The ownership group for Denver's NWSL expansion team, which begins play in 2026, announced plans to build a 14,500-seat stadium on Tuesday.

The project, to be located inside the Denver city limits at Sante Fe Yards, will be adjacent to the Broadway Light Rail station, and will include a 3.5-acre park as well as a mixed-use development.

The stadium is expected to open in the spring of 2028. The plans are being developed in conjunction with architectural firm Populous.

"When we went through all the sites, this is the one that checked all the boxes in terms of what was important to us, what was important to the city, and hopefully as the community learns about it, what's important to the neighborhoods and how we can use this site to help transform that area of town," controlling owner Rob Cohen said in an exclusive interview with ESPN.

In a statement released by the organization, Denver Mayor Mike Johnson said: "It's only fitting that the hottest ticket in town will be making its home on Broadway. This project at Santa Fe Yards will transform an underutilized eyesore into a recreational and economic hub where memories are made, culture is built, and championships are won."

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said in a statement: "This announcement is a game-changer for the NWSL and a bold statement about where women's sports are headed. Santa Fe Yards will set a new standard for what professional athletes deserve -- a purpose-built stadium and entertainment district that reflects the passion of this city and our league's continued growth."

The investment in the team is being touted as the biggest in the history of women's sports. When asked for details Cohen admitted there's "no way to prove that or [disprove] that," but he indicated that he's referring to the total investment in all areas of the organization, including the expansion fee, the cost of building a training facility, a temporary stadium, and the permanent stadium.

The ownership group paid a record expansion fee of $110 million to join the NWSL, more than double the previous record of $53 million paid by Bay FC. Announcements on the training facility and temporary stadium are expected to be made public by the end of the month.

"That number is obviously a large investment, but the ownership group is very committed to believing that if we design facilities that are designed by women, built by women, for women and for families, that you can create a unique economic model that really works," Cohen said.

Cohen said that the Denver NWSL ownership group has acquired the rights to purchase the land from a local property developer. When asked, he didn't disclose the cost associated with acquiring the land, nor did he provide details on whether the stadium would be leased from the city or owned outright.

"We're still working out the exact details of all of that, but suffice it to say, the conversation that we've been having with the city is that it is the ownership group's intent that we will pay for and build the stadium," Cohen said.

The stadium renderings show a venue that will be adjacent to the park located behind one of the goals. Cohen is hopeful that the stadium's close proximity to the light rail station will encourage fans to use alternate means of transport to get to games.

"It's a stadium in a park as opposed to a stadium that's typically surrounded by parking lots," Cohen said. "We're not naive in thinking that there won't be a huge group of people who want to drive to the games, but if we can use biking -- which is authentically Denver -- if we can use Uber and Lyft, if we can use mass transit, then what we can do is we can relieve the traffic issues for the neighborhoods and we can also increase the benefits for the fans as they ingress and egress."

Cohen added that the plan is to allow the venue to be expandable up to 20,000 seats.

"We think the sweet spot is probably between the 14,500 that we'll start with and 20,000," he said. "But we certainly have flexibility on either side of that if we need it."

Cohen added that the public process of getting approvals from the City of Denver will now take place "over the next several months" but he wants input from all of the community stakeholders, including those in the adjoining neighborhoods.

"That's a dance that has to take place," Cohen said about the approval process. "But we welcome it. We're open. We're transparent, and we believe in the end we'll find something that's a win-win-win for everybody."

Major League Soccer will host Liga MX for the 2025 All-Star match on July 23 at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas, sources confirmed to ESPN.

The 2025 edition of the game will mark the fourth time MLS confronts Liga MX in the All-Star game, previously playing against the Mexican opponent in 2021, 2022 and 2024.

MLS remained unbeaten against Liga MX before 2024, when the Mexican league triumphed 4-1 over the American side at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio.

MLS briefly returned to a previous format when inviting Arsenal to participate in the event in 2023, losing 5-0 against the Premier League side in front of a sold-out crowd at Audi Field in Washington, D.C.

Though European teams announced a summer tour across the United States, MLS confirmed to ESPN that the focus remained solely on Liga MX.

"For this year, we were always looking at Liga MX," MLS executive vice president Camilo Durana told ESPN. "We did face Liga MX, and then we went back to sort of a game versus Arsenal format in DC, and then we decided to reengage with Liga MX for at least what has been two editions. We think it's a format that works better for us."

Durana later revealed the constant competition between Liga MX and MLS in the Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup and now All-Star event fosters the growth of the American league.

"When we conducted a study, it was really about how we grow MLS and what are the things that we need to do to expedite that growth. And one of them was proving the quality of our play to fans against the quality of play that is very referential. And so the insight was we need to find more opportunities to play Liga MX teams, because it is really the reference point in North America," Durana said.

"It's been a very intentional development of a rivalry between our Leagues that helps us grow at expedited rates. Across everything we're doing with Liga and MX, be it Leagues Cup, playing in Champions Cup, All-Star, more opportunities to play against each other. I think the All-Star format is yet another touch point that is part of this growing rivalry that delivers the kind of game that fans want to watch on the field."

Beyond the match, the event will also include an All-Star skills challenge between the two leagues that sees 10 players from MLS and 10 players from Liga MX compete in a series of obstacles.

Like in the past, the MLS roster will boast 26 players that have been selected by fans, the MLS All-Star head coach Nico Estévez and two figures chosen by Don Garber, league commissioner.

The Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) and 22 players filed multiple lawsuits across several global jurisdictions against the ATP, WTA, International Tennis Federation (ITF) and International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Tuesday, alleging anticompetitive business practices, monopolizing of professional tennis and systemic abuse.

"Tennis is broken," Ahmad Nassar, the executive director of the PTPA, said in a statement. "Behind the glamorous veneer that the defendants promote, players are trapped in an unfair system that exploits their talent, suppresses their earnings, and jeopardizes their health and safety."

Legal action was taken in the United Kingdom, European Union and United States district court.

Twelve players -- including PTPA co-founder and 2014 Wimbledon doubles champion Vasek Pospisil, 2022 Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios, four-time ATP Tour champion Reilly Opelka and two-time major quarterfinalist Sorana Cirstea -- are named as plaintiffs in the U.S. filing. An additional 10 players -- including American doubles specialist Christian Harrison, four-time WTA doubles champion Ingrid Neel and current world No. 76 Corentin Moutet -- are involved with the two other suits.

Pospisil, who started the PTPA in 2020 alongside 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic, said the organization's leadership began talking about such action last year, having sensed that the sport's governing bodies were not taking player grievances seriously or responding to them fairly.

"At some point we just felt as if we didn't have another option," Pospisil told ESPN on Friday. "We didn't set out to create a player association to not affect major change. That's always been the goal from the beginning, and we have to really consider all strategies and avenues to eventually accomplish that goal."

In the 162-page complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, a draft of which was obtained by ESPN, the PTPA and associated players accuse the ATP, WTA, ITF and ITIA of working together as a "cartel" and colluding with one another -- and in some cases with sanctioned tournaments -- to reduce competition and fix prize money.

Additionally, the suit claims the organizations suppress player income by not allowing requests for increased prize money by some tournament owners, and through forced name, image and likeness (NIL) deals and a lower percentage of revenue sharing compared to other professional sports. Privacy rights violations, specifically related to drug testing, and a disregard for player well-being due to the lengthy duration of the season and inadequate match and tournament conditions are also alleged.

The civil complaint demands a jury trial.

Pospisil, in a statement Tuesday, insisted the suit was "not just about the money," but instead about "fairness, safety and basic human dignity."

"I'm one of the more fortunate players and I've still had to sleep in my car when traveling to matches early on in my career -- imagine an NFL player being told that he had to sleep in his car at an away game," Pospisil said. "It's absurd and would never happen, obviously. No other major sport treats its athletes this way."

Nassar, who previously worked with the NFL Players Association, said the PTPA initially hired the law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP -- who have represented various player associations in litigation against professional leagues in recent years -- to review the sport, using publicly available financial documents and information provided by players, to determine if there was a legal course of action.

The PTPA then met with over 250 players to discuss the findings and next steps. According to Nassar and Pospisil, the overwhelming majority were in favor of filing legal claims. Pospisil, who said he spoke to more than 100 players individually by phone, said he personally tried to recruit players to join the lawsuits as plaintiffs -- something that was considerably harder than simply earning support.

"The main concern was, 'What will the repercussions be for this, especially from the ATP and the WTA?'" Pospisil said. "Many didn't want to put their name out there and wanted to err on the side of caution."

The ATP, WTA, ITF and ITIA have yet to comment publicly.

Nassar said the PTPA hopes such legal actions will result in a revamped and optimized schedule, with more money for players through commercialization and higher revenue sharing, as well as an increased emphasis on player concerns.

PITTSBURGH -- Cameron Heyward isn't joining Aaron Rodgers on a darkness retreat anytime soon.

The longtime Pittsburgh Steelers defensive captain said on his "Not Just Football" podcast Tuesday that he's not going to great lengths to recruit the four-time MVP to sign with the Steelers.

"I ain't doing that darkness retreat," Heyward said, responding to a question from co-host Hayden Walsh if he'd go into the dark with Rodgers to land the quarterback's services. "I don't need any of that crap. Either you want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler or you don't. It's that simple. That's the pitch. If you want me to recruit, that's the recruiting pitch. Pittsburgh Steelers. If you want to be part of it, so be it. If you don't, no skin off my back."

The tone matched that of new Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf, who said last week it wasn't his role to recruit quarterbacks to Pittsburgh.

"I just want to play football. I'm tired of talking about the quarterback situation. I'd rather have it done. I don't know what ends up happening. I'm ready to move on into free agency. There's too much going on."

Cameron Heyward

"This is a historic organization," Metcalf said. "They've done the recruiting before I even got here, so whoever wants to come here and try to win as many games as we can, they can join us. But if not, good luck on the other side."

Heyward's attitude, though, is a departure from last year's free agency when he was part of a team-wide push to land Russell Wilson. That time around, Heyward was one of several team and organizational leaders who got on the phone with Wilson. The two FaceTimed for an hour, Wilson said at his introductory news conference in March 2024.

"I told him [Pittsburgh] isn't the place for glitz and glamour," Heyward said, describing his pitch to Wilson on "The Up and Adams Show" in July. "It's not L.A., it's not Atlanta. This is the place where gladiators come, and we're gonna compete every day. He was receptive to that. He wanted to compete."

While he was involved in the last search for a signal-caller, Heyward, 35, expressed exasperation with this year's drawn-out process.

"I just want to play football," Heyward said. "I'm tired of talking about the quarterback situation. I'd rather have it done. I don't know what ends up happening. I'm ready to move on into free agency. There's too much going on."

Though the Steelers are still waiting on Rodgers as he weighs his options, they did add a quarterback to the roster -- and it's one that earned Heyward's stamp of approval. The Steelers brought back 2018 third-round pick Mason Rudolph after his year-long stint with the Tennessee Titans.

Rudolph started 13 games during his four-year tenure in Pittsburgh, and he was vital in helping the Steelers rally to secure a 2023 playoff berth with wins in each of his three regular season starts.

"When he stepped in for us, he was ready," Heyward said. "If we don't sign a QB, and we go in there with Mason, we feel good about it. Excited to have him back. He's a guy for the locker room. A lot of guys vibe with him."

THE DRIVE FROM Keldon Johnson's ranch in Boerne, Texas, to the Frost Bank Center used to be predictable. Thirty minutes on the weekends, 45 during the week. But these days he has to leave early to account for the construction on seemingly every major highway in the area.

Everything about the city and the San Antonio Spurs feels like it's growing -- bursting with new energy and residents who've come here to fill in all the wide open space that used to define this part of Texas.

Even before the Spurs drafted Victor Wembanyama, No. 1 overall in 2023, that energy was inspiring to coach Gregg Popovich. "What's most enjoyable is they are like young, clean slates. You start at the bottom and teach," he said in 2022, after years of leading a veteran-laden team.

Johnson, who at 25 is somehow the Spurs' longest tenured player, has learned to follow Popovich's lead. Which is why they both arrived at the arena so early on the afternoon of November 2, 2024.

Johnson was there to get extra work and treatment before a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Popovich, then at age 75, was there to go through the pregame workout routine that had become essential as he made his way through the grind of an NBA season.

But shortly after stepping away from his workout next to the team's locker room, deep inside the warren of white, silver and black hallways at the arena, Popovich stopped in his tracks. Team staffers who were around while he was lifting weights knew something was off and grabbed him, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

They immediately sat Popovich down.

Nearby, Johnson heard the commotion as the coach began receiving medical attention.

"I couldn't see him," Johnson told ESPN. "But to see how everybody was talking about it was scary."

Johnson tried to get closer, but Popovich was already being attended to by team staffers who would eventually lead him to an ambulance out of the arena to a nearby hospital. Only a few players, staffers and arena employees had any sense of what had happened.

"Nobody really wanted to say anything," Johnson said. "Nobody wanted to let us in and tell us what was really going on. The unknown was really tough."

At around 5:15 p.m., reporters gathered in the interview room for Popovich's pregame press conference. Although he is normally punctual, it wasn't completely out of the ordinary for Popovich to be late or miss one of these availabilities. One time last season, he got caught in traffic on his way from the team's new practice facility, The Rock at La Cantera.

Other times, he has missed games for minor medical procedures or personal reasons. The assistant coach that had run the scouting on the night's opponent was usually appointed to fill in.

So it didn't raise any eyebrows when Spurs longtime spokesman Tom James came into the room around 5:30 to announce that Popovich was "under the weather" and assistant coach Mitch Johnson would lead the team that night.

Behind the scenes though, word had begun to spread among the team that what had happened to Popovich -- the rock upon which one of the NBA's most successful franchises has been built -- was serious and perhaps life-threatening.

It would take time for doctors to determine the extent of the damage Popovich suffered after what was deemed a mild stroke. Players weren't able to talk to him for weeks. It was several months before he was strong enough to walk and then stand in front of the team and speak directly to them.

"It's been pretty tough for me," Johnson said. "He's been our role model since I got here. He's been that leader."

So much has happened in the five months since. The Spurs made a blockbuster trade to land All-NBA guard De'Aaron Fox. Stephon Castle has blossomed into the presumptive Rookie of the Year. Wembanyama looked every bit like the generational superstar he was billed to be before he was lost for the season with a blood clot in his arm.

But Popovich hasn't coached since that night and won't coach again this season. Veteran Harrison Barnes said Popovich is "ahead of schedule" in his recovery. Another source said the coach has advanced in five months of rehab to the point where many who suffer strokes progress over nine months. Still, no one knows yet whether he can return to the sidelines next season, either.

It is a strange new reality for everyone. The bond between Popovich and the Spurs has been so solid, so ingrained in everything, that it fueled the rise of this proud franchise. They grew together, evolved, aged and then started anew. Until Popovich stopped in his tracks that afternoon in November, leaving everyone at a crossroads. The long-discussed and delayed succession plan was suddenly urgent, and decisions that were once his to make, perhaps were no longer.

For the first time in three decades, the man who has been at the center of this city and this franchise has been on a different sideline -- fighting to get back to what he once was.

THERE ARE REMINDERS of Popovich's influence all over San Antonio. Stop by the Bird Bakery in Alamo Heights where he had cookies custom-made for his 70th birthday party. Or Battalion, a fine dining Italian spot in the historic Firehouse 7 building where Popovich is an investor. Or one of his favorite French bistros over in Southtown: Bar Loretta. Every waiter or sommelier has a story, a fond memory of when Popovich came by.

Johnson does, too. Popovich invited Johnson and that year's rookie class to a fancy dinner at Bliss, a restaurant in Southtown featuring American fare. "He was like, 'Y'all try these oysters,'" Johnson said. "And Quinndary [Weatherspoon] was like, 'I ain't never had oysters.'"

"You want to play?" Popovich said. "You better try the oysters."

Fortunately for Johnson, he had tried oysters, passing Popovich's first test. Over the next five years that he played for him, the tests kept coming.

In 2021, he invited Johnson to the national team camp, telling him, "I need you to be ready because I'm going out on a limb telling everybody you're ready." Johnson just assumed he was being invited to the junior team camp. Even that was daunting.

But Popovich thought he was capable of more, and when Johnson had a strong camp, the coach went out on another limb, choosing him for the Olympic team that competed in the Summer Olympics.

"He's really shaped who I am as a young man," Johnson said. "A lot of people think Pop is so stern. No, no, no. He's one of the best human beings I've ever been around. He treats everybody really well and puts everyone before himself."

His legacy is ironclad, unimpeachable, and was already so if he'd retired a decade ago, after San Antonio won its last championship in 2014. The five championship trophies the Spurs won -- during their unprecedented 22-year run of making the playoffs under Popovich and executive R.C. Buford -- are housed inside The Rock, now the largest mass timber (natural wood) sports facility in North America.

Located 20 miles up Highway 10, at 1 Spurs Way, the organization spent $500 million to open the 45-acre community venue in the fall of 2023. In addition to state-of-the-art facilities for the Spurs, there are parks for families, restaurants, community trails, a 40-foot LED screen that plays everything from Spurs games throughout the week to "sing-along Sundays," as well as plans for a medical center that will serve the community. It was made in Popovich's image -- what he values and what he cares about.

The most prominent display inside the 134,000 square foot building, however, is Popovich's coaching mantra, The Stonecutter's Creedo:

When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.

The quote from Jacob Riis, a Danish activist and reformer, seeps into every aspect of Popovich and the Spurs, although Popovich would have you believe he's played just a small role in establishing it. But it's the Spurs Way.

"I was tasked with the job to create an environment so we could have some success," he said at his Hall of Fame ceremony in 2023, a ceremony he delayed until the Hall of Fame players he coached -- David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker -- had been inducted.

But the truth is Popovich's impact on basketball, and on the Spurs, can never be fully encapsulated.

"Pop is as good a coach as there has ever been in any sport," former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewzski, recently told ESPN.

The two coaching lions have grown closer later in their professional lives.

"We really got to know each other when he was named the national coach and I was still the national coach," Krzyzewski says. "We became real close and I wished I was that close with him my entire career."

He admired how Popovich had led his teams and tried to use his platform outside of coaching, he said. They'd bonded over their military pasts. Krzyzewski was an Army cadet. Popovich went to the Air Force Academy.

Krzyzewski had the luxury of planning his retirement and choosing his successor [Jon Scheyer] when he retired in 2022 at age 75. He was ready to be done with all the travel and recruiting and demands of coaching a top college program. And he had a role with Duke and family life all set up and waiting for him.

Popovich wasn't there yet. His passion for coaching remains, especially for this young team with Wembanyama as its leader. And as far as the Spurs were concerned, that was how it should be.

"It's Pop's decision," one person close to the situation told ESPN. "He's earned that."

THAT HAS BEEN the Spurs' succession plan for the better part of a decade. Each summer, Popovich would take some time to digest the season and see if the fire still burned inside of him. Buford and Co. would wait for word, trusting that Popovich would always be honest enough with himself to do what was best for the organization.

Over the years, a half dozen assistant coaches were talked about as potential successors. First it was Mike Brown, Mike Budenholzer and Brett Brown, but they eventually got head coaching positions elsewhere. Then came Ime Udoka, Becky Hammon, Will Hardy, James Borrego, Monty Williams and Taylor Jenkins. Popovich outlasted them all, too.

Last year there was talk around the league that Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who played for Popovich for four seasons, could be positioned as a successor if he didn't come to an agreement on an extension with the Warriors. But Kerr re-signed with Golden State for two more seasons -- a deal that ends after next season -- and the expectation is that he'll coach there as long as Stephen Curry is hitting 3-pointers by the Bay.

So it was Johnson who was named interim head coach in November. Compared to others who have been mentioned as possible successors, Johnson's resume was light. He'd played at Stanford, came up through the Spurs system and had earned a strong reputation in coaching circles after interviewing for a head coaching job last summer in Toronto.

"Seeing him in the position he's in now is not a shock. He belongs there," Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez, a former teammate of Johnson's at Stanford, told ESPN.

"Such an intelligent basketball player, the highest basketball IQ I've ever played with or been around," Lopez said. "He sees the game differently. We actually called him "maestro" because of the way he conducts and runs the show."

Still, James, who has been the Spurs top communications official for 30 years after first joining the organization in 1988 as an intern, knew most of the media in Los Angeles weren't familiar with him before the team's game against the LA Clippers on November 4.

"For those of you not from San Antonio, our coach tonight is Mitch Johnson," James said in front of the room, a few minutes before Johnson stepped to the podium.

The feeling in the room was somber. The full extent of Popovich's situation was still coming into focus.

Earlier that day, officials revealed to the team that Popovich had suffered a stroke, sources said. He was still in the hospital, and no one could say yet how damaging the stroke had been.

It was an impossible update for the team to swallow. They'd spent the past two days not knowing what had happened, only to learn just how serious it was. All some of them knew was that their leader had been whisked away in an ambulance, from the safety of the arena to the unknown.

Prior to tipoff at Intuit Dome, veteran point guard Chris Paul was asked to speak for the players, and he did so, just a few steps away from the locker room.

"We know he's going to be watching," Paul said before the game. "He's going to let us know what he sees. All the guys with our team, staff, everyone definitely misses him because he's Pop. There's a feeling when he's in the room that just calms everybody."

Mitch Johnson delivered his own heartfelt statement about Popovich before the game, before going through his pregame warm-up with Wembanyama and the team. "I just want to start off by saying that Pop's impact on our organization ... it's hard to articulate or put into words, and if I tried it would not do it justice," he said. "He's been tremendous for me personally, and right now his health is the No. 1 priority. ... I talked to him last night. He's in good spirits. He's OK, and we can't wait to have him back."

The Spurs came out making nearly every shot against the Clippers, building a 26-point lead by the end of the first quarter. But eventually the emotional toll caught up to them.

They lost, 113-104.

FOR A CITY that's changing as rapidly as the weather shifts in south Texas, the Spurs move at a decidedly slower pace. Moves, updates and changes happen behind closed doors, and the franchise announces or acknowledges them in a way that creates as little noise as possible.

In the past nine years, the team quietly changed leadership, from longtime owner Peter Holt, who retired in 2016, to his ex-wife, Julianna Hawn Holt, and now to their children, Peter John Holt and Corrina Holt Richter, who represent the family on the franchise's board of managers. The club has also added minority owners and strategic partners such as Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies, Joe Gebbia, co-founder and chairman of Airbnb, and the McCombs family, which returned after 30 years in 2023 to purchase a share in the organization that the family's patriarch helped establish and once owned.

These are giant changes for a franchise. Had they happened in New York or Los Angeles or even Dallas, it would've been international news. But with the Spurs, there were a few stories in the local media and everything kept on going the way it has for the past three decades.

That's because of Popovich and Buford, who met on Larry Brown's staff at Kansas 39 years ago and have been inseparable ever since. Buford is the Spurs' CEO while Popovich is the Spurs' president and head coach. Brian Wright has been the team's general manager since 2019.

The organization moves when it has clarity on a situation, not when there is speculation.

The Spurs have offered four updates on Popovich since Nov. 2. First to say that he would not travel with the team to Los Angeles. Then, 11 days later on Nov. 13, to say he'd suffered a mild stroke and was expected to make a complete recovery.

Then, a month later on December 16, Popovich released a statement thanking everyone for the outpouring of support he'd received, joking that "no one is more excited to see me return to the bench than the talented individuals who have been leading my rehabilitation process. They've quickly learned that I'm less than coachable."

Finally on February 27, Popovich announced that he would not return to the sidelines this season but hoped that he could return to coaching in the future.

In between those statements, his recovery progressed. After a few weeks in the hospital, Popovich was released, and a few months after that, he was able to start walking again, sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.

"It's Pop's decision. He's earned that."

Source with knowledge of the Spurs

He was in communication with the coaching staff, front office and several players throughout his rehabilitation, multiple players and team officials said. Keldon Johnson said he could tell from the text messages and calls he received from Popovich that he'd been paying close attention to the team throughout the season.

"He'll tell me that he's proud of me, that he loved me," Johnson said. "In a long season, conversations that really push me through to that next day."

By late January, Popovich was well enough to address the team in person. But with the annual Rodeo road trip starting February 3 in Memphis, it was difficult to find a date. Initially, sources said the Spurs planned for Popovich to address the team the first day back after the All-Star break. But that plan fell through when Wembanyama experienced pain in his shoulder while traveling in Wyoming after the All-Star Game.

Two days later, the team announced that Wembanyama would miss the remainder of the season after a blood clot was discovered in his right arm.

On Feb. 27, an off day between a game in Houston and a game in Memphis, the Spurs were able to find time for Popovich to speak to his team. The collective weight of Popovich's absence, Wembanyama's devastating news and the long road trip -- they'd been home only twice in a month -- had taken a toll. The Spurs had lost four in a row to drop out of the playoff picture.

On the practice court at The Rock, Popovich stood in front of his team to deliver a message: He wasn't coming back this season, he told them. But he had been watching them closely and was still in position to hold them accountable for their play.

"Everybody shut the f--- up when he walked in," Johnson said. "That's just how it's always been with Pop. Obviously, he's still recovering. But he was still cussing. 'Y'all need to play defense. Y'all need to rebound.' Knowing that, s---, he really is watching the games because he's calling out specific situations, was huge.

"It was what we needed. I feel like he brought that life, that spark. That Pop that we all knew and loved. He came into that meeting and that's who he was. It was like he didn't skip a beat."

He spoke a little more slowly than before, more measured. Wearing an all-black sweatsuit, Popovich talked about the future, one he hopes includes a spot at the head of the bench. But also he cautioned, reiterating a standard that has come to define his three decades at the helm.

If I can't be 100% myself, I'm doing everybody a disservice.

His words were met with silence and nods.

"It's much bigger than basketball," Fox said. "This is about his life."

The message hit.

"It's an inspiration," Fox said. "Going through the things that he's going through, and him trying to fight back just to be out there. It is a testament to who he is as a person and you can tell that he really wants to be back out there.

Fox, who will miss the rest of the season with a tendon injury in his pinkie, had only talked to Popovich on the phone since joining the team in a trade on February 2. This was the first time he'd seen Popovich since coming to San Antonio.

"It would go from serious to laughing back to serious and laughing," Fox told ESPN. "But he knows how to keep people engaged, and I think that's why he's been able to do what he does for so long. Obviously, we want him to be as healthy as possible. But I would love to be coached by Pop, for sure."

FOR AS MUCH that has changed in San Antonio since Popovich first arrived in 1988, there are some things that never do.

People might leave the Spurs at one point in their careers, but they often come back to live in San Antonio. This place, like the organization, is a forever home. Once you are part of the Spurs family, there is always a place for you.

Monty Williams came back after his first wife, Ingrid, was killed in a car accident in 2016. He came back again after being fired in Phoenix in 2023 and Detroit in 2024. He's coaching his sons, Elijah and Micah, along with Tim Duncan's son, Draven, at TMI Episcopal High School now.

Duncan never left after his playing career ended in 2016. Neither did Ginobili, who took a job with the Spurs and often brings his 14-year-old twin boys to home games. Parker has left and come back several times, having recently been around the team as he plans out his future in basketball.

Mike Brown came back in between jobs. So did Danny Ferry and Chris Grant.

This is also part of the Spurs Way. Popovich created this culture, and it has endured. The question, now, is how it evolves when he is no longer its steward.

It's a question that has hung over the franchise for a decade but still doesn't seem real, despite everything that's happened this year. To nearly everyone involved, including perhaps the man himself, it's impossible to imagine any alternative.

But the truth is, much has already changed. Popovich has handed more and more of the coaching duties to his assistants over the years. He empowered them to coach in his stead multiple times.

He even moved from his longtime home in Dominion to a penthouse in Southtown a few years back. That perfect four-bedroom house with the customized wine cellar he loved so much? He sold it during the pandemic in 2020.

His children are grown. His wife, Erin, passed away in 2018 after a long illness. Everything was changing, and so he did, too.

During his Hall of Fame speech, the famously private man acknowledged some of what he'd been through and how much he was still looking forward to in his life.

He thanked his children, Mickey and Jill, for looking after him. He gushed as he called out to "the stars of the show," his grandchildren Bridget and Finn.

"My wife Erin was our rock," he said. "My daughter Jill has taken over the mantle and keeps us on the straight and narrow."

This is what he's been fighting for this year: to get back to the life he built for his family, his team and his city -- and then decide, on his own terms, how and when it is time to leave.

TOKYO -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw five strong innings, Shohei Ohtani had two hits and scored twice, and the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1 on Tuesday in Major League Baseball's season opener at the Tokyo Dome.

Playing in front of their home country, Yamamoto and Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga both pitched well in the first all-Japanese starting pitching matchup on Opening Day in MLB history. Imanaga threw four scoreless innings, allowing no hits but walking four.

The Dodgers jumped on Cubs reliever Ben Brown (0-1) in the fifth, scoring three runs, partly because of a throwing error by second baseman Jon Berti. Tommy Edman and Will Smith had RBI singles.

Ohtani was part of the rally, delivering a hard-hit single through the right side. He finished 2-for-5 at the plate, including a double to lead off the ninth, eventually scoring another run.

Yamamoto (1-0) gave up one run on three hits and a walk, striking out four. Tanner Scott earned his first save.

Chicago's Miguel Amaya drove in Dansby Swanson with a two-out double that made it 1-0 in the second. The Cubs didn't have a hit after the third.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman was scratched before the game because of left rib discomfort. Shortstop Mookie Betts will miss both games in Japan because of an illness.

Japanese rookie Roki Sasaki will make his MLB debut for the Dodgers while left-hander Justin Steele takes the mound for the Cubs on Wednesday night for the final game in Tokyo.

TOKYO -- Shohei Ohtani seems impervious to a variety of conditions that afflict most humans -- nerves, anxiety, distraction -- but it took playing a regular-season big-league game in his home country to change all of that.

After the Los Angeles Dodgers' Opening Day 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in the Tokyo Dome, Ohtani made a surprising admission. "It's been a while since I felt this nervous playing a game," he said. "It took me four or five innings."

Ohtani had two hits and scored twice, and one of his outs was a hard liner that left his bat at more than 96 mph, so the nerves weren't obvious from the outside. But clearly the moment, and its weeklong buildup, altered his usually stoic demeanor.

"I don't think I've ever seen Shohei nervous," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "But one thing I did notice was how emotional he got during the Japanese national anthem. I thought that was telling."

As the Dodgers began the defense of last year's World Series win, it became a night to showcase the five Japanese players on the two teams. For the first time in league history, two Japanese pitchers -- the Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Cubs' Shota Imanaga -- faced each other on Opening Day. Both pitched well, with Imanaga throwing four hitless innings before being removed after 69 pitches.

"Seventy was kind of the number we had for Shota," Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. "It was the right time to take him out."

The Dodgers agreed, scoring three in the fifth inning off reliever Ben Brown. Imanaga kept the Dodgers off balance, but his career-high four walks created two stressful innings that ran up his pitch count.

Yamamoto rode the adrenaline of pitching in his home country, routinely hitting 98 with his fastball and vexing the Cubs with a diving splitter over the course of five three-hit innings. He threw with a kind of abandon, finding a freedom that often eluded him last year in his first year in America.

"I think last year to this year, the confidence and conviction he has throwing the fastball in the strike zone is night and day," Roberts said. "If he can continue to do that, I see no reason he won't be in the Cy Young conversation this season."

Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki went hitless in four at bats -- the Cubs had only three hits, none in the final four innings against four relievers out of the Dodgers' loaded bullpen -- and rookie Roki Sasaki will make his first start of his Dodger career in the second and final game of the series Wednesday.

"I don't think there was a Japanese baseball player in this country who wasn't watching tonight," Roberts said.

The Dodgers were without Mookie Betts, who left Japan on Monday after it was decided his illness would not allow him to play in this series. And less than an hour before game time, first baseman Freddie Freeman was scratched with what the team termed "left rib discomfort," a recurrence of an injury he first sustained during last year's playoffs.

The night started with a pregame celebration that felt like an Olympic opening ceremony in a lesser key. There were Pikachus on the field and a vaguely threatening video depicting the Dodgers and Cubs as Monster vs. Monster. World home-run king Saduharu Oh was on the field before the game, and Roberts called meeting Oh "a dream come true."

For the most part, the crowd was subdued, as if it couldn't decide who or what to root for, other than Ohtani. It was admittedly confounding: throughout the first five innings, if fans rooted for the Dodgers they were rooting against Imanaga, but rooting for the Cubs meant rooting against Yamamoto. Ohtani, whose every movement is treated with a rare sense of wonder, presented no such conflict.

TEN YEARS AGO in Tampa, Kyle Tucker was on the verge of a special achievement: breaking Plant High School's home run record, held by his brother Preston, then a rookie with the Houston Astros.

Fans and scouts lined the fences at Wade Boggs Field to watch the latest star -- as well as pitching prospect Jake Woodford -- at a school known for churning out baseball talent. But Tucker hadn't had a hit in three games and was struggling -- at least by his standards -- according to his coach, Dennis Braun.

"The entire grass was full from dugout to dugout with scouts, which I've never seen before," Braun recalled from his office. "Kyle hadn't had a hit in like three games then he nubs a ball back to the pitcher and he didn't make it to first base."

Braun -- as old-school as they come -- wanted to pull Tucker for the lack of hustle, but he also didn't want to risk hurting his player's reputation with scouts watching.

"I'm like, 'son of a b----,' but I let him play," Braun said.

Instead, Braun delivered his message in private after the game, telling Tucker to always run out every ball and to just relax and play his game no matter the stakes.

Message received. In the next game, Tucker went 4-for-4 with two home runs, finishing the season with 31 home runs, breaking his brother's career mark. Braun understood then what the rest of the baseball world has learned in the years since as Tucker made his ascent from south Florida prep star to a big league outfielder projected to earn $300-$400 million in free agency next offseason.

"Hands down, his sixth tool is he's both mentally and physically the toughest kid I've ever seen," Braun stated. "It's not even close."

That's saying something, considering who else has walked the halls at Plant High. The Panthers play their home games on a field named after a Hall of Fame third baseman who is still their most famous alum, but they have also produced major leaguers Pete Alonso, Mychal Givens, Woodford, Corey Brown and Darren Clarke along with 2024 first-round pick Jac Caglianone and the Tucker brothers.

The younger Tucker graduated from Plant with the best high school career of them all, culminating in being selected by the Astros with the No. 5 pick in the 2015 MLB draft. Since then, he has improved every year, including a monster half-season in 2024 in which he produced 4.7 fWAR despite being limited to just 78 games because of a shin injury.

After being dealt to Chicago in a blockbuster trade during the offseason, the Cubs hope Tucker can lead them to the playoffs for the first time in a full season since 2018 before he hits free agency. His high school coach believes Tucker -- and his sweet swing -- will deliver no matter the pressure, just as he always has.

"They started nicknaming him Ted Williams," Braun said. "That stuck for a while."

UNLIKE THE HEADLINING stars of recent free agent classes -- Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto -- Tucker is not a household name. Some of that comes from his quiet personality as you won't find him bat-flipping or making waves with his postgame comments, but his former teammates insist there is a funny, loose side the public has rarely seen.

"Last year at spring training people got a glimpse of it," Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena said with a smile. "He got miked up for a whole day. All the fans kept saying, 'I didn't know Kyle Tucker spoke.' But to us it was normal. He was our DJ. He's very outgoing. He's funny. I feel like the fans will enjoy that side of him."

Alonso -- high school teammates with Tucker for two seasons -- likens his personality to his game. Steady and consistent, from his prep days into his major league career.

"Honestly, he's the same guy," Alonso said after a recent spring training game. "He hasn't changed a bit. I mean, he keeps the game simple. He's just got this even-keel emotion about him both on and off the field."

Tucker is aware of his reputation but says he does speak up when he needs to -- even if he prefers to let his game do the talking.

"I feel like people think I'm pretty quiet and reserved, which I guess I am, but people probably think I'm more [reserved] than I actually am," Tucker said recently. "I'm decently outgoing."

Tucker also has been able to fly under the radar while putting up MVP-level numbers during his career because of all the talent around him. During his seven seasons with the Astros, he played for loaded teams, with stars like Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa and Yordan Alvarez getting most of the spotlight.

That could change with his new team this year as Tucker now enters the season as undoubtedly the best hitter in his own lineup. But there's always been a time when Tucker was the center of attention, whether as a prep sensation drawing crowds to a Florida high school or as one of the most coveted players in the majors entering his platform season: It's whenever he unleashes his swing at a baseball.

"It's God-given talent," Yordan Alvarez said through Houston's team interpreter. "It's a natural swing. ... It hurts me that I'm not going to be sharing time with him. When he's on a hot streak I think he's one of the top hitters in baseball."

IN AN ERA of constant mechanical overhauls to even the game's best hitters, Tucker's swing looks just as it did when he was breaking records in high school.

"Why would you mess with Ted Williams?" Braun said with a half-serious laugh, crediting the lack of rotation of his back foot that allows Tucker to stay in the zone longer than most hitters and evokes comparisons to the Splendid Splinter.

The praise of the swing from Tucker's high school coach is echoed by others who work with elite hitters around the sport.

"It's only unique in some of the bat shapes he gets in early," said Troy Snitker, his former hitting coach with the Astros. "The swing itself is elite. It may look a little different in the way he slots the bat and some of the wrist angles and the flatness of his bat but after that it's an elite swing."

Tucker's new hitting coach with the Cubs, Dustin Kelly, agrees with his American League counterpart: "The length that he has, the way he sets [the bat] flatter and creates a ton of rotation. So impressive."

The effectiveness of Tucker's swing goes beyond the aesthetic qualities that leave coaches and teammates raving. When he steps to the plate, the quiet, mild-mannered Tucker transforms into something else.

"What makes Kyle Tucker such a great hitter goes beyond the mechanics," Pena said. "When he steps up to the plate he believes that he's the greatest hitter on earth. ... He's a player that's going to go in there, beat you and go home, play some video games, show up the next day and beat you again and keep doing it.

"He's a silent assassin."

Tucker's biggest improvement over the last few seasons has come as much from understanding when not to swing as when to try to drive a pitch. In 2021, his walk rate was just 9.4% -- 59th among qualified hitters. It has jumped in every season since, rising all the way to 16.5% last season -- third in the majors, behind only Judge and Soto.

"The last couple of years I really tried to hone in on not chasing and trying to just control the strike zone better," Tucker said. "Because you can be a drastically different player if you change nothing else but just swinging at strikes and not balls. I think I've done a better job at that."

AS HIS ABILITY to lay off of pitches has moved into the class of Judge and Soto, so has Tucker's potential offseason payday. He nearly broke the arbitration system over the winter as it couldn't account for the massive numbers he put up in only half a season last year. Tucker and the Cubs finally settled on a contract worth $16.5 million for 2025. If he picks up where he left off, he'll be due another huge raise when he hits free agency. He and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. appear to be the top free agents in next winter's class, both likely to command mid-nine-figure deals.

"The numbers are crazy these days but if he has a Tucker-like year, how can he not command $400 million or more?" one executive of a small-market team said. "I'm not saying this either way, but some people believe he's better than Soto."

Tucker will turn 29 next winter while Soto signed with the Mets two months after turning 26, so the odds of his deal approaching Soto's record $765 million contract are nonexistent. Still, those who have shared a dugout with Tucker point to his all-around ability as a difference-maker.

"He was the complete player," said A.J. Hinch, who managed Tucker in Houston from 2017 to 2019. "He could come up and change the game in a few different ways. On a team that was pretty talented, he still stood out."

During his time with the Astros, Tucker showed his diverse skill set in making three All-Star teams, winning both a Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove, twice belting 30 home runs, stealing 30 bases in 2023 and becoming one of the sport's elite players.

"I think him and Manny Machado play the game so similarly because the game's easy for those guys," Alonso said. "It's very fluid, very relaxed, because for them it's just natural. Things came natural [to Tucker] and he just has one of those swings that it plays and it's always played.

"He's one of the best in the game, and the only thing that's going to change about him is his contractual situation, not his play, not his attitude towards the game. He's just like he was back then."