveling 119-114 upset of the Denver Nuggets in the NBA playoffs on Monday.
A titanic duel in Denver saw the Wolves overturn an early 19-point deficit before a clinical fourth-quarter display sealed a crucial victory in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.
The Nuggets, 116-105 winners in game one on Saturday, picked up where they left off with a blistering first-quarter performance that pushed them into a 39-25 lead.
But the Timberwolves bounced back in the second quarter to tie the game 64-64 at halftime before edging the second half.
Edwards was backed by 24 points from Julius Randle while Donte DiVincenzo added 16.
Jamal Murray led the Denver scoring with 30 points while Nikola Jokic added 24 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists.
“We did what we expected to do,” Randle said.
“When you’re coming on the road to start a series, you want to steal one. So we did that, and now we go home and we’ve got two days to get our bodies right.”
CJ McCollum scored 32 points and led a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback as the Atlanta Hawks overturned a 12-point deficit to score a series-leveling 107-106 defeat of the New York Knicks.
Atlanta looked poised to fall 2-0 down in the series after trailing a confident Knicks line-up by as much as 14 points in the third quarter at Madison Square Garden.
But the Hawks roared back to life in the fourth quarter, hauling themselves back into the contest with an 11-0 run to take a 103-100 lead with under two minutes remaining.
A Jalen Brunson 3-pointer tied it at 103-103 but McCollum calmly nailed a fadeaway jump shot to put Atlanta back in front before Jalen Johnson’s dunk gave the Hawks a 107-103 lead with 10 seconds remaining.
Another Brunson 3-pointer cut the lead to 107-106 to set up a frantic finale, but Mikal Bridges missed an attempted buzzer-beater for New York and Atlanta claimed the win.
Cavs in control
“It’s not a series until you get one on the road — and we’ve got one,” McCollum said. “We’re tough, we’re young, but we’re gaining experience by the day.
“We didn’t play our best basketball tonight, but we gave ourselves a bunch of chances and we did enough to win.”
Donovan Mitchell and James Harden combined for 58 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Toronto Raptors 115-105 to take a commanding 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference series.
Fourth-seeded Cleveland, convincing 126-113 victors in game one on Saturday, once again proved too strong for fifth-seeded Toronto as they powered to a wire-to-wire victory.
Mitchell scored 30 points, including four 3-pointers, while Harden finished with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Evan Mobley also had a big night for the Cavs, weighing in with 25 points from an efficient 11-of-13 shooting display.
The Cavs’ victory provided more evidence that the offensive partnership between Mitchell and the 36-year-old Harden, who was traded to the team in February, is blossoming at the right time for Cleveland.
“He’s been doing it a little bit longer than me, but we’ve still been doing it for a long time – just trying to find ways to win,” Mitchell said of Harden.
“Whether it’s passing, it’s rebounding, getting stops — when you have two guys who are trying to chase the same thing, it definitely helps for sure,” Mitchell added.
Toronto’s scoring was led by Scottie Barnes with 26 points, while RJ Barrett added 22.
Game three of the series takes place in Toronto on Thursday.
Tennis took center stage at the Laureus Awards in Madrid on Monday, where Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz were named Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year.
The pair were honoured after glittering 2025 campaigns that saw them finish atop the women’s and men’s tennis rankings, respectively.
Spaniard Alcaraz, 22, reclaimed the year-end world number one spot after capturing two Grand Slam titles at the French Open and U.S. Open, underlining his supremacy across surfaces.
Belarusian Sabalenka, 27, meanwhile, stood alongside him in the winners’ circle in New York and also reached the final in Australia and France, capping a season of relentless consistency.
With her triumph, Sabalenka joins a roll call of Laureus Sportswoman of the Year recipients from her sport, including Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin and Naomi Osaka.
In a first for the awards, the ceremony was hosted by two athletes – both former Laureus winners – Novak Djokovic and Eileen Gu. Last year’s top honours went to gymnast Simone Biles and pole-vaulter Mondo Duplantis.
Mcilroy takes comeback prize
Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy claimed the World Comeback of the Year Award after ending an 11-year wait to complete the career Grand Slam with a playoff victory at the 2025 Masters, a title he defended in 2026.
Formula One’s Lando Norris was named World Breakthrough of the Year, while Paris St Germain took World Team of the Year after a trophy haul in 2025 that included the French league and Cup, plus their first Champions League crown.
The Laureus World Sports Awards nominees are selected by the global media, while the winners are determined by the 69 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy.
The awards have been presented annually since 2000.
Arsenal’s hopes of a first Premier League title in 22 years suffered a major blow with Sunday’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester City, renewing the familiar specter of Pep Guardiola’s side surging past them in the title race.
Mikel Arteta’s men remain on top of the table for now but could be knocked off their perch for the first time in 2026 when City, with a game in hand, visit doomed Burnley on Wednesday.
Arsenal had lost just three times in 49 games this season before last month’s League Cup defeat to City.
But they have won just one of their past six games, including four consecutive defeats in domestic competitions, as they contemplate another trophyless season.
It is a case of history repeating itself for long-suffering Arsenal fans, who have seen their side finish second in the Premier League for the past three seasons.
In both the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns, Pep Guardiola’s relentless team reeled in Arteta’s side, while last season the Gunners finished behind a resurgent Liverpool.
Once again, City have hit their stride when it matters most, just as Arsenal have run out of steam.
Guardiola has now won 31 of his 39 Premier League games in April as he eyes a seventh title during his decade in Manchester.
By contrast, Arteta has overseen just 11 victories in 27 April league fixtures during his six-and-a-half years in charge.
Arteta was keen to stress that fortune had not favored his side in a game of fine margins at the Etihad.
While Arsenal clearly showed signs of nerves in losing at home to Bournemouth last weekend, they took the game to City and were undeterred by Rayan Cherki’s brilliant opener.
Kai Havertz charged down Gianluigi Donnarumma’s attempted clearance to level almost immediately and Arsenal had plenty of other chances.
Eberechi Eze’s shot somehow came off the post and along the line rather than into the net when the score was 1-1 and Gabriel Magalhaes’s deflected header also came off the post in a frantic finale.
But Arsenal have only themselves to blame for repeated failings that have not been addressed.
Havertz missed two huge chances in the second half – the German international failed to beat Donnarumma when one-on-one before heading over when unmarked deep into stoppage time.
Arteta fell to his knees in the technical area in despair.
After an injury-disrupted 18 months, Havertz was thrust into action for the full match as Arteta left Viktor Gyokeres on the bench until the final minutes.
The Swede was the man signed to solve Arsenal’s need for a prolific No. 9 in last summer’s transfer window.
Gyokeres is the club’s top scorer with 18 goals in all competitions, but he has rarely looked as if he is the answer against top-quality opposition.
Ruthless City
Arteta admitted that City were sharper in attack.
“We proved that we are there, but the reality is that in the two boxes there was a difference,” said Arteta. “That’s what we think is the difference between the two sides, the finishing in the boxes.”
“There is an element of luck, there is an element of timing, of execution. There are a lot of things that have to be your way,” he added.
“At the end, winning or not winning is going to come down to this moment. There are certain individual moments that you need in order to achieve what we want,” Arteta said.
For Guardiola, Erling Haaland proved the value of a world-class striker.
The Norwegian had been well-marshalled in a bruising battle with Gabriel, but stole ahead of his marker to slot home the winning goal and his 47th for club and country this season.
“You can see the difference today on the field and those top players made a difference today,” former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira told Sky Sports.
“They will feel the pressure more now. I always question the mental strength of the team and I will question it more now regarding the result today.”
The Orlando Magic upset the Detroit Pistons 112-101 Sunday, while defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder and the Boston Celtics opened the NBA playoffs with emphatic victories.
The Thunder, trying to become the first team since Golden State in 2017 and 2018 to repeat as champions, came out firing in a 119-84 victory over the Phoenix Suns.
The Celtics, seeded second in the Eastern Conference behind Detroit, dominated the Philadelphia 76ers 123-91.
San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama, meanwhile, made a triumphant playoff debut, scoring 35 points as the Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers 111-98.
Oklahoma City looked rested and recharged after a week off since they locked up the Western Conference top seed and best record in the league.
But Eastern Conference top seeds Detroit looked rusty and the Magic, who battled through the play-in to bag their playoff berth, took advantage.
Paolo Banchero scored 23 points and Franz Wagner scored 11 of his 19 in the fourth quarter as the Magic withstood a 39-point performance from Pistons star Cade Cunningham.
Detroit trailed by as many as 13 in the first quarter and by 11 early in the third. A Cunningham 3-pointer tied it midway through the third, but the Magic pulled away again.
“I liked our composure the whole game, our energy,” Wagner said after the Magic handed the Pistons an 11th straight home playoff defeat, a skid dating back to 2008.
“(We) just didn’t come out with the right energy, gave them life early on,” Cunningham said. “Then we had to deal with that for the rest of the game.”
But Cunningham remained confident that the Pistons can turn things around in the best-of-seven first-round series.
“There’s no confidence drop from us,” he said. “It’ll be a long, fun series.”
Fans were revved in Oklahoma City, where reigning NBA Most Valuable Player and NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 25 points.
He connected on just five of 18 from the field but made 15 of his 17 free throw attempts and added seven assists and two blocked shots before sitting out the entire fourth quarter.
Jalen Williams added 22 points and Chet Holmgren scored 16 for the Thunder.
Devin Booker scored 23 points for Phoenix, but the Suns were otherwise stifled by the Thunder.
“It was a great defensive performance,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “We forced them to earn everything.”
In Boston, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 51 points as the Celtics led wire-to-wire against the Sixers.
‘Incredible feeling’
Tatum led the charge, racking up 21 of his 25 points in the first half. Brown poured in 16 of his 26 in the third quarter alone.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” said Tatum, whose unexpected late-season return from a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered in last year’s playoffs has plenty of pundits picking Boston, not Detroit, to emerge from the East.
“Not too long ago, I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be able to play this season, let alone get an opportunity to play in the playoffs.”
In San Antonio, the second-seeded Spurs led by as many as 16 points on the way to a 59-49 halftime lead.
Portland, led by 30 points and 10 rebounds from Deni Avdija, cut the deficit to two early in the third quarter.
But the Spurs pulled away again, thrilling the San Antonio fans who have waited since 2019 to see the five-time champion franchise return to the playoffs.
“We were solid, but job’s not done,” said Wembanyama, who earlier in the day joined Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokic as a finalist for regular-season MVP honors.
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