Quick Hits

• The NBA dropped the hammer on the LA Clippers — five future first-round draft picks taken away, a $30 million fine, and owner Steve Ballmer suspended for a year after an investigation found the team skirted salary cap rules through a sponsorship deal tied to star Kawhi Leonard. ESPN calls it the harshest punishment in league history. Kawhi himself was not suspended, and his trade to Toronto is expected to go through.
• Football is (almost) back. The NFL season opens with the Seahawks visiting the Patriots in the annual Kickoff Game, and the Vikings start their year against Green Bay after signing 35-year-old linebacker Kyle Van Noy.
• A judge is set to rule Thursday on whether former NFL players can suit up for LSU this season — a saga so contentious that Georgia's attorney general is pushing the SEC to suspend or expel the Tigers over it.
• The Angels sold for a record $4 billion, with Rams owner Stan Kroenke buying a franchise that hasn't made the playoffs in 11 years.
• The NHL has a new richest-man benchmark: Colorado defenseman Cale Makar's $163.2 million contract sets a new high-water mark for league players, per ESPN.

Minnesota Teams

It's Vikings week — the season opener against the Packers is almost here. Ahead of it, the team agreed to sign linebacker Kyle Van Noy, a 35-year-old, 13-year veteran with 57 career sacks, per ESPN, adding experienced depth to the defense.

If you're the betting type, CBS Sports' Week 1 preview spotlights player prop bets on receiver Justin Jefferson and running back Aaron Jones for the Green Bay game. Otherwise, a quiet stretch for the Twins, Wolves, Wild and the rest of the local crews — no headline-makers in today's roundup.

NFL

The season kicks off with Seattle at New England in the 2026 NFL Kickoff Game — no winner yet, just plenty of lineup debates (CBS Sports has daily fantasy advice if that's your thing).

One of the feel-good storylines of the young season: quarterback Geno Smith is back with the Jets, the team that drafted him in 2013, after an eight-year absence elsewhere — he's telling ESPN he's eager to write a comeback story in "Act II" in New York. Also worth a skim: CBS Sports graded all 32 first-round rookies' preseasons (headline names include quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza and Ty Simpson), and ESPN's Dan Graziano offers 32 bold-ish predictions — like Jameson Williams leading the Lions in receiving.

NBA

The Clippers story, explained for normal people: the NBA spent nearly a year investigating whether the team used a sponsorship deal (with a company called Daktronics) to pay Kawhi Leonard outside the salary cap — basically, an end run around the rule that keeps team payrolls roughly fair. The verdict came down Wednesday: five lost first-round picks, a $30 million fine, and a one-year suspension for owner Steve Ballmer.

Kawhi dodged the worst of it — no suspension, contract intact, and CBS Sports reports his trade to the Raptors should still go through. The Clippers, for their part, "vehemently reject" the findings and vow to fight, though CBS notes their appeal path is murky. The investigation report (from law firm Wachtell Lipton) includes eyebrow-raising details about Kawhi's uncle, Dennis, and various companies — and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is now asking questions about the Daktronics deal, too. Not to be outdone, ESPN also ranked the top 10 rivalries to watch next season, with Lakers-Mavs and Pacers-Knicks among the feistiest.

MLB

The headline: Arte Moreno is selling the Angels to Stan Kroenke for a record $4 billion — for a team sitting on baseball's longest playoff drought (11 years, and they'll miss again this year). CBS Sports' take: that price tag undercuts team owners' cries of poverty as they push for a salary cap in ongoing labor talks. Speaking of which, ESPN surveyed more than two dozen players anonymously about the cap fight and whether there will even be a 2027 season — worth a read if labor drama is your speed.

On the field: Padres prospect Ethan Salas, 20 years and 93 days old, became the youngest catcher in an MLB game since Ivan Rodriguez. And with September here, ESPN broke down every contender's remaining schedule and revisited trade deadline winners and losers a month later.

NHL

The big news is Colorado's Cale Makar signing a $163.2 million contract — a new benchmark for NHL players, per ESPN, one that will ripple through negotiations league-wide (Vancouver's Quinn Hughes is among those affected by the new bar).

College Sports

The strangest story in sports: former NFL players trying to play college ball. A state judge rules Thursday on whether they can suit up for LSU; Georgia's attorney general wants the SEC to suspend or expel LSU if they do. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian condemned the trend even as his own Longhorns use a court-restored eligibility loophole to keep lineman Cole Hutson, and Colts GM Chris Ballard was blunter, calling it "the stupidest s--- I've ever heard."

Meanwhile, an upcoming book excerpt reveals Lane Kiffin — now LSU's coach — once fed intel to Clemson's Dabo Swinney and egged him on to publicly attack Ole Miss over tampering. And in an odd footnote, CBS reports an insurance company placed prediction-market trades worth up to $3 million on LSU's season — the exact figure of Kiffin's College Football Playoff bonus. Elsewhere: Michigan basketball lost five-star recruit Brandon McCoy Jr. to a season-ending ACL tear, and Ball State's unorthodox viral-sensation QB Keldric Luster gets his Ohio State moment this weekend.

Other Sports

Soccer's headliner: Enzo Fernandez is moving from Chelsea to Manchester City in a record-tying $170 million deal, reuniting with manager Enzo Maresca as City chases another Premier League title. In UFC, Dan Hooker says he's happy to play the villain in Paris against Salahdine Parnasse, who's making his UFC debut in his home country. The Presidents Cup golf rosters are set, with Justin Thomas and amateur star Jackson Koivun among the U.S. captain's picks. And in a truly bizarre twist, China's Li Yueru — the team's top Olympic scorer and rebounder — will miss the FIBA Women's World Cup because her passport was lost in the mail.