2025-12-10 03:21:00
The front-office decisions that brought Derik Queen to New Orleans were indefensible, so ham-handed that even the counterpart in the trade reportedly couldn't believe that the offer was real. Pelicans execs Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver gave up a first-round pick in a loaded 2026 draft in order to move up just 10 slots and select Queen at No. 13 this year; they will have to wear that indignity for the rest of their careers. But at least the baby-faced big they overpaid for looks stellar, even as his team toils at the nadir of the Western Conference.
Queen posted 33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and four blocks in Monday's 135-132 loss Monday to the San Antonio Spurs, the first in what could be a long procession of triple-doubles. Over the last few weeks, the soft-handed Queen has displayed enough ball skills, vision, and dainty footwork to kick off a lifetime of comparisons to Nikola Jokic. These may grow tiresome, if they are not already. Jokic himself was recently prodded about the comp, which elicited a begrudging admission of similarity: "Slow, crafty, I can see it."
2025-12-10 02:47:07
Of all of the ways Liverpool's no-good season could have gotten worse, I don't know if anyone expected this. On Saturday, after the Pool Boys blew both a 2-0 and a 3-2 lead to freakin' Leeds United, Mohamed Salah, who had been benched for three straight matches, fanned the flames of this tire fire in a postgame interview. He said that his relationship with Liverpool manager Arne Slot had evaporated, that the club broke some unnamed promises to him from the summer, and that Liverpool "has thrown me under the bus." For the often elusive Salah, this was as clear a declaration that something is rotten in Anfield as he was ever going to give.
The fallout has been predictably uproarious. When a star player feuds this openly with the club where he made his legend, it is never pretty. Reports are flying left and right, as everyone pounces on every bit of information that leaks out of the club. The players are all behind Salah! The club supports Slot! Dominik Szoboszlai is tweeting angrily at random Hungarian journalists! On Monday, Slot gave a press conference tried to quell the flames to predictable futility, and now it seems like a divorce for Salah and Liverpool is more likely than not. Salah is not playing in the Champions League this week, and he might never don a Liverpool jersey again. He'll be off to the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt soon, and he might never return to the club. For its part, Liverpool has to either figure out how to get Salah back in the mix or figure out how to get rid of him and move on from the most successful era it has had this millennium. Slot might still be fired, too.
2025-12-10 02:30:00
On Tuesday morning, Red Bull Racing officially announced that Helmut Marko would be stepping down from his position as Red Bull motorsport advisor, which the 82-year-old Austrian had held for two decades. His exit comes shortly after the sacking of former team principal Christian Horner, with whom Marko had a more or less public power struggle over the past couple of years; in the end, Marko only spent a few months as the sole remaining stalwart of the Red Bull dynasty. Car designing guru Adrian Newey left for Aston Martin, cool-headed sporting director Jonathan Wheatley took his talents to Sauber, CEO Christian Horner was ground up by the dynastic machinery's gears, and then there was Marko, who—well, what exactly did Helmut Marko do?
For very casual fans, the role of "motorsport advisor" can be a bit impenetrable, and belies the high-ranking nature of Marko's appointment. He was employed not by Red Bull Racing, but reported directly to Red Bull, the energy drink company, and was a close friend of late Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz. From a spectator's perspective, Marko's role could easily appear to be to take every opportunity to make some public statements, all the better for how loudly he made them. The most notable of these statements came in the form of racist stereotyping of his own drivers.
2025-12-10 02:11:28
Time for your weekly edition of the Defector Funbag. Got something on your mind? Email the Funbag. You can also read Drew over at SFGATE, and buy Drew’s books while you’re at it. Today, we're talking about washing tacos in the dishwasher, Indiana, pizza cutting, Isaiah Likely, and more.
Your letters:
2025-12-10 01:35:58
The year is progressing along in its ramp-down process, according to the calendar. Fittingly, and justifiably, given the gulf between the iron-fisted thrall of winter and the honey-laden proceedings of the rest of the year, this is a process whose inputs and outputs must thus take place over a long period. So too is there a need for appraisal from all parties who, whether they be podcast co-host, Defector editor, Defector staff writer, or Defector staff writer and also podcast co-host, will appraise the proceedings, mentioned precedingly.
In other words, it's Shamsy time. The usual subcommittee for journalistic malfeasance was joined by Nothing But Respect's Harry Krinsky for what turned out to be a very long examination of roughly 30 longlisted nominees for the prestigious anti-award. Last year's winner, Shams Charania himself, came forth with another strong year, as did many familiar favorites.
2025-12-10 00:05:38
Barry Petchesky, editor of this website, assured you only yesterday that you would not have to think about the Indianapolis Colts again this year. The Colts had dropped a third straight game, their quarterback's leg was tragically kerploded, they'd lost control of their division, and the schedule was turning ugly. Also, due to our disgusting coastal bias, Defector was not likely to pay much notice going forward to a non-contender from Indiana, not while there are fresh grass-stain patterns to decipher on the uniform pants of the Jets and Giants. Barry's declaration of inattention seemed quite safe.
But here we are! It's the future now, and NFL insider Ian Rapoport has reported that the Colts are exploring a radical solution to their sudden quarterback shortage. Of all of the planet's many underemployed quarterbacks, the Colts have decided to audition Philip Rivers for their vacancy under center. Thus I am afraid we must blow through yesterday's prediction and make a liar and false prophet of poor Barry: A team with fading but at least superficially credible playoff aspirations is hauling ancient old Marmalard out to the field for a workout, to see if he can still play the most important position in the sport.
