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Good morning! Pick a lucky sausage today.

While You Were Sleeping: The long tail of the Lakers’ series loss

The defending-champion Nuggets beat the Lakers last night, 108-106, to end LeBron James’ season. On a Jamal Murray game-winner, no less. We all knew this was coming. 

But for Los Angeles, the problems are just beginning: 

• The season never felt right for the Lakers, despite what had been a great offseason by all accounts. The front office made moves to keep continuity after the team made the Western Conference finals last season. It all ended with a Play-In berth and a 4-1 loss in the first round.
  
• Who’s to blame? It’s not all on one person, but according to an explosive and exclusive story this morning, coach Darvin Ham is drawing most of it. His future as Lakers coach is “in serious peril,” and many team officials believe his tactics as coach seriously harmed this team.
  
• Looming over this entire summer will be the future of James, who has a $51.4 million player option for next season. Per our reporting, the team desperately wants him back, and is amenable to both a three-year max extension (which would go through his age-42 season) and drafting his son, Bronny James. Wild. I saw at least three different LeBron jersey photoshops last night, too. 

Read that full story here, which has plenty more juicy details about how distant the relationship between Ham and his players became. 

Denver, meanwhile, moves on to face the Timberwolves, which should excite everyone. 

Elsewhere in the NBA last night: 

• The Thunder mercifully ended their series with the Pelicans, who never recovered from a Game 1 collapse. OKC gets some time off before playing the winner of Clippers-Mavericks, which is tied 2-2 right now.
  
• Boston is close to dispatching the pesky Heat after last night’s 102-88 rout in Miami. Erik Spoelstra’s playoff magic might still be recharging after last year’s run. The Celtics can advance tomorrow at home, but their main worry right now is Kristaps Porziņģis’ ankle. 

See our full recap of last night’s basketball action.

Stanley Cupdate: The Stars are fully back in

On the ice, one series is done, and the other just got great. Quickly: 

• The Panthers torched the Lightning in a 6-1 series-clinching win. It might’ve been closer if not for two wiped-out Tampa Bay goals. Florida is a legit contender, while the Lightning now have to contend with the possible end of Steven Stamkos’ run.
  
• Dallas knotted their series with the defending-champion Golden Knights, thanks to a huge 4-2 win on the road. Last week, when the Stars fell down 2-0, we thought this series might’ve been done. Now, this might be our best matchup of the first round. 

Tonight, we get four possible elimination games.

News to Know

U.S., Mexico withdraw World Cup bid
The United States and Mexico are withdrawing their joint bid to host the 2027 women’s World Cup, instead focusing on a joint bid for the 2031 edition. The countries jointly said in a statement that they plan to observe the 2026 men’s World Cup — hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada — and formulate a 2031 plan after that. The bad news: the countries could have stiff competition.

Two Kelces, two new deals
Yesterday, the Kansas City Chiefs made Travis Kelce the NFL’s highest-paid tight end, agreeing to a two-year, $34 million contract extension to keep him through the 2025 season — when he could retire. Somehow, it’s the first time Kelce has been the league’s highest-paid TE. On the same day, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported that former Eagles lineman Jason Kelce has agreed to join ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown.”

More news

Sausages? A ‘lucky’ sausage and a lot of dingers

The sausage is secured #MNTwins | #MLB pic.twitter.com/vZl7LqP8qN

— Bally Sports North (@BallySportsNOR) April 30, 2024

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli is understandably concerned about the single link of encased sausage floating around his clubhouse and traveling on team planes in a shoe. But this is baseball, where traditions — no matter how gross — cannot be tampered with once results show. 

The results are worth the ick. 

Dan Hayes has a wonderful story on Minnesota’s “home run sausage,” which is now thrown around like a beach ball during home-run celebrations. Two things I found hilarious and incredible: 

• Before the sausage-fueled winning streak, the Twins were 7-13 with a .610 team OPS. Since the sausage entered the dugout, they are 7-0 and OPSing 1.008.
  
• The sausage, incredibly, is likely safe to eat, according to an expert Dan interviewed. The players plan to keep it in its casing, though, “to avoid the health department knocking our door down,” per catcher Ryan Jeffers. 

Read Dan’s full story to find out how the sausage entered the dugout and how the Twins plan to, uh, discard it once the winning streak ends. Long live the sausage.

Watch This Game

Champions League: Real Madrid at Bayern Munich
3 p.m. ET on Paramount+
This is the first leg of this semifinal matchup, which brings pressure and tension no matter what. I remain fascinated by the dichotomy of Bayern’s season, which has been a disaster at home, and yet they stand on the precipice of Champions League glory — and maybe Thomas Tuchel saving his job. Tune in to The Athletic FC for more coverage this week. 

NBA: Sixers at Knicks
7 p.m. on TNT
New York has a chance to close this series out at Madison Square Garden, where tickets are going for a minimum of $400 on the secondary market. Knicks fans already swarmed Philadelphia this past weekend, too. You think they’re excited for this one? The atmosphere should be bananas. 

NHL: Predators at Canucks
10 p.m. ET on TBS
The same can be said for Vancouver, which is up 3-1 with a close-out chance at home, where tickets are going for nearly $250 a pop. This is the best Canucks team in more than a decade, but ending this series tonight is a must. I love the playoffs. 

Get tickets to games like these here.

Pulse Picks

Never too early for a 2025 NFL mock draft from Dane Brugler, right? All eyes on the two first-round prospects from Colorado, though Shedeur Sanders’ draft slot might surprise you. 

The Orlando Magic also play tonight, and their comeback against the Cavs in this series has been remarkable. As Josh Robbins wrote in a nice story, it’s a feat of incredible team chemistry. 

New MLB Power Rankings are up this morning, and a special shout out goes to the Guardians, who own MLB’s second-best record somehow. 

Yes, Nike says the MLB uniforms are changing. But players are wary. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Yesterday’s A1 feature on last year’s dizzying exodus from Colorado at the behest of Deion Sanders. It drove a ton of conversation yesterday. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: NFL Draft team-by-team rankings, courtesy of Dane.

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(Photo: Garrett Ellwood / Getty Images)