While the majority of America's top high school talent chose to spend the year in college where they will earn $0 in wages, LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton chose to spend the year in Australia's National Basketball League where they will earn $68,400 each in wages.
What they're saying: Ball was unlikely to be NCAA eligible anyway after playing professionally in Lithuania, but Hampton had full eligibility — he simply chose the path he thought would best prepare him for the NBA.
In June, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel voted to move the men's 3-point line from 20 feet, 9 inches to the international distance of 22 feet, 1.75 inches starting this season.
Why it matters: According to the committee, moving the line back will open up the lane for drives/cuts to the basket and additional low-post play, while keeping the 3-point revolution in check by making threes more challenging.
College basketball's ultimate focus on March Madness provides a calming escape from the life-and-death nature of college football — so it's a good thing that beginning Tuesday we have both to choose from.
The big picture: With Michigan State heading up the men's poll and Oregon on top of the women's, there are a slew of storylines to follow as the season kicks off.
Eight players for the World Series champion Washington Nationals did not attend the team's visit to the White House Monday, according to the White House's list of expected attendees.
Driving the news: Pitcher Sean Doolittle last week told the Washington Post he would skip the event because of Trump's rhetoric. He joined the growing list of high-profile athletes to decline a White House invitation over the last few years because of political reasons.
The University of Alabama is preparing for an appearance by President Trump at its upcoming matchup against Louisiana State University on Saturday, Sports Illustrated's BamaCentral reports.
The big picture: This would be Trump's third straight weekend attending a sporting event. The president was booed at Game 5 of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros in Washington, D.C., last week. He was then booed and cheered as he entered Madison Square Garden in New York City for an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Saturday.
Through 76 career games, Luka Dončić and LeBron James put up remarkably similar numbers. Dončić picked up 21.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 6.0 apg, while James had 21.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 5.8 apg.
Fast-forward to Friday: In his 77th career game, the 20-year-old Dončić faced off against his childhood idol for the third time — and it was glorious (Lakers won in OT).
On Friday, we looked back at the champions and MVPs of the last 10 years in the four major U.S. sports. In keeping with that theme, here are MLB's WAR leaders this decade.
WAR (wins above replacement) measures a player's value in all facets of the game by defining how many more wins he's worth than a replacement-level player at his position.
Following a World Series that defied everything we know about home-field advantage, order appears to have been restored to the universe in one fell swoop.
What happened: On Sunday, NFL home teams not only won all 11 games, but they also went 11-0 against the spread. (Meanwhile, the Texans beat the Jaguars in London).