Yankees starter James Paxton was placed on the 10-day injured list with left knee inflammation, the team announced Saturday.

The southpaw left Friday night's game against the Twins after three innings.

"It's just something that's nagging at me enough that I couldn't execute pitches," Paxton said after the game. "I'm not real worried it's going to be something long term. I'm hoping it's something that's just a quick fix."

It's the eighth time he's been placed on the DL in his seven-year career.

Paxton is the 14th Yankee currently on the IL.

The 30-year-old is 3-2 this season with a 3.11 ERA, 52 strikeouts and 13 walks.

New York called up right-hander Jake Barrett from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ANDERSON, Ind. – Even before he laid a tire onto the race track for Friday’s Must See Racing Sprint Car Series practice night at Anderson Speedway, Tyler Roahrig was already all smiles.

It had been three years since he had strapped into a winged asphalt sprint car to go racing, but the feel came back right away for the 28-year-old from Mishawaka, Ind.

The joy didn’t go away, either, even if Roahrig was admittedly “still in non-winged mode” during his first run of hot laps at the quarter-mile, high-banked paved oval.

“Man, I forgot how much fun to drive these things are,” Roahrig said after climbing from the Wayne Stickney-owned No. 99. “It’s been three years, and this practice has already reminded me how much I missed these winged cars are, especially at this place. I’m already having a blast with these guys.”

Roahrig noted that there was a certain aggression factor in driving the winged car versus the non-winged car that he had to readjust to between the first and second sessions on Friday.

“I’ve been so used to running without the wing here the last few years that I forgot how hard you could really run these things with the wing on top,” Roahrig noted. “The first session, I was still a little bit out to lunch, I guess you’d say, but the second session we picked up three or four tenths … and that was pretty much all me as the driver running it harder.

“But I really did forget how much enjoyment there is in running these things,” he continued. “It’s been since 2016 that I’ve run a winged car in the (United) States, and I’m really enjoying being back.”

Roahrig noted that his partnership with the Stickney Racing Team came in large part due to a race in his home state that never ended up happening because of a washout last fall.

“Wayne got ahold of me last year and wanted me to run a race in Fort Wayne at Baer Field (Motorsports Park), because I was going to be there anyways with my late model,” Roahrig recalled. “That race rained out, unfortunately, but we kept in touch over the winter and decided to come here for our first race of the season.

“I think we fit well together as a team, because these guys are serious racers, just like I am. They want to win, they work hard on their car and I know it’s a good piece,” he added. “A lot of good racers have not only driven this car, but won in it, and I hope I can be the next one to add my name to that list.”

Though he likely won’t contest the full Must See Racing Sprint Car Series schedule and contend for rookie-of-the-year honors due to a handful of late model conflicts, Roahrig does expect to race a good number of series events this season with Stickney’s team, including at least the first two events.

Roahrig also hopes to head east for the doubleheader weekend at Hillside Buffalo Speedway in Holland, N.Y., in late July, as well as hit the Border Wars doubleheader at Michigan’s Owosso Speedway and Ohio’s Sandusky Speedway in late August.

“I think we’ll definitely do a few more,” he noted. “It’ll kind of be on a week-to-week basis, but I’m really excited to race with these guys. Basically, I’m going to run the (No.) 99 car whenever I can. Whenever my schedule allows and their schedule allows is when you’ll see us.

“We could do anywhere around 10 races, I can’t really say for sure. We’ll see what happens.”

One thing was clear on Friday, though. Roahrig’s love for being back in a sprint car was virtually unmatched by any other force in the Anderson pit area, and he was quick to explain why, as well.

“Sprint cars are just a raw form of motorsports, in my opinion,” Roahrig noted. “They’re pretty simple and it’s just about whatever it takes to be fast, is how a sprint car is built … compared to a late model, anyways. My family actually started out in open-wheel cars, running in supermodifieds and sprints, so I’ve always been drawn to them. It has just taken me a while to be able to do it regularly.

“I love sprint car racing, though, and I have ever since I was a little kid. It’s good to be back.”

Bournemouth defender Nathan Ake scored a stoppage time winner to break nine-man Tottenham's resistance and earn a 1-0 victory on Saturday.

Tottenham saw Son Heung-Min and Juan Foyth shown red cards either side of half-time, but held out until stoppage time before conceding the game's only goal.

Mauricio Pochettino's men came into the match knowing three points would confirm their place in next season's Champions League -- and Lucas Moura came close to opening the scoring early on when his long-range effort almost caught rookie goalkeeper Mark Travers out of position, only to drift narrowly wide.

However, Travers then produced a succession of impressive saves to keep the visitors at bay before Spurs' game plan began to unravel.

Eric Dier was lucky not to pick up a second yellow card when he stopped a Bournemouth breakaway on 34 minutes only to see referee Craig Pawson wave play on.

And minutes later he almost gave away a penalty when he kicked Callum Wilson in the back of the leg but again Pawson said no.

Yet there was no escape for Son on 43 minutes when he was sent off for striking Jefferson Lerma in the face following a tussle with the Colombia international.

Pochettino wrung the changes at half-time as he withdrew Dier and Toby Alderweireld for Victor Wanyama and Foyth -- only to see the Argentina international dismissed two minutes and 13 seconds into the second half for a reckless tackle.

Bournemouth failed to create an openings for the majority of the game, before Ake scored a free header from a corner in stoppage time to secure all three points.

Tottenham will still be guaranteed a top four finish if Arsenal fail to beat Brighton at the Emirates on Sunday but a win for Chelsea against Watford would see them drop to fourth. Bournemouth move up to 12th.

The strangest thing about nine-man Tottenham's self-destruction in Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth was that it occurred in entirely unthreatening surroundings.

This was a lunchtime kick-off on a pleasant day at the Premier League's smallest ground, and Tottenham were up against a Bournemouth side with little to play for.

The home side were in poor form, spent the prematch period handing out end-of-season awards and named a debutant goalkeeper so unknown he didn't even have a Wikipedia page this morning. This should have been a stroll in the park.

Yet it was in this end-of-term spirit that Spurs completely lost their discipline and collapsed in a fashion that has become familiar to their fans at this stage of each season.

Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino said: "I think everyone saw the game, everyone can have their own opinion. It was live on TV, 12:30 p.m., I don't need to explain too much, everyone saw on TV, everyone here saw what happened. That's football.

"It's impossible to manage everything. It's cruel to fight in the second half with nine players, to concede a goal in the second half like that is cruel, but we need to move on."

The collapse, courtesy of Nathan Ake's injury time winner, brings to mind the end of the 2015-16 campaign. Spurs were in with a chance of pipping Leicester to the Premier League title before falling to a draw at home to West Brom, infamously blowing a 2-0 lead away at Chelsea to mathematically end their title hopes -- in a game featuring even more wild tackles than this one -- then losing 2-1 at home to Southampton.

Then, finally, they were thrashed 5-1 by an already-relegated Newcastle side down to 10 men. Eventually, they suffered the ignominy of finishing behind rivals Arsenal.

Spurs have, in fairness, finished the last two campaigns relatively strongly, but this late-season slump feels familiar, and will inevitably be on their minds if they are challenging in the final weeks this time next season.

Tottenham are physically exhausted, still competing in two competitions with a threadbare squad and Harry Kane out injured. But this performance -- and a third successive defeat to stretch their dismal run to one win in six -- suggested a psychological frailty too.

Things started when Eric Dier, who has endured a dreadful period over the past year, got booked after just 10 minutes for fouling Ryan Fraser. Toby Alderweireld followed him into the book shortly after for cynically bringing down Josh King with a challenge that wasn't so much wild, more deliberate -- ensuring at least one of his legs made contact to halt a counter-attack.

Players on a yellow card generally show restraint and make fewer tackles, but not Dier. He stopped a Bournemouth break with a completely unnecessary lunge on King in the centre circle, which looked so obviously like a bookable offence that Bournemouth fans chanted "Off! Off! Off!' for 10 seconds before realising referee Craig Pawson hadn't even awarded a foul. Replays suggest Dier may have got his toe on the ball, but it was a remarkably risky tackle.

Dier was subsequently fortunate not to concede a penalty when his wild swipe inside the six-yard box missed the ball completely and flattened Callum Wilson, while Moussa Sissoko was beaten to a second ball by Ake and responded by bringing him down to become the third player in the book.

And then, shortly before half-time, Spurs were reduced to 10 when Son Heung-min -- perhaps the last player you'd expect to be dismissed for violent conduct -- responded to an altercation with Jefferson Lerma with a bit of a stamp and shove, and marched down the tunnel a minute before his teammates.

Pochettino couldn't risk going down to nine. Therefore, he removed booked pair Dier and Alderweireld, which made sense. On came Victor Wanyama and Juan Foyth.

The problem, though, was that it took Foyth just two minutes before he launched into an absolutely ludicrous challenge on Jack Simpson -- among stiff competition, the most obvious foul of the match.

For all Pochettino's praise of his young compatriot, this was the second bizarrely ill-disciplined match of Foyth's Premier League campaign: two penalties conceded at Wolves, and now a two-minute red card at Bournemouth.

"We needed fresh legs, and we needed to avoid another yellow card. But after three minutes, the plan didn't work," Pochettino said.

At nine against 11, the Spurs coach reshaped into a formation that is probably best expressed as a back four and a diamond midfield. They spent much of the second half simply chasing Bournemouth, who worked the ball from side to side without creating many goal-scoring chances.

For long periods it seemed Spurs would hold on to a clean sheet and the nine remaining players would be hailed as heroes but the physical exertions weren't ideal preparation for their Champions League semifinal second leg away at Ajax on Wednesday, with the side 1-0 down on aggregate.

Things got even worse for Spurs as the game ticked into stoppage time, when Fraser's in-swinging corner was powered home by Ake. It was another blow to Spurs' chances of finishing in the top four, even if things will be in their own hands for the home clash with Everton next Sunday.

The real hero, though, was debutant goalkeeper Mark Travers, who would have been completely unfamiliar to many Bournemouth supporters on the morning of game but ended the game enjoying a lengthy ovation having been named the sponsors' man of the match.

He made a series of fine saves -- from a long-range Dele Alli effort he parried away, a smart top over when Lucas got in behind, and then a positive low stop when the Brazilian broke through for a one-on-one. There was also some smart sweeping as Spurs lofted balls in behind the Bournemouth defence.

"In the first half we dominated, we were so good on the pitch. When you look a the game, we played for 45 minutes with two players less than Bournemouth, and then at the end of the match, the man of the match was the keeper. When you think a little about that, you realise [that we played well]," Pochettino added.

Travers was the only Bournemouth player that can feel particularly proud of his efforts, as the home side were alarmingly feeble when attempting to break down Spurs' nine men.

But Bournemouth collected the three points, while Spurs stumbled to another loss. Their only success since reaching the Champions League semifinals following that chaotic 4-3 defeat at Manchester City was the unconvincing late 1-0 win over Brighton, courtesy of Christian Eriksen's last-minute winner.

Spurs are still likely to re-qualify for the Champions League, but this is a squad running on empty and the extra energy exerted here because of the self-inflicted numerical disadvantage means a midweek comeback in Amsterdam will be even tougher.

Big picture

How did it come down to this for Kings XI Punjab (again)? After winning four out of their first six matches in IPL 2019, they managed just two wins in their next nine games to be ousted from the playoffs contention. They now run into Chennai Super Kings, who had knocked them out last season. Super Kings were the first to qualify for the playoffs this year, and they now have a chance to finish No. 1 and firm up their place in the first qualifier at their fortress Chepauk.

A two-two finish would still be within Super Kings' grasp even if they lose (by a slender margin) in Mohali on Sunday. However, they wouldn't want to let net run-rate decide their fate. While Dhoni is in stellar form and Suresh Raina returned to form against Delhi Capitals, there are still questions over Kedar Jadhav and Ambati Rayudu.

Shane Watson has had one match-winning innings at the top, but he should relish this Mohali track, where the bounce is largely consistent and the ball slides onto the bat. Kings XI's middle order is rickety as well, but that's partly down to mismanagement of resources. David Miller got 10 matches, but has scored only 213 runs at a strike rate of 129.87. Nicholas Pooran, a more versatile performer and an excellent player of spin, who deftly tackled sluggish surfaces in the Caribbean Premier League, has got only five innings this IPL, making 132 runs at greater strike rate of 155.29. Pooran v Super Kings' spinners could well turn out to be a mouth-watering contest.

In the news

Super Kings released their reserve wicketkeeper-batsman N Jagadeesan to turn out for his club Vijay CC in Chennai. Dhoni has been bothered by a back niggle and illness through this season, so should the team management rest him again, part-timer Rayudu will take over the wicketkeeping gloves.

Previous meeting

R Ashwin unleashed his bag of tricks in his first IPL match as part of the opposition in Chennai, but New Zealand quick Scott Kuggeleijn adjusted to the slower-than-usual Chepauk pitch and muzzled Kings XI's middle order, defending 160.

Likely XIs

Kings XI Punjab (probable): 1 Chris Gayle, 2 KL Rahul, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 5 Mandeep Singh, 6 Sam Curran, 7 R Ashwin (capt.), 8 M Ashwin, 9 Mohammed Shami, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Mujeeb Ur Rahman/AJ Tye

Chennai Super Kings (probable) 1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 Kedar Jadhav, 5 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 6 Ambati Rayudu, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Imran Tahir

Strategy punt

• Pooran's release shot against spinners is the big loft over long-off. After mastering it in the CPL, he has also shown glimpses of the loft in IPL 2019. Super Kings could try to counter that by placing a straightish long-off - like they did back in the day against Mumbai Indians' Kieron Pollard.

• R Ashwin has had Rayudu's number in the IPL. He has dismissed Rayudu four times in 11 innings, while conceding 65 runs off 59 balls. So, there's a case for Ashwin to save himself for Rayudu in the middle overs.

• Harbhajan Singh v Chris Gayle is the more obvious match-up. The offspinner has got Gayle four times in 10 IPL innings. All told, Gayle has managed only 97 off 97 balls from Harbhajan in the IPL.

Stats that matter

• Mayank Agarwal has got to eight 20-plus scores this IPL, but he has been able to convert only two of them into half-centuries. And he has been dismissed seven times by spin in 12 matches.

• Kings XI's overseas seamers - Sam Curran, Andrew Tye and Hardus Viljoen - all have an economy rate of over 10 in the end overs. Among them, they have leaked 284 runs in 25 overs at the death.

• Dhoni's strike rate of 216 in IPL 2019 is his best since IPL 2015.

• Dhoni fancies batting against Kings XI. He has struck five fifties against them - his most against any opposition in the IPL.

• If Super Kings win on Sunday, it will be their 100th IPL victory. They will be the second team to get there after Mumbai Indians.

• Imran Tahir needs two scalps to reach 300 T20 wickets. Shahid Afridi, Sunil Narine, and Shakib Al Hasan are the only other spinners to have achieved this milestone before.

Toss Royal Challengers Bangalore chose to bowl v Sunrisers Hyderabad

Virat Kohli had some luck with the coin finally as Royal Challengers Bangalore elected to bowl in their final league fixture at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Sunrisers need to win to keep their hopes alive. Elsewhere, Kolkata Knight Riders will be rooting for Royal Challengers, for a Sunrisers loss will leave a simple equation for them on Sunday night: beat Mumbai Indians and qualify for the playoffs.

Williamson announced one change from the side that lost a Super Over thriller to Mumbai Indians on Thursday. They preferred Yusuf Pathan's experience over rookie Abhishek Sharma.

Wanting to win this for their "amazing home fans", Kohli announced three changes, one of which was forced. Marcus Stoinis is back with the Australian team, which meant Colin de Grandhomme returned. Shimron Hetmyer and Washington Sundar too were back in place of Heinrich Klaasen and Pawan Negi.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Parthiv Patel (wk), 2 Virat Kohli (capt), 3 AB de Villiers, 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Gurkeerat Singh Mann, 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Colin de Grandhomme, 8 Umesh Yadav, 9 Navdeep Saini, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Kulwant Khejroliya

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Martin Guptill, 2 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Kane Williamson (capt), 5 Vijay Shankar, 6 Mohammad Nabi, 7 Yusuf Pathan, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Basil Thampi, 11 Khaleel Ahmed

Big Picture

Right, here we go, then. England and Pakistan, all set to face off in five ODIs on their final run in to the World Cu… Oh, what's that? This is a T20 international? Okay, but that doesn't really fit the narrative. We'll have to see what we can do.

Yes, the vagaries of the international schedule have thrown up this context-free clash in a different format mere weeks before the start of a global 50-over tournament on these shores. No matter, there has been plenty of transference of T20 skills to modern ODI cricket, and this will be a chance for the players of both sides to let their hair down before things get serious, if nothing more.

Pakistan arrive in the UK ranked No. 1 in the world, though their extraordinary run of 11 series wins in a row was checked in South Africa a couple of months ago. That winning sequence began in England three years ago, in another one-off math, when they battered the hosts by nine wickets - and they have had a pretty smooth start to their tour this time around, comfortably beating county opposition in both limited-overs formats.

Leading the way for the visitors will be Babar Azam, also No. 1 in the ICC rankings for batsmen, who demonstrated his abilities by smashing 101 from 63 balls at Leicestershire on Wednesday. A formidably good T20 unit, packed with stars of the PSL, they look like favourites for the match in Cardiff on Sunday, against what is very much a mix-and-match England.

Eoin Morgan's team will be pretty much the same as the one that edged past Ireland in Malahide on Friday, with a host of regulars due back for the ODI series beginning next week. Defeat to Ireland, after picking their way through the Alex Hales-related debris, would have been another blow to their status as World Cup favourites but switching to T20 should loosen everyone up.

Three members of the pace attack who are competing for World Cup berths claimed T20I four-fors in the Caribbean earlier this year - Chris Jordan, David Willey and Tom Curran during a 3-0 thrashing - with every chance to impress the selectors worth seizing. And who isn't keen to see Jofra Archer set loose in his premier format?

Form guide

England WWWWL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WLLWW

In the spotlight

In the wake of Hales' removal from the World Cup squad, James Vince would appear to be the nearest direct replacement as reserve top-order batsman. However, after 27 appearances across the formats since his England debut in 2015, Vince has yet to play the innings that proves he belongs. In the Dublin ODI he played a couple of memorable shots only to be dismissed for 18 - a familiar tale, although on this occasion it did take a brilliant catch to see him off. With Jason Roy working his way back to fitness and Jonny Bairstow ready to return for the Pakistan ODIs, Vince may only have a few more chances to convince Ed Smith.

Mohammad Hasnain is so raw he wouldn't be out of place on a plate of sashimi. The latest Pakistani teenager to appear as if from nowhere for an international debut, Hasnain's pace is his key attribute - and the reason he was catapulted into the World Cup squad having only played three ODIs. He initially caught the eye in T20 after an impressive maiden PSL campaign for Quetta Gladiators in which he pushed 150-plus kph on the speed gun but has only played 14 games of senior cricket (and taken 21 wickets) in his entire career. A good run against England would increase his chances of having a significant impact at the World Cup.

Team news

Dawid Malan suffered a groin injury while batting at Malahide and won't take part - England have called up Sussex's uncapped opener Phil Salt as cover. Ben Duckett looks likelier to play, however, and make his T20I debut alongside Archer and Ben Foakes. Jordan, a first pick in this format, will probably replace one of Curran or Liam Plunkett.

England: (possible) 1 James Vince, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Joe Root, 4 Eoin Morgan (capt), 5 Joe Denly, 6 Ben Foakes (wk), 7 David Willey, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Chris Jordan, 11 Tom Curran

Imam-ul-Haq featured in the XI against Leicestershire and could be given a T20I debut. Asif Ali will be looking to push his case for World Cup selection but Shoaib Malik is not available, having returned to Pakistan for personal reasons. Mohammad Amir (also currently outside the World Cup 15) and Junaid Khan offer further left-arm options in the pace attack.

Pakistan: (possible) 1 Fakhar Zaman, 2 Babar Azam, 3 Imam-ul-Haq/Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Haris Sohail, 5 Asif Ali, 6 Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt/wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Hasan Ali, 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 11 Mohammad Hasnain

Pitch and conditions

The pitch at Cardiff is generally pretty good for scoring in white-ball games - not to mention the first domestic first-class match of the season there, which yielded 1390 runs and just 19 wickets. England have occasionally been tempted to change their two-spinners formula here thanks to the short, straight boundaries. The forecast is for minimal chance of rain but temperatures barely out of single figures.

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan won the last T20I between these teams but overall England have an 11-4 record (with one tie).
• Before defeat to South Africa in February, Pakistan had won nine consecutive T20 internationals - at the time the second-longest streak of victories behind Afghanistan's 11.
• After winning Man of the Match on Test debut last year and again after his first ODI appearance on Friday, Foakes has a shot at becoming the first player to complete the treble.

The NCAA has launched an investigation into the Arizona men's basketball program, a university spokesman confirmed to the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson on Friday night.

In response to an open records request, Arizona officials would not release the school's communication with the NCAA to the newspaper because "investigations into the University of Arizona men's basketball program are ongoing at this time."

A spokesman later acknowledged to the Daily Star that "an NCAA investigation is underway."

Former Arizona assistant Emanuel "Book" Richardson pleaded guilty in January to accepting $20,000 in bribes to steer Arizona players to aspiring sports manager Christian Dawkins and certain financial advisers once they turned pro.

During a federal criminal trial in New York this week, Dawkins testified that he had a "pretty good" relationship with Arizona coach Sean Miller and didn't need to bribe Richardson to get Wildcats players as clients.

Miller has adamantly denied paying players to attend Arizona.

In response to a public records request ESPN submitted Feb. 6, asking for certain correspondence with the NCAA regarding the men's basketball program, Arizona responded on March 28, stating "investigations into the UA men's basketball program are ongoing at this time," and, as a result, the university could not release any potentially responsive records.

Mark Moore, an attorney for co-defendant Merl Code, a former Adidas consultant, asked Dawkins if Miller "knew what was going on" in regards to alleged payments to Arizona players. A federal prosecutor objected before Dawkins answered.

Dawkins also testified during the trial that he refused to cooperate with federal prosecutors and refused to testify against former NBA agent Andy Miller and college basketball head coaches.

"Isn't it true the government wanted you to testify against your bosses at ASM and you wouldn't?" defense attorney Steven Haney asked Dawkins.

"Yes," Dawkins said.

"Isn't it true the government wanted you to testify against a bunch of head basketball coaches in this country and you wouldn't do it?" Haney continued.

"No, I wouldn't," Dawkins answered.

There are myriad issues and alleged violations for NCAA investigators to examine at Arizona, including:

* Federal prosecutors on Wednesday played a recording of a phone call in which Richardson told Dawkins that Sean Miller was paying star center Deandre Ayton $10,000 per month while he was enrolled at the school.

Last week, federal prosecutors played a surveillance recording of a meeting on June 6, 2017, in which Dawkins talks about Ayton and says Miller told him, "I'm taking care of everything myself. I wanna bring you in. I'll turn everything over to you." Former financial adviser Marty Blazer, a cooperating witness for the government, was present at the June 2017 meeting and testified last week that the reference was about Miller "taking care" of payments for Ayton. During a telephone call, which FBI wiretaps intercepted on June 2, 2017, Dawkins told his business partner Munish Sood that Miller "fronted" the deal for Ayton to sign with Arizona. "[Richardson] already made it clear you're gonna get, or we're gonna get, the No. 1 pick next year, assuming he's No. 1," Sood said during the call. "It's going to be more money than what they, what Book, said. I mean, because I talked to Sean," Dawkins told Sood. "Sean's the one that fronted that deal. So it's going to be some money, but, I mean, we'll figure that out."

* Richardson also said during a surveillance recording that he was making $2,000 monthly payments to Rodney Labossiere, former Arizona guard Rawle Alkins' cousin, who was living in Tucson. "His cousin moved to Tucson, which I'm highly against," Richardson said. "I never want the parents or anyone to move there. I'll give you two grand a month to make sure it works. But he brought him, his wife and his child. Wrong move." The payments to Labossiere were allegedly made while Alkins was still playing for the Wildcats.

* In July 2017, Richardson asked for an additional $15,000 from Dawkins and Sood to give to the mother of 2018 recruit Jahvon Quinerly of Hackensack, New Jersey. Richardson said he planned to make three payments of $5,000 each and would also pay her $10,000 of his own money.

"The purpose of that payment was simple," assistant U.S. attorney Noah Solowiejczyk told the jury in closing arguments on Friday. "Dawkins wanted to get the money to Richardson so Richardson could get the recruit for Arizona, and then Richardson could steer that player back to him when he turned pro."

* Other allegations of rules violations surfaced during an October federal criminal trial, in which a jury convicted Code and Dawkins of bribery charges in a pay-for-play scheme to steer recruits to Adidas-sponsored schools. Brian Bowen Sr., the father of five-star recruit Brian Bowen Jr., testified that Dawkins told him that then-Arizona associate head coach assistant Joe Pasternack offered $50,000 for his son to sign with the Wildcats in the spring of 2017. Pasternack is now the head coach at UC Santa Barbara.

* Also in the October trial, jurors heard wiretapped recordings in which Code and former Adidas executive James Gatto discussed Arizona's alleged offer of $150,000 to sign then-rising senior Nassir Little and whether the shoe company would match the sum to send the five-star recruit to the University of Miami, which is sponsored by Adidas. "The problem is, Arizona's offered the kid 150, and we're trying to keep him from going to one of their schools," Code told Gatto on one call. "So, it was brought to me through [Little's grassroots coach] Brad [Augustine] and Christian, who said, 'Hey, do you think Jim would be able to keep him at Miami, because they really want the kid.'"

* In February, Arizona officials suspended assistant coach Mark Phelps and initiated the process to terminate his contract. University of Arizona president Robert C. Robbins told the Daily Star that it was his understanding that the school was letting Phelps' contract expire on June 30.

Sources told ESPN that Phelps is accused of a violation regarding former Arizona recruit Shareef O'Neal's academic transcripts. O'Neal, the son of former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, was committed to the Wildcats in 2017 before signing with UCLA.

The Houston Rockets deserve a massive amount of credit for uncovering and implementing the most analytically correct strategies in professional basketball. Whether it's their shot selection or offensive design, the team has aligned its on-court behaviors with the game's most efficient actions. However, as Houston continues to chase the efficiency dragon farther down the trail, it's worth asking: Is this endless quest for efficiency good for basketball?

From an analytical perspective, the trio of GM Daryl Morey, head coach Mike D'Antoni and superstar James Harden have coalesced to form the shrewdest offense in the NBA. Their strategies reformed conventional wisdom and revealed important truths about offensive efficiency -- most famously that the pathway to optimizing effective field percentage is marked by a few simple ideas: midrange shots are dumb, and layups, dunks and free throws are brilliant.

This trio also knows something else: The most efficient scoring play in basketball isn't the corner 3 or even the slam dunk. It's drawing a 3-point shooting foul. And it's that knowledge that lies at the heart of the embarrassing "landing area" debacle that hijacked NBA discourse earlier this week.

Consider this: A wide-open Stephen Curry 3-point shot is worth 1.6 points on average, per Second Spectrum tracking. An uncontested Giannis Antetokounmpo slam dunk is worth nearly 2.0 points. An average Harden 3-point shooting foul yields more than 2.6 points. The 3-point shooting foul isn't just Harden's most valuable play. In the aggregate, it's the most efficient scoring play in the contemporary NBA by a considerable degree.

Even as Curry (332 wide-open 3s over the past three seasons) and Giannis (281 uncontested dunks) pursue these signature plays, they won't be able to catch Harden's margins. At age 29, Harden is already the all-time leader in 3-point shooting fouls drawn. Of all the strange places he has landed this week, the top of this leaderboard shouldn't be surprising:

To put that into further context: Over the past three seasons, the Charlotte Hornets rank second in the NBA with 185 3-point shooting fouls drawn. Harden has drawn 288 by himself.

Now, you might say that since the dude shoots so many 3s, it's only natural to see him atop the fouls leaderboard. Fair point. But overall, NBA shooters get fouled on 1.66 percent of their 3-point tries. For Harden that number is 11.5 percent. That gap can't be explained solely through Harden's unprecedented prowess on unassisted 3s and how much it frightens defenders. It's about antics, man.

When we look at the league's most voluminous 3-point shooters over the past three seasons, we see Harden's foul rate is more than twice as high as any of the league's other top marksmen.

The Rockets are the most innovative group in the league, but as their playbook continues to try and hack offensive efficiency in new ways, it's also demonstrating that efficiency and beauty aren't always harmonious. In many cases, they're in wild disagreement.

And that disharmony isn't all on Houston. Harden's antics are a check engine light on the dashboard of the league office. He is merely exploiting the market inefficiencies hidden in plain sight, and doing so better than any player in the world. Isn't that the wisdom of Moneyball?

Harden drew a league-leading 120 3-point shooting fouls in 2016-17, then that number dipped to 69 in 2017-18 after the league honed in on his continuation techniques as a point of its officiating emphasis. Harden adjusted by mastering the step-back 3 this season, drawing 93 3-point fouls in the process.

More than any other player in the league, Harden operates like the refs are marks. And the rulebase -- particularly the wildly punitive 3-point shooting foul -- is inspiring Harden to chase these calls because the plays are considered so valuable. If you don't think the result is fun, then your beef is with the underlying legislation that created these cartoonish efficiency margins in the first place.

The NBA is a business. It's also a regulatory agency. The bottom line is paramount, but the product is what drives the business in the first place. As we watched Game 1 of this highly anticipated series between the Rockets and Golden State Warriors, we saw an NBA dream come true: a court filled with prime superstars on great teams. The stage was perfectly set. But we also saw three people with gray shirts and black trousers suddenly become the stars of the show.

As the greatest (and most efficient) teams in the league continue to race to find the smartest pathways to score, the officials will increasingly be stratagems. Unless the league proactively addresses its rules and these whistle-chasing tactics, free throws stand to become the next version of corner 3s, with the league's smartest teams and players racing to find new ways to get them.

Harden is just the first one to fully realize that the sour science of flopping and chasing whistles is highly effective. He's the only MVP this century to have more made career free throws than made field goals at the time of his award. To date, he has made 5,604 regular season free throws vs. 5,499 field goals. In the playoffs, he has posted 761 free throws vs. 745 field goals.

In theory, if a ref does a perfect job, nobody notices he or she was even there. They're neutral by design. They're bystanders. Nobody goes to the arena to see the officials, but if Game 1 of this series was any indication, the refs and their powerful whistles are being pushed to the front lines.

The onus falls on the league office, which has an opportunity to update its rulebook and tweak its incentives to inspire the sport it wants to see. And Harden? He'll land on his feet.