How DeAndre Hopkins helps Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes; NBA opening night takeaways; World Series X-factors

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🏈 Good morning to all, but especially to …

DEANDRE HOPKINS AND THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

Another big-name receiver is on the move to a team looking to contend. The Chiefs acquired DeAndre Hopkins from the Titans in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick.

I want to get two things out of the way really quickly:

• Hopkins, 32, is not the Hopkins of old, a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro. He has 15 catches this season, including two catches or fewer in four of his six games, and he has dealt with injury.
• Hopkins is a massive upgrade for the Chiefs, which speaks volumes about the Chiefs’ wide receiver group.

Hopkins still brings physicality, a huge catch radius (which helps a lot in the red zone, where Kansas City has struggled) and the simple ability to win one-on-one.

Furthermore, this obviously is a huge upgrade for Hopkins, too. Ever heard of Patrick Mahomes? He’ll take advantage of the new facets Hopkins gives this offense.

As such, the Chiefs earned a “B+” in Cody Benjamin’s trade grades.

• Benjamin: “Hopkins shouldn’t be viewed as the savior of a badly bruised wide receiver group … ‘Nuk’ is a proven route-runner with good hands, which should free up speedier counterparts like Xavier Worthy to focus more on downfield shots. And even if he can’t withstand a monster workload down the stretch, Kansas City should be able to mix and match his skills as a secondary outlet.”

Hopkins also gives Kansas City a sizable boost in the SportsLine Projection Model.

By the way, this wasn’t the Titans’ only trade Wednesday.

👍 Honorable mentions

• Shohei Ohtani‘s 50th home run ball sold for how much?!?!
• Tua Tagovailoa returned to practice, and he’ll wear a new, safer helmet.
• Here are the 50 modern-era Pro Football Hall of Fame candidates.
• The Panthers will start Bryce Young this weekend.
• Matt Norlander has an inside look at Cooper Flagg, Jon Scheyer and Duke.
• UConn landed 2025 five-star shooting guard Braylon Mullins.
• Here are our Top 25 And 1 men’s college basketball coaches.
• Kansas is atop the men’s college basketball preseason Coaches Poll. The Big 12 is going to be awesome, Gary Parrish writes.
• Kennesaw State stunned undefeated CFP-contender Liberty for its first-ever FBS win.
• MLB is experimenting with an automated check swing challenge system in the Arizona Fall League.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

• Jerry Jones says the Cowboys are “designing bad plays.” Mike McCarthy disagreed.
• Aaron Rodgers has another lingering injury.
• Giants owner John Mara is preaching patience. I’m not sure that’s what fans want to hear.
• Brian Cashman still isn’t over the Astros‘ cheating scandal.
• The NBA will investigate the 76ers over Joel Embiid‘s participation plan.
• Josh Hart is not a fan of the Mikal Bridges shooting form discourse.
• Barack Obama called out players’ effort in the NBA All-Star Game.
• The Saints will start Spencer Rattler again with Derek Carr out.
• Oklahoma bungled its quarterback situation.
• After another concussion, Grayson McCall has retired.
• Nate Noel (foot) is doubtful for No. 21 Missouri against No. 15 Alabama.
• The Mystics parted ways with GM Mike Thibault and coach Eric Thibault. Here’s our WNBA coaching tracker.
• Virginia Tech dismissed Hysier Miller.

🏀 Takeaways from NBA openers

After the Celtics, Knicks, Lakers and Timberwolves opened the NBA season Tuesday, 20 more teams took to the court for the first time last night, and Sam Quinn took away lessons from all 10 games, including the first look at Buddy Hield, Stephen Curry‘s new backcourt mate, after Klay Thompson‘s departure from Golden State.

• Quinn: “Hield is not nearly as versatile as Thompson was at his peak, but in terms of pure shooting? The gap is smaller than you’d think. Hield is a career 40% shooter from deep, and he has both made and attempted more 3-pointers per 100 possessions for his career than Thompson. Hield has four of the top 25 seasons in terms of overall made 3-pointers, whereas Thompson has only three. The Warriors will miss Thompson’s presence and experience, but if opening night was any indication, they won’t miss a beat in terms of shooting. Hield went nuts for 22 points in only 15 minutes, making five of his seven 3-point attempts in a 139-104 blowout win over the Trail Blazers. The Warriors have lost some size and offensive versatility without Thompson, but rest assured, they’ll still have more than enough shooting.”

And this season we also got the debut of a new arena, the Intuit Dome, the stunning $2 billion home of the Clippers. Our Bill Reiter was on hand to witness what was there … as well as what wasn’t.

• Reiter: “There were fireworks — inside the arena — during the national anthem. The place is slick and interesting, full of cool tech and a stunning big screen, with an outdoor area that feels part carnival, part tailgate, part celebration of the game.
  The place is a marvel. A perfect place to catch a game for a night, Clippers fan or not.
  It’s the team inside it that feels so incongruous here: A botched ambition, a failed plan, a mistake filling up a space designed to showcase something sensational.”

Speaking of sensational, we would be remiss not to call out one very notable return. Welcome back, Lonzo Ball!

Here’s more:

• Bold predictions
• Breakout candidate for every team
• Dejounte Murray is feared to have broken his hand.
• The Pistons will be better this year, but getting a technical for having six players on the court isn’t a good look.
• Nic Claxton got ejected for a flagrant-2 foul.

⚾ World Series preview: X-factors and building the perfect team

Ah, X-factors. You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them, especially on the biggest of stages. They’re what keep you up all night. They’re what will have one team partying all night at some point in the coming days as World Series champions.

In a World Series expected to be as tight as Dodgers-Yankees is, these four X-factors loom large, according to R.J. Anderson.

1. Freddie Freeman’s ankle
2. Walker Buehler’s Jekyll and Hyde act — “Buehler’s stuff did look different against the Mets. His fastball and cutter had more rise to them while his sweeper had more horizontal break than he showed throughout the year.”
3. Battle of the breaker
4. The exposure effect — “The idea is easy enough to understand: the more often a hitter sees a pitcher, the better they fare. … It’s possible that the Dodgers’ apparent advantage in the bullpen proves to be overstated or perhaps completely nullified late in the series.”

I also enjoyed Mike Axisa building his All-World Series team. Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto were easy picks. But at the hot corner, the Dodgers not only have a distinct advantage, but a historically hot bat.

• Axisa: “Max Muncy‘s had a great October, including reaching base in a postseason record 12 consecutive plate appearances at one point. Jazz Chisholm Jr. has had the opposite of Muncy’s postseason. He’s been awful, with a .147/.216/.265 batting line and a strikeout rate approaching 30%. Chisholm is also a neophyte at the hot corner and his inexperience occasionally shows up. Muncy is not a splendid defender by any means, but he knows the position.”

🏈 NFL, College Football QB Power Rankings

Let’s keep it simple here. There is no competition for No. 1 in Cody Benjamin’s NFL QB Power Rankings. Congrats, Lamar Jackson. But there are some impressive performers just behind him.

1. Lamar Jackson (previous: 1)
2. Joe Burrow (2)
3. Josh Allen (4)
4. Baker Mayfield (5)
5. Jared Goff (9)

Goff and Mahomes (10th to sixth) tied for the biggest leap, while Brock Purdy dropped six spots from third to ninth. Oof.

Moving to the college side of things, we have full top-five stability.

1. Cam Ward (previous: 1)
2. Dillon Gabriel (2)
3. Garrett Nussmeier (3)
4. Cade Klubnik (4)
5. Bryson Daily (5)

The first change comes at No. 6, where Avery Johnson rose after being unranked last week. He’s putting together a string of solid performances after a brutal start to the season.

But back to Gabriel for a second. A week after delivering a huge win over Ohio State, he was terrific on a short week (and long trip) at Purdue. It’s been quite a journey for Gabriel, and I loved these seven stories from across his career, including this one from 247’s Erik Skopil.

• Skopil: “In the transfer portal era, this is the type of quarterback you hope to find. … Gabriel’s DimeTime retreat was instrumental in winning the roster over. During the summer, he brought all the skill players together for a weekend trip where football, fellowship and fun was central. Whatever was achieved then has paid off come fall.”

⚽ UEFA Champions League Matchday 3: Barcelona runs rampant over Bayern Munich

Take a bow … and another, another, Raphinha. The Barcelona star netted a magnificent hat trick in a 4-1 romp over Bayern Munich in UEFA Champions League Matchday 3 action yesterday.

Pardeep Cattry writes on what the statement win means for player and club with El Clasico against Real Madrid coming up.

• Cattry: “His transformation is the most tangible example of Hansi Flick‘s influence on Barcelona just two months into his stint in charge, though far from the only one. Raphina’s rise, though, is easily becoming one of the stories to watch this season in Europe and could deliver another exciting chapter just a few days from now.”

Raphinha made James Benge’s Champions League Team of the Week, and Barcelona climbed to third in Chuck Booth’s Power Rankings.

📺 What we’re watching Thursday

🏀 Spurs at Mavericks, 7:30 p.m. on TNT
🏈 Syracuse at No. 19 Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 Vikings at Rams, 8:15 p.m. on Prime Video
🏀 Thunder at Nuggets, 10 p.m. on TNT