ESPN Daily

Don’t look now, but the Lakers are suddenly healthy as the NBA regular season enters its final couple of weeks. But even with Lebron and AD healthy and on the floor together for the first time since late February, they suffered an ugly defeat at home to the Bulls on Sunday. So the question remains…just who are these guys, really? Today, guest host Justin Tinsley talks to Dave McMenamin, who takes us inside Lebron’s surprise return to the court, details his conversation with AD about the big man’s battles to get back and stay on the court, and explains how the future of Lakers basketball is under evaluation…right now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s about time we talk about one of the more interesting changes we’ve seen play out in sports: the introduction of the pitch clock to Major League Baseball. While the concept of a pitch clock is nothing new, its ratification has resulted in one of the biggest rule changes any major sport has ever seen. The goal is to reduce game time, which has run over three hours long since the turn of the millennium. But is this sweeping change enough to keep fans engaged with the game? Jeff Passan clocks in to talk about what we’ve seen from the pitch clock so far and its implications for the future…and Pablo says goodbye to ESPN Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

LSU’s starting guard Flau’jae Johnson is lighting up the court during this NCAA Tournament. But that’s not the only passion and skills Flau’jae possesses: she’s also a rapper and a businesswoman. The 19-year-old prodigy currently has a distribution deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, where she makes music that highlights her father’s legacy. In her free time, Flau’jae continues to build her success by navigating and negotiating her NIL deals. With her basketball and music careers continuing to soar, we can’t help but wonder….where did it all start? Maya Jones shares the story of a young girl from Savannah, Georgia whose trials and tribulations have culminated in the person Flau’jae is today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Deion Sanders — aka “Coach Prime” — era is underway at the University of Colorado. And with spring practice beginning, Prime Time has moved from the locker room to the field. His assignment? Revitalize a program in Boulder that has fallen into obscurity since their glory days of the 1990s. All eyes are watching to see how this is going to play out, so ESPN senior college football writer Adam Rittenberg joins the show to tell us what he saw and heard in Boulder. And what we can expect from the first season of Colorado’s Deion Sanders era.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It has been a crazy three weeks for Ja Morant. The Grizzlies superstar and former second overall pick in the NBA Draft has been away from the team since March 4, the day after he was on Instagram Live waving around a gun inside a strip club. Morant stepped away to receive counseling, and the NBA later suspended him for eight games without pay for conduct detrimental to the league. That suspension ended on Monday, when he was on the Memphis bench for their win over the Dallas Mavericks. So with Morant widely expected to return to the court tonight against the Houston Rockets, Tim McMahon tells guest host David Fleming about the fallout from that night in Denver on March 3…and how Morant can move forward from the decision that put his entire career in jeopardy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here in the United States, baseball is known as the national pastime. In Cuba, however, it’s something even bigger: baseball is part of their national identity. And there is no place where questions of Cuban identity and heritage take more center stage than Miami, the center of the Cuban diaspora in the United States. It’s been more than 60 years since the Cuban national team played a game in Miami, not since Fidel Castro rose to power in 1959…and their return brought back the complex feelings of pride, anger, and so much more within Cuban Americans. So today, Alden Gonzalez takes us inside a city, a community, and a stadium where emotions are running high…and easy answers are nowhere to be found. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The next big thing coming to America from Japan might not be a baseball unicorn like Shohei Ohtani…it might be a once-in-a-generation starting pitcher who could actually be even bigger. His name is Roki Sasaki, and while he might not be ready to make the jump to Major League Baseball yet, he’s already making waves in baseball on the world’s stage. As Sasaki takes the mound for Japan tonight against Mexico in the semi-finals of the World Baseball Classic, Jeff Passan tells us all about Sasaki's electric arm and the almost spiritual connection he has with the game of baseball…that comes in-part from an unforgettable tragedy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you’ve been paying attention to women’s college basketball this year, South Carolina is the favorite, by far, to win another national championship. But maybe the field still has something to say about that. There’s Iowa, led by arguably the face of March Madness in Caitlin Clark…UConn who might just be getting healthy at the right time…and you can’t forget about powerhouse LSU, led by Alexis Morris. So as the biggest teams in the country prepare to battle for a shot at cutting down the nets. As all the stars are aligning — and preparing to shine in the largest spotlight ever for the women’s college game — Andraya Carter joins the show to give us an inside look at the bracket, from a perspective that only a former player can provide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aaron Rodgers went on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, putting an end to the lingering questions about his future by proclaiming, “I intend to play for the New York Jets.” The trade is all but a formality at this point, as both teams continue to negotiate and come to an agreement on compensation for the 39-year-old future Hall of Famer. And in Green Bay, they’re prepared to roll with 2020 first round pick Jordan Love — who has backed Rodgers up for the first three years of his career — as their QB of the future. But is Love ready to follow in the footsteps of Rodgers, and Brett Favre before him? ESPN’s Packers reporter Rob Demovsky has seen every moment of Rodgers’ career in Green Bay, and he takes us inside the breakup between one of the NFL’s legendary franchises…and arguably its greatest player ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Not too long ago we spent our Sundays glued to the television watching our favorite teams battle for a chance at the Super Bowl. But in an NFL with seemingly no offseason, here we are already. Free agency is upon us and it is both equally chaotic and eventful. Thanks in no small part to Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, a trade at the very top of the draft, and, of course, Aaron Rodgers…who has yet to make a final decision on his future. So today, Bill Barnwell joins the show to help us understand everything going on across the league, as the 2023 league year officially starts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices