UR MAG

In 2006, former NBA commissioner David Stern and the league rolled out new synthetic basketballs that were made with a composite material instead of leather. They didn't bounce right. They didn't feel right. It got so bad that they made the players' hands bleed. It became a legitimate health concern.

Three months later, the NBA reversed course and rolled back the balls.

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It's time for the NBA to do the same with the 65-game rule. It was a foolish idea to begin with, thinking load management was the root cause of player absences and not a symptom of an increasingly taxing game. It's time to admit it solved nothing and created more problems than the one it tried to address. Like the ill-fated synthetic balls, the NBA may have a larger player health concern on its hands.

Will Cade Cunningham rush back?

By all accounts, Cade Cunningham has been one of the best players in the NBA this season, leading the Detroit Pistons to the top seed in the Eastern Conference and being the face of one of the feel-good stories in the league.

And then hecollided with Tre Johnsonearly in Tuesday's game against the tanking Washington Wizards. Before the game, Cunningham had been averaging 24.9 points, 10.1 assists and 5.6 rebounds. He was set to become the first Eastern Conference player since Oscar Robertson to average at least 24 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds per game. He currently leads the NBA with 603 assists and no one is particularly close to eclipsing his total.

And yet, despite an incredible resumé throughout the season,Cunningham may not be eligibleto earn an All-NBA spot or receive any MVP votes this season.

That's because in 2023, the NBA implemented a 65-game rule intended to motivate players to play more. Instead, the rule has only exacerbated the NBA's perception problem, artificially drawing more attention to the player health epidemic and unfairly penalizing players for injuries out of their control.

Like, for instance, Cunningham's scary medical issue. On Thursday, it was announced thatCunningham is suffering from a collapsed lung, or what's known in the medical community as a pneumothorax, that will sideline him for the foreseeable future. The team indicated he would be re-evaluated in two weeks, a mark in the schedule that — coincidentally or not — allows him to returnjuuuuustin time to still be eligible for season-long awards.

If Cunningham is cleared in two weeks, in time for an April 2 tilt against Minnesota, there would be six games left in the Pistons' season. With 60 games on his ledger — his most recent game doesn't count because his five minutes played fall short of the league-mandated 15 — Cunningham would have to play a sufficient number of minutes in five of the Pistons' remaining six regular-season games.

Let's hope the timetable was determined purely for his health and not out of concern for his award eligibility under the 65-game rule. For what it's worth, thequickest returnof a collapsed lung in recent NBA history is two weeks by Terrence Jones in 2015, but players like CJ McCollum and Gerald Wallace needed between three and six weeks. The last thing the NBA wants to do is incentivize players to risk serious medical harm in order to fulfill the core tenets of its Player Participation Policy. But unfortunately, Cunningham's case raises legitimate questions about the incentives the league unnecessarily laid in front of the players.

As Iwrotein January, the 65-game rule is a cure worse than the disease. Because of the NBPA-ratified rule that was issued in order to promote player health, Cunningham now has more incentive to potentially rush back against medical advice and put his lungs in danger. Surely, medical professionals will have the final say and Cunningham's long-term health will be prioritized above all else, right?

Let's hope so. Thankfully for Cunningham, this medical concern arose this season and not last season when he qualified for a $45 million bonus by earning All-NBA status. He signed for the maximum 30% maximum and therefore is not eligible for any additional bonuses this season.

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In the case of Cunningham and the 65-game rule, we're left to believe that Cunningham's shortcoming is that he didn't play through injuries enough. Except this injury is not a rub-some-dirt-on-it affliction. A trauma pneumothorax isn't something the NBA wants a player to "tough out."

What is clear is that if the goal of the 65-game rule was to encourage stars to play more, it's not working.

NBA stars are missing more games

Your eyes aren't deceiving you. NBA stars really are more absent than ever. The NBA's official Player Participation Policy defines a star player as one who has been named to the All-Star or All-NBA team in any of the previous three seasons. By this definition, star players have been sidelined to an extent we have not yet seen.

Through every teams' first 68 games in the schedule, NBA stars have played just 67.5% of their games. In other words, stars are missing about one out of every three games. And we haven't even gotten to the final stretch in the season when playoff teams begin to rest stars ahead of the playoffs. It will likely get worse before it gets better.

To put this in perspective, 67.5% through 68 games is a massive drop from last season. At the same juncture last season, the play percentage for stars was 79.5%, a rate of playing four out of five games. Again, now it's just two out of every three. The season before that, in 2023-24, the inaugural season of the 65-game rule, star players played a tick more at this point, suiting up in 80.4% of their games.

Trends are going in the wrong direction, and it's creating a lot of unhappy fans and battered stars. The only star who may be happy about the 65-game rule is Karl-Anthony Towns. Believe it or not, he's the only member of last year's All-NBA team who is currently eligible for awards. That's right: the other 14 members of the All-NBA team are either already disqualified for missing too many games or in jeopardy of missing the criteria altogether.

Among All-NBA First Team members, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum have already been eliminated from postseason award qualification. Nikola Jokić can miss only one more game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Donovan Mitchell are one moderate injury away from being ruled ineligible.

Elsewhere on the 2024-25 All-NBA list, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Tyrese Haliburton and Jalen Williams have already been disqualified. Jalen Brunson and James Harden are on track to make the cut, but Anthony Edwards, Evan Mobley and Cunningham will need luck on their side.

As of Friday morning, only seven players from the 2024-25 All-NBA squad are on pace to be eligible for awards. Seven of the 15. That means more than half of the team is positioned to miss the cut. And that's not even considering other All-Stars from last year who have been too injured to qualify for All-NBA. Damian Lillard, Pascal Siakam, Trae Young, Darius Garland, Tyler Herro, Jaren Jackson Jr., Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving would also miss the All-NBA cut as well.

Towns being the only eligible reigning All-NBA player is a fitting face to the NBA's conundrum. The Knicks big man has seen his scoring plummet to levels unseen since his rookie season and his productivity measures are down across the board. Without the 65-game rule, he'd have little to no shot of making the team again. But with the 65-game rule, he might fall backwards onto the first-team honors and take the spot of more-deserving players like Cunningham.

What a difference a month makes. A few weeks ago,Cunningham was seen as the default MVPas a result of his star peers like Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokić falling prey to injury. Now, after a fluke elbow to his back, it's Cunningham who is in jeopardy of losing eligibility status for both MVP and All-NBA. Cunningham's trauma pneumothorax is a cold reminder that a player's health status can change instantly without their control.

Towns making All-NBA First Team by default is one thing, but there are trickle-down effects of these star-crossed injuries. We're not far away from a world in which Payton Pritchard or Towns' teammate Mikal Bridges make All-NBA simply because all the more deserving players caught the injury bug here and there. The Pritchards of the world certainly deserve praise for avoiding injuries that captured their peers. So, here's an idea: instead of a 65-game rule, why not go the other way and establish an Iron Man team?

Before we know it, the league awards will become a copy-and-paste Iron Man team across the board rather than celebrating greatness. Before the league incentivizes Cunningham or a future star to aggravate a serious medical condition, the 65-game rule should take its rightful place alongside the composite ball and go on the shelf of ill-fated NBA ideas.

A surfer was attacked by a shark at Big River Beach in Mendocino Headlands State Park on Wednesday, March 18

NEED TO KNOW

• Off-duty lifeguards rescued the man and provided medical aid before he was taken to the hospital in Fort Bragg

• The beach was closed for 48 hours, as part of the department's protocol

A surfer in California is recovering from serious wounds sustained in a shark attack.

The man, who is reportedly 39 years old according toABC7 and local news outletKTVU FOX 2, was catching waves off the coast of Big River Beach in Mendocino Headlands State Park on Wednesday, March 18, when he suffered injuries to both legs.

He was bitten by the shark at 5.18 p.m. local time and was helped out of the water by three off-duty lifeguards, who also gave him medical attention, theCaliornia State Lifeguards said in a Instagram statementon Friday, March 20.

The wounded surfer was then transported for hospital care at Fort Bragg, the statement continued.

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"This incident highlights the importance of having ocean lifeguard programs and we thank our lifeguards for their quick, heroic actions," the Caliornia State Lifeguards added in the statement.

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"Lifeguards are an important part of the EMS and first-responder network along the rural northern California coastline. Although uncommon, shark bites are one of the many different types of emergencies our lifeguards are trained to respond to and treat," it continued.

"State Parks has posted signs at nearby beaches, notifying the public of a 48-hour beach closure as part of the department's protocol," the statement said, before adding that "sharks are an important part of the coastal ecosystem and that interactions between people and sharks are rare."

Several agencies, such as the Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department, California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and Mendocino Coast paramedics, helped respond to the incident, per the Caliornia State Lifeguards.

The release added that the CDFW has collected evidence and is now leading an investigation into the attack.

California State Parks, Mendocino Volunteer Fire Department, CDFW and Mendocino Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team were contacted by PEOPLE but they did not immediately respond.

Read the original article onPeople

An Iranian man has been arrested with a woman after trying to enter the Faslane naval base, home to the UK's nuclear-armed submarines.

Police Scotland said a 34-year-old man and 31-year-old woman were arrested at HM Naval Base Clyde at about 17:00 on Thursday.

The woman's nationality is unknown, but it is understood she is not Iranian.

The Royal Navy said the suspects "unsuccessfully attempted" to enter the base, near Helensburgh in Argyll and Bute.

A spokesperson added: "As the matter is subject to an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further."

It is understood that the pair did not try to force their way into the base.

They asked if they could enter but were refused permission and were arrested shortly afterwards. Police Scotland said its inquiries were ongoing.

Faslane is the home of all the Royal Navy's nuclear submarines, including the Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines which carry Trident nuclear missiles.

The arrests come after the US and Israel launchedwide-ranging strikes on Iran, killing the country's supreme leader on 28 February.

Iran has responded by launching attacks on Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf.

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Defence secretary John Healey said the UKwas reviewing its terror threat level. It remains at "substantial" meaning an attack is "likely".

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, said the UK had "stepped up protections for British bases and personnel to their highest level."

It was not clear whether he was referring only to bases in the Middle East and the Mediterranean or to all bases at home and abroad.

The Faslane base, which sits on the Gare Loch, has long beenthe focus of anti-war protestsfrom groups such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

A long-term peace camp has been based just outside the site since 1982.

The camp began as a protest against the Thatcher government's decision to purchase the Trident nuclear missile system but nearly 40 years later the camp is still there.

The community, composed of residents living in caravans and temporary structures, holds regular anti-nuclear demonstrations, vigils, and direct actions against nuclear weapons.

Faslane's four Vanguard submarines are the sole platforms for the UK's nuclear weapons and are due to be replaced by the new Dreadnought-class submarines after 2030.

It is also the home of Astute-class nuclear powered but conventionally armed attack submarines.

The UK's stock of nuclear warheads is based nearby at the Royal Naval Armaments Depot (RNAD) Coulport on nearby Loch Long.

The UK has operated continuous at-sea deterrence since 1969, with first Polaris and then Trident missiles stored on and launched from nuclear-powered submarines with the capacity to remain submerged at sea for months.

• Why are UK military bases being used in Iran conflict?

• More than 100 attend demo at Faslane nuclear base

• What is Trident and how does it work?

PARIS (AP) — France says it's taking "appropriate measures" after a naval officer's use of the Strava exercise app inadvertently enabled journalists to geolocate the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle that is inthe Mediterraneanto help protect French and allied assets and interests duringthe Iran war.

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The carrier'sdeployment this monthwas not a secret and its commander has even briefed journalists by video link from aboard the nuclear-powered 42,000-ton vessel.

Still, the French newspaper Le Monde caused a stir by using Strava to locate a naval officer who it said used the performance app during a morning jog on March 13, enabling reporters to then find the Charles de Gaulle in the Mediterranean usinga satellite imagetaken that same day.

The newspaper said Thursday that it believes the officer was either jogging on the carrier or one of its escort ships.

French military spokesman Col. Guillaume Vernet said the Strava usage reported by Le Monde "does not comply with the current guidelines. Appropriate measures are being taken by the command."

"In the course of their duties, sailors are regularly made aware of the security risks associated with connected devices, notably the use of social media in their private lives and the potential for geolocation through digital applications," Vernet told The Associated Press on Friday.

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"To prevent any disclosure of information relating to a vessel, different levels of restrictions on the use of connected devices are applied within the French navy. These levels of restriction are determined by the command, depending on the level of threat," he said.

French Rear Adm. Thibault Haudos de Possesse, commander of the aircraft carrier group, had briefed reporters in a video call from the Charles de Gaulle on the same day as the naval officer's morning jog.

The commander said that multiple warships, including French and allied-nation frigates, were escorting the carrier, carrying 20 Rafale fighter jets, two Hawkeye surveillance planes and three helicopters.

Le Monde said that divulging the carrier strike-group's location almost in real time on a public digital platform is dangerous as the Iran war rages. A drone attack on March 12 targeted a Kurdish military base in the Erbil region, killing French soldier Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion and wounding six others.

French President Emmanuel Macron this weekannounced the nameof France'snext nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which will be bigger than the Charles de Gaulle. The 10 billion-euro ($11.5 billion) France Libre ("Free France"), which is expected to enter service in 2038, will have a capacity for 30 Rafale fighter jets and 2,000 sailors.

The new vessel will have a displacement of about 80,000 tons and a length of 310 meters (1,017 feet), compared to 42,000 tons and 261 meters (856 feet) for the Charles de Gaulle.

The ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown is taking its toll on the thousands of Transportation Security Administration employees at airports who have been working without pay.

Approximately 60,000 TSA officers who have gone over a month with partial pay began receiving their first $0 paychecks last week.

Many say they are living in fear, with some taking on extra jobs or even leaving the agency altogether to make ends meet.

And if there is no relief soon, veteran TSA leaders fear that the stress and uncertainty could impact operations for years.

"Who wants to go work in public service in the public sector when you're treated like a yo-yo?" a TSA worker who asked to remain anonymous told ABC News.

The current partial shutdown, now in its second month, comes close to last fall's 43-day federal government shutdown, which paused payments to thousands of TSA workers, who were still required to work their shift.

Video TSA agent on working without pay: No 'fuel to continue coming to work'

Angela Grana, a TSA officer at Durango-La Plata County Airport in Colorado, told ABC News Live on Monday, the first day that TSA workers missed their checks, that the entire situation has been humiliating for her co-workers.

"The stories I get are very demoralizing," Grana, who serves as the state's regional vice president for AFGE TSA Local 1127, said. "To go ahead and do the Uber Eats or any other kind of side job, we have to have extra permission. For now, we can't just do it."

Senate Democrats have vowed to block funding for DHS until reforms are made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal law enforcement.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on Democrats Monday to join a discharge petition that would fund all DHS agencies except for ICE.

A vote on similar legislation failed earlier in the Senate. Jeffries would need at least four Republicans to sign on with all Democrats for the discharge petition to move forward.

TSA says nearly 10% of its officers called out sick Tuesday

Grana said the stress of making ends meet and keeping the airports safe is getting to a lot of TSA officers. Several airports across the country have begunfood pantriesfor their employees affected by the partial shutdown.

"Let me tell you, for us to be concentrating on our jobs without the hunger pains in our stomachs. It's really difficult to do. We can't get it wrong," Grana said.  "We have to get it right every time. We cannot miss a bag, we cannot miss a threat."

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Jill DeJanovich, a TSA officer at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and single mom of four, was one of the nearly 2,700 TSA workerswho called out sickthis week, because of the demands put on her.

DeJanovich, who is the a AFGE Local 1260 Chief Administrative Point of contact in Nevada, said she is frustrated with Congress for not moving forward and ending the quagmire over funding.

"Someone needs to cross the line before Congress goes on break for Easter recess," she said.

While some TSA officers said they had to power on through, for others, like Robert Echeverria, the strain of a second DHS shutdown in five months proved to be too much.

After nine years working at Salt Lake City International Airport a lead TSA officer, Echeverria told ABC News that he left his job after the current shutdown. Echeverria said his family's life savings were depleted after the last shutdown.

"Emotionally, we couldn't go through that strain anymore," he told ABC News.

"It was just really hard for my wife and emotionally to see my kids going through a hard time asking for things, and we wouldn't be able to actually help them out," he added.

A TSA worker who asked not to be named warned that the loss of employees can't easily be fixed.

"Losing seasoned employees is very difficult to replace," the TSA worker said. "New hires take two years to get off probation."

Airports collect donations for TSA staffers during government shutdown

The worker added that the accumulating debt borne by government employees will also affect staffing.

"One of the requirements is that you have a great credit rating. A lot of our officers are not going to have that now," they said.

Joseph Cerletti, a TSA officer at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, told ABC News that he struggles to explain to his kids about their financial issues now that his family has to depend solely on his wife's income.

Cerletti relented that he and his coworkers "don't have the upper ground here" when it comes to fighting for their rights.

"It's very hard to find words in the English language to describe how I feel about it, other than speechless," he said. "This is just what I've been describing lately as figuratively an uphill gunfight."