Sports
Sun waive G Hailey Van Lith, activate G Leila Lacan
May 27, 2026; Portland, Oregon, USA; Connecticut Sun guard Hailey Van Lith (2) scores a basket during the first half against Portland Fire guard Sarah Ashlee Barker (3) at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images The Connecticut Sun activated Leila Lacan and waived fellow guard Hailey Van Lith on Thursday.
Lacan, who turns 22 next week, had been on a contract suspension due to her overseas obligations. She recently led her French club Basket Landes to a league championship and was named Finals MVP.
The Sun’s first-round pick (10th overall) in 2024, Lacan averaged 10.4 points, 3.7 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals in 25 games (15 starts) in her first season with Connecticut in 2024.
Van Lith, 24, averaged 8.1 points and 2.2 assists and shot 47.1% from 3-point range in nine games (three starts) with Connecticut (1-8).
A first-round pick by Chicago (11th overall) in 2025, Van Lith was waived by the Sky on May 4 and signed with the Sun two days later. She averaged 3.5 points and 12.4 minutes in 29 games off the Chicago bench last season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Why the Pacers Could Be Back in the NBA Finals Sooner Than Expected
May 31, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) and guard Andrew Nembhard (2) speak in the second quarter during game six of the eastern conference finals against the New York Knicks for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images For all the what-ifs to rattle Indiana Pacers fans over the past 11 months, here’s hoping they’ve done enough math to know that the associative property isn’t always elementary in the Association.
Neither is sustained health.
Even so, the coming months offer an oxymoron for Pacers faithful. Call it cruel optimism.
Fans know their team eliminated the newly crowned Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks and latest Knick doormat Cleveland Cavaliers en route to winning the East last season. If defending NBA champion Oklahoma City defeats San Antonio to win the West, they’ll surely stew anew about the Tyrese Haliburton Achilles injury and Game 7 loss to OKC in the 2025 Finals.
In the name of exorcising demons instead of exercising them, though, let’s direct Pacers fans to Haliburton’s X account. Recent footage suggests far more optimism than cruelty.
Two words – “Week 48” – introduce video of Hailburton looking sharp during a workout at the Pacers’ practice facility. See the two-time All-Star point guard run, cut, dribble, shoot and step back – all just shy of one year since sustaining a torn right Achilles tendon in the opening minutes of Finals Game 7 against the Thunder.
The video also shows Haliburton has made time for the weight room when not scrimmaging. He’s also still able to smile.
Haliburton posted on Tuesday, some five months before the 2026-27 season tips off. There’s musical accompaniment, of course; not “High Hopes” by Frank Sinatra, but Drake’s “Janice STFU.”
Sample lyrics of the SFW variety: “They tried to kill me once, but darling, you just resurrected me.”
Talk about confirming motivational buy-in from your star.
Haliburton said this month he expects to be a “full go” for the Pacers’ summer minicamp. Without a selection in the June draft, that gathering figures to be an encouraging reunion for a team whose health woes last season weren’t merely limited to the devastating June blow to “Hali.”
Coach Rick Carlisle dialed up nearly 50 starting lineups in 2025-26, as Pascal Siakam (62 starts) and Andrew Nembhard (57) were the equivalent of the team’s iron men. Meanwhile, center Ivica Zubac played in just six games after arriving in a February trade from the Los Angeles Clippers. Then a rib injury ended his season.
For Pacers fans leery to lean into the “What’s old is new again” motif so early – hey, it’s what they’ve got – the Haliburton video has a cousin.
How about this recent send-up of Carlisle from new Butler coach and former Pacers assistant Ronald Nored?
“He’s never stopped adjusting. He coached one way several years ago, and he was a Hall of Fame coach. And he coaches a completely different way now,” Nored told the Indianapolis Star. “To watch him and see he has progressed in his long career, continuing to want new ideas, understanding where the game is going next, was something that was really important for me to learn.”
Carlisle’s latest handiwork will be on display soon enough, as Haliburton works in with Zubac while the team touts the center it has lacked since Myles Turner left in free agency last summer.
What if next season’s Pacers jell early and stay cohesive? It’s fair to wonder.
A fan base that endured 25 years between Finals appearances to start the millennium may now only have to wait one more.
Sports
Texas Tech run rules Mississippi State in WCWS opener
Texas Tech Red Raiders starting pitcher Nijaree Canady (24) gestures after an out during a Women’s College World Series softball game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Thursday, May 28, 2026. Texas Tech walloped Mississippi State with an 8-0 run-rule victory in the opening game of the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City on Thursday.
Mihyia Davis’ line-drive single to right field capped a four-run fifth to give the Red Raiders (58-7) their first mercy rule win in the WCWS and their 37th this season.
The lunchtime WCWS game was the first in the history of Mississippi State’s softball program, and it tipped to the Red Raiders almost immediately.
Jackie Lis roped her 21st home run of the season in the first inning and the 2-0 lead was all Texas Tech required to advance to face another SEC opponent, the winner between Tennessee and Texas (3 p.m. ET).
Lis was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Texas Tech chased Mississippi State starter Alyssa Faircloth (16-8) after 1 1/3 innings.
The offensive breakthrough is already a positive sign for the Red Raiders, who had a total of eight runs in four WCWS games and finished as national runner-up to Texas in 2025.
It also eased the burden on starting pitcher NiJaree Canady, who combined with fellow All-American Kaitlyn Terry on a two-hit shutout.
Canady (26-6) notched her 101st college victory by allowing two hits with three strikeouts in four innings.
She slammed the door on the only near rally for the Bulldogs in the fourth. A walk put Kinley Keller aboard and bumped Morgan Stiles into scoring position, but Canady easily escaped trouble. Stiles and Keller had the only hits for Mississippi State (43-20).
Mississippi State faces the Tennessee-Texas loser on Friday night in an elimination game scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Falcons improve to 7-1 in BLAST Slam VII group stage
Team Liquid takes on Team Falcons in a Dota 2 competition at the 2025 Esports World Cup Team Falcons won both matches Thursday to seize sole possession of first place in the group stage of the BLAST Slam VII at Copenhagen, Denmark.
Falcons improved to 7-1 by defeating Team Spirit in 44 minutes on green and Tundra Esports in 27 minutes on red. Falcons will wrap up the group stage Friday with matches against Team Liquid, BetBoom Team and PARIVISION.
PARIVISION won two of three matches on Thursday to climb into solo second place at 6-2. Team Yandex dropped two of three to slip into third place at 6-3.
The $1 million event began Tuesday with 12 teams in a group stage that runs through Friday. Group play is a round-robin, best-of-one format. The top two teams will advance to the upper-bracket semifinals of the playoffs, while the third- and fourth-place teams will start in the upper-bracket quarters.
The fifth- and sixth-place teams will proceed to Round 2 of the last-chance qualifier, while teams 7-10 in the standings will begin in Round 1 of that stage. The bottom two teams will be eliminated.
BetBoom Team vaulted into a tie for fourth place thanks to a 3-0 day on Thursday, posting wins against OG, Xtreme Gaming and Team Yandex.
BLAST Slam VII standings
1. Team Falcons, 7-1
2. PARIVISION, 6-2
3. Team Yandex, 6-3
T4. LGD Gaming, 5-3
T4. BetBoom Team, 5-3
6. Team Liquid, 4-4
7. Aurora Gaming, 4-5
8. OG, 3-5
T9. Xtreme Gaming, 3-6
T9. Team Spirit, 3-6
T11. GLYPH, 2-6
T11. Tundra Esports, 2-6
BLAST Slam VII payouts (prize money, team earnings)
1. $300,000, $100,000
2. $150,000, $45,000
3. $70,000, $23,000
4. $50,000, $17,000
5-6. $40,000, $15,000
7-8. $25,000, $10,000
9-10. $15,000, $5,000
11-12. $10,000, $2,500
–Field Level Media
Why the Pacers Could Be Back in the NBA Finals Sooner Than Expected
Texas Tech run rules Mississippi State in WCWS opener
