NBA 101

Josh Jacobs placed on NFL’s Commissioner’s Exempt List

The NFL is placing running back Josh Jacobs on the league’s Commissioner’s Exempt List, per multiple reports.

The Green Bay Packers running back was arrested in May, following an incident involving Jacobs. On May 23, the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department in Wisconsin was dispatched in response to a disturbance complaint involving the Packers running back. Following an investigation, Jacobs was arrested on May 26 and booked into Brown County Jail on five charges:

• Battery — Domestic Abuse
• Criminal Damage to Property — Domestic Abuse
• Disorderly Conduct — Domestic Abuse
• Strangulation and Suffocation
• Intimidation of a Victim

As noted in a statement from Chief Michael Renkas of the Hobart-Lawrence Police Department, the matter was classified as an “active and ongoing investigation.” Last Thursday, August 27, Jacobs was formally charged with two misdemeanors: Battery and Criminal Damage to Property.

Both charges are classified as Class A Misdemeanors in the state of Wisconsin. The Battery charge alleges a violation of Wisconsin Statute 940.60(1), which reads “[w]hoever causes bodily harm to another by an act done with intent to cause bodily harm to that person or another without the consent of the person so harmed is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.”

The Criminal Damage to Property charge alleges a violation of Wisconsin Statute 940.01(1), which reads that “[w]hoever intentionally causes damage to any physical property of another without the person’s consent is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.”

The NFL placed Jacobs on the Commissioner’s Exempt List on Sunday, meaning he will not be allowed to practice or play while he remains on the list. Jacobs will be paid, however, while he remains on the Commissioner’s Exempt List.

The running back’s attorneys released a brief statement as shared by Tom Pelissero.

“Josh Jacobs has been placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, which is an administrative procedure used by the NFL while a matter is being reviewed. It is not a final determination. Josh respects the NFL process, the Packers, and his Coaches and Teammates. He looks forward to his return to the team and the NFL,” said David Z. Chesnoff, Richard A. Schonfeld, and Clarence F. Duchac III.

The Packers open the 2026 season against the Minnesota Vikings on September 13.

Aaron Donald makes it official with the Rams

Aaron Donald is back.

According to several NFL insiders, the ten-time Pro Bowl selection is coming out of retirement to play for the Los Angeles Rams this season. As reported by Adam Schefter, Donald is signing a one-year deal for $20 million, that could be worth up to $30 million based on various incentives.

Donald last played for the Rams during the 2023 season, when. he recorded eight sacks and 53 total tackles. He led the NFL in sacks during the 2018 season with 20.5, when the Rams reached the Super Bowl.

Over his career he was a eight-time First-Team All-Pro, and he won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award back in 2014. He was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year three times, first in 2017 and again in 2018, before winning it one more time in 2020.

He announced his shocking retirement in March of 2024, stepping away from the game while still one of the premier defensive players in the league. The team honored Donald last November, during a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But with the Rams pulling off a stunning trade for Myles Garrett, another former Defensive Player of the Year, this offseason, the team now has two terrifying pass rushers along the defensive front.

The team shared the news on social media moments after the decision broke:

The Rams begin the 2026 season in Australia against the San Francisco 49ers.

Nuggets Waive Julian Reese

The Denver Nuggets have waived two-way player Julian Reese from his two-way contract. Denver had acquired Reese from the Washington Wizards as part of the deal that sent Peyton Watson to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Reese is expected to draw interest from other teams for another two-way deal. The 6-foot-9 big man saw action in 13 games for the Wizards last season. Reese averaged 11.8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 30.9 minutes per game.

Neemias Queta Removed Early From FIBA World Cup Qualifier Victory

Boston Celtics center Neemias Queta may be dealing with an injury, a Portugues outlet is reporting. Queta was removed early from Portugal’s victory over Spain in a 2027 FBIA World qualifier on Friday. Following the game, Portugal’s head coach Mario Gomes said Queta’s early exit was precautionary.

“We still don’t know if he has any problems or not, but we decided not to take any risks. Zero risk. Not only because we have a game on Monday, but also because it’s his life and, for me, as a coach, the players’ health comes first. When there is a risk, we never do anything that jeopardizes the players’ health to win a game,” Gomes said about Queta. “The physiotherapist and the doctor told me there was a real risk, so we decided not to use him anymore. We also have people from the Boston Celtics staff here, who I think are helping our medical team understand what’s going on. I hope it’s nothing serious and we can count on him on Monday and, above all, that he can continue his career without problems, because he deserves it. He’s a great guy.”

It’s unclear what type of injury Queta is dealing with. It’s also unclear if Queta will play when Portugal hosts Georgia in a qualifier on Monday. Queta finished the game with 16 points, nine rebounds and two steals in more than 24 minutes.

Queta signed a four-year, $56 million extension with the Celtics this summer. The 27-year-old center projects to start at center for the Celtics for a second consecutive season in 2026-27.

Going Beyond the Game for WNBA All-Star 2027

The 2027 WNBA All-Star Game coming to the Bay Area is a testament to what the Golden State Valkyries have built in such a short time… a passionate fanbase, sellout energy, and a community that has embraced women’s basketball at scale. — Zaileen Janmohamed, CEO, Bay Area Host Committee

For former athlete and Bay Area resident Shamekka Marty, the announcement that the Golden State Valkyries will host WNBA All-Star 2027 in San Francisco means more than another major sporting event coming to her city.

It’s an opportunity to bring her mission of athlete wellness directly into the weeklong celebration.

Marty is the CEO of Beyond the Game Health. Because of ailments she’s dealt with and is currently dealing with, her goal is to educate athletes from all over on how to advocate for themselves, make them aware of various aspects of their health and provide an outlet for them to grow in and outside of their sport.

Here’s how Marty described her mission to Swish Appeal:

I saw that the power of sports and also just really getting to know a lot of players throughout my journey and seeing what they go through, and I saw something there. I can use sports as a vehicle of ways to help raise awareness… I started navigating through the different sports industries, especially with the WNBA before the new agreement that came out, and we’re still fighting. 

Though I mean, it’s a great agreement, but just learning-you know what? Healthcare is not really there after the game. It’s not really there. How can we protect our players? Because I know that there are things out there that can be done, and what can we do about that? What happens when the checks stop coming?

Through health fairs, literacy programs, panels and other events and activities that tie an athlete to the community and their health, Marty is determined to reach anyone who wants to discover an extensive range of possibilities that can stretch their potential in the right direction.

And now, she has the opportunity to bring that work to one of the biggest weeks on the women’s basketball calendar.

After already partnering with Tiffany Hayes, Shamekka Marty has big plans for All-Star Weekend in the Bay

Marty not only works closely with both professional basketball teams in the Bay Area, but she also has a close relationship with Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes.

Through prioritizing transformational over transactional relationships, she’s collaborated with Hayes through her foundation, Living On Purpose, and helped coordinate the WNBA Legends Brunch during All-Star Week. Meeting Hayes through a mutual friend, the two maintained their relationship off the court and came together to find ways to be there for their fellow athletes while also helping each other grow their brands.

Hayes was someone who joined the Valkyries during their inaugural season in 2025. Since then, she said that she was all in from the start on what Golden State had to offer. As Hayes wrote in The Players’ Tribune:

I still remember that day last year when I arrived for the first time. I’d recently won the Sixth Player of the Year award after my one season in Vegas. But for whatever reason, something just really drew me to Golden State. I loved the idea of doing something that might be uncomfortable, and trying to build something from the ground up.  

That same feeling is what the Bay Area wants fans from all over to experience in 2027.

Marty excitedly spoke to Swish Appeal about the activations she’s planning under her brand and what she’s looking forward to seeing come to life during the event.

“What I can say is it’s going to be craziness. I mean, I know I’m not going to be able to breathe or just have five minutes myself.”

The first activation will be a mixer honoring Black and Brown women in sports. The next will be a brunch with a panel that ties a health component to it. She also wants to host a few clinics free of charge for people to take part in alongside their favorite athletes. As Marty explained:

Accessibility is a huge thing. Like I said in the beginning of the conversation, some people love sports and are really big sports fans, and no one thinks about the families that can’t afford it because of food insecurity. Or they might have parents that can’t afford it due to medical reasons.

I want to make it free for them…That resonates with a lot of kids, where they’re like, “Oh my God, I can, I can even be able to meet them (the players). I can even be able to talk with them,” and have some of the OGs of the game—the Cheryl Millers, the Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley—to be a part of it.

And lastly, Marty wants to incorporate an event just for moms to enjoy a wellness reset while they’re there called “Moms of the Sport.” She emphasized:

Nobody talks about how much they (moms) have sacrificed to get their children. Especially Tiffany (Hayes) talks about this all the time. She’s like, “It was just me and my mom.” We want to honor them, give them a spa treatment, take them somewhere, put that together. Nobody does the activations for the moms, and we want to be first to do something like that.

WNBA All-Star 2027 is just part of Shamekka Marty’s advocacy for athletes

Marty has lived in the Bay Area for 11 years, but she’s made the city her home and wants her advocacy for health in sports to be at the forefront in what adds to the city’s sports scene. She’s already helped organize and take part in conferences and events to support athletes, especially WNBA athletes.

Now, with the WNBA All-Star 2027 being local to her and her community, she can take advantage of the opportunity to educate more people of all ages on the importance of taking care of themselves on and off the court. 

Here’s how Marty puts it:

You cannot pour from an empty cup.

So you have to be able to be okay with checking in with yourself if you’re not there mentally and if physically, if something’s going on, there will be other games. Not make a costly mistake and go back in.

But for me, meeting in the Bay, it shows the power of women’s sports.

For Marty, bringing Beyond the Game Health to WNBA All-Star 2027 is about more than creating events. It’s about making health, accessibility and athlete advocacy part of the conversation when the basketball world comes together in celebration.

Now, it’s the perfect time for fans to start planning for the trip to the Bay to see what Marty and her collaborators have in store to make WNBA All-Star 2027 a fun and educational weekend that’ll resonate with athletes, fans and the community for years to come.

To learn more about Beyond the Game Health, including health screenings, mental health resources and educational opportunities they provide, visit beyondthegamehealth.com. To learn more about Marty and her advocacy, visit shamekkamarty.com.

Yankees Mailbag: Bullpen fatigue and salary cap concerns

Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Actionthrill asks:As one of the highest spending teams in baseball do you think the Yankees want a salary cap in place or would they rather spend freely? And if a salary cap was put in place would a team like the Dodgers have to get rid of a bunch of their players to get under the salary cap?

Hal Steinbrenner has made himself very clear on this matter time and time again: he’d very much prefer not spending as much as the Yankees currently spend on payroll. The luxury tax hits on his franchise are a bill Steinbrenner would love to wipe away with a salary cap and floor system, putting him in lock step with the rest of MLB’s ownership class on the issue ahead of the next CBA negotiations. Whether they’ll get their way or not is still to be decided, but it figures to be a lengthy fight and one that the owners probably feel more confident in than they have in quite some time as animosity at the top spenders in the sport have grown. As for the hypothetical world where the cap does come in for next season, there would surely be some grandfather clause with current contracts to prevent a mass-shedding of talent from the top, though they’d probably end up losing some of their expensive players out of the gate. What the numbers on that would be exactly would have to be determined as part of the negotiations, and again I expect the players’ union to fight tooth and nail against ever even implementing a cap in the first place so I’m not going to dive too deep on the logistics, but there’s no world where it would be a blanket cap instituted for next season that everyone would have to get under immediately.

In a semi-related note, we’ve gotten several questions about the Yankees’ recent deal with Apollo Global Management and what the cash infusion they’ve provided means for the Yankees’ short and long-term future. I’d highly recommend Josh Diemert’s piece a few weeks ago covering the subject for more in-depth thoughts, but for those of you wondering if this agreement would spur spending on the Yankees’ part I’m afraid you would be disappointed. Private equity’s sole goal is to strip down assets and flip them while the going is good — and perhaps they see an opportunity centered around what these labor negotiations could bring and want a hand in the pot ahead of time. Do I think this deal in particular will signal the end times for the New York Yankees acting as the Evil Empire? Not necessarily, but I don’t like the direction it could lead the team and baseball at large down.

Bleachers1976 asks:What about Gil and Schmidt? Pieces for the bullpen for stretch run and playoffs?

Especially with the news of Fernando Cruz hitting the IL with a partially-torn UCL that’ll keep him out for the rest of the year (and probably more if Tommy John is the ultimate outcome), the Yankees need bullpen help. They’ve been heavily reliant on using Cruz alongside David Bednar, Paul Blackburn, and Brent Headrick anytime they’ve got a close lead to preserve it, a necessity with how little they were scoring over the past two months, but that hyper-usage has tacked on a lot of mileage. Cruz had been struggling for a bit before his injury was discovered, and Headrick’s had some flareups as well recently, so getting reinforcements there will be key to keeping the pitching staff afloat down the stretch.

This is, of course, something that the team could’ve addressed at the Trade Deadline, but they weren’t able to come to an agreement with anyone on the arms that were available then. Part of the philosophy dictating that was the assumption that they had guys like Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt waiting in the wings, and while they wouldn’t be able to get stretched out they could land in the ‘pen as serviceable middle inning relief and perhaps occasionally take the load off of the main late-inning arms. That’s all well and good, but they also have to survive until those two are in game-ready shape and Gil is just starting to get games under his belt while Schmidt is only due to begin a rehab assignment on Saturday.

The other option was to slide one of their excess starters into a relief role as well… but now there are no excess starters. Ryan Weathers was considered a possibility and still may be, but betting on a damaged arm is unwise. The deadline was a mixed bag for the Yankees, but where I originally pointed to the failure of landing a catcher as the biggest sin of the bunch it’s now abundantly clear that not getting a single reliever is the bigger issue. They’ll have to hope that Gil and Schmidt hit the ground running to bolster this group when they do arrive, because otherwise the ‘pen may be running on fumes come October.

Hankflorida asks:My question is why was Jones brought up the first and second time when his stance had too much movement and he looked like he could not adjust his swing to the different pitches?

Simply put, they lacked bodies to put in the outfield and needed him. Jasson Domínguez immediately getting injured after getting called up was certainly not in the plans and necessitated an early debut for Jones, though he had been hitting at the time down in the minors. That stretch obviously didn’t go well, but the team has given him the time to figure things out when they could afford to and it’s paid off now with Jones serving as one of the bats lifting them up out of the doldrums.

workermonkey781 asks:What’s Marco Luciano got to do to get a call up?

Wait and see. It’s clear with their approach in starting Luciano at Double-A at the beginning of the season that the Yankees were experimenting with his swing approach and wanted to see how he would develop over the course of the year. It’s paid off well, and he’s had a serviceable amount of time in Triple-A now to be an option beyond this year should the team not agree to terms with Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the offseason.

However, Jazz is the starter for a reason. He’s one of the team’s better bats and he’s finding himself at the plate lately, alongside several parts of the Yankee lineup. Luciano has no experience at third base either or else a pathway could’ve opened up when Ryan McMahon went on the IL, but the team purposefully kept him on the right side of the infield when shifting him away from shortstop. The odds are still not great for the former top prospect though, as the organization has shown its priorities in letting Anthony Volpe take over second since his demotion and moved Luciano over to left field, where he played all of last season. Perhaps that versatility could earn him a depth position similar to Max Schuemann’s role with the team this year, but that might be his only angle at the moment and it doesn’t appear likely to come in 2026.

Jets vs. Giants: Gametime, TV, Announcers, Online Streaming, NFL Network Replay, and More

Tonight’s preseason finale between the Jets and the Giants kicks off at 7:30 pm Eastern from MetLife Stadium. Although both teams call MetLife Stadium, this is technically considered a Jets home game.

In the past, only the home team has put on a broadcast. That has changed. Both teams will conduct broadcasts of this game.

The Jets feed will be on WCBS 2. Ian Eagle and Anthony Becht will call the game.

The Giants feed will be on WNBC 4. Bob Papa, Carl Banks, and Phil Simms will be in the broadcast booth. Unlike the Jets, the Giants have an expansive television network broadcasting their preseason contests. The Giants broadcast will also be shown on WNYT 13 in Albany, WSTM 3 in Syracuse, WPNY 11 in Utica, WETM 18 in Elmira, WWTI 50 in Watertown, and WTIC 61 in Hartford. (Jets, can we expand our preseason broadcast map a bit?)

The game can also be streamed. Fans in the New York area can watch the Jets feed of this game online on the official Jets app or newyorkjets.com and the Giants feed on the Giants app and giants.com.

If you are outside the local area, you can stream the game live on NFL+. A separate subscription is required.

Fans in the United Kingdom and Ireland can also stream the game live on newyorkjets.com.

If you cannot catch the game live using any of these methods, NFL Network will reair Jets vs. Giants on Sunday August 30 at 3:00 pm Eastern.