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This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

🏀 Good morning to all but especially to ...

PAIGE BUECKERS

The high in Los Angeles on Wednesday was 90 degrees, but the temperature inside Crypto.com Arena was a lot warmer. That's because Wings rookie Paige Bueckers was on fire as she tied the single-game record for points by a rookie.

Bueckers was a one-woman show against the Sparks, and she did all she could do to will the Wings to a win. Her 44 points tied Cynthia Cooper-Dyke for the most by a rookie in a single-game, but that does come with an asterisk. Cooper-Dyke did that in 1997, the inaugural WNBA season when she was 34 after having played professionally overseas for years.

The most points by a "true" rookie in WNBA history were Candace Parker's 40 in 2008, but Bueckers blew by that mark while also knocking down 17 of her 21 attempts from the field (81%). Here are a few more benchmarks Bueckers hit on Wednesday night:

  • Tied Cooper-Dyke and Arike Ogunbowale for most 35+ point games by a rookie with two
  • Most points in a WNBA game while shooting at least 80% from the field
  • Joins Hakeem Olajuwon, John Drew and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only rookies to score 40+ points on 80% shooting in WNBA/NBA history.

The problem for the Wings was that it was a one-woman show. Only one other player, Maddy Siegrist (13 points), hit double-digits in the game, an 81-80 win for the hosts. The lack of support around Bueckers opened the door for the Sparks, and Kelsey Plum won the game for L.A. with a floater at the buzzer,

😃 Honorable mentions

🤕 And not such a good morning for ...

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CAITLIN CLARK AND THE FEVER

The hits just keep coming for Caitlin Clark and the Fever -- and not in a good way. In a season of multiple setbacks, Clark has missed the team's last 13 games with a groin injury, but now she's also dealing with yet another injury that has made her recovery even tougher.

Clark reportedly tweaked her ankle while rehabbing her groin earlier this month. While the ankle injury was mild, it only added to a growing list of ailments for Clark and the entire team. In fact, on the very same day Clark revealed the ankle injury, the Fever lost Sydney Colson (ACL) and Aari McDonald (broken foot) for the season.

Since then, the Fever have also lost star Sophie Cunningham for the season due to a torn MCL. Despite some speculation online that Sun guard Bria Hartley intentionally tried to injure Cunningham, she dispelled that notion on her podcast.

Needless to say, the temperature in Indiana is cooling as the roster transforms into an infirmary. As of this moment, the Fever are in sixth place with a 19-16 record, but they are only 2.5 games up on the ninth-place Sparks. With the Fever in a precarious situation, Jack Maloney weighed the pros and cons of going all out to reach the postseason or throttling back and looking toward the future.

The best case for the team making a playoff push is simple. Few players can take over a game quite like Clark -- as long as she can get healthy.

  • Maloney: "Clark at her best is one of the biggest difference-makers in the league. As much as Clark has struggled this season, the Fever are still 8-5 when she plays and have a plus-9.1 net rating when she's on the floor. If Clark is healthy come playoff time, the Fever will at least have a chance -- especially with the way Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell are playing. Those three together have a plus-10.5 net rating."

Of course, that also means Clark will have to get back on the court in short order. As Cunningham recently revealed, not even Clark knows the timetable for her return.

😫 Not so honorable mentions

🏌 Scheffler enters Tour Championship as heavy favorite

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Getty Images

Football is upon us, but before they put toe to leather, we have to wrap up the PGA Tour season this weekend in Atlanta. Scottie Scheffler will look to cap off yet another excellent year with another Tour Championship victory, but he will have stiff competition from players like Rory McIlroy and Russell Henley. (You can follow all of the action here.)

When the field of 30 tees off on Thursday, they will be chasing the top prize of $10 million. That would be a nice haul for any player, even Scheffler and McIlroy, but it represents at least 30% of the career earnings of 16 golfers in the tournament.

When it comes to the Vegas odds, there is no question who the favorite is. Scheffler has been the best golfer in the world all year, and he will be a heavy favorite to take home the FedEx Cup at East Lake. The five biggest favorites are listed below, but we also have the odds for every golfer in the field.

  • Scottie Scheffler (+150)
  • Rory McIlroy (+850)
  • Tommy Fleetwood (+1400)
  • Russell Henley (+1800)
  • Ludvig Aberg (+1800)

Despite that high price, Robby Kalland says it's hard to fade Scheffler these days. When Scheffler is at his best, which has been the case fairly often in 2025, very few can match his level.

  • Kalland: "There's no reason to jump off my choice from before the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, even if he's an overwhelming favorite with a $100 paying just $150 in profits and even if it's frankly hysterical to see someone at this odds given a field of this strength. Scheffler is comfortable at East Lake, where he won last year, and he's playing the best golf of his career right now, which is terrifying for everyone else. Look for Scheffler for the first golfer to go back to back at the Tour Championship."

The first round gets started at 11:15 a.m. ET on Thursday, and you can find all your glorious viewing options right here.

🏈 Big 12 expert picks

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Mike Meredith, CBS Sports

There may be no more unpredictable league in college football than the Big 12. Last year, Arizona State was picked to finish last in the conference before capturing the Big 12 title and reaching the College Football Playoff.

Predicting this topsy-turvy league is not for the faint of heart, but our experts are up to the task. In our 2025 Big 12 picks and predictions, the panel of CBS Sports experts calls their shot on everything from the most overrated team to the conference champion.

After last season, Arizona State is getting a lot more respect and is expected to make another run at a playoff berth. However, our own Richard Johnson is throwing cold water on the idea that the Sun Devils are a shoo-in for the Big 12 championship. Arizona State played with fire in 2024, but they might get burnt this fall.

  • Johnson: "The Sun Devils are just an obvious regression target for me because of the amount of one-score games they had last season to Texas State, Mississippi State, Utah, UCF, and BYU. In a parity filled Big 12, it's doubtful all those such results break their way again, add in that the Baylor team they avoided last year is early in the schedule and Utah is primed to be great and it's doubtful to me that the Sun Devils pull off 11-2 again."

In terms of conference champion predictions, no team got more votes than Utah. It was a down year for Kyle Whittingham and his Utes in 2024, but they are poised for a major bounce-back, as Brandon Marcello writes.

  • Marcello: "If the Utes remain dominant in the trenches and somehow become more potent offensively, the Utes will be in the mix of yet another tight race for the title. They get contenders Texas Tech, Arizona State and Kansas State at Rice-Eccles Stadium, and are my pick to emerge as the victor at the top of the conference."

For fans of Top 25 teams across the country looking for a little hope balanced out with some harsh reality, Will Backus has you covered with his reasons for optimism and concern for each ranked squad.

🏀 Top 25 NBA players of the 21st century

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Keytron Jordan, CBS Sports

The NBA has been around for more than 75 years, and it has produced some of the greatest athletes organized sports has ever seen. While the league's history is long and rich, our experts at CBS decided to highlight the best of the modern era with the Top 25 players of the 21st century.

As you might expect, whittling this list down to just 25 players was a Herculean task, but there were some layups. It should come as no surprise that LeBron James lands at the top of the list given he is a consensus top-two player in NBA history. While that decision may have been easy, the rest of the list came with some tougher decisions. Here's how the top five shook out.

1. LeBron James
2. Steph Curry
3. Tim Duncan
4. Nikola Jokic
5. Shaquille O'Neal

O'Neal (a.k.a Diesel) began his career in 1992, so it's a testament to his longevity that he still cracked the top five. Then again, O'Neal didn't move like a typical big man. As Colin Ward-Henninger writes, O'Neal played with far more agility than you'd expect out of someone built like a Mack truck.

  • Ward-Henninger: "His grace and agility were unprecedented for a man of his massive 7-foot-1, 300-plus pound frame, and the fearsome combination led to four NBA championships, three Finals MVPs, one regular-season MVP, two scoring titles, three All-Defensive selections and 14 All-NBA appearances."

📺 What we're watching Thursday

⛳ Tour Championship: Round 1, 1 p.m. on Golf Channel
⚾ Rangers at Royals or Brewers at Cubs, 2:10 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ Little League World Series: Venezuela vs. Aruba, 3 p.m. on ESPN
⚾ Little League World Series: Las Vegas vs. Irmo (S.C.), 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Sky at Liberty, 7 p.m. on Prime Video
⚾ Red Sox at Yankees, 7:15 p.m. on Fox
🏈 NFL Preseason: Patriots at Giants, 8 p.m. on Prime Video
🏀 Mercury at Aces, 10 p.m. on Prime Video