3 Stories You Should Know: Lakers Scandal, NCAA Transfers, USWNT Wages

On Monday, the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Utah Jazz by 48 points, tying the Lakers' worst loss in franchise history...and some put the blame on Lakers rookie D'Angelo Russell.

The reason? Fallout from a video that recently surfaced online. The video, surreptitiously recorded by Russell, appears to show his teammate Nick Young admitting to infidelity. Russell has since apologized for the incident. That's first up in this week's edition of "3 Stories You Should Know."

Michael Lee of Yahoo! Sports and Patrick Hruby of Vice Sports joined Bill Littlefield.

1. Recording Private Conversations

The release of the video has made Russell persona non grata around the league, as many believe he violated the trust of his teammates. This isn't the first time the NBA has found itself dealing with the aftermath of a secret recording. Michael Lee explains.

ML: Just two years ago, V. Stiviano recorded Donald Sterling, the former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, in a private conversation saying some bigoted, racist comments that eventually led to his ousting from the entire league. He lost his franchise. He was forced to sell. Whereas Russell is now in a situation where he sort of has to regain the the trust of not only his current teammates, but everyone around the league. So, I guess, my question is, at what point is it good to be a rat?

2. NCAA Transfer Rules

There's no room for Spike Albrecht on next year's Michigan basketball team. That's what the senior says he was told after undergoing double-hip surgery and sitting out this past basketball season. Albrecht wanted to suit up for another school next season as a grad transfer. But according to Albrecht, Michigan coach John Beilein said he could not move to another school in the Big Ten or on Michigan's schedule in the next two years. The restrictions were met with heavy criticism, and on Friday Michigan announced it would remove the transfer limitations placed upon Albrecht. Patrick Hruby sees both good and bad in this situation. 

PH: The happy ending is that Michigan actually reversed course on this and is going to let Spike Albrecht transfer wherever he wants to go. The bad thing is, Michigan did the right thing here, but they still have the option of doing the wrong thing and so do all these other schools in the NCAA. There's no real reason, there's no justifiable reason, if this whole enterprise in big-time college sports is about academics, which is what we are always told, especially if the NCAA wants to justify not paying players. If it's about that, then a student who has graduated and wants to pursue more education at another institution, then they should be able to do that.

3. USWNT Wage Dispute

This week, the under-23 U.S. Men’s National Team failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympics, and the senior team barely kept its 2018 World Cup qualifying hopes alive with a win over Guatemala. 

Meanwhile, five members of the defending Olympic and World Cup champion U.S. Women's National Team, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, contending that they-who-win-nearly-everything are woefully underpaid in comparison with those-who-win-nothing. Bill says the U.S. Soccer Federation needs to make things right.  

BL: The U.S. Soccer Federation can’t win on the facts and they certainly can’t win in the court of public opinion. They should thank the women for all they’ve done for soccer in this country and present them with a new payment schedule, retroactive to all the qualifying matches for the Olympics.

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