Lakers sign Deandre Ayton; Knicks nearing deal with Mike Brown; USMNT advances to Gold Cup final

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⚽ Good morning to all but especially to …

DIEGO LUNA AND THE USMNT

“Luna” may mean “moon” in Spanish, but at the Gold Cup, he’s becoming a star. Diego Luna scored a pair of first-half goals to power the USMNT to a 2-1 win over Guatemala in the Gold Cup semifinal. The Stars and Stripes will face Mexico in the final Sunday evening in Houston.

Luna opened the scoring in the fourth minute, pouncing on a rebound of a Luca de la Torre shot and finishing coolly with his left foot. Eleven minutes later, he went on an impressive solo run, cut past a defender at the top of the box and fired into the near corner. He has three goals in the last two games.

While the USMNT wasn’t super impressive from there on and had to hang on late, it was enough to get the job done.

These types of individual performances are exactly what Mauricio Pochettino and the USMNT were looking for. Luna, who is 21 and plies his craft for FC Baltika Kaliningrad in Russia, is getting his chance to show he belongs with the World Cup squad less than a year away, and he’s taking full advantage … and endearing himself to Pochettino, Pardeep Cattry writes.

• Cattry: “Luna’s ‘big balls’ are a refreshing addition to a USMNT that has been routinely criticized for lacking competitive edge, endearing himself quickly with Pochettino. In a short span of time, he has matched that mentality with results on the pitch that arguably make him the team’s most compelling rising star. … Though winning the continental prize will be the USMNT’s top priority in a few days’ time, Luna’s rise alone makes Pochettino’s experiments of the last month a success.”

😄 Honorable mentions

😕 Not so honorable mentions

🏀 Lakers sign Deandre Ayton, filling huge need at center

The Lakers were linked to Deandre Ayton the moment it was revealed Sunday the Trail Blazers were buying him out, and those links proved prophetic: Los Angeles is signing the talented big man to a two-year, $16.6 million deal.

Ayton, 26, has averaged a double-double in every one of his seven NBA seasons since the Suns picked him first overall in 2018 — the same draft his new teammate Luka Dončić went third. Ayton has a soft touch on the interior, and at 7-feet and 252 pounds, his impressive physique will come in handy.

Ayton is not a perfect player, as his departures from Phoenix and Portland prove. He’s not the most physical nor the most aggressive, and the effort — especially defensively — can wax and wane. But this was a move Los Angeles needed after a slow start to free agency, Sam Quinn writes.

• Quinn: “At his early peak in Phoenix, Ayton was a franchise center. He played stellar defense, even one-on-one against Nikola Jokić in the playoffs. He proved a stellar pick-and-roll partner with his combination of athleticism and skill for Chris Paul and Devin Booker. … [The Lakers] didn’t have the chips to get a player this talented under normal circumstances. If this works out, it could truly change not only this season, but the broader outlook on the Dončić era. … The upside Ayton comes with wasn’t available with anyone else.”

Our free agency tracker is still running strong.

🏀 Knicks finalizing deal with Mike Brown as coach: Why he can lead new era

The Knicks are planning to hire Mike Brown as their new coach, with the two sides working out final details on a deal that would see the veteran coach take over one of the projected top contenders in the wide-open Eastern Conference.

It was a bumpy ride for the Knicks after they fired Tom Thibodeau, not only because they got rid of a coach after their first conference finals appearance in a quarter-century, but because they tried and failed to talk to several other notable head coaches in the aftermath, too.

Landing Brown is hardly some sort of consolation prize, though.

• He was most recently with the Kings, who broke a nearly two-decade playoff drought in his first season at the helm, though he ultimately got fired midway through a turbulent 2024-25 season.
• Before that, he was an assistant coach with the Warriors, crafting the defense behind Golden State’s dynasty, and he also had head-coaching stints with the Cavaliers and Lakers.
• He also won a title as an assistant coach with the Spurs in the early 2000s.
• Overall, Brown owns a 305-187 record — that’s a .599 winning percentage — and is a two-time Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2023.

The credentials are absolutely there, and James Herbert lays out how Brown can take the Knicks to another level.

• Herbert: “When Thibodeau arrived in 2020, the most important thing he brought the Knicks was stability. At this point, what Brown needs to bring them is flexibility. That means not just diversifying the offense, but experimenting with lineups and game plans. … Brown surely has some ideas about what lineups will optimize the Knicks’ spacing, rebounding, turnover-forcing, etc., and ideally he will spend the regular season testing those ideas and learning everything there is to know about the tools at his disposal. Even the New York fans who were heartbroken when Thibodeau was fired would admit that the team valued consistency more than adaptability during his tenure.”

James Borrego, a creative offensive mind currently on the Pelicans‘ staff, is a target to be Brown’s top assistant. 

⚾ MLB All-Star Game starters announced

After two rounds of fan voting, MLB announced its starting lineups for the July 15 All-Star Game. We already knew two of the starters — Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani as the leading vote getters in their respective divisions — and here’s who’s joining them:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

• Catcher: Cal Raleigh, Mariners
• First baseman: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays
• Second baseman: Gleyber Torres, Tigers
• Third baseman: José Ramírez, Guardians
• Shortstop: Jacob Wilson, Athletics
• Outfielders: Aaron Judge, Yankees; Riley Greene, Tigers; Javier Báez, Tigers
• Designated hitter: Ryan O’Hearn, Orioles

NATIONAL LEAGUE

• Catcher: Will Smith, Dodgers
• First baseman: Freddie Freeman, Dodgers
• Second baseman: Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks
• Third baseman: Manny Machado, Padres
• Shortstop: Francisco Lindor, Mets
• Outfielders: Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves; Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs; Kyle Tucker, Cubs
• Designated hitter: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers

📺 What we’re watching Thursday

⚾ Twins at Marlins, 12:10 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ Astros at Rockies, 3:10 p.m. on MLB Network
🏀 Aces at Fever, 7 p.m. on Prime Video
⚾ Yankees at Blue Jays, 7:07 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ Guardians at Cubs, 8:05 p.m. on MLB Network