Lincoln Riley's voice drips with contempt. The 35-year-old Oklahoma Sooners coach is describing a failed play -- from 1999. It's not surprising that he can remember the details. His high school coach swears that Riley has a photographic memory, says he could watch film once and predict what the opposing team was going to do, on offense and on defense.

But this play? Heck, it didn't even count. It was a slant pass late in a scrimmage, intended only to set up an easy TD for a senior wide receiver who didn't play much. And though the ball was on the money, a perfect spiral, it sailed right through the receiver's hands. "That's why the guy didn't play," Riley says, squinting at the memory. Even worse: The deflection floated straight to an opposing linebacker, who picked it off and sprinted back upfield. Now the QB was really pissed off. Here we go, he thought, throwing an interception because we're trying to get this kid a touchdown.

That quarterback was Riley himself, at the time a sophomore at Muleshoe High School. The Mules were playing Palo Duro at Dick Bivins Stadium in Amarillo, Texas. And even though it was a scrimmage, and the play meaningless, none of that mattered in the moment to the 15-year-old QB with a competitive streak. Riley, who also played defensive end, chased the linebacker down the sideline until he caught him, then tackled him.

"I cleaned him up pretty good," Riley says. They both went down hard. But when Riley tried to get up, he couldn't feel his right arm. It was dislocated. "All busted up."

Surgery didn't heal the shoulder completely. And though Riley managed the Mules' offense well enough throwing sidearm to lead Muleshoe to the state semifinals as a senior, "I was never the same thrower after that," he says.

Twenty years later, Riley recalls this story from a leather couch framed by three giant Gothic arches in the middle of an ornate office the size of a hotel lobby. At either end of the couch, on wood tables, rest the two most recent Heisman Trophies, awarded to Riley's past two quarterbacks. Kyler Murray's is on his right, Baker Mayfield's to his left.

Mind you, Riley's not pulling an Uncle Rico, ruing what might have been if he could only fling that ol' pigskin around like he used to. He's marveling at how there's no way he'd be on this couch, in this office, between these Heismans, if he hadn't been "lucky" enough to destroy his shoulder, give up on his dreams and start chasing a different one.

And, so far, it is like a dream. Those end-table Heismans stand as twin monuments to his first two seasons as the Sooners' coach, among the most successful debuts in college football history: two years, two Big 12 titles, two College Football Playoff appearances, two Heismans, two quarterbacks picked first in the NFL draft in Mayfield and Murray.

Ever since Riley arrived in Norman, Oklahoma, everything has seemingly broken his way. He took over a storied program from Bob Stoops, the school's winningest coach, and inherited a roster of blue-chip recruits.

He has lived a charmed football life. He's been lucky and he's been good. But now, as his Sooners prepare for a season of great expectations, there's one question that looms largest: How long can his good fortune last?

IN 2002, LINCOLN RILEY still desperately wanted to be a college quarterback -- but that old busted-up arm limited his options. He could try to chase a starting job at a smaller school like West Texas A&M and hope a college staff could help him regain his throwing form. He could blaze a trail from Muleshoe (population: 5,000) to the Ivy League, where he had offers. Or he could try to walk on at Texas Tech, the big-time program 65 miles down U.S. 84 from home.

Two years earlier, Mike Leach had brought a high-scoring spread offense to Lubbock and renounced three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football. His teams immediately began averaging upward of 50 pass attempts per game, leading the nation.

Leach's offense -- the Air Raid, which he'd learned as an assistant under Hal Mumme at Iowa Wesleyan -- was a deceptively simple, high-scoring scheme built on repetition. Leach didn't much care who the opponent was or what type of defense it ran. He called the same plays regardless and asked his QBs to air it out and get the ball to the right player. Forget the Ivies. This was the kind of enlightenment Riley sought.

Riley walked on at Tech -- and made the team. Aiding Riley's cause: Leach values smarts in his QBs as much as he does physical attributes. "Riley had a brain that wouldn't stop. He sees things once and remembers it," says David Wood, his high school coach. "I thought he might end up working at NASA."

Still, the quarterback room that year was crowded: Kliff Kingsbury, who threw for more than 5,000 yards as a senior in 2002 and set seven NCAA records in his three years as a starter at Tech, was the test pilot of the Air Raid in Lubbock, proving it could fly. Also in that room: B.J. Symons, who would set the NCAA passing record with 5,833 yards in 2003, and Sonny Cumbie and Cody Hodges, who would each pass for more than 4,000 yards in a season as Red Raiders starters.

One other problem for Riley: "He was awful," says Houston coach Dana Holgorsen, Tech's inside receivers coach in 2002. "It was so bad that me and [outside receivers coach] Sonny Dykes called an intervention with Leach. We said, 'What are you doing? Team morale is low because you're giving this kid reps. Our receivers are running routes knowing there's zero chance the ball is gonna get to them.'"

Leach argued that while Riley didn't have the arm the other QBs did, he had a high football IQ. "As a player, he asked questions all the time," Dykes, now the SMU coach, says of Riley. "He probably wasn't a good enough player to ask all those questions, but it never bothered anybody because he was so eager."

And so it was that Leach asked Riley to hang up his pads and become a student assistant, his right-hand man. Riley recoiled at first. He could have kept rehabbing, stuck around and become the third-string quarterback his sophomore year.

But after he mulled it over for a day or two, Riley saw the opportunity for what it was. He accepted it, became an ex-player -- and, at 19, joined an FBS staff. He would spend the next seven years on the Red Raiders' sideline, graduating to graduate assistant in 2006 before becoming the youngest full-time assistant in the country, according to Leach, when he was named receivers coach in 2007, earning a rep along the way as an innovator.

"A lot of assistants are just conveyor-belt guys, and whatever you tell them, they'll keep punching out license plates," Leach says. "But [Riley] could figure out how to get the license plates out quicker and more efficiently."

By 2006, that staff (and roster) had been filled with future coaching stars: Kingsbury, Holgorsen, Dykes, North Texas head coach Seth Littrell, USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, TCU offensive coordinator Cumbie. There was just one more problem: No one was getting jobs elsewhere. Leach was unconventional on and off the field, with game-plan meetings that started at midnight, quarterbacks throwing the ball all over the place. Rival athletic directors weren't sure his success could be replicated -- or didn't have the guts to try.

Then, in the wake of another bit of misfortune, came Riley's second lucky break. Leach was fired in December 2009 -- a week before the Alamo Bowl -- after being accused of mistreating receiver Adam James after a concussion.

Defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill was named interim coach for the bowl game. McNeill says it took "about 30 seconds, if that long" to name Riley his offensive coordinator. And in the most watched bowl game in ESPN history at the time (Leach's firing drawing an audience of rubberneckers), Tech beat Michigan State 41-31, with Riley calling all the offensive plays for the Red Raiders. Afterward, when the entire staff was fired, East Carolina hired McNeill as head coach. He brought Riley and entrusted him with full control of his offense.

Just like that, at 27 years old, Riley was an offensive coordinator. And a few years later, when Stoops decided his Oklahoma offense needed a jolt, he fired up his computer, looked up the top offenses in the country and alighted upon East Carolina. "I started researching him," Stoops says, "and realized just how far down the road Lincoln was with Mike."

And if his team hadn't been among the top 15 offenses that week ... well, who knows?

"It's crazy," Riley says now. "If any one out of a hundred things had been different, then it probably changes the course of the whole thing."

When Stoops hired Riley in January 2015, his red-dirt Air Raid education proved the football equivalent of a musical prodigy going to Juilliard. Muleshoe to Norman is a flat five-hour drive by car but an even bigger leap on the coaching ladder. Riley was an instant success as offensive coordinator at OU, so much so that one day in June 2017 Stoops decided to hand over the whole dang thing to Riley and abruptly step aside. Riley's introductory news conference as head coach was so hastily announced that his parents didn't have time to make the trip from Muleshoe to Norman.

Stoops, mind you, didn't hang it up to get out of Dodge. He says he simply believed in Riley and thought the kid who grew up a Longhorns fan should become the coach at Oklahoma before someone else got to him first.

And now, two years later, Riley -- fresh off the record-setting seasons by Mayfield and Murray -- has become the most coveted coach in football.

Since Riley's arrival in 2015, Oklahoma is 33-3 in the Big 12 (with four conference titles) and 46-8 overall, trailing only Alabama (55-4), Clemson (55-4) and Ohio State (48-6) in that span. He has routinely batted away questions about interest from the NFL, specifically the Dallas Cowboys, and landed a five-year contract extension in January, bumping his annual salary at OU to $6 million.

It's good to be Lincoln Riley. At least it has been so far.

Only now Riley faces arguably his greatest challenge: trying to mold a national championship team around his most-unlikely-next-great-QB.

THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP game in 2018 was not the best day for Jalen Hurts. After Georgia held him to 21 yards passing and zero points in the first half of that game, Hurts lost his starting QB job at Alabama to Tua Tagovailoa. Eleven months later, though, Riley made a point of praising Hurts before OU's College Football Playoff matchup against the Crimson Tide, saying he "could not be more impressed" with how Hurts handled his benching and subsequent season as a backup, calling himself "a big fan of the kid" from afar.

It was hardly a random compliment -- perhaps even akin to tipping his hand.

A few weeks later, when Hurts announced that he intended to transfer, Riley began recruiting him in earnest. The courtship was frantic -- Hurts also visited Maryland and Miami and drew interest from Auburn, Ohio State and Florida State -- and was consummated during a furtive eight-hour visit to Norman, coupled with "a lot of phone time," Riley says. "There were a lot of long conversations, trying to get to know each other."

The courting of a college transfer is football's version of speed dating. And in running that gauntlet, Riley at the very least will have to prove he can build a championship offense around a QB demoted by the Crimson Tide.

They'll have their arguments: For one, Hurts lacks the deep-ball touch Mayfield and Murray had; in 28 games as Alabama's starter, he completed just 33 percent of throws of 20 or more yards, despite a surrounding cast of NFL talent. And according to ESPN's new PlayStation Player Impact Rating, which evaluates a player against an average replacement, Murray was worth 22 points per game last season and Hurts was worth just six, presuming the same playing time. (Oklahoma won five games by 10 or fewer points in 2018.)

While Riley's two previous QBs both came to Norman as transfers -- Mayfield and Murray each spent three seasons with Riley -- Hurts will also have had all of 7½ months to learn Riley's offense before the Sooners' Sept. 1 season opener. And in running that gauntlet, Riley at the very least has invited a season full of second-guessing from critics who'll question whether he can build a championship offense around a QB demoted by the Crimson Tide.

On the other hand -- well, there are many fingers on the other hand.

Start with Riley's offense, which might not be as ill-suited to Hurts as it first seems. Riley's version of the Air Raid layers in run schemes to use the wealth of talent the Sooners attract on the offensive line and at running back. "Now he has a quarterback who's built like a running back," Kingsbury says. "I could see them calling more runs, schematic things, play-action. Riley will find a way to let [Hurts] make plays with his feet."

As for Hurts' perceived failures at Alabama? Let's just say that Riley and Hurts' former coach, 67-year-old Nick Saban, have strikingly different styles. (Hurts shares stories about Saban "every now and then," Riley says. "We've had some funny conversations.") Says Kingsbury: "Lincoln has a way of seeing it from the quarterback's perspective. He gives his quarterbacks free rein, goal line to goal line. There aren't many coaches who are willing to do that."

Meanwhile, Hurts arrives in Norman more accomplished than any other QB Riley has coached. Mayfield began as a walk-on. Murray threw just five TDs and seven interceptions in a tumultuous freshman season at Texas A&M before transferring. Hurts has a 14-2 record against ranked teams and was SEC Offensive Player of the Year as a freshman.

"It's not like starting with a blank slate," Riley says of Hurts. "This guy's played a lot of football. He's got the qualities to do everything we want to do in our offense."

GRANTED, SOME BELIEVE the same could be said of Austin Kendall, who, after signing with Oklahoma in 2015 and riding the bench behind Mayfield and Murray, was the Sooners' presumptive next man up at QB until Hurts arrived. Kendall, in turn, transferred to West Virginia and was granted a waiver by OU for immediate eligibility. He's been named the Mountaineers' starting quarterback and could start when West Virginia visits the Sooners on Oct. 19.

But no matter who's calling the signals, the standard Riley will have to better is the one he set for himself, coaching two Heisman winners and No. 1 draft picks -- even though his teams have come up short in the games that matter most. Under Riley, OU has been good enough to win just about every game except the ones against Alabama and Georgia. Losing in the playoff again would be a plateau. Missing the playoff altogether would be a major step back.

Rest assured, that is not in Riley's plans. At the Big 12 media day in July, a reporter asked him: "You lost [Murray] and four NFL offensive linemen. I assume your offense is going to dip. ... Can the defense pick up the slack?" Riley leveled his gaze: "We don't plan on the offense dipping. And we definitely expect our defense to be better."

Later in a media scrum, someone else pressed Riley on the Heisman question: Can he win -- and finally beat Alabama and Georgia -- without the country's best quarterback?

Again, here came that squint, and a hint of contempt. That 15-year-old QB with a competitive streak? He has merely been replaced by a 35-year-old coach with the same. And once again, Lincoln Riley had the last word.

"We've lost the Heisman Trophy winner and done it before," Riley said, leveling his gaze again. "I think we have a pretty good handle on it."

SYDNEY -- Order restored. After losing for the first time in nearly 13 years two days earlier, the United States rebounded to outclass Canada 84-68 in a pre-World Cup exhibition basketball game Monday.

At the same arena where the Americans won Olympic gold at the Sydney 2000 Games the U.S. never trailed, leading 20-9 after the first quarter and 46-31 at halftime.

On Saturday, Australia stunned the U.S. 98-94 before a crowd of more than 52,000 in Melbourne, a result that ended the Americans' 78-game winning streak.

The U.S. is missing top NBA players such as LeBron James, James Harden, Paul George and Stephen Curry. It was a dour scoring game after the exciting Saturday result in Melbourne, with both teams committing numerous turnovers Monday.

Jaylen Brown had 19 points to lead the Americans, who out-rebounded Canada 55-37. Donovan Mitchell added 12 points and four assists; Kemba Walker scored 12 points and Myles Turner finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds.

"We have to speed up that learning curve," Brown said of the Americans with less than a week to go before the World Cup starts. "We have a lot of room for growth. It's going to be good when it comes together, the sky is the limit for this group."

Kyle Wiltjer had 21 points for Canada, while Orlando Magic forward Khem Birch -- Canada's lone NBA player in the game -- had 13 points and six rebounds.

"We've got a lot of work to do, but we've enjoyed our time here," Wiltjer said. "Let's not forget these are practice games."

Overall, the Canadians shot just 35% from the field and 6-for-23 (26%) from three-point range.

Andrew Nembhard, who injured his knee last week, and Kaza Kajami-Keane (ankle) both returned for Canada, while Brady Heslip, a late arrival for the Canadians, played his first game in Australia.

The last time the Americans lost a game -- counting major international tournaments and exhibitions with NBA players on the floor -- was the semifinals of the 2006 world championships. The American team has won gold in every competition since, including three straight in the Olympics and two consecutive World Cup titles.

Canada has also been hit hard by missing NBA players, with Miami Heat's Kelly Olynyk the latest big-name player to pull out after sustaining a knee injury.

TIP-INS

Canada: It was the third head-to-head meeting between Canada coach Nick Nurse and U.S. coach Gregg Popovich. They went 1-1 against each other in NBA play last season, Nurse's Toronto Raptors losing in San Antonio on Jan. 3 but beating Popovich's Spurs in Canada on Feb. 22. Canada finished 4-3 in its pre-World Cup exhibitions, starting with a split of a two-game series with Nigeria before five games in Australia.

USA: The Americans finished their four-game World Cup warm-up tour 3-1 after beating Spain and splitting two games with Australia. The U.S. is planning to stay in Sydney until mid-week, then arrive in Shanghai early Thursday.

NURSE TOUR

Nurse is getting the full tour of the other side of the world this year. The Canadians have been in Australia for a week or so, and now head to China for the World Cup. Then, Nurse will be in Japan when the world champion Raptors (albeit now without NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard) play preseason games against Houston on Oct. 8 and Oct. 10.

KUZMA DEPARTURE

Popovich was disappointed that Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma's left ankle injury meant he wouldn't be able to compete in the World Cup. The Americans sent Kuzma home Saturday with the injury, a move that finalized the 12-man U.S. roster. They were in Australia with 13 finalists for 12 World Cup spots. "It's a huge disappointment, because he was a young, energetic guy who was really learning and could play a lot of positions for us," Popovich said. "Hopefully he'll heal quickly."

UP NEXT

Canada: Opens World Cup play Sept. 1 vs. Australia in Dongguan, China.

USA: Opens World Cup play Sept. 1 vs. Czech Republic in Shanghai.

Which players should be the favorites for NBA MVP in 2019-20?

In the latest edition of the ESPN summer forecast, our panel predicted 2018-19 MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo as having the best chance to win the award. Two-time MVP Stephen Curry finished second, with Curry and Giannis getting more than half of the first-place votes. But multiple players were strongly considered in the running, including LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, Nikola Jokic and Kawhi Leonard.

Which players are being most underrated in the MVP race? Who will be the next first-time MVP? And what are the key things to watch in this race?

Our NBA experts break down the results.

1. What's your biggest takeaway from the voting?

Kevin Pelton: The MVP race, like the season in general, is wide open. That's a lot of different players getting first-place votes and nobody at even one-third of the vote, which shows a lot of disagreement over what to expect.

Bobby Marks: That the best player in the NBA ranked No. 7. Kawhi Leonard has played more than 70 games only twice in his eight-year career, but the NBA Finals MVP should be more than an afterthought in this race. We can certainly blame load management as a reason for these results, but remember that Embiid missed 18 games last season.

Royce Young: For a former winner and last season's runner-up, James Harden just does not seem to generate the kind of MVP attention one would expect. Maybe there's some voter fatigue, maybe it's because of his new MVP-level teammate, maybe it's a stylistic thing, but Harden is going to have another monster season and the Rockets are going to win a lot of games. One would think that would earn him a couple preseason votes.

Tim MacMahon: I can hear the cries coming from Houston about a bias against James Harden. Frankly, I don't see any reasonable explanation for Harden just barely cracking this list. After all, he has been among the top two in MVP voting in four of the past five seasons and has been out of the top five only twice during his seven-year run with the Rockets. There certainly aren't any signs of decline in Harden's game, considering that his scoring average soared almost six points per game last season, when he was coming off an MVP campaign. It's a safe bet that Harden will put up huge numbers in efficient fashion for a contender, maintaining his status as a perennial MVP candidate.

André Snellings: My biggest takeaway is just how many legitimate MVP candidates we have going into the season. Last season, my preseason MVP race had only Giannis Antetokounmpo (my pick), James Harden and LeBron James as serious contenders. This season, I could legitimately see any of the top nine vote-getters winning, with some others not even on the list that should be in consideration. This shapes up to be the wildest, most wide-open NBA season that I can remember.

2. Whose MVP chances are most underrated?

Snellings: The obvious choice for most underrated chances is James Harden, who has finished top two in three straight MVP votes and four of the past five but is currently ninth on this list. However, I'll go off the board a bit and say Damian Lillard. Lillard has led the Trail Blazers to consecutive top-three finishes in the Western Conference, has quietly finished in the top six in consecutive MVP votes, and is at the absolute peak of his powers. He had some marquee Dame-Time moments in the playoffs to put him on the map, has made headlines this offseason by speaking against the super team movement and he dropped a fire rap album. If he leads the Trail Blazers to a top seed again, he'll be in strong MVP contention.

Marks: Anthony Davis. A tumultuous season that included a left-hand injury and a trade demand in late January saw Davis play a career-low 56 games. However, don't forget that Davis is a three-time All-NBA first-team selection (2015, 2017 and 2018) and joins a Lakers team that is one of the favorites to reach the NBA Finals. If Davis can display his dominance from his two prior seasons (2016-17 and 2017-18) when he averaged 28 PPG and 11.4 RPG, the 26-year-old could come away with his first MVP trophy.

Young: A player not receiving any votes, Donovan Mitchell. The Jazz are going to be a premier Western Conference team this season, and with Mike Conley alongside to ease some of the ball-handling burden, Mitchell can settle more into a comfortable scoring role. If the Jazz finish second in the West, Mitchell is going to generate buzz. He was primed for a leap year last season and it didn't quite happen -- he was very good still, just not quite as good as some expected -- but in year three, there's a chance it all comes together for him. Those who have been around him this summer at USA camp have been extremely impressed and see big things for Mitchell this season.

Pelton: James Harden. Yes, his stats are unlikely to be as impressive with the arrival of Russell Westbrook, who could split the vote. But Harden has finished either first or second in voting four times in the past five years and the Rockets could be improved from last season. (Our projections based on real plus-minus have Houston finishing with the league's best record on average.) I'm stunned he got so little support.

MacMahon: I don't want to harp too much on Harden being so low, but he's the easy answer here. I mean, the dude is coming off one of the best individual offensive seasons in NBA history. (Not to go full Daryl Morey, but that's fact, not opinion. Only a handful of players have averaged 35-plus points per game in a season, and Harden had the best true shooting percentage and most assists of the bunch by a wide margin.) And Harden is in the middle of his prime.

3. Which player in top five has the most challenging path to winning MVP?

Marks: Joel Embiid. The easy answer would be to tab Steph Curry here based on the loss of Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson sitting on the sidelines for a good portion of the season. However, No. 4-ranked Embiid faces multiple challenges heading into the season. For starters, while Al Horford will start alongside Embiid, coach Brett Brown has an insurance policy with the former Celtic. Expect Horford to see plenty of minutes at center when Embiid is either in foul trouble or if the 76ers take a proactive approach monitoring his minutes.

Speaking of those minutes, the big question this season (and if Embiid is in the MVP conversation) comes down to fitness and health management. While Embiid has averaged 32 minutes in the previous two seasons, the center has missed 37 games in 2017-18 and 2018-19 -- most of those coming on the second end of a back-to-back.

MacMahon: Embiid, just because all signs are that load management will be a priority for the 76ers' big man, as it should be. After adding Al Horford, Philadelphia has the luxury of resting Embiid for 20 or so games during the regular season. That's a smart plan for a team that expects to make a long playoff run and needs Embiid as healthy as possible to maximize title odds, but it's difficult to justify giving MVP votes to a guy who sits so often.

Young: LeBron James. First, his age and the complications of an 82-game schedule will impact it. LeBron's overall motivation could be questioned last season, but his motivation to win the MVP has been in doubt for a number of seasons. He already has tried to give Anthony Davis his number anyway, and since he has to wait a year, he may try to make up for it by helping win Davis the MVP.

Pelton: Joel Embiid. I suspect the Sixers intend to manage Embiid's playing time more during the regular season given the way his knee soreness lingered into the 2019 playoffs. With Al Horford around, Philadelphia has another proven All-Star capable of sliding over to center. Besides reducing Embiid's minutes, Horford's presence also probably means that Embiid won't have quite the same impact in terms of the team's performance when he's on the court as opposed to on the bench.

Snellings: Anthony Davis has the most challenging path, because he has to contend with teammate LeBron James for votes. I wrote in spring of 2018 that Davis was peaking, and thus ready to challenge hard core for the MVP, and his production last season supported such a contention before things went off the rails in New Orleans. This season, he would have the perfect MVP narrative as a peaking player who joins a new team and likely boosts that squad way up the rankings. The only problem is, four-time MVP LeBron was there first, is the face of the franchise right now, and it may be difficult for Davis to do enough to win the narrative argument over the King.

4. Who will be the next first-time MVP?

MacMahon: Nikola Jokic has the best shot over the next few years, but I'll go with Luka Doncic down the road. He just had the most productive season by a teenager in NBA history and appears to have followed that up by working his (previously too big) butt off this summer, based on pics he posted on Instagram. Doncic can probably be a perennial All-Star with a puffy body, but how seriously he takes strength and conditioning will determine his ceiling. A sleek version of Doncic should develop into a perennial MVP candidate, particularly if the Mavs can build a contender around Kristaps Porzingis and him.

Pelton: Anthony Davis. As tempted as I was to pick Luka Doncic, I think Davis is the choice given he could win as soon as this season while Doncic's chances are realistically a few years away. As LeBron ages, AD has the chance to emerge as the leading contender on a Lakers team that should be in contention in the West.

Young: As long as we're not talking Finals MVP, it's Kawhi Leonard. Two main reasons: (1) he's too good -- and too complete of a player -- to not win one, and (2) the LA Clippers are going to be extremely good.

Marks: Nikola Jokic. Not only does the best team in the NBA reside in Denver but so does one of the favorites for MVP -- Jokic. While the 24-year-old (and Denver) will not be able to play the underdog role this season, the center could average a triple-double during the season -- something that has never been done by a center. The best passing big man in the NBA has seen his assists increase from 2.4 his rookie season to a career-high 7.2 last season. If there is a stumbling block, it could come down to Denver monitoring his minutes in the early portion of the season. After playing into mid-May, Jokic has had little time off as he leads Serbia into the World Cup. With training camp starting in late September and international play ending Sept. 15, Jokic could have little rest before the NBA season starts.

Snellings: Joel Embiid is the next first-time MVP, and may legitimately take it home this season. Davis, Lillard, Nikola Jokic and Kawhi Leonard are all strong candidates as well, but Embiid has the game, the motivation after the way that the 76ers came oh-so-close but didn't quite make it last season, and the team around him that is strong enough to contend but that doesn't have any other primary scoring options to muddy the vote. This leads to a scenario in which Embiid will get the lion share of the points and the credit if the 76ers succeed, and they have a team that looks poised to push hard for the top seed in the Eastern Conference this season.

5. Who is your preseason MVP pick and why?

Snellings: For the second straight season, my preseason pick for MVP is Giannis Antetokounmpo. He is such a unique talent, and even though he took over the NBA as I predicted last season, he still is only 24 years old and, in his own words, is still only at about 60 percent of his potential as a player. Add that he is one of the most obviously motivated players in the NBA, that he has improved in every season and that he also feels that he has unfinished business after his Bucks came just short last season, and only injury or distraction from his upcoming super-max extension discussions next summer loom as potential obstacles from him hoisting the MVP trophy two years in a row.

MacMahon: I went with Steph Curry. He's the clear-cut focal point of the Warriors' offense again, and Curry won back-to-back MVPs the last two seasons that was the case, the latter coming by a unanimous vote. The biggest concern about Curry is his durability. He played 79 games in each of his MVP seasons but has missed a total of 43 games over the past two years.

Young: Kawhi Leonard. There's a considerable chance the Clippers finish as the West's best team, and he's their best player. Those things typically combine to form a leading MVP candidate. The primary thing that kept Leonard from the conversation last season was load management, but he says he's set to play more games this season. And if that's the case and Leonard plays 70-plus, he'll be a leader -- and quite possibly, the winner.

Marks: It would be a surprise if Jokic is not leading the MVP race when we get to the quarter mark of the season. Not only do the Nuggets carry the label of team continuity -- 12 players return, including five starters -- but the team has an early season advantage with their schedule. The Nuggets face 13 teams below .500 in the first 20 games and will have a total of 19 (out of 33 total) home games before we reach Jan. 1. Factor in, too, that Jokic will be front and center when it comes to exposure. The Nuggets will have 24 games on national TV this season -- last season they had 18.

Pelton: Giannis. The conditions that helped him win MVP last season are still in place. He's not competing for votes with any other teammate and -- RPM projection aside -- the Bucks have an excellent chance of posting the league's best record in the weaker Eastern Conference. Antetokounmpo will have to battle the high bar he set last season, but I think the notion that voters are reluctant to vote for the previous winner is overstated at best.

Milwaukee Brewers slugger Christian Yelich, world No. 1 golfer Brooks Koepka and the Philadelphia Eagles' offensive line are among the athletes featured in the final print edition of ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue.

The magazine hits newsstands on Sept. 6, its final appearance in print after 21 years. ESPN announced in April the magazine would continue online with the same types of stories.

Joining Eagles offensive linemates Brandon Brooks, Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce, Isaac Seumalo and Halapoulivaati Vaitai in posing are Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns and Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints.

Others appearing in the Body issue include Oklahoma City guard Chris Paul, Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks, IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe, WNBA player Liz Cambage, basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman, UFC champion Amanda Nunes, former UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi and soccer player Kelley O'Hara.

Photos from the Body issue will be available online Sept. 4.

IAAF series undergoes changes ‘to become stronger and more relevant to athletes and fans’

The Weltklasse Zurich meeting is to host the 2020 and 2021 IAAF Diamond League finals under the already-announced new one-final format.

The Diamond League was established in 2010 with two finals, traditionally held in Zurich and Brussels, but for the next two years a single final will take place in the Swiss city.

From 2022 to 2024 the final is set to rotate annually as all meetings will be invited to apply to host it.

The announcement follows details of changes to the format of the IAAF series which will incorporate 13 meetings, including the final, from next year.

The Diamond League finals will feature a 150-minute international broadcast window, which is an hour longer than the regular season meetings which will move to a 90-minute international broadcast, featuring a tailored programme of disciplines.

Each meeting can add extra events to its schedule, outside the core broadcast window, if the organisers wish.

A total of 24 disciplines – 12 male and 12 female events – will run across the 12 meetings during the international broadcast window, with each meeting hosting 12 of the 24 disciplines.

“Zurich has been the home of many of the most extraordinary moments in athletics over more than 90 years, including 25 world records, and we are delighted that it will host the pinnacle one-day meeting of 2020,’’ said IAAF president Sebastian Coe.

“The Diamond League is vital to our future growth as it provides an annual showcase of the very best in athletics, which is why we must ensure that every contest broadcast to the world is of the highest standard.

“We expect the new Diamond League format to be even more thrilling for our global audience as it builds excitement throughout the outdoor season and reaches a crescendo in Zurich.”

The IAAF and current 14 meeting organisers began discussing reforms last year, with a working group said to have since consulted with athletes, fans, broadcasters and partners to identify what needs to change and evolve to keep this annual showcase of athletics relevant and fresh for athletes and fans.

The Diamond League board is set to decide on the full 2020 schedule of 12 regular season meetings at its next session in September.The list of disciplines that will be included in the broadcast window will be decided at the end of the outdoor season.

A round-up of recent athletics action, including national championships performances, the Great Aberdeen Run and more

Click the links below for our separate Müller British Athletics Championships and Paris Diamond League reports.

British Championships, Birmingham, August 24/25

Day one
Men’s events | Women’s events

Day two
Men’s track events | Men’s field events | Women’s track events | Women’s field events

Meeting de Paris, France, August 24

Will Claye and Noah Lyles impress in Paris – click here to read more.

Kenyan Championships, Nairobi, August 21

Three-time world half-marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor and 2015 world cross-country champion Agnes Tirop won the 10,000m titles to book their world championships places.

The race incorporated the official national world trial for the distance, while Kenya’s trials for other disciplines will be held on September 12-13.

World leader Rhonex Kipruto was second in 27:26.34 behind Kamworor’s winning 27:24.76, while Rodgers Kwemoi was third in 27:26.92.

Tirop ran 31:25.00 to win ahead of Hellen Obiri’s 31:25.38. Rosemary Wanjiru was third in 31:26.22

Simplyhealth Great Aberdeen Run, Aberdeen, August 25

James Hoad (69:06) and Fiona Bryan (78:04) were clear half-marathon winners.

Ben Ward won the accompanying 10km in 32:59 and Claire Bruce the women’s race in 37:17.

Polish Championships, Radom, Poland, August 25

Konrad Bukowiecki won the shot with 21.83m to win the Polish title ahead of European indoor and outdoor champion Michal Haratyk (21.45m).

World champion Pawel Fajdek defeated European champion Wojciech Nowicki in the hammer, 78.61m to 74.75m.

Marcin Lewandowski won the 1500m in 3:57.60, over 25 seconds slower than his Paris Diamond League time of the night before.

Finland v Sweden, Stockholm, August 25

Sweden won both matches with European pole vault champion Armand Duplantis setting a meeting record of 6.00m on his first attempt.

Perseus Karlstrom set a world lead of 38:03.95 to win the 10,000m race walk.

Daniel Stahl’s discus win with 69.42m and Kim Amb’s javelin PB of 85.89m were additional highlights.

Madrid, Spain, August 25

Mike Rodgers won the 100m in a season’s best 9.97 (1.4m/sec) ahead of Jimmy Vicaut’s 10.05 and Japan’s Hakim Sani Brown’s 10.05 and Yoshihide Kiryu’s 10.08.

South African record-holder Carina Horn won the women race in 11.01 (0.4m/sec) over Ivet Lalova-Collio’s 11.08 and world champion Tori Bowie’s 11.09.

Swiss Championships, Basel, August 23/24

Mujinga Kambundji set a Swiss record 22.26 (1.2m/sec) in the women’s 200m.

Daqing, China, August 24

World champion Gong Lijiao won the women’s shot with 19.46m.

Trafford BMC Gold Standard, August 20

Ahmed Bashir Farah (pictured) front-ran the 800m and won in a PB 1:48.48 from Alex Coomber’s PB of 1:48.57.

Jonny Kay won the 1500m race with a PB of 3:48.34, while under-17 Benjamin Reynolds finished third in a time of 3:50.19 – the second fastest time by an U17 this season.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 25

Bedan Karoki retained his title with a course record 59:06 – the fastest ever time in South Africa – to defeat Ethiopia’s Seifu Tura (59:16) and Kenya’s Paul Lonyangata (59:49).

Stephen Mokoka was fourth in a South African record of 59:51.

Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh won the women’s race in a course record 67:44 from Kenyans Esther Chesang (69:25) and Rodah Jepkorir (69:31).

Mexico City, Mexico, August 25

Duncan Maiyo won at high altitude in a 2:12:51 course record while Vivian Kiplagat (2:33:27) won the women’s race.

Brighton Birthday Boys 5000m, Brighton, August 22

In better conditions than the runners encountered in Birmingham a few days later, British 10,000m champion Steph Twell ran inside the Doha qualifying mark with a 15:13.6 time.

Caroline Hoyte just missed Emma Stepto’s UK W45 record of 17:01.41 with a 17:02.1.

International U18 Mountain Running Cup, Susa, Italy, August 24

Welsh athletes Mike Spill (17:03) in fifth and Eden O’Dea (20:49) in sixth were the leading British mountain runners as Spill led his under-18 team to silver medals, while the Welsh under-18 women were also the first of the home country teams in fourth.

The races were won by France’s Hugo Schropfer (16:54) and Italy’s Katja Patis (19:52).

Morton Games, Dublin, August 21

The headline event, the Morton Mile, was run in a downpour with Texan Robert Domanic gaining his second event win with a 3:58.90 timing.

Australia’s Patrick Tiernan survived a fall and the heavy rain to win over 5000m in 13:28.41.

Mark English, fresh from his last-gasp win in Birmingham and chasing a qualifying time for the world championships in Doha, could manage no better than fourth behind former NCAA champion Isaiah Harris (1:48.20) and a time of just 1:49.27.

Durham Summer Cross Country Relays, August 21

Sunderland Harriers won the men’s race and Gateshead Harriers won the women’s event.

Birtley’s Adrian Bailes clocked the evening’s fastest time while Gateshead’s Chloe Wellings was the fastest woman.

Charnwood AC Open, August 25

Double Paralympic sprint champion Libby Clegg raced for the first time since she had a baby. With her guide runner Chris Clarke, she ran the 200m in 29.64.

Two-time Paralympic champion Richard Whitehead contested the 100m for the first time this season and ran 12.79, and then ran the 200m in 23.83.

Paralympic, world and European medallist Jonathan Broom-Edwards high jumped 2.05m.

In the 100m, World Masters indoor 200m medallist Michelle Thomas and long jump medallist from the same competition.

Joanne Frost topped their age group rankings in the W45 & W40 age groups respectively with 13.09 and 12.92.

Six Days in the Dome, Pettit National Ice Center, Wisconsin, August 25

At the indoor Six Days in the Dome event, USA’s Zach Bitter ran a split time of 11:19:18 for 100 miles to break the world record.

That time is an 8min and 46sec improvement on the 11:28:03 that Russian athlete Oleg Kharitonov ran in 2002 in London at the Crystal Palace track.

At the same venue legendary Scottish ultra runner Don Ritchie also set a 100-mile record of 11:30:51 in 1977.

With thanks to Adrian Stott for info.

Innings New Zealand 431 for 6 dec (Latham 154, Watling 105*, de Grandhomme 83, Dilruwan 3-114) lead Sri Lanka 244 (De Silva 109, Karunaratne 65, Southee 4-63, Boult 3-75) by 187 runs

Colin de Grandhomme holed out second ball of the final day for 83, but BJ Watling unleashed his attacking avatar and rumbled to a century before New Zealand declared on 431 for 6, claiming a first-innings lead of 187. Sri Lanka need to bat out 91 overs if they are to earn a draw and seal a 1-0 series win.

In a big blow to the home side, captain Dimuth Karunaratne will not be allowed to bat any higher than No. 7 in the second innings after suffering a quadricep tear, which kept him off the field on the fourth day as well as on the fifth morning.

After overnight showers had delayed the start of the final day's play, New Zealand batted just five overs, rattling up 49 runs.

Lasith Embuldeniya struck immediately, when he got one to jump out of the rough and draw a top edge from de Grandhomme. Watling, however, did a de Grandhomme, sweeping, reverse sweeping and even advancing down the track in carefree fashion. He moved into the 90s with a drilled drive past Lahiru Kumara, the bowler, and later raised his own century and New Zealand's 400 with a down-the-track club over the midwicket boundary.

Days after becoming New Zealand's highest-scoring wicketkeeper, Watling surpassed his former captain Brendon McCullum again, this time to become the highest century-maker among New Zealand wicketkeepers.

Tim Southee also joined the fun, contributing 24 off ten balls in a rollicking 49-run seventh-wicket stand with Watling, before Kane Williamson called them in.

A target of 419, with well over a day's play to go, was always going to be tricky for West Indies, but 100 all out in 26.5 overs was perhaps a notch or three lower than where the team wanted to be. Captain Jason Holder said their batsmen need to "look at themselves seriously in the mirror" after that display.

"Our batters did not come to the party," Holder said after the game in North Sound, where Jasprit Bumrah's "magic balls" hasted West Indies' end as he finished with incredible figures of 8-4-7-5.

The magic on the day came in the form of the outswinger, a delivery Bumrah hadn't used much in match play before this, and sent down with devastating effect, especially to Shai Hope and Holder. Both played the angle but the ball swung away to hit the off stump, while John Campbell and Darren Bravo, both left-hand batsmen, were bowled through the gate.

ALSO READ: Bumrah perfects his latest weapon, the outswinger

"Today he proved difficult [to negotiate]. He bowled some magic balls today and got quite a few of our batsmen with some very good balls," Holder agreed." Having said that, we have just got to find ways to negate him. He is a quality bowler yes, but definitely, solutions are there.

"He got the ball to swing quite late this evening as well. He was difficult. He bowled quite a few inswingers to me. It (the dismissal delivery) angled in and left me at the last moment, so I give him all credit for that one.

"Bumrah bowled an exceptional spell, Ishant [Sharma] was very supportive, as well as [Mohammed] Shami. Just one of those spells in Test cricket when the opposition gets on top and stays on top. We've seen it happen in so many occasions around the world. These things do happen in Test cricket, but it's a matter of it not to happen very often."

"We have a lot to be disappointed about, we didn't perform as well as we'd like, but there's no point dropping our heads, that's not the solution"

What did happen twice over two innings was a rather tame West Indian capitulation. The first time out was better - 222 - but, even then, the best individual score was Roston Chase's 48 when each of the top-eight batsmen got into double-digits but couldn't kick on. The second time was more abject, and might have been even worse but for an entertaining 50-run stand for the last wicket between Kemar Roach and Miguel Cummins.

"Our batters definitely did not come to the party in this game. We fell short [by] quite a few runs. I think the wicket has been a very good one [for batting]. The initial phase with the new ball was the hardest, as a batsman, you should fear, but after that it gets pretty easy," Holder said. "It's just a matter for us to dig a little deeper, we've got to fight hard initially upfront in our innings. Give ourselves a fair chance at succeeding.

"Looking back at this game, everyone who was successful really gave themselves a good chance upfront. Our bowlers have to look at two-three spells before they start to expand; it's going to pretty much going to be similar in Jamaica [in the second Test]."

What's the solution? Chase, after the first innings, had pointed to the openers not providing a platform for the middle-order batsmen and then the other batsmen giving their wickets away too easily. The sentiment was the same, but Holder went a bit deeper when asked the same question.

"We've been looking for solutions for a little while. Each batter's just got to look at themselves seriously in the mirror, and we've just got to find solutions," he said. "I think more often than not we have been gifting our wickets instead of letting the opposition work for the wickets. That's one area we can definitely draw on, make the opposition work really hard for the wickets. If we go through the dismissals in this match, there were quite a few soft dismissals."

Now it's over to Sabina Park after a short "refresh and recuperate" period, and Holder, who defended the decision to field four fast bowlers - including himself - with just the lone spinner in Chase, hoped the team would use the break to lift themselves.

"[The defeat] definitely doesn't dent my confidence personally, and the group I think should be out lifting themselves," Holder said. "We have a lot to be disappointed about, we didn't perform as well as we'd like, but there's no point dropping our heads, that's not the solution, in my opinion. We've got to find a way to bring ourselves back after this defeat and rally around one another."

LOS ANGELES -- They tried to downplay it, in the days leading up to it and the nights in between, but after it was over, and the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers had completed a three-game series that was among the most anticipated of the season, there was an acknowledgement of heightened zest.

"It felt big," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

"It was absolutely exciting," Dodgers infielder Max Muncy added. "It's hard not to let it creep into your head that this could be a preview of something in the fall."

The Dodgers and Yankees -- two franchises that have met 11 times in the World Series, far more than any other combination of teams -- were facing one another for the first time since September 2016. It marked the first time they held the best record in their respective leagues this late in the season since 2009, and the first time that they ever met in the regular season under those circumstances.

A World Series matchup that provided Don Larsen's perfect game, Reggie Jackson's home-run barrage and Sandy Amoros' lunging catch could very well take place again in late October. Before that, the Dodgers and Yankees staged a weekend series in what has otherwise been a sluggish August, with both teams possessing major divisional leads and donning hideous black and white uniforms.

The Yankees took two of three, becoming the first team to limit the Dodgers to five runs in a series this season.

Below are seven takeaways:

Yankees feast off lefties -- and that's a problem for the Dodgers

The Yankees have several potent right-handed hitters in their lineup, so it should be no surprise that they possess an .866 OPS against lefty starters this season (third highest in the majors, behind only the Minnesota Twins and the Houston Astros). The crazy part is that they're doing it all without Giancarlo Stanton, one of the league's most menacing right-handed sluggers. And the scary part for the Dodgers is that their two best starters, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Clayton Kershaw, throw left-handed. And so does Rich Hill, who is expected to rejoin the rotation in October.

"Bronx Bombers -- I don't know what else to say," Judge said when told his team set a record with 61 home runs in the month of August. "We've got a great lineup. I've never been on a team before that, 1 through 9, they can hurt you, or even the guys off the bench."

Judge is feeling it again

Judge was so in his bag this weekend that he promised a fan a home run and delivered. He hit three of them in the series, one in each game -- one to left, one to center and one to right. The Yankees' prodigious slugger has amassed four home runs over his last six games, giving him 99 for his career. After a slow start to August, Judge has accumulated 12 hits in his last 33 at-bats.

"I'm glad to see him getting results, but I knew that was a matter of time," Boone said. "You're not going to hold greatness down too long, and he's certainly a guy that the bigger the stage, he enjoys that. You can tell he loved being a part of these games."

Bullpens would play a major factor

The Yankees have hit the second-most home runs in the sport, and the Dodgers, with a pitcher often occupying a spot in their lineup, rank third. Both teams can mash. It's no secret. But both lineups are also good at working deep counts and getting opposing starting pitchers out of the game relatively quickly. It means the bullpens would play a major factor in a potential World Series meeting. And the Yankees probably have the advantage there.

The Dodgers' bullpen actually sports a slightly better ERA, WHIP and strikeout-to-walk ratio, but those numbers are deceiving. Yankees relievers have had to pick up more than 100 additional innings because the starting rotation has been so ineffective, which means more innings soaked up by subpar relievers. New York's top-end combination of Aroldis Chapman, Adam Ottavino, Zack Britton, Tommy Kahnle and, potentially, Dellin Betances should be feared.

A different Kenley Jansen?

Jansen sat in the Dodgers' dugout on Thursday afternoon and talked about how much he was looking forward to the upcoming series against the Yankees. The stakes wouldn't match those of October, but the energy could mimic it. He believed he might benefit from the extra dose of adrenaline. In the middle game, with the Dodgers leading by a run in the ninth, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out on three well-placed grounders, but Jansen wiggled out of trouble with back-to-back strikeouts. One of his cutters was thrown 96 mph, a mark Jansen hadn't reached since the middle of April.

"Just another save," said Jansen, who holds a career-high 3.62 ERA and six blown saves while having to sequence his pitches for basically the first time in his career. "The biggest step for me is just to be happy. Stop being angry and worry about results and stuff like that. Just be happy. This team is special. Be happy about it. When the time comes to go out there, to help our guys win ballgames, just enjoy the moment."

Some much-needed familiarity

After mustering only one hit in 10 at-bats over the weekend, Cody Bellinger was asked what he could take away from this series to help in a potential October rematch.

"Just getting familiar with the pitchers," Bellinger said. "It's probably the same for them."

The Yankees had never seen Saturday starter Tony Gonsolin and the Dodgers had never seen Sunday starter Domingo German. None of the Dodgers' starters on Friday had ever faced James Paxton, and only one Yankees starter, D.J. LeMahieu, had racked up more than five plate appearances against Ryu. It's what you might expect from two teams that hadn't faced each other in three years.

Fatigue setting in for Ryu?

Ryu has already thrown 152⅔ innings, just 61 fewer than his total output from 2015 to 2018. And perhaps he's starting to feel the effects of that. Ryu was charged with seven earned runs through just 4⅓ innings in the series opener -- the same amount he had allowed in 77⅔ innings at home heading in to the game. Ryu has allowed 11 runs over his last 10 innings, raising his ERA from 1.45 to 2.00. The Dodgers say fatigue is not a factor, but they will nonetheless try to find him some rest moving forward.

Incomplete rosters

The Yankees are -- perpetually -- incomplete. But Stanton, one of the game's premier sluggers, and Betances, among the most prestigious power relievers, should return before the postseason. So should designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, first baseman Luke Voit, center fielder Aaron Hicks and starting pitcher Luis Severino.

The Dodgers are without lefty reliever Julio Urias (under suspension for another week), outfielder Alex Verdugo (working his way back into baseball activities after going down with an oblique injury three weeks ago) and starting pitcher Hill (progressing toward facing hitters in his return from an elbow injury). Things could look appreciably different if these teams face each other again.

"I think they're the best team in the NL, and I think we're pretty good and have a pretty good shot at being there," LeMahieu said. "Obviously it's a long ways to go, but it would be pretty special."