Dallas Mavericks superstar guard Luka Doncic has been ruled out for Thursday's home game against the LA Clippers because of a left heel contusion.

The injury prevented Doncic from practicing the previous two days.

Mavericks co-star Kyrie Irving is listed as questionable because of right shoulder soreness but returned to practice Wednesday.

The Mavericks (17-9) have managed to go 5-1 in games Doncic has sat out this season.

Doncic is coming off his best performance of the season, a 45-point, 11-rebound, 13-assist triple-double in Sunday's road win over the Golden State Warriors.

He is averaging 28.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

The NBA, where a big three combination of players often proves successful on the court, has a big three in terms of franchise value too.

The Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers are the league's most valuable franchises by a wide margin, Sportico announced in its annual assessment Wednesday.

The Warriors are worth $9.14 billion, the Knicks $8.3 billion and the Lakers $8.07 billion, according to the report. Golden State is considered the second-most valuable franchise in U.S. sports, trailing only the Dallas Cowboys ($10.3 billion).

The assessments include ownership's real estate and team-related businesses such as WNBA franchises.

The average NBA team is worth $4.6 billion, a 15% rise over last year and nearly twice the worth from four years ago.

The Warriors, who have an affiliated WNBA expansion team set to start next year, saw their value go up 10% from 2023. The Knicks had a 12% rise, and the Lakers had a 10% rise.

The Brooklyn Nets are fourth on the list with a $5.7 billion value, a rise of 43% from the club's 13th-place ranking last year. Billboard cited the Nets' Barclays Center as the world's highest-grossing arena as of April.

Rounding out the top 10 are the LA Clippers ($5.68 billion), the for-sale Boston Celtics ($5.66 billion), the Chicago Bulls ($5.56 billion), the Miami Heat ($5 billion), the Houston Rockets ($4.77 billion) and the Toronto Raptors ($4.66 billion).

Among the top 10 franchises, only the Lakers and Celtics don't control their venues.

The bottom three on the list are the Minnesota Timberwolves ($3.29 billion), the New Orleans Pelicans ($3.09 billion) and the Memphis Grizzlies ($3.06 billion).

According to Sportico, NBA teams have a higher value-to-revenue ratio than those of any other major U.S. sports league. On that list, MLS is second, followed by the NFL, the NHL, the WNBA, the NWSL and MLB.

IN OCTOBER, after the New York Knicks blew a 13-point second-half lead to drop a winnable game to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the home locker room was eerily quiet.

Some of that was the nature of the defeat; the Cavs had shown more toughness and hustle to grind out the win, traits that have long-defined Tom Thibodeau-coached teams. But some of the hushed tones also stemmed from a glaring number on the stat sheet.

Karl-Anthony Towns, the sharpshooting big man acquired from the Minnesota Timberwolves at the start of camp and on a $220 million contract, had gotten off just eight shot attempts. Asked about Towns' limited looks that night, Knicks guard and team captain Jalen Brunson acknowledged he needed to do more to get the ball to his center.

"As good as Karl is, there's no way [for a defense] to take him out of a game. It's on us and it's on me to make sure we're on the same page and to make sure that everyone's eating," Brunson said from his corner locker. "I've gotta be better about adjusting, and I've got to see him."

Even more baffling: The low shot total against Cleveland had become something of a trend. Through his first three games as a Knick, the four-time All-Star had averaged nine shots per game -- fewer than any member of the starting five, even though he'd logged the best true-shooting percentage of that five-man group.

It didn't take long -- two days, to be exact -- for the issue to be rectified.

With Brunson looking to facilitate, Towns lit up the Miami Heat's top-10 defense, scoring 44 points on 17-for-25 shooting and marking a sea change for the Knicks' offense, which ranks third in the NBA and has seen Towns go from last in the team's starting five in shots per game to first since that Oct. 28 loss to Cleveland.

"Stuff is coming so much easier for them than it did last year," an Eastern Conference scout told ESPN of the Knicks' 16-10 start. "We knew the spacing would be better with Towns, but I didn't think they'd be humming like this so quickly."

The transformation -- for New York and for Towns, who's in the midst of a career season as he returns to Minnesota on Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET, TNT) -- raises a tantalizing question: With Towns playing this well, what is New York's new ceiling after back-to-back second-round exits?

THE EXPLOSIVE POTENTIAL was evident -- almost immediately. Late in the first half of the Knicks' second game of the season, Brunson dribbled around a Towns screen and probed the right side of the floor, forcing Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard and center Myles Turner into a decision. They both followed Brunson.

But then Brunson abruptly stopped, squared his body and fired a pass to the trailing Towns, who had been left wide open. Turner sought to close out but was painfully late. His shoulders slumped as the ball slipped through the net to give the Knicks a 16-point lead as time expired in the first half. The Garden boomed with glee. And Towns, who had held his follow-through at the 3-point arc, stood in place, shimmying in celebration.

This was exactly what the Knicks envisioned for this duo -- a dynamic pick-and-pop ability that simply overwhelms a defense that has no earthly clue who to stay with in the split-second choice. Should they prioritize the stout guard, who last season became the first player since Michael Jordan to notch four consecutive 40-point playoff performances, or should they focus on Towns, who has drilled 40% of his career 3-point tries and has perhaps correctly called himself the best-shooting big in basketball history?

It's an impossible decision, and on that late October night, it was one the Pacers simply couldn't answer as the Knicks waltzed to a 25-point home victory.

The Knicks, who featured one of the most stagnant, iso-based offenses in the league last season, now have scary optionality.

Brunson and Towns are scorching defenses for 121 points per 100 possessions in pick-and-pop scenarios, and the Knicks as a team rank second in the league on such plays. They've made a massive 19-point improvement over last season, when Brunson and the Knicks ranked 29th in the NBA in pick-and-pop scoring efficiency.

Towns' offensive impact extends far beyond the pick-and-pop game. The space his shooting provides opens up the lane for one of the NBA's most creative finishers. It's no coincidence that Brunson, who shot 61% at the rim two seasons ago and 63% last year, is up to 67%. On average, Brunson has had 1.25 players contesting his layups and floaters this season when Towns is on the floor, according to Second Spectrum tracking. For context, that number jumps to 1.47 players contesting Brunson drives with Towns on the bench.

Teams just can't bring over help defenders fast enough when Towns is on the floor. It's why New York is shooting almost 71% at the basket, a 15-spot improvement year-over-year. "The court is gonna be wide open. The rim is gonna be there," wing Josh Hart said prophetically of the Knicks' potential spacing after the Towns trade.

He was right.

Towns, himself, has taken advantage of the space in the paint, scoring a career-best 1.21 points per direct drive -- a rate that ranks seventh in the NBA among players with 150 drives or more.

The metric illustrates the catch-22 he presents to defenders: If you close out on him too much, you give up blow-by dunks. If you give him too much space, like Turner did, it figures to end poorly as well. Towns is shooting 52% (25-for-48) on wide-open 3s a third of the way through the season.

Of course he's brought more to the Knicks than scoring. Fans and analysts alike worried Towns wouldn't be able to replace the elite passing and rebounding of center Isaiah Hartenstein, who left for the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency.

But two months in, Towns has all but quieted those concerns. Teammates are shooting 55.4% off Towns' passes -- not only the highest mark on the Knicks, but one of the 10 best rates in the league among players with at least 100 assist chances. (With Towns, New York is moving the ball far better than it has in recent years, when it finished last and second-to-last in assist percentage in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. The Knicks rank 13th this season.)

"The passing has really evolved," Thibodeau said of Towns last month. "He's always been unselfish, and a team-first guy, but now, I think he really sees things. He understands what the defense is trying to do."

But Towns' rebounding might be the biggest revelation of all. Aside from becoming the first player since Shaquille O'Neal in 1996-97 to log 500 points and 250 boards in his first 20 games with a new team, Towns is grabbing an NBA-high 13.9 rebounds per game.

The 29-year-old, who grabbed 8.3 rebounds per game last season, is experiencing the NBA's greatest single-season rebounding increase in more than 30 years.

THEN THERE'S THE defense. For the first few weeks of the season, New York -- trying to plug in a new point-of-attack defender in Mikal Bridges and a new rim protector in Towns -- couldn't stop much of anything. Through Nov. 10, opponents were shooting 78% on layups and dunks against Towns when he was the contesting defender, a mark that rated last in the NBA among players with at least 50 defended shots through that point in the season.

"They were a turnstile," the East scout said. "Bridges was slow in getting around the screens, and Towns was dropping too far down to impact the ball handler. Almost every single time, that's what was happening. Teams were attacking their sore spot."

To Towns' credit, though, he's limited opposing shooters to just 52% on layups and dunks from Nov. 11 on. That's a tremendously encouraging sign for the Knicks as they await Mitchell Robinson's return from ankle surgery.

It doesn't mean there aren't still occasional growing pains. Just last week, in the NBA Cup quarterfinals against the Hawks, Towns got into foul trouble (something he's long struggled with) and his time on the bench allowed Atlanta to dominate the glass and come back to win. They finished with 22 offensive boards, leading Hawks center Clint Capela to say the Hawks "[took the Knicks'] soul" after knocking New York out of the tournament.

Still, with how fundamentally Towns has changed its offense, even with the initial defensive shortcomings, it's clear why the organization felt comfortable gambling on the high-profile swap for him. And if Towns maintains this level of play, the move could push the team even further -- to its first conference finals in 25 years.

ESPN Research's Matt Williams contributed to this story.

The New York Mets and right-hander Griffin Canning have agreed on a one-year, $4.25 million contract, pending a physical, a source confirmed to ESPN's Jeff Passan on Wednesday night.

The deal includes $1 million in potential performance bonuses, a source said.

Canning, 28, posted a 4.78 ERA in five seasons with the Los Angeles Angels before he was traded to the Atlanta Braves in October. The Braves nontendered him in November, making him a free agent.

The right-hander recorded career highs in starts (31) and innings pitched (171) in 2024. He finished the season 6-13 with a 5.19 ERA, leading the American League in earned runs allowed (99) for the last-place Angels.

He registered his best season in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, pitching to a 3.99 ERA over 11 starts and earning a Gold Glove award.

Canning is the third starting pitcher the Mets have added on a major league contract this offseason, joining Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes. Montas signed a two-year, $34 million deal with an opt-out after next season. Holmes, a reliever since 2018, agreed to a three-year, $38 million deal with an opt-out after the 2026 season.

The Mets' other options for the rotation include Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Paul Blackburn, Tylor Megill and Jose Butto.

The club lost Luis Severino from last season's rotation in free agency to the Athletics.

Left-handers Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana, two other key starters for the Mets' run to the National League Championship Series, remain free agents.

The Athletic first reported Canning's signing.

Lowry says that Ulster's first-half performance against Bordeaux was "the best 40 minutes" the side have played all season.

Richie Murphy's side led by five points at half-time but their French opponents, who are second in the Top 14 behind all-conquering Toulouse, roared back in the final quarter to seal a convincing win.

"Unfortunately the second half wasn't as good and that's what we need to put out there, a full 80-minute performance," added Lowry, 26.

"We're going in the right direction. It's good when you look back on things and see we're so close to having that 80 minute performance if we just tidy up a few things.

Lowry added there is still "a real buzz" around Ulster's Ravenhill home and having a game so soon provides Ulster with an opportunity to respond.

"We review the game, both good and bad. We will work on those bad things, but it's about having belief. We want to keep improving the good things as well. Yes it's good, but it's not perfect," he said.

"We're striving for that. We're trying to get better individually and hopefully collectively it will come."

The New York Rangers traded forward Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday, in exchange for defenseman Will Borgen, a 2025 third-round pick and a 2025 sixth-round pick.

Kakko, 23, was drafted second overall by New York in 2019 and collected 61 goals and 131 points for the Blueshirts in 330 games.

This has been another tough season for Kakko, though, in which he's produced just four goals and 14 points in 30 games. Kakko has been subject to multiple trade rumors over the past two years, but managed to sign a one-year, $2.4 million contract as a restricted free agent last spring to stick with the Rangers.

The forward was recently made a healthy scratch in New York's game against the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, a move by coach Pete Laviolette that didn't sit well with Kakko and was reflective of how he's struggled to establish a firm positioning within the organization.

Kakko was vocal about the decision too, claiming all he was told by the coaching staff is he "needed to do something," but that he wouldn't be looking into that further on his own.

"They're going to say if they have something to say, but I'm not going there," he told reporters.

On the business end, Kakko is also a pending RFA again and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer, limiting GM Chris Drury's options.

Drury has been targeting Borgen for some time. He's a right-shot defenseman that Seattle selected from Buffalo in the 2021 expansion draft and developed into a top-four option for the backend.

Borgen is just one season removed from posting a career-high 25 points for the Kraken, but playing under new head coach Dan Byslma hasn't brought out the best in Borgen's game. A move to New York could help him to flourish.

Borgen is currently making $2.7 million in the final year of his contract before becoming a UFA this summer.

Holders Liverpool booked their berth in the Carabao Cup semifinals with a 2-1 victory over Southampton at a wet and windy St Mary's Stadium on Wednesday, thanks to goals from Darwin Núñez and Harvey Elliott.

Their manager Arne Slot was not on the sidelines as he served a ban for card accumulation this season.

Nunez, who had been goaded by Saints fans earlier in the game for a wild miss, got on the scoresheet in the 24th minute, pouncing after a miskick by centre-back Jan Bednarek and a slip by keeper Alex McCarthy. Nunez put his finger to his lips in a gesture to the crowd after finishing past McCarthy.

Elliott doubled the Reds' lead eight minutes later when he unleashed a low, hard shot from Cody Gakpo's pass. Cameron Archer pulled one back for the home side in the 59th minute with a curling shot from just inside the box.

"We came into this game knowing the circumstances that Southampton were going through and knew they were going to come out fighting and we were ready for it," Elliott told Sky Sports.

The game was a tale of teams at opposite ends of the Premier League table, with Liverpool at the summit and Southampton -- who sacked manager Russell Martin following Sunday's 5-0 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur -- in last place with just one win.

"We have to defend the trophy because the club won it last season, so we want to compete in every league and this is one of them, so we're happy that we reached the semifinal," said Slot, who watched the game from the press box.

Arsenal and Newcastle United also advanced to the semifinals with the final spot up for grabs on Thursday when Tottenham host Manchester United.

Washington State transfer quarterback John Mateer has committed to Oklahoma, he announced on social media Wednesday.

Mateer is the No. 1 overall player in ESPN's transfer rankings and joins the Sooners after a breakthrough season as the Cougars' starter in 2024. He'll have two more seasons of eligibility.

Oklahoma hired Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski earlier this month and was long considered the favorite to land Mateer if he transferred. Oklahoma held off a strong push from Miami to secure his pledge, sources told ESPN.

After backing up Cam Ward for two years, Mateer took over as the Cougars' starter in 2024 and threw for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns on 65% passing. He was one of the top dual-threat playmakers in FBS, ranking sixth among all quarterbacks with 827 rushing yards and scoring 15 rushing touchdowns.

The 6-foot-1, 219-pound redshirt sophomore had a top-10 QBR among Group of 5 starters (71.4) over his 12 starts. The Cougars got off to a strong 8-1 start this season and earned a No. 18 ranking in the College Football Playoff rankings before closing with three consecutive losses.

After firing first-year offensive coordinator Seth Littrell midway through the season, Oklahoma coach Brent Venables hired Arbuckle on Dec. 2. Mateer resolves a significant need for the program after starting quarterback Jackson Arnold opted to transfer to Auburn.

Mateer, a native of Little Elm, Texas, was lightly recruited out of high school and was committed to play at the FCS level at Central Arkansas before Washington State made a late offer in January 2022.

Washington State coach Jake Dickert accepted the head job at Wake Forest on Wednesday, after longtime coach Dave Clawson decided to step down earlier this week.

Dickert and Washington State's leadership had attempted to negotiate a deal with Mateer to re-sign him for the 2025 season, but the coach said his quarterback wished to "play on a bigger stage" next season.

"John will be the most sought-after player in the portal," Dickert told reporters Monday. "I think he's going to be the best player in the country next year."

In its first season as an SEC member, Oklahoma lost six of eight conference games and went 6-6 on the year. The Sooners rank No. 94 nationally in scoring offense at 24.3 points per game, their worst scoring average since 1998. Venables is counting on Mateer and Arbuckle, his rising 29-year-old offensive coordinator, to lead a turnaround in 2025.

Oklahoma will close out its season against Navy in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 27. Freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. started three games this season and is expected to start for the Sooners in the finale.

The 2024 NBA Cup final between the Milwaukee Bucks and Oklahoma City Thunder has arrived, and the stars came prepared with their fits.

The Las Vegas weather proved to be no challenge for arrivals.

Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with an oversize red coat and baggy jeans, capping it off with sunglasses. Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo kept it simple with a black T-shirt and hat plus black Air Forces. His teammate Damian Lillard wore a white Amiri button-up.

Here are the most fashionable arrivals ahead of the NBA Cup final.

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