Victor Wembanyama made us forget about Luka Doncic being awesome and now we look silly

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Gooood morning, Winners. Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate you.

Don’t lie — you forgot about Luka Doncic Wednesday night, too, didn’t you?

We all tuned in to watch the Victor Wembanayma show. And, I mean, of course, we did. Didn’t every animal in the Pride Lands come to Pride Rock to see Simba for the first time?

If this was The Lion King, though, Luka Doncic would surely be playing the role of Scar. Because, listen, man. That’s a dude right there who ain’t ready to give up his spot in line for the throne.

It won’t be too many times that Luka Doncic plays basketball but isn’t the star of the show. Wednesday night was one of those few times, but he stole it anyway.

Luka Magic was alive, indeed. He tossed all the lobs to Derrick Lively II. He created the Mavericks’ final 11 points and finished the game with 33 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists. Then he cursed on national television and explained to us that that’s just the way he talks in Slovenia.

In the words of Stephen A. Smith, that’s a baaaaaad man.

It’s easy to forget that just a few years ago he carried all of the golden boy vibes that have now been bestowed to Wembanyama. The Mavericks weren’t good last year. Truth be told, they might not be very good this year considering how they just struggled against these Spurs. The problems with their roster remain the same despite adding an extra elite ball handler in Kyrie Irving.

But, listen. As long as they’ve got Luka? The Mavs are going to have a shot. Let Gregg Popovich tell it.

Gregg Popovich on Luka Doncic’s performance: “It was average.” 🙃 pic.twitter.com/3b38b0NbKh

— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) October 26, 2023

“It was a hall-of-fame performance like he does almost every night. It was great,” he said. And, yeah, I couldn’t agree more, Pop.

Thanks for everything, Dusty Baker

Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Astros head coach Dusty Baker officially announced his retirement on Wednesday to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. I felt so many emotions hearing that news.

I’m happy for Dusty because he deserves to ride off into the sunset after such an amazing career and, really, an incredible baseball life overall. But the game is surely going to miss him.

I know most people look at Dusty for his failures. Baker has had plenty of gut-wrenching playoff losses, including the 2002 World Series with the Giants and the 2021 World Series with the Astros. There are plenty of heartbreaking moments sprinkled in between there, too.

Some people ridiculously question Baker’s surefire Hall of Fame credentials because of them. But that’s nonsense.

The book opens and closes here: Baker is one of just 12 managers in MLB history to win 2,000 games or more. He’s also the only Black manager in league history to accomplish that. That right there is a one-way ticket to Cooperstown. Full stop.

Dusty, you’re a legend, dude. Thank you for your time.

RIP Showtime Boxing

(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

For decades Showtime has given us some of the most incredible boxing matches we’ve ever seen.

From Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield to Terence Crawford vs. Errol Spence, it’s been legendary match after legendary match on Showtime’s air. But all of that’s over now.

Paramount is shutting down Showtime Sports after a 38-year run at the tail end of 2023, Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand reports. Showtime Boxing is going down with the ship.

The company released a statement on Twitter Wednesday confirming the news.

We will not be moving forward after the end of the year but we will continue to deliver on our promise to subscribers, our content partners, and the fighters until then.

We’re focused on #BenavidezAndrade 11.25 on SHO PPV. pic.twitter.com/A7Tf6zhLFr

— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) October 25, 2023

Look, we’re far removed from boxing’s golden age. The biggest fighters don’t usually fight each other these days.  And, when we do care about the sport, it’s because someone like Jake Paul is turning it into a meme.

But those golden years were amazing. Historic. We’ve had fun moments in recent years with competitive fights between big names, too. It looked like boxing was finally on the road to recovery.

Losing Showtime is a huge hit. Truthfully, the sport probably won’t ever be what it once was. But at least we’ll always have that history to look back on.

That’ll have to be good enough.

Quick hits: Top trade deadline targets … The most disrespectful dunk … and more

— Robert Zeglinski has the 17 best players who could be dealt by the NFL’s trade deadline. Fun!

— Malik Monk has the dunk of the year and the NBA regular season JUST started. This joint is disrespectful, man. Bryan Kalbrosky has more.

— Here’s Victor Wembanyama’s NBA debut shown in seven incredible photos. This dude is LONG. Charles Curtis has more.

— Blake Schuster has you covered on picks against the spread for Week 8 of NFL action. The Dolphins and Bills look like good bets.

— Not only do the Eagles dominate the NFL with the Brotherly Shove, but they also troll you, too? Nah. We’d have to fight. Cory Woodruff has more.

— The 76ers season is just starting and it’s already filled with distractions. Thanks, James Harden.  Prince Grimes has more.

That’s all, folks! Happy Thursday! Let’s chat again tomorrow. We out.

-Sykes ✌️

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