The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.

Good morning! Find the right number today. 

Things You Need to See: Game winners, posters and happiness

We start today with the simplest joy: watching a highlight and collectively whispering “holy sh—” under our breath. Let’s start with Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe, who went full send on the Wizards last night:

SHAEDON SHARPE 😱😱😱

DUNK OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE??

🎥 @NBApic.twitter.com/Scc3T6e8T2

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 27, 2025

Lordy. This was better than anything that happened in the dunk contest. Can we get Sharpe in that next year? 

And we finish in College Park, Md., where Michigan State snatched souls with this half-court game winner:

TRE HOLLOMAN AT THE BUZZER!!!!!!! 🚨 @MSU_Basketball pic.twitter.com/clqNj65VHk

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 27, 2025

That’s Spartans junior guard Tre Holloman housing a half-court shot at the buzzer to break a 55-55 tie, seconds after Maryland attempted its own game winner. Doing that on the road against a conference rival has to be intoxicating. (Can we note that kept Michigan St. atop a loaded Big Ten?!) 

We like watching cool stuff. Let’s move on:

But Why? Maybe they should stay together

In theory, I understand why the Rams and Matthew Stafford are in a stalemate. Stafford wants to be paid like the high-end QB talent he is. Los Angeles doesn’t want to break the bank for a 37-year-old. In short, this checks out. 

It just feels … off. Let me explain: 

• Stafford has largely been awesome in L.A. He won a ring, of course, but he was also last seen nearly leading a game-winning drive against the eventual Super Bowl champs in a playoff game. No one else sniffed a playoff win against Philadelphia this year. This Rams team can be very good, and even at his age, Stafford is still a top-tier guy. He’s made 31 starts in the last two years, too. What are we doing?
  
  
• As part of their ongoing “discussion,” the Rams gave Stafford and his management permission to seek a trade and gauge his value on the market. Two suitors have emerged, according to our reporting: the Giants and Raiders, two QB-desperate teams nowhere close to competing, unlike the Rams. 

The quibbling is also very funny coming from the same regime that embraced the “f— them picks” mentality when trading for Stafford back in 2021, which brought them a Super Bowl. 

Also: Who’s replacing Stafford in L.A. if this goes through? Sam Darnold? After Darnold, the free-agent market weakens significantly. We predicted a trade for Kirk Cousins this week, but that remains a worse outcome to me. 

I wonder if this is just some very detailed bluster while the sides figure out a salary number that works. Stay tuned. 

• You know who is getting traded? 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel, who requested a move this month. General manager John Lynch said at the combine the team will honor his wishes.

News to Know

USWNT falls
Japan beat the USWNT 2-1 last night to capture the SheBelieves Cup title in an upset, marking the first loss of Emma Hayes’ tenure coaching the Americans. It was just the second loss to Japan in the history of the program and ended a five-year winning streak at the Cup. Brutal. See how it happened here.

Durant opens up on Dubs snub
One of the bigger stories about this month’s NBA trade deadline was a deal that didn’t happen: Kevin Durant returning to the Warriors, which was on the table, the star confirmed yesterday. Durant said — on Draymond Green’s podcast, of all places — that the move just “didn’t make sense” to him and that he felt a sense of commitment to the Suns. Durant’s full comments are worth a read.

Saints back Carr
Derek Carr will be New Orleans’ starting quarterback next year, general manager Mickey Loomis and new coach Kellen Moore indicated yesterday, which ends speculation on at least one of our mystery QBs we wrote about this week. It’s a slight shift from Moore’s initial noncommittal remarks on Carr’s status at his introductory news conference. Read more context here.

More news

📫 Love the Pulse? Check out our other newsletters.

Watch and Listen

📺 NCAAW: No. 8 North Carolina at No. 16 Duke
7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Carolina-Duke when both teams are ranked and we’re a week away from March? Yes, please. 

📺 NBA: Nuggets at Bucks
8 p.m. ET on TNT/truTV/Max
Denver quietly looks like a finals contender again, while the Bucks continue to underperform compared to their star power. I’ll sign up for Nikola Jokić vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo any night, though. 

Get tickets to games like these here.

🎙️ Will Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson still be in Cincy next year? The Athletic Football Show has ideas. At Apple and Spotify.

Pulse Picks

Sam Amick’s well-reported Luka Dončić column from Los Angeles on Tuesday night remains an important read. Still stunned by some of those Mavericks-related details. 

Related: Jovan Buha argues the Lakers are legitimate title contenders now. I agree. 

Jeremy Rutherford has an incredible story about a St. Louis man whose life was changed forever after writing a letter to his favorite Blues player. Make time for this one. 

The vibes are immaculate at TGL, but our golf writers wonder if it’s actually a success. Helpful, because I had been wondering the same thing. 

Here’s the sell on rugby coming to Las Vegas: brutal hits, no pads and inflatable baseball bat trouble. I’m in. 

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on Dončić’s comments after his first game against the Mavericks. What a night. 

Most-read on the website yesterday: Our anonymous NHL agent poll. Juicy stuff.

(Top photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)