>> It wouldn’t be surprising if the NBA, in an effort to avoid an arbitration hearing over Timberwolves-Lynx ownership with Glen Taylor, offers the Alex Rodriguez-Mark Lore tandem that initially agreed to buy the teams for $1.5 billion, first chance at an expansion team in Seattle, where Rodriguez was a popular player with the Mariners.

In any deal, it would expected that Taylor buys out Rodriguez-Lore’s 40 percent investment at nearly double what the pair initially paid because of the dramatically increased value of the franchises the past three years, especially after the NBA’s new media deal last week, apparently worth $76 billion (that’s billion, not million) over 11 years.

The reason the value of NBA teams has exploded is because basketball has become a popular international sport. More than a fifth of the league’s recent first-round draft picks were international players; the same for the second round.

>> Vikings training camp begins in two weeks. The way it looks now, it will be a redshirt year for rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy, with Sam Darnold the starter and Nick Mullens the backup. It appears the transition plan will be to turn the starting job over to McCarthy in 2025.

>> Rookie Khyree Jackson’s death in a car accident last week recalls other tragic Vikings events: 1964, Terry Dillon dies in a drowning accident; 1973, Karl Kassulke becomes paralyzed from a motorcycle accident; 1978, coach Jocko Nelson dies of heart attack; 1999, coach Chip Myers dies of heart attack; 2001, Korey Stringer dies of heat stroke in training camp; 2018, coach Tony Sparano dies of heart attack.

>> People who know say former Cretin-Derham Hall and University of St. Thomas star Sean Sweeney was the Pistons’ backup plan if Detroit couldn’t reach agreement with ex-Gopher J.B. Bickerstaff as head coach.

>> In the history of major league baseball, only once has an umpire ejected a player from a game, then allowed him to re-enter the game. The episode belongs to Tschida.

It happened in Anaheim, the Angels against the Texas Rangers. Tschida called Orlando Palmeiro of the Angels out on strikes. Palmeiro subsequently laid his bat on home plate and started walking to the dugout.

“I said ‘come back and get that thing or you can just keep on going,’ ” Tschida told Palmeiro. “He turned his shoulder and said, ‘I’m leaving it for the next guy.’ I went, yeah, right, nice line. And I ran him.”

The next batter, Gary DiSarcina, came to home plate with no bat in his hands.

“He goes, ‘Tim, he’s telling the truth. We’re all using the same bat.’ I just looked at him and said, ‘what?’ ”

Because the Angels weren’t hitting well, they had decided to actually use the same bat once throughout the lineup in an effort to break their slump.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tschida said.

Angels manager Terry Collins and Tschida had known each other since their days working in Class A minor league ball.

“Terry looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think to tell you about this.’ I looked at (Angels hitting coach Carew) Rod and he put his hand on his heart and said, ‘that’s on me, Tim.’ ”

Tschida walked over to Rangers manager Bobby Valentine and said, ‘you’re not going to believe this.’ And he goes, ‘I already know what you’re going to do.’ ”

Tschida told Valentine he was putting Palmeiro back in the game.

“Bobby said, ‘if (Angels) they all do with that bat what Orlando just did with that bat, I’m OK with it.’ ”

>> The Gophers have had several players offered at least $40,000 to leave via the NCAA transfer portal. Currently, there are 2,411 college baseball players in the transfer portal. The Gophers have eight players in the portal.

>> Due to NIL, throughout college baseball there are some players paid more than their head coaches. More than a few players in the recent College World Series were said to be paid more than $1 million.

>> Wally Wescott, who coached hall of famer Paul Molitor as a seventh grader at St. Luke’s grade school and has a sharp eye for talent, said Twins rookie Brooks Lee reminds him of Molitor in terms of ability and poise.

>> The Angels have demoted ex-Twin Miguel Sano, who was batting .205 with two home runs and 36 strikeouts in 83 at-bats. Sano, 31, has a $1 million guaranteed contract for this season. During his nine-year career, Sano was paid $36.3 million.

>> Tickets for Sunday afternoon’s Indiana Fever (Caitlin Clark) game against the Lynx at Target Center range from $26 to $1,098 on StubHub.

>> If the NHL salary cap increases as expected the next two years, it could cost the Wild at least $15 million a season to retain Kirill Kaprizov, 27, who has two seasons remaining on his five-year, $45 million million contract.

>> Woodbury’s Jake Guentzel, 29, received a $12 million first-year signing bonus with his recent seven-year, $63 million contract with Tampa Bay.

>> If streaming Twins TV games the last two months of this season results from a July 29 Diamond Sports bankruptcy hearing, viewers can expect to pay about $19.95 a month. Platform remains unknown.

>> Dennis Evans, the 7-1 center from Riverside, Calif. who initially committed to the Gophers, then left for Louisville, has transferred again, this time to Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

Overheard

>> The PGA Tour’s Lee Hodges, the reigning 3M Open champion, asked the other day in Blaine what he would consider a fair distance for a gimme putt for an amateur golfer: “I think you should give anything within the leather (length of grip on putter) — unless you don’t like the guy.”