The Sports Report: Charles Barkley is not happy in limbo

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Chuck Schilken: Charles Barkley is getting his LinkedIn profile ready — and has been for a while now.

Amid ongoing reports that his network might lose the rights to broadcast NBA games starting in the 2025-26 season, the TNT basketball analyst joked about possibly having to use the employment-focused social media platform, with the implication that he and his “Inside the NBA” co-hosts could soon be out of a job, during a May 19 broadcast of the show.

More than two weeks later, Barkley made a similar comment Tuesday on the “Beadle & Decker” Sirius XM radio show Tuesday.

“I’m getting my LinkedIn profile together, so I might call y’all,” Barkley told co-hosts Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker. “I might put you all on my resume. Is that cool?”

“Might” was the operative word, since an official announcement still hasn’t been made about what will happen with the league’s broadcasting rights when the current deal with TNT parent company Warner Bros. Discovery and ESPN parent Disney ends after next season.

“That’s the one thing that really, really bothered me the most about the TNT experience,” said Barkley, who hosts “Inside the NBA” with Shaquille O’Neal, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith. “Like, hey man, just tell us something. ‘Cause, you know, everybody’s got an article coming out every day about we still got a chance or we’ve lost it. I’m like, yeah man, you guys see us every week. How ‘bout picking up the phone, saying ‘Hey, we still negotiating’ or ‘you know what, we’ve lost it.’

“Just truth us. Cause the one thing that really sucks, we gotta do this next year no matter what.”

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DODGERS

From Jack Harris: This week’s pitching matchups should have favored the Dodgers’ powerhouse lineup.

In their first two games against the Pittsburgh Pirates this week, the Dodgers faced a pair of rookie right-handers in Jared Jones and Paul Skenes. Both prospects are talented (and from L.A. area high schools La Mirada and El Toro, respectively). Skenes, in particular, looks destined for stardom, already thriving in the big leagues less than a year after being drafted No. 1 overall.

Still, for the Dodgers’ star-studded offense and $300-million roster, a pair of unproven rookies figured to be manageable marks. After a couple of inconsistent weeks at the plate, it seemed like the time for the team’s bats to break back out.

There was only one problem.

Like an ever-growing number of MLB pitchers, Skenes and Jones both throw their fastballs hard. As in, near triple-digit hard.

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Dodgers box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

ANGELS

Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto homered as the Angels finished off a three-game sweep of San Diego with a 3-2 victory Wednesday night after Padres star Manny Machado injured a leg.

Machado appeared to hurt his upper right leg after running out an attempted double-play ball during the fourth inning. He was looked at by a trainer before walking gingerly back to the first-base dugout.

It was the first time since last July against the Yankees that the Angels swept a three-game series at home. Coming into the series, the Angels had dropped 21 of 28 games at the Big A, easily the worst home start in franchise history.

José Soriano (3-5) had his fifth straight start in which he went at least six innings and gave up two runs (one earned) and six hits with one strikeout.

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Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

NBA PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE

All times Pacific

NBA Finals

Thursday at Boston, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Sunday at Boston, 5 p.m., ABC
Wed., June 12 at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Friday, June 14 at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., ABC
*Monday, June 17 at Boston, 5:30 p.m., ABC
*Thursday, June 20 at Dallas, 5:30 p.m., ABC
*Sunday, June 23, at Boston, 5 p.m., ABC

*-if necessary

SPARKS

From Marissa Kraus: Offensive struggles and a 25-point clinic by Napheesa Collier helped Minnesota beat the Sparks 86-62 on Wednesday.

Collier made 10 of 15 from the field, 4 of 5 from the free-throw line and added two steals while Kayla McBride recorded 13 points, three rebounds and three assists. The game was altered by foul trouble for the Sparks and Lynx, who put up 20 and 18, respectively.

Dearica Hamby led the Sparks with 17 points and 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Layshia Clarendon, who returned from a concussion-triggered absence, added seven points, four rebounds and a pair of steals.

After an 11-0 run by Minnesota to open the contest, the Sparks couldn’t catch up, letting the Lynx build a 20-point lead in the second quarter. Minnesota led 45-26 at the half and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the game.

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Sparks box score

WNBA standings

L.A. OLYMPICS

From David Wharton: The organizers of the 2028 Summer Olympics have reached far outside the sports world for their new chief executive, hiring a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general who served in the White House and as chief of staff for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Reynold Hoover arrives at a crucial juncture for LA28, which will also stage the Paralympics. After this summer’s Paris Games, the organization must shift from seven years of planning and marketing to focus on the more difficult task of operations.

That means delivering on its promises to stage a massive competition featuring thousands of athletes competing at dozens of venues throughout Southern California, and doing so without use of taxpayer dollars.

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PARNELLI JONES DIES

From Mike Kupper: Parnelli Jones, a hard-bitten, hard-charging race driver who came out of Torrance and won the controversial Indianapolis 500 in 1963, then was the hard-luck loser four years later, died Tuesday at Torrance Memorial Medical Center after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 90.

At the time of his death, Jones was the oldest living winner of the Indy 500. And although he won the race at Indy — then unquestionably the biggest motor sports event in the world — only once and ran in it only seven times, he stands as one of the dominant figures of his driving era, an era that also produced A.J. Foyt, Jim Clark, Dan Gurney and Richard Petty. Indeed, Jones raced against — and beat — all of them at some point in his career.

And a busy career it was, for Jones liked to drive anything that could be raced. He won in midget cars and sprint cars, Indy cars and stock cars, sports cars and, after deciding that the demands of track racing were getting in the way of his burgeoning business interests, off-road racers.

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NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE

All times Pacific

Stanley Cup Final

Saturday at Florida, 5 p.m., ESPN
Monday at Florida, 5 p.m., ESPN
Thursday, June 13 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., ESPN,
Saturday June 15 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Tuesday, June 18 at Florida, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Friday, June 21 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Monday, June 24 at Florida, TB5 p.m.D, ESPN

*-if necessary

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1924 — Cyril Walker captures the U.S. Open with a three-stroke victory over Bobby Jones.

1946 — The National Basketball Association is founded at the Commodore Hotel in New York.

1966 — NFL & AFL announce their merger.

1969 — Joe Namath resigns from NFL after Pete Rozelle, football commissioner, said he must sell his stake in a bar.

1976 — 30th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat Phoenix Suns, 4 games to 2.

1987 — West Germany’s Steffi Graf, eight days shy of her 18th birthday, becomes the youngest women’s champion of the French Open when she beats Martina Navratilova 6-4, 4-6, 8-6.

1992 — NY Mets first baseman Eddie Murray records his 1,510th run batted in during 15-1 thrashing of Pittsburgh Pirates to pass Mickey Mantle as all-time RBI leader among MLB switch-hitters.

1999 — Andre Agassi rallies to win the French Open and become the fifth man to complete a career Grand Slam. After losing the first two sets, Agassi surges back to beat Andrei Medvedev 1-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Agassi won the 1992 Wimbledon, 1994 U.S. Open and 1995 Australian Open.

1999 — Juli Inkster wins the U.S. Women’s Open with a 16-under 272, the lowest 72-hole score in the championship’s 54-year history.

2007 — The Ducks capture the Stanley Cup with a 6-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators, ending the series in five games.

2007 — Trevor Hoffman becomes the first major leaguer with 500 career saves when he closes out the San Diego Padres’ 5-2 victory over the Dodgers.

2010 — Rafael Nadal wins his fifth French Open title and avenges his lone Roland Garros defeat, beating Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-2, 6-4. Nadal improves to 38-1 at Roland Garros, with the only loss to Soderling in the fourth round a year ago.

2011 — The Bowl Championship Series strips USC of its 2004 title, leaving that season without a BCS champion. BCS officials vacated the championship after the Trojans were hit with heavy NCAA sanctions last year for rules violations committed during the 2004 and ’05 seasons.

2015 — American Pharoah leads all the way to win the Belmont Stakes by 5½ lengths, becoming the first horse in 37 years to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

2015 — Serena Williams overcomes a mid-match lull and a third-set deficit to win her third French Open title and 20th major singles trophy by beating Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-2.

2018 — LeBron James passes Michael Jordan’s record of 109 for the most 30-point games in NBA playoff history in a 110-102 loss to the Golden State Warriors.

2023 — In a stunning development, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf League agree to unify to create its own for-profit entity to be run by the PGA Tour and funded by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Compiled by the Associated Press