One way or another, it appears that two-time All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander and the Green Bay Packers are headed for a split.

General manager Brian Gutekunst was noncommittal about Alexander's future when he spoke to reporters Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, but sources confirmed Wednesday that the team is willing to listen to trade offers.

NFL Network reported the Packers already have had trade conversations about Alexander.

"We've never really allowed agents to go out and talk to teams," Gutekunst told reporters at the combine. "I think that's kind of [one of the] ones that probably happens anyway. And Jaire's got a great agent. If we ever went down that route, I think it would be very easy to work with him and his team. I don't really expect that, but we've never really done that.

"I think it's something that if we were going to trade a player, we would do that and it would be the conversation between me and the other team."

Alexander, 28, has played in only seven games each of the past two seasons because of various injuries and a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team. He underwent knee surgery to repair a PCL injury late in the season and would not have been able to return even if the Packers had made the Super Bowl, Gutekunst said.

He is expected to make a full recovery and be ready to play this coming season.

The 2018 first-round pick has two years remaining on a four-year, $84 million contract that, at the time, made him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL. However, that deal contains no more guaranteed money. Any team that traded for him could also renegotiate the terms that currently call for him to be paid $17.5 million in 2025 and $19.5 million in 2026.

The Packers would pick up $6.8 million in salary cap space if they traded him early this offseason. They could pick up more cap space if they released him with a post-June 1 designation.

There have been strong indications since late last season that Alexander's time in Green Bay could be over. Multiple team sources have privately expressed their frustration with Alexander's inability to stay healthy and/or play through injuries.

Alexander declined to speak with reporters on the last day of media availability at the end of the season, saying he had "nothing good to say" and that he did not know if he would be back with the team in 2025.

"We'll see; we're working through that," Gutekunst said Tuesday when asked if Alexander will be on the team this coming season. "He certainly could be, but I think we'll work through that as we go. We've got to get him out there now. I think obviously we've talked about there's been a lot of frustration on his part. He wants to be out there badly, and not being able to be out there at his best has frustrated him, and that has frustrated our football team, too, because we're better with him. But we'll see."

INDIANAPOLIS -- For the second year in a row, the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings earned top marks in the NFL Players Association's annual survey evaluating workplace environment.

Overall, grades improved in the union's latest survey, which was released Wednesday, with a 41% increase in areas earning an A-minus or higher and a 51% decrease in areas earning a D-plus or below.

The average grades of the bottom five teams -- Steelers, Jets, Browns, Patriots and Cardinals -- increased from a D-plus in 2024 to a C-minus in 2025.

"We really like the players to have a voice on their facilities, their working conditions, their likes, dislikes," NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell said. "... The report card really provided an opportunity to see the entire landscape. One of the objectives was to inform our guys, and we're well on our way to doing a better job with that. Number two was to effect change. Just in my short tenure of being executive director, I've seen new locker rooms, new weight rooms, addressing family situations in terms of childcare. It's not universal, but certainly got the attention of the front office, the owners, coaches, trainers, and the like.

"... I think what initially may have seemed as a shame campaign, it's really how do we improve the working conditions for our guys. And it effects improvement."

In its third year conducting the leaguewide report card, the NFLPA received responses from 77% of its membership -- or 1,695 players, averaging 52 responses per team. All players, including practice squad members, were eligible to participate in the report card. Surveys were conducted between Aug. 26 and Nov. 20.

Former NFLPA president and current chief strategy officer for the union J.C. Tretter said the report cards are important vehicles for players to give meaningful feedback to their teams while preserving anonymity. While demographics of the players are collected, names are not.

"I think it's a very rare person or player that is going to walk upstairs to their owner's office and say, 'This place is a dump,'" Tretter said. "You're not going to find that person very often -- they have other things to worry about. So I think the importance of this survey is it allows players to share their feedback in a way that they're protected as well."

After the Dolphins and Vikings -- two mainstays at the top of the rankings -- the Falcons, Raiders and the Chargers rounded out the top five, respectively. All three teams made significant jumps to land in the top five, but the Chargers made the biggest improvement in the rankings, rising from 30th in 2024 to fifth in 2025. The Falcons moved from 25th to third.

A significant factor in those rises, Tretter said, was the team's new practice facilities.

But there were other factors to the overall grade improvement for each team, and other teams made significant jumps without making major structural upgrades to their facilities. Tretter stressed that teams didn't necessarily have to spend millions to improve their workplace.

"That is definitely an easy way to move up," he said of building new facilities. "... They're also tangible changes they made outside of that, too. [The NFLPA] has been clear from the beginning on two things: one, this is not solely 'knock down walls in buildings.'

"There are softer issues -- when it comes to treatment of families, when it comes to travel, when it comes to staffing -- that make major differences for players. Yes, the physical facilities do too. There's multiple ways of solving your issues. The Chargers were one where the facilities were their major issue and they fixed it. And then you see the major jump that happens from there."

The Washington Commanders, who were ranked 32nd in the past two report cards, jumped to No. 11 in their second year since the ownership group headed by Josh Harris acquired the team from Dan Snyder. Players still cited concerns about their aging locker room and practice facility, but team grades for treatment of families, food and dining and head coach surged.

The ownership ranking for Washington also jumped from 18th to eighth.

"What's impressive about that is it really shows the point of this project -- where if you take the Commanders' facility, it's still the same facility," Tretter said. "[Harris] didn't knock down walls. He didn't rebuild it. He didn't do anything. He made changes in staffing. He made changes in what players had been asking for, kind of the softer skills areas of the facility, and he changed the culture there and you could feel that when you went there and you did the team visit."

The biggest improvement, players cited, was the hiring of head coach Dan Quinn, who was ranked as the top head coach in the survey.

"I think oftentimes when people think of me, it's culture and I want to make sure culture and environment are so much different," Quinn said Wednesday. "Environment is upbeat and I see the world in that way from a positive outlook, but culture is how we get down every day and that's the identity of our team or behaviors or habits. And so I wanted to make sure that type of identity and team, you could do that, but it would have to be through the team."

Quinn wasn't the only newcomer to earn top marks in the head coach category. Atlanta's Raheem Morris ranked No. 2. They were two of six head coaches to receive an A-plus in the category along with Minnesota's Kevin O'Connell, Kansas City's Andy Reid, Detroit's Dan Campbell and Miami's Mike McDaniel.

Every Falcons player surveyed said Morris was efficient with their time, and they said he was "highly receptive" to locker room feedback.

The lowest grades given to head coaches was a C given to a trio of coaches: Cleveland's Kevin Stefanski, Jacksonville's Doug Pederson and Chicago's Matt Eberflus. Both Pederson and Eberflus were fired.

Browns players said they felt Stefanski was "moderately receptive" to locker room feedback on the team's needs and ranked him 30 out of 32 head coaches. And 67% of Browns players felt Stefanski was efficient with their time, ranking him 29 out of 32.

Among the changes in this year's survey were two additional questions about ownership. Not only did the NFLPA ask players about their perception of ownership's willingness to invest in facilities, but they also surveyed players on ownership's positive contribution to team culture and commitment to building a competitive team.

Three owners received an A-plus in the ratings: Miami's Stephen Ross, Minnesota's Zygi Wilf and Atlanta's Arthur Blank.

Five owners received composite ownership grades of a D or worse: Pittsburgh's Art Rooney II, New England's Robert Kraft, Arizona's Michael Bidwell, Carolina's David Tepper and the Jets' Woody Johnson.

For the Steelers, who ranked 28th overall, a significant issue with ownership was Rooney's perceived willingness to invest in facilities. Players gave him an average rating of 6.00 out of 10 in the category, ranking him 30 out of 32 NFL owners.

But, Tretter noted, some owners, including Rooney, appeared more receptive to making changes this time than after receiving feedback from the previous two report cards.

"He's a very conservative guy," Howell said of Rooney. "I get the impression that he's opening up right now. It's probably not as big as changes I would like, but I think he's definitely listening to it. I know the GM is, so Omar [Khan] is like 'Hey, OK, what else can we do? What else can we do?' So, I mean, that's progress, right?"

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, heavily criticized by fans and media for a bitterly disappointing 2024 season, took another big hit Wednesday.

This time, it came from his own players.

The NFL Players Association released its annual team report cards, a survey of 1,695 players who graded their respective teams in various categories. Jets players sent a loud message to Johnson, giving ownership an F -- the only team in the league to do so.

The Jets' overall ranking, based on grades in 11 categories, was 29th -- a drop from 21st in 2023.

Regarding Johnson, the NFLPA said the players "cite perceived top leadership issues, with some describing issues as 'top-down problems.'" It notes how the Jets' ownership grade dropped from B- to F, with Johnson receiving the lowest score for contributing to a positive team culture.

The NFLPA report card was critical of the Jets' approach in most areas.

"Rather than addressing concerns, players believed that management responded to feedback by making conditions worse," the NFLPA said.

Specifically, the NFLPA said the Jets cut the food budget after the food program received low grades from 2023. The NFLPA also said the Jets didn't retain their longtime dietitian, "previously their highest-rated staff member." That dietician was hired by the Kansas City Chiefs, who saw an uptick in their food program and dietitian grades.

"Unsurprisingly, when asked what needs the most improvement, players overwhelmingly point to the food program, although they are complimentary of their new dietitian," the NFLPA said.

Johnson, 77, put himself in the spotlight last fall by firing coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas during the season -- the first time in 25 years of ownership that he made such moves in-season.

The decision to replace Saleh with defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich backfired, as the Jets lost nine of 12 games to finish 5-12. Johnson also got more involved in personnel decisions, which chafed some in the organization, sources said.

Interestingly, the players graded "head coach" a B, though that ranked only 25th.

For his part, Johnson, the owner since 2000, acknowledged he must improve.

"Absolutely, I have to look in the mirror, and I have to be a better owner," Johnson said last month at the introductory news conference for coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey. "And I'm trying to be better."

The Minnesota Timberwolves are shoring up their roster ahead of the stretch run, converting two-way guard Jaylen Clark to a standard contract while planning to pick up notable free agent guard Bones Hyland.

The Timberwolves have agreed to a fully guaranteed, two-year deal with Clark, the 6-foot-4 swingman who has showcased tremendous energy over the past month, his agent Todd Ramasar of Life Sports Agency told ESPN on Wednesday.

After converting Clark on Thursday, the Timberwolves will sign Hyland, a 2021 first-round pick, to a two-way deal, agent Austin Walton of NEXT Sports told ESPN. The move reunites Hyland with Timberwolves president Tim Connelly, who selected him No. 26 overall in Denver, where he was a two-time Rising Star selection.

Clark fully entered the Timberwolves' rotation on Jan. 29, and he has averaged 6.9 points and 1.7 rebounds in 11 February games while shooting 47.4% from the field and 44% from 3-point land. He's scored in double figures in three games, with 17, 14 and 11 points.

Clark has held opponents to 41% shooting as the contesting defender this season, according to ESPN Research, and drew the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander assignment this month, guarding him for 70 matchups.

The Timberwolves' second-round pick in 2023, Clark missed the 2023-24 campaign due to a torn Achilles tendon but has made a tremendous recovery to become a member of the team this season.

Hyland, 24, is in his fourth NBA campaign and has averaged 7.2 points on a career-best 39% from 3-point range in 11.1 minutes a night over 20 games for the LA Clippers this season. He was sent to the Atlanta Hawks as part of the Terance Mann-Bogdan Bogdanovic deal at the trade deadline and was subsequently waived.

According to ESPN Research, Hyland ranks in the top five in steals per 36 minutes this season among players to play 200+ minutes. He has also averaged 17.7 points in three games where he played at least 20 minutes this season.

Hyland spent nearly two years in Denver before joining the Clippers in February 2023.

NICO HARRISON WORE the kind of suit no one could miss. Electric blue is probably the best way to describe it. And for 10 minutes, the Dallas Mavericks general manager stood at midcourt, 15 feet away from the generational superstar he'd traded to the Los Angeles Lakers a little over three weeks ago, and let himself be seen.

If Luka Dončić had anything to say to the executive who had upended his career -- and the NBA -- with one of the most shocking trades in league history, this was the moment.

Thousands of fans and media members were already inside Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night, bearing witness to the scene. The vast majority of them pulled out cellphones to document it. Dončić on the Lakers' side of the court, going through his pregame warmups. Harrison at midcourt, leaning against the scorer's table.

Dončić did not look up or acknowledge Harrison once. Not during warmups. Not during the game, when Harrison sat right behind the Mavericks' bench. And not after the game, when he was asked about it.

"I didn't see him," Dončić said with derision that would've made Don Draper proud.

The most game-changing trade in NBA history was a public and private repudiation of one of the best players in the world -- of his work habits, of the culture he reportedly sets, of his future as a top player in basketball. Those close to him say he has alternated between shock, sadness and anger in the weeks since the trade. Every day that he goes home to the Los Angeles hotel he's living in with his fiancée and young daughter is a reminder of how much his life has been upended.

This trade is a defining moment for everyone involved -- for the Mavericks, for Harrison, for the Lakers -- but especially for Dončić. What happens over the next 26 regular-season games will begin to shape their legacies and the league for the next generation.

"Great ones have been traded," Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said before the game. "When you look at others that have been traded, they keep moving on. Yes, you're going to be mad. Everyone's human. ... But you can be traded or you could be cut. How you respond after that is what everybody wants to see, and I truly believe Luka's going to be fine."

Still, even Dončić admitted he has never experienced rejection like this before.

"The closure is going to take a while, I think," Dončić said after the Lakers' 107-99 win. "It's not ideal."

THAT PROCESS HIT its first milestone Tuesday night.

"I'm glad this game is over," Dončić said. "There was a lot of emotions. But we go little by little, and every day is better."

For Dončić, facing the Mavericks was an opportunity to face the people and organization that had spurned him. For the Lakers, it was an opportunity to embrace and support their new star at a difficult moment.

"I think the best teacher in life is experience," LeBron said. "When you first start off you're not great, but that's your aspiration, that's your goal. You want to become great, but you have to go through adverse moments."

For Harrison and Kidd, whom Dončić also pointedly did not acknowledge or embrace, it was a moment to stand behind the decision and take whatever scorn or response Dončić had for them.

On this night, Dončić chose to ignore them and anyone else who could be regarded as culpable for trading him. He would let his play speak for him: a 19-point, 15-rebound, 12-assist triple-double, his first as a Laker.

"I'm just glad it's over, honestly," Dončić said. "It was just so weird, the moments. Felt like I didn't know what I was doing."

Kyrie Irving has stayed in touch with Dončić since the trade, checking on his emotional state more than anything. He feels protective of Dončić.

"I don't think he expected the change, and I think that's probably what leads to him feeling his emotions even more so in a deeper way," Irving said. "Rejection, I think that's a strong word ... but sometimes it can feel like that.

"You got to go through your process of grieving. Grieving ... is not a word we use in NBA circles -- it's like, 'Just be tough, bro.' Everybody expects you to turn over the next page and get over it. The reality is, man, we're human too."

Eventually, Dončić will either move forward -- or he won't. Those close to him are working to help him do so sooner rather than later.

HOURS BEFORE TIPOFF Tuesday night, Nike posted an ad in which a purple Regera changes its No. 77 license plates from Texas to California plates. The soundtrack is George Strait's hit "All My Ex's Live In Texas." The tagline is "Full Tank, No Mercy." Nike also used Tuesday's stage to roll out a new ad campaign for the release of his Luka 4s.

Before the game, that purple Regera pulled up outside of Crypto.com Arena to complete the spectacle.

This kind of rollout would only happen in Los Angeles, and after the trade, the stage was set for a massive Hollywood debut.

Dončić has already begun to signal he will eventually embrace all that comes along with the stage in the NBA's glamour market. First, by donating $500,000 for wildfire recovery in Los Angeles. Then, Tuesday, by buying up a parking lot across the arena and offering free parking for fans on a first-come, first-served basis.

These are early, positive signs that Dončić's future is in Los Angeles, even though he has the ability to become a free agent in 2026 and is no longer eligible to sign the massive five-year, $345 million supermax contract he could have received in Dallas. The Lakers can offer him a four-year, $229 million extension this summer, or, like other teams, a five-year, $296 million contract next summer.

Yes, the franchise will have to surround him with talent, a task the Mavericks struggled for five years to achieve and one that will only get harder when James eventually retires. And yes, the quickness with which he and James build their partnership on and off the court matters.

Every game is a microcosm of the pressure and challenge of integrating two such similar players, and the unique type of basketball brilliance this partnership can create. There are times when James and Dončić seem to be taking turns initiating the offense, much like James' early days with Dwyane Wade in Miami. Then there are times when they look like they've been playing a two-man game for a decade.

There are stretches, like the fourth quarter of a loss to Charlotte last week, when Dončić looked like a defensive liability and out of shape -- confirmation of the criticisms the NBA world heard after the trade. And then there have been games, such as Sunday's win over the Denver Nuggets, when Dončić has looked like the best player in the world, one who can conjure magic on the court and lift a franchise to a championship.

Former Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who sat courtside in a pair of Luka 1 shoes to Tuesday's game, took in the absurdity of the moment.

Each time Dončić touched the ball, Cuban made a show of booing him. At one point, Dončić turned to Cuban, smiled and said, "Shut up, Mark."

But when asked by ESPN's Tim MacMahon what it was like to root against Dončić, Cuban said, "I hated it."

PHOENIX -- Milwaukee Brewers pitcher J.B. Bukauskas is expected to miss the entire season because of lat surgery, the latest injury-related setback for a former first-round draft pick.

The 28-year-old Bukauskas missed most of the 2024 season with a lat injury as well. The right-hander went 0-0 with a 1.50 ERA in six relief appearances with Milwaukee and had a 0-0 record with a 1.80 ERA in six outings with Triple-A Nashville.

Bukauskas is 2-2 with a 5.04 ERA in 33 career appearances, all in relief. The Houston Astros selected him out of North Carolina with the 15th overall pick in the 2017 draft.

Houston Astros star Jose Altuve will make his spring training debut Friday -- and he'll do it in left field, manager Joe Espada told reporters Wednesday.

Following the offseason trade of All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs, the Astros have an opening in left field -- and Altuve, a career second baseman, has said he will play anywhere on the field that he's needed.

Altuve, who turns 35 in May, has played 1,766 games at second base and two at shortstop, never manning the outfield during his 14 seasons in the majors. A nine-time All-Star and former American League MVP, he won the Gold Glove at second base in 2015.

Altuve's defensive stats at second base have slipped in recent seasons, however. In the past three seasons, he has registered a minus-15 defensive runs saved and two campaigns of minus-13.

The seven-time Silver Slugger hasn't dropped off offensively, though. The three-time AL batting champion has averages of .300, .311 and .295 during that span.

Espada told reporters Tuesday that Altuve is doing well in his transition to left field.

"He's actually been pretty good out there," Espada said. "One thing, it's practice and we can control the environment and the volume, but once the game starts he'll be tested and we'll get a better read of where he's at. Right now, the attitude is exactly what we're expecting and the work has been pretty good."

Mauricio Dubon currently sits atop the depth chart at second base, but he is being challenged by Brendan Rodgers and Luis Guillorme.

The Astros will face the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Field Level Media contributed to this report.

Britain's Cameron Norrie has been beaten by teenage American qualifier Learner Tien in the opening round of the Mexican Open in Acapulco.

Norrie, who is now 74th in the world, was beaten 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 by the 19-year-old, who is ranked nine places below him.

The Briton had won the only previous meeting between the pair, in Hong Kong earlier this year.

Tien led 4-1 in the opener before Norrie recovered and served for the set at 5-4. But he was broken and Tien went on to take the subsequent tie-break and control the match after that.

Second seed Casper Ruud advanced to round two by beating France's Arthur Rinderknech 6-4 6-3 while American pair Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton, the third and fifth seeds respectively, also went through.

Petra Kvitova's return from maternity leave after a 17-month absence ended in defeat as Britain's Jodie Burrage battled back to win in three sets at the ATX Open.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova, 34, was contesting her first WTA match since 2 October 2023, at the China Open in Beijing.

The Czech made a positive start and won the opening set but the 25-year-old Burrage outlasted her opponent to win 3-6 6-4 6-4.

Burrage, ranked 189 in the world, will play Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round.

Kvitova, who gave birth to her son, Petr, last July, did not know whether she would return to tennis before her break.

She has said she was partly inspired to return after seeing fellow players such as Elina Svitolina, Naomi Osaka and Belinda Bencic do so after giving birth.

Back on the court, Kvitova raced into a four-game lead with an early double break of serve in Austin.

Burrage, who reached the second round at the Australian Open in January, threatened a fightback as she reduced the deficit to 5-3, only for Kvitova to break again and seal the opening set.

Former world number two Kvitova, who turns 35 in March, twice broke back as Burrage applied pressure in the second set, but the Englishwoman struck again in the ninth game before holding serve to love to force a decider.

Both players were unable to seize break point opportunities at the start of the third set.

But the decisive moment arrived when Burrage saw off four break points to hold for 4-4, before breaking Kvitova in the following game and serving out the contest.

Fellow Briton Fran Jones reached the second round of the Merida Open in Mexico.

Qualifier Jones, ranked 136 in the world, led 6-4 3-0 before opponent Mayar Sherif, of Egypt, was forced to retire.

What Simmons can recall, however, is the moment that ultimately ended his career.

He tracked a Leinster pass that sailed over his head and as he shaped up to try to stop his man, the fend-off from the visitors' Ireland winger James Lowe went horribly wrong for the scrambling Tiger, who described the incident as "a freak accident".

"His finger went up into my eye and did a fair bit of damage," Simmons recalls.

"Initially everything, the whole vision in my right eye, just went black. I didn't know if my eye was closed or open.

"There was blood pouring our of my eye, which is never a good sign."

He was rushed to hospital, but it was not for another two weeks that he underwent surgery as the initially swelling masked the severity of the injury.

"I had tried to train in that time, which was not the best idea, but we didn't know at the time," he said.

"Then I had an appointment in February and they said 'you need to go into emergency surgery right now'. That was pretty scary because it it went from thinking it was not too bad to thinking this is very serious."

Simmons said the surgery to reattach his retina was deemed a success, although damage to his pupil could not be fixed.

Months of inactivity followed as his eye was given time to heal.

It was not until he returned to the pitch to train that "different symptoms" became apparent and that he had to consider what impact resurrecting his career could have on his sight.

"From the surgery, just the way the new structure of my eye was and how the muscles behind my eyes were damaged, meant my eyes were slightly off," Simmons said. "And they were only off when I was looking up and to the side; my normal vision was quite fine so I hadn't really noticed it in the stand-down period.

"But when suddenly chucked into training you have got all sorts of stuff going on and I'm getting dizzy and light headed. My double vision was really bad.

"That, combined with the ruptured pupil, which means a lot more light goes into that eye, catching high balls under floodlight or under the sun suddenly became a lot harder."

Simmons said that he, with the support coaches and staff at Leicester, "threw the kitchen sink" at trying to adapt his game to cope with the changes.

All the while, he was trying to push for a comeback despite "the fear and risk of reinjury".

"In my mind I always wanted to play again," he said.

"Once you have detached your retina once, you are a lot more likely to do it again. And doing it again for me meant I would lose all vision in that eye, which at 26 years old would not have been ideal.

"From surgery, really, I woke up a worse rugby player, which was even more frustrating for me than the risks of it was."