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Good morning! Block a punt today.

Deadline Intel: It always comes back to KD

The week leading into the NBA trade deadline peaked early this year, to be sure. But hear me out: The next 30 or so hours could still be thrilling. The action appears to be centered around two players and one team: Jimmy Butler, Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns.

That juicy report from our Sam Amick, David Aldridge and Anthony Slater last night details the situation:

• In short, the Suns are trying to put themselves in a position to acquire Butler without being able to move Bradley Beal, who sounds unwilling to waive his no-trade clause.
• Enter Durant, who is being pursued by teams including the Warriors, Mavericks and Rockets, and would command the type of return Phoenix needs to boost its offer for Butler.

For the Warriors, the asking price for a reunion with KD, a 15-time All-Star and former MVP, has been “exorbitant.” But as we learned last weekend, nobody is untouchable right now. (Also: Zach Harper will get into the finer details of these hypothetical trades in The Bounce later this morning.)

What’s This Now? You should be excited for 4 Nations

In one week, the NHL will be on break. Most players will take well-deserved midseason rests. The best players from four countries will not.

The NHL is suspending play to stage the 4 Nations Face-Off, a new best-on-best tournament pitting four of the world’s best hockey countries against each other: the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden.

It’s a genre of sports that always hits: allowing players to compete in the jerseys/sweaters/kits of their home country. Yet it feels like, at least outside hockey circles, the competition hasn’t gained enough traction.

I asked The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe to help me rectify that:

To the casual hockey watcher, can you give a quick pitch for watching 4 Nations?

💬 Hockey has a lot of tournaments, including annual events like the World Juniors and the World Championships. But on the men’s side at least, there’s been a dearth of what’s known as best-on-best competition — that is, the events where all the best pro players in the world can suit up for their home countries. The last true best-on-best was the 2014 Olympics.

It seems like most NHL players are interested/excited, but not all. Are you excited? Or this is just fluff?

💬 Personally, I’m pumped — I love best-on-best hockey. But not everyone is on board. This is a new format that leans on the old World Cup, but with only four teams, a lot of the world’s best players aren’t included. And the absence of Team Russia was probably unavoidable, but still raises the question of whether this should even count as a true best-on-best tournament. At the end of the day, hockey fans have been trained to view the Olympics as the ultimate international test, and while this event should be fun, it’s not the Olympics.

Canada and the U.S. are early favorites. Can we get an early prediction?

💬 If we don’t get a Canada vs. USA final, the NHL’s accountants will be very disappointed. Sweden is a solid third, and Finland a distant fourth. It’s a very short tournament — each team plays three games of round robin, followed by a single championship game — and anything can happen in hockey. One goalie getting hot at the right time could write a brilliant Cinderella story and/or ruin the entire tournament, depending on your perspective.

Thank you to Sean for the time. Just yesterday, Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk said he’s “jacked” for the competition and expressed a sentiment close to our hearts: “This is not an All-Star game.” In fact, it’s taking the place of the 2025 NHL All-Star Game.

We’ll be all over 4 Nations coverage next week. Let’s keep moving:

News to Know

NFL removes message in end zones

For Sunday’s Super Bowl, the NFL is axing the “End Racism” message in each end zone, a weekly league staple since the 2021 game. Our report comes one day after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell praised the league’s diversity efforts, even as President Trump’s administration pushes to end such programs. The substitute messages: “Choose Love” and “It Takes All Of Us.”

Ichiro voter still not identified

The Baseball Writers Association of America released 321 of the 394 total Hall of Fame ballots cast for this year’s class, and the lone voter who snubbed Ichiro Suzuki was not among them. Voters are not required to make their votes public, but the BBWAA offers the option to do so anyway. I guess we’ll never know. Read more here.

In These Walls: The ‘rarest of American sporting venues’

Excuse my likely bias here, but the Superdome is a special place. The sports world is seeing this week how well New Orleans can host a Super Bowl. But Zak Keefer has a story this morning about how many special sporting events have taken place in this building. 

Two that stand out, including one that could make anyone cry: 

• It’s easy to forget that the legend of Michael Jordan, at least in the wider national consciousness, started in the Dome. Jordan, just a freshman, hit the game-winning jumper in the 1982 national title game to give North Carolina a championship. Legendary stuff.
• And then there is the blocked punt, a clip I watch far too often. The Saints spent the 2005 season playing out of San Antonio after Hurricane Katrina. After a year away, the upstarts with first-year coach Sean Payton and first-year quarterback Drew Brees got on the board first in their first game back with a special teams stunner. Listen to the crowd pop if you want some chills.

7. BLOCK PARTY

Sept. 25, 2006

In Saints’ first home game since Hurricane Katrina, Steve Gleason blocks punt that is recovered by Curtis Deloatch in Falcons’ end zone for a TD.

Factoid: In July 2012, a statue depicting Gleason’s blocked punt was raised outside the Superdome. pic.twitter.com/9j6vRp3PBT

— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) August 29, 2019

Listen to the crowd pop if you want some chills. 

Make some time for the full story today, too, because I had forgotten how many incredible events have happened in the Superdome, and I live here. 

Remember when the Saints were good? Sigh.

Watch and Play

📺 Soccer: Arsenal at Newcastle

3 p.m. ET on Paramount+

An elite matchup in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semifinals, which Newcastle leads 2-0 at the moment. A spot in the final against either Tottenham or Liverpool awaits. 

📺 NBA: Spurs at Hawks

7 p.m. ET on ESPN

De’Aaron Fox should make his San Antonio debut here. Time to get a first glimpse at a possibly elite pairing between Fox and Victor Wembanyama. 

Get tickets to games like these here.