Sports

We have now reached the part of the Kevin Durant free agency guessing game where people are frantically analyzing T-shirts on Nike's online store.

On Saturday, a Twitter user called attention to a shirt on Nike's website that is part of the Kevin Durant collection.

"Nike has this @KDTrey5 shirt on the site that has all the Teams/Cities KD has played for," the user wrote. "The last 2 are Oakland & San Francisco. GSW last season in Oakland is this season. Next season they are in SF. Did @Nike confirm KD back to Warriors?"

ALSO: Twitter was not impressed by an NBA player's attempt to tattle on Stephen Curry

The shirt in question says "Stay true" and "Easy buckets" on the front, and does indeed list San Francisco as one of the cities where Durant has played. But it's hard to believe Nike has inside information when Durant's own agent says the Warriors star is undecided on his future plans.

Still, this didn't stop a few fans from taking the theory as fact after a handful of websites reported on the shirt Monday.

"All this speculation all season about KD leaving and we find out from a Nike t-shirt that he's staying," one fan tweeted on Monday.

"I think Nike just slipped Kd staying in the bay," another chimed in.

Other fans were far more cynical.

"That KD Nike shirt means absolutely nothing, Warriors fans," one tweeted. "Don't be naive and put your hope into a T shirt."

MORE DURANT: Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson confront Drake after Game 2 win: 'See you in the Bay Aubrey'

The shirt is still currently listed on Nike's website; In the crazy event Nike did have inside information and accidentally tipped Durant's hand, it would likely have been removed by now. Unless you really want to put on your tin foil hat and contend Nike isn't removing it because doing so would signal they did accidentally reveal Durant's free agency plans.

But it's probably nothing.

Kawhi Leonard had 27 points and 17 rebounds, leading the Toronto Raptors into the N.B.A. finals for the first time with a 100-94 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.

The Raptors overcame a 15-point deficit and won the series in six games. They will host the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the N.B.A. finals on Thursday night.

Pascal Siakam scored 18 points, Kyle Lowry had 17, and Fred VanVleet had 14 for the Raptors, who used a 26-3 run late in the third quarter and early in the fourth to turn the game in their favor and reach the championship round after having repeatedly fallen short against Cleveland.

They needed something more to get further, and they found it the acquisition of Leonard, the most valuable player of the 2014 finals, who was acquired from San Antonio and has carried the Raptors in this postseason.

“He’s the best player in the league, and we’re happy he’s in Toronto,” said Masai Ujiri, the Raptors’ president.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but the bid by Milwaukee, the N.B.A.’s top team in the regular season, for a first finals berth in 45 years ended in disappointment with a fourth consecutive defeat.

Down by 76-71 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Raptors tied the score with an 8-2 run while Leonard and Antetokounmpo were both on the bench. Ibaka’s dunk with 10 minutes 32 seconds to go tied it at 78-78.

Antetokounmpo returned after a timeout, but Leonard kept sitting. That did not matter to Toronto, with Siakam’s basket giving the Raptors an 80-78 lead, their first lead since the score was 6-3.

Leonard’s one-handed slam after Lowry’s steal gave Toronto an 87-79 lead with 6:46 to go before the Bucks responded. George Hill answered with a layup, Brook Lopez converted a 3-point play, and Antetokounmpo scored, cutting it to 87-86 with 5:19 to go.

Lowry and Lopez swapped baskets before Gasol’s 3-pointer put the Raptors up, 92-88, with 3:50 left. After another basket by Lopez, Leonard made a 3-pointer that pushed Toronto’s lead to 95-90 with 3:04 to play. It was Leonard’s first 3-pointer after he had missed his first seven attempts of the game.

Toronto made 12 of 27 3-point attempts, including four of eight in the fourth quarter.

Siakam, who missed a pair of free throws late in the fourth quarter of Toronto’s double-overtime win in Game 3, hit one to make it 98-94. Leonard grabbed the rebound on the second and was fouled. He made both, putting the Raptors up, 100-94, with 3.9 seconds to go.

Brogdon and Middleton each made two shots from long range as the Bucks went 6 for 9 from 3-point territory in the first and closed the quarter with 10 unanswered points, leading, 31-18. Toronto shot 6 for 19 in the opening quarter, missing six straight attempts twice in the first 12 minutes.

The Bucks extended their lead to 38-23 on a 3-pointer by Ersan Ilyasova with 7:46 left before halftime. Toronto cut the gap to 46-43 on a 3-pointer by VanVleet with 1:07 left in the second, but Eric Bledsoe answered with a 3-pointer, and Antetokounmpo split a pair at the line, giving the Bucks a 50-43 advantage at the intermission.

The lead went back to 15 in the third before Leonard finished the period with a flourish. He had 8 points in the final 2:01, and Toronto closed with a 10-0 run, cutting a 15-point deficit to 76-71.

The Warriors went through scoring droughts and a rash of injured players and still managed to pull out a gutsy win on the road in Game 2.

Kevon Looney and Kevin Durant are out for this one, while Klay Thompson is currently questionable to suit up. What does all that mean for the betting market in Game 3?

For the first time in the NBA Finals, the spread ticket percentages are favoring the Raptors. As of Tuesday evening, the Warriors are receiving 35% of the betting tickets in Game 3. Under Steve Kerr, the Warriors have closed with under 50% of betting tickets 18 times in the playoffs. They are 18-0 straight-up and 15-3 against-the-spread (ATS) in those spots, covering by 8.6 points per game. – Evan Abrams

The Warriors trailed at the half of both Games 1 and 2 against the Raptors. The last 12 times the Warriors have trailed at the half of a playoff game, they are 11-0-1 straight-up on the second-half moneyline and 8-3-1 against the second-half spread. – Abrams

The Warriors are coming off one of their patented 30-plus assist playoff games, which they lead the NBA in since 2014-15. Under Kerr, Golden State is 24-3 straight-up and 18-9 ATS in the playoffs after a 30-plus assist game. – Abrams

As the NBA Finals shifts to Oracle Arena, take note: Under Kerr, the Warriors are 37-18 (67.3%) ATS at home in the regular season and playoffs when facing a team with a win rate of 66% or higher. – Abrams

After the Raptors eliminated the Magic and the 76ers ousted the Nets on Tuesday night, the Eastern Conference semifinals were officially set. It's No. 1 Milwaukee vs. No. 4 Boston, and No. 2 Toronto vs. No. 3 Philadelphia. A trip to the conference finals and a potential Finals run is at stake. But there's a lot more than that on the line.

Unless you've been under a rock, you know that Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler are all free agents this summer, and where they end up will once again shake up the ever-shifting NBA landscape. One would think how these series, and the remainder of these playoffs, play out will impact those respective decisions.

Kyrie got way ahead of himself and said way back in October, before the season had even started, that he intended to re-sign with Boston this summer. But it wasn't long before Boston's season started going a little crooked, and a frustrated Kyrie, come February, walked back that commitment by saying of his looming free agency: "I don't owe anybody s--t." Then he elaborated:

"I still have confidence in Boston and what they can promise for the future and what they have in terms of our pieces. That's what excited me a lot about the beginning of the season, was the opportunity to come into this season and doing what we planned on doing. Set a goal and go after it and then see what happens at the end of the season.

"That was the plan before and that's still the plan now. Obviously Boston's still at the head of that race. So that's just where it stands."

You don't have to read very deep between the lines to deduce how much these playoffs are going to impact Kyrie's decision. That goal the Celtics, and Kyrie, set at the beginning of the season was certainly not a second-round exit. Not to think pessimistically, but this Milwaukee team is a monster. If the Bucks, just for the sake or argument, roll through the Celtics in five or six, and Kyrie starts to get frustrated again, that isn't the taste the Celtics want to leave in Kyrie's mouth as he embarks upon on a summer of rich options.

On the other hand, what if the Celtics continue this momentum they created in sweeping Indiana and upset the top-seeded Bucks? One of the most noteworthy things from the first round of these playoffs was the noticeable uptick in Kyrie's, shall we say, mood. He looked and sounded ... happy. Positive. Excited. Kyrie is a philosophical guy, and as such, he can overthink just about anything. But that's the good thing about the playoffs. It's only winning and losing. In the regular season, even when the Celtics won, Kyrie was all about nitpicking. If they keep winning in the playoffs, now matter how pretty or ugly it looks, he's going to be all smiles.

Can the Celtics beats the Bucks? Absolutely. Can they then beat the winner of Toronto-Philly and make it to the Finals? Absolutely. So let's say that happens. Is Kyrie really going to leave the Celtics on the cusp of a championship? Boston would have to like its odds at that point. The Celtics might be at the head of the race, as Kyrie said, but they can fall back quickly. The sprint to the finish starts now.

Same goes for Butler in Philadelphia and Kawhi in Toronto. There have been questions as to whether the Sixers would even want to re-sign Butler, and that they might prefer to move forward with Tobias Harris, who is also a free agent. A conference finals run, or for sure a Finals run, would make it tough for Elton Brand to let either one go, and conversely, it would give Butler a lot to think about as he considers his options.

I think Philly is in the most danger of losing ugly in the second round. They're not terribly deep and Ben Simmons' inability to shoot, as worn out as that talking point is, poses serious problems at this stage of the season against team like the Raptors, who can lock down defensively as well as anyone. If the Sixers get bounced here, clearly that will impact Butler's, and perhaps to a lesser extent, Harris' decision.

On the flip side, it feels like the only real chance Toronto has of retaining Kawhi is a deep playoff run. It might take a trip to the Finals. The Clippers are looming as a potential landing spot for all these guys, and they have looked like a pretty promising destination with their gritty performance against the Warriors. If Toronto loses to Philly, it is very hard to imagine Kawhi going back. If they win, and then perhaps beat the winner of Boston-Milwaukee and end up in the Finals? That would be tough for Kawhi to walk away from.

Even the up-and-coming Bucks will have a couple of key free agents, led by first-time All-Star Khris Middleton, who will likely opt out of his $13 million contract for next season to become a hot commodity on the market. But Middleton isn't a guy that a team has to pitch, so much as a guy who will have options as a backup plan for the teams chasing Kawhi, Butler and Kyrie. In that way, the results of these series are not as tied to his ultimate destination.

None of this is set in stone, obviously. When the Thunder got embarrassed by the Jazz in the first round last year, everyone assumed Paul George was a goner. Instead, he stayed with OKC without even taking any other meetings. These teams have had an entire year -- or in Butler's and Harris' case, the better part of the season -- to pitch these guys on their teams and cultures and futures. But this is the real sales pitch. The last word. You can either walk into a meeting this summer and say, "We're right there. We just went to the conference finals, we've got everything in place, let's run this back," or you can say, "Man, we just got bounced in the second round and we might still have a ways to go."

The thing that makes this so compelling is that nobody has any idea how this is going to play out. Typically in the NBA playoffs, you have a pretty god idea who's going to win. But this is different. You can make a strong case for any one of these four teams to make the Finals.

"I was literally having this conversation the other night with some other scouts, just asking each other, like, 'who do you see coming out of the East?' There were three or four different answers. I mean, nobody really knows," an Eastern Conference scout told CBS Sports. "I think it's all going to come down to matchups. Who's healthy? Who hits a few big shots? It could be something very small that tips a series."

It could be that same thing that ends up tipping the entire NBA landscape this summer.

Warriors fans driving to Oracle Arena for Games 3 and 4 of the NBA Finals next week might want to keep their eyes on the road.

Friday morning, Oakland residents noticed a brand new Kawhi Leonard billboard from New Balance along I-880 near Oracle Arena. The billboard is located just outside the Malibu Lot, near the Denny's by the arena.

"The King Of The North is Coming," the billboard reads next to an image of Leonard.

Next to the picture of the Raptors star are the names of all of Toronto's playoff opponents: the Orlando Magic, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks — all crossed out in red

The Raptors are shooting for their first NBA Championship, and a chance to take a 2-0 series lead Sunday is huge. Especially with Warriors star Kevin Durant still out. But Durant is expected to return from a right calf strain at some point midway through the NBA Finals.

Toronto's defense is well-designed and executed, and without the playoffs leading scorer Kevin Durant on the floor, the Raptors can still muscle up inside and make adjustments to counter the Warriors backdoor layups that kept them alive in Game 1.
While the NBA finals continues between the Raptors and Warriors, Toronto's Tech community is battling Bay Area talent with a friendly wager on the NBA finals.

After making a successful transition from MMA to professional wrestling, Ronda Rousey may be leaving the squared circle behind for the foreseeable future.

The former UFC bantamweight champion recently became the first woman to headline the WWE’s flagship pay-per-view event WrestleMania alongside wrestling stars Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, and has since been on hiatus from making any other appearances for the company.

It’s no secret that Rousey has wanted to start a family with husband and fellow UFC fighter Travis Browne, and on Monday the 32-year-old crossover star provided an update on her personal and professional life via her YouTube channel:

In the above clip, Rousey confirms that she injured a knuckle in her pinkie performing at WrestleMania 35 earlier this month, and discussed how it was not her intention to become a main event player for the WWE at first.

“Originally, we approached them, or I approached them, I thought I’d only be able to wrestle from WrestleMania (34) to November because we already wanted to start a family,” Rousey said. “We came to the WWE like, ‘Hey, before we have a baby, I just want to be able to come and do this for a couple of months because it’s something I always wanted to do.’ And then it just kind of snowballed into instead of being a small detour in my life, it became my whole life for an entire year and I completely fell in love with it.”

After participating in a tag team match at WrestleMania 34 last year, Rousey became a regular on WWE’s weekly Monday Night Raw program and became the company’s storyline women’s champion last August. She carried that title until dropping it to Lynch at WrestleMania 35.

One reason Rousey stuck around to participate in that match was because of her chance to make a mark on pro-wrestling history, as she did during her rise in MMA in which she became one of the sport’s most popular and polarizing fighters.

“As time went on, I was in the company, we were kind of playing it by ear and I loved it so much and I ended up getting the title and then when it became a real possibility that women could be the main event at WrestleMania, I decided to stick around,” Rousey said. “We planned that after WrestleMania me and my amazing husband here would go off and start trying to start our family.”

Rousey revealed that she currently has two pins in her hand from surgery and that the cast she is sporting in the video is expected to come off in four weeks. When that happens, Rousey and Browne are planning to go on a vacation and work on having a child.

Browne suggested that Rousey could already be pregnant, but Rousey declined to make any concrete statements on that matter or whether she will be involved with the WWE going forward.

“As for WWE plans in the future, we want to have a baby first,” Rousey said. “I don’t know what it’s like to have a baby. I could look down at this beautiful child and be like, ‘F*ck everything, I don’t care about anything else other than this baby’ and you’ll never see me again, or I could be like my mom. She trained until she was eight months pregnant and then won the U.S. Open six weeks after giving birth. It was unbelievable, I don’t think I’m going to try and aspire to her level.

“I’m just saying, you never know, the thing is I don’t want to make any promises about the future when I don’t know how I’m going to feel in the future.”

Rousey was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame last July. While neither she nor Browne have officially declared themselves to be retired, Rousey has not competed in MMA since December 2016 and Browne has not fought since July 2017.