🏀 Dame Debuts...

A superstar’s debut with a new team, an outdoor basketball game in front of 55,000 people, and Game 3 of the WNBA Finals? Mood this weekend:

Today’s Lineup

Dame’s Debut: How did the superstar look in his first Milwaukee action? 🦌

Liberty Have Life: How did New York grab Game 3? 🧐

Iowa Plays Outside: The scene at Iowa looked like a dream ☁️

Who’s Hooping?

There are guys in new uniforms all over the NBA, and perhaps the most newsworthy “new guy” of them all, Damian Lillard, made his (unofficial) Bucks debut on Sunday, and it was…well, it was a preseason game. But Bucks fans still got one highlight to hold onto for the next few days. Get used to a lot of this…

Dame finished with 14 PTS points in his Milwaukee debut.

Elsewhere, Victor Wembanyama continued to do things that two…three…maybe four NBA players ever could do.

And another for you, because why not?

Liberty Live To Fight Another Game

The people are talking, and they are all saying: Jonquel Jones, who had about as dominant and versatile of a performance that you could ask for on the biggest stage. 27 PTS, 8 REB, 3 AST, 3 BLK, 2 STL (and one Dikembe finger wag) for New York’s center as the Liberty triumphed over the Aces, 94-85.

Liberty star guard Sabrina Ionescu still couldn’t find her shot (9 points, 3/9 FG) but settled into a distributor role (11 AST) for New York.

Kelsey Plum hooped for Vegas (29 PTS), but Jackie Young and A’ja Wilson—who have been stunning in the first two games—were shut down and shot a combined 6/25 in Game 3.

Iowa WBB Plays Outside in Front of 55K

Caitlin Clarke will nail threes anywhere…even in a football stadium with a goalpost in the background as the sun sets in front of 55,000 people.

Though it won’t count towards their team records, this game still set an NCAAW record for attendance and raised over $250,000 for the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

Frozen Moments

• The spirit of MJ possessed Brandon Miller for three seconds

• Jalen Johnson breakout season incoming?

• Jordan Hawkins is basically a Voltron of all other Pelicans players

What We’re Enjoying

Javelin by Sufjan Stevens: If you want to be emotionally moved and wrecked at the same time by a piece of art, then sit down and listen to the new Sufjan Stevens album, dedicated to his late partner, who passed away earlier this year. His songwriting and musicianship are as stunning as ever across the entire project. Give it a listen (but take some deep breaths first.)

Signing Off

And we’re out of here! The leaves are crunching, and we’re just about in the best sports section of the calendar. But if you’re not feeling like it’s the best time of your year, that’s okay. Life moves in waves, and you’ll be back up before you know it. Talk soon!

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The most-attended US sporting event? The 2012 Kentucky Derby, which drew more than 165,000 folks.

Before you go…