©2019 Pepperidge Farm, Incorporated.

ADVERTISEMENT
OCTOBER 2019 | SIKIDS.com VOLUME 31 | NO. 9
 OCTOBER
2019
VOLUME 31
NUMBER 9

Photograph by
GREG NELSON

Freeze Frame
16 CHEER LEADERS
Meet five marching
band members who
Sports Cards energize the college
THE MVP GOES TO . . .
What will Giannis October Birthdays game-day atmosphere in
Antetokounmpo Future Stars different ways.
do for an encore?

18
LOL
Another individual PRIME TIME
award is surely in Posters
This season Georgia
the cards—but he What’s the Call?
QB Jake Fromm can finally call
and the Bucks are Games
aiming higher. the starting job his own. Now
Art Gallery he can focus on winning—while
Comic Cards still enjoying the occasional
Buzz Beamer fishing break.

FROM THE PAGES OF

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

22 STUCK IN THE MUD

Major League Baseball
cherishes precision. So it
would prefer not to need an
oozy substance harvested by
one family in a secret location
off the Delaware River. But for
decades it has, and that won’t
change anytime soon.

44 NHL POWER
RANKINGS
This league has never been so
competitive. Who will stitch
together a championship?

50 SILLY ’STUMES
Going as a vampire
is too easy. We suggested
more daring options for
these stars.

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY
PAUL SHIPPER
C H R I S E L I S E / N B A E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (J A M E S); E Z R A
S H AW/ G E T T Y I M A G E S (D AV I S); G R E G O R Y S H A M U S /
G E T T Y I M A G E S (L E O N A R D); J O N AT H A N DA N I E L / G E T T Y
I M A G E S (A N T E T O KO U N M P O); Z A C H B E E K E R / N B A E /
G E T T Y I M A G E S ( W E S T B R O O K ); B O B L E V E Y/ G E T T Y
I M A G E S (H A R D E N); A N D R E W D . B E R N S T E I N / N B A E /
G E T T Y I M A G E S (C U R R Y ); R O C K Y W I D N E R / N B A E /
G E T T Y I M A G E S (G R E E N); M I C H A E L R E AV E S / G E T T Y
I M A G E S ( T H O M P S O N); L A N C E K I N G G E T T Y I M AG E S
( W I L L I A M S O N); I S T O C K P H O T O / G E T T Y I M A G E S (S I G N);
K A R S T E N M AY/ M O M E N T/ G E T T Y I M A G E S (B R I D G E)

SIKIDS.COM / 1
talk to the hand
September 1, 2019 • Norman, Oklahoma
As 84,534 Sooners fans watched with glee, receiver Jadon Haselwood, the
team’s top recruit, made multiple defenders miss on this 42-yard catch-and-run.
The play set up a score to give Oklahoma a 35–10 lead over Houston in the third
quarter. The home team let up a bit, but the new-look Sooners still won, 49–31.
Photograph by
GREG NELSON
Motion Picture
August 18, 2019 • Arlington, Texas
No, Twins pitcher Martín Pérez didn’t sprout five arms or grow more heads. This
photo was the result of a technique called multiple exposure, in which two or
more shots are taken in one frame, creating a layering effect. Pérez, though,
wasn’t exposed on the mound, giving up two runs in a 6–3 win over the Rangers.
Photograph by
GREG NELSON
 WALKING AWAY
Fans booed Luck as he left
the field following the Colts’
preseason game.

BURNING QUESTION ANDREW LUCK’S RETIREMENT

is not a tragedy, even if the

CAN YOU
circumstances of his leaving
football are unfortunate.
“For the last four years or so,

BLAME HIM?
I’ve been in this cycle of injury, pain,
rehab, injury, pain, rehab, and it’s
been unceasing, unrelenting, both
in-season and offseason, and I felt
BY SAM PAGE stuck in it. The only way I see out is
to no longer play football,” Luck
explained at a press conference
announcing his retirement in August.
Photograph by The quarterback was not
Michael Conroy/AP/Shutterstock exaggerating. Rehabbing a mysterious

SIKIDS.COM / 9
calf-and-ankle ailment at the time of
his retirement, Luck had previously
missed the entire 2017 season
rehabbing a shoulder injury. Among
his other notable ailments: a lacerated
kidney, a partial abdominal tear, a
concussion, and torn rib cartilage.
The Colts had a reputation for not
adequately protecting their franchise
quarterback. After 174 sacks in
86 career games, it’s no wonder
Luck was ready to leave football.
When injuries end a great athlete’s
career, fans tend to obsess about what
could have been. Sandy Koufax had the
best four-year stretch of any pitcher in
history before he abruptly retired at 30
due to arthritis. A hip injury derailed
Bo Jackson’s run as a two-sport athlete
in the NFL and MLB.
It’s easy—especially given his
predecessor Peyton Manning’s
17-season career—to view Luck’s
stats as incomplete.
Maybe it’s that mentality that
caused Colts fans to boo Luck after the
preseason game during which the news
of his retirement broke. (Or maybe they
booed him because he made SI KIDS’
MVP pick in last month’s issue look
foolish?) Nobody is less deserving of his
home fans’ jeers than
Luck, a guy known for
making surprise and
repeat visits
to kids in the local
hospital. He was infamous
for being congratulatory
to the defensive players
who knocked him to the
turf. (Check out video of
Luck mic’d up if you don’t
believe me.)
Even if all these
injuries have made Luck’s
last name seem ironic,
he’s actually still pretty,
well, lucky. He played TURNING THE PAGE going strong! Check out
well enough—and just Whatever’s next andrewluckbookclub.com.)
for Luck, we hope
long enough—to earn it includes the
When asked in that
around $100 million in continuation of his interview what he loves
the NFL. He didn’t, book club, which about reading, the QB
for instance, suffer a features kids’ options. replied, “I love a good story.”
career-ending injury in Andrew Luck’s story is not
his first season. He also has enough over—and the rest of it figures to be
money to feel comfortable retiring good. Maybe the Stanford standout
early. Others have likely played will put his architecture degree to use
through similar pain trying to better and design a skyscraper. Maybe he’ll
set themselves up for the future. want to write a book review column
In this very space three years ago, for a magazine. (Nudge-nudge.)
Kid Reporter Jack Kelley interviewed This is both our blessing and official
Luck about his book club. (It’s still prediction: Best of Luck.

UNBOXED
Taking the lid off the
coolest sports gear.
Six years after he
arrived in the U.S. from
Athens, Greece, as a
19-year-old NBA prospect,
Giannis Antetokounmpo
accomplished two very
cool things: He won league
MVP, and he became
the first European-born
basketball player to have
a Nike signature shoe.
Nike unveiled the Zoom
Freak 1 in June. It has
a geometric traction
pattern designed to
help you emulate the
Greek Freak—or at least
master those quick
stops and starts.
The designs speak to
how much the Milwaukee
Bucks’ power forward
values family, his roots,
and his journey, with
the “34” emblazoned
on the heel playing off
the Greek Flag. Young
CO U R T E S Y O F T H E A N D R E W L U C K B O O K C L U B (L U C K R E A D I N G); CO U R T E S Y O F N I K E (S H O E)
Giannis used to share could tell a story that
shoes with older brother a kid could relate to,”
Thanasis, and the “All Antetokounmpo told The
Bros” model (below) is Undefeated. “A shoe that
a tribute to the bond could make a kid believe in
he has with his four his dream.”
brothers. Their names,
along with those of his
parents, are on the soles.
“I wanted a good-
looking shoe that

10 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS

 OCTOBER
WATCH BIRTHDAYS
1 ▶ Boston Red Sox

SCARY
shortstop Xander
Bogaerts celebrates his
27th birthday.

GOOD? 2 Toronto Maple Leafs goalie

Frederik Andersen is 30.

It’s Halloween night.

You’re all out of candy. 5 Pitcher Tanner Roark of
the Oakland A’s turns 33.
Now it’s time to kick
up your feet and 9 ▶ USWNT and
North Carolina Courage
M I C H A E L Z A G A R I S / S A N F R A N C I S CO 49 E R S / G E T T Y I M A G E S (B O S A); J O H N W. M C D O N O U G H ( W I L L I A M S); P H I L O M E L B O O K S , A D I V I S I O N O F P E N G U I N YO U N G R E A D E R S (S T R I K E Z O N E); A N N I E M AT T H E W/AU T H O R A N D
K E V I N A B E L E / I CO N S P O R T S W I R E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (M U R R AY ); B I L L I E W E I S S / B O S T O N R E D S OX / G E T T Y I M A G E S (B O G A E R T S); P I E R M A R CO TACC A / G E T T Y I M AG E S (M E W I S); J U L I A N F I N N E Y/ G E T T Y I M A G E S (O S A K A);

watch TV. Hopefully midfielder Samantha Mewis

you’ll be in for some turns 27.
treats this October 31— KYLER

and no tricks!
West Virginia
at Baylor
(8 p.m. ET, ESPN)
Start by watching a WVU
team figuring out life
without QB Will Grier. It’s
the Big 12, so there will
be more TDs than D!
14
MURRAY L.A. Rams quarterback
Jared Goff celebrates
his 25th birthday.
San Francisco 49ers Denver Nuggets at
at Arizona Cardinals
(8:20 p.m. ET, Fox)
New Orleans Pelicans
(9:30 p.m. ET, TNT) 16 ▶ WTA Tour
player and 2018
U.S. Open champion
O.K., so the Cardinals Five games into his first
aren’t going to be great, NBA season, how will top Naomi Osaka turns 22.
but Kyler Murray could pick Zion Williamson
make this NFC West
matchup a lot of fun.
stack up against Nikola
Jokić and the Nuggets? 17 New York Jets
strong safety
Jamal Adams is 24.

READ
23 ▶ San Francisco
KO B E B R YA N T/ C R E AT O R (L E G A C Y A N D T H E Q U E E N); R A N D O M H O U S E B O O K S F O R YO U N G R E A D E R S (E L B O W G R E A S E)

49ers defensive
end Nick Bosa celebrates
Find a fall release that his 22nd birthday.
hits your sweet spot
24 San Diego Padres
first baseman
Eric Hosmer turns 30.

26
th
d wi Cincinnati Bengals
Re a ung e r
a yo l i n g ! cornerback
sib G o to
sikids.c Dre Kirkpatrick is 30.
for inter om
v
with Kobiew

27
By Mike Lupica e!
Elbow Grease the Queen ▶ Three-time NBA
vs. Motozilla (Ages 10–14) By Annie Matthew Sixth Man of the
By John Cena (Ages 3–7) Pitcher Nick García is the (Ages 12–16)
Year Lou Williams of the
Elbow Grease recruits protagonist in this story In this fantasy novel L.A. Clippers turns 33.
his brothers to help that uses baseball as a developed by former

30
defeat the dreaded way to address NBA star Kobe Bryant, New York Rangers
Motozilla, proving that important social issues, Legacy Petrin draws left wing Artemi Panarin
even monster trucks such as what life is like upon her skills and love of celebrates his 28th birthday.
are stronger together! for immigrants in the U.S. tennis to beat the odds.

SIKIDS.COM / 11

ON OUR RADAR
MICHAEL DOOLIN
HEIGHT: 6' 4"
BIRTHPLACE: SCHERERVILLE, IN
■ While competing for
Andrean High, Michael broke his
own Class 3A record for strikeouts
in a title game (15) and led the 59ers
to a 2–1 victory over Edgewood in
the 2019 state final. It was the team’s
second straight championship.
■ Michael, who is now a freshman
pitcher at Vanderbilt, went 14–0 with
12 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS
BIRTH DATE: OCTOBER 17, 2000
SPORT: BASEBALL
a 0.45 ERA and 131 strikeouts in
77 innings as a senior at Andrean.
Over his career there, he had a 34–1
record and never gave up more than
five hits in a game.
■ As a junior, Michael went 11–1
with 129 strikeouts in 792/3 innings
to help guide the 59ers to their
sixth title.
SPORTSKIDS
OF THE MONTH
TAYLOR
JENKINS, 13
Milford, CT
SOCCER
Taylor was the captain
of the U-13 National Center of
Excellence Team that won the
Youth World Cup in Sweden. She
scored once in her team’s 7–0 win
over Canada in the final and had
seven goals in the tournament.
NAZSIR
GIVENS, 13
Sanford, FL
TRACK AND FIELD
Nazsir, an eighth-grader,
finished first in the 200 meters
(24.55 seconds) at the Pure
Athletics invitational. He also
finished third in the 100 and the
400 meters. He has been running
competitively for just two years.
MIRIAM
SHOMAN, 15
Short Hills, NJ
FENCING
After helping Kent Place
School to a third-place finish at
the state finals, Miriam became
the only freshman to make the
individual finals, where she came
in third. She was a first-team
All-America at the national
championships in Columbus, Ohio.
ARE YOU A SPORTSKID?
If you think you have what
it takes to be a SportsKid
of the Month, submit
your nomination at:
TIM KLEIN
SIKIDS.com/SportsKid
 OOPS!
Carolina Panthers Running Back

CAPITOL LOSSES CHRISTIAN

MCCAFFREY’S
The 2010 Washington Redskins had three especially savvy FAVORITE
THINGS
young assistants on their staff. Nine years later, all are now
head coaches—for other teams.
S TAC Y R E V E R E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (L A F L E U R); J E F F G R O S S / G E T T Y I M A G E S (M C VAY ); E Z R A S H AW/ G E T T Y I M A G E S (S H A N A H A N); S T E P H E N D U N N / G E T T Y I M A G E S (L A N D R Y ); F O C U S O N S P O R T/ G E T T Y I M A G E S (L O M B A R D I); A P (C H R I S T I A N
M CC A F F R E Y ); G E T T Y I M A G E S (S U S H I , I C E C R E A M); D I S N E Y C H A N N E L / P H O T O F E S T (P H I N E A S A N D F E R B); J O H N R A S I M U S / B A R C R O F T M E D I A / G E T T Y I M A G E S (P I T T ); P E T E R R E A D M I L L E R (E D M CC A F F R E Y ); G E T T Y I M A G E S (N O T E B O O K )

FOOD
Sushi

ICE CREAM FLAVOR

Vanilla

SPORT OTHER
THAN FOOTBALL
Track
MATT LAFLEUR SEAN MCVAY KYLE SHANAHAN
Now head coach of the Before he became the Shanahan spent
Packers, LaFleur was youngest head coach four seasons as CARTOON
once the Redskins’ in NFL history with the Washington’s Phineas and Ferb
quarterbacks coach. He Rams in 2017, McVay was offensive coordinator,
remained in D.C. for four the assistant tight ends coaching under his
seasons and eventually coach for the Redskins. father, Mike. After ACTOR
became Tennessee’s He would eventually rise directing a record- Brad Pitt
offensive coordinator to offensive coordinator, breaking offense in
last year. Green Bay the position he held Atlanta in 2016, he
hired him last January until Los Angeles took San Francisco’s
for his first head gig. hired him. head job in ’17.

IT’S HAPPENED BEFORE...

ATHLETE
VINCE LOMBARDI & GROWING UP
TOM LANDRY My father
A pair of New York Giants (former NFL receiver
assistants left town and Ed McCaffrey)
became two of the best
coaches in NFL history.
Lombardi (far left) was the
SUBJECT IN SCHOOL
offensive coordinator for
the team that won the 1956 Writing
NFL title; Landry manned the
defense. Lombardi was hired by
Green Bay in 1959 and Dallas
snagged Landry in ’60. The
two won a combined seven
championships. It would take
New York 30 years to win MUSICAL ARTIST
another title.
Tyler Childers

SIKIDS.COM / 13
 Submit your caption at SIKIDS.com/
FunnyPhoto. Your entry could appear
in a future issue of the magazine.

FUNNY PHOTO The winning caption

from SIKIDS.com:
“HORSEABUNGA!”
— Manuel, 10,
Pennsylvania

“Hold my horse! I gotta use

the John.”
— Charlie, 11, Illinois

When school ends and summer

vacation starts.
— Nate, 12, Massachusetts

“Let’s play leaphorse!”

— Stella, 12, Alabama

“Everyone, please hurry and take

your photo already . . . . I’m getting
tired here!”
— Roman, 10, New Jersey

“A bee! Jump for your lives!”

— Dominic, 10, Connecticut

“New sport: Horse Hurdles!”

— Evan, 7, California

A L A N C R O W H U R S T/ G E T T Y I M A G E S (F U N N Y P H O T O); J A R E D C . T I LT O N / G E T T Y I M A G E S (2); K E V I N C . COX / G E T T Y I M A G E S (G U Z A N)

Chocolate,
SOUND OFF chocolate, chocolate,
and more chocolate.
I am a big chocolate guy,
so I am going to go with
What would your dream chocolate with some
hot fudge—maybe a
ice cream sundae look like? cherry or two, and some
*Interview by Kid Reporter Anna Laible
strawberries as well.
**Interview by Kid Reporter Michael Nichols BRAD GUZAN**
I haven’t had an Atlanta FC goalkeeper
ice cream sundae in a
while! I would, of course,
say chocolate ice cream.
Maybe some chocolate Cookie
syrup, some fruit on it. dough ice cream,
I love fruit. chocolate syrup,
KATIE LEDECKY chocolate sauce,
15-time world strawberries.
champion swimmer TY DILLON
NASCAR Cup
driver*

14 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS

Now is not the time to roll over, it’s time to adopt
change. Every day, more than 4,100 dogs and
cats are killed in shelters across the country —
but with Best Friends Animal Society leading the
way, and your support, we can help our nation’s
shelters and Save Them All.

save-them-all.org
 R
E E
C H S
R
D E
L E A o e n e rg
e
ay s .
w h t w
e m b e rs e ren
g b a n d m i n d if
Meet five march i n h ere
atm o s p
the college game-day

S CO T T W. G R AU / I CO N S P O R T S W I R E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (S C R I P T O H I O); CO U R T E S Y O F T H E O H I O S TAT E
M A R C H I N G B A N D (H U R L E Y ); R A Z O R B AC K M A R C H I N G B A N D (M I L L E R)

OHIO STATE “I” DOTTER

The dotting of the “i” in the Script Ohio formation (above, which unfolds just as someone would write
Ohio in cursive) has become one of the most famous traditions in college sports. Since 1937,
a sousaphone player has gotten the job, which entails following a strutting drum major
(page 17) from the top of the little “o” to the “i,” doffing her hat, bowing to both sides
of the stadium, putting the hat back on, and playing Buckeye Battle Cry solo while the
rest of the band sings it. (A sousaphone is a tuba fashioned for a marching band.)
“The second the crowd sees the drum major pick up the sousaphone player,
they know the dot is coming, and everyone starts yelling and screaming and it’s
really, really exciting,” says Anna Hurley (left), who dotted the “i” twice in 2018
and is in her fifth year with the band. “I just tried to soak it all in as much as I could.”
 PURDUE DRUM CREW
The Boilermakers’ 565-pound, 98-year-old DRUM MAJOR
percussion instrument requires four people to How do you lead a
maneuver it and two to play it. Every member of 300-piece band? With
the drum crew must complete a fitness test during confidence, humility,
and positivity, says Julie
Siberts (right), who
graduated in May after

drum major for two years. In addition

to helping direct the band, Siberts
led the Pride of Oklahoma onto
the field with the signature “strut”
that when we are running, of a drum major.
we’re sprinting. It’s pretty The strut is a popular tradition
exhausting, but it’s a lot of at OU, in which the drum major
fun.” And the crew does strides down the field with
tricks, using the drum’s his or her body bent as far
cart as a seesaw to backward as possible—
launch bandmates into after doing 64 goose kicks,
the air, for example. or high steps. “There was so much physical activity I didn’t even
The crowd loves it. “We know was going to be involved,” says Siberts. “While everyone
treat [the drum] almost as a else was warming up on their instruments, I was stretching.”
mascot at the university more than an instrument With the role comes a lot of responsibility and public pressure, but
sometimes,” says Siegel. “Our big thing is fan as Siberts, a fourth-generation OU music major, puts it, “It was probably
interaction. We’re talking to people throughout the most challenging but most rewarding experience I’ve ever had.”
game day, taking pictures with them. . . . It’s a Now a high school band director with a drum major of her own, Siberts
unique thing that we get to do, and we’re really sure is strutting her stuff.
proud of that.” —Kid Reporter Mia Fishman

ARKANSAS
FEATURE TWIRLER
Not all members of the band play an instrument.
Fifth-year senior Savannah Miller (below) twirls up
to five batons at football and basketball games. “The
crowd is amazed because baton twirling is unique
and not a lot of people get to see it,” she says.
The Razorbacks have a majorette line of around
10 twirlers, but Miller, who has earned more than
20 national and international titles, is a
feature twirler. That means she designs
her own choreography. Having free reign
on the field has its drawbacks, though.
VA L O R I E WA K E F I E L D (S I B E R T S); B E N M I L B R AT H (P U R D U E); G R A M B L I N G S TAT E

Miller has the tricky job of weaving between

instrument-toting musicians. She has run
into a snare drum and broken a trombone.
“I’m notorious for doing that,” she says
with a laugh.
Miller practices with her bandmates
for up to 21/2 hours, three days a
week, as well as before games. The
time commitment is worth the effort
U N I V E R S I T Y (G R A M B L I N G)

for her when she sees how the fans

react. Says Miller, “The whole
point of college twirling is to get
the crowd excited.”
—Kid Reporter Joslyn Stamp

SIKIDS.COM / 17
CALM FROMM
The junior quarterback
has impressed with his
cool under pressure,
whether escaping
sacks or delivering in
big games.

Photograph by
Greg Nelson
Jake FROMM
team
Georgia Bulldogs
position
Quarterback
spotlight
For the first time, this homegrown star
won’t have to battle for the starting
job. Now the junior QB can focus
on winning—while still enjoying the
occasional fishing break.

BY TIM ROHAN

I
t’s the last day before football workouts
begin, and Jake Fromm is cruising down a
back road, singing along with country music.
He’s heading for the Georgia countryside to
spend his final morning of freedom fishing on
his buddy’s farm.
He passes cows and haystacks until he reaches the
property with the red dirt road. Beyond the main
house is a modest pond tucked near the woods. This
is Fromm’s happy place, this 182-acre farm about 25
minutes east of the University of Georgia. He started
coming here his freshman year, around the time he
became the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback. “It’s
definitely an escape for me,” he says.
Fromm has spent plenty of time on this pond,
reflecting. In his first two years at Georgia, he faced
more pressure, more scrutiny than just about
anyone in college football. He went through two
high-profile quarterback battles. He split practice
reps, faced countless headlines about his play,
and had to continually fight for his starting job.
Each time, Fromm survived and emerged a
better player.

SIKIDS.COM / 19
BATTLE SCARS
Fromm grew up in Warner Robins,
Georgia, and that’s where he
learned to fish, hunt, and love
football, specifically Bulldogs
football. His family often built its
weekends around watching games.
When Jake was a junior at
Houston County High, he was a
four-star recruit, but Mark Richt,
then the Georgia coach, didn’t offer
him a scholarship. Richt had a
signed letter of intent from five-star
QB Jacob Eason, who was a year
older than Fromm.
So in October 2015 Fromm
verbally committed to Alabama.
Through the recruiting process, the
Fromms became particularly close
with one assistant, Kirby Smart, the
Tide’s defensive coordinator. Smart
had grown up in Georgia and played
for the Bulldogs. around for good hunting spots in the Rose Bowl, and a trip to the national
Then, a month later, Georgia fired area. The team trainer’s son, a title game against Alabama. Fromm
Richt and replaced him with Smart. walk-on long snapper, mentioned he had a 10-point lead entering the
One of Smart’s first acts was making had a friend with a farm just east of fourth quarter and was positioned to
sure that Eason would honor his campus. They made plans to go dove win Georgia’s first championship
commitment. Not long after that, hunting the Sunday after Georgia’s since 1980. But Tua Tagovailoa,
though, Smart offered Fromm a season opener against Appalachian Alabama’s own true freshman, who
scholarship, too. State. Then on the third drive of the committed two months after Fromm
Fromm started campaigning game, Eason sprained a ligament in flipped to Georgia, brought the Tide
for the job well before enrolling in his left knee, and Fromm took over. back and stole the moment.
January 2017. As a high schooler, He played well enough (143 yards,
he’d drive to Athens and sit in on one touchdown) to lead Georgia to a COMPETITIVE NATURE
quarterbacks meetings. “Jake 31–10 win. The next day, Fromm Smart had seen this all unfolding,
understood what was going on,” woke up early and visited his happy Fromm pushing Eason out, and he
Smart says. “His [mind-set] was, I’m place for the first time. made a contingency plan for Eason’s
as smart as those guys, I’m going to As a freshman, Fromm didn’t put potential departure. Midway through
outwork them, and I’ll end up up flashy numbers (2,615 passing Fromm’s breakout season, Smart
beating somebody out.” yards, 24 touchdowns, a 62.2% secured a commitment from the top
Fromm graduated from completion rate), but he showed recruit in the country, a dual-threat
high school a semester early and poise beyond his years. He had a quarterback from Kennesaw,
immersed himself in the playbook. calming effect on the team, especially Georgia, named Justin Fields. Smart
But no amount of studying could in big games. He’d always be walking offered him the same opportunity he
make up for a lack of experience, and around, singing to himself. It’s a had presented Fromm—a chance to
Eason had that: He had started all habit, a sign he’s at ease. And he kept compete for the job. Both Fields and
but one game the year before, in an winning, leading the Bulldogs to a Fromm felt good about their chances.
8–5 season. Smart named him the 13–2 record, including a win over Those closest to Fromm, though,
K E V I N D . L I L E S (2)

starter in July. Auburn in the SEC title game. His could tell he wasn’t entirely
Not knowing how much he’d play run culminated with a win over thrilled. Fromm thought he had
that fall, Fromm began asking Baker Mayfield and Oklahoma in the played well enough to end the

20 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS

 READY FOR
TAKE OFF
Although the Heisman conversation is focused on Alabama’s
Tua Tagovailoa and Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, a few electric
skill players will give the pair some competition.

RONDALE MOORE
PURDUE
As a freshman, Moore broke
multiple school records,
including all-purpose yards
in a season (2,215). He was
named Big Ten receiver of
the year. The lightning-quick,
CAPTAIN HOOK 5' 9", 180-pounder might be
A fierce competitor on the field, the most dangerous offensive
Fromm unwinds by going to a player in the country. A more
nearby lake and fishing, another
experienced Moore will be
sport in which he’s quite skilled.
even more dynamic.
competition. “He was definitely frustrated at
times,” says Charlie Woerner, Fromm’s fishing TRAVIS ETIENNE
buddy and a tight end on the team. “He wants CLEMSON
to be the guy.” The attention may be on his
Fromm improved as a sophomore, throwing quarterback, but Etienne
for 2,761 yards and 30 touchdowns. But Smart is equally important to the
continued rotating in Fields all the way up to team’s success. The junior
the SEC championship game, a rematch against rushed for 1,658 yards, fourth-
Alabama. The Bulldogs would make the College most in the country last year,
and scored an NCAA-best
Football Playoff if they won, and Fromm played
26 total touchdowns. How the
well, throwing for 301 yards and three
Tigers balance the running
touchdowns. But on fourth-and-11 from midfield game with their air attack will
with 3:04 to go in a 28–28 game, Smart subbed dictate his award chances.
in Fields, who had taken three snaps all day.
Georgia snapped to Fields on what appeared to
be a designed run, and Alabama swallowed it up. J.K. DOBBINS
On the next possession the Tide scored the OHIO STATE
J EF F HAYNES (MOORE); G RE G N EL S O N (E T IEN N E); SIM O N B RU T Y (D O B B IN S)

winning touchdown. Dobbins set a Buckeyes

About a month after the Bama loss, Fields freshman rushing record
announced he would transfer to Ohio State. For (1,403) in 2017 but took a
step back last year when Ohio
the first time since arriving in Athens, Fromm
State switched to a pass-
doesn’t have to fight for his spot. He’s poised to
heavy offense. With the team
finally topple Alabama, win a national title, and breaking in a new quarterback,
make a run at the Heisman Trophy. “I’m though, Dobbins should get
competing with myself now,” he says. the majority of the work. He
There are no more battles, no more already ranks 19th in school
controversies to manage. Fromm enters this history in yards gained.
season with a new kind of pressure—the
pressure to deliver as The Guy. The Only Guy. ■

SIKIDS.COM / 21
FROM THE PAGES OF

STUCK IN THE

MUD
B Y EMMA
BACCELLIERI
PHOTOGR APHS BY
LEBR ECHTMEDIA

Major League Baseball cherishes precision. So it would prefer not to need an

oozy substance harvested by one family in a secret location off the Delaware
River. But for decades it has, and that won’t change anytime soon.
JIM BINTLIFF’S COLLECTION OF LIES is small and sharply curated, each one loose enough to be
plausible and mundane enough to limit interest in verifying it. They work like this: Bintliff will be
out on the banks of a tributary of the Delaware River, in his personal uniform of denim cutoffs and
disintegrating sneakers, using a shovel to harvest buckets of mud. Someone will come along and ask
what he’s doing. Bintliff sizes up the questioner, usually a boater or swimmer or fisherman, then picks
from his collection. I’ve been sent by the Environmental Protection Agency, and I’m surveying the soil.
Or: I’m helping the Port Authority, looking into pollution.
This always does the trick. It prevents anyone from exploring what he’s actually doing, which is
what he’s done for decades, what his father did before him, and his grandfather before him: Bintliff
is collecting the mud that is used to treat every single regulation major league baseball, roughly
240,000 per season.

JULY 29 –A UGUS T 5 , 20 19
SP OR T S IL L US T R AT ED
2 4
FROM THE PAGES OF
BASEBALL MUD
UD IS a family business; it has been for more than
M half a century. For decades baseball’s official rule
book has required that every ball be rubbed before
being used in a game. Bintliff’s mud is the only
substance allowed. Originally marketed as “magic,” it’s just
a little thicker than chocolate pudding with a unique texture—
a tiny dab is enough to remove the factory gloss from a new
ball without mucking up the seams or getting the cover too
filthy. Equipment managers rub it on before every game,
allowing pitchers to get a dependable grip. The mud is found
only along a short stretch of that tributary of the Delaware,
with the precise location kept secret from everyone, includ-
ing MLB.
The business is small and fundamentally unglamorous.
Bintliff harvests the mud himself, using only a shovel and a
few buckets, as he has for his entire adult life. Recently, the
62-year-old has begun bringing a trusted assistant to help,
but other than that, the process is the same as it has always
been. After he collects the mud he hauls it back to his yard
in southern New Jersey, where it sits until he’s ready to pack
it up in his garage and ship it out to teams. His wife, Joanne,
takes orders and does invoicing. That’s it.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that MLB has recently tried to
eliminate him, teaming with Rawlings, which manufactures
the leather sphere, to develop a ball that doesn’t need to be
enhanced by mud. But baseball is realizing that it isn’t so easy
to replace Bintliff and, in fact, it might not be possible at all.
HE MUD’S story does not begin with the Bintliff fam-
T ily. It begins with Ray Chapman—the Cleveland
Indians’ shortstop who was killed by a pitch to the
head in 1920, the only major leaguer to die from an
injury received during a game. After the tragedy MLB tried
to improve player safety. It needed something that would help
a pitcher’s grip without damaging the ball’s surface or dirty-
ing it so much that it would be difficult for hitters to see.
Teams tried shoe polish, dirt. Nothing worked.
In the 1930s, though, Philadelphia Athletics third base
coach Lena Blackburne found the answer. He rubbed
a baseball with mud found near his childhood home in
Palmyra, N.J.—special mud, smooth, almost creamy, gloppy
without being especially gooey. And, crucially, this mud
neither dribbled off nor sat heavy on the cover. Instead, it
permeated the cowhide, perfect for improving grip. If you
waited just a minute, any lingering muck would fade and it
would be hard to tell that the ball had been treated at all—
unless, that is, you were the pitcher, who would immediately
be able to feel it.
Blackburne brought his find back to the Athletics, and it
was an immediate hit. Soon, every team wanted some. In
order to handle mud collection, the coach partnered with an
old friend of his from New Jersey, named John Haas. They
called it Magic Mud, and by the 1950s it was standard for
every team to rub it on every single baseball.
Haas was Jim Bintliff’s grandfather. When Jim was 10, Haas
decided that his grandson was ready for his first harvest. The
two of them made their way to the secret location on foot
and packed the mud into a five-gallon camping kettle—the
start of a lifetime of mud work for Jim.
Nearly 50 years later—long after his grandfather and father
have died, after siblings have moved far away—Bintliff has
never wanted to leave New Jersey, never wanted to quit the
business.
“I know the mud,” he says. “I’m the only one on the planet
who does.”
T ISN’T simply a matter of shoveling the mud and
I packing it into tins. No, it’s a process—a little art, a
little science, plenty of patience. Good mud needs
to mature, and it needs to be cleansed. When Bintliff
brings the stuff back to his house, he first runs it through a
strainer, removing any twigs or leaves. Then, it has to sit.
Mud is mixed with the right amount of water and deposited
into bins the size of trash cans. Over the course of five or six
weeks Bintliff will siphon off excess liquid and rerun the
mud through the strainer. Finally the water will have fully
drained, and the mud should be ready. It will feel more like
cold cream than pudding. Mix a dollop with a tiny bit of
water (or spit, as some equipment managers do), and it will
be just perfect for rubbing up a baseball.
Mud is not a lucrative business. This might seem simultane-
ously self-evident and strange: It’s mud, but it’s an essential
piece of the multibillion-dollar business, a feature without
which an official game cannot be played. A can goes for $100,
and every team orders four per season. Modern baseball has
been kind to Bintliff: More home runs and more foul balls
mean using more balls, and each additional one requires
additional mud. “Every time we see a foul ball hit, it’s like,
cha-ching!” Joanne says.
But you can multiply $100 by 30 teams by four annual
cans and see that it’s only around $12,000, not enough to
make anyone rich. Bintliff has worked to expand the busi-
ness, but this only goes so far. The Bintliff family has never
been able to live on mud alone. For decades Bintliff worked
the graveyard shift as a printing press operator and Joanne
was a typesetter for the same company. Now, they’re both
semiretired; Social Security is enough to pay the rent, while
mud is enough to cover everything else. (The last few years
have seen Bintliff develop a new revenue stream: football.
His mud works its magic just as well on a pigskin, removing
the factory sheen without doing anything to muck up the
laces. Half of the NFL now places annual orders with him.)
But, modest as it is, Bintliff’s business is facing an exis-
tential threat. In 2016, MLB approached Rawlings about
developing a baseball with a naturally improved grip, right
out of the wrapper. From MLB’s perspective there could be
several reasons to abandon mud. It would no longer have to
be so dependent on Mother Nature and would no longer have
equipment managers rubbing dozens of baseballs in idio-
syncratic ways. So Rawlings developed a prototype for MLB,
first tested in the Arizona Fall League in ’16. Bintliff’s son
Jason forwarded him an article about the experimental ball.
“He said, ‘What do you want to do?’ ” Bintliff recalls. “I
said, ‘Nothing.’ I know the mud. I know how the mud works.”
He does. And Rawlings? Well, it’s still trying to learn.
“Mud is mud,” says Rawlings’ chief marketing officer, Mike
Thompson. “But, obviously, mud isn’t mud.”
Rawlings and MLB have continued to test different op-
tions, but they need something that keeps the same standard
of playability, that keeps the same color, that doesn’t lose
its feel when it’s thwacked into a catcher’s mitt or when
it’s coated with sweat. Blackburne’s mud was originally
called magic, and that seems to be exactly what baseball is
searching for, eight decades later. Thompson believes that
Rawlings will find an answer, but Bintliff isn’t so sure:
“Nope. Can’t do it.”
Bintliff plans to retire, though not necessarily soon. He has,
however, determined which of his children will take over:
27-year-old Rachel, the youngest of his four, who loved tagging
along with him and playing in
DIRT SECRE T S the mud from the time she was
After Bintliff gathers a little girl. But for now, Bintliff
his mud, it is strained, is happy to keep it up. He has
JULY 29 –A UGUS T 5 , 20 19

mixed with water, and

SP OR T S IL L US T R AT ED

a good reason for it, the same

deposited into bins,
where it sits for weeks
before being shipped
to ballparks and
rubbed on balls.
reason that his father used
to give; it’s the only answer
that he has and the only one
that he wants: “For the love of
the game.” ± 2 5
In schools
to unlock
potential.
At the beginning of his
freshman year, Jalen’s
ambition wavered. He lost
sight of his goals and found
himself straying from his path.
Toriano from Communities In
Schools became his trusted
guide, working with Jalen to
improve his attendance, raise
his GPA and set clear goals
for the future. Now a senior,
Jalen is a first-chair trombone
player and drum major in
his high school marching
band. He’s exploring musical
scholarship opportunities for
college, and he has dreams
of becoming a U.S. Marshal.
There are millions of at-risk
kids like Jalen who need a
caring adult to help them stay
in school and succeed in life.
See how we help
all kids succeed.
CommunitiesInSchools.org
DYLAN
LARKIN
Detroit Red Wings, center
23
6' 1", 198 pounds
Waterford, Michigan
D-Bo$$. When Larkin was a kid, he
used the name as his alter ego. A
YouTube video of D-Bo$$ and a friend
shooting pucks in a basement as
teenagers went viral in 2016. The
Wings gave out D-Bo$$ bobbleheads.
Larkin is a spokesman for the
Ted Lindsay Foundation, which works
toward funding research and
educational programming for
children with autism.
Brother Colin played hockey
for UMass-Boston.
Favorite player growing up was
Henrik Zetterberg. The two played
together for three years in Detroit.
Larkin wears 71—his fourth choice. His
other picks (19, 25, 17) were all taken
by veteran players or retired.
Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel. As
teenagers they played on the USA
development team and were also
teammates and roommates at
international competitions.
26 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS
LUKA
vs.
DONČIĆ
Dallas Mavericks, shooting guard
AGE 20
HEIGHT, WEIGHT 6' 7", 218 pounds
HOMETOWN Ljubljana, Slovenia
El Matador. When he was playing in
Spain, Dončić was called Niño
Maravilla (or Wonderboy). But when
NICKNAME he got to Dallas, an assistant coach
started calling him El Matador, for
his showmanship. The Mavs even
tried to trademark the name.
Dončić has volunteered for Dirk
Nowitzki’s Pro Celebrity Tennis
GOOD GUY Classic. The event raises funds for
Nowitzki’s charity, which benefits
children’s well-being and education.
Father Sas played professionally for
FAMILY TIES 17 years in Slovenia. C A R L O S O S O R I O /A P/ S H U T T E R S T O C K (L A R K I N); G R E G N E L S O N (D O N C I C )
Idolized LeBron James as a kid. After
IDOL a game last year, Dončić chased
James down to get a signed jersey.
Favorite number is 7—but when it
LUCKY 70’S was taken by a teammate in Spain,
he chose 77.
Miami Heat guard Goran Dragić. They
played together on the Slovenian
FRENEMY national team. When they faced off
in the NBA for the first time, Dončić
said it was the only time he’s been
nervous before a game.
 OCTOBER 2019
Photograph by Career
HIGHLIGHTS
GREG NELSON

2018-19 The third-overall pick in the 2018 draft, Dončić

averaged 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game,
earning 98 of 100 first-place votes for Rookie of the Year. The
native of Slovenia was just the fifth player to average at least
20 points, five rebounds, and five assists in his rookie year,
and he was the youngest player in league history to have
three triple-doubles in a season.
2017-18 While playing for Real Madrid in Spain’s Liga ACB,
Dončić averaged 12.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists. He
led the team to both ACB and EuroLeague championships, and
his play earned him MVP honors in both leagues.
2015-16 Dončić, who moved to Spain at age 13 to advance
his basketball career, made his professional debut for Real
Madrid. He was the youngest player to
ever suit up for the team. At just 16,
he scored 15 points in a game
against Bilbao, setting the league
record for a player under 17.

L U K A
DONČ I Ć
DA LL A S
O O T I NG GU A R D
SH
OCTOBER 2019
Photograph by ANDY
MARLIN/ NHLI/GETTY

Career
HIGHLIGHTS
2018-19 In his fourth season, Larkin set career highs
in goals (32) and points (73), leading Detroit in scoring
for the second straight season. He also represented the
U.S. at the World Championships in Slovakia, netting
three goals in seven games.
2015-16 At 19, Larkin became the first Red Wings
teenager to score in his NHL debut since Hall of
Famer Steve Yzerman in 1983. He was named
to the All-Star Game and broke the mark for
fastest skater at the Skills Competition:
He went around the rink in 13.172
seconds. He also helped the U.S. earn
bronze at the World Championships
in the Czech Republic.
2014-15 A native of Waterford,
Michigan, Larkin was drafted
15th overall in 2014 by Detroit,
his favorite team growing up.
He played one season at
the University of
Michigan and was
named Big Ten
Freshman of
the Year.
2019 2020
STORYLINES PAGE32 SCOUTING REPORTS PAGE 38 AWARDS PAGE 42

this year is the NBA. We’ve

got the storylines for all 30
teams, plus—spoiler alert!—
the way their seasons will
end. How entertaining will
each team be? Check out our
popcorn rankings, then grab
a tub and settle in.
P H O T O IL L U S T R AT I O N S B Y
DRE W DZ WONKOWSKI

Action

EAST FINALISTS EAST WINNERS

Drama

WEST FINALISTS
You Might Also Like
 Toy Story 4 was one of the summer’s biggest
hits. Hobbs & Shaw is the ninth entry in the
Fast & Furious franchise. There’s a pretty good
chance you’re going to spend a few hours in a theater this
winter watching Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
The NBA has been the same way of late. The 2014–15 season brought
Warriors: Man, They’re Good. That was followed in short order by Warriors II:
They’re Unbeatable, Right? (Spoiler alert: No!); Warriors III: Holy Cow, They Got
Better; Warriors IV: This Is Getting Boring!; and Warriors V: They Play
Basketball in Canada?!?

Curry, Draymond Green, and the
best coach in the game, Steve Kerr.
But they’re not the biggest story.
No, for that you have to go to
But not anymore. In Hollywood itself. That’s where you’ll
the past four months, find the story line with a little bit of
Kevin Durant left for everything: drama, action, comedy
Brooklyn, Andre (we see you on the Lakers’ bench,
Iguodala was traded to Dwight Howard!). Yes, we’re talking
Memphis, and Klay about the battle for Los Angeles,
Thompson tore his ACL waged between the Lakers and
in the Finals. That’s not the Clippers.
to say that Golden State Like any good rivalry, there’s a
can be written off. The Big Bad (the Lakers have the second-
Dubs still have Steph best winning percentage in league
While many around
the Thunder. The
Lakers now have to
be content with
LeBron James and
Anthony Davis, the
latter of whom they
acquired in a trade
with the Pelicans.
“If you want to break
it down as LeBron–
Anthony Davis versus Kawhi-George,
I still think the Clips come out on top,”
says one NBA coach. But considering
their supporting casts and defensive
abilities, the coach adds: “[I]t’s not
even close. Advantage, Clippers.”
Is it possible? The team that has
won five playoff series in its 49-year
existence might actually topple the
team with 16 titles? Or will LeBron
remind us once again why he’s the
league’s greatest box-office attraction?
One thing is certain: No matter
what happens, we’re guaranteed a
Hollywood ending.
SIKIDS.COM / 33
 The other is
mostly clean-shaven.
One is a lefthanded scoring
machine, the other is a righty
triple-double collector. They’ve
got a history together—namely, a
stint as teammates that didn’t
end well.
They may not have much in
common, but when these two get
together, sparks will fly!
When the Rockets traded for
Oklahoma City’s Russell
Westbrook, they gave themselves
potentially the greatest backcourt
in history. Westbrook and James
Harden both have MVP trophies,
and each has two scoring titles.
Ever since LeBron James and
Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade
in Miami in 2010, the NBA had
been about Big Threes. But now
it’s all about dynamic duos.
Buddy Ball is all the rage, as
several pairs of leading men will
be sharing the spotlight. Kevin
Durant and Kyrie Irving joined
forces in Brooklyn. (Alas, KD is especially crucial in Houston because
likely to miss most of the year.) Westbrook and Harden—former teammates
Both L.A. teams now have a pair in Oklahoma City but never starters
of huge names. And let’s not together—are both players who love having
forget the guys who have been the rock in their hands.
together for some time—namely, “We’ve been friends for many, many years.
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum Since I was 10, actually,” Westbrook said. “So
of the Trail Blazers. we’ve played with each other in Oklahoma City,
The biggest question when and to be able to win something, you’ve got to
stars align is whether they’ll be be willing to sacrifice some parts of your
able to share the ball. That’s game, and we both understand that.”

NBA PREVIEW 2019-20

 where elite talent controls
the coveted championship rings of power,
the only sure path to glory is to patiently
await the arrival of a Chosen One, a player so
transcendent, so phenomenal, that he can lift a group
of mortals to unimaginable heights.
In the late 1980s and ’90s there was Michael Jordan.
His mantle was inherited by LeBron James.
Could the next Great One be upon us?
Is Zion Williamson that good?
Well, it certainly seems as if he
was born for the role. His mom was a
sprinter, and his dad was a defensive
lineman, leaving him with a rare
combination of speed and power.
Even in high school it was apparent he
was special. He landed on the cover of SI Kids and
was featured on SportsCenter and Good Morning
America. Steph Curry hailed him on Twitter, and
Drake became his texting buddy.
After one season at Duke, he entered the NBA draft
and was selected first overall by New Orleans. Having
just lost Anthony Davis, the Pelicans were a team in
need of a savior.
It looks like they found one.
An NBA
team has just completed a
wildly successful regular
season. They’re strolling into
the playoffs, assured and
confident, when all of a sudden creepy
music starts to play. Out of nowhere comes
the most horrific thing they can imagine: a gritty
opponent with the talent to knock them off. Their dream
becomes a nightmare; their title hopes lie in tatters.
Yes, in the NBA in 2019, it’s open season on teams with
title aspirations. Never before have this many teams been
able to foster real Finals hopes. While the East looks like a
race between the Bucks, the 76ers, and—maybe—the
Celtics, a half-dozen teams could come out of the West.
Last year, 12 of the 14 conference playoff series were won
by the higher seed. And the two that weren’t were hardly
shockers: A No. 3 beat a No. 2, and a No. 2 beat a No. 1.
Don’t expect that predictability this year. Now more
than ever, we have no idea what peril lurks on the path to
the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
SIKIDS.COM / 35

BOSTON
CELTICSAfter
entering last
season as the
favorite in the East,
Boston struggled.
Youngsters Jayson
Tatum and Jaylen Brown,
who were so impressive in the
2018 playoffs, regressed. In
the offseason, the team’s best
guard (Kyrie Irving) and
big man (Al Horford)
left as free agents.
The Celtics signed
PG Kemba Walker
from Charlotte to
replace Irving.
Boston
will be good. Maybe very
good. Without the weight
of high expectations, Brown
and Tatum should blossom.
Walker quietly made his third
All-Star Game and outscored
Irving last season (25.6 ppg
to 23.8). If anyone can get
the most out of this group, it’s
coach Brad Stevens.
NBA PREVIEW 2019/20
PHILADELPHIA
76ERS
BROOKLYN
NETS
Who are the Kings
of New York? One of the
most surprising teams last
season, the Nets pulled off
a major coup in the summer.
Brooklyn signed free agents
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant,
both of whom were being
chased by the rival Knicks.
The only downside
is that Durant
will likely be
sidelined for
the whole
season
because
of the
Achilles injury
he suffered in the
NBA Finals with the Warriors.
That leaves Irving, who was
uneven last year in Boston, to
team with a good young core
led by SG Caris Levert.
The Nets will be
better once KD is healthy, but
they’re clearly the class of the
Big Apple.
TORONTO
RAPTORS
Talk about
potentially bad sequels! After
winning their first title, the
Raptors lost Kawhi Leonard
to free agency. Toronto wasn’t
a one-man team, but Leonard
was unquestionably the
go-to guy when
things got dicey.
How do you
replace the
NBA Finals
MVP? If
you’re coach
Nick Nurse,
you lean on
SF Pascal Siakam.
An incredible athlete, he
scored 32 points in Game 1
of the Finals and added 26 in
the Game 6 clincher.
The Raps won’t
win it all again, but their strong
veterans (PG Kyle Lowry and
PF Serge Ibaka) and intriguing
young players (Siakam and
PG Fred VanVleet) will lead
them back to the playoffs.
NEW YORK
KNICKSWhat
makes a movie
qualify as a
bomb? Big money,
big expectations—
and horrible results. By
those measures, the Knicks’
summer was a bigger bust
than Justice League. After
trading Kristaps Porzingis
to Dallas to free up
even more cap space,
New York whiffed on
E R I C K W. R A S CO ( TAT U M); N AT H A N I E L S . B U T L E R / N B A E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (L E V E R T, S I A K A M);
every big-name free
agent. Now the Knicks
have a lineup devoid of
All-Star talent. But hey, they’ll
have more cap room next
summer! What more could
go wrong for the NBA’s most
G A R R E T T E L LW O O D / N B A E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (B A R R E T T )
dysfunctional franchise?
With only
PG Dennis Smith Jr. to show
from the Porzingis trade,
the Knicks will need rookie
RJ Barrett to be a quick
learner. Otherwise, another
60-loss season is in the cards.

INDIANA
PACERS
A promising season
was derailed when All-Star
SG Victor Oladipo injured
his knee in January. (The
Pacers were 31–15 when he
got hurt and finished just
48–34, getting swept
in the first round.)
Oladipo will be
back on the court
in 2019, and his
return will put the
Pacers back among
the East’s top teams.
GARRABRANT/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES (GRIFFIN); DAVID LIAM KYLE/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES (SEXTON)
Indiana had the NBA’s
top defense, and adding
GREG NELSON (OLADIPO); SAM FORENCICH/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES (MARKKANEN); JESSE D.
SG Malcolm Brogdon
will only make it
better. However, the
Pacers lost SF Bojan
Bogdanović and
PF Thaddeus Young—
both of whom really
stepped up in Oladipo’s
absence—to free agency.
Spoiler is an
apt word. This team could
surprise come May.
CHICAGO
BULLS After trading star
SF Jimmy Butler two years
ago, Chicago went into a
tailspin, winning just
27 and 22 games. But
the Bulls have quietly put
together a nice young
core, led by SG Zach
LaVine (23.7 ppg)
and PF Lauri
Markkanen (18.7
ppg). They added
help to both the backcourt
and the frontcourt, signing
SG Tomáš Satoranský
(5.0 apg with the
Wizards) and
PF Thaddeus
Young
(12.6 ppg with
the Pacers).
Markkanen,
a do-everything
7-footer, could make fans
forget Butler—and will make
the Bulls a potential sleeper
hit in the East.
BUCKS
DETROIT
PISTONSFor the first time in
six years, PF Blake Griffin
played more than 67 regular-
season games. Then, in late
March, he hurt his knee
and, after missing
Detroit’s first two
postseason
games,
basically
played the
final two on one
leg. He had surgery
and should be 100%, but
the team will closely watch
that knee; without Griffin
(24.5 ppg), the Pistons will
have a hard time scoring.
The addition of
PG Derrick Rose (18.0 ppg
with Minnesota) could give
Detroit some much-needed
pop. But even if Griffin stays
healthy, the Pistons are
likely looking at a battle for
the right to again get swept
by the Bucks in the
first round.
CLEVELAND
CAVALIERS
Life after LeBron
was as about as difficult as
expected. After four straight
trips to the NBA Finals,
the Cavs slumped to a
19–63 record.
Cleveland
swung for the
fences at
the draft,
taking two
players
who have
loads of
potential but
are giant question marks.
PG Darius Garland missed
almost all of his only season
at Vanderbilt with a knee
injury, and SG Kevin Porter Jr.
was suspended by USC.
The rookies will
join another high-scoring
guard, Collin Sexton
(16.7 ppg as a rookie), to
give Cleveland a potentially
electric backcourt. But it’s
going to be another long year.
SIKIDS.COM / 37

ORLANDO
MAGIC Orlando
snuck into the
playoffs last year
and gave a scare
to the eventual-
champion Raptors,
stealing Game 1 in its
final seconds. The Magic will
look to show that their success
wasn’t accidental—but it won’t
be easy. The team didn’t
make any big moves in
the offseason other
than locking up young
players already on the
roster. The key will be
SF Aaron Gordon
(16.0 ppg), who has
been on the verge of
breaking out for years.
The league is still waiting.
The fact that they
are likely the second-best team
in the Southeast says more
about the weakness of the
division than the Magic. Without
a reliable point guard, a return
to the lottery is a real possibility.
NBA PREVIEW 2019/20
MIAMI
HEAT
WASHINGTON
WIZARDSOnce an exciting,
up-and-coming team, the
Wizards are, well, a mess.
Sure, SG Bradley Beal made
his second All-Star team and
had the eighth-highest scoring
average (25.6) in franchise
history. But an Achilles injury
will keep mercurial PG John
Wall (20.7 ppg) on the sideline
all year. And in an
effort to turn
around a
team that
won just
32 games
last season,
Washington hired
front office exec
Sashi Brown—best
known for overseeing the
tank job of the NFL’s
Cleveland Browns.
If there’s a silver
lining, it’s that Washington was
better without Wall (21–29)
than with him (11–21), and he
and Beal have never meshed.
ATLANTA
HAWKSJust five years ago,
the Hawks had a lineup that
featured four All-Stars and
won 60 games—seven more
than they’ve won in the past
two seasons combined. Yes,
Atlanta is in full-on rebuilding
mode, but the team has
some talent to build around.
PG Trae Young
was the
runner-up in
Rookie of
the Year
voting and
became
just the
third first-year
player ever to
average at least 19 points
and eight assists.
After adding
De’Andre Hunter and
Cam Reddish in the first
round of the draft, the Hawks
have loads of salary cap
space going forward and are
pointed in the right direction.
HORNETS
The Hornets let
their best player and the
face of their franchise,
PG Kemba Walker,
leave in free agency
because they
wouldn’t offer him
anything near
the max deal he
deserved. They
then overpaid wildly
for his replacement,
Boston’s Terry Rozier (9.0
ppg). SG Jeremy Lamb (15.3
F E R N A N D O M E D I N A / N B A E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (G O R D O N); G R E G N E L S O N (B E A L); C H R I S K E A N E
ppg) signed with the Pacers
in free agency. That means
Charlotte’s lineup doesn’t
feature anyone who averaged
more than 10.1 ppg last
season, including its highest-
( YO U N G); K E N T S M I T H / N B A E / G E T T Y I M AG E S (B R I D G E S)
paid player, SF Nicolas Batum
(9.3 ppg), and SF Miles
Bridges (7.5 ppg), who’ll start
in his second season.
If you want a
blockbuster, you can’t get
cheap when it comes to
spending on things like CGI.

PELICANS
New Orleans finally
said goodbye
to Anthony
Davis, trading
the disgruntled
Unibrow to the
Lakers. But they
welcomed a player with the
potential to play at AD’s level:
S E A N B E R R Y/ N B A E / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( W I L L I A M S O N); G R E G N E L S O N (D O N ČI Ć); R O N A L D CO R T E S / G E T T Y I M A G E S
Zion Williamson (22.6 ppg
at Duke). The top overall pick is
a freakishly athletic scorer who
the only young player
on the roster: The
Davis deal netted
the Pelicans
(D E R O Z A N); J O E M U R P H Y/ N B A E / G E T T Y I M AG E S (J AC K S O N)
PG Lonzo Ball
(9.9 ppg with L.A.),
SF Brandon Ingram
(18.3 ppg with L.A.),
and three first-round picks.
With veteran
PG Jrue Holiday around to
mentor the kids, the Pelicans
are playoff contenders.
HOUSTON
MAVERICKS
What do you do
when you lose the best Euro
big man ever? Replace him
with the guy who could
become the best Euro big
man ever. The retirement of
PF Dirk Nowitzki means the
Mavs need a new identity,
and last year at the trade
deadline they got it. That’s
when they picked up
PF Kristaps Porzingis from
who missed last season
with a torn ACL, will
pair with Rookie
of the Year Luka
Dončić (21.2
ppg, 7.8 rpg)
to give Dallas a
continental flair—
and a nucleus for
years to come.
The team will
see its three-year playoff
drought—the longest since
Nowitzki’s second year—come
to an end.
SAN ANTONIO
SPURS
San Antonio
has made the playoffs in
22 straight years, but that
streak is in serious jeopardy.
Let’s not forget, though, that
the Spurs have the best
coach in the league at getting
the most out
of his players,
Gregg
Popovich.
SG DeMar
DeRozan
(21.2 ppg) and
PF LaMarcus
Aldridge 21.3 ppg)
are solid veteran scorers,
and PG Dejounte Murray,
who missed the entire
season with a knee injury,
will be back.
An offseason
without any significant
upgrades—coupled with a
deep West field—means that
even with Pop’s magic, this
will be the year San Antonio
MEMPHIS
GRIZZLIES
For years, C Marc
Gasol and PG Mike Conley
were the heart of the Grit and
Grind Grizzlies.
In their decade
together, they
ranked 1–2
in franchise
history in
virtually every
major stat. But
the team dealt
Gasol to the Raptors at the
trade deadline last year, and
Conley followed him out
the door in July. Who’s left?
PF Jaren Jackson Jr. (13.8
ppg) was a first-team All-
Rookie selection. After that,
well, not much, as Memphis
spent most of its summer
clearing out contracts.
The Grizzlies
owe their first-rounder to
Boston, but it is top-six
protected. They appear to be
doing everything they can to
hang onto that pick.
SIKIDS.COM / 39
 UTAH PORTLAND
JAZZ A tough
TRAIL BLAZERS
After pushing the
TIMBERWOLVES
Minnesota looked
THUNDERThe upcoming
team just got Warriors in the conference great on paper last year, with reboot of Home Alone
grittier. Utah finals—the series was C Karl-Anthony Towns, could star Thunder
added hard- closer than its 4–0 scoreline SF Andrew Wiggins, and C Steven Adams. O.K.,
nosed PG Mike indicates—the Trail Blazers SG Jimmy Butler. On the he’s not technically alone,
Conley, who was had a slow offseason. hardwood, it was a but after the trade of
deemed expendable Giving PG Damian Lillard different story. Russell Westbrook
by the rebuilding (25.8 ppg) a supermax deal An unhappy to Houston he’s
Grizzlies. He’ll mesh perfectly worth nearly $50 million a Butler was the last player
with backcourt mate Donovan year and SG CJ McCollum traded from the team’s
Mitchell, a flashier scorer. And (21.0 ppg) a $100 million after just heyday who’s
if anyone can improve a D that extension didn’t leave much 10 games. still in town. OKC
ranked second in the league, cash for anyone else. Lillard Two years also dealt another
it’s Conley. The Jazz also and McCollum do form after averaging All-Star, SF Paul George.

M E L I S S A M A J C H R Z A K / N B A E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (G O B E R T ); J O H N W. M C D O N O U G H (L I L L A R D);
made another key one of the league’s 23.6 ppg on The Westbrook trade yielded
45.2% shooting, Wiggins
J O R D A N J O H N S O N / N B A E / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( T O W N S); M I C H A E L G O N Z A L E S / N B A E /
pickup, acquiring top backcourts. But PG Chris Paul, who is coming
marksman the question, as scored 18.1 ppg and shot a off the worst year of his career
SF Bojan always, is how woeful 41.2%. Only Towns (15.6 ppg, 41.9% FG), and
Bogdanović (18.0 Portland will fill in (24.4 ppg) thrived on a team the George deal got PG Shai
ppg with Indiana). the spots around that won just 36 games. Gilgeous-Alexander (10.8 ppg
Last those two. First-round pick with the Clippers). But the truly
year Utah was If Jarrett Culver could develop significant return in the trades:
the only 50-win team anything, the Blazers into the consistent scorer that seven first-round picks.
without an All-Star. This year are now a worse-shooting Minnesota hoped Wiggins The Thunder are
they’ll win 55 games, and team with the departures of would become. But Culver and in full-on rebuilding mode, but
C Rudy Gobert (12.9 rpg), Al-Farouq Aminu, Seth Curry, Towns alone can’t carry the they are one of the league’s
G E T T Y I M A G E S (A D A M S)

the league’s top defender, will and Meyers Leonard. Expect T-Wolves back to the playoffs best-run organizations. It will
finally get that All-Star nod. a step back. in such a tough conference. pay off. Eventually.

NBA PREVIEW 2019/20

 SACRAMENTO PHOENIX
LAKERS When it
WARRIORS
Things started
KINGS New coach Luke
SUNS One of the biggest
comes to Big Twos, falling apart for Golden State Walton takes over a team moves the Suns made was
no team can in the Finals last year, when that, for the first time in a to basically give T.J. Warren
match LeBron SF Kevin Durant and SG Klay long time, looks like it has to the Pacers
James and Thompson (21.5 ppg) went a plan. Now the question in a salary
Anthony Davis. down with serious injuries as becomes: Is the plan any dump. Never
But to get the team lost to the Raptors. good? Despite mind that
Davis (25.9 ppg, Following the season, being linked he averaged
12.0 rpg) from KD departed for Brooklyn, to a few big- 18.0 ppg and
the Pelicans, the leaving Golden State, name free shot the
Lakers gave up a raft of young once basketball’s deepest agents, ball well.
talent they had been molding team, dangerously the Kings That tells
around LeBron. Only PF Kyle light on healthy talent. didn’t you pretty
J O R D A N N A H O L O WA'A M U R P H (J A M E S); G R E G N E L S O N (C U R R Y ); F E R N A N D O M E D I N A / N B A E /

Kuzma (18.7 ppg) remains. It helps when you’ve got try to make much all
And L.A. missed out on every PG Steph Curry (27.3 ppg), any significant you need to
big free agent. So once again, though, who has sacrificed to moves in the offseason. know about the
G E T T Y I M A G E S (F OX); M E L I S S A M A J C H R Z A K / N B A E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (B O O K E R)

the Lakers will fill out the roster incorporate other stars into the Instead, they went for Suns, who just
with a collection of curious lineup. He could see his depth and consistency, don’t seem interested in
players—including numbers skyrocket. re-signing Harrison Barnes winning right now. Which is
Dwight Howard, The (14.3 ppg) for $85 million too bad, because C Deandre
whose first stint regular season over four years. The hope Ayton (16.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg)
with the team was a will be tough, but is that a stable environment was as good as advertised
disaster. Thompson should will allow the young core, as a rookie, and SG Devin
This be back for the led by PG De’Aaron Fox Booker (26.6 ppg) was again
could be the year playoffs. Don’t bet (17.3 ppg), to grow. an electric scorer.
LeBron starts to show his against the Dubs. If It will grow, but The Suns look
age—he’s 34, and he’s got a nothing else, they know how not fast enough for a 2020 like they want to be back in
heavy load to carry. to win. playoff berth. the lottery. And they will be.

SIKIDS.COM / 41
NBA PREVIEW 2019-20
S CO T T C U N N I N G H A M / N B A E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (B U L L S / H AW K S); S A C R A M E N T O K I N G S (U N I F O R M); M AT T E O M A R C H I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (M A R K S)

Everyone knows that great films are

made in the editing room. The same
could be said of NBA teams. Just as a
movie can’t run four hours, a team can’t
spend unlimited cash. This brings out the
creativity of the editor and the GM alike.
Brooklyn’s Sean Marks gets full marks
for attracting two major free agents in
Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. But equally
important was the way he altered the Nets’
roster ahead of free agency. By persuading
the Hawks to take Allen Crabbe (Marks
threw in two first-rounders), he freed up
room to take on the two stars.
A late-season game between two teams that are nowhere near
the playoff hunt might not sound thrilling. But when Chicago and
Atlanta met on March 1, they put on one of the most exciting
shows in years. They played four overtimes before the Bulls
came out on top 168–161 behind Zach LaVine’s career-high
47 points. It was the third-highest-scoring game in league
history—and a reminder that if you go to an NBA game, you
might see something spectacular.

SIKIDS.COM / 43
C A S E Y B R O O K E L AW S O N / N H L I / G E T T Y I M AG E S (L I G H T N I N G); S I M O N B R U T Y (O V E C H K I N); J O H N L O C H E R /A P/

Hey, Mr. Stark, you know that

really old movie The Empire
S H U T T E R S T O C K (S T O N E); M A R K B L I N C H / N H L I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (PA S T R N A K )

Strikes Back? Losing to the

Blue Jackets in the first round
after a 128-point season was
a Death Star–level disaster.
The Bolts, however, have all
the talent to bounce back. Last
season, Nikita Kucherov (86),
Brayden Point (21), and
Steven Stamkos became
the first trio of teammates to
all score 40 goals since well
before you were born.

44 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS

 Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik were
heroes of the 2018 Stanley Cup–
winning team. But that was a long
time ago, before anyone had heard
“Old Town Road.” Here in 2019,
they’re gone, and Washington will
benefit from getting younger on
the blue line. By the way, here
are the numbers of goals Alex
Ovechkin needs to pass these
Hall of Famers on the all-time list:
10 (Luc Robitaille), 26 (Teemu
Selanne), 32 (Mario Lemieux), 34 (Steve
Yzerman), 36 (Mark Messier), 50 (Mike
Gartner). Assuming the Great Eight can get
past at least Yzerman, the Caps should be
in good shape for another playoff run.

The Golden Knights spent the offseason losing

players, as they made space for eight-year contract
extensions for top-liners William Karlsson and Mark
Stone. This cost-cutting comes after they lost one of
the most controversial Game 7s in NHL history,
to the Sharks. Here’s the glass-half-full view:
After just two seasons, Vegas already has a
finals appearance, an iconic rallying-cry playoff
injustice, and superstars worth cutting cap for.

Last year’s team came within a game of winning the

Stanley Cup. So can you blame the Bruins for bringing back the
exact same team for another run? Their biggest rival this season is
not Toronto or Tampa Bay, however—it’s Father Time. Zdeno Chara
is 42, and his fellow holdovers from the 2011 championship team
are getting up there too. Young stars David Pastrnak and Torey
Krug should be able to pick up the slack.

SIKIDS.COM / 45
 This offseason, the Leafs vaulted to No. 1
on our hypothetical “teams I want to play as in
NHL 20” power rankings. Defenseman Tyson
Barrie joins an

also better? Maybe. Considering they cut enough

salary to retain their already championship-caliber
core, “maybe” might be good enough. Three Central
teams in a row? It’s
going to be a brutal
division. The Stars
have put themselves

E A S P O R T S (N H L 20); DAV I D E . K L U T H O (B I N N I N G T O N); CO U R T E S Y O F N A S H V I L L E P R E D AT O R S (D U C H E N E); T O N Y G U T I E R R E Z /A P/ S H U T T E R S T O C K (S TA R S); B R E T T H O L M E S / N H L I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (G I O R D A N O)

in contention after a
great offseason. Joe
The Blues, like their Pavelski and Corey
Stanley Cup finals Perry are old, but
opponents in Boston, they’re good-old in
mostly stood pat a grizzled-vet-who-
this offseason. can-still-score-and-
That’s O.K.—last knows-what-it-takes
year was no way. Dallas will
fluke—but it count on its
hardly solidifies trio of young
them as a lock to repeat. If they can build on Scandinavian
their 28-8-5 second half in 2018–19, they’ll defensemen—
waltz to a Central Division title. But that pace Miro Heiskanen,
will require goalie Jordan Binnington, last John Klingberg,
year’s Calder Trophy runner-up after a 24-5-1 and Esa Lindell
record, to avoid a sophomore slump. (23)—to keep
play moving for
these veterans.

The Preds have

tried to turn
their defensive
surplus into an
elite offense, first
with the Seth The Flames over-performed last
Jones–for–Ryan season . . . until they didn’t. So is Calgary the
Johansen trade team that scored 289 goals in the regular
three years ago, season, or the one that scored just 11 times
and this offseason in a first-round playoff loss? The top line of
Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, and Sean
Matt Duchene. The latter gamble will pay off Monahan should be dynamic even if they
if mobile righty rookie blueliner Dante Fabbro, a don’t top last year’s 259 combined points.
Boston University product, can fill Subban’s shoes. The big question is how will 36-year-old
This team goes nowhere, however, if it can’t fix the captain Mark Giordano follow up a
league’s worst power play. Norris-winning campaign?
 The “bunch of jerks”—as Hockey Night
in Canada’s Don Cherry called them last season—
are back, ready to annoy like never before. (Cherry
objected to their elaborate post-win routines, which
G R E G G F O R W E R C K / N H L I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (H U R R I C A N E S); B R A N D O N M A G N U S / N H L I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (K A R L S S O N); M I C H A E L M A R T I N / N H L I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (M A K A R); C H A R L E S T R A I N O R / M I A M I H E R A L D / T N S / G E T T Y I M A G E S (B O B R O V S K Y ); J E A N I N E L E E C H / I CO N S P O R T S W I R E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (C R O S B Y )

featured dunking basketballs and doing the limbo.)

If goalie James Reimer, acquired in a trade from
the Panthers, can effectively share duties with Petr
Mrazek, Carolina will need more celebration ideas.

After years of counting

Fans hated to lose on solid goaltending,
Joe Pavelski, who had 355 This team is so the Panthers
goals and 406 assists in young, half the stopped stopping This entry might
963 games as a Shark locker room still the puck. Age finally as well read:
(not to mention 100 subscribes to caught up to Roberto “14. Sidney
career playoff points). SI KIDS. That’s Luongo, and Florida had the Crosby.”
But it was worth it to exciting on East’s worst save percentage Of all the
keep Erik Karlsson. The offense— (.891), which spoiled a solid Penguins
unrivaled two-way games young offensive season (264 goals, teams in the
of defensemen Brent forwards ninth in the NHL). Enter Crosby-era,
Burns and Karlsson give have a Sergei Bobrovsky, two- this one ranks
the Sharks a chance to habit pretty low
secure that elusive of blowing in terms
first Stanley Cup. past slow geezers of talent
San Jose ranked in this league. surrounding
dead last in save It’s more its captain. Phil Kessel’s
percentage troublesome 82 points are gone to
in 2018–19 on the back Arizona. Pittsburgh’s
(.889). A merely end, where junior ability to improve
competent defensemen are the roster has been
campaign from typically either hampered too—the
Martin Jones will sheltered or exposed. time Vezina winner. Even a Penguins questionably
make this group a Sam Girard and down year last season from committed $21 million
playoff lock. Cale Makar may turn the Russian netminder (.913 over six years to winger
out to be the NHL’s save percentage) would have Branden Tanev. But, hey,
next top pairing—in been good enough to put the Sidney Crosby. So they’ll
two years. Panthers in playoff contention. probably be fine.

SIKIDS.COM / 47
Of the many Cup-favorite
teams to get bounced in the
first round last season, the
Jets have the most cause
for concern, as their loss was
precipitated by a regression
from franchise cornerstone Patrik
Laine (50 points, –24 rating). This
offseason they also lost half of their
starting D (Ben Chiarot, Tyler Myers, and
Jacob Trouba). The star talent on this team
is still good enough to make the playoffs,
but the Cup window may be closing fast.

M I N A S PA N A G I O TA K I S / G E T T Y I M A G E S (L A I N E); F R A N CO I S L AC A S S E / N H L I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (D O M I); J A M I E S A B AU / N H L I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (G R E I S S); R E B E CC A TAY L O R / M S G P H O T O S

The Canadiens didn’t make any The Rangers have missed on a lot of big free agents in recent
splashy moves over the summer, years—most notably defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, whom they
but tweaking last year’s squad just bought out. Artemi Panarin figures to reverse that trend.
may be enough. The team that The Bread Man has been remarkably consistent, scoring at least
edged them out for the East’s 74 points in each of his first four seasons. Defenseman Jacob
final playoff spot in 2018–19, Trouba, acquired via trade with Winnipeg, helps nearly as
Columbus, took a huge much. If they get the Henrik Lundqvist of old, the Rangers’
step backward. The Habs rebuild may already be over.
also figure to improve
on offense thanks
to the further development of their young
top six. They can field an elite scoring line
(Max Domi, Jonathan Drouin, Nick Suzuki)
with an average age of 23.

Elias Pettersson’s Calder-

winning rookie season
almost single-handedly
dragged the Canucks out
of the NHL’s basement.
Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss For his next trick, the
combined for 11 shutouts en route to Swedish sensation
winning the Jennings Trophy for fewest goals will put his team in
allowed. Now Lehner is gone, playoff contention.
replaced by Semyon Varlamov, Pettersson’s
and Greiss is getting up there supporting cast
in age. Barry Trotz teams got a big upgrade
tend to get the best out this offseason with
of their goalies, and the defensemen Tyler
Islanders will have to if Myers and Jordie
they’re going to repeat Benn signing on Day
last season’s success. 1 of free agency,
An improvement from and J. T. Miller and
Mathew Barzal Micheal Ferland
would go a long joining the top-six
way too. forwards.
Give general manager John
Chayka credit for trying things.
The Max Domi–for–Alex
Galchenyuk change-of-scenery
swap was a bust. Enter
Phil Kessel. The speedy sniper
is somehow only 32 despite
being in the league for what
feels like a lifetime. Kessel’s
82 points last year were twice
as many as all but two Coyotes.
He needs to transform the
league’s 29th-ranked offense
without wrecking the fifth-
ranked defense.
 The NHL’s sleeping giant, the Blackhawks showed
they weren’t content to close the book on the
Jonathan Toews/Patrick Kane dynasty just yet.
That twosome looked as good as ever last season,
but the Cam Ward/Corey Crawford platoon
faltered in net. Vezina finalist Robin Lehner has a
chance to transform Chicago’s goaltending, while
Olli Maatta and Calvin de Haan fill out the left
side of the defense nicely.
1. P.K. Subban
J O N AT H A N D A N I E L / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( T O E W S); D E R E K C A I N / I CO N S P O R T S W I R E / G E T T Y I M A G E S (H U G H E S); L E N R E D KO L E S / N H L I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (H A R T ); A N D R E R I N G U E T T E / N H L I /
2. Jack Hughes
3. KHL superstar Nikita Gusev
4. A correction of last year’s –30
difference between goals and
expected goals
5. Nico Hischier
6. Intimidating uniforms
7. Taylor Hall
Here’s one reason the Devils
G E T T Y I M A G E S (B O L DY ); S A R A S C H M I D L E / N H L I / G E T T Y I M A G E S (M I T T E L S TA D T ); J A M I E S A B AU / N H L I / G E T T Y I M AG E S (M C D AV I D)
won’t make the playoffs:
They didn’t come close last year.
Flyers down the middle, but their
best hope of sneaking into the
playoffs is a full season of Carter
Hart in net. Philly’s goaltenders
ranked 28th in save percentage,
and they could have been dead
last had the 20-year-old Hart
a winning record) in his first 30 NHL starts. New coach Alain
Vigneault has a career 648-435-35 record in the NHL and
should be motivated to beat his former bosses in New York.
season—and after he had already overseen this
summer’s draft and free agency. Luckily for the
team, he wasn’t necessarily canned for anything
he did during that time. The Mats Zuccarello
contract may be a problem when he’s 37, but
he’s a good player. And Minnesota received
solid grades for drafting winger Matthew
Boldy in the first round.
Game. Then came the free fall, which included
three straight shutout losses in March. Buffalo
will need significant improvement from 2017’s first-
round pick, center Casey Mittelstadt, who managed just
25 points playing sheltered minutes his rookie season.
last season (196) and then cut ties with longtime sniper
Corey Perry. But a good goalie and a good coach can do a
lot. John Gibson is a great netminder, and new hire Dallas
Eakins at least deserves another shot to prove that he can
succeed behind the bench.
consensus top-three free agents in a single offseason. The
Blue Jackets’ young defense corps is still there and worth
building around. But this doesn’t feel like their year.
head coach responsible for their most recent
failures, but there are still concerns. Connor
McDavid is coming back from a knee injury,
and 2016’s first-round pick, Jesse Puljujärvi, will
likely spend the season in Finland after requesting a trade.
to Detroit this year, GM Steve Yzerman figures to have a
bigger impact than Valtteri Filppula. The latter marginally
improves a floundering team; the former will have to rebuild it.
home.” The Kings have over 45% of their payroll wrapped
up in five players with an average age of 34. Center Anze
Kopitar seems to be good every other year, though, so he’s
due for another All-Star season.
or who any of the players will be. But even
with zero games on the calendar, the fans
in Seattle will probably have more fun this
season than some of the teams on this list.
positive adjectives that have been used to describe Alexis
Lafrenière, the presumptive top pick in next year’s draft:
“gifted,” “strong,” “savvy,” “dynamic,” and “courageous.”
SIKIDS.COM / 49
 S
S
TRA TION
I LLUS
BYDEAN M
A C ADA
M

’STUMES
Going as a vampire
is too easy.
We suggested
more daring
options for
these stars.

BRENT BURNS
BY SAM PAGE as the Tooth Fairy
Counting baby teeth, the Sharks’ defenseman has spit
more Chiclets in his life than he had goals last season.
Granted, the Tooth Fairy does not seem scary like a
mummy or a zombie. But imagine, for just a second,
this guy sneaking into your house at night, hungry for
teeth, a sack full of quarters jangling from somewhere
deep inside his beard. Bone-chilling.
MIKE TROUT as a largemouth bass
He knows his own last name, of course. But—FOR THE LAST
TIME—he is not dressed as a trout. The Angels’ centerfielder
is commemorating his love of sportfishing by going as a
bass. How could you even make the mistake? A trout and a
bass don’t look anything alike. Trout are very often speckled,
whereas the bass—IT’S NOT A TIM SALMON JOKE!

ALEX MORGAN as Alice from

Alice in Wonderland
Am I too old to say, “And that’s the tea?” Going as Alex
in Wonderland is a perfect follow-up to the striker’s
Revolutionary War–themed celebration against England
in the semifinals of this year’s World Cup. In Lewis Carroll’s
book, Alice leaves the Mad Tea Party in disgust. We hope she
has fun at our party—just don’t talk to Mike Trout about fish.
And that’s the tea! (Sorry.)

J.J. WATT as a lightbulb

How many offensive linemen does it take to screw
in a lightbulb? If it looks like this one, a double team
won’t be enough. Common household bulbs run up to
100 watts, which poses an age-old question: Would
you rather block 100 lightbulb-sized J.J. Watts or
one J.J. Watt–sized lightbulb? I think I’m taking the
lightbulb, assuming it doesn’t have Watt’s arms.

SIMONE BILES as Shaquille O’Neal

The joke here is that Biles is short (4' 8") and Shaq is tall
(7' 1"). Classic ironic costume. You get it. Imagine if she
had to compete at a gymnastics meet wearing size-22
sneakers and a 3XL basketball jersey. She’d probably still
manage at least a silver medal.

SIKIDS.COM 51
 WHAT’S CREEPY CRASH
THE CALL? The Transylvania University Bats are playing
the Riverdale College Zombies in baseball under
NCAA rules. Bats first baseman Chris Lee is at the
Illustrations plate in the second inning with his teammate,
by Sean Eric Brooks, on third base and nobody out. On the first
Tiffany pitch of the at bat, Lee hits a fly ball to shallow
centerfield. The Zombies’ centerfielder, Walker White,
catches the ball in stride and throws a strike to home
plate. Brooks, underestimating White’s arm, makes a
break for home after tagging up. By the time Brooks
gets down the baseline, Zombies catcher Harry Cooper
has the ball and is waiting to make the tag. In order to
not be tagged out, Brooks barrels into Cooper,
knocking the ball out of his mitt, and then touches
home plate. The Zombies complain that a player can’t
run over the catcher. Is Brooks safe or out?

CIRCLE BACK
The Millville Monster Mashers and the
Thorndale Great Pumpkins are playing field hockey
under International Hockey Federation rules. Monster
Mashers midfielder Beatrice Lugosi takes a shot that
goes wide of the net. Great Pumpkins goalie Roberta Pickett
comes out of the goal circle and scoops the ball up with her
glove. The Monster Mashers’ players claim she can’t use
her glove outside of the circle. What’s the call?

AS PROMISED
In a comic strip from last month,
Buzz Beamer attempted a field goal from the
five-yard line and got the ball to land—and
remain—on the crossbar. Under NFL rules,
would this kick count as a field goal?

ON PAGE 55

52 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS

 GAMES

ATHLETE EQUATIONS
Each rebus below represents the name of one of your
favorite pros. Use the images and letters in the puzzle to
sound out the athlete’s name. They won’t all be as easy as
the example! By Ethan Thomas

\> MYSTERY ATHLETE

CLUE #1 The Mystery Athlete, who
was the fifth pick of the 2018 NBA
draft, came in second in the ’18–19

M I K E TROUT
NBA Rookie of the Year voting.
EXAMPLE: CLUE #2 He was fourth in the league
in assists (8.1 per game) and second
on the Atlanta Hawks in points (19.1).
J O H N M CCOY/ G E T T Y I M A G E S (M I K E T R O U T ); E Y E E M / G E T T Y I M A G E S (M I C R O P H O N E , PA N); G E T T Y I M A G E S (F I S H , CO F F E E , H O U S E S , F I N); I S T O C K P H O T O / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( W E L L , B E A D S , R A B B I T, S TA I R S ,

CLUE #3 In his lone year at the

University of Oklahoma, the

+ Em + Mystery Athlete led the country

in points per game (27.4) and
set a new Big 12 single-season
scoring record.
1. THE MYSTERY ATHLETE IS:
D I S H , L E G , B E E); S N A P S T I L L S / S H U T T E R S T O C K (C H A R A C T E R); E L I Z A B E T H M CG A R R M CC U E (B A B Y ); H U N T E R M A R T I N / G E T T Y I M A G E S ( T U R N E R)

-N+ +
(postal
abbreviation)

2.
TRIVIA
CHALLENGE
-P+ When Nationals
shortstop Trea Turner
(right) hit a single, a
double, a triple, and a
3. home run against the
Rockies in July, he became
the third player ever to hit
for the cycle twice against
the same team. Who was
+ -L+S+ the second player to
accomplish the feat?
A. José Altuve
4. B. Kris Bryant
C. Christian Yelich

SIKIDS.COM / 53
 ART
GALLERY
Megan
Rapinoe
Molly, 13,
North Carolina

Seth Jones
Luke, 9,
Ohio

Jackie Robinson &

Pee Wee Reese
River, 13,
Idaho

Send your drawings to:

ART GALLERY, SI Kids,
A.J. Green 225 Liberty Street,
Zachary, 12, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10281.
Ohio Please include your name,
address, date of birth, and
the name of the athlete.

54 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS

 Send your cards to: COMIC CARDS, SI Kids,
225 Liberty Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10281.
Please include your name, address, and date of birth.

Ew! That ANSWERS

guy has What’s the Call? (page 52)
COMIC
●
1. Pickett cannot use her glove
socks with
CARDS
outside of the circle. The Monster
sandals! Mashers are awarded a penalty
corner.
2. Brooks is out. Contact above the
waist that is meant to dislodge the
ball from the catcher is not allowed
in NCAA baseball. If the basepath
is blocked, Brooks must attempt to
slide to reach the base and avoid
a collision.
3. No, it would not count. The entire
ball must pass through the plane
Thomas, 12, Ohio
established by the crossbar.

● Athlete Equations (page 53)

1. Joel Embiid
I told you to 2. Patrick Mahomes
stop with 3. Stephen Curry
the cameras! 4. Sidney Crosby

Look at ● Trivia (page 53)

these dance C. Yelich did it twice against the
moves. Reds in 2018. Pittsburgh Pirates
outfielder Fred Clarke was the
first to do it, in 1901 and ’03, also
against the Reds.

● Mystery Athlete (page 53)

Landen, 12, Pennsylvania Trae Young, point guard,
Atlanta Hawks

Reid, 10, South Carolina

Is there
something in
my teeth?
CO U R T E S Y O F T H E YO U N G FA M I LY ( YO U N G A S A K I D); C H R I S K E A N E ( YO U N G A C T I O N)

I forgot my
sunglasses.

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS (ISSN 1042-394X) is published monthly, except for a

combined issue in January/February, by TI Gotham Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of
Meredith Corporation, Principal Office: 225 Liberty St., New York, NY 10281-1008. Owned
by ABG-SI LLC, Principal Office: 1411 Broadway, 4th floor, New York, NY 10018. Periodicals postage paid
in New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 507.1.5.2)
Owen, 10, Indiana Non-postal and military facilities: Send address corrections to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS, P.O.
Box 37508, Boone, IA 50037-0508. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40110178. Return
undeliverable Canada addresses to: Postal Stn. A, P.O. Box 4322, Toronto, ON, M5W3G9 #122781974RT.
©2019 ABG-SI LLC all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Sports Illustrated Kids is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. U.S. subscriptions are $31.95 for one
year. Subscription orders should be sent to SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS, P.O. Box 37508, Boone, IA
50037-0508. Subscribers: If the postal authorities alert us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have
no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within two years. Your bank may provide
updates to the card information we have on file. You may opt-out of this service at any time. Mailing
Clegg, 13, Georgia List: We make a portion of our mailing list available to reputable firms. If you would prefer that we not
include your name, please call or write us. Customer Service and Subscriptions: For 24/7 service, please
use our website: http://sikids.com/customerservice. You can also call 1-800-528-5000 or write to SI
KIDS at P.O. Box 37508, Boone, IA 50037-0508. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

SIKIDS.COM / 55
 time for lacrosse practice
with my buddy buckethead.

By Bill Hinds
when we play fetch, he likes to
play a little keep-away before
i’m gonna turn his
doggy dodge game into
ready to run,
he gives back the ball. a midfielder pursuit. boy?!

fetch!!

Hey!!

i forgot he
fetches sticks
too.

56 / SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS