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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🎙️ The Herd heads to the Hall of Fame. Throughout the 21st century, few sports talk radio hosts have become as synonymous with the industry as Colin Cowherd. And later this year, The Herd host will be recognized for his career accomplishments, as he has been selected to the Radio Hall of Fame’s class of 2025.

🎮️ EA Sports announces return of CBB game. With the next installment of its college football franchise set to release next week, EA Sports is expanding its presence in the world of college sports. In a social media post on Monday, the video game manufacturer announced the impending return of its college basketball franchise, which released its most-recent version in 2009.

📺️ Netflix debuts Cowboys trailer. Netflix has officially released the first trailer for its upcoming docuseries focused on the history of the Dallas Cowboys. America’s Team: The Gambler and His Cowboys will debut on the streaming giant on Aug. 19.

🚨 LEADING OFF 🚨 

ESPN and MLB negotiating once again

More than four months after their bitter breakup, ESPN and MLB have resumed talks. According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, the two sides are currently in the “early stages” of negotiations regarding the league’s media rights inventory.

“Representatives for Major League Baseball and ESPN have renewed talks to keep the sports network involved in the game after a contentious break-up earlier this year, sources briefed on the conversation told The Athletic,” Marchand writes. “The discussions were described to be in their early stages and, if they were to progress, would center around local rights and pieces of ESPN’s former package.”

Based on Marchand’s reporting, it doesn’t sound like ESPN is interested in reacquiring the full package it relinquished when it opted out of its $550 million per year deal in February, although some of those elements do appear to be on the table. That would include the weekly Sunday night showcase, the Home Run Derby and eight-to-12 playoff games, which the league has been shopping to other suitors since February’s split (the current ESPN deal will expire after this season).

The introduction of local rights adds a new wrinkle to the talks and make sense considering the impending launch of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service. If ESPN and MLB do reach a new deal, it now feels like a safe bet that there will be a local component to it, as well as at least one of the elements of the now-available national package.

The renewed talks appear to mark a change of heart for MLB, as ESPN has publicly signaled interest in negotiating a new deal since both sides opted out in February. For the network, it was never about not wanting baseball, but more about the price it was paying, especially in the wake of the league’s recent deals with Apple and Roku.

Meanwhile, despite criticizing ESPN’s coverage of the league in the wake of its opt-out, it never quite made sense for MLB to burn its bridge with the Worldwide Leader. And with the tensions having since simmered, it appears the league has reached the same conclusion, as it remains hopeful to announce a new deal — with ESPN or elsewhere — within the next two weeks.

📣 NOTABLE QUOTABLES🗣️ 

• “It was a big mistake to go work for ESPN. I was really bad on TV. You could probably go on Awful Announcing and find some Shane Battier lowlights. I had zero passion for it. Zero.” - Shane Battier on his short-lived media career (via Pablo Torre Finds Out).

• “I think there’s a lot of people who think the same way I do. We can go through another three or five or 10 years of a difficult environment. Or we can accept the reality and fix it right now.” - Tennessee AD Danny White to Yahoo Sports on introducing collective bargaining to college athletics.

• “The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family” - WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert in a statement announcing the league’s latest round of expansion cities.

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥 

What makes Brian Windhorst so good

When it comes to LeBron James’ never-ending presence in the NBA news cycle, not everything is always quite as it seems.

Few, however, have become better equipped at decoding James-related topics than Brian Windhorst has over the course of the last 25 years. And that’s made him an invaluable resource for ESPN since he first arrived at the network to cover his fellow Akron native’s move to the Miami Heat in 2010.

Such was the case on Monday, as trade rumors swirled around James following his decision to opt-in to the final year of his contract with the Lakers. While the decision seemingly signaled a commitment to Los Angeles, an accompanying statement also indicated that the 4-time MVP is now prepared to consider all of his options.

“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” James’ agent, Rich Paul told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Sunday. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career.

“We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive and want what’s best for him.”

It didn’t take long for the trade rumors to begin, with most linking James to another return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Appearing on Get Up and First Take on Monday, Windhorst played his usual role as the James expert. And in doing so, he effectively poured cold water on the idea of a potential trade involving the 40-year-old forward.

“I do not think LeBron James is going to be traded. Neither today or tomorrow or in a month or in three months,” Windhorst said on Monday’s episode of Get Up. “Because No. 1, he makes $53 million and doing a trade like that to a competitive that has a high payroll is going to be very difficult. And secondly, he has a no-trade clause, which would mean he would control all sides of the trade. Not only where he would want to go, but what he would want to get traded for.

“And those parameters just make it unlikely a deal like that would ever happen. So while it’s fascinating to think about, I don’t think that’s an avenue here.”

There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about what Windhorst said here, but his ability to leverage his knowledge of both James and the inner-workings of the NBA into straightforward analysis helps illustrate why he has become such a valued member of ESPN’s NBA coverage. That’s not to say he has all the answers — even in this instance, he admitted that he doesn’t. But at a network in which arguments seem to be won by whoever yells the loudest or gives the boldest take, there’s something to be said for Windhorst’s no-nonsense approach.

It also struck me how Windhorst hasn’t let James’ own feeling toward him affect his analysis. That same can’t always be said for some of his ESPN colleagues.

Windhorst’s secret sauce seems simple enough: a mix of fact-based reporting and common sense analysis that’s informed by 25 years of covering the greatest athlete of this generation. With the Senior NBA Writer’s contract reportedly set to expire later this year, ESPN would be wise to lock him to a new long-term deal. If it doesn’t, his absence at the network might be more noticeable than most currently realize.