Front Row Seat: OKC wins NBA title after Haliburton's injury

NBA

NBA Finals: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gives his all — and gives Oklahoma City its first championship after grueling Game 7 - Yahoo Sports
What an emotional night, what a long three weeks, a long 13 years for the Oklahoma City Thunder, the defining roar — a cathartic release from a fan base that believed it would be in June every year with a franchise that had done everything right despite market and financial disadvantages that proved difficult to overcome.

It took seven games, a heartbreaking injury and a game challenge from an Indiana Pacers team that refused to exit the stage promptly, but the first championship in Oklahoma City history was clinched Sunday night with a 103-91 win at Paycom Center.

This Isn’t the Thunder’s Moment—It’s Their Era - The Ringer
If Oklahoma City’s first title run wasn’t scary enough, the future should spook you. NBA dynasties are supposedly dead, but the Thunder may have cracked the code.

Pacers vs. Thunder NBA Finals: Tyrese Haliburton's devastating injury a brutal reminder of the precariousness of the game - Yahoo Sports
At halftime, Haliburton’s father, John, confirmed to ESPN’s Lisa Salters the worst-case scenario diagnosis that everyone from NBA superstars to fans on their couches had immediately made: It was the Achilles, and while we don’t know yet the severity of the injury, it was impossible not to think of Kevin Durant, and Damian Lillard, and Jayson Tatum, and the miserable gnawing left in the pits of our stomachs as we watched them first writhe, then hobble, off the floor and out of sight.

Sources: Suns trading Kevin Durant to Rockets in blockbuster deal - ESPN
The Phoenix Suns have agreed on a blockbuster trade, sending 15-time NBA All-Star Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets for Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, the No. 10 pick in this year's draft and five second-round picks, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

San Diego Padres

Iglesias a super sub with all the Padres' RBIs in walk-off win - Padres.com
As a pinch-hitter in the seventh, Iglesias tied the game with a two-run single. Playing second base in the ninth, he kept the game tied with a picture-perfect relay throw. Then, when the Padres needed contact, they had just the guy at the plate for it in the bottom of the ninth.

Iglesias bounced a grounder toward shortstop, just far enough to Bobby Witt Jr.’s left for Luis Arraez to scamper home with the winning run in a thrilling 3-2 Padres walk-off victory at Petco Park.

James Wood is the left-field star the Padres need; so why is he with the Nationals? - San Diego Union-Tribune
If they kept him, what would the Padres have now in young Mr. Wood, a Maryland native they drafted 62nd overall out of Florida-based IMG Academy in 2021?

A player who has defied the scouting belief that athletes who are extra-long limbed need more time to succeed atop a hand-eye sport like baseball. Through 157 career games, Wood has 30 home runs, 32 doubles and a .271 batting average. His swing is unhurried, but the bat moves very fast.

The Padres-specific fits are so enticing, some locals might weep.

Padres Notebook: Jackson Merrill returns, Michael King is optimistic - The Sporting Tribune
His absence was short but the Padres felt every bit of the seven days Jackson Merrill was gone from their lineup. On Sunday, Merrill was activated from the seven-day injured list, after sustaining a concussion on June 15th at the Arizona Diamondbacks. Merrill batted second for just the second time in his career, with Luís Arráez dropping to fourth in the order.

Merrill went 1-for-4 in his return, doubling to lead off the seventh inning, and eventually scoring on pinch-hitter Jose Iglesias's two-run single. He was robbed of a two-run homer in the eighth inning on a superb haul by Royals right-fielder Jac Caglianone but returned the favor in the ninth, gunning out Drew Waters at home on entertaining 8-4-2 putout in the Padres 3-2 win over the Royals.

Soccer

Wave, Washington draw in what could be María Sánchez’s final match with San Diego - San Diego Union-Tribune
In the 73rd minute, Wave forward María Sánchez walked off the pitch for what could be the final time to cheers from the fans. Sánchez has been linked to Liga MX Femenil’s Tigres, her former team; ESPN reported on Saturday that the move “is a done deal.”

Eidevall did not comment on rumors that Sánchez, reportedly the team’s highest-paid player, is leaving.

Forward Melanie Barcenas replaced Sánchez and brought some juice to the offense, winning multiple free kicks and a corner kick.

USMNT coach Pochettino praises leader Tillman: 'What a player' - ESPN
United States manager Mauricio Pochettino said he was pleased to see his team deliver a "professional performance" in defeating Haiti 2-1 in the Concacaf Gold Cup.

Malik Tillman and Patrick Agyemang scored at either side of halftime, allowing the U.S. men's national team to win its third straight match in the tournament and clinch the top spot in Group D. The U.S. will face either Costa Rica or Mexico in the quarterfinals.

Brazilian clubs are upending the global order at the Club World Cup - The Guardian
The four Brazilian teams are unbeaten in the tournament and top of their groups, having scored 14 goals and conceding just four. “The victories show the strength of Brazilian football,” says Fluminense manager Renato Gaúcho, who dismisses the argument that European sides are tired after a long season. “If a Brazilian club loses, they say: ‘Ah, Brazilian football can’t measure up to European football’. If they win, they say: ‘Ah, European football is coming back from holiday’. That doesn’t exist in football!”

New York Jets owner Woody Johnson agrees to buy stake in Crystal Palace from John Textor - The Athletic
John Textor has agreed a deal to sell Eagle Football’s 43 per cent stake in Crystal Palace to Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets.

The sale will have to be ratified by the Premier League, with Johnson being the subject of the league’s owners’ and directors’ test, a process which typically takes around two months. But with Johnson having owned the Jets NFL franchise for the past 25 years, it could be completed more quickly.

Trump turned soccer into a political battleground — and fans are fighting back - MSNBC
Seeing soccer crowds cheer drag queens, wave LGBTQ+ Pride flags and chant “abolish ICE” is a reminder that Americans have a space where they organize and make their voices heard. While usually that comes in the form of wearing the same jersey or rooting for the same team, the Trump administration’s push to tie soccer’s premier tournament to its own fortunes has pushed soccer fans and players alike to take stands for what’s morally right. Trump may be politicizing the sport, but he may not like the outcome.

Odds & Ends

Over The Line: The history of San Diego’s sport born on South Mission Beach - SD Today
OTL. If you’re a San Diegan, then you know those three little letters stand for Over The Line, a ball + bat sport invented on South Mission Beach in the 1950s.

The Over The Line World Championships return to Fiesta Island at Mission Bay Park for the 72nd time this month — Saturday, July 12-Sunday, July 13 and Saturday, July 19-Sunday, July 20. We’ve got tourney details, a mini dive into the sport’s local history, and details on how the heck you actually play OTL. Go team.

Is NASCAR moving its street race from Chicago to sunny San Diego next year? - Chicago Tribune
In 2023, the inaugural Fourth of July weekend event navigated record rainfall that curtailed races, canceled concerts and left fans soaked. The first Cup Series street race also garnered a huge national TV audience with Chicago as a rainy backdrop, averaging nearly 4.8 million viewers during a four-hour broadcast on NBC.

While clear skies prevailed for last year’s Xfinity Series race on Saturday, the nationally televised Cup Series race on Sunday was once again shortened when rain delays forced officials to call the race after 58 laps as darkness fell on the unlit street course.

If the San Diego Street Race comes to fruition for 2026, whether as a competitive event or supplanting Chicago, the forecast for a dry run is likely much brighter. San Diego, which is considered to have among the best year-round climates in the nation, averages less than 10 inches of annual rainfall, according to National Weather Service data.

ICE raids in San Diego foreshadowed the roundups, protests now spreading across California - Cal Matters
ICE officials justified the raid by pointing to an unsealed warrant that claimed there were 19 instances where employees used fraudulent documents to gain employment. The warrant also alleged the owner of Buona Forchetta was “exploiting these employees by having them work over 12-hour shifts with no breaks,” according to an unidentified November 2020 complaint.

San Diego County’s Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement wage theft judgement dashboard does not contain any record of Buona Forchetta being involved in a labor code dispute.

Still, this was not the first operation in San Diego County under the second Trump administration. In March, ICE and other federal agencies, including Border Patrol, conducted a worksite raid at San Diego Powder and Protective Coatings, a family-run company in unincorporated El Cajon that contracts with the federal government.

In that operation, more than 60 federal agents reportedly held dozens of workers for over nine hours, restricting bathroom breaks and offering few snacks. Family members, fellow workers and community members protested outside the facility for hours.

What Trump's mass deportation looks like in San Diego - KPBS
Stacy Tolchin is an immigration lawyer who is representing more than 20 students throughout Southern California.

“People are scared,” Tolchin said. “These people who are finishing up graduate programs, doctoral programs, this is a lot of time invested. To lose this is pretty monumental to people who have devoted their lives to it.”

A coalition of nonprofits, humanitarian workers, volunteers and lawyers have spent most of 2025 responding to this new wave of ICE enforcement.

Advocates patrol immigrant neighborhoods to warn people of potential enforcement. Lawyers rush to the downtown federal courthouse to provide pro-bono legal representation to those being arrested. Mutual aid networks fundraise to help families of the detained, including their U.S.-citizens partners and children.

Alright, that's going to do it for today's edition of Front Row Seat. I'll be back tomorrow, and every weekday, to try and make it easier for you to follow the news.

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