The 2025 NBA All-Star starters are set!

The league's superstars are ready to lead their squads during All-Star Weekend (Feb. 14-Feb. 16) in a new format which includes four teams battling it out in a mini-tournament.

The All-Star reserves will be announced on Jan. 30, and the draft will take place on Feb. 6, with TNT analysts Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Smith selecting the three eight-man teams from among the 24 players. The fourth team will be the winning team from the Rising Stars championship game.

LeBron James, in his 21st All-Star appearance, reunites with Olympic teammates Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant as West starters. In the East, New York Knicks duo Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns will join nine-time All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Who is the biggest snub from the starters? Which All-Star is primed to take the weekend's coveted MVP award? Our NBA insiders react to the biggest questions about this year's NBA All-Star starters.

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NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 24, 2025

Which starter selection was the biggest surprise?

Baxter Holmes: This might be the last time we'll see three starters in one conference who are all over the age of 35, which is a true testament to Curry, James and Durant. Regardless of age, they're redefining what's possible late in a player's career. And while Victor Wembanyama will likely become an All-Star for many years to come, his numbers this season -- 24.6 points, 10.8 rebounds, a league-high 4 blocks and 3.8 assists -- are certainly good enough for a starting nod. One could make a case that either Curry or James received their spots in part because of their Hall of Fame legacy, and that they're being graded on a curve because of their teams' uneven performances this season (with the Golden State Warriors plummeting of late). The same could be said of Durant, whose Phoenix Suns sit at 22-21. Wembanyama's time will come, but he was certainly deserving this year, too.

Kevin Pelton: I'm surprised Durant made it despite slipping to third in fan voting. I expected the media and player vote to favor Wembanyama and allow him to claim the third starting spot in the West. Durant has certainly played at an All-Star level this season, but the passing of the torch in the West frontcourt will apparently take another year.

Michael C. Wright: After Durant missed 10 games earlier this season, everything appeared to be trending toward Wembanyama cracking the starting group in his first All-Star appearance. Nobody questions Durant's talent, and his numbers compare favorably to his Western Conference counterparts in the frontcourt. But as for Durant's team, Phoenix currently sits 10th in the West even after winning seven of their last 10. Of the starters in the frontcourt, Durant has also played the fewest games (33).

Jamal Collier: Neither Brunson nor Towns were necessarily undeserving, but it still is surprising to see New York with multiple All-Stars for the second consecutive season -- and the only team with two starters this year -- (Towns replacing Julius Randle this time), especially over other teams that have been more dominant this season.

Who got snubbed?

Wright: Brunson and Donovan Mitchell deserve to be starters on the East team, but it's somewhat shocking that LaMelo Ball took first in the fan vote (and third among players) ahead of Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, who deserved consideration for one of the starting spots. Leading a Pistons squad in the thick of the postseason hunt, Cunningham's scoring average (24.6) is lower than Brunson's but he has more assists (9.4) and rebounds (6.5). Ball has better numbers than Cunningham and Brunson, but hasn't been nearly as impactful on winning.

Pelton: Wembanyama is the best player who won't be starting. He got one of my votes in the West frontcourt, and frankly that wasn't a difficult decision. Wembanyama is the favorite for Defensive Player of the Year and an emerging force at the other end of the court, as he showed earlier Thursday with 30 points and six assists in a blowout win of the Indiana Pacers in his native France.

Collier: Could Wembanyama have been tabbed a starter? I'm not sure the answer is 100% yes and his day will come, but his first half has been so electric that it's worth considering whether he should have filled out the frontcourt over the two veterans in the forward spot. Still, Wembanyama likely having a spot as a reserve and watching how the rest of his peers react to him on the court makes the game worth checking out alone.

Holmes: Ball ranks fourth in the NBA in scoring (29 points per game) and averages more rebounds (5.4) and assists (7.5) than both Eastern Conference All-Star starting guards Mitchell and Brunson. He received the most fan votes among guards in the Eastern Conference and earned the third most among players, but finished seventh in the media vote -- a disconnect that's likely attributable to his team's poor record (11-29). Still, the numbers scream "snub" for Ball. I'm not sure what the solution is, though. Both Mitchell and Brunson have been fantastic -- with numbers that back up their play -- for teams that figure to make deep playoff runs in the East. It just goes to show how much team success can factor into the equation.

What reserve battle are you watching closest for next week?

Wright: Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins should be putting in some calls to his coaching buddies to campaign for his players with the team sitting at No. 3 in the West. Ja Morant hasn't played enough to warrant serious consideration, but Jaren Jackson Jr. has been Memphis' most available star this season, playing in 42 games while averaging a career-high 22.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks. We've become accustomed to Jackson's contributions as a defender. But he's become one of the Grizzlies' most reliable scorers, and one of the most improved among frontcourt players in the league.

Holmes: I'm watching how the surging Sacramento Kings are represented. Center Domantas Sabonis, who was arguably snubbed the previous two seasons, is again leading the league in rebounds (a career-best 14.3 per game). Guard De'Aaron Fox is 12th in the league in scoring at 25.7 points. The West is deep, as always, but the Kings are 9-1 in their last 10 games. I'm curious if that hot streak is rewarded.

Pelton: Whether the coaches pick Ball. For the most part, who starts the All-Star Game is academic. In Ball's case, it represented his easiest path toward a second appearance. Coaches tend to overemphasize team performance, making a player on the 13th-place team in the East a tough sell. I'm curious whether Ball's gaudy individual stats will overcome that anchor.

Collier: It's a crowded field among East reserve guards who are deserving of All-Star consideration. Behind Mitchell and Brunson, the field now includes: Ball, Cunningham, Damian Lillard, Darius Garland, Trae Young, Tyrese Haliburton, Tyrese Maxey and Tyler Herro. It'll be interesting to see who makes the cut.

Which superstar pairing would be the most exciting to watch?

Holmes: Nikola Jokic and James. These two are among the highest-IQ players to ever play the game. Their ability to scan the court, know where everyone is and exactly what to do next is remarkable. And in a fun setting like this, with so much talent on the floor, they can really have fun with no-look passes and setting up teammates for eye-catching plays.

Pelton: Knicks fans surely aren't spending much time on "what-if" scenarios with how well Brunson and Towns are playing, but either player with Mitchell represents a path not taken when he was traded to Cleveland instead of New York back in 2022.

Wright: Normally, you'd take a couple of NBA veterans. But they've been there and done that for too many All-Star Games. So, let's look at some of the younger players that will take this game more seriously. Wembanyama will likely form one half of a dynamic duo alongside three-time league MVP Jokic, who possesses the creativity and passing ability to set up the Spurs big man nicely.

Collier: LeBron and Steph. We got a taste during the Olympics with this generational duo playing on the same team and it was glorious. I would 100% watch that again. James leads the NBA in most All-Star appearances (21) and is now the first player at age 40 or older to start an All-Star Game. Curry, now claiming his 11th All-Star appearance, will look to reclaim his MVP status from the 2022 weekend.

Way-too-early pick for ASG MVP?

Collier: Anthony Edwards, assuming he is selected as a reserve. He didn't make it as a starter and his team has been middling toward the play-in tournament in the West, so this could be his chance to ball out this season in front of a national stage. Edwards is shooting more frequently and is averaging a career-high 42.6% from 3, which could set him up nicely for success in an All-Star setting.

Holmes: Curry. The game is in his backyard, and who knows how many more opportunities he'll have to put on a show in such a setting. I'm expecting a big game out of him especially because it seems likely that his Warriors aren't going anywhere this season.

Pelton: Wembanyama might make the All-Star Game his first signature NBA moment. After impressing in last year's Rising Stars game, Wembanyama, in Year Two, looks primed to make a big splash in his first full All-Star Weekend. Teaming up with tenured All-Stars like James, Curry and Jokic might be the catalyst to a very fruitful future as an All-Star staple.

Wright: As mentioned earlier, Wembanyama will take this game more seriously than many of his counterparts. You could see last year during the Skills Challenge that Wembanyama was there to compete and wasn't happy with Edwards shooting left-handed during portions of that competition. "They wanted to have fun," Wembanyama said afterward. "Fun is winning."

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Ichiro Suzuki wants to raise a glass with the voter who chose not to check off his name on the Hall of Fame ballot.

"There's one writer that I wasn't able to get a vote from," he said through an interpreter Thursday, two days after receiving 393 of 394 votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America. "I would like to invite him over to my house, and we'll have a drink together, and we'll have a good chat."

Suzuki had been to the Hall seven times before attending a news conference Thursday with fellow electees CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner. The trio will be inducted July 27 along with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, voted in last month by the classic era committee.

Suzuki struggled to process being the first player from Japan elected to the Hall.

"Maybe five, 10 years from now I could look back and maybe we'll be able to say this is what it meant," he said.

BBWAA secretary-treasurer Jack O'Connell recalled Suzuki was at the Hall in 2001 when he called to inform the Seattle star he had been voted American League Rookie of the Year. Suzuki received 27 of 28 first-place votes -- all but the one from an Ohio writer who selected Sabathia.

"He stole my Rookie of the Year," Sabathia said playfully.

Sabathia remembered a game at Safeco Field on July 30, 2005. He had worked with Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis in a bullpen session on a pitch he could throw to retire Suzuki, which turned out to be a slider.

"I get two strikes on Ichi, and he hits it off the window," Sabathia said of the 428-foot drive off the second-deck restaurant in right field, at the time the longest home run of Suzuki's big league career. "Come back around his next at-bat, throw it to him again, first pitch he hits it out again."

Suzuki's second home run broke a sixth-inning tie in the Mariners' 3-2 win.

As the trio discussed their favorite memorabilia, Suzuki mentioned a mock-up Hall of Fame plaque the Hall had created -- not a design for the real one -- that included his dog, Ikkyu.

"Our dog and then Bob Feller's cat are the only animals to have the Hall of Fame plaque. That is something that I cherish," Suzuki said, referring to a mock-up with the pitcher's cat, Felix.

Sabathia helped the New York Yankees win the World Series in 2009 after agreeing to a $161 million, seven-year contract as a free agent. Sabathia started his big league career in Cleveland, finished the 2008 season in Milwaukee and was apprehensive about signing with the Yankees before he was persuaded by general manager Brian Cashman.

"Going into the offseason, I just heard all of the stuff that was going on, the turmoil in the Yankees clubhouse," Sabathia said. "Pretty quick, like two or three days into spring training, me and Andy [Pettitte] are running in the outfield, I get a chance to meet [Derek] Jeter, we're hanging out, and the pitching staff, we're going to dinners, we're going to basketball games together. So it didn't take long at all before I felt like this was the right decision."

Sabathia was on 342 ballots and Wagner on 325 (82.5%), which was 29 votes more than the 296 needed for the required 75%. While Suzuki and Sabathia were elected in their first ballot appearance, Wagner was voted in on his 10th and final try with the writers.

Even two days after learning of his election, Wagner had tears streaming down his cheeks when he thought back to the call. His face turned red.

"It's humbling," he said, his voice quavering before he paused. "I don't know if it's deserving, but to sit out 10 years and have your career scrutinized and stuff, it's tough."

Wagner, who is 5-foot-10, became the first left-hander elected to the Hall who was primarily a reliever. He thought of the words of 5-foot-11 right-hander Pedro Martínez, voted to Cooperstown in 2015.

"I hope kids around see that there is a chance that you can get here, and it is possible, that size and where you're from doesn't matter," Wagner said. "I think Pedro said it first, but if I can get here, anyone can get here."

Outfielder Jurickson Profar and the Atlanta Braves agreed on a three-year, $42 million contract Thursday, uniting the veteran coming off a career year with a team that has struggled in recent years to find a suitable left fielder.

Profar, 31, was a revelation for the San Diego Padres last year, hitting .280/.380/.459 with a career-high 24 home runs and 85 RBIs. Once the top prospect in all of baseball, Profar made his first All-Star team and won a Silver Slugger -- all on a one-year, $1 million deal.

He cashed in with the Braves, who outbid a number of teams interested in Profar's on-base skills as well as his energy that invigorated Padres supporters and infuriated rival fan bases.

Profar will join center fielder Michael Harris II and right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr., the 2023 National League MVP coming off a torn left ACL just three years after tearing the ligament in his right knee. Without Acuña for most of last season, the Braves' offense suffered a deep regression from 2023, when they set a single-season team record with a .501 slugging percentage.

The switch-hitting Profar can slot almost anywhere in the lineup, though he figures to begin the season toward the top as Acuña continues to rehab his knee. Beyond Harris and Acuña, Atlanta's lineup includes All-Star third baseman Austin Riley, second baseman Ozzie Albies and first baseman Matt Olson. Profar will receive $12 million this year and $15 million in 2026 and 2027.

Atlanta is typically one of the most aggressive teams in baseball, striking early in free agency and with trades. After trading slugger Jorge Soler in late October, the Braves dabbled in minor league deals and watched as starter Max Fried went to the New York Yankees, starter Charlie Morton went to the Baltimore Orioles and reliever A.J. Minter went to the New York Mets.

Profar is Atlanta's first real addition this winter after sneaking into the postseason at 89-73 and promptly getting swept by San Diego. He has spent all 11 years of his major league career in the West divisions, debuting at 19 with the Texas Rangers. Profar never fulfilled his potential there and went to Oakland in 2019 before settling with the Padres, where he became a full-time outfielder. Over 1,119 games in his career, Profar has hit .245/.331/.395 with 111 home runs and 444 RBIs in 4,291 plate appearances.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- In his first public comments since his critical drop in Sunday's 27-25 playoff loss in Buffalo, Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews posted on Instagram that he's "absolutely gutted by what happened."

Andrews has drawn heated criticism on social media since he had a pass on a 2-point conversion slip through his grasp as he fell backward in the end zone. It would have tied the game with 1:33 remaining.

"Even though the shock and disappointment are unlike anything I've felt before, I refuse to let the situation define me," Andrews wrote on Instagram on Thursday. "I promise that this adversity will only make me stronger and fuel us as we move forward."

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Andrews did not speak to reporters after the divisional round loss Sunday, and he was not present during media availability for locker room cleanout Monday.

It was an uncharacteristically mistake-filled game for Andrews, who hadn't had a drop in his previous 12 games. Andrews also lost a fumble midway through the fourth quarter, marking the three-time Pro Bowler's first turnover since 2019.

"I'm devastated for my teammates, my coaches and Ravens fans," Andrews wrote. "I pour every ounce of my being into playing at the highest level possible, because I love my team and the game of football like nothing else. That is why it's taken me until now to collect my thoughts and address this publicly."

In an effort to support Andrews, Bills fans started a charitable drive that has led to over $100,000 in donations to Breakthrough T1D, an organization that works toward curing and improving the lives of those, like Andrews, who are dealing with Type 1 diabetes.

"I thank everyone who has shown me and our team genuine support these past several days," Andrews wrote. "Despite the negativity, I've seen heartfelt love and encouragement, including from those who have generously donated to the Breakthrough T1D organization."

This was a tough way to end a season for someone like Andrews who has made a career by thriving around the goal line. Earlier this season, Andrews became the Ravens' career leader in touchdowns with 51.

Teammates, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, have voiced their support of Andrews, who is considered one of the hardest workers on the team. On Wednesday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Andrews "is a huge part of our future, and we love him and we're there for him."

Andrews wrapped up his Instagram post by writing: "Even when the moment seems darkest, perspective can reveal that there's still a lot of light in this world. I am now going to do my part to bounce back and contribute to it."

PARIS -- Speaking on European soil Thursday in the midst of a weeklong celebration around a new European star in Victor Wembanyama, NBA commissioner Adam Silver made clear he has serious interest in an American-led invasion of the continent's basketball business.

For the past year, the NBA league office has been investigating the concept of starting a new standalone European league separate from the NBA. In his most expansive commentary on the matter, Silver made it clear he believes the current top league, the 18-team Euroleague, is leaving money and growth on the table, and the NBA sees an opportunity to move in.

"While Europe continues to develop some of the very best players in the world -- many of our most recent MVPs, of course, are European -- we think that the commercial opportunity has not kept pace with the growth of the game," Silver said before the San Antonio Spurs played the Indiana Pacers in the first of two games at Paris' Accor Arena.

"And what we do at the NBA is we run leagues. We, of course, run the WNBA, we have the [Basketball Africa League], we have the G League, we have a 2K video league. So we operate five different leagues and we think it's an expertise we have. And so we are looking very closely to see if there's an opportunity to professionalize the game to another level here to create a larger commercial opportunity."

This is an explosive story in Europe, a threat to the legacy league that was founded in 1958, just a decade after the NBA. But for the NBA's main business at home, this is a signal that Silver and his top lieutenants are focused much more on conquering new territory than expanding their current league in America to places such as Las Vegas and Seattle as had also been a recent consideration.

Silver still has to convince his bosses, the 30 team owners, to green-light this venture. Multiple ownership sources told ESPN there are still many questions and uncertainties about the plan that have to be answered before it can be ratified. Silver implied Thursday a decision about moving forward could come after a planned March owners meeting.

An issue for owners, sources said, is these other leagues the NBA operates have not been routinely profitable. In addition to generating revenue via media rights, a new league could generate substantial money via expansion fees, sources familiar with the concept said.

Most of the league's top executives have been in Paris this week for meetings with potential teams, media partners and sponsors as the league is putting on a full-court press on the matter.

"Our plan all along was to spend time here [last] summer when we were here for the Olympics to have a series of meetings, and we were on the ground here for roughly two weeks to watch basketball ourselves," Silver said. "[Then] go back, do some additional work, always knowing that we would be here for this week in January to set a set of meetings here and take advantage of that opportunity. We have an NBA board meeting in late March, we'll be giving an update to our bosses, in essence."

Last fall, the secretary general of international governing body FIBA, made a presentation to owners in New York about partnering with the NBA on a European expansion. In November, sources told ESPN, NBA managing director of Europe and the Middle East George Aivazoglou made a presentation to a committee of owners that included in-depth plans about what cities the league would seek to place teams and other projections.

Over the past year, the NBA has reached out to potential investors and team owners gauging interest, sources told ESPN. Additionally, the league has reached out to some major soccer clubs in Europe to discuss the possibility of them creating basketball teams for the league, sources said.

"The tenor of the meetings have been very positive. It's not anti-anybody or anti any other organization," Silver said of meetings with possible partners. "When we look at that opportunity and these potential partners, what they're telling us is they believe that from a commercial standpoint, in terms of the networks they represent or are part of, or those consumer companies that they represent, that they think there's a desire to connect with consumers, particularly young consumers, which is generally the fan base of the NBA, that they think that the market is ready to do more in this sport."

As part of this effort, the NBA seems ready to plan NBA games in different areas of Europe. After playing regular-season games in Paris over the past three years and London prior to the pandemic, the league has held conversations about playing regular-season games in new locales such as Manchester, England, and Berlin in the near future, where possible expansion teams for a European league could be located.

SIX YEARS AGO, when the world knew next to nothing of a gangly 17-year-old pitcher in Japan, a Los Angeles Dodgers evaluator sat in the stands at his high school games with a video camera to capture the splendor. Roki Sasaki's fastball regularly reached 100 mph, his right arm a whirling force of nature. The Dodgers were smitten. Sasaki could eventually be the best pitcher in the world, team officials told one another. And when the time came for his inevitable move to Major League Baseball, they wanted to ensure he felt as strongly about them as they did him.

In the time since, the Dodgers have conquered baseball in nearly every fashion imaginable. Armed with immense wealth from their owners and buoyed by the largest local-television contract in the game, the Dodgers have spared no expense in trying to win. Their major league payroll consistently ranks at the top of the game, yes, but other line items are best-in-class, too, from their technology infrastructure to their coaching staff's compensation to the quality of the food they serve their minor league players.

When this winter arrived and Sasaki, now 23, declared his intentions to come to MLB, the Dodgers didn't need a sales pitch, because the allure for players is obvious: If you covet winning, come join a burgeoning dynasty. Since being sold to the Guggenheim Baseball Management group in 2012 following the disastrous ownership of Frank McCourt that led the team to file for bankruptcy, the Dodgers have remade themselves into conquerors: of the National League West (11 titles in 12 years), their October demons (two World Series championships in five years) and the Japanese baseball market (the signings of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for more than $1 billion guaranteed).

Every front office pined for the latest Japanese ace this offseason. Eight teams were granted an audience with Sasaki. Three became finalists. The Dodgers were one. The San Diego Padres, Los Angeles' chief rival in the NL West and another team whose early scouting of Sasaki won them favor, were the second. The third came down to the Toronto Blue Jays, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees -- four other teams whose years of work in Japan and history with Japanese players spoke to an understanding of Sasaki and his desires. The rapport built with Toronto's international scouting apparatus won the Blue Jays the third finalist slot.

Toronto impressed Sasaki with its answer to a burning question: Why had his sizzling fastball lost velocity in 2024? The explanation from Frank Herrmann, a Blue Jays baseball-operations staffer who had pitched in the big leagues and was Sasaki's teammate with the Chiba Lotte Marines, and Sam Greene, the Blue Jays' assistant pitching coach, blended a discussion of data, mechanics and feel that boosted their pursuit. Sasaki spent multiple days in Toronto, and as he departed, the Blue Jays were confident that whatever advantages the Dodgers might have, they were surmountable.

The visit to San Diego left the Padres similarly assured. Star third baseman Manny Machado held a gathering at his house, where a Japanese chef cooked familiar cuisine. Jackson Merrill, the Padres' 21-year-old center fielder expected to blossom into a superstar in coming seasons, attended, as did Ethan Salas, the 18-year-old catcher seen as a linchpin in future seasons. And San Diego had an ace in the hole: Yu Darvish, the progenitor of modern Japanese pitching, whom Sasaki regards as a mentor with peerless knowledge.

The successful meetings put that much more pressure on the Dodgers, who hosted Sasaki on Jan. 14 at minority owner Peter Guber's Bel Air home and summoned an array of players, all locked up to long-term deals: superstars Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, catcher Will Smith and super-utility man Tommy Edman. Ohtani, knowing that Sasaki loves dogs, brought his Dutch Kooikerhondje, Decoy, to the presentation.

With the international signing period opening Jan. 15 and the window for Sasaki to sign closing Jan. 23, the decision zone arrived and forced action. All three teams lined up trades to acquire more international-bonus money to help their pursuit. San Diego was eliminated first. Toronto, attempting to demonstrate its willingness to go above and beyond for Sasaki, struck a deal with Cleveland to take on $11.75 million remaining on center fielder Myles Straw's contract along with an additional $2 million in international money even before he had made his decision.

Soon thereafter, he did -- and it wasn't the Blue Jays. What so many in baseball saw as a fait accompli -- to the point MLB did a pre-emptive investigation into whether Sasaki had any sort of prearranged deal (and determined he didn't) -- played out. While some teams in meetings asked if Sasaki wanted to be Kevin Durant or Michael Jordan -- to join a superteam or help build one -- the allure of the Dodgers was impossible to ignore. All of their games are broadcast on national TV in Japan. The stores at Nippon Professional Baseball stadiums that include racks of Dodgers gear will now feature jerseys with his name on them. The Dodgers' plan when they signed Ohtani -- "One of our goals is for baseball fans in Japan to convert to Dodger blue," president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said -- had borne fruit.

In executing that vision, the team has set off alarms inside the sport. The Dodgers' signing of Sasaki for $6.5 million -- a sum artificially deflated by MLB's rules on international amateurs that offers Los Angeles hundreds of millions of dollars in surplus value -- left front offices and fans alike gobsmacked. Watching the Dodgers pick off free agent after free agent with heavily deferred deals has built a wave of frustration. Seeing them land one of the most valuable contracts in the game -- the sort typically reserved for the worst teams via the draft -- reinforced something that has become increasingly clear.

The Dodgers are no longer just a team chasing championships. They are a stress test for the game itself.

THE ANGER -- from disillusioned fans, from dispirited front offices, from owners made to look like they don't care -- is very real. And it's growing to the point where people at the highest levels of Major League Baseball acknowledge it concerns them. Most worrisome is the rhetoric that fans are done with the game. That what L.A. is doing is unfair. That the financial imbalance ruins the sport.

A villain around which people can rally is tolerable; an unbeatable monolith is not. An exemplar for how teams can operate is instructive; an extinguishing of hope is not. With every transaction pushing the Dodgers further from the former and more toward the latter, MLB faces growing cynicism that has reignited calls for a salary cap -- and made collective-bargaining discussions set to start a year from now, before the current basic agreement expires following the 2026 season, that much more fraught with peril.

Over the last 13 months, the Dodgers have morphed from a large-market, big-money jewel franchise that spent exceptional sums of money and didn't have much to show for it into a referendum on the state of MLB in 2025. Because baseball is the last of the major North American professional sports leagues without a salary cap or floor, the difference between the Dodgers -- who currently carry a payroll in the $375 million range -- and the next-highest team, the Philadelphia Phillies, is nearly $70 million. That's to say nothing of the gap between the Dodgers and the 30^th-ranked Miami Marlins: around $300 million. The $120 million or so the Dodgers are in line to pay in luxury-tax penalties on top of their payroll is more than the projected Opening Day payroll of 10 teams.

In the last 411 days, the Dodgers have:

• Signed Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract, with $680 million deferred

• Traded for right-hander Tyler Glasnow and signed him to a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension

• Signed right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract

• Signed Smith to a 10-year, $140 million contract extension, with $50 million deferred

• Signed two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract, with $66 million deferred

• Signed Edman, acquired at the 2024 trade deadline, to a five-year, $74 million contract extension, with $25 million deferred

• Signed outfielder Michael Conforto to a one-year, $17 million contract

• Signed reliever Blake Treinen to a two-year, $22 million contract

• Signed outfielder Teoscar Hernandez to a pair of deals totaling $89.5 million over four years, with $32 million deferred

• Signed Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim to a three-year, $12.5 million contract

• Signed Sasaki

• Signed closer Tanner Scott to a four-year, $72 million contract, with $21 million deferred

In total, they have guaranteed $1.778 billion -- nearly half of it ($874 million) deferred. For a team that already had Betts and Freeman under contract -- a team that over its six previous full seasons won at least 100 games five times -- to turn over more than half its roster and add nearly a dozen impact players registered as baseball gluttony.

A day after Sasaki's signing, Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts told 670 AM in Chicago that "it's really hard to compete" with the Dodgers. Ricketts bought the Cubs for $845 million in 2009. They are worth around $5 billion now, according to a person who values professional sports franchises. The Cubs, according to Forbes, have the third-highest revenue in MLB, behind the Yankees and Dodgers. They are the epitome of a big-market, high-earning franchise. Ricketts said the Cubs attempt to break even every year. Forbes estimates they have earned more than $585 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization over the last decade in addition to the more than $4 billion appreciation of the team.

At the time, the Cubs were attempting to sign Scott, among the most coveted relievers this winter. The next day, with a final offer of four years and $66 million -- $6 million shy of where the Dodgers landed -- they lost. The $18 million-a-year salary Scott received fell in line with other elite closers.

This is not a chicken-and-egg situation. Teams like the Cubs and Boston Red Sox -- should-be powerhouses -- earn reputations quickly among players by not spending. When franchises show they care about winning, players take note. The flocking of talented players to the Dodgers is not a function of a willingness to overpay. The vast majority of the long-term deals handed out by the Dodgers are market price or club-friendly. Betts', Freeman's, Smith's. Ohtani's deal -- with $68 million of his annual $70 million salary deferred for a decade -- was proposed by him to the Dodgers as well as the other teams that pursued him: Toronto, San Francisco and the Los Angeles Angels.

While the Dodgers are among the rare teams that can carry three $300 million-plus deals (and four other nine-figure pacts on top of that) without bleeding money, they also thrive in the middle market. They took advantage of Ricketts' unwillingness to push -- he has limited the Cubs' budget this winter, even after trading for Kyle Tucker -- and won the bidding for Scott. Any team could have pursued Hernández, whose deal this winter was at market value. Every team passed on signing Snell to a long-term deal in the 2023-24 offseason. Edman was widely available at the trade deadline.

Every MLB club, even those with the lowest revenues, can compete for that sort of talent. So many operate with unbending devotion to their computer models, though, that the simple act of spending has become an even greater advantage for the Dodgers. With a history of teams on limited budgets annually performing among the best in the game, those franchises could fare even better stretching themselves financially and investing in winning, at very least proportionally to those who devote a higher percentage of revenue to payroll. The Dodgers' willingness to spend in grand sums and success with it should motivate other teams to keep up, not preclude them from doing so.

THREE DECADES AFTER the longest work stoppage in MLB history, the inequity baked into the game's financial system remains. MLB's pursuit of a salary cap in 1994 led to the cancellation of the World Series that year. The rekindling of a cap conversation has already begun -- particularly by owners peeved by the Dodgers' spending and the sheer size of Juan Soto's 15-year, $765 million, no-deferred-money deal with the New York Mets. Proposing a cap in next year's CBA negotiations would be tantamount to a declaration of war by MLB -- and already those owners are prepared for commissioner Rob Manfred to lock the players out Dec. 1, 2026.

It's clear, by now, that the punitive elements the last collective-bargaining agreement put in place -- the luxury tax, the qualifying-offer system, draft-pick punishment -- are anti-spending measures that just don't apply to some. The Mets have spent exceptional amounts of money and been OK. The Dodgers clearly see money as a competitive advantage they're willing to flaunt. There is room to incentivize other teams to spend without having to institute a cap and a floor.

For now, though, this is the game. These are the rules. Players overwhelmingly supported the collective-bargaining agreement that governs baseball. Owners voted unanimously in favor of it.

The Dodgers are the symptom, not the cause.

Players will point out that a cap is not a panacea. Without one, baseball has found parity on par or better than capped leagues. In the last quarter-century, the team with the largest payroll in baseball has won the World Series just four times. Over the last 15 years, it's just twice. No team has captured back-to-back championships since the Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000. MLB's postseason this year featured teams from Kansas City, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Baltimore and San Diego. Perhaps most important: The randomness of baseball's postseason typically serves as an equalizer, keeping even the most talented teams from their most dynastic aspirations.

As the Dodgers exceed the base luxury-tax threshold of $241 million by more than 50%, it's worth remembering that baseball has seen financial disparity like this before. There's little solace to take in that this year, though, because the team that the Dodgers have put together is genuinely great, extraordinarily deep and prepared to weather injury, ineffectiveness and the other vagaries that would torpedo opponents' seasons.

For all of the Dodgers' advantages, it's worth acknowledging the most overblown element of their approach. The deep misunderstanding of deferred money has painted it as a tool to avoid paying salaries for long periods of time and lessen a team's luxury-tax payroll. Neither of these is true.

Within two years of agreeing to a contract with deferred money, teams must place cash to cover future payments in an account and show statements annually to the league, according to the collective-bargaining agreement. Deferrals are regarded by MLB the same way any business in any industry would: accounting for the time value of money. A dollar tomorrow is not worth as much as a dollar today. And a dollar 10 years down the road is worth much less than it is today. While Ohtani's contract will ultimately pay him $70 million a year, its present-day worth is closer to the $46 million he counts against the luxury tax. This is not a loophole. It's math. So is the fact that what they pay under luxury-tax accounting -- which uses the average annual value of a contract -- exceeds the cash they'll spend on payroll this year. The reality: They're paying more in luxury tax this year.

An actual loophole does exist in the California tax system, incentivizing players who don't live in the state to defer money and secure large signing bonuses, both of which allow them to skirt state taxes. This is nothing new for professional athletes across sports. Teams in Texas and Florida have been using a lack of state taxes to their advantages for decades. It's not a particularly significant advantage -- except for Ohtani, who California lawmakers said could avoid around $90 million in state taxes as they pursue legislation to fix the law.

What's undeniable -- and undeniably frustrating to fans and owners alike -- is that despite the inflated dollar figure, Ohtani's contract is the team-friendliest free agent deal in baseball history. Between his production and the revenue he helps the Dodgers generate, he is worth well over $100 million annually, not $46 million. And once the Dodgers were able to secure his services for the next decade, the franchise could still turn around and spend more than a billion dollars however it saw fit, perfectly content to pay the luxury tax.

Under McCourt's ownership, the Dodgers were directionless underachievers. They became a fury-inducing juggernaut when they sought to maximize themselves, and that is the ultimate endgame of the stress test: Have they mastered this system to the point where it must be overhauled?

As the 2025 season unfolds and attempts to answer that question, they will wear the boos and the chirping and all of the nastiness in opposing ballparks. But this is not their fight. It is the commissioner's and the owners' and the union's. Those stakeholders need to find an answer that isn't just kicking the can down the road for five years but actually, actively changing baseball's economic structure so players continue to make what they're worth and fans see a tolerably fair system.

The greatest drug of sports fandom is belief, and right now, belief in baseball is waning. October has always been the great equalizer, a time when hot teams regularly beat more talented teams. If that happens to the Dodgers in 2025, the schadenfreude will be strong enough to part the Red Sea. Should the Dodgers become repeat champions, though, the chorus will grow louder and the distrust deeper. The stress test has arrived, and for all of the game's resiliency, baseball's future depends on its ability to navigate a situation of its own making.

Wales hooker Dewi Lake has signed a new contract to stay at Ospreys.

Lake, 25, joins Ospreys and Wales captain Jac Morgan in committing his future to the Welsh side.

Lake captained Wales during the 2024 summer tour of Australia and the autumn internationals in Cardiff but is unavailable for most of the Six Nations because of a biceps injury.

"He's an unbelievable professional, that gives his all for the team every time he steps on to the pitch," said Ospreys head coach Mark Jones.

"When you have someone his size with his athleticism, that combines those attributes with a first-class work-rate and set-piece astuteness, you're left with an elite modern-day hooker, and that's what Dewi is.

"What sets him apart though, is his willingness to improve himself and everyone else around him.

"With so many promising youngsters in the squad at the moment, it's imperative we have difference-makers like Dewi at the club, giving them advice and helping them to get better every day."