>> A little birdie says Sean Sweeney, who turns 42 on Wednesday, the former Cretin-Derham Hall and University of St. Thomas point guard who is associate head coach and defensive mastermind of the San Antonio Spurs, last week had a 10-hour interview for the head coaching job of the Orlando Magic. He obviously impressed, because he’s set to become the Magic’s head coach.

In the five games when Sweeney subbed as head coach for Jason Kidd with the Dallas Mavericks, he was 4-1. Sweeney has a legion of close friends from St. Paul, although he lives in South Bend, Ind., and is a rabid Notre Dame fan. A year ago, he hosted a large group of pals for dinner at Mancini’s.

Sweeney, who will have friend Jalen Suggs from St. Paul on his Orlando roster, is a confidant of Giannis Antetokounmpo from their days together in Milwaukee with the Bucks. Some basketball experts feel that could mean an Antetokounmpo-Magic trade this summer.

>> Cheryl Reeve has coached more WNBA victories with the Lynx than anyone else in the league while winning four titles. A member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, does she ever think about coaching a NBA team?

“My answer 10 years ago, maybe longer than that, was no way,” Reeve told the Pioneer Press the other day.

That was then. A woman coaching an NBA team then wasn’t a thought, Reeve said.

“Women weren’t in men’s sports in any position,” she said. “And then women starting getting positions. And then I started thinking about it — how do I feel about this? Because I want women to be coaching women. And then I thought, if there’s more opportunities for us, for jobs … the only space that women aren’t leading in is men’s sports.

“We can be generals in the military, we can be candidates for President, we can be CEOs. The only place that we’re not leading is in men’s sports. And so, to that end that the opportunities that were being given, there’s going to be a day it’s going to happen. I don’t know how old I’ll be.”

Reeve is 59 but jokes that she’s 39. Her energy is boundless. She has the Lynx in first place in the Western Conference. There is little doubt that Reeve, who also has coached the United States to Olympic gold medals, is qualified not only to coach in the NBA, but to win in the NBA. She is in her 17th season with the Lynx.

University of South Carolina women’s coach Dawn Staley interviewed for the New York Knicks job that went to Mike Brown when Tom Thibodeau was fired.

So, now, if Reeve were offered a NBA job?

“I would absolutely consider it, now, because it’s my obligation to do that,” she said.

Is she confident she could coach — and win — in the NBA?

“Absolutely! I believe I understand what it takes to win,” Reeve said. “Yeah, I think coaching is coaching. I think every coach needs the right personnel. Not to say you have to give me all the Hall of Famers, but you have to have people that fit what you like to do, what your identity is.

“I think the general concept of women in leadership roles in men’s sports, there’s a lot of us that could be very successful.”

>> The Lynx are the eighth-most valuable franchise in the 15-team WNBA at $405 million, per CNBC.

>> Curious: The Vikings have kept one roster spot available, and on Tuesday the team will gain $12.5 million of salary cap space.

>> Joe Senser, the beloved former Vikings tight end who died this month, loved hockey so much that years ago he took a $40 per game job as the visiting team penalty box attendant at Wild games.

>> Once the NBA’s 2026-27 schedule is released in August, the Timberwolves and Kevin Garnett will decide on a date to retire the Hall of Famer’s No. 21 jersey.

>> It has been one-third of the season since robot ball-strike umpires have been instituted in major league baseball.

“It’s too precise; I’m not a fan,” Tim Tschida said.

Tschida, 66, from St. Paul, retired in 2012 after 28 years as a major league umpire, 15 as a crew chief.

Is the robot system better at calling balls and strikes than humans?

“I don’t know, technology is technology,” Tschida said. “One thing about it, when it crashes, it crashes hard. And who’s to say it’s accurate?”

>> The 50th anniversary of the classic hockey film “Slap Shot” starring Paul Newman is in February. The cast also included Dave Hanson, who attended Humboldt High. Hanson, now 72, was inducted recently into Mancini’s St. Paul Sports Hall of Fame. For his role in the movie, Hanson still receives a $50 residual annually.

“After taxes, about $30,” he told the Pioneer Press.

>> Willie Burton, 58, the former Gophers basketball star who spent nine seasons in the NBA, the other day became a board member of Children’s Minnesota Foundation. Burton, who resides in St. Paul, will complete a Ph.D. in sports psychology in September. He intends to work with K-12 schools and student athletes.

>> Hall of Fame former Twin Tony Oliva, 88, who lives in Bloomington, still has five siblings in Cuba, which is undergoing a major fuel shortage due to U.S. sanctions.

“They have no gasoline because of the oil situation; it’s really hard,” Oliva said. “I’m trying to buy some solar energy for my family. When I grew up there, it was different.”

>> The Twins plan to keep the 10,000 replica Royce Lewis jerseys they had planned to give out this Saturday against the Kansas City Royals for a potential future Lewis call-up.

Lewis, 26, already has a year in salary arbitration for $2.85 million this season, and tendering him next year could cost the Twins $3.5 million.

>> There seems little doubt that the Twins, with the No. 3 overall pick in the July 11-12 amateur draft, will choose Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey.

>> Besides the University of St. Thomas losing Nolan Minessale to Marquette for a NIL deal worth slightly more than $1 million, the Tommies lost Nick Janowski to Davidson for more than $400,000 and Ben Oosterbaan to San Francisco for $300,000.

A little birdie says Nolan Groves is getting $300,000 to join the Gophers from Texas Tech for his sophomore season.

>> The primary reason Hennepin County Sheriff Office deputies with AR-15 rifles are stationed outside Target Field at Twins games is to monitor surrounding building rooftops.

>> Not getting to play a Game 6 in St. Paul after blowing a 3-0 lead against Colorado in the second round of the NHL playoffs cost the Wild more than $1 million in lost ticket, concessions and merchandise revenue. That’s not counting what it cost local restaurants and hotels and parking facilities.

Overheard

>> Dave Winfield on his mother Arline, who passed away in 1988, would have felt about attending his statue unveiling Saturday in St. Paul: “She would be over the moon.”