Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James made his first start of the NBA season today. After missing the opening 14 games of the season with injury, it marks the official start of the 40-year-old’s 23rd season in the league.

Coincidentally, it was on this day in 2019 that James became the first player to achieve a triple-double (double digits in at least three stat categories) against all 30 NBA teams.

Since then, Slovenian star Luka Dončić and triple-double aficionado Russell Westbrook have joined James in the exclusive club.

28
The number of years since Scotland has qualified for the men’s FIFA World Cup. Scotland defeated Denmark 4-2 this morning at Hampden Park in Glasgow to secure its place in next year’s tournament. With scores tied at 2-2 after 90 minutes, the Scots scored two stoppage-time goals courtesy of Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean and sealed victory in front of a raucous home crowd. Other European qualifying fixtures saw Switzerland, Spain, and Austria all secure their spot too.

"When you step away from competing full-time, you can really switch off and it can be hard to get back into that headspace, but I'm excited to feel that energy and that challenge again."
Australian surfer Stephanie Gilmore in a statement announcing her return to competitive surfing. The 37-year-old eight-time world champion will rejoin the World Surf League’s (WSL) Championship Tour next year after stepping away from competition in 2024. Gilmore, who won her most recent world title in 2022, was awarded a season wildcard by the WSL to accommodate her return.

A 19-year-old French engineering student named Oscar Delaite holds the Guinness World Record for the longest bicycle wheelie ever. In late September, he rode 150.4 kilometres on one wheel over six hours and 31 minutes, completing 752 unbroken laps around an indoor track in Vittel, France. He smashed the previous record by 70 kilometres and is the only person on Earth to ‘pull a mono’ for more than six hours straight.

🏏 The Hobart Hurricanes remain unbeaten in the Women’s Big Bash League thanks to a brilliant match-winning knock from Danni Wyatt-Hodge. The 34-year-old Brit finished on 72 runs (not out) to guide her team to a four-wicket win over the Adelaide Strikers with two balls left. Strikers fast bowler Darcie Brown threatened to steal the game with outstanding figures of 4-16. In the end, calm late boundaries from Hayley Silver-Holmes sealed the result as Hobart continued their perfect start to the WBBL season.

🏉 The NRL has been compiling a list of players it suspects of drug use and sending those names to Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) for targeted testing, a practice the AFL already uses. In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, the integrity body confirmed both leagues are paying it to conduct tests while simultaneously feeding it intelligence, a relationship that has raised concerns among MPs. SIA’s submission said only one of 51 flagged AFL players returned a positive finding.

🎾 World number one Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from Spain’s Davis Cup Finals campaign due to a swollen hamstring. The Spaniard aggravated the injury during last week’s ATP Finals, in which he lost the final to Italian rival Jannik Sinner (who also withdrew from the Davis Cup). Spain will still face Czechia in Friday’s quarterfinals, with the eight-team Finals featuring defending champions Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, Czechia, Argentina, Germany and Austria. Belgium has already advanced to the semi-finals after defeating France, and Italy will face Austria in the next quarter-final on Thursday morning (AEDT).

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In the Socceroos' final match for 2025, they were beaten 3-0 by world No.13 Colombia in New York. 

Here’s what to know.

The Aussies, ranked 25th in the world, held Colombia out for the majority of the match until the South Americans were awarded a penalty in the 76th minute. James Rodríguez coolly converted the opportunity.

In the dying stages of the match, Colombia slotted another two goals courtesy of Luis Díaz and Jefferson Lerma. 

Coach Tony Popovic was “very disappointed” with the decision to award Colombia a penalty. 

He told Paramount+: "The first goal — we never get that penalty. It's clear, only Colombia would get that penalty tonight.”

That being said, Popovic seemed pleased with the team’s performance after the weekend’s 1-0 loss to world No.50 Venezuela. 

He added: "I thought we kept the ball much better, we looked a lot more composed… You know, we're playing against top class players and you can see the respect we have because all their players stayed on the park."

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The 2025 AFL Draft arrives tonight at Docklands Stadium, giving dozens of teenage footballers the chance to hear their names called and clubs the opportunity to shape the future of their lists. 

Across two nights, between 50 and 60 players are expected to be selected. 

Here’s what to know.

The first round will be completed tonight and will feature 23 selections. The draft order is based on reverse ladder position, which means the West Coast Eagles, who finished last in 2025, will hold the number-one pick. 

Most players in the draft are school-leavers entering the system for the first time, but any player aged 18 or older can nominate.

The draft order does not always stay the same. Sometimes the AFL gives extra picks to clubs that lose important players, which pushes everyone else’s picks further back. This year, West Coast, Carlton, Essendon, Hawthorn, and Melbourne all received bonus selections for that reason.

The order can also move around because of the bidding system. Some players are linked to clubs through academies or through the father-son rule (where the draftee's father played 100 or more games for a single club). If another club tries to draft one of these players, the linked club can choose to match the bid by giving up enough draft points. Each pick in the draft is worth a set number of points, which makes this possible.

Clubs that match a bid get a small discount on the points they need. Early bids are expected for Gold Coast academy players Zeke Uwland and Dylan Patterson, Brisbane academy prospect Daniel Annable, and Carlton father-son Harry Dean.

West Coast is widely expected to select midfielder Willem Duursma with pick one, making him the fourth Duursma sibling to join the league. He headlines a strong group of teenagers at the top of this year’s draft class, which also includes explosive midfielder Cooper Duff-Tytler, Eastern Ranges ball-winner Sullivan Robey, key defender Xavier Taylor, versatile tall Sam Cumming, and dynamic small forward Dyson Sharp.

Gold Coast and Brisbane also hold influential early picks, although both clubs are expected to use them to match bids for their highly rated academy talents.

Clubs can trade on the night, using picks from the current draft and future drafts. This flexibility allows teams to move up the order if a targeted player is still available or trade out for future selections.

Coverage begins at 7pm (AEDT) on both nights and will air on Foxtel and Kayo.