Estevao is rehabilitating in Brazil using the facilities of his former squad, according to a report Wednesday from The Athletic.

The Chelsea star suffered a hamstring injury during a loss to Manchester United earlier this month. Yet, instead of working on his rehab in London, he’s nursing the injury at Palmeiras, where he scored 18 goals in 62 appearances over three years.

A source revealed to The Athletic that the current arrangement is a short-term situation, with the 19-year-old expected back in London before the Premier League season ends May 24.

The injury nevertheless puts into question Estevao’s availability for a World Cup appearance this summer for his native Brazil. Several outlets have referred to the hamstring injury as “grad four,” which typically has a longer recovery time. As a five-time goal-scorer for his national team, his absence would be noteworthy during the tournament that begins June 11 and concludes July 19.

Estevao has two goals over 22 appearances this season for Chelsea (13-13-9, 48 points), which has three Premier Leagues games left.

–Field Level Media

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t put up his usual eye-popping numbers in Game 1 of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s second-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers.

But heading into Thursday’s Game 2 of the series in Oklahoma City, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player says he won’t mind if the Lakers keep throwing constant double teams his way like they did for much of Tuesday’s game that wound up a 108-90 victory for the Thunder.

“Ultimately it’s the easiest form of basketball,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I’d much rather do that than have to go one-on-one all night over somebody. My teammates on the back end playing four-on-three, it’s what you play for.”

Gilgeous-Alexander finished Game 1 with 18 points and seven turnovers.

It marked the first time Gilgeous-Alexander had been held to fewer than 20 points since Game 3 of last season’s Western Conference finals — a stretch of 81 appearances — so the Lakers’ tactics paid off in that regard.

But when you consider the Thunder still won by 18, how much did it really help?

“We have a lot of guys who can make smart reads,” said Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein. “We feel really comfortable when they’re trapping and just making the right reads out of that. … Multiple guys that if we catch it in the pocket, it’s an easy read for us. So it’s just making sure that we give Shai outlets.”

The Thunder also had plenty of success on the offensive glass, turning 12 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points.

“When they play like that, it’s one of the advantages that you have,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “They’re throwing two at Shai really early in possessions and, in order to do that, you get two guys on the ball and then you’ve got three guys off of bodies and rotating and that presents rebounding opportunities.

“We need to be aggressive if the ball comes out of traps, in shooting or attacking, and then when we do shoot, we’ve got to chase the ball in those situations because there’s rebounds to be had.”

The Lakers remain without star Luka Doncic, who said Wednesday he continues to improve but declined to put a timeline on his return. Doncic, who suffered a hamstring injury April 2 against Oklahoma City, said the initial timeline for his return was eight weeks. That’s roughly when the Western Conference finals will end.

LeBron James said his team must be better offensively after scoring just 90 points — the fewest for Los Angeles in a playoff game since the 2021 first round.

“When you play against great defense, you have to have guys that can attract multiple defenders on the floor at all times,” James said. “I felt like we had great shots. … We missed them. When you’re playing against the world champions, having a guy that averages 34 (points), six (rebounds) and eight or nine (assists), that’s special.

“So we have to be better at finding ways to get to the blender, finding ways to get to the paint. We know they’re a paint-swarming team, so we have to be better about getting to the paint, not turning the ball over and shooting with confidence.”

Lakers coach JJ Redick said forward Jarred Vanderbilt is “day to day” after dislocating his right pinkie finger in the first half of Tuesday’s game. The club listed him as doubtful for Game 2.

Vanderbilt has averaged 3.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 12 minutes during the postseason.

–Field Level Media

Now that the LIV Golf League will no longer be financed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Graeme McDowell told Sports Illustrated that he is hopeful the league can shed some controversy and serve as a “viable golfing product.”

McDowell, 46, received death threats and other backlash when he joined LIV in 2022.

“I don’t think we could have ever imagined how deep this would go. The hatred,” he said. “It’s funny, but if we can shift the narrative away from Saudi Arabia and bring some U.S. money and get rid of that narrative … because that narrative is just nasty.”

When he signed with LIV, McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open champion, called it “a compelling opportunity” and that it was the best decision for his family. He wishes he could take back those remarks.

“I was ready to jump ship and go get a real job,” McDowell told Sports Illustrated. “And then these guys came along and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this tour. Do you want to come play?’ I love playing. I love competing. I regret a few things I said at the beginning, stuff like growing the game. I should have just said it for what it was: this is good for my bank account, and I’m getting a runway to play the game of golf for as long as I possibly can. “

PIF officially announced in April that it was done backing LIV after this season, leaving the future of the league in doubt. However, CEO Scott O’Neil told the media on Tuesday that he has confidence in LIV. O’Neil offered no specific plans.

“I think we all knew that we were going to have to stand on our own two feet at some point to be able to make this into a legitimate business,” McDowell said. “When you’ve kind of got the type of cash that we had in the beginning for a startup company, it was a little crazy and maybe not very real. It’s kind of like we’re turning 18 now. I’m going to go into the real world. We got to fend for ourselves a little bit. We try to make this into legit business.”

LIV Golf has seven tournaments remaining this year, beginning with this weekend’s event at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C.

–Field Level Media