Sports
Shanahan hopeful but admits Aiyuk case ‘unusual’
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk careen toward a crossroads on their future together, plenty of important questions remain unanswered.
On Saturday afternoon, Niners coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed the team voided about $27 million in 2026 guarantees on Aiyuk’s contract in late July and then spent most of his news conference fielding many of those leftover queries about Aiyuk’s status. In the ensuing 11 minutes and 54 seconds, Shanahan alternated between offering insight and declining to provide specifics.
One thing is for certain: Shanahan isn’t used to such an uncommon scenario.
“I’ve been coaching over 20 years, and I’ve never been in a situation where a contract’s been voided,” Shanahan said. “It’s extremely unusual to me.”
The top question of the day was what exactly Aiyuk did (or didn’t do) for such a drastic contract measure to be taken. Shanahan was asked repeatedly and offered hints, acknowledging that Aiyuk missed some meetings and team activities but also pointed out that players with significant injuries, such as Aiyuk’s right knee injury, don’t always take part in all those things anyway.
Aiyuk was in the team facility doing rehab as recently as Friday, according to Shanahan.
Sources said that Aiyuk’s voided guarantees were a result of him not living up to the terms of his contract, which could include questions about his participation in required rehab and team activities, though Shanahan indicated there was more to it without offering further details.
“It takes a lot of things to get a contract voided,” Shanahan said. “I’ve never dealt with that in my career and been in any building that’s had that. It was unusual. But that’s stuff that I can’t get into right now.”
As for where things stand between the team and Aiyuk, Shanahan said the Niners have not medically cleared him to return. Asked whether Aiyuk and the Niners are on the same page when it comes to his efforts to return, Shanahan demurred.
“I can’t tell you that,” Shanahan said. “I am not getting much dialogue just personally between him and I, and I’ve been told that it’s week to week, so each week I wait to see if he’s ready to come back for practice and I haven’t got that answer yet.”
Still, Shanahan said he and the 49ers are hoping Aiyuk will return to play this season. For now, Aiyuk is on the physically unable to perform list but is eligible to open his 21-day practice window at any point.
On Saturday, fellow receivers Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall said they’ve been in contact with Aiyuk, though both said they don’t really discuss the business side of things with him.
“I think he’s doing fine,” Pearsall said. “It’s hard because he’s a quiet guy, he’s to himself, but as much as I can reach out to him and show love his way because he’s done that throughout my journey. I’m just trying to pay my dues back to him and I think he’s doing good.”
Given the uncertainty that comes with having guaranteed money voided, it’s fair to wonder if Aiyuk might have already played his final game as a Niner.
If the 49ers move on from Aiyuk in the offseason, the voiding of 2026 guarantees means they will realize more cap savings than they would have otherwise, though there will still be a lot of dead money from accelerated prorated signing (2024) and option (2025) bonuses.
An outright release with no post June 1 designation means the Niners would incur a dead cap charge of $29.585 million. Beyond next season, Aiyuk is scheduled to receive base salaries of $27.274 million in 2027 and $29.15 million in 2028.
Shanahan said Saturday he is not thinking about parting ways with Aiyuk.
“What happened in July doesn’t have anything to do with the future,” Shanahan said. “That had to do with circumstances that, to me, were out of a coach’s hand. … When it comes to the future of this, I would love for BA to be here. I would love for him to get healthy and get back to really helping us out and being part of his team. We haven’t had that in a little bit, and I still hold out hope that he can get there, but he obviously hasn’t gotten there yet.”
Aiyuk signed his four-year, $120 million extension on Aug. 29, 2024, after an often contentious standoff. Through the process, the Niners had trades that would send Aiyuk to the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers agreed upon. In each case, Aiyuk vetoed the situation so he could ultimately stay in San Francisco.
If Aiyuk doesn’t play another game for the Niners, he will have been paid $48 million to appear in seven games after signing the extension. In those contests, he had 25 receptions for 374 yards and no touchdowns.
At this year’s training camp, there had been optimism that Aiyuk was coming around. At one point, Shanahan and receivers coach Leonard Hankerson praised him for his participation in meetings. Since, Aiyuk’s presence has become increasingly scarce. Aiyuk has also not been around at the portions of practice open to media and has not been in the locker room during media sessions
Asked Saturday what changed in that time, Shanahan said, “You’d have to ask him.” Shanahan was then asked if he believes Aiyuk is motivated to return to the field this season.
“I don’t think that really matters,” Shanahan said. “I think everyone might have a different opinion of that. … I was told a few weeks ago he was getting closer and we haven’t made progress in that way so far. From my standpoint, I’m just waiting for him to get back to practice.”
Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, answered numerous basketball-related questions at her Dallas Wings introductory news conference Thursday, but one unrelated to the game overshadowed all the others.
Fudd and teammate Paige Bueckers, who will team in Dallas’ backcourt this season, went public about their relationship in 2025, and it was an often-discussed subject before this week’s draft.
But when Fudd was asked Thursday about both her relationship with Bueckers — the two overlapped at UConn and won a national championship together — and whether she would seek advice from other couples in the WNBA about navigating the relationship as pro players, the subject was quickly shut down.
“Understand why you have to ask that question,” a Wings public relations staffer interrupted. “We’re going to respectfully decline from commenting on our players’ personal lives.”
Fudd averaged 17.3 points on 47% shooting in her final season at UConn, which ended with the Huskies losing to South Carolina at the Final Four — their only loss of the season.
Bueckers, who was last year’s No. 1 overall pick by the Wings, averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds while winning the league’s Rookie of the Year award.
Wings general manager Curt Miller said the team never hesitated in its choice to draft Fudd as the team looks to take steps forward after tying for the league’s worst record last season at 10-34 and winning only nine games in 2024.
“Since the moment we secured the No. 1 pick, we set out on a plan to be deliberate, thorough, with intention on evaluating where we got to ultimately in picking Azzi Fudd,” Miller said. “We traveled all over the world watching this incredible draft class, but it all came back always to Azzi.
“Words that we heard over and over again in the investigation of her was, a winner, competitor, a hard worker, obviously the skill set speaks for itself, an incredible shooter — probably one of the quickest releases in the game today, a defender with a lot of competitiveness and toughness, and, ultimately, all the intangibles that goes along with Azzi in the locker room — being unselfish, being an incredible teammate, being a high-basketball-IQ player. [It] all pointed us through a very deliberate and thorough process back to Azzi Fudd.”
Sports
Former SMU cornerback Teddy Knox faces $2.88M judgment for crash linked to Rashee Rice’s Lamborghini race
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Kansas City Chiefs star receiver Rashee Rice isn’t the only one facing discipline for a March 2024 car crash in Dallas.
Theodore “Teddy” Knox, a former SMU cornerback and teammate of Rice’s in college, was driving a Corvette while racing Rice’s Lamborghini on a Dallas highway before it caused a multi-car crash.
Knox has been hit with a $2.88 million default judgment in a lawsuit from one of those crash victims, Kathryn Kuykendall, according to ESPN.
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Teddy Knox and Rashee Rice (Getty Images)
Knox was ruled “grossly negligent” by Judge Kim Bailey Phipps, and a default judgment comes when a lawsuit has no response or a party does not appear in court. In this case, it was reportedly the latter.
“We’ve asked the court to grant the default judgment because we’re ethically required to as a matter of diligence,” Kuykendall’s attorney, Marc Lenahan, said in a statement to ESPN when the motion was filed.
“Personally, it pleases us that Teddy hasn’t made further mistakes that we’re aware of. If a team gives him a chance to prove that he’s walking the right path now, we’ll be rooting for him.”
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This marks the third default judgment issued against Knox from the March 2024 crash. He was also ordered to pay $1.99 million to Irina Gromova and $1.63 million to Edvard Petrovskiy in combined damages.
Knox and Rice pleaded guilty to charges from the crash, and Knox was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation. Knox was charged with causing a collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury.
SMU wide receiver Teddy Knox on special teams during a game against the North Texas Mean Green Nov. 10, 2023, at Gerald Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. (Chris Leduc/Icon Sportswire)
Rice had similar charges, receiving five-year deferred probation and 30 days in jail as a condition of the probation. His jail time was said to be flexible, according to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.
Rice was also required to pay the victims for their out-of-pocket medical expenses, which totaled around $115,000, as part of his plea agreement.
Rice was also suspended six games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, which he served last season.
The 25-year-old receiver said in a statement issued by his attorney at the time of the league’s decision that he’s had “a lot of sleepless nights thinking about the damages my actions caused, and I will continue working within my means to make sure that everyone impacted will be made whole.”
SMU Mustangs wide receiver Teddy Knox (18) prepares to make a catch during a game between against the TCU Horned Frogs Sept. 24, 2022, at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. (Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire)
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Knox was suspended by SMU, and he hasn’t been in college football ever since. He began his career at Mississippi State before transferring to SMU.
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NEW YORK — Mike Trout‘s latest homer against the New York Yankees put him in rare company, and going deep again made history at Yankee Stadium.
Trout homered for the fifth time during a four-game series Thursday, crushing a 446-foot drive in the seventh inning for the Los Angeles Angels in an 11-4 victory.
A three-time MVP, Trout joined Jimmie Foxx (1933), Darrell Evans (1985) and George Bell (1990) as the only players with five homers in a series against the Yankees, according to MLB researcher Sarah Langs.
Trout homered twice Monday before going deep again in the following two games. In the series finale Thursday, Trout drove a 2-2 slider from reliever Angel Chivilli about halfway up the left-field bleachers to give the Angels a 7-4 lead. That shot made Trout the first player to hit five homers in a series in the Bronx.
“I heard that after the game,” Trout said. “It’s pretty surreal. All the great players that came through here, so it’s pretty cool.”
“Honestly, not surprising,” Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki said. “When you’re with Mike every day, there’s nothing that you believe that he can’t do.”
Trout also became the first visiting player to homer in four consecutive days at the current Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009.
Trout went 6-for-16 with five homers and nine RBIs in the series. He also has homered in his past five games at Yankee Stadium and drew an intentional walk in his next plate appearance before Jo Adell hit a grand slam.
“At this point it’s vintage Mike Trout,” Adell said. “When he’s healthy and feeling good, there’s nothing like it. It’s special. It’s one of a kind. So for all of us to experience it, it’s special.”
“He’s unbelievable,” Suzuki said. “He really is. It’s been an amazing week for him.”
Trout is hitting .246 with seven homers and 16 RBIs. He is 9-for-27 (.333) with five homers and 13 RBIs on the Angels’ road trip, which coincides with him making a mechanical tweak.
Trout’s career-high homer streak is seven games, achieved Sept. 4-12, 2022. He has homered in four straight games for the fourth time in his career.
Trout’s homer was part of a four-game series that featured four homers from Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge. Judge homered twice Monday, again Wednesday and went deep in the first inning in the series finale.
“He’s unreal,” designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton said after the Yankees lost for the seventh time in nine games. “Cool showing from him and Judgie all series. Obviously, you don’t want that against us, but you got to acknowledge the greatness.”
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time opposing players who owned multiple MVPs hit at least three homers in the same series.
“It was an impressive show by those two,” Suzuki said.
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