April 16 — The NBA play-in produced dramatic results Wednesday as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Orlando Magic 109-97 and the Golden State Warriors rallied past the Los Angeles Clippers 126-121. Tyrese Maxey scored a team-high 31 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, to lift the 76ers into the Eastern Conference playoffs as the No. 7 seed; Philadelphia will open a first-round series Sunday at No. 2 Boston. Joel Embiid, recovering from an emergency appendectomy, returned to the team and provided an emotional presence on the bench. Orlando’s Desmond Bane led all scorers with 34 points but the Magic must beat the Charlotte Hornets on Friday to claim the East’s final berth. In Inglewood, Stephen Curry scored 35 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 50 seconds left as Golden State erased a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit. Kristaps Porziņģis and Gui Santos each added 20 for the Warriors, who travel to Phoenix on Friday for a play-in deciding game for the West’s No. 8 seed; the winner will face top-seeded Oklahoma City in round one.

April 15-16 — A volatile two-night NBA play-in produced high drama on and off the court. The Charlotte Hornets edged the Miami Heat 127-126 in overtime after LaMelo Ball drove for the winning layup; an earlier sequence in which Ball appeared to grab Bam Adebayo’s leg left the Heat star with a lower-back injury and out for the night. The league retroactively assessed a flagrant-2 on Ball, fined him $35,000 for the play and $25,000 for using profanity in a postgame interview (a combined $60,000), but did not suspend him. Video also showed Ball delivering two punches to the Hornets’ mascot during celebrations. In other play-in results, Tyrese Maxey scored 31 to lift the Philadelphia 76ers past the Orlando Magic 109-97 to clinch the No.7 seed and a first-round series with Boston; Orlando will meet Charlotte Friday for the final East berth. Deni Avdija’s 41 points propelled the Portland Trail Blazers to a 114-110 win over Phoenix and the No.7 seed — a result that triggers Portland’s conveyance of a protected No.15 2026 draft pick to the Chicago Bulls. Broadcasters streamed play-in coverage across new rights partners, with all play-in games carried on Amazon Prime Video under the NBA’s reworked media deal.

Sources and league executives moved on April 15-16, 2026 to push back against media reports that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is preparing to withdraw support for LIV Golf. CEO Scott O’Neil sent a memo telling staff and players the 2026 schedule will run “exactly as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle” as the circuit prepared to play at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City. Multiple outlets including the Financial Times and New York Times reported that PIF executives were reconsidering the multibillion-dollar backing after unveiling a new five-year strategy, and that an emergency leadership meeting took place in New York. PIF has invested more than $5 billion in LIV since 2021; some players say they were told funding was secured through 2032. The league has posted strong recent attendances in Australia and South Africa but continues to post heavy losses and has seen high-profile exits such as Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed. LIV remains under scrutiny from sponsors, broadcasters and regulators as uncertainty about long-term financing persists.

Dianna Russini, a senior NFL reporter for The Athletic, resigned on April 14, 2026, amid an internal review after tabloid photos surfaced showing her with New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel at an adults-only resort in Sedona, Arizona. The images, first published by the New York Post’s Page Six, showed the two — both married — in close contact; both issued statements saying the interactions were innocent and taken out of context. The Athletic, owned by The New York Times, opened a standards review after the images prompted questions about Russini’s relationships with sources and her reporting. Executive editor Steven Ginsberg initially defended Russini and called the photos “misleading,” but circulated a staff memo saying new questions had emerged; the outlet said the review of her work will continue. Russini said in her resignation letter that she stood by her journalism and chose to step aside before her contract expired on June 30 because the media “frenzy” and repeated leaks had caused unacceptable damage. The fallout prompted debate across sports media about ethics, source relationships, newsroom handling of leaks and gendered responses to scandals; Vrabel did not attend a Patriots pre-draft news conference following the story.

Arsenal reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals after holding Sporting Lisbon to a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, advancing 1-0 on aggregate thanks to Kai Havertz’s stoppage-time winner in the first leg in Lisbon. The north London side secured back-to-back semi-final berths for the first time in the club’s history and will face Atlético Madrid, with the first leg in Spain on April 29 and the return at the Emirates on May 5. Arsenal were far from fluent across the two legs – managing only one shot on target in the second leg – but defended resolutely, recording their eighth clean sheet in 12 Champions League games this season. Manager Mikel Arteta praised the squad’s effort; captaincy duties for the recent fixtures fell to Declan Rice after players nominated him, and Rice played through illness. Arsenal remain top of the Premier League but have shown signs of late-season wobble, having lost recently in domestic cup and league matches, and now face a pivotal Premier League trip to Manchester City amid injury absences to Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard and a doubt over Noni Madueke.