Four Aussies will begin their NBA careers next season after being selected in the second round of the NBA Draft today. It is tied for the highest number of Aussies selected in the draft (1997).

18-year-old Rocco Zikarsky, who stands at a whopping 220cm tall, was selected 45th (Minnesota Timberwolves). Tyrese Proctor, who played college basketball at Duke University, was pick 49 (Cleveland Cavaliers). Sydney Kings star Alex Toohey was selected at number 52 (Golden State Warriors), and the Illawarra Hawks’ Lachlan Olbrich was taken at 55th (Chicago Bulls).

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The time it took Kenyan middle-distance runner Faith Kipyegon to run a mile (1,609 metres) in Paris last night, in her first attempt at becoming the first woman to run the distance in under four minutes. Kipyegon’s time was faster than her world record of 4:07.64, but it will not count as she used pacers (people running beside her). She said afterwards: "It was tough, but I am so proud of what I’ve done, and I’m going to keep on trying, dreaming and pursuing big goals.  want to show the world, and especially women, that you have to dare to try.”

“We feel like we’re creating a great environment, but we’re not getting the results we’re after. So, we’re enormously disappointed, we’re not where we want to be, but it’s time to come together, not isolate.”
Carlton coach Michael Voss after his side’s 110-60 loss to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval last night. Carlton are 11th on the ladder, having won six of 15 matches so far this season. In Melbourne on Friday morning, the outside walls of Carlton’s training ground were vandalised with spray paint. Messages included: “Sack the board” and “Keep Voss”. The graffiti has since been removed, and police are reportedly investigating the incident.

Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people tend to gravitate towards areas of work or interest that align with their names. Two particularly good examples of this in sport are Belgian former footballer Mark De Man and the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt.

🏉 The Penrith Panthers have extended their winning streak to four matches after a famous 8-6 win over the top-of-the-table Bulldogs last night. In a defensive stand-off which saw both teams struggle to register points, Panthers playmaker Nathan Cleary starred as the side’s only try-scorer. The victory has moved the side into sixth on the ladder and established the Panthers as genuine contenders to win a fifth consecutive NRL premiership after a sluggish start to the 2025 season. 

⚽ The Matildas got off to a winning start under new coach Joe Montemurro, beating Slovenia 3-0 in Perth last night. Emily Gielnik, Holly McNamara, and Hayley Raso were the three goal scorers on the night. It marked 22-year-old McNamara’s first-ever goal for the national side. Montemurro said: “It was a perfect game for us to really learn and grow and take a lot out of. It was a good start.” The Matildas will play Slovenia in Perth again on Sunday.

🏉 The 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia officially begins tomorrow against the Western Force in Perth. The Force will field a strong lineup that includes 11 players with international Test experience, as the Lions seek to win their first match as a group after a 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin last week. The only time the two sides have played each other was on the Lions’ last tour of Australia in 2013. The Lions won the match 69-17. It will be the first of nine games the Lions play in Australia, culminating in a three-Test series against the Wallabies. 

🎾 Teenage tennis star Maya Joint is through to the semi-finals at the Eastbourne Open after beating Anna Blinkova in straight sets (6-4, 7-5). The 19-year-old is the first Australian to make the semi-finals of the event, played as a warm-up event ahead of Wimbledon, in 14 years. Joint will play former world #11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next. Regardless of the result, Joint will be one of 17 Australians to start in the men’s and women’s singles draws at Wimbledon next week. It will be the most Aussies in the tournament in 30 years. 

The Test match between Australia and the West Indies hangs in the balance with three days remaining. After bowling the West Indies out for 190 runs, Australia’s second innings started poorly. New arrivals Sam Konstas and Josh Inglis were bowled out for 5 and 15 runs, respectively. The day ended with Australia having lost four wickets for 92 runs and Travis Head and Beau Webster at the crease. Day 3 begins at midnight tonight (AEST).

Formula One returns after a hiatus this weekend with the Austrian GP in Spielberg in the Styrian Alps. 

Mercedes’ George Russell will be looking to defend his Austrian GP title after the Brit won last year’s race. 

Russell will come into this weekend’s race with plenty of confidence to go back-to-back after winning the Canadian GP two weeks ago. 

Last year, he won the race when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris collided in a battle for the lead. Russell’s fiercest challenge will likely come from McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Norris. Piastri leads the drivers' championship ahead of Norris by 22 points. 

Regarding the internal battle at McLaren, Piastri said this week: "I think, for me, I just want — and we all want — a fair opportunity trying to win both championships, especially in the drivers' championship, because ultimately, it can only be one of us."

As ever, four-time defending world champion Verstappen will also present a challenge for any driver wanting to win the race. Especially since the circuit, called the Red Bull Ring, is the official home of the Red Bull team. Since being reintroduced to the F1 calendar in 2014, it has been a staple of the annual schedule. 

The race is set to begin at 11:00pm on Sunday (AEST). You can watch Formula One on Kayo or Foxtel. 

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Sport streaming services Stan and Optus Sport have reached an agreement which will see the former win the rights to stream the next season of the English Premier League (EPL), according to the Financial Review. 

The deal means Optus will no longer offer a sports streaming service. 

Stan will reportedly pay $60 million a year for the coveted EPL rights. Optus will still have to pay $40 million a year because its deal, signed in 2021 for an estimated $100 million per year, was supposed to last until 2027.

To cover the cost of acquiring the Premier League rights, the Nine Network (Stan’s parent company) will need to attract many new subscribers to the platform. 

Stan’s football offering will now include the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and Europe League, the FA Cup, and Korean and Japanese club competitions. It also broadcasts major tennis tournaments and Super Rugby. 

The rights for the Women’s Super League, the top professional women’s football league in England, were held by Optus Sport this season. That deal has ended, however, and the rights are still available to buy.  

Optus Sport was launched in 2016. The introduction of new competitors in the local sports streaming market (such as Amazon Prime and Paramount+) in the following years has made Optus Sport an unsustainable operation. 

In April 2024, Optus Sport said it had 700,000 active subscribers. At its peak, particularly when it had the rights to the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the streamer reported it had over a million active subscribers.